During the postwar trials, one question came up: did any SS members ever refuse to commit atrocities? In the history of the Nazi SS, only one man is known to have resisted — Hans Wilhelm Münch.
In 1947, Poland held the First Auschwitz Trial, where 40 SS members faced charges for their roles in the mass murders at the camp. Most were officers or staff connected to Auschwitz operations. All but one of the defendants received death sentences or long prison terms. The only man found innocent was Münch.
Münch was both a doctor and an SS officer. Like many others, he had joined the Nazi Party, either out of belief or simply to advance his career. In 1943, he was transferred to Auschwitz to conduct medical research. But unlike most of his colleagues, Münch refused to participate in selections — the grim process of deciding which prisoners would be worked to death, used for experiments, or sent straight to the gas chambers.
Instead, he quietly tried to save lives. He staged fake medical experiments to shield prisoners from Josef Mengele’s deadly programs. He provided medical care to inmates, ensuring that they appeared fit for work and thus avoided execution. At great personal risk, he defied orders and chose compassion over cruelty.
As the Soviet army approached Auschwitz in 1945, Münch even handed his weapon to a prisoner before leaving the camp.
At the 1947 trial, survivors testified about the brutality of the other defendants, but many spoke up in Münch’s defense. In a rare moment, even his fellow SS men acknowledged his refusal to take part in crimes. Faced with overwhelming evidence of his humanity, the communist court dropped all charges against him — the only time this happened for an SS member.
After the war, Münch returned to practicing medicine in Germany. Though he later faced another trial and gave some puzzling public statements, his actions at Auschwitz stood out. Survivors consistently defended him, showing that even within the machinery of terror, one man chose a different path.
Münch remained a controversial figure because of his SS membership, but history remembers him as the rare example of an SS officer who openly rejected evil.
