Wiesbaden, 11 September 1944
Landeshaus
11_a_ One copy to the County Mental Institution, Eichberg.
With the request to acknowledge and to take further steps.
BY ORDER:
LANDESRAT
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1553-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 428
EXTRACT FROM THE FIELD INTERROGATION OF KURT GERSTEIN, 26 APRIL 1945,
DESCRIBING THE MASS GASSING OF JEWS AND OTHER “UNDESIRABLES”
_Deposition of Kurt Gerstein_
* * * * *
Hearing of the massacres of idiots and insane people at Grafeneck,
Hadamar, etc., shocked and greatly affected me, having such a case in my
family. I had but one desire—to gain an insight into this whole
machinery and then to shout it to the whole world! With the help of two
references written by the two Gestapo employees who had dealt with my
case, it was not difficult for me to enter the Waffen SS.
From March 10 to June 2, 1941, I was given elementary instruction as a
soldier at Hamburg-Langehorn, Arnhem, and Oranienburg, together with 40
doctors. Because of my twin studies—technology and medicine—I was
ordered to enter the medical-technology branch of the SS
Fuehrungshauptamt (SS Operational Main Office)—Medical Branch of the
Waffen SS—Amtsgruppe D (Division D), Hygiene Department. Within this
branch, I chose for myself the job of immediately constructing
disinfecting apparatus and filters for drinking water for the troops,
the prison camps, and the concentration camps. My close knowledge of the
industry caused me to succeed quickly where my predecessors had failed.
Thus, it was possible to decrease considerably the death toll of
prisoners. On account of my successes, I very soon became lieutenant. In
December 1941 the tribunal which had decreed my exclusion from the NSDAP
obtained knowledge of my having entered the Waffen SS. Considerable
efforts were made to remove and to persecute me but, due to my
successes, I was declared sincere and indispensable.
In January 1942 I was appointed chief of the technical branch of
disinfection, which also included the branch dealing with strong poison
gases for disinfection. On 8 June 1942 SS Sturmbannfuehrer Guenther of
the RSHA entered my office. He was in plain clothes and I did not know
him. He ordered me to get a hundred kilograms of prussic acid and to
accompany him to a place which was only known to the driver of the
truck. We left for the potassium factory near Collin (Prague). Once the
truck was loaded, we left for Lublin (Poland). We took with us Professor
Pfannenstiel, Professor for Hygiene at the University of Marburg on the
Lahn. At Lublin, we were received by SS Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik. He
told us, “This is one of the most secret matters there are, even the
most secret. Whoever talks of this shall be shot immediately. Yesterday,
two talkative men died.” Then he explained to us that at the present
moment—17 August 1942—there were three installations:
1. Belcec, on the Lublin-Lvov road, in the sector of the Russian
demarcation line. Maximum 15,000 persons a day. Seen!
2. Sobiber, I do not know exactly where it is located. Not seen.
20,000 persons per day.
3. Treblinka, 120 kilometers NNE of Warsaw. 25,000 persons per
day. Seen!