One Hundred and Eighth Day:
Monday, 15th April, 1946 [Page 358]
Q. Some of the matters covered in this affidavit you have
already told us about in part, so I will omit some parts of
the affidavit. If you will follow me as I read, please.
Do you have a copy of the affidavit before you?
[Rudolf Hoess] A. Yes.
[Page 359]
A. Yes, it is.
Q. Now I omit the first few lines of paragraph 3 and start
in the middle of paragraph 3:
COLONEL AMEN: 1944, I believe.
Q. Is that date correct, witness, at the close of paragraph
2, namely, that the 400,000 Hungarian Jews alone at
Auschwitz in the summer of 1944 were executed? Is that 1944
or 1943?
A. 1944. Part of that figure also goes back to 1943; only a
part. I cannot give the exact figure; the end was 1944,
autumn of 1944.
Q. Right.
A. Yes, they are.
[Page 360]
A. Yes.
Q. Incidentally, what was done with the gold which was taken
from the teeth of the corpses, do you know?
A. Yes.
Q. Will you tell the Tribunal?
A. This gold was melted down and brought to the chief
medical office of the S.S. at Berlin.
A. Yes.
[Page 361]
I understand English as it is written above. The above
statements are true; this declaration is made by me
voluntarily and without compulsion; after reading over
the statement I have signed and executed the same at
Nuremberg, Germany, on the fifth day of April, 1946."
A. Yes.
COLONEL AMEN: That concludes my cross-examination, except
for one Exhibit that our British Allies would like to hand
in, which is a summary sheet of the Exhibits which I
introduced at the commencement of the cross-examination.
That will be Exhibit USA 810. It is a summary of the earlier
exhibits that I put in with respect to the Waffen S.S. at
the commencement of my cross-examination.
Now, I understand, your Lordship, that both the Soviet and
the French delegations have one or two questions which they
consider peculiar to their country ,which they would like to
put to this witness.
THE PRESIDENT: General Rudenko, you will remember that the
Tribunal was assured by counsel for the prosecution that, so
far as witnesses were concerned, with the exception of one
or two particular defendants, the prosecution would have
only one cross-examination and, now, since that assurance
was given, this is the second instance when the prosecution
has desired to have more than one cross-examination.
GENERAL RUDENKO: That is correct, Mr. President, that the
prosecution did make that statement at some time; however,
the prosecution has reserved the right on certain occasions
when deemed necessary to do otherwise. Since, in this case,
the prosecution represents four different countries,
occasions do arise when each of the prosecutors feels that
he has the right to ask the defendant or witnesses for the
latter questions particularly interesting to the country of
the prosecutor.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you indicate the nature of the questions
which the Soviet Prosecution desires to put: I mean the
subjects upon which they are relevant. I don't mean the
exact questions but the subject.
GENERAL RUDENKO: Yes, I understand. Colonel Pokrovsky, who
intends to ask the questions, will report on the subject to
the Tribunal.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: May I report to you, Mr. President, that
the questions of interest to the Soviet prosecution are
those dealing specifically with the annihilation of millions
of Soviet citizens and some details connected with that
annihilation. At the request of the French Prosecution, and
in order to clarify the contents I would also like to ask
two or three questions connected with the documents, which,
in due course, were submitted as Document F 709-a to the
Tribunal by the French Prosecution. This is really all there
is; however, these questions do have great importance for
the Soviet and French Prosecutions.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Pokrovsky, the Tribunal, as has just
been stated, made the rule, with the assent of the
prosecutors, that in the case of the witnesses there should
be one cross-examination. There is nothing in the Charter
which expressly
[Page 362]
Do you wish to re-examine, Dr. Kauffmann?
DR. KAUFFMANN: I will be very brief.
Re-DIRECT EXAMINATION BY DR. KAUFFMANN:
Q. Witness, in the affidavit which was just read, you said
under point 2 that "at least an additional half million died
through starvation and disease." I ask you, in what period
of time did this take place? Was it towards the end of the
war or was this fact observed by you already at an earlier
period?
A. No, it all goes back to the last years of the war, that
is beginning with the end of 1942.
Q. Under point 3 - do you still have the affidavit before
you?
A. No.
DR. KAUFFMANN: May I ask that it be given to the witness
again?
BY DR. KAUFFMANN:
Q. Under point 3, at the end you state that "orders for
protective custody, commitments, punishments, and special
executions were signed by Kaltenbrunner or Muller, Chief of
the Gestapo, as Kaltenbrunner's Deputy." Thus, do you wish
to contradict that which you stated previously?
A. No, this only confirms what I said before. I repeat again
that I saw only very few decrees signed by Kaltenbrunner;
most of them were signed by Muller.
Q. Under point 4, at the end, you state, "All mass
executions through gassing took place under the direct
order, supervision and responsibility of the R.S.H.A. I
received all orders for carrying out these mass executions
directly from R.S.H.A." According to the statements, which
you previously made to the Tribunal, these orders came to
you directly from Himmler through Eichmann, who had been
personally delegated. Do you maintain that now as before?
A. Yes.
Q. With this last sentence, under point 4, do you wish to
contradict that which you testified
before?
A. No. I always mean, regarding mass executions,
Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann in connection with the
R.S.H.A.
Q. Under point 7, at the end, you state - I am not going to
read it - you say that even though exterminations took place
secretly, the population in the outlying districts knew
something of this extermination of people. Was there not at
an, earlier period of time - that is, before the beginning
of this special extermination action - something of a
similiar nature taking place as regards the bodies of people
who had died in a normal manner in Auschwitz?
A. Yes, even before the crematoria were built, we burned
large numbers of those who had died, and who could not be
cremated in the provisional crematoria of the camp, in large
pits; a large number - I don't recall the figure any longer
- were buried in mass graves and later also cremated in
these graves. That was before the mass executions of Jews
began.
Q. Would you agree with me if I were to say that from the
fact which is described here, we cannot conclusively prove
that this was concerned with the extermination of Jews?
A. No, this could in no way be concluded from that. The
population -
THE PRESIDENT: What was your question about?
DR. KAUFFMANN: My question was whether one could assume from
the established facts, especially at the end of paragraph 7,
that this concerned the so-called exter-
[Page 363]
THE PRESIDENT: The last sentence of paragraph 7 is with
reference to the foul and nauseating stench. What is your
question about that?
DR. KAUFFMANN: Whether the population could gather from
these things that an extermination of Jews was taking place.
THE PRESIDENT: That really is too obvious a question, isn't
it? They could not possibly know who it was being
exterminated.
DR. KAUFFMANN: That is enough for me. I have no further
questions.
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(Part 4 of 10)
"I have been constantly associated with the
administration of concentration camps since 1934, serving
at Dachau until 1938; then as Adjutant in Sachsenhausen
from 1938 to May 1st, 1940, when I was appointed
Commandant of Auschwitz. I commanded Auschwitz until 1st
December, 1943, and estimate that at least 2,500,000
victims were executed and exterminated there by gassing
and burning, and at least another half million succumbed
to starvation and disease making a total dead of about
3,000,000. This figure represents about 70 per cent or 80
per cent of all persons sent to Auschwitz as prisoners,
the remainder having been selected and used for slave
labour in the concentration camp industries. Included
among the executed and burnt were approximately 20,000
Russian prisoners of war (previously selected and taken
out of prisoner-of-war cages by the Gestapo) who were
delivered to Auschwitz in Wehrmacht transports operated
by regular Wehrmacht officers and men. The remainder of
the total number of victims included about 100,000 German
Jews, and great numbers of citizens, mostly Jewish, from
Holland, France, Belgium, Poland, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, Greece, or other countries. We executed
about 400,000 Hungarian Jews alone at Auschwitz in the
summer of 1944."
That is all true, witness?
"Prior to establishment of the R.S.H.A., the Secret State
Police Office (Gestapo) and the Reich Office of Criminal
Police were responsible for arrests, commitments to
concentration camps, punishments and executions therein.
After organisation of the R.S.H.A., all of these
functions were carried on as before but pursuant to
orders signed by Heydrich as Chief of the R.S.H.A. While
Kaltenbrunner was Chief of R.S.H.A. orders for protective
custody, commitments, punishment and special executions
were signed by Kaltenbrunner or by Muller, Chief of the
Gestapo, as Kaltenbrunner's Deputy."
THE PRESIDENT: Just for the sake of accuracy, the last date
in paragraph 2, is that 1943 or 1944?
"Mass executions by gassing commenced during the summer
of 1941 and continued until autumn, 1944. I personally
supervised executions at Auschwitz until 1st December,
1943 and know by reason of my continued duties in the
Inspectorate of Concentration Camps W.V.H.A. that these
mass executions continued as stated above. All mass
executions by gassing took place under the direct order,
supervision, and responsibility of R.S.H.A. I received
all orders for carrying out these mass executions
directly from R.S.H.A."
Are these statements true and correct, witness?
Q. "5. On 1st December, 1943 I became Chief of Amt I in
Amt Group D of the W.V.H.A., and in that office was
responsible for co-ordinating all matters arising between
R.S.H.A. and concentration camps under the administration
of W.V.H.A. I held this position until the end of the
war. Pohl, as Chief of W.V.H.A., and Kaltenbrunner, as
Chief of R.S.H.A., often conferred personally and
frequently communicated with each other concerning
concentration camps."
You have already told us about the lengthy report which you
took to Kaltenbrunner in Berlin, so I will omit the
remainder of paragraph 5.
"6. The 'final solution' of the Jewish question meant the
complete extermination of all Jews in Europe. I was
ordered to establish extermination facilities at
Auschwitz in June, 1941. At that time, there were already
three other extermination camps in the Government
General: Belzek, Treblinka and Wolzek. These camps were
under the Einsatzkommando of the Security Police and S.D.
I visited Treblinka to find out how they carried out
their extermination, The Camp Commandant at Treblinka
told me that he had liquidated 80,000 in the course of
half a year. He was principally concerned with
liquidating all the Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. He used
monoxide gas, and I did not think that his methods were
very efficient. So when I set up the extermination
building at Auschwitz, I used Cyclon B, which was a
crystallised prussic acid which we dropped into the death
chamber from a small opening. It took from 3 to 15
minutes to kill the people in the death chamber,
depending upon climatic conditions. We knew when the
people were dead because their screaming stopped. We
usually waited about half an hour before we opened the
doors and removed the bodies. After the bodies were
removed our special commandos took off the rings and
extracted the gold from the teeth of the corpses."
Is that all true and correct, witness?
Q. "Another improvement we made as compared with
Treblinka was that we built our gas chamber to
accommodate 2,000 people at one time whereas at Treblinka
their 10 gas chambers only Accommodated 200 people each.
The way we selected our victims was as follows: we had
two S.S. doctors on duty at Auschwitz to examine the
incoming transports of prisoners. The prisoners would be
marched passed one of the doctors who would make 'spot'
decisions as they walked by. Those who were fit for work
were sent into the camp. Others were sent immediately to
the extermination plants. Children of tender years were
invariably exterminated since, by reason of their youth,
they were unable to work. At Treblinka the victims almost
always knew that they were to be exterminated. We
followed a better policy at Auschwitz by endeavouring to
fool the victims into thinking that they were to go
through a delousing process. Of course, frequently they
realised our true intentions and we sometimes had riots
and difficulties due to that fact. Very frequently women
would hide their children under the clothes, but of
course when we found them we would send the children in
to be exterminated. We were required to carry out these
exterminations in secrecy but naturally the foul and
nauseating stench from the continuous burning of bodies
permeated the entire area and all of the people living in
the surrounding districts knew that exterminations were
going on at Auschwitz."
Is that all true and correct, witness?
"10. Herr Rudolf Mildner was the Chief of the Gestapo at
Kattowicz from approximately March, 1941, until
September, 1943. As such, he frequently sent prisoners
to Auschwitz for incarceration or execution. He visited
Auschwitz on several occasions. The Gestapo Court, the
S.S. Standgericht, which tried persons accused of
various crimes, such as escaping prisoners of war, etc.,
frequently met at Auschwitz, and Mildner often attended
the trial of such persons, who usually were executed in
Auschwitz after being sentenced. I showed Mildner over
the extermination plant at Auschwitz and he was directly
interested in it since he had to send the Jews from his
territory to Auschwitz for execution.
Now I ask you, witness, is everything which I have read to
you, true to your own knowledge?