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administered, and in many cases the workers were sent to the
extermination chambers at Birkenau, another part of the Auschwitz system, which
was notorious for its gas chambers and crematoria.
141. Farben, in
complete defiance of all decency and human considerations, abused its slave
workers by subjecting them, among other things, to excessively long, arduous,
and exhausting work, utterly disregarding their health or physical condition.
The sole criterion of the right to live or die was the production efficiency of
said inmates. By virtue of inadequate rest, inadequate food (which was given to
the inmates while in bed at the barracks), and because of the inadequate
quarters (which consisted of a bed of polluted straw, shared by from two to
four inmates), many died at their work or collapsed from serious illness there
contracted. With the first signs of a decline in the production efficiency of
any such workers, although caused by illness or exhaustion, such workers would
be subjected to the well-known "Selektion." "Selektion," in its simplest
definition, meant that if, upon a cursory examination, it appeared that the
inmate would not be restored within a few days to full productive capacity, he
was considered expendable and was sent to the "Birkenau" camp of Auschwitz for
the customary extermination. The meaning of "Selektion" and "Birkenau" was
known to everyone at Auschwitz and became a matter of common knowledge.
142. The working conditions at the Farben buna plant were so severe and
unendurable that very often inmates were driven to suicide by either dashing
through the guards and provoking death by rifle shot, or hurling themselves
into the high-tension electrically-charged barbed wire fences. As a result of
these conditions, the labor turnover in the buna plant in one year amounted to
at least 300 percent. Besides those who were exterminated and committed
suicide, up to and sometimes over 100 persons died at their work every day from
sheer exhaustion. All depletions occasioned by extermination and other means of
death were balanced by replacement with new inmates. Thus, Farben secured a
continuous supply of fresh inmates in order to maintain full production.
143. Farben's conduct at Auschwitz can be best described by a remark of
Hitler: "What does it matter to us? Look away if it makes you sick." |
| |
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| VIOLATION OF LAW |
| |
| 144. The acts and conduct of the defendants set forth in this count
were committed unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly, and |
58 |
. 
