WITNESS 8:

I was sentenced 30 times
to a cell so small
that you couldn't lie down in it
That meant
hard labour all day
and at night the cell

JUDGE:

What was the reason for this sentence

WITNESS 8:

I queued up twice at mess call

JUDGE:

Where were these cells located

WITNESS 8:

At the end of the cellar passageway
in Block Eleven
There were four such cells

JUDGE:

How large was a cell

WITNESS 8:

It was three feet square
and slightly over six feet high

JUDGE:

Did it have a window

WITNESS 8:

No
There was only an airhole high up in the corner.
This was an inch and a half square
It ran through the wall and was covered
with a perforated metal disc
on the outside

JUDGE:

And the door

WITNESS 8:

You had to creep in
through a 2 foot hatch in the floor
It was made of hard wood
Behind it was an iron gate
which was bolted

JUDGE:

Were you alone in the cell

WITNESS 8:

At first I was alone
During the last week
there were 4 of us

JUDGE:

Were there prisoners
who stayed day and night
in these cells

WITNESS 8:

That was the most frequent kind of sentence
The system varied
Some received something to eat
every 2 or 3 days
others received no food
these were sentenced to death by hunger
My friend Kurt Pachala
died in the cell opposite me
after 15 days
eventually he ate his shoes
He died on the 14th of January 1943
I remember
because it was my birthday
Whoever was sentenced without food
to these cells
could shout and curse
as much as he wanted
The door was never opened
In the first 5 nights
he would shout loudly
Then the hunger left off
and the thirst took over
He groaned
prayed and beseeched
He drank his urine
and licked the walls
The period of thirst
lasted 13 days
Then there was nothing more
to be heard from his cell
It was over 2 weeks
before he was dead
The bodies from these cells
had to be prodded out with poles

JUDGE:

For what reason
was this man sentenced

WITNESS 8:

He had attempted to escape
Before he was taken to the cell
he had to march before the prisoners
at evening roll call
He had a sign tied around him
with the notice
HURRAH I'VE COME HOME AGAIN
He had to shout these words loudly
and beat in time with a stick
on a drum
The prisoner Bruno Graf spent
the longest time in one of these cells
that I know about
Criminal Officer Schlage
sometimes stood before his door
when he was shouting
and I heard
him call back
why don't you die
Graf died only after a month

JUDGE:

Defendant Schlage
Did you let prisoners
go hungry in the cells

DEFENDANT 14:

Your Honour
I want to bring this to your attention
I was only the jailer in Block Eleven
I received my orders from my superiors
and I had to obey them
I am not the one
who was responsible
for what happened in the bunker
it was the Criminal Officer

JUDGE:

Who gave the prisoners food

DEFENDANT 14:

The prisoners in charge did this

JUDGE:

Who opened the cells

DEFENDANT 14:

That was also the duty
of the prisoners in charge
We overseers
were only supposed
to open the outer gates
when the Political Department came

JUDGE:

Did prisoners
die in these cells

DEFENDANT 14:

Quite possibly
I can't remember

JUDGE:

Who filled out the death register
and listed the cause of death

DEFENDANT 14:

It was all done
by the prisoners in charge

JUDGE:

And you had nothing to do with it

DEFENDANT 14:

I had my own people to look after
in the cells upstairs
Sometimes there were as many as 18 people
I had to pay attention
that they didn't commit suicide
or some other foolery

JUDGE:

You mean to say
that members of the camp guards
were also imprisoned

DEFENDANT 14:

Naturally
Justice
was extended to all
Every source of weakness
had to be resisted

 

JUDGE:

How large were the other cells
in the Bunker

WITNESS 9:

These cells were
about 9 by 8 feet in size
Some of them were without light
Others had window hatches above
surrounded by a concrete frame
Air came through only one opening
high up in the wall
This opening was not bigger
than the palm of one's hand

JUDGE:

How many cells of this kind were there

WITNESS 9:

28 cells

JUDGE:

How many prisoners might be
lodged in one cell

WITNESS 9:

In such a chamber
there were sometimes
as many as 40 prisoners

JUDGE:

How long did they have to stay there

WITNESS 9:

Often several weeks
The prisoner Bogdan Glinski
was there 17 weeks
from November 13, 1942
to March 9, 1943

JUDGE:

What furnishings did the cell have

WITNESS 9:

There was only a wooden chest
and a tub

JUDGE:

For what reason
were the prisoners confined there

WITNESS 9:

Here also the punishment
could be for one night
or for a longer time
And here too imprisonment
with denial of food was practised

JUDGE:

What sentence
did you serve

WITNESS 9:

I spent two nights there

JUDGE:

Would you describe
what happened during your sentence

WITNESS 9:

At 9 o'clock in the evening
I had to sign in at Block Eleven
along with 38 other prisoners
The prisoner in charge gave the numbers
to the Block Leader
Then he led us to the cellar
where he locked us in Cell Twenty
At 10 o'clock the air
had already become thick
We stood closely pressed against each other
We could neither lie nor sit
Soon the temperature went so high
that we began to remove
our jackets and trousers
Towards midnight we could no longer stand up
Some sank down together
the others hung against each other
Most were agitated
and hit and cursed their companions
The smell given off
by the suffocating men
mingled with the stink from the tub
The weaker were crushed underfoot
the stronger battled
for a place at the door
where a trifle of air was coming through
We screamed and beat on the door
we forced ourselves against it
but it wouldn't give
The peephole outside was opened and shut
and the jailer on duty
looked in at us
At 2 o'clock most of us
had lost consciousness
In the morning
after they opened the cells at 5 o'clock
they pulled us out
and lay us in the corridor
We were all naked
Of the 39 only 19 were still alive
and of these 19
6 were taken to the infirmary
where 4 died later

WITNESS 3:

I belonged to the Corpse Bearers Battalion
which had to clear out the hunger cells
There were sometimes corpses
who had been bitten
on their thighs and buttocks
Those
who had been kept there longest
were sometimes without fingers
I asked Jakob
How can you stand this
And he said
Thank God
for what makes us hard
I'm alright
I eat the rations
of those inside
Their death doesn't touch me
any more than it touches
a stone in the wall

 
WITNESS 6:

On the 3rd of September 1941
the first experiments
in mass slaughter
using Cyclone B gas
were carried out
in the Bunkerblock
First aid assistants and guards
led some 850 Soviet prisoners
of war as well as 220 sick patients
into Block Eleven
As soon as they had been locked
in the cells
the windows were filled over with earth
Then the gas was introduced
through the airholes
On the next day it was determined
that a few were still alive
After that they poured in
a larger dose of Cyclone B
On September 5 I was ordered
along with 20 prisoners
of the Bunker Company and a number
of nurses
into Block Eleven
We were told
that we were to take charge
of special work
and under pain of death
were not to report to anyone
what we saw there
We were promised larger rations
after the work
We received gas masks
and had to bring
the bodies from the cells
When we opened the doors
the tightly packed mass of bodies
fell against us
Although they were dead
they were still standing
Their faces had a bluish tinge
Many held tufts of hair
in their hands
It took all day long
to disentangle
the bodies from each other
and arrange them in layers
outside in the yard
In the evening the Commander
came with his staff
I heard the Commander say
Now I feel calmer
Now we have the gas
and all these blood baths
will be spared us
And even the victims
can be treated well
up to the last moment

FINAL NOTE: I am surprised— and a bit embarrassed—to discover that The Investigation is still in print in my translation. It may be ordered from Amazon Books by clicking here.