©2001 THE MAZAL LIBRARY
	LEST WE FORGET
	The accused Johann Paul Kremer
	In the present trial Kremer represents the sector of medical activities in the camp, which in Auschwitz had very little in common with medicine as a science whose aim is to fight for human health. As a physician of the Waffen SS Kremer was ordered, at the end of August 1942, to work in the Auschwitz camp, and he carried out his duties there only for a short time — less than 3 months. However, owing to the fact that the accused kept a diary which subsequently fell into the hands of the Allied authorities, we are able fairly accurately to establish what objectives were served by the camp physicians and what they actually did there. The diary (vol. 60) and the depositions of the accused make it clear that: In his brief stay in Oswiecim the accused Kremer participated 14 times in mass murders (gassings). From September sad to the 28th he took part in 9 of such "special operations" (Sonderaktionen). On some days (Sept. 5th and 23rd) he was called to attend gassings twice in the course of twenty-hours. Doctor Kremer slates that during his stay in Auschwitz there were 7 doctors in the camp who took turns at the afore-mentioned operations. Under the date of October 12th, the accused wrote down the figure 1.600 as the number of persons murdered. From this it is possible to form an idea of the intensity of mass murders in the camp in the second half of 1942. As for his part in the gassing of prisoners the accused explained that his was only emergency duty — that he sat with the driver and after the completion by SS men of their duties he drove away. Witnesses questioned in the trial of R. Hoess stated, however, that the duty of doctors assigned to the gassings was to supervise the poisoning of the prisoners and to decide when the gas chambers were to be opened. There are no grounds to assume that different duties were assigned to the accused (Kremer) than to all other doctors. The accused Kremer's diary shows that he took part also in other killings, namely 1) — on Sept. 1, 1942 in the shooting of some undefined persons with small calibre arms; 2) — on October 17, in 11 executions; 3) — on October 19, in the execution of 7 Polish civilians; 4) — on October 24, in "stuffing" 6 women who had participated in the rising in Budy. Special attention should be paid to the "scientific" activity which the accused carried on in his official capacity. Under the dates of Oct. 3, Oct. 10, Oct. 17, Nov. 13, 1942, we read entries in the diary to
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