The Dentist of Auschwitz
Page 28
Hauptscharführer Max Hans Peter Schmidt: The case of Kommandant Schmidt is vastly more complicated than those of other Fürstengrube officials. From testimony given to the investigating attorneys from Germany, the United States, and Israel, the following facts emerged: that Schmidt (1) shot exhausted inmates; (2) killed an inmate returning from the work Kommando “Humbold-Deutz”; (3) shot a Jewish attorney from Czechoslovakia; (4) shot 20 inmates pulling a wagon loaded with rations because they were unable to continue; (5) shot inmates unable to keep up; (6) ordered the shooting of inmates he had found hidden in a barn; and (7) witnessed the shooting of inmates on marches, including the march to Dora-Mittelbau.
The defendant did not take the stand. However, his attorney entered a plea of not guilty, stating that Kommandant Schmidt was not responsible for deaths or shootings and had no knowledge of such.
On April 19, 1979, Landesgericht Kiel of Schleswig-Holstein stated in its verdict as follows:
There was no confirmation that the accused had participated in or had any knowledge of these incidents. It is quite possible that he was not present during this part of the march. It must also be considered that the witnesses’ testimonies can be considered only partially because of their weakened condition and diminished ability to remember what they saw during that time. Furthermore, after thirty years, it is possible that they may be fantasizing. Therefore, no definite conclusion can be reached that those shooting actually took place, who did the shooting, and if the accused took part in such.
Based upon this, there is not sufficient evidence that the accused had participated in or had any knowledge of these incidents. Nor can the accused, Schmidt, be responsible for the shooting of inmates marching from Turmalien to Magdeburg in April 1945. Nor can he be held responsible for killing inmates hiding in the barn, or the killing of Eichler, Boot (or Booth) and the Russian inmate, name unknown.
Also, the time of such trials has expired. Only for murder, manslaughter, or accessory to murder could the defendant be brought to justice.
Therefore, Landgericht Kiel dismisses the trial. April 19, 1979.[16]
Three survivors not present at the trial, including this author, testified to having seen Schmidt kill inmates. None of this testimony surfaced at the trial. Perhaps the verdict was predictable. The exoneration of Schmidt for all of these crimes was incomprehensible and outrages.
The Boston office of the German General Consul has urged the German Justice Department to reopen the trial. So far the department has remained silent. It is well known that the German Justice Department is still riddled with many former Nazis. It will take generations for Germany to free itself of its past.
APPENDIX C
The Record of Prisoner 141129
May 6, 1986
1V-8521/2150/1282/86
State Museum, Auschwitz-Birkenau
Mr. Benjamin Jacobs:
The State Museum of Auschwitz acknowledges your inquiry and amiably informs you that full documentation of Bronek Jakubowicz, number 141129 as prisoner in the former concentration camp Auschwitz, has not been fully preserved.
Based on existing records, the Museum can nonetheless confirm that a prisoner with the above number 141129, name unavailable, was delivered to the concentration camp Auschwitz on August 26, 1943, with a transport from a camp in the Poznan region. It is further noted that October 25, 1944, places the named prisoner in Auschwitz III, Fürstengrube. No other data are available at the Museum.
Kazimierz Smolen, Director[17]
Notes
1
During the interwar period, Jews living in Poland, especially my generation, were attracted by the Zionist ideology, Herzel’s “Judenstaat,” the idea that one should not wait for the Creator to send a Messiah to return his people to the homeland but should advance that conviction by working for a homeland in Palestine.
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2
Tadeusz Iwaszko, Hefte von Auschwitz 16 (Auschwitz: Verlag Staatliches Auschwitz-Museum, 1978): 71. Quotation translated by Benjamin Jacobs.
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3
In his book The Curtain Falls, Count Bernadotte makes no mention of having been in Neu Glassau. Hence I am not certain that he was one of the three Swedes. See Count Folke Bernadotte, The Curtain Falls, trans. Eric Lewenhaupt (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945).
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4
Joachim Völfer, Cap Arcona: Biographie eines Schiffes (Herford, Germany: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1977), 120-21.
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5
Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War (New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1986), 806.
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6
I am the least important person in this book. It is the memories of the events that overtook us that must be remembered.
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7
J.L. Isherwood, “Steamers of the Past: The Hamburg-South American Liner Cap Arcona,” Sea Breezes, May 1976.
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8
Operations Record Book, AIR 27/1109, 5822, p. 1, Public Record Office, London.
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9
Log 8, S. Kr 409, BL 87 u. 207, Microfilm 323.
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10
APMO. Sign. Mat. 616a, Bd, 48, S. 71.
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11
GmbH, Nr. 72829, B1.230.
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12
SS trial, Sign.Mat./589.
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13
Encyclopedia Americana, 1990, vol. 9.
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14
Gerald Posner and John Ware, Mengele: The Complete Story (New York: McGraw Hill, 1986).
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15
Posner and Ware, Mengele.
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16
vgl. BGH St 22, 275. Mandated by Bartels Court Representative. Certified (signature illegible). Official seal of the Justiceminister des Landes Schleswig-Holstein. This quotation translated by Benjamin Jacobs.
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17
Translated by Benjamin Jacobs.
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