- Headline
-
The Inside Story of Mass Murdering By Nazis
- Sub-Headline
- Escapees give detailed accounts of the gassing and cremating of 1,765,000 Jews at Birkenau
- Publication Date
- Sunday, November 26, 1944
- Historical Event
-
First Public Reports on ‘Extermination Camp’ at Auschwitz
This database includes 694 articles about this event - Article Type
- Newspaper
- Location
- Page Section and Number
- 1C
- Author/Byline
- From an Official Publication of the War Refugee Board
- Article Text
- THERE is no longer any need to speculate on the mass murdering of millions of civilians—Jews and Christians—both by the Nazis. The United States Government has received first-hand information from eyewitnesses that the campaign of bestial terror, which is unprecedented in all history, and even now continues unabated, is part of the Hun plan to subjugate the free peoples of the world.
So revolting and diabolical were the German atrocities which were uncovered at Lublin that the minds of civilized people found it difficult to believe that they could have been perpetrated in the 20th Century. However, the War Refugee Board, which is engaged in a desperate effort to save as many as possible of Hitler's intended victims, today is making public two documents—the first based on the experiences of two young Slovakian Jews who escaped in April, 1944, after spending two years in Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Southwestern Poland, and the second offered by a non-Jewish Polish major, the only survivor of one group imprisoned at Auschwitz.
Accounts Coincide
The two accounts were prepared independently, and they coincide so exactly with each other, and with the trustworthy yet fragmentary reports hitherto received, that the board feels their publication will present a true picture of the frightful happenings in these camps, one which should be understood by all Americans.
Without embellishments, the eyewitness reports make it clear that the countless deaths at the camps ran the gamut of typhus epidemics, extreme exposure, utter exhaustion, barbaric beatings and wholesale shootings to the technique of mass passings followed by cremation. Cremation became necessary when great areas had become altogether too marshy and stench-laden from superficial burials.
The total number of deaths resulting from the first five causes can scarcely be guessed at. But an approximation of the number of Jews gassed and cremated between April, 1942, and April, 1944, at Birkenau alone, runs to 1,765,000. This appalling figure may be broken down into countries of origin as follows:
Approximately
Poland (transported by truck) _ _ 300,000
Poland (transported by tram) _ _ 600,000
Holland _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 100,000
Greece _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 45,000
France _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 150,000
Belgium _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 50,000
Germany_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 60,000
Yugoslavia, Italy and Norway _ _ 50,000
Lithuania _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 50,000
Bohemia, Moravia and Austria_ _ 30,000
Czechoslovakia _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 30,000
Various camps for foreign Jews in
Poland _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 300,000
Total _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _1,765,000
When huge convoys of prisoners were received, the witnesses said, it was the practice to select approximately 10 per cent of the strongest men and 5 per cent of the women—these to be driven as slave labor in near-by war industries until their natural stamina, pitifully replenished with thin
Image
High-voltage wires surrounded the death camp at Lublin, as they do at Birkenau. Escape was all but impossible thanks to sentries. Many a girl flung herself into the deadly wires rather than face further brutalities.
turnip soup, withered. Then they were exterminated; for fresh supplies of human fodder were arriving regularly. All the others went directly to the gas chambers and the ovens, although in the case of children and "dying adults," the bother of gassing was occasionally dispensed with—nothing was allowed to slow down the day-and-night operation of the human disposal plants. The Nazis wanted to exterminate their prisoners, and they needed their ashes for fertilizer.
Human Guinea Pigs
Despite this urgency, Birkenau maintained a "Hygienic Institute" where ghoulish Hun medicos used countless prisoners as screaming guinea pigs in surgical experiments in an isolated and carefully walled building. This bottleneck was not without its compensation, however, for deaths here saved space in the gas chambers, where only 2,000 unfortunates could be crowded at one time.
The first and more detailed document is a combination of two reports, the first by a young Jew who, on April 13, 1942, was sent from the assembly camp of Sered directly to Auschwitz, and then to Birkenau. It follows, in part:
"On the 13th of April, 1942, our group, consisting of 1,000 men, was loaded into railroad cars at the assembly camp of Sered. The doors were shut so that nothing would reveal the direction of the journey, and when they were opened after a long while we realized that we had crossed the Slovak frontier and were in Zwardon. The train had until then been guarded by Hlinka men, but was now taken over by S.S. guards. After a few of the cars had been uncoupled from our convoy, we continued on our way, arriving at night at Auschwitz, where we stopped on a sidetrack. The reason the other cars were left behind was apparently the lack of room at Auschwitz. They joined us, however, a few days later. Upon arrival we were placed in rows of five and counted. There were 643 of us. After a walk of about 20 minutes with our heavy packs (we had left Slovakia well equipped), we reached the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
"We were at once led into a huge barrack where on the one side we had to deposit all our luggage and on the other side completely undress, leaving our clothes and valuables behind. Naked, we then proceeded to an adjoining barrack where our heads and bodies were shaved and disinfected with Lysol. At the exit every man was given a number which began with 28,600 in consecutive order. With this number in hand we were then herded to a third barrack where so-called registration took place. This consisted of tattooing the numbers we had received in the second barrack on the left side of our chests. The extreme brutality with which this was effected made many of us faint. The particulars of our identity were also recorded. Then we were led in groups of a hundred into a cellar, and later to a barrack where we were issued striped prisoners' clothes and wooden clogs. This lasted until 10 a.m. In the afternoon our prisoners' outfits were taken away from us again and replaced by the ragged and dirty remains of Russian uniforms. Thus equipped we were marched off to Birkenau.
Controls Other Camps
"Auschwitz is a concentration camp for political prisoners under so-called 'protective custody.' At the time of my arrival, that is in April of 1942, there were about 15,000 prisoners in the camp, the majority of whom were Poles, Germans and civilian Russians under protective custody. A small number of prisoners came under the categories of criminals and 'work-shirkers.'
"Auschwitz camp headquarters controls at the same time the work-camp of Birkenau as well as the farm labor camp of Harmense. All the prisoners arrive first at Auschwitz, where they are provided with prisoners immatriculation numbers and then are either kept there, sent to Birkenau or, in very small numbers, to Harmense.
"All prisoners, irrespective of category or, nationality, are treated the same. However, to facilitate identification, they are distinguished by various-colored triangles sewed on the clothing on the left breast under the immatriculation number. The first letter indicates the nationality of the prisoner. This letter (for instance 'P for Poles) appears in the middle of the triangle. The colored triangles have the following meaning:
"Red triangle, political prisoners under protective custody; green triangle, professional criminals; black, 'dodgers' (labor slackers), 'anti-socials' (mostly Russians); pink, homosexuals; violet, members of the religious sect of 'Bibelforscher.'
"The Jewish prisoners differ from the Aryan prisoners in that their triangle (which in the majority of cases is red) is turned into a David's star by adding yellow points.
"Within the enclosure of the camp of Auschwitz there are several factories: a war production plant, Deutscher Aufrustungswerk (DAW), a factory belonging to the Krupp works and one to the Siemens concern. Outside the boundary of the camp is a tremendous plant covering several square kilometers named Buna. The prisoners work in all the aforementioned factories.
"The prisoners' actual living quarters, if such a term may at all be used, inside the camp proper cover an area of approximately 500 by 300 meters surrounded by a double row of concrete posts about three meters high which are connected (both inside and outside) with one another by a dense netting of high-tension wires fixed into the posts by insulators. Between these two rows of posts, at intervals of 150 meters, there are five-meters-high watchtowers, equipped with machine guns and searchlights. In front of the inner high-tension circle there is further an ordinary wire fence. Merely touching this fence is answered by a stream of bullets from the watchtowers. Over the entrance gate, which is of course always heavily guarded, stands the ironic inscription: 'Work brings freedom.'
Escape Practically impossible
"At a radius of some 2,000 meters the whole camp is encircled by a second line called 'the big or outer chain of sentry posts,' also with watchtowers every 150 meters. Between the inner and outer chain of sentry posts are the factories and other workshops. The towers of the inner chain are only manned at night when the high-tension current is switched into the double row of wires. Escape through these sentry posts and many attempts have been made is practically impossible. Getting through the inner circle of posts at night is completely impossible, and the towers of the outer chain are so close to one another (one every 150 meters, i.e. giving each tower a sector with a 75-meter radius to watch) that approaching unnoticed is out of the question. The guards shoot without warning.
"If the escapee is caught alive, he is hanged in the presence of the whole camp; but if he is found dead, his body—wherever it may have been located—is brought back to camp (it is easy to identify the corpse by means of the tattooed number) and seated at the entrance gate, a small notice clasped in his hands, reading: 'Here I am.' During our two years' imprisonment many attempts to escape were made by prisoners but, with the exception of two or three, all were brought back dead or alive. . . . It can, however, be asserted that among the Jews who were deported from Slovakia to Auschwitz or Birkenau, we are the only two who were lucky enough to save ourselves. . . .
There's No Such Place
"Actually there is no such district as Birkenau. Even the word Birkenau is new in that it has been adopted from the nearby Birch Forest (Brezinsky). The district now called Birkenau was, and is still, called Rajska by the local, population. The existing camp center of Birkenau lies four kilometers distant from Auschwitz. . . . We never found anything out about New-Berun, probably about 30 to 40 kilometers away which, oddly enough, we had to indicate as postal district for Birkenau.
"At the time of our arrival in Birkenau we found there only one huge kitchen for 15,000 people, and three stone buildings, two of which were completed and one under construction. The buildings were surrounded by an ordinary barbed wire fence. The prisoners were housed in these buildings and in others later constructed. All are built according to a standard model. Each house is about 30 meters long and 8 to 10 meters wide. Whereas the height of the walls hardly exceeds two meters, the roof is disproportionately high—about five meters—so that the house gives the impression of a stable surmounted by a large hayloft. . . . The room is divided in two by a partition running its whole length down the middle and fitted with an opening. . . . Along both side walls, as well as along the middle partition, two parallel floors, some 80 centimeters apart, have been built which are in turn divided into small cells by vertical partitions. Thus there are three floors: the ground floor and the two built in the side walls. Normally three people live in each cubicle. As can be judged from the dimensions indicated, these cubicles are too narrow for a man to lie stretched out and not high enough for him to sit upright.
"There is no question of having enough space to stand upright. In this way some 400 to 500 people are accommodated in one house or 'block' as they are also called.
"The buildings we found on our arrival had been erected by 12,000 Russian prisoners of war brought there in December, 1941. In severe winter weather they had to work under inhuman conditions as a result of which most of them, with the exception of a small number employed in the kitchen, died of exposure. We found what remained of the Russians in a terrible state of destitution and neglect living in the unfinished building without the slightest protection against cold or rain. They died en masse. Hundreds and thousands of their bodies were buried superficially, spreading a stench of pestilence. Later we had to exhume and burn the corpses.
What They Ate
"After three days I was ordered, together with 200 other Slovak Jews, to work in the German armament factories at Auschwitz, but we continued to be housed in Birkenau. We left early in the morning returning at night and worked in the carpentry shop as
Image
Grim-faced Poles inspect the cremating ovens of a large furnace at Lublin, which could not be destroyed by the Nazis before the vengeful Reds surged into the city. The ashes of the victims were used for fertilizer.
well as on road construction. Our food consisted of one liter of turnip soup at midday and 300 grams of bad bread in the evening. Working conditions were inconceivably hard, so that the majority of us, weakened by starvation and the inedible food, could not stand it. The mortality was so high that every day our group of 200 had 30 to 35 dead. Many were simply beaten to death by the overseers—the 'Capos'—during work, without the slightest provocation. The gaps in our ranks caused by these deaths were replaced daily by prisoners from Birkenau.
"Our return at night was extremely painful and dangerous, as we had to drag along over a distance of five kilometers our tools, firewood, heavy caldrons, and the bodies of those who had died or had been killed during the working day. With these heavy loads we were forced to maintain a brisk pace, and anyone incurring the displeasure of one of the Capos was cruelly knocked down, if not beaten to death. Until the arrival of the second group of Slovak men some fourteen days later, our original number had dwindled to 150. At night we were counted, the bodies of the dead were piled up on flat, narrow-gauge cars or in a truck and brought to the Birch Forest, where they were burned in a trench several meters deep and about 15 meters long.
Crematoria Take Over
"Shortly thereafter a so-called sick-building (Krankenbau) was set up. It was destined to become the much dreaded 'Block 7 where at first I was chief attendant and later administrator. The chief of this infirmary was a Pole. Actually this building was nothing else than an assembly center for death candidates. All prisoners incapable of working were sent there. There was no question of any medical attention or care. We had some 150 dead daily and their bodies were sent for cremation to Auschwitz.
"At the same time the so-called 'selec
Image
Rough ground plan of one of the larger crematoriums at Birkenau shows the large hall (B), in which 2,000 victims at a time are disrobed before being herded into the gas chamber (C). The bodies are later carted to the furnace room (A), with capacity of 108 normal corpses every 90 minutes.
tions were introduced. Twice weekly, Mondays and Thursdays, the camp doctor indicated the number of prisoners who were to be gassed and then burned. These 'selectees' were loaded into trucks and brought to the Birch Forest. Those still alive upon arrival were gassed in a big barrack erected near the trench used for burning the bodies. The weekly draft in dead from Block 7 was about 2,000, of whom 1,200 died of 'natural death' and about 800 through selection. . . .
"At the end of February, 1943, a new modern crematorium and gassing plant was inaugurated at Birkenau. The gassing and burning of the bodies in the Birch Forest was discontinued, the whole job being taken over by the four specially built crematoria. The large ditch was filled in, the ground leveled, and the ashes used as before for fertilizer at the farm labor camp of Hermense, so that today it is almost impossible to find traces of the dreadful mass murder which took place here.
"At present there are four crematoria in operation at Birkenau, two large ones, I and II, and two smaller ones, III and IV. Those of type I and II consist of three parts, i.e.: (A) the furnace room; (B) the large hall, and (C) the gas chamber. A huge chimney rises from the furnace room around which are grouped nine furnaces, each having four openings. Each opening can take three normal corpses at once, and after an hour and a half the bodies are completely burned. This corresponds to a daily capacity of about 2,000 bodies. Next to this is a large 'reception hall,' which is arranged so as to give the impression of the antechamber of a bathing establishment. It holds 2,000 people and apparently there is a similar waiting room on the floor below. From there a door and a few steps lead down into the very long and narrow gas chamber. The walls of this chamber are also camouflaged with simulated entries to shower rooms in order to mislead the victims. The roof is fitted with three traps which can be hermetically closed from the outside. A track leads from the gas chamber toward the furnace room.
3 Minutes—Then Death
"The gassing takes place as follows: The unfortunate victims are brought into hall (B) where they are told to undress. To complete the fiction that they are going to bathe, each person receives a towel and a small piece of soap issued by two men clad in white coats. Then they are crowded into the gas chamber (C) in such numbers that there is, of course, only standing room. When everybody is inside, the heavy doors are closed. Then there is a short pause, presumably to allow the room temperature to rise to a certain level, after which S.S. men with gas masks climb on the roof, open the traps, and shake down a preparation in powder form out of tine cans labeled cyanide, a mixture of some sort which turns into gas at a certain temperature.
"After three minutes everyone in the chamber is dead. No one is known to have survived this ordeal, although it was not uncommon to discover signs of life after the primitive measures employed in the Birch Wood. The chamber is then opened, aired, and the special squad carts the bodies on flat trucks to the furnace rooms where the burning takes place. Crematoria III and IV work on nearly the same principle, but their capacity is only half as large. Thus the total capacity of the four cremating and gassing plants at Birkenau amounts to about 6,000 daily.
"On principle, only Jews are gassed; Aryans very seldom, as they are usually given special treatment by shooting. Before the crematoria were put into service, the shooting took place in the Birch Wood and the bodies were burned in the long trench; later, however, executions took place in the large hall of one of the crematoria, which has been provided with a special installation for this purpose.
"Prominent guests from Berlin were present at the inauguration of the first crematorium in March, 1943. The program consisted of the gassing and burning of 8,000 Cracow Jews. The guests, both officers and civilians, were extremely satisfied with the results and the special peephole fitted into the door of the gas chamber was in constant use. They were lavish in their praise of this newly erected installation."
The second part of the first document is a report by a Jew who was sent from the camp at Novaky to Lublin on June 14, 1942; and, after a short stay there he was transferred to Auschwitz, and later to Birkenau. With some deletions, he says:
"On June 14, 1942, we left Novaky, passed through Zilina and arrived at Zwardon toward 5 o'clock in the evening. We were assembled, counted, and S.S. men took over our convoy. One of these guards voiced his surprise at the fact we had made the journey without water by shouting: 'These Slovak barbarians, give them no water!' The journey continued and we reached Lublin two days later. Here the following order was issued: 'Those fit for work aged between 15 and 50 are to leave the cars. Children and old people remain.' We struggled out of the freight car and discovered that the station was surrounded by Lithuanians in S.S. uniforms, all armed with automatic pistols. The cars containing the children and old people were immediately closed and the train moved on. We do not know where they went and what happened to them. . . .
A Rabbi's Fate
"Behind the town stood a clothing factory called the Bekleidungswerke. In the courtyard waiting for their noon meal some 1,000 prisoners in dirty striped clothing, obviously Jews, were lined up and the sight of them was none too encouraging. Arriving on a small hill we suddenly sighted the vast barrack camp of Majdanek surrounded by a three-meter-high barbed wire fence. . . .
"I was assigned to 'Working Section No. 2, as the whole camp was divided into three such sections separated by wire fences. . . . For two full days we were taught how to remove and put on our caps when we met a German. Then in the pouring rain we practiced roll calling for hours. . . .
"A tragic end befell Rabbi Eckstein from Sered, who was suffering from dysentery and once came a few minutes too late for the roll call. The group leader had him seized and dipped head first into one of the latrines, then poured cold water over him drew his revolver and shot him.
"The crematorium was located between Working Sections I and II, and all the bodies were burned there. With an effective strength of 6,000 to 8.000 men per working section, the mortality was about 30 a day. This figure later increased five and sixfold. This crematorium was electrically heated and the attendants were Russians.
"Illnesses increased as a result of the bad food and intolerable living conditions. Serious stomach troubles and a seemingly incurable foot disease spread throughout the camp. The feet of the victims swelled up to the point where they could not walk. More and more of the sick were now being taken to the crematorium, and when on June 26, 1942, the number thus treated rose to 70,' I decided to take an opportunity which was offered to me and applied for a transfer to Auschwitz.
"After a journey of 48 hours, during which we were cooped up in freight cars without food or water, we arrived at Auschwitz half dead. At the entrance gate the huge poster, 'Work brings freedom,' greeted us. As the courtyard was clean and well kept, and the brick buildings made a good impression after the dirty and primitive barracks of Lublin, we thought that the change was for the best.
"We were billeted in Block 17 and slept on the floor. . . . We worked in the huge Buna plant, to which we were herded every day about 3 a.m. At midday our food consisted of potato or turnip soup, and in the evening we received some bread. During work we were terribly mistreated. As our working place was situated outside the large chain of sentry posts, it was divided into small sectors of 10x10 meters, each guarded by an SS man. Whoever stepped outside these squares during working hours was immediately shot without warning for having 'attempted to escape.' Often it happened that out of pure spite an SS man would order a prisoner to fetch some given object outside his square. If he followed the order, he was shot for having left his assigned place. The work was extremely hard and there were no rest periods. The way to and from work had to be covered at a brisk military trot; anyone falling out of line was shot. . . .
'Work Brings Freedom'
"Afer a number of weeks of painful work at the Buna plant a terrible typhus epidemic broke out. The weaker prisoners died in hundreds. An immediate quarantine was ordered and work at the Buna stopped. Those still alive were sent, at the end of July, 1942, to the gravel pit, but there work was even still more strenuous. We were in such a state of weakness that, even in trying to do our best, we could not satisfy the overseers. Most of us got swollen feet. Due to our inability to perform the heavy work demanded of us our squad was accused of being lazy and disorderly. Soon after a medical commission inspected all of us; they carried out their job very thoroughly. Anyone with swollen feet or particularly weak was separated from the rest. Although I was in great pain. I controlled myself and stood erect in front of the commission, who passed me as physically fit. Out of 300 persons examined, 200 were found to be unfit and immediately sent to Birkenau and gassed.
"I was then detailed for work at the DAW (Deutsche Aufrustungswerke), where we had to paint skis. The prescribed minimum to be painted each day was 120. Anyone unable to paint this many was thoroughly flogged in the evening. . . . Another group was employed at making cases for hand grenades. At one time 15,000 had been completed, but it was found that they were a few centimeters too small. As punishment several Jews were shot for sabotage. By chance I learned that there was an opening in the 'clearance squad' and I handed in my application. I was detailed to this task. This squad consisted of about a hundred Jewish prisoners. We were sent to a far corner of the camp, away from all our comrades. Here we found huge sheds full of knapsacks, suitcases and other luggage. We had to open each piece of baggage and sort the contents into large cases specially prepared for each category of goods, i.e. combs, mirrors, sugar, canned food, chocolate, medicines, etc. The cases were then stored away. Underwear, shirts and clothes of all kinds went to a special barrack, where they were sorted out and packed by Jewish girls. Old and worn clothes were addressed to the Textile Factory at Memel, whereas the usable garments were dispatched to a collecting center in Berlin. Gold, money, bank notes and precious stones had to be handed over to the political section.
Girls Treated Terribly
"Every day the girls who came to their work from Birkenau described to us the terrible conditions prevailing there. They were beaten and brutalized and their mortality was much higher, than among the men. Twice a week 'selections' took place, and every day new girls replaced those who had disappeared.
"During a night shift I was able to witness for the first time how incoming convoys were handled. The transport I saw contained Polish Jews. They had received no water for days, and when the doors of the freight cars were open we were ordered to chase them out with loud shouts. They were utterly exhausted and about a hundred of them had died during the journey. The living were lined up in rows of five. Our job was to remove the dead, dying, and the luggage from the cars. The dead, and this included anyone unable to stand on his feet, were piled in a heap.
Luggage and parcels were collected and stacked up. Then the railroad cars had to be thoroughly cleaned so that no trace of their frightful load was left behind. A commission from the political department proceeded with the 'selection' of approximately 10 per cent of the men and 5 per cent of the women and had them transferred to the camps. The remainder were loaded on trucks, sent to Birkenau, and gassed, while the dead and dying were taken directly to the furnaces. It often happened that small children were thrown alive into the trucks along with the dead.
"Between July and September, 1942, a typhus epidemic had raged in Auschwitz, especially in the women's camp of Birkenau. None of the sick received medical attention, and in the first stages of the epidemic a great many were killed by phenol injections, and later on others were gassed wholesale. Some 15,000 to 20,000, mostly Jews, died during these two months. The girls' camp suffered the most, as it was not fitted with sanitary installations, and the poor wretches were covered with lice. Every week large 'selections' took place and the girls had to present themselves naked to the selection committee, regardless of weather conditions. They waited in deadly fear whether they would be chosen or given another week's grace. Suicides were frequent and were mostly committed by throwing one's self against the high-tension wires of the inner fence. This went on until they had dwindled to 5 per cent of their original number.
Managed to Escape
"l was not to hold this comparatively good job with the clearance squad for long. Shortly afterwards I was transferred to Birkenau on disciplinary grounds and remained there over a year and a half. On April 7, 1944, I managed to escape with my companion."
The document is amplified and brought further up to date with the following extracts from statements by two other Jewish escapees:
"On May 15, 1944, mass transports from Hungary began to arrive in Birkenau. Some 14,000 to 15,000 Jews arrived daily. The spur railroad track which ran into the camp to the crematoria was completed in great haste, the crews working night and day, so that the transports could be brought directly to the crematoria. Only about 10 per cent of these transports were admitted to the camp; the balance were immediately gassed and burned. Never had so many Jews been gassed since the establishment of Birkenau. The 'special commando' had to be increased to 600 men and, after two or three days, to 800 (people being recruited from among the Hungarian Jews who had arrived first). The size of the 'clearing commando' was stepped up from 150 to 700 men. Three crematoria worked day and night (the fourth was being repaired at that time) and, since the capacity of the crematoria was not enough, great pits 30 meters long and 15 meters wide were once more dug in the Birkenwald (as in the time before the crematoria) where corpses were burned day and night. Thus the exterminating capacity became almost unlimited . . .
"One other happening should not be forgotten which was told to us by the men of the special commando. In the late summer of 1943 a commission of four Dutch Jews—distinguished-looking men—came to Auschwitz. Their visit had already apparently been announced to the camp commander, forthe Dutch Jews in Auschwitz received better clothes, as well as regular eating equipment (plates, spoons, etc.) and better food. The commission of four were very politely received and were shown over the camp buildings and particularly those portions which were clean and made a good impression. Dutch Jews from the camp were brought to them, who reported that only a portion of the Dutch Jews were in this camp, the others being in other similar camps. In this manner the four men were satisfied and signed a statement according to which the commission had found everything in good order in Auschwitz.
"After the signing, the four Dutch Jews expressed a desire to see the camp of Birkenau and particularly the crematoria, about which they had heard some stories. The camp authorities declared themselves quite willing to show them both Birkenau and the crematoria, the latter being used, they said, to cremate those who died in the camp. The commission was then taken to Birkenau, accompanied by the camp leader, Aumayer, and immediately to Crematorium No. 1. Here they were shot from behind. A telegram was supposedly sent to Holland reporting that after leaving Auschwitz the four men had been victims of an unfortunate automobile accident."
Statement Corroborated
The second document, by a non-Jewish Polish major, closely parallels the first document in all important particulars, and its value, since it was independently prepared, lies in its full corroboration of the first. There is, therefore, no point in reproducing it. Some excerpts, however, may help to round out the picture:
The major reports that, during severe winter weather, an escape from Birkenau was announced at roll call, "and the prisoners were forced to stand out of doors from 3:30 in the afternoon until 11 o'clock the next morning, as a result of which a hundred totally or half-frozen men were counted."
With regard to the "Hygiene Institute at Birkenau, he says that "here, sterilizing by X-ray treatment, artificial insemination of women, as well as experiments on blood transfusions were carried on" in a block "completely isolated from the rest of the camp."
He adds that at a time when the gassing procedure outdistanced the cremating or burying facilities, "an alternative was to gather the remains of the unfortunate victims into heaps, pour gasoline over them, and leave it to the flames to finish the tragedy. The immense amount of human ashes thus collected was carted away in every direction to be scattered over the fields where these martyrs found their last rest." - History Unfolded Contributor
- Randall S.
- Location of Research
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Learn More about this Historical Event: First Public Reports on ‘Extermination Camp’ at Auschwitz
- Auschwitz (Encyclopedia Article)
- Auschwitz: Chronology (Encyclopedia Article)
- Auschwitz Report (Timeline of Events)
Bibliography
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Dlugoborski, Waclaw, et al. Auschwitz, 1940–1945: Central Issues in the History of the Camp. Oswiecim: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 2000.
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Neufeld, Michael J., and Michael Berenbaum, editors. The Bombing of Auschwitz: Should the Allies Have Attempted It? New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
Rees, Laurence. Auschwitz: A New History. New York: Public Affairs, 2005.
Swiebocka, Teresa, ed. Auschwitz: A History in Photographs. Bloomington: Indiana University Press; Warsaw: Ksiazka i Wiedza, 1993.
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