I think my question is hard to definitely answer, so I hope to get some Information of people who know more about the matter than me.

I started listening to the audio recordings of the victim and SS witnesses from the Auschwitz trials starting in 1963, which can be found here. Unfortunately I don't think that there exist comprehensive English translations of the protocols. But anybody who understands German (or polish) and is interested in the Topic should definitely look into it. As I started to hear more and more of those recordings, I started to develop a lot of sympathy for the chairman Judge Hans Hofmeyer, who according to my impression really intillegently interviewed the present witnesses. He also seemed to really care about, and was audibly shocked at some of the witnesses' s accounts.

However as I looked him up online, I learnt that he was a Judge at an " Erbgesundheitsgericht" during the NS era, where he judged people, including minors, to forced sterilisation.

My question therefore is first of all, why he was chosen to perform such a sensitive trial, when despite his professional qualification he was so preloaded with being part of The NS crime complex.

And mainly If it was possible for someone so deeply tied into said complex, and with such an high intellect, to be honestly shocked and touched by hearing about the life in a KZ. Is it possible to assess if he actually personally changed, or just adapted to the changed political environment.

I see that this question is hard to answer, since nobody apart from him self could really say how he felt, but maybe someone here knows more about him, or similar story's and could give me a bit more insight. Thanks a lot!