Statement no. 58

Report on the activities of coworkers Dr. R. Weinberger and Dr. E. Nasch from 19. 10. to 10. 12. 1945

Accepted on behalf of the Documentation Campaign by: Scheck

Accepted on behalf of the archive: Tressler

Prague, January 29th, 1946

Report on the activities of coworkers from the Documentation Campaign Dr. R. Weinberger, Dr. Erich Nasch from October 19th to December 17th, 1945

On October 19th, 1945, we traveled via Pilsen to Volary, where we arrived to fulfil a task we were charged with by the Prague Joint on 20. 10. On 21. 10., we crossed the Austrian border. Accompanied by former prisoners, we inspected the concentration camps in Mauthausen and Gusen, and the hospital in Katzdorf, where several sick former Mauthausen prisoners still remain. On 22. 10., we traveled to Ebensee through Linz, where we inspected the local concentration camp on 23. 10., once more accompanied by former prisoners, and the current D. P. camp (the report is attached). On 24. 10., we crossed over the German border by Salzburg and traveled to Bad Tölz. On 25. 10., we visited the D. P. camps in Feldafing and Föhrenwald. In both camps, we contacted the members of the committee and former prisoners. On October 26th, we visited Munich, where we contacted the local Joint as well as the Committee of Liberated Jews in Bavaria. We also visited Gauting, where there is a large hospital for former prisoners. On 27. 10. and 28. 10., we went to Landsberg, the former Kaufering concentration camp I, II, and IV, as well as the former Moll. In the Landsberg D. P. camp, we inspected the meticulously furnished workshops dedicated to retraining courses, the training school, kindergarten, and other institutions, and on 28. 10. in the afternoon we went to St. Ottilien, where there was also a large hospital and sanatorium for D. P. on 29. 10., we traveled through Munich to Dachau. We inspected the local camp, which is partly a museum and partly an internment camp for former SS members. On 30. 10., we were in Nuremberg, where we contacted the local American authorities charged with preparing the trial against the main war criminals.

From 31. 10. to 6. 11. we were in Frankfurt. We were in contact with Joint, with the Jüdische Betreungstelle, which is led by Chief Rabbi Dr. Neuhaus, and with USFET (United States Forces European Theater) officers. On 3. 11., we also visited Wiesbaden, where we got in touch with the Czechoslovak section of the War Crime Office and on 5. 11. we were in Bad Homburg and Bad Nauheim, where we established an important connection with the ICD (Information Control Division). On 7. and 8. 11., we went from Frankfurt through Mainz, Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Metz, Verdun to Paris. We were there from 9. 11. to 23. 11. We were the guests of the local branch of the Jewish Agency (Ruth Kluger). We established connections with the following institutions: Ministere Prissoniers de Guerre, Déportés et Réfugiés, especially with cap. Weibel 1Note 1: unclear, who is the Sous-Directeur des Renseignements et de la Documentation in this ministry, the Ministry of Information, who gave us valuable photographic material, the Centre de Documentation Juive contemporaine, led by Mr. Shertok, the Institut de Propagande Antinazie, the APS (Army Pictorial Service), who took us to the film studios that they established as well as to the ones they managed in Genervillers, and with ANVAV (Association Nationale des Victimes d’Allemagne et de Vichy), which is working on restituting stolen property. We also bought photographic material, books, and publications on the Jewish question, Jews during the occupation, and concentration camps.

On 24. 11., we went from Paris to Brussels, where we remained for longer than originally planned, until 8. 12., because we had to procure permission to enter Germany from British military authorities. In Brussels, we were in contact with Jewish institutions, especially the local branch of the World Jewish Congress and cooperated primarily with Miss Perlmann, who will write an exposé on Belgian Jews during the occupation for the Belgian government. On 9. 12., we returned to Frankfurt. We were back in Bad Homburg again on 10. 12., where ICD gave us the official American film about the concentration camps entitled Todesmühlen. On 13. 12., we traveled to Munich and Föhrenwald, and on 14. 12. to Dachau, where we picked up the pictorial material that we had ordered on our way there. On 16. 12., we were in the Deggendorf D. P. center and we returned on 17. 12. 1945 to Prague.

Dr. Erich Nasch

Dr. Robert Weinberger