FRANZ SUCHOMEL
What was the capacity of the new gas chambers?
There were 2 of them, right? - Yes.
But the old ones hadn't been demolished.
When there were a lot of trains, a lot of people,
the old ovens were put back into service.
And here... the Jews say there were 5 on each side.
I say there were 4,
but I'm not sure.
In any case, only the upper row,
on this side,
was in action.
[ Lanzmann ] Why not the other side?
[Suchomel ] Disposing of the bodies would have been too complicated.
- Too far? - Yes.
Up there, Wirth had built the death camp...
[ Lanzmann ] Ja.
[Suchomel ] assigning a detail of Jewish workers to it.
The detail had a fixed number in it,
around 200 people...
[ Lanzmann ] Die im Toten/ager...
[Suchomel Repeats Phrase] who worked only in the death camp.
[ Lanzmann ] But what was the capacity of the new gas chambers?
The new gas chambers... Let's see...
They could finish off 3,000 people in two hours.
[ Lanzmann ] How many people at once in a single gas chamber?
I can't say exactly.
The Jews say 200.
- 200? - That's right, 200.
Imagine a room this size.
[ Lanzmann ] They put more in at Auschwitz.
Auschwitz was a factory!
[ Lanzmann ] And Treblinka?
I'll give you my definition.
Keep this in mind:
Treblinka was a primitive,
but efficient production line of death.
- A production line? - Of death.
Understand? - Yes.
But primitive...? - Primitive, yes.
Ja.
But it worked well, that production line of death.
Was Belzec even more rudimentary?
Belzec was the laboratory.
Wirth was camp commandant.
He tried everything imaginable there.
He got off on the wrong foot.
The pits were overflowing,
and the cesspool seeped out in front of the SS mess hall.
It stank...
in front of the mess-hall, in front of their barracks.
- Were you at Belzec? - No.
Wirlh with his own men.
With Franz, with Oberhauser
and Hackenhold...
he tried everything there.
Those 3 had to put the bodies in the pits themselves
so that Wirth could see how much space he needed.
And when they rebelled...
Franz refused...
Wirlh beat Franz with a whip.
He whipped Hackenhold, too. You see?
- Kurt Franz? - Kurt Franz.
Mm-hmm.
That's how Wirth was.
Then, with that experience behind him,
he came to Treblinka.
[ People Chattering In German]
[Glasses Clanking ]
[Woman Speaking German]
[ Lanzmann, In German ] Excuse me. How many quarts of beer a day do you sell?
You can't tell me?
[ In German] I'd rather not. I have my reasons.
- But why not? - Ja.
[ Man ] Two Pilsners.
Ja.
[ Lanzmann ] How many quarts of beer a day do you sell?
- Go on, tell him. - Tell him what?
Just tell him approximately.
How many quarts of beer a day do you sell?
400, 500 quarts.
- What? - 400, 500 quarts.
- [ Repeats Phrase] - Hier.
That's a lot!
[ German ]
Have you worked here long?
- Around 20 years. - [ Repeats Phrase]
: 3%:
Why are you hiding... - I have my reasons.
- Your face? - I have my reasons.
What reasons?
- Never mind. - Why not?
[ Lanzmann] Do you recognize this man?
No?
Christian Wirlh?
Mr. Oberhauser!
Do you remember Belzec?
No memories of Belzec?
Nein?
Of the overflowing graves?
You don't remember?
MUNICH
WUPPERTAL: ANTON SPIESS,
German state prosecutor at the Treblinka trial (Frankfurt, 1960)
[ In German] When the Action itself first got under way,
it was almost totally improvised.
At Treblinka, for example,
the commandant, Dr. Eberl, let more trains come in
than the camp could handle.
It was a disaster!
Mountains of corpses!
Word of this foul-up
reached the head of the Reinhard Action,
Odilo Globocznik, in Lublin.
He went to Treblinka
to see what was happening.
There's a very concrete account of the trip
by his former driver, Oberhauser.
Globocznik arrived on a hot day in August.
The camp was permeated
with the stench of rotting flesh.
Globocznik didn't even bother to enter the camp.
He stopped here, before the commandant's office,
sent for Dr. Eberl
and greeted him with these words,
“How dare you accept so many every day
when you can only process 3,000?”
Operations were suspended,
Eberl was transferred and Wirth came,
followed immediately by Stangl,
and the camp was completely reorganized.
The Reinhard Action covered 3 extermination camps:
Treblinka, Sobibor and Belzec.
There's also talk of 3 death camps on the Bug River,
for they were all located on or near the Bug.
The gas chambers were the head of the camp.
They were built first,
in the woods, or in a field, as at Treblinka.
The gas chambers were the only stone buildings.
All the others were wooden sheds.
These camps weren't built to last.
Himmler was in a huny to begin the 'final solution. ”
The Germans had to capitalize on their eastward advance
and use this remote back-country
to carry out their mass murder as secretly as possible.
So at first they couldn't manage the perfection
they achieved 3 months later.
[ Piwonski Speaking Polish]
[ Interpreter #1, In French] Near the end of March 1942...
[ Piwonski Continues ]
sizeable groups of Jews were herded here,
groups of 50 to 100 people.
[ Piwonski Continues ]
Several trains arrived...
[ Piwonski Continues ]
with sections of barracks, with posts, barbed wire, bricks...
[ Piwonski Continues ]
and construction of the camp as such began.
[Train Whistle Blows]
[ Piwonski Continues ]
The Jews unloaded these cars...
[ Piwonski Continues ]
and carted the sections of barracks to the camp.
[ Piwonski Continues ]
The Germans made them work extremely fast.
[ Piwonski Continues ]
When we saw the pace they worked at...
[ Piwonski Continues ]
It was extremely brutal.
[ Piwonski Continues ]
When we saw the complex being built, and the fence,
which, after all, enclosed a vast space...
[ Piwonski Continues ]
we realized that what the Germans were building
wasn't meant to aid mankind.
[ Wind Whistling ]
[ Birds Chirping ]
[ Piwonski Continues ]
Early in June...
[ Piwonski Continues ]
the first convoy arrived.
[ Piwonski Continues ]
I'd say there were over 40 cars.
[ Piwonski Continues ]
With the convoy were SS men in black uniforms.
[ Piwonski Continues ]
It happened one afternoon. He had just finished work.
JAN PIWONSKI
But he got on his bicycle and went home.
[ In French] Why?
[ Interpreter #1 Murmurs In French]
I merely thought
these people had come to build the camp,
as the others had before them.
That convoy...
There was no way of knowing that it was...
the first earmarked for extermination.
- Besides... - [ Piwonski Continues]
He couldn't have known that Sobibor...
[ Piwonski Continues]
Would be a place for the mass extermination of the Jews.
The next morning, when I came here to work,
the station was absolutely silent,
and we realized,
after talking with the Poles who worked at the station here,
that something utterly incomprehensible had happened.
First of all, when the camp was being built,
there were orders shouted in German,
there were screams,
Jews were working at the run, there were shots,
and here there was that silence...
[ Interpreter #1 ] Mm-hmm.
No work crews,
a really total silence.
[ Interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]
40 cars had arrived, and then... nothing.
It was all very strange.
[ Lanzmann ] It was the silence that tipped them off?
That's right.
- Can he describe that silence? - [ interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]
[ Piwonski Replies ]
- It was a silence... - [ Piwonski Continues ]
Nothing was going on in the camp. You heard nothing.
Nothing moved.
[ Piwonski Continues ]
So then they began to wonder...
[ Piwonski Continues ]
“Where have they put those Jews?”
[ MUIIer, In German] Cell 13, Block 11 at Auschwitz 1,
is where the Special Work Detail was held.
The cell was underground, isolated.
For we were...
“bearers of secrets,”
we were reprieved dead men.
We weren't allowed to talk to anyone,
or contact any prisoner,
even the SS.
Only those in charge of the “Action.”
There was a window.
We heard what happened in the courtyard.
The executions,
the victims' cries, the screams,
but we couldn't see anything.
This went on for several days.
One night an SS man came
from the political section.
It was around 4 A.M.
The whole camp was still asleep.
There wasn't a sound in the camp.
We were again taken out of our cell
and led to the crematorium.
There, for the first time, I saw the procedure used
with those who came in alive.
We were lined up against a wall
and told, “No one may talk to those people. ”
Suddenly, the wooden door to the crematorium courtyard opened,
and 250 to 300 people filed in:
old people, and women.
They carried bundles, wore the Star of David.
Even from a distance, I could tell
they were Polish Jews,
probably from Upper Silesia,
from the Sosnowiec ghetto, some 20 miles from Auschwitz.
FILIP MULLER
I caught some of the things they said.
I heard “fachowitz,”
meaning “skilled worker.”
And “Malach-ha-Mavis,”
which means “the angel of death” in Yiddish.
Also, “harginnen”: “They're going to kill us.”
From what I could hear,
I clearly understood the struggle going on inside them.
Sometimes they spoke of work
probably hoping that they'd be put to work.
Or they spoke of “Malach-ha-Mavis,” the angel of death.
The conflicting words echoed the conflict in their feelings.
Then a sudden silence
fell over those gathered in the crematorium courtyard.
All eyes converged
on the flat roof of the crematorium.
Who was standing there?
Aumeyer, of the SS,
Grabner, the head of the political section,
and Hossler, the SS officer.
Aumeyer addressed the crowd,
“You're here to work,
for our soldiers fighting at the front.
Those who can work will be all right.”
It was obvious that hope flared in those people.
You could feel it clearly.
The executioners had gotten past the first obstacle.
They saw it was succeeding.
Then Grabner spoke up,
“We need masons, electricians,
all the trades.”
Next, Hossler took over.
He pointed to a short man in the crowd.
I can still see him.
“What's your trade?”
The man said,
“Mr. Officer, I'm a tailor.”
“A tailor? What kind of tailor?”
“A man's... No, for both men and women.”
“Wonderful! We need people like you in our workshops.”
Then he questioned a woman,
“Whafs your trade?”
“Nurse,” she replied.
“Splendid! We need nurses in our hospitals for our soldiers.
We need all of you! But first, undress.
You must be disinfected.
We want you healthy.”
I could see the people were calmer,
reassured by what they'd heard,
and they began to undress.
Even if they still had their doubts,
if you want to live, you must hope.
Their clothing remained in the courtyard,
scattered everywhere.
Aumeyer was beaming,
very proud of how he'd handled things.
He turned to some of the SS men and told them,
“You see? That's the way to do it!”
By this device,
a great leap forward had been made:
Now the clothing could be used.
RAUL H I LBERG, historian
[ In English] In all of my work, I have never begun by asking the big questions,
because I was always afraid that I would come up with small answers,
and I have preferred, therefore, to address these things,
which are minutiae or detail,
in order that I might then be able to put together
in a gestalt,
a picture, which, urn,
if not an explanation, is at least a description,
a more full description, of what transpired.
And, in that sense, I look also upon the bureaucratic destruction process,
for this is what it was,
as a series of minute steps taken in logical order
and relying above all, as much as possible,
on experience, past experience.
And this goes not only, incidentally, for the administrative steps that were taken,
but also the psychological arguments,
even the propaganda.
Amazingly little was newly invented
until, of course, the moment came
when one had to go beyond that which had already been established by precedent,
and one had to gas these people,
or, in some sense, annihilate them on a large scale.
Then, these bureaucrats became inventors.
But like all, all inventors of institutions,
they did not copyright or patent their achievements,
and they preferred obscurity.
[ Lanzmann, In English] What did they get from the past, the Nazis?
They got the actual content of measures which they took.
For example, the barring of Jews from office,
the prohibition of intermarriages,
the employment in Jewish homes of female persons under the age of 45,
the various marking decrees, especially the Jewish star,
the compulsory ghetto,
the voidance of any will executed by a Jew
that might work in such a way
as to prevent inheritance of his property by someone who was a Christian.
Many such measures had been worked out
over the course of more than a thousand years
by authorities of the Church
and by secular governments that followed in those footsteps.
And the experience gathered over that time
became a reservoir that could be used
and which indeed was used to an amazing extent.
You mean that one can compare...
- One can actually compare... - each measure?
One can compare a rather large number of German laws and decrees
with their counterparts in the past
and find complete parallels,
even in detail,
as if they were a memory
which automatically extended to the period of 1933
and 1935 and 1939 and beyond.
In such respect, they didn't invent anything?
They invented very little,
and they did not invent the portrait of the Jew,
which also was taken over, lock, stock and barrel,
from writings going back to the 16th century.
So, even the propaganda,
the realm of the imagination andinvenfion,
even there, they were remarkably in the footsteps of those who preceded them,
from Martin Luther to the 19th century.
And, here again, they were not inventive.
They had to become inventive with the “final solution.”
That was their great invention,
and that is what made this entire process different
from all others that had preceded that event.
And, in this respect,
what transpired when the “final solution” was... adopted,
or, to be more precise,
when the bureaucracy moved into it,
was a turning point in history.
Even here, I would suggest a logical progression,
one which came to fruition
in what might be called “closure,”
because, from the earliest days,
from the fourth century, fifth century, sixth century,
the missionaries of Christianity had said, in effect, to the Jews,
“You may not live among us as Jews.”
The secular rulers who followed them,
from the late Middle Ages, had then decided,
“You may not live among us,”
and the Nazis finally decreed,
“You may not live.”
This means that the three steps were...
The first one was conversion.
- Conversion, followed by... - The second one, ghettoization.
- Expulsion. - Or expulsion.
Expulsion.
And the third was the territorial solution,
which was, of course, the solution carried out
within the territories under German command,
excluding emigration:
death,
“final solution.”
And the “final solution,” you see, is really final,
because people who are converted can yet be, in secret, Jews,
people who are expelled can yet return,
but people who are dead will not reappear.
In such a respect, in the last stage, they were really pioneers and inventors?
This was something unprecedented, and this was something new.
How can one figure...
give some ideas about the complete newness of this,
because I think that it was new for themselves too?
Yes, it was new,
and this... I think, for this reason that one cannot find a specific document,
a specific plan, outline or blueprint
which states, “Now, the Jews will be killed.”
Everything is left to inference from general words.
Inference from...
- General wording. - Mm-hmm.
The very wording “final solution” or “total solution”
or “territorial solution”
leaves something to the bureaucrat that he must infer.
He cannot read that document.
One cannot even read G6ring's famous letter to Heydrich,
at the end of July 1941,
charging him in two paragraphs to proceed with the “final solution.”
And taking that document aside, everything is clarified?
Far from it.
- Far from it? - Far from it.
It was an authorization to invent.
It was an authorization to begin something
that was not as yet capable of being put into words.
I think it... I think of it that way.
It was a case for every agency, as a matter of fact.
Absolutely, for every agency.
In every aspect of this operation, invention was necessary.
Certainly at this point,
because every problem was unprecedented:
not just how to kill the Jews, but what to do with their property thereafter,
and, not only that,
but how to deal with the problem of not letting the world know what had happened.
All of these multitudes of problems were new.
[Children Shouting, Distant]
[Van Door Opens]
[Van Door Closes]
FRANZ SCHALLING
[ Lanzmann, In German] First, explain to me...
how you came to Kulmhof, to Chelmno.
You were at Lodz, right?
- [ Schalling, In German] In Lodz, yes. - Litzmannstadt?
[ Saba/ling j In L iizmannstadt'. J a .
We were on permanent guard duty.
Protecting military objectives: mills,
the roads, when Hitler went to East Prussia.
It was dreary, and we were told,
“We're looking for men who want to break out of this routine.”
So we volunteered.
We were issued winter uniforms,
overcoats, fur hats, fur-lined boots,
and 2 or 3 days later we were told, “We're off!”
We were put aboard 2 or 3 trucks... I don't know...
They had benches,
and we rode and rode.
Finally we arrived.
The place was crawling with SS men and police.
Our first question was, “What goes on here?” - [ Lanzmann] Ja.
[ Schalling ] They said, “You?! find out!”
- You?! find out? - You'll find out.
- [ Lanzmann ] Ja. - Nicht?
- You weren't in the SS, you were... - Police.
- Which police? - Security guards.
We were ordered to report to the Deutsche Haus,
the only big stone building in the village.
Ja.
We were taken into it.
An SS man immediately told us,
“This is a top secret mission!”
- Secret? - “A top secret mission.”
- Ja. - “Sign this!”
We each had to sign.
There was a form ready for each of us.
What did it say?
It was a pledge of secrecy.
We never even got to read it through.
You had to take an oath?
- No, just sign... - Ja.
Promising to shut up about whatever we'd see.
- Shut up? - Not say a word.
Ja.
After we'd signed, we were told,
“Final solution of the Jewish question.”
We didn't understand what that meant.
So someone said...
He told us what was going to happen there.
Someone said, “the final solution of the Jewish question.”
You'd be assigned to the “final solution”?
Yes, but what did that mean?
We'd never heard that before.
So it was explained to us.
Just when was this?
Let's see... when was it...?
In the winter of 1941-42.
Then we were assigned to our stations.
Our guard post was at the side of the road.
A sentry box in front of the castle.
[ Lanzmann ] So you were in the “castle detail”?
[ Schalling ] That's right.
Can you describe what you saw?
We could see. We were at the gatehouse.
Ja?
When the Jews arrived, the way they looked:
half-frozen, starved, dirty, already half-dead.
Old people, children.
Think of it! The long trip here standing in a truck, packed in!
Who knows if they knew what was in store!
They didn't trust anyone, that's for sure.
After months in the ghetto, you can imagine!
Ja?
I heard an SS man shout at them,
“You're going to be deloused
and have a bath.
You're going to work here.”
The Jews consented.
They said, “Yes, that's what we want to do.”
Was the castle big?
Pretty big, with huge front steps.
The SS man stood at the top of the steps.
Then what happened?
They were hustled into 2 or 3 big rooms on the first floor.
They had to undress, give up everything:
rings, gold, everything.
Ja.
How long did the Jews stay there?
- I ong enough to undress. - J a.
Then, stark naked,
they had to run down more steps
to an underground corridor
that led back up to the ramp, where the gas van awaited them.
Did the Jews enter the van willingly?
No, they were beaten.
Blows fell everywhere, and the Jews understood.
They screamed.
It was frightful!
Frightful!
I know, because we went down to the cellar
when they were all in the van.
We opened the cells of the work detail,
the Jewish workers
who collected the things thrown out of the 1st-floor window into there.
[ Lanzmann ] Describe the gas vans.
[ Schalling ] Like moving vans.
Very big?
They stretched, say,
from here to the window.
Just big trucks,
like moving vans, with 2 rear doors.
What system was used?
How did they kill them?
- With exhaust fumes. - Exhaust fumes?
It went like this: A Pole yelled, “Gas!”
Then the driver got under the van to hook up the pipe
that fed the gas into the van.
- Yes, but how? - From the motor.
Yes, but through what?
A pipe... a tube.
He fiddled around under the truck.
I'm not sure how.
It was just exhaust gas?
That's all.
[ Lanzmann ] Ja.
Who were the drivers?
- SS men. - [ Repeats Phrase]
All those men were SS.
Were there many of these drivers?
I don't know.
Were there 2, 3, 5, 10?
Not that many. 2 or 3, that's all.
I think there were 2 vans,
one big, one smaller.
Ja?
Did the driver sit in the cabin of the van?
- Mrs. Uwe? - [Woman ] No.
He climbed into the cabin after the doors were closed
and started the motor.
Did he race the motor?
I don't know.
Could you hear the sound of the motor?
Yes, from the gate we could hear it turn over.
Was it a loud noise?
The noise of a truck engine.
Ja.
The van was stationary while the motor ran?
That's right.
Ja.
Then it started moving.
We opened the gate, and it headed for the woods.
Were the people already dead?
I don't know.
It was quiet. No more screams.
[ Lanzmann ] No screams.
You couldn't hear anything as they drove by.
[ Podchlebnik Speaking Yiddish]
[ Interpreter #2, In French] He recalls: It was 1941,
2 days before the new year.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
They were routed out at night...
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
and in the morning they reached Chelmno.
- [ Podchlebnik Continues] - There was a castle there.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
When he entered the castle courtyard...
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
he knew something awful was going on.
- [ Podchlebnik Continues] - He already understood.
THE SITE OF THE CASTLE
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
They saw clothes and shoes...
- [ Podchlebnik Continues] - scattered in the courtyard.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
Yet they were alone there.
He knew his parents had been through there...
- [ Podchlebnik Continues] - and there wasn't a Jew left.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
They were taken down into a cellar.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
On a wall was written, “No one leaves here alive.”
- [ Podchlebnik Continues] - Graffiti in Yiddish.
- [ Podchlebnik Continues] - There were lots of names.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
He thinks it was the Jews from villages around Chelmno
who had come before him, who had written their names.
- [ Podchlebnik Continues] - A few days after New Year's...
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
they heard people arrive in a truck one morning.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
The people were taken out of the truck...
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
- and up to the first floor of the castle. - [ Podchlebnik Continues]
The Germans lied, saying they were to be deloused.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
They were chased down the other side...
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
where a van was waiting.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
The Germans pushed and beat them with their weapons
to hustle them into the trucks faster.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
He heard people praying, “Shma Israel”...
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
and he heard the van's rear doors being shut.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
Their screams were heard,
becoming fainter and fainter...
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
and when there was total silence,
the van left.
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
He and the 4 others were brought out of the cellar.
They went upstairs...
[ Podchlebnik Continues]
and gathered up the clothes remaining
outside the supposed baths.
[ Lanzmann, In French] Did he understand then how they'd died?
[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]
MICHAEL PODCHLEBNIK,
the survivor of the 1st period of extermination at Chelmno
(the castle period)
Yes, first because there had been rumors of it.
And when he went out, he saw the sealed vans,
so he knew.
[ Lanzmann ] He understood that people were gassed in the vans?
[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]
Yes, because he'd heard the screams
and heard how they weakened,
and later the vans were taken into the woods.
[ Lanzmann ] What were the vans like?
[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]
Like the ones that deliver cigarettes here.
They were enclosed, with double-leaf rear doors.
[ Lanzmann ] What color?
[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]
The color the Germans used, green, ordinary.
MARTHA MICHELSOHN
[ Lanzmann, In German ] How many German families were there in Kulmhof (Chelmno)?
[ In German] 10 or 11, I'd say.
Germans from Volhynia and 2 families from the Reich,
the Bauers and us.
- And you? - Us, the Michelsohns.
Ja.
How did you wind up in Kulmhof?
I was born in Laage,
and I was sent to Kulmhof.
They were looking for volunteer settlers,
and I signed up.
That's how I got there.
First in WarthbriJcken (Kolo),
then Chelmno... Kulmhof.
Directly from Laage?
- No, I left from Munster. - Ja?
- Did you opt to go to Kulmhof? - Ja.
No, I asked for Wartheland.
Why?
[ Murmurs In German]
A pioneering spirit.
- You were young! - Oh, yes, I was young.
- You wanted to be useful? - Yes.
What was your first impression of Wartheland?
It was primitive. Super-primitive.
Meaning...?
- Even worse... - [ Repeats Phrase]
Worse than primitive.
Difficult to understand, right?
Ja.
But why.,,?
The sanitary facilities were disastrous.
The only toilet was in WarthbriJcken, in the town.
You had to go there.
The rest was a disaster.
- Why a disaster? - There were no toilets at all!
Ja?
There were privies.
I can't tell you
how primitive it was.
Astonishing!
Why did you choose such a primitive place?
I was young, you know.
You can't imagine such places exist.
You don't believe it. But that's how it was.
[ Michelsohn ] This was the whole village.
A very small village,
straggling along the road.
Just a few houses.
There was the church, the castle,
a store, I00,
the administrative building and the school.
The castle was next to the church,
with a high board fence around both.
[ I anzmann j J a .
How far was your house from the church?
It was just opposite... 150 feet.
Mrs. Michelsohn was the Nazi teacher's wife
Did you see the gas vans?
No...
Yes, from the outside. They shuttled back and forth.
I never looked inside... I didn't see Jews in them.
I only saw things from outside,
the Jews' arrival, their disposition,
how they were loaded aboard.
Since World War I,
the castle had been in ruins.
Only part of it could still be used.
That's where the Jews were taken.
This ruined castle was used...
For housing and delousing the Poles, and so on.
- The Jews! - Yes, the Jews.
- Ja. - [German ]
Why do you call them “Poles” and not “Jews”?
- Sometimes, I get them mixed up. - Ja.
There's a difference between Poles and Jews?
Q“, yes!
What difference?
[Laugh$I
The Poles weren't exterminated,
and the Jews were.
That's the difference. An external difference, right?
And the inner difference?
I can't assess that.
I don't know enough about psychology and anthropology.
The difference between the Poles and the Jews?
Anyway, they couldn't stand each other.
[ In French] On January 19, 1942,
the rabbi of Grabow, Jacob Schulmann,
wrote the following letter to his friends in Lodz:
“My very dear friends,
I didn't write sooner: I wasn't sure of what I'd heard.
Alas, to our great grief, we now know all.
I've spoken to an eyewitness who managed to escape.
He told me everything.
They're exterminated in Chelmno, near Dombie,
and they're all buried in the nearby Rzeszow forest.
The Jews are killed in 2 ways: by shooting or gas.
It's just happened to thousands of Lodz Jews.
Do not think that this is being written by a madman.
Alas, it is the tragic, horrible truth.
Horror, horror. Man, shed thy clothes,
cover thy head with ashes, run in the streets
and dance in thy madness.
I am so weary that my pen can no longer write.
Creator of the universe, help us!”
The creator did not help the Jews of Grabow.
With their rabbi, they all died in the gas van at Chelmno
a few weeks later.
Chelmno is only 12 miles from Grabow.
[ Rooster Crowing ]
[ Lanzmann, In French] Were there a lot of Jews here in Grabow?
[ Interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]
- [ Woman Replies In Polish] - A lot, quite a few.
[ Woman Continues]
They were sent to Chelmno.
[ Lanzmann ] Has she always lived near the synagogue?
[ Interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]
[Women Chattering In Polish]
- [ Lanzmann ] Yes. - The Polish word is “Buzinica,” not synagogue.
[Chattering Continues]
She says it's now a furniture warehouse
but they didn't harm it from a religious point of view.
It hasn't been... desecrated.
Does she remember the rabbi at the synagogue?
[ Interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]
[ Woman Replies ]
THE SYNAGOGUE IN GRABOW
She says she's 80 now, and her memory isn't too good,
and the Jews have been gone for 40 years.
[ In French] Barbara, tell this couple they live in a lovely house.
[Speaking Polish]
Do they agree? Do they think it's a lovely house?
Oui.
[Laughs]
Tell me about the decoration of this house, the doors,
what's it mean?
People used to do carvings like that.
Did they decorate it that way?
Non.
- No, it was the Jews again. - The Jews did it!
- The door's a good century old. - [ Repeats Phrase]
- Oui. - Did Jews own this house?
Yes, all these houses.
All these houses on the square were Jewish?
Jews lived in all the ones in front, on the street.
Oui. Where did the Poles live?
In the courtyards, where the privies were.
[ Repeats Phrase]
There used to be a store here.
What kind?
A food store.
Owned by Jews?
Yes.
So the Jews lived in the front,
and the Poles in the courtyard with the privies.
Oui.
How long have these two lived here?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[Wife Replies]
15 years.
- Where'd they live before? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[Wife Replies]
In a courtyard across the square.
[ Lanzmann ] They've gotten rich.
- Them? - Yes.
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish] - [Wife Replies]
- Yes. - [ Laughing Together]
[ Lanzmann ] How did they get rich?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
They worked.
- How old is the gentleman? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [ Husband Replies] - He's 70.
- He looks young and healthy. - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[ Barbara Laughs]
Do they remember the Jews of Grabow?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish] - [ Husband Replies]
Yes.
And when they were deported, too.
- They recall the deportation of the Grabow Jews? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
He says he speaks “Jew” well.
- He speaks “Jew”? - Oui.
As a kid he played with Jews so he speaks “Jew.”
[ Husband Continues]
[ Barbara ] Mm-hmm.
First, they grouped them there, where that restaurant is,
or in this square, and took their gold.
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[ Barbara ] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
[ Barbara ] Mm-hmm.
An elder among the Jews collected the gold
and turned it over to the police.
That done, the Jews were put in the Catholic church.
- A lot of gold? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Yes, the Jews had gold...
[Wife Replies]
And some handsome candelabras.
[ Lanzmann, In French] Did the Poles know the Jews would be killed at Chelmno?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Yes, they knew.
- The Jews knew it, too. - [ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]
[ Lanzmann ] Did the Jews try to do something about it,
to rebel, to escape?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish] - [ Motorcycle Motor Gunning ]
[ Barbara ] Tak.
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
The young tried to run away.
But the Germans caught them
and maybe killed them even more savagely.
[ Man Continues]
In every town and village, 2 or 3 streets were closed,
and the Jews were kept under guard.
They couldn't leave there.
[ Man Continues]
Then they were locked in the Polish church here in Grabow
and later taken to Chelmno.
BACKGROUND, THE SYNAGOGUE
[ People Chattering In Polish]
[Wife Speaking Polish]
The Germans threw children as small as these...
- Oui? - into the trucks by the legs.
She saw that?
- Old folks too. - Threw kids into the trucks.
Oui.
The Poles knew the Jews would be gassed in Chelmno?
Did this gentleman know?
- [ L anzmann j Ou/ f? - Oui.
[ Lanzmann ] Does he recall the Jews' deportation from Grabow?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish] - [ Man Replies In Polish]
Oui.
[ Man Continues]
At that time, he worked in the mill.
- [ Lanzmann] There, opposite? - Yes, and they saw it all.
What did he think of it? Was it a sad sight?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Yes, it was...
Oui.
Yes. How could you see that without sadness?
[ Hoof beats]
- What trades were the Jews in? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
They were tanners, tradesmen,
tailors.
They sold things... eggs, chickens, butter.
[ Man Speaking Polish]
[ Barbara, In French] There were a lot of tailors...
- [ Man Continues ] - tradesmen, too.
[ Man Continues]
But most were tanners.
- They had beards and side locks. - [ Lanzmann ] Yes.
He says they weren't pretty.
[ Lanzmann ] They weren't pretty?
- They stank, too. - They stank?
- Oui. - Oui?
Why did they stink? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Because they were tanners, and the hides stink.
[Chattering In Polish]
[ In French] The Jewish women were beautiful.
- [Woman Speaking Polish ] - [Women Laughing Together]
The Poles liked to make love with them.
Are Polish women glad there are no Jewesses left?
[Woman Continues]
- [Women Laughing ] - What'd she say?
- That the women who are her age now... - Oui?
Also liked to make love.
So the Jewish women were competitors?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
It's crazy how the Poles liked the little Jewesses!
Do the Poles miss the little Jewesses?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Naturally, such beautiful women!
- Why? What made them so beautiful? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[Women Talking At Once]
Because they did nothing. Polish women worked.
Jewish women only thought of their beauty and clothes.
- [ Lanzmann ] So Jewesses did no work! - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- None at all. - Why not?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- They were rich. - [Women Continue Chattering ]
The Poles had to serve them and work.
[ Lanzmann ] I heard her use the word “capital.”
[ Barbara ] The capital was in the hands of the Jews.
[ Lanzmann ] Yes... You didn't translate that.
Ask her again. So the capital was in the Jews' hands?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
All Poland was in the Jews' hands.
Are they glad there are no more Jews here, or sad?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
It doesn't bother them.
As you know, Jews and Germans ran all Polish industry before the war.
Did they like them on the whole?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[ Man Replies ]
Not much. Above all, they were dishonest.
- [ L enzmenn Repeats Phrase j - O ui .
Was life in Grabow more fun when the Jews were here?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
He'd rather not say.
Why does he call them dishonest?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Tak.
They exploited the Poles. That's what they lived off.
- How did they exploit them? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
By imposing their prices.
[ Chuckles ]
- Ask her if she likes her house. - [Speaking Polish]
Yes,
but her children live in much better houses.
In modern houses!
- They've all gone to college. - Great! That's progress!
Her children are the best educated in the village.
Very good, Madam! Long live education!
Isn't this a very old house?
Yes, Jews lived here before.
So Jews used to live here. Did she know them?
Yes.
- What was their name? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- She doesn't know. - What was their trade?
- Benkel, their name was. - Ah, Benkel.
And what was their trade? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[ Man Speaking Polish]
They had a butcher shop.
[ Lanzmann ] A butcher shop. Why is she laughing?
Because the gentleman said it was...
a butcher shop where you could buy cheap meat.
Beefl - [ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]
What does he think about them being gassed in trucks?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[ Man Replies]
He says he doesn't like that at all.
[ Man Continues]
If they'd gone to Israel of their own free will,
he might have been glad.
But killing them was unpleasant.
[ Lanzmann] Does he miss the Jews?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Yes, because there were some beautiful Jewesses.
For the young, it was... fine.
Are they sorry the Jews are no longer here or pleased?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
How can I tell? I never went to school.
I can only think of how I am now. Now I'm fine.
- Is she better off? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Before the war, she picked potatoes.
Now she sells eggs, and she's much better off.
Because the Jews are gone or because of socialism?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
She doesn't care, she's happy because she's doing well now.
How did he feel about losing his classmates?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish] - [Wife Replies]
- It still upsets him. - [Wife Continues]
- Does he miss the Jews? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Certainly.
They were good Jews, Madam says. - [ Lanzmann] Oui?
GRABOW IN WINTER
[ Michelsohn, In German] The Jews came in trucks,
and later there was a narrow-gauge railway
that they arrived on.
They were packed tightly in the trucks,
or in the cars of the narrow-gauge railway.
Lots of women and children.
Men too, but most of them were old.
The strongest were put in work details.
They walked with chains on their legs.
In the morning, they fetched water,
looked for food, and so on.
- [ Lanzmann ] D/ese Arbe/tsjuden... - [ Repeats Phrase]
These weren't killed right away.
That was done later.
I don't know what became of them.
They didn't survive, anyway.
[ Lanzmann ] Two of them did.
- Only two.
They were in chains?
- On the legs. - All of them?
The workers, yes. The others were killed at once.
The Jewish work squad went through the village in chains.
- Yes. - Mm-hmm.
Could people speak to them?
No, that was impossible.
Why?
No one dared.
- What? - No one dared.
- Ja. - Understand?
Yes... No one dared.
Why, was it dangerous?
- Yes, there were guards. - Ja.
Anyway, people wanted nothing to do with all that.
Do you see? - Ja.
Gets on your nerves, seeing that every day.
You can? force a whole village to watch such distress.
When the Jews arrived,
when they were pushed into the church or the castle...
And the screams!
It was frightful! Depressing.
Day after day, the same spectacle!
It was terrible! A sad spectacle!
They screamed. They knew what was happening.
At first, the Jews thought they were going to be deloused.
But they soon understood.
Their screams grew wilder and wilder.
Horrifying screams. Screams of terror.
Because they knew what was happening to them.
Do you know how many Jews were exterminated there?
Four something, 400,000... 40.000...
[ Lanzmann ] 400, 000.
[ Michelsohn ] 400,000, yes. I knew it had a 4 in it.
Sad, sad, sad!
[Srebnik, In German] g When the soldiers march g
g The girls open their windows and doors g
J"; [ Continues ]
[ I enzmenn j Do you remember a Je wish child, e b0 y of 13 f?
He was in the work squad.
He sang on the river.
- [ Michelsohn ] On the Narew River? - Yes.
- Is he still alive? - Yes, he's alive.
[ Lanzmann ] He sang a German song
that the SS in Chelmno taught him.
“When the soldiers march,
[ Michelsohn ] the girls open their windows and doors...”
J"; [ Continues ]
SIMON SREBNIK,
the survivor of the 2nd period of extermination at Chelmno
(the church period)
N' I Qrgan ]
JU' [ Polish]
J; [Congregation Joins In ]
J"; [ Continues ]
Gr [ Continues ]
[ Lanzmann, In French] So it's a holiday in Chelmno!
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [ Together] Tak. - Oui.
[ Lanzmann ] What holiday? What's being celebrated?
[ Barbara ] The birth of the Virgin Mary. it's her birthday.
- [ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase] - Oui.
[ Lanzmann ] it's a huge crowd, isn't it?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
But the weather's bad... it's raining.
[ Lanzmann ] Ask them if they're glad to see Srebnik again.
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Very. it's a great pleasure.
Why?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
They're glad to see him again,
because they know all he's lived through.
Seeing him as he is now, they're very pleased.
- They're pleased? - Oui.
Why does the whole village remember him?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
They remember him well
because he walked with chains on his ankles,
and he sang on the river.
He was young,
he was skinny,
he looked ready for his coffin.
[ Lanzmann ] Ripe for a coffin!
Did he seem happy or sad? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Even the lady,
when she saw that child,
she told the German, “Let that child go!”
He asked her, “Where to?”
“To his father and mother.”
Looking at the sky, he said, “He'll soon go to them.”
- The German said that? - Oui.
They remember when the Jews were locked in this church?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Yes, they do.
They brought them to the church in trucks.
- At what time of day? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
All day long and into the night.
What happened? Can they describe it in detail?
At first, the Jews were taken to the castle.
Only later were they put into the church.
[ Lanzmann ] The second phase, right!
[ Barbara] In the morning, they were taken into the woods.
[ Lanzmann ] How were they taken into the woods?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
In very big armored vans.
The gas came through the bottom.
Then they were carried in gas vans, right?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Yes, in gas vans.
Where did the vans pick them up?
- The Jews? - Yes.
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Here, at the church door.
- The trucks pulled up where they are now? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
No, they went right to the door.
The vans came to the church door?
And they all knew these were death vans?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Yes, they couldn't help knowing.
They heard screams at night?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
The Jews moaned, they were hungry.
[ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]
They were shut in and starved.
- Did they have any food? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
You couldn't look there. You couldn't talk to a Jew.
[Chattering In Polish]
Even going by on the road, you couldn't look there.
- Did they look anyway? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Yes, vans came,
and the Jews were moved farther off.
You could see them, but on the sly.
- [ Lanzmann ] In sidelong glances. - That's right.
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
That's right, in sidelong glances.
What kind of cries and moans were heard at night?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
They called on Jesus and Mary and God,
sometimes in German, as she puts it.
[ Lanzmann ] The Jews called on Jesus, Mary and God!
[Chattering In Polish Continues]
[ Barbara ] The presbytery was full of suitcases.
- The Jews' suitcases? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Yes, and there was gold.
- [Church Bells Ringing ] - [ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]
How does she know there was gold?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[ Lanzmann ] The procession! We'll stop now.
[ Bells Continue]
[Whinnies ]
[ Bells Continue]
[ Bells Stop]
[ Lanzmann ] Were there as many Jews in the church
as there were Christians today?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Almost.
How many gas vans were needed to empty it out?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
An average of 50.
[ Lanzmann ] It took 50 vans to empty it!
In a steady stream?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [ Together] Tak. - Yes.
[ Lanzmann ] The lady said before
that the Jews' suitcases were dumped in the house opposite.
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- What was in this baggage? - [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Pots with false bottoms.
What was in the false bottoms?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- Valuables... objects of value. - Ah, oui?
[Woman Continues In Polish]
They also had gold in their clothes.
[Woman Continues]
When given food, the Jews sometimes threw them valuables
or sometimes money.
[ Lanzmann ] They said before it was forbidden to talk to Jews.
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Absolutely forbidden.
[ Lanzmann ] Ask them if they miss the Jews.
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [Woman Replies] - Of course.
[Woman Continues]
We wept too, Madam says.
[ Lanzmann ] Oui. Bien sfir.
And Mr. Kantarowski gave them bread and cucumbers.
Why do they think all this happened to the Jews?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
Because they were the richest!
[ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]
Many Poles were also exterminated.
Even priests.
Mr. Kantarowski...
will tell us what a friend told him.
It happened in Myndjewyce, near Warsaw.
[ Lanzmann ] Go on.
[ Barbara ] The Jews were gathered in a square.
The rabbi asked an SS man, “Can I talk to them?”
The guard said yes.
So the rabbi said that around 2,000 years ago,
the Jews condemned the innocent Christ to death.
And when they did that, they cried out,
“Let his blood fall on our heads and on our sons' heads.”
[ Lanzmann ] Ou/I oui.
[ Barbara ] Then the rabbi told them,
“Perhaps the time has come for that, so let us do nothing.
Let us go, let us do as we're asked.”
[ Lanzmann ] He thinks the Jews expiated the death of Christ?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
He doesn't think so, or even that Christ sought revenge.
He didn't say that. The rabbi said it.
[ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]
[ Barbara ] It was God's will, that's all!
- [ Lanzmann ] What'd she say? - So Pilate washed his hands
and said, “Christ is innocent,” he sent Barabbas.
But the Jews cried out,
“Let his blood fall on our heads.”
That's all. Now you know!
[Chattering Fades]
[ Lanzmann, In French] Was the road between Chelmno, the village
and the woods where the pits were,
was it asphalted as it is now?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[ Falborski Speaking Polish]
The road was narrower then, but it was asphalted.
How many feet were the pits from the road?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
[ Falborski Speaking Polish]
They were around 1,600 feet,
maybe 1,900 or 2,200 feet away.
So even from the road, you couldn't see them.
How fast did the vans go?
[ Barbara Speaking Polish]
PAN FALBORSKI
At moderate speed, kind of slow.
It was a calculated speed
because they had to kill the people inside on the way.
When they went too fast,
the people weren't quite dead on arrival in the woods.
By going slower, they had time to kill the people inside.
Once a van skidded on a curve.
[ Falborski Continues ]
Half an hour later, I arrived
at the hut of a forest warden named Senajak.
[ Falborski Continues ]
He told me, “Too bad you were late.
You could have seen a van that skidded.
The rear of the van opened,
and the Jews fell out on the road.
[ Falborski Continues ]
They were still alive.
[ Falborski Continues ]
Seeing those Jews crawling, a Gestapo man
took out his revolver and shot them.
[ Falborski Continues ]
He finished them all off.
[ Falborski Continues ]
Then they brought Jews who were working in the woods.
[ Falborski Continues ]
They righted the van
and put the bodies back inside.”
[ Srebnik, In German] This was the road
the gas vans used.
There were 80 people in each van.
When they arrived, the SS said,
“Open the doors!”
We opened them. The bodies tumbled right out.
An SS man said, “2 men inside!”
These 2 men worked at the ovens. They were experienced.
Another SS man screamed,
“Hurry up! The other van's coming!”
We worked until the whole shipment was burned.
That's how it went, all daylong. So it went.
I remember that once they were still alive.
The ovens were full,
and the people lay on the ground.
They were all moving,
they were coming back to life,
and when they were thrown into the ovens,
they were all conscious. Alive.
They could feel the fire burn them.
When we built the ovens, I wondered what they were for.
An SS man told me,
“To make charcoal. For laundry irons.”
That's what he told me. I didn't know.
When the ovens were completed,
the logs put in
and the gasoline poured on and lighted,
and when the first gas van arrived,
then we knew why the ovens were built.
When I saw all that, it didn't affect me.
Neither did the 2nd or 3rd shipment.
I was only 13,
and all I'd ever seen until then
were dead bodies.
Maybe I didn't understand.
Maybe if I'd been older I'd have understood,
but the fact is, I didn't.
I'd never seen anything else.
In the ghetto, I saw... in the ghetto in Lodz,
that as soon as anyone took a step, he fell dead.
I thought that was the way things had to be.
It was normal.
I'd walk the streets of Lodz,
maybe 100 yards, and there'd be 200 bodies.
People were hungry.
They went into the street and they fell, they fell...
Sons took their fathers' bread,
fathers took their sons'.
Everyone wanted to stay alive.
So when I came here, to Chelmno,
I was already...
I didn't care about anything.
I thought, if I survive,
I just want one thing:
5 loaves of bread to eat.
That's all.
That's what I thought.
But I dreamed, too,
that if I survived, I'd be the only one left in the world,
not another soul. Just me. One.
Only me left in the world, if! get out of here.
THE RUHR
[ Lanzmann, In French] “Gehame Rekzhssache secret Reich business.
“Berlin, June 5, 1942.
Changes to be made to special vehicles now in service
at Kulmhof (Chelmno)
and to those now being built.
Since December 1941,
97,000 have been processed (verarbeitet in German)
by the 3 vehicles in service, with no major incident.
In light of observations made so far, however,
the following technical changes are needed:
First,
the van is" normal load is usually .9 to 70 per square yard.
In Saurer vehicles, which are very spacious,
maximum use of space is impossible,
not because of any possible overload,
but because loading to full capacity
would affect the vehicle's stability.
So reduction of the load space seems necessary.
It must absolutely be reduced by a yard,
instead of trying to solve the problem, as hitherto,
by reducing the number of pieces loaded.
Besides, this extends the operating time,
as the empty void must also be filled with carbon monoxide.
On the other hand, if the load space is reduced
and the vehicle is packed solid,
the operating time can be considerably shortened.
The manufacturers told us during a discussion,
that reducing the size of the van's rear
would throw it badly off balance.
The front axle, they claim, would be overloaded.
In fact, the balance is automatically restored
because the merchandise aboard
displays, during the operation,
a natural tendency to rush to the rear doors,
and are mainly found lying there at the end of the operation.
So the front axle is not overloaded.
Secondly:
The lighting must be better protected than now.
The lamps must be enclosed in a steel grid
to prevent their being damaged.
Lights could be eliminated,
since they apparently are never used.
However, it has been observed
that when the doors are shut,
the load always presses hard against them
(against the doors)
as soon as darkness sets in.
This is because the load
naturally rushes toward the light
when darkness sets in,
which makes closing the doors difficult.
Also, because of the alarming nature of darkness,
screaming always occurs when the doors are closed.
It would therefore be useful to light the lamp
before and during the first moments of the operation.
Third:
For easy cleaning of the vehicle,
there must be a sealed drain in the middle of the floor.
The drainage hole's cover, 8 to 12 inches in diameter,
would be equipped with a slanting trap,
so that fluid liquids
can drain off during the operation.
During cleaning,
the drain can be used to evacuate large pieces of dirt.
The aforementioned technical changes
are to be made to vehicles in service
only when they come in for repairs.
As for the 10 vehicles ordered from Saurer,
they must be equipped with all innovations and changes
shown by use and experience to be necessary.
Submitted for decision to Gruppenleiter H D,
SS-Obersturmbannfiihrer Walter Rauff.
Signed Just.”
END OF THE FIRST ERA