A Murder in Auschwitz (39 page)

Kolb shifted once more in his seat. It suddenly seemed like an enormous risk to admit to the blackmail. He became very unsure of how the panel would react.

“He was going to give me some money,” said Kolb.

“Was this money which he owed you?” asked Fuchs. He wondered why Kolb was stringing out the answers to this. Meyer had told him to get it out in the open as soon and as fast as possible. The defence was to be about Kolb’s lack of guilt and Ritter’s possible implication in the murder, not about Kolb’s blackmail.

“Not exactly,” came Kolb’s reply. Fuchs decided that he needed to put this to the panel. If Kolb had lost his nerve and did not want to admit to it outright, then Fuchs would do it for him.

“Is it not true that you were in fact blackmailing Sturmbannfuhrer Straus?”

The faces of the panel showed the astonishment of this revelation. There were a few seconds of silence before Kolb replied, but it seemed like ten minutes had passed. “Yes,” replied Kolb.

“Can you tell the court martial the subject of the blackmail?” continued Fuchs.

“Sturmbannfuhrer Straus was a homosexual. When I required extra funds I would request them from him in return for my silence.”

“Homosexuality is a crime in the Third Reich. Did you not think that you should report this fact?”

“Of course, I realise that now, but I was blackmailing a criminal,” replied Kolb. Meyer had coached him in this response. He knew that the twisted logic of the Nazis would allow them to sweep Kolb’s crime under the carpet since Straus had turned out to be a criminal.

As instructed by Meyer, Fuchs left a good thirty seconds for this to sink in for the members of the panel. He turned over his papers then turned them back, a trick Meyer had described to allow this time to pass before moving on the main part of the defence.

“So, Herr Hauptscharfuhrer, can you tell the panel what you observed as you approached Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ office?”

“I saw the light from a door opening and closing again,” he replied.

“Was this Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ office door?”

“I am unable to say if it was in fact Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ office door or if it was Untersturmfuhrer Ritter’s office door, as they are adjacent to one another.”

“Why could you not determine which door it was opening?”

“The fog. It was thick fog that night, just as it had been the previous few nights. I could only see the outline of the buildings against the snow, so it was impossible to tell which door it was that opened.”

Before Fuchs could continue with his questioning, Liebehenschel interrupted the proceedings by requesting the meteorological report from the records office for that night, then indicated to Fuchs that he should continue.

“Did you see anyone on your journey to Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ office?” Fuchs asked. Meyer had explained how it would seem unusual to the panel that a murderer would happily be identified while on the way to kill his victim.

“Yes, the two perimeter guards. We saluted each other.”

“And then you went directly to the office door? What did you find when you opened that door?”

Kolb paused for a moment. He seemed genuinely distressed as he recalled the scene which had met him as he opened the door. “Sturmbannfuhrer Straus was sitting in his office chair behind his desk, with his head hanging forward and a bullet wound to his head. Blood was on the back of the wall.”

“Where was his pistol?”

“It was on the floor, just visible under his desk.”

“What did you do next?” asked Fuchs.

“I picked up the pistol. Like I said, it was only just visible so I couldn’t see if the safety was on. It must have been the way I picked it up; my little finger touched the trigger and the gun discharged itself.”

“Then what happened?”

“I thought I was going to drop it and it might go off again, so I sat it in my hand correctly. It was a few seconds later that the two guards entered the building. They quickly had a look at the scene, and I can’t blame them for jumping to conclusions.”

“Do you know what alerted the guards to enter Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ office?” asked Fuchs.

“Yes. It would have been the gunshot when I accidentally discharged the pistol.”

“But neither you nor the guards heard the first gunshot. The one which killed Sturmbannfuhrer Straus?”

“That is correct. And the shot must have been fired recently as there was still some smoke in the air and the smell of the cordite,” replied Kolb.

“As well as there being a heavy fog, can you remember what the weather was like that evening?”

“Yes, it was freezing. I had my gloves on but still had to keep my hands in my pockets to try to keep warm.”

“There was thunder that evening as well, was there not, Herr Hauptscharfuhrer?”

“Yes, as I was crossing to Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ office, there was a huge crack of thunder.”

“Would you say that it was loud enough to cover the sound of a pistol shot?” asked Fuchs.

“Yes. Definitely,” replied Kolb.

Fuchs turned over one of his sheets of paper. “Can I please direct the panel to the following finding? In the presence of Hauptsturmfuhrer Kramer, the bullet hole from the accidental discharge of Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ weapon when Hauptscharfuhrer Kolb picked it up was found in the floor of the office, at the foot of one of the legs of the office desk.”

Kramer confirmed that he had witnessed the bullet hole in the floor, before allowing Fuchs to continue.

“This confirms that two shots were fired that evening in Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ office. The first, killing him but being masked by the sound of thunder, the second, in error, when Hauptscharfuhrer Kolb picked up the pistol and fired it into the floor.”

Fuchs paused momentarily before requesting that Ritter be called to the court martial.

“Untersturmfuhrer Ritter, can you tell me your movements around seven o’clock on the evening of Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ murder?” asked Fuchs.

The meteorological report had been returned to the court martial and studied by the panel, confirming the heavy, freezing fog and the thunder during that evening, between six and eight o’clock. Kolb had returned to his seat next to Fuchs, his shabby, stained uniform in complete contrast to both Fuchs' and Ritter's, the latter of whom now sat in his place in the centre of the room.

“Yes, of course,” replied Ritter confidently. “I was finishing off some supply requests and left my office to return to my barrack room at around that time.”

“Did you go straight to your barracks, or did you tell Sturmbannfuhrer Straus that you were finished for the evening?”

“No. I went straight to my barrack room.”

“You did not tell your commanding officer that you were off-duty for the evening?” asked Fuchs.

“Well, no. I had spoken to him earlier and he had told me to take the rest of the evening off.”

Fuchs nodded and then started to ask the questions which Meyer had detailed. He had wanted Ritter to start to feel backed into a corner, to feel unjustly blamed and, hopefully, begin to panic. “Is it not true that you had made a request for a transfer earlier that day?”

“Yes, but...”

“And that you were denied that transfer?”

“Yes, but...”

“And that this was not the first time you had made the request?”

“I don’t see what...”

“You have made a request for a transfer out of Auschwitz four times. All have been denied by Sturmbannfuhrer Straus. Did he warn you not to make another request?”

“Yes, although...”

“And did he say that you would be disciplined if you made yet another transfer request?”

“If you let me explain!” shouted Ritter. Fuchs had succeeded in doing what Meyer had wanted.

“Yes. Please do explain your continued requests to get away from this camp. Do you not feel that it is worthy war work which is carried out here?”

“I do, of course,” said Ritter, quieter now.

“Then why the continued requests for transfer? Please, do explain.”

“I...it is not that I don’t think that the work carried out here is worthy. Perhaps I did not have as productive a relationship with Sturmbannfuhrer Straus as I did with my senior officers at other camps.”

“So, you disliked Sturmbannfuhrer Straus. Were you aware that he was a homosexual?” asked Fuchs.

Ritter looked extremely uncomfortable. “I am not sure...” he tailed off.

“You are not sure?” asked Fuchs.

“There was a suspicion that he might have been.”

“Perhaps there was more than a suspicion,” said Fuchs. “Perhaps your relationship with Sturmbannfuhrer Straus was not entirely professional. Perhaps you had a lovers' tiff, hence the continued requests for transfer. Are you also a homosexual Untersturmfuhrer Ritter?”

Ritter’s face turned beetroot red in fury, although it could have been mistaken for embarrassment. The panel looked at each other. What they had thought was going to be a forgone conclusion had entirely turned around.

Ritter remained unable to speak due to his anger and so Fuchs took the opportunity to twist the knife. “Let me tell you what I think happened that evening, Untersturmfuhrer Ritter.

“As Hauptscharfuhrer Kolb was making his way across the courtyards to visit Sturmbannfuhrer Straus, you left your own office and entered Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ office to confront him, either about your transfer, or about something related to Straus’ homosexuality. Or perhaps it was a lovers' tiff. The subject of your disagreement is not important. He felt threatened by you and took his pistol from its holster to protect himself, but you disarmed him, pushing him back into his chair and firing a shot directly into his temple.

“In a moment of genuine good luck, there is a crack of very loud thunder which masks the sound of the shot. You panic and drop the gun, which slides under the desk, and you leave the office. This is the light from an opening door which Hauptscharfuhrer Kolb observes. You return to your barrack room immediately after this.

“Hauptscharfuhrer Kolb now enters Sturmbannfuhrer Straus’ office and finds him dead. He notices his pistol lying under the desk and picks it up, inadvertently making it fire a second shot. There is no thunder this time, and the sound of the gun firing is heard by the perimeter guards, who immediately enter the office and find Hauptscharfuhrer Kolb with the pistol still in his hand.”

Ritter was shaking his head but found himself still unable to speak.

“Is this not what actually happened that evening, Untersturmfuhrer Ritter? Is it not true that it was you who actually fired the shot which killed Sturmbannfuhrer Straus?” asked Fuchs, but still Ritter remained silent. His rage was evident but he struggled to form any words which would defend his position.

“No. I did not kill Sturmbannfuhrer Straus,” he finally managed to say.

Fuchs turned to the panel. “No further questions.”

The court martial had been adjourned so that the panel could discuss the case. It was evident that Kolb's defence had not been conducted as the three of them had expected it to be. Bayer, from the legal department, had been particularly impressed.

“So, Wilhelm, is Kolb guilty? Or was it Ritter that shot Straus?” asked Liebehenschel.

“Fuchs made a very good case for Kolb. To me it looks like Kolb has been a victim of circumstance. Fuchs has shown that two shots were fired. The first was the one which killed Straus, with the second being fired into the floor. Although the sequence of these shots has not been proven, they certainly make sense to me. That leaves us with the question; if Kolb didn’t kill Straus, then who did?” replied Bayer.

“Josef?” asked Liebehenschel.

Kramer had been nodding in agreement as Bayer spoke. “Until today, I was certain that Kolb was guilty. But now? It certainly would seem to me that Ritter was the one who pulled the trigger and fired the first shot.”

Liebehenschel sat back in his chair, running his fingers through his hair. “Do we agree that Kolb is innocent of the murder of Straus?”

The other two men nodded.

“And do we agree that Ritter was the actual murderer?” he asked. Again, the other two men agreed.

“Josef, once the court martial has been reconvened and we have given our verdict, I want Ritter arrested and executed for the murder of Sturmbannfuhrer Straus. This whole affair has been a distraction from our work here, and I want it over and done with today. Is that clear?”

Kramer was also glad that the circus which he felt had grown from Straus’ murder would be over with. Jews giving legal advice to the SS, visits to the murder scene, and Kolb’s incessant complaining and demands throughout; he wished he could shoot him too.

“Yes, Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer.”

Germany, 23rd July 1943

MEYER and his family had been herded down to the edge of the track by the SS soldiers to join the crowd which had been assembled there from across Germany. Meyer had kept hold of Anna’s hand and Klara had kept a hold of Greta’s as they made their way down the incline to the platform.