12 Dec.
45
"The treatment accorded to these
prisoners in the concentration camps was generally as follows: They
were herded together in some wooden barracks not large enough for
one-tenth of their number. They were forced to sleep on wooden frames
covered with wooden boards in tiers of two, three, and even four,
sometimes with no covering, sometimes with a bundle of dirty rags
serving both as pallet and coverlet.
"Their food consisted generally of about one-half of a pound of
black bread per day and a bowl of watery soup for noon and night, and
not always that. Owing to the great numbers crowded into a small space
and to the lack of adequate sustenance, lice and vermin multiplied,
disease became rampant, and those who did not soon die of disease or
torture began the long, slow process of starvation. Notwithstanding
the deliberate starvation program inflicted upon these prisoners by
lack of adequate food, we found no evidence that the people of
Germany, as a whole, were suffering from any lack of sufficient food
or clothing. The contrast was so striking that the only conclusion
which we could reach was that the starvation of the inmates of these
camps was deliberate.
"Upon entrance into these camps, newcomers were forced to work
either at an adjoining war factory or were placed 'in commando' on
various jobs in the vicinity, being returned each night to their stall
in the barracks. Generally a German criminal was placed in charge of
each 'block' or shed in which the prisoners slept. Periodically he
would choose the one prisoner of his block who seemed the most alert
or intelligent or showed most leadership qualities. These would report
to the guards' room and would never be heard from again. The generally
accepted belief of the prisoners was that these were shot or gassed or
hanged and then cremated. A refusal to work or an infraction of the
rules usually meant flogging and other types of torture, such as
having the fingernails pulled out, and in each case usually ended in
death after extensive suffering. The policies herein described
constituted a calculated and diabolical program of planned torture and
extermination on the part of those who were in control of the German
Government . . . . "
I quote
next from Page 11 of the English text beginning with the second sentence
of Paragraph 2, a description of Camp Dora at Nordhausen, Page 12,
Paragraph 1 of the German text, quoting as follows:
"On the whole, we found this camp to
have been operated and administered much in the same manner as
Buchenwald