Two early and detailed reports of Nazi Germany’s crimes at the time they occurred – first editions. They were written by the English commission sent to Nazi Germany to bring authentic evidence for German crimes. London and Paris, 1939.
1. Papers concerning the Treatment of German Nationals in Germany 1938-1939 – presented by the secretry of State for Foreign Affairs to Parliament by Command of his Majesty. London 1939, First Edition.
Early report containing hard and detailed evidence of Nazi abuse in Germany’s cities and concentration camps in the 1930s. The descriptions that appear constitute the first exposure to the magnitude of Nazi cruelty, even before the outbreak of World War II. 36 pages documenting the atrocities of the Nazis at this early stage.
After the British were accused by the media and the Nazi press of atrocities in South Africa, in response, His Majesty’s government saw fit to publish hard evidence of the Nazis’ crimes against civilians, especially Jews, within Germany. The report reveals the first concentration camps set up in Germany as early as 1933 against opponents of the Nazi regime and the day-to-day abuses of prisoners of various nationalities, especially Jews. “The UK Government states that the decision to publish the hard documents classified in this report was taken after the UK reached a conclusion that there is no slightest chance of reaching an understanding agreement with the German government”. The spokesman adds that the venomous propaganda of Nazi Germany and its abuse of minorities in its territory must reach world public opinion, bringing to its attention that the period is the darkest period in human history (things were written in 1939, even before the systematic mass killing in death camps). The cases revealed in this report came to the public’s attention for the first time, and were not previously published in the press, or any other media.
Among the cases revealed in the report: Detailed descriptions of what happened in the Buchenwald death camp from inmates who were detained there, among them, testimony obtained from a Jewish detainee who stayed in the camp for six weeks, and describes the forced labor in which he worked 16 hours a day all week. The ban on drinking water at all those hours, even in the hottest weather, as well as lifting bricks with a weight that one cannot bear, and how the Nazi officers mocked the Jews saying that Pharoh did not work them enough in Egypt, and now they are completing the job … A prisoner caught drinking water during the day Immediate in 25 whips … One small faucet was available to 480 men for only fifteen minutes to wash … A Jewish prisoner was never released from the camp … The filth and mud in the camp, the harsh conditions in the barracks, the thin clothes given to the Jews in the cold ( Without Underwear), about Jews who chose to end their lives, about medical experiments done on humans, about the camp law that no prisoner should be released with beaten marks on his body, and how the Nazis made sure to leave such marks in the bodies of all prisoners on the grounds not to release them, and more.
Also described are arrests made on the streets of Berlin of innocent Jews passing by for no reason, arbitrary burglary of SS soldiers into Jewish homes, mass arrests and arbitrary torture after the assassination of General von Fritz, a letter written anonymously by a German priest addressing British leaders Against the Nazi regime working to erase from history any Christian mark of the German nation [“In the heart of Europe a generation grew up on hatred for Christianity, thousands of years old traditions are about to disappear under the influence of the National Socialist Party”], and more. 36 pages. Very good condition.
2. DOCUMENTS CONCERNANT LES TRAITEMENTS INFLIGES EN ALLEMAGNE A DES NATIONAUX ALLEMANDS/ – présenté au Parlement par ordre de sa Majesté par le secrétaire d’Etat aux Affaires Etrangères Documents relating to the treatment of German citizens presented to the Royal Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs – First French Edition, Paris 1939.
This document was also in response to Nazi reports of atrocities committed by the British in South Africa: “In view of this shameless and utterly baseless propaganda, His Majesty’s Government consider it worthwhile to publish a number of reports on the treatment given in Germany itself to German citizens”. The report details the torture suffered by opposition members when the Nazi Party seized power in 1933. The report includes transcripts of official documents signed by SS chiefs about the arrest and prosecution of opposition dissidents, as well as letters in which the Nazis instruct them to ask to throw the orders themselves in the trash. Letters from German clergy sent to the leadership in Britain documenting pogroms by the SA companies against those they suspected of being loyal to the Christian Church and not to the Führer. It also reports on the arrests of Jews, acts of abuse, and their deportation to the Dachau and Buchenwald camps, as well as a detailed report on the Nazi atrocities in Dachau itself – a detailed testimony of a Jew who was in Dachau and details of the atrocities he witnessed is presented. It also reports on the Nazi pogroms in Cologne, the burning of the synagogues in Frankfurt am Main, several testimonies of Nazi abuse and humiliation of Jews in the streets, and more.
Also included in the report is a detailed report by the consul general of Vienna on the Nazi pogroms against the Jews of Vienna – arrests, interrogations, confiscation of property, total destruction of the Great Synagogue in Linz, and destruction of Jewish shops. and several testimonies of other consuls, each describing the crimes committed by the Nazis against the Jews in his area. The last part of the report contains a detailed description of the structure and operation of a Nazi concentration camp, and the “schedule” of the prisoners there. It is amazing to see how at such an early stage the British and French knew exactly what was happening in the death camps, from the capture of the Jews, their humiliation, the looting of their property, the arrests, the interrogations in the Gestapo prison, the deportation to Dachau and Buchenwald – the marking of the prisoners according to their origin and political definition, and the systematic abuse and murder in the camps themselves. 31 [2] pages. Very good condition.
