In Olomouc, on 25. 1. 1946
Jewish Religious Community in Olomouc
Telephone 824
B no. 190
Titl.
Documentation Campaign Prague
Based on your official letter from Dr. W/Schi from 15. 1. 1946, please find attached 2 statements in re Hündgends 1Note 1: Paul Hündgen.
We note that the above-named will remain in the conc. camp, or rather the combined camp for Gestapo members in Prosečnice in Bohemia.
King regards,
L. Meissner
Jewish Religious Community in Olomouc
Statement
Bruno Deutsch, born 23. 12. 1890 in Olomouc, resident of Olomouc, living in Olomouc-třída Svornosti 25 is making the following statement.
Paul Hindgens – correctly Paul Hündgends 2Note 2: Paul Hündgen, imperial-German citizen from Magdeburg, was a criminal secretary at the Gestapo in Olomouc. Together with head secretary Bankl (Austrian citizen), he led the Jewish section of the Gestapo in Olomouc. During his tenure between 1940 and 1943, at least 60 people became his victims.
For no reason (or more precisely for insignificant reasons) he incessantly arrested Jews, who, based on his, i.e. /Hündgens’/ suggestion, were sent to various concentration camps and killed there.
In my recollection, the following people lost their lives: Dr. Karel Werner, Dr. Grünberg, Karel Lamm, Karel Brössler, Vilma Heikornová, Hedda Wolfová, Stiebitz Dr. , Mrs. Götzlingerová, Dr. Julius Hirsch, p. Lanzer, Dr. Josef Lanzer, Max Singer, Bedřich Diamand, Walter Hirsch, Oskar Arely, Hugo Oesterreicher, and others.
One day in the afternoon, Hündgends 3Note 3: Paul Hündgen appeared in a former Jewish kitchen and arrested 8 people under false pretexts. Hündgends 3Note 3: Paul Hündgen sent all 8 people to concentration camps, where they died.
Hündgens conducted inspections of Jewish apartments and looked for reasons to arrest Jewish owners of the apartment (residents). When he managed to get rid of the inhabitants of the apartment, all of apartment’s furniture and supplies etc. were confiscated by the Gestapo. He then gave the Jews an order to vacate the apartments, and got richer every time. I, (Bruno Deutsch), too, received an order from Hündgends 5Note 5: Paul Hündgen, to personally participate in these apartment vacations. Other cases, for example, are that of Mrs. Gisela Čuczková, who was arrested by Hündgens together with her daughter and the apartment of Mrs. Terezie Šilhanová.
Hündgends 6Note 6: Paul Hündgen was not just a Nazi and supporter of Hitler's ideas, but was also a downright sadist, who smiled and enjoyed the suffering caused by his actions. His successor, gestapo member Leopold Bransch (Branč), currently incarcerated by the Olomouc criminal police, told me these words about Hündgends 6Note 6: Paul Hündgen: Hündgends 6Note 6: Paul Hündgen ist ein vertrottelter Sadist.
After the removal of the Jews in 1942, Hündgends 9Note 9: Paul Hündgen no longer had much authority in the Jewish section and he was later transferred to the Czech section.
In Olomouc, on 20. 1. 1946
Signed after reading by: Bruno Deutsch
Statement taken down by: Armin Pollák clerk of the Jewish Relig. Community in Olomouc
Titl.
Jewish Religious Community in Olomouc
I am denouncing a member of the former Olomouc Gestapo Pavel Hündgens, who was assigned to section IIB. The head of section IIB was gestapo member Bankl. The entire precinct (Dienststelle) of the former Oberlandrat of Olomouc, including the Přerovský district, belonged to the Olomouc gestapo.
In Přerov, my brother Oskar Arelý was employed as a secretary in the Jew. Relig. Community. Gestapo member Hündgends 10Note 10: Paul Hündgen used to travel to Přerov to check on the Jew. Relig. Community. During each visit, Hündgends 10Note 10: Paul Hündgen threatened to send my brother to a conc. camp for no reason whatsoever. In about 1940, Jewish lawyer Dr. Wertheimer was made the head of the Jew. Relig. Community in Přerov. My brother continued to be employed as a secretary of the Jew. Relig. Community in Přerov and led its entire administration. Gestapo member Hündgends 10Note 10: Paul Hündgen constantly threatened my brother. This was because my brother led the register of the Jew. Relig. Community in Czech.
In the spring of 1941, Hündgends 13Note 13: Paul Hündgen arrived in Přerov by car, arrested Dr. Wertheimer, and took him to Olomouc. The next day, Hündgends 13Note 13: Paul Hündgen came back to Přerov and arrested my brother. He was also taken to Olomouc. In Olomouc, they were imprisoned for 3 weeks, and then taken to Brno. There, they were imprisoned and later transported to Auschwitz. Several days later, we received a telegram stating that both had died there.
From a fellow Jewish citizen, Karter, who for some time had been imprisoned with my brother in Olomouc, I learned that Hündgends 15Note 15: Paul Hündgen accused my brother of being a fanatic Czech, of listening to the foreign radio and the broadcast from London , and of promoting those ideas. My brother also told Karter that while signing his statement he saw a large stamp with the letters R. U. (Rückkehr unerwünscht). After the Jews were transported, I remained in Olomouc.
In 1941, I was charged by the Jew. Relig. Committee in Olomouc to collect the furs that the Jews were forced to hand over. While I was collecting them, I was also ordered by the gestapo in Olomouc to go to Přerov. Gestapo member Hündgends 16Note 16: Paul Hündgen and his boss accompanied me by car – whereas I traveled by truck. While I was collecting furs in Přerov, Hündgends 16Note 16: Paul Hündgen came up to me and said: Was Arelý, hier hat Ihr Bruder gewirkt! Das war ein grosses marxististisches Schwein!!
Hündgends 18Note 18: Paul Hündgen is responsible for the death of at least 100 people in the former district of the oberlandratsbezirk Olomouc. Their names are known by the Jew. Relig. Committee in Olomouc.
In Olomouc, on 21. 1. 1946
Alfred Arelý
In Olomouc, on 2. 2. 1946
Jewish Religious Community in Olomouc
Telephone 824
B No. 268/46
Titl.
Documentation Campaign Prague
Please find attached Erich Hirsch’s denunciation in Olomouc as an addendum to the campaign against gestapo member Hündgends 19Note 19: Paul Hündgen.
Jewish Religious Community in Olomouc
Dr. Ludvík Meissner
In Olomouc, on January 24th, 1946
Erich Hirsch
Olomouc
Pateurova 34
Denunciation of Pavel Hündgends 20Note 20: Paul Hündgen, superintendent of the gestapo section. II. B in Olomouc
Our family had been persecuted by Hündgends 21Note 21: Paul Hündgen since 1939. In 1940, my brother had to report twice a day to the gestapo, and in 1941 I had to as well. Finally, the three of us, my father, brother, and I were arrested on September 30th, 1941. While we were arrested, he tortured my mother to get her to tell him where we’d hidden the jewels and foodstuffs. When she answered him that we had already handed over our jewels and only had the food supplies that were on our ration tickets, he struck her several times. I put myself between them and was tortured by him, and then I was taken to jail with my father and brother. On October 3rd, the 3 of us were transported to Brno, where Hündgends 21Note 21: Paul Hündgen commuted to conduct interrogations. Due to the intervention of the Brno gestapo, which admitted that their arrest was a personal act of revenge by Hündgends 21Note 21: Paul Hündgen, my father and brother were released on December 1st, but on January 29th, 1942, Hündgens managed to send both back to jail. During my interrogation, Hündgens ordered his helpers to torture me to get me to tell them where I met with my Czech university colleagues to listen to the foreign radio and lead anti-government conversations. I managed to conceal everything and from March 1942 to March 1944, when I was taken from Brno to the conc. camp in Auschwitz, where I was no longer interrogated, he never forgot to come into my cell during his visits to Brno and set the Brno gestapo members upon me. He did the same thing to my father, who was tortured to death, and died on December 31st, 1942, in the Kounicový dormitories in Brno. My brother survived 31 months of suffering and torture at the Kounicový dormitories in Brno, but died in February 1945 at the Mauthausen conc. camp after spending 10 months in Auschwitz.
I hope that the above-mentioned Pavel Hündgends 24Note 24: Paul Hündgen, who is responsible for the deaths of one hundred Olomouc citizens, will be taken to his former place of work in order to be convicted for his crimes.
Erich Hirsch