Editing Hans Kieffer (section)

===Post-war===
As [[World War II]] ended in the German defeat, Kieffer and Lieutenant Haug attempted to flee to Garmisch. However, Haug was soon captured by the SAS War Crimes Investigation Office and fully implicated Kieffer in the Noailles Wood Massacre. Kieffer, already linked to similar massacres of prisoners he had handed over to the SS, was declared the War Crimes Office's number one most wanted.

Kieffer was the last of the Noailles Wood perpetrators to be captured, working at a hotel in Garmisch under the pseudonym "Hans Kiefer". He and the rest of the suspects (aside from von Kapri and Schmidt, who were dead) were tried for war crimes in March 1947. Kieffer and Knochen's defence was that they had been specifically ordered to execute the SABU-70 team and would have been shot if they refused. Kieffer, testifying in his defence, continued to maintain this and denied knowing what happened to prisoners he had handed over to the SS, only to immediately contradict himself: "It was shameful to shoot them without trial". His claims were undermined by the testimony of his superior Horst Kopkow, who told the tribunal that to his knowledge nobody had ever been executed for failure to comply with the Commando Order. Furthermore, the prosecution noted that Lieutenant Rex Wiehe, although threatened with death, had not been executed; therefore, Kieffer and Knochen had obviously not been unable to spare the SABU-70 team. The only witness for the defence was John Starr, a former Avenue Foch prisoner who had agreed to cooperate with Kieffer, who testified that he had never seen Kieffer mistreat prisoners. This was contrary to the testimony of Vaculik and Jones, who both testified that they had been tortured and mistreated on Kieffer's watch in the lead-up to the massacre.

On 14 March 1947, the tribunal found all defendants guilty and sentenced Kieffer, Knochen, Schnur and Haug to death. Kieffer turned to the gallery and saluted Starr, who was in the audience, before being led out. Knochen's sentence was not carried out as he had been extradited to France to stand trial for crimes against humanity, but Kieffer, Schnur and Haug were hanged at Hamelin Prison on 26 June 1947. 
[[Category:List]]
[[Category:Male]]
[[Category:Modern Villains]]
[[Category:Deceased]]
[[Category:War Criminal]]
[[Category:European Villains]]
[[Category:Germany]]
[[Category:Mass Murderers]]
[[Category:Nazi Party Members]]
[[Category:Villains of World War 2]]
[[Category:Torturer]]
[[Category:Liars]]
[[Category:Affably Evil]]
[[Category:Execution]]
[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:Government support]]