[Page 173]

A. 8000 Spaniards arrived in Mauthausen in 1941 toward the end of the year. When we left at the end of April 1945, there were still about 1,600. All the rest had been exterminated.

Q. Where did these Spaniards come from?

A. These Spaniards came from labour companies which had been organised in 1939 and 1940 in France, or were delivered by the Vichy Government to the Germans.

Q. Is this all you have to tell us?

A. With the permission of the Tribunal, I would like to cite another example of an atrocity which remains clearly in my memory. This also took place during September 1944. I am sorry I cannot remember the exact date, but I do know it was a Saturday, because on Saturday at Mauthausen all the outside detachments had to answer evening roll call inside the camp. That took place only on Saturday night and on Sunday morning.

That evening the roll call took longer than usual. Someone was missing. After a long wait and searches carried out in the various blocks, they found a Russian, a Soviet prisoner, who perhaps had fallen asleep, and had forgotten to answer roll call; what the reason was we never knew, but at any rate he was not present at the roll call. Immediately the dogs and the SS went, seized the poor wretch, and before the whole camp - I was in the front row, not because I wanted to be, but because we were arranged like that - we witnessed the fury of the dogs let loose upon this unfortunate Soviet man. He was torn to bits in the presence of the whole camp.

I should add that this man, in spite of his sufferings, faced his death in a particularly brave manner.

Q. What were the living conditions of the prisoners? Were they all treated in the same way, or were they treated differently according to their origin and nationality, or, perhaps, their racial background, or because they belonged to any particular race?

A. As a general rule the camp regime was the same for all nationalities, with the exception of the quarantine blocks and the annexes of the prison. The kind of work we did, the particular detachment to which we were detailed, sometimes allowed us to get a little more food than usual, for instance, those who worked in the kitchens or in the stores certainly did get a little more.

Q. Were Jews permitted to work in the kitchen or the store rooms?

A. At Mauthausen the Jews had the hardest tasks of all. I must point out that, until December 1943, the Jews did not live more than three months at Mauthausen. There were very few of them at the end.

Q. What happened in that camp after the murder of Heydrich?

A. In this connection there was a particularly dramatic episode. At Mauthausen there were 3,000 Czechs, 600 of whom were intellectuals. After the murder of Heydrich, the Czech colony in the camp was exterminated with the exception of 300 out of 3,000, and six intellectuals out of the 600 that were in the camp.

Q. Did anyone speak to you of scientific experiments?

A. They were commonplace at Mauthausen, as they were in other camps. But we have evidence which I think has been found: the two skulls which Were used as paper weights by the chief SS medical officer. These were the skulls of two young Dutch Jews who had been selected from a convoy of 800 because they had fine teeth.

To make this selection the SS doctor had led these two young Dutch Jews to believe that they would not suffer the fate of their comrades of the convoy. He had said to them "Jews do not live here. I need two strong, healthy, young men for surgical experiments. You have your choice; either you offer yourselves for these experiments or else you will suffer the fate of the others."

[Page 174]

Q. At the time of Himmler's visit - I would like to come back to that question - are you certain that you recognised Himmler and saw him presiding over the executions?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you think that what was taking place in Mauthausen could not be known to all members of the German Government? The visits you had received, were they simply visits by the SS, or were they visits of other prominent people?

A. As regards your first question; we all knew Himmler, and if we did not, all the others in the camp did; also the SS told us a few days before, that his visit was expected. He was present at the beginning of the executions of the Soviet officers. But, as I said a little while ago, these executions lasted throughout the afternoon, and he did not remain until the end. With regard to ...

Q. Is it possible that only the SS knew what happened in the camp? Was the camp visited by others than the SS? Did you know the SS uniforms? The people you saw, the authorities you saw - did they all wear a uniform?

A. The people that we saw at the camp were, generally speaking, soldiers, officers. Some time afterwards, a few weeks before the liberation, we had a visit from the Gauleiter of the Gau Oberdonau. We also had frequent visits from members of the Gestapo in plain clothes. But the people, that is, the Austrian population, were perfectly aware of what was going on at Mauthausen. The foremen were nearly all from outside.

I said just now that I was working in a Messerschmidt gang. The foremen were mobilised German civilians who, in the evening, went home to their families. They knew quite well our sufferings and privations. They frequently saw men fetched from the shop to be executed, and they could bear witness to most of the massacres I mentioned a little while ago.

I should add that once we received - I am sorry I put it like that - once there arrived in Mauthausen 30 firemen from Vienna. They were imprisoned, I think, for having taken part in some sort of workers' action. The firemen from Vienna told us that when one wanted to frighten children in Vienna, one said to them: "If you are not good, I will send you to Mauthausen."

Another detail, a more concrete one: Mauthausen camp is built on a plateau and every night the chimneys of the crematorium would light up the whole district, and everyone knew what the crematorium was for.

Another detail: The town of Mauthausen was situated five kilometres from the camp. The convoys of deportees were brought to the station of the town. The whole population could see these convoys pass. The whole population knew in what state these convoys were brought into the camp.

M. DUBOST: Thank you very much.

THE PRESIDENT: Does the Soviet prosecutor wish to ask any questions?

GENERAL RUDENKO: I should like to ask a few questions.

BY GENERAL RUDENKO:

Q. Can you tell me, witness, why the execution of the 50 Soviet officers was ordered? Why were they executed?

A. As regards the specific case of these 50 officers, I do not know the reasons why they were condemned and executed but, as a general rule, all Soviet officers all Soviet Commissars, or members of the Bolshevist Party, were executed at Mauthausen. If a few among them succeeded in slipping through, it is because their identity was not known to the SS.

[Page 175]

A. I testify to the fact, because I saw him with my own eyes.

Q. Can you give us more precise details about the execution of the 4,000 Soviet prisoners of war which you have just mentioned?

A. I cannot add much to what I have said, except that these men were assassinated at their work, probably because the task demanded of them was beyond their strength, and they were too underfed to perform it. They were murdered on the spot by blows with a cudgel, or struck down by the SS; they were driven by the SS to the wire fence and shot down by the sentinels in the watchtowers. I cannot give more details, because, as I said, I was not a witness, an eye witness.

Q. That is quite clear.

And now one more question: Can you give me a more detailed statement concerning the destruction of the Czech colony?

A. I speak with the same reservations as before. I was not in the camp at the time of the extermination of the 3,000 Czechs, but the survivors with whom I spoke in 1944 were unanimous in confirming the accuracy of these facts and probably, as far as their own country is concerned, have drawn up a list of the murdered men.

Q. This means, if I have understood you correctly, that in the camp where you were interned executions were carried out without trial or inquiry. Every member of the SS had the right to kill an internee. Have I understood your statement correctly?

A. Yes, that is so. The life of a man at Mauthausen counted for absolutely nothing.

THE PRESIDENT: Does any member of the defendants' counsel wish to ask any questions of this witness? Then the witness can retire. Witness, a moment.

BY THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle):

Q. Do you know how many guards there were at the camp?

A. The number of the guards varied but, as a general rule, there were 1,200 SS, and also soldiers of the Volkssturm. However, it should be stated that only 50 to 60 SS were authorised to come inside the camp.

Q. Those 50 or 60 SS men, were they SS men that were authorised to go into the camp?

A. Yes, they were.

Q. All SS men?

A. All of them were SS.

THE PRESIDENT: Then the witness can retire.

M. DUBOST: With your permission, gentlemen, we shall proceed with the presentation of our case on German atrocities in the Western countries of Europe from 1939 to 1945, by retaining from these testimonies the particular acts which, taken separately, all equally constitute common crimes. The general idea, around which we have grouped all our work and the presentation, is the German terrorism, intentionally conceived as an instrument for governing all enslaved peoples.

We shall remember the testimony brought by the French witness who said that in Vienna, when one wished to frighten a child, one told it about Mauthausen.

The people who were arrested in the Western countries were deported to Germany, where they were put into camps or into prisons. The information that we have concerning the prisons has been taken from the official report of the Prisoners of War Ministry, which we have already read; it is the bound volume which was in your hands this morning. In it you will find, namely

[Page 176]

THE PRESIDENT: 274-F?

M. DUBOST: It was 274-F, on page 35. The Tribunal can read that the prison at Cologne, where many Frenchmen were interned, was situated between the goods station and the main station, so that the Prosecutor in Cologne wrote, in a report which was used by the Ministry of Deportees and Prisoners of War when compiling the book which is before you, that the situation of that prison was so dangerous that no concern engaged in war work would undertake to furnish its precious materials to a factory in that area. The internees could not seek shelter during air attacks. They remained locked in their cells, even if fire broke out.

The victims of air attacks in the prisons were numerous. The May 1944 raid claimed 200 victims in the prison at Alexander Platz in Berlin.

The buildings were always dirty and damp, and were very small. In Aix-la-Chapelle the prisoners numbered three or four times as many as the facilities permitted. In Munster the women who were there in November 1943 lived underground without any air. In Frankfurt the prisoners had as cells a sort of iron cage, 2 x 1.50 metres. It was impossible to keep clean. At Aix-la-Chapelle, as in many other prisons, the prisoners had only one bucket in the middle of the room, and it was forbidden to empty it during the day.

The food ration was extremely small. As a rule, ersatz coffee in the morning with a thin slice of bread; soup at noon; a thin slice of bread at night with a little margarine or sausage or jam.

The internees were forced to do extremely heavy work, war industry, procuring of food products, weaving and plaiting. No matter what kind of work it was, at least twelve hours were required at Cologne in particular, from 7 o'clock in the morning to 9 or 10 o'clock in the evening, that is to say, 14 or 15 consecutive hours. I am still quoting from the file of the Public Prosecutor of Cologne, document 87, sent to us by the Ministry of Prisoners. A shoe factory gave work to the inmates of 18 German prisons. I quote the last 2 lines of this page:

"Most of the Frenchmen flatly refused to work in war industries, for example, the manufacture of gas masks, filing of cast iron plates, slidings for shells, radio or telephone apparatus intended for the Army."

This is from the official German text of the Public Prosecutor of Cologne.

There was no medical supervision. Either there were no prophylactic measures taken in these prisons in the event of epidemics, or the SS doctor intentionally gave the wrong instructions.

At the prison of Dietz or Lahn, under the direction of Director Gammradt, a former major in the German Army, the SS or SA guards struck the prisoners. Dysentery, diphtheria, pulmonary lesions, pleurisy, were not considered to be reasons for stoppage of work, and those who were dangerously ill were forced to work to the very limit of their strength, and were only admitted to the hospital in exceptional cases.

In Aix-la-Chapelle the presence of a Jewish prisoner in the cell caused the other prisoners to lose half of their ration. At Amrasch they could go to toilets only when ordered. At Magdeburg the recalcitrants had to make one hundred genuflexions before the guards. The interrogations were carried out in the same manner as in France, that is, the victims were brutally treated and were given practically no food.

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