Gerstein Report
Encyclopedia
The Gerstein Report was written by Kurt Gerstein
, an Obersturmführer
(First Lieutenant) of the Waffen-SS
in 1945 who rose to become the Head of Technical Disinfection Services of the SS. In that capacity he witnessed in August 1942 the gassing of some 3,000 Jews in the extermination camp of Belzec
. The report details his eyewitness experience and was used as evidence in the Nuremberg Trials
.
When Gerstein surrendered to the French Commandant in the occupied town of Reutlingen
on 22 April 1945 he was sent to the town of Rottweil
where he was placed under “honorable captivity” and given accommodation in the Hotel Mohren. There he composed his report, first in French and then in German.
where he lived until 1910, moving to Saarbrücken
, Halberstadt
, and Neuruppin
near Berlin where he received his secondary school diploma in 1925. He attended universities in Marburg, Aachen and Berlin, receiving an engineering degree in 1931. During his studies he was active in the Protestant youth movements.
He joined the Nazi Party in May 1933. But as a committed Christian activist he resisted attempts by the Nazi state to control the Christian youth movements and ran afoul of state authorities. He was expelled from the party in October 1936 after his arrest in September 1936 for circulating anti-Nazi pamphlets. Released, he was arrested a second time in July 1938, spending two months in a concentration camp. Outraged by the euthanasia
program, he decided to join the Waffen SS “to look into the matter of these ovens and chambers in order to learn what happened there.” Because of his technical education, Gerstein was placed in the Waffen-SS technical disinfection services where he rose quickly to become its head. It was in that capacity that he traveled to the concentration camps of Belzec and Treblinka.
on top of the ramp between the gas chambers. Mothers with babies at their breast, they come onward, hesitate, enter the death chambers!” After the doors are closed, there is a technical hitch: the diesel motor will not start, but finally he writes, “After two hours and 49 minutes - the stop watch has registered everything well - the diesel starts. Until this moment the people live in these 4 chambers, four times 750 people in 4 times 45 cubic metres! Again 25 minutes pass. Right, many are dead now. One can see that through the small window in which the electric light illuminates the chambers for a moment. After 28 minutes only a few are still alive. Finally, after 32 minutes, everyone is dead!”
, on the Warsaw-Berlin train “Still under the immediate impression of the terrible events, I told him everything with the entreaty to inform his government and the Allies of all of this immediately because each day's delay must cost the lives of further thousands and tens of thousands.” He also reports on his unsuccessful attempts to see the Papal Nuncio Cesare Orsenigo
in Berlin. He adds that he reported on what he saw to “hundreds of personages.” His report reached the Dutch war minister van Lidth de Jeude
in May 1943.
against major Nazi war criminals such as Hermann Göring
and Hans Frank
. It was also later used in the prosecution of Adolf Eichmann
by an Israel
i court. More recently in 2000 it was used by Christopher Browning
in the Holocaust libel trial between David Irving
and Deborah Lipstadt
.
While some aspects of Gerstein's report include false or exaggeratedly attributed statements to Odilo Globocnik
, and inaccurate claims regarding the total number of Jews gassed at places where he was not an eyewitness, Gerstein's claim that gassing of Jews occurred at Belzec is independently corroborated by SS-Standartenführer
Wilhelm Pfannenstiel's
testimony given at the Belzec trials, as well as by the accounts of other witnesses that can be found in Gitta Sereny
's Into That Darkness, a biography of one-time Treblinka commandant Franz Stangl
.
The historian, Christopher Browning, has written: "Many aspects of Gerstein's testimony are unquestionably problematic. ...[In making] statements, such as the height of the piles of shoes and clothing at Belzec and Treblinka, Gerstein himself is clearly the source of exaggeration. Gerstein also added grossly exaggerated claims about matters to which he was not an eyewitness, such as that a total of 25 million Jews and others were gassed. But in the essential issue, namely that he was in Belzec and witnessed the gassing of a transport of Jews from Lwow, his testimony is fully corroborated .... It is also corroborated by other categories of witnesses from Belzec."
Kurt Gerstein
Kurt Gerstein was a German SS officer and member of the Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS. He witnessed mass murders in the Nazi extermination camps Belzec and Treblinka...
, an Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi party that was used by the SS and also as a rank of the SA. Translated as “Senior Assault Leader”, the rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung and the need for an additional rank in...
(First Lieutenant) of the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
in 1945 who rose to become the Head of Technical Disinfection Services of the SS. In that capacity he witnessed in August 1942 the gassing of some 3,000 Jews in the extermination camp of Belzec
Belzec extermination camp
Belzec, Polish spelling Bełżec , was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust...
. The report details his eyewitness experience and was used as evidence in the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
.
When Gerstein surrendered to the French Commandant in the occupied town of Reutlingen
Reutlingen
Reutlingen is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of April 2008, it has a population of 109,828....
on 22 April 1945 he was sent to the town of Rottweil
Rottweil
Rottweil is a town in the south west of Germany and is the oldest town in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb hills, Rottweil has about 25,000 inhabitants...
where he was placed under “honorable captivity” and given accommodation in the Hotel Mohren. There he composed his report, first in French and then in German.
Personal details
Gerstein was born on 11 August 1905 in MünsterMünster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
where he lived until 1910, moving to Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
, Halberstadt
Halberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
, and Neuruppin
Neuruppin
Neuruppin is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. Located on the shore of Ruppiner See , it is the capital of the district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin. Population: 32,800 .-Overview:...
near Berlin where he received his secondary school diploma in 1925. He attended universities in Marburg, Aachen and Berlin, receiving an engineering degree in 1931. During his studies he was active in the Protestant youth movements.
Political activities
He joined the Nazi Party in May 1933. But as a committed Christian activist he resisted attempts by the Nazi state to control the Christian youth movements and ran afoul of state authorities. He was expelled from the party in October 1936 after his arrest in September 1936 for circulating anti-Nazi pamphlets. Released, he was arrested a second time in July 1938, spending two months in a concentration camp. Outraged by the euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
program, he decided to join the Waffen SS “to look into the matter of these ovens and chambers in order to learn what happened there.” Because of his technical education, Gerstein was placed in the Waffen-SS technical disinfection services where he rose quickly to become its head. It was in that capacity that he traveled to the concentration camps of Belzec and Treblinka.
A Witness
He reports that on 18 August he traveled to the concentration camp at Belzec where the next day he witnessed the arrival of “45 wagons with 6,700 people of whom 1,450 were already dead on arrival.” He continues by describing the procession in front of him: “Then the procession starts moving. In front a very lovely young girl; so all of them go along the alley, all naked, men, women, children, without artificial limbs. I myself stand together with Hauptmann WirthChristian Wirth
Christian Wirth was a German police and SS officer who was one of the leading contributors to the program to exterminate the Jewish people of Poland, known as Operation Reinhard....
on top of the ramp between the gas chambers. Mothers with babies at their breast, they come onward, hesitate, enter the death chambers!” After the doors are closed, there is a technical hitch: the diesel motor will not start, but finally he writes, “After two hours and 49 minutes - the stop watch has registered everything well - the diesel starts. Until this moment the people live in these 4 chambers, four times 750 people in 4 times 45 cubic metres! Again 25 minutes pass. Right, many are dead now. One can see that through the small window in which the electric light illuminates the chambers for a moment. After 28 minutes only a few are still alive. Finally, after 32 minutes, everyone is dead!”
Reporting
The final part of the report describes Gerstein’s attempts to circulate his eyewitness testimony. He reports on his chance encounter with the secretary of the Swedish legation in Berlin, Baron Göran von OtterGöran von Otter
Göran von Otter was a Swedish diplomat and friherre, best known for his service in Berlin during World War II. Anne Sofie von Otter is von Otter's daughter; former Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik von Otter was his grandfather....
, on the Warsaw-Berlin train “Still under the immediate impression of the terrible events, I told him everything with the entreaty to inform his government and the Allies of all of this immediately because each day's delay must cost the lives of further thousands and tens of thousands.” He also reports on his unsuccessful attempts to see the Papal Nuncio Cesare Orsenigo
Cesare Orsenigo
Cesare Vincenzo Orsenigo was Apostolic Nuncio to Germany from 1930 to 1945, during the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II...
in Berlin. He adds that he reported on what he saw to “hundreds of personages.” His report reached the Dutch war minister van Lidth de Jeude
Otto Cornelis Adriaan van Lidth de Jeude
Otto Cornelis Adriaan van Lidth de Jeude was a Dutch politician. During World War II he was in London. From 1942 till 1945 he served as Minister of War in the Dutch government in exile.-References:*...
in May 1943.
The report and Nazi war crimes tribunals
Gerstein's report has been used as evidence in a number of high-profile cases. It was used at the Nuremberg TrialsNuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
against major Nazi war criminals such as Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
and Hans Frank
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank was a German lawyer who worked for the Nazi party during the 1920s and 1930s and later became a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany...
. It was also later used in the prosecution of Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
by an Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i court. More recently in 2000 it was used by Christopher Browning
Christopher Browning
Christopher Robert Browning is an American historian of the Holocaust.-Education:Browning received his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College in 1968 and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1975. He taught at Pacific Lutheran University from 1974 to 1999, eventually becoming...
in the Holocaust libel trial between David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
and Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Esther Lipstadt, Ph.D. is an American historian and author of the book Denying the Holocaust and The Eichmann Trial. She is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University...
.
Criticism of the Gerstein Report
The Gerstein Report has been targeted by holocaust deniers and anti-semites. Distinguished French historian, Pierre Vidal-Naquet in "Assassins of Memory" discusses such criticism.While some aspects of Gerstein's report include false or exaggeratedly attributed statements to Odilo Globocnik
Odilo Globocnik
Odilo Lotario Globocnik was a prominent Austrian Nazi and later an SS leader. He was an acquaintance of Adolf Eichmann, who played a major role in the extermination of Jews and others during the Holocaust...
, and inaccurate claims regarding the total number of Jews gassed at places where he was not an eyewitness, Gerstein's claim that gassing of Jews occurred at Belzec is independently corroborated by SS-Standartenführer
Standartenführer
Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...
Wilhelm Pfannenstiel's
Wilhelm Pfannenstiel
Wilhelm Hermann Pfannenstiel was a physician and SS-Standartenführer and a member of the Nazi party . He was born in the city of Breslau, Lower Silesia, which passed to Poland after the war and is now called Wrocław...
testimony given at the Belzec trials, as well as by the accounts of other witnesses that can be found in Gitta Sereny
Gitta Sereny
Gitta Sereny is an Austrian-born biographer, historian and investigative journalist whose writing focuses mainly on the Holocaust and child abuse. She is the stepdaughter of the economist Ludwig von Mises....
's Into That Darkness, a biography of one-time Treblinka commandant Franz Stangl
Franz Stangl
Franz Paul Stangl was an Austrian-born SS commandant of the Sobibor and Treblinka extermination camps during the Operation Reinhard phase of the Holocaust. He was arrested in Brazil in 1967, extradited and tried in West Germany for the mass murder of 900,000 people, and in 1970 was found guilty...
.
The historian, Christopher Browning, has written: "Many aspects of Gerstein's testimony are unquestionably problematic. ...[In making] statements, such as the height of the piles of shoes and clothing at Belzec and Treblinka, Gerstein himself is clearly the source of exaggeration. Gerstein also added grossly exaggerated claims about matters to which he was not an eyewitness, such as that a total of 25 million Jews and others were gassed. But in the essential issue, namely that he was in Belzec and witnessed the gassing of a transport of Jews from Lwow, his testimony is fully corroborated .... It is also corroborated by other categories of witnesses from Belzec."
External links
- Kurt Gerstein: A German Spy in the SS
- Kurt Gerstein, Conscience-Stricken SS Officer
- The Gerstein Report (in English)
- The Gerstein Report (in German)
- Trial of Adolf Eichmann, Session 75- Mention of the Gerstein Report
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og6poMfCjcY Winning short film about the Gerstein Report