– 8 Js 52/60 –
Bonn, 13 December, 1960
Present:
Prosecutor M.
Kriminalobermeister W.
Kriminalkommissar K.
as examiners
Judicial Clerk S.
as recorder
The retired forester Heinrich Wilhelm May, born on November 28, 1896, in Misselberg near Nassau/Lahn, living in Bergnassau near Nassau/Lahr…,appears upon summon and declares that he has been made aware of the subject of his interrogation and is urged to tell the truth, states the following regarding the matter:
I was born in Misselberg as the son of the farmer Karl Theodor May. After attending the eight-grade public school in Dienethal, I joined the forestry office in Nassau as a forestry apprentice on October 1, 1910. At the outbreak of World War I, I volunteered for military service. After the end of World War I, I temporarily took over the forestry office in Singhofen near Nassau. After passing the forestry examination, this forestry office was assigned to me. On October 1, 1927, I was promoted to head forester and took over the head forester position at the forestry office in Hachenburg/South in Mündersbach. During the mobilization in August 1939, I was drafted as a sergeant into Infantry Regiment 463. Shortly before Christmas 1939, at the request of the Reich Forestry Office, I was released from military service and reported to the regional forestry master Sommermeyer in Posen. I was then assigned to manage the forestry office in Kolo (Warthbrücken). To my knowledge, Sommermeyer is now a senior forester in Hanover. The forestry office assigned to me was located in the small village of Gaj by a small lake near Izbica, north of Kolo. The Kolo forestry office comprised approximately 51,000 hectares of state forest and about 2,000 hectares of private forest under supervision. I was also responsible for the Kulmhof forestry office, which was located northwest of the town of Kulmhof (Chelmno), right at the edge of the forest. Initially, this forestry office was led by a Polish forester. To my recollection, at the end of 1940 or beginning of 1941, he was replaced by a German forester, the district forester Staegemeier, whose first name is unknown. To my knowledge, this forester was from Westphalia. I estimate he was born around 1885 to 1888. I managed the Kolo forestry office until January 1945 when Russian troops occupied the area.
I have been a member of the NSDAP since 1926. I did not hold any position in this party. I have been a member of the general SS since 1933. Until the year 1936, I was a Hauptsturmführer in the SS. I retained this rank until the end of the war.
At the end of 1941 – I cannot specify the exact time – the district forester Staegemeier from Kulmhof reported to me that a large gendarmerie unit had appeared in the forest near Kulmhof, cordoned off a large area of the forest, and surrounded it with dense groups of guards. He was told that he was no longer allowed to enter this part of the forest. Staegemeier did not know the purpose of the closure at that time. Subsequently, I filed a complaint with the regional forestry office in Posen, but I was informed that nothing could be done about it. However, they did not disclose what the closure of the forest area was about.
In the following months, I naturally took an interest in what was happening in the forest area. From hearsay, I learned from ethnic Germans and Poles that Jewish people were being killed in gas vans in the specified forest area. However, I did not see this myself. Over the course of 1942, I repeatedly saw so-called gas vans, which had a closed box structure and were painted dark, driving from the castle in Kulmhof towards the cordoned-off forest area. From this, I deduced that the Jewish people had to board the gas vans at the castle, were then killed inside, and the bodies were subsequently driven to the forest. Once, I saw one of the gas vans slide into the ditch on the road leading to the forest, and gendarmerie officers were trying to pull the slipped van out with the help of a second gas van. I also observed several times that gas vans were driving out of a gate at the castle, which was surrounded by a high wooden fence.
I only made these observations when I passed through Kulmhof on official business in my vehicle. Stopping on the road in Kulmhof was prohibited, as indicated by signs. Once, I also saw people at the castle who were shackled at the legs and hands and guarded by a gendarme. During my official journeys, I also observed several times throughout 1942 that many people were transported by narrow-gauge railway from Kolo in the direction of Kulmhof. However, these observations were always made from a distance. As I learned at the time, these people were unloaded at an estate between Kulmhof and Kolo and then transported further towards Kulmhof by truck. At this particular estate, I also once saw a large number of people being held. The estate manager was a Reich German named Herkner. He once told me that Jewish people who were frail and could no longer board the trucks were shot by the guard teams behind a hedge on the estate.
From everything I have described so far, what I had heard by hearsay was confirmed, namely that Jewish people were being killed in the forest area near Kulmhof. I became certain of this at the end of 1942 or the beginning of 1943. At that time, I was summoned one day to the regional forestry office in Posen. From there, I was sent to a government official in Posen, whose name I can no longer recall. He explained to me that the leader of the commando operating in the cordoned-off forest area near Kulmhof would contact me regarding the reforestation of a cleared area in the forest, and that I should provide expert advice on how to reforest this area. Shortly thereafter, a certain Bothmann visited my forestry office, and we went together to the cordoned-off forest area. There, in the middle of the forest, I saw a cleared area about 200 meters long and 150 meters wide. On this area, there were 2 large mass graves that had been covered with earth. Bothmann casually mentioned that there were approximately 250 thousand people buried under the earth, and that there was still room for many more. He expressed this in a cynical manner, but did not elaborate further, and I did not inquire further. I then advised Bothmann on the most appropriate way to reforest the area. From what I recall, I suggested sowing broom seeds because broom grows the fastest. Bothmann wanted to carry out the reforestation himself. After that, I bid Bothmann farewell.
Several months later, Bothmann reappeared at my forestry office and asked me to visit the cordoned-off forest area with him again to advise him on what to do with a number of trees that had been scorched during the burning of bodies, as the fire had spread to the surrounding forest. He expressed concern that if the trees fell, unauthorized individuals could see into the forest. I then inspected the damage with Bothmann and explained to him that he need not worry about the trees falling for the time being, as they were still firmly rooted in the ground. On this occasion, I saw that a larger mass grave, about 80 meters long, had been opened. However, I could not see any bodies in this mass grave, as I was not allowed to approach it closely. After I had given Bothmann the relevant information, he told me he wanted to show me his latest acquisition and led me to a wooden shack. Inside this shack was a machine, and he explained that it was a bone mill, where the bones of the bodies would be ground up because they would not burn properly. From this, I concluded that the bodies were somehow being burned. It is characteristic of Bothmann’s attitude that he summoned an older man, who was probably Jewish, and instructed him to retrieve a handful of flour from a sack in the shack. When the man arrived with his hands full of flour, Bothmann asked him if he knew what it was. When the man did not respond, Bothmann said, “These are your fellow race members.” Resigned to his fate, the old man said, “Well, what can one do.” I should also mention that there were further sacks in the shack which apparently also contained bone meal. Additionally, I must mention that in passing near the shack, I saw about 4-5 bodies lying on the ground, which, in my opinion, had headshots, as streaks of blood ran down their faces from their foreheads. I did not make any further observations that day, but it had become definitively clear to me that many people had been killed in the forest area.
Shortly thereafter, Bothmann purchased large quantities of firewood from me. Apparently, he needed the wood for burning bodies. Eventually, Bothmann requested such large amounts of wood that I could no longer supply them from the scheduled logging. He then turned to the government in Posen, and I received orders from the regional forestry office there to deliver the wood under any circumstances, possibly by conducting a clear-cutting. Thus, I was compelled to continue supplying wood to Bothmann. The wood was picked up by Bothmann using trucks. The deliveries were paid for at the forestry cash office in Konin. How the burning of bodies in the forest area was conducted, I neither saw nor learned. I only frequently noticed that smoke clouds were rising from the forest area. In 1943, I don’t remember the exact time, the extermination camp was dissolved. The castle in Kulmhof, as I once saw, had been blown up. The extermination squad was suddenly no longer present. However, the forest area remained cordoned off by police posts, even in 1944. Upon questioning, I declare that I cannot remember whether the Kulmhof extermination camp was put back into operation in 1944.
Additionally, upon questioning, I declare that I had no contact with anyone from the special commando in Kulmhof other than with Bothmann. I also cannot name any members of the special commando. I do not know who deployed the special commando in Kulmhof or under whose authority the extermination camp operated. I only remember that Bothmann’s superior was an SS-Oberführer named Damzog. Where I learned this from, I no longer remember. Whether the Higher SS and Police Leader Koppe was responsible for this extermination camp, I do not know. I have also never seen Koppe, who I knew by appearance, visit the Kulmhof extermination camp.
After the war, I wrote a manuscript titled “The Great Lie” about my experiences in Poland, in which I described the Kulmhof extermination camp in the subsection “The Great Jewish Murder”. I intended to publish a pamphlet, but it never came to fruition. The facts in that chapter are accurate. I must qualify that I did not personally experience everything written in this chapter, even though it may seem so when reading it. If I stated on page 38 that I had to report to SS-Oberführer Dr. Mehlhorn at the Reich Governor’s office in Posen in 1942 for the reforestation of the extermination camp, this is correct. Now, I can recall this name again. If I stated on page 43 that in the spring of 1944, Bothmann‘s special commando was active again in Kulmhof, this is likely accurate. When I wrote the manuscript, everything was still fresh in my memory, but I can no longer recall it today. In my opinion, the manuscript “The Great Lie” can be fully used as evidence. The facts written down there should correspond to the truth. I had another copy of the manuscript in my possession, but I have not been able to find it despite searching several times at home.
I cannot provide any further information on the matter.
Dictated aloud, approved, and signed:
[Signature]
Heinrich May
Closed:
[Signature]
Certified:
[Signature]
Justice Assistant as the certifying officer of the registry of the District Court
