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Q. Now, Witness, isn't it a fact that tens of thousands of persons
from all over Europe came to Birkenau through this railroad right next to your
office, and were brought into Birkenau right through the city of Auschwitz?
Isn't that a fact?
A. Yes, that's a fact.
Q. So that, over a
period of two years, over four and a half millions came through this little
railroad next to your office into Birkenau; right through Auschwitz, isn't that
true?
A. The figure isn’t important as far as a few millions are
concerned, but there were millions anyway that came in.
Q. Now, Mr.
Witness, weren't there civilian workers on those railroads?
A. Yes.
Q. And weren't there Polish civilian workers on the ramp of the station
at Auschwitz?
A. Yes.
Q. And didn't these civilians, who
weren't bound by the secrecy of the SS, see all these persons coming in through
Auschwitz to Birkenau in crowded trains?
A. They were exposed to the
same pressure as the SS. It's true that they weren't put under an oath every
day anew, but for them the danger was even greater than for the SS because they
were suspect from the very start of making any disclosures, and for that reason
the Gestapo supervised them very closely and every one of those people working
for the railroad, or the Poles, had to feel that he was being kept under
surveillance. There are many examples, especially among the German-speaking
Poles, who were sent to a concentration camp as a result of even the vaguest
suspicion that they had disclosed anything.
Q. Now, Mr. Witness, apart
from what these civilians who lived in Auschwitz might have told of what they
themselves knew, didn't the civilians themselves who lived in Auschwitz and had
constant contact with other civilians who worked on the railroads and near the
railroads, didn't they themselves at least know of the gassings of inmates and
the gassings of persons being brought to Birkenau?
A. Well, I can only
repeat what I said before. The knowledge of the exterminations in Auschwitz has
to be considered as general, according to my experience, but only by way of
rumor. Because any actual confirmation, particularly about the manner in which
these exterminations were being conducted, nobody, in my opinion, could
procure; and then one must take into account that many trains came out of
Auschwitz too and they were made up in the same way as the trains going in.
They were completely sealed.
Q. Mr. Witness — |
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