Life in Secrets by Sarah Helm

Author:Sarah Helm [Helm, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307487476
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2008-12-01T06:00:00+00:00

I had to read the sentence twice to understand that the packed human beings were mentioned in this sentence only in a passive sense—in order to explain the process of killing. “The procedure took just over twenty minutes and after a safe interval the doors could be opened and the bodies removed to the crematorium.”

At other times Vera recounted her war crimes work in a tone designed to convey the ordinariness of it all, even when the circumstances had been as extraordinary as the interrogation of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz. In an interview she gave in 1986 for the Imperial War Museum's sound archives, Vera told the dramatic tale of how one day Höss was arrested by Gerald Draper after a tipoff was given to a Haystack investigator that he was working on a farm. Precise details of Höss's arrest and interrogation are much disputed, but according to the story Vera told, he was picked up overnight on the pretence that he was suspected of stealing a bicycle, and taken to the British prison Tomato.

One morning I came into the office, late as usual, and Group Captain Somerhough said to me: “You've kept us all waiting.” I was rather surprised, and he said: “Well, we thought it'd be nice for you to interview Rudolf Höss with Gerald Draper and act as his interpreter.”

I said, “Delighted.” So I went off with Gerald to our little jail in Minden. And there was this little room, which had a window on to a small interior courtyard and they brought in Rudolf Höss, who was in a normal sort of suit, had great white moustaches and was very relaxed.

Gerald started off by saying, “Your name is so-and-so,” using his false name—and he said: “Yes.” “And you lived at this farm?” said Gerald, naming the farm where Höss had been picked up.

“Yes.”

“And you did an absolutely dastardly thing, you stole a bicycle from a poor Polish foreign worker?” And he said: “No. I never did such a thing. Oh, no, that's a mistake. That was nothing to do with me.” Gerald Draper then said: “We think you are Rudolf Höss, ex-camp commandant of Auschwitz.” Well, this knocked him back a little, and he denied this. So we said: “Well, all right, think about it,” and we pressed the bell for a sergeant to come in. Gerald said: “Remove this gentleman's moustaches.” And he was taken into the courtyard—and I'll never forget this, because it was such an incredible scene. We all knew who he was and the sergeant held him gently by the nose, and removed his moustaches and brought him back.

You know, you often hear of people's knees knocking, but it is the only time when in actual fact I've seen a man with his knees knocking. That was the great Rudolf Höss.

And he very quickly admitted it because we had photographs of him and everything that was necessary for proof. And so he spoke very freely, really, of his tenure there.

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