“...formerly officer in charge of the Criminal Police at Breslau.
“I have to state in answer to the question, whether I know anything about the shooting of English prisoners of war, Air Force officers of the prison camp at Sagan, that I have knowledge of this matter and wish to make the following statement without reserve.
“The shooting took place on the express personal orders of the former Führer, Adolf Hitler, and was carried out by the officials of the Geheime Staatspolizei.
“The officer in charge of the Staatspolizeileitstelle at Breslau was Oberregierungsrat, SS Obersturmbannführer Dr. Scharpwinkel. His immediate superiors were the Chief of the Sipo, SS Obergruppenführer Dr. Kaltenbrunner, and the Chief of Amt IV of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, SS Gruppenführer Müller. I am unable to give the names of the officers in charge of other districts of the Geheime Staatspolizei who carried out shootings in their districts.
“I insert here a small chart showing the organization of the Sicherheitspolizei....”
I now go to the bottom of Page 3 in the English copy, and it is at the bottom of Page 3 in the copy in German, which the witness has in his hands:
“During the course of time”—and this is talking about Stalag Luft III—“99 escape tunnels had been dug. All of them had been discovered by the military. The hundredth tunnel, dug in March 1944, proved successful to the extent that 80 officers were able to escape.
“On receipt of a telephone message from the camp headquarters to the Kriminalpolizeileitstelle, I gave the order for ‘Kriegsfahndung,’ in accordance with the emergency instructions laid down. At Dr. Absalon’s suggestion, and having regard for the time lag, ‘Grossfahndung’ was ordered. Moreover, the officer in charge of the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt had to be informed, who approved and confirmed the order for ‘Grossalarm.’
“Gradually the search, which was carried out in all parts of Germany led to the re-arrest of practically all the escaped English officer prisoners, with the exception of three, I believe. Most of them were recaptured while still in Silesia. A few had got as far as Kiel, Strasbourg, and the Allgäu.
“It was then that one day at noon I received a telegraphic instruction from General Nebe to proceed at once to Berlin to be informed of a secret order. When I arrived in Berlin that evening, I saw General Nebe in his office Am Werdierschen Markt 5/7. I gave him a short, concise report on the whole matter as it stood at the time. He then showed me a teleprint order signed by Dr. Kaltenbrunner, in which was stated that, on the express personal orders of the Führer, over half of the officers escaped from Sagan were to be shot after their recapture. The officers in charge of Department IV, Gruppenführer Müller, had received corresponding orders and would give instructions to the Staatspolizei. Military offices had been informed.