-, J

V u.s.

Annex Ho.

P.W. & O.P. Division Croup ~ntrol Council, A.P.O.

. 742

To Ren. Report of 21st April, 19.45.

DlSl'ECTIOll OF GERM/JI CCl'l'.:ENTBtTION CAJ.!P FOR FOUl'ICAL PRISONERS I.CCATED AT BUCKE1<1'1AID OM 'l'f!E tlORTH l!."DGE OF

, IEUIAR.

Made by Brig . Gen . Eric F . Wood, Lt. Col. Chas. H. Ott, and Ci\U . SM. Dye, on tha 10.orni."8 o:f 16th~April, 194.5.

1. In addition to an American Officer guide, the party was also

accompo.nied by Con:mondant Rene .L1 Hopitoll (fonner ADC to l!a.rahal. Foch, DS.iii,

Officer of the legion of Honor, llVQ, et c .; a personal friend or many . <.t.

An:ericans iDcluding Brig . c~n. Haff!:ofct._,_Ycifi der, the l at e Theodor e Roo:ievel t J r ; -Maj .Gen. Fr ank Parke r, Fr anklin D10licr, Adm. Byrd), v,ho had been a prisoner

·· in the camp during t he t v.o itont hs prior to its capture. He weigh8d 95 lbs.

as aiainat a normal weight of 175 lbs. (See photo Jio. 2); but was in far

better physic.al condition than the aver age of hi:; fell ow prisoners ( due to

his havi.n,g been in t his camp only 2 mont hs) .

2. r'i:rtory of tbc Camp: I.t was f ounded when the

;.,:,.:;,.~,.--.Y • .. e ; ! ~ ~ ••

Nazi part:.y f irst ~'- '

cair:e into ponr i n 19:33 , and, has been in cont inuou.s oper ation ever s i nce -

.al.though :its lArgcst populations dato f rom the beginni ng of the present war.

u. s . ann.or over-ran the general area in which the tamp is l ocat ed on 12t h

April . Its S. S . guards had d•c•d by the evening of 11th April. ' So:ne

U. S . Admin. pe r sor.nel and supplies reached the c3mp on "Friday the 13th"

0£ April - a. red- l ottor day £or t.'rte surviving inmat e s .

3, Suri:iving pooulation: nwuorlcally, b1 nat~onality, as of

16t h April, 1945: a

French 2, 900 , ......... ... ....

Polish • • ••••• • • • • • •• •• 3,800 Hungarians .. ....... ... 1, 240 Jugo$l avG .............. 570 Russians • • •••• ••• •• • • • 4, 380 Dutch ........ ... .. .... 324 Belgians .............. 622 Austrians ............. sso I talians .............. 242 Czechs •••• • • ••••• • ••• • 2;105 Gcmans • • • ••••• • • • • ••• • 1,800 Dutch ................. 26o Ant.i-Fr:w.co Spanish &

W.scel.le.neous ...... 1, 207

20,000

LJ.;,~A.T{ AF"j ·1 t' ' " . · •·•c1 l-~E •• o\."\, \. , 0-

Cl.1•,L/,) I ~ . · · , S ,~,.. ~- - - - --=-,:__-""'=---- -.,..-,_· __ ,._ .. _, _, -~-------- ~--------- ......... ~

))

:,,-

"" :I)

,j 1

) Cflaracter of Surviving Po'C'Ula.tion: Uales only, including

l,OCO boys under 11, yearz old,. Intelligentia and "leadershi p'' personnel

from ill or Europe; anyone. a.r.d everyone of outstanding intellectual or

' moral qualifico.tione, or or "democratic" or anti- Nazi inclinations

OR THEIR RELATIYE.S. For instance, as to the Frtnch inmates, t hey incJ.uded

4 anti-Vichy ~!Dbei:s 0£ parliament,; proi'essora or Pasteur Institute, Univ.

of Paris, Univ. of Caen, etc.; 8 lµgb- rarucing ant i - Vichy French generals

(including Gen. Vern.eau rtho was a t one t.i.me Q. of s.), and the son 0£ one

of them; and French ongi.neer s, l.awyer;s, editol"s and other pro~essionaJ. :ten

of the higher brackets . A particular inclination tor incarcerating

p rominent Jews 1r11s 111anifest, there being 4,000 ot thGm i3Zl'!on& the 20,000 I

survivors (these are inclusive in the nationalities listed in the precedin&

paragraph). Jews were given even ·.10rse trea~nt than the others. For

instance., no Jel'I' was ever "promoted" from t he ' 'Litt le Coolp" (see bel ow).

A few inmat es v,-cre f'rom time to time ra:ieomed by their !.bi.lies by personal

payments to S. S . ofticers ard liberated to spread the n0rd, among other

leadership or intellect.uAl anti- Nazi personnel throughout Europe, as to the

penalties (internment in this oamp and similar Qnes) for anti-llaz:ilst.

5, Mission of the Camp : An extennin~tion factory. l!ere death

was not bad enough tor anti-Mazie. lieans of extenninat i on: ste.rv~tion;

complicated by lla.M work, abuse, beatings and tortures, incredibly cro'Kded

sleeping conditions (see below), and sickness (£or instance, typhus rampant

in the c~; and. many i nmates tubercul.1.r). By these means nw.ny tens of

thous.u1ds of the best lead.crship personnel of· Europe (including Gennan

de."llOcrats and anti-Nazi s) have been exterminated. For instance, 6 of t he ·s

French generals originally co!Mll.ttad to the cam;>, and the son of the one of

theo had died there (and the ·2 surviving Fr-0och genarals appear t o be beyond

rehabilitation). The recent death _rate Wi?.3 about 200 a day. 5,700 had

died or been killed in February; $,900 in lta.rch·, and. about 2,COO in ,the first

10 days of April.

The oain olemonts ot the installation i ncl uded the 111.ittlc Cc.mp",

th.e "Regular Barracko", 11Thc Hospital", the Medical Ex;,er iment~tion Building,

the Bod,)• Disposal Plant , and an Ar<-..mu.nition Facto~y imnediately adjacent to

t he camp and separated from it only by a m.re ranee.

6. The "Little Cg.mp''. ~soners here -sl ept on t riple-decked Slelve:s,

each shelf about 12 1 x 12' , 16 prisoners to o. shelf, the cl eararce height betvteon

shelves being a little over 2 1 • Cubag,e figured out t o about ;}$ cu. ft .

per man; as agains t tho minimwn for health 0£ (:/JO cu . i't. prescribed by US

Army Regulattons . All arriving new prisoners ·r.cre initiatod by spending at

le-ast 6 weeks here before"being 11g r ~uate-d to the ' Regular Barracks'"• Duri..ng

t.ltis initiati on prisoners were expected to l ose about 40 per cent . in weight ,

Jew.s, however, seldom ii' ever graduated t o the Regular Ba.r rack!I . Csmp dis­

ciplinary measure s included transferring r ecalci trant prisoners back to the

111.it t.lo Camp" .. As per :lo)U,6 becairt3 too feeble to work, they were Al eo s ent

back to thi s cam.p, or to t he 11Hospital11• Rations werf, less t han at Regular

Ca:nps, and death rate waa very high her e ; recently 2 per cent.. to 4 per c · ' ,

a day. (For Oppearancc of surviving prisoners soe Photograph No. 4). 'i • ··, ? . The Regular Bar racks: The dormi:t.ory rooms were approxin::at.ely ~ 1 x 231

,

about. 10 1 high; or a content ot l ess t han 9500 ... cu. rt. In ouch a roo:ti t here

'n'ere inst.al.led, triple-deck, 38 st-acks of 3 cots eo.ch; or a t otal of 114 cots,

each cot JO" x 7211 out.side maasurement. l!ost of t heoe cot s were double (i. e.

2 parallel cots occupyint; a sp&ce 6011 x 7211 ). llslee were too narro.r (less than

2411 ) to permit movement. except with the body edgewise. 114 cots i nto 9500 makes

l ess t han 85 cu . tt. . ~ r person. Bui. since the wa.r 250 persons have been roscle

to sleep in O.tleh such roo:n (5 persons o n each 6011 x 72" double cot, and 2 persons

on each 3011 by 7?" single cot); or less th..'ln 40 cu. ft. per porson. There were

less t han one blanket per prisoner. Blankets nere thin and shoddy, and under­

size. There was no heat in these dormitories .

a . The 'Hos-pital.11 • A building ;;here ruoribund. persot\S 7rere sent to die .

Uo niedi.cines bei-ng available, heztee no therapy was possible . Typhus e.nd. tuberculosi

i:a.mpant. in t ha camp. About half the na.rds in the 11Ho:ip;ta111 were about 15 '

deep with one lrj__Jldow at the out s i de e nd, by 5½' rd.de. P':rom 6 to 9 "pat.i ent.s11

occupied such a wa...""01

lying cros!l-vd.$e on t he floor' , should.er to should.er. Room

too narrow for most. of the::i to ext.end their legs. Death r ate in t he 11Hospitol.11

5- per cont. to 20 per ce.vit. a day.

9 . He<i,ical. Extierir,:snt. Building . Block 41 -..as used for c::edical experiments

and vivisect.i ons, ll'ith pr izonors a.a "guinea pige:11• ll.odical scientists caroo

--

tl"OQ. Berlin p,e.riodicall.y to roinrorce tho e~rimcntal. staff. ln p&.rt.i cu.4r,

new to,d.n1 ~"ld ant i-toxins wero t ried. out on prisoners. Few prisoners who

entered. this exporiloonta.1. building over om.erged alive.

10. 'the Body Dioooul Plant. The dot ign of thie inotalle.tion was ll

st riking o~ple ct "German industrial e!ticienc,r' . It ha.d a o.axiru:: di:,posal

capacity or about, 400 b0d1es per 10-hour day. All bodies lf8?'e reduced to

bO!lta.&h, thu.8 dos.troyi.ng &ll 11ovidence11 • All' gold or gold-t illed tooth wore

extncted rro1n bodiot: bei'or e incinerati on. Thie pl&nt. wao entirel y encl.04ed

vii.thin a high board tence . t;o one oxcept the ar.:all apera.t.1.ng force ot SS

peracnnal was &llo .. d. even to look inside taie f'e.ne-o, and no prltonor who

pa.seed Within it (a.a .i membe r or a tatiguc party, or f or o.ny other roa::.on} ever

ca:no ou-t alive . I nside thi:s tence was ( a) a la.rgc rront yard en tho lett,

(b) a &nall back yard on the right, and (c) tho incinerator bullc!in& centrall,y

locotod bet•eon tho t.'fll:> yards. Thi• building wa3 o! Slbota.nti&l brick construc­

tion with C.ell'!.ant floors , one story, with & full-size 12" high basenent beneat h .

The 1nain tloor contained an Amin. o!fiee a t tho front end , a locker and washrocm.

£or :JS. personnol at the tar end, a.."'ld the 1nciner&tor roa:a int.he canter . Tr:.e

latt•r contained, in line, 2 batteries ot 3 fire-brick inci.ner~tors each, each

incinerator having a caps.city o! 3 bodies; or a total. cho.rge ot 18 bodieo .

15 to 20 cd.nut oe v1ere r equired, for tho incine ration of a. cha.rgo. The i'loor

of each inciner:a.t.or consi1t.ed ot a coarse grate through llbich the ~one~b fell

i."l.to an aabpit abcut 16" deep, having a eoparat.e r ront door through which the

cia.y'• accu.m.u.ation of bo.noaah was extr-a.ctod a t the tnd ot opero.U.on . T'ne ti.re

C3'l'IO fro1a a furnace-room occupying the r ear- two- thirds ot the b~5er:,ant, t he

fl.e.mos being dttlcctc,d downwr<l:;: ont.c the bodies by baf'.tltpl.atos in the roofs

of the furo.acee. Th• front. end. oi the basen:cnt. was OCCl.lJ)ied. b>J,~ _l<."-Str angulation -· ;_..... · • ... ~ . ' •,,

The J11.e thod. of collec1.iog bodie1 fflLS aG f ollows. Roll--call 'l'l'a.a held

every evening, out doors outs id.o tho dormitory 'buil cti.ngs . I nternees were re­

quired to strip, ard brine to roll- co.U, the naked bodiet ot all comrades 'eo

had. died during the p revious 24 houre. Arter roll-call a m.otor truck dnwo

around the canp, picked UJ> the bodioa, anti. waa drivon into tho f ront-;r--ard. ot tho

i ncinerator pl ant t o awo.it the next day' s open\tion. But. tld~ was not. the or.ly

aourco ot bodit1:s . un&ciatod prl;scners imo "had b,een o.ro\ll'ld long enout'Jl111 who

' cCQ'ld.tt-ed intract.i.ono of discipline, or who 111knaa• too cuch", or l'4ho refused t,o .

be broken in olnd, were &.rbitr&ri.l.v condemned tc death. For inet.ance '

i n the •Jtttle

-· C~911 ·11here prisoners :slept 10 on a shelf , .m infraction of discipline (and

pa.rlicularl.y en attempt to c:scape) not 1nfre(\.uentl y resulted in W 16

being conden:ncd. Such pe rsons were irumediate!.y 1~rchod on t oot to a sm.ill

ctoor i nto the f ence of t.he back ya.rd, at a point i n!ll8dia.tely adjacent to t he

right - h.t'.lnd front corner of the incinerator b\lil<:l.ing . This door opened in­

wards until it hit a door-stop \\hlch held it in a 90si. t i on parallel to the

building's wtll, - thus creating a cor11.dor about /,1 '11.:i.de and. 31

deep. At

t he far 011,d was an O!)enitig about 4 1 x 4 1 f lush vJith the groW'.:d, the bea.d.

of a concrete shaft about lJ 1 deep, , t he bottom f l oor or which was a cont i­

nuati on of tha concrete f l oor ot the , room 3t the front ertd of t he basen:cnt .

'f.'le condemned prisoners, on being hur·ried and pushed. t hrough t he /Xlor in

t he fence, inevit ably fell into this sha.i't and crashed 13 1 do·,m tot.he cenent

cell~r i'l oor. This roo111.1 on the 1~oor at one end of which t-hoy not• round

t he.:nselves, we$ Tho Strangling Room. As they hit the flQor they ,;ere gar­

roted, ·,·,ith a short doublo,,,ended. noo:sa, by big SS guards; md hung on hooks

along t he aide wal.l.1 about 611 above the floor, t he row or hooks b¢ifl,t 45

in number. W'nen .:i conaigwuent had been all hung up, ;:i.ny who were s t ill

struggling were stunned with a wooden mallet (Seo phot o uo. 2) the mallet

and a noose are being held by Command.ant L1Hopit~) . The boaiez were

left on t he hooks until cal.led for b;,· the inciner at or crew. An elect ric

elevat or, wi t h an estimated c apacit y of 18 bodies, r.an up to t he inci.ner-,

at.or room, which was direct ly above The Str angllitg Room. The day' 5 quota

of ilpproximately 200 bod,i es were mad.o up from 120. to l l.O prisoror 8 who

had. died (mostJ.y in t he ttUospi t al. 11 , the "lledical ExperiJ:nent Building" , or

t he 11Lit t le Cem.p"), and oi f rooi 60 to SO supplied by 'l'he Str.,,ngling 1loom.

'

,, ~ - ··

For a period of about ten d.eya in fl.arch the coal ~uw-1Y t'or the

incinerator ran out. Awai ttng the e.rri vel of a now supply, bodies t o t he

number of about 1.800 r.ere allowed to collect in t he front. 7bt'd.., stacked up 1

like cord-'\';Ood. .To the annoyance of' the SS t his over-cro'Wdcd the ye.rd wit h

undispoaed-of "evidence" ; and o. 3pe11 of we.rm t,·cather created a ssni t ary

probleo. lloreovor, burial ;,;as a good deal mo1·0 t roubl.esome than incinert1tion;

and was out of the customary routine. But oo::othing hc.ci to be done . So a

truck detachment, and e £0.tiguo detail o-r internees, wac organized. 'i'he .

bodies were loaded in the trucks and haulod out of camp. The fati gue det &il

dug ono huge burial pit, threw the bodies into it filling it exce9t f or ono

end, nnd co,;ered the bodies . Theil t he SS shot ell the members of the fatigue

detail , tln-e~ t hoil' bodies into the Yacant end, and covered them up.

Shortly a.~n-ard.s a new supply of cpal hn\!ing been received, t he

process of incineration was resumed. Thi$ process l'18.8 so abruptly inter­

rupted by t he arrival of U.S. Armor L,_ the c.roa that the SS had no time to 1'tidy up", ao that the cycl e oi' opera tion could be plainly exttminea and \mder­

stood. The previous day' e quota oi' up.-,ards of 120 corpccs of' prisoners 11ho

had died in CSQp WON perked in a truck in the front yard (See Photo Ill).

Tho i ncinerat or furnace grates hed not yet been cleared of un--cons umed hip-bone

joint s and parts of skulls. In addition, the bodies of ebout 40 illl:Ultcs nho

bed died since U.S . arrival, i n spite of prompt roodic_al a.r.d ration attention,

.,.ere stacked up like cord-r.ood aeainst the t:all of t he yord (See Photo 1/3) .

knericen s urgeons s teted that t he adult. cor pses weighed only 60 to 80 l bs,

having in pra ct.ica.lly ell ceses lost 50% to 60% of their nol'lil41 ,.,eight, and

also hoving ehrttnken in hei eht .

l.O. l.!i;cellaneO'\W:

e . Ration@_: 600 t o 700 ccl.orie:, per day £or t he Regular C«mp,

500 £or the "Little Cemp", both of an unbalanced r ati on, es a.gainst 3000 to

3600 celori es r e quired for eduJ. t heal th. BUck bl'Oad, poto:toos t r.ice a r.eok

and beet -root tttice a r.eek sol"Ved s:s ,.,,eak soup, r;oy bean (or otb8r ,•eectable)

"sausage", jem twice a neek, l:!.Brgarine a.bout once a v;eek. lfever any eroens

or £reab vegettl.bles. Heavy <ieficiency in nni111al fats snd Vitemins . no moats .

Red Cro~s peckagea oll:tost entirely a.ppropricted by SS Camp Co~&r, and

distributed to suit hilnsclf to SS personnel, to citizens of a'eim.e.r, even to

lfordic C8l11!.all Camp prisoners. In t wo months Commander L1Ropital recoived __ ,,...,, __ _ •

.-,

l/10, l/U. and 1/7 0£ n one- person, wce~dy Fr ench F.ed Cros tl pe:rcel.

Veals won prepared e.nd "served" by pt-iEoner pereor.nel under SS supervieion.

b. Attemcted evru;;u,ation• As Americ.o.n Arey approached, the

SS attempted to evacuate aome of t he more 11veluable" priaooor s . A column

or 2, 000 was iorc.ed on 8th Apri l , and another si rcile.r one on 10th April .

(SS guv.rds fled preci pit ou.sly on t he 11t h, because AQcrican en:or wne heard

· firing in the areo.}. AJ.l prisoner! of t hese columns ';!;ho i"ell out ,rero shot.

by the roodoido. It is ellogod, by the us personnel now operating the camp,

that about 3, 000 r.ere killed in this mamter. The rGmainder escc.ped end are being

r ounded up. Com.o.s.ndent l ' Eopitel steted that orders bad boon given to Y.ill

o.11 remaining per sons 1n the camp on l l April 45, r.hen further eve.cUL1.tion

be.cat:e ill)possible, but that this big job was left undone, end tbe retlaining

prisoners saved. when tho neerby presence of lmloriean tanks s t runpedcd t he SS

----­<.>••<4,. l (>' •,. personno. • g 1:-

c . T§.tt021PC: The 20 April Pc.ris edition oi'· t he Stars s.nd ~ ~ .,, St ripes carried. on f,age 2 e. atory regar ding the use, by the SS off'ice1·s of the

cec.p, of t attooed human sldn f or c-ouvenire. This story is t rue in every

respect. COmlll4ruiruit 1 18opitel stated that the 'lti.!'e 0£ ono of the ss officer-s

started the · i'c.d; that an;,y prisoher .Viho happoned to hove extensive tatooi.ri.g

of any, ~ort on hie: body was brought t o bcr; t hat if she i'ound tho tatooine

satisfactory the prltioner woe kill e d and tkinned; t hat the skin l'iith t he

te.tooing -r1as t hen t anned and made into souvenics such as le.inp shades, l':all

pictures, book ends, etc; that about 40 exsmples of thia artistry were found

i s SS offices Md quarters in t he camp. Thie s te:toment ,,ac confirmed by 1st

Lieut. Walt er F . &nmons . And ;;e oui-selvas sn,r 6 exanpleti a..1; Camp HQ, i ncluding

d. This conoont r ation camp rras by no means unique, nor -were its

mothod.s dif'i'erent trom similar eampa trhi:cib wer e (or are still) operti:ted a1;

Dachaw (near Berlin) . 10.eino GJ.at tback (E of Karlsruhe), and at ot her point c ,

l'lben the French 1s t A:r::r:f over-roo Kl. Glattbe.ch o/o. 10th

April 191.5 they found only 700 emocis.t ed sur1,-ivora, 80% or rrhoa ere beyond

rehabilitation and about half of l'lhom ere i n a dvanced s.tall:es of tuberculouia

of' various t ypes e.ccording to the consider ed opinion of the Army Su:rgeon.

o/a 10th l~h the c.a.m91s · i nci nerator plan ran out of coe.l . A l ong trench

was thoraupcn <iug, nith a unit of J:1.ecbanicel equi}'.:ment; and. then, start i ng

e.t one end, tbc dcily quota 01· & ad were stacked into it progressivel y down

• . , .

the lengt h of t he Trench. Tho number thus interred d.lrlng o.pproxioately one

e1onth was 1200. This ir.fon1iation w.:1s supplied by Gen0ral of Anuy de Lattre

de Taesigny, Ccc:mandant i'lilli.s.';I; Bullitt, and the A1t.1y Surgeon; &11 ot whom

had. inSpectod the c amp. Tho strategical implications of the sbove p rocedure

appear ·to be tar-r eaching. ?lamely t hat Cont i nent al Europe (including C--em-Aey)

ha.G boen sys-too.i.ticilly d.Cpri ved o.r hundreds of thousa..-u,ls of its best liberal

or democratic leadership persoMel .