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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”.

Report dated June 30, 1943 by Katzmann on the Final SOlution in Galicia
Contemporary Source

1943-06-30 / The Katzmann Report: “Solution of the Jewish Question in Galicia”

On June 30, 1943, the SS and Police Leader of Galicia in Lemberg (Lwiw) SS-Gruppenführer Fritz Katzmann submitted to the Higher SS and Police Leader East Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger, a top secret report on the “Solution of the Jewish Question in Galicia.” During the ghetto relocations of winter 1941/1942, the report states that “all work-shy and antisocial Jewish riffraff were identified during the screening and given special treatment” – a standard Nazi euphemism for extrajudicial killing.

Katzmann records that “resettlement from the District of Galicia began in April 1942 and was carried out continuously,” and that by November 1942 “254,989 Jews had already been resettled or relocated.” He goes on to explain that “the resettlement was carried out vigorously, so that as of 23 June 1943 all Jewish residential districts could be dissolved,” and added that the district was now “free of Jews, except for those who are in the camps under the control of the SS and Police Leader.” Jews who were “still occasionally apprehended are given special treatment”. By 27 June 1943, Katzmann reports “a total of 434,329 Jews had been resettled” with only 21,156 left in forced-labor camps.

Adressing the plunder of Jewish property, the report notes that “extraordinary valuables were secured and placed at the disposal of the ‘Reinhard’ special staff,” which refers to Operation Reinhard, the program responsible for the extermination of the Jews in the Generalgouvernement and the large-scale confiscation of their assets.

Daily report dated March 2, 1943 on Auschwitz crematorium 4 gas chamber
Contemporary Source

1943-03-02 / Construction Report on Crematorium IV at Auschwitz-Birkenau: “Concreting the Floor in the Gas chamber”

Daily construction report from the firm W. Riedel & Sohn, dated 2 March 1943, detailing the work carried out on Crematorium IV at Auschwitz. The document records the number of workers present, the hours they worked, and the tasks completed that day—from plastering walls and fitting ventilation elements to “concreting the floor in the gas chamber.”

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