Die Holle von Maidanek - 'The Hell of Majdanek' - published by VOLKSBUCHREI SINGEN, Zurich 1945 - first edition. Report of the Special Polish-Soviet Committee for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in the Majdanek Extermination Camp in Lublin. The first report published after the war reveals the mass extermination of the Nazi extermination in Majdanek. German.
The committee was established immediately after the war and published its findings about two months later. It included a respected team of about ten people who served in various positions on the National Committee for the Liberation of Poland. In publishing its findings, the committee came to the terrible conclusion that: "The crimes committed by the Germans in Lublin are brutally and barbarically superior to everything known about the crimes of the Germans in whole world". The committee relied on detailed testimony obtained from German POWs who held various positions in Majdanek such as Heinz Stalba who testified: "The main purpose of this camp was to exterminate the largest number of people, hence it is called 'extermination camp', as well as testimony from camp inmates former. The report describes in detail the structure of the camp, the number of people who stayed there during the operation, the process of sorting the clothes and belongings of the prisoners who were brought to the camp, the daily number of murders, and the total, the various nationalities in European countries from which Jews and non-Jews were sent to the camp (a data that relied on thousands of identity cards found in the camp, etc.), the harsh hunger conditions in which the prisoners were held, the various methods of torture to death, forced labor, executions in various ways, mass killing of men, women and children in the gas chambers, the process of removing and burning the bodies, and more. At the end of the report the committee lists the names of "the main culprits in these atrocities" - a detailed list of senior SS commanders who commanded the camp directly or indirectly - some of whom managed to escape and were still wanted at the time.
36 pages. 15 cm. Very good condition.
