All language subtitles for Shoah.Part2.1985.SDH_eng

FRANZ SUCHOMEL

What was the capacity
of the new gas chambers?

There were 2 of them, right?
- Yes.

But the old ones
hadn't been demolished.

When there were a lot of trains,
a lot of people,

the old ovens
were put back into service.

And here... the Jews say
there were 5 on each side.

I say there were 4,

but I'm not sure.

In any case, only the upper row,

on this side,

was in action.

[ Lanzmann ]
Why not the other side?

[Suchomel ] Disposing of the bodies
would have been too complicated.

- Too far?
- Yes.

Up there,
Wirth had built the death camp...

[ Lanzmann ]
Ja.

[Suchomel ]
assigning a detail of Jewish workers to it.

The detail had a fixed number in it,

around 200 people...

[ Lanzmann ]
Die im Toten/ager...

[Suchomel Repeats Phrase]
who worked only in the death camp.

[ Lanzmann ] But what was
the capacity of the new gas chambers?

The new gas chambers... Let's see...

They could finish off 3,000 people
in two hours.

[ Lanzmann ] How many people at once
in a single gas chamber?

I can't say exactly.

The Jews say 200.

- 200?
- That's right, 200.

Imagine a room this size.

[ Lanzmann ]
They put more in at Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was a factory!

[ Lanzmann ]
And Treblinka?

I'll give you my definition.

Keep this in mind:

Treblinka was a primitive,

but efficient production line of death.

- A production line?
- Of death.

Understand?
- Yes.

But primitive...?
- Primitive, yes.

Ja.

But it worked well,
that production line of death.

Was Belzec even more rudimentary?

Belzec was the laboratory.

Wirth was camp commandant.

He tried everything imaginable there.

He got off on the wrong foot.

The pits were overflowing,

and the cesspool seeped out
in front of the SS mess hall.

It stank...

in front of the mess-hall,
in front of their barracks.

- Were you at Belzec?
- No.

Wirlh with his own men.

With Franz, with Oberhauser

and Hackenhold...

he tried everything there.

Those 3 had to put the bodies
in the pits themselves

so that Wirth could see
how much space he needed.

And when they rebelled...

Franz refused...

Wirlh beat Franz with a whip.

He whipped Hackenhold, too. You see?

- Kurt Franz?
- Kurt Franz.

Mm-hmm.

That's how Wirth was.

Then, with that experience behind him,

he came to Treblinka.

[ People Chattering In German]

[Glasses Clanking ]

[Woman Speaking German]

[ Lanzmann, In German ] Excuse me.
How many quarts of beer a day do you sell?

You can't tell me?

[ In German]
I'd rather not. I have my reasons.

- But why not?
- Ja.

[ Man ]
Two Pilsners.

Ja.

[ Lanzmann ]
How many quarts of beer a day do you sell?

- Go on, tell him.
- Tell him what?

Just tell him approximately.

How many quarts of beer a day
do you sell?

400, 500 quarts.

- What?
- 400, 500 quarts.

- [ Repeats Phrase]
- Hier.

That's a lot!

[ German ]

Have you worked here long?

- Around 20 years.
- [ Repeats Phrase]

: 3%:

Why are you hiding...
- I have my reasons.

- Your face?
- I have my reasons.

What reasons?

- Never mind.
- Why not?

[ Lanzmann]
Do you recognize this man?

No?

Christian Wirlh?

Mr. Oberhauser!

Do you remember Belzec?

No memories of Belzec?

Nein?

Nein?

Of the overflowing graves?

You don't remember?

MUNICH

WUPPERTAL: ANTON SPIESS,

German state prosecutor
at the Treblinka trial (Frankfurt, 1960)

[ In German]
When the Action itself first got under way,

it was almost totally improvised.

At Treblinka, for example,

the commandant, Dr. Eberl,
let more trains come in

than the camp could handle.

It was a disaster!

Mountains of corpses!

Word of this foul-up

reached the head of the Reinhard Action,

Odilo Globocznik, in Lublin.

He went to Treblinka

to see what was happening.

There's a very concrete
account of the trip

by his former driver, Oberhauser.

Globocznik arrived
on a hot day in August.

The camp was permeated

with the stench of rotting flesh.

Globocznik didn't even bother
to enter the camp.

He stopped here,
before the commandant's office,

sent for Dr. Eberl

and greeted him with these words,

“How dare you accept
so many every day

when you can only process 3,000?”

Operations were suspended,

Eberl was transferred and Wirth came,

followed immediately by Stangl,

and the camp was completely reorganized.

The Reinhard Action
covered 3 extermination camps:

Treblinka, Sobibor and Belzec.

There's also talk of 3 death camps
on the Bug River,

for they were all located
on or near the Bug.

The gas chambers
were the head of the camp.

They were built first,

in the woods, or in a field,
as at Treblinka.

The gas chambers were
the only stone buildings.

All the others were wooden sheds.

These camps weren't built to last.

Himmler was in a huny
to begin the 'final solution. ”

The Germans had to capitalize
on their eastward advance

and use this remote back-country

to carry out their mass murder
as secretly as possible.

So at first they couldn't
manage the perfection

they achieved 3 months later.

[ Piwonski Speaking Polish]

[ Interpreter #1, In French]
Near the end of March 1942...

[ Piwonski Continues ]

sizeable groups of Jews
were herded here,

groups of 50 to 100 people.

[ Piwonski Continues ]

Several trains arrived...

[ Piwonski Continues ]

with sections of barracks,
with posts, barbed wire, bricks...

[ Piwonski Continues ]

and construction
of the camp as such began.

[Train Whistle Blows]

[ Piwonski Continues ]

The Jews unloaded these cars...

[ Piwonski Continues ]

and carted the sections
of barracks to the camp.

[ Piwonski Continues ]

The Germans made them
work extremely fast.

[ Piwonski Continues ]

When we saw the pace they worked at...

[ Piwonski Continues ]

It was extremely brutal.

[ Piwonski Continues ]

When we saw the complex being built,
and the fence,

which, after all, enclosed a vast space...

[ Piwonski Continues ]

we realized that
what the Germans were building

wasn't meant to aid mankind.

[ Wind Whistling ]

[ Birds Chirping ]

[ Piwonski Continues ]

Early in June...

[ Piwonski Continues ]

the first convoy arrived.

[ Piwonski Continues ]

I'd say there were over 40 cars.

[ Piwonski Continues ]

With the convoy
were SS men in black uniforms.

[ Piwonski Continues ]

It happened one afternoon.
He had just finished work.

JAN PIWONSKI

But he got on his bicycle and went home.

[ In French]
Why?

[ Interpreter #1 Murmurs In French]

I merely thought

these people had come to build the camp,

as the others had before them.

That convoy...

There was no way
of knowing that it was...

the first earmarked for extermination.

- Besides...
- [ Piwonski Continues]

He couldn't have known that Sobibor...

[ Piwonski Continues]

Would be a place for the mass
extermination of the Jews.

The next morning,
when I came here to work,

the station was absolutely silent,

and we realized,

after talking with the Poles
who worked at the station here,

that something utterly
incomprehensible had happened.

First of all, when the camp
was being built,

there were orders shouted in German,

there were screams,

Jews were working at the run,
there were shots,

and here there was that silence...

[ Interpreter #1 ]
Mm-hmm.

No work crews,

a really total silence.

[ Interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]

40 cars had arrived,
and then... nothing.

It was all very strange.

[ Lanzmann ]
It was the silence that tipped them off?

That's right.

- Can he describe that silence?
- [ interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]

[ Piwonski Replies ]

- It was a silence...
- [ Piwonski Continues ]

Nothing was going on in the camp.
You heard nothing.

Nothing moved.

[ Piwonski Continues ]

So then they began to wonder...

[ Piwonski Continues ]

“Where have they put those Jews?”

[ MUIIer, In German]
Cell 13, Block 11 at Auschwitz 1,

is where
the Special Work Detail was held.

The cell was underground, isolated.

For we were...

“bearers of secrets,”

we were reprieved dead men.

We weren't allowed to talk to anyone,

or contact any prisoner,

even the SS.

Only those in charge of the “Action.”

There was a window.

We heard what happened in the courtyard.

The executions,

the victims' cries, the screams,

but we couldn't see anything.

This went on for several days.

One night an SS man came

from the political section.

It was around 4 A.M.

The whole camp was still asleep.

There wasn't a sound in the camp.

We were again taken out of our cell

and led to the crematorium.

There, for the first time,
I saw the procedure used

with those who came in alive.

We were lined up against a wall

and told, “No one may talk
to those people. ”

Suddenly, the wooden door
to the crematorium courtyard opened,

and 250 to 300 people filed in:

old people, and women.

They carried bundles,
wore the Star of David.

Even from a distance, I could tell

they were Polish Jews,

probably from Upper Silesia,

from the Sosnowiec ghetto,
some 20 miles from Auschwitz.

FILIP MULLER

I caught some of the things they said.

I heard “fachowitz,”

meaning “skilled worker.”

And “Malach-ha-Mavis,”

which means
“the angel of death” in Yiddish.

Also, “harginnen”:
“They're going to kill us.”

From what I could hear,

I clearly understood
the struggle going on inside them.

Sometimes they spoke of work

probably hoping
that they'd be put to work.

Or they spoke of “Malach-ha-Mavis,”
the angel of death.

The conflicting words echoed
the conflict in their feelings.

Then a sudden silence

fell over those gathered
in the crematorium courtyard.

All eyes converged

on the flat roof of the crematorium.

Who was standing there?

Aumeyer, of the SS,

Grabner,
the head of the political section,

and Hossler, the SS officer.

Aumeyer addressed the crowd,

“You're here to work,

for our soldiers fighting at the front.

Those who can work will be all right.”

It was obvious
that hope flared in those people.

You could feel it clearly.

The executioners had gotten
past the first obstacle.

They saw it was succeeding.

Then Grabner spoke up,

“We need masons, electricians,

all the trades.”

Next, Hossler took over.

He pointed to a short man in the crowd.

I can still see him.

“What's your trade?”

The man said,

“Mr. Officer, I'm a tailor.”

“A tailor? What kind of tailor?”

“A man's... No, for both men and women.”

“Wonderful! We need people
like you in our workshops.”

Then he questioned a woman,

“Whafs your trade?”

“Nurse,” she replied.

“Splendid! We need nurses
in our hospitals for our soldiers.

We need all of you!
But first, undress.

You must be disinfected.

We want you healthy.”

I could see the people were calmer,

reassured by what they'd heard,

and they began to undress.

Even if they still had their doubts,

if you want to live, you must hope.

Their clothing remained
in the courtyard,

scattered everywhere.

Aumeyer was beaming,

very proud of how he'd handled things.

He turned to some of the SS men
and told them,

“You see? That's the way to do it!”

By this device,

a great leap forward had been made:

Now the clothing could be used.

RAUL H I LBERG, historian

[ In English] In all of my work, I have never begun
by asking the big questions,

because I was always afraid
that I would come up with small answers,

and I have preferred, therefore,
to address these things,

which are minutiae or detail,

in order that I might then
be able to put together

in a gestalt,

a picture, which, urn,

if not an explanation,
is at least a description,

a more full description,
of what transpired.

And, in that sense, I look also upon
the bureaucratic destruction process,

for this is what it was,

as a series of minute steps
taken in logical order

and relying above all,
as much as possible,

on experience, past experience.

And this goes not only, incidentally,
for the administrative steps that were taken,

but also the psychological arguments,

even the propaganda.

Amazingly little was newly invented

until, of course, the moment came

when one had to go beyond that which
had already been established by precedent,

and one had to gas these people,

or, in some sense,
annihilate them on a large scale.

Then, these bureaucrats became inventors.

But like all, all inventors of institutions,

they did not copyright
or patent their achievements,

and they preferred obscurity.

[ Lanzmann, In English]
What did they get from the past, the Nazis?

They got the actual content
of measures which they took.

For example, the barring of Jews from office,

the prohibition of intermarriages,

the employment in Jewish homes
of female persons under the age of 45,

the various marking decrees,
especially the Jewish star,

the compulsory ghetto,

the voidance of any will executed by a Jew

that might work in such a way

as to prevent inheritance of his property
by someone who was a Christian.

Many such measures had been worked out

over the course of
more than a thousand years

by authorities of the Church

and by secular governments
that followed in those footsteps.

And the experience gathered over that time

became a reservoir that could be used

and which indeed was used
to an amazing extent.

You mean that one can compare...

- One can actually compare...
- each measure?

One can compare a rather large number
of German laws and decrees

with their counterparts in the past

and find complete parallels,

even in detail,

as if they were a memory

which automatically extended
to the period of 1933

and 1935 and 1939 and beyond.

In such respect,
they didn't invent anything?

They invented very little,

and they did not invent
the portrait of the Jew,

which also was taken over,
lock, stock and barrel,

from writings going back
to the 16th century.

So, even the propaganda,

the realm of the imagination
andinvenfion,

even there, they were remarkably
in the footsteps of those who preceded them,

from Martin Luther to the 19th century.

And, here again, they were not inventive.

They had to become inventive
with the “final solution.”

That was their great invention,

and that is what made
this entire process different

from all others
that had preceded that event.

And, in this respect,

what transpired
when the “final solution” was... adopted,

or, to be more precise,

when the bureaucracy moved into it,

was a turning point in history.

Even here, I would suggest
a logical progression,

one which came to fruition

in what might be called “closure,”

because, from the earliest days,

from the fourth century,
fifth century, sixth century,

the missionaries of Christianity
had said, in effect, to the Jews,

“You may not live among us as Jews.”

The secular rulers who followed them,

from the late Middle Ages,
had then decided,

“You may not live among us,”

and the Nazis finally decreed,

“You may not live.”

This means that the three steps were...

The first one was conversion.

- Conversion, followed by...
- The second one, ghettoization.

- Expulsion.
- Or expulsion.

Expulsion.

And the third was the territorial solution,

which was, of course, the solution carried out

within the territories under German command,

excluding emigration:

death,

“final solution.”

And the “final solution,” you see,
is really final,

because people who are converted
can yet be, in secret, Jews,

people who are expelled can yet return,

but people who are dead will not reappear.

In such a respect, in the last stage,
they were really pioneers and inventors?

This was something unprecedented,
and this was something new.

How can one figure...

give some ideas
about the complete newness of this,

because I think that it was new
for themselves too?

Yes, it was new,

and this... I think, for this reason
that one cannot find a specific document,

a specific plan, outline or blueprint

which states,
“Now, the Jews will be killed.”

Everything is left to inference
from general words.

Inference from...

- General wording.
- Mm-hmm.

The very wording “final solution”
or “total solution”

or “territorial solution”

leaves something to the bureaucrat
that he must infer.

He cannot read that document.

One cannot even read
G6ring's famous letter to Heydrich,

at the end of July 1941,

charging him in two paragraphs
to proceed with the “final solution.”

And taking that document aside,
everything is clarified?

Far from it.

- Far from it?
- Far from it.

It was an authorization to invent.

It was an authorization to begin something

that was not as yet
capable of being put into words.

I think it...
I think of it that way.

It was a case for every agency,
as a matter of fact.

Absolutely, for every agency.

In every aspect of this operation,
invention was necessary.

Certainly at this point,

because every problem was unprecedented:

not just how to kill the Jews,
but what to do with their property thereafter,

and, not only that,

but how to deal with the problem
of not letting the world know what had happened.

All of these multitudes of problems were new.

[Children Shouting, Distant]

[Van Door Opens]

[Van Door Closes]

FRANZ SCHALLING

[ Lanzmann, In German]
First, explain to me...

how you came to Kulmhof, to Chelmno.

You were at Lodz, right?

- [ Schalling, In German] In Lodz, yes.
- Litzmannstadt?

[ Saba/ling j
In L iizmannstadt'. J a .

We were on permanent guard duty.

Protecting military objectives: mills,

the roads,
when Hitler went to East Prussia.

It was dreary, and we were told,

“We're looking for men who want
to break out of this routine.”

So we volunteered.

We were issued winter uniforms,

overcoats, fur hats, fur-lined boots,

and 2 or 3 days later
we were told, “We're off!”

We were put aboard 2 or 3 trucks...
I don't know...

They had benches,

and we rode and rode.

Finally we arrived.

The place was crawling
with SS men and police.

Our first question was, “What goes on here?”
- [ Lanzmann] Ja.

[ Schalling ]
They said, “You?! find out!”

- You?! find out?
- You'll find out.

- [ Lanzmann ] Ja.
- Nicht?

- You weren't in the SS, you were...
- Police.

- Which police?
- Security guards.

We were ordered
to report to the Deutsche Haus,

the only big stone building
in the village.

Ja.

We were taken into it.

An SS man immediately told us,

“This is a top secret mission!”

- Secret?
- “A top secret mission.”

- Ja.
- “Sign this!”

We each had to sign.

There was a form ready for each of us.

What did it say?

It was a pledge of secrecy.

We never even got to read it through.

You had to take an oath?

- No, just sign...
- Ja.

Promising to shut up
about whatever we'd see.

- Shut up?
- Not say a word.

Ja.

After we'd signed, we were told,

“Final solution of the Jewish question.”

We didn't understand what that meant.

So someone said...

He told us what was going
to happen there.

Someone said, “the final solution
of the Jewish question.”

You'd be assigned to the “final solution”?

Yes, but what did that mean?

We'd never heard that before.

So it was explained to us.

Just when was this?

Let's see... when was it...?

In the winter of 1941-42.

Then we were assigned to our stations.

Our guard post was
at the side of the road.

A sentry box in front of the castle.

[ Lanzmann ]
So you were in the “castle detail”?

[ Schalling ]
That's right.

Can you describe what you saw?

We could see.
We were at the gatehouse.

Ja?

When the Jews arrived,
the way they looked:

half-frozen, starved, dirty,
already half-dead.

Old people, children.

Think of it! The long trip here
standing in a truck, packed in!

Who knows if they knew
what was in store!

They didn't trust anyone,
that's for sure.

After months in the ghetto,
you can imagine!

Ja?

I heard an SS man shout at them,

“You're going to be deloused

and have a bath.

You're going to work here.”

The Jews consented.

They said,
“Yes, that's what we want to do.”

Was the castle big?

Pretty big, with huge front steps.

The SS man stood at the top of the steps.

Then what happened?

They were hustled into
2 or 3 big rooms on the first floor.

They had to undress, give up everything:

rings, gold, everything.

Ja.

How long did the Jews stay there?

- I ong enough to undress.
- J a.

Then, stark naked,

they had to run down more steps

to an underground corridor

that led back up to the ramp,
where the gas van awaited them.

Did the Jews enter the van willingly?

No, they were beaten.

Blows fell everywhere,
and the Jews understood.

They screamed.

It was frightful!

Frightful!

I know, because
we went down to the cellar

when they were all in the van.

We opened the cells of the work detail,

the Jewish workers

who collected the things thrown out
of the 1st-floor window into there.

[ Lanzmann ]
Describe the gas vans.

[ Schalling ]
Like moving vans.

Very big?

They stretched, say,

from here to the window.

Just big trucks,

like moving vans, with 2 rear doors.

What system was used?

How did they kill them?

- With exhaust fumes.
- Exhaust fumes?

It went like this:
A Pole yelled, “Gas!”

Then the driver got under the van
to hook up the pipe

that fed the gas into the van.

- Yes, but how?
- From the motor.

Yes, but through what?

A pipe... a tube.

He fiddled around under the truck.

I'm not sure how.

It was just exhaust gas?

That's all.

[ Lanzmann ]
Ja.

Who were the drivers?

- SS men.
- [ Repeats Phrase]

All those men were SS.

Were there many of these drivers?

I don't know.

Were there 2, 3, 5, 10?

Not that many.
2 or 3, that's all.

I think there were 2 vans,

one big, one smaller.

Ja?

Did the driver sit
in the cabin of the van?

- Mrs. Uwe?
- [Woman ] No.

He climbed into the cabin
after the doors were closed

and started the motor.

Did he race the motor?

I don't know.

Could you hear the sound of the motor?

Yes, from the gate
we could hear it turn over.

Was it a loud noise?

The noise of a truck engine.

Ja.

The van was stationary
while the motor ran?

That's right.

Ja.

Then it started moving.

We opened the gate,
and it headed for the woods.

Were the people already dead?

I don't know.

It was quiet. No more screams.

[ Lanzmann ]
No screams.

You couldn't hear anything
as they drove by.

[ Podchlebnik Speaking Yiddish]

[ Interpreter #2, In French]
He recalls: It was 1941,

2 days before the new year.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

They were routed out at night...

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

and in the morning they reached Chelmno.

- [ Podchlebnik Continues]
- There was a castle there.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

When he entered the castle courtyard...

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

he knew something awful was going on.

- [ Podchlebnik Continues]
- He already understood.

THE SITE OF THE CASTLE

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

They saw clothes and shoes...

- [ Podchlebnik Continues]
- scattered in the courtyard.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

Yet they were alone there.

He knew his parents
had been through there...

- [ Podchlebnik Continues]
- and there wasn't a Jew left.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

They were taken down into a cellar.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

On a wall was written,
“No one leaves here alive.”

- [ Podchlebnik Continues]
- Graffiti in Yiddish.

- [ Podchlebnik Continues]
- There were lots of names.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

He thinks it was the Jews
from villages around Chelmno

who had come before him,
who had written their names.

- [ Podchlebnik Continues]
- A few days after New Year's...

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

they heard people arrive
in a truck one morning.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

The people were taken
out of the truck...

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

- and up to the first floor of the castle.
- [ Podchlebnik Continues]

The Germans lied,
saying they were to be deloused.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

They were chased down the other side...

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

where a van was waiting.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

The Germans pushed
and beat them with their weapons

to hustle them into the trucks faster.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

He heard people praying, “Shma Israel”...

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

and he heard
the van's rear doors being shut.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

Their screams were heard,

becoming fainter and fainter...

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

and when there was total silence,

the van left.

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

He and the 4 others
were brought out of the cellar.

They went upstairs...

[ Podchlebnik Continues]

and gathered up
the clothes remaining

outside the supposed baths.

[ Lanzmann, In French]
Did he understand then how they'd died?

[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]

MICHAEL PODCHLEBNIK,

the survivor of the 1st period
of extermination at Chelmno

(the castle period)

Yes, first because
there had been rumors of it.

And when he went out,
he saw the sealed vans,

so he knew.

[ Lanzmann ] He understood that people
were gassed in the vans?

[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]

Yes, because he'd heard the screams

and heard how they weakened,

and later the vans
were taken into the woods.

[ Lanzmann ]
What were the vans like?

[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]

[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]

[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]

Like the ones
that deliver cigarettes here.

They were enclosed,
with double-leaf rear doors.

[ Lanzmann ]
What color?

[ Interpreter #2 Speaking Yiddish ]

The color the Germans used,
green, ordinary.

MARTHA MICHELSOHN

[ Lanzmann, In German ] How many German
families were there in Kulmhof (Chelmno)?

[ In German]
10 or 11, I'd say.

Germans from Volhynia
and 2 families from the Reich,

the Bauers and us.

- And you?
- Us, the Michelsohns.

Ja.

How did you wind up in Kulmhof?

I was born in Laage,

and I was sent to Kulmhof.

They were looking for volunteer settlers,

and I signed up.

That's how I got there.

First in WarthbriJcken (Kolo),

then Chelmno... Kulmhof.

Directly from Laage?

- No, I left from Munster.
- Ja?

- Did you opt to go to Kulmhof?
- Ja.

No, I asked for Wartheland.

Why?

[ Murmurs In German]

A pioneering spirit.

- You were young!
- Oh, yes, I was young.

- You wanted to be useful?
- Yes.

What was your first impression
of Wartheland?

It was primitive. Super-primitive.

Meaning...?

- Even worse...
- [ Repeats Phrase]

Worse than primitive.

Difficult to understand, right?

Ja.

But why.,,?

The sanitary facilities were disastrous.

The only toilet was
in WarthbriJcken, in the town.

You had to go there.

The rest was a disaster.

- Why a disaster?
- There were no toilets at all!

Ja?

There were privies.

I can't tell you

how primitive it was.

Astonishing!

Why did you choose
such a primitive place?

I was young, you know.

You can't imagine such places exist.

You don't believe it.
But that's how it was.

[ Michelsohn ]
This was the whole village.

A very small village,

straggling along the road.

Just a few houses.

There was the church, the castle,

a store, I00,

the administrative building
and the school.

The castle was next to the church,

with a high board fence around both.

[ I anzmann j
J a .

How far was your house from the church?

It was just opposite... 150 feet.

Mrs. Michelsohn
was the Nazi teacher's wife

Did you see the gas vans?

No...

Yes, from the outside.
They shuttled back and forth.

I never looked inside...
I didn't see Jews in them.

I only saw things from outside,

the Jews' arrival, their disposition,

how they were loaded aboard.

Since World War I,

the castle had been in ruins.

Only part of it could still be used.

That's where the Jews were taken.

This ruined castle was used...

For housing and delousing
the Poles, and so on.

- The Jews!
- Yes, the Jews.

- Ja.
- [German ]

Why do you call them “Poles”
and not “Jews”?

- Sometimes, I get them mixed up.
- Ja.

There's a difference
between Poles and Jews?

Q“, yes!

What difference?

[Laugh$I

The Poles weren't exterminated,

and the Jews were.

That's the difference.
An external difference, right?

And the inner difference?

I can't assess that.

I don't know enough
about psychology and anthropology.

The difference between
the Poles and the Jews?

Anyway, they couldn't stand each other.

[ In French]
On January 19, 1942,

the rabbi of Grabow, Jacob Schulmann,

wrote the following letter
to his friends in Lodz:

“My very dear friends,

I didn't write sooner:
I wasn't sure of what I'd heard.

Alas, to our great grief,
we now know all.

I've spoken to an eyewitness
who managed to escape.

He told me everything.

They're exterminated
in Chelmno, near Dombie,

and they're all buried
in the nearby Rzeszow forest.

The Jews are killed in 2 ways:
by shooting or gas.

It's just happened
to thousands of Lodz Jews.

Do not think that
this is being written by a madman.

Alas, it is the tragic, horrible truth.

Horror, horror.
Man, shed thy clothes,

cover thy head with ashes,
run in the streets

and dance in thy madness.

I am so weary that my pen
can no longer write.

Creator of the universe, help us!”

The creator did not help
the Jews of Grabow.

With their rabbi,
they all died in the gas van at Chelmno

a few weeks later.

Chelmno is only 12 miles from Grabow.

[ Rooster Crowing ]

[ Lanzmann, In French]
Were there a lot of Jews here in Grabow?

[ Interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]

- [ Woman Replies In Polish]
- A lot, quite a few.

[ Woman Continues]

They were sent to Chelmno.

[ Lanzmann ]
Has she always lived near the synagogue?

[ Interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]

[Women Chattering In Polish]

- [ Lanzmann ] Yes.
- The Polish word is “Buzinica,” not synagogue.

[Chattering Continues]

She says it's now
a furniture warehouse

but they didn't harm it
from a religious point of view.

It hasn't been... desecrated.

Does she remember the rabbi
at the synagogue?

[ Interpreter #1 Speaking Polish]

[ Woman Replies ]

THE SYNAGOGUE IN GRABOW

She says she's 80 now,
and her memory isn't too good,

and the Jews have been gone
for 40 years.

[ In French] Barbara, tell this couple
they live in a lovely house.

[Speaking Polish]

Do they agree?
Do they think it's a lovely house?

Oui.

Oui.

[Laughs]

Tell me about the decoration
of this house, the doors,

what's it mean?

People used to do carvings like that.

Did they decorate it that way?

Non.

- No, it was the Jews again.
- The Jews did it!

- The door's a good century old.
- [ Repeats Phrase]

- Oui.
- Did Jews own this house?

Yes, all these houses.

All these houses
on the square were Jewish?

Jews lived in all the ones in front,
on the street.

Oui.
Where did the Poles live?

In the courtyards,
where the privies were.

[ Repeats Phrase]

There used to be a store here.

What kind?

A food store.

Owned by Jews?

Yes.

So the Jews lived in the front,

and the Poles in the courtyard
with the privies.

Oui.

How long have these two lived here?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[Wife Replies]

15 years.

- Where'd they live before?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[Wife Replies]

In a courtyard across the square.

[ Lanzmann ]
They've gotten rich.

- Them?
- Yes.

- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [Wife Replies]

- Yes.
- [ Laughing Together]

[ Lanzmann ]
How did they get rich?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

They worked.

- How old is the gentleman?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- [ Husband Replies]
- He's 70.

- He looks young and healthy.
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[ Barbara Laughs]

Do they remember the Jews of Grabow?

- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [ Husband Replies]

Yes.

And when they were deported, too.

- They recall the deportation of the Grabow Jews?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

He says he speaks “Jew” well.

- He speaks “Jew”?
- Oui.

As a kid he played with Jews
so he speaks “Jew.”

[ Husband Continues]

[ Barbara ]
Mm-hmm.

First, they grouped them there,
where that restaurant is,

or in this square,
and took their gold.

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[ Barbara ]
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[ Barbara ]
Mm-hmm.

An elder among the Jews
collected the gold

and turned it over to the police.

That done, the Jews were put
in the Catholic church.

- A lot of gold?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Yes, the Jews had gold...

[Wife Replies]

And some handsome candelabras.

[ Lanzmann, In French] Did the Poles know
the Jews would be killed at Chelmno?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Yes, they knew.

- The Jews knew it, too.
- [ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]

[ Lanzmann ] Did the Jews try to do
something about it,

to rebel, to escape?

- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [ Motorcycle Motor Gunning ]

[ Barbara ]
Tak.

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

The young tried to run away.

But the Germans caught them

and maybe killed them
even more savagely.

[ Man Continues]

In every town and village,
2 or 3 streets were closed,

and the Jews were kept under guard.

They couldn't leave there.

[ Man Continues]

Then they were locked
in the Polish church here in Grabow

and later taken to Chelmno.

BACKGROUND, THE SYNAGOGUE

[ People Chattering In Polish]

[Wife Speaking Polish]

The Germans threw children
as small as these...

- Oui?
- into the trucks by the legs.

She saw that?

- Old folks too.
- Threw kids into the trucks.

Oui.

The Poles knew the Jews
would be gassed in Chelmno?

Did this gentleman know?

- [ L anzmann j Ou/ f?
- Oui.

[ Lanzmann ]
Does he recall the Jews' deportation from Grabow?

- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [ Man Replies In Polish]

Oui.

[ Man Continues]

At that time, he worked in the mill.

- [ Lanzmann] There, opposite?
- Yes, and they saw it all.

What did he think of it?
Was it a sad sight?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Yes, it was...

Oui.

Yes. How could you see that
without sadness?

[ Hoof beats]

- What trades were the Jews in?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

They were tanners, tradesmen,

tailors.

They sold things...
eggs, chickens, butter.

[ Man Speaking Polish]

[ Barbara, In French]
There were a lot of tailors...

- [ Man Continues ]
- tradesmen, too.

[ Man Continues]

But most were tanners.

- They had beards and side locks.
- [ Lanzmann ] Yes.

He says they weren't pretty.

[ Lanzmann ]
They weren't pretty?

- They stank, too.
- They stank?

- Oui.
- Oui?

Why did they stink?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Because they were tanners,
and the hides stink.

[Chattering In Polish]

[ In French]
The Jewish women were beautiful.

- [Woman Speaking Polish ]
- [Women Laughing Together]

The Poles liked to make love with them.

Are Polish women glad
there are no Jewesses left?

[Woman Continues]

- [Women Laughing ]
- What'd she say?

- That the women who are her age now...
- Oui?

Also liked to make love.

So the Jewish women were competitors?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

It's crazy how the Poles
liked the little Jewesses!

Do the Poles miss the little Jewesses?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Naturally, such beautiful women!

- Why? What made them so beautiful?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[Women Talking At Once]

Because they did nothing.
Polish women worked.

Jewish women only thought
of their beauty and clothes.

- [ Lanzmann ] So Jewesses did no work!
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- None at all.
- Why not?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- They were rich.
- [Women Continue Chattering ]

The Poles had to serve them and work.

[ Lanzmann ]
I heard her use the word “capital.”

[ Barbara ]
The capital was in the hands of the Jews.

[ Lanzmann ]
Yes... You didn't translate that.

Ask her again. So the capital
was in the Jews' hands?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

All Poland was in the Jews' hands.

Are they glad there are
no more Jews here, or sad?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

It doesn't bother them.

As you know, Jews and Germans
ran all Polish industry before the war.

Did they like them on the whole?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[ Man Replies ]

Not much.
Above all, they were dishonest.

- [ L enzmenn Repeats Phrase j
- O ui .

Was life in Grabow more fun
when the Jews were here?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

He'd rather not say.

Why does he call them dishonest?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Tak.

They exploited the Poles.
That's what they lived off.

- How did they exploit them?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

By imposing their prices.

[ Chuckles ]

- Ask her if she likes her house.
- [Speaking Polish]

Yes,

but her children live
in much better houses.

In modern houses!

- They've all gone to college.
- Great! That's progress!

Her children are
the best educated in the village.

Very good, Madam!
Long live education!

Isn't this a very old house?

Yes, Jews lived here before.

So Jews used to live here.
Did she know them?

Yes.

- What was their name?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- She doesn't know.
- What was their trade?

- Benkel, their name was.
- Ah, Benkel.

And what was their trade?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[ Man Speaking Polish]

They had a butcher shop.

[ Lanzmann ]
A butcher shop. Why is she laughing?

Because the gentleman said it was...

a butcher shop where
you could buy cheap meat.

Beefl
- [ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]

What does he think about
them being gassed in trucks?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[ Man Replies]

He says he doesn't like that at all.

[ Man Continues]

If they'd gone to Israel
of their own free will,

he might have been glad.

But killing them was unpleasant.

[ Lanzmann]
Does he miss the Jews?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Yes, because there were
some beautiful Jewesses.

For the young, it was... fine.

Are they sorry the Jews
are no longer here or pleased?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

How can I tell?
I never went to school.

I can only think of how I am now.
Now I'm fine.

- Is she better off?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Before the war, she picked potatoes.

Now she sells eggs,
and she's much better off.

Because the Jews are gone
or because of socialism?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

She doesn't care, she's happy
because she's doing well now.

How did he feel
about losing his classmates?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]
- [Wife Replies]

- It still upsets him.
- [Wife Continues]

- Does he miss the Jews?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Certainly.

They were good Jews, Madam says.
- [ Lanzmann] Oui?

GRABOW IN WINTER

[ Michelsohn, In German]
The Jews came in trucks,

and later there was
a narrow-gauge railway

that they arrived on.

They were packed tightly in the trucks,

or in the cars
of the narrow-gauge railway.

Lots of women and children.

Men too, but most of them were old.

The strongest were put in work details.

They walked with chains on their legs.

In the morning, they fetched water,

looked for food, and so on.

- [ Lanzmann ] D/ese Arbe/tsjuden...
- [ Repeats Phrase]

These weren't killed right away.

That was done later.

I don't know what became of them.

They didn't survive, anyway.

[ Lanzmann ]
Two of them did.

- Only two.

They were in chains?

- On the legs.
- All of them?

The workers, yes.
The others were killed at once.

The Jewish work squad
went through the village in chains.

- Yes.
- Mm-hmm.

Could people speak to them?

No, that was impossible.

Why?

No one dared.

- What?
- No one dared.

- Ja.
- Understand?

Yes... No one dared.

Why, was it dangerous?

- Yes, there were guards.
- Ja.

Anyway, people wanted
nothing to do with all that.

Do you see?
- Ja.

Gets on your nerves,
seeing that every day.

You can? force a whole village
to watch such distress.

When the Jews arrived,

when they were pushed
into the church or the castle...

And the screams!

It was frightful!
Depressing.

Day after day, the same spectacle!

It was terrible!
A sad spectacle!

They screamed.
They knew what was happening.

At first, the Jews thought
they were going to be deloused.

But they soon understood.

Their screams grew wilder and wilder.

Horrifying screams. Screams of terror.

Because they knew
what was happening to them.

Do you know how many Jews
were exterminated there?

Four something,
400,000... 40.000...

[ Lanzmann ]
400, 000.

[ Michelsohn ] 400,000, yes.
I knew it had a 4 in it.

Sad, sad, sad!

[Srebnik, In German]
g When the soldiers march g

g The girls open their windows and doors g

J"; [ Continues ]

[ I enzmenn j
Do you remember a Je wish child, e b0 y of 13 f?

He was in the work squad.

He sang on the river.

- [ Michelsohn ] On the Narew River?
- Yes.

- Is he still alive?
- Yes, he's alive.

[ Lanzmann ]
He sang a German song

that the SS in Chelmno taught him.

“When the soldiers march,

[ Michelsohn ]
the girls open their windows and doors...”

J"; [ Continues ]

SIMON SREBNIK,

the survivor of the 2nd period
of extermination at Chelmno

(the church period)

N' I Qrgan ]

JU' [ Polish]

J; [Congregation Joins In ]

J"; [ Continues ]

Gr [ Continues ]

[ Lanzmann, In French]
So it's a holiday in Chelmno!

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- [ Together] Tak.
- Oui.

[ Lanzmann ] What holiday?
What's being celebrated?

[ Barbara ] The birth of the Virgin Mary.
it's her birthday.

- [ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]
- Oui.

[ Lanzmann ]
it's a huge crowd, isn't it?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

But the weather's bad...
it's raining.

[ Lanzmann ] Ask them if they're glad
to see Srebnik again.

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Very. it's a great pleasure.

Why?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

They're glad to see him again,

because they know
all he's lived through.

Seeing him as he is now,
they're very pleased.

- They're pleased?
- Oui.

Why does the whole village
remember him?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

They remember him well

because he walked
with chains on his ankles,

and he sang on the river.

He was young,

he was skinny,

he looked ready for his coffin.

[ Lanzmann ]
Ripe for a coffin!

Did he seem happy or sad?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Even the lady,

when she saw that child,

she told the German,
“Let that child go!”

He asked her, “Where to?”

“To his father and mother.”

Looking at the sky, he said,
“He'll soon go to them.”

- The German said that?
- Oui.

They remember when the Jews
were locked in this church?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Yes, they do.

They brought them
to the church in trucks.

- At what time of day?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

All day long and into the night.

What happened?
Can they describe it in detail?

At first, the Jews
were taken to the castle.

Only later were they put
into the church.

[ Lanzmann ]
The second phase, right!

[ Barbara] In the morning,
they were taken into the woods.

[ Lanzmann ]
How were they taken into the woods?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

In very big armored vans.

The gas came through the bottom.

Then they were carried in gas vans, right?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Yes, in gas vans.

Where did the vans pick them up?

- The Jews?
- Yes.

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Here, at the church door.

- The trucks pulled up where they are now?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

No, they went right to the door.

The vans came to the church door?

And they all knew these were death vans?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Yes, they couldn't help knowing.

They heard screams at night?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

The Jews moaned, they were hungry.

[ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]

They were shut in and starved.

- Did they have any food?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

You couldn't look there.
You couldn't talk to a Jew.

[Chattering In Polish]

Even going by on the road,
you couldn't look there.

- Did they look anyway?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Yes, vans came,

and the Jews were moved farther off.

You could see them, but on the sly.

- [ Lanzmann ] In sidelong glances.
- That's right.

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

That's right, in sidelong glances.

What kind of cries and moans
were heard at night?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

They called on Jesus and Mary and God,

sometimes in German, as she puts it.

[ Lanzmann ]
The Jews called on Jesus, Mary and God!

[Chattering In Polish Continues]

[ Barbara ]
The presbytery was full of suitcases.

- The Jews' suitcases?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Yes, and there was gold.

- [Church Bells Ringing ]
- [ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]

How does she know there was gold?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[ Lanzmann ]
The procession! We'll stop now.

[ Bells Continue]

[ Bells Continue]

[ Bells Continue]

[Whinnies ]

[ Bells Continue]

[ Bells Stop]

[ Lanzmann ]
Were there as many Jews in the church

as there were Christians today?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Almost.

How many gas vans
were needed to empty it out?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

An average of 50.

[ Lanzmann ]
It took 50 vans to empty it!

In a steady stream?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- [ Together] Tak.
- Yes.

[ Lanzmann ]
The lady said before

that the Jews' suitcases
were dumped in the house opposite.

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- What was in this baggage?
- [ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Pots with false bottoms.

What was in the false bottoms?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- Valuables... objects of value.
- Ah, oui?

[Woman Continues In Polish]

They also had gold in their clothes.

[Woman Continues]

When given food, the Jews
sometimes threw them valuables

or sometimes money.

[ Lanzmann ] They said before
it was forbidden to talk to Jews.

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Absolutely forbidden.

[ Lanzmann ]
Ask them if they miss the Jews.

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

- [Woman Replies]
- Of course.

[Woman Continues]

We wept too, Madam says.

[ Lanzmann ]
Oui. Bien sfir.

And Mr. Kantarowski
gave them bread and cucumbers.

Why do they think
all this happened to the Jews?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

Because they were the richest!

[ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]

Many Poles were also exterminated.

Even priests.

Mr. Kantarowski...

will tell us what a friend told him.

It happened in Myndjewyce, near Warsaw.

[ Lanzmann ]
Go on.

[ Barbara ]
The Jews were gathered in a square.

The rabbi asked an SS man,
“Can I talk to them?”

The guard said yes.

So the rabbi said
that around 2,000 years ago,

the Jews condemned
the innocent Christ to death.

And when they did that,
they cried out,

“Let his blood fall on our heads
and on our sons' heads.”

[ Lanzmann ]
Ou/I oui.

[ Barbara ]
Then the rabbi told them,

“Perhaps the time has come for that,
so let us do nothing.

Let us go,
let us do as we're asked.”

[ Lanzmann ] He thinks the Jews expiated
the death of Christ?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

He doesn't think so,
or even that Christ sought revenge.

He didn't say that.
The rabbi said it.

[ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]

[ Barbara ]
It was God's will, that's all!

- [ Lanzmann ] What'd she say?
- So Pilate washed his hands

and said, “Christ is innocent,”
he sent Barabbas.

But the Jews cried out,

“Let his blood fall on our heads.”

That's all. Now you know!

[Chattering Fades]

[ Lanzmann, In French]
Was the road between Chelmno, the village

and the woods where the pits were,

was it asphalted as it is now?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[ Falborski Speaking Polish]

The road was narrower then,
but it was asphalted.

How many feet
were the pits from the road?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

[ Falborski Speaking Polish]

They were around 1,600 feet,

maybe 1,900 or 2,200 feet away.

So even from the road,
you couldn't see them.

How fast did the vans go?

[ Barbara Speaking Polish]

PAN FALBORSKI

At moderate speed, kind of slow.

It was a calculated speed

because they had to kill
the people inside on the way.

When they went too fast,

the people weren't quite dead
on arrival in the woods.

By going slower, they had time
to kill the people inside.

Once a van skidded on a curve.

[ Falborski Continues ]

Half an hour later, I arrived

at the hut of a forest warden
named Senajak.

[ Falborski Continues ]

He told me, “Too bad you were late.

You could have seen a van that skidded.

The rear of the van opened,

and the Jews fell out on the road.

[ Falborski Continues ]

They were still alive.

[ Falborski Continues ]

Seeing those Jews crawling,
a Gestapo man

took out his revolver and shot them.

[ Falborski Continues ]

He finished them all off.

[ Falborski Continues ]

Then they brought Jews
who were working in the woods.

[ Falborski Continues ]

They righted the van

and put the bodies back inside.”

[ Srebnik, In German]
This was the road

the gas vans used.

There were 80 people in each van.

When they arrived, the SS said,

“Open the doors!”

We opened them.
The bodies tumbled right out.

An SS man said, “2 men inside!”

These 2 men worked at the ovens.
They were experienced.

Another SS man screamed,

“Hurry up!
The other van's coming!”

We worked until
the whole shipment was burned.

That's how it went, all daylong.
So it went.

I remember
that once they were still alive.

The ovens were full,

and the people lay on the ground.

They were all moving,

they were coming back to life,

and when they were thrown
into the ovens,

they were all conscious. Alive.

They could feel the fire burn them.

When we built the ovens,
I wondered what they were for.

An SS man told me,

“To make charcoal.
For laundry irons.”

That's what he told me.
I didn't know.

When the ovens were completed,

the logs put in

and the gasoline poured on and lighted,

and when the first gas van arrived,

then we knew why the ovens were built.

When I saw all that, it didn't affect me.

Neither did the 2nd or 3rd shipment.

I was only 13,

and all I'd ever seen until then

were dead bodies.

Maybe I didn't understand.

Maybe if I'd been older
I'd have understood,

but the fact is, I didn't.

I'd never seen anything else.

In the ghetto, I saw...
in the ghetto in Lodz,

that as soon as anyone took a step,
he fell dead.

I thought that was
the way things had to be.

It was normal.

I'd walk the streets of Lodz,

maybe 100 yards,
and there'd be 200 bodies.

People were hungry.

They went into the street
and they fell, they fell...

Sons took their fathers' bread,

fathers took their sons'.

Everyone wanted to stay alive.

So when I came here, to Chelmno,

I was already...

I didn't care about anything.

I thought, if I survive,

I just want one thing:

5 loaves of bread to eat.

That's all.

That's what I thought.

But I dreamed, too,

that if I survived,
I'd be the only one left in the world,

not another soul. Just me. One.

Only me left in the world,
if! get out of here.

THE RUHR

[ Lanzmann, In French]
“Gehame Rekzhssache secret Reich business.

“Berlin, June 5, 1942.

Changes to be made
to special vehicles now in service

at Kulmhof (Chelmno)

and to those now being built.

Since December 1941,

97,000 have been processed
(verarbeitet in German)

by the 3 vehicles in service,
with no major incident.

In light of observations
made so far, however,

the following technical changes
are needed:

First,

the van is" normal load
is usually .9 to 70 per square yard.

In Saurer vehicles,
which are very spacious,

maximum use of space is impossible,

not because of any possible overload,

but because loading to full capacity

would affect the vehicle's stability.

So reduction of the load space
seems necessary.

It must absolutely
be reduced by a yard,

instead of trying to solve the problem,
as hitherto,

by reducing the number
of pieces loaded.

Besides, this extends the operating time,

as the empty void must also
be filled with carbon monoxide.

On the other hand,
if the load space is reduced

and the vehicle is packed solid,

the operating time can be
considerably shortened.

The manufacturers told us
during a discussion,

that reducing the size
of the van's rear

would throw it badly off balance.

The front axle, they claim,
would be overloaded.

In fact, the balance
is automatically restored

because the merchandise aboard

displays, during the operation,

a natural tendency
to rush to the rear doors,

and are mainly found lying there
at the end of the operation.

So the front axle is not overloaded.

Secondly:

The lighting must be
better protected than now.

The lamps must be enclosed
in a steel grid

to prevent their being damaged.

Lights could be eliminated,

since they apparently are never used.

However, it has been observed

that when the doors are shut,

the load always
presses hard against them

(against the doors)

as soon as darkness sets in.

This is because the load

naturally rushes toward the light

when darkness sets in,

which makes
closing the doors difficult.

Also, because
of the alarming nature of darkness,

screaming always occurs
when the doors are closed.

It would therefore be useful
to light the lamp

before and during
the first moments of the operation.

Third:

For easy cleaning of the vehicle,

there must be a sealed drain
in the middle of the floor.

The drainage hole's cover,
8 to 12 inches in diameter,

would be equipped with a slanting trap,

so that fluid liquids

can drain off during the operation.

During cleaning,

the drain can be used
to evacuate large pieces of dirt.

The aforementioned technical changes

are to be made
to vehicles in service

only when they come in for repairs.

As for the 10 vehicles
ordered from Saurer,

they must be equipped
with all innovations and changes

shown by use
and experience to be necessary.

Submitted for decision
to Gruppenleiter H D,

SS-Obersturmbannfiihrer Walter Rauff.

Signed Just.”

END OF THE FIRST ERA