A Collection of Statements to the War Crimes Team at Bergen–Belsen regarding War Crimes in Prisons and Concentration Camps

Renee Erman   

In the Matter of War Crimes and Atrocities at Drancy Prison, Paris and Auschwitz     

Deposition of Renee Erman (Female) late of 80 Rue des Menilmonatre, Paris, sworn before me Captain ALFRED JAMES FOX, General List, D.A.P.M . 86 Special Investigation Section, C. M. Police.  

I am 31 years of age and was arrested in Paris in April 1943 by the Germans because I was a Jewess. I was then taken to Drancy Prison in Paris and on the 20^th July 1943 I went to Auschwitz. I was transferred to Belsen on the 25^th January 1945.

Whilst at Drancy Prison there was an SS man named Brunner in charge. This man was responsible for many deaths. In my presence I have seen him beat, kick and throw stones at prisoners for no apparent reason apart from the fact that they were Jews.

I know that two prisoners at whom this man threw stones died as a result of the injuries they received. I called at the Hospital on one occasion to see some friends and I was told by them that prisoners admitted the day before, suffering from head wounds inflicted by this man, were dead. I cannot state whether they were men or women who had died. It was not an unusual occurrence to see persons severely wounded by this man’s brutality.

On arriving at Auschwitz I worked as a nurse in the experimental laboratory in Block 10. I was present on many occasions when SS Doctor Weber experimented by taking blood from women for soldiers at the front. This process was often repeated until the person became very weak.

He also took blood from a woman of one blood group which he injected into a woman of a different blood group. This often caused very serious illness. In one case a woman died in the laboratory due to this operation. This doctor also carried out experiments in rheumatism and I know that one woman had 45 injections the Doctor measuring the change of her heart. This made her very ill.

Persons coming into Block 10 were always the fittest and sometimes up to 300 were in this block. They were kept whilst a course of experiments was carried out and then sent away. I should state that the camp in which this experimental block was situated was a men’s camp and women were only brought there for experimental purposes.

When they left this block they were sent to Birkenau where a selection was made to find those fit for work. Most of the people who left this experimental block were not in a fit condition for work. I have been told by friends that these sick people were always sent to Block 25 which meant that they subsequently went to the gas chamber.

I also knew a Dr Schumann who experimented on young Greek girls (virgins) for sterilisation. These girls were taken to another block where they were subjected to very strong X-rays which resulted in their sexual organs being dried up.

These operations did in fact sterilise these girls and many of the weaker ones died as a result of them. Those that survived were brought back in batches of 10 and 12 for inspection. They were again operated on and the female sex organs removed which resulted in their deaths in 4 or 5 days.

 I did not see the actual operations performed but I did see the results as it was my duty to dress the wounds of the women. The girls who had these operations carried out on them only came to block 10 after the operation, the operations having been carried out in a different block. I saw 4 Greek girls die as a result of operations by this Doctor.

There was also an SS Doctor Wirths. He used to experiment on women between the ages of 40 and 50 who were having their menopause, apparently looking for a kind of cancer, i.e. Fibrom.

He used to take part of the womb out for examination under the microscope. The women became very ill as a result of this. I did not see any of these operations carried out but heard of them from patients who had been experimented on and nurses who were present at the operations. These operations were carried out in Block 10 but not in my part of the Block. Similar operations were carried out by Doctor Samuel a prisoner.

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The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
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Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009