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[mili…] tary tribunals in France and Belgium for alleged refusal
to work, who were transferred to the Gestapo in Germany to serve their
sentences. During their internment in the Dechenschule, they were used as
workers in Krupp works. They were escorted to and from work by members of the
Krupp plant police.
A few months passed by before the Dechenschule
penal camp was actually established, as I did not like the whole idea right
from the start and tried to postpone it as long as possible. As far as I
remember I did not talk to any other member of the Direktorium except to Mr.
Ihn about the building of the above-mentioned penal camp. The latter put the
Dechenschule at my disposal for this purpose, and was in any case satisfied
with the whole program.
With reference to the labor allocation of the
above-mentioned inmates of the Dechenschule penal camp, I had to get in touch
with the plants concerned. As far as I remember, some of the camp inmates
worked in the smelting plant in Borbeck (chief, Mr. Ahrens) others with the
building establishments (chief, Mr. Suhlry) and others with the drop forge
(whose chief I do not recollect any more).
I only found out by degrees,
and never exactly, that these people were refractaires and on what their
sentences were based. Next in rank below me in the administration of the
Dechenschule penal camp was Mr. Wilshaus, who died in September 1945. Whoever
was camp leader at the time (first Mr. Fuehrer, later Rath) was subordinate to
him. The main camp administration of Mr. Kupke only dealt with the punitive
camp of Dechenschule inasmuch as the latter requisitioned the necessary food
and equipment from the main camp administration. By the end of September 1944,
that is when the Dechenschule had been destroyed by bombing, the punitive camp
there was transferred to the Neerfeldschule (in Oberhausen near Essen) and
almost completely lost its character as a penal camp, inasmuch as the treatment
of the inmates became much more lenient. Already before then, when I discovered
that the camp inmates of the Dechenschule were criminals only to a small
extent, I gave instructions for a more lenient treatment.
As far as the
administration of the punitive camp referred to above was concerned, I had a
double responsibility. On the one hand, I had to follow the instructions of the
Gestapo, and on the other hand I had to observe the Krupp regulations and the
like.
The above-mentioned points 1-3, I made in my examination by Mr.
Maximilian Koessler (Attorney, Trial Team III), on 2 July 1947 at Nuernberg.
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| [Signed] FRIEDRICH VON BUELOW |
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