one hundred deaths caused by typhus a day. In all we had twenty eight thousand cases, and fifteen thousand deaths. In addition to those that died from the disease, my autopsies showed that many deaths were caused solely by malnutrition. Such deaths occurred in all the years from 1941 to 1945. They were mostly Italians, Russians and Frenchmen. These were just starved to death. At the time of death they weighed fifty to sixty pounds. Autopsies showed that their internal organs had often shrunk to one-third of their normal size.
The facts stated above are true: This declaration is made by me voluntarily, and without compulsion: After reading over the statement I have signed and executed the same at Nurnberg, Germany, this 9th day of January, 1946.
(signed) Dr. Franz Blaha." Subscribed and sworn to before 2nd Lt. Daniel F. Margolies.
(resumed) Q Dr. Blaha, will you state whether or not visitors came to the camp of Dachau while you were there?
A Many visitors came to our camp from different places, or towns, but for a few times it happened that we didn't see these visitors in camps, but in previous meetings.
Almost every day there was a visit, or groups, and other such groups.
Even policemen , SS and Army preists came
THE PRESIDENT: Will you pause a little so as to give the interpreter time for his words to go through, do you understand?
THE WITNESS: Yes. Also a few public speakers appeared there. They made inspections month by month, and a general inspector of the Inspectors Concentration Camps made a general inspection. Then the inspector of the medical station made a visit. Also Dr. Lolling, and other personalities.
MR. DODD: The President of the Tribunal suggests you pause, and it would be helpful if you paused in the making of your answers so the interpreters can complete their interpretation.
THE WITNESS: Yes. Q Are you able to state how long these visits lasted on an average? A That depended on what sort of visits were being made. That is, in general thirty minutes to an hour, sometimes.
Sometimes three hours. Q Were there prominent government people who visited the camp at any time while you were there? A When I was there many government personalities came to the camp. Heinrich experiments.
I was present myself at that time. Other personalities also were there.
I myself there had seen three ministers of state, and of Q Do you remember the names of any of these prominent government people, or do you remember more particularly whom any of them were?
A Yes. Besides Himmler, Warlimont, Gauleiter Wagner, Gauleiter Giesler, Q There were people whom you have just named that took tours in the camp while you were there?
A In general the tours were so arranged that the visitors were first taken to the kitchen, and then to the laundry; then to the hospital, and in Dr. Schilling, and to the experimental station of Dr. Rascher, and then they continued the visits to a few barracks; particularly those of the Germans, where German political prisoners were kept.
Occasionally, also, the chapel and the barracks for German priests.
Occasionally, these introduced.
It was so arranged that first of all a professional criminal was introduced to the group as a murderer.
Then, secondly, the Mayor of Vienna, Mr. Schmitz, was presented to the group, and than a high officer; Q Did I understand you to name Ernst Kaltenbrunner as one of those visitors there, or not?
A Yes, Kaltenbrunner was also present. He was there at the Bane time as General Daluege.
That was, I believe, in the year 1943. I was particularly interested in Daluege after Heydrich's death, and he became Q Did you see Kaltenbrunner there yourself?
A Yes. He was pointed out to me. I had previously not seen him. Q I understood you to name Frick as one of those whom you saw there? A Yes, he was, in the year of 1944, the first part, or first half of 1944.
Q Where in the camp did you see him? A I saw him from the hospital window as he was coming to the hospital with Q Do you see the man that you saw there that day by the name of Frick in this Courtroom now?
A Yes. The fourth man in the first row from the witness right. Q I understood you also named Rosenberg as one of those whom you saw there? A I can recall that it was shortly after my arrival in the concentration camp at Dachau that the visit took place.
At that time my German comrade Q Do you see that man in the Courtroom now? A Yes. He is two farther to the left of the man I previously mentioned. Q I also understood you to nameSauckel as one of those who was present in that camp?
A Yes, but that I didn't see him personally myself, I simply heard that Q Was it the general knowledge in camp at that time that the man named Sauckel visited the camp, and particularly the munition plant?
A Yes, that was general knowledge in the camp. Q I understood you to name one of those who visited this camp as Funk? A Yes. He was also present at a visit, and I can remember it was at the Reichenhall.
It was the custom on such occasions when there was a Dachau for a visit.
That was also the case in the matter of Funk. Q Did you personally see Funk there? A No, I didn't see Funk personally, but I simply found out that he was there Q Was that general knowledge in the camp at that time? A Yes, that was general knowledge. We knew that beforehand that he was to Q Were there visits after the end of the year of 1944, or any month of 1945? A There were a few visits, but very few of them, because there was a typhus Q Doctor, you are now a Director of a hospital in Prague, are you not?
A Yes.
MR. DODD: I have no further questions to ask of the witness.
THE PRESIDENT: You are through here. Do any other counsel for the prosecution wish to ask any questions? Colonel Pokrowski? We will adjourn for a ten minute recess.
(A recess was taken from 1525 to 1535).
COL. POKROWSKI: I would like to ask permission to ask this
BY COL. POKROWSKI:
annihilation?
it became more a work camp. But so far as your people are concerned this camp of annihilation; how many internees came originally from the USSR; how many passed through the camp?
A I cannot state that exactly, only approximately. Since uniform.
They had an additional camp and were liquidated in a few months.
In the summer of 1942 those who remained of these brought to Dachau.
There were, I believe, 2000 children from the years of 6 to 17.
They were housed in two special barracks.
THE PRESIDENT: You are going too fast.
BY COL. POKROWSKI:
Q What do you mean when you refer to green freshmen?
A Those were the so-called professional criminals. They machines, plows.
They were made to pull the farm machinery instead of machines.
They were used also in all transport commandos.
Eastern workers were transported to Dachau. Those were the coming in the camp?
resulted in their tuberculosis?
camp?
colleague? Who were those officers? What were the reasons for their execution?
Do you know anything at all about it?
division. That is to say, during each interrogation they were of them and knew them.
I knew those who for weeks simply had to parts of their bodies that had died.
Many succumbed to these methods of interrogations.
The others were then, on orders from the execution of the 40 students.
Can you give us a few details about the execution?
executed. That was in March of 1944.
execution?
A The order for it came from Berlin. We did not discover that there was any justification.
We first saw the bodies only after the execution.
stages of the general plan of annihilation of the people who entered Dachau?
A Yes. That was the case in all executions and in all transport of invalids, as well as in the case of the epidemics. It was easy to see that this was all part of the general plan of extermination, and particularly--and this I must emphasize--the Russian prisoners were always treated the worst of all. internees which were labeled or which were in the category "nacht and nebel," night and fog? Were there many of them? Do you know the reason why they were classified and sent to the concentration camp?
A Many prisoners, the so-called "nacht and nebel", night and fog prisoners, came to the concentration camp, and under this designation there were mostly people from the Western countries of Europe, particularly Frenchmen, Belgians and Dutchmen. these people were shortly before the liberation, on the order of the camp commander, executed, that is, shot in front of the crematory. Among these people, the French and Russians, many of whom had serious cases of typhus and with a temperature of 40 degrees Centigrade, were carried on stretchers to the place of execution. number of the prisoners who died of starvation, Could you tell how bjg that number was, the number of people who died of starvation? or rather suffered of severe malnutrition, and that at least 25 per cent of the population of the camp died as a direct result of starvation. It was called in German "hungertyphus, " hunger typhus. Tuberculosis was the most widely spread disease in the camp which spread for this reason, I mean for the reason of starvation, and it raged and took its most sacrifices among the Russians. that the majority of those who died of starvation and exhaustion was composed of French, Italians, and Russians. How do you account for the fact that those categories of prisoners died more than other people?
and the Italians was the biggest number of people who died of starvation? Was there any difference in feeding of prisoners of different nationalities, or were there any other different reasons? who had already been in the camp for some time had had time to adjust themselves to it, if one can so express oneself. I mean adjust themselves physically. The Russian population of the camp changed rapidly. The same was true of the French and the Italians. Further, these three nations had already suffered from malnutrition in other camps so that they then fell easy prey to the epidemics and sicknesses in the camp. Also, the Germans, Poles, an several others from the year 1943 on, who had worked in the armaments industry, had had opportunity to get nourishment from their homes. That was of course not the case with citizens of Soviet Russia or France.
or Funk -- what did they see in the Dachau concentration; do you know what was shown them?
A I had he opportunity to follow the course of these visits. That occasions was afforded only very seldom. One could occasionally see these visitors from the window and could observe where they went. I had occasional opportunity to see Himmler, Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl, and Gauleiter Geissler. In the case of these men I was present when they visited the experiments or the patients in the hospital. Of the others, I do not know what they visited in those individual cases. of those people in the camp, whether the visit was short, brief, just for a few moments, or were to stay there for a long period. I have in mind Rosenberg, Kaltenbrunner and Sauckel.
A That depended. Many visitors were there only for half an hour. Many spent as many as three hours there. We were always able to observe that very well because at those times no work could be done. We did not carry on our work in the hospitals during those times and had to wait until the signal was given to us that the visitors had already left the camp. Otherwise, I'm not able to judge the individual cases or how long they spent in the camp.
Q Can you recall Kaltenbrunner's visit, Rosenberg's function, and Sauckel's? If we wait to classify them the same way as you mention now, whether they were brief visits or whether those people stayed there for several hours? Did you understand my question? A Unfortunately, I cannot make a statement on that because, as I said, the visits were such a matter of course; it happened so often that I have difficulty even remembering the year and cannot recall whether they stayed for a shorter or longer time. There were visits, for instance, from schools, from the military and police schools, and sometimes it lasted a whole day.
COL. POKROWSKI: Thank you. I have no further questions of this witness at this stage of the sitting.
BY MONSIEUR DUBOST: Compiegne, of whom only 1,200 survivors survied. Were there any other convoys?
A Yes. There were transports, particularly from Bordeaux, Lyons, and Compiegne, all in the first half of the year 1944.
Q Were all the transports carried out under the same condition? not identical, at any rate very similar. numerous victims?
Q What were the causes of decease? people were packed too closely into the cars, which were then closed and then for several days kept there without any food or water. Usually they were simply starved or suffocated. Of those who survived we took many to the camp hospital, and again a large number of these people died of various complications and sicknesses. portation? were demanded because the rumor was spread that the French had attacked the Fascists in the cars and had died of the riots that followed. I had to autopsy these people, but in no case did I find any signs of violence. Moreover, I took ten corpses for an examination, dissected them, and sent a special report on them to Berlin. These people had died of suffocation. I could also determine during my autopsy that these were prominent people of France. I could tell this from their uniforms and insignias. I could determine that they were high French officers, priests, representatives, and well-fed people who had been taken from civilian life directly into the cars and sent to Dachau.
which the transports were made, were they the same after these reports that you sent? reports were written out but nothing was ever improved. shortly before the liberation of the camp. Do you know the names of these generals?
A Unfortunately, I have forgotten these names. I can simply remember that the prisoners who were kept in the same barracks with them, namely, the prominent personalities from Germany and other countries. Pastor Niemueller was among them - a Prussian prince, Schuschnigg, members of the French Government, and several others. These people told me that one of the generals who had been shot was a close relative of General De Gaulle. I have unfortunately, forgotten his name. war who had been transported into this concentration camp? the other prominent personalities. They were kept in so-called "Kommandatur Arrest" in separate barracks, not in the camp. On the various occasions on which they needed medical attention I had a chance to get in touch with them, but that was infrequently. Otherwise, with the other prisoners they did not come into any touch at all. not desired or were they of the category of the "Nacht and Nebel" deportees?
A I do not know. Two days previously all the others who were kept in that barracks were transported in special trains to the Tyrol. That was, I believe, a week or eight days before the liberation. political men, and German military men had visited the camp on numerous occasions. Can you say if any common people, workers, also passed through this camp?
must have known of these things because they had daily opportunity in the various factories in Munich and the surrounding neighborhood to come into contact with the civilian workers in these factories, moreover, on the plantations, in the factories of the munitions industry have entered these places and must have seen what was done to the prisoners and how they appeared.
Q Can you say in what way the French were treated? came in second order. Obviously, differences were drawn between the treatment of individual people. There were also the "Nacht and Nebel" prisoners who were treated one way and the prominent political personalities and intellectuals, and that is true of all nations, and then again the workers and peasants were treated in a different way. intellectuals was particularly rigorous. Do you remember the treatment inflicted on some French intellectuals and can you tell us their names? university professors who worked with me in the hospital. Unfortunately, a large number of them died of typhus. Of the French, in general most of them died of typhus. I can remember, best of all, Professor Limousin. He arrived in very poor condition in the transport from Compiegne. I used him in my department as pathologist and assistant. Then I also knew the Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand. There were also physicians and university professors there whom I knew. I remember Professor Rosch, Doctor Lemartin, and many others, I have forgotten the other names. were you put in touch with the aim of the experiments which he was conducting?
A I didn't understand the question. experiments, made by Doctor Rascher within the camp itself? experiments in the camp. He was a major in the air force and was commissioned to investigate the conditions to which parachutists were subjected, and secondly, the conditions of those people who had to bail out into the sea, and to study them. According to scientific rules, so far as I can judge, it had no purpose at all, and as in the case of all these experiments, it was simply a useless piece of murder, and one must be astounded, particularly at intellectuals, that university professors and physicians were able to carry out these experiments in so planful a way, which were much worse than all the liquidations and executions, because all the victims of these experiments simply had their misery prolonged with various medical means, such as hormones, vitamine injections, and so on, which were then not available to the usual patients, and were provided to these experimental patients simply so that the experiments might last longer and give the experimenters more time to observe their victims.
had he received the order to make these experiments or was he making them on his own initiative?
A Those experiments were made on Himmler's direct orders, and also, Doctor Rascher was in direct, friendly contact with Himmler. Himmler visited Doctor Rascher very often, as did Doctor Rascher often visit Himmler. who were making these experiments? Were they always SS men or were they doctors who were members of faculties of medicine academies but not belonging to the SS?
A That depended. For example, in the malaria station Professor Klaus Schilling, of the Koch Institute in Berlin, was in charge. The Phlegmone Station also had several university professors. The surgical station was manned solely by SS doctors. In the air force station they were solely SS and military people. It wasn't always the same. Doctor Bleibeck from Vienna conducted the air pressure experiments.
Q. Were these studies that were made for the Luftwaffe made on the order of Himmler?
A. Yes, Himmler.
Q. Do you know -- this is the last question -- how many French prisoners passed through this camp?
A. I believe it was at least eight to ten thousand who arriced at the camp. I know, furthermore, very well that, particularly during the last days, several thousand of French prisoners were brought from the Western camp and had to march on foot, and that only small remnants of those who originally left there arrived here.
M. DUBOST: Thank you. BY THE PRESIDENT:
Q. Can you tell us to what branches of the German service those who were employed at the camp belonged?
A. If I understood you correctly, besides the highest commander all the matters that took place in the camp were under the direction of the RSHA. All orders came from Berlin, also in the experimental stations. A certain and very specific contingent number of the objects of the experiments were determined in Berlin, and when the experimenting doctors needed a larger number, the request for them had to be sent to Berlin.
Q. Yes, but what I want to know is to what branch of the service the men belonged who were employed in the camp.
A. SS people and, most of all, SD. During the last days, at the very end, a few members of the Wehrmacht were there, but in general it was only the SS.
Q. Were there any of the Gestapo there?
A. Yes, that was the so-called political division. They were provided by the Munich Gestapo. They had control over all the orders and executions and also for the transport of invalids; also all the people who were provided for the experiment. These people had to be approved by the political division.
THE PRESIDENT: Do any of the defense counsel want to cross-examine the witness?
DR. SAUTER: Dr. Sauter for the defendant Funk. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY DR. SAUTER:
Q. Witness, you told us that at one time the defendant Funk was at Dachau, and you informed us, if I understood you correctly, that that took place on the occasion of some celebration or conference between the Axis Powers. I ask you to exert your memory a bit and tell me when that was. At the same time you might tell us the year and the season and perhaps precisely which political celebration is here in question.
A. So far as Funk is concerns I, I believe that it was a conference of finance ministers. It was also written up in the papers. They said it was to take place, and in that case we already knew ahead of time that some of the ministers were to come to Dachau. Then, as a matter of fact, in the next few days such visit was paid and it was said that Minister Funk was among them. It was, I believe, in the first half of 1944. I cannot say that absolutely precisely.
Q. In your memory, then, at the beginning of 1944, on the occasion of a conference of finance ministers, where did that conference take place?
A. If I remember correctly -- I didn't write that down, of course -that was either in Salzburg or Reichhall, or Berchtesgaden; somewhere in the neighbourhood of Munich.
Q. From whom did you find out that in the next few days a visit from high persons would take place?
A. We always received instructions that we should make preparations for such a visit. Elaborate preparations were always made; everything was cleaned up, everything was brought into order. And those people whose presence might not be desired, or whose presence might be dangerous, were obliged to disappear. So, in the case of all such large visit, we were informed two or three days ahead of time, by the Camp Commandant. And these visits were also, always, accompanied by the Camp Commander.
Q. Now, if you know that the Defendant Funk was there and mention was made of it at that time, then discussions must have taken place in the camp. What other people were in the same group?
A. I cannot remember. There were always many and different personalities.
Q. That does not interest me. I am interested only in whether or not at that particular visit, in which Funk was present, word was not passed around the camp that such and such another person was there.
A. No, I cannot remember that now.
Q. Can you remember whether afterwards, perhaps on the next day or the day after, something was said about that, perhaps by people who had seen the visit?
A. Yes, we always discussed such visits; but now I can no linger remember precisely who were named at that time.
Q. Witness, I am not interested in any other visit, but in this specific visit. In this case I should like to know whether you can say anything at all about who else besides Funk was part of that visit.
A. That I cannot say: there were so many visits. For instance, after one visit, the very next day there would be another visit announced.
Q. Now, you remember the visit that Funk made also? For instance, other finance ministers were there. Could you, perhaps, recall these other people?
A. No, I cannot remember. Many of the people with whom I spoke did not know these other people.
Q. Do you know which parts of the camp were visited by the visit of which Funk was a part?