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I had not succeeded in contacting the ship's doctor who was in a
different part of the camp.
4. On the pretext of writing to my father
(who was dead), in care of William Orange, I could get out about a half dozen
letters a week to let the people in England know what was going on. I figured
that I could pass the censors that way, and at the same time get the
information to the War Office. In my letters I sent information that I thought
had military value and I also wrote about the conditions of work for the
civilians and the inmates, as well as the British prisoners of war. I wrote
giving the particular dates on which I had witnessed thousands arriving and
marched to the concentration camp, I used to inquire of the people in Auschwitz
where the next batch was coming from. In my letters I would say that 600
arrived from Czechoslovakia, so many from Poland, et cetera. The turnover was
in the hundreds of thousands. You could not count them. The majority of them
went into the camp next to us.
5. My work as liaison mate and trustee
gave me access to surrounding towns, including Auschwitz. Also I came into
contact with Farben officials. For example, during the first 10 days I was
there, I received complaints from our men about the food and conditions of
work. The majority of them were laying cables and their clothing was not really
good enough for the work they were doing. Particularly since this was the
middle of the winter. I investigated the complaints myself and saw they were
justified. I got back to the camp and explained to my chief the necessity for
extra supplies, and I also spoke to the Germans and asked to see the directors
of I. G. Farben regarding clothing. I was always put off, saying I should see
the contractors, and the contractors would say that material had already been
ordered.
6. Of course the treatment of the British prisoners could not
be considered even in the same class with the treatment of the other groups,
particularly the concentration camp inmates and the Russians. With respect to
clothing, for example, the concentration camp inmates wore a striped pair of
pajamas and wooden shoes; that was all the clothing they had. They would sleep
in it, work in it, eat in it there was no change of clothing. Whatever clothing
of value they had when they came to the camp was taken away from them in
exchange for the striped pajamas. Although I had heard that conditions were
bad, I at first did not believe it. I made it a point to get one of the guards
to take me to town under the pretence of buying new razor blades and stuff for
our boys. For a few cigarettes he pointed out to me the various places where
they had the gas chambers and the places where they took them down to be
cremated. Everyone to whom I spoke gave the same story — the people in the
city of Auschwitz, the SS men, concentration camp inmates, foreign workers
— everyone said that thousands of people were being gassed and cremated at
Auschwitz, and |
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