By Alfred M. De Zayas
First report
of three judges from the military court at Prague, Hans Boetticher, Georg
Hurtig, and Horst Reger. The report dated 29 September 1939 describes their
work in the province of Posen between 18 and 28 September:
„Witness depositions were not
limited to ethnic Germans but also extended to Polish persons. Polish soldiers,
especially the infantry, were much involved in the murders. In the majority of
case the victims were first arrested under some pretext... most often following
German air attacks. The following are the most common grounds for the arrests,
when grounds were at all given: alleged possession of weapons, ammunition, and
secret transmitters; giving light signals to German planes; espionage; and
giving shelter to spies. But in many case it sufficed for the arrest if the
victim affirmatively answered the question whether he was German and of the
Lutheran faith. From the entire province of Posen the ethnic Germans, who had
evidently been arrested according to a special list, were driven toward Kutno.
During the march continuous abuses were committed by the military escort...
primarily against those who because of weakness or advanced age or disease
could not walk fast enough.
„In addition to the victims of
these deportations there were killings of ethnic Germans in other parts of the
province, especially in the eastern and southern districts, where some
extraordinarily brutal murders were committed. Entire families were liquidated.
The men were not always merely shot but frequently slaughtered with all sorts
of tools before the eyes of their relatives, who had also been advised of their
impending death. Many of the corpses were discovered with severe mutilations.
At Tarlova near Kolo, Polish soldiers hunted down with machine guns a large
number of Germans. Witnesses reported finding some 130 corpses strewn about on
the field like hares after the hunt.
„In three cases it could be
established that the Polish Army did not treat members of the Luftwaffe who had
jumped out of their stricken planes as prisoners of war but shot them instead.
Only some of the witnesses have been interrogated thus far, because many who
had particularly gruesome experiences are still psychically so shaken that
taking depositions did not appear advisable.“
Alfred
M. de Zayas, The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau, 1939-1945, University of
Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London. 1989. p. 133-34
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