Betty asks…
To what extent did Hoess seem sorry for what he did?
AFFIDAVIT GIVENAT NUREMBERG Following World War II, Nazi war criminals were put on trial in Nuremberg, Germany. The criminals were tried for the killing of 11 million people in Nazi death camps. The following is the confession of Rudolf Hess, the commander at Auschwitz, the largest of the concentration camps. Hoess was ultimately sentenced to death and hanged at Auschwitz. extent did Hess seem sorry for what he did? I, Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Hess, being first duly sworn, depose and say as follows: I am forty-six years old, and have been a member of the NSDAP [Nazi Party] since 1922; a member of the SS since 1934; a member of the Waffen-SS since 1939. I was a member from 1 December 1934 of the SS Guard Unit, the so-called Deathshead Formation [Totenkopf Verband]. I have been constantly associated with the administration of concentration camps since 1934, serving at Dachau until 1938; then as Adjutant in Sachsen- hausen from 1938 to May 1, 1940, when I was appointed Commandant of Auschwitz. I commanded Auschwitz until 1 December 1943, and estimate that at least 2,500,000 victims were executed and exterminated there by gassing and burning, and at least another half million succumbed to starvation and disease making a total dead of about 3,000,000. This figure represents about 70% to 80% of all persons sent to Auschwitz as prisoners, the remainder having been selected and used for slave labor in the concentration camp industries. Included among the executed and burnt were approximately 20,000 Russian prisoners of war (previously screened out of Prisoner of War cages by the Gestapo) who were delivered at Auschwitz in Wehrmacht transports operated by regular Wehrmacht officers and men. The remainder of the total number of victims included about 100,000 German Jews, and great numbers of citizens, mostly Jewish from Holland, France, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Greece, or other countries. We executed about 400,000 Hungarian Jews alone at Auschwitz in the summer of 1944. . . . Mass executions by gassing commenced during the summer 1941 and continued until fall 1944. I personally supervised executions at Auschwitz until the first of December 1943 and know by reason of my continued duties in the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps WVHA that these mass executions continued as stated above. . . . The "final solution" of the Jewish question meant the complete extermination of all Jews in Europe. I was ordered to establish extermination facilities at Auschwitz in June 1941. At that time, there were already in the general govern- ment three other extermination camps: Belzek, Treblinka, and Wolzek. These camps were under the Einsatzkommando of the Security Police and SD. I visited Treblinka to find out how they carried out their extermination. The Camp Commandant at Treblinka told me that he had liquidated 80,000 in the course of one-half year. He was principally concerned with liquidating all the Jews from the Warsaw ghetto. He used monoxide gas and I did not think that his methods were very efficient. So when I set up the extermination building at Auschwitz, I used Cyclon B, which was a crystallized prussic acid which we dropped into the death chamber from a small opening. It took from 3 to 15 minutes to kill the people in the death chamber depending upon climatic conditions. We knew when the people were dead because their screaming stopped. We usually waited about one-half hour before we opened the doors and removed the bodies. After the bodies were removed our special commandos took off the rings and extracted the gold from the teeth of the corpses. Another improvement we made over Treblinka was that we built our gas cham- bers to accommodate 2,000 people at one time, whereas at Treblinka their 10 gas chambers only accommodated 200 people each. The way we selected our victims was as follows: we had two SS doctors on duty at Auschwitz to examine the incoming transports of prisoners. The prisoners would be marched by one of the doctors who would make spot decisions as they walked by. Those who were fit for work were sent into the Camp. Others were sent immediately to the extermination plants. Children of tender years were invariably exterminated since by reason of their youth they were unable to work. Still another improvement we made over Treblinka was that at Treblinka the victims almost always knew that they were to be exterminated and at Auschwitz we endeavored to fool the victims into thinking that they were to go through a delousing process. Of course, frequently they real- ized our true intentions and we sometimes had riots and difficulties due to that fact. Very frequently women would hide their children under the clothes but of course when we found them we would send the children in to be exterminated. We were required to carry out these exterminations in secrecy but of course
Our pick of the answers:
From the statement given at the Nuremberg Trial he appeared to be boasting of his/German achievement in eradicating Jewry in the most evil way possible and it ultimate success.
Sharon asks…
What do you think of these numbers?
Good News From Auschwitz! The following is from Australia's A.N.M., P.O. Box 40, Summer Hill, N.S.W. 2130: Dear Respected Reader: Since 1945 there have been many conflicting claims concerning the numbers of Jewish people (and others) who died at Auschwitz-Birkeneu (Oswiecim, concentration camp). However, it is only recent research and access to hitherto unavailable documents, that these numbers have drastically lowered, possibly indicating that more of our people survive. Perhaps the 6 mills often publicized (though our best figure is 4.3 million) may also need to be revised lower, we hope so. Dr. Nathan Nussbaum, Honorary Director, Centre for Jewish Holocaust Studies. According to official documents in the French Republic (institute for the Examination of War-criminals) the number that died in Auschwitz was: 8,000,000 According to the French daily newspaper "Le Monde" (20 April, 1978): 5,000,000 According to the memorial plaque on the gas-chamber monument at Auschwitz-Birkenau (later removed in 1990 by the Polish Government): 4,000,000 According to the "confession" of Rudolf Hoess, the last commandant of Auschwitz. G.V. interrogation record and written statement before his "suicide": 3,000,000 According to a statement by Yeduha Bauer, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem: 1,600,000 According to "La Monde" (1 September 1989): 1,433,000 According to Prof. Raul Hilberg (Professor for Holocaust Research, and author of the book, "The Annihilation of European Jewry," 2nd. ed. 1988: 1,250,000 According to Polish historians, G.V. DPA - Report of July 1990 and corresponding public announcements: 1,100,000 According to Gerald Reitlinger, author of "Die Endlbsun": 850,000 In the autumn of 1989 the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev opened Soviet archives, and the public saw for the first time, the complete register of deaths at Auschwitz - which speaks as a key document of 74,000 dead. I just posted a small list of various numbers. Im not denying anything... the numbers are. Which set of numbers are true? 74,000 would sure stimulate a lot less sympathy so it will never be that one. So elena... The Holocaust tm is faith based?
Our pick of the answers:
Interesting. Did you happen to notice that the US had not reported an estimated number through their archives? Do you know why that it? FDR made damn sure that the people of the USA did not know this was going on until it was too late.
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