Document # ███-002 - SCP Foundation

Document # ███-002: Excerpt from the "von Reiter Collection"

Interviewee: Obersturmführer Waldemar Strasser, formerly of 2.SS Panzer-Division Das Reich

Interviewer: Captain Albert [REDACTED], ██ Infantry Division, British Army

Foreword: Interview occurred 09/02/1945 and was conducted by non-Foundation personnel. Interview is one in a series conducted by Allied governments of personnel attached to the "von Reiter Group" in order to ascertain its purpose and gather additional information on SCP-███-01-b. Document seized by Foundation personnel 06/30/1947, edited for security and appended to the Von Reiter Collection.

<Begin Log>

Interviewer [REDACTED]: Please state your name, rank and service history for the record.

Obersturmführer Strasser: Obersturmführer Waldemar Strasser. I served in France, Yugoslavia and Russia with 2.SS Panzer-Division Das Reich as a panzergrenadier. I was awarded the Ritterkreuz in recognition of my service near Kharkov in January, 194█ before being transferred to SS Sonderforschungsgruppe-von Reiter for garrison duty shortly afterward. I served there until the end of the war.

I: For the record, Obersturmführer is an SS rank roughly equivalent to the British rank of army Lieutenant. Is SS Sonderforschungsgruppe-von Reiter the name of the concentration camp you were transferred to?

S: I recognize your accent, I think. You are from London, ja? Perhaps north London?

I: Why, yes. Your ear for English is remarkable, Herr Strasser.

S: I spent about a year in London, studying abroad for university. Wonderful place. I suppose I should apologize on behalf of the Luftwaffe. The damage to London is a tragedy.

I: I've seen Berlin and Dresden. Perhaps we deserved at least a little of it. [Captain [REDACTED] pauses for several moments.] No hard feelings, old boy. But please, answer my question. Was SS Sonderforschungsgruppe-von Reiter the name of the concentration camp you were transferred to in the spring of 194█?

S: Concentration camp? [laughs] No, no, SFG-von Reiter was a research laboratory.

I: You say that the facility you at which you were stationed was not a concentration camp, despite the presence of over ███ Soviet POWs? And a mass grave ███ meters away, containing the incinerated remains of some ████ people? That's pretty hard to believe, Herr Strasser.

S: SFG-von Reiter was strictly a research laboratory. I would never work in a Konzentrationslager, I don't have the stomach for it. But to answer your question, Dr. von Reiter went through the prisoners very quickly. The prisoners were for research.

I: Medical research?

S: I'm sure you know all this already, I don't see why-

I: Please, for the record.

S: No, SFG-von Reiter was not a medical testing facility. It. Was. I'm not sure. I don't. Know. I'm not certain how to put it.

I: Mein Deutsch ist ziemlich gut, Herr Strasser. Bitte, fühlen Sie sich frei auf Deutsch fortzufahren.

S: [S laughs.] Wunderbar! Ein bayerischer Akzent!! Sehr gut, Captain, sehr gut! But no, that's not what I mean. I'm unsure exactly what kind of science went on there. There were medical tests on prisoners, of course, but that wasn't the function of SFG-von Reiter. It was a very odd place.

I: Could you elaborate, please? What was the purpose of the Leipzig facility if not extermination of Soviet prisoners of war or medical testing of the same?

S: Let me tell you a story, Captain. It involves a Wehrmacht artillery company and a Bolshevik position near [DATA EXPUNGED].

[Redundant information removed by Foundation censors. See [REDACTED] for the full interview, or [REDACTED] for a full report on the recovery of SCP-███-c by Wehrmacht personnel.]

S: Shortly thereafter, the object was sent back to the Fatherland in a sealed train car for further research.

I: I see. So this "artifact" was then transferred to the Leipzig facility for von Reiter to work with?

S: That's correct.

I: I'm afraid I don't understand. That's a lot of effort for what amounts to an interesting archeological find. A curiosity, yes, but did it really warrant its own subterranean bunker system? Or a garrison the size of an infantry company?

[S remains silent for some time.]

S: May I trouble you for a cigarette?

I: Certainly.

S: Danke. I don't know what that verdammt thing was, Captain. A curiosity? Perhaps. You haven't seen it. Dr. von Reiter was convinced it was the most important scientific discovery, period. Himmler was convinced it would win us the war.

I: Himmler? You mean Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler?

S: Yes. Within SS formations, even Waffen-SS combat units, Himmler was known for his ridiculous mysticism. Apparently, he thought die Auge-Stein could be used as a Vertraulichwaffe-

I: For the record, Vertraulichwaffe roughly translates to esoteric weapon. Please continue, Herr Strasser.

S: Ja, an esoteric weapon to smash Bolshevism and the decadent Western democracies and win us the war. And all future wars. The SS sponsored all sorts of absurdities of course, like that Ahnenerbe expedition to Tibet. But this was something else completely. He wrote von Reiter a- Verdammt! Wie Sie tun Sie zu sagen? Ah, yes! A "blank cheque". Himmler handed von Reiter a "blank cheque" from the SS. Money, materials, test subjects, personnel, whatever von Reiter asked for, the Reichsführer made sure he got. When I was first transferred to SFG-von Reiter, I thought the whole idea was Scheisse, but I kept my mouth shut because it was certainly better than another tour on the Ostfront. But over the █ years I was there, I'm. Ah. Not so sure now.

[S is silent for some time. Stenographer notes that he is idly playing with his Knight's Cross.]

I: We'll come back to this subject later, if you'd like. [S nods.] Tell me about your duties at the Leipzig site.

S: Danke, Captain. I was in involved in general security under Standartenführer Konrad Boch. And I oversaw the disposal of die Leeraugen. The. Ah. The test subjects.

I: For the record, Standartenführer is an SS rank equivalent to the British Army rank of Colonel. Please describe your duties in the latter capacity, if you would?

S: [DATA EXPUNGED], and after the experiments were over, my unit was tasked with killing them. It was very disturbing at first, because they are much harder to kill than a man.

I: Were there any special procedures for this "disposal"?

S: Not really? They would be chained to the wall in a sealed room somewhere in the complex, and five or six of us would go in and shoot them until they stopped moving. In the beginning, it was harder because we kept trying to kill them, you know, like Einsatzgruppen? Once in the back of the head with a pistol. We wised up after we lost Schrier and Lustig, and started using automatics. Afterward, von Reiter or Dr. Eisen would collect them for dissection or incineration.

I: Eisen? He's not on our roster.

S: [laughs] Yes, I would imagine! That's because it's not his name. We gave him the nickname Eisen [lit. iron -Ed.] because he was such a hard bastard. I'm not sure what his name was. He was very high up within the research staff and the scientists tended to keep separate from us soldiers. So von Reiter and Wilhelm Jührs, his adjutant, were the only ones we really knew. We figured Eisen was from Himmler's personal staff. Dr. von Reiter absolutely adored him, probably because they were both bloodthirsty Arschlöcher. Eisen was probably responsible for most of the deaths, since he insisted on "fresh subjects" after each experiment.

I: Were there any uncommon occurrences while you were there?

S: Yes, of course! You can't garrison a bunker complex studying some rock that no one can figure out without some fucking uncommon occurrences.

I: Are you alright, Herr Strasser? We can stop if you'd like.

[S seems to consider this for some time.]

S: There was an air raid on Leipzig. A few bombs landed right on top of us. No one knew we were there except the Reichsfürher and some members of the OKW [Oberkommand der Wehrmacht, the German High Command -Ed.] and presumably Hitler, so I don't think it was intentional.

[S pauses for some time. He motions for another cigarette.]

S: The raid did severe structural damage to the complex. This was very early, you know, maybe █ months after we found the thing. We didn't know what we were doing at all. Our procedures for this were. Lacking. A group of Soviet Schweine escaped in the confusion and tried to flee the complex, but kept getting cut off by debris or locked doors. They ended up. They were funneled into the. Ah. Der Auge-Stein Eindämmungraum. The containment room.

I: How many? Prisoners, I mean.

S: I don't know, maybe a dozen. That psychopath, von Reiter, the one thing I will say about him is that he was always very prepared. Prisoners were always restrained, and never more than one at a time. This was ten. At least. There were no chains this time, no cages. The damage to the bunker had ruined the interior of der Auge-Stein Eindämmungraum and all the preventative measures Dr. von Reiter had spent so long perfecting.

I: What happened?

S: I don't know. I want you to know, Captain, that I hate Bolsheviks, to the very core of my being. I killed dozens of them in combat, I killed dozens of them out of combat, and I would continue to kill them now given half a chance. They are a plague on this world, and their complete eradication can only make things better. That said. What happened to those men in der Eindämmungraum is unspeakable. I would not wish it on anyone.

[S takes Captain [REDACTED]'s pack of cigarettes and spends several minutes smoking mechanically, apparently lost in thought. He stubs out his fourth cigarette and looks up.]

S: Es war sehr schlecht. I'd. Ah. I'd like to stop now, Captain.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: Interview continued in [REDACTED]. Authorization from clearance level 4 personnel required for access.

Although no new information was unearthed regarding properties of SCP-███, this insight into alternate testing and containment methods is invaluable for SCP-███ researchers. As of 02/28/1996, this series of interviews is required reading for all research staff involved in SCP-███ by order of SCP-███ Project Lead Dr. Feldmann.

Obersturmführer Strasser was recruited by the Foundation on 08/22/1947 in Argentina, due to his previous experience with SCP-███-01 and ███-02. Herr Strasser served with distinction as a Taskforce Leader (operational designation "Adamant") in Mobile Taskforce-███ Team Seven.

Waldemar Strasser died of lung cancer unrelated to the Foundation on 06/19/1979 in his home in Gelsenkirchen, West Germany.