Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
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cludes Jewish prisoners. There was sufficient room in the camp for all prisoners
when I was there. None of the prisoners knew at the time they arrived when
they were going to leave. There were only a few who had a sentence like three
months or six months, and the biggest part of the prisoners were there for an
undefined period. Solitary confinement and solitary confinement with bread
and water, or extra work on Sundays, were the sentences awarded for
breaches of discipline. The prisoners were never beaten, nor do I know of any
case of shooting. There were prison-breaks, but I was never present when
somebody tried to escape. I was in the office and the telephone would ring and
one of the guards would report that one of the prisoners had tried to escape. It
was my duty then to go out and see where the prisoner worked and how it was
possible for him to escape. We then notified the police and gave particulars of
the person who had escaped. The instructions were that no prisoners had to go
beyond a certain border-line. If a prisoner did, the guard had to challenge him
three times with the words, ‘Halt, or I shoot,’ then first fire a shot in the air
and only the second shot to kill. It is difficult to say how many shootings of this
kind took place whilst I was at the camp because it is such a long time ago. I
think that 10 to 15 people were shot, but I cannot say exactly. Every case of
shooting had to be reported to the authorities at Mauthausen and at Linz. The
nearest big town carried out an investigation. If someone was shot at, or shot
whilst escaping, the guard was immediately put under a sort of open arrest,
but none was ever convicted of wrongful shooting. Most of the people who
were shot in this manner were criminals or vagabonds, the reason being that
the larger part of the inmates of the camp belonged to that category.
The deaths that occurred were mostly from natural causes. When somebody
died his relatives and the authorities, who had sent them to the concentration
camp, had to be notified. There was one very severe winter when the
deaths rose, but otherwise there were very few deaths. The prisoners were kept
in wooden huts with three-tier beds, 250 to 300 in a hut. Whilst I was at this
camp, Obergruppenführer Eike, who was in charge of all concentration
camps, visited the camp three or four times, but I cannot remember the dates.
There were no war prisoners in this camp. A few more political prisoners
came in, but there were no great increases. Their nationality was mostly Austrian.
There was no member of the former Austrian Government or of Schusnigg’s
Party either in Dachau or Mauthausen. I was in charge of the office
and I dealt with the incoming and the outgoing mail on behalf of the Kommandant.
I would read the mail to him and he would give me his orders, which I
would pass on to the various sub-commanders. The powers of the Kommandant,
with regard to punishment of prisoners, were not exactly laid down, but I
think he could give up to 21 days. He was the only one who had disciplinary
powers. I do not know the number of prisoners when I left in 1940, but the
camp was full. The strength was recorded every day, but I cannot remember
now what the number was. Some of the prisoners were sent away to other
camps. These transfers were made not according to the type of prisoners but
according to the type of work we wanted done, and according to their trades.