Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
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cluding accommodation for guards and stores; 40 to 45 were for the accommodation
of the prisoners. The prisoners were made up of men, women and
children; families were allowed to live together; otherwise men were separated
from women. Six buildings in the men’s camp, three in the family camp,
and two in the women’s camp served as hospitals. There was a crematorium in
the camp.
I do not know of what nationality the prisoners were when I arrived, because
there were no files or papers of any kind in the camp. It was impossible
for me to know what kind of prisoners there were as they had been sent to Belsen
because they were ill, from all concentration camps over the country.
Many of them had lost their identification marks, and as there were no records
it was absolutely impossible to tell who was who. I started to keep my own records
of the prisoners, but these records were all destroyed on orders which I
received from Berlin about the end of March. I do not remember who signed
these orders.
The personnel consisted of one Guard Company S.S. The O.C. of the company
was Hauptscharführer Meyer. He came from somewhere near Hanover.
He was of average height, about 1 m. 70; he wore spectacles, had hardly any
hair and was about 50. Then there was Haupsturmführer Vogler. He was the
officer in charge of administration who took over from Schaaf, whom I mentioned
before as officer in charge of administration on my arrival. The officer
in charge of the Criminal Department was Untersturmführer Frericks. The
Lagerführer (Obersturmführer Stresse) was transferred a few days after my
arrival, and I was without a Lagerführer for over two months and had to do
the job myself with only one N.C.O. as assistant, whose appointment was Rapportführer;
he was Oberscharführer Reddhaser. The M.O. was Sturmbannführer
Schnabel. A Hauptscharführer acted as dentist. He was later on promoted
Untersturmführer. His name was Linsmeier. There were no other officers and
I had no Adjutant. There were 60 to 70 N.C.O.s, 20 to 25 of whom were in the
Guards S.S. Company and the others employed on administrative duties. One
of the N.C.O.s employed was the N.C.O. who was Office Clerk to the Officer in
charge of Administration. He was Unterscharführer Kuckertz. There was another
senior N.C.O. in my office. His name was Unterscharführer Rang. He
acted as Untersturmführer and Adjutant. Other N.C.O.s whom I remember are
Oberscharführer Hilmer (N.C.O. Administration); Unterscharführer Lademacher
(also N.C.O. Administration); Unterscharführer Wille (also N.C.O.
Administration); and Unterscharführer Müller, who was in charge of the food
stores. When I took over Belsen there were six officers, including myself. I had
no senior N.C.O.s. When I took over there were three women on the staff. I
cannot remember their names at the moment.
The death rate when I arrived was between 40 and 60 a week. When I entered
the camp the Lagerführer had to report to me and had to say: ‘There are
so many in the camp; so many died yesterday; which leaves so many.’ On my
arrival a book was kept in which these figures were entered, but was later dispensed
with. This book I had taken over from my predecessor. It was kept by