by Daša Drndic
Franz Stangl, son of a night watchman, born in Altmünster, Austria, on 26 March, 1908. First works as weaver, then as policeman after 1931, S.S.-Hauptsturmführer (staff sergeant). Member of team that runs T4 euthanasia programme at Hartheim and Bernburg, Germany. Commander of Sobibor and later Treblinka, where he oversees the killing of some 900,000 Jews from 1942 to 1943. Transferred in 1943 to Italy, where he runs the R2 Zone (Udine) and organizes anti-partisan and anti-Jewish operations. The Allies capture him in 1945, but he escapes. With documents he is given by the Red Cross and with money that anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi Bishop Aloïs Hudal provides, Stangl goes to Syria, then to Brazil. Discovered in 1967 working at a Volkswagen factory in Sâo Paulo, arrested and extradited to Germany where he is imprisoned for life. Dies of a heart attack in Düsseldorf prison on 28 June, 1971. Stangl designs and oversees the building of the fake train station at Treblinka in order to deceive future victims. For future “guests”, camp painters paint words of welcome in black lettering on big backdrops: BAHNHOF OERMAJDAN—UMSTEIGEN NACH BIALYSTOK UND WOLKOWYSK (OBERMAJDAN STATION—CHANGE HERE FOR BIAŁYSTOK AND VOLKOVYSK). Signs are erected to indicate a ticket window, first-, second- and third-class waiting rooms, and on the façade of the entire mirage they hang a railway clock. S.S.-guards stride around in uniform, pretending to work for the railway. The fake station is actually the reception for Treblinka camp. Stangl loves horses, so he rides through his camps dressed in white, as he also loves this colour.
Ask away, my conscience is clear. I was commander of Treblinka, yes, but I never had anything to do with killing Jews. My conscience is clear.
How many people were killed in a day?
A transport of thirty freight cars. Three thousand people could be liquidated in three hours. When we worked for fourteen hours, 12,000 to 15,000 people were annihilated.
I heard that Wirth visited the camp while they were building the gas chambers and he said, Marvellous! We’ll try them out straight away. Bring in those twenty-five Jewish workers and pack them all into one of the chambers, so we can see how it works. That is the way they talked. All the time he’d be brandishing his whip, they said, and he beat his own men. I got there later.
Would it be true to say you got used to the liquidations in time?
Well, apparently I did.
In days? Weeks? Months?
It was months before I could look each of the future victims in the eye. I repressed the nausea: I tried to create a special place. I ordered flowers to be planted at the camp, new barracks, new kitchens, I brought in barbers, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters. There are many ways in which a person can chase away troubling thoughts, and I used them all. But in the end only drinking helped. I had a large glass of brandy before I went to bed each night.
And then it all became easier?
Not really. But I concentrated on my work. I worked hard.
And finally you forgot you were working with people?
When I was on a trip once, years later in Brazil, my train stopped next to a slaughterhouse. The cattle grazing in the pens trotted up to the fence and stared at our train. They were very close to my window, one jostling the other, looking at me through that fence. I thought then, This reminds me of Poland. That’s how the people looked at me there: trustingly, just before they went into the . . . I couldn’t eat tinned meat for a long time after that. Those big cows’ eyes staring at me, those animals who had no idea that in no time they’d all be slaughtered . . .
So you didn’t feel the camp inmates were people?
Cargo. They were cargo.
When did you begin to think of people as cargo? When you first came to Treblinka you say you were horrified by the heaps of dead bodies lying all around the camp.
I think it started the day I realized that Treblinka was a death camp, a Totenlager. Wirth was standing there, next to the pits full of blue-black corpses. These corpses had nothing to do with humanity. They were masses of rotting flesh. Wirth asked, What shall we do with this rubbish? Maybe that’s when I thought, of course, they are just plain cargo.
There were many children in that “cargo”. Do you know that not a single child survived Treblinka? Did you ever think, what if those were my children? Did you ever think of how you would feel in the position of their parents?
No. You see, I did not look upon them as individuals. They were always a mass for me. I sometimes stood on the wall and watched them being herded through the tube. They were naked, crowded, packed together, driven by whips, running towards the ovens . . .
Why didn’t you take any steps? Why didn’t you put a halt to the horror? You were high in rank.
Impossible, impossible. This was the system, and Wirth invented it. The system worked. And because it worked, it was irreversible.
Werner Dubois, S.S.-Oberscharführer, senior squad leader. Born in Wuppertal on 26 February, 1913. Raised by grandmother. Eighth-grade education. Construction and graphics worker, brush maker, farmer. Driver in the S.S.-Gruppenkommando Oranienburg, driver and guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, in Brandenburg, Grafeneck and Hadamar. As cremator, transports corpses and urns. Transferred as a driver in 1941 to the O.T. (Organization Todt) in Russia. In Lublin (Aktion Reinhard) in 1942, after that in Belzec until April 1943. At trial, twenty-eight years later, describes killing six people with a 9-mm Belgian F.N. Browning, and, at Wirth’s command, another six exhausted Jews, who were later flung into a pit. Supervises the arrival of all transports. Transferred to Sobibor after the closing of Belzec in June 1943. In Sobibor loves shooting at inmates. Badly wounded during the uprising. After hospital treatment is transferred to Trieste as member of Aktion R, tasked with killing partisans. In May 1945 arrested by American soldiers. Released in late 1947. Works as locksmith until final arrest. At Munich trial (1963–4) acquitted of charges; in Hagen (1966) sentenced to three years in prison for participating in killing at least 15,000 people in Sobibor. Dies in 1973, before the 1976 Trieste trial. At trial for Sobibor crimes, only Dubois admits guilt: A crime was clearly committed at the camp. I aided in that crime. I will consider it a just sentence if you declare me guilty. Murder is murder. All of us are guilty. The camp was run by a chain of command and if one link had failed, the whole system would have collapsed . . . We did not have the courage to disobey.
Friedrich Tauscher, born in 1905, S.S.-Oberscharführer, otherwise a detective, works in Belzec as instructor for cremating corpses. From 1943 to 1945 serves in Trieste and surroundings. Commits suicide in prison in 1965.
Lorenz Hackenholt, born on 25 June, 1914. At wife’s initiative, declared dead as of 31 December, 1945. Member of S.S. from 1934. Begins career as driver at Sonnenstein, then works in Grafeneck, Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. One of the key organizers of the euthanasia programme. Wirth’s favourite. Participates in Belzec and Treblinka installing gas chambers, which he later runs. In Belzec and Treblinka they call the gas chambers Stiftung Hackenholt (Hackenholt Foundation), and on the façade of each gas chamber, at Lorenz’s order, a large Star of David is mounted for all to see. In 1943 promoted to S.S.-Hauptschar-führer. Serves in Italy from 1943 to 1945. Drinks heavily; loves taking photographs. A big man, more than two metres tall. In 1945 simply vanishes under circumstances that have never been explained; police and secret services search for him in vain until mid-1970s, when the Hackenholt case is placed ad acta. S.S.-Oberscharführer Erich Bauer, also stationed at San Sabba and imprisoned for life in 1950 for crimes committed at Sobibor, where more than 250,000 Jews were killed, declares under oath in 1961 that Hackenholt gets through the war alive and is in hiding using the name Jansen, Jensen, or Johannsen, working as a truck driver. Bauer also claims that Hackenholt spends the last days of the war somewhere near Trieste with a woman named Monika. The police in Trieste question all members of the R1 unit—Frau Lindner, Frau Fettke, Frau Schmiedel and Frau Allers, as well as Dietrich Allers, the final San Sabba commander—but no-one knows anything about Hackenholt being involved with any woman in Italy. They all agree,
however, that Hackenholt is a common drunkard and few of them fraternized with him. S.S.-Scharführer Karl Schluch, Hackenholt’s colleague from Treblinka and San Sabba, who is never convicted (after his trial in the 1960s, he is cleared of all charges), claims that Hackenholt is ruthless and brutal. S.S.-Unterscharführer Robert Jührs (cleared of all charges) is also in Belzec and Trieste with Hackenholt, and says: “He wanted to piss with the big boys, but he couldn’t lift his leg.”
Hackenholt is charged with participating in the murder of more than 70,000 German mentally ill patients, as well as the liquidation of more than 1,500,000 Jews during Aktion Reinhard.
Globočnik honours Hackenholt with the Iron Cross, Trieste, 1944
San Sabba, 1944
Erich Bauer, S.S.-Oberscharführer, born in 1900. Short but strong, exceptionally cruel. Manages gas chambers in Sobibor. Stationed in Italy at San Sabba, 1943 to 1945. Arrested in 1950, recognized by chance at a Berlin around amusement park by Samuel Lerer, survivor of the camps. In 1951 sentenced to death; after death penalty is abolished in Germany, sentence is commuted to life. Dies in prison in Berlin in 1980.
Arthur Daschel, guard and cremator of corpses at Sonnenstein. At Belzec and Sobibor oversees building of camps. Lives in and around Trieste from 1943 to 1945, after which all trace of him is lost.
Hubert Gomerski, S.S.-Oberscharführer. Supervisor at Sobibor, member of T4 group, spends years 1943 to 1945 in and Trieste. In 1948 sentenced to life imprisonment, released in 1972 for ill health, but in 1974 sentenced to another fifteen years.
Karl Frenzel, S.S.-Oberscharführer. Born on 28 August, 1911. Carpenter. Member of Nazi Party from 1930. Involved in T4 programme. Arrives in Sobibor in 1942 with Stangl’s crew. After Sobibor revolt, sent to Italy and subordinated to Christian Wirth. Stationed in Trieste and Rijeka. Works in theatre after the war as a lighting technician. Arrested in Charged with personally murdering forty-two and taking part in the murder of at least 250,000 Jews. Sentenced to life imprisonment, but released after sixteen years on grounds of poor health. At time of Trieste trial in 1976 under house arrest in German village of Gorben-aufder-Horst.
Franz Wolf, S.S.-Unterscharführer, sergeant, amateur photographer, otherwise mason. Born in 1907 in Heidelberg. Works in Sobibor. Stationed in Rijeka during Einsatz R. At Sobibor trial in Hagen in 1966 sentenced to eight years in prison. After serving sentence, lives in Bavaria until death.
Erwin Lambert, S.S.-Unterscharführer, mason, member of Nazi Party since 1933. Known as “the flying architect” because he rushes from one camp to another, building, erecting, arranging, refining gas chambers. Born in 1909 in Schildow, near Berlin. Installs gas chambers at Hartheim, Sonnenstein, Bernburg and Hadamar 1962. euthanasia centres. At Treblinka and Sobibor supervises construction of barracks with gas chambers. Ends career in Trieste with introduction of crematorium at San Sabba camp. Arrested in 1962, charged with participating in the murder of an unknown number of Jews, sentenced in 1965 to four years in prison.
Ernst Lerch, S.S.-Sturmbannführer, born in Klagenfurt in 1914. Works from 1931 to 1934 as waiter in hotels in Switzerland, France and Hungary, then until Anschluss in 1938 in his father’s café, Café Lerch, a watering hole for the underground Nazi movement in Carinthia. Thus Globočnik, Classen and Kaltenbrunner often stop by at Café Lerch. Lerch is a member of the Nazi Party from 1932, and is in the S.S. by 1934. Transferred to Berlin in 1938 to Central Office of Reich Security. Soon marries an employee of the Gestapo. Pohl and Globočnik are best men at his wedding. Becomes member of the Wehrmacht in December 1938; works in the Central Office of Reich security police from 1940 to 1941, then transferred first to Cracow, later to Lublin, as head of Globočnik’s office and Stabsführer der Allgemeinen S.S. Lerch is one of the key people in Aktion Reinhard responsible for the “Jewish Question”, that is for the mass murder and annihilation of Jews within the borders of the General Government.
After Aktion Reinhard winds down, Lerch is transferred to Trieste in September 1943, again as Globočnik’s right-hand man in O.Z.A.K. (Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland). Extensive authority in leading the antipartisan operations in which hundreds of anti-fascists are killed. Serves several weeks as temporary chief of Rijeka police.
After Germany surrenders, Lerch flees to Carinthia, where the British Army arrests him on 31 May, 1945 with companions Globočnik, Höfle and Michalsen. During investigation conducted in prison in Wolfsburg, Lerch claims he spent only a brief time in Lublin and had nothing to do with Globočnik or the mass annihilation of Jews. Lerch is then allowed a discreet escape from prison, and hides in Austrian villages until 1950. Wiesbaden court, which spearheads the de-Nazification process of the country, sentences Lerch to two years in prison in 1960, and then in 1971, at a trial in Klagenfurt, Lerch is charged with participation in the Holocaust. Due to lack of witnesses and Lerch’s insistent denials of activity in Poland, case is closed in 1976.
Until his death in 1997 Lerch runs his own café in Klagenfurt, and anyone who so desires (and knows of Lerch) can see him there, in Klagenfurt, otherwise known as Celovec, eating Apfelstrudel and reading the newspaper.
Hermann Höfle, S.S.-Sturmbann-führer, major. Born in Salzburg, 19 June, 1911. Member of Austrian Nazi Party from 1930. Mechanic by trade. Runs a taxi service in Salzburg. During the war a key figure in Aktion Reinhard and involved in Mielec, Lublin, Rzeszow, Warsaw and Bialystok deportations. In Eichmann’s escort when Eichmann tours Belzec and Treblinka. Personally selects from transports who will work in camps. Joins Globočnik in Trieste in early 1944. Arrested in Carinthia on 31 May, 1945, with Lerch, Michalsen and Globočnik, but escapes. Lives in Italy, Germany and Austria. Arrested again in 1961 in Salzburg and transferred to Vienna. Hangs himself in prison on 20 August, 1962.
In 2000, when certain documents from World War Two are made public, a telegram is found dated 11 January, 1943, from Höfle to Adolf Eichmann in Berlin. In the telegram Höfle lists the number of registered deaths in camps related to Aktion Reinhard. Up to 31 December, 1942: Majdanek: 24,733; Belzec: 434,508; Sobibor: 101,370; Treblinka: 713,555; total for year of 1942: 1,274,166 murdered Jews.
Robert Jührs, S.S.-Untershar-führer. Born 17 October, 1911, in Frankfurt. Eighth-grade education. Works as porter, janitor, house painter and usher at Frankfurt Opera. During war: Hadamer, Belzec, Dorhusza, Sobibor, Trieste. Task in Belzec: killing Jews who are in poor physical condition as soon as they arrive at camp. At trial, states: I did this out of mercy. I always aimed my machine gun at the head. They died instantly. With absolute certainty I can state that none of them suffered. Charged with killing thirty Jews. At trial in Munich in 1963–64 acquitted of all charges.
Otto Stadie, S.S.-Stabsscharführer, born in 1897 in Berlin. Before the war works as nurse. Part of T4, 1940. At Treblinka from July 1942 to July 1943 as Stangl’s assistant. In Trieste, San Sabba, from 1944. At trial in Düsseldorf (Treblinka) in 1964–65 sentenced to seven years in prison. Date of death unknown.
Paul Bredow, Unterscharführer. Born in 1902. Nurse. Service: Grafeneck, Hartheim, Sobibor, Treblinka, Trieste. Hobby: shooting at live targets. In Sobibor, quota: fifty Jews per day. Has a weakness for perfumes. After the war, with colleague, Karl Frenzel, leaves San Sabba and works in Giessen as carpenter. Killed in road accident in Göttingen in December 1945.
Heinrich Unverhau, S.S.-Unterscharführer, born in 1911, eighth-grade education, works as plumber, musician and nurse at euthanasia centres of Hadamar and Grafeneck, where he takes victims to gas chambers, administers shots of sedatives; after the murders airs rooms and removes corpses. Russia: 1941–42; Belzec and Sobibor: 1942–43; San Sabba: 1943–44. Vindicated at trials for Grafeneck (1948), Belzec (1963–64) and Sobibor (1965), and released. Works as nurse from 1952 onwards, and as musician on the side. Date of death unknown.
Ernest Zierke, S.S.-Unterscharführer, born in 1905. Eighth-grade education. Worker in sawmill. Carpenter and locksmith. Member of National Socialist Workers Party, 1930. Nurse at Grafenec
k, Hadamar and Sonnenstein. 1941–42 in Russia, 1942–43 at Belzec and Sobibor. Supervises escorting of Jews to gas chambers. Takes part in execution of last camp inmates as Belzec and Sobibor are closed. At San Sabba, December 1943. Acquitted at all trials due to poor health.