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Interrogation protocol dated April 15, 1946 Otto Moll Auschwitz testimony
Post-War Testimony

1946-04-15 / Testimony of Otto Moll, Head of Auschwitz Crematoria

Interrogation of notorious Auschwitz perpetrator Otto Moll, conducted on April 15–16, 1946. In his statements to U.S. prosecutors at Nuremberg, Moll acknowledged supervising the cremation of bodies at Birkenau in the Summer of 1944. He described the arrival of transports from Hungary, the selection process carried out by SS doctors, and the transfer of those deemed unfit for work to the crematoria. At the same time, he maintained that responsibility for the killings themselves rested with doctors and higher-ranking SS officials. He denied committing any atrocities.

Contemporary Source

1943-03-24 / Swiss Intelligence Receives 1942 German Report on Ukraine that “Executions of Jews Have Not Improved Our Reputation”

In March 1943, the Swiss Legation in Germany forwarded a transcript of a report from Alfred Rosenberg’s Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories dated May 13, 1942, on the public sentiment in German-occupied Ukraine during the Second World War. Among other observations, the report noted that “the exemplary conduct of the German soldiers dispelled the initial concerns about the alleged brutality of our troops. If we disregard the executions of Jews, which have not improved our reputation—however much Jewry is hated there—the hardships necessary in war have not greatly impressed the Russian people, for they are accustomed to such things”.

Einsatzgruppen report no. 88 dated September 19, 1941
Perpetrator

1941-09-19 / Einsatzgruppen Event Report USSR No. 88: “Total number of executions amounts to 85,000”

Einsatzgruppen Report No. 88, dated 19 September 1941, constitutes contemporaneous evidence of systematic Nazi mass murder in the occuopied Soviet Union. Under the heading “liquidations,” Einsatzgruppe A reported that “districts are now free of Jews,” and that “the number of persons liquidated by Einsatzkommando 3 together with Lithuanian partisans has risen to 46,692. The total number of executions amounts to approximately 85,000.” It further mentions that “544 mentally ill patients from the asylum in Aglona were liquidated with the assistance of Latvian self-defense units.” Einsatzgruppe B similarly documented mass shootings. It reported that Sonderkommando 4a “shot 1,107 adult Jews, and the Ukrainian militia shot 561 juvenile Jews. Thus, Sonderkommando 4a has, up to 6 September 1941, dealt with a total of 11,328 Jews.” Furthermore, the report states that “a unit of the Higher SS and Police Leader executed 1,303 Jews, including 876 Jewish women over the age of 12.”

Contemporary Source

1941-08-26 / Telex from HSSPF South: 1269 Jews Shot by SS and Police Units

Telex from the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) Russia South, Friedrich Jeckeln, to the Kommando Stab RF-SS, dated 26 August 1941. The situation report records that the 1st SS Brigade reported “82 Jews shot,” Police Regiment South reported “549 Jews shot,” Police Battalion 314 recorded “69 Jews shot,” and the staff company of the HSSPF reported “546 Jews shot.” Taken together, the figures in the telex amount to the reported shooting of 1,269 Jews.

Report dated April 7, 1942
Contemporary Source

1942-04-07 / Labor Office Report Lublin: “Of the 40,000 Jews in Lublin, all but 2,000 are being removed from the city”

A confidential report dated April 7, 1942, issued by the Lublin Labor Office, documents labor allocations for March 1942, including transfers of workers to the Reich, SS construction projects, and the reorganization of Jewish forced labor during the early phase of Operation Reinhard. The report explicitly records the onset of mass deportations in Lublin that “in mid-month a larger resettlement action of Jews was initiated by the SS and Police Leader, which is still ongoing and during which the ghetto was sealed off. Of the 40,000 Jews residing in Lublin, all but approximately 2,000 are being removed from the city. These 2,000 consist of approximately 800 skilled workers and their family members.” The document further states that “The resettlement action is also to be carried out in the towns of the rest of the district”.

Jeckeln radio report Police Battalion 320 Kamenenz Podolskij 1941
Contemporary Source

1941-08-28 / Radio Message from HSSPF South: “5,000 Jews were shot” in Kamenets-Podolsky

Radio message from the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) Russia South, Friedrich Jeckeln, to the Kommando Stab RF-SS, dated 28 August 1941. The situation report records that Police Regiment South reported “369 Jews shot,” while Police Battalion 320 stated that, “approximately 5,000 Jews were shot” during the “special action” in Kamenets-Podolsky (Kamianets-Podilskyi).

Interrogation protocoll dated April 28, 1959 Hans Stark Auschwitz
Post-War Testimony

1959-04-28 / The 1959 Interrogation of Auschwitz SS Man Hans Stark

Interrogation of former SS-Untersturmführer Hans Stark of the Auschwitz Political Department, dated April 28, 1959, on atrocities committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. As a former member of the admissions department, Stark testified that “newly arriving transports that were designated for shooting were not to be registered, as would have been done with others, but were to be led directly to be shot.” He further described the early use of poison gas, stating that “the first gassing was carried out in the autumn of 1941 in the small crematorium. … A group of approximately 200 to 250 Jews was brought to the crematorium. They were men, women, and children of all ages. They were sent into the crematorium. I stood at the entrance and counted them. The gassings were carried out in such a way that the Jews were sent into a room which was then closed behind them. Then Zyklon B was poured through two openings in the roof”.

Contemporary Source

1943-02-06 / Pohl’s Report to Himmler: 825 Waggons of “Scrap Material from the Jewish Resettlement” in the Auschwitz and Lublin camps

Report by SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl, head of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (SS-WVHA), to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, dated 6 February 1943, on “the quantity of scrap material from the Jewish resettlement that has so far been shipped out from the Auschwitz and Lublin camps.” The report states that a total of 825 railway wagons of confiscated property were collected, sorted, and dispatched from the Auschwitz and Majdanek concentration camps.

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”.

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