Source: Operation Last Chance: One Man's Quest To Bring Nazi Criminals To Justice, pp 100-1
Text:
The dedication ceremony at Ponar was, in that respect, a litmus test for the intentions of the Lithuanian government in regard to a whole range of Holocaust-related issues that it, and its fellow post-Communist democracies, was forced to face, almost immediately in the wake of independence. Under different circumstances, these issues would not have been granted priority, but several factors considered critical by these new East European states catapulted Holocaust-related subjects to near the top of the political agenda. For fear of the Russians, all of these governments viewed membership in NATO and the European Union as their primary foreign policy objectives, and virtually all of them believed that their success in achieving these goals would be seriously influenced by their relations with the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
British Security Coordination and Forged Maps
Source: The Irregulars: Roald Dahl And The British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington. By Jennet Conant
pp93-95
Text
The BSC's anti-Nazi underground was from the start "a shoe-string operation", and relatively little had been accomplished by the spring of 1942 when Hoover moved to rein in Stephenson's activities and ordered him to curtail their defensive efforts in the southern republics. Hoover, Bryce noted, was a man for whom " jealousies and petty rivalries meant more than great causes." Although the FBI direction was "on good terms" with Stephenson, "he was immensely touchy at the thought of any British interference in what he regarded as 'his territory.'" In March, Bryce alterted Lippmann to the gravity of the situation: "If you felt at all inclined to write anything about the danger to S America, I could give you any number of facts which have never been published, but which my friends here would like to see judiciously made public, at this point."
pp93-95
Text
The BSC's anti-Nazi underground was from the start "a shoe-string operation", and relatively little had been accomplished by the spring of 1942 when Hoover moved to rein in Stephenson's activities and ordered him to curtail their defensive efforts in the southern republics. Hoover, Bryce noted, was a man for whom " jealousies and petty rivalries meant more than great causes." Although the FBI direction was "on good terms" with Stephenson, "he was immensely touchy at the thought of any British interference in what he regarded as 'his territory.'" In March, Bryce alterted Lippmann to the gravity of the situation: "If you felt at all inclined to write anything about the danger to S America, I could give you any number of facts which have never been published, but which my friends here would like to see judiciously made public, at this point."
Monday, March 12, 2012
English Munitions and the July 20th 1944 Plot
Source: Luck of the Devil by Ian Kershaw.
Comment: Gestapo believed there was English involvement in assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler in 1939 (but no evidence survived the war). This is just to record some sources regarding the use of English munitions (which is generally accepted) in the July 20 plot.
Text:
page 124-126
SS Report on the Conspiracy, 26 July 1944
Reich Chief Security Office - IV -
Special Commission for July 20, 1944. Berlin, July 26, 1944
Report on the plot against the Fuehrer of July 20, 1944.
Comment: Gestapo believed there was English involvement in assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler in 1939 (but no evidence survived the war). This is just to record some sources regarding the use of English munitions (which is generally accepted) in the July 20 plot.
Text:
page 124-126
SS Report on the Conspiracy, 26 July 1944
Reich Chief Security Office - IV -
Special Commission for July 20, 1944. Berlin, July 26, 1944
Report on the plot against the Fuehrer of July 20, 1944.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Jews and Polish Underground Press
Source: Jan Gross, "A Tangled Web" in The Politics of Retribution in Europe ed Deak, Gross and Judt. pp 81-82
Text:
An excerpt from an article published in the milieu of the Socio-Political Committee Pobudka (The Wake-Up Call). It was carried by the periodical Words of Truth, published on 30 October 1943:
Text:
An excerpt from an article published in the milieu of the Socio-Political Committee Pobudka (The Wake-Up Call). It was carried by the periodical Words of Truth, published on 30 October 1943:
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Winston Churchill and Claus von Stauffenberg.
Source: Hansard 12 July 1944. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/jul/12/german-people-peace-terms#S5CV0401P0_19440712_HOC_172
Comment: A striking feature of a number of resistance plots against Hitler was the use of English explosives/detonation systems. While it is usually claimed that these came from captured Abwehr or Wehrmacht stocks, it is worth keeping in mind the possibility of a direct connection with British intelligence. Von Klemperer in German Resistance Against Hitler states specifically that Stauffenberg believed he had a line of communication with Churchill (page 383). MP Richard Stokes was an independent minded Labour member of Ipswich. John Dugdale was also a Labour MP and Private Parliamentary Secretary to Clement Atlee.
Text:
12 July 1944 → Commons Sitting → ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
Comment: A striking feature of a number of resistance plots against Hitler was the use of English explosives/detonation systems. While it is usually claimed that these came from captured Abwehr or Wehrmacht stocks, it is worth keeping in mind the possibility of a direct connection with British intelligence. Von Klemperer in German Resistance Against Hitler states specifically that Stauffenberg believed he had a line of communication with Churchill (page 383). MP Richard Stokes was an independent minded Labour member of Ipswich. John Dugdale was also a Labour MP and Private Parliamentary Secretary to Clement Atlee.
Text:
12 July 1944 → Commons Sitting → ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
GERMAN PEOPLE (PEACE TERMS)
HC Deb 12 July 1944 vol 401 cc1732-3 1732
§ 40. Mr. Stokesasked the Prime Minister whether His Majesty's Government will make plain at once the treatment which the German people may expect to receive from the United Nations, provided they themselves overthrow the Nazi regime, thereby encouraging them to that end and diminishing the loss of life and limb to our own Forces.
SS Eyewitness at Auschwitz?
Source: (HQ BAOR, interrogation reports from No. 1 Sub-Centre, 10 Dec 1945. (D) Taped conversation held on 3 Nov 1945 between Ernst von Gottstein and Eugen Horak - Document 13 in Interrogations: Inside the Minds of the Nazi Elite, Penguin, 2001, pp. 371-74)
Comment: Ernst von Gottstein (Hauptbauleiter OT, Gauamtsleiter fur Technik, Gau Karnten) and Eugen Horak (interpreter in Gruppe VI/C of the RSHA). If any subsequent information about Eugen Horak's service record and how he ended up in Auschwitz has come to light, I am not aware of it. Department VI/C was responsible for espionage and counter espionage abroad, C was responsible for Russia and Japan.
Text:
Horak: I was present in Vienna when they were loading up people for one of those mass evacuations. Hundreds were crammed into wagons, which normally took a couple of cows. And they were thoroughly beaten up as well. I went up to a young SS man and asked if the beating up was really necessary. He laughed and said they were only scum anyway. You know the whole thing was so unnecessary and one could well have got on without it ... what was the purpose of all that beating up? I have nothing at all against the gas chambers. A time can come when it is useful to the race to eliminate certain elements. Extermination is one thing but there is no need to torture your victims beforehand.
Comment: Ernst von Gottstein (Hauptbauleiter OT, Gauamtsleiter fur Technik, Gau Karnten) and Eugen Horak (interpreter in Gruppe VI/C of the RSHA). If any subsequent information about Eugen Horak's service record and how he ended up in Auschwitz has come to light, I am not aware of it. Department VI/C was responsible for espionage and counter espionage abroad, C was responsible for Russia and Japan.
Text:
Horak: I was present in Vienna when they were loading up people for one of those mass evacuations. Hundreds were crammed into wagons, which normally took a couple of cows. And they were thoroughly beaten up as well. I went up to a young SS man and asked if the beating up was really necessary. He laughed and said they were only scum anyway. You know the whole thing was so unnecessary and one could well have got on without it ... what was the purpose of all that beating up? I have nothing at all against the gas chambers. A time can come when it is useful to the race to eliminate certain elements. Extermination is one thing but there is no need to torture your victims beforehand.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
OSS And Archaelogical Agents
Text: Skulduggery: How the Allies' archaeological schools were used as a cover for intelligence work during the German occupation of Greece. By Richard Clogg
Source: Times Literary Supplement, Feb 10, 2012, page 3. Review of Classical Spies by Susan Heuck Allen.
Comment: Main interest is the integrity of OSS archives.
The author appears to have consulted pretty well all possible archival sources. At times, however, she demonstrates an over-reliance on the written records and, in particular, on the self-promoting effusions of Colonel Ulius Amoss, who had worked for the YMCA in pre-war Greece. Amoss was given to feeding Donovan with ludicrously inaccurate intelligence on the situation in occupied Greece, and to flattering him with claims of the existence of such unlikely bodies as a 500-strong Cretan guerrilla force known as "Donovan's Band", and of a group of 300 andartes in Epirus which went under the name of "The American Legion".
Included in the "controlled avalanche" of OSS material used by Allen is one particular document that seems problematic. Confusingly dated 10/9/99 and stamped "EYES ONLY", "DO NOT COPY", this records that Amoss, while in Cairo had "recruited, trained and launched numerous teams of assassins that carried out hits on various targets all over North Africa, Southern Europe, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal". It is true that Amoss was removed in 1943 from the Middle East for importing a contract killer from the US to Cairo and for what was euphemistically termed "financial mismanagement", but can it really be argued that he masterminded a mass programme of assassinations? After the war, this real-life Walter Mitty set up a private intelligence organization which was involved in a bizarre plot to kidnapp Stalin's surviving son in Moscow.
Coudl this memorandum have been inserted by the CIA, the origianl custodian of the OSS archive? Or could it be a forgery placed in the archive by a prankster? In my experience of working in the OSS archive in the mid-1980s, it would not have been difficult to insert such a paper in the jumble of documents, rare ephermera and fascinating photographs that bore no indication of their belonging to the OSS archive. It occurred to me at the time that light fingered researchers could easily walk off with some of this material with no one being any the wiser. I had naively assumed that the US National Archive and Records Administration would prove to be object lesson in such archival excellence. This was far from being the case, at least as far as the thousands of cubic feet of OSS material were concerned.
Source: Times Literary Supplement, Feb 10, 2012, page 3. Review of Classical Spies by Susan Heuck Allen.
Comment: Main interest is the integrity of OSS archives.
The author appears to have consulted pretty well all possible archival sources. At times, however, she demonstrates an over-reliance on the written records and, in particular, on the self-promoting effusions of Colonel Ulius Amoss, who had worked for the YMCA in pre-war Greece. Amoss was given to feeding Donovan with ludicrously inaccurate intelligence on the situation in occupied Greece, and to flattering him with claims of the existence of such unlikely bodies as a 500-strong Cretan guerrilla force known as "Donovan's Band", and of a group of 300 andartes in Epirus which went under the name of "The American Legion".
Included in the "controlled avalanche" of OSS material used by Allen is one particular document that seems problematic. Confusingly dated 10/9/99 and stamped "EYES ONLY", "DO NOT COPY", this records that Amoss, while in Cairo had "recruited, trained and launched numerous teams of assassins that carried out hits on various targets all over North Africa, Southern Europe, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal". It is true that Amoss was removed in 1943 from the Middle East for importing a contract killer from the US to Cairo and for what was euphemistically termed "financial mismanagement", but can it really be argued that he masterminded a mass programme of assassinations? After the war, this real-life Walter Mitty set up a private intelligence organization which was involved in a bizarre plot to kidnapp Stalin's surviving son in Moscow.
Coudl this memorandum have been inserted by the CIA, the origianl custodian of the OSS archive? Or could it be a forgery placed in the archive by a prankster? In my experience of working in the OSS archive in the mid-1980s, it would not have been difficult to insert such a paper in the jumble of documents, rare ephermera and fascinating photographs that bore no indication of their belonging to the OSS archive. It occurred to me at the time that light fingered researchers could easily walk off with some of this material with no one being any the wiser. I had naively assumed that the US National Archive and Records Administration would prove to be object lesson in such archival excellence. This was far from being the case, at least as far as the thousands of cubic feet of OSS material were concerned.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Hoess Affidavit: NI-4434-A
Source: Nuremberg Document NI-4434-A
Comment: Given in Warsaw 12 March 1947
Text:
From May 1940, until 1 December 1943, I was commandant of the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Thereafter I was Chief of Office of the Department I of Wirtschafts Verwaltungs Hauptamt. Until 1 December 1943, one of my official functions was to inspect the use of labor (Arbeitseinsatz) of concentration camp prisoners from the Auschwitz camp and subsequently to inspect the use as labor of prisoners from all German concentration camps whenever Polh, the chief of the Main Office (Hauptamt); especially ordered me to do so.
According to my knowledge, the large scale use of concentration camp prisoners in the German private industry began in 1940/41. The utilization increased constantly until the end of the war.
Comment: Given in Warsaw 12 March 1947
Text:
From May 1940, until 1 December 1943, I was commandant of the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Thereafter I was Chief of Office of the Department I of Wirtschafts Verwaltungs Hauptamt. Until 1 December 1943, one of my official functions was to inspect the use of labor (Arbeitseinsatz) of concentration camp prisoners from the Auschwitz camp and subsequently to inspect the use as labor of prisoners from all German concentration camps whenever Polh, the chief of the Main Office (Hauptamt); especially ordered me to do so.
According to my knowledge, the large scale use of concentration camp prisoners in the German private industry began in 1940/41. The utilization increased constantly until the end of the war.
Monday, August 29, 2011
William Shirer's Berlin Diary and "Mercy Killings"
Source: Two entries in late 1940 in William Shirer's Berlin diary.
Comment: Written or prepared for publication in early 1941 it must represent one of the earliest descriptions of "Mercy Killings" in the Allied public sphere. Quite accurate in identification of 3 of the 6 major locations, but not accurate at all in his description of the genesis of the scheme.
Text:
Berlin, September 21 1940
X came up to my room in the Adlon to-day, and after we had disconnected my telephone and made sure that no one as listening through the crack of the door to the next room he told me a weird story. He says the Gestapo is now systematically bumping off the mentally deficient people of the Reich. The Nazis call them "mercy deaths". He relates that Pastor Bodelschwingh, who runs a large hospital for various kinds of feeble-mined children at Bethel was ordered to be arrested a few days ago because he refused to deliver up some of his more serious mental cases to the secret police. Shortly after this, his hospital is bombed. By the "British". Must look into this story.
Comment: Written or prepared for publication in early 1941 it must represent one of the earliest descriptions of "Mercy Killings" in the Allied public sphere. Quite accurate in identification of 3 of the 6 major locations, but not accurate at all in his description of the genesis of the scheme.
Text:
Berlin, September 21 1940
X came up to my room in the Adlon to-day, and after we had disconnected my telephone and made sure that no one as listening through the crack of the door to the next room he told me a weird story. He says the Gestapo is now systematically bumping off the mentally deficient people of the Reich. The Nazis call them "mercy deaths". He relates that Pastor Bodelschwingh, who runs a large hospital for various kinds of feeble-mined children at Bethel was ordered to be arrested a few days ago because he refused to deliver up some of his more serious mental cases to the secret police. Shortly after this, his hospital is bombed. By the "British". Must look into this story.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Selections of Hans Joseph Graf MATUSCHKA's affidavit on the Hungarian Jews
Source: NG-2440, 26 August 1947 Nuernberg. The Holocaust: Selected Documents in Eighteen Volumes. Vol. 8, pp 248-254
Text:
I, Hans Joseph Graf (Count) MATUSCHKA was employed in the German Foreign Service from 1918 to 1919 and from 1934 to 1945. From 1940 to the end of the war (1945), I was German Consul in Kaschau (Kassa), which then belonged to Hungary. During this period, I observed the following facts related to the policy concerning the Jews; I am noting down these observations in lieu of oath according to the best of my knowledge and conscience.
Text:
I, Hans Joseph Graf (Count) MATUSCHKA was employed in the German Foreign Service from 1918 to 1919 and from 1934 to 1945. From 1940 to the end of the war (1945), I was German Consul in Kaschau (Kassa), which then belonged to Hungary. During this period, I observed the following facts related to the policy concerning the Jews; I am noting down these observations in lieu of oath according to the best of my knowledge and conscience.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Testimony of Henri Henripierre re Strasbourg skeleton collection
Source: Nuernberg Transcript of Proceedings, USA v. Karl Brandt, et all., pp 708-718. December 18, 1946
Comment: The eyewitness who claims to have prepared the skeletons of Hirt's collection
Text
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. McHANEY:
Q. Witness -
A. Yes
Q. Your name is Henri Henripierre?
A. Yes sir.
Q. You are a citizen of France?
A. Yes, I am a French citizen.
Q. When and where were you born?
A. I was born in Lievres on the 23rd of August 1905
Q. What was the year in which you were born again, please?
A. 1905
Q. What is your present address? That is your home address?
A. My present address is 14 Rude De Lail, Strassbourg.
Q. Will you tell the Tribunal just a bit about your personal history, what you have done and been doing up to the time you came to be a Clerk in the Anatomical Institute at Strasbourg?
A. I should like fist of all to make it clear that I did not come here with any feelings of hatred or vengeance. I came here solely owing to a sentiment of having to do my duty and out of justice. I owe this to the 86 doctor victims whom we received in the month of August, 1943, I would, therefore, say before having to proceed with the preservation of the 86 victims that I made at least 250 preservations of Russian and Polish prisoners who died under the ill treatment at Mutzig. That is enough to show that I know how to appreciate the difference between a violent death and a natural death.
Comment: The eyewitness who claims to have prepared the skeletons of Hirt's collection
Text
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. McHANEY:
Q. Witness -
A. Yes
Q. Your name is Henri Henripierre?
A. Yes sir.
Q. You are a citizen of France?
A. Yes, I am a French citizen.
Q. When and where were you born?
A. I was born in Lievres on the 23rd of August 1905
Q. What was the year in which you were born again, please?
A. 1905
Q. What is your present address? That is your home address?
A. My present address is 14 Rude De Lail, Strassbourg.
Q. Will you tell the Tribunal just a bit about your personal history, what you have done and been doing up to the time you came to be a Clerk in the Anatomical Institute at Strasbourg?
A. I should like fist of all to make it clear that I did not come here with any feelings of hatred or vengeance. I came here solely owing to a sentiment of having to do my duty and out of justice. I owe this to the 86 doctor victims whom we received in the month of August, 1943, I would, therefore, say before having to proceed with the preservation of the 86 victims that I made at least 250 preservations of Russian and Polish prisoners who died under the ill treatment at Mutzig. That is enough to show that I know how to appreciate the difference between a violent death and a natural death.
Albert Hartl on Kiev
Source: NO-5384. The Holocaust: Selected Documents in Eighteen Volumes. Vol 10, page 220-221
Comment: Albert Hartl made a series of rather odd claims regarding Kiew. This is one of them.
Text:
Affidavit
I, Albert HARTL, swear, despose and state:
1. I was born in Roschholzen on 13 November 1904. I attended elementary school in Hofkirchen from 1910 to 1914. From 1914 to 1919 I attended the Latin School in Schayern and from 1919 to 1923 the Gymnasium in Freising. Then I was at the High School there for a year and 4 years at Munich University. I studied philosophy and theology.
2. Early in 1934 I received an offer from Himmler to work on a scientific assignment for him. In the year 1935 I took over the Intelligence Service concern church affairs. Early in the year 1941 I came to Office IV. Because I had differences of opinion with my officer chief Mueller, in which he reproached me for being too soft, Mueller as a punishment wanted to assign me to a shooting kommando in Kiev. Since this task did not appeal to me, I went to Heydrich and complained. Heydrich told me he saw my point of view and gave me a scientific assignment which I was to carry out in the east.
Comment: Albert Hartl made a series of rather odd claims regarding Kiew. This is one of them.
Text:
Affidavit
I, Albert HARTL, swear, despose and state:
1. I was born in Roschholzen on 13 November 1904. I attended elementary school in Hofkirchen from 1910 to 1914. From 1914 to 1919 I attended the Latin School in Schayern and from 1919 to 1923 the Gymnasium in Freising. Then I was at the High School there for a year and 4 years at Munich University. I studied philosophy and theology.
2. Early in 1934 I received an offer from Himmler to work on a scientific assignment for him. In the year 1935 I took over the Intelligence Service concern church affairs. Early in the year 1941 I came to Office IV. Because I had differences of opinion with my officer chief Mueller, in which he reproached me for being too soft, Mueller as a punishment wanted to assign me to a shooting kommando in Kiev. Since this task did not appeal to me, I went to Heydrich and complained. Heydrich told me he saw my point of view and gave me a scientific assignment which I was to carry out in the east.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel
Source: The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel, edited by Walter Gorlitz, 1965.
Comment: Might have interest in Brauchitsch, resistance networks and other sundry matters.
Text:
Page 87 [Speech of August 22 1939 at Berghof]
All the more remarkable was his Berghof speech delivered on 22nd August to the generals of the eastern armies ranged against Poland, a speech delivered with the finest sense of psychological timing and application. Hitler was an extraordinarily gifted orator, with a masterly capability of moulding his words and phrases to suit his audience. I would even go so far to say that he had learned his lesson from the ill-conceived meeting with the chiefs of staff, and had realised that trying to set them at odds with their commanders-in-chief had been a psychological error. Other versions of this particular speech have been subjectively distorted, as the minute taken by Admiral Boehm, who must be regarded as absolutely impartial, clearly shows.
On 24th August, Hitler arrived in Berlin and on the 26th the invasion of Poland was due to begin. The events in the Reich Chancellery during the days prior to 3rd September are of such world-wide and lasting historical importance that it will be better for me to leave their logical analysis and exact interpretation to professional historians; I myself can contribute but little from my own experience, and unfortunately I dispose over no notes or memoranda upon which to base my own recollections.
Comment: Might have interest in Brauchitsch, resistance networks and other sundry matters.
Text:
Page 87 [Speech of August 22 1939 at Berghof]
All the more remarkable was his Berghof speech delivered on 22nd August to the generals of the eastern armies ranged against Poland, a speech delivered with the finest sense of psychological timing and application. Hitler was an extraordinarily gifted orator, with a masterly capability of moulding his words and phrases to suit his audience. I would even go so far to say that he had learned his lesson from the ill-conceived meeting with the chiefs of staff, and had realised that trying to set them at odds with their commanders-in-chief had been a psychological error. Other versions of this particular speech have been subjectively distorted, as the minute taken by Admiral Boehm, who must be regarded as absolutely impartial, clearly shows.
On 24th August, Hitler arrived in Berlin and on the 26th the invasion of Poland was due to begin. The events in the Reich Chancellery during the days prior to 3rd September are of such world-wide and lasting historical importance that it will be better for me to leave their logical analysis and exact interpretation to professional historians; I myself can contribute but little from my own experience, and unfortunately I dispose over no notes or memoranda upon which to base my own recollections.
Monday, June 6, 2011
NO-508 Affidavit Dr Gerhard Schiedlausky - Buchenwald physician
Source: NO-508 Affidavit of 7 August 1945.
Comment:
Text:
Freising, 7 August 1945
I, Gerhard SCHIEDLAUSKY, MD, Hauptsturmfuehrer of the Reserve of the Waffen SS, declare the following:
Comment:
Text:
Freising, 7 August 1945
I, Gerhard SCHIEDLAUSKY, MD, Hauptsturmfuehrer of the Reserve of the Waffen SS, declare the following:
Saturday, May 28, 2011
NO-2429 Gustav Claussen, affidavit on Hartheim
Source: Nuremberg document NO-2429
Comment: Claussen is wrong to suggest all who allegedly destroyed the Hartheim facilities were killed. At least one person gave testimony
Text
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO. NO-2429
OFFICE CHIEF OF COUNSEL FOR WAR CRIMES
I, Gustav Claussen, born in Busum [?], Schleswig, Holstein, on 7 March, 1897, and now residing in Dachau, Germany, duly swear and state:
That from the end of 1943 till March 1945 I was a prisoner on duty in the Arbeits Einstaz in Mauthausen where the administrative work was accomplished for Mauthausen and sub-camps; that in this office I did clerical work, such as making reports, keeping records, and corresponding with firms who used prisoners in the operation of their business; that in the course of my duties I saw a secret teletype message which to the best of my memory was as follows:
"TO THE CONCENTRATION CAMP MAUTHAUSEN, SS STANDARTENFUHRER ZIEREIS, HARTHEIM MUST BE DESTROYED IMMEDIATELY. EXECUTION MUST BE REPORTED. BY ORDER OF THE FUEHRER,
Comment: Claussen is wrong to suggest all who allegedly destroyed the Hartheim facilities were killed. At least one person gave testimony
Text
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO. NO-2429
OFFICE CHIEF OF COUNSEL FOR WAR CRIMES
I, Gustav Claussen, born in Busum [?], Schleswig, Holstein, on 7 March, 1897, and now residing in Dachau, Germany, duly swear and state:
That from the end of 1943 till March 1945 I was a prisoner on duty in the Arbeits Einstaz in Mauthausen where the administrative work was accomplished for Mauthausen and sub-camps; that in this office I did clerical work, such as making reports, keeping records, and corresponding with firms who used prisoners in the operation of their business; that in the course of my duties I saw a secret teletype message which to the best of my memory was as follows:
"TO THE CONCENTRATION CAMP MAUTHAUSEN, SS STANDARTENFUHRER ZIEREIS, HARTHEIM MUST BE DESTROYED IMMEDIATELY. EXECUTION MUST BE REPORTED. BY ORDER OF THE FUEHRER,
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Anton Kaindl, Commandant of Sachsenhausen. July 16 1946
Source: Affidavit of 16 July 1946, from which NI 280 was derived. Entered into Nuremberg Documentation Scheide 12 (Defense Exhibit Number).
Comment:
Text
DOCUMENT BOOK II SCHEIDE No. 33
Affidavit Nuernberg, 16 July 1944
Concerning my person: My name is Anton Kaindl, born on 14 July 1902 in Munich. My last rank was: SS-Standartenfuehrer of the Waffen SS. My last position was: commander of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, from August 1942 until its dissolution.
Being duly sworn/depose and say:
Ad rem:
Section I: Historical development of the Concentration Camp system
I
Staff commands and SS-Death-Head Units (Totenkopfverbaende) = SS - T - Wachsturmbann (guard unit)
Comment:
Text
DOCUMENT BOOK II SCHEIDE No. 33
Affidavit Nuernberg, 16 July 1944
Concerning my person: My name is Anton Kaindl, born on 14 July 1902 in Munich. My last rank was: SS-Standartenfuehrer of the Waffen SS. My last position was: commander of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, from August 1942 until its dissolution.
Being duly sworn/depose and say:
Ad rem:
Section I: Historical development of the Concentration Camp system
I
Staff commands and SS-Death-Head Units (Totenkopfverbaende) = SS - T - Wachsturmbann (guard unit)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Richard Baer's Five interrogations
Source: Frankfurt trial DVD
Comment: Provided to assist my more misguided friends. Five interrogations in which Baer provides no details about homicidal gassings with a rather weak exception of the day after his arrest. The last interrogation was October 1961, there are no further records released until his premature death in June 1963.
Text
Richterliche Vernehmung des Angeklagten Richard Baer vom 22.12.1960
Amtsgericht, Abteilung 931
Frankfurt am Main, den 22.12.1960
931 Gs 7908/60
Gegenwärtig:
Amtsgerichtsrat Opper
als Richter,
Justizangestellte
Riedmüller
als Urkundsbeamtin der
Geschäftsstelle
Vorgeführt aus der Untersuchungshaftanstalt Frankfurt am Main-Hammelsgasse, erscheint der Beschuldigte Richard Baer.
Der Haftbefehl des Amtgerichts Frankfurt am Main – 931 Gs. 6320/60 – vom 21.10.1960, der dem Beschuldigten durch das Amtsgericht Schwarzenbek am 20.12.1960 bereits verkündet worden ist, wurde dem Beschuldigten erneut mit Beschwerderecht bekanntgegeben.
Dem Beschuldigten wurde außerdem der Beschluß des Amtsgerichts Frankfurt am Main – 931 Gs. 7862/60 verkündet.
Der Beschuldigte wurde gefragt, ob er auf die Beschuldigungen im Haftbefehl etwas erwidern wolle.
Er erklärt, daß er sich nicht im Sinne der Beschuldigungen im Haftbefehl strafbar gemacht habe.
Er erklärt:
Ich bin nur Lagerkommandant im Lager Auschwitz I gewesen. Mit den Teillagern, in denen Vergasungen stattfanden, hatte ich nichts zu tun. Ich habe auch keinen Einfluß auf die Vergasungen selbst gehabt. Die Vergasungen fanden im Lager II statt. Dieses Lager unterstand nicht mir, sondern dem Hauptsturmführer Kramer. Er war zu meiner Zeit Kommandant des Lagers II. Der Evakuierungsmarsch wurde vom Reichssicherheitshauptamt in Berlin angeordnet und unter meiner Leitung, allerdings nur, soweit es sich um das Lager I handelt, durchgeführt. Ich selbst habe nach einigen Stunden des Marsches gesehen, daß das so nicht ging. Es lag viel Schnee, und die Häftlinge waren nicht in der Lage, die vorgesehenen sechs Tage bis ins KL Groß-Rosen zu marschieren. Ich bin dann im Auto vorausgefahren und habe in Ratibor nach mühsamen Verhandlungen mit Beamten der Reichsbahn erreicht, daß ich offene Waggons bekam, mit denen dann die Verlegung zum Bestimmungsort durchgeführt worden ist.
Comment: Provided to assist my more misguided friends. Five interrogations in which Baer provides no details about homicidal gassings with a rather weak exception of the day after his arrest. The last interrogation was October 1961, there are no further records released until his premature death in June 1963.
Text
Richterliche Vernehmung des Angeklagten Richard Baer vom 22.12.1960
Amtsgericht, Abteilung 931
Frankfurt am Main, den 22.12.1960
931 Gs 7908/60
Gegenwärtig:
Amtsgerichtsrat Opper
als Richter,
Justizangestellte
Riedmüller
als Urkundsbeamtin der
Geschäftsstelle
Vorgeführt aus der Untersuchungshaftanstalt Frankfurt am Main-Hammelsgasse, erscheint der Beschuldigte Richard Baer.
Der Haftbefehl des Amtgerichts Frankfurt am Main – 931 Gs. 6320/60 – vom 21.10.1960, der dem Beschuldigten durch das Amtsgericht Schwarzenbek am 20.12.1960 bereits verkündet worden ist, wurde dem Beschuldigten erneut mit Beschwerderecht bekanntgegeben.
Dem Beschuldigten wurde außerdem der Beschluß des Amtsgerichts Frankfurt am Main – 931 Gs. 7862/60 verkündet.
Der Beschuldigte wurde gefragt, ob er auf die Beschuldigungen im Haftbefehl etwas erwidern wolle.
Er erklärt, daß er sich nicht im Sinne der Beschuldigungen im Haftbefehl strafbar gemacht habe.
Er erklärt:
Ich bin nur Lagerkommandant im Lager Auschwitz I gewesen. Mit den Teillagern, in denen Vergasungen stattfanden, hatte ich nichts zu tun. Ich habe auch keinen Einfluß auf die Vergasungen selbst gehabt. Die Vergasungen fanden im Lager II statt. Dieses Lager unterstand nicht mir, sondern dem Hauptsturmführer Kramer. Er war zu meiner Zeit Kommandant des Lagers II. Der Evakuierungsmarsch wurde vom Reichssicherheitshauptamt in Berlin angeordnet und unter meiner Leitung, allerdings nur, soweit es sich um das Lager I handelt, durchgeführt. Ich selbst habe nach einigen Stunden des Marsches gesehen, daß das so nicht ging. Es lag viel Schnee, und die Häftlinge waren nicht in der Lage, die vorgesehenen sechs Tage bis ins KL Groß-Rosen zu marschieren. Ich bin dann im Auto vorausgefahren und habe in Ratibor nach mühsamen Verhandlungen mit Beamten der Reichsbahn erreicht, daß ich offene Waggons bekam, mit denen dann die Verlegung zum Bestimmungsort durchgeführt worden ist.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
NO-2368. Friedrich Entress on Auschwitz
Source: NO-2368. Only the English translation seems available.
Comment: Entress was a camp doctor. He was convicted and sentenced to death in the Mauthausen trial in 1946. This affidavit was given about 1 month before he was hung while seeking clemency.
Text:
I, Friedrich ENTRESS, swear, depose and state as follows:
1. I, Friedrich ENTRESS, was born on 8 December 1914 in Posen. There I attended the elementary school, the high school and the university.
2. I passed my state examination in June 1939, and in the middle of 1942 was given by decree the doctor's title by the Ministry of culture.
3. I was never a member of the NSDAP. In 1939 I enlisted in the self defense (Selbstschutz) in Posen voluntarily and was drafted into the Waffen-SS in October 1939.
Comment: Entress was a camp doctor. He was convicted and sentenced to death in the Mauthausen trial in 1946. This affidavit was given about 1 month before he was hung while seeking clemency.
Text:
I, Friedrich ENTRESS, swear, depose and state as follows:
1. I, Friedrich ENTRESS, was born on 8 December 1914 in Posen. There I attended the elementary school, the high school and the university.
2. I passed my state examination in June 1939, and in the middle of 1942 was given by decree the doctor's title by the Ministry of culture.
3. I was never a member of the NSDAP. In 1939 I enlisted in the self defense (Selbstschutz) in Posen voluntarily and was drafted into the Waffen-SS in October 1939.
Jan Karski: Story of a Secret State
Source: Story of a Secret State by Jan Karski
Comment: Items of interest
Text
[page 7 - mobilisation and German attack]
There were, too, the remarks my brother had made during the hours immediately after the mobilization. My brother, who was my senior by nearly a score of years, held an important government position and had belonged, as far back as I could remember, to the 'well-informed circles.' The citations which Pietrzak made from his father, who had even more authoritative channels of information, amplified and confirmed the analysis given by my brother. Others joined in with gleanings from relatives, friends and their personal deductions. The entire compilation, when sifted down, tended to leave us with the conclusion that our mobilization was simply the Polish riposte to the Nazi war of nerves. Germany was weak and Hitler was bluffing. When he saw that Poland was strong, united, prepared, he would back down quickly and we should all go home, If not, the farcical little fanatic would be taught a severe lession by Poland and, if necessary, by England and France.
Comment: Items of interest
Text
[page 7 - mobilisation and German attack]
There were, too, the remarks my brother had made during the hours immediately after the mobilization. My brother, who was my senior by nearly a score of years, held an important government position and had belonged, as far back as I could remember, to the 'well-informed circles.' The citations which Pietrzak made from his father, who had even more authoritative channels of information, amplified and confirmed the analysis given by my brother. Others joined in with gleanings from relatives, friends and their personal deductions. The entire compilation, when sifted down, tended to leave us with the conclusion that our mobilization was simply the Polish riposte to the Nazi war of nerves. Germany was weak and Hitler was bluffing. When he saw that Poland was strong, united, prepared, he would back down quickly and we should all go home, If not, the farcical little fanatic would be taught a severe lession by Poland and, if necessary, by England and France.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Jan Malinowski: Early Escapee from Auschwitz
Source: The Miami News - October 25, 1942 - North American Newspaper Alliance
Comment: Jan Malinowski escaped in June 1942, but was not aware of gas chambers and has only a garbled account of what might be phenol lethal injections.
Text
PRISONERS USED FOR GUINEA PIGS BY NAZIS, SAYS DOCTOR WHO FLED
[Editor's Note: This is the story of a Polish physician, who since March, 1940, edited an underground newspaper in Warsaw and was arrested in December, 1941 and has just succeeded in escaping to England. Dr. Malinowski was deported to the ill-famed concentration camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland. Last June he and a companion made a break for freedom. His friend was caught and shot, but the doctor managed to reach the Hungarin border, and with the help of the Polish underground, arrived in the Middle East and now London.]
Comment: Jan Malinowski escaped in June 1942, but was not aware of gas chambers and has only a garbled account of what might be phenol lethal injections.
Text
PRISONERS USED FOR GUINEA PIGS BY NAZIS, SAYS DOCTOR WHO FLED
[Editor's Note: This is the story of a Polish physician, who since March, 1940, edited an underground newspaper in Warsaw and was arrested in December, 1941 and has just succeeded in escaping to England. Dr. Malinowski was deported to the ill-famed concentration camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland. Last June he and a companion made a break for freedom. His friend was caught and shot, but the doctor managed to reach the Hungarin border, and with the help of the Polish underground, arrived in the Middle East and now London.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)