Documents from the process in Regional Courts (Landesgericht) in Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna against members of the HSSPF Lublin: Documentation of the trial, volume 28; Testimonies by Austrian and German perpetrators and Jewish survivors, 1960 - 1962

Documents from the process in Regional Courts (Landesgericht) in Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna against members of the HSSPF Lublin: Documentation of the trial, volume 28; Testimonies by Austrian and German perpetrators and Jewish survivors, 1960 - 1962 Testimony (05/09/1960) of Eugen Schweizer, born 1908; member of the NSDAP since 1933; police inspector with administrative tasks; transferred to Warsaw in 01/1940, ranked as SS-Obersturmfuehrer (first lieutenant); at the office of the KdS (commander of the security police) until 12/1944, detached to the RSHA (Reich Main Security Office) in Berlin in 01/1945; arrested by the US until June 1945; administrative tasks at the office of the KdS; only SS-Untersturmfuehrer (second lieutenant) Brandt and SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer (captain) Geipel involved in actions and executions in the Ghetto; as personnel administrator acquainted with employees of the KdS who distinguished themselves: Brandt, Stamm, Witossek, Weiler, and SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Werner who presumably led actions in the Ghetto; knowing of the deportations and the gassing in Treblinka; mentioning SS-Standartenfuehrer (colonel) Blobel and commanders Meisinger, Johannes Mueller, Hahn (pp.5-10); Testimony (07/09/1960) of Wilhelm Tewes, born 1905, member of the NSDAP since 1937, Kriminalkommissar (chief inspector) since 1941, delegated to the office of the KdS in Warsaw led by Dr.Hahn, leader of the anti-fraud department, 01/1942 - 08/1944, transferred to Lowicz, enqueued into the warring troop, in Russian captivity until 11/1945, and in British internment, 05/1946 - 05/1948; report on the tasks of his police department and its co-operation with the Polish police; knew that Brandt and Witossek were active in the Ghetto, had no negative impression of Dr. Hahn (pp.11-15); Testimony (12/09/1960) of Dr. jur. Konrad Gallen, born 1900; working in Poland for the Abwehr (defense, i.e. intelligence, counter intelligence and espionage offices), 1940 - 1944; in Berlin for the OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) until its incorporation into the RSHA Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office); not willing to work for the RSHA, joining the army in 09/1944 and deployed in Oslo; in Radom official dealings with SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer (lieutenant colonel) Liebhardt and SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer (captain) Fuchs from the security police; in Warsaw official dealings with Mueller and Dr. Hahn, knowing many SS men from their office; in Lublin he heard through his confidential informant Kressin of the liquidation of the ghetto and got access to it through Dr. Huppenkothen, the commander of the security police; details about the liquidation; no answer to his report to the OKW (pp.18-22); Fotocopies of selected pages from Bernard Mark: Der Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto. Entstehung und Verlauf. Berlin Dietz Verlag 1957 (pp.25-33); Overview of the structure of the Warsaw district government and the staffing of its various positions: sketch according to the state of investigations in the lawsuit against Dr. Hahn, commander of the security police in Warsaw, on 24/08/1960, supplemented by a site plan of the Ghetto at the time of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (pp.34-38); Testimony (20/08/1960) of Herz Lewkowicz, born 1926, living in Sochaczew until 1940, then in the Warsaw Ghetto; report on the living conditions there; filing for a job in an air force unit and living outside the Ghetto; when sick from typhoid fever, in a hospital in the Ghetto shortly after all sick people and some of the personnel were shot; a heap of bodies still laying in the courtyard; according to talks in the Ghetto, about 300 Jews from other countries were brought to Pawiak prison and shot there; after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising transferred to Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau (pp.39f); Testimony (03/09/1960) of Abram Sandomir, born 1919, in the Warsaw Ghetto with his family till 05/1943; 11 persons of them worked for Toebbens and Schultz and were killed in Majdanek; the German companies in the Ghetto formerly belonged to Poles and Jews (e.g. Hellerman, Stehmann) who were expropriated; Samuel Lubowski run such a firm; mentioning selections, deportations and positive reports from the deported on postcards; remembering the names of some SS men, among them Brandt, Klaustermeyer and Bloesche who were dreaded in the Ghetto; during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising he and 75 others hidden in a bunker under the house of the Jewish police; forced to come out by fires, they were deported to Majdanek (p.41f); Testimony (05/08/1960) of Robert Levi, born 1907 in Westfalia, transported to Warsaw, 04/1942; strict separation of the German Jews from the Ghetto; work assignment in Treblinka, not yet set up for extinction; the majority of the guards were Ukrainians; shootings of about 200 Polish Jews daily; together with others Levi built a well and the gas chambers of camp T2; first gassings in 08/1942 (duration 9 min); further shootings of Jews trying to flee or leaving a train because of thirst; Levi had to load the bodies on cars; witnessed shootings of German soldiers of all military branches: first a group of about 500 men, later two smaller groups; after an attack by partisans and the uprising in the camp, flight to Warsaw with another Jew, informing the Judenrat (Jewish Council) who did not believe the report and threatened to call in the German police if they talked; under a false name working for the German Air Force; caught after an attempt to escape and brought to the Warsaw Ghetto at the time of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, then to Lublin and Majdanek (pp.43-46); Testimony (14/09/1960) of Christel Scherbel, nee Beckmann, born 1904, steno-typist, shifted to the Einsatzgruppe IV (task force of the security police and the security services) in Warsaw in 10/1939, transformed into the office of the KdS (led by Meisinger, later by Johannes Mueller, then by Dr. Hahn); marriage to SS-physician Dr. Kurt Scherbel; leaving the office in 04/1943, but staying in Warsaw until 06/1944; mainly working as receptionist and writing letters concerning actions against Jews, Polish criminals and resistance fighters, their liquidation, the deportation of Jews, the confiscation of their property; remembering telegraphs from Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen regarding Jews who had died of circulatory insufficiency, and meetings of the department leaders that were not recorded; reports on the use of confiscated Jewish property; no knowledge of executions (pp.47-51); Testimony (03/09/1960) of Israel Spiegelstein, born 1916, working in the Warsaw Ghetto for an arms factory and for the religious Jewish community, witnessing the deportations in summer 1943, the brutal shootings by Hantke, Gross and Hoffmann, and the violence of Klaustermeyer, Bloesche and Brandt (pp.52f); Comments (03/09/1960) of Ted Aron Back, 32 years old, on his testimony from 31/03/1960; confirming his former statements, adding that many Jews were shot by patrols, often by Bloesche and Klaustermeyer who went man-hunting (p.54); Testimony (20/07/1960) of Konrad Rheindorf, born 1896, deputy commander of a school for police officers, transferred to Lublin in 02/1943, KdO, Kommandeur des Polizeiregiments 25 und der Ordnungspolizei (commander of the police regiment 25 and the order police) in the Gouvernement Lublin, 08/1943 - 07/1944; detailed report on the composition of his regiment used for object protection; minor actions against partisans were tasks of the battalions, bigger ones were supported by the army; few meetings with the KdO from Warsaw and Krakow; Rheindorf was subordinate to the BdO Befehlshaber der Ordnungspolizei (general of the order police) in Krakow; wounded in 07/1944 and prisoner of war in Russia until 10/1955 (pp. 55-59); Testimony (10/09/1960) of Jakob Senderowicz, born 1908, in the Warsaw Ghetto, witness of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; selected, brought to the meeting-point and transported to Majdanek; report on the view of the Ghetto and the meeting-point after the deportations and shootings (p.60); Testimony (10/09/1960) of Artur Mendrzycki, born 1914, co-owner of a factory in Lodz, caught by the Germans in 1939, transferred to several camps, at last to Krakow; escape to Lodz, then living in the Warsaw Ghetto [several pages mixed up]; report on the living conditions in the Ghetto; announcements of the “resettlement action” and information about its meaning by the Polish underground organization, selections and deportations; warnings by a German policeman and hiding in a school outside the Ghetto, witnessing the Warsaw Polish Uprising and its suppression; set free by the Russians and return to Lodz; expropriated by the Communists, he moved to the Western Germany in 1949; remembering SS officer Brandt, "bloody Zander" who led the Pawiak prison, SS-Obersturmfuehrer (first lieutenant) Franz Conrad from the value registration, mentioning Czerniakow's suicide; witnessing shootings and hearing of shootings from David Klinger from Lodz (pp.61-68); Testimony (28/09/1960) of Gertrud Martha Marie Weitze, nee Schauer, born 1920, steno-typist in the office of the KdS (commander of the security police and the security services) in Warsaw, 10/1940 - 12/1943, staying in Warsaw till 06/1944; in department III, led by SS-Sturmbannfuehrer (major) Dr. Ernst Kah, working for SS-Untersturmfuehrer (second lieutenant) Rudolf Mueller, later for Dr. Stabenow, writing letters to the RSHA (Reich Main Security Office) concerning situation and atmosphere of the Polish population; knowing of resettlements to Treblinka, but not of shootings or mass executions, nor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and its suppression (pp.69-72); Testimony (16/09/1960) of Walter Werker, born 1911, working for the SD (security services); since 1939 in Warsaw in department III (led by Dr.Kah, subordinate to Dr.Stabenow), normally involved in investigations of economic affairs, participating once in a raid in the Ghetto, no observation of any excess (pp.73f); Testimony (28/09/1960) of Werner Konrad Eberhard Weitze, born 1915, police inspector; working in the office of the KdS (commander of the security police and the security services) in Warsaw, 05/1941 - 01/1945, then ordered to the defense of Posen; Russian prisoner of war from 02/1945 until 09/1953; KdS in Warsaw in 1941: SS-Sturmbannfuehrer (major) Mueller, later Dr. Ludwig Hahn; Weitze ranked as SS-Obersturmfuehrer, worked in the administration; listing the names of employees in departments I, II, III (security services), IV (Gestapo) and V (criminal police); report on the guarding of the Ghetto, the Pawiak prison, its laundry, on posters announcing executions of people sentenced to death; no knowledge of beastly mass executions in the prison; report on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the defense of the office; no clear answer to the question, if Dr. Hahn knew why people of his office were delegated during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (pp.78-85); The following testimony (26/09/1960) of Prefi is part of the legal proceedings against Franz (i.e. Treblinka process): detailed report on the deportations from Kossow to Treblinka (led by von Eupen); the German Armed Forces were used to cordon the town; commander of the headquarters was a lieutenant-colonel, his adjutant was lieutenant Breuer; Prefi also participated in the deportations from Sokolow to Treblinka (led by von Eupen); details about the trains and the loading (pp.86-91); Letter (10/05/1962) from the chief prosecutor at the Landgericht (regional court) in Hamburg to the examining magistrate at the Landesgericht (regional court) in Vienna containing questions for Mr. Bischoff, former leader of the Transferstelle Warsaw, i.e. the German administration of the Warsaw Ghetto concerned with economic transactions between the Ghetto and others (pp.107-109); Letter (09/05/1962) from the chief prosecutor at the Landgericht (regional court) in Hamburg to the examining magistrate at the Landesgericht (regional court) in Vienna containing assumptions of Hoefle's involvement in the deportations in spring 1943 and probably also in the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto by Stroop; the assumptions are based on the testimony (05/02/1962) of witness Gisela Birmes (p.113); Warrant of arrest from the Landesgericht (regional court) Salzburg to Hermann Hoefle on 30/01/1960, formal report from the prison administration in Salzburg that Hoefle was transferred to Vienna on 04/06/1962, and related documents (pp.115-120, 122); Death certificates of Karl August Helletsberger, born 1907, and Karl Wukowitz, born 1909 (pp. 121, 123); Testimony (27/05/1962) of Friedrich Fraunhofer, 52 years old, Gendarm (country constable); transferred to the office of the commander of the Gendarmerie in Lublin, Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) August Preyssl, who got his commands from the SS- und Polizeifuehrer in Lublin, i.e. Globocnig and later Sporrenberger; Fraunhofer knew Franz Eigner and Ernst Lerch belonging to their staff; as driver of Preyssl he saw the camps of Belzec, Majdanek and Sobibor; Preyssl opposed the Nazis, had to witness executions of Jews from Sobibor; Fraunhofer allegedly refused to shoot a Jew caught at an attempt to escape; Preyssl was humane, e.g. he once hid four Jews for a couple of months (pp.124-128; compare pp.196-202); Letter (1962) from the investigating judge at the Landesgericht Salzburg (regional court) to the responsible courts in Detroit, Rollin en Saint Mur and Essen requesting legal assistance in the criminal proceedings against Hermann Hoefle; the rogatory letter contains an account of the suspicion, its factual foundation, Hoefle's vindication, the request to hear witnesses Wolf Jonisz, Nathan Spinner, Henri Hoffenberg and Siegfried Boeckmann, a list with 75 questions for the witness, and translations of the rogatory letter and the questionnaire into English (pp.136-167); Written answers (15/03/1962) of Wolf Jonisz to the questionnaire (see pp.155-167): he lived in the ghetto of Radzimin, near Warsaw, had no own experiences with the accused (pp.133-135); Short written answers (15/03/1962) of witness Nathan Spinner to the questionnaire (see pp.155-167): in the Warsaw Ghetto, 11/1940 - 06/1943, working in the cemetery administration; comments on the clearing of the Ghetto, the deportations, cruelties, the shooting of 123 Jewish policemen; mentioning the information system of the underground movement in the Ghettto, the Mila pocket, the transports in fright trains, the bodies in the streets of the Ghetto (pp.168-171); Testimony (03/05/1962) of August Preyssl, born 1900, commander of the Gendarmerie (constabulary) in Lublin since May 1941, subordinated to the commander of the order police, Oberstleutnant (lieutenant-colonel) Kientrupp; ordered by SS- und Polizeifuehrer (SS and police leader) Sporrenberg he had to escort a unit of SS men - among them Sporrenberg and Hoefle - operating in the camp of Sobibor; he came to know the camp and witnessed the shooting of ca 150 Jews by Ukrainians in an act of retaliation to be kept secret (pp.196-201); Testimony (02/02/1962) in French of Marta Rachela Frydmann, nee Rojzen, born 1921; detailed report on the ghettoization of the Warsaw Jews in 1939, forced labor, raids, Hoefle and his staff, the beginning of the deportations, the meeting-point and the selections (pp. 203-210; German translation pp.222-233); Testimony (02/02/1962) in French of Berta Dukarewicz, nee Zarch, born 1885; report on the ghettoization of the Warsaw Jews in 1939; witnessed how her husband was stricken dead, the arrival of the SS command from Lublin in 07/1942; detailed report on the clearing of the Ghetto, the beginning of the deportations, her living in a hide (pp.211-213; German translation pp.234-239); Testimony (02/02/1962) in French of Bronislaw Marczak, born 1905; report on the ghettoization of the Warsaw Jews in 1939, on forced labor, his life in hides in the Ghetto and after 1942 in the Aryan part of Warsaw, where he joined the Polish resistance; he witnessed the fright trains to Treblinka; was convinced that Hoefle was the sole leader of the deportations (pp.214-216; German translation pp.240-245); Testimony (02/02/1962) in French of Jacob Rudnianski, born 1906; in the Warsaw Ghetto, 11/1940 - 05/1943, when a German soldier helped him and 10 others to escape to the Aryan side; lived supported by Polish Christians until set free by the Russians; report on the guarding of the Ghetto, arbitrary shootings, the arrival of Hoefle with his SS command and Ukrainian, Latvian and Lithuanian soldiers from Lublin; clearing of the Ghetto, shootings by Klaustermeyer, Becker, Michalsen, Hantke; evading the deportations, living hidden, joining the Ghetto resistance, being caught, escape (pp.217-220; German translation pp.246-253); Testimony (02/02/ or 10/04/ or 26/04/1962) in French of Henri Hoffenberg, born 1912; in Warsaw from the beginning of the war until 08/1944; reports on the ghettoization, forced labor, propaganda lies and propaganda films, on Hoefle, his SS command, his officers and their units of Ukrainians, Latvians and Lithuanians, their binding everybody to absolute secrecy about the "resettlements", the clearing of the Ghetto, selections in the "Mila pocket", transports to Treblinka, Majdanek, Trawniki and Poniatowa; shooting of 14000 Jews near Poniatowa as witnessed by the Pole Domanski who worked for Toebbens (pp.254-261; German translation of Hoffenberg's testimony pp.271-283; an earlier, more extensive testimony (03/11/1961) is contained in document 7187941 pp.4-75); Fotocopies of a document from the archive of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (pp.308-311): 1) excerpt of a note on an interview (16/03/1942) of the author (name unknown) with Hoefle concerning the arrival of deported Jews in Lublin; Hoefle suggested: to separate Jews fit for work from others before their transport to Lublin; to send those not fit for use to Belzec; and to build a big camp where Jews fit for work were divided by their occupation; 2) answer to a request of Hoefle's daughter: written confirmation (10/07/1962) that Hoefle is in custody since 31/01/1961 and not yet convicted; Fotocopies of calendars for the years 1941 to 1944 (pp.313-319); Testimony (17/04/1962) of Georg Wippern, born 1909; since 1937 administrative tasks in various SS offices; SS-Sturmbannfuehrer (major);1941/42 commissioned by [Oswald] Pohl with the transformation of values from Belzec so that the Reichsbank (central bank of Germany) could accept them; at first rejection of the order but, supported by SS-Obersturmfuehrer (first lieutenant) Huber, SS-Oberscharfuehrer (technical sergeant) Teichelmann, SS-Unterscharfuehrer (sergeant) Pflanzer, SS-Oberscharfuehrer Rzepa and Jewish jewellers, he led the transformation of values sent from Polish cities and extermination camps; he went to the front as Intendant (leading administrator) of the Latvian army corps 1943/44; from 07/1944 until the end of the war representative of the chief administrator in the Fuehrungshauptamt (Leadership Main Office) of the Waffen-SS (pp.320-324); - In summer 1943 participation in a trip to Belzec with several SS-Brigade- and Gruppenfuehrern (brigadiers and majors general); no permission to visit the camp, now identified by him as extermination camp; he clothed ca 100 members of the Reichskanzlei (Reich Chancellery) sent to Lublin for "Aktion Reinhard"; knew captains Wirth and Hering who brought Jewish values to Lublin, as did SS-Untersturmfuehrer (second lieutenant) [Gottfried] Schwarz; accommodated 2000 soldiers, SS- and policemen in Lublin, heard that all Lublin Jews should be liquidated, asked in Berlin for his transfer to the front; back in Lublin, SS-Obersturmfuehrer (first lieutenant) Brosig told him that, ordered by Sporrenberg, he brought all Jews to Majdanek where they were shot; he knew that Rzepa and Teichelmann (see higher) had to transfer Jewish values from Poniatowa to Lublin after the mass executions, in which [Gottlieb] Hering was involved (pp.324-329); - Wippern knew of executions in Cholm by SS-Obersturmfuehrer (first lieutenant) Reichenwallner and his equestrian squadron who got board and pay from his office; report on a dispute with Hoefle and Michalsen who prided themselves on their trials to kill people by gassing them in vans; report on Globocnik's statement of account of "Aktion Reinhard"; Wippern fulfilled his task reluctantly but to the best of his knowledge and belief (pp.329-332); Testimony (05/07/1962) of Siegfried Boeckmann, 49 years old; soldier of the Waffen-SS in Warsaw since 03/1943; his unit was used for the prostration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; marching in he was wounded; recovered he joined his unit in Russia (pp.334f); Testimony (03/01/1962) of Anton Schmidt; volunteer for the SS-Verfuegungstruppe (dispositional troops) in 1938, used in various places until transferred to Warsaw to a SS-Totenkopf-Verband (Death's-Head Unit) in 08/1941; used in the SS-Standortverwaltung (administration of concentration camps) in Lublin (led by Wippern), 10/1941 - 01/1943, then transferred to the tank division Frundsberg; his office was not concerned with work assignments; he heard of an uprising in the camp of Lublin and the clearing of the ghetto; thought the Jews from the ghetto were brought to Majdanek; knew that Jewish values were stored in the Standortverwaltung, that there was a safe; denial of violence against Jews (pp.336-342); Testimony (03/05/1960 [probably 1961 or 1962]) of Benjamin Eichner, born 1952; in the Warsaw Ghetto since 1941; knewing of the liquidations, thinking that Klaustermeyer was responsible, witnessing his and Meyer-Blecher's [Bloesche ?] violence; report on the organization of the Jews, who sometimes killed SD officers and threw their bodies into the sewage channels; statement that some Jews in the Ghetto denounced others and collaborated with the Germans; report on a dispute with the Jewish Kapo Moskowitz who wanted to deport him; Eichner hit him and was then beaten by Klaustermeyer until he seemed to be dead (p.343; the testimony is incomplete, but document 7188907 ends here).