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The again your newsletter US Third Army interrogation of Wilhelm Höttl Höttl Index Höttl is of interest to historians of the Holocaust, as he is one of the original sources of information on the Six Million figure. He also testified at Nuremberg. AUTH: CG Third US Army DATE: 18 July 1945 INIT: HEADQUARTERS THIRD UNITED STATES ARMY INTELLIGENCE CENTER Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 APO 403 INTERROGATION REPORT No 21 Interrogation Section 18 July 1945 CONTENTS 1.
The SD in the EAST Einsatzgruppe POSEN SD LODZ Einsatzgruppe A VINETA Propagandadienst Ostraum 2. The SD im KULMBACH 3. The Extermination of European Jews SECRET -1- CLASSIFICATION CHANGED To: UNCLASSIFIED By authority of Sec Army by TAG per 80-74 Date 11/28/73 NARS [parts 1-2 not copied] INTERROGATION REPORT No 21 3. The Extermination of European Jews Preamble .
This information was received from SS Sturmbannfuehrer Dr HOETTL, Amt VI E, RSHA. (see also Third US Army Interrogation Reports 10, 15, 16, and 18; and Special Interrogation Reports 1 and 2.) Report to HIMMLER. During autumn 1944, SS Obersturmbannfuehrer EICHMANN was requested to submit to HIMMLER a tally of the number of Jews exterminated.
EICHMANN who had handled the deportation of Jews from the Reich and the Occupied Territories, had not had jurisdiction over the extermination squads (Vernichtungskommandos), nor did he have access to their records. EICHMANN estimated that 4,000,000 Jews had been killed in gas chambers and by other means of mass execution.
This figure did not take into account those who had perished in the concentration camps or in progroms [sic] ostensibly designated as military actions (for instance, the progrom in the WARSAW ghetto). EICHMANN also estimated that approximately 2,000,000 Jews had been killed during the occupation of POLAND and RUSSIA by Sonderkommandos whose jobs were to pacify rear areas. HIMMLER’s Reply . This total of 6,000,000 casualties found no favor with HIMMLER.
Ho replied indicating that his own estimate was well above that figure, and promising to send the director of his statistical bureau to revise EICHMANN’s computations. HOETTL does not know whether a final figure was ever reached. King, Major for KOCH AC of S, G-2 DISTRIBUTION: “A” & “H” 1999