NAZI SAVAGERY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 October 1939, Page 6

NAZI SAVAGERY

METHODS IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS STARVED PRISONERS BRUTALLY FLOGGED. HITLER’S MERCILESS ORDER. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.48 a.m.) RUGBY, October 30. Some of the documents published in a British White Paper exposing Nazi methods deal with anti-Jewish demonstrations and the barbarities to which prisoners at the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps are subjected, and observations of Consular officers. The experiences of two ex-prisoners at Buchenwald, in statements communicated to the Foreign Office by a charity organisation in Germany, reveal in close detail the conditions which the internees endure,. During working hours of sixteen hours a day and seven days a week, says the statement of a well-to-do Jewish business man, it was forbidden to drink even in the hottest weather. The food was not bad, but was quite insufficient. While he was there the work fof Jewish prisoners was doubled and their rations were halved. The work consisted of moving heavy stones, far beyond the strength even of a normal well-fed man. The Jews were sneeringly told by the guards that they were only experiencing the same as their forefathers in Egypt and that Pharaoh had not gone half far enough. Men were kept standing at attention for many hours on end. Floggings were frequent for such small offences as drinking water during working hours. The usual punishment was twenty-five strokes given alternatively by two guards. This often produced unconsciousness, but the Jews were told that the Fuehrer had given orders that Jews might receive up to sixty strokes. « VILE ATROCITIES JEWS AND OTHERS DONE TO DEATH. NO RESTRAINT ON INHUMAN GUARDS. ( Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 30. Giving further details of atrocities in Nazi concentration camps, the British White Paper says another ex-pri-soner, a small business man arrested in June, 1938, in a round-up in the streets of Berlin without cause or pretext, describing floggings. He said the normal punishment was twenty-five strokes on the seat, carried out by two guards standing on each side, with riding whips. The prisoner was lashed to a board. If he cried, the strokes were increased to thirty-five. The guards used all their force, sometimes springing into the air, so as to bring the arm down with increased momentum. Another punishment was hanging up three metres from the ground by the arms, violently bent back for the purpose. Special men were employed to carry out these punishments. The hanging lasted for from ten to twelve hours and was in public. The Consul-General, Mr Gainer, reporting on November 11, 1939, on antiJewish demonstrations in Vienna on the of Von Rath’s murder in Paris by a Jew, said that when a large number of Jewish shops, houses and synagogues were set on fire, the police obviously had received instructions not to interfere.

“Vienna presented an extraordinary spectacle, with fires raging all over the city and Jews being hustled along the streets, cursed at and assaulted by crowds of hooligans whose pride it is to belong to one of the greatest and most civilised nations of the world,” the report states. The Consul-General at Cologne (Mr Beel) writing on November 14, said the anti-Jewish manifestations on November 11 were very thorough and systematic. He reported: “There is a nervousness amongst middle-class Germans, who in general disapprove, but they dare not voice their disapproval. One German woman .who did so in a tram-car which runs past my door was arrested at the first stopping place. I have been more shocked by the cold-blooded manner in which action was taken than by anything else yet. I am inclined to think the Fuehrer knows his Germans. Amongst the masses who have nothing at stake, there is observed a certain amount of ‘schadenfreude’ (joy at the misfortunes of another).” The Consul-General at Frankfort-on-Main, Mr Smallbones, on December 14, related in detail what happened to a well-educated Jew who was in the trenches in the last war and had a good business in Frankfort. His statement corresponds with those of others seized and humiliated during the pogrom. A typical passage in this recital of indignities suffered before removal to Buchenwald reads: “German guard troops and police now had sport with their charges. Thej' made them kneel down, cross their hands behind their backs and lean forward until they touched the ground with their foreheads. Those who could not perform this feat were assisted by the guards, who kicked them in the back of the neck. Others were made to run round the building. Some were sick.”

At Buchenwald flogging was ordered for trifling offences, such as not jumping to attention quickly. A Rabbi was flogged because he refused to sign his name on the Sabbath. He was then threatened with a second flogging. His spirit was too weak and he signed. Some died stretched between the poles. Those who survived were kicked back into the shed. Some went mad. They were then chained up and a sack tied round their heads to stifle their shouts.”

An ex-inmate described the Buchenwald Camp as filthy, with mud kneedeep. His face was unrecognisable owing to the torn flesh. There were a hundred straw sacks for ten thousand men who were beaten if they lay on their backs, being ordered to lie on their sides. Sentries used their rifles without warning, saying that “a bullet cost twelve pfennings, which is all a Jew is worth.” Eventually no Jews were accepted as sick. They could only bo well or dead. Many were unable to stand and had to be forcibly held up at rollcall. Many virtually committed suicide by feigning flight in order to be shot down. The Consul-General at Frankfort (Mr Smallboncs) wrote last in December that if the Government of Germany depended on popular suffrage. those responsible for these and similar outrages would be placed against walls and shot.