Text: English     International Military Tribunal "Blue Series," Vol. 11 (British Edition), p. 349
		15.4.46 A. Yes, "Secret Reich Matter" means that no one was allowed to speak about such matter with any person and that everyone promised upon his life to observe the utmost secrecy. Q. Did you happen to break that promise? A. No, not until the end of 1942. Q. Why do you mention that date? Did you talk to outsiders after that date? A. At the end of 1942 my wife's curiosity was aroused by remarks made by the Gauleiter of Upper Silesia regarding happenings in my camp. She asked me whether this was the truth and I admitted that it was. That was my only breach of the promise I had given to the Reichsführer. Others I have never talked about it to anyone else. Q. When did you meet Eichmann? A. I met Eichmann about four weeks after having received that order from the Reichsführer. Eichmann came to Auschwitz to discuss the details with me as to the carrying out of the given order. As the Reichsführer had told me during our discussion, he had instructed Eichmann to discuss the carrying out of the order with me and I was to receive all further instructions from him. Q. Will you briefly tell whether it is correct that the camp of Auschwitz. was completely isolated, and describe the measures taken to insure the secrecy of the carrying out of the task given to you? A. The camp Auschwitz as such was about three kilometres from the town. About 20,000 acres of the surrounding country had been cleared of all inhabitants, and the entire area could only be entered by S.S. men or civilian employees who had special passes. The actual compound called "Birkenau," where later on the extermination camp was constructed, was situated two kilometres from the Auschwitz camp. The camp installations themselves, that is to say, the provisional installations used at first, were deep in the woods and could from nowhere be detected by the eye. In addition to that, this area had been declared a prohibited area and not even members of the S.S. who did not have a special pass could enter. Thus it was impossible, as far as one could judge, for anyone, except authorised persons, to enter that area. Q. And then the railway transports arrived. During what period did these transports arrive and about how many people, roughly, were in a transport? A. During the whole period up until 1944, certain operations were carried out at irregular intervals in the different countries, so that one cannot speak of a continuous flow of incoming transports. Each series of shipments lasted four to six weeks. During those four to six weeks, two to three trains, containing about two thousand persons each, arrived daily. These trains were first of all shunted to a siding in the Birkenau region and the locomotives then went back. The guards who had accompanied the transport had to leave the area at once and the persons who had been brought in were taken over by guards belonging to the camp. They were there examined by two S.S. medical officers as to their ability to work. The detainees capable of work at once marched to Auschwitz or to the camp at Birkenau and those incapable of work were at first taken to the provisional installations, then later to the newly constructed crematoria. Q. During an interrogation I had with you the other day you told me that about sixty men were designated to receive these transports, and that these sixty persons too had been bound to the same secrecy described before. Do you still maintain that today? A. Yes, these sixty men were always on hand to take the detainees not capable of work to these provisional and, later on, to the other installations. This group, consisting of about ten leaders and sub-leaders, as well as doctors and medical personnel, had repeatedly been told both in writing and verbally that they were bound to strictest secrecy as to all that went on in the camps. Q. Were there any signs that might indicate to an outsider, who saw these transports arrive, that people were being destroyed or was that possibility so small 349
		Text: English     International Military Tribunal "Blue Series," Vol. 11 (British Edition), p. 349     Last modified: October 25, 1998 Copyright © 1998 The Mazal Library and The Holocaust History Project. All rights reserved. Technical/administrative contact: [email protected] Find a typo? Let us know.