Statement Paul Blobel 06-06-1947

SWORN STATEMENT, Document NO-3824

I, Paul B l o b e l , declare under oath:

1) I was born August 13th, 1894, in Potsdam. I attended Volksschule and the Fortbildungsschule in Remscheidt until 1912. Subsequently I completed my vocational training in masonry and carpentry and during 1912 and 1913, I attended the Bauschule in Wuppertal. Until the beginning of World War One, I was employed as a carpenter. From 1914 to 1918, I was an Engineer in the field and was discharged in 1918 with the rank of Vizefeldwebel. I was unemployed until 1919 and lived in Remscheidt. During 1919 and 1920 I again attended the Bauschule, this time in Barmen. I was employed by various firms from 1912 until 1924, in which year I established myself in Solingen as independent architect. Owing to the bad times in Germany, from 1928 to 1929 I received no orders anymore and from 1930 until 1933 I sustained myself in Solingen on an unemployment allowance. After that time I was employed as a clerc by the city council of Solingen and remained there until February 1935. In June 1935 I joined the SD Oberabschnitt Düsseldorf where I remained until May 1941. Ultimately, I was Abschnittsleiter in Düsseldorf. Thereafter I was ordered to work at the R.S.H.A. in Berlin.

2) On December 1st, 1931, I became a member of the N.S.D.A.P. My membership number is 844662. I was a member of the SS, number 29100 from Janaury 1932. Futhermore, I was a member of the Reichskolonialbund, the Luftschützbund, the NSV and I was a member of the Reichsbund der bildende Künste for a while. My rank in the Allgemeine SS was Scharführer, my rank in the SD from 1940 onwards Standartenführer.

3) In June 1941 I was appointed head of Sonderkommando 4a. This command was part of Einsatzgruppe C, commanded by Dr. Rasch. The sector allocated to me encompassed the area of 6th Army commanded by Feldmarschall von Reichenau. In January 1942 I was relieved as head of Sonderkommando 4a and posted back to Berlin as a form of punishment. There I remained unemployed for a while. I was under supervision by Amt IV, headed by the former SS-Gruppenführer Müller. In the fall of 1942, I was ordered to travel to the occupied areas in the East, as a representative of Müller, in order to erase the traces of the mass graves, dug after the executions by the Einsatzgruppen. I worked on this task until the summer of 1944.

4) Thereafter, I was posted to the commanding in Steiermark in order to be employed as liaison between the R.S.H.A. and SS-Gruppenführer Rössner for the fight against partizans; however, I was not actively involved in the execution of this task. I fell ill in December 1944 and was confined to a sanatorium in Marburg a/d Drau from February to April. There I was ordered on April 11th, 1945, to report to Berlin. In April 1945, I reported to Kaltenbrunner and traveled to the region of Salzburg. There I withdrew myself from further orders. In early May 1945, I and my group were taken prisoner in Rastadt.

5) During my time as Chief of Sonderkommando 4a, from its formation in June 1941 until January 1942, I was frequently ordered to execute communists, saboteurs, Jews and other undesired elements. I do not recall the exact number of persons executed anymore. Based on a rough estimate, which I cannot guarantee, I presume that the number of persons executed by Sonderkommando 4a lies somewhere between 10.000 and 15.000.

6) I have witnessed several mass executions and on two occasions, I was ordered to take command. In August or September 1941, an execution took place near Korosten, where between 700 and 1.000 men were shot and Dr. Rasch was present. I had split my unit in groups of 30 executioners each. First of all, the people were picked up by the police of the Ukranian militia, who were subordinate to us, the population and members of the Sonderkommandos and graves were dug. From the total number of persons to be executed, 15 were taken to the edge of the grave each time where they had to kneel down, facing the grave. At the time, clothing and valuables were not yet confiscated. That was changed later. The execution commands consisted of men of Sonderkommando 4a and members of the militia and the police. After the people were ready to be executed, one of my leaders in charge of the group of executioners, gave the order to fire. Owing to their kneeling position at the edge of the grave, the victims usually fell into it immediately. I had ever more executioners carry out the shootings because I rejected the use of specialists of the shot to the neck. Each group fired for about an hour and was then relieved. The people who were yet to be shot were assembled in the vicinity of the execution site and guarded by members of the Kommandos not involved in the present shooting. I supervised this execution myself and saw to it that no fighting broke out.

7) Women and children have also been shot by Sonderkommando 4a. In September or October 1941, I received a gas van from Einsatgruppe C, commanded by Dr. Rasch and an execution was carried out using this van. This was a three ton truck which was completely airtight and which could accommodate 30 to 40 people. After about seven or eight minutes the occupants who had been subjected to to the poisonous gasses, were dead. I have seen the bodies myself as they were being unloaded from the truck.

8) In the last days of September 1941, Sonderkommando 4a, in co-operation with the staff of Einsatzgruppe C and two units of the police regiments stationed in Kiev, undertook the mass execution of Jews from Kiev. I consider the number of executed persons at 33.771 too high. In my opinion, no more than half of this number was executed.

9) As I have often been very ill in the period from June 1941 until January 1942 and have been confined to various hospitals, I can not be held accountable for various executions that Sonderkommando 4a is charged with. In my absence, command was taken over by Dr. Rasch, SS-Hauptsturmführer Waldemar von Radetzki and SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Beyer and a number of mass executions took place under their command.

I have read the statement mentioned above, consisting of five (5) pages in the German language and I declare this is, to my best knowledge and belief, the whole truth. I have had the opportunity to make changes and corrections to the statement mentioned above. I have made this statement of my own free will without any promise of a reward and I have not been subjected to any coercion or threat.

Nuremberg, June 6th, 1947

[Signed]

Paul Blobel

Before me, Rolf Wartenberg, D-090064, a U.S. Civilian appeared Paul B l o b e l , to me known, who in my presence signed the foregoing "Eidesstattliche Erklaerung" (sworn statement) consisting of five (5) pages in the German language and swore the same was true.

On the sixth day of June 1947.

[Signed]

Rolf Wartenberg

See also:

Statement Blobel 2 and Progress report UdSSR 106