"There is no doubt that rumors about the existence of the camp as such, as death camp, inevitably circulated among the inhabitants of the surrounding areas, but this did not worry the Germans. They felt quite at home in Poland. To them, the 'General Government Poland' was a region conquered for all time. Those who had remained alive within its boundaries were supposed to regard the Germans with fear, first and foremost, and for this reason the gruesome reports about the Lublin camp that made the rounds throughout Poland were almost welcomed by the Germans. On those days when mass exterminations took place, the stench of corpses spread throughout the environs of the camp; it forced the camp's inhabitants to plug their noses with handkerchiefs, and plunged the area's population into fear and terror. This was supposed to imbue all of Poland with a sense of the power of the German rulers, and of the horrors awaiting anyone who dared offer up resistance. The pillar of smoke rising for weeks, even months from the tall smokestack of the main Crematorium could be seen from afar, but the Germans did not care about this either. Just like the stench from the bodies, this horrible smoke was also used to spread terror. Many thousands of people, seeing all this, marched along the road to Chelm, and once they had passed through the gate to the Lublin camp they never returned; this too must have been an effective demonstration of the German power, which could indulge in anything it wanted without having to account to anyone."

"The Concentration Camp in Lublin.

Location. The concentration camp in Lublin is located in the suburb of Majdanek, three to four kilometers distant from the old part of the city. It is located along the road leading to Chełm and covers an extensive territory which is occupied by the army and borders immediately on the road. A side road crosses the camp and leads to the village Piaski, which civilians can only reach with a permit. Numerous housing and other barracks (probably storehouse magazines) have been set up to either side of this road, some of them standing alone, others in groups and surrounded by barbed wire barriers. The ground has been leveled over the entire area, and further barracks are being built. The camp is on the left side of the aforementioned village road, close to it and approximately 1.5 km from the road to Chełm, on a tract of land occupied by the army.

Living Conditions. The barracks are mass-produced. They were initially intended as horse stables, and their conversion to accommodations for human beings remains incomplete. In only a few of them, three-story wood-slat constructions have been set up as makeshift plank beds. In most of the barracks the inmates sleep on straw pallets spread out on the wooden floor. The barracks are not very wind-proof; for heating, 4 small iron stoves are installed, but the fuel rations are so small that they suffice for heating three hours a day at most. For that reason, the temperature inside the barracks is somewhat lower than that outside. The straw pallets are padded quite insufficiently, and long-term inmates are given a blanket. So far the Poles have not received blankets; in several barracks ten to twenty spare blankets were available, but they were so louse-infested that no one wanted them. On the other hand, the barracks are fairly well lit; the electric lights are turned out at night.

The barracks are old; before the Poles arrived they were not disinfected, consequently they are incredibly dirty and crawling with lice. The unsanitary conditions are aggravated by the open boxes at the end of the barracks into which the inmates relieve themselves at night when no one is allowed to step outside. The unsanitary conditions are worsened further by the complete lack of water. The few wells on the camp grounds are closed, as they are said to have been contaminated by the typhus epidemic that raged in the camp recently. As a result, there is no water for washing or even for drinking; the one well by the kitchen provides at most one or two buckets of water for more than 400 people, and the dishes must be washed in that first. Due to this lack of water, the inmates-especially the new arrivals who have not yet received anything to eat on their first day in the camp-quench their thirst with snow, which they sometimes melt for that purpose. There can be no talk of washing; some people rub themselves down with snow, while the women use tea to wash themselves. At mealtimes, tin bowls are handed out, one per four or so inmates, because water is not the only thing in short supply-time is too (meals are distributed in a great hurry). Therefore the inmates perforce eat one after another, without washing the bowls in-between or even wiping them out with paper (for there is none of that either). All meals are eaten in the barracks; the soup is brought in air-tight pots so that they do not get cold. The inmates receive neither knives (there is only one knife per barrack) nor spoons, so that they must make do with their fingers, with pieces of wood, etc. All this creates ideal conditions for the spread of all sorts of diseases, particularly when one considers that the camp has no infirmary at all and that the sick inmates share the barracks with the healthy. It must also be noted that between 400 and 500 people live in one barrack.

Camp organization is managed by the SS Death's Head Units, which incidentally are not very strong, numerically speaking; they fill the leadership positions and do duty on the guard towers. A division of Ukrainians and former Soviet prisoners-of-war who chose the German side serve as their auxiliary troops. The latter (the former Soviet POWs) are detailed to guard duty outside the fence, and to escort duty for arriving transports-at least for Polish ones-but they do not enter the camp themselves. From the way they handle their weapons and particularly from their behavior one may conclude that they do not have live ammunition. They do their duty indifferently, their behavior towards the Poles is not marked by animosity but they are ruthless towards the Jews. The SS-men in the camp only do roll-calls, spot-checks etc.

Among the outsiders in Majdanek are the food merchants, who are admitted after showing their passes. They come every day with their carts. They have the opportunity to bring the prisoners the current news, cigarettes and even food.

The Jews in Majdanek are treated brutally and inhumanely. They wear inmates' clothing with white and blue belts as well as caps, and beneath the number on their chest (to date the numbers go up to 16,000) they wear a star. The clothing, made of hemp, offers little protection from the cold, and they have almost no warm underwear. All of them wear shoes with wooden soles. The Jews are used for all kinds of work, and the block wardens and Kapos urge them on with blows and kicks. They must take off their cap to every German, even a Kapo. Their demeanor is strangely passive; they do their work stoically and even bear the blows meekly; they do not try to avoid these, but lie down on the ground and play dead, which usually results in them being badly beaten. The sick who are still able to work are made to do so just like the healthy; in any case, every one must line up for roll call or be carried out for this purpose, even the dead. Mortality among the Jews is enormously high and was especially so during the typhus epidemic that recently raged. On average, 10 to 12 die per day. At present all Jews are quartered in Compounds I and II. Since the Poles who were arrested during the raids in Warsaw have arrived, only Jews serve as working inmates.

The women stay on Compound III and live under the same conditions as the men. There are many prostitutes and criminals among them.

Conclusions. The lack of interest on the part of the German authorities shows that the situation in the camp Majdanek is temporary. According to rumors originating with the camp commandant, Majdanek is a 'distribution camp': the approximately 70% who were arrested during raids are to be set free, the others-many of them long-term inmates-shall be sent to Germany or the east to work, and anyone who is still left will be transferred to other camps. According to other rumors circulating in the camp, Majdanek is to be expanded further, until it can hold 50,000 people, and will become another Auschwitz. This second version does not seem likely, as no preparations for such an expansion are evident. Rather, the overall picture indicates that originally the Gestapo had actually planned to set up a new Auschwitz, but that a different solution was eventually chosen, which resulted in a certain confusion, even ambivalence, in the organization of the camp."

"Documents from the Delegatura show that this organization knew in early 1943 that the camp Majdanek served not only for depriving people of their freedom but also for extermination. As we have noted above, these Delegatura documents remarked on the phenomenon of mass executions as well as on the activity of the crematorium, which was greater than would have been necessary to cremate the bodies of people who died of natural causes-whether they be malnutrition or poor sanitary conditions. But the efforts of the news service went farther than that. It was important to find out how the liquidations were being done, and to ascertain the numbers and personal data of the victims. In May 1943, the documents record the dissolution of the infirmary and, in this context, the cremation of approximately 80 sick inmates per day. In June it was determined that gas chambers were being used to poison Jews and Poles."

"Suddenly, in late April, groups of 2,000 to 3,000 Jews began to be brought in: women, children and groups. They were Jews from Warsaw. They were housed on the barbed-wire-enclosed Intermediate Compound between Compounds NN 4 and 5, where piles of coal etc. lay. They were usually left sitting there for 10 to 20 hours after their arrival, for example a whole day or a whole night, with no regard to weather, rain etc. Then they were divided into groups and led to the bath. Not all transports returned from this 'bath'. Some of the men really were bathed, freshly dressed (of course everything they had brought with them was taken away from them) and quartered in their own barracks on separate Compounds. The rest vanished as the transport was taken to the bath. If a transport was led to the bath at night, it either did not return at all or came back sharply reduced in number; if it was taken there during the day, it returned in most cases. The barrack into which the people had been led was locked, and some time later naked corpses were thrown out.

The windows of the Polish barracks, from which one could see this barrack, were painted on purpose so that one could not see anything. The corpses were loaded onto trucks, covered with rags, taken to fields three or four km from the camp, and burned. The pyres burned nonstop for days; they could easily be observed from the camp grounds, since they were located lower than the camp.

Screams and whimpers came from the barracks into which the Jews had been led, but these sounds were drowned out by the noise of a tractor engine that ran the entire time. Whenever this engine was heard running in the camp, the inmates knew that Jews were being poisoned. Those who observed the goings-on despite the painted windows described Dantesque scenes. People fell to their knees, kissed the Germans' feet and boots and begged for their lives. They were herded into the barracks forcibly, with kicks and blows. Our informant was told-and she has passed this on with reservation-that some sort of tin cans were on the barrack roof while this was happening. No one knows whether these were used to release gas, or perhaps to seal the barrack. Depending on the concentration of gas used, death occurred after one-and-a-half to seven minutes."

Dear Babunia! All my loved ones! Unexpected changes. The lights have been turned off, we must already go to bed at 5:00 p.m., sleep until 5:30 a.m., and even dress in the dark before going to work. We do not get light until 7:30 a.m. Here inside there are no changes, but outside the compounds they're reinforcing the camp-bunkers. During the night, Jewesses were gassed-about 100 -; they were among those who had to work in the old clothes on Compound V."

"In the Majdanek camp, which is currently being expanded so that it can hold 80,000 inmates, a large number of prisoners are victims of the mass arrests and street raids which the Germans carried out in the first few months of this year. Recently the Germans officially acknowledged these prisoners as 'prisoners of war who have been imprisoned by the Waffen-SS occupation troops'. This is further evidence that the mass raids and arrests in the large Polish cities, namely Warsaw, Lwów and Cracow, are a preventive measure aimed at arresting and imprisoning in the camps those Poles whom the Germans consider to be the most dangerous and capable of organizing the armed Resistance against the occupation power.

The inmates who are considered prisoners-of-war are given especially harsh treatment in Majdanek. Mortality in the camp is increasing alarmingly as a result of the widespread starvation, rampant diseases and the lack of any sanitary facilities. The prisoners are tormented on the flimsiest of pretexts, and even on-the-spot executions are the order of the day. News from Poland confirms that the general mood in the camp is one of desperation. In letters to their kin, inmates confirm that they do not expect to live much longer, and say their good-byes to their families.

How the so-called prisoners-of-war are treated is shown most clearly by the fact that there is no water in the camp for the inmates, whereas the Germans recently set up baths for the police dogs who are specially trained to guard the prisoners and to kill any who attempt to escape."

"The camp Majdanek, guarded by the Gestapo and uniformed Ukrainians and Lithuanians, is located in the vicinity of Lublin. Since early 1941, all Jews who were rooted out of the various towns of Lublin District were sent to the Majdanek camp, where the Lithuanians and the Ukrainians learned the hangman's trade on the Jews. The German masters taught their students various methods of hanging, roasting alive, or otherwise torturing people. The technique of extorting 'confessions' with needles shoved under the fingernails-this technique, which later was used throughout Poland, was invented in the Majdanek camp!

Camp Majdanek had its attractions: in the depths of winter the Jews were dressed in paper clothing; then they were soaked in cold water and left to stand outside until they were frozen all over!

Then the character of the Majdanek camp changed, and presently it is a concentration camp for political prisoners, the second after Oświęcim. Of those who are taken there, 100% die.

Foreign Jews considered themselves superior to the Polish Jews, and even the Germans granted them better quarters and lighter work. Yes, the Germans even knew to exploit the differences between these two kinds of Jews and to place foreign Jews into 'guard' positions over the Polish ones."

"A witness who was arrested by the Germans in 1939 and was sent first to a camp in Berlin reports about the concentration camp Lublin. In February 1941, this witness was taken back to Lublin with 2,500 prisoners and put into a special camp guarded by the SS. He remained in this camp from February 1941 until 1943, i.e., until his escape. He writes that he was a witness to the entire tragedy that played out in Lublin during this time. He witnessed the events in the ghetto as well as the destruction of the ghetto. He also witnessed how the remaining Jews were quartered in Majdan Tatarski and how this ghetto of barracks was liquidated. He guarded the camp on several occasions and came into contact with various people from the service branches and from the camp."

"The Camp.

The camp is located along the road leading from Lublin to the town of Piaski. It was set up on an open field, at 100 m distance from the main road, in summer 1941. 20,000 Russian prisoners and 800 Jews from the ghetto of Lublin served as construction crew.

The man in charge of the camp was SS-Sturmbannführer Dollf, one of the founding fathers of the National Socialist Party. He was a drunkard, rather short, with a face like an ape, a sadist who had trained his dog to tear anyone to pieces who was said to be a Jew.

Right after the camp was finished, its construction crew all died; for Dollf ordered that they should not receive any food.

10 m distant from the first Compound (Plan Camp 1) a second 'Compound' was built, identical to the first. (See Plan Camp 2.) Half a meter from the second, the third and then the fourth and fifth were built. All these barracks in turn were fenced in with barbed wire. On the street side there was an entrance gate.

Across from the barracks, about 20 m distant, were the various facilities, first of all the Bath. It consisted of an undressing room and a shoe depot. From the shoe depot one entered the Bath, and from the Bath, the clothing distribution center. The clothing depot was between the dressing room and the clothing distribution center. On the same side of the camp there were also the SS stables and the camp workshop. (See Plan.)

In the space between the compounds and these facilities there were posts from which delinquents were hanged.

The Furnace Barrack was located in the 10-m space between the first and second barrack. (See Plan.) From the outside this barrack resembled the others, except that it had two mighty chimneys, in the style of factory smokestacks. This barrack was divided into three parts, each of which was almost separate. The first part was the undressing room (Wardrobe, on the Plan), the second part was closed off and air-tight. That's where the gas experiments were done (Gassing Room, on the Plan). The third part held two enormous furnaces.-This barrack was between Compounds I and II.

From the train station, the Jews were taken under SS guard to their 'state'. They were given a pep talk; then they went to the Bath to wash up. In the Bath, their clothing, underwear and any leather objects they may have had were taken from them. The bundles of clothing were sent through the window into another room (Clothing Depot, on the Plan). They were sent into the Bath in groups of a hundred, old men separately, then the sick, and then the women and children.

Those who had money had hidden it in their shoes or in leather pouches. But everything had to be left behind in the foyer before they entered the Bath. The clothing and shoes were then immediately searched by the guards and Gestapo, who simply stole the money and all the valuables.

After the bath the new arrivals were led through another room into a hall where everyone received clothing and shoes. Everyone was given a sort of boiler suit with white and blue stripes. A Star of David was fixed to the chest, with alternating yellow and red triangles. On the back and knees was a number-the inmate number. The prisoners also received wooden shoes. This outfit was worn in summer and winter alike.

Young people with special skills were sent to work the very same day. The old and sick were also dispatched right away-to the barrack that contained the furnaces. In the first room they were instructed to undress; in the second, they died of asphyxiation within two minutes. From the second room they were transported to the furnaces. There was a fire under the ground; the furnace itself did not burn, but it collected hot air of 2,000°. The dead bodies were thrown in, and the enormous heat dried them out completely. In this way, each was reduced to just a few bubbles that were so dry they crackled. Special trucks then drove the remains out of the city to prepared ditches.

Throughout the entire year 1942, thousands of Jews were killed in the gassing chamber every day. New crowds were brought in weekly, and this has been going on to this day.

The children were taken to hospitals for blood transfusions.

Once someone had entered the barrack, they could not leave it again except under guard. The strong and healthy men were assigned to work. At first they considered themselves lucky. No one suspected that the end might be near; for they had been promised food and shelter-provided they did good work. Nevertheless, reasons were found to send thousands of working Jews into the ovens every day. The walk to work was already difficult. Whoever among the Jews did not march neatly in a row was sent between the barbed wire, and from there, into the oven.

Marching was hard; going barefoot was forbidden, and the wooden shoes were very painful. Since all the old and sick were liquidated, no one dared report sick. Every day, those who did not work as desired were culled for the oven.

There was no work on Sundays; but there were gymnastics exercises. If anyone fell, he was not allowed to get up: he was doomed to feed the oven.

"There was a fire under the ground; the furnace itself did not burn, but it collected hot air of 2,000 degrees."

Soon the primitive crematorium, consisting of two furnaces, was set up; we have already mentioned it above. Construction of the gas chamber dragged on; it was still not finished. During this time, the main method for exterminating the sick and exhausted inmates was the following: a room with a very narrow and low entranceway was set up in the crematorium-the entrance was so low that anyone who passed through it had to duck. Two SS-men with heavy, short iron bars stood to either side of the door. As the victim walked through the door with his head ducked down, one of the SS-men aimed a blow at his neck vertebrae with his iron bar. If the one SS-man missed, the other took a crack at the victim. It didn't matter if the victim failed to die right away and just passed out. Anyone who fell was considered dead, and was thrown into the cremation furnace."

"Where does the window lead to? To answer this question, we open the door and leave the room. Next to it there is another small chamber of concrete; that's where the window leads to. Here there is electric light as well as a power outlet. From here, looking through the window, one can observe anything that happens in the first room. On the floor there are a few round, air-tight, sealed cans labeled 'Zyklon'; 'for special use in the eastern regions' is added in smaller letters. The contents of the cans were introduced through the pipes into the adjoining room when it was full of people.

The naked, tightly crowded people did not take up much room. More than 250 people were packed into the 40m² room. They were forced in and then the steel door was closed; the cracks were sealed with clay to make it even more air-tight, and a special unit wearing gas masks introduced the 'Zyklon' from the cans through the pipes from the adjoining room. The 'Zyklon' consisted of small blue crystals that looked perfectly innocent but, once exposed to oxygen, gave off poisonous gases that simultaneously affect all the body's vital functions. The 'Zyklon' was introduced through the pipes; the SS-man leading the operation supervised the asphyxiation process which, according to different eyewitness accounts, took between two and ten minutes. He could safely observe everything through the window; the horrible faces of the dying people and the gradual effect of the gas; the peephole was just at eye level. When the people died the observer did not need to look down; they did not fall down as they died-the gas chamber was so crowded that the dead remained standing.

"I remember learning from the newspaper that the British had landed in Bologna. We had great expectations of this event. Everyone hoped for a coup. But these hopes were disappointed. Usually we did not believe the rumors. It was impossible to verify all these unrealistic reports, but for many they served as a basis for seemingly even more unrealistic conclusions. The temptation to blend imagination and reality was very great. It helped many get through difficult times.

"Pietro Mikhailovic Denissov, a Russian, and Claudio Elinski, a Pole, two engineers from Lublin who were paid civilian workers involved in the construction of the camp-in constructing the sewer system, among other things-told me that in late April or early May 1943, while in the camp's building materials depot, they ran into a Lublin Jew whom they had already known in peacetime. The inmate was carrying axes into the camp. He spoke to them, pointed at a frail old man who was also carrying axes, and said: 'Do you know who that old man is? That's Léon Blum.' Since they saw that there were no SS-men nearby, the two engineers came closer. The following conversation then took place: 'You are Léon Blum?' Denissov asked.-'Yes, I'm Léon Blum.'-'The Prime Minister of France?'-'Yes, the Prime Minister of France.'-'And how did you come to be here?'-'I arrived with the last group of French prisoners.'-'Why didn't you try to escape in your country? Can it be possible that there was no way for you to save yourself?' Denissov persisted.-'I don't know, maybe I could have,' said Léon Blum, 'but I decided to share my people's fate,' and his eyes filled with tears. At that moment several SS-men appeared on the scene, and Blum, just like the other man, hastily laid a heavy axe of several cm diameter on his shoulder and carried it away. He took a few steps, then stumbled and fell. One of the prisoners standing nearby helped him get up. He stood up, put the axe back on his shoulder, and walked away. A week later Denissov and Elinski again had things to do in this depot. Again they encountered the man who had pointed Léon Blum out to them, and they asked him where Blum was. He replied laconically, 'Where I'll also be soon,' and pointed up at the sky. This is just one event from the history of this death camp. Both witnesses, who are living in Lublin today, confirm each and every detail."

"Radio Moscow reports the death in Majdanek of former President of the Council Léon Blum, a 70-year-old man who like so many of his brethren fell victim to racist barbarism."

"The mass selections of people to be killed by gassing was general knowledge in the concentration camp Majdanek at least as of early 1943. This resulted in the fact that screenings carried out under similar conditions as selections but actually intended for other purposes, primarily transfers to other camps, were misunderstood by a number of inmates as being selections for gassing. This goes primarily for the screenings of female inmates for the aforementioned transports, from late June to late August 1943, to the concentration camps Auschwitz and Ravensbrück and to the forced labor camp Skarcysko-Kamienna; these screenings required that the female inmates being considered had to undress for an 'assessment' by one of the camp doctors, in the presence of female SS guards, in the Washing Barrack of the Women's Compound. However, unlike the 'selections for death' which were performed under similar conditions, these screenings were not intended to cull those who were unfit to work, but rather to cull those who appeared 'particularly fit to work'."

"Immediately upon my arrival in the concentration camp Lublin on June 24, 1943, I was told that, of the 5,500 male and female inmates available, 1,700 had already been selected for the labor camp in Radom. Therefore only 3,800 were left for us. 1,000 inmates were ready to be transferred; they were said to have been chosen by the garrison physician SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Blanck. In a brief inspection together with our camp physician, SS-Obersturmführer Dr. Kitt, we determined that only about 30% were in any condition to work in our labor camps Buna and Neu-Dachs. And the final results confirmed our expectations. The garrison physician, SS-Hstuf. Dr. Blanck, then informed us that it had not been he, but rather the camp physician SS-Untersturmführer Dr. Rindfleisch, who had selected them. However, the latter declared that he had not selected them either. Over the next few days, those of the available male and female inmates were selected that could with a clear conscience be considered fit to work, and that were reasonable and justifiable for our purposes. Of the remaining inmates, some might have been fit for light work. But since there is no more such light work in this camp, and since the inmates had been intended for work in Buna and Neu-Dachs, on orders from Oranienburg, they could not be included. The camp physician, SS-Ustuf. Dr. Rindfleisch, also admitted that the remaining inmates really could not be considered fit to work. In the course of the inspection, I asked why these inmates had even been reported fit to work in the first place, and was told that the local labor office had reported them fit. I could not justify taking the rest of the inmates just to oblige, since a great many of them would have had to be put straight into the recovery block or the infirmary on their arrival. SS-Obersturmführer Dr. Kitt will report on their fitness for work from the medical perspective."

"Of the 1,500 inmates (750 men and 750 women) to be transferred from Lublin on July 8, 1943, a very high percentage was not fit to work.

49 of the male inmates had to be admitted to the Inmates' Infirmary or the recovery blocks immediately upon their arrival, for great physical weakness, bacterial tissue inflammation, or severe hernias. Another 277 inmates had to remain in Camp AI for lesser physical weakness, so that only 424 inmates remained available for their actual purpose, namely to work in the labor camp Buna. These too will not be fit for the hard physical labor there until after the mandatory four weeks' quarantine.

Of the female inmates, 5 were already dead on arrival, 2 others were suffering from bullet wounds. 80 other inmates cannot be considered fit to work. These are broken down as follows:

Beyond that, a high percentage of the female inmates suffers from scabies. In other respects as well, the overall and nutritional state of the inmates is such that they cannot yet be expected to handle the full work load demanded in Auschwitz."

"In the fall of 1943 (September or October) trucks arrived on Compound V, and the SS-men began to load the children onto these; they tore them from the arms of their unsuspecting mothers. Even though the SS assured the mothers that the children would be placed in homes under the care of the Polish Red Cross, the mothers became terribly upset, for they thought that the children's destination was really the gas chamber. In fact, the young inmates were sent to the Children's Camp in Lodz."

"VI. Gassings

One of the most commonly used methods for exterminating human beings in the Lublin camp was gassing.

The technical expert report concluded:

'All these chambers, and especially Nos. I, II and IV, were designed and used as sites for the systematic mass extermination of human beings by means of poisoning with poison gases such as hydrocyanic acid (the substance 'Zyklon') and carbon monoxide. If Chambers V and VI were also used for disinfestation purposes, then only for the treatment of the clothing of exterminated victims.' (l.d. 585).

Numerous witnesses who were questioned on this topic reported a considerable number of cases of mass poisoning of human beings in these gas chambers. Men, women and children were asphyxiated here. All the weak inmates, those unfit for physical labor, those suffering from typhus-all those whom the Germans deemed it necessary to kill-were taken here.

In March 1943, 300 Poles were gassed in the gas chamber; on May 16 or 17, 1943, 157 children of Jewish nationality were murdered in the same chamber. I witnessed these horrors myself, since I was on duty as courier at the gate to the third camp Compound. First, the children were led to the Bath, where they undressed; then they were chased into the gas chamber; any that resisted were gunned down. Obersturmführer THUMANN did it himself. Afterwards, all the shot and gassed children were thrown onto a lorry and taken to the camp crematorium to be burned. Fourteen Russian POWs operated the gas chamber and the bath. They were ordered to go into the gas chamber and to squeeze the children more tightly together. As soon as they had entered, the chamber door closed behind them, and all 14 of them were poisoned together with the children.

On June 20, 1943, 350 Jews were undressed on the first camp Compound and led into the Bath, where they were killed in the gas chamber.

On October 14, 1943, 250 or 270 Jews were gassed in the same place (l.d. 7).

Eyewitness Solowjew reports, 'I myself saw how the bodies of men, women and children of various ages who had been asphyxiated in the gas chamber were laid on lorries and taken to the crematorium to be burned' (l.d. 76).

Prisoner-of-war Dr. Konajko recounts:

OKUPJAK, a resident of the city of Lublin who worked in the camp barracks as water pipe fitter, reports:

The witness SELENT reports on the gassing of 87 Poles on March 15, 1944:

'I already learned of the existence and workings of the gas chamber in the very first days of my stay in the camp. On March 15, I made first-hand acquaintance with it when 87 people from a transport that had arrived together with me were simply led off from our Compound. All of them were Poles who were unable to work due to weakness, physical ailments or occasional illness. All these 87 people were herded together in our Block 15, at seven o'clock in the evening; they had to undress, even take off their shoes, and then they were driven, on cars, to the gas chamber, where they were all exterminated. I myself saw how they were crowded naked onto the car and taken out of the Compound; I knew some of them personally. From people who worked in the camp office, I learned that the following morning these 87 people were deleted from the list of the living and entered into the list of the deceased' (l.d. 358).

The eyewitness and former camp inmate Jan Wolski provided an immensely detailed account of the mass murder of people in the gas chambers:

'In October of 1942 a large number of women and children were brought into the camp. The healthy ones were led off to forced labor, but all the sick, weak and children were taken to the Bath, where they were ordered to undress, and then they were all asphyxiated in the gas chamber. The bodies of the victims were driven to the ovens, where they were burned. One must assume that the gassing victims suffered greatly before they died; the distorted expressions of the dead people's faces and eyes, which I saw myself, showed that.

In March of 1943, another 250 women and children were gassed in the same chamber, and another 300 people of various nationalities just a few days later.

On May 16 or 17, 1943, cars brought 157 children aged 2 to 10 years to the camp; all of them were murdered in the gas chamber. The witnesses to this deed, 14 Russian POWs who operated the chambers and the bath, were killed together with the children.

In June 1943, on Compound I, 300 to 350 inmates were ordered to strip naked, and despite the heavy rain they were then herded naked into the Bath, from where they did not return. After they were murdered in the gas chamber, they were driven in cars to the ovens to be burned.

In July 1943 the camp administration gathered up all the sick POWs and inmates, approximately 600 people altogether, and killed them all in the gas chamber. The bodies were transported to the ovens by various means, and burned.

That same month, another 200 people were exterminated the same way, and cremated in the ovens' (l.d. 199).

The witness and former inmate BENEN recounts:

'Right after my arrival in April 1943, I saw how approximately 200 people were gassed. They were taken from the third Compound to the gas chamber, after they had been told that they would take a bath and get a change of clothing there. They were stripped naked and led into the Bath. A short time later, bodies were carried out of the room and laid on a bus driven right up to the door. I was doing field work near the Bath and saw this with my own eyes' (l.d. 510).

The Germans doing duty in the camp themselves reported about mass murder with gas.

'From accounts by the camp orderlies-SS-Rottenführer ENDRESS and SS-Rottenführer PERSCHON-I know that inmates, including many women, old people and children, were systematically killed in the gas chambers with the gas 'Zyklon'. Camp doctors-Hauptsturmführer BLANKE and Obersturmführer RINDFLEISCH-were present when the people were taken to the gas chamber.

Very often, THUMANN also attended these exterminations. The bodies of the asphyxiated victims were burned in the crematorium. Many hundreds of people were murdered in the gas chambers in September and October 1943 alone. Endress and Perschon told me that 150 children 10 to 12 years of age had been asphyxiated in the gas chamber on one single day. While on duty, Endress and Perschon often visited the Bath and the gas chamber, and were present at these exterminations' (l.d. 463).

SS-officer THERNES recounts:

'On October 16, 1943, an inmate transport 5,000 strong arrived from Warsaw. Under the leadership of camp physician Hauptsturmführer BLANKE, all the new arrivals were given a medical exam, and everyone who was unfit to work-there were 500 of them-was separated. This group included many women and children. They were led to the Bath, where they were killed in the gas chambers. That evening I personally saw bodies being transported on large lorries from the gas chamber to the crematorium. My co-workers' reports indicate that the bodies were burned on pyres beside the crematorium...'

Further:

'In the evening of October 21, 1943, the camp physician SS-Untersturmführer RINDFLEISCH told me that 300 children 3 to 10 years of age had been killed in the gas chamber with the gas 'Zyklon' today' (l.d. 525).

SS-Rottenführer Theo SCHÖLEN, a member of the Fascist party since 1937, attested with regard to the mass gassings of human beings in the Lublin camp:

'I know that people were systematically murdered with gas in the gas chamber here. Inmates under my charge told me that they had personally witnessed more than 150 children being asphyxiated in the gas chamber. That was in July 1943. I myself saw the bodies of the victims being taken out of the gas chamber the next morning. A truck with a trailer was loaded with the bodies; altogether more than 100 bodies were loaded up. I often saw this truck and trailer driving back and forth between the gas chamber and the crematorium, leaving the gas chamber loaded with corpses and returning again empty' (l.d. 417).

The German STALP also confirms the mass extermination of men, women and children in the gas chambers (l.d. 474).

'This gas van was a hermetically sealable bus, earthy gray in color; it could hold 60 people, who were poisoned in it with exhaust gas. The people were poisoned on the drive from the city to the crematorium, and they were always already dead on arrival at the crematorium. Obersturmführer Gotschik has provided me with detailed witness testimony about the gas van' (l.d. 93).

Stetdiner, a soldier in the Polish army who had fallen into German captivity in 1939 and who was questioned on this subject, also gives a detailed description of this gas van. He says:

'More than once, gas vans came and brought fresh corpses. There could be no doubt that these victims had only just been asphyxiated, for the bodies were still warm... There were cases where these gas vans arrived three times daily. Externally, it was a truck with a massive metal box and metal floor; the door could be closed airtight. A hose ran from the engine under the box, connecting the engine with the box floor; there were numerous small openings in the floor, like a grid' (l.d. 438a).

Thus, the mass murder of people in gas chambers is substantiated as follows: