dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
DR. KAUFFMANN: You must have your own opinion, as you were in contact with these men. Did you really see these people?
BALACHOWSKY: I saw these people at very close hand, since in Block 50 1 was in charge of a part of this manufacture of vaccine. Consequently, I was quite able to realize what kind of experiments were being made in Block 46 and the reasons for these experiments. Further, I also realized the almost complete inefficiency of the SS doctors and how easy -it was for us to sabotage the vaccine for the German Army.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Now, these people must have gone through much misery and, suffering before they died.
BALACHOWSKY: These people certainly suffered terribly, especially in the case of certain experiments.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Can you certify that through your own experience, or is that just hearsay?
BALACHOWSKY: I saw in Block 50 photographs taken in Block 46 of phosphorus burns, and it was not necessary to be a specialist to realize what these patients, whose flesh was burned to the bone, must have suffered.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Then, your conscience certainly revolted at these things.
BALACHOWSKY: Absolutely
DR. KAUFFMANN: Well then, I would like to ask you, how your conscience allowed you to obey orders to help these people in some way?
BALACHOWSKY: That is quite simple. When I arrived at Buchenwald as a deportee, I did not hide my qualifications. I simply specified that I was a "laborant"-that is a man who is trained in laboratory work, but who has no special definite qualification. I was sent to Dora, where the SS regime made me lose 30 kilos in weight in two months. I became anaemic...
DR. KAUFFMANN: Witness, I am just concerned with Buchenwald. I do not wish to know anything about Dora. I ask you ...
BALACHOWSKY: It was the prisoners at Buchenwald who, by their connections within the camp, were the cause of my return to the Buchenwald Camp. It was M. Julien Cain, a Frenchman, the Director of the French National Library, who called my presence to the attention of a German political prisoner, Walter Kummelschein, who was a secretary in Block 50. He drew attention to my presence without my knowing it and without my having spoken in Dora of being a French specialist. That is the reason why the SS called me back from Dora to work in Block 50.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Please pardon the interruption. We do not wish to elaborate too much on these matters. I believe everything that you have just said is true-the reason why you were sent to Dora and why you were sent back to Buchenwald-but my point is a completely different one. I would like to ask you once more: You knew that these men were practically martyrs. Is that correct? Please answer yes or no.
BALACHOWSKY: I will answer the question. When I arrived at Block 50 1 knew nothing, either of the Block 50 or of the experiments. It was only later when I was in Block 50, that little by little, and through the acquaintances I was able to make in the block, I found out the details of the experiments.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Very well. And after you had learned about the details of the experiments, as you were a doctor, did you not feel great pity for these poor creatures?
BALACHOWSKY: My pity was very great, but it was not a question of having pity or not; one had to carry out to the letter the orders that were given, or be killed.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Very well. Then you are stating that if in any way you had not followed the orders that you had received you might have been killed? Is that right?
BALACHOWSKY: There is no doubt about that. On the other hand, my work consisted in manufacturing vaccine, and neither I nor any other prisoners in Block 50 could ever enter Block 46 and actually witness experiments. We knew what went on concerning the experiments only through the index cards which were sent from Block 46 to be officially registered in Block 50.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Very well, but I do not think it makes any difference to one's conscience whether one sees suffering with one's own eyes, or whether one has direct knowledge that in the same camp people are being murdered in such a way. Now, I come to another question.
THE PRESIDENT: Was that a question you were putting there? Will you confine yourself to questions.
BALACHOWSKY: I beg your pardon. I should like to answer the last question.
DR. KAUFFMANN: That was not a question. I will put another question now.
BALACHOWSKY: I should like to reply to this remark then.
DR. KAUFFMANN: I am not interested in your answer.
BALACHOWSKY: I am anxious to give it.
THE PRESIDENT: Answer the question, please.
BALACHOWSKY: Suffering was everywhere in the camps, and not only in the experimental blocks. It was in the quarantine blocks; it was among all the men who died every day by the hundreds. Suffering reigned everywhere in the concentration camps.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Were there any injunctions that there was to be no talk about these experiments?
BALACHOWSKY: As a rule the experiments were kept absolutely secret. An indiscreet remark with regard to the experiments might entail immediate death. I must add that there were very few of us who knew the details of these experiments.
DR. KAUFFMANN: You mentioned visits to this camp, and you also mentioned that German Red Cross nurses, and members of the Wehrmacht visited the camp, and that furloughs were granted to political prisoners. Were you ever present at one of these visits inside the camp?
BALACHOWSKY: Yes, I was present at the visits inside the camp of which I spoke.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Did the visitors at this camp see that cardiac injections were being given? Or did the visitors see that human skin was tanned? Did those visitors witness any ill-treatment?
BALACHOWSKY: I cannot answer this question in the affirmative, and I can say only that visitors passed through my block. One had to pass almost through the entire camp. I do not know where the visitors went either before or after visiting my block.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Did one of your own comrades tell you perhaps whether the visitors personally saw these excesses? Yes or no.
BALACHOWSKY: I do not understand the question. Would you mind repeating it?
DR. KAUFFMANN: Did perhaps one of your comrades tell you that the visitors at the camp were present at these excesses?
BALACHOWSKY: I never heard that visitors were present at experiments or witnessed excesses of that kind. The only thing I can say, concerning the tanned skins is that I saw, with my own eyes, SS noncommissioned officers or officers-I cannot remember exactly whether they were officers or noncommissioned officers come out of Block 2, carrying tanned skins under their arms. But these were SS men; they were not visitors to the camp.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Did these visitors, and in particular Red Cross nurses, know that these experiments were medically completely worthless, or did they just wish to inspect the laboratories and the equipment?
BALACHOWSKY: I repeat again that these visitors came to my laboratory section, where they saw what was being done, that is, the sterilized filling of the shears. I cannot say what they saw before or after. I know only that these visitors of whom I am speaking, the Luftwaffe cadets or the Red Cross people, visited the whole installation of the block. They certainly knew, however, what was the source of this culture, and that men might be used for experiments, as there were charts and graphs showing the stages of cultures originating with men; but -it could have been from blood initially taken from typhus patients and not necessarily from patients artificially inoculated with typhus. I really think that these visitors did not generally know about the atrocities in the form of experiments that were being performed in Block 46, but it was impossible for visitors who went into the camp not to see the horrible conditions in which the prisoners were kept.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Do you perhaps know whether people who received leave, that is, inmates who temporarily were permitted to leave the camp, were permitted to speak about their experiences inside the camp and relate these experiences to-the outside world?
BALACHOWSKY: All the concentration camps were, after all, vast transit camps. The inmates were constantly changing, passing from one camp to another, coming and going. Consequently there were always new faces. But most of the time, apart from those whom we knew before our arrest, or a few other comrades, we knew nothing about those who came and went.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Perhaps I did not express myself clearly. I mean the following: As you said before, political prisoners were permitted to leave the camp temporarily from time to time. Did these inmates know about these excesses, and if they did know, were they permitted to speak about these experiments in the rest of Germany?
BALACHOWSKY: The political prisoners (very few and all of German nationality) who ever obtained leave were prisoners whom the SS had entrusted with important posts in the camp and who had been imprisoned for at least 10 years in the camp. This was so, for instance, in the case of Karl, the Kapo, head of the canteen of the Buchenwald Camp, the canteen of the Waffen SS, who was responsible for the canteen. He was given a fortnight's leave to visit his family at his home in the town of Zeitz. Consequently this Kapo was free for 10 days and was able to tell his family anything he wanted to; but I do not know, of course, what he did. What I can say is that obviously he had to be careful. In any case, the prisoners who were allowed to leave the camp were old inmates, as I have said, who knew approximately everything that was going on, including the experiments.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Now, one last question. If I -assume that the people you just described told anything to members of their families, even on the pledge of secrecy, and the leaders of the camp came to know of these Indiscretions, do you not believe that the death penalty might have been incurred?
BALACHOWSKY: If there were indiscretions of that kind on the part of the family (for such indiscretions may be repeated among one's acquaintances), or at least, if such indiscretions came to the knowledge of the SS, it is obvious that those prisoners risked the death penalty.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Is there any other Defense Counsel who wants to ask any questions?
HERR BABEL: I protest against the prosecutor's declaration that I tried to confuse witnesses with my questions. I am not here to worry about the good opinion or otherwise of the press, but to do my duty as a defense attorney ...
THE PRESIDENT: You are going too fast.
HERR BABEL: [Continuing] ... and I am of the opinion that things should not be made more difficult by anyone taking part in this Trial-not even the press. This war has brought me so much misfortune and sorrow that I have no reason to vindicate anyone who was responsible for this personal suffering or for the misfortune that fell on all our people. I will not try to prevent any such person from receiving his proper punishment. I am concerned only with helping the Tribunal to determine the truth, so that just sentences may be pronounced, and that innocent people may not be condemned.
THE PRESIDENT: Kindly resume your seat. It is not fit for you to make a speech. You have been making a speech, as I understood it; this is not the occasion for it.
HERR BABEL: I find it necessary because I was not protected against the Prosecution's reproach. [Herr Babel left the stand to resume his seat.]
THE PRESIDENT: One moment; come back. I do not know what you mean about not being protected. Well! Listen to me. I don't know what you mean by not being protected against the Prosecution. The Prosecution called this witness and the defendants' counsel had the fullest opportunity to cross-examine, and we understood you went to the Tribunal for the purpose of cross-examining the witness. I do not understand your protest.
HERR BABEL: Your Honor, unfortunately I do not know the court procedure customary in England, America, and other countries. According to the German penal code and to German trial regulations, it is customary that unjustified and unfounded attacks of this kind made against a participant of a trial are rejected by the presiding judge. I therefore expected that perhaps this would be done here too, but as it did not happen, I took the occasion to.... If by doing so, I violated the rules of court procedure, I beg to be excused.
THE PRESIDENT: What unjust accusations are you referring to?
HERR BABEL: The Prosecuting Attorney implied that I put questions to witnesses calculated to confuse them, in order to prevent the witnesses from testifying in a proper manner. This is an accusation against the Defense which is an insult to us, at least to myself-I do not know what the attitude of the other Defense Counsel is.
THE PRESIDENT: I am afraid I do not understand what you mean.
HERR BABEL: Your Honor, I am sorry. I think I cannot convince you as you probably do not know this aspect of German mentality, for our German regulations are entirely different. I do not wish to reproach our President in any way. I merely wanted to point out that I consider this accusation unjust and that I reject it.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Babel, I understand you are saying that the Prosecuting Attorney said something to you? Now, what is it you say the Prosecuting Attorney said to you?
HERR BABEL: The Prosecuting Attorney said that I wanted to confuse witnesses by my questions and, in my opinion that means I am doing something improper. I am not here to confuse witnesses, but to assist the Court to find the truth, and this cannot be done by confusing the witnesses.
THE PRESIDENT: I understand now. I do not think that the Prosecuting Attorney meant to make accusations against your professional conduct at all. If that is only what you wish to say, I quite understand the point you wish to make. Do you want to ask this witness any questions?
HERR BABEL: Yes, I have one question. [Turning to the witness] You testified that weapons, 50 guns, if I understood correctly, were brought into either Block 46 or 50. Who brought these weapons in?
BALACHOWSKY: We, the prisoners, brought them in and hid them.
HERR BABEL: For what purpose?
BALACHOWSKY: To save our skins.
HERR BABEL: I did not understand you.
BALACHOWSKY: I said that we hid these guns because we meant to sell our lives dearly at the last moment-that is, to defend ourselves to the death rather than be exterminated, as were most of our comrades in the camps, with flame-throwers and machine guns. In that case we would have defended ourselves with the guns we had hidden.
HERR BABEL: You said "we prisoners"; who were these prisoners?
BALACHOWSKY: The internees inside the camp.
HERR BABEL: What internees?
BALACHOWSKY: We, the political prisoners.
HERR BABEL: They were supposed to have been mostly German concentration camp prisoners? I
BALACHOWSKY: They were of all nationalities. Unknown to the SS, there was an international secret defense organization with shock battalions within the camp.
HERR BABEL: There were German concentration camp prisoners who wanted to help you?
BALACHOWSKY: German prisoners also belonged to these shock battalions-German political prisoners, and in particular former German Communists who had been imprisoned for 10 years and who were of great help towards the end.
HEAR BABEL: Very well, that's what I wanted to know. Then, with the exception of the criminal who wore the green triangle, you and the other inmates, even these of German origin, were on friendly terms and helped each other; is that right?
BALACHOWSKY: The question of the "greens" did not arise, because the SS evacuated the "greens" in the last few days before the liberation of the camp. They exterminated most of them; in any case they left the camp, and we do not know what became of them. No doubt some are still hiding among the German population.
HERR BABEL: My question did not refer to those with the green badges, but to your relations with the German political prisoners.
BALACHOWSKY: The political prisoners, whether they were German, French, Russian, Dutch, Belgian or from Luxembourg, formed inside the camp secret shock battalions which took up arms at the last minute, and took part in the liberation of the camp. The arms that were hidden came from the Gustloff armament factory, which was located near the camp. These arms were stolen by the workers employed in this factory, who every day brought back with them either a butt hidden in their clothes, or a gull barrel, or a breech. And, in secret, with much difficulty, the guns were assembled from the different pieces and hidden. These were the guns we used in the last days of the camp.
HERR BABEL: Thank you. I, have no further questions.
THE PRESIDENT: Does any other German counsel wish to ask questions? Have you any questions, M. Dubost?
M. DUBOST: I have no further questions, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Then the witness can retire. [The witness left the stand.]
M. DUBOST: These two days of testimony will obviate my reading the documents any further, since it seems established in the eyes of the Tribunal, that the excesses, ill-treatment, and crimes which our witnesses have described to you, occurred repeatedly and were identical in all the camps; and therefore are evidence of a higher will originating in the government itself, a systematic will of extermination and terror under which all occupied Europe had to suffer. Therefore I shall submit to you only, without reading them, the documents we have collected, and confine myself to a brief analysis whenever they might give you...
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, you understand, of course, that the Tribunal is satisfied with the evidence which it has heard up to date; but, of course, it is expecting to hear evidence, or possibly may hear evidence, from the defendants; and it naturally will suspend its judgment until it has heard that evidence and, as I pointed out to you yesterday, I think, under Article 24e of the Charter , you will have the opportunity of applying to the Tribunal, if you think it right to call rebuttal evidence in answer to any evidence which the defendants may call. All I mean to indicate to you now is that the Tribunal is mot making up its mind at the present moment. It will wait until it has 'heard the evidence for the Defense.
M. DUBOST: I understand you, Mr. President, but I think that the evidence we submitted in the form of testimony during these 2 days constitutes an essential part of our accusation. It will allow us to shorten the presentation of our documents, of which we shall simply submit an analysis or very brief extracts. We had stopped at the description of the transports and under what conditions they were made, when we started calling our witnesses. In order to establish who, among the defendants, are those particularly responsible for these transports, I present Document UK-56, signed by Jodl and ordering the deportation of Jews from Denmark. It appears in the first book of documents as Exhibit Number RF- 335. I will now continue presenting a question which was interrupted on Friday, when the session was suspended at 1700 hours. This Document Number UK-56 is a telegram transmitted en clair marked "Top Secret." It is the 8th in the first book. Its second paragraph reads as follows: "The deportation of Jews is to be carried out by the ReichsFuehrer SS, who is to detail two police battalions to Denmark for this purpose. "Signed: Jodl." Here we have the carrying out of a political act by a military organization or at least by a leader belonging to a military organization-the German General Staff. This charge therefore affects both Jodl and the German General Staff. We submitted under Exhibit Number RF-324 (Document Number F-224), during the Friday afternoon session, an extract from the report of the Dutch Government. The Tribunal will find in this report a passage concerning the transport of Dutch Jews detained in Westerbork-which I quote, Paragraph 2: "All Jewish Netherlanders, whom the Germans could lay their hands on . . . were brought together here . . .
M. DUBOST: ."Paragraph 3-"Gradually all those interned in Westerbork were deported to Poland." Is it necessary to recall the consequences of these transports, carried out in the conditions described to you, when witnesses have come to tell you 'that each time the cars were opened numerous corpses had first to be taken out before a few survivors could be found? The French Document Number F-115 (Exhibit Number RF-336), is the report of Professor Richet. In it Professor Richet repeats what our witnesses have said, that there were 75 to 120 deportees in each car. In every transport men died. The fact is known that on arriving in Buchenwald from Compiegne, after an average journey of 60 hours, at least 25 percent of the men had succumbed. This testimony corroborates those of Blaha, Madame Vaillant-Couturier and Professor Dupont. Blaha's testimony appears in your document book under the Number 3249-PS. It is the second statement of Blaha. We have heard Blaha. I do not think it necessary to read what he has already stated to us. Especially infamous is the transport to Dachau, during the months of August and September 1944, when numerous trains which had left France, generally from the camps in Brittany, arrived at this camp with four to five hundred dead out of about two thousand men in a train. The first page of Document Number F-140 states and I quote so as not to have to return to it again-in the fourth paragraph which deals with Auschwitz: "About seven million persons died in this camp." It repeats the conditions under which the transports were made and which Madame Vaillant-Couturier has described to you. On the train of 2 July 1944, which left from Compiegne, men went mad and fought with each other and more than six hundred of them died between Compiegne, and Dachau. It is with this convoy that Document Number F-83 deals, which we submit as Exhibit Number RF-337, and which indicates in the minutes of Dr.
M. DUBOST: Bouvier, Rheims, 20 February 1945-that these prisoners by the time they reached Rheims were already half-dead of thirst: "Eight dying men were taken out already at Rheims; one of them was a priest." This convoy was to go to Dachau. A few kilometers past Compiegne, there were already numerous dead in every car. Document F-32, Exhibit Number RP-331, Page 21, contains many other examples of the atrocious conditions under which our compatriots were transported from France to Germany: "At the station at Bremen water was refused us by the German Red Cross. We were dying of thirst. At Breslau the prisoners again begged German Red Cross nurses to give us a little water. They took no notice of our appeals. " To prevent escape, in disregard of the most natural and elementary feelings of modesty, the deportees were forced in many convoys to strip themselves of all their clothes, and they travelled like that for many hours, entirely naked, from France to Germany. A testimony to this effect is given by our official document already submitted under Document Number RF-301: "One of the means used to prevent escapes, or as reprisal for them, was to unclothe the prisoners completely."-And the author of the report adds---"This reprisal was also aimed at the moral degradation of the individual." The most restrained testimonies report that this crowding together of naked men barely having room to breathe, was a horrible sight. When escapes occurred in spite of the precautions, hostages were taken from the cars and shot. Testimony to this effect is provided by the same document - five deportees - were executed: "That was how, near Montmorency, five deportees from the train of 15 August 1944 were buried, and five others of the same train were killed by pistol shots by German police and officers of the Wehrmacht at Dompremy (Marne)." Added to this quotation is that of another official document, which we have already submitted under F-321, Exhibit Number 331: "Several young men were rapidly chosen.