. NMT04-T0313
Volume IV · Page 313
| EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF
DEFENDANT HAENSCH* |
| DIRECT EXAMINATION |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| DR. RIEDIGER (counsel for defendant Haensch)
: Did you, in the course of the war, try to get a position of a leader of an
Einsatzkommando? DEFENDANT HAENSCH: I never tried to get the position of a leader of an Einsatzkommando. Q. When did you come to know that you were intended to be leader of the Sonderkommando 4b, and how did you hear it? A. As far as I remember it was the end of January or the middle of January 1942, that I heard of it. I remember that exactly because in November or December my mother was dangerously ill. At that time, and in the first days of January, I went to see her and I stayed with her far about a fortnight in Hirschfelde. When I came back from my visit to her, the chief of office I — it was Streckenbach at that time — told me over the telephone that I had been appointed leader of a Sonderkommando in the East. Q. Was that in accordance with your own wish? A. No. It was not, and, above all, it was not in accordance with my wish at that particular moment. At that time I had again been making special efforts to leave my work. PRESIDING JUDGE MUSMANNO: Did you ever get a job which pleased you. Every job you mentioned so far made you very unhappy. Now, you joined the NSDAP, quite willingly, enthusiastically — you wanted to serve this ideology — yet every job you got made you unhappy. Now, can you tell us one job you got because of your association with the NSDAP which left you tranquil, and at peace with your mind, and with the world? DEFENDANT HAENSCH: Mr. President, I never obtained any position in connection with my membership in the NSDAP. Q. Well, did you ever have any job in your life — let us make it broad — did you ever have any job which you liked? Now, tell us that! A. Yes. Q. Now, what job was that? That will be very interesting. A. Well, first, I was greatly stimulated and satisfied with the administrative work I did in Doebeln ; and I was particularly satisfied and, in spite of the serious situation, I was happy in the position which later on I obtained in the administration with the Reich |
* Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript. 2, 3, 4 Dec. 1947, pp. 3225-3323, 3365-3423.
