266. Naujoks, Leben, 192–95.
267. Siegert, “Flossenbürg,” 458; JVL, DJAO, RaR, United States v. E. Ziehmer, January 16, 1948.
268. Kielar, Anus Mundi, 99. See also Strzelecka, “Polen.”
269. Piper, Zahl, 153–54. This figure includes neither prisoner corpses taken straight to the crematorium, nor the thousands of Soviet POWs who perished during this period (see chapter 5).
270. Quote in Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, Buchenwald, 76. See also ibid., 74; Zimmermann, Rassenutopie, 121–22; Broszat, Kommandant, 31; BwA, 31/450, Bericht E. Frommhold, n.d. (1945), 67.
271. Quote in “Der Steinbruch.” See also AM Datenbank; Kranebitter, Zahlen; Maršálek, Mauthausen, 305; idem, Gusen, 15; Pingel, Häftlinge, 101–102; Fabréguet, Mauthausen, 169; Sofsky, Ordnung, 142. More generally, see Pike, Spaniards.
272. Snyder, Bloodlands, 123–41, 150–51; Maršálek, Mauthausen, 304–305; Pingel, Häftlinge, 98; Naujoks, Leben, 196–97, 201–203.
273. Quote in Kupfer-Koberwitz, Häftling, 273. See also Maršálek, Mauthausen, 309.
274. Szalet, Baracke, 95, 285, quote on 388.
275. Ibid., 120–21, 125, 198, 290, 349, 351.
276. August, “Sonderaktion,” 137.
277. In Mauthausen, the reasonably well-equipped infirmary was reserved for Germans, while foreign inmates were left to die in the so-called special ward (Sonderrevier); Maršálek, Mauthausen, 159–62.
278. AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 31, 37.
279. Quote in StAMü, StA Nr. 34398, KL Dachau, Vernehmung G. Brandt, June 10, 1940. See also ibid., LG Munich, Vernehmung P. Höferle, June 10, 1940; ibid., LG Munich, Urteil, November 4, 1940. Ordinarily, prisoner deaths at the hands of other inmates were not reported to the legal authorities. For reasons that remain unclear, the Dachau SS made an exception in the case of Brüggen, who was found guilty of homicide by the Munich District Court and sentenced to eight years in a penitentiary. For background, see Eiber, “Kriminalakte,” 20–21, 32.
280. AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 98–99.
5. Mass Extermination
1. Mennecke to his wife, letters of April 2, 4, 5, and 6, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 183–85, 192; ibid., 1–14; Kersting, Anstaltsärzte, 286–96; Ley and Morsch, Medizin, 309–10; Klee, “Euthanasie,” 226; idem, Was sie taten, 301 (n. 19); Burleigh, Death, 222; StANü, Pohl to Himmler, September 30, 1943, ND: 1469–PS.
2. Quotes in Mennecke to his wife, April 4, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 185. See also ibid., 185, 191–96; Hohmann and Wieland, Konzentrationslager, 27. In 1965, a GDR court sentenced Hebold to life imprisonment; he died in jail in 1975; Klee, Personenlexikon, 234–35.
3. Quotes in AS, P 3 Hüttner, Johann/1, part 1 and 2, Interview J. Hüttner, n.d. (early 1970s; my thanks to Monika Liebscher for this document); BStU, MfS HA IX/11 ZUV 45 Bd. 1, Bl. 362–64: Vernehmung O. Hebold, October 23, 1964, Bl. 363. See also AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 141; Naujoks, Leben, 247–49; Ley and Morsch, Medizin, 317.
4. Hohmann and Wieland, Konzentrationslager, 27; Naujoks, Leben, 247–48; AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 141.
5. Quote in BStU, MfS HA IX/11 ZUV 45 Bd. 1, Bl. 358–61: Vernehmung O. Hebold, August 12, 1964, Bl. 360. See also Mennecke to his wife, April 7, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 195.
6. Naujoks, Leben, 248–49, quote on 249; Ley, “‘Aktion,’” 235 (n. 16); Hohmann and Wieland, Konzentrationslager, 27. My thanks to Astrid Ley for the dates of these transports.
7. Mennecke to his wife, April 7, 1941, March 18, 1942, in Chroust, Mennecke, 195, 335; BArchL, B 162/7995, Bl. 271–304: Aussage F. Mennecke, January 16–17, 1947, Bl. 289–91.
8. Quote in Friedlander, Origins, 93. More generally, see ibid., passim; Burleigh, Death; Schmuhl, “Bouhler.”
9. Witte et al., Dienstkalender, 111 (n. 46); In ’t Veld, SS, 323; Moors and Pfeiffer, Taschenkalender, 244.
10. Glücks’s order is summarized in StANü, KL Buchenwald, Hauptabteilung I/5 to Koch, October 28, 1940, ND: NO-2102. The security police described Dachau as a place for prisoners who were old and partially able to work on the plantation; IfZ, RSHA, AE, 2. Teil, Bl. 204–205: Heydrich to RSHA et al., January 2, 1941.
11. ITS, KL Sachsenhausen GCC 10/84, Ordner 93; AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 112, 136; USHMM, RG-06.025*26, File 1558, Bl. 157–75: Vernehmung G. Sorge, December 19, 1946, Bl. 173.
12. Stein, “Vernichtungstransporte,” quotes on 35; ITS, KL Buchenwald GCC 2/191, Ordner 164, Transport nach Dachau, October 24, 1940.
13. DaA, 9438, A. Hübsch, “Insel des Standrechts” (1961), quotes on 252–53.
14. DaA, ITS, Vorläufige Ermittlung der Lagerstärke (1971).
15. Zámečník, Dachau, 162–64, quote on 163 (diary entry for February 4, 1941).
16. Quotes in Stein, “Vernichtungstransporte,” 35.
17. AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 112.
18. This was largely a result of the terrible conditions inside. In addition, the Dachau SS partially subverted Glücks’s orders by sending some of “their” invalids to other camps; Stein, “Vernichtungstransporte,” 35 (n. 19).
19. LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, May 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 34, 215.
20. Quote in DaA, 9438, A. Hübsch, “Insel des Standrechts” (1961), 253.
21. For the term “cumulative radicalization,” see Mommsen, “Radicalization.”
22. Goerdeler, “Zeit” (written in November 1940).
23. Himmler talked about “euthanasia” with Brack on January 13, 1941 (Witte et al., Dienstkalender, 107). For the discussion with Bouhler, LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, May 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 34, 215.
24. Friedlander, Origins, 68, 142–43; Berger, Experten, 41, 300–301.
25. LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, May 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 34, 273; Witte et al., Dienstkalender, 141.
26. LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, May 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 34, 215.
27. Quotes in August, “Auschwitz,” 72, citing notes by M. Grabner; StANü, WVHA to LK, March 26, 1942, ND: 1151–P-PS. See also ibid., EE by Dr. J. Muthig, April 16, 1947, ND: NO-2799; LG Cologne, Urteil, October 30, 1967, JNV, vol. 26, 722; HLSL, EE by Dr. W. Hoven, October 1946, ND: NO-429.
28. StANü, Aussage W. Neff, December 17, 1946, ND: NO-2637; StAMü, StA Nr. 34868/18, Vernehmung H. Schwarz, July 11, 1960; ibid., Vernehmung W. Leitner, October 17, 1961; Zámečník, Dachau, 215. For quotas, see StANü, SlF to Kommandantur Gross-Rosen, December 16, 1941, ND: 1151–G-PS.
29. For most of the dates, see Ley, “‘Aktion,’” 235–40, with corrections and additions from Chroust, Mennecke, 265–70, 318–21. The list of camps is not complete. According to an IKL document of November 12, 1941 (see StANü, IKL to LK, December 10, 1941, ND: 1151–C-PS), return visits by T-4 doctors to Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Auschwitz, and Mauthausen were scheduled before the end of the year. At least the visit to Mauthausen appears to have taken place; in addition, T-4 doctors were also scheduled to visit Niederhagen, sometime in early 1942.
30. In addition to Nitsche and Heyde, the doctors included Dr. Mennecke, Dr. Steinmeyer, Dr. Wischer, Dr. Lonauer, Dr. Renno, Dr. Robert Müller, Dr. Schmalenbach, Dr. Ratka, Dr. Gorgass, and Dr. Hebold. For personal details, see Klee, “Euthanasie,” 227–29, 242–43.
31. For visits to asylums, see Klee, “Euthanasie,” 242–48; Chroust, Mennecke, 6.
32. Mennecke to his wife, November 19, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 203–204; BArchL, B 162/7995, Bl. 271–304: Aussage F. Mennecke, January 16–17, 1947, Bl. 296.
33. For example Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 185–86.
34. For example Mennecke to his wife, November 20, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 205.
35. Quotes in HLSL, Meldebogen 1,
ND: 1151–A-PS. For the early use of the form, during selections in Buchenwald in summer 1941, BArchL, B 162/7996, Bl. 360–64: Vernehmung R. Gottschalk, November 14, 1960.
36. StAMü, StA Nr. 34868/18, Vernehmung K. Zimmermann, February 25, 1960; Mennecke to his wife, November 26, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 243; Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 185.
37. Quotes in Mennecke to his wife, September 3, 1941, and November 20, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 199, 205. Calculations based on Mennecke to his wife, April 7, 1941, November 22, 1941, in ibid., 195, 222. Selections also sped up because Camp SS officials now completed more details on forms before the arrival of T-4 doctors; StANü, IKL to LK, December 10, 1941, ND: 1151–C-PS.
38. For the exemption of some veterans from the “euthanasia” action, see Friedlander, Genocide, 81. The T-4 forms used in the KL asked about war injuries (HLSL, Meldebogen 1, ND: 1151–A-PS); consequently, some T-4 doctors questioned prisoners as to whether they had been wounded; StAMü, StA Nr. 34868/18, Vernehmung H. Schwarz, July 11, 1960; StANü, Aussage W. Neff, December 17, 1946, ND: NO-2637.
39. LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, May 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 34, 217. For the standard “euthanasia” form, see Klee, “Euthanasie,” 176.
40. This procedure of the “euthanasia” program (Friedlander, Origins, 83) was also applied to 14f13; BArchL, B 162/7996, Bl. 360–64: Vernehmung R. Gottschalk, November 14, 1960.
41. StANü, testimony Dr. Mennecke, n.d., ND: NO-2635, pp. 7, 14.
42. StANü, Pflegeanstalt Bernburg to KL Gross-Rosen, March 3, 1942, ND: 1151–J-PS.
43. BArchL, B 162/1281, Bl. 18–23: Vernehmung Walter M., October 23, 1964.
44. NAL, HW 16/18, KL Flossenbürg to IKL, May 12, 1942.
45. LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, May 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 34, 219–21, 233, 245, 248–49, 261, 275; LG Cologne, Urteil, October 30, 1967, ibid., vol. 26, 718; Friedlander, Genocide, 95–97; Trunk, “Gase,” 27–30.
46. For this view, see Lifton, Doctors, 419; Todorov, Facing, 241. Lifton draws on the Mennecke papers, but appears to disregard some of the evidence. For similar criticism, see Burleigh, Death, 224.
47. His letters (and the replies from his wife) are reprinted in Chroust, Mennecke. His verbosity proved his undoing: after the war, the letters were used as evidence against him in court and contributed to his death sentence.
48. Mennecke to his wife, November 28, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 248.
49. BArchL, B 162/7996, Bl. 310–20: Vernehmung E. Mennecke, June 1–2, 1960.
50. Mennecke to his wife, November 21, 1940 (wrongly dated 1941), in Chroust, Mennecke, 177.
51. Mennecke to his wife, December 2, 1941, and November 29, 1941, in ibid., 269, 253.
52. Around two thousand prisoners perished in Dachau during the first half of 1941. DaA, ITS, Vorläufige Ermittlung der Lagerstärke (1971); Kimmel, “Dachau,” 385.
53. Mennecke to his wife, September 3 and 4, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 197–200; Ley, “‘Aktion,’” 241 (n. 35); BArchL, B 162/491, Bl. 229–50: LG Limburg, Vernehmung W. Heyde, November 20, 1961, Bl. 244.
54. Quote in Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 185. For other camps, see Kłodzinski, “‘Aktion,’” 138, 142.
55. StAMü, StA Nr. 34868/18, Vernehmung K. Krämer, August 27, 1960.
56. LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, May 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 34, 217.
57. For the “euthanasia” program, see Friedlander, Genocide, 89–96.
58. Friedlander, Genocide, 106–107.
59. Mennecke to his wife, April 2 and 4, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 183, 185; Bezirksgericht Cottbus, Urteil, July 12, 1965, in Rüter, DDR-Justiz, vol. 2, 730.
60. Stein, “Vernichtungstransporte,” 38.
61. Kogon et al., Massentötungen, 66; BArchL, B 162/7996, Bl. 360–64: Vernehmung R. Gottschalk, November 14, 1960.
62. Stein, Juden, 110.
63. For this and the previous two paragraphs, see Mennecke to his wife, November 19–22, 1941, November 25, 1941, January 5, 1942, January 6, 1942, January 12, 1942, January 14, 1942, in Chroust, Mennecke, 202–10, 221–27, 236–41, 284–90, 312–16, 318–30, quotes on 207, 208 (partially underlined in original). See also Ley, “‘Aktion,’” 238–39; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 323–36.
64. In November 1941 and January 1942, the Ravensbrück SS apparently presented 334 men (forty-two percent of all male prisoners) and 810 women (twelve percent of all female prisoners) to Mennecke; Chroust, Mennecke, 205, 208–209, 222; Ley, “‘Aktion,’” 239 (n. 26, with slightly different calculations).
65. Quotes in Mennecke to his wife, November 25, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 237; F. Itzkewitsch to his son, June 29, 1941, in Stein, Juden, 107. See also ibid., 100–110; idem, “Vernichtungstransporte,” 39–40, 43–45, 49–50; BArchL, B 162/7996, Bl. 360–64: Vernehmung R. Gottschalk, November 14, 1960; Kłodzinski, “‘Aktion,’” 139–40.
66. Kłodzinski, “‘Aktion,’” 143–44; StAMü, StA Nr. 34868/18, Vernehmung F. Eberlein, November 30, 1961.
67. Quotes in BArchL, B 162/7996, Bl. 360–64: Vernehmung R. Gottschalk, November 14, 1960; Stein, “Vernichtungstransporte,” 50.
68. For example, see August, “Auschwitz,” 81–83.
69. LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, May 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 34, 217, 220; Kłodzinski, “‘Aktion,’” 141–42. For the efforts by a Dachau Kapo to save some “invalids” from the transports, see StAMü, StA Nr. 34433, LG Munich, Urteil, December 30, 1948.
70. Of the 510 Gusen prisoners gassed in Hartheim in August 1941, four hundred seventy-five came from Poland or Spain; ITS, ARCH/KL Mauthausen, Ordner 231. See also Maršálek, Gusen, 15.
71. Ley, “‘Aktion,’” 238.
72. In Ravensbrück, “asocial” men made up four percent of the prisoner population but fourteen percent of the victims of Action 14f13 (Strebel, Ravensbrück, 302, 332). In Sachsenhausen, 115 of 269 men taken to Sonnenstein in June 1941 were classed as professional criminals, far exceeding their share among the prisoner population (Külow, “Häftlinge,” 194).
73. HLSL, Meldebogen 1, ND: 1151–A-PS; StANü, IKL to LK, December 10, 1941, ND: 1151–C-PS; Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 185–86. For the impact of “criminality” and “asociality” on T-4 selections in asylums, see LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, May 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 34, 196.
74. Mennecke to his wife, April 7, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 195.
75. Many men sent as invalids from other KL to Dachau in 1940 were Jews. The transports from Sachsenhausen in September 1940 contained almost half of all the Jewish prisoners in the camp (Külow, “Häftlinge,” 198). And a transport from Buchenwald on October 24, 1940, included 169 Jews among its 371 prisoners (ITS, KL Buchenwald GCC 2/191, Ordner 164, Transport nach Dachau, October 24, 1940).
76. Friedlander, Genocide, 263–83. For the classification of working Jewish prisoners as unemployed, BArchB, NS 4/Bu 143, Unbeschäftigte, October 14, 1940; ibid., Unbeschäftigte, January 6, 1941; ibid., Unbeschäftigte, January 4, 1941.
77. BwA, KL Buchenwald, Transportliste, July 14, 1941; ibid., Transport II, July 15, 1941; BArchB, NS 4/Bu 143, Schutzhaftlager-Rapport, July 6, 1941.
78. As note 77, above. On average, the Buchenwald Jews gassed in Sonnenstein in mid-July 1941 were over fifty years old.
79. Testimony Dr. Mennecke, January 16–17, 1947, in Mitscherlich and Mielke, Medizin, 215–16, and BArchL, B 162/7995, Bl. 271–304. When Mennecke came to Buchenwald in November 1941, he expected that 1,200 Jews would be examined (note 82, below)—almost all the approximately 1,400 Jews in the camp at the time (BArchB, NS 4/Bu 143, Schutzhaftlager-Rapport, November 30, 1941).
80. Longerich, Holocaust, 219–304.
81. The extension of Action 14f13 may well have caused the flurry of confusing orders Mennecke
received in Ravensbrück in November, just before he went to Buchenwald; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 324–25.
82. Mennecke to his wife, November 25, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 243; BArchB, NS 4/Bu 143, Schutzhaftlager-Rapport, November 30, 1941.
83. Quote in Mennecke to his wife, November 26, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 243.
84. Stein, Juden, 117; Schulte, “London,” 221.
85. HLSL, LK Gross-Rosen to Pflegeanstalt Bernburg, March 6, 1942, ND: 1151–K-PS; ITS, OuS Archiv, 1.1.5.1., Ordner 679, Lagerarzt Buchenwald to Pflegeanstalt Bernburg, February 2, 1942.
86. This caused some disagreements with the Camp SS. In Gross-Rosen, the SS held back forty-two Jewish men earmarked by T-4 for the gas chambers, because they were still fit for work; HLSL, LK Gross-Rosen to WVHA, March 26, 1942, ND: 1151–N-PS.
87. Testimony Dr. Mennecke, January 16–17, 1947, in Mitscherlich and Mielke, Medizin, 215–16, and BArchL, B 162/7995, Bl. 271–304.
88. HLSL, ND: NO-3060; Hördler, “Ordnung,” 103. For Mennecke’s ambitions, see his letter to his wife, April 7, 1941, in Chroust, Mennecke, 195.
89. Quotes on photos in HLSL, ND: NO-3060. See also Strebel, Ravensbrück, 325; Stein, Juden, 117.
90. Quote on photo in HLSL, ND: NO-3060. See also ITS, docs. 6891552–6891562; BwA, Nachtrag zur Veränderungsmeldung vom 12. März 1942. Radinger was a “second-time-rounder.” He had first been arrested in June 1938 and was detained in Dachau and Buchenwald until his release in August 1939. He was rearrested in June 1940 and taken back to Buchenwald in August 1940.
91. Dates in Ley, “‘Aktion 14f13,’” 240; Römmer, “‘Sonderbehandlung.’”
92. Action 14f13 claimed the lives of at least 269 prisoners from Sachsenhausen; 575 from Auschwitz; 571 from Buchenwald; 295 from Neuengamme; around 1,000 from Ravensbrück (estimate; Mennecke is known to have examined c. 1,150 prisoners in November 1941 and January 1942). For these figures, see Ley, “‘Aktion,’” 235–36, 239–40. In addition, Action 14f13 claimed 127 prisoners from Gross-Rosen (HLSL, LK Gross-Rosen to WVHA, March 26, 1942, ND: 1151–N-PS) and 209 prisoners from Flossenbürg (NAL, HW 16/18, KL Flossenbürg to IKL, May 12, 1942). Action 14f13 also claimed 2,013 men from Dachau, in two waves of transports to Hartheim (1,452 men between January 15 and March 3, 1942, and 561 men between May 4 and June 11, 1942; ITS, KL Dachau GCC 3/92 II E, Ordner 152, Invaliden-Transporte KL Dachau, May 18, 1945). It has been argued that this second wave of transports from Dachau was not really part of Action 14f13, including instead prisoners selected autonomously by Dachau SS doctors (Ley, “‘Aktion,’” 238). This seems unlikely, since the transports fall into the period of the main Action 14f13, and since a second round of T-4 selections had been scheduled for Dachau in this period (StANü, IKL to LK, December 10, 1941, ND: 1151–C-PS). Furthermore, Action 14f13 claimed c. 1,380 prisoners from Mauthausen, deported to Hartheim in three waves in August 1941, December 1941, and January–February 1942 (Maršálek, Mauthausen, 222–23, 225, 227). Given the overall course of Action 14f13 and the fact that a return to Mauthausen by the T-4 commission was imminent toward the end of 1941 (StANü, IKL to LK, December 10, 1941, ND: 1151–C-PS), the deportations to Hartheim in late 1941/early 1942 must have formed part of Action 14f13 rather than marking an independent initiative by the local Camp SS (cf. Ley, “‘Aktion 14f13,’” 237).
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