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management was against beating the inmates. Now how can you explain
that in view of the fact that it was they who reported you?
A. Beating
of inmates was officially prohibited according to a ruling in the camp so that
the inmates could work better, so that they would do work for the German
economy, and since in the armament industry they were short of skilled workers.
Q. Now, Mr. Witness, you received buna soup while you worked at IG
Auschwitz?
A. Yes, every lunch we received buna soup except during the
first 3 months while I was there —
Q. Was that — pardon me,
go ahead.
A. Since the buna kitchen was only being constructed and had
not yet been completed.
Q. Was that a good nourishing soup or was that
a very, very watery soup?
A. The soup varied, but it was made only with
water and vegetables. Some days, for example, we got beets. They put in a lot
of those and not so much water. On other days, we got different kinds of beets
and the soup consisted mostly of water.
Q. Now, Mr. Witness, you worked
in cable Kommando IV, isn't that right?
A. Yes. This was not a cable
Kommando. Kommando IV was a concrete and iron-unloading Kommando.
Q.
Was that the Kommando that was called the death Kommando?
A. Yes.
Q. Isn't it a fact, Mr. Witness, that the inmates who worked in that
Kommando would have among them dead ones carried in every day?
A. I can
certainly say that dead people or half-dead people were brought in every day,
and that those people who tried to escape were shot at the gate where they
marched out of the camp.
Q. Now could these persons who were being
carried out, could they be seen as they marched back toward Monowitz?
A. These ill treatments could not be seen, but the shooting was carried
out on the open street.
Q. Now, Mr. Witness, while you were at IG
Auschwitz, didn't you also do some work as a translator?
A. As a
translator? As a transport worker, do you mean?
Q. No, as a translator.
A. No, never.
Q. Mr. Witness, did you ever speak — Go
ahead.
A. I forgot it. At the Kommando No. IX, the electric Kommando,
since I speak Italian, and was arrested in Italy for a brief period, I worked
together with Italians, since the German foreman was not able to talk to them.
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