TOP SECRET
The Commander of the Security Police and the SD of the Radom District IV A1—No. 313/44 gRs.
Radom, 28 March 1944 11 Copies from the 26th Copy 4th Copy
To All Branch Offices (except Radom)— sealed matter address—and Section V.
The Commander of the Security Police and the SD of the Radom District Branch Office.
Rec. 30 March 1944 Section IV A Journal No. 11/44
Subject: Measures to be taken against escaped officer and.noncommissioned officer POWs who are exempt from work, with the exception of British and American POWs on recapture.
On the 2.3.44. the Chief of the Sipo and SD, Berlin, forwarded the following OKW order:
1. On recapture every escaped officer and non-working NCO POW, with.the exception of British and American POWs, no matter whether he escaped from a prisoners' convoy, during a mass escape or by himself, is to be handed over to the Chief of the Sipo and SD, with the key word "Grade III (Stufe III)".
2. As the fact that POWs are being handed over to the Sipo and SD must under no circumstances become known to outsiders, other POWs must not be informed of the recapture in any case. The Wehrmacht recaptured persons have "escaped and not been recaptured". Their mail should be dealt with accordingly. The same information should be given in reply to inquiries by the protecting power, the International Red Cross and other similar institutions.
3. Should escaped British and American officers or nonworking NCOs be recaptured, they are temporarily to be placed under guard in the custody of the police, outside of the POW camp and out of sight of POWs.
The decision as to whether or not they should be handed over to the Chief of the Sipo and SD is to be asked for immediately in each individual case by the "W.Kdos." from the OKW/OIC. Prisoners-of-War" [Chef Kriegsgef.]
In this connection the Chief of the Sipo and the SD has issued the following instructions : ' .
1. The Stapo Leitstellen will take over from the camp corn-
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mandants the escaped officers who have been recaptured and take them in accordance with the procedure hitherto in force, should circumstances not necessitate special transport, to the Mauthausen concentration camp. During the transport—not on the way to the station, if this could be seen by the public—the POWs are to be chained. The camp commandant of Mauthausen is to be informed that the prisoners are being handed over under the operation "Bullet" [Kugel], The Stapo Leitstellen will make half-yearly reports, giving the numbers only of the handing over of POWs. The first will be made on the 5.7.44. The reports are to be made referring to: "Treatment under the operation "Kugel" of escaped officer POWs who have been recaptured." Any special incidents have to be reported immediately. Detailed lists are to be maintained at the Stapo Leit-Stellen.
2. In the interests of camouflage the OKW has been asked to instruct POW camps not to send recaptured POWs direct to Mauthausen but to hand them over to the local Stapostelle.
3. Should suitable Wehrmacht accommodations not be available escaped British and American officers and non-working NCOs who are recaptured should be placed in the custody of the police at a place where there is a Stapodienststelle. In view of the already overcrowded conditions in police prisons, these recaptured prisoners can only be taken over by the Stapo only if suitable Wehrmacht accommodations are actually unavailable. On receipt of this order contact should be made immediately with the Stalag commandants regarding accommodation. In the interests of keeping this order secret there can be no question of accommodating them outside police prisons, esp. in labor training camps.
' 4. If escaped officer and non-working NCO prisoners-of-war, with the exception of British and American POWs, are recaptured by police stations and it appears inopportune, they need not be handed over to the Stalag command after the findings have been established beyond doubt [nach eindwandfreier Klaerung des Sachverhaltes] for reasons of expediency. The Stalag should be informed of the recapture and asked to hand them over with the key words "Stufe III". Escaped British and American officers and non-working NCOs are always to be handed over to the Wehrmacht.
5. The local [Ort] and county [Kreis] police authorities are not to be informed of this order.
The list of the recaptured officers and non-working NCO prisoners-of-war will be kept here by IV Al. To enable a report to be made punctually to the Chief of the Sipo and SD, Berlin, state-
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ments of the numbers involved must reach Radom by the 20.6.44.
Signed.: ILLMER [Typewritten]
Certified: MATHEI Clerk
DISTRIBUTION:
Tschenstochau — 1 Yedrzejour — 1
Radomsko — 1 Busko — 1
Petrikau — 1 Starachowice — 1
Tomaschow — 1 Ostrowiec — 1
Kielce Knoskie — 1 — 1 Abt. V — 1 — 11
DOCUMENT L-159
ATROCITIES AND OTHER CONDITIONS IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN GERMANY
[See Senate Document No. 47, 79th Congress 1st Session]