The Trial of Josef Kramer and Forty Four Others

Exhibit 128 Affidavits of Ada Bimko

DEPOSITION OF ADA BIMKO

DEPOSITION OF ADA BIMKO of SOSNOWITZ [Sosnowiec], POLAND, sworn before me, Major P. Ingress Bell, D.A.A.G., Legal Staff, an Officer of the Staff of the Judge Advocate General to the Forces.

1. I am aged 32 and am a Jewess of Polish nationality. I am a qualified Doctor of Medicine. I was arrested in August 1943 because I was a Jewess and I was taken to Auschwitz. I was transferred to Belsen in November 1944. I worked as a doctor whilst at Auschwitz. I set out hereafter what I observed myself with regard to the mass exterminations of prisoners and I will name the persons each of whom individually selected persons for extermination. I have examined the records of the numbers cremated and I say that the records show that about 4000000 persons were cremated at the camp. I say that from my own observation I have no doubt that at least this number were exterminated.

2. The selections of persons to be exterminated were made in three ways: (1) on arrival, (2), on selection parades held two or three times a week on an average, (3) in hospitals.

3. For example I arrived in a batch of 5000 persons. SS Doctor Rohde, SS woman Drechsler and SS man Tauber were waiting at the station. They made a selection at once. First of all the children and the old people were picked out, then those who looked ill and after that anyone was picked out until 4500 people had been selected. These went to the gas chamber and were never again. In this way died my father, mother, brother, husband and son aged 6. My sister was not selected then but she was selected and killed at a later date. I have been present at many other station selections where the same procedure was adopted and the number selected was always a round figure which might even amount to as many as 10000 persons on one day.

4. Persons were also selected for execution from those detained in hospital. I have seen the patients made to run naked past the selectors and those who could not run quickly or looked ill or poorly developed or in the case of women were ugly, were picked out by any of the selectors present. There were often as many as 4000 patients in hospital at a time and I have known as many as 1000 taken from hospital and never less than 500. Indeed I particularly remember 1st December 1943 when there were 4124 women patients in hospital. There was an outbreak of typhus and 4000 patients exactly were sent to the gas chamber. The selectors on this occasion were Doctors Tilot, Klein and SS man Tauber, and SS women Mandel, Drechsler and Brandel.

5. Selections were also made at roll-calls in the camp as and when desired by the SS Usually sick-looking people and old persons were picked out. Sometimes during the winter months the women were compelled to remove all their clothing whilst SS selectors walked round the ranks and chose individuals. At other times they had to hold out their hands and those wearing bandages or having visible wounds were chosen. On other occasions a section of the parade without any sorting were detailed for the gas chamber. I herewith name persons who in my presence selected internees for the gas chamber. Each of the individuals were responsible for sending a large number to the gas chamber:-

SS Male Doctors:

(1) Rohde. (2) Tilot. (3) Klein. (4) König. (5) Mengele. (6) Müller.

S.S. Male Nurses, Assistants to the Doctors:

(7) Heine. (8) Stibitz.

Other SS Men (not Doctors or Nurses):

(9) Schwartz (Kommandant). (10) Kramer (Kommandant - also at Belsen). (11) Hössler (Kommandant). (12) Tauber (Rapportführer). (13) Emmerich (Rapportführer). (14) Schwartz (Hubert) (Untersturmführer). (15) Perschel (Arbeitsdienstführer).

Women SS:

(16) Mandel (Camp Leader of Women's Camp). (17) Drechsler (Oberaufseherin). (18) Branel (Aufseherin). (19) Kuck (Aufseherin). (20) Hasse (Aufseherin - who also performed duties as Rapportführerin).

6. Whilst at Auschwitz I saw SS male nurses Heine and Stibitz inject petrol into women patients. All five of these died within three to ten minutes. Though I have not seen operations on women done for experimental purposes I have been informed that such operations were carried out. Thus, experiments were made with regard to sterilization and artificial impregnation. I myself spoke to a women who said she had been fertilized in this way.

7. In August, 1943, I saw SS man Tauber knock down a girl who arrived late at roll-call, beat her and kick her and stand on her stomach for ten minutes until she died.

8. On the day before the British troops arrived at Belsen I saw Karl Flrazich who was a cook shoot a man internee dead for stealing vegetables.

Sworn by the above named Ada Bimko this 9th day of May 1945 at Belsen.

Sgd Bimko Ada

Before me the said Major P. Ingress Bell.

Sgd P. Ingress Bell.

Certified that the above is an accurate translation of the evidence given by the said Ada Bimko in my presence.

Sgd. Chalotte Duschenes.

FURTHER DEPOSITION OF ADA BIMKO

FURTHER DEPOSITION OF ADA BIMKO (Female) Late of SOSNOWITZ [Sosnowiec], POLAND, sworn before Captain ALFRED JAMES FOX, General List, D.A.P.M., 86 Special Investigation Section, Corps of Military Police.

1. In the Birkenau section of Auschwitz Camp there were five brick buildings. These five buildings were similar in appearance and different from all the other buildings in the camp. They were commonly known by all the prisoners in the camp as crematoria. When selections were held I saw the condemned persons driven to these buildings in lorries. I did not see the persons actually enter the buildings as it was not possible to get sufficiently close to do so. Both men and women were in the parties taken to these buildings. Usually the condemned women were ordered to undress and leave their clothes behind in Block 25, and sometimes they undressed at the gas chamber. Occasionally they were allowed to take some blankets with them to the gas chamber, but this was all according to the SS man in charge. Hospital blankets were used for this purpose. The crematorium and gas chambers were in an area of the camp known as Brzezinki.

2. One day in August, 1944, I was able to visit one of these buildings. The visit was pre-arranged with an SS Unterscharführer (name unknown) who belonged to the medical staff and who agreed to show me round. I met him near the building. We agreed to say that our visit was in order to fetch blankets if anyone stopped us. The SS man took me in a door of the building and inside we met a Polish prisoner named Josef Goldberg. I know this man’s name because he comes from my home town. He was employed in this building. I do not know his present whereabouts. The door through which we entered the building led into what appeared to be an undressing room. There were hooks on the wall and the SS man told me it was an undressing room. This was on the ground floor. From this room there was another door. We walked through this door which led us into another room which had the appearance of a shower-bath room. I noticed that there were five or six rows of spray fittings in the roof, with about twenty sprays to each row. The floors, walls and ceiling were made of concrete. The room was about 48 ft. square and 10 ft. high. One thing that I noticed was there were no drains, so that if water came through the sprays it could not drain away. The floor being on the same level as other rooms this would mean that water would flood right through the building. The SS man told me that this room was the gas chamber.

3. Walking through the gas chamber room we went through another door which led into a passage pointing directly ahead. It was rather dark in there at the time and I could not see the far end of the passage. There were two rails leading from the door of the gas chamber down the passage and on these two rails was a flat-topped wagon. The SS man told me that the wagon was used to take the dead bodies from the gas chamber to the crematorium at the other end of the passage.

4. We then walked back through the gas chamber and undressing room to the door where I had entered the building. Near this door were some stairs. We went up these stairs and came to a room above the gas chamber. Across this room were two pipes, each about three inches thick. I did not notice whether there were any branch pipes leading from them. 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. In a corner of the room were two large cylinders, but I did not notice whether these cylinders were connected to the pipes. The SS man told me that the cylinders contained the gas which passed through the pipes into the gas chamber. I then left the room.

5. With reference to the gas chamber there were also hooks on the walls in this room. The SS man told me that they were there to hang towels on as condemned prisoners were led to believe that it was a shower room, and were given towels to deceive them.

Sworn by the said deponent Ada Bimko at Belsen Camp this 28th day of May 1945 before me

Sgd Bimko Ada

Sgd A.J. Fox, Capt.

I hereby certify that, the said deponent not understanding English, this affidavit was translated in my presence to the said deponent before swearing and I am satisfied that it contents were fully understood by the said deponent.

Dated this 28th day of May 1945.

Sgd A.J. Fox, Capt.

I hereby certify that I have accurately translated this affidavit to the said deponent.

Dated this 28th May 1945.

Sgd Charlotte Duschenes.

SECOND FURTHER DEPOSITION OF ADA BIMKO

FURTHER DEPOSITION OF ADA BIMKO (Female) Late of SOSNOWITZ [Sosnowiec], POLAND, sworn before Captain ALFRED JAMES FOX, General List, D.A.P.M., 86 Special Investigation Section, Corps of Military Police.

1. With reference to paragraph 8 of my deposition dated 9th May 1945. In this paragraph I refer to the killing of a prisoner by Karl Flrazich. I identify this man as No. 5 on photograph 1. I witnessed this shooting, and because I was a doctor, I immediately went to see if I could do anything for him. I saw he was dead, having been shot through the stomach.

Sworn by the said deponent Ada Bimko at Belsen Camp this 28th day of May 1945 before me

Sgd Bimko Ada

Sgd A.J. Fox, Capt.

I hereby certify that, the said deponent not understanding English, this affidavit was translated in my presence to the said deponent before swearing and I am satisfied that it contents were fully understood by the said deponent.

Dated this 28th day of May 1945.

Sgd A.J. Fox, Capt.

I hereby certify that I have accurately translated this affidavit to the said deponent.

Dated this 28th May 1945.

Sgd Charlotte Duschenes.

THIRD FURTHER DEPOSITION OF ADA BIMKO

FURTHER DEPOSITION OF ADA BIMKO (Female) Late of SOSNOWITZ [Sosnowiec], POLAND, sworn before Major Savile Geoffrey CHAMPION, R.A. Legal Staff, No. 1 War Crimes Investigation Team.

1. Referring to my deposition sworn on the 9th May 1945 paragraph 1, the records which I examined were not official records but were figures kept by prisoners who worked at the Crematorium.

Sworn by the said deponent Ada Bimko at Belsen Camp this 1st day of June 1945 before me

Sgd Bimko Ada

Sgd S.G. Champion, Major, R.A.

I hereby certify that, the said deponent not understanding English, this affidavit was translated in my presence to the said deponent before swearing and I am satisfied that it contents were fully understood by the said deponent.

Dated this 1st day of June 1945.

Sgd S.G. Champion, Major, R.A.

I hereby certify that I have accurately translated this affidavit to the said deponent.

Dated this 1st day of June 1945.

Sgd H. Aitchinson. Cpl. 13118612
21 Army Group Interpreter Pool

Top of Page