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| Evidence for the Prosecution |
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| H. O. Le
Druillenec |
| I now read as
a method of proof an affidavit by the photographers who took the film and who
have seen it run over. |
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(Affidavits read and marked
Exhibit 4. The film was exhibited to the Court and marked Exhibit 5.)
|
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HAROLD OSMOND
LE DRUILLENEC, sworn, examined by Colonel BACKHOUSE — I am a
British subject, a schoolmaster by profession, and my address is 7 Trinity
Road, St. Helier, Jersey. On 5th June, 1944, I and most of the members of my
family were arrested by the Germans because we had helped a Russian prisoner to
escape some 18 months before, and we were also in possession of wireless sets
which were forbidden. I was taken to a prison near Rheims in Brittany, to
Belfort, and finally to Neuengamme, where I arrived, as far as I can remember,
on 1st September, 1944. From there I was sent on a Kommando to Wilhelmshaven,
where I was made an oxy-acetylene welder in the region of the arsenal.
Eventually I went to Belsen, arriving there about 5th April, around 10
o’clock in the evening. I received no food on arrival, but some fortunate
individuals who had a few cigarettes or a bit of bread from the journey had
soup — swede, turnip or mangel — offered to them in exchange. I was
taken to Block 13. I should think, on that night, there must have been
somewhere around 400 to 500 people in that block.
I would like you to
describe to the Court in your own words, just what conditions were like in that
block that night? — To begin with, a French Colonel, an old friend of mine
from the previous camp, and myself turned into one of the few beds,
three-tiered bunks they were, in the hut. About five minutes later some severe
blows on the head made us realize that we were not supposed to be there. We
gathered from this language of blows that these beds were reserved for the
officers and orderlies amongst the prisoners themselves. The Colonel and I made
a point of finding some other French people — there was safety in being in
groups — and sat with legs wide apart and other people sitting in between
in a group on the floor. Sleep was impossible; the whole hut I should describe
as a babel gone mad. Actually that proved to be my luckiest night in Belsen,
because the next day or two the next Kommandos were sent in and had to sleep in
this already overcrowded hut. The floor was wet and abominably foul and we had
to lie in that, but we were allowed two very tattered blankets. The next
morning, about half-past three, we were roused and sent out of the hut, again
the language of blows being the only way of giving orders.
Did anybody
die in that hut that night? — After we had been out on the Appell, or
roll-call, for some time the next morning the hut was cleared of the
superficial debris, litter, etc., and then some seven or eight |
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