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THE STRUTHOF
ALBUM STUDY OF THE
GASSING AT NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
by Jean-Claude Pressac
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NOTES
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(1) The trial of anthropologist Dr. Bruno Beger
was held in Frankfurt in 1970 and 1971 (case no. 4 KS 1/70). Beger was the man
who selected Auschwitz prisoners, to be sent to the camp of
Natzweiler-Struthof. However, the court was unable to establish whether Beger
was co-responsible, with his friend Professor Hirt, for the project of a
skeleton collection, as alleged by the prosecution (bill of indictment, pp
33-35).
Beger claimed to have made his choices by looking for mongoloid
types and anthropologically interesting specimens, on the basis of normal
scientific criteria, and without knowing that the prisoners he selected would
be killed after their transfer to Struthof (depositions by and examinations of
Beger on the 31 March 1960, 14 December 1961, 22 January 1961, 18 January 1963
and 9 April 1963). Of 1 15 prisoners selected, 109 were Jews. Beger was
assisted in his mission by another anthropologist, Dr. Hans Fleischhacker, and
by a specimen preparer, Willi Gabel, who made 26 head castings among the 115
chosen prisoners (depositions by Fleischhacker of the 18 January 1963 and 6
November 1963, by Gabel of the 25 July 1960 and 23 November 1962).
Berger’s mission to Auschwitz lasted from the 7 to the 15 June
1943. After having been selected, the prisoners were measured and photographed;
then the 85 men were quarantined in blocks 21 and 28, and the 30 women in block
10, to await their transfer to Struthof, which took place on the 30 July 1943
(bill of indictment, pp 50-58; deposition by Ludwig Wörl of the 3 January
1963).
An exact list of all these prisoners was drawn up at Auschwitz
and sent to Berlin, to the Ahnenerbe (Ancestral Heritage), the scientific
organization responsible for this and similar initiatives, and to which Hirt
and Beger belonged (depositions by Herman Reineck of the 15 January 1962, Ernst
Toch of 19 January 1962 and Charlotte Heydel of 6 February 1961). The Ahnenerbe
executive was led by SS-Standartenführer (Colonel) Wolfram Sievers, who
was in constant contact about this matter with SS-
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THE STRUTHOF
ALBUM STUDY OF THE
GASSING AT NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
By Jean-Claude Pressac
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Back |
Page 14 |
Forward |
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