eleven of the defendants were sentenced to death. they included kramer, volkenrath and klein. the executions by hanging took place on december 13, 1945 in hamelin. fourteen defendants were acquitted (one was excluded from the trial due to illness). of the remaining 19, one was sentenced to life in prison but he was executed for another crime. eighteen were sentenced to prison for periods of one to 15 years; however, most of these sentences were subsequently reduced significantly on appeals or pleas for clemency. by june 1955, the last of those sentenced in the belsen trial had been released. nine other members of the belsen personnel were tried by later military tribunals in 1946 and 1948.