DOCSLIB.ORG

An Unprocessed Draft Manuscript Being Reconstructed and Edited in 2007

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Unprocessed Draft Manuscript Being Reconstructed and Edited in 2007 Eavesdropping on Hitler’s Reich 1 An unprocessed draft manuscript being reconstructed and edited in 2007 Typographically unfin- ished, and with new pas- sages still to be included Eavesdropping on Hitler’s Reich 3 Secretly Overheard Eavesdropping on Hitler’s Reich by David Irving Eavesdropping on Hitler’s Reich 5 David Irving ABGEHÖRT Introduction Geschichte des CSDIC Arbeitsverfahren Erste Erfolge Die ersten Beispiele Friedensfühler, 1944 Abhören in Bad Mondorf Verwendung als Beweise in Nürnberg Die Akten des CSDIC Bist Du auch abgesoffen? Wußten die Gefangenen selbst nichts davon? (I) Dulag Luft in Oberursel machte dasselbe Deutsche Präventivmaßnahmen Der Training-Film Das Theaterstück Taktik des CSDIC Besuche in die Stadt 6 david irving Secretly Overheard: Enttäuscht über eigene Luftangriffe Thoma wird gemalt Ein Schriftsteller wird angeheuert Weitere Methoden des CSDIC Spitzel werden verwendet Ergebnisse: Berger, Schellenberg Ahnten die Deutschen nichts? (II) Wo waren die Mikrophone? Mädchengeschichten Zeitgeschichte: Anschluß 1938 Papen Hans Frank und der Röhm Putsch 1534 Unvorsichtigkeit Thomas Weitere Unvorsichtigkeiten U-Bootkrieg usw. Über Skorzeny Soldatensender Calais Rücksichtslos! Wenn die Juden zurückkommen Dummes Zeug über Auschwitz Kriegsschuldfrage Die alten Zeiten. Hans Frank zum Röhm-Putsch 1934 Franz von Papen Friedensfühler über Spanien Adolf und Eva Anschluß 1938 Perversionen und wüste Ausdünstungen »Wir müssen hier flüstern« Bombenkrieg und Luftwaffe Spaß am Töten Jammer, daß die Engländer Hitler nicht glauben Heldentum der alliierten Flieger Adolf Galland Kanalschlacht 1942 Tod eines Fliegers Die schweren Luftwaffenverluste Aberglaube bei der Luft- und U-Bootwaffe this is a copyright manuscript © david irving 2007 Eavesdropping on Hitler’s Reich 7 Schicksal einer U-Bootsbesatzung »Unser Alte« Die NS-Führungsoffiziere Die wüsten U-Bootsmatrosen Günther Prien Torpedoversager Verlust der Blücher Galgenhumor Ein Erfinder kommt zu Göring und . Über Göring Immer gewesen! Ein Charakterschwein! Über Julius Streicher Über Josef Goebbels Über Felix Kersten und Himmler Über Robert Ley Greuelerzählungen Pistolenschießen in Polen Heckenschützen und francstireurs Das Kommen von Barbarossa, 1941 Der Flug von Rudolf Heß Reaktionen hierzu Das Gespräch zwischen Heß und Sir John Simon Untergang der Bismarck Jetzt geht es los mit Rußland Die Anfänge in Rußland Strategischer Konflikt im Herbst 1941 Wenn die russische Industrie nicht geschlagen ist Gespräche Mit Verhängnisvolle Folgen (Der Fall Kapitänleutnant Eck) Aber Umgefallen Sind Sie Alle Da war so ein alter Jude Der Führer hat den Gesamtblick verloren Judenevakuierungen aus Stuttgart Judentransport durch Wiener Neustadt Was meinst du, was der Jude mit uns machen wird! Einleitung zu diesem Thema 8 david irving Secretly Overheard: Schilderung einer Massenerschießung bei Riga, November 1941 Die Aussagen des Generalleutnant Kittel Ich muß annehmen, daß der Führer das alles gewußt hat Wir haben Frauen erschossen, wie Tiere Choltitz schildert Massaker bei Sebastopol Meinen Sie, daß der Führer den Befehl gegeben habe? Ich habe davon erst hier gehört Erschießungen in Lemberg Polnische Studenten werden erschossen Die Scheune mit Juden bei Odessa über Judenerschießungen in Pinsk Euthanasie Mein Bruder ist Anstaltsarzt Graveneck hieß das Nest Teresienstadt Die Gefangenen werden niedergemacht Terroristen habe ich eine Menge auf meinem Gewissen Erst mal ein paar umlegen! Episoden mit der Division Das Reich Der SD in Lyon Die französische Polizei Bromberger Blutsonntag 1939 Hinrichtung des Grafen Ciano Wie wird denn das dann exekutiert? Deserteuren werden erschossen Mensch, wenn man so was sieht Es Setzt sich Niemand neben Dich . in Norwegen Das Schlimmste war . durch Aachen Abgeschossen in Stuttgart Heimatmoral Eine »Volksabstimmung« in München Propagandabeispiele Todesurteil wegen Diebstahl an Schokolade Es ist ja eine Atomgeschichte this is a copyright manuscript © david irving 2007 Eavesdropping on Hitler’s Reich 9 V-175: alles im Arsch Nervengase Umgang mit Hitler Verhaftung des Prinzen von Hessen Vorgänge in Dänemark 1943 Manstein unterbricht den Führer 1944 Die kommende Invasion der Normandie Heß wird unter Narkose gesetzt Invasionsvorbereitungen und D-Day. Der 20. Juli 1944, Reaktionen darauf Entrüstung über die Verräter Papen über die Hintergründe Hinter den Kulissen des Ehrenhofs des Heeres Ardennenoffensive Ablosung in der Luftwaffe Ich habe mir Hamburg angesehen Fühlung mit den Westmächten aufnehmen ? Der OB der russischen Luftwaffe schrieb mir einen Brief Kurt Meyer geht zur Verhandlung nach London Friedensfühler Ribbentrops Demjenigen, dem wir unseren Eid geschworen haben, treu Der Angriff auf Dresden Giftgas als Vergeltung dafür Speers Unterredung mit Hitler Die letzten Tage Ein Brief an Churchill wird aufgesetzt Jetzt suchen wir einen Prügelknaben Wenn der nächste Krieg kommt Der Dönitz ist ja so ein Rindvieh Westfeldzug 1940 – das waren noch Zeiten Regierung Dönitz in Flensburg Göring: der größte Schwindel Nachdenklich über die Zukunft Die amerikanische Siegermacht Greuelberichte aus Bergen-Belsen Wer hat das gewußt? 1 0 david irving Secretly Overheard: Den Namen Auschwitz habe ich nicht gehört Keine Ernährungsmittel waren mehr da Filmaufnahmen werden vorgeführt Vergleiche mit Dresden Göring über die »Vernichtungstruppen« Frank: Mit Juden haben Sie nichts zu tun Kaltenbrunner und die Sonderbehandlung Vorgänge in den KZ’s Wenn man jetzt von Kriegsschuld spricht Die Deutschen Atomwissenschaftler Einleitung zu diesem Abschnitt Geschichte des deutschen Atomvorhabens Die Farmhall Gespräche this is a copyright manuscript © david irving 2007 Eavesdropping on Hitler’s Reich 11 Introduction »DAS englische Suchgerät Asdic,« raunte der deutsche Funkmaat Hoffmann (U-68l) im Gespräch mit Überwasserkameraden in ei- nem englischen Sonderlager am 17. März 1945, »tickt so auf dem Bootskörper. ’Leichenfinger’ haben wir immer gesagt.« Hoffmann, gefangen sechs Tage zuvor beim Untergang des Bootes U-681, ahnte weder, daß jedes von ihm auch nur geflü- stertes Wort von dem englischen Wachpersonal mittels versteckter Mikrophonen aufgenommen wurde, noch, daß die Wortlautpro- tokolle solcher Gespräche in manchmal 60facher Ausfertigung so- fort an die Geheimdienstabteilungen der alliierten Wehrmachttei- le weitergeleitet wurden. By the end of 1945, when the last guests left these Sonderlager, around forty thousand pages, single spaced typescript, of such Wortlautprotokolle had been angefertigt: der �����������������������������������������������������Auszug aus C.S.D.I.C. (U.K.) Bericht SR draft Nr.2545������������������45. Public Record Office, (nunmehr »The National Archives«) London, Bestand WO.208, Bd. (kurz: PRO: WO.208). 12 david irving Secretly Overheard: deutsche Landser im Originalton.����������������������������� Nicht nur die Landser wurden so abgehört – Field marshals, generals, Reichsministers, Botschafter were casually thrown together with former colleagues (and rivals) and encouraged to talk freely about the past. Aus völkerrechtlichen Gründen, these reports were stamped top secret (entspricht geheime reichssache). They were ini- tially kept out of the public archives in London and Washington. In thirty years research on other projects this author chanced upon isolated Exemplare during his trawls through the archives – docu- ments which the »weeders« had missed before releasing collections to the public domain. The American Seventh Army had adopted an identical inter- rogating system, which was operated in a building annexed to their Sonderlager »Ashcan« (C.C.W.P.E Nr.32) for prominent Nazis, es- tablished at the Grand Hotel in Bad Mondorf, Luxembourg; the American Army released the resulting brief »IX-« and »IX-P« series of Wortlautprotokolle (darunter Göring, Papen, Ribbentrop, Sch- acht, Darré, und Horthy) to the U.S. National Archives in Washing- ton D.C. and to the Federal Records Center at Suitland. Maryland. But it was not until the late 1980s that the British globally lifted their restrictions on reading the far more numerous Niederschrif- ten which had been generated by the C.S.D.I.C. – the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centres which they had first set up in 1939. Even now important sections of these reports remain in- explicably closed for fifty or even 75 years. The C.S.D.I.C. had its origins a few weeks after Britain declared war on Germany. The War Office had called a conference attended by officers from the Admiralty, Air Ministry and Home Office (In- nenministerium), as a result of which a unit was set up specifically to interrogate enemy prisoners of war. A combined services col- lecting and detailed interrogation centre, known as M.I.1(h) was installed in the ancient Tower of London on the Thames: space was not a problem, as Britain had very few prisoners at first. On October 26, 1939 the unit was formally re-named the »Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre« (C.S.D.I.C.); initially each Wehrmachtteil had a section, which reported direct this is a copyright manuscript © david irving 2007 Eavesdropping on Hitler’s Reich 13 to Admiralty-, Military, or Air Intelligence. As more prisoners trickled in – captured Nazi submarine of- ficers and airmen who had bailed out over Britain – the interroga- tion centre shifted to Cockfosters Camp in the outskirts of London. Subsequently C.S.D.I.C. set up two specially equipped interrogation units at Latimer and at Wilton Park, near Beaconsfield; C.S.D.I.C. became the responsibility of department
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 3868546065 Lp.Pdf
    Studien zur Gewaltgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts Ausgewählt von Jörg Baberowski, Bernd Greiner und Michael Wildt Das 20. Jahrhundert gilt als das Jahrhundert des Genozids, der Lager, des Totalen Krieges, des Totalitarismus und Ter- rorismus, von Flucht, Vertreibung und Staatsterror – ge- rade weil sie im Einzelnen allesamt zutreffen, hinterlassen diese Charakterisierungen in ihrer Summe eine eigentüm- liche Ratlosigkeit. Zumindest spiegeln sie eine nachhaltige Desillusionierung. Die Vorstellung, Gewalt einhegen, be- grenzen und letztlich überwinden zu können, ist der Ein- sicht gewichen, dass alles möglich ist, jederzeit und an jedem Ort der Welt. Und dass selbst Demokratien, die Erben der Aufklärung, vor entgrenzter Gewalt nicht gefeit sind. Das normative und ethische Bemühen, die Gewalt einzugrenzen, mag vor diesem Hintergrund ungenügend und mitunter sogar vergeblich erscheinen. Hinfällig ist es aber keineswegs, es sei denn um den Preis der moralischen Selbstaufgabe. Ausgewählt von drei namhaften Historikern – Jörg Baberowski, Bernd Greiner und Michael Wildt –, präsen- tieren die »Studien zur Gewaltgeschichte des 20. Jahrhun- derts« die Forschungsergebnisse junger Wissenschaftle- rinnen und Wissenschaftler. Die Monografien analysieren am Beispiel von totalitären Systemen wie dem National- sozialismus und Stalinismus, von Diktaturen, Autokratien und nicht zuletzt auch von Demokratien die Dynamik ge- walttätiger Situationen, sie beschreiben das Erbe der Ge- walt und skizzieren mögliche Wege aus der Gewalt. Sara Berger Experten der Vernichtung
    [Show full text]
  • Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, Va
    GUIDES TO GERMAN RECORDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXANDRIA, VA. No. 32. Records of the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police (Part I) The National Archives National Archives and Records Service General Services Administration Washington: 1961 This finding aid has been prepared by the National Archives as part of its program of facilitating the use of records in its custody. The microfilm described in this guide may be consulted at the National Archives, where it is identified as RG 242, Microfilm Publication T175. To order microfilm, write to the Publications Sales Branch (NEPS), National Archives and Records Service (GSA), Washington, DC 20408. Some of the papers reproduced on the microfilm referred to in this and other guides of the same series may have been of private origin. The fact of their seizure is not believed to divest their original owners of any literary property rights in them. Anyone, therefore, who publishes them in whole or in part without permission of their authors may be held liable for infringement of such literary property rights. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 58-9982 AMERICA! HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE fOR THE STUDY OP WAR DOCUMENTS GUIDES TO GERMAN RECOBDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXAM)RIA, VA. No* 32» Records of the Reich Leader of the SS aad Chief of the German Police (HeiehsMhrer SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei) 1) THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION (AHA) COMMITTEE FOR THE STUDY OF WAE DOCUMENTS GUIDES TO GERMAN RECORDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXANDRIA, VA* This is part of a series of Guides prepared
    [Show full text]
  • Peter Black Odilo Globocnik, Nazi Eastern Policy, and the Implementation of the Final Solution
    www.doew.at – Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes (Hrsg.), Forschungen zum Natio- nalsozialismus und dessen Nachwirkungen in Österreich. Festschrift für Brigitte Bailer, Wien 2012 91 Peter Black Odilo Globocnik, Nazi Eastern Policy, and the Implementation of the Final Solution During the spring of 1943, while on an inspection tour of occupied Poland that included a briefing on the annihilation of the Polish Jews, SS Personnel Main Office chief Maximilian von Herff characterized Lublin District SS and Police Leader and SS-Gruppenführer Odilo Globocnik, in the following way: “A man fully charged with all possible light and dark sides. Little concerned with ap- pearances, fanatically obsessed with the task, [he] engages himself to the limit without concern for health or superficial recognition. His energy drives him of- ten to breach existing boundaries and to forget the boundaries established for him within the [SS-] Order – not out of personal ambition, but much more for the sake of his obsession with the matter at hand. His success speaks unconditionally for him.”1 Von Herff’s analysis of Globocnik’s reflected a consistent pattern in the ca- reer of the Nazi Party organizer and SS officer, who characteristically atoned for his transgressions of the National Socialist code of behavior by fanatical pursuit and implementation of core Nazi goals.2 Globocnik was born to Austro-Croat parents on April 21, 1904 in multina- tional Trieste, then the principal seaport of the Habsburg Monarchy. His father’s family had come from Neumarkt (Tržič), in Slovenia. Franz Globocnik served as a Habsburg cavalry lieutenant and later a senior postal official; he died of pneumonia on December 1, 1919.
    [Show full text]
  • Hitler's Green Army: the German Order Police and Their European Auxiliaries, 1933-1945 Volume II Eastern Europe and the Balkans by Antonio J
    Hitler's Green Army: The German Order Police and their European Auxiliaries, 1933-1945 Volume II Eastern Europe and the Balkans By Antonio J. Munoz Color Plates by Darko Pavlovic Above: the Band and Standard of the German Police in 1938. Table of Contents Acknowledgements 5 Foreword 7 Introduction to the Balkans Section 9 Chapter 1 - 19 Poland 19 The Growth of the German Police 19 The SS and the Order Police Invade Poland 20 Notes on the Einsatzgruppen Officers 23 Additional SS and Police Units 30 The Mission Assigned to the SS and Police Forces in Poland 30 Chapter 2 - 43 Garrisoning Poland 43 German Order Police Battalions in Poland, 1939-1945 53 The German Kolonialpolizei 60 Auxiliary Police Forces in Poland 65 The Polish Blue Police 65 The Ethnic-German Selbstschutz and Sonderdienst in Poland 67 The Ukrainian Schutzmannschaft and Galician Police 67 The Jewish Order Police 69 Polish Guerrilla Forces and Regions 71 Collaboration of the Police in the Extermination of the Polish Jews 74 Garrisoning Poland: The 72nd Police Battalion - a Typical Occupation Unit 80 Garrisoning Poland: The Realities of the German Occupation 81 Chapter 3- 87 Complicity in the Atrocities by the German Order Police Forces in Poland 87 The Partisan War Escalates in Poland 97 The Polish Partisan Army 101 Jewish Bolshevism? 102 The Ukrainian Nationalist Guerrillas 103 The War Against the Polish Partisans in 1943 104 The War Against the Jews in 1943: The Warsaw Ghetto No Longer Exists! 109 Revolt in the Bialystok Ghetto Ill Revolt in the Sobibor Death Camp 112 TheLuftschutspolizei andFliegergruppez.b.V.
    [Show full text]
  • England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) Decisions >> Irving V
    [Home ] [ Databases ] [ World Law ] [Multidatabase Search ] [ Help ] [ Feedback ] England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) Decisions You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) Decisions >> Irving v. Penguin Books Limited, Deborah E. Lipstat [2000] EWHC QB 115 (11th April, 2000) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2000/115.html Cite as: [2000] EWHC QB 115 [New search ] [ Help ] Irving v. Penguin Books Limited, Deborah E. Lipstat [2000] EWHC QB 115 (11th April, 2000) 1996 -I- 1113 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION Before: The Hon. Mr. Justice Gray B E T W E E N: DAVID JOHN CADWELL IRVING Claimant -and- PENGUIN BOOKS LIMITED 1st Defendant DEBORAH E. LIPSTADT 2nd Defendant MR. DAVID IRVING (appered in person). MR. RICHARD RAMPTON QC (instructed by Messrs Davenport Lyons and Mishcon de Reya) appeared on behalf of the first and second Defendants. MISS HEATHER ROGERS (instructed by Messrs Davenport Lyons) appeared on behalf of the first Defendant, Penguin Books Limited. MR ANTHONY JULIUS (instructed by Messrs Mishcon de Reya) appeared on behalf of the second Defendant, Deborah Lipstadt. I direct pursuant to CPR Part 39 P.D. 6.1. that no official shorthand note shall be taken of this judgment and that copies of this version as handed down may be treated as authentic. Mr. Justice Gray 11 April 2000 Index Paragraph I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 A summary of the main issues 1.4 The parties II. THE WORDS COMPLAINED OF AND THEIR MEANING 2.1 The passages complained of 2.6 The issue of identification 2.9 The issue of interpretation or meaning III.
    [Show full text]
  • German Captured Documents Collection
    German Captured Documents Collection A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Prepared by Allan Teichroew, Fred Bauman, Karen Stuart, and other Manuscript Division Staff with the assistance of David Morris and Alex Sorenson Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 2011 Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2011 Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms011148 Latest revision: 2012 October Collection Summary Title: German Captured Documents Collection Span Dates: 1766-1945 ID No.: MSS22160 Extent: 249,600 items ; 51 containers plus 3 oversize ; 20.5 linear feet ; 508 microfilm reels Language: Collection material in German with some English and French Repository: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Abstract: German documents captured by American military forces after World War II consisting largely of Nazi Party materials, German government and military records, files of several German officials, and some quasi-governmental records. Much of the material is microfilm of originals returned to Germany. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Wiedemann, Fritz, b. 1891. Fritz Wiedemann papers. Organizations Akademie für Deutsches Recht (Germany) Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund. Deutsches Ausland-Institut. Eher-Verlag. Archiv. Germany. Auswärtiges Amt. Germany. Reichskanzlei. Germany. Reichsministerium für die Besetzten Ostgebiete. Germany. Reichsministerium für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion. Germany. Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda.
    [Show full text]
  • The Holocaust and the Law: a Model of 'Good History'?
    THE HOLOCAUST AND THE LAW: A MODEL OF ‘GOOD HISTORY’? LYNNE HUMPHREY ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PhD 1 Acknowledgments I would like to formally thank Professor Dan Stone for his unwavering support, as well as patience, throughout the duration of the thesis. I would also like to thank the administration staff of both the former German department (Ann Hobbs) and the current History department for helping to facilitate the many stages of its progression. I would especially like to thank Marie-Christine Ockenden for her compassion and understanding when needing to interrupt my studies. I am grateful to the Friendly Hands Charitable Foundation. The grant awarded by this charity was essential for the research of the Ernst Zündel trials in Toronto, Canada. I am also grateful to Renu Barrett, at the ‘William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections’ (McMasters University), Janice Rosen, at the ‘Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Commission National Archives’ (Montreal), and A.J Strauss, at the Ontario Court of Appeal, for organising access to the relevant trial transcripts, and other primary source material, on my behalf, but also for being a source of friendly contact during my visits. On a more personal note, I would not have completed the thesis without the consistent encouragement, input and practical support of close family and friends. Although inadequate as recognition of this support, a huge thank you is due to my brothers, Stephen and Nigel, and the friendships of Meeta, Cheryl, Su, Maureen, Joanne, Shamshad, Alison, Paul, Ann, Fergus and Nuala. Inspiration was also sustained by the coastline of North Shields, the country lanes of Thurgarton and the cities of Berlin, Manchester and Toronto.
    [Show full text]
  • Destruction and Human Remains
    Destruction and human remains HUMAN REMAINS AND VIOLENCE Destruction and human remains Destruction and Destruction and human remains investigates a crucial question frequently neglected in academic debate in the fields of mass violence and human remains genocide studies: what is done to the bodies of the victims after they are killed? In the context of mass violence, death does not constitute Disposal and concealment in the end of the executors’ work. Their victims’ remains are often treated genocide and mass violence and manipulated in very specific ways, amounting in some cases to true social engineering with often remarkable ingenuity. To address these seldom-documented phenomena, this volume includes chapters based Edited by ÉLISABETH ANSTETT on extensive primary and archival research to explore why, how and by whom these acts have been committed through recent history. and JEAN-MARC DREYFUS The book opens this line of enquiry by investigating the ideological, technical and practical motivations for the varying practices pursued by the perpetrator, examining a diverse range of historical events from throughout the twentieth century and across the globe. These nine original chapters explore this demolition of the body through the use of often systemic, bureaucratic and industrial processes, whether by disposal, concealment, exhibition or complete bodily annihilation, to display the intentions and socio-political frameworks of governments, perpetrators and bystanders. A NST Never before has a single publication brought together the extensive amount of work devoted to the human body on the one hand and to E mass violence on the other, and until now the question of the body in TTand the context of mass violence has remained a largely unexplored area.
    [Show full text]
  • Kielce Province Villages During WWII (Pdf, 150.77
    Katarzyna Jedynak Kielce Village Museum Mausoleum of the Martyrdom of Polish Villages in Michniów KIELCE PROVINCE VILLAGES DURING WORLD WAR II The plan to exploit the Polish lands and to gradually ruin the Polish nation had been created by the leaders of the Third Reich before World War II even began. Therefore, the totality of German crimes against Poles and other nationalities must be considered as deliberate and planned actions. The occupier aimed to subjugate the Polish people and ultimately exterminate them after winning the war. In September 1939, Kielce Province came under the control of the Wehrmacht. During the 55 days of Wehrmacht rule (1 September – 25 October 1939), its frontline units committed numerous crimes against the inhabitants of the rural areas of Kielce Province. Random residents of conquered villages were killed on sight. Residents of the following villages met their demise in this way: Lelów, Ślężany, Szczekociny, Koniecpol, Wodzisław, Chmielnik, Daleszyce and others. The Germans would often terrorise the villages they conquered by killing off parts of their populations. 80 people were killed in Lipsk, 50 in Pińczów and 30 in Miechów. The Germans also killed civilians in retaliation whenever they met with resistance from the Polish Army. After the Battle of Krasna (6 September), German soldiers killed 24 people in the village itself and the nearby village of Komorów, including 4 Jews and 3 POWs. Civilians were also frequently used as human shields. This was the case during the battles fought near Odrzywół, where seven people died as a result. Starting in mid- September, Wehrmacht, gendarmerie and Ordnungspolizei units began to arrest and execute Poles, primarily members of the intelligentsia, political and social activists, as well as Jews.
    [Show full text]
  • Auschwitz Concentration Camp 1 Auschwitz Concentration Camp
    Auschwitz concentration camp 1 Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz German Nazi concentration and extermination camp (1940–1945) The main entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp Location of Auschwitz in contemporary Poland Coordinates [1] [1] 50°02′09″N 19°10′42″E Coordinates: 50°02′09″N 19°10′42″E Other names Birkenau Location Auschwitz, Nazi Germany Operated by the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS), the Soviet NKVD (after World War II) Original use Army barracks Operational May 1940 – January 1945 Inmates mainly Jews, Poles, Roma, Soviet soldiers Killed 1.1 million (estimated) Liberated by Soviet Union, January 27, 1945 Notable inmates Viktor Frankl, Maximilian Kolbe, Primo Levi, Witold Pilecki, Edith Stein, Simone Veil, Rudolf Vrba, Elie Wiesel Notable books If This Is a Man, Night, Man's Search for Meaning [2] Website Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Auschwitz concentration camp (German: Konzentrationslager Auschwitz [ˈaʊʃvɪts] ( listen)) was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It consisted of Auschwitz I (the base camp); Auschwitz II–Birkenau (the extermination camp); Auschwitz III–Monowitz (a labor camp to staff an IG Farben factory), and 45 satellite camps. Auschwitz I was first constructed to hold Polish political prisoners, who began to arrive in May 1940. The first extermination of prisoners took place in September 1941, and Auschwitz II–Birkenau went on to become a major site of the Nazi "Final Solution to the Jewish question". From early 1942 until late 1944, transport trains delivered Jews to the camp's gas chambers from all over German-occupied Europe, where they were killed with the pesticide Auschwitz concentration camp 2 Zyklon B.
    [Show full text]
  • The Daily Work of Erich Muhsfeldt, Chief of the Crematorium at Majdanek Concentration and Extermination Camp, 1942–441
    2 A specialist: the daily work of Erich Muhsfeldt, chief of the crematorium at Majdanek concentration and extermination camp, 1942–441 Elissa Mailänder In the context of the invasion of the Soviet Union, due to begin on 22 June 1941, Heinrich Himmler, visiting Lublin on 20 June that year, ordered a camp to be built in this Polish city situated in the south-east of occupied Poland, the so-called Generalgouvernement. Officially run as the ‘Lublin Waffen-SS prisoner of war camp’, the camp – which the prisoners named after the Lublin suburb of Majdan Tatarski – was nevertheless revealed after inspection to be a concentration camp,2 although, for as long as it existed, from 1941 to 1944, it fulfilled many different functions. It served as a prisoner of war camp for Soviet soldiers (1941–44), as a labour camp primarily for Jewish, but also for Polish, prisoners (1941–42), as a hostage and internment camp for the Polish and Soviet rural population, and as a concentration camp principally for Polish political prisoners (1942–44). In October 1942 a women’s camp was set up within the men’s camp, for Polish and Jewish women, where Jewish infants were also occasionally held. The Jewish prisoners – women, men, and children – were systematically murdered, since Majdanek was, between June 1942 and November 1943, one of the extermination camps for European Jews from all over Europe. The history of the camp is directly linked with the National Socialist policy of occupation and extermination in occupied Poland, as well as with the course of the war on the Eastern Front.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 22 Closing the Menten Affair, 1976
    Chapter 22 Closing the Menten Affair, 1976 -1987328 Fig 36: Pieter Menten (16 May 1977) The political upheaval and public outcry which surrounded the Menten case in the summer of 1976 had a rather inconspicuous beginning. On 22 May the largest-selling Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf published a full-page article about the then seventy-six- 328 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Menten See also http://www.bbc.co.uk/ archive/holocaust/5096.shtml 275 CLOSING THE MENTEN AFFAIR, 1976 -1987 year-old Pieter Nicolaas Menten and his art collection, part of which was to be sold at a public auction because he was ‘cramped for space.’ The rather obvious purpose of the article was to draw attention to the auction, thereby raising the bidding prices. By coincidence, however, this article provided leads for journalist Hans Knoop, who at the time was working for the then struggling weekly magazine Accent, which has since folded. Knoop was investigating Menten at the suggestion of his Israeli colleague Chaviv Kannan, who was convinced that Menten was a war criminal but who had been unable in the late forties and early fifties to persuade the Dutch Department of Justice to take action. Kannan, in turn, had been tipped off by Henrietta Boas, a Dutch correspondent. Very soon Knoop was able to supply ample evidence which, though incomplete, was nevertheless very incriminating for Menten. Knoop’s articles and his direct involvement with a broadcasting organization, which produced television programs about this case, drew national attention. Perhaps in poor taste, the scandal nevertheless appealed very much to the public imagination.
    [Show full text]