12 Dec.
45
Sick and infirm people of the occupied countries were
taken indiscriminately with the rest. Those who managed to survive the
trip into Germany but who arrived too sick to work were returned like
cattle together with those who fell ill at work, because they were of no
further use to the Germans. The return trip took place under the same
terrible conditions as the initial journey, and without any kind of
medical supervision. Death came to many and their corpses were
unceremoniously dumped out of the ears, with no provision for burial.
I quote from Page 3, Paragraph 3 of Document Number 054-PS. In the
German text it appears at Page 2, Paragraph 3. Quoting directly:
"Very depressing for the morale of
the skilled workers and the population is the effect of those persons
shipped back from Germany who had become disabled or had been unfit
for employment from the very beginning.
"Several times already transports of skilled workers on their
way to Germany have crossed returning transports of such disabled
persons and have stood on the tracks alongside of each other for a
long period of time. These returning transports are insufficiently
cared for. Nothing but sick, injured, or weak people, mostly 50 to 60
in a car usually escorted by 3 to 4 men. There is neither sufficient
care nor food. The returnees made frequently unfavorable — if
also surely exaggerated — statements relative to their treatment
in Germany and on the way. As a result of all this and of what the
people could see with their own eyes, a psychosis of fear was evoked
among the skilled workers, that is, the whole transport to Germany.
Several transport leaders, of the 62d and 63rd transports, in
particular, reported on it in detail. In one case the leader of the
transport of skilled workers observed with his own eyes how a person
who had died of hunger was unloaded from a returning transport on the
side track (1st Lieutenant Hofmann of the 63rd Transport Station,
Darniza). Another time it was reported that three dead had to be
deposited by the side of the tracks on the way and had to be left
behind unburied by the escort. It is also regrettable that these
disabled persons arrive here without any identification. From the
reports of the transport commanders, one gets the impression that
these unemployable persons are assembled, penned into the wagons, and
sent off provided only by a few men escorts and without special care
for food and medical or other attendance. The labor office at the
place of arrival as well as the transport commanders confirm this
impression."