Auschwitz SS Men Confessing on Tape: Victor Capesius

Victor Capesius | Oswald Kaduk | Josef Klehr | Josef Erber

The confessions of former Auschwitz SS men towards journalists and researchers (i.e. beyond criminal investigations and trials) are powerful evidence for the reality of mass extermination at this site. Each of them will be presented in a separate posting, starting with the former SS doctor Victor Capesius.

Victor Capesius and his wife were interviewed in 1978 by writer Dieter Schlesak at Capesius' pharmarcy and home in Göppingen, Germany. Extracts of the interviews were previously published in 2005 in Schlesak's book Zeugen an der Grenzen unserer Vorstellung, p. 167 - 182. The following passages, in which Capesius confirmed the practise of mass killing Jews in Auschwitz-Birkenau, were transcribed from the audio recording:

"Wir sind...im Januar 45 sind wir schon geflüchtet. Und am 30. September, also am 1. Oktober, kommen 2490 Leute an aus Theresienstadt [Schlesak: Und die sind alle ermordet worden?] Nein, da hat man 250 Männer und 250 Frauen zuerst mal herausgenommen und 1499 hat man vergast sofort. Und diese 500 hat man nicht tätowiert, sondern ins Mexiko-Depot geschafft. Mexiko hieß ein wildes Lager, von wo man Arbeitskräfte noch ins Reich abgab." (Tape 1, 28:30 min)

"In January 1945 we already fled [from Auschwitz]. And on 30 September, so on 1 October, 2490 people arrive from Theresienstadt [Schlesak: And all of these were murdered?] No, 250 men and 250 women were taken out and 1499 were gassed immediately. And those 500 were not tatooed, but brought to the Mexico depot. Mexico was called a wild camp, from which labour force was sent to the Reich." 

"Die Ungarn sind im Juni, Juli gekommen, dann sind noch im August ein paar Leut' gekommen. Und dann war es ja vorüber mit der Vernichtungsaktion." (Tape 2, 32:36 min)

"The Hungarians came in June, July [1944], then in August some more were coming. And then it was over with the extermination action."

"Aber das ist alles im letzten Jahr hauptsächlich passiert, weil man den Rückfluten auch nicht mehr gewachsen war. Auch die Aufnahme in Auschwitz konnte nicht 150,000 oder 300,000 Menschen aus Ungarn innerhalb eines Monats schlucken [Schlesak: 400,000 glaub' ich haben sie damals] ja aber es sind ja 200,000 oder 250,000 gleich ins Gas gegangen. Die haben nichts zu essen bekommen." (Tape 2, 46:57 min)

"But all of this happened in the last year, because one could not handle the returning flood. The admission of Auschwitz could not swallow 150,000 or 300,000 people from Hungary within one month [Schlesak: 400,000 I believe were] yeah but 200,000 or 250,000 went into the gas immediately. They didn't get something to eat." 

(Victor Capesius towards Dieter Schlesak, my translation; thanks to Werner Renz for providing the audio recording and to Dieter Schlesak for his permission to publish it)