Wisliceny’s account of Merten’s role in Salonika

International Military Tribunal, Palace of Justice,Nuremberg, Germany

Twenty-Sixth Day, Thursday, 1/3/1946



COL. AMEN: The next witness to be called by the Prosecution is Dieter Wisliceny. That witness will be examined by Lieutenant Colonel Smith W. Brookhart, Jr.

[The witness, Wisliceny, took the stand.]

THE PRESIDENT: What is your name?

DIETER WISLICENY (Witness): Dieter Wisliceny.

THE PRESIDENT: Will you repeat this oath: "I swear by Godthe Almighty and Omniscientthat I will speak the pure truthand will withhold and add nothing."

[The witness repeated the oath.]

THE PRESIDENT: Please speak slowly and pause between questions and answers.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL SMITH W. BROOKHART, JR. (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): How old are you?

WISLICENY: I am 34 years old.


.../...


LT. COL. BROOKHART: Considering now actions in Greece about which you have personal knowledge, will you tell the Tribunal of the actions there in chronological sequence?

WISLICENY: In 1/1943 Eichmann ordered me to come to Berlin and told me that I was to proceed to Salonika to solve the Jewish problem there in co-operation with the German Military Administration in Macedonia. Eichmann's permanent representative, Sturmbannfuehrer Rolf Guenther, had previously been to Salonika. My departure had been scheduled for 2/1942. At the end of 1/1942 I was told by Eichmann that Hauptsturmfuehrer Brunner had been nominated by him for the technical execution of all operations in Greece and that he was to accompany me to Salonika. Brunner was not subordinate to me; he worked independently. In 2/1942 we went to Salonika and there contacted the Military Administration. As first action...

LT. COL. BROOKHART: Whom in the Military Administration did you deal with?

WISLICENY: War Administration Counsellor (Kriegsverwaltungsrat) Dr. Merten, Chief of the Military Administration with the Commander of the Armed Forces in the Salonika-Aegean Theater.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: I believe you used 1942 once or more in reference; did you at all times refer to 1943 in dealing with Greece?

WISLICENY: That is an error. These events occurred in 1943.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: What arrangements were made through Dr. Merten and what actions were taken?

WISLICENY: In Salonika the Jews were first of all concentrated in certain quarters of the city. There were in Salonika about 50000 Jews of Spanish descent. At the beginning of March, after this concentration had taken place, a teletype message from Eichmann to Brunner ordered the immediate evacuation of all Jews from Salonika and Macedonia to Auschwitz. Armed with this order, Brunner and I went to the Military Administration; no objections were raised by the Military Administration, and measures were prepared and executed. Brunner directed the entire action in Salonika in person The trains necessary for the evacuation were requisitioned from the Transport Command of the Armed Forces. All Brunner had to do was to indicate the number of railway cars needed and the exact time at which they were required.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: Were any of the Jewish workers retained at the request of Dr. Merten or the Military Administration?

WISLICENY: The Military Administration had made a demand for about 3000 Jews for construction work on the railroad, which number was duly delivered. Once the work was ended, these Jews were returned to Brunner and were, like all the others, dispatched to Auschwitz. The work in question came under the program of the Todt Organization.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: What was the number of Jewish workers retained for the Organization Todt?

WISLICENY: Three to four thousand.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: Was there any illness among the Jews that were concentrated for transport?

WISLICENY: In the camp proper, that is, the concentration camp, there were no special cases of illness; but in certain quarters of the city inhabited by the Jews typhus was prevalent and other contagious diseases, especially tuberculosis of the lungs.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: What, if any, communication did you have with Eichmann concerning this typhus?

WISLICENY: On receipt of the teletype concerning the evacuation from Salonika, I got in touch with Eichmann on the telephone and informed him of the prevalence of typhus. He ignored my objections and gave orders for the evacuation to proceed immediately.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: Altogether, how many Jews were collected and deported from Greece?

WISLICENY: There were over 50000 Jews. I believe that about 54000 were evacuated from Salonika and Macedonia.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: What is the basis for your figure?

WISLICENY: I myself read a comprehensive report from Brunner to Eichmann on completion of the evacuation. Brunner left Salonika at the end of 51943. I personally was not in Salonika from the beginning of April until the end of May, so that the action was carried out by Brunner alone.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: How many transports were used for shipping Jews from Salonika?

WISLICENY: From 20-25 transport trains.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: And how many were shipped in each train?

WISLICENY: There were at least 2000, and in many cases 2500.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: What kind of railway equipment was used for these shipments?

WISLICENY: Closed freight cars were used. The evacuees were given sufficient food to last them for about 10 days, consisting mostly of bread, olives, and other dry food. They were also given water and various other sanitary facilities.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: Who furnished transportation?

WISLICENY: Transport was supplied by the Transport Command of the Armed Forces, that is, the cars and locomotives. The food was furnished by the Military Administration.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: What did the Subsection IVA4 have to do with obtaining this transportation, and who in that subsection dealt with transportation?

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Brookhart, you need not go into this in such great detail.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: If Your Honor pleases, this particular question, I believe, will have a bearing on the implications involving the military; I can cut down on the other details.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you spent some considerable time in describing how many of them were concentrated. Whether it was 60000 or how many were kept for the Todt Organizationall those details are really unnecessary.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: Very well, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: I mean, you must use your own discretion about how you cut down. I don't know what details or what facts you are going to prove.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: If Your Honor pleases, this witness, as ,he has testified, is competent to cover practically all details in these Balkan countries. It is not our wish to add cumulative evidence, but his testimony does furnish a complete story from the Head Office of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt through the field operations to the final solution.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, what is he going to prove about these 50000 Jews?

LT. COL. BROOKHART: Their ultimate disposition at Auschwitz, as far as he knows.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you can go on to what ultimately happened to them then.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: Yes, Sir.

[Turning to the witness.] What was the destination of these transports of Jews from Greece?

WISLICENY: In every case Auschwitz.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: And what was the ultimate disposition of the Jews sent to Auschwitz from Greece?

WISLICENY: They were without exception destined for the so-called final solution.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: During the collection period were these Jews called upon to furnish their own subsistence?

WISLICENY: I did not quite understand the question.

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Brookhart, does it matter, if they were "brought to the final solution" which I suppose means death?

LT. COL. BROOKHART: Your Honor, this witness will testify that 280 million drachmas were deposited in the Greek National Bank for the subsistence of these people and that this amount was later appropriated by the German Military Administration. That is all I have hoped to prove by this question.

[Turning to the witness.] Is that a correct statement of your testimony? .

WISLICENY: Yes. The cash which the Jews possessed was taken away and put into a common account at the Bank of Greece. After the Jews had been evacuated from Salonika this account was taken over by the German Military Administration. About 280 million drachmas were involved.

LT. COL. BROOKHART: When you say the Jews taken to Auschwitz were submitted to the final solution, what do you mean by that?

WISLICENY: By that I mean what Eichmann had explained to me under the term "final solution," that is, they were annihilated biologically. As far as I could gather from my conversations with him, this annihilation took place in the gas chambers and the bodies were subsequently destroyed in the crematories.

ΚΑΛΑ ΝΑ ΠΑΘΟΥΜΕ...

Το όνομα του χιτλερικού αξιωματικού Μαξ Μέρτεν συνδέθηκε στην Ελλάδα όχι μόνο με την εξολόθρευση των 56.000 και πλέον εβραίων ελλήνων υπηκόων της Θεσσαλονίκης αλλά και με την πολιτική κατάσταση στην Ελλάδα στο τέλος της δεκαετίας του '50.

Ο Μέρτεν, εναντίον του οποίου είχε σχηματιστεί δικογραφία ως εγκληματία πολέμου από το 1947, είχε συλληφθεί και μεταφερθεί σε φυλακές της Αθήνας, δικάστηκε τον Φεβρουάριο του 1959 και καταδικάστηκε σε «κατά συγχώνευσιν κάθειρξιν» 25 ετών αλλά λίγους μήνες αργότερα μεταφέρθηκε στη Δυτική Γερμανία για να εκτίσει (υποτίθεται) εκεί την ποινή του. Το 1960 αφέθη ελεύθερος.

Τον Ιανουάριο του 1959 η τότε κυβέρνηση Καραμανλή φέρνει στη Βουλή για ψήφιση νομοσχέδιο «περί αναστολής διώξεως εγκληματιών πολέμου» και το δικαιολογεί με το ότι, όπως δήλωσε ο τότε υπουργός Δικαιοσύνης Καλίας, «πρέπει να παραμεριστούν τα εμπόδια διά την ανάπτυξιν των σχέσεών μας με τη Δυτική Γερμανία». Η αντιπολίτευση, με τους Κ. Μητσοτάκη, Ηλ. Τσιριμώκο και Στ. Ηλιόπουλο, καταγγέλλει την «αμνήστευση των εγκληματιών του ελληνικού λαού» και κατηγορεί την κυβέρνηση ότι έχει υποκύψει σε πιέσεις της δυτικογερμανικής κυβέρνησης, πράγμα το οποίο αρνείται ο τότε υπουργός Εξωτερικών Ευ. Αβέρωφ. Ο Αβέρωφ είχε συνοδεύσει τον πρωθυπουργό Κ. Καραμανλή τον Νοέμβριο του 1958 σε επίσκεψη στη Βόννη, όπου είχαν συνομιλίες με τον καγκελάριο Αντενάουερ για «αποκατάσταση των σχέσεων μεταξύ των χωρών». Στη διάρκεια της συζήτησης στη Βουλή αποκαλύπτεται ότι η σύζυγος του υπουργού και στενού συνεργάτη του Καραμανλή Ντάκου Μακρή, η Δοξούλα, το γένος Λεοντίδου, ήταν γραμματέας του Μέρτεν στην Κατοχή και, φυσικά, δημιουργείται ζήτημα. Πάντως, υπό την πίεση της αντιπολίτευσης και των αντιδράσεων του ελληνικού και του βρετανικού Τύπου (οι «Times» του Λονδίνου είχαν γράψει ότι η Ελλάδα «αμνηστεύει τους σφαγείς της»), η κυβέρνηση δέχεται να εξαιρεθεί από τα μέτρα ο Μέρτεν, για τον οποίο προβλέπεται «να παραμείνη εις την δικαιοδοσίαν των ελληνικών δικαστηρίων».

Πράγματι ο Μέρτεν οδηγήθηκε στο Ειδικό Στρατοδικείο Εγκληματιών Πολέμου στις 11 Φεβρουαρίου 1959 με ένα πλήθος κατηγοριών για παράνομες φυλακίσεις εβραϊκής καταγωγής Ελλήνων της Θεσσαλονίκης, για εγκλεισμό 56.000 σε στρατόπεδο συγκεντρώσεως, για θάνατο από ασιτία, για καταστροφή εβραϊκού νεκροταφείου, για εκτόπιση 40.000 στη Γερμανία κτλ. Οι μάρτυρες κατηγορίας είναι αποκαλυπτικοί, το ακροατήριο κατά πλειονότητα εβραϊκό, ανάμεσά τους και απεσταλμένοι ξένων εφημερίδων καθώς και άγγλοι νομομαθείς, και τα μέτρα της Αστυνομίας εντός και εκτός του δικαστηρίου αποτρεπτικά για κάθε δημόσια αντιναζιστική εκδήλωση. Ο ίδιος ο Μέρτεν ­ μόλις 45 ετών τότε ­, κομψοντυμένος και φιλομειδής, δηλώνει φυσικά αθώος και μόνο για ορισμένα πταίσματα αναλαμβάνει την ευθύνη αλλά και γι' αυτά «εκτελούσε εντολές ανωτέρων του». Ευχαριστεί τους τρεις μάρτυρες υπερασπίσεως (οι επί Κατοχής διευθυντές τράπεζας και άλλων οργανισμών της Μακεδονίας) που, σε αναγκαστική συνταξιοδότηση τώρα, ήρθαν να του συμπαρασταθούν. Για όλες τις κατηγορίες καταδικάζεται σε φυλάκιση 6-20 ετών και «κατά συγχώνευσιν εις κάθειρξιν 25 ετών».

Ο λοχαγός Μαξ Μέρτεν με τον βοηθό υπασπιστή του Μάισνερ έφθασαν στη Θεσσαλονίκη τον Απρίλιο του 1942, έναν χρόνο μετά την κατάληψη της Ελλάδας από τους Γερμανούς, και δύο μήνες αργότερα ανέλαβε την ευθύνη της εφαρμογής της διαταγής της 7ης Ιουλίου της τοπικής Komandatur για «τα μέτρα κατά των Εβραίων και των περιουσιών αυτών» στην περιοχή της Μακεδονίας. Κατά σύμπτωση την ίδια εποχή υπηρετούσε στα γραφεία της Βέρμαχτ στη Θεσσαλονίκη ο Κουρτ Βάλντχαϊμ, ο μετέπειτα γενικός γραμματέας του ΟΗΕ και αργότερα πρόεδρος της Αυστρίας.

Max Merten Treasure

As World War II was beginning, the Germans installed a puppet government in Athens. The new government had jurisdiction over both the German and Italian zones. The government in Greece had, as counselor to the military governor, an SS officer by the name of Dr. Max Merten. Merten was in charge of civilian affairs in the Salonika-Aegean area. It is in this area that most of the Greek Jews lived.

Dr. Merten made sort of a deal with the Jewish community in Thessaloniki, a city in northern Greece. He would keep them from the death camps in return for their gold, jewelry and other valuables. The Jews had no choice, so Merten assembled a substantial treasure. Estimates on the value of this treasure are up to 2.4 billion dollars.

After he had secured the belongings of the Jewish people, he had them sent off to the camps. His betrayal almost completely wiped out the Jewish community. Of the approximately 80,000 Jews in the area, it is estimated that only 5,000 survived.

Merten did not particularly want to share his booty. He assembled a treasure made up of gold coins, gold bars, diamonds, precious stones and religious artifacts. In 1943, he loaded the treasure onto a boat and had the ship scuttled in the Messinina Gulf, off the Peloponnese coast, between the towns of Pylos and Kalamata. The treasure is said to be under 262 feet of water in an area that the current Greek military uses for a testing ground.

Merten returned to Greece in 1957 and was recognized by one of the surviving Jews. He was tried and convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 25 years. After only serving 8 months, Prime Minister Kostantinos Karamanlis freed him in a general amnesty.

Dr. Max Merten died in 1970, in Germany. He never returned to Greece.

In 1999, an anonymous man entered the offices of the Salonica Jewish community. He claims that he was Merten’s cellmate in 1958 and knows the location of the treasure. The officials there referred him to the leader of the Central Jewish Board of Greece, Moses Costantinis.

Mr. Costantinis was skeptical at first, but as the man continued providing information, he decided that there was some evidence that supported the story. The two made a deal, the anonymous man would finance, organize and execute the search; the treasure would be returned to the Jewish Community and he would get the film rights.

The search began and in August of 2000 the diving permits expired and the search was halted.

According to Greek law, the Greek Government will get 50% of the treasure, the Jewish community will get 25% and the person, or people that find the treasure will get 25%, which could equate to 600 million dollars.