DUPONT: Catholic. At Mansleben-am-See hangings took place in public in
the hall of a factory connected with the salt mine. The SS were present
at these hangings in full dress uniform, wearing their decorations.
The prisoners were forced to be present at these hangings under threats
of the most cruel beatings. When they hanged the poor wretches, the
prisoners had to give the Hitler salute. Worse still, one prisoner was
chosen to pull away the stool on which the victim stood. He could not
evade the order, as the consequences to himself would have been too
grave. When the execution had been carried out, the prisoners had to
file off in front of the victim between two SS men. They were made to
touch the body and, gruesome detail, look the dead man in the eyes. I
believe that men who had been forced to go through such rites must
inevitably lose the sense of their dignity as human beings.
In Buchenwald itself all the executive work was entrusted to the
internees, that is, the hangings were carried out by a German prisoner
assisted by other prisoners. The camp was policed by prisoners. When
someone in the camp was sentenced to death, it was their duty to find
him and take him to the place of execution.
Selection for the labor squads, with which we were well acquainted,
especially for Dora, Laura, and S III—extermination detachments—was
carried out by prisoners, who decided which of us were to go there. In
this way the internees were forced down to the worst possible level of
degradation, inasmuch as every man was forced to become the executioner
of his fellow.
I have already referred to Block 61, where the extermination of the
physically unfit and those otherwise unsuited for labor was carried out.
These executions were also carried out by prisoners under SS supervision
and control. From the point of view of humanity in general, this was
perhaps the worst crime of all, for these men who were constrained to
torture their fellow-beings have now been restored to life, but
profoundly changed. What is to become of them? What are they going to
do?
M. DUBOST: Who was responsible for these crimes as far as your personal
knowledge goes?
DUPONT: One thing which strikes me as being particularly significant is
that the methods which I observed in Buchenwald now appear to have been
the same, or almost the same, as those prevailing in all the other
camps. The degree of uniformity in the way in which the camps were run
is clear evidence of orders from higher quarters. In the case of
Buchenwald, in particular, the personnel, no matter how rough it might
be, would not have done such things on their own initiative. Moreover,
the camp chief and the SS doctor, himself, always pleaded superior
orders, often in a vague manner. The name most frequently invoked was
that of Himmler. Other names also were given. The chief medical officer
for all the camps, Lolling, was mentioned on numerous occasions in
connection with the extermination block, especially by an SS doctor in
the camp, named Bender. In regard to the selection of invalids or Jews
to be sent to Auschwitz or Bergen-Belsen to be gassed, I heard the name
of Pohl mentioned.