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| Evidence for the Prosecution |
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| Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson
(cont.) |
Camp No. 2, I
was informed that there is believed to have been about 15,000 people. The total
number who are known to have died since the British entered the camp on 15th
April, 1945 is 13,000, the majority of whom died within a matter of cays and
were from Camp No. 1, but there were a number of deaths in Camp No. 2.
Again, it is impossible to give exact details, but it would appear that
in Camp No. 1 there were approximately a ratio of two to one as between female
to male persons.
13. There were, as on the 27th day of May, 1945. in
hospital in Belsen, 11,200 persons, all of course being from Camp No. 1 or Camp
No. 2. The total number of deaths on the 27th May, 1945, was 54. There are
bound to be a number of further details.
14. From information
hereinbefore given it will be seen that at least 26,000 people have died,
counting only those whose bodies were unburied when the British arrived and
those who have died since, despite every medical aid which could be given. It
is not known to me how many thousands were killed in this camp before the
British arrived, but I have no doubt that it must have been a very high figure.
15. The figures given above are necessarily approximate and subject to
such final check as the British authorities can make, but they can be taken as
substantially correct.
16. Of those who survive, a very large
proportion will be permanently injured in health through their frightful and
inhuman experiences, and, in particular, tuberculosis will be rife. Further a
very large number of survivors will be, to a greater or lesser degree, impaired
in their mental faculties as the result of having been in this horror camp.
Sworn by the said deponent, James Alexander Deans Johnston, at Belsen Camp,
this 29th day of March, 1945, before me (Sgd.) S. G. Champion, Major,
R.A.,” and that it is signed by James Alexander Deans Johnston.
Captain DEREK A. SINGTON, Sworn, examined by Colonel BACKHOUSE
— I am a Captain in the Intelligence Corps and on 15th April, when I was
commanding No. 14 Amplifying Unit, I went to Belsen Camp, simultaneously with
the leading elements of the occupying troops, for the purpose of making
announcements. I was also to act as interpreter for Lieut.-Colonel Taylor. At
the gate I met a group of officers, some of whom were S.S., some Wehrmacht and
some Hungarian. Accused No. 1, Kramer, was in that group. I asked him how many
prisoners there were in the camp and he told me about 40,000, and a further
15,000 in Camp No. 2, further up the road. The types of prisoners in the camps
were described by him as “Habitual criminals, felons and
homosexuals.” On my asking whether there were any political prisoners he
answered, |
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