Allied Warnings about Exterminations at Auschwitz

By the second half of 1944, the Allies had good evidence (the Auschwitz Report and other sources) concerning the extermination of Jews and Gypsies at Auschwitz and other camps in Poland. Thus, those governments felt compelled to protest Nazi policies and to warn the Germans about the consequences of their extermination plans for Jews, Poles, and others. During September and October, the United States sent several warnings, echoed by Great Britain.

Two telegrams from Secretary of State Cordell Hull, the first dated 20 September and the second, 8 October 1944,

directed representatives of the American legation in Bern, using Swiss diplomatic channels, to demand that deportations of Jews from Slovakia and Hungary and exterminations at camps in Poland be halted. A radio bulletin, No. 244, was also issued in Washington on 10 October and from Bern on 11 October, warning the German government not to carry out its plans to exterminate "persons of Polish and other United Nations nationalities as well as Jewish deportees." These documents, reproduced herein facsimile, can be located in Washington, D.C., National Archives, Record Group 84, Foreign Service Posts, American Legation Bern, American Interests Section, General Records 1942-1947, Box 41, 840.1 Jews-Europe, September-November.

A third U.S. warning to Germany and a similar statement from the British government, specifically citing prisoners held in a concentration camp at Oświęcim (Auschwitz

Birkenau in Upper Silesia), were printed in the New York Times, 11 October 1944. Copyright ©1944 by the New York Times Company. The articles have been reset.

Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10-The United States Government issued its third warning in recent weeks to Germany today against plans for the extermination of tens of thousands of innocent persons in Poland.

The warning came as a result of information received by the Polish Government, the State Department said, that German officials in Poland were making plans for the extermination of tens of thousands of innocent persons of Polish and other United Nations nationalities as well as Jewish deportees from areas under German control who are now held in concentration camps, particularly those at Brzezinki and Oswiecim.

"The United States Government," the State Department declared, "takes this occasion to warn again the German and Nazi officials that if these plans are carried out, those guilty of such murderous acts will be brought to justice and pay the penalty for their heinous crimes."

LONDON, Oct. 10 (AP)-The British Government cautioned Germans "from the highest to the lowest" today that they would be help responsible if they carried out a plan, attributed to them by the Polish Government, for the mass murder of all persons in the concentration camp at Oswiecim, in Upper Silesia.

In Eastern Europe

Rescue and Betrayal

In December 1944 the peasant couple Hermann and Emma Kurras together with their employee Otto Potschka hid thirteen Jews, who had escaped from a concentration camp, on their farm in East Prussia. Betrayed by four Ukrainian agent provacateurs who pretended to be Russian partisans, both the Kurrases and Potschka were indicted, tried, and hanged by the Germans during the short period from 11 December to 22 December 1944. Eleven Jews were shot when the Kurras' farm was surrounded by German police, and the two surviving Jews were sentenced to death by hanging. The rescue operation at the Kurras' farm and its failure took place shortly before East Prussia was liberated by Soviet troops at the end of 1944. Readers should note that Tilsit, now Sovetsk, is located near Kaliningrad (the former German city of Königsberg), just inside the Russian border.

The following document was translated for use at the Nuremberg trial and carries Nuremberg document no. NG 1454. These documents are in the captured German records microfilm holdings of the National Archives, Washington, D.C., Microfilm T 1139, Roll 19, frames 478–79. The following excerpted translation was prepared by Anton Legerer, Jr., and Sybil Milton.

Copy

1 L 497/44

2 J 711/44

In the Name of the German People!

In the criminal case against

(1) Explosives expert Hermann Kurras from Grünau (Elchniederung), born on 23 December 1891 in Bambe, Tilsit district, (2) The farmer Emma Kurras née Schäfer, born on 14 November 1905 in Grünau, and

(3) The tree surveyor Otto Potschka from Grünau, born on 8 April 1910 in Pagulbinne, Tilsit district,

all currently held in remand prison, on the charges of treason and supporting the enemy.

The First Senate of the People's Court (Volksgerichtshof) in session on 15 December 1944 reached the following verdict after hearing the indictment dated 12 December 1944 by the Senior Reich Prosecuting Attorney with the following panel of judges:

District Court Director (Landesgerichtsdirektor) Stier, Presiding Senior Judge, Kammergericht Councillor (Kammergerichtsrat) Dr. Reimers, Regional Administrative Director (Kreisamtsleiter) Kerkau, Regional Circuit Judge (Kreisrichter) Röhl, Kammervorsitzender of the NSDAP East Prussian District Court Koelling, as representative of the Senior Reich Prosecuting Attorney, Dr. Heugel.

The couple Hermann and Emma KURRAS have concealed thirteen Jewish escapees for more than three months. When a unit sent by the police pretending to be Soviet partisans reached this farm feigning adherence to Communism, they met with the Jews hidden there and received important information about troop movements and airports, essential for German military defense.

Otto POTASCHKA, who worked for the Kurras couple, told the fake Bolshevik partisans that he was on their side and informed them that he would have shot them if they had been German police. He also escorted them to the main road when they left the farm.

The accused are all guilty of aiding our enemies, and the spouses Kurras are also guilty of espionage.

Hermann Kurras, Emma Kurras, and Otto Potschka hereby forfeit their civil rights and are sentenced to death. All their property is to be confiscated by the Reich.

Justification

The accused Hermann Kurras is a professional explosives expert. In 1928 he married the codefendant Emma Kurras, who had inherited about 10 acres of land in Grünau, Elchniederung district, East Prussia. The spouses cultivated this land, and Hermann Kurras continued employment in blasting operations. He made an adequate living. Three sons were born in wedlock, the oldest is now sixteen years old. The third codefendant, Otto Potschka came from a small farm in the Memel region. As a military recruit, Potschka has already been previously sentenced by the Reichskriegsgericht (Reich Military Court) on 21 May 1937 to six years, imprisonment and loss of civil rights for treason. He spied against Germany for the Lithuanian News Agency, but the information he sent them was worthless. He served his sentence until 20 September 1942. On 9 or 10 November 1944, he began working at the Kurras farm, since Kurras is a distant relative.

There is a concentration camp holding Jews from Poland and the Reich about four kilmeters from the remote Kurras farmstead. At times Kurras had employed Jewish labor from the camp to assist him in blasting tree stumps. Kurras made common cause with these Jews. Kurras summoned them for small services, fed them, and received legal advice from one of these Jews when he was sentenced for theft and slander in 1943. In the summer of 1944, Kurras claimed to have met the Jews Goldwasser and Morgenstern accidentally in the woods, and they told him of their intention to escape. They were ostensibly afraid they would be killed when the camp was liquidated. They asked the accused Hermann Kurras if they could obtain shelter on his farmstead once they escaped. He agreed to give them refuge. In early August 1944, thirteen-not two-Jews escaped from the camp and went to the accused's farm. Kurras had obviously already talked about the forthcoming arrival of the Jews, since he stated that after returning from work

one day, his son informed him that thirteen Jews had arrived and were staying in the barn. Emma Kurras, however, claims that she did not notice the presence of these Jews for nearly two weeks. Hermann Kurras assisted the escapees in every way. They built a bunker under the barn, which was later equipped with electricity. At first, the Jews used the food and provisions they had brought with them. But soon the accused Emma Kurras provided them with provisions. She also let the Jews mend and sew clothing for the family. Despite these facts she claims that she objected to sheltering these Jews. This is obviously not accurate, although it is believable that the accused felt antipathy for Jews in contrast to her husband. Hermann Kurras even assisted the Jew Morgenstern in sending a package to the latter's relatives in Warsaw. Moreover, the accused's relative, the farmer Max JANZTON, who together with his wife resided at the Kurras homestead, claimed that Kurras suggested that some of the Jews might have wealthy connections and that his charity would be rewarded. Janzton believed that Kurras intended to convey the Jews to the Bolsheviks when they came close to his farm. The Jews stayed with the Kurras family for almost four months until 22 November 1944. And he would have sheltered them even longer had he not been arrested and the hiding place simultaneously obliterated.

Otto Potschka alleges that he knew nothing about the presence of the Jews during the first days he worked at the farm. Although this is improbable, the question can remain open. The accused Potschka admits that at the end he had been informed about the Jews' hiding place. Hermann Kurras had also ordered him to build three wooden cabins in the forest; at least one cabin was intended for the Jews.

The activities described at the Kurras farmstead remained secret to the end. For other reasons suspicion was aroused that Hermann Kurras was traitorous and would behave subversively. As a result the rural police (Gendarmerie) ordered four Ukrainian assistants to investigate the Kurras farm in the presence of the Kurras family. For this purpose the Ukrainians pretended to be Russian partisans in order to establish how Kurras and his household would react. The leader of the Ukrainian volunteer auxiliary police unit was a former salesman, Viktor Przplaski. . . .

...

Przplaski and his unit arrived at the farmstead at 10 p.m. They pretended they were German police and requested entry. They were forced to wait a long time. In the interim Mrs. Kurras awakened Potschka and her sons, who shared the same sleeping quarters, and informed them that police had arrived. Potschka and the two eldest sons left by a window, and Potschka stood armed in front of the house. Hermann Kurras then let the unit in, except for one policeman, who was ordered to wait outside. . . . The police then told them that if they swore secrecy they would reveal who they really were. Hermann and Emma Kurras gave their word, promising silence with a handshake. Przplaski then

stated, "I am a Russian partisan." They had allegedly parachuted near Tilsit and were attempting to conduct partisan operations behind German lines. The spouses Kurras were visibly delighted with this news. Mrs. Kurras said this explicitly, and Przplaski attempted to familiarize himself with the farm and the family's activities.... During these conversations Hermann Kurras stated that he was hiding thirteen Russians in his barn. When asked what kind of Russians they were, he replied that they were thirteen Russian Jews. The Kurras spouses also provided important strategic data: on a map they showed Przplaski the location of airports at Insterburg, Königsberg, and Arys. . . . Przplaski also asked about other individuals friendly to the Soviets in this region and Hermann Kurras mentioned Bakowski, a former Communist official, among others. Kurras would not permit Przplaski to write that name down, since if he were captured a written record could be risky. . . .

Later on 22 November 1944, the local German rural police came and surrounded the Kurras farm. Eleven Jews were shot while attempting to escape; two Jews surrendered. The Kurras spouses have since been arrested. They were charged with supporting the enemy (paragraph 91 of the Criminal Code) and committing espionage during war (paragraph 2 of the wartime special penal code of 17 August 1938). This charge is fully sustained by the facts. Although none of the accused have in fact dealt with a real enemy, this does not exonerate them. All three welcomed and supported the alleged Bolsheviks as friends. Therefore, as Germans they are guily of supporting Soviet-Russian enemies against the Reich. They acted unpatriotically, and the only possible sentence is the dishonorable death of the traitors. Moreover, Hermann and Emma Kurras wished to reveal strategically important information to the enemes in an area near the front. Therefore they are, in effect, spies, and, under the provisions of the law mentioned above, they are inevitably sentenced to death. The three accused are to lose their civil rights, which they are unworthy to enjoy. Their property will be confiscated by the Reich under the Law for the Confiscation of Subversive and Enemy Property (paragraph 93 of the Criminal Code). The weapons found in possession of the accused will also be confiscated. Because they were found guilty, the accused will have to pay all trial costs.

Signed: Stier

Signed: Dr. Reimers.

Escape from Destiny

Barbara Baratz and her daughter Mira were left behind in the Nazi occupied city of Rovno after her husband and son had departed to eastern Russia. In July 1942, when the ghetto was destroyed, mother and daughter were saved by a Soviet citizen of Ukrainian origin named Suchenko. A gentile, Suchenko was

a friend of Barbara's husband. Imprisoned himself when the Germans occupied Smolensk, Suchenko managed to escape and reestablished contact with Barbara and her daughter, helping them to flee the ghetto and certain death.

He hid the rescued women in a hole in a woodshed for several days before successfully transferring them to Zdolbunov and then to Novy Bug in eastern Ukraine. Barbara and Mira moved throughout the region in 1943 and early 1944, finally reaching Tiraspol in March 1944. Suchenko, their rescuer, was caught in Kiev and paid with his life for helping Jews. The following selection from the memoirs of Barbara Baratz tells of her desperate attempt to escape Tiraspol and move closer to the advancing Red Army and liberation.

Reprinted from Barbara Baratz, Escape from Destiny: Holocaust Memoirs from Ukraine, 1941-1944 (Darmstadt: Darmstädter Blätter, 1984), 30–40.

On March 13, 1944, Russian and Ukrainian refugees started arriving at Goltha. These refugees had been taken by the retreating Germans to work for them. The panic and the turmoil in the town were great. People were preparing to run away, but nobody knew from where the attack on the town would come.

Mira and I were, needless to say, in a very difficult situation. Because we were afraid of the disorder that might happen near the front, we decided to leave Goltha and try to reach Roumania, where nobody would recognize us. We thought of travelling first to Tiraspol and try to get in contact with Ania, from whom we hadn't any news a long time. But we were sure she would be there.

On March 14, the Goltha Commandant gave us a permit to go to Tiraspol. On March 16, by noon, we arrived at Tiraspol without being disturbed. Some local people advised us to look for a place in a private house and not in a hotel so that we wouldn't have to register. We found an empty room and I remained there, while Mira rushed directly to the local headquarters. There Mira's documents were examined and without delay she was given a work permit. She could start the next day. They also promised her that they would give her an apartment.

After that, Mira was supposed to go and look for Ania and her husband. I was impatiently expecting her when Mira came in, pale and terribly excited. She threw herself in my arms. "Mama," she told me." Please be strong, Ania isn't alive anymore. She has been exposed. They found with her some pictures of us and now there are in all police stations copies of our photographs together with an arresting order."

We knew now that we were trapped and the end was near. But we didn't think of surrendering! Once again we decided to fight for our lives. The closer the Red Army was from us, the better were our chances to be saved. But where to flee this time, and how . . .? Again we decided to gamble and after ten minutes we had come up with a new plan.