COPY WITNESS STATEMENTS RE AUSCHWITZ WAR CRIMINALS, 1959

The statements have been arranged according to the name of the SS officer. Most of the statements are 1 or 2 pages long except that of Dr. Eduard Wirth, former doctor at Auschwitz, who described what he did to alleviate the suffering of inmates (20 pages). All of the statements are in German.

<p>A note with the statement of Filip Mueller (1173/2) states that this statement was donated by Erich Kulka. A letter in the Wiener Library Correspondence files confirms the fact.</p>

c1959

Most of these copy statements re the activities of former SS officers at Auschwitz by former inmates were collected by the International Auschwitz Komitee. The witnesses submitted their statements to the IAK in response to notices published in Polish and German newspapers, asking for evidence against former SS officers at Auschwitz. Many of the statements make reference to this fact. Many also end with a declaration that the witness is ready to repeat the statement under oath.

According to correspondence between Hermann Langbein, secretary of the IAK, and the Wiener Library in 1959, the original statements were collected with a view to prosecuting former SS officers at Auschwitz, and the copies were deposited here at different times during the course of 1959.

The International Auschwitz Komitee was founded in 1952 by former prisoners of Auschwitz- Birkenau with the following objects: to bear witness to the events in the c& to fight for compensation for victims and survivors; to work with the Polish authorities and the Auschwitz Museum to maintain the camp as a permanent memorial.