Marion Mushkat

Prof Marion Mushkat – orig. pol. Marian Muszkat, (born November 5, 1909 – died September 30, 1995), - Polish lawyer, colonel, judge, specialist of international public law, military law and international affairs.

Prof Muszkat was born in Suwałki (Poland), there he spent his childhood and graduated from primary and then secondary school.  In 1927 he started studies at the University of Warsaw.  In Warsaw Muszkat studied law, simultaneously worked as a clerk in factories and as a school teacher.  As a student he supported and belonged to socialist academic organizations.  Muskat was a distinctive student, thereby Law Faculty Warsaw University directed him to France to study at University of Nancy.  During his stay in Nancy, Muszkat created new ideas about public international law, peremptory norm and international problems (especially to concern of Third World).  In 1931 Muszkat gained degree Master of Law, in 1936 at the same University he gained degree Doctor of Law.

During World War II, Muszkat at first stayed in Vilnius, there worked in Prawda Wileńska magazine, and lectured at the Vilnius University.  In June 1941 he evacuated to the Soviet Union.  In the years 1941 – 1943 was a clerk in kolkhoz and academic in Gzy – Orda Pedagogic Institute.  In May 1943 Muszkat to join the Polish Army (Ludowe Wojsko Polskie).  Having completed officers course, served as lieutenant on Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division.  In October 1943 he became a judge of The Martial Court at Polish First Army.  In 1945 he got promoted to the judge of Supreme Court Martial.  In SCM Muszkat was a vice-chairman and chief War Crimes Commission.  Since 1945 was a member of Polish Workers' Party (PPR).  5 December 1946 doctor Marian Muszkat was demobilized from army as a colonel.

After war he began work in Polish Ministry of Justice as chief Polish Military Mission to Investigation German War Crimes.  Mushkat was a famous specialist to field international public law, therefore Ministry of Justice dispatched his to Nuremberg, as chairperson of Polish delegation.  On the Nuremberg Trials Mushkat directed Polish delegation which also included Prof Tadeusz Cyprian and prosecutors: Prof Jerzy Sawicki and Dr Stanisław Piotrowski.  They prepared “Polish indictment” containing the list of proved Nazi war crimes committed in Polish territory.

Having returned to Poland he began scientific and didactic activity.  At University of Warsaw he lectured military law and international public law in International Public and Private Law Department, directed by prof Cezary Berezowski.  He also lectured at Central Law School, General Headquarters Academy and Polish International Affairs Institute (1950-1951 its director).

In 1950 Muszkat for dissertation “International criminal law, new domain development” got professor degree.  He was co-founder and editor Law and Life magazine.

Mushkat has got socialist point of view, he propagate communist ideas, especially his mentor Andriej Wyszynski.  Amongst scientist Muszkat has got some opponents.  For instance prof. Stefan Korboński claimed that vievs of Muszkat makes of judges politic institution, of prosecutors masters life and died all people (...) of barristers police helpers.

In 1957 Muszkat abandoned Poland and went to Israel.  At Tel Aviv University he lectured international public law and international affairs.  In 1961 Yad Vashem Institute designated his as co-ordinator and adviser to Adolf Eichmann trial.  Muszkat at Israel's government request was a consultant in many strategic matters undertook by this country.

Henry Swiatkowski

Swiatkowski Henry (born April 2 1896, died. March 22 1970) - lawyer, political and social activist, an expert in religious law and agriculture, justice minister in the government of the National Council.

Since 1923 member of the PPS, twice member of Parliament; defender in the political process.

In 1940 he was arrested by the Germans, imprisoned at Pawiak and Auschwitz, a Member of the National Council and the Parliament of 1956 (the Legislative Sejm and the Parliament of the PRL of the first term).

Spring of 1945 with the command Świątkowskiego taken in the investigation of crimes of Polish officers in Katyn, and his conduct of the prosecutor gave George Sawickiemu.  The aim was to investigate the crimes of falsification and concealment.

In the years 1945-1956 Minister of Justice.

In the years 1948-1954 a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, since 1947 professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration Warsaw University, founder of the Chair of Religious UW.

Co-founder of Polish Lawyers Association and the Association of Atheists and Freethinkers.

The number of victims murdered in Treblinka amounts to at least 731.000.  This was accomplished in about 15 months when the gas chambers in Treblinka were in operation.  All the accused, from 1 - 59, are charged with special responsibility for, and participation in, these crimes.

PARTICULARS OF ALLEGED CRIME

In fulfilment of Hitler's policy of annihilation of the entire Jewish nation, several extermination camps were established throughout Poland.  One of those camps was the extermination camp at Treblinka.

The camp at Treblinka in which hundreds of thousands of civilians, especially Jews, were murdered was situated near the railway station Treblinka, in the Koso commune district Sokolow Podlaski, province of Warsaw.  The camp site was in a sandy region, surrounded by pines and far from human habitation.  Near the sourthwestern edge of the camp a branch line ran to a gravel pit and was extended to the camp itself.  The extension no longer exists; its purpose was to bring the transport of victims.

The construction began on 1st June 1942 and was carried out mostly by Jewish workers who, during their work, were killed in masses.

The first railway transport of victims destined for destruction arrived at the camp on 23rd July, 1942, and from that time until approximately the middle of December, 1942, there was a constant stream of fresh arrivals.  After New Year, 1943, the number of transports began to diminish.  In February, 1943, Himmler visited the camp, and after this a wholesale burning of corpses took place.  On 2nd August, 1943, a revolt broke out, during which a part of the camp hutments were burnt.  The camp was finally "liquidated" in November, 1943.

At the present time no traces of it are left except for the cellar passage with the protruding remains of burnt posts.  There are also large quantities of ashes mixed with sand, amongst which are numerous bones, often with the remains of decomposing tissue.  Within a radius of several hundred yards from the camp an umpleasant smell of burnt ash and decay is noticeable.  The south-western part of the camp is covered with the remains of all kinds of aluminium, enamel, glass and porcelain vessels, kitchen utensils, trunks, rucksacks, and remnants of clothing.  Almost the whole camp-site is now covered with pits and holes.

The interior of the camp was divided into two parts:--the first--the administrative part, and the second which was the extermination camp proper and contained two buildings with 13 gas chambers, living quarters for the Jewish workers and the place where the corpses were buried, and afterwards dug up and burned.

The construction of the chambers in which victims were gassed was as follows.  Both buildings had many corridors; within the larger building the entrances to the chambers were on both sides of the

corridor.  The entrances were small and had tightly fitting doors.  In the outer walls of the chambers were large trap doors which could be raised in order to permit the removal of the corpses.  The chambers had tiled floorssloping towards the outer side.  In the ceiling were openings connected by pipes with engines situated in adjoining buildings, which produced the CO gas with which the victims were suffocated.

The burning of the corpses had already begun at the time of the full functioning of the camp.  At Treblinka there were no crematoria with furnaces, but there was a primitive arrangement of grates made from rails placed on supports of reinforced concrete which could hold 2500 corpses.  Mechanical excavators were used for digging the pits and later for the exhumation of the corpses.

The camp contained also the so called "Lazarette", which was situated in the first part of the camp.  The entrance was through a small hut on which was a Red Cross flag, whence the way led to a "waiting room", with plush covered sofas, from where the victims were taken to the second part.  Here there was a pit, on the edge of which an SS man or Ukrainian shot the victims through the back of the head with a revolver.  "The Lazarett" was designed for the destruction of the sick, invalids, old people, and small children who were too weak to enter the gas-chambers by themselves.

A sham railway station also existed within the camp.  The sham station bore various inscriptions, such as "refreshment room", "waiting room" or "booking office" and signs showing the "passengers" where to get in for Bialystok and elsewhere.  This station was built with the sole purpose of deceiving the victims as to their real fate.

The treatment of the victims was as follows:--the railway trains arrived at the station of Treblnka, 20 wagons at once were driven to the extension line leading to the camp.  Here the SS men and Ukrainians were standing armed with guns and whips, and, after opening the wagons, they drove the Jews brutally forward.  Everything had to be done at the highest speed.  The unwilling and those who were too slow were shot.  At the same time Jewish workers removed corpses and baggage from the wagons and cleaned them out.  (The victims travelled in locked cars meant for the transport of freight and, owing to overcrowding and complete lack of food--often as many as 200 persons in one coach--the weaker ones died before their arrival at the camp.

After leaving the cars the victims were driven along with blows and shouts to the enclosure, there the men were separated from women and children.  Old people, the sick and abandoned were directed thence to the lazarett where they were shot.

A small number of men were then selected for work in the camp while others were sent to the adjoining labour camp.  After a short time they also died wholesale.

As the SS men ordered all money and valuables to be given up, Jewish workers (Goldjuden) went round with trunks collecting everything of value.  Afterwards the order was given to strip.  The men were stripped in the courtyard; the women and children in a hut on the left.  In the huts 60 barbers were kept busy cutting the women's hair.  Meanwhile the naked men were driven about with whips and made to run and collect all the clothes from the whole transport, putting them in heaps to be sorted.  Then when the women had had their hair cut off, the naked men, women and children were directed on to the road leading to the gas chambers, being told that they were going to the bath.  In front of the entrance to the gas chambers there were usually several Ukrainians standing by with dogs.  These Ukrainians cruelly drove the victims in, often wounding them with knives.  The victims were driven into the gas chambers with their hands up, so that as many might be squeezed in as possible, and small children were piled on the top.  The actual gassing in the chambers lasted about 15 minutes; and after the state of the victims had been observed through a special small window, the doors on the outside of the building were opened, and the corpses, being so closely packed inside, fell out of their own weight on to the ground.

Instantly the Jewish workers removed them and prepared the place for the next bath.

At first the corpses were buried in pits, but afterwards they were burnt.  Only a few hours passed between the arrival of a trainloaded burnt.

The Treblinka camp was in reality just a place of mass-execution, in fact, a place for the wholesale extermination of Jews by precise methods of murder and removal of traces of the crimes which had been committed.

The figure of the murdered in Treblinka which was assessed after a scrupulous calculation amounts to at least 730,000.

The Jews murdered in Treblinka extermination camp came from various parts of the world.  Coins from the following countries were dug up in the area of Treblinka camp: Poland, USSR, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Belgium, France and the USA.  There were found also documents issued in various countries, including one certificate issued by Cambridge University.

Besides the Jews who were murdered in this extermination camp, there were also a certain number of Gipsies and Poles who met the same fate.

The belongings of the victims were systematically collected and sorted before being sent the Reich.  Gold, jewels and money were collected and sorted with particular care.  From time to time lorries were despatched from the camp loaded with goods of every kind.  A typical Nazi method was to pack the women's hair, after it had been sterilized by stram, in bales, and sent it to Germany.

The eradication of all traces of the crime by wholesale burning of corpses began after Himmler's visit to the camp and was completed in November, 1943.  The German authorities had plenty of time to clean away traces of their crimes.

The accused, as listed above, are charged with special responsibility for and participation in, erection of the extermination camp in Treblinka, commission of wholesale extermination of 731,000 Jews, of tortures, atrocities and other brutalities and with eradication of all traces of those crimes.

EXTRACTS FROM THE PARTICULARS OF EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT.

The evidence on which this charge is based consists of the testimony of survivors (former inmates at Treblinka camp), of the testimony of Polish railway workers and of documents already published in Poland.

1.  Stanislaw KON, a former inmate of the Treblinka concentration camp who succeeded in escaping during the armed revolt of 2nd August, 1943.  At present resident of Lodz.  Stated the following:

"I arrived at Treblinka with a transport from Czestochowa on 1st October, 1942.  The transport consisted of 60 wagons containing each 100-110 persons....  The off-loading was accompanied by shouts and blows distributed by the Ukrainian and German guards.  Usually already at the branchline many people were killed; those who offered resistance and those who failed to leave the train promptly.  In the wagons there were already dead people; those who died during the transport owing to lack of water, because of hunger, of diseases and those who were suffocated because of the terrific congestion of persons.  Upon arrival the newcomers were immediately driven to the place where men were separated from women and children.  Women were directed to the huts situated on the left where barbers cut their hair off.  Meanwhile men were stripped in the courtyard.  The victims were told that they were going to have a bath and that everybody would get a good job.  Among the men 20 were selected (I was among them) and taken to the right behind the hut where they were ordered to sort clothes.  Meanwhile the young and strong men among the stripped were driven with whips by the Ukrainians and Germans to collect the clothes of the whole transport.  By the time when women had their hair cut, men were ready with sorting clothes and all together with children were driven to the gas-chambers.  We called it "the way without return".  Those who could not walk were taken to the "lazarett" where they were shot and then burnt in a grave with "eternal fire".  I heard of cases when people were burnt alive.  I heard about a case when a Gipsy wo had been wounded in the evening and thrown into the grave, although scalded crept out of the grave and was found in the morning sitting on the edge.  There were cases when naked men, upon their arrival in the morning were made to carry clothes the whole only to be sent to the gas-chamber with the last transport.

The gas-chambers were situated in the second part of the camp.  There were also the graves where the corpses were buried and later burnt, huts for the Jewish workers who (300 of them) were employed at the gas-chambers.  Those workers lived only for two-three days and were constantly replaced by newcomers.  The first part of the camp had a railway siding, stores, barracks of the Germans and Ukrainians and barracks of Jews.  The Jewish worker were divided into several groups.  The majority were manual workers.  The next group was working at the workshops as skilled labourers.  There was a small group of "blue" ones who cleaned the railway branch and the "red" ones who worked at the courtyard.  At the head of each group stood a capo...  As to the gas-chambers ... they resembled huts  On the top there was a Zion star, and, as I heard, there was an inscription "Judenstaat" ...  The concrete chambers were inside on both sides of a corridor.  The entrances were small and had tightly fitting doors.  From outside each chamber had a large trap door which was lifted when the people were dead and the corpses fell out of their own weight.  The gassing itself was done either by pumping out the air or by introducing CO...  The corpses which fell out were taken by the workers to the graves...  I think that burning of corpses began in February, 1943.  Excavators lifted the corpses from their graves and threw them on grates under which a fire was burning...  At the time of the revolt the burning of corpses was actually completed...  As far as I know the extermination of Jews at Treblinka began in June 1942.  At the beginning people were shot with machine-guns and were buried in clothes.  The main extermination of Jews took place between August and December, 1942.

From the date of the arrival until the date mentioned above at least three transports of 60 wagons each arrived daily.  Then the stream of transports caused and was resumed again in 1943.  During the period ending the New Year 1943, the transports arrived from the following places: Warsaw, Czestochowa, Kielce, Radom and vicinity as well as from Berlin, Wien and Prague.  I heard from the prisoners that Belgian and French documents were found in the clothes of victims...  There were also transports of Gipsies and of Poles...  It is worth while noticing that the victims were told that they were brought for work.  To this end a sham station was constructed on the branch railway with sham entrances to the buffet, booking offices and waiting rooms.

I remember that at the time of my arrival a poster was hanging which said "Attention, people of Warsaw" and proceeded to explain that all money and valuables should be deposited and that they would be returned after the bath and receipt of new clothes.  Aproximately once a month high-ranking German officials visited the camp...  The visitors reviewed also the chambers and the place where corpses were burnt...  My fellow inmates told me that in March, 1943, the camp was visited by Himmler.  It was presumed that the wholesale burning of corpses was ordered by him...  There is no doubt whatsoever that the extermination aimed also at creating profit...  Methods of extraction of Jewish property were perfect.  As I have already mentioned the bodies had been buried with clothes.  But that was

a long time ago.  Later the clothes were sorted and despatched to Germany by trains.  I saw wagons with marks: destination--Berlin, Hannover etc....

A special group was formed (the so called Goldjuden) with Repi Adolf in charge of them who sorted gold, money and other valuables.  Every week or every fortnight one or two trucks loaded with cases of gold and foreign currency were regularly despatched to Germany.  The personnel of the camp, both Germans and Ukrainians, tried to steal as much gold and foreign currency as they possibly could and I know that many Ukrainians had rich stock of gold and money...  As to the treatment of Jewish workers, it was full of cruelty and refinement.  Particularly cruel was Franz nicknamed "Lalka" (a doll) who set dogs on people and shot them, just for fun.  But cruel were all of them.  I remember a fact when a worker on whom money was found was hanged by legs and left in this position for many hours.  He was ultimately shot at the "lazarett".  In this "play" participated Herman Josef and von Hofn...  Flogging was a matter of every day routine.  I also remember the following fact: a worker was stripped, water was poured on him and then he was left in the yard in winter.  He was frozen to death.  The Ukrainians were also at liberty to do with the Jews whatever they chose and they "rose to the occasion".  I remember the following names: the Unterscharführer Miete who died did not beat himself but took every opportunity to pick up people for "lazarett", the Lagerkommandant Stengel, the deputy commader Ruettner, Flops who was a specialist in burning corpses, Hiller who was in charge of provision of food, a certain German nicknamed "der Katan von Townuk", Kirschner and many others who were all active in carrying out Hitler's programme of extermination of Jews.  They were all cruel and none of them considered murder of a Jew a crime...  I was released from Treblinka during the revolt."

2.  Stanislaw BOROWY:  "I've been working at the railway station Treblinka ever since 1939.  If my memory serves me right, a telegrame came to the station in July, 1942, which stated that a new time table of "Umsledlung" trains had been laid down.  True enough, transports of Jews commenced arriving by that time.  The stream of transports went on approximately until the New Year 1943...  As to the number of people who were brought to the extermination camp every day, I think that it amounted to 12,000-18,000 persons daily.  A transport usually consisted of 60 wagons with 160-200 persons each...  Often the victims tried to escape from the trains.  The guard would open fire and the station would be covered with corpses...  Upon arrival at the station the transport would be divided into three parts..  I often went with the engine which took the wagons to the branch-line...  Nobody, not even the German railway workers were admitted into the camp itself.  The camp was separated from the branch-line by a high fence of barbed wire interwoven with pine branches to make the camp invisible.  However, sometimes I could catch a glance inside.  I saw that upon the off-loading men were separated from women and children.  After a certain time shouts and

cries could be heard which lasted for about 20 minutes.  Then everything would be quiet again.  From the moment of departure from the Treblinka station until the return with empty coaches no more than 40-50 minutes could elapse.  I remember that once, when the off-loading lasted longer than usual, I saw naked men who were driven to a wooden hut.  I presume that the huts contained the gas-chambers.  One could see excavators which dug the graves.  The burning of corpses began when the camp was already in full swing...  The transports contained mainly Jews from Poland, there were, however, also transports from Germany, Czechoslowakia and even Belgium.  If I am not mistaken the last transport arrived from Bialystok..."

3.  Jan SULKOWSKI:  None of the Jewish workers who were employed at the building of gas-chambers survived.  Jan Sulkowski, a Pole who was deported to Treblinka because he had failed to report to the Arbeitsamt, stated the following:

"The Germans killed the Jews either by beating them to death during the work or by shooting them.  I witnessed cases, when the SS-men (Bredow, Minsberger, Mueller, and Mueller, Maks), during the felling of forests, forced Jews to stand beneath the trees which were about to fall down.  In both cases 4 Jews were thus killed.  Besides, it often happened that the SS men railed the huts of the Jewish workers and killed them in cold blood.  I know about Zenf, Suchomil and Seidel Kurt participating in those massacres...  I was told by the SS men that we were building a bath house and it was after a considerable time that I realized that we were constructing gas chambers.  This was proved by the fact that the doors were very thick and were closing tightly, as well as by the fact that an engine was established in the adjacent room from which various pipes led to other parts of the building.  In charge of the bricklayers was Lampert...  The Germans built a so called "death-bridge" which consisted of a scaffold 3-4 metres high.  The German picked out some Jews and ordered them to climb on to the bridge.  During the climbing the Jews were shot at.  If there was a Jew who, by some miracle, succeeded in climbing right to the top he would be ordered to take off the shoes and to hold them over his head.  This acrobatic trick was very difficult to perform as the whole scaffold was rocking.  Then the Jew would be shot.  I saw myself the SS men indulging in this "innocent" game.  If I am not mistaken Post Willi excelled in those games...  I also remember the Hauptsturmführer Hagen and Finst Hermann..."

4.  Henryk REICHMAN:  "... The killing was done either by pumping the air out or introducing CO.  Once, when the pressure of transports was smaller, the Germans made an experiment.  They pumped the air out without introducing poison.  When after 48 hours the doors were opened, we found some living persons inside...  The burning of corpses began when the extermination action was in full operation.  There were no crematoria with furnaces at Treblinka.  There was only a primitive arrangement of gates made from rails placed on supports of reinforced concretes which could hold

2500 corpses...  Ludwig Emil was in charge of the gas chambers.  There were also attached to the gas chambers the following persons: Leofler Mathias, Petzinger Karl and Horn Otto.  I also remember the LagerkommandeurStengel, Hiller and Ruettner..."

5.  Oskar STRAWCZYNSKI:  "...  The SS Unterscharführer Franz was called by us "the doll".  He was a good-looking man, tall and young.  He had a dog named Bari.  The dog was trained that at the words "Mensch, nimm den Hund", he jumped at the worker and tore him to pieces.  If the victim happened to survive, he was sent to the "lazarett"...  "Immediately upon their arrival, the doors were flung open and the Germans together with the Ukrainians, armed with pistols and whips, drove the victims to the court-yard.  On the way to the gas chambers the victims were constantly beaten and even shot...  I remember Cep and Finsz being always on duty when people were driven to the gas chambers.  They carried whips and distributed blows on the wretched victims..."

6.  Aleksander KUDLIK:  "...  The babies were often taken by the legs and thrust against the fence.  I often saw Reutner doing so..."

7.  Leon FINKELSZTEJN:  "Bilitz Alfred and Gens Adolf stood at the entrance to the gas chambers and cut women's breasts off with long knives..."

The same is repeated by Hejnoch Brener and Blacharski Zygmunt who also saw Bilitz cutting women's breasts off.

8.  Karol SUCHA,  a polish railway man:  "...  During the stay of the transport in Treblinka, the guard of the train would kill so many people that several coaches would be full with bodies."

9.  Kazimierz GAWKOWSKI:  "...  Once so many people were shot by the German, Ukrainian and Lithuanian guards that 4 wagons were filled with bodies..."

10.  Henryk POSWOLSKI:  "...  The "lazarett" was established for the purpose of exterminating all those who either could not walk to the gas-chambers on their own or committed an "offence" or were weak.  The "lazarett" was situated close to the store of timber where I was working.  There were three persons working at the "lazarett": two Jewish workers and a capo--Frankenstein.  All of them wore arm bands with the sign of Red Cross.  The whole area of the lazarett was separated from the rest of the camp with a fence which was densely interwoven with branches.  There was a small hut also with a sign of the Red Cross on the roof.  The kapo was sitting in the shed.  Behind the shed there was a space with plush-covered sofas where the victims undressed themselves being sure that they were going to be examined by a doctor.  Behind the "waiting-room" there was the place of execution, completely hidden by a fence.