Reported by: Sebastian Herr Report of October 14, 1946

I am an ethnic German from Romania and worked as tailor in the SS Newscasting School in Leitmeritz. In May of last year I wanted to return to Romania, but I was arrested in Prague and incarcerated in Pankratz prison. There, on May 22 last year, I and other prisoners had to dig up the bodies of SS men who had died during the Revolution and had been buried in mass graves. In the process I saw from the dug-up corpses that their ears and noses had ben cut off, their eyes were gouged out and their hands had been scalded. There were 60 of us who had to do this exhumation work, and while working we were beaten so dreadfully that many of us lost consciousness. When we washed up after our work excavating the bodies, we were shoved head-first into the dirty wash water. I have only just been released from Pankratz.

 

Report No. 77

 

Reported by: border superindentent of Wiesau Report of May 21, 1946 (Prague)

This report is prompted by the countless complaints of Sudeten German refugees passing through the border train station of Wiesau on May 17, 1946 on their way from Prague. These are not the allegations of individuals, but rather the unanimous complaint of a total of 1,200 persons. I wish to give a general account of life in the concentration camp, which is typical for camps such as Modrany or Theresienstadt.

The camp inmates are not allowed to walk. Their normal speed of motion is running. One woman, a singer from Prague, describes life there as follows: "60 percent of the German women have at one time or another been handed over to the Russians to be raped. Every day the Czechs let Russians into the camp to rape me and the other women, whomever they chose. Many women are still being raped to this day. My legs are now paralyzed.

One pregnant woman who had to share with us the terrible life in the concentration camp was forced, whenever a Czech soldier entered the room and spat on the floor there, to kneel down and lick up his spittle. If she refused she was beaten and kicked. But that was not enough. One of the soldiers beat her until she threw up blood, and then forced her to eat her own vomit. Not until then did the soldier deem that she had adequately obeyed his orders."

Czech priests, who openly declared that they had no pity for Germans, refused to perform the last rites or to give spiritual aid to dying Germans.

Czech doctors refuse to treat sexually transmitted diseases resulting from rape even though the German women beg them for help. Syphilis is not treated at all. Gonorrhea is treated with a few tablets, which is considered sufficient. The refugees are refused all other medications. Wounded soldiers who are covered in open sores crawling with worms are simply left to their fate. They have to treat each other and are given neither bandages nor ointments. People who do not yet suffer from dysentery are forced to lick the dirty underwear of dysentery patients, at the whim of the soldiers who throw the infectious garments in their faces. If they refuse to lick on command, they are beaten senseless.

One fifteen-year-old boy whose father escaped from the camp was beaten every day until his father was found again. He (the father) was then tied up and doused with boiling water. The screams of the man thus tortured to death prompted nervous breakdowns in many camp inmates. Convulsions and nervous breakdowns are the order of the day anyhow, and the Czechs consider them quite a natural state of affairs. It is impossible to describe all that has happened. I have only given a few examples here.

I stress again that these are not individual allegations, but rather the unanimous testimony of the Germans of Prague. The Germans have no rights at all in Czechoslovakia.

This transport from Prague was called a transport of the sick. By far the most of the refugees had to be unloaded immediately and taken to hospital. 90% of the diagnoses were for general weakness and debilitation. "Catastrophic" is how the doctors describe the state of health of the Germans from Prague.

All refugees are malnourished and totally emaciated. The overabundance of complaints and suffering prompted me to send the transport directly to the destination train station Schwabach, where the people can make their depositions. The chief physician of Schwabach was alerted by telephone to the incoming patients so that preventive measures could be taken to deal with the infectious and sexually transmitted diseases.

Documents on the Expulsion of the Sudeten Germans
Survivors speak out