Archive/File: imt/nca/supp-b/nca-sb-02-pohl.11
Last-Modified: 1997/12/10

         Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression, Supplement B
 Disposition of Concentration Camp Inmates as Allied Armies
                     Pushed into Germany
                              
     Excerpts from Testimony of Oswald Pohl, taken at
     Nurnberg, Germany, 10 June 1946, 1400-1700, by Lt.
     Col. Smith W. Brookhart, Jr., IGD. Also present:
     Richard Sonnenfeldt, Interpreter; Charles J.
     Gallagher, Reporter.

                                                 [Page 1599]
                                                            
Q. Was there any special order given by Himmler to you as to
the disposition of the inmates of concentration camps that
were not as yet overrun by the Allied Armies?

A. In the Fall of 1944 Himmler gave a written order that in
case a concentration camp was threatened by the approaching
enemy, the particular concentration camp should come under
the jurisdiction of the local Higher SS and Police Leader,
and that then the Higher SS and Police Leader of that region
should decide at his own discretion what disposition should
be made of the inmates.

A. And then what happened?

A. I do not know whether Himmler gave the directives to
Kaltenbrunner beyond that.

Q. What was done under that order?

A. According to the provisions of this order the Higher SS
and

                                                 [Page 1600]
                                                            
Police Leader took all measures necessary in the evacuation
of these camps, and for the treatment of the inmates.

Q. You mean they were to do that, didn't you?

A. They were to do that, and I give my opinion that they did
it.

Q. How long did Himmler's order to this effect remain in
force?

A. I never heard that it was rescinded. I remember that
Gruppenfuehrer Katzmann evacuated his camps up in the north,
and later Obergruppenfuehrer Schmauser evacuated Auschwitz,
and Gross-Rosen. I remember particularly towards the end I
still received teletypes from Martin, who was Higher SS and
Police Leader of this region, what to do with the
concentration camp in Flossenburg, and I was still in
Berlin, I remember that.

Q. What did he do?

A I not know. I left Berlin shortly after that, and all
further connections ceased.

Q. What did you tell him to do.

A. I told him that in accordance with the orders of Himmler,
he himself would have to know what to do, because I in
Berlin could not possibly judge what the conditions were
down there.

Q. You say you do not recall any rescission of this Himmler
order.

A. No.

Q. Is that what you want to swear to?

A. Yes, I swear to that. I never heard of Himmler either
altering or rescinding this order.

Q. You know it was recalled at least twice, don't you?

A. No, I do not know that.

Q. How do you account for the order from Himmler to you for
extermination of all prisoners in the concentration camps,
which order you attempted to destroy, but failed to do so?

A. I do not remember any such order.

Q. You do not deny it existed?

A. Well, I do not remember having seen such an order.

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