BELSEN TRIAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 226, 24 September 1945, Page 5

BELSEN TRIAL

CROSS-EXAMINATION DIFFICULTIES MORE ABOUT GAS CHAMBERS Recd. 6 p.m. London, Sept. 22. The President of the British Military Tribunal, at Luneberg, which is trying Josef Kramer, camp commandant at the notorious Belsen concentration camp, and several of his guards, on charges of cruelty and violations of the rules of war, made explanations of the proprieties of the British system of cross-examination, but these failed to prevent Dr. Ada Bimko, a Polish Jewess, who was giving evidence, from making elaborate replies when counsel for the defence renewed his questioning at the trial to-day.

When counsel complained of bjs inability to secure “yes” or “no” answers, Dr. Bimko. in a voice quivering with indignation, asked why counsel, who knew nothing but hearsay about the camps, should try to prevent her telling what she knew. Captain Owen suggested to the witness that one of her statements w?.s a complete fabrication. Witness said: It was I who was there; not the defending counsel. The Judge warned th c public that the Court would be cleared if laughter, which followed this exchange, continued.

Witness maintained, against attempts by counsel to break down her testimony, that the selections or prisoners for the gas chamber had nothing to do with their health. Bimko was voluble and emotional and queried the translation of Polish and once corrected the English interpretation. The accused, almost jaunty at the beginning of the week, now appear increasingly aware of the seriousness of their position. Grese was red-eyed, obviously from weeping, when she was led into the Court on the s:\th day of the trial. The Court adjourned till Monday. Yesterday, in her evidence in chjef. Dr. Binko said that in a shipment of 5000 Jews, only 500 escaped immediate death. All sick Jews were paraded before a doctor and the slightest sign of a blemish on the skin was enough to seal their doom. Witness said that Kramer and Klein took an active part in the selections of those to die. Klein was present on one occasion when 4000 of 4124 sick French women were selected for cremation.

RECOGNISED ACCUSED. Dr. Bimko, asked if she recognised among the accused any of those who made selections, pointed out Kramer, Klein and Hoessier (whG was camp leader at Auschwitz;, Irma Grese and 15 other members of the S.S. The president of the court befo.* the trial was resumed had given permission for the removal of identification numbers from the chests of accused.

Dr. Bimko said there were five gas chambers al Auschwitz, in which more than 4,000,000 Jews perished, according to records kept by prisoners working in the crematorium. Condemned Jews removed their clothes in the first room of the gas chamber, where they were issued a towel and soap as if they were about to take a bath. They were then herded into a large room capable of holding several hundreds. It resembled a shower bath, but had no drains. A light railway ran direct from the chamber to the crematorium.

Witness described the public beatings of inmates for petty offences such as being late for parade, while their companions were forced to look on. She was present on one occasion when a woman was hit and kicked to death. Dr. Bimko was transferred to Belsen in November, 1944, Kramer took over the camp a few weeks later, after which there was a marked change of conduct of the camp, which became another Auschwitz. There were only 300 aspirin tablets issued weekly for 17,000 sick. Medical stores were unopened, but were issued freely a few days before the British arrived.