Summary of Examination of Paul Beder of Poland

Summary of Examination of Paul Beder of Poland, duly sworn states

I was taken to the Lodz Ghetto in March 1940 because I am a Jew and had to live at Wolborska 25 until August 1944. I was then sent to Auschwitz for three weeks and from there to the Dora Concentration Camp near Nordhausen.

At the end of March 1945 I was transferred to Belsen where I was liberated by the British on 15^th April 1945.

On 31^st December 1945 I was taken to the Belsen Detention Cells where during an identification parade consisting of five men, I picked out the man referred to in my deposition as Seifert. He was in charge of the administration of the Ghetto at Lodz.

I was employed by the Food Office at the Ghetto and so often came into contact with Seifert. I know that he was largely responsible for the appalling conditions in the Ghetto and especially for the inadequate rations and feeding arrangements which must have been the direct cause of the death of many thousands of the Ghetto inmates.

Between 1942 and 1944 when the Ghetto was finally dissolved many different transports of men, women and children were sent away for extermination. Since on such occasions I was always employed on loading the victims on to the lorries I saw Seifert take an active part in the selections.

The people had to come downstairs and line up in front of Seifert who made some stand to one side. These people were then loaded on to the lorries and never seen or heard again.

In September 1942 I was present when Seifert selected my four sisters Mala Beder, Regina Beder, Ibka Beder and Sala Beder and my brother Schimson Beder, all Polish Jews, outside Wolborska 25 to be taken away with a transport that left Lodz for extermination.

He also included an old friend of mine the Polish Jewess Friedman who lived at Wolborska 25, they were made to mount the waiting trucks together with many others who had been selected by Seifert and that was the last I ever saw or heard of them.

During the round up for this extermination transport in September 42, I was again employed on loading the people who had been selected on to the lorries. I naturally tried to make them as comfortable and so told them to sit as closely as possible.

Seifert supervised the loading and when he noticed what I was doing came up to me and said “Don’t make such a fuss with these creatures, just pile them on, one on top of the other and when the lorry is filled, get up and jump on their bodies in order to make room for some more.”

When I would not do so Seifert drew his pistol and threatened to shoot me for disobeying his order.

During the same round-up in September 1942, I remember on one occasion our lorries drew up outside the Hospital in the Drewnoska Strasse. Seifert was with us at the time and as we arrived there were a number of people in the streets nearby.

Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/survivor/paulbeder.html

The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

www.HolocaustResearchProject.org


Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009