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GUNSKIRCHEN Extermination Camp

by Wiebe van IJken

LIBERATOR´S STATEMENT ABOUT CONDITIONS AT GUNSKIRCHEN EXTERMINATION CAMP

Perhaps the best way to describe the conditions in Gunskirchen is to quote in full the statement of the medical officer of the American liberating force:

"I, the undersigned " Joseph Klements, Capt. MC No. 0547210, make the following statement. On or about the 5th May, 1945, I was with the 564 FA Bn, when we entered this area. I paid a visit to the concentration camp, Gunskirchen, with several of my medical assistants and one Lieutenant. About 17,000 Hungarian Jews had been housed, 5,000 of which were left when we came down to look at the place. There were 2,600 people herded in one barracks. Filth all over. No water, no heating, no light, no food. About 500 bodies lying in the area; probable cause of death - starvation. The living bodies were skin and bones. People full of lice and dirt. Several physicians, inmates of the camp, were trying to take care of hundreds of sick people without medical supplies. No facilities for disposal of garbage or human waste. Men, women and children together. At present this camp is empty and several thousand men and women are being taken care of in the German barracks in Wels.
Sgt. Joseph Klements."

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Map of Gunskirchen Extermination Camp
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