German Crimes in Poland

Published by the Central Commission for Investigation of German Crimes in

Poland - Warsaw, 1946
Note on Source Material: the text contains numerous inaccuracies of spelling,
hyphenation and grammatical usage, which have been left as in the original. Usage is
also inconsistent. Page numbers precede text.
N!"#
$%ac&ground
$'he (uschwit) "xtermination *amp. Part
$'he (uschwit) "xtermination *amp. Part
$'he (uschwit) "xtermination *amp. Part
$'he 'reblin&a "xtermination *amp
$'he "xtermination *amp at *helmno +,ulmhof-
$"xtermination of the Polish .ews in the /ears 0121$0134. Part
$"xtermination of the Polish .ews in the /ears 0121$0134. Part
$5erman *rimes *ommitted !uring the 6arsaw 7ising. %ac&ground
$5erman *rimes *ommitted !uring the 6arsaw 7ising. Part
$5erman *rimes *ommitted !uring the 6arsaw 7ising. Part
$5erman *rimes (gainst Soviet Prisoners$of$6ar in Poland
888
%(*,579UN!:N'79!U*'9N
'he *entral *ommission for the nvestigation of 5erman crimes in Poland, after
more than a year;s wor&, is now publishing the first results of its investigations of the
crimes which the 5ermans committed between 0121 and 0134.
<or months members of the *ommission investigated any traces left by the occupants
of the crimes they had committed, collected documents and all available proofs of
crime, and too& evidence from witnesses and from surviving victims of the criminal
proceedings, in an endeavour to obtain as detailed and true a picture of the offences
as possible. t is due to the fact that these investigations were carried out in due legal
form, by examination of witnesses and according to the principles which are valid in
all =udicial proceedings$i.e. impartiality, proper caution in collecting evidence, and
careful verification of witnesses; statements$that so long a time has elapsed before the
*ommission could publish the first results of its wor&. (ll data which appear in this
bulletin are based on evidence which has been very carefully examined from every
angle and properly verified. 'he only statements and documents that have been
considered were those which could be treated as factual evidence. 9nly data of
un>uestioned evidential value were considered fit for publication.
'he %ulletin of the *entral *ommission for the nvestigation of 5erman *rimes in
Poland aim at recording the uni>ue historical and sociological phenomenon of the
crimes which the 5ermans committed in Poland during the world war 0121$34. 'he
recording of these crimes and their detailed reconstruction has been considered by the
*ommission as a duty, not only towards the Polish nation, but towards humanity. Not
merely the present but also future generations ought to reali)e what deeds were
performed by the 5ermans under the influence of national$socialistic ideology? what
certain ideas and social myths lead to, and of what &ind and range where the crimes
committed by the 5ermans in the middle of the twentieth century in a country the
population of which was considered by the rulers of the 'hird 7eich as mere slaves,
condemned to death.
'he crimes that were committed in Poland cannot be treated as transgressions by
individuals against laws, regulations, or orders. 'hey are not merely the criminal acts
of individual people, in breach of valid laws. 'hey were planned and prepared for by
the chief 5erman governmental authorities, who explicitly instructed offices and
government officials as to the way in which they should be carried out.
'hey were committed in accordance with Na)i law and with Na)i ethics and
ideology? not only by members of the 5estapo, SS and police, but also by officers
and soldiers of the 5erman army, 5erman administrative officials, railway officials,
doctors, and by representatives of 5erman industry and science. 'he whole
governmental system in Poland was criminal, and every crime was an inevitable
conse>uence of the official 5erman attitude.
'he ashes of the millions of victims of these official 5erman crimes have the right to
re>uest those who survived that history should accurately depict the period 0121$
0134, and that the real truth about these years may be fully revealed.
'@" (US*@6'A "#'"7MN('9N *(MP
P(7'
. 'he geographical, geological and climatic situation of the *amp
. 'he beginnings of the *amp and its development
. BSonderbehandlungB and BSondera&tionB
C. (rrangements and organi)ation of the *amp
C. Prisoners
!estruction of the .ews
Plunder of the victimsD property
'he wor&ing prisoners
Euarantine
'he wor&
C. 'he fate of the Soviet prisoners
C. Punishments
C. @ousing conditions
#. <ood 7ations
#. 'he victims of hunger in photographs
#. 'he camp hospital and BscientificB experiments on the prisoners
#. 'he selections
#. 'he shootings
#C. @anging
#C. 5as$chambers
#C. 'he burning of corpses. *rematoria
#C. 'he wiping out of all vestiges of the crime
. 'he geographical, geological and climatic situation of the *amp
p.FG
'he small, provincial Polish town of 9swiecim is situated far from the main railway
centres and the more important lines of communication. t has grown famous not only
in Poland but in the eyes of the whole world because of the 5erman concentration
camp called officially B,on)entrationslager (uschwit)B, situated in the suburbs of the
town. 'he little town has about 0F,HHH inhabitants, and is situated FIJ &m. southwest
of 6arsaw, and 4H &m. west of *racow.
9swiecim lies on the crossroads from "ast to 6est. (lthough it is close to the 'atra
Mountains and the 5ate of Morawy, a water shed of the !anube, 6isla and 9sdra
+<ig. 0- 9swiecim is situated on particularly flat, and even hollow ground, without
any declivity. t is sufficient to loo& at a topographical map +<ig. F- to see that the
place where 9swiecim is situated and the centre of the camp is li&e the bottom of a
flat basin with no regular slope for draining away water. t is encircled by a series of
fishponds, which permeate the whole land with damp, mist and mud.
'he earth at the bottom of the basin is impervious to water owing to its geological
structure, +<ig. 2- consisting of a JH to IH metres thic& layer of marl, at the bottom of
the basin. 'he surface consisting of sand and pebbles is always muddy, due 3H its
underlying substances. %esides, the >uality of this stagnant water is very bad due to
the rotting of organic substances which poison the air. t could be improved only by
in$
p.FI
stalling very expensive purifying wor&s. <or all these reasons, 9swiecim and its
surrounding are not only damp but also abound with malaria and other diseases,
which endanger human life.
. 'he beginnings of the *amp and its development.
(lready in the first part of 013H the Na)i authorities had organi)ed a concentration
camp in a part of the suburb of 9swiecim $ Aasole, the so called 9wsian&a. (t first
the camp consisted of military barrac&s and several buildings of the Polish 'obacco
Monopoly situated on the left ban& of the river Sola. 'hese barrac&s consisted of 0J
low buildings and four one$storeyed buildings? they could not suffice for the future
needs of the whole of "urope con>uered by the 5ermans and formed the germ of the
gradually constructed huge death camp. f the SS. authorities chose as a suitable place
for the future big camp a place li&e 9swiecim and its surroundings, it was due to its
situation and climate and to the character of the ground which >ualified this place for
its name as the most infamous of a long series of concentration camps constructed by
the Na)i 5ermans in "urope. 'he lac& of technical and housing facilities and the fact
that the vicinity of 9swiecim corresponds in its geological and climatic conditions
with the type of the B!achauer MoosB, with unlimited, constantly >uaggy and damp
moorland, dim with fog, situated on the heights of %avaria to the North of Munich,
proves, that the choice of 9swiecim for a place of punishment was not accidental, but
that, on the contrary, !achau became the topographioal model for the Na)i places of
execution. Such places as !achau and 9swiecim, in the opinion of Prof. 7omer. were
avoided by life for thousands of years, as death &ept watch there. 'he 5erman
authorities used the climate and geographical character of 9swiecim with
premeditation in their criminal design.
p.F1
Numerous orders of the command of the 5arrison SS in 9swiecim, have proved that
the fact that the climate and water were poisonous was &nown to the camp
authorities. !r. ng. Aun&er Professor of the University of 6rocKaw +%reslau-
investigated the >ualities of the water in the camp at 9swiecim +by order of @immler-
and stated in a writtten report of the FJth. . 0130 +p. FF- that the water used in
9swiecim was not even suitable for rinsing the mouth +...nicht eirimal )um
MudspLlen verwendet werden &ann-.
'his statement was handed by the %erlin *entre +!er 7eichsfLhrer SS, (mtsgruppe
*- to the authorities of the camp at (uschwit), who forbade all the SS men to use this
water without boiling, for drin&ing and washing the &itchen utensils? giving as a
reason that the use of such water was most dangerous and might cause most serious
infection. n many other orders the SS men were instructed to ta&e different
precautions, with a view to avoiding malaria and typhoid fever. (ll these measures
were thought over and applied to maintain the good health standard of the camp SS
personel. Nothing of the &ind was done for the prisoners.
'he sanitary conditions in which they lived were during the whole time of the
existence of the camp disastrous, ruining the health of the prisoners, and causing
among them a high rate of mortality. 'he huts which served as a prison and were
overcrowded were considered by the camp authorities as a hotbed of infectious
disease. 'he authorities ordered the members of the SS staff, when escorting the
prisoners, to &eep away from them because of the danger of infection. 9rder Nr. 2:32
of the 03th 0132 isolated the SS men who were in direct touch with the prisoners in
separate buildings, where they underwent a daily disinfection +order Nr. 04:32 of the
Gth C 0132-. Motor$cars were disinfected after each =ourney carrying prisoners or
their clothing +9rder Nr. I:32 of the FHth C, 0132-.
p.2H
(fter the trial of the first transports in .une, 013H, the extension of the camp premises
was begun at once.
'he premises at first consisted of the military barrac&s, the so$called base camp
+Stammlager- during the whole of its existence. <rom this centre it grew until it
became a series of buildings &nown to the world as B,on)entrationslager (uschwit)B,
which included 21 subsidiary camps +Nebenlager, (ussenlager, Awerglager,
(rbeibslager- scattered throughout Silesia. 'he camp at %rno was situated beyond its
boundaries.
'he accompanying drawing of the camp at (uschwit) +3- illustrates all the branches
of this networ& and the extent to which its influence reached.
( special group called BAentralabteilung der 6affen SS und Poli)ei (uschwit)B was
organised among the camp authorities for planning and extending this immense
combination of camps. 'his group was subordinate through the *ommand of the
camp, to the Main "conomic and (dministrative %oard in %erlin
+6irtschafts$ und Cerwaltungshauptamt- at the head of which stood SS
9bergruppenfLhrer and 5eneral 9swald Pohl. Several hundred engineers, specialists
chosen from the prisoners and civilian employees and a similar number of SS$men
were wor&ing only in this group. 'his group was particularly answerable to the
official group * +(mtsgruppe *- of this board, directed by SS$5ruppenfLhrer and
5eneral, Mieutenant SS !r. ng. ,ammler. (t the head of the central construction
authorities was SS$SturmbannfLhrer ,arl %ischoff. <or his activities ,ohl was
decorated with the 5erman Silver *ross +!eutsches ,reu) in Silber$ 9rder Nr. FJ:32
of the 0Jth C. 0132-, and %ischof with the 6ar *ross of the <irst *lass with Swords
+,riegsverdienst&reu) erster ,lasse mit Schwertern$9rder Nr. I:33 of <eb. F4th.
0133-.
'he si)e of the camps and the activity of the authorities. who constructed them are
shown by the fact that in 013F an average of I,HHH prisoners were wor&ing daily,
carrying out
p.20
the plans sent out by the %erlin *entre. +e. ,g. on (ugust 20 st 013F I,242 prisoners
were wor&ing-. n the year 0132 the number of days 6or&ed by prisoners amounted
to F,1GJ,2IH and by civilians F12,IIG. (nd in the year 0133 the construction
authorities employed over 3,HHH prisoners and FHH civilian prisoners a day on
building wor&s +e. g. on ..une FIth 0133 3,G0G prisoners were employed. 'hese data
have been ta&en from authentic specification and employment charts.
(s a result of this activity the base camp at (uschwit) grew so much that already by
the end of 0130 it could accommodate 0I,HHH prisoners, +letter of the *hief of the
%oard of .une 0Ith 0130-, and in the year 0132 it could hold .2H,HHH prisoners
+(&tenvermer& SS$UntersturmfLhrer !e=aco-. 'he original status of this camp and
the gradual stages of its development and plans for its future extension are shown in
<igs. 4, J, G, I.
. BSonderbehandlungB and BSondera&tionB
'o understand the proper character of the camps at (uschwit) and %ir&enau, attention
must be drawn to the$following facts:
n the autumn of 0130 on the moor of %r)e)in&a +%ir&enau- 2 &m. away from the
base camp, the construction of a special camp was proposed, ostensibly for prisoners
of war +,riegsgefangenenlager $ 9fficial abbreviation ,. 5. M.- (ccording to that the
original plan of the %erlin *entre it was calculated to contain FHH,HHH prisoners
+order of construction of Nov. 0. and !ec. 0J. 0130 $ assignment of credits and
allotment of funds .an. 1th 013F-.
6ithin the administrative framewor& of the construction authorities a special section
called Sonderbauleitung was organi)ed, and in the official correspondence it is
clearly stated that in the constructed camp it wasintended Bto carry out
p.2F
a special treatment of the prisonersB +!urchfLhrung der Sonderbehandlung-.
(ccording to Notice No. 2F,FJ1:32 a railway trac& was constructed to serve this
camp +Privatgeleisanschluss-, the unloading platform of which was situated opposite
the gate leading to the crematorium. 'his trac& was meant to carry special transports
+Sondertransporte-.
9n the 0Jth C. 0133 Pohl allowed +(&tenvermer& Nr. I4IH:33- for the construction
of three huts of a specia0 character for .ews. +%arac&en fLr die in den let)ten 'agen
van allen SS$(ngehNrigen geleistete (rbeit anlOsslich der Sondera&tion...- (ccording
to the evidence given by the former ,prisoner of the concentration camp in (uschwit)
Nr. 0FIIF2, !r. 9tto 6ol&en, in the days immediately preceding the issue of the
above order Nr. 20:32, $ 4H,HHH <rench .ews were gassed and burnt in the crematoria
at (uschwit).
(n authentic &ey to the reading of this code gives the %ischofPs letter of the 02th .
0132 No. F0F3F:32, according to which the crematoria are an indispensable
arrangement to carry out a special treatment. @e wrote in this document as follows:
BSo sind vor allem die bestellten 'Lren fLr das ,rematium ,. 5. M., welches )ur
!urchfLhrung dar Sondermassnahmen dringend benNtigt wird, umgehend
an)uliefernB.
'he contents of this letter, and the fact that on the camp area at %ir&enau four modern
crematoria with huge gaschambers were constructed, which were in writing on !ec.
0Jth 013F called BSpe)ialeinrichtungenB and in writing on (ug. 0Fth 013F
+(&tenvermer& Nr. 0F004:3F B%adenstalt fLr Sondera&tionB, prove that under
the cryptograms: Sonderbehandlung, Sondermassnahme and Sondera&tion the
5erman authorities were concealing the mass murder of millions of people, and that
the special camp constructed for the carrying on of this Sonderbehandlug was already
by assumption a huge extermination camp +Cernichtungslager-.
p.22
(ccording to this assumption it grew in practice into the largest extermination camp,
not only in Poland, but also in the whole of "urope, in which only those were left
alive among the prisoners who were indispensable to the munition factories and other
industrial establishments wor&ing for the (rmy and for the war at (uschwit) and in
the whole of Silesia.
'he highest authorities of the rd 7eich as well as those who carried out orders on
the spot at (uschwit) were conscious of the purposes of the camp, and did everything
to enable this camp to fulfill completely its mission of extermination of the con>uered
nations of "urope with the Slav nations and the .ews in first order of importance.
'he only bui0dings calculated for longlasting and constant use were the four big
crematoria with gaschambers, and the barrac&s for the SS men who staffed the camp.
'he rest of the settlements, and particularly the huts for the prisoners, were destined
from the beginning for the short and transitory existence in them of a constantly
changing tide of prisoners.
C. (rrangements and organi)ation of the *amp
%oth centres of the camp i. e Stammlager and %ir&enau +Magergebiet- were enclosed
with a fence made of barbed wire four metres in height, through which ran an electric
current of high tension. 9n the poles of the fence searchlights burned at night with
their beams turned to the interior of the camp. (long the fence were high
watchtowers in which the SS men &ept guard during the day and in the night, armed
with >uic&$firing machineguns. n the base camp a second line of barbed wire
+!rahthinderniss-, was constructed later, and on both sides of it were constructed wire
safety barriers +Sicherheitsdraht-. <rom the direction of the road and from the east the
base camp was protected by a high wall of concrete bloc&s, with barbed wire at the
top, and from the west with
p.23
buildings housing the camp authorities and administration. 'he entrance gate to the
base camp, above which hung the inscription B(rbeit macht freiB, was at the bac& of
the camp, inaccessible and invisible to nonauthotised persons, ( view of the entrance
gate, the fence and other safety arrangements are shown in <ig. 0F, 02, 03.
'he enclosure at %ir&enau was based on the same system, with the one difference that
the whole area of the camp was divided into three sections, divided from each other
by internal barbed wire fences through which electric current ran, and cut by deep
trenches +7inggrOben-. 'he area of the camp, with a surface of about 0G4 ha, was
enclosed and cut all over by a networ& of trenches, of 02,HHH metres in length, and
with a chain of fence more than 0J,HHH metres in length. %oth centres were ringed
around by a large chain of sentries +5rosse Posten&ette- for a distance of one &m.
around both camps, and guarded by armed SS men and patrols of a B@ounds
*ompanyB. +Sperrgebiet-. 'his company consisted only of SS men and was officially
called @undesstaffel. t was allowed to cross the boundaries of the enclosed area only
by special permit. n case of alarm this whole area was completely closed. (ccording
to the (cts of %6 F0H, the camp authority intended to enclose the whole ground with
a supplementary fence of barbed wire. 'his pro=ect was not realised, however, owing
to the non availability of iron necessary for its construction. %y order of the %erlin
*entre, according to the plan %6 011, a velley was constructed of barbed wire at the
end of 0133, the so called Bcorridor of lionsB +MNwengang-, leading from the main
gate of the camp to the 5erman munition plants +!eutsche (usrLstgswer&e- and to
the bracnch of them producing at (uschwit), under the firm BUnionB grenade fusses.
(lthough both factories were situated in an enclosure ringed around by sentries the
arrangement of this valley of barbed wire was found to be useful.
p.24
<urther means of preventing the prisoners flight were introduced after 0132, such as
tattooing the prisoners, and immediate change of clothing after arrival at the camp
into conspicuous prisoner;s dress.
Notwithstanding all these precautions, there occurred instances of escape of prisoners
from the camp, and so the system of Bcollective responsibilityB, and the responsibility
of the prisoner;s family was introduced. n the former case, by an order of <ritsch, 0H
prisoners, companions of the runaway, were shot, and in the latter case the family of
the deserter were brought into the camp, and had to stand at roll$call with an
inscription that they were in prison in place of their sons, husbands or brothers who
had escaped, and that they would stay in the camp until the runaway had been
recaptured.
( whole section of the land round the camp comprising more than 3H &m. 6as
occupied and laid out as the economic area of the camp +nteressengebiet-. 'he
inhabitants of Aasole, a big suburb of 9swiecim, were expelled as well as those in 0H
villages situated between the rivers 6isla +Cistula- and Sola so that this economic
expanse embraced the whole area from the islet on the Sola near %ielany up to where
the estuary of the Sola flows into the Cistula near the village of %ros)&owice. 'hese
lands were regarded as the property of the SS and the 5erman State
+7eichseigenesgebiet-.
n the office of the Political !epartment forms were found containing a printed
statement to the effect that everything that was alive, was born and grew at (uschwit)
was the un>uestionable property of the SS.
(s the area of (uschwit) and its vicinity was incorporated in the 7eich, the local
legislation in force in the concentration camp was laid down by the 5estapo @. E.
*entre in %erlin +QF (ct 3 regul. 0H. 012J 5S p. FF-, and particularly by the *hief
of the 9fficial 5roup ! +(mtsgruppe !- of the Main "conomic and (dministrative
%oard located in 9ranien$
p.2J
burg. 'he full name of this office was: !er 7eichsfLhrer SS$6irtschafts$
Cerwaltungshauptamt (mtsgruppe !$,on)entrationslagsr +9rganisationsbuch, Gth
edition p. 3FH-. n .uly 0132 this name was changed, and the supplement:
,on)entrationslager +9rder No FJ:32 of the 0J. C. 32- was omitted.
(t the head of the camp stood a *ommandant, who was simultaneously in chief
command of the SS garrison at (uschwit) and *hief of the armed force of the camp,
consisting of 0F loo&out companies +SS''oten&opfsturmbann-.
'his function was successively performed by SS$9bersturmbannfLhrers: 7udolf @Ns,
Miebehenschel and 7ichard %aer. 'he <irst !irector Manager of the camp0 +0
Schut)lagerfLhrer- was directly liable to the *ommandant. 'his post was occupied by
Mangner, <ritsch, (umeier, Schwar), @offmann und @essler, all SS$men with the ran&
of officer. Prisoners were in the first instance in direct contact with the report$
managers +7aportfLhrer- and managers of the bloc& +%loc&fLhrer-.
!uring the construction of the camp at (uschwit) the base camp was mar&ed as camp
( , the newly constructed part of the camp +Schut)haftlagerweiterung- as *amp ( ,
the first section at %ir&eaau R as canrp % , divided into <ields (, and %? the menPs
section of %ir&enau $ as camp % , divided into fields (, %, *, !, ", <, 5, and finally
a third constructed section in %ir&enau was &nown as *amp % +order Nr 03:32 of
the 0I. C. 0132-.
%y a garrison order of the 0F. #. 0132 Nr. 42:32 signed by @immler, Miebehenschel
carried out the division of the whole camp into three, namely: concentration camp
(uschwit)$ Stammlager, concentration camp (uschwit)$ %r)e)in&a and
concentration camp $secondary camps +(ussenlager-.
'hese later were organised by mining and other industrial, forestry and agricultural
establishments, to whom the camp authorities sold the wor&ing power of the
prisoners at the
p.2G
rate of J 7M for a day for Dan uns&illed wor&er +files of the oil refiners in
'r)ebion&a-. 'he camp authorities calculated their own costs of maintaining a
prisoner at 2H pfennigs a day +letter of the ng. Mhot)&y p. 0G-.
'he above figures show that the camp authorities made heavy profits from slave
labour. <rom the files of the foil refinery at 'r)ebion&a, in which JHH prisoners from
(uschwit) were wor&ing it is shown that the net profit to the concentration camp
from this activity amounted in a period of two months to 0HJ.GI1,JH 7M.
(t the head of each main camp stood a commandant and managers of the camp for
prisoners; affairs. 'he secondary camps were managed by directors +MagerfLhrer-.
'he general administrative medical, political and ,other wor& concerned with the
employment of the prisoners was carried out centrally for all the camps from the base
camp, where special central sections existed for the handling of these problems.
9n Nov. F4 th 0133 the camp of %ir&enau was incorporated with the base camp,
which was officially named ,on)entrationslager (uschwit), and the camp at
(uschwit) was transformed into ,on)entrationslager Monowice +order Nr. F1:33-.
'his transformation caused no real change in the organi)ation. 'he ob=ect was to
minimise deceitfully the camp by the centrali)ation of its administration, and to
create in this way the appearances of two camps independent of each other? one at
(uschwit) and the other at Monowice. n this locality huge establishments were
constructed for the firm . 5. <arbenindustrie producing synthetic ben)ine and other
chemical products. 'hese establishments employed F4,HHH prisoners of (uschwit),
about 0HH.HHH civilian wor&ers and about 0,HHH "nglish prisoners$of$war.
'hrough such an artifice the name of the camp at %ir&enau disappeared from the list
of the Na)i concentration camps, disgraced in the eyes of the whole world as the
largest of the extermination camps.
Similar frauds had been carried out in
p.2I
(uschwit) already by the changing of the name <. ,. M. +<rauen&on)entrationslager-
to <. M. S <rauenlager +9rder Nr G:32 of the 2H. . 0132 and the name ,. 5. M.
+,riegsgefangenlager-, to Mager +(&tenvermer&, as from the 20 . 0133-. New
names ought to prove that women did not live in the concentration camp and that in
the (usschwit) camp there were no prisoners$of$war. %oth one and the other were
obvious lies, as the regime in that part of the camp in which the women were
imprisoned, was the same as in the remaining parts of the camp, and as far as the
prisoners of war were concerned, 1J 7ussian prisoners of war are inscribed in the list
of the prisoners in the camp on the day of the 0Gth 0134 +bring the surviving
remnants of 0J,HHH murdered prisoners registered in the camp-.
Such was the appearance and thus was organised the concentration camp at
(uschwit), through which millions of people passed and from which only an
insignificant percentage came out alive.
@immler personally supervised the establishment of this camp +Dsee figs. 04 and 0J-
during his inspection of the camp at 9swiecim.
C. Prisoners
'he first prisoners in the concentration camp at (uschwit) were 2H professional
5erman criminals, who were brought to (uschwit) at the beginning of .une 013H,
after having spent many years in other concentration camps in 5ermany. SS$men had
chosen them as the executors of their criminal plans, and in the first place as
instructors in the laws and regulations of the camp. 'hey had received special
instructions on how they must treat Polish political prisoners. 'hey could beat and
torture them and were not responsible to anyone. 'hese prisoners filled the posts of
camp seniors +MagerOlteste- foremen of wor&ing companies +%loc&Olteste-
roomorderlies +Stubendienst- *apo and 9bercapo and <oremen +Corarbeiter-. 'hey
did not disappoint the hopes which had been placed in them, and they grafted their
ideas of morality upon whole series of other &eepers, whom they chose from among
the most brutal individuals and professional criminals.
9n the 03th C. 013H the first transport of Poles arrived at (uschwit). nnumerable
others followed which in the first period of the existence of the camp brought Poles
exclusively, and later on Poles and citi)ens of all the con>uered nations, and citi)ens
of other countries, found in the occupied countries during the 5erman invasion.
<rom the fragments of records which were found, and particularly bundles of
>uestionnaires amounting to about twenty undestroyed by the 5ermans it appears that
the following nationals were found among the prisoners: (mericans, (ustrians,
%elgians, %ulgarians, *hinese, *roats, *)echs, <rench, 5ree&, !utch,
Spaniards, Serbs, Mithuanians, Matvians, 5ermans, Norwegians, a Persian, Poles,
7ussians, 7oumanians, Slova&s, Swiss, 'ur&s, @ungarians, talians, .ews from
Palestine and one "gyptian.
(mong the citi)ens of so many different countries mentioned here indubitably the
most numerous group was formed by Polish citi)ens +Poles and .ews- next the
7ussians, Serbs and <rench, but in general the ma=ority of the prisoners were of other
nationalities than Polish $ prisoners of .ewish origin, "specially numerous among the
.ews from abroad were @ungarian, *)ech and Slova& .ews, and .ews from 5ermany,
5reece and @olland.
'o the camp in (uschwit) people were brought of both sexes and various ages,
belonging to different social groups, professions and religions, and being as a rule
>uite innocent people whose guilt even the 5ermans did not try to prove. 'he vast
ma=ority of prisoners were recruited from people who had nothing in common with
any political activity, people brought
p.3H
to the camp only because of their nationality or of their race. 'hey were doomed for
slave labour or to extermination simply because they were Poles, .ews, 5ypsies,
Soviet prisoners, etc. 'he re>uisite number of prisoners was regulated according to
the si)e of the concentration camp and to its power of absorption. 'he prisoners were
captured by the 5estapo during specially organised manhunts, by arresting whole
loads of passengers in trains, by raids on public premises, and on whole areas of
towns, and finally by mass arrests in their homes of thousands of people, and the
expulsion of whole districts of the country side +the region of Aamosc-.
(ll these were imprisoned in the concentration camp as a safeguard +Schut)haft-
according to an order of the Na)i 5overnment of the 7eich of the <eb. Ith 0122
regarding the defence of the nation and State issued after the mystery of the burning
of 7eichstag, although this order never was in force in the countries occupied by the
5ermans. 'his lawlesness was all the more glaring in that people were included in
this Bsecurity arrestB whose alleged guilt was never put to the test by trial.
!estruction of the .ews.
<or the Polish .ews 9swiecim was as a rule an extermination camp, as it was for the
.ews of other "uropean countries 0- +0 ( special small group was composed of
.ewish prisoners$of$war, who had fallen into 5erman hands with arms in their hands.
'hey were ta&en from the camps where they were interned as prisoners$of$war and
confined li&e the criminals in concentration camps. +n the "*. at Ma=dane& a card
index with JHHH names of such prisoners was found-. (t 9swiecim .prisoner No
I440F was an "nglish doctor Sperber, who had been ta&en from a torpedoed %ritish
ship, where he had been serving as doctor with officers ran&, and had at first been
placed in an officer$prisoners;camp for %ritish, but on !ecember 01. 013F was
transferred to 9swiecim.
p.30
'he .ews, morally and physically ill$used by insults and treatment not fit for human
beings, ruined by the extortion of heavy financial contributions and constant removal
from place to place in "urope, were lured to (uschwit) by false promises of transfer
to various =obs in Poland and the U&raine. n this way they were tric&ed out of their
property which they were told to ta&e with them to begin life with in new lands and
of which they were robbed immediately they left the train at (uschwit). 'he 5estapo
even concluded contracts with the 5ree& .ews for the purchase of small$holdings and
shops in the U&raine. 9thers were promised that they were to be exchanged for
5erman prisoners of war interned in "ngland and as&ed when they arrived at
(uschwit) how far it was to the "nglish *hannel. 'hey were advised before
departure to the camp to ta&e with them a suit of wor&ing clothes and everything they
possessed of value, and told that they would need these things in their new homes as
each would be able to wor& in his own trade or profession.
%y this subterfuge a huge store of different tools, medical instruments and other
useful and valuable things was accumulated at (uschwit).
(fter their arrival at (uschwit), at the moment the train stopped at the railway siding,
the .ews were driven out from the wagons and their belongings thrown on the loading
platform, from whence a special wor&ing party of prisoners carried them into huge
stores called B*anadaB +this name being given by the prisoners to the stores because
the wealth deposited in them, was afterwards ta&en by the camp authorities and used
officially-.
(t the same time the SS doctors chose from amongst those who had arrived only a
small number of young .ews fit for wor&, and the rest were sent directly from the
unloading platform to the gas$chambers, where they were all suffocated by gas. So
the first victims of murders were the sic&, old, pregnant women, women with infants
and children. f the cre$
p.3F
matoria could not absorb all the victims, they were placed in the camp as a deposit
+the official name !epot @Oftlinge-, and were not registered in the record of the
prisoners, but after emptying the crematoria they were gassed and burnt. 'he same
happened to the healthy, young and strong people who were not needed by the camp
authorities as a wor&ing strength at the moment of the arrival of the transport. 9nly
those were ta&en into the camp who were needed to fill up the gaps which arose in
the wor&ing gangs. %ecause of this system a great number of transports did not pass
through the camp, at all, and the victims went directly from the unloading platform to
the gas chambers after being robbed. 'he number of prisoners ta&en into the camp
from .ewish transports amounted to an average of about 0HT of all the people who
were brought to (uschwit). (ccording to statistical data collected only from one field
B(B, being a section of the % camp in %ir&enau, there arrived at this field from 9ct.
F0st 0132 to the 9ct. 2Hth 0133 only G,F42 men, in GJ railway transports and the rest,
i. e. F3,JII men, all the women and all the children went directly from the trains into
the gas$chambers. 'hese reports are completed by the evidence of the following
prisoners, cross>uestioned as witnesses: prisoner No. 0HF0JH, (dam *iechanowieo&i,
stated that from a transport of 0,FHH persons who came to (uschwit) on March 1 th
0132 from !rancy, near Paris, only 03H persons were ta&en into the camp, and the
rest, i. e. 0HJH persons were directed straight to the gas$chambers. 'he witness
S)lama !ragon arrived at (uschwit) on !ec. G th 013F in a transport of F,4HH
persons, of whom only 3HH were saved, and .a&ob 5ordon from 6ilno arrived on
.une FFnd 0132 in a transport consisting of 2,J4H persons of whom only 234 persons
were ta&en into the camp. 'he rest, among them 5ordonPs wife, his little son of 3
years and a half, his father of G2 and his mother of J3 were gassed and burnt
immediately after their arrival at 9swiecim.
p.32
Plunder of the victimsP property.
(ll the belongings of the victims were stored in special huts. n the *anada Stores
there were separate compartments for men;s, women;s and children;s clothing, and
for different articles of value. 9b=ects were discovered by the help of a specially
constructed #$ray apparatus +%6 0JH- in search of concealed valuables, and
afterwards sorted for transmission to the 7eich. 'hese were gifts of the SS to 5erman
families, and valuables were sent to the 'reasury of the 5erman State.
( member of the military staff of (uschwit), SS$UntersturmfLhrer <rit) %ergmann,
said in the presence of the witness (rtur Mayer, that the SS too& valuables from the
.ews in (uschwit) amounting to the value of about 0,HHH,HHH,HHH 7eichs Mar&s, but
that in reality the value of those things was much higher. (ccording to a report of the
witness, %ergmann then said literally the following: B=et)t nahmen wir dem
Sau=udenpac& ca 0 Milliarde 7M in %rillianten ab, welche ich nach %erlin brachte,
aber ausserdem sorgten wir auch fLr uns selberB. ( confirmation of the report that the
SS men, when getting hold the belongings of deported persons, did not forget about
themselves, is the order of the *ommandant of the 5arrison Nr. 40:32 of N9C. 0J th
0132, in which he said literally as follows: Bch habe Ceranlassung, let)tmalig daruf
hin)uweisen, dass das "igentum der @Oftlinge, gan) gleich, um was es handelt
+,leidungsstLc&e, 5old und 6ertsachen, "sswaren und sonstige persNnliche
5egenstOnde-, auch gan) gleich, wo es sich befindet oder gesichtet wird,
unangetastet bleibt. Uber die Cerwendung des "igentumes der @Oftlinge entscheidet
der Staat und es wird somit dieses "igentum Staatseigentum. 6er sich an
Staatseigentum vergreift, stempelt sich selbst )um Cerbrecher und schliesst sich von
selber aus der 7eihen der SS ausB. 'his order was >uite explained by the behaviour
and conduct of the SSmen and is confirmed by the fact, that SS$7otten
p.32
fLhrer, Mubusch "dward ordered the prisoner ,ula to construct for his private use a
machine to roll gold in ingots.
'he distribution of things robbed from prisoners, and particularly the distribution of
clothing and the despateh of parcels into the 7eich, was forbidden by the %erlin
*entre, the 'earson for this being that the parcels on their way might be damaged,
and the uninitiated might get to &now that in these parcels was clothing stained with
blood, and full of bullet holes, +order of the D(mtsgruppe ! of the 00th C. 013F-.
'he extent of this robbery is proved by the fact that on the site of the camp at
(uschwit) there were 24 special stores to sort and pac& clothing and other articles.
'he 5ermans before their evacuation burnt F1 stores together with their contents. n
the remaining J stores there were found: 23I,IFH complete menPs suits of clothes,
I2J,F44 womenDs complete outfits, 4,4F4 pairs .of womenDs shoes, 2I,HHH pairs of
menPs shoes, 02,1J3 carpets and large number of tooth$brushes, shaving$brushes,
spectacles, artificial limbs, all &ind of &itchen utensils and also children;s clothing.
<rom the report of SS$9berscharfLhrer 7eichenbach among the records of the camp,
it appears that during for instance, days from !ec. 0st 0133 to .an. 04
th
0134, 11,1FF
suits of clothing and children;s underwear, 01F,J4F suits of clothing and women;s
underwear and FFF,FJ1 sets of men;s suits of clothes and underwear were sent to
5ermany from the camp at (uschwit). 'he trade mar&s on the things found in these
stores prove stri&ingly that their owners, murdered in 9swiecim, belonged to the
nationalities of all the countries con>uered by the 5ermans.
'he photographs below represent some of the stores with the things found there,
which the 5ermans did not succeed in carrying away from (uschwit) to the 7eich.
p.34
'he wor&ing prisoners.
6hat happened to the transports of prisoners who were destined for slave$labourV
+among whom the .ews amounted to only a very small percentage-.
'he prisoners who were not at once condemned to death were strictly surveyed,
registered and given numbers. <rom the moment of passing through the camp$gates
and getting his number a man ceased to be a personality and became a cypher without
freewill. 3HH,HHH passed in this way through the camp and were registered in turn.
Under the general series for men and women came subsections, i. e. series (. and %
classified male and female 5ipsies, series 7 7ussian prisoners while series "
comprised prisoners brought in from BeducationalB motives.
'he prisoner wore the camp number sewn on his clothing and at the beginning of the
year 013F it was also tattooed on the left forearm. Since the introduction of tattooing
all the prisoners, with the exception of the 7eichs and Col&sdeutsche, were tattooed.
'he full distinguishing mar& of the prisoner consisted of the number written on a
white linen band, with coloured triangles signifying the type of prisoner, with the
initial letter of the prisoner;s nationality. 'his sign was worn by the prisoners on the
left breast of their blouse or =ac&et and was also sewn on the outside seam of the right
trouser leg. 'riangles were in use: red for political prisoners, blac& for prostitutes and
perverts, green for professional criminals, pin& for the homosexuals and violet for the
clergy and nvestigators of the @oly %ible. 'he .ews wore at first a star of !avid, and
afterwards above the triangle a yellow stripe. 'he initial letter of the name of the
nationality was written with blac& *hinese in& on the triangles.
'he destiny of these cypher$prisoners was slave labour until their strength was
exhausted, when death was their release. %efore harnessing them into the yo&e of one
of the 2HH la$
p.3J
bour gangs, amounting to 4H$0FHH prisoners, they all were obliged to pass through
the procedure of being enrolled into the camp. 'he aim of the process was to change
a free man into an obedient number without his own will, to &ill in him the feeling of
human dignity and to ma&e him a servile labouring unit.
'@" (US*@6'A "#'"7MN('9N *(MP
P(7'
Euarantine
'he wor&
C. 'he fate of the Soviet prisoners
C. Punishments
C. @ousing conditions
#. <ood 7ations
Euarantine.
'he process of admission into the camp is described by witnesses as follows: the
unloading platfor at (uschwit) and the whole road to the camp was heavily guarded
by SS men, who also lay in the ditches along the roadside with their guns ready. (ll
the SSmen were armed as well with stic&s and had police$dogs. (midst constant
beating the prisoners were driven to the place of roll$call, where they were paraded
before SSman standing on a table, and beaten by others standing around. 9n the
opposite side the newcomers were ranged in rows of ten: 'here were the *apo,
consisting of the first 2H professional criminals brought from 5ermany in the
character of supervisors, who too& rings, watches, and tore from the nec&s of the
prisoners their chains and medallions, beating in the process some prisoners into
unconsciousness.
n the group, in which the witness Michal ,ula came to the camp on (ugust 04th
013H, there was a young priest from 6arsaw. 'he SSmen and *apos turned his hat
upside down, put round his nec& a loop of a string, and tied the other end of the string
round his waist. 'hey gave him a broom to hold.
n this guise he was obliged to run around the whole group, while it was being driven
from the place of the roll$call on the yard between bloc&s #C and #C. 'he SSmen
and *apos tortured him mercilessly and beat him with stic&s until he fell
unconscious.
p.3G
9n the yard between the #Cth and #Cth bloc&s the prisoners were obliged to
undress completely and give up their clothes. (fterwards their hair was cut and they
received their numbers. 'hen the whole group was driven amid constant blows to the
baths. 'here was no possibility whatever of bathing, it was only possible to splash
some cold water on oneself. n the same building there was also a medical inspection,
which consisted of the physician as&ing the prisoner if he was well, and whatever his
answer, he was instructed to go further. <rom the bath the prisoners were driven to
the next yard, on which lay two big heaps of prisoners;s clothes made of striped
tic&ing. 'he prisoners were obliged to put these c0othes on while running and were
afterwards obliged to line up at the place of roll$call. %y such a method of out fitting
a stout man often got a blouse which covered only half of his breast, while a small
prisoner got clothing too big for him. t was the same, with the shoes.
(fter such a fitting$out the prisoners who arrived in the same group of ten could not
recognise each other.
'hose prisoners were luc&y whose admission procedure was completed in one day, as
they had the chance to spend the night under a roof. f, however, the transport arrived
at (uschwit) in the afternoon, they were obliged sometimes to spend the whole night
na&ed in the open air after their things were ta&en away regardless of the season of
the year or the weather. (s a result of this, for instance out of a transport including the
prisoner 6ol&en, 3F prisoners did not live through the night until the morning. 9thers
spent the night na&ed in the bath house, where with a temperature of about FH degrees
below )ero cold water was poured on them from time to time.
Mate in the evening of !ec. 4 th. 0132, there arrived at (uschwit) a transport
containing 0FHH prisoners from <lossenburg. "ighty of the most wea& the
*ommandant of the camp
p.3I
left lying in the snow. (t the order of the *ommandant water was poured on them to
speed up the free)ing process. ( part of these victims were carried by the prisoners to
the bloc&s, the remaining 2F died by morning. 9nly one man survived that night by
remaining under the corpses of three others, but even he died the following day
+witness 6ol&en-.
!uring the whole period of admission there was no possibility whatever of eating or
drin&ing. n Summer prisoners died of thirst.
(fter the formalities of enrolment were completed and after being tattooed the
prisoners were driven into >uarantine camp, where some victims had to stay for I
wee&s. t was a period of testing the physical endurance of the future slaves,
organi)ed in such a way, that only the healthiest could endure it. <rom statistics of the
>uarantine bloc& in %ir&enau +% a- which contained an average of 3,HHH to J,HHH
prisoners, it is seen that during the period from September 0132 to November 0133
3HF2 prisoners were so seriously ill that they were obliged to go to hospital, 01HF
died and 2F22 prisoners were selected for gassing as unfit for further wor&. 'he
numbers of sic& did not include prisoners cured in the infirmary, who were in many
instances seriously ill but afraid to go to hospital on account of possible selection.
'hey averaged about 4HH persons daily.
'hese figures become understandable only when the conditions in the >uarantine
hospital are ta&en into account. @undreds of people were crowded together in stables
built for 4F horses, and often more than a thousand people were compelled to huddle
on plan& beds built in tiers one over the other. 'hey slept without even straw
mattresses and blan&ets on the bare boards. 6hen there was no room in the huts they
spent the night in the open air. !uring the day they were tormented by &illing wor& of
ditch$digging, draining swamps or standing idly barefooted from 3.2H in the morning
till late in the evening, regardless of the season of the year and the
p.31
weather. 6hat was perhaps the worst of all was the BsportsB and BgymnasticsB.
!uring this period the prisoners were taught to lineup in rows of five, to ta&e off their
caps and to march in straight lines. 'hey learned very >uic&ly, for they were taught
with a stic&. !uring the hours of BsportsB the prisoners were surrounded by the SS$
men, and *apes and beaten. 'hey were forced to crouch, to =ump, to dance with
uplifted hands, to run in a circle barefooted on the gravelled s>uare.
Many lost their strength and fell to the ground in the first hours of such BgymnasticsB.
'hose were dragged aside by the *apos, where often the senior of the camp, Meo,
finished them off by putting a stic& into their mouths. 'hose that were sluggish in
running were often caught by an SS$man, ta&en behind the building of the Cth
%loc&, and there &illed. 'he slightest effort to straighten the body during the
crouching exercise produced &ic&s and blows. 'he prisoners were ordered to roll in
their underclothes, and afterwards they were told to have clean and washed linen
within half an hour although no soap and water were provided.
(t 0F o;cloc& the prisoners were lined up for roll$call, which lasted 34 minutes. (fter
a further 04 minutes which were allowed to the prisoners for eating soup, they were
lined up by the SS$men and the seniors of the camp on the place of the roll$call and
taught to sing vulgar 5erman songs, such as B9 du mein %ubi&opfB or Bm Mager
(uschwit) war ich )war so manchen Monat so manches .ahrB.
(ll the .ews were herded together and forced to sing a derisive 5erman song +B9 du
mein .erusalemB-. Such a choir was often conducted by a *atholic priest. 'hose
prisoners who did not &now 5erman could not understand and memori)e the text of
the song, so the *apos, displeased with the singing, ordered them to sing in a
crouched position or lying on the ground beat them face downwards. Prisoners, lying
in such a position, were beaten and trampled on. 'he singing lasted until 2 p.m., then
p.4H
the prisoners were trained in BgymnasticsB till J,2H p, m. Mater came the ordeal of the
evening rollcall, which lasted about F hours. Some groups of prisoners were
compelled to stand at attention from 1 in the evening until noon the following day
with their hands behind their heads. 7eflectors shone on them at night, the SS$men
&eeping close watch to see that no prisoner dropped his hands.
f it so happened that the wea&er among them did so, they were beaten and
tormented. n conse>uence of this treatment, out of a particular group of FJ4 only JH
stuc& it till the end? the rest fell unconscious, only to be revived by having water
thrown on them, and beaten.
9thers were driven away to the place of roll$call where they received the commands
of the UnterscharfLhrer: B<all, stand, crawl, wallowB, and forced to crouch four$time.
f one raised himself from a pool of water in which he was told to roll, the
UnterscharfLhrer forced him with his heel to the ground. !r ,ruc)e& was a victim of
this BsportB.
9ne day 4H prisoners were ordered to climb a very slender young tree. (ccording to
the order they were to climb all at once to the top of this tree, which was, of course,
impossible, as the tree bro&e at once after the first few people had climbed it. !uring
these BgymnasticsB the prisoners were beaten firstly because they were not yet up the
tree, and secondly for having bro&en the tree. !uring the BsportB many prisoners died.
'he rest were in=ured, and their feet swelled up from the constant running without
shoes on the gravel, nails and barbed wire.
'he sic& and wounded were allowed to go to the doctor, who in many cases gave
them a card stating they were only fit for sitting down wor&. Such prisoners were
employed in cleaning old mortar from bric&s. 'his wor& was carried out by the
prisoners sitting on the sharpened end of a wooden sta&e which was buried in the
ground. 'he *apos and SS$men watched closely to see that the prisoner wor&ed the
whole day long sitting down. f anyone raised himself or fell down he was
p.40
beaten till he lost consciousness then he was left without any help.
(fter returning to the %loc& the prisoners were only allowed to go to the latrines after
the distribution of rations. n the latrines thousands of people crowded and there they
were also beaten. n such conditions the >uarantine camp was a succession of
torments. 'he people did not &now what to do, and where to hide themselves as they
were tortured everywhere and all dreamt of being transferred to the wor&ing camp
from the >uarantine in the hope that things there would be easier to endure.
'he wor&.
'hey did not realise that the same ill treatment would meet them there. (mong the
camp authorities there existed a special section +(rbeitseinsat)- for exploiting the
labour of the prisoners of the (uschwit) camp. 'his section divided the prisoners into
special wor&ing gangs and posted them to wor& in industrial plants and mines,
scattered over the whole of Silesia. n the immediate vicinity of 9swiecim the
5ermans constructed a big chemical factory in Monowice +%una- and established a
,rupp BUnionB. 'hrough this wor& people were reduced to an extreme state of
exhaustion by wor& in draining swamps and marshes, in the mines and on road
construction. Some wor&ing groups were obliged to wal& G$I &m. to their wor&. 'he
SS$men ranged the prisoners in units, and surrounded by an escort armed with stic&s,
hounds and overseers, they were driven to wor&. !uring the wor&, which was carried
on in complete silence, and as rule running, the prisoners were beaten under the
slightest pretext. 9ne for not straightening his bac&, another for not ta&ing enough
earth in his
p.4F
shovel and another for going aside, suffering from dysentery, to attend to the wants of
nature. (ny attempt to rest during the hours of labour, or an accident during wor&
resulting in material loss to the camp was treated and punished as sabotage.
'hose who fell from fatigue were shot on the spot. 'he place of labour was at the
same time a scene of mass murder.
( prisonerPs day began with reveille at 3.2H a. m and finished at varying times up to
late in the night according to the distance from the camp of the labour site.
'he wor&ing gangs went to their labours to the tune of the camp orchestra, in which
prisoners were playing standing at the gate. n the evening they came bac& from all
parts of the (uschwit) camp bleeding, exhausted, carrying the corpses of their
comrades on wooden stretchers, on their bac&s, or dragged in carts. 'he camp
orchestra also played to this procession of ghosts and corpses. 'he corpses of the
murdered comrades were also laid out for the roll$call in order to be counted, as the
number of prisoners must always correspond to the camp lists. 'he fact that they
were dead or alive was a matter of indifference.
Some of the camp regulations were an obvious encouragement to murder prisoners.
9f such a character was the payment of a premium to the SS$men for shooting
prisoners who left their wor&.
'he prisoners were first ordered by the SS$men to run on in front and then were shot
as BrunawaysB.
( short report Bshot while escapingB was the end of the matter +Bauf dar <lucht
erschossenB- and the premium was duly paid for preventing the flight of a prisoner. t
is seen from 9rders 22:23, II:32 and a series of others that the SS$men were
rewarded for such exploits by several days leave also.
'he .ews and priests were set to do the hardest wor&. @uge rollers were brought in on
the wor& of extending the base camp, to the two shafts of which were harnessed .ews
and priests. 'hey had to drag the rollers all day long to the accompaniment
p.42
of blows. 'he driver was a 5erman prisoner, ,ran&enmann. 'hose who fell from
exhaustion were &illed under the blows of this executioner;s stic&. @e murdered in
this way nearly all the priests and numerous .ews. Some prisoners dragged carts
loaded with earth and stones, while others were forced to carry loads exceeding their
strength. n the stores containing material for construction wor& 0H prisoners had to
unload 3IH sac&s of cement in two hours. 'his wor&ed out at 3I sac&s of 4H
&ilograms each per prisoner. (s the stores were located 04H metres from the railway
trac& they had thus to travel 04 &ilometres in two hours, carrying for half this distance
a load of 4H &ilograms.
'he unloading of potatoes from the train went on in the same conditions. Near the
wagons stood stretchers loaded with about 04H &g. of potatoes, which two prisoners
were obliged to carry running to the mounds. 'he road, was guarded by a file of
*apos and overseers, who forced the prisoners to hurry with stic&s. 'his wor& was
done running. (fter several hours the stretchers were falling from the hands of the
prisoners, and the elders dropped from fatigue. Such wea&er wor&ers were regarded
as saboteurs and were forced to continue wor&ing with blows under which they died.
'heir corpses were thrown into a nearby ditch, from whence they were ta&en before
finishing the wor& by a special B<leischwagenB, or motor car for collecting the
corpses from the place of wor&. 'he bored SS$men often beat the wor&ing prisoners
for amusement and women, dressed in the uniforms of the S.S. accompanied them for
pleasure. 'he witness 6alman told us about the following incident: a group of SS$
men accompanied by dogs and 5erman women approached a group of prisoners who
were digging a deep ditch for burning the corpses near the crematoria. 'he SS$men
ordered them to load JH wheelbarrows with earth and to push them along a high
earthen wall over the edge of the hole. 'hey then released their dogs
p.43
to chase them. 'he prisoners, nervously and physically exhausted, fell down with the
wheelbarrows into the hole, and most of them were &illed. 'he SS$men shot those
prisoners who remained alive.
'he same performance was repeated by the SS$men the same afternoon. 'he women
who accompanied them were very amused.
!uring the digging of the basements for the #Cth bloc& in the base camp, the
following scene too& place: 'he 5erman prisoner 7einhold, being the *apo of a
group which was wor&ing there threw an old .ew into a hole filled with water in the
presence of his son who was wor&ing in the same group.
6hen the father lifted himself from the water and tried to get out of the hole,
7einhold and the Ssmen ordered the son to descend into the ditch and to drown the
father. 'he son was compelled to fulfil this order, he descended into the ditch sei)ed
his father by his nec&, put his head into the water and held it under as long as his
father showed signs of life. 'he SS$men ordered the son to climb bac& to the edge of
the ditch, where 7einhold and another prisoner, a 5erman, sei)ed him by his hands
and feet, swung his body and threw him into the ditch, where other .ews wor&ing in
the water digging for gravel were forced to drown him.
C. 'he fate of the Soviet prisoners
'he 7ussian prisoners of war, who, according to a secret order of the *hief of
9fficial 5roup !, issued from 9ranienburg on Nov. 04 th. 0130, were directed to the
concentration camp for extermination were treated in a specially barbaric way. 'he
contents of this or,der are as follows: 'he 7eichsfLhrer << Wsic$ed.X and the *hief of
the 5erman police gave in principle his consent for the postponement of the
extermination of those 7ussian prisoners who were strong enough to wor& in the
>uarries. t is necessary therefore to obtain the per$
p.44
mission of the *hief of the Security Police and the S! Service. n order for this
purpose? that the commandant of camp +"- and the camp physician should choose,
after the arrival of the transport meant for execution, those physically fit 7ussians
able to wor& in the >uarries, a list of the selected 7ussians must be sent to me in
duplicate. 'he camp doctor must state on this list, that he agrees to the use of these
people for wor&. (fter receiving the permission of the *hief of the Security Police
and S! Service these prisoners may then be sent to the >uarries.
Sixteen thousand numbered Soviet prisoners passed through the camp at (uschwit),
out of whom, according to the camp roll of .an. 0G th 0134 only 1J were left alive.
mmediately after their arrival at the camp the 7ussians were completely stripped and
driven into bloc&s, where in the cold autumn days in 0130 they huddled together for
warmth. (fterwards they were clothed in stripped tic&ing, some in wooden shoes, and
so dressed they wor&ed in penal companies, and later on at the construction of the
camp at %ir&enau.
(midst constant chicanery, beating and &ic&ing they had to wallow in mud, digging
ditches and constructing the roads. @alf dressed, hungry and fro)en every day wea&er
and wea&er, they were punished for even the shortest pause in their labour by being
loc&ed in a shed na&ed, where frost and exhaustion finished them off. 'he conditions
were no better in the bloc&s. 'he na&ed prisoners were forced to do gymnastics in a
hard frost. 'hey washed themselves once in a wee& under constant beating. n such
conditions death reaped a rich harvest. 'hose that were half dead after verification
by the SS 7aportfLhrer Stiwit) with hot iron that they still lived were &illed with
stic&s.
( list of about a hundred causes of prisoners deaths came to be gradually written
down on death certificates and in registers. <rom the register of deaths preserved until
now +'otenbuch-, including the period from Sep. G th 0130 to <eb. FI th
p.4J
013F, it transpires ,that during this period, i.e. 033 days +on <eb. F2 rd 013F no deaths
were recorded- I,2FH prisoners were murdered. 'he highest number of 24F dead is
noted down under the date Nov. 3 th 0130. 'his boo& is closed by a pencilled
calculation of a SS cler&, who multiplied the number of the dead written on one page
+2J- by the number of pages +F23- and he divided the figure obtained by the number
of days +033-, getting in this way the number 4I as an average of the daily deaths.
<rom analysis of the inscriptions in this boo&, in which the number of the bloc&s is
given in which the prisoner allegedly died, the hour, and the cause of death, the result
is, that during 02G days the victims BdiedB between the hours of J and 0H in the
morning, and only on three days during night during 3 days the hours were not
inscribed, that during the period between G$0H a, m, 4,G33 prisoners died, and that the
ma=ority died not in the hospital, but exclusively in the living >uarters.
<rom the column Bcauses of deathB it appears that those who died in the living
>uarters were sic& among other things with peritonitis and pneumonia, during which
as a rule wal&ing is impossible. t proves that both the diseases and the causes of
death were falsely inscribed.
<rom the comparisons of the causes of death it appears that J42 people died of heart
attac&s, 1I1 from deficient circulation of blood, IHJ persons from catarrh of the
bowels, 3I3 persons of general exhaustion, 40F of the inflammation, of the &idneys,
440 of inflammation of the lungs, 02G of heart failure 0F03 of tumours, 20G of heart
disease, IHJ of bronchitis, and the rest of about twenty other diseases. 'he
description of numerous deaths of young militarily fit people as being due to heart
failure and deficient circulation of the blood as well as the fact that, for instance, on
the 02. . 013F 13F,persons died in one bloc& only in the 0H minutes from I.4H to 1
o;cloc& proves that the causes of death given are false. n about FH cases +Nos. J1F$
G00- description of the real reasons of death is given in the appropriate column as
BLberstelltB without
p.4G
giving the place to which the prisoner was transferred. (ccording to a uniform
account by the prisoners employed in the camp offices, this cryptogram signified that
the said prisoner was murdered.
'his fact was also noted in the camp register boo& by the sign S%
+Sonderbehandlung-, by a cross, or by the word BentlassenB.
<rom the seoond register preserved containing the numbers 1G13$F4,4HHH, it appears
that of 04GHJ prisoners who arrived at (uschwit) *amp in the period from (ugust G
th 0132 to .uly 01th 0133, 0F230 were certified as released +entlassen- and GJJ were
mar&ed with a cross. (s almost all the ostensibly released were .ews and it is well
&nown that the .ews were never released from the Na)i camps the sign BentlassenB
written in this boo& beside the name of the .ew undoubtedly signifies death.
C. Punishments
%esides the beating by the SS$men and overseers at the place of wor& the following
punishments were applied to men and worsen, with the aim of maintaining wor&ing
discipline among the prisoners: flogging, +penal gymnastics +Strafexer)ieren-, wor&
under supervision on Sundays and holidays, transfer to a penal group, standing,
&neeling with hands up, stones holding, and finally incarceration in a dar& narrow cell
+Steh)elle-.
Punishment was based on report by an SS$man, overseer at the place of wor& or
bloc& leader. 'he punishment was prescribed by the *ommandant of the *amp in a
written order, by virtue of the disciplinary authority which was given him by the
regulations for concentration camps. n the printed form of this regulation the
following penalties are laid down: 'hreat of punishment, wor& under the supervision
of an SS$man during normally free time, a ban on writing or
p.4I
receiving letters, deprivation of dinner with wor& as usual, transfer to a penal
company, and a hard bed in a cell after his daily wor&.
!eprivation of freedom was mar&ed by three grades of arrest. !uring arrest the
prisoner received daily only bread and water, and full diet every fourth day. 'hird
grade had to be endured by the prisoner in a dar& cell, so arranged that he could
neither lie nor sit. 'hird grade was &nown in the language of the camp as B%un&erB. t
was endured in small dar& cement cells, in which the prisoners were so s>uee)ed that
they could not move and were obliged to stand the whole time. (t %ir&enau these
cells were entered by a small opening li&e a dog &ennel. 'his punishment was
administered practically in all cases where Bhard bedB was ordered. 9fficially it was
called BSteh)elleB, and in practice was enhanced by ingenious tortures, such as
pouring of water into the ears, beating the heels, pulling out finger nails, or starving
for several days after which the prisoner was given vegetable salad specially
seasoned with salt for producing a great thirst.
( starvation cell was instituted with special sadism by MagerfLhrer <ritsch, where
prisoners were &ept who were caught trying to escape. n this cell there were
instances of cannibalism. 9ne of the prisoners who was in this cell told of the
following scene: B6hen the door was opened, a horrible smell of decaying corpses
was noticeable. (fter accustoming myself to the dar&ness, noticed in a corner the
corpse of a prisoner, with his intestines pulled out, and beside him in a half
recumbent position$ second body, also of a prisoner. @e was holding in his hand the
liver he had ta&en from the body of his dead companion. !eath struc& him in the act
of devouring this liverB.
(ccording to the regulations concerning the administering of punishment by flogging
+,Nrperliche Auchtigung- the prisoner first had to undergo a medical inspection, and
then the punishment was to be applied with a leather whip, with blows
p.41
following swiftly upon each other. %eating was allowed only on the buttoc&s, which
had to be clad.
<urther down on the form there is a printed medical certificate form, to the effect that
the prisoner underwent a medical inspection before flogging and that from the
medical point of view there were no ob=ections to his receiving such a punishment.
(fterwards the confirmation of the extent of the punishment by the *hief of ,the
9fficial 5roup ! in %erlin, was included, and a protocol that the punishment was
administered, with the names of the prisoners who flogged the delin>uent, and the
signature of four officers of the SS +the *ommander and three functionaries-.
<logging was administered publicly during the evening roll$call on a specially
constructed whipping bloc& which is seen on the photograph below.
7egardless of the above$mentioned regulations the prisoners were beaten on na&ed
buttoc&s, which as a rule were cut till the blood flowed. Usually this punishment
caused tumours on the buttoc&s sometimes as big as a fist. f the delin>uent fainted,
he was restored to consciousness and the punishment was continued. 'he smallest
punishment amounted to 0H blows. t was an official punishment. Unofficially the
bloc&leaders flogged the prisoners for the slightest offence usually ordering the
prisoners to put their heads into the opening of the stove, and afterwards beating them
on the buttoc&s with a rod. 'he standing punishment consisted of standing at
attention at the camp office near the exit gate of the camp. 'his punishment was
applied in the women;s camp, and lasted from three hours to a whole day, and even
several days following each other without a brea&. !uring the time it lasted the
woman$prisoner did not get anything to eat. f in the punishment of &neeling the
woman$delin>uent dropped her stone$filled outstretched hands, she was beaten till
she lost consciousness. 'he duration of the punishment by &neeling ,depended on the
whim of the authorities, and lasted from two to several hours.
p.JH
'he prisoners who formed the penal company always wor&ed in the open air, always
on the hardest wor&, often in water to the waist, and lived in an isolated %loc& No.
#, at the far end of the camp and in the # %loc& of the % Section in %ir&enau.
'hey wor&ed in winter and in summer without soc&s, in !utch cloys, clad only in
tic&ing. 'hey received food or not according to the whim of the bloc&leader. 'hey
spent in most cases sleepless nights owing to constant shouting and blows. 'hey were
lying without even straw mattresses on the bare floor, and left their rags in prescribed
order in the corridor. 'his %loc& was not heated. t is obvious that people in such
conditions fell ill wholesale.
Up to 0132 it was not permissible however to ta&e sic& from the penal company into
hospital. So the seriously ill, deprived of medical assistance, were doomed in %loc&
# to death. 'he greatest percentage perished, however, at the hands of the
bloc&leader of the # %loc&$ ,ran&enmann. @e used to line up the prisoners by a
wall, struc& their =aws with his hand, so that they split, and the other side of the head
struc& the wall and was smashed.
n winter 013F:32 a 5iant$.ew, specially &ept for &illing people was prowling in #
%loc& in the penal company. @e did no wor&, was well fed, stood at the place where
the prisoners were wor&ing leaning against a great thic& pole and shouted without
ceasing B%ewegungB. 6hen he disli&ed one of the prisoners, he called him up to him
and &illed him with a blow on the bac& of his nec&. ( second method of &illing was
strangulation. 'he prisoner was ordered to button and hoo& his tunic under his nec&
and then the executioner gripped the collar from behind and pressed the head of the
prisoner downwards, so that the collar and the hoo& pressing against the larynx of the
victim caused strangulation. <inally he flung the prisoners on the floor with their
faces upwards, put earth or bric&s under their nec&s and then placed his pole across
p.J0
their throats, standing with his feet on both sides of the pole. @e stood thus until his
victims died.
Punishments were administered for the slightest offence against the camp regulations,
such as not ma&ing one;s bed properly, for finding potatoes on the prisoner, who
wanted to coo& when in his %loc& or at his place of wor&, for having in one;s
possession family photographs or letters, and particularly for writing and receiving
letters from other prisoners within the camp area.
C. @ousing conditions
"ven if there had been no physical and moral torturing of the prisoners at 9swiecim,
even if they had not been tormented and murdered wholesale, still the mere living
conditions and lac& of hygiene, and the deficient food which they received would
have caused a high mortality$rate.
'he scheming and exactness both in the construction of the living >uarters and the
starvation level of rations is stri&ing.
'he prisoners lived in huts without windows, used only by the 5erman army as
stables for horses, officially called: Pferdestallbarac&en 'ype FJH:1 with dimensions
of 3H.GJ # 1.4J # F.J4 metres constructed on posts, with walls made of thin boards,
and roofs made of tarred boards through which water was constantly lea&ing. 'he
only furniture of these huts consisted of 2$storey bun&s 0.IH metres in breadth, in
which 2H prisoners were cabined on litter, and in most cases on bare boards.
'here was a primitive stove whose pipes ran through the whole length of the barrac&s
and heated the interior with carbon monoxide. 'hese stoves were called officially
B7ussenofenB.
Such huts were regarded as living accommodation for 2HH prisoners. 9n each litter,
consisting of two straw mat$
p.JF
tresses slept from J to 0H prisoners. <rom a letter of the manager of the clothing
stores one learns however, that in reality, often 0HHH$0FHH prisoners lived in them at
once, and after deducting the area of the senior %loc&leader;s and *apoPs rooms and
of the foold$store, it amounted for one prisoner to an area of about H.FI mF and about
H,G4 m2 of air. t is characteristic of the camp authorities that they found such huts
unsuitable even for &eeping the camp cows in, and after the reconstruction of 'ype
FJH:1 as a cow$shed, ventilation and a cement floor were added +plan No. 0322 of the
2th C. 013F-. 'he authorities showed the same care for the health of the animals
when constructing dog &ennels. %y order from %erlin of 9ct. 0Jth 013F a luxuriously
arranged &ennel was built at cost of I0.HHH 7M. at %ir&enau calculated to contain
F4H police dogs. <rom the files of this building construction +%6 GG- it is seen that
when the &ennel was being planned a professional camp veterinary surgeon was
as&ed for advice, and everything was done to build it in accordance with modern
sanitary re>uirements. 'hey even thought about an ade>uate grass plot, a specially
arranged dog$hospital, and a &itchen. n connection with a delay in mending the roof
of the &ennel, the head of the dogs; section threatened to resign, saying that he could
not ta&e the responsibility for disease among the dogs caused by lea&ing roofs. 6hen
comparing the sanitary conditions in the prisoners, huts and those in the dog &ennels
it must be said that the dogs at (uschwit) were a hundred times better off.
(ll the prisonersP huts were constructed on muddy ground in the swampy %ir&enau
area with no drainage. !uring practically the whole of the campPs existence they were
deprived of regular water supply, were without drainage, had no ventilation
whatsoever, had clay floor, which got very dusty in the dry season, and which in rainy
periods, owing to the lea&ing of the roofs was transformed into one big swamp. t
served as an incubator of flies, lice and rats which were
p.J2
one of the greatest scourges of the prisoners and a hotbed of different epidemic
diseases, the principal one being typhoid fever.
Ciolent epidemics of the worst type of spotted typhus were the scourge of the
prisoners, especially in winter, and confirm the inhuman hygienic and sanitary
conditions which were found in the camp, t was impossible to wash or to change
one;s underwear. 'he huts were overcrowded in an unheard$of manner.
'he prisoners who were heard as witnesses stated with one accord, that they did not
receive water either to wash in or drin&. 'hey washed themselves in the imitation
coffee which was supplied to them, as nourishment, or in pools of rain, or in ditches
which also served their physiological needs. <rom a letter of the manager of the
construction authorities, %ischoff, of !ec. 0Jth 013F +"rlOuterungen )ur (usfLhrung
der 6asserversorgung- it is shown that the camp authorities &new =ust how bad these
sanitary conditions were, and particularly the lac& of water as the cause of epidemic
diseases which exterminated the prisoners, and notwithstanding this, they did nothing
to prevent this calamity.
#. <ood 7ations
6hen considering the problem of food rations, the difference between the official
rations foreseen in the bill of fare, in portions distributed in the &itchen store, and
those rations which actually reached the prisoners in the hut must be ta&en into
account.
'he daily portion of bread amounted to 24H gr. but in reality the prisoner got as a rule
at best only 2HH gr. as the bloc& leaders, when cutting bread, stole from each loaf. (t
%ir&enau +camp for men- a loaf of bread +03HH gr- was divided in J even in I
portionsY n 013F 0132 during many months at least
p.J3
4H gr. t must be remembered that bread was distributed in the evening and the
famished prisoner ate the whole 2HH gr at once, so that he had no more bread for
breal&fast.
<or brea&fast he received half$a$litre of coffee or tea made of herbs: 2 &g. of sugar
was prescribed for a &ettle containing 2HH litres, then 4 gr. for a half litre portion, but
in practice, the coffee was sweetened but rarely, and in such a way that 4 gr. of sugar
was for a portion used only exceptionally.
<or dinner two &inds of soup were given: meat soup four times a wee&, and vegetable
soup three times a wee&.
( portion of soup with meat ought to contain: 04H gr. of potatoes, turnips, cabbage,
greens and beetroots 04H gr., FH gr. of flour or (vo, 4 gr. of salt and FH gr. of meat
with bones.
n reality such a portion shran& in the &itchen store to the following dimensions.
'here were only 4H gr. of potatoes and turnips for a portion owing to the necessity of
throwing away large >uantity of rotten vegetables, and as meat with bones was
systematically ta&en from the store for the SS$men;s &itchen, instead of FH gr. there
remained for a prisoner;s por tion only 0H gr. +with bones-.
( portion of the second type soups should have contained: 4HH gr. of potatoes or
turnips 4HH gr. ,or F4H gr each of potatoes, turnips, psomrridge, groats, +pearl barley,
rye, mlillet, macaroni- 3H 4H gr. of flour or (vo, 4 gr. of salt, FH 3H gr. of margarine
+3H gr. only twice a wee& as extra for heavy wor&-. n actual fact this soup; wa.s
already in the &itchen store invariably delprivsd of many essential ingreldientis.
nstead of 4HH gr. of Dpotatoes or beets Dper portion there was only 0HH 04H gr. +there
were always so many rotten potatoes and beets- and half the margarine disappeared in
the same way as meat in the &itchen for the use of the SSmen. 'he result was that
instead of FH 3H gr. per portion of soup the prisoner actually got only lH FH gr. of
margarine.
p.J4
'wice a wee& a huge five$ton lorry carried from the prisoners; food store sac&s of
sugar, groats, sausage, flour etc., products destined for the &itchen of the SS$men.
@auptscharfLhrer 6erner @endler supervised this activity +(nnie <ran) in the
women;s &itchen-, and in the &itchen of the Ssmen these products were received by
UnterscharfLhrer Pasch&e.
'he prisoners should have received a litre of soup, but the portion of soup in reality
amounted as a rule to Z litre. n the &itchen a 2HH litre cauldron was not filled up to
the brim owing to the technical difficulties of ade>uately mixing it- t contained
usually only FJH$FGH litres of li>uid. (fterwards part of the coo&ed soup was wasted
during its passage from the &itchen to the place of wor& or to the huts +lac& of can
lids caused the soup to be spilled-. <inally, durirrg the disstribution the capo or the
bloc& leader distributed the soup une>ually, &eeping a certain number of portions for
the 5erman prisoners and for their assistants from among the prisoners extra.
n this way instead of one litre of soup the prisoner usually got for dinner Z litres at
best.
(ttention must be drawn to the fact, that in the years 013H, 0130 and up to the middle
of 013F, by obvious command of the camp authorities, soup was distributed in the
bloc&s at midday, and poured into the canteens immediately so the prisoners who
returned from their wor& at J o;cloc& in the evening were obliged to drin& their soup
>uite cold. t was a time of serious diseases of the alimentary canal, of diarrhoea, and
typhoid, which undoubtedly resu0ted to a large extent from the eating of cold soup by
the prisoner +'he prisoner was deprived completely of hot food from morning-Y
6hen spea&ing of the supper portions, it is necessary to distinguish carefully between
the official bill of fare, the portions distributed to the &itchen stores, and finally the
por$
p.JJ
tions which the prisoner actually got in the huts. 'he comparison given below shows
the difference between the three stages to the disadvantage of the prisoner according
supplied prisoner the menu gr to the &itchen received:
n a similar way out of the >uantities of meat and margarine destined for dinner, large
amounts constantly found their way to the &itchen of the SS$men, as did portions of
sausage and margarine meant for supper, and even in the &itchen$store a part of these
products was set aside for the fattening of the SS$men. "ach portion of sausage and
margarine was cut down by at least 0H gr. even during the distribution of rations in
the &itchen store, to the detriment of the prisoner. 'he final stage of the distribution of
portions in the barrac& was invariably connected with a new diminution of the
already starvation ration: here the bloc&$leaders for their own benefit reduced the
portions of the prisoners, stealing sausage and margarine for themselves and for their
closest pals. (s a result the prisoners got instead of 3H gr. at most only 04$FH gr. of
sausage, and instead of 3H gr. of margarine only F4$2H gr.
t must be emphasi)ed, that with the consent of the camp authorities every attempt at
complaint ended in tragedy for
p.JG
the prisoner to whom in=ustice had been done? this recurred constantly during the
whole existence of the camp. Such were the supper rations, to which half a litre of
blac& coffee was added0. +0 Since 013F the prisoners were to receive twice a wee&
half a litre of Mehlsuppe +FH gr meal or groats, and 4 gr salt $ one portion-. 'his
supper was distributed in the morning.-
9n 'uesdays and <ridays supplements were allocated for those who wor&ed
extremely hard, the so called Schwerarbeiter)ulage for prisoners wor&ing in the field
in the woods in the crematoria. 'hese additional portions should have amounted to
GHH gr. of bread and 0HH gr. of sausage, but in reality the prisoners got only GH gr. of
sausage and GHH gr. of bread.
9n 'hursday the prisoners wor&ing inside the camp in the clothing stores, in the
laundry, in the shoema&ers, tailor wor&shops a. s o. should have received in addition
3JH gr. of bread and 4H gr. of sausage. 'hey were getting however at least 0H gr. of
sausage less.
(n accurate evaluation of the nutritional value of the food consumed by the prisoners
at (uschwit), its energy value in calories is difficult owing to the fact that the
investigators did not have any specimens of bread, margarine or other products which
were given to the prisoners. t is certain however, that according to the evidence of all
the witnesses heard, these products were of a much worse >uality than the average
given in the tables on which the calorific value of the consumed nourishment is
based. 'he data below given concerning calories is based on the calculations made
during the n>uiry in accordance with an official 5erman publication BNOhrstoff ,und
NLhrungswert von Mebensmitteln. %earbeitet im statistschen 7eichsamt in
Cerbindung mit dem 7eichsgesundheitsamtB +Meip)ig 0132 .. (.%arth-, which too&
into account the average products eaten by
p.JI
the 5erman population. So if in the calculation of the caloric value of bread, we were
obliged here to base it on B,ommisbrsotB it must not be forgotten that in the
(uschwit) camp bread which was given to the prisoners was of a much worse >uality
and that its worth in calories was less owing to a serious increase of flour substitutes.
f the calorific value of the sausage was according to data concerning the average
sausage it must be remembered that at (uschwit) in most cases a sausage specially
poor in calorific value was given to the prisoners, such a sausage as is not seen in
normal conditions, with very little proteins and fat. 'he same thing applies to the
margarine and marmalade, etc.
n this way the data given below relate to average products, more valuable from the
point of view of nutrition than the products which were distributed to the prisoners in
the (uschwit) camp. n reality the amount of calories calculated ought to be much
less. f we are satisfied with the data obtained by calculations based on official
5erman tables, we do it only because the evaluation must be done on a strictly
defined basis.
Using data contained in official 5erman tables, we get the following stri&ing figures:
p.J1
6hereas according to the standards of the Physiological *ommitee of the Section of
@ygiene of the Meague of Nations a hardwor&ing man ought to receive in F3 hours
about 3,IHH calories and an average wor&ing man more than 2,JHH calories, the
prisoners at (uschwit) were getting at most from 02HF up to 0G33 calories for F3
hoursY 0G33 calories daily represent a little less than the basic conversion of food into
energy of a grown man, or in other words a little less than the amount needed by a
man resting in a lying position, covered and motionless. ( man who wor&s, nourished
in such a way is burning up his own tissues in order to cover the amount of energy
expended. 'his inevitably results in the wasting away of his organism in a manner
dangerous to life.
'he diet of the prisoners wor&ing very hard outside the camp possessed such a
calorific value. 'he prisoners who were wor&ing in the camp and whose wor& was
also undoubtedly hard were getting at most 02HF calories for F3 hours, which was
much below the amount necessary for the preservation of life when lying in bed.
'he above given data explains in full why the prisoners of the (uschwit)
concentration camp were dying in masses after a short period of time, and only those
who had the chance of getting stolen food, or were getting parcels of food from their
families at home, could preserve their life. (ll the other prisoners were doomed to
destruction. 6hen spea&ing about details, the great deficiency of protein in the food
issued to the prisoners must be remembered, especially the lac& of grade 0, animal
protein which
p.GH
caused after a certain time a hunger$swelling. 'he lac& of fresh vegetables in the diet
and of mil& and its products meant a serious deficiency of the so called protective
foods, and especially of vitamins (, % and *. 'he need for mineral salts, and
particularly for calcium, phosphorus and iron was also not satisfied. Pathological
effects were the inevitable result of this, such as night$blindness, a ,lowering of
resistance to infection, septicemia, scurvy and s&in diseases, teeth and bone diseases
caused through lac& of calcium, inflammation of the nerves and so on. So the
nourishment of the prisoners was deficient in both >uantity and >uality to such an
extent that, overwor&ed and overdriven as they were, it led very >uic&ly to starvation,
exhaustion and death.
'he above calculations explain the attitude of the SS$men, who regarded any prisoner
who survived in the camp for several months as a thief who stole food. B( prisoner
has the right to live in the camp only three monthsB was a typical saying of the
representatives of the camp authorities. 6hen the commandant of the camp, ,rause,
saw prisoners with low numbers he reproached the SS$men for tolerating such as had
learned how to BmanageB and ordered their li>uidation. ,rause was convinced that a
prisoner should not live in the camp longer than six wee&s.
'he general conditions of life in the camp, and in particular the scale of food rations,
fully =ustify this belief.
'@" (US*@6'A "#'"7MN('9N *(MP
P(7'
#. 'he victims of hunger in photographs
#. 'he camp hospital and BscientificB experiments on the prisoners
#. 'he selections
#. 'he shootings
#C. @anging
#C. 5as$chambers
#C. 'he burning of corpses. *rematoria
#C. 'he wiping out of all vestiges of the crime
#. 'he victims of hunger in photographs
(fter the flight of the 5erman;s a special legal and medical *ommission inspected
the FI01 sic& prisoners from the (uschwit) camp who survived, and stated that
among them F0I1 i. e. 10T $ were suffering from extreme exhaustion and starvation,
and FF2 had tuberculosis. 'he autopsies which were
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carried lout on 42J corpses proved that in 3G3 cases death was due to starvation.
'he phbtograph No. 20 shown below represents a part of one group of corpses found
in one of the %loc&s of the (uschwit) camp. 'he physical condition of the prisoners
during the existence of the camp is illustrated in photograph No. 2F ta&en by the SS
doctor Mengele. Photographs Nos 22 and 23 were ta&en in May 0134, and show the
state of the prisoners after they had already received several months of intensive
treatment in a Polish 7ed *ross hospital. Photograph No. 22 represents a woman
prisoner Nr. 33II3, born in 0103, a Pole who arrived at (uschwit) *amp on May 04
0132. She is a woman of 0JH centimeters in height and weighing about F4 &lg. %efore
her arrest she weighed G4 &lg.
Photograph Nr. 23 is that of a 5erman woman prisoner of (ryan origin born in 01FF
who came to (uschwit) on <eb. FI 0133. She weighed at the time the photograph
was ta&en about F4 &lg. 9ne of the many ,others unhappy victims, a woman prisoner
No. ( FGI4I, a !utch .ewess, born in 01HI, who had been in (uschwit) since the
middle of the year 0133, when photographed she weighed F2 &lg. and measured 044
cm. in height.
(ll these women were ,suffering from the ,disease !istrophia (limentaris gradus.
#. 'he camp hospital and BscientificB experiments on the prisoners
'he inhuman conditions of life in the camp, hunger and hard wor& were the cause of
an average of 2HT of the prisoners being sic& and needing medical assistance. 'his
figure was contained in authentic diagrams of a section of prison $ labour during the
period 0st .une 013F to 0st (ugust 0133. (t certain
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periods up to IHT of all the prisoners had diarrhoea +!urchfall-, a very dangerous
complaint in camp conditions.
nsufficient personal hygiene, and above all lac& of water, caused breeding of lice,
and that led to epidemics of spotted typhus, which almost a00 the prisoners caught
during the winter periods of 0130$0132. 'hey were also decimated by typhoid fever
in all its varieties and finally by malaria, for, although the camp authorities did
everything to protect the SS$men from it, they did not do anything to protect the
prisoners. 'he disease Bdistrophia alimentarisB must also be mentioned, and was
caused by starvation. t led in most cases to tuberculosis. 'hen there were scurvy and
other diseases caused by avitaminosis, and finally various s&in diseases, scabies in
particular, and traumatic diseases caused through ill treatment.
Malnutrition undermined the constitutions of the prisoners who could not fight
efficiently against disease, so that the mortality rate among the sic& was very high.
'yphoid fever and spotted typhus caused an excessively high number of deaths.
"lderly people, and of wea& constitution perished in masses in a short period.
!uring the first period of its existence the camp had no hospital at all. (fterwards it
was organi)ed, but it was designed rather for experiments by the SS doctors and
different representatives of 5erman science than for the cure of the sic&. 'he 5erman
doctors and BscientistsB sought in (uschwit) human rabbits for their experiments. t
follows undoubtedly from the testimony of a series of witnesses and from the report
of the surgical section of this hospital of !ec. J th 0132 that in the camp hospital at
(uschwit) experiments were carried out on living people. n the above$mentioned
report there are enumerated among other things: 1H castrations +@odenamputation-,
0H operations for removal of the
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ovaries +"ierentfernung- and 0H operation to remove the ovi duct +"ntfernung der
"ierleiters-.
'hese experiments were carried out ,on the #th %loc& of the base camp. 'he may be
divided into the following groups: experiments having as their aim the investigations
of cancer, finding out of a new contrasting mass for #$rays photographs and
hematological and serological experiments. 6omen of .ewish origin were used in
most cases for these experiments, which were done several times on many of them.
(t the order of the 5arrison doctor 6irths these experiments and the investigation of
cancer were done by a prisoner, !r. Samuel, a 5erman .ew, who cut out under
narcosis a part of the nec& of the womb of the women prisoners. 'he cu$tout tissue
was fro)en, and !r. Samuel investigated it under the microscope. ( big piece of tissue
was cut out, and the cut was deep, as the further experiments proved that, owing to a
strong scarring of the nec& of the womb it became inaccessible to a sounding$rod, so
such women were sent to %ir&enau to the gas$chambers as not suitable for further
experiments. (mong others, @erman Mina, bforn on !ec. FG th 01HF in (msterdam
fell victim to such experiments.
SamuelPs asistant had constructed a special apparatus for photographing the inside of
the vagina.
'hese photographs were very painful, as they lasted an hour and they had to be
repeated many times.
'he sterili)ation experiments by means of #$rays were done by an airman of the
6ehrmacht, 9berleutnant, 9bermedi)inalrat Prof. !r. Schumann from %erlin.
llumination of the ovulas with #rays directed on them for 4$04 minutes was carried
out. 'he intensity and the tension of the current were regulated by Prof. Schumann
himself, +sitting in a leaden cabin- $ according to what he wanted to achieve by such
an illumination. Many women vomited after this operation. Many of them died after
it. (fter three months of this treatment
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two controlling operations, were carried out on each of such women during which a
part of the sexual organs was removed in order to investigate their condition.
Probably owing to changes in the hormones ,resulting from these operations, even
young girls grew prematurely old and gave the impression of nearly old women.
n the case of men only one testicle was exposed to the rays. (fter the operation they
were returned normally to their bloc&s, from whence after one day of rest they were
driven to wor& notwithstanding the state of their health. Many men also died owing to
the rays. 'hose who survived were castrated by Schumann after one month in the
hospital. 'he cut$out testicles were gathered up by Schumann who too& them away to
%erlin. 9nly young and healthy people were chosen for such operations, most of
them being 5ree& .ews and .ewesses. !uring one session Schumann put rays on
about 2H women. @e organi)ed such sessions F$2 times in a wee&.
'he principal experimentalist on living people in the camp was the 5erman
gynaecologist, Prof. 5lauberg who, with his colleague from %erlin, carried out
experiments in order to find out new contrast substances for the #$rays. 5lauberg
however was a business man above everything else, as he was wor&ing by order of
the 5erman *hemical ndustry, from whom he was getting a considerable sum for
each woman used in his experiments. @e bought 04H women from the camp
authorities for his experiments. 'hese women were laid on the table which served for
the #$rays and with an electric syringe a dense, li>uid mass li&e cement was s>uee)ed
into their sexual organs. 'he insertion of this mass was controlled with the aid of the
7Nntgen apparatus, and afterwards photographed. 6omen were writhing in pain, and
often had severe haemorrhage. 'hese experiments were carried out on the same
women from 2 to J times at intervals of 2$3 wee&s.
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'he victims of these experiments suffered from inflamation of the womb ovaries, ovi
ducts and peritoneum.
<urther experiments were carried out by the SSmen 6eber and MLnch. 'heir aim
was the indication of the blood group the denoting of the text and the establishment
of the group elements text serum in the saliva. 9ther experiments had as their aim the
establishing of the amount of sulfphonamide and salicyl preparations in the blood and
the establishment of the reactions on the system of the in=ections of blood in people
suffering from malaria.
<inally other experiments were also performed in (uschwit), such as ,the ma&ing of
plaster casts of the women;s genitals, and the investigation of the reaction to different
means of irritating the s&in, ,or the relative effects of in=ections of petroleum and
ben)ine. 'hese last experiments were carried out at the re>uest of the 5erman army
in order to obtain a detailed description of diseases ensuing from these operations.
(t the beginning of the year 0133, a special Medical *ommission arrived at the camp
consisting of SSmen from %erlin, who investigated about a hundred sic& .ews and the
health staff. ( special preparation was in=ected into their muscles and the reaction
from this in=ection was examined very carefully. (fter 04 minutes the victims were
led into the courtyard where they had a special &ind of gymnastics, for half an hour.
'hen individual members of the *ommission as&ed the prisoners, among other
things, if they wanted to live or to die, if they felt fear, and they were particularly
as&ed several times who was their personal enemy. 'his last >uestion proves that the
gestapo were wor&ing to find out such means as would produce in the victim a
special psychological condition facilitating extortion of evidence. t seems that the
prisoners who underwent this experiment felt symptoms of a slight dimness,
drowsiness and an inability to concentrate.
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So the hospitals at (uschwit) served in the first place for experiments. 'he sic& were
ta&en thereaccording to the statement of a certain SSman$five minutes before their
death. 'hey were supplied with almost no medicaments whatsoever, there was no
proper diet, the sic& were fed almost in the same way as the prisoners, the housing
conditions in the hospital were even worse than in the living >uarters. 'here was one
period of time when the only medicine which was in the hospital was aspirin and
other analgesic tablets. 'he sic& were given one spoonful of medicine only to create
the illusion in them that they were being cured. 'he medicine which was in the
hospital at the moment was given to all, in most cases analgesic tablets
+Schmer)tabletten- which included treatment for headaches,
pleurisy, ischias, rheumatism, inflammation of the bladder, stomach aches and all
other diseases. n the hospital drug store paper bandages and lignine were given out,
which however were always in short supply. n the surgical section, contained in a
small surgery, everything was done without, local or general anaesthesia. 9ften I$0H
cuts were made on one limb. Cery often the operation of the s>uee)ing out of tumours
was performed. 'hese were in most cases on the buttoc&s, resulting from suppuration
of wounds, the result of beating with a rod.
n the hospital the meticulous recording of the case history of the diseases was
observed very strictly and would have done credit to the best clinics. n some of the
hospital bloc&s the curves of temperature and analysis were so carefully done that
they might serve as an example even to the best hospitals. 'he 5erman doctors
however did not cure the prisoners.
#. 'he selections
(s in the camp only those who wor&ed had the right to live, therefore the sic& were
ta&en regularly from the hospital at
p.GG
intervals of time, and murdered. Such activities were called selections. 'his
nightmare weighed heavily upon the hospital huts. t obviously deterred the sic&
people, so that for a long period of time the hospitals of (uschwit) were a refuge only
for would$be$suicides, tired of life and the torments of camp existence. Such
selections were also carried on in the housing bloc&s of all sections and branches of
the camp, in order to clear out prisoners from them unfit for further wor&. n most
cases the SSdoctors @elmersohn, 'hilo, ,Nnig, Mengele and ,itt, whith the manager
of the Prisoners; "mployment department reviewed the sic& and the prisoners in the
bloc&s and without any medical inspection they decided merely from ,the appearance
of the prisoner whether he should live or die.
'he prisoner, who at the first glance gave the impression of being exhausted, sic&,
unable to wor&, was regarded by the doctor as >ualified for destruction. 'he sic&
&new that they were approaching in turn these masters of their life and death and tried
to give the impression of being healthy. 'hey straightened themselves, lifted their
heads, pushed out their lean chests, trying in this way to weight the scales in favour
of life. t did not help much, it was sometimes enough that someone had an abcess, or
wore a a bandage, and so fell victim to selection. 'he Ciennese Paul ,ruger, was
selected only because as he had an old appendicitis scar. 'he methods of selection are
proved by the fact that in about FH minutes the doctor BinspectedB in this way often
about 4HH persons. !uring a certain selection carried out by @elmersohn, the
physically wea& prisoners tried to conceal themselves under the plan& beds. 'hey
were seen and the SS$men fired blindly at the hidden men, wounding and &illing
many of them. 'he extent of destruction by such a selection is proved by the fact
based on statistical data, that G,J0J people were selected only from the camp of the
>uarantine in %ir&enau during the period from (ugust F1 th 0132 up to 9ct. F1 th
0133.
p.GI
'he chosen were put into separate bloc&s called by the prisoners Bbloc&s of deathB.
n the women;s camp the ##Cth %loc& was described by witness Mrs. 7achwal as
follows: t was a stone bloc& with grated windows whose courtyard was fenced with
a high wire. n this bloc& up to FHHH persons were often staying who sometimes did
not get anything to eat for days. 'here was a dreadfull stuffiness and stench as it was
filled with dead and dying prisoners, among which crept, sic& persons, swollen
bleeding human s&eletons, moaning and begging for a drop of water. solated in
such bloc&s the selected prisoner perished either from hunger or from an in=ection of
phenol or were suffocated by gas. 'he gaps thus made in the ran&s of the labour
groups were filled by the prisoners who arrived in the fresh transports.
n the carefully thought$out mills of death at (uschwit) the selections served as a
means of &eeping the prisoners at the highest level of wor&ing efficiency, &illing by
hard labour, hunger and disease some, who were destined to be replaced by others. n
this criminal way the turnover of human material at (uschwit) was controlled.
'he inventor of the method of ridding the camp of prisoners unable to wor& by
in=ections of phenol was one of the camp doctors SS$9bersturmfLhrer !r "ndress.
n=ections of 0H$0F cm. of a 2HT phenol were made, first in the veins and then in the
heart. 'he number of prisoners selected by him for in=ection of phenol was on some
days as large as 2HH. 'hese in=ections were made in most cases by both of the
medical assistants, SS$ 9berscharfLhrer .osef ,lehr and @erbert Scherpe, assisted
first by Stessel and then by Pans)c)y&. Stesse0 boasted before the prisoners that he
had murdered over 0H,HHH patients by phenol in=ections, and Pans)c)y& similarly
treated more than 0F,HHH. 'hese operations were carried out in the surgery of the
##th %loc& or in ,the ##Cth %loc& of the base camp. 'he condemned man warns
seated in a chair,
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similar to a dentist;s, and two prisoners sei)ed his hands and a third blindfolded him
with a towel and held his head. 'hen ,lehr approached his victim and drove a long
needle into his chest directly into the heart. 'he prisoner did not die immediately, but
everything turned dar& before his eyes? then the prisoners who had assisted at the
in=ection led him into an ad=oining room and threw him on the floor, where he
expired after about FH seconds. 'he room in which these operations were carried out
was close to the entrance to the ##th bloc& on the left. 'he corpses were 0aid on the
opposite side of the corridor in the lavatory. ,lehr, who too& &een pleasure in ma&ing
these deadly in=ections, did not confine himself to the patients selected by the doctor,
but if he had no officially selected material, went himself and loo&ed for it. @e used
to go to the ##Cth %loc&, enter the room where the sic& were waiting to go into
the hospital, selected ten or a do)en, and &illed them by in=ections. t is not strange
therefore, that in these conditions the prisoners were afraid of the hospital and
avoided it particularly as even a high temperature shown on the case chart was
enough to bring one to his doom.
#. 'he shootings
( second method of mass murder of prisoners was shooting, practised principally by
the Bpolitical departmentB at (uschwit), which was organised and directed from .une
0I, 013H, to Nov. 0, 0132, by the chief executioner, SS$UntersturmfLhrer "rnst
5rabner.
@e was chosing a group of suitable assistants strictly collaborating with the camp
*ommand, he secured for the political department unlimited power over the life of
the prisoner. @e was the initiator and executant of daily mass shootings. t was he
who in 0130 introduced the practise of shooting victims through the bac& of the head
+Genickschuss-. 'he following shot prisoners in this way: first reporter of the camp
SS$ @auptsturmfLhrer Palitsch, the ex$reporter, SS$Unterschar$
p.IH
fLhrer <riedrich Stiwit), son of a 5erman pastor? %loc&fLhrer %runo Schlage, SS$
UnterscharfLhrer Machmann, SS$UnterscharfLhrer Euac&ernac& 6alter, SS$
UnterscharfLhrer ,irschner @erbert, SSUnterscharfLhrer %ogar 6ilhelm, ,adu&
9swald, Nebest 6ilhelm, Schult) "rich, %ure& 6asil, MNwenday <riedrich, and other
SS$men from the political department. 5rabnerPs principal assistants were SS$
@auptsturmfLhrer (umeier, MagerfLhrer of the base camp and afterwards the
commandant of the concentration camp at 7iga, and @auptsturmfLhrer <ritsch,
afterwards commandant at <lossenburg. (umeier pronounced the sentences and was
present, along with 5rabner, at the almost daily executions.
@is mentality is illustrated by the following incident: on Saturday .an. F2, 0132, a
Polish colonel, .an ,arc), who had been half a year in a penal company, came to
(umeier and as&ed for release from this company, as his time was up. (umeier
answered moc&ingly that he would be informed of his decision. 9n Monday, .an. F4,
,arc) was summoned to the #th %loc& and shot.
<ritsch greeted the prisoners who arrived in the camp with the following speech:
warn you that you have come not to a sanatorium but to a 5erman concentration
camp from which there is no way out, save only by the chimney +i. e. the
crematorium-. f any one disli&ed it he may go at once on to the +high$tension- wires.
f there are .ews in the transport, they have no right to live more than a fortnight? if
there are any priests, they may live for a month? the rest may live three months.
@e was the organiser of the penal company, to which were sent mainly persons of
education and army officers. 5rabner;s right$hand man was %oger, who organised a
networ& of spies in the camp and invented the most refined methods of torture for use
when prisoners were >uestioned. @e used to torture prisoners himself, and
particularly persecuted preg$
p.I0
nant women, whom he &ic&ed in the stomach and so &illed. Euac&ernac& at these
examinations used to crucify his victims, pric& their testicles with steel needles, or
introduce burning suppositories into their vaginas.
Palitsch, the principal executioner and first executant of 5rabner;s sentences by
shooting, was the terror of all the prisoners. @e always carried a tommy$gun before
shooting them used to criminally assault his victims. @e ordered some Po lish officers
who were brought to the camp on (ug. 04, 013H, to &iss his boots in the presence of
other SS$men and when they refused he shot them.
'he first shootings were done at the posts outside the camp fence. 'he prisoners were
bound to these posts by their arms, which were twisted behind them. 'he shooting
was performed by a firing s>uad, commanded by an officer of the SS. (fterwards
deep holes dug outside the fence were chosen as the place of execution, near the
camp gate, and afterwards a s>uare near the branch railway line. n .uly, 013F, IF
Poles from *racow were shot there in batches of ten. (ll of them had their hands
bound behind with wire. 'hose who were in the last ten had been obliged to loo& on
at the death of their GH companions.
(fterwards the yard of the #th %loc& was chosen as the scene of the shootingPs, and
particularly a wall connecting the #th %loc& with the #th. %efore it a high platform
was constructed of boards, the sides being covered with cor& and painted blac&. 'he
condemned men were assembled in the lavatory of the #th %loc&, where other
prisoners covered by rifles bound their hands with barbed wire, the SS$men watching
to ma&e sure that the wire should be drawn tight with pincers so that its barbs should
eater deeply into the flesh. 'hen they were ta&en to the blac& wall, placed with their
faces to it, and shot through the bac& of the head from a distance of 0 metre. 6hen
smaller groups were shot their hands were not bound.
p.IF
'he unfettered prisoners made the sign of the cross. Palitsch ordered them to do it
again, and when the prisoner lifted his hand to his forehead Palitsch fired. 'he firing$
s>uad used guns with silencers.
Special automatic guns, such as are used in slaughter$houses for &illing or stunning
cattle, were also employed.
n 0132 Palitsch fell in love with a .ewess who was a prisoner and for having
relations with her was lodged in the coalhole of the #th %loc&. @e then told
prisoners confined together with him that he had shot F4,HHH prisoners at (uschwit)
with his own hand.
#C. @anging
(nother method of carrying out the death$sentences of the political department was
by hanging. 'his was principally in order to deter the prisoners from attempting
escape. (t first the executions were carried out in the camp yard in the presence of all
the prisoners, lined up for roll$call. %efore being hanged the condemned were
flogged. (fterwards the gallows was moved to the yard of %loc& #.
'he bodies were left hanging all night. 'he corpses of prisoners shot while
attempting to escape were also exposed to public view in order to deter the rest. 'hey
were laid on a table in front of the guardhouse at the camp gate, and next morning all
the wor&ing$parties going out to their daily labour were made to file past the dead,
turning their heads towards them. 'hese corpses were usually in=ured in the most
horrible way so that their intestines protruded. Men were also hanged for other
offences. 9n Sep. 04,0133, .o)ef .asins&i, a FG$year$old prisoner, was hanged at
%r)e)in&a +%ir&enau- ostensibly for having sent out a letter in which he described the
conditions in camp, and so, as it might happen to fall into the hands of the enemy
intelligence, endangered the good fame of the 5erman government.
p.I2
#C. 5as$chambers
(ll these murder$methods, however, were not enough to absorb all the superfluous
prisoners, and above all could not solve the problem of getting rid of hundreds of
thousands of .ews. So the 5erman arranged for them to be gassed wholesale.
'his method was tried out in the summer of 0130 in the coal$cellars of %loc& # on
about F4H patients from the hospital bloc&s and about JHH prisoners$of$war. (fter the
victims had been put there, the windows of the cellars were covered with earth, and
afterwards an SS$man in a gas$mas& poured the contents of a can of cyclon on the
floor and loc&ed the door. Next afternoon Palitsch, wearing a gasmas&, opened the
door and found that some of the prisoners were still alive. More cyclon was
accordingly poured out, and the doors loc&ed again, to be reopened next evening,
when all the prisoners were dead.
(fterwards the gassing was carried out in the gas$ chamber near the first
crematorium. 'his chamber with a floor area of J4 s>. metres +GI s>. yds.- haid gas$
tight doors, and the gassing was done by pouring the contents of cans exhaling
poisonous gas through an opening in the ceiling. (fter that the gassing operations
were systematically extended. n the autumn of 0130 on a clearing in the wood of
%ir&enau, in a small, cottage which had belonged to a deported peasant, a primitive
gas$chamber was organised, called *ellar F, and two &ilometres +0[ miles- away,
li&ewise in a deported peasant;s cottage, a further chamber, called *ellar 0.
n the summer of 013F it was decided to extend enormously gassing operations and to
improve them technically, entrusting the construction of huge crematoria to the firm
of .. (. 'opf and Sons at "rfurt +ms. of (ug. 2, 013F, No. 0034H:3F%i:@-. 'his was
done =ust after SS. 7eichsfLhrer @immler;s visit of inspection. 'he construction
began immediately, and in the early month;s of 0132 four huge modern
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crematoria were ready for the use of the camp authorities? their fundamental and
essential part consisted of a set of gas$chambers ,of a type un&nown before. 'hese
crematoria were distinguished by the numbers , , C and C. *rematoria and
had underground areas, called on the construction drawings Nos. 12F and 122 of .an.
FI, 013F, Leichenkeller 0, and F, both of which were intended for the gassing of
human beings. *ellar F had an area of 3HH s>. metres +3IH s>. /ds.- and was F,2
metres high. *ellar 0 had an area of F0H s> metres and was F.3 metres +G ft. 1 in.-
high.
n crematoria C and C chambers were built on the surface, each having an extent of
4IH s>. Metres +J13 s>. yds.-, which were officially called %adeanstalt fur
Sondera&tion +B%aths for Special (ctionB- +Aktenvermerk of (ug. F0, 013F, No.
0F004:3F-. <rom the specifications of the central building board of <eb. 01, May. J,
0132, and (pr. J, 0132 it appears that both cellar No. 0 in crematoria and and
the Badenanstalten in crematoria C and C had gas$tight doors with grated
observation windows of unbrea&able I mm glass. 'he true purpose of all these rooms
variously described is revealed by %ischoff;s letter of .an. F1,0132, to the *hief of
the 9fficial group *. ,ammler, FFF4H:32 in which he called them gas$chambers
+Vergasungskeller-.
<rom the evidence of witnesses who as prisoners were employed at the gas$chambers
and crematoria and from written reports by prisoners which have been preserved the
operations seem to have been carried out as follows: Prisoners, selected for gassing
straight from the trains on the railway line, and others selected in the camp were
driven to the crematoria on foot, those who were unable to wal& were ta&en in motor
truc&s. %etween the railway platform and the gas chambers there was an
uninterrupted procelssion of people towards the chambers as they were steadily
cleared of corpses.
n the middle of the road lorries were continually fetching the
p.I4
wea&, old, sic&, and children, from the railway. n the ditches at the road$sides lay
SS$me with machine guns ready to fire. (n SS$men adressed the crowd huddled in
the yard telling them that they were going to the baths for disinfection as they were
dirty and lousy, and in such a state they could not be admitted into the camp. 'he
gassing was carried on under the personal supervision of the doctor SS$
@auptsturmfLhrer Mengele. 'he prisoners who arrived in the yard of the crematorium
were driven to the dressing$room over the door of which was the inscription BWasch
und DesinfektionsraumB and the same inscription in the language of the victims
destined for gassing.
<rom plans and remains which have been found, and from the evidence of witnesses
it appears that in the dressing$room +Leichenkeller F- there were clothing pegs with
numbers. 'he SS$ men advised the victims huddled in the cloa&$room each of them to
remember the number of the peg on which he had hung his clothes so that he might
find them again easily afterwards. (fter undressing they were driven through a
corridor to the actual gas chamber +Leichenkeller l-, which had previously been
heated with the aid of portable co&e bra)iers. 'his heating was necessary for the
better evaporation of the hydrogen cyanide. %y beating them with rods and setting
dogs on them about FHHH victims were pac&ed into a space of F0H s>. metres +F4H s>.
yds-.
<rom the ceiling of this chamber, the better to deceive the victims, hung imitation
shower$baths, from which water never poured. (fter the gas$tight doors had been
losed the air was pumped out and through four special openings in the ceiling the
contents of cans of cyclon, producing R cyanide hydrogen0 gas, were poured in. +0
'he *yclon needed for the &illing of the victims loc&ed in the chamber was brought
by an SS doctor in a car with the 7ed *ross on it. 'he opening of the cans with a
special &ey, the pouring of their contents and afterwards the closing of the opening
with lids with tight$fitting felt covers was done by a 5estapo$man in a gas mas&.-
p.IJ
'he contents of the cans fell down a cylindrical shaft constructed of four corner
pieces covered with wire mesh$wor& of varying density. n the case of the surface
gas$chambers in crematoria C and C, the contents of the cans of cyclon were poured
in through openings in the side$walls.
@ydrogen cyanide +@*N or @*y- is extremely poisonous. ( man is poisoned by
inhaling air containing no more than H.0F mg. of it per litre +i. e. . HH0F per cent- t
stops the action of the ferments, which render possible the giving of oxygen to the
tissues by the red blood corpuscles, and thus causes death by internal suffocation with
the symptoms of irritation of the respiration centre, accompanied by feelings of fear,
di))iness and vomiting.
6ith sufficient concentration of hydrogen cyanide in the air, death comes almost
immediately. 'he SS$men employed at the crematoria at (uschwit) did not give
themselves the trouble to calculate the proper >uantity for each gas$chamber, which
by a >uic& death would save the victims from agony.
'hey poured into the chambers the contents of the cans of cyclon and to ma&e sure
&ept their victims under the gas for about F4 minutes. !uring period of greatest
gassing activity in the summer of 0133 they shortened this period to 0H minutes, at
the same time for reasons of economy reducing the amount of cyclon from 0F to J
cans. (ccording to the evidence of the sto&ers it appears that after the doors of the gas
chamber, in which there was an observation window, had been closed the gassed
victims ran towards the door, bro&e the observation pane, and damaged the electric
installations and the air$exhaustion pumps.
6hen the doors of the gas chamber were opened the gassed were found in a half$
sitting position.
'he corpses were pin&? in some spots more pin&, in others covered with green spots.
Some had foam on their lips, others were bleeding at the nose. Many corpses had
open eyes, many were loo&ed together. 'he
p.IG
ma=ority were pac&ed near the doors? fewer were under the gas inlets. <rom their
position it could be seen that the victims had tried to get away from the openings and
get to the door.
'he statements of the witnesses that in the (uschwit) chambers people were
poisoned by cyclon are confirmed by the following facts: 'he B()otB chemical
factory at .awor)no delivered to the camp authorities between (ug. 2, 0132, and (pr.
F1, 0133, a total of 0,044 &g. +F42 gallons- of this powerful poison +letter of May
00,0134-. !uring the investigation several cases of cyclon were found intact in a
store$room specially this purpose storeroom in the base camp, and in the bathroom of
the women;s camp at %ir&enau. n the women;s hair which was cut after they had
been gassed, and in the )inc lids of the air$exhaustion openings of the gas$chamber
+Leichenkeller 0- of *rematorium , and finally in the metallic ob=ects hairpins and
clasps, an the metal spectacle$frames, found in the bag of hair, an expert chemical
investigation carried out by the Megal "xpert n>uiry nstitute at *racow found traces
of hydrogen cyanide and a relatively large >uantity of its compounds +report of !ec.
04,0134-.
#C. 'he burning of corpses. *rematoria
(ll the methods of individual and mass murder here described produced an enormous
number of corpses, which had to be disposed of. (t first they were buried in mass
graves in the wood ad=oining %ir&enau. n the spring of 013F their decomposition
began to poison the air with its exhalations, so the mass graves were dug up and part
of the corpses were burnt in the crematorium, and the rest in pits, and the rotten mess
was burnt with flame$throwers. 'he mass$murders forced the camp authorities to see&
a radical and wholesale method of disposing of the bodies. (lready in 013H a small
crematorium was installed at (uschwit) +No. 0- in an old (ustrian munition
maga)ine. t had at first two and afterwards three two
p.II
retort furnaces. 2$4 corpses were put at one time into each retort. (s the burning of
such a load lasted about an hour and a half, and the furnaces were active about 03
hours a day, or even longer, the number of bodies burnt in a day must have been
about 2HH.
(fter gassing had begun in 0130, the small crematorium could not hold all the
corpses of the victims, so they were burnt in I open pits, dug for the purpose near the
gas chambers and called Bbun&ersB 0 and F. (fter the extension of the camp to cover
the whole %ir&enau area, in the spring of 0132 four more crematoria were constructed
in pairs according to the plans, and symmetrically located. 'he first pair + and.-
had 4 furnaces of three retorts each, heated by two half$generator fires.
*rematoria C and C were constructed at a distance of about G4H metres +IFH yards-
from the two previously mentioned, and had twin furnaces of I retorts each, heated
by two fires on either side.
'ogether, therefore, these four new crematoria had 3J retorts, each with a capacity of
2$4 corpses.
'he burning of one retort load lasted about half an hour, and as the cleaning of the
fireplaces too& about an hour per day, so all the four crematoria could burn about
0F,HHH corpses in F3 hours, which would give 3,2IH,HHH ,a year. %ut even such
efficiency in the crematoria and their intensive exploitation, as a result of which one
of the flues crac&ed +Aktenvermerk No. 2J02F:32 of Sep. 02,0132-, did not suffice
to burn the numbers of bodies supplied at certain periods by the camp authorities.
%etween May and (ugust, 0133, during the mass transports of @ungarian .ews and
<rench nsurgents in the haste caused by the development of the situation on the war
fronts, @ungarians and <rench were gassed in such numbers that the crematoria could
not burn all the corpses. So six huge pits were dug beside crematoria C, and old pits
were opened near the gas plant in the wood, and corpses burnt in them continuously.
6hen operations were in full swing in
p.I1
(ugust, 0133, the number of corpses burnt daily rose to F3,HHH <or this wor& the
prisoners employed at the crematoria numbering at first 0HH, but later over 0HHH,
received a special bonus of whis&y.
'he records of the camp construction department abound in calculations and
comparisons of the use of co&e, current and other materials necessary for crematoria.
t is evident, thereflore, that the camp authorities sought an economic method of
corpse$disposal.
'he experience of (ugust, 0133, showed that the cheapest way was burning in open
pits. So the crematoria were closed, and thenceforward the corpses were burnt only in
pits, and the plans for a sixth crematorium were based on this principle.
n *rematorium the corpses were loaded into the retorts with the help of a specially
constructed truc&. n *rematoria and the corpses were raised to the level of the
furnaces by electric lifts on specially constructed platforms. n crematoria C and C
they were dragged up to the furnaces with hoo&s.
%efore the loading of the corpses into the furnaces gold teeth were pulled out,
earrings and rings were ta&en away, and the women;s hair was cut off. (fter the flight
of the 5ermans G,HHH &g. +G tons- of women;s hair were found in the stores at
(uschwit)? what was left of the hair of hundreds of thousands of victims, which the
5ermans had not succeeded in carrying away to the 7eich. 'here were also found
F,1H3 reports by the manager of the crematorium, stating that from F1H3 corpses
altogether 0J,2F4 gold and platinum teeth had been extracted. 3H prisoners were
employed daily on this DBdentalB wor&, and at certain times as much as 0F &g. +FJ lbs.
I ,o).- of gold teeth were melted down. 'he ashes of the corpses were at first buried
in pits, and the marshes near the village of @armen)e were covered with them, and it
was only afterwards, when the 5erman army was in retreat, that
p.1H
they were thrown into the rivers Cistula and Sola, as were those also from the pits.
( small >uantity of carefully sifted ash was &ept in a shed, for enclosures in urns and
dispatched on demand, to the families of murdered prisoners, who had been informed
of their deaths. 'he notice sent to the family stated that the corpse of the prisoner had
been burnt at the cost of the State, and that the funeral urn was &ept in an Urnenheim
ad=oining the crematorium at (uschwit). (t the family;s re>uest the urn was sent on
payment of the re>uired sum. t was an obvious swindle, as the ashes of the burnt
corpses were not preserved individually, and owing to the simultaneous burning of
several corpses in the same retort it was >uite impossible so to preserve them.
%esides, there was no urn burial place whatever at 9swiecim.
9n the basis of calculations made by experts of the nvestigation 'echnical
*ommision under the guidance of Prof. !awidows&i it was stated during the in>uiry
that the installations for disposing of corpses in pits and crematoria could have burnt
more than 4 millions bodies during the period in which they were active.
(s is well &nown, the Soviet Megal and Medicinal *ommission, which arrived at
(uschwit) immediately after the flight of the 5ermans, has stated that the number of
prisoners murdered exceeded 3,HHH,HHH.
'hese calculations are in conformity with the data obtained during the in>uiry from a
competent witnes, a railway employee from 9swiecim station. 'his man, <r. Stane&,
stated that in the three years 013F$0133? 2,I4H,HHH prisoners were brought to
9swiecim by rail. <ive millions would be nearer the mar& counting those brought by
car.
#C. 'he wiping out of all vestiges of the crime
'he 5ermans tried of course to destroy if possible all proof of the crimes they had
committed. 'hey tried therefore to
p.10
wipe out carefully all traces which might betray them in future. 'he crematoria were
the best means for doing this. 'he scattering of the ashes on the rivers and afterwards
the destruc tion of the crematoria tended to the same purpose, as did the murder of the
prisoners from the Sonderkommando, the &illing of persons on whom experiments
had been made, and the destruction of their remains, the &illing of the prisoners who
had collaborated with the 5ermans in carrying out the experiments, the writing of
false case histories relating to murdered prisoners, and destruction of the records of
the camp.
(s early as May, 0133, the old crematorium at (uschwit) was transformed into an
air$raid shelter.
*rematorium C was burnt on 9ct. G, 0133, during a fire which bro&e out when the
members of the Sonderkommando tried to avoid being gassed. 'he technical
installations at crematoria and were dismantled in November, 0133, and part of
them sent to the camp at 5ross 7osen, and the buildings were blown up.
*rematorium C was burnt and its walls blown up in the night of .an. FH, 0134. Some
of the Sonderkommando were gassed by 5ermans in the disinfection hall
+Enfwesungskammer- in the base camp. t was even proposed to ta&e down the wall
of death in the yard of the # %loc& and to remove the sand under the wall which was
soa&ed with blood. 'he ##Cth %loc& in the womenPs camp +the bloc& of death- was
transformed into a hospital bloc&, and the numbering was changed, so that it became
No. Fa.
(t the end of (ugust, 0133, the registration boo&s in which the deaths of prisoners
had been registered were destroyed, by special delegates from %erlin who too& them
all away, loaded them on two cars, and removed them from (uschwit). 'he main
boo& containing very many facts about the Sonderbehandlung +S. %.- was left to the
camp authorities, but it was copied and the mar& S.%. 6as replaced by another.
Schumann;s #$ray apparatus was ta&en away in !ecember, 0133. 'he
p.1F
prisoner Sle)a& who wor&ed it and had witnessed many experi ments done with it
was sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen, where he was executed.
'he same fate befell five prisoners who had been employed on the crematoria.
9n .anuary 0I, 0134, the camp authorities hastily evacuated about 4I,HHH prisoners
from (uschwit), leaving 4,HHH$J,HHH who were seriously ill. Many of the 4I,HHH
were shot on the way, as they were unable to wal&. n one of the daughter$camps
+!rstengrube- all the sic& were burnt in their huts.
9n .anuary FF (uschwit) was occupied by the 7ed (rmy.
8
n the light of the investigations which have been made, it may be stated that the
(uschwit) camp was not only a concentration camp, but was in the first place an
extermination camp, and already at its foundation was designed by the Na)i
authorities as a place of execution for millions of people, who, in accordance with
Na)i principles, had been deprived of the right to live, as representatives of Binferior
races and nationalitiesB , Bless valuableB and standing in the way of the expansion of
the @errenvol&.
'@" '7"%MN,( "#'"7MN('9N *(MP
p.14
'he evidence on which this account relies is in the first place the testimony of 02
.ews, former prisoners at 'reblin&a, who succeeded in escaping during the armed
revolt of (ugust F, 0132. 'heir names are: .an&iel 6ierni&, @enry& Poswols&i, (be
,on, (ron *)echowic), 9s&ar Strawc)yns&i, Samuel 7eisman, (le&sander ,udli&,
@e=noch %rener, StarisKaw ,on, "ugenius) 'urows&i, @enry& 7eichman, S)y=a
6ars)awss&i, and Meon <in&els)te=n.
(dditiond facts concerning particularly the number of railway transports, is to be
found in the evivdence of 00 Polish railway wor&ers.
'he railway records at 'reblin&a station have a0so been consulted, as well as
documents and coins dug out during the levelling of the surface? and the results of
legal and medical in>uiries, as well was the sworn evidence of a land surveyor, were
used by the prosecutors.
.
'he "xtermination *amp at 'reblin&a in which hundreds of thousands of .ews were
murdered is situated near the village of 6ol&a$9&ragli&, in the commune of ,osow,
district of So&olow Podlas&i, province +voivodship- of 6arsaw. 'he camp site was
placed in a sandy region, overgrown with pines and far from human habitation. 'he
nearest village, the above mentioned ,6ol&a, was 0\ &m from the camp boundary.
'he nearest railway station 'reblin&a +after which the camp was named- is 3 &m.
away.
p.1J
(t a short distance, along the north$western and northern boundaries of the camp, the
road from ,osow to Mal&inia and the railway from Siedlce to Mal&inia run parallel,
but owing to the undulating, wooded character of the region, the grounds of the camp
are invisible ali&e from the road and from the railway.
Near the south$western edge of the camp a branch line runs to a gravel pit and was
continued to the camp itself. 'his extension no longer exists? it served to bring the
transports of victims. ( road also, still in existence, was made from the high road and
continued to the camp.
'he area of the camp amounted to 02.34ha. +22 acres-. 'he entire camp had the shape
of an irregular rectangle. *onstruction wor& was begun on .une 0, 013F, and was
carried out mostly by .ewish wor&ers brought in cars from the ad=oining small towns
of 6egrow, and Stoc)e& 6egrows&i, who during their wor& were &illed in masses.
'he first railway transports of victims destined for destruction arrived at the camp on
.uly F2, 013F, and from that time until approximately the middle of !ecember, 013F,
there was a constant stream of fresh arrivals. (fter New /ear, 0132, the number of
transports began to diminish. n <ebruary or March, 0132, @immler visited the camp,
and after this a whole$sale burning of corpses was underta&en. 9n (ugust F a revolt
bro&e out, during which part of the camp hutments were burnt. %ut at the end of the
month several more transports arrived 'he camp was finally ]li>uidated^ in
November, 0132. (t the present time no traces of it are left, except for the cellar
passage with the protruding remains of burnt posts, the foundations of the
administration building, and the old well.
@ere and there can also be traced the remains of burnt fence posts and pieces of
barbed wire, and short sections of paved road. 'here are also other traces. <or
example, in the north$eastern part, over a surface covering about F ha. +4 acres-,
p.1G
there are large >uantities of ashes mixed with sand, among which are numerous
human bones, often with the remains of decomposing tissues.
(s a result of an examination made by an expert it was found that ashes were the
remains of burnt human bones. 'he examination of numerous human s&ulls found in
the camp has shown that they bear no traces of external in=uries. 6ithin a radius of
several hundred yards from the camp site an unpleasant smell of burnt ash and decay
is noticeable, growing stronger as one approaches.
'he south$western part of the camp site is covered with the remains of all &inds of
aluminum, enamel, glass and porcelain vessels, &itchen utensils, trun&s, ruc&sac&s,
and remnants of clothing. (lmost the whole camp$site is now covered with pits and
holes.
.
(ccording to the evidence of the .ewish witnesses who had been confined at
'reblin&a, the general appearance of the camp was as follows while it was
functioning: t was enclosed within a 2$3 m. +0H$02 ft.- high barbed$wire fence,
densely interwoven with pine branches to ma&e it invisible. (long the enclosure were
barricades of barbed wire, and at intervalswere watch$towers, where U&rainian
guards armed with machine$guns were stationed.
'he interior of the camp was divided into two parts: the first, including about five$
sixths of the whole, had a railway siding, stores, warehouses, wor&shops, offices,
living$>uarters for the SS men, U&rainians and .ewish wor&ers? garages and a
&itchen$garden. t was the administrative part. 'he second was the extermination
camp properDand contained two buildings $with 02 gas$ chambers, living$>uarters for
the .ewish
p.1I
wor&ers, and the place where the corpses were buried, and afterwards dug up and
burnt.
!uring the first phase of the camp, from .uly, 013F onward 2 gas$chambers were in
use. n the early autumn of 013F, however, the construction of a new building,
holding 0H chambers, was begun. 9ne of the witnesses brought to 'reblin&a on
9ctober 0H, 013F, saw these chambers already functioning.
'he aspect of the chambers in which victims were gasssed, according to statements
by the witnesses 6ierni&, 7a=chman and *)echowic), was as follows: %oth buildings
had many corridors, within the larger building the entrances to the chambers being on
both sides of the corridor, but in the smaller one on one side only. 'he entrances were
small and had tightly closing doors. n the outer wall;s of the chambers were large
trap doors which could be raised in order to permit the removal of the corpses. 'he
chambers had tiled floors, sloping towards the outer side. n the ceiling were
openings connected by pipes with engines situated in ad=oining buildings, which
produced the *9 gas with which the victims were suffocated.
'he witness 6ierni&, who wor&ed as a carpenter during the whole time of his stay in
the camp, and so had a certain amount of freedom, gives the dimensions of the
chambers as being in the smaller building 4x4 metres +04ft. J in. s>uare- and G xG
metres +F2 ft. s>uare- in the larger.
'he burning of the corpses had begun already at the time of the full functioning of the
camp. (t 'reblin&a there were no crematoria with furnaces, but there was a primitive
arrangement of grates made from rails placed on supports of reinforced concrete,
which could hold F,4HH corpses.
Mechanical excavators were used for digging the pits and later for the exhumation of
the corpses. n the waybills for the wagons sent from 'reblin&a at the time of the final
Bli>uidationB of the camp three excavators are mentioned. 9ne of them was
p.11
dispatched from 'reblin&a on .une F1, 0132, to the firm of (dam Mamc)a&, %erlin$
Neu&Nlln, 6illy 6altherstrasse 2H$2 'r.
n the general lay$out of the camp the so$called La"arett or hospital is interesting. t
was situated in the first part of the camp, and was in essence a place enclosed by a
high fence and divided inside into two une>ual parts. 'he entrance was through a
small hut, on which was a 7ed *ross flag, whence the way led to a smaller Bwaiting$
roomB, with plush$covered sofas, whence again the victims were ta&en to the second
part. @ere there was a pit, on the edge of which an SS$man or U&rainian shot the
victim through the bac& of the head with a revolver, 'he La"arett was designed for
the destruction of the sic&, invalids, old people, and small children who were too
wea& to enter the gas$chambers by themselves.
'he Sonderkommando tried thus to prevent interruption of the normal smooth
wor&ing of the camp activities.
'he fact of the existence in the camp of arrangements whose sole aim was to deceive
the victims as to its real purpose is very noteworthy. ( sham railway station was built
to resemble a real one, with various inscriptions, such as Brefreshment roomB,
Bwaiting roomB, or Bboo&ing officeB, and signs showing the BpassengersB where to get
in for %ialyato& and elsewhere.
.
'he camp was run %y a relatively very small group of SS $ men. 6itnesses mention
the names of the following: Stengel, the camp commandant, from Cienna, ,urt <ran)
from 'hLringen, the vicecommandant 7Ltner from Meip)ig, <ran) Miete from
%avaria, Ment) from the vicinity of %ydgos)c), Paul %redow from Silesia, 6illy Post
from @amburg, ,urt Seidel from %erlin, MLller from @amburg, Suchomil from the
p.0HH
Sudeten mountains, Schafner, .oseph @erman from *ologne, Schmidt and
Min)berger, all of whom wor&ed in the first, administrative, part of the camp. n the
second part, where the gas$chambers were, there were, among others, <lops of
Munich, a specialist in burning corpses, "mil Mudwi&, the manager of this part of the
camp, ,arl Pet)ingelr of Meip)ig, Mathiss, Mefler, of 5erman origin but probably a
citi)en of the United States, "dwin 5ense of Cienna and 9tto @orn.
(uxiliary functions were carried out by the U&rainians, who numbered about 0HH, but
there were also a certain number of .ewish wor&ers, who were fre>uently &illed off
and replaced. (s stated by the .ewish witnesses, these wor&ers were chosen from
particular transports in parties of not less than ten and not more than 0HH. n the first
part elf the camp there were about 0HHH of them, and in the second from FHH to 4HH.
'he wor&ers in the two different parts of the camp could not communicate with each
other. (t the head of the group was a senior official who wore an arm$band with the
inscription: Aeltester der #uden +Senior .ew-. 'he group was subdivided as follows:
a- ( group with blue arm$bands, who cleaned the wagons after the transports had
arrived? b- a group with red arm$bands, who helped to undress the victims? c- the
largest group, who sorted the clothing, d- 5old=uden +5old .ews- who too& valuables
from the victims, e- a group of wor&ers specially employed in niterweaving the fence
with brenches and f- a group of artisans who wor&ed in the wor&shops. n the secoad
part of the camp .ewish wor&ers were employed in removing corpses from the gas$
chambers, burying them and later on in burning the remains.
'he railway trains had staffs consisting mainly of U&rainians and Mithuanians under
the command of SS$men, recruited from outside the camp. 'wo 5erman railway
mans, 7odolph "merich and 6illy "lin)man were permanently employed at
'reblin&a station unloading trains of .ews.
p.0H0
C.
'he treatment of the victims was as follows: the railway trams arrived at the station at
'reblin&a. (s the branch line could not ta&e more than FH wagons at once, the trains
were divided, each section in turn being drawn by an engine on to the extension line
leading to the camp. @ere the SS$men and U&rainians were standing ready with arms
and whips, and after opening the wagons they drove the .ews brutally forward.
"verything had to be done in the >uic&est possible time. 'he unwilling and those who
were too slow were shot. (t the same time .ewish wor&ers removed corpses and
baggage from the wagons and cleaned them out. 6e must bear in mind that the
victims travelled in loc&ed cars meant for the transport of freight, and especially on
bad days, owing to overcrowding +often as many as FHH persons in one car- the
wea&er ones died before their arrival at the camp.
(fter leaving the cars the victims were driven along with blows and shouts to the
enclosure, where the men were separated from the women and children. 9ld people,
the sic&, and abandoned children were directed thence to the la)aret, where they were
shot.
( small number of the men were then selected for wor& in the camp, while others
were sent to the ad=oining labour camp. (fter a short time they also died wholesale.
(S the SS$man ordered all money and valuables, to be given up, .ewish wor&ers
+5old=uden- went round with trun&s collecting everything that was precious.
(fterwards the order was given to strip.
'he ma=ority of witnesses state that the men were stripped in the courtyard itself? the
women and children in a hut on the left. n the huts JH barbers were &ept busy cutting
off the women;s hair.
Meanwhile the na&ed men were driven about with whips and made to run and collect
all
p.0HF
the clothes from the whole transport, putting them in heaps to be sorted. 'hen, when
the women had had their hair cut off, the na&ed men, women and children were
directed on to the road leading to the gas$chambers, being told that they were going
to the baths. (t first the victims were ordered to ta&e a )loty each in their hands as
bath fee, the better to deceive them up to the last moment the money being collected
by an U&rainian in a hut by the way, but later this practice was stopped. n front of
the entrance to the gas$chamber there were usually several U&rainians standing by
with dogs, who cruelly drove the victims in, often wounding them with &nives. 'he
victims were driven into the gaschambers with their hands up, so that as many might
be s>uee)ed in as possible, and small children were piled on top.
SS$man @itreider speciali)ed in &illing infants, sei)ing them by the legs and &illing
them with one blow on the head against a fence.
'he actual gassing in the chambers lasted about 04 minutes? and after the state of the
victims had been observed through a special small window, the doors on the outside
of the building were opened, and the corpses, being so closely pac&ed inside, fell out
of their own weight on to the ground.
nstantly the .ewish wor&ers removed them, and prepared the place for the next
batch.
(t first the corpses were buried in pits, but afterwards they were burnt. 9nly a few
hours passed between the arrival of a train$load by the branch line and their gassing.
'he 'reblin&a camp was in reality =ust a place of mass execution.
C.
(n accurate calculation of the number of victims is at present impossible. t will be
remembered that 'reblin&a
p.0H2
ceased its activities in the autumn of 0132, so that the 5erman authorities had enough
time to wipe out the traces of their crimes. 'he most reliable method of counting the
number of victims is by counting the number of train$loads. 'he figures based on the
dimensions of the gas chambers give no guarantee whatever of accuracy, as we do not
&now, firstly, how often the gas$chambers were used, and, secondly, the number of
people who, on an average, were gassed at any one time. n establishing the number
of train$loads, the commission based its findings on the evidence given by the
witnesses, laying special stress on the statements of the railway wor&ers and on the
railway records from 'reblin&a station, which are in the possession of the
commission of en>uiry.
'he most active period seems to have been from (ugust to the middle of !ecember,
013F. !uring that time we may assume one daily train$load as un>uestionable
according to the evidence of the railway$wor&ers. ndeed four witnesses put the
figure at two per day. (fter that, from the middle of .anuary to the middle of May,
0132, the average was probably one a wee&. Some of the witnesses put the figure at
three.
'he average number of wagons in a transport was 4H through sometimes, as the
railway records showed, it was as many as 4I.
'he total number of wagon$loads of victimls from (ugust 0, 013F, to May 04, 0132,
may be ta&en, with some certainty, to have been G,44H.
n the later period, from the railway records? the list of the wagons for (ugust 0G,
0132? a telegram of (ugust 0I, 0132? and a document entitled ahr$lanordnung Nr.
F1H sent from 'reblin&a station by the %eichsbahndirektion &'nigsberg( the number
of train$loads could be established >uite accurately.
n the above$mentioned ahr$lanordnung we read among ather things: )ur
Abbef'rderung von Aussledlern verkehren
p.0H3
folgende Sonder"!ge von Bial*stok nach +alkinia, )iel -reblinka( from which it may
be concluded that after the revolt the following train$loads, were brought in: on (ug.
FG, 0132, 30 wagons? on (ug. 01, 24 wagons? on (ug. F0, two transports of 2I
wagons each? on (ug. FF, two transports of 21 wagons each? and on (ug. F2, one
transport of 2I wagons? i. e. a total of FJJ wagons.
(s an average number of persons per wagon we may ta&e 0HH +the ma=ority of
witnesses deposed that it was more than 04H-.
(ccording to this calculation the number of victims murdered at 'reblin&a amounts
to at least G20,JHH. 'a&ing into consideration the great caution with which the
investigators assessed the number of train$loads and the average number of persons
per wagon, this must be accepted as probable, that in actual fact the number of
victims was even larger0. +0t should be pointed out that from pertinent documents
such as telegrams, time$tables and way$bills it appears absolutely certain that more
than two thousand wagon$loads of .ews were brought to 'reblin&a? yet these
documents constituted but a small part of all the railway documentary evidence, the
greater part of which is lost.-
C.
t w a s mostly .ews Polish citi)ens from the central parts of the country +6arsaw,
7adom, *)cstochowa, ,ielce and Siedlce- who were &illed at 'reblin&a? though there
were .ews from the vicinity of %ialysto&, 5rodno and 6ol&owys&? 5erman, (ustrian,
*)ech and %elgian .ews from the west, and 5ree& .ews from the south.
'he railway documents have enabled a number of localities to be identified from
which the trains were originally dispatched. 6e read that on (ugust J, 013F, a
transport
p.0H4
arrived from 6arsaw? on September 0 others from 6los)c)owa and Sed)is)ow? on
September FG, one from ,o)ienice? on 9ctober 3, 013F, one from *)estochowa? on
<ebruary 03, 0132, one from 5rodno? on March F2 and (pril 0, 0132, one from
Cienna? on March FJ one from Salonica? on March F1 one from S&opl=e +.ugoslavia-?
and on (ugust F2, 0132, one from %ialysto&.
'his is the last transport to 'reblin&a of which we have definite data.
(mong the evidence is a collection of coins, Polish, Soviet, 5erman, (ustrian,
*)ech, 5ree&, %elgian, <rench and even (merican, dug up during levelling
operations at 'reblin&a. ( 5erman$.ewish identity card issued at 5Nttingen, the
remains of a Soviet passport, and a collection of Polish documents were also found.
9ne of the witnesses, called Strawc)yns&i, stated that his brother, who wor&ed in the
camp sorting the clothing, told him that he also found "nglish documents. 'he
witness 7a=)man saw a certificate issued by *ambridge University.
%esides the .ews who were murdered in this extermination camp, there were a certain
number of 5ipsies and Poles, but it is impossible to establish exactly how many.
C.
'he belongings of the victims were systematically collected and sorted, before being
sent to the 7eich. Specialisation in the sorting of this .ewish property even extended
to eye$glasses and fountain pens. 5old, =ewels and money were collected and sorted
with particular care. <rom time to time lorries were dispatched from the camp loaded
with goods of every &ind. (mong the proofs of this there is a collection of military
tic&ets +Wehrmachtsfahrscheine- dated September
p.0HJ
F$F0, 013F. 'hey relate to FH2 freight$trains loaded with clothing +described as
Bekleidung der Waffen SS., 'he lists were stamped with an official seal inscribed Der
SS /oli"ei0f!hrer SS Sonderkommando im District Warschau.
( typical Na)i proceeding was to pac& the wlomen;s hair, after it had been steamed,
in bales, and send it to 5ermany.
8
'he eradication of all traces of the crime by wholesale burning of corpses began after
@immler;s visit in the early spring of 0132 and lasted till the 6arsaw 7ising, or even
later. 'he camp was finally closed in November, 0132.
!uring the investigation when the ground was levelled, no collective graves were
found, and this together with the evidence given by the witnesses leads to the
conclusion that almost all the remains were burnt? the 5erman authorities having had
plenty of time to do it since the camp was closed. 'he site of the camp was ploughed
over and sown, and on it U&rainians were settled. 'hey fled, however, on the
approach of the 7ed (rmy.
'@" "#'"7MN('9N *(MP (' *@"MMN9 +,UMM@9<-
p.00H
.
'he extermination camp at *helmno was a typical death camp, i. e. a place designed
exclusively for &illing all who were brought there. 'he only ones to be saved were a
small group of wor&ers selected by the 5ermans for wor& connected with their
criminal activities.
'he extermination camp at *helmno demands special attention, because during the
5erman occupation only a very few people in Poland ever &new of its existence and
the hundreds of thousands of its victims.
'he village of *helmno +district of ,olo- is situated 03 &m. ? +IZ miles- from the
town of ,olo, through which runs the main railway line from _od) to Po)nan, and
which is connected with the village of *helmno by a branch line. _od), the ,second
largest city of Poland, which in 0121 had a .ewish population of FHF,HHH, was
relatively near +JH &m or 2G\ miles-? the road to it was good and little used.
n the village there was a small country house surrounded by an old par&, which was
owned by the State and stood empty. n the vicinity was a pine$wood, sections of
which, densely planted with young trees, were almost impenetrable.
'his site the 5erman occupation authorities selected for their extermination camp.
'he par& was enclosed by a high wooden fence which concealed everything that went
on behind it. 'he local inhabitants were expelled from the village, only a few wor&ers
being left to do the necessary =obs.
nside the enclosure were two buildings, the small country house and an old granary,
besides which the 5ermans constructed two wooden hutments. 'he whole enclosure
where
p.0H1
hundred of thousands of people were done to death measured only F ha +4 acres-.
'hose who were brought here for destruction, were convinced till the very last
moment that they were to be employed on fortification wor& in the "ast. 'hey were
told that before going further they would have a bath, and that their clothes would be
disinfected. mmediately after their arrival at the camp they were ta&en to the large
hall of the house, where they were told to undress, and then they were driven along a
corridor to the front door, where a large lorry, fitted up as a gas$chamber, was
standing. 'his, they were told, was to ta&e them to the bath$house. 6hen the lorry
was full, the door was loc&ed, the engine started, and carbon monoxide was
introduced into the interior through a specially constructed exhaust pipe. (fter 3$4
minutes, when the cries and struggles of the suffocating victims were heard no more,
the lorry was driven to the wood, 3 &m +F\ miles- away, which was enclosed with a
high fence and surrounded with outposts. @ere the corpses were unloaded and buried,
and afterwards burnt in one of the clearings.
,
'he aim of the *helmno camp was the extermination of the .ews from the
6arthegau, i. e., the part of Poland, which consisted of the 0121 province
+voivodship- of Po)nania, almost the whole province of _od), and a part of the
province of 6arsaw, inhabited altogether by 3,43J,HHH people +including 34H,HHH
.ews.-
'he camp was established in November, 0130. 'he extermination process began on
!ecember I, with the ghetto population of the cities and towns of the 6arthegau, first
from the neighbouring ,olo, !abie, Sompolno, ,lodawa and many other places, and
later from _od) itself.
p.000
'he first .ews arrived at *helmno .from _od) in the middle of .anuary, 013F. <rom
that time onwards an average of 0HHH a day was maintained, with short intermissions,
till (pril, 0132.
%esides those who were brought by rail, others were delivered at the camp from time
to time in cars, but such were comparatively rare. %esides those from Poland. there
were also transports of .ews from 5ermany, (ustria? <rance, %elgium, Muxemburg
and @olland? as a rule the _od) ghetto served as a distribution centre. 'he total
number of .ews from abroad amounted to about 0J,HHH.
%esides the 2HH,HHH .ews from the 6arthegau about 4.HHH 5ipsies and about a
thousand Poles and 7ussian prisoners$of$war were murdered at *helmno. %ut the
execution of the latter too& place mostly at night. 'hey were ta&en straight to the
wood, and shot.
n 0132 3 lorries filled with children aged from 0F$03 without .ewish emblems were
brought. 'he witnesses too& the impression that they were B(ryansB. t was =ust at
this time that the Na)is were expelling the Polish population from the neighbourhood
of Aamosc, and as a rule separating children from their parents.
.
(ccording to the evidence of three witnesses +Podchlebni&, Srebrni& and Auraws&i-
who succeeded in escaping from the camp of *helmno0, as well as to that of Polish
witnesses drawn from the population of the neighbourhood who had been able to get
in touch with the inmates of the camp, and, finally, that obtained from the railway
transport records, the follow$
p.00F
ing preparatory phases in the process of mass execution can be distinguished:
.ews who ,were ta&en were told that they were going for military wor& in the "ast.
"xcept for those from _od), it was the practice to surround the town at dawn with
gendarmerie, police, SS, army, and Na)i party units in order to prevent the escape of
the .ews. 'he latter were collected at appointed places, and were allowed to ta&e
hand$baggage with them? having been told that they were going to be ta&en for wor&
on fortifications in$the "ast. 9nly small numbers of craftsmen, such as tailors,
furriers and shoema&ers, were selected and sent to the ghetto at _od).
(t the same time, all that was going on at the camp was &ept so secret that the .ews
ta&en there had no notion whatever of what was awaiting them. Many, indeed,
applied voluntarily to be sent to *helmno and the "ast.
'he railway trains which used to bring the .ews from _od) consisted as a rule of FH$
FF wagons. (t ,olo the transportees, usually about 0HHH at one time, were reloaded
and sent by the branch line to Powiercie, the rail$head whence their baggage was
dispatched straight to *helmno, while they themselves were ta&en under an escort of
J$I gendarmes to the neighbouring village of Aawad&i, and left for the night in a
large mill building.
'he next morning three lorries used to corne for them from *helmno, about F &m +a
mile and a >uarter- away. Not more then 0HH$04H were ta&en at a time, that being the
number which could be gassed in one operation. 'he whole process was so arranged
that the next batch of victims remained till the last moment ignorant of the fate of
those who had preceded them. 'he whole thousand were disposed of by 0 or F p.m.
'he loaded lorries entered the camp grounds and stopped before the house, where the
new$comers were addressed
p.002
by a representative of the Sonderkommando, who told them they were going to wor&
in the "ast, and promised them fair treatment, and good food. @e also told them that
first they must ta&e a bath and deliver their clothes to be disinfected. <rom the court$
yard they were sent inside the house, to a heated room on the first floor, where they
undressed. 'hey then came downstairs to a corridor, on the walls of which were
inscriptions: Bto the doctorB or Bto the bathB? the latter with an arrow pointing to the
front door. 6hen they had gone out they were told that they were going in a closed
car to the bath$house.
%efore the door of the country house stood a large lorry with a door in the rear, so
placed that it could be entered directly with the help of a ladder.
'he time assigned for loading it was very short, gendarmes standing in the corridor
and driving the wretched victims into the car as >uic&ly as possible with shouts and
blows.
6hen the whole of one batch had been forced into the car, the door was banged and
the engine started, poisoning with its exhaust those who were loc&ed inside. 'he
process was usually complete in 3 or 4 minutes, and then the lorry was driven to
7)uchow wood about 3 &m +F\ miles- away, where the corpses were unloaded and
burnt.
Meanwhile lorries were bringing from Aawad&i the next batch of 0HH$04H persons,
destined to be disposed of in the same way, all traces of the previous batch having
been removed and their belongings, +clothing, shoes etc.- ta&en away.
6hen the camp was Bli>uidatedB in 0133 the gas$chamber lorries were sent bac& to
5ermany. (t the in>uiry it was established that they had originally been brought from
%erlin.'here were 2 of them, one large enough to hold about 04H persons, and two
with a capacity of IH$0HH each. 'heir official name was Sonderwagen.
p.003
(s the Sonderkommando of the camp had no repair shops, and the cars often needed
overhaul, they were sent to the &raft und %eichsstrassenbauamt repair shops at ,olo.
I Polish mechanics who had wor&ed there were examined at the in>uiry described
their construction as follows: the large lorry measured J#2 metres +FH#0H ft.-? and
the smaller ones 3.4 or F,2#F.4 metres +04 ,or 0J#I ft.-. 'he outside was covered
with narrow overlapping boards, so that it loo&ed as though it were armoured. 'he
inside was lined with iron plates and the door fitted tightly, so that no air could get in
from outside. 'he outside was painted dar& grey.
'he exhaust pipe was placed underneath and discharged its gas through a vent in the
middle of the floor, which was guarded by a perfsorated iron plate, to prevent it from
cho&ing. 9n the floor of the car was a wooden grating.
'he engine was probably made by Sauer. %y the driver;s seat was a plate with the
words: Bau1ahr 23450Berlin, n the driver;s cabin were gas$mas&s.
C.
n 7)uchow wood 3 &lm +F\ miles- from *helmno, the camp authorities enclosed
two sections and posted sentries on the ad=oining roads.
@ere the gas$lorries brought the corpses from *helmno. (fter the door was opened 0H
minutes were allowed for the complete evaporation of the gas, and then the bodies
were unloaded by the .ewish Waldkommando( and carefully searched for concealed
gold and valuables. 5old teeth were pulled out, finger$rings torn off.
Until the spring of 013F the remains were buried in large common graves, one of
which measured FGH#1#J metres +II4#2H#FH ft.-.
p.004
n the spring of 013F two crematoria were built, and after that, all the dead were burnt
in them +and the bodies previously buried as well-.
!etails about the furnaces are lac&ing, for the investigator could find no witnesses
who had been in the wood in 013F or 0132. 'hose who lived near had only noticed
two constantly smo&ing chimneys within the enclosure.
'he furnaces were blown up by the camp authorities on (pril G, 0132. 'wo new ones
were, however, constructed in 0133, when the camp activities were resumed. 'he
witnesses Auraws&i and Srebrni&, and the captured gendarme %runo srael, who saw
them in 0133, describe them as follows:
'hey were built deep in the ground and did not pro=ect above its surface? and were
shaped li&e inverted cones with rectangular bases.
(t the top on the ground level the furnaces measured Jx 0H m +FHx22 ft.- and they
were 3 m +02 ft.- deep. (t the bottom by the ash$pit they measured 0.4#F m +14#J
in. ft.-. 'he grates were made of rails. ( channel to the ash$pit ensured the admittance
of air and permitted the removal of ashes and bones.
'he sides of the furnace were made of firebric& and faced with cement.
n the furnace were alternate layers of chopped wood and corpses: to facilitate
combustion, space was left between the corpses. 'he furnace could hold 0HH corpses
at a time, but as they burned down, fresh ones were added from above. 'he ashes and
remains of bones were removed from the ash$pit, and ground in mortars, and, at first,
thrown into specially dug ditches? but later, from 0132 onwards, bones and ashes
were secretly carted to Aawad&i at night, and there thrown into the river.
p.00J
C.
'he number of people &illed at *helmno could not be calculated from reliable data or
railway records as the camp authorities destroyed all the evidence.
'he investigators were therefore obliged to confine them$selves to the evidence given
by witnesses concerning the number of transports sent to *helmno. n order to obtain
as accurate an estimate as possible, witnesses were called from various points through
which the transports passed +_od), ,olo, Powiercie, Aawad&i and *helmno- or on
individual observation and the counting based on the collective railway tic&ets which
they had seed +e.g. that of the woman Mange, a 5erman boo&ing$cler& at ,olo
station-, or finally individual observation and the counting of transports? or finally on
what the members of the Sonderkommando told them about the number of victims.
(ll the witnesses agree that the average number of persons brought to the camp was
at least 0HHH a day.
'here were times when the number was larger, but 0HHH may be accepted as a
reliable average R exclusive of those who were brought in cars.
'hese latter were not a negligible proportion, coming as they did from numerous
small towns.
(s to how many railway$trains arrived during the whole time of the camp;s existence,
investigators found that the extermination activities at *helmno lasted from
!ecember I, 0130, to (pril 1, 0132. <rom (pril, 0132, till the final Bli>uidationB of
the camp in .anuary, 0134, strictly spea&ing the camp was not functioningthe
total number of transports in this period amounting only to 0H, bringing
approximately 0H,HHH people.
*onsidering only the time from !ecember I, 0130, to (pril G,0132,3IH days, we
must allow for a brea& of two months in the spring of 013F, when transports were
stopped, as well as for certain interruptions due to merely technical causes,
p.00G
which, it was found, did not exceed GH days altogether. 'his gives +J0`GH-, or 020$
04H days lost.
'he remainder, 22H days of full activity, may be unhesitatingly accepted, and if 0HHH
victims were murdered a day, the total was 22H,HHH.
'o this number must be added the 0H,HHH &illed in 0133. 'he final total therefore is
23H,HHH men, women and children, from infants to old fol&, &illed at the
extermination camp at *helmno.
C.
'his mass destruction was carefully planned, down to the smallest detail. 'he victims
were &ept in ignorance of their fate, and the whole 5erman staff did not exceed 04H$
0IH persons.
Sonderkommando &ulmhof consisted only of a party of FH SS$men, n.c.o;s of
gendarmerie, and over 0HH members of the 5erman police, who served as sentinels,
helped in the camp and in the wood where the corpses were burnt, and guarded the
neighbouring roads.
(t the head of the camp was @auptsturmfLhrer @ans %ootman. +<or the first few
months the *ommandant of the camp was a certain Mange, who had come, li&e all the
SS$men, from 5ermany-. 'he assistant of the *ommandant was first Mange, then
9tto Platte and 6illi @iller. (ll activities in the camp were managed by
UntersturmfLhrer @effele. n charge of the wor&s in the wood was 6achmeister Men).
'he crematoria were superintended by @auptscharfLhrer .ohann 7unge, who had
directed their construction with the help of UnterscharfLhrer ,retschmer.
@auptrscharfLhrer 5ustav Maps, @auptscharfLhrer %Lrstinge and 5ilow served as
drivers of the gas$wagons.
p.00I
'he investigators cited the names of IH 5ermans who were members of the
Sonderkommando, n addition to their wages they received hush$money
6Schweigegeld. amounting to 02 7M a day. 'he *anteen was well stoc&ed with food
and spirits.
'he in>uiry showed that 5reiser 5auleiter of the 6arthegau, during one of his visits
to the camp at the beginning of March, 0132, handed each of the members of the
Sonderkommando 4HH 7M at a ban>uet specially given for them, and invited them to
his estate when on leave.
t should be pointed out that when, in .anuary, 0134, in view of the Soviet offensive,
arrangements were being made for the final Bli>uidationB of the camp, the camp
authorities waited till the last minute for 5reiser to give the evacuation order
+evidence of srael %runo, the arrested gendarme from *helm-.
'he camp was also inspected personally by @immler, and !r. %radfisch, chief of the
5estapo at _od), and @ans %ibow, the manager of the Ghettoverwaltung at _od),
were constant visitors.
t was found that 5reiser and the higher functionaries of the 5erman administration
who were in contact with the camp had received valuables which had belonged to
murdered .ews. %ut the gendarmerie and police were very severely punished if they
appropriated such things.
(part from the Sonderkommando some GH .ewish wor&ers and I Polish prisoners
from concentration camps were employed in the camp on searching and burning the
corpses.
'hey wor&ed in two parties: the 7auskommando in the camp enclosure, and the
Waldkommando in the wood.
(s a rule, after several wee&s of wor&, these .ewish wor&ers were &illed, and
replaced by fresh ones, newly arrived. 'hey were fettered to chec& their movements.
'he wor&ers at the ashpit in the wood as a rule did not live longer than a few days.
'he attitude of members of the Sonderkommando towards the .ewish wor&ers was
cruel. Members of the SS used them as living targets, shooting them li&e hares.
p.001
%esides this members of the Sonderkommando very often &illed infants and small
children, as well as old people, although they &new that they would be gassed
anyway within the next few hours.
C.
( further important factor inspiring the destruction of the .ews by the Na)i authorities
was economic. 'he value of the property owned by 23H,HHH people amounted to a
large sum.
'he ma=ority of things had been already ta&en from the .ews at the time of the
evacuation of the ghettoes, but many valuables and gold were stolen in the camp
itself.
'he things which were sei)ed were sent to different centres, mostly to _od), where
they were collected and underwent a final examination before being sent to the 7eich.
t was stated for instance, that on Sept. 1, 0133, GG4 wrist$watches and 44H poc&et
watches were sent from *helmno to the Ghettoverwaltung at _od).
(t the in>uiry it was stated that the clothing of the victims was sold for the benefit of
the winter assistance +Winterhilfe- fund. (mong the documents of the case there is a
letter of .an. 1, 0132, to the ghetto administration at _od), sent by the
Winterhilfswerk des Deutschen Volkes8 Der Gaubeauftragte /o"nan, t runs as
follows: B*oncerning the supply of textiles for NSC by the ghetto authorities.
(ccording to a personal understanding +between you, my principal local Manager
,ichborn and the local Manager ,oalic&, clothes, dresses, and underwear are to be
provided after cleaning. 'he 0,4HH suits supplied do not correspond in any way to the
textiles which we saw at *helmno +,ulmhof-, which were put at the disposal of the
ghetto authorities: /our consignment contains various assorted articles of clothing,
but no whole suits.
Many articles of this clothing are badly stained and partly permeated with dirt and
blood$stains. +"in grosser
p.0FH
'eil der %e&leidungsstLc&e ist star& beflec&t und teilweise auch mit Schmut) und
%lutflec&en durchset)t-. n one of the consignments sent to Po)nan containing FHH
=ac&ets, on 40 of them the .ewish stars had not been removedY (s they are mostly
Polish wor&ers in the camps of the district, the danger is that the settlers
+%!ckwanderer- who receive this clothing will become aware of its origin and 6@6
will be discredited +und das W7W somit( ih +isskredit kommt-.
<rom the above it may be concluded that 5erman philanthropic institutions &new that
the clothing sent from Poland had been owned by murdered .ews.
C.
'he final activities of the camp at *helmno in 0133 differ from those of 0130$0132 in
this, that the victims were brought from ,olo by a local branch railway line direct to
*helmno, where they were left for the night in the church, and the next day were
ta&en directly to 7)uchow wood.
n this wood, at a distance of only 04H metres from the crematoria, two wooden huts
were constructed, one of them designed, as was previously the country house at
*helmno, to be a dressing room for those going to the bath, and the other as a
clothing and baggage store.
'he general procedure was exactly as before, the victims, completely na&ed, being
forced into gas$lorries and told they were going to the bath$house. (fter gassing the
victims the lorries were driven to a near$by clearing, in which stood the crematoria
where the corpses were burnt. 'he total number of persons murdered in 0133 was
about 0H,HHH. (ccording to the testimony of the witness Peham, the wife of a
gendarme from the camp at *helmno, train$loads of @ungarian .ews in 0133 were to
be directed there. n the end, however, they were not sent there, but to 9swiecim.
p.0F0
n the autumn of 0133 the camp in the wood was completely destroyed, the
crematoria being blown up, the huts ta&en to pieces, and almost every trace of crime
being carefully removed.
( Special *ommission from %erlin directed, on the spot, the destruction of all the
evidence of what had been done.
%ut up to the last moment .anuary, 0G, 0134, the Sonderkommando and a group of 3G
.ewish wor&ers stayed there.
n the night of .anuary, 0G:0I, 0134, the Sonderkommando shot these last remaining
.ews. 6hen they tried to defend themselves and two gendarmes were &illed, the
Sonderkommando set fire to the building in which they were. 9nly two .ews,
Auraws&i and Srebrni&, survived.
"#'"7MN('9N 9< '@" P9MS@ ."6S N '@" /"(7S 0121$0134
P(7'
Statistics of the .ewish population in Poland
. 5erman 9ccupation
. Phases and methods of the Bsolution of the .ewish ProblemB under 5erman
9ccupation.
. 'he Period of the BSmall terrorB and the B*old pogromsB.
C. 'he period of the BMi>uidation (ctivitiesB in 5hettoes and camps.
C. 5eneral *onclusions
p.0F4
Statistics of the .ewish population in Poland
'he number of .ews within the boundaries of Poland before 0 Sep. 0121 can be only
approximately established. 'he last official census before the war was on !ec. 1,
0120 and recorded 2,002,1HH persons of the .ewish faith and moreover 0IJI0
soldiers in barrac&s. f we assume an average yearly increase of population of 1 per
thousand +or FI,HHH in a year-, we find that during the eight years +up to the end of
0121- the .ewish population had increased by FF3,HHH. 'hat is to say that the total on
Sep. 0, 0121 amounted to more than 2,24J,HHH.
'his figure, however, must be considerably increased, for investigations carried out
by Prof. St. S)ulc, in charge of the *hief Statistical 9ffice, show that the number of
births among the .ewish population in Poland was at least 4HT larger than that given
in the official birth tables +Prof. Stefan S)ulc, B'he (ccuracy of the 7egistration of
%irths and !eathsB, Statistics, Series *. Pt. 30, p. 04H-.
f the necessary correction is made, we obtain the figure of 2,41H,HHH for the .ewish
population in Poland. f from this we subtract 00J,HHH for .ews who migrated across
the frontier between !ecember, 0120, and September 0, 0121, it results that the actual
number of .ews in Poland must have been about 2,3G3,HHH.
(ssuming therefore as a basis this figure after ta&ing into consideration the above
mentioned changes resulting from natural increase of population and emigration, we
obtain the following data for the end of September 0121:
p.0FJ
. 5erman occupation
0. 'he 5eneral 5ouvernement +Provinces of *racow, 6arsaw, Mublin, ,ielce, the city
of 6arsaw,
Mwow to the river San-
0,J21,HHH
F. 'erritories incorporated in the 7eich +Provinces of Po)nan, Pomerania, Silesia,
Mod), %ialysto&-
JGI,HHI
F,20G,HHH
999, -erritories anne:ed b* the U,S, S, %,
0. of Mwow +"astern part-, 'arnopol, and Stanislawow
4G2,4HH
F. Colhynia
F3F,HHH
2. 6estern 6hite$7ussia and Mithuania, Provinces of
Polesie, Nowogrode& and 6ilno
230,4HH
0,04G,HHH
'he above figures represent only theoretically the actual number of .ews. (ctually by
Sep. 0, 0121, they had been already modified.
'he invasion by 5erman motori)ed tan&s and aircraft and their lightning advance
caused vast movements of population all over Poland. 5reat masses of the civil
population fled to the "ast and South. <or example during the first days of September
about 0H,HHH people fled from *racow? among them 4$J,HHH .ews. +Bericht !ber die
-;tigkeit der 1!dischen Gemeinde in &rakau.
*racow 013H, p. J1. hectograph-.
Strictly spea&ing, already at the outset of the Second 6orld 6ar, after the end of the
Polish *ampaign in September 0121, great changes ensued in the territorial
disposition of the .ewish population. !emographic changes were also caused by the
material losses they sustained. n the fight for Poland against
p.0FG
the 5erman invader 2F,F0J .ewish ,officers and soldiers were &illed and J0,HHH ta&en
prisoner +*ommuni>ue of the Polish 5eneral Staff of 9ct. 1, 0121 cited by sr.
*ohen. -he #ews in the War. Mondon 0132, p. JG-.
6e must consider these .ewish prisoners$of$war also as casualties because only a few
survived till the end of the war? the rest were murdered by the 5ermans. <or instance
only 331 .ewish prisoners released by the 5ermans returned to *racow, during the
period from Sep. 02, 0121 to Sep. 2H, 013H +Bericht der 1!dischen Gemeinde in
&rakau p. 02-.
Some number of .ews perished also in air raids at the time when the 5ermans were
bombing the civil population in the towns and the refugees on the roads +Black Book
of /olish #ewr*. N. /or& 0132, p. FHH, 7itler<s -en =ears< War against the #ews N.
/or& 0132, p. 03I-.
mmediately before the outbrea& of war, in the last wee&s before and during the
storm, only a few individuals, succeeded in escaping to neutral countries: @ungary,
7oumania and the %altic States, before the Na)i invader. 'heir number amounted
to FH,HHH$F4,HHH +Black Book p. 0J1, 7itler<s -en =ears< War, p. 044-.
(fter the cessation of military operations, and the establishment of a frontier between
5ermany and the Soviet Union, the exodus of the .ewish population continued. 'hey
were fleeing from the 5ermans, who had begun their rule with a series of unheard$of
outrages against the .ews and Poles? the .ews found peace, safety and advantage on
the territory of the Soviet Union. (s a result of these migrations to the "ast, which
were most intense in the autumn of 0121, the 5erman$Soviet frontier was closed in
November. (t least 2HH,HHH .ews had fled from the 5erman occupation and settled in
Soviet territory.
'he >uestion arises how many .ews could remain in 5erman$occupied territory
during the period of relatively stable political relations, about .an. 0, 013H. 'he losses
due to emigration
p.0FI
and military casualties, as well as to the murders among the civilian population
during the Polish *ampaign, must be divided between the .ewish population in the
5erman area, +JJ.JT- and that in the Soviet area +22.3T-. 'he losses in 5erman
occupied territory thus amount to some 0FH,HHH. f we add to these 2HH,HHH who
emigrated to the U. S. S. 7., it will be seen that the .ewish population under 5erman
occupation fell to 0,1HH,HHH.
Cery serious changes also occurred in the interior distribution of .ews in the 5erman
)one. n the first year of the 5erman occupation large$scale moves to the "ast too&
place. (bout JH,HHH .ews fled in September 0121 from the 6estern parts of Poland to
*entral Poland +i.e. the so called 5eneral 5ouvernement- and were unable to return
to their own part of the country, where the total expulsion of the .ews had been
enacted. So up to .uly 0, 013H, the 5ermans expelled a further 22H,HHH .ews from the
territories incorporated in the 7eich into the territory of the 5eneral 5ouvernement
+@. @. Seraphim, ]!ie .udenfrage im 5. 5. als brennendes Problem^, Die Burg
Monthly. Col. #$013H, p. J0-.
n this way the .ewish population in the incorporated territories was reduced to
F4H,HHH +after emigration and civilian and military casualties-. 'he .ews however
from the 5eneral 5ouvernement made up for these losses? and the figure once more
rose to about 0,J4H,HHH. Moreover a great many .ewish settlers were brought in by
the 5ermans from the 6est +mainly from 5ermany, (ustria and *)echoslova&ia? but
also from @olland, %elgium and other countries-.
(bout FHH,HHH$2HH,HHH .ews had been deported into the 5eneral 5ouvernement by
the end of 013F. %ut this expulsion by no means made up for the demographic losses
of the .ewish population.
Meanwhile, due to hunger, persecution, executions
p.0F1
and Bspecial actionB, many Polish .ews perished, and the fate of many settlers from
the 6est was no better.
t may therefore be ta&en that the number of .ews in the 5eneral 5ouvernement did
not surpass one and a half million notwithstanding the immigration from the 6est. n
the Summer of 0130, after the 5ermans had overrun the territories evacuated by the
Soviet (rmy, the number of .ews in 5erman occupied Poland amounted to F,IHH,HHH
persons.
'he Polish .ews were mostly assembled in the larger and smaller towns. 'he census
of 0120 showed that GGT of the Polish .ews lived in the cities, and only F2T in the
country. (ccording to Seraphim, in the middle of 013H IIT of the .ewish population
in the 5eneral 5ouvernement were living in the towns.
'his urbani)ation and concentration of the .ews was very convenient for the
5ermans, and facilitated their policy of persecution. (t the time of the outbrea& of
war the .ewish population was scattered over the whole of Poland in about 0HHH
urban and rural localities. t was to the advantage of the 5ermans that at the end of
013F, when the large$scale exterminations began, the .ews were already concentrated
at a number of points in not more than 43 urban settlements, to which they had been
deported from the country districts.
'his tendency to concentrate the .ews in big urban centres +Ausammenballung- is
more obvious if we analyse the growth of several of the larger .ewish communities in
Polish territory. 'he most typical examples is 6arsaw, where the 5ermans organised
a super$5hetto. (t the end of 9ctober 0121 +the registration carried out by the .ewish
community in 6arsaw on 9ct. FI,0121, according the Black Book p. 2F- 6arsaw was
inhabited by 241,IFG .ews, and by the middle of 013F, notwithstanding the high
mortality and deportations for forced labour, this
p.02H
number had risen, according to certain authors, to 43H,HHH including about 04H,HHH
immigrants from other localities. 'he 5ermans expelled GF,HHH .ews to 6arsaw from
the left ban& of the Cistula in the Spring of 0130 +!u Prel: !es 5eneral$
gouvernement, *racow 013F, edition, pp. 23I$1, )wei #ahre Aufbauarbeit in District
Warschau, 6arsaw, 0130, pp. GF$G2-.
( similar concentration was made, but on a smaller scale, in other cities. So for
instance at *racow, which in 0120 had 4J,HHH .ews, but in 0121, owing to natural
increase, about JH,4HH. %y the Spring of 013H, owing to military events and
expulsions +&rakauer )tg. 03. #. 0130-, this number had risen to GH,HHH. 'he
official number of registered .ews in the Summer of 013H amounted to JI,3IF
+Bericht der #!d, Gemeinde in &rakau p. IG-.
'he official statistics of the .ewish community at *racow show that on .une 0, 013H
+first incomplete census of the .ewish population-, there were 43,40G in *racow, of
whom about 00,HHH were newcomers +Berichf d, #!d, Gemeinde p. 11-.
n Mublin, which in 0120 had 2I.1HH .ews, and in the year 0121 had 2G,H23
+according to the 9fficial 7egister of the .ewish *ommunity of 9ct. F4, 0121-, the
.ewish population amounted in round numbers to 4H,HHH in 013H +Seraphim p. J0,
!u Prel, 5.5. 0st ed., p. 0J1-.
n *)estochowa, which had about F4,JHH inhabitants in 0120, the .ewish population
increased to 2H,HHH. +!u Prel, 55., 0st ed. p. lHH-, including of course the many who
had been expelled. 'he records of the Municipality of the town of *)estochowa at the
end of 013H give the following data: in .anuary 013H FI,G03 .ews, in !ecember of
the same year 22,J24 +Statistical (nnual of the 'own *ouncil of *)estochowa vo.
p. 023. (rchives of the Municipality of *)estochowa, section No. 4H33:JI1, %ur.-
9f the 02,IHH .ews in Piotr&ow, 2,JF4 were exiled +#ewish Ge"ette, .une 2H, 013H-.
p.020
(t the end of 0130 F2,H24 .ews were deported to Mod), among them about FH,HHH
from 5ermany, Cienna, Prague and Muxemburg, and 2,HIF from 6locawe& and its
vicinity.
n the first part of 013F G,J31 .ews were expelled from the so called 6arthegau
!istricts of Mod) and Po)nan, and part of the district of 6arsaw +Non edited printed
proof sheets BStatist #ahrb, d, #uden in Lit"mannstadtB as well as other statistical
material possessed by the *entral (rch. of the .ewish @istor. *omm. of Mod)-.
,ielce, which had 0I,HHH .ews in 0120, had about F4,3HH .ews in 013H +!u Prel,
55., 0st ed., p. 0HH-.
%ialysto&, which had 21,0J4 .ews in 0120, had about 4J,HHH .ews in the years 013F$
0132 +!r. Simon !atner: -he ight and E:termination of the Ghetto in Bial*stok,
published by *entr. .ew. @istor. *omm. Mod), 013J-.
'hese examples suffice to prove what an influence 5erman policy had on the changes
in the distribution of the .ewish population.
n normal conditions the statistical outline of the demographic development would
not be complete without the registration of population movements. %ut in our case,
.ewish migrations have a special character? these migrations were compulsory, and
were accompanied by loss of property, health, and often life. 6e cannot spea& of any
natural movement of the .ewish population, as the number of deaths rose to an
incredible degree, and the birth$rate fell catastrophically till finally there were no
more births at all.
Phases and methods of the Bsolution of the .ewish problemB under the 5erman
occupation
n the political programme of Na)i 5ermany not only the military con>uest of
Poland, and other countries on her "astern
p.02F
border were included, but also a partial extermination of the native population in
order to facilitate 5erman coloni)ation of the depopulated areas. Simultaneously with
the programme for the destruction of a larger number of Slavs +according to the
testimony of witnesses at the Nuremberg 'rial, @itler planned the destruction of
2H,HHH,HHH Slavs- the Na)i authorities purposed the total extirpation of the .ews.
(ccording to evidence given by witnesses at the Nuremberg 'rial +evidence of
Mahausen concerning the plan accepted by 7ibbentrop and ,eitel at the conference in
@itler;s car on Sep. 0F, 0121-, as well as to official 5erman documents +particularly
the order issued by *hief$of$Police @eydrich at %erlin on Sep. F0. 0121 to the *hiefs
of all the special$service 5roups of the Security Police concerning the .ews in the
9ccupied 'erritories. 'his document sets forth both the final aim of anti$.ewish
policy, and the gradual phases of its execution- and the pronouncements of @itler and
Streicher, and the articles of 5oobbels +@itler;s speeches of !ec. 20, 0121. .an. 2H,
0130, .an. 2H, 013F, ( Speech of Streicher of 9ct. 20, 0121 +7ecords of
the Nuremberg 'rial No. F4I2 PS.-, (rticles by 5oebbels in Das %eich of .uly FH,
0130, and .une 03, 013F-, this policy of physical extirpation had already been
decided upon at the outbrea& of war in 0121.
'he Na)i 5ermans began to carry out their programme for the destruction of the .ews
as early as the first day after the outbrea& of war? but it is not >uite certain if the plan
for the complete extermination of the .ews existed at that time. t appears that there
were differences of opinion among the leaders of the 'hird 7eich regarding this
problem, in 0121 and 013H and even at the beginning of 0130 +speech by (. 7osen$
berg of March FI, 0130, and at the opening of the 7esearch nstitute for .ewish
Problems $ 9nstitut "ur Erforschung der #udenfrage at <ran&fort on Main-. n some
circles plans for a less cruel solution of the .ewish problem were put forward: by way
of emigration and the assembling of all .ews in a land
p.02F
outside "urope, far from any white people, but near to the blac& races, under strict
police supervision +Speech by (. 7osenberg: Die #udenfrage als Welt$roblem 0
Dokumente der deutschen /olitik. @. "rich Seifert: Der #ude "wischen den ronten
der %assen( der V'lker( der &ulturen. %erlin 013F. p. 043$044-.
6hile these plans were being debated and discussed, the slow and gradual
extermination of the .ews by all possible means had already been underta&en. 'he
.ews were put outside the law.
'hough the Poles were considered as citi)ens of an inferior class +Schut"angeh'rige
des %eiches- in the districts incorporated in the 7eich, the .ews and 5ipsies were
excluded even from this category? i. e. they were deprived of
the protection of the State +9rder dated March 2, 0130, 7eichsgeset)blatt , 00I G an
order dated .an. 20, 013F, 7eichsgeset)blatt , 40-.
'his contempt for the .ews and their exceptional legal situation was manifested in a
series of regulations. %y an order dated Nov. F2, 013H they were compelled to bear
special mar&s. %y an order dated .an. FJ, 013H, they were deprived of the right to
travel or to change their place of residence. %y an order of .an. F3, 013H +Cdgbl. '.
C. 4-, their right to hold property was limited, and it was finally abolished by orders
of Sep. FF, 0121, and .an. F3, 013H, and, for the incorporated area, by an order of
Sep. 0G, 013H.
<urther, the .ewish communities had to ma&e contributions of gold, silver, furs and
other precious ob=ects. 'he ration of food allowed to the .ewish population was much
smaller and far worse than that of the other inhabitants of the country.
<rom 013H onwards ghettoes or .ewries were instituted in different Polish cities and
towns. <or this purpose the worst districts of the towns were chosen without gardens
and s>uares, and there was conse>uent overcrowding, dirt and disease.
p.022
'he 5erman authorities were easily able to control the import of food into the
enclosed ghettoes, as well as their property, hygiene, etc. 'he .ewish population, thus
massed in one place, was an easy target for persecution of every &ind, and could the
more easily be exterminated. (ccordingly the ghettoes in the hands of the 5erman
authorities became the main instruments whereby the destruction of the .ewish
population was carried out.
%esides the ghettoes Na)i 5ermany created other instruments of extermination: the
forced labour camps, and training camps +)wangsarbeitslager, Er"iehungslager-.
(t the very beginning of its occupation, an order was issued on 9ct. FJ, 0121,
providing that .ews from the age of 03 to JH must perform forced labour. 'he first
camps were organised at the end of 0121, and in them .ews, regardless of age,
education or profession were forced to do heavy wor& of all &inds, such as cultivating
the fields, or damming rivers, in excessively bad wor&ing conditions, and under
!raconian discipline, with fre>uent corporal punishment. 'he whole scheme was
merely another means of exterminating the .ewish population? some of the wor&ers,
owing to the terrible conditions, perishing in the camps? while those who returned
home were in most cases sic& and unfit for further employment.
!uring the whole of this period, from the beginning of the 5erman occupation, the
.ewish population were constantly terrori)ed and severely punished for minor
offences. Sometimes huge fines were levied? sometimes there were mass executions.
Meaving the ghetto was punished with death. @undreds of death sentences were
passed for this offence by the 5erman Special *ourts, and all of them were carried
out. 'he same penalty was exacted for not wearing the .ewish mar&ings, for buying
food illegally, for using means of transport forbidden to the .ews, as well as for
absenteeism and sabotage.
'he .ewish population, being outside the law, no one was held responsible for &illing,
wounding or robbing a .ew.
p.024
(ll these measures $ restriction of rights, ghettoes, starvation, labour camps and
terrorism, were causing large casualties among the .ewish population, but did not
result in their complete extirpation. ( plan had already been hatched in the minds of
the leaders ,of the 'hird 7eich before the outbrea& of war with 7ussia. (t the outset
of the 7ussian *ampaign @itler and his advisers decided first of all to destroy the
.ewish population in the area overrun.
Mater this plan was extended to the .ews of Poland, and afterwards to those of "urope
in general.
'he execution of the tas& of finally Bli>uidatingB the .ews was entrusted to the #Cth
Section of the 7S@(0 +7eichsicherheitshauptamt-, at the head head of which stood
(dolf "ichmann. n order to carry out this wor& on the "astern <ront four special
groups +"insat)gruppen- were organi)ed from the members of the SS and S!,
distinguished by the successive letters of the alphabet (, %, *, !, and created in
agreement with the @ead>uarters of the 5erman (rmy. 'he ($group was entrusted
with the destruction of the .ews in the %altic countries. 'he !$group was given a
wide field of activity, extending from *ernauti in 7oumania to the *aucasus. 'he %$
and *$groups were active in the central sector of the eastern front and its rear,
including Poland. 9ne of these groups, the 7einhard group famous for its crimes,
dealt with the province of 6arsaw, Mublin, *racow and Mwow, in the 5eneral
5overnment +!ata based on the statements of ma=or$general 9tto 9hlendorf, chief of
the 9ffice No. in the *hief Security *ourt of the 7eich +Nuremberg trial .an. 2,
013J--.
(ll this action against the .ews went on from the middle of 0130 to the end of 013F.
%esides Polish .ews, the 5ermans brought to Poland for extermination hundreds of
thousands of .ews from other countries in "urope. n the years 0132 and 130
p.02J
activity began gradually to decrease, the bul& of the .ewish population having by that
time been exterminated.
'he orders of the *hief *ommanders of the SS provided >uite clearly for the
extirpation of the .ews, with the exception only of such as were to wor&. 'hese men
and women were sorted out and ta&en to camps. 'his did not mean, however that
their lives were saved. 'he regime in the camp grew more and more severe during the
progress of li>uidation outside the walls of the camps. <or the aim of labour camp
policy was not so much to s>uee)e the last ounce of wor& out of the .ews as to &ill
them by overwor& and physical torture.
%ut besides the original type of labour camp, a new type was organised $ the
extermination camp, designed only for the >uic& &illing of the victims who were
brought there, and provided with special technical arrangements in the form of gas$
chambers and crematoria.
6e may accordingly divide the gehenna of the .ews under the 5erman occupation
into two periods: n the first the 5ermans used different methods to speed up the
process of extermination of .ews? while in the second afterwards for contrast called
the small terror period, no more than a few hundreds being murdered the 5ermans
proceed to the extirpation of the .ews in the ghettoes and camps.
. 'he Period of the BSmall terrorB and B*old pogromsB
(t the very outbrea& of war, after the 5erman armies had crossed into Polish
territory, the fate of the .ews who were unable to escape from the onrushing Na)i
armies was indeed wretched.
'he soldiers got up exhibitions of .ewish refugees, often beating and robbing them,
and in many cases shooting them.
9ften they would drive together a great crowd of .ewish refugees, several thousands
in number, and put them in >uarantine. (fter being detained in loc&ed premises
without food or
p.02J
drin&, the .ews were finally released, with rude moc&ery, bare$footed and nearly
na&ed 6hen they at last returned home, new troubles awaited them. n most cases
their shops and flats had been plundered, and in conse>uence they san& to the lowest
depths of misery. n some localities the 5ermans re$arrested them, for trying to
escape, and treated them as enemies of the BNew 9rderB +see ,alis) Black Book p. J-.
(lthough the idea of exterminating the .ewish population was accepted by the Na)is
clearly and without any ambiguity long before the outbrea& of war, the 5ermans
persisted in hypocrital attempts to deceive their victims.
'hey tried to lull the vigilance of the .ews, giving lavish promises which they did not
intend to &eep. 'hus the 5erman officers sent to discuss terms for the capitulation of.
6arsaw gave a promise that not a single hair should fall from the heads of the .ewish
population. 'his assertion was repeated by wireless in good faith by the Mayor of
6arsaw, St. Star)yns&i. "ven <ield$Marshall and *ommander$in$*hief 6alter von
%rauchitsch in his speech delivered over the wireless on Sep. 3, 0121, assured the
Polish .ews that they need have no anxiety about their fate? and 5eneral %las&owit),
*ommander of the forces besieging 6arsaw, issued a proclamation on Sep. 2H, 0121,
which was posted up in the streets of 6arsaw, repeating the same assertion and
ordering the .ews to return >uietly to their occupations.
None of these promises was &ept by the 5ermans, even temporarily.
<rom the first moment of the 5erman invasion fierce attac&s on the .ews began. n
the first wee&s of the 5erman occupation their outrages already showed all the
elements of the future 5erman extermination policy, save only perhaps the gas$
chambers and crematoria. 'here were already robberies, BsearchingsB, contributions,
confiscations, the ta&ing of hostages, beating and torture, moc&ery and derision,
humiliation, organi)ations of insulting performances and shows and then
p.02I
their reproduction for the cinema, .ew$hunts, compulsion to do hard and humiliating
labour, violation of women, the desecration of ob=ects held sacred by the .ews, the
burning of synagogues and .ewish libraries, expulsions, executions, and murders
individual and collective.
n a number of localities, immediately after the 5erman invasion, the .ews were
ordered to reopen their shops +not only at 6arsaw or Mublin, but even in such small
towns as %el)yce and 5orlice-. 'his was to ma&e it easier for them to be plundered.
(ny traders who disobeyed this order were severely punished.
Methods, however, differed in different places. Sometimes, immediately after the
5ermans arrived, all .ewish shops were sealed and put at the disposal of the
authorities +in 6loclawe&, 7ad)ie=ow, *)estochowa, Pr)emys. >entral Arch, of the
#ewish 7ist, >omm. rep. No. 2G4, 2H, 2F, JGJ-. (t 7)es)ow the 5erman commander
ordered the confiscation of .ewish shops, at the same time, according to the principle
divide et im$era, promising non$.ewish pensioned employees managerial posts in
them. n the larger estarblishments the expropriation of .ewish property was at once
put on an organi)ed basis. (ll the larger .ewish factories were immediately ta&en
over by the State.
'he 5erman army confiscated .ewish stoc&s of textiles, leather and ironware. Marge
military lorries drove up to .ewish stores in 6arsaw, Mod), and other manufacturing
towns and carried away all the goods. 'hey often ordered even the owners and
employees to act as porters, while fre>uently they were aided by the mob and the
Volksdeutsche abetted by the 5erman police and army. n almost all localities the
demolition and robbery of .ewish flats, as well as plundering under the pretext of
searching for incriminating evidence without any pretext at all, were everyday
occurrences. 5old rings were often violently torn from their wearers fingers and ears
+see Protocol from 9&s)a >entr, Arch, of the #ew, 7ist.
p.021
*omm. No. 32? Prot. from %elchdow *.(. of the .. @. *. No.I 3 -.
.ewish flats were often ta&en over. n many cases a Volksdeutscher would rush into a
.ewish$owned flat and with watch in hand would order the owner to leave within
from 4 to FH minutes. Sometimes the latter would be allowed to ta&e some small
hand$baggage with him, but generally even this was forbidden. n rare instances the
time allowed for leaving the flat was extended to several hours, or even longer.
(gain, contributions were levied from the .ews on every possible pretext or
sometimes without any pretext at all.
'he amount and conditions of payment and the penalties if they were not paid were
enormous. "ach local authority demanded its own according to its individual whim.
n some localities contributions had to be paid in instalments. Sometimes they were
very high, amounting to tens of millions of )lotys.
%esides money the 5ermans demanded gold, and articles of value, silver and
=ewellery, which they extorted by terrorism, beating and tortures. @ostages were
ta&en, but were not released after the contribution had been paid. f the sum
demanded was not raised in time, employees and members of the .ewish *ouncil
would be shot, and hostages ta&en? or the defaulters were sent to concentration
camps. <rom the findings of the local 5erman authorities there was no appeal, for
there was no law to protect the .ews.
'he 5ermans did not limit themselves to the theft of .ewish property. !uring the first
wee&s of their invasion they organised pogroms in almost every Polish town and city,
giving model lessons in the mar&et places before audiences which were gathered by
force from the non$.ewish population. !uring these lessons the .ews were illtreated,
derided .and finally &illed +at Siedlis)c)e, Mins& Ma)owiec&i, 6egrow, 7ad)ie=ow
etc.-.
p.03H
n other places the .ews were forced to dance and sing, to shout and recite silly self$
accusations +at %el)yce, %elchatow, 6egrow, 9&s)a, Agier) etc.-.
'here were organi)ed .ew$hunts in the streets, the hunters pretending to ta&e them for
wor&. 'hey were ordered to assemble at an appointed hour in large numbers, and then
were driven to another town, or to an improvised camp.
.ewish rabbis were particularly derided. 'heir beards were cut or torn, often even
with strips of s&in attached? or they were set on fire and the owners were not allowed
to extinguish them +for instance at 6arsaw in the 5arden of the !iet, at 9&s)a,
Agier), 6egrow, or Piotr&ow-. 'he rabbis and orthodox .ews were forced to dance
and sing in public, or were driven moc&ingly along the streets in their liturgical
vestments. (t *isna the 5ermans burnt their vestments and sacred boo&s in the
mar&et place? they forced the .ews to set fire to the pile, and then to dance round it
singing and repeating in chorus: B6ir freuen uns, wie das !rec& brenntB +B@ow glad
we are the filth is burningB-. 'hey were forced to sweep the streets wearing their
vestments, or to scrub floors and clean latrines with them.
(t ,alis) the .ews were forced to =ump over a fire of boo&s and vestments +Black
Book, p. G-.
'he 5ermans set the synagogues on fire or forced the .ews to do it themselves.
!uring this period several hundreds of synagogues were burnt or blown up. n the
first fortnight after their arrival the 5ermans burnt all the synagogues at %iels&o +in
the middle of September, 0121-. 'he first building which was burnt by the 5ermans
at %ydgos)c) was the local synagogue. <rom the 4th to the 0Hth of September the
5ermans burnt synagogues at Piotr&ow and (le&sandrow. (t Agier) after the burning
of the synagogue they forced the rabbi to sign a certificate to the effect that the .ews
themselves had burnt their house of prayer. 9n !ooms day +Sep. F3, 0121- the
5ermans burnt the .ewish synagogues at 6loclawe&? the
p.030
fire was filmed? and then F4 .ews were arrested and forced to sign a declaration that
they had burnt the synagogue themselves. ( fine of 0HH,HHH )l was then imposed on
the .ewish population. (t the same time the synagogues were burnt at 5ruri)iad),
'orun, Aamosc, Mielec, *)estochowa, 'arnow, and ,atowice. (t 5ro=ec the .ews
were forced to bum their synagogue, and afterwards some of the BincendiariesB were
murdered. (t 7ad)ie=ow the 5ermans set fire to the synagogue and afterwards
arrested the .ews as incendiaries, because a match$box had been found in the poc&et
of one of them.
%etween Nov. 00 and 04, 0121, about 0H synagogues were burnt at Mod). (t
Sosnowiec the 5ermans burnt three synagogues and arrested F4H .ews. (t
Siedlis)c)e they placed a bomb in the synagogue. (t Po)nan they burnt several
synagogues and desecrated the chief one ceremoniously during the festivities of the
7itler #ugend and the Na)i party, and laid out a swimming$pool on its site. (t
*racow and %ed)in the destruction and burning of .ewish synagogues and beth0
hamidrashes was assigned to special brigades, called Brennkommandos. 'he
5ermans deliberately pic&ed the most solemn .ewish holidays for this &ind of
activity. +(t 6loclawe&, Plons&, %el$)yce, and Mielec.- n many cases the 5ermans
turned the synagogues into stables +(t 5niewos)ow and Ma&ow-, into factories +at
Pr)emysl-, into swimming$pools +at Po)nan-, into places of entertainment +at Nowy
'omysl-, into health centres +at 5ora ,alwarya-, into prisons +at ,alis)-, and even
into public latrines +at *iechanow- +&rakauer )tg. of .une 0J, 013F %renner:
>hronicle of the town of >"esfochowa, ms. at the *entr. .. @. *. Black Book p. FFJ,
F1, G, .ews in "urope p. FJ, #ews< Survivors %e$ort No. 0. -he German ?ew @rder in
/oland, Mondon 0130 p. F3J-? >entr, #, 7, >, /rot, No. F%9.34I, IFJ, I0I,2GF, 022-.
'he ill$treatment and abuse of the .ews applied not only to the male population, but
also to the female.
Notwithstanding the Nuremberg (ct there were violations of .ewish women
p.03F
and young girls by the 5ermans +%el)yce, >entr, Arch. ..@.*. !iary of Mrs.
<erstmann, Black Book p. I-.
'he wor& which the 5ermans forced the .ews to do had in most cases the character of
penal servitude. 'he hardest and most humiliating labour was assigned to them: the
removal of corpses, removal of rubble from the streets, carrying of loads, digging of
ditches, and cleaning of water$closets. 'he amount and &ind of labour demanded of
an individual was usually too much for his strength, and if he found it impossible to
finish, he was beaten unmercifully +.ews were harnessed to carts and ordered to draw
loads-.
Sadistic orders were often given, .ews being made to clean out latrines with their
hands +at *isna, ,alis) and other localities-? to collect horse$droppings in the mar&et$
place with their hands and to put them into their caps and poc&ets +at *isna-? or to
clean out latrines with their hands and then to smear their faces with the excrement
+at ,alis), %lac& %oo&, p.J-.
n towns situated in the area which the 5ermans intended immediately to incorporate
in the 7eich the expulsion of .ews began as soon as the 5ermans arrived. 'his was
chiefly in the provinces of Po)nania, Pomerania, and Silesia, and on the borders of
"ast$Prussia +%iels&o, 6yso&ie Ma)owiec&ie, ,alis), 'orun, %ydgos)c), and
Suwal&i. >entr, Arch. .. @. *. Prot. N o. 1J1-.
"xpulsions also too& place on the Soviet$5erman border, the 5ermans trying to .drive
the .ews across to the Soviet side. <or instance, they were driven from *helm and
@rubies)ow to So&al near the Soviet frontier, and during a march of several days
many were shot +#ews in Euro$e, FJ: New 9rder FFH, evidence of S. 'urteltaub,
>entr, Arch. .. @. *. No. J3H-. (lso at .aroslaw, Mancut, Pr)emysl, 'arnobr)eg and
other towns on the frontier the 5ermans drove the .ews over it, and then boasted in
their newspapers that these places had been ren$
p.032
dered completely 1udenrein +&rakauer )tg. Nov. 0J, 0121 and .uly 0G? 013H. >entr,
Arch, 0. @. *, 7et, No. J13 and I3H-.
(t .aroslaw, a wee& after their invasion, the 5ermans ordered the .ews to leave the
town within half an hour +>entr, .. @. *. 7ec. No. I2G-. @ow the crossing of the river
San was made is described in a report by a witness, deposed at Mancut:
B6e arrived at the river San on the third day of our exile, 6hat happened there is
difficult to describe. 9n the ban& of the river 5estapo$men were waiting and driving
people into a boat, or rather raft of two unbalanced boards, from which women and
children fell into the river. 6e saw floating corpses everywhere? near the ban&
women stood in the water, holding their children above their heads and crying for
help, to which the 5estapo$men answered by shooting. %lood, masses of floating
corpses. t is impossible to describe the despair, shouts and helplessness of people in
such a situation +Documents of crime and mart*rdom, *racow, 0134 p. 032 p. 032
publ. by >entr. .. @. *.-.
/et the 5ermans invented still crueller ways than these of cleaning out the .ews.
(ccording to a report by an "nglish =ournalist, Miss %a&er$%eall, in the vicinity of
%ydgos)c) this BcleaningB too& the form of extermination? several thousands of
.ewish men, women and children were driven into %ydgos)c) and there shot in a
stable which was converted into a latrine +?ew @rder, p. 02G, Black Book, p. J-.
( report by the S. !. Einsat"kommando Bromberg of Nov. 03, 0121, to the
@ead>uarters of the Security Police and to the Security Service in %erlin says: B'he
.ewish problem does not exist any longer at %ydgos)c), as the city is >uite free from
.ews. !uring the cleaning up all .ews who did not thin& it suitable to disappear
before were removedB. 'he style of this report gives a good idea of the spirit of the
S! +Sicherheitsdienst- in relation to the .ews +>uoted from the 9llustrated /olish
>ourier, %ydgos)c) !ec. F4, 0134-.
p.033
!uring these first wee&s there was hardly a single town in Poland where the 5ermans
did not shoot or torture .ews. @ere are a few examples: in the small town of
6ierus)ow immediately on entering the 5ermans &illed FH .ews in the mar&et place
+Bl, Book p. 4-? at *)estochowa on Sep. 2, 0121, and the following day they &illed
over a hundred .ews? at (le&sandrow after their entrance on Sep. G, 0121, they shot
JH .ews: and on Sep. 03, 0121, after torturing them they shot 34 more. (t 9strow
Ma)owiec&i they murdered five hundred men, women and children +#ews in the War,
p. 2J? ?ew @rder, FHH-. (t 'r)ebinia 04H .ews were &illed? at Mas&ar)ew almost
every male? at 6arta and Sosnowiec a certain number of .ews were arrested and
afterwards decimated. +-he #ews in the war, p. 24$2G-. (t Pr)emysl in 0121 several
hundred .ews were shot. (t Mod) on the occasion of a visit by 5oebbels on 9ct. I,
0121, a pogrom was organised, many .ews were murdered, and children were thrown
by the SS$men from windows into the streets. (t 6loclawe& the 5ermans organi)ed
a pogrom on !oomsday, and afterwards the wounded were buried alive together with
the dead at J1. !luga Street. (t Agier) G .ews perished, one of them +Aysman- being
burnt alive, as having probably offered resistance +Bl,B,, p.0H, #ews in the War, p. 2J-.
(t Mips& +district of l)a, near ,ielce- a whole group of .ews was burnt alive in a
synagogue. n Mielec on the "ve of the .ewish New /ear, Sep. 02, 0121, the
5ermans drove 24 na&ed .ews from the bath, loc&ed them in an ad=oining butcher;s
shop, and then burnt it down. 'his was stated by eye$witnessess +#ews and /oles
>entr, Arch. .. @. *. Prot. No. F0G? Bl, B., p. 0F-.
n 0130 after the occupation of %ialysto& by the 5ermans the same &ind of events
were repeated, only on a larger scale and with greater cynicism. 'he 5ermans burnt
about a thousand .ewish men and boys .une FG 0130. +>entr, Arch. .. @. *. N .
p.034
43J? !r. S. !atner: ight and Destruction of the Ghetto at Bial*stok-.
6itnesses mention pogroms on a larger scale in the following towns: *hmielni&,
,ons&ie, ,utno, Mas&, Mowic), Mu&ow, and Sierad). +#ews in the War, p. 24? #ews in
Euro$e, p. FJ-.
n several cities such as *racow, Mod), 6arsaw, 'arnow, and ,ielce the 5ermans
arrested or murdered outstanding .ewish social wor&ers and representatives of the
intelligentsia.
n the 5erman$occupied area in 0130, immediately after the entrance of the 5erman
(rmy, pogroms were organised everywhere on a scale larger than that of the Bblit)$
pogromsB of 0121. 'hey will be described in the next chapter.
"#'"7MN('9N 9< '@" P9MS@ ."6S N '@" /"(7S 0121$0134
P(7'
C. 'he period of the BMi>uidation (ctivitiesB in 5hettoes and camps
C. 5eneral *onclusions
C. 'he period of BMi>uidation (ctivitiesB in 5hettoes and camps
!uring the first two years of the occupation the 5erman extermination activities were
not yet BtotalB.
(ll the above mentioned pogroms, executions, individual or group murders,
accounted for the deaths of probably about 0HH,HHH .ews.
'he losses resulting from the so$called Bcold pogromsB were much higher.
!eprivation of civic rights, exclusion from all sources of livelihood, seclusion of
ghettoes, hunger, and disease were decimating the .ewish population. n the larger
cities especially mortality among the .ews greatly increased, and natural increase of
population ceased almost entirely. *ompulsory labour and bad living$conditions
also caused many thousands of .ewish deaths.
(ll this obviously pointed to the gradual but complete extirpation of the .ews, but the
tempo was too slow. 'he 5ermans reali)ed that the old$fashioned pogroms alone
could not Bsolve the .ewish problemB. !r. Stahlec&er, Dhead of a special$service
Einsat" group (, writes clearly on the sub=ect in a report to his superiors of 9ct. 04,
0130. t was easy to foresee from the beginning that the .ewish problem in the
p.03J
"ast could not be solved by pogroms. (ccording to instructions received, the
BcleansingB activities of the Police had as their aim the complete extermination of the
.ews +!ocument No. 0IH %ecords of the ?uremberg -rial-.
'he 5ermans now put their hopes, not on individual pogroms, but on a policy of
pauperi)ation and starvation of the .ews. 'hese expectations were expressed in
(ugust 013F >uite clearly by @ans <ran&, the 5overnor 5eneral, himself.
Spea&ing of the reduction by half of the food rations of the Poles, <ran& said that Bit
must be done in cold blood and without pity? the fact that in this way we condemn
0,FHH,HHH .ews to death by hunger is only of indirect importance. f the .ews should
not starve sincerely hope that it will inspire further anti$.ewish regulationsB. 'hat is
to say that if hunger and pogroms prove ineffectual for the Bsolution of the .ewish
problemB, more effective means must be applied +%ecords of the ?uremberg -rial.
<ran& !iary. !ot. No. FF22-.
'he idea of the extirpation of the .ews probably too& shape in the spring of 0130,
before the Soviet campaign. t was decided first to root out the .ewish population of
the territories con>uered in the "ast from the U. S. S. 7. as they were Binfected with
*ommunismB and therefore specially dangerous. 'his was decided, as the witnessess
at the Nuremberg 'rial stated, at a meeting not of the 7eich *abinet, but of some
@itler;s closest collaborators. (t staff conferences which @itler held several wee&s
before the opening of the 7ussian *ampaign, he informed the @igh *ommand of the
5erman (rmy of his plan to extirpate the .ews. 'he four special service groups
+Einsat"gru$$en- created during this period received definite instructions in this
connexion, as is proved by the abovementioned report of !r Stahlec&er.
'he entire propaganda apparatus of the 'hird 7eich was set in motion to wor& out a
programme in preparation for this crime.
p.03G
n @itler;s speech of .an. 2H, 0130, one hears for the first time the gloomy forecast of
mass slaughter:
BUnd nicht vermeiden m'chte ich such den 7inweis noch darauf( den ich schon
einmal( n;mlich am 2, Se$tember 23A3( im Deutschen %eichstag tat( dass n;imlich(
wenn wirklich die andere Welt von dem #udentum in einem allgemeinen &rieg
gest!r"t w!rde( das #udentum damit seine %olle in Euro$a ausges$ielt haben wird,
Sie m'gen auch heute noch lachen dar!ber( genau so( wie sie fr!her lachten !ber
meine inneren /ro$he"eiungen, Die kommenden +onate und #ahre werden erweisen(
dass ich auch hier richtig $ro$he"eit hatte,
BSchon 1et"t aber sehen wir( wie unsere %assenerkenntnis Volk um Volk ergreift( und
ich hoffe( dass auch die V'lker( die heute noch in eindschaft gegen uns stehen( eines
-ages ihren gr'sseren inneren eind erkennen werden( und dass sie dann doch noch
eine grosse gemeinsame ront mit uns eintreten werden8 die ront einer arischen
+enschheit gegen!ber der internationalen 1!dischen Ausbeutung und
V'lkerverderbungB. +Der Grossdeutsche reiheitskam$f( , 22 Band( %eden Adolf
7itters( $, CCC-.
@itler;s speech on the day of the invasion of 7ussia, .une FF, 0130, gives the
direction to further anti$.ewish propaganda: B?icht Deutschland hat seine
nationalso"ialistische Weltanschauung 1emals versucht( nach %ussland "u tragen(
sondern die 1!disch0bolschewistische +achthaber in +oskau haben es unentwegt
unter"unommen( unserem und den anderen euro$;ischen V'lkern thre 7errschaft
auf"uoktro*ieren( und dies nicht nur geistig( sondern vor allem auch milit;risch
macht0m;ssigB, 6Der Grossdeutsche reiheitskam$f( %eden Adolf 7itters $, DA-.
'he war with the Soviets is proclaimed as the B.ewish 6arB a war against the .ewish
and %olshevist authorities of the ,remlin. 'he same thesis is repeated in further
speeches by @itler on 9ct. F, 0130, and Nov. I, 0130. 'he finishing touch is given by
the Minister of Propaganda, 5oebbels, in an article
p.03I
in Das %eich of .uly. FH, 0130, promising a Bmerciless and irrevocable =udgement
between usB. 'his article is full of hatred and is entitled characteristi,cally: BDie
#uden sind schuldB +B'he .ews are guiltyB- and it clearly foretells the extirpation of
the .ews.
(rticles in the newspapers published for the 5erman police emphasi)e the thesis that
Bthe 7ussian .ews are a poison which may be got rid of only by destructionB +*ited
after 7it9er<s -en =ears< War, p. FI1-. and declare that the aim of this war is ]das
1udenfreie Euro$aE +a .ew$free "urope- ++itteilungsbl;tter f!r die weltanschauliche
Schulung der @rdnungs$oli"ei, @g. v. *hef der 9rdnungspoli)ei 5ruppe:
Weltanschauliche Er"iehung, .l. !e)ember 0130 5ruppe (, <olge FG. Nur fLr den
5ebrauch innerhalb der 9rdnungspoli)eiB.-
%ut although in the summer of 0130 the declarations of the leaders of National
Socialism announce only the coming annihilation of the 7ussian .ews, already at the
end of 0130 a systematic campaign for the extirpation of the .ews was initiated far in
the rear of the "astern <ront, extended later to the 5eneral 5ouvernement, and finally
to the area incorporated in the 7eich $ the so$called Warthegau.
n a speech delivered at the end of the year 0130 5overnor$5eneral <ran& laid his
cards before his closest collaborators, when announcing a big conference to be held
in %erlin in .anuary, 013F, under the chairmanship of the *hief of the *entral
Security 9ffice of the 7eich +7. S. @. (.- @eydrich, during which important decisions
concerning the .ewish problem were to be ta&en. <ran& indeed anticipated them:
B6hat are we to do with the .ewsV !o you thin& that we shall settle them in the
9stlandV... 6hy all this prattleV 6e have nothing to do with them, either in the
9stland +the %altic provinces- or in the %eichskommissariat Ukraine. n
short, li>uidate them by your own means... 6e must ta&e steps to extirpate them...
'he 5eneral 5ouvernement must be as free from .ews
p.031
as is the 7eichB +!oc. No, FF22, <ran&, Diar*. *. C. 0130. 9ct. to !ec. p. GJ$GGG-.
<ran&, one of @itler;s most intimate advisers, showed himself no false prophet. 'he
%erlin *onference gave results >uite in accordance with his forecast. n (pril, 013F,
@immler issued an order concerning the Bfinal solution of the .ewish problemB
+Endl'sung der #udenfrage-. 9nly such .ews were to be left alive as were able to
wor&, and these were to be concentrated in camps. 'his order was extended to all
countries under 5erman occupation, and minister 5oebbels expressed the hope that
the extirpation +(usrottung- would spread not only over the whole of "urope but
even to countries outside B9n Euro$a und vielleicht weit dar!ber hinaus...B +(rticle in
Das %eich of .une 03, 013F-.
6ith their characteristic efficiency the 5ermans began to reali)e their plan of
destruction.
n the summer and autumn of 0130 the main blow was struc&, at.the .ews living in
the territories newly con>uered from Soviet 7ussia. 'he second blow, in the winter of
0130, fell upon those .ews living in the lands incorporated in the 7eich +Warthegau
and @st$reussen-? and the third, in the first months of 013F, struc& those who
remained in the 5eneral 5ouvernement.
'he advance of the 5erman (rmy into the territory of the U. S. S. 7. was
accompanied by a series of bloody actions against the .ews. 'hey differ from the
planless pogroms of 0121 in that they now were systematically organi)ed. 'he
number of victims in the larger cities amounted to thousands? in the smaller towns all
the .ews were Bli>uidatedB at once. 'he worst terror reigned in the districts of 6ilno
and %ialysto&. 'he .ewish population of 6ilno +J4,HHH- paid a heavy tribute in
blood, action against them lasting without interruption from .une FF to Sep. 4 +the
date of the establishment of the ghetto-. (fterwards it was renewed in the middle of
9ctober and went on until *hristmas "ve.
p.04H
'he 5ermans pretended that they too& the .ewish male population for labour, and
drove them to a small wayside halt called Ponary 0H &m from 6ilno on the railway
from 6ilno to Mandwarowo.
'here they were shot in masses and buried in the ditches dug to contain petrol by the
7ed (rmy.
<rom 9ctober, the time of the B*leaningB in the ghetto, onwards women and children
were also brought to be &illed. 'his monstrous mass action, which lasted half a year,
accounted in the first period after the establishment of the ghetto for the deaths of
about 2H,HHH .ewish victims? and in the second period for those of more than 04,HHH.
+5. .as)uns&i, Dos ?a1e Lebn Nr. J, M. %alberys)&i, Dos ?a1e Lebn Nr. 1, S).
,ac)ergins&i: BPonaryB, Archives of the >entral #ewish 7istorical >ommittee.
7ecords from 6ilno.-
'he 4J,HHH .ews in %ialysto& were also attac&ed. mmediately after the advance of
the 5ermans about 0HHH were burnt in a large synagogue? on .uly F about 2HH
representatives of the .ewish intelligentsia were murdered? and on .uly 00 about
3HHH .ews were ta&en outside the city and shot on the so$called Pietras)a +S. !atner:
ight and Destruction of the #ews at Bial*stok-.
n the summer of 013F in several parts of the region of %ialysto&, at S)c)uc)yn,
5ra=ewo, 'y&ocin and 6asil&ow, the .ewish population were massacred, as they were
li&ewise in the smaller towns of 6hite 7ussia.
(t Sluc&, for example, the *ommander of the #th %attalion of the Security Police
carried out mass murders on two successive days at the end of 9ctober 0130. .ews
were shot in houses and in the streets, and their corpses left lying where they fell. 'he
*ommander of the battalion refused the re>uest of one of the *ommissars of the
!istrict to delay these activities for one day, ostensibly because he was instructed to
commit these murders in a00 the towns of the !istrict and therefore was in a great
hurry. (bout 1,HHH .ews perished at Slonim.
p.040
(t Mwow, which had a population of about 04H,HHH .ews during the first three
months after the 5erman invasion, three pogroms were carried out between .une 2H
and .uly 2, .uly F4 and FG, and finally again at the end of the month. "ach outbrea&
ended with the murder of several thousands of .ews +!r <. <riedman: -he
Destruction of the #ews in Lwow, p. J$I-. n other towns of the province of 5alicia
similar outrages too& place? for instance at ,olomy=a, where 2,3HH .ews were shot in
S)c)epanow wood? at !rohobyc) and %oryslaw, at ,amion&a Strumilowa, Aloc)ow
and Stanislawow. @ungarian troops who were >uartered in this last town did not
persecute the .ews? the first outrage was after the entrance of the 5ermans on Nov.
0F, 0130 +>entr, Arch. .. @. *. ,Prot. No. 434, 404, JG1, 0HJI, 00JF, IH0-.
n Colhynia there was much bloodshed at 7owne, where some 0J,HHH out ,of F4,HHH
.ews were done to death on Nov. 4 and J, 0130 +>entr, Arch. 0. @. *. Prot. No. 001H,
Black Book, p. 002-. !uring the winter months of 0130 and 013F fresh measures were
directed against the .ews in the area incorporated in the 7eich. 'heir numbers had
already, by the end of 0121 and the beginning of 013H, fallen from JIH,HHH to
F3H,HHH as a result of the intensified policy of expulsion with all its attendant
brutality, which, indeed, at ,alis) and %ed)in, in the towns of Silesia, and at
6loclawe&, +see>entr. Arch. .. @. *. Prot. No. 2G4- passed over into outright
massacres +%ydgos)c), ,alis) etc. >entr, Arch. 0. @. *. Prot. No. 441-.
'he second phase of the so$called #udenreinigung +cleaning up of .ews- began in this
area in the winter of 0130$013F. n contrast to their behaviour in the "ast, the
5ermans refrained from mass shootings and carried out their murders in a more
discreet way. 'he first ob=ect of their fury was the .ewish population which still
remained in the province of Mod). ( special extermination camp for .ews was
established at *helmno near ,olo, and started wor&ing on !ec. I, 0130,
p.04F
when the first transport of .ews from !ebie, Sepolno and ,olo arrived. 9ther
transports followed from 'ure&, Poddebica, 6lodawa, %ellchatowo, Pabianice and
elsewhere. 'he ghetto of Mod) too was to pay its tribute of blood +.an. 04, 013F, and
(pr. F1, 013F-. 'he 5ermans &illed their victims by gassing them in specially
constructed wagons. 'he camp at *helmno was not the first scene of this &ind of
activity on Polish soil. t was about Sep. 04, 0130, that the first experiment in
wholesale murder by gas was carried out with success in the concentration camp at
9swiecim +(uschwit)- in Silesia, when a group of 7ussian prisoners$of$war and
another of Polish political prisoners were Bli>uidatedB. t is not &nown when the first
transports of Polish .ews were similarly treated there.
t was in <ebruary and March, 013F, that large$scale Bli>uidationsB of this &ind were
first practised in the area of the 5eneral 5ouvernement. Previous cases there had
been rather in the nature of courses of training as for instance at 7e=owiec, in the
province of Mublin, at "aster, 0130, +>entr, Arch. .. @. *. Prot. No. I1- in !abrowa
near 'arnow in .uly 0130 +rep. 0FH1-? at 6egrow on !oomsday +Prot. No. 2I-? small$
scale activities at 7adom in 9ctober +Prot. No. FI-? again at 7adom and several
small$scale activities at Mwow, on !ec. 2, +!r. <. <riedman: -he Destruction of the
#ews at Lwow p. 02-.
'he proceedings at Mielec were particularly dramatic. Preparations for BexpulsionB
had begun in .anuary 013F, as the official correspondence of the 5erman authorities
shows +>entr, Arch. .. @. *. $ 7ecords of Mielec-. 9n Mar. G$1 a very cruel expulsion
of the .ews from Mielec began. Some were shot in the town or on the airfield and
about 3,4HH were ta&en to different localities in the province of Mublin +>entr, Arch.
.. @. *. $ 7ecords of Mielec and Prot. No. F0G-.
'he months of March and (pril abound in shootings and expulsions +7)es)ow:
>entr, Arch. .. @. *. Prot. No. JGI? %r)es&o: Prot. No. J00? Aamosc 7ecords .. U. S.?
,rasni&? Prot. FG4? Sanni&i %ecords of the >entr, Arch. .. @. *.? ,ielce?
p.04F
Prot. J4, J3 $ a and JG? li>uidations at 6loclawe&? Prot. 2G4? Mwow, Mublin,
9strowiec, Mod), Nowy Sac) and elsewhere-. t is noteworthy that proceedings were
ta&en against leaders and members of the .ewish 7adical political groups in several
localities almost at the same time, in (pril 013F +for instance at 6arsaw, Nowy Sac),
Prot. No. 0FH2? 9strowiec, Prot. No. FGH and 03J? 7)es)ow, Prot. No JGI-.
'he massacre of 04,HHH persons at Mwow finished =ust before the .ewish festival of
the Passover.
9ne of the bloodiest and most cruel episodes of this period was the massacre at
Mublin, which began on the night of Mar. 0J:0G, 013F, and lasted till (pril FH. 'he
.ewish colony there was almost wiped out? about F,4HH to 2,HHH .ews being &illed
and 24,HHH being ta&en to the concentration camps at %el)ec and 'rawni&i, while
some were sent to the region of Poltawa and ,rivo= 7og +U. S. S. 7.-.
'he remainder about 2,HHH in number, were ta&en to Ma=dan 'atars&i, where in
primitive and shabby buildings they too were soon &illed. ++emories of 9da
Gl!ckstein p. 00 >entr, Arch. .. @. *. Prot. J. evidence of S. 'urteltaub, Bl, Book, p.
14-.
'he re>uirements of mass murder inspired the idea of establishing special plants
which were to serve "astern Poland, as the camps of *helmno and 9swiecim on the
left ban& of the Cistula served 6estern Poland. So the labour camp at %el)ec and the
concentration camp for prisoner$of war at Ma=dane& near Mublin were transformed
into extermination camps. 'he larger transports of .ews from Mublin and Mwow were
directed to %el)ec, while smaller ones were ta&en to Ma=dane& +for instance from the
town of %el)yce in May 013F-. (n extermination camp with gals$chambers was
also established at Sobibor +first victims sent from Siedlis)c)e-.
'hese spring activities, however, were merely introductory. 'he wave of
extermination activities grew more and more threatening. BMi>uidationB, more
innocently termed BexpulsionB, was applied systematically and gradually in every
p.043
.ewish centre. 9n May 0F, 0132, the authorities of the province of Mublin sent out a
secret circular
letter to the local administrative authorities +Srotasta $owiatow*- to prepare for the
expulsion Dof the .ews +>entr, Arch. $ 7ecords of Mublin- Undoubtedly similar
circulars were issued by the government authorities of other districts.
'he summer of 013F witnessed a series of expulsions in Silesia +at .awor)no,
Sosnowiec, !abrowa 5ornic)a, and %iels&o-? in the 5eneral 5ouvernement +at
%el)yce, Aol&iew&a, Siedlis)c)e, 7ab&a, *racow, 'arnow, 7adom, 7)es)ow, Mielec,
and !ebica-, in 5alicia +Mwow, Pr)emysl and 'arnopol-, in 6hite 7ussia +Slonim-
and in Colhynia +7owne-. n some localities the .ews offered resistance +7owno,
Slonim-, in reprisal for which their houses were burnt down. +Prot. No. 001H, 030-. (t
Pr)emysl no less than 0F,HHH .ews were done to death +>entr, Arch. .. @. *. Prot. No.
JGJ, J10-.
'he culminating point was reached in (ugust, September and 9ctober 013F. 'he
destruction of the ghetto at 6arsaw overshadows this whole period, going on, as it
did, for two$and$a$half months. t began on the "ve of the .ewish <ast$!ay, .uly FF,
the anniversary of the destruction of the 'emple and lasted till 9ct. 2. (ccording to
the official report of the SS$%rigadenfLhrer Stroop, 20H, 2FF .ews were &illed.
Probably the number of victims was even greater. 'he massacre was carried out
with exceptional cruelty.
(t the same time the tas& of Bli>uidatingB the .ews at Mwow was ta&en in hand.
%etween (ugust 0H and FF some 3H or 4H thousand were slaughtered. (nd during this
same month of (ugust about JH,HHH .ews were murdered in the !abrowa coal$
mining area.
(t 7adom about FH,HHH .ews, including members of the .ewish *ouncil, perished in
a massacre on (ug. 0J? at Mied)yr)ec about 0H,HHH +(ug. FI-? at Piotr&ow some 04
thousand? and at ,folomy=a the whole .ewish population of the town and surrounding
country. ( series of mass murders was carried
p.044
out also in the vicinity of 6arsaw +at 9twoo&, <alenica, 7embertow-, at *racow,
Mancut, 7ab&a, 7ymanow, 7)es)aw, !rohobyc), %orysKaw, ,ielce, S)ydKowiec,
Nowy Sac), 6ielic)&a, 6olbrom, Mod), Stanislawow, %uc)ac), %r)e)any, %rody,
So&al, %ors)c)ow, ,opyc)ynce, S&ole, Abara), %el)yce, and !olina.
(s the existing extermination camps could no longer cope with the number of
destined victims, a new one was opened at 'reblin&a %, near the railway station of
Mal&inia, at the time of the 6arsaw massacres.
t is impossible to say how many persons altogether lost their lives in the large$scale
executions which mar&ed the autumn of 013F. (ccording to a report by SS
%rigadenfLhrer ,at)man, in 5alicia up to Nov. 0H, 013F, F43, 1I1 .ews were
expelled? about 4HT of the whole .ewish population. n other sections of the 5eneral
5ouvernement the numbers were much larger, amounting probably to GH or IHT of
the .ewish population. t was much the same in the area incorporated in the 7eich,
where except for small communities only the two ghettoes at Mod) and %ialysto&
were left.
9n 9ct. FI and Nov. 0H, 013F, regulations were issued establishing 43 ghettoes in the
area of the 5eneral 5ouvernement, of which 20 were in 5alicia. %ut by this time the
ma=ority of the .ewish population were already dead, and those who remained were
well aware that the end of their lives was rapidly approaching.
n the winter of 013F:32 activity lessened. 9ne of the greatest massacres of this
period was that of the .ews at Pins&, which lasted for four days +9ct. FI $ Nov. 0- and
accounted for about 0J,HHH persons +7ecord of 04 7eg. 5erman policy, published by
lia "renburg in the collection: 'he Slayers, Moscow 0133, p. G$0H-.
(t the same time the province of %ialysto& was BcleansedB, only two ghettoes being
left, at %ialysto& and at .asinow&a? about 02H,HHH people perished.
p.04J
'wo pogroms +of Nov. 0I$FH, 013F, and .an. 4$G, 0132- reduced the population of the
ghetto at Mwow by more than FH,HHH +!r. <. <riedman: -he Destruction of the #ews
at Lwow p. F2-.
!uring the pogrom of .an. 0I, 0132, the 5ermans combed out +aus&Ommen- J,4HH
more persons at 6arsaw. n a great pogrom at %ialysto& on <eb. 0132, 00,HHH persons
were &illed and 0F,HHH were BexpelledB $ to the death$camp at 'reblin&a.
'he .ewish population of 5alicia was rapidly disappearing, in incessant small
BincidentsB. 'he camp at %el)ec was no longer able to cope with the mass of
BmaterialB sent for Bli>uidationB.
(ccordingly a camp was opened at .anow near Mwow for those expelled from the
ghettoes of 5alicia. (t the beginning of March 5overnor$5eneral <ran& stated with
satisfaction that in the whole of the 5eneral 5ouvernement there were perhaps about
0HH,HHH .ews left +<ran& !iary. Nuremberg 'rial, !ot. FF22. Col.: 0. to FI. . Page
4-.
t seems however, that the calculations of the 5overnor 5eneral were a little too low.
6arsaw had still about JH,HHH .ews, Mwow FH,HHH, and 5alicia about 0HH,HHH. 'here
still remained small numbers of .ews in several other towns of the 5eneral
5ouvernement, such as *)estochowa +in the labour camp B@asagB and ,other camps-
at S&ar)ys&o, 7adom, *racow and Plas)ow. Probably the number of .ews in the
5eneral 5ouvernement at that time might have been estimated at between 0 and F
hundred thousand.
'here were also more than 0HH,HHH still left in the incorporated area, about GH,HHH of
whom were at Mod), and the remainder at %ialysto& and in the towns of the
6arthegau.
!uring 0132 and 0133 the 5ermans began the li>uidation of the remaining F4H,HHH
.ews. n 0132 the heroic defence of the 6arsaw ghetto began on (pr. 01, 0132, and
ended with
p.04J
the symbolical blowing up by the 5ermans of the Main Synagogue in 'lomac&ie on
May 0J. n this uneven struggle some 4H or JH thousand .ews perished +(ccording to
the report by %rigadenfLhrer Stroop, who had directed this action, the blowing up of
the synagogue mar&ed the end of the action. n fact the mopping$up operations in the
ghetto continued for some wee&s-.
7esistance in the ghetto at %ialysto& was overcome, after another une>ual struggle,
on (ug. 0J, 0132? and at Mwow during the first days of .une, 0132, about FH,HHH
.ews were &illed.
%y 0133 there was only one ghetto left in Poland, namely that at Mod) with its GH,HHH
inhabitants? and this was now Bli>uidatedB, its population being dispatched in
successive transports to 9swiecim.
n (ugust 0133, when the front was approaching Mod), more than JH,HHH persons
were sent to 9swiecim in one huge transport +(ug. F$2H-, so that at Mod) there
remained only the so$called Aufr;umungskommando, consisting of IGH persons.
8
'he destruction of all the ghettoes in Poland and the expulsion of their inhabitants
still did not bring that complete Bsolution of the .ewish problemB desired by
@immler. 'here still remained a few Polish .ews in various camps, since young men
and women able to wor& were$for the moment$&ept alive.
'hose thus selected were sent to labour camps. Not that their death sentence was
cancelled? it was only postponed. 'hey were exploited to the utmost limit of their
endurance, with stern and severe discipline and very bad housing, sanitary and food
conditions. (ll this as well as the variety of tortures employed, both physical and
moral, is exemplified in the account of the almost incredible conditions of wor& at
9swiecim and .anow. *onditions of wor& in the munition factories at S&ar)ys&o were
li&ewise dreadful, and the mor$
p.04I
tality in these camps was frightful. Notwithstanding this high BnaturalB death$rate,
however, and in order to >uic&en the tempo of destruction, the 5ermans from time to
time arranged roll$calls, and selections of .ews for unannounced execution.
!uring the 5erman occupation the whole of Poland was dotted with camps, some for
prisoners$ofwar and some containing wor&ers in local factories, coal$mines,
foundries, landed estates and farms, ta&en over by the SS +the so called SS
Liegenschaften-? in these the percentage of .ews was very small.
More detailed information has now been collected concerning the 2H forced$labour
camps for .ews.
'he first of this type were already established in the year 0121, but they usually only
existed for a short time. 'hey were often closed down after l$F years of existence,
after they had served their purpose in the damming of rivers, the construction of
fortifications, or the building of roads, and at the same time completely ruined the
health and lives of the ma=ority of the wor&ers in them. t was only rarely that the
latter survived till the time came for their release e. g. at B@asagB+@ugo Schneider
(&tiengesellschaft- near *)estochowa, Aufr;umungskommando at 0J St. .ames;s St.,
Mod), or at Plas)ow near *racow.
(s the anti$.ewish polcy became more strict, some of the labour camps were
transformed into concentration camps +e. g. .anow camp near Mwow? Plas)ow near
*racow? Poniatow and 'rawni&i in the province of Mublin? or S)ebnie near .aslo-.
'he .ews wor&ing in these camps were not treated as wor&ers but as Bwor&$
prisonersB +see the report of the SS %nigadenfLhrer ,at)man to the *hief
of the SS and Security Police in the 5. 5.-.
@undreds and thousands of Polish .ews passed through camps of this type in their
march to martyrdom and death? the
p.041
relatively low number of individual camps being explained by the fact that an
enormous number of human beings perished in each of them. 'hus at the .anow camp
near Mwow the number of inmates rarely exceeded FH,HHH and sometimes fell as low
as I,HHH +for example, on March. 0, 0132, it contained about 04,HHH .ews, on .une FJ
only about I,HHH-. /et a total of some FHH,HHH people perished in this camp. ndeed a
much larger number of .ews even than this passed through the camp, including the
many murdered in the wood of Mesieniec near Mwow, and those deported for
execution to %el)ec. 'he .annow camp thus served as a transit camp, or so$called
!ulag +Durchgangslager-.
9n .une FG, 0132, after the final li>uidation of all the ghettoes in 5alicia, there were
still FH camps, in which were F0,04J .ews. +7eport of the SS %rigadenfLhrer
,at)man to the *hief of the SS and Security Police in 55. ,rLger-. B%utB $ adds
,at)man $B this number is constantly diminishingB. 'he best &nown of these camps
were at .anow, ,urowice, .a&torow, Mac&ie, ,o)a&i, !rohobyc), and %oryslaw.
'he province of *racow also had a number of concentration camps, the best &nown
of which were at Plas)ow near *racow, and in the district of S)ebnie near .aslo: in
both of these about FH,HHH .ews, mainly from *racow, perished. 'hings were similar
in Malopols&a, at Pust&ow near !ebica, at 7o)wadow and at Stalowa 6ola, where in
each case several thousand .ews perished.
n central Poland the greatest number of camps of this type existed in 'rawni&i in the
province of Mublin and at Poniatow near Pulawy? in every one from 04 to FH,HHH
.ews perished. n the North there was another, at Stutthof near 5dans&? from 00H,HHH
persons who passed through this camp 3H.HHH were .ews from different countries of
"urope? Polish and Mithuanian being in the ma=ority. t should be mentioned that
before the evacuation of Stutthof the 5ermans drove several thousand .ews +men and
women- into the sea, where
p.0JH
they were drowned or &illed by machine$gun fire. +Archives of the >entr. .. @. *.
Prot. No. 2I0. !iary of (ldo *oradello, 7eminiscenses of M. S)eftel, late prisoner at
Stutthof-.
%ut all these figures amount to nothing in comparison with the frightful number of
victims who were devoured by the Bextermination campsB.
'his last type of camp was organi)ed on Polish territory during the time when mass
exterminations were intensified, as the 5ermans could not accomplish their criminal
purpose with the existing means of destruction alone.
Several large concentration camps in Poland, such as 9swiecim and Ma=dane&, had
been used for &illing the .ewish population since 013H? but now special new camps
were added.
'he camp at 9swiecim was enlarged in 013F and 0132 and adapted for mass murder,
large gas chambers and crematoria being erected. 'he numerous transports of .ews
arriving there were almost all directed to the gas$chambers? only a small number of
persons being selected for the labour camp.
%ut even of these only a small percentage was left alive by the end of war? about
4,HHH .ews.
%esides Polish .ews there perished at 9swiecim hundreds of thousands of .ews from
@ungary, *)echoslova&ia, (ustria, 5ermany, 5reece, %elgium, <rance and other
countries.
'he total number of victims executed at the second large concentration camp, at
Ma=dane& near Mublin, is estimated at between 0\ and F millions, of whom the .ews
constituted a very large percentage. n both camps +9swiecim and Ma=dane&- the
ma=ority of .ewish prisoners were exterminated in gas$chambers by the use of the
very effective B*yclon %.B
n the concentration camps at 5rossrosen in Silesia in which 0HH,HHH persons
perished, the number of .ewish prisoner was small.
'he extermination camps destined almost exclusively for .ews were those at
'reblin&a +called 'reblin&a %-, *helmno, %el)ec and Sobibor.
p.0J0
(t 'reblin&a, in the vicinity of the district So&olow Podlas&i province of 6arsaw,
between .uly FF, 013F, and the early autumn of 0132 from GJH,HHH to a million
persons were &illed, almost exclusively .ews.
'he camp at *helmno, a village 03 &m from ,olo on the railway from Mod) to
Po)nan, continued wor&ing till .anuary 0134, when it had destroyed about 24H,HHH
.ewish victims, in special motortruc&s, fitted up with gas$chambers.
'he camp at %el)ec near 7awa 7us&a, established at the beginning of 013H as a
labour camp, was developed into an extermination camp in 013F. %etween the spring
of 013F and that of 0132 several hundred thousand .ews, mainly from 5alicia and the
Mublin and *racow province were murdered there. 'ransports also came from the
districts of 7adom and 6arsaw. (t the extermination camp at Sobibor, near *helm in
the Mublin area, which was established in the spring of 013F, hundreds of thousands
more were &illed, chiefly in gas$chambers. @ere too, a certain number of .ews from
<rance, @olland, the U.S.S.7., and *)echoslova&ia perished in addition to those from
Polard +t was stated at the =udicial en>uiry into 5erman crimes committed in the
extermination camps of %el)ec and Sobibor, that from these death camps only a few
persons escaped. t is therefore a matter of serious difficulty correctly to calculate the
number of victims, as the 5erman authorities tried their best to wipe out all vestiges
of their crimes-. 9n 9ct. 03, 0132, a revolt was organised at Sobibor.
(fter &illing about FH SS$men several hundred prisoners escaped, but the ma=ority
were &illed by the bullets of the camp guards and by mines which had been laid in the
fields all round the camp.
t must be borne in mind that the above mentioned concentration camps were not the
only places of extermination of Polish .ews. n the vicinity of every large centre of
.ewish life in Poland temporary places of execution were to be found, in which
thousands and tens of thousands of victims per$
p.0JF
ished daily? e. g. Ponary near 6ilno, Mesieniec near Mwow, Pietras)a near %ialysto&,
7adogos)c) near Mod), or 7a&owice wood near *racow.
%esides the better &nown camps, mentioned above, there were places of mass murder
by gas which remained un&nown until >uite recently? e. g.. ,a)imier) wood +near
,a)imier) %is&upi, 3H &m from *helmno- where the 5ermans had used gas wagons
as early as Sep. 0130? or the so$called B5esiow&aB in 6arsaw, i. e. the .ewish prison
in Aamenhof Street, where crematorium installations have recently been discovered.
C. 5eneral conclusions
. @ow many .ews perished and how many were left aliveV
'he final Bsolution of the .ewish problemB in Poland ordered by the Na)i leaders was
accomplished almost in its entirety. 'his is proved by the following statistical data:
'he number of .ews in Poland on Sep. 0, 0121, amounted to about 2,3G3,HHH. @ow
many of them are still aliveV
'he *entral *ommittee of Polish .ews which was organi)ed at Mublin in (ugust,
0133, ordered a registration of the .ews who survived. 'his registration was carried
out by the .ewish Mocal *ommittees in different towns and gave the following
results: Up to .une 04, 0134, it was found that 44,4H1 .ews had registered themselves
in Poland. 'o this number must be added 4,33J registered Polish .ews still in camps
in 5ermany, and 02,HHH .ews on active service in the Polish (rmy, together G2,144
persons.
'hese statistics, do not however, enable us to determine how many .ews were finally
saved from destruction during the 5erman occupation. <or this a critical analysis and
explanation are re>uired.
p.0J2
'he number 44,4H1 must be reduced, as there were numerous mista&es in
registration, caused by the fluctuation and internal migration of .ews in the first
months after their recovery of freedom, the same persons being registered twice, or
even several times, in different towns through which they passed.
@ow many, it is impossible to chec&. Moreover, a certain number out of the 44,4H1
had returned from Soviet 7ussia.
'he number of 02,HHH officers and men of the Polish (rmy does not include such as
were saved in 5erman$occupied territory, but is made up for the most part of .ews
who were in the U.S.S.7. during the war and voluntarily enlisted in the Polish (rmy
which was organised there.
%ut the number of 4,33J given for .ews still in camps in 5ermany is not final, as only
an insignificant proportion of the .ews in these camps have sent in their data to be
registered by the *entral *ommittee of Polish .ews or to any Mocal *ommittee.
Mater migratory movements after .une 04, 0134, and territorial changes affecting
.ews who were living in Poland and 5ermany are not ta&en into account, as they are
not essential to the problem under discussion.
9f the 3H,HHH$4H,HHH Polish .ews who are still alive in Poland, about 4,HHH are
children +!ata of the *hief of the Section of the *hildren;s (ssistance, !r S.
@ers)erhorn, >uoted from the Bulletin of the #,A,/. of Nov. 0F, No 11:0H1-. 'his is a
maximum number and includes those who returned from 6estern U&raine, 6estern
6hite 7ussia and the Mithuanian Soviet 7epublic.
t must be borne in mind, however, that a certain number of .ews were saved by
escaping abroad in 0121 +mainly to the U.S.S.7.-? while in 0130, after the 5erman
invasion of 7ussia, some of the Polish .ews living in the U.S.S.7. saved themselves
by fleeing into the interior. (ltogether about F4H,HHH Polish .ews from various
"uropean and extra$"uropean
p.0J3
countries were saved +U.S.S.7., "ngland, Sweden, Swit)erland, 7oumania, @ungary?
Palestine, and the U.S.(.-.
<rom the above it may be deduced that in 5erman$occupied Poland the .ewish
population amounted to about 2,FHH,HHH or 2,F4H,HHH persons. 9f this number at the
end of war only 3H,HHH$4H,HHH remained alive.
n the territories occupied by the 5erman armies only 0.2T or 0.JT of .ews were
saved.
(s compared with the pre$war total, the losses of the .ews in Poland amount
therefore to 1IT.
. !ifferent phases of extermination
6ith regard to the tempo and intensity of the exterminations during the different
periods, although definite data are lac&ing, the following approximate estimate can be
relied upon.
0. B.ewish losses in the first months of the 5erman occupation, i. e. up to the end of
0121: soldiers &illed in the September *ampaign 2F,HHH? prisoners of this campaign
murdered by the 5ermans, JH,HHH? .ewish civilians &illed during the fighting, or
during the earliest stages of the 5erman murdercampaign, in pogroms, about
0HH,HHH. (ltogether therefore about FHH,HHH.
F. .ewish losses during 013H and the first six months of 0130: as the result of
executions, repressions and pogroms, expulsions, forced labour, and natural deaths
+deaths resulting from disease, epidemics and hunger-, about 2HH,HHH.
Up to the middle of 0130, i. e. to the outbrea& of the 5erman$Soviet war, about
4HH,HHH .ews had perished.
2. (fter the occupation by the 5erman (rmy of Polish territories previously annexed
by the U.S.S.7. there were about F,GHHHHH .ews under 5erman rule. <rom the
numbers previously given it will be seen that by the end of <ebruary, 0132, only lHT,
or F4H,HHH, were still alive. f we add to this number the 04H,HHH .ews who were
murdered in
p.0J4
.anuary and <ebruary, 0132, we see that on .an. 0, 0132, about 3HH,HHH .ews were
still alive. 'hus for the last phase of Na)i rule in Poland +from (pr. FF, 0130, to the
end of 013F- we get F,2HH,HHH as the number of victims of 5erman extermination
activities, disease and hunger combined.
3. n 0132 about F4H$2HH,HHH of the remaining .ews perished, this number including
the rest of the .ewish communities in 6arsaw, Mwow, and %ialysto&? the rest of the
.ews in concentration camps? .ews who had escaped to the woods? .ewish groups of
partisans? and .ews living in concealment as (ryans.
4. n 0133 about 0HH,HHH more .ews perished at the hands of the 5ermans. 'he last
ghetto at Mod) was destroyed? many .ews passing as (ryans were caught, particularly
during the 6arsaw 7ising and afterwards, and finally a certain number of .ews who
had still been wor&ing in concentration camps succumbed.
%etween 3H,HHH and 4H,HHH .ews were left, concealing themselves among the Poles,
or using false (ryan documents, or hiding in the woods as partisans? or in some
camps +@asag near *)estochowa, and 9swiecim-.
. @ow many .ews from abroad perished in PolandV
%esides Polish .ews, the 5ermans murdered a great number of .ews from abroad on
Polish territory.
(ccording to information published by the nstitute of .ewish (ffairs in New /or&, of
a total of 1,J0F,HHH "uropean .ews 4,GIG,HHH perished during the Na)i occupation.
9f this number more then half +02,FHH,HHH- were Polish .ews. 9f the second half
about l,HHH,HHH perished in Poland, and the remainder in the Soviet Union,
7oumania, %ulgaria, @ungary, .ugoslavia, or 5reece.
'he million foreign .ews &illed by the 5ermans in Poland are made up of about 2$3
hundred thousand from @ungary,
p.0JJ
F hundred thousand from *)echoslova&ia, 0 hundred thousand from 5ermany, and
the rest from (ustria, <rance, @olland, %elgium, taly, Norway, Muxemburg, and
!enmar&, in numbers varying from a few hundreds to several thousands.
.ews from abroad were sent to Poland by the 5ermans as early as the end of 0121
+from *)echoslova&ia and (ustria-, ostensibly for coloni)ation, or for wor& on
fortifications. <urther transports during the years 013H$0130 were mainly sent to the
small towns of the district of Mublin and to the ghettoes of 6arsaw and Mod). 9wing
to dreadful housing conditions and bad food, great misery and hard wor&, these .ews
died in large numbers. n the year 013F it was noticed that the deportations to Poland
of .ews from 6est and *entral "urope were intensified, but now they were not
deported for wor&, but sent straight to extermination camps to be instantly &illed.
'he .ews from 5reece and @ungary were the last to be exterminated. Mass
deportations and executions of @ungarian .ews were not begun until the Summer of
0133? but owing to their specially cruel character they stood out even among the
5erman extermination activities of that time.
8
'he murder of several millions of .ews in Poland is a crime distinguished from the
many other 5erman crimes committed during the second world war both by its
wholesale character and by the criminal manner of its execution. 6e are faced with a
crime to which, strictly spea&ing, all those "uropean peoples who were not B(ryanB
according to Na)i doctrine should have fallen victims. 'he ashes of millions of
people in Polish soil prove that 5erman National Socialism reali)ed to a great extent
its declared aim of destroying the "uropean .ews. f the 5ermans could not
completely wipe out the .ews from "urope, it was solely due to the fact that they lost
the war before they had time to carry out their extirpation plans to the end.
p.0JG
6e are faced with a crime executed by the agents of the Na)i rulers according to a
strictly conceived plan in which an active part was ta&en not only by the 5estapo, SS
and gendarmes, but also by the 5erman military authorities, with whom were lin&ed
up not only the political party, but also the 5erman railway wor&ers, and 5erman
industry.
'he vast ma=ority of 5ermans who were living in Poland during the war &new
perfectly well about these crimes, and the extermination of millions of .ews. (ll these
5ermans adopted at best a completely passive attitude towards them. Many 5ermans
in the 7eich who profited by .ewish plunder did the same.
'he destruction of the .ews in Poland was only the first attempt of the Na)is to find a
specific radical solution of the problems facing 5erman imperialist policy.
'he fate of the Soviet prisoners$of$war and that of the hundreds of thousands of
victims from among the 7ussian and Polish civilian population murdered by the
5erman authorities elo>uently proves this truth.
'he .ews were the first of a series of victims. 'he attempt did not succeed? but
undoubtedly the Poles and 7ussians were next on the list of candidates for mass
extermination, representing elements ethnically obnoxious from the point of view of
5erman expansion in the "ast.
!eliberately setting aside all basic principles of good and evil, of right and wrong,
profiting from the indifference and apathy of the 5erman population, and applying
terroristic methods in the occupied countries, the Na)is could, had military events
ta&en another turn, have murdered still more millions of people in Poland and 7ussia
Bfor the good of the 5erman nation and the New 9rder in "uropeB.
'he annihilation of the .ews on Polish soil is an elo>uent proof of the 5erman
intention to go on until they had achieved the realisation of this plan.
5"7M(N *7M"S *9MM''"! !U7N5 '@" 6(7S(6 7SN5
%(*,579UN!
p.0IJ
'he crimes committed by the 5ermans at the time of the 6arsaw rising in (ugust and
September, 0133, occupy a special place among those committed by the in Poland
during the recent war. 'hese crimes, the victims of which were thousands of unarmed
citi)ens, men, women and children, were committed by army troops in fulfilment of
explicit orders given by the highest 5erman army authorities? they were carried out
by the germane (rmy and the 5erman 5eneral Staff, institutions independent of the
5estapo.
'he whole >uestion is not essentially changed by the fact that the ma=ority of these
troops consisted of a police brigade in which criminals and Volksdeutsche served and
of the Clasow army composed of Soviet prisoner$of$war +6arsaw population usually
called them U&rainians- for these were parts of the 5erman army, under 5erman
*ommand. 'hey were thrown into action and committed common crimes by order of
the 5erman @igh *ommand.
5erman soldiers and members of the Classov army in 5erman unfirom together
committed atrocities on an unarmed civilianh poplation. t is not material that certain
of their criminal deeds, such, as the violation of women, were done principally by
Classov;s men? these facts were &nown to the 5erman officers who allowed them to
happen. Classov;s troops were merely carrying out the crimes? they were pawns in a
general criminal scheme. "verything that happened in the tragic days of the 6arsaw
7ising was &now to and approved by the 5erman *ommand.
%efore we begin a detailed account of the 5erman proceedings during the 7ising,
supported by the testimony of 5erman generals and the texts of military orders, we
shall first
p.0IG
publish a series of reports of 5erman crimes given by eyewitnesses. 'hese consist of
evidence ta&en from people who were present while the crimes were actually being
committed? some of it from persons who were themselves victims of these crimes,
but were luc&y enough to remain alive.
'hese reports, which are undoubtedly truthful, cover only certain districts of the town
and do not by any means account for all the crimes that were committed. 'hey give,
however, sufficient material to enable us to understand the methods employed and the
&ind of offences perpetrated on the civilian population of 6arsaw. Military operations
$ in the proper meaning of the word $ against the insurgents constituted only a small
part of the 5erman misdeeds? military operations directed against a tiny group of
insurgents, which were =ustified from the military point of view, should not have
brought about the death of tens of thousands of unarmed men, women and children,
or the complete destruction and burning of the city. 'he crimes committed in 6arsaw
during the 7ising were deliberately directed against the inhabitants, who had nothing
to do with the activities of the insurgents? they were committed in districts where
there were no insurgents, and where no action was dictated by military
considerations. 'he following statements by witnesses and victims of 5erman
crimes in 6arsaw constitute irrefragable evidence, which is at the same time an
accusation against the 5erman military authorities.
5"7M(N *7M"S *9MM''"! !U7N5 '@" 6(7S(6 7SN5
P(7'
*rimes committed in the Marie *urie$S&lodows&a 7adium nstitute.
7ecord No 34:: B%etween ten and eleven o;cloc& on the morning of (ugust 4, 0133,
numerous military formations were seen approaching from the direction of the houses
of 6awels&a Street. Soon
p.0II
afterwards about a hundred soldiers in 5erman uniforms, belonging to Clasov;s
detachment +7. 9. (.-, rushed into the building of the 7adium nstitute, shouting and
shooting at random.
'hat gang of drun&en soldiers, having first secured the exits, began searching and
plundering. 'here were at the time about 1H patients and IH members of the staff with
their families in the building. 'hey were robbed by the soldiers of all their =ewels,
watches, and money and even of such trifles as fountain$pens, automatic lighters, or
poc&et mirrors. 'he fact that the institution was a hosopital, which was explained to
the soldiers and was in any case obvious owing to the presence of the patients and the
staff in their white coats, left the soldiers indifferent.
(fter having been robbed, the whole staff were driven by threat of machine$gun$fire
into the hospital garden, where the stage was set for an execution.
(mid insulting and threatening shouts and shots fired in all directions, the victims
were lined up in rows of three and forbidden to loo& round? and then an order was
given to set up machine guns in their rear.
'he husband of one of the patients, who slightly transgressed against the above$
mentioned order, was &illed on the spot by a revolver shot.
'he whole party were then led in this order from the hospital garden across the
Mo&otow field and along streets in which lay dead bodies with s&ulls split open, to a
camp at BAielenia&B. 'here they were &ept for four days and nights in the open air,
without food or water. 'ime and again women were assaulted, dragged out and
violated by the drun&en soldiers. Some of the Staff of the nstitute were then
transported via Prus)&ow to 5ermany. 9thers succeeded in escaping from the
transport and stayed in the vicinity of 6arsaw.
6e must here mention the fact that when the @ospital Staff
p.0I1
were ta&en straight from their wor&, dressed very lightly, mostly in their white coats,
they were not allowed to ta&e anything with them, and if anybody happened to be
carrying a parcel oar a small suitcase, it was immediately ta&en from him.
(bout 1H patients confined to bed remained in the hospital, and 1 members of the
staff had hidden in the chimney flues, and thus avoided expulsion.
'hat same day the plundering and demolishing of the buildings was begun. !oors
were bro&en down, stores, cupboards, safes and suitcases were bro&en open, and
glass was smashed. (ll the mattresses, pillows, blan&ets, and linen were ripped up
and thrown about in the corridors and wards of the hospital. 'he ether and spirits
were drun& and the store$rooms emptied.
More valuable things +clothing, linen, dresses, or silver- were stolen or thrown out of
the windows and destroyed. <emale patients were assaulted and violated.
9n the next day, (ugust J, 0133, the barbarity of the drun&en soldiers reached its
climax. Some of the seriously sic& and wounded, lying on the ground floor +about 04
in number-, were &illed with revolver shots, after which their mattresses were set on
fire under their dead bodies. (s not all the shots hit their mar&, and those that did
were not always fatal, some women who were too wea& and ill to move were burnt
alive. 9nly one of them, although badly burned and very wea&, dragged herself
out of bed and crawling on all fours escaped immediate death.
6hile these atrocities were going on, petrol was poured on the floors and the nstitute
was set on fire, all the exits having first been covered by machine$guns. n spite of
this three women +an #$ray assistant, a nurse and a patient- managed to slip out of the
building. 'wo of them Dwere caught, and after having been violated many times by
the soldiers were brutally murdered. 'heir common grave has been found in the
p.01H
hospital garden, where they were buried by those who were forced to dig trenches.
'he remaining patients, on the upper floors, over GH in number, and seven members
of the staff who had managed to hide themselves, remained in the burning building,
ma&ing desperate efforts to find some place where they could hold out against the
suffocating smo&e and burning heat of the fire. 'hat day the unfortunate victims
saved their lives for the moment, than&s to the fact that the nstitute was burning
comparatively slowly, owing to the absence of any great >uantity of inflammable
material and to the existence of fire$proof par>uet floors. %ut later all the patients and
one nurse were &illed.
No less terrible were the scenes which too& place in the science building of the
nstitute. t is true that the inmates were ta&en to the BAielenia&B camp, but the
building was set on fire and the people from the ad=acent building +belonging to the
Navy- were brought there. 'he women and children were separated from the men,
who were driven into the burning building under the threat of machine$gun fire.
n this way eleven men perished in the presence of their families.
(fter committing these revolting atrocities, the soldiers left the nstitute for a while.
'he GH patients and the G members of the staff still remained in the building. 'he
nurses stealthily coo&ed hot food for the patients at night and loo&ed after them.
%etween (ugust J and 1 Classov;s men returned from time to time to the hospital,
and too& away girls of 02 or 03, whom they violated and then &illed in the garden.
'hey repeatedly carried out executions in the grounds of the nstitute, after driving
their victims to the spot from the city, and sometimes they set fire to the building
again.
Meanwhile the 5erman soldiers also came with cans and carried away all the
valuable ob=ects from the hospital, such as #$ray apparatus, laboratory outfits, or
furniture.
p.010
6hen Dbegged by members of the staff still remaining in the building to transfer them
to a safer place, they answered that they could not do so.
9n (ugust 01, Clasov;s men came bac& again and the final destruction of the
@ospital began. 'he few members of the staff were ordered to leave the nstitute and
to ta&e out all the patients. (mong the latter were three women very seriously ill, who
could not even wal&. 9ne of them was carried out into the garden by a woman
member of the staff, who however, did not succeed in saving the other two, for a
soldier rushed up and shot them, and then poured petrol over their bodies, which he
set on fire. 9ne of them was the woman mentioned above, who on (ugust I had
crawled from her burning bed and so saved her life $ but only for a fortnight.
6hen everybody had left, the building was set on fire: F members of the staff had not
obeyed the order and were still hiding in a chimney.
6hen the soldiers noticed in the procession a very sic& woman, staggering and
helped along by the others +it was the one who had Dbeen carried out by a member of
the +staff-, they ordered her to be laid down near the wall of 01, 6awels&a Street,
where one of them shot her, and then set fire to the body.
n the BAielenia&B camp only 3 members of the Staff survived. 'he remainder, about
GH patients and one nurse, were drawn up three deep, and marched into the @ealth
*entre %uilding, where an officer was waiting for them and shot them through the
head. 'heir dead bodies, $ indeed probably some were still alive $ were piled up in the
execution room, sprin&led with petrol, and set on fire. n this way, all the patients at
the 7adium nstitute were massacred.
9f the 1 members of the staff who remained in the building after (ugust 4, 0133, two
nurses were murdered +one of them after having been violated many times-, one
woman employee
p.01F
escaped from the burning building and was saved, four were ta&en to the BAielenia&B,
and two stayed hidden in the chimney flues for a couple of months. 'hey left as late
as 9ctober 0133. n this report of indescribable 5erman atrocities, the following two
points should be stressed:
0- that the inmates of the 7adium nstitute had not by their behaviour given any cause
whatever for reprisals?
F- that the terrible crimes perpetrated by Classov;s men were carried out by order of
the 5erman authorities to whom they were subordinated, and who &new of their
barbarity.
'hat the action was planned and premeditated by the 5erman commanding is proved
also by the following circumstances:
0- that Classov;s men were purposely given drin& before marching on the
city,
F- that one of the murderers stated on (ugust 4 in the nstitute: B'he building won;t
be burnt today, for we haven;t any orders yetB, and
2- that the 5erman *hief of @ospital and (mbulance Services in the 6arsaw sector,
*aptain %orman, declared to a doctor, who begged him to intervene in the matter of
the 7adium nstitute: Bt is of no importance if several old women with cancer perish
$ the most important thing is to win the warB.
*rimes in 9ther @ospitals.
7ecord No. IH: ]n the summer of 0133, was sent as a patient to 6ola @ospital,
where was still, suffering from sudative pleurisy, when the 7ising began. 'he
5ermans came to the @ospital on (ugust 2 at 0 p. m. was in the cellar with mlany
other sic& and wounded. 9n entering the cellar, the 5ermans fired a round from a
machine$gun and several wounded men who were standing near the entmrance fell
dead. ( few minutes
p. 012
later the order was given to leave the hospital. (ll the wounded and sic& who were
able to wal& went with the hospital staff, while the more severely wounded were
carried on stretchers. 9ur march was a nightmare. felt very wea&, still having
drainage tubes in one side. 6e were driven to a shed a few metres behind a tunnel in
5orc)ews&a Street. Many people were already there. (fter examining our documents,
they divided us into groups, and then began to drive us out. Soon the group to which
belonged was ta&en out for execution. 6e were led towards a large house +already on
fire- near the tunnel: were ordered to form rows of twelve people, and were then
driven into the yard of this house.
(t the entrance U&rainians +six in number- shot from close range at every person who
entered, and thus the dead fell into the flames of the burning house. saw clearly,
when waiting my turn in the first group of twelve people, doctors, assistants in white
aprons and also +if am not mista&en- some priests being shot. (mong the doctors
was Prof. 5r)ybows&i? then the wounded and sic& in the other rows were driven to
death, and when the turn of those on stretchers came, they were shot first and the
stretcher$bearers after them. t was only by a miracle that escaped death. 6hen
was driven to the entrance in a group of twelve, turned to one of the officers and
told him, falsely, that myself and my two companions were Col&sdeutsche + spea&
5erman well-. So the 5erman ordered us to fall bac& and follow him? he led us to a
5erman first$aid station, situated in the neighbourhood. (bout 4HH persons were shot
in my presence, among them many from the 6ola @ospital? others also, driven here
from other streets in the 6ola suburb, were with us. 'he volleys lasted till late into
the night. (t nightfall hand$grenades were thrown on the heaps of corpses and in the
morning a tan& arrived, and demolished the burnt house, thus covering the corpses of
the murdered +already partly burnt- as well as the place of execution^.
p.013
B'he frightful smell of burning corpses was unbearable. saw it all >uite well, as
stayed in the 5erman first$aid station +situated >uite near-, till the following
morning.B
7ecord No. 13: B9n (ugust 4, 0133, at F p. m., the 5ermans bro&e into 6ola
@ospital in Ploc&a Street. 7obbing began? the staff and the wounded were searched,
and their money, watches and valuables were ta&en from them. (t about 2 p. m. the
5ermans bro&e into the @ospital !irector;s office and shots were heard from there.
'hey shot the !irector, !r. Marian Piasec&i, Prof. Aeyland and the 7ev. <ather
,a)imier) *ieciers&i, *haplain of the @ospital +who had been specially summoned to
the office-.
'hen the order was given for the @ospital to be evacuated. 'he staff and all the
patients who could wal& were ordered to leave the premises. 'he procession was
dreadful: the doctors leading, then the assistants, then the patients, staggering along,
supported by those whom were stronger. Some had their arms in splints, others were
on crutches? all in their underlinen, often incomplete, moving on with almost super$
human effort. 6e were driven behind the railway subway to a shed or rather a factory
hall, called Moc)ydlo, where were already several hundred people? and there with
shouts and threats they divided us into groups. (fter some time four people were
called out, then twenty$five. (t the entrance, they were ordered to give up their
watches. (fter a moment we heard shots. (s there was no fighting near by we &new
that an execution was ta&ing place near us? the well$&nown sound of machine $ gun
fire was heard, and later single shots. 'here was no doubt that those who had been led
out had been shot. %eing a priest, told those present the fate that probably awaited
us and gave them absolution. (fter a moment the 5ermans called out 4H men. 'he
atmosphere of death had already spread in the hall? the men went reluctantly.
p.014
'hen GH men were called out and again shots were heard? then the last group? among
them the doctors, assistants and male nursing staff. 'o this group we also belonged,
that is to say myself and another priest, (ntoni %rans)weig +alumn-. succeeded at
the last moment in slipping away from the group which was coming out and hid
among some nuns. 'he party of doctors were led out to death before my eyes. did
not see the execution itself, only heard the volleys. was told afterwards that the
executions too& place inside and in the courtyards of burning houses, at several
places in 5olrc)ews&a Street. n the last group saw Prof. 5r)yblows&i, !r.
!ro)dows&i, !r. So&olows&i, and !r. Memtpic&i led out for execution.
]Next day, disguised as a nun, was ta&en with the remainder of the women in the
direction of the 6ola fortifications. !uring that march escaped^.
]More than FHH people from 6ola @ospital were then shot^.
]'he crimlinale belonged to SS and U&rainian detachments^.
7ecord No. F04: ]9n the night of (ugust 4:J, 0133, the St. Ma)arus @ospital was
ta&en. 9wing to very intense artillery fire and air raids, the staff and the wounded
retired to the shelter. 'he 5ermans threw grenades and mines and poured petrol into
it and set it on fire. (bout JHH people were burnt. 'he whole hospital building was
also burnt down after they had first removed all the 5ermans, who had been given the
same care by the Poles as the Polish insurgents themselves^.
B6hen one of the nuns tried to intervene on behalf of the wounded, a 5erman threw a
hand$grenade at herB.
7ecord No. 0I1: BSt. Ma)arusP @ospital. 9n (ug. J, 0133, the stronger patients and
the staff +FHH persons altogether- were driven out of
p.01J
the hospital. (ll were shot: among them FI from the chief staff. Mrs. !r. %arc) was
shot together with her husband +also a doctor-. She was only wounded, and fell to the
ground, where she was found next day, together with some male nurses, and brought
to St. Stanislaus; @ospital. !r. %arc) was never found: probably he died. 9ne of the
nurses who was saved, Mrs. Macie=ews&a, states that the severely wounded and the
old men were ta&en under her supervision to; the shelter, but were murdered there
with hand$grenades when the hospital was captured. Not one of them was savedB.
@ow the civilian population was murdered.
7ecord No. 14: B9n (ugust 4, 0133, was sitting in the cellar of No. 3, Stas)ica Str.
with other inhabitants of the house, when suddenly the 5ermans bro&e in and drove
us out, at the same time grabbing the things we had with us. 'he women were
separated from the men and driven in the direction of !)ialdows&a Str.
B was led out with a group of men to the yard of No. 04, Stas)ica Street. Several
hundred men had been driven into this yard. 'he 5ermans began to fire machine guns
at the crowd. had withdrawn to the rear, so that before the first rows had fallen,
succeeded in lying down and concealing myself.
'he shots did not reach me. (fter some time crawled out from under a heap of
corpses. 6hen, after some time, a 5erman officer arrived, he did not give the order to
finish those who were still alive, but allowed us to =oin the people who were being
driven along the street. thus got to 5orc)ews&a Street and from there to Moc)ydlo.
6hen was passing No FJ, Stas)ica Street, heard shots coming from the yard? an
execution was ta&ing placeB.
p.01G
7ecord No. 42: B lived in the suburb of 6ola, at No. 34, 5orc)ews&a Street. 9n
(ugust F, 0133, SS$men ordered us to leave and go to the house opposite? our house
and the neighbouring ones were then burnt down. 6e got news on the 2rd that our
position was hopeless, and that we were going to be shot. Several hundreds of people
were gathered in the house. (t 00 a. m. on (ugust 3 the 5ermans surrounded the
house, and ordered us to get out? dreadful cries from the women and children were
heard. Some shots were fired at the entrance, and many people were &illed or
wounded. 6e were driven out into the potato field and ordered to lie down in the
furrows. 'hey guarded us closely, so that there was no chance of escape. (fter some
minutes we were ordered to get up. 'hen they led us under a bridge >uite near. 'here
was no doubt about our fate. ( woman as&ed where they were ta&ing us. 'he answer
was: B5erman women and children are dying owing to you, so you must also dieB.
'hey regrouped us, separating a group of GH people, who were sent over the bridge
towards a hill. 'hey placed the others +among whom was- near a wall, amid barbed
wire. n different places near us shots were heard: victims of the 5erman persecutors
were being executed. 6e were herded together. stood on the outs&irts of our group,
while at a distance of about 4 metres +0J or 0G ft.- from us one of our tormentors
>uietly made ready to fire a machine$gun, and another too& photographs of us, as
they wanted to &eep a record of the execution. Several were watching us. ( volley of
shots rang out, followed by cries and groans. fell wounded and lost consciousness.
(fter a certain time recovered my senses. heard them finishing off the wounded
did not move, pretending to be dead. 'hey left one 5erman to &eep watch. 'he
murderers set the neighbouring houses, large and small, on fire. 'he heat scorched
me, the smo&e cho&ed me, and my dress began to burn, tried cautiously to put out
the flames
p.01I
was hidden by a potato bas&et, and when the 5erman sentinel was loo&ing in
another direction pushed the bas&et in front of me and crawled along for a few yards
behind it. Suddenly the wind blew a cloud of smo&e in our direction so that the
sentinel could not see me. =umped to my feet and ran into the cellar of a burning
house. 'here found several people slightly wounded who had succeeded in getting
out from under a heap of corpses. 6e set to wor& to dig an under$ground passage, a
difficult tas& amid fire and smo&e. (t last, after several hours of superhuman effort,
the passage was finished and brought us out in the courtyard of a neighbouring house,
not yet on fire.
'his was about half past twelve at night. Someone led us out to the fields, away from
the fighting and burning. could hardly &eep on my feet. am still in hospital. 'he
number of persons shot in my presence may be estimated at about 4HH, only 2 or 3
having been saved. 'he murderers were SSmenB.
W'he Polish text shows that the author is a woman, this cannot be shown in the
"nglish translation save by the one word BdressB. Note by the translatorX
7ecord No. G2: B9n (ugust 4, 0133, between 0F and F p. m., saw from a window on
the first floor of 6ola @ospital 5ermans dragging women out of the cellars of No.
FI, Ploc&a Str. 'hey shot them in the courtyard with machine$guns. (lmost at the
same time, saw in the courtyard of No. 2H, Ploc&a Str. the hands of more then FH
people raised and visible over the fence +the people themselves could not be seen-.
(fter a volley of shots these hands fell down: this was another of the executions in
6olaB.
7ecord No. 4G: B lived in the 6ola district at No. I, "le&cy=na Street. (t 0H a. m. on
(ug. 4, 0133 a detachment of SS$men and Classov;s
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men entered. 'hey drove us from the cellars and brought us near the Sowins&i Par& at
Ulrychow.
'hey shot at us when we passed. My wife was &illed on the spot: our child was
wounded and cried for his mother. Soon a U&rainian approached and &illed my two$
year$old child li&e a dog? then he approached me together with some 5ermans and
stood on my chest to see whether was alive or not. shammed dead, lest should be
&illed too. 9ne of the murderers too& my watch? heard him reloading his gun.
thought he would finish me off, but he went on further, thin&ing was dead. lay
thus from 0H a. m. until 1 p. m. pretending to be dead, and witnessing further
atrocities. !uring that time saw further groups being driven out and shot near the
place where lay. 'he huge heap of corpses grew still bigger. 'hose who gave any
sign of life were shot. was buried under other corpses and nearly suffocated. 'he
executions lasted until 4 p. m. (t 1 p. m. a group of Poles came to ta&e the corpses
away. gave them a sign that was alive. 'hey helped me to get up and regained
sufficient strength to carry with them the body of my wife and child to the Sowins&i
Par&, where they too& all the dead. (fter this sad duty had been performed they too&
me to St. Maurence;s *hurch at 6ola, where remained till next day. cannot state
the exact number of the victims, but estimate that those among whom lay
amounted to some 2,HHH +three thousand-. met a friend in the church who had gone
through the same experience as , having lost a boy of I, who had been wounded and
died calling for his father. am still in hospital and the image of death is constantly
before my eyesB.
7ecord No. J2: B lived at N;o. 0I, !)ialdows&a Street, 6ola. 'he nsurgents had
built two barricades near our house, at the corner of 6ols&a and 5orc)ews&a Streets,
with the help of the inhabitants, including even children. Machine$guns, ammunition
and
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grenades were +placed in the neighbouring house. 9n (ugust 0 at 2 p. m. heavy
fighting bro&e out in our district. 'he situation had been difficult from the beginning,
all the more because the Volksdeutsche( who were numerous here, shot covertly at the
nsurgents and betrayed their whereabouts to the 5ermans. 'iger tan&s were brought
up, houses were bro&en into, and many people were &illed? our house was hit several
times. 'he tan&s attac&ed from 6ols&a and 5orc)ews&a Streets. 'he 5ermans bro&e
in? they dragged the men out and ordered them to demolish the barricades. 'hey then
began to set the houses on fire. saw Nos. 24 and I in our street being set on fire?
bottles of petrol were thrown into the flats without warning, and so it was impossible
for the inhabitants to escape. stayed in the cellar of No. 0I until (ugust 4, when,
between 00 and 0F noon, the 5ermans ordered all of us to get out, and marched us to
6lols&a Street. 'his march was carried out in dreadful haste and panic. My husband
was absent, ta&ing an active part in the rising, and was alone with my three children,
aged 3, J and 0F, and in the last month of pregnancy.
delayed my departure, hoping they would allow me to remain, and left the cellar at
the very last moment. (ll the inhabitants of our house had already been escorted to
the BUrsusB wor&s in 6ols&a Street at the corner of S&ierniewic&a Str., and too was
ordered to go there. went alone, accompanied only by my three children. t was
difficult to pass, the road being full of wire, cable, remains of barricades, corpses, and
rubble. @ouses were burning on both sides of the street? reached the BUrsusB wor&;s
with great difficulty. Shots, cries, supplications and groans could be heard from the
factory yard. 6e had no doubt that this was a place for mass executions. 'he people
who stood at the entrance were led, no, pushed in, not all at once but in groups of FH.
( boy of twelve, seeing the bodies of his parents and of his little brother through the
half$open entrance door, fell in a fit and began to shrie&. 'he 5ermans and ClassovDs
men beat him and pushed him bac&,
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while he was endeavouring to get inside. @e called for his father and his mother. 6e
all &new what awaited us here? there was no possibility of escape or of buying one;s
life? there was a crowd of 5ermans, U&rainians +ClassovDs men-, and cars. came last
and &ept in the bac&ground, continuing to let the others pass, in the hope that they
would not &ill a pregnant woman, but was driven in with the last lot. n the yard
saw heaps of corpses 2 feet high, in several places. 'he whole right and left side of
the big yard +the first yard- was strewn with bodies.B +( s&etch of the yard was made
by the deponent-. B6e were led through the second. 'here were about FH people in
our group, mostly children of 0H to 0F. 'here were children without parents, and also
a paralysed old woman whose son$in$law had been carrying her all the time on his
bac&. (t her side was her daughter with two children of 3 and G. 'hey were all &illed.
'he old woman was literally &illed on her son$in$law;s bac&, and he along with her.
6e were called out in groups of four and led to the end of the second yard to a pile of
bodies. 6hen the four reached this point, the 5ermans shot them through the bac&s
of their heads with revolvers. 'he victims fell on the heap, and others came. Seeing
what was to be their fate, some attempted to escape? they cried, begged, and prayed
for mercy. was in the last group of four. begged the Classov;s men around me to
save me and the children, and they as&ed if had anything with which to buy my life.
had a large amount of gold with me and gave it them. 'hey too& it all and wanted to
lead me away, but the 5erman supervising the execution would not allow them to do
so, and when begged him to let me go he pushed me off, shouting BEuic&erYB fell
when he pushed me. @e also hit and pushed my elder boy, shouting Bhurry up, you
Polish banditB. 'hus came to the place of execution, in the last group of four, with
my three children. held my two younger children by one hand, and my elder boy by
the other. 'he children were crying and praying.
'he elder boy, seeing the mass of
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bodies, cried out: Bthey are going to &ill, usB and called for his father. 'he first shot
hit him, the second me? the next two &illed the two younger children. fell on my
right side. 'he shot was not fatal. 'he bullet penetrated the bac& of my head from the
right side and went out through my chee&. spat out several teeth? felt the left side
of my body growing numb, but was still conscious and saw everything that was
going on around me. witnessed other executions, lying there among the dead.
More groups of men were led in. heard cries, supplications, moaning, and shots. 'he
bodies of these men fell on me. was covered by four bodies. 'hen again saw a
group of women and children? thus it went on with group after group until late in the
evening. t was already >uite, >uite dar& when the executions stopped. n the intervals
between the shootings the murderers wal&ed on the corpses, &ic&ed them, and turned
them over, finishing off those who still gave any sign of life, and stealing valuables.
+'hey too& a watch from my wrist, but did not give any sign of life-. 'hey did not
touch the bodies with their bare hands, but put rags round them. !uring these
dreadful doings they sang and dran& vod&a. Near me, there lay a big, tall man of
middle age in a brown leather coat. @e was alive, heard his death$rattle? they fired 4
shots at him before they &illed him. !uring this shooting some shots wounded my
feet. lay >uite numb for a long time in a pool of blood, the dead weighing on me.
was, however, conscious all the time and fully reali)ed what was happening to me.
'owards evening succeeded in pushing away the corpses which lay over me. t is
impossible to imagine how much blood there was all round. Next day the executions
ceased. 'he 5ermans bro&e in F or 2 times during the day. Now they had dogs with
them. 'hey wal&ed and =umped on the corpses to see if any of the supposed dead
were still alive. 9n the third day felt the child move in my womb. 'he thought that
dare not &ill this child made me loo& round to examine the situation and the
possibilities of escape. Several times, when tried to
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get up, became sic& and di))y. (t last succeeded in crawling on all fours over the
bodies of the dead towards the wall and loo&ed round for a way of escape. saw that
the passage through the first yard which was there when we were being led to death
was now bloc&ed by a pile of corpses. 5erman voices were heard from the street?
had to loo& for another way. crawled into the third yard and found a hiding$place
there in a hall where got through an open window with the help of a ladder. hid
here, fearing the 5ermans might come to control the place, and spent the whole night
here. 'hat night was dreadful. ( 'iger tan& stood in the street firing continuously, and
planes did not cease bombing. (ll the walls shoo&. feared the factory with all the
dead would ta&e fire any moment. n the morning all was >uiet. climbed up to loo&
through the window to see if there were any living people about and saw a womanB.
+(s stated later it was another victim who had escaped death by some miracle. She
also was an inhabitant of our house.- B'hen a man about JH years old came crawling
through the yard? he had also escaped death, but had lost one eye. 'hey had both
spent these two days in some hiding$place. 6e began to search the whole yard for
some way out.
(fter a long search and many attempts to get free, we at last found a hole on
S&ierniewic&a Street and made our way out through it. 'he man, however, hearing
the voices of U&rainians did not follow us. 'hey were standing alt the corner of
6ols&a Street and did not see us. 6e went through the debris and rubble into the
middle of the street. 'hen they saw us and surrounded us, though we begged them to
allow us to get to a hospital, as we were wounded, which was obvious. 6e were
soa&ed in blood. 6e were driven in the direction of 6ola in a group with other
passers$by, pic&ing up still more on the way. (t a certain spot the younger and older
people in the group were separated.
/oung men and women were put on one side and then marched towards a house of
execution. 'his was past Ploc&a Street in the direction of St. Stanislaus;
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*hurch. 'he remaining group +including myself and my companion- were driven to
St. Stanislaus; *hurch. saw heaps of corpses on the road and parts of bodies, and
Poles carrying the bodies away under escort. 5erman officers standing in front of the
church laughed at us, and &ic&ed and beat us.
'he church was overcrowded. People were being ta&en in and out. was then so
exhausted that they laid me with the other sic& persons before the @igh (ltar. 'here
was no help. only got a drop of water. (fter two days was ta&en on a peasant;s cart
with the other sic& and wounded to Prus)&aw, and from there to ,omorow, and then
still further to Pod&owa Mesna. t was only there $ on (ugust 00 $ that got medical
attention and help. 9n (ugust FH gave birth to a little boy. suppose have lost, not
only my three children, but also my husband, for he told me that he was going to stay
in 6arsaw to the end. have no hope that he is still alive after all the dreadful things
that happened.
B'he 5ermans were setting houses on fire? throwing people out? hunting and beating
them. n the yard of the BUrsusB wor&s people were shot by Classov;s men under the
command of a 5erman? they say he was from the SS. (s far as can =udge, there
must have been 4$G thousand dead in the yard of this factory. (bout FHH people were
driven there from our bloc& alone, which had over 3H flats +with about 3 people in
each-, and all were &illedB.
7ecord No. 4I: B6hen was endeavouring to get outside the town from 6ola,
passed through 5orc)ews&a Street. 'his was on (ugust G,0133. 6hen we passed No.
1, 5orc)ews&a Street +a house which belonged to nuns-, we were called into the
house and ordered to carry out and bury the corpses which were there. 'he courtyard
was a dreadful sight. t was an execution place. @eaps of corpses were lying there?
thin& they must have been
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collecting there for some days, for some were already swollen and others >uite
freshly &illed. 'here were bodies of men, women and children, all shot through the
bac&s of their heads. t is difficult to state exactly how many there were. 'here must
have been several layers carelessly heaped up. 'he men were ordered to carry away
the bodies $ we women to bury them. 6e put them in anti$tan& trenches and then
filled these up. n this way we filled up a number of such trenches in 5orc)ews&a
Street. too& the impression that during the first days of the 7ising everybody was
&illed. Mater on women and children were sometimes left alive, but the &illing of men
still went on. watched all this until (ugust G, when succeeded some$how in getting
away out of this hell, having been saved by a miracleB.
7ecord No. 41: B9n (ugust 4, 0133, at 6arsaw at about 3 or 4 p. m., the houses Nos.
0H4,0HG, 0H1, 6ols&a Street immediately behind the railway bridge, the so$called
@an&iewic)$houses, were suddenly surrounded from all sides by 5ermans, who
threw hand$grenades and set then on fire by means of some white powder, which they
carried in bags. 'here were many inhabitants there and lots of people had come here
from town. No order to leave the houses was given. (fter the 5ermans had
surrounded them no one left them: everyone was burnt alive or else &illed by hand$
grenades. No one could escape. 9nly those were saved who had left the houses at
some earlier hour. t was said that the 5ermans burnt all the houses in which
insurgents had stayed. n the @an&iewic) houses some F,HHH people or perhaps even
more found their deathB.
7ecord No. JH: B9n (ugust G, 0133, about 1 p, m., at No. 04, 5orc)ews&a Street, the
three and four$storeyed 6awelberg bloc&s were
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surrounded by 5ermans +SS$men-. 'hey threw hand$grenades inside, surrounded the
houses with machine$guns, and set them on fire from all sides. (ny persons who tried
to get out were &illed.
People in flames ran to the windows. Nobody could escape from the fire? they were
all burnt alive. t was a miracle if someone escaped. &now of one woman who
=umped from the second storey and thus succeeded in saving her life. 'he front
entrance was full of the bodies of those who had tried to escape from the flames.
saw among them women with babies at the breast. 'he houses were completely
surrounded, and suppose there must have been about F,HHH people living in them.
No one came out alive unless by miracle, as in the case of the woman have
mentioned aboveB.
5"7M(N *7M"S *9MM''"! !U7N5 '@" 6(7S(6 7SN5
P(7'
"vacuation of the inhabitants.
7ecord No. 0: +"ditors; note : "vacuatsion from "le&toralna Street, (ugust G, 0133,
through the 6ola suburb. <ragment concerning 6ola-.
6al&ing through "le&toralna Street was difficult, as it was strewn with debris, and
pieces of burning wood. <rom *hlodna Street onwards we were awe$struc& by the
incredible destruction. 'o the right every house had been burnt? to, the left they were
burning li&e gigantic torches. t sometimes seemed as though it was one great wall of
fire. 9ur personal experiences, driven as we were li&e cattle, haunted by fear, facing
endless danger from the continuous shooting among the ruins, and the huge fires $
too& on terrible unearthly dimensions. 'he 5ermans did not for a moment give a
thought to the marching columns of defenceless people. 'hey did not stop the fight.
Sometimes, when it was too difficult to proceed, we stopped
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and then the 5ermans approached and robbed us of our valuables. lost my watch in
this way. 'he officers and soldiers selected from among us people whose loo&s they
did not li&e, and proceeded to ma&e a thorough search in the most brutal way, very
often &ic&ing and abusing us. (t some places they stood in rows on both sides $
5ermans to right of us, 5ermans to left of us $ abusing us and calling us thieves and
bandits.
]'he procession, marching slowly from St. *harles %orromeo;s *hurch to Aela)na
Street, suffered terrible maltreatment and even torture. dragged myself through
these streets helping to carry bundles and bags. <or a time carried a little girl, %asia,
two years old, in my arms. 'he child had lost both father and mother. 'he attitude of
the women was deeply touching. 5rave and obstinate, only paying attention to their
children and bundles, they marched on li&e soldiers, ta&ing care not to expose the
little ones to danger. !uring the whole time, that is, until we reached Aela)na Street,
where the women were separated from us, heard not a single complaint, no bitter
weeping, no begging for help. 'he women were bent under the weight of their
bundles and travelling bags, and some also carried babies or small children in their
arms, 'here were moments when the heat from the burning houses made our progress
>uite impossible. 'he wind blew up clouds of biting smo&e which hid everything.
Suddenly when we were at a very difficult point and in immediate danger of fire and
shots, an air raid began. Panic and chaos spread among the raging 5ermans, and there
was an awful tumult, everyone being in fear of immediate death^.
]6e left behind us in the streets all the sic&, aged and crippled. repeatedly saw
trembling old women, decrepit old men and sic& people, >uite stony in their
indifference and exhaustion, who, being literally pushed out of our ran&s, remained
sitting on the heaps of stone and rubble. No one heeded them. 'he sight of these
people, amid all the unspea&able horrors,
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remains in my memory as a picture of the uttermost misery^.
] also saw in several places in Aela)na Street corpses of murdered people, lying in
the streets. 'hey could not have been victims of bombing or of stray shots, for they
lay in groups^.
]n Aela)na Street the women and the children were separated from the men. 'he
women too& nearly all the baggage with them. t was a most painful sight, firstly
because of the terrible exhaustion of the women who, notwithstanding, undertoo& to
carry the baggage, and secondly because of their uncertainty about the fate of their
dearest ones, fathers, husbands, brothers, or sons^.
]'he 5ermans pushed us +the men- to the right side of *hlodna Street and led us
through 6os&a Street under the walls of burnt houses, treating us all as if we were
murderers, bandits and incendiaries. 'hey ordered us first of all to &eep our hands up.
"very moment, 5ermans with guns at the ready =umped at us, ,with insults, blows
and shouts, without any reason whatsoever. 'he most dreadful thing was that we
expected to be shot at any moment. Machine guns were aimed at us every few
minutes to ma&e us hurry or when we were ordered to reform the procession. 6hen
we saw before us the barrels of guns, revolvers or machine$guns, we hesitated, turned
our bac&s on the soldiers, and huddled closer to the walls as if death could thus be
avoided. 6e were close to it. 'here were so many moments of immediate danger
during our march that do not even remember passing many parts of 6ols&a Street to
St. Stanislaus *hurch^.
]<rom Aela)na Street onwards the 5ermans began to rob us completely, as a rule
when we had stopped, or were near barricades. 'hey too& everything from us. Not to
spea& of my watch, lost all the small ob=ects had in my poc&ets, including my
scissors, electric torch and even a box of matches. saw the 5ermans ta&ing purses
and money from the group nearest to me, and as for documents and papers, they
ostentatiously threw them away in the street. Persons who spe$
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cially displeased the 5ermans were ordered to hold up their hands very high? they
were forced to throw away even the smallest baggage. 'he 5ermans snatched off sur
hat;s or caps^.
] tried several times to get in touch with the furious 5ermans in order to &now what
fate was awaiting us. also tried a few times to save my things, but do not
remember any other answer but B6aaaVB BMooosB and so on. narticulate, animal
roars^.
]'he attitude of our men was wonderful. ( uniform, massive group, li&e one body,
flowing li&e a stream of lava through the street, in stony silence, stubborn, obstinate,
without any begging, any cries, or any manifestation of fear or anxiety^.
]9ur group of several hundred men was pushed on to a spot situated between St.
Stanislaus; *hurch and an unplastered house. t was, as we afterwards found, a police
station. @ere the last robbery too& place. 6e were forced to drop everything we had
in our hands. %efore my eyes they tore a coat from the shoulders of an old man? and
the two soldiers busy at this tas& casually remar&ed BSo and so, he won;t need this
any moreB. ( heap of suit$cases, bundles, and things of all sorts lay near the place
into which they pushed us^.
]'hey drove us through the entrance door and up to the first floor. t was probably an
unfinished Polish school$building^.
] found myself with about 0HH men in an empty room about 4 metres +0J feet-
s>uare. t was somewhere about 2 p. m. My companions in misfortune proudly
displayed the small ob=ects they had succeeded in &eeping. Somebody drew a watch
from his boot, another had succeeded in hiding his pen&nife. (n old man pulled out a
piece of bread from his breast poc&et. 6e divided this into tiny pieces, and these
again into crumbs and shared them among us. 6hen got a bit, shared it with my
nearest companions and felt strangely touched. t was a sort of collective
*ommunion, and the association and feeling were so strong that we all felt it the
same^.
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]6e suffered very much from lac& of water. Someone found a fire$buc&et in the
passage, but it was empty? the water had probably been already drun&^.
]6e were forbidden to leave the room. "very few minutes new groups were brought
in. 6e saw that in the ad=oining rooms, in the passage and on the staircase, still more
people were pac&ed^.
]6e were still very strongly under the impression of the experiences we had
undergone and full of fear as to our fate. 6hen they drove us to this empty room we
were sure that our end had come? that they would barricade the house and throw
hand$grenades into it, or shoot us all and then set fire to the building^.
]9ur depression increased as every few minutes a drun&en gendarme came to us and
made such speeches as: B/ou are all *ommunists? you will be all shot to$morrowB.
(fter having threatened and insulted us, cursed us, and called us names, such as
BrevolutionariesB or BinsurgentsB, he would leave the room. 'his man terrified us
absolutely. @e would then stagger down the stairs, but we had had hardly time to
breathe when up he climbed again and began the same sort of tal&^.
]9ne of the gendarmes at last allowed us to bring in some water. "vening came.
@ouses were burning in our neighbourhood. 'he heat of the fire and the smo&e
reached our room, ma&ing it hardly possible to breathe. 'he sound of explosions and
shots coming from the town and the monstrous red glow of the flames completed the
horror of our situation. 6e spent the night lying down one on top of another. Some
slept^.
]n the morning of (ugust I they drove us out of the house again li&e cattle, with our
hands up. 6e learned after some time that they were ta&ing us to the 6estern Station
and were going to send us from there to the 7eich to wor&^.
p.F00
Miving barricades of Poles.
7ecord No. 00G: ]9n (ugust G, at 1 p. m., they hunted us out of the Ministry of
*ommerce and ndustry building, No. F, "le&toralna Street. 'here were several
hundreds of us, driven here from various burning houses. 'hey drove us through the
cellars of the Ministry. n the passage, a 5erman dragged me aside and
tried to violate me, but after a moment he chose a new victim from another group.
6anting to get rid of me, he too& out his revolver and aimed it at my forehead. (t this
moment someone else passed, and he ran after that person, shooting. too& advantage
of this and ran up to the Ministry of <inance, and then through the burning streets to
No. 4, Solna Street, where they &ept us the whole night until 00 the next morning.
'hey then robbed us of all our watches and valuables, and drove us on through
Mirows&i S>uare and "le&toralna Street towards the suburb of 6ola. n the S>uare
saw huge bomb$craters, and also burning corpses. 'he streets all round were on fire.
(t the intersection of *hloldna and 6ols&a Streets, and 'owarowa Street, and
,ercelli Place we stopped. <rom ,ercelli Place the nsurgents were firing towards
'owarowa Street. 'he 5ermans who were going into the fighting stopped us and
made of us a living barricade, under threats of being shot, they ordering us to
lie down across the street from one side to the other. 6ith our bac&s turned to the
nsurgents, we &nelt or crouched and the 5ermans placed themselves on the ground
behind us, or &nelt on one &nee, firing over our heads towards ,ercelli Place. 'here
were F2 of us including +two children-, mostly young women. t is difficult to
describe what we felt during the two hours the fighting lasted. 6e were all prepared
to die and said the 7osary aloud. %ullets whistled over our heads, or past our
ears. 'he noise of the 5erman guns nearly deafened us. (s
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if by some miracle, the bullets only hit the 5ermans. 6hen the first 5erman fell we
were paralysed with fear. My mother told me: Bf am shot remember not to shed one
tear? do not complain, preserve the dignity of a Polish woman Show no wea&ness in
their presenceB. 9nly the children wept bitterly and were greatly afraid^.
]'he 5ermans were bewildered by the fact that only they were falling. 'hey ordered
the men to drag the bodies aside. 6e thought they would ta&e their revenge on us.
Stupefied and astonished they loo&ed towards the nsurgent posts, and then at our
>uiet, resigned attitude? and the children clinging to their mothers^.
B(t last, they let us goB.
7ecord No. F3G: ]9n (ugust G, 0133, by order of the SS people from the entire town
district were compelled to leave their houses, which were at once set on fire. 6e went
in crowds of several thousands, driven and pushed by SS$men. 6hen anyone fell,
struc& by a rifle$butt, those who wanted to help were struc& li&ewise. 6e went
through %ednars&a Street Dand ,ra&ows&ie Pr)edmiescie, towards 'rebac&a Street.
9n Marshal S>uare the men were separated from the women? people wept and
despaired. n the Saxon 5arden shots were heard from the Mar&et Place. 'he
insurgents were firing. 'he SS$men began to ma&e living barricades of us. 'hey
ordered us to lie down, beat and pushed us. Soon a rampart of living bodies was
formed. People wept and cursed, but the SS$men began to fire from behind it^.
]'he firing stopped. 6e went forward again under an escort of SS$men. 'he
U&rainians robbed us of our watches and valuables, and tore our paper money into
pieces. 9n the Aela)na %rama Place we saw near the Mar&et @all a pile of
suit$cases and trun&s. 6hoever had a good suit$case had to
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give it up, and it was added to the heap. 6e saw motor$truc&s coming to ta&e away
our belongings^.
]6e continued our march. ( car stopped and some SS$officers got out. 'hey loo&ed
attentively at the passers$by, too& from our ran&s three pretty young girls, the two
sisters 7. and an un&nown girl, and drove off. 'he girls cried and tried to escape from
their caresses. (n old woman fell. (n SSofficer shot her through the bac& of the head.
(gain curses were heard? the spirit of revolt and thirst for revenge surged in the
hearts of thousands of people^.
]n the church at 6ola they stole our remaining belongings. (ll young girls were
detained, even those of not more than 0F or 02. 6e older women were ta&en on with
the children in the direction of the 6estern Station and then by train to Prus)&ow,
where they shut us up in a huge, dar&, damp factory hall an&le$deep in mud. Moaning
was heard in the dar&ness? a woman gave birth to a child without any help, and
without a drop of water. ( woman$doctor was among us, but what could she do
without instruments, water, or light. She had only matches. 'he child was born dead^.
](t the other end of the hall an old woman lay dying. Several people recited prayers
for the dying, while others sat listlessly, absolutely bro&en, and others again thought
of how to escape^.
](t daybrea& they let us out of the hall. 6e went on. 'here were several thousands of
us, men, women and children. 'he SS$men fired over our heads. 'hey too& us to the
station. 6e started hungry and thirsty, on our =ourney to an un&nown destination. (t
wayside stations Polish people gave us coffee, bread and tomatoes^.
7ecord No. G0: ]6hen was wounded and in hospital, about the middle of (ugust +
do not remember the exact date-, a group of FH or 2H men and women were driven in.
'hey were dreadfully burnt^.
p.F03
]'hey had been evacuated from the shelters under some houses in 6ols&a Street.
6hen they had been in the streets, Classov;s men threw inflammable li>uid over
them and drove them among the burning houses. 'heir clothes at once caught fire,
especially the women;s light dresses, and several of them could go no further. 'he
others struggled on terribly burnt. (s they could not wal& any further, they were ta&en
to, the hospital. 'heir sufferings were awful? the eyes of some were burnt out, faces
were burnt, others had open wounds on the whole body. 9nly one$third of these
victims survived? the others died after inhuman suffering^.
%urning *orpses.
7ecord No. 4HJ: ] was ta&en from !lugos) Street +as a civilian- at J a. m. on (ugust
J, 0133, and led to So&olows&a Street to the so$called Arbeitskommando head$
>uarters. Next day volunteered for wor& with 4H other thin&ing that in this way
should be better off. 6e were sent to a house opposite St. (dalbert;s *hurch in
6ols&a Street, where about six hundred bodies of men, women and children were
lying in heaps. Near by were a few do)en more, which we added to the heap. 'hen
we went to No. JH, 6ols&a Street, where, on both sides of the courtyard lay the
bodies of more than 0HH men, as far was we could =udge, victims of a mass execution.
n the garden of this same house we found in a thic&et the bodies of more than a
do)en women, children, and babies, shot through the bac& of the bead. 6e carried out
from the house at the corner ,of Ploc&a and 6ols&a Street +a large yellow house-
several do)ens of bodies of men, women and children, partly burnt, who had been
shot through the bac& of the head. <rom a house in
p.F04
Ploc&a Street, between 6ols&a and 5orc)ews&a Streets, we carried out about 0HH
bodies. n one of the houses we found the half$burnt body of a man holding two
children in the arms. 6hen we returned to No. JH, 6ols&a Street, we made a wooden
platform on which we laid the dead? and then we cleared the ground of all traces of
the 5erman crimes, such as documents, clothes, or linen, which we placed on the pile
of dead, sprin&led with petrol, and set alight. 6hile we were thus burning the bodies,
a drun&en S! officer arrived in a car. @e pic&ed out three men of about FH or 2H from
a group of refugees passing by. @e shot them through the bac& of the head in the
course of a BfriendlyB conversation. (fter having murdered the first man he ordered
us to throw him on the burning pyre before the eyes of the remaining two^.
]9n (ug. I, 0133, they led us to the yard of the BUrsusB wor&s in 6ols&a Street. 'he
whole courtyard, about 4H metres +44 yards- s>uare was strewn with dead bodies so
thic&ly that it was impossible to pass without treading on them. @alf of them were of
women with children, often with infants. (ll the bodies bore traces of robbery. 'heir
position showed that they had each been murdered separately and in an especially
bestial way. 'he number of bodies burnt there amounted, as far as could estimate, to
more than six hundred. 'heir clothes and suit$cases showed them to be refugees.
6hen we were transporting bodies from neighbouring houses found a great number
of corpses in a flooded cellar in a house at the corner of S&ierniewic&a Street. 6e
could not get out more than a few do)en of them, as the water was too high. suppose
they had been thrown in here after having been murdered in the courtyard, where we
still found more than a do)en bodies. 'hen they too& us to the B<ranas)e&B wor&s in
6ols&a Street, where we burnt in the same way as before about the same number of
bodies as in the BUrsusB wor&s, mostly of women and children. 9n one of the
following days they too& us to wor& in Sowins&i Par&, where again the bodies were
p.F0J
mostly those of women and children? found even pregnant women. 'he position of
these bodies lying in a row seemed to be proof of a mass execution. 6e then burnt
more than a thousand on two pyres. 'hey made us search the bodies and give fall
valuables to the S!$men. (s to paper money, we were ordered to burn it, together
with all other evidence of the crime. 6e wor&ed there one whole day. Next day they
too& us to No. F3, 6ols&a Street +the ]6enec=a^ playground-, where we brought
bodies from the sector ,of 6ols&a Street between Mlynars&a and ,arol&owa and
burnt over two hundred. 9n the same day we burnt about FHH corpses at No. 3,
6ols&a Street. n a house at the corner of 6ronia and *hlodna streets we burnt about
fifty bodies which were there lying half$burnt. then saw a non$commissioned S!$
officer murder an old woman off about IH who was passing along *hlodna Street,
and whose body we added to the burning pyre. n the Machle=d factory building we
threw bodies brought from neighbouring houses into the burning cellars. (ll next
day we wor&ed on the burning of bodies in the grounds of St. Ma)arus;s @ospital in
6ols&a Street.
6e found the bodies of the murdered patients and of the staff in the hospital wards in
beds, on the staircases, in the passages and in the cellars. <rom what saw there,
suppose that all the patients and the whole of the staff were murdered. n most cases
their bodies had been burnt in the cellars.
(fter having partly burnt the bodies in St. Ma)arus;s @ospital, we also burnt many in
houses the addresses of which do not remember. (fter returning to the hospital
grounds, we found there the bodies of forty newly murdered men. 9n one of the next
days we burnt about one hundred corpses in the sector of Mlynars&a Street between
6ols&a and 5orc)ews&a Street? about one hundred also in the courtyard of the
Michler wor&s and about the same number in Ptasia Street. 'owards evening we
removed all traces of crime from the grounds of St. Ma)arus;s @ospital. 'hen fell ill
and ceased wor&ing on the burning of bodies^.
p.F0G
]<rom the reports of my companions in other wor&ing parties conclude that this
wor& of wiping out all traces of mass murder lasted until the middle of September,
0133. 'he wor& was organised as follows. ( gang for the burning of bodies contained
one hundred men, divided into two lots of fifty, strictly segregated from the
remainder of the Arbeitskommando, 'he wor& was done under the supervision of
fifteen S!$men under the command of an S!$officer. Part of the men prepared and
arranged the pyre, and the others brought the bodies from the neighbouring houses.
was informed at this time that an order to stop the executions had been given on the
morning of (ug. J, 0133. !uring this period + cannot give the exact date- saw the
bodies of about FH priests. (t various times saw individual old men and priests
being murdered. <or instance, in Aela)na Street an S!$man shot down two sic& old
women^.
](fter the pyres on the B6enec=aB play$ground had burnt out, the ashes were thrown
into the air$raid$protection trenches there. 9ur party of 4H men wor&ed from (ug. J
to 04 at the intersection of *hlodna and 6ols&a Streets. 'he second party wor&ed in
the sector of 5orc)ews&a Street with cross$roads where there is an intersection, but
have no precise information about their wor&^.
] cannot guarantee the accuracy of the dates have given above, and the number of
burnt bodies is only approximate, but it must certainly have been not less but rather
more than have said^.
*rimes at Marymont.
7ecord No. 0I1: ](t the time of the 7ising was in my own house, No. F1, Maria
,a)imiera Street, Marymont. 9n Sep. 03, 0133, the bombing of Marymont greatly
increased, and at about
p.F0I
F o;cloc& the ad=oining houses began to burn. 'he nsurgents retreated from our part
of the city, and only the civilian population was left.
, with my husband and my parents$in$law and other inhabitants of our house, about
2H of us altogether, were in the shelter in the garden. <rom there saw 5erman
soldiers and soldiers from the army of 5eneral Classov &noc&ing at a house at the
bac& of ours $ No. F:3 !embins&i Street. 6hen the door opened, the inhabitants
began to file out slowly +men, women and children-? a 5erman soldier, standing a
few steps from the front door, shot them through the bac& of the head. n this way
about a hundred people were &illed. 'he rest were driven into the field. Shortly after
we heard shots coming from the direction in which they had been ta&en. +(mong
them was one priest-. <rom the owner of this house learnt afterwards that in this
group the men had been separated from the women and all shot. Mater saw
Classov;s men rush into a school building at No. F0, Maria ,a)imiera Street, and
order all those who were there +many people- to go out into the yard.
Meanwhile our house began to burn? we came out of our shelter and went into the
ad=oining school, from the windows of which we saw further incidents. 'he 5ermans
ordered people who were in the school yard to go out into Maria ,a)imiera Street,
where they were =oined by others from No. F0.
Some refused to go and began to turn bac&? then the soldiers fired at them from all
sides, &illing them all. (mong those who had been previously driven from the school
was a woman with a child in a perambulator. She was &illed with the others in Maria
,a)imiera Street. ( few moments afterwards saw a soldier come over to the
perambulator and shoot the child.
6e stayed in this school till the next day. 9n Sep. 04, 0133, a tan& drove up to it and
opened fire, destroying the upper floors. 6e, with the exception of my husband, who
went do not &now where, then returned to the shelter at No, F0. <or
p.F01
three consecutive nights tried to find my husband. 6hile loo&ing for him saw the
corpses of the people who had been &illed in front of No. F:3, !embins&i Street.
(bout a hundred lay in disorder: men, women and children. (mong them
recognised my brother$in$law, his son, and many ac>uaintances, former occupants of
Number F:3, !embins&i Street^.
7ecord No. 0G:00: ]9n (ug. 0, 0133, went to Aolibor) to buy some food, but owing
to the outbrea& of the 7ising could not return to Praga where lived. <or several
wee&s stayed with casual ac>uaintances. 9n (ug. F, went to Marymont, where
stayed at No. F1, Maria ,a)imiera Street, which at that moment was in the hands of
the nsurgents. 9n September 03 the 5ermans began to put down the 7ising in that
section in the following way: (bout FH tan&s came from the direction of %ielany and
opened fire on various houses. 'he nsurgents retreated from the territory of Aolibor)
without fighting.
'hus the tan&s came without difficulty to No. F1, Maria ,a)imiera Street. Several
SS$men rushed into the courtyard throwing hand grenades into the cellars and in this
way forced the frightened civilians to come out.
'hen we all were told to leave. was in the uniform of a railway wor&er. 9ne of the
5ermans pulled off my cap and beat me for no reason. 6e were ordered to cross the
street to a house which had previously been burnt. 'here were 2F of us in all,
including men, women, small children and even an infant J months old. @ere we
were ta&en into a burnt$out flat, and ordered to &neel down with our hands up facing
our persecutors. ( machine gun was placed before us.
'he execution began at F p. m. Several series of shots were fired into our group. got
a superficial wound in my s&ull. fell? the corpses of two young men immediately
fell on me. 6hile lying still got shots in my left arm, hand, fingers and
p.FFH
feet. 6hen the execution was over SS$men came bac& three times, &illing the
wounded and throwing two grenades each time. 9wing to this got +pieces of
shrapnel in my fingers.
So lay for four hours, till J p. m. 'hen a 6@ soldier came in, probably to loot the
place of execution, and seeing that moved, helped me to free myself from the
corpses, comforting me and telling me not to be frightened any more. @e also pulled
out two women who had been saved by a miracle, though their hands were shattered,
and two children who had been saved because their parents had protected them with
their own bodies. 'he soldier who had helped us put us under the care of a wounded
soldier, also from the 6@, who conducted us to an evacuation point at Aolibor) +in
*6<-. @ere parted from my companions in misfortune^.
"xecutions in the Mar&et @alls.
7ecord No. F2:: ]!uring the 7ising, on leaving the house where lived, No 2H
9grodowa Street, found myself in a shelter of the Ministry of ndustry and
*ommerce, No F "le&toralna Street. 'his was on (ugust G, 0133. n the shelter there
were several hundred people, mostly women and children. n the afternoon of this
day, after the nsurgents had retreated from "le&toralna Street, a 5erman outpost was
set in front of the gateway of the Ministry. (bout 1 o;cloc& in the evening F
gendarmes entered the shelter and ordered all the men to go out. 'he soldier who
stood on guard assured us that we were only going to wor&. 6e were led out three by
three +we were about 04H men- to Mirows&i S>uare, among the buildings of the two
Mar&et @alls. @ere we were ordered to remove the corpses, scores of which were
lying on the ground, and after that, rubble from the gutters and the
p.FF0
roadway. 'here were about a hundred Poles on the s>uare when we came, all busy
cleaning it up, and some hundreds of 5erman gendarmes, who behaved very brutally:
beating the Poles, &ic&ing them, and calling them Polnische %anditen. (t a certain
moment they stopped our wor& and ordered those who were not Poles to step
forward. 9ne man who had 6hite$7ussian documents did so, and was immediately
released. (fter an hour and a half;s wor&, the gendarmes ordered us to form threes.
found myself in the second ran&. 6e were all made to stand with our hands up. (n
old man in the front ran&, who could not hold his hands up any longer, was cruelly
struc& in the face by a gendarme. (fter 0H minutes five rows of three were marched
off under the escort of five gendarmes armed with tommy guns to the Mar&et @all in
*hlodna Street. %y chance heard the names of two of the gendarmes who shouted to
each other, Mipins&i and 6alter. 6hen we entered the building after passing two gates
saw, almost in the centre of the @all, a deep hole in which a fire was burning? it
must have been sprin&led with petrol because of the dense blac& smo&e. 6e were put
under a wall on the left side of the entrance near a lavatory. 6e stood separately with
faces turned to the wall and hands up.
(fter a few minutes heard a series of shots and fell. Mying on the ground heard
the moans and groans of people lying close to me and also more shots. 6hen the
firing ceased heard the gendarmes counting those who lay on the ground? they only
counted up to thirteen. 'hen they began to loo& for two more who were missing.
'hey found a father and son hiding in the ad=oining lavatory.
'hey brought them out, and heard the voice of the boy shouting BMong live PolandB,
and then shots and moans. Some time later heard the voices of approaching Poles?
cautiously lifted my head and saw the gendarmes standing beside the hole filled
with fire and Poles carrying the corpses and
p.FFF
throwing them into it. 'heir wor& brought them nearer to me. then crept into the
lavatory and concealed myself behind a partition which formed the roof of the
lavatory. Sitting there heard firing near by and the shouts of 5ermans from the
direction of the hole. (t a certain moment another Pole who had escaped from below
through the lavatory found himself beside me. @e was doctor .er)y _a&ota, who
wor&ed in the *hild .esus @ospital.
6e sat up there for many hours. 'he whole time we heard the crac&ling of the
burning corpses in the hole and of the fire itself. %esides, we heard series of shots
coming from the other side +nearer to Aimna Street-. !r. _a&ota told me that after a
volley he had fallen along with the others. 'he gendarmes came over to see if he was
still alive, and beat him brutally? but he pretended to be dead. might add that when
fell after the volley, saw a gendarme examining those lying on the ground? those
who were still alive he shot with his revolver. had succeeded in escaping before this.
(t about F o;cloc& in the night we descended and went out into the street through the
already empty @all, in which the fire was still burning, and succeeded in getting to
,rochmalna Street^.
7ecord No. 22:: ]9n (ugust G, 0133, was in the cellar of a house in "le&toralna
Street in 6arsaw. 'his day, at dus&, some 5erman soldiers arrived on the premises
and ordered all men to get out of the cellar, and to dismantle the barricades within
two hours. obeyed and went out of the cellar with about fifty other men. 'he
soldiers too& us under escort to Aela)na %rama S>uare, and then to the place near
Mirows&a Street which is opposite the small s>uare between the two Mar&et @alls.
9n the pavement of Mirows&a Street there lay about FH dead.
6e were ordered to carry these corpses from the pavement
p.FF2
of Mirows&a Street to the little s>uare between the @alls. 6ith other men carried the
corpses and noticed while doing so that all of then were of more or less middle$aged
men. (fter carrying these corpses we were ordered to remove the barricade which
was across the tram line from Aela)na %rama S>uare to Aela)na Street. @aving
removed part of this barricade and thus enabled tan&s to pass, we were brought in the
direction of Aela)na Street, where we were halted, and ordered to put up our hands.
6e were as&ed several times if there were no Volks$or %eichsdeutsche among us.
Next we were searched? everything of value, such as rings, watches and cigarettes,
was ta&en from us. (fter being searched we were left standing on the same spot for
about an hour and a half. Not far from us were groups of soldiers, in all about FHH
men? our prayers for release were answered by the soldiers with laughter and
derision. 'hey spo&e 5erman, 7ussian land U&rainian. 9ne of them told us
repeatedly that we should be &illed at any moment. 'hen +we were standing in rows
of three- the first three rows were driven into the Mar&et @all which is nearer to
Aela)na Street. Shortly afterwards heard a series of shots. 'hen followed the next
three rows. was in the second, or perhaps in the centre of the third. (t the moment
when we were directly in front of the entrance, one of the soldiers who was escorting
us fired, and instantly my neighbour on the left fell to the ground before me, bloc&ing
my way? stumbled and fell, but got up immediately and re=oined my companions.
did not notice what happened to the body over which had stumbled. (fter rising,
when reached my companions, who were then entering the hall by the second inside
gate, saw a door leading to the right and immediately ran through it. saw a hall,
entered it, and noticed stairs leading upwards. t was already dar&, but the dar&ness
was lighted up by the reflection of the fires all round me. thought my escape had
been
p.FF3
observed, as heard a shout behind me, but no shots were fired. ran to a gallery
where some of the wooden structure was burning and there stayed. !uring that time
heard separate shots from the interior of the hall. (fter some time, loo&ed down
from the gallery into the @all and saw a big round hole, about J$G metres +FF feet-
across, in the floor of the @all. n this hole a big fire was burning? its flames rose
several metres above the level of the floor. also noticed that the soldiers were
leading a man to the edge of the hole. saw this man ma&ing the sign of the *ross,
and then heard a shot, and saw him fall into the fire. might add that this shot was
fired in such a way that the soldier put his gun to the man;s nec& and fired. Mater
saw many such scenes. noticed that when the shot was fired the man did not fall at
once, but only after a few seconds. @aving watched several murders of this &ind
could not loo& any more, but heard many more shots and moans, which grew wea&er
and wea&er, or even human howls. supposed that they came from those who had
fallen into the fire and were still alive. <rom the number of shots too& the
impression that all those who had been brought with me from the cellar of No. F,
"le&toralna Street were shot. stayed up in the gallery for some time longer +at least
an hour-, till the moment the shooting and voices stopped. 'hen, unnoticed, ran
through the Small 5hetto in the direction of 5r)ybows&a Street, and afterwards came
to Alota Street, where stayed for a month^.
*rimes at Praga.
7ecord No. F2000: ]9n (ug. F3, 0133, a gray$green car came to the corner of the
.ewish *emetery at Praga from the direction of Nowe
p.FF4
%rodno, opposite 5oled)inow. <our 5estapo men got out of it and began to dig a
hole. 'he car drove away leaving behind two of the 5estapo$men. (fter 0H minutes it
returned bringing our people, who were led to the recently dug grave and murdered
by revolver shots through the bac& of the head. (mong them were a very tall priest, a
girl of about 0F, a woman and a man dressed in blac&, who may have been a priest.
(fter they had been buried the car drove away, but in a short time returned with the
same number of people as before: three men and one woman, who met the same fate.
(fter they too had been buried in this grave the car drove away. 'his was at 0.2H p.m.
9n (ug. F4 at the same hour the same car returned bringing four young men, who
dug their own grave. 'hen they were ordered to lie in the hole, and in this position
they were shot. 'his grave is about 3HH metres +34H yards- from the first one.
9n (ug. FJ $ it was a Saturday $ about 0H o;cloc& in the morning they again came
and dug a larger number of graves and this time ordered passers$by to help. (t 0F
o;cloc& they drove off, returning at three with four men who had to dig graves. 'hen
they went away, ta&ing these men with them. 'here was no execution that day. 9n
Sunday, (ug. FG, a big dar&$red lorry brought 04 people? they were led out in groups
of five. n the first group were three men and two women.
6hen they came to the graves heard a cry and two men began to run away. 9ne of
them was &illed on the spot? the other succeeded in running about 4H metres +44
yards- when a revolver$bullet struc& him? they were both thrown into the hole. 'he
rest of the people having heard their cries, did not want to get out of the car, but they
were driven out by force and shot immediately at the gate. 6hile one party.
p.FFJ
of 5ermans was burying the dead the other went away and brought about 02 more
people, who met the same fate. 'here were among them old men, women and young
boys. 'his day about 2H persons were shot.
*rimes in the centre of the city.
7ecord No. I:00: ](t the moment of the outbrea& of the 7ising was at No. JF,
Mars)al&ows&a Street. tried to return home to No. 2, Staroscins&a Street, and went
from one shelter to another in different houses in the vicinity of the 7edeemer S>uare
+Plac Abawiciela-. 'his part of the city was then in Polish hands. 9n the evening of
(ug. 3 found myself together with my brother$in$law in the Parish @ouse of the
*hurch of the 7edeemer, 2G Mars)al&ows&a Street. 9n (ug. 4 some 5estapo$men
entered the court$yard of this house: before the house +in the street- they set up a
machine gun. 'hey ordered all of us to leave. n the Parish @ouse and in the cellars
were about 4H people $ priests, church staff, inhabitants of ad=oining houses, and
casual passers by. 'hey were mostly elderly men and women.
'here were no nsurgents among us. 6e all went into the court$yard. 'he 5ermans
drove us to the opposite side of Mars)al&ows&a Street, where they separated the men
from the women and ordered us all to lie down on the pavement? men first, but some
of the women too. 6hen we reached the spot, about IH men and a large number of
women were already on the ground. <ighting was in progress.
'he nsurgents were firing from Mo&otowis&a Street and (ugust J Street. (fter 0H
minutes a 6@ soldier came to me with a revolver and ordered me in Polish to Bcome
to wor&B? he
p.FFG
said the same to my brother$in$law and to another young man who was lying near us.
@e ordered us to follow him in the direction of Mitews&a Street. (nother U&rainian
soldier with his gun at the ready wal&ed behind us. (t the corner of Mitews&a Street
they ordered us to cross Mars)al&ows&a Street.
@ere under the wall of S. (nc;s chemistDs shop saw about a do)en corpses lying.
'hey were all of men, and had machine$ gun$ shot wounds. 'he soldier told us to
throw them into the cellar. 6e began to do so through a window in M,ars)al&ows&a
Street facing 9leander Street. 6hen we had finished, we stopped, not &nowing what
to do next. 'hen the U&rainian ordered me to push in a corpse, which had not >uite
fallen down into the cellar. 6hen approached the window heard a shot behind me?
turned and saw our third companion fall on the ground, and the U&rainian standing
with his revolver pointed at my brother$in$law. then =umped into the cellar, holding
the corpse of the murdered man, and fell on a heap of corpses lying under the
window.
then heard many shots fired in the direction of the cellar and 5erman and U&rainian
voices. thought that they were shooting at me. hid under the window among the
corpses? there were about 2H of them. lay there for several hours. (t twilight heard
steps approaching under the window and the sound as of running water. Some drops
fell on my head and recognised the smell of petrol. (fter a moment heard the
hissing sound of fire? the heap of corpses among$which was began to burn.
heard a U&rainian say B'imov, have started the fireB.
'hen crept from the window to the centre of the cellar. %y the light of the burning
fire saw under the window in the direction of 9leander Street a pile of burnt human
bones, and ashes. went into the ad=oining smaller cellar. 'here, under the window
which loo&ed on to Mars)al&ows&a Street, saw about FH corpses of men only. then
p.FFI
retreated to a cellar on one side of the court$yard. 'here, in the dar&ness, saw a man,
6KadysKaw 'ymitis&i. @e told me that the 5ermans had ta&en him from No 01,
Mars)al&ows&a Street, and had brought him to (nc;s shop from 9leander Street and
there ordered him to =ump on to the burning staircase. 6hen he did so they had fired
at him, but missed. 'his had happened one or two days before found myself in the
cellar of the chemist;s shop. 6e spent the night in one of the cellars.
Next morning, (ug. J, we met another man, (ntoni !ude&, in the court$yard? he told
us that a U&rainian had fired at him in 9leander Street in front of the chemist;s shop.
!ude& fell unconscious? after a while he felt the U&rainian dragging him in the
direction of the chemist;s shop. 6hen he moved the U&rainian threw him through the
window into the burning cellar in 9leander Street. 'his was on (ugust F or 2, 0123.
6e three went together to the sixth floor. (ll the flats, with the exception of two,
were burnt out.
<rom these two we collected food, and then hid ourselves on the sixth floor. 'here we
met a fourth companion, .an Matwins&i. 6e stayed in this flat till Nov. 02, 0133. (ll
this time we heard sounds of the fighting which was going on, and of various
executions. Several times we heard voices of Poles shouting Plong live PolandP, then
separate gun shots followed. 9ne day we heard steps on the stairs and 5erman
voices? after a while we saw fire coming out of a flat which had not yet been burnt.
(fter the *apitulation the house in which we were was twice mined by the 5ermans.
saw mines being laid on the site of the chemist;s shop in 9leander Street? we then
hid ourselves under the staircase.
'he explosion destroyed the ceilings of the lower floors of the house? but the upper
floors remained intact. 6e left this house on Nov. 02, 0133, creeping through the city
by night^.
p.FF1
"xecutions in the 9pera$@ouse.
7ecord No. 01:: ]9n (ug. 1, 0133, at ten o;cloc& in the morning, about twenty SS$
men with revolvers rushed shouting into the courtyard of our house in 'rebac&a
Street and ordered all the people in the flats and cellars to go out into the yard. 9ur
street had been completely in 5erman hands since the beginning of the 7ising and
there had been no military activity in it whatever. 'he inhabitants had stayed >uietly
in their flats or cellars. 6e came down men, women and children. n one of the flats a
paralysed old woman of about GH named 7opelews&a was left behind. Several SS$
men rushed into her flat after all the inhabitants had left and set fire to her mattress?
seeing this her son carried her into the yard. 6hen we were in the yard SS$men
rushed into the flats and set them on fire one after the other. 'hen they too& us into
the, next yard, at No. F, Marshall <och Street. (s Mrs. 7opelews&a could not wal&
one of the armed SS$men shot her before our eyes.
(t No. F, <och Street, the men were separated from the women. 'hen we went from
one house to another +Nos F, 3, 4, G, <och Str.-. 6e were brought through cellars and
court$yards into the 9pera @ouse? women and children into the cellars and men to the
first floor. (mong the men were my father, J1, and my husband, a student, FJ years
old. 6hat happened to the men was told later by a schoolboy, .er)y S)a=&ows&i,
who had escaped death. 'he men were led upstairs to the first floor of the 9pera
@ouse, their ,enn&arten were ta&en from them, and they were divided into groups: 0-
'hose who had been wor&ing in 5erman institutions, F- foreigners, 2- the remainder.
Mater this third group was brought out through the doors of the boxes and &illed by
shots through the bac& of the head. 'he corpses
p.F2H
fell on the stage. 'hus my father and husband were murdered. 'he number of people
&illed then amounted to 4HH. 'he women, of whom there were several hundred, were
divided into groups: 0- above JH, F- women with children, 2- the rest. succeeded,
with 2H other women, in escaping from the last group. 6e came to the church at
6ola, from where we were ta&en to Prus)&ow. was recently in the ruins of the
9pera @ouse. 'he remains of the burnt corpses are still lying there. 'hey were
murdered on (ugust 1. saw bones, hair, teeth, and the remains of clothing, shoes
and documents. thin& some women were also shot there, because there were also
remains of women;s dresses, and fear that this was not the only execution there^.
5"7M(N *7M"S (5(NS' S9C"' P7S9N"7S$9<$6(7 N P9M(N!
p.FJ0
9ne of the most shameful examples of 5erman barbarity during the second world
war was the way in which they treated Soviet prisoners$of$war. 'heir cold$blooded
cruelty was the more repulsive as it was deliberately premeditated, and practised on
valiant soldiers who deserved the enemyPs respect. 'he prisoners were &ept in so$
called BPrisoners; *ampsB in the open air, on the bare ground in cold and rain,
without boots, overcoats, or blan&ets? they were starved, inhumanly treated, beaten
and murdered for the slightest disobedience, or for falling out on the march. 'he aim
was undoubtedly the wholesale murder of the prisoners$of$war. %ut not of them
alone. Male civilians caught by 5ermans trying to retreat with the Soviet (rmy to the
"ast, and boys and men from the age of 0J to JH who were caught on occupied
territory, were treated in the same way as the prisoners$of$war, especially in the first
stage of the war.
'his behaviour of the 5ermans cannot be put down exclusively to the impulse of
hatred expressed by @itler in his speech of 9ctober 2, 0130, where he referred to
Soviet soldiers as Bbeasts and animalsB, but was clearly due to instructions issued by
the 5erman @igh *ommand.
'he attitude of the 5ermans towards the Soviet prisoners$of$war, was clearly
revealed in the trials of persons accused of atrocities, lately held in 6hite 7ussia,
Matvia and the U&raine. <or our part, we should li&e to add a small amount of first$
hand information regarding the treatment of prisoners$of$war in the early stages of
the 7ussian campaign, when 5erman cruelty towards them probably reached its
climax.
ntoxicated with their initial successes, the 5ermans felt certain of victory, and
e>ually certain that they would never be brought to boo&.
p.FJF
(s the war, however, went on and on, their attitude underwent a change, specially
noticeable after their defeat at Stalingrad, when the 5erman @igh *ommand had to
count on the possibility of Soviet reprisals.
'he evidence which we give here is based either on facts reported by eye$witnesses
from among the population, or else on 5erman information, contained in the
instructions of the 5erman @igh *ommand, and numerous letters written by 5erman
soldiers.
!uring the occupation, Polish military organi)ations carried on intense intelligence
activity among the 5ermans. 6ith the assistance of Poles wor&ing in the 5erman
"ast Post Service +!eutsche Post 9sten-, soldiers, letters were systematically
intercepted and read, and revealed many interesting facts concerning $ among other
things $ the treatment of Soviet prisoners. Unfortunately, only a small part of this
material was saved, the greater part having been burnt during the 6arsaw 7ising in
0133. ( large collection of photographs +about GHH- from prisoners; camps, showing
really blood$curdling scenes, was also totally destroyed. 'hese snapshots were ta&en
by 5erman soldiers on duty in camps and the prints came into Polish hands through
the photographers who developed them.
Still, even the extant material, fragmentary though it is, casts a glaring light ,on the
5erman attitude towards the Soviet prisoners$of$war. 'he 5erman behaviour in these
camps, and their acts Dof deliberate cruelty, were aimed clearly at getting rid of the
prisoners in a manner hardly conceivable by normally thin&ing individuals. <irst of
all the Soviet prisoners were so starved as not only to render them >uite useless for
wor&, but actually, in many cases, to cause their deaths. Political hatred was in these
cases stronger than the immediate practical interests of the 7eich, which needed
wor&ers.
n the summer and autumn o f 0130 6arsaw saw thousands of Soviet prisoners$of$
war driven barefoot through the town,
p.FJ2
wrapped in torn blan&ets, staggering with exhaustion. 'hey were followed by truc&s,
into which those who collapsed and could no longer wal& were thrown li&e sac&s.
'he escort did not allow the public to assist these unfortunates in any way.
@ere is an eye$witness;s report:
]9n 9ctober 02, 0130, two parties o f prisoners were driven along the streets of the
"mban&ment. 'he prisoners, pale and bare$footed, &noc&ed about and struc& by the
5erman guards with the butt$ends of their rifles, were in a state of collapse from
hunger and exhaustion. (ny Poles who attempted to throw them food and cigarettes
were fired on by the 5ermans^.
6e >uote below the instructions of the 5erman @igh *ommand concerning the
treatment of prisoners, translated from the original 5erman text:
Bnstructions for guarding Soviet Prisoners$of$6ar.B 9riginal 5erman text of the
Mer&blatt ftit die %ewachung Sowietischet ,riegsgefangener.
(us)ug aus 9,6 ($) Ff. F3. 00 (6( ,riegsgefangenen + Nr. 2H4I:30 5eh.- !er
bolschewistische Soldat ist politisch geschult. .eder !eutsche ist sein 'odfeindY !em
%olschewisten ist =edes ,ampfmittel recht: @eo&enschLt)en&rieg, Sabotage,
%randstiftung, Aerset)ungs$Propaganda, Mord;Y $ "s ist damit )u rechnen, dass die
,riegsgefangenen (nweisungen fLr ihre %etOtigung in der 5efangenschaft erhalten
haben. !rei 5ebote fLr die 6achmannschaften sind deshalb vor allem )u beachten:
busserste 6achsam&eitY 5rNsste CorsichtY SchOrfstes MisstrauenY n ein)elnen gelten
folgende (nweisungen:
0. .eder deutsche Soldat hat den sowietischen ,riegsgefangenen gegenLber
schOrfsten (bstand )u haltenY .ede Unterihaltung mist ihnen ist streng verbotenY Nur
die unbedingt notwendigen dienstlichen (nweisungen dLrfen gegeben werdenY
.eder Cer&ehr der ,riegsgefangenen mit Aivil ist )u. verhindern, notfalls, unter
(nwendung von 6affengewalt $ auch gegen die AivilpersonenY "s gilt unbedingtes
7auchverbot auf Marschen )u und von den (rbeitsplOt)en. sowie wOhrend der (rbeit.
p.FJ3
F. 7Lc&sichtsloses !urchgreifen $ notfalls durch schonungslosen 5ebrauch der 6affe
R bei den geringsten (n)eichen van 6iderset)lich&eit oder Ungehorsam ist
notwendig. Nicht mit der 6Lrde des deutschen Soldaten vereinbar und deshalb
verboten sind 6ill&Lra&te und Misshandlungen, ,nLppel, StNc&e. Peitschen dLrfen
van deutschen Soldaten nicht verwendet werden.
6eichheit auch gegen arbeitswillige und gehorsame ,riegagefangene wird als
SchwOche ausgelegt und ist nicht am Plat)eY
2. (rbeitseinsat) darf nur &olonnenmOssig und nur an (rbeitsstellen erfolgen um die
stOndige (ufsicht )u ermNglichen. (uf der (rbeitsstelle ist ununterbrochen scharfste
(ufsicht erforderlichY mmer in einer "ntfernung halten, die sofortigen 5ebrauch der
6affe ermNglichtY
Nie einem ,riegsgefangenen den 7Lc&en &ehrenY
3. (uf fliehende ,riegsgefangene ist sofort $ ohne (nruf $ )u schiessen mit der festen
(bsicht )u treffen. ,eine Schrec&shLsse abgebenY
Niemals darf eine scheinbare @armlosig&eit der bolschewistischen ,riegsgefangenen
da)u fLhren, dass von vorstehenden (nordnungen abgewichen wirdY
"xtract from the order 9,6 ($) F f 00 (6( +0 No.2H4I$a:30-.
]'he %olshevi& soldier has had a political training. "very 5erman is his deadly
enemy. 'he %olshevi&s consider every method fair in war: hedge warfare, sabotage,
destructive propaganda, and murder. t must be remembered that the prisoners$of$war
have received instructions concerning their behaviour when in captivity. t is
therefore necessary for the guards to preserve, when dealing with them, the utmost
watchfulness, greatest care and sharpest mistrust.
'he following instructions in particular are to be strictly observed:
0. "very 5erman soldier will &eep strictly aloof from the Soviet prisoners$of$6ar.
(ny intercourse with them is strictly forbidden. 9nly >uite indispensable official
instructions are to be communicated to them.
(ny intercourse between the prisoners and the civil population must be prevented $ if
necessary by armed force, directed if need be even against the civilians. Smo&ing is
forbidden on the way to wor& and bac&, and also during wor& hours.
p.FJ4
F. 7uthless reaction is indispensable $ if necessary by the use of arms, at the smallest
sign of resistance or disobedience. (rbitrary ill$treatment is incompatible with the
dignity of the 5erman soldier, and is therefore forbidden. 5erman soldiers should not
ma&e use of clubs, stic&s or whips. (ny leniency shown towards even industrious and
diligent prisoners$of$war is to be regarded as a sign of wea&ness and is therefore out
of place.
2. 6or& must be done only in detachments and only in places where continuous
supervision is possible. (t such places ceaseless vigilance should be observed.
(lways &eep at such a distance as permits of the instantaneous use of arms.
Never turn your bac& upon a prisoner.
n no case can the apparent docility of the %olshevi& prisoners =ustify
neglect of the above instructions.
3. <ire at once, without warning, at any prisoner$of$war trying to escape and
ta&e care to hit your mar&. No firing in the air^.
'hese instructions were a direct and shameless transgression of all international legal
provisions. Moreover, the second sentence of Para F, forbidding any arbitrary or
abusive treatment of the prisoners, was disregarded, as will be seen from the letters
>uoted hereinafter, this being probably the real intention of the 5erman @igh
*ommand.
'his is how these instructions were carried out at the Prisoners$of$6ar *amp at
*helm:
Metter from Sergeant +9bergefreiter- <. P. +<ield Post-
HJ0HH %), *helm, 9ctober J, 0130 t o *orporal +5efreiter- <. P. 1404H ]6e have here
an enormous Prisoners;*amp. n Magers 0 and F in the town alone there are 1H,HHH of
this gang. n Mager 2 there are JH,HHH including all ran&s, from non$commissioned
officers to chief commanders. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to write everything^.
<. P. HH0HF (, *helm 9ctober 03, 0130:
p.FJJ.
Bn the local *amp some 04H,HHH %olshevists prisoners are laid up. 9f course, we are
not petting them. f they have to stay here during the winter, half of them will dieB.
<. P. 2GI02 " *helm, 9ctober 03, 0130, to <. P. FGII3:
B.ewish prisoners are shot at once, but first they are made to dig holes for themselves.
'hen they are tied together in fives and shot so that they fall into the ditch. 'here are
from 2HH to 3HH such executions dailyB.
'he following report was given by a Pole who was allowed direct access to the
Prisoners; *amp:
B(t first there were some 04H,HHH prisoners in the camp. 'he conditions in which
they lived were dreadful.
'he marl soil on which the camp stands turns after rain into thic& mud, in which the
prisoners must sleep, without even a handful of straw. <ood is worse than poor. 'he
prisoners are actually dying of hunger and eat grass, straw and odd bits from the
refuse heap. (n epidemic of dysentery is spreading alarmingly among them. 'hey are
blac& with dirt, and eaten up by lice. No medical attendance is available. 'heir
treatment is barbarous. 'he 5erman guards torture them, beating them with the butt$
ends of their rifles or with whips, and stabbing them with bayonets. Persecution goes
on in broad day$light, before the eyes of the people living in the neighbourhood of the
camp. Na&ed prisoners are fastened to the fence surrounding the camp in such a way
that they have to stand on their toes. 'heir hands are tied behind their bac&s and
fastened to the fence. ( string is passed round their nec&s under their chins and
fastened to the fence. ( man cannot stand long in such a position? he gradually sin&s
down, his arms turn round, and the string tightens round his nec& and slowly
strangles him. Such scenes may be observed every day. Prisoners are dying at the rate
of 3HH$4HH daily. "very day some 4HH, under pretext of delousing, are driven to a
special hut, where they are gassed. 'he bodies are then carried to the forest on carts
drawn by parties of prisoners dropping with fatigue. 9n each
p.FJG
cart some 4H or JH corpses are piled at random, with legs and arms stic&ing out. n
the forest the bodies are thrown li&e rubbish into a large hole, which when almost full
is covered with a thin layer of earthB.
6hat happened in *helm happened also in other camps.
St. 5rabows&i, <. P. F12FF writes on 9ctober J, 0130 to <. P. 240I4 (:
B'he 7ussians perish before our eyes li&e cattle. 6e are =ust about to shoot 3,HHH
7ussian hedge$riflemen +@ec&enschLt)en- Wsnipers $ed.X. ( mass grave is being dug.
6e do not &now yet how it will be done $ with machine$guns or riflesB.
( sergeant +name un&nown- <. P. HJJIJ writes on 9ctober 0F, 0130, from %iala
Podlas&a to %erlin:
B was at the Prisoners$of$6ar *amp on Sunday. wanted to ta&e snapshots, but my
nerves got the better of me. 'oo much misery and abomination. (lmost every night
some FHH or 2HH of them dieB.
(nd here is another fragment of a letter. 'he same <. P.JJIJ writes on 9ctober 0F
from %iala Podlas&a:
B9ur comrades in the "ast are having a very hard time, but we are not much better
off, guarding the prisoners. 'hey are always escaping, throwing themselves wildly in
the line of our machine$gun fire, or throwing stones at us. t is a dreadful nation. /ou
complain of air$raids, but its is better for our nation to suffer from hundreds of air$
raids, than to be overrun by these savages.B
'wo days later, on 9ctober 03, 0130, a soldier <. P. H43H4 writes from %iala Podlas&a
to %erlin$ Neu&Nlln:
B/ou cannot imagine what is going on here, "very day many train$loads of wounded
arrive. "very day also prisoners are unloaded, collapsing from hunger? among them
boys of 02 to 04. /esterday, when unloading, we found eight dead bodies, and we
shot ten prisoners who tried to escapeB.
'he facts referred to in 5erman letters are confirmed by the reports of the local
inhabitants. 9ne of these says:
p.FJI
B9n 9ctober 0, 0130, in the camp, which is in fact simply a vast field enclosed with
barbed wire, there were some 04H,HHH prisoners, military and civilian, among them
thousands of old men and boys of 02 to 04. Some FHH to 2HH of them are dying daily
of hunger, cold and dysentery. 'he prisoners try now and then to escape. *rowds of
them, stones in hands, throw themselves against the barbed wire and the guards, who
try to restore order by using hand$grenades and machine$guns.B
'he Prisoners$of 6ar *amp at %iala Podlas&a was transferred to !eblin. 9n this
occasion some of the prisoners, including several under age, were murdered, as
appears from a letter written by an un&nown 5erman soldier, <.$P. HJJIJ on 9ctober
0F, 0130, saying:
B'he local Prisoners; *amp is to be transferred to !eblin. (lready some 4HHH$JHHH
prisoners are leaving daily. 'he .ews however, and the @ec&enschL)en are segregated
and guarded by SS$men, who tell us that among these hardened criminals
+Schwerverbrecher- are many boys of 04.B
9f course, the prisoners were fed and treated in =ust the same way at !eblin as
before, as is shown by the following report, dating from the end of 9ctober, 0130:
B( train$load of Soviet prisoners has arrived. 'he 5ermans first threw out the bodies
of those who had died on the way. 9n top of these corpses they then threw those who
were dying, and finished them off with hand$grenades. 'he remainder were ta&en to
the camp. 6hoever was too wea& to wal& was &illed with a blow from the butt$end of
a rifle, or shot. n the camp the hungry prisoners eat grass. 'he guards arrange
shooting matches =ust for fun, aiming at the prisoners. Many of the latter try to
escape, and those who are caught are shotB.
( Polish witness reports as follows about the Prisoners;*amp at %li)in, near
S&ar)ys&o:
]'he camp consists of four huts, situated in the fields near the village, so that
everything that happens there can be
p.FJ1
observed by the neighbours. 'rain$loads of prisoners which arrived here had ta&en
over a fortnight to reach the new camp, and were without food or water. "ach wagon
when opened contained scores of dead bodies. 'he sic& who could not move were
thrown out. 'hey were ordered to sit down on the ground near the station and were
shot by SS$men before the eyes of the rest. 'he camp contains about F,4HH prisoners.
'he average daily death$rate is about 4H. 'he ,dead bodies are thrown out on to the
fields and sprin&led with lime, often lying some days after that unburied. 'he bodies
in the field were seen by the villagers, who stated that some of them had been shot
through the head. 'hey were sic& prisoners whom the SS$men had finished off. Such
cases occurred fre>uently, especially at the morning roll$call, when those who were
too wea& to stand were shot. (ll this could be observed by the Polish population. 'he
prisoners received l:3 &g +0:F lb.- of bread made of horse$chestnut flour and potato$
s&ins, and soup made of rotten cabbage. 'he prisoners were well aware that in any
case they must die, so every night they tried to ta&e refuge in the neighbouring
forests, where they were shot by heavy machine$gun fire from the watch$towers, if
the guards succeeded in giving the alarm in time by signal roc&ets^.
( witness describes the conditions prevailing at the camp in ,arolow&a near Aamosc,
containing about FH,HHH men:
B'he prisoners live i n the open air. (t the camp the hunger is so terrible that F &m +a
mile and a half- away they can be heard groaning and shouting B<oodB. 'hey eat
grass. !o)ens die from starvation. 'he dead are thrown into a large ditch >uite close
to the camp, and are sprin&led with lime. 'he ditch is constantly open.
Used as they are for the hardest labour, the prisoners collapse li&e flies and are shot
by the guards. 'he guards fire at those who attempt to give the prisoners foodB.
(s winter approached, the situation of the prisoners grew more and more tragic. 'his
is well depicted in a letter written
p.FGH
by a non$commissioned officer <. P. 0JFJ4 on !ecember 0F, 0130, to "lisabeth
@edergott, Primanerallee 01, %erlin N. 9. 44.
BSpotted typhus is raging in the Prisoners; *amp. 9ut of the J,HHH prisoners
transferred to us in 9ctober only F,4HH are alive. (ppalling misery. Medical staff $
one doctor and three assistants $ also sic&. Mac& of people for carrying out the dead.
'hey are scattered everywhere among the sic&, on the berths, on the ground, on the
threshold, in a word $ on every available spot. Medicines are entirely lac&ing. "very
wee& cases of cannibalism are reported. 9f late three dead bodies have been eatenB.
'he attitude of hatred towards the Soviet prisoners shown by the 5ermans on every
occasion, +by murdering them and by the cruelty with which they treated them-
appears also in the correspondence of the 5erman soldiers.
'he following fragment of a letter dated 9ctober J, 0130, addressed by a corporal of
un&nown name <. P. 2I243! to private <. P. 01H34, is typical:
B have been ordered with my 2I companions to organise a Prisoners; *amp. !uring
F days 0H,HHH prisoners arrived. 'he huts are not yet complete. /ou cannot imagine
what is going on here. 'his gang is terribly exhausted and famished. 7ecently we got
another transport $ these were indeed mad savages. 9ne evening they tried to raid the
&itchen. 'hey even attempted to burn the building. 'hey did not succeed however,
and six of them were shot. 6hen clearing the debris of the house they got a thrashing,
and in the evening when driven home another, so that they had to give up all further
excesses. (nyhow, they demolished one of the buildings. 'his is a nation of nothing
but criminals. /ou would hardly believe what is going on here. (nyone who is not
here on the spot would thin& us cra)y, if we ever told what we were doing. 6e often
have to fire at the prisoners. t is a gang of utter savages, only to be mastered by
force.
6hat would become of our cities and o f our women if this horde ever
p.FG0
succeeded in invading 5ermanyV <ortunately, our <Lhrer has foreseen everything and
will prevent this evilB.
No wonder that in such conditions, where the prisoners faced inevitable and terrible
death, they constantly tried to escape. 'hese attempts were welcomed by the 5ermans
as a pretext for large$scale massacres.
'housands perished, but still a certain number managed to escape. 'hose who did so
hid in the forests and villages and wor&ed for the Polish peasants on their farms. 'he
Poles sheltered and fed them. (s a result of this, the 6arsaw 5overnor <ischer issued
an order on September FG, 0130, holding whole rural communities collectively
responsible for the concealment of escaped prisoners. 'he penalty was death or
long$term imprisonment. (n order issued by 5overnor$5eneral <ran& dated 9ctober
F2, 0130, forbade any intercourse with the prisoners. Prison with hard labour was the
punishment inflicted on all those who helped prisoners to escape $ by hiding them,
providing them with clothes and food, or giving them information. Upon
communities whose inhabitants disobeyed the above order the local 5overnor was
authorised to impose additional collective or individual fines, up to an unlimited
amount.
n spite of the above drastic measures, the Poles helped escaped prisoners, Soviet,
%ritish, or <rench, as far as they could. @undreds of Poles $ men and women $ lost
their lives in the common cause $ the struggle for freedom.