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Wehrmacht Report dated November 10, 1941 on complete elimination of Jews
Contemporary Source

1941-11-10 / “The Complete Elimination of This Alien Element Is Being Carried Out”: A Wehrmacht Report From Minsk on The Jews

Cover letter dated 13 November 1941 and situation report dated 10 November 1941 from the Wehrmacht Commander in White Ruthenia concerning the political and military situation in the occupied territory. The report states with regard to the Jews that “since they continue to make common cause with the Communists and partisans, the complete elimination of this alien element is being carried out,” and that these actions had so far taken place “in the eastern part of the area, in the former Soviet–Russian border region and along the Minsk–Brest Litovsk railway line.” Attached to the situation report was the supplementary report on “special incidents” describing such a “cleansing action” in the Sluzk–Kleck area: “5,900 Jews were shot by Reserve Police Battalion 11”.

Interrogation of Richard Böck on Auschwitz dated November 2, 1960
Post-War Testimony

1960-11-02 / The 1960 Interrogation of Auschwitz SS Driver Richard Böck

In an interrogation conducted by West German authorities on November 2, 1960, former SS driver Richard Böck gave further testimony about his service at Auschwitz. He provided firsthand account of mass gassing at the Bunker extermination site in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Among other details, Böck stated that “after the entire transport—there must have been about 1,000 people—was inside the building, the gate was closed. Then an SS man, I believe he was a Rottenführer, came to our ambulance and took out a gas canister. With this canister, he went to a ladder that stood on the right side of the building, as seen from the gate. I noticed that he was wearing a gas mask as he climbed the ladder. When he reached the top, he opened a circular metal flap and poured the contents of the canister into the opening”.

Contemporary Source

1941-08-07 / Radio Message from HSSPF Mitte: Executions Exceed 30,000

Radio message (copy) from the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) Mitte, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, to the Kommando Stab RF-SS, dated 7 August 1941. The situation report states that “by today at noon a further 3,600 have been executed” by the SS Cavalry Brigade, “so that the total number executed by the Cavalry Brigade to date amounts to 7,819.” The report concludes that “thus the figure of 30,000 in my area has been exceeded.”

Gerstein report
Contemporary Source

1945-05-04 / The Gerstein Report: SS Officers Account on the Machinery of Extermination

On 4 May 1945, Kurt Gerstein completed a report describing his curriculum vitae and his inspection trip as SS-to the Aktion Reinhard extermination camps of Belzec and Treblinka, which took place between 17 and 19 August 1942. In this report, Gerstein provided an account of the extermination process, including the operation of the gas chambers. According to his testimony, he was sent to the camps in his capacity as an expert in disinfestation, first to assist with the disinfection of textiles collected during Aktion Reinhard and, second, to convert the gas chambers from engine exhaust to prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide).

Report dated December 7, 1941 on execution of Jews in Kerch Crimea
Contemporary Source

1941-12-07 / Wehrmacht Local HQ in Kerch, Crimea: “The execution of about 2,500 Jews was carried out”

A report submitted by the Wehrmacht’s Local Headquarters in Kerch, Crimea on 7 December 1941 recorded the extermination of the city’s Jewish population. It mentions that the “execution of about 2,500 Jews was carried out on 1, 2, and 3 December [1941]”. In the document, the word “execution” is crossed out in pencil and replaced with “resettlement,” the euphemism the Nazis used to conceal the murder of Jews. The report also noted that “additional executions are to be expected, since part of the Jewish population fled, went into hiding, and must first be apprehended”.

Detachment order of August 1, 1942 by Himmler to SS cavalry regiment
Contemporary Source

1941-08-01 / Disseminating Himmler’s Order to the SS Cavalry Regiment: “No male Jew is to remain alive, no remnant family is to remain in the localities”

This detachment order from SS Cavalry Regiment 1, issued on 1 August 1942, illustrates how Himmler’s earlier order that “all Jews must be shot. Jewish women are to be driven into the swamps” was integrated into daily field operations. The document notes that Himmler’s instruction “regarding the shooting of Jews is not to be taken as a reprimand, since up to now there have been no Jews” in the area. It underscores the directive to patrol leaders: “no male Jew is to remain alive; no remnant family is to remain in the localities.”

Radio signal dated August 1, 1941 Himmler order that Jewish women are to be driven into the swamps
Contemporary Source

1941-08-01 / Himmler’s Order to an SS Cavalry Regiment: “All Jews must be shot. Jewish women are to be driven into the swamps.”

An explicit directive issued by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler transmitted via radio signal to SS Cavalry Regiment 2 on August 1, 1941 set out how the unit was to deal with Jews in its operational area. The order stated that “all [male] Jews must be shot” and that “Jewish women are to be driven into the swamps”.

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