Paul Blobel Affidavit
Page from Paul Blobel's personnel file
I Paul Blobel, declare, swear and depose:
I was born in Potsdam on 13 August 1894. I attended the grammar school and vocational school (Fortbildungsschule) in Remschiedt until 1912. Thereafter I served as an apprentice with a mason and carpenter and during the years 1912 and 1913 I attended the school of architecture in Wuppertal. Until the outbreak of the First World War I worked as a carpenter. From 1914 to 1918 I served as an engineer at the front and was discharged in 1918 with the rank of Vizefeldwebel (staff sergeant).
Until 1919 I was unemployed and lived in Remschiedt. During the years 1919/1920 I attended again the school of architecture in Barmen. From 1921 to 1924 I worked for different firms and in 1924 I established myself as an independent architect in Solingen. During the bad times in Germany, during the years 1928/1929 I did not get any orders and from 1930 to 1933 I was on unemployment relief in Solingen. After that time I was employed for office work with the city administration and stayed there until spring 1935.
In June 1935 I came to the SD main sector Dusseldorf, where I remained until May 1941. Finally I was section leader for Dusseldorf. I was then assigned to the Reich Main Security Office in Berlin. I became a member of the NSDAP on 1 December 1931, my membership number is 344662. Since January 1932 I have been a member of the SS, my membership number being 29100. I was further a member of the National Colonial League (Reichskolonialbund), Air Protection League (Luftschutzbund), National Socialist Public Welfare Association (NSV) and for a time I was a member of the Reich Association for Creative Arts (Reichsbund der Bildenden Kuenste).
My rank in the Allgemeine SS is Scharfuhrer, in the SD it has been, since 1940, Standartenfuhrer. In June 1941 I became chief of the Sonderkommando 4A. This Sonderkommando was assigned to the Einsatzgruppe C, the latter was under the control of Dr. Dr. Rasch. The Einsatz area assigned to me was within the sphere of the 6th Army, which was under the command of Feldmarschall von Reichenau.
In January 1942 I was removed from this post of chief of the Sonderkommando 4A and was transferred to Berlin for disciplinary reasons. There I had no assignment for a time. I was under the supervision of the office IV, under the former Gruppenfuhrer Mueller. In the fall of 1942 I was assigned to go to the occupied Eastern Territories as Mueller's deputy, and to wipe out the traces of the mass graves of people executed by the Einsatzgruppen. This was my task until summer of 1944.
After that I was transferred to the commander in Styria, and it was planned that I should work there as liaison officer between the Reich Main Security Office and the Gruppenfuhrer Roessner in the combat against the partisans. This task was, however, not assigned to me. In December 1944 I got sick, and from February until April I was in a hospital in Marburg on the Drava. There I received the order to report in Berlin on 11 April 1945.
In April 1945 I reported to Kaltenbrunner and went to the area of Sazburg. Thus I escaped further orders. At the beginning of May 1945 I was captured, together with the unit, in Rastadt. During the period of my service as chief of the Sonderkommando 4A, from the time of its organisation in June 1941 until January 1942, I was assigned, at various occasions, with the execution of Communists, saboteurs, Jews and other undesirable persons.I can no longer remember the exact number of the executed persons. According to a superficial estimate – the correctness of which I cannot guarantee – I presume that the number of executions in which the Sonderkommando 4A took a part lies somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000.
I witnessed several mass executions, and in two cases I was ordered to direct the execution. In August or September 1941 an execution took place near Korosten. 700 to 1,000 men were shot, and Dr. Dr. Rasch was present at the execution.I had divided my unit into a number of execution squads of 30 men each. First the subordinated police of the Ukrainian militia, the population and the members of the Sonderkommando seized the people, and mass graves were prepared. Out of the total number of persons designated for the execution, 15 men were led in each case to the brink of the mass grave, where they had to kneel down, their faces turned toward the grave. At that time clothes and valuables were not yet collected. Later on this was changed.
The execution squads were composed of men of the Sonderkommando 4A, the militia and the police. Then the men were ready for the execution. One of my leaders who was in charge of this execution squad gave the order to shoot, since they were kneeling on the brink of the mass grave, the victims fell, as a rule, at once into the mass grave. I have always used rather large execution squads, since I declined to use men who were specialists for shots in the neck. Each squad shot for about one hour, and was then replaced.
The persons which still had to be shot, were assembled near the place of the execution, and were guarded by members of those squads, which at that moment did not take part in the executions. I supervised personally the executions I have described here, and I saw to it that no encroachments took place. The Sonderkommando 4A has killed women and children too. In September or October 1941 the Einsatzgruppe C under Dr. Dr. Rasch placed a gas van at my disposal, and one execution was carried out by means of that gas van. This was a 3 ton truck, which could be sealed hermetically and it held about 30 to 40 people. After about 7 or 8 minutes all persons in this truck who were exposed to the poisonous gases, were dead. I personally saw the corpses, when they were unloaded from the gas van.
During the last days of September 1941 the Sonderkommando 4A in co-operation with the group staff of the Einsatgruppe C and two units of the police regiments stationed in Kiev, carried out the mass execution of Jews in Kiev. I think that the figure of 33, 771 mentioned to me as the number of persons executed in Kiev is too high. In my opinion not more than half of the mentioned figures were shot. *
Since, during the period from June 1941 until January 1942, I was several times seriously ill, and confined to various hospitals, I cannot be charged with responsibility for all the executions of the Sonderkommando 4A. During the period of my absence the commando was taken over by Dr. Dr. Rasch, Hauptsturmfuhrer Waldemar von Radetzky and Hauptsturmfuhrer Dr. Beyer, under their direction a number of mass executions took place too.
I have read the foregoing deposition consisting of five (5) pages, in the German language, and declare that it is the full truth to the best of my knowledge and belief. I have had the opportunity to make alterations and corrections in the above statement. I made this declaration voluntarily without any promise of reward and I was not subject to any duress or threat whatsoever.
Nuernberg, 6 June 1947
(Signature) Paul Blobel
PAUL BLOBEL
* Einsatzgruppen OSR 101 clearly states however;
Einsatzgruppe C
Location: Kiev
Sonderkommando 4a in collaboration with Einsatzgruppe HQ and two Kommandos of police regiment South, executed 33,771 Jews in Kiev on September 29 and 30, 1941.
Police Decode - SS Sonderkommando Blobel 1942 - Police Decodes Kew
Sources
IMT Nuremburg NO 3824
Wiener Library
Police Decode - Kew
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