Progetto:Persecuzioni, deportazioni e crimini del periodo nazi-fascista/Per bocca degli esecutori: I nazisti ammettono sterminio e camere a gas

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Il logo rappresenta due mani nude che spezzano i fili spinati di una ipotetica recinsione elettrificata di un campo nazista. Le mani sono "mani decise", non tremolanti, non sanguinanti, ma "coraggiose"

Appuntamenti della Memoria

HOLOCAUST DENIAL IN TODAY'S COURTROOMS AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR JUSTICE AND MEMORY - con Michael Berenbaum - Martedi 23 agosto 2022 - 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm (PDT)

The fate of Jewish children under Nazi control - 12 settembre 2022 (3PM - 4PM EST) con la dr. Sharon Kangisser Cohen di Yad Vashem

A cento anni dalla presa del potere: il fascismo tra storia e memoria Hundert Jahre nach der Machtergreifung: Faschismus zwischen Geschichte und Erinnerung - 30 settembre - 1 ottobre - Libera Università di Bolzano Piazza Università 1

I luoghi della Memoria dell'Italia fascista L'Istituto Nazionale Ferruccio Parri presenta il nuovo sito con la mappa interattiva 22 novembre 16.00-17.30 / 18.00-19.00 - Casa della memoria, via F. Confalonieri 14, Milano

..futuri

I video degli eventi

27 gennaio 2021 Wikipedia al Giorno della Memoria Negazionismo e Olocausto: gli Eichmann di carta

25 giugno 2021 L'assassinio di milioni di ebrei visto da chi lo ha realizzato - Aktion Reinhard

25 settembre 2021 Triangolo rosso - il contrassegno dei deportati politici: da Mauthausen ad Auschwitz - testimonianze dai campi del Terzo Reich.

27 novembre 2021 I fotografi nella Shoah e della Shoah

27 gennaio 2022 Wikipedia al Giorno della Memoria "Donne nella Shoah".

26 marzo 2022: Dai 'discorsi di Posen' di Heinrich Himmler ai 'Giusti tra le nazioni' di Moshe Bejski (in attesa di pubblicazione).

28 maggio 2022: La sorte degli omosessuali ariani del Reich.

Triennale di Milano 28gennaio 2024 per il Giorno della Memoria -Resilienza_dei_Testimoni_di_Geova:_il_giudizio_degli_storici_sulla_persecuzione_subita_dal_regime_nazista.

..futuri


Descrizione[modifica wikitesto]

«l'ignoranza è il brodo di coltura dove prolifica il negazionismo»

(Goti Herskovits Bauer il 27 gennaio 2009 a Montecitorio)

Sottoprogetto del principaleːProgetto:Persecuzioni, deportazioni e crimini del periodo nazi-fascista riguardante il tema del Negazionismo dell'Olocausto nei diversi caratteristici aspettiː la ricerca, l'analisi, la categorizzazione dei diversi processi che nel dopoguerra riguardarono tutti gli ispiratori e gli esecutori dello sterminio perpetrato nell'Olocausto. Particolare importante aspetto del sottoprogetto è evidenziare tutte le prove riguardanti le innumerevoli ammissioni e i mezzi usati nello sterminio dagli esecutori nazisti e dai loro collaboratori, ovveroː documenti, ordini scritti, discorsi, corrispondenza, diari, appunti, rapporti, interrogatori ai processi, affidavit, interviste nel dopoguerra rese da ex nazisti

Scopi[modifica wikitesto]

Scopi del progetto sono essenzialmente dueː

  • Migliorare le voci di Wikipedia in italiano integrandole con dichiarazioni della nostra ricerca e crearne diverse nuove oggi mancanti. A parte i 13 processi di Norimberga e un accenno non esaustivo ai processi di Auschwitz (da noi viene presentato come unico processo tenutosi a Francoforte, mentre in effetti se ne tennero quattro), mancano tutti i processi di tutti gli altri campi di sterminio e quelli fatti al personale di importanti campi di concentramento, a parte poi i processi celebrati nell'ex Unione Sovietica.
  • Creazione di una serie di conferenze video (per tema) sulla negazione dell'Olocausto e sulla reale evidenza storica dei fatti, da mettere su Commons. Interventi anche "in pillole", p.e. cosa dichiarano i diari dei nazisti sullo sterminio, o un altro sulla corrispondenza dei nazisti dai campi di sterminio ai loro congiunti...... affidavit, documenti, discorsi e...... (Negazionismo in pillole per tipo di prova).
  • Organizzare incontri e dibattiti con le università Italiane su come rispondere ai negazionisti (abbiamo già richieste in tal senso, da mettere a punto e in questa occasione far conoscere le voci di Wikipedia).
  • Organizzare webinar con importanti istituzioni nazionali internazionali (come Il Fritz Bauer Institut di Francoforte, il Museo statale di Auschwitz-Birkenau di Oświęcim, il United States Holocaust Memorial Museum di Washington) su temi specifici riguardanti anche documenti in loro possesso.
  • Un wikibook (suggerito da Bramfab) che raccolga tutte le dichiarazioni dei nazisti e loro collaboratori che ammisero sterminio, camere a gas e fucilazioni di massa.

Task force[modifica wikitesto]

La collaborazione a questo sottoprogetto è aperta a tutti i colleghi che vogliono collaborare (ma con determinati requisiti); si avvale fino a questo momento della collaborazione diː

  • Bellatrovata (organizzazione schede ricerca)
  • Maddalena Hamel (ricerca) (dal collega Matteo Ruffoni) (registrata)
  • Natalia KT (corregge da errori le nuove voci del progetto e rivede le vecchie, migliorandone la forma)
  • Ettorre (pianificazione oratori wb e accordi visite luoghi della Shoah)
  • Noce09 (ricerca e schema schede)
  • Salvatore Talia (ricerca)
  • Presbite (part time)
  • Luca Capuozzo (consulente fotografia)
  • Marco Fodde (consulente fotografia)
  • Actormusicus (traduttore dal tedesco)
  • Borgil (traduttore dall'inglese)
  • Carlo Porcelli (progetto grafico)
  • Stefania Mancuso (progetto grafico)
  • TrinacrianGolem(pubbliche relazioni e comunicati stampa)
  • Marcello Pezzetti storico della Shoah (controllo ricerca)
  • Alessandro Matta del Memoriale Sardo della Shoah (nuove voci)
  • Bramfab (controllo ricerca)
  • Fcarbonara (ricerca)
  • Ansaldi83 (ricerca e traduzione dal francese)

Responsabilità assegnate[modifica wikitesto]

  • Ricerca delle fonti (pubblicazioni e siti web) e monitoraggio delle voci nuove e "vecchie" (sull'Olocausto) da sistemare: Salvatore Talia, Noce09, Fcarbonara
  • Analisi e valutazione delle fonti: Bramfab, Marcello Pezzetti (storico della Shoah). Il prof. Pezzetti visionerà il nostro lavoro per eventuali consigli e miglioramenti.
  • Scrittura, impaginazione delle fonti, segreteria e organizzazione incontri di confronto: Bellatrovata, Ettorre.
  • Fonti fotografiche sulla Shoah: Marco Fodde (fotografo professionista, scrittore sulle tecniche fotografiche e sulla storia della fotografia), Luca Capuozzo (fotografo professionista e storia della fotografia)
  • Traduzioni: Actormusicus (dal tedesco)
  • Traduzioni: Borgil (dall'inglese)
  • Contabilità riguardante il sottoprogetto: Bramfab, Luca Landucci alias Kaspo
  • Progetto grafico online e prodotti cartacei delle manifestazioni: Carlo Porcelli e Stefania Mancuso

Cassetto lavoro della ricerca[modifica wikitesto]

Progetto Wikipediaː "Per bocca degli esecutori i nazisti ammettono sterminio e camere a gas"

Aggiungere 1) Le dichiarazioni di Emanuel Ringelblum e dell'organizzazione polacca "Oneg Shabbat" sull'archivio sepolto nel ghetto di Varsavia ̟contenente la dettagliata descrizione dei crimini nazisti nel ghetto e 2) le dichiarazioni rese del nazista Oskar Groening sullo sterminio con il gas ad Auschwitz al processo celebrato nel 2015 a Lueneburg in Germania. 3) Da aggiungere ː Telegramma Höfle una "sbavatura" (termine coniato dallo storico francese Jean-Claude Pressac), ovvero «lapsus della burocrazia sfuggiti al piano di occultamento dei crimini nazisti», conosciuta anche come "traccia criminale" sullo sterminio. 4) Rapporto Korherr, documento di 16 pagine sullo stato di avanzamento dell'Olocausto in Germania e nei territori europei occupati.

  • Lo sterminio: un fatto storico

In questa sezione riportiamo tutte le prove documentate da verbali e affidavit nei processi di Norimberga, Francoforte, Cracovia, Dachau, Monaco, Düsseldorf, Hagen, Kiev, Gerusalemme...., di registrazioni audio e video, di diari, di documenti in archivi di Stato, incluse testimonianze di SS e personaggi di primissimo piano della "nomenklatura" nazista e infine di autorevoli storici (trascurando momentaneamente le migliaia di testimonianze di sopravvissuti e tutti i "sentito dire" riportati anche da personaggi affidabili).

1° discorso, 4 ottobre 1943 - Himmler si rivolge a una platea selezionata di 92 generali appartenenti alle SS. Il discorso affronta diversi temi e dimostra anche come il regime nazista voleva, progettava e stava attuando l'olocausto
2° discorso, 6 ottobre 1943 - rivolto a un pubblico di Reichsleiter, Gauleiter e altri importanti autorità politiche del partito nazionalsocialista. Anche in questo discorso, come nel primo, fra altri argomenti è esplicitato chiaramente che l'olocausto era in corso
5 altri discorsi (Himmler ne tenne in totale 132), tenuti il 16 dicembre 1943, 26 gennaio 1944, 5 maggio 1944, 24 maggio 1944 e il 21 giugno 1944 - Himmler parla chiaramente di sterminio e di uccisioni di donne e bambini ebrei

Himmler - Primo discorso di Posen - 4 ottobre 1943

La seguente è la trascrizione di circa cinque minuti di un discorso del Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler a un gruppo di SS Gruppenführer, il 4 ottobre 1943, nella città di Posen, in quella che oggi è la Polonia.
La traduzione in inglese è principalmente opera di Stephane Bruchfeld, Gordon McFee e del Dr. Ulrich Rössler. Questi e i nostri altri traduttori si sono scambiati dozzine di email, discutendo dei pregi e difetti di frasi alternative e scelte di parole, fino ad arrivare a ciò che crediamo sia la più accurata traduzione possibile di questi paragrafi cruciali.[1]
In basso è riportato il testo del discorso. I puntini di sospensione ("...") rappresentano pause, non omissioni di testo; il testo qui riportato è completo. I commenti di Nizkor riguardanti il modo di parlare di Himmler sono in [corsivo tra parentesi]. Viene riportata una frase prima della sezione riguardante gli ebrei, per "preparare il terreno" -- riguarda un argomento economico non correlato.

Quello che realizziamo nelle nostre fabbriche di armamenti ... anche se sarà solo alla fine della guerra che potremo valutarlo per la prima volta -- provarlo ... sarà un risultato straordinario e degno di nota. [pausa]
Voglio anche menzionare un argomento molto ostico ... davanti a voi, con assoluta franchezza. Dovremmo discuterlo tra di noi, comunque non ne parleremo mai in pubblico. Proprio come non abbiamo esitato il 30 giugno a svolgere il nostro dovere come ci era stato ordinato, e mettere al muro i nostri commilitoni che avevano fallito e fucilarli -- cosa di cui non abbiamo mai parlato e mai parleremo. È stato, grazie a Dio, una forma di tatto per noi naturale, una conseguenza scontata di quel tatto, di non averne mai parlato tra di noi, mai parlato di ciò, tutti ... siamo rabbrividiti, e a tutti è stato chiaro che la prossima volta avremmo fatto di nuovo la stessa cosa, se fosse stato ordinato e necessario.
Sto parlando dell'evacuazione degli ebrei, dello sterminio del popolo ebraico.[2] È una di quelle cose che si dice facilmente. [velocemente] "Il popolo ebraico sta venendo sterminato",[3] ogni membro del Partito vi dirà, "assolutamente chiaro, fa parte dei nostri piani, stiamo eliminando gli ebrei, li stiamo sterminando,[3] un argomento da poco". [meno velocemente] E poi vengono tutti insieme, tutti gli 80 milioni di retti tedeschi, e ognuno ha il suo decoroso ebreo. [con tono derisorio] Dicono: tutti gli altri sono suini, ma ecco un ebreo di prima classe. [alcuni ridono] E ... [colpi di tosse del pubblico] [con attenzione] ... nessuno di loro lo ha visto, lo ha tollerato. La maggior parte di voi saprà cosa significa quando 100 corpi stanno insieme, quando ce ne sono 500 o quando ce ne sono 1000. E ... aver visto tutto questo e -- con l'eccezione della debolezza umana -- aver mantenuto un atteggiamento decoroso, ci ha resi duri ed è una pagina di gloria mai menzionata e che non dovrà mai essere menzionata. Perché sappiamo quanto le cose sarebbero difficili, se oggi in ogni città durante i bombardamenti, i pesi della guerra e le privazioni, avessimo ancora gli ebrei come segreti sabotatori, agitatori e istigatori. Saremmo probabilmente nella stessa situazione del 16/17, se gli ebrei ancora risiedessero nel corpo del popolo tedesco.
Abbiamo portato via le ricchezze che avevano, e ... io ho dato un ordine rigoroso, che l'Obergruppenführer Pohl[4] ha eseguito, abbiamo consegnato queste ricchezze [con attenzione] al Reich, allo Stato. Non abbiamo preso loro niente per noi stessi. Alcuni, che hanno violato questa norma, saranno giudicati,[5] secondo un ordine, [a voce alta] che ho dato fin dall'inizio: chi prende anche un solo Marco da questo è un uomo morto. [a voce meno alta] Un certo numero di uomini delle SS hanno violato quest'ordine. Sono molto pochi, e saranno uomini morti [gridando] SENZA PIETÀ! Abbiamo il diritto morale, avevamo il dovere verso il nostro popolo di farlo, di uccidere[6] questa gente che ci avrebbe ucciso.[6] Tuttavia non abbiamo il diritto di arricchirci di nemmeno una pelliccia, di un Marco, di una sigaretta, di un orologio, di nulla. Quello non l'abbiamo. Perché non vogliamo, alla fine di tutto questo, ammalarci e morire dello stesso bacillo che abbiamo sterminato.[3] Non accadrà mai che anche una ... briciola di putrefazione venga a contatto con noi, o metta radici in noi. Al contrario, dove dovesse provare a mettere radici, la bruceremo insieme. Ma senz'altro possiamo dire: [lentamente, con attenzione] Abbiamo portato a termine questo compito difficilissimo per amore del nostro popolo. E non abbiamo sofferto alcuna pecca dentro di noi, nella nostra anima, o nel nostro carattere.

Fonte: Il progetto Nizkor

Primo discorso di Posen, 4 ottobre 1943: f1) Yad Vashem, f2) Progetto Nizkor su Jewish Library f3) Holocaust History

  • Documenti sull'Olocausto, fonti selezionate sulla distruzione degli ebrei di Germania e Austria, Polonia e dell'Unione Sovietica (Documents on the Holocaust, Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland and the Soviet Union), Yad Vashem, Gerusalemme, 1981, Documento n°161, pp. 344-345
  • Smith, Peterson: Heinrich Himmler Geheimreden, Indice dei discorsi, pp. 268–277 f.
  • Richard Breitman: Heinrich Himmler, Der Architekt der "Endlösung", Pendo Verlag, Zurigo et al., 2000
  • Registrazione audio del primo discorso di Posen

Note

  1. ^ Nota del traduttore italiano: questo testo è stato dunque tradotto prima dal tedesco all'inglese e ora dall'inglese all'italiano. Considero queste "doppie traduzioni" alquanto pericolose e non posso avere la certezza che ogni frase rimanga realmente fedele all'originale tedesco, che peraltro non ho nemmeno a disposizione.
  2. ^ La parola che nella traduzione dal tedesco all'inglese è stata tradotta come "people" è "Volk". È una parola simile all'inglese "people" nel significato di "un popolo", avente connotazione di una razza, una nazione, una popolazione. Non esiste, comunque, una perfetta traduzione con una singola parola. Ogni occorrenza della parola "people" in questo testo è traduzione di "Volk" (e viceversa). Nota del traduttore italiano: la parola inglese "people" è stata tradotta in italiano come "popolo", traduzione che ha senz'altro gli stessi problemi di quella dal tedesco all'inglese.
  3. ^ a b c "Ausrotten".
  4. ^ Nella testimonianza del processo del dopoguerra, Pohl affermò che fu in occasione di questo discorso che ricevette la "prima notifica ufficiale" che la Soluzione Finale doveva essere lo sterminio.
  5. ^ Himmler in effetti non arrivò mai a dire il verbo "giudicati" in questa frase. Il verbo tedesco sarebbe stato messo alla fine della proposizione; tuttavia, giunto a metà, o perse il filo del discorso o decise volontariamente di cambiare la struttura grammaticale della frase.
  6. ^ a b "Umbringen".

Primo discorso di Posen 4 ottobre 1943: fonte1) Yad Vashem, fonte2) Progetto Nizkor su Jewish Library fonte3) Holocaust History

  • Documents on the Holocaust, Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland and the Soviet Union, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1981, Document no.161. pp. 344-345
  • Smith, Peterson: Heinrich Himmler Geheimreden, Speech index, p. 268–277 f.
  • Richard Breitman: Heinrich Himmler. Der Architekt der „Endlösung“. Pendo Verlag, Zürich et al 2000
Himmler - Secondo discorso di Posen - 6 ottobre 1943

Poi Himmler passò “in [quella] riservatissima cerchia” alla “questione giudaica”, che definiva “la più grave questione della mia vita”: “Vi prego davvero di ascoltare soltanto e di non parlare mai di quanto vi dirò in questo ristretto circolo. Si presentava a noi la questione: che fare di donne e bambini? Anche qui mi sono risolto di trovare una soluzione del tutto netta. Non è che mi sia ritenuto autorizzato a sterminare[1] gli uomini – cioè ucciderli[2] o farli uccidere[2] – per poi lasciar crescere i loro vendicatori, ancora in forma di bambini, contro i nostri figli e nipoti. Si doveva prendere la grave decisione di far sparire quel popolo dalla faccia della terra. Per l’organizzazione che doveva assolvere a questo compito era quanto di più grave si fosse mai presentato. […] Mi sono sentito in dovere di parlare una buona volta apertamente, a voi supremi decisori e dignitari del partito, quest’ordine politico, questo strumento politico del Führer, anche di tale questione, e di dire com'è andata. – La questione giudaica nelle terre da noi occupate sarà sbrigata entro la fine dell’anno. Non resterà altro che l’avanzo dei singoli ebrei rifugiati”. Himmler giustificò nuovamente l’Olocausto con gli attacchi aerei degli alleati. Si mostrò persuaso che “non potremmo sopportare né resistere alla guerra di bombardamento, all’oppressione del quarto e forse del quinto e sesto anno di guerra a venire, se avessimo ancora questa peste nel corpo del nostro popolo”.

  • Da de wiki: Discorsi di Posen

Fonti:

  • Smith, Peterson: Heinrich Himmler, S. 169/170.
  • Zitiert nach Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler – Biographie. Siedler, München 2008, S. 710

Note

  1. ^ "Ausrotten".
  2. ^ a b "Umbringen".
Himmler - "Altri discorsi" in cui si asserisce lo sterminio in atto degli ebrei d'Europa: 16 dicembre 1943, 26 gennaio 1944, 5 maggio 1944, 24 maggio 1944 e il 21 giugno 1944

Le dichiarazioni sulla “soluzione totale della questione giudaica” in cinque altri discorsi segreti di Himmler confermano gli argomenti di Posen. Il 16 dicembre 1943, a Weimar, davanti ai comandanti della marina militare, affermò [30]:
[…] quindi in sostanza ho dato l’ordine di far uccidere anche le donne e i bambini di questi partigiani e commissari. Sarei un codardo e un criminale di fronte ai nostri discendenti se lasciassi crescere i figli carichi d’odio di questi subumani da noi eliminati nella lotta tra uomini e subumani.

Una nota estesa a mano del discorso di Posen del 26 gennaio 1944, tenuto davanti ai generali delle truppe combattenti, suona [31]: Im G.G. [Generalgouvernement] größte Beruhigung seit Lösung d. Judenfrage. – Rassenkampf. Totale Lösung. Nicht Rächer f. unsere Kinder erstehen lassen [Nel Governatorato generale massimo sollievo per la soluzione della questione giudaica. – Battaglia delle razze. Soluzione totale. Non lasciar sorgere vendicatori contro i nostri figli].

Il 5 maggio 1944 a Sonthofen, davanti ai generali, Himmler chiarì che una resistenza nella guerra di bombardamento sarebbe stata possibile solo perché, prima, gli ebrei in Germania erano stati “eliminati“.[1] Poi parafrasò la frase pronunciata da Hitler davanti al parlamento della Grande Germania il 30 gennaio 1939: “Se incitate di nuovo i popoli europei alla guerra tra loro, ciò non vorrà dire lo sterminio[2] del popolo tedesco, ma lo sterminio[2] degli ebrei”. Himmler proseguì [32]: “La questione giudaica è risolta in Germania e in genere nei territori occupati. […] Potete sentire con me quanto duro sia stato il compimento dell’ordine militare che mi fu dato e che ho eseguito e portato a termine per obbedienza e per fermissima convinzione. Se dite ‘Lo capiamo per gli uomini, ma non per i bambini’, devo ricordarvi ciò che ho detto nella mia prima osservazione. […] A mio avviso non siamo affatto autorizzati, pur come tedeschi, nonostante tutte le emozioni che ci vengono dal profondo del cuore, a lasciar crescere dei vendicatori carichi d’odio cosicché debbano poi occuparsene i nostri figli e nipoti, perché noi, padri e avi, siamo stati troppo deboli e vili e abbiamo lasciato tutto a loro”. Nell’audio di un altro discorso, tenuto a Sonthofen di fronte ai generali il 24 maggio 1944, si sente un applauso dopo il seguente passaggio [33]: “Un’altra questione decisiva per la sicurezza interna del Reich e dell’Europa è stata quella giudaica. È stata risolta senza compromessi, secondo gli ordini e la percezione razionale [applauso]. […] Non mi ritenevo autorizzato – questo riguarda le donne e i bambini ebrei – a lasciar crescere nei bambini i vendicatori […]. L’avrei ritenuta una vigliaccheria. E di conseguenza la questione è stata risolta senza compromessi. In questo momento comunque – è un caso singolare in questa guerra – abbiamo introdotto circa 100 000 uomini ebrei ungheresi nei campi di concentramento, e in seguito ne introdurremo altrettanti, per mezzo dei quali edifichiamo stabilimenti sotterranei. Ma nessuno di loro entra in alcun modo nel campo visivo del popolo tedesco”. Il 21 giugno 1944, in occasione della formazione ideologico-politica dei generali [34] a Sonthofen, Himmler dichiarò [35]: “È stato il compito e la la missione più terribile che un’organizzazione potesse ricevere: l’ordine di risolvere la questione giudaica. Posso riferirne di nuovo anche in questa sede in tutta sincerità e in poche parole. È bene che abbiamo avuto il coraggio di sterminare[3] gli ebrei nel nostro territorio”. Himmler tenne a Posen anche un altro discorso, il 3 agosto 1944, subito dopo il fallito attentato del 20 luglio, davanti ai capisezione (Gauleitern) distrettuali e federali del Partito Nazista [36].

  • Da de wiwi : Discorsi di Posen
  • Fonti

[30] Smith, Peterson: Heinrich Himmler, S. 201
[31] Smith, Peterson: Heinrich Himmler, S. 201
[32] Smith, Peterson: Heinrich Himmler, S. 202
[33] Smith, Peterson: Heinrich Himmler, S. 203
[34] Peter Longerich: Der ungeschriebene Befehl S. 191
[35] Smith, Peterson: Heinrich Himmler, S. 203
[36] Institut für Zeitgeschichte: Volltext der Rede (mit einem Vorwort von Theodor Eschenburg) (vedi voce originale)

Note

  1. ^ Nota del traduttore: il verbo virgolettato, "ausscheiden", significa tanto "eliminare" quanto "espellere".[1] Qui si opta per la prima accezione coerentemente con il complemento di stato in luogo "in Deutschland" ("in Germania"), riportato indirettamente ma appartenente anche al testo originale.[2]
  2. ^ a b "Ausrottung"
  3. ^ "Ausrotten".
Himmler - Giudizio degli storici sui suoi discorsi, da Saul Friedländer a Peter Hayes (storico)

Da Wikipedia deː Inquadramento storico

Il regime nazista tenne l’Olocausto rigorosamente celato all’esterno, ma poté organizzarlo e portarlo a compimento solo grazie alla partecipazione di tutti i funzionari chiave dello stato e del partito (cfr. de:Zeitgenössische Kenntnis vom Holocaust). I discorsi di Posen guardano retrospettivamente alla strage già perpetrata e mostrano come essa e le altre azioni di sterminio fossero giustificate ideologicamente. Lo “sterminio”[1] del “nemico interno”, della “razza ebraica” si era fatto obiettivo di guerra: i "successi" in questo campo avrebbero dovuto anche compensare le sconfitte nel corso del conflitto.

Saul Friedländer sottolinea l'immagine di sé offerta da Himmler come esecutore pienamente devoto dei piani di Hitler per il Lebensraum (spazio vitale) germanico a est:

“Il Reichsführer presentava l’annientamento degli ebrei regolarmente come una grave responsabilità che il ‘Führer’ gli aveva assegnato e che perciò non era in questione; questo compito imponeva a lui e ai suoi uomini dedizione continua e costante spirito di sacrificio” [37].

A questo corrispondeva lo sforzo di Himmler di vincolare l’uditorio dei suoi discorsi di Posen a perseverare e a proseguire nel totale “sterminio[1] degli ebrei” e, in tal modo, fondarsi moralmente come futura classe dirigente. Ciò viene in genere ricostruito come una perversione di valori positivi quali la “dignità”, l’“onore”, la “lealtà” (qui riferita al mantenimento del proposito dello sterminio).

Konrad Kwiet vede i discorsi di Himmler come esempi di una nuova “etica” e di consapevole addestramento all’assassinio di massa, in grado di proteggere dopo la fine della guerra i responsabili dal dolore delle vittime e dalla stessa coscienza dei propri crimini.

“È proprio questo mostruoso legame tra assassinio e morale, crimine e dignità, che rappresenta il nucleo della mentalità dei colpevoli. Nell’ambito di una tale etica nazista si creava e si elevava a obbligo morale un concetto del tutto nuovo di decoro. Hannah Arendt ne trasse la formula della ‘banalità del male’, altri autori enfatizzano la ‘normalità del crimine’. Quasi tutti i responsabili infatti si sono distinti per la capacità di tornare alla routine quotidiana e a condurre una vita ‘normale’ dopo la perpetrazione del delitto. I più reagirono con sorpresa, turbamento e rabbia quando furono identificati nel corso del processo e rievocarono il passato. Di fronte al tribunale si enfatizzarono ignoranza e innocenza. Gli assassini – salvo qualche eccezione – restavano risparmiati dall’esperienza traumatica che avevano lasciato ai sopravvissuti [38].

Lo psicologo sociale Harald Welzer spiega in base all’esempio dei discorsi di Posen i tratti fondamentali dell’“etica della dignità” himmleriana, cioè del non arricchirsi e del non trarre alcun vantaggio personale dal delitto, bensì di agire “per amore di una più elevata finalità”.

“Di fatto, questa forma di morale nazionalsocialista – che pure contempla la possibilità di soffrire di persona nel compiere il ‘lavoro sporco’ uccidendo – permette di uccidere e non provarne pena in senso morale” [39].

Secondo Hans Buchheim i responsabili che furono destinatari dei discorsi avevano la chiara consapevolezza dell’ingiustizia. La riconversione himmleriana della virtù militare non sarebbe stata un totale diniego delle norme morali, ma piuttosto una loro sospensione nella situazione straordinaria dello “sterminio[1] degli ebrei”, spacciata per necessità storica. È per questo che Himmler avrebbe approvato assassini di ebrei avvenuti senza un preventivo ordine, ma per i “giusti” motivi ideologici, mentre li faceva perseguire se motivati da sadismo o interesse personale [40].

Secondo Hans Mommsen a Himmler premeva soprattutto, nel rivelare il progetto dell’Olocausto, dissipare il dubbio dei massimi funzionari nazisti che si trattasse solo di un suo progetto privato. In entrambi i discorsi egli avrebbe tentato di “distribuire” la responsabilità “su molteplici spalle”. Ciò sarebbe riuscito solo in parte, poiché indirettamente il discorso avrebbe contribuito a una “strategia di fuga programmata dalla responsabilità” dell’Olocausto, che è stato fatto passare proprio per una faccenda personale di Himmler e delle SS, cui si lasciò volentieri tutta l'autorità del caso [41].

Lo storico Peter Hayes descrive il discorso come la “quintessenza” della condotta dei colpevoli che ingannano sé stessi e prendono le distanze da ciò che hanno commesso: mai essi avrebbero ammesso di aver torturato e ucciso, sempre avrebbero addotto il pretesto di un “sacro fine” in grado di proteggerli dall’accusa di aver agito in modo immorale [42].

Note

  1. ^ a b c "Ausrottung".
Himmler - Cosa affermò in relazione all' Aktion 14f13 scrivendo ai comandanti dei campi di concentramento in una lettera circolare del 12 novembre 1941

«"Come già comunicato per lettera ai comandanti dei campi di concentramento di Dachau, Sachsenausen, Buchenwald, Mauthausen e Auschwitz, nei prossimi giorni giungerà nei suddetti campi una commissione medica con il compito di selezionare i detenuti. Per i campi di concentramento di Flossenburg, Gross Rosen, Neuengamme e Niederhagen l'arrivo della commissione è previsto per la prima metà del gennaio 1942. Poiché i medici disponibili sono molto impegnati, il lavoro di verifica nei campi di concentramento dovrà essere il più breve possibile. Concluse le verifiche dovrà essere inviata all'ispettore dei campi una relazione con la comunicazione del numero di detenuti selezionati per il trattamento speciale 14F13"»

    • Fonte: lettera circolare del 12 novembre 1941 di Himmler ai comandanti dei cdc (vedi qui)
Considerazioni sulla valenza storica dei discorsi di Himmler e prove che smontano il tentativo fantasioso e bizzarro (e senza fonte) dei negazionisti di negarlo, mistificarlo o edulcorarlo (come: gli alleati taroccarono il primo discorso registrato di Himmler usando un loro imitatore per quando Himmler in quel discorso asseriva che lo sterminio degli ebrei era in corso...)
p.e. Archivi Federali di Coblenza e scoperta del secondo discorso (work in progress)


  • Adolf Eichmann, SS-Obersturmbannführer, responsabile di una sezione del RSHA, uno dei maggiori responsabili operativi dello sterminio degli ebrei nella Germania nazista.
    • Al processo di Gerusalemme, nonostante non rinnegò l'ideologia nazista, alla domanda postagli dal presidente della corte Moshe Landau, riguardo a cosa si fosse realmente discusso nel corso della Conferenza di Wannsee, Eichmann affermò: «Si parlò di uccisioni, di eliminazione e di sterminio [...]».
    • Al processo di Gerusalemme Eichmann fu interrogato da Avner Less, un capitano della polizia israeliana, nel maggio 1960 e ammise che durante un incontro con Reinhard Heydrich “il Führer ha ordinato lo sterminio fisico degli ebrei”.
Processo ad Adolf Eichmann - Gerusalemme - sessione 107 (parte 2 di 6) - Eichmann risponde alle domande del presidente della corte Moshe Landau che chiede quali furono gli argomenti trattati alla conferenza di Wannsee. Al processo di Gerusalemme Eichmann viene interrogato da Avner Less, un capitano della polizia israeliana, nel maggio 1960 e ammette che che durante un incontro con Reinhard Heydrich “il Führer ha ordinato lo sterminio fisico degli ebrei”

1. Eichmann Interrogated

    • Q. Now, in connection with the Wannsee record of proceedings - in connection with the Wannsee Conference - you replied to my colleague, Judge Raveh, that in the part not referred to in the record, methods of killing were talked about.

A. Yes.

Q. Who spoke about this topic there?

A. Today, I no longer have any detailed recollection of this matter, Your Honour, but I know that these gentlemen stood together and sat together, and in very blunt words they referred to the matter, without putting it down in writing. I would definitely not be able to remember this, if I did not know that at that time I said to myself: Look at that...Stuckart, who was always considered to be a very precise and very particular stickler for the law, and here the whole tone and all the manner of speech were totally out of keeping with legal language. That is the only thing, I would say, which has actually remained imprinted on my mind.

Q. What did he say about this topic?

A. In detail, Your Honour, I would like...

Q. Not in detail - in general.

A. There was talk about killing and eliminating and exterminating. I myself had in fact to make my preparations for drawing up the record - I could not stand there and just listen - but the words did reach me...got through to me because the room was not, in fact, such a big one that one could not catch single words from the flood of words...

Q. I thought this was in the official part of the meeting?

A. The official part - that did not last very long, that was the...

Q. Was this in the official part or not? I thought it was in the official part, because it appears in the record and...

A. It was also in the official part, Your Honour, but the official part, if you like, in turn consisted of two parts - that is to say, the beginning, where everyone kept quiet and had to listen, and then near the end, where everyone spoke about the matter all at once, and where the whole time the orderlies kept serving cognac or other drinks, and it got to the stage of alcoholic influence...all I mean is that, although it was an official matter, but still, it was not a stiff official matter, where everyone is quiet and everyone lets all the others have their say to the end, but at the end everyone spoke all at once.

Q. But this was also taken down by the male or the female stenographer?

A. Taken down by the male stenographer.

Q. And apparently you were instructed not to include that in the official record of proceedings?

A. Yes, that was the case. The shorthand-typist sat next to me, and I had to ensure that everything was recorded. And after that the shorthand-typist typed this up, and then Heydrich decided what should and what should not be included in the record. And then he, so to speak, polished it further, and then it was ready, this record of proceedings.

Q. And what was said about this important topic, you have no recollection at all of this?

A. Your Honour, this is not the most important point. What is the most important point in the record...

Q. Excuse me, I did not say the most important point, I said "an important topic" - so important that it was then left out.

A. No, on the contrary, Your Honour, Heydrich wanted to make sure that the main points were worked into the record. So it is in fact precisely the other way round. The essential points are in the record, and the non-essential points were then left out by him, because here, so to say - how shall I put it - he created a form of reinsurance, by pinning down the State Secretaries separately.

Q. Does that mean, then, that the methods of killing were an unimportant topic?

A. Oh, the methods of killing?

Q. That is what we are talking about.

A. He did not include those, no, no.

Q. At that time was there talk of killing by gas?

A. No, not by gas.

Q. Then how?

A. There was a discussion about the engine business. I remember that, shooting. About gas I did not know anything, I cannot remember.

Q. There was a discussion of the various methods of possible solutions, and on that District Leader Meyer and State Secretary Dr. Buehler expressed the opinion "that some preparatory work in the course of the Final Solution should be carried out immediately in the relevant areas, but in so doing any alarming of the population should be avoided." Do you remember that?

A. I am sorry, I did not understand that.

Q. If you did not understand, I shall read it out to you again.

A. Yes.

Q. What kind of operations were discussed here? What was the intention?

A. I cannot imagine anything else here, and that I...

Q. Not imagine, I am still asking you, as the Attorney General also asked you all along, "What can you remember?" This was a turning point here, was it not?

A. I had previously seen the preparatory work in the Lublin district, I...where two huts were hermetically sealed, during my...

Q. We have already heard this. I want to know what happened at this conference, what was said about this at that time.

A. Today, I no longer remember, but I am sure that this matter was discussed. Where it says, "on the spot, without alarming the population," I cannot imagine the intention being anything else other than such installations, which I had seen shortly before that time.

Q. Did you at that time report at this meeting on what you had seen?

A. I did not say anything whatsoever at the Wannsee Conference. I simply could not, neither did I have any authority to do so.

Q. Who reported on these technical questions?

A. Actually no one reported. Heydrich spoke, and then everyone spoke together; it is possible that - it is possible, but I do not know, that Buehler perhaps said something, and Krueger will definitely also have spoken here, because Krueger, as the Higher Police Leader for the Generalgouvernement, he was in fact to some extent the head of the entire business, on the spot. Globocnik was in fact subordinate to Krueger, so, as his boss, Krueger must definitely have known about this in detail.

Q. But Krueger, according to the list of participants, did not take part in the Wannsee Conference.

A. But he had previously already been to see Heydrich, and arranged Buehler's participation. And then Heydrich had a lengthy discussion with Krueger; as a result of this I had to send special letters of invitation to Krueger and Buehler.

Q. Now, you have told us that you do not see yourself as an anti-Semite, and also were never an anti-Semite.

A. I was never an anti-Semite, no.

Q. You will agree with me that at first sight this would appear to be a paradox - a convinced National Socialist who is not simultaneously a convinced anti-Semite.

A. It appears to be, but not necessarily.

Q. I saw in your memoirs that you write that you "devotedly gobbled up the Voelkischer Beobachter newspaper, as you put it.

A. Yes.

Q. Is it correct that the Voelkischer Beobachter was full of anti-Semitic propaganda?

A. Yes, that is correct.

Q. So you did not gobble this up devotedly?

A. The Voelkischer Beobachter was first and foremost the largest newspaper we had, and it reported in detail on political and overall current world events.

Q. So you read it as a source of information?

A. I, in fact, received it by virtue of my office and read it as such.

Q. In your memoirs, you speak about the time before you joined the National Socialist Workers' Party.

A. At that time I read it in coffee houses.

Q. What was your attitude, then, to that which you read in it ?

A. During the so-called period of struggle ("Kampfzeit"), I did not only read the Voelkischer Beobachter, I also read the other National Socialist newspapers, and in them read, above all, things about the terror exercised against the SS and the SA. .

Q. Just a moment, I thought you had understood my question. The question was about the anti-Semitic material which was printed in such large quantities in the Voelkischer Beobachter. What was your attitude to that?

A. In Austria this was probably the least-read material, just as the principles of the Party program were hardly read at all, because in Austria it was a question of matters other than these. They were intended for the national student organizations, yes, that I admit, but the normal professional scarcely bothered about these things. I, in fact, was one of them, after all, I was not a member of a student organization.

Q. What was of concern to you, as you, I believe, said, was the economic plight which was triggered by the Treaty of Versailles. That is roughly what you said.

A. Economic and national plight.

Q. Yes.

A. In addition, there was the fact that I did not become acquainted with anti-Semitism through my parental home.

Q. If I am not mistaken, National Socialist propaganda connected the economic plight with World Jewry.

A. Yes.

Q. What was your attitude to this part of the National Socialist propaganda?

A. Basically, for the man in the street the deep roots and - the cause - was in fact the least important aspect - it was - this period of unemployment, this was the most important thing.

Q. I do not consider you to be the man in the street.

A. At that time I was working professionally, for the Vacuum Oil Company, and I had hardly concerned myself with - let us say with intellectual values, except for...the only thing was when I came home on Saturdays and Sundays, in the coffee house - the reading material in the coffee house - but nothing else. I had no time for this.

Q. You were 25, 26 years old, when you joined the Party?

A. Yes.

Q. We have heard from you that you are someone who likes to think things over - at that time was this not the case?

A. At that time, when I was travelling repeatedly, I hardly concerned myself at all with all these things. I pursued my...my private interests, which were neither literature nor similar intellectual matters.

Q. Did you know of those sections of the Party platform which concern Jews - concern the Jewish Question - before you joined the Party?

A. Before I joined the Party, practically nobody at all, scarcely anyone concerned himself with this.

Q. Not "scarcely anyone." Do not tell me now about "anyone." We are talking here about Adolf Eichmann. Were you familiar with this, "yes" or "no"?

A. No, because I was to some extent received into the Party against my expectations, and also without making up my mind. It went so quickly and so suddenly that I...in fact, I knew nothing at all about it beforehand. I was, in fact, a candidate some time before that.

Q. But you did know that Hitler was an extreme anti-Semite?

A. Yes, I knew that.

Q. Already at that time?

A. Everyone knew that.

Q. And that the Nazi Party was built on the Fuehrer principle, I suppose you knew that as well?

A. Everyone knew that as well, yes.

Q. When you were already a member of the Party, in 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were passed?

A. Yes.

Q. The trend of these laws was to remove the Jews from the German national body?

A. Yes.

Q. What was your attitude to this legislation?

A. My attitude at that time was like that of many people - the bark is worse than the bite. That is the briefest way of putting the thought that I could come up with.

Q. In other words, that Hitler did not intend to implement this legislation which was passed by the Reichstag according to his ideas.

A. At that time, like many people who had grown up in Austria, I tended to think that things would not all be implemented along the propaganda lines, and as things are reported; rather, I thought, the bark is worse than the bite. That was the general point of view of everyone then living in Austria, and in fact, at that time, I had just come from Austria.

Q. But in 1934 you were already in Germany?

A. Yes, in 1934 I was in Germany.


2. Eichmann Interrogated The first part of this page deals with the interrogation of Adolf Eichmann, by Avner Less, a captain in the Israeli police, in May 1960:

Adolf Eichmann admitted during the interrogation with Less, that during a meeting with Reinhard Heydrich, he was informed that the “The Führer has ordered physical extermination of the Jews”. Heydrich ordered Eichmann to pay a visit to see Odilo Globocnik, the Higher SS and Police Leader in Lublin. Heydrich confirmed that the Fuhrer has already given him instructions, and he wanted Eichmann to check on progress. Heydrich thought Globocnik was using Russian anti-tank trenches for exterminating the Jews. Eichmann went to Lublin, and located the headquarters of SS Police Commander and reported to Gruppenführer Globocnik. Eichmann added that Globocnik sent for a certain Sturmbannführer Höfle, who was on the Aktion Reinhardt staff.

Eichmann and Höfle went from Lublin to Belzec. Eichmann described the site: there were patches of woods, sort of, and the road passed through – a Polish highway. On the right side of the road there was an ordinary house, that’s where the men who worked there lived. A captain of the regular police (Ordnungspolizei) welcomed us. This was Christian Wirth. A few workmen were still there. Wirth took off his jacket, and rolled up his sleeves, he joined in the work. They were building little wooden shacks, two, maybe three of them, they looked like two or three room cottages. Höfle told Wirth to explain the installation to Eichmann, which he did. Wirth had a vulgar, uncultivated voice. With a dialect from the south-western corner of Germany, and he told me he had made everything airtight. It seems they were going to hook up a Russian submarine engine and pipe the exhaust into the houses and the Jews inside would be gassed.

Eichmann was unsure whether it was Belzec or Treblinka, but it was Belzec, and it was probably in the beginning of 1942 when the gas chambers were finished, awaiting the arrival of the first transports to the camp. His visit to Belzec was connected with the beginning of the deportations of the Czech Jews from Theresienstadt and mass deportations of the Jews from Slovakia to the Lublin district. Between March and June 1942 the Jews from the Czech and Slovakian regions were deported to transit ghettos in Izbica, Zamość, Rejowiec, Chelm, Piaski, Lubartow, Miedzyrzec Podlaski, Deblin and Opole Lubelskie, the concentration camp at Lublin (Majdanek) and directly to the Sobibor death camp. The total number deported was 14,000 Czech Jews and 39,889 Slovakian Jews. 6900 Czech Jews and 9700 Slovakian Jews were murdered in the Belzec death camp.

The second Aktion Reinhardt camp Eichmann visited was the death camp at Treblinka. Eichmann explained he received orders to pay another visit to Globocnik. He went to see Globocnik in Treblinka, The installations were in operation, and he had to report to Muller. Eichmann expected to see a wooden house on the right side of the road and a few more wooden houses on the left, that’s what he remembered. Instead, again with the same Sturmbannführer Höfle, he arrived at the camp with a railroad station with a sign saying Treblinka, looking exactly like a German railroad station- anywhere in Germany – a replica, with signboards, etc. Eichmann said he hung back as far as he could, didn’t push closer to see it all. He saw a footbridge enclosed in barbed wire and over that footbridge a file of naked Jews was being driven into a big house to be gassed. Eichmann admitted that after the Wannsee Conference, Heydrich instructed Eichmann to give further written evidence to Globocnik, regarding the killing of more Jews, as part of the ‘Final Solution ‘.

2. Eichmann in Lublin Jacob Frank, a Jewish native of Lublin, was the SS-designated supervisor of the tailoring department of the 7 Lipowa Street labour camp in Lublin. Frank recalled a 1942 inspection of the Lipowa St labour camp that involved Adolf Eichmann, who was escorted by Globocnik, Maubach, Mohwinkel, Schramm, Klein, Hantke, and the Standartenführer von Alvensleben.

3. Eichmann at Belzec and Treblinka Eichmann admitted that he visited Belzec and Treblinka, during his trial, but not Sobibor, which was at odds with the testimony of Moshe Bahir, whose original name was Shkalek, a former prisoner at Sobibor, who stated that he saw Eichmann at Sobibor in July 1942 and in February 1943 when RFSS Heinrich Himmler visited the death camp.

4. German Police Decodes & Related Activity In a message dated 24 August 1942 from Globocnik to Rolf Gunther ( Eichmann’s deputy in RSHA IV B4) about the evacuation of the Rumanian Jews, all deportation trains should be directed to Trawniki, from where further distribution would take place.

A conference was held at the Ministry of Transport in Berlin on September 26 and 28 1942, to discuss the transportation requirements for the deportation of an additional 600,000 Jews from the General Gouvernement and the expulsion of 200,000 Jews from Rumania to Belzec.

The conference was attended by Eichmann or Rolf Gunther, Steir of the General Direction of the Ostbahn (GEDOB), and headed by Klem of the Ministry of Transport.

The following was decided

Evacuation of the Polish Jews

Urgent transports as proposed by the Chief of the Security Police and SD

2 trains daily from the Warsaw District to Treblinka

1 train daily from the Radom District to Treblinka

1 train daily from the Cracow District to Belzec

1 train daily from the Lvov District to Belzec

These transports will be carried out with the 200 freight cars already made available for this purpose by order of the Directorate of the German railways in Cracow, as far as this is possible.

Upon completion of the repair of the Lublin – Chelm line, about November 1942, the other urgent transports will also be carried out.

These are :

1 train daily from the Radom District to Sobibor

1 train daily from the north Lublin District to Belzec

1 train daily from the central Lublin district to Sobibor

In so far as this is practicable and the required number of freight cars are available. With the reduction of the transports of potatoes, it is expected that it will be possible for the special train service to be able to place at the disposal of the Directorate of the German railway in Cracow the necessary freight cars. Thus the train transportation required will be available in accordance with the above proposals and the plan completed this year.

The deportation of the Rumanian Jews to Belzec did not materialise, due to a number of factors, such as internal squabbles within the Rumanian administration, a protest submitted by the United States, to the Rumanian government in September 1942, and various efforts by Jewish leaders within Rumania.

But in fact, during that time the Rumanian administration organised its own “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”. Many Rumanian Jews were murdered during the pogroms in Rumania (for example in Iassi and Bucharest) or thousands of them were transferred to Transistria in Ukraine and they were killed in the camps and ghettos there. In Transistria the Rumanians killed about 87.000 Rumanian Jews. The pogroms and mass murder in Rumania stopped only in 1944.

One of the most important messages intercepted by the British was the year end report on Aktion Reinhardt, sent by Höfle, marked Geheime Reichssache, (Reich State Secret) to Adolf Eichmann on 11 January 1943. This was only partially intercepted, the second message to SS-Obersturmbannführer Heim, BdS Krakau, was probably identical, and whilst coded shows the number of people deported to Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka.


Sources : Holocaust Historical Society

Jochen von Lang, Eichmann Interrogated, published by Da Capo Press 1999
Joe Poprzeczny, Hitler’s Man in the East, published by McFarland & Company, Jefferson and London 2004
Y Arad, Belzec , Sobibor and Treblinka, published by Indianna University Press 1987
Bundesarchiv in Ludwigsburg, II-208 AR 643/71, Documents of the investigations against Karl Streibel and others, Vol. IV.
Janina Kielbon: Migracje ludnosci w dystrykcie lubelskim w latach 1939-1944 (Migrations of the population in the Lublin District in the Years 1939-1944). Lublin 1995.
www. Nizkor project – Adolf Eichmann Trial Transcripts
Höfle – Heim intercepted police decode: National Archives Kew HW16/.32
© Holocaust Historical Society 2014


  • Kurt Franz, SS-Untersturmführer, feroce e crudele comandante del campo di sterminio di Treblinka
  • Dichiarazione sugli ebrei sterminati a Treblinka
Cosa disse Kurt Franz - tre dichiarazioni sullo sterminio


  • Cosa disse1: Non posso sapere quanti ebrei siano stati gassati a Treblinka. In media ogni giorno arrivava un treno. Spesso due. Ma non era così comune. A Treblinka ero comandante delle guardie ucraine così come al campo di Bełżec. A Treblinka, così come a Bełżec, questo gruppo consisteva di 16/18 uomini il cui compito era di equipaggiare le torrette di protezione del campo. Dopo la sommossa dell'agosto del 1943 presi in mano la situazione per circa un mese, ma non ci furono gasamenti. È stato in quel periodo che il campo è stato smantellato.
  • Fonte : Processo di Treblinka dichiarazione riportata da The Free Press, New York nel 1988 - anche HEART
  • Cosa disse2: Ho sentito con le mie orecchie come Wirth, con una voce alquanto convincente, spiegò agli ebrei che sarebbero stati ulteriormente deportati e prima di ciò, per motivi igienici, avrebbero dovuto lavarsi e i loro abiti avrebbero dovuto essere disinfettati. Dentro la baracca per spogliarsi c'era un banco per il deposito degli oggetti di valore. Fu chiarito agli ebrei che dopo essersi lavati i preziosi sarebbero stati loro restituiti. Sento ancora oggi come gli ebrei plausero a Wirth dopo il suo discorso. Questo comportamento degli ebrei mi convince che essi credettero a Wirth.
  • Fonte : Processo di Belzec dichiarazione riportata su HEART (qui)
  • Cosa disse3: Era la fine dell'estate o l'inizio dell'autunno 1942 quando arrivai a Treblinka provenendo da Belzec. Venni a piedi dalla stazione di Malkinia, arrivando a Treblinka che era già buio. Nel campo c'erano cadaveri riversi dappertutto. Mi pare di ricordare che fossero gonfi. Alcuni ebrei li trascinavano attraverso il campo fino alla parte più alta. Gli ebrei al lavoro venivano incitati da poliziotti ucraini ma anche da tedeschi. Ho anche visto che venivamo percossi, non saprei dire con che cosa. C'era una enorme confusione e un grande frastuono.[...] La sera stessa ho fatto un giro per il campo, constatando che alcune sentinelle si intrattenevano con delle ragazze senza avere un fucile a portata di mano. Quindi ho ristabilito l'ordine come ho potuto. Riferii a Wirth in sala mensa, a quanto ricordo lì c'erano Wirth, Stangl e Oberhauser. Il giorno dopo, ho visitato il campo di primo mattino. Non vedevo più cadaveri sparsi qua e là. Verso le 9, o forse un po' più tardi, arrivò un convoglio. Quando mi avvicinai, le persone si trovvano già nude nel cosiddetto «posto di raccolta»
  • Fonte: Processo di Treblinka dichiarazione riportata su (HEART)
  • Fonte: p. 190 di "Bei tempi..." di Klee, Dreben e Rieb


  • Georg Konrad Morgen - integerrimo giudice nazista appartenente alle SS e assegnato al ReichsKriminalPolizeiAmt (RKPA) per indagare sui crimini finanziari nei campi di sterminio e concentramento nazisti
  • Testimone al processo di Norimberga sullo sterminio in corso nei campi visitati e su una delle camere a gas da lui "visitata" a Birkenau.
Dichiarazioni del giudice nazista Georg Konrad Morgen a Norimberga

Konrad Morgen was born on the 8 June 1908 in Frankfurt –am – Main, the son of a railroad worker. He chose a career in the legal profession and graduated from the University of Frankfurt and The Hague Academy of International Law, and became a judge in Stettin. He was posted to the Hauptamt SS- Gericht (the main office of the legal department) in Krakow and was responsible for investigating cases of corruption, his tenacity in prosecuting the course of justice earned him the nickname "The Bloodhound Judge". After a disagreement with Freidrich Wilhelm Kruger – Higher SS and Police Leader East he was posted to the front-line to serve in the SS Wiking Division, but in 1943 he was re-assigned to the ReichsKriminalPolizeiAmt (RKPA) to investigate financial crimes, and was now an Oberstrurmfuhrer. In July 1943 Morgen investigated alleged corruption and irregularities at the Buchenwald Concentration camp in Weimar. Karl Otto Koch the commandant was investigated, as was his wife Ilse, and Koch was found guilty and executed by the SS on the 26 April 1945. Also in the summer of 1943 Morgen and a team of Kriminalpolizei officers were sent from Berlin to Lublin, following information sent by Johannes Muller, commander of the Sicherheitspolizei in Lublin, who had heard of a Jewish wedding at a camp attended by over 1,000 guests, including members of the SS. Morgen’s enquiries led him to a camp – described to him in Lublin as “impenetrable and mysterious” – this camp was the death camp at Sobibor where he found Wirth. To his astonishment, Wirth admitted responsibility for the Jewish wedding at the death camp. Morgen asked what all these Jews and the SS unit were doing there at Sobibor, anyway. Wirth then disclosed to Morgen that on the orders of the Fuhrer he was carrying out the extermination of the Jews. Morgen, nonplussed asked “what this had to do with the Jewish wedding?” Wirth then explained to Morgen the huge deception operation he had organised in the three Aktion Reinhard death camps where Jewish workers were employed in the extermination and seizure of their property. Wirth further explained that he had “given them every freedom, so to speak, given them a financial share in the exploitation of the victims.” In this way he had allowed the Jewish wedding to take place. At first Morgen thought Wirth’s story of mass –extermination in the death camps to be pure fantasy, until he went to the “Alter Flugplatz” camp near Majdanek and discovered that not only was this the depot where the victims personal belongings were sent from Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka death camps, but also Wirth’s headquarters. Morgen recalled: “It was a camp which held the belongings, or a part of the belongings of the victims. Because of the extent of this – there were unheard of piles of watches stacked up there – I had to realise that something monstrous was going on here. I was also shown the valuables; I can say that I have never seen so much gold, especially foreign gold. I saw all kinds of money from all over the world collected together, as well as melted-down gold, whole ingots of gold. I also saw the headquarters from where Wirth directed his operations; it was very small and inconspicuous. He actually had only three or four people with him. I also talked to them." At Wirth’s Inspector of Aktion Reinhard Camps headquarters, Morgen also observed the T4 couriers arriving and departing: “These couriers actually came from Berlin, Tiergartenstrasse 4, the Fuhrer’s Chancellery, and returned there. I examined Wirth’s correspondence and confirmed a great deal.” Morgen also carried out investigations of corruption at Majdanek where commandant Florstedt was found guilty of corruption and he was executed by the SS on the 15 April 1945 at Buchenwald concentration camp. Hermann Hackmann was also found guilty, and sentenced to serve in an SS penal unit. By the second half of 1943 Morgen went to Auschwitz concentration camp to investigate corruption. He headed a commission consisting of Obersturmfuhrer Reimers, Hauptsturmfuhrer Bartsch and Hauptsturmfuhrer Dr Fischer. Konrad Morgen describes his visit: “What triggered my investigation was an Army postal packet sent back home from Auschwitz and the customs had opened this packet and found there were one or two kilos of gold in it. And it was dental gold and then nobody could work out how this dentist had got hold of so much gold and I was supposed to go down there and find out what was behind it. One morning very early I arrived by train and was very curious to see what sort of place it was and somehow or other you had the feeling that a place where such incredible ghastly things were happening on such a huge scale that it would somehow exude a frightful aura, that there would be something peculiar about it. But no, there it was, a perfectly ordinary, grey, miserable, dirty industrial town. It was all perfectly normal, you didn’t see anything of the concentration camp either. I was picked up in the commandant’s car, and a few minutes later found myself face to face with Commandant Hoss…. I explained my business to him and asked him to show me, the whole concentration camp including the extermination machinery. Then he gave me a chap to guide me round and we made a very thorough tour.” Morgen recalled visiting the gas chambers and the SS living quarters: “The crematoriums weren’t really noticeable. The ground was hollowed on an incline, and an outsider would only see that the wagons disappeared into a depression in the ground. A big door led to the so-called undressing room, where there were numbered places and cloakroom tickets. Arrows on the wall pointed to the showers. The signs were in six or seven languages. In the enormous crematorium everything was spick and span. Nothing suggested that thousands of people had been gassed and burned the previous night. Nothing was left of them, not even a speck of dust on the oven fittings. I wanted to meet the SS people and went to the SS guardroom in Birkenau. There I got my first real shock. While guardrooms were generally of Spartan simplicity, here SS men lay on couches and dozed, staring ahead glassy-eyed. Instead of a desk there was a hotel kitchen stove in the room and four or five young Jewesses of Oriental beauty were making potato pancakes and feeding the SS men, who had themselves waited on like pashas. The SS men and the female prisoners used the familiar form, “Du” with one another. At my horrified questioning look, my escort simply shrugged his shoulders and said that the men had a hard night behind them, they had to process several transports. At a final locker check, it turned out in a few lockers, a wealth of gold, pearls rings, and currency of all countries was piled up. In one or two lockers there were genitals of freshly slaughtered bulls, which were supposed to enhance potency. I had never seen anything like it.” Evidence of theft by SS men were deposited in a barracks which burnt down on the 7 December 1943, so all the evidence was destroyed. Maximillian Grabner director of the Political Department in Auschwitz was arrested by Dr Morgen accused of killing 2,000 prisoners “beyond the general guidelines.” Grabner’s was tried by an SS court in Weimar but was never concluded but he was tried and sentenced to death by the Supreme War Tribunal in Krakow in 1947. Morgen carried out investigations into corruption at other camps such as Sachsenhausen, Flossenberg, Vught, Dachau and Plaszow, and the list of major SS men investigated is as follows: xxxxxxx (tabella) xxxxxx After the war he appeared as a witness at the trial of major war criminals in front of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, at the trial of the SS WVHA functionaries, and at the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt –am – Main in 1965. Konrad Morgen died on the 4 February 1982.


  • Paul Blobel, ufficiale delle SS con il grado di Standartenführer e membro dell'SD, comandante dell'Einsatzgruppe C
  • Norimberga 18 giugno 1947 - rilascia un affidavit in cui parla dei suoi crimini e dell'ordine ricevuto di far sparire tutte le prove
Affidavit di Paul Blobel rilasciato a Norimberga il 18 giugno 1947

Affidavit di Paul Blobel rilasciato a Norimberga il 18 giugno 1947

Io, Paul Blobel, giuro, dichiaro e metto agli atti:

1. Nacqui a Potsdam il 13 agosto 1894. Dal giugno 1941 al gennaio 1942, fui Comandante del Sonderkommando 4 A.

2. Dopo che avevo concluso questo comando, dovevo fare rapporto a Berlino all'Obergruppenfuehrer delle SS Heydrich e al Gruppenfuehrer Mueller, e nel giugno 1942 mi è stato affidato dal Gruppenfuehrer Mueller il compito di cancellare le tracce delle esecuzioni compiute dal Einsatzgruppen nell'est. I miei ordini erano di fare rapporto in persona ai comandanti della Polizia di Sicurezza e SD, trasmettere verbalmente gli ordini di Mueller, e supervisionare la loro implementazione. Quest'ordine era top secret e il Gruppenfuehrer Mueller aveva dato ordini che a causa della necessità della più stretta segretezza, non ci fosse corrispondenza in relazione a questo compito. Nel settembre 1942 feci rapporto al Dr. Thomas a Kiev e passai l'ordine a lui. L'ordine non poteva essere eseguito subito, in parte perché il Dr. Thomas era riluttante ad eseguirlo, e in parte perché i materiali necessari per bruciare i corpi non erano disponibili. In maggio e giugno 1943 feci ulteriori viaggi a Kiev per tale questione e infine, dopo conversazioni col Dr. Thomas e con l'SS e Capo della Polizia, l'ordine venne eseguito.

3. Durante la mia visita in agosto osservai personalmente i corpi che venivano bruciati in una fossa comune presso Kiev. Questa fossa era lunga circa 55 metri, larga 3 metri e profonda 2,5. Dopo che la copertura era stata rimossa, i corpi furono coperti di materiale infiammabile e fu appiccato il fuoco. Ci vollero circa due giorni perché la fossa bruciasse fino in fondo. Osservai personalmente il fuoco bruciare fino in fondo. Poi la fossa fu riempita e a quel punto le tracce erano praticamente cancellate.

4. A causa dell'avanzamento della prima linea non fu possibile continuare a distruggere le fosse comuni a sud e a est, che erano risultate dalle esecuzioni da parte degli Einsatzgruppen. Viaggiai verso Berlino in questa situazione per fare rapporto, e fui poi mandato in Estonia dal Gruppenfuehrer Mueller. Trasmisi gli stessi ordini all'Oberfuehrer Achammer-Pierader a Riga, e anche all'Obergruppenfuehrer Jeckeln. Tornai a Berlino per fare rifornimento. I roghi dei corpi cominciarono solo in maggio o giugno 1944. Ricordo che gli incenerimenti venivano effettuati nelle aree di Riga e Reval. Ero presente a tali incenerimenti presso Reval, ma qui le fosse erano più piccole e contenevano solo dai 20 ai 30 corpi. Le fosse nell'area di Reval erano a circa 20 o 30 km a est della città in una zona paludosa e penso che 4 o 5 di queste fosse siano state aperte e i corpi bruciati.

5. Secondo i miei ordini avrei dovuto estendere i miei doveri sull'intera area occupata dagli Einsatzgruppen, ma a causa della ritirata dalla Russia non potei assolutamente eseguire gli ordini....

Ho fatto questa deposizione di mia spontanea volontà, senza alcun tipo di promessa di ricompensa, né sono stato soggetto ad alcuna forma di obbligo o minaccia.

Norimberga, 18 giugno 1947, firmato Paul Blobel NO-3947.


  • Karl Hölblinger, SS ad Auschwitz, testimone al processo di Francoforte (non accusato di alcun crimine)
  • Sua testimonianza al processo di Francoforte conferma le camere a gas ad Auschwitz - Birkenau
Karl Hölblinger, SS ad Auschwitz, testimone al "Processo di Francoforte" (non accusato di alcun crimine). Nella sua testimonianza al Processo di Francoforte conferma le camere a gas ad Auschwitz - Birkenau


  • Kurt Gerstein, ufficiale delle Waffen-SS e membro dell'Istituto d'Igiene delle SS.
    • rilascia un affidavit in cui ammette i suoi crimini; ammette anche di aver ricevuto l'ordine (top secret) di far sparire le prove degli innumerevoli eccidi commessi dalle Einsatzgruppen nella prima parte parte dell'Olocausto
Affifavit: Il campo di Belzec nel Rapporto di Kurt Gerstein

«Riportiamo un lungo passo del resoconto steso da Gerstein in data 26 aprile 1945 (a guerra non ancora finita) e da lui consegnato agli Alleati il 5 maggio, al momento della sua cattura. Dopo la stesura del rapporto, Gerstein fu interrogato da ufficiali francesi il 26 giugno e il 10 luglio 1945, e in quelle sedi confermò le proprie affermazioni, senza smentire nulla. Originariamente, il rapporto che presentiamo fu scritto in un francese zoppicante e incerto. Gerstein stesso, pertanto, stese più tardi altri due resoconti in lingua tedesca. La scena narrata va collocata intorno al 20 agosto 1942. Gerstein era accompagnato da un altro tecnico che lavorava per le SS, il prof. Pfannenstiel, docente di igiene dell’università di Margburg-Lahn».

Due giorni dopo partimmo per Belzec. Una piccola stazione speciale di due sole banchine è addossata alla collina di sabbia gialla, subito a nord della strada Lublino-Lwow. A sud, vicino alla scarpata, qualche casa di servizio e il cartello: Ufficio Belzec: delle Waffen-SS. Globocnik mi presentò all’SS-Hauptsturmführer Obermayer [errore di Gerstein; il nome corretto era Oberhauser – n.d.r.], di Pirmasens, che mi mostrò con molta reticenza le istallazioni. Quel giorno non si videro morti, ma un odore pestilenziale ammorbava tutta la zona. Di fianco alla stazione c’era una grande baracca vestiario con uno sportello valori. Più lontano una sala, con un centinaio di sedie, parrucchiere. Quindi un corridoio scoperto di 150 metri, chiuso ai due lati da filo spinato, con la scritta: Ai bagni e alle inalazioni. Davanti a noi un edificio tipo stabilimento per bagni; a destra e a sinistra, grandi vasi con gerani e altri fiori. Sul tetto, la stella di David in ottone. Sull’edificio la scritta: Fondazione Hackenholt. Quel pomeriggio non scoprii altro. L’indomani mattina, dieci minuti prima delle sette, mi fu annunciato: <<Tra dieci minuti arriverà il primo treno!>>. E infatti, poco tempo dopo, arrivava un treno da Lemberg, 45 vagoni contenenti più di 6000 persone, 1450 già morte al loro arrivo. Dietro al filo spinato dei finestrini, visi atterriti di bambini e ragazzi, di donne e uomini. Il treno si ferma: 200 ucraini incaricati di questo servizio tirano via le portiere e con fruste di cuoio cacciano gli ebrei fuori dalle vetture. Un altoparlante dà le istruzioni: togliersi tutti i vestiti nonché le protesi dentarie e gli occhiali. Appaiare le scarpe con pezzetti di spago distribuiti da un bambino ebreo. Consegnare tutti i valori, tutto il denaro allo sportello valori senza riceverne un cenno, una ricevuta. Le donne e le ragazze, farsi tagliare i capelli nella baracca del parrucchiere (un SS-Unterführer di servizio mi disse: <<Servono per fare qualche cosa di particolare per gli equipaggi dei sottomarini>>). Poi la marcia cominciò: a destra e a sinistra il filo spinato, dietro due dozzine di ucraini, fucile alla mano. Si avvicinano. Io e Wirth ci ritroviamo davanti alle camere della morte. Passano uomini, donne, ragazze, bambini di ogni età, mutilati, tutti completamente nudi. In un angolo, un robusto SS dice ai disgraziati con una gran voce paterna: <<Non vi succederà niente di male! Bisogna solo respirare molto profondo, fortifica i polmoni questa inalazione, è un mezzo per evitare le malattie contagiose, è una bella disinfezione!>>. Gli domandavano quale sarebbe stata la loro sorte. Quello rispondeva: <<Gli uomini dovranno lavorare, costruire delle strade ferrate e delle case. Ma le donne non vi saranno obbligate; si occuperanno del mènage, della cucina>>. Per qualcuno di questi disgraziati si accendeva un’ultima piccola speranza, sufficiente perché andassero avanti senza resistenza verso le camere della morte. Ma la maggior parte di essi sa: il puzzo è inconfondibile! Ora salgono su per una scaletta di legno ed entrano nelle camere della morte, più senza dire una parola, sospinti dagli altri che vengono dietro di loro. Un’ebrea di circa quarant’anni, gli occhi come due fiamme, maledice gli assassini, ne riceve qualche frustata da parte dello stesso capitano Wirth e scompare nella camera a gas. Molti recitano le loro preghiere; altri chiedono: <<Chi è che ci darà dell’acqua per la morte?>> (rito israelita). […] Delle SS spingono gli uomini nelle camere a gas: <<Riempirle bene>>, ha ordinato Wirth: 700-800 su 93 metri quadrati. Le porte vengono chiuse. Nel frattempo, il resto del carico resta nudo in attesa. Qualcuno mi dice: <<Nudi così, pieno inverno possono morirne!>>. <<Ma non sono qui per questo?>> era la risposta. In quel momento comprendo la ragione della scritta: Hackenholt è il fuochista della diesel i cui gas di scappamento sono destinati a uccidere quei disgraziati. L’SS-Unterscharführer Hackenholt si sforza di mettere in marcia il motore. Ma niente! Arriva il capitano Wirth. Lo si vede bene, egli ha paura perché io assisto al disastro. Sì, io vedo tutto e aspetto. Il mio cronometro stop ha segnato tutto, 50 minuti, 70 minuti, la diesel non si mette in moto! Gli uomini aspettano invano nelle camere a gas. Si sentono piangere <<come nella sinagoga>>, dice il professor Pfannenstiel, l’occhio fisso al finestrino che si apre sulla porta di legno. Il capitano Wirth, furioso, vibra qualche scudisciata all’ucraino che è l’aiutante di Hackenholt. Dopo 2 ore e 49 minuti – il mio orologio ha registrato tutto – la diesel si mette in moto. Fino a quel momento le vittime, nelle quattro camere a gas già stipate, ancora vivono, quattro volte 750 persone in quattro volte 45 metri cubi! Passano altri 25 minuti. Molti sono già morti: è quanto s’intravede dal finestrino quando un lampo di elettricità rischiara per un momento l’interno della camera. Dopo 28 minuti pochi sopravvivono ancora. Dopo 32 minuti, tutti infine sono morti. Dall’altro lato alcuni addetti ebrei aprono le porte di legno. E’ stata promessa loro – per il loro terribile servizio – salva la vita, e una piccola percentuale dei valori e del denaro requisito. Come colonne di basalto, le vittime sono ancora là, ritte in piedi, non essendoci il ben che minimo spazio per cadere o piegarsi. Nella morte stessa, si riconoscono ancora le famiglie che si stringono per mano. Si dura fatica a separarli svuotando le stanze per il carico successivo, si gettano via i corpi bluastri, umidi di sudore e di orina, le gambe piene di sterco e di sangue mestruale. Due dozzine di inservienti si occupano di controllare le bocche, aprendole con dei ganci di ferro. <<Oro a sinistra, niente oro a destra!>>. Altri controllano gli ani e gli organi genitali cercando monete, diamanti, oro ecc. Alcuni dentisti strappano con dei martelletti denti d’oro, ponti, corone. In mezzo a loro c’è il capitano Wirth. E’ nel suo elemento e, mostrandomi un grande barattolo pieno di denti, mi dice: <<Vedete voi stesso che quantitativo d’oro! E’ solamente di ieri e dell’altro ieri. Voi non immaginate che cosa troviamo ogni giorno tra dollari, diamanti, oro! Vedrete voi stesso!>>. Mi guidò da un gioielliere che aveva la responsabilità di tutti questi valori. Mi furono presentati anche uno dei direttori del grande magazzino Kufhaus des Westens e un ometto al quale si faceva suonare il violino: i capi dei commandos dei lavoratori ebrei. <<E’ un capitano dell’armata imperiale austriaca, cavaliere della croce di ferro tedesca!>> mi disse Wirth. Fonte:

  • Saul Friedländer, L’ambiguità del bene. Il caso del nazista pentito Kurt Gerstein, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, pp. 73-75. Traduzione di M. T. Lanza
  • Trascrizione : qui


  • Otto Ohlendorf, SS-Gruppenführer (tenente generale), responsabile dei massacri ad opera delle Einsatzgruppen-D
    • testimonianza a Norimberga il 3 gennaio 1946
    • Cosa disse rispondendo alle domande del Tribunale Militare Internazionale:
Otto Ohlendorf - testimonianza del 3 gennaio 1946 a Norimberga

COLONEL JOHN HARLAN AMEN (Associate Trial Counsel for the United States): May it please the Tribunal, I wish to call as a witness for the Prosecution, Mr. Otto Ohlendorf ...
[Witness Otto Ohlendorf took the stand]
THE PRESIDENT: Otto Ohlendorf, will you repeat this oath after me" "I swear by God the Almighty and Omniscient that I will speak the pure truth and will withhold and add nothing."
[The witness repeated the oath]
COL. AMEN: Will you try to speak slowly and pause between each question and answer.
OTTO OHLENDORF: Yes.
COL. AMEN: Where were you born?
OHLENDORF: In Hohen-Egelsen.
COL. AMEN: How old are you?
OHLENDORF: Thirty-eight years old.
COL. AMEN: When, if ever, did you become a member of the National Socialist Party?
OHLENDORF: 1925.
COL. AMEN: When, if ever, did you become a member of the SA?
OHLENDORF: For the first time in 1926.
COL. AMEN: When, if ever, did you become a member of the SS?
OHLENDORF: I must correct my answer to the previous question. I thought you were asking about my membership in the SS.
COL. AMEN: When did you become a member of the SA?
OHLENDORF: In the year 1925.
COL. AMEN: When, if ever, did you join the SD?
OHLENDORF: In 1936.
COL. AMEN: What was your last position in the SD?
OHLENDORF: Chief of Amt III in the RSHA....
COL. AMEN: Did you tell us for what period of time you continued as chief of Amt III?
OHLENDORF: I was part-time chief of Amt III from 1939 to 1945.
COL. AMEN: Turning now to the designation "Mobile Units" with the army shown in the lower right hand corner of the chaart, please explain to the Tribunal the significance of the terms "Einsatzgruppe" and "Einsatzkommando."
OHLENDORF: The concept "Einsatzgruppe" was established after an agreement between the chiefs of the RSHA, OKW, AND OKH, on the seperate use of Sipo units in the operational areas. The concept of "Einsatzgruppe" first appeared during the Polish campaign.
The agreement with the OKH and OKW however, was arrived at only before the beginning of the Russian campaign. This agreement specified that a representative of the chief of the Sipo and the SD would be assigned to the army groups, or armies, and that this official would have at his disposal mobile units of the Sipo and the SD in the form of an Einsatzgruppe, subdivided into Einsatzkommandos. The Einsatzkommandos would, on orders from the army group or army, be assigned to the individual army units as needed.
COL. AMEN: State, if you know, whether prior to the campaign against Soviet Russia, any agreement was entered into between the OKW, OKH, and RHSA?
OHLENDORF: Yes, the Einsatzgruppen and Einsatzkommandos, as I have just described them, were used on the basis of a written agreement between the OKW, OKH, and RHSA.
COL. AMEN: How do you know that there was such a written agreement?
OHLENDORF: I was repeatedly present during the negotiations which Albrecht and Schellenberg conducted with the OKH and OKW; and I also had a written copy of this agreement which was the outcome of these negotiations, in my own hands when I took over the Einsatzgruppe.
COL. AMEN: Explain to the Tribunal who Schellenberg was. What position, if any, did he occupy?
OHLENDORF: Schellenberg was, at the end, chief of Amt VI in the RHSA; at the time when he was conducting as the representative of Heydrich, he nelonged to the Amt VI.
COL. AMEN: On approximately what date did these negotiations take place?
OHLENDORF: The negotiations lasted several weeks. The agreement must have been reached one or two weeks before the beginning of the campaign.
COL. AMEN: Did you yourself ever see a copy of this written agreement?
OHLENDORF: Yes!
COL. AMEN: Did you ever have occasion to work with this written agreement?
OHLENDORF: Yes!
COL. AMEN: On more than one occasion?
OHLENDORF: Yes; in all questions arising out of the relationship between the Einsatzgruppen and the army.
COL. AMEN: Do you know where the original or any copy of that agreement is located today?
OHLENDORF: No.
COL. AMEN: To the best of your knowledge and recollection, please explain to the Tribunal the entire substance of this written agreement.
OHLENDORF: First of all, the agreement stated that Einsatzgruppen and Einsatzkommandos would be set up and used in the operational areas. This created a precedent, because until that time the army had, on its own responsibility, discharged the tasks which would now fall soley to the Sipo. The second was the regulations as to competence.
COL. AMEN: You're going too fast. What is it that you say the Einsatzkommandos did under the agreement?
OHLENDORF: I said this was the relationship between the army and the Einsatzgruppen and the Einsatzkommandos. The agreement specified that the army groups or armies would be responsible for the movement and the supply of Einsatzgruppen, but that instructions for their activities would come from the chief of Sipo and the SD.
COL. AMEN: Let us understand. It is correct that an Einsatz group was to be attached to each army group or army?
OHLENDORF: Every army group was to have an Einsatzgruppe attached to it. The army group in its turn would then attach the Einsatzkommandos to th armies of the army group.
COL. AMEN: And was the army command to determine the area within which the Einsatz group was to operate?
OHLENDORF: The operational area of the Einsatzgruppe was already determined by the fact that it was attached to a specific army group and therefore moved with it, whereas the operational areas of the Einsatzkommandos were fixed by the army group or army.
COL. AMEN: Did the agreement also provide that the army command was to direct the time during which they were to operate?
OHLENDORF: That was included under the heading "movement."
COL. AMEN: And, also, to direct any additional tasks that they were to operate?
OHLENDORF: Yes. Even though the chiefs of Sipo and SD had the right to issue instructions to them on their work, there existed a general agreement that the army was also entitled to issue orders to the Einsatzgruppen if the operational situation made it necessary.
COL. AMEN: What did the agreement provide with respect to the attachment of the Einsatz group command to this army command?
OHLENDORF: I can't remember whether anything specific was contained in the agreement about that. At any rate a liason man between the army command and the SD was appointed.
COL. AMEN: Do you recall any other provisions of this written agreement?
OHLENDORF: I believe I can state the main contents of that agreement.
COL. AMEN: What position did you occupy with respect to this agreement?
OHLENDORF: From June 1941 to the death of Heydrich in June 1942, I led Einsatzgruppe D, and was the representative of the chief of the Sipo and the SD with the 11th Army.
COL. AMEN: And when was Heydrich's death?
OHLENDORF: Heydrich was wounded at the end of May 1942, and died on 4 June 1942.
COL. AMEN: How much advance notice, if any, did you have of the campaign against Soviet Russia?
OHLENDORF: About four weeks.
COL. AMEN: How many Einsatz groups were there, and who were their respective leaders?
OHLENDORF: There were four Einsatzgruppen, Groups A, B, C, and D. Chief of Einsatzgruppe A was Stahlecker; chief of Einsatzgruppe B was Nebe; chief of Einsatzgruppe C, Dr. Rasche, and later, Dr.Thomas; chief of Einsatzgruppe D I myself, and later Bierkamp.
COL. AMEN: To which army was Group D attached?
OHLENDORF: Group D was not attached to any army group but was attached directly to the 11th Army.
COL. AMEN: Where did Group D operate?
OHLENDORF: Group D operated in the southern Ukraine.
COL. AMEN: Will you describe in more detail the nature and extent of the area in which Group D originally operated, naming the cities or territories?
OHLENDORF: The northernmost city was Cernauti; then southward through Mohilev-Podolsk, Yampol, then eastward Zuvalje, Czervind, Melitopol, Mariopol, Taganrog, Rostov, and the Crimea.
COL. AMEN: What was the ultimate objective of Group D?
OHLENDORF: Group D was held in reserve for the Caucasus, for an army group which was to operate in the Caucasus. COL. AMEN: When did Grooup D commence to move into Soviet Russia?
OHLENDORF: Group D left Duegen on 21 June and reached Pietra Namsk in Romania in three days. There the first Einsatzkommandos were already being demanded by the army, and they immediately set off for the destinations named by the army. The entire Einsatzgruppe was put into operation at the beginning of July.
COL. AMEN: You are referring to the 11th Army?
OHLENDORF: Yes.
COL. AMEN: In what respects, if any, were the official duties of the Einsatz groups concerned with Jews and Communist commissars?
OHLENDORF: The instructions were that in the Russian operational areas of the Einsatzgruppen the Jews, as well as the Soviet political commissars, were to be liquidated.
COL. AMEN: And when you say "liquidated" do you mean "killed"?
OHLENDORF: Yes, I mean "killed".
COL. AMEN: Prior to the opening of the Soviet campaign, did you attend a conference at Pretz?
OHLENDORF: Yes, it was a conference at which the Einsatzgruppen and the Einsatzkommandos were informed of their tasks and were given the necessary orders.
COL. AMEN: Who was present at that conference?
OHLENDORF: The cjiefs of the Einsatzgruppen and the commanders of the Einsatzkommandos and Streckenbach of the RHSA who transmitted the orders of Heydrich and Himmler.
COL. AMEN: What were those orders?
OHLENDORF: Those were the general orders of the normal work of the Sipo and the SD, and in addition the liquidation order which I have already mentioned.
COL. AMEN: And that conference took place on approximately what date?
OHLENDORF: About three or four days before the mission.
COL. AMEN: So that before you commenced to march into Soviet Russia you received orders at this conference to exterminate the Jews and Communist functionaries in addition to the regular professional work of the Security Police and SD; is that correct?
OHLENDORF: Yes.
COL. AMEN: Did you, personally, have any conversation with Himmler respecting any communication from Himmler to the chiefs of army groups and armies concerning this mission?
OHLENDORF: Yes. Himmler told me that before the beginning of the Russian campaign Hitler had spoken of this mission to a conference of the army groups and the army chiefs - no, not the army chiefs but the commanding generals - and had instructed the commanding generals to provide the necessary support.
COL. AMEN: So that you can testify that the chiefs of the army groups and the armies had been similarly informed of these orders for the liquidation of the Jews and Soviet functionaries?
OHLENDORF: I don't think it is quite correct to put it in that form. They had no orders for liquidation; the order for the liquidation was given to Himmler to carry out, but since this liquidation took place in the operational area of the army group or the armies, they had to be ordered to provide support. Moreover, without such instructions to the army, the activities of the Einsatzgruppen would not have been possible.
COL. AMEN: Did you have any other conversation with Himmler concerning this order?
OHLENDORF: Yes, in late summer of 1941 Himmler was in Nikolaiev. He assembled the leaders and men of the Einsatzkommanos, repeated to them the liquidation order, and pointed out that the leaders and men who were taking part in the liquidation bore no personal responsibility for the execution of this order. The responsibility was his, alone, and the Führer's.
COL. AMEN: And you yourself heard that said?
OHLENDORF: Yes.
COL. AMEN: Do you know whether this mission of the Einsatz group was known to the army group commanders?
OHLENDORF: This order and the execution of these orders were known to the commanding general of the army.
COL. AMEN: How do you know that?
OHLENDORF: Through conferences with the army and through instructions that were given by the army on the execution of the order.
COL. AMEN: Was the mission of the Einsatz groups and the agreement between OKW, OKH, and RSHA known to the other leaders in the RSHA? OHLENDORF: At least some of them knew it, since some of the leaders were also active in the Einsatzgruppen and Einsatzkommandos in the course of time. Furthermore, the leaders who were dealing with the organization and legal aspects of the Einsatzgruppen also knew of it. COL. AMEN: Most of the leaders came from the RSHA, did they not? OHLENDORF: Which leaders? COL. AMEN: Of the Einsatz groups? OHLENDORF: No, one can't say that. The leaders of in the Einsatzgruppen and Einsatzkommandos came from all over the Reich. COL. AMEN: Do you know whether the mission and the agreement were known to Kaltenbrunner? OHLENDORF: After his assumption of office Kaltenbrunner had to deal with these questions and consequently must have known details of the Einsatzgruppen which were offices of his. COL. AMEN: Who was the commanding officer of the 11th Army? OHLENDORF: At first, Riter von Schober; later Von Manstein. COL. AMEN: Will you tell the Tribunal in what way or ways the command officer of the 11th Army directed or supervised Einsatz Group D in carrying out its liquidation activities? OHLENDORF: An order from the 11th Army was sent to Nikolaiev that liquidations were to take place only at a distance of not less than two hundred kilometeres from the headquarters of the commanding general. COL. AMEN: Do you recall any other occasions? OHLENDORF: In Simferopol the army command requested the Einsatzkommandos in its area to hasten liquidations, because famine was threatening and there was a great housing shortage. COL. AMEN: Do you know how many persons were liquidated by Einsatz Group D under your command? OHLENDORF: In the year between June 1941 to June 1942 the Einsatzkommandos reported ninety thousand people liquidated. COL. AMEN: Did that include men, women, and children? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. AMEN: On what do you base those figures? OHLENDORF: On reports sent by the Einsatzkommandos to the Einsatzgruppen. COL. AMEN: Were those reports submitted to you? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. AMEN: And you saw them and read them? OHLENDORF: I beg your pardon? COL. AMEN: And you saw and read those reports personally? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. AMEN: And it is on those reports that you base the figures you have given the Tribunal? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. AMEN: Do you know how those figures compare with the number of persons liquidated by other Einsatzgruppen? OHLENDORF: The figures which I saw of other Einsatzgruppen are considerably larger. COL. AMEN: That was due to what factor? OHLENDORF: I believe that to a large extent the figures submitted by the other Einsatzgruppen were exaggerated. COL. AMEN: Did you see reports of liquidations from the other Einsatz units from time to time? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. AMEN: And those reports showed liquidations exceeding those of Group D; is that correct? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. AMEN: Did you personally supervise mass executions of these individuals? OHLENDORF: I was present at two mass executions for purposes of inspection. COL. AMEN: Will you explain in detail to the Tribunal how an individual mass execution was carried out? OHLENDORF: A local Einsatzkommando attempted to collect all the Jews in its area by registering them. This registration was performed by the jews themselves. COL. AMEN: On what pretext, if any, were they rounded up? OHLENDORF: On the pretext that they were to be resettled. COL. AMEN: Will you continue? OHLENDORF: After the registration the Jews were collected at one place; and from there they were later transported to the place of execution, which was, as a rule, an antitank ditch or a natural excavation. The executions were carried out in a military manner, bu firing squads under command. COL. AMEN: In what way were they transported to the place of execution? OHLENDORF: They were transported to the place of execution in trucks, always only as many as could be executed immediately. In this way it was attempted to keep the span of time from the moment in which the victims knew what was about to happen to them until the time of their actual execution as short as possible. COL. AMEN: Was that your idea? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. AMEN: And after they were shot what was done with the bodies? OHLENDORF: The bodies were buried in the antitank ditch or excavation. COL. AMEN: What determination, if any, was made as to whether the persons were actually dead? OHLENDORF: The unit leaders or the firing-squad commanders had orders to see to this and, if need be, finish them off themselves. COL. AMEN: And who would do that? OHLENDORF: Either the unit leader himself or somebody designated by him. COL. AMEN: In what positions were the victims shot? OHLENDORF: Standing or kneeling. COL. AMEN: What was done with the personal property of the persons executed? OHLENDORF: All valuables were confiscated at the time of the registration or the rounding up and handed over to the Finance Ministry, either through the RSHA or directly. At first the clothing was given to the population, but in the winter of 1941-42 it was collected and disposed of by the NSV. COL. AMEN: All their personal property was registered at that time? OHLENDORF: No, not all of it, only valuables were registered. COL. AMEN: What happened to the garments which the victims were wearing when they went to the place of execution? OHLENDORF: They were obliged to take off their outer garments immediately before the execution. COL. AMEN: All of them? OHLENDORF: The outer garments, yes. COL. AMEN: How about the rest of the garments they were wearing? OHLENDORF: The other garments remained on the bodies. COL. AMEN: Was that true of not only your group but of the other Einsatz groups? OHLENDORF: That was the order in my Einsatzgruppe. I don't know how it was done in other Einsatzgruppen. COL. AMEN: In what way did they handle it. OHLENDORF: Some of the unit leaders did not carry out liquidations in the military manner, but killed the victims singly by shooting them in the back of the neck. COL. AMEN: And you objected to that procedure? OHLENDORF: I was against that procedure, yes. COL. AMEN: For what reason? OHLENDORF: Because, both for the victims and for those who carried out the executions, it was, psychologically, an immense burden to bear. COL. AMEN: Now, what was done with the property collected from the Einsatzkommandos from these victims? OHLENDORF: All valuables were sent to Berlin, to the RSHA or to the Reich Ministy of Finance. The articles which could not be used in the operational area, were disposed of there. COL. AMEN: For exemple, what happened to gold and silver taken from the victims? OHLENDORF: That was, as I have just said, turned over to Berlin, to the Reich Ministry of Finance. COL. AMEN: How do you know that? OHLENDORF: I can remember that it was actually handled in that way from Simferopol. COL. AMEN: How about watches, for example, taken from the victims? OHLENDORF: At the request of the army, watches were made available to the forces at the front. COL. AMEN: Were all victims, including the men, women, and children executed in the same manner? OHLENDORF: Until the spring of 1942, yes. Then an order came from Himmler that in the future women and children were to be killed only in gas vans. COL. AMEN: How had women and children been killed previously? OHLENDORF: In the same was as the men - by shooting. COL. AMEN: What, if anything, was done about burying the victims after they had been executed? OHLENDORF: The kommandos filled the graves to efface the signs of execution, and then labor units of the population leveled them. COL. AMEN: Referring to the gas vans that you said you received in the spring of 1942, what order did you receive in respect to the use of these vans? OHLENDORF: These vans were in the future to be used for killing of women and children. COL. AMEN: Will you explain to the Tribunal the construction of these vans and their appearance? OHLENDORF: The actual purpose of these vans could not be seen from the outside. They looked like closed trucks, and were so constructed that at the start of the motor, gas was conducted into the van causing death in ten to fifteen minutes. COL. AMEN: Explain in detail just how one of these vans was used for an execution. OHLENDORF: The vans were loaded with the victims and driven to the place of burial, which was usually the same as that used for the mass executions. The time needed for transportation was sufficient to insure the death of the victims. COL. AMEN: How were the victims induced to enter the vans? OHLENDORF: They were told that they were to be transported to another locality. COL. AMEN: How was the gas turned on? OHLENDORF: I am not familiar with technical details. COL. AMEN: How long did it take to kill the victims ordinarily? OHLENDORF: About ten to fifteen minutes; the victims were not conscious of what was happening to them. COL. AMEN: How many people could be killed simultaneously? OHLENDORF: About fifteen to twenty-five persons. The vans varied in size. COL. AMEN: Did you revceive reports from those persons operating the vans from time to time? OHLENDORF: I didn't understand the question. COL. AMEN: Did you receive reports from those who were working on the vans? OHLENDORF: I received the report that the Einsatzkommandos did not willingly use the vans. COL. AMEN: Why not? OHLENDORF: Because the burial of the victims was a great ordeal for the members of the Einsatzkommandos. COL. AMEN: Now, will you tell the Tribunal who furnished these vans to the Einsatz groups? OHLENDORF: The gas vans did not belong to the motor pool of the Einsatzgruppen but were assigned to the Einsatzgruppe as a special unit, headed by the man who had constructed the vans. The vans were assigned to the Einsatzgruppen by the RSHA. COL. AMEN: Were the vans supplied to all of the different Einsatz groups? OHLENDORF: I am not certain. I know only in the case of Einsatzgruppe D, and indirectly that Einsatzgruppe C also made use of these vans... COL. AMEN: ...Referring to your previous testimony, will you explain to the Tribunal why you believe that the type of execution ordered by you, namely, military, was preferable to the shooting-in-the-neck procedure adopted by the other Einsatz groups? OHLENDORF: On the one hand, the aim was that the individual leaders and men should be able to carry out the executions in a military manner acting on orders and should not have to make a decision of their own; it was, to all intents and purposes, an order which they were to carry out. On the other hand, it was known to me that through the emotional excitement of the executions ill treatment could not be avoided, since the victims discovered too soon that they were to be executed and could not therefore endure prolonged servous strain. And it seemed intolerable to me that individual leaders and men should in consequence be forced to kill a large number of people on their own decision. COL. AMEN: In what manner did you determine which were the Jews to be executed? OHLENDORF: That was not part of my task; but the identification of the Jews was carried out by the Jews themselves, since the registration was handled by a Jewish Council of Elders. COL. AMEN: Did the amount of Jewish blood have anything to do with it? OHLENDORF: I can't remember the details, but I believe that half-Jews were also considered as Jews. COL. AMEN: What organization furnished most off the officer personnel of the Einsatz groups and Einsatzkommandos? OHLENDORF: I did not understand the question. COL. AMEN: What organization furnished most of the officer personnel of the Einsatz groups? OHLENDORF: The officer personnel was furnished by the State Police, the Kripo, and, to a lesser extent by the SD. COL. AMEN: Kripo? OHLENDORF: Yes, the State Police, the Criminal Police and, to a lesser extent, the SD. COL. AMEN: Were there any other sources of personnel? OHLENDORF: Yes, most of the men by the Waffen SS and the Ordnungspolizie. The State Police and the Kripo furnished most of the experts and the troops were firnished by the Waffen SS and the Ordungspolzei. COL. AMEN: How about the Waffen SS. OHLENDORF: The Waffen SS and the Ordungspolzei were each supposed to supply the Einsatzgruppen with one company. COL. AMEN: How about the Order Police. OHLENDORF: The Ordnungspolzei also furnished the Einsatzgruppen with one company. COL. AMEN: What was the size of Einsatz Group D and its operating area as compared with other Einsatz groups? OHLENDORF: I estimate that Einsatzgruppen D was one-half or two-thirds as large as the other Einsatzgruppen. That changed in the course of time since some of the Einsatzgruppen were greatly enlarged. COL. AMEN: May it please the Tribunal, relating to organizational matters which I think would clarify some of the evidence which has already been in part received by the Tribunal. But I don't want to take the time of the Tribunal unless they feel that they want any more such testimony. I thought perhaps if any members of the Tribunal had any questions they would ask the witness directly because he is the best informed on these organizational matters of anyone who will be presented in court... THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Amen, the Tribunal does not think that it is necessary to go further into the organizational questions at this stage, but it is a matter that must be really decided by you because you know what nature of the evidence which you are considering is. So far as the Tribunal is concerned, they are satified at the present stage to leave the matter where it stands, but there is one aspect of the witness's evidence which the Tribunal would like you to investigate, and that is whether the practices by which he has been speaking continued after 1942, and for how long. COL. AMEN: [To the witness] Can you state whether the liquidation practices that you have described continued after 1942 and, if so, for how long a period oftime thereafter? OHLENDORF: I don't think that the basic order was ever revoked. But I cannot remember the details- at least not with regard to Russia - which would enable me to make concrete statements on this subject. The retreat began very shortly thereafter, so that the operational region of the Einsatzgruppen became ever smaller. I do know, however, that other Einsatzgruppen with similiar orders had been envisaged for other areas. COL. AMEN: Your personal knowledge extends up to what date? OHLENDORF: I know that the liquidation of Jews was prohibited about six months before the end of the war. I also saw a document terminating the liquidation of Soviet commissary but I cannot recall a specific date. COL. AMEN: Do you know whether in fact it was so terminated? OHLENDORF: Yes, I believe so. THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to know the number of men in your Einsatz group. OHLENDORF: There were about five hundredmen in my Einsatzgruppe, excluding those who were added to the goup as assistants from the country itself... COL. AMEN: May it please the Tribunal. The witness is now available to other counsel. I understand that Colonel Pokrovsky has some questions that he wished to ask on behalf of the Soviets. COLONEL Y. V. POKROVSKY (Deputy Chief Prosecutor for the USSR): The testimony of the witness is important for the clarification of questions in a report on which the Soviet delegation is at present working. Therefore, with the permission of the Tribunal, I would like to put a number of questions to the witness. [Turning to the witness] Witness, you said that you were present twice at a mass executions. On whose orders were you an inspector at the executions? OHLENDORF: I was present at the executions on my own iniative. COL. POKROVSKY: But you said you attended as inspector. OHLENDORF: I said that I attended for inspection purposes. COL. POKROVSKY: On your own initiative? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. POKROVSKY: Did one of your chiefs always attend the executions for purposes of inspection? OHLENDORF: Whenever possible I sent a member of the staff of the Einsatzgruppen towitness the executions but this was not always feasible since the Einsatzgruppen had to operate over great distances. COL. POKROVSKY: Why was some person sent for purposes of inspection? OHLENDORF: Would you please repeat the question? COL. POKROVSKY: For what purpose was an inspector sent? OHLENDORF: To determine whether or not my instructions regarding the manner of the execution were actually carried out. COL. POKROVSKY: Am I to understand that the inspector was to make certain that the execution had actually been carried out? OHLENDORF: No, it would not be correct to say that. He was to acertain whether the conditions which I had set for the execution were actually being carried out. COL. POKROVSKY: What manner of conditions had you in mind? OHLENDORF: One: exclusion of the public; two: military execution by a firing-squad; three: arrival of transports and carrying out of the liquidation in a smooth manner to avoid unnecessary excitment; four: supervision of the property to prevent looting. There may have been other details that I no longer remember. At any rate, all ill-treatment, whether pysical or mental, was to be prevented through these measures. COL. POKROVSKY: You wished to make sure that what you considered to be an equitable distribution of this property was effected, or did you aspire to complete acquisition of the valuables? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. POKROVSKY: You spoke of ill-treatment. What did you mean by ill-treatment at the executions? OHLENDORF: If, for instance, the manner in which the executions were carried out caused excitement and disobedience among the victims, so that the kommandos were forced to restore by means of violence. COL. POKROVSKY: What do you mean by "restore order by means of violence"? What do you mean by supression of the excitement amongst the victims by means of violence? OHLENDORF: If, as I have already said, in order to carry out the liquidation in an orderly fashion it was necessary, for example, to resort to beating. COL. POKROVSKY: Was it absolutely necessary to beat the victims? OHLENDORF: I myself never witnessed it, but I heard of it. COL. POKROVSKY: From whom? OHLENDORF: In conversations with members of other kommandos. COL. POKROVSKY: You said that cars, autocars, were used for the executions? OHLENDORF: Yes. COL. POKROVSKY: Do you know where, and with whose assistance, the inventor, Becker, was able to put his invention into practice? OHLENDORF: I remember only that it was done through Amt II of the RSHA; but I can no longer say that with certainty. COL. POKROVSKY: How many persons were executed in these cars? OHLENDORF: I did not understand the question. COL. POKROVSKY: How many persons were executed by means of these cars? OHLENDORF: I cannot give precise figures, but the number was comparatively small - perhaps a few hundred. COL. POKROVSKY: You said that mostly women and children were executed in these vans. For what reason? OHLENDORF: That was a special order from Himmler to the effect that women and children were not to be exposed to the mental strain of the executions; and thus the men of the kommandos, mostly married men, should not be compelled to aim at women and children. COL. POKROVSKY: Did anybody observe the behavior of the persons executed in these vans? OHLENDORF: Yes, the doctor. COL. POKROVSKY: Did you know that Becker had reported that death in these vans was particularly agonizing? OHLENDORF: No. I learned of Becker's reports for the first time from the letter to Rauff, which was shown to me here. On the contrary, I know from the doctor's reports that the victims were not conscious of their impending death. COL. POKROVSKY: Did any military units - I mean, army units - take part in these mass executions? OHLENDORF: As a rule, no. COL. POKROVSKY: And as an exception? OHLENDORF: I think I remember that in Nikolaiev and in Simferopol a spectator from the Army High Command was present for a short time. COL. POKROVSKY: For what purpose? OHLENDORF: I don't know, probably to obtain information personally. COL. POKROVSKY: Were military units assigned to carry out the executions in these towns? OHLENDORF: Officially, the army did not assign any units for this pupose; the army as such was actually opposed to the liquidations. COL. POKROVSKY: But in practice? OHLENDORF: Individual units occasionally volunteered. However, at the moment I know of no such case among the army itself, but only among units attached to the army (Heeresgefolge). COL. POKROVSKY: You were the man by whose orders people were sent to their death. Were Jews only handed over for execution by the Einsatzgruppe or were Communists - "Communist officials" you call them in your instructions - handed over for execution along with the Jews? OHLENDORF: Yes, activists and political commissars. Mere membership in the Communist Party was not sufficient to persecute or kill a man. COL. POKROVSKY: Were any special investigations made concerning the part played by persons in the Communist Party? OHLENDORF: No, I said on the contrary that mere membership of the Communist Party was not, in itself, a determining factor in persecuting or executing a man; he had to have a special political function. COL. POKROVSKY: Did you have any discussions on the murder vans sent from Berlin and on their use? OHLENDORF: I did not understand the question. COL. POKROVSKY: Had you occasion to discuss, with your chiefs and your collegues, the fact that motor vans had been sent to your own particular Einsatzgruppe from Berlin for carrying out the executions? Do you remember any such discussion? OHLENDORF: I do not remember any specific discussion. COL. POKROVSKY: Had you any information concerning the fact that members of the execution squad in charge of the executions were unwilling to use the vans? OHLENDORF: I knew that the Einsatzkommandos were using the vans. COL. POKROVSKY: No, I had something else in mind. I wanted to know whether you received reports that members of the execution squads were unwilling to use the vans and preferred other means of execution? OHLENDORF: That they would rather kill by means of the gas vans than by shooting? COL. POKROVSKY: On the contrary, that they preferred execution by shooting to killing by means of the gas vans. OHLENDORF: You have already said the gas van... COL. POKROVSKY: And why did they prefer execution by shooting to killing in the gas vans? OHLENDORF: Because, as I have already said, in the opinion of the leader of the Einsatzkommandos, the unloading of the corpses was an unnecessary mental strain. COL. POKROVSKY: What do you mean by "an unnecessary mental strain"? OHLENDORF: As far as I can remember the conditions at that time - the picture presented by the corpses and probably because certain functions of the body had taken place leaving the corpses lying in filth. COL. POKROVSKY: You mean to say that the sufferings endured prior to death were clearly visible on the victims? Did I understand you correctly? OHLENDORF: I don't understand the question; do you mean during the killing in the van? COL. POKROVSKY: Yes. OHLENDORF: I can only repeat what the doctor told me, that the victims were not conscious of their death in the van. COL. POKROVSKY: In that case, your reply to my previous question, that the unloading of the bodies made a very terrible impression on the members of the execution squad, becomes entirely incomprehensible. OHLENDORF: And, as I said, the terrible impression created by the position of corpses themselves, and probably by the state of the vans which had probably been dirtied and so on. COL. POKROVSKY: I have no further questions to put to this witness at the present stage of the trial... THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): In your testimony you said that the Einsatz group had the object of annihilating the Jews and the commissars, is that correct? OHLENDORF: Yes. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): And in what category did you consider the children? For what reason were the children massacred? OHLENDORF: The order was that the Jewish population should be totally exterminated. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): Including the children? OHLENDORF: Yes. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): Were all the Jewish children murdered? OHLENDORF: Yes. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): But the children of those whom you considered as belonging to the catagory of commissars, were they also killed? OHLENDORF: I am not aware that inquiries were ever made after the families of Soviet commmissars. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): Did you send anywhere reports on the executions that the group carried out? OHLENDORF: Reports on the executions were regularly submitted to the RSHA. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): No, did you personally send any reports on the annihilation of thousands of people which you effected? Did you personally submit any report? OHLENDORF: The reports came from the Einsatzkommandos who carried out the actions, to the Einsatzgruppe and the Einsatzgruppe informed the RHSA. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): Whom? OHLENDORF: The reports went to the chief of Sipo personally. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): Personally? OHLENDORF: Yes, personally. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): What was the name of this police officer? Can you give his name? OHLENDORF: At that time, Heydrich. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): After Heydrich? OHLENDORF: I was no longer there then, but that was the standing order. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): I am asking you whether you continued to submit reports after Heydrich's death or not? OHLENDORF: After Heydrich's death I was no longer in the Einsatz, but the reports were, of course, continued. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): Do you know whether the reports continued to be submitted after Heydrich's death or not? OHLENDORF: Yes. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): Yes? OHLENDORF: No, the reports... THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): Was the order concerning the annihilation of the Soviet people in conformity with the policy of the German government or the Nazi Party or was it against it? Do you understand the question? OHLENDORF: Yes. One must distinguish here: the order for the liquidation came from the Führer of the Reich, and it was to be carried out by the Reichführer SS Himmler. THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): But was it in conformity with the policy conducted by the Nazi Party and the German government, or was it in contradiction to it? OHLENDORF: A policy amounts to a practice so that in this respect it was laid down by the Führer. If you were to ask whether this activity was in conformity with the idea of National Socialism, then I would say "no". THE TRIBUNAL (Gen. Niktchenko): I am talking about the practice. THE PRESIDENT: I understood you to say that objects of value were taken from the Jewish victims by the Jewish Council of Elders? OHLENDORF: Yes. THE PRESIDENT: Did the Jewish Council of Elders settle who were to be killed? OHLENDORF: That was done in various ways. As far as I remember, the Council of Elders was given the order to collect valuables at the same time. THE PRESIDENT: So that the Jewish Council of Elders would not know whether or not they were to be killed? OHLENDORF: Yes... THE PRESIDENT: Now, a question concerning you personally. From whom did you receive your orders for the liquidation of the Jews and so forth? And in what form? OHLENDORF: My duty was not the task of liquidation, but I did head the staff which directed the Einsatzkommandos in the field, and the Einsatzkommandos themselves had already received this order in Berlin on the instructions of Streckenbach, Himmler, and Heydrich. This order was renewed by Himmler at Nikolaiev. HERR BABEL: You personally were not concerned with the execution of these orders? OHLENDORF: I led the Einsatzgruppe, and therefore I had the task of seeing how the Einsatzkommandos executed the orders received. HERR BABEL: But did you have no scruples in regard to the execution of these orders? OHLENDORF: Yes, of course. HERR BABEL: And how is it that they were carried out regardless of these scruples? OHLENDORF: Because to me it is inconceivable that a subordinate leader should not carry out orders given by the leaders of the state. HERR BABEL: This is your opinion. But this must have been not only your point of view but also the point of view of the majority of the people involved. Didn't some of the men appointed to execute these orders ask you to be relieved of such tasks? OHLENDORF: I cannot remember any one concrete case. I excluded some whom I did not consider emotionally suitable for executing these tasks and I sent some of them home. HERR BABEL: Was the legality of the orders explained to those people under false pretenses? OHLENDORF: I do not understand your question; since the order was issued by the superior authorities, the question of legality could not arise in the minds of these individuals, for they had sworn obedience to the people who had issued the orders. HERR BABEL: Could any individual expect to succeed in evading the execution of these orders? OHLENDORF: No, the result would have been a court martial with a corresponding sentence.


  • Dieter Wisliceny, capitano SS e importante collaboratore del colonnello Adolf Eichmann alla sezione "questioni ebraiche" della Gestapo.
  • Deposizione a Norimberga il 3 gennaio 1946 e relativo affidavit
  • Per la prima volta parla della «"soluzione finale" (Endlosung), [...] lo sterminio della razza ebraica ed anche delle altre razze considerate "inferiori"» e degli ordini ricevuti dal Reichsfuhrer-SS, Heinrich Himmler
Dieter Wisliceny capitano SS e importante collaboratore di Adolf Eichmann - Affidavit al Processo di Norimberga 3 gennaio 1946


COPY OF AFFIDAVIT C

[Affidavit of Dieter Wisliceny]

Source: Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression. Volume VIII. USGPO, Washington, 1946/pp.606-619.

[This affidavit is substantially the same as the testimony given by Wisliceny on direct examination before the International Military Tribunal at Nurnberg, 3 January 1946.]

I, Dieter Wisliceny, being duly sworn, declare:

1. I am 34 years old and have been a member of the NSDAP since 1933 and a member of the SS since July 1934. I have been Hauptsturmfuehrer SS since 1940. From 1934 to 1937, I was assigned in Berlin and from 1937 to 1940 in Danzig. From 1940 to September 1944, I was assigned as specialist on Jewish matters in Slovakia and my mission included service in Hungary and Greece. I have known Adolph Eichmann, the former Chief of AMT IV A 4 of the Reichsicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) well since 1934 in which year we joined the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). Our relationship was so close that we addressed each other with the intimate" Du". We served together from 1934 to 1937 in Berlin and maintained friendly relations from 1937 until 1940 when he was in Vienna and I was in Danzig. Eichmann's mission in Vienna was to direct the Central Office for Jewish Emigration and he later came to Berlin with the RSHA to take charge of AMT IV A 4 which was responsible for the solution of the Jewish question and for all church matters. At Eichmann's suggestion, I accepted an assignment as expert for AMT IV A 4 in Slovakia dealing solely with the Jewish question.

2. There were three distinct periods of activity affecting the Jews. The first period covered the time from 1937 when the Jewish Section was founded till 1940, during which the policy was to accelerate and compel Jewish emigration from Germany and Austria. Because of this, the Central Office for Jewish Emigration was founded in Vienna and later on a corresponding institution in Prague. After the victory over France, Madagascar was contemplated, but never used, as a site for the emigration. The second period during 1940 and 1941 covered the concentration of Jews in Poland and eastern territories, in Ghettos and concentration camps. The last period, from beginning 1942 to October 1944, covered the evacuation of Jews from all Germany and German controlled territories to concentration camps and their biological annihilation.

3. I first became interested in the number of Jews effected by measures taken through the RSHA when I met other specialists on Jewish matters in Eichmann's office in Berlin. It was customary for Eichmann to call the specialists in for a meeting at least once a year, usually in November. Meetings were hold in 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1943. I was present at all but the latter meeting. In these meetings each representative reported on conditions in his territory and Eichmann discussed the over-all picture. He particularly stressed total figures and the use of charts which included the number of Jews in different countries, their occupations, their age groups, and statements showing the portion of Jews to the total population of each country. These charts did not include the number of persons effected by evacuation and extermination activities since these figures were kept secret. However, from many discussions with Eichmann and specialists on the Jewish question, I learned the effects of the program of final solution in each of the countries concerned.

4. I was sent to Berlin in July or August 1942 in connection with the status of Jews from Slovakia, which mission is referred to more fully hereinafter. I was talking to Eichmann in his office in Berlin when he said that on written order of Himmler all Jews were to be exterminated. I requested to be shown the order. He took a file from the safe and showed me a top secret document with a red border, indicating immediate action. It was addressed jointly to the Chief of the Security Police and SD and to the Inspector of Concentration Camps. The letter read substantially as follows :

"The Fuehrer has decided that the final solution of the Jewish question is to start immediately. I designate the Chief of the Security Police and SD and the Inspector of Concentration Camps as responsible for the execution of this order. The particulars of the program are to be agreed upon by the Chief of the Security Police and SD and the Inspector of Concentration Camps. I am to be informed currently as to the execution of this order".

The order was signed by Himmler and was dated some time in April 1942. Eichmann told me that the words "final solution" meant the biological extermination of the Jewish race, but that for the time being able-bodied Jews were to be spared and employed in industry to meet current requirements. I was so much impressed with this document which gave Eichmann authority to kill millions of people that I said at the time : "May God forbid that our enemies should ever do anything similar to the German people". He replied : "Don't be sentimental-this is a Fuehrer order". I realized at that time. that the order was a death warrant for millions of people and that the power to execute this order was in Eichmann's hands subject to approval of Heydrich and later Kaltenbrunner. The program of extermination was already under way and continued until late 1944. There was no change in the program during Kaltenbrunner's administration.

5. After my meeting with Eichmann in July or August 1942, when I first learned of the Hitler order for final solution of the Jewish question by extermination, I became particularly interested in the number of persons effected and at every opportunity made notes on the basis of information from other countries. In 1943, my interest was further accentuated by requests for information from the Joint Distribution Committee and I thereafter took particular pains to collect all information available as to the number of Jews effected in other countries. In Budapest 1944 I conferred with Dr. Rudolf Kastner, representative of the Joint Distribution Committee, and compared with him information on numerous occasions particularly dealing with the total number of Jews effected. I was constantly in touch with Dr. Kastner after May 1944. I last saw him on 30 March 1945, in my apartment in Vienna.

6. On numerous occasions Eichmann told me that Jews had no value as except as laborers and that only 20-25 percent were able to work I was present in Budapest in June or July 1944 at a meeting between Eichmann and Hoess, Commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, at which they talked specifically about the percentage of Hungarian Jews that would be strong enough for labor. On the basis of transports previously received at Auschwitz and the supply of Jews inspected by him in collection centers, Hoess stated that only 20 or at the most 25 percent of these Hungarian Jews could be used for labor. Hoess said that this percentage also pertained to all Jews transported to Auschwitz from all over German occupied Europe, with the exception of Greek Jews who were of such poor quality that Eichmann and Hoess said that all Jews unfit for labor were liquidated. Among the able-bodied were women and some children over the age of 12 or 13 years. Both Eichmann and Hoess said that all Jews unfit for labor were liquidated.

7. All exterminations of Jews took place in closed camps. The camps at Auschwitz and Maidenek were referred to as extermination camps "A" and "M" respectively. I know that Jews at Auschwitz and other extermination camps were killed with gas, starting at least as early as the spring of 1942. Eichmann said that in the cases of groups from which the able-bodied had already been selected, the remainder were gassed immediately upon their arrival at the concentration camps. In cases, where there was no prior selection, the screening had to take place at the concentration camps before the unfit were gassed. The inspections at concentration camps to determine who was considered able-bodied and who was to be executed were very superficial.

8. Late in 1944, Himmler directed that all executions of Jews were to cease, but Eichmann did not carry out this order until he received a written directive signed by Himmler. Unaccountable thousands of Jews who had been sent to concentration camps died of epidemics and undernourishment, such as in the camps at Flossenbrueck and Sachsenhausen.

9. In appendix A-l, I have prepared a chart of the organization of RSHA in 1944 to show the relative position of AMT IV A 4 and its subsections. In the same exhibit, I have listed the experts on the Jewish problem who served in a capacity similar to my own in other countries. Their names and assignments were:

Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Seidl (Theresienstadt)
Hauptsturmfuehrer Wisliceny (Slovakia)
Hauptsturmfuehrer Abromeit (Croatia)
Hauptsturmfuehrer Dannecker (Bulgaria)
Hauptsturmfuehrer Brunner (France)
Obersturmbannfuehrer Krumey (Lodz-later Vienna)
Hauptsturmfuehrer Burger (Theresienstadt-later Athens)

I have also shown members of the staff in Eichmann's office that includes Hauptsturmfuehrer Franz Novak who had charge of all transportation matters concerning all evacuations of Jews and Untersturmfuehrer Hartenberger who was a specialist on individual cases. To my personal knowledge, based on my observations during several years service in the Balkan countries and close association with leaders in these countries who were responsible for actions taken against the Jews, the number of Jews effected were approximately: 66,000 in Slovakia ; 60,000 in Greece ; 8,000 in Bulgaria ; 3,000 in Croatia and 500,000 in Hungary. In Appendix A-III I have set forth details as to their disposition.

10. I consider Eichmann's character and personality important factors in carrying out measures against the Jews. He was personally a cowardly man who went to great pains to protect himself from responsibility. He never made a move without approval from higher authority and was extremely careful to keep files and records establishing the responsibility of Himmler, Heydrich and later Kaltenbrunner. I have examined many of the files in his office and knew his secretary very well and I was particularly impressed with the exactness with which he maintained files and records dealing with all matters in his department. Every move taken by Eichmann in executing measures against the Jews was submitted to Heydrich and later to Kaltenbrunner for approval. I have seen signed duplicate copies of Eichmann's reports to Himmler. These all went through the Chief of RSHA, Heydrich and later Kaltenbrunner, who signed them. Signed duplicate copies of these reports bearing the name of Kaltenbrunner were filed by Eichmann. The regular channel was from Eichmann through Mueller to Kaltenbrunner and to Himmler. Eichmann was very cynical in his attitude toward the Jewish question. He gave no indication of any human feeling toward these people. He was not immoral, he was amoral and completely ice-cold in his attitude. He said to me on the occasion of our last meeting in February 1945, at which time we were discussing our fates upon losing the war: "I laugh when I jump into the grave because of the feeling that I have killed 5,000,000 Jews. That gives me great satisfaction and gratification."

11. According to Eichmann, he knew Kaltenbrunner from Linz and they had been good friends for many years. They were both members of the illegal Nazi Party in Austria and were together in Vienna from 1938 to 1940. I know that their good relations continued to at least February 1945. Eichmann told me more than once that whenever he had any difficulties he took them up with Kaltenbrunner. When Kaltenbrunner was appointed as Chief of the RSHA, Eichmann told me that his standing would be improved in the department because of his close connections with Kaltenbrunner. Their friendship appeared to be very strong because I myself, in February 1945 witnessed a short meeting between Kaltenbrunner and Eichmann. They met in the vestibule of the office house of Eichmann, Kurfuersten Str. 116, Kaltenbrunner greeted Eichmann heartily and asked about the health of Eichmann's father and family in Linz.

12. My mission in Slovakia was to advise the Slovak government on all Jewish questions, I was instructed to establish good relations with the Slovak government and consider my work as a diplomatic mission. I was assigned for administrative purposes to the German Legation at Bratislava and reported to Minister von Killinger, later to Minister Ludin. Copies of these reports were sent to Eichmann to whom I regularly sent confidential SD reports.

13. In 1941 when I visited the concentration area Sosnowitz where approximately 100,000 Jews were used as slavelabor. in large factories making uniforms and furniture, I was accompanied by a Slovak mission which was interested in establishing similar concentration labor projects in Slovakia. We found conditions not favorable but bearable. Thereafter two concentration work areas were established in Slovakia at Sered and Novaky where about 4,000 Jews, who had been removed from their individual shops and business and were forced to labor in factories and joiner's workshops. These work centers continued to operate until the insurrection in September 1944.

14. In March and April 1942, 17,000 specially selected Jews were sent to Lubin and Auschwitz, Poland, as construction workers and in May and June 1942, approximately 35,000 members of their families were sent to Auschwitz, at the request of the Slovak government since no provision had been made to support these families. At the request of the Slovak government, I went to Berlin in late July or August 1942, to obtain permission for a Slovak commission to visit these Jews in the area of Lublin. Eichmann speaking of the 35,000 in the second group, told me that such a mission would be, impossible and that "The Slovaks won't be able to see their Jews any more because they are no longer alive".

15. In September 1944, there remained about 25,000 Jews in SIovakia. Some of these joined in the insurrection at that time. SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Brunner who had been sent to Slovakia from Paris in August 1944 pursuant to Eichmann's order, had all Jews that could be found arrested and sent to Sered. They were thereafter transported to Auschwitz and executed. I know of no survivors from this evacuation of Jews from Slovakia, although many escaped who had hidden during the rounding up in October 1944.

16. In January 1943, I was ordered by Eichmann to go to Salonika and make arrangements with the military administration to find a final solution for the Jewish problem there. Shortly before my departure from Bratislava I was told to meet Hauptsturmfuehrer Brunner in Vienna. He showed me a "Marsch" order and told me that he had been given the assignment by Eichmann to arrange all technical matters and that I was to make contacts with the authorities and governmental agencies. We went to Salonika together on 2 February 1944, and conferred with the Chief of the Military Administration, War Administrative Counsellor Dr. Merten from the military command, Area Salonika-Aegeus. Also, the local branch office of the Secret Police and SD, the Criminal Commissioner Paschleben and Consul General Schoenberg. Dr. Merten was the decisive authority and said he wished the Jews in Salonika first be concentrated in certain areas of the city. This was done without difficulty during February-March 1943. At least 80 percent of the Greek Jews were workers, laborers, craftsmen or longshoremen, but a large proportion of them had tuberculosis and had also suffered of epidemics raging in their quarters. The Salonika Jews had lived in Greece since the 15th century when they had fled from the inquisition in Spain. On or about 10 March, Eichmann sent Brunner a message that the compulsory evacuation (Aussiedlung) of Jews was to start at once. Dr. Merten agreed to the action but requested 3,000 male Jewish workers for railroad construction work under the Organization Todt who were later returned in time for inclusion in the last transports. I talked to Eichmann by telephone in Berlin telling him that typhus raged among the Jews but he said his orders for immediate compulsory evacuation would stand.

17. Some few foreign Jews were returned to their home country and about 700 Jews of Spanish nationality were transported in August 1943 to Bergen-Belsen and in December to Spain. These Jews had obtained their Spanish nationality during the last century while Greece was still under Turkish rule.

18. Altogether, 60,000 Jews were collected from Greece and shipped to Auschwitz. I am sure that this figure is approximately correct. I know that twenty-four transports averaging approximately 2,300 human beings each were shipped from Salonika and surroundings between March and May 1943, under the supervision of Hauptsturmfuehrer Brunner and myself, while two transports of about 2,500 each were shipped from Athens in July 1944 under the supervision of Hauptsturmfuehrer Burger. The freight cars used in these transports were furnished by the Military Transport Command. The requests for these cars went from Hauptsturmfuehrer Novak in IV A 4 b to Department Counsellor Stange in the Ministry of Transport, Berlin and thence through channels to the area transport command. Transports used in effecting the final solution of the Jewish problem commanded a sufficiently high priority to take precedence over other freight movements. All shipments were made on schedule, even in July 1944 when the Germans were evacuating Greece and rail transport needs were critical. Upon the departure of each transport a message was sent to Eichmann in Berlin stating the number of heads sent. I have seen copies of these cables in a folder kept by Brunner and upon completion of the movement of Jews from Northern Greece, Brunner made a summary report to Eichmann. I returned to Bratislava for several weeks and arrived again in Salonika at the end of May 1943 at which time Brunner was preparing the last shipment. The last transport left Salonika two days after my arrival and upon completion of the last shipment, Brunner was transferred to Paris for his new assignment.

19. During the period of collection into designated areas, the Jewish population was compelled to furnish their own subsistence. Upon arrival in the collecting camp, representatives of the Jewish community took over all cash and valuables from the inmates. Altogether, by August 1943, 280,000,000 drachmas had been deposited in the Greek National Bank for such purpose. This amount was appropriated by the German Military Administration. The property left behind, houses, businesses, apartments, movable belongings, etc., were administered by the Greek Governor General of Macedonia under the control of the Military administration.

20. In July 1944, Hoess, Commandant of Auschwitz, told Eichmann in my presence in Budapest that all of the Greek Jews had been exterminated because of their poor quality.

21. In connection with the movement of the German Army into Hungary in March 1944, it was agreed between Hitler and Horthy that the Army should not enter Budapest. No mention was made of the Security Police, however, and an Einsatz Group of about 800 members was secretly organized, under the leadership of Standartenfuehrer, later Oberfuehrer Dr. Geschke. The rank and file of the Einsatz Group consisted of members of the Security Police from all over Germany and occupied Europe, in addition about sixty men from the Waffen SS. Shortly after arrival in Budapest, a further battalion of Waffen SS was assigned to the Einsatz Group for guard purposes. Most of the experts on final solution of the Jewish question in IV A 4 b were organized under the designation "Special Action Commando Eichmann". This Special Commando was directly subordinated to the Chief of the Security Police and SD, Kaltenbrunner. Both the Einsatz Group and the Special Commando were first activated about 10 March 1944. The personnel were assembled at Mauthausen in Linz, Austria, and moved later into Hungary 19 March 1944. Matters of personnel for the Special Action Commandos were handled by Geschke, while all operations were directed by Eichmann personally. The Army had informed higher SS and Police Leader Winckelman as representative of Himmler, and Oberfuehrer Piffrader and Dr. Geschke as representatives of RSHA, of the place and hour of the invasion of Hungary. I had advance knowledge of the action that was to be undertaken although it was kept secret from the rank and file of the group. I had seen Eichmann studying maps of Hungary in advance of the movement. We marched into Budapest on 19 March 1944 ahead of the Army and Eichmann arrived there on 21 March. 22. During the first days after arrival in Budapest, Eichmann, Hunsche and I conferred with Endre and von Baky who were Administrative State, Secretary and Political State Secretary respectively of the Ministry of Interior for Hungary. Actions against Jews, were discussed in the smallest detail. It was the purpose to start, evacuation of Jews as soon as possi1e. In late March 1944, about 200 Jews prominent in the economical and cultural life of Hungary were taken as hostages on orders of Geschke. Thereafter in accordance with. the agreement between Endre and Eichmann, Jews were concentrated in designated larger cities and towns in Karpato-Russia and Siebenbuergen (Transylvania), such actions being undertaken by the Hungarian Gendarmerie under Lt. Colonel Ferenzcy who had the same relative position for the Hungarian Ministry of Interior as, K had for Special Action Commando Eichmann in the carrying out of these actions. Eichmann's delegates were sent to each of the larger collecting points.

23. While detailed preparations were being made and actions taken to prepare all Hungarian Jews for evacuation, Dr. Rudolph Kastner of the Joint Distribution Committee gave me 3,000,000 pengoe for Eichmann to induce him to grant a first interview on the Jewish question. This money was carefully counted and taken over by Geschke's treasurer. About 8 or 10 April, a meeting was arranged at the Hotel Majestic in Eichmann's office between Dr. Kastner, Mr. Brand another representative of: the Cornmittee, and Eichmann. There followed a series of conversations in which Eichmann was implored to leave Hungarian Jews aIone upon an offer to pay any amount to stop further action. Eichmann reported the situation to Himmler who sent Standartenfuehrer Becher to continue negotiations in Budapest. Demand was made by Becher for payment in trucks and raw materials with the condition. that they would. not be used against England or America. I was later informed that this proposal was turned down by the Allied countries because there was no assurance that they would not be used against the U. S. S. R. As Eichmann had predicted and wished, the negotiations failed and although Dr. Kastner fought bitterly to obtain some concessions, the planned actions went ahead.

24. I think it quite important to describe the attitude of the Hungarian Government. According to Ferenzcy, the Hungarian Government at first agreed only to concentrate the Jews in certain collecting points. Conditions created by the massing of hundreds of thousands of people in narrow camps were unbearable. The inmates could not be fed or taken care of. Ferenzcy went to Budapest about 20 April 1944, and reported to Endre and von Baky that either the Jews would have to be returned to their homes or removed to other areas. This was Eichmann's hoped for moment. He declared that he would be ready to take over these Jews if the Hungarian government would make a special request. It happened as follows: Ferenczy arrived in Budapest in the morning, reported to von Baky who sent him to Eichmann. Ferenzcy saw Eichmann around noon and received Eichmann's request. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the Hungarian government had made the demanded request. Eichmann arranged at once in Vienna conference of transport experts for the arrangement of the time table of the evacuation. In this conference, Novak, for the Hungarians Captain Lulay, Ferenzcy's Adjutant, participated and in addition, representatives from the Reich Ministry of Transport were present. I saw copies of the cables which were sent regarding all these matters from Eichmann to the Chief of the Security Police and SD, Kaltenbrunner, reporting the developments; furthermore, a cable to Eichmann's deputy, Sturmbannfuehrer Rolf Guenther requesting him to immediately inform the Inspector of concentration camps, Brigadefuehrer Glicks of the arrival of the Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz and ask him to make all necessary preparations for their reception.

25. The evacuation of Jews from Hungary took place in four stages. First, Karpato-Russia and Northern Transylvania from which area approximately 320,000 were evacuated. The second stage was in Northern Hungary including parts ceded by Slovakia. There were about 42,000 evacuated from this area. The third stage covered Southern Hungary. including Szeged from which 46,000 were evacuated. The fourth stage covered, Western Hungary and removed about 40,000 Jews. Action in this area started at the end of the first stage and continued during the second in Northern Hungary. A special action took place in Batschka involving about 10,000. The aggregate number in these four stages was approximately 468,000. Only the city of Budapest remained outside the scope of the evacuations. Eichmann and his fellow conspirators, Endre and von Baky, made repeated attempts to carry through actions in Budapest but were prevented by the intervention of Horthy who, through the intermediary of Dr. Kastner and I, was informed of the planned actions.

26. Negotiations between the Joint Distribution Committee and Himmler's representative, Becher, continued during all this time. Fearing that some kind of an agreement would eventually be achieved, Eichmann decided to send about 9,000 Hungarian Jews to Vienna, he called them "Joint Jews" so they could be shown to representatives of the Joint Distribution Committee. It was Krumey who sold the idea to Eichmsnn. In this connection, Eichmann together with Becher visited Himmler in July. In August 1944, 3,000 additional "Joint Jews" were sent to Bergen-Belsen from where, in December, they were sent to Switzerland.

27. In November and December 1944, about 30,000 Jews were evacuated from Budapest to Austria. A small number were forwarded to the concentration camps of Flossenbrueck and Sachsenhausen. The evacuation of these 30,000 took place under terrible conditions. The group consisted mostly of women and some Jewish units from the Hungarian labor' service, and they were forced to walk about 180 kilometers in rain and snow and without food to the Austrian border. There Abromeit and I were charged with receiving the group and further transporting them to the labor camps. The group arrived in a state of complete exhaustion and I was told by the Hungarian guards that a considerable number had died of exhaustion and starvation during the march. I first refused but was later compelled to take over the transport from the Hungarians when this protest was reported by the Hungarians to Eichmann. From that moment on, Eichmann com-pletely lost his confidence in me, a confidence which had already earlier been shaken. My participation in the Hungarian actions ended.

28. I am not personally informed as to the affects of measures taken in Germany or other occupied countries although I have heard many discussions by Eichmann and the Jewish Specialists from RSHA on such areas concerning the numbers involved. Neither am I informed as to the results of operations by Einsatz Groups in Poland and Russia but I know that Einsatz Groups operating in the East were designated "A " through at least "H". I talked to members of Einsatz Group "H" late in 1944 in Hungary, who had operated in the area around the Black Sea. On the basis of the information I have received, some of which came direct from Eichmann, there were hundreds of thousands of Jews exterminated by these Einsatz Groups.

29. In November 1942, in Eichmann's office in Berlin, I met Standartenfuehrer Plobel, who was leader of Kommando 1005, which was specially assigned to remove all traces of the final solution (extermination) of the Jewish problem by Einsatz Groups and all other executions. Kommando 1005 operated from at least autumn 1942 to September 1944 and was all this period subordinated to Eichmann. The mission was constituted after it first became apparent that Germany would not be able to hold all the territory occupied in the East and it was considered necessary to remove all traces of the criminal executions that had been committed. While in Berlin in November 1942, Plobel gave a lecture before Eichmann's staff of specialists on the Jewish question from the occupied territories. He spoke of the special incinerators he had personally constructed for use in the work of Kommando 1005. It was their particular assignment to open the graves and remove and cremate the bodies of persons who had been previously executed. Kommando 1005 operated in Russia, Poland and through the Baltic area. I again saw Plobel in Hungary in 1944 and he stated to Eichmann in my presence that the mission of Kommando 1005 had been completed..

30. After being dismissed by Eichmann from further participation in the final solution of the Jewish question in Hungary, I paid a visit to Slovakia on personal business and reported to Berlin end of January 1945. I had a short formal interview with Eichmann who then took me to Mueller for reassignment outside of IV A 4 b. Mueller assigned me to IV B 2 c which handled Slovakian matters other than Jewish questions. On 28 January, I reported in Trebnitz outside Berlin where the subsection had evacuated because of heavy air raids in Berlin. While at Trebnitz I was given the assignment of studying papers in connection with the Slovakian insurrection August-December 1944. My interest was drawn to the files containing the interrogation reports of the captured members of the American and British military mission in Slovakia. These files were given to me by Sturmbannfuehrer Schoeneseiffen who had been in charge of the interrogations of the prisoners at Mauthausen concentration camp. I ascertained the following facts. Members of the two missions were landed in Banska Bystrica by airplanes from Bari, Italy. Their mission was to contact Allied pilots who had been compelled to land in Slovakia, and help effectuate their escape to Italy. They had succeeded in this task in many cases. Another task was to contact the leaders of the insurrection Army, the socalled Czechoslovakian Army of insurrection" especially Generals Viest and Golian , obtain information of their demands for equipment and other supplies and transmit these demands to the Allies', in Bari and in London.

31. After the collapse of the insurrection, the members of the mission fled to the mountains in Lower Tatra where they were finally captured at the end of November or the beginning of 'December by squads from the Commander of Security Police and SD at Bratislava, Witiska. The prisoners were brought to Bratislava where they were subjected to preliminary interrogations and reports were sent to RSHA and thence to Himmler. The files showed a large number of communications back and forth between Witiska and the RSHA. Himmler finally, by the middle of December, ordered the prisoners brought to Mauthausen concentration camp for thorough interrogation. Schoeneseiffen was detailed to prepare the questionnaires pertaining to the American and English Foreign Intelligence Service. He had the cooperation in this work of the AMTs interested in these matters and then proceeded to Mauthausen accompanied by a staff of interpreters. The result of his interrogations were contained in the files in the form of extensive individual reports. These reports were signed by the interrogator, the interpreter and the witness. The copies of summaries of the interrogations which were sent to Himmler carried Kaltenbrunner's initials. I limited my examination to the matters in which I was interested but I do remember that the name of the Chief of the American mission was Captain Brown, another member of this Mission was Lieut. Mican. The Chief of the British mission was Captain Sehmer, a man of German extraction, and another member was Rice whose family name had been something like Hochfelder, an Austrian Jew who had emigrated from Vienna in 1938. There were no signs in the report that the interrogations had been conducted by pressure methods except in the report signed by one of the American officers, I believe Brown, had, and I distinctly remember it, signed in English above his signature "Given under duress and protest". I know that pressure methods were used in special cases upon special permission from above. The files I examined contained no such orders but certain papers had been. extracted by Schoeneseiffen and retained in his personal custody. The last paper in the file was a request from OKW to have the captured Allied prisoners transferred to regular PW camps. However, I learned from Sturmbannfuehrer Thomsen IV B 2 that the prisoners had been shot on order of Hitler as retaliation for alleged shooting of German officers in Paris.

32. On the first of February, the camp in Trebnitz was evacuated because of the approaching Russians. Mueller returned me to Eichmann. In late February I talked to Eichmann and he made the statement which I have referred to above in paragraph 10. Eichmann proposed to Runsche and myself that he was going to have Theresienstadt destroyed together with all the Jewish inmates. We prevailed upon him to abandon such a plan. At this meeting, Eichmann also said that if matters came to the worst, he would return to Prague and shoot his family and himself. I did not see Eichmann again.

I understand written English and have made the foregoing statements and attached Appendix A-I and II voluntarily and under oath. [signed] DIETER WISLICENY

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 29th day of November 1946 at Nurnberg, Germany. [signed] SMITH W. BROOKHART, JR. Lt. Col. IGD

[Appendix A-I omitted.]


  • Franz Suchomel, SS-Unterscharführer, operò per Action T4, poi a Treblinka (operazione Reinhard) e quindi nelle Einsatzgruppen, processato e condannato a Dusseldorf nel 1965 per i crimini compiuti a Treblinka.
Franz Suchomel, SS-Unterscharführer con un importante curriculum criminale: impiegato prima nell'Action T4, poi a Treblinka e quindi nelle Einsatzgruppen. Processato e condannato a Dusseldorf nel 1965 per i crimiini compiuti a Treblinka (processo di Treblinka), rilascia importanti dichiarazioni sullo sterminio e le camere a gas. Viene inoltre intervistato (e fa importanti dichiarazioni) da Claude Lanzmann nel film "Shoah"
    • Intervistato da Claude Lanzmann nel film-documentario Shoah
    • Intervista:
Intervistatore: Lei è un testimone oculare molto importante, e può spiegare cos'era Treblinka
Suchomel: Ma non usi il mio nome
Intervistatore: No, l'ho promesso. Bene, lei è arrivato a Treblinka
Suchomel: Quindi Stadie, il sergente, ci mostrò i campi dall'inizio alla fine. Mentre andavamo, aprivano le porte delle camere a gas e le persone cadevano fuori come patate. Naturalmente questo ci lasciava inorriditi e sconvolti. Tornammo indietro, ci sedemmo sulle nostre valigie e piangemmo come vecchiette. Ogni giorno cento ebrei venivano scelti per gettare i cadaveri alle fosse comuni. La sera gli ucraini portavano quegli ebrei nelle camere a gas o gli sparavano. Ogni giorno!
  • Fonti: Libro "Shoah" di Claude Lanzmann, Editions Fayard del 1985, pag.54 corrispondente a pag. 67 della III riedizione in italiano Bompiani/RCS Libri del 2014 (mie mani), isbn 978-88-452-7568-5 + fonte HEART - Nota importante: Lanzmann oltre la sua monumentale opera del film-documentario "Shoah" ha realizzato nel 1985 un libro con lo stesso titolo (tradotto anche in italiano) contenente il testo integrale (parole e sottotitoli) del film-documentario
  • cosa disse1: ricordo che al tempo in cui il campo venne interamente smantellato, Wirth ebbe colloqui col personale tedesco, soprattutto alle 11 di sera. Questi colloqui si svolgevano alla presenza di Stangl.

Wirth diede dettagliate istruzioni riguardo alla liquidazione dei trasporti e all'incorporazione dei commando di lavoro ebraici in questo processo. Le sue istruzioni erano dettagliate. Per esempio, descrivevano come aprire le porte dei vagoni merci, la discesa degli ebrei, il passaggio attraverso il "tubo" fino alla parte superiore del campo. Wirth ordinò personalmente che quando gli ebrei si toglievano le scarpe, dovessero legarle insieme... Le istruzioni di Wirth furono eseguite anche dopo che era partito da Treblinka.

  • cosa disse2: Le nuove camere a gas furono costruite nel settembre 1942. Hackenholt e Lambert facevano supervisione sugli ebrei che eseguivano il lavoro, o almeno la muratura. Falegnami ucraini facevano le porte. Le porte delle camere a gas erano porte blindate per bunker, penso che venissero portate da Bialystok, da qualche bunker russo.

Fonte: Processo di Treblinka riportato da Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team (HEART)


  • Hans Münch (medico), medico SS-Unterscharführer ad Auschwitz
    • Nel 1981 da un'intervista alla televisione svedese contro la volontà della sua famiglia
Hans Münch, medico SS-Unterscharführer ad Auschwitz, nel 1981 da un'intervista alla televisione svedese (contro la volontà della sua famiglia) e spiega chiaramente cosa intendevano i nazisti dei campi per "trattamento speciale", solo e unicamente "eliminazione fisica" con il gas

Cosa disse:
Intervistatore: L'ideologia dello sterminio non è contraria ai valori etici di un dottore?
Münch: Sì, assolutamente. Non c'è discussione. Ma vivevo in quell'ambiente, provavo in ogni possibile modo di evitare di accettarlo, ma dovevo conviverci. Cos'altro avrei potuto fare? Ma non mi ritrovai a confronto con esso direttamente finché non venne l'ordine che io e il mio superiore e un altro dovessimo prendere parte allo sterminio poiché i dottori dei campi erano sovraccarichi e non potevano far fronte a tutto il lavoro.
Intervistatore: Devo chiedere una cosa. I dubbiosi affermano che "trattamento speciale" potrebbe significare qualsiasi cosa. Non significava per forza sterminio.
Münch: "Trattamento speciale" nella terminologia del campo di concentramento significa sterminio fisico. Se era questione di più che una manciata di persone, dove non c'era altro di utile da fare che gasarli, li si gasava.
Intervistatore: "Trattamento speciale" era la gasazione?
Münch: Sì, assolutamente.


  • Oswald Pohl, SS Obergruppenführer. Ebbe un ruolo importante nella "soluzione finale" della questione ebraica in quanto capo della SS-Wirtschafts-und Verwaltungshauptam (WVHA), ovvero l'Ufficio amministrativo centrale delle SS
Oswald Pohl, SS Obergruppenführer. Ebbe un ruolo chiave nella "soluzione finale" della questione ebraica in quanto capo della SS-Wirtschafts-und Verwaltungshauptam (WVHA), ovvero l'Ufficio amministrativo centrale delle SS
    • Le sue dichiarazioni non smentiscono l'Olocausto, ma attestano che fosse "un fatto" ben preciso organizzato da responsabili e sottoposti in cui la sua responsabilità nelle uccisioni (a suo avviso) non c'era.
    • cosa disse:«Accetto la mia responsabilità per i campi, ma per quanto riguarda le misure prese contro gli ebrei, io non c'entro niente. Questo tipo di ordini proveniva dal RSHA. Himmler trasmetteva gli ordini a Kaltenbrunner, il quale li trasmetteva a Müller della Gestapo ed era Müller ad avere sotto il suo controllo l'intero programma di sterminio. Questo era il modo in cui erano attivati gli ordini di Himmler. Io non ho partecipato allo sterminio degli ebrei.»

Nella testimonianza resa al processo di Norimberga, Pohl affermò che fu quando ascoltò Himmler a Posen «che ricevette la sua "prima notifica ufficiale" che la Soluzione Finale doveva essere lo sterminio» (?) (vedi nota 3 qui) .

  • Fonte: Verbale del "Processo Pohl" riportato da Leon Goldensohn e Robert Gellately in The Nuremberg Interviews, Knopf, 2004, anche ISBN 978-0-375-41469-5.


  • Richard Bock (N.B. : riportato da EHRI e da Nizkor come Richard Boeck e da enWp come Richard Böck), SS Rottenfuhrer nel campo di sterminio di Auschwitz-Birkenau, testimone spontaneo (non accusato di alcun crimine) al processo di Francoforte sui criminali di Auschwitz
    • Sua testimonianza sulla camera a gas nell' inverno 1942 - 1943
    • Cosa disse:
Richard Bock, testimone spontaneo (non accusato di nessun crimine) al processo di Francoforte nel 1964 contro i principali criminali nazisti operativi nei campi di Auschwitz


“Holblinger said to me, “Richard, are you interested in seeing one of the actions?” I said, “Yes, very interested indeed,” and he said, “I’ll take you with me this evening.” We drove out to Birkenau, not to where the ramp was later but where the train stopped on the big slope. It was a transport from Holland and the Dutch Jews who came to Auschwitz were very elegant and rich.

He parked his ambulance there and I sat in it pre-tending to be the co-driver. Then they drove them off in a lorry to Bunker One, where there were four big halls. The halls did not have a proper roof, just a sloping top. At first Holblinger did not have anything to do. Then they went into the hall and the new arrivals had to get undressed, and then the order came, “Prepare for disinfection.”

There were enormous piles of clothing in there, and there was a board running around so that the piles did not collapse. And the new arrivals, the Dutch people, had to stand on top of this great heap of clothes to get undressed. Lots of them hid their children under the clothes and covered them up, then they shouted, “Get ready,” and they all went out, they had to run naked approximately twenty yards from the hall across to Bunker One.

There were two doors standing open and they went in there and when a certain number had gone inside they shut the doors. That happened about three times and every time Holblinger had to go out to his ambulance and they took out a sort of tin- he and one of his block-chiefs – and then he climbed up the ladder and at the top there was a round hole and he opened a little round door and held the tin there and shook it and then he shut the little door again.

Then a fearful screaming started up and approximately after about ten minutes it slowly went quiet. They opened the door – it was a prisoners’ Sonderkommando who did that – then a blue haze came out. I looked in and I saw a pyramid. They had all climbed up on top of the other and then the prisoners had to go in and tear it apart.

They were all tangled, one had his arm down by another’s foot and then round it and back up again and his fingers were sticking in someone else’s eye, so deep. They were all tangled, they had to tug and pull very hard to disentangle all these people. Then we went back to the hall and now it was the turn of the last lot to get undressed, the ones who had managed to hang back a bit all the time.

One girl with beautiful black hair, was crouching there and didn’t want to get undressed and an SS man came up and said, “I suppose you don’t want to get undressed,” and she tossed her hair back and laughed a little.

Then he went away, and came back with two prisoners and they literally tore the clothes off her then they grabbed an arm and they dragged her across to Bunker One and pushed her in there. Then the prisoners had to check where the small children had been hidden and covered up. They pulled them out and opened the doors, quickly again and threw all the children in and slammed the doors.

“I am going to be sick, “I said, “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, its absolutely terrible.” I can’t stand it anymore and he said, “You do get used to anything in time.”


  • Julius Muthig, medico tedesco, SS-Sturmbannführers, operò nei campi di Dachau, Neuengamme e Sachsenhausen. Depone sulla visita della commissione di "medici" inviata da Himmler per valutare "i detenuti inabili"
Julius Muthig, medico tedesco, SS-Sturmbannführers, operò nei campi di Dachau, Neuengamme e Sachsenhausen. Nella sua deposizione descrive la visita della commissione di "medici" inviata da Himmler per valutare "i detenuti inabili" e la relativa "cura" nelle camere a gas
    • Sua testimonianza :...........ricorda la visita della commissione inviata da Himmler (vedi qui)
    • Cosa disse: "Nell'autunno 1941, in occasione di una visita di servizio nel mio reparto del dottor Lolling mi fu da lui comunicato che una commissione composta di quattro medici sotto la direzione del professor Heyde sarebbe presto giunta a Dachau. Il compito della commissione sarebbe stato iscrivere nell'apposito elenco per i trasferimenti a scopo di eutanasia i detenuti inabili al lavoro e disporne il trasferimento al campo di Mauthausen per l'eutanasia nelle camere a gas. Poco tempo dopo la comunicazione del dottor Lolling giunse l'attesa commissione. Era costituita da quattro psichiatri oltre al direttore, il professor Heyde (...) vidi i quattro medici seduti a quattro scrivanie collocate tra le due baracche e parecchie centinaia di prigionieri in fila dinanzi a loro. Ciascuno si presentava ad un medico che, previa verifica dell'inabilità al lavoro e degli incartamenti politici, lo iscriveva nell'apposito elenco. So che la commissione rimase solo pochi giorni a Dachau e che in quel breve tempo era impossibile una visita medica di così tanti detenuti".
    • Nota (con foto) : «Nel 1945 l'operazione eutanasia era ancora attiva per i neonati e per i prigionieri dei campi di concetramento. La foto, scattata dai russi nel febbraio 1945, mostra il magazzino della clinica di eliminazione di Meseritz-Obrawalde: le urne per contenere le ceneri delle vittime sono pronte per l'uso»(vedi qui)


  • Waldemar Hoven SS-Hauptsturmführer, ufficiale medico del campo di concentramento di Buchenwald. Al "Processo ai dottori", uno dei dodici processi secondari di Norimberga, venne riconosciuto colpevole di crimini di guerra, crimini contro l'umanità e membro di un'organizzazione criminale. Giustiziato il 2 giugno 1948 nella prigione di Landsberg am Lech, in Baviera
Waldemar Hoven, SS-Hauptsturmführer, ufficiale medico del campo di concentramento di Buchenwald. Al "Processo ai dottori" venne riconosciuto colpevole di crimini di guerra, crimini contro l'umanità e membro di un'organizzazione criminale. Fu giustiziato il 2 giugno 1948. Nella sua deposizione affermò che tutti i detenuti malati di mente o disabili dovevano essere eliminati e che, per ordini superiori ricevuti da Berlino, in questo programma di eliminazione dovevano rientrare tutti i detenuti di razza ebraica del campo di Buchenwald
    • Sua testimonianza al processo di Norimberga (processo ai dottori)
    • Cosa disse: «Il comandante del lager Koch chiamò a raccolta i più autorevoli dirigenti delle SS del lager dicendo che aveva ricevuto un ordine segreto da Himmler, in base al quale tutti i detenuti malati di mente o disabili dovevano essere eliminati. Aggiunse inoltre che, per ordini superiori ricevuti da Berlino, in questo programma di eliminazione dovevano rientrare tutti i detenuti di razza ebraica del campo di Buchenwald. Conformemente all'ordine circa 300-400 detenuti ebrei di diverse nazionalità furono trasferiti al centro di eutanasia di Bernburg. Un paio di giorni dopo ricevetti dal comandante del campo una lista di ebrei uccisi a Bernburg, con l'incarico di redigere falsi certificati di morte. Eseguii l'ordine. Questa azione speciale venne eseguita sotto la sigla di copertura 14F13»
    • Fonte: questa


  • Viktor Brack, SS-Oberführer, uno dei principali organizzatori dell'Aktion T4 e degli esperimenti medici nei campi di concentramento, giudicato colpevole a Norimberga ("Processo ai dottori"), condannato a morte nel 1947, giustiziato nel 1948.
    • Sua testimonianza al processo di Norimberga (processo ai dottori)
Viktor Brack, SS-Oberführer, uno dei principali organizzatori dell'Aktion T4 e degli esperimenti medici nei campi di concentramento, giudicato colpevole a Norimberga ("Processo ai dottori"), condannato a morte nel 1947, giustiziato nel 1948. Nella deposizione afferma che tutte le "alte sfere" erano a conoscenza dello sterminio


    • Cosa disse: «Nel 1941 ricevetti l'ordine di sospendere il programma eutanasia. Per non lasciar disperdere il personale che in tal modo veniva messo in libertà e per essere eventualmente in grado di riprendere il programma eutanasia dopo la guerra, Bouhler mi invitò - credo dopo averne parlato con Himmler - a mandare questo personale a Lublino e a metterlo a disposizione del generale delle SS Globocnik. Solo molto tempo dopo, verso la fine del 1942, mi resi conto che veniva impiegato nello sterminio in massa degli ebrei, oramai di pubblico dominio nelle sfere più alte del partito».

Fonte completaː L'Aktion T4: il progetto di eutanasia nazista - 12L'eutanasia come "scuola dello sterminio"Il programma di eutanasia condotto verso i bambini disabili venne attuato utilizzando iniezioni letali di scopolamina, morfina e barbiturici. Le enormi quantità di questi medicinali venivano fornite con tutta la discrezione necessaria dalla Ufficio Centrale di Sicurezza del Reich (RSHA) vale a dire dalle SS. In particolare era la Sezione della polizia criminale (Kripo) comandata da Arthur Nebe ad acquisire e spedire il veleno alle cliniche. L'eutanasia degli adulti pose un problema per certi versi nuovo: come uccidere grandi masse di uomini in modo sbrigativo e privo di controindicazioni? La soluzione cadde sull'utilizzo del gas.

Non è chiaro chi abbia avuto l'idea. Secondo alcuni storici fu Karl Brandt che prese spunto da una semiasfissia occorsagli a causa dei fumi difettosi di una stufa. Secondo altri, più probabilmente, fu il professor Werner Heyde che la suggerì a Hitler. In ogni caso nel gennaio 1940 il metodo venne sperimentato per la prima volta nella clinica di Brandenburg. All'esperimento erano presenti i vertici del programma: Bouhler e Brandt, Leonardo Conti, Herbert Linden del Ministero degli Interni e Christian Wirth funzionario di polizia e futuro comandante delle unità di sorveglianza dell'operazione.

Il direttore della clinica, il dottor Irmfried Eberl gasò per i suoi ospiti 8 malati mentali con pieno successo. Da allora in poi l'uso delle camere a gas camuffate da docce si diffuse. I cadaveri venivano poi affidati agli addetti alle caldaie che li bruciavano nei forni crematori. A coloro che ne possedevano venivano strappati i denti d'oro. Queste stesse modalità vennero poi utilizzate nei campi di sterminio, per questo motivo a buon diritto si può affermare che l'Aktion T4 fu la "palestra" alla quale si allenarono i carnefici che avrebbero condotto il massacro nei campi.

Quando nell'agosto del 1941 l'operazione di eutanasia verso gli adulti venne sospesa il personale e i mezzi tecnici vennero impiegati immediatamente per l'inizio della "soluzione finale".

Viktor Brack, il braccio destro di Bouhler, ricorderà così gli eventi al processo: "Nel 1941 ricevetti l'ordine di sospendere il programma eutanasia. Per non lasciar disperdere il personale che in tal modo veniva messo in libertà e per essere eventualmente in grado di riprendere il programma eutanasia dopo la guerra, Bouhler mi invitò - credo dopo averne parlato con Himmler - a mandare questo personale a Lublino e a metterlo a disposizione del generale delle SS Globocnik. Solo molto tempo dopo, verso la fine del 1942, mi resi conto che veniva impiegato nello sterminio in massa degli ebrei, oramai di pubblico dominio nelle sfere più alte del partito".

Così, senza alcuna soluzione di continuità si passò dall'eutanasia allo sterminio di milioni di persone nei campi. Il personale della operazione T4 venne inviato in Polonia dove creò i più terribili campi di sterminio: Treblinka, Sobibor e Belzec.

Frattanto l'eutanasia continuò sino alla fine della guerra nei campi con l'operazione 14F13, nelle cliniche dove continuò l'eliminazione dei bambini disabili e attraverso la cosiddetta "eutanasia selvaggia", vale a dire l'eliminazione dei malati senza alcuna autorizzazione.


  • Wilhelm Bahr, SS-Unterscharfuehrer e S-Sanitätsdienstgrad nel campo di concentramento di Neuengamme e quello di Vaivara. Un lungo curriculum criminale in campo medico: per esempio, eliminò con iniezioni di benzina moltissimi internati di Neuengamme. Catturato e processato ad Amburgo e in seguito giustiziato, afferma di aver usato lo Zyklon B per gasare sovietici a Neuengamme.
Wilhelm Bahr, SS-Unterscharfuehrer e S-Sanitätsdienstgrad nel campo di concentramento di Neuengamme e di Vaivara. Un lungo curriculum criminale come medico: p.e. eliminò con iniezioni di benzina moltissimi internati di Neuengamme. Catturato e processato ad Amburgo (e in seguito giustiziato), affermò di aver usato lo Zyklon B per gasare soldati sovietici nella camera a gas di Neuengamme


Dalla testimonianza di Bahr al processo di Amburgo

  • Q: Is it correct that you have gassed 200 Russian POW's with Zyklon-B?
  • A: Yes, on orders.
  • Q: Where did you do that?
  • A: In Neuengamme [concentration camp].
  • Q: On whose order?
  • A: The local doctor, Dr. Von Bergmann.
  • Q: With what gas?
  • A: With Prussic acid [another name for Zyklon-B].
  • Q: How long did the Russians take to die?
  • A: I do not know. I only obeyed orders.
  • Q: How long did it take to gas the Russians?
  • A: I returned after two hours and they were all dead.
  • Q: For what purpose did you go away?
  • A: That was during lunch hour.
  • Q: You left for your lunch and came back afterwards?
  • A: Yes.
  • Q: Were they dead when you came back?
  • A: Yes.
  • Q: Did you look at their bodies?
  • A: Yes, because I had to load them.
  • Q: Why did you apply the gas to the Russians?
  • A: I only had orders to pour in the gas and I do not know anything about it.

Fonteː questa e questa


Johann Paul Kremer, medico e accademico tedesco. SS-Obersturmführer nel campo di sterminio di Auschwitz dal 30 agosto al 18 novembre 1942. Depone sul gas usato per lo sterminio ad Auschwitz sia al "Primo processo (di Auschwitz)" a Cracovia, che al "Secondo processo (di Auschwitz)" a Francoforte. Oltre alle deposizioni dinnanzi ai giudici, nei processi farà da prova anche quanto Kremer scrisse nel suo diario personale (come p.e. i 1600 uccisi in un solo giorno)


SS-Doctor Kremer at a hearing on July 18, 1947 (Quoted in The Good Old Days - E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess, The Free Press, NY, 1988, p. 258): cosa disseː
I remember I once took part in the gassing of one of these groups of women [from the women's camp in Auschwitz]. I cannot say how big the group was. when I got close to the bunker I saw them sitting on the ground. They were still clothed. As they were wearing worn-out camp clothing they were not left in the undressing hut but made to undress in the open air. I concluded from the behavior of these women that they had no doubt what fate awaited them, as they begged and sobbed to the SS men to spare them their lives. However, they were herded into the gas chambers and gassed. As an anatomist I have seen a lot of terrible things: I had had a lot of experience with dead bodies, and yet what I saw that day was like nothing I had ever seen before. Still completely shocked by what I had seen I wrote on my diary on 5 September 1942: "The most dreadful of horrors. Hauptscharf¨hrer Thilo was right when he said to me today that this is the 'anus mundi', the anal orifice of the world". I used this image because I could not imagine anything more disgusting and horrific. V fonte:questa


SS-Obersturmführer Johann Paul Kremer, M.D., Ph.D., was an assistant professor at the University of Münster. As a physician of the Waffen SS, Kremer was ordered to Auschwitz on August 30, 1942, where he replaced a doctor who had fallen sick. He carried out his duties there only for a short time — less than 3 months. His job was to assess prisoners attempting to gain admission to the hospital. Kremer ordered most of them killed by phenol injection. He selected prisoners who struck him as particularly good experimental material, and questioned them just before their deaths, as they lay on the autopsy table awaiting injection, about such personal details as their weight before arrest and any medicines they had used recently. In some cases, he ordered these prisoners photographed.

He witnessed gassings in Auschwitz and wrote about them in his diary, cosa scrisse:

September 2, 1942

For the first time, at 3:00 A.M. outside, attended a special action. Dante's Inferno seems to me almost a comedy compared to this. They don't call Auschwitz the camp of annihilation for nothing!

September 5, 1942

In the morning attended a special action from the women's concentration camp (Muslims); the most dreadful of horrors. Master-Sergeant Thilo (troop doctor) was right when he said to me that this is the anus mundi. In the evening towards 8:00 attended another special action from Holland. Because of the special rations they get a fifth of a liter of schnapps, 5 cigarettes, 100 g salami and bread, the men all clamor to take part in such actions. Today and tomorrow (Sunday) work.

After the war, Johann Paul Kremer testified about his diary. An extract is found in The Good Old Days: The Holocaust As Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders, Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen, and Volker Riess, Eds., 1991, p. 258:

Particularly unpleasant was the gassing of the emaciated women from the women's camp, who were generally known as 'Muslims'. I remember I once took part in the gassing of one of these groups of women. I cannot say how big the group was.

When I got close to the bunker [I saw] them sitting on the ground. They were still clothed. As they were wearing worn-out camp clothing they were not left in the undressing hut but made to undress in the open air.

I concluded from the behavior of these women that they had no doubt what fate awaited them, as they begged and pleaded to the SS men to spare them their lives. However, they were herded into the gas chambers and gassed.

As an anatomist I have seen a lot of terrible things: I had had a lot of experience with dead bodies, and yet what I saw that day was like nothing I had ever seen before. Still completely shocked by what I had seen I wrote in my diary on 5 September 1942: 'The most dreadful of horrors. Hauptscharführer Thilo was right when he said to me today that this is the anus mundi', the anal orifice of the world.

I used this image because I could not imagine anything more disgusting and horrific.

SS-Doctor Kremer at a hearing on 18 July 1947 in Cracow

Kremer was tried at the Auschwitz Trial in November-December 1947. Through his diary and depositions, the court concluded that Kremer participated 14 times in mass murders (gassings). Kremer said he sat with the driver and, after the completion by SS men of their duties, he drove away. Prosecutors said that witnesses questioned in the trial of the camp Commandant, Rudolf Höss, maintained that the duty of doctors assigned to the gassings was to supervise the poisoning of the prisoners and to decide when the gas chambers were to be opened, and that there was no reason to believe Kremer's duties were different..

According to Kremer's diary, he also was involved on September. 1, 1942, in the shooting of some undefined persons with small caliber arms; on October 17, in 11 executions; on October 19, in the execution of 7 Polish civilians; on October 24, in "stuffing" 6 women who had participated in an uprising.

At the Block No. 28 clinic in the main camp, Kremer carried out assessments of prisoners attempting to gain admission to the hospital. Many of them were at the point of exhaustion, in the "Musselman" state, in the final stages of starvation to death. One witness testified that Kremer carried out the "sick block" (hospital) selections of the prisoner in as ruthless a manner as that of the other SS doctors. Kremer did not examine the sick, he assessed them by their appearance.

Kremer ordered most of them killed by phenol injection. Kremer selected prisoners who struck him as particularly good experimental material, and questioned them just before their deaths, as they lay on the autopsy table awaiting injection, about such personal details as their weight before arrest and any medicines they had used recently. In some cases, he ordered these prisoners photographed. Before their bodies were cold, they were subjected to autopsies and slides were made for Kremer of the liver, spleen, and pancreas. Kremer said he was interested in the changes that occur in the human body as a result of starvation. He was given permission to collect material that interested him from prisoners put to death by injections of phenol.

The prosecution was unable to calculate the exact number of victims for whose death he was responsible, but, in one diary entry Kremer had noted that 1,600 people had been murdered in one day. The prosecutors estimated that given Kremer's involvement in the gassings, he was likely to have been involved in the deaths of several thousand prisoners. Kremer was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death. The sentence was later commutted to life imprisonment.

V questa, vedi anche voce su Wp in italiano dedicata a Kremer)


Magnus Wochner, guardia SS al campo di concentramento di Natzweiler in Francia (unico KL in suolo francese). Testimonianza resa al processo di Natzweiler dinnanzi a un tribunale britannico dal 9 aprile 1946 al 5 maggio 1946 tenuto nella città tedesca di Wuppertal che terminò con tre condanne a morte (due eseguite ed una convertita in ergastolo) e tre altre condanne a vari anni di reclusione (Wochner fu condannato a 10 anni)

Cosa disse: [...] Ricordo in particolare un'esecuzione di massa quando circa 90 prigionieri (60 uomini e 30 donne), tutti ebrei, furono uccisi con il gas. Questo ebbe luogo, per quanto mi ricordo, nella primavera del 1944. In questo caso i cadaveri sono stati inviati al professor Hirt del dipartimento di Anatomia di Strasburgo.


  • Erich Bauer, SS-Oberscharführer, impiegato prima nell'Aktion T4, inviato al campo di sterminio di Sobibór
    • cinque sue testimonianze:
Erich Bauer, SS-Oberscharführer al campo di sterminio di Sobibor, cinque diverse testimonianze sullo sterminio, in una diceː «Stimo che il numero di ebrei gasati a Sobibor fosse di circa 350.000. Nella mensa di Sobibor una volta ho sentito una conversazione tra Frenzel, Stangl e Wagner. Stavano discutendo del numero delle vittime nei campi di sterminio di Belzec, Treblinka e Sobibor e hanno espresso il loro rammarico per il fatto che Sobibor “sia arrivato ultimo” nella competizione»


    • 1 Cosa disse: Normally, inside the camp, each member of the permanent staff had a specific function for example, commander of the Ukrainian auxiliaries, leader of a working group, excavation of pits, erection of barbed wire fences. However, when a transport with Jews arrived there was so much “work” that the regular activity was interrupted, and everyone on the permanent staff had to participate somehow in the routine extermination process.
    • 2 Cosa disse: Usually the undressing went smoothly. Subsequently, the Jews were taken through the “tube” to Camp lll – the real extermination camp. The transfer through the “tube” proceeded as follows:One SS man was in the lead and five or six Ukrainian auxiliaries were at the back hastening the Jews along. The women were taken through a barrack where their hair was cut off. In Camp lll the Jews were received by SS men. As I already mentioned, the motor was then switched on by Gottinger and one of the Ukrainian auxiliaries whose name I don’t remember. Then the gassed Jews were taken out. I was blamed for being responsible for the death of the Jewish girls Ruth and Gisela who lived in the so-called forester house. As it is known, these two girls lived in the forester house, and they were visited frequently by the SS men.Orgies were conducted there. They were attended by Bolender, Hubert Gomerski, Karl Ludwig, Franz Stangl, Gustav Wagner and Steubel. I lived in the room above them and due to these celebrations could not fall asleep after coming back from a journey. One evening Karl Ludwig banged on the girl’s door. Evidently he wanted to enter. The girls opened the door in my presence. Ludwig ordered the girls to put on their dressing gowns, and both of us took them in the direction of Camp lll. I went half way only and then returned. Ludwig went with them alone. Next day Ludwig told me that by his order a Ukrainian had shot the two girls. Primarily each member, of the permanent staff took place in the unloading of the transports.
    • 3 Cosa disse: Part of the trolleys and rails originated from the sawmill that bordered the Sobibor camp. Additional trolleys and rails arrived by train from Trawniki. The locomotive of this train came later, about two months after the trolley was in operation. At the beginning horses pulled the trolleys. As I explained in previous interrogations, the trolley was laid to transport the sick and handicapped Jews from the arriving trains to Camp lll. I know that these people, including the handicapped and sick children, and particularly infants, were taken to the so-called Lazarett, and there they were shot by those serving in Camp lll. It was known in the camps, that the Lazarett was used not for healing but for the extermination of the people.
    • 4 Cosa disse: Bolender was in charge of Camp lll. In Sobibor there was a working Jew whom Bolender ordered to box with another working Jew, and for his pleasure they hit each other almost until death. Bolender had a big dog and when he was in charge of the platform workers he set the dog at the Jews, who did not work quickly enough.
    • 5 Cosa disse: I estimate that the number of Jews gassed at Sobibor was about 350,000. in the canteen at Sobibor I once overheard a conversation between Frenzel, Stangl and Wagner. They were discussing the number of victims in the extermination camps of Belzec, Treblinka and Sobibor and expressed their regret that Sobibor “came last” in the competition.
  • Fonti: BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA - the Operation Reinhard Death Camps. Indiana University Press - Yitzhak Arad, 1987, p. 77. Vedi anche qui e qui

Erich Bauer


  • Erich Fuchs, SS-Scharführer, SS-Sonderkommando. Impiegato prima per l'Aktion T4, alla chiusura del programma viene mandato prima a Belzec, poi a Sobibor e quindi Treblinka. Rilascia ai processi riguardanti i tre campi di sterminio dell'Operazione Reinhard tre dichiarazioni sullo sterminio e l'uso delle camere a gas in quei campi.
Erich Fuchs, SS-Scharführer, SS-Sonderkommando. Tre deposizioni sull'uso del gas a Sobibor, a Belzec e a Treblinka
  • Testimonianza per il campo di Belzec
  • Cosa disse 1 : Al nostro arrivo a Belzec, abbiamo incontrato Friedel Schwarz e gli altri uomini delle SS, di cui non ricordo i nomi. Hanno supervisionato la costruzione di baracche che sarebbero servite da camera a gas. Wirth ci ha detto che a Belzec "tutti gli ebrei saranno abbattuti". A questo scopo furono costruite delle baracche come camere a gas. Io ho installato i getti della doccia nelle camere a gas. Gli ugelli non erano collegati ad alcun tubo dell'acqua; questi sarebebro serviti da camuffamento per la camera a gas. Agli ebrei che sarebbero stati gassati, sarebbe sembrato che fossero portati ai bagni e per la disinfezione.
  • Fonte: HEART
  • Testimonianza per il campo di Sobibor
  • Cosa disse 1: A un certo punto, nella primavera del 1942, ricevetti istruzioni da Wirth di andare a prendere il nuovo personale del campo da Lublino con un camion. Uno di questi era Erich Bauer (anche Stangl e una o due altre persone) ... Su istruzioni di Wirth sono partito in camion per Lemberg e lì ho raccolto un apparechio per gassazione che poi ho portato a Sobibor. Arrivato a Sobibor ho scoperto un terreno aperto vicino alla stazione su cui c'erano un edificio di cemento e diversi altri edifici permanenti. L'SS-Sonderkommando a Sobibor era guidato da Thomalla. Tra il personale delle SS c'erano Floss, Bauer, Stangl, Schwarz, Barbl e altri. Abbiamo scaricato il motore. Era un pesante motore a benzina russo (presumibilmente un carro armato o un trattore) di almeno 200 CV (motore a carburatore, otto cilindri, raffreddato ad acqua). Abbiamo messo il motore su un basamento di cemento e collegato un tubo all'uscita di scarico. Poi abbiamo provato il motore. All'inizio non ha funzionato. Ho riparato l'accensione e la valvola e improvvisamente il motore si avviò. Il chimico che già conoscevo da Belzec entrò nella camera a gas con un misuratore per misurare la concentrazione di gas Successivamente fu eseguito un collaudo della gassificazione. Mi sembra di ricordare che da trenta a quaranta donne furono gassate in una camera a gas. Le ebree dovettero spogliarsi sotto una tettoia in una radura nel bosco, vicino alla camera a gas. Furono ammassatie nella camera a gas dai suddetti membri delle SS e da volontari ucraini. Quando le donne furono chiuse nella camera a gas, mi occupai del motore insieme a Bauer. Il motore iniziò immediatamente a rombare. Restammo entrambi accanto al motore e lo attivammo per rilasciare il "gas di scarico nella camera" in modo che i gas fossero incanalati nella camera. Su istigazione del farmacista ho accelerato il motore, in tal modo in seguito non si sarebbe dovuto aggiungere benzina extra. Dopo una decina di minuti le trenta o quaranta donne erano morte. Il farmacista e le SS diedero il segnale di spegnere il motore
  • Fonte: come da voce di Bramfab in sua sandbox, tradotta (ma manca qualcosa della seguente) da traduzione originale di HEART:

As ordered by Wirth I drove an LKW to Lvov, fetched a gas motor and transported it to Sobibor. When I arrived at Sobibor, close to the railway station I saw a tract of land with a concrete construction and some other solid buildings. The Sonderkommando there were commanded by Thomalla. Other members of the SS who attended were F.B. Stangl, F.Schwartz, Kurt Bolender and others. We unloaded the motor. It was a heavy Russian benzine engine – presumably a tank or tractor motor at least 200 horsepower V-motor, 8 cylinders, water cooled. We installed the engine on a concrete foundation and set up the connection between the exhaust and the tube. I then tested the motor. It did not work. I was able to repair the ignition and the valves, and the motor finally started running. The chemist whom I knew from Belzec, entered the gas chamber with measuring instruments to test the concentration of the gas. Following this a gassing experiment was carried out. If my memory serves me right, about thirty to forty women were gassed in one gas chamber. The Jewish women were forced to undress in an open place close to the gas chamber, and were driven into the gas chamber by the above mentioned SS members and by Ukrainian auxiliaries. When the women were shut up in the gas chamber I and Bolender set the motor in motion. The motor functioned first in neutral. Both of us stood by the motor and switched from neutral to Cell, so that the gas was conveyed to the chamber. At the suggestion of the chemist I fixed the motor on a definitive speed so that it was unnecessary henceforth to press on the gas. About ten minutes later the thirty to forty women were dead. The chemist and the SS Leader gave the sign to stop the motor. I packed my tools and saw how the corpses were removed. The transportation was done with a lorry trail that led from the gas chambers to a remote plot. Fonte: HEART

  • Testimonianza per il campo di Treblinka
  • Cosa disse 1: Fonte: Successivamente sono andato a Treblinka. In questo campo di sterminio ho installato un generatore che forniva luce elettrica alle baracche. Il lavoro a Treblinka mi ha richiesto dai tre ai quattro mesi intensi. Durante la mia permanenza arrivavano quotidianamente trasporti di ebrei che venivano gassati.
  • Fonte: [da sandbox di Bramfab nella voce di Fuchs]


Karl Alfred Schlunch, SS-Unterscharführer, SS-Sonderkommando di Belzec. Deposizione sul campo di sterminio di Belzec per il periodo giugno 1942 - estate 1943
    • Cosa disse: In the morning or noon time we were informed by Wirth, Schwarz, or by Oberhauser that a transport with Jews should arrive soon. The disembarkation from the freight cars was carried out by a group of Jewish prisoners under the command of their Kapo’s. Two or three Germans from the camp staff supervised this action. It was my obligation to carry out such supervision. After the disembarkation, the Jews were told that they had come here for transfer and they should go to bath and disinfection. This announcement was made by Wirth and translated by a Jewish kapo. Afterwards the Jews were taken to the undressing barracks. My post in the “tube” was close to the undressing barrack. Wirth briefed me that while I was there I should influence the Jews to behave calmly. After leaving the undressing barracks, I had to show the Jews the way to the gas chambers. I believe that when I showed the Jews the way they were convinced they were really going to the baths. After the Jews entered the gas chambers, the doors were closed by Hackenholt himself or by the Ukrainian subordinate to him. Then Hackenholt switched on the engine which supplied the gas. After five or seven minutes – and this is only an estimate – someone looked through the small window into the gas chamber to verify whether all inside were dead. Only then were the outside doors opened and the gas chambers ventilated. After the ventilation of the gas chambers, a Jewish working group under the command of their kapo’s entered and removed the bodies from the chambers. Occasionally I had to supervise at this place, therefore I can describe the whole process which I saw and witnessed personally. The Jews inside the gas chambers were densely packed, this is the reason that the corpses were not lying on the floor but were mixed up in disorder in all directions, some of them kneeling, according to the amount of space they had. The corpses were besmirched with mud and urine or with spit. I could see that the lips and tips of the noses were a bluish colour. Some of them had their eyes closed, others eyes rolled. The bodies were dragged out of the gas chambers and inspected by a dentist, who removed finger-rings and gold teeth. After this procedure, the corpses were thrown into a big pit.
    • Fonte HEART


  • Franz Stangl, SS-Obersturmführer, che dopo aver partecipato all'Aktion T4 è trasferito in Polonia agli ordini di Odilo Globočnik e dopo "un apprendistato" a Belzec passa al comando dei campi di sterminio di Sobibor (marzo - settembre 1942) e di Treblinka (settembre 1942 - agosto 1943)
  • Dichiarazioni su Belzec, Sobibor e Treblinka e lo sterminio in corso
Franz Stangl, SS-Obersturmführer in Polonia agli ordini di Odilo Globočnik. Dopo un "apprendistato" a Belzec passa al comando dei campi di sterminio di Sobibor (marzo - settembre 1942) e di Treblinka (settembre 1942 - agosto 1943) - Dichiarazione di Franz Stangl il 17 luglio 1967 nella prigione di Dinslaken


    • Cosa disse su Belzec : Wirth was not in his office, they said he was up at the camp. I asked what was the matter? The man I was talking to said that one of the pits had overflowed. They had put too many corpses in it and putrefaction had progressed to fast so that the liquid underneath had pushed the bodies on top up and over, and the corpses had rolled down the hill. I saw some of them – oh God it was awful.
    • Cosa disse su Sobibor: Wirth told me that I should definitely become the commander of Sobibor. I answered that I was not qualified for such a mission. I received from Globocnik the task to erect the camp. That it was not to be an ammunition camp but a camp for killing Jews I learned finally from Wirth. During the discussion with Wirth he told me if I would not do it, another would come. He would then put me back at the disposal of the Brigadefuhrer Globocnik. Actually I was not relieved of my post. I stayed in Sobibor, transports arrived and were liquidated.
    • Cosa disse su Treblinka 1 : I drove there, with an SS driver. We could smell it kilometres away. The road ran alongside the railway. When we were about fifteen, twenty minutes drive from Treblinka, we began to see corpses by the line, first just two or three, then more, and as we drove into Treblinka station, there were what looked like hundreds of them – just lying there – they’d obviously been there for days, in the heat. In the station was a train full of Jews, some dead, some still alive….. that too, looked if it had been there for days.
    • Cosa disse su Treblinka 2 : When I arrived in Treblinka for the first time, a large board was located in Reception Square. As I remember, on this board were noted ten clauses. These clauses stressed how the arriving Jews should behave. It is clear that in this written announcement the mission of this camp, in some way, was disguised. Maybe it related to a resettlement camp, but I know that it alluded to the fact that all have to go to the bath and in the meantime the clothes would be disinfected. In the framework of the re-organisation, Wirth ordered the signboard removed. In its place, the SS men would verbally announce to the deportees the directions which were until then written on the board. These short announcements were translated by working Jews.
    • Cosa disse su Treblinka 3 : It must have been at the beginning of 1943 that is when the excavators were brought in. Using these excavators, the corpses were removed from the huge ditches which had been used until then for burial. The old corpses were burned on the roasters, along with the new bodies of new arrivals to the camp. During the transition to the new system, Wirth came to Treblinka. As I recall Wirth spoke of a Standartenfuhrer who had experience in burning corpses. Wirth told me that according to the Standartenfuhrer’s experience corpses could be burned on a roaster, and it would work marvellously. I know that in the beginning in Treblinka they used rails from the trolley to build the cremation grill. But it turned out that these were too weak and bent in the heat. They were replaced with real railroad rails.
    • Cosa disse su Treblinka 4: When the cremation grates were there, fire was kindled in the corpse pits to cremate the corpses on top… such a fire in one grave resulted from the gas from the corpses. Big tall flames shot up and there was an enormous mushroom cloud.
    • Cosa disse su Treblinka 5: Looking out my window I could see some Jews on the other side of the inner fence – they must have jumped down from the roof of the SS billets and they were shooting. In an emergency like that my first duty was to inform the chief of the external security police. By the time I had done that, our petrol station blew up. That too had been built just like a real service station, with flower beds round it. Next thing the whole ghetto camp was burning and then Matthes, the German in charge of the Totenlager, arrived at a run and said everything was burning up there too.

Cosa disse su Treblinka 6: They left me stewing for three weeks before Globocnik sent for me. It was my most difficult time. I was sure I would get all the blame. But as soon as I entered the office, Globocnik said “You are transferred immediately to Trieste for anti-partisan combat.” I thought my bones would melt. I had been so sure they were going to say I had done something wrong, and now, on the contrary, I had what I always wanted. I was going to get out and to Trieste too, near my home. I went back to Treblinka, but I only stayed three or four days, just enough to organise a transport.

  • Fonti: Dichiarazione di Franz Stangl il 17 luglio 1967 nella prigione di Dinslaken + HEART


  • Robert Juhrs, SS-Unterscharführer, da giugno 1942 a marzo 1943 inviato al campo di sterminio di Belzec, a marzo 1943 fu trasferito al campo di lavoro Dorohucza e da novembre 1943 al campo di sterminio Sobibor. Diversi processi a suo carico: da quello di Dachau ai processi di Sobibor e Belzec.
Robert Juhrs, SS-Unterscharführer. Da giugno 1942 a marzo 1943 è inviato al campo di sterminio di Belzec, a marzo 1943 trasferito al campo di lavoro Dorohucza e da novembre 1943 al campo di sterminio Sobibor. Sue dichiarazioni sullo sterminio in corso in diversi processi: quello di Dachau, quello di Sobibor e poi di Belzec
  • Testimonianza su Belzec
  • Cosa disse1: I had to carry out the shooting of Jews once. In that transport the cars were overloaded, some of the Jews were unable to walk. Maybe in that confusion, some of the Jews had been pushed down and had been crushed underfoot. Therefore, there were Jews that, by no means, could cover the way to the undressing barrack. Gottlieb Hering gave me an order to shoot these Jews. He told me verbally, “Juhrs take these Jews to Camp ll immediately and shoot them there.” These Jews were taken to the gate of Camp ll by a Jewish working group, and from there they were taken to the pits by other working Jews. As I remember there were seven Jews, men and women, who were taken inside the pit. It is hard to describe the condition these people were in, after their long journey in the unimaginably packed freight cars. I regarded the killing of these people in this way as a mercy and redemption, I shot these Jews with a machine gun, as they stood on the edge of the pit, I aimed directly at their heads so that everyone died instantly. I am absolutely sure that nobody felt any torment.
  • Fonte: HEART
  • Cosa disse 2 (su Dorohucza) : At the end of February or the beginning of March 1943, I together with Zierke, Schluch and probably with Tauscher or Schwartz, was transferred to Dorohucza. At the time of my transfer the operation in Belzec had not yet ended. In Dorohucza there was a work camp where the prisoners worked at cutting peat. Dorohucza lay about 6km from Trawniki. At the time we lived and ate in Trawniki. The work brigade in Dorohucza was about 150-200 strong. As well as the named Germans, there were also 6-8 guards sent daily from Trawniki. The camp lay near the Lublin – Chelm road. As I remember, the 150 – 200 work Jews were accommodated in 2-3 barracks. The camp was simply surrounded by barbed wire and at night probably guarded by 2 sentries ….. as already explained the food came at that time from Trawniki. Every day the Jews had to cut peat in the immediate vicinity of the camp. I know that I celebrated my birthday on 17 October 1943 in Dorohucza. Shortly after that we were surprised one morning to find our camp surrounded by a police unit. I distinctly remember that there was a thick fog that morning. Our sentries had detected figures in the fog and had given the alarm, as they reckoned there would be a partisan attack on the camp. Shortly afterwards, a police officer in uniform came into our camp, he was accompanied by another man, who could have been from the SD. I no longer know exactly. As I remember, the police officer had the rank of a lieutenant, as I think, he wore at least one star on his shoulder tab. In a rigorous way he ordered all the German personnel to step outside and lay down their arms. He also demanded the same of the other guards. We were forced to obey this order, after this had been done, all the Jews had to leave the barracks and fall in. I can remember still that our cook – a Jewess from Leipzig, whose name I have forgotten – asked me what it all meant. I told her that I did not know and was also surprised. I had the impression that the Jews, from past experiences, had a premonition of the impending operation. After the Jews were all formed up outside, their living quarters were searched. Then the Jews were moved off in the direction of Trawniki under guard by the police unit. I learned later that all the Jews in this work brigade had been shot in the area of the Kommandantura, in the so-called air-raid trenches. Unfortunately I cannot say who had ordered this operation, the name of the police officer is not known to me. A few days after this operation, a new movement order to Sobibor arrived for us from Lublin, and we were fetched in lorries. On my arrival in Sobibor the gassing operation there had already ended and the camp partly dismantled. I was employed there only at cleaning up the place. At the beginning of December 1943 I went to Berlin and on 10 December received home leave. Between Christmas and New Year 1943-1944 I received a telegram calling me back from leave and transfer to Italy via Berlin. I remained there till the end of the war.
  • Fonte: Bundesarchiv Ludwigsburg – 208-AR-Z 252/59 Josef Oberhauser; Dichiarazione di Robert Juhrs fatta alla

Special Commission of the Bavarian Regional CID a Francoforte sul Meno – 11 October 1961 su Dorohucza (qui)


  • Josef Oberhauser, SS-Obersturmführer, dall'Aktion T4 (Grafeneck, Brandeburgo e Bemburg) al campo di sterminio di Belzec (da novembre 1941 al 10 agosto 1942), quindi ispettore dei tre campi della Operazione Reinhard (Belzec, Sobibor e Treblinka). Processato a Monaco con sentenza del 21 gennaio 1965. Descrizione del personaggio da parte dei giudici più le dichiarazioni su Belzec e Treblinka
Josef Oberhauser, SS-Obersturmführer con un lungo curriculum criminale: inizia con l'Aktion T4 (a Grafeneck, a Brandeburgo e a Bemburg), poi da novembre 1941 al 10 agosto 1942 è al campo di sterminio di Belzec; infine sarà ispettore dei tre campi dell'Operazione Reinhard: Belzec, Sobibor e Treblinka. Processato a Monaco con sentenza del 21 gennaio 1965. Descrizione del personaggio da parte dei giudici e sue dichiarazioni su Belzec e Treblinka


    • Descrizione di Oberhauser nella sentenza emessa dai giudici di Monaco (Processo di Belzec) e dichiarazione di Oberhauser sul campo di Belzec.
    • Cosa si legge nella sentenza del 21 gennaio 1965: The defendant, Oberhauser, – then an SS-Oberscharführer – was on the staff of the senior SS and Police Leader in Lublin from November to Christmas 1941. Subsequently, he was assigned to work for the camp commandant of Belzec (Christian Wirth), which saw him appointed as liaison officer to the staff of the senior SS and Police Leader and moreover, unlike other non-commissioned officers, given no fixed area of responsibility within the camp; on the contrary, he was free to do as he personally saw fit. Consequently Oberhauser was often seen in Wirth's company within the camp, but no recognizable activity would have resulted nor would any independent authority have been exercised.

Only occasionally was Oberhauser given a role at the implementation of mass killings, the illegality of which he had fully recognized. For example, on the orders of the camp commandant, Wirth, he met trainloads arriving at Belzec, each comprising at least 150 people, at the camp gates on at least five occasions in the period from mid-March to 1st August 1942. He led the supervision of the unloading of the trains and made sure that the train crew did not enter the camp area but were held outside the camp in readiness, to be able to reinforce the outer cordon in case there was an uprising or desperate breakout attempt by the doomed people. All the Jews who arrived on these trains were killed in the manner already described.
When, in spring 1942, a major expansion of Belzec Camp was carried out to increase its capacity for extermination, it was the task of the defendant, to procure the necessary building materials, in particular, for the construction of the larger gas chamber facility. He was allocated vehicles and the people necessary for the fulfillment of this task. In exercising his duties, he was aware of the fact that the work carried out with his assistance, was intended to create the conditions for a significant increase in the numbers of those exterminated. On 1 August 1942, as inspector of the three extermination camps of Belzec, Treblinka and Sobibor, Wirth moved to his new office in Lublin, and succeeded in getting Oberhauser, whom he assessed as a dutiful subordinate, also transferred there. There, the defendant was given the command of the Ukrainian guards employed by the staff of the senior SS and Police Leader, Globocnik, to guard important sites in Lublin. In addition, he was still available to Wirth, and had to act as an escort on his inspection visits to the extermination camps.

  • Fonte: Belzec Trial - Sentence: LG Munich I dated 21 January 1965, 110 Ks 3/64. IV. The duties of the defendant in Belzec and Lublin.
    • Cosa disse 1 su Belzec: After those first gassing operations, Wirth, Schwarz and all the German personnel disappeared from Belzec. As his final official act, Wirth had, before his departure gassed or shot the fifty working Jews, including their Kapos’s. When Wirth and his people departed, I was in Lublin. I had a big transport of material to bring. When I came again to Belzec, nobody was there. In the camp there were about twenty Ukrainian guards. They were under the command of SS-Scarfuhrer Feiks. Curiously enough, SS and Police Leader Globocnik had no knowledge of the departure of Wirth and his men. He sent me to Belzec to find out in which direction Wirth had gone. I found out that he had left for Berlin via Lvov and Cracow, without reporting to Globocnik.
  • Fonte: HEART
    • Cosa disse 1 su Treblinka: In Treblinka everything was in a state of collapse. The camp was overstocked. Outside the camp, a train with deportees was unable to be unloaded as there were simply no more room. Many corpses of Jews were lying inside the camp. These corpses were already bloated. Particularly I can remember seeing many corpses in the vicinity of the fence. These people were shot from the guard towers. I heard then in Treblinka how Globocnik and Wirth summed up the following: Dr Eberl would be dismissed immediately. In his place, Stangl would come to Treblinka from Sobibor as commander. Globocnik said in this conversation that if Dr Eberl were not his fellow countryman, he would arrest him and bring him before an SS and police court.
  • Fonte: HEART


Heinrich Gley, SS-Oberscharführer, incarichi in diverse strutture dell'Aktion T4, quindi inviato prima al campo di concentramento di Trawniki e poi al campo di sterminio di Belzec. Al processo di Belzec di Monaco rilascia due importanti dichiarazioni sullo sterminio a Belzec
    • Testimonianza al processo di Belzec
    • Cosa disse 1 : From the beginning of August 1942 until the camp was closed in September 1943 I was in Belzec. As I remember, the gassing stopped at the end of 1942, when the snow was already falling. Then the unearthing and cremation of the corpses began. It lasted from November 1942 until March 1943. The cremation was conducted day and night without interruption. At first the burning took place at one site, and later on at two. One cremating site had the capacity to burn 2,000 corpses in twenty-four hours. About four weeks after the beginning of the cremation operation, the second burning site was erected. On the average, during five months at the first about 300,000 corpses were cremated and in four months at the second burning site, about 240,000 corpses. Naturally, these are average estimations.
    • Cosa disse 2: I was assigned with a big Jewish work brigade to the cremation of the corpses by means of railway lines which served as a grate. About 80-90 Jews then worked under my supervision in three shifts. The rails were placed on top of big rocks and narrow gauge rails served as a cross-mesh. The cremation surface could take about 200 corpses. First a wood fire was kindled under the iron grate. During the course of the cremation operation the corpses later served as the only fuel. From time to time the badly twisted rails had to be replaced by new ones.
  • Fonte: HEART

Arbeitslager Poniatowa (Da Wp in de per la voce Gley) Im Frühjahr 1943 wurde Gley Kommandoführer des Arbeitslagers Poniatowa, in dem jüdische Häftlinge interniert waren. Ebenso wie in Belzec unterstand er auch hier dem Lagerkommandanten Gottlieb Hering, mit dem er sich duzte und sich als dessen „Rechte Hand“ bezeichnete. Mit Gley kamen auch weitere Mitglieder des Lagerpersonals von Belzec nach Poniatowa. Die Grausamkeiten in diesem Lager erreichten ihren Höhepunkt in der Aktion Erntefest Anfang November 1943, bei der in diesem Lager mindestens 14.000 Häftlinge durch Erschießungen ermordet wurden. Nach dieser „Aktion“ wurde das Lager abgewickelt und Hering sowie Gley überwachten wiederum die Leichenverbrennung der getöteten Häftlinge.


  • Heinrich Unverhau, SS-Unterscharführer, dopo altri incarichi in diverse strutture dell'Aktion T4, a giugno 1942 è nel campo di sterminio di Belzec, nel giugno 1943 è trasferito nel campo di sterminio di Sobibor, nel dicembre 1943 ritorna a Belzec per mimetizzare il campo livellando le buche e per costruire una finta fattoria.
Heinrich Unverhau, SS-Unterscharführer, dopo altri incarichi in diverse strutture dell'Aktion T4, a giugno 1942 è nel campo di sterminio di Belzec, nel giugno 1943 è trasferito nel campo di sterminio di Sobibor, nel dicembre 1943 ritorna a Belzec per mimetizzare il campo livellando le buche e per costruire una finta fattoria
    • Dichiarazioni su Sobibor
    • Cosa disse 1: SS – Sturmbannfuhrer Hering accused me of being a saboteur because of the fact that during the sorting of the clothes that were sent for utilisation in Germany, a yellow Jewish star was found. Some money was also found there. These clothes belonged to Jews who were killed in Belzec.
    • Cosa disse 2: A few weeks before the uprising in Sobibor I and three other SS men and a larger group of Ukrainians auxiliaries were again ordered to go to Belzec. We were doing forestation work there. We had to prevent the Poles from turning the whole area upside down in their searches for gold.
  • Fonti: HEART


  • Werner Dubois, SS-Scharfuhrer, lavora nelle strutture dell'Aktion T4 di Bernburg, Hadamar, Brandeburgo e Grafeneck. Ad aprile 1942 è trasferito nel campo di sterminio di Belzec e a giugno 1943 è nel campo di sterminio di Sobibor.
    • Importanti dichiarazioni sullo sterminio a Belzec e a Sobibor (più la descrizione della rivolta)
Werner Dubois, SS-Scharfuhrer, lavora nelle strutture dell'Aktion T4 di Bernburg, Hadamar, Brandeburgo e Grafeneck. Ad aprile 1942 è trasferito nel campo di sterminio di Belzec e a giugno 1943 è nel campo di sterminio di Sobibor. Rilascia importanti dichiarazioni sullo sterminio a Belzec e a Sobibor (più la descrizione della rivolta a Sobibor)


    • Cosa disse su Belzec: I trasporti verso Belzec, e di conseguenza le operazioni di gasazione, si interruppero in modo alquanto improvviso. Come membri del personale del campo di Belzec, fummo informati che quel luogo sarebbe stato completamente ricostruito. Un gruppo di lavoratori ebrei, di cui non ricordo il numero, aveva il compito di eseguire la demolizione. Vale la pena di puntualizzare che verso il marzo - aprile 1943 la cremazione dei cadaveri fu interrotta e le fosse furono spianate. Il campo fu di conseguenza interamente svuotato e spianato. Ho sentito che ci avevano messo delle piante. Il commando di lavoro ebreo, dopo aver compiuto questo lavoro, fu portato a Sobibor. Io rimasi a Belzec per altri due giorni, insieme ad alcuni miei colleghi e guardie, per eseguire le ultime pulizie e gli ultimi caricamenti. Un po' di tempo dopo, quando ero a Sobibor, sentii che durante il trasporto del commando di lavoro ebreo da Belzec a Sobibor avvenne un ammutinamento e ci fuorono spari, e questo causò alcuni morti.
    • Cosa disse su Sobibor: Per circa tre settimane fui a capo di un gruppo di ebrei che lavorava fuori dal campo. Ricordo il seguente evento. Durante il periodo del mio comando, una guardia ucraina fu uccisa da due ebrei quando andarono[1] a portare acqua a una distanza di 400-500 metri dal luogo dove lavoravano. Questi due ebrei scapparono. Quando non vidi tornare i portatori d'acqua per parecchio tempo, mandai un'altra guardia a vedere cosa stesse succedendo. Tornando, essa mi informò che aveva trovato la guardia morta, e nessuna traccia dei due ebrei. In seguito a questo ordinai a tutti gli ebrei di sdraiarsi per terra per evitare ulteriori incidenti. Mandai una guardia al campo per informare il comandante del campo Reichleitner di ciò che era successo. Il giorno dell'insurrezione, nel pomeriggio, ero nell'armeria insieme ad alcune guardie ucraine. La porta era aperta, vidi un gruppo di prigionieri ebrei con asce avvicinarsi all'armeria. Pensai che fosse un normale gruppo di lavoro. Questo gruppo di cinque o sei uomini passò nei pressi dell'armeria. Girarono attorno all'armeria, irruppero nella sala e mi colpirono con le asce. Mi fratturarono il cranio con un'ascia. Altri colpi d'ascia mi ferirono le mani. Ciononostante, riuscii a districarmi e a scappare fuori dall'armeria. Dopo aver corso per circa 10 metri, fui colpito da uno sparo a un polmone e persi conoscenza. Alcune guardie ucraine mi diedero della vodka e ripresi i sensi. Poi seppi che era scoppiata un'insurrezione.
  • Kurt Bolender, SS-Oberscharführer e totenkopfverbände. Dall'Aktion T4 va a Sobibor.
    • Descrive in maniera particolareggiata come gli ebrei venivano condotti alle camere a gas a Sobibor.
Kurt Bolender, SS-Oberscharführer e totenkopfverbände. Dall'Aktion T4 va a Sobibor. Descrive in maniera particolareggiata come gli ebrei venivano condotti alle camere a gas a Sobibor. Arrestato nel 1961 e accusato di aver ucciso personalmente circa 360 ebrei e di aver partecipato all'omicidio di massa di circa 86.000 ebrei, si suicidò in carcere prima della sentenza
  • Dello zelo e del feroce modo di agire del comandante parlano anche due SS, ovvero Erich Fuchs ed Erich Bauer nelle dichiarazioni rese a Hagen al "Processo di Sobibor".
    • Cosa disse: Before the Jews undressed Oberscharfuhrer Hermann Michel deputy commander of the camp made a speech to them. On these occasions, he used to wear a white coat to give the impression that he was a physician. Michel announced to the Jews that they would be sent to work. But before this they would have to take baths and undergo disinfection so as to prevent the spread of diseases. After undressing, the Jews were taken through the so-called Schlauch. They were led to the gas chambers, not by the Germans, but by Ukrainians. After the Jews entered the gas chambers, the Ukrainians closed the doors. The motor which supplied the gas was switched on by a Ukrainian called Emil and by a German driver called Erich Bauer from Berlin. After the gassing, the doors were opened and the corpses were removed by a group of Jewish workers.
    • Fonte: HEART


  • Hans-Heinz Schütt, SS-Scharführer, dalla T4 al campo di sterminio di Sobibor, assolto al processo di Sobibor. La sua dichiarazione sulla reazione dei detenuti condotti alle camere a gas e la reazione violenta delle guardie ucraine di servizio volontario a Sobibor (molte guardie saranno in seguito processate da un tribunale sovietico a Kiev e condannate a morte come collaborazionisti dei nazisti)
Hans-Heinz Schütt, SS-Scharführer, dalla T4 al campo di sterminio di Sobibor, assolto al Processo di Sobibor. La dichiarazione sulla reazione dei detenuti condotti alle camere a gas e la reazione violenta delle guardie ucraine di servizio volontario a Sobibor
  • Cosa disse: Getting the detainees into the gas-chambers did not always proceed smoothly. The detainees would shout and weep and they often refused to get inside. The guards helped them on by violence. These guards were Ukrainian volunteers who were under the authority of members of the SS commando. Members of the SS held key positions in the camp, i.e. one SS man oversaw the unloading, a further SS man was responsible for leading the detainees into the reception camp, a further SS man was responsible for leading the detainees to the undressing area, a further SS man oversaw the confiscation of valuables and a further member of the commando had to drive the detainees into the so-called tube which led to the extermination camp. Once they were inside the so-called tube, which led from the hut to the extermination camp there was no longer any escape.


  • Erwin Herman Lambert, SS-Unterscharführer, dai centri dell'Aktion T4 passa ai campi di sterminio di Sobibor e Treblinka, supervisore della costruzione delle camere a gas nei campi nazisti.
    • Dichiarazioni su Sobibor e Treblinka
Erwin Herman Lambert, SS-Unterscharführer, dai centri dell'Aktion T4 passa ai campi di sterminio di Sobibor e Treblinka, supervisore della costruzione delle camere a gas nei campi nazisti. Le sue dichiarazioni ai processi sui campi di Sobibor e Treblinka


    • Cosa disse su Sobibor: As I mentioned at the beginning, I was in the extermination camp of Jews for about two to three weeks. It was sometime in autumn 1942, but I don’t remember exactly when. At that time I was assigned by Wirth to enlarge the gassing structure according to the model of Treblinka. I went to Sobibor together with Lorenz Hackenholt, who was at that time in Treblinka. First of all, I went with Hackenholt to a sawmill near Warsaw. There Hackenholt ordered a big consignment of wood for reconstruction in Sobibor. Finally, both of us went to Sobibor. We reported there to the camp commander, Reichleitner. He gave us the exact directives for the construction of the gassing installation. Probably the old installation was not big enough, and reconstruction was necessary. Today I cannot tell exactly who participated in the reconstruction work. However, I do remember that Jewish prisoners and so-called Askaries (Ukrainian auxiliaries) took part in the work. During this time that building was in progress, no transports with Jews arrived.
    • Cosa disse su Treblinka: I and Hengst – euthanasia man – went to Treblinka by car. SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Richard Thomalla was the camp commander. The Treblinka camp was still in the process of construction. I was attached to a building team there. Thomalla was there for a limited time only and conducted the construction work of the extermination camp. During this time no extermination actions were carried out. Thomalla was in Treblinka for about four to eight weeks. Then Dr Eberl arrived as camp commander. Under his direction the extermination Aktionen of the Jews began.
    • Fonte: HEART (vedi anche Camera a gas)


  • Hubert Gomerski, SS-Unterscharführer, dai centri dell'Aktion T4 passa al campo di sterminio di Sobibor.
    • Dichiarazione sulla visita di Himmler a Sobibor e sugli ebrei gasati quel giorno.
Hubert Gomerski, SS-Unterscharführer, dai centri dell'Aktion T4 passa al campo di sterminio di Sobibor. Dichiarazione di Gomerski sulla visita di Himmler a Sobibor e sugli ebrei gasati quel giorno. [Era prassi consolidata che alle visite di Himmler, o di ispettori dei campi, o di altri importanti e selezionati visitatori, venisse mostrata l'efficienza dello staff del campo con la dimostrazione pratica del funzionamento delle camere a gas sulle vittime]
    • Cosa disse: I remember the visit of Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler in Sobibor. All the SS men, members of the police, and the Ukrainian volunteers were lined up in a parade. I personally reported my platoon to Himmler for inspection. I know that on the day when Himmler was in Sobibor a certain number of Jews was gassed. I can tell for sure that Himmler visited Camp III – extermination area. I saw Himmler with the whole group going in the direction of Camp III.
    • Fonte: HEART


Karl Frenzel, SS-Oberscharführer - unità Totenkopfverbände, dall'Akion T4 passa a Sobibor dove "soggiornerà" per un anno e mezzo. Testimone sulla "destinazione" di bambini ed ebrei deboli e sulle frustate impartite senza una ragione a chi arrivava con quei convogli. Lui, nazista, parlò di "scene terribili" nel campo di sterminio di Sobibor, luogo in cui la crudeltà e mancanza di ogni senso morale era la norma
  • Dichiarazione su Sobibor 1: Arrivo dei convogli a Sobibor e destinazione di bambini ed ebrei deboli
  • Cosa disse: After the disembarking of the train, the children and the feeble Jews were forcibly thrown onto the trolley. Terrible scenes happened then. The people were separated from their families, pushed with rifle butts, lashed with whips. They cried dreadfully, so I could not cope with this task. Reichleitner complied with my request, and he appointed Paul Bredow to escort the trolley.
  • Dichiarazione su Sobibor 2: ebrei frustati
  • Cosa disse: During my year and a half stay in Sobibor, I frequently saw that the working Jews were whipped. The Jews had to bow down and the Unterfuhrers (SS-men) ordered the Jewish kapos to whip them. Usually they received between ten and twenty-five lashes. The working Jews attended the punishments in order to maintain camp discipline and as a deterrent. In most cases the Jews who were whipped were dressed.


Franz Wulf, SS-Oberscharführer, unità:Totenkopfverbände, dall'Aktion T4 passa al campo di sterminio di Sobibor - Testimonianza sulla rivolta di Sobibor


  • Cosa disse: I went into the garden between Camp l and Camp ll On the way back with the Jewish women, I suddenly heard shots. I ran to the office which was in the forester’s house. I found Beckman and another member of the permanent staff there – both had been shot. I ran back to Camp ll to the sorting barrack to find my brother. Later when the shooting stopped, I ran to the guard in the Forward Camp. There were more dead and Werner Dubois, who was badly wounded.
  • Fonte:HEART


  • Willi Mentz, SS-Unterscharführer, unità Totenkopfverbände, da Akion T4 (Hadamar) al campo di stermino di Treblinka
  • Dettagliata e ampia testimonianza sulle camere a gas e sulle fosse comuni.
Willi Mentz, SS-Unterscharführer, unità Totenkopfverbände, da Akion T4 (Hadamar) al campo di stermino di Treblinka - Dettagliata e ampia testimonianza sulle camere a gas e sulle fosse comuni
  • Cosa disse: When I came to Treblinka the camp commandant was a doctor named Eberl. He was very ambitious. It was said that he ordered more transports that could be “processed” in the camp. That meant that trains had to wait outside the camp because the occupants of the previous transport had not yet all been killed. At the time it was very hot and as a result of the long wait inside the transport trains in the intense heat many people died. At that time whole mountains of bodies lay on the platform. Then Hauptsturmfuhrer Christian Wirth came to Treblinka and kicked up a terrific row. And then one day Dr Eberl was no longer there. For about two months I worked in the upper section of the camp and then after Eberl had gone, everything in the camp was re-organised. The two parts of the camp were separated by barbed-wire fences. Pine branches were used so that you could not see through the fences. The same thing was done along the route from the “transfer” area to the gas chambers. The work-Jews who worked in the upper part of the camp also lived there from then on. Finally, new and larger gas-chambers were built. I think that there were now five or six large gas-chambers. I cannot say exactly how many people these large gas chambers held. If the small gas-chambers could hold 80-100 people, the large ones could probably hold twice that number. I was then transferred to the so-called Lazarett area. This so-called Lazarett (field –hospital) was in the lower camp in a special zone which was fenced off and protected against onlookers by pine branches. In this area there was a large mass grave. This grave was dug by an excavator and must have been about seven meters deep. Next to the mass grave there was a small wooden hut which was used by the two members of the Jewish Arbeitskommando who were on duty in the “Lazarett.” These Jews wore armbands marked with a red cross. That was Kuttner’s idea – he was responsible for the lower camp. Following the arrival of a transport, six to eight cars would be shunted into the camp, coming to a halt at the platform there. The commandant, his deputy Franz, Kuttner and Stadie or Matzig would be there waiting as the transport came in. Further SS members were also present to supervise the unloading, for example Genz and Belitz had to make absolutely sure that there was no one left in the car after the occupants had been ordered to get out. When the Jews had got off Stadie or Matzig would have a short word with them. They were told something to the effect that they were a resettlement transport, that they would be given a bath and that they would receive new clothes. They were also instructed to maintain quiet and discipline. They would continue their journey the following day. Then the transports were taken off to the so-called “transfer” area, the women had to undress in huts and the men out in the open. The women were then led through a passageway, known as the “tube,” to the gas chambers. On the way they had to pass a hut where they had to hand in their jewellery and valuables, the shed was manned by two work-Jews and a member of the SS. The SS member was Suchomel. After they had undressed the men had to put their and the women’s clothes in an orderly pile in a designated place. That only happened in the early days after the re-organisation. Later on there were special Arbeitskommandos which would immediately sort the clothes the transport participants had taken off. There were always some ill and frail persons on the transports, sometimes there were also wounded people amongst the arrivals because the transport escorts, SS members, police, Latvians, sometimes shot people during the journey. These ill, frail and wounded people were brought to the Lazarett by a special Arbeitskommando. These people would be taken to the hospital area and stood or laid down at the edge of the grave. When no more ill or wounded were expected it was my job to shoot these people. I did this by shooting them in the neck with a 9-mm pistol, they then collapsed or fell to one side and were carried down into the grave by the two hospital work-Jews. The bodies were sprinkled with chlorinated lime. Later, on Wirth’s instructions, they were burnt in the grave itself. The number of people I shot after the transport arrived varied. Sometimes it was two or three but sometimes it was as many as twenty or perhaps even more. There were men and women of all ages and there were also children. When I am asked today how many people I killed this way, I can no longer say precisely.
  • Fonte:HEART
  • Fonte in italiano (stessa di HEART in inglese riportata nel cassetto di Willi Mentz), (pp. 190-192 di "Bei tempi" di Klee, Dreben, Rieb) deposizione al Processo di Treblinka (Düsseldorf)


  • Heinrich Matthes, SS-Scharführer, unità Totenkopfverbände. Dall'Aktion T4 approda come vice comandante al campo di sterminio di Treblinka. Al processo di Treblinka, iniziato nel 1964 e tenutosi a Dusseldorf, viene condannato all'ergastolo.
  • Importanti dichiarazioni sullo sterminio in atto a Treblinka. Parla di camere a gas, di stime sulla loro capienza e di griglie usate per la cremazione dei cadaveri ricavate dalle rotaie dei binari.
Heinrich Matthes, SS-Scharführer, unità Totenkopfverbände. Dall'Aktion T4 approda come vice comandante al campo di sterminio di Treblinka. Al primo processo di Treblinka, iniziato nel 1964 e tenutosi a Dusseldorf, rilascia importanti dichiarazioni sullo sterminio a Treblinka. Parla di camere a gas, di stime sulla loro capienza e di griglie usate per la cremazione dei cadaveri ricavate dalle rotaie
  • Cosa disse su Treblinka 1: During the entire time that I was in Treblinka, I served in the Upper Camp. The Upper Camp was that part of Treblinka with the gas chambers, where the Jews were killed and their corpses laid in large pits and later burned. About fourteen Germans carried out the services in the Upper Camp, there were two Ukrainian permanently in the Upper Camp. One of them was called Nikolai, the other was a short man, I don’t remember his name. These two Ukrainians who lived in the Upper Camp served in the gas chambers. They also took care of the engine room when Fritz Schmidt was absent. Usually this Schmidt was in charge of the engine room. In my opinion, as a civilian he was either a mechanic or driver. He came from Pirna. I carried out the roll calls of the working Jews in the Upper Camp. There were about 200-300 such working Jews. They took away the corpses and later burned them. There were also working Jews who had to break out the gold teeth from the corpses. When I asked whether a special working group examined the corpses for hidden jewellery and valuables, I answered: “About this I don’t know.” In the Upper Camp in the area of the gas chambers were stationed about six to eight Ukrainians. These Ukrainians were armed with rifles. Some of them also had leather whips. The people who were brought through the passage were forced to enter the separate single gas chamber. Later in summer 1942, the new gas chambers were built. I think that they became operational only in the autumn. All together, six gas chambers were active. According to my estimate, about 300 people could enter each gas chamber. The people went into the gas chambers without resistance. Those who were at the end, the Ukrainian guards had to push inside. I personally saw how the Ukrainians pushed the people with their rifle butts. The gas chambers were closed for about thirty minutes. Then Schmidt stopped the gassing, and the two Ukrainians who were in the engine room opened the gas chambers from the other side.
  • Cosa disse su Treblinka 2: At that time SS-Oberscharfuhrer or Hauptscharfuhrer Herbert Floss who, as I assume, was previously in another extermination camp, arrived. He was in charge of the arrangements for cremating the corpses. The cremation took place in such a way that railway lines and concrete blocks were placed together. The corpses were piled on these rails. Brushwood was put under the rails. The wood was doused with petrol. In that way not only the newly accumulated corpses were cremated, but also those taken out from the graves.
  • Fonti: HEART, vedi anche en wiki e relative dichiarazioni.


Gustav Münzberger, SS-Unterscharführer, unità Totenkopfverbände. Impiegato nell'Aktion T4, giunge a Treblinka e diventa assistente del vice comandante Matthes, sovrintende alla fase finale dello sterminio degli ebrei nelle camere a gas.
  • Dichiarazione dinnanzi ai giudici di Dusseldorf (processo di Treblinka) sulla pratica nazista di togliere i denti d'oro ed altri oggetti di valore trovati sui cadaveri all'arrivo dei convogli al campo di sterminio.
  • Cosa disse: I know that Mathes who was in charge of Camp III, at the end of each day when a transport arrived, used to take the gold to the Lower Camp. This relates to gold teeth and valuables of gold that had been found on the corpses. This gold was brought in a small case.


  • Irma Grese, volontaria SS e guardia nel campo di sterminio di Birkenau, al processo di Belsen rilasciò importanti dichiarazioni sullo sterminio con il gas e sulle attività del dott. Josef Mengele, nonostante non avesse mai abiurato la sua fede nazista.
Irma Grese, volontaria SS e guardia nel campo di sterminio di Birkenau e Belsen. Al processo di Belsen rilasciò importanti dichiarazioni sullo sterminio con il gas, pur mantenendo la sua fede nazista

Irma Grese - Excerpts from the Belsen Trial and Biography 

Irma Grese was born on the 7 October 1923 and in 1938 she left elementary school and worked for six months on agricultural jobs at a farm, after which she worked in a shop in Lychen for six months.

When she was fifteen she went to a hospital in Hohenlychen where she stayed for two years, she tried to become a nurse but the Labour Exchange would not allow that and sent her to work in a dairy in Furstenburg.

In July 1942 she tried again to become a nurse, but the Labour Exchange sent her to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, although she protested against it, she stayed there until March 1943, when she was transferred to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. She remained in Auschwitz until January 1945. After Auschwitz Irma Grese was sent to the Bergen – Belsen Concentration Camp where she was captured by the British Army when they liberated the camp on 15 April 945. She became known as the “Bitch of Belsen” as the details of her crime became known.

Helene Grese testified:

“I am the sister of Irma Grese, 20 years old and live at Wrecken in Wreckensburg. My father was an agricultural worker, and I have two sisters and two brothers, my mother died in 1936. When she was 14 years old, my sister Irma worked on a farm of a peasant in a village near where we lived.

From the time she entered the Concentration Camp Service I saw her twice. In 1943 she came home on leave, and the only thing she told us about her work was that her duties consisted of supervising prisoners so that they would not escape.

I saw her when she left Auschwitz in 1945, and she told me that she had been working for a considerable period in a sort of a post office, receiving and distributing mail, and that some times she had been detailed to guard duties.

From your knowledge of your sister, do you think her a person likely to beat the prisoners under her charge? No.

In our schooldays when, as it sometimes happens, girls were quarrelling and fighting, my sister never had the courage to fight , but on the contrary she ran away.

When your sister went to work on the farm when she was 14, how long did she stay there?

About six months to a year.

Where did she go from there?

She went to Hohenlychen, as a sort of a nurse, and then to a small dairy in Furstenburg, where she worked, I believe twelve to eighteen months.

Did she go from there into the SS?

Yes in 1942 she went to Ravensbruck, which was very near us.

How long before 1943 was it since you had seen your sister?

In spring 1942 when she was working in the dairy.

When she came home in 1943, did your father give her a thrashing?

I did not see that, but he was quarrelling with her because she was in the SS.

Did he forbid her to come to the house again?

I do not know. She never came again.

Was not that because she told you what she did at Ravensbruck?

I do not know why.

You would be 16 at that time, you never asked what she was doing in the concentration camp, and she never told you?

She told us she was supervising the prisoners working inside the compound, and she had to see that they were doing their work well and that they did not escape.

We asked her, “What do the prisoners get for food, and why have they been sent to a concentration camp?” and she answered that she was not allowed to talk to the prisoners and did not know what sort of food they got.

Why did your father lose his temper with her?

Because he was very much against her being in the SS. We all wanted to belong to the Bund Deutscher Madchen but he never allowed us to do so. I have not seen my father since April 1945.

Irma Grese questioned by her lawyer Major Cranfield.

Did you carry a stick at Auschwitz?

Yes an ordinary walking stick

Did you carry a whip at Auschwitz?

Yes, made out of cellophane in the weaving factory in the camp. It was a very light whip, but if I hit somebody with it, it would hurt. After eight days Kommandant Kramer prohibited whips, but we nevertheless went on using them, I never carried a rubber truncheon.

Where did the order come from for what we call “selection parades”?

That came by telephone from a Rapport-Fuhrerin or from Oberaufseherin Dreschel.

When the order came were you told what the parade was for?

No What were the prisoners supposed to do when the whistle went?

Fall in fives, and it was my duty to see that they did so. Dr Mengele then came and made the selection. As I was responsible for the camp, my duties were to know how many people were leaving and I had to count them, and I kept the figures in a strength book.

After the selection took place they were sent into “B” Camp, and Dreschel telephoned and told me that they had gone to another camp in Germany for working purposes or for special treatment, which I thought was the gas chamber.

I then put in my strength book either so many for transfer to Germany to another camp, or so many for S.B. (Sonderbehandlung). It was well known to the whole camp that S.B. meant the gas chamber.

Were you told anything about the gas chamber by your senior officers?

No the prisoners told me about it.

You have been accused of choosing prisoners on these parades and sending them to the gas chamber. Have you done that?

No: I knew that prisoners were gassed.

Was it not quite simple to know whether or not the selection was for the gas chamber, because only Jews had to attend such selections? I myself had only Jews in Camp C. Then they would all have to attend the selection for the gas chamber, would they not? Yes

As you were told to wait for the doctors you would know perfectly well what it was for? No When these people were parading they were often paraded naked and inspected like cattle to see whether they were fit to work or fit to die, were they not? Not like cattle.

You were there keeping order, were you not, and if one ran away you brought her back and gave her a beating? Yes

Examination by her defence counsel

The witness Szafran has accused you of beating a girl at Belsen with a riding crop about a fortnight before the British troops arrived, and also that at Auschwitz during a selection two girls jumped out of a window and you shot them while they were lying on the ground. Is that true?

I never shot at all at any prisoner. Earlier the Prosecution had examined D. Szafran: Whilst you were at Auschwitz did you see any other persons beaten besides yourself?

I saw it very often when I was working in Kommando 103 and we were carrying loads of earth and coal. I have seen Kramer beat a person so often that I cannot really say how many times. I have seen Grese do it in Auschwitz and about a fortnight before the British troops liberated Belsen I saw her beat a girl in the camp.

She had a pistol, but she was using a riding crop. The beatings were very severe. If they were not the cause of death, they were not called severe in the camp.

Grese’s counsel had cross-examined D. Szafran:

Do you remember telling us that you had seen Grese No 9, beating a girl in Belsen about a fortnight before the British troops arrived?

I remember it now, it was in the kitchen. Grese was not the kitchen Kommandant, she came in there with the Lager Kommandant on inspection.

She beat the girl with a riding whip made of leather.

If I tell you that at Auschwitz Grese carried a stick and sometimes a whip, but at Belsen she never carried either, are you sure that you are not confused over this incident?

In Auschwitz she wore a pistol and in Belsen she went about with a riding whip. She was one of the few SS women who had a permit to carry arms. I cannot say whether she was wearing a pistol at the time of this incident.

Perhaps it is possible that by that time members were not allowed to carry arms.

Then upon re-examination of this witness by the Prosecution

You said that you could tell us of a good many more instances of Grese’s conduct?

Yes. In Camp A, Block 9, Blockalteste Ria and Hoessler and Dr Enna, the prison doctor made a selection for the gas chamber, and two selected girls jumped out of the window and Grese approached them as they were lying on the ground and shot them twice.

She was always active in the camp gate making inspections and if any of the prisoners wore another sock or shoe or anything like that, he or she would be beaten up. I cannot remember with what she used to beat them because I had to stand at attention.

You have been asked a good many questions about dates. Were you given calendars either at Auschwitz or Belsen? No but I remember very well because they were so terrible and ghastly.

Irma Grese’s examination by her own counsel

The witness Stein told us that at selection in the summer of 1944 some prisoners tried to hide, but that you saw them, told somebody and a woman was shot. It was suggested that the woman was shot by an SS man or guard. Had you any authority to issue orders to an SS guard?

No

The same witness alleged there was an incident when a mother was talking to her daughter over the wire between two compounds, that you arrived on a bicycle and beat the mother so severely that she was lying on the ground where you kicked her?

I do not deny that I beat her, but I did not beat her until she fell to the ground, and I did not kick her either.

Ilona Stein’s earlier cross-examination by Grese’s counsel

With regard to the incident you described of a woman being shot when trying to escape from a selection parade in Auschwitz, was she Hungarian?

Yes

You described an incident when Grese arrived on a bicycle and beat another woman, did she beat her with her belt?

I do not know exactly what was in her hands, but I did see that she had something in them. I do remember, however, that I have seen Grese taking off her belt and beating prisoners with it. Was the body taken away on a stretcher by hand or was it taken away by something on wheels?

When somebody died, which happened in very many cases, he was simply put into a blanket and dragged away.

Have you ever beaten by Grese yourself?

No not in the kitchen where I was working.

But once when I was out on a working party, Grese saw me talking to somebody through the barbed wire and she immediately started beating me.

Did you see Grese beating a great many people a great many times at both camps?

I saw her more frequently doing this in Auschwitz than in Belsen

Was the reason you only had this one beating from her because you behaved yourself well?

I had not very great contact with her because working in the kitchen we were rather separated.

Ilona Stein deposition reads in part

Whilst I was at Birkenau an SS woman named Irma Grese was responsible for many beatings, one murder and sending people to the gas chamber. I identify No 2 on photograph Z/4/2 as Irma Grese.

What I speak of I speak of to my own knowledge.

In July 1944 I was working in the kitchen at Birkenau when I saw a woman, whose daughter was in an adjoining camp, go to the dividing wire in order to speak to her daughter. Grese who was passing on a bicycle, immediately got off, took off her leather belt and beat the woman with it.

She also beat her on the face and head with her fists, and when the woman fell to the ground she trampled on her. The woman’s face became swollen and blue. A friend of the woman’s daughter took her away and the woman was in the hospital for three weeks suffering from the effects of the beating.

I saw everything myself that Grese did to this victim.

Whilst at Birkenau I have seen Grese making selections with Dr Mengele of people to be sent to the gas chamber. On these parades Grese herself chose the people to be killed in this way.

In one selection about August 1944, there were between 2,000 and 3,000 selected. At this selection Grese and Mengele were responsible for selecting those for the gas chamber.

People chosen would sometimes sneak away from the line and hide themselves under their beds. Grese would go and find them, beat them until they collapsed and then drag them back into line again.

I have seen everything I describe. It was general knowledge in this camp that persons selected in this way went to the gas chamber. Sometime in August or September 1944, at one of these selection parades, one Hungarian woman who had been selected tried to escape from the line and join her daughter in another line which was for those not chosen.

Grese noticed this and ordered one of the SS guards to shoot the woman, which he did. I did not hear the order, but saw Grese speak to the guard and she was shot at once. In the company of some nurses from the hospital I took the dead body to the mortuary.

Irma Grese under Prosecution questioning by Colonel Backhouse:

You affected heavy top-boots and you liked to walk around with a revolver strapped on your waist and a whip in your hand, did you not?

I did not like it.

You thought it very clever to have a whip made in the factory and even when the Commandant told you to stop using it you went on, did you not? Yes

What was this whip really made of?

Cellophane paper plaited like a pigtail. It was translucent like white glass

The type of whip you would use for a horse?

Yes.

Then most of these prisoners who said they saw you carrying a riding whip were not far wrong, were they? No, they were not wrong.

Did the other Aufseherinnen have these whips made too?

No

It was just your bright idea?

Yes

In Lager “C” you used to carry a walking stick too, and sometimes you beat people with the whip and sometimes with the stick?

Yes Were you allowed to beat people?

No So it was not a question of having orders from your Superiors to do it. You did this against orders, did you? Yes Were you the only person who beat prisoners against regulations? I do not know.

Did you ever see anyone else beat prisoners? Yes

Did you sometimes get orders to do so? No

Did you give orders to other Aufseherinnen working under you to beat prisoners? Yes

Had you the right to give such authorisation? No

Irma Grese left Auschwitz in January 1945 and returned to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, before being transferred to the Concentration Camp of Bergen –Belsen in March 1945.

Bergen –Belsen was liberated by British troops on the 15 April 1945, amidst indescribable scenes of horror. The Commandant Josef Kramer along with forty-four others including Irma Grese were indicted before a British Military Court under Royal Warrant dated 14 June 1945.

The trial was held between the 17 September 1945 until the 17 November of the same year, Grese was convicted and sentenced to be hanged, along with two other female guards Elizabeth Voilkenrath and Joanna Bormann.

he was executed on the morning of the 13 December 1945 in Hamelin prison.

Sources:

  • The Complete Transcripts of the Belsen Trial - Wiener Library
  • US National Archives
  • Hitler’s Death Camps by Konnilyn Feig, published by Holmes and Meyer New York 1981
  • The Holocaust Historical Society archives
  • Fonte: estratti dal processo di Belsen questi


Karl Schluch, SS-Unterscharführer (Aktion T4 e Aktion Reinhardt).
Al processo di Belzec asserisce che non solo Josef Oberhauser conosceva bene l'intera operazione di sterminio con il gas a Belzec ma che vi prese anche parte attiva. Secondo Schluch, Oberhauser fu una personaggio autorevole nell'uccisione degli ebrei e per questo fu anche promosso. Oberhauser non smentì lo sterminio, ma come da copione, si giustificò asserendo che seguiva solo gli ordini di Wirth.

qui
qui


Odilo Globočnik, ufficiale SS, inviso a Goring, viene riabilitato da Himmler che gli conferisce il potere assoluto per compiere l'Operazione Reinhard

, operazione che esegue con brutale efficienza, tanto che nel novembre 1943 l'Operazione Reinhard è completata e i tre campi di sterminio sotto il suo controllo sono immediatamente "liquidati". Secondo un rapporto, nel solo periodo che va dal 1 aprile al 15 dicembre 1943 vengono razziati agli ebrei sterminati beni per 180 milioni di Reichsmarks.


Wilhelm Findeisen, membro delle Einsatzgruppen C a settembre 1941. Dichiarazione dettagliata sullo sterminio a Babij Jar e sulla richiesta segretezza delle operazioni delle Einsatzgruppen

cosa disseː “I was told that the whole operation and the van itself were secret. It was expressly forbidden to photograph the vans and I was ordered not to let anyone near the van. I then joined Sonderkommando 4 in Einsatzgruppen C. Men from Einsatzgruppen C force Jews to bury the bodies of those murdered at Babi Yar. The van was not used immediately when we arrived in Kiev. When we first arrived they were only carrying out isolated actions. Being a driver, I had nothing to do with these isolated actions. One evening several officers appeared and ordered certain people to go with them. They went into a private flat where they picked up a professor and his daughter. These people were then taken to a spot close to a piece of open land where a grave was dug. The people, the officers then gave orders for these two people to be shot. One of the officers said to me, “Findeisen shoot these people in the neck” I refused to do this as did the other men. The girl must have been about eighteen or nineteen. The officer shot the people himself, as the others refused. He swore at us and said we were cowards, but apart from that he did not do anything else. The gas-van was used for the first time in Kiev. My job was simply to drive the van. The van was loaded at headquarters. About forty people were loaded in, men, women and children. I then had to tell the people that they were being taken away for work detail.Some steps were put against the van and the people were pushed in, then the door was bolted and the tube connected…. I drove through the town and then out to the anti-tank ditches where the vehicle was opened. This was done by prisoners - the bodies were then thrown in the anti-tank ditches.”
Fonteː su HEART


Walter Burmeister, SS-Scharführer a Chelmno (Kulmhof) dove giunse in autunno del 1941. Uno degli autisti dei camion a gas (Gaswagen). Processato dopo la guerra, fu condannato a 13 anni di carcere. La sua testimonianza fu resa il 24 gennaio 1961 in uno dei processi di Chelmno celebrato a Bonn in Germania.

“As soon as the ramp had been erected in the castle, people started arriving in Kulmhof from Litzmannstadt in lorries. The people were told that they had to take a bath, that their clothes had to be disinfected and that they could hand in any valuable items beforehand to be registered. On the instructions of Kommandofuhrer Lange I also had to give a similar talk in the castle to the people waiting there – how often exactly I can no longer say today. The purpose of the talk was to keep the people in the dark about what lay before them. When they had undressed they were sent to the cellar of the castle and then along a passageway on to the ramp and from there into the gas-van. In the castle there were signs marked “To the baths.”

The gas-vans were large vans about 4-5 metres long, 2.20 m wide and 2m high. The interior walls were lined with sheet metal. On the floor there was a wooden grille. The floor of the van had an opening which could be connected to the exhaust by means of a removable metal pipe. When the lorries were full of people the double doors at the back were closed and the exhaust connected to the interior of the van. The Kommando member detailed as driver would start the engine straight away so that people inside the lorry were suffocated by the exhaust gasses. Once this had taken place, the union between the exhaust and the inside of the lorry was disconnected and the van was driven to the camp in the woods where the bodies were unloaded. In the early days they were initially buried in mass graves, later incinerated. I then drove the van back to the castle and parked it there. Here it would be cleaned of the excretions of the people that had died in it. Afterwards it would once again be used for gassings. I can no longer to say today what I thought at the time or whether I was too influenced by the propaganda of the time to have refused to have carried out the orders I had been given.”

Fonte1ː Walter Burmeister, Gas Van Driver, Chelmno (Kulmhof) Death Camp su HEART
Fonte2ː E. Klee - W. Dressen, V. Riess, "Bei tempi". Lo sterminio degli ebrei raccontato da chi l'ha eseguito e da chi stava a guardare, Firenze, La Giuntina, 1990, p. 172. Traduzione di P. Buscaglione Candela


Jürgen Stroop, Feldwebel SS-Gruppenführer, comandante delle SS e della Polizia di Varsavia, comandante delle SS e della Polizia per la Grecia - Ghetto di Varsaviaː 25 aprile 1943 - Un rapporto dettagliato sugli ebrei "liquidati" (usa proprio il termine "liquidare") e quelli da liquidare il giorno dopo, rimandati a causa del buio

“Today’s operation ended for almost all assault units with gigantic fires, which induced the Jews to leave their hiding places and refuges. A total of 1,690 Jews were apprehended alive. According to Jewish accounts, these definitely included parachutists who had been dropped and bandits who had been supplied with weapons from an unknown source. A total of 274 Jews was shot. As on previous days, uncounted Jews were buried under the rubble of demolished bunkers and burned to death, as we discover all the time. In my opinion, today’s booty of Jews encompassed a very large part of the bandits and the lowest elements of the Ghetto.

Because darkness set in, we did not proceed with immediate liquidation. I will try and obtain a train for Tll tomorrow. Otherwise, the liquidation will be carried out tomorrow. There was armed resistance again today. In one bunker, 3 pistols and explosives were captured. Further, considerable amounts of paper money, foreign currency, gold coins and jewellery were secured today. The Jews still have considerable wealth at their disposal.

During last night, a glare of fires hovered over the former Ghetto; this evening one can see a gigantic sea of flames. Since large numbers of Jews continue to be discovered during each systematic and regular sweep, the operation will be continued on 26 April 1943, starting at 10.00 hours. As of today, a total of 27,464 Jews of the former Warsaw Jewish Ghetto has been apprehended.”

Note: Tll was the Nazi designation for the death camp at Treblinka, TI was the designation for the nearby forced labour camp which was located approximately 2km from the death camp.

Fonteː HEART

«Sono stati eliminati (ndt: oggi) 180 ebrei, banditi e subumani. Quello che era il quartiere ebraico di Varsavia non esiste più. La Grosse Aktion (ndt: grande azione, termine utilizzato dai tedeschi per descrivere le operazioni nel ghetto) è terminata alle ore 20:15 facendo esplodere la sinagoga di Varsavia. Il numero totale di ebrei dei quali ci si è occupati assomma a 56.065, includendo coloro che sono stati catturati e coloro dei quali può essere dimostrato lo sterminio.[4]»

Fonte 4 ː Messaggio di Stroop a Krüger in data 16 maggio 1943 riportato in The Stroop Report, dal sito web «Jewish Virtual Library». Riportato il 25 dicembre 2006. vedi qui


Felix Landau, SS Hauptscharführer e membro di Einsatzkommando con sede prima a Lemberg (Leviv) e poi a Drohobycz. Giocò un ruolo chiave nelle azioni delle Einsatzgruppen in Galizia. Noto per il suo diario di guerra che inizia nel giugno 1941, intervalla lettere sentimentali alla sua fidanzata con registrazioni dettagliate della sua partecipazione alle atrocità sugli ebrei

Descrive "esercizi di tiro" e "azioni selvagge", sparatorie in cui lui e i suoi uomini avrebbero scelto a caso ebrei che lavoravano nelle vicinanze o passavano per strada. In uno di questi eventi, nel novembre 1942, Landau uccise il dentista personale di un collega ufficiale, Karl Günther. Per vendetta, Günther raggiunse Schulz, protetto da Landau, e gli sparò due volte in testa.

Secondo l'amico di Schulz, Izydor Friedman, che assistì alla morte, questo accadde all'angolo tra le vie Czacki e Mickiewicz. Più tardi Günther disse a Landau: "Hai ucciso il mio ebreo, ho ucciso il tuo. "

Lemberg, 3 luglio 1941 Lunedì 30 giugno 1941, dopo una notte insonne, per una serie di motivi mi sono offerto volontario per unirmi a un Einsatzkomando (EK). Alle 9 ho sentito che ero stato accettato. Non è stato facile per me andarmene. Improvvisamente tutto era cambiato in me. Ho quasi pensato che non sarei stato in grado di staccarmi da una certa persona. Sentivo acutamente quanto si può diventare attaccati a un altro essere umano. Come al solito, la nostra partenza è stata ritardata più volte, ma alle 17.00 siamo finalmente partiti. Ci siamo fermati ancora una volta e ancora una volta; ho visto la persona che mi era diventata così cara. Poi siamo ripartiti. Alle 22.30 abbiamo finalmente raggiunto Cracovia. L'alloggio era buono. Nessuno per consolarti. Puoi diventare soldato in poche ore, se vuoi. Quindi abbiamo attraversato Przemysl. La città stava ancora bruciando - per strada abbiamo visto carri armati tedeschi e russi distrutti dai colpi. Era la prima volta che vedevo carri armati russi a due livelli. Dopo poco tempo siamo ripartiti verso Millnicze. Era sempre più chiaro che le truppe ci erano passate di recente. Alle 21.30 del 1° luglio 1941 sono arrivato a Millnicze, stavamo in giro senza scopo, senza alcun piano. Ci siamo sistemati in una scuola militare russa. Bruciava ancora anche qui. Alle 23.00 siamo finalmente andati a letto. Ho sistemato il mio letto e mi sono coricato. Naturalmente ho chiesto se era possibile inviare lettere, ma sfortunatamente non si poteva. Il 2 luglio 1941 ci hanno svegliato alle 6.00 come al fronte. Accanto alle case in fiamme stavano donne e bambini che rovistavano tra le macerie. Durante il viaggio ci siamo imbattuti in diversi soldati ucraini. Man mano che ci avvicinavamo ai russi, l'odore dei cadaveri in decomposizione diventava sempre più forte. Alle 16.00 del 2 luglio 1941 siamo arrivati a Lemberg. Prima impressione: Varsavia inoffensiva a confronto. Poco dopo il nostro arrivo abbiamo ucciso i primi ebrei. Come al solito, alcuni dei nuovi ufficiali facevano i megalomani; entravano davvero nel ruolo con tutto il cuore. Abbiamo occupato un'altra scuola militare nel quartiere bolscevico. Qui i russi devono essere stati catturati nel sonno. Abbiamo raccolto l'essenziale in fretta. A mezzanotte, dopo che gli ebrei avevano pulito l'edificio, siamo andati a letto. 3 luglio 1941. Questa mattina ho scoperto che possiamo scrivere e sembra che la posta verrà effettivamente spedita. Così mentre ascoltavo musica selvaggiamente sensuale ho scritto la mia prima lettera alla mia Trude. Mentre scrivevo la lettera, ci è stato ordinato di prepararci. EK con elmetti d'acciaio, carabine, trenta colpi di munizioni. Siamo appena tornati. Cinquecento ebrei erano in fila pronti per essere fucilati. In precedenza abbiamo reso omaggio agli aviatori tedeschi e agli ucraini assassinati. Ottocento persone sono state assassinate qui a Lemberg. La feccia non ha fatto distinzione nemmeno per i bambini. Nella casa dei bambini i bimbi sono stati inchiodati alle pareti. Alcuni detenuti di una prigione inchiodati al muro. Oggi girava la voce che torneremo a Radom. In tutta onestà sarei felice di rivedere i miei cari. Per me significano più di quanto io sia mai stato disposto ad ammettere. Finora non c'è stata un'esecuzione. Oggi siamo stati in allerta tutto il giorno. Dovrebbe succedere stasera. Le cose sono piuttosto tese. In questa confusione ho solo appunti scritti. Ho poca inclinazione a sparare a persone indifese, anche se sono solo ebrei. Preferirei di gran lunga un buon combattimento aperto onesto.

5 luglio 1941
Un piccolo incidente mi ha dimostrato il fanatismo totale di queste persone. Uno dei polacchi ha cercato di opporre resistenza. Ha cercato di strappare la carabina dalle mani di uno degli uomini, ma non ci è riuscito. Pochi secondi dopo c'è stata un'esplosione di spari ed era tutto finito. Pochi minuti più tardi, dopo un breve interrogatorio, ne è stato fatto fuori un altro. Non ho fatto in tempo a dare un'occhiata all'orologio, quando un Kommando ha riferito che a poche strade di distanza era stata scoperta una guardia della Wehrmacht uccisa a colpi di arma da fuoco. Un'ora dopo, alle 5 del mattino, altri trentadue polacchi, membri dell'intellighenzia e della Resistenza, sono stati uccisi a circa duecento metri dai nostri alloggi dopo aver scavato la loro tomba. Uno di loro non sarebbe morto e basta. Il primo strato di sabbia era già stato gettato sul primo gruppo, quando dalla sabbia è emersa una mano, agitandosi e indicando qualcosa, forse il cuore. È risuonato un altro paio di colpi, poi qualcuno ha gridato - in realtà il polacco stesso - "Spara più in fretta!" Cos'è un essere umano? Sembra che oggi avremo il nostro primo pasto caldo. A tutti sono stati dati 10 RM per poterci comprare qualche cosa di prima necessità. Mi sono comprato una frusta che costava 2 RM. Il fetore dei cadaveri pervade tutto, quando passi accanto alle case bruciate. Passiamo il tempo dormendo. Nel pomeriggio sono stati finiti circa trecento ebrei e polacchi. La sera siamo andati in città per un'oretta. Lì abbiamo visto cose che sono quasi impossibili da descrivere. Siamo passati davanti a una prigione. Già ad alcune vie di distanza si poteva dire che qui c'erano state molte uccisioni. Volevamo entrare e visitarla, ma non avevamo con noi maschere antigas, quindi era impossibile entrare nei locali dei sotterranei o nelle celle. Poi siamo tornati nei nostri alloggi. Ad un angolo di strada abbiamo visto alcuni ebrei ricoperti di sabbia dalla testa ai piedi. Ci siamo guardati l'un l'altro. Stavamo tutti pensando la stessa cosa. Questi ebrei dovevano essere strisciati fuori dalla fossa dove erano stati sepolti i giustiziati. Abbiamo fermato un ebreo che faceva fatica a stare in piedi. Ci eravamo sbagliati. Gli ucraini avevano portato alcuni ebrei all'ex cittadella della GPU. A quanto pare, questi ebrei avrebbero aiutato la GPU a perseguitare gli ucraini e i tedeschi. Avevano radunato 800 ebrei che noi avremmo dovuto uccidere l'indomani. Ora li avevano rilasciati. Abbiamo proseguito. C'erano centinaia di ebrei che camminavano per strada con il sangue che colava sul viso, i buchi nella testa, le mani spezzate e gli occhi pendenti fuori dalle orbite. Erano coperti di sangue. Alcuni portavano altri che erano svenuti. Siamo andati alla Cittadella, lì abbiamo visto cose che poche persone hanno mai visto. All'ingresso della cittadella c'erano soldati in guardia. Tenevano mazze spesse come il polso di un uomo e si scagliavano e colpivano chiunque attraversasse il loro percorso. Gli ebrei si riversavano fuori dall'ingresso. C'erano file di ebrei sdraiati uno sopra l'altro come maiali che singhiozzavano in un modo orribile. Gli ebrei continuavano a uscire dalla cittadella completamente coperti di sangue. Ci siamo fermati e abbiamo cercato di vedere chi era il responsabile del Kommando. 'Nessuno' Qualcuno aveva lasciato andare gli ebrei. Erano solo colpiti dalla rabbia e dall'odio. Niente in contrario – solo che non avrebbero dovuto lasciare che gli ebrei camminassero in uno stato del genere. Infine, abbiamo appreso dai soldati che si trovavano sul posto che avevano appena visitato alcuni loro compagni, aviatori in realtà, in ospedale qui a Lemberg, che erano stati brutalmente feriti. Avevano unghie strappate, orecchie tagliate e anche gli occhi cavati. Questo spiega le loro azioni: perfettamente comprensibili. Il nostro lavoro è finito per oggi. Il cameratismo per ora è ancora valido.

6 July 1941
Dunque alla fine ci trasferiamo a Drohobycz domattina alle 8.00. Ci è stato detto che l'area è in parte occupata dai russi. Sono lieto che finalmente stiamo andando un po' avanti. Questa mattina c'è stato un annuncio speciale che altri 52.000 russi avevano capitolato. Penso che tra meno di due settimane in Russia ci sarà una rivoluzione. A quel punto Mosca sarà sicuramente caduta. Stasera faremo una serata sociale con il nostro "Kameraden" di Cracovia.

FonteːFelix Landau su HEART

  • Libro "Bei Tempi" da pag. 73-88


"Lo sterminio raccontato per lettera": lettere di Karl Kretschmer SS-Ostuf (SK 4a) a sua moglie Soska, il 27 settembre 1942; una data ignota; 7 ottobre 1942, 15 ottobre 1942 e il 19 ottobre 1942

Un esempio di quanto scriveː «La vista dei morti (fra cui donne e bambini) non contribuisce a tirarmi su [...] Poiché, secondo noi, questa è una guerra giudaica, gli ebrei la sperimentano più di tutti gli altri. In Russia, dovunque siano arrivati i soldati tedeschi, non esiste più un ebreo [...] [la lettera ha data 27 settembre 1942]»
FonteːBei tempi di Klee, Dreben e Rieb, pp. 130-136).


Erhard Wetzel, giurista nazista del "Ministero del Reich per i territori orientali occupati" (scrive dall'ufficio di Rosenberg) scrisse il 25 ottobre 1941 una lettera [La lettera è il primo documento ad oggi a testimoniare il legame tra l'azione T4 e lo sterminio sistematico degli ebrei in Europa] al Reichskommissar Lohse di Riga sulla disponibilità di Viktor Breck «a collaborare per la costruzione degli edifici e per l'installazione degli impianti a gas necessari», che «non bisogna avere scrupoli [...] nel liquidare gli ebrei inadatti al lavoro» e che «Riga e Minsk sono state escluse dalla costruzione di impianti di gassificazione di massa; invece è stata presa la decisione di istituire i campi di sterminio nel Governatorato Generale»

"Herr, Viktor Brack Oberdienstleiter della Cancelleria del Fuhrer, è pronto a collaborare all'installazione degli edifici e degli impianti a gas necessari. Pensa che sia più facile costruire quest'ultimo, [...], sul posto. Vorrebbe mandare il suo chimico Kallmeyer a Riga. Le chiedo di comunicare con Leiter Brack attraverso il suo capo della polizia superiore, mi permetto di osservare che il maggiore Eichmann è d'accordo. La relazione fatta da Fre ci informa che i campi sono destinati a Riga e Minsk, dove possono essere inviati anche ebrei del Vecchio Reich. Attualmente gli ebrei che vengono evacuati dal Vecchio Reich vengono inviati a Lodz e in altri campi, dai quali partono per l'Oriente o per i campi di lavoro, se sono adatti. [nella fonte c'è la foto originale e anche quella della traduzione in inglese della lettera di Wetzel] Tenendo conto della situazione reale, non si deve avere scrupoli nell'usare il metodo di Brack nel liquidare gli ebrei inadatti al lavoro. In questo modo gli incidenti non saranno più possibili o tollerati come si è verificato durante le sparatorie di Vilna – e queste sparatorie sono state pubbliche, secondo la relazione che ho davanti a me. D'altra parte, gli ebrei adatti al lavoro saranno ancora inviati ad Est per essere collegati al servizio del lavoro. Naturalmente gli uomini e le donne occupabili devono essere separati l'uno dall'altro. Comunque Riga e Minsk sono state escluse dalla costruzione di impianti di gassificazione di massa; invece è stata presa la decisione di istituire i campi di sterminio nel Governatorato Generale. Viktor Brack ha spiegato il suo processo di trasferimento del personale all' "Aktion Reinhard "."Nel 1941 ricevette l'ordine di interrompere il programma di eutanasia. Al fine di trattenere il personale che era stato sollevato da questi compiti e per poter avviare un nuovo programma di eutanasia dopo la guerra. Bouhler mi ha chiesto - credo dopo un colloquio con Himmler - di inviare questo personale a Lublino e tenerlo a disposizione del SS-Brigadefuhrer Globocnik.

Il primo gruppo di membri del personale dell'eutanasia, composto da poche decine di uomini, arrivò a Lublino tra la fine di ottobre e la fine di dicembre 1941; inclusi in questo contingente ci fu Christian Wirth e Josef Oberhauser che presto si recarono al campo di morte di Belzec. Viktor Brack visitò il SSPF Globocnik a Lublino all'inizio di maggio 1942 e discusse dello sterminio degli ebrei e Globocnik chiese più personale mentre l'Aktion Reinhard si realizzava.

Fonteː HEART

  • Da fare
  • Diari di Josef Mengele.
  • Diario di Irene Menegele (moglie di Josef) e domanda sul fumo dei crematori al marito:qui
  • Bruno Rey, SS, esempio di un processo a criminali nazisti che continua nei nostri giorni. Processato il 17 ottobre 2019 dal tribunale statale di Amburgo in Germania, accusato di essere stato complice dell'omicidio di 5.230 persone mentre prestava servizio Stutthof dal 1944 al 1945. Ha rilasciato diverse dichiarazioni sullo sterminio - Fonteː Associated Press, 25 Ottobre 2019.
  • Oskar Gröning, SS (Unterscharführer) al campo di concentramento di Auschwitz, diverse dichiarazioni rese anche nel dopoguerra sullo sterminio nel campo di Auschwitz I e di Auschwitz II (Birkenau). I resoconti da lui registrati e trasmessi dalla BBC contribuirono in maniera decisiva alla decisione di incriminarlo nonostante la sua attività contro i negazionisti dell'Olocausto. Vedi voce (in varie lingue) e USHMM e altre fonti.
  • Testimonianze di un'esecuzione avvenuta il 7.8.1941 a Zhitomir (Žytomyr) dove l'assassinio di massa divenne spettacoloː 1) Herbert Selle, comandante del reggimento pionieri 604; 2) un autista del battaglione tecnico 6; 3) l'SS-Obstuf. August Häfner, SK4; 4) giudice militare dott. Artur Neumann.
  • Testimonianze di un funzionario doganale sugli omicidi di massa di ebrei a Vìnniza (Vinnycja) e a Brailoff.
  • Dichiarazione di un dirigente tedesco dell'economia (con il grado di tenente colonnello) sulle uccisioni di massa a Babruisk (Babrujsk) [dove nel tempo vennero uccisi fra i 12.000 e i 15.000 ebrei]. Lui assiste all'inizio dell'eccidio (insieme ad altri funzionari tedeschi); quel giorno (aprile o maggio) del 1942 vengono fucilati 2500 ebrei (uomini, donne e bambini).
  • "A proposito del Mito della Wehrmacht pulita"ː «150.000 ebrei presumibilmente esistenti . Avviati procedimenti per un rilevamento statistico di tutta la popolazione ebraica. Prevista l'esecuzione di almeno 50.000 ebrei. La Wehrmacht accoglie con favore i provvedimenti e auspica misure radicali» daː Ereignismeldung UdSSR n.97 del 28.9.1941 (riportato a p.54 di "Bei tempi" di Klee, Dreben, Rieb).
  • "A proposito del Massacro di Babij Jar" (l'assassinio di 33.771 ebrei nel burrone di Babij Jar (29/30 settembre 1941) nei pressi di Kiev - Comunicazione delle Einsatzgruppe C con sede a Kiev ː «Il SK 4 ha giustiziato a Kiev il 29 e il 30.9.1941, in collaborazione con il comando dei gruppi e con due commando del reggimento di polizia sud, 33.771 ebrei» - EM n.101 del 2.10.1941 (riportato a pag.57 di "Bei tempi" di Klee, Dreben, Rieb). Inoltre testimonianza di Kurt Werner, membro del SK 4a; testimonianza dell'autiere Höfer e Anton Heidon (riportato pp.54-58 di "Bei tempi" di Klee, Dreben, Rieb).
  • «"Testimonianza sulla leggenda che ci si potesse sottrarre agli ordini"» (attenzioneː questo titolo è degli studiosi Klee, Dreben e Rieb a pag. 63 della pubblicazione "«Bei tempi...» e non "libera interpretazione" dello scrivente) - 16 dichiarazioni di importanti nazisti SS, di EK, di EG, e funzionari nazisti che hanno asserito che era consentito rifiutare senza conseguenze un ordine di partecipazione alle cosiddette "operazioni speciali" (un eufemismo usato dai nazisti per "eliminazione fisica") e che a coloro che si rifiutarono di sparare agli ebrei non accadde nulla. (Riportato a pp.63-71 di "Bei tempi" di Klee, Dreben, Rieb).
  • "Lo sterminio raccontato per lettera" - Lettere dell'SS-Ostuf. Karl Kretschmer (SK 4a) a sua moglie Soskaː il 27 settembre 1942; una data ignota; 7 ottobre 1942, 15 ottobre 1942 e il 19 ottobre 1942. Un esempio di quanto scriveː «La vista dei morti (fra cui donne e bambini) non contribuisce a tirarmi su [...] Poiché secondo noi, questa è una guerra giudaica, gli ebrei la sperimentano più di tutti gli altri. In Russia, dovunque sono arrivati i soldati tedeschi, non esiste più un ebreo [...] [la lettera ha data 27 settembre 1942]» - («Bei tempi», di Klee, Dreben e Rieb, pp. 130-136).
  • Gassazione nel campo di sterminio di Belzec riferita dal prof. Wilhelm Pfannenstiel, consulente delle SS in materia di igiene. Ampia descrizione con date, personaggi e dettagliati particolari di luoghi del campo. Descrizione dello sterminioː dall'arrivo dei treni a Belzec alla selezione degli ebrei e all'avvio nelle camere a gas. Calcolo del tempo per la gassazione e destinazione dei cadaveri in ampie fosse in cui veniva versata benzina per bruciarli. Conclusioniː «[..] tutta la procedura di eliminare i cadaveri non era ineccepibile dal punto di vista igienico» (riportato a pp. 185-189 di "Bei tempi" di Klee, Dreben, Rieb).


Richard Thomalla, SS- Hauptsturmführer, progettista dei tre campi di sterminio dell'Aktion Reinhardt, ovvero Bełżec, Sobibór e Treblinka. Ampliare voce (e fonti). Descrivere come organizzò i tre campi e il suo entourage di SS e guardie ucraine (ritenute nei processi di Kiev criminali e traditori e condannati a morte).

  • Dicharazioni su fatti riguardanti l' Aktion T4 che provengono da Hadamar, Hartheim (Castello di Hartheim ), Grafeneck, Kaufbeuren, Irsee e Aktion 14f13.
  • Gherard Hess, SS testimone al processo di Francoforte - non accusato di alcun crimine.
  • Storch, SS testimone al processo di Francoforte - non accusato di alcun crimine.
  • Wiebeck, SS testimone al processo di Francoforte - non accusato di alcun crimine.
  • Rudolf Hoess.
  • Erhard Wetzel scrisse dall'ufficio di Rosenberg il 25 ottobre 1941 al Reichskommissar Lohse di Riga:

"Herr Viktor Brack, Oberdienstleiter nella Cancelleria del Fuhrer, è pronto a collaborare all'installazione degli edifici e degli impianti a gas necessari. Pensa che sia più facile costruire quest'ultimo, di cui siamo certi, sul posto. Vorrebbe mandare il suo chimico Kallmeyer a Riga. Le chiedo di comunicare con Leiter Brack attraverso il suo capo della polizia superiore, mi permetto di osservare che il maggiore Eichmann è d'accordo. Dalla testimonianza data da un Fre Ci informa che i campi sono destinati a Riga e Minsk, dove possono essere inviati anche ebrei del Vecchio Reich. Attualmente gli ebrei che vengono evacuati dal Vecchio Reich vengono inviati a Lodz e in altri campi, dai quali partono per l'Oriente o per i campi di lavoro, se sono adatti. (fotoː Lettera di Wetzel a Lohse) (fotoː Traduzione inglese della lettera Wetzel) Per giudicare dalla situazione reale non si deve avere scrupoli nell'usare il metodo di Brack per liquidare gli ebrei inadatti al lavoro. In questo modo gli incidenti non saranno più possibili o tollerati come si è verificato durante le sparatorie di Vilna – e queste sparatorie sono state pubbliche, secondo la relazione che ho davanti a me. D'altra parte, gli ebrei adatti al lavoro saranno ancora inviati ad Est per essere collegati al servizio del lavoro. Naturalmente gli uomini e le donne occupabili devono essere separati l'uno dall'altro. Ma Riga e Minsk sono state scontate per gli impianti di gassificazione di massa; invece è stata presa la decisione di istituire i campi di sterminio nel Governatorato Generale. Viktor Brack diede prova al suo processo sul trasferimento del personale ad "Aktion Reinhard "; "Nel 1941 ricevetti l'ordine di interrompere il programma di eutanasia. Al fine di trattenere il personale che era stato sollevato da questi compiti e per poter avviare un nuovo programma di eutanasia dopo la guerra. Bouhler mi ha chiesto - credo dopo una conferenza con Himmler - di inviare questo personale a Lublino e metterlo a disposizione del SS-Brigadefuhrer Globocnik. Il primo gruppo di membri del personale dell'eutanasia, composto da poche decine di uomini, arrivò a Lublino tra la fine di ottobre e la fine di dicembre 1941, inclusi in questo contingente furono Christian Wirth e Josef Oberhauser che presto si recarono al campo di morte di Belzec. Viktor Brack visitò il SSPF Globocnik a Lublino all'inizio di maggio 1942 e discusse dello sterminio degli ebrei e Globocnik chiese più personale mentre Aktion Reinhard si radunava. Fonteː HEART

  • Dopo questo incontro con Globocnik, Viktor Brack scrisse a Heinrich Himmler il 23 giugno 1942:

Onorevole signor Reichsfuehrer! (FotoːLettera di Brack a Himmler) Secondo la mia impressione, ci sono almeno 2-3 milioni di uomini e donne ben adatti al lavoro tra i circa 10 milioni di ebrei europei. In considerazione delle eccezionali difficoltà posteci dalla questione del lavoro, sono del parere che questi 2-3 milioni debbano in ogni caso essere prelevati e mantenuti in vita. Naturalmente questo può essere fatto solo se sono allo stesso tempo resi incapaci di riproduzione. Circa un anno fa vi ho riferito che le persone sotto la mia istruzione hanno completato gli esperimenti necessari a tal fine. Vorrei riportare questi fatti. Il tipo di sterilizzazione che normalmente viene effettuata su persone con malattie genetiche è fuori discussione in questo caso, in quanto richiede troppo tempo ed è costoso. La castrazione mediante raggi X, tuttavia, non solo è relativamente economica, ma può essere effettuata su molte migliaia in pochissimo tempo. Credo che in questo momento sia diventato irrilevante se le persone colpite si renderanno conto, nel corso di alcune settimane o mesi, degli effetti della loro castrazione. Nel caso in cui, signor Reichsfuehrer, decidesse di scegliere questi mezzi nell'interesse del mantenimento del materiale del lavoro, reichsleiter Bouhler sarà pronto a fornire i medici e il resto del personale necessari per svolgere questo lavoro. Mi ha anche incaricato di informarvi che avrei dovuto ordinare l'attrezzatura richiesta il più rapidamente possibile. "Conformemente ai miei ordini del Reichsleiter Bouhler, da tempo metto a disposizione del Brigadefuhrer Globocnik parte della mia forza lavoro per aiutarlo nello svolgimento della sua missione speciale. Su sua rinnovata richiesta, gli ho trasferito personale supplementare. Globocnik ha colto l'occasione per spiegarmi la sua idea che l'azione contro gli ebrei dovrebbe essere condotta con tutta la velocità deliberata, al fine di evitare di rimanere bloccati (nel mezzo) uno di questi giorni in cui qualche difficoltà può costringerci a fermarci. Lei stesso, Reichsfuhrer, una volta mi ha espresso la sua opinione secondo cui anche i requisiti di segretezza ci obbligano ad agire il più rapidamente possibile. Entrambe le idee sono quindi orientate in linea di principio verso lo stesso risultato e, secondo la mia esperienza, sono più che giustificate. Heil Hitler! SS-Oberfuehrer Brack al Reichsfuehrer-SS Himmler, 23 giugno 1942 Himmler rispose alla lettera di Brack l'11 agosto 1942. Nella risposta Himmler ordinò che la sterilizzazione mediante raggi X venisse provata in almeno un campo di concentramento in una serie di esperimenti e che Brack mettesse a disposizione medici esperti per condurre l'operazione. Blankenburg, il vice di Brack, rispose alla lettera di Himmler e dichiarò che Brack era stato trasferito in una divisione delle SS, ma che lui, Blankenburg, come vice permanente di Brack avrebbe "immediatamente preso le misure necessarie e si sarebbe messo in contatto con i capi delle principali sedi dei campi di concentramento". (FotoːBrack sotto processo a Norimberga) Altro personale addetto all'eutanasia arrivò a Lublino nel maggio/giugno 1942; il campo di morte di Sobibor era appena diventato operativo, al campo di morte di Treblinka sarebbe toccato nel luglio 1942. Grazie ad un medico di origini ebraiche, prigioniero ad Auschwitz dal settembre 1943 al gennaio 1945, si è potuto scoprire che la sterilizzazione dei detenuti ebrei veniva effettuata nel campo di Birkenau da medici delle SS. Circa 100 maschi polacchi che erano stati sterilizzati a Birkenau furono assistiti dal testimone dopo l'operazione. Secondo il testimone, i membri del gruppo furono successivamente castrati dai medici del campo. Sono state presentate ulteriori prove, dalle quali è chiaro che la sterilizzazione con dosi molto elevate di raggi X somministrate per diversi minuti fu condotta anche su altri gruppi di perseguitati. Furono sottoposti alla procedura terribilmente dolorosa e poi castrati. Inoltre, durante il "Processo ai dottori" a Norimberga Brack fu accusato di partecipazione all'esecuzione del programma di eutanasia che in seguito emerse come la famosa "Azione 14 f 13", lo sterminio dei detenuti del campo di concentramento ritenuti incapaci di lavorare. Al termine del "Processo ai dottori", il 20 agosto 1947, Brack fu condannato a morte da un tribunale militare americano per il suo ruolo nel programma di eutanasia. Fu impiccato nella prigione di Landsberg il 2 giugno 1948.

fonti: Klaus, The Norimberga Medical Trial, 1946/47, Klaus Dörner
Who's Who in Nazi Germany di Robert S Wistrich, pubblicato da Routledge, Londra 1995
The Final Solution di Gerald Reitlinger, pubblicato da Sphere Books London 1971
Into That Darkness di Gitta Sereny, pubblicato da Pimlico, Londra 1974
Biblioteca Wiener
Norimberga IMT
FonteːHeart


Fontiː

  • The Nizkor Project
  • Historical Society
  • Private correspondences


(work in progress)


Hermann Göring, politico, generale e maresciallo del Reich, fu accanto ad Hitler con una responsabilità spesso decisiva in tutte le fasi iniziali del nazismo fino alla presa del potere e alla costituzione del Terzo Reich - Lettera del 31 luglio 1941 di Göring a Heydrich

In una lettera del 31 luglio 1941 Göring incarica Reinhard Heydrich di «effettuare tutti i preparativi relativi ad una "soluzione definitiva" della questione ebraica nei territori europei che sono sotto l'influenza tedesca». Qui la copia della lettera originale. Questo comando si concretizzò nella Conferenza di Wannsee del gennaio 1942 in cui Reinhard Heydrich, Adolf Eichmann e altri tredici alti ufficiali e funzionari nazisti organizzarono lo sterminio di 11 milioni di ebrei dell'Europa e dell'Unione Sovietica secondo la lista (questaː[13]) della popolazione ebraica da eliminare stilata da Eichmann.

  • Lettera originale inviata da Göring a Heydrich (nel link appena sopra)
  • Lettera originale di invito alla Conferenza di Wannsee a uno dei partecipantiː
  • Lista originale del numero degli ebrei da eliminare prodotta da Eichmann (nel link appena sopra)
  • Goring nel sito di HEART


Hans Frank, Governatore della Polonia, uno dei principali violenti protagonisti dello sterminioː «Se la stirpe ebraica sopravvive alla guerra[...] questa guerra sarà vinta solo in parte. Devo pertanto partire dal presupposto che gli ebrei scompariranno [...] dobbiamo semplicemente liquidarli! Dobbiamo distruggere gli ebrei ovunque li troviamo e ovunque sia possibile [...]»
    • Processo principale di Norimberga
    • Cosa disse: Sostenne che lo sterminio degli ebrei era stato controllato da Heinrich Himmler e dagli squadroni delle SS, e di essere stato all'oscuro dell'esistenza dei campi di sterminio fino all'inizio del 1944.
    • Fonte:
    • Speech to senior members of his administration-The Removal of the Jews from the General Government - 16 December 1941

One way or another – I will tell you that, quite openly – we must finish off the Jews. The Fuhrer put it into words once: “Should united Jewry again succeed in setting off a World War: then the blood sacrifice shall not be made only by the peoples driven into war, but then the Jew of Europe will have met his end.” I know that there is criticism of many of the measures now applied to the Jews in the Reich. There are always deliberate attempts to speak again and again of cruelty, harshness, etc: this emerges from the reports on the popular mood. I appeal to you: before now I continue speaking: first agree with me on a formula: we will have pity, on principle, only for the German people, and for nobody else in the world. The others had no pity for us either. As an old National Socialist, I must also say that if the pack of Jews were to survive the war in Europe while we sacrifice the best of our blood for the preservation of Europe, then this war would still only be a partial success. I will therefore, on principle, approach Jewish affairs in the expectation that the Jews will disappear. They must go. I have started negotiations for the purpose of having them pushed off to the East. In January there will be a major conference on this question in Berlin to which I shall send State Secretary Dr Buhler. The conference is to be held in the office of SS Obergruppenfuhrer Heydrich at the Reich Security Main Office. A major Jewish migration will certainly begin. But what should be done with the Jews? Can you believe that they will be accommodated in settlements in the Ostland? In Berlin we were told: why are you making all this trouble? We don’t want them either – not in Ostland or in the Reichskommisariat: liquidate them yourselves! Gentlemen I must ask you to steel yourselves against all considerations of compassion. We must destroy the Jews wherever we find them and wherever it is at possible, in order to maintain the whole structure of the Reich, the views that were acceptable up to now cannot be applied to such gigantic, unique events. In any case, we must find a way that will lead us to our goal and I have my own ideas on this. The Jews are exceptionally harmful feeders for us. In the Government – General we have approximately 2.5 million, and now perhaps 3.5 million together with persons who have Jewish kin and so on. We cannot shoot these 3.5 million Jews, we cannot poison them, but we will take measures that will somehow lead to successful destruction; and this in connection with large-scale procedures which are to be discussed in the Reich, the Government-General must become as free of Jews as the Reich. When and how this is to be done is the affair of bodies which we will have to appoint and create, and on whose work I will report to you when the time comes. -This statement was made some five weeks before the meeting of senior officials at 56-58 Grosser Wannsee, Berlin, on January 20, 1942, where the final administrative details concerning the Final Solution of the Jewish question were discussed in detail. (The conference had originally been planned for December 9, 1941). Less than a year earlier on July 12, 1940 Hans Frank made the following comments on the Madagascar Plan Another very important point is the decision of the Fuehrer, which he made at my request, that there will be no more transports of Jews into the area of the Generalgouvernement. As a general political observation I would like to state that it is planned to transport the whole pack of Jews ( Judensippschaft ) from the German Reich, the Generalgouvernement and the Protectorate, in the shortest conceivable time after peace has been made, to an African or American Colony.

Madagascar is being considered, to be ceded by France for this purpose. There will be ample room here for a few million Jews on an area of 500,000 sq. kms. I have tried to let the Jews in the Generalgouvernement also share in this advantage, of building up a new life on new land. his has been accepted so that there should be a tremendous easing within sight...


Maximilian Grabner, capo della sezione politica (Gestapo) ad Auschwitz

Il famigerato Blocco 11 di Auschwitz 1, tristemente famoso per essere stato un luogo di tortura, era il suo regno incontrastato. Nel primo processo di Auschwitz tenutosi a Cracovia dinnanzi al Tribunale Nazionale Supremo di Polonia, ammette lo sterminio di 3.000.000 di ebrei. Viene condannato a morte per impiccagione.
Cosa ammiseː
«Considero il peggior delitto che ci sia l'uccisione di 3.000.000 di persone. Io ho avuto solo una parte in questo delitto, soltanto perché non potevo cambiare minimamente la situazione. Di questo delitto è colpevole il nazionalsocialismo e io non sono mai stato un nazista. Però fui costretto ad entrare nel partito.
Sono cattolico romano e credo tuttora in Dio, ci dev'essere una giuistizia divina e anche una giustizia sulla terra. Solo pensando alla mia famiglia ho collaborato all'uccisione di circa 3.000.000 di persone. Non sono mai stato antisemita e anche oggi affermo che ogni persona ha diritto alla vita»
Fonteː pag. 196 di "«Bei tempi», Lo sterminio degli ebrei raccontato da chi l'ha eseguito e da chi stava a guardare" di Klee, Dreben e Rieb


Erhard Wetzel, avvocato e ufficiale nel Ministero del Reich per i Territori Orientali
    • Cosa disse:
    • Fonte:


    • Cosa disse:
    • Fonte:

work in progress...

Karl Plagge, ufficiale tedesco della Wehrmach a Vilnus (zonaː esecuzioni di massa di Ponary perpetrate su vasta scala contro gli ebrei della zona). Responsabile di un'unità di riparazione di veicoli militari danneggiati sul fronte orientale, assume migliaia di operai ebrei con mogli e figli, operai non specializzati che spaccia per specializzati sottraendoli alle SS e salvando un gran numero imprecisato dalle esecuzioni di massa a Ponary. Amato e stimato dagli ebrei salvati, Yad Vashem nel 2005 lo proclama Giusto fra le nazioni, centinaia le testimonianze a suo favore


  • Da fare
  • Dichiarazione pubblica di Alfred Rosenberg, da fare (cassetto)ː Alfred Rosenberg (18 novembre 1941)ː La "questione ebraica" passa attraverso lo sterminio biologico di tutti gli ebrei d'Europa, riportato da Georges Bensoussan pag. 54 "Shoah-100 mappe".
Fritz Höfer, camionista, dichiarazione sull'assassinio di 33.771 ebrei nel burrone di Babij Jar (Kiev) in due giorni nel settembre 1941

One day I was ordered to drive my truck out of town. I had a Ukrainian with me. It was about 10 a.m. On our way, we passed Jews marching in columns in the same direction, we were going. They were carrying their belongings. There were whole families. The farther we drove away from the town, the more people we saw in the columns. There were piles of clothes in a wide open field. My job was to fetch them.

I stopped the engine nearby, and the Ukrainians standing around started loading the car with this stuff. From where I was, I saw other Ukrainians meeting the Jews who arrived, men, women and children, and directing them to the place where, one after another, they were supposed to remove their belongings, coats, shoes, outer garments and even their underwear. They were supposed to put all their belongings together in a pile. Everything happened very quickly, the Ukrainians hurried those who hesitated by kicking and pushing them. I think it took less than a minute from the moment a person took off his coat before he was standing completely naked. No distinction was made between men, women and children. The Jews who were arriving could have turned back when they saw those who had come earlier taking off their clothes. Even today I cannot understand why they didn’t run.

Naked Jews were led to a ravine about 150 metres long, 30 metres wide and 15 metres deep. The Jews went down into the ravine through two or three narrow paths. When they got closer to the edge of the ravine, members of the Schutzpolizei (Germans) grabbed them and made them lie down over the corpses of the Jews who had already been shot. It took no time. The corpses were carefully laid down in rows. As soon as a Jew lay down, a Schutzpolizist came along with a sub-machine gun and shot him in the back of the head.

The Jews who descended into the ravine were so frightened by this terrible scene that they completely lost their will. You could even see some of them lying down in the row on their own and waiting for the shot to come. Only two members of the Schutzpolizei did the shooting. One of them was working at one of the ravine, the other started at the other end. I saw them standing on the bodies and shooting one person after another. Walking over the corpses toward a new victim who had already laid down, the machine gunner shot him on the spot. It was an extermination machine that made no distinction between men, women and children.

Children were kept with their mothers and shot with them. I did not watch for long. When I approached the edge, I was so frightened of what I that I could not look at it for a long time. I saw dead bodies at the bottom laid across in three rows, each of which was approximately 60 metres long. I could not see how many layers were there. It was beyond my comprehension to see bodies twitching in convulsions and covered with blood, so I could not make sense of the details.

Apart from the two machine gunners, there were two other members of the Schutzpolizei standing near each passage into the ravine. They made each victim lie down on the corpses, so that the machine gunner could shoot while he walked by. When victims descended into the ravine and saw this terrible scene at the last moment, they let out a cry of terror. But they were grabbed by the waiting Schutzpolizei right away and hurled down onto the others. Those who followed them could not see the terrible scene because it was obstructed by the edge of the ravine. While some people were getting undressed and most of the others were waiting their turn, there was a lot of noise. The Ukrainians paid no attention to the noise and just kept forcing people through the passages into the ravine.

You could not see the ravine from the site where people were taking off their clothes, because it was situated about 150 metres away from the first pile of clothes. Besides, a strong wind was blowing and it was very cold. You couldn’t hear the shooting in the ravine. So I concluded that the Jews had no idea what was actually happening. Even today I wonder why the Jews did nothing to challenge what was going on. Masses of people were coming from town and they did not seem to suspect anything. They thought they were just being relocated.

Walther Mattner, an officer in the Vienna police, wrote to his wife on 5 October 1941 about the liquidation of the Mogilev ghetto:

5 October: So I took part in the great mass death the day before yesterday. When the first vehicles bringing the victims arrived, my hands trembled a bit when I started firing, but you get used to it. . At the tenth vehicle, I aimed calmly and shot with confidence at the women, children and numerous babies, aware that I have two babies of my own at home, and these hordes would treat them just the same, or even ten times worse, perhaps.

The death we gave them was nice and quick, compared with the hellish sufferings of the thousands and thousands of people in the jails of the GPU. The babies flew in great arcs and we shot them to pieces in the air before they fell into the ditch and the water. We need to finish off these brutes who have plunged Europe into war and who, even today, are prospecting in America.

Oh, Devil take it! I’d never seen so much blood, filth, flesh. Now I understand the expression ‘blood-drunk’. The population of Mogilev is now reduced by a number with three zeros. I’m really glad and many people here are saying that when we get back to the Fatherland, it will be the turn of our local Jews. But anyway I mustn’t tell you anymore. This is enough until I get back home.

August Becker a Gas –Van Inspector provided a statement on the use of Gas-Vans by the Einsatzgruppen in the East:

When in December 1941 I was transferred to Rauff’s department he explained the situation to me, saying that the psychological and moral stress on the firing squads was no longer bearable and that therefore the gassing programme had started. He said that gas-vans with drivers were already on their way to or had indeed reached the individual Einsatzgruppen.

My professional brief was to inspect the work of the individual Einsatzgruppen in the East in connection with the gas-vans. This meant that I had to ensure that the mass killings carried out in the lorries proceeded properly. I was to pay particular attention to the mechanical functioning of these vans. I would like to mention there were two types of gas-vans in operation: the Opel-Blitz, weighing 3.5 tonnes, and the large Sauerwagen, which as far as I knew weighed 7 tonnes.

In the middle of December 1941, on Rauff’s instructions I left for the East to catch up with Einsatzgruppe A (Riga) to inspect their Einsatzwagen (special vehicles) or gas-vans. On 14 December 1941, however, I had a car accident at Deutsch- Eylau. As a result of this accident, I was sent to the Catholic Hospital in Deutsch-Eylau and following my recovery was discharged from hospital on 23 or 24 December 1941. I am sure of this because I spent Christmas with my family in Berlin.

On 4 or 5 January 1942 I received a message from Rauff asking me to report to him. On reporting to him I was instructed to depart immediately. This time I was to travel directly to Einsatzgruppe D in the south (Otto Ohlendorf) in Simferopol. I was originally to have travelled by aeroplane but this did not work out because of icy weather conditions. I thus left by train on 5 or 6 January 1942 travelling via Cracow and Fastov to Nikolayew. From there I flew in the Reichsführer’s plane to Simferopol in the Crimea. The journey took me about three weeks and I reported to the head of Einsatzgruppe D, Otto Ohlendorf, sometime in January. I remained with this group until the beginning of April 1942 and then visited each Einsatzgruppe until I reached Group A in Riga.

In Riga I learned from Standartenführer Potzelt, Deputy Commander of the Security Police and SD in Riga, that the Einsatzkommando operating in Minsk needed some additional gas-vans as it could not manage with the three existing vans it had. At the same time I also learned from Potzelt that there was a Jewish –extermination camp in Minsk. I flew to Minsk by helicopter, correction in a Fiesler Storch belonging to the Einsatzgruppe. Travelling with me was Hauptsturmführer Rühl, the head of the extermination camp at Minsk, with whom I had discussed business in Riga.

During the journey Rühl proposed to me that I provide additional vans since they could not keep up with the exterminations. As I was not responsible for the ordering of gas-vans I suggested Rühl approach Rauff’s office. When I saw what was going on in Minsk – that people of both sexes were being exterminated in their masses, that was it – I could not take any more and three days later, it must have been September 1942, I travelled back by lorry via Warsaw to Berlin.

I had intended to report to Rauff at his office in Berlin. However, he was not there. Instead I was received by his deputy, Pradel, who had meantime been promoted to Major...... In a private conversation lasting about an hour I described to Pradel the working method of the gas-vans and voiced criticism about the fact that the offenders had not been gassed but had been suffocated because the operators had set the engine incorrectly. I told him that people had vomited and defecated. Pradel listened to me without saying a word. At the end of our interview he simply told me to write a detailed report on the matter. Finally he told me to go to the cashier’s office to settle up the expenses I had incurred during my trip.
Fonte 1ː Einsatzgruppen Aktions Remembered by the Perpetrators & Bystander
Fonte 2ː Babi Yar Witness and Survivor accounts of the Mass Murder in Kiev
Fonte 3ː Michael Berenbaum. Witness to the Holocaust. New York: HarperCollins. 1997. pp. 138 - 139


Walther Mattner, ufficiale della polizia di Vienna, uno degli esecutori dello sterminio di donne, uomini e bambini (liquidazione del Ghetto di Mogilev (Mahilëŭ)), scrive alla moglie una lettera il 5 ottobre 1941 soddisfatto di aver partecipato alla carneficina. Conclude: «Sono davvero contento, e molte persone qui dicono che quando torneremo in Patria, sarà il turno dei nostri ebrei locali»

5 October: So I took part in the great mass death the day before yesterday. When the first vehicles bringing the victims arrived, my hands trembled a bit when I started firing, but you get used to it. . At the tenth vehicle, I aimed calmly and shot with confidence at the women, children and numerous babies, aware that I have two babies of my own at home, and these hordes would treat them just the same, or even ten times worse, perhaps.

The death we gave them was nice and quick, compared with the hellish sufferings of the thousands and thousands of people in the jails of the GPU. The babies flew in great arcs and we shot them to pieces in the air before they fell into the ditch and the water. We need to finish off these brutes who have plunged Europe into war and who, even today, are prospecting in America.

Oh, Devil take it! I’d never seen so much blood, filth, flesh. Now I understand the expression ‘blood-drunk’. The population of Mogilev is now reduced by a number with three zeros. I’m really glad and many people here are saying that when we get back to the Fatherland, it will be the turn of our local Jews. But anyway I mustn’t tell you anymore. This is enough until I get back home.
Fonteː [https://www.holocausthistoricalsociety.org.uk/contents/einsatzgruppen.html Einsatzgruppen Aktions Remembered by the Perpetrators & Bystander]


August Becker, ispettore dei furgoni per il programma di gasazione. Fa un'ampia descrizione dell'uso dei furgoni a gas da parte degli Einsatzgruppen nell'est

When in December 1941 I was transferred to Rauff’s department he explained the situation to me, saying that the psychological and moral stress on the firing squads was no longer bearable and that therefore the gassing programme had started. He said that gas-vans with drivers were already on their way to or had indeed reached the individual Einsatzgruppen.

My professional brief was to inspect the work of the individual Einsatzgruppen in the East in connection with the gas-vans. This meant that I had to ensure that the mass killings carried out in the lorries proceeded properly. I was to pay particular attention to the mechanical functioning of these vans. I would like to mention there were two types of gas-vans in operation: the Opel-Blitz, weighing 3.5 tonnes, and the large Sauerwagen, which as far as I knew weighed 7 tonnes.

In the middle of December 1941, on Rauff’s instructions I left for the East to catch up with Einsatzgruppe A (Riga) to inspect their Einsatzwagen (special vehicles) or gas-vans. On 14 December 1941, however, I had a car accident at Deutsch- Eylau. As a result of this accident, I was sent to the Catholic Hospital in Deutsch-Eylau and following my recovery was discharged from hospital on 23 or 24 December 1941. I am sure of this because I spent Christmas with my family in Berlin.

On 4 or 5 January 1942 I received a message from Rauff asking me to report to him. On reporting to him I was instructed to depart immediately. This time I was to travel directly to Einsatzgruppe D in the south (Otto Ohlendorf) in Simferopol. I was originally to have travelled by aeroplane but this did not work out because of icy weather conditions. I thus left by train on 5 or 6 January 1942 travelling via Cracow and Fastov to Nikolayew. From there I flew in the Reichsführer’s plane to Simferopol in the Crimea. The journey took me about three weeks and I reported to the head of Einsatzgruppe D, Otto Ohlendorf, sometime in January. I remained with this group until the beginning of April 1942 and then visited each Einsatzgruppe until I reached Group A in Riga.

In Riga I learned from Standartenführer Potzelt, Deputy Commander of the Security Police and SD in Riga, that the Einsatzkommando operating in Minsk needed some additional gas-vans as it could not manage with the three existing vans it had. At the same time I also learned from Potzelt that there was a Jewish –extermination camp in Minsk. I flew to Minsk by helicopter, correction in a Fiesler Storch belonging to the Einsatzgruppe. Travelling with me was Hauptsturmführer Rühl, the head of the extermination camp at Minsk, with whom I had discussed business in Riga.

During the journey Rühl proposed to me that I provide additional vans since they could not keep up with the exterminations. As I was not responsible for the ordering of gas-vans I suggested Rühl approach Rauff’s office. When I saw what was going on in Minsk – that people of both sexes were being exterminated in their masses, that was it – I could not take any more and three days later, it must have been September 1942, I travelled back by lorry via Warsaw to Berlin.

I had intended to report to Rauff at his office in Berlin. However, he was not there. Instead I was received by his deputy, Pradel, who had meantime been promoted to Major...... In a private conversation lasting about an hour I described to Pradel the working method of the gas-vans and voiced criticism about the fact that the offenders had not been gassed but had been suffocated because the operators had set the engine incorrectly. I told him that people had vomited and defecated. Pradel listened to me without saying a word. At the end of our interview he simply told me to write a detailed report on the matter. Finally he told me to go to the cashier’s office to settle up the expenses I had incurred during my trip.

Fonteː[https://www.holocausthistoricalsociety.org.uk/contents/einsatzgruppen.html Einsatzgruppen Aktions Remembered by the Perpetrators & Bystander]


Kurt Werner, membro del Sonderkommando 4a a Kiev. Rilascia un'ampia dichiarazione sul suo ruolo nell'esecuzione degli ebrei al Massacro di Babij Jar nel settembre 1941ː «[...] C'erano tre gruppi di tiratori in fondo al burrone, ciascuno composto da circa dodici uomini. Gruppi di ebrei venivano mandati contemporaneamente a ciascuna di queste squadre di esecuzione. Ogni gruppo successivo di ebrei doveva sdraiarsi sui corpi di quelli che erano già stati uccisi. I tiratori stavano dietro gli ebrei e li uccidevano con un colpo al collo [...]»

That day the entire Kommando with the exception of one guard set out at about six o'clock in the morning for these shootings. I myself went there by lorry. It was all hands to the deck. We drove for about twenty minutes in a northerly direction. We stopped on a cobbled road in the open country. The road stopped there. There were countless Jews gathered there and a place had been set up where the Jews had to hand in their clothes and their luggage. A kilometre further on I saw a large natural ravine. The terrain there was sandy. The ravine was about 10 metres deep, some 400 metres long, and about 80 metres wide across the top and about 10 metres wide at the bottom.

As soon as I arrived at the execution area I was sent down to the bottom of the ravine with some of the other men. It was not long before the first Jews were brought to us over the side of the ravine. The Jews had to lie face down on the earth by the ravine walls . There were three groups of marksmen down at the bottom of the ravine, each made up of about twelve men. Groups of Jews were sent down to each of these execution squads simultaneously. Each successive group of Jews had to lie down on top of the bodies of those that had already been shot. The marksmen stood behind the Jews and killed them with a shot in the neck. I still recall today the complete terror of the Jews when they first caught sight of the bodies as they reached the top edge of the ravine. Many Jews cried out in terror. It's almost impossible to imagine what nerves of steel it took to carry out that dirty work down there. It was horrible.....

I had to spend the whole morning down in the ravine. For some of the time I had to shoot continuously. Then I was given the job of loading sub-machine gun magazines with ammunition. While I was doing that, other comrades were assigned to shooting duty. Towards midday we were called away from the ravine and in the afternoon I, with some of the others up at the top, had to lead the Jews to the ravine. While we were doing this there were other men shooting down in the ravine. The Jews were led by us up to the edge of the ravine and from there they walked down the slope on their own. The shooting that day must have lasted until 17.00 or 18.00 hours. Afterwards we were taken back to our quarters. That evening we were given alcohol (schnapps) again.
Fonte1ː[https://www.holocausthistoricalsociety.org.uk/contents/einsatzgruppen.html Einsatzgruppen Aktions Remembered by the Perpetrators & Bystander]
Fonte2ː Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team


Anton Heidborn, membro del Sonderkommando 4a a Kiev, ricorda due esecuzioni di sopravvissuti fra le migliaia di morti giacenti nel burrone e spiega che per coprire i corpi alla fine dell'eccidio le pareti del burrone furono in parte fatte saltare in aria

The third day after the execution we were taken back to the execution area. On our arrival we saw a woman sitting by a bush who had apparently survived the execution unscathed. This woman was shot by the SD man who was accompanying us. I do not know his name. We also saw someone waving their hand from among the pile of bodies. I don't know whether it was a man or a woman. I should think that this person was finished off by the SD man as well, though I did not exactly see it.
The same day work began to cover up the piles of bodies. Civilians were used for this task. The ravine walls were partly blown up. After that day I never returned to the execution area. The next few days were spent smoothing out banknotes belonging to the Jews that had been shot. I estimate these must have totalled millions. I do not know what happened to the money. It was packed up in sacks and sent off somewhere.

Fonteː[https://www.holocausthistoricalsociety.org.uk/contents/einsatzgruppen.html Einsatzgruppen Aktions Remembered by the Perpetrators & Bystander]


The Einsatzgruppen were SS mobile units charged with carrying out the mass murder of Jews, communist functionaries and others deemed as undesirable elements, in the occupied territories, primarily in Eastern Europe. The Einsatzgruppen first operated in Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938, but very little is known about these early formations. Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Reich Security Service formed six major Einsatzgruppen for the Polish campaign in 1939. Five of these formations were attached to the advancing German armies, whilst the remaining unit was designated for service in the Poznan area. Their role in Poland included the arrest of politically unreliable elements, confiscation of weapons, gathering of evidence for the security services and actions against Jews. The Einsatzgruppen gained the most notoriety for their role in the invasion of the Soviet Union and at the beginning of May 1941 recruits for the Einsatzgruppen gathered in the Elbe River town of Pretsch, north east of Leipzig, where they received training, on searching and rounding-up people. During June 1941 Reinhard Heydrich and Bruno Streckenbach lectured the senior commanders about the extermination of Jews and the major policy objectives in the Prinz Albrecht Palace in Berlin
There were 4 Einsatzguppen established attached as follows:
Einsatzgruppe A – Army Group North
Einsatzgruppe B – Army Group Centre
Einsatzgruppe C – Army Group South
Einsatzgruppe D – German 11th Army
The main methods of killing were by shooting, and limited use of gas vans, and whilst the precise figures will never be known, it is widely acknowledged that over 900,000 men, women and children were murdered by the Einsatzgruppen during the Second World War.

Sources: Holocaust Historical Society
G. Reitlinger, The Final Solution, Vallentine Mitchell and Co London 1953
E.Klee, W.Dressen, V.Riess, Those Were the Days, published by Hamish Hamilton London 1991
C. Ingrao, Believe and Destroy, published by Polity Press, Cambridge UK 2013
Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust – The Jewish Tragedy, published by Collins London 1986
Photograph – Yad Vashem

Hitler era a conoscenza dello sterminio in corso, dichiarazioni di importanti funzionari nazisti (fra cui Himmler ed Eichmann) affermarono che fu eseguito su suoi precisi ordini
  • Himmler, Eichmann, Hoss e altri hanno dichiarato che gli ordini del genocidio provenivano direttamente da Hitler (fonte Nizkor, risposta alla domanda 26 di "66 Question & Answers about the Holocaust")
  • Nel dicembre 1942, Hitler riceve da Himmler uno dei tanti rapporti sull'attività degli Einsatzgruppen, rapporto che afferma che 363.211 ebrei erano stati eliminati fra agosto e novembre 1942. Prove: una fotografia e il testo del rapporto.
  • Registro telefonico da Hitler a Himmler, ordina «nessuna liquidazione» per un determinato treno con ebrei perché si voleva interrogare un passeggero sospetto. Come avrebbe potuto Hitler ordinare di "non liquidare" i passeggeri di "un determinato treno" senza nulla sapere dello sterminio? Irving (libera sua interpretazione) asserisce che con quell'ordine Hitler cercava di porre fine al programma di sterminio [senza accorgersi che implicitamente sta asserendo che Hitler ben sapeva dello sterminio in corso, e siccome lo sterminio poi continuò, Irving fa fare a Hitler anche la figura dell'imbecille, ovvero che del suo (improbabile) ordine sul "fermo sterminio" Himmler se ne fece una "pippa") - Prova: Registro telefonico di Hitler.
  • Dichiarazione nell'ultimo discorso di Eichmann alla corte del tribunale di Gerusalemme dopo la sentenza della sua condanna a morte:

«Questi omicidi di massa sono il risultato della politica del führer». - Riportato anche dal revisionista Paul Rassinier in The Real Eichmann, 1979, p.152

  • Il 28 novembre 1941 Hitler incontrò il muftī Haj Amin Husseini con il Dr. Paul-Otto Schmidt come interprete.
Amin al Husseini da Adolf Hitler a Berlino - 28 novembre 1941
.
Hitler e Daladier, al centro l'interprete Paul-Otto Schimdt

In questo incontro Hitler promise al muftī Amin al-Husseini che dopo che si sarebbe raggiunto un certo obiettivo, «l'unico obiettivo ancora da raggiungere nella regione sarebbe stato quello dell'annientamento degli ebrei che vivevano sotto la protezione britannica nelle terre arabe» - Fonte: Note dell'incontro sono state riprese dal suo interprete Paul-Otto Schimdt nel libro Hitler and the Final Solution di Fleming, 1984, pp.101-104

Hitler rispose che i suoi obiettivi erano chiari: condurre una lotta senza compromessi contro gli ebrei, e quindi anche contro quelli in Palestina. Affermò che lo sterminio del popolo ebraico era parte della sua battaglia e che gli era chiaro che occorreva impedire la formazione in Palestina di uno Stato ebraico che potesse essere utilizzato dagli ebrei come base per distruggere tutte le nazioni del mondo. Aggiunse che era determinato a risolvere il problema ebraico al fine di riportare ordine nel mondo, comprese le nazioni fuori dall'Europa.- Fonte: questa

Documenti nazisti scoperti nel Ministero degli Esteri tedesco e nel Servizio degli archivi militari di Friburgo, rinvenuti dai due studiosi tedeschi Klaus Michael Mallmann dell'Università di Stuttgart e Martin Cüppers dell'Università di Ludwigsburg, indicano che, nell'eventualità in cui il feldmaresciallo Erwin Rommel fosse riuscito a sconfiggere la Gran Bretagna in Medio Oriente, i nazisti avevano in progetto l'invio di un'unità speciale, chiamata Einsatzkommando Ägypten, per portare a compimento lo sterminio degli ebrei di Palestina.[F1] In tale evenienza, il muftī di Gerusalemme Ḥājjī Amīn al-Ḥusaynī avrebbe dovuto essere il loro maggiore collaboratore in Palestina, rappresentando uno dei primi sostegni dei nazisti sul versante arabo antisemita e anche incontrando in varie occasioni Adolf Eichmann, il più noto organizzatore dell'Olocausto.[F2]
F1 : questa
F2 : Klaus-Michael Mallmann e Martin Cueppers, Germans, Jews, Genocide — The Holocaust as History and Present, Stoccarda, Stuttgart University.

  • Conversazione fra Himmler e il suo fisioterapista dott. Felix Kersten riportata nelle memorie del medico (The Kersten Memoirs, 1956, p. 162-3 di Felix Kersten), in cui Himmler identica Hitler come principale responsabile dello sterminio degli ebrei

Today I had a very long talk about the Jews with Himmler. I said that the world would no longer tolerate the extermination of the Jews; it was high time that he put a stop to it. Himmler said that it was beyond his power; he was not the Führer and Adolf Hitler had expressly ordered it. I asked him whether he was aware that history would one day point to him as one of the greatest murderers on record, because of the way hin which he had exterminated the Jews. He should think of his reputation, not sully it with that reproach. Himmler replied that he had done nothing wrong and only carried out Adolf Hitler's orders.

... I told Himmler that he still had a chance to stand well with history by showing humanity to the Jews and other victims of the concentration camp -- if he really disagreed with Hitler's orders to exterminate them. He could simply forget certain of the Führer's orders and not carry them out.

"Perhaps you're right, Herr Kersten," Himmler responded, but he also added that the Führer would never forgive him and would immediately have him hanged.

Fonte: risposta alla domanda 26


Nikolai Malagon, deposizione resa il 18 marzo 1978 di Zaporozh'ye. Ucraino di Kiev che durante l'invasione tedesca partecipò alla difesa della città e fu fatto prigioniero dai nazisti.
Nel campo di Trawniki dove è prigioniero viene arruolato dai tedeschi come "guardia ucraina" e quindi trasferito a Treblinka. L'ampia testimonianza riguarda esecuzioni con il gas e uccisioni con armi da fuoco, fosse comuni e cataste di cadaveri bruciati.

Fonte Nizkor Project


Mikhail Affanaseivitch Razgonayev, wachman sovietico e collaborazionista delle SS nel campo di sterminio di Sobibor. Processato come traditore nel 1948 da un tribunale sovietico nella città di Dniepropetrowsk (Dnipro - Ucraina). Interrogato a lungo dai giudici, descrive con dettagli lo sterminio degli ebrei con il gas e la fucilazione

Interrogation of Mikhail Affanaseivitch Razgonayev
Sobibor Death Camp Wachman


September 20 1948 – The City of Dniepropetrowsk We, the Deputy Director of the Department of Investigations at the Ministry of State Security in the District of Dniepropetrowsk, Major Nitchayew, and the Director of the Department of Investigations Captain Ribalka, interrogated the accused:Mikhail Affanaseivitch Razgonayev The interrogation began at 21.30 hours. The interrogation ended at 02 on September 22 1948 The interrogation was interrupted from 01 to 10 on September 20 and from 17 to 20 September on September 21 1948. Question During the investigation you testified to the effect that from May 1942 until July 1943 you served as a Wachman and then Oberwachman in a mass extermination camp. State the exact location of the camp. Answer As I testified in the previous interrogations, after I had completed in May 1942 the school of SS forces at Trawniki and received the title of Wachman (guard in the SS forces), I was sent for practical work to a special camp that was located in the township of Sobibor. The camp was in the area of Poland, about 50 kilometres from the town of Chelm and about 100 – 150 kilometres from the township of Trawniki where I had undergone training as a Wachman. The Sobibor camp was located in a forest, on an area that had been specially prepared. Not far from the Sobibor junction were the railway lines that passed the junction to the camp. About the designation of this railway line, I shall tell below. Question What was the camp called? Answer I don’t know what the Germans called the camp. I personally knew the camp as Sobibor camp, named after the rail junction near which it was located. It is possible that the Germans had a special name for the camp, but I do not know about it. Answer Question Describe the Sobibor camp? Answer

I have already testified above that the Sobibor camp was located near the Sobibor rail junction. There were no other residential buildings or populated areas in the proximity of the camp. The camp was located within a forest clearing, in an area from which the trees had been removed. The area of the camp was 2-3 square kilometres. The whole area of the camp was fenced with one row of barbed wire to a height of 2 metres – there were no other fences around the camp, beyond the barbed wire fence was forest. In the barbed wire fence, in the direction of the railway junction, there were two openings, one for the passage of trains, which was closed off with wood gates,that were opened only when a train was arriving at the camp, and a second entrance – alongside the first, for the passage of the staff to the camp and for carts. This entrance was also operated through wooden gates. Both entrances to the camp were carefully guarded by Wachman’s from among the Volksdeutsche. By the camp entrances, inside the camp, there was a guard post in which was located the detail of duty guards in charge of the entrance to the camp. There were no other entrances. Alongside the railway line that was located within the camp a wooden hut was built that was intended for disembarkation of people from the carriages. The unloading site was separated from the area of the camp by a barbed wire fence. From the unloading site, a special passageway of barbed wire fed to the area of the camp, through which people arrived directly to the camp. Two wooden huts had been put up in the camp, termed dressing rooms. The dressing rooms were also fenced off with barbed wire, in which were special passageways from each hut that led to a large stone building that was termed “bath-house” and it was not possible to see through them what was happening by the bath house. In the part of the camp where the “bath-house” was located – a wooden hut had been put up at which the work detail that was specially allocated for work in the gas chambers, stayed. In the other part of the camp, where the dressing rooms were located a number of wooden huts, cut off from them, were built and used as store-rooms, where the effects and clothes of the people who arrived at the camp were sorted and kept. At the same place there were huts for a second work detail that engaged in the sorting of the clothes of the people who had been exterminated in the camp.

Not far from the entrance to the camp were located a number of buildings in which we stayed- we, the Wachman, Germans – among the work detail in the camp. Apart from that there were also other buildings – a dining room, hairdresser, laundry and others. All these buildings were located within the camp, but not far from the exit of the camp about which I have testified already above. The work detail comprised over 100 persons. I will tell later about the composition and designation of the work detail. Question What was the designation of the camp that was located in the Sobibor township? Answer. It must be noted that the definition camp was not accurate in this case because, as a rule, the prisoners were not held in it and the camp was not constructed to hold detainees. If one does not take into account the work details and the staff of Germans and Wachman’s, no-one was held in the camp. The Sobibor camp was a death camp. This was a factory especially equipped for the mass destruction of Jews. In accordance with the designation of the camp, as a place for the mass destruction of people, it was guarded in a greater way by Germans and by us the Wachman’s. To this end it was located in a remote forest. All the inside buildings were isolated from each other by a system of barbed wire, all the passageways through the barbed wire were carefully guarded. Gas chambers were operated for the purpose of the mass destruction of people at the camp. Question When was the Sobibor camp set up? Answer. I cannot say exactly when the Sobibor camp was set up because I do not know that. I personally arrived for service at Sobibor in May 1942, at that time most of the camp was built and functioning, that is to say – mass exterminations of people had already been implemented there. However, during the period of my service at the Sobibor camp from May 1942 to July 1943 – the construction work at the camp continued. I among others took part in the construction of building for dressing rooms and clothes stores and in July 1943 I was sent from the Sobibor camp to the area of Russkaya, in order to prepare building materials for the camp. Question Under the management of which German body was the Sobibor camp? Answer. Sobibor death camp, at which the mass destruction of people took place, was managed by the German Penal Institutions – the SS forces. The whole administration that provided services at the camp among the Germans was in the service of the SS forces. We the Wachman, who performed destruction activities at the Sobibor camp, together with the Germans, we also served in the German Penal forces, the SS. Question

Who was the Commandant of the Sobibor camp for mass destruction? The commander of the Sobibor death camp was a German officer of the SS forces. I do not know his rank or surname. His deputy was Oberltnt. Niemann, also an officer in the SS forces. All the activity of the camp for mass destruction was performed under their direct command. Question Tell about the structure and system of main power of the management and service details of the camp? Answer. As I have testified above, the camp commander, or as he was called in the camp – commandant - oversaw all the activity of the camp. He had subordinates – his deputy and a number of SS officers who belonged to the management staff of the camp. I am not able to recall at present what the number was of the officers or their rank, but I well remember that those who belonged to the command administration of the camp personally ran the operations for mass destruction of the people at the camp. What the concrete role of the officers was – I cannot say. The service staff of the camp consisted of German NCO’s and soldiers, the number of whom at the camp was about 30. The camp staff also comprised Wachman’s from among the Volkdeutsche whose status at the camp was higher than ours – of the Wachman’s and was equivalent to German soldiers. I personally during my service at the camp belonged to a group of Wachman’s comprising 70-80 persons. The group of Wachman’s was divided into a number of platoons, the exact number of which I do not recall, about 20 per platoon. Each platoon was headed by a Wachman or an Oberwachman from the Volksdeutsche who had good mastery of German. The role of the Germans at the Sobibor camp was mainly expressed in that they directly managed our work – of the Wachman’s and of the work detail. The camp staff also included the “work detail” that was set up from among the civilians arriving at the destruction camp – the healthiest and the youngest. At the Sobibor camp there were 2 work details, as I have testified above. One detail comprising of 50 people worked in that part of the camp where the building with the gas chambers were built, that a second detail of about 10 people mostly women serviced, working by the clothing stores on the sorting of the effects and clothes of the people who had been exterminated at the camp. The work of the two details was commanded by Germans of the rank of NCO, whose surnames I do not recall. Apart from this, a service detail of the camp also included a Kapo.

To the position of Kapo, people were appointed from among the civilians arriving at the destruction camp. These were in effect policemen who supervised the work and the order within the “work detail” that was also made up of civilians who had been brought to the camp for extermination purposes, but were not exterminated because they were used for work. I shall testify below as to the role of the Kapo when people arrived at the camp and at the time of the extermination. In previous interrogations, I have testified to the effect that in 1943 a group of Russian girls was brought to the Sobibor camp, Soviet citizens, who performed at the camp work of laundresses and cleaners. They would launder the clothes of the Germans and ourselves – the Wachman’s and cleaned the rooms in which the Germans lived. These girls of whom there were about 20, also belonged to the service administration of the camp. I have enumerated all the categories comprising the management and service staff of the Sobibor death camp. Other people were not held at the camp. All the people who arrived at the camp were exterminated in gas chambers, especially equipped for the purpose. Question What guarding and what regime were at the camp? Answer The guard duty at the camp was undertaken mainly by Wachman’s under the command and management of the Germans and the Wachman’s from the Volksdeutsche. The guard duty at the camp was undertaken in the following way: Outside the camp, beyond the barbed wire fence were placed guard posts – 2 Wachman’s every 200 meters, such that the whole area of the camp was surrounded by Wachman’s who kept between them visual and audio contact. The role of the guards was to carefully supervise so that none of the foreigners would come close to the camp and also to prevent escape attempts from the camp through the barbed wire. So that the guarding of the barbed wire and the camp area would be more effective, permanent guard towers were built at the corners of the camp, and there too Wachman’s stood on guard day and night. Apart from that, the camp was also guarded from the inside. In all parts of the camp that were separated from each other, which I testified above, there were also guards who supervised that none of the civilians who had been brought to the extermination camp or those from the “work details” would escape from the camp through the barbed wire. This guarding prevented all possibility of escape from the camp. One of the steps to prevent escape attempts from the camp on the part of those sentenced to death was increased guarding over the entrance to the camp by the Wachman’s under the supervision of the Volksdeutsche. In addition to this, close to the exit from the camp there was a guard station where Wachman’s who had posted for the guard shift over the exit from the camp, stayed.

Alongside a Wachman who stood on guard at the camp exit was always a Wachman or an Oberwachman from the Volksdeutsche. In order to go from one part of the camp to the other, one had to cross special passageways, fenced with barbed wire, that were also carefully guarded by Wachman’s and German soldiers. Apart from the wire-fenced passageways, all the buildings within the camp were guarded – the residential huts of the Wachman’s huts where the work details stayed and the residential buildings of the Germans and other buildings. Wachman’s who were posted to various positions used gradually to change their places. The role of the Wachman’s and German soldiers was expressed in increasing guarding of the camp, preventing the possibility of the escape of people who had been brought to the camp for extermination purposes. The regime for the camp service staff was particularly harsh. Very rarely were Wachman’s sent outside the camp, and then only on condition that someone from the Volksdeutsche accompanied them. With regard to the civilians who were brought to the camp for extermination no regime was determined with respect to them for they were not held at the camp and, as a rule, were exterminated on the day of their arrival at the camp. Question What contingent of people would arrive at the camp for extermination? Answer Only civilians of Jewish nationality would arrive for extermination at the Sobibor camp. Men, women, old people and children of various ages would arrive. Exactly from which places these people came – I cannot say, because I do not know that. Question How would these civilians arrive at the Sobibor camp? Answer I have testified above that a railway line passed through the area of the camp. On this railway, straight into the camp, civilians of Jewish nationality would arrive for extermination at the Sobibor camp The people were brought in closed cargo wagons under the guard of German soldiers. The civilians were brought to the camp on the pretext that they were being transferred to the area of the Ukraine for settlement. Thus they travelled with the whole family, with their private property, together with the children.

The unloading of the trains was not undertaken in one go, but in stages. At one time people were taken out of approximately 10 wagons, and then another 10 etc. he arriving civilians were told that they have been brought to the camp as to a transit camp at which they would undergo sanitary treatment and a medical board and afterwards they would receive a referral as to exactly where to travel. All this was done in order to conceal the true objectives for which the The arriving civilians were told that they have been brought to the camp. After the disembarkation from the train, the people continued to be deceived by all sorts of methods, of which I shall tell below. After the disembarkation from the train, the people continued to be deceived by all sorts of methods, of which I shall tell below. People came to realise that they had been tricked only when instead of the promised bath-house they were put into the gas chambers for destruction. Soldiers who used to accompany the train with the people were not workers at the Sobibor camp. Therefore, immediately after unloading of the train, they would depart with empty wagons to bring new victims. On average two trains a day would arrive at the camp – approximately two thousand people, who were exterminated the same day. 


Question


Where were the people referred to after their arrival at the camp on the train?


Answer


Immediately after the people who were brought to the camp were taken off the train, they were sorted according to the following criteria:


All the men who were capable of moving on their own were referred to a separate hut that was isolated from other huts by a barbed wire fence. As I have testified above, a number of huts, isolated from each other, were allocated to dressing rooms.


Women with children who were also capable of moving on their own were referred to another isolated hut – a “dressing room.” Earlier, in the description of the camp and the buildings that were in the area of the camp, I forgot to mention that, in the area of the camp, at a distance from the huts – “dressing rooms,” there was a not-large building that was called “clinic.”


As I testified above, during the sorting and separation of men and women and their referral to the huts that were cut off from each other, sick and weak persons were found who were unable to move on their own.


People from the work detail would lead or carry these sick and weak civilians to the clinic where, apparently, they would receive medical aid. But in fact, they, as the others, were exterminated.


Question


What were the reasons for this sorting of the people who were arriving at the camp?


Answer

The separation of the people who were brought to the camp for extermination was undertaken for camouflage purposes and to prevent a rebellion.


To this end, the men were separated from the women, as it were to receive sanitary treatment. While the selection of the sick and their referral to the “clinic” for medical care was also done in order to camouflage the reasons for the people having been brought to this camp.


It has to be added that Germans also thought about other details that also served as camouflage for the true reason for which the people were brought to the Sobibor camp.


Thus for example, in the “dressing room” there were train timetables, all sorts of posters appealing to people to maintain order etc. When the people were invited to the “bath-house,” each one was given a piece of soap.


The lie would end only when the people went into the gas chambers where they would discover that there was no “bath-house,” and that they had been taken there to be destroyed. .

Question

What was the length of stay of the civilians at the camp?

Answer 

As I have testified above, Sobibor camp did not serve as a place where one could keep people for a long time. This was not the purpose of the camp and it was not intended or equipped for that.


It was a place for mass destruction using means that had been specially prepared for this. So all the people who were brought to the camp, were exterminated the same day. The length of their stay at the camp would depend on the speed with which they moved through the gas chambers and were exterminated.


This would not take more than a day. If on the same day a number of wagons would arrive (on one day- and there was no possibility of exterminating them all that day, the train with the people would not enter the camp area – it would wait at the Sobibor rail crossing under guard of German soldiers who accompanied the train until the next day.)


Question


What methods and means were taken for the destruction of the people who were brought to the camp?


Answer


The people who were brought to the camp were destroyed in two ways, through suffocating gas in special gas chambers and by shooting in the area of the camp itself.


The gas chambers, or as they were termed for camouflage – “bath- house” was a stone building punctiliously isolated by a system of barbed wire fences from other parts of the camp and hidden by young trees, saplings in particular, from the view of the huts – “dressing rooms,” would not be able to see what was happening by the “bath-house.”


The “bath-house” was distant from the dressing rooms so that the cries emerging from the gas chambers, when the people realised that they had been brought there not to bath but for their destruction, could not be heard.


In the building with gas chambers there was a wide corridor on one side of which were 4 chambers. in the four chambers the floor, ceiling and walls were of concrete they had 4 special shower-heads that were intended not to supply water but for the entry of exhaust gases through which the people in the chambers were killed.


Each chamber had two doors- internal – on the corridor side through which the people would enter the chamber and external that opened outwards and through which the bodies would be removed.


The doors – the internal and the external – were closed hermetically and fitted with rubber strips that did not allow the gas to escape from the chamber.


Behind the rear wall of the building was located on a base, under an awning, a strong motor that would begin to work the moment the chambers were full and the doors were closed hermetically.


From the motor led a pipe that went through the ceiling of the building corridor with the gas chambers. From the pipe would emerge into each chamber a metal pipe, ending with a shower head that was used in bath-houses for the supply of water. Through this system the exhaust gases from the motor would be led into the chamber.


Question Who managed the mass destruction at the Sobibor camp? Answer All the activity of the camp for mass destruction of people was run by a German commandant, about whom I testified above, by his deputy and a group of officers in the SS forces that were included on the managerial staff of the camp and directly ran the operation for mass destruction of people.


Question


Who from among the Germans was personally called to participate in these operations?


Answer


The whole administration of the German soldiers who served at the Sobibor death camp participated in implementation of the operations for mass destruction.


Their activity was expressed in that they managed and supervised the work of the Wachman’s and the “work details.” Apart from this, they personally participated in the destruction of people in gas chambers and implemented executions by shooting together with the Wachman’s.


Question


What role in the mass destruction did other people who served at the camp play?


Answer


Apart from the Germans we – the Wachman’s, former soldiers in the Soviet army who betrayed the homeland and went to serve fascist Germany, took part in the mass destruction of people at the camp.


Apart from that, people from the “work details” also took part in the operations for mass destruction. The Germans would put together the “work details” from among the people of Jewish nationality who were brought to the camp for destruction – those who were physically the most healthy and fit for work.


These people saw that all the Jews who were brought to the camp were exterminated. The Germans would tell the people from the “work detail” that they would use them for work at the camp and would promise them to keep them alive.


Under threat of death and in the hope that they would remain alive, the people who were chosen for the “work detail” undertook all the work at the camp under the supervision of the Germans and the Wachman’s. The Germans and the Wachman’s did not enter behind the barbed wire fences to the “dressing rooms” where people were prepared for extermination.


Only the people from the “work detail” worked there – “Kapo”, because in the case of a rebellion, the Germans and the Wachman’s might have been killed.

The “work detail” dealt with clearing of the chambers after the people who had been put into them had been killed and they would bring the bodies to the pits in carts. People from the “work detail” dealt with arranging and sorting clothes of those who had been killed at the camp, they arranged them in special storerooms.

Question What work of preparation was done for the destruction of people by the details who participated directly in this operation? AnswerThe work of preparation for destruction of the people began, in effect, from the moment the train entered the area of the camp. Before arrival of the train, the Germans would hold a briefing for the Wachman’s who participated that day in the guarding of the trains and the barbed wire fenced passageways in the area of the camp, so as to prevent any act that might disclose the purpose for which the people had been brought to the camp.


Particularly because the people who were brought there would show suspiciousness, because among the people rumours had already spread that the Germans had camps in extermination of civilians of Jewish nationality was performed. The Germans feared a rebellion on the part of the people who were brought to the camp and they took all measures to prevent this, because in the event of a rebellion, it would be impossible to overcome it despite all the means of the camp staff.


The people from the “work detail” who were termed “Kapo” would approach the carriages and would conduct propaganda among those who had arrived to the effect that they had been brought to the camp as a sort of transit camp and that, after sanitary treatment and a bath-house, they would be sent to the Ukraine for settlement or work in industry.


“Kapo” was a member of the Jewish nationality – he would invite the people who had arrived on the train to go to the dressing rooms and from there to the “bath-house.”


After unloading of the train and referral of the women with children to one hut and the men to another, in each hut there was also a “Kapo” who would explain to the civilians that they must hand in their jewellery and their money to a kitty, strip off and ready themselves for the “bath-house,” and that, after bathing, the valuables would be returned to them.


Here, everyone would be given a piece of soap. This preparatory work was done in order to camouflage the true intention of the camp and to ensure security in performance of the extermination.


The Wachman’s were posted behind the barbed wire fences in all the passageways of the camp from the “dressing rooms” to the “bath-house” in order to prevent attempts at escaping by the civilians who were being referred to the gas chambers.


Question


How in fact was the destruction of people undertaken at the Sobibor death camp?


Answer


The people were destroyed at Sobibor the following way:


The main method that made it possible to destroy such a large number of people in a short time was, at the Sobibor camp, the method of suffocation in the gas chambers using engine exhaust fumes were piped into the chambers. During the time of my services as a Wachman and afterwards as an Oberwachman at the Sobibor camp, I saw the process of people with my own eyes.


In the first stage, the men were exterminated. Accompanied by a “Kapo” completely naked people about 150-200 were referred through the barbed wire passageways from the dressing rooms to the gas chambers, without knowing they were going to die. 

After a certain time, when this group of 150-200 people would enter one of the gas chambers (each chamber contained 200 people), the same “Kapo” would return and accompany a new group of the same number of people who would be put into a second chamber, and so it would continue until all 4 chambers were full.


When the last chamber was full of people, a engine of great power would be operated and for 15-20 minutes the exhaust fumes were piped into the chambers. This time was sufficient to kill the people who had been put into the chambers.


After the chambers were filled with people, a sign would be given by the Germans who serviced the gas chambers, according to which an engine of great power was operated. I cannot say how that engine was built because I do not know.


After 15 -20 minutes the people in the chambers suffocated, the doors would be opened, the gas from the chambers would leave, and the work detail would start on clearing the chambers.


The bodies from the chambers were taken by cart to the pits, were thrown into them, and after all the people who had arrived in the camp that day had been exterminated, the pits would be covered with soil. So it would continue until all the people who were brought to the camp were dead.


As I testified above, apart from suffocation by gas, the people at the Sobibor camp were also exterminated through shooting. Those civilians who were unable to move on their own, in particular, were shot. As a rule immediately after unloading of the train, they would be taken by the “work detail” to a separate hut, called “clinic” and they stayed there until those who could move on their own had been exterminated in the gas chambers.


The number of the sick from one train would come to 30 -50 people, depending on the number of trains that would arrive on one day. All the sick who had stayed at the “clinic” were brought by a “work detail”, undressed, to the pits and were shot by us – the Wachman’s and the Germans at short range.


Until December 1942 the bodies used to be buried in pits in the area of the camp. From December 1942, they began to burn the bodies in large bonfires, with the help of bulldozers that began to remove the bodies of those who had been exterminated previously and burn them in bonfires.


Members of the “work detail” performed the work. Thus in practice was the mass destruction performed of civilians of Jewish nationality at the Sobibor death camp, at which I served as a Wachman from May 1942 to July 1943.


Question


How exactly was your personal participation in the destruction of civilians of Jewish nationality at the Sobibor camp expressed?


Answer


As I have testified in the course of the interrogation, I served at the Sobibor camp as a Wachman from May 1942 to July 1943. From May to June 1942, i.e. for a month or two, I served guarding the camp and the people brought there for extermination, inter alia I stood on guard behind a barbed wire fence.


I have testified above that all the Wachman’s who (illegible text) commandant Nieman about whom I testified above. He personally would give the orders as to who, from among the Wachman’s, would take part that day in the executions by shooting. 

I have already testified to the fact that all the sick stayed at the “clinic” and when all the civilians had been exterminated in gas chambers, members of a “work detail” would undress the sick and bring them to the pits where they would be shot at short range by us, Wachman’s and by the Germans.

During May – June 1942 I twice took part personally in the shooting of two groups of people. The first time, a group of 50 sick and infirm were shot by the Wachman’s, I among them. At the execution by shooting, a group of Wachman’s and Germans, about 10 in number, took part. I personally shot with a rifle and killed on this occasion not more than 5 people. The second time, also in June 1942, I participated in an execution by shooting of a group of civilians that consisted of about 25 persons. I personally killed on that occasion not more than 3 people.


It did not work out for me to take part in other extermination operations on a personal basis. In June 1942, I was appointed by the camp command to work inside the camp as a carpenter. I built “dressing rooms” huts for the storage of effects and clothes of the people who were being destroyed at the camp.


Apart from that, watch towers around the camp were built with my participation. In December 1942, for my loyal service in the German SS forces and for good work as a carpenter, I was promoted to the rank of Oberwachman.


Question


How many civilians were exterminated at Sobibor camp during your service there?


Answer


I cannot say because I don’t know. On average at Sobibor 1,500 innocent civilians were exterminated each day.


Question


Until when did you serve at the Sobibor camp?


Answer


I served at the Sobibor camp until July 1943 and afterwards I was sent by the camp command to the area of Rawa Russkaya for preparation of building materials for the camp. I injured myself there by chance and in November – December 1943 I was dismissed from service in the SS forces.


Question


What do you have to add to your testimony regarding your activity at the Sobibor death camp?


Answer


I have nothing to add. My activity at the Sobibor death camp during my service there has been described by me in full. The minutes have been read out before me.


Recorded according to what I said correctly.


Razgoniev



The interrogation was conducted by:

Deputy Director of the Investigations Department of the State Ministry of Defence, Major Nichayev.

Investigator of the Investigations Department of the State Ministry of Defence, Lt Ribleka

True Copy

Stamp

Senior Investigator of the Investigations Department of the State Ministry of Defence, Lt. Chernov

Confirmation – The original of the minutes of the interrogation is in Criminal File No 5828 versus Razgoneiv M.A.

Archive

Stamp

Correct

Director of the State Attorney’s Office of the Soviet Union A.P. Vladimorov 



* photos added to enhance the text


Source: Investigations Department of the State Ministry of Defence - Dniepropetrowsk

Map: Yitzhak Arad; The Pictorial History of the Holocaust, p. 294

Mike Tregenza Private Archives

fonteː HEART)


Feodor Fedorenko collaborazionista ucraino e criminale di guerra che operò nel campo di sterminio di Treblinka.
Rifugiatosi in USA, divenne dopo la guerra cittadino statunitense, ma nel dicembre 1984 fu estradato in Unione Sovietica e nel giugno 1986 un tribunale di Kiev lo riconobbe colpevole di tradimento e di partecipazione alle esecuzioni di massa. Giustiziato.

HEART


Tadeusz Pankiewicz, farmacia "Sotto l'aquila" („Pod Orłem”), piazza della Concordia (plac Zgody) in Cracovia, 6 giugno 1942. Il farmacista assiste a scene di gratuita crudeltà delle SS nei confronti di vecchi, donne, bambini e portatori di handicap ebrei mentre vengono deportati

“The scorching sun is merciless; the heat makes for unbearable thirst, dries out the throats. The crowd was standing and sitting; all wait frozen with fright and uncertainty. Armed Germans arrived, shooting at random into the crowd. Then the deportees were driven out of the square, amid constant screaming of the Germans, merciless beating, kicking and shooting. Old people, women and children pass by the pharmacy windows like ghosts. I see an old woman of around seventy years, her hair loose, walking alone, a few steps away from a larger group of deportees. Her eyes have a glazed look; immobile, wide open, filled with horror, they stare straight ahead. She walks slowly, quietly, only in her dress and slippers, without even a bundle, or handbag. She holds in her hands something small, something black, which she caresses fondly and keeps close to her old breast, it is a small puppy – her most precious possession, all that she saved and would not leave behind. Laughing, inarticulately gesturing with her hands, walks a young deranged girl of about fourteen, so familiar to all inhabitants of the ghetto. She walks barefoot, in a crumpled nightgown. One shuddered watching the girl laughing, having a good time. Old and young pass by, some dressed, some only in their underwear, hauled out of their beds and driven out. People after major operations and people with chronic diseases went by.

Across the street from the pharmacy, out of the building at 2 Harmony Square, walks a blind old man, well known to the inhabitants of the ghetto, he is about seventy years old, wears dark goggles over his blind eyes, which he lost in the battles on the Italian front in 1915 fighting side by side with the Germans. He wears a yellow armband with three black circles on his left arm to signify his blindness. His head high, he walks erect, guided by his son on one side, by his wife on the other. He should be that he cannot see, it will be easier for him to die, says a hospital nurse to us. Pinned on his chest is the medal he won during the war. It may, perhaps, have some significance for the Germans. Such were the illusions in the beginning. Immediately after him, another elderly person appears, a cripple with one leg, on crutches. The Germans close in on them; slowly, in dance step, one of them runs toward the blind man and yells with all his power: Schnell! Hurry! This encourages the other Germans to start a peculiar game. Two of the SS men approach the old man without the leg and shout the order for him to run. Another one comes from behind and with the butt of his rifle hits the crutch. The old man falls down. The German scream savagely, threatens to shoot. All this takes place right in the back of the blind man who is unable to see, but hears the beastly voices of the Germans, interspersed with cascades of their laughter. A German soldier approaches the cripple who is lying on the ground and helps him to rise. This help will show on the snapshot of a German officer who is eagerly taking pictures of all scenes that will prove ‘German help in the humane resettlement of the Jews. For a moment we think that perhaps there will be at least one human being among them unable to stand torturing people one hour before their death. Alas, there was no such person in the annals of the Cracow ghetto. No sooner were they saturated with torturing the cripple than they decided to try the same with the blind invalid. They chased away his son and wife, tripped him, and rejoiced at his falling to the ground. This time they even did not pretend to help him and he had to rise by himself, rushed on by horrifying screaming of the SS men hovering over him. They repeated this game several times, a truly shattering experience of cruelty. One could not tell from what they derived more pleasure, the physical pain of the fallen invalid or the despair of his wife and son standing aside watching helplessly.”

Fonteː HEART


  • Joseph Goebbels (Diari di Joseph Goebbels), una raccolta di scritti del capo del Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Ministero del Reich per l'istruzione pubblica e la propaganda) nonché leader del Partito Nazionalsocialista Tedesco dei Lavoratori.
Joseph Goebbels, uno dei più importanti gerarchi nazisti, Ministro della Propaganda e leader NSDAP, in due date del suo diario (il 14 febbraio 1942 e il 27 marzo 1942) annota la determinazione di Hitler di ripulire l'Europa dagli ebrei, di agire senza pietà e di accelerare il processo con fredda spietatezza - Anche un negazionista come David Cole ha ammesso che i revisionisti devono ancora fornire una spiegazione soddisfacente su questo documento


    • Il suo diario nelle due date che seguono
    • afferma il 14 febbraio 1942: «Il fuhrer espresse ancora una volta la sua determinazione a ripulire gli ebrei in Europa senza pietà. Non ci deve essere alcun sentimentalismo schizzinoso su di esso. Gli ebrei hanno meritato la catastrofe che li ha ormai superati. La loro distruzione andrà di pari passo con la distruzione dei nostri nemici. Dobbiamo accelerare questo processo con fredda spietatezza»
    • afferma: 27 marzo 1942 - «La procedura è piuttosto barbara e non deve essere descritta qui. Non resterà molto degli ebrei. Nel complesso si può dire che circa il 60 per cento di essi dovrà essere liquidato, mentre solo il 40 per cento può essere utilizzato per il lavoro forzato»
    • Fonte:The Gobbels Diares, 1948, pp. 86,147-148 - Anche "il revizionista" David Cole ha ammesso che "i revisionisti" devono ancora fornire una spiegazione soddisfacente di questo documento.
  • In data 16 ottobre 1939 Goebbels descrive, compiaciuto, l'enorme interesse dimostrato da Hitler per il film Der ewige Jude che doveva essere, nelle sue intenzioni, «un film di propaganda di prima categoria». Il giorno dopo Goebbels ritorna a scrivere sul suo diario su quel film le cui riprese si stavano realizzando nel Ghetto di Łódź in Poloniaː «Riprese test [...]. Immagini dal film sul ghetto, mai esistite prima. Descrizioni così terribili e brutali nei loro dettagli che ci si sente gelare il sangue. Ci si ritrae orripilati da tanta brutalità. Questi ebrei devono essere sterminati».
  • Dopo il 24 ottobre e il 28 ottobre il ministro della Propaganda ritorna a scrivere sul diario. Il 2 novembre 1939, ovvero dopo che ha raggiunto a Łódź il luogo delle riprese, i commenti che mette per iscritto sono i seguentiː «Attraversiamo il ghetto. Usciamo e osserviamo tutto nel dettaglio. Una cosa indescrivibile. Questi non sono più esseri umani, sono animali. Quindi non è un compito umanitario ma chirurgico. Bisogna recidere, qui, in maniera radicale. Altrimenti l'Europa morirà a causa della malattia ebraica». Il 19 novembre parla a Hitler del film e annota sul diario: «Lui fornisce alcuni suggerimenti».

Anche un negazionista come David Cole ha ammesso che i revisionisti devono ancora fornire una spiegazione soddisfacente su questo documento.


Hans Frank, Obergruppenführer delle SS e Governatore della Polonia. Nel suo diario (42 volumi per un totale di 12.000 pagine) c'è scritto anche che bisognava «annientare gli ebrei» e «prendere misure tali da portare al loro sterminio»
    • Quarantadue volumi il totale del suo diario personale, 12.000 pagine
    • Cosa affermò: bisognava «"annientare gli ebrei"» e «"prendere misure tali da portare al loro sterminio"». Poi c’erano gli ordini del Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler per la cosiddetta "soluzione finale" (Endlosung in tedesco), ovvero lo sterminio della razza ebraica e delle altre razze considerate inferiori. Testimonierà su questo anche un'altro militare SS.
    • Fonte: Il corposo diario fu consegnato dallo stesso Frank agli americani. Oggi è presso l'USHMM di Washington (Document | Accession Number: 1999.A.0194 | RG Number: RG-67.038M
    • Un appunto del diario di Hans Franks datato il 18 agosto 1942 affermava quanto segue:

«Chiunque passi oggi per Cracovia, Lvov, Varsavia, Radom o Lublino deve ammettere in tutta onestà che gli sforzi dell'amministrazione tedesca sono stati coronati da un vero successo, poiché ora non si vedono quasi più ebrei».


Diario di Johann Paul Kremer, Obersturmführer delle SS nel campo di concentramento di Auschwitz Dichiarazioni sullo sterminio nel suo diario alle date 2 e 5 settembre 1942

He witnessed gassings in Auschwitz and wrote about them in his diary:

September 2, 1942

For the first time, at 3:00 A.M. outside, attended a special action. Dante's Inferno seems to me almost a comedy compared to this. They don't call Auschwitz the camp of annihilation for nothing!

September 5, 1942

In the morning attended a special action from the women's concentration camp (Muslims); the most dreadful of horrors. Master-Sergeant Thilo (troop doctor) was right when he said to me that this is the anus mundi. In the evening towards 8:00 attended another special action from Holland. Because of the special rations they get a fifth of a liter of schnapps, 5 cigarettes, 100 g salami and bread, the men all clamor to take part in such actions. Today and tomorrow (Sunday) work.

After the war, Johann Paul Kremer testified about his diary. An extract is found in The Good Old Days: The Holocaust As Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders, Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen, and Volker Riess, Eds., 1991, p. 258:

Particularly unpleasant was the gassing of the emaciated women from the women's camp, who were generally known as 'Muslims'. I remember I once took part in the gassing of one of these groups of women. I cannot say how big the group was.

When I got close to the bunker [I saw] them sitting on the ground. They were still clothed. As they were wearing worn-out camp clothing they were not left in the undressing hut but made to undress in the open air.

I concluded from the behavior of these women that they had no doubt what fate awaited them, as they begged and pleaded to the SS men to spare them their lives. However, they were herded into the gas chambers and gassed.

As an anatomist I have seen a lot of terrible things: I had had a lot of experience with dead bodies, and yet what I saw that day was like nothing I had ever seen before. Still completely shocked by what I had seen I wrote in my diary on 5 September 1942: 'The most dreadful of horrors. Hauptscharführer Thilo was right when he said to me today that this is the anus mundi', the anal orifice of the world. I used this image because I could not imagine anything more disgusting and horrific.

I quaderni di Kremer da HEART
SS Doctor at Auschwitz
Johann Paul Kremer
Diary - Selected Extracts
On August 29, 1941, Johann Paul Kremer, a medical doctor who had joined the Wehrmacht on May 20, 1941, was ordered to Concentration Camp Auschwitz to replace another surgeon. Kremer kept a diary of many of his daily activities throughout the war. After his arrival at Auschwitz, oftentimes within the same entry Kremer speaks without emotion of “actions” he observed and the food he ate, as if these two activities are on the same plane. The footnotes to the diary contain important corroborating or clarifying information and should be read along with the primary text.


29 August 1942
Post war photos of JP Kremer(DIDASCALIA FOTO)
Ordered according to F. L. USSZ 2150 Aug 28. 42. 1833 to Concentration Camp Auschwitz to replace a surgeon there who had been taken sick.


30 August 1942
Departure from Prague, 8.15 am through Bohmisch Trubau, Olmutz, Prerau, Oderberg. Arrival at Concentration Camp 5.36 pm
Quarantine in camp on account of numerous contagious diseases (typhus, malaria, diarrhoea). Received top secret
order through the garrison physician Hauptsturmfuhrer Uhlenbrok and accommodation in a room (No 26) in the Waffen-SS club –house


31 August 1942
Tropical climate with 28 degrees centigrade in the shade, dust and innumerable flies. Excellent food in the Home, this evening, for instance, we had sour duck livers for 0.40 mark, with stuffed tomatoes, tomato salad etc. Water is infected, so we drink seltzer water, which is served free (Mattoni)
First inoculation against typhus. Had photo taken for the camp identity card


1 September 1942
Have ordered SS officer’s cap, sword belt and braces from Berlin by letter. In the afternoon was present at the gassing of a block with Zyklon B against lice
Jews at the Drancy camp(DIDASCALIA FOTO)


2 September 1942
Was present for first time at a “special action” at 3 am. By comparison Dante’s Inferno seems almost a comedy. Auschwitz is justly called an extermination camp
Notes: On this date a transport of 1,000 Jews from Drancy – the twenty-sixth RSHA transport from France. There are 545 men and boys, 455 women and girls in the transport.
A first selection is carried out in Cosel, 761 people are killed in the gas chambers.


5 September 1942

This noon was present at a special action in the women’s camp, “Moslems” – the most horrible of all horrors. Hschf Thilo, military surgeon, is right when he said to me today that we are located here in “anus mundi” (anus of the world).
In the evening at about 8 pm another “special action” with a draft from Holland. Men compete to take part in such actions as they get additional rations – one fifth litre of Vodka, 5 cigarettes, 100 gram’s of sausage and bread. Today and tomorrow (Sunday) on duty
Notes: 714 Jewish men, women and children from Westerbork arrive in an RSHA transport from Holland. 661 of this transport were gassed.


6 September 1942
Today an excellent Sunday dinner: tomato soup, one half a chicken with potatoes and red cabbage (20 grams of fat), dessert and magnificent vanilla ice-cream.
After dinner we welcomed the new garrison doctor, Obersturmfuhrer Wirths from Waldbrol, Sturmbannfuhrer Fietsch in Prague had been his regimental surgeon. It is a week since I came to camp and still have not been able to get rid of the fleas in my room in spite of using all kinds of insecticides, such as Flit (Cuprex) etc
Pages from camp hospital. Red crosses in the last columns mean death of patients(DIDASCALIA FOTO)
I got a refreshing impression after visiting the commandant’s aide-de-camp for the first time. Above his room I saw a big inscription on paper, “Cyclists dismount.”
We have also verses worthy of notice hanging in the office of our SS hospital:
“If you make a thousand lucky hits, People see them, they nod and pass. But even the smallest yelping dog will never forgot, should you miss but once."
In the evening at 8’oclock attended another special actions outdoors.
Notes: 981Jews arrived at Auschwitz from the transit camp at Drancy, France, of which 927 were gassed immediately.


9 September 1942
This morning I received most welcome news from my solicitor Professor Hallermann in Munster, that I was divorced from my wife from the 1st of the month
Later was present as physician at the flogging of 8 camp inmates and at one execution by shooting with a small calibre gun. Got soap flakes and 2 cakes of soap. At noon a civilian jumped out of the blue at my bicycle, just like an assassin, ran alongside and begged me to tell him whether I was State Councillor Heuner from Wroclaw (Breslau). He fought in World War 1 side by side with that gentleman. How many doubles have I then, running about in this world. In the evening present at a special action (4th time).Notes: 1,000 Jewish men, women and children arrive from Drancy in the twenty-ninth RSHA transport from France. 689 people are killed in the gas chambers.
SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Philipp Schmidt, the first commander of the assembly camp for Jews, in Mechelen outside Mailines(DIDASCALIA FOTO)


10 September 1942
In the morning was present at a special action (5th time). Notes: 1,000 Jews arrive from the Malines Camp with the eight RSHA transport from Belgium. After a first selection was carried out in Cosel, 715 people were taken to the gas chambers.


11 September 1942
Obersturmbannfuhrer Lolling came to camp today, and when presented to him I learned only then that I was standing in for Hauptscharfuhrer Kitt, who was now convalescing in Obersalzberg.


14 September 1942
Again relapsed into the Auschwitz illness; temperature 37.8 centigrade. Today given the third and final inoculation against typhus


17 September 1942
Have ordered a casual coat from the Clothes Distribution Office (Kleiderkasse) in Berlin. Have included coupons for the coat, as part of my uniform. Together with Dr Meyer today visited the women’s camp in Birkenau


20 September 1942
SS staff hospital in Auschwitz (DIDASCALIA FOTO)
This Sunday afternoon from 3pm to 6pm I listened to a concert of the prisoners’ band in glorious sunshine; the bandmaster was a conductor of the Warsaw State Opera, 80 musicians.
Roast pork for dinner, baked tench for supper


23 September 1942
This night was present at the 6th and 7th special actions. Obergruppenfuhrer Pohl with suite arrived at the Waffen –SS club-house in the morning. The sentry at the door presented arms before me for the first time.
At 8 o’clock in the evening supper in the Home with Obergruppenfuhrer Pohl, a truly festive meal. We had baked pike, as much of it, as we wanted, real coffee, excellent beer and sandwiches.
Notes: Jews from Slovakia arrive on a RSHA transport only 294 men and 67 women are admitted, the rest are gassed. 1,000 Jewish men, women and children from Pithviers arrive on the thirty-fifth RSHA transport from France. 641 deportees are gassed immediately


27 September 1942
Eduard Wirths (DIDASCALIA FOTO)
This Sunday afternoon, from 4 till 8, a party in the club with supper, free beer and cigarettes. Speech by Commandant Hoss and a musical and theatrical programme.


30 September 1942
This night was present at the 8th special action. Aumeier told me, when I asked for information, that KL Auschwitz was over 12 kilometres in length and 8 kilometres wide. It’s area covered 22,000 morgs, including 12,000 morgs of arable land and 2,000 morgs of fish ponds
Notes: 610 Jewish men, women and children arrive from Westerbork in as RSHA transport from Holland. 454 deportees are gassed immediately.


3 October 1942
Today I preserved fresh material from the human liver, spleen and pancreas, also lice from persons infected with typhus, in pure alcohol. Whole streets at Auschwitz are down with typhus. I therefore took the first inoculation against abdominal typhus.
Obersturmbannfuhrer Schwarz ill with typhus


6 October 1942
Obersturmfuhrer Entress met with an accident on his motorcycle, I dressed his injuries. Commandant Hoss fell from his horse. Obersturmfuhrer Wirths still absent


7 October 1942
Present at the 9th special action (new arrivals and women “Moslems”) Wirths finally back. Am acting for Entress in men’s camp (introducing doctors etc)
Opening of SS hospital in Auschwitz, September 1944(DIDASCALIA FOTO)
Notes: 2012 Jewish men, women and children arrive from Westerbork in an RSHA transport from Holland. 1414 deportees as well as female prisoners selected from the camp are killed in the gas chambers.


12 October 1942
The second inoculation against typhus, strong reaction in the evening (fever). In spite of this was present at night at another special action with a draft from Holland (1,600 persons). Horrible scenes in front of the last bunker. This was the 10th special action
Notes: The twelfth and thirteenth RSHA transport from Belgium bring 995 and 675 Jews respectively, from the Malines Camp. 1558 deportees are gassed immediately


13 October 1942

Arrival of Untersturmfuhrer Vetter. Sturmbannfuhrer Caesar also ill with typhus, after his wife died of it a few days ago. Was present at a punishment and then at the execution of 7 Polish civilians


17 October 1942
Was present at a punishment and 11 executions. Have taken fresh liver, spleen and pancreas material after an injection of pilocarpin
Drove to Mikolow with Wirths, who had told me earlier that I would have to stay on longer
Round up of Jews in Holland, many if whom were killed in Auschwitz(DIDASCALIA FOTO)


18 October 1942
In wet and cold weather was on this Sunday morning present at the 11th special action (from Holland). Terrible scenes when 3 women begged to have their bare lives spared
Notes: 1710 Jewish men, women and children arrive from Holland. 1594 deportees are gassed immediately. Kremer under investigation in Krakow on the 18 July 1947 added to this entry:
“Three women from Holland didn’t want to go to the gas chamber and begged for their lives. They were young and healthy women and yet their pleas weren’t heard, instead the SS men participating in the operation shot them right on the spot."

19 October 1942
Went to Kattowitz with Obersturmfuhrer Wirths and Mrs Hoss to buy shoulder-straps for the overcoat. Got back through Mikolow

24 October 1942
6 women from the Budy mutiny got injections (Klehr).

25 October 1942
Today, Sunday took a bicycle trip via Rajsko to Budy in wonderful autumn weather. Wilhelmy back from his trip to Croatia (plum brandy)

31 October 1942
Very beautiful autumn weather for the last 14 days, so that every day one has the opportunity of sun-bathing in the garden of the Waffen-SS club house. Even the clear nights are relatively mild.
SS men outside their billets at Auschwitz (DIDASCALIA FOTO)
As Thilo and Meyer are home on leave I took over the duties of military physician. On account of an official trip to my military authorities I asked for 5 days leave to go to the SS military hospital in Prague

1 November 1942
Today, Sunday after duty in the hospital, chiefly collecting blood samples from venulae, at 1.01pm departure from Auschwitz by long distance train to Prague. Arrival in Prague at 10.30 in the evening

6 November 1942
The nurse woke me at 6 in the morning, and soon after I was at the station (tram number 21 and 7), where I got into an express for Mahrisch Ostrau at 8.10.
In Prerau I changed trains and boarded the Vienna – Cracow express. I had hardly entered the second class compartment, when a Major- General started a conversation and was my companion for the rest of the journey.
We were almost the only two occupants of the compartment. He told me about his experiences at the front and shook hands with me at the end of the journey.
The whole trip Prague-Auschwitz took over 9 hours. Having reached my destination I immediately set off to the SS officer’s mess, where at last I had the chance to eat as much as I wanted

8 November 1942
Took part this night in 2 special actions in rainy and murky weather (12th and 13th). In the morning I welcomed Hauptscharfuhrer Kitt, a pupil of mine from Essen to the hospital.

Jews from the Zichenau district read a Nazi decree in 1941 (DIDASCALIA FOTO)
Another special action in the afternoon, the 14th in which I had participated so far. In the evening a cosy gathering to which I was invited by Hstuf Wirths, now present in camp. We had Bulgarian red wine, plum brandy from Croatia

Notes: 1,000 Jews arrive on a RSHA transport from the ghettos in the so-called Administrative District of Zichenau. All of this transport were gassed immediately
1,000 Jewish men, women and children arrive from Drancy on the forty-second RSHA transport from France. 773 deportees are killed in the gas chambers. 1,000 Jewish men, women and children arrive on a RSHA transport from the ghetto in the Bialystok District

15 November 1942 Was present at a punishment in the morning.

17 November 1942
Made ready for tomorrow’s departure for Prague. In the hospital: Jambor, Brauner, Biedermann, Wilks and in the wards: Klehr, and Scherpe, all of them “old barbed-wire fighters” and “concentration camp hares.” Stabsscharfuhrer Ontl wangled a coupon for a pair of breeches from me. The pharmacist Hauptsturmfuhrer Kromer was always very helpful in preparing the necessary reagens; Sauther the dentist, has been recently transferred to Minsk


18 November 1942
Today at 1.20 pm departure for Prague via Oderberg, Mahrisch Ostrau (change trains), Prerau, Olmutz. Arrival in Prague at 10.11 pm. Here I caught a good connection to the military hospital

  • Sources:

Auschwitz Chronicle – Danuta Czech,published by Henry Holt New York 1990
KL Auschwitz Seen by the SS published by the Auschwitz Museum 1978
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Oswiecim "Diary of Paul Kremer"
The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial, 1963–1965 Genocide, History and the Limits of the Law Devin O. Pendas Boston College, Massachusetts
Bundesarchiv
Holocaust Historical Society
Copyright: Chris Webb & Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2010


Felix Landau (diario di guerra) (qui), SS Hauptscharführer. Descrive "esercizi di tiro" e "azioni selvagge", sparatorie in cui lui e i suoi uomini avrebbero scelto ebrei casuali che lavoravano nelle vicinanze o passavano per strada. In uno di questi eventi nel novembre 1942, Landau uccise il dentista personale di un collega ufficiale, Karl Günther. Per vendetta, Günther ha raggiunto Schulz, poi sotto la protezione di Landau, e gli ha sparato due volte in testa. Più tardi, Günther disse a Landau: "Hai ucciso il mio ebreo, ho ucciso il tuo"

Felix Landau - Servizio Einsatzkommando a Drohobycz
Diario di guerra - Estratti selezionati - Seconda parte

Drohobycz 7 luglio 1941
Alle 16:00 abbiamo raggiunto la nostra destinazione. Eravamo divisi in diverse squadre, per cercare quarti per tutti gli uomini. Abbiamo trovato tre case che erano state a malapena vissute. Bagni ovunque: case degli ex funzionari del Partito Comunista. Siamo anche riusciti a stabilire che gli ucraini avevano fatto un ottimo lavoro saccheggiando. Avevano davvero pensato di essere i padroni per un po'. Ci sarà uno scontro onnipotente qui, è inevitabile. Un'altra scoperta interessante: anche se ci sono pochissimi apparecchi radio qui, quasi ogni appartamento ha il suo altoparlante. Gli altoparlanti possono essere accesi e spenti e hanno un volume regolabile in modo che non ci sia alcuna necessità di proibire agli uomini di ascoltare trasmissioni straniere. In questo caso non sarà necessario. Ho la forte sensazione che non torneremo a Radom. Abbiamo occupato un hotel ebraico per alcuni giorni. Avevo fame fame fame, quindi ho appena ispezionato la cucina e sono riuscito a trovare qualcosa da mangiare. I quartieri sono molto semplici. Il posto pullula di insetti. Ora devo chiudere perché devo fare rapporto per il servizio di guardia. Domani sarò sollevato alle 13.00.
9 July 1941
Oggi ci sono state altre sorprese. Al mattino è arrivata una lettera dall'Ortskommandantur. Con un tono ostile siamo stati informati che il nostro lavoro si limiterà al semplice controllo dei documenti. Inoltre, la lettera dichiarava che non avremmo chiesto nulla al referente per gli affari ebraici. Come previsto, una relazione impossibile. C'era un'enorme quantità di lavoro. Ancora una volta devo fare il generale con gli ebrei. Oggi ho organizzato una carrozza e un'imbracatura nonostante il divieto. Oggi c'era birra dalla botte; potremmo anche comprare una bottiglia di Sekt per 1 RM. Se solo avessi un post dal mio Trude. Durante il giorno in cui sono sepolto nel lavoro va bene, ma durante la notte la solitudine e l'inattività mi fanno semplicemente disperare.

14 July 1941 L ' 11 luglio 1941 un veicolo partì per Radom trasportando Dolte, Binder, Gurth e Mireck. Purtroppo non ho potuto andare con loro. Almeno sono stato in grado di dare loro una lettera che posso essere sicuro arriverà. Sfortunatamente sarò anche altre lettere. Naturalmente, come era previsto, il nostro Kriminal Kommissar approfitterò immediatamente dell'assenza di Dolte per placare la sua sete di azione. Appena un'ora dopo i suoi meravigliosi ordini come "Muovetevi signori, portami qui tutta quella pila" e simili stavano risuonando. Aveva arresti e sparatorie a suo desiderio. I prigionieri, per lo più ebrei ma anche alcuni ucraini continuano ad arrivare. Lavoriamo tutta la notte. La sera un compagno, Urban, e io riusciamo a strappare un po 'di tempo per andare a trovare un cuoco da cui possiamo prendere Mischlanka, latte acido e patate novelle. Alle 11 di sera siamo tornati alla base. Una raffica di attività giù in cantina, che avevo appena chiarito quella mattina. C'erano cinquanta prigionieri, due dei quali erano donne. Mi sono subito offerto volontario per alleviare la persona che era in servizio di guardia. Quasi tutti saranno uccisi domani. La maggior parte degli ebrei erano di Vienna. Ancora sognando Vienna. Ero in servizio fino alle tre del mattino del giorno dopo. Finalmente è andato a letto cane stanco alle 3.30

12 luglio 1941
Alle 6.00 del mattino mi sono svegliato improvvisamente da un sonno profondo. Segnala per un'esecuzione. Bene, quindi mi basta giocare boia e poi becchino, perché no. Non è strano, ami la battaglia e poi devi sparare a persone indlessibili. Ventitre -tre dovevano essere fucilati, tra cui le due donne sopra menzionate. Sono incredibili. Si sono persino rifiutati di accettare un bicchiere d'acqua da noi. Sono stato dettagliato come tiratore e ho dovuto sparare a tutti i fuggiasco. Abbiamo guidato per un chilometro lungo la strada fuori città e poi ci siamo trasformati a destra in un bosco. Eravamo solo in sei a quel punto e abbiamo dovuto trovare un posto adatto per sparare e seppellirli. Dopo alcuni minuti abbiamo trovato un posto. I candidati alla morte si riunirono con pale per scavare le loro tombe. Due di loro piangevano. Gli altri hanno certamente un coraggio incredibile. Cosa diavolo sta attraversando le loro menti in questi momenti? Penso che ognuno di loro nutri una piccola speranza che in qualche modo non gli sparano. I candidati alla morte sono organizzati in tre turni in quanto non ci sono molte pale. Strano, sono completamente impassibile. Non c'è pietà, niente. È così che stanno le persone e poi è tutto finito. Il mio cuore batte un po ' più velocemente quando involontariamente ricordo i sentimenti e i pensieri che avevo quando mi trovavo in una situazione simile. Il 24 luglio 1934 nel Bundeskanzleramt, quando mi trovai di fronte ai barili delle mitragliatrici dell'Heimwehr. Poi ci sono stati momenti in cui mi sono avvicinato all'indebolimento. Non avrei permesso che mostrarlo, no, sarebbe stato fuori discussione con il mio personaggio. "Così giovane e ora è tutto finito." Questi erano i miei pensieri, poi ho messo da parte questi sentimenti e al loro posto è venuto un senso di sfida e la consapevolezza che la mia morte non sarebbe stata vana. Ed eccomi qui oggi, un sopravvissuto in piedi di fronte agli altri per sparargli. Lentamente il buco diventa sempre più grande, due di loro piangono continuamente. Li tengo a scavare sempre più a lungo: non pensano così tanto quando scavano. Mentre lavorano sono in realtà più calmi. Oggetti di valore, orologi e denaro, vengono messi in un mucchio. Quando tutte sono state portate l'una accanto all'altra su un tratto di terreno aperto, le due donne sono allineate ad un'estremità della tomba pronte per essere fucilati per primi. Due uomini erano già stati uccisi tra i cespugli dal nostro Kriminal Kommissar,non l'ho visto perché dovevo tenere d'occhi gli altri. Mentre le donne camminavano verso la tomba erano completamente composte. Si girarono. Sei di noi hanno dovuto sparargli. Il lavoro è stato assegnato così: tre al cuore, tre alla testa. Ho preso il cuore. I colpi sono stati sparati e il cervello si è sfrecciato in aria. Due in testa sono troppi. Quasi lo strappano via. Quasi tutti caddero a terra senza un suono. Solo con due di loro non ha funzionato. Urlarono e piagnucolarono a lungo. I revolver non erano di alcuna uso. Noi due che stavamo sparando insieme non abbiamo avuto fallimenti. Il penultimo gruppo ha dovuto lanciare coloro che erano già stati uccisi nella fossa comune per poi allinearsi e cadere in se stessi. Gli ultimi due hanno dovuto posizionarsi sul bordo anteriore della tomba in modo che cadevano nel punto giusto. Poi alcuni corpi sono stati riorganizzati con un piccone e dopo abbiamo iniziato i lavori di scavo della tomba. Sono tornato cane stanco ma il lavoro è andato avanti. Tutto nell'edificio doveva essere raddrizzare. E così è andata avanti senza tregua.

NotaːGli ebrei sopravvissuti alle azioni di Einsatzgruppen a Drohobycz furono deportati a Belzec nel 1942
Fonti:
Who's Who in Nazi Germany di Robert S Wistrich pubblicato da Routledge, Londra e New York nel 1995.
Those Were the Days di Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen, Volker Riess, pubblicato da Hamish Hamilton London 1988.
Lettere d'amore di un assassino nazista a Lemberg e Drohobycz di Felix Landau 1987. Yad Vashem. Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust di Richard Rhodes (Vintage, 2003 ristampato)
Società Storica dell'Olocausto
HEART ːhttp://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/einsatz/landau.html

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(work in progress)


Kurt Franz, ultimo comandante di Treblinka, Una foto e un suo commento sulla foto (Bei tempiǃ) usati come "prova" al processo di Treblinka a Düsseldorf

Nel Processo di Düsseldorf negli anni 1964-1965, fu mostrato il suo album personale di foto del campo dove, a commento delle immagini di una gru a benna usata per il carico dei cadaveri sulle cataste per la cremazione, egli scrisse "Schöne Zeiten" ovvero "Bei tempi".

Questa è la testimonianza rilasciata da Kurt Franz al processo di Treblinka e riportata da The Free Press, New York nel 1988:
«Non posso sapere quanti ebrei siano stati gassati a Treblinka. In media ogni giorno arrivava un treno. Spesso due. Ma non era così comune. A Treblinka ero comandante delle guardie ucraine così come al campo di Bełżec. A Treblinka, così come a Bełżec, questo gruppo consisteva in 16/18 uomini il cui compito consisteva nell'equipaggiare le torrette di protezione del campo. Dopo la sommossa dell'agosto del 1943 presi in mano la situazione per circa un mese, ma non ci furono gassamenti. È stato in quel periodo che il campo è stato smantellato»

(N.B.: Fonti che non riguardano le testimonianze dei sopravvissuti e tantomeno appartenenti ai sonderkommando)

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(work in progress)


Francisco Boix, fotografo nel campo di concentramento di Mauthausen per conto delle SS
    • Documentò diversi crimini, rubò foto e negativi nascondendoli accuratamente fino alla liberazione del campo, fu testimone a Norimberga.
    • Cosa affermò e cosa documentano le foto:

«Qualcuno aveva contato ben 35 modi di morire a Mauthausen. Io avevo finito per conoscerli tutti alla perfezione»

(Francisco Boix)

    • Fonte:Salva Rubio, Pedro J. Colombo, Aintazane Landa, Il fotografo di Mauthausen, pag.36, 2018, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milano, ISBN 978-88-6926-488-7


Wilhelm Brasse, fotografo polacco, per 5 anni fotografo ad Auschwitz


Riprese tra i 40.000 e i 50.000 "ritratti" dal 1940 al 1945. Incontrò Josef Mengele, il medico criminale nazista conosciuto anche come il "dottor morte", che gli ordinò di fotografare le sue vittime nel corso degli esperimenti, nonché coloro che presentavano caratteristiche particolari come i gemelli, persone con disordini congeniti.... che divennero le cavie del suo laboratorio.|

Commenti su quanto fotografò:«In effetti creò una precisa documentazione degli internati a cui si aggiunge quella dedicata delle vittime degli esperimenti pseudo-medici perpetrati in particolare da Josef Mengele (chiamato il “dottor morte”) che usò i prigionieri come cavie umane. Per Brasse, che sapeva bene che tutti i prigionieri da lui fotografati erano condannati a morte, ogni scatto divenne un terribile supplizio: ebrei picchiati, prigionieri russi devastati da malattie e maltrattamenti, zingari, ragazzini e bambini tutti magrissimi, con evidenti segni di violenze subite e terrorizzati. Con il suo lavoro, Brasse, preparò una minuziosa documentazione che oggi ci descrive quello che accadde al campo di sterminio e che fu un prezioso aiuto per i processi ai criminali di guerra nazisti. Nel Gennaio del 1945, con l’avanzata dell’Armata Rossa, i vertici del campo di concentramento gli chiesero di bruciare tutta la documentazione, fotografie e negativi ma difronte a tale compito ci fu una vera disubbidienza da parte di Brasse e dei suoi aiutanti per cui riuscirono a conservare la maggior parte di foto e negativi sottraendoli alle fiamme. Oggi, gran parte di questa documentazione è custodita al Museo di Auschwitz-Birkenau e, con questa documentazione è stato realizzato il documentario “The Portraitist” (Il Ritrattista) – titolo originale “Portrecisty”. Il documentario contiene un’intervista a Brasse che, con commozione, ricorda il suo compito ad Auschwitz presentando contestualmente tante fotografie da lui realizzate e per ogni fotografia descrive il triste destino dei soggetti fotografati (sottotitoli anche in lingua italiana); è’ una testimonianza che lascia un ricordo indelebile che porteremo con noi per tutta la vita.» Fonte: questa Fonte: Il fotografo di Auschwitz - Per ricordare Wilhelm Brasse, trailer su You tube Le fotografie della quattordicenne Czesława Kwoka vittima di una kapo criminale che la prese a bastonate e i commenti di Brasse e di Fergal Kean (BBC):
Visitando la mostra commemorativa del museo statale di Auschwitz-Birkenau nel Blocco n.6, Keane ha descritto le emozioni provate nel vedere le fotografie della Kwoka.
«Per giorni dopo aver visto le fotografie, non potevo scrollarmi di dosso l'espressione della ragazza. Ha circa 14 anni e guarda direttamente la fotocamera. La ragazza è arrivata solo di recente al campo. Sul suo labbro inferiore c'è un taglio. I suoi occhi fissano direttamente l'obiettivo e la paura si tramanda da sola attraverso i decenni. Ma fino a quando Wilhelm Brasse non mi ha raccontato la sua straordinaria storia, non avevo idea di come la fotografia fosse stata scattata. La sua voce trema mentre racconta ciò che accadde:
Era così giovane e così terrorizzata. La ragazza non capiva perché fosse lì e non capiva cosa le stessero dicendo. Allora una donna Kapo (una detenuta sorvegliante) prese un bastone e la colpì in faccia. Quella donna tedesca stava solo sfogando la sua rabbia contro la ragazza. Una ragazza così bella, così innocente. Lei pianse, ma non poté fare nulla. Prima che la fotografia fosse scattata, la ragazza si asciugò le lacrime e il sangue dal taglio sul labbro. A dire la verità, mi sentivo come se fossi stato colpito io stesso, ma non potevo intromettermi. Sarebbe stato fatale per me. Non potevi dire assolutamente nulla». Molte sue foto sono conservate presso Yad Vashem a Gerusalemme e presso il Museo di Auschwitz.

  • [[Da sapere]
  • Per quale motivo i nazisti "trasferirono" il personale proveniente dalla T4 (Hadamar, Grafeneck, Hartheim, Berburg, Brandeburgo......) per dirigere i campi di concentramento ma soprattutto quelli di sterminio (Belzec, Chelmno, Treblinka, Sobibor e Auschwitz), ragioni e fonti.
  1. “Euthanasia” was vital to the development of Nazi genocidal policy. It paved the way both in method and personnel. Bottled carbon monoxide was replaced by petroleum engine exhaust fumes and hydrocyanic acid. Polish killing centres succeeded their German and Austrian counterparts. Victims were delivered from every part of occupied Europe instead of merely from the Reich. Not the least significant aspect of the “euthanasia” programme was the indication it provided, both to Hitler, as well as to government and Party leaders, of just how much could be achieved behind the mask of `official secrecy’. And most importantly, T4 supplied the kernel of professional killers who were to undertake Aktion Reinhard in Poland.
  2. All quickly became desensitized killers, rapidly descending into a criminal nightmare of sadistic brutality and death. Almost 100 of them were made available to Odilo Globocnik in Lublin to operate the gas chambers of Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. When the time arrived and the final decision had been made to implement the Jewish genocide, the KdF was able to draw upon the experience and technical support of T4 personnel to carry their plans through to completion. But as a number of eminent historians have pointed out, the symbiosis between ““euthanasia”” and the `Final Solution’ went beyond these obvious connections. Killing the handicapped and the Jews were two sides of the same coin. The former action was intended to remove from the German race its “imperfections”; the latter was designed to destroy Nazism’s greatest perceived enemy.The dual functions were inseparable, two essential aspects of what Hitler liked to call his Weltanschauung, his “world view.” Where that “world view” was to lead will be examined in the following pages.

Fonteː Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team,

  • Pagata ad un ebreo la somma messa a disposizione dall'Institute for Historical Review per "la prova"
  • Un negazionista: David Irving ritratta ed ammette lo sterminio (giudizi sul cambiamento di opinione)
  • Significato degli eufemismi :"trattamento speciale" e "soluzione finale" (cosa erano?), come lo spiega un nazista
  • Nessun inquisito al Processo principale di Norimberga mise in dubbio l'Olocausto
  • Nessun testimone nazista ha mai detto o scritto fino ad oggi che la sua testimonianza nei processi è stata estorta
  • I primi "negazionisti" furono proprio i nazisti mentre mettevano in atto l'Olocausto, vedi Aktion 1005
  • Quanti erano in Germania gli ebrei nel 1933 e nel 1940? E che "reale pericolo" costituivano per i tedeschi?
  • Giugno 1941: massacro degli ebrei sovietici; tra fa fine di settembre e la metà di dicembre Hitler evoca "lo sterminio" per "sette volte". 31 luglio, Goering incarica Heydrich di ottenere una "soluzione finale" della questione ebraica. A metà ottobre Himmler decide la costruzione di impianti a Chelmno e "centro speciale" a Belzec, intanto agli ebrei europei viene proibita l'emigrazione quando fino a quel momento incoraggiata e agevolata; 29 novembre convocata Wannsee.
  • Funzionalismo secondo Raul Hilberg, sintesi: prima fase - Voi ebrei non potete vivere come noi (Leggi di Norimberga e limitazioni dei più elementari diritti, lavoro, scuola, e vita sociale); seconda fase - Voi ebrei non potete vivere con noi (ghetti e campi che separavano gli ebrei dagli altri); terza fase - Voi ebrei non potete vivere... (eliminazione fisica nei campi di sterminio e uccisioni di massa delle Einsatzgruppen)
  • I sei milioni di ebrei vittime della Shoah, numero messo in discussione dai negazionisti, non si riferiscono "esclusivamente" agli uccisi nelle camere a gas (i negazionisti molte volte non sono "onesti" nel presentare domande e loro conclusioni sull'argomento). Tutti gli storici dell'Olocausto concordano che solo "una quota" di quei sei milioni furono eliminati con il gas. In quanto consisteva quella quota? Fonti? E la rimanente quota a cosa è da imputare? Fonti?
  • Un documento del Ministero dell'Interno del Württemberg riguardante la clinica di Grafeneck (in effetti una clinica di Aktion T4), in basso aveva l'avvertenza: "Non lasciar cadere nelle mani del nemico! Distruggere in caso di pericolo nemico!". Perché un documento che riguardava una comunissimo istituto clinico tedesco era ritenuto dai nazisti tanto riservato da non lasciare che il nemico se ne appropriasse? qui
  • Su "La menzogna di Ulisse" di Paul Rassinier (un libello contro Rassinier e il revisionismo)
  • "Gli eufemismi del vocabolario nazionalsocialista" di Georges Bensoussan (in La Shoah in 100 mappe, pag.138)ː «Nella lingua del nazionalsocialismo vi è un abuso del prefisso "sonder" (speciale)ː "treni speciali" (Sonderzüge), "commando speciale" (Sonderkommando), "trattamento speciale" (Sonderbehandlung) e così via. Si rende quindi subito necessario trovare nuove forme di espressioneːnell'aprile 1943, ad esempio, il termine "trattamento speciale" viene sostituito da "evacuazione"».
  • Nonostante la segretezza, i fatti riguardanti l'Olocausto, sono noti anche grazie alle imprese tedesche che parteciparono allo sterminio. La Deutsche Reichsbahn (500.000 dipendenti) deporta 3 milioni d'Ebrei, ogni giorno organizza due treni speciali (Sonderzüge) con destinazione "ai campi". La Opel e la Saurer costruiscono i camion a gas, altre imprese civili costruirono camere a gas e crematori speciali come la J.A. Topf und Söhne o la Tesch und Stabenow della IG Farben è fornitrice dello Zyklon B .... dov'é il segreto? [elaborazione da La Shoah in 100 tappe...pag.142-143].
  • Olocausto dei proiettili, un "olocausto" misconosciuto alla grande maggioranza degli italiani (studiosi a parte), e molto più usato nei paesi anglofoni come "holocaust by bullets" . Se vogliamo proprio semplificare ha a che fare con l'opera criminale delle uccisioni di massa dalle quattro squadre di Einsatzgruppen che uccisero le vittime (sparandole e seppellendole in fosse comuni), anche circa due milioni di ebrei bambini, donne e uomini in Ucraina, Russia, Bielorussia, Polonia, Moldavia, Lituania e Romania e in altri paesi sovietici. Il termine fa riferimento alla eccellente ricerca avviata da anni (con la collaborazione dell'USHMM) dallo studioso e prete cattolico Patrick Desbois (vedi sitoː "Yahad - In Unum", e USHMM)
  • Considerazioni sul Diario del medico Johann Paul Kremer, SS-Obersturmführer nel campo di sterminio di Auschwitzː Arriva ad Auschwitz (partendo da Praga) il 30 agosto 1942. Il 2 settembre riporta sul suo diarioː «Per la prima volta del assisto alle 3 del mattino a una Sonderaktion. In confronti a questa l'inferno di Dante mi sembra quasi una commedia. Non a caso Auschwitz viene chiamato il campo di sterminioǃ»

Importanteː Chiama Auschwitz "campo di sterminio" (non di concentramento), dimostrando che quella terminologia nel 1942 era conosciuta dai nazisti (interessante ancora ː paragona il campo all'inferno dantesco dopo aver assistito a una sonderaktion - vediː "Gli eufemismi del vocabolario nazionalsocialista" di Georges Bensoussan).
Compie inoltre due ingenuitàː 1) Identifica Auschwitz come luogo di "sterminio" e 2) Scrive che ha assistito a una sonderaktion. Due argomenti su cui le regole di qualsiasi campo di sterminio erano ferreeː segretezza assoluta, non bisognava parlarne con nessuno su tutto quanto accadeva nel campo e proibito fotografare i crimini (Kremer però lo scrive...sul suo diario...ma lo scrive)
Il Diario di Kremer dà indicazioni di massima anche sul numero di prigionieri che in un solo giorno potevano essere uccisi in una "sezione" del campo. Fra il 2 settembre e l'8 novembre 1942, Kremer assiste a ben 14 sonderaktion [da considerare che ha altri diversi colleghi medici nel campo, da lui menzionati con i quali si dava il cambio].
Il 12 settembre 1942 annotaː«[...] assisto di notte a una Sonderaktion di olandesi (1600 persone). Orrenda scena davanti all'ultimo bunker»
Il Diario mette anche in evidenza che la macchina criminale nazista "funzionava" ad Auschwitz 24 su 24 ore [infatti Kremer assiste a 14 SA di giorno e di notte agli orari più impensabili], per cui tutti i giorni erano uguali, domenica compresa.
Il 18 ottobre 1942 annotaː «Stamani, domenica, presenziato alla undicesima Sonderaktion (olandesi) [in effetti ebrei olandesi] con tempo freddo-umido. Scene orribili con tre donne che imploravano soltanto di essere lasciate in vita»
L'8 novembre 1942 annota che ha assistito a ben tre Sonderaktion, due di mattina e una di sera, nonostante tutto non perde il buon umore infatti scrive «[...]. Nel pomeriggio ancora una SA, dunque la quattordicesima a cui finora ho partecipato. Di sera piacevole riunione nel Fuhrerheim, invitato da Wirths, ora Hstuf. Vino rosso bulgaro e acquavite di prugne di Croazia »

Il "Rapporto Leuchter" sulle camere a gas di Auschwitz e "Risposta di Jan Markiewicz" direttore dell'istituto forense di Cracovia
  • Dettagli sul rapporto compilato da Fred A. Leuchter sulle camere a gas di Auschwitz e test ripetuti da Jan Markiewicz direttore dell'istituto forense di Cracovia che smentiscono tale rapporto
  • Rapporto Leuchter: (cass)
  • Risposta Markiewicz ː (cass)
  • Considerazioni e conclusioni: (cass)

(work in progress......)

Il rapporto Lüftl (1992)
Dati sul Zyklon B e sul suo uso nelle camere a gas
  • Dettagli sul gas (del perché usato dai nazisti), uso in un "probabile" obitorio? (dato che smentisce fantasiose tesi negazioniste)
Dati sul numero degli ebrei vittime dell'Olocausto messo in dubbio dai negazionisti

Categorie dell'indagine[modifica wikitesto]

  • Affidavit rilasciati ai processi (i molti lasciati dai nazisti)
  • Appunti (come quello di Hitler sul treno da fermare )
  • Diari (come quello di Goebbels, Rosenberg, Kremer....)
  • Telegrammi (come il Telegramma Höfle)
  • Discorsi (Come quelli di Himmler a Posen)
  • Documenti (come quelli delle liste di Reimund Schnabel )
  • Documentazione fotografica (p.e. l'"album di Karl Höcker" e "l'album di Auschwitz") - USHMMː Processo di Auschwitz a Francoforte, Auschwitz through the lens of the SS : A tale of two albums
  • Interviste ai nazisti nel dopoguerra (come quella a Franz Suchomel [Lanzmann] o a Hans Münch (medico) intervistato dal regista tedesco Bernhard Frankfurter o quella del 1981, dove dà un'intervista alla televisione svedese contro la volontà della sua famiglia)
  • Lettere scritte a colleghi nazisti (....)
  • Lettere scritte ai congiunti (....)
  • Rapporti SS (come quelli riportati da Reimund Schnabel o il Rapporto Korherr, il Rapporto Jäger o il Rapporto Stroop)
  • Testimonianze di "Giusti fra le Nazioni" (per cui non ebrei)
  • "Sbavature" (termine coniato da Jean-Claude Pressac, ovvero «lapsus della burocrazia sfuggiti al piano di occultamento dei crimini nazisti»)
  • Testimonianze e dichiarazioni processuali rese dai nazisti

Catalogazione delle dichiarazioni[modifica wikitesto]

Qui vengono catalogate e messe in un ulteriore cassetto le dichiarazioni secondo il seguente ordine e schemaː

  • Documento n. ? Diario di ? Dichiarazione rilasciata al processo di ?
  • Nome e cognome del dichiarante e grado [esempioː dott. Adrian Stor, tenente SS]
  • Ruolo del dichiarante [esempioː comandante ..., dottore del campo di sterminio di Sobibor]
  • Dichiarazione [riportare la dichiarazione]
  • Luogo e ragione della dichiarazione [esempioː Norimberga, Processo ai dottori, dichiarazione rilasciata nell'interrogatorio del 16 agosto 1947; o diario e data]
  • Fonti (tutte le fonti che riguardano la dichiarazioneː libri, siti etc.)


Voci mancanti su Wp in italiano[modifica wikitesto]

In questa sezione elenchiamo tutte le voci mancanti sui processi ai nazisti e ai loro collaboratori e le biografie riguardanti gli esecutori dell'Olocausto (molti processi e biografie presenti nelle wiki in DE e in EN da tempo nella nostra sono inesistenti). Inoltre elenchiamo voci che direttamente o indirettamente spiegano l'Olocausto come un "dato di fatto"

vedi qui e qui. 700 lettere private scritte dal capo delle SS alla moglie Margarete Siegroth (Marga) dal 1927 fino a cinque settimane prima del suo suicidio nel 1945,

[abbiamo un breve paragrafo nella voce Emanuel Ringelblum che parla dell'archivio (ritrovato nel 1946), ma l'archivio merita per la sua estrema importanza una voce a sé stante con una dettagliata descrizione dell'imponente documentazione].

Campi e ghetti[modifica wikitesto]

Massacri[modifica wikitesto]

Processi[modifica wikitesto]

Biografie[modifica wikitesto]

  • Antonella Tiburzi, storica della Shoah (Università di Bolzano)
  • Anton Galler vedi qui e la voce in Wp in de.
  • Józef Szajna, scenografo, regista e drammaturgo polacco, in tutte le altri principali wiki tranne la nostra.
  • Stefania Grodzieńska, scrittrice e attrice teatrale polacca, confinata al Ghetto fi Varsavia sopravvisse all'Olocausto
  • Carlo Saletti, ricercatore storico e regista teatrale
  • Donald Bloxham, storico specializzato in genocidi, crimini di guerra e studi sulle atrocità di massa. È l'editore del "The Journal of Holocaust Education", in 6 diverse wiki ma non in quella in italiano.Bloxham in una scheda dell'Università di Edinburgo
  • Ernst Klee, è stato un noto giornalista investigativo tedesco, regista e autore di diversi saggi, meglio conosciuto per le sue ricerche sulla storia del nazionalsocialismo. In 10 altre wiki ma non in quella in italiano
  • Alfréd Wetzler, in 12 diverse wiki ma non in quella in italiano
  • Antonio Quatela, storico del fascismo e dell'RSI
  • Clement Druschke, criminale nazista e comandante della Gestapo in Slovenia dal 1942 al 1945 (Corriere della Sera del 19 agosto 2023 pp 6 e 7 in inserto "Milano" e anche qui.
  • Enrico Pozzoli (Milano 9 febbraio 1985 - Mauthausen 16 gennaio 1945), tipografo e resistente antifascista del Niguarda (targa alla memoria in via Luigi Ornato e pietra di inciampo in via Carlo Farini) (fontiː ANED e ANPI)
  • Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi, storico e consulente scientifico della Fondazione Museo della Shoah di Roma
  • Friedrich Kranebitter, gestapo e criminale nazista dell'Ufficio di Verona, responsabile della Strage di Fossoli e responsabile dell'avvio dei deportati verso i centri di sterminio e di concentramento.
  • Barbara Engelking, psicologa e sociologa polacca specializzata in studi sull'Olocausto. Direttrice del Centro Polacco per la Ricerca sull'Olocausto di Varsavia, studiosa di diverse opere dell'Olocausto in Polonia. Accusata da una legge polacca [e perseguitata ancora oggi] con il suo collega Jan Grabowski di dare un'idea distorta dell'Olocausto in Polonia, solo per aver ampiamente documentato e dimostrato che molti (ma non tutti) polacchi durante la Shoah furono zelanti antisemiti e collaborarono attivamente con i nazisti nell'individuare gli ebrei da deportare.
  • Lia van Leer, pioniera e ideatrice delle fototeche della cinematografia ebraica, in 16 lingue ma non in italiano
  • Ewa Wiatr, nota storica polacca accademica alla Università di Lodz (vedi Google Scholar
  • Alexandra Zapruder, storica statunitense e membro dello staff fondatore dello United States Holocaust Memorial Museum di Washington bio
  • Anita Friedman, Studiosa statunitense specializzata in educazione dell'Olocausto e sui modelli di genocidio. Direttore esecutivo della "Jewish Family and Children's Services" di San Francisco
  • Fred Rosenbaum, uno dei più noti storici statunitensi, fondatore e direttore della "Lehrhaus Judaica" a Berkeley (California)
  • Henri Roques, uno dei principali negazionisti francesi dell'Olocausto fu amico di Paul Rassinier e deve la sua "ispirazione" di negazionista al più conosciuto Robert Faurisson.)
  • Rudolf Thyrolf, il boia nazista, maggiore SS, criminale di guerra (rimasto impunito) autore della strage del 28 giugno 1944 a Riva del Garda e paesi limitrofi (su Thyrolf indagine anche di Yad Vashem e della dott.ssa Sara Berger del Fritz Bauer Institut di Francoforte) vedi qui e altre molte fonti in rete e su saggi
  • Irmgard Furchneril, condannata a due anni di detenzione, colpevole di complicità nell'omicidio di oltre 11.000 persone nel campo di concentramento di Stutthof, vedi [19] e [20] e [21]
  • David Cesarani, storico e accademico britannico, uno dei massimi esperti della Shoah. Fu anche direttore della Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide. Voce esistente in tutte le altre wiki tranne la nostra.
  • David M. Glantz, storico militare e giornalista statunitense
  • Jonathan House, uno dei massimi storici statunitensi specializzato in storia militare sovietica
  • Anna-Vera Sullam Calimani, storica italiana
  • Aldo Ravelli antifascista. Storia interessante di generosità e di come salvò a Mauthausen la sua vita e quella di altri internati (vedi Hotel Gestapo di Quatela, pagg. 97-99)
  • Bella Gutterman, storica e direttrice dell'International Institute for Holocaust Research di Yad Vashem e membro della direzione dell'Istituto di ricerca. Diverse sue opere riguardanti i campi di concentramento e sterminio sono state premiate e tradotte in più lingue (vedi qui)
  • Israel Gutman, importante accademico e storico israeliano (in tutte le altre wiki, tranne la nostra)
  • Marco Cavallarin (1948), «studioso di ebraismo e colonialismo italiano, documentarista». Collabora con il MUMeSe di Sciesopoli Ebraica, il CDEC e la Casa della Memoria di Milano. È consigliere dell’Ass. Figli della Shoah. Ha scritto di ebraismo, di arte e società in Eritrea, di storia del sionismo, di Resistenza e di ebrei partigiani
  • Samuel David Kassow, storico e accademico statunitense specializzato nella storia degli ebrei ashkenaziti
  • Erika Floken
  • Georg Tauber
  • Antonella Salomoni, storica e docente all'Università della Calabria e di Bologna dove insegna Storia della shoah e dei genocidi presso il Dipartimento di Storia dell'Università di Bologna vedi qui [@ Bellatrovata]. Se ne occupa Bellatrovata.
  • Rosa Jochmann (en, de)
  • Lotte Hahm, una delle più famose donne lesbiche imprigionata poi nel campo di concentramento di Moringen
  • Eric A. Johnson, storico, sociologo e accademico statunitense alla Central Michigan University specializzato in Olocausto e storia della Germania
  • David Bankier è stato un accademico ed eminente storico della Shoah, a capo dell'Istituto internazionale per la ricerca sull'Olocausto di Yad Vashem
  • Iole Mancini (oggi 102 anni), staffetta partigiana, torturata da Erich Priebke, racconta nel suo libro l’occupazione di Roma, la detenzione nella famigerata via Tasso e l'eccidio delle Fosse Ardeatine. Suo libro "Un amore partigiano" presentato per il 25 aprile 2022
  • Sven Felix Kellerhoff, storico tedesco specializzato nella storia dell'era nazista
  • Robert S. Wistrich, storico all'Università Ebraica di Gerusalemme e resposnsabile del "Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism". Uno degli studiosi di antisemitismo più famosi al mondo.
  • Christoph Kreutzmüller, storico e accademico tedesco, curatore del Museo Ebraico di Berlino e già storico senior alla Casa-museo della Conferenza di Wannsee.
  • Ingeburg Werlemann, fotografa e dattilografa tedesca, segretaria di Adolf Eichmann e come tale trascrittrice delle decisioni prese dai funzionari alla Conferenza di Wannsee.
  • Raymond Kévorkian, storico francese-armeno, uno dei massimi conoscitori dell'Armenia e del relativo genocidio.
  • Yves Ternon, storico e accademico alla Sorbona, diverse pubblicazioni sulla Shoah degli ebrei e sul genocidio armeno
  • Dina Mironovna Pronicheva, attrice ebrea sovietica del Teatro dei burattini di Kiev, sopravvissuta al massacro di Babij Jar del 29 e 30 settembre 1941. Quando spogliata le fu ordinato di marciare verso il burrone per essere fucilata, saltò prima di essere colpita cadendo su altri corpi fingendosi morta. Uno dei testimoni chiave al processo sovietico di Kiev contro i crimini di guerra il 24 gennaio 1946.
  • La Razzia - Roma 16 ottobre 1943, film di Ruggero Gabbai (2018). Il rastrellamento nazista di oltre 1200 persone di Roma appartenenti alla cosiddetta "razza ebraica" con destinazione Auschwitz BirKenau.
  • Paweł Wieczorek (storico) - storico polacco coopera attivamente con l'"United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)" di Washington e con il "Jewish Historical Institute" di Varsavia, partecipante alla ricerca internazionale (2013-2016) "Pogrom degli ebrei nelle terre polacche nel XIX e XX secolo"
  • Artur Brauner, in tutte le altre wiki tranne la nostra, importante produttore cinematografico tedesco di origine polacca. Nella sua carriera ha prodotto 300 film, fra cui 20 sulla Shoah; sopravvissuto all'Olocausto.
  • Kim Christian Priemel, storico tedesco e accademico all'Università di Oslo (se ne occupa Salvatore Talia)
  • Schulim Vogelmann (biografia). Attualmente la voce Schulim Vogelmann è dedicata alla sola (e nota) collana editoriale della Giuntina di Firenze. Nella voce ci sono anche alcuni "cenni biografici" su Schulim. Due voci separate: Schulim Vogelmann (dedicata alla biografia del sopravvissuto) e Schulim Vogelmann (collana editoriale) (dedicata appunto alla collana editoriale della Giuntina) potrebbe essere la soluzione più opportuna, vedi talk)
  • Augusto Segre, scrittore, partigiano e rabbino
  • Tomasz Kranz, storico e filologo polacco-tedesco. Dal 2007 direttore del Museo di Stato di Majdanek
  • Alfred Zielony (Varsavia 1897 - 1956), questo e questo
  • Esther Bejarano, 96 anni, ultima sopravvissuta dell'Orchestra di Auschwitz (vedi qui)
  • Enrica Jona, testimone della Shoah di Asti. «Non dovevano rimanere tracce dello sterminio: l'oblio, la cancellazione della vittima in quanto persona... quindi nessuna possibilità... neanche di ricordo. Ma non hanno vinto loro. Non siamo tornate come bestie ma ancora degli esseri umani... Pronti a raccontare la nostra storia...»
  • Shlomo Dragon, Sopravvissuto all'olocausto e testimone del Sonderkommando vece presente in altre lingue. Se ne occupa Bellatrovata.
  • Gerhard L. Weinberg, storico e accademico statunitense. Uno dei massimi esperti della politica estera nazista e della Seconda Guerra Mondiale.
  • Marc Buggeln, storico tedesco della Humboldt Universität di Berlino (Germania nazista)
  • Adelaide Hautval: medico francese, imprigionata ad Auschwitz, impiegata al blocco 10 di Auschwitz I e quindi all'ospedale di Auschwitz II (Birkenau). Riconosciuta "Giusta fra le Nazioni" per il suo comportamento deciso e privo di compromessi nel rifiutare di partecipare agli esperimenti medici dei suoi colleghi nazisti e nel curare con amore le donne ebree che la chiamavano "la santa". Le sue convinzioni sono esemplificate da quanto soleva direː «Qui siamo tutti destinati a morire, comportiamoci da essere umani finché siamo in vita» (vedi p. 8 di questo)
  • Michel Wieviorka (sociologo francese, anche antisemitismo) [22]
  • Bella Gutterman, storica israeliana, direttrice dell'International Institute for Holocaust Research di Yad Vashem questa. Diverse pubblicazioni sull'Olocausto, fra cui il saggio Album Auschwitz (da non confondere con il documento Auschwitz Album) con Marcello Pezzetti e Israel Gutman, Einaudi editore, 2008, Torino, ISBN 978-88-0618-100-0
  • Peter Hayes (storico), professore emerito di storia presso il Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences della Northwestern University. Presidente del Comitato Accademico dell'United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  • Lucy Dawidowicz, storica e scrittrice statunitense, specialista in storia ebraica moderna e Olocausto (convinta "intenzionalista" nel dibattito storiografico che contrappone il "funzionalismo")
  • Günter Morsch (storico tedesco) [23]
  • Bruno Maida, storico italiano ✔ Fatto--Ṟĭottoŝő 21:15, 11 mar 2024 (CET)[rispondi]
  • Reimund Schnabel, storico tedesco
  • Henry Friedlander, storico statunitense (vedi USHMM)
  • Sybil Milton, storica statunitense (vedi USHMM)
  • Israel Gutman, storico israeliano, uno dei massimi studiosi dei ghetti polacchi e dello sterminio ad Auschwitz (in tutte le altre più importanti wiki, tranne la nostra)
  • Nicolò Sagi, italiano appartenente al Sonderkommando di Auschwitz Birkenau (ricerca storica inedita dello storico Marcello Pezzetti pubblicata su 4 pagine di Robinson, inserto di la Repubblica, sabato 23 gennaio 2021).
  • Gerald L. K. Smith, sacerdote statunitense, politico populista e zelante antisemita. Leader del movimento "Share Our Wealth" e fondatore della "Crociata nazionalista cristiana", collocato dagli storici (con il suo "The Cross and The Flag") fra i "primi personaggi" nella "cronologia" del negazionismo internazionale.
  • Gerhard Kittel, teologo luterano di Tubinga, filonazista e feroce antisemita. William Albright disse di lui: "Considerando la terribile ferocia dei suoi attacchi all'ebraismo e agli ebrei [...], Gerhard Kittel [...ha] contribuito più, forse, di qualsiasi altro teologo cristiano allo [sterminio] degli ebrei [...]".
  • David L. Hoggan, storico e accademico statunitense, filonazista e negazionista, autore di The Myth of the Six Million (Il mito dei sei milioni)
  • Bradley Smith (storico), storico statunitense e negazionista dell'Olocausto. Portavoce dell'Institute for Historical Review (IHR) e fondatore con Mark Weber del "Committee for Open Debate On the Holocaust" (CODOH).
  • Mark Weber (storico), storico statunitense negazionista e direttore dell'Institute for Historical Review (IHR)
  • Harry Elmer Barnes, storico statunitense, revisionista e negazionista dell'Olocausto (a suo avviso, nel 1939 Hitler fu «il leader più "ragionevole" del mondo»
  • David Cole (giornalista), statunitense, negazionista su alcuni aspetti dell'Olocausto. La pubblicità attribuitagli derivò dal fatto che lui stesso fosse ebreo.
  • JG Burg, pseudonimo del giornalista negazionista ebreo Josef Ginsburg
  • Henri Roques, un attivo negazionista francese, segretario generale del gruppo neofascista e razzista "Phalange française".
  • Arthur Butz, professore associato alla Northwestern University, negazionista dell'Olocausto e autore del libro The Hoax of the Twentieth Century (La bufala del XX secolo)
  • Fred A. Leuchter, negazionista dell'Olocausto statunitense. Nel 1988 scrisse il cosiddetto "Rapporto Leuchter" cercando di dimostrare che non ci furono gasazioni in quelli che gli storici chiamano "campi di sterminio". Storici ed esperti hanno smentito con dati scientifici il suo cosiddetto "rapporto" dimostrando la fallacia delle sue dichiarazioni.
  • Jan Markiewicz, direttore dell'Istituto forense di Cracovia. Ripete nel febbraio 1990 i test del "Rapporto Leuchter" (negazionista), usando tecniche di microdiffusione per testare campioni di cianuro provenienti dalle camere a gas e dimostra l'inaffidabilità di quel rapporto.
  • Michael von Cranach, medico, psichiatra e scrittore. Dal 1980 al 2006 è stato direttore medico dell'ospedale distrettuale di Kaufbeuren. A lui va il merito di aver ricercato e scoperto ciò che avveniva nella clinica di Kaufbeuren (e nella sua filiale di Irsee) in epoca nazista a proposito del programma Aktion T4, e i demeriti del medico criminale nazista che la dirigeva Valentin Faltlhauser (l'inventore della Dieta E). La Memorial Lindau Foundation (promotrice del Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings) lo ha onorato nel 2006 con il "Marion Samuel Prize" e nel 2019 con il "Wilhelm-Griesinger-Medaille" (vedi in de la voce: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion-Samuel-Preis e la voce "Wilhelm-Griesinger-Medaille" in it la voce Ernst Lossa)
  • Bradley Smith (negazionista), noto per essere stato un negazionista "totale" dell'Olocausto e aver fondato il "Campus Project", un progetto che promuoveva il negazionismo dell'Olocausto nei campus universitari degli Stati Uniti dando vita negli anni 90 ad accesi dibattiti nazionali sul I emendamento della Costituzione degli Stati Uniti d'America.
  • Walter Lüftl, importante ingegnere austriaco, "negazionista tecnico" dell'Olocausto, noto per il suo "rapporto" in cui contesta la fattibilità tecnica delle uccisioni di massa con il gas nei campi di concentramento nazisti
  • David Lane, terrorista neonazista e suprematista bianco americano, noto per aver coniato gli slogan delle Quattordici parole
  • Herman Bernstein, giornalista, scrittore, traduttore e diplomatico ebreo americano. Famoso anche per il suo saggio sulla menzogna dei "Protocolli": The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion: The history of a lie
  • Mordechai Kedar
  • Mordecai Gebirtig (Cracovia 1877 - ghetto di Cracovia 1942), poeta e compositore ebreo-polacco
  • Jan Grabowski (Varsavia 1962), eminente storico polacco della Shoah e accademico dell'Università di Ottawa, noto oltre che per le sue molteplici opere sull'Olocausto in Polonia, per l'attacco e le minacce subite da una organizzazione di nazionalisti polacchi per aver denunciato nelle sue pubblicazioni il coinvolgimento di molti civili polacchi nella persecuzione razziale degli ebrei. (se ne occupa Actormusicus) ✔ Fatto
  • Rachel Auerbach ✔ Fatto la sopravvissuta dell' Oneg Shabbat (compresa Rachel tre soli sopravvissuti), che iniziò nel 1946 la ricerca e lo scavo delle cronache sepolte della prima parte dell'archivio.
  • Bedřich Fritta, vignettista ceco internato a Terezin nel 1941 e morto ad Auschwitz nel 1944. Vedi Museo Ebraico di Berlino, quiː [24]✔ Fatto

Voci da ampliare, migliorare o integrare[modifica wikitesto]

  • Patrick Desbois, vedi talk della voce
  • Eccidio di Sant'Anna di Stazzema vedi qui
  • Käthe Kollwitz vedi "cosa manca nella voce" nella talk della voce
  • Campo di Fossoli migliorare la voce nella prima parte che parla della gestione della "fase italiana" vedi questo commento
  • Wilhelm Keitel, voce da controllare e migliorare in toto, vedi discussione nella talk della voce
  • Organizzazione Todt, voce importantissima per il nostro Progetto, iniziata circa 14 anni fa ma è ancora uno stub ✔ Fatto
  • Eccidio del Lago Maggiore, vedi richiesta nella relativa talk. Vedi anche La donna che fece luce sulle stragi naziste sul Lago Maggiore (ovvero Eloisa Ravenna del CDEC). Oltre la Berger, c'è anche la storica del CDEC, Liliana Picciotto con cui collaborò Eloisa Ravenna [che segui il processo in Germania] e che può esserci utile per le fonti dello stesso CDEC che riguardano la ricerca della Ravenna (vedi p.e. questo del CDEC)
  • Aliyah, vedi discussione in relativa talk, da fare urgentemente
  • Max Koegel, vedi discussione in relativa talk
  • Josef Oberhauser (criminale di guerra), vedi discussione in relativa talk
  • Lista dei campi di concentramento nazisti, vedi discussione in relativa talk qui
  • Processo di Norimberga, vedi commento del 22 giugno 2023 nella relativa talk della voce
  • Ralf Dahrendorf, vedi talk della voce (mancano gli anni della sua biografia fino al 1945 e la persecuzione che subi come adolescente dal nazismo)
  • Strage di Fossoli, vedi talk
  • Ruggero Gabbai, quando di parla di "festival del cinema ebraico" si parla in effetti dell'esistente voce Jerusalem Film Festival, uniformare le citazioni della voce, ora molto confuse, vedi discussione particolareggiata quiː [29] ✔ Fatto
  • Jerusalem Film Festival, voce da ampliare, poco più di uno stub.Quasi nulla sulle categorie dei film presentati e premiati
  • Propaganda nella Germania nazista, vedi talk della relativa voce
  • Campo di sterminio, vedi talk
  • Sonderaktion 1005 vedi paragrafo "Cosa manca ǃ" nella relativa talk della voce
  • Fritz Reinhardt processi e condanne ??
  • Strage di Farneta, vedi relativa talk della voce
  • Sami Modiano, vedi relativa talk della voce ("cosa mancaǃ")
  • John Demjanjuk, John (Iwan) Demjanjuk, SS e collaborazionista ucraino nel campo di sterminio di Sobibor. Da migliorare (a parte i template) i quattro processi in 30 anni che lo riguardarono (negli Stati Uniti, in Israele e in Germania). Nuove prove anche dagli archivi dell’ex Unione Sovietica che «hanno confermato come la possibilità di ottenere finalmente giustizia per le vittime dei crimini contro l’umanità sia strettamente legata alla possibilità di disporre della relativa documentazione storica», (vedi qui)
  • Giuseppe De André e Fabrizio De André in ambedue le voci "fontare" l'attività del prof. De Andrè (padre di Fabrizio) nel "nascondere" l'identificazione degli alunni ebrei, salvandoli dalla deportazione nazifascista e un probabile sterminio (la Treccani fa un accenno molto "debole")
  • Memoriale della Shoah
  • Armadio della vergogna vedi talk della voce
  • Campo di concentramento di Auschwitz e Birkenau, vedi discussione nella talk linkata
  • Franz Ziereis. Dal 2005 senza fonti
  • Heinrich_Himmler qui
  • Generalplan Ost vedi talk della voce (da rivedere urgentemente)
  • Teologia dell'Olocausto voce da rivedere, a parte diverse fonti mancanti (come da opportuno template). Si richiede un più accurato "equilibrio" che permetta nel dibattito per prima le spiegazioni del "pensiero dominante", ovvero quel che pensa la maggioranza degli ebrei, relegando le "visioni" più estremiste (riflessioni di rabbini e relative riviste ultraortodosse) in secondo piano, visto che la maggioranza degli ebrei non si riconosce in quel tipo di riflessioni.
  • Gina Galeotti Bianchi, vedi richieste in talk
  • Olocausto in Ucraina, vedi richieste in talk
  • Oskar Gröning, vedi discussione nella talk della voce, da completare urgentemente
  • Direttorato politico dello Stato, (vedi collezione di template della voce)
  • Neonazismo, (vedi template)
  • Ahnenerbe, ampliare (giudizi di archeologi) e processo Norimberga
  • Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie, stub dal 2088 per cui finire la voce, correggere il titolo (in olandese) ora incompleto (vedi sito ufficiale qui (oltre che la stessa voce in altre lingue). Valutare se meglio tradurre il titolo in lingua italiano come hanno fatto altre wiki traducendo nella loro lingua. Vedi anche discussione qui
  • Bordelli militari tedeschi nella seconda guerra mondiale, ampliare spiegando con fonti le ragioni per cui diverse giovani donne internate "scelsero" di prostituirsi.
  • Storia degli ebrei in Italia, vedi talk della voce sezione "Cosa mancaǃ"
  • Topographie des Terrors, progetto tedesco riguardante i luoghi della capitale del terrore nazista, Berlino, con luoghi che riguardavano p.e. la sede della Gestapo o del Servizio di sicurezza delle SS (SD) o ancora quello dell'Ufficio principale della sicurezza del Reich (RSHA) solo per citare alcuni luoghi. La nostra voce (dal 2009) è da aggiornare massicciamente, p.e. le mostre permanenti, speciali e temporanee (moltissime) vengono totalmente ignorate (da fare con urgenza)
  • Lutz Klinkhammer, importante storico tedesco del nazismo e fascismo (con quasi zero fonti dal lontano 2014). In italiano ha pubblicato diversi e importanti testi (ne cito solo alcuni): "Stragi naziste in Italia" (Donzelli 2006); "Criminali di guerra in libertà. Un accordo segreto tra Italia e Germania federale, 1949-1955" (Carocci 2008); "L' occupazione tedesca in Italia. 1943-1945" (Bollati Boringhieri 2016) ; "I nazisti. I rapporti tra Italia e Germania nelle fotografie dell'Istituto Luce" (Editori Riuniti 2002) (la sua biografia è incompleta) (da fare con urgenza)
  • Roberto Mandel, vedi talk relativa alla sua voce cosa c'è da sistemare (fonte "Hotel Gestapo" di Antonio Quatela pag. 115-120)
  • Wilhelm Harster, comandante nazista della Gestapo in Italia (quando era a Verona). Stub rimasto tale dal 2014 (da fare urgentemente)
  • Genocidio se usiamo la dichiarazione dell'ONU per definire il termine "genocidio", dobbiamo essere più precisiǃ Vedi discussione in relativa talk qui.
  • Rastrellamento del ghetto di Roma (vedi questa discussione). Precedenza assolutaǃ A balla viene solo seconda alla recente di Mengele che troviamo operare al blocco 10 del Campo di Auschwitz I.
  • Processi di Dachau voce che dice pochissimo sui processi principali tenuti a Dachau, vedi discussione talk della voce.
  • Strage di Bullenhuser Damm, voce "superficiale" con alcuni dati sbagliati sugli uccisi russi e altre 4 persone (non i bambini), vedete p.e. quella in DE molto precisa e con fonti (ma anche quella in EN non il massimo ma va già meglio), nella nostra mancano diverse importanti sezioni della voce come p.e. sui responsabili di quel luogo di uccisione. [@ Salvatore Talia] e [@ Noce09] è da aiutare immediatamente, una voce che si presta a critiche giustificate di terzi che potrebbero sollevare critiche sui dati sbagliati.
  • Wolfgang Benz (vedi relativa talk), una bibliografia striminzita che non rende giustizia a uno dei massimi storici tedeschi.
  • Anna Rossi-Doria (da ampliare e fontare)
  • Ernst Röhm (aggiungere fonti)
  • Margarete Buber-Neumann (aggiungere fonti)
  • Elisabeth Mann Borgese (stub)
  • Giuseppe Antonio Borgese (aggiungere fonti)
  • Paragrafo 175 (aggiungere fonti)
  • Helene Stöcker (stub)
  • Gabriella Romano (stub, aggiungere fonti)

In questa sezione elenchiamo tutte le voci sull'Olocausto da ampliare o migliorare e quelle da integrare con importanti dichiarazioni sullo sterminio o sulla sua negazione fatte dai nazisti.

Template di navigazione[modifica wikitesto]

Conferenze da registrare[modifica wikitesto]

  1. Negazionismo dell'Olocausto (Camelia Boban)
  2. Negazionismo scientifico (Salvatore Talia)
  3. Principali ideologi e teorici del negazionismo (Presbite)
  4. Revisionismo o negazionismo? (Gregorio Bisso)
  5. Storiografia e negazionismo (Bramfab)
  6. Progetto e task force ː "Per bocca dei perpetratoriːI nazisti ammettono sterminio e camere a gas" (Fcarbonara)
  7. Categorie analizzate dal Progetto (Salvatore Talia)
  8. Categoria 1 ː I processi ai nazisti (tutti i processi del dopoguerra) (Fcarbonara)
  9. Categoria 2ː Le confessioni ai processi (Salvatore Talia)
  10. Categoria 3ː Gli affidavit dei processi (Bramfab)
  11. Categoria 4ː I diari dei nazisti (Fcarbonara)
  12. Categoria 5ː Corrispondenza dei nazisti ai congiunti (Gregorio Bisso)
  13. Categoria 6ː Corrispondenza e appunti di servizio fra nazisti (Salvatore Talia)
  14. Categoria 7ː Discorsi di gerarchi nazisti (p.e. quelli di Heinrich Himmler a Posen il 4 e il 6 ottobre 1943; 16 dicembre 1943 a Weimar il 16 dicembre 1943 e a Sonthofen il 5 maggio 1944 ) (Salvatore Talia)
  15. Categoria 8ː Rapporti dettagliati SS sulle spedizioni di beni razziati agli ebrei (riportati in documenti originali nazisti dallo storico tedesco Reimund Schnabel) (Fcarbonara)
  16. Categoria 9 ː Documentazione fotografica nazista e degli alleati (Luca Capuozzo e Marco Fodde)
  17. Categoria 10ː Dichiarazioni nelle interviste a ex nazisti del dopoguerra (Bramfab)
  18. Categoria 11ː Testimonianze di Giusti fra le nazioni (per cui non ebrei) (Bramfab)
  19. Categoria 12ː Controversia negazionistaː Lo sterminio inesistente o prove storiche?
  20. Categoria 13ː Controversia negazionistaː Lo sterminio un migliaio di vittime o 6.000.000 di uccisi?
  21. Categoria 14ː Controversia negazionistaː Lo sterminio con la fucilazione, prove, (Einsatzgruppen)
  22. Categoria 15ː Controversia negazionistaː Lo sterminio con il gas, proveː dai gaswagen allo zyklon B
  23. Categoria 16ː Controversia negazionistaː Il Diario di Anna Frank ad Amsterdam e quello di Dawid Sierakowiak dal Ghetto di Łódź

Ricerche speciali[modifica wikitesto]

  • Storia della ricercaː Alessandro Vasari sapendo del nostro speciale Progetto ci ha inviato la seguente mail con un'attestazione (che non pubblichiamo prima di metterla su Commons)ː
«Ecco la foto dell’attestazione conferita a mio nonno Tommaso dalla Comunità Ebraica d’Italia in segno di riconoscenza per aver aiutato una intera famiglia di ebrei romani di cui non conosco il nome, nascondendoli nella parte più nascosta dello Studio fotografico di via della Croce.
Per poter fare spazio nella camera, mio nonno decise di eliminare gettando nel fiume Tevere centinaia di pellicole. Questa sua azione consenti alla famiglia di salvarsi dalla persecuzione tedesca. Per tale vicenda ricevette l’attestato di riconoscenza degli Ebrei italiani, che qui allego.»
  • Azioniː Stiamo ricercando sia presso il CDEC di Milano che la Fondazione Museo della Shoah di Roma, per vedere se Tommaso Vasari può essere considerato per quanto ha fatto un "Giusto fra le nazioni" inviando la segnalazione a Yad Vashem. Due importanti risultati per Wikipediaː 1) Una voce in anteprima internazionale sulla nostra enciclopedia che spieghi anche come Wikipedia abbia contribuito alla onorificienza 2) Una importante pubblicità per la nostra enciclopedia (e per il Progetto di Wikipedia). In ultima analisi quanto ci ha mandato Alessandro Vasari, potrebbe essere usato per creare un ulteriore paragrafo della voce Studio fotografico Vasari. Qui il fatto più eclatante riconosciuto da tutti gli addetti ai lavori è che un fotografo si "liberi" di parte del suo archivio fotografico (eccezionalità assoluta per un fotografo professionista) per poter creare uno spazio come nascondiglio che contribui' alla salvezza di una intera famiglia di ebrei romani.

Siti dell'indagine[modifica wikitesto]

Siti dell'indagine sull'Olocausto[modifica wikitesto]

̈* Ustascia (da controllare consultabile come base generale)

Valutazione di accademici sui libri sull'Olocausto[modifica wikitesto]

Siti sull'insegnamento dell'Olocausto a scuola[modifica wikitesto]

In questa sezione la metodologia (fatta da linee guida e suggerimenti) di specialisti. Dalla scuola di Yad Vashem al corso annuale di insegnamento dell'USHMM per insegnanti dell'Olocausto nelle scuole e università. Pubblichiamo per ora solo i riferimewnti di Yad Vashem (per l'USHMM alcuni wikipediani hanno già frequentato il corso per insegnanti 2022 ma su invito, e abbiamo chiesto il permesso all'USHMM per rendere almeno "le risorse" del corso a disposizione dei wikipediani interessati).

Siti, convegni e pubblicazioni sulla fotografia della Shoah[modifica wikitesto]

Siti sulla musica della Shoah[modifica wikitesto]

  • Music and the Holocaust, musica, ballate, inni e cantici composti dalle diverse categorie di internati nei campi di sterminio, di concentramento e nei ghetti)
  • Music of the Holocaust (le composizioni musicali nella mostra “Le corde del cuore, la musica dell'Olocausto”). Le nuove composizioni musicali «come fonte di conforto, come forma di resistenza e come sollievo e intrattenimento», durante la Shoah nel sito di Yad Vashem
  • Music of the Holocaust. Il repertorio di nuove opere e le opere classiche già prodotte (prima della Shoah), eseguite durante il periodo della Shoah nel campo di Theresienstadt e in altri luogh,i nel sito dell' USHMM
  • Rete degli archivi per non dimenticare a cura del Ministero della Cultura (71 archivi in rete. Non tutti i post e i documenti sono di nostro interesse, ma diversi contengono fonti autorevoli e complete), vedi p.e. qui.

Siti riguardanti video sulla Shoah[modifica wikitesto]

Libri e articoli accademici dell'indagine[modifica wikitesto]

Dispense e documenti dell'indagine[modifica wikitesto]

"Lavorare per l'onore del Reich sfruttamento e sterminio" Anche due approfondimenti sul Processo Eichmann e di Demjanjuk a Gerusalemme)

La verità negata== Importanti film, documentari, video, trasmissioni radio, podcast, webinar e convegni per l'indagine del Progetto ==

Riflettere sul presente! (link accademici)[modifica wikitesto]

  • Claudio Vercelli sull'eterno presente

+ Quello di Marco Chemello citato da Bramfab

Bbliografia[modifica wikitesto]

Importanti fonti basate su autorevoli mostre sulla Shoah[modifica wikitesto]

Siti web negazionisti[modifica wikitesto]

Libri, opuscoli e documenti prodotti dai negazionisti[modifica wikitesto]

Webinar, conferenze e convegni organizzati e svolti dalla TF[modifica wikitesto]

Temi dei prossimi webinar TF[modifica wikitesto]

Stiamo contattando importanti istituzioni nazionali ed internazionali per avere loro oratori nella serie di webinar che vogliamo proporre su importanti temi che riguardano lo sterminio e le prove inequivocabili di chi di quello sterminio ne fu responsabile. Fra queste istituzioni abbiamo contattato: Yad Vashem di Gerusalemme, l' United States Holocaust Memorial Museum di Washington, Anne Frank Huis di Amsterdam, Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau di Oświęcim e altre (i webinar inizieranno tutti alle 17,30 della giornata indicata) Per tal motivo vi sottoponiamo i temi dei prossimi webinarː

  • ✔ 27 gennaio 2022 (Giorno della Memoria) - Donne nella Shoah (a cura di Camelia Boban) + editathon
  • ✔ 26 marzo 2021 - due temi: - I Giusti fra le Nazioni nei tempi bui dell'ecclissi della Ragione e Heinrich Himmler e i discorsi di Posen: Analisi di uno sterminio annunciato, programmato e registrato
  • ✔ 28 maggio 2022 - La sorte degli omosessuali ariani del Reich
  • 23 settembre 2022 - Ghetti, campi, luoghi di reclusione e di tortura: una panoramica su oltre 100 siti nazifascisti in Italia con Carlo Spartaco Capogreco

(* 23 settembre 2022 - "Fotografia e propaganda nella Shoah e l'accusa di falsificazione di alcune sue foto" (a cura di Marco Fodde, Luca Capuozzo e Francesco Carbonara)

  • 25 novembre 2022 - "Una persecuzione non razziale: quella dei Testimoni di Geova" (a cura di Claudio Vercelli (da confermare)
  • 27 gennaio 2023 - Giorno della Memoria - Il diario di Anna Frank - le prove della sua autenticità e le bugie dei negazionisti + editathon
  • 28 marzo 2023 - "Gaswagen e Camere a gas. Le testimonianze dei nazisti"
  • 28 maggio 2023 - "Aktion T4: da Grafeneck a Hadamar - da Kaufbeuren a Irsee e l'assassinio di Ernst Lossa"

CONFERENZE E WEBINAR NAZIONALI E INTERNAZIONALI IN CORSO[modifica wikitesto]

Già tenuti[modifica wikitesto]

* ✔ 22 luglio 2021 : Conferenza in collegamento con il Museo di Stato di Majdanek (Państwowe Muzeum na Majdanku) per celebrare il 77° anniversario della liquidazione del campo avvenuta il 22 luglio 1944 - La conferenza on-line si terrà alle ore 17.00 sulla pagina Facebook di PMM. (Dettagli: https://www.facebook.com/events/296444112265041) - Vedi qui
* ✔ 2 Novembre 2021 at 4 PM EST : Webinar - The Warsaw Ghetto: Life in the Midst of Death
(organizzato da Echoes & Reflections (https://echoesandreflections.org/) in collaborazione con ADL, USC Shoah Foundation e Yad Vashem
* ✔ 9 Novembre 2021 at 1 PM EST : Webinar - The "Krisallnacht Pogrom : A Teachable Moment (^^^)

* ✔ 9 Novembre 2021 ORE 01:00 UTC+01 : Defying Expectations: Women Resistance Fighters during the Holocaust - (webinar USHMM)

* ✔ 10 Novembre 2021 at 4 PM EST : Webinar - Exploring connections to AAPI History and the Holocaust (^^^)

* ✔ 19 Novembre 2021 ORE 15:30 UTC+01 : Power,Intoxication and Masculinity:Fueling the Nazi War Machine - (webinar USHMM)

Raduni dei partecipanti al Progetto[modifica wikitesto]

Raduni dei partecipanti al Progetto

Raduno di sabato 6 marzo ore 19.00 (45 minuti) - Ordine del giorno

  • Progetto e partecipanti
  • Assegnazione dei compiti
  • Studio di un marchio del Progetto e della task force (da usare nelle comunicazioni a terzi)
  • Organizzazione in un Wikimedia user group
  • Richiesta nostra collaborazione al Progetto nazionale Antisemitismo del Governo Italiano + aggiornamenti dopo l'incontro su "zoom" (durato 90 minuti) con la prof.ssa Milena Santerini e del suo assistente Giancarlo Gerli.
  • Pianificazione dell'incontro con la Santerini con tutta la task force, sarà collegato anche il proff. Marcello Pezzetti da Colonia....(prepariamoci - tutti - a presentarci con l'incarico che svolgiamo ː)).
  • Grant per il nostro progetto alla Foundation, studio e responsabile inoltro e pubblicazione
  • Donne e Shoah, come parte del progetto

Notaː Entro venerdi 5 marzo comunicheremo la piattaforma del raduno e come partecipare (con ulteriore ping)
[@ Camelia.boban], [@ Ettorre], [@ Amarvudol], [@ Bramfab], [@ Mattia Luigi Nappi], [@ Salvatore Talia], [@ Riottoso], [@ Gianfranco], [@ Fcarbonara]
Progetto:Persecuzioni, deportazioni e crimini del periodo nazi-fascista/Per bocca degli esecutori: I nazisti ammettono sterminio e camere a gas (incollatevi da qualche parte il link del Progetto)

Ricordo che ci vediamo on line, sabato 6 marzo, alle ore 19, su Google Meet a questo link https://meet.google.com/hjv-stde-pgx [@ Fcarbonara], [@ Camelia.boban], [@ Bramfab], [@ Gianfranco], [@ Mattia Luigi Nappi], [@ Salvatore Talia], [@ Riottoso], [@ Amarvudol], [@ Ettorre]. --Ettorre (msg) 19:57, 28 feb 2021 (CET)[rispondi]
II pro-memoria Ricordo che ci vediamo on line, stasera, sabato 6 marzo, alle ore 19, su Google Meet a questo link https://meet.google.com/hjv-stde-pgx [@ Fcarbonara], [@ Camelia.boban], [@ Bramfab], [@ Gianfranco], [@ Mattia Luigi Nappi], [@ Salvatore Talia], [@ Riottoso], [@ Amarvudol], [@ Ettorre]. --Ettorre (msg) 15:01, 6 mar 2021 (CET)[rispondi]

}}

"Discorsi d'odio online - Le risposte", webinar, 26 marzo 2021 dalle ore 16.00 alle 18,00

[Conferenze, webinar nazionali e internazionali in corso][modifica wikitesto]

* 22 luglio 2021 : Conferenza in collegamento con il Museo di Stato di Majdanek (Państwowe Muzeum na Majdanku) per celebrare il 77° anniversario della liquidazione del campo avvenuta il 22 luglio 1944 - La conferenza on-line si terrà alle ore 17.00 sulla pagina Facebook di PMM. (Dettagli: https://www.facebook.com/events/296444112265041) - Vedi qui

Il logo rappresenta due mani nude che spezzano i fili spinati di una ipotetica recinsione elettrificata di un campo nazista. Decisione e coraggio sono mostrate dall'evidenza che le mani non sanguinano


Raduno taskforce progetto Shoah Premessa

Questo secondo raduno che segue il primo, prevede di fare il punto sulla situazione del Progetto Shoah - Negazionismo (per abbreviare). Non solo per elencare i risultati fino ad ora raggiunti e già a nostra disposizione, fra i quali anche alcune importanti collaborazioni con altre realtà. Nel raduno saranno sviluppati e argomentati da tutti noi i punti importantissimi dell'ordine del giorno che oltre a dare lo start al lavoro di ricerca, si prefigge di costituire un usergrup (di cui alcuni di noi hanno valutato la fattibilità negli scorsi mesi) sul tema del nostro progetto (che abbiamo verificato) e dovrebbe essere l'unico dei circa 140 gruppi al mondo di Wikimedia ad affrontare un tema specifico e molto "verticale" come il nostroː Per bocca degli esecutori: I nazisti ammettono lo sterminio e le camere a gas. 

Tema
  • Costituzione dell'Usergroup, Loghi, Grant, Inizi lavori task force (come ci organizziamo)
Quando e Dove
Ci vediamo il 14 maggio ore 18,30 qui :https://meet.google.com/bwz-fqre-ibu [@ ettorre], [@ Actormusicus], [@ Borgil], [@ Fcarbonara], [@ Camelia.boban], [@ Salvatore Talia], [@ Luca Capuozzo], [@ Marco Fodde], [@ Bramfab], [@ Gianfranco], [@ Riottoso].--Ettorre (msg) 18:04, 10 mag 2021 (CEST)[rispondi]
  • Ordine del giorno

(registrare la sessione) I colleghi che vogliono proporre "aggiunte" a questo ordine del giorno possono accodarsi ai punti già esistenti mettendo al lato destro della pagine il loro user.

  • Per permettere di non far perdere tempo ai due traduttori su temi che non sono di loro pertinenza sarà illustrato a inizio riunione in cosa consiste il lavoro di traduzione (non è una traduzione di testi, ma la ricerca fra i testi di asserzioni che interessano il nostro progetto). Chiaro è che i traduttori tradurranno (o semplicemente leggeranno per conto loro i testi per trovare quelle evidenze). Chiederemo ai traduttori di proporci una loro offerta che sarà valutata poi da Bramfab. Dopo aver ragionato di questi aspetti i due traduttori potranno abbandonare la riunione.
  • 1) Nuovo Usergroup dedicato al nostro Progetto da proporre alla Foundation - (Camelia)
  • 2) Marchio dell'usergroup (ragioni per cui è stato scelto quello illustrato in qesta pagina) + Breve relazione sui risultati fino ad ora raggiunti (Fcarbonara)
  • 3) Come organizzare l'Usergroup e cosa scrivere alla Foundation - (Bramfab)
  • 4) Richiesta alla Foundation del Grant per il nostro Progetto, ora - (Camelia e Bramfab)
  • 5) Stabilire con "i ricercatori" e "operatori" la prossima riunione per la suddivisione del lavoro (Gregorio Bisso)
  • 6) Anticipazioni su "in cosa consiste il lavoro" di ricerca, di traduzione e di fotografia e come interagire senza sovrapposizioni - (Fcarbonara)
  • 7) Varie ed eventuali

Nota Beneǃː I colleghi iscritti nella lista dei partecipanti sono invitati vivamente a partecipare. Le assenze immotivate sia degli iscritti sia di coloro che hanno mostrato interesse e per qualche motivo [non giustificato] non parteciperanno alla riunione: 1. Il loro nome non sarà riportato nell'elenco dell'usergroup costituente comunicato alla Foundation 2. Depennato dall'elenco degli attuali partecipanti e sostituito da colleghi che, avendo le qualità per partecipare al lavoro della task force, saranno [in seguito] invitati a partecipare.

  • Partecipanti'
  1. --Ettorre (msg) 19:13, 28 apr 2021 (CEST)[rispondi]
  2. --Actormusicus (msg) 08:45, 29 apr 2021 (CEST)[rispondi]
  3. --Borgil el andaluz 10:41, 29 apr 2021 (CEST)[rispondi]
  4. --Fcarbonara (msg) 14:27, 29 apr 2021 (CEST)[rispondi]
  5. --Camelia (msg) 12:35, 30 apr 2021 (CEST)[rispondi]
  6. --Salvatore Talia (msg) 16:24, 3 mag 2021 (CEST)[rispondi]
  7. --Luca Capuozzo (msg) 19:34, 4 mag 2021 (CEST)[rispondi]
  8. --Marco Fodde (msg) 10:14, 5 mag 2021 (CEST)[rispondi]
  9. --Bramfab (msg) 15:46, 12 mag 2021 (CEST) (vaccino permettendo)[rispondi]

Locandine della TF relative a: Editathon, Conferenze ai webinar e Giorni della Memoria[modifica wikitesto]

  1. ^ Il testo inglese riporta "when they want to bring water", ma mi sembra evidente che si tratti di un errore per "when they went to bring water". (NdT)
Estratto da "https://it.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Progetto:Persecuzioni,_deportazioni_e_crimini_del_periodo_nazi-fascista/Per_bocca_degli_esecutori:_I_nazisti_ammettono_sterminio_e_camere_a_gas&oldid=139236451"