Tapping Hitler's Generals

Report on information obtained from Senior Officers (PW) on 29 Aug. 44 [TNA, WO 208/4364]

CHOLTITZ: The worst job I ever carried out–which however I carried out with great consistency–was the liquidation of the Jews. I carried out this order down to the very last detail.[265]

THOMA: The whole thing is done on HITLER’s orders. EBERBACH said yesterday again: ‘HITLER has no idea that the people have been hanged.’ Ha! Ha! Ha! It’s a good thing that you can now produce such unimpeachable proofs.

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CSDIC (UK), GRGG 195

Report on information obtained from Senior Officers (PW) on 16–17 Sept. 44 [TNA, WO 208/4363]

THOMA: The men were sitting together one evening in December in a peasant’s cottage at ALEXANDROWKA–that was about 20 km from my HQ–there were the ‘Hauptmann’, the tank ‘Oberleutnant’ and the ‘Unteroffiziere’, all together in the only warm room. They were drinking their miserable wine ration together. That was all established in the court proceedings. Each man probably had about half a field cup of ‘Schnapps’. You can’t get drunk on that, and the Commandant himself strongly denied that they were in the least bit drunk. He said that they were completely sober, which is the extraordinary part of it. Anyway, the following occured: The ‘Hauptmann’ said to the ‘Oberleutnant’: ‘I can’t stand the sight of these peasants’ faces!’… pulled out his revolver and shot down the peasant over the table to which he himself had invited him.

EBERBACH: But the ‘Hauptmann’ received a heavy sentence.

THOMA: Yes, but just wait till you hear the rest: He then told one of the orderlies to take his body away. His wife screamed and howled and ran with their children–a little girl, a little boy and a two-month-old baby–into the farthest corner and sat down on the top of the stove, where she cried, which, after all, is only very natural. He then said to the ‘Oberleutnant’: ‘I want my peace; clear them out from up there!’ And he drew his revolver and shot down the woman. She was likewise dragged outside. That left the little girl, a ten-year-old boy and a two-month-old baby. In the meantime, they got in a fellow who was a musician by trade and he played the accordion and they went on drinking. Suddenly he said: ‘She must go, too!’ So the… said: ‘Shoot the other one!’ Whereupon he shot the girl. Then there was the ten-year-old boy. The ‘Hauptmann’ said: ‘Take him out and shoot him outside.’ He was taken outside and he, too, was shot in the neck. The two-month-old brat was lying up there yelling and he said: ‘Away with the little beast.’ They knocked it off the stove, picked it up by its foot and threw it out into the snow. Of course, the people reported it the following day. I immediately sent a Judge Advocate there. ‘I must take a psychiatrist along with me,’ he said. They completely denied that they were in the least bit drunk and said they were absolutely sober. During the proceedings they were asked why they had done it. He said: ‘They weren’t human beings, they only count as animals; nothing at all can happen to us.’ ‘They are certainly human beings who go about their business like anybody else!’ ‘Sir, the FÜHRER says they are not human beings, we do not admit the fact that we can be charged with murder, for they are not humans.’ That was their defence. Then came the findings of the court martial and one was sentenced to be degraded and to penal servitude and the other, the ‘Hauptmann’–because he took part in the shooting as well–got more because he was responsible, and was sentenced to several years’ penal servitude.

I didn’t sign the findings. All the troops were up in arms over that terrible affair. I tell you, the Germans have kind hearts. I demanded the death penalty for both and, what’s more, that they be shot publicly by the troops. But, because they were officers, the Judge Advocate said I was not permitted to shoot them before the FÜHRER had given his consent. Then a week later notification arrived that: ‘The FÜHRER confirms that it is absolutely in order for the men to be punished. But he refused to authorise the death sentence, because according to his standards, the Russians are not human beings.’ They were not punished. They were sent to a sort of penal ‘Kompanie’.[266]

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