The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-15
Nazi Atrocity Tales
 Verified In Capital
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He said the three camps visited were an accurate cross-section" O the more than 100 such concentra tion and slave labor camps in Ger. many. Camps were largely con ducted and controlled by SS troop and the Gestapo either. acting un der orders from superiors or 'givel wide discretion in the method they were to adopt in perpetratinl these hideous and inhuman suffer ings."
 He reassured the Senate at tn outset that American prisoners o war were not held in any of thu concentration camps. He said the committee based 1t conclusions upon three classes O evidence: personal inspection, tes timony of eyewitnesses among tht prisoners and common knoWledgt of the camp'-things not actually seen by the prisoners but whicf they all knew to be true from cir cumstantial evidence.
 He said rumor, hearsay and othel doubtful forms of information hae been carefully excluded.
 Bodily tortures were not de scribed because "eyewitnesses to the proceedings in the torture chamber seem always to have ben done away with"
 He said the committee saw with its own eyes:
 1. "The barracks, the work places the physical facilities for torture, de- gradation and execution"
 2. "The victims, both dead and alive"
 3. "The progress of liquidation by starvation which was still going on. ''
 Saw Victims Die
 we saw the indeScribable filth and smelled the nauseating stench before it was cleaned up, and We saw number of victims of this liquida- tion process actually die" Barkley said.
 Barkley said that at Buchenwald the first camp visited, the committee saw the little camp" in which pri- soners slept on triple -decked shelves Each shelf was about 12 feet square with 16 prisoners to a shelf. The clearance height between the shelves was little over two feet.
 In the little camp" he said, prisoners were given six weeks be- fore being graduated to the "regu- lar barracks"
 During this time, he said, they were expected" to lose about 40 per- cent in weight. Rations were less than at the regular barracks and the death rate was very high, re- gently running about 50 per day.
 The regular barracks" he de- clared, had dormitory rooms approx imately AZ by g feet and about 10 feet high in which, since the war, 250 persons were forced to sleep with less than one blanket per person and no heat.
 The hospital" at Buchenwald, Barkley said, was a place where moribund persons were sent to die" No medicines were available, hence there was no treatment. Typhus and tuberculosis were rampant and death rates ran from 5 to 20 persons a day.
 The medical experiment build- ing" at Buchenwald was used by scientists from Berlin who came to inoculate guinea pigs" with deadly diseases. Prisoners were induced to volunteer" for this by being prom ised better living quarters and more food.
 The crematory at Buchenwald, Barkley said. had a maximum ca pacity of about 400 bodies per 1O- hour day. It was enclosed by high board fence and banned by SS guards.
 Roll call at Buchenwald was held every evening and a truck collected the bodies of all who had died dur ing the day as well as live prisoners who were to be executed for poli- tical reasons.
 AAAC uCdQ WCIC tdAcu ulIcCCly CO the crematorium. The living were forced down a 13-foot shaft, stran- gled and hung on hooks by SS men and then fed to the ovens.
 There were two batteries of three brick ovens each. Total capacity was IS bodies. It took IS to 20 minutes to dispose of an ovenful.
 Lack of fuel in March prior to the arrival of American troops inter- rupted the cremations, Barkley said. He said the committee saw truck load of 80 bodies, with about 25 additional bodies near 1t, standing near the crematorium.
 Meager Rations
 Barkley said the committee was informed that rations at the camp were between 500 and TOO calories a day and consisted of very weak soup and a small piece of bread.
 Pictures and descriptions of the conditions at this camp cannot ade- quately portrary what we saw there," Barkley told the senate.