Court No. II, Case No. IV.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: You will please raise your right hand and repeat after me:
I swear by God, the Almighty and Omniscient, that I will speak the pure truth and will withhold and add nothing.
(The witness repeated the oath as follows:)
I swear by God, the Almighty and Omniscient, that I will speak the pure truth and will withhold and add nothing.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. McHANEY:
Q Witness, your name is Albert Henry Kruse?
AAlbert Henry Kruse, that is.
Q And you are presently living in Hamburg?
A Yes, sir.
Q What is the street address?
A Vendloer Weg. No. 11.
Q When and where were you born?
A On the 12th of May, 1906, in Malente Gremsmuehlen.
Q And you are a German citizen?
A Yes, I am.
Q Are you now an inspector for an insurance company in Hamburg?
A I am inspector for the Ortskrankenkasse.
Q Did you also work for an insurance company before the war?
A Yes, I worked at the same institute until the 21st of January, 1933.
Q I don't think it is necessary to go over all of your early history, Herr Kruse. Were you arrested by the Gestapo in March, 1941?
A Yes, I was.
Q What was the reason for your arrest?
A I was arrested on the basis of a denunciation by a lady I had met in Berlin.
Q And for what reason were you denounced by this lady?
A I still don't know the reason today.
Court No. II, Case No. IV.
Q Wasn't there something about your having written statements which were -
A Yes; the lady had heard certain statements from me which I had made -- or rather that I had written -- about National Socialism. She had those papers and turned them over to the Gestapo.
Q Can you give us any idea what those statements were?
A I wrote approximately the following: The lady had written to me in one of her letters. At that time we also had to say yes. My answer to that was approximately the following: It is really too bad that your appeal has been directed to a man who is against every thinking and idea of the third person's thinking, and therefore my answer is a categorical no. Furthermore, I said a system which ever since it existed has nothing else but just suppression both here and abroad -- that such a system could not possibly give me ideas, no matter how well served they are.
And that is how I formulated my thoughts. Whereupon I do have to add, however, that I did not know that the lady with whom I had friendly relations was a B.D.M. group leader.
Q A B.D.M. group leader?
A B.D.M. That means Bund Deutscher Maedchen, the German girls. That was for women or girls -- the same thing as the H.J., the name of the Hitler Jugend, which was for the boys.
Q Were you tried for anything after your arrest by the Gestapo?
A Yes, I was put before the Special Court in Berlin, whereupon the indictment was based on the Heimtuecke-Vergehen -- that means malicious trespass against the State, sedition against the State. And with the help of my Defense Counsel, I tried to save myself. Later on they just indicted me on a mistake I had made.
Q You were indicted for something in the nature of a slander against the State?
A Yes, I was sentenced to nine months in prison.
Q And did you spend nine months in jail in Berlin?
Court No. II, Case No. IV.
A I spent nine months in jail in Berlin, yes.
Q Then what happened?
A Then I was naturally released, but on my paper for release it said, "Released to the Police Office." And that is where I spent four months, during the course of which the Schutzhaft order written out by Mr. Heydrich was given me. And I can give you the exact date -- the end of March 1942. I was then transferred to the Concentration Camp of Neuengamme -
Q In other words, you were tried and convicted of slandering the State in March, 1941 -
A Well, the conviction took place on the 4th or 5th of July.
Q The date was the 4th or 5th of July. And you were sentenced in July, 1941, to nine months in jail?
A Yes. The sentence was then recognized.
Q And you were then held after serving nine months for a further four months in jail?
A Yes, approximately four months; that is correct.
Q And then in March, 1942, you were committed to the Concentration Camp Neuengemme under a protective custody order, is that right?
A The protective custody order had been written out somewhat earlier.
Q And were you a red or green prisoner in the camp?
A I was a political prisoner. That resulted from the mistake I made.
Q And a political prisoner is a red prisoner, isn't that right?
AA political prisoner wore a red triangle in the concentration camp, underneath which was the number of the person in the concentration camp.
Q What political party did you subscribe to before the war?
A I was never in the Social Democrat Party.
Q You never joined the Nazi Party -
A No.
Court No. II, Case No. IV.
Q -- is that right? Now, what work were you assigned to after your arrival in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp?
A I was first of all assigned to the so-called commando, Elbe Regulation, or Control.
Q What was that?
A That was special earth movement work -- that was the technical expression, regulating the Elbe River. It had to be regulated at certain points, and all work in connection with it had to be carried out by hand; in other words, we had to work with spade and pick. We had to detach certain masses of earth and load them on trucks, whereupon they were transferred to another place.
Q Now, can you tell us approximately how many inmates there were in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp when you arrived there?
AAt my time there were approximately from eight to ten thousand inmates. Earlier there might have been a little bit more, and later on, again more.
Q And this figure of eight to ten thousand inmates does not include the outside camps.
A Neuengamme at the beginning had no outside camps, because in itself it was just an outside camp of Oranienburg; only later on did Neuengamme become a camp in its own right -- and then Neuengamme had outside camps of its own. In any case, there were: an outside camp of Neuengamme, "Commando Bremen," which did construction work; second, the "Commando Braunschweig," which was attached to the Herman Goering Works, and third, a construction Commando that built a new camp by the name of Abermeid, but that was approximately in the course of the year 1942. That was the time it was built.
Q What large city is Neuengamme near?
A Neuengamme is thirty kilometers southeast of Hamburg.
Q How long did you remain on this earth-moving commando which you were first assigned to?
A I remained there approximately only six weeks. Then, due to Court No. II, Case No. IV.
the bad shoes I had, my feet became infected. I was treated at the hospital there for a few days.
Q And were you in May, 1942, assigned to the clinker works in Neuengamme?
A Yes, I was. That was in the second commando.
Q Will you explain to the Tribunal just what a clinker works makes, what it produces?
A The clinker works, I had to make certain restrictions there. At the time I was there the great manufacture of war production had not started in Hamburg. The factory was being constructed at the beginning and there was the so-called old factory, Neuengamme. In other words, they were already manufacturing goods. That was an old-fashioned brick factory and they used the earth in order to manufacture the bricks.
Court No. II, Case No. IV.
In the course of the year, 1942, this Klinker Works in Hamburg was set up with the use of approximately two thousand inmates per day. In Neuengamme one of the most fashionable Klinker Works was erected, which was known in the world of the brick manufacturers. The Klinker Works itself manufactured, apart from the normal bricks, also the so-called klinker. That klinker is a special stone which is used in connection with specialized work. Apart from these klinker stones or bricks, special bricks for roofing were used later on, or special candles which were sent to the SS by the Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler on Christmas.
Q Well, they manufactured then in the Klinker Works in Neuengamme ordinary building bricks, and then the special klinker bricks, and also roofing tiles, didn't they?
A Yes, that's correct. The klinkers could only be manufactured to a certain percentage compared with the other bricks. I imagine that it did not amount to more than 20 per cent, and it was only proportionate then that the klinkers brought in the double price of the normal bricks.
Q Now, who controlled the Klinker Works in Neuengamme?
A I did not quite get the question. Would you repeat it please? In what connection do you mean that? Do you mean the factory manager or -
Q What company controlled the Klinker Works?
A Oh, I see. The Klinker Works belonged to the DEST.
Q The Deutsche Erd Und Steinwerke; is that correct?
A The DEST, GMBH - that's what it said on the administration building there.
Q And did you later come to know that Mummenthey was the director of DEST?
A I only found that out in Oranienburg.
Q But you did later come to know that fact, didn't you?
A Yes, that fact had to be known to me some time.
Q And did you also learn that Mummenthey was the Amtschef of Amt W-I of the WVHA?
Court No. II, Case No. IV.
A Of the WVHA in Berlin, yes.
Q Now, you state that they were constructing a larger brick works in Neuengamme when you were first assigned there in May 1942?
A Yes, that resulted from the fact that there was a new construction factory there which was the Klinker Works in Hamburg.
Q And do you know who had charge of the construction of this new Klinker Works?
A Would you repeat the question?
Q Do you know what office controlled the construction of this new Klinker Works in Neuengamme?
A I only heard that from inmates; that is, from the inmates of the construction group, that the name AMT C was mentioned during the construction. I myself had no insight into those things at the time.
Q But you did hear that Amtsgruppe C was in charge of the construction?
A Yes, and I was told that by the inmates in the construction company or construction group.
Q Did you later have any access to documents which indicated to you that Amtsgruppe C of the WVHA did, in fact, control the construction of the Klinker Works?
A That only occurred in Oranienburg.
Q Now, you say there were approximately two thousand inmates assigned to take care of the construction of this new plant and also to work the old plant?
A Yes, that is correct. They were used as long as the construction works -- until the completion of the factory or the plant. Approximately two thousand inmates went to the Klinker command in the morning.
Q How was this assignment to the Klinker Works considered in the concentration camp?
A I did not quite understand the sense of your question.
(Question repeated by interpreter)
A The assignment took place in the camp itself by the labor as Court No. II, Case No. IV.
signment fuehrer who actually took care of the assignment of the various commandos.
Q Well, did the inmates like to get on this assignment to the Klinker Works? Was it considered desirable work?
A That I am afraid I can't tell.
Q Well, now, witness, I don't think you understand the question. Was the assignment to work for the Klinker Works considered desirable by the inmates?
A No, I already said before that the working commando, Klinker Works, was considered a punitive commando and was considered the most difficult and hardworking commando of the camp. That applied at least for the time of the construction.
Q Now, what work did you do upon your assignment to the Klinker Works?
A First of all I was assigned to the little wagon commando. The work consisted of loading and unloading these small wagons, and we loaded earth.
Q In other words, you were working in the clay pit loading and unloading the lorries which transported the clay from the pit to the Klinker Works?
A Yes, that's correct. Only with the difference that I did not work in the clay pit itself. On that great field there were so many places with earth and clay, before we could remove the clay a certain amount of earth had to be removed in order to reach the clay itself.
Q Did they also have sand pits in connection with the Klinker Works?
AAs far as I can remember there were a few gravel pits. However, I can't give you any exact details on that.
Q Was the work in the clay pit done by hand?
A Yes, it was. The whole work was carried out by hand.
Q And did you have to push these lorries by hand?
A Yes, we had to push them by hand. The whole work was carried Court No. II, Case No. IV.
out by hand. In other words, to load them and to unload them and to push the lorries to their spot where they were unloaded and to drive back.
Q Did they later on mechanize these lorries?
A That only occurred in the actual clay pit. We received sort of a small train after the main work was completed. From that moment on that little train was used. The work for the people who were employed there was that the inmates had to remove the clay with a special knife and load it onto the lorries. That small train was used in order to remove the clay from the pit itself and to take it into the factory.
Q Now, witness, did you find the conditions of work with the Klinker Works cruel and inhumane?
A Up until the time of the completion of the plant the work was inhumane and difficult and tiring for the very simple reason that generally speaking, that we worked in the karracho. That was an expression used in the concentration camp which probably meant on the double.
Q Well, now, will you describe the conditions of work?
A I would have to start at the early morning. As soon as the working commandos were assigned new people the working commando started off for the day. These two thousand people were then driven on the double, falling over each other, until they reached their working place. The capos and SS people had great fun to beat these people while running after them, while there was a confusion.
Then the people were assigned to various working commandos. How the work developed amongst the other commandos I cannot tell. However, in my commando it was usual that we immediately proceeded to the lorries which, as I mentioned before, had to be carried out on the double, and then we had to push those carts on the double to the loading place. It happened once in a while that an SS man stood in the lorry and would beat the inmates to move faster.
The work then lasted until 11:30. As far as I can remember we had half an hour off at noon. In the camp itself the noon pause was one hour.
Court No. II, Case No. IV.
The food had to be eaten outside in the field regardless of whether it was winter or summer. It often occurred that capos, those were the foremen, in case the inmate should not hold the plate correctly the capo would kick it out of his hand so that he would have to spend the whole day without eating anything. If an inmate collapsed while he was working, which was absolutely natural due to the undernourishment there and it was a daily occurrence, then he was thrown into a closed in area, closed in by barbed wire, in which daily there were between ten and thirty inmates, and they had to lie there on the bare earth regardless of whether it was winter or summer.
Then in the evening they had to be carried back to the camp on a special cart which was pushed and dragged by the inmates. Naturally, it also occurred once in a while that these inmates who were very weak in the morning when they went to work died in the course of the day.
Q. This wire cage that you have mentioned -- is that just a place where they locked them up during the day, rather than transport them back -
A. No, they were not locked up; they had just a sort of gate there which was also a wire gate which was hanged onto hinges. I can't tell you if there was a handle there or not.
Q. Could they get out of this wire cage?
A. Of course they could, but the inmates were not in a position to do so because they were so weak that they had collapsed.
Q. And they had to stay in this wire cage all day until the Kommando went back into the camp. Is that right?
A. Yes, that is correct.
Q. Now, was there frequently water in these clay pits that the inmates had to work in?
A. Yes, it happens automatically because if I make a whole into the earth, then water will come out automatically.
Q. Were the inmates provided with rubber boots?
A. Only part of them had rubber boots, namely, that particular group of them who were in the clay pit itself. And they also had special knives to cut the clay, and then, of course, there were a few Capos (foremen) who had rubber boots because they had to go down to the pit once in a while -- or regularly -- in order to inspect the work.
Q. Well, did most of the inmates who had to work in water have rubber boots?
A. I could not tell you that today.
Q. Now, were beatings a frequent occurrence on the work?
A. Beating was a daily occurrence in the Klinker Works.
Q. Did many of the inmates die?
A. The percentage of the inmates who died in the Klinker Works was -- according to my opinion -- considerably greater then in the general camp.
Q. Well, now, can you give us some idea of the monthly death rate in the Klinker Works?
A.According to the statements which the first male nurse for the inmates told me, a certain man by the name of Jasmias, who was in charge of the hospital there -- or rather, had built it up -- the monthly death rate in the camp of Neuengamme amounted to probably between eight and twelve percent. He also mentioned that curing the construction time of the Klinker Works, the death rate had climbed up to twenty percent, particularly during the winter months. I also remember that he said, "Once we had 1200 dead this month" -- and I believe that was in the month of January, 1943.
Q. Now, how long did you work -
A. Excuse me, I have to correct myself at one point. ...yes, it must have been January, 1943.
Q. Now, for how many weeks did you work pushing the lorries, and doing other work?
A. I worked there for approximately two months and a half.
Q. And what effect did that work have on your health?
A. After two months and a half I shrunk down from 136 pounds to 90 pounds.
Q. Well, did you feel that you could continue that work much longer after you had been there two and a half months?
A. No, not much. I knew that after three or four weeks in the camp I would have gone through the crematory.
Q. What had happened to some of your fellow inmates who had been assigned to the Klinker Works at the same time you were? Were many of them still around after two and a half months?
A. As far as these people who worked in the Klinker Works, itself, most of them had come down to such an extent, physically, that is, that they were either in the hospital or then they were transferred from that Kommando due to complete exhaustion.
Q. And I take it that some of them had died?
A. Certainly, many of them died because many of my comrades who arrived with me in March died in the hospital.
Q. Now, how is it you escaped the continuation of work in the Klinker Works?
A. I was lucky insofar as I had a Capo who was with me in my billet ask me how much longer "do you want to stand that?" And I answered, "I imagine that in three or four weeks I will be through the crematory." He then asked me, "You don't actually need that, do you?" And I asked him why not; whereupon he said, "But you are drawing money, aren't you?" I said, "Why; what do you mean by that?" He answered again, "Well, I smoke a lot." Whereupon I declared, "Well, maybe we can get together on that." Whereupon he said, "You can come and work with my Arbeit Kommando, and all you have to do is just work 'with your eyes.'" To 'work with your eyes' meant in the camps that you only had to work hard when either the first Klinker Capo or an SS man came nearby. The Capo, himself, who sometimes also beat us and pushed us to work, left those alone who helped him with money or cigarettes.
Q. So you bribed your Capo to get an easier job; is that right?
A. Yes, that is correct.
Q. Where did you get the money?
A. My father sent me money regularly every month.
Q. What work did you get?
A. As a result of bribing the Capo I did work on certain earthmoving work which was easy work. And then I became a column clerk, and, as such, I was assigned as a clerk with the welding detachment, due to the Capos who spoke for me to the camp commander.
Q. Now, how was the clothing which was issued for work with DEST?
A. The clothing consisted of shirts -- most of the time without buttons -- then the zebra trousers, a thin zebra jacket, and the zebra cap. In other words, the whole material was just striped. In the winter we received the very thin underwear and a so-called zebra coat.
Q. Well, was the clothing sufficient to protect you against the cold?
A. In the winter the clothing was absolutely insufficient.
Q. What sort of shoes were issued to you?
A. We received on the Klinker Works wooden shoes with the upper part of leather -- that was a special term we used there --"leather top."
Q. Did you receive any socks?
A. Socks were not issued, generally speaking; we received special rags for our feet.
Q. Were there many cases of bad feet?
A. That was one of the most-occurring diseases in the camp.
Q. What were some of the other diseases?
A. The other diseases were edema; that is, water came into the body of the inmate due to under-nourishment. That was in connection with the fact that the main food for the inmates consisted of thin soup. Apart from that we received a loaf of bread per day which was supposed to be sufficient for the whole day, and, therefore, we did not have any concrete food. The result was under-nourishment. And then followed dysentery and edema.
Q. Do you know whether or not Mummenthey and Pohl ever visited the Klinker Works in Neuengamme?
A. I can only recall that from Neuengamma, insofar as a friend of mine from the office of the DEST told me "Mummenthey was here today." And another time he told me "Pohl was here today." At the time I did not know who Mummenthey was.
Q. And you did not see either one of them personally? Is that right?
A. I did not know the defendants at the time, and I would not have said that this is Mr. Pohl... this is Mummenthey, because after all they were not introduced to me.
Q. But you can testify that you were told by inmates that Mummenthey and Pohl were visiting the Klinker Works in Neuengamma? Is that right?
A. Yes, that is correct, but I can also give you the name of the witness who was in that camp ever since the beginning of the construction of the camp in Neuengamma, and he was employed at the work office in Neuengamma.
Q. What was his name?
A. His name was Bickel -- Helmut Bickel: B-i-c-k-e-l.
Q. Witness, I don't think you have to talk quite so loud. Now, can you tell us the name of the Director of the Klinker Works at Neuengamma?
A. As far as I can remember, his name was Mr. Kahn-- K-a-h-n, and the Manager, Rath.
Q. And what were the hours of work at the Klinker Works?
Q. And what were the hours of work at the klinker works?
A. It depended on various things. In summer, for instance, we started at 6 o'clock in the morning. In the winter we had to stand on roll call until the mist had disappeared. In the evening we returned to the camp at 6 o'clock so that the regular hours in summer amounted to 12 hours.
Q. And were any of the inmates ever -- strike that -How many days a week did you work?
A. We worked there from Monday to Saturday and Sunday we worked until 12 o'clock.
Q. Suppose one of the inmates committed some sort of disobedience or misdemeanor, now was he punished?
A. Different cases -- a report was made by the plant manager or, rather, by the man who was right under him, directly to the camp administration.
Q. What sort of punishment would he be given?
A. Generally speaking, a report was given to the Political Department, whereupon the inmate was then convicted to receive clubbings, from 25 to 50 of them, depending on the severity of the misdemeanor.
Q. Convicted to receive what?
A. Beatings.
Q. Did any of the inmates have to work longer than 12 hours a day which you have described and the 6 hours on Sunday?
A. Well, that was SK or the straf company, which had to work on top of the work done during the day as punishment. However, I myself remember the conditions in Oranienburg better than the ones in the other camp because the Strafkommando of the Klinker works had to leave the camp after and work and they also had to work Sunday all day long.
Q. Is it true that in May, 1943, you were sent to Oranienburg?
A. Yes, that is correct.
Q. Was Oranienburg a concentration camp?
A. Oranienburg was a concentration camp near Berlin.
Q. It was called Sachsenhausen, was it not?
A. The name of the camp itself was Sachsenhausen. There was a place near which the camp was was Sachsenhausen. That is a small village there.
Q. How many inmates did they have in Oranienburg, Sachsenhausen, when you came there?
A. I could not give you the exact figure of Sachsenhausen, itself. I only remember to have seen the report of the so-called office; that must have been in the course of 1944, during which time there were 40,000 to 45,000 inmates in Sachsenhausen, including the outside Kommandos which belonged to Sachsenhausen.
Q. What work were you assigned to?
A. When I reported to Arbeitsfuehrer, or the work leader, when they said all political prisoners should come out, we were employed at the SS bread factory as clerks.
Q. And what was the name of this bread factory?
A. The name of the factory was German Food Works, G.M.B.H.
Q. Deutsche Lebensmittlewerke, is that right?
A. Yes, that is correct, "Deutsche Lebensmittelwerke."
Q. And do you know whether or not that concern was controlled by one of the offices of the WVHA?
A. Yes, the manager of the plant, as far as I remember, was also the Chief of the Amt. III, of the SS WVHA.
Q. "W-III"?
A. Yes, Amt. W-III.
Q. Who was the local manager of the bread factory?
A. The local manager of the bread factory was SSUnterscharfuehrer, I believe, Meissner.
Q. And what were the working hours?
A. We left the Klinker works in the morning where we had our barracks shortly after 4 o'clock. The work started at 4:30 in the morning. That is, we left for work before the rest of the camp had even woken up.
Q. How late did you work?
A. We worked, generally speaking, until 5 or 6 o'clock in the afternoon and during the last few days when too much bread had to be baked, particularly for Sunday, we sometimes also worked until 8 o'clock in the afternoon.
Q. I am going to ask you again to speak just a little lower, Herr Kruse. You can talk in a normal tone of voice. Now, I take you, you found the work in the bread factory somewhat easier than in the klinker works in Oranienburg, is that right?
A. The work in itself was easier, for the very simple reason -- the fact was every camp inmate received a certain bread allowance on top of his camp food. He received one quarter of bread per day.
Q. And, of course, you were working inside in a building?
A. I myself, I must add something before I say that. At the beginning I was not used as a bookkeeper, as I had been assigned, but I was told "You can work here as a worker." I then did every work there was, both outside and inside the building, for instance, to move coal, chop wood, to load and unload flour, and all this kind of work that belongs in a bread factory.
Q. Now, Herr Kruse, did there come a time when you were assigned to office work in Amt. W-1, of the WVHA?
A. I don't quite understand the question. Would you repeat?
(question repeated by interpreter)
A. I was only assigned to Amt. W-I later on.
Q. And when was that?
A. I guess that it was in January of 1944.
Q. And who was Chief of Amt. W-I at that time?
A. The Chief of Amt. W-I was an Obersturmbannfuehrer Mumenthey, obersturmbannfuehrer at the time.
Q. Would you recognize Mumenthey now if you saw him?
A. Yes, I would.
Q. Would you indicate which position in the dock, if see him there?
A. That is the third defendant in the last row starting from the right.
MR. MC HANEY: I ask that the record show that the Defendant Mumenthey has been properly identified.
THE PRESIDENT: The record will so show.
Q. What sort of work did you do when you began work with Amt. W-I in January, 1944.
A. I worked there in the Legal Department of the Dest, and took dictations from the law expert, at the time, Dr. Schneider, but as I took them in shorthand and transferred them into typewriting.
Q. And Dr. Schneider was in the Legal Department of Amt. No. 1?
A. Yes, that is correct.
Q. He was subordinate to Mumenthey?
A. Yes, he was subordinated to the Amt. chief at the time, who was Mumenthey.
Q. I understand you spend about 4 months in that position doing secretarial work.
A. I was in the office of the W-1, Stenotyping, for a period of 4 months.
Q. Did you transfer to another department in Amt. W-I?
A. After I had a certain argument with Dr. Schneider, I was sent to the Revision Department of the same Amt.
Q. How long did you stay there?
A. I worked in the Revision Department for approximately two months.
Q. And then did you go to the Budget office of Amt. W-1?
A. I was then transferred to the main Hauptkasse or then to the main Hauptkasse to the DST.
Q. That was still in Amt. W-1?
A. The main budgeting office was part of DST.
Q. And you stayed there until January, 1945?
A. Yes. I stayed there until the 18th of January, 1945.
Q. In your positions in Amt. W-1, did you have occasion to take dictation and transcribe letters, correspondence, to the various enterprises of Dest?
A. Yes, I did. My work mainly consisted of the correspondence with the single plants and with the offices in Berlin unter den eichen. We were concerned with the Legal Department of the Staff W and various other agencies which I can't recall at this present moment.
Q. Do you remember the names of any of the men on Staff W?
A. Staff W? I remember the name of Dr. Hohberg in the Staff B and then, without having anything to do with myself, the name Dr. Volk repeatedly occurred.