by Daša Drndic
Karl Schluch, S.S.-Unterscharführer, born in 1905 in Lauenburg. Part of T4 programme from 1940 on. Guard. As with Unverhau, escorts victims to gas chambers and supervises cremation. Grafeneck, Hadamar, Russia, Belzec, Sobibor, Trieste—San Sabba—Aktion R. Acquitted at all trials from 1948 to 1965. Works after war as agricultural worker, construction worker, nurse.
In Belzec and Sobibor I supervised the disembarkation of the Jews from the freight carriages via the ramp. During disembarkation, Wirth told the Jews they had come there for transfer, that they would soon be travelling on further, but that they should first go to the baths and be disinfected. It was my job to calm the Jews. After they had stripped naked, I would show them the way to the gas chambers. Yes, I saw all the gas chambers. The ones in Belzec were 4 x 8 metres. They looked cheery, not a bit alarming. The doors were yellow or grey, I can’t remember. The walls were painted with oil paint. In any case, the floors and walls were easy to wash. I think there were showers on the ceiling.
I believe the Jews were convinced that they really were going to the baths. After they entered the gas chambers, Hackenholt would personally close the doors and then switch on the gas supply. Five or seven minutes later, someone would look through the small window into the gas chamber to verify whether all inside were dead. Only then were the outside doors opened and the gas chambers ventilated, after which a Jewish working group under the command of their kapo entered and removed the bodies. I supervised all this. The Jews inside the gas chambers were so densely packed that they did not die on the floor but one on top of another, heaped in disorder, some of them kneeling, some of them standing, they were covered in spittle, urine and shit, their lips and the tips of their noses were bluish, some of them had open eyes. The bodies were dragged out of the gas chambers and inspected by a dentist, who removed the rings and gold teeth. Then the corpses were thrown into a big pit. Both Wirth and Oberhauser took part in these operations.
Willi Mentz, S.S.-Unterscharführer, born in 1904. Dairy farmer. Works in 1940 on farm of Grafeneck euthanasia centre, tending to herds of cows and pigs, but in his free time participates in gassings. Later, at Hadamar, he gardens, waters the flowers and cuts the grass, and also, when free, assists in killing the mentally ill. From 1942–43 likes to drink beer in the shade at Treblinka, in the open makeshift café at the entrance to the little zoo that he maintains. After Sobibor, transferred in 1944 to San Sabba concentration camp, tasked with killing partisan fighters and Italian Jews. Passionate amateur photographer, goes on outings with Kurt Franz in and around Gorizia. (And for Kaiserfleisch at the Trattoria Leon d’Oro on Via Codelli during the spring of 1944, when he wipes his mouth on his sleeve instead of using a serviette, surprising Haya.)
At Treblinka, under Wirth’s command, Mentz lines up inmates along the edge of a pit, then shoots them in the back of the head. At Treblinka nicknamed “Frankenstein”. At the S.S. garrison at Treblinka only Mentz and Kurt Franz know how to ride, so they ride through the nearby woods and enjoy the fresh air. While they ride around the camp compound, Mentz enjoys shooting at Jews who serve as live targets, so he shoots and shoots and shoots. This earns him another nickname: “Gunman”. Sentenced to life imprisonment.
When I arrived at Treblinka, everything was in chaos. There weren’t enough gas chambers. Afterwards we built new ones, five or six more spacious and attractive chambers. If the little chambers had accommodated between eighty and one hundred people, the larger ones could hold at least twice as many.
Otto Horn, S.S.-Untersharführer (sergeant), born in 1903 near Leipzig. Nurse. Member of Nazi Party from 1937. Sent in 1941 to Sonnenstein as member of T4 Programme, and in October 1942 to Treblinka where he supervises the Grubenkommando, whose task it is to cover piles of bodies with sand and chloride of lime. At Treblinka had reputation of a decent man who does no-one harm. Leaves Treblinka after rebellion, simulating illness. In January dispatched to Trieste, but refuses to comply and goes home. Acquitted at Düsseldorf trial in 1965.
Name?
Otto Richard Horn.
Living in?
Berlin.
Date of birth?
14 December, 1903.
How old are you?
I’m dead.
What was Treblinka?
A camp. A death camp. They gassed people there.
Who did you report to upon arrival at Treblinka?
The deputy commander, Kurt Franz. He sent me to the Upper Camp, the Totenlager.
What tasks were handled at the Upper Camp?
Unloading trains and undressing.
Whom?
Mainly Jews.
Is that all that went on at the Upper Camp?
No. People were gassed and their corpses were burned.
Did they gas men only?
No. Men and women.
And children?
And children.
Who was the commander of the Upper Camp?
Matthes.
And for all of Treblinka?
Stangl.
Aside from the Germans and Ukrainians, were there prisoners at the Upper Camp?
There were. About two hundred prisoners worked at the Upper Camp. Jews.
What did they do?
They moved the corpses to the pits and burned them.
Where did they move the corpses from?
From the gas chambers.
Were there female prisoners at the Upper Camp?
Yes. They worked in the laundry. Six of them.
Do you remember the names of these women?
No. But one of them testified against me at the Düsseldorf trial in 1965.
Mr Horn, how long did it take to gas a person?
About an hour. After that the chambers were opened.
And then?
Then the corpses were taken to the pit and burned there.
What kind of gas was used at Treblinka?
I don’t know. I think that some motors produced the gas.
Mr Horn, you knew that the euthanasia programme meant killing children as well, did you not?
No, I didn’t know that.
But you were present at Treblinka when they gassed children.
Yes. They killed them all—children, women, men.
And you saw murdered children?
Yes.
Where were you standing when you saw the dead children?
At the pits.
You are accused of the murder of thousands of Jews, is that right?
Yes, yes.
And some Jews came to the trial and testified against you, is that right?
Yes, but they couldn’t prove anything.
What was the final verdict?
I was acquitted of all charges and declared innocent.
Completely innocent?
Absolutely. Completely.
Heinrich Matthes, S.S.-Oberscharführer. Born in 1902 in Wermsdorf, near Leipzig. Trained as tailor, later pre-qualifies as nurse. Works in psychiatric institutions throughout Germany, which makes him suitable for inclusion in T4 programme. Amateur photographer. As of 1934 an S.A., member of Nazi Party from 1937. Supervises work of gas chambers at Treblinka from 1942–43. Exceptionally pedantic and jumpy, quick on the draw. Transferred to Sobibor, then Trieste in early 1944, where he works as a policeman and guard at San Sabba. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1965 for crimes committed at Treblinka.
What is your name?
Eliahu Rosenberg.
How old are you?
Eighty.
You lived in Warsaw until 1942?
Yes.
Then on 11 July of that year you were deported to Treblinka?
It was summer. Very hot. As soon as they unloaded us, I heard a camp inmate say to his friend in Yiddish, Moshe, grab a broom and sweep! Sweep like crazy! Save yourself! Then Moshe got hold of a broom, climbed into the freight carriage which had just been emptied and started sweeping.
What did you do?
An S.S. officer came over. He was holding a long Peitsche, a whi
p, and with it he was performing acrobatics in the air. He selected some thirty men and told them, Throw down your parcels in the pile here and start sorting. We sorted shoes into one pile, children’s clothes into another, gold into a third. They were huge piles, as tall as buildings. There were all sorts of things on them: toys, instruments, tools, medicine, clothing, so much clothing . . . I found a way into that group. We worked until dark.
Your mother and three sisters came on the same transport?
Yes. They were ordered to go left. There was a lot of shouting on the platform. Some people were killed right there, for the hell of it.
Did you see your mother and sisters after that?
No. I found out where they were buried.
At Treblinka?
At Treblinka.
What happened the next day?
The next day we sorted again. New clothing, new shoes. Then S.S.-Scharführer Matthes came and shouted, I need twenty volunteers for a light ten-minute job. I was standing right next to Matthes and I was afraid he might strike me, so I stepped forward. I was seventeen. They took us to Treblinka 1, towards a gate camouflaged with pine branches. They took us in and then we saw a pile of corpses. Then Matthes howled, An die Tragen! but we didn’t know what he was asking us to do, so we began running around the bodies. Then the Jews who were already working there told us, Two of you grab hold of a corpse and put it on a stretcher. Then we carried the bodies some two hundred metres to a mass grave and flung them down below.
How deep was that grave?
Roughly seven metres.
And you carried the corpses that way all day?
All day. From the gas chambers to the grave.
What did you do later? You carried corpses?
And burned them. Some couldn’t stand it. They killed themselves, hanged themselves with their own belts.
You witnessed the entire process of destruction?
The whole process.
Describe it briefly.
The people walked along the famous Himmelstrasse from Treblinka 1 to Treblinka 2. There were S.S. men and Ukrainians standing along Himmelstrasse with dogs, whips and bayonets. People walked in silence. That was in the summer of 1942. They didn’t know where they were going. When they entered the chambers, the Ukrainians turned on the gas. Four hundred people in one small chamber. The outer doors could hardly close behind them. We stood by the door. We heard screams from inside. Half an hour later they were all dead. Two Germans stood there listening to what was going on. At the end they’d say, Alles schläft—They’re all asleep. Then we would open the door. The bodies fell out like potatoes. Bloody, covered with urine and shit. People bled from their ears and noses. It was dark inside the chamber. People would jump over one another to catch some air. They’d try to break down the door. The stronger ones would trample the children and the weak. Some people were unrecognizable. There were crushed children’s skulls . . .
After a while they started burning the corpses?
In February 1943.
Did any of the high-ranking officials visit the camp?
Himmler came in January 1943. He ordered that the bodies be removed from the graves. We took the corpses out with excavators and burned them.
Did the transports arrive every day?
Yes. Until the winter of 1943. Then they came less often. A transport would arrive every two or three days.
How many people worked on removing the corpses from the gas chambers?
About two hundred.
Were the people who arrived at Treblinka killed that same day?
Yes. Very quickly.
Where did the people who were killed at Treblinka come from?
At first they came from Poland. Later from all over Europe, from Belgium, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, from Serbia, from the Netherlands . . .
How do you know?
When I carried the corpses out of the gas chambers, I saw documents falling out of their anuses and vaginas. There were those who remained alive, too.
What happened to them?
Sometimes when we were removing the corpses we’d find a child still alive. The Germans immediately shot all survivors.
Were the Ukrainians in uniform?
Yes.
What sort of uniforms?
Black.
Like the S.S. men?
The S.S. men had green uniforms. With a skull.
Were there several gas chambers in every building?
In one there were three chambers, in another five on one side and five on the other. I remember when all the chambers were working simultaneously. In forty-five minutes ten thousand people went in. Thirteen thousand people arrived at Treblinka that day.
The gas chambers were hermetically sealed?
Yes.
I call witness Avraham Lindwasser.
I am Avraham Lindwasser.
How old are you now?
If I were alive, I would be eighty-seven.
On 28 August, 1942, you arrived at Treblinka from Warsaw?
Yes.
Was there a sign at the station, in German and Polish?
Yes.
What did it say?
It read: after you have bathed and changed your clothes, your journey will continue to the east, to work. But then they opened the freight carriages and started shouting, Get out! Get out! and they beat us with their clubs. We didn’t understand what was happening. We were chased to the square and ordered to hand over our money and jewellery. We were told to take off our shoes. Then they lined us up in threes and went on beating us. Then a man with stripes appeared, I later learned he was called the Hauptmann with spectacles, and he began asking us one by one what our professions were. When he came to me he looked at me—I also wore spectacles, in a golden frame, he came up close and asked, Is that frame made of gold? and I said, It is, it is gold, and he then said, Do you know what gold is? Do you know what silver is? Do you know what jewellery is? and I said, Yes, and he struck me again with his club. Then he told me to step forward. A Jew was standing next to me, an electrical engineer, and he was also ordered to step forward. We were the only two to step forward from the line.
How many people were there in that transport?
More than a thousand.