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Archive/File: camps/aktion.reinhard/treblinka yeger.002
Last-Modified: 1994/08/10

EXCERPT from Stenographic Report of Interrogation of defendant YEGER',
A.I., dated April 2, 1948.

Junior Lieutenant POPOV, an investigator of the Investigation
Department of the Ministry of State Security of the Ukraine, Molotov
Region, interrogated as defendant -

      YEGER', Aleksandr Ivanovich, born in 1918, native of the village
      of Sbrodovka, Tatishchev district, Saratov Region, a German,
      citizen of the USSR.

...From August to September 1942 I served as platoon commander in a
company of guards in the Treblinka death camp.

Question: What was the purpose of the Treblinka death camp?

Answer: The Treblinka death camp was created by the Germans for the
mass extermination of citizens of Jewish nationality, brought to this
camp from all countries of Europe occupied by Fascist troops. Trains
arrived every day from this camp, bringing in citizens of Jewish
nationality from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, France,
Italy, German itself and other countries in Europe under temporary
occupation by German troops.

Question: Where was the Treblinka camp located?

Answer: The Treblinka death camp was located about 500 meters from the
Malkinia-Kosow highway and within six kilometers from the station of
Malkinia, about two-three kilometers from Treblinka station, at the
edge of a forest, some five kilometers from the Bug River. The village
of Dolnowulka was situated about one kilometer from this camp, and the
village of Kutaska was located on the other side of the camp.

Question: What did the Treblinka death camp look like?

Answer: The Treblinka death camp was situated on an area of about 15
hectares, which was fenced in on all sides by barbed wire and
anti-tank obstacles also entwined with barbed wire. Pine branches were
interwoven with the barbed wire. The camp was shaped like a quadrangle
and four watchtowers stood at each corner. Inside the camp there were
three more watchtowers. The camp was divided into two sections. In one
section were the service areas such as: the barracks in which lived
the guards, their kitchen and dining room, a place for the sentries,
two barracks housing the Germans and in which was the German kitchen.
The bath house was also there. Near the bath house were storage
constructions and auxiliary buildings. There was also a barracks in
which there was a store, a bakery and at the other end of this same
building lived the Ukrainian women who served in the German kitchen
and dining room. The garage was also situated there. In the same
section there were two barracks fenced in by barbed wire and in which
was kept the so-called "working crew" composed of physically stronger
citizens of Jewish nationality.

The second section was the receiving point of the people destined to
die. A railroad branch came there from the station of Treblinka. The
railroad terminated with a platform and two barracks, near which
unloading of the trains took place. Here the citizens of Jewish
nationality were hustled out of the cars and into the barrack
surrounded by barbed wire. There was here also another barrack
situated along the railroad line. This barrack was made to look like a
railroad terminal. A wooden clock was nailed to the top of this
building. A sign reading "station master" was written on the same
barrack and arrows pointed to where to go in the waiting room of the
railroad station.

There were also posters with slogans reading: "Palestine awaits you",
"You are going to the Ukraine". They were also told they must undress,
go to the bathhouse, receive other clothing and after this they wold
go to work in Palestine and in the Ukraine. Some prisoners at first
did not believe that they had been brought here to die. When the
prisoners had been unloaded, they were led into the second barrack and
there they were ordered to remove their clothes. The men undressed in
one barrack, the women in the other. Many citizens of Jewish
nationality did not want to undress and they were undressed by force
by the "working crew" and if this did not help, then we, the guards
and the German policemen were brought in. We beat them up savagely and
undressed them. We took away to the infirmary some of those who showed
obstinate resistance and there they were shot. When the people were
being undressed, the women had their hair cut off at the end of the
barrack. Naked and shorn they then went down a narrow path bordered
with barbed wire, past the "cashiers". In the barracks where the
citizens of Jewish nationality were undressed, they were told that
they must hand over all their valuables and money to the "cashier" and
that after they leave the bath house, the valuables would be returned
to them. And so, passing by the "cashier's booth" the prisoners handed
over all their valuables to the "cashier's booth", where a German,
especially appointed for this purpose, received them. First the women
and children and then the men were hustled pas [sic] the "cashier's
booth". Men and women who resisted were chased past the "cashier's
booth" in one group. When the women passed by it, some of them tried
to hide their valuables, but the Germans standing by the "cashier's
booth" examined them cynically and took away their valuables.

Having passed the cashiers, the prisoners came to a special building
without windows and were led in. The inside of the building had the
appearance of a bathhouse with separate cabins on both sides of a
corridor. Here the prisoners were pushed in already by force into the
chambers. These chambers resembled a batch chamber with a shower, but
in reality, exhaust gas was fed through the pipelines and the shower
vents. About 400 people, women, children, old men and adult men were
pushed in together into each chamber. When the chambers had been
completely filled, a motor was started which fed exhaust gas into the
chamber. The doors of the chambers were hermetically closed and the
people were immured in the chambers for 15-20 minutes after which they
died. In the doors of each chamber there were portholes through which
specially appointed Germans watched the process of asphyxiation. When
they were sure that all the people in the chamber had died, the
chamber was opened on the other side and the "working crew" threw out
the bodies which were then loaded on small flatcars and brought to
pits prepared for this purpose on the territory of the camp. The pits
were fenced in with barbed wire. The bodies were thrown into the pits
and lightly covered with earth. When one pit was filled, another was
prepared, and so the process of extermination continued on a daily
basis.

Question: How many people were exterminated daily in the Treblinka
death camp?

Answer: Trains with citizens of Jewish nationality arrived daily to
the Treblinka death camp from every country occupied by the Germans.
Some two-three trains carrying a total number of two to five thousand
people arrived daily. Some two million people were exterminated at the
Treblinka death camp during my stay there, but I cannot name the exact
figure.

The interrogation was ended at 3.00 p.m.

Written down correctly from my words, read by me and signed: 
(signature) YEGER'

Interrogated by: INVESTIGATOR OF INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT OF MINISTRY
OF STATE SECURITY OF THE UKRAINE, MOLOTOV REGION Junior Lieutenant
POPOV

Stenographist: ANTIP'YEVA

The Excerpt is True: FIRST DEPUTY PROCURATOR OF THE CRIMEAN REGION
Senior Councillor of Justice KUPTSOV

"28" February 1978

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