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In
the summer of 1941, I cannot remember the exact date, I was
suddenly summoned to the Reichsfuhrer SS,* directly by
his adjutant's office. Contrary to his usual custom, Himmler
received me without his adjutant being present and said in
effect:
"The
Fuhrer has ordered that the Jewish question be solved once and
for all and that we, the SS, are to implement that order.
The
existing extermination centers in the East are not in a
position to carry out the large Aktionen which are
anticipated. I have therefore earmarked Auschwitz for this
purpose, both because of its good position as regards
communications and because the are can easily be isolated and
camouflaged. At first I thought of calling in a senior SS
officer for this job, but I changed my mind in order to avoid
difficulties concerning the terms of reference. I have now
decided to entrust this task to you. It is difficult and
onerous and calls for complete devotion notwithstanding the
difficulties that may arise. You will learn further details
from Sturmbannfuhrer Eichmann of the Reich Security
Main Office who will call on you in the immediate future.
The
departments concerned will be notified by me in due course.
You will treat this order as absolutely secret, even from your
superiors. After you talk with Eichmann you will immediately
forward to me the plans for the projected installations.
The
Jews are the sworn enemies of the German people and must be
eradicated. Every Jew that we can lay our hands on is to be
destroyed now during the war, without exception. If we cannot
now obliterate the biological basis of Jewry, the Jews will
one day destroy the German people."
On
receiving these grave instructions, I returned forthwith to
Auschwitz, without reporting to my superior at Oranienburg.
Shortly
afterwards Eichmann came to Auschwitz and disclosed to me the
plans for the operations as they affected the various
countries concerned. I cannot remember the exact order in
which they were to take place. First was to come the eastern
part of Upper Silesia and the neighboring parts of Polish
territory under German rule, then, depending on the situation,
simultaneously Jews from Germany and Czechoslovakia, and
finally the Jews from the West: France, Belgium and Holland.
He also told me the approximate number of transports that
might be expected, but I can no longer remember these.
We
discussed the ways and means of effecting the extermination.
This could only be done by gassing, since it would have been
absolutely impossible to dispose by shooting of the large
numbers of people that were expected, and it would have placed
too heavy a burden on the SS men who had to carry it out,
especially because of the women and children among the
victims.
Eichman
told me about the method of killing people with exhaust gases
in lorries,** which had previously been used in the East. But
there was no question of being able to use this for the mass
transports that were due to arrive in Auschwitz. Killing with
showers of carbon monoxide while bathing, as was done with
mental patients in some places in the Reich, would necessitate
too many buildings and it was also very doubtful whether the
supply of gas for such a vast number of people would be
available. We left the matter unresolved. Eichmann decided to
try and find a gas which was in ready supply and which would
not entail special installations for its use, and to inform me
when he had done so. We inspected the area in order to choose
a likely spot. We decided that a peasant farmstead situated in
the north-west corner of what later became the third building
sector at Birkenau would be the most suitable. It was isolated
and screened by woods and hedges, and it was also not far from
the railway. The bodies could be placed in long, deep pits dug
in the nearby meadows. We had not at that time thought of
burning the corpses. We calculated that after gas-proofing the
premises then available, it would be possible to kill about
800 people simultaneously with a suitable gas. These figures
were borne out later in practice.
Eichman
could not then give me the starting date for the operation
because everything was still in the preliminary stages and the
Reichsfuhrer SS had not yet issued the necessary
orders.
Eichman
returned to Berlin to report our conversation to the Reichsfuhrer
SS.
A
few days later I sent to the Reichsfuhrer SS by courier
a detailed location plan and description of the installation.
I have never received an acknowledgement or a decision on
my report. Eichmann told me later
that the Reichsfuhrer SS was in agreement with my
proposals...
R.
Hoss, Commandant of Auschwitz The Autobiography of Rudolf
Hoss, London, 1961, pp. 206-208.
*
Heinrich Himmler.
**
See Document 191. |
