“Mobile Field Interrogation Unit No. 2PW INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN“No. 2/2019 December 1944“Address Briefs and Requests to HQ, FID, MIS, APO 887“EXTRACT“13.Concentration Camp, Buchenwald.“Preamble.The author of this account is PW Andreas Pfaffenberger, 1 Coy, 9 Landesschuetzen Bn. 43 years old and of limited education, he is a butcher by trade. The substantial agreement of the details of his story with those found in PWIS (H)/LF/736 establishes the validity of his testimony.“PW has not been questioned on statements which, in the light of what is known, are apparently erroneous in certain details, nor has any effort been made to alter the subjective character of PW’s account, which he wrote without being told anything of the intelligence already known. Results of interrogation on personalities at Buchenwald have already been published (PWIB No 2/12 Item 31).”* * * * * *“In 1939, all prisoners with tattooing on them were orderedto report to the dispensary. No one knew what the purpose was. But after the tattooed prisoners had been examined, the ones with the best and most artistic specimens were kept in the dispensary, and then killed by injections, administered by Karl Beigs, a criminal prisoner. The corpses were then turned over to the pathological department, where the desired pieces of tattooed skin were detached from the bodies and treated. The finished products were turned over to SS Standartenfuehrer Koch’s wife, who had them fashioned into lampshades and other ornamental household articles. I myself saw such tattooed skins with various designs and legends on them, such as “Hans’l und Gret’l”, which one prisoner had had on his knee, and ships from prisoners’ chests. This work was done by a prisoner named Wernerbach.” (3420-PS)
“Mobile Field Interrogation Unit No. 2
PW INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
“No. 2/20
19 December 1944
“Address Briefs and Requests to HQ, FID, MIS, APO 887
“EXTRACT
“13.Concentration Camp, Buchenwald.
“Preamble.The author of this account is PW Andreas Pfaffenberger, 1 Coy, 9 Landesschuetzen Bn. 43 years old and of limited education, he is a butcher by trade. The substantial agreement of the details of his story with those found in PWIS (H)/LF/736 establishes the validity of his testimony.
“PW has not been questioned on statements which, in the light of what is known, are apparently erroneous in certain details, nor has any effort been made to alter the subjective character of PW’s account, which he wrote without being told anything of the intelligence already known. Results of interrogation on personalities at Buchenwald have already been published (PWIB No 2/12 Item 31).”
* * * * * *
“In 1939, all prisoners with tattooing on them were orderedto report to the dispensary. No one knew what the purpose was. But after the tattooed prisoners had been examined, the ones with the best and most artistic specimens were kept in the dispensary, and then killed by injections, administered by Karl Beigs, a criminal prisoner. The corpses were then turned over to the pathological department, where the desired pieces of tattooed skin were detached from the bodies and treated. The finished products were turned over to SS Standartenfuehrer Koch’s wife, who had them fashioned into lampshades and other ornamental household articles. I myself saw such tattooed skins with various designs and legends on them, such as “Hans’l und Gret’l”, which one prisoner had had on his knee, and ships from prisoners’ chests. This work was done by a prisoner named Wernerbach.” (3420-PS)
The following certificate is also attached to the exhibit:
“I, George C. Demas, Lieut., USNR., associated with the United States Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, hereby certify that the attached exhibit, consisting of parchment, was delivered by the War Crimes Section, Judge Advocate General, U. S. Army, to me in my above capacity, in the usual course of official business, as an exhibit found in Buchenwald Camp and captured by military forces under the command of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces.” (3421-PS)
“I, George C. Demas, Lieut., USNR., associated with the United States Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, hereby certify that the attached exhibit, consisting of parchment, was delivered by the War Crimes Section, Judge Advocate General, U. S. Army, to me in my above capacity, in the usual course of official business, as an exhibit found in Buchenwald Camp and captured by military forces under the command of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces.” (3421-PS)
This is the conclusion reached in an official U. S. Army report attached to the exhibit:
“Based on the findings in paragraph 2, all three specimens are tattooed human skin”. (3423-PS)
“Based on the findings in paragraph 2, all three specimens are tattooed human skin”. (3423-PS)
One more example of this pathological phase of Nazi culture, another Nazi trophy, is a human head with the skull bone removed, shrunken, stuffed, and preserved. (This was offered by the prosecution as a physical exhibit.) This head probably belonged to a foreign worker, kidnapped by Sauckel to work in Speer’s armament industry. The Nazis had one of their many victims decapitated after having had him hanged for fraternizing with a German woman; they fashioned this ornament from his head. This represents the end product of the Nazi system, representing both the degradation of the Nazi “master” and the anguish of his victim. The official U. S. Army report attached to this exhibit deals with the manner in which this exhibit was acquired. It reads in part:
“There I also saw the shrunken heads of two young Poles who had been hanged for having relations with German girls.The heads were the size of a fist, and the hair and the marks of the rope were still there.” (3423-PS)
“There I also saw the shrunken heads of two young Poles who had been hanged for having relations with German girls.The heads were the size of a fist, and the hair and the marks of the rope were still there.” (3423-PS)
No accurate estimate of how many persons died in the concentration camps can be made. Although the Nazis were generally meticulous record keepers, the records they kept about concentration camps appear to have been incomplete.
Occasionally there is a death book, or a set of index cards, but for the most part, the victims apparently faded into an unrecorded death. The scale of the concentration camp operations is suggested by a set of seven books, the death ledger of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp (physically offered to the court). Each book bears on its cover “Totenbuch” or Death Book—Mauthausen. In these books were recorded the names of some of the inmates who died or were murdered in this camp. The books cover the period from January 1939 to April 1945. They give the name, place of birth, the assigned cause of death and time of death of each individual recorded. In addition each corpse is assigned a serial number. Addition of the serial numbers for the five-year period produces a total figure of 35,318.
Examination of the books reveals the camp’s routine of death. For example, pages 568 to 582 of Volume 5 cover death entries made for 19 March 1945 between fifteen minutes past one in the morning until 2 o’clock in the afternoon. In this space of 12¾ hours, 203 persons are reported as having died. They were assigned serial numbers running from 8390 to 8593. The names of the dead are listed. The victims are all recorded as having died of the same ailment—“heart trouble”. They died at brief intervals. They died in alphabetical order. The first who died was a man named Ackermann who died at one fifteen A.M. The last was a man named Zynger who died at 2 o’clock P.M.
At twenty minutes past two o’clock on the afternoon of the same day, 19 March 1945, the fatal roll call began again, and continued until half past four o’clock. In a space of two hours, 75 more persons died. Once again they died from heart failure and in alphabetical order. The entries are recorded in the same volume, from pages 582 through 586.
Another death book was found at Camp Mauthausen. This is a single volume, which has on its cover the words—“Death Book—Prisoners of War”. Pages 234 through 246 contain entries recording the names of 208 prisoners of war, apparently Russians, who at 15 minutes past midnight on the 10th day of May 1942,were executed at the same time. The book notes that the execution was directed by the Chief of the SD and the SIPO (Heydrich).
It is common knowledge that the anguish of the concentration camp was spread, not only over the Continent of Europe, but over all the world. Even today all over the world people are still seeking word of their friends and relatives who vanished into the Nazi concentration camps and left no trace behind. This fact is emphasized by the 23 November 1945 issue of the weekly newspaper, “Aufbau”, published in the German language in New York City. On the back pages—8, 9, 10, and 11—are published both notices requesting information about friends and relatives, and notices announcing the deaths of persons who were last heard of in a Nazi concentration camp. The personal tragedies, which these notices represent, multiplied an incalculable number of times, is part of the legacy which the Nazi conspirators have left to the world.
Chapter XIITHE PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS
It had long been a German theory that the First World War ended in Germany’s defeat because of a collapse behind the lines. In planning for future wars it was determined that the home front must be secured to prevent a repetition of this 1918 debacle. Unification of the German people was essential to successful planning and waging of war. Hence, the Nazi political goal must be sought:—“One race, one State, one Fuehrer.” Free trade unions must be abolished, political parties (other than the NSDAP) must be outlawed, civil liberties must be suspended, and opposition of every kind must be swept away. Loyalty to God, church, and scientific truth was declared to be incompatible with the Nazi regime.
The anti-Jewish policy was part of this plan for unification because it was the conviction of the Nazis that the Jews would not contribute to Germany’s military program, but on the contrary would hamper it. The Jew must therefore be eliminated. This view is clearly borne out by a statement contained in a speech of Himmler’s at a meeting of SS Major Generals on 4 October 1943:
“We know how difficult we should have made it for ourselves if with the bombing raids, the burdens and deprivations of war, we still had the Jews today in every town as secret saboteurs, agitators, and trouble-mongers; we would now probably have reached the 1916-17 stage when the Jews were still in the German national body.” (1919-PS)
“We know how difficult we should have made it for ourselves if with the bombing raids, the burdens and deprivations of war, we still had the Jews today in every town as secret saboteurs, agitators, and trouble-mongers; we would now probably have reached the 1916-17 stage when the Jews were still in the German national body.” (1919-PS)
The treatment of the Jews within Germany was as much a part of the Nazi plan for aggressive war as was the building of armaments and the conscription of manpower.
The objective of the elimination and extermination of the Jews, could not be accomplished without certain preliminary measures. One of these was the indoctrination of the German people with hatred against the Jews.
The first evidence of the Party policies in this direction was expressed in the Party program of February 1920 (1708-PS). Paragraphs (4) and (6) of that program declared:
“* * * Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood without consideration of confession.”* * * * * *“* * * The right to determine matters concerning administration and law belongs only to the citizen; therefore, we demand that every public office of any sort whatsoever, whether in the Reich, the county or municipality, be filled only by citizens.” (1708-PS)
“* * * Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood without consideration of confession.”
* * * * * *
“* * * The right to determine matters concerning administration and law belongs only to the citizen; therefore, we demand that every public office of any sort whatsoever, whether in the Reich, the county or municipality, be filled only by citizens.” (1708-PS)
Hitler, at page 724 and 725 ofMein Kampf, spoke of the Jew. If the National Socialist movement was to fulfill its task, he declared:
“It must open the eyes of the people with regard to foreign nations and must remind them again and again of the true enemy of our present day world. In the place of hate against Aryans—from whom we may be separated by almost everything, to whom, however, we are tied by common blood or the great tide of a common culture—it must dedicate to the general anger the evil enemy of mankind as the true cause of all suffering.“It must see to it, however, that at least in our country he be recognized as the most mortal enemy and that the struggle against him may show, like a flaming beacon of a better era, to other nations too, the road to salvation for a struggling Aryan mankind.” (2662-PS)
“It must open the eyes of the people with regard to foreign nations and must remind them again and again of the true enemy of our present day world. In the place of hate against Aryans—from whom we may be separated by almost everything, to whom, however, we are tied by common blood or the great tide of a common culture—it must dedicate to the general anger the evil enemy of mankind as the true cause of all suffering.
“It must see to it, however, that at least in our country he be recognized as the most mortal enemy and that the struggle against him may show, like a flaming beacon of a better era, to other nations too, the road to salvation for a struggling Aryan mankind.” (2662-PS)
A flood of abusive literature of all types and for all age groups was published and circulated throughout Germany. Illustrative of this type of publication is the bookDer Giftpilz. (1778-PS). This book brands the Jew as a persecutor of the labor class, a race defiler, a devil in human form, a poisonous mushroom, and a murderer. This particular book was used to instruct school children to recognize the Jew by caricatures of his physical features, (pages 6 and 7); and to teach them that the Jew abuses little boys and girls, (page 30), and that the Jewish Bible permits all crimes (pages 13-17). Streicher’s periodical,Der Stuermer, (issue no. 14 for April 1937) in particular, went to such extremes as to publish the statement that Jews at the ritual celebration of their Passover slaughtered Christians:
“The numerous confessions made by the Jews show that the execution of ritual murders is a law to the Talmud Jew. The former chief rabbi, and later monk, Teofite, declared that the ritual murders take place especially on the Jewish Purim in memory of the Persian murders, and Passover in memory of the murder of Christ. The instructions are as follows:“The blood of the victims is to be tapped by force. On Passover it is to be used in wine and matzos. Thus, a small part of the blood is to be poured into the dough of the matzosand into the wine. The mixing is done by the Jewish head of the family. The procedure is as follows:“The family head empties a few drops of the fresh and powdered blood into the glass, wets the fingers of the left hand with it and sprays, blesses, with it everything on the table. The head of the family then says, ‘Thus we ask God to send the ten plagues to all enemies of the Jewish faith.’ Then they eat, and at the end the head of the family exclaims, ‘May all Gentiles perish, as the child whose blood is contained in the bread and wine.’“The fresh, or dried and powdered blood of the slaughtered is further used by young married Jewish couples, by pregnant Jewesses, for circumcision and so on. Ritual murder is recognized by all Talmud Jews. The Jew believes he absolves himself thus of his sins.” (2699-PS)
“The numerous confessions made by the Jews show that the execution of ritual murders is a law to the Talmud Jew. The former chief rabbi, and later monk, Teofite, declared that the ritual murders take place especially on the Jewish Purim in memory of the Persian murders, and Passover in memory of the murder of Christ. The instructions are as follows:
“The blood of the victims is to be tapped by force. On Passover it is to be used in wine and matzos. Thus, a small part of the blood is to be poured into the dough of the matzosand into the wine. The mixing is done by the Jewish head of the family. The procedure is as follows:
“The family head empties a few drops of the fresh and powdered blood into the glass, wets the fingers of the left hand with it and sprays, blesses, with it everything on the table. The head of the family then says, ‘Thus we ask God to send the ten plagues to all enemies of the Jewish faith.’ Then they eat, and at the end the head of the family exclaims, ‘May all Gentiles perish, as the child whose blood is contained in the bread and wine.’
“The fresh, or dried and powdered blood of the slaughtered is further used by young married Jewish couples, by pregnant Jewesses, for circumcision and so on. Ritual murder is recognized by all Talmud Jews. The Jew believes he absolves himself thus of his sins.” (2699-PS)
The Jew-baiting publication,Der Stuermer, was published by Streicher’s publishing firm (2697-PS). In one issue of this periodical, Streicher, speaking of the Jewish faith, said: