page_title: Celle massacre
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Celle massacre / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Denkmal "Celler Hasenjagd"
context_page_description: The Celle massacre was a massacre of concentration camp inmates that took place in Celle, Prussian Hanover, in the last weeks of the Second World War. On 8 April 1945 over 3,000 concentration camp internees were killed in an Allied air raid and subsequent attacks by SS guards, Gestapo, and Nazi party officials, as well as members of the public. Some of the perpetrators of the massacre were later tried but all of those convicted for the crime were set free in the early 1950s.
context_section_description: The British Army liberated Celle on 12 April and launched an investigation into the events of 8 April – 11 April. Their chronicler characterized the Heidekaserne as a "microcosm of Bergen-Belsen". Estimates place the number of "hare hunt" victims at 200–300; the remaining transport prisoners died of other causes.
  Only 14 military and police personnel and political leaders were tried in the Celle Massacre Trial, which began in December 1947. Seven were acquitted of murder or accessory to murder because of insufficient evidence, whereas four were found guilty as perpetrators and sentenced to between four and ten years in prison. In addition, three were sentenced to death. One of the death sentences was overturned on appeal and the other two were reduced to 15–20 years' imprisonment as part of a clemency issued by the British military governor. All those imprisoned were released by October 1952 for good behaviour.
caption: Memorial in Celle
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