Paul Blobel interrogation transcripts

[Wetzelrad]

SS Standartenführer Paul Blobel is said to have been the commander of "Aktion 1005", the operation tasked with roaming the countryside finding and destroying by cremation mass graves containing millions of Jews. His two post-war affidavits are highly cited as evidence for the existence of this cremation program.

Affidavit 1: NO-3824 (6 June 1947)
https://archive.org/details/nt-war-crim ... /page/211/
Affidavit 2: NO-3947 (18 June 1947)
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ob ... -june-1947

This historical narrative has been extensively covered and criticized in Carlo Mattogno's book The Einsatzgruppen in the Occupied Territories. A condensed summary of that material can be found at the Holocaust Encyclopedia here:
https://holocaustencyclopedia.com/instr ... -1005/375/

However, there is also a record of Blobel's interrogations in Allied captivity, and this has seemingly gone un-cited by everyone, Mattogno included, so I present them here for the benefit of the public. I found photocopies of interrogation transcripts on Yad Vashem under an item titled "Benjamin Sagalowitz Archive", beginning from image 00045 there:
https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/documents/3689582

These transcripts seem to be incomplete copies, possibly typed by Sagalowitz. This translation of the transcripts into English is what Google Translate spat out for me. I have made many minor corrections but I am sure there are some errors as well. Here they are without interruption. My analysis to follow.

Excerpt from a Transcript

Interrogation No. 1342 - A

Interrogation of Paul Blobel,
by No. R. Wartenberg
on May 26, 1947, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.,
Stenographer: Gertrud Weber

1. Q.: What is your name?
A.: Paul Blobel
2. Q.: Raise your right hand in oath: I swear by God Almighty that I will tell the truth, the pure truth, that I will add nothing and will omit nothing, so help me God. Amen.
A.: I swear by God Almighty that I will tell the truth, the pure truth, that I will add nothing and will omit nothing, so help me God. Amen.
3. Q.: Sit down. When and where were you born?
A.: August 13, 1894 in Potsdam
21. Q. When did you say you were relieved?
A.: January 1942.
22. Q.: January 14, 1942?
A.: Yes. ?
23. Q.: What did you do after that?
A.: I was ill with Wohymian fever and then had to report to Group Leader Müller in Berlin. I was deployed there in late autumn 1942 and remained with Müller. At the time, I was accused of evading the orders of the Reich Security Main Office.
24. Q.: You said you stayed with Müller, which group?
A.: I was assigned to Müller's group in the Führerhaus and was designated for official trips to the individual offices in the East. There I was tasked with digging up the graves that had been set up there by the commandos.
25. Q.: That means erasing all the signs?
A.: Yes, sir.
26. Q.: How long did you do that?
A.: It started at the end of 1942 and ended in June/July 1944.
27. Q.: Great, and then?
A.: Then I was assigned to the commander in Styria and was supposed to act as a liaison between the Reich Security Main Office and Group Leader Poesener in the fight against partisans.

Excerpt from a Transcript

Interrogation - No. 1342 - C -

Interrogation of Paul Blobel,
SS Standartenführer, at the instigation of Mr. Walton and Mr. Glancy,
SS Division
by Mr. Wartenberg
on June 6, 1947, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. and 2:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Stenographer: Emmy Ziegelhoefer.

1. Q.: What is your name?
A.: Paul Blobel
2. Q.: Are you the same Blobel whom I have questioned under oath several times? I would like to point out that you are still under oath.
A.: Yes.
3. Q.: I have made a summary of your statement of May 26 and 27. Read it through, correct it, and sign it
(The witness reads the summary and makes improvements. The statement is rewritten and presented to the witness again at 2:30 p.m.)
1. Q.: What is your name?
A.: Blobel.
2. Q.: You are the same Blobel I have questioned under oath several times. I would like to point out that you are still under oath.
A.: Yes.
3. Q.: Here is the fair copy of your case. Read through everything and sign it.
(The witness reads through and signs).
4. Q.: When was the exact date that you received the order from Gruppenführer Müller to go to the East? What was your task and how did you carry it out?
A.: When I came back from the East, I was still ill. Then I had to report to Heydrich. That must have been the beginning of June 1942.
5. Q.: You came back in January, didn't you?
A.: I was ill in the meantime, then reported to Heydrich, and he once again presented me with the events surrounding Dr. Rasch's measures and retracted his personal decision at the time, because he was the highest court in the RSHA. It may have been at the beginning of June when I received the order to report to Gruppenführer Müller, and I was to stay there at the Wannser Inn. Müller's request came about a week later, and I then reported there. That was around the time Heydrich died. Müller explained the following to me:
You will now take over the task of burning down the execution sites in the East, where the Einsatzgruppen had been. You are to give this order verbally to the SD commanders.
6. Q.: Those were the leaders of the SD and Sipo?
A.: At that time, it was converted into civil administration, and you have to ensure that all the positions are found, and the commander is held responsible for ensuring that this is carried out. You await my further orders. I then went back to the driver's cab and waited. That lasted for months. Then the order came from Müller, and then I had to report again. I was given a ticket to Kiev and had to report to Dr. Thomas there. He wasn't there; I waited a week. He was on some mission, and when Thomas came back, I explained to him what task Group Leader Müller had given, and he had little inclination to take on this task. I explained to him that I had been assigned this task and wanted to convey it to him. Thomas's area stretched from Kiev down to the Dnieper and up to Kursk and then to Rohno.
7. Q.: So the whole of Ukraine?
A.: Yes. I then went back to Berlin.
8. Q.: Did you supervise the digging of these mass graves?
A.: That only came later. Then they had no men.
9. Q.: When did you go there?
A.: September 1942.
10. Q.: And back again?
A.: September.
11. Q.: And on the way back, where to?
A.: To Müller and having to wait again, then I received a lecture that the people needed material, fuel, shovels.
12. Q.: Did you know how many bodies were there in the vicinity of Thomas's group?
A.: Nobody knew and it was never determined. Essentially, this work didn't progress, and in the spring, it may have been in May, I went to Kiev again and then people were gathered together and I also spoke to the police chief there, the police chief of the Order Police.
13. Q.: Who was the police chief of the Order Police at that time?
A.: [crossed out: Polizeiführer der] Hennecke
14. Q.: Police chief of the Order Police?
A.: No, SS and police chief.
15. Q.: That's the one who was the leader of the Einsatzkommando?
A.: No, his father, a group leader. He then spoke to Thomas, and they argued with each other. Hennecke said he had no men, and Thomas explained that he had no men either. Hennecke was mainly fighting partisans and had to have settlements built as protection, because this partisan territory was a huge area around Rovno and Kiev. It didn't begin until June 1943.
16. Q.: And where did it begin?
A.: In Kiev
17. Q.: Were you present when the corpses were burned?
A.: I was there once in August. That was my third visit.
18. Q.: Did you see when the corpses came out of the mass graves?
A.: Yes, the ceiling was removed, then the fuel was lit, and the corpses were burned.
19. Q.: Did you see that?
A.: Yes. That was done by Thomas's people.
2D. Q.: Did BdS Ukraine and KdS Kiev, Ord.Pol. help?
A.: That was demarcated.
21. Q.: Who was the Bdo at that time?
A.: I can't name.
22. Q.: Adolf von Bombhard, Bonatz?
A.: I can't give any specific information; he was also subordinate to the Higher SS and Police Leader
23. Q.: Anyway, was the BdO there too?
A.: Yes, they were deployed to cordon off the area.
24. Q.: How many men were in the one grave in Kiev that you saw?
A.: It was 55 m x 3 m x 2 1/2 m long.
25. Q.: And how long did it burn?
A.: It burned for 2 days, after all.
26. Q.: Were the traces completely erased?
A.: Soil was thrown back on top.
27. Q.: Were bones and skull remains also burned?
A.: It was glowing all the way through.
28. Q.: How deep was this ditch?
A.: About 20 m.
29. Q.: And where else were there like that?
A.: From there we tried to get further south into Ukraine, but we didn't get there. The front retreated, and we didn't get there, and nobody really cared. Then Müller sent me to Estonia, because that was the Oberführer.
30. Q.: Estonia was Sandberger?
A.: The Oberführer was in Riga.
31. Q.: [crossed out: Dr] Piffrader?
A.: Yes, and there was the same back and forth. Obergruppenführer Jeckeln was also there, who was deployed with all of his troops near Newel, and I gave him the same order. It took 2 to 3 months before he had another staff meeting.
32. Q.: In which month?
A.: That was August, the end of August. In the last quarter of August, I left Kiev, I was there for 8 days, then I went to Berlin at the beginning of September, I was there for 1 or 2 weeks. That was 1943. Then we didn't have any fuel for it, and I went back to Berlin and was supposed to get fuel there. I then contacted the respective economic office or fuel office, but didn't get any. That was over the winter, and they started in May or June 1944.
33. Q.: And where?
A.: In the vicinity of Riga, smaller parts.
34. Q.: Here is a map, tell me the places. In Lithuania?
A.: That's east of Riga, it was about 6 or 10 km from Riga.
35. Q.: Where else? In Estonia, where?
A.: In Estonia, there were 2 to 3 smaller places near Reval, about 20 to 30 km east of Reval.
36. Q.: Did you see that, were you up there too?
A.: Yes, it was so swampy up there, there were spots, 4 to 5 spots, I estimate 20, 30, once 10, once 25, such spots had to be searched for.
37. Q.: So many bodies were in there?
A.: Yes, they were scattered around and it was difficult to dig them up, and nobody wanted to get to work.
38. Q.: Stahlecker killed 135,000 men?
A.: I don't know.
39. Q.: But that number was sent to Berlin.
Did you also supervise the burnings up there?
A.: I saw one or two places; it took too long.
40. Q.: Where? Near Riga or near Revatl?
A.: Right at the top near Reval. Some places were in the direction of Petersburg.
41. Q.: And where else were such tasks carried out within the area of ​​Einsatzgruppe B? Baumann? Boehme, Nebe?
A.: No, not there. I was supposed to go to Minsk once, but I didn't get there.
42. Q.: That means you had the same task in other places.
A.: I didn't get there anymore.
43. Q.: You supervised the cremation in Kiev and then saw one in the BdS Reval. You then came back from there and what happened then?
A.: Held available again in Berlin and then to Styria.
44. Q.: Did you carry out the order anywhere else, once in Crimea?
A.: No.
45. Q.: How many people do you estimate were in the grave in Kiev?
A.: 55 m long, 20 m deep, it was sandy soil, a layer was about 2 m on top, I estimate 200 to 300 people.
46. Q.: Nothing more?
A.: No.
47. Q. You yourself attended executions in that area under your command, didn't you?
A.: In Korosten?
48. Q.: Also been to Korosten?
A.: No, didn't get there.
49. Q.: That means, if the Russians hadn't pushed you back any further, would all this have happened?
A.: Yes, that was strict orders. I was no longer able to carry out all of this alone, and I was given an Opel car for it.
50. Q.: Was anyone else, besides you, entrusted with the same task?
A.: Not at the office.
51. Q. So you went to the BdS and said...
A.: I was registered.
52. Q.: That was a secret Reich matter?
A.: Yes.

Transcript
Restricted

Interrogation No. 1827

Interrogation
of Hermann, Wilhelm, Paul Blobel
on August 18, 1947, from 10:30 a.m.
by Mr. Curt Ponger
at the instigation of Chief Rosbings, SS Section
Stenographer: M. Fritsche

1. Q.: What is your name?
A.: Hermann, Wilhelm, Paul Blobel
2. Q.: Mr. Blobel, we have summoned you here, this time not in connection with your proceedings, but with the Pohl trial. Have you already spoken with Dr. Heim?
A.: Yes.
3. Q.: Are you ready to provide information about this?
A.: Yes.
4. Q.: To provide the same under oath?
A.: Yes.
5. Q.: Have you already been charged?
A.: Yes.
6. Q.: Then I must point out to you that all information can also be used against you.
A.: Yes.
7. Q.: Please stand up, raise your right hand, and repeat the oath:
I swear by God, the Almighty and All-Knowing, that I will tell the pure truth, omit nothing, and add nothing. So help me God.
A.: I swear by God, the Almighty and All-Knowing, that I will tell the pure truth, omit nothing, and add nothing, so help me God.
8. Q.: Briefly state your curriculum vitae.
A.: Born on August 13, 1894 in Potsdam. Parents moved to Remscheid/Rhineland, where he was raised and attended elementary school. He trained as a carpenter and bricklayer. He attended construction school in 1912/1913. He served for four years on the Western Front during World War I until 1918. He finished construction school. He worked as a construction engineer for various companies. He was a self-employed architect from 1924 onwards. He built his own apartment in Solingen in 1927. He then had no contracts, was unemployed for three years, and was publicly supported until 1933/34. From 1934 to 1935 he was an employee of the city of Solingen. From 1935 onwards he was an employee of the SD, section in Düsseldorf. He was deployed to the East in 1941.
9. Q.: For SD?
A.: No. I was then released and assigned to Field Marshal von Reichenau with Sonderkommando 49, where I remained until mid-January 1942. Then I was transferred to Berlin, but was still ill until March 1942 and was only then able to leave the eastern region. However, I was on leave, even though I had been transferred to the Hohenlychen military hospital. In mid-January I was ordered to see Heydrich.
10. Q.: What about 1005?
A.: The SD was involved in it. 1005 is not an official designation in itself. The head of Office 4 was Obergruppenführer Müller. A telegram from Kaltenbrunner once went out in which he pointed out that he himself bore responsibility.
11. Q.: When were you in Kulmhof?
A.: Near Litzmannstadt. In mid-July 1942, I was ordered to report to Müller. When I was introduced to Heydrich—in June 1946, an incident occurred during operations, about which a file had been written—he did not receive me favorably and ordered me to report to Müller. I reported, but the appointment was postponed. In the meantime, the assassination attempt on Heydrich had taken place, and Heydrich had died. It must have been mid-June or late June 1942.
12. Q.: Perhaps you should continue your life story. In 1942, you were commissioned by Heydrich?
A.: Heydrich said the following: At most, you could still be employed at the Allach Porcelain Manufactory; report to Müller, and I'll make a final decision later. I reported to Müller. In the meantime, Heydrich had died, and I was sent to the Wannsee barracks. It may have been mid-July 1942 that I was ordered to see Müller. Müller said that the Reichsführer SS had ordered that all graves in the Eastern Zone belonging to the Einsatzgruppen be cremated. You have the order to report this to the BDS. The higher SS and police leaders are responsible for their own positions, as is the Wehrmacht. The Reichsführer wishes this to begin immediately; nothing will be written about it. The commanders are responsible for secrecy, and you are to regard this as a secret Reich matter.
13. Q.: You know Hoess?
A.: I met him once in Litzmannstadt.
14. Q.: Twice, you came to him in Auschwitz. Then he came to you in Litzmannstadt.
A.: It may be possible.
15. Q.: According to Hoess's information, I know the actual number of corpses. How high would you estimate?
A.: That's impossible to estimate.
16. Q.: How many graves were there?
A.: That's impossible to say either.
17. Q.: 10, 100, thousand?
A.: That is a thing of impossibility.
18. Q.: Between what numbers does this take place?
A.: When I read the indictment here about the individuals, it goes into the hundreds of thousands, from a, c to d. But out there, the people weren't even able to find the places again later. It was a colossal search.
19. Q.: Are we talking about thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands?
A.: Then there must have been hundreds of thousands of corpses, if I hear today that Group D alone had 90,000.
20. Q.: What numbers would you have considered correct back then, based solely on your own experience?
A.: I only knew the route I took myself, in the district of Group C. Roughly half a hundred thousand.
21. Q.: In C?
A.: Yes.
22. Q.: You would have estimated 50,000 back then?
A.: Yes.
23. Q.: Go on.
A.: The commanders personally, along with their commanders, were responsible for the implementation. At that time, I was told in the anteroom, "You have to wait, something has changed." I waited 2 to 3 weeks. Then Müller told me, "You are going to Litzmannstadt, where an attempt at cremation [Abäscherung] is to be carried out."
24. Q.: Was that an attempt at cremation [Abäscherung] or destruction [Zerstörung]?
A.: An attempt was to be made there to burn old corpses from the graves. For this purpose, an earth pit was dug, which was lined with metal sheets. Then, 10 to 12 corpses were pulled out of the graves, wood was layered in it, fuel was poured over them, and they were burned.
25. Q.: Did you have the ovens built?
A.: There was already a pit there. This pit was covered in the evening because of the firelight. Then changes were made to the pit, and then the fire proceeded better. The experiments were carried out there two or three times. A similar device was then to be built for the Ukrainians as well.
26. Q.: Who actually built these things?
A.: B.d.S.
27. Q.: Weren't these things built by the W.V.H.A.?
A.: No.
28. Q.: Mr. Blobel, perhaps you can put a few things in writing. I would like to tell you that I know about the Kulmhof incident, as well as the experiments in Litzmannstadt. When Hoess was down there, the facility in Litzmannstadt was inspected. Hoess also said that the bodies could be blown up, but the experiments never worked, and then they got hold of this ball mill.
28. Q.: I know that the material was obtained from the East German company.
A.: The material was requested by the W.H.W.
29. Q.: This report states that the material was obtained from the East German company.
A.: I informed Müller about all the experiments. We ordered the material from the W.H.W.
30. Q.: Would you please take notes? I will call you again this afternoon.

Excerpt from Transcript

Interrogation No. 2091
Mr. P [illegible]
Ministries Division

Interrogation of Paul Blobel
on November 14, 1947, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
by Mr. Singer
Present: Dr. Korr
Stenographer: E. Conrad.

Q. 1: Please give your full name:
A: Hermann Wilhelm Paul Blobel
Q. 2: Born
A: On August 13, 1895, in Potsdam
Q. 3: Would you please briefly describe your activities since June 1941?
A: I was the leader of Sonderkommando 4a in Einsatzgruppe C until January 1942 and came to Berlin to Office 4 in March 1942.
Q. 4: What was your position and rank?
A: Standartenführer.
Q. 5: Where were you in Office 4
A: I was assigned to Müller. In September 1944, I came to Obergruppenführer Roessner in Laibach.
- - - - - - -
Q. 44: Who did you report to?
A: Directly to Gruppenführer Müller. I was subordinate to the BdS.
Q. 45: Did you have to report to any office?
A: My departure from Berlin was announced to the BdS in Ukraine or Riga. I was not required to report. The travel certificates were issued by the Reich Security Main Office.
[handwritten text]

The rest of the Sagalowitz collection is other works. Notably, there is a lot missing here:

• The interrogation of May 26 skips from question number 3 to number 21.
• The interrogation of May 26 ends abruptly.
• There should be an interrogation number 1342 B on May 27, as made reference to by Wartenberg on June 6.
• The interrogation of June 6 ends abruptly.
• Possibly there should be an interrogation for June 18, the date of the second affidavit.
• The interrogation of August 18 ends with Ponger declaring his plan for a second conversation that same day.
• The interrogation of November 14 skips from question 5 to 44.
• The interrogation of November 14 ends abruptly.
• We also see reference to a conversation with his lawyer Dr. Heim.

While much of this missing material could be of little consequence, e.g. introductory questions and procedural matters, we know that part of it must be one or more conversations about gas vans. Gas vans make up a substantial part of the affidavit dated June 6, but they are not mentioned at all in these interrogation transcripts.

[Wetzelrad]

I do not feel qualified to comment on all of this, but I will point out some things that stand out to me.

In the story he told on June 6 Blobel comes across as a dullard. First we're to believe that he received his assignment but pointlessly sat around for months waiting for the order to begin working on it. Then he goes to Ukraine simply to wait more to meet Dr. Thomas, to whom he then conveys the assignment he was given, only to then return to Berlin where he was lectured about the need for basic supplies like shovels and fuel. He says that the first cremation was some twelve months after the task was assigned to him, and the first cremation that he personally observed (because he apparently played no part himself) was months later still. How is it possible that this was the person charged with commanding Aktion 1005?

Something Mattogno highlighted is that Blobel was inconsistent with his timeline, a problem no better resolved with these additions. Here are the dates Blobel offered for when he was given his new assignment:

• In the May 26 interrogation: "late autumn 1942"
• In the June 6 affidavit: "fall of 1942"
• In the June 6 interrogation: "beginning of June 1942"
• In the June 18 affidavit: "June 1942"
• In the August 18 interrogation: "mid-July 1942"

So Blobel signed his name to affidavits that gave two different dates, then somehow got away with changing the date again after that. Was he that confused by his own memory? Consider also what he said his assignment was:

• In the May 26 interrogation: "digging up the graves"
• In the June 6 affidavit: "to wipe out the traces of the mass graves"
• In the June 6 interrogation: "burning down the execution sites in the East" but then "You are to give this order verbally to the SD commanders."
• In the June 18 affidavit: "pass on Mueller’s orders verbally, and supervise their implementation"
• In the August 18 interrogation: convey Mueller's orders "to the BDS"

This too was a shifting narrative. One possible hypothesis is that Blobel was attempting to downplay his role in cremation to avoid legal punishment, but since he simultaneously confessed to greater crimes like his unit's responsibility in executing civilians this seems totally pointless. Still, this legal strategy of confession while downplaying responsibility is the same as we see from other defendants at this trial, with chief defendant Ohlendorf credited for its origin and spread. Therefore we have good reason to regard Blobel as not credible.

I also think it plausible that someone at the trial recognized the difficulty of portraying this incompetent buffoon as the leader of 1005 and sought (too late) to remove some of the blame from him for that reason, and to massage the timeline as needed.

Moving on, the term "1005" does not appear in either of Blobel's affidavits, but it does appear in the August 18 interrogation. Both parties seem to have had a prior familiarity with the term, but Blobel did not volunteer it. The interrogator Ponger used it first. Blobel responded that "1005 is not an official designation in itself." A vague statement that is not explored further by Ponger. This statement perhaps has implications for the few documents that do make reference to 1005.

Blobel provided dimensions and a body count estimate for one grave. The density works out to 0.06 to 0.09 bodies per cubic meter, actually quite low, so the rest of the volume must have been sand and dirt.

Blobel gave some interesting physical descriptions of cremation. In the version deemed an "experiment", a new pit was dug and the bottom lined with sheet metal, then a layer of just 10-12 corpses, then a layer of wood, plus liquid fuel. I can't imagine what purpose the metal would serve in this arrangement, but this description sounds viable for cremation, at least in comparison to others.

In another version, they burned the mass grave described above, merely scooping off the top layer of dirt, adding an unspecified fuel to the top, and lit it on fire. Since outdoor cremation tends to be fuel expensive, this is unlikely to have destroyed very much, and yet Blobel seems to answer in the affirmative when asked if all traces were destroyed.

Many obvious questions are left lingering. Why is the experimental cremation design a more believable one than the one implemented later? Why is the latter not based on the former? Why did they experiment on their own instead of using cremation experts like the Topf engineers already in their employ? What "changes were made" to improve their effect? How much wood or fuel did they need? Why is no reference made to bone grinding except by Ponger? And what happened to burning bodies on grates or grills?

Blobel also used the word "Abäscherung" here to refer to cremation. I don't speak German but this appears to be an exceptionally uncommon word.

Ponger made an attempt to raise Chelmno (Kulmhof) as a topic. Ponger was apparently working his way through Hoess's allegations against Blobel, including the claims that at Chelmno he experimented with explosives and makeshift ovens. Blobel's responses seem non-committal, and he did not volunteer any information in response.

[Stubble]

That's all well and good, and I don't feel qualified either, however, I can't help but notice he says he went to Kiev, uncapped a mass grave 55m X 3 or 2.5m X 20m (LxBxD), they poured some gas on it, it burned for 2 days and it was burning 'red hot' when they capped it.

I guess the 6,000,000 jews of Kiev killed at babi yar are still in the ground there, because, that story doesn't sound like made up bullshit at all...

[Wetzelrad]

I edited my math above because I bungled it the first time.

Yes, the way Blobel describes cremation is what anyone might come up with on the fly, not the plan of people with expertise. Wouldn't burning a pit from the top down be super inefficient, since most of the heat would escape through the top? And why does he only describe fuel at the start, and that being apparently only liquid fuel? That couldn't burn for two days.

200 to 300 bodies are, in any case, a tiny fraction of what is alleged for Babi Yar.

[Wetzelrad]

I suppose I should contrast the different ways that grave is described. Here are three quotes, two from the interrogation of June 6 and one from the affidavit signed June 18.

24. Q.: How many men were in the one grave in Kiev that you saw?
A.: It was 55 m x 3 m x 2 1/2 m long.
[...]
28. Q.: How deep was this ditch?
A.: About 20 m.

45. Q.: How many people do you estimate were in the grave in Kiev?
A.: 55 m long, 20 m deep, it was sandy soil, a layer was about 2 m on top, I estimate 200 to 300 people.

This grave was about 55 m. long, 3 m. wide and 2½ m. deep.

Obviously it can't be both 20 meters deep and 2.5 meters deep. Make of that what you will.

[Stubble]

Look at his body estimate, he was obviously unfamiliar with 'German methods'. In a space like that, you could fit at least 6,000,000. You just have to believe you can. Don't take my word for it, ask Hoss.