Auschwitz Doctor
Auschwitz Doctor
Auschwitz Doctor
An Auschwitz Doctor’s
Eyewitness Account
© Carlo Mattogno
Distribution:
Castle Hill Publishers
PO Box 243
Uckfield, TN22 9AW, UK
https://shop.codoh.com
www.HolocaustHandbooks.com
Cover Illustrations: top: Dr. Josef Mengele in Auschwitz (left); the only
known portrait of Dr. Miklós Nyiszli (center); another wartime image of Dr.
Josef Mengele (right); bottom: cover arts of various editions of Nyiszli’s best-
selling book.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 5
Table of Contents
Page
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 9
Part 1: Miklós Nyiszli’s Book ....................................................................... 17
I Was Dr. Mengele’s Forensic Pathologist in the Auschwitz
Crematorium ........................................................................................ 19
Declaration ........................................................................................... 19
Chapter I .............................................................................................. 19
Chapter II ............................................................................................. 23
Chapter III ............................................................................................ 24
Chapter IV ........................................................................................... 28
Chapter V ............................................................................................. 30
Chapter VI ........................................................................................... 32
Chapter VII .......................................................................................... 38
Chapter VIII ......................................................................................... 43
Chapter IX ........................................................................................... 49
Chapter X ............................................................................................. 50
Chapter XI ........................................................................................... 52
Chapter XII .......................................................................................... 55
Chapter XIII ......................................................................................... 57
Chapter XIV......................................................................................... 60
Chapter XV .......................................................................................... 62
Chapter XVI......................................................................................... 64
Chapter XVII ....................................................................................... 67
Chapter XVIII ...................................................................................... 68
Chapter XIX......................................................................................... 69
Chapter XX .......................................................................................... 72
Chapter XXI......................................................................................... 76
Chapter XXII ....................................................................................... 78
Chapter XXIII ...................................................................................... 79
Chapter XXIV ...................................................................................... 80
Chapter XXV ....................................................................................... 82
Chapter XXVI ...................................................................................... 83
Chapter XXVII .................................................................................... 85
Chapter XXVIII ................................................................................... 91
Chapter XXIX ...................................................................................... 94
Chapter XXX ..................................................................................... 102
Chapter XXXI .................................................................................... 105
Chapter XXXII .................................................................................. 110
Chapter XXXIII ................................................................................. 112
Chapter XXXIV ................................................................................. 113
6 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Introduction
1
The various texts authored by Nyiszli are listed with all pertinent bibliographic information in the
first part of the Bibliography in the Appendix.
2
For details of serial publication, see György 1987, p. 294.
3
In the title of the French text “Obersturmfuhrer” is spelled incorrectly, without an umlaut.
4
Or rather, substantially complete. The Julliard edition omits Chapter XXIV of the original text.
10 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
5
For bibliographic details on the principal editions and translations of Miklós Nyiszli’s book see
the third part of the Bibliography in the Appendix.
6
Translated by Tibère Kremer and Richard Seaver. Although it preceded the “complete” 1961
French edition published by Julliard in order of publication, this English edition is in fact a re-
translation of Kremer’s French version, adapted (rather freely in places) by Seaver.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 11
remberg) which saw the light of day in the Budapest daily Világ (World) in
1948 and upon which I will elaborate in Chapter 2.2. of the current study.
Nyiszli’s “testimony” was quickly taken up by the nascent historiography
of the Holocaust as a decisive testimonial proof of the Auschwitz “gas cham-
bers,” starting with Gerald Reitlinger’s 1953 The Final Solution (p. 151), and
then appearing in other books such as Adler/Langbein/Lingens-Reiner’s
Auschwitz: Zeugnisse und Berichte (pp. 64-73), Poliakov’s Auschwitz (pp. 46-
48, 62-65), the first French edition of The Auschwitz Album (Freyer et al.
1983, p. 94), the collective Polish work Auschwitz: Nazi Extermination Camp
(Rada… 1978, p. 124) and Heiner Lichtenstein’s Warum Auschwitz nicht
bombardiert wurde (pp. 78-81), to name a few.
This success was all the more strange given that Nyiszli appeared as a wit-
ness at neither the Belsen Trial (September-November 1945), nor the Tesch
Trial (March 1946), nor the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg
(November 1945-October 1946), nor the trial of Rudolf Höss in Warsaw
(March 1947), nor the so-called Auschwitz Garrison Trial in Krakow (No-
vember-December 1947). Moreover, at those trials held after his death in 1956
– notably, the Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem (April 1961-May 1962) and the
Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial (December 1963-August 1965) – Nyiszli’s testi-
mony was not accepted into evidence. On the matter of his supposed “testi-
mony” at the I.G. Farben Trial (August 1947-July 1948) I will have more to
say below (see Chapter 2.2.).
The remarkable documentation on Auschwitz published by Jean-Claude
Pressac in 1989 signaled the end, in principle if not in practice, of Nyiszli as
an eyewitness to the gas chambers of this camp, because despite assurances to
the contrary by the French researcher (as we shall see, he held Nyiszli to be
“an authentic witness”), the documents themselves resoundingly refute
Nyiszli’s claims. In fact, in the single chapter from Nyiszli’s text which Pres-
sac subjected to critical examination (Chapter VII), he counted at least 25 “er-
rors” and one “multiplier” – which even he finds incomprehensible – by
which Nyiszli routinely inflates numbers by a factor of four (Pressac 1989, pp.
474-475). I will return to Pressac’s rather too casual commentary in Chapter
5.2.
As a matter of firmly established practice, the Auschwitz Museum authori-
ties avoid critical analysis of any witness testimony, and Nyiszli’s is no excep-
tion: they still consider it fundamental despite the grave contradictions it pre-
sents with respect to the documentation in their own possession. Indeed, at
times they cover up such contradictions with an all-too-evident complicity
(see Chapter 5.1.).
Other researchers, such as Raul Hilberg, do without Nyiszli’s testimony
almost completely; Robert Jan van Pelt limits himself to a brief reference void
of significance (van Pelt 2002, p. 445).
12 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
7
The anecdote about Zündel is related by Provan himself on p. 20 of his 2001 article.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 13
8
Later on, in Chapter VIII, Nyiszli speaks of “the Institute for Racial and Developmental Biology
in Berlin-Dahlem,” with “developmental” (fejlődéstani) replacing “anthropological” (anthropolo-
gische) in his translation of the German name as presented in the “Declaration.” Both names,
however, are wrong: the institute in question in fact was called the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für An-
thropologie, menschliche Erblehre und Eugenik (The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology,
Human Heredity, and Eugenics). Curiously, given his implied complicity in Mengele’s alleged
crimes, Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, director the institute from 1942 onward, was not the sub-
ject of any judicial action, Allied or German, in the postwar period.
9
Phillips 1949, pp. 130ff. It is not clear from Bendel’s Belsen testimony when he left the cremato-
ria, but later statements indicate that he remained there until the evacuation of the camp on Janu-
ary 17, 1945. See Section 4.2.2.
14 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
A brief explanation may be in order here. After the arrival of the Soviets at
Auschwitz, the prisoners remaining at the camp lived indiscriminately for
more than three months beneath a propaganda bombardment from two official
“investigations” – one Soviet, the other Polish – into the presumed extermina-
tion in the “gas chambers.”10 In particular, the “eyewitnesses” remaining at the
camp were able not only to consult with each other, but to examine locations,
ruins and even building plans and other German documents, thus absorbing
the official version of events which was then developing.
On the other hand, those prisoners evacuated from the camp ahead of time
took with them the propaganda stories invented by the various resistance
movements of the camp, without being able to benefit from these final “up-
dates.” This helps to explain the substantial differences which exist between
the statements of the first category of prisoners – those, to be clear, who were
subjected to interrogation first by the Soviets and then by Judge Jan Sehn –
and the statements of the second category, in which Nyiszli and Bendel found
themselves. Because the propaganda stories which circulated at Auschwitz
were numerous and multifarious, and because none of them was able to im-
pose itself as official “truth,”11 each witness drew literary elements from the
various strands available – a circumstance which in turn helps explain the fact
that the testimonies of Nyiszli and Bendel are in complete mutual contradic-
tion.
Very few books have struck the collective Holocaust imagination quite like
Nyiszli’s, as is attested to by its considerable publishing success: translations
and reprints have followed one another, and continue to follow one another at
an ever-increasing pace. In the Bibliography to this study, I present an over-
view of this publishing history, without any pretense of completeness, merely
to demonstrate the amplitude of this remarkable phenomenon: apart from var-
ious re-editions of the Hungarian text, there abound translations into Italian,
French, English, Dutch, Czech, Polish, Croatian, Spanish, Portuguese, He-
brew, Arabic, Sinhalese and Romanian.
Nyiszli’s book has also inspired two films, Tim Blake Nelson’s The Grey
Zone (2001) and László Nemes’s Saul fia (Son of Saul, 2015).
With regard to translations made directly from the Hungarian original, one
of the best undoubtedly is the 1992 German translation Im Jenseits der
Menschlichkeit: Ein Gerichtsmediziner in Auschwitz (Beyond humanity: a fo-
rensic doctor in Auschwitz), which is supplemented by explanatory notes and
an interesting appendix. Also worth mentioning is the 1996 Polish translation
10
The two investigations resulted, respectively, in the so-called Extraordinary State Commission re-
port on Auschwitz, entered into evidence as Document 008-USSR (often cited as USSR-8) at the
International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg (IMT, Vol. XXXIX, pp. 241-262; in German) and
Polish investigating judge Jan Sehn’s report (Sehn 1946). The former is available in English trans-
lation in: Soviet… 1946, pp. 283-300.
11
I have presented an overview of these various literary strands in Mattogno 2018.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 15
12
In their French and English translations, respectively, Kremer and Seaver suppressed Nyiszli’s
Chapter XXIV altogether; Seaver moreover merged Chapter XVI with XVII (making for 39 and
38 chapters respectively, instead of Nyiszli’s 40).
13
Nyiszli 1946, p. 166. The various versions examined handle the passage as follows: Médecin à
Auschwitz (1961a), p. 242, omission not indicated; Im Jenseits der Menschlichkeit (1992/2005), p.
151/153, omission indicated with ellipsis; Byłem asysyentem doktora Mengele (1996), p. 168,
omission not indicated.
16 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
14
Translator’s remark: In preparing the English version of Nyiszli’s book below, the translator has
consulted the original Hungarian text throughout to ensure that no inaccuracies creep into the
translation as a result of working at a linguistic second remove. While following Mattogno’s Ital-
ian version in its strict concern for accuracy, the English version thus is not a mere retranslation,
but is in effect a first-order translation in its own right, rigorously checked against the source ma-
terial. The object, at all times, has been to reflect the content and character of Nyiszli’s writing as
closely as possible. The same principle of consulting original texts is followed, wherever feasible,
in the translation of other quoted material in later parts of the study as well.
15
After the decommissioning of the original crematorium (I) in the Auschwitz Main Camp in July
1943, the newly built Birkenau crematoria (II-V) were in practice renamed with numbers I
through IV, a fact reflected in various testimonies of the immediate postwar period. Modern
scholarly practice, on the other hand, generally restores the original numbering. See Nyiszli 1992,
p. 164, Note 28.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 17
Part 1:
Declaration
I, the undersigned Nyiszli Miklós,17 M.D., ex-prisoner of the K.Z., bearer of
tattoo number A-8450, hereby declare that in the work now published, the
creation of my own hand, a work which contains within it the darkest pages in
the history of humanity, free from all emotion and in strict conformity with
the truth, and without the slightest exaggeration or embellishment, I write as
the direct spectator of, and participant in, the activity of the crematoria and
cremation pyres of Auschwitz, into whose flames vanished millions of fathers,
mothers and children.
As chief physician of the crematoria of Auschwitz, I drew up innumerable
autopsy and forensic medical reports and signed them with my tattoo number.
These documents were countersigned by my superior, Dr. Mengele, and then
shipped by me to the address of the Institut für rassenbiologische und anthro-
pologische Forschungen18 in Berlin-Dahlem, one of the world’s most illustri-
ous medical centers. They should still be discoverable to this day in the ar-
chives of that great research institute.
In writing this work I do not aim at literary success. I was a doctor, not a
writer, when I experienced these horrors exceeding all imagination, and as I
undertake now to describe them, I write with the pen of a doctor, not a report-
er.19
Chapter I
In a late afternoon in May, in a closed freight car with windows covered with
barbed wire, the smell of ninety dirty people crammed together is unbearable
16
The book’s original Hungarian title is: Dr. Mengele boncolóorvosa voltam az Auschwitz-i
krematóriumban.
17
In Hungarian the family name precedes the given name.
18
“Institute for Racial-Biological and Anthropological Studies.” In German in the original. The in-
stitute’s correct full name was Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Anthropologie, menschliche Erblehre
und Eugenik, or The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics.
19
In English in the original [riporter].
20 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
enough already, let alone the stench of the buckets of excrement filled to the
brim.
It is a train for deportees, a train made up of forty wagons like this one; al-
ready it is the fourth day it has been traveling, kilometer after kilometer, first
through Slovak territory, then through the Generalgouvernement,20 bearing us
within it toward a still-unknown destination. In the convoy is the first group of
the million [egymillió] Hungarian Jews condemned to extermination. The Ta-
tra Mountains are behind us. We race at full speed toward Lublin, then comes
Krakau.21 During the war, both cities became centers of concentration, that is,
centers of extermination [megsemmisítőhelye] for the anti-Nazi citizens of Eu-
rope, whom the representatives of the new European order dragged here from
the territories they occupied.
Leaving Krakau, our train runs along for give or take an hour before com-
ing to a stop at an imposing station. A sign in gothic lettering declares the
name of the station: Auschwitz. To us it is merely a name. We have never
heard of it, whether in connection with the railways, or in any other regard.
Around our train, as I watch through the cracks, there is a great coming and
going. Our previous SS guards get off. A new group takes their post. In the
same way, the railway personnel for the trip depart as well. As I gather from
snatches of conversation, we are almost at the final destination of our voyage.
The train sets off again, and after a run of some twenty minutes it once
more comes to a stop with a long blast of its whistle.
I find a crack from which I can look outside again. All around is a plain of
yellow clay, an arid terrain, as the land of eastern Silesia generally is. Only an
occasional leafy thicket and the twisting course of the Vistula River break the
monotony here and there. The area that opens out before me is enclosed in pil-
lars of reinforced concrete placed in regular files, along which are strung nu-
merous lines of barbed wire. Porcelain insulators and signs placed at frequent
intervals reveal that the wires are carrying a high-voltage current. The con-
crete pillars form a quadrangle within which there are hundreds of barracks
with tarpaper roofs, painted green, which form long straight streets.
Inside the fences I see figures in the striped uniforms of prisoners. They are
carrying rough-sawn planks. Another group of men marches in regular files
with shovels on their shoulders. Further in the distance, large bales are being
loaded onto trucks. Along the fences, at a distance of 30-40 meters from each
other, elevated towers reveal the character of the place. Guard towers! On
each of them, a soldier in a green uniform rests his elbows on a machine gun
mounted on a tripod. This is the Concentration Camp Auschwitz, or as the
20
In German in the original.
21
In German spelling in the original.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 21
22
Phonetic Hungarian transcription of the German Kazett which in turn is the German pronunciation
for the letter names K and Z. “K.Z.” itself is an abbreviation for Konzentrationslager (concentra-
tion camp).
23
Nyiszli here uses főrohamvezető, the literal Hungarian equivalent of the German Hauptsturmfüh-
rer (“head storm leader”). The rank is equivalent to that of captain in traditional armies.
22 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
The first thing that draws my attention – rivets it, so to speak – is a gigantic
square chimney, tapering toward the top and built of red bricks, which emerg-
es from the top of a factory-like, two-story building, also built of red bricks.
It’s a strange shape for a factory chimney, but what is really impressive is
the column of fire 8-10 meters high [a 8-10 méteres lángoszlop] which gushes
from its mouth between the lightning rods at its four corners. I try to imagine
what kind of hellish kitchen it could be to need such a fire. Then it comes to
me. I am in Germany, the land of crematoria, where I spent ten years as a stu-
dent and doctor. I know that every last little German city has its crematorium.
So it is a crematorium! Not far from it is another, and beyond, in a grove
[egy lugasban] which partly hides it, I spot a third similar building, all with
the same fire-spewing chimneys [ugyanolyan tűzokádó kéményekkel].
A gentle breeze carries the smoke toward us. A nauseating stench of burn-
ing flesh and singed hair strikes my nostrils. A familiar smell! Burning human
flesh emits an acrid smell just like that of church candles made of carrion tal-
low.
There’s much to reflect on in that, but already the second phase of selec-
tion is underway. Men, women and children parade in single file before the se-
lection committee. At a gesture of the selecting physician – I will call him
now by his name, Dr. Mengele – we form ranks again, to the left or to the
right. Now we find ourselves in two groups, one on the left and one on the
right. In the group on the left, I notice, are mostly the old, the crippled, the
sickly, and women with children under fourteen. In the group on the right,
those able to work. Among them I see my wife and my fourteen-year-old
daughter. We have no chance to exchange words now. We wave to one anoth-
er.
Those unable to walk, the sick, the old, the mad, are loaded onto Red Cross
trucks. A few of my older doctor colleagues ask to go with them as well. The
trucks set off first. Then the group on the left, in lines five abreast, at a slow
pace and under an escort of SS guards. In a few minutes, they disappear from
our view beneath the trees of a small woodlot. The group on the right stays
put. Dr. Mengele orders the doctors to form a group to one side. When this is
done, he approaches the group, about fifty doctors in all, and calls on any doc-
tors who did their studies at a German university, are thoroughly versed in
pathological anatomy, and who also practice forensic medicine to step for-
ward.
“But it would be best that you take care,” he adds, “to comply with these
prerequisites, because…” And then follows a menacing, meaningful gesture. I
look at my colleagues to my left and right. Perhaps there are no specialists
among us? Or are they frightened by the threat? No one steps forward. No
matter, I have decided! I leave the line, stand before Mengele and introduce
myself. He interrogates me thoroughly. He asks me where I did my university
studies, where, and with what professors I studied pathological anatomy,
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 23
where I have practiced forensic medicine, how long I have worked in that
field, and so on. I must have satisfied him with the precision of my answers.
He orders my colleagues to return to the group on the right, and these now set
off marching along the right-hand way, the way to life, toward the camp… for
now I can reveal what I still did not then know. The group on the left, only
minutes after its departure, had passed through the doors of one of the crema-
toria. And from there there was no return.
Chapter II
As soon as I am alone, my thoughts turn to fate and to Germany, the land
where I spent so many years, the best years of my youth!
Above my head the stars are already out in the sky. High above my head I
see the Big Dipper, just as it is at home in Hungary. The cool air of the even-
ing breeze might even be refreshing, if only it were not blowing toward me the
acrid stench of burning corpses from the crematoria of the Third Reich.24
From the concrete pillars, hundreds of arc lamps send out a dazzling light.
Beyond the chain of lights, however, it is as if the air has become condensed.
It covers the camp like a heavy shroud and one can barely discern the silhou-
ettes of the K.Z. barracks.
The ramp is now deserted, only a few inmates in prison stripes are stirring
here and there, loading the baggage left in the wagons onto trucks. In the
darkness, the forty empty wagons, bearers of our destiny, merge ever more in-
to the gloom of the landscape and the objects around us.
Dr. Mengele gives some last instructions to the SS soldiers still waiting
there, then gets into the driver’s seat of his Opel car and motions for me to get
in behind. The back seat is already occupied. Beside me sits an SS enlisted
man. We set off.
Our car is tossed about on the camp’s bumpy, clay roads, which are much
worn by the spring rains. The brilliant arc lamps along the fences flash swiftly
past us. We stop before a closed iron gate. From the guardhouse, an SS enlist-
ed man rushes to open the way for Dr. Mengele’s familiar car. We proceed for
a few hundred more meters along the camp’s main street between barracks
lined up on either side, then come to a stop before a rather more-elegant build-
ing.
Dr. Mengele gets out of the car. I get out after him. “Camp Office” [Tábo-
riroda] I hastily read on a sign posted at the entrance. We go inside. Several
intelligent-looking individuals in prison clothes are sitting at desks. They all
leap to their feet and stand stiffly to attention without speaking at their places.
24
Nyiszli never uses the German expression Drittes Reich but rather always the Hungarian transla-
tion III. Birodalom.
24 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Chapter III
I am left in a strange state of inner turmoil, but I have never been one to give
in to empty despair. No matter! I must adapt myself to whatever my situation
brings. I must not despair! I must not become sentimental! I must neither see
too much, nor yet be too sober! And yet I am indeed clearly sober, for I am
saying such things to myself.
My situation for now is not the worst it could be! Dr. Mengele wants to
give me a medical job. Probably I’ll be taking the place, at least in part, of a
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 25
25
That is, a German from Germany proper, as opposed to Germans from other German-speaking
countries or areas.
26
A famous prison in the “Moabit” area of Berlin.
27
In German in the original.
28
Nyiszli uses the German term Prominente, rendered in Hungarian as prominens.
26 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
here. I discover that K.Z. Auschwitz is the largest extermination camp [meg-
semmisítő tábora] of the Third Reich and not a labor camp! He speaks of the
selections,29 which take place every week in the hospitals and the barracks of
the camp, when they load hundreds of selected prisoners onto trucks and carry
them to the crematoria situated a few hundred meters away.
From his stories I learn about life in the barracks, where 800 to 1000 peo-
ple are massed together in cramped, cagelike, comfortless boxes.30 The feet of
one rest on the head of another, or on a neck or a chest, they lie lengthwise
and crosswise and back-to-front on their miserable pallets. Deprived of any
trace of humanity, they punch and kick and bite one another to secure a space
of just a few centimeters [more] for their brief sleep.
Indeed, the night’s sleep is finished already by three in the morning. The
work-detail bosses,31 cudgels in hand, drive the men from their beds. They
pour outside, jostling each other at the door of the barrack, and are soon stand-
ing in lines. And now begins the most dehumanizing song and dance in the
whole K.Z. repertoire: Appel,32 or “roll call” [sorakozó]. The inmates stand in
five rows. They begin to put themselves in order. The barracks clerk places
the taller ones in the front row, the shorter ones behind. Another “prominent”
arrives, the room duty leader.33 Raining blows heavily down with his fists he
drives the tall prisoners to the back and brings the short ones to the front
again. Finally the barracks supervisor himself emerges from the barracks, well
fed and well dressed. Striped uniform freshly washed and pressed, he strikes a
Napoleonic pose before the formation, inspects the front line, does he not ob-
serve a fault somewhere? He most certainly does. He launches himself at
some men wearing glasses in the front row, slugs them on the chin with his
fists and sends them to the back. Why? No one knows! No one even thinks
about it. This is the K.Z. and no one expects a rhyme or reason for anything.
And so it goes for hours. Fifteen times the roll is counted, this way then
that way, forwards and backwards along the rows. If a line is not straight, the
entire barrack must squat for half an hour with their arms raised. Soon every-
one’s legs are shaking with exhaustion. Even in summer the dawn hours at
Auschwitz are cold. The light, striped material of the uniforms protects neither
from the rain nor from the chill, yet roll call always begins at first light and
continues until 7 a.m., when the SS enlisted man arrives.
29
Nyiszli does not directly use the German term Selektion, but rather always the Hungarian
szelektálás.
30
Thus in the original: bokszokban, from bokszok-, plural of boksz (“box”) and the locative case
ending -ban. The expression as a whole presumably refers to the three-tier bunks mentioned earli-
er.
31
Nyiszli here uses the Hungarian felvigyázók (“bosses” or “overseers”), presumably as a translation
of the camp slang term Kapo, or work-team leader.
32
In German in the original, correctly Appell.
33
Nyiszli here uses a Hungarian translation [szobaszolgálatos] of the German Stubendienst (“room
duty”), the name for a prisoner in charge of ensuring that barracks are kept clean and orderly.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 27
The barracks supervisor, loyal servant of the SS and almost always, in eve-
ry barracks, a green-badged ruffian, stands to attention and reports on unit
strength. The SS man too goes along the lines. He tallies up the columns and
records the headcount in a notebook. If the barracks has any dead – there are 5
or 6 each day, sometimes as many as 10 – they too figure in the roll call. They
must stand there at the end of the row, propped up on either side by a pair of
prisoners, as long as the counting goes on, for dead or alive, the headcount
must add up! It sometimes happens that the Kommando34 tasked with corpse
removal, overwhelmed with work, does not show up for two or three days
with their hand-drawn cart to take away the dead. And so the latter must be
present at every counting until they are finally taken away and removed from
the roster.
After what I have heard, I am glad to have [had] the courage to improve
my lot. By speaking up to Dr. Mengele, I have obtained just the assignment I
wanted. I have obtained an assignment as doctor, and from my first day here I
have managed to avoid sinking into the squalor of the crowd in the quarantine
camp barracks. Thanks to my civilian clothes I have preserved my human as-
pect and tonight I will sleep in a properly made bed in the clean doctor’s room
of Hospital Barracks 12.
Wake-up call is at seven a.m. The doctors, myself among them, line up in
front of the barracks along with the rest of the hospital personnel. We are
counted. The entire operation lasts two, three minutes. The sick are counted in
their boxlike bunks, along with those who have died during the night. The
bodies of the dead still lie among the sick.
At breakfast, which we eat apart in our room, I get to know my medical
colleagues. The chief physician of Hospital Barracks 12, Dr. Lewy, is profes-
sor at the University of Strasbourg; his deputy, Dr. Grósz, professor at the
University of Zagreb. Both are internists. In the field of medical research, they
are eminent figures on a Europe-wide scale.
Here in the K.Z., ignoring danger and fatigue, putting aside their own per-
sonal tragedies, they seek to heal and to alleviate suffering, despite lacking
adequate instruments and serious drugs and despite working in the complete
absence of proper sterilization and antiseptics, in an environment, K.Z. Ausch-
witz, where within three to four weeks even those who arrive in the best phys-
ical condition break down under the weight of hunger, squalor, corporal pun-
ishment and hard labor. (How much the worse for those who have an underly-
ing organic illness!) These are men and doctors through and through, one
hundred percent, [in a place] where it is difficult to remain a man and more
difficult still to be a doctor.
34
A German military term meaning a work detail. Nyiszli here uses the borrowed Hungarian equiva-
lent, kommandó.
28 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Chapter IV
I still do not have a job to do. I look around a bit at Camp “F” in the company
of a French doctor. One thing that immediately catches my interest is a shed-
like structure attached to one side of Barracks 12. It is made of rough-sawn
planks, and a man-length table, a chair, a wooden box with compartments con-
taining dissecting instruments, and a zinc bucket in one corner constitute its
only inner furnishings. As my colleague informs me, it is an out-of-service
dissecting room, the only one in the entire camp. They used to use it long ago.
Currently he does not even know of a specialist able to do autopsies in the
camp. It’s not out of the question, however, that my presence here might de-
pend on some plan of Dr. Mengele’s and that my arrival thus means the return
to operation of the dissecting room.
That latter possibility cools my enthusiasm somewhat. I had imagined a
modern dissection hall as the scene for my activities, not this shed in a con-
centration camp. In all my career, not even at rural exhumation sites or while
doing obligatory autopsies at suicide or murder sites have I ever performed
my work in such primitive circumstances with such inadequate instruments.
I have an accommodating temperament, however, and I can adapt to this
situation too. After all, in the K.Z. this is a first-rate assignment! What I don’t
understand is just why they gave me a new set of civilian clothes only to have
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 29
35
Nyiszli here refers to the birth of the Dionne quintuplets in Canada in 1934; their survival was a
medical first and created an international sensation.
36
Nyiszli here uses the word vízirák, a direct translation of Wasserkrebs (“water cancer”), a German
lay term for noma faciei. In English the disease is also referred to by the names cancrum oris and
gangrenous stomatitis.
30 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
well. Noma has not, however, been demonstrated in the absence of hereditary
syphilis during the course of the research. It thus appears indisputable that
noma is related in some way to hereditary syphilis. This finding is with con-
trast to the prevailing medical view according to which noma appears above
all in connection with measles, scarlet fever and typhus.
On the basis of this general conclusion a treatment method has been devel-
oped which promises a certain cure; it consists of a combination of neosal-
varsan and inoculation with malaria.
Dr. Mengele visits the experimental barracks every day. He takes part in
the research with keen interest, working together with two prominent doctors
and a painter named Dina37 who prepares, with great skill, the drawings need-
ed for the work. She is from Prague, and she has been in the Czech camp for
three years. As Dr. Mengele’s associate, she enjoys certain advantages. She is
counted among the “prominent”!
Chapter V
Dr. Mengele, chief physician of K.Z. Auschwitz [az Auschwitzi K.Z. első or-
vosa], is indefatigable in the exercise of his duties. He spends long hours at
the experimental barracks in the Gypsy camp immersed in his work. He stands
half the day on the Judenrampe38, where already four to five trainloads of de-
ported Hungarians are arriving per day.
The transports march past, one after the other, in long lines five abreast,
under SS escort. They are marching far from where I stand, but even through
three or four layers of barbed-wire fencing I can see by their elegant attire, by
their long coats and smart-looking hand luggage, that they have been hauled
out of some large city where they had created a life of culture and prosperity
for all. That was their crime!
Still, Dr. Mengele has time to find work for me as well. A long hand-drawn
cart pulls up before the dissection shed. The corpse-transport team unloads
two bodies from the cart. Written on their chests, in blue-colored chalk, are
the letters Z.S., an abbreviation for zur Sektion.39 And that means: to be dis-
sected! I get the barracks overseer to assign me an intelligent French prisoner
from Barracks 12, and with his help I place one of the bodies on the table. It
has heavy, black wire cable around its neck. This one either hanged himself,
or was hanged. I make a summary examination of the second corpse as well. I
immediately recognize the signs of death by high-voltage electrocution. It is
easily recognizable by the small round crusts of burnt skin, as well as by the
37
Dinah Gottliebová.
38
Nyiszli here uses the word zsidórámpa, a direct translation of German Judenrampe (“Jews’
ramp”), an informal name for the railway ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau where trains carrying de-
portees arrived.
39
In German in the original (“for dissection”).
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 31
reddish-purplish discoloration of the skin around them. Here again I ask my-
self which of two cases it might be: did he run against the electrified fence of
his own will, or was he thrown into it? In the K.Z. both alternatives are equal-
ly common.
Whether suicide or murder, the formalities to be observed are the same. At
evening roll call the deceased is stricken from the roll, the body is loaded onto
the corpse-transport cart and taken to the mortuary. From there, a truck carries
some fifty to sixty bodies per day to one of the crematoria.
Dr. Mengele has assigned the two corpses to me as a test. He tells me be-
forehand that I should be careful to live up to what I have undertaken. I will be
careful.
An automobile roars outside, within Barracks 12 the command rings out:
“Attention!” Dr. Mengele has arrived, accompanied by two high-ranking SS
officers. They listen to the reports of the barracks overseer and the head phy-
sician. Then they make straight for the dissection room, the prominent inmate
doctors of Camp F behind them. They stand in attendance as if in the anatomi-
cal theater of a great scientific institute as a particularly interesting case goes
under the scalpel. I see on their faces an intense interest in the autopsy, as well
as curiosity regarding my own competence. I am to undergo an examination
before an exalted – and rather perilous – tribunal. I feel almost as if my pris-
oner colleagues are worried for me.
Apart from myself, no one here knows that for three years, working direct-
ly from corpses, I studied every form of suicide as assistant to His Excellency
Professor Dr. Strassmann [Prof. dr. Strassmann őexcellenciája] at the Institute
of Forensic Medicine in Breslau [Boroszló]. What I knew then, present-day
prisoner number A-8450, doctor of the K.Z., knows too.
I get down to work on the dissection: I open the cranium, the thoracic cavi-
ty, the abdominal cavity. I extract all the organs, demonstrate all the anomalies
present. I rapidly answer the various questions that crop up frequently as I
work. The look of satisfied interest on their faces and the friendly glances they
send toward me convince me that my examination has gone well. I dissect the
second corpse also. Dr. Mengele instructs me to prepare reports on the autop-
sies. He will send for them tomorrow. The SS doctors depart. I remain chat-
ting with my fellow inmate doctors. Up till now they have been courteous to-
ward me; now they accept me into the circle of the prominent.
The next day I receive three more corpses for autopsy. My audience today
is the same, but the mood is more relaxed. I am a known quantity now. Today
there is more interest, more breaking in with comments, and a lively discus-
sion arises concerning the solution of a certain scientific question.
After the departure of the SS doctors, some young Greek and French doc-
tors come to meet me. They ask me to introduce them to the techniques of
lumbar puncture. They want me to let them practice on the corpses. I gladly
comply with their request. I am deeply impressed that even here, behind the
32 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
barbed wire of the K.Z., they manifest such a lively interest in the profession.
They practice diligently, and after five or six attempts the lumbar puncture is a
success. They depart proudly, faces beaming.
Chapter VI
For three days now I have had no work to do. I receive the rations due to a
doctor; I relax on my bunk, or sit on a bench in the sports field located next to
Camp “F.” Yes, such a thing exists in Concentration Camp Auschwitz, but on-
ly the Prominente, German prisoners from the Reich, may use it. On Sundays,
there is lively sports activity here. The rest of the week, the great field is si-
lent. Just a single wire fence separates it from Crematorium I. I would love to
know what is going on at the foot of its gigantic, blazing chimney [lángoló,
oriasi kémény]. From where I am sitting I can’t see very much. To approach
the fence would not be advisable, for a hail of automatic gunfire will be sent
down without warning from the closely spaced watchtowers upon anyone who
blunders into the dead zone [a neutrális zónába].
All I can see is that men in civilian clothes are lining up in the crematorium
courtyard before the big, red-brick building. There might be two hundred of
them. In front of the group stand a few SS soldiers. I presume that roll call and
headcount is underway there. They are changing the crematorium personnel,
day shift replacing night shift. Work goes on in the crematorium without inter-
ruption night and day. From an old prisoner, I learn that the crematoria per-
sonnel are classified as Sonderkommando, that is, a Kommando assigned to
special work. They get excellent food and excellent civilian clothing. In re-
turn, they do the most horrible of jobs. They are not permitted to leave the
crematorium compound, and every four months [négyhavonként], when they
have become familiar with its many secrets, they are liquidated. So it has been
for every Sonderkommando for as long as the K.Z. has existed. No one has
ever yet escaped from those terrible buildings to tell the world of what has
been going on, for years now, within their walls.
I return to Barracks 12 just in time to encounter Dr. Mengele. He arrives in
an automobile. He is greeted by the barracks overseer. He sends for me! He
tells me to get in! This time I do not have an escort. I cannot even say good-
bye to my colleagues. We set off, but then stop in front of the camp office. Dr.
Mengele calls Dr. Sentkeller hurrying over, and asks him for my card. Mo-
ments later it is in his hands.
For ten minutes we move among the maze of fences, through gates, heavily
guarded front and back, from one part of the camp to another. Only now do I
see just how enormous in scale the K.Z. is! Very few prisoners ever have the
chance to see this, for the majority of them perish in the same sector of the
camp they first arrive in. At times Auschwitz Concentration Camp has held
prisoner as many as 500,000 people [500.000 embert] within its electrified
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 33
way toward death. Toward a slow death, yawning before me in its dizzying,
bottomless depths. I feel it, I am done for.
Now I understand why I received civilian clothes. They are worn only by
the Sonderkommando, the Kommando of the walking dead.
My boss prepares to leave. He advises the SS that, with regard to my du-
ties, I am subordinate to him alone. The crematorium’s SS personnel have no
authority over my person. My meals will be provided by the SS kitchen. I may
supplement my clothes and linens from the storeroom. For haircuts and shaves
I may go to the SS barber shop found in the crematorium building. I do not
have to be present at morning and evening roll call!
Apart from anatomical and laboratory work, I am required to provide med-
ical attention for the 120-man-strong SS contingent assigned to the four crem-
atoria, as well as for the 860-man-strong Sonderkommando. The necessary
medicines, instruments and dressings are at my disposal in sufficient quanti-
ties. For ongoing patient care, I am required to visit the individual crematoria
once per day – and in case of necessity, even twice – to call on the sick where
they lie. I am free to come and go among the four crematoria. I may move
about without any escort from 7 in the morning until 9 at night. Every day I
must report the number of bedbound and ambulatory sick to the commander
of the SS and Sonderkommando units, Oberscharführer Mussfeld.
I listen, paralyzed, to the list of my rights and duties. Under such terms I
would be the leading Prominente of the K.Z., were it not that I am to be part
of the Sonderkommando and that all this is to happen within Krema I.40
Dr. Mengele departs without saying farewell. An SS, even of the lowliest
rank, does not exchange greetings with a prisoner of the K.Z. I close the door
of the dissection hall, taking the keys with me. I am responsible for everything
here now.
I go to my room and sit down to collect my thoughts somewhat. A difficult
task! I start at the beginning. The image of my abandoned home rises before
me, the sunny little house on the terrace with its pleasant rooms where I
passed so many difficult hours caring for my patients – difficult, but with the
satisfaction of being able to help – and so many happy hours surrounded by
my family.
It has been a week already since we were separated; where could they be, I
wonder, in this hundred thousand-headed throng, nameless, like everyone else
locked up in this gigantic prison? Has my fifteen-year-old daughter managed
to stay with her mother? Have they been separated from each other? What will
become of my aged parents, for whom I have worked, with so much love, to
make their twilight years carefree? What will become of my little sister, love-
40
“… nem lenne mindez a Krema I-ben.” Nyiszli here uses the Auschwitz camp slang Krema I, short
for Krematorium I. Modern scholarship now identifies this building as Krematorium II, saving the
name Krematorium I for the disused crematorium at the Auschwitz main camp.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 35
ly, gentle-hearted girl, to whom I have been a father in place of our sickly fa-
ther? How good it was to love them, how good it was to help them! Not for a
moment do I doubt their fate. They too are en route, in one of the trains made
up of forty ramshackle wagons, here to the death camp Auschwitz – to the
Judenrampe – where, at a mechanical gesture from my learned boss Dr.
Mengele, my parents will turn to the left, and my little sister also, to the left,
for even if the judgment for her should say to the right, she undoubtedly will
ask, hands joined in supplication, that they permit her to go with our mother.
They will grant her permission and she will thank them for it with warm
words and with tears in her eyes.
News of my arrival has spread quickly among the SS personnel of the
crematoria and among the Sonderkommando. They come to my room to call
upon me, one after the other. Some SS NCOs open the door. Two grimly mar-
tial Oberscharführers of enormous stature enter. I know that my demeanor at
this moment will determine their future attitude toward me. I think of Dr.
Mengele’s order, I am subordinate only to him! Accordingly, I treat the visit
as strictly private in nature, an act of courtesy. I do not leap up, as per K.Z.
regulations, to present myself standing at attention, but rather remain seated;
thus welcoming them, I invite them to sit down.
They stop in the middle of room and stare, sizing me up intently. I sense
the importance of the moment. Now I face the test of first impressions! It ap-
pears I don’t do badly, for the muscles over their high cheekbones lose their
rigid tension, and with a nonchalant motion they sit down.
Our conversation moves within a very narrow ambit. How was my jour-
ney? How did I wind up in the K.Z.? They cannot ask such questions, for my
answers might embarrass them. And of politics, the war, the conditions pre-
vailing in the K.Z., of these things I cannot speak. But I am not flustered, for
my years of study in Germany before the war provide plenty of material for
discussion.
We become completely absorbed in conversation. It impresses them that I
speak their language more perfectly than they do. They do not even under-
stand some of my expressions, though they try to avoid showing it. I know
them well: their country, their cities, their family life, their moral and religious
conceptions. The conversation is not difficult for me. I can see that my oral
examination has gone well, for they leave smiling.
Other visitors arrive. Men in civil clothes, neatly groomed and shaven. The
head Kapo41 of the Sonderkommando and two Kommando leaders42 enter my
room. Another courtesy call! They’re the ones who arranged my room with
their men; they’d heard of my arrival, they invite me to dinner so I can get to
know the rest of the crew as well.
41
“Főkapója,” a direct Hungarian translation of German Hauptkapo (“head Kapo”).
42
“Kommandóvezető,” for German Kommandoführer (“Kommando leader”).
36 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Just then it was indeed time for dinner. I go with them up to the first floor43
of the crematorium, to the quarters arranged for the personnel there. It is an
enormous hall, lined on either side with comfortable single beds. The bunks
are made of unpainted wood, but each is richly covered with cushions and silk
coverlets in different styles and colors. This brilliantly colorful bedding stands
in sharp, even jarring contrast with the surroundings. It was never meant for
this place! It is from the belongings left by the transports brought here. Such is
the privilege of the Sonderkommando that they could take such things from
the storerooms and use them.
The whole room is flooded with dazzling light. They do not economize on
lighting here like in the barracks of the K.Z. We pass between the long rows
of beds. Only half of the Kommando is in the quarters, the other half, one
hundred men, is on the night shift. They are at work. Of the men here, some
are already lying down, or even asleep. Some are reading books. There are
plenty of them! We are a book-reading people! Every deportee brings a few,
each according to his or her intellectual level. But this too is a privilege, the
fact that the Sonderkommando can keep books for themselves and read them.
In the K.Z. it’s twenty days in the standing cell for anyone caught reading, if
they don’t just beat you to death.
The table is waiting for us spread with a silk-brocade cloth. Fine, mono-
grammed china, silver tableware, porcelain jugs, this too is all stuff from the
transports. The table is piled with every delicacy, all that a deported people
have brought with them on an uncertain journey. There are preserves, smoke-
cured bacon [szalonna], salami, marmalades, pastries, chocolate. From the la-
bels I see that these things are provisions left behind by Hungarian deportees.
Perishable foods pass, by right of office, to any legitimate successors still
among the living, that is, to the Sonderkommando. Sitting around the table are
the head Kapo, the engineer, the chief stoker, the captain of the tooth-pulling
Kommando, the director of the gold refinery. The welcome they extend is a
hearty one. They offer generously from everything they have. There’s more
where it came from! The transports from Hungary keep coming one after an-
other. They bring plenty of everything!
I swallow each mouthful with difficulty. I can’t help thinking of my com-
panions in fate, driven from their homes, who in the last hours before deporta-
tion had gathered together or prepared provisions for the journey while shed-
ding bitter tears. They had suffered from hunger, but they ate nothing along
the entire way in order to have something in reserve for their elderly parents
and for their children should harder days come later. But harder days never
43
In the European manner, “first floor” (első emelet) here refers to the first floor above ground level,
i.e., the second floor of American English. Nyiszli’s room is on the ground level.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 37
came! The food was left here, untouched, in the undressing room44 of the
crematorium.
I drink tea with rum. After a few glasses my internal tensions subside com-
pletely. My mind is purged, liberated from its tormenting thoughts, my whole
body becomes enlivened. A pleasing warmth flows through me. I am drunk. I
can feel the alcohol’s intoxicating work. Its effect is like a mother’s caressing
hand, as if benevolence is raining down upon me. We smoke fine cigarettes,
also from the Hungarian transports. In the camp itself the price of a cigarette is
a ration of bread. Here there are hundreds lying in packages on the table. We
carry on a lively conversation. Represented are Poland, France, Greece, Rus-
sia, Germany, Italy. The talk proceeds in German, as everyone understands it.
Over the course of our conversation I learn the history of the crematoria.
How tens of thousands of prisoners [fegyencek tízezrei] built these gigantic
buildings out of stone and concrete. How they had to complete them in harsh
winter weather. Every stone in these buildings is stained with the blood of tens
of thousands of unlucky Jewish deportees [tíz és tízezer szerencsétlen zsidó
deportált]. Starved and thirsty, inadequately clothed, nourished with wretched
gruel as their only food, they toiled day and night so that these horrid factories
of death could be completed and become the cremators of their own bodies.
Since then four years [négy év] have passed. Millions and millions [millió és
millió] of people have stepped down off the trains onto the ramp and passed
through the doors of the crematoria. This current group is the twelfth
Sonderkommando [a XII-ik Sonderkommandó]! I get to know the history of
each Kommando. I get to know the names of their heroes and I confirm what I
have already heard in the camp as well, that the life of a Sonderkommando
lasts only a few months.
Whoever is of the Jewish faith can begin, from the day of his arrival here,
the rites for purification before death. For his death will surely come, as it has
for every Sonderkommando until now.
It’s nearly midnight, the members of the dinnertime company are worn out
from the day’s work, woozy from all the alcohol they’ve consumed. Our con-
versation becomes more and more halting. An SS guard doing the rounds
warns us quietly that it would be best for all of us to hit the sack. I say good-
night, and I too head off to sleep.
Thanks to the strong rum I sleep through my first night relatively quietly,
though it helps as well that I’m in a state of complete nervous exhaustion.
44
The Hungarian text here has “vetkező-termében,” an evident spelling error. The word vétkező
means “sinner” from vétkezik “to sin”; the correct term is vetkőző “undressing.”
38 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Chapter VII
The long-drawn-out wail of a locomotive’s whistle sounds from the ramp. It’s
daybreak! I go to my window, where I have a clear view across. A long train
is standing there. Within a few minutes, the doors are flung to one side and the
wagons disgorge from within themselves the chosen people of Israel [Izrael
kiválasztott népét]. Lining up and selection take half an hour at most. The left-
hand column sets off at a slow march.
From my room I hear loud orders, hurried footsteps. The noise is coming
from the furnace hall [kazánterem] of the crematorium! They are making
preparations for receiving the transport. The whine of electric motors becomes
audible. They have turned on the giant blowers [óriási ventillátorokat] which
fan the fire [a tüzet élesztik] to the proper temperature inside the furnaces
[kazánokban]. Fifteen blowers of this kind [tizenöt ilyen ventillátor] are in op-
eration at once! One is installed next to each furnace [minden kemence mellé
van egy építve]. The cremation hall [égetőterem] is about 150 meters long
[százötven méter hosszú], a brightly lit, white-washed, concrete-floored space
with enormous, iron-barred windows. The fifteen cremation furnaces [égőka-
zán] are installed separately [külön-külön] in large red-brick structures. Their
massive iron doors, polished to a gleam, run in a sinister line down the length
of the hall.
After five or six minutes the transport arrives at the gate, the gate’s leaves
swing open. The procession enters the courtyard in the customary rows of
five. This is the phase of the process which nobody knows about, for of all
those who might know, having walked the three hundred meters here from the
ramp along the path to their doom, none has ever returned to tell the story!
This, then, is what “to the left” means: one of the crematoria! Not a camp for
old folks, invalids and children, where those unable to work will care for the
little ones, as the German disinformation spread among the anxious group that
winds up on the right would have it.
They walk with slow, weary movements. The little children cling sleepily
to their mothers’ skirts. Babies in swaddling clothes are for the most part car-
ried in their fathers’ arms, or pushed in buggies. The SS escort remains out-
side the gate. According to the text of a warning sign, entry is forbidden to
outsiders, even SS!
In an instant they spot the taps installed in the courtyard for irrigation pur-
poses. Pots and other vessels are brought forth. The column dissolves and,
pushing and shoving, they rush to fill them. No wonder they’re so impatient!
For five days they have scarcely drunk any water. What they did drink was
foul and could not quench their thirst.
The SS guards who receive the transport are used to this scene. They wait
patiently until everyone has quenched their thirst and filled their vessels. Until
all have drunk, they cannot bring the group to order. Slowly they herd them
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 39
back together again. They proceed about a hundred meters along a cinder path
bordered with green lawns until they reach a grey-painted iron railing [míg
egy szürkére festett vaskorláthoz érnek] where ten or twelve concrete steps
lead below the ground to a large room, upon the façade of which hangs an
enormous sign stating, in German, French, Greek and Hungarian, that this is a
“Bath and Disinfection Room.”45 The unsuspecting are lulled of course, but
even the doubtful are too. They go down the steps almost cheerfully.
The room into which the transport is conducted is about 200 meters long
[körülbelül kétszát méter hosszú], starkly illuminated and painted white. A
line of columns stretches down the middle of the room to the end. Benches are
arranged around each column and along the walls as well. Above the benches
are long lines of hooks, above the hooks are numbers. Advisory signs posted
at frequent intervals announce in each language that one’s clothing and shoes,
tied together, should be placed on a hook. And their number should be noted
without fail, so that no unnecessary confusion arises upon returning from the
bath! “This is real German orderliness!” say those inclined to German-wor-
ship from the old days. They’re right, too! It really is for the sake of order, so
that all these thousands of high-quality shoes, so hard to find in the Third
Reich, do not get mixed up together. The same goes for the clothes as well, so
that they remain usable by the bombed-out German population.
Three thousand people [háromezer ember] are in the room. Men, women,
children. SS soldiers arrive and immediately the order rings out: everyone is to
undress completely, ten minutes! They stand petrified, old folks, grandfathers,
grandmothers, children, wives, husbands. Modest matrons and maidens look
at one another helplessly. Perhaps they did not understand the German words
[a német szavakat]? But already the order is repeated! Its tone is more impa-
tient now, almost menacing!
They are filled with foreboding, their pride is stirred, but with Jewish res-
ignation they recognize that, with regard to themselves, anything is permitted!
They begin to undress with difficulty. A group sent from the Sonderkomman-
do assists in the undressing of the aged, the lame and the mad. In ten minutes
everyone is naked. Their clothing hangs on the hooks, along with their shoes,
laces tied together. And their hook numbers have been carefully noted…!
The SS clear a path through the dense crowd to the oak double doors locat-
ed at the end of the room. They open them! The crowd surges through them
into the next room, also brightly lit. This room is the same size [olyan nagy-
ságú] as the undressing room [vetkezőterem], but there are no benches and
hooks here. In the center of the room, at a distance of thirty meters from each
other [egymástól harminc méter távolságra], a number of columns stretch
from the concrete floor to the ceiling. These are not support columns, but are
45
“Fürdő és fertőtlenitő helyiség.” This thus must have been the inscription in Hungarian.
40 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
46
In German in the original along with the abbreviation.
47
Nyiszli’s “patent top” (patent tetejét) presumably is his translation of German Patentdeckel, a
trade term for a lid with a flattened concave profile, like that of a paint can.
48
Or “it is finished!” The Hungarian verb végez literally means “to finish,” but like its English
equivalent (cf. “to finish off”) it also means, colloquially, “to kill.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 41
múlva] breathing it provokes a suffocating cough. For this reason, the Sonder-
squad [Sonderesosztag] enter with rubber syringes49 and wear gas masks. The
room is once more starkly illuminated. A terrible spectacle unfolds before
those who enter.
The bodies do not lie all over the length and breadth of the room but rather
in a single, story-high heap [hanem emeletmagasan egyhalomban]. The expla-
nation for this is that the fallen gas granules first permeate the air layer above
the concrete floor with their deadly vapors and only gradually [fokozatosan]
saturate the higher layers of air in the room. This forces the unfortunate vic-
tims to trample each other, to climb over one another. In the higher layers the
gas thus reaches them later [A magasban így későbben éri el a gáz őket]. What
a terrible struggle for life must take place there, and yet the time won is only
one or two minutes in all! Could they but think about it, they would know that
they are trampling their parents, their wives, their children in vain, but they
cannot! What they do is a survival reflex! I notice that at the bottom of the
tower of bodies [hullatoronynak] lie the babies, children, women and aged, at
the top, the stronger men.
Tangled together, their bodies covered with bloody scratches which they
caused one another in the scramble, they lie with bleeding noses, bleeding
mouths. Their heads are swollen and blue [kékre van dagadva], deformed be-
yond all recognition! All the same, the Sonderkommandos often recognize
their relatives among the dead. I myself dread the horror of such an encounter!
There is no work for me here, and yet I have come down among the dead, be-
cause I feel a sense of duty to my people and to the world, that, while I cannot
reasonably hope it, yet through some trick of fate I may escape from here and
write these lines as the only living witness!
The Sonderkommando group stands around the mountain of corpses [hul-
lahegy körül] in tall rubber boots and flushes it with powerful streams of wa-
ter. There is great need of this, for the last act of death by asphyxiation, and
thus death by gas, is the release of excrement from the bowels. All of the dead
are filthy with it!
After the “bathing” of the dead is accomplished – and with what spiritual
abnegation, what complete self-surrender the Sonderkommando performs this
task! – next begins the pulling apart of the tangled-together corpses. It is a
very difficult job! They loop straps around the wrists below the spasmodically
clenched fists, and so drag the bodies of the dead, still slippery with water, to
the elevators in the next room. Four large mechanical freight elevators are in
operation here [Négy nagy teherfelvonógép műkökik itt]. They pile the dead
onto these, twenty, twenty-five to an elevator. An alarm bell informs the oper-
ator that it can ascend! The elevator stops at the cremation hall [égetőtermé-
49
I.e., bulb syringes, presumably to blow contaminated air out of the spaces it is trapped in and thus
disperse it.
42 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
ben] of the crematorium, where its massive doors open automatically. The
towing Kommando [a vontató kommandó] is waiting for it there. Once again,
loops go around the wrists of the dead. They drag them along the concrete
floor on a slide made for the purpose and deposit them in front of the fifteen
furnaces [a 15 kemence előtt].
They lie in long lines on the concrete, the corpses of old and young and
children alike. Blood trickles from their noses and their mouths, as well as
from their bodies, abraded from the dragging, and mixes with the continuously
flowing water which trickles from taps installed for that purpose through
channels in the concrete floor.
Then follows a new phase in the exploitation of the Jews’ corpses. The
Third Reich has already seized their clothing, their shoes. Hair is a valuable
material too. It is essential for delayed action bombs, as hair is a fiber which
expands and contracts uniformly in both dry and humid air. This capacity is
brought to bear in the detonator mechanism of the bombs. And so the dead are
shorn.
The Third Reich is founded on the value not of gold but of work! They say
it and shout it to the whole world. Here’s the truth! The eight men of the
tooth-pulling Kommando [a foghúzó kommandó] stand before the furnaces,
two kinds of tool, or rather “instruments,” in their hands. In one hand, a crow-
bar, in the other, tooth-pulling pliers. They turn the bodies face upward, open
the mouths, and with horrid workmanship ruthlessly proceed to not so much
pull out as smash out any gold teeth and bridges they can find in the oral cavi-
ty. And yet the men of the Kommando are all qualified dentists and oral sur-
geons! It was as such that Dr. Mengele recruited them for the performance of
challenging dental and oral-surgical duties. They had hoped for a good posi-
tion in their own professions! They had presented themselves and fallen into
the hell of the crematorium. Exactly as it happened to me!
The gold teeth wind up in a zinc bucket, where they sit in a hydrochloride
solution to burn off the bone and pieces of flesh. The other gold items found
on the dead, the platinum objects, the pearls, the necklaces, the rings all go in-
to a closed strongbox set aside for this purpose. They toss them through a hole
in the lid. Gold is a heavy metal; I would estimate 8-10 kilograms [nyolc-tíz
kilóra] is collected per day at one crematorium. Naturally it depends on the
transports as well. There are poor transports and there are rich transports, de-
pending on where they come from.
The Hungarian transports arrive at the ramp completely looted. The trans-
ports from Holland, Czechoslovakia and the various parts of Poland, even af-
ter years of life in the ghettos, have managed to keep and bring along their
jewels, their gold objects, their dollars. The Germans thus come into posses-
sion of immense riches.
After the last gold tooth is out of the mouth of its dead owner, the corpses
go to the cremation Kommando [a hamvasztó kommandohóz]. These then
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 43
Chapter VIII
The pathological anatomy laboratory was established at the initiative of my
boss, Dr. Mengele, and is intended to satisfy his medical research ambitions. It
has been finished for several days, waiting only for a forensic pathologist so
that it can begin operations.
Grand possibilities and wide vistas open here on the grounds of the K.Z.
for the forensic investigation of the frequently occurring cases of suicide, for
twin studies, for the pathological evaluation of developmental disorders such
as dwarfism and gigantism!
The abundance of corpse materials occurring nowhere else, and the possi-
bility of having corpses at one’s disposal without limit and without responsi-
bility give a great impetus to research work and afford ever greater possibili-
ties!
I know from experience that while the hospitals of major world cities are
able, with difficulty, to make available 100-150 corpses per year for research
purposes to forensic medical or anatomical institutes, they are available in
K.Z. Auschwitz in quantities calculable in the millions [milliós számokban]!
Anyone who enters the confines of the K.Z. is a candidate for death here.
Those whose good fortune takes them to the left become corpses in the gas
chambers within an hour. Less fortunate are those whose bad luck puts them
50
In the text of the 1947 edition, an entire line of text was dropped here, making the phrase nonsen-
sical: “a vaskerekeken járó szerkezet a kemence izzásig van hevítve” instead of “a vaskerekeken
járó szrkezet a kemence ízzó belsejébe gördül, ledobja terhét, ismét kicsúszik, izzásig van he-
vítve.”
44 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
51
The expression kímélő barakk (literally “sparing barrack”), used here and four paragraphs below,
is likely Nyiszli’s translation of the German Schonungsbaracke (or Schonungsblock), a term used
in the camp system for a building where convalescent prisoners could rest and thus “spare” (scho-
nen) their health.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 45
tion of detected anomalies, the twins have to die at the same time! And die
they do, in an experimental barracks of K.Z. Auschwitz, in Sector B.III of the
camp [a B.III. táborrészben], by the hand of Dr. Mengele.
Here occurs a situation unique in all the world in the history of medical
science! Twins die together, at the same time, and there is the possibility of
subjecting them both to an autopsy! Where in free life does the marvelous sit-
uation ever arise that twins should die together at the same time? Even twins
are separated by their life circumstances. Often they live at a great distance
from one another and they are not accustomed to die together, but rather one
dies at ten and the other at fifty, to speak by way of example. There is no pos-
sibility, thus, of a comparative autopsy! In the Auschwitz camp there are
many hundreds of twins, with many hundreds of possibilities!
For this Dr. Mengele separates out the twins and the dwarves while still on
the ramp. For this they go to the right, to the convalescence barracks! For this
their excellent provisions! For this they are able to wash themselves, so that
they should not die ahead of one another by contracting different diseases!
They must die in good health and at the same time!
The head Kapo of the Sonderkommando comes to me to report that an SS
soldier is waiting at the crematorium gate with a corpse-transport Kommando.
I go out to the waiting group. They are not permitted to enter the courtyard. I
receive the accompanying documents from the SS soldier. I take in hand the
dossier of two twins. The Kommando, which is made up of women, places a
blanket-covered stretcher before me. I lift the blanket. It covers the bodies of
two two-year-old twins. I call over two of my Sonderkommando men to carry
the bodies in and place them on the dissecting table.
I open the dossiers and leaf through them. State-of-the-art clinical exami-
nations, write-ups, photographs, X-rays and artistic drawings give back a clear
reflection of the little twins’ gemellological features. All that is missing is the
autopsy report! Preparing it is my job! The two little twins have died together!
They lie side by side on the big dissecting table! By their deaths, by the suffi-
cient laying bare of their little bodies [testecskéjük]52 through dissection, they
must reveal the secret of the multiplication of the race!
Promoting the multiplication of the superior race chosen for mastery is a
“worthy goal.” By such means perhaps one day every German woman will
bear twins!
The plan is madness! Its formulators are the sick-brained racial theorists of
the Third Reich. The performance of the experiments has been entrusted to the
52
Or perhaps “their minutest parts.” Hungarian testescke is a diminutive of test (“body”), but is also
used to mean “corpuscle.”
46 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
53
Printed thus in the original, including quotation marks. The correct German spelling would be
Kriminaldoktor; compare its appearance at the end of Chapter 15.
54
Literally “evil-doing doctor” (gonosztevőorvos). The compound Kriminaldoktor is not in regular
use, and indeed is not correct German, as the word Doktor is used as a title (e.g., “Doktor
Mengele”) but not as a generic word for “physician” (for which Arzt would be correct). However,
it appears that what Nyiszli (if only provisionally and ironically) intends here by the compound is
something like “forensic pathologist” (i.e., a medical professional specializing in criminal investi-
gation – in correct German, Gerichtsmediziner), in an analog of words like Kriminalbeamte (“po-
lice detective”) or Kriminalgericht (“criminal court”). He then deliberately mistranslates this in-
vented compound for his Hungarian readers, taking Kriminal- in its literal or basic sense – a prac-
tice which he continues to follow in his subsequent uses of the word below, whether spelling it
criminaldoctor or Kriminaldoktor.
55
The possessive ending here (fajteóriájuk) is for the third person plural (“their”). Presumably
Nyiszli intends to refer to National Socialists in general and not the Jews themselves.
56
Thus in the original. Nyiszli has presumably “normalized” the English spelling for his Hungarian
readers here.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 47
come across breathtaking surprises many times, but now a chilling fear runs
all through me. If Dr. Mengele were to suspect that I know the secret of the in-
jections [injekcióinak titkát], ten doctors of the political SS would be on hand
to determine my time of death!
According to orders, after the completion of the autopsy, I must hand over
the bodies to the crematorium men, who must then cremate them immediately.
The scientifically interesting parts I must keep, so that Dr. Mengele will be
able to view them. Things that might interest the anthropological institute in
Berlin-Dahlem I must preserve! They receive appropriate packaging for ship-
ping by mail, and in order that they be transmitted promptly, the package is
stamped with the words “Urgent, important war material.” I sent countless
such packages to Berlin-Dahlem during the course of my activity in the crem-
atorium, and I received replies about them with exhaustive scientific commen-
tary or instructions. I set up a separate dossier to keep the correspondence. In
their letters to Dr. Mengele they always expressed their grateful appreciation
for the rare material sent to them.
I perform autopsies on the other three pairs of twins as well. I assess the
anomalies discovered. The cause of death for these also is a chloroform injec-
tion to the heart. I make a curious observation. In three of the four pairs of
Gypsy twins, the eyes are differently colored! The one eye is blue, the other is
brown. This phenomenon occurs in non-twins as well, but in this case it can
be observed in six out of eight twins. Without question it is an interesting col-
lection of anomalies. In medical science this is called heterochromia, that is,
different-coloredness. I cut out the eyes, place them separately in formalin so-
lution, precisely note down their data so that they will not get mixed up to-
gether. During the autopsies I ran across another interesting finding among the
four pairs of twins. Pulling back the skin on both sides of the neck, I discover
a round, nut-sized abscess above the upper end of the sternum. I press it with
my forceps and a thick secretion of pus comes out. It is very rare, but it is a
symptom known to medical science. It is called a Dubois abscess, a symptom
of hereditary syphilis. It is present in all eight of the twins. I cut out the ab-
scessed parts in sano,57 that is, together with the surrounding healthy tissue.
These too go into a bottle of formalin. In two pairs of twins I also find active
cavernous tuberculosis. I put it all down in the protocols. Again I leave the
column for cause of death blank.
In the afternoon Dr. Mengele comes for a visit. I report to him about the
completed work. I hand over the protocols for the ten twins. He sits down,
reads them through carefully one by one. The phenomenon of heterochromia
in the eyes interests him greatly; the Dubois abscess interests him still more.
He instructs me that I should pack it all up for shipping, enclosing the proto-
57
Nyiszli uses a Hungarian equivalent of the traditional Latin tag: egészségesben (literally, “in
health”).
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 49
cols, but that I should fill in the columns for cause of death which have been
left empty. He leaves it to me! I may write in whatever I see fit, so long as
they are all different. Almost apologetically he remarks that these children, as
I myself was able to see, were infected with syphilis as well as tuberculosis;
they would not have been viable anyway, so… He says no more! With that he
has said everything. He has justified the killing of ten children. I make no
comment. I have accepted that in this medical environment tuberculosis is not
treated with pulmonary insufflation, nor syphilis with neosalvarsan, but rather
the patients are killed with a chloroform injection.
My hair almost stands on end when I think of all that I have accepted dur-
ing my brief life here and all that I must still accept, wordlessly, hereafter until
the end arrives for me as well. I knew it when I entered here, but now that I
am in possession of so many secrets, I have no doubt that I am a dead man
walking. Is it conceivable that Dr. Mengele or the Berlin-Dahlem Institute
should allow me to live?
Chapter IX
It is already getting on towards evening. Dr. Mengele has departed, I am alone
with my heavy thoughts. Moving almost mechanically I put the instruments
used in the autopsies back in their places, wash my hands, pass through into
the laboratory and, lighting a cigarette, sit down to relax a little.
A blood-curdling scream splits my brain. Immediately afterwards I hear a
muffled crack, then the heavy fall of a body. I listen intently, tensely awaiting
the minutes to follow. Another horrible scream, another crack, the heavy fall
of another body, not even a minute later. I count seventy dying screams, sev-
enty cracks, as many falls. Heavy footsteps move away, everything grows
still. The scene where the horrible tragedy has played out is a room next to the
dissection hall with a separate entrance from the foyer. It is a bare, half-dark
room with a concrete floor. An iron-barred window looks out on the back
courtyard. I use it as a mortuary chamber. I keep the corpses there until it’s
their turn to be autopsied, and I place them there after autopsy too until they
are cremated. Heaped before the entrance to the room in a pile on the floor lie
dirty, tattered women’s clothing, battered wooden clogs, eyeglasses, stale
pieces of bread, typical personal effects of women in the K.Z. I enter the
room. I was prepared for a rather extraordinary sight after what I had heard,
but a horrifying picture unfolds before my eyes as I look around the half-
darkened room. The bloodied remains of seventy young, naked female bodies
lie before me. The bodies lie every which way, slumped over one another,
covered in one another’s blood. I move closer and with still greater horror I
see that not everyone who is lying here is dead! Some among them are still
alive, they make slow movements with their arms and legs and keep trying to
lift their bloodied heads, eyes opened wide.
50 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
I lift one of the still-moving heads, then a second one, then a third, and it is
clear to me that apart from cyclon gas [ciklongáz] and chloroform injection,
there is also a third form of mortality here, the shot to the back of the neck!
The entrance hole reveals that it originates from a 6-millimeter, so-called
small-caliber weapon; there is no exit-wound hole. This suggests a soft lead
bullet. These can flatten out inside the skull so much that they remain inside.
Sadly, I am an expert; within minutes I take everything in and clearly see the
situation in all its horror. I am no longer surprised either that the small-caliber
bullets did not cause immediate death for all the victims, even though the
shots were fired from a distance of 3-4 centimeters, as the burns on the skin
show, straight in the direction of the brain stem. It appears the gun was off by
1-2 millimeters, and thus it did not cause immediate death.
I take that in too, but I do not think about it. I am afraid I will go mad. I go
out into the courtyard. I ask one of the Sonderkommando where the seventy
unfortunates came from. They are the selected [kiszelektáltjai] from camp sec-
tion C, he replies, every evening at seven a truck brings seventy over. They all
get a shot to the back of the neck.
With a heavy head, almost dazed, I walk along the gravel paths of the
green-lawned crematorium courtyard. I watch the Sonderkommando’s evening
roll call. At the moment there is no change of shift for the night. Crematorium
I is not in service today. I look across: the chimneys of Crematoria II, III and
IV are spewing forth flames [lángot szórnak].
It is still too early for dinner. The Sonderkommando men bring out a regu-
lation soccer ball. The teams take the field, “SS versus SK.” The crematori-
um’s SS guards stand on one side, the Sonderkommando on the other. They
kick the ball. The sound of hearty laughter fills the courtyard. The audience,
made up of SS and Sonderkommando men, root for their sides, cheering the
players on like they were at a peaceful small-town sports ground. Astounded, I
take this in too, but I do not wait for the end of the game. I retire to my room. I
eat my dinner and get to sleep with two 0.10 [sic]58 tablets of Luminal. I was
in great need of it in order to do so. I sensed that I was on the verge of nervous
collapse. Luminal-induced sleep is the best antidote!
Chapter X
In the morning I wake up a little dazed. I pass through into the neighboring
room, furnished with a shower bath, and for half an hour I allow the icy water
of the Vistula to wash over me. I feel it doing good for my shattered nerves.
My Luminal daze disappears as well. How orderly these Germans are! Here at
the disposal of the Sonderkommando stands a white-tiled, ten-man shower
58
Nyiszli does not name a unit; presumably he means grams.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 51
bath. Those who work with corpses must wash themselves frequently. Bathing
twice a day is mandatory, everyone does it with pleasure.
I carry with me my elegant doctor’s bag. A Sonderkommando man brought
it for me from the undressing room, from the pile of clothing of some doctor
colleague of mine gone to his death by gas. Inside are a blood-pressure gauge,
a stethoscope, fine-quality syringes, instruments, injections necessary for first
aid. I can make very good use of it in outside practice. Here outside practice
means the four crematoria. I begin my rounds here! I take a turn first through
the SS quarters [SS. szállást], I examine anyone who comes forward. There
are always a few! Here everyone eagerly reports sick for 3-4 days so they may
rest up a little after their demanding service. However, there are more serious
cases as well! The treatment of the sick encounters no difficulties, for in the
matter of medicine supplies we can compete with the best pharmacy in Berlin.
There is a separate Kommando here whose task is to open the hand luggage of
the transports who go to the gas chambers, before it is shipped out together
with the clothes and shoes, and to collect any medicines found there to hand
over to me. I put them in order, grouping them according to their effects. It’s a
big job, for the transports arriving from various countries of Europe bring with
them their own medicines, and these thus are fitted with labels in the respec-
tive countries’ languages. I have a lot of trouble with the ones in Greek,
Polish, Czech and Dutch. As a curiosity, I note that the large majority of the
drugs found with the transports belong in some way to the class of sedatives.
This typifies the nervous condition of Europe’s persecuted Jewry.
After I finish my patient rounds in the SS quarters, I go up to the Sonder-
kommando quarters. Here I have to look after a few burns. They are a com-
mon occurrence among the stokers. Organic diseases proper do not turn up
much among the men of the Sonderkommando. Their beds and clothing are
clean, their food is good, one could even say excellent. Besides, they are all
carefully selected young men of robust physique. More common are psycho-
logical cases. The horrifying consciousness that their own brothers and sisters,
their wives, their children, their aged parents and their entire people are per-
ishing here, that every day they drag thousands of dead bodies in front of the
cremation furnaces and thrust them into the cremation muffles [hamvasztósze-
krényekbe], provokes serious psychological depression and melancholy. Eve-
ryone here has a past which he thinks on with pain and a future which he
thinks on with terror. The future of a Sonderkommando is a period which can
be expressed in very brief units. According to the experience of four years, a
Sonderkommando lives for four months. Once these have passed, a large de-
tachment of the political SS appears one day and herds the men of the
Sonderkommando into the rear courtyard of the crematorium. A burst of gun-
fire, and half an hour later the newly established Sonderkommando arrives.
They strip the clothes from their dead colleagues, and within another hour all
52 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
that remains of the latter is a pile of ashes. Their first job is the cremation of
their predecessors.
On every occasion when I do patient rounds in their quarters, there are al-
ways a few who call me aside and ask me for a rapid, surely lethal poison. I
refuse them all. Today, however, I regret having done so. They all died, rapid-
ly and surely, just as they wanted to die, but not by their own hands, as would
have been better, but rather at the hands of their executioners!
Chapter XI
The next stop on my patient rounds is Crematorium number II. A meadow
path and the dead-end tracks of the “Jews’ ramp” [zsidórámpa] separate it
from Crematorium Number I. The building is constructed following exactly
the same plan as number I. The undressing room, the gas chamber, the crema-
tion hall, the SS quarters and the Sonderkommando quarters all match number
I; only the room corresponding to the dissection hall is occupied here by a
gold refinery [aranyöntöde]. Everything collected in the four crematoria
winds up here, gold teeth, jewelry, gold coins, precious stones, platinum ob-
jects, cigarette cases, as well as every object made of a precious metal which
is gathered from the clothing and luggage or off the bodies of the transports.
Three goldsmiths work here. They first sterilize, then classify the jewelry.
They remove the precious stones. Thus prepared it goes into the smelter. The
weight in pure gold of the gold teeth and jewelry “extracted” from the four
crematoria and smelted here each day is 30-35 kilograms [30-35 kiló].
Casting takes place in a disk-shaped graphite form about five centimeters
in diameter. The weight of one gold disk is 140 grams. I know exactly. I
weighed it myself on the dissection-hall scale.
The dentists who remove the teeth from the corpses lying before the fur-
naces do not throw every gold bridge or tooth into the bucket filled with hy-
drochloric acid, but rather a part thereof, sometimes more, sometimes less, ac-
cordingly as the SS guards draw near to or move away from the work site,
winds up in their pockets. The same thing is done with jewelry, precious
stones sewn into clothing and gold coins by the Kommando that works in the
undressing room as they glean valuables from the hand baggage and clothing
left behind. This is a very risky, indeed life-risking operation, for the SS
guards are present everywhere and they keep strict watch over the valuables
that have come into the Third Reich’s possession, especially over precious
stones and gold.
At first I did not have a firm opinion on the moral and legal propriety of
the Sonderkommando’s gold acquisitions, but after a few days, once I became
better acquainted with the situation, I acknowledged the Sonderkommando as
the rightful owners and heirs of any gold that arrives here.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 53
The men of the Sonderkommando brought the gold they acquired to the
smelter too. Even the most stringent surveillance still left a way for them to
get it in and then back out into their hands again as 140-gram disks. More dif-
ficult was the operation of actually using the gold, that is, its fair exchange for
value. No one ever entertained the idea that one might save gold here, for eve-
ry one of them was a dead man walking with a four-month term! Yet four
months is horribly long in this situation! To be sentenced to death and to carry
out such work is a situation that wears down body and soul and drives many to
madness! One must make life easier, more bearable for this brief period! Even
here that can be had with gold.
Thus arose among the first Sonderkommando, and thus remains even today
among the twelfth, a new instrument of exchange, the 140-gram gold disk. In
the smelter there is no smaller graphite crucible, so there is no smaller gold
disk either. What the price of the purchased items would be in the outside
world is of no significance here, for he who gives the gold has already forfeit-
ed his life when he entered here, and he who gives something in return for the
gold puts his life in play twice: the first time when, passing through the four-
fold SS guard chain [a négysoros SS. őrláncon] which surrounds the K.Z., he
brings in items hard to get even outside and only obtainable with a [ration]
ticket, the second time when he carries the gold out through the guard chain.
As upon entering, so upon leaving, there are searches.
The gold thus travels up to the crematorium gates in the pockets of one of
the Sonderkommando men. There it stops! The Kommando man goes to the SS
man who is standing guard, exchanges a few words with him. The latter turns
and moves away from the gate. A group made up of 20-25 Polish track work-
ers with a foreman is working on the railway line that runs in front of the
crematorium. At a nod of the head, the foreman quickly brings over a folded
bag, takes away the piece of gold, wrapped in paper. The bag is inside the
gate. The railway man has a new order for the next day.
The Sonderkommando man goes to the guardhouse beside the gate. He
takes a hundred cigarettes and a bottle of schnapps from the bag. The SS man
enters the hut. He quickly pockets the bottle and the cigarettes and is content,
for the SS get only two cigarettes per day, and no schnapps at all. However,
cigarettes and schnapps are a much needed stimulant and narcotic drug here.
The SS smoke and drink. So do the Sonderkommando as well. By this route
all sorts of necessary goods flow in, principally butter, ham, onions and eggs.
The transports do not bring such things. Gold procurement happens on a col-
lective basis, so distribution of the smuggled goods happens collectively as
well. The crematorium commander as well as the other non-commissioned of-
ficers all get their share of cigarettes, schnapps and food in abundance. Every-
one acts as if they know nothing of anything, indeed they do not want to, for
there’s advantage in it for everyone. The SS guards in the crematorium are
very easy to handle one by one. They are afraid only of one another. The
54 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Sonderkommando will not sell anyone out, of that they are sure. It is for this
reason that the Sonderkommando’s agent hands over the cigarettes, schnapps
and food allotted to the SS to each of them individually, one on one.
By the same route every morning the Völkischer Beobachter,59 the Third
Reich’s official newspaper, arrives at the gate. Again, a railway foreman
brings it. The price of subscription is one piece of gold. Anyone who will
bring a newspaper into the K.Z. for a prisoner for 30 days has earned it.
Ever since I’ve been in the crematorium I have received the paper. I read it
through in a secure hiding place and relate the daily news to the Kommando
clerk. He passes it along to his comrades. Within a few minutes everyone
knows the latest events.
The Sonderkommando are the nobility of the K.Z. They sleep in a heated,
airy, clean room, on clean beds with soft pillows, under warm blankets, they
have excellent provisions and excellent clothes. They have plenty to smoke
and eat. Consequently they do not become brutalized like the people wallow-
ing among the lice in the filthy boxes [bokszaiban]60 of the camp, driven wild
by hunger, who tear at each other with their teeth over a dropped piece of
bread or half a potato.
They are noble in their behavior as well. They give something to everyone
they come near. For days now a 500-member female road-building Komman-
do has been working in front of the gate. Two SS men and 3-4 bloodhounds
guard them. They carry stones for the road. Some men of the Sonderkomman-
do, with the permission of their own guards at the gate, make contact with the
guards of the women’s Kommando, passing a case of cigarettes across to
them. Everything is arranged! Three or four of the women come up to our gate
with pieces of stone in their hands as if they were working there, and receive
the sweaters, shoes and pieces of clothing prepared for them. They also get
cigarettes, bread, smoked lard. Group by group, the women come to the gate,
group by group the Sonderkommando men hand out the gifts. This is a duty of
honor. No one knows any of the women, yet hundreds of pieces of clothing,
stockings, sweaters and cigarettes and soap are there for them to happily take
away, only to repeat the scene the next day. In the crematorium’s gigantic
storeroom [a krematórium óriasi raktárában] there are plenty of clothes,
shoes, stockings! I would place the number of those whom the Sonderkom-
mando helps in the thousands. Nor do I hold back from the action myself. I
stuff my pockets with vitamin tablets, sulfamide powder for wounds, bandag-
es, vials of tincture of iodine, I hasten back to my room three times, four
times, to refill my emptied pockets with these precious, life-saving materials
and deliver them to those who are so much in need of them.
59
In German in the original.
60
See Note 30 above.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 55
Chapter XII
I have a Petit Larousse61 dictionary as well, in the map section of which I look
up the place names that I read in the newspaper. Sitting in my room I study the
situation on the western, southern and eastern fronts. Heavy steps approach; I
quickly turn the page with the map on it. I look expectantly toward the door.
My visitor is the commander of the crematorium. He tells me that an im-
portant commission is arriving at two o’clock this afternoon; the dissection
hall should be made ready!
A lacquer-black, closed funeral hearse arrives first. It brings the deceased,
the body of an SS captain. I have them place it on the dissecting table just as it
is, in uniform.
The commission arrives at precisely the appointed time, all high-ranking
officers in splendid uniforms. An SS doctor with the rank of colonel, a prose-
cutor, an examining magistrate, two inspectors from the Gestapo and a mili-
tary court clerk make up the commission’s membership. A few minutes later
Dr. Mengele arrives.
I offer seats to the officers. They engage in a brief discussion. The inspec-
tors present the circumstances of the body’s discovery. The gunshot wounds
testify to murder or assassination. The dead officer’s pistol, still hanging in its
holster on his belt, excludes the possibility of suicide.
One might assume murder by a fellow officer, or by a subordinate who had
a grudge for some reason. Still, the possibility of assassination, which is a
common enough partisan activity in majority-Polish Gleiwitz and its sur-
roundings, comes more readily to mind.
61
A French publisher of dictionaries. In French in the original.
56 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
The autopsy must determine, did the shot come from in front or behind?
what type and what caliber of weapon was used? from what distance did the
murder or assassination occur?
At the moment there is no forensic pathologist in Gleiwitz. As a result the
corpse has been brought to the crematorium’s dissection hall for the perfor-
mance of the autopsy. The distance between Auschwitz and Gleiwitz is just 40
kilometers. This is the closest [facility].
I took part in the commission’s discussion at a respectful distance as a lis-
tener, and waited with the patience of a K.Z. prisoner for Dr. Mengele’s in-
structions.
That it might be permitted to me, a detainee in the K.Z., a Jewish prisoner,
to contaminate by my touch the corpse of an SS officer, let alone to dissect it,
I did not even dare to dream. After all, in this time of racial laws, even in my
civilian life, I was banned from the medical treatment of Christian, or rather,
Aryan patients.
I am very surprised, therefore, when Dr. Mengele turns to me and orders
me to perform the autopsy. First of all one must undress the corpse, which is
not an easy operation. In particular, pulling off the boots is a two-man job. I
ask permission to call some people to carry this out. The commission keeps up
a lively conversation and only absent-mindedly observes the undressing.
With the first incisions I must overcome a feeling of inferiority and stage
fright. I make a transverse incision across the scalp and with rapid movements
I pull one half over the corpse’s face, the other below the neck. After that fol-
lows the more difficult task of sawing around and removing the top of the
skull. The prescribed incisions proceed one after another in quick succession.
Next in order is the examination of the two gunshot wounds. In every gun-
shot injury two wounds are produced if the projectile passes through the body:
the entrance wound and the exit wound. In the majority of cases they are easi-
ly distinguishable by specialists since the entrance wound is smaller than the
exit wound. In the present case two exactly uniformly sized wounds are pre-
sent, one below the left nipple and one at the top edge of the scapular region
of the back.
The case is starting to become complicated and thus interesting. What
could the reason be for the uniformity of the entrance and exit wounds? This
is a circumstance in contradiction to practical experience, there must be an ex-
planation for it. Dr. Mengele suddenly raises a possibility. Perhaps it was not
one shot that passed through the body, but rather two shots, one from in front
and one from behind, or vice versa. That might have happened if, after the
first shot, he received the second shot while fallen and lying on the ground.
The bullets never exited, so there are two entering shots, and hence two uni-
form wounds. A very natural conclusion. It must be tested. To that end I ex-
plore the wound canal. The shot, having passed through the myocardium and
grazed the left side of the spinal column, proceeded at a 35-degree angle to the
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 57
top surface of the left scapula where, breaking off a small piece, it exited the
body. – The situation is perfectly clear! There was one shot, in all probability
from the front, since the wound canal proceeds at a 35-degree angle upwards
from below, from front to back. The surface wounds are the same because in
its trajectory the bullet grazed the spinal column, broke off a piece from the
scapula and, thus spent, did not tear a larger wound when it exited the body.
No one shoots downwards from above at a 35-degree angle! To fire a shot
like that one would have to raise one’s arm straight up. That’s too complicat-
ed. Nor did a partisan do it. There’d be no point, they can shoot straight. It
thus is clear to me that the shot did not come from behind but rather from in
front, from a revolver pointed upward at close range by an acquaintance or
stranger who stopped him in his path for some reason. That, however, is a
matter for further investigation. It seems that they are satisfied with even that
much, indeed they declare that from now on all autopsy cases will be sent here
for the purpose of evaluation.
They find that a very convenient and sound solution. Following this autop-
sy I thus became K.Z. forensic pathologist charged with performing forensic
medical duties for the Gleiwitz district. Such a position could exist nowhere
else in the world!
Chapter XIII
Early one morning orders come to me by telephone that I should immediately
proceed to the pyre and bring the medicines and eyeglasses gathered there to
Crematorium I; from there, after sorting, they will be shipped out.
The pyre [máglya] lies behind the little birch forest of Birkenau [a birke-
naui kis nyírfaerdő], at a distance of five to six hundred meters from Cremato-
rium IV [a krema IV-től öt-hatszáz méter távolságra] in a clearing surrounded
by a stand of firs [egy fenyőerdővel körülvett tisztáson]. It lies outside the
K.Z.’s electrical fences, between the first and second guard chain. My free-
dom of movement does not extend out there. I ask for written permission at
the office [irodában]. I obtain a Passierschein62 valid for three people. I’m
taking with me, namely, two men who will assist me in bringing the packages
here. We start off in the direction of the thickly billowing, dense, black col-
umn of smoke. Everyone whom misfortune has brought to this place sees this
column of smoke. It is visible from every part of the camp. The terrified gaze
of all who descend from the wagons and line up for selection immediately
falls upon it. It was visible every hour of the day and night. During the day it
covered the sky above the Birkenau woods like a dense cloud; at night it lit up
the surroundings as if it were the flames of hell.
62
“Exit pass.” In German in the original.
58 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
63
In Hungarian in original: “Ezen terülétre a belépés idegennek, sőt idegen SS személyeknek is
szigorúan tiltva van.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 59
sistance. They are so paralyzed by numbness and fear that perhaps they do not
even know what is happening to them. Such, in large part, are the elderly and
children. However, there are young people who wind up here too. They try to
resist with all the desperate strength of their instinct for self-preservation. If
Moll notices such a scene along the line of the human conveyor belt he draws
his gun from his always-open holster. A loud shot, often at a distance of 40-50
meters away, and the troublemaker drops, dead, from the Sonderkommando’s
hands. Moll counts as a master shot. He has shot through the arm of many a
Sonderkommando man if he has been dissatisfied with his work, but always
only the arm, all without any shout or prior warning.
The daily capacity of the two pyres is 5,000-6,000 dead [a két máglya napi
teljesítménye 5-6 ezer halott], a little more than a crematorium’s, but the death
of those who wind up here is a hundred thousand times [százezerszer] worse.
They die a double death here, death by a shot to the back of the neck and
death by fire.
After death by gas, by chloroform injection and by a shot to the back of the
neck, this is the fourth type of death which I have encountered, the combined
death [a kombinált halál].
I gather up the medicines and eyeglasses left behind. With my brain in a
fog, with legs trembling with emotion, I start for “home,” Crematorium I,
which to use Dr. Mengele’s words, “is no sanatorium, but a man gets on quite
tolerably there.” After the pyre, he’s absolutely right!
Arriving home, I head for my room. I do not group the medicines today, I
do not organize the eyeglasses. I take some Luminal and go to bed. Today’s
dose of Luminal is 30 centigrams. Perhaps it will be effective against pyre
disease.
Chapter XIV
The next day I awaken to be witness to another incident. Every day here has
its incident, some horror never imagined by me before. I hear from one of the
Sonderkommando men – they know everything – that there is a complete bar-
racks lockdown [teljes barakkzárlat] in the K.Z., which means that not a soul
can leave the barracks. The SS soldiers and their police dogs make sure of
this, for today they are liquidating the Czech section of the camp.
The Czech camp was formed from fifteen thousand people brought here
from the Theresienstadt ghetto. It had the character of a family camp, like the
Gypsy camp. They did not undergo selection upon their arrival. Old, young,
children, all in their own clothes, they were able to live a difficult but still tol-
erable life together. They performed no work.
Thus they had lived for two years [két évig], until the moment of destruc-
tion arrived for them too. K.Z. Auschwitz is an extermination camp! It is only
a question of time when the final hour will strike for its inhabitants.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 61
One after another, the Hungarian Jewish transports arrive at the ramp. It of-
ten happens that two trains will arrive together and pour forth from their in-
sides thousands of people.
What Dr. Mengele does at the ramp cannot even be called selection any-
more. His arm moves in only one direction. To the left! Entire trains [egész
vonatok] thus go, without remainder, into the gas chambers or onto the pyres.
The quarantine camp, Camp C, Camp D, the Fkl64 sector, all are crammed
with people despite the daily transports of thousands [többezres] heading out
to other, more distant camps.
The elderly of the Czech camp, its youth, weakened by the sufferings of
two years passed in the K.Z., even its children, wasted away to skin and
bones, now had to give up their places to new arrivals capable of work.
There had already been a worsening in their situation in the preceding
weeks. Their food rations had to be reduced after the arrival of the first Hun-
garian transports, and a few weeks later, when huge crowds now filled the
camp and their provisioning confronted the camp commanders with an almost
impossible task, provisioning of the Czech camp ceased almost entirely.
They were truly mad with hunger! Their systems, already so weakened
otherwise, fell apart completely in days. Diarrhea, dysentery and petechial ty-
phus decimated them! Every day they had 50-60 dead. This intelligent people
lived through indescribable suffering in the last few days until the hour of lib-
eration arrived for them, the hour of annihilation!
The barracks lockdown was declared already from early morning across
the whole area of the camp. Several companies of SS soldiers surrounded the
Czech camp and forced the people to form ranks. As they were loaded onto
trucks, the screaming of those awaiting transport was terrible to hear. They
knew what was awaiting them; they had lived for two years in the K.Z. The
number of inhabitants in the Czech camp on the day of the liquidation was
twelve thousand. Fifteen hundred men and women still capable of work and
eight doctors were selected out from among them; the rest ended up in Crema-
toria II and III. The next day, the Czech camp, inhabited for two years, was
deserted. In Crematoria II and III also everything was still. I saw a truck load-
ed with ashes pull out from the crematorium and make its way in the direction
of the Vistula River.
The camp’s numbers had been reduced by ten thousand heads, and the K.Z.
archives had been increased by one piece of paper. On the piece of paper
stood a brief report: “The section of Concentration Camp Auschwitz inhabited
by Czechs, the so-called Czech camp, has been liquidated due to a high inci-
64
Abbreviation in the original. It stands for Frauenkonzentrationslager, or “women’s concentration
camp.”
62 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Chapter XV
Located next to the Czech camp is Camp C, the camp for Hungarian women;
the number of its inhabitants often reaches 60,000, despite the transports trans-
ferred each day to more-distant camps. In this overcrowded camp it happened
one day that the doctors found symptoms of scarlet fever among a few of the
inhabitants of one of the barracks. On Dr. Mengele’s orders, this barracks as
well as the ones lying to its left and right were placed under lockdown. The
barracks lockdown lasted from morning to evening, when trucks arrived and
took the inhabitants of all three barracks to the crematorium. Such were the ef-
fective measures ordered by Dr. Mengele for containing the spread of epidem-
ic disease.
The Czech camp and the three barracks of Camp C thus fell victim to Dr.
Mengele’s actions to contain the epidemic. Fortunately, the barracks doctors
caught on in good time, and if an infectious disease raised its head anywhere,
they were careful not to bring it to the attention of the SS medical authorities.
If possible, they hid such patients in some out-of-the-way box30 in the bar-
racks and cared for them according to the meager means available, but they
did not refer them to the hospital because there the SS doctors check the pa-
tients every day, and the emergence of an infectious disease could bring on the
complete liquidation of the patient’s respective barracks, as well as 2-3 of the
neighboring barracks. In the medical jargon of the SS, this method is known
as broad-based epidemic containment. The result of an action is 1-2 truckloads
of ashes. During my time as a public-health official at home, I too used this
65
Signature in German in original. Hauptsturmführer is an SS rank equivalent to captain; I. here is a
Roman numeral, the period indicating that the number is used as an ordinal (“first”); Lagerarzt
means “camp physician.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 63
66
An older name for typhoid fever, a waterborne disease distinct from typhus, which is spread by
lice. Nyiszli uses hastífusz and tífusz (“typhus”) indistinguishably in discussing the disease in the
paragraphs that follow.
64 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
ing to me he expressed his opinion that those women doctors who commit
such serious errors in the diagnosis of illnesses would be of far greater use to
the K.Z. carrying rocks than in the hospital where, as a result of incorrect di-
agnoses, patients who might have been saved end up dying.
He takes the autopsy protocol with him, but before he places it in his brief-
case he writes a note on the margin of the file. I am standing behind his back;
I read over his shoulder: Rücksprache m. Aerztinnen,67 which freely translated
means, calling to account of the women doctors. I regret very much that I
quite innocently have put my female colleagues in a difficult situation, for in-
deed they produced a magnificent diagnosis. Now they could lose their posts
and wind up in a road construction Kommando doing hard physical labor. I
will be the cause of it all should Dr. Mengele carry out his threat.
I’m too self-critical! I admit, I have violated the medical ethics in force be-
yond the electrified barbed wire. I have placed two or three people in a diffi-
cult situation. However, on what sort of “broad base” might Dr. Mengele have
carried out his usual methods of typhus-epidemic containment had I not done
so?
The next day I receive reassuring news regarding the women doctors. Doc-
tor Mengele chewed them out; nothing else happened. They continued to do
their jobs. Plenty of corpses still came to me with plenty of patient records,
but after that not one had the box for diagnosis filled in. I wanted it that way
myself; it was for the best.
Dr. Mengele’s indignation over the fact that it was not possible to save the
lives of two unfortunate women on account of a mistaken diagnosis troubled
me for days afterward. Such cynicism coupled with such evil, in a man who is
a doctor! More than a doctor, an evil-doing doctor, a Kriminaldoktor!68
Chapter XVI
One morning I receive a message from Dr. Mengele that I am to join him im-
mediately at the Camp “F” commandant’s office. I obey the order with pleas-
ure. For a few hours I can free myself from the oppressive atmosphere of the
crematorium. A little walking would not hurt. After the stench of the dissec-
tion hall and the crematorium, the fresh air will do me good. It fills me with
pleasure as well that I will be able to reacquaint myself with my Camp “F”
colleagues, who were so kind to me when I was their guest during the first
days of my K.Z. career. I prepare for the trip, an act which consists of stuffing
my pockets with valuable medicines and grabbing a few packages of ciga-
rettes. I do not want to visit my former lodgings, Hospital Barracks 12, with
empty pockets. That would not do for a Sonderkommando man.
67
In German in the original. Literally translated, “consultation with [the] women doctors.”
68
In German in the original. See Note 54 above.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 65
I pass through the crematorium’s iron gate; the guard standing there rec-
ords my number, I set off in the direction of Camp “F.” I do not hurry; I want
to enjoy this short outing. As I pass along the wire of the “FKL” women’s
camp, I see thousands upon thousands of women coming and going among the
camp’s barracks. They are all alike and repulsive with their shaved heads and
tattered clothing. I think of my wife and my 15-year-old daughter, the rich
curls of their wavy hair and their clothes, carefully planned in long family dis-
cussions. It is already three months [három hónapja] since we parted from
each other on the ramp! What has happened to them since then? Did they stay
together? Are they still here in some part of the K.Z. Auschwitz women’s
camp, or have they gone on to some more-distant camp of the Third Reich?
Three months is a long time! In the K.Z. it is an immensely long time, and yet
I somehow feel they are here, but where? Which is the wire fence, among so
many, that keeps them imprisoned? A difficult question. Wherever my eyes
look, it is nothing but barbed wire to the horizon here, plus concrete posts and
warning signs. The whole K.Z. is nothing but barbed wire, the whole of Ger-
many is nothing but a barbed-wire fence, a giant K.Z.
I arrive before the gate of Camp “F.” A Blockführerstube,69 that is, a camp
guard office, controls entrance at the gate. A rough-faced SS NCO and a pri-
vate are on duty here. I walk up to the guardroom’s little window, roll up the
sleeve of my jacket, and in regulation form announce my number – ”A-8450”
– the number on my tattoo. As I roll up my sleeve one can see I have a wrist-
watch, the wearing of which counted as one of the most serious of crimes in
the K.Z.; however, I have permission from Dr. Mengele, I need it for my
work. Like an angry tiger, the SS NCO comes springing out of the guardroom
and in a hoarse roar demands to know at once what am I looking for in Camp
“F” and how dare I wear a wristwatch? Three months in the crematorium is a
real education! I stand unflinching and, looking him right in the eye, I re-
spond: “I am not looking for anything here, I’m coming to the camp on the
orders of Dr. Mengele. He wants to speak to me, but if it’s not possible to en-
ter then I will return to the crematorium and telephone him.”
Dr. Mengele’s name is a magical name! Everyone is afraid of him. My SS
man becomes tame again in an instant, and he asks politely, how long would I
like to stay in the camp? He has to write it down, you see. I look at my watch
– no comment from him now – it shows 10 o’clock. “I will stay until 2 p.m.,
until I finish the job for Dr. Mengele,” I say, and taking from my pocket a
package of twenty cigarettes I give him a few out of it so he’ll have something
to smoke till I get back! He accepts them happily. Now we salute one another
quite amicably, he all but tells me that he’d be glad to see me again.
69
In German in the original. Literally, the room (Stube) of the Blockführer, the non-commissioned
SS officer in charge of a single barracks (Block) of prisoners.
66 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
At any rate, Dr. Mengele’s name, the crematorium and the cigarettes have
worked their effect on the SS slave. Now I can spend a couple of hours in the
company of my colleagues undisturbed. First, however, I must get done with
Dr. Mengele.
I enter the commandant’s barracks; I wait in the anteroom until the man on
duty asks me what errand brings me there? He indicates a door, I pass through
it into a well-furnished study. The walls are covered with charts which show
the population make-up of the K.Z. at various periodic intervals. On one wall
is a photograph of a bespectacled Himmler, a large rotogravure print in an or-
nate frame. Three men are sitting in the room, Dr. Mengele, Hauptsturmführer
Dr. Thilo, chief surgeon, and Obersturmführer Dr. Wolff,70 chief of internal
medicine. Dr. Mengele explains to Dr. Wolff, who has not met me before, that
I am the crematorium’s forensic pathologist. Wolff begins to talk to me. He
tells me that he is very interested in anatomical pathology and would have
gone to the crematorium before now to watch an interesting autopsy here or
there, but he has not had the time for it. Now, however, he is working on a
most significant scientific study; indeed he has summoned me precisely so he
can discuss it with me. In the camp, he explains, chronic diarrhea is terribly
common and has a 90% fatality rate. Clinically speaking he is thoroughly
versed in the course of the disease; he has performed many thousands of ex-
aminations to date. He keeps extremely precise records of them. His work,
however, is not yet perfected, for along with clinical examination during the
processing of a large patient cohort, an indispensable condition for it is the
anatomopathological processing of large numbers of individual corpses dead
from diarrhea. Everything is clear to me now. So Dr. Wolff too is a research-
er? Amid the atmosphere of steaming blood and crematorium smoke at K.Z.
Auschwitz, he too wants to profit from the disease symptoms of the many
hundreds of thousands [sokszázezer] of shrunken, 30-kilogram human wrecks
stricken with diarrhea, and through the autopsy of large numbers of corpses he
wants to reveal those internal manifestations of the disease that have to date
remained elusive to medical science.
Dr. Mengele wants to reveal the secret of the propagation of the species
through the processing of the unlimited human material available, namely,
twin material. Dr. Wolff researches the causes of diarrhea. And yet these
causes are known to all. The recipe for producing diarrhea is as follows. Take
a person, a woman or man or an innocent growing child, tear them from their
home, put a hundred of them in a freight wagon, and having plundered them
of everything they own send them on a journey, after six weeks in a ghetto,
with a single bucket of stagnant water to Auschwitz, then cram them with
thousands of others into barracks originally designed as stables for horses,
give them 700 calories per day of moldy bread made from horse chestnuts
70
No doctor of this name is recorded in contemporary documents.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 67
Chapter XVII
One after another, the corpses of Obersturmführer Dr. Wolff’s dead diarrhea
patients go under the scalpel. I have reached the thirtieth autopsy already; I
summarize the results of my work so far. In every case, the mucous membrane
of the stomach displays an inflammatory process, the consequence of which is
the burning out, or rather complete atrophy, of the glands which excrete diges-
tive juices, and stomach acid in particular. In the absence of digestive juice
there is no digestion, but worse, there is fermentation! As the result of my
second observation I note the inflamed condition of the mucous membranes of
the small intestine, together with a complete thinning out of the intestinal wall.
My third observation concerns the most important digestive juice in the small
intestine, bile, an indispensable factor in the digestion of fats. Upon opening
68 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
the gall bladder, in place of yellow-green bile I find a colorless, slimy liquid;
it scarcely tints the stool; it is incapable of fulfilling its digestive function. My
fourth observation is the inflammation of the mucous membranes of the large
intestine and the complete atrophy of the intestinal walls, their thinning and
fragility, like cigarette paper. These are no longer digestive channels, but ra-
ther sewage channels: if something is poured in above, it exits below a few
minutes later. These observations constitute, in broad terms comprehensible to
laypersons, my findings. A very monotonous, uninteresting job! That much is
my business! The bacteriological tests are probably carried out by an institute
established in the town of Reisgau71 some two to three kilometers from the
crematorium, which is known officially as the “Institute for Hygiene and Bac-
teriology of the Waffen-SS” and where one of my companions in misfortune,
the celebrated Professor Dr. Mansfeld,72 a teacher at the Bacteriological Insti-
tute at the University of Pecs, is in charge of operations.
Chapter XVIII
I am taking my afternoon break in my room when Oberscharführer Mussfeld
opens the door and enters pushing three unfamiliar men in prison garb before
him. He informs me that I am getting some new colleagues from Dr. Mengele
and, extending an arm toward them, casts a pitying glance on the unfortunate
fellows.
The poor fellows are a pitiable sight as they stand there in their dirty pris-
oners’ clothes, in a silence born of deadly numbness, abashed by the novelty
of the environment. They too immediately realized the hopelessness of their
situation as they passed through the gate to the building.
I extend a friendly hand to them; we introduce ourselves. The first whose
hand I shake is Dr. Görög Dénes, a private university lecturer and pathologist
at the State Public Hospital of Szombathely. He is a short, thin man of about
forty-five years of age who wears thick glasses. He makes a good impression
on me. I have the feeling that we will be good friends. The second is a short,
stocky individual of about fifty years of age, with a hunched back and a very
ugly face. He is Fischer Adolf,73 autopsy assistant for twenty years at the Pra-
gue Institute of Anatomy. As a Czech Jew, he has been an inmate of the K.Z.
for five years already. The third is Dr. Körner Józef, a physician from Nice,
inmate of the K.Z. for four years already. A taciturn but qualified young man,
he is only thirty-two years old.
In order to facilitate the rapid completion of the expanded work, Dr.
Mengele has fished them out of the filthy barracks of Camp “D” and sent
71
In German in the original; no such town exists. Nyiszli has mistaken Polish “Rajsko” (“Raisko”),
the name of a village some three kilometers southwest of Auschwitz, for a German name.
72
Gezar Mansfeld, doctor at the Häftlingskrankenbau (inmate infirmary) of Camp Section BIIf.
73
Nyiszli gives the three men’s names Hungarian-style, last name first.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 69
Chapter XIX
I have finished my morning rounds visiting patients. In all four of the crema-
toria operations are in full swing. Last night they burned the Greek Jewry of
the Mediterranean island of Corfu, one of the oldest faith communities in Eu-
rope. For twenty-seven days [huszonhét napi] they were hauled along, first on
barges, then in closed freight cars, without food or water. When they arrived
at the ramp of Auschwitz extermination camp and the wagons were opened so
that they could disembark and line up for selection, no one got out! Half of
them were dead and the other half were in a state of unconsciousness, dying.
The entire transport, right to the last man, went to Crematorium II. All night
long the plant worked at full capacity. In the morning nothing remained of
them but a great pile of dirty, ragged clothes in the crematorium courtyard. It
was a heart-rending sight as it soaked in the drizzling rain. My glance wanders
over the crematorium chimney: the lightning rods placed at the square chim-
ney’s four corners, all heavy iron rods, have melted from the terrible fire and
are now bent downwards.
During my rounds at Crematorium IV today I had serious work to do. One
of the Sonderkommando stokers had taken a large quantity of Luminal with
the intention of committing suicide. This is the most common form of suicide
here. The Sonderkommando men come by Luminal easily. Plenty of it is col-
lected every day from the baggage left behind by the victims. I approach the
patient’s bed and to my dismay I recognize in it the “Captain.” That is the on-
ly way he is known to everyone in the Kommando, no one knew his name. At
home, in Athens, as a captain in active service he was tutor to the King of
Greece’s children. An endlessly polite, intelligent man, he has been a resident
70 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
of the K.Z. for three years. His wife and two children went to the gas upon the
hour of their arrival. He is lying in his bed unconscious, in a deep sleep. He
took the poisonous substance some hours ago, it appears; he has already ab-
sorbed it. I do not take his condition to be life-threatening, not for the moment.
At first the Sonderkommando men standing around the bed ask me quietly to
let the Captain “go on his way,” to not do anything, for with his survival we
would only be prolonging the psychological torments, which he wanted to es-
cape from. The twelfth Sonderkommando’s life term expires in a couple of
weeks anyway! When they see that their arguments have no effect on me and
that I am going to inject some medicines, a few of the older K.Z. residents be-
come quite angry and in a none-too-gentle tone express their contrary views
regarding my life-saving intentions. I let them complain. So long as he does
not catch hypostatic pneumonia, the captain should pull through in four to five
days. For a few more weeks he will shovel coke and stoke the hellish fire
[éleszteni a pokoli tüzet] beneath the dead bodies [holttestei alá] of thousands
of his tortured and overworked brethren sent to die in the gas, and when a cer-
tain day arrives, the last day of the Sonderkommando, he too will join the line.
A hail of fire, and he falls bloodily beside his dead comrades, a mixture of ter-
ror and astonishment in his eyes. Now that I am away from the patient’s bed
and his suffering face does not call on the twenty-years-a-doctor “me” for
help, the human “me” must admit that the captain’s comrades were complete-
ly in the right. I should have let him “go on his way,” not before the cold bar-
rels of steely-blue machine pistols, but rather in a Luminal stupor, free from
psychological torture and pain.
My rounds are completed. I return to Crematorium I. I look in on the dis-
section hall; my new men are dissecting Dr. Wolff’s diarrhea corpses with the
diligent zeal of beginners. They are freshly shaven, their shirts are clean, their
clothes are new, they have fine shoes on their feet, they have been given back
their human form. As they stand around the dissecting table in their white lab
coats, yellow rubber aprons around their necks, rubber gloves on their hands,
the dissection hall and laboratory could create the impression of a serious sci-
entific institute in a specialist unfamiliar with the work carried on here. I am
an expert and I have been working here for three months now! This is not a
scientific institute, but rather a pseudoscientific institute! A pseudoscientific
institute built on false theories! Just as race research is built upon a false theo-
ry, the idea of a superior race is pseudoscientific; so too is Dr. Mengele’s
twin-research work pseudoscientific and based on a false theory. False as well,
and leading to massacre here, is the degenerative theory of dwarves and crip-
ples with which they hope to prove the inferiority of the Jewish race. Not now,
and not to today’s generation of Germans – they still might not believe it – but
after the victorious conclusion of the war! In the airy halls of great museums
there will stand the dwarves and cripples massacred here, the owners, by right
of birth, of the skeletons prepared for this purpose, fitted with supports and
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 71
provided with precise labels indicating name and age. Every year on the anni-
versary of the Third Reich’s gloriously concluded racist war for Lebensraum,
the students of the thousand-year Reich’s schools will file into these museums
under the guidance of their teachers. The teachers will explain the significance
of the day, the day of victory. With this victory, called to greatness by the su-
periority of their race, not only have they confined the neighboring French,
Belgian, Russian and Polish peoples within limits appropriate to their inferior-
ity, but they have completely eradicated from Europe a people, the Jewish
people, which, despite counting six thousand years of history, has had no right
to exist for centuries now, because in the course of their thousands of years of
existence they have degenerated into dwarves and cripples. With the admix-
ture of their blood they had profaned and threatened with degeneration the one
pure race, the Aryan race!
With the admixture of their blood they had become harmful to the great
race! They had become dangerous because their brilliant scientists, writers,
businessmen and financiers had amassed such power by then that they were
poised to force Europe beneath their complete domination! For this the first
Führer74 of the Third Reich had inscribed his name in the book of immortals
and gained the gratitude and respect of the entire civilized world, because he
had exterminated this race!
On the basis of such false theories they carry on their war against an entire
world and exterminate, right down to the suckling infants, the Jewish popula-
tion of Europe, brought here for that purpose. Everything in this country is
false! They call the bloodbath of war a crusade. In their eyes, the whole of
Russia is a wild Mongolian steppe! France is the land of a people drowned in
syphilis and in the midst of dying out! The English, from the Prime Minister
on down, all have delirium tremens from too much Scotch whisky! On the
other hand, the Japanese people, the most slant-eyed of Mongol stock, are
honorary Aryans, because their interests for the moment require it. Their
whole life is false! Their daughters and war widows can bear children by any-
one at all, and give them any name at all from among the innumerable names
of those to whom they offer themselves. The multiplication of the race re-
quires it!
Their whole financial system is based on false foundations. Countless
times they have trumpeted to the world that the foundational value of the Na-
tional-Socialist Third Reich is not gold, but work! And yet, in a facility estab-
lished specifically for this purpose, every day they smelt 30-40 kilos of gold
from the teeth of Jews brought here and murdered. But I will not go on, for
then I would have to mention the sign found on the facade of the crematoria’s
underground rooms which falsely declares to the world in seven languages
74
Nyiszli capitalizes Vezér (“leader”) here, presumably intending it as an equivalent for the German
title Führer.
72 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
that it is a bath here when in fact it is a gas chamber! On the canisters contain-
ing the cyclon gas it says that it is a poison for exterminating bedbugs and lice
when in fact it kills humans within a few seconds [néhány másodperc alatt]!
Another thought comes to mind! Perhaps the warnings on the signs hanging
on the K.Z.’s electrified barbed wire are false as well! Perhaps there really is
no current in the supposedly 6000-volt wire! And yet this one thing must be
true, for I saw with my own eyes how Oberscharführer Mussfeld’s giant po-
lice dog once touched the wire beside the crematorium gate and instantly died.
Speaking of signs, I should mention the sign, read by every former prisoner
of the K.Z., that exhorted: “Work makes you free” [A munka szabaddá tesz].75
This, as I saw, translated into real terms such that on one occasion three wag-
ons stopped in front of the crematorium, and a group of men with lemon-yel-
low faces, all wasted away to skin and bones, staggered down from them.
They numbered three hundred. When they entered the crematorium courtyard
I struck up a conversation with them. They told me that they set out three
months ago from Auschwitz Camp “D” in a transport of three thousand peo-
ple. They had worked in a sulfuric-acid factory; many of them had died from
various diseases. They themselves, the three hundred, had gotten sulfur poi-
soning, hence their lemon-yellow complexions. They had been selected out
and set en masse to go to a rest camp.
A half hour later I saw their bloodied corpses laid out before the cremation
furnaces. Work makes you free! A rest camp! Are these not infernal proceed-
ings? There are a few more of them! In June or July, it happened that 100,000
postcards were handed out among the inhabitants of the overcrowded bar-
racks, everyone being required to write one to an acquaintance. They were
given strict orders that they should write as return address not Auschwitz or
Birkenau but rather “Am Waldsee”!76 The only place with such a name is on
the Swiss border! The postcards went out, replies even arrived for them. I was
an eyewitness as they burned the letters sent in reply, about 50,000 of them,
on a bonfire set in the crematorium courtyard. It would not have been possible
to deliver them anyway, for the addressees themselves had been burned before
the replies to their postcards arrived. Thus was it all contrived. The goal was
to reassure and mislead world public opinion.
Chapter XX
In the gas chamber of Crematorium I, 3000 corpses are lying in a heap. The
Sonderkommando men are already picking apart the dead bodies clasped to-
gether in the tower of corpses [hullatorony]. From my room I hear the rumble
of the elevators [felvonók], the banging of their doors. The work proceeds at a
75
Nyiszli translates the German phrase “Arbeit macht frei.”
76
Literally, “at Waldsee.” In German in the original.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 73
rapid tempo. The gas chamber must be freed up. The arrival of a fresh
transport has been announced!
The leader of the gas Kommando [gázkommandó] practically runs through
the door to me and excitedly informs me that during the separation of the
corpses they found a woman still alive at the bottom of the heap.
I grab my always-packed doctor’s bag and race with him down to the gas
chamber. Directly next to the wall near the entrance to the enormous room,
half-buried by corpses, a young woman’s body writhes and gives off gasping
noises. The men of the gas Kommando stand around me in agitation. Such a
thing has never happened in their horrible work! We free the still-moving
body from the corpses lying on top of it. I take it in my arms. I carry it, the
slight body of a young girl, into the room next to the gas chamber [a gázkam-
ara mellett levő helyiségbe]. Here the gas Kommando was accustomed to
change for their work. I lay the child on a bench, I reckon she is 15 years old. I
pull out my injection kit and I give the scarcely breathing, unconscious girl
three injections one after another in her arms. My men cover the ice-cold body
with a heavy coat. One of them runs to the kitchen [konyhára] to bring hot tea
or soup. Everyone wants to help, as if she were their own child. And our ef-
forts have an effect too! A fit of coughing which seizes the child brings forth a
thick lump of mucus from her lungs. She opens her eyes and stares up at the
ceiling of the room. I intently observe every sign of life. Her breathing grows
ever deeper. Her gas-tortured lungs hungrily gulp down air. As a result of the
injections I gave, her pulse is already beating quite noticeably. I wait patient-
ly: the injections have not yet been completely absorbed, but I already see that
in just a few more minutes she will come around. And so it happens. Her fine-
featured little face becomes flushed from the ever increasing circulation of
blood, her eyes take on conscious intelligence. She looks around with great
astonishment, her gaze running over us. She closes her eyes again; she still
does not know what is happening to her. She still cannot understand the pre-
sent. She does not even know, is this reality? Clearly a veil of fog still clouds
her understanding! In some more-lucid patch of her young brain she remem-
bers a long line of wagons with which she arrived here. Then she got into line
and before she was even aware of it she was being dragged along with the
great crowd. She arrived in a brightly lit, large underground room. Everything
happened so quickly! She also remembers that everyone had to undress! This
gave her a very bad feeling, but everyone had done it. Thus, naked, she was
borne along into another large room. Everyone suddenly became very nerv-
ous. Here too the lights were very bright. Fearfully, she runs her eyes over the
closely huddled crowd. She cannot find her family. Pressing herself against
the wall, she waits for what will happen. Suddenly complete darkness sur-
rounds her. Something burns her eyes, stifles her throat. She collapses! Here
the light of her memories is extinguished.
74 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Her movements become more and more vigorous. She raises her arms, her
head, she looks left and right with jerking movements of her face. She grabs
my coat by the collar, clutching it spasmodically, she uses all her strength to
try to sit up. Numerous times I lay her back down, but again and again she re-
news her efforts. She has fallen into an acute hysterical condition. Gradually
she calms down, she lies back completely exhausted. Thick tears shimmer in
her eyes, but she does not weep.
I get the first response to my questioning. I do not want to fatigue her, I do
not ask much. I learn that she is 16 years old and that she arrived with her par-
ents in a transport from Transylvania.
She receives some hot broth in a cup. She drinks it all. The Sonderkom-
mando men bring every kind of food, but I do not let them give her any. I cov-
er her up to her neck and tell her to sleep a little.
Thoughts whirl dizzily in my head. I turn to my companions. We reflect,
we puzzle over the problem. Now we come to the hardest part of the matter.
What will become of the child? We know! She cannot stay here long!
Crematorium! Sonderkommando! What can be done here with a young
girl? I know the history of the crematoria; no one has ever gotten out of here
alive, not from the transports, not from the Sonderkommando, which is now
the twelfth Sonderkommando in succession.
There is not much time left for thinking things over. Oberscharführer
Mussfeld is arriving, as per his custom, to look around at the work. As he
passes by the open door of the room he notices the group of us. He enters, he
asks, “What is going on here?” He soon spots the girl lying on the bench. I
motion to my comrades that they should leave. I will attempt the impossible
myself.
Three months spent beneath the same roof have developed a state of confi-
dence between us. Besides, the Germans have the virtue of respecting, even in
the confines of the K.Z., those individuals who are knowledgeable in some
matter which they have need of. So it goes for shoemakers, tailors, carpenters
and locksmiths as well. In the course of our frequent encounters I have often
observed that he respects my professional competence when it comes to my
forensic medical activities. He knows that my employer is Dr. Mengele, chief
physician of the K.Z., the person most feared in everyone’s eyes, a man
whom, with the vanity of his race, he holds to be a great representative of
German medical science. He considers the sending of hundreds of thousands
of Jews to death by gas a patriotic exercise. The work in the dissection hall
stands in the service of the advancement of German medical science. I profit
from this too, as co-worker of the dissection hall. He frequently comes into the
dissection hall, and we talk often of politics, the war situation, and much else
besides. I gather that the reason he respects me is because he sees the dissec-
tion of corpses as a kindred profession to his own bloody work. He is the
commander of Crematorium I and its chief shooter, together with three others.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 75
They perform liquidations by a shot to the back of the neck on such as have
been selected out from the camp or who are sent from other camps here to the
“rest camp,” provided their number does not exceed five hundred! They liqui-
date them with a shot to the back of the neck because they resort to the large-
scale operations of the gas chamber only for the elimination of larger crowds.
The same amount of gas is necessary whether the gas chamber is filled with
500 persons or 3,000. There’s no need for the Red Cross car to come with the
gas canisters and the two gas executioners. Nor is it worth the trouble for a
separate truck to come for the clothes of such a small number of victims. On
the basis of such considerations, they had adopted the shot to the back of the
neck.
I calmly describe the young girl’s terrible situation to him. I sketch for him
the scenes that this child suffered through in the undressing room and before
the death in the gas chamber. When everything turned to darkness around her,
she too inhaled a bit of the cyklon fumes, but only a bit, because her frail
body, at a push from the crowd in its death throes, fell face first into a small
space on the damp concrete floor. This small bit of humidity prevented the gas
from choking her lungs. You should know that cyklon gas is not effective in a
humid medium [a cyklongáz nedves médiumban nem hatásos]!
So I argue, and I ask him to let us do something for the child. He hears me
out seriously and asks me how I would like to resolve the matter. I know it
from myself, but I see from his face as well that I have placed him in a diffi-
cult situation. She cannot stay here in the crematorium! There might be one
solution, namely, that we take her outside the gate. A large female Kommando
is always working on road construction there. She could join in with them, and
when they march into the camp in the evening, she could enter one of the bar-
racks and keep silent about everything that has happened to her. Among so
many thousands no one will even notice, hardly anyone knows one another
here.
If the girl had been 3-4 years older the thing might have succeeded. A
twenty-year old girl already has so much levelheadedness and caution that,
recognizing the fortunate circumstances of her survival, she would not speak
of them with anyone, but rather would wait for better times as so many thou-
sands are doing. But Mussfeld’s point of view is this: a 16-year-old child, in
her naiveté, would tell the first person she met where she had been, what she
had seen and what she had lived through! Such a thing will spread and get out
and all three of us will be lost.
“There’s no helping it,” he says. “The child cannot remain alive!” Looking
at it from a crematorium point of view I realize he is right!
A quarter of an hour later they escorted her, or more accurately, took her
by the arm up to the vestibule of the furnace hall [a kazánterem előcsar-
nokába] where not Mussfeld, but rather another sent in his place, shot her in
the back of the neck.
76 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Chapter XXI
On the first floor77 of Crematorium I, separate from the men’s78 accommoda-
tions, there is a carpentry workshop in which three carpenters perform the
work that crops up in the course of plant operations. At the moment, however,
they are working on a private order. Oberscharführer Mussfeld, taking ad-
vantage of the possibilities here, has given the carpenters orders for the urgent
construction of an enormous, two-person, recamier-style79 sofa bed. They
have undertaken to do it, a task which is not very easily managed in a crema-
torium. Orders, however, do not recognize the impossible! They collected the
necessary wood from among the leftover construction materials in the area of
the crematorium. They culled the springs needed for upholstering the sofa
from the armchairs which the arriving transports brought with them in the
wagons for the use of their sick and elderly. There are dozens of them in the
crematorium courtyard. We used to sit around in them in the evenings.
Thus the sofa is built as ordered! It became an object of daily interest for
me. It took form and moved toward completion before me each day [Előttem
formálódott és készült el egy napon]. It received its springs, its upholstery was
prepared from a Persian carpet. Two French electricians fitted it with a read-
ing lamp as well as a cabinet for a radio. It took a coat of coral-red paint and
looked quite handsome. In a petit bourgeois apartment in Mannheim, it will
look even prettier than here in the attic [padlásán] of the crematorium. Indeed,
at the end of the week, the sofa is going to be sent to Mannheim as bulk goods
to Oberscharführer Mussfeld’s home. There it will stand and wait until the
Oberscharführer victoriously returns after his hard battles, and relaxes upon it
from his exertions.
During this week I was in his room and noticed about half a dozen pairs of
silk pajamas ready for packing. No doubt he will send these home as well, as a
stylish accessory for the sofa bed. Beautiful imported goods! In Germany to-
day it is possible to get anything only on the point system. Here it is possible
to come by things much more easily! They are ready for the taking in the un-
dressing room, packed and waiting! They can be had for a point. The point
goes from Oberscharführer Mussfeld’s 6-millimeter pistol onto the pajamas
owner’s life.80
77
That is, the second floor. See note 28 above.
78
That is, the Sonderkommando’s.
79
In English, recamier (from French récamier) is typically used to designate an asymmetrical couch
or divan, often backless, with a high headrest and low footrest. In Hungarian, however, the word
(spelled, as here, recamier or rekamié) more typically means a sofa bed, often of the pull-out or
folding variety.
80
That is, the bullet serves as final punctuation mark (“point”) to the victim’s life. The Hungarian
word pont, like German Punkt from which it is derived, means “point” in the sense of a mark or
counter, but not in the sense of the sharp end of a weapon. Nyiszli’s pun here functions on an ab-
stract, not a concrete, level.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 77
By means of such points here they obtain jewels, leather coats, women’s
furs, silk clothing, fine shoes. Not a week passes that they do not send home
packages!
In such packages there is tea, coffee, chocolate and preserves by the kilo!
Everything is available in the undressing room! These unlimited possibilities
gave Oberscharführer Mussfeld the idea of the building and sending home of
the sofa bed.
In the days since I began observing the construction of the luxurious bed I
have had an idea. The idea slowly becomes a plan!
After a few more weeks the Sonderkommando’s four-month term [a Son-
derkommandó négyhónapos terminusa] will expire. We will all perish here, on
that point we are entirely clear! We are long since used to this idea, we know
there is no escape. One thing, however, will not leave me in peace, namely,
that so far 11 Sonderkommandos have perished here and taken with them the
terrible secret of the crematoria and the pyres. It must not happen that way
again this time! Even if we do not survive we will ensure that the world comes
to know of the cruelty and banal wickedness, unimaginable to the human
mind, of a people that holds itself to be superior.
A message must go out to the world from here! Perhaps it will be found
sooner, perhaps later, after years. Even then it will proclaim their guilt. The
200 members of the Crematorium I Sonderkommando will sign the message in
the consciousness of their approaching death. And the sofa bed will take it out
to the world beyond the barbed wire, to Oberscharführer Mussfeld’s apart-
ment, for now, in Mannheim.
The message is completed. It exhaustively describes the horrors perpetrat-
ed here in the last few years. We name the executioners of those who perished
here. We report the approximate number of the dead. We make known the
method and instruments of extermination. The message is written on three
large sheets of parchment. The Sonderkommando clerk, a painter from Paris
[egy párizsi festőművész], wrote it in beautiful characters, and to ensure that
the writing would not fade, it was written on the model of old parchment
scrolls with India ink. The fourth sheet contained the 200 signatures of the
Kommando. The parchment sheets were stitched together with fine silk thread.
Rolled into a scroll, it was placed in a thin, cylinder-shaped metal canister
made by one of our tinsmiths [bádogosaink] which was then soldered shut to
make it air- and watertight. Our carpenters placed this case in the wool stuff-
ing between the springs of the sofa.
Another such message with the same text and signatures, also in a soldered
metal canister, was buried in the courtyard of Crematorium II.
78 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Chapter XXII
By now it is an ordinary thing for me that, each evening around seven o’clock,
a truck passes through the crematorium gate and brings seventy to eighty
women or men for liquidation. They are the daily selections of the K.Z. They
arrive here from the barracks and the hospitals. They are K.Z. residents of
many years, or at least many months, so they see their fate with complete clar-
ity. The courtyard is filled with horrible screams and cries of mortal fear as the
truck turns in at the gate. They know that there is no escape from the shadow
of the crematorium chimney! I do not want to watch these daily scenes so I am
accustomed to withdrawing to the most distant part of the crematorium court-
yard. There is a grove of small fir trees [egy kis fenyőfákból álló lugas] there
where I sit down. Here I do not here the crack of the guns, the screams reach
my ears only faintly.
This evening I was unlucky. I have been at work in the dissection hall since
five in the afternoon, I have to do an unscheduled examination in the case of
an SS-Oberscharführer’s suicide. The corpse was sent from Gleiwitz. An SS
captain court-martial judge [SS hadbírószázados] and a clerk have come for
the dissection. At around seven o’clock I am dictating the dissection protocol
to the SS clerk when a big truck turns in with its load, stuffed with men. The
dissection hall’s two large windows, iron-barred and covered with green wire
mesh, look out onto the crematorium’s front courtyard [elülső udvarára]. The
truck stops not far from the windows. Its unfortunate passengers behave very
calmly. From this I conclude that they were selected not from the barracks but
from the hospitals. All gravely ill! They do not even have the strength to
scream, let alone descend from the truck’s high platform. The SS guards
shout, goading them. No one among them moves. The driver, an NCO, loses
patience. He gets back into the cab and sets the truck’s motor running in neu-
tral. The enormous load bed slowly rises with its front part in the air and sud-
denly dumps the people out. The unfortunate, half-dead sick tumble head first,
face first, knees first onto the concrete or upon one another. A terrible cry
comes forth from their throats as they writhe on the ground in their agony.
A horrible scene! The SS court-martial judge, an outsider, is distracted
from his work by the wailing and cries and he asks me: “What is going on out
there in the courtyard?” He comes to the window as well and I explain the
scene to him. It appears that he is unaccustomed to such sights for he turns
away from it in disgust and observes reproachfully: “Still they should not do
that!”
The Sonderkommando gathers the victims’ rags and puts them in a heap in
the courtyard. The unfortunates, on the other hand, are taken into the crema-
tion hall and lined up in front of Oberscharführer Mussfeld, who is standing
there before the furnaces. Today it is his turn to do the shot to the back of the
neck! Gun in a rubber-gloved hand! One after another the bodies fall to make
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 79
room for the next in line. In a few minutes he has knocked down – as he is
wont to say, umgelegt81 – all eighty. Half an hour later they are reduced to
ashes [elhamvadtak].
Later, the Oberscharführer visits me in my room and asks me to examine
him. His heartbeat is irregular and he has a headache as well! He takes off his
shirt. I measure his blood pressure, take his pulse, even listen to his heart! I
give him a reassuring report on his complaints. I find no abnormality of any
kind in his heart. His pulse is a little irregular. My opinion is that this is the
consequence of the little job that he performed an hour ago in the furnace hall
[kazánteremben]! I had wanted to calm him, but I achieved the exact opposite.
He leaps up from his seat almost indignantly, stands before me: “Your diagno-
sis is incorrect,” he says, “for I am equally unagitated whether I shoot dead 80
or 1000 people. You know why I am agitated? I’ll tell you! It’s because I
drink a lot!” He departs, looking disappointed!
Chapter XXIII
I am in the habit of doing some reading after going to bed in order to put my-
self to sleep. I do so tonight as usual, but I cannot get much reading done, for
the electric light suddenly goes out and soon I hear the K.Z.’s air-raid siren as
well. On such occasions, heavily armed SS guards accompany us down to the
Sonderkommando’s shelter [a Sonderkommandó óvóhelyére], the gas cham-
ber. So it goes tonight too. We put our clothes on and set out.
With heavy hearts we enter the dark gas chamber. There are two hundred
of us! The entire Kommando. It is a terrible feeling to be in this room knowing
that so many hundreds of thousands of people have found a painful death here.
We also know that the Sonderkommando’s term is drawing to an end and that
such an occasion might come in handy for the SS to slam shut the doors of the
gas chamber and, pouring four canisters of cyklon gas down on us, easily be
done with us. The SS are capable of anything!
It would not be a first! A similar case has occurred before. A part of the
ninth Sonderkommando was taken to the men’s camp of the K.Z., to Barracks
number 13 of Camp “D.” This was an isolated barracks. The Kommando was
told that, on superior orders, their quarters henceforth were not to be in the
crematoria but rather here in the camp. From here they would go out to the
crematoria in two groups. That same evening, they were taken to a bath in
Camp “D” to bathe and get a change of clothing. After bathing they entered,
nude, into the next room, where they were to put on disinfected clothes. This
was a real disinfecting room [fertőtlenítő helyiség], capable of being com-
pletely hermetically sealed. Here they used to disinfect the lousy clothes gath-
81
In German in the original. Literally “laid out (i.e., on the ground),” the word is used colloquially
to mean “killed.”
80 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
ered from the camp. Four hundred [négyszáz] Sonderkommando men met their
deaths here by gas. The corpses were carried by truck to the pyres.
Not without cause, then, do we anxiously await the end of the air-raid alert.
The alert was three hours long! We come back up out of the darkness of the
gas chamber! The arc lamps on the barbed wire, the camp’s kilometers-long
chains of light, are lit again. We lie down. I try to sleep. It will be difficult.
The next morning, I am in Crematorium II on my patient-visitation rounds.
The head Kapo of the Sonderkommando there informs me confidentially that
in the darkness of last night’s air-raid alert some partisans approached the
camp. They cut through the wire fence enclosing the crematorium courtyard at
a less conspicuous spot and slipped three machine pistols and ammunition
along with 20 hand grenades through the resulting opening. The Sonderkom-
mando men found them in the early morning hours and brought them to a se-
cure hiding place.
An understandable confidence began to gain ground against the hopeless-
ness of our situation. We knew that the rescuing hands which supplied the
weapons to us could not be far away. Judging from many observations, we
guessed the partisans’ encampment was 25-30 kilometers from the crematoria.
We were confident that at the next opportunity during an air-raid alert they
would bring weapons for us again. Recently there have been air-raid alerts
every day, indeed several times a day, but only a long nighttime blackout can
bring us help from our unknown but devoted comrades. Three or four more
nighttime blackouts would be enough for the partisans to supply us with the
necessary quantity of weapons, and then we could attempt a breakout.
The resistance organization derives from Crematorium III and weaves the
threads of its web throughout the other crematoria.
All of this is done with great caution and circumspection. Death lurks for
us here in the machine pistols of our guards. We want to live! We want to es-
cape from here, and even if it does not work out for all of us, even if it is only
one or two, we still will have won, for then there will be someone who can
take the dark secrets of these terrible factories as a message to the world.
Those who die, on the other hand, will not die like trampled worms at the
filthy hands of their executioners, but rather will be the first in the history of
the German K.Z. who, though outgunned a thousand to one, fall with heads
held high as they deal out death themselves.
Chapter XXIV
One day I am chatting with Oberscharführer Steinberg. He is a frequent visi-
tor of mine in the dissection hall. Under the Second Reich he was a traffic cop
in Berlin, under the Third Reich he joined the SS. I know him for a very dan-
gerous man, both intelligent and evil! He tells me that four of them will be go-
ing away for a few days to an SS resort home located in the mountains of Sile-
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 81
sia. In the company will be himself for one, then Oberscharführer Seitz sec-
ond, Rottenführer Holländer third and Rottenführer Eindenmüller fourth. I
know them all well; they are the cruelest executioners of the crematoria. They
are going away, as they say, for five days of rest and recuperation.
I have been in the Sonderkommando for three months [három hónapos
Sonderkommandós vagyok]. If an SS man says of something that it is black,
and I even see so myself, I still do not believe him. If Oberscharführer Stein-
berg speaks to me of recreation, it is quite certainly something special, the ex-
ecution of some bloody task. I believe this all the more because the crematori-
um’s SS personnel may not even leave their posts here lest, after a few glasses
of liquor when mixing with people, they should reveal to them all the matters
that are to be kept secret. They can only depart from here as a closed group
under the command of an officer and they must return here that way! With a
few differences they too are Sonderkommandos. From what I know, after two
years on duty they are sent to an SS camp. In this camp the Third Reich is ac-
customed to dealing with, that is, liquidating, SS men who are insubordinate
or who know too much.
Five days later Oberscharführer Steinberg and his three companions return
from their “recreational leave.” I do not ask anything. They do not say any-
thing. Still on the day of their return I went up to the Sonderkommando’s
kitchen [felmentem a Sonderkommandó konyhájára], where Michel the French
cook always had some tasty morsel for me. He is a valuable and respected
member of the Sonderkommando. This was his profession in civilian life as
well. He was a cook on a luxury ship traveling the Brazilian route of a French
shipping company.
Now too it is with the goal of getting some tasty tidbit to eat that I seek out
the good Michel in his little kitchen [kis konyhájában]. He is not so friendly as
on other occasions. It is plain to see that something has happened to him, for
his ever-smoking seaman’s pipe is in his mouth now as always, jutting out
stiffly to one side, but it is not lit. If he does not notice this, how very agitated
he must be! I am right too, for as soon as I step into the kitchen he closes the
door behind me and takes me by the arm, leading me to a corner where a gal-
vanized-steel tub filled with water is standing on a chair. He draws a green SS
shirt out of the water between two fingers, then a second and a third. All three
shirts are covered with huge blood stains. Only in a slaughterhouse could
someone get himself so bloody. Oberscharführer Steinberg and his compan-
ions were in a slaughterhouse for five days. A human slaughterhouse! I learn
from Michel that they gave him the shirts for washing as soon as they re-
turned.
I was not exaggerating, thus, when I declared that I would not believe the
SS that something is black even if I myself see that it is.
82 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Chapter XXV
The hour of annihilation arrived for the 4500 inhabitants of the Gypsy camp as
well. The measures taken were the same as for the liquidation of the Czech
camp. Barracks lockdown [barakkzárlat]. Numerous SS guards marshalled
with dogs. They bring the Gypsies out of the barracks and line them up. Bread
and salami rations are distributed. Everyone receives three portions, food for a
three-day journey. As far as the Gypsies know they are being taken to another
camp, and as two-year residents of the K.Z. they actually believe it. A very
simple but very effective means of deception. No one thinks of the crematoria,
for they would not be given travel rations to go there.
It is not consideration toward those who are going to die that leads the SS
authorities to deceptive methods but rather simply the requirement that a rela-
tively small number of SS guards be able to conduct a large crowd, as indeed
in this case, without disorder or delay to the gas chamber.
And so it went, too! All through the night the chimneys of Crematoria I
and II spewed flame from themselves [Egész éjszakán át szórták magukból a
lángot az I-es és II-es krematóriumok kéményei]. Their glare lit up the entire
camp! The bustling Gypsy camp has become silent and empty. Only the wire
of the fences still hums, and the doors and windows, left open, of the aban-
doned barracks bang to and fro as the wind passes across them blowing in
from the Volhynian steppes.
Tonight once more Europe’s nation of pyromaniacs has arranged some
fireworks for itself. As ever, the stage is Concentration Camp Auschwitz! The
victims thrown into the flames on this occasion were not Jews, but rather
Christians! Catholic Gypsies from Germany and Austria!
The fires had gone out by morning [Reggelre kialudtak a tüzek]. In each
crematorium courtyard there arose a small, silvery, glistening mound formed
from the victims’ ashes. The corpses of twelve pairs of twins did not go into
the furnaces. Before their death in the gas Dr. Mengele had written two letters
on their chests with leather chalk: Z.S., letters referring them for dissection.82
Pairs of twins of nearly every age, from newborns to 16-year-olds, are in-
cluded in the corpse collection. The bodies of the brown-skinned, black-haired
children lie on the concrete floor of the mortuary hall [hullakamara]. Putting
them in order makes for wearying work; I group them so that sibling is laid
beside sibling. I am careful that they should not get mixed up, for Crimi-
naldoctor [sic] Mengele would make me pay with my life if these incompara-
bly precious and rare specimens for his twin-studies work should become un-
usable.
Just the other day it happened that I was sitting at my laboratory table with
him. We are leafing through the dossiers of the twins processed so far when he
82
The letters stand for zur Sektion (“for dissection”). See Chapter V.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 83
notices a faint grease stain on the light blue cardboard cover of one of them. I
often take them in hand during autopsies, and so it may have happened that
one got a little grease stained. He looks at me reproachfully and asks quite se-
riously: “How can you deal so carelessly with these dossiers which I have so
lovingly collected?” The word “love” heard from Dr. Mengele’s lips[!]. From
sheer amazement not a sound came to my mouth with which I might have an-
swered him.
Chapter XXVI
I perform the autopsies of the twelve pairs of twins’ corpses with the greatest
possible care.
As is well known, there are monozygotic and dizygotic twins. Twins origi-
nating from a single egg cell are of the same sex in all cases and resemble
each other exactly in their external as well as internal traits. We call these
concordant twins. Dizygotic twins are more like normal siblings in their ex-
ternal and internal traits and do not manifest identical, but rather differing,
discordant qualities, in most cases being of opposite sexes. These observations
figure in medical science as laws of heredity for twin biology. These laws are
one of the important proofs of the fact that external influences account only in
small measure for the constitution, body type, and physical and mental traits
of individual humans. Such things as upbringing, good or bad nutrition, and
diseases which may develop over the course of the individual’s life may have
some influence. Much more powerful, however, are those factors which the
individual receives in hereditary form from his or her progenitors. If these fac-
tors recur repeatedly over the course of generations in a single family we call
them dominant, that is, controlling hereditary traits. The forms in which these
hereditary phenomena are manifested can be of good or bad effect, such as:
strong and healthy teeth; rich, non-thinning hair; the disease known as St. Vi-
tus dance; one type of high blood pressure; diabetes in certain families; and
among mental illnesses, manic-depressive psychosis.
Hereditary traits, whether good or bad, manifest themselves in part already
from birth. Such are those cases where newborns have a larger or smaller
number of digits than normal on their hands or feet. There are other traits
which manifest themselves only at a later time and become chronic illnesses,
such as: asthma; epilepsy, or St. Vitus dance; the type of high blood pressure
already mentioned; certain forms of cancer; and senile cataracts of the eye,
this last being a disease of those past seventy years old.
Hereditary traits sometimes display the strange characteristic of manifest-
ing themselves more often in one sex than in the other. The explanation for
this is that these are gender-determined hereditary traits. As most frequent
among these I might mention color-blindness [színvakságot] and anemia [vér-
84 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
83
Sic. As his subsequent description of the disease’s transmission through the (asymptomatic) fe-
male line makes apparent, Nyiszli clearly is thinking here of hemophilia, but in the text here and
below he uses vérszegénység (lit. “poverty of blood,” anemia) instead of the correct vérzékenység
(lit. “tendency to blood [loss],” hemophilia). (Besides vérzékenység, the Greco-Latin medical term
hemofília itself may also be used for the disease in Hungarian.)
84
Literally, body length: a test hosszúság.
85
Sic: “Nyolc pár ikernél…” With the change of paragraph Nyiszli introduces a new theme to his
discussion. He is not referring here to the eight twins identified as having thymus irregularities in
the previous paragraph, but rather simply to eight (unspecified) pairs of twins, among whom the
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 85
tion as well as the sacral section display a developmental disorder which man-
ifests itself such that these parts have not closed with the onset of age 12-13
but have remained abnormally open even at 15-16 years. Doctors call this de-
velopmental disorder Spina bifida and it is known as a deformity which may
involve serious consequences.
The development of the individual occurs in the two directions of the spi-
nal column. The one direction of development is the cranium, the other is the
pelvic basin, that is, the direction of the tail bone. The former tendency is
called cranial, the latter caudal, accordingly as one or the other direction is
preponderant.
In the present case, the developmental tendency is cranial, not caudal, in
the 16 twins dissected, for Spina bifida and the persistence of an unclosed sa-
crum are degenerative symptoms.
I discovered another important developmental anomaly in 5 pairs of twins
among the 12 pairs dissected, a fluctuating tenth rib on the right hand side, so
called Costa decima fluctuans. In normal cases this rib is fixed. Its fluctuation
is a developmental anomaly in the caudal, tailbone direction of the spinal col-
umn.
The fluctuation of the tenth rib can be diagnosed in regular practice among
the living as well. It occurs, naturally quite rarely, in individuals of asthenic
type, thin, tall, with weak musculature and low blood pressure, who tire easily.
All of these interesting observations, though in a much more-exhaustive
and medically precise form, I commit to paper in the shape of an autopsy pro-
tocol. I spend long afternoons with Dr. Mengele on the clarification of this or
that obscure problem. In the dissection hall and in the laboratory I explained
and defended my own point of view not in the role of a humble K.Z. prisoner,
but rather, just as if in a medical conference, as an entirely equally ranked
doctor, and I refuted the opinions he expressed if I did not agree with them.
I am a good judge of people and I think that this doctorly comportment of
mine, as well as my determined demeanor, my measured speech, and when
necessary my silence, were the qualities by which I arrived at it that Dr.
Mengele, before whom even the SS trembled at the knees in fear, offered me a
cigarette on the occasion of one of our lively discussions and saluted as he de-
parted the laboratory.
Chapter XXVII
On one occasion I was dissecting the corpse of an elderly man and as an inci-
dental finding I discovered some beautiful gallstone crystals in the gall blad-
der. I knew that Dr. Mengele was a passionate collector of such rarities. I
four pairs already mentioned may or may not be included. This is confirmed by his reference to
“the 16 twins dissected” two paragraphs below.
86 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
86
In German in the original.
87
In German in the original.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 87
them. I will go there first! The next morning I wake up exhausted. I did not
sleep all night. Terrible doubts tormented me. Three months is a long time. An
hour here is a long time! Since then all sorts of things have happened. I know
only too well what happens here every hour of the day.
I go to the SS office, I announce my departure. I take my leave from my
companions. Everyone wishes me a good trip. It is a hot August morning [au-
gusztusi reggel] as I set off on the three-kilometer way [a három kilométeres
útra]. Camp C is much closer as the crow flies, but I must move within the
large guard chain and bypass several parts of the camp to arrive there. With a
thrill of curiosity and fear I step onto the dead zone path leading between two
rows of electrified wire. Anyone walking in this zone will not be shot at with-
out warning from the guard towers. SS motorcycle patrols circulate here,
shiny copper plates hanging around their necks on chains with the inscription
Lagerpolizei.88
I encounter several camp guards, but they do not check my papers. I reach
the Camp C gate, a huge, two-leaved iron gate. The two leaves of the gate are
full of heavy porcelain insulators and densely woven with barbed wire. Before
it, as before the gate to every part of the camp, stands a guardhouse. Some SS
soldiers are sitting on a bench basking in the sun. They look me over. I am an
unusual guest, but they do not speak. They do not meddle in the duties of their
colleague, who sits in the window of the hut. I approach him and announce
my tattoo number. He looks at me quizzically. I take Dr. Mengele’s paper
from my pocket and hand it to him. He reads it through and gives orders to his
companions for the opening of the gate! He asks me how long I intend to re-
main in the camp. He must write it down so that I depart again at the stated
time. It was ten o’clock in the morning when I arrived before the gate; I an-
swered, “Until twelve.” That’s a long time, but a ten-pack of Josma cigarettes
is a good Passierschein in every part of the K.Z. I hand them to him and leave.
Along Camp C’s main street, which is lined with shabby green barracks,
there’s a great coming and going. A group of women carries a tinplate tub full
of hot soup. Distribution of lunch here is at ten o’clock in the morning. An-
other group, a road-repair Kommando, carries stones for the roadbed. On both
sides of the street many women are lying in the sun. Their bodies are wrapped
in rags, their hair is shaved; they present a pitiable sight. Dressed for the most
part in fantastical clothes, in floor-length, sleeveless, deep-cut evening gowns,
ragged now, they lie on the ground and pick lice from themselves or from
their companions. The visible parts of their bodies are covered with dirt mixed
with running sores. This is a quarantine camp; the women do not work here.
From here the transports headed for more-distant labor camps are selected. Se-
lections are carried out quite thoroughly, as I can see. What remains behind is
completely exhausted human material. Happy are those who have gone on!
88
“Camp Police.” In German in the original.
88 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
They still have some hope of pulling through this period, but the fate of these
here is sealed, just as it was for the Czech or the Gypsy camp.
I make my way to the first barracks. Wild shouts and cries greet me from
all sides. The clumps of rags lying on the ground come to life and, leaping up
from their places, run toward me. There might be thirty who recognize me and
inquire about their husbands and children, questioning me with anxious impa-
tience.
They all recognize me because I have a normal, human appearance, but
they themselves are very difficult to recognize, these unfortunates. My situa-
tion here in the crowd starts to become uncomfortable. They keep coming, ev-
er more and more of them. They all would like to know something of their
family. They have lived for three months [három hónapja] among the most
horrible conditions, in continuous fear. Every week there is a selection [Min-
den héten szelekció van]. Three months in the K.Z. have taught them to bewail
the past and to fear the future. The unfortunates all ask me, is it true about the
crematorium? What is the great mass of smoke by day [a nagy fűst nappal],
and what is the great fire by night [a nagy tűz éjjel]? Are they really burning
people? I reassure them as best I can. I deny everything. None of it is true at
all. Besides, soon it will be the end of the war and we will go home. I do not
believe it myself, but I say it so that they will calm down. I leave them there; I
have learned nothing at all of my wife and daughter.
I go into the first barracks. I ask the overseer, a Slovakian girl, to call out
their names. In one barracks there are around 800-1000 women pressed to-
gether in stacked-bunk boxes [emeletes bokszokban]30 ranged on either side. It
is difficult to call out names here. The clamor of a thousand women over-
whelms the searchers’ voices. They return after a few minutes and report on
the fruitlessness of their efforts. I thank them for their kindness and enter the
next barracks.
Here it is the same situation; the previous scene repeats itself in the same
way. No success in the second barracks either. Now I am in the third barracks.
I stop in the middle of the hall and ask a woman to call the overseer. I ask her
to look for my family. She sends two lively young girls on their way along
both sides of the barracks. They call into every box and then suddenly they are
bringing my wife and daughter.
They approach with eyes opened wide from fear, holding hands. It is not a
good sign if someone is called for in the barracks. Then they have recognized
me, they stop as if frozen with surprise. I hurry toward them and embrace and
kiss them both at once. They cannot find their voices, they merely weep bitter-
ly. I calm them; already a crowd of the curious is standing around us. I cannot
speak with them like this. I ask the overseer to allow us into her little room. At
last we are alone!
They tell me all the bitter experiences of their three-month existence here.
They speak of the terrible selections which they have lived through, always
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 89
trembling in the shadow of the crematoria’s chimneys. They are hungry, they
are cold in their rags! The rain comes into the barracks and their clothes can-
not dry out! Their food is inedible, but what is worst of all, they cannot even
sleep! In the box there should be room for seven people, but twelve are
crammed in! They tear at, kick, shove one another, women belonging to the
so-called better social classes at home, all so they can secure a few centime-
ters more space for their own comfort at the expense of another. Here every-
one has been stripped of their essential decency! Close acquaintances and
strangers alike look to their own interests and are unwilling to make even the
slightest concession. My little girl tells me that for weeks she has slept sitting
on the concrete floor because in the box where her mother lies they do not
want to squeeze in a space for her.
My wife asks me where I work. I tell her that I work alongside Dr.
Mengele in the crematorium and that I am a member of the Sonderkommando.
After three months in the K.Z. they too know that the “Sonder” is the Kom-
mando of the walking dead. The two of them stare at me, terrified. I reassure
them somewhat and take my leave with the promise that I will come again
tomorrow.
It was a great sensation in the crematorium that I had found my wife and
child! From the clothing department [a ruhaosztályról] I packed together
warm clothes, underwear and stockings in a knapsack. From the toiletries de-
partment [a toalett-osztályról] I took toothbrushes, fine soaps, nail clippers,
pocket knives, fine-toothed combs, at least ten of everything! I packed medi-
cines, vitamin tablets, ointments for wounds, bandages, anything that might be
useful. I took sugar cubes, butter, apricot jam, bread, enough that there would
be some for others too! Thus I headed out for Camp “C.” I was there every
day, always with a full knapsack! All good things, however, come to an end!
For two weeks [két hete] I am a daily visitor in Camp “C.” Then one day
that which I was afraid of came to pass. Already with the liquidation of the
Czech and Gypsy camps I had become convinced that annihilation here is on-
ly a question of time. Sooner or later it comes for everyone who lives out his
miserable days within the wire of K.Z. Auschwitz!
One afternoon I am sitting in the laboratory at my work table. Dr. Mengele
and Dr. Thilo are present. They are talking with each other about administra-
tive matters of the K.Z. Dr. Mengele rises from his seat and, as if he has just
made up his mind on the question, he says to Dr. Thilo: “I am no longer in a
position to feed the debilitated residents of Camp C who are not working. I
will liquidate them within two weeks!”
Conversations of this nature are often carried on in my presence. They
would discuss the most secret affairs of the K.Z. as if I was not even there. I
was a dead man walking who did not count.
90 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Chapter XXVIII
Three days later I visited Camp “C” again. I wanted to confirm their departure
on site. Everything had gone as I had hoped. The two 3000-person transports
had departed the Auschwitz camp. They too had gone with them. I do not
know what the future has in store for them, yet I feel a great sense of relief.
Here certain death awaited them; in a new location, with a little luck, libera-
tion! I can see from numerous signs that the war is nearing its end. The Third
Reich’s grave is being dug already. Those who depart from here may hope;
within myself, however, awareness of the hopelessness of my own fate grows
with renewed strength!
It fills me with deep satisfaction that I have been able to direct their steps,
and that they have been able to deviate from the path which ends at the pyres
while I go on to certain death! It is not despair, it is not fear which shapes this
into consciousness before me, but rather the bloody tragedy of eleven
Sonderkommandos and the cold objectivity of my own logic, devoid of all
sentimentality!
I leave Camp “C”; my eyes run over the somber barracks in parting. With
deep, aching sympathy my gaze takes its leave of the misshapen figures –
heads shaved, dressed in rags, stripped of all human dignity – of our once
well-groomed, beautiful girls and women. A chill runs all through me and
92 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
shakes my whole body as I step through the gate. Only now as I pull my jacket
together more closely do I perceive that it is autumn. It is the end of Septem-
ber! The north wind [északi szél] blows from the already snow-covered peaks
of the Beskids,89 it shakes the barbed wire of the K.Z. and agitates the flames
of the crematoria chimneys [a krematóriumok kéményeinek lángjait]. Here
and there crows flap about, the only bird that lives in this place. The wind
brings me puffs of smoke from the crematoria built to last forever, the now-
familiar stench of the burning flesh and singed hair of the dead.
My days and nights pass in paralyzed inactivity and anxious sleeplessness.
I have no words, no desires! Since my family went away I feel like the loneli-
ness is strangling me. Helplessness tortures me.
For days, silence and an immense monotony have lain over Concentration
Camp Auschwitz. A bad sign! My premonitions never deceive me. The great
silence is an omen of further bloody events to come. The twelfth Sonderkom-
mando has already used up three and a half months of its fixed four-month
lifespan. The sand is running quickly in the hourglass of our lives; the time is
two weeks now!
Dr. Mengele carried out his decision. The liquidation of Camp “C” began.
Fifty trucks requisitioned for this purpose brought the victims to the cremato-
rium [a krematóriumba] every evening in groups of four thousand. The long
line of floodlit trucks made for a terrible spectacle as they turned in to the
crematorium [krematórium] courtyard with their cargo, frenzied and scream-
ing in terror or paralyzed into silence by the fear of death. One after another,
before the entranceway leading below ground, they unloaded the already-
naked unfortunates, and these were then driven down into the gas chamber.
Every one of them was aware that they were going to their deaths by gas here,
but the rigors of their four-month imprisonment and their body- and soul-
killing sufferings, the slow collapse of their nervous systems, had deadened in
them all sensation and capacity for the display of will. They let themselves be
driven without resistance into the gas chamber where, weary of their broken,
worn-out lives, they awaited death, that they might exchange for it their now-
purposeless lives, which only gave them immeasurable physical and mental
suffering. How long was their journey leading here! How much suffering sur-
passing human imagination did each stage of this journey bring them! Their
warm, peaceful family homes suffused with love were ravaged and plundered!
With their husbands, with their children, with their aged parents, they were
hauled away to brick factories located outside their cities where they lay for
weeks in pools of spring rain. This was the ghetto: from here they were
brought in groups each day to the specially equipped torture chambers, where
they were tortured and beaten with thumbscrews and rubber truncheons until,
89
Traditional name for that section of the Western Carpathian Mountains lying along the Slovak-
Polish border.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 93
half-fainting from pain, they told where they had hidden, or to whom they had
given, their valuables. Many had died from the tortures. Those who remained
were almost relieved when they were put into the wagons, even if with 80-90
others like themselves!
Thus they traveled for four or five days, in the company of those who died
along the way, until they arrived at the Jews’ ramp of Concentration Camp
Auschwitz. What happened to them there we already know. Separated from
their husbands, their parents, their children, they went half mad from the pain
in their childlike, wifely, motherly hearts as they were selected rightward into
the barracks of Camp “C.” Before they entered these halls of filth, lice and in-
fectious disease they had to pass through one last phase, a procedure for the
divestment of human dignity, the bath.
Rough hands cropped their well-groomed tresses and stripped the clothes
from their bodies. After the bath they were given others, but of a sort which
even a roadside beggar would have thrown away in disgust. Along with these
clothes they received the Third Reich’s first benefits allotment: lice.
After such preliminaries they began their shadowy lives enclosed within
the barbed wire of the K.Z. Their poor diet of watery swill did not let them die
of hunger, but neither did it let them live. Protein was completely lacking from
their diet, the deficiency made their legs heavy like lead. The lack of fat made
their bodies swell. Their regular menstrual cycle fell away. The consequences
of this were nervousness, headaches, frequent nosebleeds. The lack of vitamin
“B” provoked constant drowsiness and forgetfulness, which reached the point
that they forgot even the name of the street they lived on and the number of
their house. Only in their eyes did some life still appear, but there glimmered
in them not the bright flame of intelligence, but rather the hazy, smothered fire
of a consciousness dimmed by hunger and physical and mental pain.
In such conditions they stood through to the end of the hours-long Zählap-
pel,90 the roll call, and if they dropped out of the line fainting, the first thing
their glance fell upon when they came to from the cold water poured on them
was the smoke billowing over the K.Z. [a K.Z. fölött gomolygó füstre] and the
blazing flames of the crematorium chimneys [a krematórium kéményeinek lo-
bogó lángjára]. These two signs, the smoke and the flames, let them know at
all hours of the day that they were standing at the gates to next world.
For four months the inhabitants of Camp “C” had lived before the gates of
the crematoria and it took ten days before those going to their deaths had all
passed through them. The souls had departed from forty-five thousand [ne-
gyvenötezer] tormented bodies, and over Camp “C,” the temporary home of so
many bearers of tragedy, there now falls an immense silence!
90
In German in the original, correctly Zählappell.
94 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Chapter XXIX
Thus the Sonderkommando awaits the final blow of destiny! Days, weeks,
months had passed, it hangs continuously over our heads; soon the horror will
arrive. Execution, when everything falls into darkness and turns to ashes! We
are ready. Every hour of the day we expect that the SS executioners will open
up on us.
In the morning hours of October 6, 1944, outside the neutral zone between
the small and large guard chains, a weapon rang out from one of the guard
towers and a K.Z. prisoner fell to the ground dead. The prisoner, a former
Russian officer who had been sent here from a prisoner-of-war camp as pun-
ishment for an escape attempt, in all probability was attempting escape here as
well, and thus wound up in front of the guard’s weapon. A commission of the
political SS headed by Dr. Mengele rushed to the scene in order to investigate
the incident on site. It was an ordinary incident, the sort that happened every
day. If the victim had been a Jew, he would simply have gone to the mortuary
hall and from there to the crematorium without any formalities, but as a Rus-
sian officer he was registered, complete with name and personal data. In order
to justify the violent death an autopsy report was needed. At the end of the on-
site inspection, Dr. Mengele had the body brought to the crematorium and or-
dered its forensic-medical autopsy! According to his orders, the report must be
ready by two-thirty in the afternoon. He wants to pick it up in person and con-
firm its results on the corpse.
The time was about nine o’clock in the morning when Dr. Mengele left the
dissection hall. I had the corpse placed on the dissecting table, I could have
been done with the dissection and the autopsy protocol in thirty to forty
minutes, but it was the sixth of October, the second-to-last or last day of the
Sonderkommando’s term [de október 6. volt, a Sonderkommandó termi-
nusának utolsóelőtti, vagy utolsó napja]. We did not know for certain, but I
sensed the nearness of death. I was incapable of working. I left the dissection
hall and withdrew to my room. I took a large dose of Luminal and smoked one
cigarette after another. I did not have the patience to stay there either, so I
went into the cremation hall [égető terembe]. The men of the day shift per-
formed their work only sluggishly, even though several hundred corpses lay
before the furnaces [a kazánok előtt]. Huddling together in small groups, they
talked quietly. I went upstairs to the staff quarters, where the strangeness of
the situation immediately became apparent to me. Usually the Sonderkom-
mando’s night shift ate breakfast after morning roll call and went to sleep.
Now it is ten a.m., and everyone is on their feet. I also notice that the men are
in sports clothes, pullovers and boots, though a bright, warm October sun is
shining outside. They bustle about this way and that, they pack and repack
their suitcases, talking quietly. Even so I sense the enormous tension which
fills everything here. Something is afoot here, I sense it clearly. I enter the
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 95
head Kapo’s separate little room; he is sitting at the table. Around him the
foreman of the night shift, the mechanical engineer, the chief stoker and the
commander of the gas Kommando take their places.
No sooner have I sat down than they pour me out half a tumbler from a
bottle of brandy that sits on the table, already half empty. The strongest Polish
liquor, the famous fennel-seed brandy, fills my glass. I drink it down in one
gulp! In the final hours of the Sonderkommando’s four months it may not be a
lifesaving remedy, but it’s a great medicine against the fear of death!
My companions inform me in detail about our situation. According to the
signs and information acquired, the liquidation of the Sonderkommando could
only follow the next day, possibly the day after, but all necessary measures are
in place so that the 860 men of the Sonderkommando can break out of the
crematorium tonight. Heading: the Vistula River, which meanders along two
kilometers away and which now, at the end of summer, is so shallow that it
can easily be waded. At a distance of eight kilometers from the Vistula there
then follows a wooded region which extends across the whole of Poland [mely
átnyúlik egész Lengyelországig]. Here we will be able to stay safely for
weeks, even months. We are certain to meet partisans as well.
Our weapons supply is sufficient for the execution of the plan. In the last
few days, around a hundred boxes of high-explosive ecrasite91 have arrived
from the Auschwitz Unio92 factory, a large plant which exclusively manufac-
tures munitions and which employs Polish-Jewish women prisoners. The
Germans use these boxes for blowing up railway tracks. Besides these, there
are five machine pistols and twenty hand grenades in the weapons cache. This
is sufficient for the execution of the plan, for we intend first to secretly ap-
proach the solitary night watch guards at their posts and render them harmless
with knives. Thus taking by surprise the SS sleeping in their room [a szo-
bájukban], we intend to force them to come with us for as long as we see fit…
The signal for the breakout will be given with an electric hand lamp from
Crematorium I to II, and so on to III and IV. To my mind, the plan seems all
the more feasible in that today, with the exception of Crematorium I, there are
no cremations anywhere. They will be finished here too by six o’clock in the
evening, so the Sonderkommando does not have to supply a night shift today.
On such occasions the SS night shift is smaller as well. In each crematorium
the watch consists of three men.
91
Ecrasite (Hungarian ekrazit, German Ecrasit) is the name of an explosive material developed in
Austro-Hungary at the end of the nineteenth century, originally for use in artillery shells. It is de-
scribed in a contemporary source as “a bright yellow solid… [which] ignites when brought into
contact with an incandescent body or open flame, burning harmlessly away unless strongly con-
fined, and is insensitive to friction or concussion. It is claimed to possess double the strength of
dynamite and requires a special detonator… to provoke its full force.” (Sanford 1906, p. 159). The
boxes referred to by Nyiszli would presumably have been fairly small; the Hungarian word in
question, szelence, usually indicates a small, decorative metal box, like a snuffbox or cigar case.
92
Sic. The plant in question was officially known as the Weichsel-Union-Metallwerke.
96 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
We part with the agreement that until the signal everyone is to perform his
work as usual and avoid all such actions as might arouse suspicions.
I head back to my room; again I have to go through the furnace hall [kaz-
ántermen]. The men are doing their work, though a little slowly. I inform my
two doctor colleagues about the situation. I say nothing to the autopsy assis-
tant. He is a long-time prisoner of the K.Z.; I do not trust him. The accom-
plished facts will sweep him along with themselves soon enough.
Slowly the time for lunch arrived. We ate our food quietly and went out in-
to the autumn sun to bask a little in the crematorium courtyard with our com-
rades. It struck me that I cannot see anyone from our SS guards. They are
probably staying in their room. This has happened on other occasions as well.
The gates are closed. Outside, the camp SS are attending to their duties. They
are at their posts. Thus I do not attach any importance to this. I quietly smoke
a cigarette. The knowledge that tonight we would be beyond the wires and
free again has lifted from me the terrible pressure that has weighed upon me
for four months now. If it fails, I still will have lost nothing!
I look at my wristwatch, its hands show half past one. I stand up and call
my companions in for the completion of the autopsy so that at half past two,
when Dr. Mengele arrives, we will be ready. Without a word they follow me
into the dissection hall. We immediately get down to work. Today one of my
fellow doctors performs the autopsy. I sit at the typewriter and write the pro-
tocol. We have been working quietly like that for about twenty minutes when
a huge explosion shakes the air, followed by a dense clatter of machine pistol
fire. I look out the large, green-screened window and see that the huge, red-
tiled roof of Krema III [a III-as krema ]93 is lying open together with its beam
structure; an enormous plume of flame and black smoke ascends high into the
sky. Barely a minute later a clatter of machine pistols rings out directly in
front of the dissection hall door. We have no idea what has happened. Our
plans spoke of tonight. It could only be that we have been betrayed, and the
SS has intervened in time, or that a large number of partisans has attacked the
crematoria! The wail of alarm sirens sounds out from Auschwitz I and Ausch-
witz II. The explosions and the clatter of machine pistols grow ever stronger.
Now heavy machine guns break in as well. I decided quickly. I held that it
would be most sensible, whether a betrayal or a partisan attack has occurred,
that we stay in the dissection hall. We will await the development of events
here at our posts. Through the window I note the arrival of 8-10 trucks [nyolc-
tíz teherautó]. They brake in front of Krema I, our crematorium, and half a
battalion worth of soldiers jump down from them and draw up in lines in front
of the barbed-wire fence…
93
Sic. Readers may recall here that Nyiszli numbers the Birkenau crematoria with the Roman nu-
merals I to IV, in contrast with modern practice, which reserves the number I for the disused
crematorium at the Auschwitz Main Camp, and gives the Birkenau crematoria numbers II through
V. The “Krema III” mentioned here thus is actually Crematorium IV. See Note 15 above.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 97
94
Nyiszli’s original 1946 text is defective here, lacking the bracketed material and thus leaving un-
clear precisely what the SS were putting into position. The missing text can be supplied from two
paragraphs below, where an otherwise inexplicable reference is made to “the two cannons” (a két
ágyút).
98 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Dr. Mengele’s clutches, ending his life four months later as a Sonderkomman-
do.
When my utterly jangled nerves had calmed a little, I got up from my bed
and went out to look around. I wanted to know what had really happened this
afternoon. Was there in fact a traitor among us and had the SS prevented the
planned insurrection with the destruction of the Sonderkommando? Even by
looking they could not have found a better occasion and pretext for the liqui-
dation of the Kommando. On another theory, the four-month term simply ex-
pired today. The political SS had received an order for the executions! They
had gone into action to carry it out, but the twelfth Sonderkommando had not
complied with the order that they should line up in the courtyard, as if they
were being called together for the purpose of counting or issuing orders, but in
reality simply so they could be shot. Our Sonderkommando, in the awareness
of all this, chose armed resistance.
In the cremation hall, stripped naked, my dead comrades lie in long lines
before the furnaces. One after another I recognize the bodies of my comrades
who broke out of Crematorium I. The collected corpses were brought in on
hand carts from the guard-chain line where they had fallen. Lying here also
are those comrades who were executed in the courtyard after my three com-
panions and I were removed from their lines. These were brought from Crem-
atoria II, III and IV to Crematorium I after the crushing of the uprising, to be
done away with here and cremated together with the others. Today the furnac-
es are lit only here, and only thirty hastily assembled new Sonderkommando
members are available.
I am standing beside an SS NCO who is recording the numbers from the
arms of the corpses, turned with their faces upward. I do not ask him, he tells
me of his own initiative that twelve men are missing from the Sonderkomman-
do; the others, with the exception of seven men, are dead. Of the seven men,
four are us, the three doctors of the dissection and hall and the laboratory as-
sistant. Also still alive are the operator engineer for the dynamos [a dynamók]
and the fans, a chief stoker, and a Pipel,95 that is, an errand boy in the personal
service of the SS who keeps their clothes, boots and cutlery in order and be-
sides this also performs telephone duty. Twelve succeeded in escaping.
From the Pipel I learned in detail the events of the day today. There was no
hint of betrayal. Seventy members of the political SS arrived by truck [tehe-
rautón] at Crematorium III at half-past one in the afternoon. Their commander
ordered the Kommando to fall in, but no one among them moved. They
guessed what would follow. The SS officer decided that it would be easier to
achieve the goal by initiating a diversionary action; they are masters in the art
of lies. To that end, he stood himself in the middle of the courtyard and deliv-
95
In German in the original, correctly Piepel. The word is a dialectical and slang form which means
“young boy” or, euphemistically, “penis.”
100 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
ered a speech with all the primitivity and concision of the SS: “Men, since you
have worked sufficiently here, by superior orders you will be going in a
transport to a labor camp. There you will have good clothes, plenty of grub
and easy work. So anyone whose tattoo number I read out should step forward
from among you and fall in line.” He began reading. There are one hundred
Hungarian Sonderkommando men in Crematorium III; he reads them out first.
These are the youngest residents of the K.Z.; they line up unresistingly. Their
fear is greater than their courage. An SS platoon immediately leads them away
out of the courtyard. They lock them all in Barracks number 13 of Camp “D.”
Meanwhile at Crematorium III the reading of the tattoo numbers went on.
It became the turn for those of Greek nationality. These do not fall into line so
readily when the SS officer shouts out their numbers. The Polish group comes
next. Murmurs and impetuous, heckling shouts are heard from the crowd. The
SS shouts out a number. Nobody moves! As he looks around expectantly, a
mineral water bottle falls in front of his feet. A terrible explosion follows.
Seven SS lie in their own blood, wounded or dead, the commander among
them. The bottle was filled with ecrasite. The Poles had thrown it. The SS
open fire murderously on the mutineers. The latter race into the crematorium.
From there they throw bottles of ecrasite into the courtyard. A group of SS
mow down all the Greeks still standing in line in the courtyard with their ma-
chine pistols. A few among them tried to escape. They too were shot down by
the gates.
Shooting continuously, the SS advance toward the crematorium entrance. It
is a difficult task, for the Poles put up stiff resistance. One after another the
mineral water bottles fall into the courtyard from the building’s windows
[ablakaiból] and their powerful explosions keep the entrance to the building
clear, until an explosion surpassing all others so far cuts to the ground those
SS soldiers who have gotten near by now. The crematorium’s enormous roof
structure blows open and hundreds of rafters fly up into the sky among smoke
and flames. Four steel barrels full of gasoline had exploded and turned the
great building into a pile of ruins burying the Sonderkommando beneath itself.
A few among the survivors still resisted, but the machine guns of the SS
mowed them down. The others, those who were able to walk despite their
wounds, came out the door with their hands held up, but the hail of bullets
made an end of them too. They knew what was waiting for them, but fire was
raging inside the building and they chose the easier death instead. The one
hundred Hungarian Sonderkommando men taken to Camp “D” were also
brought back and shot without exception.
Thus the uprising began in Crematorium III. In Crematorium I, work went
on quietly until Crematorium III blew into the air. At the sound of the explo-
sion the tension reaches its peak in the already strained atmosphere of waiting.
For a few moments nobody knew what had happened. The stokers leave the
furnaces and, huddling in a group at one end of the hall, they discuss the pos-
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 101
sibilities. They only have a few moments’ time for this, for one of the SS
guards shows up among them and with a hoarse shout calls the chief stoker to
account, for his men are not working and have left the furnaces [kazánokat] to
themselves. The chief stoker replied to him with something which must not
have been a satisfactory explanation to him for the cessation of work. With his
heavy cane – for all the SS guards have one, and use it for the coercion of the
Sonderkommando – he struck him in the face with all his might, naturally with
the curved end. Another might perhaps have collapsed dead with a shattered
skull from such a blow; the chief stoker, the toughest man of the Sonderkom-
mando, merely staggered. Blood poured down his face. From the leg of a boot
he draws forth a long, sharp knife and thrusts it into the SS NCO’s chest. The
latter would have collapsed, but two other stokers are already on him. The
door of the first furnace [az első kazán ajtaja] opens and they throw him head
first into the fire. All this happened in an instant, but another SS guard hurry-
ing into view of the group from the far end of the hall had managed to catch
sight of the booted feet of the SS man. At a run he makes straight for the first
furnace [az első kemencéhez] to open its door. He wants to see who has been
thrown into the furnace [a kazánba] fully clothed and wearing boots. It can
only be an SS soldier or a Sonderkommando man! He never learned which of
the two it was. Leaping forward, a Sonderkommando man stabbed him in the
chest and with the help of two others shoved him into the furnace [a kazánba]
beside his comrade [társa mellé].
Within moments, machine pistols and grenades and blasting boxes were in
all hands. Heavy gunfire and explosions sound from every side of the great
cremation hall. At one end stand the SS guards, at the other, the Sonderkom-
mando men. A hand grenade falls among the SS. This signifies the incapacita-
tion or death of seven of them. There are wounded and dead on the Sonder-
kommando’s side as well. This makes their attacks even fiercer. A few more
men fall among the SS; the others, there might have been twenty or so, find it
best to withdraw from the building. They do not stop until the crematorium
gate. There they link up with the group of SS brought in meanwhile from the
outside that is just now moving into action.
The rest we already know. Seven of us remain in the crematorium! The
twelve are also brought back during the night. During the breakout they suc-
ceeded in getting beyond the Vistula, but they fell into the hands of a large
group of SS. Completely exhausted, they had hidden in a Polish house they
thought was safe. Their host had notified an SS detachment prowling nearby;
the latter fell upon them by surprise and took all twelve prisoners.
I was already lying in my bed and was trying to sleep after an eventful day.
Suddenly the clatter of multiple machine pistols rouses me from my slumber.
After the sound of the shots, heavy steps approach along the corridor
[folyosón]. My door flies open and two SS stagger through it. Both have
bloody faces. The twelve men of ours who were brought back, when they ar-
102 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
rived at the crematorium courtyard with their escort, attacked the latter with
their fists in order to grab their weapons. Thence the injuries to the SS men’s
faces. Naturally they immediately shot them all to death, without exception.
They charge me with the care and bandaging of their wounds. I comply with
their orders.
The loss of the twelve comrades completely crushes me. At the cost of so
many lives not a single messenger has succeeded in getting away from this
cursed place in order to tell of what is happening here.
As I later ascertained, however, news of the rebellion did get out. Some
K.Z. prisoners who were working together with civilian laborers passed it
along. There was someone among the SS as well who talked. This was a great
event! Unique in the history of the K.Z.’s! Eight hundred and fifty-three pris-
oners had died. Seventy SS soldiers were killed. Among them were an Ober-
sturmführer, seventeen Oberscharführer and Scharführer, and fifty-two
Sturmmann,96 that is, simple privates. Crematorium III had burned to ashes
and Crematorium IV was put out of operation as a result of the destruction of
its machinery.
Chapter XXX
I wake up tired after a very restless night. I am in a state of severe nervous ex-
citement. The muted chatter of my roommates, even the clicking of their shoes
irritates me.
In a foul mood, I head to the dissection hall with my companions. We pass
through the cremation hall. The concrete floor in front of the furnaces
[kazánok] is clean. Our comrades were all cremated while it was still the mid-
dle hours of the night. The furnaces are already in the process of cooling; they
give off only a tepid warmth. The thirty new Sonderkommando men, all of
them horrified by the bloody tragedy of their first day spent in the crematori-
um, sit in frozen silence or lie in the beds of their dead comrades.
This state of affairs lasts only a few days. Soon signs of life, smaller and
greater, will appear even in them. The appetite for a tasty morsel. Smoking re-
lieves the pressure weighing on them too. In brandy, however, they discover
the most effective, most blessed of remedies. For a few hours it cures a man of
crematorium disease. It causes one to forget the past, and allows one to think
of neither present nor the still-more-dreadful future. They have put on that
which they had been so in want of until now in the barracks of the K.Z.: good
clothes. They can practice cleanliness as much as they like as well. Here there
is water and a bath, there is soap, and above all there are towels. I view them
96
Sic, all ranks in German in the original. Hungarian does not mark plurals on nouns following a
number and so the singular forms are not out of place. The correct plurals would be
(Ober)scharführer (no change) and Sturmmänner.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 103
as an old army-camp resident views new recruits. They’ll soon get used to
everything!
For lack of other business in the cremation hall, ut aliquid videatur – that
is, so something may be seen – I give work to my men. I make them wipe the
dust off the jars of museum specimens. I make them put the instruments in or-
der, and I also have them patch together the screen over the window which
was ripped by the bullets of yesterday’s battle. I seat myself at my work table
and make lists in my head, stuck all over as it is with bandages, of the com-
plaints and requests to be made to Dr. Mengele.
I will explain to him that the crematorium does not have even a single
room suitable as a dissection hall, for the screams of the thousands going to
their deaths reach everywhere, piercing to the very marrow of one’s bones. Ei-
ther death by gas, or a shot to the back of the neck awaits them. I cannot con-
centrate on my research work, for starting from the day of my arrival here I
have been conscious of the fate of the eleven Sonderkommandos brought here,
and every hour and minute of the day for four months I have awaited the cul-
mination of the fate of my own Kommando, the twelfth. I will also ask him to
be reasonable and not require too precise a job from me, for just yesterday,
October 6, 1944, he commanded that I should dissect the corpse of a Russian
army officer and write up the autopsy protocol. Crematorium III blows into
the air before my eyes [szemem előtt], an SS battalion attacks. Cannons and
bloodhounds are deployed. Hand grenades explode. SS soldiers with fixed
bayonets force their way into this hall of science that is directed by me. Amid
constant blows they lead us out to the courtyard; there they make us lie in the
mud, and for a few moments I am transformed from a medical examiner into a
subject for execution. It is true that he, Dr. Mengele, took me out of the line of
those sentenced to death, but I have only returned to the death house again for
a new, four-month term. I will also ask him to consider the absurdity of the
situation which arose last night. I provided medical assistance to two SS
NCOs who just yesterday ordered me to the ground, kicked me repeatedly, hit
me with the butts of their rifles wherever they could. With their guns pointed
at my head, they were merely waiting for the signal to shoot their murderous
bullets into me.
These are the complaints and concerns which I intend to present to my
boss. My hope, in turn, is that he will transfer us, the four-member dissection-
hall Kommando, along with the dissection hall itself, to a suitable location in
the K.Z.
By the time I have done formulating what I want to say, Dr. Mengele is al-
ready opening the door. As per regulations we stand to attention, and as first
in rank I announce: “Captain! Three doctors and one laboratory assistant at
work at their jobs!”
His gaze glides over me and comes to a halt on my head, stuck all over
with adhesive bandages. “What happened to you?” he asks in a half-sympa-
104 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
thetic, half-amused voice. From the question I gather that he does not want to
remember the events of yesterday afternoon. I do not even answer it. I only
say what little remains from my pile of complaints, now melted away into
mist: “Captain! This environment is not suitable for the performance of scien-
tific research work. Might the relocation of the dissection hall not be practica-
ble?” He looks at me. His face hardens. “Perhaps you have some sentiments to
share?” he asks with icy brevity.
I reproach myself for having so forgotten the prudence which I have adopt-
ed thus far and for having criticized this environment where my addle-brained,
research-obsessed boss feels most at home.
The blazing flames of the pyres send their light here [Idevilágít a máglyák
lobogó tüze]. The smoke from the chimneys of the four crematoria is perva-
sive here [Itt terjeng négy krematórium kéményeinek füstje]. The air is heavy
with the smell of burning human flesh and singed hair. The screams of those
going to their deaths and the explosive report of shots to the back of the neck
make the building’s walls tremble. He returns here after every selection and
bloody fireworks display.
He spends all his free time here in this atmosphere of horrors, and with a
silent fury he makes me open the corpses of hundreds of innocents sent to
their deaths. Bacteria propagates itself in the electric incubator on a growth
medium prepared from fresh human flesh. He sits before the microscope for
hours at a time and seeks after the cause of phenomena such as none will ever
decipher, the cause of multiple births.
Today, however, he appears tired. He has come from the Jews’ ramp where
he stood for hours in the pouring rain and selected the inhabitants of the Riga
ghetto who have been brought here [a Riga-i ghettó idehurcolt lakóit]. But this
was no selection, for all went to the left. The two functioning crematoria and
the huge ditches of the pyres [a máglyak óriási árkai] are filled with them.
Due to demand, the Sonderkommando stands at four hundred and sixty men.
He sits at the laboratory work table in his wet coat. He does not even take
his hat off, though drops of rain water still fall from its visor. He does not
even notice perhaps.
“Captain!” I say. “Allow me to take your coat and hat into the furnace
room [kazánterembe]. They will be dry in five minutes.”
“Leave it,” he replies. “The water can only go as far as my skin.”
He asks for the autopsy protocol for the Russian army officer who was
shot. I turn it over. He takes it in his hands, reads a few lines from it and gives
it back. “I’m very tired. You read it!” Surprised, I take the protocol and start
in with the reading of it. I only get as far as four or five lines. He interrupts.
“Leave it, it’s not necessary,” he says and stares at the window with a gaze
that looks into infinity but sees nothing.
What can have happened to this man? Perhaps he has had his full of the
surfeit of horrors? Has he received bad news, from which he has realized that
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 105
there’s no sense in going on? I also consider it possible that the exertions of
the last months have worn him out.
In our life together he has never given an opportunity for a personal con-
versation. Now, however, he seems so broken down that I take courage and
ask:
“Captain! How long will the exterminations go on?”
He looks at me and replies:
“Mein Freund! Es geht immer weiter, immer weiter!”97
My friend! It goes ever on, ever on!
I sense a quiet resignation in his words.
He gets up from his seat and leaves the laboratory. With his briefcase in
my hands, I accompany him to his car.
“In the next few days you will have a part in some interesting work,” he
says and gets into his car.
With a cold shiver I realize that interesting work means the death of anoth-
er group of twins.
Chapter XXXI
The crematoria are in a state of readiness. The men of the Sonderkommando
replace the refractory linings [samottbéléseket] in the furnaces’ fire boxes [a
kemencék tűzszekrényeiben]. They paint the heavy iron doors of the furnaces
[kazánok] and oil their hinges. The dynamo and fans [a dynamók és ventil-
látorok] run all day. Experts check their functioning. The arrival of the Litz-
mannstadt ghetto [a liztmannstadt-i ghettó] has been announced. One should
know about this ghetto that the Germans established it in the winter of 1939.
The number of its inhabitants at the beginning was 500,000 souls. The ghet-
to’s inhabitants worked in enormous war factories. In payment for their work
they received ghetto marks, but they could exchange this currency only for ex-
tremely narrowly defined rations. It follows of itself that the disproportion be-
tween superhuman work performance and nutrition brought about their de-
struction en masse. Frequent epidemics also decimated them. In this way, the
500,000 souls melted away to 70,000 by the autumn of 1944.
Now the end has come for these as well. Each day [napi] they arrive at the
Jews’ ramp of K.Z. Auschwitz in groups of ten thousand [tízezres csoportok-
ban]. The selection sent ninety-five percent to the left, five percent to the
right. Cast out, bowed down by the weight of the tragedy of their accursed
race, tortured by the spirit-killing desolation of five years of life in the ghetto,
aged by decades by the slave labor imposed upon them, they have exhausted
their capacity to experience good or evil. They pass through the crematorium
97
In German in the original.
106 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
gates with indifference, though it is no secret to them that they have arrived at
the last stage on the journey of their fate.
I go down to the undressing room. Their clothing and shoes lie scattered
about on the concrete floor. One could hardly hang these rags and these scraps
of wood used as shoes up on hooks. The cloakroom numbers do not interest
them. They drop their luggage where they stand. The Sonderkommando men
working on the sorting open a few of the packages and show them to me. A
flatbread made of corn flour, water and a bit of linseed oil, and one or two ki-
los of oatmeal flour were all their provisions for the journey.
During the arrival of one of their transports, it happened that Dr. Mengele
spotted a hunchbacked man of about fifty years of age among those lined up
for selection. The cripple was not alone. Beside him stood a handsome-faced,
tall youth of fifteen or sixteen years of age whose right leg was deformed, and
corrected with a frame made of steel plates and a thick-soled orthopedic shoe.
They were father and son.
Dr. Mengele believed he had found a textbook example of his theory of the
degeneracy of the Jewish race in the physical defects of the hunchbacked fa-
ther and the cripple-legged son. He immediately takes them out of the line. He
motions an SS NCO over to him. He tears two pages out of his notebook, jots
something down on them, and has the two unfortunates accompanied to
Crematorium I by the SS soldier.
The time is getting on to twelve noon. Crematorium I is not in operation
today. I am not busy at the moment. I am passing time in my room. The SS
soldier doing day duty comes to find me there. He summons me to the gate.
Standing there already are the father with his son, with the SS escort behind
them. I receive one of the written messages, which is addressed to me. It says
in it: “Dissection hall, Krema I. – The Number 198 will examine both clinical-
ly. Take precise measurements of father and son. Prepare clinical examination
pages precisely containing within themselves all findings, particularly with
regard to causes for the emergence of the observed deformities.”
The other note is addressed to Oberscharführer Mussfeld. Even without
reading it I know what is in it. I hand it to a Sonderkommando man; he will
deliver it to him.
Father and son, moldering images of the terrible years in the Litzmannstadt
ghetto, look at me with an inquiring gaze, with a sense of anxiety, with lips
mutely expressive of foreboding. I pass with them across the sunny courtyard.
With a few reassuring words I escort them into the autopsy hall. Fortunately
no corpse is lying on the dissecting table; that would have been a terrible sight
for them!
98
Sic: “A No. I.…” By this Mengele presumably is addressing Nyiszli as the “Number 1” of the dis-
section-hall staff.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 107
though I do, that they are consuming their death-house meal, their “last sup-
per” [„utolsó vacsorát”].
Scarcely half an hour later Oberscharführer Mussfeld and four Sonderkom-
mando men appear. They lead the two men into the furnace room [kazánter-
embe]; there they make them remove their clothes and the Oberscharführer’s
gun fires twice. Father and son lie dead on the bloody concrete. Oberscharfüh-
rer Mussfeld has carried out Dr. Mengele’s order.
Now it is my turn again. The two corpses are brought into the dissection
hall. I feel such nausea at the horror of it that I entrust performance of the au-
topsies to my companions; I write the protocol. The autopsies do not even fur-
nish any additional data to the store which I have already established “in vivo”
[„élőben”]. Ordinary cases, but useful propaganda material in support of the
theory of the degeneracy of the Jewish race.
In the evening, after he has sent at least ten thousand people to their deaths
in this one day, Dr. Mengele arrives. He listens with great interest to my report
on the in vivo and autopsy data from the two physically defective victims.
“These corpses must not go for cremation [elégetésre],” he says. “They
will be prepared and the skeletons will go to the anthropological museum in
Berlin.”
He asks me what methods I know for the perfect cleaning of skeletons. “I
know two methods,” I reply. “One is the dissolving method, which consists of
placing the corpse in a calcium chloride solution; within two weeks this will
burn away all soft parts. After that the bones go into a gasoline bath, which
dissolves the grease from them, thereby leaving them dry, odorless and snow-
white in color. The second method, the cooking method, is shorter. It consists
of simply cooking the body in water until the fleshy parts are easily and
smoothly removable from the bones. Afterwards, here too we employ a gaso-
line bath for the degreasing and bleaching of the bones.”
Dr. Mengele orders the employment of the shorter method, cooking.
Orders in the K.Z. tend to be quite short. Here they do not say how, they do
not say where the K.Z. prisoner is to procure the tools necessary for the execu-
tion of the order. It has to be carried out! I am in just such a bind myself. I
have to cook two corpses. In what shall I cook them, and where? I turn to
Oberscharführer Mussfeld, he will be of assistance to me! I tell him that I
have to cook two corpses but I do not have any suitable vessels. Even he lis-
tens to my relation of events with horror. He reflects a little, and two tinplate
barrels which are lying unused in a storeroom [egy raktárheyiségben] come to
his mind.
He puts these at my disposal and recommends that I have stoves [tűzhelye-
ket] built from bricks in the courtyard. I do so. The stoves are prepared, the
tinplate barrels are placed over them with their terrible contents and the cook-
ing begins. Two Sonderkommando men are assigned as wood carriers and
stokers. Five hours later, after repeated tests, I ascertain that the soft parts sep-
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 109
arate from the bones smoothly. I put a stop to the fires, but the barrels will re-
main in their places until cooled.
In the absence of better occupation, I sit down in a small grove near the
barrels and read. A pleasant silence surrounds me. Today nothing is in opera-
tion. Four stonemason prisoners brought here from Auschwitz I are repairing
the crematorium’s chimney [a krematórium kéményét javítja].
It is getting on toward evening. The barrels should be cooled, and I am just
about to get up from my resting place for the emptying of them when one of
my men comes running up from among the barrels’ guards and attendants and,
quite beside himself, shouts: “Doctor! The Poles are eating the flesh from the
barrels!” I leap quickly from my seat and rush over. Four unfamiliar prisoners
in striped clothing are standing, immobilized, around the barrels. They are the
Polish stonemasons who, having completed their work, are waiting for their
guards to take them back to their quarters in Auschwitz I. Half-starved men,
they were searching about in the courtyard for something to eat and thus came
across the barrels, left unguarded for a few minutes. They believed that the
meat cooking in the big barrels was for the Sonderkommando. They sniffed,
took out a few large pieces of skinless flesh, cut some pieces from it with their
knives and began greedily to eat, but not for long, for the two stokers showed
up and spotted them. They were almost paralyzed with terror when they
learned what sort of flesh they had eaten.
After the gasoline bath, the dissection hall assistant puts the bones together
with great expertise. They lay spread out on the laboratory table, where I ex-
amined them alive one day ago.
Dr. Mengele was very satisfied. He brought several highly ranked medical
colleagues along with him for the examination of the skeletons. They fiddled
self-importantly with a few pieces. They tossed around scientific expressions.
They behaved as if the deformities in the skeletons of the two victims were
unparalleled medical findings. What they are engaged in is Pseudowissen-
schaft,99 pseudoscience. There is no extraordinary anomaly here. What there is
can be seen in hundreds of thousands of people in every part of the world. It is
a frequent observation even in a medical practice in contact with a quite small
cross-section of the public. Still, it is magnificently useful for propaganda
purposes, for by its very nature pseudoscience100 does not shrink from blatant
lies dressed up in scientific garb. Those in turn who view the propaganda ma-
terial and read the text normally are not possessed of critical spirit, but rather
take everything as it is served up to them.
The two skeletons go into long, sturdy paper bags, and in this manner trav-
el to Berlin with the accompanying data. Onto this shipment also went the
99
In German in the original.
100
The subject here is not explicitly expressed in the original and must be supplied from context. It
might also be “propaganda” or even (with a change of pronouns in the preceding clause in transla-
tion, i.e., “by his very nature”) “Dr. Mengele.”
110 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“Urgent, important war shipment” stamp.101 I was relieved when they were out
of my sight. They had caused me extremely bitter hours, both in their lives
and in their deaths.
A week had passed [elmult egy hét]; the liquidation of the Litzmannstadt
ghetto has ended. The late October sunshine gives way to cold autumn rain.
Fog and gloom cover the barracks of the K.Z. My past slowly becomes foggy
and my future is dark. The rain pouring down for days on end, the damp cold
that penetrates to the bone, the silence all only increase the bitterness that has
accumulated inside me. Wherever I go, wherever I look, everywhere there is
only electrified wire, reminder of the vanity of all hope.
Three days following the liquidation of the Litzmannstadt ghetto the head
Kapo of the Sonderkommando brings a woman, soaked to her skin, and two
dripping, shivering children in from the crematorium courtyard. Guessing the
worst, they had sneaked away from the last transport marching in to die, and
hidden behind the large pile of firewood standing in the crematorium court-
yard [a krematórium udvarán álló nagy tűzifarakás mögött]. Before their eyes,
their transport went below the ground,102 and they were able to observe that no
one came back out from there. Frozen in terror, they waited for some chance
that could be of help to them, but nothing occurred. They had waited like that
for three days in the cold wind and pouring rain, without food, soaked to the
skin in ragged clothes, until the head Kapo came across them half unconscious
while doing his rounds. There was nothing he could do; he brought them be-
fore Oberscharführer Mussfeld. The woman, bone thin, around thirty years of
age but looking more like fifty, fell to her knees before the Ober with a last
exertion of strength, clasped his boots and with heart-rending despair pleaded
for the lives of her two children, aged 10 and 12 years, as well as for her own.
She said that she had worked for the German army for five years in a clothes
factory in the ghetto. She still wants to work after this. Let them spare their
lives. There was no helping it! They had to die! And indeed they died, but
time has managed to wear down even the Ober; he sent another in his place
for the completion of the murderous task.
Chapter XXXII
We forgot even this bloody episode, for we had to forget if we did not want to
go mad from the horrors we lived through and the desperation of our dark fu-
ture. In this, the forgetful hours of Luminal stupor helped a great deal. I often
think of the past as if I had lived through my life before the K.Z. in a dream.
To forget everything, that alone is my goal, and to think of nothing.
101
See Chapter VIII, where the stamp is introduced as saying “Urgent, important war material”
(„Sürgős, hadi fontosságú anyag”) rather than “shipment” (küldemény), as here.
102
That is, into the semi-underground undressing room.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 111
It is November 1, 1944, the Day of the Dead [halottak napja].103 The snow
is falling thickly in large flakes. It is scarcely possible to see as far as the
guard towers, for everything is confounded in the vast whiteness. Only the
crows, gaunt from hunger, take to their wings when the booming north wind
shakes the wire of the fences.
Though the weather is unsuitable for it, I go for a short walk in the evening
twilight, and the cold wind refreshes and soothes my jangled nerves. I walk
around the courtyard several times; my path leads me before the entrance
down into the gas chamber. I stop there for a few moments. It occurs to me
that today is the day of the dead! [Eszembe jut, ma halottak napja van!] All
around a ghastly silence lies over everything. The cold stones of the concrete
stairs disappear in the darkness of the entrance down into the gas chamber.
Four million [négymillió] innocent people said farewell to their lives here with
a last, painful glance, that they might then descend into their unmourned tomb.
I stand here alone, on the last step of their lives. To me thus falls the sad duty
to commemorate [emlékezzek] them with profound sympathy in place of rela-
tives living all over the world.
I leave this place and return to my room. When I open the door I am sur-
prised to see that the usual bright electric lamp is not on; in its place flickering
candlelight gives faint illumination to the room. For a moment I suspect an
electrical fault. My colleague, the assistant lecturer from Szombathely, is sit-
ting at the table holding his head propped in his hands, staring into the flame
of the candle standing before him. He does not even notice my entrance. The
flickering flame of the candle illuminates his face. He appears older than his
years. I place my hand on his shoulder and, attuning myself to his mood, I
quietly ask: “Dénes, for whom have you lit a commemorative candle [em-
lékgyertyát] in this place?” I receive a confused reply. He speaks of his father-
in-law, his mother-in-law, they have been dead for fifteen years. Of his wife
and child, who were lost here in Crematorium I – there are eyewitnesses to
this in the Sonderkommando – he makes no mention. I immediately recognize
the symptoms of melancholic depression and retrograde amnesia, that is, a de-
ficiency in recollection.
I embrace him, take him to his bed and make him lie down. “My poor
friend! You, a frail-bodied, soft-spoken, fine-souled, deeply learned doctor
who, in place of the care of the sick, have fallen into the service of death and
become a subject of its empire. For long months you have been witness to
tragedies and horrors such as no human mind could comprehend and no per-
son living would believe. It is just as well that your nerves have renounced
103
Nyiszli presumably intends to refer here to the traditional Christian celebration of All Souls’ Day
(in remembrance of the dead), though technically this falls on the second of November; it is the
related All Saints’ Day (in honor specifically of the saints of the church) which falls on the first.
112 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
their duties and that a beneficent veil of fog clouds over your brain. At least
you will not feel the things that are still to come.”
Chapter XXXIII
After several days of silence, the usual din once again dominates the area of
the crematoria. The motors of the big fans [a nagy ventillátorok motorjai]
drone, the fires in the furnaces are revived [élesztik a kazánot tüzét]. The arri-
val of the Theresienstadt ghetto has been announced.
During the period of the Czechoslovak Republic, Theresienstadt was spe-
cifically a garrison town. The Germans terminated the garrison’s status, re-
moved the civilian population and established a model ghetto in the town. Its
inhabitants were Jews deported from the territory of Czechoslovakia, Austria
and Holland. Their number approached seventy thousand. Until now they
lived under fairly good conditions. They were able to freely practice their pro-
fessions. They received mail and Red Cross aid packages. Red Cross delegates
from neutral states visited the town several times and on each occasion report-
ed favorably on conditions there. The Germans had achieved their goal with
the establishment of the model ghetto, for the reports neutralized and classi-
fied as malicious slanders the rumors which were circulating about the horrors
of the K.Z.’s and the crematoria.
The Third Reich, on the eve of its collapse, no longer cares about world
public opinion; it throws off its mask of seeming humanity. They begin the to-
tal extermination of the Jews still alive in their hands.
And so the model ghetto of Theresienstadt’s turn for extermination has ar-
rived.
REICH SS COMMISSARIAT [kormánybiztosság]
DEPLOYMENT AND ALLOCATION OF COMPULSORY LABORERS
CONSCRIPTION NOTICE
The Jew X. Y. of the Reichsprotektorat104 is hereby notified that by order of
the above-named authorities he has been assigned to total labor service [totális
munkaszolgálatra].105 The conscript is required to present any tools used in
the practice of his profession, his instruments, his winter clothes, bedding and
provisions for one week to the delegates of the above-named authorities prior
to start of group departures. The date of departure will be communicated by
posted notices.
Theresienstadt… date.
104
Short for Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren, administrative name for the Czech portion of
the former Czechoslovakia incorporated into the Reich as a protectorate in March 1939.
105
Nyiszli does not capitalize this phrase, and it is uncertain whether he intends a proper name by it,
as previous translators have assumed (e.g., Seaver’s 1960 English translation, “Service of Obliga-
tory Labor”). (Notably, Nyiszli does not put the Hungarian definite article a before the phrase,
suggesting that he is indeed using it generically.) It does not appear, at any rate, to correspond to
the actual name of any specific program of the time.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 113
Signature.
With these conscription notices, the work-capable men of the Theresienstadt
ghetto arrived in the Auschwitz crematoria. The deployment to total labor was
an unspeakably vile deception. It was merely a pretense for the smooth execu-
tion of the liquidation action and for the acquisition of fine instruments, tools
and winter clothing.
Twenty thousand [húszezer] vigorous, work-capable men died in the gas
chambers and burned to ashes in the fire of the furnaces [a kazánok tüzében].
The extermination lasted for two days [Két napig tartott a megsemmisítés].
Afterwards, a silence lasting for days lay over the crematoria.
Fourteen days later, long trains arrive one after the other at the Jews’ ramp.
Women and children descend from them. There is no selection; all go to the
left.
On the undressing room floor lie hundreds of summons notices with the
following text:
REICH SS COMMISSARIAT
DEPLOYMENT AND ALLOCATION OF COMPULSORY LABORERS
SUMMONS
The above-named authorities hereby permit the wife and children of X. Y.,
Jew of the Protektorat deployed to total labor, to travel to the work location of
the aforenamed Jew and to live with him in familial union for the duration of
his compulsory labor. Appropriate accommodations are available. Winter
clothing, bedding and provisions for one week are required.
Theresienstadt… date.
Signature.
The destruction of twenty thousand [húszezer] wives hoping to make their
husbands’ lot easier and children pining after their fathers followed in the
wake of this summons formulated with such diabolical cunning.
Chapter XXXIV
In the early morning hours of November 17, 1944, an SS NCO opens the door
to my room and confidentially informs me that by order of the Reichsführer106
the killing of people in any fashion within the grounds of the K.Z. has been
strictly prohibited. I could not give credence to this statement; I have already
been witness to so much deception. I even expressed my doubts to the bearer
of the good news, but he insisted and repeatedly stated that such an order had
arrived by radio [rádión] in the crematorium as well as at the Political SS
command. We will see then! What truth is there to it?! This too, perhaps, is
another deception.
106
Properly, Reichsführer-SS, title of Heinrich Himmler as head of the SS.
114 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Still in the morning hours, I am convinced of the truth of the news. A train
composed of five wagons came to a halt on the rails between Crematoria I and
II. It brought five hundred exhausted, sick prisoners, with the destination “rest
camp,” before the gates of the crematoria. I am an eyewitness as a committee
of the Political SS welcomes them; the SS escort negotiates with their com-
mander. The result of the negotiation is that the five wagons turned back from
before the gates of death with their cargo and all were accommodated in the
hospital barracks of Camp F. It is the first instance since I have been in the
crematorium that a transport sent to Auschwitz with the destination “rest
camp” has lain, within an hour of arrival, not on the bloody concrete floor of
the furnace room [kazánterem] shot in the head, but rather in the care of doc-
tors, in beds in one of the barracks of the hospital camp.
Not even a full hour later another train arrives. Five hundred Slovakian
Jews – old, young, children, men, women mixed together – form the transport.
They descend from the wagons. I observe the proceedings intently. Lining up
and selection are the usual formalities on the Jews’ ramp, but what I now ob-
serve is completely unprecedented. The weary passengers descend from their
wagons; they do not leave their larger luggage behind, but rather keeping it in
their hands they all set off like that to the right, into Camp “E” of the K.Z.
Mothers push children in front of themselves in their carriages. The young as-
sist the old and the sick in their walking.
Exulting, I register the truth of the news. No doubt about it, the gates of the
crematorium will never open again before the transports of those sent to die.
A happy event which awakens hope for the prisoners of the K.Z., it is a
change which signifies the approach of death to the Sonderkommando. I have
no doubt about it; the end will come for us even sooner than the expiry of the
four-month term. A new life begins in the K.Z.’s. There is no more violent
death, but the bloody past must be hidden: the crematoria are to be demol-
ished, the pits for the pyres filled in [betömik a máglyák gödreit], and every
eyewitness and participant to the horrors must be destroyed without exception.
In full consciousness of the approaching end, we welcome the great change
with grim resignation but also with joy in our hearts.
Even if it had arrived very late, there are still a few thousand alive from
among the six million [hatmillió] souls whom Europe’s addle-brained, mad
pyromaniac, Führer of the Third Reich, hauled away from every part of Eu-
rope and reunited with each other, not one hour before their deaths, on the rail
platforms, lit by the flames of cremation pyres, of Majdanek, Treblinka,
Auschwitz, Birkenau.
As it is nearing twelve noon, driven by uneasy feelings I seek out the SS
NCO radio operator who brought us the good news early that morning in his
room. I want to know what orders have arrived during the course of the morn-
ing. Are there any directives with respect to the fate of the Sonderkommando?
Fortunately I find him alone in his room. I lay out my questions. The Sonder-
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 115
Chapter XXXV
My watch showed two p.m. It is after lunch and I am looking apathetically out
our window at the darkly swirling clouds of snow when a loud shout disturbs
the silence of the furnace-hall corridor [a kazánterem folyosójának]. “Alle an-
treten!”107 sounds the order. We hear it two times a day, morning and evening,
for the customary roll call, but in the afternoon it is of ominous significance.
“Alle antreten!” it sounds again, still sharper, still more impatient.
Now heavy footsteps resound at the door to our room; an SS man opens it
and shouts: “Antreten!” Here’s trouble! We head for the courtyard. We step
out into a large circle of SS guards; our comrades are already standing there.
There is not the least surprise here, not the least noise. The SS units stand si-
lently with machine pistols trained on us and wait patiently until everyone is
in the group. I look around. The young fir trees of the little grove [a kis lugas
fiatal fenyöfái] stand unmoving, covered in white. Everything is so silent!
A few minutes later we are ordered to face left and we start off between the
close-ranked lines of armed guards. Leaving the crematorium courtyard, our
escort does not lead us onto the road, but rather across the road, in the direc-
tion of Crematorium II standing opposite. Sure enough, we advance through
its courtyard. We know now that this is our final journey. We are all herded
into the crematorium’s furnace hall [kazántermébe]. Not a single SS guard
remains inside. They stand around the building, at the doors and windows,
with machine pistols ready for firing. The doors are locked; heavy iron grills
cover the windows. There is no way out here. The comrades from Crematori-
um II are here as well! A few minutes later the ones from number IV are
brought in. Four hundred and sixty men [négyszázhatvan ember] stand togeth-
er and wait for death; only the method of execution still constitutes a matter
for conjecture. Here there are specialists who know all of the death-bringing
methods of the SS. The gas chamber? That would be impossible to carry out
smoothly with the Sonderkommando! Shooting? That is a method that is
scarcely feasible here, inside!
The most likely scenario is that they will blow us up together with the
building in the interest of achieving two goals at once. That would be genuine
SS method, or perhaps we will receive a few phosphorus grenades through the
107
“[Everyone] fall in!” In German in the original.
116 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
window. Such are what the people of the Milo Ghetto [a milói ghettó népe]108
received immediately after embarkation in the wagons [közvetlenül bevagoni-
rozása után]. The train had not even set off with them and already they were
all dead. They arrived like that at the Auschwitz crematoria.
In mute silence, wordlessly – if someone says something to his companion,
he does so in a whisper – the Kommando men hunker down wherever they
have found places on the concrete of the furnace hall floor. Suddenly the si-
lence is broken: one of our comrades, a black-haired, tall, slim man wearing
glasses, about thirty years of age, leaps up from his place and in a ringing
voice, so that all can hear, begins to speak. He is a “dayan” [“dájen”],109
which is a sort of auxiliary priest [segédpapféle] in a little Jewish community
in Poland. He is an autodidact with a great store of religious and worldly
knowledge at his command. He is the ascetic of the Sonderkommando, a man
who, in order to abide by the dietary prescriptions of his faith, eats nothing
from the bountiful kitchen of the Sonderkommando [a Sonderkommandó bó
[bő] konyhájáról] but bread, margarine and onions. His assignment was to
have been stoker on a cremation furnace [égetőkemencénél], but as he is a man
of fanatic faith I have arranged with Oberscharführer Mussfeld that he should
receive an exemption from this horrible work.
I justified my request to the Ober with the observation that the man is not
employable in a job demanding great physical strength because from ritual
considerations he hardly ever eats anything, indeed is completely weakened,
and furthermore is not suitable to the place given that he only impedes the
work when bodies are being slid into the fire box [a tűzszekrénybe], as in eve-
ry instance he mumbles the prayer for the dead first. This happens several
thousands of times per day [Többezerszer törtenik ez napjában].
I had no other arguments. The Ober accepted them, and at my suggestion
the man was sent to the so-called Canada rubbish heap [úgynevezett Canada
szemétdomb]110 burning in the courtyard of Crematorium II. One should know
of this rubbish heap that they bring here all the personal effects and spoiled
food, as well as identification papers, diplomas, documents concerning mili-
tary honors, passports, marriage certificates, prayer books, phylacteries, and
108
The identity of the “Milo Ghetto” referred to here by Nyiszli is uncertain. In normal usage the
word milói occurs almost exclusively in the specific proper name “A milói Venus” (“The Venus of
Milo”), and thus refers to the Greek island of Milos (Mílosz in modern Hungarian). Naturally this
seems an unlikely candidate for the location of a ghetto full of Jews embarking on a train to
Auschwitz, but this is indeed how previous translations have generally interpreted the word. Ex-
ceptionally, Angelika Bihari’s German translation interprets it as referring to Milan (“aus dem
Mailänder Ghetto”), though this would require amending the Hungarian text to read milánói.
109
Quotation marks in the original. The word is written with a small “d” here, but capitalized in later
mentions.
110
In Auschwitz camp slang, “Canada” (or “Kanada”) was the name given to the complex of build-
ings established for the sorting and storage of prisoner effects at Birkenau. It was located in the
northwest corner of the camp, some 250 meters beyond the outer fence line of the Crematorium II
(i.e., III) compound.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 117
Torah scrolls which the transports sent to the gas chambers brought with them
from home but which were condemned to be burned as useless items by the
SS’s evaluative criteria.
The Canada rubbish heap was a constantly burning mound [Folyton égő
dombhalom volt a Canada szemétdombja]; in this place hundreds of thousands
of photographs of married couples, elderly parents, attractive children and
beautiful girls burned in the company of thousands of prayer books. Often I
have taken in hand this or that photograph or prayer book. In almost every
single prayer book I found, written in pen, entries with the anniversary dates
of the deaths of deceased parents. Pressed flowers from all the Jewish ceme-
teries of Europe, plucked from the graves of dead beloved relatives and pious-
ly preserved. Prayer shawls and phylacteries, of fine and simple make, lay
here in a large heap [nagy halomban] waiting to be burned.
Here the “Dayan”111 worked, or rather did not work but merely watched the
fire, but he was dissatisfied even with this when I inquired how he was doing.
It did not comport with his religious ideas that he should collaborate in the
burning of prayer books, phylacteries, prayer shawls and Torah scrolls either.
I sympathized with him, but I had no means to provide him with an easier job.
In the end we were in a K.Z. and Sonderkommando men in a crematorium!
This was the “Dayan” who began to speak.
“My Jewish brothers! An inscrutable will has sent our people to its death.
Fate has reserved the cruelest duty for us, that we should assist in their de-
struction and accompany their passing to the end, to the very ashes of their
bodies, vanished in the flames. Not once did the heavens open, no showers fell
to extinguish the flames of the pyres piled with people. With Jewish resigna-
tion we must acknowledge that it had to be thus for them! It is a judgment
from God! Why? It is not for us, unworthy men, to ask!
Such a judgment has been imposed on us as well! Do not be afraid of
death! What value would life have for us if, by some extraordinary accident of
fate, we should survive? We would return home to our towns and villages.
Cold, looted homes would await us there. In every corner of the rooms the
memories of our perished families would hover before our tear-filled eyes.
Without families, without kin, we would roam about finding comfort and rest
nowhere, as mere shadows of our selves and of our pasts, wandering here and
there.”
Flames flashed in his eyes; his lean face was transfigured; perhaps he was
already in contact with the world beyond when he said these things. There was
mute silence in the hall, the only sound the hiss of matches being struck when
somebody lit a cigarette, or deep, heavy sighs expressing farewell to the living
and the dead.
111
Nyiszli writes Dajén, the Hungarian way of spelling this term. We us the English spelling here.
118 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
The heavy doors spring open. Oberscharführer Steinberg enters the hall,
accompanied by two guards with machine pistols. “Aerzte heraus!”112 he
shouts in an imperious voice. I leave the hall with my two doctor colleagues
and my laboratory assistant. Steinberg and the two SS soldiers stop with us on
the road between the two crematoria. The Ober gives me some sheets of paper
covered with numbers which he has been holding in his hands until now and
tells me to find my number and cross it out. In my hands is a list of the tattoo
numbers of Sonderkommando members. I take out my fountain pen; after a
quick search I find and cross out my number. When I have done this, he tells
me to cross out my companions’ numbers as well! This too is done. He ac-
companies us to the gate of Crematorium I. He orders us to retire to our rooms
and not to move from there! We do so.
The next morning a column made up of five trucks arrives in the cremato-
rium courtyard. They dump out corpses from themselves. The corpses of the
Sonderkommando. A newly constituted group of thirty carries the victims into
the cremation hall [égetőterembe]. They are laid out in front of the furnaces [a
kazánok előtt]. Horrible burn lesions cover their bodies. Their faces are burned
beyond recognition, their burned and tattered clothes make identification im-
possible. Even the numbers burned onto their arms113 are illegible for the most
part.
After death by gas, death at the pyres, death by chloroform injection to the
heart, the shot to the back of the neck, death in the flames of the pyres and
death by phosphorus grenade, this is the seventh type of death I have met
with.
They took my poor comrades to a nearby forest [egy közeli erdőbe] during
the night and did away with them with flamethrowers [lángszórókkal].
If the four of us survived, the underlying motive still was not the sparing of
our lives, but rather just the necessity of our survival for as long as our posi-
tions needed filling. It was neither joy nor even relief this time, merely respite,
which Dr. Mengele afforded us in leaving us alive.
Chapter XXXVI
The Sonderkommando, thirteenth in order in the bloody history of the crema-
toria, has been annihilated. After them, our days pass in an immense silence.
Finding no place for ourselves, we come and go aimlessly between the cold,
mute walls. The ringing of our footsteps is almost painful to me in the vast si-
lence! There is nothing at all to keep us occupied! The days pass idly, and the
nights in watchfulness. Four of us remained in the building [Négyen marad-
112
“Doctors out!” In German in the original.
113
Sic: “Még a karjaikra égetett szám…” Nyiszli of course is referring to the numbers made on the
prisoners’ arms by tattooing, a process which involves no burning or branding. Apparently, he has
allowed dramatic context to color his description here.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 119
pieren, nachher aber kommen wir.”114 (Good evening boys! You’re all going
to croak soon, but we’re coming after!”) From the drunk man’s candid words I
learned what I had only guessed until now. Our guards will die together with
us!
I offer the Ober some hot rum tea; he drains the glasses with great pleas-
ure. He sits down at our table and, as if wanting to make up for missed oppor-
tunities, he begins to speak. He speaks of his wife, gone missing during a
bombing raid, of his son, killed on the Russian front.
“It is the end of everything!” he says. “The Russians are forty kilometers
from Auschwitz, all of Germany is wandering the roads! Everyone is fleeing
from the border areas!”
These were comforting words and, seeing the desperation of the Ober, a
spark of hope began to glow in me. Perhaps it will turn out that we survive af-
ter all!
Chapter XXXVII
Amid such doubts and hopes, the first of January 1945 arrived. New Year’s!
[Újév!] As far as the eye can see there is snow everywhere, an endless white-
ness covers the land. I take a short walk in the crematorium courtyard. The
rumble of a heavy engine interrupts the silence. Just a few moments pass, and
already K.Z. Auschwitz’s large, closed, brown-colored prisoner transport
wagon is turning in at the gate. The K.Z. folks call it “Brown Tony” [„barna
Tóni”]. A high-ranking SS officer gets down alongside the driver. I immedi-
ately recognize him and salute him as per regulations. It is Dr. Klein, SS Sur-
geon-Major, one of the more bloody-handed, dark figures of K.Z. Auschwitz.
In Barracks number 10 of the K.Z. is the prison block [A K.Z. 10-es számú
barakkjában van a börtön]. Now he is bringing 100 victims from there. “I am
bringing some New Year’s work for you,” he says to the Ober, who comes
rushing up.
The latter is so drunk that he can barely stand on his feet. He rather thor-
oughly celebrated Sylvester’s Night.115 Who knows, perhaps he was preparing
himself for the eternal night. I can see it in his face; he is not pleased that they
should trouble him with bloody work even on New Year’s morning. A hun-
dred Christian Polish prisoners are waiting here for death! They are all men in
the group. SS guards accompany them into the empty room beside the furnace
hall [a kazánterem melletti üres helyiségbe]. There they receive an order to
114
In German in the original, followed in parentheses by Nyiszli’s translation into Hungarian, as re-
produced above.
115
Szilveszter éjszakáját, Hungarian name for New Year’s Eve; from the fact that St. Sylvester’s
feast day falls on December 31. Variants of the name are common in other European languages as
well, including German.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 121
undress immediately! Dr. Klein walks around the courtyard with the Ober. I
go into the undressing room [a vetkezőbe] and question the men there.
One of them tells me that he gave lodging to a relative in his Krakow
apartment for a night. The Gestapo declared him a harborer of partisans and
hauled him before a military tribunal. He had been awaiting the verdict in Bar-
racks 10 of the K.Z. They have sentenced him to death; that is why he is here,
but they have not told him that! He imagines that he has been brought here to
take a bath and that from here he will go on to forced labor. Another with
whom I speak wound up in the K.Z. prison block on account of profiteering.
He had bought half a kilo of butter without a ticket. That was all of his crime!
A third wound up here because he wandered into a forbidden zone. His classi-
fication was as partisan and spy! So it went on, for all one hundred! Trifling
pretexts and baseless accusations had brought them here.
There is no Sonderkommando now; the SS guards lead the victims before
the Ober’s gun.
Again I hear the roar of an automobile. “Brown Tony” is coming back. It is
bringing new victims! One hundred well-dressed women descend from the
vehicle. They too are herded into the undressing room; they too are forced to
take off their clothes. One after another they go before the Ober’s gun. They
were all Christian Polish women. They too have paid with their lives for mi-
nor offences.
The SS carries out the cremations. They ask me for rubber gloves for the
work. Once he had personally confirmed the deaths of the two hundred pris-
oners Dr. Klein departed. There is no contradiction whatsoever between the
order of November 17 which prohibited any sort of violent killing and the oc-
currence of today’s executions, for this was an action carried out pursuant to
the verdict of a military tribunal.
Chapter XXXVIII
Our days went by quietly, without incident. Dr. Mengele, so we heard, had
departed from Auschwitz. There’s a new doctor at the K.Z., which, starting
from New Year’s Day, has officially ceased to be a K.Z. and become an Ar-
beitslager,116 that is, a labor camp. Everything here is in ferment and decay!
On January 10, a newspaper comes into my hands from which I learn of
the launch of the Russian offensive. The distant rumble of heavy artillery
makes the windows of my room [szobám ablakait] tremble. The front line
draws ever nearer! The evening of January 17 I went to bed early, though I
was not tired. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. I soon fell asleep from
the pleasant warmth of the coke stove. It might have been around midnight
when I was suddenly jolted from my sleep by powerful explosions, blinding
116
In German in the original.
122 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
lights and the clatter of machine guns. I hear a door slam, hurried steps move
away along the concrete corridor [a betonfolyosón]. I leap out of my bed; I
want to know what is happening around me. I rip open the door of our room;
the lights are on in the furnace hall [a kazánteremben]! The doors of the SS
men’s rooms [az SS.-ek szobáinak ajtói] are thrown open, sign of a sudden de-
parture.
The big oak double door of the crematorium is open as well. None of the
guards are anywhere! My glance wanders over the guard towers surrounding
the building. After eight months here, I see empty towers now for the first
time.
I run back into my room and roughly wake [felverem] my companions, and
we quickly begin to dress ourselves for the great journey! The SS have fled!
We will not remain a moment longer in this place where every hour for eight
months we have awaited certain death! We cannot wait for the Russians, for
we cannot be certain that we will not wind up in the hands of the rear guard of
the retreating SS here. If they find us here they will do away with us for sure!
We get dressed! We have excellent clothes, pullovers, winter coats and
what is most important in cold of 18 below, first-rate shoes. Each of us takes
with him a kilogram of canned meat. Medicines and cigarettes fill our pockets.
With a happy feeling of liberation, we start on our way. Direction: K.Z.
Birkenau! It is at a distance of two kilometers from the crematorium [Két kil-
ométer távolságra van a krematóriumtól]. The flames of great fires flicker on
the horizon! Probably the K.Z. is burning! We run through the furnace hall
[átrohanunk a kazánterem]; we pass beside the open door of the gold chamber
[az aranykamara nyitott ajtaja mellett megyünk el]. Riches worthy of Croesus
lie in the crates pillaged by the fleeing SS. They were only able to carry away
a tiny part of the treasures. We are running for our lives; it does not even enter
our heads that we should stop for a moment and take something with us. We
have learned that everything is fleeting and everything is endowed with only
relative value. There is only one exception to this: freedom!
We pass through the large door; no one bars our way. The sudden change
is almost unbelievable for us. Our path leads through the little Birkenau woods
[kis birkenaui erdőn], clad in white from tip to toe. We move along the way
taken by so many millions [annyi millió] to their deaths. We pass alongside
the tracks of the Jews’ ramp, buried in snow. I think of the millions of inno-
cents [millió ártatlanok] who climbed down from their trains here. Here, with
sorrowful glances, those going to the right took their leave from those going to
the left, and it was only a question of sooner or later, but all of them would
die.
The fires are indeed burning in K.Z. Birkenau! A few of the camp’s guard
buildings are burning along with the documents piled up inside them. A dark
crowd stands outside the camp gate. They are in marching columns. They are
waiting for the order to depart. I estimate the number of prisoners at about
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 123
three thousand. Without thinking we line up among them. Here in this crowd
nobody knows me. I have ceased to be one of the Sonderkommando! I am not
a known bearer of secrets! I do not have to die! I am a simple K.Z. prisoner
standing in line and I will march with the crowd. I find that to be the best solu-
tion! My companions accept it as well. Everyone is fleeing from here. They
will not haul us very far. The Russians will catch up in one or two days. The
SS surely will leave us to ourselves somewhere. For now the surest thing is to
go with them between the front lines stretching on this side and that.
The time is getting on to about one a.m. The last SS man leaves the camp.
He closes its iron gate [vaskapuját]. With a central switch located next to the
gate he turns off the camp’s lighting: Birkenau, the great cemetery of Europe-
an Jewry, is plunged into darkness. My eyes rest at length on the camp’s
barbed wire and the outlines of the barracks standing out in stark relief. I take
my leave from the graveless graves of dead millions [elhalt milliók].
A battalion of SS surrounds us and we depart! With our unknown compan-
ions we discuss events so far and matters still to come. We guess at what to-
morrow will bring us. Will the SS succeed in taking our transport onward, or
will they leave us to ourselves when the moment has arrived?
We have only gone five kilometers when the left flank of the column be-
comes the target of murderous fire. Russian advance guards had approached
our column and, thinking us troops on the march, attacked the transport. One
of their small tanks and a few machine guns joined the action. The SS order us
to get down. We all lie down in the ditch by the side of the highway. They re-
turn fire. The shooting is lively on both sides. Afterwards silence reigns! We
march onward through the barren, snow-covered Silesian landscape.
It begins to grow light. We have covered about 15 kilometers in the course
of the night. Our path now continues over trodden snow. Scattered everywhere
along the road lie eating utensils, blankets, wooden clogs fallen from feet. A
women’s transport is marching ahead of us. We can see that they are women
from the K.Z. by their abandoned belongings. A few kilometers later we see
still more! At a distance of 40-50 meters from one to the next, bloody-faced
corpses lie in the roadside ditch. The picture does not change for kilometers!
Corpses! Every fifty paces a dead body! They could not endure the march; an-
yone who dropped out of the line was simply shot in the head.
Once more I encounter a form of violent death! It appears the SS have or-
ders such that they leave no one behind alive! Not a reassuring thing to know!
The long line of bodies has an effect on everyone, we move our feet more
quickly. We are marching for our lives!
The first shots soon go off in our transport as well. The dead bodies of two
of our comrades are left behind in the ditch. They could not endure any more;
they sat down. They each received a shot to the head. So it goes from then on,
124 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
every ten minutes. Towards noon we arrive in Plesow,117 we rest for the first
time there.
We pass an hour in a football field. Whoever has something eats a bit. We
smoke a cigarette and with renewed strength we proceed along the snow-
covered road. Passing nights under the open sky, hungry and thirsty, we cov-
ered some 200 kilometers. By the time we arrived in Ratibor,118 our number
had dwindled to 2000 heads. Around 1000 people from our transport were
shot to death along the difficult way. Everyone breathes almost happily when
we see a train made up of open wagons prepared for us.
Our loading onto the wagons goes swiftly. After a night of waiting, we de-
part. I did not count how many frozen comrades we dumped from the wagons
during the course of our five-day journey! By the time we arrived at K.Z.
Mauthausen, our number had shrunk to 1500 heads. Included in the shortfall,
no doubt, were also some escapees who found a suitable moment for slipping
away.
Chapter XXXIX
K.Z. Mauthausen, the end station of our voyage, sits like an ancient castle
with its walls of dreary granite atop a conical hill that broods over the pretty
little town of the same name. This castle-like extermination camp [e várszerű
megsemmisítő tábor] was built with many hundreds of thousands of granite
stones. Its turreted ramparts and the yawning gun ports in the battlements re-
veal to those arriving, from far away, that this is a fortified place.
The scene would be picturesque if a patina of centuries covered its stones,
but they shine with a glaring whiteness and disturb the color harmony of this
landscape wreathed about with dark forests.
The stones are white; the castle has just been built! It was built in the Third
Reich period, with the designation K.Z. Forty thousand Spanish freedom
fighters who had taken refuge in France were brought here after its occupa-
tion, along with a hundred thousand German Jewish men. These worked in the
terrible Mauthausen Quarry: they carved out and carried the stones over the
seven-kilometer mountain path where previously only wild goats had gone,
and joined them one to another until mighty walls rose around their wood-
barracks death house.
With sufferings inconceivable to the human imagination they built the cas-
tle, but they were not to be its inhabitants. They died without remnant [mara-
déktalanul elpusztultak] in this sea of stone and concrete!
117
Polish Płaszów, a suburb of Kraków.
118
Polish Racibórz, a small town near the Czech border, approximately seventy kilometers west of
Auschwitz.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 125
119
In German in the original. Correctly Appellplatz.
126 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
They let people into the bath in groups of forty. Such is its reception capac-
ity. I perform a quick calculation and realize that it will take three days for
everyone to have a turn!
The Reichsdeutsche criminals [a birodalmi német bűnözők]120 perform the
firefighting duties here; they are the SS’s most faithful servants. They do the
assembling of groups for bathing. The turn for the Aryan prisoners comes
first; there are so many of them that the Jews will have to wait three days to go
through the bath. After so long a journey, however, this is here a question of
life and death! Only by way of the bath can a prisoner get into a barrack and
appear on the provisioning list. In the meantime he stands, hungry and thirsty,
in the terrible cold, exhausted from the ten-day journey, and waits for as long
as he feels strength in his legs and his weary eyes can fight off sleep. If his
strength gives out, he lies down in the snow and never gets up again. There
might be three hundred who are already lying thus around me.
No one takes any notice of them! Here everyone cares only for himself! In
the end we are fighting for our lives here!
I take stock of my situation and come to the conclusion that I cannot en-
dure a night of waiting without serious harm. I must get into the bath tonight!
Poor Dénes wanders here and there, bare-headed, without his glasses. The in-
telligence is disappearing from his face. Barely conscious, he circles about
like an automaton speaking unintelligible words. I take him by the arm and
drag him with me, if only we can manage to get into the bath that means life!
After a few steps he stops; already I have lost sight of him; he is hidden by the
drifting crowd. I call out in vain, in the wind I can barely hear my voice my-
self.
Sensing the danger I force my way through the crowd; with dogged tenaci-
ty I approach the entrance down into the bath. There I stand already, in the
front row of the great crowd!
A few SS men and firefighters with rubber truncheons are standing in front
of the group. It is a group of forty which is waiting, ready to enter. They are
all Aryans. With sudden decisiveness I step out of the crowd, stand before an
SS Oberscharführer and report to him in a determined voice:
“Oberscharführer! I am the doctor of the transport from K.Z. Auschwitz,
please let me into the bath.”
He looks me over. My good clothes, or my determined bearing, or perhaps
my speaking flawless German made an impression on him, I don’t know, but
he loudly yells across to his comrade standing guard by the stairs to the bath:
“Let the doctor go down!”
120
During the NS period, the term Reichsdeutsche referred to those Germans living within the bor-
ders of the German Reich proper, as opposed to ethnic Germans living elsewhere in Europe
(Volksdeutsche). Criminal convicts of German background formed a separate category of prison-
ers within the concentration-camp system.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 127
121
Nyiszli presumably is referring here to his earlier reflections on rapid decision making and how it
“does not always turn out well.” See Chapter XV.
122
The original edition here has the word tábornok meaning “general” (as in the military rank), and
this wording is reflected in earlier translations (cf. Seaver’s 1960 English translation, “accompa-
nied by a general”), but it most likely is an error for táborírnok (“camp clerk”) or some close vari-
ant thereof.
123
The original edition uses an exclamation mark here, but subsequent context makes it likely that a
question is intended.
128 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
very likely! I think it over and come to the conclusion that it is merely an at-
tempt at fishing out the secret bearers from the great crowd. If they had a list
they would look at our tattoo numbers. No one here knows me! In mute si-
lence I wait as the anxious minutes pass. I have won! I have again won life!
Still on that same day, after nightfall, we received striped canvas clothing
and started on our way over the mountain road toward the Mauthausen rail-
way station. There we were loaded onto wagons, and we set out in a transport
of seven thousand for the concentration camp of Melk an der Donau. We
managed the trip comfortably in closed wagons, sitting on the floor. We ar-
rived after a journey of three hours.
K.Z. Melk also dominates its surroundings from the top of a high hill.
Originally it was a pioneers’ garrison named after the Freiherr von Birabo.124
Its enormous barracks guarded as many as fifteen thousand prisoners within
their walls. The wonderful beauty of the landscape lightened the gloomy heav-
iness of our situation a good deal. The enormous baroque palace of the Melk
Abbey, built upon a rocky outcrop, and the valley of the Danube meandering
below the camp present a wonderful picture to the spectator. The Danube is a
Hungarian river too; we feel almost at home with ourselves.
Chapter XL
Spring arrived early in 1945. Already by the beginning of April the trees were
turning green in the ditches that bordered the electrified fence of the Melk
concentration camp. On the banks of the Danube meandering below us, the
melting snow gives way to green grass. For eight weeks I live through the
good and bad days of K.Z. life in this place. I am already exhausted and weak;
only the hope of approaching liberation holds me back from the abyss of leth-
argy.
Everything here is in a state of disintegration. The final phases of the col-
lapse of the Third Reich pass before our eyes like in a film.
Defeated armies march in endless columns toward the interior of their
homeland, now reduced to smoking ruins. On the Danube, swollen from the
spring thaws, hundreds of boats and barges evacuate the inhabitants of aban-
doned cities.
All things pass away! The dream of a Third Reich established for a thou-
sand years has vanished. The faith placed in the superiority of the race and the
consciousness of a calling to domination have given way to bitter disillusion-
ment.
No longer are the freedom-loving peoples of Europe menaced with the
danger that their cities will be obliterated and their valuables hauled away, and
124
Correctly, von Birago, name of a famous Austrian military engineer (“pioneer”) of the nineteenth
century.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 129
that finally despoiled of everything, they will have a number burned onto their
arms [számot égetnek karjaikra] and be forced to perform slave labor sur-
rounded by death’s-head SS men and trained bloodhounds.
The pyromaniacal people of the Third Reich125 is disappearing from the
world stage; they started such fires that a whole world was seared by their
flames, but they themselves are now passing away in them.
The hoarse corporal’s voice which shouted “Deutschland über alles!”126
over the radio waves into the home of every inhabitant of the world has gone
silent.
The freedom-loving peoples have smashed the haughty pride of the Third
Reich and established a new direction for the life of peoples.
Three great men form and shape the character of the peoples of the world
and ensure their future: Stalin! the genius leader of the Russian people, Roo-
sevelt Franklin Delano,127 wise president of the United States, and Churchill,
the British lion.
On April 7, 1945, the chains of arc lamps along the posts supporting con-
centration camp Melk’s barbed-wire fences were not turned on! Darkness and
an immense silence settled over the forsaken place. The camp was evacuated,
its gate was closed and its seven thousand inhabitants were hauled away again.
By ship, then on highways crowded with refugees, and even over mountains
covered with snow, the weary column marches for seven days until it arrives
at the end of its journey.
The Ebensee Concentration Camp is the fourth in the series of K.Z.’s
whose gates we enter.
Here the first number on the program is roll call, which lasts hours. The
second is the bath, the third is the filthy quarantine barracks, with their rubber-
truncheon executioners.
I went through all three numbers. A biting, cold wind blows, icy rain soaks
my flimsy clothes during the long Appels.128 A wild bitterness burns within
me. I am certain that it is only a question of days and we will be liberated. We
wait impatiently for something to happen, but then it might not happen only to
our benefit. The end of our imprisonment could also be a bloody tragedy.
They could exterminate us before our liberators arrive.
125
Unlike English, Hungarian distinguishes lexically between “people” in the sense of a national or
ethnic collective (e.g., “the German people”), for which the word nép is used, and “people” in the
sense of a mere group of individuals (e.g., “the people in charge”), for which emberek would be
expected. By his use of the word nép here (“a III. Birodalom piromániás népe”), Nyiszli thus as-
serts that it is the German people itself, and not merely its leadership, which is disappearing from
the world stage as a result of its “pyromania.”
126
“Germany above all things,” first line of the German national anthem. In German in the original.
127
Nyiszli gives Roosevelt’s name Hungarian-style, last name first.
128
Correctly, Appells. In German in the original.
130 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
It would be a fitting end for us in the captivity of the Third Reich, in a state
beyond the protection of human law, after a life of twelve months in the death
house.
It did not happen thus! On May 5, 1945, a white flag flutters on the tower
of Ebensee Concentration Camp. The spring sun shines with dazzling white-
ness. It is over! They have laid down their arms! Around nine o’clock a little
American tank arrives with three soldiers and takes over the camp. We are
free!…
Epilogue
The state of being beyond the protection of all human law gave way to the
consciousness of freedom, to a desire for great spaces which all at once rea-
wakens my disintegrating energies.
Sick, broken in body and soul, I start on the way toward home. The satis-
faction of nostalgia does not make my way any easier, for in the place of
flourishing cities I am greeted everywhere by charred ruins and cemeteries full
of mass graves.
I dread the reality that my parents will not be waiting for me in my ruined
family home, that I will be without the comforting love of my wife, my child,
my sister.
The humiliations, the sorrows, the horrors of the crematoria and the pyres,
the eight months of life in the death house in the Kommando of the walking
dead, have dulled the perception of good and evil within me.
I feel it! I must rest, collect my forces. But the question is, is there any
sense in going on?
On the one hand the fever of my illness burns me, on the other, the bloody
past freezes my heart.
My eyes followed two million innocent people to the gas chambers, and I
was witness to the horrors of the pyres [Kétmillió ártatlan embert kísértek
szemeim a gázkamarákig és voltam tanúja a máglyák borzalmainak].
I opened hundreds of corpses [hullák százait] at the orders of an at once
brilliant and quietly mad doctor so that a science founded on false theories
might profit from the crowds of millions sent to die in the gas or on the pyres.
I cut the flesh from the dead bodies of healthy young girls and prepared
rich nutritive media from them for Dr. Mengele’s bacterial cultures.
I put the corpses of cripples and dwarves in a bath of calcium chloride or
cooked them for days at a time so that clean skeletons might go to German
museums, where they are required to demonstrate to future generations the
necessity of the extermination of a people.
Two times I felt the touch of the wind of death as I lay before the weapons
of execution squads. I took my leave from the bloody bodies of one thousand
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 131
Part 2:
Other Documents
129
Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság: National Committee for Aiding Deportees;
http://degob.org/index.php?showjk=3632; last accessed on May 9, 2020.
136 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
130
The underscored passage is the one cited by R. J. Lifton. See Section 5.2.2.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 137
Dr. Thilo. Ability to work was the sole selection criteria [sic], and at times it
was quite capricious.
As part of the selection process, newly arrived transports were divided into
two groups – one to the right, the other to the left. The right side meant life,
the left side the crematorium. In terms of percentage, 78-80% were sent to the
left: children, mothers with small children, the elderly, pregnant women, hand-
icapped and disabled servicemen. In a few minutes, the crowd on the left start-
ed to move slowly to the left, carrying their personal belongings. The cremato-
ria were around 200 meters from the Judenrampe, and the crowd of approxi-
mately 2000 people passed under the gate of Crematoria 1, 2, 3 or 4 as or-
dered. At the crematorium, they descended 10-12 concrete steps and entered
an empty, underground room with a capacity of 2000 [people]. The first row
stopped instinctively at the entrance, but once they read the signs ‘Disinfec-
tion’ and ‘Bath’ printed in all major languages, they were reassured and de-
scended the steps. They were immediately ordered to undress; there were
benches and numbered clothes hooks along the walls of the room. As part of a
careful misinformation strategy, the SS suggest that everyone memorize their
number to make sure they will find their clothes after the bath without prob-
lem. The crowed was reassured, although the fact that men, women and chil-
dren were made to undress in front of each other caused discomfort for many.
After about ten minutes the crowd of 2000 [persons] was herded more roughly
into the next concrete room with a capacity of around 2000 [persons] without
any furnishing or windows. This was the gas chamber. The heavy oak doors
were shut behind them, the lights were turned off, and in a few minutes a luxu-
ry car with the Red Cross insignia arrived. A doctor with the rank of captain
and his assistant unloaded four metal containers weighing approximately 1 kg
each. They removed the four concrete lids covering the ventilation shafts lead-
ing to the underground bunker; they put on their gas masks, punctured the lid
of the metal containers, and dumped the bean-sized, purple [or rather] burgun-
dy-colored chlorine pellets into the four openings. Then they immediately cov-
ered the openings with the concrete covers.
On one occasion I chanced to hear the SS doctor urging his assistant: ‘Gib
schon das Fressen den Juden!’ [‘Give the fodder to the Jews!’]
The gas pellets fell, and right on contact with air developed chlorine gas that
caused the most-cruel death by suffocation within 5 to 10 minutes.
After thirty minutes, the ventilators were switched on, members of the
Sonderkommando on duty opened the door of the gas chamber, and there were
lying 2000 corpses covered in blood (from bleeding noses) and feces. Instead
of being spread out evenly on the bunker floor, they were piled up on top of
each other one story high, explained by the fact that the chlorine gas reached
the higher [air] layers with some delay. The Sonderkommando washed the
corpses with a hose, and the bodies were then loaded in an elevator and hoist-
ed to the furnace room. The furnace room consisted of 15 furnaces, each
equipped with its own electric blower. A trained unit dragged the corpses by
138 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
hooking the curved end of a walking cane into their mouths. Three bodies were
stacked in each furnace at a time, and it took twenty minutes to reduce them
into ashes. Before the cremation, a dentist commando removed golden teeth
from the dead bodies.
The so-called ‘ash commando’ was ordered to remove the ashes from time to
time and crush the bones that did not burn completely. Once a week the ashes
were dumped into the nearby Wistula River.
On November 17, 1944, cremations at the crematoria were prohibited in the
entire country [sic], and no inmates were murdered anymore after that date.
However, in order to eliminate eyewitnesses to the darkest secrets of the polit-
ical SS, members of the Sonderkommando of Crematoria 1, 2, 3, and 4, count-
ing 846 [inmates], were executed between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. the same day.
The victims included one hundred Hungarian Jews, as well as forty Russian
military officers, and the rest were Jews from France, Holland, Belgium and
Poland. We doctors were there among our comrades facing the machine guns,
but Dr. Mengele – whose work on race biology had not been completed yet –
pulled us out from among the condemned. We continued our work quietly in
the deserted crematorium – without gassing and summary executions – until
January 18, 1945, when the Russians broke through the German lines at Var-
anovice[131] and Krakow, and by midnight they were within 6 km of Auschwitz.
The SS fell into a panic; they brought us into the camp where they left us to
our fate. Mixed in a crowd of around 4000 inmates, no one knew that we were
members of the Sonderkommando. The same night unknown SS guards took us
on a forced March to Mauthausen.”
131
No such place exists. Nyiszli possibly referred to Wadowice, a town some 25 km south-east of
Auschwitz and some 35 km south-west of Krakow.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 139
The author published his testimony in the form of articles titled ‘I Was a Wit-
ness at Nuremberg’ in the April [and May] 1948 issues of the Budapest news-
paper ‘Világ’.
In 1947, Dr. Miklós Nyiszli, driven by a sense of moral duty, approached the
International Tribunal conducting the trial against war criminals, and asked
to appear as a witness. At the written request of the Tribunal, he swiftly went
to Nuremberg, where he took part as a witness during the trial against the ex-
ecutives of I.G. Farbenindustrie. He was present at seventeen audiences. His
interrogation was conducted by the chief prosecutor E.E. Minskov [Minskoff]
representing the Soviets at the tribunal. He handed over his written statement
to U.S. chief prosecutor Benvenuto van Halle. At the end, the statement’s text
has this authentication: […] The International Tribunal of Nuremberg retains
a copy of the original document in its archive.
In his testimony, Dr. Nyiszli had to answer the following questions, among
other things: What was the treatment of prisoners working at the I.G.-Farben-
industrie plant? What do you know of experiments made on living people, of
gases used for the mass extermination of people? What medical diagnosis was
made to adduce the cause of death by gas? What observations did he make re-
garding the frame of mind of officers, non-commissioned officers and sol-
diers? What was their behavior, their attitude while perpetrating homicides?
Etc.
The passages of the testimony that are cited provide the answer to these ques-
tions.
We consider the following information necessary. The book is titled ‘I Was Dr.
Mengele’s Forensic Pathologist in the Auschwitz Crematorium.’ During the
trial, the Tribunal asked for a copy of Miklós Nyiszli’s book, and later the ex-
perts examined it in detail and compared his statements with the documents
available to the trial, with numerous unknown details, [and] considered the
book a documentation that demonstrated everything perfectly, and they treated
it as a document.
This is not mentioned in the book [which follows], so the reader needs this
clarification: after his deportation to Auschwitz, Dr. Miklós Nyiszli one day
went to the Monowitz labor camp and stayed there only two weeks, after which
he was assigned to the Auschwitz crematorium as a forensic pathologist on the
order of Dr. Mengele. According to a statement by the author’s widow, Dr.
Nyiszli, by omitting the part about Monowitz, aimed at maintaining the uni-
formity of the book’s structure, since he did not want to break the main argu-
ment; in the Auschwitz death camp they saw the immortalization.[132] We must
accept this procedure; it does not affect the book’s credibility at all, as is
shown by the many new data of this testimony.”
132
This sentence’s subject is unclear, as is its meaning; perhaps the author intended to say that
Nyiszli and his wife wanted to immortalize in particular the memory of the Auschwitz-Birkenau
Camp.
140 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Several excerpts of Nyiszli’s 1948 articles follow, but the text’s style is heavi-
ly edited and has omissions that are not indicated.
modation in the crematorium. Dr. Mengele was also the director of pretended
scientific research. This research included the following fields:
1. Study of twin phenomena on living people. This research was carried out by
Dr. Epstein, ordinarius at the University of Prague, who had been in custody
for five years now.
2. After the examination of the living twins had been completed, the protocol of
the medical examination, the radiographs and the drawings were placed in
their folder, and then the twins were killed in couples with an intracardiac in-
jection, i.e. into the heart (chloroform, I.G. Farben, special packaging). The
injections caused immediate death. The bodies were marked with the letters
Z.S. written with blue chalk on the skin of the left side of the chest. The symbol
Z.S. is the abbreviation of zur Sektion [to dissection]. At the same time, the in-
formation was communicated to the dissection [team]. In this way the corpses
arrived at the dissection room of Crematorium II.
3. With a precise work of forensic pathology, we had to evaluate the internal
twin phenomena. In the protocol, all the phenomena that could be revealed
had to be reported. We had to add the protocol to the material contained in the
folder from the live exam. Another task of mine was to study the phenomena of
Jewish degeneration, first on the living, then on the dead.[133]
4. Human material to support the theory of Jewish degeneration from a medi-
cal point of view. Already on the arrival of Jewish transports, Dr. Mengele
chose the material when [the deportees] lined up for selection. Right from the
ramp, Dr. Mengele selected individuals or pairs. For example, father and son,
mother and children, siblings. The SS guards accompanied them separately to
the crematorium, where, after their examinations ‘in vivo,’ they were finished
off with a shot into the nape of their neck (official name: Obergenickschüt-
ze[134]). Oberscharführer Mussfeld killed them with a shot into the nape of
their neck (with a small gun of 6 mm). After that, the bodies arrived at the dis-
section room, where the degenerative phenomena had to be evaluated from the
point of view of pathological anatomy.
5. It was forbidden to cremate corpses with a conspicuous deformative genetic
anomaly. Their skeletons had to be prepared with precise work, and they all
had to be shipped with a dispatch note stating ‘Urgent Shipment of Military
Importance.’ The recipient was the Institute for Genetic and Racial Research
in Berlin-Dahlem.
6. I also prepared many other forensic protocols: in cases of death through
bludgeoning, high voltage electricity, shooting, injuries, and in many [other]
cases, I had to write a false diagnosis in the respective protocols, such as the
cause of death. In many cases of murder, I was ordered to forge the causes of
death in order to conceal a huge crime.
7. I was an eyewitness of all four crematoria and of the pyres during all the
phases of the extermination activity.
133
Világ, April 18, 1948, Part 1, p. 6.
134
German in the original, “chief neck-shooter.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 143
8. With this request of mine, I recall with appreciation the names of my former
inmate comrades who are still alive and, as direct subordinates of Dr.
Mengele, can fully confirm my accusations listed in the points outlined above.
Prof. Dr. Epstein A., university professor, Prague (Auschwitz II, Zigeunerla-
ger [Gypsy Camp])
Dr. Bendel, J., physician, Paris (Auschwitz II, crematorium)
Dr. Lewy, Robert, university professor, Strasbourg, (Camp Sector F)
Dr. Körner, József, physician, Nizza (Auschwitz, Crematorium II, dissection
room).
Dr. Nyiszli Miklós.”
Nyiszli then reports the result of his request:
“Not before long, the answer came. I received the invitation [to appear] before
the court. I presented and attended 17 hearings as a witness.”
In the following paragraph titled “The Nuremberg Tribunal,” Nyiszli lists the
members of the International Military Tribunal (Donnedieu de Vabres, Justice
Geoffrey Lawrence, Iona T. Nikitchenko, Alxander F. Volchkov, Francis Bid-
dle, John I. Parker, Justice Norman Birkett) and “prosecutors authorized to re-
ceive testimony,” such as Joseph F. Tubridy, George G. Taylor, and Ian D.
McIlwraith, and also Emanuel Minskoff and Benvenuto von Halle,135 who
were all members of the International Military Tribunal, except for the last
two, who only participated in the I.G. Farben Trial.136
This is followed by historical and philosophical digressions on Nuremberg
and Germany in Nyiszli’s typical rhetoric. This was inspired by his summons
to this city by the Office of the U.S. Military Government of Germany.
Nyiszli tells of his trip to Nuremberg, to the Palace of Justice, without giv-
ing a date:137
“On the second floor, I look for Room No. 297 in front of dark doors. This is
the number given in the summons. I have to go to Room 297. After a short
search, I come to the door. On a small white plate I read: E. E. MINSKOFF
Chief of Counsel for War Crimes. Two guards, American Negroes, watch the
entrance.
‘The entry ticket, please,’ says one of the two. I give it to him. They examine
my entry ticket.
‘The folder, please.’ I open the folder. They take a look, then they salute. I can
enter.”
Minskoff gave Nyiszli a questionnaire with the following topics:138
“1. Inhumane treatment of concentration camp inmates who worked at the I.G.
Farben construction site.
135
Nyszli always writes “van Halle.”
136
Világ, April 20, 1948, Part 2, p. 4.
137
Világ, April 21, 1948, Part 3, p. 4.
138
Világ, April 22, 1948, Part 4, p. 4.
144 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
2. The exclusive request for strong detainees fit for labor, the selection and
evacuation of the weak from the construction site without [leaving] a trace.
3. The medical treatment of inmates which ceased in the event of an illness
lasting more than three weeks.
4. Did high-ranking staff members of I.G. Farben visit the work sites? Did you
witness inhumane work carried out by detainees, that is, with insufficient
clothing, insufficient food, regardless of weather conditions?
5. Did high-ranking staff members of I.G. Farben visit the Stammlager of
Auschwitz and the crematoria?
6. Did you know any of them?
7. Were you aware of experiments on living people with medicine by I.G. Far-
ben?
8. The detainees sent to the crematorium who were taken there from the I.G.
Farben construction site, were they marked? Did they arrive with a mark?
Can it be established that they came from the [labor] service at the I.G. to be
exterminated?
9. What do you know about the gas used for the mass extermination of people
in the crematoria of Auschwitz?
10. How did the gassing process unfold?”
Two days later, Nyiszli states, he met Minskoff at 9 o’clock:139
“‘Did you finish the task, Doctor?’ He asked me amicably.
‘Yes, I finished it.’
‘Then I instantly call in here the American prosecutor van Halle. He is the au-
thorized prosecutor to authenticate statements made under oath, the affidavit.’
Soon thereafter, van Halle enters. I introduce myself.
‘I already heard of your arrival. Can I have the notes?’
I give him the writings I have written in German. He takes a look at the notes.
‘Would you please sign all the pages of the notes.’
After my signature, van Halle signs with his signature in the margins. With
these notes, the case file is enhanced by 16 affidavits.”
Minskoff asked Nyiszli to stay at the Palace of Justice because in the morning
his presence in the courtroom would probably be necessary.
“At 11 am sharp in Room 284 next to the courtroom where the I.G. Farben
case will take place. On the door you can read that it’s the ‘witness room.’”
Nyiszli gets there, as he recounts:
“A few minutes before 11, I am waiting for my turn in the witness room next to
the courtroom of the I.G. Farben case. Just a few minutes, and the door to the
courtroom opens. An American officer appears in the door and calls: ‘Mr.
Nyiszli.’ […] He accompanies me into the courtroom and shows me my place.
I sit on a chair in the witness stand. In front of me is a small table with a mi-
crophone. A headset, a glass and a bottle of water. I have time to look around,
139
Világ, April 23, 1948, Part 5, p. 4.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 145
to observe. There are journalists, photo reporters, lawyers, visitors from all
over the world who do not miss an opportunity to attend at least one day of the
hearing of the Nuremberg Trial.”
This is followed by a description of the courtroom. Then he states:140
“Suddenly, chief prosecutor Minskoff lights a little blue electric lamp on the
table. His voice can be heard. A subdued whistle breaks the silence as they
start an electric recorder.
Minskoff gets up from his seat and begins to read the charges:
‘Here, on the bench of the defendants, there are men who have only recently
played a leading role in their fatherland. A group of executives, directors of
the I.G. Farben, is now facing the International Tribunal’s judges, indicted
with the charge of organized and continued crimes against peace and humani-
ty. The number of victims amounts to several million. How were the sons of a
European nation capable of committing so many murders?
I will give an explanation in three points.
1. The suspension of criminal law in the Third Reich and in the territories un-
der its occupation, at the expense and to the detriment of single persons or the
masses.
2. In this respect being of service to the crimes of the central power.
3. The organized extermination approved by the State.’”
Nyiszli then reports about Minskoff’s indictment of the Third Reich as a
“rogue state,”141 thus reaching the crucial point of the narration. Suddenly,
Minskoff turned to Nyiszli and pointed at him with his finger, asserting:
“‘A physician sits here in the witness stand. On our invitation, he came from
Romania before this High Court, and without coercion made a deposition here
supported by accurate data, on a multitude of crimes, on a monstrosity, on
perpetrated horrors, which alone are sufficient to ascertain the guilt, that is to
say, to confirm the defendants’ crimes within the crimes against peace and
humanity that I have grouped in 16 points as the subject of this trial and that I
have read out to you.
I also call the prosecutors’ attention to the fact that the physician Dr. Miklós
Nyiszli has appeared here as a witness. His testimony is interesting also in this
regard, and possesses an extraordinary value, since during his imprisonment
he stayed more or less long in five concentration camps of the Third Reich. He
worked for 8 months as a forensic pathologist in the crematorium of Ausch-
witz. Thus, he was able to provide a precise report on the life in the Monowitz
Concentration Camp, but at the same time also makes a precise deposition
about the extermination of transports of exhausted deportees. Such crimes he
witnessed in several cases.’
The prosecutor lifted a copy of my book from his desk.
140
Világ, April 24, 1948, Part 6, p. 4.
141
Világ, April 25, 1948, Part 7, p. 6.
146 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
‘In that regard, the doctor’s statement is also important because he put it in
writing in a 1946 volume, thus submitting his experiences. We requested this
copy from the author. Our experts have examined its data and, having com-
pared them with the documents available during this trial for the past two
years, regard it as documentary material because with its description it has
shed light on hitherto still rather unknown details.’
Then, Attorney General Minskoff sat down.”142
“In my headphone, Attorney General Minskoff’s voice said:
‘Dr. Miklós Nyiszli! You came here from your home to testify without any con-
straint in front of the International Military Tribunal. I remind you that giving
false testimony is a crime. So, you will report what you know about the attest-
ed-to treatment of concentration camp inmates working in I.G. Farben plants.’
I confess, at this moment I feel a little anxiety. Now I have to talk, and the at-
tention of the whole world is turned on me. I, a simple physician, have ended
up with my testimony in the center of an important and complicated world tri-
bunal. But all this lasts only a second. I see the microphone in front of me and,
without uneasiness, without anxiety, I begin to talk:
‘Honorable Prosecutors! I ask permission to make my testimony in German,
as I speak this language fluently.’”
At this point, Nyiszli claims, he read verbatim into the record his “procedural
file appearing as document U.S. AGO D4325.32.”
Actually, this is not a procedural file, but the registration number of the ci-
vilian employee Benvenuto von Halle; the actual “procedural file” is Nurem-
berg Document NI-11710, which will be discussed later.
Then begins the description of the Monowitz Camp, which was 12 km
away from Auschwitz:
“The region, flat, yellow-loamy, barren, serves as a purpose the Silesian coal
mines that are found in the immediate vicinity. As is known, gasoline and rub-
ber are produced from coal. Forty thousand inmates are deployed here on the
huge construction site. Polish and Russian men and women deported from
their homes, a thousand English aviators and about 20,000 deportees. Chris-
tians and Jews intermingled. French, German, Dutch, Greek, Hungarian and
similarly intermingled. The establishment, that is, the entire construction site
is a fenced-in area. Watch towers 30-50 meters apart from one another char-
acterize the concentration camp. SS sentinels guard it on the towers next to
heavy automatic weapons, and patrols armed to the teeth circulate in the work
area. The prisoner’s lodgings are located 4-12 km from the workplace, de-
pending on where the individual Kommandos work. The detainees of the
Monowitz Concentration Camp are divided into 200 labor Kommandos; some
of the detainees are employed in construction work, the rest in mining coal.”
142
Világ, April 27, 1948, Part 8, p. 4.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 147
After the roll call – there were 7,000 inmates – the camp commander told the
deportees that Monowitz was not a “Schonungslager” (recovery camp), but a
concentration camp where they had to work with all their effort. “If you don’t,
you will all croak in the reinforced concrete.” At Monowitz, Nyiszli was as-
signed to Kommando No. 197 at the construction site.143
This is followed by a long description of camp life:
“I remember the Egyptian pyramids, during the construction of which there
was a similar toiling. In any Kommando detainees work who, if loaded wagons
arrived, have the most urgent task of unloading them. Almost all of Germany’s
wagons come here – we think –. With all available construction material. Our
detainees must unload them, and can do so in a short time only at an inhuman
pace. Better is the case if you need to unload bricks, concrete and hardware
near the wagons. The murderer imposes this work when it is necessary to
bring the heavy building material by hand, on the back or on the shoulders to
the workplace located several hundred meters away from the wagons. But we
must know that in the concentration camp work is carried out at a pace of
running. The I.G. Farben takes advantage of our strength at every moment of
working time.
Six bricks in one hand stacked on top of each other, a 50 kg cement bag on the
shoulders or back, a 4 m long iron tube of 8 cm diameter on two men’s shoul-
ders or a long and thick cable [supported] at [a distance of] one meter:[144] it
weighs 100 kg. Yes, it would weigh 100 kg if only those walking in front of me
and behind me carried a part of the pipe themselves. But it often happens that
my companions are of lower stature or simply don’t do it. So my grazed shoul-
ders bend under the [weight of the] three parts of the cable. It is not even
worth risking to break my head by putting the cap on my chafed shoulders in
order to relieve the pressure of the iron pipe. The SS guards, the I.G. Farben
engineers in sport suits, the corpulent German master builder and the German
co-inmates, the Kapo, who serve them for an additional piece of bread, walk
among us.
Many despair under the exhausting work performed in privation. Death by
heart attack strikes a lot, ending all suffering quickly, kindly. Here the burial
of the dead consists of the simple fact that the dead end up in the pits prepared
for the cables. They throw soil on top of them, then they place a cable, and fi-
nally they pour the concrete. Now, after eight days, I already know what the
commander meant during his address when referring to concrete. I also know
that about 100,000 deportees met their death here, and [that this has been]
their cemetery since the beginning of construction work, from 1942 until to-
day.
It’s a cold, rainy morning. Our foremen and our guards at the plant run eve-
rywhere around the workplaces, they seek shelter in the erected barracks,
143
Világ, April 28, 1948, Part 9, p. 4.
144
The cable was carried by three detainees at a distance of one meter from each other.
148 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
well-heated against the moisture penetrating to the bones, against the cold and
the rain. Certainly the glowing iron stove gives off a nice warmth.[145] The
bright, white lamps shine a cozy light all around. We work near a hut, and we
watch them through the window: they take a hot tea and smoke their cigarettes
with pleasure. Meanwhile, the cheerful conversation continues, and some
laughter even reaches my ears.
Kommando 197 does not do its specialty if it’s raining. We don’t transport
concrete to load the concrete mixers, because the powdered concrete would
get wet and would be useless. However, for the detainees there is no bad
weather! In the concentration camp one cannot sit around idly, so we push the
sand tippers. With great care, each one puts on his back, under the striped
work jacket, a piece of paper from discarded cement bags to protect us from
the torrential rain. The big shovel moves quickly in our hands. The tipper fills
up quickly. We rush with this, because at the unloading site we can rest a
while, until on the only track arrives the train of […illegible].
We hold the full tipper back with our shoulders. Certainly, we would let it go
rather than hold it back on the inclined path. For a moment, it’s all right. But
suddenly the piece of wood pressed against the wheel escapes the hand of the
braker. The tipper begins to move like a sand tipper can move on a sloping
road. Our fear is huge. If they notice it, it will end badly. This is the I.G. Far-
ben’s construction site set up at the concentration camp... Pit and cable and
cement...[146] We hold on to the unleashed tipper with all our strength only
[from behind], we pull at it from between the rails, between the temporarily
placed ties. We struggle in vain, until our comrade who had let the brake rod
slip out of his hands, with an imprudence resulting from fear or clumsiness,
jumps in front of the tipper that runs at increasing speed. He tries to stop it
with his arm. The desperate attempt fails. It was a clumsy act. An expert would
never have carried out his act. Only an inmate who, in civilian life, was a den-
tist. Only a concentration-camp prisoner can be so careless. The wagon hit
him. He fell to the ground. With a crunching sound, his leg gets shattered by
the iron wheels. The tipper turns upside down as well, and our unhappy com-
panion, in a state of beneficial unconsciousness, lies between the rails with his
bleeding leg, with cold sweat on his face, with an improbably pale face.[147]
We pull him out cautiously and lay him on the sandy ground. It’s raining cats
and dogs. We stand around him with dismay and consternation. In a concen-
tration camp, initiative or personal action don’t exist. It is forbidden to inter-
rupt the work without an order, and even more so to leave the workplace.
Out of the rain, two bright raincoats appear in our midst. They ask us why we
interrupted our work. One of them is an SS guard, the other a foreman. They
see him lying on the ground.
– Weiter machen [continue] – they order.
145
This scene took place in June 1944.
146
The threat of being buried in a pit with a cable laid on top.
147
Világ, April 29, 1948, Part 10, p. 4.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 149
As they give the order to continue to work, they strangely realize that an in-
mate has his lower limbs completely smashed, and that the iron wagon full of
sand is turned upside down. In their cup there is probably still some hot tea
that steams; for them, the pouring rain is a torment. They hurry back to the
warm hut. The motionless body, the extraordinarily pale face, the bloody legs
remind me of the doctor from the obscurity of my past. Every Kommando at
the workplace knows the black sign indicating in which direction and how far
away the nearest first-aid station is from the work site. There are countless
signs of this kind at the Monowitz work site, as required by the safety regula-
tions for construction work.”
Nyiszli identified himself as a physician in order to assist the injured, and
asked for permission to take him to the emergency room.
“An SS soldier comes towards me.
– You’re just a filthy, arrogant concentration-camp prisoner here, not a doc-
tor. You’re an arrogant guy; you do not even know that first aid and air raid
shelters are available only to the Germans of the Reich.
He began to scream.
– Do not steal time, because ... you will find out about it immediately! [i.e.:
you will have a bad experience].
We already know what he alludes to: 25 lashes in the presence of the doctor. I
think about it. We can get back to work at a slow pace, for the smoking ban,
but also for this cement paper bag that we put on our shoulders. The thing
happened on the Appelplatz after the return. The lashes were meted out by the
concentration camp’s official executioner. An SS doctor was present at the
punishment, but he often had to establish that death had occurred. Death was
caused by the contusion either of the kidneys or of the lumbar vertebrae. The
fact is that the number of blows was absolutely not in compliance with the ar-
ticle of the concentration camp regulations about corporal punishment, be-
cause one can count them up to 40; the number of lashes was never less when
I was an eyewitness of the event.
We put the overturned wagon back onto the rails. We pick up the shovels, and
the work continues. It does not seem to be 6 o’clock, meaning 6 pm, but we feel
like it; we have worked until eternity when we suspend the work. Our compan-
ion arrived on a stretcher made of boards, unconscious due to pain and loss of
blood. Our Kommando joins the others, and we walk to our lodgings at the
concentration camp. The evening roll call, which lasts 2 hours, is not much for
us either. They write down the number of our injured comrade, and he finally
is sent to the hospital, to the famous H.K.B., Häftlingskrankenbau. I already
expect that here they will amputate both legs under the knees with wonderful
surgical technique. Meanwhile they test on him some new narcotics of I.G.
Farben and other medicines. As soon as his leg stumps heal ‘per primam’ [by
first intention; meaning almost unscarred] his medical record will be filed
away, while he himself goes to the transport for the crematorium. For the I.G.
150 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Farben he, the amputatee, is nothing but an ‘unnützer Esser’ [useless eater],
but in the Third Reich, these must die.
– These would be my arguments – I concluded – about the treatment reserved
for the prisoners of I.G. Farben.
The prosecutors confabulate, argue a bit, the chief prosecutor Minskoff stands
up and declares:
– The hearing’s morning session has come to an end. We will continue at
3.30pm in the afternoon.”148
At 15:30, Minskoff announced: “The interrogation of the witness Dr. Nyiszli
Miklos continues.”
“Forced labor, hunger, the cold, the appeals that last for hours, the long
marches and the continuous disruption of the night’s rest for weeks also broke
down the prisoner who arrived here in the best physical conditions.
After the evening roll call, in front of the reception office of the hospital bar-
rack, there is a large crowd. A group of men in ragged striped uniforms.
Poles, French, Hungarians, Greeks, Czechs. Half of Europe is represented
here. Every face on which I lay my gaze had contracted the typical disease of
the concentration camp, the sycosis parasitaris, the beard’s fungus with its
oozing blotches. A few days after arrival, it hits everyone. They are not here
for this. Here they wait to be examined [by the doctor] for injuries caused on
the job – an open and also dirty wound on the face, on a hand, on a foot – di-
arrhea, dysentery, abdominal typhus at every stage. They sit quietly, folded in
on themselves, or stand in front of the entrance, numbed by apathy, their gaze
lost into infinity. As if the door opened in the Third Reich, and only one step
separated them from the door. They would cling even to a twig with one fin-
ger.”
Medical treatment, a few weeks of rest, continued Nyiszli, could cure prison-
ers in most cases, but a disease was recognized as such only starting at a fever
of 39 degrees centigrade (102.2°F). Only such inmates received ambulatory
treatment who had first- and second-degree frostbite, jaundice free of inflam-
mation of the bladder, abscesses, carbuncles. Getting two days of “Schonung”
(rest) was already a lot. The inmates who benefited from it were assigned to
the camp maintenance service, which was responsible for removing rubbish,
cleaning the camp streets, and distributing the rations of bread. This office
was called “Lageraufbau”149 [camp construction]. Nyiszli also managed to get
two days of “Schonung,” because the long marches in bad shoes had wounded
his feet, and the wounds had become infected; hence he was assigned with an-
other inmate to transport the bread.150 He recounts:
148
Világ, April 30, 1948, Part 11, p. 4.
149
The various units of “cleaners” (Reiniger) were part of the Aufräumungskommando (tidying-up
unit).
150
Világ, May 1, 1948, Part 12, p. 6.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 151
“My companion walks slowly between the front poles of the bread crate. I
knew he suffered from long-standing heart insufficiency, so we did not hurry.
We carried the crate to the rhythm of a funeral procession, and often made our
way from the warehouse to the barracks and from the barracks to the ware-
house. It was already dark, and the outlines of the barracks faded in the damp
humid fog.
Suddenly the crate stops. My companion drops his poles rather than put them
down. In the dim light I cannot see his face distinctly; I only hear his husky
voice:
– I’ve had enough of this!
– Me too – I reply.
I do not believe that he heard my answer, because immediately a deep rattle
erupts from his lungs, and he falls to the ground while half way turning
around. A few more fragmentary, incomprehensible words, contorted as if he
had been hit on the head, and it’s the end. That’s how overworked work horses
croak, still bridled between the poles of their cart.”151
In the subsequent paragraph titled “An old memory,” Nyiszli reports about the
visit of a pharmaceutical representative from I.G. Farben in his medical office
in Hungary. The scene then moves abruptly to Birkenau:
“The Vistula, like a snaking line here and there, marks the edge of the world
outside of the barbed wire. What is inside the barbed wires is Birkenau. A
birch grove and a track laid without any railway equipment ending in its vicin-
ity.
Thus abandoned, it reveals nothing to the observers. Neither the grove could
conceal it nor the fog could whirl around continuously, and it would not even
be possible to see anything from Birkenau. But one cannot even see the four
huge buildings that line up next to each other, nor could one see the strangely
shaped chimneys.[152]
One can see the swirling smoke that veils the sky over a grove like a black
cloud. It’s only for a moment, because a column of flames immediately breaks
out like a flaming fountain in the dark. The second, third, fourth column of
flames erupts as well. Four columns of fire slowly come together, devour the
fog and devour the piece of sky above me. Only the rails laid on the Birkenau
ramp, without a sign of a train, shine and stand out even [more] in the flashes
of intense light. This is the area of the crematoria and the fog lit by the fire,
and the smoke rises into the air like bloody foam.
I’ve lived here for four months, if I could calculate with the calendar. But for a
long time I don’t have a sense of time anymore. I do not live ‘in time’ but ‘in
space.’ I do not even have a sense for the horrors of which I have been an
eyewitness until now. The fires have been burning here for a long time. A lot of
151
Világ, May 4, 1948, Part 13, p. 6.
152
Világ, April 30, 1948, Part 11, p. 4.
152 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
water flows down the Vistula, and many millions of men alight here from the
trains.
I am the ‘doctor’ of the Auschwitz crematoria. Underground are the gas
chambers, on the ground floor the long row of cremation furnaces. On the
second floor, the lodgings of the Sonderkommando, the commando of the liv-
ing dead. In the air smoke and flames. In these flames there are the souls of
millions [of people] who fly away.”
Then Nyiszli suddenly relates a story about the visit of an I.G.-Farben repre-
sentative.153 After that he presents another story about Auschwitz titled “A
mysterious chief engineer”:
“The cremation furnaces of Auschwitz and their equipment were built in a fac-
tory of the time, near the company Topf and Sons of Munich. This name was
on the doors of the 60 furnaces of the crematoria of Auschwitz, on the auto-
matic ash-extraction devices, and also on parts of the mechanism of the air-
draft register.[154] With metal letters welded in a legible way.
Once this company sent a specialist to overhaul the devices in the crematoria.
He was a person of about 60 and wore the uniform of an SS Oberscharführer.
Being a concentration-camp inmate already knowledgeable in these matters, I
realized that this man had been wearing the uniform only since recently. He
moved in it in a strange, unusual way. The uniform did not even suit him well.
He did not even know where to put the heavy revolver hanging from his belt; it
was an impediment to him. His age and all his behavior revealed that the SS
uniform served him only to be able to move freely in the concentration camp
and to disguise himself as a person.
I conversed with him several times. In my opinion, he was an engineer dressed
as an SS [man] as a member of the big factory Topf and Sons, Munich, who
had installed the crematorium.
It is also probable that staff members of the I.G. Farben walked around in the
main camp and in the crematoria concealing their identity under the SS uni-
form.
*
The director of the hearing announces that the testimony of the witness contin-
ues the next morning at 9.00.”155
“The next day…
All take a seat in the audience hall. They read the names of the witnesses and
of the defendants present. Today there are also defense witnesses. In a place
reserved for the defense sit two well-dressed gentlemen. One is Dr. Wagner,
153
Világ, May 5, 1948, Part 14, p. 4.
154
Perhaps an allusion to the pressurized-air device (Druckluftanlage) which stood next to each of
the three 3-muffle furnaces of Crematoria II and III. See Section 3.2.3.
155
Világ, May 6, 1948, Part 15, p. 4.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 153
head of the Mannheim branch of I.G. Farben. The other is Dr. Stössel, head of
the profit sharing company[156] of I.G. Farben of Berlin.
– Minskoff: Doctor Wagner!
– Dr. Wagner: Here I am!
– Your residence?
– I live in Frankfurt.
– How old are you?
– Fifty.
– Your profession?
– From 1937 until the defeat I was director of the so-called GG., Umleitungs-
stelle 9.
A dramatic dialogue follows. A dramatic hearing.
– Minskoff: Dr. Wagner! GG. means Giftgas, poison gas.
– Dr. Wagner: Yes.
– Minskoff: The Umleitungsstelle 9, however, was a liaison office for I.G. Far-
ben, but also for the armed forces and the RSHA office, i.e. the inspec-
torate[157] [sic] of security of the Reich, one of its largest offices.
– Dr. Wagner: Yes.
– Minskoff: We know that subordinate to this office were the SIPO, the Gesta-
po, the SS, the SD and the SA, as well as Section IV.[158] We know that the lat-
ter also dealt with matters concerning the concentration camps. During the
hearing we do not want to dwell on all types of gas; we deal thoroughly with
another type of gas.”
Minskoff then asked Wagner what he knew about “Cyclon A” and “Cyclon
B,” to which the witness answered:
“Messrs. prosecutors! I myself, as I said, was a head of department. Through
my office, only documents for requesting and allocating various gases have
passed. As I mentioned, the Cyklon gases were not part of the group of combat
gasses, but of the so-called hygienic gasses. A strong disinfestant like chlorine.
I am not able to report on their chemical composition, because they were so-
called Geheimmittel [secret means], and even in the chemical department only
some chemical chiefs knew their composition.”
The witness was dismissed, and Minskoff called the witness Stössel.
“– Minskoff: What can you tell us about the types of Cyclon gas?
– Dr. Stössel: Messrs. Chief Prosecutors, Messrs. prosecutors! I knew the
types of Cyclon gas. To the best of my knowledge, the health departments of
both the armed forces and the labor service required it in large quantities for
disinfestation purposes.
156
“Érdekeltség,” “profit sharing.”
157
RSHA: Reichsicherheitshauptamt, Reich Security Main Office; Inspectorate = Inspektion, for in-
stance “Inspektion der Konzentrationslager,” Inspectorate of the Concentration Camps.
158
SA and SS were troops, not offices, of the RSHA; “Section IV” was Abteilung IV, which was the
Gestapo.
154 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
– Minskoff: What do you know about their real purpose in the concentration
camps?
– Dr. Stössel: In this regard I cannot say anything, because no news about the
events of the concentration camps reached the outside.
Even if I had run into some uncontrollable rumor, on the one hand I would not
have believed it, on the other it would not have been prudent to investigate its
authenticity.”
Minskoff dismissed this witness as well, after which it was Nyiszli’s turn.
“The witness [Stössel] went back to his seat, and the chief prosecutor called
me.
– Dr. Nyiszli Miklos, what can you tell us about the types of Cyclon gas?
– Mr. Prosecutor! As a doctor, I am unable to account for as secret a composi-
tion as the chemical composition of these two types of gas. However, I am able
to provide a precise description of the use and effect of the types of gas as an
eyewitness to an event. I came to know two ways to use the Cyclon gas types. I
have witnessed the emptying of green, enameled tin cans of a volume of about
one liter into the disinfestation chamber of Camp F at Birkenau. They poured
down the contents of the cans through chimney-like openings onto clothes and
blankets piled up in the hermetically sealed disinfestation chamber [that was]
here in the hospital camp.”159
“After waiting for about 2 hours, the electric fans cleared the room of the gas.
The staff of the clothing warehouse distributed the clothes to the naked prison-
ers waiting in front of the premises. I had an opportunity to read the inscrip-
tion of these cans. The text of the inscriptions was as follows: Cyclon A. Ver-
tilgungsmittel für Läuse und andere Ungeziehfer [sic]. Vorsicht. Gift! (Pest
control agent for lice and other pests. Caution: Poison!). I saw this in section
F of the Birkenau Camp!
With your permission, I quote literally from my book on Auschwitz the second
use [of gas].”
This is followed by the description of the homicidal “gassing” of his book’s
Chapter VII, where Nyiszli says that “Cyclon” was chlorine-based. Then he
comments:
“I saw this in the crematoria of Auschwitz. Countless times, during my eight-
months’ imprisonment. The gas cans were the same, both in appearance and
in color, and their inscriptions were the same. Only one letter was different on
the two gas cans. The gas cans used in the crematoria were inscribed with
Cyklon B instead of Cyklon A. More rarely they also used cans without writ-
ing. In these, in my opinion, there was chlorine.
By comparing my modest chemical knowledge and my experience of patholog-
ical and forensic anatomy with the phenomena that appeared in thousands of
bodies of dead who died of gas, I made the following assessment: death oc-
159
Világ, May 8, 1948, Part 16, p. 4.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 155
160
“védőanyaga.” In the transcription of this passage which was published in the 1964 edition of
Nyiszli’s book, the term used here is “vivőanyaga” instead – carrier substance.
161
“Suspendava,” non-existing verb in Hungarian, perhaps created by Nyiszli from the German and
English root word “suspend”; the meaning is unclear.
162
In the 1964 edition of Nyiszli’s book, the text was modified as follows: “In essence there is a
hermetically sealed stabilizer in the can, which can be stored for a long time.”
163
Világ, May 9, 1948, Part 17, p. 6.
156 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
I tell these things in relation to points 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the indictment, in the
file number U.S. AGO D. 4325.36. The blue light bulb goes out on my table. I
turn around to sit down in my place.”
Another paragraph is inserted into his story headlined “The extermination of
children”:
“Chief Prosecutor Minskoff takes the floor again.
– Esteemed court! Messrs. prosecutors! This observation is important in rela-
tion to the testimony given by the witness. The testimony given by the witness
for the prosecution Dr. Miklós Nyiszli fully agrees with both the technical im-
plementation of the extermination and the large number [of the victims], even
with the deposition made before us by Hauptsturmführer Höss. In this regard
there are the documents: Transcript p. 7821 and Transcript p. 7822, authenti-
cated affidavits.
SS Hauptsturmführer Höss was commander of the Auschwitz Concentration
Camp from 1 May 1940 to 1 December 1943. According to his deposition,
2,500,000 people were killed in the gas chambers in this period, and 500,000
died as a result of torture, hard work, hunger and disease. I read extracts from
two documents.
Transcript p. 7821:[164]
‘we had two SS doctors on duty at Auschwitz to examine the incoming trans-
ports of prisoners. The prisoners would be marched by one of the doctors who
would make spot decisions as they walked by. Those who were fit for work
were sent into the Camp. Others were sent immediately to the extermination
plants. Children of tender years were invariably exterminated since by reason
of their youth they were unable to work. Still another improvement we made
over Tremblinka was that at Tremblinka the victims almost always knew that
they were to be exterminated and at Auschwitz we endeavored to fool the vic-
tims into thinking that they were to go through a delousing process. Of course,
frequently they realized our true intentions and we sometimes had riots and
difficulties due to that fact. Very frequently women would hide their children
under the clothes but of course when we found them we would send the chil-
dren in to be exterminated.’
Thus says Höss’s deposition. Now – Chief Prosecutor Minskoff continued – I
read Transcript p. 7822:[165]
‘It took from 3 to 15 minutes to kill the people in the death chamber depending
upon climatic conditions. We knew when the people were dead because their
screaming stopped. We usually waited about one-half hour before we opened
the doors and removed the bodies. After the bodies were removed our special
164
This is followed by a Hungarian translation of a part of Point 7 of Höss’s affidavit of April 5,
1946, PS-3868, which I give here as a translation of the original German text.
165
This passage is taken from Point 6 of PS-3868.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 157
commandos took off the rings and extracted the gold from the teeth of the
corpses.’”166
Nyiszli’s tale continues with his Chapter VIII, which is headlined “The sterili-
zation of three hundred young women.” Minskoff asked him:
“Dr. Nyiszli, what do you know about the human experiments that SS doctors
carried out with medicines or Röntgen rays,[167] as well as in the operating
room or otherwise?”
The witness answered by talking about experiments carried out by Dr. Thilo
and Dr. Wolff.
“On the defendants’ bench sat Dr. Thilo, the deputy of Dr. Mengele of the
Auschwitz extermination camp.”
According to Nyiszli, Dr. Thilo was sometimes also present on the ramp, but
was mainly occupied with surgical work. Dr. Thilo worked in the well-
equipped surgery room in the hospital of the camp’s Sector F, but did not
work to save the lives of the inmates. He was very skilled in the use of medi-
cines and narcotics, at asepsis and antisepsis, carried out a masterly work with
the specialists assigned to him, SS doctors and inmate doctors. He experi-
mented with narcotics, the medicines sent by IG-Farben, perfected the surgical
methods and introduced new risky methods. In many cases there were also 10-
12 successful interventions a day. Then the doctors removed the stitches from
the operated prisoners and painstakingly recorded the illness and the medical
operations performed on the medical record. The patient, after a successful
operation and a careful and cordial treatment, received the ration due to him
the following day, following the concentration camp regulations.
“Half an hour later, he passed through the door of one of the crematoria with
his SS escorts. Within a few minutes, he lay dead with his eyes wide open on
the cement of the cremation hall, with a 6-mm lead bullet in his head.
This was the surgical activity of Hauptsturmführer Dr. Thilo in the hospital
barracks of Sector F field of the Birkenau Camp. I was an eyewitness of these
cases several times.”
This was followed by a description of Dr. Wolff’s activities:
“Another doctor sitting there on the defendants’ bench, Obersturmführer Dr.
Wolff, was the primary internist at the Birkenau Concentration Camp. Thou-
sands and tens of thousands [of prisoners] died of a disease. What was the dis-
ease? Diarrhea.”
Dr. Wolff, continued Nyiszli, also omitted the most basic medical intervention
that would have prevented the mass perishing of prisoners. Had he put salt in-
to the prisoners’ food, this simple measure would have decreased the number
of diseases. A liter of 5% hydrochloric-acid solution would have healed diar-
166
Világ, May 11, 1948, Part 18, p. 4.
167
German term for x-rays.
158 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
rhea sufferers from all sections of the camp within a few days. The cost of this
one-liter solution was only 1 Reichsmark.168 Just as Dr. Thilo, Dr. Wolff also
carried out research work. He studied with great care the course of various
species of diarrhea, and even sent the corpses of 150 diarrhea victims to the
dissection room of Crematorium I (II in today’s numbering).
Next, Nyiszli brought up Dr. Eduard Wirths, who had been SS garrison physi-
cian (SS-Standortarzt) at Auschwitz with the rank of SS Sturmbannführer:
“Messrs. prosecutors! A third SS physician sits here on the defendants’ bench!
Dr. Wirts [sic]. I can also report on his activity. His complete rank [was]: ‘SS
Hauptsturmbannführer Dr. Wirts’ [sic].”
His sphere of activity was the “Experimental Barracks No. 10.” Three hundred
young women were sterilized with X-rays in this building, Nyiszli claimed.169
Then Minskoff asked Nyiszli the following question:
“Dr. Nyiszli! What observations did he make, as a physician, on the mental
disposition of the Nazi murderers?”
Nyiszli spoke of his contacts with SS members in the crematoria, in particular
with Oberscharführer Mussfeld, with whom he had frequent conversations.
Once he asked Mussfeld with what right the SS exterminated the Jews, and in
his Chapter IX (“A massacring pastry chef”) he even reported an alleged an-
swer in German:170
“Well... I give you an answer! The Führer gives us the right to do it. And in a
National-Socialist sense, killing Poles and Jews isn’t even murder. It is the sa-
cred assassination!”
In Crematorium I (II of today’s numbering), Nyiszli reports, there was also
“the painter D. Olleé” (David Olère) who drew illustrated postcards that were
ordered, among others, by Oberscharführer Seitz. Nyiszli describes him this
way:
“D. Olleé was a stoker at the 15th cremation furnace of Crematorium 1 during
the day shift, and during the night shift he shoveled coke under the corpses of
thousands of people. […] The 15th furnace is the last of the row of sinisterly
aligned furnaces in the cremation hall. Here, at the end of the great hall, D.
Olleé shovels the coke.”
Nyiszli then provides other information not contained in his book:171
“The sector of the Birkenau Camp, the infamous ‘Menschenlager’ [meaning
male camp], consisted of 32 barracks. 32,000 detainees are kept inside a fence
charged with 6,000 volts. The inmates of the camp are divided into 40 Kom-
168
Világ, May 12, 1948, Part 19, p. 4.
169
Világ, May 13, 1948, Part 20, p. 4.
170
Világ, May 14, 1948, Part 21, p. 4.
171
Világ, May 15, 1948, Part 22, p. 4.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 159
172
Világ, May 16, 1948, Part 23, p. 6.
173
Világ, May 19, 1948, Part 24, p. 4.
174
Világ, May 20, 1948, Part 25, p. 4.
160 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Three of these had already testified “before the Nuremberg court.”175 Of these,
only Bennamia is not named in Nyiszli’s book. The detainees who had already
testified – at the I.G. Farben trial, as we will see – were Epstein and Bendel;
no one knows who the third is and where he testified, if at all.
175
Világ, May 22, 1948, Part 27, p. 4.
176
Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt, SS Race and Settlement Main Office.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 161
177
The highest number on the list of documents is 2,354, but no documents bear the numbers 2271-
2299.
178
National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records, Record Group 238.5.3 Offi-
cial Records of the Trials before U.S. Military Tribunals. In microfilm: National Archives Micro-
film Publications, Microfilm Publication M892, Rolls 1-5 & 16-35, Washington, 1976.
179
In the Hungarian text: May 19.
180
In the Hungarian text: May 20.
162 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
was in the quarantine tent. The following day I was assigned to Block 8, Con-
crete Kommando 179,[181] to work at the IG-Farben construction site. After
about 2 weeks came the order that doctors (pathologists) no longer had to
leave for work with the Kommandos. We two doctors were taken to Birkenau,
Field F, Block 12. There we were deloused and received civilian clothes from
others. Shortly afterwards, SS Hauptsturmführer Dr. Mengele ordered me to
work in the crematorium of Birkenau as a pathologist.
On January 18 1945, in the course of the evacuation of the Birkenau Camp, I
was taken to Mauthausen. From there I was transported to Melk/Danube. In
early April 1945 I came to Ebensee, where I was liberated by the Americans
on May 5 while being seriously ill.
2) Upon arrival at Monowitz on May 20-21, 1944, – as I said, we were about
6,000 detainees – a speech was given. We were told that we were in the con-
centration camp of the IG-Farbenindustrie at Monowitz and that we were here
not to live but to croak in the concrete. I did not know what the word concrete
meant. After a couple of days, I found out from older detainees that on the IG-
Farben construction site, especially at the cable units, 20-25 inmates had pre-
viously been shot or beaten to death during work. These detainees had been
thrown into the trenches that had been excavated for cables, and had been
covered with concrete. A larger number of detainees, especially from Breslau
and Berlin, is said to be lying underneath the concrete.
3) The engineers of IG-Farben split up the work among all the 200 detainee
units employed there at the I.G. construction site. They gave instructions to
foremen on the basis of drawings.
4) I was an eyewitness to several accidents at the construction site, even of the
most serious nature, where no first aid was provided. The sick or injured in-
mates had to remain lying at the construction site until all the units had re-
turned, and only after the appeal, which sometimes lasted for hours, they were
brought to the inmates’ hospital.
5) It was generally known that after 3 to 4 weeks, if the sick did not heal, they
were put on a transport, that is, they were sent to be gassed at Birkenau or to
be shot at Birkenau.
6) When I was active in the Birkenau crematorium, I convinced myself in three
cases that transports numbering some 2-300 detainees from Monowitz went to
be gassed, hence inmates who had worked for IG-Farben. Even the SS men
talked openly about it.
7) The inmate transports from Monowitz sent to Birkenau for extermination
were not marked in any special way, because all transports destined for ex-
termination left their camp with utterly ragged clothes and shoes.
8) In my capacity as a pathologist in the Birkenau crematorium, I frequently
had to take over inmates killed in an accident on the IG-Farben grounds with
accompanying paperwork and had to dissect them. I had to compile precise
181
In the Hungarian text: 197.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 163
reports about the causes of death. With this seemingly lawful exactitude of tak-
ing care of the inmates in individual cases, the IG directors, in agreement with
the SS, wanted to conceal the traceless disappearance of thousands of detain-
ees.
9) After a completed gassing, I held Zyklon B granules in my hands. The green
enameled cans were brought on site with a Red-Cross car by an SS
Hauptsturmführer and an SDG, and thrown by them into the gas chambers.
After the cans had been emptied, they were washed with water by detainees
and carried away by the two persons mentioned first.
10) On the gassing of prisoners with Zyklon B in the underground gas cham-
bers of Birkenau I can say the following: According to my personal observa-
tions – I often had to carry away medicines and eye glasses from the dressing
room next to the gas chamber after searching the purses of those gassed – I
know that the doors were closed and the light was extinguished centrally, as
soon as the mass of people was in the gas chambers. At this time a black-
painted red-cross car arrived. An SS officer and an SDG alighted from the car.
They held 4 green enameled cans in their hands. They went to the small con-
crete chimneys that were covered with concrete lids and donned gas masks.
The cans were opened and the contents of the can – Zyklon-B in granular form
with pink-lilac color[182] – was thrown into the openings. The granules did not
spread out in the gas chamber because they fell down through perforated
pipes,[183] and they immediately released gas due to contact with the air.[184]
Since the gas granules fell on the floor, the gas developed first in the lower
layers of air and then gradually rose higher. This is how I explain that after
the termination of the gassing the corpses were not scattered out in the room
but were lying in tower-shaped piles. The stronger ones probably threw the
weaker ones down, climbed on those lying below in order to prolong their life
by reaching [air] layers still free of gas. This way women, children, and the el-
derly usually ended up lying at the bottom. As a physician, the following diag-
nosis imposed itself: death by central respiratory paralysis.
11) I do not know any leading IG-Farben employees by name. A professor of
chemistry worked at Monowitz who must have been a leading individual of the
IG. However, leading IG individuals must have been aware of the extermina-
tion operation, because most of them lived in the town of Auschwitz, and the
fires of the crematoria and of the two open graves that burned day and night
could be seen up to a distance of 30 kilometers.[185]
182
Also in the Hungarian text: “rózsaszin és lilás.”
183
In the Hungarian text: “lukacsos csöveken hullottak” – “they fell into perforated tubes.”
184
In the Hungarian text: “es levegővel való érin[t]kezés után azonnal gázt fejlesztettek” – “the gas
developed immediately after actual contact with air.”
185
In the Hungarian text: “krematóriumok kémenyeinek és a két nyitott maglya tüzei pedig Birke-
nautól 30 kilómeterre is látszottak és éjjel nappal égtek” – “the flames of the crematorium chim-
neys and of the two outdoor fires were still visible 30 km from Birkenau, and they burned night
and day.”
164 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
12) There were often visits to the Auschwitz Main Camp, even to the cremato-
ria. But they [the visitors] always wore SS uniforms, so [they were] not known
[recognizable]. For example, the furnaces of the crematoria were provided by
the specialized factory Topf & Söhne. This name was cast[186] onto each oven.
On one occasion this factory sent a specialist to review the devices. He was a
man of at least 60 years. I exchanged a few words with him, in my opinion he
was an engineer in the uniform of an SS Oberscharführer. This way it was also
possible for IG people to show up at Auschwitz and to remain unrecognized.
13) Of the crematoria’s Sonderkommando, food carriers went to the Birkenau
Camp every day, where they – despite strict regulation – had continuous con-
tact with local prisoners. Thus, the crematoria’s activity was known to every
detainee.
I have carefully read and countersigned each of the five (5) pages of this
statement under oath, made the necessary corrections in my own handwriting,
and countersigned them with my initials, and declare herewith under oath
that, to the best of my knowledge and conscience, I have stated the absolute
truth in this statement.
[Signature]
Dr. Nyiszli Nikolae
[In English:] Sworn to and signed before me this 8th day of October 1947 at
Nuremberg by Nyiszly NIKOLAE,
known to me to be the person making the above affidavit.
[Signature]
BENVENUTO VON HALLE
U.S. Civilian AGO D432532
Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes
U.S. War Department”
186
In the Hungarian text: “öntve,” cast.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 165
This false information misled the editor of the 1964 Hungarian edition of
Nyiszli’s book, who wrote that Nyiszli’s “interrogation was conducted by the
chief prosecutor E.E. Minskov [Minskoff] representing the Soviet Union,”
although Minskoff was merely a U.S. civil servant with the identification
number “AGO D 230991.”187 Misunderstanding Nyiszli’s intentionally convo-
luted references, the same editor wrote (Nyiszli 1964, p. 196):
“According to the author’s [Nyiszli’s] notes, the part of [his] testimony con-
cerning the actual treatment of sick inmates, the use of toxic gases and the ex-
periments performed on living persons are located in the procedural files with
the respective references U.S. AGO-D 4325.33, U.S. AGO-D 4325.36 and U.S.
AGO-D 4325.37.”
Friedrich Herber repeated this misinformation while adding further confusion.
After having received the summons mentioned earlier, Herber states, Nyiszli
went to Nuremberg in October 1947:188
“and put on record his knowledge about the treatment of the sick, the use of
toxic gas in the mass murder of people. Nyiszli was present on a total of 17
trial sessions, and certified his written statement on October 8, 1947 with his
signature. According to his remarks, his statements are written down in the
files of the preliminary investigation (protocol numbers U.S. AGO-D 4325.33,
U.S. AGO-D 4325.36 and U.S. AGO-D 4325.37). A revised version [of the
declarations] appeared in large newspapers as a series titled ‘I was a witness
at Nuremberg.’”
As mentioned earlier, reference numbers of this type did not at all refer to pro-
cedural files, but were the identification numbers of U.S. civil servants, in the
above case, “AGO D432532” referred to Benvenuto von Halle, while E.E.
Minskoff had the ID number “AGO-D 230991.”
Nyiszli claimed to have participated as a witness in 17 sessions of the I.G.
Farben Trial, but he never indicated the date of any of these sessions, nor the
pages of the transcript where his testimony can be found. The few references
he made merely make his imposture even more obvious.
He reports Minskoff’s alleged interrogation of “Dr. Wagner,” who, Nyiszli
claims, testified “the next day,” hence right after Nyiszli’s testimony. Dr.
Hans Wagner testified indeed as a prosecution witness, although he had not
been questioned by Minskoff, but rather by Drexel A. Sprecher. The interro-
gation took place at the hearing on September 9, 1947.
A certificate produced by Charles D. Provan (to which I will return in Sec-
tion 5.2.2.) informs us that Nyiszli arrived in Nuremberg on October 3, 1947,
and that he was handled by Minskoff on behalf of Sprecher.189 It is therefore
187
On April 12, 1948 Minskoff signed an affidavit about Gerhard Peters which he signed precisely
with “E.E. Minskoff AGO D 230991.” NI-15124.
188
F. Herber, “Der Lebensweg des Dr. Miklós Nyiszli,” in: Nyiszli 1992/2005, p. 185/195.
189
Provan 2001, p. 28. See Document 6.
166 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
clearly impossible for Nyiszli to have testified right before Dr. Wagner. Not
only that, but the whole dialogue of Wagner’s interrogation is, again, com-
pletely invented. Nyiszli even managed to mangle the name of the office
where Dr. Wagner had worked as a chemist from 1938 to 1945: it was not the
“GG department, Umleitungsstelle 9,” but the “Vermittlungsstelle W,” which
was the I.G Farbenindustrie’s liaison office to the Wehrmacht. Sprecher, in his
interrogation, never referred to toxic gases and in particular not to “Cyklon A”
and “Cyklon B.”190
Nyiszli also gave an excerpt from the alleged interrogation of a certain Dr.
Stössel, but no such person participated in the I.G. Farben Trial.
Another element of pure imagination is Minskoff’s supposed quotation of a
statement by Höss, for which Nyiszli gave as reference:
“Transcript p. 7821 and Transcript p. 7822, authenticated affidavits.”
As mentioned earlier, the text of the two quoted excerpts belongs to the affi-
davit (Eidestattliche Erklärung) of the former Auschwitz commandant of
April 8, 1945, which was recorded as Document PS-3868 and read into the
IMT’s record during the session of April 15, 1946.191 The two page numbers
mentioned by Nyiszli refer to the official transcript of the IMT’s hearings as
summarized in the subsequently published volumes. Nyiszli puts in Mins-
koff’s mouth the words “the deposition made before us by Hauptsturmführer
Höss,” as if the former Auschwitz commandant had testified during the I.G.
Farben Trial. Document PS-3868 is contained in Book 82 of the prosecution’s
documents (see Section 4.3.1.). Two more affidavits by Höss, dated May 20,
1946 (Document NI-034, Exhibit 1424) and March 12, 1947 (NI-4434, Exhib-
it 1293) were also introduced during the I.G. Farben Trial.
Telford Taylor was the only one who, during the I.G. Farben Trial, indi-
rectly mentioned PS-3868 by referring to the content of its Point No. 2 during
his opening speech at the hearing of August 14, 1947, yet without explicitly
mentioning the document:192
“In August 1941, the use of a lethal gas known as Zyclon B was tried experi-
mentally on a group of Russian officers at Auschwitz; the method proved high-
ly successful and Hoess proceeded to exploit it. This decision made Hoess fa-
mous as the most monstrous mass murderer in history. Special gas chambers
were erected at Birkenau and a series of crematoria were constructed to take
care of the corpses. Hoess himself estimated that at least 2,500,000 Auschwitz
inmates were executed in the gas chambers and exterminated in the cremato-
ria, and that another half million inmates died from starvation or disease. He
added that the total of three million represented about 70 or 80 percent of all
190
Official Record. United States Military Tribunals Nürnberg. Case No. 6, Tribunal 6. U.S, vs Carl
Krauch et al. Volume 2, Transcript (English), pp. 549-576.
191
IMT, Vol. XI, pp. 414-418.
192
Official Record. United States Military Tribunals Nürnberg. Case No. 6, Tribunal 6. U.S, vs Carl
Krauch et al. Volume 2, Transcript (English), p. 176.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 167
the persons who came to Auschwitz, and that the remainder were picked out
and used as slave workers for the industries located near the camp.”
Nyiszli’s statements are even more bewildering than that, however, for he pre-
tended that Dr. Thilo and Dr. Wirths were present as defendants during the
I.G. Farben Trial:
“On the defendants’ bench sat Dr. Thilo, the deputy of Dr. Mengele of the
Auschwitz extermination camp.”
“A third SS physician sits here on the defendants’ bench! Dr. Wirts. I can also
report on his activity. His complete rank: ‘SS Hauptsturmbannführer Dr.
Wirts.’”
SS Hauptsturmführer Dr. Heinz Thilo, who had been a camp physician (La-
gerarzt) in the Quarantine Camp (BIIa), the Gypsy Camp (BIIe) and Birke-
nau’s Hospital Camp (BIIf), died on May 13, 1945, hence it would have been
difficult for him to participate during the I.G. Farben Trial, which began over
two years later.
SS Sturmbannführer Dr. Eduard Wirths (for Nyiszli “SS Hauptsturmbann-
führer”) had served as Auschwitz garrison physician (SS-Standortarzt) from
September 1942 to January 1945 and committed suicide while incarcerated by
the British in September 1945, so his participation in the trial is equally ab-
surd.
Of course, it is also false that the International Military Tribunal had taken
a copy of Nyiszli’s book into the record. As a matter of fact, not the slightest
trace of Nyiszli’s book can be found in the Tribunal’s documentation; it was
not examined, and its veracity was not verified.
Considering the enormous historical importance that Nyiszli attributed to
his own book, it may well be that he took a copy of it along to Nuremberg.
But if that is so, one has to wonder not only why it wasn’t mentioned during
the trial, but also why Nyiszli wasn’t allowed to testify as a witness. The rea-
son is that his story was in blatant contradiction to the allegations that had al-
ready been evaluated by the prosecution, whose highlights regarding gassing
allegations were the reports published by the “War Refugee Board” in No-
vember 1944 as well as the testimonies of Pery Broad and Charles Sigismund
Bendel. I will return to this in Section 4.3.1.
Nyiszli claims to have attended the first hearing of the trial, when Minskoff
read a 16-point indictment into the record. Right after that, Minskoff allegedly
called Nyiszli into the witness stand.
In fact, however, the indictment, which consisted of only 5 points – 1) war
of aggression, 2) crimes against humanity through plunder and spoliation, 3)
crimes against humanity through slavery and mass murder, 4) membership in
a criminal organization (SS; only for three defendants), 5) common plan or
conspiracy against peace (NMT, Vol. 7, pp. 14-60) – was read into the record
168 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
during the first hearing on August 14, 1947 by General Taylor.193 As men-
tioned earlier, Nyiszli arrived at Nuremberg only on October 3, 1947.
Regarding his phantom deposition, Nyiszli provides a detail he had un-
doubtedly learned indirectly and incorrectly: there was an “electric blue light
bulb” in the witness stand which, when turned on and off, gave the signal of
the beginning and end of a testimony.
During the interrogation of Charles Sigismund Bendel, to whom Chapter
4.2. is devoted, Minskoff instructed the witness as follows:194
“Before you, there are two signal lights which are connected with the sound
system. It is necessary that there be a slight pause between questions and an-
swers, so that the English translation may be made. The yellow light, when it
is flashed, is an indication that you are going too rapidly and it is a request
that you slow down. The red light is a stop signal, and when it is flashed you
will stop completely and not resume your answers until you are notified.”
The bulbs therefore had different colors and different functions.
The narration contains further errors, which I mention briefly.
Birkenau’s male camp was not called “Menschenlager” but “Männer-
lager,” and as far as is known never accommodated 32,000 detainees. Based
on extant inmate labor-deployment records (Arbeitseinsatz), the maximum
strength of 23,286 inmates was reached on October 3, 1944. The number of
labor units (Kommandos) was not 40, but 77.195 Furthermore, “S.K.” did not
stand for Strafkommando, which did not exist, but rather for the Strafkompa-
nie (penal company). A “Zerleg[e]kommando” did not exist either, but rather a
group of inmates working for an armaments plant called “LW. Zerlegebetriebe
– Ost.”
The pertinent records reveal that from September 10, 1942 to February 23,
1943, 11,246 surgical interventions of various types were performed in the
hospitals of the Auschwitz camp complex (Mattogno 2016c, p. 52). Nyiszli’s
claim that detainees, especially those who had suffered amputations, were
killed shortly afterwards since they were “useless eaters,” and for this reason
they had to die in the Third Reich, is a simple fairy tale like all the others. In
the various reports on the number of inmates and their labor deployment at the
Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp, the heading “inmates unfit for work and deploy-
ment” (Nicht arbeits- und nichteinsatzfähige Häftlinge) occurred invariably,
which included, among others, the entry “Invalids” (Invaliden). This entry ap-
pears in about seventy reports from January 15, 1944 to January 16, 1945.
From the end of July to September 7, there were between 132 and 148 invalids
in the male camp alone; on January 16, 1945, there were 400 of them (ibid.,
pp. 76f.).
193
Ibid., Vol. 1.
194
Ibid., Vol. 26, p. 9586.
195
APMO, D-AII/3a, pp. 91-93.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 169
196
The letters’ text has been taken from: Archives Paul Rassinier 2016, pp. 346-351, 357, 369, 376,
395. Documentation on Nyiszli is in these Archives Paul Rassinier, archived at Bibliothèque de
documentation internationale contemporaine at Nanterre.
197
The text has “au moins” (at least), but from the context it should say “at most.”
170 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
4 per square meter, this room therefore measured 750 square meters, i.e. 20 m
x 37 m.[198] – Immediately behind it there was another one in which the naked
people who were killed in 5 minutes were admitted, but it was necessary to
start the ventilation apparatus 20 minutes later, and several hours later the
people entering the gas chamber to see the horrible spectacle, they are forced
to wear gas masks. All this seems to me really a very suspicious testimony es-
pecially for Auschwitz, where the witnesses say that there was no gas cham-
ber, it was in Birkenau.
You should perhaps write them, I cannot. You know that I am in conflict with
them for the Carmen affair, and I am not a specialist in the camps, but it seems
quite certain that this story is almost the story of a provocateur who persuades
the Germans that everything that has been said about the camps is a lie.”
rescapRassinier to Paraz, March 31, 1951
“[…] Seen in France-Soir, the history of the gas chambers. Most likely, this
guy did not see anything. He is in contradiction to the other deportees who say
that the gas chambers were based on the model of the shower rooms. And
then, at the rate of 3,000 people every ‘some hours,’ it must have taken some
time to asphyxiate 6 million people: this makes a year at least, without stop-
ping, night and day. I wait until I have read ‘Les Temps Modernes,’ which
published the original, to make up my mind.
We can already say:
1 °) – that the description of the gas chamber as the one he claims to have
seen is more in keeping with the reality than those given by other witnesses: he
complies at least with what are the disinfection chambers in the laundries;
2 °) – that there is at least one naivety: the aforesaid doctor claims that he
would have been killed if it had been known that they were killing with injec-
tions to the heart; yet one could not possibly think that he was unaware that
they were killing with gas, because he says he was sent to count the corpses...
3 °) – the other witnesses – except Kogon, who found only one witness and
moreover behind the iron curtain – claim that all the deportees who were in-
volved in the asphyxiation operations were eliminated by the SS;
4 °) – this guy – and he himself says so – belonged to the camp services, and
this alone makes him suspicious. [...]”
Paraz to Rassinier, April 11, 1951
“[…] Regarding the ‘France Soir’ affair, it is quite clear that if you calculate
just a little, you realize that it is all the more impossible that no deportee has
ever seen these chambers that had to measure at least 60 m by 30 m, and if it
was necessary to have all these corpses removed by people wearing a mask,
we need to reckon with at least two good teams of some ten musclemen, how
come these guys would not have spoken about it? But the legend is well rooted,
198
These figures only serve to exemplify the size of the room. The alleged “undressing room” of the
Birkenau Crematoria II and III was 49.49 m long and 7.93 m wide; its surface area was therefore
392.5 m². See Chapter 3.3.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 171
199
That is, in the subsequent issues of the newspaper.
172 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
200
“la coupure”; this reference is unclear.
201
See in this regard Mattogno 2016e, Chapter 14, “The Gas Chamber at the Natzweiler Camp”
(Struthof), pp. 205-223.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 173
204
A handwritten note by Kremer says: “In German in the text = enfourner [put in oven].”
176 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
can check my writings both in their medical and technical aspects. There can
be found only an image of incorruptible fidelity to the events without any ex-
aggeration and without any passion, as I have stated it, by the way, in my
statement signed with my own hand. I can be confident, however, that all I
have written is only a fragment, a glance thrown into the fleeting flash of
lightning. I could write a thousand times if I were not oversaturated by hor-
rors.”
Some comments impose themselves.
In 1951, Nyiszli repeated the lie of his book’s recognition as an important
historical document by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg,
which he consistently confused with the I.G. Farben Trial. In the six years
since the publication of his book, he still did not know the rank of Rudolf
Höss, whom he continued to qualify as Hauptsturmführer (captain), when in
fact the former Auschwitz commandant was known to have been an SS Ober-
sturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel), and he did not even wonder how a sim-
ple captain could have been the commandant of a huge camp such as Ausch-
witz. Nyiszli knew nothing about Höss’s return to Auschwitz in the spring and
summer of 1944 as SS Standortältester (commander of the garrison) in order
to coordinate the arrival and processing of the transports of Hungarian Jews.
Indeed, Nyiszli’s ignorance went so far as to present Höss as “one of the main
defendants of the Nuremberg trial,” while it is well known that the former
Auschwitz commandant was requested by Kurt Kauffmann, the defense attor-
ney of Ernst Kaltenbrunner – the former head of the RSHA after Reinhardt
Heydrich’s assassination – as a defense witness. In that capacity, Höss ap-
peared during the hearing of April 15, 1946. In this context, Nyiszli’s insists
on referring to Höss’s affidavit of April 8, 1945 with the fanciful name “tran-
script S 7821,” that is, “Transkript Seite 7821” instead of its classification
number PS-3868.
I will address other revealing aspects of this letter in Part Three.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 177
Part 3:
Critical Analysis
205
Liste der Judentransporte, APMO, microfilm 727/30, p. 16: on May 29, the numbers 7741-9740
were assigned to Hungarian Jews.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 181
206
Document published by F. Herber in: Nyiszli 1992, p. 180; later also by Kubica 1997, p. 385.
182 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Monowitz inmate hospital. It follows from this that his story is necessarily
false, both regarding the date (if we follow his timeline, he would have been
transferred on June 14 at the latest: 14 days after May 31), and regarding the
circumstances of the transfer, that is to say, the Auschwitz camp’s chief phy-
sician’s drafting of about 50 doctors who were present in Monowitz 12 or 14
days after May 31. Nyiszli also claimed to have been assigned to the cement-
bag-carrying Kommando 197, and did not name the inmate infirmary (Häft-
lingskrankenbau) at all.
In Document NI-11710, Nyiszli states that he was transferred to Monowitz
with 6,000 inmates (in TVN with 7,000). As newcomers, they were told that
they were there in order to “croak in the concrete.” This is not reflected in any
document and indubitably must therefore be false, because the maximum
force reached by this camp – in mid-1944 – was about 11,000 prisoners
(Wagner 2000, p. 146), and it is not credible that 6,000 were transferred from
Birkenau to Monowitz on one day, i.e., on May 30, 1944.
He states and repeats that there were 200 Kommandos in Monowitz, and
that he was employed in Kommando number 197. This isn’t true either, be-
cause the 11,000 Monowitz detainees mentioned above were divided into 110
“Häftlingskommandos” (ibid.).
Makowski reports the average occupancy of the Monowitz Camp month by
month from November 1942 (2,300 inmates) until December 1944 (10,500
inmates). In June and July, the occupancy was 10,100 inmates, reaching a
peak in August with 11,500 inmates (Makowski, p. 134).
In TVN, Nyiszli lets his fantasy run wild by asserting that 40,000 inmates
worked at the huge I.G. Farben construction site, and that 100,000 inmates
had died in Monowitz from 1942 to June 1944. As for the first point, the
camp’s maximum occupancy, as just mentioned, was about 11,500 inmates. In
D45, Nyiszli contradicts himself by claiming that, on his arrival at the Mono-
witz camp, there were not 40,000, but “only” some 14,000 inmates.
And what about the 100,000 dead? Makowski summarizes in a table the
prisoners who perished in Monowitz from November 1942 to December 1944,
divided into two categories: the camp itself and the inmate hospital. Overall,
264 inmates died at the camp (presumably due to accidents at work), while
1,361 passed away in the hospital (ibid., p. 137). In the month of June, during
which Nyiszli was in Monowitz until the 27th, there were only 5 deaths at the
camp and 26 at the hospital. His tale of exhausted prisoners who died in the
camp or during work having been buried in cable ditches is both false and
senseless; false because the prisoners who died in Monowitz were regularly
registered in the Auschwitz mortuary registry (Leichenhallenbuch). The extant
documentation goes from October 7, 1941 through August 31 1943, and con-
tains the deceased inmates on a daily basis, giving their registration number
and their origin. During August 1943, for instance, 15 prisoners died in
Monowitz according to Makowski’s aforementioned table: 3 in the camp and
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 183
12 in the hospital. For the same month, the mortuary registry lists 17 inmates
who died at Monowitz (listed as “Buna”), two on the 9th (nos. 114990 and
117850) and on the 12th (nos. 127047 and 125042), one on the 14th (no.
128072), two on the 16th (nos. 1177786 and 4368-E) and 18th (nos. 126629
and 106760), three on the 21st (nos. 5140-E, 5694-E and 5655-E), one on the
25th (no. 116625), 28th (no. 129108) and 30th (no. 116820), and again two on
the 31st (nos. 125465 and 117567).207 Nyiszli’s statement is nonsensical, be-
cause a registered prisoner could not disappear from the camp without leaving
documents behind (of his death or transfer).
In NI-11710, no doubt in response to a specific question, Nyiszli also
wrote about the “gassing” of Monowitz inmates in Birkenau:
“6) When I was active in the Birkenau crematorium, I convinced myself in
three cases that transports numbering some 2-300 detainees from Monowitz
went to be gassed, hence inmates who had worked for IG-Farben. Even the SS
men talked openly about it.
7) The inmate transports from Monowitz sent to Birkenau for extermination
were not marked in any special way, because all transports destined for ex-
termination left their camp with utterly ragged clothes and shoes.”
According to Danuta Czech’s Kalendarium, however, the only “selection” that
took place at the Monowitz Camp leading to the selectees being “gassed” at
Birkenau is said to have occurred on October 17, 1944 and involved 2,000
inmates.208 In his book, Nyiszli writes about the alleged events of October
1944 in Chapters XXX (“yesterday, October 6, 1944”) and XXXII (“It is No-
vember 1, 1944”), but here he never even hints at this alleged gassing event.
In TVN, Nyiszli talks about the punishment with 25 blows, among other
things, “also for this cement paper bag that we put on our shoulders,” but this
was not punishable at all, indeed it was even recommended by the leaders of
the SS. On October 26, 1943, Oswald Pohl, the head of the WVHA, issued a
directive on improving the living conditions of concentration camp inmates.
Regarding the clothing, he ordered (Mattogno 2016c, pp. 17, 299):
“Newspaper is an effective protection against the cold (because it keeps in the
heat). Therefore, if necessary, have several layers of newspaper worn on the
chest, belly and kidney area. You must give attention to procuring a sufficient
amount of paper.
If need be, inmates may make their own paper waistcoats. Shredded paper in
socks is also a good protection against the cold. If no hat is available, allow
close-fitting paper caps to be made as well. In this case, hair may be kept long
as well to retain heat.”
207
AGK, OB-385, pp. 220-228.
208
Czech 1997, p. 733; 1989, p. 908. The data is taken from a list of “gassings” compiled by Leib
Langfus, whose mendacious nature I have exposed in Mattogno 2016c, Subsection 5.4.4.7., pp.
135f.
184 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
every day and take a bath every week. Cleanliness was valued so much that
comrades who had rashes, such as beard lichen, were not allowed to go to
work. [...]
At normal performance, we received so-called premium vouchers of an aver-
age value of 1.-- to 2.-- RM, which were very welcome by us, because in the
camp canteen we received cigarettes, drinks, potato salad, herrings, etc. for
them.[211]
The working time was 9 hours, with a lunch break of 1 hour. In winter the
working time was much shorter, because at sunset we had to be at the camp. It
was similar in case of fog or foggy weather.
At the construction site, I saw young prisoners between 14 and 16 years old.
They were apprentices and were trained as masons, carpenters, electricians,
etc. In addition, the youngest of them, the so-called ‘Piepels,’ were with the
Kapos and had to organize for them [meaning that they served as their valets].
I have never seen an employee of the IG or another company mistreating an
inmate. On the contrary, I was with these people on terms more or less like
workmates. In our factory, they did not beat us otherwise either. Once, howev-
er, I was beaten by a prisoner foreman – because I had been caught smoking
at the construction site. The Kapos as well as the inmate foremen punished
inmates in this way when they had done some mischief or shirked from work.
But it was not the fault of the IG, which was a staunch opponent of mistreat-
ments and therefore had forbidden it to its people. […212]
The IG’s foremen never denied help to comrades who got injured or had an
accident. In the case of minor things, such as abrasions or the like, they were
bandaged and not used in jobs that could have aggravated their wounds. In
the event of an accident, the detainee in question was taken to the plant’s
health center and treated there. If it was serious, the Kapo communicated the
incident to the SS labor-deployment leader, which provided transportation to
the camp – if necessary on a stretcher or with a vehicle. At the infirmary he
was given medical care and given the necessary medicines. If one of us got
sick, he communicated it to the block eldest, who then had to see to it that the
patient got to the infirmary. As far as I know, this did not cause difficulties,
and the patient could recover there with adequate treatment. At Buna, they
211
Productivity bonuses (Leistungsprämien) were a standard practice at Auschwitz. On the basis of
extant documents from July 16, 1943 to November 30, 1944, 214,119 Reichsmarks were awarded
in bonuses. See Mattogno 2016c, pp. 30-32.
212
Mistreating detainees was forbidden even to SS men. In case a prisoner violated any regulation,
SS guards were required to file a disciplinary report (Meldung) that was forwarded to the camp
headquarters, which decided on the punishment to be imposed, if any. See Mattogno 2016c, pp.
22-28; Document 7 (p. 306) is a Meldung of the Jewish inmate of the Monowitz Camp Davied
Jsef of January 22, 1944, who had left his workplace without permission. The prohibition of mis-
treatment also applied to so-called prominent inmates; if they mistreated a prisoner, they, too,
were punished. See ibid., Documents 5 and 6 on p. 305. Document 5 is a request by the SS garri-
son physician Wirths to investigate and, if applicable, punish the culprit of the “mistreatment of
inmate 115385 Richard Jedrzekiewicz,” who had been beaten by a block eldest at the Monowitz
Camp (July 5, 1943).
186 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
were generally very generous with granting sick leaves and convalescence
time. In my workshop, a weak inmate once returned from the infirmary; during
work he could still take it easy until he had regained his strength. The foremen
generously disregarded this, asking only that appearances be saved. [...]
The inmates’ food, breakfast and a thick evening stew, was administered by
the SS. At breakfast there was coffee, 300 grams of bread with margarine,
lunch meat or jam as toppings. Once a week, as a supplement, there was ‘Bu-
na bread’ (600 grams) and a double piece of margarine. For lunch, the IG al-
so provided a soup, made mostly of potatoes and vegetables. On Sundays this
soup was even better. The food corresponded roughly to that of the current av-
erage German consumer. When an [inmate] also received second servings –
and this often happened – then he had even more [food] than this. Thanks to
this extra food we were also able to cope with labor demands.[213] What was
most depressing was not even the work, but only the many roll calls of the SS
in the camp.
In winter, the IG helped us with a lot of extra clothing. Those working out-
doors in general had in addition to their coat and gloves also a padded sleeve-
less ‘Auschwitz waistcoat.’ I wore wooden clogs, stockings and foot rags, be-
cause the wooden clogs were the warmest. Coke stoves were burning scattered
throughout the factory, at which we could warm ourselves. This was very
pleasant during the winter cold.
Unlike the Main Camp, there was no crematorium at Monowitz, and neither
were there any gassings. We were therefore all glad to be at the Buna Camp,
because we were treated there much better by the IG. I do not know whether
the plant management knew of the gassings at Birkenau; if so, they could not
have done anything about it either without being themselves locked up in a
concentration camp.”
As for the alleged gassings, the witness evidently picked up the rumors that
circulated in the camp and were bandied about in the post-war court rooms.
Similar to this testimony is the deposition made by Jakob Lewinski in 1958
during the investigations leading up to the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial of the
1960s.214 According to his testimony, Lewinski, who was classified as a half-
Jew by the Nuremberg Law because he was the son of a Jewish father, was
sent to Auschwitz because he had refused to divorce his wife, who was classi-
fied as a full-Jew. His wife was apparently deported at the same time he was,
but not with him, and he never heard from her again. She was later declared
legally dead, but no one has ever found out what her fate had been.
213
Food supplements were also standard practice. For example, the request for “Additional food for
the concrete squad of the Central Construction Office’s unit” (Zusatz-Verpflegung für das Baulei-
tungs-Kommando Beton-Kolonne) was written by the head of the Central Construction Office on
November 10, 1943, because the aforementioned prisoner squad had to perform “urgent and hard
work” (dringende und schwere Arbeiten). RGVA, 502-1-256, p. 129.
214
Staatsanwaltschaft beim LG Frankfurt (Main), Strafsache beim Schwurgericht Frankfurt (Main)
gegen Baer und Andere wegen Mordes, ref. 4 Js 444/59, Vol. 2, pp. 305-310; subsequent page
numbers from there; cf. Rudolf 2003, pp. 356f.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 187
Lewinski claims that he heard only after the war that the sorting on arrival
at Auschwitz supposedly meant the difference between life and death in the
gas chamber. While in Auschwitz, he was evidently unaware of it.
Having been interned at the Monowitz Camp, he described his living con-
ditions there as “humane” (p. 305R):
“Inside the camp there was a bordello with 10 women, but they were only
available to Reich German prisoners. The prisoners received up to 150 DM
[should be RM-Reichsmarks] in scrips per week for their labor, with which
they could purchase mustard, sauerkraut, red beets and so on […]
The camp had generally good sanitary facilities, bathing and showering rooms
and an excellent health-care facility. [...] For provisions we received 1/3 [loaf
of] commissary bread three times a week, 1/2 commissary bread 4 times, and
additionally a bowl of coffee in the morning, 20 grams of margarine 5 times,
one time a small amount of jam and one time a piece of cheese. In the after-
noon at work there was the so-called Buna soup, nutritionally worthless. In the
evening there was a thicker soup, partly beets, partly cabbage etc.”
Lewinski stated that because of the 12-hour workday with insufficient nour-
ishment there was initially a high death rate, but conditions improved and the
death rate was substantially reduced.
“Our camp commander was SS Obersturmführer Schöttl, who was sentenced
to death at Dachau, supposedly for crimes he had committed before he came
to our camp, because as camp commander of our camp he would never have
deserved the death penalty.” (p. 306)
Strangely, this story, without any mention of the transfer to Monowitz, also
appears in the “Declaration” that Nyiszli claims to have sent “to the Interna-
tional Tribunal at Nuremberg,” where, he claims, he was essentially interro-
gated precisely about this labor camp (see here starting on page 141). In fact,
of the ten questions that Minskoff allegedly put to him in writing, eight con-
cerned the I.G. Farbenindustrie (see here on page 143).
In D45, Nyiszli wrote that after 12 days in Monowitz, the chief medical of-
ficer of the camp, who was an SS Hauptsturmführer, summoned all the inmate
physicians, who were a group of fifty, just as in his book. He volunteered with
his colleague “who worked in a Medical School in Strasbourg.” From the
transfer order of June 27, 1944 mentioned earlier, we know that Nyiszli went
to Sector BIIf with two other doctors, Jecheskiel Körner (No. 169840), and
Marcus Wind, (No. 167695), but in TVN he speaks only of the first in these
terms:
“Dr. Körner, József, physician, Nizza (Auschwitz, Crematorium II, dissection
room).”
This must therefore have been Nyiszli’s colleague, but the only doctor from
Strasbourg he mentioned was Robert Lévy (TVN; see Section 4.1.2.):
“Dr. Lewy, Robert, university professor, Strasbourg, (Camp Sector F)”
In Monowitz, the two inmate physicians underwent a thorough examination,
evidently by the local medical officer, and were accepted. According to his
book, only Nyiszli was subjected to an examination, but right at his arrival in
Birkenau and by Dr. Mengele himself. According to D45, Nyiszli and Dr.
Körner were loaded onto a Red Cross ambulance and taken directly to Crema-
torium II. In his book, however, Nyiszli says that, before going to the cremato-
rium, he spent at least five days at Camp Sector BIIf, as can be seen from the
chronology of his story: on his first day, he received two corpses to dissect; on
the next day, he received three more, and remained inactive for the next three
days. On the fifth day, he was picked up by Dr. Mengele and transferred to the
crematorium (MBV, Chapters Vf.).
In D45, Nyiszli and his colleague were given a clean room as their lodging,
after which Dr. Mengele subjected them to another one-hour examination. In
his book, this exam disappears, just like the colleague: Nyiszli was completely
alone in his room. Dr. Körner appears only in Chapter XVIII, when Dr. Meng-
ele sent three assistants to Nyiszli into his room:
“The first whose hand I shake is Dr. Görög Dénes, a private university lectur-
er and pathologist at the State Public Hospital of Szombathely. He is a short,
thin man of about forty-five years of age who wears thick glasses. He makes a
good impression on me. I have the feeling that we will be good friends. The
second is a short, stocky individual of about fifty years of age, with a hunched
back and a very ugly face. He is Fischer Adolf, autopsy assistant for twenty
years at the Prague Institute of Anatomy. As a Czech Jew, he has been an in-
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 189
mate of the K.Z. for five years already. The third is Dr. Körner Józef, a physi-
cian from Nice, inmate of the K.Z. for four years already. A taciturn but quali-
fied young man, he is only thirty-two years old.”
Nyiszli met Dr. Körner on this occasion for the first time. But when did the
meeting take place? In Nyiszli’s intricate narrative, there are two statements
allowing us to pinpoint it: both before and after that first meeting, he mentions
that he had been in Birkenau for three months:
“It is already three months since we parted from each other on the ramp!”
(Chapter XVI)
“I am an expert and I have been working here for three months now!” (Chap-
ter XIX)
Hence, the meeting took place at the end of August or in early September
1944. This would mean that Dr. Körner was transferred from Monowitz to
Crematorium II of Birkenau together with Nyiszli at the end of June 1944, but
that Nyiszli met him for the first time in this crematorium only two months
later!
In Chapter II of his book, Nyiszli describes the registration procedure in
Camp Sector BIIf:
“I proceed to the third barracks, alone with my escort. There the sign reads
‘Bath and Disinfection’.”
Here he was washed, shaved, disinfested and tattooed. In Chapter III he speci-
fies:
“From the bath building, accompanied by a new escort who carries my card
in his hand, I pass into the barracks which stands opposite and which bears
the number 12 on its front. It’s a building around 100 meters long. The interi-
or forms a large hall. Along both sides of the hall run lines of three-tier bunks
made of rough-sawn beams and planks, divided into compartments crowded
with patients. I am in Camp ‘F,’ Hospital Barracks 12.”
The most detailed study of Birkenau’s hospital camp in Sector BIIf is proba-
bly D. Czech’s 1974 long article “The Role of the Hospital Camp for Males at
Concentration Camp Auschwitz II.” She gives a detailed description of the
barracks (or blocks) making up this sector, and also reproduces a blueprint.
From this blueprint we discern that Barracks 3 was not in front of Barracks 12,
but was located between Barracks 1 (to the north) and 5 (to the south); in front
of it, there was Barracks 2 (to the east); on the other side, at a greater distance,
was Barracks 14 (see Document 8).
The length of the barracks – about 100 meters – is another mistake. From
aerial photographs of 1944 we can glean that Barracks 12 of Camp Sector BIIf
was slightly longer and wider than a horse-stable barracks (Pferdestallba-
racke), the most common type of barracks in Birkenau, which measured 40.76
190 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
215
See Note 54 on p. 46.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 191
which is also the primary definition given in any dictionary for the French
verb enfourner (lit. “put into a furnace/oven”). This usage, apart from not be-
ing commonly attested to in other sources,216 was not the one usually used in
formal writings, for contemporary sources make clear that the normally pre-
ferred term for loading corpses was einführen/Einführung (introduce/introduc-
tion). Thus, for example, the device for introducing corpses into a cremation
muffle217 was called a Leicheneinführungs-Vorrichtung (corpse-introduction
device) and later Einführtrage (introduction stretcher); the door to the muffle
itself was called an Einführungstür (introduction door); even the metal slide
rollers installed in front of the door to the muffle were known as Einführ-
rolle.218
With the sole exception of krematórium, a word which moreover was
known to all prisoners in Birkenau, Nyizli never utilizes any of the numerous
German terms in common use for describing cremation or the cremation fur-
naces and their elements, such as: Einäscherung (incineration, cremation),
Verbrennung (burning, combustion), Ofen (furnace), Einäscherungsofen (cre-
mation furnace), Dreimuffel-Einäscherungsofen (triple-muffle cremation fur-
nace), Muffel (muffle, cremation chamber), Einführungstür (introduction
door), Schamotterost (chamotte grill, i.e., the refractory-brick grill which
formed the floor of the muffle), Aschenraum (“ash” [i.e., bone fragment] col-
lector beneath the refractory-brick grill), Generator (gasifier), Feuerung
(hearth), Rauchkanal (smoke channel, flue), Druckluftanlage (forced-air sys-
tem), Druckluftgebläse (forced-air blower), Trage or Einführtrage (corpse-
introduction stretcher), Beheizung (heating of the furnaces), Verbrennungs-
raum (cremation room), Ofenraum (furnace room), Schornstein (chimney),
Schamotte (chamotte, refractory clay), Koks (coke) and koksbeheizt (coke-
fired), Heizer (stoker) and Rauch (smoke).
Instead, Nyiszli exclusively uses Hungarian terms in this context, some of
them rather odd. Here are just the principal ones used:
– kemence: “furnace” (Ofen)
– égetőkemencek: “cremation furnaces” (Einäscherungsöfen)
– kazán: literally “boiler” but used by Nyiszli in the generic sense of “fur-
nace,” as is clear from the two terms which follow
– kazánterem: literally “boiler room” but here “furnace room” or “oven
room” (Ofenraum)
– égetőkazán: literally “cremation boiler” but here “cremation furnace”
216
Known exceptions are, for instance, Fritz Sander’s letter of Sept. 14, 1942 (Doc. 242 in Mattog-
no/Deana 2015, Part 2, p. 402): “[…] die Leichen müssen von vorn durch diese Tür in die Muffel
eingeschoben werden.” And the Leicheneinführungs-Vorrichtung itself contained a Verschiebe-
wagen (Doc. 215, ibid., p. 367)!
217
The term muffle (or sometimes retort) is used to denote the individual furnace compartment in
which a corpse is cremated, in distinction to the cremation furnace as a whole.
218
Mattogno/Deana 2015, Part 1, pp. 234 (“Einführrollen”), 272.
192 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
– tűzszekrény: “fire cabinet” or “fire chamber” (from the context – the substi-
tution of the refractory linings, in Chapter XXXI – this may refer to either
the “cremation chamber” (muffle) itself, or to the coke hearth (Feu-
er[ungs]raum)
– hamvasztószekrények: “cremation cabinets” (from the context – the de-
scription of the Sonderkommando’s work loading corpses in the furnaces in
Chapter X – here clearly muffles)
– kémény: chimney (Schornstein, Kamin)
– samottbélés: refractory lining (Schamottefutter)
– tüzelók: stokers (Heizer); the “chief stoker,” however, curiously is the
generálfűtő
A document titled “Operating Instructions for the Topf Coke-fired Triple-
muffle Cremation Furnace” (Betriebsvorschrift des koksbeheizten Topf-Drei-
muffel-Einäscherungsofen) has survived the war, and has even been repro-
duced in some translated editions of Nyiszli’s book (for instance in Nyiszli
1992. p. 33, and in Nyiszli 1961a). It is reproduced as Document 9 in the Ap-
pendix at the end of this study.
On September 24, 1941, the Topf firm wrote to the Auschwitz Construc-
tion Office with regard to similar operating instructions for the Topf double-
muffle furnace, attached to the letter in three copies, and regarding the Topf
forced-draft device, that a copy of these instructions had to be posted in the
furnace hall protected by a glass pane to ensure that the equipment be used
correctly.219 Although this refers to the cremation devices installed at Crema-
torium I at the Auschwitz Main Camp, it is a reasonable inference that the
same requirement for posting the operating instructions in the furnace hall is
true for the triple-muffle furnaces installed in the Birkenau Crematoria II and
III in 1943. It is impossible to believe that Nyiszli, who claimed to have spent
at least seven months in Crematorium II, would not have read it. It contained a
great many terms relative to the triple-muffle furnace which a witness in that
situation could hardly have remained ignorant of. But then again, how could
he have read it, given that it was located in a furnace hall equipped with five
triple-muffle furnaces, when he maintained that he had “seen” fifteen single
furnaces there?
Nyiszli attributes to the crematoria a series of non-existent rooms and de-
vices (such as the dynamos, dynamók, mentioned in Chapters XXIX and
XXXI); on the other hand, he takes no notice of such important locations and
equipment as the corpse chute (Rutsche), the trash incinerator (Müllverbren-
nungsofen) and the fuel storage area (Brennstofflager).
219
APMO, BW 11/1/3, p. 1. The two sets of instructions are largely the same, minor differences re-
lating to the change from a double- to a triple-muffle system notwithstanding. For the double-
muffle instructions see Mattogno/Deana 2015, Part 2, Document 210, p. 358 (the triple-muffle in-
structions as reproduced here are there on p. 382).
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 193
220
More usually spelled vetkőző- (“undressing”).
221
An earlier Bunker 1 allegedly was demolished in 1943. See Mattogno 2016a, pp. 173f. Note,
however, that in D45 Nyiszli does speak of an “underground bunker,” but it clearly is none other
than Leichenkeller 1 (Morgue #1) of Crematoria II and III!
194 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
222
APMO, BW 30/34, p. 74.
223
These dates are derived from the “hand-over negotiations” (Übergabeverhandlung) with which
the Auschwitz Zentralbauleitung handed over control of the completed facilities to the camp
Kommandantur. RGVA, 502-2-54, p. 25, 77, 84; APMO, BW 30/25, p. 14.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 195
chronology which would take their construction back to the winter of 1939-
1940, before the Auschwitz camp even existed!224
224
The order for the establishment of the camp, according to D. Czech, was issued by Himmler on
April 27, 1940. Czech 1997, p. 8; 1989, p. 30.
225
Reproduced in Pressac 1989, pp. 276f. and 305. See also Document 10 in the Appendix.
226
I have described these furnaces in detail in Mattogno/Deana, Part 1, pp. 265-279, Part 2, Docu-
ments 213-224 (pp. 371-378) and Part 3, Photographs 111-206 (pp. 82-132).
196 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
aligned furnaces in the cremation hall. Here, at the end of the great hall, D.
Olleé shovels the coke.” (TVN)
However, since the furnaces operated on the gasifier principle, the coke was
not “shoveled” under the corpses at all. In a gasifier (or gas generator) system,
coke was subjected to partial combustion in a so-called gasifier compartment
in order to produce highly flammable CO gas, which then traveled through a
duct into the muffle where it combined with preheated outside air to complete
combustion, in the process heating the muffle to cremation temperature. The
gasifier itself was a vertical chamber lined with refractory material on the in-
side, with a hearth in its lower part consisting of a grate on which the coke
rested and a door for the admission of primary (partial) combustion air and the
removal of ashes and slag. In its upper part the chamber tapered off on one
side into the duct through which the partially combusted gas entered the muf-
fle (the “neck” of the gasifier); on the opposite side was a vertical or slanted
chute connected to the outside of the furnace through which the gasifier was
resupplied with fuel (the gasifier chute). Since the coke was, therefore, in an
entirely separate compartment of the furnace at all times – in the case of the
Topf double- and triple-muffle furnaces it was located behind the muffle – it
makes no sense to speak of shoveling it under the bodies lying in the muf-
fles.227
Curiously, this crude error can also be found in the April 13, 1945 deposi-
tion of another alleged Sonderkommando member, Stanisław Jankowski (alias
Alter Feinsilber), in his description of the Topf double-muffle furnaces of
Crematorium I (Czech et al. 1996, p. 37):
“The bodies lay on grills beneath which coke was burning.”
Nyiszli continues his description of the cremation hall as follows:
“From my room I hear loud orders, hurried footsteps. The noise is coming
from the furnace hall of the crematorium! They are making preparations for
receiving the transport. The whine of electric motors becomes audible. They
have turned on the giant blowers which fan the fire to the proper temperature
inside the furnaces. Fifteen blowrs of this kind are in operation at once! One is
installed next to each furnace.” (MBV, Chapter VII)
According to Nyiszli, there thus were fifteen blowers to fan the flames to the
correct temperature inside the furnaces.
In reality, however, the five triple-muffle furnaces of Crematoria II and III
were each provided with one forced-air blower (Druckluftgebläse), located as
shown in Document 13: two blowers were installed between Furnaces 1 and 2,
one attached to the right wall of Furnace 1, one attached to the left wall of
Furnace 2; two more were installed in the same way between Furnaces 3 and
227
For a more detailed discussion of the gasifier principle see Mattogno/Deana, Part 1, pp. 34-36. A
photograph of gasifiers at the rear end of the Topf triple-muffle furnaces at Buchenwald is repro-
duced as Document 12 in the Appendix.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 197
4; and the last was located next to the left side of Furnace 5. There was noth-
ing “giant” about the blowers either; on the contrary, they were quite compact
in size, as can be seen from surviving examples of the same type installed on
the triple-muffle cremations furnaces at the Buchenwald Camp (see Document
14).
For Nyiszli, however, “The furnaces were heated with coke, and next to
each a blower was installed that had the height of one story, driven by a pow-
erful electric motor” (PR)!
The blower’s output entered the muffle through dedicated ducts and served
to bring combustion air to the corpses. No equivalent blowers existed to fan
the coke fire in the gasifier hearths since incomplete combustion in fact was
the goal there. Provision could be made, however, to improve the draft from
the chimney through the use of a forced-draft device (Saugzug-Anlage). Orig-
inally, Crematorium II was provided with one, but it was dismantled between
May 17 and 19, 1943. In Crematorium III, no such device was ever installed,
and no provision was made for them at all in Crematoria IV and V (Mat-
togno/Deana, Part 1, pp. 228-251).
Elsewhere Nyiszli adds other fantastic elements to his account of the crem-
atoria:
“The crematoria are in a state of readiness. The men of the Sonderkommando
replace the refractory linings in the furnaces’ fire boxes. They paint the heavy
iron doors of the furnaces and oil their hinges. The dynamo and fans run all
day. Experts check their functioning.” (MBV, Chapter XXXI)
The replacement of the furnaces’ refractory lining could be done only by ex-
pert civilian personnel from the companies which had contributed to the con-
struction of the crematoria. For example, on May 21, 1943, the company Rob-
ert Koehler, which built the chimneys of Crematoria II and III, sent a letter to
the Central Construction Office with the subject “Repairs to the Lining in the
Chimney of Crem. II” (“Instandsetzung des Futters im Schornstein Krem. II”).
Workers from that firm began the job on June 19, and finished it some time
after July 17, probably in August (ibid., pp. 239-243).
Also, as I have noted above, there were no dynamos in Crematoria II and
III.
The four Birkenau crematoria were equipped with ten triple-muffle furnac-
es (five each in Crematoria II and III) and two eight-muffle furnaces (one each
in Crematoria IV and V), hence a total of twelve furnaces and forty-six muf-
fles. For Nyiszli, on the other hand, the facilities had a total of sixty furnaces:
“The cremation furnaces of Auschwitz and their equipment were built in a fac-
tory of the time, near the company Topf and Sons of Munich. This name was
on the doors of the 60 furnaces of the crematoria of Auschwitz, on the auto-
matic ash-extraction devices, and also on parts of the mechanism of the air-
draft register. With metal letters welded in a legible way.” (TVN)
198 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
In passing, it may also be remarked that the firm Topf and Sons (J.A. Topf &
Söhne) had its headquarters in Erfurt, not Munich, and that the emblem
“Topf” was not “welded” onto its products, but was rather created during the
casting of its cast-iron parts (ibid., Part 3, Photographs 58f., p. 55). Nor did the
Topf cremation furnaces have “automatic ash-extraction devices”; cremation
residues were removed manually using a simple scraper (Kratzer) via a special
ash-removal door (Ascheentnahmetür) located at the front of the furnace be-
neath the muffle door (ibid., Part 1, pp. 258, 271).
Here is Nyiszli’s description of the cremation process itself:
“After the last gold tooth is out of the mouth of its dead owner, the corpses go
to the cremation Kommando. These then place them three at a time on a push-
ing device made of steel plates. The furnace’s heavy iron doors open automat-
ically; the device moving on iron wheels rolls into the glowing furnace, drops
its load, slides back, heated to incandescence. Two men with rubber hoses
douse it with powerful streams of water.” (MBV, Chapter VII)
For the introduction of corpses into the muffle, Crematorium I of the Ausch-
witz Main Camp was provided with a “corpse-introduction device” (Leichene-
inführungs-Vorrichtung) consisting of a wheeled coffin-introduction cart
(Sargeinführungswagen) which ran with iron wheels on special rails on the
floor (Laufschienen), and a semi-cylindrical pushing cart (Verschiebewagen)
made of steel plates that ran on top of it. At the front of the introduction cart
was a metal stretcher on which the corpse was laid; supported by a pair of
metal rollers (Laufrollen) attached below the muffle door,228 this stretcher
component entered the muffle as the introduction cart was rolled forward on
its rails. Once the stretcher was fully inside the furnace, the pushing cart
which rode on top of the stretcher extension was then held in place at the muf-
fle door, while the introduction cart was drawn backward on its rails again,
thus pushing the corpse off the stretcher onto the muffle grill (ibid., Part 1, pp.
272f., and Part 3, photographs 87-89, pp. 69f., and 185-187, pp. 120f.).
The “pushing device” made of “steel plates” mentioned by Nyiszli, which
specifically is “moving on iron wheels,” is clearly reminiscent of this system.
It is a fact, however, that this system was not used in the Birkenau crematoria.
Already on September 30, 1942, the Topf Company informed the Central
Construction Office that it had substituted the device described above with a
simple “wrought-iron stretcher” (schmiedeeiserne Trage) which would run on
the rollers attached to the muffle door frames.229
228
The rollers were mounted on a bar running the width of the furnace below the muffle doors and
could be slid along this bar beneath each muffle as needed; one pair of rollers thus served three
muffles. Mattogno/Deana 2015, Part 1, pp. 272f., and accompanying photographs in Part 3.
229
APMO, BW 30/34, p. 114, and BW 30/27, p. 30.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 199
Furthermore, the muffle doors, which were each hung on a pair of hinges,
did not open “automatically” but rather manually, by pulling on the appropri-
ate handle.
The cremation capacity of the furnaces was, for Nyiszli, truly prodigious:
“The bodies of the dead are reduced to ashes in 20 minutes. The crematorium
works with 15 furnaces. This means the cremation of 5,000 people a day. Four
crematoria are in operation at the same capacity. Altogether 20,000 people
pass each day through the gas chambers and from there into the cremation
furnaces. The souls of twenty-thousand innocent people fly off through the gi-
gantic chimneys.” (MBV, Chapter VII)
In truth, however, the muffles of the Topf double-, triple- and eight-muffle
furnaces were all designed for the cremation of only a single corpse at a time.
The normal duration of the cremation process was about an hour. Attempting
to overcome the projected thermotechnical limits of the furnaces by overload-
ing the muffles (three bodies cremated together, as Nyiszli claims) would not
in fact have led to an increase in productivity; on the contrary, the maximum
cremation capacity for the furnaces was obtained, in conformity with their de-
sign, by placing a single, normal corpse in each muffle.230 The theoretical
maximum capacity of the four Birkenau crematoria was 1,104 corpses in
twenty-four hours; the anticipated maximum was around 624 (operating
twelve hours per day).231 Nyiszli’s claims in this regard thus can be qualified
as a thermotechnical delirium.
Apart from being technically absurd, the total cremation capacity asserted
by Nyiszli is mathematically wrong as well, because his claim that the corpses
were loaded into the muffles “three at a time” and then “reduced to ashes in 20
minutes” leads to a calculation of 3 corpses per load per muffle × 3 loads per
hour = 9 corpses per muffle per hour, or (9 corpses per muffle per hour × 15
muffles × 24 hours =) 3,240 corpses per day in one crematorium, not 5,000.
Moreover, if we accept for argument’s sake his claim that the crematoria all
had the same capacity (“Four crematoria are in operation at the same capaci-
ty”), the maximum capacity for all four sites would still have been 3,240 × 4 =
12,960 corpses per day, not 20,000. The details of Nyiszli’s own testimony
thus lead to a maximum cremation capacity of 7,040 less than he himself
claims.
In his letter to Paul Rassinier, Nyiszli responded in detail to the objections
of this pioneer of Holocaust revisionism:
“So the duration of the cremation is one thing at the Père Lachaise, and an-
other at Birkenau. This can last an hour in the first case, while it lasted no
230
Mattogno/Deana, Part 1, pp. 312-346 (Section II, Chapter 9, “The Cremation Capacity of the Fur-
naces in the Crematoria of Auschwitz-Birkenau”).
231
Ibid., pp. 292-311 (Section II, Chapter 8, “The Duration of the Cremation Process in the Topf
Furnaces at Auschwitz-Birkenau”).
200 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
more than twenty minutes in the second. The explanations are as follows: The
bodies of Père Lachaise were generally adequately nourished before their
death, and their incineration is accompanied by a solemn ceremony. Moreo-
ver, the duration of incineration is directly proportional to the intensity of the
heat, and inversely to the hygrometric degree [water content] of the object to
be incinerated. The corpses of Birkenau, due to the presence in ghettos, con-
centration camps, and due to inhuman work, were only skin and bones, walk-
ing skeletons, so to speak. The furnaces were heated with coke, and next to
each a blower was installed that had the height of one story, driven by a pow-
erful electric motor. The incineration itself was not a ceremony, but an
‘Entloesung’ [recte: Endlösung], a conveyor-belt annihilation where every-
thing was used that modern technology can provide.”
Thus, according to Nyiszli’s presumed experience, well-fed corpses burn more
slowly than emaciated ones, when in fact the opposite is true, emaciated
corpses being less combustible precisely because of the smaller quantity of
combustible fat contained in them.
The duration of a cremation is not “directly proportional” to the tempera-
ture either, because the combustion process must occur within quite precise
thermal limits: below 600°C the body does not burn but instead carbonizes;
above 1100-1200°C, the phenomenon of sinterization can occur, whereby the
bones of the corpse fuse with and stick to the refractory brick of the cremation
grill.232 Nor is the duration inversely proportional to the quantity of water pre-
sent in the body, for a fat body undoubtedly has more water than a skinny one,
but it burns better than the latter.
The coke-fired cremation furnaces at the end of the nineteenth and begin-
ning of the twentieth centuries operated at a temperature of around 1000°C. In
the 1930s and 40s, coke-fired cremation furnaces operated at a lower tempera-
ture between 800-900°C, and reached temperatures of 1000-1100°C only for a
few minutes at the peak of the combustion process.233 The normal operating
temperature for a Topf furnace was around 800°C.234 As I have noted earlier,
the Topf furnaces at the Birkenau crematoria did not have enormous blowers
(“the height of one story”) to blow air into the furnaces, and so even this pre-
sumed advantage was non-existent, much as were the presumed disadvantages
of the crematorium at Père Lachaise relative to the funeral ceremony, which
obviously had no influence on the cremation process itself.
232
Kessler 1930, pp. 136ff.
233
For a history of the early development of cremation technology and the experiments which led to
the eventual adoption of lower-temperature furnaces, see Mattogno/Deana, Part 1, pp. 43-73.
234
“Betriebsvorschrift des koksbeheizten Topf-Dreimuffel-Einäscherungsofen.” See Document 9.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 201
the furnace itself, which, according to the Operating Instructions, was around
800°C.
235
RGVA, 502-1-83, p. 377.
236
RGVA, 502-1-83, p. 375.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 203
237
RGVA, 502-1-345, p. 50.
204 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
rium IV was put out of operation as a result of the destruction of its machin-
ery.”
At some point in the weeks to follow, however, Crematorium IV (V in to-
day’s nomenclature) must have been repaired, for when the decision is made
to demolish the other crematoria after the order halting any killings on No-
vember 17, Crematorium IV (V) alone is left in service:
“Among the crematoria, two will be demolished; the third will remain for the
time being for the cremation of the camp dead. We four will be moving […] to
Crematorium IV. It will remain in operation.” (MBV, Chapter XXXVI)
Moreover, in relating his story of the Polish prisoners allegedly killed at the
building on New Year’s Day 1945, he speaks merely of “cremations” (not
open-air burnings), which are carried out after the prisoners have duly un-
dressed in “the empty room beside the furnace hall” (XXXVII). It would thus
seem most likely that Nyiszli imagined the damage to Crematorium IV (V) it-
self as having been repaired.
On the other hand, in Danuta Czech’s quasi-official chronicle of events at
the Auschwitz camp, she affirms that only Crematorium IV (Nyiszli’s III) was
damaged, since “Afterward work [was] resumed in Crematoriums II, III and
V” (Czech 1997, p. 726; 1989, p. 900).
Later, after the alleged Himmler order prohibiting further killings had been
received at the camp, and after the alleged liquidation of the last Sonderkom-
mando, Nyiszli describes the plans for the dismantling of the crematoria as
follows:
“We four will be moving […] to Crematorium IV. It will remain in operation. I
and II are marked for immediate destruction! Crematorium III of course
burned to ashes on the occasion of the Sonderkommando revolt of October 6.
It was at once a historic and a happy moment when, the next morning, a de-
tachment of prisoners deploying a thousand persons arrived in the courtyard
of Crematorium I and, divided into groups, began the demolition of the build-
ing with the bloody past.” (MBV, Chapter XXXVI)
The exact number of prisoners assigned to work on the demolition is unclear,
but almost certainly less than the 1,000 claimed by Nyiszli. Based on docu-
ments, Czech states that the first demolition unit (Abbruchkommando), as-
signed to work on Crematorium III, was established on December 1, 1944,
and consisted of 100 female prisoners. In a footnote she adds with reference to
a statement by the ex-detainee Stanisława Rachwałowa that at the same time a
male unit was also created.238
On December 5, the women’s unit was increased to 150 prisoners.239 In a
letter of December 8, 1944 to the headquarters of the women’s camp (Kom-
238
Czech 1997, p. 757; 1989, p. 939; as source she cites “Arbeitslisten”, evidently the one of Dec. 1,
1944.
239
Ibid., 1997, pp. 759; 1989, pp. 940; again with the general reference “Arbeitslisten.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 205
mandantur des FL), the head of the Central Construction Office, SS Ober-
sturmführer Werner Jothann, requested to make available “100 unskilled in-
mate workers for demolition work at crematorium Camp II.”240 Finally, on
January 15, 1945 a “demolition unit Crematorium 104-B” existed that consist-
ed of 70 men.241 The order of magnitude of the documented figures makes it
possible to relegate to the realm of fantasy Nyiszli’s claim that the demolition
unit was made up of “a detachment of prisoners deploying a thousand per-
sons.”
240
“100 Häftlingshilfsarbeitern für Abbrucharbeiten beim Krematorium Lager II.” RGVA, 502-1-67,
p. 227.
241
“K.L. Birkenau. Arbeitseinsatz für den 15. Januar 1945.” RGVA, 502-1-67, p. 17
242
TNA, WO-208/2169.
206 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
ture of methyl and ethyl cyanoformiate with the addition of 10% of methyl
chloroformiate as a warning agent; then they add (Flury/Zernik 1931, p. 535):
“The production of liquid Zyklon[243] in Germany had to be terminated when
the peace treaty of Versailles came into effect, because during the war the cy-
anoformiates had been tested as combat chemicals, and therefore their further
production is forbidden according to the terms of the treaty.”
Gerhard Peters provides even the physical characteristics of this substance: the
liquid mixture boiled at 96°C and had a relative density of 1.08 with respect to
water, and as a gas of a relative density of 2.98 with respect to air. The liquid
was vaporized and sprayed at a pressure of 5-10 atmospheres with a device
similar to a shoulder sprayer for plants (Pflanzenspritze; Peters 1933, pp. 56-
58).
The above allows us to evaluate the reliability of Nyiszli’s “eyewitness tes-
timony”: he not only “saw” the use of a product that had been no longer on the
market for over two decades, but he also “saw” this happening at “the disin-
festation chamber of Camp F at Birkenau,” although the Birkenau Camp Sec-
tor BIIf never had a disinfestation chamber. Furthermore, Nyiszli describes
the alleged disinfestation with Zyklon A in this way:
“They poured down the contents of the cans through chimney-like openings
onto clothes and blankets piled up in the hermetically sealed disinfestation
chamber [that was] here in the hospital camp.” (TVN)
Such a procedure could have worked with “Zyklon B” granules, but certainly
not with liquid “Zyklon A,” which required a sprayer to atomize the liquid.
Summing up, “Zyklon A” no longer existed, there was no disinfestation
chamber in the hospital sector BIIf, and the way “Zyklon A” was allegedly
applied there is nonsensical: three blatant lies in one single swoop!
Being a liquid substance, it is very unlikely that “Zyklon A” was packed in
cans. I do not know if it ever had a label saying something like “Pest control
agent for lice and other pests. Caution: Poison!,” but it is certain that, contrary
to what Nyiszli asserts, this was certainly not what the label on Zyklon B cans
stated. In fact, its label read:
“Zyklon B. Toxic gas! Cyanide preparation! Keep in a cold and dry place!
Protect from the sun and open flames. To be opened and used only by trained
personnel.”
As a means of extermination, Zyklon A had also been mentioned by the Sovi-
et prosecutor Pokrovsky during the afternoon session of February 14, 1946 of
the Nuremberg IMT (IMT, Vol. VII, pp. 438f.):
“All these monstrous crimes had a definite system of their own. There was uni-
formity in the murder methods: One and the same system prevailed in the con-
struction of the gas chambers, in the mass production of the round tins con-
243
Meaning Zyklon A; right after this they write about Zyklon B as being “fest,” solid.
208 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
244
See in this regard Mattogno 2016e, Chapter 10 on Sachsenhausen, pp. 151-181.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 209
245
NI-9912, p. 1. See the complete translation in Rudolf 2016, pp. 117-124.
246
Summarized in: United Nations… 1947, Vol. I, pp. 93-103.
247
NI-12207, p. 94 of the publication.
248
Recte: “hydrocianicum.”
210 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
249
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_electron_microscope
212 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
As I will show below, Nyiszli’s pathetic lies about Zyklon B are not means
without an end, but rather constitute the backbone of his “eye”-witness testi-
mony of the presumed homicidal gassings.
scended 10-12 concrete steps and entered an empty, underground room with a
capacity of 2000 [people]. The first row stopped instinctively at the entrance,
but once they read the signs ‘Disinfection’ and ‘Bath’ printed in all major lan-
guages, they were reassured and descended the steps.”
As we can see, the initial capacity of the “undressing room” was 2,000 people.
Continuing his narration, Nyiszli writes:
“SS soldiers arrive and immediately the order rings out: everyone is to un-
dress completely, ten minutes! They stand petrified, old folks, grandfathers,
grandmothers, children, wives, husbands. Modest matrons and maidens look
at one another helplessly. Perhaps they did not understand the German
words? But already the order is repeated! Its tone is more impatient now, al-
most menacing!”
However, the victims were Hungarians, most of whom could not understand
the German words. The scene allegedly took place after Nyiszli had spent his
first night at the crematorium, if we follow his fictitious chronology, hence in
early June 1944. At that time, however, no Jewish transport arrived from
Germany.
“They begin to undress with difficulty. A group sent from the Sonderkomman-
do assists in the undressing of the aged, the lame and the mad. In ten minutes
everyone is naked.”
That 3,000 people could undress within 10 minutes in a room of merely 392.5
m², or seven to eight persons per square meter, is indeed nothing short of dif-
ficult. But of course, Nyiszli had in mind a room 200 meters long with a vastly
larger surface area.
“The SS clear a path through the dense crowd to the oak double doors located
at the end of the room. They open them! The crowd surges through them into
the next room, also brightly lit. This room is the same size as the undressing
room, but there are no benches and hooks here.”
Since Nyiszli claimed that the “undressing room” was 200 meters long, this
would also have been the length of the alleged “gas chamber.” The blueprints
of Crematoria II (and III) give for Morgue #1 (Leichenkeller 1), the alleged
“gas chamber,” a size of 30 m × 7 m, in total 210 m². Here Nyiszli’s estimat-
ing “error” amounts to a factor of 6.7! In his response to Rassinier’s criticism,
Nyiszli conceded that he might have been wrong about the sizes of the rooms,
but when “correcting” it, he still gave a size that was way too large:
“It could therefore be that the halls were only 100 or 120 meters long. This
does not change anything about the facts, and can not possibly challenge the
authenticity of the data.” (see here on page 175)
This does change a lot, however, because it indicates that Nyiszli never set
foot in these “rooms.”
214 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Based on Nyiszli’s description, the “undressing room” and the “gas cham-
ber” were two adjoining rooms; from the first, one entered directly into the
second through “oak double doors” located at the end of the room. The blue-
prints of these crematoria, and in particular Blueprint 109/15 of September 24,
1943, show that at the end opposite of the entry stairs, Morgue #2 narrowed
down to a corridor just 1.97 meters wide and 5.30 meters long. At the end of
this corridor was a two-leaf door measuring 2.10 m × 1.80 m, which gave ac-
cess to the vestibule (Vorraum). This vestibule had on one side the corpse
chute (Leichenrutsche) in the center of a staircase leading outdoors, and on the
other the elevator (Aufzug) leading into the ground-level furnace room.
Morgue #1 was arranged perpendicular to Morgue #2 and was accessed
through a double door.
“In the center of the room, at a distance of thirty meters from each other, a
number of columns stretch from the concrete floor to the ceiling. These are not
support columns, but are rather quadrangular tinplate pipes, their sides
pierced throughout with holes like a grill.”
Since in Nyiszli’s mind the room was 200 meters long, there would have been
at least six of these “columns” at a distance of 30 meters from each other.
Nyiszli moreover omits to mention the fact that the roof of this room was sup-
ported by seven massive reinforced concrete pillars.
According to orthodox holocaust historiography, there are said to have
been four devices for introducing Zyklon B in addition to the seven concrete
pillars. The most important witness described them as wire-mesh columns
with a square section of about 70 cm × 70 cm and a height of about 3 m, or
maybe a square section of 24 cm × 24 cm and a height of 2.50 m.251 These
wire-mesh structures were drawn by Rudolf in highly accurate drawings (Ru-
dolf 2020, pp. 152f.). According to Nyiszli, however, the columns were not
made of wire mesh, but of perforated sheet steel. Nyiszli’s testimony is there-
fore irreconcilable with the official version.
“At that moment, an automobile roars outside. A luxury model Red Cross car
arrives. An SS officer and an S.D.G. Sanitätsdienstgefreiter, a non-commis-
sioned medical officer, step out. The medic has four green-colored canisters in
his hands.
They advance across the lawn to where some low concrete chimneys emerge
from the ground at a distance of thirty meters from one another. They head for
the first chimney. They don gas masks. They lift the chimney cover; it too is
made of concrete. They punch open the patented top of one of the canisters
and pour the contents, a substance consisting of bean-sized lilac-colored
granules, into the opening. The material poured out is Cyclon, or chlorine in
granular form; it immediately gives off gas as soon as it comes into contact
251
Michał Kula made two contradicting statements in this regard during two separate interrogations;
see the respective observations in Rudolf 2020, esp. pp. 148-160.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 215
with air. It falls down into the perforated sheet-metal pipes into the under-
ground room. It stays there in the pipe; it does not scatter all over. The gas
immediately comes out through the holes, and within moments it fills the room
crowded with people. Within five minutes it kills them!”
Had the room been 200 meters long, it would have had at least six columns
and just as many “concrete chimneys,” but there were only four cans of
Zyklon B, and into each “opening” the contents of one can was poured. At
least 2 “chimneys” therefore would have remained unused.
Pressac claimed that the four “Drahtnetzeinschiebevorrichtungen” (wire-
mesh push-in devices) mentioned in the basement inventory attached to the
hand-over protocol of Crematorium II dated March 31, 1943 are proof of the
existence of Zyklon-B introduction devices. The inventory also listed four
“Holzblenden” (wooden screens or blinds), which Pressac translated as
“wooden covers” allegedly used to close the chimneys.252 So these alleged
“covers” of the “chimneys” were made of wood, while Nyiszli insists they
were made of concrete.
It is moreover known that these devices are listed in the inventory as part
of Morgue #2, the “undressing room,” not Morgue #1, the alleged “gas cham-
ber,” so Pressac was forced to carry out a little sleight of hand to attribute
these devices to the “gas chamber.” It is furthermore known that these devices
do not appear at all in the inventory of the hand-over protocol of Crematorium
III of June 24, 1943.253
The abbreviation “S.D.G.” (SDG) stood for Sanitätsdienstgrad, not Sani-
tätsdienstgefreiter, and referred to an SS medical orderly. The “Erco” gypsum
pellets that were the carrier material of Zyklon B were slightly bluish, not lilac
or even burgundy.
In his first statement (D45), Nyiszli described the scene as follows:
“The heavy oak doors were shut behind them, the lights were turned off, and
in a few minutes a luxury car with the Red Cross insignia arrived. A doctor
with the rank of captain and his assistant unloaded four metal containers
weighing approximately 1 kg each. They removed the four concrete lids cover-
ing the ventilation shafts leading to the underground bunker; they put on their
gas masks, punctured the lid of the metal containers, and dumped the bean-
sized, purple [or rather] burgundy-colored chlorine pellets into the four open-
ings. Then they immediately covered the openings with the concrete covers.”
Here the “chimneys” were therefore “ventilation shafts.” If there were four of
them at intervals of 30 m, they were arranged along a line of 90 meters, leav-
ing the remaining 110 meters of the 200-m-long “gas chamber” without any
Zyklon-B-introduction openings. I have already elaborated on the “chlorine”
and the color of the pellets.
252
Pressac 1989, pp. 429f.; see in this regard Mattogno 2019, Chapter 2.5., pp. 76-85.
253
RGVA, 502-2-54, Inventory, “KGL 30a Kellergeschoss.”
216 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
254
Protocol of the interrogation of H. Tauber, May 24, 1945, in front of Investigating Judge Jan
Sehn. Höss Trial, Vol. 11, p. 19 (140).
255
Protocol of the interrogation of Szlama Dragon, Feb. 26, 1945. GARF, 7021-108-12, p. 184.
256
To be clear, I use the term “propaganda” (and the adjective “propagandistic”) in the sense of black
propaganda, what the Germans called “Gräuelpropaganda.”
257
Friedman 1945, p. 69. The underscored phrase is missing in the English translation of the book of
the following year (1946, p. 54).
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 217
for the action of the gas, he shouted to the helper the order: ‘Na! gib ihnen
schon zu fressen!’ (Now, give them to feed on already!) Then the assistant
threw 3 cans of cyklon into each of the hollow wire-mesh columns. The gas
acted fast enough, death mostly occurred already within 3-5 minutes.”
As I mentioned earlier, for Nyiszli the doctor who carried out the gassing was
not Mengele. In his invented deposition at the I.G. Farben Trial, he listed
“four Auschwitz criminals who had not yet been put on trial.” The first was
“an SS captain of the health service” who, together “with a non-commissioned
officer” brought “the gas cans to the crematoria with a luxury Red Cross vehi-
cle”; Mengele was the third. Nyiszli repeatedly reiterated the distinction be-
tween Mengele and the official “gaser”:
“9) […] The green enamelled cans were brought on site with a Red-Cross car
by an SS Hauptsturmführer and an SDG, and thrown by them into the gas
chambers. […]
10) […] At this time a black-painted red-cross car arrived. An SS officer and
an SDG alighted from the car. They held 4 green enameled cans in their
hands.” (NI-11710)
“The selecting physician was an SS Hauptsturmführer named Josef Mengele,
who at that time served as a medical officer at the Auschwitz Concentration
Camp and the 40 sub-camps in the area.” (TVN)
Nyiszli claims that “within moments it [the gas] fills the room crowded with
people”; that the gas “fills the available space very quickly (light gas)”
(TVN); and (NI-11710):
“10) […] The granules did not spread out in the gas chamber because they fell
down through perforated pipes, and they immediately released gas due to con-
tact with the air.”
This requires the instantaneous development of the gas, on the basis of the
false assumption that it forms immediately as a consequence of its contact
with the oxygen of the air. The fact is that Zyklon B was intentionally de-
signed to release its active ingredient slowly. From experiments carried out in
1942 we learn that only 75% of the hydrogen cyanide soaked in the Erco gyp-
sum pellets evaporated within the first hour at a temperature of 15°C; 96.4%
had evaporated after two hours, and 100% after three (Irmscher 1942, p. 36).
At temperatures above the boiling point (about 26°C), the evaporation of the
gas was undoubtedly faster, but still not instantaneous. In the absence of tech-
nical devices in the alleged homicidal gas chambers, such as warm-air and cir-
culating-air fans, which would have accelerated the evaporation and dissipa-
tion of the poison gas, Zyklon B – which according to Nyiszli was poured into
hollow pillars and remained there – released its poison gas within a period of
218 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
one hour or even more, not within moments.258 On the action of the gas,
Nyiszli stated:
“Within five minutes it kills them!”
In his contrived deposition he stated (TVN):
“death occurred in a state of unconsciousness due to paralysis of the respira-
tory center, depending on the weather (in rainy, humid weather, there is more
oxygen in the air) in 2-5 minutes.”
As air’s humidity increases, the oxygen’s partial pressure actually decreases.
From data collected by Scott Christianson on executions in hydrogen-cyanide
gas chambers at prisons in the United States, death of the convicts occurred on
average after 9 minutes (Christianson 2010, p. 216), with a hydrogen-cyanide
concentration of 3,200 parts per million (about 3.5 g/m³).259 In this case, how-
ever, the gas developed immediately, because these U.S. gas chambers did not
use Zyklon B. Hydrogen-cyanide vapors were generated by the chemical reac-
tion between sodium cyanide and sulfuric acid. Had Zyklon B been used, exe-
cution times would have been considerably longer.
Nyiszli was ignorant of the chemical, physical and toxicological character-
istics of Zyklon B (hydrogen cyanide), so he invented a totally senseless gas-
sing scenario:
“The bodies do not lie all over the length and breadth of the room but rather
in a single, story-high heap. The explanation for this is that the fallen gas
granules first permeate the air layer above the concrete floor with their deadly
vapors and only gradually saturate the higher layers of air in the room. This
forces the unfortunate victims to trample each other, to climb over one anoth-
er. In the higher layers the gas thus reaches them later. What a terrible strug-
gle for life must take place there, and yet the time won is only one or two
minutes in all! Could they but think about it, they would know that they are
trampling their parents, their wives, their children in vain, but they cannot!
What they do is a survival reflex! I notice that at the bottom of the tower of
bodies lie the babies, children, women and aged, at the top, the stronger men.”
Similar descriptions can be found also in Nyiszli’s first statement of 1945 and
in his affidavit of October 8, 1947:
“Instead of being spread out evenly on the bunker floor, they were piled up on
top of each other one story high, explained by the fact that the chlorine gas
reached the higher [air] layers with some delay.” (D45)
“10) […] Since the gas granules fell on the floor, the gas developed first in the
lower layers of air and then gradually rose higher. This is how I explain that
after the termination of the gassing the corpses were not scattered out in the
258
On the issue of the evaporation and dissipation speed of Zyklon-B fumes in the hypothetical hom-
icidal gas chambers see Rudolf 2020, Chapter 7.
259
Declaration by F.A. Leuchter during the Second Zündel Trial. Kulaszka, p. 385; Leuchter et al., p.
33.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 219
room but were lying in tower-shaped piles. The stronger ones probably threw
the weaker ones down, climbed on those lying below in order to prolong their
life by reaching [air] layers still free of gas. This way women, children, and the
elderly usually ended up lying at the bottom.” (NI-11710)
Nyiszli cooked up this story based on two dreamed-up assumptions. The first
is that the gas used was chlorine, which is 2.45 times as dense as air, meaning
that it is almost two and a half times heavier than air. During a hypothetical
gassing, it would indeed behave according to Nyiszli’s narration: it would first
fill the lower air layers and would gradually fill the room from bottom to top,
like a pool that gradually fills with water. In reality, however, the density of
hydrogen-cyanide gas relative to air is 0.97, so it is insignificantly lighter than
air. In a 1942 disinfestation manual we read (Frickhinger 1942, p. 206):
“Unlike carbon disulfide and other gases that are heavier than air, hydrogen
cyanide is lighter than air, so during the fumigation of a house, it permeates
the entire building to its most remote corner in a very short time,[260] thus
reaching even the most remote hiding places of the vermin.”
Moreover, Nyiszli contradicts his own narrative, because he says that the gas
developed “immediately,” that it filled the room “within moments,” filling
“the available space very quickly (light gas),” and that the gas killed “humans
within a few seconds” (his book, Chapter XIX), which is exactly the opposite
of filling the room gradually, layer by layer.
The second false assumption is that the “gas chamber” was 200 meters
long; Nyiszli never mentions any width, but even a relatively narrow width of
only 5 or 6 meters would have resulted in a surface area of 1,000 to 1,200 m²,
such that 3,000 people could at least move about freely. In reality, however,
Morgue #1 measured only 30 m × 7 m, or 210 m² (from which we have to de-
duct the seven reinforced-concrete support columns with a total of just over 1
m²). It follows that 3,000 victims would have been packed into that room at a
density of 14 people per m², which in itself is impossible, but even if one
could accomplish it somehow, the victims could have barely move even the
fingers of their hands. Not only that, but the victims would have been tightly
pressed against the wire-mesh columns, thus covering to a large degree the ar-
ea in the lower part of the columns. Hence, the evaporating gas would have
mostly dissipated into the room through the columns’ upper part, filling it
from top to bottom, rather than from bottom to top.
The scenario of the struggle among the victims and that of the tower-
shaped piles of corpses is therefore purely imaginary.
In this context, when describing the corpses, Nyiszli moreover wrote that
their heads were “swollen and blue,” that there was a “Bluish-lilac complex-
ion of the whole body, cyanosis” (TVN). Also in his book: “Their heads are
swollen and blue”. It is known, however, that “The skin of hydrogen-cyanide
260
This refers to gaseous, not liquid hydrogen cyanide absorbed on gypsum of the Zyklon-B type.
220 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
261
Deposition of D. Paisikovic of August 10, 1964. APMO, Zespół Oświadczenia, Vol. 44, p. 88.
262
Freyer et al. 1983, Photos 38 (p. 82), 39 (p. 85), 43 (p. 89), 57 (p. 101), 58f. (p. 102), 60 (p. 103).
222 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“Four large mechanical freight elevators are in operation here. They pile the
dead onto these, twenty, twenty-five to an elevator. An alarm bell informs the
operator that it can ascend! The elevator stops at the cremation hall of the
crematorium, where its massive doors open automatically. The towing Kom-
mando is waiting for it there. Once again, loops go around the wrists of the
dead.”
In reality, Crematoria II and III were equipped with only one elevator each
that ran in a shaft of 2.76 m × 1.43 m.263
In his first statement, Nyiszli affirmed (D45):
“The Sonderkommando washed the corpses with a hose, and the bodies were
then loaded in an elevator and hoisted to the furnace room.”
If he really knew that only one elevator (“lift,” plural “liftek”) existed in
Crematoria II and III, one must assume that he intentionally lied in his
book.264
Here it is pertinent to briefly characterize the elevators of Crematorium II
and III of Birkenau. In Crematorium II, a freight elevator had been installed,
ordered from the “Management of the metal workshop” (WL Schlosserei) on
February 15, 1943. Here is the text of the order:265
“February 15, 1943, PoW camp,[266] Crematorium I [=II], BW 30. Object: 1
flat-plate elevator for min. 300 kg payload incl. installation of respective reel
device, cable and motor as well as guide-rail. Order no. 2563/:146:/ of Janu-
ary 26, 1943 from Central Construction Office. Order taken over from former
detainee metal workshop, terminated March 13, 1943.”
A Polish photograph of 1945 shows that this freight elevator was very rudi-
mentary (Pressac 1989, Photo 20, p. 488). It was installed by the Central Con-
struction Office in Crematorium II.
On February 28, 1943, the Auschwitz Central Construction Office ordered
from the Topf Company two elevator systems (Aufzugmaschinen) complete
with safety gear (Fangvorrichtungen) measuring 2.10 m × 1.35 m × 1.80 m at
a price of 9,371 RM each, hence 18,742 RM total. These were the final devic-
es, which were expected to be delivered within seven months. This was fol-
lowed by a second order:267
“1 patented Demag electric elevator for 750 kg capacity, single cable, to be
raised to 1500 kg capacity by addition of second cable, at 968 RM. This
263
Auschwitz Construction Office Blueprint No. 933 of January 19, 1942, and Blueprint No. 109/15
of September 24, 1943. Pressac 1989, pp. 280f. and 327.
264
On the issue of the elevators see Mattogno 2019, Chapter 1.9., pp. 47-51.
265
Höss Trial, Vol. 11, pp. 82f.
266
Kriegsgefangenenlager: PoW camp; official name of the Birkenau Camp until March 31, 1944,
when it was renamed “Lager II Birkenau.” File memo by Kirschneck of March 31, 1944. AGK,
NTN, 94, p. 60.
267
APMO, BW 30/34, p. 69.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 223
268
APMO, BW 30/34, p. 44.
269
RGVA, 502-1-313, p. 10.
224 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
While extracting the corpses, Sonderkommando men found a girl still alive
and immediately alerted Nyiszli:
“I grab my always-packed doctor’s bag and race with him down to the gas
chamber. Directly next to the wall near the entrance to the enormous room,
half-buried by corpses, a young woman’s body writhes and gives off gasping
noises. The men of the gas Kommando stand around me in agitation. Such a
thing has never happened in their horrible work! We free the still-moving body
from the corpses lying on top of it. I take it in my arms. I carry it, the slight
body of a young girl, into the room next to the gas chamber. Here the gas
Kommando was accustomed to change for their work.”
This place did not exist. The only room “next to the gas chamber” was the
vestibule (Vorraum), where the freight elevator was located.
“I pull out my injection kit and I give the scarcely breathing, unconscious girl
three injections one after another in her arms. […] As a result of the injections
I gave, her pulse is already beating quite noticeably. I wait patiently: the injec-
tions have not yet been completely absorbed, but I already see that in just a
few more minutes she will come around. And so it happens.”
This story must be examined in the light of Nyiszli’s important statement that
Zyklon B was “Chlorine in granular form.” And the symptoms Nyiszli attrib-
utes to the girl are precisely those of chlorine intoxication:
“Something burns her eyes, stifles her throat” (MBV, Chapter XX)
In fact, the “inhalation of chlorine gas” produces these very symptoms accord-
ing to an expert manual (Olson 1999, p. 142):
“One may immediately experience burning of the eyes, nose, and throat, ac-
companied by coughing.”
It follows from this that Nyiszli treated an unconscious girl allegedly intoxi-
cated by hydrogen cyanide with an antidote for chlorine poisoning, and yet,
despite this, the girl recovered!
Keeping in mind that Nyiszli was a physician, what did he inject into the
girl? In his book, he occasionally shows off his knowledge in the medical field
with an annoying conceitedness, creating especially long excursus that have
no relation with his alleged experience at Auschwitz, but here, where it mat-
ters, he limits himself to speaking generically about “injections.”
At that time, the remedies used against hydrogen-cyanide poisoning were
injections of stimulants, such as lobeline and caffeine, and sulfur-containing
substances, such as sodium thiosulfate and sodium tetrathionate (Peters 1933,
p. 74). He evidently knew nothing about this, so he would not have been able
to save the girl.
Nyiszli told Oberscharführer Mussfeld the story of the surviving girl:
“I sketch for him the scenes that this child suffered through in the undressing
room and before the death in the gas chamber. When everything turned to
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 225
darkness around her, she too inhaled a bit of the cyklon fumes, but only a bit,
because her frail body, at a push from the crowd in its death throes, fell face
first into a small space on the damp concrete floor. This small bit of humidity
prevented the gas from choking her lungs. You should know that cyklon gas is
not effective in a humid medium!”
The scene is a literary incongruity, because the girl, being merely semi-con-
scious, could not have told Nyiszli that story, so Nyiszli must have read her
mind!
“Clearly a veil of fog still clouds her understanding! In some more-lucid patch
of her young brain she remembers a long line of wagons with which she ar-
rived here.”
When she regained consciousness, she only knew that she was 16, and had ar-
rived with her parents with a transport from Transylvania.
The scene, for Nyiszli, took place in an imaginary room 200 meters long
with a huge surface, enough to allow the victims to fall on the floor. But, as I
explained earlier, its 3,000 victims would have been crammed into a room of
merely 210 square meters, at a density of 14 persons per square meter. How,
then, could the girl have fallen?
The girl’s survival of a gassing lasting 25 minutes must be considered truly
miraculous. For Nyiszli, as we have seen earlier, the death of the victims oc-
curred after at most 5 minutes, after which a mechanical ventilation of another
20 minutes was carried out. The quantity of Zyklon B used for a “gassing” in
Crematoria II and III is said to have been 7 kg for 1,500 people, or so Rudolf
Höss claimed,270 or 4 kg, if we follow Nyiszli, although it was chlorine for
him.
For the sake of the argument, let’s assume the use of 4 kg of hydrogen cy-
anide. With 3,000 victims in the actual room, the available volume of air in it
would have been about 326 m³ (considered an average weight of the victims
of 60 kg and a density of the human body equal to 1 kg/Liter). The theoretical
final concentration of hydrogen cyanide, after all had evaporated from the car-
rier, would have been (4,000 g ÷ 326 m³ =) 12.27 g/m³ or about 9,500 ppm
(parts per million), which is more than 31 times the concentration of 300 ppm
which expert literature describes as “rapidly lethal” (van Pelt 2002, p. 366).271
Leaving aside complicated calculations that would always be hypothetical
to some degree, two fixed points must be assumed. The first is the fact that, in
the execution gas chambers of some U.S. states, death of the executees oc-
curred on average after some 9 minutes with an instantly present hydrogen cy-
anide concentration of 3,200 ppm.
270
Interrogation of R. Höss, May 14, 1946. NI-036; Affidavit of May 20, 1946. NI-034.
271
As McNamara (1976) has shown, however, the lethal concentrations given in toxicological litera-
ture are based on experiments with rabbits, which cannot be transferred to humans, who have a
significantly higher tolerance. See Rudolf 2020, pp. 230-236.
226 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
The second is a calculation by Robert Jan van Pelt concerning the average
concentration of hydrogen cyanide absorbed by a hypothetical victim in a gas
chamber with an initial concentration of 10,000 ppm and a mechanical venti-
lation of 8,000 m³/hr of air (this is actually the wrong capacity, the correct one
being 4,800 m³/hr) which corrects the results by decreasing the concentration
of hydrogen cyanide in the inhaled air. Despite this, it turns out that this con-
centration is still some 726 ppm after 15 minutes, more than twice the rapidly
lethal one (van Pelt, ibid.). These 15 minutes refer to the time after the ventila-
tion was switched on, to which we must add the 5 minutes of the actual “gas-
sing.” At the end of these 5 minutes, when ventilation begins, van Pelt calcu-
lates a hydrogen-cyanide concentration of 3,805 ppm, almost thirteen times
greater than the quickly lethal concentration. One could rightly argue that, as I
noted earlier, the evaporation of hydrogen cyanide from Zyklon B was much
slower, meaning that the maximum concentration would have been reached
only after hours (see Mattogno 2015b, p. 108, and Document 25, p. 185), but
this would further invalidate Nyiszli’s story.
The story of the miraculous survival of the girl is also contradictory, be-
cause according to Nyiszli, the bodies were regularly washed down with hoses
after each “gassing,” so the entire floor of the room would have been perma-
nently wet, and all those who would have found themselves on the ground,
with their faces near the wet floor, would have survived if Nyiszli’s moisture
theory were correct, yet Nyiszli describes the girl’s case as unique. Nyiszli al-
so forgot that in his mind the gas was heavier than air and spread from bottom
to top, so that the girl on the floor would have died first.
Finally, Nyiszli’s claim that “cyklon gas is not effective in a humid medi-
um” is not only without any basis, but it actually contradicts what he claimed
elsewhere when positing that the gas developed in contact with the oxygen of
the air, and that “in rainy, humid weather, there is more oxygen in the air”
(TVM), meaning that, if he were right (which he isn’t in any of his claims),
moisture would have increased the effectiveness of Zyklon B.
“in the month of May [1944] alone, about 40 kg of gold and white metal were
‘smelted’ exclusively from the teeth extracted from the corpses.”272
By May 28, 1944, 184,049 Hungarian Jews had been deported to Auschwitz
according to the report compiled the next day by László Ferency, the lieuten-
ant colonel of the Hungarian police in charge of deportations.273 Of these,
about 4,500 were properly registered in Auschwitz, and many more thousands
were sent without registration to the Birkenau “Durchgansglager” (transit
camp).
Hence, from an orthodox point of view, it is impossible to establish how
many of these deportees were actually “gassed.” The only criterion is that of
the claimed percentage of those among the deportees who were fit for labor.
In a report of May 26, 1944, Eberhard von Thadden wrote that, “according
to the observations made so far, about 1/3 of the deported Jews are fit for la-
bor deployment” (“nach den bisherigen Feststellungen sind etwa 1/3 abtrans-
portierten Juden arbeitseinsatzfähig”; NG-2190).
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, in a letter dated June 30, 1944 addressed to SS Bri-
gadeführer Karl Blaschke in reference to the Jews deported to Strasshof, Aus-
tria, confirmed that, “according to experience so far” (“nach den bisherigen
Erfahrungen”), the percentage of those able to work was “estimated to be
about 30%” (schätzungsweise etwa 30%; PS-3803). Therefore, for the sake of
the orthodox argument, we may assume that some 70% of the deportees would
have been gassed. Hence, of the 184,049 deportees mentioned earlier, some
128,800 would have been “gassed” immediately upon arrival. If we believe
the resistance movement’s figure, some 40 kg of dental and jewelry gold was
extracted from these deportees, or on average (40 kg ÷ 11 days274 =) 3.6 kg per
day or 33.6 kg for every 100,000 persons.
The quantity mentioned by Nyiszli – some 30 to 40 kg daily – is therefore
ten times greater than that indicated by the Auschwitz resistance movement.
Of course, neither of these claims is backed up with any documentary or mate-
rial evidence, hence they are both completely worthless.
In this regard, the only known facts are based upon form letters filled out
by the “inmates’ dental station Auschwitz CC” (“Häftlingszahnstation des KL
Auschwitz”) in 1942. According to them, 16,325 gold or precious-metal fill-
ings (including the far more common amalgam fillings, which is a mixture of
silver and mercury) were extracted from 2,904 corpses of registered inmates
within 200 days.275 However, neither the weight of the corresponding precious
metals is known nor how many of them were actually made of gold (probably
272
“Sprawozdanie okresowe od 25 V 1944 - 15 VI 1944” (Report for the period of May 25, 1944 to
June 15, 1944). APMO, Au D-RO/91, Vol. VII, p. 446.
273
T-1163, p. 18.
274
Deportees had been arriving at Auschwitz during 11 consecutive days, considering that the first
transports left on May 14 and arrived at Auschwitz on the 17th.
275
Höss Trial, Vol. 3, p. 86.
228 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
a small minority), nor whether the extant forms of that year are complete or
only partially preserved, nor the percentage of corpses that had gold fillings
compared to the total number of deceased inmates of that year, which was
48,447 (47,020 inmates and 1,427 Soviet prisoners of war; Mattogno 2019,
Chapter 15.4.3., pp. 466-471).
The gold obtained in that way, Nyiszli claims, was smelted in Crematorium
III:
“Casting takes place in a disk-shaped graphite form about five centimeters in
diameter. The weight of one gold disk is 140 grams. I know exactly. I weighed
it myself on the dissection-hall scale.” (MBV, Chapter XI)
Considering that the specific weight of gold is about 19.3 g/cm³, a disk of 140
grams with a diameter of 5 centimeters would have a thickness of less than 4
millimeters, in practice a coin.
was deserted. In Crematoria II and III also everything was still. I saw a truck
loaded with ashes pull out from the crematorium and make its way in the di-
rection of the Vistula River.
The camp’s numbers had been reduced by ten thousand heads, and the K.Z.
archives had been increased by one piece of paper.” (MBV, Chapter XIV)
As for the date of the “liquidation,” Nyiszli does not indicate even the month.
According to Ota Kraus and Erich Kulka, to whom Danuta Czech refers as
source for her account, of the 10,000 prisoners in the camp, around 3,580 were
transferred to other camps at the beginning of August, so the number of pre-
sumed victims could only have been around 6,400.276
For Nyiszli, on the other hand, 10,000 people were “gassed” on a single
day, with their bodies being cremated in Crematoria III and IV (Nyiszli’s II
and III) in the course of the same day. The next day all that remained of them
was ashes.
This last claim naturally is quite impossible, because the account is based
on Nyiszli’s absurd assumption of a cremation capacity of 5,000 corpses per
day in Crematoria II and III, and his further “error” in assuming that the cre-
mation capacity was the same in Crematoria IV and V. In reality, of course,
the crematoria of the one type (II and III) had fifteen cremation muffles each
and those of the other (IV and V) had only eight. Thus, even if one were to ac-
cept the absurdly inflated number of 5,000 corpses per day for the fifteen muf-
fles of Crematorium III, the eight muffles of Crematorium IV still would not
have had the capacity to bring the total up to 10,000. And that is not even
counting the fact that, as I have explained above, Nyiszli’s own “data” result
in a maximum capacity of only 3,240 corpses per day for a fifteen-muffle
crematorium, not 5,000 (see Section 3.2.3.).
276
Czech 1997, p. 656; 1989, p. 811. Czech herself fails to include 500 Czech youths mentioned by
Kraus and Kulka, thus reaching the figure 3,080 instead of 3,580 transferred Jews. For a discus-
sion of the overall question, see Mattogno 2016c, pp. 144-167 (Chapter 6.1. “Selection and Al-
leged Gassing of Jews from the Family Camp”).
230 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Since, according to Nyiszli, the “expiry date” for the Sonderkommando was to
fall on October 6 or 7, 1944,277 the date for the Corfu action presumably
would have been around September 22 or 23.
With regard to the latter event, Nyiszli writes:
“I have finished my morning rounds visiting patients. In all four of the crema-
toria operations are in full swing. Last night they burned the Greek Jewry of
the Mediterranean island of Corfu, one of the oldest faith communities in Eu-
rope. For twenty-seven days they were hauled along, first on barges, then in
closed freight cars, without food or water. When they arrived at the ramp of
Auschwitz extermination camp and the wagons were opened so that they could
disembark and line up for selection, no one got out! Half of them were dead
and the other half were in a state of unconsciousness, dying. The entire
transport, right to the last man, went to Crematorium II. All night long the
plant worked at full capacity. In the morning nothing remained of them but a
great pile of dirty, ragged clothes in the crematorium courtyard. It was a
heart-rending sight as it soaked in the drizzling rain. My glance wanders over
the crematorium chimney: the lightning rods placed at the square chimney’s
four corners, all heavy iron rods, have melted from the terrible fire and are
now bent downwards.” (MBV, Chapter XIX)
In 1946, the Italian historian Gemma Volli wrote an article on the Jews of
Corfu with the following preface (Volli 1946):
“Many of the particulars of what is described in this article were told to me by
Matilde Israel, deported from Corfu and miraculously saved along with two
fellow countrywomen. After having been shut up for three days in the gas
chamber [sic!] while the Germans, at the approach of the Russians, awaited
orders from Berlin, she was taken to Germany. At the end of the war she was
sent to Italy by the Allies.”
According to this eyewitness account, as the rest of the article then relates, the
transport from Corfu contained 2,000 deportees, of whom 150 died during the
journey from Piraeus to Birkenau (which lasted for thirteen days); ultimately,
only 80 women and around 100 men survived the camps.
A single transport reached Auschwitz from Corfu (and Athens) on June 30,
1944, some three months prior to the date which can be deduced from
Nyiszli’s account. According to Danuta Czech’s Auschwitz Chronicle, the
transport numbered 2,044 persons, of whom 446 men and 175 women were
registered in the camp; the remaining 1,423 were “gassed” (1997, p. 654;
1989, p. 809). In a separate study, Czech informs us that the journey from
Greece to Auschwitz lasted about seven to nine days (Czech 1970, p. 17).
277
In Chapter XXIX, Nyiszli writes “it was the sixth of October, the second-to-last or last day of the
Sonderkommando’s term”; in the event, it turns out to be the last of course, but in the dramatic
context of earlier scenes Nyiszli could not have known that. For more on the dates surrounding the
Sonderkommando’s “term” see Sections 3.6.1f.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 231
III had a combined capacity of 10,000 bodies per day, then they could have
cremated 4,500 in one night. If…
278
Curiously, former inmate Otto Wolken, who provided important documentary material to Polish
judge Jan Sehn at the trial of Rudolf Höss in 1947, affirmed that Sector BIII of Birkenau was oc-
cupied by “50,000 Hungarian girls” (50000 ungarischen Mädchen). AGK, NTN, 88 (Höss Trial,
Vol. 6), Annex 1, “Lager-Bilder,” p. 46.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 233
279
AGK, NTN, 88, pp. 111-113. Important parts of the letter in Mattogno 2007, pp. 12-14.
280
APMO, Stärkemeldung [Strength Report], AuII-FKL, D-AuII-3a, p. 53a.
281
The list published in Mattogno 2016c, p. 136, has one transport of 1,000 missing, hence it shows
an erroneous total of only 13,200.
282
See Mattogno 2016c, pp. 135f., for a discussion of Langfus and Czech’s claims in the light of the
Stärkemeldungen, and Chapter 7.5., pp. 187-202, on “‘S.B.’ in the Census Reports of the Wom-
en’s Camp.”
234 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
It remains only to ask why, according to Nyiszli, ten days were necessary
for the presumed extermination of 45,000 prisoners. The answer is found in
the following passage:
“Dr. Mengele carried out his decision. The liquidation of Camp ‘C’ began.
Fifty trucks requisitioned for this purpose brought the victims to the cremato-
rium every evening in groups of four thousand. The long line of floodlit trucks
made for a terrible spectacle as they turned in to the crematorium courtyard
with their cargo, frenzied and screaming in terror or paralyzed into silence by
the fear of death. One after another, before the entranceway leading below
ground, they unloaded the already-naked unfortunates, and these were then
driven down into the gas chamber.” (MBV, Chapter XXVIII)
The entire extermination action thus was perpetrated in a single crematorium,
namely, the one in which Nyiszli himself was housed, Crematorium II. As in
the case of the Gypsy camp, the claimed duration of the process is the result of
a simple, nonsensical calculation: since Crematorium II could cremate 5,000
corpses per day according to Nyiszli, the “gassing” and cremation of 45,000
persons would require 45,000 ÷ 5,000 = 9 days, rounded up by Nyiszli to ten.
Nyiszli, all of the Jews of the Riga ghetto were “gassed,” but if we are to be-
lieve Danuta Czech, 150 of the deportees were registered in the camp accord-
ing to regular procedure.284
284
For further observations on this see Mattogno 2019a, Chapter 4.4., pp. 228-234.
236 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
the Lodz Ghetto between August 15 and September 18, 1944, out of which
only 3,076 prisoners were registered in the camp (Czech 1997, p. 687-712;
1989, p. 851-882). The total number of deportees is supposed to have been
around 60,000-70,000. In reality, only around 22,500 deportees arrived at
Auschwitz, and it is documentarily confirmed that 11,464 Jewish women not
registered at the camp (who for Danuta Czech thus were all “gassed”) were
transferred from the Birkenau transit camp to the Stutthof Camp between late
August and early September 1944. Of the around 11,000 men involved, some
3,100 were registered normally. No documentary trace remains of the remain-
ing 7,900, but it is known that some forty children between the ages of six
months and fourteen years were included in the transport to Stutthof on Sep-
tember 3, 1944; if these children, textbook examples of labor disability, were
not “gassed,” then it is impossible to believe that the 7,900 adult men in ques-
tion were “gassed” (on this see Mattogno 2004, pp. 17-36).
As for the duration of one week in Nyiszli’s account, this clearly is a pure-
ly fictitious observation based on the total of 70,000 Jews supposedly sent to
Auschwitz in groups of 10,000 per day (70,000 ÷ 10,000 = 7 days). Presuma-
bly this would mean, given Nyiszli’s “calculations” regarding cremation ca-
pacity, that the cremations took place in two of the crematoria (which together
would have had a capacity of 10,000 corpses per day), but Nyiszli is unclear
on this question. At one point, he seems to imply that the extermination took
place entirely in Crematorium II, declaring that victims “pass through the
crematorium gates with indifference” (emphasis added). When relating the
story of the father and son from Lodz later in the chapter, however, he notes in
passing that “Crematorium I [II] is not in operation today,” thus implying that
the Jews must also have been killed and cremated elsewhere, at least for that
day. In any event, whatever the logic behind them, the numbers here are no
more likely to be based on real observation than any of Nyiszli’s other num-
bers about the “gassings,” given, as always, the impossibly high cremation
rates which they would require.
revived. The arrival of the Theresienstadt ghetto has been announced.” (MBV,
Chapter XXXIII)
Nyiszli describes the presumed event in the same chapter as follows:
“Twenty thousand vigorous, work-capable men died in the gas chambers and
burned to ashes in the fire of the furnaces. The extermination lasted for two
days. Afterwards, a silence lasting for days lay over the crematoria.
Fourteen days later, long trains arrive one after the other at the Jews’ ramp.
Women and children descend from them. There is no selection; all go to the
left. […]
The destruction of twenty thousand wives hoping to make their husbands’ lot
easier and children pining after their fathers followed in the wake of this
summons formulated with such diabolical cunning.”
If we take the first of November (Chapter XXXII) as point of departure, the
earliest that the extermination action could have begun is the third of the
month (at least two “days of silence” after Nov. 1), ending two days later
some time on the fifth; the second phase then would have begun two weeks
later on November 19 and, given that the number of alleged victims was the
same (20,000), presumably lasted another two days until some time on No-
vember 21.
In his fictitious chronology of events, Nyiszli forgot his own claim that the
order prohibiting any further killings had arrived at Birkenau on November
17, 1944 (Chapter XXXIV; see Section 3.4.9.). It follows, if Nyiszli is to be
believed, that the second wave of deportees from Theresienstadt, 20,000 per-
sons, were “gassed” after all “gassings” had ceased! The same is also true for
the liquidation of the Sonderkommando, which is said to have occurred even
later than that.
In his study on the Auschwitz death toll, Franciszek Piper lists eleven Jew-
ish transports from Theresienstadt which went to the camp between Septem-
ber 28 and October 28, 1944. According to his figures, the total number of de-
portees was 18,402, and the transports departed on September 28 and 29, and
on October 1, 4, 6, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23 and 28. Hence, the transports arrived at
relatively regular intervals, not with 20,000 deportees at once, and there was
no fourteen-day pause in the process (Piper 1993, p. 192). Danuta Czech re-
ports that some 3,400 of these deportees were registered in the camp or sent to
the transit camp (1997, pp. 718-742; 1989, pp. 889-920), so the orthodox
number of those presumably “gassed” was about 15,000 as opposed to Nyisz-
li’s 40,000.
As for the two-day duration of the extermination process claimed by
Nyiszli, this no doubt is tied, as always, to his absurd premise of a cremation
capacity of 5,000 corpses per day for each crematorium. After the alleged re-
volt of the Sonderkommando on October 6, 1944, Nyiszli relates that only two
crematoria remained in operation:
238 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“Crematorium III had burned to ashes and Crematorium IV was put out of
operation as a result of the destruction of its machinery.” (MBV, Chapter
XXIX)
Of course, as mentioned in Section 3.2.6., Nyiszli later claimed that Cremato-
rium IV (V in today’s nomenclature) remained “in operation” after the other
had been shut down, which is why he was transferred there for the rest of his
stay in Auschwitz (MBV, Chapter XXXVI). Hence, either Nyiszli forgot all
about his claim that this building’s machinery had been destroyed, or he imag-
ined the damage had been repaired at some point before his transfer to this
crematorium.
At any rate, while Nyiszli’s characteristic vagueness makes it difficult to
determine what, in his imagination, the combined cremation capacity of the
camp’s crematoria was during the liquidation of the Theresienstadt transports,
the suspiciously round numbers involved point to an obvious inference: if two
“fully functional” crematoria together had a daily cremation capacity of
10,000 corpses, then the cremation of 20,000 would have taken two days. No
doubt his calculation was as simple as that.
As background to the action itself, Nyiszli presents, in Hungarian transla-
tion, two supposed documents relating to the assembly of the transports,
which both have the heading “REICH SS COMMISSARIAT DEPLOYMENT
AND ALLOCATION OF COMPULSORY LABORERS” (MBV, Chapter
XXXIII). This of course presupposes the German term “Reichskommissariat,”
which was an administrative unit in Third Reich Germany governed by a
“Reichskommissar.” The Theresienstadt ghetto, however, was not controlled
by a Reichskommissar but was subordinate to the Zentralstelle für jüdische
Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) in Prague.
The text of the call to assemble, according to Nyiszli, was as follows:
“The Jew X. Y. of the Reichsprotektorat is hereby notified that by order of the
above-named authorities he has been assigned to total labor service. The con-
script is required to present any tools used in the practice of his profession, his
instruments, his winter clothes, bedding and provisions for one week to the
delegates of the above-named authorities prior to start of group departures.
The date of departure will be communicated by posted notices.
Theresienstadt… date.
Signature.”
No such deportation notice is known from the surviving documents, but a file
memo (Aktenvermerk) of September 23, 1944 on a joint communication of SS
Sturmbannführer Hans Günther, chief of the Zentralstelle für jüdische Aus-
wanderung, SS Hauptsturmführer Ernst Möhs, Eichmann’s liaison officer in
Theresienstadt, and SS Obersturmbannführer Karl Rahm, commandant of the
ghetto, declared (Adler 2005, p. 188):
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 239
285
A Kommando of 200 prisoners which was sent to the neighborhood of Berlin on March 2, 1944.
286
Note, however, that, while the first of these transports on September 29 brought 2,499 deportees
from Theresienstadt, the second on September 30 brought only 1,500. According to Czech’s
source, H.G. Adler, the remaining 1,000 discussed in the file memo were sent with the third
transport. See Adler 2005, p. 191.
287
Since twins would result in an even number, this is either Kubica’s mistake or the transport also
contained an odd number of triplets.
288
Kubica 1997, p. 389. In note 22 of this German version of the article, Kubica gives only the ab-
breviated reference “D-AuI/26,” but the full record (D-AuI. n. inv. 148855) appears in the 1989
Polish version, Note 18, p. 100.
240 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Czech’s other source is presumably just the continuation of the “B” series
of Auschwitz registration numbers.289 In fact, the only proof of the arrival of
the transport under discussion is the registration numbers assigned to three
pairs of twins:
– B-10502-10503 to the Hauptmann twins
– B-10504-10505 to the Steiner twins
– B-10506-10507 to the Reichenberger twins
Kubica even provides their names (Zoltan and Jenö Hauptmann, Endre and
Zoltan Steiner, Laslo and Ernst Reichenberg) with their birth dates (between
1928 and 1930), but not their nationality (Kubica 1997, p. 453). In fact, noth-
ing indicates that these twins came from the Theresienstadt Ghetto. On the
contrary, Zoltán, Jenö, Endre and László are all typically Hungarian names,
and what is more important still, none of the named children actually appears
in the official list of deportees to and from Theresienstadt (Kárný 1995).
Given that these six registration numbers are the only indication of the pre-
sumed arrival of 2,499 Jews from Theresienstadt at Auschwitz, these incon-
sistencies mean that one cannot even affirm with certainty that the transport in
question really arrived at Auschwitz.
With regard to the transport of September 30, Czech does not adduce any
documentary sources at all, merely citing a timeline at the back of H. G. Ad-
ler’s book on Theresienstadt, which is itself unsupported by any documentary
references.290 Other transports are “documented” by Czech in a fraudulent
manner by recourse to the “Stärkemeldungen” (strength reports), starting with
that of October 6; here, the presumed arrival of 1,500 Jews from There-
sienstadt is “demonstrated” with the admission of 271 Jewish women into the
transit camp (1997, p., 724; 1989, p. 897). While it is true that the “Stärke-
meldung” of October 6, 1944 registers, among the arrivals (Zugänge), 271
“Durchgangs-Juden,”291 nothing proves that these came from Theresienstadt.
Czech’s method is not only arbitrary but also contradictory, because with
the same criterion one should have attributed the 488 “Durchgangs-Juden”292
of October 3293 to the alleged transport of 1,500 Jews from Theresienstadt she
recorded on that date. Instead, she limits herself to reporting that the young
and healthy prisoners were interned in the transit camp, without specifying the
number, while all the others were allegedly “gassed.”294
289
The “List of Jewish Transports” ends on September 21, 1944. APMO, Ruch oporu, Vol. XXc, pp.
15-22. D-RO/123.
290
Czech 1997, p. 719; 1989, p. 891, referring to Adler 1955, p. 694 (2005, p. 700); cf. also Adler
2005, p. 191.
291
APMO, Stärkemeldung, AuII-FKL, D-AuII-3a, p. 55a.
292
In spite of the masculine, these were Jüdinnen (Jewesses), since this documentation concerns the
Birkenau women’s camp (Frauen-Lager, Kl. Au.II).
293
APMO, Stärkemeldung, AuII-FKL, D-AuII-3a, p. 54a.
294
D. Czech, 1989, p. 894. In the next paragraph we read that these 488 women arrived at Auschwitz
“wahrscheinlich am selben Tag mit Transporten des RSHA” “probably on the same day with
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 241
transports of the RSHA” and that they “partially may also have come from the Theresienstadt
Ghetto,” but since the only transport on October 3 came from that ghetto, all of these 488 Jewess-
es must have come from Theresienstadt, not just some.
295
Czech incorrectly writes 217; 1997, p. 742; 1989, p. 920. The relevant source document is APMO,
D-AuII-3/1, p. 8, Quarantine List.
296
APMO, Frauen-Lager, KL. AuII. Arbeitseinsatz des F.L. Birkenau den 31. Oktober 1944, p. 368c.
297
Interestingly, Angelika Bihari’s 1992 German translation in Im Jenseits der Menschlichkeit inter-
prets the text here as referring to Milan (“aus dem Mailänder Ghetto”), though this would require
amending the Hungarian text to read “a milánói ghettó” rather than “a milói ghettó.” The word
242 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
milói itself is rare but unambiguous: in normal usage it occurs almost exclusively in the specific
proper name “A milói Venus” (“The Venus of Milo”), and thus clearly refers to the Greek island
of Milos (Mílosz in modern Hungarian).
298
“Killing with Zyklon B gas in the gas chambers of Auschwitz [Birkenau] is probably discontin-
ued.” Czech 1997, p. 743; 1989, p. 921.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 243
of September and the middle of October 1944” Himmler had, at his prompt-
ing, issued an order prohibiting any further killing of Jews.299 Of course this
might be construed as at least supporting the earlier claim of a halt to “gas-
sings” on November 2, though that would still leave unexplained why an order
which, as Becher claimed, was to be “immediately effective” since the middle
of October 1944 at the latest, took at least two weeks to be implemented at
Auschwitz – or a month or more, if Nyiszli’s date of November 17 is to be be-
lieved.
From all of which one can thus infer just how much certainty there really is
about this presumed “order.”
299
Czech 1997, p. 754; 1989, p. 934. Becher’s statement is reproduced as 3762-PS in IMT XXXIII,
pp. 68-70.
244 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“I was a detainee at the crematoria for eight months. If I consider that about
22,000 people went into the gas chambers every day, if I also consider that the
crematoria were not working every day (repairs, cleaning, etc.), then, all told,
during the period of my imprisonment I was a witness to the death by gas of
about 2 million people.” (TVN)
Nyiszli clearly has forgotten here that in his book he wrote that the total ca-
pacity of the four Birkenau crematoria was 20,000 bodies per day, a limit
which would make it rather difficult to understand how “around 22,000 per-
sons” could have died in the gas chambers “every day.” It’s not like they
could have been burned elsewhere, after all: in his various statements, Nyiszli
consistently shows himself to be ignorant of the story, created by the camp’s
resistance movement (and reprised by Bendel – see Chapter 4.2. – among oth-
ers), according to which at least some portion of those “gassed” in the crema-
toria buildings were subsequently cremated outside in the open air.
Finally, we should note that here, as so often elsewhere, Nyiszli’s math
simply does not add up. If we accept his figures for total cremation capacity
(20,000 or 22,000 bodies per day) and total number of victims (2 million),
then over a course of eight months (ca. 240 days), the crematoria would only
have been active for a minimum of (2,000,000 ÷ 22,000 =) 91 and a maximum
of (2,000,000 ÷ 20,000) 100 days, leaving them inactive for 149 or 140 days.
Strictly speaking, this is not mathematically impossible, of course, but against
it one must consider what Nyiszli said to Rassinier on the subject:
“Very rarely did a crematorium stop for a short period of time when repair or
maintenance work was really indispensable.”
It all adds up, then, but only if “very rarely” and “brief period” mean “more
than half the time.”
fact that the numbers he provides for each are themselves rather exaggerated
even from an orthodox Holocaust perspective:
Hungarian Jews: 550,000
Czech camp: 10,500
Jews of Corfu: 1,423 300
Gypsy camp: 4,500
Camp C: 45,000
Riga Ghetto: 15,000 301
Litzmannstadt Ghetto: 66,500
Theresienstadt Ghetto: 40,000
Total: 732,923
To arrive at two million presumed gassing victims “witnessed” by Nyiszli,
one thus would still need some 1,302,000 more! Not only that, but according
to Franciszek Piper’s calculations, from June to November 1944 only around
452,500 Jews were deported to Auschwitz in the first place (Piper 1993, “Ta-
ble D,” unpaginated), so even with this “shortfall,” Nyiszli still managed to
“see” with his own eyes a number of gassing victims more than 60% higher
than the total number of arriving deportees.
300
According to Czech 1997, p. 654; 1989, p. 809.
301
Calculated on the basis of the cremation capacity and duration claimed by Nyiszli.
246 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
contradicts the second of the two, asserting that the house was “once painted
yellow” (MBV, Chapter XIII).
But there is much more. Where was this “thatch-roofed farmhouse” locat-
ed? Nyiszli, as we have seen, puts it “five to six hundred meters from Crema-
torium IV” (V in today’s nomenclature), but this placement makes little sense.
The house which the orthodoxy rechristened “Bunker 2” was located 200 me-
ters west of the Zentralsauna, outside the camp fence, putting it about 260 me-
ters from the western corner of Crematorium IV and about 300 meters from
that of Crematorium V. In 1944, there was only one access road leading out of
the camp to the west, namely, the extension of the Hauptstrasse, the main
camp road which ran alongside the railway ramp, passing between Crematoria
II and III. About eighty meters past the two entrance gates to the crematoria,
which faced each other mirrorwise, this road exited the camp and merged with
another road which ran along the outside of the Crematorium III compound
and the area of the Kläranlage (sewage-treatment plant), then ran west for
about 300 meters, where a 90° crossroad then led to the area of “Bunker 2.”
There existed a shortcut as well, however, the so-called forest road (Wald-
weg), which appears in a plan of the area west of Construction Sector II from
October 28, 1943 (Bartosik et al. 2014, Doc. 19, p. 99). This was a branch off
the above-mentioned road which began inside the camp some fifty meters
from the last circular sedimentation tank of the sewage-treatment plant. This
road was closed following the construction of the four rectangular sedimenta-
tion tanks at the western extremity of the camp, the area on which these were
located having been originally traversed by the road. This can be clearly seen
from the traces of the road visible in the aerial photograph of Birkenau from
May 31, 1944 (see Documents 15 & 15a).
Naturally, nothing would have prevented one from still going by foot along
this route, though reduced to a path in 1944. That would have permitted a sav-
ings of around a hundred meters.
At all events, those were the only two access routes to the area of “Bunker
2” from Crematoria II and III. Now Nysizli, at the beginning of his account of
his visit to the pyres, explicitly says that he departs from Crematorium II to go
to the “thatch-roofed farmhouse.” The detailed explanation I have provided
above will now allow us to judge Nyiszli’s description of his route:
“On our way we pass alongside the crematorium. We reach open road; as
soon as I show my pass to the SS guard on duty at the wire we pass through
without difficulty. A bright, green, grassy clearing, it seems like a peaceful
landscape, but my searching eye soon picks out the men of the second guard
chain, stretching along about a hundred meters away from us, as they stand or
sit in the tall grass next to their machine guns, accompanied by their enormous
bloodhounds.
Crossing the clearing, we come to the entrance of the little stand of firs [kis
fenyőerdő] that bounds it. Again we arrive before a barbed-wire fence and a
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 247
(the pentagonal area to the west of the little house, marked “B2”) shows no
trace of smoke; the only area that is smoking is located in the north courtyard
of Crematorium V, about twenty meters from the building, and is extremely
small (the smoke is indicated on Document 15a with a letter “R” for Rauch,
German for smoke). By way of comparison, the crematorium was 12.85 me-
ters wide.
302
They are not, however, in agreement on their number: there were three of them according to D.
Paisikovic, four according to Sz. Dragon, and seven according to the postwar topographical sur-
vey by engineer W. Sakew. See Mattogno 2016a, Docs. 12, 15 and 26, pp. 225, 228 and 238.
303
AGK, NTN, 162, p. 165.
250 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
on either side and carry them before one of the SS shooters’ weapons, 15-20
meters away. Amid the horrid screaming, here too the shot sounds out with a
muffled crack. The shot sounds out, and the victim, generally only half dead, is
thrown into the sea of fire in the ditch.” (MBV, Chapter XIII)
A little reflection suffices to show the absurdity of this scenario. Just one para-
graph earlier, Nyiszli has informed the reader that the victims
“go into the undressing room three to four hundred at a time. There, driven
along in a hail of truncheon blows, they quickly lay aside their clothes and exit
by the door on the other side of the house, making room for those following af-
ter them.” (MBV, Chapter XIII)
According to his own count earlier in the chapter, however, there were only
some sixty Sonderkommando men working on the entire site at any one time:
“[…] doing the work are sixty men from Crematorium II, Sonderkommando
men assigned to this place. This is the day duty group. They work from seven
in the morning until seven in the evening, when they are replaced by the sixty
men of the night shift, who are provided by Crematorium IV.” (MBV, Chapter
XIII)
And of course, not all of those sixty men could have been available for the
purpose of accosting the victims as they exited the undressing room, since at
least some of them would have needed to be stationed at the pyres themselves.
Given that, according to Nyiszli, the round trip from the farmhouse to the
pyres was some 300 meters, and that each prisoner was, implicitly, accompa-
nied by a pair of Sonderkommando members,304 it is rather unclear how this
group of “three to four hundred” people, stampeded through the farmhouse “in
a hail of truncheon blows,” could then all be whisked away by a few dozen
Sonderkommando men, working in pairs, before even “[having] time to look
around them and realize the horror of their situation.”
Moreover, there is the problem of the mere distance to be traveled by the
Sonderkommando “escorts.” If, as Nyiszli claims later in the chapter, “[the]
daily capacity of the two pyres is 5,000-6,000 dead,” this would translate to an
average of 5,500 ÷ 2 = 2,750 round trips from the farmhouse to the pyres and
back per twelve-hour shift. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that fifty
Sonderkommando men, working in pairs, were assigned to do this job (leaving
ten at the pyres themselves), this in turn would translate to (2,750 ÷ 25 =) 110
round trips, for a total 110 × 300 m = 33,000 m, or 33 km of walking and/or
running. While this is not, naturally, an impossible distance for a healthy adult
304
Nyiszli’s original does not explicitly state a number here, but rather says “[a] Sonderkommando
seizes them by/at each arm” (“karon is ragadja őket egy-egy [literally: “one-one”]
Sonderkommandós”), thus implicitly making for two Sonderkommando men per prisoner. Com-
pare the German translation of A. Bihari (“Schon packen zwei Leute des Sonderkommandos sie an
den Armen …” Nyiszli 1992, p. 61) or the English of W. Zbirohowski-Kościa (“… two members
of the Sonderkommando grabbed each prisoner by the arm from either side …,” Frap-Books,
Oświęcim, 2001, p. 65) with the 2000 Polish edition of T. Olszański.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 251
to cover in half a day, it swiftly approaches the absurd when one considers the
alleged conditions, such as working outside in summer heat, over uneven
ground, contending – at least some of the time – with unwilling victims who
“try to resist with all the desperate strength of their instinct for self-preser-
vation” (MBV, Chapter XIII).
And this still is not counting Nyiszli’s claim that the SS assigned to do the
killing stood “along the edge of the pyre” – a giant pit which, one should re-
member, allegedly was 50 meters long and 6 meters wide and vigorously on
fire. Such a massive pyre would have radiated so much heat that the shooters
would have been burned alive within minutes; indeed, the minimum tempera-
ture of a pyre is at least 600°C (the ignition temperature for the light hydro-
carbons which form from the gasification of the corpses). All this frenetic ac-
tivity would have had to go on for months, day and night, without a moment’s
respite: what lunatic would ever have organized such a mass extermination?
Finally, the extermination activity at the pyres is in total contradiction to all
the other numerical data indicated by Nyiszli.
As we have seen earlier, Nyiszli claimed that the four Birkenau crematoria
had a daily cremation capacity of 20,000 persons while, incomprehensibly, the
number killed in the “gas chambers” each day was 22,000 (see Section
3.4.10.). With regard to the pyres, Nyiszli specifies:
“Those transports which will not fit into the four crematoria are directed here
[to the pyres] from the Jews’ ramp.” (MBV, Chapter XIII)
Presumably, this expression refers to transports too large to fit as a group into
the “gas chambers” in the crematoria, and not to cremation capacity as such.
Thus, if the two pyres “processed” 5,000-6,000 victims per day, this number
represents the excess of victims who would not fit into the “gas chambers.”
But even if we take the cremation capacity as the limiting factor, it follows,
then, that every day at Birkenau at least 25,000 people were exterminated,
20,000 in the “gas chambers” and 5,000 at the pyres. Since, as Nyiszli claimed
in his 1945 affidavit (see Section 2.1.), the number of those exterminated rep-
resented 78-80% of all deportees arriving at the camp, the latter must have to-
taled no less than (25,000 ÷ 0.78 =) ca. 32,000,305 but according to the figures
Nyiszli gives in his book (see Section 3.4.10.), a maximum of no more than
27,000 deportees arrived at Auschwitz each day altogether.
Moreover, in calculating the number of presumed victims during his stay at
Auschwitz – two million – Nyiszli bases his estimate exclusively on the al-
leged gassing of 22,000 victims per day in the crematorium buildings, com-
pletely forgetting the 5,000-6,000 daily victims of the pyres.
The latter were apparently already in operation upon Nyiszli’s arrival in
Birkenau, and continued functioning until November 16, 1944. The next day,
305
If we take Nyiszli’s gas-chamber-capacity claim of 22,000 per day, it would result in a total of at
least some 34,600 arrivals daily.
252 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
the elusive order commanding the “end of killings” is supposed to have ar-
rived, and as a result “the crematoria [were] … demolished, the pits for the
pyres filled in” (MBV, Chapter XXXIV). Even if the pyres were in operation
for only ninety-one days – just as the crematoria, if Nyiszli’s own “calcula-
tions” are to make sense (see again Section 3.4.10.) – then a further (91 ×
5,000) = 455,000 to (91 × 6,000) = 546,000 persons would have been exter-
minated there during this period!
And this is a charitable interpretation, for Nyiszli wants to give the impres-
sion of continuous and persistent activity at the pyres, as in these other pas-
sages:
“Three months in the K.Z. have taught them to bewail the past and to fear the
future. The unfortunates all ask me, is it true about the crematorium? What is
the great mass of smoke by day, and what is the great fire by night?” (MBV,
Chapter XXVII)
“The blazing flames of the pyres send their light here.” (MBV, Chapter XXX)
Referring to the fate of the ninth Sonderkommando, Nyiszli declares:
“Four hundred Sonderkommando men met their deaths here by gas. The
corpses were carried by truck to the pyres.” (MBV, Chapter XXIII)
Finally, in Chapter XXI, set in early October 1944, Nyiszli affirms that “so far
11 Sonderkommandos have perished here and taken with them the terrible se-
cret of the crematoria and the pyres.” This must mean that the pyres were al-
ready in operation – according to Nyiszli’s own fantasy-ridden “calculations”
– by October 1940! (See Section 3.6.1.)
A last observation is in order here. Given that the eleven previous
Sonderkommandos are all said to have been eliminated as “bearers of se-
crets,”306 this would imply that they were all witnesses of the extermination,
which thus must have begun in 1940. But then, how many tens of millions of
victims must have perished at Auschwitz by the end of 1944? Rassinier, who
took the trouble to calculate, reached the following conclusion: “41 million
corpses, a little more than 32 million in gas chambers and a little less than 9
million in the open hearths [i.e., pyres]” (Rassinier 1978, p. 179).
306
Cf. Nyiszli’s use of this expression (“titokhordozó”) in MBV, XXXVI, XXXVIII and XXXIX.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 253
“They are not permitted to leave the crematorium compound, and every four
months, when they have become familiar with its many secrets, they are liqui-
dated.” (MBV, Chapter VI)
“No one ever entertained the idea that one might save gold here, for every one
of them was a dead man walking with a four-month term!” (Chapter XI)
“After a few more weeks the Sonderkommando’s four-month term will expire.”
(Chapter XXI)
“The twelfth Sonderkommando has already used up three and a half months of
its fixed four-month lifespan.” (Chapter XXVIII)
“In the final hours of the Sonderkommando’s four months it may not be a life-
saving remedy, but it’s a great medicine against the fear of death!” (Chapter
XXIX)
Given that, according to Nyiszli, the twelfth Sonderkommando was liquidated
on October 6, 1944 (see Section 3.6.2.), and that each Sonderkommando oper-
ated for four months, the succession of the twelve Sonderkommandos up to
that date calculates as follows:
First Sonderkommando: 6 October 1940 – 6 February 1941
Second Sonderkommando: 6 February 1941 – 6 June 1941
Third Sonderkommando: 6 June 1941 – 6 October 1941
Fourth Sonderkommando: 6 October 1941 – 6 February 1942
Fifth Sonderkommando: 6 February 1942 – 6 June 1942
Sixth Sonderkommando: 6 June 1942 – 6 October 1942
Seventh Sonderkommando: 6 October 1942 – 6 February 1943
Eighth Sonderkommando: 6 February 1943 – 6 June 1943
Ninth Sonderkommando: 6 June 1943 – 6 October 1943
Tenth Sonderkommando: 6 October 1943 – 6 February 1944
Eleventh Sonderkommando: 6 February 1944 – 6 June 1944
Twelfth Sonderkommando: 6 June 1944 – 6 October 1944
The essential correctness of this succession is confirmed by Nyiszli himself,
who early in his book declares:
“According to the experience of four years, a Sonderkommando lives for four
months.” (Chapter X; underlining added)
As such, the first Sonderkommando must have gone all the way back to Octo-
ber 1940.
Needless to say, this account of Nyiszli is thoroughly at odds with the or-
thodox version of “Sonderkommando history” currently in vogue. Franciszek
Piper gives a representative account of the latter (Piper 2000, pp. 180-189),
whose essential details I will summarize here.
254 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
307
In the previously cited publication of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum (Bartosik et al.
2014), various documents containing the term Sonderkommando are presented to the reader, but
none of these in fact refers to personnel for the “Bunkers” or the crematoria. See Mattogno 2016f.
308
At the latest, because strictly speaking there had to have been some kind of Sonderkommando ac-
tive at the old crematorium in the Main Camp when its morgue is said to have started its operation
as a homicidal gas chamber sometime in late 1941/early 1942. See Mattogno 2016g. But we won’t
complicate matters here unnecessarily.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 255
309
Nyiszli 1996, p. 174, Note 18. (English translation: Nyiszli 2001, p. 182, note 21.)
310
Czech 1997, p. 282; 1989, p. 355. Curiously, Czech does not use the expression “Special Squad I”
(i.e., “Sonderkommando I”) for the former, although it is indicated in her source. See the discus-
sion in Mattogno 2016f, pp. 95-99, and Docs. 18f. there on pp. 221f.
311
“It is probably called Special Squad II.” Czech 1997, p. 280; 1989, p. 352.
256 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
of the ninth (see Section 3.6.3.) – none of which they could have possibly
known about.
Nyiszli’s book contains a still more glaring contradiction. On the assump-
tion that he arrived in Birkenau on the day he was registered, May 29, 1944
(see Section 3.1.2.), his assignment to Crematorium II would have occurred
one week later on June 5, because he states on this occasion, with reference to
his family: “It has been a week already since we were separated” (i.e., upon
arrival at the camp; MBV, VI). According to his claimed succession of Son-
derkommandos, however, the twelfth Sonderkommando would have replaced
the eleventh on the very next day, June 6, 1944. Even allowing for some slight
variation in dates, in the best of cases the liquidation of the eleventh Sonder-
kommando must have occurred a few days previously, at which time the
members of the twelfth would have had to strip and cremate the bodies of
their unfortunate predecessors. And yet, in the course of their Pantagruelian
banquet together, none of the Sonderkommando men bothers to tell Nyiszli
about this bloody event which must have occurred only days before.
Moreover, it is clear that, by the logic of his narrative (assuming there is
one), Nyiszli could not have known that the length of a Sonderkommando’s
life was precisely four months, for such knowledge could only have been ac-
quired by a prisoner of the first Sonderkommando who had survived until the
twelfth, which by definition is excluded under that same logic. Nor does it
make sense to believe that the SS had informed Nyiszli’s Sonderkommando
that they would liquidate it after four months; this too can be confidently ex-
cluded, for the ruse allegedly used by the SS on October 6, 1944 (the “expiry
date” of Nyiszli’s Sonderkommando) in order to liquidate it – namely, transfer
to another camp – presupposes that the SS would not have previously in-
formed the prisoners that they would be exterminated in four months’ time.
ble, and it is for this reason that the Sonderkommando decided to revolt (ibid.;
1989, pp. 898f.). For Nyiszli, by contrast, the entire Sonderkommando knows
exactly the date of its impending “liquidation.”
Remarkably for an event of such significance, until a few years ago, only a
single contemporary document was adduced in support of it, namely,
Standortbefehl (Garrison Order) No. 26/44 of October 12, 1944, which
states:312
“In performance of their duty, the following fell before the enemy, true to their
oath to the Führer, on Saturday, October 7, 1944.”
This is followed by the names of three SS Unterscharführer: Rudolf Erler,
Willi Freese and Josef Purke. It is unknown, however, under what circum-
stances these three non-commissioned officers died (the document itself pro-
vides no further details). Moreover, the three are not otherwise connected with
the crematoria by any document or testimony. And yet, inevitably, the first
victims of any revolt by the Sonderkommando would have to have been the SS
serving at the crematoria, their elimination being the first objective of such a
revolt and the precondition for its success, as Nyiszli himself recounts. (In his
version of events, two SS men at Crematorium II are killed and stuffed into a
furnace.)
Recently, however, a telegram from Auschwitz which alludes to the event,
dated October 8, 1944 and signed “Baer” (SS Sturmbannführer Richard Baer,
then commandant of the Auschwitz Main Camp), has been made publicly
available. The telegram, which was received by the Gestapo detachment at Zi-
chenau/Schröttersburg (Geheime Staatspolizei – Staatspolizeistelle Zichenau/
Schröttersburg), has as its subject “Attempted Mass Escape by Prisoners Em-
ployed in Crematoria Here” and states:313
“On October 7, [19]44 the Kommandos of the crematoria here attempted a
mass escape. Through the swift and decisive intervention of the guard staff
here, however, it was possible to prevent this. The vast majority of these pris-
oners were shot while fleeing. At present the following prisoners are still un-
accounted for:
1) RD. [Reichsdeutsche: ethnic German from Germany proper] VH. [Vor-
beugehäftling: prisoner in protective custody] BV. [Berufsverbrecher: career
criminal] Toepfer, Karl, born Feb. 20, [19]12 in Muehlhausen, admitted April
15, [19]44 […]
2) Russian POW Schenkarenko, Aleksander, born Oct. 10, [19]21 in Witowzy,
admitted April 15, [19]44 […] tattooed on chest Nr. 11526. […]
312
APMO, D-AuI-1, Garrison Order 26/44; cited by Czech 1997, pp. 726 and 730. The text of the
order is reproduced in Frei et al. 2000, p. 499.
313
The first page of this document was published in 2015 by Igor Bartosik in his short 2015 mono-
graph Bunt Sonderkommando. 7 października 1944 roku (The Sonderkommando Revolt: 7 Octo-
ber 1944), p. 33, without archival reference. The entire document was subsequently made availa-
ble online at: http://auschwitz.ru/en/auschwitz/resistance/sonderkommando/#popup[gallery_2]/0/
(last accessed on May 3, 2020). See Document 18.
258 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
3) Soboiko, Moszek, Jew, born Nov. 25, [19]11 in Lomza, admitted Jan. 18,
[19]43 […] tattooed on left forearm Nr. 89297.
4) Pliszko, Meier, Jew, born April 16, [19]16 in Wysokie, admitted Jan. 16,
[19]43 […] tattooed on left forearm Nr. 88687.”
The telegram then notes further:
“It is assumed that the RD. VH/BV-prisoner Toepfer, who was employed as
Capo [sic] in this Kommando, has been killed and eliminated.”
In light of this document, it is necessary for me to reevaluate the “Escape Re-
port,” dated September 7, 1944, which I reproduced and discussed in a previ-
ous study (Mattogno 2016f, pp. 97-99 & Doc. 19, p. 222):
“Escape report
Around 1400 hours today, a large number of prisoners escaped from the C.C.
Auschwitz II, from the Sonderkommando (crematorium), mostly Jews. Some of
the fugitives have already been shot during the instantly initiated pursuit. The
search operation continues. Features: shaved, no. tattooed on the l.[eft] fore-
arm. Clothing: partly civilian with red stripes. I request to instantly carry out
further search measures a.[nd] to inform subordinate offices. There are only 4
inmates left on the run.”
Despite the date of September 7, 1944, this document undoubtedly refers to
the incident of October 7, as is evident from the flight of prisoners from the
crematoria and the fact that four of these were noted as still at large.
Further confirmation of the event itself is found in another document re-
cently published by Igor Bartosik: a message in Polish from a member of the
Auschwitz resistance movement, dated October 10, 1944, which states:314
“Saturday the 7th, following a battle and the burning of one of the crematoria,
a group of prisoners condemned to gassing, numbering around 700 persons,
made a breach in the guard chain. Around 200 perished during the escape.
Pursuit was hampered by an air raid in the evening. Currently these prisoners
find themselves in the region of Silesia; they may make their way into the
Żywiec, Bielsko and Kraków regions. Please instruct subordinate bodies to
provide all assistance to these prisoners. There is probably a large percentage
of foreigners among them. Caution is necessary due to the searches made by
the German authorities. P.W.O.K.”
Finally, on October 14, 1944, the district delegate for Kraków, Rz. (unknown
abbreviation), sent a telegram, presumably to the Polish government in exile
in London, which stated:315
“The gassing of prisoners at Oswiecim [Auschwitz] was to take place on the
7th October. Desperate Poles attacked their executioners killing six of them.
314
The document is reproduced in Bartosik 2015, p. 35. The abbreviation P.W.O.K. stands for “Po-
moc Więźniom Obozów Koncentracyjnych” (Help for the Prisoners of Concentration Camps),
name of a clandestine organization dedicated to assisting prisoners in Auschwitz.
315
TNA, FO 371-39454.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 259
200 prisoners lost their lives in the fight. 500 of them escaped. The pursuit was
made difficult because of Allied aircraft which were overhead at that time.
Mass executions expected. We demand selection of hostages /to answer for the
lives of our prisoners/”
These recently published documents thus provide a firmer foundation for
judging the historicity of the Auschwitz Sonderkommando revolt, and so for
judging the accuracy of Nyiszli’s account of it as well.
Nothing is known concerning the Kapo Karl Toepfer or the Russian PoW
Aleksander Schenkarenko; they do not appear on the longer list of Sonder-
kommando prisoners recently published, which contains a little less than 390
names (Friedler et al. 2005, pp. 371-391). On the other hand, Moszek Soboiko
appears there as Moshe Sobotka, of Lomza (ibid., p. 385), and Meier Pliszko
is registered as Lemke (Chaim) Pliszko, born 1918 (recte: 1916) in Czerwony
Bor (recte: Wysokie), admitted to Auschwitz January 16, 1943, registration
number 88674 (recte: 88687; ibid., p. 384. Compare details with those in the
Baer telegram above).
Soboiko’s registration number, 89297, was assigned on January 18, 1943
when a pair of transports from the Mechelen (Malines) transit camp in Bel-
gium arrived at Auschwitz, from which 387 men were registered with the
numbers 89076 to 89462.316
The number of victims among the Sonderkommando members has tradi-
tionally been deduced from the surviving “Arbeitseinsatz” (labor deployment)
reports for the men’s camp at Birkenau; according to this source, during the
first ten days of October 1944, there was in fact a reduction in unit strength
from 663 to 212 prisoners, a drop of 451, but the reduced number of 212 first
appears in the report of October 9 (on October 8, unit strength is still noted as
663 persons).317 It is unknown whether the 451 missing prisoners were all
killed, as no documentation in this regard has been found.
In any event, for Nyiszli the revolt broke out one day earlier, on October 6,
1944, at 1:50 pm, to be exact:
“I look at my wristwatch, its hands show half past one. I stand up and call my
companions in for the completion of the autopsy so that at half past two, when
Dr. Mengele arrives, we will be ready. [...] We have been working quietly like
that for about twenty minutes when a huge explosion shakes the air, followed
by a dense clatter of machine pistol fire. I look out the large, green-screened
316
Czech 1997, pp. 307f.; 1989, p. 386. Curiously, according to Czech another transport arrived on
this same date from the Jewish ghetto in Zambrów, a Polish town some 25 kilometers from
Soboiko’s birthplace of Łomża, from which 130 men were registered with the numbers 89463 to
89592. Naturally this seems a more likely avenue for Soboiko’s arrival at Auschwitz than the Bel-
gian transports. This is supported by the fact that Soboiko is not included on the deportation lists
of Jews from Belgium; see Klarsfeld/Steinberg. But the problem of the (mis-)assignment of his
registration number remains.
317
GARF, 7021-108-20, p. 142. The document is a Soviet summary of the unit strengths of Kom-
mandos 57B-60B (Heizer, “stokers”), extracted from a series of Arbeitseinsatz reports.
260 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
window and see that the huge, red-tiled roof of Krema III is lying open togeth-
er with its beam structure; an enormous plume of flame and black smoke as-
cends high into the sky.” (MBV, Chapter XXIX)
But could he see all this from where he was? Here it is opportune to report J.-
C. Pressac’s comments (1989, p. 479):
“[Nyiszli] is inventing, not having been able to directly see the start of the fire
because there was a distance of 700 metres between Krematorien II and IV
and he could not see through Krematorium III, a wood, and sewage treatment
station II.[318] What is more, the roof of Krematorium IV was not of RED
TILES, like those of Krematorien II and III, but of BLACK ROOFING FELT,
which explains how it caught fire so easily.”
Hence, it is safe to say that Nyiszli didn’t see any of this from where he was
during that time, but that his entire narrative is based on hearsay or fantasy.
On October 6, according to Nyiszli’s account, the Sonderkommando’s
strength was 860 men, not the actual 663, and of these, twelve succeeded in
escaping but were captured and returned alive to the camp:
“During the breakout they succeeded in getting beyond the Vistula, but they
fell into the hands of a large group of SS. Completely exhausted, they had hid-
den in a Polish house they thought was safe. Their host had notified an SS de-
tachment prowling nearby; the latter fell upon them by surprise and took all
twelve prisoners. […]
The twelve men of ours who were brought back, when they arrived at the
crematorium courtyard with their escort, attacked the latter with their fists in
order to grab their weapons. Thence the injuries to the SS men’s faces. Natu-
rally they immediately shot them all to death, without exception.” (MBV,
Chapter XXIX)
By contrast, Danuta Czech reports that the entire Kommando 57B of Cremato-
rium II escaped, that is, 169 people. The pursuing SS men caught up with
them at Rajsko, and they took refuge in a barn; the SS then set the barn on
fire. No one was brought back to the camp alive.319
For Nyiszli, “Eight hundred and fifty-three prisoners had died. Seventy SS
soldiers were killed. Among them were an Obersturmführer, seventeen Ober-
scharführer and Scharführer, and fifty-two Sturmmann, that is, mere privates”
(MBV, Chapter XXIX), whereas the numbers for orthodox history are 451
prisoners and three SS men.
Nyiszli also lists the survivors:
“Today the furnaces are lit only here, and only thirty hastily assembled new
Sonderkommando members are available.
318
There were also the three rows of 10 barracks each of the Effektenlager, or Kanada.
319
Czech 1997, pp. 725f.; 1989, p. 899. Worth noting in this context is the fact that this Kommando
corresponds with the Sonderkommando group Nyiszli must have known best, as his “Crematorium
I” is the Crematorium II of post-war historiography.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 261
I am standing beside an SS NCO who is recording the numbers from the arms
of the corpses, turned with their faces upward. I do not ask him, he tells me of
his own initiative that twelve men are missing from the Sonderkommando; the
others, with the exception of seven men, are dead. Of the seven men, four are
us, the three doctors of the dissection and hall and the laboratory assistant.
Also still alive are the operator engineer for the dynamos and the fans, a chief
stoker, and a Pipel, that is, an errand boy in the personal service of the SS who
keeps their clothes, boots and cutlery in order and besides this also performs
telephone duty.” (MBV, Chapter XXIX)
I remind the reader here that the official number of survivors is some 212. At
the beginning of the next chapter, Nyiszli again mentions “The thirty new
Sonderkommando men” who presumably constitute the core of the thirteenth
group in succession, but before long this number increases enormously:
“Due to demand, the Sonderkommando stands at four hundred and sixty
men.” (MBV, Chapter XXX)
This number then apparently remains unchanged for more than a month until
the afternoon of November 17, 1944:
“Four hundred and sixty men stand together and wait for death; only the
method of execution still constitutes a matter for conjecture.” (MBV, Chapter
XXXV)
Nyiszli and his three assistants are led away, and the remaining 456 prisoners
meet, in Nyiszli’s telling, a terrible end:
“They took my poor comrades to a nearby forest during the night and did
away with them with flamethrowers.” (MBV, Chapter XXXV)
And here is his final comment on the matter:
“The Sonderkommando, thirteenth in order in the bloody history of the crema-
toria, has been annihilated.” (MBV, Chapter XXXVI)
But for orthodox Holocaust historiography, this thirteenth Sonderkommando
never existed.
That Nyiszli’s story of the Sonderkommando revolt of October 1944 does
not derive from direct experience but rather is a mere literary narration is also
demonstrated by the fact that, in his first deposition in 1945, Nyiszli knows
nothing of any such event. Rather, he refers only to the alleged elimination of
Sonderkommando members (in this version, more than eight hundred of
them!) on November 17 – an event which, for its part, is quite unknown to or-
thodox historiography:320
320
The entry for November 17, 1944 in Danuta Czech’s Auschwitz Chronicle, for example, contains
no mention whatsoever of a mass killing of Sonderkommando members on this date, presumably
reflecting the absence of any support for this claim in the documentary record, as well as the
weight accorded to Nyiszli’s “testimony” in this regard. 1997, p. 750; 1989, p. 929.
262 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“On November 17, 1944, cremations at the crematoria were prohibited in the
entire country [sic], and no inmates were murdered anymore after that date.
However, in order to eliminate eyewitnesses to the darkest secrets of the polit-
ical SS, members of the Sonderkommando of Crematoria 1, 2, 3, and 4, count-
ing 846 [inmates], were executed between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. the same day.
The victims included one hundred Hungarian Jews, as well as forty Russian
military officers, and the rest were Jews from France, Holland, Belgium and
Poland.” (D45)
By contrast, in his book published a year later, the Sonderkommando revolt
duly appears, with a suspiciously similar number of victims (853), though it is
still placed on the “wrong” date from the point of view of Holocaust ortho-
doxy (October 6 rather than 7). The elimination of the “thirteenth” Sonder-
kommando in November also appears, as we have just seen, but in the book,
the number of victims has mysteriously dropped by almost one half.
I will return to the question of the Sonderkommando revolt in Subsection
4.2.8.3 when analyzing the statements of “witness” Sigismund Bendel.
BIb of the camp, but Holocaust orthodoxy knows of no such incident there ei-
ther. In orthodox historiography, this story presumably corresponds to the al-
leged gassing of the Sonderkommando which was established at the end of
April or the beginning of May 1942, and exterminated in November or De-
cember of the same year.
Franciszek Piper presents a varied collection of contradictory testimonies
in this regard which I summarize in the table below, indicating the witness or
author advancing a given claim, the date and location of the alleged “gassing”
and finally the number of victims “gassed” (Piper 2000, pp. 182f., Note 540):
Witness/Author Date Location Number
November-
Alter Feinsilber Crematorium I 390
December 1942
Arnost Rosin December 1942 Auschwitz I 300
Zdzisław Mikołajski ? Crematorium I 60
D. Czech 3 December 1942 Crematorium I 400
3 December 1942 Crematorium I
D. Czech/J. Bezwińska ?
10 December 1942 Birkenau
Milton Buki 14 December 1942 ? ?
Alfred Wetzler/
17 December 1942 Birkenau 200
Walter Rosenberg
Zalmen Lewental 10 December 1942 ? ?
The reference to “Crematorium I” of course points to the morgue inside the
old crematorium building at the Main Camp which was allegedly used as an
improvised “gas chamber.”
trationslager Auschwitz II”), in late July and August 1944 the guard staff for
the crematoria regularly consisted of three (less commonly two) soldiers each
per shift, with two shifts (day and night) per day. That was the whole of the
SS personnel assigned to service in the crematoria. The working (prisoner)
contingent of the crematoria (“Heizer Krematorium”) in turn was subdivided
into four Kommandos, each also with a day and night shift, called 57-B
(Crematorium II), 58-B (Crematorium III), 59-B (Crematorium IV) and 60-B
(Crematorium V). Each Kommando was made up, with minor variations, of
109 or 110 prisoners per shift.321
Nyiszli knows nothing of any of this at all. Instead, he peddles the myth of
the killing, as “bearers of secrets,” even of the SS men who served in the
crematoria:
“With a few differences they too are Sonderkommandos. From what I know,
after two years on duty they are sent to an SS camp. In this camp the Third
Reich is accustomed to dealing with, that is, liquidating, SS men who are in-
subordinate or who know too much.” (MBV, Chapter XXIV)
He also ventures to furnish verifiable personal data about Oberscharführer
Mussfeld:
“In a petit bourgeois apartment in Mannheim, it will look even prettier than
here in the attic of the crematorium. Indeed, at the end of the week the sofa is
going to be sent to Mannheim as bulk goods to Oberscharführer Mussfeld’s
home. There it will stand and wait until the Oberscharführer victoriously re-
turns after his hard battles, and relaxes upon it from his exertions.” (Chapter
XXI)
“I offer the Ober some hot rum tea; he drains the glasses with great pleasure.
He sits down at our table and, as if wanting to make up for missed opportuni-
ties, he begins to speak. He speaks of his wife, gone missing during a bombing
raid, of his son, killed on the Russian front.” (Chapter XXXVI)
During his examination on July 9, 1947 before the Polish investigating judge
Jan Sehn, Mussfeld began by giving his personal particulars, declaring that he
was born in 1913 in Neubrück in Brandenburg, was married to Herta Grunow,
with whom he had two sons, then aged 9 and 3 years (in 1947), and that his
family lived in Fürstenwalde. In all his detailed curriculum vitae, he never
once mentions Mannheim.322 It therefore seems safe to conclude that he did
not live in that city, that his wife did not go missing in a bombing raid and that
neither of his two sons died fighting on the Russian front.
321
The Übersicht reports are divided up among multiple archival sources. For references and a sum-
mary table, see Mattogno 2016b, pp. 141-149 (and for the originals especially the sources men-
tioned in footnote 335 on p. 141) as well as Document 46, p. 186.
322
AGK, NTN, 144, pp. 50-52. The protocol is signed “Muhsfeldt.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 265
versary dates of the deaths of deceased parents. Pressed flowers from all the
Jewish cemeteries of Europe, plucked from the graves of dead beloved rela-
tives and piously preserved. Prayer shawls and phylacteries, of fine and simple
make, lay here in a large heap waiting to be burned.
Here the ‘Dayan’ worked, or rather did not work but merely watched the fire,
but he was dissatisfied even with this when I inquired how he was doing.”
(Chapter XXXV)
Nyiszli apparently had not the slightest idea that Crematoria II and III both
had a waste incinerator (Müllverbrennungsofen).
But there is another extraordinary statement. After the revolt, Nyiszli was
transferred with his three assistants to Crematorium V, where he remained un-
til the evacuation of the camp. Left without surveillance, they left the cremato-
rium to join the camp’s inmates gathered for the evacuation march:
“With a happy feeling of liberation, we start on our way. Direction: K.Z.
Birkenau! It is at a distance of two kilometers from the crematorium.” (Chap-
ter XXXVIII)
Therefore the Birkenau Camp, of which Crematorium V was a part, was at the
same time two kilometers away from it!
March 19, 1943, which was redrawn and published by Piper with labels added
following claims made by witnesses (see Document 10). The large upper-case
letters were added by me.
On the west side (on the left) there was the laboratory (L: Laboratorium),
adjacent to the south a small washing room (W: Waschraum) with a small toi-
let (W.C.), and adjacent to the east the dissection room (S: Sezierraum), which
opened to the south towards another larger Waschraum, from which one could
enter into a corridor (F: Flur) east of the dissecting room with an adjoining
small vestibule (W.F.: Windfang) leading to the building’s main entrance
door. Not visible in the blueprint reproduced by Piper are two more doors: one
leading from the dissecting room into the corridor, and the other right opposite
of it leading from the corridor into the furnace room (V: Verbrennungsraum;
see Pressac 1989, pp. 276, 280, 283, 303, 305f., 329).
The east side of the building contained the fuel-storage area (B: Brennstoff-
lager), which also contained a staircase leading into the attic, then a narrow
corridor (F: Flur), a small room for the foreman “Capo” (C), another small
room for tools (G: Geräte), a toilet (W.C.), and a staffroom for the inmate
work crew (Aufenthaltsraum für Häftlinge). The latter would have been
Nyiszli’s accommodation (N). The letter M marks the chimney wing with the
waste incinerator (Müllverbrennungsraum).
Piper explains that the laboratory and the dissecting room were the premis-
es where Nyiszli worked. The large washroom (the largest room) was the lo-
cation where, according to Nyiszli, executions were carried out, while H.
Tauber claims that it was used to deposit corpses. Tauber moreover claimed
that the room marked “Capo” was used by the SS guards, while the room
marked “Geräte” was used by the head of the work crew (Kommandoführer;
Piper 2000, p. 150). As far as I know, no blueprint of the attic has survived.
b) Nyiszli’s Non-Existing Rooms
With all that said, let’s examine Nyiszli’s description of that building. I have
already shown that Nyiszli’s description of the basement is pure fantasy both
in terms of the number and the layout of the rooms.
His description of the ground floor is not less conjured-up. Nyiszli invents
the following non-existing rooms:
1) A Carpentry Shop
“The men of the Sonderkommando have painted the room and furnished it
from the chairs and tables and tablecloths left behind by the transports who
have been destroyed here, along with a pinewood bed made in the local
woodworking shop and a wardrobe.” (Chapter VI)
“On the first floor of Crematorium I, separate from the men’s accommoda-
tions, there is a carpentry workshop in which three carpenters perform the
work that crops up in the course of plant operations.” (Chapter XXI)
268 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
3) A Storeroom
“I may supplement my clothes and linens from the storeroom.” (Chapter VI)
“In the crematorium’s gigantic storeroom there are plenty of clothes, shoes,
stockings!” (Chapter XI)
“He reflects a little, and two tinplate barrels which are lying unused in a
storeroom come to his mind.” (Chapter XXXI)
4) An Office
“I ask for written permission at the office. I obtain a Passierschein valid for
three people.” (Chapter XIII)
6) A Kitchen
“One of them runs to the kitchen to bring hot tea or soup.” (Chapter XX)
“Still on the day of their return I went up to the Sonderkommando’s kitchen,
where Michel the French cook always had some tasty morsel for me. […] Now
too it is with the goal of getting some tasty tidbit to eat that I seek out the good
Michel in his little kitchen.” (Chapter XXIV)
“He is the ascetic of the Sonderkommando, a man who, in order to abide by
the dietary prescriptions of his faith, eats nothing from the bountiful kitchen of
the Sonderkommando but bread, margarine and onions.” (Chapter XXXV)
the minutes to follow. Another horrible scream, another crack, the heavy fall
of another body, not even a minute later. I count seventy dying screams, seven-
ty cracks, as many falls. Heavy footsteps move away, everything grows still.
The scene where the horrible tragedy has played out is a room next to the dis-
section hall with a separate entrance from the foyer. It is a bare, half-dark
room with a concrete floor. An iron-barred window looks out on the back
courtyard. I use it as a mortuary chamber. I keep the corpses there until it’s
their turn to be autopsied, and I place them there after autopsy too until they
are cremated.” (Chapter IX)
The execution room was therefore adjacent to the dissection hall, separated
from the corridor and vestibule, and had a window on the back yard.
As mentioned earlier, the re-drawn blueprint of Crematorium II published
by Piper is inaccurate, because it does not show any door leading from the
western part of the crematorium into the furnace hall. If we follow Piper’s
plan, the only access to the furnace hall would have been from the freight ele-
vator (Aufzug), which opened on one side to the large washroom and on the
other to the furnace hall. The final blueprint No. 109/16A of Crematorium II
dated October 9, 1943, however, shows a door opposite Furnace No. 1, which
gave access to the corridor from the furnace room, and on the opposite wall of
the corridor another door leading into the dissection room. A third corridor
door led into the large washing room (the alleged execution room), which was
in turn connected to the dissection room by another door (Pressac 1989, p.
329.).
Even though it is true that the large washroom next to the dissecting room
had a separate entrance from the corridor (or foyer, as Nyiszli calls it), Nyiszli
could not possibly have been unaware that the large washroom also had a door
leading straight into the dissecting room. But his claim that this washroom
served as an execution room has a glitch, because when telling the tall tale of
the young woman surviving a “gassing,” Nyiszli wrote:
“A quarter of an hour later they escorted her, or more accurately, took her by
the arm up to the vestibule of the furnace hall where not Mussfeld, but rather
another sent in his place, shot her in the back of the neck.” (Chapter XX)
It is not credible that this girl who, after having survived the “gassing” in the
basement, could not even stand upright by herself, was transported out of the
basement by leading her up the stairs to the court yard, around the building
and then back inside into the vestibule (Flur) through the main entrance. The
shortest and most convenient route would have been by simply using the
freight elevator which, as I have already pointed out, led directly into the large
washroom, the alleged execution room. If that was indeed an execution room,
then it is furthermore mysterious why she was shot in the vestibule.
Although it is true that the large washroom faced the crematorium’s back
yard, it actually had two windows, not just one. These two windows are clear-
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 271
room F was the fuel storage room, this leaves only room E1 (room of the
Kommandoführer/unit leader).
The phrase “The big oak double door of the crematorium is open as well”
does not make much sense, as there were two double doors at opposite walls
in the furnace room (W4 and W5), and another, the main one, was located at
the center of the building (W1).
During his escape, Nyiszli crossed the furnace room instead of simply
leaving the building through one of the two furnace-room doors W4 and W5.
He then passed “beside the open door of the gold chamber,” which could have
been room D, identified as “dentists” (Zahnärzte) by Dragon, arriving directly
to the “large door,” evidently the main entry door W1. But in order to get
there, he would have had to cross room H (the alleged undressing room, Ausk-
leideraum, which was actually the morgue). This room was almost 20 meters
long and could not possibly have gone unnoticed.
I analyzed these minute details because Nyiszli claimed to have spent eight
months in Crematoria II and V, so he should have known them intimately.
To wrap this up, it is worth pointing out that, if Nyiszli had to cross the
furnace room of Crematorium IV when leaving his room during his two-
months’ stay in that building, he could not have failed to notice that it housed
an 8-muffle cremation furnace in a single brick structure.323 But if that is so,
how could he seriously claim that the four Birkenau crematoria had altogether
60 identical furnaces, each of them 15, and were operating “at the same capac-
ity” (end of Chapter VII of his book)?
3.8. Chronology
The chronology of Nyiszli’s book is purely fictitious. Strictly speaking, one
cannot even speak of a chronology, but rather of a mere succession of events,
in which precise dates are extremely rare. First of all, he does not indicate the
date of his arrival at Auschwitz, unlike all the other witnesses. As seen above,
according to his book he entered the Sonderkommando on June 5, 1944, but
the first date mentioned by him is October 6, 1944, and it appears in Chapter
XXIX! Seven other dates follow: November 1, 1944 (Chapter XXXII), No-
vember 17 (Chapter XXXIV), January 1, 1945 (Chapter XXXVII), January 10
(Chapter XXXVIII), January 17 (Chapter XXXVIII), April 7 and May 5
(Chapter XL). He is also very reticent in simply indicating the months, as he
only once mentions “June or July” (Chapter XIX), and once each August
(Chapter XXVII) and September (Chapter XXVIII), never December 1944,
February and March 1945.
323
See Mattogno/Deana, Part 2, Documents 235a & 238-241, pp. 397, 400f.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 273
In practice, the account about the essential part of his testimony, the four
months of his assignment to Crematorium II until the revolt of the
Sonderkommando, which contains the major part of his description of the
claimed extermination actions, takes place at an undetermined time.
The undefined temporal sequence is divided into three parts:
1. the time since Nyiszli’s arrival at Auschwitz;
2. the time since Nyiszli’s induction into the Sonderkommando;
3. the remaining time until the liquidation of the Sonderkommando.
The sequence of events based on Parts 2 and 3 is called into question by the
fiction according to which Nyiszli, immediately after his arrival at Auschwitz,
was not transferred to Monowitz, but remained in Birkenau. The fact is, how-
ever, that he was initially at Monowitz and was sent back to Birkenau on June
27. Hence, if he was ever assigned to the Sonderkommando to begin with, this
could only have happened at the end of June or at the beginning of July 1944.
His claimed sequence of events therefore contains a time shift (pre-emption of
events) of about a month compared to reality.
Moreover, apart from a fleeting mention of June or July in Chapter XIX, in
his timeline, Nyiszli does not adduce any event before August 1944. Many of
these indications refer to Nyiszli’s meeting with his wife and daughter in
Camp Sector BIId, described in Chapter XXVII (but first mentioned in Chap-
ter XVI):
“It is already three months since we parted from each other on the ramp!”
(Chapter XVI)
“‘I think so, captain, yes, for three months ago when we arrived you selected
them to the right, sir.’ […] Terrible doubts tormented me. Three months is a
long time. An hour here is a long time! […] They have lived for three months
among the most horrible conditions, in continuous fear. […] Three months in
the K.Z. have taught them to bewail the past and to fear the future. […] They
tell me all the bitter experiences of their three-month existence here. […] After
three months in the K.Z. they too know that the ‘Sonder’ is the Kommando of
the walking dead.” (Chapter XXVII)
The meeting therefore took place at the end of August 1944, a month that is
also explicitly mentioned by Nyiszli:
“It is a hot August morning as I set off on the three-kilometer way.” (Chapter
XXVII)
However, Nyiszli also claims that the meeting took place after the “gassing”
of the Gypsies, and in turn after that of the Jews from Corfu, which is said to
have happened during the last third of September, although another indication
of Nyiszli dates the “gassing” of the Gypsies back to early September, that is,
before the presumed extermination of the Jews from Corfu!
After the first meeting, Nyiszli returned to his relatives every day for three
weeks:
274 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
324
“Reisebericht. Besichtigung des Konzentrationslager Auschwitz am 28. Juni 1944 durch…” (fol-
lowed by the names of seven officials charged with this mission). BAK, R22/1468, Blatt 58a (p. 4
of the report).
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 277
Recently there have been air-raid alerts every day, indeed several times a day,
but only a long nighttime blackout can bring us help from our unknown but
devoted comrades. Three or four more nighttime blackouts would be enough
for the partisans to supply us with the necessary quantity of weapons, and then
we could attempt a breakout.”
The chronology is imponderable. In her Kalendarium, Czech mentions one
single Allied mission on Auschwitz and Birkenau, on September 13, 1944
(1989, p. 876):
“For thirteen minutes, from 11:17 am to 11:30 am, the I.G. Farben plants in
Dwory near Auschwitz are bombed.”
On that occasion, two bombs fell on the Birkenau Camp:
“One damages the railway embankment and the railway branch to the crema-
toria, the second destroys a shelter located between the tracks, killing about
30 civilian workers.”
It is known that, from Nyiszli’s alleged assignment to Crematorium II until
October 1944, Allied aircraft passed over the sky of Birkenau on June 26, July
8, 20, 23, August 25 and 13 September. All of these missions occurred during
daylight.
Nyiszli’s story is clearly invented. It is clear that he knew nothing of the
bombing mission with the most serious consequences for the Birkenau Camp
– that of September 13 – because he says nothing about the bombs dropped
near the crematoria, which was quite a significant event. He also claims that
the raids occurred “several times a day,” which is wrong, and that they all oc-
curred at night, which is also wrong. The darkness is a simple literary device
to introduce imaginary incursions of partisans into the Birkenau Camp in or-
der to bring weapons to the Sonderkommando. It’s yet another literary device
for Nyiszli’s fanciful tale of the revolt.
Nyiszli also embellished a story that seems to have a kernel of truth:
“In June or July, it happened that 100,000 postcards were handed out among
the inhabitants of the overcrowded barracks, everyone being required to write
one to an acquaintance. They were given strict orders that they should write as
return address not Auschwitz or Birkenau but rather ‘Am Waldsee’! The only
place with such a name is on the Swiss border! The postcards went out, replies
even arrived for them. I was an eyewitness as they burned the letters sent in
reply, about 50,000 of them, on a bonfire set in the crematorium courtyard. It
would not have been possible to deliver them anyway, for the addressees them-
selves had been burned before the replies to their postcards arrived. Thus was
it all contrived. The goal was to reassure and mislead world public opinion.”
(Chapter XIX)
There is no doubt that postcards sent from Auschwitz with the sender’s ad-
dress given as “am Wannsee” do indeed exist, but it is not obvious why this
happened. Randolph L. Braham writes about it (1981a, Vol. 2, p. 653):
278 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“It was around this time, during the deportations from Zone IV, that postcards
were first brought back from Auschwitz for delivery to the relatives and friends
of many of those deported earlier. Postmarked ‘Waldsee,’ a fictitious geo-
graphic name, the cryptic messages (‘Arrived safely. I am well.’) were often
written by the victims just before they were gassed. The objective of the Ger-
mans was, of course, to lull the Jews still awaiting deportation in Hungary in-
to a false sense of security.”
It is unknown who devised this stratagem. The only certain fact is that on Oc-
tober 25, 1944 Eberhard von Thadden, head Section “Inland II” of the German
Department of Foreign Affairs, asked Adolf Eichmann about a certain Kemé-
ny, an “aryanized Jew” who had been deported, because the Hungarian em-
bassy wanted him to be sent back. This person was then “in the camp am
Waldsee (?)” (“im Lager am Waldsee (?)”), van Thadden wrote (T/1240); the
question mark meant that von Thadden had no idea what “Waldsee” was. In
his reply, written on November 3, SS Sturmbannführer Rolf Günther, Eich-
mann’s deputy, said that the detainee’s place of residence was unknown to
him (“sein gegenwärtiger Aufenthaltsort hier nicht bekannt ist”; T/1241),
without specifying writing anything about what “Waldsee” meant.
However, there is no connection between “Waldsee” and the alleged gas-
sings, as is shown by one of the first versions of the tale, if not the first. In the
report by Czesław Mordowicz and Arnost Rosin, two Jewish inmates who es-
caped from Birkenau on May 27, 1944, which was published in November
1944 by the War Refugee Board, we read (War Refugee Board 1944, p. 30):
“The transport [of Hungarian Jews] was received in AUSCHWITZ and
BIRKENAU according to the well-known procedure (heads shaved, numbers
tattooed, etc.) The men were given numbers beginning with 186,000 and the
women were placed in the women’s camp. About 600 men, of whom some 150
were between the ages of 45 and 60, were brought to BIRKENAU where they
were divided up among various work detachments. The remainder stayed in
AUSCHWITZ where they worked in the BUNA plant.
The members of the transport were all left alive and none of them, as had been
customary, were sent directly to the crematoria. In the postcards which they
were allowed to write, they had to give ‘Waldsee’ as return address.”
On the other hand, the Kalendarium of Auschwitz states that on May 2, 1944
two transports arrived from Hungary containing 1,800 and 2,000 Jews fit for
labor. Nevertheless, after the initial selection, only 486 men (reg. nos. 186645-
187130) and 616 women were registered. The remaining 2,698 deportees were
allegedly killed in the “gas chambers” (Czech 1997, p. 618; 1989, p. 764). A
telegram of Edmund Veesenmayer, Germany’s plenipotentiary for Hungary,
to the German Depatment of Foreign Affairs dated April 29, 1944, announced
precisely (Braham 1963, p. 363):
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 279
“Today, the first transport of 1800 labor Jews between the ages of 16 and 50
has left Budapest. Tomorrow, another train leaves from Topolya with 2,000
labor Jews.”
It is incomprehensible why 71% of these 3,800 inmates who were all fit for
labor and were sent to Auschwitz precisely in order to work for the geater war
effort, should have been “gassed” on arrival. Czech makes no reference to
“Waldsee” in this context, but other authors are much more zealous in this re-
gard, such as Andzrej Pankowicz. According to him, two transports with Jews
were deported to Auschwitz on April 27 and 28, 1944 from the Kistarcsa
Transit Camp in Hungary with 4,000 people. He writes (1990, p. 260):
“They were forced to write their families postcards with the sender’s address
Waldsee, then in all probability they were all killed in the gas chambers.”
This is the exact opposite of what Walter Rosenberg wrote.
If we apply a logic of deception here, making deportees who were con-
demned to be “gassed” write postcards would have made little sense. Since, as
I observed earlier, at least 107,200 Hungarian Jews were registered or sent to
the Birkenau Transit Camp (Durchgangslager), that is, in the orthodox per-
spective, they all escaped the “gas chambers,” it would have been much more
reasonable to have them write postcards (and maybe they even did), because
they could have answered and further reassured the Jews in Hungary who
were still awaiting their own deportation.
Waldsee was not a fictitious place, by the way. There were at least two
places with this name in Germany, one in what is today the State of Rhine-
land-Palatinate, the other in Württemberg. In the first there actually existed a
community camp (Gemeinschaftslager; Ottolenghi 1993, p. 186).
The evacuation march of the Birkenau inmates, which included the 30 inmates
of the Sonderkommando (who, according to Nyiszli, were all killed on Octo-
ber 6, 1944), followed the route (omitting small locations) Auschwitz, Rajsko,
Brzeszcze, Pszczyna, Żory, Rybnik, Wodzisław Śląnski (Czech 1997, p. 786;
1989, p. 971). In this context, “Plesow” (a Polish city with this name does not
exist) can only be “Pless,” the German name of Pszczyna, where the column
actually arrived around noon on the 19th. The march’s duration given by
Nyiszli (five days) is almost exact (it actually took four days), but while
Nyiszli had the column march 200 kilometers to reach Ratibor, where the in-
mates were loaded onto a train, they actually marched to Wodzisław Śląnski
(German name: Loslau), which is about 70 kilometers.
Ratibor was the German name of Racibórz, a city located about 18 kilome-
ters away from Wodzisław Śląnski. It is not mentioned at all as a place of ar-
rival or passage of the evacuated Auschwitz inmates. On January 22, the col-
umn from Birkenau arrived at Wodzisław Śląnski, and on the next day they
left on a train with destination Mauthausen, where they arrived on January 25
(Wróbel 1962, pp. 19-29).
On this scene, Nyiszli again unleashes his wanton fantasy:
“The stones are white; the castle has just been built! It was built in the Third
Reich period, with the designation K.Z. Forty thousand Spanish freedom fight-
ers who had taken refuge in France were brought here after its occupation,
along with a hundred thousand German Jewish men. […] With sufferings in-
conceivable to the human imagination they built the castle, but they were not
to be its inhabitants. They died without remnant in this sea of stone and con-
crete!” (Chapter XXXIX)
The first inmates arrived in Mauthausen on August 8, 1938, consisting of 300
Austrians and a few Germans who built the camp’s first barracks (Marsalek
1977, p. 23). The first transport of Spanish Republicans, 392 persons, arrived
in Mauthausen on August 8, 1940 (ibid., p. 91); in total, 7,200 Spaniards were
interned there over the years (ibid., p. 113). The total number of Jewish pris-
oners, from August 8, 1938 to May 4, 1945, was 24,855 men and 877 women,
of whom 14,356 died altogether (ibid., p. 204).
Nyiszli’s tale of the camp’s liberation is decidedly incredible:
“On the third day it comes about that an SS officer arrives accompanied by a
camp clerk and calls on all those who have worked in the Auschwitz cremato-
rium to present themselves. The blood runs cold within me! Do they have a list
of us? They are so damned precise and well organized, it is very likely! I think
it over and come to the conclusion that it is merely an attempt at fishing out
the secret bearers from the great crowd. If they had a list they would look at
our tattoo numbers. No one here knows me! In mute silence I wait as the anx-
ious minutes pass. I have won! I have again won life!” (Chapter XXXVIII)
Yet Nyiszli himself speaks of the list of Sonderkommando members:
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 281
“The Ober gives me some sheets of paper covered with numbers which he has
been holding in his hands until now and tells me to find my number and cross
it out. In my hands is a list of the tattoo numbers of Sonderkommando mem-
bers. I take out my fountain pen; after a quick search I find and cross out my
number. When I have done this, he tells me to cross out my companions’ num-
bers as well!” (Chapter XXXV)
In practice, after having exterminated the detainees of the 12th and 13th
“Sonderkommando” because they were “bearers of unconfessable secrets,” the
SS of Auschwitz, starting with Mengele himself, completely disregarded
Nyiszli and his three assistants, but later at Mauthausen the SS tried to ferret
them out by simply walking around asking who had worked in the crematoria!
It is clear that, if the SS had really considered them so dangerous, Nyiszli
and his companions would have been identified during the registration proce-
dure, given that they had their Auschwitz registration numbers tattooed on
their arm.
Nyiszli’s liberation tale is completely unlikely because it is based on a pet-
ty and twisted psychology. He claims that he was an eyewitness to the “gas-
sing” of two million Jews in the crematoria of Birkenau, not counting those
who had been burned on the pyres; that the SS had exterminated “one thou-
sand three hundred of [his] companions” (Epilogue) because they were bear-
ers of these secrets. He was also in contact almost every day with Mengele (in
the book he mentions him more than 120 times!), whose alleged crimes
Nyiszli must have known perfectly well. In the narration of his discovery of
the killing of the twins by Mengele with an injection of chloroform into the
heart, he writes:
“If Dr. Mengele were to suspect that I know the secret of the injections, ten
doctors of the political SS would be on hand to determine my time of death!”
(Chapter VIII)
And a little further on, at the end of the same chapter:
“My hair almost stands on end when I think of all that I have accepted during
my brief life here [in the camp] and all that I must still accept, wordlessly,
hereafter until the end arrives for me as well. I knew it when I entered here,
but now that I am in possession of so many secrets, I have no doubt that I am a
dead man walking. Is it conceivable that Dr. Mengele or the Berlin-Dahlem
Institute should allow me to live?”
The fact is, however, that Mengele disappears from the story without paying
any attention to this allegedly dangerous eyewitness. The penultimate time
Mengele is mentioned by Nyiszli is in Chapter XXXVI, sometime between
November 17, 1944 and January 10, 1945:
“One day, quite unexpectedly, Dr. Mengele arrives. He seeks us out in our
room; he guesses that we will not be in the dissection hall where, for days
now, we have had nothing to do. He tells us that, by higher orders, K.Z.
282 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
PART 4:
4.1.1. Sentkeller
In Chapter II of his book, Nyiszli introduces this individual as follows:
“Dr. Sentkeller – for that is his name, as I later learn – head doctor of Camp
Hospital ‘F’, nods understanding. He calls me to him and accompanies me to
the desk of another inmate worker.”
This is Roman Zentkeller (20497), who was a Polish military physician in-
terned at Auschwitz on September 5, 1941. He served as Camp Eldest in
Camp Sector BIIf. As such, he was directly subordinate to the SS physician in
charge of that sector, so the qualification as “head doctor of Camp Hospital
‘F,’” although inaccurate, is not completely wrong either.
staff for the individual camp sectors, but a Dr. Grósz is never mentioned by
her.
The other physician, whom Nyiszli describes in TVN as “Dr. Lewy, Rob-
ert, university professor, Strasbourg, (Camp Sector F)”, was Robert Lévy, reg-
istration number 145920. Czech writes that he was deported to Auschwitz on
September 4, 1943, and that he worked in Block 12 of Camp Sector BIIf, but
she took that information from Nyiszli’s book (1974, Note 108, p. 52).
Dr. Lévy wrote an essay about his stay in Birkenau which was published in
1947 under the title “Auschwitz II (Birkenau)” (Lévy 1996, pp. 457-466). A
biographical note informs us that he was born in 1894 and was an assistant at
Surgical Clinic B of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Strasbourg.
On October 21, 1943, he was interned in the Drancy Camp, whence he was
deported to Birkenau on September 2. He arrived there on September 4, and
stayed until January 18, 1945 (ibid., p. 457). In his essay, Lévy tells what hap-
pened during the “selection” of his transport (ibid., p. 458):
“I approach an SS officer and tell him in German: ‘I am the convoy’s doctor,
what am I supposed to do with the sick?’ – He replied, ‘You are a doctor and
you speak German, that’s good; you can go to the left.’ I obey; other fellow
deportees come to join me; the women, children, those beyond fifty, the sick
are sent to the right.”
The physicians were therefore pulled from the crowds at their very arrival at
Birkenau. Note that for Lévy those unfit for labor were sent to the right, while
Nyiszli has them sent to the left. Another French physician, Robert Waitz,
who was deported from Drancy to Monowitz on October 3, 1943 (reg. no.
157261), and who was evacuated to Buchenwald on January 18, 1945, devot-
ed a special paragraph to “The History of the Right Column” (“Histoire de la
Colonne de Droite”) in a statement that also appeared in 1947. That paragraph
begins as follows (Waitz 1996, p. 470):
“This column consists of women, children, the old and the sick. They leave di-
rectly for Birkenau.”
The positioning of those fit and unfit for work in a right or left column, re-
spectively, is undoubtedly a literary dramatization. It is unknown to SS men
and prominent detainees, such as Rudolf Höss and Primo Levi. The former
Auschwitz commandant described the selection procedure as follows (Bez-
wińska/Czech 1984, p. 120):
“The railway carriages were unloaded one after the other. After depositing
their baggage, the Jews had to pass individually in front of an SS doctor, who
decided on their physical fitness as they marched past him. Those considered
capable of employment were immediately taken off into the camp in small
groups.”
And here is the description by Primo Levi, who was deported from Fossoli, It-
aly, to Auschwitz on February 22, 1944 (reg. no. 174517; Levi 1984, p. 20):
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 287
“In less than ten minutes, all of us capable men were gathered in a group.
What happened to the others – women, children, the old – we could establish
neither then nor later; the night swallowed them, purely and simply.”
In early October 1943, Lévy was transferred to the inmate infirmary (Häft-
lingskrankenbau), where he worked “for 16 months,” thus up to the evacua-
tion of Auschwitz. But he never mentions Block (or Barracks) 12 or even
Nyiszli. On the other hand, he provides other information which conflicts with
what the Hungarian physician has claimed.
Nyiszli describes twice the food administered to Auschwitz detainees:
“Subordinate to them, eagerly following their example, is the six-member
medical team. They are French and Greek doctors, of more recent vintage,
kind-hearted and caring. For three years now, they have eaten the bread of the
K.Z., bread made with horse-chestnut flour cut with sawdust.” (Chapter III)
“[…] 700 calories per day of moldy bread made from horse chestnuts, marga-
rine made from lignite, and 30 grams worth of watery salami ground from the
flesh of mangy horses. The victim washes this down with half a liter of nettle
or turnip soup, cooked without fat, flour or salt […]” (Chapter XVI)
Tadeusz Iwasko states that detainees were subject to certain food rations,
which were distributed in three meals per day. However, SS members em-
ployed in the food stores committed theft, and during the distribution of meals
the rations were further cut short by Kapos and other detainees in a position of
power. The consequence was that, instead of the 1,700 calories expected for
light work and 2,150 for heavy work, only 1,300 and 1,700 calories were ac-
tually given. In the morning, detainees received half a liter of coffee substitute
or herbal infusion called tea. Four times a week at noon, a soup with meat was
provided, and three times a week a vegetable soup (potatoes and beets). A
soup portion was about three quarters of a liter, with a nutritional value of
350-400 calories. In the evening, about 300 grams of bread and about 25
grams of margarine or a spoon of jam or curd were distributed to the inmates.
The nutritional value of the evening meal was 900-1,000 calories. The inmates
who did hard work received a supplement of bread, margarine and sausage
(Iwaszko 2000, pp. 59-61).
The theft by SS men claimed by Iwasko is at least unlikely, if not impossi-
ble. The contents of the food store were recorded in a special register, in
which the camp’s occupancy, the quantity of food by weight stored in the
warehouse, and the quantity per prisoner by weight were listed on a daily ba-
sis. This is evidenced by a log excerpt from December 11, 1944 to January 17,
1945. The register shows that the inventory was constantly replenished, so that
there was a steady relationship between the quantity of food available and the
number of prisoners.325
325
AGK, NTN, 94, pp. 127-131. See Mattogno 2016c, p. 38, and Document 13, p. 315.
288 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Nyiszli’s absurd statements are also openly contradicted by his fellow in-
mate Robert Lévy, who wrote in this regard (Lévy 1996, p. 461):
“Everyone got up at four and a half in the morning; the Kommandos left the
camp at 6 o’clock in order to reach their workplace. Prior to this, they re-
ceived half a liter of coffee substitute or an indefinable infusion. At noon, they
interrupt their work for an hour and received soup (¾ liter to 1 liter). Then
they continued to work until 17 o’clock. After returning to the camp, an end-
less roll call followed that was particularly troublesome during rainy, snowy
or freezing weather. For dinner, they distributed half a liter of coffee or herb
tea, 300 grams of bread for the day, 40-50 grams of margarine three times a
week, with a spoonful of red beetroot jam, three times a piece of sausage, and
once a week 40 grams of cheese. The daily diet had a value of 900-1000 calo-
ries.”
Lévy also provides a description of the alleged gassing procedure, which re-
flects the propaganda rumors circulating in the camp at the time (ibid., p.
468):
“‘S.B.,’ ‘Sonderbehandlung,’ ‘special treatment’ is carried out. The ‘Sonder-
kommando,’ who live separately from all the other detainees and who are
themselves exterminated about every three months in order to eliminate em-
barrassing witnesses, cram the unfortunates into the gas chamber. The S.S.
murderer who followed the convoy in an ambulance – we nicknamed it the
‘angel of death’ – threw his ‘Cyclon’ can through a roof hatch, and a few
minutes later, the hydrogen cyanide had extinguished all of these human
lives.”
This is a rehashing of the stereotypes of the short-lived Sonderkommando (in
this case merely 3 months!) and the Red Cross van carrying the Zyklon B (the
“ambulance”). As is well-known, “Angel of Death” was the nickname of Josef
Mengele according to the orthodox narrative. Thus, as I pointed out earlier,
Mengele was at the same time the omnipresent selector on the ramp and the
carrier of Zyklon B, which instead would have been the task of two different
persons. As for the “Cyclon,” which was thrown into the “gas chamber”
through a “roof hatch,” Lèvy, without ever having set foot into a crematorium,
knew the alleged secret of its composition – hydrogen cyanide – which was
unknown to Nyiszli who claimed to have spent eight months in the Birkenau
crematoria.
Lévy presented one of the many variations of the phantasmal stories in-
vented by Auschwitz’s resistance groups (ibid., p. 464):
“The six crematoria burned day and night; facing the crowding during the
summer of 1944, the furnaces no longer sufficed, and the corpses were burned
in large pits in the birch forest. On a single night in August 1944, the entire
Gypsy camp consisting of 4,000 men, women and children was sent into the
gas. Meanwhile, the method had been perfected: a railway line had been built
ending 50 meters short of the gas chambers, so that a whole transport, wheth-
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 289
326
Declaration by Kurt Markus titled “Auschwitz-Birkenau. Das grösste Vernichtungslager der
Welt.” Trial against the Auschwitz camp garrison, AGK, NTN, 135, p. 153.
290 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
It is unclear, however, how the rebels could burn down “a part of the gas
chamber.” The final part of Lévy’s account is particularly important. From it
we glean that two doctors were members of the Sonderkommando, one of
whom died while the other survived: “Dr. B.,” which clearly stands for Sigis-
mund Bendel, who indeed testified during the Lüneburg trial, that is, the Bel-
sen Trial as a witness during the hearing of October 1, 1945 (see Chapter
4.2.). Lévy does not mention Nyiszli by name in his story, although Nyiszli
could have been the only other doctor involved. According to Lévy, however,
Nyiszli had died of suicide!
As for the number of victims, Lévy regurgitates the Soviet propaganda fig-
ure that was commonly known at that time (Lévy 1996, p. 457):
“[Birkenau] has seen the extermination of more than four million human be-
ings.”
4.1.3. Epstein
On this detainee, Nyiszli writes in his book:
“The Gypsy camp has a point of special interest, the experimental barracks
located there. Professor Dr. Epstein, professor publicus ordinarius at the Uni-
versity of Prague and a pediatrician of world renown, is chief of the research
lab. He has been a prisoner of the K.Z. for four years already. His assistant is
Dr. Bendel, lecturer in the faculty of medicine at Paris.” (Chapter IV)
“Study of twin phenomena on living people. This research was carried out by
Dr. Epstein, ordinarius at the University of Prague, who had been in custody
for five years now.” (TVN)
“Prof. Dr. Epstein A., university professor, Prague (Auschwitz II, Zigeunerla-
ger [Gypsy Camp])” (TVN)
Before the German army occupied Prague, Dr. Berthold Epstein emigrated to
Norway, where he was eventually arrested by the German Security Police. A
“Questionnaire for Jews in Norway” dated March 5, 1942 and bearing the
name Epstein Berthold Israel lists the following qualifications: “Pediatrician.
University professor for childhood diseases (1930). Director of the pediatric
clinic at Prague (1932-1939).”327 On December 1, 1942, he was deported to
Auschwitz – hence, in the summer of 1944, he had been “in custody” for less
than two years, not five. In January 1943, he was transferred to the Monowitz
Camp, and in August of that year he was transferred back to the Birkenau
Gypsy camp, where he worked in the experimental barracks (Czech 1974, p.
34). This latter information, however, is not documented and seems be based
solely on Nyiszli’s statements.
327
Riksarkivet og Statsarkivene. Statspolitiet - Hovedkontoret / Osloavdelingen (Norwegian National
and State Archives. State Police – Headquarters / Oslo Department), G/Ga/L0009: Spørreskjema
for jøder i Norge, Oslo (Questionnaire for Jews in Norway, Oslo).
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 291
Dr. Epstein was one of four physicians who, on March 4, 1945, signed an
appeal in German “To the International Public” (“An die internationale Öffen-
tlichkeit”). The other three were Geza Mansfeld, university professor in Buda-
pest, Bruno Fischer, university professor in Prague, and Henri Limousin, uni-
versity professor in Clermond Ferrand.
The appeal focuses on medical experiments in Auschwitz, but without
mentioning twins or any “experimental barracks” in the Gypsy camp:328
“In various infirmary blocks of the Main Camp and of associated subcamps,
experiments on healthy living people were also performed by SS camp physi-
cians which otherwise would have been done using laboratory animals, name-
ly: by Dr. Mengele, by Dr. Endreß [Entress], Tilo [Thilo], Klein, Fischer and
Kittel [Kitt], and moreover by SS Sturmbannführer Prof. Dr. Klauberg [Clau-
berg].”
As examples, X-ray castration and pharmacological experiments with injec-
tions were mentioned. The authors of the appeal reiterated the most atrocious
propaganda stereotypes of the time:
“To save petroleum, oils and fats necessary for the combustion were in parts
extracted from the corpses of those gassed. Technical oils and greases for ma-
chines were also extracted from the corpses, even washing soap.”
By signing this appeal, famous university professors of medicine endorsed
these scurrilous charges!
Dr. Epstein was also questioned by the Soviets, and an excerpt of his depo-
sition was published in the Soviet report on Auschwitz which was presented
during the Nuremberg IMT:329
“‘… Selected prisoners were sent into the gas chambers for extermination.
For several months, we saw long rows of human beings walk to the crematoria
into their death. Especially large groups were murdered in May, June and July
1944. During this time, the crematoria operated day and night, which could be
seen from the flames spewing from the chimneys. We often sensed the smell of
burning flesh, hair and fingernails. Apart from the flames coming out of the
crematoria’s chimneys, we saw two gigantic outdoor fires in those days that
blazed brightly during the night. Screams and cries as well as the barking of
the SS men’s guard dogs could be heard in the camp all night long. The unfor-
tunate victims, who due to the overcrowded crematoria were sent one by one
to their death in the open fires, sensed the fate that awaited them. …
‘I knew that my closest relatives had met that fate, and that I would not evade
it either. Roughly every other week, the camp physician, MENGELE, selected
the people who were to be killed in the crematorium. This way, some 500 chil-
dren were killed on one day. Heartbreaking scenes unfolded when the kids
were brought away, because everyone knew whence they went. During these
328
GARF, 7021-108-46, pp. 8f. (pp. 1f. of the appeal).
329
008-USSR. IMT, Vol. 39, pp. 251f.
292 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
events, the SS men and their aides distinguished themselves in exceptional bru-
tality. When we arrived at Oswiezim, I was separated from my wife and never
saw her again. Later on, I heard that she had not even been admitted into the
camp. My wife was undoubtedly killed in the usual way. In March 1944, the SS
men murdered my wife’s sister with her two children and my 38-year-old
niece. In July 1944, my sister perished as well.’”
This tale reflects the black-propaganda tales that were then regurgitated by
Nyiszli: flames shooting from chimneys, “the smell of burning flesh, hair, and
fingernails” – Nyiszli: “Burning human flesh emits an acrid smell” (Chapter
I); “The air is heavy with the smell of burning human flesh and singed hair”
(Chapter XXX) – the presence of two outdoor fires, the biweekly selections
(daily for Nyiszli) of inmates who were sent to death. Epstein mentioned
Mengele only in relation to these biweekly “selections.”
In a 1987 article co-authored by Tadeusz Szymański, who had been Ep-
stein’s colleague in the Gypsy camp, as well as Danuta Szymańska and Tade-
usz Śnieszko, Epstein was described as a department physician (Abteilungs-
arzt) and researcher at the section of Barracks 22 that hosted patients suffering
from noma (autumn 1943):
“The detainee Prof. Bertold Epstein of the University of Prague conducted re-
search on noma by order of Mengele.”
Epstein’s assistant was not Bendel, who is never even mentioned by Czech in
the article mentioned earlier, but Dr. Rudolf Weisskopf (Szymański et al.
1987, pp. 202, 204f.). This is confirmed by Helena Kubica in her article on
Mengele, where she states that the real last name of this “helper and assistant”
(“Helfer und Assistent”) of Epstein was Vitek (Kubica 1997, p. 379).
Dr. Epstein signed an affidavit on March 3, 1947 for the I.G. Farben Trial
in which he spoke exclusively of his activity at Monowitz. Among other
things, he asserted:
“There were general directives in Monowitz which prescribed that only those
detainees were to be admitted to the infirmary whose recovery would not [be
expected to] last more than 14 days.” (NI-5847, p. 1)
Hence, Dr. Epstein was even more drastic than Nyiszli, who indicated a longer
recovery period:
“It was generally known that after 3 to 4 weeks, if the sick did not heal, they
were put on a transport, that is, they were sent to be gassed at Birkenau or to
be shot at Birkenau.” (NI-11710)
The Monowitz hospital register goes until June 19, 1944. This last page con-
tains the names and serial numbers of 33 inpatient inmates, all Jews except for
four, next to their discharge date (Entlassung). Three of these Jewish inmates
were hospitalized for more than a month, specifically:
– Steinfeld, Israel (70219), until July 29 (40 days)
– Rabinowitsch, Emil (167639) until July 22 (33 days)
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 293
330
NI-10186, p. 476; all subsequent page numbers from there unless stated otherwise.
331
Official Record. United States Military Tribunals Nürnberg. Case No. 6, Tribunal 6. U.S, vs Carl
Krauch et al. Volume 12, Transcript (English), p. 3991.
332
NI-10186. This number appears on the handwritten title page, which sums up the document’s con-
tents in numeric terms.
333
National Archives Microfilm Publications. Microfilm Publication M892. Records of the United
States. Nuernberg War Crimes Trials. United States of America v. Carl Krauch et al. (Case VI).
August 14, 1947 – July 30, 1948. Roll 68. Defense Exhibits. Washington, 1976.
294 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
camp had about 16,000 inmates. It is unclear to which hospital the witness
was referring. He did not expressly mention the Gypsy camp.
Karl Hoffmann, Otto Ambros’s defense lawyer during the I.G. Farben Tri-
al, then asked Dr. Vitek – departing from the “fact” established during earlier
trials that homicidal gassings had occurred at Birkenau – whether he thought it
possible that detainees participated in them. Vitek replied:334
“Inmates did not participate in the gassing itself. The inmates participated in
the burning of the gassed bodies. This was the so-called Sonderkommando
(special detail).”
Vitek did not mention Mengele and his activities at all.
4.1.4. Heller
In Chapter XIV of his book, Nyiszli writes:
“The day after the liquidation I went on official business into Camp ‘F,’ where
I chatted with them, and so with the renowned Prague physician Dr. Heller,
former chief physician of the Czech camp, as well. From him I heard recount-
ed the sufferings and ruin of the finest flower of Czech Jewry. Since that day,
the eight doctors have died as well. They were true doctors! With profound re-
spect I pay tribute to their memory!”
Although Czech mentions a Dr. Heller, reg. no. 146703, who is said to have
been transferred to Mengele’s Camp Sector BIIf, the source of this infor-
mation is Nyiszli himself (Czech 1974, p. 48).
Miroslaw Kárný informs us that Dr. Otto Heller, for whom he gives no reg-
istration number, was the head physician of the infirmary inside the There-
sienstadt family camp (Sector BIIb), without giving any more details.335
334
Official Record. United States Military Tribunals Nürnberg. Case No. 6, Tribunal 6. U.S. vs Carl
Krauch et al. Volume 12, Transcript (English), pp. 3972, 3975.
335
Kárný 1997, p. 171.
296 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
cian from Nice, inmate of the K.Z. for four years already. A taciturn but quali-
fied young man, he is only thirty-two years old.”
In a report of July 4, 1945, a former Jewish Auschwitz inmate from Hungary
wrote about Dénes as follows (see Section 4.3.2.):
“When our transport arrived Mengele’s first question was whether there was
a pathologist among us, and he kept repeating the same question till he found
the pathologist of the public hospital of Szombathely, Dr Dénes Görög.”
This deportee, of whom we know only his initials S.M., arrived at Birkenau on
June 30, 1944. If his claims are true, since Nyiszli was transferred from
Monowitz to Birkenau’s Sector BIIf on June 27, 1944 and stayed there for an-
other five days before being taken to Crematorium II (which took place on Ju-
ly 2; see p. 188), it follows that Mengele had already found a pathologist when
he brought Nyiszli to the crematorium.
We know nothing about an Adolf Fischer. Helena Kubica mentions him
together with Görög and Körner, but only backed up by Nyiszli’s book (Kubi-
ca 1997, p. 404).
Körner’s name, as seen earlier (Section 3.1.3f.), shows up on the June 27,
1944 transfer order from Monowitz’s inmate infirmary to Birkenau’s Sector
BIIf with the name Jecheskiel and registration number 169840, which was as-
signed to Jews deported from France on December 20, 1943 (Czech 1997, p.
551; 1989, p. 684). In the list of this transport, we find a Koerner Jacheskiel,
born December 6, 1912 in Rohsadna.336 Hence, by the summer of 1944,
Körner had been in Auschwitz for a few months, not for four years.
4.1.6. Dina
This detainee is mentioned by Nyiszli at the end of his Chapter IV:
“Dr. Mengele visits the experimental barracks every day. He takes part in the
research with keen interest, working together with two prominent doctors and
a painter named Dina who prepares, with great skill, the drawings needed for
the work. She is from Prague, and she has been in the Czech camp for three
years. As Dr. Mengele’s associate, she enjoys certain advantages. She is
counted among the ‘prominent’!”
This is Dinah Gottliebová. How much she was traumatized by Mengele’s al-
leged terrible experiments can be deduced from her drawing depicting her
boss on a bicycle (see Document 23)! As I noted elsewhere, she was left alive
by Mengele, along with the other “keepers of secrets,” Epstein, Vitek/Weiss-
kopf and Martyna Puszyna (Mattogno 2008, p. 12; see the Appendix). Menge-
le evidently thought he had nothing to fear from these inmates.
336
Klarsfeld 1978, Liste alphabetique du convoi N° 63 (the book is unpaginated).
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 297
number of Zyklon-B cans used per gassing? Lists of the transports of Jews
gassed? The number of people gassed? The number of corpses cremated?
Lists containing the names of Sonderkommando members? Lists naming the
SS men involved?
Nothing of that kind. Any information about gas chambers and gassings is
so sparse and vague that it not only conveys no new information in this regard,
but for any reader not acquainted with knowledge on the subject, these writ-
ings would actually be incomprehensible (Mattogno 1996, pp. 63-68).
As an example, I may add here that the “Lejb” manuscript, one of the
longest, devotes 89(!) pages to the antecedents, followed by an account of the
deportation train’s arrival at Auschwitz, a narration that goes on for almost
eleven pages! (Czech et al. 1996, pp. 73-129)
Returning to Nyiszli, when he wrote his book, he was unfamiliar with the
name Olère, and only as late as 1948 did he start using the distorted spelling
Olleé. He described this person as follows:
“D. Olleé was a stoker at the 15th cremation furnace of Crematorium 1 during
the day shift, and during the night shift he shoveled coke under the corpses of
thousands of people. […] The 15th furnace is the last of the row of sinisterly
aligned furnaces in the cremation hall. Here, at the end of the great hall, D.
Olleé shovels the coke.” (TVN)
Another presumed member of the Sonderkommando, Dov Paisikovic, speaks
as follows of Olère:337
“Moreover a Jew from Paris called ‘Oler’ had been in the Sonderkommando
already for a long time. He was an artist painter, and in the period when I
know the Sonderkommando [since early May 1944], he had to paint paintings
exclusively for SS men.”
In a subsequent statement (August 10, 1964) written in Polish, Paisikovic
claimed to have met two Sonderkommando members from France, “one of
them was an artist, a painter, whose name was probably Oler. He did not know
and did not understand the Polish language. He painted various paintings for
the SS in the ‘dentists’ room.’”338
Paisikovic’s statement not only stands in contrast to Nyiszli’s, but also to
the themes of Olère’s paintings (see Klarsfeld 1989). It must be assumed that
Olère did not testify during any trial, did not make any official deposition, did
not write any report, but entrusted his testimony to some fifty paintings deal-
ing with such vast and disparate themes that, if they represented real scenes,
Olère would have been present everywhere in the camp. Actually, as I have
shown elsewhere,339 Olère’s paintings are simple illustrations of the propa-
337
Declaration by D. Paisikovic, Vienna, October 17, 1963, p. 3. RvO, c[21]96.
338
APMO, Zbiór Oświadczenia, Vol. 44, p. 98.
339
Mattogno 2019, Chapters 10.2.4., 13.3.2., 18.4.6.3.
300 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
4.1.10. Mengele
Nyiszli attributes three types of crimes to Dr. Mengele:
1) selection at the ramp,
2) research on twins with killing the individuals studied,
3) research on the degeneration of the “Jewish race.”
The crimes of the first type evidently concern selections for the “gas cham-
bers.” Here, Nyiszli’s statements are false and unfounded even from an ortho-
dox point of view:
340
Declaration by D. Paisikovic, August 10, 1964; APMO, Zbiór Oświadczenia, Vol. 44, pp. 96f. S.
Klarsfeld speaks of Mauthausen and Melk (1989, p. 7); Sonja Knopp informs us that he was liber-
ated at Ebensee on May 6, 1945 (Knopp 2009, p. 68, Note 283).
341
Piper 2000, “List of SS Men Employed Directly in the Gas Chambers and Crematoria,” pp. 235f.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 301
“One after another, the Hungarian Jewish transports arrive at the ramp. It of-
ten happens that two trains will arrive together and pour forth from their in-
sides thousands of people.
What Dr. Mengele does at the ramp cannot even be called selection anymore.
His arm moves in only one direction. To the left! Entire trains thus go, without
remainder, into the gas chambers or onto the pyres.” (Chapter XIV)
As I pointed out earlier, no less than 107,200 Hungarian Jews were either reg-
istered or sent to the Birkenau transit camp, and no significant Holocaust his-
torian asserts that entire transports were exterminated.
Nyiszli claims that Mengele studied “phenomena such as none will ever
decipher, the cause of multiple births” (Chapter XXX), and in Chapter VIII,
he points out that the immediate purpose was
“the multiplication of the German race! The end goal, in turn, is that there
should be enough Germans to replace the Czech, Hungarian, Polish and
Dutch peoples, condemned to extermination, in the areas inhabited by these
peoples and now declared Lebensraum for the Third Reich.”
This is a puerile and nonsensical accusation. This also applies to the alleged
studies on the degeneration of the “Jewish race,” which is not a National So-
cialist theory, but Nyiszli’s pathetic invention. He claims:
“Just as race research is built upon a false theory, the idea of a superior race
is pseudoscientific; so too is Dr. Mengele’s twin-research work pseudoscien-
tific and based on a false theory. False as well, and leading to massacre here,
is the degenerative theory of dwarves and cripples with which they hope to
prove the inferiority of the Jewish race.” (Chapter XIX)
According to this theory,
“the Jewish people, which, despite counting six thousand years of history, has
had no right to exist for centuries now, because in the course of their thou-
sands of years of existence they have degenerated into dwarves and cripples.”
(Chapter XIX)
Mengele was not “a race biologist” (Chapter XV), but an anthropologist. His
duties at Auschwitz were summarized by the SS garisson physician Dr. Wirths
in an “Evaluation of SS Hauptsturmführer (of the reserve) Dr. Josef Mengele
born on March 16, 1911” dated 19 August 1944:342
“SS Hauptsturmführer Dr. Josef Mengele serves his duty at the office of the SS
garrison physician Auschwitz, since May 30, 1943 [...]
During his acitivities at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, he has applied his
knowledge practically and theoretically as a camp doctor during the fight
against severe epidemics. With circumspection, perseverance and vigor, he
has fulfilled all the tasks assigned to him often under the most difficult condi-
tions to the complete satisfaction of his superiors and has shown himself capa-
342
Kubica 1997, pp. 414f.; subsequent page numbers from there, unless otherwise stated.
302 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
It is naïve and childish for any person to think that a mere Hauptsturmführer,
hence captain, had the obligation to feed the detainees of an entire camp sec-
tor, and that he had the competence to kill them if he could not feed them.
Just as puerile is Nyiszli’s claim that Mengele was “containing the spread
of epidemic disease” by “gassing”:
“Located next to the Czech camp is Camp C, the camp for Hungarian women;
the number of its inhabitants often reaches 60,000, despite the transports
transferred each day to more-distant camps. In this overcrowded camp it hap-
pened one day that the doctors found symptoms of scarlet fever among a few of
the inhabitants of one of the barracks. On Dr. Mengele’s orders, this barracks
as well as the ones lying to its left and right were placed under lockdown. The
barracks lockdown lasted from morning to evening, when trucks arrived and
took the inhabitants of all three barracks to the crematorium. Such were the
effective measures ordered by Dr. Mengele for containing the spread of epi-
demic disease.
The Czech camp and the three barracks of Camp C thus fell victim to Dr.
Mengele’s actions to contain the epidemic. Fortunately, the barracks doctors
caught on in good time, and if an infectious disease raised its head anywhere,
they were careful not to bring it to the attention of the SS medical authorities.
If possible, they hid such patients in some out-of-the-way box in the barracks
and cared for them according to the meager means available, but they did not
refer them to the hospital because there the SS doctors check the patients every
day, and the emergence of an infectious disease could bring on the complete
liquidation of the patient’s respective barracks, as well as 2-3 of the neighbor-
ing barracks. In the medical jargon of the SS, this method is known as broad-
based epidemic containment. The result of an action is 1-2 truckloads of ash-
es.” (Chapter XV)
It is unclear how the inmate physicians could conceal sick prisoners, if the
dead had to be present also during the roll call, if we follow Nyiszli:
“If the barracks has any dead – there are 5 or 6 each day, sometimes as many
as 10 – they too figure in the roll call. They must stand there at the end of the
row, propped up on either side by a pair of prisoners, as long as the counting
goes on, for dead or alive, the headcount must add up!” (Chapter III)
But this is not the issue. From extant documents it results undeniably that
“containment of epidemics” was carried out with medical measures, and that
patients suffering from infectious disease were regularly admitted to the in-
mate hospitals (see Mattogno 2016c, Chapters 2 to 4, pp. 42-85).
“Within a few minutes, the doors are flung to one side and the wagons dis-
gorge from within themselves the chosen people of Israel”
This observation has all the air of brutal sarcasm. In Chapter XII, he states:
“After all, in this time of racial laws, even in my civilian life, I was banned
from the medical treatment of Christian, or rather, Aryan patients.” (My em-
phasis)
In his account in Chapter XXXI of the killing of the two deportees from Litz-
mannstadt, father and son, he makes another surprising statement:
“I ask them whether they want anything to eat. They are very hungry, they say.
I tell one of the Sonderkommando to bring food for them. They immediately
receive a plentiful portion of meat stew with macaroni. Only the
Sonderkommando has such food. They immediately start in on it and greedily
consume the fine food which they have not tasted for so long. They do not
know, though I do, that they are consuming their death-house meal, their ‘last
supper.’” (My emphasis)
And furthermore:
“It is November 1, 1944, the Day of the Dead.” (Chapter XXXII)
The Jewish New Year (rosh ha-shanah) falls in the beginning of September
yet is completely ignored by Nyiszli, who instead observes (Chapter
XXXVII):
“Amid such doubts and hopes, the first of January 1945 arrived. New Year’s!”
Precisely when claiming his affiliation to Judaism, Nyiszli denies it with a bla-
tant blasphemy:
“What a horrible drama of our Jewish existence that I, a Jewish doctor, must
examine them with precise clinical methods before they go to their deaths, and
then dissect their still-warm bodies. I feel this horrible irony of our Jewish
destiny with such passion that my nerves, in my impotence, are strained almost
to the point of madness.
By whose will has this series of horrors descended upon our unfortunate peo-
ple? Perhaps by God’s! He has long since hidden himself in shame, then, for
even He did not will this much.” (Chapter XXXI; My emphasis)
It must be agreed that Nyiszli was really a Jew of his own class!
343
United Nations… 1947, Vol. II, pp. 93-124. Bendel’s deposition is summarized in 10 lines on p.
21. For a complete account of the trial see Phillips 1949.
344
TNA. WO 309-1603.
345
The minutes were then classified as Document NI-11953. The initials “NI” (Nazi Industrialists)
refer to the I.G. Farben Trial.
346
This declaration is headlined “Le Sonderkommando” and signed by “Dr. Paul Bendel, 167.460.”
Krewer et al. 1946, pp. 159-164.
347
Klarsfeld 1978, “Convoi N° 64 en date du 7 Decembre 1943” and “Liste alphabetique du convoi
N° 64.”
306 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
in the Sonderkommando since the beginning of July 1944 until the evacuation
of the Auschwitz Camp, that is, roughly six and a half months.
Nevertheless, Bendel never mentioned Nyiszli in his numerous statements,
although he did mention the presence of other physicians in the Sonderkom-
mando (Krewer et al. 1946, p. 159):
“We were three doctors assigned to this task.”
“Q. Dr. Bendel, you were the doctor in this sonderkommando [sic] in Ausch-
witz-Birkenau?
A. I was one of the three doctors who were attached to this sonderkomman-
do.” (Bendel 1948, p. 9588)
He never mentioned the names of the other two doctors. Bendel even spoke of
the dissection room, but in reference to the “twin Crematoria 1 and 2,” which,
“with their ultra-modern dissecting room and their museum of anatomical ex-
hibits,” were among the best ever done in this line (Krewer et al. 1946, p.
160).
For Nyiszli, however, only one such dissection room existed, that of Crem-
atorium I (II in today’s nomenclature), of which he was in charge, yet without
any “museum of anatomical exhibits.”
In this context, Bendel declared elsewhere (NI-11390, p. 7; Engl. version):
“Dr. Peter MENGLE [sic] was in charge of the medical side of the crematori-
ums and had a dissection room in one of them.”
During the I.G. Farben Trial, Prosecutor Minskoff asked Bendel whether he
wanted to make any additions or corrections to Document NI-11953, which
had been filed by the prosecution as Exhibit No. 1811. Bendel replied that he
had in front of him the German translation of this document, which contained
a mistake in a sentence translated into English in the courtroom as follows:
“Did you ever see the Prussic acid gas which was used?
I have seen the cans. I also dissected some of the corpses of people who were
gassed.” (Bendel 1948, p. 9587)
In the German version of this document, the translated exchange reads pretty
much the same (NI-11953, p. 3; German translation):
“Q.[estion] Have you ever seen Prussic acid gas that was used?
A.[nswer] I have seen the cans. I dissected some of the corpses of those people
who had been gassed”
In the English translation of Bendel’s deposition made during the Tesch Trial,
the passage quoted above reads as follows (NI-11953, p. 2, English version):
“Q. Did you ever see this prussic acid gas which was being used?
A. I have seen the tins. I have opened some of the bodies of those people who
had been gassed.”
Bendel explained (Bendel 1948, p. 9587):
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 307
“This is a mistake in translation, since I never said that I dissected any corps-
es. This was done by a special detail of doctors in the concentration camp
crematorium. What I wanted to say is that I saw the empty containers after the
gassing had taken place.”
From this it seems to be clear that Bendel didn’t know anything about Nyiszli
and only very little about the dissection room inside Crematorium II at Birke-
nau.
Bendel testified in French, and his statements were translated into English;
the English translation was in turn translated into German. If there was a
translation mistake from French to English, it is a mystery how a sentence
about empty cans seen after a gassing can turn into “I have opened some of
the bodies of those people who had been gassed.”
Like Nyiszli, Bendel was also chosen directly by Mengele:
“Question: In June, 1944, was your employment changed?
Answer: Indeed it was changed. Dr. Mengele gave me the honour to attach me
to the crematorium.” (Phillips 1949, p. 131)
Asked about his duties as a Sonderkommando physician, he replied in a very
imaginative way (ibid., p. 135):
“In case somebody had a wound amongst the people of the Sonderkommando.
I remember one case, when one man was working, and he burned both his feet
in the human, searing fat, which was so hot. It was my duty to give him a
dressing.”
Regarding his activity in the Gypsy camp, where he stayed for three months,
Bendel was rather evasive. The general narrative is this (ibid., p. 131):
“On 1st Januray, 1944, I was transferred to the main camp, and on 27th Feb-
ruary, 1944, into the gipsy camp in Birkenau, where I worked as a doctor. The
senior doctor was called Dr. Mengele. He was in charge of the whole medical
side of that camp, particularly infectious diseases in which Professor Epstein
from Prague and myself assisted. Dr. Mengele engaged in the research of in-
jections in the crematorium. These were injections which were supposed to
produce instantaneous death, and in the gipsy camp he worked mainly on re-
search tests against twins. He continued to make all sorts of tests on these
twins, but it was not enough. He wanted to see them dead, to see what they
looked like.”
While confirming his working relationship with Dr. Epstein, Bendel knew
nothing about the “experimental barracks” at the Gypsy camp, in which he is
said to have worked as Epstein’s assistant, if we follow Nyiszli. And it is clear
that he knew only from hearsay about Dr. Mengele’s alleged research activi-
ties.
As pointed out earlier, Nyiszli mentioned Bendel as a member of the
Sonderkommando only in 1948, hence at the end of the long storyline of his
six statements. Nyiszli probably had only indirect knowledge of this, because
308 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
348
Bendel 1947, p. 210r; Krewer et al. 1946, p. 161.
310 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
each 12 meters long, 6 meters wide and 1 m 50 deep. The capacity of these pits
was formidable: a thousand people in an hour.” (Emphasis in original; Kre-
wer et al. 1946, p. 161)
Aerial photographs taken in 1944 never show three huge smoking sites in the
Birkenau area, but always only one which was very small (see Mattogno
2016b), and the cremation capacity claimed by Bendel is absurd (see Mat-
togno/Kues/Graf, Vol. 2, Chapter 12).
Among the legends circulating inside the camp, the story of the cremato-
ria’s replacement by cremation pits was so widespread that it was even men-
tioned by Judge Jan Sehn (1946, p. 126):
“The experience of August 1944 of cremating corpses in pits proved that this
was the most economical method, so the crematoria ceased their activity, and
since then corpses were burnt only in pits, and according to the project, the
[planned] sixth crematorium was based on the principle of burning corpses in
open pits.”
Bendel could not resist the temptation to tell another propaganda lie, that of
the recovery of human fat. The capacity of the ditches, in his view,
“was further increased by breaking open a conduit to channel human fat to a
recovery pit.” (Krewer et al. 1946, p. 161)
As I have shown elsewhere (Mattogno 2014), this is arrant nonsense, because
human fat has an ignition temperature of just 184°C,349 much lower than the
ignition temperature of dry wood, which ranges between 325 and 350°C.
349
The lowest temperature at which fat emits sufficient vapor in air to cause ignition upon contact
with a flame or spark.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 311
2.41 m. During the I.G. Farben Trial, Bendel, harassed by a defense lawyer,
tried to somehow circumvent the absurdities resulting from his claims (Bendel
1948, p. 9600):
“I can not give exact measurement of it. I just guessed that it was. I said 10
meters by 4 meters, and this is quite uncertain. I am not quite sure. It’s just an
estimate on my part.”
Even if we accept this as an excuse for his grossly wrong estimates regarding
the lengths and widths of the rooms, it cannot explain the height he gave, be-
cause here the quantitative question turns into a qualitative one: any person of
medium height entering a room which is merely 1.5 m high has to bend over,
while one has a space of some 70 centimeters above one’s head in a room 2.4
meters high. How could anyone commit such an absurd error?
As for Crematoria IV and V, according to Franciszek Piper, each of them
had four “gas chambers,” all of different sizes, namely (Piper 2000, p. 162):
– Chamber 1: 7.72 m × 12.35 m
– Chamber 2: 8.40 m × 11.69 m
– Chamber 3: 3.70 m × ?
– Chamber 4: 3.70 m × ?
Chambers 3 and 4 resulted from an unequal division of a room originally
measuring 3.70 m × 11.69 m. The height of all these chambers was 2.20 me-
ters.
How can we reconcile Bendel’s two “gas chambers” of 6 m × 3 m × 1.5 m
with the four “gas chambers” of the aforementioned dimensions claimed by
the orthodoxy? And here as well, how could it have been possible to mis-esti-
mate a ceiling that was 2.20 meters from the floor as being merely 1.5 meters
high?
Bendel was questioned about the absurdities resulting from his statements.
His responses evince chutzpah and obtuseness. During the Tesch Trial, de-
fense lawyer Dr. Otto Zippel cross-examined the witness as follows (NI-
11953, p. 4):
“Q. You have said that the gas chambers were ten metres by four metres by
one metre sixty centimetres: is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Is it right that they are 64 cubic metres?
A. I am not very certain. This is not my strong side.
Q. How is it possible to get a thousand people into a room of 64 cubic metres?
A. This one must ask oneself. It can only be done by the German technique.
Q. Are you seriously suggesting that in a space of half a cubic metre you could
put ten men?
A. The four million people who were gassed in Auschwitz are the witnesses.”
In terms of surface area, 1,000 people in a room measuring 10 m × 4 m (40
m²) correspond to a density of (1,000 ÷ 40 =) 25 people per square meter!
312 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
From this point of view, Bendel was a new Gerstein. But the absurdities do
not end there. Bendel also stated (ibid., p. 2):
“Each chamber was 10 metres long and 4 metres wide. The people were herd-
ed in so tightly that there was no possibility even to put in one more. It was a
great amusement for the SS to throw in children above the heads of those who
were packed tightly into these rooms.”
In this interrogation, Bendel had stated that the “gas chambers” were “about
5ft 8ins” high (ibid.), or some 1.70 m, but, as seen above, he considered a
height of 1.60 meters to be correct. In the statement of October 21, 1945, he
explicitly stated that these rooms were “1 1/2 meters high” (NI-11390, p. 1).
But this makes little difference: whether the height was 1.5 m or 1.6 m,
how could it be possible to hurl children over the heads of the people with
such a low ceiling? As pointed out earlier, in order to enter these “gas cham-
bers,” most victims would have had to bend over because the rooms were
lower than the average height of a person.
For the “gas chambers” of Crematoria IV and V, the situation would have
been even worse, because a room of m 3 m × 6 m × 1.5 m, hence 18 m² and
27 m³, is said to have contained 500 people, or on average nearly 28 people
per square meter and 18.5 per cubic meter!
The only possible explanation – apart from calling Bendel a liar – is that
the victims were Lilliputian Jews!
Despite this fantastic overcrowding of 28 people per square meter, the vic-
tims were surprisingly able to move around quietly (Phillips 1949, p. 132):
“One heard cries and shouts and they started to fight against each other,
knocking on the walls.”
Bendel also said that
“anybody who has ever seen a gas chamber filled to the height of one and half
metres with corpses will never forget it.” (Ibid.)
Regarding the height of the “gas chambers,” Bendel said on that occasion only
that they “gave the impression that the roof was falling” on the heads of the
victims (ibid.). If the ceiling was one and a half meters high, Bendel could not
have seen that scene because there were no presumed “gas chambers” of that
height. If, on the other hand, the ceiling was much higher, then this heap of
corpses one and a half meters high would not have filled up this room, so it
wouldn’t have been a “gas chamber full of corpses.” But be that as it may,
Bendel’s statement is clearly false.
Although he claims to have served in all four Birkenau crematoria, Bendel
describes the alleged gassing activity only with reference to Crematorium V.
He claims to have joined the Sonderkommando on June 2, 1944. He de-
scribed his first day of work as follows (Krewer et al. 1946, pp. 161f.):
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 313
“One day in June 1944, at 6 o’clock in the morning, I join the day shift (150
men) of Crematorium 4. […] It is midday when a long column of women, chil-
dren, old men comes into the yard of the crematorium. These are people from
the Lodz Ghetto.”
During the Belsen Trial, he stated in this regard:
“The first time I started work there was in August, 1944. No one was gassed
on that occasion, but 150 political prisoners, Russians and Poles, were led one
by one to the graves and there they were shot. Two days later, when I was at-
tached to the day group, I saw a gas chamber in action. On that occasion it
was the ghetto at Lodz – 80,000 people were gassed.” (Phillips 1949, p. 131)
Did Bendel start his work in June or in August? This contradiction is difficult
to resolve, because both dates have their logic.
As I pointed out earlier, the first transport from the Lodz Ghetto arrived at
Auschwitz on August 15, 1944, and eight others followed until the end of the
month. Hence, if Bendel’s first day of activity was in August 1944 (exactly
between 15 and 31), what did Bendel do as a member of the Sonderkommando
between June 2 and mid-August? Since this is almost two and a half months,
the question is more than justified. He, the Sonderkommando physician, never
witnessed a “gassing” during this time? If, however, his first day at work was
in June, he could not have seen any transport from the Lodz Ghetto. Here we
have to deal with one of the many false statements by this witness. In addition,
the number of claimed victims – 80,000 – is over the top, as I pointed out ear-
lier.
In August 1944, according to Bendel, 150 Russian and Polish political
prisoners were shot at the pits. The only reference to these nationalities ap-
pearing in the Auschwitz Kalendarium during the month concerned is the
transfer of 750 Polish and Russian prisoners from Birkenau to the Neu-
engamme Camp on August 25 (Czech 1997, p. 696; 1989, p. 862).
Bendel’s statements are therefore false.
His first day at the Sonderkommando unfolded as follows. Bear in mind
that we are talking about Crematorium V (Krewer et al. 1946, p. 162):
“Some hundred meters from the crematorium one sees white smoke emerging.
[…] Finally, we arrive. Everyone is assigned to their work. Having come as a
spectator, I try to satisfy my curiosity. I would like to know the origin of this
smoke. And so, behind the crematorium, I get acquainted with the pits where
some remains of the evening’s convoy were being consumed. A few meters
from there, men are busy around heaps of ashes, busy reducing them into a
very fine powder; that’s all that’s left of the three thousand people who had
passed this way on the previous day.”
During the Belsen Trial, Bendel stated in this regard (Phillips 1949, p. 131):
314 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“I came at seven o'clock in the morning[350] with the others and saw white
smoke still rising from the trenches, which indicated that a whole transport
had been liquidated or finished off during the night. In Crematorium No. 4 the
result which was achieved by burning was apparently not sufficient. The work
was not going on quickly enough, so behind the crematorium they dug three
large trenches 12 metres long and 6 metres wide.”
The only area of the Birkenau Camp from which smoke emanates that can be
seen on aerial photographs taken in 1944 is about 20 meters north of the
northern wall of Crematorium V, hence it makes no sense to say that the
smoke rose “Some hundred meters from the crematorium.”
Only on this occasion did Bendel get “acquainted” with the pits, which
means that until then he was unaware of their existence. This would make
sense only if the scene took place in early June, but in that case, he could not
have seen any convoy coming from the Lodz Ghetto.
The story of crushing the cremation remains had already been put into Ru-
dolf Höss’s mouth of by way of his “first statement”:351
“After cleaning out the pits, the remaining ashes were crushed. This happened
on a cement slab where inmates pulverized the remaining bones with wooden
pounders.”
Where did this alleged crushing occur? David Olère located it inside Cremato-
rium V in a drawing showing two inmates crushing bone residues with wood-
en pestles (Klarsfeld 1989, p. 77). Filip Müller, another prominent member of
the Sonderkommando, placed it outside near Crematorium V instead, where
“Moll had a concrete surface made of about 60 meters long and 15 wide”
(Müller 1979a, p. 212).
Needless to say, there is no material or documentary trace of this large
concrete surface. But let’s turn back to Bendel’s story. The transport from the
Lodz Ghetto arrived at noon. Its 800-1,000 people undressed in the courtyard
(Krewer et al. 1946, p. 162):
“The doors of the Krematorium opened, and they entered the big room which
served as an undressing room in winter.”
In this room, the victims were “packed together like sardines” (ibid.). The
room in question is defined by Piper as an “undressing room” (Auskleide-
raum) and measured 19.84 m × 12.35 m, some 245 square meters (Piper 2000,
p. 168). If 1,000 people entered that room, their density would have been
about four per square meter. If they were already “packed together” in there,
what would have been the situation if they had entered in two groups of 500
350
At 6 AM according to Krewer et al. 1946, p. 161.
351
NO-1210. The original document, signed by Höss, from which I took the quotation, is located at
the Military Intelligence Museum at Chicksands, UK. In his essay written while in a Krakow pris-
on, Höss wrote: “During the first interrogation they beat me to obtain evidence. I do not know
what is in the transcript, or what I said, even though I signed it, because they gave me liquor and
beat me with a whip. It was too much even for me to bear.” Paskuly 1996, pp. 179f.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 315
352
Piper 2000, p. 239; the alphabetical list of names goes from Kitt to König.
316 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“In May and June [1944] a total of 400,000 people were gassed, and in Au-
gust about 100,000. In Sept. and Oct. the figures dropped to about 15,000 per
month.” (NI-11390, p. 4)
“Q. How many were gassed in May and June 1944?
A. About 400,000.
Q. In August of 1944?
A. From the 15th July to 1st September, 80,000.” (NI-11953, p. 3)
Since Bendel always starts with May, the 450,000 victims “within two and a
half months” refer to those who died from May until mid-July. He claimed
moreover another 80,000 victims from July 15 to September 1, so that the to-
tal number of victims from May to August amounts to 530,000. However, he
also states that there were some 400,000 victims during the months of May
and June, plus 100,000 during August, hence 500,000 victims without July,
which leaves 30,000 victims for that month. On the other hand, if there were
100,000 victims in August, it is not possible that the total for August plus half
of July were 80,000. In further contradiction to this, Bendel asserted (ibid., p.
2):
“During the month of June the number of gassed was 25,000 every day.”
But that figure corresponds to (25,000 × 30 =) 750,000 victims merely for the
month of June! He evidently attributed to the whole month what rumors circu-
lating in the camp attributed to a daily “record.” Bendel paid tribute to this
daily-record rumor himself in his French deposition (Bendel 1947, p. 210r):
“Always thanks to this method, on June 25, 1944, 26,000 bodies disappeared
on that day.”
As mentioned earlier, the “gassing” or cremation “record” was yet another one
of the stereotypes of camp propaganda, which Jan Sehn embraced as well with
some pertinent modifications (1946, p. 126):
“With all installations in full operation, the figure of 24,000 corpses cremated
per day was reached in August 1944!”
Bendel stated moreover (NI-11390, p. 7):
“During the months of May and June of 1944 I estimate that a total of 400 tins
of Zyklon per month were used for killing people.”
According to Bendel, the relationship between the number of Zyklon-B cans
used and the number of “gassing” victims was as follows:
“Two tins for one thousand persons; 25,000 per day; then we may say 50 tins
per day.” (NI-11953, p. 3)
This results in a need for (50 × 30 =) 1,500 cans for one month. Conversely,
400 cans would be enough for (400 ÷ 2 × 1,000 =) 200,000 “gassing” victims.
Ignoring the contradictions pointed out above, Bendel’s statements repre-
sent a maximum of 560,000 victims from May to October 1944. Nevertheless,
Bendel claimed that, during the time of his stay in Birkenau from February 27,
318 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
1944 to the evacuation of the camp, a million people were killed. Keep in
mind that he entered the Sonderkommando on June 2, 1944, and that “the
cremation furnaces worked until November 5, 1944” (Bendel 1947, p. 211),
the date when mass exterminations are said to have ceased. For the period
from February 27 to June 1, 1944, he could not have been a “witness” to any
killing in the “gas chambers,” which is why the figure he claims is both con-
tradictory and wrong even from an orthodox point of view. This is, of course,
also true for May, when he was not yet a member of the Sonderkommando: if
we take the only data provided by Bendel – 400 cans of Zyklon B with two
cans per 1,000 victims – this results in 200,000 “gassing” victims for that
month which he cannot possibly have “witnessed,” so that the total number of
the victims whom he could have “witnessed” decreases to some 360,000.
But there are further complications, because the witness also asserted:
“I think the first experiments in gassing were carried out at Auschwitz in May
or June of 1942.” (NI-11390, p. 6),
which is in sharp contrast to the current orthodox narrative, according to
which the first experiment is said to have taken place in September 1941, fol-
lowed by other small-scale gassings in Crematorium I of the Auschwitz Main
Camp from fall 1941 until fall 1942.
To make things worse, Bendel claimed that
“the first gassings were camed [carried] out at Birkenau at the beginning of
1943.” (ibid., p. 4)
Not putting too much weight on the individual figures Bendel gave, it is safe
to say that he claimed some 530,000 gassing victims for the time starting in
May 1944 until the claimed termination of the extermination program. In or-
der to believe in the four-million-victim story, Bendel must therefore have be-
lieved that from the beginning of 1943 until May 1, 1944 (4,000,000 –
530,000 =) some three and a half million people were killed!
From his many testimonies it is also clear that Bendel had no knowledge of
the activities at the alleged “Bunkers” of Birkenau in the years 1942-1943,
which is at least surprising. As far as 1944 is concerned, it is more appropriate
to examine his statements in parallel with those of Nyiszli, which I will do in
Section 4.2.8.
He specified that this amount of gold had been extracted from four million
corpses. At the Tesch Trial, the witness stated (NI-11953, p. 3):
“The National Socialist government said they did not care about gold; still
they managed to get 17 tons of gold out of the four million bodies.”
Replying to a specific question by Dr. Zippel, Bendel stated that he referred to
a metric ton (1,000 kg; ibid., p. 4).353 This assertion is nonsensical already for
the fact that it relates to the fairy tale of four million victims. It is also in open
contradiction to the information provided by the Auschwitz camp resistance
referred to earlier, according to which 33.6 kg of gold were extracted from
100,000 corpses. For the phantom-like four million, this would correspond to
1,344 kg or 1.344 metric tons, almost 13 times less than what Bendel indicat-
ed.
353
A U.S. short ton has 2,000 lbs or 907 kg.
354
This refers to the Zyklon-B-disinfestation devices using the Degesch circulation system supplied
by Tesch. These were gas chambers with the standard dimensions of 4 m × 1.35 m × 1.90 m =
about 10 m³. The Americans mistranslated the order for two of these devices submitted to the
Tesch Company by the Gross-Rosen Camp, which is mentioned in a Tesch letter of August 25,
1941, as “delivery of circulation equipment for two extermination chambers of 10 cubic meters
each”! NO-4345, NMT, Vol. V, p. 363. The German text says: “Lieferung der Kreislaufgeräte für
zwei Entwesungskammern [disinfestation chambers] von je 10 cbm.”
320 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
355
TNA, WO 309-1603.
356
The transcript (NI-11390) reads here erroneously “disinfecting” and later “disinfectation” rather
than “disinfestation.”
357
TNA, WO 309-1603. NI-11390, p. 5.
358
In transcript (NI-11390) “disinfecting.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 321
“Q. Is it known to you that Lisoform is a disinfectant only against germs, but
not against insects in clothing?
A. There was no disinfection intended, as these people brought into concentra-
tion camps were not brought there to be disinfected or kept clean or kept
healthy, but to be disposed of.”
Considering that Bendel was a physician, his mendacity becomes evident. He
played on the confusing similarity of the terms disinfection (against bacteria)
versus disinfestation (against pests), and deliberately ignored the many regis-
tered detainees for whom disinfestation was of vital importance for controlling
the typhus epidemics and other infectious diseases.
The fumigation chamber in which 200 men of the Sonderkommando are
said to have been gassed was located in the so-called “Kanada I,” BW 28, the
delousing and effects-storage barracks (Entlausungs- und Effektenbaracken).
Bendel described it as follows:359
“At Auschwitz there was an underground gas chamber which was used princi-
pally for disinfestation purposes. It was about 12 metres long, 10 wide and
about 1 1/2 metres high.”
The photos of this facility published by Pressac clearly show that this fumiga-
tion chamber was not located “underground” but on ground level, and that it
was at least twice as high as Bendel claimed (1989, pp. 41-50, esp. Photos 7, 9
& 13). A “Listing of the disinfestation facilities, baths and disinfection sys-
tems installed in CC and PoW Camp Auschwitz” compiled on July 30, 1943
by civilian employee Rudolf Jährling, which also gives the “daily capacity (24
hrs)” of these devices, informs us that Kanada I had a fumigation chamber
“for some 30,000 pieces of laundry, blankets, etc.” daily, and the chambers of
BW 5a had a “daily capacity of 8,000 blankets.”360 For Bendel, however, the
fumigation chamber of Kanada I had a daily capacity of 500-600 sets of cloth-
ing!
I will return to the issue of the alleged murder of 200 Sonderkommando
members in that fumigation chamber later.
359
TNA, WO 309-1603. In the transcript (NI-11390, p. 6) it is the term “disinfectation.”
360
RGVA, 502-1-332, pp. 9f.
322 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
The length of the alleged gas chamber (Morgue #1) was actually 30 meters,
and that of the alleged undressing room (Morgue #2) was almost 50 meters.
Also, Morgue #2 did not directly lead into the gas chamber, but rather into
a corridor some 5 meters long and 2 meters wide, which led, through a two-
leafed door, into a vestibule (Vorraum), from where, again through a two-
leafed door, one could access Morgue #1, which was arranged perpendicular
to Morgue #2, see the illustration.
Bendel also mentions “massive double-winged oak doors,” but in relation
to Crematorium V (Krewer et al. 1946, p. 163). In that building, however, all
four doors leading into the alleged “gas chambers” had a single-leaf door of
100 cm × 205 cm according to Blueprint #2036.
Capacity
For Nyiszli, 3,000 persons in one single room, for Bendel 2,000 persons dis-
tributed in two rooms.
Method of Introducing Zyklon B
Nyiszli:
“In the center of the room, at a distance of thirty meters from each other, a
number of columns stretch from the concrete floor to the ceiling. These are not
support columns, but are rather quadrangular tinplate pipes, their sides
pierced throughout with holes like a grill.” (Chapter VII)
324 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Number of Victims
Nyiszli states that, during the months of May through July 1944, 550,000
Hungarian Jews were exterminated (PR). For Bendel, as seen earlier, 450,000
people died within two and a half months starting in May 1944. Since he
claims 400,000 victims for May and June, the two and a half months refer to
the deportation of the Hungarian Jews. (In fact, deportations from Hungary
were carried out from May 14 to July 8.) As for the total figure, Nyiszli re-
peats in his book the tale of four million victims for the entire period the camp
existed:
“Four million innocent people said farewell to their lives here with a last,
painful glance, that they might then descend into their unmourned tomb.”
(Chapter XXXII)
His own experience, what he claims to have seen with his own eyes, however,
amounts to two million instead:
“My eyes followed two million innocent people to the gas chambers, and I was
witness to the horrors of the pyres.” (Epilogue)
Even in his contrived testimony for the I.G. Farben Trial, he wrote that “dur-
ing the period of my imprisonment I was a witness to the death by gas of
about 2 million people” (TVN). As stated earlier, Bendel claimed that during
his stay in the camp some 800,000 to 1,000,000 people died at Auschwitz.
This figure refers to the duration of the witness’s stay at Birkenau, hence from
February 27, 1944 until January 1945, or more precisely until November
1944, when mass exterminations ceased. Nyiszli’s figure pertains to his term
in the Sonderkommando, i.e. from the beginning of July 1944 until November
1944.
Dental Gold
Nyiszli mentions a daily quantity of 30-35 kg of dental gold. Since he claims
that on average 22,000 people were gassed every day (TVN), on average some
1.5 g of gold were extracted from each person. Hence, from the four million
victims, the yield would have been some 6,000 kg, or six metric tons. Bendel
talks about 17 metric tons likewise extracted from four million victims.
The “Bunkers”
As mentioned earlier, Nyiszli knew nothing of “Bunker 2” (or, as it is some-
times called, “Bunker V” or “Bunker 2/V”), the alleged extermination installa-
tion consisting of 4 “gas chambers” which was a few hundred meters west of
the Zentralsauna, outside the camp’s fence. For him, there was only “a long
thatched house” consisting of only one room that served as an “undressing
room” for the victims of shootings at the two outdoor pyres.
In contrast to that, Bendel stated (Bendel 1947, p. 210r):
“From May 15, 1944 on, a new gas chamber was set up outside the camp en-
closure itself. This latter was installed in a farmhouse divided into two parts,
326 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
in which the detainees were gassed. From that time on, the bodies coming
from this chamber were no longer cremated in the cremation furnaces, except
in Crematoria I and II [= II and III]. The bodies were placed in gigantic
trenches, in which the cremation took place which was carried out as follows:
among the bodies, gasoline-soaked logs were put in, and the fire was lit.”
“There were four crematoria, the fifth, called Bunker, was nothing but a farm-
house converted into a gas chamber ‘to serve the cause.’” (Krewer et al. 1946,
p. 160)
For Nyiszli, there was therefore a farm cottage with only one room which was
only used as a dressing room; for Bendel, there was a farm cottage with two
rooms serving as “gas chambers.”
Bendel’s hint at the cremation trenches is not very clear. He does not say
where these “gigantic trenches” were, nor how many there were. Furthermore,
his phrase “the bodies coming from this chamber were no longer cremated in
the cremation furnaces” is enigmatic, because “this chamber” should be the
“bunker,” but then it does not make sense to write that, “from that time on”–
meaning May 15, 1944 – the bodies resulting from it were no longer cremated
in the crematoria’s furnaces, because Bendel wrote that before that date “this
chamber” had not yet been set up, so no bodies can have resulted from it prior
to that date. Anyway, Bendel mentioned only three pits of 12 m × 6 m × 1.5 m
located in the courtyard of Crematorium V (Phillips 1949, p. 131). While
Nyiszli was unaware of the existence of these pits behind CrematoriumV,
Bendel knew nothing about the existence of the two shooting pits.
Since these are two “eyewitness” testimonies of two people who claim to
have seen the same things in the same place and at the same time, this contra-
diction is irremediable. However, this does not stop orthodox Holocaust
scholars from resolving it with a vulgar trick. J.-C. Pressac himself wrote ge-
nerically, without explicit reference to Nyiszli (1993, p. 91):
“Toward the end of summer, when there was a lack of Zyklon B, inmates unfit
for work of the convoys that were sent to Auschwitz were thrown directly into
the cremation pits of Crematorium V and Bunker 2.”
To back this up, he invoked the following deposition by Hermann Langbein
made during the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial (Langbein 1965, Vol. 1, p. 88):
“In 1944, living children were thrown into the big fires burning next to the
crematoria. We heard about this in the Main Camp, and I told the garrison
physician about it. Dr. Wirths did not want to believe me. He drove over to
Birkenau in order to check it out. When I went to him for dictation the next
day, he told me: ‘It was an order by camp commander Höss that had been is-
sued because there had no longer been enough gas.’ Since then, Wirths belie-
ved everything I told him.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 327
361
GARF, 7021-108-34, p. 22.
362
AGK, NTN, 110, pp. 1206f.
328 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
minutes had to be reckoned for women and three for men. Three quarters of an
hour after the arrival of the train, huge flames were seen coming out of the
cremation furnaces’ chimneys. We knew that the people we had seen alive a
short while earlier would be nothing but a little bit of ashes within a few
minutes. Since the eight cremation furnaces were not enough for the job, the
SS had large pits dug that were filled with dried branches soaked in a flamma-
ble liquid. It is in there where they tossed the corpses. The entire sky was illu-
minated by it. At a certain time, gas was missing, then they threw living chil-
dren into the pits.”
This is a beautiful collection of propaganda fables on which there is no need
to dwell.
– Yes, it was the day when 500 of these Special Kommandos should have been
going away because they were told to work somewhere else, but it was clear
enough to us that they were going to their death. They did not want to go
away. On that day 100 from this Special Kommando in Crematorium No. 1 [II]
and 400 in Crematorium No. 3 [IV] were killed. In No. 3 they were killed one
by one with a fatal shot in their neck from a gun. The other hundred were put
in rows in lines of five and one single S.S. man passed by and gave them a shot
in the neck. Kramer was Kommandant of the camp at the time and was present
at these killings.
– Do you remember an occasion when four girls were hanged?
– Yes, in the women’s compound in Auschwitz in Decembre, 1944. They were
accused of passing on dynamite to us for the purpose of exploding the whole
crematorium. They were working in a munition factory called ‘Union.’ It was
a public hanging ordered by Hoessler, who was Lagerführer at Auschwitz.
[…]
– On 7th October, 1944, is it not true that the crematorium was set on fire?
– We set fire to Crematorium No. 3. Five hundred people took part in this re-
volt. They had firearms in Crematorium No. 1, but because of a misunder-
standing they could not be used, for the people of No. 1 Crematorium saw No.
3 burning too late.
– Do you know who was the Kommandant of the whole of Auschwitz on 7th
October, 1944?
– I could not say.
– You said that a number of people from the Sonderkommando were shot. Was
there any senior S.S. officier present?
– There were a number of S.S. present during these killings. A whole company
of S.S. came specially from Auschwitz. I do not know about senior ranks, but
the main killer was Rottenführer Barowski. […]
– Were these explosives used during the attempted escape?
– No.”
Bendel carefully described this event in his subsequent statements:
“Of these 900 men, 200 were gassed on September 27, 1944. 500 were execut-
ed with a pistol shot into the back of the neck in front of my own eyes during a
revolt unique in the annals of the concentration camp, which took place on
October 7, 1944. […] Seeing that sooner or later we would have suffered the
fate of the wretches who had been exterminated, we had decided at Cremato-
rium 4 to revolt. On October 8, at noon, 300 of us had to go to Gleiwitz on or-
der of the Germans. We knew that, after the example of the 200 had been set,
this was in fact about a new extermination. Then we attacked about twenty SS
men who carried the lists. We did not know that there was a reinforcement
company nearby. After we set the cremation furnace on fire, this company en-
circled us and reduced us to helplessness before the other detainees which
were in the other crematoria had time to come to our rescue, as had been
planned. As I have already told you, 500 men were executed with a pistol shot
330 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
into the back of the neck, and I myself with my colleague, we poisoned our-
selves. I was saved by the head of the crematorium, who carried me to the
hospital together with my colleague, who unfortunately did not survive. We
poisoned ourselves to prevent giving the Germans the pleasure to indulge
themselves in stripping the poor wretches they made to lie on the ground, and
killing them in the manner known to you. This brutal suppression was carried
out by the aforementioned Hess [sic] and Kramer, who on their orders had a
company of SS men from Auschwitz I and Birkenau. […]
The cremation furnaces operated until November 5, 1944 with the 200 survi-
vors of the Sonderkommando. On this date, these 200 men were employed in
the destruction of these furnaces, the Germans not wanting to leave traces be-
hind. This destruction took place until November 27, when we were brought
back to the Birkenau Camp. In this camp, we were locked up in a block. Thirty
of us were sent to Crematorium 4, which had not been destroyed, to incinerate
the corpses of those who had died a natural death. The next day, 100 left for
an unknown destination, and we lost all traces of them. The remaining 70 were
used to destroy with dynamite the reinforced concrete foundation of the crema-
tion furnaces. On January 18, 1945, the evacuation of Birkenau and Auschwitz
took place. Towards this date, the Germans locked us up in a block, certainly
with the intention of destroying us. The hectic pace of the departure certainly
did not allow them to carry out their project. During our transfer to the
Mathausen Camp [Mauthausen], some thirty people tried to escape. They were
killed on the spot. Upon arriving at the camp, those who had been part of the
Sonderkommando were ordered to present themselves immediately. Some
obeyed this order (about a dozen), who were taken away, and we never heard
of them again. The rest was scattered among the other detainees, and I know
that some twenty died of exhaustion during our stay at the Ebensee Camp.”
(Bendel 1947, pp. 210r, 211)
The killing of 200 Sonderkommando members on September 27, 1944 alleged
by Bendel was completely unknown to Nyiszli. Bendel, as we have seen earli-
er, claimed that there was “an underground [fumigation] gas chamber” in
Auschwitz and explicitly stated (NI-11390, p. 6):
“I know that on 27th Sept. 1944 200 men from the special prisoners’ squad
which worked in the crematorium at Birkenau were taken to Auschwitz and
gassed there. Then their bodies were brought back to Birkenau and burned
there.”
However, at that point in time, the only gas chambers in existence at the
Auschwitz Main Camp were fumigation chambers for clothes.
Pressac considered a similar statement by Henryk Tauber as “impossible,”
because the Sonderkommando men, who are said to have been very familiar
with the alleged homicidal “gas chambers” at Birkenau, never would have en-
tered such a “gas chamber” voluntarily. Pressac concluded (1989, p. 498):
“This execution by gassing still remains to be proved.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 331
leged experiences which mutually contradict each other totally and insur-
mountably, and both are riddled with absurdities and blatant lies.
363
Books 82, 83 and 89 which I examine in this chapter are reproduced in: National Archives Micro-
film Publications, Microfilm Publication M892, Roll 45.
364
Index to Document Book 82. I.G. Farben Case - Count III/C, p. 1.
334 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
they walked by. Those who appeared fit for work were sent into the camp.
Others were sent immediately to the extermination chambers. Children of ten-
der years were usually exterminated, since by the reason of their youth, most
of them were considered unable to work. Steps were taken to conceal from the
victims the fact that they were to be exterminated and it was represented to
them that by going through the gas chambers they were only going through a
bathing and delousing process. It took from three to fifteen minutes to kill the
people in the death chamber, and when their screaming had stopped it was as-
sumed they were dead. About a half hour later the doors were opened and the
bodies removed, whereupon special commandos of the SS took off the rings
and extracted the gold from the teeth of the corpses. The bodies were then
cremated and after cremation, their ashes were used as fertilizer. In some in-
stances, attempts were made to utilize the fat from the bodies of the victims in
the commercial manufacture of soap.”
This framework of the indictment was based on very few documents, which
are summarized in the index with more or less emphasis depending on the im-
portance attributed to them by the prosecution:
– NI-12207. The indictment of the Tesch Trial,365 which I have dealt with
earlier.
– NI-034. The affidative by Rudolf Höss of May 20, 1946:366
“Affidavit of Rudolf Hoess, SS Commandant at concentration camp Ausch-
witz. ‘I was commandant of Auschwitz until 1 Dec. 1943 and I estimate that
at least 2,500,000 victims were executed and exterminated there in gas
chambers and crematories […]
Mass executions in gas chambers began during summer 1941 and lasted un-
til fall 1944. I supervised personally the executions in Auschwitz until 1 Dec.
1943. After I had constructed the extermination buildings in Auschwitz, I
used Cyclon B, a crystallized prussic acid, which was thrown into the death
chambers through a small opening. […]
I assume with certainty that this firm knew the purpose of the use of Cyclon
B delivered by it. This they would have to conclude from the fact that the gas
for Auschwitz had been ordered continually and in great quantities, while
for the other departments[367] of SS troops, etc. orders were placed only once
or in 6 month intervals. I cannot recall the exact quantities of Cyclon B
which we received from Tesch and Stabenow; however I estimate at least
10,000 cans, that is, 10,000 kilos had been supplied by them in the course of
3 years. This figure is arrived at by computing the number of 2 1/2 million
gassed people and the consumption of an average of 6 cans for every 1500
people.’”
365
Document Book 82. I.G. Farben Case - Count III/C, p. 1, pp. 1-30.
366
Ibid., pp. 31-40; the extracts quoted are from the first three pages.
367
Curiously, here and in the German text the English term “departments” appears instead of the
most-obvious German term “Abteilungen.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 335
Here the propagandistic claims that have ended in the dustbins of history
are of the death-toll figure of two and a half million gassing victims, of the
beginning of mass exterminations in the summer of 1941, and of hydrogen
cyanide “crystals.” The introduction of the Zyklon B occurred through “a
small opening” – just one! – and the amount Höss “calculated” is only half
the amount which Alfred Zaun, Tesch & Stabenow’s accountant, gave for
the years 1942 and 1943 alone: 19,653.5 kg (Affidavit, Oct. 26, 1945, NI-
11396). The calculation method is clearly made-up. The “dosage” of
Zyklon B is also in contradiction to Bendel’s statement: 2 kg for 1,000
people, or 3 kg for 1,500 people.
– NO-2368 [NI-6190]: The statement by Friedrich Entress of April 14, 1947:
“Affidavit of Friedrich Entress, SS doctor at concentration camp Auschwitz.
‘Two old farm buildings were used as the first gas chambers; these buildings
had been specially reconstructed for the gassing. This reconstruction was
carried out by the SS Construction Office. The windows were bricked up, the
partitioning walls taken out and a special door put in, which shut the cham-
ber airtight. The space was made to hold three hundred persons. The pris-
oners had to undress in a barrack situated next to the gas chamber and were
then taken into the gas chamber. After the doors were closed, the gas
(Zyklon B) was thrown by three SS men through slits which could be shut,
into the gas chambers.’[368]
‘The new crematoria were built in such a manner that the complete process
of liquidation could take place in one building. The prisoners were first tak-
en into the undressing rooms and then into the gas chamber. The new gas
chambers had properly constructed chutes [‘Schächte,’ shafts] through
which the gas was let in and a modern ventilation system [‘Entlüftungsanla-
ge,’ air-extraction system]. Adjacent to the gas chambers [‘Anschliessend an
die Gaskammer,’ adjacent to the gas chamber] the crematoria [‘Verbren-
nungsöfen,’ cremation furnaces] were situated, so that the crematoria
[‘Krematorien’] could carry out the liquidation of the prisoners in an as-
sembly line manner (Laufendes Band).’”
The poor Dr. Entress knew nothing about the alleged extermination and
tried to cobble together a story – and a bad one at this – using the little “in-
formation” he had learned during his imprisonment.
He had no idea that the two “farmhouses”, according to the claimed SS
jargon, were to be called “Bunkers.” He claims that they had been remod-
eled by the Auschwitz Construction Office, but there is not the slightest
documentary trace about them. The mainstream narrative has it that these
buildings had two (Bunker 1) or even four gas chambers (Bunker 2), but
for Dr. Entress their internal walls had been torn down to get one single
368
In German: “Zyklon B”; “durch verschliessbare Öffnungen in die Gaskammer”, “through closeab-
le openings into the gas chamber.”
336 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
room. They are said to have had two and eight doors, respectively, but for
Entress there was only one. According to camp commander Höss, their ca-
pacity was 800 and 1,200 people, respectively, but just 300 for Entress.
Only one barracks next to the gas chamber was used as an undressing room
according to him, but star witness Szlama Dragon spoke of two barracks
located 500 meters from “gas chamber no. 1” and two more some 150 me-
ters from the “gas chamber no. 2” (see Mattogno 2016a, p. 74).
Entress had quite some recollections about the crematoria as well: the
openings for introducing Zyklon B were “shafts,” of which he evidently
knew neither the number nor the positions. A de-aeration system he
claimed for the gas chamber existed only in “Morgue #2” (the supposed
undressing room) of Crematoria II and III, while “Morgue #1” (the alleged
“gas chamber”) had both an areation and a de-aeration system, that is to
say, two fans, one to draw in air, the other one to expel it. Finally, the cre-
mation furnaces were not directly adjacent to the “gas chambers” in any of
the Birkenau crematoria.
– NI-11957. Affidavit by R. Diels of October 5, 1945.369 The witness stated
that the use of gas for extermination was known to everyone in Germany,
and that in particular the IG-Farben executives were aware of it.
– NI-11954. The testimony by Perry [sic] Broad during the Tesch Trial on
March 2, 1945 (pp. 50-62):
“Q. What was the name of the gas on the tins which you saw in Auschwitz?
A. Zyklon B.
Q. At a rough estimate, what was the total number of people exterminated by
gas while you were at Auschwitz and Birkenau?
A. I would think 2,500,000 to 3,000,000.
Q. Who were these people who were being gassed?
A. There were German deportees, then Jews from Belgium, Holland, France,
the northern part of Italy, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
Q. How many people could be put into the crematoriums in any one opera-
tion? ...
A. In crematoriums 1 and 2, 3000 to 4000; in crematoriums 3 and 4, 2000;
in 5 there was only a gas stove there – 800 to 1200.”
These insane statements need no further comment.
– NI-11710. This is the famous affidavit by Nyiszli (pp. 63-66) that was
summarized with the following few lines:
“Affidavit by Dr. Nikolae [sic] (a physician detained in Auschwitz). The wit-
ness describes the gassing of human beings with Cyclon B at Auschwitz-Bir-
369
Document Book 82. I.G. Farben Case - Count III/C, p. 1, pp. 46-48; subsequent page numbers
from there unless stated otherwise.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 337
370
Reproduction of the original in: Mattogno 2017, Document 10, pp. 370-372.
371
On the contents, background and historicity of Höss’s various post-war statements see Mattogno
2017.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 339
11953, which is Dr. Bendel’s deposition of March 2, 1946 during the Tesch
Trial,372 which I discussed earlier.
Last but not least, Document Book No. 89 contains Document L-22,373 the
report published in November 1944 by the War Refugee Board Report, con-
sisting of the statements by five detainees who had escaped from Birkenau:
Walter Rosenberg, who later assumed the name Rudolf Vrba, Alfred Wetzler
(April 7, 1944), Czesław Mordowicz and Arnost Rosin (May 27, 1944), as
well as Jerzy Wesolowski, alias Tabeau, known as a “Polish major” (Novem-
ber 19, 1943).
The document is summarized as follows:374
“The reports give figures concerning the size of the different transports which
arrived in the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps, with a breakdown
according to nationalities and origin. The ‘selections’ for the gas chambers
are described in detail as well as the actual gassing procedure with ‘Zyklon.’
It is mentioned that at the inauguration of the first crematorium in Mar. 1943
prominent guests from Berlin, both officers and civilians, were present and
were shown through a special peephole in the gas chamber a ‘program’ con-
sisting of gassing 8,000 Cracow Jews. Many details, e.g., concerning the camp
hospitals, the work of concentration camp inmates for private industries,
rough sketches of the camps and gas chambers give an all-around information
to the public concerning the conditions in the two extermination camps.”
Alfred Wetzler’s report notoriously contains a detailed description of the al-
leged extermination facilities and procedures at Birkenau. I quote the passage
concerning the inauguration of the first Birkenau crematorium:375
“At the end of February, 1943 a new modern crematorium and gassing plant
was inaugurated at BIRKENAU. […]
Prominent guests from BERLIN were present at the inauguration of the first
crematorium in March, 1943. The ‘program’ consisted of the gassing and
burning of 8,000 Cracow Jews. The guests, both officers and civilians, were
extremely satisfied with the results and the special peephole fitted into the
door of the gas chamber was in constant use. They were lavish in their praise
of this newly erected installation.”
Leaving aside the contradiction regarding the inauguration month, the visit of
important guests from Berlin is a fairy tale invented to give an irrelevant event
of German history national importance: the “first crematorium” of Auschwitz-
Birkenau was so significant for all of Germany and the Reich’s government
that eminent military and civilian personalities form Berlin were brought in to
attend its inauguration! There is, of course, no trace of this in the documents.
372
Document Book 83. I.G. Farben Case VI, Count III/B, pp. 154-164.
373
Document Book 89. I.G. Farben Case VI, Count III, pp. 150-264.
374
Ibid., p. 6.
375
From the original text: “The Extermination Camps of Auschwitz (Oswiecim) and Birkenau in Up-
per Silesia.” FDRL, WRB, Box No. 6, pp. 12f.
340 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
As for the Jews of Krakow, according to Czech, the number of those allegedly
gassed during that inauguration was not 8,000, but 1,492, as stated earlier.
Due to its claimed accuracy, Wetzler’s description of the crematoria and
“gas chambers” was a central element of the indictment during the I.G. Farben
Trial:376
“At present there are four crematoria in operation at BIRKENAU, two large
ones, I and II, and two smaller ones, III and IV. Those of type I and II consist
of 3 parts, i.e.: (A) the furnace room; (B) the large hall; and (C) the gas
chamber. A huge chimney rises from the furnace room around which are
grouped nine furnaces, each having four openings.
Each opening can take three normal corpses at once and after an hour and a
half the bodies are completely burned. This corresponds to a daily capacity of
about 2,000 bodies. Next to this is a large ‘reception hall’ which is arranged
so as to give the impression of the antechamber of a bathing establishment. It
holds 2,000 people and apparently there is a similar waiting room on the floor
below. From there a door and a few steps lead down into the very long and
narrow gas chamber. The walls of this chamber are also camouflaged with
simulated entries to shower rooms in order to mislead the victims.
This roof is fitted with three traps which can be hermetically closed from the
outside. A track leads from the gas chamber to the furnace room. The gassing
takes place as follows: the unfortunate victims are brought into hall (B) where
they are told to undress. To complete the fiction that they are going to bathe,
each person receives a towel and a small piece of soap issued by two men clad
in white coats. They are then crowded into the gas chamber (C) in such num-
bers there is, of course, only standing room.
To compress this crowd into the narrow space, shots are often fired to induce
those already at the far end to huddle still closer together. When everybody is
inside, the heavy doors are closed. Then there is a short pause, presumably to
allow the room temperature to rise to a certain level, after which SS men with
gas masks climb on the roof, open the traps, and shake down a preparation in
powder form out of tin cans labeled ‘CYKLON’ ‘For use against vermin,’
which is manufactured by a Hamburg concern.
It is presumed that this is a ‘CYANIDE’ mixture of some sort which turns into
gas at a certain temperature. After three minutes everyone in the chamber is
dead. No one is known to have survived this ordeal, although it was not un-
common to discover signs of life after the primitive measures employed in the
Birch Wood.
The chamber is then opened, aired, and the ‘special squad’ carts the bodies on
flat trucks to the furnace rooms where the burning takes place. Crematoria III
and IV work on nearly the same principle, but their capacity is only half as
large. Thus the total capacity of the four cremating and gassing plants at
BIRKENAU amounts to about 6,000 daily.”
376
Ibid., p. 13.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 341
This description contradicts what Nyiszli had described in his book. What
Nyiszli wrote there is also in sharp contrast to all the other, more important
testimonies as collected in the case files, i.e., those by R. Höss, F. Entress, P.
Broad and C.S. Bendel. This is most likely the reason why prosecutor
Minskoff declined to have Nyiszli testify during the trial. This very rejection
probably led Nyiszli, as a sort of childish revenge, to invent his own trial dep-
osition which, however, never happened. One can certainly believe Nyiszli
when he claims that he had brought a copy of his book to Nuremberg, but ap-
parently it had the exact opposite effect of what he claimed:
“The prosecutor lifted a copy of my book from his desk.
‘In that regard, the doctor’s statement is also important because he put it in
writing in a 1946 volume, thus submitting his experiences. We requested this
copy from the author. Our experts have examined its data and, having com-
pared them with the documents available during this trial for the past two
years, regard it as documentary material because with its description it has
shed light on hitherto still rather unknown details.’” (TVN)
Nyiszli’s book was undoubtedly examined, but was found to be totally dis-
cordant with the material already collected by the prosecution, so it was not
taken into account in any way, and Nyiszli was not admitted as a witness. His
claim that the active ingredient in Zyklon B was chlorine, and the description
of the invented gassing scenario based on this false assumption certainly did
not make him trustworthy in the eyes of those who had extensive technical
documentation of prime quality on Zyklon B.
Wetzler’s report was a first attempt to put some order in the multifaceted
and contrasting propaganda claims about the crematoria and “gas chambers”
created by the resistance movement at Auschwitz, which consisted of various
groups – Polish, French, Belgian, Russian, German, Czech, Slovakian, Yugo-
slavian – each of which had its own headquarters inventing and disseminating
fake news.
In many regards, the narration contained in Wetzler’s report is even more
nonsensical than Nyiszli’s. I limit myself to some essential observations.
According to the actual blueprints of the crematoria:
1. the furnace room was equipped with five triple-muffle furnaces (15 muf-
fles total) rather than nine quadruple-muffle furnaces (36 muffles total);
2. each furnace had three rather than four muffles;
3. the furnaces were lined up in a straight line along the longitudinal axis of
the furnaces room, rather than grouped together in a semi-circle around the
chimney;
4. the room later labeled as the victims’ undressing room (Morgue #2) was
located in the basement rather than on the ground floor;
342 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
5. the room later labeled as gas chamber (Morgue #1) was not on the ground
floor, a little lower than the undressing room, but rather in the basement,
on the same level as the undressing room;
6. the room labeled as a gas chamber was connected to the furnaces room by
an elevator rather than by rails.
According to the current mainstream Holocaust narrative:
7. the gas chamber is said to have had four openings to introduce Zyklon B
rather than three;
8. the introduction shafts are said to have been closed with simple lids made
of cement or wood which could not have sealed the shafts hermetically;
9. the story of the distribution of towels and a piece of soap is a fable;
10. the cremation capacity of a single muffle – three corpses within 90 minutes
(30 min/corpse) – stands in contrast to the official one: two corpses within
half an hour (15 min/corpse; Piper 2000, p. 164);
11. as blueprints show,377 Morgue #1 of Crematoria II and III, the alleged “gas
chamber,” was partially underground; its roof was only 36 cm higher than
the floor of the buildings’ ground floor. To this, we need to add several
inches of soil lying on that roof. The introduction shafts themselves were
only 40-50 cm high either, if we follow Pressac (1989, p. 475). Hence, it
makes no sense to state that the SS men introducing the poison gas climbed
onto the roof of the gas chamber.
From a technical point of view:
12. the claimed cremation capacity of 2,000 corpses within 24 hours for each
of Crematorium II and III, and 1,000 for each of Crematorium IV and V,
totaling 6,000 per day, is utterly absurd;
13. as pointed out earlier, the time it allegedly took for the victims to die –
three minutes – is another absurdity parroted with small variations by many
other witnesses, including Nyiszli himself.
Wetzler’s report is of paramount importance to the propaganda history of
Auschwitz. Since both the report’s sketch and the description of Crematoria II
and III are pure fantasy, it follows that Wetzler’s tale about the extermination
of the Jews in homicidal gas chambers did not originate from members of the
so-called Sonderkommando, but was in fact invented without their knowledge.
This in turn proves that this tale was created by the camp’s resistance move-
ment as atrocity propaganda without even a thought to consulting inmates
working in the crematoria! Further proof for this is Filip Müller’s later claim
that he had handed over to Alfred Wetzler in 1944, among other documents,
“a plan of the crematorium with gas chambers” (“einen Plan der Krematorien
mit den Gaskammern”; Müller 1979a, p. 193), which was obviously another
377
In particular Plan 109/13A of September 21, 1943. Pressac 1989, p. 323.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 343
shameless lie, because had he done so, Wetzler would have gotten it right to
begin with.
ditions inside the camp: Imre Reich,378 Imréné Kenész,379 Dénesné Szépvöl-
gyi,380 Géza Klein,381 Jenő Vámosi,382 who also referred to the “rebellion in
the crematorium,” which, according to him, took place “in September
1944.”383 The latest testimony is that of Károly Klein, written down on July
12, 1945 (ibid., p. 152). Among the promoters of the book was also the “As-
sistance Committee of Deported Hungarian Jews” (Magyaroszági Zsidók De-
portáltakat Gondozó Bizottság), the same organization mentioned by Robert
Jay Lifton in relation to a testimony by a certain “Miklof Nyifcli” of July 28,
1945. It is unknown why this testimony was not included in the book. Chrono-
logical reasons are possible but unlikely, since the book contains a statement
of a couple of weeks earlier.
A “Report by the Hungarian physician Dr. Gyula Gál. Budapest,” dated
March 22, 1945 and written in German on request of the Soviets, contains a
long story about Birkenau. Being destined for the Soviets, the witness claimed
as follows:
“At this place, the Germans exterminated roughly 5 million people, 3 1/2 mil-
lion Jews and roughly 1 1/2 Million Poles and Russians.”
The gassing of the victims took place in a “gas barracks” (Gasbaracke), in this
way:
“400 people at one time were brought into a room with showers, which there-
fore resembled a bathroom. At first, they even gave these unfortunates soaps
and towels, allegedly in order to wash themselves. When all were inside, the
hermetically closing doors were locked, and Zyklon B, a powder full of cya-
nide – the product of a Hamburg firm – was poured out over them. This pow-
der caused death within two minutes.”
There were eight dentists who tore gold teeth out of the corpses, then the
corpses were taken to the crematorium, “where they were cremated within two
hours.” Furthermore we read:384
“This method was used in particular when the crematorium, scheduled for this
respective extermination of 15,000 people could not keep up with the work, i.e.
when more than 15,000 were to be killed. That was mostly the case when new
victims came in large quantities from Hungary and Poland.”
The DEGOB website contains a vast collection of testimonies on Auschwitz,
including the one by Nyiszli, both a scan of the original and a translation into
English. Though the number of testimonies is substantial (3,523 testimonies
by 4,838 individuals, since some statements were authored by several wit-
378
Vihar 1945, pp. 83-86; undated.
379
Ibid., pp. 88-92. Protocol of March 8, 1945.
380
Ibid., pp. 95-98. Protocol of March 8, 1945.
381
Ibid., pp. 101f. Protocol of March 6, 1945.
382
Ibid., pp. 111-115. Protocol of March 13, 1945.
383
Ibid., p. 115. “Lázadás a krematóriumban.”
384
GARF, 7021-108, pp. 67-74, here pp. 67f.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 345
nesses together), none of these testimonies mentions Nyiszli, and only one is
relevant to the subject of this study. It should be pointed out that this website
keeps these testimonies anonymous; for each testimony, only the initials of the
witness’s first and last name are given, plus the gender, date and place of
birth, profession, as well as the ghettos and camps to which the witness was
deported. I reproduce here the essential passages of interest to the present
study:385
“Protocol Nr. 308 [July 4, 1945]
Name: S. M.
Gender: male
Place of birth: Budapest
Date of birth: 1922
Place of residence: Budapest
Occupation: physician candidate
Camps: Birkenau, Mauthausen, Melk, Ebensee
[…] The oft-mentioned Mengele’s favourite hobby was research in genetic in-
heritance; therefore he treated twins with special attention. Amongst the Gipsy
children, there were also three pairs of twins, one in the hospital and two pairs
in the kindergarten of the camp. In the morning of the 2nd of August 1944, Dr
Mengele entrusted these children to the head doctor of the Gipsy barrack, Dr
Rabinovits, and came to fetch them personally by car in the evening. Three
days later, Mengele arrived in the hospital pretty upset and looked for the doc-
tor responsible for the Gipsy children. He rapped him over the knuckles for
not examining patients with attention, not caring about them, he claimed that
doctors were interested only in extra food rations, and threatened them with
severe reprisals because they had not noticed or registered on the card the
easily recognisable symptoms of tuberculosis of one of the twins. As an answer
to the question how this had been known, which was raised by the reproached
doctor, Mengele produced with a matter-of-fact gesture a necropsy record, in
which the results of a technically perfect autopsy were proficiently presented
regarding the little child, who had been evidently killed earlier by gas. (When
our transport arrived Mengele’s first question was whether there was a
pathologist among us, and he kept repeating the same question till he found
the pathologist of the public hospital of Szombathely, Dr Dénes Görög.) Bas-
ing my opinion on the two or three very short conversations that I had the op-
portunity to have with Mengele, I join the general opinion of the hospital’s
doctors that Mengele had in fact neurotic disorders. Presumably spotted fever
caused him maniac [sic] depression, and his obsession was to realise eugenic
selections, which had been known on a theoretical level already for a long
time. After the more or less six-week service in hospital, I became the Vertreter
(second commander) of one of the blocks, and as such, I was in charge of
385
http://degob.org/index.php?showjk=308; last accessed on May 6, 2020; uncorrected English trans-
lation as posted on that website.
346 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Part 5:
Nyiszli’s Statements
in the Orthodox
Holocaust Narrative
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 349
386
I refer in particular to his analysis of Henryk Tauber’s testimony (Pressac 1989, pp. 481-502), alt-
hough it is somewhat lacking. See Mattogno 2019, pp. 331-375.
350 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
for gold and the removal of the dentures and hair which were regarded by the
Germans as strategic materials. Then the journey by lift or rail-wagon to the
furnaces, the mill that ground the clinker to fine ash, and the lorry that scat-
tered the ashes in the stream of the Sola. […] I quote Dr. Bendel, as he gave
his evidence at Lueneburg:
‘Now a real hell begins. The Sonderkommando tries to work as fast as possi-
ble. In frenzied haste they drag the corpses by the wrists. They look like devils.
People who had human faces before, I no longer recognize. A barrister from
Salonika, an electrical engineer from Budapest – they are no longer human
beings, because, even as they work, blows from sticks and rubber truncheons
are showered on them. All the time this is going on, people are being shot in
front of the ditches, people who could not be got into the gas chambers be-
cause they were overcrowded. After an hour-and-a-half the whole work has
been done, and a new transport has been dealt with in Crematorium No. 4.’”
It would be all too facile to expose Reitlinger’s crass errors in order to dismiss
present-day, orthodox Holocaust historiography in toto, as the latter unfailing-
ly does by exposing Paul Rassinier’s errors in order to attack present-day revi-
sionism.387 Such is not the goal of the brief analysis which follows, even if, as
we evaluate the method employed by Reitlinger, it behooves us not to forget
that his book, at the time of its publication, brought together and synthesized
in the highest degree all of orthodox historiography’s “proofs” regarding the
“gas chambers.”
The letter from “Messrs. Toepf,” that is, from the firm J. A. Topf & Söhne,
dated February 12, 1943, was taken by Reitlinger, without any indication of its
source, probably from the Soviet report on Auschwitz presented at Nuremberg
as Document USSR-8.10 As reproduced in Volume XXXIX of the IMT rec-
ords (where Reitlinger presumably found it), the text is a retranslation into
German from a Russian translation of the German original, garbled in the pro-
cess with gross errors of fact and interpretation, as a comparison with the orig-
inal text388 demonstrates. For example, the letter, which was originally di-
rected to the “Zentral-Bauleitung der Waffen-SS und Polizei” of Auschwitz,
in retranslation becomes addressed to the “Zentralbauverwaltung der SS und
Polizei.” Worse, the subject of the letter (the “Re:” line), which in the original
is “Krematorium II und III KGL” (“Crematorium II and III of the PoW
Camp”), in retranslation becomes “Krematorien fuer das zweite und dritte Ge-
fangenenlager” or “Crematoria for the second and third prisoner camp”! Most
bizarrely, the retranslation misconstrues a key passage in the Topf letter in
which it quotes a telegram the firm had previously received from the Central
387
It is sufficient to cite as representative here Lipstadt 1994, pp. 51-64 et passim.
388
APMO, BW30/34, p. 84. This document is reproduced in facsimile, with an accompanying Eng-
lish translation, in: Pressac 1989, p. 361. The document itself, it should be noted, is a typed copy
(“Abschrift”) of the original letter; the copy is signed by Zentralbauleitung employee SS Unter-
sturmführer Josef Janisch.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 351
Construction Office such that it has the SS acknowledging the receipt of or-
ders from Topf, rather than confirming its own orders to Topf! Original
text:388
“Für Krematorium III KGL 5mal Dreimuffelöfen wird der bereits getätigte
Auftrag der gesamten Maschineneinrichtung einschließlich 2 Stück endgülti-
gen elektrischen Leichenaufzügen und einem provisorischen kurzfristig liefer-
baren Leichenaufzug sowie einer praktischen Kohlenbeschickung und Asche-
transportvorrichtung nochmals bestätigt.”
“For Crematorium III [of the] PoW Camp [with] 5 three-muffle furnaces, the
order already placed for the complete mechanical installations, including 2
permanent electrical corpse elevators and one provisional corpse elevator to
be available in the short term, as well as a practical installation for coal de-
livery and ash transport is once again confirmed.”
Retranslation (IMT, Vol. XXXIX, p. 243):
“Wir bestaetigen nochmals den Empfang Ihres Auftrags fuer fuenf dreiteilige
Verbrennungsoefen einschliesslich zwei elektrischen Aufzuegen fuer die Befo-
erderung von Leichen und einem zweiteiligen Aufzug fuer Leichen. Eine
brauchbare Einrichtung fuer die Beheizung mit Kohle und eine Vorrichtung
fuer die Entfernung der Asche sind ebenfalls in Auftrag gegeben.”
“We confirm once more receipt of your order for five three-part cremation
furnaces, including two electric elevators for the transport of corpses and one
two-part elevator for corpses. A usable device for heating with coal and a
mechanism for the removal of ashes are ordered as well.”
What matters most here, however, is how Reitlinger interpreted the document.
Leaving aside minor details, we may note simply that he attributes five triple-
muffle furnaces to all four of the Birkenau crematoria (“in each crematorium
there were five three-door furnaces”), and that he confuses the two larger
crematoria (II and III, provided with half-basement rooms identified today as
“undressing rooms” and “gas chambers”) with the two smaller crematoria (IV
and V, with all rooms on the ground floor), writing at once of how “in the two
larger crematoria the gas chambers were on the same level as the furnaces”
and of “[the] underground gas chambers of the smaller crematoria.”
From Ada Bimko, Reitlinger picks up the fable of the cart on rails which
carried bodies from the “gas chamber” to the cremation furnaces, a detail “re-
vealed” also by Wetzler but denied ex silentio by Nyiszli.
To the latter, on the other hand, he attributes the description of a sloping
passage (“subway”), down which fathers push their children in baby carriages
into the crematorium building – a description which is simply invented by
Reitlinger. In this case, he seems to have been led astray by his faulty under-
standing of French when reading the translation of the relevant passage from
Nyiszli’s book as published in 1951 in “Les Temps Modernes.” The image is
cobbled together from two sentences. The first – “Les bébès, le plus sovent,
352 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
sont transportés dans les bras du père, ou bien ces derniers poussent la voi-
ture” (“The babies for the most part are carried in the arms of their father, or
these latter [i.e., fathers, sic]389 push them in carriages”; Nyiszli 1951, p. 1662)
– comes from the scene, in Chapter VII, in which the long column of selected
Jews enters the courtyard of Crematorium II. The second then appears a cou-
ple of paragraphs later as the column of Jews is described arriving “jusqu’à
une rampe de fer, d’où dix ou douze marches en béton conduisent sous terre”
(“at an iron railing from which ten or twelve concrete steps lead below
ground”; ibid.). The French term “rampe” can mean both railing and ramp.
Reitlinger has therefore misunderstood, but how could he think of an “iron
ramp” (like an access ramp to a garage) having concrete steps?390
Reitlinger’s reference to the gas which “escaped from the perforations in
the sheet-metal columns” is also taken from Nyiszli, but the latter knew noth-
ing of “douches” (i.e., shower heads) installed in the “gas chambers”; this par-
ticular detail Reitlinger takes once again from Ada Bimko. Moreover, while
Reitlinger notes that “no water came” from these shower heads, he is careful
to refrain from mentioning that, according to Bimko’s testimony, the gas came
from them (Phillips 1949, p. 742):
“The S.S, man told me that the pipes, which were in the floor, were connected
to the spray fittings in the gas chamber below.”
Reitlinger repeats Ada Bimko’s claim that there were no “drainage runnels” in
the “gas chambers,” but then goes on to report Nyiszli’s claims about using
hoses to wash down the blood- and excrement-soiled corpses without so much
as asking himself where this filthy liquid was supposed to end up going. Once
again, as in the case of the iron “ramp,” Reitlinger demonstrates an incredible
lack of critical sense.
The “‘exhauster’ electric pumps” also come from Nyiszli’s account. Reit-
linger obviously felt the need to flag the term, but as I have already explained
above, the term exhauster (German Exhaustor) does not designate any particu-
lar system of construction, but rather is simply a generic term for a ventilation
or air-exhaust device. He then transforms the large, double-leaved oak door
(“[…] un SS ouvre à deux battants la grande porte en chêne”; Nyiszli 1951, p.
1663), which the SS manually open and which leads directly into the “gas
chamber” in Nyiszli’s account, into a “great metal door” which “slid open.”
In the last section of his description, Reitlinger outdoes himself again, in-
venting a “mill that ground the clinker to fine ash” and confusing the Sola
389
The quoted text is revised in the 1961 Julliard edition to eliminate the awkward switch in number
from “père” to “ces derniers”: “Les bébès, le plus sovent, sont transportés dans les bras du père,
ou bien ce dernier pousse leur voiture” (Nyiszli 1961a, p. 53; emphasis added).
390
The original Hungarian word “vaskorláthoz” can only mean iron railing, but not iron ramp. Re-
markably, the same error was made by Richard Seaver when retranslating Tibère Kremer’s French
version into English in 1960: “they advanced […] to an iron ramp, from which 10 or 12 concrete
steps led underground”; Nyiszli 1960, p. 44; emphasis added).
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 353
with the Vistula as the river into which this ash allegedly was discarded. He
then caps it all off with a quotation from Charles Bendel, but of all the various
statements of this notorious “eyewitness,” he sees fit to use only a few sen-
tences from the Belsen trial record (which are practically irrelevant anyway),
all the while observing a discreet silence regarding the glaring contradictions
between them and the statements of Ada Bimko and Nyiszli. And this was the
man who blazed the trail of orthodox Holocaust history for Raul Hilberg!
Such a pattern of selective quotation is nothing unusual in mainstream his-
toriography. Another Holocaust exegete who distinguished himself by his use
of this “method” was the French historian Georges Wellers, particularly in his
anti-revisionist book Les chambres à gaz ont existé (The Gas Chambers Exist-
ed), in which he presented the customary jumble of contradictory testimonies
and even a “Comparative analysis of the testimonies” – the conclusion of
which, naturally, was that, while they certainly displayed some inevitable “di-
vergences,” nonetheless “on the essential point, all these testimonies are in
agreement” (Wellers 1981, pp. 96-129, here p. 129). This dodge is entirely fu-
tile and inconsequential, however, for the “essential point” of the various tes-
timonies boils down to the existence of the “gas chambers,” and on this “es-
sential point” they nonetheless each give divergent and mutually contradictory
accounts.
Nor did Raul Hilberg himself escape this practice. His exposition of the
presumed extermination procedure at Auschwitz perfectly illustrates his
method of cherry-picking phrases from mutually contradictory testimonies in
order to create a factitious portrait that is seemingly coherent and supported by
multiple sources (Hilberg 2003, p. 1041):
“When the Auschwitz victims filed into the gas chambers, they discovered that
the imitation showers did not work [note 91]. Outside, a central switch was
pulled to turn off the lights [note 92], and a Red Cross car drove up with the
Zyklon [note 93]. An SS man, wearing a gas mask fitted with a special filter,
lifted the glass shutter over the lattice and emptied one can after another into
the gas chamber. Although the lethal dose was one milligram per kilogram of
body weight[391] and the effect was supposed to be rapid, dampness could re-
tard with which the gas was spreading [note 94]. Untersturmführer Grabner,
political officer of the camp, stood ready with stopwatch in hand [note 95].”
In these few lines, Hilberg calls upon five witnesses and one judge – Jan Sehn
[note 91], Miklós Nyiszli [note 92], Charles Bendel [note 93], Rudolf Höss
and Filip Müller [note 94], and Pery Broad [note 95] – without troubling him-
self in the least with the strident contradictions which they present among
each other, and all the while pretending that they collectively form a harmoni-
391
This is a plausible lethal dose for hydrogen cyanide (HCN) when ingested orally. To reach this
dose when inhaling gaseous hydrogen cyanide, numerous factors come into play, such as concen-
tration in the air, breathing volume and speed, physical fitness etc.
354 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
ous portrait which is coherent with the presumed facts. Rather tellingly, out-
side of this one footnote, he does not have the courage to so much as mention
Nyiszli in the rest of his massive three-volume study.
Worse still, a similar method has been adopted – and indeed continues to
be employed – even by the official Auschwitz State Museum in Poland. Alt-
hough it has published various testimonies in whole or in part (as, for exam-
ple, those of Rudolf Höss, Pery Broad, Henryk Tauber, Stanisław Jankowski,
and various members of the Sonderkommando), it has never bothered to sub-
ject these individual testimonies to critical analysis in order to ascertain their
degree of veracity, limiting itself instead to simple explanatory annotations. In
the case that interests us here, Franciszek Piper, former director of the Musem
and for years chair of its Historical Department, cites Nyiszli twenty times in
the German translation of his study on “Extermination” at Auschwitz, with the
usual mosaic of selective quotations, seeking to “document” otherwise-un-
known aspects of the history of the camp of which Nyiszli remains the sole
guarantor.
Piper’s first mention of Nyiszli involves a long quotation relative to the
dissection hall of Crematorium II (2000, p. 115), on the disposition and fur-
nishing of which Piper evidently knows nothing from other sources. Later in
the study, he provides a detailed description of Crematoria II and III, even re-
producing an architectural plan of the buildings,392 but when it comes to the
presumed gassings there, he is forced to alternately rely on or reject Nyiszli’s
account on numerous details, including:
1. “Gas Chamber” Sign
Piper relies on Nyiszli about a sign in various languages allegedly posted at
the entrance to the “gas chamber” saying “To Baths and Disinfection” (ibid.,
p. 169). However, Piper stays mute about the absurd dimensions Nyiszli at-
tributes to the “undressing room” and “gas chamber,” each 200 meters long in
his description. It is worth mentioning here as well that the German translation
of Nyiszli’s book referred to by Piper in his notes to his study correctly trans-
lates the relevant passage as “einen etwa 200 Meter langen […] Raum” (“an
approximately 200-meter-long […] room”; Nyiszli 1992, p. 34), but the Polish
translation published one year later, which Piper himself annotated, crudely
falsifies the text here, saying that the room in question “ma około 50 metrów
długości” (“has a length of about 50 meters”; Nyiszli 1996, p. 35), nearly
identical to the real value of 49.43 meters! On the other hand, the two transla-
tions are in agreement in eliminating Nyiszli’s embarrassing reference to
chlorine and “granular form” in his description of Zyklon B. Where the origi-
nal text has
392
Since the buildings were built as mirror images of one another, one plan suffices for both.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 355
“A beszórt anyag Cyclon, vagy Chlór szemcsés formája, azonnal gázt fejleszt,
amint a levegővel érintkezik!” (Nyiszli 1946, p. 35)
“The material poured out is Cyclon, or chlorine in granular form; it immedi-
ately gives off gas as soon as it comes into contact with air!” (MBV, Chapter
VII)
in translation this becomes, respectively (Nyiszli 1992, p. 36):
„Die Substanz: Zyklon B. Im Kontakt mit der Luft entwickelt sich aus der Sub-
stanz ein Gas […]”
(“The substance: Zyklon B. In contact with air, a gas develops from out of the
substance […]”)
And (Nyiszli 1996, p. 37):
“To cyklon. Natychmiast po zetknięciu się z powietrzem wydziela się gaz.”
(“This is Zyklon. Immediately upon contact with air, gas develops.”)
393
Piper 2000, p. 170; verbatim taken from Bezwińska/Czech 1984, pp. 134f.
356 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“In Crematoria II and III there was one pair of movable rollers per oven
(three receptacles); in Crematoria IV and V, each receptacle had its own roll-
ers. […] Nyiszli, Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Account, pp. 51-55”
This note refers to the loading rollers (Laufrollen) originally placed below the
door of a cremation muffle in order to facilitate the insertion of corpses into
the muffle using a corpse-introduction cart before this system was replaced by
more-practical introduction stretchers.394 Piper explains all this to his reader in
his text. Though cited as a source, Nyiszli not only does not confirm Piper’s
description, he flatly contradicts it. Nyiszli knew nothing of triple-muffled
furnaces, but rather believed that in each of the four crematoria there were fif-
teen individual furnaces with one muffle each. Likewise, Nyiszli knew noth-
ing of the corpse-introduction cart having been replaced by stretchers. He in-
stead described devices more or less corresponding to the corpse-introduction
carts, which were no longer in use in Birkenau by 1944 (see p. 198). Moreo-
ver, Nyiszli never mentions the rollers and never talks about the furnaces of
Crematoria IV and V. Piper’s reference to the “rollers” probably derives from
a slightly too-casual translation of the German version (Nyiszli 1992, p. 39):
“Jeweils drei werden auf ein aus Stahlplatten hergestelltes Rollgestell gelegt.
Automatisch öffnen sich die schweren Eisentüren […].”
“Three at a time are placed on a rolling framework made of steel plates. The
heavy iron doors open automatically […]”
The Hungarian text states instead:
“These [the members of the cremation Kommando] then place them [the
corpses] three at a time on a pushing device made of steel plates. The fur-
nace’s heavy iron doors open automatically. The device moving on iron
wheels rolls into the glowing furnace, drops its load, slides back, heated to in-
candescence.” (MBV, Chapter VII)
394
For this question, and that of Nyiszli’s numbering of the cremation furnaces immediately follow-
ing, see the discussion in Section 3.2.3.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 357
teen single-muffle furnaces. Piper shows not the least concern for these in-
credible absurdities in his supposed source, going on to tranquilly affirm that
Crematoria IV and V had a daily capacity of 1,500 corpses each (ibid., p.
173), or 3,000 together, instead of the 10,000 claimed by Nyiszli!
6. The “Bunkers” of Birkenau
Piper dedicates an entire section to the “Bunkers” of Birkenau and provides a
plan and a detailed description of “Bunker 2,” alleged to have contained four
“gas chambers” (ibid., pp. 138-140). As I have pointed out above, however,
for Nyiszli there existed neither a “Bunker 2” nor four “gas chambers,” but
merely a run-down farmhouse with a single room which served as an undress-
ing room for the victims who were to be shot at the two burning pits. Piper
takes not the slightest notice of so extreme a contradiction from a source he is
elsewhere content to use, pretending instead, as with all the others, that it
simply does not exist.
7. Executions
Referring to Chapter IX of Nyiszli’s book, Piper writes that small groups of
people were executed with firearms in the crematoria (ibid., p. 179):
“including Soviet prisoners of war and Poles sentenced by the summary court
in Katowice.”
In reality, the victims whom Nyiszli speaks of are completely different from
those claimed by Piper, namely women selected from Sector BIIc (women’s
camp):
“They are the selected from camp section C […] every evening at seven a
truck brings seventy over.” (MBV, Chapter IX; Nyiszli 1992, p. 48)
Later, in Chapter XXII, Nyiszli returns to the theme, and the class of victims
expands to include men:
“[…] each evening around seven o’clock, a truck passes through the cremato-
rium gate and brings seventy to eighty women or men for liquidation. They are
the daily selections of the K.Z. They arrive here from the barracks and the
hospitals.” (Nyiszli 1992, p. 85)
Contrary to what Piper claims, the routine (“nightly”) executions Nyiszli
claimed to have witnessed at the crematorium evidently had nothing to do
with Soviet POWs or Poles condemned to death by the Gestapo.395
395
Admittedly, in Chapter XXIX Nyiszli does dissect the corpse of a Russian officer shot during an
escape attempt (and thus not executed per se), and in Chapter XXXVII he talks to a group of
Poles condemned for various offences by the Gestapo. The latter incident is alleged to have oc-
curred at Crematorium V on January 1, 1945, after the “suspension” of regular killing operations
at Birkenau, and marks the last occasion Nyiszli speaks of executions at the camp; it is also the
sole occasion he speaks in the book of the execution of non-Jewish Poles.
358 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
396
Adding the numbers up, this makes for 4 + 30 + 70 + 100 = 204 prisoners. Piper has forgotten to
clarify the fate of his remaining eight survivors.
397
For more on Pach, see in particular Section 5.2.2.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 359
Similarly, further along in the same chapter the phrase “Four large me-
chanical freight elevators are in operation here” (MBV, Chapter VII) be-
comes, in Polish, “pracuje tam wielki dźwig towarowy” (Nyiszli 1996, p. 39)
which translates to “a large freight elevator is working here.”
Later, speaking of the “thatch-roofed farmhouse” near the two pyres in
Chapter XIII, Nyiszli affirms that “There is no gas chamber which they be-
lieve to be a shower room,” since as far as he is concerned the house is a sim-
ple undressing room for the victims who are to be shot at the pyres. The Polish
version, on the other hand, eliminates Nyiszli’s embarrassing reference to the
non-existence of gas chambers in the building: “Nie ma budynku, który mogli-
by uważać za łaźnię” (ibid., p. 64), which translates to “There is no building
which could be considered a bathhouse.”
The deception is then completed with a pair of captious annotations by
Piper. First, on the “thatch-roofed farmhouse” (ibid., p. 176, Note 27):
“This is the provisional gas chamber which was put into operation in mid-
1942 following the adaptation of a farmhouse in Brzezinka (Birkenau). After
the four crematoria and gas chambers started operating, this chamber was not
used. It resumed operation again in May 1944, during the period of mass in-
flux of Hungarian Jewish transports. It was initially called ‘white house’ or
‘bunker 2,’ in 1944 the name ‘bunker 5.’ was also used.”
And then on the shootings at the pyres (ibid., Note 28):
“This system of execution by shooting was rare. Usually the corpses of people
murdered with gas in the gas chamber were burned.”
Thus, the mention of the “farmhouse,” which for Nyiszli explicitly was not a
“gas chamber,” becomes for Piper a confirmation of “the gas chambers”! Nat-
urally he does not explain why Nyiszli himself never used any of the names
for the building, allegedly in common circulation, of “white house” or “bunker
2” or “bunker 5.” And then in the second note, the shootings at the pyres
which Nyiszli describes as the only system in use at the location, are trans-
formed by Piper into a rarity!
Another manipulation in the Polish version concerns the description of the
activities of the “Dayan.” The passage in Nyiszli’s original reads as follows:
“I had no other arguments. The Ober accepted them, and at my suggestion the
man was sent to the so-called Canada rubbish heap burning in the courtyard
of Crematorium II. […] The Canada rubbish heap was a constantly burning
mound; in this place hundreds of thousands of photographs of married cou-
ples, elderly parents, attractive children and beautiful girls burned in the com-
pany of thousands of prayer books.” (MBV, Chapter XXXV, emphasis added)
The Polish version, in turn, reads (Nyiszli 1996, p. 150):
362 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“Eight hundred and fifty-three prisoners had died. Seventy SS soldiers were
killed. Among them were an Obersturmführer, seventeen Oberscharführer and
Scharführer, and fifty-two Sturmmann, that is, mere privates,”
In a note on this point, Piper observes that the number of SS men killed given
by Nyiszli is not substantiated by other sources, rather it is refuted by Stand-
ortbefehl (Garrison Order) No. 26/44 of October 12, 1944, which I mentioned
earlier (Section 3.6.2.). Piper then states that 451 inmates of the Sonderkom-
mando were killed in the revolt while 212 survived (ibid., Note 48 on p. 179).
Nyiszli, on the other hand, claims that only seven inmates survived. How can
we explain this blatant contradiction? Piper does not address it, and as usual
does not exhibit even the most basic critical attitude. He is therefore fully
conniving both with the manipulations of the Polish translation of Nyiszli’s
book, which he must have been aware of,398 and with the absurdities uttered
by Nyiszli.
398
The Polish translation is from 1996, while the German, more-accurate one, which Piper cites ex-
cessively in his 1999 study “Vernichtung,” dates back to 1992.
399
All emphases and capitalizations here and below in original unless otherwise noted.
364 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Pressac arrives at the following conclusion at the end of his analysis (ibid., p.
475):
“The average of the different multipliers [is] almost exactly 4. If we apply this
to the official total of 4 million victims we arrive at a figure much closer to re-
ality: 1 million. This calculation is by no means scientific or rigorous, but it
shows that DOCTOR NYISZLI, a respectable ACADEMIC, TRAINED IN
GERMANY, multiplied the figures by FOUR when describing the interior of
Krematorium II and when speaking of the number of persons or victims.”
For Pressac this means that, apart from the “exaggerations,” Nyiszli’s testi-
mony is precise and therefore trustworthy. Nonetheless, Pressac himself iden-
tifies not less than twenty-five “errors” in this one chapter (VII) of Nyiszli’s
book, many of which indeed are not numerical in nature (ibid., pp. 474f.).
In sum, Pressac believes that Nyiszli was “an authentic witness,” some-
thing which, in his opinion, “can easily be proved,” but that “the mystery of
the ‘multiplier’ still remains complete.” A few paragraphs later he adds:
“The case of Dr Miklos NYISZLI’s book is baffling. In my opinion, it contains
the most impressive evocation of the ‘demential nightmare’ experienced by the
thousand men of the Sonderkommando.” (ibid., p. 479)
This is a judgment, at last, with which one can entirely agree, though only on
the condition that one take the expression “demential nightmare” literally.
Pressac holds, incomprehensibly, that Nyiszli really did live in Crematori-
um II (a possibility which is excluded by the series of absurdities proffered by
him in his book on the layout of this building – see Chapter 3.7). In support of
this conviction, Pressac offers a “proof” – even as he acknowledges yet again
that “The problem of the completely false figures in Chapter Seven still re-
mains.” This problem is all the more serious in that, for Pressac, these exag-
gerations or errors apparently could only have been somehow intentional:
“I consider it to be quite impossible that these wrong figures could simply be
‘careless,’ since they are in such stark contrast to the precision and truth of
other passages in the book.” (Ibid.)
But then, why would a “respectable academic” ever have taken recourse to
such silly falsifications?
The proof in question is this: in Chapter XIX of his book, Nyiszli writes of
“the four lightning rods placed at the corners of the crematorium chimney” –
lightning rods which, Pressac notes, also appear in a drawing by David Olère
(ibid.).400 Pressac comments (ibid.):401
“But both [men] commit a slight error.
400
Pressac here quotes from the 1961 English translation of Richard Seaver. The picture by Olère is
reproduced by Pressac on p. 259.
401
PMO neg. no. 20995/507 is reproduced on p. 342 of Pressac’s book.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 365
Photograph PMO neg. no. 20995/507 shows the south side and west end of
Krematorium III with, rising 2 metres above the chimney, four lightning con-
ductors that are not ‘at the four corners’ but in the centre of each of the four
sides of the chimney.[402] Scarcely visible at a distance of 100 metres – the dis-
tance at which the photograph was taken – they become totally invisible be-
yond 200 metres. Only prisoners working within the precincts of Krematorien
II and III could see and remember them. This, admittedly minor, detail could
not be dreamed up.”
This “proof” is rather naive and demonstrates, if anything, the opposite of
what Pressac supposes. The so-called Hauptstrasse or main road which led to
the Birkenau sewage-treatment facility and Zentralsauna passed between the
fences of Crematorium II and III just a few dozen meters from their respective
chimneys. This can be clearly seen in a photograph showing a group of wom-
en and children on this road in front of Crematorium III which was published
in The Auschwitz Album, the French edition of which was co-edited by Pressac
himself (Freyer et al. 1983, Photo 153, p. 177). Anyone who passed along that
road would have been able to see the position of the lightning rods on the
chimneys distinctly. And of course, anyone who found themselves in one of
the courtyards of the crematoria would have seen them still more distinctly.
Now the fact that Nyiszli, who pretended to have lived for six-and-a-half
months in Crematorium II, nonetheless described an erroneous position for the
lightning rods demonstrates, according to Pressac’s logic, that he must have
seen the chimneys of Crematoria II and III from such a distance that he could
not clearly distinguish the position of their lighting rods – in others words, not
from the crematorium courtyard!
The question actually is more complicated still, for in his book Nyiszli
“sees” the lightning rods at the four corners of the chimney on two occasions,
once from outside and once from inside the crematorium courtyard. In fact, of
the two references to them in his book, the first occurs in the context of
Nyiszli’s arrival at Auschwitz, while he is still undergoing selection on the
ramp:
“Until the selection of the group, four thousand people strong, is completed, I
have time to look around myself. In the light of the fading day, the landscape I
saw from inside the wagon now leaps to life. Here there is much more to see.
The first thing that draws my attention – rivets it, so to speak – is a gigantic
square chimney, tapering toward the top and built of red bricks, which emerg-
es from the top of a factory-like, two-story building, also built of red bricks.
402
The four lightning rods, in the same position, appear also in photograph PMO neg. no. 20995/506
from January 1943, which shows the southwest side of Crematorium II. The picture is reproduced
twice on pp. 335 and 373 of Pressac’s book, but the image resolution makes them difficult to see
there. Curiously, the picture itself fails to show the presumed Zyklon-B-introduction chimneys on
the roof of Morgue #1; these were, Pressac assures the reader in his notes to the image, “installed
later.”
366 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
It’s a strange shape for a factory chimney, but what is really impressive is the
column of fire 8-10 meters high which gushes from its mouth between the
lightning rods at its four corners.” (MBV, Chapter I; emphasis added)
The second mention refers to the time of the alleged extermination of the Jews
from Corfu, while Nyiszli was in the courtyard of Crematorium II:
“My glance wanders over the crematorium chimney: the lightning rods placed
at the square chimney’s four corners, all heavy iron rods, have melted from
the terrible fire and are now bent downwards.” (MBV, Chapter XIX; empha-
sis added)
Thus, Pressac’s argument – that “[o]nly prisoners working within the precincts
of Krematorien II and III” could have observed the lightning rods, and thus
that the detail of their existence “could not have been dreamed up” – appears
entirely without foundation. If we are to accept Nyiszli’s testimony here, we
must admit that anyone could in fact have seen the lightning rods from outside
the precincts of the crematoria – from the ramp, for example. Indeed, if any-
thing, the fact that, while clearly knowing of their existence, Nyiszli nonethe-
less got their placement incorrect might even be taken to suggest that he never
got a closer look.
Pressac often reasons, as here, on the basis of a simplistic schematization
which allows for only two possibilities; in fact, there were always multiple
possibilities. In the case at hand, for example, an Arbeitskarte (work card) for
the electricians’ unit (“An die: Elektriker”) has been preserved from the
Auschwitz Central Construction Office, dated October 17, 1942, with the
heading “Lightning conductor for Crematorium n. 11 [sic] BW30 K.G.L.
[Kriegsgefangenenlager; PoW Camp = Birkenau],” which orders “Preparation
and mounting of a four-part lightning conductor on the chimney of Crematori-
um 1 [= II] in the K.G.L.” The work was carried out between October 23 and
27 of the same year.403 A similar Arbeitskarte, dated February 9, 1943, has
been preserved for Crematorium III as well; in its case, the work was executed
on June 21 and 22, 1943.404 Obviously the installers would have known about
the work they had done, and there’s nothing in the documents to suggest that
they were sworn to secrecy on the subject.
Strangely, if typically, Pressac dwells at length over this irrelevant detail
but says nothing at all about the absurdity of Nyiszli’s claim to have seen the
lighting rods melted and bent toward the ground. If nothing else, one wonders
why they would have melted on the night of the Corfu “extermination” but not
on the day of Nyiszli’s arrival, when he allegedly observed “[a] column of fire
8-10 meters high” gushing up from the chimney between them.
403
RGVA, 502-2-8, pp. 8-8a. Document reproduced in Mattogno 2015c, pp. 127f.
404
RGVA, 502-1-315, pp. 22-22a.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 367
405
The word Gymnasium here is used in the German sense of “university prep high school.”
368 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
406
Here and elsewhere below Provan uses Auschwitz (italicized in his text, set in roman type in quo-
tations here for contrast) as an abbreviation for the title of Nyiszli’s book, Auschwitz: A Doctor’s
Eyewitness Account in Richard Seaver’s 1960 English translation.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 369
that here Nyiszli correctly lists crematorium 1 as having one elevator, not
four, as in his book.
At the end of his 1945 deposition, Nyiszli mentioned that all personnel of the
Sonderkommando were killed on November 17, 1944 – except for the doctors
who worked for Mengele, and their assistants. They were ordered away from
the machine guns by Dr. Mengele himself: he needed their further help for his
racial biology work. In Auschwitz, however, Dr. Mengele saves Nyiszli and
the others on the date of the Auschwitz camp revolt a month earlier, which
goes unmentioned in his deposition.”
As far as the story of the fourteen twins407 is concerned, the hypothesis formu-
lated by Lifton and accepted by Provan – that Nyiszli suppressed it in his book
because it implicated him in Dr. Mengele’s alleged murders – seems rather
dubious.
It is difficult to see in Nyiszli’s behavior in this story a kind of complicity
in murder, especially since the Sonderkommando staff, according to the ortho-
dox narrative, carried out a work of collaboration that was far more compro-
mising, but no one has ever talked about complicity in mass murder in this re-
gard. Of course, Nyiszli could not know back then what the world would
make of the Sonderkommando’s actions, or of his actions, for that matter. But
if Nyiszli had genuinely been concerned about appearing complicit in murder,
he would hardly have included the story of the father and son from Litz-
mannstadt in Chapter XXXI, in which his actions surely must be considered
every bit as compromising: He knowingly misled the pair so as to obtain “in
vivo” observations prior to their murder.
It is strange, on the other hand, that Provan did not notice the blatant con-
tradictions between the story in Nyiszli’s 1946 deposition and the similar story
of the ten twins in Chapter VIII of his book. In it, Nyiszli relates how, while
performing an autopsy on “a pair of twins” as part of a group of “corpses of
gypsy children under ten years of age” which Dr. Mengele had assigned to
him, he observes something unusual:
“In the outer wall of the left ventricle is a tiny, round, pale-red spot, caused by
a pin prick, it barely stands out against the surrounding color. I can’t be
wrong! The pinprick could have been made by a very fine needle. Naturally a
hypodermic needle! The child received an injection, but for what reason?
Someone might receive an injection to the heart in the case of an emergency
due to cardiac insufficiency perhaps. I soon figure it out. I open the heart, ex-
pose the left ventricle. In an autopsy, one would normally ladle out and weigh
the blood in the left ventricle of the heart. That’s not possible to do here, be-
cause the blood has coagulated into a hard, clotted mass. With tweezers I pull
the blood clot apart, sniff it. The characteristic, powerful smell of chloroform
407
The full text of the passage referred to by Provan can be found in the highlighted section in the
translation of Nyiszli’s deposition in Chapter 2.1. Lifton also cites the passage (uncritically) in his
1986 book Nazi Doctors, pp. 350f.
370 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
hits my nostrils. The child received a chloroform injection to the heart! For no
other purpose than that the blood in the left ventricle of the heart should coag-
ulate due to the injected chloroform and, depositing against the heart valves,
provoke immediate cardiac arrest.
My knees shake with excitement. I have discovered the Third Reich’s darkest
medical secret. So they kill people here not just with gas, but also with injec-
tions of chloroform administered to the heart! Sweat bathes my forehead. It is
fortunate that I am alone. In front of others I would scarcely have been able to
conceal my emotion. […] If Dr. Mengele were to suspect that I know the secret
of his injections, ten doctors of the political SS would be on hand to witness my
death!” (MBV, Chapter VIII; emphasis added)
Hence, that which, according to Nyiszli’s 1945 deposition, Dr. Mengele had
openly done in his presence – injecting chloroform into the heart in order to
kill subjects for autopsy – becomes, in Nyiszli’s 1946 book, the discovery of a
dark state secret on his part – a discovery which Mengele allegedly would
have punished ineluctably by the killing of the discoverer!
In the book, Nyiszli thus reveals a simplistic psychology expressed with
tawdry rhetoric. At this point, however, a decisive question arises: Why would
someone who had learned the supposed “terrible secret” of the mass extermi-
nation of Jews in gas chambers and nonetheless been left to live have ever felt
the need to worry about the discovery of a few more killings using chloroform
injections to the heart – killings which, in the “economy” of the Holocaust,
would have represented a drop in the ocean?
It’s worth noting here that the substance used for lethal injections accord-
ing to the orthodox Holocaust story was not chloroform but rather phenol. For
example, in its statement of grounds for sentencing at the Frankfurt Auschwitz
Trial on August 19-20, 1965, the court wrote (Rüter 1981, pp. 416):
“Nearly every day in the HKB,[408] among inmates who reported sick and, af-
ter an examination by an inmate physician, were presented to the camp physi-
cian (so-called physician presenters[409]), those whom the camp physician
deemed unfit for work were selected nearly every day. They were subsequently
killed with phenol injections. The number of inmates killed in this way could
not be ascertained. It was, in any event, several thousand.”
Moreover, various order forms for phenol had been taken into evidence previ-
ously as “proofs” of this presumed homicidal practice.
The Auschwitz State Museum is in possession of a photo which depicts a
request for 5 kg of phenol, sent by SS Sanitätsdienstgrad (orderly in the SS
medical service) SS Unterscharführer Josef Klehr to the camp pharmacy
(Apotheke). A syringe was placed on top of the request form, and then the
photograph in question was taken. The caption explains that the two items to-
408
Häftlingskrankenbau, inmate infirmary.
409
Arztvorsteller, that is, those presenting themselves to the physician for examination.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 371
tionally lied about that fact in 1946, perhaps in order to make more credible
his claims regarding the transport of 3,000 corpses from the crematorium’s
sub-basement to the cremation hall on the ground floor in a singe day.
In the course of his research, Provan found yet another confirmation of
Nyiszli’s authorship, namely, evidence of Nyiszli’s stay in America in 1939-
1940, of which this passing reference appears in the book:
“My boss, it seems, is pleased. He has a little difficulty reading my block-
capital handwriting. I became accustomed to writing this way in America!”
(MBV, Chapter VIII)
Through the National Archives in Washington, Provan was able to locate
Nyiszli’s information on the passenger list of a ship which arrived in New
York City on December 1, 1939, thus confirming this detail (ibid., p. 23).
Provan also sought to find confirmation of Nyiszli’s activities at Birkenau
in the testimony of other witnesses, and here things become more complicat-
ed.
He turns first to ex-Sonderkommando man Filip Müller who in 1980 wrote
in response to questions from the late Australian revisionist John Bennett:
“I got to know Dr. Nyszli [sic] very well in early summer 1944. He had to
work in the Sonderkommando with his colleagues, Prof. Görög and others, as
a pathologist for Dr. Mengele. He was an outstanding and optimistic man … I
never saw Dr. Nyiszli again after the war. He is supposed to have died in
1949–1950.” (Provan 2001, p. 24)
Here arises, however, the non-trivial problem – unacknowledged by Provan –
that in his book of memoirs, published the year before, Müller not only never
mentions Nyiszli, but explicitly asserts that there were only two physicians for
the Sonderkommando, Dr. Pach and Dr. Bendel.
Müller introduces the former with the explanation that he was in charge of
a sort of infirmary for patients from the Sonderkommando in Block 13 of
Camp Sector BIId (Müller 1979a, p. 100):
“In charge of this hospital was Dr Jacques Pach, at that time the only doctor
in the Sonderkommando. A very sensitive and intelligent man of about thirty-
five, Dr Pach had come to Birkenau with a transport from France. His par-
ents, as he told me, had emigrated to France from Poland. […] It was in the
spring of 1943 that Jacques Pach was appointed as doctor in the Sonderkom-
mando.”
Müller devotes the next few pages to a description of Dr. Pach’s activities,
then returns to him later in the book with this additional detail (ibid., p. 238):
“Once Dr Pach’s ward for in-patients had been set up, the treatment of Son-
derkommando out-patients was taken over by Dr Bendel.”
According to Müller’s account (ibid.), this in-patient ward was a new facility
set up in the inmate infirmary in Camp Sector BIIf after the lodgings for the
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 373
ence, in the same buildings with him, performing the same duties, of Dr. Pach
himself!
Returning to Provan’s study of Nyiszli, we are helpfully reminded that
“Müller also testified about Dr. Nyiszli during the 1964 Frankfurt ‘Auschwitz
Trial’” (Provan 2001, p. 24). Indeed, on that occasion Müller declared (Fritz
Bauer…, pp. 20,696-20,699; cf. Langbein 1965, Vol. I, p. 87):
“In 1944, during the Hungarian transports, there were two Hungarian physi-
cians in Crematorium I in a room, pathologists. One of them, if I remember
correctly, was called Dr. Nyiszli, a sturdy man. They had to conduct experi-
ments. And they were often seen also by Dr. Mengele. […] I once saw person-
ally that they put a person who was hunchbacked in a barrel. They put in vari-
ous salts or acids in order to obtain his skeleton. […] And that they took flesh
from people who had been shot there. They had taken it from the thighs and
put it into a large bucket.”
At the time of his deposition at the Auschwitz Garrison Trial (Krakow, No-
vember 25 to December 16, 1947), however, Müller knew nothing of Nyiszli.
He declared then:414
“In the Auschwitz camp, I also saw that the flesh of the non-Jewish detainees
who were shot was used for various purposes. They were often shot in the
presence of Mengele and others, whose names I do not know, and with Aumei-
er and Grabner present as well. Right away, the flesh of their calves would be
put into boxes, and in this way they put aside 6 to 8 boxes of flesh each week.
It sometimes happened that a German delegation arrived with the swastika on
the arm, asking in the presence of Aumeier and Grabner whether there was
any human flesh. Aumeier used to say: ‘We could also use horse meat, but that
would be a waste!’”
He knew nothing of Nyiszli even in 1957 when he wrote a witness account
which first appeared in Czech in a book published in Prague, later translated
into German (Kraus/Kulka 1957, pp. 160-164, here p. 163; 1958, p. 133):
“I did not accept this assignment, and as punishment I was transferred to
Crematorium IV [V]. […] There I was also witness to the the ‘scientific exper-
iments’ of the SS doctors Fischer, Klein and Mengele. They selected from the
transports 100-150 men and women aged 18 to 30 years who were not gassed,
but shot. Immediately after the shootings, they cut the flesh off their thighs and
sent it to the Rajsko Bacteriological Institute, for the cultivation of bacteria.
An SS who was a doctor’s assistant told me this, and added that horse flesh
could also be used for this purpose, but that that would be a shame.”
Note that Müller locates these fables in Crematorium V (not Crematorium II!),
and that he is ignorant of Mengele’s alleged experimentation on twins as well
as his supposed injections to his victims’ hearts with chloroform. He is igno-
414
APMO, Proces załogi (Trial of the Auschwitz camp garrison), Vol. VII, p. 4.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 375
rant, thus, not only of Nyiszli himself, but also of the crimes Nyiszli claimed
to have witnessed – crimes which Müller, as a member of the Sonderkomman-
do, surely would have known about.
How then does one explain his mention of Nyiszli at the Frankfurt Ausch-
witz Trial? The answer is simple: just three years prior to his testimony during
the 97th session of the court (October 5, 1964), the Munich weekly Quick
published a German translation of Nyiszli’s book in nine installments (Nyiszli
1961b). Müller clearly read it, for he would plagiarize it shamelessly in his
own book Sonderbehandlung: Drei Jahre in den Krematorien und Gaskam-
mern von Auschwitz in 1979, as I documented a few years later (Mattogno
1986). Unlike in his testimony in 1964, however, Müller never mentions
Nyiszli in his book, presumably to prevent curious readers from discovering
his plagiarism.
As a final confirmation of Nyiszli’s presence at Auschwitz, Provan calls
upon another self-proclaimed member of the Sonderkommando, Milton Buki,
who allegedly once mentioned a “Dr. Niczly [sic]” as among the doctors who
performed dissections for Mengele, but apart from noting that it was supplied
to him “by a very helpful associate of Dr. Lifton,” Provan indicates neither the
source nor the date of this declaration (2001, p. 25). In any event, the fact is
that in his first known testimony, that of January 4 and 6, 1946 at the Ausch-
witz Garrison Trial,415 Buki never once mentioned Nyiszli.
Finally, Provan appeals to the testimony of a certain “Mrs. Jozsef Szabo, a
Hungarian deported to Auschwitz,” who claimed to have once carried a body
to one of the crematoria together with three companions, one of whom then
recognized “Dr. Nyiszlit Miklos [sic] …from Nagyvara” (2001, p. 25). How-
ever, Provan once again reports neither a source (apart from Dr. Lifton’s
“helpful associate”) nor a date for this statement; it thus is unclear, for exam-
ple, whether it postdates the publication of Nyiszli’s story in the Hungarian
press.
To all this one might add that Nyiszli is not mentioned even in the manu-
scripts written by various Sonderkommando members which are alleged to
have been recovered near the ruins of the crematoria. The problem of “con-
firmation” thus is much more complicated than the simplistic methods adopt-
ed by Provan would imply.
A similar kind of simplistic thinking dogs Provan’s efforts to make sense
of the contradictions of the Nyiszli problem as a whole. In a section headed
“First Appearance of Nyiszli’s Auschwitz Book,” Provan commits a gross
blunder in this regard, writing that he had located “the long-sought original
edition of Nyiszli’s book,” namely, its publication in installments in the news-
paper Vilag (World) from February 16 to April 5, 1947, and announcing tri-
umphantly: “Its title was: ‘I Was Mengele’s Autopsy Doctor in Auschwitz: A
415
Jan. 4: APMO, Proces załogi, Vol. 45a, p. 64; Jan. 6: ibid., p. 79.
376 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Hungarian Doctor’s Diary from Hell’” (ibid.). Provan failed to realize that
Nyiszli’s book had already been published in 1946 under essentially the same
(main) title. As we shall see, this serious oversight would soon lead him to
make an even more serious error.
On the basis of the Világ text, Provan explains, he hoped to verify whether
or not the original book did indeed contain the errors pointed out by various
revisionists in the translations available up to that time. Predictably, he finds
confirmation in it of Nyiszli’s “errors” regarding 20,000 cremations per day,
the construction of the crematoria in 1940, the maximum population at Ausch-
witz of 500,000 prisoners, the four elevators in Crematorium II, and the 200-
meter length of the “undressing room” and the “gas chamber” of that same
building (ibid., pp. 26f.).
Provan then seeks to explain all these “errors” with an even greater blunder
of his own. After examining various references to Nyiszli in Világ during and
immediately after the book’s serialization, he writes (ibid., p. 27):
“The next mention of Nyiszli in Vilag, so far as I have been able to ascertain,
came on September 30, 1947, when an article reported on his summons to Nu-
remberg for the trial of IG Farben (case number six before the Nuremberg
Military Tribunal). I regard this article as critical to understanding the true
nature of Dr. Nyiszli’s book on Auschwitz: it provides a solution which makes
sense of all the incorrect information contained therein, and allows Nyiszli’s
other statements to be examined and assessed independently of his book.”
Provan then proceeds to quote the article in question at some length. The key
passage for his argument, however, comes in its first paragraph (ibid., pp. 28):
“Following its serial publication by Vilag, Dr. Miklos Nyiszli’s Auschwitz dia-
ry has gone all over the world. The extremely interesting novel (again, ‘regé-
ny’ in Hungarian) of experience entitled, ‘I Was Mengele’s Autopsy Doctor’
has been one of the most enduring documents of the German horror.”
After a short digression dealing with issues concerning Nyiszli’s “summons”
to Nuremberg which were raised by the rest of the article, Provan then returns
to this paragraph with emphasis (ibid., p. 29):
“When I read in the September 30, 1947, Vilag article that Miklos Nyiszli’s
book on his experiences at Auschwitz was a novel, it was as if a blindfold had
fallen from my eyes. I had never considered this possibility before, but it cer-
tainly made sense on reading the article. It not only explained the inflated fig-
ures, the factual errors, and the singular account of the Sonderkommandos
(thirteen in all!); it also removed all difficulties of ‘explaining away the de-
tails.’ Auschwitz is a novel. If a character in a novel meets a real personage,
there is no historical issue to resolve. Dr. Nyiszli’s 1945 deposition and his
1947 affidavit disagree with the book on many details because they are re-
cording what he actually thought was the truth, while the book was deliberate-
ly crafted as a historical novel.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 377
ruptible fidelity of the events without any exaggeration and without any pas-
sion, as I have stated it, by the way, in my statement signed with my own
hand.”
Provan’s “novel” interpretation thus appears little more than a banal subter-
fuge in order to obviate, at a stroke, the many grave historiographical and
technical problems with which Nyiszli’s book abounds.
Another grave oversight on Provan’s part is that he limited his search for
references to Nyiszli in Világ to 1947 and thus, shockingly, knew nothing of
the series of 27 articles by Nyiszli himself about his invented testimony at Nu-
remberg which appeared in the paper between April 18 and May 22, 1948 un-
der the title “Tanú voltam Nürnbergben” (“I was a witness at Nuremberg”).
Indeed, he concludes his discussion of Nyiszli’s involvement in the I.G. Far-
ben trial as follows:
“Although Dr. Nyiszli was summoned to Nuremberg to testify in the I.G. Far-
ben Trial, he was not called to the stand. To explain this, Provan posits that
Nyiszli, having been at Monowitz for only about two weeks, could provide little
in the way of useful evidence. At some point in the trial, he was allowed to re-
turn home to Romania.” (Provan 2001, p. 29)
Because he knows nothing of the fake “testimony” which Nyiszli later pub-
lished in Világ – in which Nyiszli recounts, in detail, his “experiences” on the
stand at the trial – Provan fails to comprehend the full significance of these
facts, and thus fails to draw the inevitable conclusion that Nyiszli was a fraud
of unequaled impudence – or alternatively a psychopath who delivered his
“testimony” in a state of hallucination.
Hence, Nyiszli was either an extraordinary impostor or a lunatic; there is
no escaping from the dilemma. And both horns of this dilemma – shameless
mendacity or lunacy – disqualify Nyiszli and completely destroy his credibil-
ity.
Provan concludes his study with the following observations (ibid.):
“Within a few years of Vilag’s admission that the book was a novel, it was
translated into French and German, and English, and wrongly declared to be
an authentic history. This untruth aroused a storm of criticism, starting with
the founder of Holocaust revisionism, Paul Rassinier, who himself had been a
prisoner of the German concentration camp system for helping Jews under
Nazi domination. While Rassinier’s questions were justifiable on many points,
they are moot, because Dr. Nyiszli’s published treatment of Auschwitz was
knowingly written as historical fiction, which accounts for its disconcerting
mixture of truth and non-truth.
Thus the revisionists, although sometimes off course, were correct all along in
concluding that there were serious problems with Auschwitz. For example
Carlo Mattogno’s critique, Medico ad Auschwitz: Anatomia di un falso, is a
wonderful treatment, exhaustive and extremely thorough. Meanwhile, the de-
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 379
fenders, translators, and publishers of the Nyiszli book have dealt with the re-
visionists’ criticisms with silence, or by deliberately changing sections of
Nyiszli’s novel without advertising that. What is needed now is an annotated
edition of the original book, along with a complete collection of Dr. Nyiszli’s
writings and testimony on Auschwitz, to clear the air on this long-standing
problem.”
Given that, according to Nyiszli’s own repeated declarations, his 1946 book
was not a novel but rather a historical account written “in strict conformity
with the truth, and without the slightest exaggeration or embellishment,”
Provan’s risible attempt to explain it away as a conscious fiction dissolves
completely, and all the many problems which it raises, recognized (if only in
minimal part) by Provan himself, remain intact.
The annotated edition and collection which Provan called for has now finally
arrived, but its effect is to have “cleared the field” of a false testimony which
has been taken seriously for much too long.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 381
Appendix
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 383
Translated by Carlos W. Porter. An earlier version of this article appeared as Mattogno 2008.
416
Kubica 1997; all subsequent page numbers from there, unless stated otherwise.
384 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
And how about the diet, incredibly rich for a concentration camp – as con-
firmed by former inmate Anna Lipka (p. 389) – was this also solely intended
for “propaganda purposes”?
This scene is not easy to reconcile with the unprecedented crimes attributed
to Dr. Mengele, but Kubica has decisive “proof” to hand.
An epidemic of noma faciei, a gangrenous illness affecting mostly chil-
dren, broke out in the Zigeunerlager in the summer of 1943. The patients were
transferred on Dr. Mengele’s order to an isolated barracks in the hospital of
the Gypsy Camp and, we are assured by Kubica,
“many of the sick children were killed, always by order of Dr. Mengele, and
their bodies were taken to the institute of hygiene of the Waffen-SS at Rajsko
for histopathological research. There, preparations of the individual organs
were prepared and preserved in glass, even including the entire head of a
child, among others, for the SS academy of medicine in Graz.” (p. 379)
We learn from the pertinent footnote that the entire story is based exclusively
on post-war testimonies. In this context, the author mentions a single docu-
ment that she reproduces on p. 394, here reproduced in Illustration 3. The
document is a bill of lading to the Institute of Hygiene of the Waffen-SS (SS-
Hygiene-Institut) of Rajsko, Hygiene and Bacteriology Section, relating to the
“head of a corpse” (“Kopf einer Leiche”) taken from a “12-year old child”
(“12-jähriges Kind”). Nothing is known of the child’s cause of death; the only
thing that is certain is that the request for histological examination originated
from the H-Krankenbau Zigeunerlager Auschwitz II, BIIe, that is, the prisoner
hospital of the Gypsy Camp. The explanation advanced by Kubica is clearly
specious. Noma faciei (or cancrum oris) is a disease which destroys the orofa-
cial tissues. It currently strikes chiefly sub-Saharan African children between
the ages of 2 and 16; in the absence of adequate treatment, the mortality rate
ranges between 70 and 90% (see Enwonwu et al. 1999). One may therefore
reasonably suppose that, at Birkenau during the years 1943-1944, the mortali-
ty rate of young gypsy children stricken with noma was even higher. In 1943,
2,587 children below the age of 10 died in the Gypsy Camp,417 including prac-
tically all those suffering from noma.
But then, why would it have been necessary to kill children who were al-
most certainly dying of disease anyway?
The obvious response to this rhetorical question is supplied by Kubica her-
self by citing the testimony of Dr. Jan Čespiva, who had worked as a physi-
cian in the Gypsy Camp’s infirmary (p. 379):
“There was an outbreak of noma. Entire pieces of flesh fell off due to this; the
lower jaw was affected as well. I had never seen gangrene of the face like that.
The crania of the children were prepared for the SS Academy at Graz. I know
417
Thomas Grotus, Jan Parcer, “EDV-gestützte Auswertung der Sterbeeinträge,” in: Staatliches Mu-
seum… 1995, p. 248.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 385
this because we wrote the address. The heads were preserved in benzene for-
maldehyde, the bodies [were cremated] in Crematorium III.”
It is therefore obvious that the child in question died of noma, and that the
German physicians hoped to find a cure by studying the heads of children who
had died of this disease.
This request for histological examination is the only documentary “proof”
of Dr. Mengele’s “crimes” to be found in the archive of the Auschwitz Muse-
um! Not much for the so-called “Angel of Death” of Auschwitz, and Kubica,
apparently aware of this, as a last resort quotes the “eyewitness” Miklós
Nyiszli, who becomes thus equally crucial to her.
After creating the school already mentioned above, Dr. Mengele created an
“experimental laboratory,” which became the center where the “camp research
in the field of twin births and congenital anomalies” was performed (p. 380) –
hence, the ogre’s lair. As head of this center Dr. Mengele appointed Dr. Ber-
told Epstein from Prague. His assistant was another Czech physician, Dr. Ru-
dolf Weisskopf (Vitek; p. 379). Two camp inmates also worked in Dr.
Mengele’s laboratory: a Polish anthropology Ph.D., Martyna Puzina (p. 390),
and the Czech painter Dinah Gottliebová, who produced drawings of the parts
of the body of the children under examination (p. 396).
The activities of this “experimental laboratory” are well documented (p.
397):
386 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
418
APMO, D-AuI-3/1; D-AuII-3a/16; D-AuII-3a/25-49.
419
Lifton 1986, pp. 257, 350-351, 358-364, 366-368, 370, 378, 458; notes: pp. 522f., 527-529, 533.
388 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
with his twin sister, and was assigned to the Twin Block precisely in this ca-
pacity, where he had to supervise about 80 children:420
“I had to see to it, that they were brought to ‘His Majesty Mengele.’ They per-
formed experiments on us.”
In this regard he specified:
„The experiments were carried out in the Gypsy Camp or rather the Gypsy
Block. I was present as an interpreter. I know nothing about twins having been
shot and dissected during that time. I know nothing about that.”
Dr. Mengele’s “crimes” are not only not attested to by one single document,
they are even overtly refuted by absolutely indisputable facts. In his descrip-
tion of the first autopsy allegedly performed by him on a pair of twins, Nyiszli
wrote:
“My knees shake with excitement. I have discovered the Third Reich’s darkest
medical secret. So they kill people here not just with gas, but also with injec-
tions of chloroform administered to the heart!” (MBV, Chapter VIII)
If this had been true, Dr. Mengele would have proceeded to liquidate all the
witnesses of his alleged criminal activity – his collaborators who also worked
with twins – before leaving Auschwitz on 17 January 1945. He certainly had
enough time to do it! But he allowed all the “eyewitnesses” of his alleged
crimes to survive, to wit:
– Dr. Bertold Epstein, one of the signers of the famous appeal by former
Auschwitz inmates dated 4 March 1945;421
– Dr. Rudolf Weisskopf, liberated from Bergen-Belsen (Kárný 1995, Vol. I,
p. 333);
– Martyna Puzyna, interviewed by Posner and Ware in June 1985 (Pos-
ner/Ware, p. 329);
– Dinah Gottliebová, who moved to the USA in 1947, where she lived until
July 29, 2009;422
– Miklós Nyiszli, the purported crucial “witness”, who, in his capacity as the
physician of the so-called “Sonderkommando” at the crematoria, at the
same time also would have been a keeper of the “terrible secret” of the
mass gassings, as we have seen in the present study, was also quietly left
alive!
But what about the twins? What happened to the victims of Dr. Mengele’s ex-
periments? Were they all killed en masse? Quite the contrary!
420
YVA, P.25-19. As a side note, according to an interview allegedly granted to Hubert Lassier and
published by the weekly Oggi, Mengele reportedly said: “I never executed any twins specifically
to be able to do experiments.” (Lassier 1983). The contents of many declarations by, or attributed
to, Mengele are, however, clearly false, so that this source is without doubt spurious.
421
“An die internationale Öffentlichkeit, Auschwitz, den 4. März 1945.” GARF, 7021-108-46, p. 11,
with handwritten signature of B. Epstein.
422
After the war she went to Paris, where she married Art Babbitt in 1949 (artist’s name of Arthur
Harold Babitsky); see Lentz 2010, p. 24.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 389
Kubica informs us that, in 1984, these twins were still numerous enough to
form their own association (p. 429):
“In 1984, the victims of Dr. Mengele’s experiments, who had lived in the chil-
dren’s camp, formed the organization Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab
Experiment Survivors (CANDLES), with the self-appointed task of document-
ing Mengele’s crimes, informing the world, capturing the ‘Angel of Death’ and
dragging him before a court.”
The Website of the association lists almost 400 twins from Auschwitz.423 Ku-
bica also presents a list of twins from Auschwitz, consisting of over 320
names (pp. 437-455). The great majority of them were twins, but some were
merely siblings, such as the sisters Tatiana Liliana and Alessandra Bucci. Both
were deported to Auschwitz on March 29, 1943. The first, born on September
19, 1937, was registered under number 76484; the second, born July 1, 1939,
was registered under number 76483 (Picciotto 1995, p. 157). Luigi Ferri, born
on September 9, 1932, was deported in August 1944 and registered under
number B-7525 (ibid., p. 266). Sergio de Simone, born at Naples on Novem-
ber 29, 1937, was deported to Auschwitz on March 29, 1944, at the age of
nearly seven years, and registered under number 179614 (ibid., p. 217).
No orthodox historian has yet succeeded in explaining why these children
were not gassed immediately upon arrival. In reality, this is not so surprising,
because on January 16, 1945, in just the men’s camp at Birkenau, there were
770 “adolescents aged up to 18 years” (“Jugendliche bis 18. Jhr.”), in addition
to 400 invalids (“Invaliden”)!424 When the Soviets arrived, there were still 205
children at Birkenau, from just a few months up to 15 years of age, many of
them twins (see Table 1).
The three documents mentioned above, the list of the CANDLES organiza-
tion, the list compiled by Kubica and the Soviet list of 1945, in addition to the
Soviet list of inmates liberated at Birkenau,425 permit the compilation of a list
of 543 twins having passed through Auschwitz (see Table 2). Of these, 376
survived until the liberation of the camp; four died in the following months,
one died on the evacuation transport on January 27, 1945, and twelve perished
during the existence of the camp. Nothing is known of the remaining 154.
In just three cases, Kubica notes: “died [not: killed] in the camp as a result
of the experiments performed [on them]” (“Starb im Lager infolge der durch-
geführten Experimente”; pp. 442, 449, 451), so that these three would seem to
constitute Dr. Mengele’s victims. It goes without saying that such an assump-
tion is in no way backed up by proof of Mengele’s personal complicity.
***
423
The list may be consulted at: https://candlesholocaustmuseum.org/learn/twins-found-by-
candles.html (last accessed on May 9, 2020).
424
“Arbeitseinsatz für den 16. Januar 1945.” RGVA, 502-1-67, p. 17a.
425
GARF, 7021-108-23.
390 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Tables
Table 1: Name Table of Children Found by the Soviets at Birkenau426
Natio- Country of Arrival at
Reg. No. Last Name Given Name Sex Age
nality Origin Auschwitz
? ? V.L. M 10 Polish 12 Aug. 1944
78254 Abrahamson Helli F 10 Jewish Holland June 1944
A-7739 Adler Mano M 12 Jewish Hungary May 1944
A-26885 Ajzenberg J.I. F 8 Jewish Slovakia 2 Nov. 1944
? Altmann B. F 3 German June 1944
B-5405 Apelbaum Edek M 8 Jewish Poland July 1944
B-5406 Apelbaum Milek M 8 Jewish Poland July 1944
? Bauer Sary F 15 Hungary July 1944
A-26857 Beer Pawlonna F 8 Jewish Slovakia 2 Nov. 1944
? Bein Piroska F 15 Block 10 Hungary ?
A-25981 Benger Eva F 13 Jewish Hungary 3 Nov. 1944
B-2780 Bierman Ephraim M 14 Jewish Poland 2 Jul. 1944
B-14006 Binet Robert M 5 Jewish Slovakia 2 Nov. 1944
B-14005 Binet Gaspar M 6 Jewish Slovakia 2 Nov. 1944
A-20851 Binet Martha F 3 Jewish Slovakia 3 Nov. 1944
A-7199 Bleier Edit F 9 Jewish Hungary July 1944
A-12080 Bleier Ernö M 9 Jewish Hungary July 1944
B-14615 Bleier Istvan M 14 Jewish Hungary Early July 1944
B-13979 Blum Palko M 6 Jewish Slovakia 2 Nov. 1944
A-26847 Blum Vera F 11 Jewish Slovakia 3 Nov. 1944
n/a Bodanska H.G. F 6½ Polish born in camp
? Borowski J.V. M 3 Polish 12 Oct. 1944
B-14003 Braun Peter M 10m Jewish Slovakia 3 Nov. 1944
A-26840 Braun Judith F 11 Jewish Slovakia 3 Nov. 1944
76484 Buci427 Liana F 7 Jewish Italy June 1944
76483 Buci428 Andrea M 7 Jewish Italy June 1944
B-13986 Burger Franz M 6 Jewish Slovakia 2 Nov. 1944
B-13987 Burger Thomas M 11 Jewish Slovakia 2 Nov. 1944
A-7057 Čengeri L.F. F 7 Jewish Hungary 2 Jun. 1944
A-7058 Čengeri J.T. F 7 Jewish Hungary 2 Jun. 1944
A-7264 Chybik Ilse F 14 Jewish Austria 28 Jun. 1944
? Cinsk Jurek M 6 Poland ?
A-9746 German Marta F 14 Jewish Hungary 10 Jun. 1944
A-9745 German Katalin F 14 Jewish Hungary 10 Jun. 1944
A-26877 Diamant Eva F 12 Jewish Hungary 2 Nov. 1944
192752 Donten A.R. M 5 Polish 12 Aug. 1944
85386 Donten Vaclava F 13 Polish 12 Oct. 1944
A-8737 Echstein (Eckstein) Ilona F 9 Jewish Hungary July 1944
A-8738 Echstein (Eckstein) Vera F 9 Jewish Hungary July 1944
? Einesman Roza F 12 ? Poland August 1944
? Eisenberg Judit F 9 ? Czechosl. Sep. 1944
B-14706 Epstein H.M. M 14¾ Jewish Hungary June 1944
? Epstein Jamas M 15 Block 18 Hungary
A-7060 Fekete Orla F 7 Jewish Hungary June 1944
426
GARF, 7021-108-23, pp. 179-198, 200-217.
427
Bucci Tatiana Liliana.
428
Bucci Alessandra.
392 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
429
Rajngevic Cecilie, born on Jan. 22, 1931. Klarsfeld 1978, Transport No.74 of May 20, 1944.
394 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
430
Reichmann Friedel, born on Jun. 16, 1935. Klarsfeld/Steinberg, p. 435, Transport XXV of May
19, 1944.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 395
431
“Died at the camp as a result of experiments performed.”
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 397
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
A-14090 Brown Yehudith Karen 31 May 1930 27 Jan. 1945
? Bryer (twin brother) ? L
? Bryer Yehudith Mayer ? L
76483 Bucci432 Alessandra 7 years 27 Jan. 1945
76484 Bucci433 Liliana 7 years 27 Jan. 1945
B-13986 Burger Franz 6 years 27 Jan. 1945
B-13987 Burger Thomas 11 years 27 Jan. 1945
A-7264 Chybik Ilse 14 years 27 Jan. 1945
? Cinsk Jurek 6 years ?
A-7057 Czengeri Lea 6 Jun. 1937 27 Jan. 1945
A-7058 Czengeri Yehudith 6 Jun. 1937 27 Jan. 1945
? Czuker Irena Shtronwasser ? L
? Czuker Lea Berkman ? L
A-5132 David Margit 58 years 27 Jan. 1945
? Deitch Hana Faiger ? L
? Deitch Rache Markowitz ? L
A-5135 Demst (Dunst) Therese 19 27 Jan. 1945
A-5136 Demst (Dunst) Lilly 19 27 Jan. 1945
A-9745 German Katalin 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-9746 German Martha 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-3628 Deutzel (German) Ethel 22 ?
A-3629 Deutzel (German) Malvine 22 ?
Z-4636 Dewüs Margot 25 Feb. 1927 ?
Z-4637 Dewüs Elfriede 25 Feb. 1927 ?
A-26877 Diamant Eva 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-8737 Eckstein Rona (Ilona) 8 27 Jan. 1945
A-8738 Eckstein Vera 8 27 Jan. 1945
Z-2924 Einacker Christian 22 Nov. 1931 ?
Z-2925 Einacker Paul 22 Nov. 1931 ?
? Einesman Roza 12 ?
? Eisenberg Judit 9 ?
A-7218 Eisenberger Elisabeth 28 ?
? Epstein Jamas 15 ?
B-14706 Epstein H.M. 14 ¾ 27 Jan. 1945
A-7256 Erenthal Elizabeth 34 ?
A-7257 Erenthal Marie 34 ?
113336 Ernst Hermann 12 Mar. 1910 ?
Z-5645 Ernst Karl 12 Mar. 1910 ?
A-2042 Feingold Jakob 5 Nov. 1927 ?
A-4891 Feingold Rosa 5 Nov. 1927 ?
? Feit Esther ? L
? Feit Ita ? L
A-12089 Fekete Vilmos 7 27 Jan. 1945
A-7060 Fekete Izabella 7 27 Jan. 1945
A-7740 Feld Ludwik 19 Mar. 1904 27 Jan. 1945
A-26919 Feldbaum Marianne 13 27 Jan. 1945
A-781 Fischer Josef 7 Jan. 1936 27 Jan. 1945
A-782 Fischer Georg 7 Jan. 1936 27 Jan. 1945
A-5717 Fogel Isidor 13 May 1929 ?
432
Bucci Alessandra.
433
Bucci Tatiana Liliana.
398 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
A-5718 Fogel Mano 13 May 1929 ?
A-15675 Frankfurt Georg 13 Oct. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
A-15676 Frankfurt Laslo 13 Oct. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
A-3102 Frankovitz Morris ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-3103 Frankovitz Jacob ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-27789 Frei Rozsi 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-7216 Freiberger Jolan 43 ?
A-7217 Freiberger Margit 43 ?
? Fried Charlotte 21 ?
A-5126 Fried Jolan 21 ?
A-13 Friedman Esther 15 ?
A-14 Friedman Helena 15 ?
A-12081 Friedmann Jakob 12 Oct. 1925 27 Jan. 1945
A-12082 Friedmann Mozes 12 Oct. 1925 27 Jan. 1945
A-7202 Friedmann Olga 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-7203 Friedmann Ewa 12 27 Jan. 1945
B-14058 Fuchs Arpad 10 27 Jan. 1945
? Fuggel Ezra ? L
? Fuggel Menasche ? L
A-15981 Fürst Erika 13 27 Jan. 1945
? Fux Miriam ? L
? Fux Yona Lux ? L
? Geiger Laura 12 ?
? Ginter Genjek 6 ?
? Goldberger Laura 27 Feb. 1929 ?
A-2513 Goldberger Josef 27 Feb. 1929 27 Jan. 1945
A-5119 Goldberger Margit 27 Feb. 1929 ?
A-13203 Goldentahl Ernest 16 Feb. 1935 27 Jan. 1945
A-13202 Goldental Ernö 10 27 Jan. 1945
A-13203 Goldental Sandor 10 27 Jan. 1945
A-7205 Goldental Manka 3 27 Jan. 1945
? Goldenthal Amy ? L
A-13202 Goldenthal Aleksander 16 Feb. 1935 27 Jan. 1945
A-7733 Gottesmann Elias 4 L
A-7734 Gottesmann Jenö 4 L
A-7735 Gottesmann Joseph ? ?
A-27632 Grinspan Ruth 7½ 27 Jan. 1945
A-21945 Grossman Olga Solomon 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-21946 Grossman Vera Krieghel 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-26945 Grossmann Olga 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-26946 Grossmann Vera 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-27633 Grossmann Paula 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-9269 Grossmann Katalin 47 ?
A-9270 Grossmann Susanne 47 ?
A-2518 Grosz Lajosz 22 Nov. 1903 ?
A-2519 Grosz Tibor 22 Nov. 1903 ?
A-26942 Grünbaum Alice 11 27 Jan. 1945
A-7200 Grünbaum Berta 19 27 Jan. 1945
A-7201 Grünbaum Jolan 19 27 Jan. 1945
A-5719 Grünberger Oscar 9 Jun. 1925 ?
A-6030 Grünberger Sara 9 Jun. 1925 ?
A-12958 Grünfeld M. 14 27 Jan. 1945
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 399
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
A-6036 Grünhut Janka 49 ?
? Gutenberg V.J. 9 27 Jan. 1945
? Gutman Menahem (Menesel) ? L
? Gutman (sister) ? L
? Gutman Yoel ? L
? Gutman (triplet sister) ? L
169061 Guttman Rene 21 Dec. 1937 27 Jan. 1945
70917 Guttman Irene 21 Dec. 1937 27 Jan. 1945
A-17545 Hadl Gyuri 7 27 Jan. 1945
A-17546 Hadl Paul 7 27 Jan. 1945
A-9754 Hadl Eva 13 27 Jan. 1945
A-17545 Hadl (Hadel) Georg Heimler 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-17546 Hadl (Hadel) Paul Heimler 6 27 Jan. 1945
B-14095 Hajman J. 4 27 Jan. 1945
Z-5277 Halonek Drachomie 14 May 1936 ?
Z-5278 Halonek Anna 14 May 1936 ?
? Halpern Gabriel 15 ?
B-14101 Hamburger Julius 6 27 Jan. 1945
Z-4975 Hanstein Paul 27 Jun. 1898 ?
B-10502 Hauptmann Zoltan 23 Oct. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
B-10503 Hauptmann Jenö 23 Oct. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
434
A-9747 Havas Agnes 21 Aug. 1927
434
A-9748 Havas Judith 21 Aug. 1927
A-26959 Hecht Eva 2 27 Jan. 1945
? Helbrun Annetta 4 Feb. 1924 L
? Helbrun Stephanie 4 Feb. 1924 L
A-5142 Helenka ? 2½ 27 Jan. 1945
148578 Heller Paul 1 Jul. 1927 ?
148580 Heller Peter 1 Jul. 1927 27 Jan. 1945
A-27638 Hellstein Fella 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-1435 Herbach Andreas 3 Mar. 1925 ?
435
A-1436 Herbach Ladislaus 3 Mar. 1925
? Hermann (fratello) ? L
? Hermann Czvi Weisel ? L
A-7222 Hermann Piroska 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-7223 Hermann Ibolya 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-27681 Herskovic Marta 14 27 Jan. 1945
? Herskovitz Ruth ? L
A-5079 Herskowicz Gizela (Pearle) 23 27 Jan. 1945
A-5080 Herskowicz Helena 23 27 Jan. 1945
? Hochstein Paul 5 ?
A-19999 Hochstein S.D. 4¾ 27 Jan. 1945
A-5197 Hofert Alfred 22 May 1933 L
A-7061 Hoffman Olga 20 27 Jan. 1945
A-7062 Hoffman Ida 20 27 Jan. 1945436
A-26974 Hojman Enka 8 months 27 Jan. 1945
A-5106 Holfert (Holpert) Eugen (Jenö) 22 May 1933 ?
A-5107 Holfert (Szechter) Alfred 22 May 1933 27 Jan. 1945
434
Evacuated to Germany in November 1944, liberated there on May 3 or 4, 1945.
435
Died on the evacuation transport on January 27, 1945 in Czechoslovakian territory.
436
Died after the liberation.
400 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
A-5117 Holländer Rosa 22 ?
A-5118 Holländer Laura 22 ?
A-6373 Holländer Anna 13 27 Jan. 1945
? Hornung Henry ? L
? Hornung Victor ? L
188930 Jakobson Heinz 8 27 Jan. 1945
B-14381 Jung ? 4 27 Jan. 1945
170377 Kafka Otto 5 Jan. 1901 ?
A-7047 Kafr (Kaff) Mira 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-7048 Kafr (Kaff) Vera 14 27 Jan. 1945
188926 Kanel Johann 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-27643 Kaplon Irene 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-7220 Kastner Iboria 28 ?
A-7221 Kastner (Singer) Klara 28 ?
A-5720 Katz Abraham 1932 27 Jan. 1945
A-5721 Katz Chaim 1932 ?
B-14105 Keller Ernst 8 27 Jan. 1945
A-9749 Kemenski Klara 24 L
A-9750 Kemenski Magda 24 L
A-7049 Keppes (Köpes) Ewa 19 L
A-7050 Keppes (Köpes) Teresa 19 L
A-8735 Kerpel Marta 17 L
A-8736 Kerpel Ida 17 L
170450 Kestr Friedrich 26 Oct. 1921 ?
170451 Kestr Hans 26 Oct. 1921 ?
A-8739 Kirz (Kurz) Lilly 22 Feb. 1900 27 Jan. 1945437
A-8740 Kirz (Kurz) Edith 22 Feb. 1900 L
A-14319 Kiss Andre 5 Oct. 1928 ?
A-14320 Kiss Laszlo 5 Oct. 1928 ?
? Klein Gyorgy 15 ?
? Klein Bela ? L
? Klein (twin brother) ? L
A-2511 Klein Laslo 31 Jan. 1931 ?
A-2512 Klein Gyula 31 Jan. 1931 ?
A-5331 Klein Ferenz 7 Jun. 1932 27 Jan. 1945
A-5332 Klein Otto 7 Jun. 1932 27 Jan. 1945
A-6471 Klein Agnes 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-7213 Klein Anna 9 27 Jan. 1945
A-7214 Klein Judith 9 27 Jan. 1945
A-4931 Kleinman Martha 14 Apr. 1940 27 Jan. 1945
A-2459 Kleinmann Josef 14 Apr. 1940 27 Jan. 1945
A-19997 Klüger Paul 9½ 27 Jan. 1945
A-5138 Kohn Ewa 15 Mar. 1940 27 Jan. 1945
A-5139 Kohn Klara 15 Mar. 1940 27 Jan. 1945
B-14132 Kohn M.L. 6 27 Jan. 1945
80912 Kohnstein Emilie 12 Sep. 1927 27 Jan. 1945
80913 Kohnstein Gizela 12 Sep. 1927 27 Jan. 1945
B-14156 Krasnianski Iwan 10 27 Jan. 1945
73492 Kraub (Traub) Ewa 5 Jun. 1939 27 Jan. 1945
73493 Kraub (Traub) Hanka 5 Jun. 1939 27 Jan. 1945
437
Died on March 3, 1945.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 401
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
Z-1773 Kraus Elisabeth 17 Sep. 1923 ?
Z-1774 Kraus Anna 17 Sep. 1923 ?
Z-2660 Kreutz (Krentz) Elise 19 Oct. 1876 ?
Z-2661 Kreutz (Krentz) Johanna 19 Oct. 1876 ?
A-26195 Kufler Yena 10 27 Jan. 1945
A-14321 Kühn Gyorgy 23 Jan. 1932 27 Jan. 1945
A-14322 Kühn Istwan 17 Dec. 1932 27 Jan. 1945
85759 Kurska Kalina 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-7051 Labowicz Lili 15 27 Jan. 1945
A-7052 Labowicz Ewa 15 27 Jan. 1945
A-5544 Lachkar Lucy 21 ?
438
A-27700 Laks Jona 28 Apr. 1928
A-14325 Laufer Josef 12 Aug. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
A-14326 Laufer Istwan (Stefan) 12 Aug. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
A-5722 Lazarovitz Yizchak ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-6033 Lazarovitz Gizela 1 Jul. 1929 27 Jan. 1945
A-5722 Lazarowicz Isidor 1 Jul. 1929 ?
170574 Lebenhart Eugen 21 Feb. 1924 ?
B-7636 Lederer Franz 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-342 Leipen Ervin 23 May 1937 ?
A-343 Leipen Paul 23 May 1937 ?
? Levinger Rachel Zehira ? L
? Levinstein Herman ? L
? Levinstein Lili Birkenfeld ? L
B-14182 Lewinger Peter 5 27 Jan. 1945
A-3632 Lichtenstein Lilly 21 L
A-3633 Lichtenstein Malvine 21 L
? Lieberman Tibor 15 ?
? Lieberman Gota ? L
? Lieberman (sister) ? L
? Liechtenstern Kurt 15 ?
A-12083 Lipschitz Erno 16 Jul. 1927 ?
A-12084 Lipschitz Zoltan 16 Jul. 1927 ?
? Lipshitz Elimelek ? L
? Lipshitz Zeipora Milstein ? L
? Löbl Robert 15 ?
A-12090 Lörenzi Andreas 10 27 Jan. 1945
A-7059 Lörenzi Lea 10 27 Jan. 1945
A-5141 Lövinger Rosa 2 L
A-5142 Lövinger Helena 2 L
? Lövy Miriam 4 Jun. 1928 27 Jan. 1945
A-1295 Lövy Leopold 4 Jun. 1928 27 Jan. 1945
A-14097 Lövy (Levy) Andor ? ?
A-14093 Löwenstein Herman 25 Jun. 1930 ?
? Lowy (Lovy) Miriam 6 Apr. 1928 27 Jan. 1945
A-14323 Lustig Gyorgy (Georg) 13 Dec. 1926 27 Jan. 1945
A-14324 Lustig Martin 13 Dec. 1926 27 Jan. 1945
439
A-5121 Lustig-Brauer (Braver) Ewa 22 Dec. 1942
A-5122 Lustig-Brauer (Braver) Agnes 22 Dec. 1942 27 Jan. 1945
438
Evacuated to Ravensbrück, liberated near Leipzig.
439
Died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
402 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
A-5123 Lustig-Brauer (Braver) Judith 22 Dec. 1942 27 Jan. 1945
A-5131 Malek Yehudith Feig 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-7736 Malek Salomon 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-7737 Malek Elias 3 27 Jan. 1945
A-7738 Malek Jacob 3 27 Jan. 1945
A-27165 Mangel G.L. 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-1386 Mayer (Meier) Moses 1931 27 Jan. 1945
A-3841 Mayer (Meier) Laura 1931 27 Jan. 1945
A-3637 Mermelstein Marta 11 27 Jan. 1945
A-3638 Mermelstein Waleria 11 27 Jan. 1945
A-3622 Michobowicz Irena 21 L
A-3623 Michobowicz Lenta 21 L
? Mintz Rivka Vered ? L
? Mintz (sister) ? L
? Modiano Samo 15 ?
A-5770 Molnar Suza 20 L
A-5771 Molnar Marie 20 L
A-7063 Moses Eva 11 27 Jan. 1945
A-7064 Moses Miriam 11 27 Jan. 1945
? Moskowitz Elisabeth ? L
A-6034 Moszkowitz Rosa 18 L
440
A-6035 Moszkowitz Helena 18
A-7063 Mozes Eva 31 Jan. 1935 27 Jan. 1945
A-7064 Mozes Miriam 31 Jan. 1935 27 Jan. 1945
A-27063 Neumann Henia 13 27 Jan. 1945
B-14206 Neumann Gabriel J. 8 27 Jan. 1945
B-14213 Neumann G.L. 9 27 Jan. 1945
A-7259 Neuschlöss Judith 17 Dec. 1927 ?
A-14327 Neuschlüss Gabor 17 Dec. 1927 ?
188931 Noach Haskel 10 27 Jan. 1945
78482 Noach R.A. 13 27 Jan. 1945
A-1719 Nochmann Albert 22 Apr. 1885 ?
A-1720 Nochmann Fritz 22 Apr. 1885 ?
A-1766 Oppenheimer Jaroslaus 26 Mar. 1920 ?
A-1767 Oppenheimer Sidonius 26 Mar. 1920 ?
A-1442 Ories (Ovicz) Abraham 26 Sep. 1903 27 Jan. 1945
A-1443 Ories (Ovicz) Markus 16 Jul. 1909 27 Jan. 1945
A-1444 Ories (Ovicz) Sandor 1 27 Jan. 1945
? Orovicz Rischek 5 ?
A-5089 Ovicz (Edenburg) Erika (Frieda) ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-5087 Ovicz (Owicz) Piroska ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-5088 Ovicz (Owicz) Rozsi (Rozhinka) ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-5090 Ovicz (Owicz) Franciska ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-5092 Ovicz (Owicz) Seren (Sara) ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-5093 Ovicz (Owicz) Lina (Leah) ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-5091 Ovicz-Miskovitz Elisabeth ? 27 Jan. 1945
A-7206 Paneth (Pacuta) Ewa 15 L
A-7207 Paneth (Pacuta) Sara 15 L
A-1437 Peterfreund J.S. 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-3630 Peterfreund Agnes 12 Nov. 1932 27 Jan. 1945
440
Died in the camp on August 26, 1944.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 403
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
A-1437 Peterfreund Istwan 12 Nov. 1932 27 Jan. 1945
? Pflanzen Linka 5 ?
Z-5751 Pohl Alfred 6 Nov. 1931 ?
Z-5752 Pohl Fritz 6 Nov. 1931 ?
A-2514 Pollack Abraham 21 Nov. 1924 441
A-2515 Pollack Jacob 21 Nov. 1924 442
A-5417 Pollak Rozsi 11 Mar. 1927 443
B-1153 Pritichy Alex 7 27 Jan. 1945
A-5602 Rajngevic C.M. 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-7219 Reich Olga 28 ?
A-10508 Reichenberg Efraim (Ernst) 11 Feb. 1928 27 Jan. 1945
B-10507 Reichenberg Laslo 11 Feb. 1928 L
A-3039 Reichmann Friedel 9 27 Jan. 1945
A-10440 Reinitz Georg 12 27 Jan. 1945
B-14245 Rochlitz Alfred 10 27 Jan. 1945
? Rosen Eva ? L
? Rosen Helen ? L
A-7054 Rosenbaum Ruth 25 Mar. 1934 27 Jan. 1945444
A-7055 Rosenbaum Judith 25 Mar. 1934 27 Jan. 1945
? Rosenblum Hana 12 ?
B-14232 Rosenwasser Josef 8 27 Jan. 1945
B-2784 Rosenwasser Lea 12 27 Jan. 1945
B-14820 Rosenzweig Jurek 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-5415 Roth Piroska 3 Nov. 1927 445
A-5416 Roth Hermine 3 Nov. 1927 446
A-27087 Rukovic Erika 3 27 Jan. 1945
? Sainer Ilan ? L
? Sainer (Novomkova) Hana ? L
A-10 Salamon Charlotte Malte 9 27 Jan. 1945
A-11 Salamon Rosa 9 27 Jan. 1945
A-5723 Salomon Lipot 12 Apr. 1924 …
A-5724 Salomon Dezö 12 Apr. 1924 …
A-5725 Salomon Sandor 11 May 1931 27 Jan. 1945
A-5726 Salomon Tibor 11 May 1931 27 Jan. 1945
147689 Salus Georg 10 Mar. 1924 ?
147690 Salus Ladislaus 10 Mar. 1924 ?
A-14094 Sander Josef 6 Oct. 1931 L
A-7208 Sander Rozsi 6 Oct. 1931 L
? Sattler Gardony (Magda) 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-5128 Sattler Vera 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-5129 Sattler Magda 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-9271 Sauer Sara 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-9272 Sauer Margit 14 27 Jan. 1945
447
A-12087 Schick Jose 1
441
Evacuated to Buchenwald.
442
Evacuated to Buchenwald, died on March 11, 1945.
443
Transferred to Buchenwald in October 1944.
444
Died on Mar. 14, 1945.
445
Transferred to Buchenwald in November 1944.
446
Transferred to Buchenwald in November 1944.
447
“Died in the camp as a result of the experiments performed on him.”
404 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
A-12088 Schick Otto 1 ?
A-27153 Schick Eva 13 27 Jan. 1945
448
A-7044 Schick Hedi 1
188932 Schlager J.D. 11 27 Jan. 1945
81753 Schlager Laura 9 27 Jan. 1945
? Schlesinger Harry 3 Sep. 1929 27 Jan. 1945
? Schlesinger (twin sister) ? died at Au.
60721 Schlesinger Paula ? L
A-3624 Schlesinger Klara 19 L
A-3625 Schlesinger Lio 19 L
A-5773 Schlesinger Sidonia 9 Mar. 1929 27 Jan. 1945
A-7254 Schlesinger Martha 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-7255 Schlesinger Judith 12 27 Jan. 1945
+ 16 Mar.45449
A-7732 Schlesinger Herman 9 Mar. 1929 ?
B-14324 Schlesinger Pavel 6 27 Jan. 1945
B-14325 Schlesinger Robert 11 27 Jan. 1945
170799 Schön Richard 22 May 1906 ?
170800 Schön Robert 22 May 1906 ?
A-7041 Schröter Judith 12 L
A-7042 Schröter Veronika 12 L
? Schuldenfrei Moritz (Mendel) 11 ?
A-18951 Schwarcz Vera 13 ½ 27 Jan. 1945
? Schwartz Tamas 12 ?
? Schwartz Yakov ? 27 Jan. 1945
? Schwartz Yehuda ? L
450
? Schwartz Eva ?
A-7710 Schwartz Elisabeth ? L
? Schwarz Iren 12 ?
A-14095 Schwarz Kalman 8 Apr. 1932 27 Jan. 1945
A-5109 Schwarz Eugen (Jenö) 13 Apr. 1915 ?
A-5343 Schwarz Elisabeth 8 Apr. 1932 ?
A-5727 Schwarz Aladar 10 Jan. 1921 ?
A-5728 Schwarz Ignatz 10 Jan. 1921 ?
A-6037 Schwarz Elisabeth 49 ?
A-7730 Schwarz Josef 13 Apr. 1925 ?
A-7731 Schwarz Adolf 13 Apr. 1925 ?
B-14295 Schwarz Ferenc 11 27 Jan. 1945
? Schweid Andor 15 ?
A-792 Seiler Sarah 5 Oct. 1940 27 Jan. 1945
A-793 Seiler Hannah 5 Oct. 1940 451
169094 Seiner Milan 16 Nov. 1933 ?
71787 Seiner Milada ? L
71789 Seiner Hanna ? L
A-1199 Seligsohn Arthur 22 Jan. 1889 ?
? Selmanovic Mor 14 ?
A-5133 Senderowicz Gizella 18 L
448
“Died in the camp as a result of the experiments performed on her.”
449
Died on Mar. 16, 1945.
450
Died at Auschwitz.
451
Died at Auschwitz.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 405
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
A-5134 Senderowicz Rosa 18 L
A-6024 Silberger Judith 20 L
A-6025 Silberger Andrea 20 L
A-7221 Singer (Sinje) Klara 28 years ?
A-1439 Slomowicz Markus 18 Apr. 1925 ?
A-1440 Slomowicz Josef 28 Jan. 1931 ?
A-1441 Slomowicz Idel (Juda) 26 Jun. 1933 ?
A-2517 Slomowicz Lazar Lajoz 8 May 1926 27 Jan. 1945
A-1438 Slomowicz (Slomovitz) Simon 19 Dec. 1897 ?
A-2516 Slomowiecz (Slomowicz) Salomon 8 May 1926 27 Jan. 1945
77303 Sluschakova Wala 3-4 ?
? Solomon Shaul Almog ? L
? Solomon Slomo Almog ? L
A-1 Solomon Rosalia 9 27 Jan. 1945
A-17454 Somogyi Peter 14 Apr. 1935 27 Jan. 1945
A-17455 Somogyi Tomas 14 Apr. 1935 27 Jan. 1945
? Spiegel Magda Zalikovich 5 Jan. 1915 27 Jan. 1945
A-7729 Spiegel Ernst Czvi 5 Jan. 1915 27 Jan. 1945
A-23221 Spirova Frida 9 ?
A-27880 Spirova Dora 9 27 Jan. 1945
A-14328 Stadler Andor 10 Jun. 1929 ?
A-7258 Stadler Vera 10 Jun. 1929 ?
A-27712 Stein Judith 14 27 Jan. 1945
147742 Steiner Zdenek 20 May 1929 27 Jan. 1945
147743 Steiner Georg 20 May 1929 27 Jan. 1945
B-10504 Steiner Endre 9 Jun. 1929 ?
B-10505 Steiner Zoltan 9 Jun. 1929 ?
B-14566 Steiner Jindrich 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-8272 Stern Lea 14 27 Jan. 1945
A-8273 Stern Hojnol 14 27 Jan. 1945
81769 Stockfisch Hariette 3 27 Jan. 1945
147673 Stolz Zdenek 21 Aug. 1921 ?
A-9751 Storch Lenke 30 L
A-60 Storch (Stroch) ? ?
A-9752 Storch (Weiss) Olga 30 L
A-27126 Strauss Gitta 10 27 Jan. 1945
A-27127 Strauss Lilly 12 27 Jan. 1945
B-14272 Strauss D.J. 8 27 Jan. 1945
? Stroch Jakob 15 ?
452
168786 Süsser Fritz 21 Apr. 1904
453
170896 Süsser Hans 21 Apr. 1904
A-14094 Szandor Josef (Henryk) 10 Jun. 1931 27 Jan. 1945
? Taub Yizchak ? L
? Taub Zerah ? L
454
A-2507 Taub Georg 18 Feb. 1933
455
A-2508 Taub Imre 18 Feb. 1933
A-6900 Teller K.J. 14 ¾ 27 Jan. 1945
452
In 1945 to Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp, then evacuated to Dachau Concentration Camp.
453
In 1945 to Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp, then evacuated to Dachau Concentration Camp.
454
In 1945 evacuated to Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
455
In 1945 evacuated to Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
406 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
A-3100 Tesler Hermann 1931 27 Jan. 1945
A-3101 Tesler Uszer 1931 27 Jan. 1945
A-23492 Traub E. 5 27 Jan. 1945
A-23493 Traub Hanka 5 27 Jan. 1945
188933 Van Gelder Eddi 3 27 Jan. 1945
? Vigozcka Rachel Vachtel ? L
? Vigozcka Sarah Lushek ? L
188934 Viskoper Robert 6 27 Jan. 1945
456
? Vissan (twin brother) ?
? Vissan Yuppy Yan ? L
A-7046 Wasserman Gisella 16 27 Jan. 1945
A-7045 Wassermann Frieda 16 27 Jan. 1945
? Weinberger Irene 14 ?
? Weinheber Berta 15 ?
A-6031 Weiser Fanny 20 ?
A-6032 Weiser Jolan 20 ?
? Weiss Jonathan Bandy ? L
? Weiss Mayer (Bela) ? L
A-160 Weiss ? ? ?
A-27197 Weiss Migrun 6 27 Jan. 1945
A-27202 Weiss M.E. 10 27 Jan. 1945
A-3626 Weiss Olga ? ?
A-3627 Weiss Malvine ? ?
A-3634 Weiss Edith 1926 27 Jan. 1945
A-3635 Weiss Piroska 1926 27 Jan. 1945
A-5554 Weiss Lili 14 Nov. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
A-6026 Weiss Ewa 10 Aug. 1922 27 Jan. 1945
A-6027 Weiss Vera 10 Aug. 1922 27 Jan. 1945
A-8270 Weiss Anna 19 L
A-8271 Weiss Katalin 19 L
B-14354 Weiss Jurai 7 months 27 Jan. 1945
A-27199 Weisshefer B.E. 14 ¾ 27 Jan. 1945
? Weisz Marta 11 ?
A-12085 Weisz Bela 8 Nov. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
A-12086 Weisz Andor (Andre) 8 Nov. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
A-2509 Weisz Hermann 3 May 1926 ?
A-2510 Weisz Lajosz 3 May 1926 ?
A-27201 Weisz Eva E. 13 27 Jan. 1945
A-27660 Weisz Elisabeth 11 27 Jan. 1945
A-5108 Weisz (Weiss) Sandor 1 Feb. 1930 ?
? Weiszmann Ibolya 13 ?
A-2520 Wiesel Hermann 14 Feb. 1930 27 Jan. 1945
A-2521 Wiesel Siegmund 14 Feb. 1930 ?
A-27208 Winter Erika 13 27 Jan. 1945
B-14348 Winter Otto 10 27 Jan. 1945
? Winzorek Bogasta 15 ?
186644 Wittenberg Imre 2 Jun. 1925 ?
? Wolkowitz Rifka 5 ?
? Wolkowitz Fischel 8 ?
B-14880 Worstmann (Workman) Gabor 14 27 Jan. 1945
456
Died at Auschwitz.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 407
Liberation Date
Reg. No. Family name Given name Birthday/age
(L = Liberated)
? Wurms Juda 15 ?
? Zawer Miri Sheinberger ? L
? Zawer Sarah Tigherman ? L
B-14827 Zelewski Leib 12 27 Jan. 1945
B-14828 Zelewski Samuel 12 27 Jan. 1945
A-5418 Zelikowic Magda ? ?
A-3102 Zelmanowitz Mor 7 Jun. 1931 27 Jan. 1945
A-5419 Zelmanowitz Eva 7 Jun. 1931 27 Jan. 1945
? Zucker Maria 13 ?
A-27772 Zwischberg Vera 12 27 Jan. 1945
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 409
Bibliography
1. Sources Used for this Study
– Dr. Mengele boncolóorvosa voltam az auschwitz-i krematóriumban. Copyright by
Nyiszli Miklós, Oradea, Nagyvárad, 1946. Tipografia “Grafica” Oradea.
– Dr. Mengele boncolóorvosa voltam az auschwitz-i krematóriumban. Copyright by
Világ. Debrecen, 1947.
– “Tanú voltam Nürnbergben,” in: Világ, April 18 – May 22, 1948.
– “S.S. Obersturmfuhrer docteur Mengele. Journal d’un médecin déporté au crémato-
rium d’Auschwitz,” in: Les Temps Modernes, No. 65, March 1951, pp. 1654-1673,
and No. 66, April 1951, pp. 1855-1886.
– Médecin à Auschwitz: Souvenirs d’un médecin déporté. Traduit et adapté du hon-
grois par Tibère Kremer (Translated and adapted from the Hungarian by Tibère
Kremer), Julliard, Paris, 1961.
– “Auschwitz. Tagebuch eines Lagerarztes,” in: Quick (Munich), Nos. 3-11, 1961.
– Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account. A Panther Book, London, 1962.
– Orvos voltam Auschwitzban (I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz). Irodalmi könyvkiadó,
Bucharest, 1964.
– Im Jenseits der Menschlichkeit: Ein Gerichtsmediziner in Auschwitz. translated by
Angelika Bihari, edited by Friedrich Herber, Dietz Verlag, Berlin, 1992.
– Byłem asystentem doktora Mengele: Wspomnienia lekarza z Oświęcimia.
Wydawnictwo Trio, Warsaw, 1996.
– National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records, Record Group
238.5.3 Official Records of the Trials before U.S. Military Tribunals. On microfilm:
National Archives Microfilm Publications, Microfilm Publication M892, Roll 1-
113.
2. General Bibliography
– Adler, Hans Günther, Theresienstadt: Das Antlitz einer Zwangsgemeinschaft. Mohr,
Tübingen 1955; Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen, 2005.
– Adler, Hans Günther, Hermann Langbein, Ella Lingens-Reiner, Auschwitz: Zeug-
nisse und Berichte. Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Cologne/Frankfurt upon Main,
1979.
– Archives Paul Rassinier (eds.), Les légendes qui basculent. Correspondance entre
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C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 413
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414 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
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416 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
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418 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Archive Abbreviations
AGK: Archiwum Głównej Komisji Badania Zbrodni w Polsce, Archives
of the Central Commission for the Investigation of Crimes in Po-
land, now Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (Institute of National Re-
membrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against
the Polish Nation), Warsaw
APMO: Archiwum Państwowego Muzeum w Oświęcimiu (Archives of the
State Museum Auschwitz)
BAK: Bundesarchiv Koblenz (German Federal Archives, Koblenz)
FDRL: Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, New York
GARF: Gosudarstvenny Arkhiv Rossiskoy Federatsii, State Archive of the
Russian Federation, Moscow
IMT: Trials of the Major Criminals before the International Military Tri-
bunal. Nuremberg, 14 November 1945 – 1 October 1946. Pub-
lished at Nuremberg, Germany, 1947
RGVA: Rossiiskoi Gosudarstvennoi Voennyi Arkhiv, Russian State Military
Archive, Moscow
RvO: Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (National Institute for
War Documentation, Amsterdam)
TNA: The National Archives, Kew Richmond, Great Britain, formerly
Public Record Office
YVA: Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 421
Documents
DOCUMENT 1B: Title page of the 1947 edition of Nyiszli’s Dr. Mengele
boncolóorvosa voltam az auschwitz-i krematóriumban. Copyright by Világ.
Debrecen, 1947.
424 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
DOCUMENT 1C: Title page of the 1964 edition of Nyiszli’s book: Orvos
voltam Auschwitzban. Irodalmi könyvkiadó, Bucharest, 1964.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 425
Document 2 continued.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 427
Document 2 continued.
428 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
DOCUMENT 3: Page 6 of the Budapest newspaper Világ with the first sequel
of Miklós Nyiszli’s series “Tanú voltam Nürnbergben” (“I Was a Witness at
Nuremberg”).
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 429
Document 5 continued.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 433
Document 5 continued.
434 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Document 5 continued.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 435
Document 5 continued.
436 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Document 5a continued.
438 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Document 5a continued.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 439
Document 5a continued.
440 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Document 5a continued.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 441
Document 5a continued.
442 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Document 7 continued.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 445
Document 7 continued.
446 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
DOCUMENT 12: Gasifiers at the rear end of the two Topf triple-muffle
cremation furnaces in the crematorium at the Buchenwald Camp. From:
Mattogno/Deana 2015, Vol. III, Photo 205, p. 131.
450 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
DOCUMENT 15, 15A (next page): Air photo of the area west of the Birkenau
Camp taken on May 31, 1944 (Crematoria, Effektenlager, area of the alleged
“Bunker 2”). From: National Archives, Washington D.C., Record Group no.
373, Mission 60 PRS/462 60 SQ. Can D 1508, Exposure 3055.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 453
454 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
DOCUMENT 16: The “grosse Postenkette” (“large guard chain”) around the
Birkenau Camp (black dots) and the Auschwitz Main Camp (white dots).
From: http://lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_15_ucieczki.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 455
Document 18 continued.
458 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
DOCUMENT 19: Map of the Birkenau Camp. From: Czech 1989, p. 27.
Similar in Czech 1997, p. 5.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 459
DOCUMENT 21: Last page of the medical record of the Jewish prisoner
Beniamin Beresi (covering the time from March 20 through April 3, 1944,
his days 259 through 273 after his admission to the inmate infirmary).
“Hoerlein Document No. 215.” National Archives Microfilm Publications.
Microfilm Publication M892. Records of the United States. Nuernberg War
Crimes Trials. United States of America v. Carl Krauch et al. (Case VI).
August 14, 1947-July 30, 1948. Roll 68. Defense Exhibits. Washington,
1976.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 461
DOCUMENT 22: Autopsy protocol by Dr. Fritz Klein of February 26, 1944
about the Jewish inmate Isaak Attas. Source: as Document 21.
462 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Document 22 continued.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 463
Document 22 continued.
464 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Document 22 continued.
C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT 465
Index of Names
Individuals only. Page numbers from entries in footnotes as italics. Not in-
clude are names from the tables in the Appendix (starting on p. 391).
— A — Brandt, Karl: 160 — E —
Adler, Hans Günther: 11, 238, Broad, Pery: 167, 336, 341, Ehrenburg, Ilya: 140
239, 240, 241 353, 354, 356 Eichmann, Adolf: 11, 210,
Algawa, Josef: 293 Brüggemann, Max: 160 238, 278
Altstötter, Josef: 160 Bucci, Alessandra: 389 Eindenmüller, Rottenführer:
Ambros, Otto: 160, 295 Bucci, Tatiana Liliana: 389 81, 300
Amcham, Morris: 160 Buki, Milton: 263, 375 Entress, Friedrich: 291, 335,
Aroneau, Eugène: 140, 172 Bürgin, Ernst: 160 336, 341
Attas, Isaak: 294, 461 Bütefisch, Heinrich: 160 Enwonwu, C.O.: 384
Aumeier, Hans: 374 Epstein, Berthold: 29, 62,
Awerbuch, Michael: 294 — C — 142, 143, 159, 160, 285,
Camhi Fromer, Rebecca: 297 290-294, 296, 307, 359,
— B — Čespiva, Jan: 384 385, 388
Babitsky, Arthur Harold: 388 Charmatz, Jan: 160 Erler, Rudolf: 257
Backhouse, T.M.: 305 Christianson, Scott: 218
Baer, Richard: 186, 257, 259 Churchill., Winston: 15, 129 — F —
Baranowski, Julian: 235 Clauberg, Carl: 291 Farkas, Elias: 293
Bartosik, Igor: 246, 254, 257, Czech, Danuta: 183, 189, 195, Farkas, Henrik: 343
258 196, 204, 212, 229, 230, Feinsilber, Alter: see
Becher, Kurt: 242, 243 233-237, 239-242, 243, Jankowski, Stanisław
Belowus, Wasil: 181 254-256, 257, 259, 260, Ferri, Luigi: 389
Bendel, Charles S.: 13, 14, 261, 263, 275-280, 285, Fischer, Adolf: 68, 125, 188,
29, 143, 159, 160, 167, 168, 286, 290, 292, 295-299, 285, 295, 296, 358
244, 262, 285, 290, 292, 308, 313, 331, 332, 338, Fischer, Bruno: 291
305, 309, 335, 337, 339, 340, 355, 446, 458 Fischer, Horst: 291, 374
341, 349, 350, 353, 359, Flick, Friedrich: 160
360, 372, see Chapter 4.2. — D — Flury, Ferdinand: 206, 207
Bennahmias, Daniel: 159, de Simone, Sergio: 389 Forysz, Michel: 293
160, 285, 297 de Vabres, Donnedieu: 143 Frąckiewicz, Jerzy: 371
Bennett, John: 372 Deana, Franco: 191, 192, 195, Franco, Francisco: 171
Berenbaum, Michael: 12 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, Freese, Willi: 257
Beresi, Benjamin: 294, 460 201, 272, 308, 309, 449- Frei, Norbert: 257
Berillet, Pierre: 305 451 Freiherr von Verschuer,
Bestic, Alan: 309 Dénes, Görög: 68, 111, 125, Otmar: 13
Bezwińska, Jadwiga: 263, 126, 188, 285, 295, 296, Freyer, Anne: 11, 221, 266,
286, 338, 355 345, 346, 358, 372 365
Biddle, Francis: 143 Diels, Rudolph: 336 Frickhinger, Hans Walter:
Bihari, Angelika: 116, 241, Dionne, quintuplets: 29 219
250 Długoborski, Wacław: 12, Friedler, Eric: 259, 297
Bimko, Ada: 349, 351-353 371 Friedman, Filip: 216
Birkett, Norman: 143 Dragon, Szlama: 216, 249,
Bischoff, Karl: 349 271, 272, 336, 358 — G —
Blaschke, Karl: 227 Draper, Gerald I.D.: 305 Gajewski, Fritz: 160
Braham, Randolph L.: 180, DuBois Jr., Josiah E.: 160 Gál, Gyula: 344
277, 278 Dürrfeld, Walter: 160, 184 Gasser, Ludwig: 208
468 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Mengele, Josef: 9, 12, 13, 15, Olère, David: 158, 195, 196, Puszyna (Puzyna), Martyna:
19, 21-25, 27, 28, 30-35, 221, 285, 297, 299, 314, 296, 385, 388
42, 43, 45-49, 55, 56, 59- 364
70, 74, 82, 83, 85-87, 89, Olson, Kent R.: 224 — R —
90, 92, 94, 96, 98, 99, 103, Olszański, Tadeusz: 250 Rabinovits, Dr.: 345
106, 108, 109, 118, 119, Orth, Karin: 338 Rabinowitsch, Emil: 292
121, 125, 130, 136, 138- Oster, Heinrich: 160 Rahm, Karl: 238
143, 157, 159, 162, 167, Ottolenghi, Gustavo: 279 Rasch, Walter: 208
174, 179, 187, 188, 202, Rassinier, Paul: 9, 169-173,
216, 217, 234, 243, 244, — P — 175, 179, 190, 199, 213,
259, 281, 282, 288, 291, Pach, Jean (Jacques): 358, 243, 244, 252, 350, 377,
292, 294-296, 300-303, 359, 372-374 378, 443
305-307, 332, 345, 346, Paisikovic, Dov: 221, 249, Reich, Imre: 344
358, 368-370, 372, 374- 299, 300 Reichenberger, Laslo and
376, 383-390, 465 Pankowicz, Andzrej: 279 Ernst, twins: 240
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice: 172, Paraz, Albert: 9, 169-172 Reitlinger, Gerald: 11, 169,
173 Parcer, Jan: 384 349-352
Messing, Heinrich: 223 Parker, John I.: 143 Reuter, Prof. Dr.: 367
Michel: 81, 268, 285, 297 Paskuly, Steven: 314 Roosevelt, Franklin D.: 15,
Mikado, Emperor of Japan: Peters, Gerhard: 165, 207, 129
171 208, 224 Rosenberg, Walter: 263, 279,
Mikołajski, Zdzisław: 263 Phillips, Raymond: 13, 300, 309, 339
Milch, Erhard: 160 305, 307, 312, 313, 315, Rosin, Arnost: 263, 278, 339
Minskoff, Emanuel: 139, 143- 324, 328, 352 Rozett, Robert: 231
146, 150, 153-158, 160, Picciotto Fargion, Liliana: Rudolf, Germar: 186, 209,
164-168, 188, 306, 341, 389 214, 225
377 Pintzow, Michael: 293 Rüter, Christiaan F.: 370
Möhs, Ernst: 238 Piper, Franciszek: 12, 15,
Moll, Otto: 59, 60, 221, 314, 216, 237, 245, 248, 253- — S —
337 256, 263, 267, 269-271, Sakew, W.: 249
Mordowicz, Czesław: 278, 300, 311, 314-316, 342, Sander, Fritz: 191
339 354-363, 371, 373, 448, Sanford, P. Gerald: 95
Muhsfeldt, Erich: see 459 Sartre, Jean-Paul: 172
Mussfeld, Erich Pliszko, Lemke (Chaim): see Scheimetz, Rottenführer: 216
Müller, Filip: 210, 254, 300, Pliszko, Meier Schenkarenko, Aleksander:
314, 342, 353, 359, 372- Pliszko, Meier: 258, 259 257, 259
375 Pohl, Oswald: 160, 183 Schmitz, Hermann: 160
Mussfeld, Erich: 34, 59, 68, Pokrovsky, Yuri: 207 Schneider, Christian: 160
72, 74-78, 106, 108, 110, Poliakov, Léon: 11 Schöttl, Vincenz: 187
116, 119, 125, 136, 142, Porębski, Henryk: 254 Schuster, Heinrich: 337
158, 174, 224, 264, 270, Porter, Carlos W.: 383 Schwarz, Deszö: 249
298 Posner, Gerald L.: 12, 387, Seaver, Richard: 10, 15, 112,
388 127, 352, 364, 367, 368,
— N — Pressac, Jean-Claude: 11, 12, 377
Nelson, Tim B.: 14 194, 195, 212, 215, 221- Sehn, Jan: 14, 216, 232, 264,
Nemes, László: 14 223, 260, 267, 270, 271, 310, 317, 353
Newman, Randolf: 160 315, 320, 321, 323, 326, Seidl, Hans: 293, 294
Nikitchenko, Iona T.: 143 330, 331, 342, 349, 350, Seitz, Robert: 81, 158, 300
Nyiszli, Miklós: passim 363-366 Sentkeller: see Zentkeller,
Provan, Charles D.: 10, 12, Roman
— O — 135, 165, 333, 367-369, Setkiewicz, Piotr: 232, 233
Ohlendorf, Otto: 160 371, 372, 374-379 Sewell, Milton A.: 161
Prüfer, Kurt: 203, 223 Shmaglevskaya, Severina:
Purke, Josef: 257 327
470 C. MATTOGNO, M. NYISZLI ∙ AN AUSCHWITZ DOCTOR’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Silberschein, Abraham: 343 Thilo, Heinz: 66, 89, 90, 137, Waitz, Robert: 239, 286
Smoleń, Kazimierz: 309 157, 158, 167, 291, 302 Waksmann, Gerszon: 184
Śnieszko, Tadeusz: 292 Toepfer, Karl: 257-259 Wallenstein, Albrecht von: 86
Soboiko, Moszek: 258, 259 Trunk, Achim: 220 Ware, John: 12, 387, 388
Sobotka, Moshe: see Soboiko, Tubridy, Joseph F.: 143 Weinberger, Alexander: 293
Moszek Weinblum, Lejzor: 294
Spector, Shmuel: 231 — V — Weisskopf, Rudolf: 292, 294-
Sprecher, Drexel A.: 160, Vaillant-Couturier, Marie 296, 385, 388
165, 166 Claude: 327 Wellers, Georges: 231, 289,
Sproncz, Jószef: 343 Vámosi, Jenő: 344 353
Stalin, Joseph: 15, 129, 171 van Pelt, Robert Jan: 11, 223, Wesolowski, Jerzy: 339
Steinberg, Karl-Fritz: 80, 81, 225, 226 Wetzler, Alfred: 263, 309,
117, 118 van Street, Virgil: 160 339, 340-343, 351
Steinberg, Maxime: 259, 394 Veesenmayer, Edmund: 278 Wind, Marcus: 181, 188
Steiner, Endre and Zoltan, Venezia, Shlomo: 221 Wirths, Eduard: 158, 167,
twins: 240 Vihar, Béla: 343, 344 185, 301, 326, 327, 383
Steinfeld, Israel: 292 Vitek: see Weisskopf, Rudolf Wolff, Dr.: 66, 67, 70, 157,
Stössel, Dr.: 153, 154, 166 Volchkov, Alexander F.: 143 158
Strassmann, Georg: 31, 367 Volli, Gemma: 230 Wolken, Otto: 232
Strzelecka, Irena: 232, 233 von Birago, Karl: 128 Wróbel, Halina: 280
Szabo, Jozsef: 375 von der Heyde, Erich: 160 Wurster, Karl: 160
Szépvölgyi, Dénesné: 344 von Halle, Benvenuto: 139, Wüstinger, Erich: 208
Szymańska, Danuta: 292 143, 144, 146, 159, 161,
Szymański, Tadeusz: 292 164, 165 — Z —
von Knieriem, August: 160 Zaun, Alfred: 335
— T — von Leeb, Wilhelm: 160 Zbirohowski-Kościa,
Tabeau, Jerzy: see von Schnitzler, Georg: 160 Withold: 250
Wesolowski, Jerzy von Thadden, Eberhard: 227, Zentkeller, Roman: 24, 32,
Tauber, Henryk: 216, 267, 278 285
271, 308, 330, 349, 354, von Weizsäcker, Ernst: 160 Zernik, Franz: 206, 207
356, 373 Vrba, Rudolf: see Rosenberg, Zippel, Otto: 311, 319, 320
Taylor, George G.: 143 Walter Zorovics, Moses: 293
Taylor, Telford: 160, 166, 168 Zucker, engineer: 239
ter Meer, Fritz: 160 — W — Zündel, Ernst: 12, 218
Tesch, Bruno: 11, 209, 305, Wagner, Bernd C.: 182
306, 311, 319, 320, 334, Wagner, Hans: 152, 153, 165,
336, 339 166
Free Samples at www.HolocaustHandbooks.com
HOLOCAUST HANDBOOKS
T
his ambitious, growing series addresses various aspects of the “Holocaust” of the
WWII era. Most of them are based on decades of research from archives all over the
world. They are heavily referenced. In contrast to most other works on this issue,
the tomes of this series approach its topic with profound academic scrutiny and a critical
attitude. Any Holocaust researcher ignoring this series will remain oblivious to some of
the most important research in the field. These books are designed to both convince the
common reader as well as academics. The following books have appeared so far, or are
about to be released. Compare hardcopy and eBook prices at www.findbookprices.com.
SECTION ONE:
General Overviews of the Holocaust
The First Holocaust. The Surprising Origin of
the Six-Million Figure. By Don Heddesheimer.
This compact but substantive study documents
propaganda spread prior to,
during and after the FIRST
World War that claimed East Pictured above are all of the scientific studies that comprise the
European Jewry was on the series Holocaust Handbooks published thus far or are about to
brink of annihilation. The be released. More volumes and new editions are constantly in
the works. Check www.HolocaustHandbooks.com for updates.
magic number of suffering
and dying Jews was 6 million refutes the orthodox “Holocaust” narrative. It
back then as well. The book reveals that the Germans were desperate to re-
details how these Jewish fund- duce the death rate in their labor camps, which
raising operations in America was caused by catastrophic
raised vast sums in the name typhus epidemics. Dr. Koller-
of feeding suffering Polish and strom, a science historian,
Russian Jews but actually fun- has taken these intercepts
neled much of the money to Zionist and Com- and a wide array of mostly
munist groups. 5th ed., 200 pages, b&w illustra- unchallenged corroborating
tions, bibliography, index. (#6) evidence to show that “wit-
ness statements” support-
Lectures on the Holocaust. Controversial Issues
ing the human gas chamber
Cross Examined. By Germar Rudolf. This book
narrative clearly clash with
first explains why “the Holocaust” is an impor- the available scientific data.
tant topic, and that it is well to keep an open Kollerstrom concludes that
mind about it. It then tells how many main- the history of the Nazi “Holocaust” has been
stream scholars expressed written by the victors with ulterior motives. It is
doubts and subsequently fell distorted, exaggerated and largely wrong. With
from grace. Next, the physi- a foreword by Prof. Dr. James Fetzer. 5th ed.,
cal traces and documents 282 pages, b&w ill., bibl., index. (#31)
about the various claimed
crime scenes and murder Debating the Holocaust. A New Look at Both
weapons are discussed. Af- Sides. By Thomas Dalton. Mainstream histo-
ter that, the reliability of rians insist that there cannot be, may not be
witness testimony is exam- a debate about the Holocaust. But ignoring it
ined. Finally, the author does not make this controversy go away. Tradi-
lobbies for a free exchange tional scholars admit that there was neither a
of ideas about this topic. This book gives the budget, a plan, nor an order for the Holocaust;
most-comprehensive and up-to-date overview that the key camps have all but vanished, and
so have any human remains; that material and
of the critical research into the Holocaust. With
unequivocal documentary evi-
its dialog style, it is pleasant to read, and it can
dence is absent; and that there
even be used as an encyclopedic compendium.
are serious problems with
3rd ed., 596 pages, b&w illustrations, bibliogra- survivor testimonies. Dalton
phy, index.(#15) juxtaposes the traditional
Breaking the Spell. The Holocaust, Myth & Holocaust narrative with re-
Reality. By Nicholas Kollerstrom. In 1941, visionist challenges and then
British Intelligence analysts cracked the Ger- analyzes the mainstream’s
man “Enigma” code. Hence, in 1942 and 1943, responses to them. He reveals
encrypted radio communications between Ger- the weaknesses of both sides,
man concentration camps and the Berlin head- while declaring revisionism
quarters were decrypted. The intercepted data the winner of the current state
ISSN 1529-7748 ∙ All books are 6”×9” paperbacks unless otherwise stated. Discounts are available for the whole set.
Holocaust HandbookS • Free Samples at www.HolocaustHandbooks.com
of the debate. 4th ed., 342 pages, b&w updates; 224 pages, b&w illustrations,
illustrations, biblio graphy, index. bibliography (#29).
(#32) Air-Photo Evidence: World War Two
The Hoax of the Twentieth Century. Photos of Alleged Mass Murder Sites
The Case against the Presumed Ex- Analyzed. By Germar Rudolf (editor).
termination of European Jewry. By During World War Two both German
Arthur R. Butz. The first writer to and Allied reconnaissance aircraft
analyze the entire Holocaust complex took countless air photos of places of
in a precise scientific manner. This tactical and strategic interest in Eu-
book exhibits the overwhelming force rope. These photos are prime evidence
of arguments accumulated by the mid- for the investigation of the Holocaust.
1970s. Butz’s two main arguments Air photos of locations like Auschwitz,
are: 1. All major entities hostile to Maj danek, Treblinka, Babi Yar etc.
Germany must have known what was permit an insight into what did or did
happening to the Jews under German not happen there. The author has un-
authority. They acted during the war earthed many pertinent photos and
as if no mass slaughter was occurring. has thoroughly analyzed them. This
2. All the evidence adduced to proof book is full of air photo reproductions
any mass slaughter has a dual inter- and schematic drawings explaining
pretation, while only the innocuous them. According to the author, these
one can be proven to be correct. This images refute many of the atrocity
book continues to be a major histori- claims made by witnesses in connec-
cal reference work, frequently cited by tion with events in the German sphere
prominent personalities. This edition of influence. 6th edition; with a contri-
has numerous supplements with new bution by Carlo Mattogno. 167 pages,
information gathered over the last 35 8.5”×11”, b&w illustrations, biblio
years. 4th ed., 524 pages, b&w illus- graphy, index (#27).
trations, bibliography, index. (#7)
The Leuchter Reports: Critical Edi-
Dissecting the Holocaust. The Grow- tion. By Fred Leuchter, Robert Fauris-
ing Critique of ‘Truth’ and ‘Memory.’ son and Germar Rudolf. Between 1988
Edited by Germar Rudolf. Dissecting and 1991, U.S. expert on execution
the Holocaust applies state-of-the-art technologies Fred Leuchter wrote four
scientific technique and classic meth-
detailed reports addressing whether
ods of detection to investigate the al-
the Third Reich operated homicidal
leged murder of millions of Jews by
gas chambers. The first report on
Germans during World War II. In
22 contributions—each of some 30 Ausch witz and Majdanek became
pages—the 17 authors dissect gener- world famous. Based on chemical
ally accepted paradigms of the “Holo- analyses and various technical argu-
caust.” It reads as exciting as a crime ments, Leuchter concluded that the
novel: so many lies, forgeries and de- locations investigated “could not have
ceptions by politicians, historians and then been, or now be, utilized or seri-
scientists are proven. This is the intel- ously considered to function as execu-
lectual adventure of the 21st century. tion gas chambers.” The second report
Be part of it! 3rd ed., 635 pages, b&w deals with gas-chamber claims for
illustrations, bibliography, index. (#1) the camps Dachau, Mauthausen and
Hartheim, while the third reviews de-
The Dissolution of Eastern European sign criteria and operation procedures
Jewry. By Walter N. Sanning. Six Mil- of execution gas chambers in the U.S.
lion Jews died in the Holocaust. San- The fourth report reviews Pressac’s
ning did not take that number at face 1989 tome Auschwitz. 4th ed., 252
value, but thoroughly explored Euro- pages, b&w illustrations. (#16)
pean population developments and
shifts mainly caused by emigration as The Giant with Feet of Clay: Raul Hil-
well as deportations and evacuations berg and His Standard Work on the
conducted by both Nazis and the So- “Holocaust.” By Jürgen Graf. Raul Hil-
viets, among other things. The book berg’s major work The Destruction of
is based mainly on Jewish, Zionist European Jewry is an orthodox stan-
and mainstream sources. It concludes dard work on the Holocaust. But what
that a sizeable share of the Jews found evidence does Hilberg provide to back
missing during local censuses after his thesis that there was a German
the Second World War, which were plan to exterminate Jews, carried out
so far counted as “Holocaust victims,” mainly in gas chambers? Jürgen Graf
had either emigrated (mainly to Israel applies the methods of critical analy-
or the U.S.) or had been deported by sis to Hilberg’s evidence and examines
Stalin to Siberian labor camps. 2nd the results in light of modern histori-
ed., foreword by A.R. Butz, epilogue by ography. The results of Graf’s critical
Germar Rudolf containing important analysis are devastating for Hilberg.
Holocaust HandbookS • Free Samples at www.HolocaustHandbooks.com
2nd, corrected edition, 139 pages, b&w camp. 3rd ed., 384 pages, b&w illus-
illustrations, bibliography, index. (#3) trations, bibliography, index. (#8)
Jewish Emigration from the Third Belzec in Propaganda, Testimonies,
Reich. By Ingrid Weckert. Current Archeological Research and History.
historical writings about the Third By Carlo Mattogno. Witnesses re-
Reich claim state it was difficult for port that between 600,000 and 3 mil-
Jews to flee from Nazi persecution. lion Jews were murdered in the Bel-
The truth is that Jewish emigration zec camp, located in Poland. Various
was welcomed by the German authori- murder weapons are claimed to have
ties. Emigration was not some kind of been used: diesel gas; unslaked lime
wild flight, but rather a lawfully de- in trains; high voltage; vacuum cham-
termined and regulated matter. Weck- bers; etc. The corpses were incinerated
ert’s booklet elucidates the emigration on huge pyres without leaving a trace.
process in law and policy. She shows For those who know the stories about
that German and Jewish authorities Treblinka this sounds familiar. Thus
worked closely together. Jews inter- the author has restricted this study to
ested in emigrating received detailed the aspects which are new compared
advice and offers of help from both to Treblinka. In contrast to Treblin-
sides. 2nd ed., 130 pages, index. (#12) ka, forensic drillings and excavations
Inside the Gas Chambers: The Exter- were performed at Belzec, the results
mination of Mainstream Holocaust of which are critically reviewed. 142
Historiography. By Carlo Mattogno. pages, b&w illustrations, bibliography,
Neither increased media propaganda index. (#9)
or political pressure nor judicial perse- Sobibor: Holocaust Propaganda and
cution can stifle revisionism. Hence, in Reality. By Jürgen Graf, Thomas Kues
early 2011, the Holocaust Orthodoxy and Carlo Mattogno. Between 25,000
published a 400 pp. book (in German) and 2 million Jews are said to have
claiming to refute “revisionist propa- been killed in gas chambers in the
ganda,” trying again to prove “once Sobibór camp in Poland. The corpses
and for all” that there were homicidal were allegedly buried in mass graves
gas chambers at the camps of Dachau, and later incinerated on pyres. This
Natzweiler, Sachsenhausen, Mau- book investigates these claims and
thausen, Ravensbrück, Neuengamme, shows that they are based on the se-
Stutthof… you name them. Mattogno lective use of contradictory eyewitness
shows with his detailed analysis of testimony. Archeological surveys of
this work of propaganda that main- the camp are analyzed that started in
stream Holocaust hagiography is beat- 2000-2001 and carried on until 2018.
ing around the bush rather than ad- The book also documents the general
dressing revisionist research results. National Socialist policy toward Jews,
He exposes their myths, distortions which never included a genocidal “fi-
and lies. 2nd ed., 280 pages, b&w il- nal solution.” 2nd ed., 456 pages, b&w
lustrations, bibliography, index. (#25) illustrations, bibliography, index. (#19)
The “Extermination Camps” of “Ak-
SECTION TWO: tion Reinhardt”. By Jürgen Graf,
Specific non-Auschwitz Studies Thomas Kues and Carlo Mattogno. In
late 2011, several members of the ex-
Treblinka: Extermination Camp or terminationist Holocaust Controver-
Transit Camp? By Carlo Mattogno and sies blog posted a study online which
Jürgen Graf. It is alleged that at Treb- claims to refute three of our authors’
linka in East Poland between 700,000 monographs on the camps Belzec,
and 3,000,000 persons were murdered Sobibor and Treblinka (see previ-
in 1942 and 1943. The weapons used ous three entries). This tome is their
were said to have been stationary and/ point-by-point response, which makes
or mobile gas chambers, fast-acting or “mincemeat” out of the bloggers’ at-
slow-acting poison gas, unslaked lime, tempt at refutation. Caution:
superheated steam, electricity, diesel The two volumes of this work are
exhaust fumes etc. Holocaust histori- an intellectual overkill for most
ans alleged that bodies were piled as people. They are recommended
high as multi-storied buildings and only for collectors, connoisseurs
burned without a trace, using little and professionals. These two
or no fuel at all. Graf and Mattogno books require familiarity with
have now analyzed the origins, logic the above-mentioned books, of
and technical feasibility of the official which they are a comprehensive
version of Treblinka. On the basis of update and expansion. 2nd ed.,
numerous documents they reveal Tre- two volumes, total of 1396 pages,
blinka’s true identity as a mere transit illustrations, bibliography. (#28)
Holocaust HandbookS • Free Samples at www.HolocaustHandbooks.com
Chelmno: A Camp in History & Propa- dition, material traces of the claimed
ganda. By Carlo Mattogno. At Chelm- massacres are rare due to an attitude
no, huge masses of Jewish prisoners of collusion by governments and Jew-
are said to have been gassed in “gas ish lobby groups. 830 pp., b&w illu
vans” or shot (claims vary from 10,000 strations, bibliography, index. (#39)
to 1.3 million victims). This study cov- Concentration Camp Majdanek. A
ers the subject from every angle, un- Historical and Technical Study. By
dermining the orthodox claims about Carlo Mattogno and Jürgen Graf. At
the camp with an overwhelmingly ef- war’s end, the Soviets claimed that up
fective body of evidence. Eyewitness
to two million Jews were murdered
statements, gas wagons as extermina-
at the Majdanek Camp in seven gas
tion weapons, forensics reports and
chambers. Over the decades, how-
excavations, German documents—all
ever, the Majdanek Museum reduced
come under Mattogno’s scrutiny. Here
are the uncensored facts about Chelm- the death toll three times to currently
no, not the propaganda. 2nd ed., 188 78,000, and admitted that there were
pages, indexed, illustrated, bibliogra- “only” two gas chambers. By exhaus-
phy. (#23) tively researching primary sources,
the authors expertly dissect and repu-
The Gas Vans: A Critical Investiga- diate the myth of homicidal gas cham-
tion. By Santiago Alvarez and Pierre bers at that camp. They also criti-
Marais. It is alleged that the Nazis cally investigated the legend of mass
used mobile gas chambers to extermi- executions of Jews in tank trenches
nate 700,000 people. Up until 2011, no and prove them groundless. Again
thorough monograph had appeared on they have produced a standard work
the topic. Santiago Alvarez has rem- of methodical investigation which au-
edied the situation. Are witness state- thentic historiography cannot ignore.
ments reliable? Are documents genu- 3rd ed., 358 pages, b&w illustrations,
ine? Where are the murder weapons? bibliography, index. (#5)
Could they have operated as claimed?
Where are the corpses? In order to get Concentration Camp Stutthof and Its
to the truth of the matter, Alvarez has Function in National Socialist Jewish
scrutinized all known wartime docu- Policy. By Carlo Mattogno and Jürgen
ments and photos about this topic; he Graf. Orthodox historians claim that
has analyzed a huge amount of wit- the Stutthof Camp served as a “make-
ness statements as published in the shift” extermination camp in 1944.
literature and as presented in more Based mainly on archival resources,
than 30 trials held over the decades this study thoroughly debunks this
in Germany, Poland and Israel; and view and shows that Stutthof was in
he has examined the claims made in fact a center for the organization of
the pertinent mainstream literature. German forced labor toward the end of
The result of his research is mind-bog- World War II. 4th ed., 170 pages, b&w
gling. Note: This book and Mattogno’s illustrations, bibliography, index. (#4)
book on Chelmno were edited in par-
allel to make sure they are consistent SECTION THREE:
and not repetitive. 398 pages, b&w il- Auschwitz Studies
lustrations, bibliography, index. (#26)
The Einsatzgruppen in the Occupied The Making of the Auschwitz Myth:
Eastern Territories: Genesis, Mis- Auschwitz in British Intercepts, Pol-
sions and Actions. By C. Mattogno. ish Underground Reports and Post-
Before invading the Soviet Union, war Testimonies (1941-1947). By
the German authorities set up special Carlo Mattogno. Using messages sent
units meant to secure the area behind by the Polish underground to Lon-
the German front. Orthodox histo- don, SS radio messages send to and
rians claim that these unites called from Auschwitz that were intercepted
Einsatzgruppen primarily engaged and decrypted by the British, and a
in rounding up and mass-murdering plethora of witness statements made
Jews. This study sheds a critical light during the war and in the immediate
into this topic by reviewing all the postwar period, the author shows how
pertinent sources as well as mate- exactly the myth of mass murder in
rial traces. It reveals on the one hand Auschwitz gas chambers was created,
that original war-time documents do and how it was turned subsequently
not fully support the orthodox geno- into “history” by intellectually corrupt
cidal narrative, and on the other that scholars who cherry-picked claims
most post-“liberation” sources such as that fit into their agenda and ignored
testimonies and forensic reports are or actively covered up literally thou-
steeped in Soviet atrocity propaganda sands of lies of “witnesses” to make
and are thus utterly unreliable. In ad- their narrative look credible. Ca. 300
Holocaust HandbookS • Free Samples at www.HolocaustHandbooks.com
Quite to the contrary, many orders are Auschwitz: The First Gassing. Ru-
in clear and insurmountable contra- mor and Reality. By C. Mattogno. The
diction to claims that prisoners were first gassing in Auschwitz is claimed
mass murdered. This is a selection to have occurred on Sept. 3, 1941, in
of the most pertinent of these orders a basement room. The accounts re-
together with comments putting them porting it are the archetypes for all
into their proper historical context. later gassing accounts. This study
185 pages, b&w ill., bibl., index (#34) analyzes all available sources about
Special Treatment in Auschwitz: this alleged event. It shows that these
Origin and Meaning of a Term. By C. sources contradict each other in loca-
Mattogno. When appearing in Ger- tion, date, victims etc, rendering it im-
man wartime documents, terms like possible to extract a consistent story.
“special treatment,” “special action,” Original wartime documents inflict
and others have been interpreted as a final blow to this legend and prove
code words for mass murder. But that without a shadow of a doubt that this
is not always true. This study focuses legendary event never happened. 3rd
on documents about Auschwitz, show- ed., 190 pages, b&w illustrations, bib-
ing that, while “special” had many liography, index. (#20)
different meanings, not a single one Auschwitz: Crematorium I and the
meant “execution.” Hence the prac- Alleged Homicidal Gassings. By C.
tice of deciphering an alleged “code Mattogno. The morgue of Cremato-
language” by assigning homicidal rium I in Auschwitz is said to be the
meaning to harmless documents – a first homicidal gas chamber there.
key component of mainstream histori- This study investigates all statements
ography – is untenable. 2nd ed., 166
by witnesses and analyzes hundreds
pages, b&w illustrations, bibliogra-
of wartime documents to accurately
phy, index. (#10)
write a history of that building. Where
Healthcare at Auschwitz. By C. Mat- witnesses speak of gassings, they are
togno. In extension of the above study either very vague or, if specific, con-
on Special Treatment in Ausch witz, tradict one another and are refuted
this study proves the extent to which by documented and material facts.
the German authorities at Auschwitz The author also exposes the fraudu-
tried to provide health care for the lent attempts of mainstream histo-
inmates. Part 1 of this book analyzes rians to convert the witnesses’ black
the inmates’ living conditions and the propaganda into “truth” by means of
various sanitary and medical mea- selective quotes, omissions, and dis-
sures implemented. Part 2 explores tortions. Mattogno proves that this
what happened to registered inmates building’s morgue was never a homi-
who were “selected” or subject to “spe- cidal gas chamber, nor could it have
cial treatment” while disabled or sick. worked as such. 2nd ed., 152 pages,
This study shows that a lot was tried
b&w illustrations, bibliography, in-
to cure these inmates, especially un-
dex. (#21)
der the aegis of Garrison Physician
Dr. Wirths. Part 3 is dedicated to Dr. Auschwitz: Open Air Incinerations.
this very Wirths. His reality refutes By C. Mattogno. In spring and sum-
the current stereotype of SS officers. mer of 1944, 400,000 Hungarian Jews
398 pages, b&w illustrations, biblio were deported to Auschwitz and alleg-
graphy, index. (#33) edly murdered there in gas chambers.
Debunking the Bunkers of Auschwitz: The Auschwitz crematoria are said
Black Propaganda vs. History. By to have been unable to cope with so
Carlo Mattogno. The bunkers at Aus- many corpses. Therefore, every single
chwitz, two former farmhouses just day thousands of corpses are claimed
outside the camp’s perimeter, are to have been incinerated on huge
claimed to have been the first homi- pyres lit in deep trenches. The sky
cidal gas chambers at Auschwitz spe- over Ausch witz was covered in thick
cifically equipped for this purpose. smoke. This is what some witnesses
With the help of original German want us to believe. This book examines
wartime files as well as revealing air the many testimonies regarding these
photos taken by Allied reconnaissance incinerations and establishes whether
aircraft in 1944, this study shows these claims were even possible. Using
that these homicidal “bunkers” never air photos, physical evidence and war-
existed, how the rumors about them time documents, the author shows that
evolved as black propaganda created these claims are fiction. A new Appen-
by resistance groups in the camp, and dix contains 3 papers on groundwater
how this propaganda was transformed levels and cattle mass burnings. 2nd
into a false reality. 2nd ed., 292 pages, ed., 202 pages, b&w illustrations, bibli-
b&w ill., bibliography, index. (#11) ography, index. (#17)
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