Soviet Cannibalism in German POW Camps

[from the Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau]
Reproduced in "Verbrechen an der Wehrmacht" by Franz W. Seidler, vol. 1

(for complete text, click here)

PLEASE NOTE:
I translated the first volume of this work only. Some other hardy soul (God knows who) translated the second volume, and the entire work is now ready for publication in English but has been held up for lack of funds and, presumably, the priority given to other projects. The second volume was then lost in a computer crash.
11 October 2010

See also:
The Anti-Wehrmacht Exhibition (translated by C.W. Porter)
The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau (translated by C.W. Porter)
"German Atrocities" Committed by Soviet Agents in German Uniforms (translated by C.W. Porter)
(all from the same volume)

Chapter D

From the above described inhumane and ignominious brutalities committed by the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, it is hardly a step further downwards to cannibalism, which Russian prisoners of war in German collection points committed against their fellow Russian POWs.

Attached are the records of 11 to 16 November 1941 on cannibalism in Stalag 360, from 28 November, as well as the records on cannibalism in Stalag 357 between 8 and 14 December 1941. The records of 29 November and 6 and 8 December 1941 relating to cannibalism in Stalag 305 are also attached. The especially horrible cannibal habits in the last named camp are proven by slides of the victims and perpetrators. Case 305 describes a case of cannibalism committed against dead German soldiers.

Regarding cases of cannibalism in Stalag (POW camp) 360, the records are as follows:

Report of the Armed Forces Commanders, Ukraine Local Bivouac, 25 November 1941

In annex, we forward the interrogations under oath on cases of cannibalism in Stalag 360, Camps II and III, in Rovno. The cases happened in the time from the end of October to 10 November. The 6 slides enclosed each in duplicate relate to the four cases described in the statements of the witnesses Colonel (Medical Corps) Dr. Kritzler-Kosch and camp physician Dr. Prost (14 and 7th witnesses in the transcript of interrogation, respectively).

Cases of cannibalism continue to occur in Camp III of Stalag 360. Reports are constantly received from other Stalags on the appearance of such cases. The question arises whether these cases should be handled in the same manner as the above, or whether in particular special sworn witness interrogations should be carried out in each case.

In making the abovementioned decision, we request that the often extraordinary difficulties arising from the winter conditions and the great distances should be taken into consideration.

Signed Allminghoff, Judge Advocate General of the Luftwaffe. Certified: Ministerial Recorder.

Court of the Armed Forces Commanders, Ukraine Local Bivouac, 11 November 1941

2) Gefreiter Fiedler as Recording Secretary, obligated according to Sections 104 paragraph 3, paragraph 22, Code of Military Justice.

After discussing the facts of the case with the camp commandant, Specialist Officer Kühn, the following witnesses were interrogated after being informed of the object of the interrogation, being warned to tell the truth and the oath to be sworn, with reference to the significance of the results of perjury or swearing falsely.

“As to my person: My name is Alfred Kühn, 40 years old, commandant of the Russian prisoner of war camp Stalag 360, Camp III, Rovno. I am a farmer in civilian life, married.

“As to the facts: On 30 October 1941, for the first time, the guards reported that bodies of prisoners having died during the night had been found with the fleshy parts of their bodies missing, and this was probably due to a case of cannibalism. I went out with them and found two bodies. These bodies were missing pieces of flesh in the thigh and lower leg. I had the impression that these body parts had been cut out.

“The next morning, a few more bodies were found with pieces cut out of them, about 7-8 of them. Also in these cases, there were missing pieces of flesh in the thighs and lower legs; in some cases, the abdominal wall was missing. Ever a few bodies had been really gutted, so that the heart and lungs had been cut out.

“I made inquiries and found body parts in the mess-tin, coat pockets and bread bags.

“At a few fire places used by the prisoners in preparing their food, we found human flesh in the cooking utensils standing on the fire.

“Most of the prisoners of war declared that they had bought the meat from other prisoners. Some of them claimed to have paid about 250 rubels for a piece of meat the size of a tea saucer.

“These body parts were usually found in barracks housing Asians, especially Usbeks. Body parts were also found among the Ukrainians.

“I myself witnessed the following incident: In viewing the bodies one morning, a prisoner of war, who in my view was an Asian, suddenly went up to the pile of bodies, cut the head off one of the bodies, using a sharpened object of some kind, removed the brain and put it in his cooking pot.

“These cases of cannibalism became more infrequent after the Asian prisoners of war were punished, but isolated cases occurred repeatedly. About every 2 days, new individual cases occurred. The last case was just yesterday, 10 November 1941, in which 2 bodies were found with the heart and lungs missing.

“Whether the prisoners of war killed their fellow prisoners for the purpose of eating them or only cut pieces out of already dead bodies, I do not know. Nothing on the bodies indicated any information one way or another. I did notice, however, that one body bore bluish-red marks of strangulation on the throat. It is furthermore known to me that a guard post entered a barracks on hearing the screams of a prisoner of war during the night, by the light of a flashlight, saw several Asian prisoners of war doing something to a body,

cutting pieces of flesh out of it. I don’t know the name of the guard. He was assigned from the 1st Company, 302nd Guard Battalion. The guard shot 2 of the Asians on the spot. Because of the others, I had the prisoners of war ordered to deliver up the other guilty parties within a certain period of time. Since there was no delivery at the end of this period, I set a new deadline and announced that every tenth man in the set of barracks would be shot if the perpetrator was not turned over by the new deadline. At this point, 7 Asians were brought to us as perpetrators. There were 1,100 men in this set of barracks, mostly Ukrainians. They didn’t dare hand over the Asians at first, and were only compelled to do so by the threat of shooting.

“The Asian prisoners of war included Usbeks, Armenians, Kyrgyz, Turkmenians and Kasachs. It was not possible to discover whether members of all these or only one individual tribe participated in the cannibalism. Nobody confessed. The Ukrainian prisoners of war called the Asians without exception cannibals (they call them the “black people”). During the interrogations, one Usbek declared that they were a nomadic people at home and only lived from meat, which they ate unprepared (raw). He added that it was a shame that good meat was buried here. He meant the flesh of the prisoners of war.”

“As to my person: My name is Alred Weigel. I am 44 years old, Obergefreiter (Supply Corps), assigned to Stalag 360, Rovwo, a locksmith in civilian life, divorced.

”As to the facts: In the period starting on 30 October 1941, in the mornings, I noticed, on several days, that pieces of flesh had been cut out of the bodies of prisoners of war who had died during the night. The pieces of flesh involved were removed from the thigh, lower leg, buttock, and parts of the breast and abdominal parts. Individual bodies were even actually disemboweled, in the sense that they were cut open and the heart and lungs were removed. Investigations then established, as I saw myself, that pieces of flesh from the bodies were found the cooking utensils and bread bags and coat pockets of prisoners of war. During our investigations, we also found prisoners in the process of preparing such pieces of flesh from bodies at their fire places. They had stuck these pieces of flesh on sticks and were roasting them over their fires. In two cases, we caught prisoners selling such pieces of roasted flesh to other prisoners.

“The Ukrainian prisoners of war accused the Asian prisoners of being the perpetrators. But pieces of flesh cut from human bodies were also found among the Ukrainians. Whether they cut the flesh out of the bodies themselves or only purchased it, cannot be established. It also happened that Ukrainians resold these pieces of flesh. Whether Ukrainian prisoners of war actually ate flesh cut from human bodies I can’t say. Asian prisoners of war […] and all the Ukrainians upon such flesh was found, were dealt with according to regulations.

“Whether the prisoners of war participating in these acts of cannibalism killed their fellow prisoners for the purpose of eating them, or whether they only cut pieces of flesh out of the bodies of prisoners who had already died, I cannot say. I did not notice any signs on the bodies providing any clues in one direction or the other.”

“As to my person: my name is Karl Rau, I am 21 years old, I am an interpreter in Stalag 360, Camp III, ethnic German from Saratow in Russia, a farmer in civilian life, married, Lutheran religion.

“As to the facts: Investigations had already commenced due to cases of cannibalism when, one morning about 10 o’clock, a German guard called to me and another interpreter and Gefreiter Weigel, who was interrogated before me, and told us that he had just discovered a case of cannibalism in a set of barracks supervised by himself. We ran into the set of barracks and saw a prisoner of war busy on a body, cutting pieces out of the thigh and lower leg. When he asked him what he was doing, he pointed out all his fellow prisoners who had already cut pieces of flesh from the same body. A search of their mess-tins revealed human flesh. The prisoner of war who had been caught cutting flesh from the body

was an Asian, in my opinion, an Usbek. The other prisoners, as well, upon whom we found human flesh were all Asians, with one exception (a Russian); most of the guilty men, in my opinion, were Usbeks.

“What is more, the next morning, we discovered that, in some cases, pieces of flesh had been cut from the things, lower legs, and buttocks of the bodies. I don’t know whether we found any bodies that had been gutted, i.e. had had the heart and lungs cut out. I only know we found another body one morning, which had been skinned from about breast height downwards. I don’t know what happened to the skin.

“Whether the cannibals slaughtered their fellow prisoners for the purpose of eating them, or only cut the pieces out of prisoners who had already died, I cannot say. In reply to our questions, the prisoners of war always answered that they only cut the pieces out of bodies of prisoners who had already died. I did not notice any indications on the bodies clearly indicating anything in one direction or the other. The bodies were undamaged apart from the incisions. Whether the Asians are cannibals in their own country, I cannot say. Nor can I say the reason why the cases of cannibalism occurred here.

“I have a perfect command of the German language, I am an ethnic German from the Volga region. I have understood each question well and have been able to answer without difficulty.”

2) Gefreiter Fiedler, Recording Secretary obligated under Section 104 III, 22 II Code of Military Justice.

In response to a request, there appeared the next witnesses. They were made familiar with the object of the interrogation and warned to tell the truth, to the consequences of perjury or swearing falsely, and then interrogated as follows:

“As to my person: my name is Johannes Winkler, I am 42 years old, Corporal, 1st Company, 303rd Local Defense Battalion, a weaver in civilian life, married.

“As to the facts: I am assigned to Stalag 360, Camp III, in Rovno from time to time. On 8 November 1941, a member of the local Ukrainian guard personnel came to me and asked me to go with him to a set of POW barracks, with a pile of bodies in front of it. The bodies had been carried out of this set of barracks that morning. A Ukrainian showed me several bodies missing pieces of flesh, cut from the lower leg and thigh. The sight was so disgusting that I didn’t look any closer. I didn’t see any other injuries on the bodies. So I can’t say whether the prisoners of war killed their fellow prisoners for the purpose of eating them of only cut pieces of flesh from bodies of people who had already died. I didn’t about other aspects of this matter, such as whether European Russians or only Asians dedicated themselves to cannibalism and what reasons might have driven the prisoners of war to cannibalism, and I don’t know the answers.

“I was on guard duty in Camp II of Stalag 360 from time to time. On 4 or 5 November 1941, a Russian medic showed me the body of a prisoner of war which was also missing pieces of flesh from the lower legs and thighs. I didn’t see any other incisions on the body. I do, however, remember that there was blood on the forehead of the body. I didn’t see whether the skull had a hole in it or had any other kind of injury; nor did I concern myself with these matters. In this case as well, I don’t know why the cannibalism occurred. Nor do I know whether the cannibals killed the prisoners of war beforehand, or only cut pieces out of already dead bodies.”

In response to an order Second Lieutenant (Medical Corps), Dr. Josef Prost appeared and was interrogated as follows before being sworn.

“As to my person: My name is Josef Prost. I am an Second Lieutenant (Medical Corps) and camp physician at Stalag 360 in Rowno, 33 years old, a practicing physician in civilian life, married.

“As to the facts: As camp physician, I received the report about 14 days ago that in Camp III, Stalag 360, four bodies of prisoners of war had been found from whose bodies pieces of flesh had been removed, and some of whom had been actually gutted. On the spot, I found the 4 bodies referred to. 3 of the bodies were missing pieces from the lower leg and thigh, as well as from the buttocks; the fourth body was just the same, but, in addition, the thoracic cavity had been opened, and the heart, lungs and liver were missing. Near the bodies lay cooking pots, partly filled with brains. I made the following observations, which I now dictate in accordance with my notes made at the time:

“In the following time, even up the last few days, individual cases of cannibalism were reported to me repeatedly. Overall, 20 cases of cannibalism must have been reported to me in Stalag 360. Inspection of the bodies revealed similar phenomena, as I had observed on the first occasion.

“Whether the prisoners of war killed their follow prisoners for the purpose of cannibalism or only cut pieces of flesh out of the bodies of prisoners who had already died I cannot say. I saw no clear marks on the bodies providing any unambiguous information in this regard. My personal view, however, is that the cannibals killed their comrades when they were already exhausted by hunger, in order to eat to eat them. As stated, I do not have any actual evidence for this point of view. As far as I know, the designated perpetrators were mostly members of Asian tribes, particularly Usbeks. These tribes consist of the following ethnic groups: Usbeks, Asmans, and Kasachs. When we interrogated the Usbeks, they claimed it wasn’t them that slaughtered people in their home country, instead, only the Kasachs did this.

“There were no religious aspects to the cases of cannibalism in Stalag 360, nor were these in any way ritual murders. Instead, I attribute these cases to hunger -- particularly, hunger for meat – on the part of precisely these Asian tribes. I happen to know that these Asian tribes nomadic tribes, in their countries, live partially off raw meat. I therefore assume that, in view of the complete lack of meat in the camp, they could not summon up the necessary inhibitions against participation in cannibalism against their fellow prisoners.

“Another reason for saying there were no ritual motives for these cases of cannibalism, cannibalism, particularly, disembowelment of the bodies by removal of the breast and abdominal inner organs, was because, as already reported to me, there was also a trade in human flesh among the prisoners of war.”

In reference to the oath already sworn, the witness furthermore declared as follows:

”I never saw any members of any Asian nomadic tribes among the bodies examined. This reason alone shows in my view, that these crimes can only have been committed by members of Asiatic tribes.”

After consultation regarding the subject matter with the camp commandant, Specialist Officer Lebedeff, the following witnesses appeared in response to an order. They were familiarized with the object of the interrogation and advised of their impending oath, warned to tell the truth and then interrogated as follows:

“As to my person: My name is Leonti Kapanadze, I am a Russian Military physician (Kriegsarzt, III rank). In civilian life, I am Second Lieutenant (Medical Corps) with the hospital in Charkow, I am 29 years old, Dr. of Surgery, married.

“As to the facts: I am a Russian field hospital physician assigned to Stalag 360, Camp II. On 6 November 1941, as on every other day, I searched the prisoners’ barracks for bodies of prisoners having died during the night. While I was doing so, I passed the cellar of a building which also housed some prisoners of war, and found the body of a Russian prisoner of war. It was not the body of a Asian. I entered the building and noticed that pieces of flesh had been cut out of the body. Pieces were missing from the thigh and lower leg as well as the buttocks. I could not observe, however, any marks of strangulation. On the other hand, the body exhibited two rather long holes in the skullcap in the region of the temporal bone. The skullcap was smashed in at these places, in other words. I enclose a drawing I made in this regard for your archives. The head of the body lay on its left side. The head was covered with blood. The holes in the skullcap indicate that they were inflicted with a longitudinal blunt object, like an iron bar.

“I immediately reported this find to the camp administration. Finally the lodgings of the prisoners of war were searched for pieces of flesh, but nothing was found. In my opinion, the death had occurred about 24 hours previously.

“Judging by the position of the body, I assume that the prisoner of war was killed in order to be eaten. At the same time I do not particularly believe that the perpetrator or perpetrators ate the flesh themselves. Instead, I assume that the perpetrator, or perpetrators, killed the prisoner to sell the flesh. They don’t need to kill prisoners of war out of hunger, since the camp food rations are sufficient to protect the prisoners of war from hunger. Members of Asian ethnic tribes, however, have such a craving for meat that they cannot be satisfied with the camp food. In exploiting this circumstance, in my view, the perpetrator, or perpetrators, killed the prisoner in order to sell the flesh to fellow prisoners with a similar craving for meat, perhaps without mentioning the fact that it was human flesh. The sale of meat and other food is, of course, possible since the prisoners of war are still in possession of money.

“From my own personal knowledge, I know that Asian ethnic tribes do not engage in cannibalism in their own countries. I am a Grusiner myself (born in Tiflis), and I am familiar, among others, with the Gusiners, in addition to Armenians and Tatars. I can say that cannibalism does not occur among these 3 ethnic tribes. Nor have I have that other tribal groups commit cannibalism, in particular, I have never even heard this of the Usbeks and Asmans. I therefore know nothing about whether religious or ritual motives play a role in this regard. It is true that members of Asian tribes have a great craving for meat, which they usually explain by the fact that they are mostly nomadic peoples and live from their livestock herds. I have never heard that these tribes, for example, eat raw meat -- rather, that they prepare the meat before eating it. The Tatars abhor even pork; on the other hand, the Usbeks and Asmans prefer fatty meat in particular.

“I have heard of cases in Camp III, and I also know that human flesh is said to have been bought and sold there. This is based on my above mentioned assumption that the prisoners of war were murdered to be able to sell flesh from the bodies.

“Moreover, I would like to remark that cases of cannibalism occurred in the winter of 1932/33, during the occasion of a famine in the Ukraine. Many villages were abandoned by their inhabitants and that some of the bodies left behind had had obviously been partially eaten, or that pieces had obviously been cut out of them. I studied right in Odessa at the time, and these things were well known there.

Bodies of prisoners of war from whom pieces of flesh had been cut to be eaten

Sketch of the skull of a body, the skull of which had been smashed in with a longitudinal object – presumably in order to eat the body. The sketch was prepared by Leonti Kananadze, the Russian field hospital physician.

“My explanation that the camp portions were sufficient to protect the inmates from hunger is not contradicted by fact that prisoners of war died from exhaustion in the camp every day. They didn’t die from insufficient rations, but rather, because they were transported to the camps in a completely undernourished condition, and had no resistance. You have to remember that the age groups making up the greatest proportion of the prisoners of war were born in 1918-21, i.e. years during which famine prevailed all over the country, as a result of the collapse of the Czarist regime and the Soviet revolution. Men from these age groups therefore had less resistance from birth onwards. Even the sight of the completely emaciated bodies, which only consisted of skin, bones and sinews, shows without any further need for demonstration, that this condition cannot have been caused by the stay in the camp, since the prisoners had only been here for a month, and could not have been reduced to this completely famished condition in this period of time, even if the rations had been scarce.”

The transcription of my interrogation has been read out to me and then translated word for word by the interpreter. I have understood everything, word for word.

“As to my person: My name is Iwan Petrischenko, 23 years old, medic on active service with the Soviet army, unmarried.

“As to the facts: On the day the bodies were found, I, together with the field hospital physician, the last witness interrogated searched the POW barracks for bodies, and, on this occasion, together with the field hospital physician, found the bodies with pieces of flesh cut out of them. The bodies were missing pieces of flesh in the thigh and lower leg, as well as from the buttocks. Furthermore beneath the ribs straight down the abdomen a cut had been made. The body was not disemboweled. The head of the body exhibited two holes in the skullcap. The head of the body was stained with blood. I did not notice whether the holes broke through the skullcap.

“I had the impression that the prisoners of war were killed by their fellow prisoners. Whether this was done to eat or sell flesh from the bodies, I do not know. Whether or not the perpetrators themselves ate these body parts, I cannot say. All subsequent investigations were unsuccessful. I assume that the perpetrator or perpetrators need not necessarily need have eaten the flesh themselves. Rather, it is possible that they sold it to other prisoners without eating any of it themselves, and, of course, in selling it, they need not have said that it was human flesh. It is possible that the perpetrators were members of Asian tribes, since they trade upon every occasion in any possible kind of merchandise. They even sell their own daily food rations. It is also known to me that cases of trading in human flesh had been discovered in Camp III. I would furthermore like to note that the victims did not include one single Asian: they were all Europeans.

“I do not know from personal observation whether cannibalism occurs among Asian tribes. I myself am Ukrainian from Uman. In school, however, they told us that a few Asian tribes of the Soviet Union have very low levels of culture and ate people.

“It is correct that cases of cannibalism occurred even in the Ukraine in the famine winter of 1932/33. At that time, it was well known, and appeared in the newspapers, that there was a booming trade in human flesh.

"It is very improbable that that those who knew that it was human flesh would have eaten any of it themselves. Rather, these people brought the flesh into the trade and sold it to ignorant people who thought they were buying animal meat. To this end, the flesh was not sold raw, but was prepared, especially as meat in gelée, aspic, jellies, etc. Among the camp population, the rumor was going around that Jews were especially dedicated to this trade in human flesh, in full awareness of the fact that this was not animal flesh, but human flesh.

“The Jews were not accused either of killing people to sell their flesh or to cut pieces from their flesh. We were not told at school that the alleged cases of cannibalism among Asian tribes were attributable to ritual or religious motives.

“I do not believe that the one case of cannibalism in Camp II was due to hunger. The cause assumed by myself has already been indicated by myself.

“It is correct that prisoners of war die of undernourishment in the camp every day. But that is not due to insufficient camp rations, but to the following circumstances: one, the prisoners already arrived at the camp completely undernourished, and two; that the people are so dirty and filthy that their health must necessarily suffer. The camp food is not enough to keep people alive under such unfortunate circumstances due to the personal habits of the prisoners of war. It would be entirely sufficient if these were ordinarily nourished people.

"The transcript of my interrogation has been read out to me and than translated sentence by sentence by the interpreter, the camp commandant. I have understood everything perfectly and it is correct.”

Signed: Johann Lebedeff, Camp Commandant, Interpreter. Signed: Schule, Field Judge Advocate.

Signed: Gefreiter Fiedler. Recording Secretary. Certified: Ministerial Registrar.

2) Gefreiter Fiedler, Recording Secretary, obligated under sections 104 paragraphs 3 and 22 of the 2 Code of Military Justice

In response to an order the following witnesses appeared. They were familiarized with the object of the interrogation, warned to tell the truth, advised of the significance of the oath to be sworn and of the consequences of perjury or swearing falsely.

“As to my person: my name is Otto Zühlke, I am 42 years old, I am an Obergefreiter with the 1st company, 330th Local Defense Battalion, a master tailor in civilian life, married.

“As to the facts: I am assigned to Camp III of Stalag 360 as guards. In the first week of November, i.e, starting on 3 November 1941, when I went on guard duty, at around 23 hours, I noticed that the body of a POW which I had seen lying before a set of barracks when I went off duty about 4 hours earlier had disappeared. I went into the set of barracks and surprised a prisoner of war in the entrance hall of the set of barracks doing something to the corpse. He had already cut several pieces of flesh out of the thighs and was just about to open the thoracic cavity. He had the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, the hands were covered with blood up to the wrist joint. With the bloody knife he held in his hands, he looked like a butcher. In accordance with orders, I shot him on the spot.

“A few days later, I noticed during a round, that a few prisoners were preparing something in their cooking utensils on the fire. I called to one of them and ordered him to come to me with the cooking utensils. Since I had heard that prisoners of war prepared human flesh for themselves. He came to me and hold his cooking utensils over my head so that I couldn’t see into it, at the same time objecting that he only had water in it. I knocked the cooking utensils out of his hand so that the content poured out on to the ground. It turned out that the cooking utensils, in addition to water, contained pieces of flesh, diced into pieces, like goulasch. The pieces of flesh looked like lean pieces of pork. Since the prisoners have no way to acquire meat products, I assume that this was human flesh, in addition to the fact that the prisoner had made an effort to prevent me from looking into the cooking utensils. When I attempted to arrest him, he escaped into the darkness.”

In relation to his oath as witness, the witness furthermore declared as follows:

“I cannot say exactly whether the body and the perpetrator in the first case about which I have been interrogated, was a (European) Russian or Asian. I might like however based on the memory which I still have of the appearance of the body, as well as that of the perpetrator, that these were not Asian, but rather European Russians. I was unable to make further observations on cases of cannibalism.”

Court of the Armed Forces Commanders, Ukraine Local Bivouac, 16 November 1941

The following witnesses were interrogated as follows after being advised that they would be sworn.

“As to my person: My name is Hans Kritzler-Kosch, 53 years old, Lieutenant Colonel (Medical Corps), executive medical officer with the Armed Forces Commanders, Ukraine, married.

“As to the facts: On 1 November 1941, at the order of the Quartermaster General at the Armed Forces Commanders (Intelligence Services) [fh], Ukraine, Lieutenant Colonel of the General Staff, Sichting, dated 31 October 1941, I performed a medical examination, in the presence of my medical orderly for ad hoc assignments [z.b.V.] Major General (Medical Corps) Dr.Holland and camp physician, Second Lieutenant (Medical Corps) Dr. Prost, of the bodies of four Soviet POWS reported to have fallen victim to the cannibalism at the hands of other Soviet POWs from Usbekstan.

“During the examination, I photographed the four bodies, as did Assistant Physician Dr. Prost. The taking of photographs was made more difficult by the cloudy weather, rain and snowfall prevailing at the time.

“Results:

“The bodies, those of 4 naked, seriously emaciated males, were collected for later burial at a location in the (next to the scrap materials dump).

“Body 1: both thighs were entirely excised from the musculature, so that the femurs were completely visible.

“Body 2: The abdominal cavity had been opened by a longitudinal incision. The abdominal cavity and thoracic cavity had had all viscera (lungs, heart, diaphragm, liver, spleen, kidneys and intestines) removed.

"Next to the head lay the lid of a cooking pot with half a human cerebrum, which must have belonged to a fifth body, other than those available, since the skulls of the 4 bodies were undamaged.

“Body 3: The region of the buttocks had had considerable parts of the fleshy muscular mass removed.

“Body 4: Pieces of muscle were missing from the front right thigh in the region from the groin to the lower third of the calf.

“On all 4 bodies there were no other injuries such as stab wounds, marks of strangulation or the like.

“The body parts taken related only to those body parts suitable for eating (mass of larger muscles, abdominal glands, intestines).

“Whether the POWs examined died a natural death before being robbed of their flesh and viscera, or whether the removal of the missing parts only occurred after a natural death had already occurred, could not be decided due to lack of corresponding murder wounds.

“It cannot excluded, even if it cannot be proven at a later time, that the removal of certain parts was very probability intended for eating was committed against defenseless men who were still alive, but near death, and were slaughtered while they were still alive, thus causing death.”

Read out, approved and signed. Signed: Dr. Kritzler-Kosch, Colonel (Medical Corps)

A long series of cases of cannibalism also occurred in the camp of Szepetowka. For the most part, this occurred on the bodies of persons who had already died but, in individual cases, prisoners were killed for the purpose of being eaten.

Court of the Armed Forces Commanders, Ukraine Local Bivouac, 14 December 1941

Extract: Main Camp [StL] 33/41, order dated 3 November, 1941, reference f 28 WR (U) U 1210/41
Appended: 5 documents

In annex to the above stated matter, we enclose the original documents of the transcripts on the interrogation of 4 guards and 10 Russian POWs on the cases of cannibalism having occurred in Stalag 357 in Szepetowka.

It should be noted that, in addition to the mentioned findings in the above mentioned camp, in about 100 cases, bodies were found in which pieces of flesh had been cut out of them, particularly from the legs, arms and breast. In addition, in about 8 to 9 cases, bodies were observed in which all the flesh, including the interior organs, had been incised or cut out or scraped out, right down to the skeleton. In the majority of cases, this happened to bodies of the dead. Only in individual cases did the Russians kill their fellow prisoners. A complete determination of fact in this regard could only be made in two cases (see the interrogation of Feldwebel Rosenthal). On the other hand, the number of prisoners of war guilty of cutting flesh from the bodies of already dead or freshly killed fellow prisoners during the time period from mid-September to mid-October 1941, amounts, by conservative estimate, to 400 to 500.

Originally, it was chiefly Asians and Caucasians who ate the flesh of their fellow prisoners. This circumstance, and the fact that, among these people, the Usbeks formed the greatest group proportionally, led to the conclusion that the cannibalism was generally due to the Usbeks. During the review of the cases occurring in Stalag 357, it was almost always found that almost all the peoples in the camp representative of the Russian nationalities, in particular, the Russians as well, as well as the Ukrainians, cut out flesh from the bodies of the dead or killed fellow inmates or traded in it, and ate it boiled or roasted. The least often participating were the Tatars and the strongly Mohammedan Caucasians."

Gefreiter Gefreiter Fiedler, Recording Secretary, obligated according to Section 104, paragraphs 3, 22, and paragraph 2 of the Code of Military Justice.

For the purpose of investigation of the cases of cannibalism having occurred in Stalag 357 in Shitomir, the above mentioned signed persons travelled to Szepetowka on 27 November 1941, some of them by truck, some by rail. There the following witnesses were interrogated in the kommand post of Stalag 357 on today’s date.

Officer Kintzi was assigned as interpreter to the court of the Armed Forces Commanders, Ukraine.

“My name is Kintzi, Gustav, I am a Corporal, 20 years old, now with the court of the Armed Forces Commanders, Ukraine.”

In response to an order, the 1st witness, Koroba, appeared. The witness declared as follows after being informed of the significance of the oath.

“As to my person: my name is Korobka, Matwej Semjonowitsch, I am 33 years old, a physician (psychiatrist), Russian, was called to the colors for only 10 days and was only active as a physician for two days, at the present time head of the field hospital in the Ostrog auxiliary prisoner of war camp.

"As to the facts: On 24 September 1941, I was taken prisoner at Borispol; after being held in other camps I first came to the Szepetowka prisoner of war camp, later the Ostrog camp, in which I am head of the field hospital. I can no longer say when I was assigned to Ostrog.

“A rather long time ago, it must have been beginning of November 1941, a Russian medic came to me and reported that he had established that a piece of flesh had been cut from the thigh of a body.

“I established the truth of this report, and reported my findings to the camp administration. I ordered my personnel to watch the bodies carefully, and to report any desecration to me. I had talks with my fellow prisoners to the effect that it was unworthy of Russians to eat human flesh. My fellow prisoners then declared themselves ready to name the guilty party to me. The Ukrainian veterinary researcher Bondarenko and fellow prisoner Manko were found to be those parties. Manko indicated that he had only cut the piece of flesh out of the body’s thigh at the urging of Bondarenko.

“Bondarenko did not tell me personally that he had the human flesh obtained for him ‘because it might come in handy’.

“I did not personally see that the flesh had been cut out of the right thigh, a Second Lieutenant (Medical Corps) in the field hospital saw it. The crime was committed on a corpse, not on a human being who had killed first, as reported to me by the doctor.

“The fact is incomprehensible to me because all prisoners received warm food twice daily, and are therefore sufficiently well fed. Manko replied under interrogation that even he had been sufficiently well fed on the date of the crime.

“It is my view that Bondarenko and Manko obtained the flesh mainly to be able to sell it. Prisoners have told me that he offered them the human flesh for 50 rubels or for underclothing.”

The above record was read out to me in the Russian language by the interpreter, approved by the witness and signed by him as follows:
Signed: M. Korobka

In response to an order, the 3rd witness appeared, and declared that he was familiar with the significance of the oath.

“As to my person: my name is Fomin, Wassil Iwanovitsch, I am 29 years old, a tractor driver by profession, Ukrainian, a soldier with the 10th Infantry Regiment since 23 June 1941, a prisoner since July 1941.

“As to the facts: I am the third month of my imprisonment in the forest camp of Szepetowka. I now belong to the Ukrainian auxiliary guard crew, and as such, I act as assistant policeman in the forest camp. Before, I was only active as prisoner camp policeman. Among other things, Feldwebel Rosenthal ordered me to watch the prisoners and see whether they stole any human flesh. With two other comrades, I once stood behind the door in this camp and in so doing, (it was on the second floor) I saw two Usbeks doing something to a dead body. The body was naked. They turned it over and around. Finally, they cut into the thigh with an ordinary knife. One of them even cut a piece out of it and stuck it on a piece of wood. We immediately entered the room, arrested the prisoner and handed him over to the camp commandants.

“This event happened during the first month of my present captivity here.”

The above transcript was read out to the witness by the interpreter in the Russian language, approved by the witness and signed by him as follows.

In response to an order, the 5th witness, Martschenko, appeared, and declared as follows after being familiarized with the significance of the oath:

“As to my person: my name is Martschenko, Hrihori, I am 29 years old, a farmer by profession, Ukrainian, a soldier since 23 June 1941 with the 10th Infantry Regiment in Bjelaja Zerkow, in captivity since 13 July. My last rank was that of Sergeant.

“As to the facts: About 10 days after being taken prisoner, I was transferred to the prisoner of war camp in Szepetowka. I was first a medical assistant, I am now a member of the Ukrainian guard personnel and a camp policeman. Some time ago, I can no longer give a more exact date,

“I saw a fellow prisoner cutting pieces of flesh from the thigh of a corpse using a knife. Whether the prisoner was killed for this purpose or had already died, I cannot say. The fellow prisoner stuck the cut out piece of flesh onto a piece of wood and held it in the flame of a iron stove in the common room. This sight disgusted me. I immediately left the common room and told German soldiers of my observers, who arrested this prisoner and 2 others who were also supposed to have eaten human flesh. These prisoners were Nasmenians.”

The above transcript was read to the witness by the interpreter in the Russian language, approved by the witness and signed as follows.

In response to an order the 7th witness, Gotscherga, appeared and declared as follows after being familiarized with the significance of the oath.

“As to my person: my name is Gotscherga, Alexei Pawlowitsch, I am 22 years old, a worker in a shoe factory by profession, Ukrainian, a soldier since the end of 1939 with the 203 rd Artillery Regiment in Odessa, a prisoner of war since 7 July 1941.

“I am a member of the Ukrainian auxiliary guard personnel. Before I belonged to the Ukrainian auxiliary guard crew, I observed prisoners of war roasting flesh in the oven of their barracks. Since I knew there was no meat in the POW camp, I asked them where they got the flesh. In response it was called out to me by other prisoners of war (Ukrainians) who were in the back of the room, that it was human flesh. I then took these two prisoners to the commandant.

“On the interrogation: When I asked the prisoners where they got the meat, other prisoners, also from the background of the other prisoners, called out to me, ‘If you want some, cut some off yourself, there are dead bodies outside’”.

The above transcript was read out to the witness in the Russian language, approved by the witness and signed by him, as stated below.

In response to an order the 9th witness, Bondarew, appeared and declared as follows after being familiarized with the significance of the oath:

“As to my person: my name is Bondarew, Alexei Iwan, I am 20 years old, a cabinet maker by trade, Russian, a soldier since 15 September 1940 with the 204 th Parachute Brigade in Borispol, assigned as infantry man, a member of the guard in an airplane factory, in captivity since 11 July 1941.

“As to the facts: Since September 1941, I have been assigned to the Szeptowka POW forestry camp. I am a medic in the field hospital of the forest camp and as such have the task of burying the dead. Among the bodies I buried at the end of September 1941, were about 8 or 9 whose flesh the inner organs of which had been removed. From these bodies only the head and the bones remained. In addition, I saw about 100 bodies from whom pieces of flesh had been cut, especially from the legs, arms and breast. On the other hand, I did not see that any inner organs had been taken from these bodies.”

The above transcript was read out to the witness in the Russian language, approved by the witness and signed by him as follows.

In response to an order the 10th witness, Sapelowow, appeared and declared as follows after being familiarized with the significance of the oath:

“As to my person: my name is Sapelowow, Jakob Wladimirowitsch, I am 25 years old, a worker by profession

“I was a soldier from 1936 to 1938, a soldier again from 28 June 1941 with the 476th Telegraph Battalion, a prisoner of war since 8 August 1941.

“As to the facts: Since mid-September 1941, I have been held in the Szepetowka camp. As camp policeman, I was commandant over all the Russians, who were in the field hospital. Some time after my transfer to the present prisoner of war camp I observed with my own eyes how 8 POWs cutting pieces of flesh out of a corpse with a home-made knife made of sheet metal, especially from the thighs, in addition to the ears and nose. These pieces of flesh had already been cut out of a second body lying nearby. They had stuck these pieces onto a stick of wood and were roasting it on the fire. One POW only had pieces of flesh in his cooking utensils. I also saw other mutilated bodies lying around from whom pieces of flesh had been cut. I did not see any bodies from whom the inner organs had been removed.”

The above transcript was read out to the witness in the Russian language, approved by him and signed as follows.

Signed: Dr. Petzke, Field Judge Advocate. Signed: Gefreiter Fiedler, Certified: Secretary.

For the purpose of investigating the cases of cannibalism in Stalag 357 among the POWs housed there, there appeared today at the amtsstelle Rifleman Erich Kuntzsch of the 3rd Company, 351st Local Defense Battalion, and was interrogated as a witness as follows, after being familiarized with the significance of the oath:

”As to my person: My name is Erich Kuntzsch, born 4 March 1904 in Radebeul, near Dresden. In civilian life, I am a book printer in Dresden, a resident of Freital, near Dresden. I have been a soldier since 16 December 1940, and have been with the 3rd Company, 351st Local Defense Battalion since 30 January 1941.

“As to the facts: my Company, had to do guard duty in Stalag 357 in September 1941 in Szepetowka. One night, during that same first half of the month of September, I was assigned to two-man guard duty in front of a set of barracks in the Stalag sheltering Russian POWs. My comrade on guard duty was Gefreiter Bruno Heil, from my Company.

“Between 1 and 3 in the morning, we heard a horrible scream from the barracks. According to our instructions, we were not permitted to enter the barracks. We went as close as we were permitted to do so. A prisoner assigned to duty as an assistant policeman, wearing a white armband, gestured to us, by means of dramatic gestures, that a crime was just being committed. We looked through a window into the ground floor, into a large room full of prisoners sitting around a fire upon which they were roasting meat stuck on sticks of wood. We had heard a few days before that the bodies of POWs had been cut up. I myself saw the body of a prisoner whose buttocks had been completely excised, right down to the backbone. You could see the bones of the backbone, you could see that the flesh had been cut off by slicing. Heil and myself told each other that this was another case of cannibalism. With the help of the assistant policeman, we had the seven guilty parties brought out through the window, and took them away. One of these men had a bag with him. We both noted that he had a liver and a heart and pieces of flesh in it. There was also some human skin. From illustrations I am aware of the shape and size of a human liver and a human heart. The liver and heart in the bag were certainly of human origin. We reported the case upon being relieved of duty around 3 hours. What happened after that, I do not know from my own experience. The hands and faces of the arrested persons were smeared with blood.

“The next morning I was off duty but I was present when the Russian barracks was searched and several desecrated bodies of POWs were brought out. They were all completely naked. On one of the bodes, a flat piece of flesh the size of a human hand had been cut out of the buttocks, another body had had the abdomen sliced open, the intestines hung out and the thoracic cavity was empty.”

Read out, approved by the witness and signed, Signed Erich Kuntzsch, Rifleman

The witness was sworn. Signed Dr. Uhlig, Signed Officer Ullrich, Certified: Secretary.

2. Officer Ullrich, Recording Secretary, obligated under Section 104 paragraph 3 and Section 22 paragraph 2 Code of Military Justice.

For the purpose of investigating the cases of cannibalism having occurred among the POWs housed in Stalag 357, Rifleman Emil Rudolf of the 3rd Company, 351st Local Defense Troop Battalion, appeared and was interrogated as follows after being familiarized with the significance of the oath.

“As to my person: My name is Emil Gustav Rudolf, I was born on 10 May 1905 in Reichenberg, Sudetengau, I am a factory worker in Katherinenberg be Reichenberg Sud, I have been a soldier since 29 May 1941. I have been with the 3rd Company, 351st Local Defense Battalion since 8 July 1941.

“As to the facts: I was assigned to guard duty at Szepetowka in Stalag 357 at the beginning of September 1941. As guard I had to guard the wire cage where POWs were still housed in an improvised manner while it was still warm About two or three days after my entry on duty I found one morning about 7 o’clock as I came on guard duty, a few naked bodies next to the wire cage, from which pieces of flesh the size of a man’s hand had been cut from the knees, calf and buttocks. While I was on duty, a body was brought out of a POWs quarters. Apart from the head, hands and a few pieces of flesh, only the bloody skeleton remained. When I appeared, a few pieces of flesh lay in front of the wire cage. The guard whom I relieved told me that these pieces of flesh had been taken away from the prisoners in the wire cage. A camp policeman (a prisoner used as an assistant policeman) told me that a prisoner housed in the cage had been found with a large piece of flesh in his pants pocket. This piece of flesh could only come from bodies, since the prisoners received no meat in their rations at that time.

“The bodies found when I came on duty were brought out from the Russian POW barracks. The guard whom I relieved told me that.”

The witness was sworn. Signed: Dr. Uhlig. Signed: Officer Ullrich. Certified: Secretary.

2. Officer Ullrich, Recording Secretary, obligated under Sections 104 paragraph 3 and Section 22 paragraph 2 of the Code of Military Justice.

For the purpose of investigating the cases of cannibalism having occurred among the POWs housed in Stalag 357, Rifleman Amsel, of the 3rd Company, 351st Local Defense Troop Battalion, appeared and was interrogated as follows after being familiarized with the significance of the oath.

“As to my person: my name is Hermann Paul Amsel, I was born on 6 July 1941 in Ludwigsdorf Kreis Goldberg, Silesia, I am agricultural assistant by trade, last in Jesau bei Kamenz in Saxony, I have been a soldier since 16 December 1941, with the 3rd Company, 351st Local Defense Troop Battalion since 9 July 1941.

“As to the facts: In September 1941, my Company, was on guard duty in Stalag 357 Szepetowka. At the beginning of September about 5 or 6 in the morning I was on duty guarding a set of barracks full of POWs of Russian nationality. From a room on the ground floor, I heard cries for help. I looked inside and saw about six Russian POWs struggling with each other. Four of them held two tight and dragged them to me at the window. One of the four pressed a die-shaped piece of flesh weighing about 250 grams, with some human skin still on it on one side, into my hands, through the window. The flesh showed signs of having been partially roasted over an open fire. By means of gestures, the four indicated that the two others had killed a man and that this was human flesh. I remember still that one of them made a cutting motion with his hand at his throat. I arrested the two suspects and put them in solitary confinement. The two suspects said nothing during their arrest. The front side of their jackets and hands were stained with blood.”

The witness was sworn. Signed: Dr. Uhlig, Signed: Officer Ullrich. Certified: Secretary.

The witness was sworn as witness. Signed: Dr. Uhlig. Signed: Officer Ullrich. Certified: Secretary.

2. Officer Ullrich, Recording Secretary obligated under Section 104 paragraph 3 and Section 22 Paragraph 2 Code of Military Justice.

For the purpose of investigating the cases of cannibalism having occurred among the POWs housed in Stalag 357, Feldwebel Rosenthal of the 3rd Company, 351st Local Defense Battalion, appeared and was interrogated as follows after being familiarized with the significance of the oath.

“As to my person: my name is Hans Rosenthal, I am 46 years old, a foreman by profession in Halle and der Saale, I have been a soldier since 26 August 1939, a Feldwebel since 1 July 1940. I have been with the 3rd Company, 351st Local Defense Troop Battalion since 1 September 1940.

“As to the facts: I was commandeered to Stalag 357 POW camp in Szepetowka from 1 September 1941 to 15 November 1941, and had to administer the food and work assignments of the POWs under the supervision of the Stalag commandant Lieutenant Colonel Westphal.

“A few days after the beginning of my assignment, about 10,000 Soviet POWs arrived at camp and were housed separately, by national minority, i.e. Usbeks, Tatars, Grusinians, Russians and Ukrainians, in barracks made available to the Stalag. A few days after the arrival of these POWs, one morning, at the break of dawn, I was awakened with a report that cries of help were coming from the Usbek set of barracks. I hurried over there immediately, looked into a room, and saw the body of Russian POW, completely naked. Immediately afterwards, I bumped into an Usbek POW cutting a piece of flesh about the size of a man’s hand, and about 250 grams in weight, from the thigh of the body. I speak Ukrainian and understand Russian. I asked the Usbek what he intended to do with the meat. He laughed and said he wanted to roast it and eat it. I had him arrested immediately and placed in solitary confinement. During a furth search of the Usbek set of barracks, immediately afterwards, I caught a Russian POW cutting pieces of flesh from a completely naked body. The flesh had been scraped away from the thoracic cavity of the body right down to the ribs. Working very quickly, the Russian opened the body and removed the viscera from the abdomen, i.e. the liver, heart and lungs, and placed them in a large sheet metal can. I asked him what he was doing. He admitted that his intention was to cook and eat the flesh. I had this man immediately arrested, too, and placed in solitary confinement.

“At about 7 hours the same morning, when the prisoners came to get their food, I had all the POWs searched for human flesh by the POW interpreter. Seven Russians were caught in possession of pieces of human flesh about the size of a human hand, with a piece of human skin still on one side, in their coat pockets or in tin plate cans. I examined the flesh. The pieces of flesh had obviously been cut out from human bodies in the manner I had observed on the one Russian body that dawn. The seven POWs all denied knowing that it was human flesh. They were obviously lying, since there was intact human skin on each piece of flesh. During the day, I saw the bodies of other POWs who had been mutilated in the same manner, with pieces of flesh cut out of them.

“A few days later, I went with the Stalag commandant as he examined the Uskbek set of barracks at about 18 hours. While we were still outside the building, I heard a cry for help from a window on the ground floor. I jumped in and saw two Usbeks attacking a Russian. One Usbek was just in the act of pulling a short awl, which he had obviously attached to a piece of wood, as well as a nail, from the skullcap of the victim of the attack, who had obviously just been attacked -- the awl had been driven into his skull – while the other Usbek started to suck blood out of the flowing wound. The Russian victim was screaming. I immediately arrested the Usbek with the awl. In the confusion, the other culprit got away. The arrested man admitted to wanted to suck the blood. In the cases reported to me above, I assume that the victims had been killed in the same way, because there was no blood in the bodies.

“The next afternoon, in doing the rounds around the Usbek set of barracks, I looked through the window of the ground floor, and saw an Usbek with a piece of iron, apparently part

of the grid on an oven, just as he hit a Russian POW in the temple -- the victim had apparently come in to trade. The victim fell down. I immediately jumped in through the window. Before I could arrest the criminal, he had undressed the Russian and was buy cutting pieces from his thigh using a home-made knife. He had already started to cut into the flesh when I arrested him. He was so surprised that he could not answer my questions. I had him placed in solitary confinement.

“A few days later, in searching the barracks of the Russian POW, in a room on the third floor, I saw a Russian scraping out the brains of another dead Russian POW into a tin pan, using a metal tool apparently made from the handle of a a cooking utensil. In reply to my questions, he denied killing the other POW, but admitted that he had intended to roast and eat the brain.

“A few days later, I caught a Russian with a piece of human flesh in his hand – it even had a piece of human skin on one side. He was gnawing it. In reply to my question as where he got the flesh, he said nothing, but just kept on gnawing on it with a grin. I had him placed in solitary confinement.”

Read out, approved by the witness and signed. Signed: Hans Rosenthal, Feldwebel.

The witness was sworn. Signed: Dr. Uhlig, Signed: Officer Ullrich, Certified: Secretary.

In this case as well, prisoners were murdered to remove pieces of flesh from their corpses.

On 29 November, Gefreiter Gass reported as follows to the leader of the burial commando in camp 1a. Among the dead were 6 bodies whose eyes had been gouged out.

The examination, performed immediately, revealed the following: In the courtyard lay 6 totally emaciated bodies, six of whom had had their eyes violently gouged clean out of the eye sockets or crushed inwards. This act was presumably committed with a blunt object, probably the thumbs. There were no other signs of strangulation or other indications of violent death. My interpreter, who was an ethnic German, stated as follows:

“Prisoners in especially poor health were killed by their fellow prisoners during the night to steal their boots and articles of clothing. The weak were very often simply held by the nose and mouth and slowly suffocated. These bodies were always completely naked and carried out of the barracks. There were never any boots or articles of clothing found with the bodies. This explains how many prisoners came to wear two or three articles of clothing around their bodies.”

The camp physician, signed signature: Lieutenant Colonel (Medical Corps) (in the reserves). Certified: Secretary

There furthermore appeared the Russian POW Iwan Schingarew and declared as follows after having been familiarized with the object of the interrogation and warned to tell the truth, whereby he was called in for interrogation by camp Feldwebel Peter Koldajeff as interpreter, who was instructed as to his duties as interpreter and gave the declaration that he would make the transcription correctly:

“As to my person: my name is Iwan Schingarew, born in the village of Nowaja Beresetnja, borough of Mstislawskii, district of Mogilewskii, on 27 March 1914. I have been a POW since 24 September 1941. I am a doctor, head physician of the infirmary at Camp 1b of Stalag 305.

“As to the facts: On the cases of cannibalism in camp 1b, I can only make the following statements:

23 October 1941. On the date in question, the body of a Russian POW was found and was examined by myself. The body was missing the buttocks, which had been cut off. The body was still quite fresh, so that the crime must have been committed during the past night. The flesh had been carefully cut out. Due to my medical experience, I came to the conclusion that the POW in question must have been murdered first, and the flesh cut off the body afterwards.
“7 November 1941. On this date, 9 bodies of Russian POWs were found. I had all bodies examined and established that 6 of them had had the thoracic cavities cut out, but I can no longer say which organs had been removed. The other 3 bodies had had pieces of flesh cut out from the knees to the breast. The bodies were still fresh. The cutting must have been performed with a sharp knife, just as on 23 October 1941. In the 3 bodies that had had the fleshy parts entirely cut out, the cutting was not done so skillfully as on 23 October 1941. Based on the examination and my experience as a doctor, I came to the conclusion that the 3 bodies missing all fleshy parts, as well as 2 of the remaining bodies had obviously been murdered before the fleshy parts were cut out. In the remaining 4 bodies, exact examination was not possible since they were too dirty. I consider it impossible that these men died of disease during the night, and that the fleshy parts were only cut out afterwards. Seriously ill patients were delivered to the field hospital and the victims could only have been POWs who were weak or exhausted and could not defend themselves; sudden death during the night is, therefore, in my view is very improbable.
“18 November 1941. On this date, the body of a POW was found whose fleshy parts had been entirely cut away. The body was still quite fresh. Again, a sharp knife had been used. The fleshy parts were cut out very carefully, completely exposing the bones. In this case, based on the medical examination, I can state with complete certainty that the victim must have been murdered and the fleshy parts only cut out afterwards.”

Concluded. Signed: Scheuler. Signed: Rifleman Mahlich. Certified: Secretary.

Court of the POW camp District Xth Command Post Local Bivouac, 8 December 1941

In response to an order, First Lieutenant Frank, of Stalag 305, Camp 2, in Novo Ukraina, appeared and declared as follows after being familiarized with the object of the interrogation and the significance of the oath:

“As to my person: My name is Oskar Frank, I was born in Stuttgart on 15 June 1893, Evangelical, married, First Lieutenant and camp officer of POW camp 2 in Novo Ukrainia.

“As to the facts: I head the POW camp 2 in Novo Ukrainia-Adabasch since 29 October 1941. 2 cases of cannibalism have been established since this time.

“On 14 November 1941, 2 bodies were found in the camp from whom fleshy parts had been cut out. I did not see these bodies, however, and can make no exact statements.

“On 16 November 1941, the body of a Russian POW was found in the barracks of the camp which I saw myself. The entire abdominal musculature had been cut out of the body, as well as the more noble parts, heart, liver, lungs, kidneys. The cutting of the fleshy parts was done very skillfully, in my opinion. The wounds looked still very fresh, so one could conclude that death had occurred during the past night. From the entire circumstances, it was to be concluded that the POW had been killed by other POWs...[continued on page 367]

Russian soldiers having participated in cannibalism before their gutted victim

"who then cut out the missing fleshy parts and ate them. This was confirmed by the investigations conducted Based on the statements of 8 Russian POWs, 6 Russian POWs were identified as perpetrators. These 6 Russian POWs, when questioned, immediately admitted committing the murder and earing the flesh. According to my recollection, the perpetrators were almost all Asians; only one was a Russian.

“Since this case, no more cases of cannibalism have occurred. But the effective strength of the camp has been greatly reduced, since a large proportion of the POWs have been assigned to work commandos or transferred to other camps."

The attached documents prove other cases of cannibalism: in one of the camps evacuated by the Russians, the body of a Russian was found whose abdomen and thighs had been placed over a fire. The report of Oberfeldwebel Thiel confirms the discovery of two dead German soldiers from whose bodies the Russians had also cut pieces of flesh.

The annexed report reports on two Russians who were caught in the act of cutting pieces of flesh out of the bodies of the dead.

During a scouting mission in the evening of 23 February 1942, 2 scouts from the battalion s on the supply route between B VII and IX came under fire. The shots came from the forested area behind our main front line. The Battalion thereupon combed this area for concealed Russians on 24 February 1942. 20 men from the regimental supply train of the 127th Supply Regiment went into action led by Corporal Zimmermann.

“At the altitude of B VII, I ordered my men to spread out and search the terrain in the direction of B XI. After about 600 m, I saw a new track in the snow, which I followed for 300 m. Then I turned back again and rejoined my men.

“Travelling further along the path, I saw 2 Russians busy cutting pieces of flesh from the bodies of dead Russians. When I called out to them to surrender, they tried to escape and I shot them down. On the spot, I found 2 dead Russians, missing all but the head and ribs. I also found a bread bag filled with flesh meat.

"I followed the first path again and I saw another 5 Russians seated around a fire, under a tree, roasting meat. I took all 5 prisoner. I took them back to where the slaughtered Russians lay. Using gestures, I asked if they had eaten their own comrades, and they indicated in the affirmative.

“I had to shoot one of these men on the way back, since he refused to go any further. I handed my prisoners over to the Hassel Battalion Command Post.

Signed Signature: Captain and Battalion Commander. Regimental Command Post, 26 February 1942.

I declare under oath that the statements made by myself correspond to the truth.

Signed: Zimmermann, Officer with the 8th Company, 27th Infantry Regiment, Local Bivouac, 27 February 1942.

---
Comment: It is important to note what is being asserted here. It is not asserted that "all Russians are cannibals", but, rather, that relatively small numbers of members of primitive Asiatic tribes, when deprived of meat, resorted to cannibalism under relatively abnormal circumstances. Thus, certain statements allegedly made by "Heinrich Himmler" and by the authors of "The Sub-Human" (which I translated 12 or 14 years ago), while exaggerated, are not entirely incredible.
It is important to note that, unlike "The Sub-Human", these reports were not prepared for propaganda purposes. Under international law, all violations of international law must be protested in writing, stating the full particulars, through the "protecting power" (in German's case, the "protecting power" was Switzerland). The intent was to discourage reprisals by creating a mechanism for the investigation of abuses. Of course this meant that one's own violations of international law had to be investigated as well, since protests would inevitably be lodged by the enemy, and one had to know exactly what really happened. This whole carefully constructed system broke down as a result of the British and American attitude that international law simply did not apply to them, an attitude which perists to this day.

Note the strange documentary procedures mimicked by the Soviets at Nuremberg, particularly the notation "signed signature", which appears three times. Presumably this means that the witness signed the first draft (which may have been very messy looking for all we know), and that the retyped "fair copy" or "clean copy" is not signed, i.e., when they retyped it the witness was no longer around to sign the document. If the rough draft is kept in the same file with the retyped "fair copy", OK, fair enough, but it shouldn't be thrown away or get "lost" someplace. Note as well the affidavits written in German and "translated orally" into Russian before signature. I would prefer to see an affidavit in Russian, signed by the witness, and then a translation, signed by a translator. It wouldn't even be that much more work; the translation could be dictated to a typist.

This may suffice for purposes of internal record keeping or protests between governments, but I would strongly oppose placing anyone on trial -- much less sentencing anyone to death -- on the basis of this kind of "evidence", even if it is all true.

Nor would it be possible to introduce evidence like this in American or British court martial procedings. No doubt this is why the German defendants in nearly all American and British "war crimes trials" were constantly reminded that "this is not a court martial, this is not a court martial", parrot-like, over and over again (see WAR CRIMES TRIALS by Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, picking almost any page at random).

- C.P.
15 July 2006
See also:
War Crimes Trials

From VERBRECHEN AN DER WEHRMACHT: Kriegsgreuel der Roten Armee 1941/42 by Prof. Dr. Alfred Seidler, vol. 1.
Translated by C. Porter
(c) 2006
The book is a winner of the "Pour le Mérite" prize for military history in Germany.

The Website of Carlos Whitlock Porter

MADE IN RUSSIA - THE HOLOCO$T