After the break, the presiding judge called upon the witness Henri Limousin, who testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Henri Limousin |
| Date and place of birth | 25 March 1893 in Sin-le-Noble |
| Parents’ names | Gabriel-Jan and Marianna |
| Marital status | married, three children |
| Occupation | Professor of pathological anatomy at the university in Clermont-Ferrand |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
Witness: I was conducting laboratory studies on leprosy, tuberculosis, artificially induced cancer, and the treatment of mushroom poisoning at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. I have published papers on the treatment of delirium tremens, on carbon monoxide poisoning and research on the sex glands. After my arrest, my family remained in France and I had news of them indirectly through the bishop of Montferrand, whom I met at the Dachau camp. They were fit and well then and I have reason to believe that they are still in France and that nothing has changed regarding their health.
Minister Rzymowski: On what charge were you arrested?
Witness: I was arrested for political reasons, and accused of disseminating anti-German propaganda among the students. I was arrested on 6 March 1941 and placed in the Gestapo prison. It was dirty, the conditions [were] very difficult, the food was insufficient; we were infested by lice and fleas. Food parcels from outside were prohibited. We were only permitted to send home laundry. If there were groceries or tobacco in the packages of linen, the Germans stole them. The treatment was brutal, typical of the Gestapo – constant interrogations, beatings, often to the point of death. Fellow prisoners returned from these interrogations covered in wounds. Some never returned at all; I had no doubts about the fate of those companions. Prior to my arrest, I had examined the bodies brought to the morgue after the interrogations. I did an autopsy on the body of a major that was found in the street. He had been crushed by a German truck to erase evidence of torture. We knew he was a victim of the Gestapo because [he] had been arrested previously. We were able to identify him by the inscription inside his wedding ring.
Kornacki MP: Who exactly was with the witness in prison at that time – were they political prisoners, and from what layers of society?
Witness: Various. There was intelligentsia, [there were] even active duty officers, many students, doctors, professors, lawyers, priests, a pastor badly wounded during his arrest, a bishop later taken to Dachau and tortured on the way, many peasants, workers arrested under the pretext of belonging to a partisan army, and many commissioners of the French police.
Kornacki MP: What was the attitude of the French police towards the German authorities?
Witness: Hostile.
Kornacki MP: And what was the attitude of French prison guards towards prisoners?
Witness: The staff was exclusively German. The attitude was hostile and the treatment harsh. It was the Wehrmacht. The sanitary conditions were very difficult. Often the German prison doctors were simply not present. They were only ever seen during the deportations.
Presiding judge: You have been to Russia, professor. Do you think this had any bearing on your arrest?
Witness: Probably.
Presiding judge: Was the prison exclusively under German administration?
Witness: Yes.
Presiding judge: Were there many prisoners?
Witness: Oh yes! There were 500–800 men and women.
Presiding judge: Were there numerous guerrilla units in France?
Witness: Yes.
Presiding judge: How were the arrests carried out? Were there round-ups? Were you taken from your homes?
Witness: We were arrested in the streets and in our homes. In cafes, workplaces, when coming out of the cinema, night and day.
Presiding judge: Was anyone aware of what was happening in Poland?
Witness: We knew nothing.
Boguszewska MP: Did anyone know anything of the extermination camps?
Witness: No.
Boguszewska MP: Were there any camps in France?
Witness: There was a constantly overcrowded concentration camp in Compiègne, a transit camp for Jews near Paris.
After three months, I was sent to Compiègne as part of a group of one hundred prisoners. The prisoners were shackled together in twos by the hands and feet for the journey from the prison to the camp. The journey took 36 hours and we were not given any food. In Compiègne, there were 3,000–4,000 prisoners. It was a former camp for French soldiers from before the war, much too cramped for this number of prisoners; the hygienic conditions were terrible, vermin were everywhere. Food was inadequate, but the French Red Cross was authorized to send additional food. It was forbidden to send and receive letters in this camp. I was there for three weeks. New transports came to the camp. One of them was a transport of hostages; there was a minister, two bishops, a professor from Nancy, the rector of the Catholic University in Toulouse – about 500 people in total. After three weeks, we were sent to Germany.
Kornacki MP: Was the witness interrogated, or presented with a formal verdict justifying his deportation?
Witness: There was no trial. I was questioned once. We were taken to Compiègne, that is 2,400 prisoners. We traveled in cattle cars, 100 people per car. It was the beginning of July, a stormy day. The door was closed, sealed, with only one small window open. The train was in the sun for the better part of the day and the temperature was unbearable. The prisoners shouted loudly for help, but the Germans refused to open the door, even though the train was not moving. The situation was very difficult. Towards the evening, the prisoners started raving and a few died. A great many died during the night. The next day was the same. The Germans opened the car only in the afternoon. In one car, 96 out of 100 prisoners were dead. The remaining four were very seriously ill. One of them asked for help. A German approached him with a can with a Red Cross; the ailing man thought that help was coming, but the German simply took out a revolver and shot him in the head. The dead were put into separate carriages, crammed in up to 100 in each car, so that the places vacant due to death were filled.
After four days, we came to Dachau. There were 960 people dead out of the 2004 remaining prisoners. We already know what conditions prevailed there. The prisoners were taken to the square and stripped naked. They were all men. They went to shower; we never saw the clothes we had taken off again. Jewelry, watches, papers were taken and registered. The prisoners were given underwear and prison clothes. Some managed to keep their shoes, others got clogs.
I found myself in a quarantine block. We stayed there all day in the sun without a hat. The food was relatively clean compared to Auschwitz, but not enough for an adult. Then we were transported to work kommandos, to neighboring camps, mostly factories. Some of us worked in the evening, others stayed permanently in nearby camps. After 21 days of quarantine, I was called to the camp hospital. Since there was no material for my specialty, I worked in the morgue, where I fetched the dead and cleaned tools. Finally, I was assigned – probably by order from Berlin – to work in Auschwitz itself.
Boguszewska MP: Were there no crematoria in Dachau?
Witness: There was, but [it was used] to burn the corpses of prisoners who died in the hospital or in the blocks, or in neighboring camps that did not have a crematorium. All the bodies were passed through the morgue for autopsy, with the Germans systematically removing gold and silver teeth. The bodies of the executed went directly to the crematorium.
Minister Rzymowski: Were there mass executions?
Witness: Not as a specific rule. Once, 92 Soviet officers, prisoners of war, were murdered with a shot to the back of the head.
Minister Rzymowski: Were there any Poles there – and were there many?
Witness: They were. They worked in the camp administration, there were many doctors. I saw transports of Polish prisoners passing through the camp. I saw a transport of Polish workers. Many corpses were then sent to the morgue for autopsy. The bodies were emaciated, with traces of bruising and soft tissue inflammation.
Boguszewska MP: Was the work in the camp substantive, productive, or [was it] just to keep up the appearance of work?
Witness: It was generally productive work. One of Messerschmitt’s factories was located there, and [there were] industrial plants around and inside the camp.
In Dachau, there were two blocks intended especially for priests, one of which was only for Polish priests. They did not have a chapel and were not allowed to go to the chapel in the neighboring block. At the time I arrived, there was only a short period of tolerance when [Polish priests] could be present at the mass celebrated by French, German, Dutch and Czech priests. An archbishop from Prague and an archbishop from Belgrade were in a special camp for distinguished prisoners. Normal prisoners were not allowed into the chapel. Confession was forbidden. Priests did not have the right to go to the hospital to comfort the sick and dying. Only one managed to get through as a nurse. He was a German. However, he was quickly removed. Polish priests served as test subjects for malaria vaccine experiments.
Presiding judge: How many were there?
Witness: Some 800–1000. There was a gas chamber there but it wasn’t in operation anymore when I arrived. It was set up for Hungarian Jews, but was not used. Hungarian Jews only passed through the camp. They were placed in a special camp, where they worked on drainage while standing in the water. They received terrible treatment. I examined the corpses – emaciated, showing signs of bruising that was often the cause of death.
Presiding judge: As a doctor, was the witness given preferential treatment?
Witness: There was no difference in the treatment of prisoners. General or student, they were all treated equally. Only German doctors forbade sending prisoner doctors as workers. They saved them to work in the hospital and as doctors for transports.
Kornacki MP: Has the witness heard about gas chambers in operation in Germany?
Witness: There were rumors, but I know nothing specific.
Kornacki MP: Were any places named?
Witness: I know of Jewish children who stayed in the camp only for a few days. When they went to the bathhouse, they were terrified and did not want to enter, fearing that it was a gas chamber. They already knew, apparently, other camps where these chambers were located.
Kornacki MP: Where were these children from?
Witness: Probably from Warsaw.
Presiding judge: How old?
Witness: I was locked in the hospital and did not see them. They were there only for a few days; they were sent to special Jewish camps.
Kornacki MP: Were these camps in Germany?
Witness: Yes. In the vicinity of Munich.
(The presiding judge calls a five-minute break).
(After the break).
Presiding judge: We ask the witness to continue his testimony about Auschwitz.
Witness: I came to Auschwitz with a transport of 1,100 people in 1944. The same thing happened. The Germans gave the prisoners food, but nothing to drink. The transport consisted of laborers for the Buna factory. They were French peasants from the Vosges, imprisoned when the Allies arrived to liberate Alsace. Before that, they spent 15 days to three weeks in Dachau. Along with this transport, 14 people came to serve in the hospital in Auschwitz. French, Italians and Belgians; doctors and paramedics. Probably to replace the Poles who were being deported to the West at that time.
Minister Rzymowski: In the witness’ opinion, what was the motive behind this movement of people?
Witness: I suppose fear of the prisoners escaping to the partisans. It happened that partisans who died in skirmishes had prisoner numbers. It was not so easy in foreign territory.
We were in quarantine. The situation was not bad for the first 14 days. Then it kept getting worse. Workers – specialists from the West, and then Polish prisoners – continued to pass through quarantine. They were woodcutters, locksmiths, carpenters – various professionals. A prisoner’s day in quarantine was filled with forced labor: scrubbing toilets and floors, delivering soup to bunkers. The last one [was] very tiring because of the heavy pots. We had no warm clothes, our Dachau overcoats were taken from us, and it was winter. The roll-calls lasted more than an hour, we were malnourished, and as a result, the number of patients in the hospitals increased. On 23 December 1944, I was there with my friends – Poles, Professor Dunikowski, Professor Kętrzyński, Engineer Goedel. Time passed. Better news began to arrive. Food would have been very inadequate if it were not for those who received parcels and shared with the rest. But the best food was the good news.
Kornacki MP: Apparently, a film about the destruction of Warsaw was shown in the camp. Was the destruction of the city presented, or the city after its destruction?
Witness: I never went to the cinema. I did not go to German cinema. Perhaps Dr Mayer will know something about it.
I was constantly in the hospital. On the last day of the Germans’ stay in Auschwitz we could clearly hear the sound of cannons. The Germans lost their minds. They ordered all healthy prisoners to leave, except for the womenfolk. The most important thing then was to find out what represented the lowest risk – we knew that they might murder the sick. One day, the camp commandant told the sick that the Russians would not hurt them. The camp was almost empty, only the sick remained. One morning, one of the sick Poles went on a reconnaissance and came back with the news that the camp was open and it was possible to leave. So some came out. They met soldiers from the Wehrmacht who were robbing food and underwear. The meeting was rather friendly. The prisoners were not afraid of the Wehrmacht and the soldiers asked about life in the camp. When the prisoners asked: “Don’t you know this was an extermination camp? That people died in the gas chambers here?” the soldiers said that the German population did not know anything about it.
The arrival of the Russian troops was preceded by two alarms. The former camp commandant (SS) came to the kitchen alone, killed three people and wounded a fourth. Among the victims was a Polish doctor, Akerman, killed by a commandant who had a reputation of being a real beast. He was an SS captain; apparently his name was Krauze. Dr Mayer will have more information.
The cannonade was getting closer, Russian planes were circling over the camp. We started to breathe easier. The next day, an alarm was raised. The Germans came to the camp, this time not the SS, but the SD – the Security Service – from the rear. “Everyone in the camp, leave! Whoever stays behind will be shot!” Everyone stood in front of their blocks. Reichsdeutsche at the front; those who could not walk to one side; Jews separately, Aryans separately. After a long wait in the snow [we heard]: “We are awaiting orders, go inside for now.” There was no room large enough, so everyone went to the hospital. The sick were lying on their beds. A paralyzed Pole was thrown out of bed, but a German picked him up again and even covered him. We waited, but we were not ordered to leave. The next day, there were no more Germans. One of the officers ordered the roll-call. He met one of the doctors and said to him, “I recognize you, you were a prisoner. I couldn’t take us out as I had no escort.” It showed that he thought we were afraid of Russia. He was explaining himself to us.
Later, there was an escape, the blowing up of the bridge on the Soła river, a battle near the camp (the camp did not suffer any damage) – two Russian soldiers died at the entrance – then a battle covering the Germans’ rear-guard near Rajsko. Finally, we saw the first Russian patrols in the camp. We were free from the SS, SD, etc. In other camps, for example in Birkenau, it was different. The warehouse of looted belongings was burnt, and several prisoners who could not decide whether to leave or stay were shot. The Germans were simply furious. This was passed on to me by the sick, Dr Mayer will likely say more. There are two Czechs currently at the Red Cross in Katowice; they talked about setting fire to one of the barracks and massacring the prisoners. The fate of the prisoners who left the camp on 18 January is curious. There were about 40,000 of them. Presumably, the Germans murdered those who could not walk (as is confirmed by fugitives), and then prepared an ambush for the rest in the forest near Bielsko, where almost all of them died.
Presiding judge: Were the gas chambers already destroyed when the witness arrived in Auschwitz?
Witness: The chambers were not in Auschwitz, but in Birkenau. We heard explosions at the end of December and were told that the gas chambers had been blown up. We also heard explosions as the Russian troops were approaching.
Presiding judge: Did the witness later come into contact with people who could say something specific about the chambers?
Witness: Nobody can talk about that, because nobody came back from there. Apparently, the Russian commission found a Pole who was in the Sonderkommando and was not killed, as was the custom. In addition, there was a group of women who were sent to the chamber and the order to execute [them] there was subsequently canceled. They were there for 24–48 hours, and then they were told to leave. I didn’t talk to them, it is just something I have heard about.
Presiding judge: Has the witness heard the name of Fitsch [Fritzsch?]?
Witness: No.
Minister Rzymowski: Was the witness questioned by the Russian commission?
Witness: Yes.
Chairman: Did he make the same statements?
Witness: Yes, but the interrogation was more succinct.
Presiding judge: What can the witness, as a doctor and a scientist, say about the psychological basis of the behavior of Germans in Auschwitz?
Witness: We have seen the results of a generation raised without morality and without religion.
Minister Rzymowski: How does the witness explain the fact that fascism was under the protection of the Vatican?
Witness: I don’t know if that is really the case. As for the information that came to me, the Vatican made a choice between fascism, Nazism and Communism – in favor of Communism. We have seen what the development of false doctrine can lead to. It was to lead to the domination of the Germanic race over the world. Others were to be reduced to the role of slaves. It started with the Jews, then it was the turn of the rest.
Kornacki MP: Apparently, there was an attempted uprising in the camp. There was an investigation, and four women were sentenced.
Witness: I only heard about it when in Dachau.
Kornacki MP: On the basis of observations in the camp, could the witness rank nationalities according to national solidarity, self-help and ethics?
Witness: This question is difficult to answer. The cases were different. In Dachau, for example, the French were frowned upon as they could be called rogue elements. After the arrival of our transport, that opinion changed completely. A good element had suddenly arrived: guerrilla peasants, officers, professors. The value of an ethnic group depends on many conditions – the environment, education, time spent in the camp.
When it comes to, for example, German prisoners, [there] were some who had been in camps for 12 years. Some had already gone mad. It was not possible to draw conclusions about the German intellect on the basis of observations of abnormal people.
Kornacki MP: But I have heard that, for example, the Yugoslav Jews had a very good opinion in terms of solidarity and ethics, and the Slovak Jews the opposite?
Witness: I don’t know anything about that.
Presiding judge: I will now ask the witness a question of a rather delicate nature that [the witness] does not have to answer. What are the witness’ impressions of the Poles in the camp?
Witness: I was treated in the hospital by Dr Zielina, a Pole who was very good to me. I was a friend of Professor Dunikowski, Professor Kętrzyński, Engineer Goedel. Naturally, there were also worse and weaker Poles, but this is not at all a question of national character. You are asking me about the end result, while reasons for this or that behavior must be investigated. The Germans made a kind of negative selection among those gathered in the camp.
They were looking for those who had what they needed, the symptoms of obedient lapdogs. There were a large number of Poles in the camp in Auschwitz, so perhaps that is why they found a percentage of them suitable and made them their henchmen. If there were as many French as Poles, there would certainly be as many kapos among them. One cannot try to find a pattern, because the question depends on the period of the camp’s existence, the number and types of transports, and the living conditions in the camp.
Kornacki MP: How were the kapos chosen?
Witness: The most important criterion was using the smallest number of people for the greatest possible efficiency. When I was free, I often read advertisements in German papers stating that anyone who volunteered to serve in the SS would have criminal proceedings and investigations suspended against him. Of course, this tied the criminal element of all occupied countries and at the same time released some Germans. So it was possible that, for example, in Dachau, there were only 10 Germans from the SS for 20,000 prisoners. And it happened more than once that there were no Germans at all. One day in Dachau, when a car brought a transport of dead bodies, my attention was drawn to the driver who looked like a typical Frenchman. I spoke to him in French. It turned out that he was indeed a Frenchman from Toulouse and worked in the Todt Organization. He was in its uniform. He said, “I was in the Voluntary Legion before. Currently, the German police have me so tightly surrounded that I simply had no other choice”. It follows that, in fact, the best place for the wretches of all nations was to cling to the SS.
This report is atranslation of the transcript of the hearing before the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes inOświęcim, held on 8 March 1945, under the chairmanship of the then Minister of Justice, EdmundZalewski.
Kraków, 18 December 1946