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Extracts from Interrogation as Prisoner of War
Heinrich Gustav Wilhelm Wied
Bekliedungswerke Lublin Dec 43 – Apr 44.
This organisation had been set up to collect and make use of property removed from prisoners entering the Kz Lublin. It also served Arbeitslager Pulawy and several other camps in the Lublin area.
The ‘work’ used 3 hangars on the disused Lublin airfield as warehouses and employed a staff of some 70 SS men. The responsible authority was the Reichskanzlei Berlin, Voss Strastr. 4 which had created a special department a so-called ‘Gemeinnutzige Stiftung fur Anstaltspfleg’ for the purpose.
Wied established that this same Stftung was responsible for the liquidation of Jews in Kz’s and the inmates of asylums etc. This activity bore the cover-name ‘Aktion Reinhard’. The leading persons were Ober Reg. Rat Alpers, Stubaf Wirth and Hstuf Hering.
The then police chief of Lublin, SS Gruf Globocnik was equally responsible. Wied’s investigations in Lublin established that 18 SS men, mainly on the Bekliedungswerk staff were guilty of corruption on a large scale. Throughout his enquiries Wied had to combat deliberate obstruction from the higher Stapo Leaders, because they themselves were also deeply implicated.
For example, the a/m Alpers intervened on behalf of one of the accused SS men in whose possession Wied found a large quantity of obviously stolen jewellery and clothing etc in that he declared that the accused had taken the articles with the authority of the Stiftung.
The cases against the 18 accused were heard before the SS u. Polizeigericht Kassel Sentences up to 3 years imprisonment were imposed but in several cases no verdict could be reached since the defendants were absent allegedly on front-line service.
The resentment against Wied’s interference in this profitable ‘racket’ in Lublin found expression in a variety of ways. On one occasion he found the tyres of his car slashed, on another occasion there was sugar in the petrol –tank.
Murder Camp Lublin – Attached to the Kz was a crematorium which Wied personally visited. It was a single storey building containing the mortuary, about 6 ovens and the living quarters of the attendant, Oscharf. Musfeld.
With the wind in the right direction the stench in Lublin 6km distant was nauseating. Apparently the victims were mainly delivered by truck, executed – Wied believes by shooting – and then cremated. Wirth and Hering played a prominent part in the killings and openly boasted about it.
A certain Schott from whom Wied has this information, had heard them. Obstructionists : The staff of the Bekliedungswerk Lublin came under the command of the SS Standortkommandant, Stubaf Wippern.
This man showed no inclination to support Wied, in his investigations, the probable reason being that he was too deeply involved in corruption himself. There was no check or receipt of property removed from prisoners. It was obvious from the lavish spending and extravagant living of the staff of both Kz and Bekliedungswerk, that this must be their source of income.
Ober Reg Rat Alpers also did his utmost to impede Subjects inquiries. For example as a result of a house search at the homes of a Stuscharf Rottenfusser and another SS man, both in the town of Dachau.
WIied discovered a quantity of property stolen from prisoners. Alpers, probably prompted by Stubaf Wirth, shielded the thieves by officially stating that they had the permission of his organisation ‘ Die gemeinneutzige Stiftung fur Anstaltpflege’.to take the goods.
Wied commented on various members of the SS in Lublin:
Note ; ALPERS should read ALLERS.
Source:
PRO /WO 309/521
Copyright CS H.E.A.R.T 2007
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