The Seiler Report. Testimony of a Viennese survivor

"It became clearer and clearer to us, since we were eyewitnesses to these atrocities, that we would never get out of this camp alive. Yes, work while you still have a strength - but the Germans did not need eyewitnesses." [1]

The so-called Seiler Report is one of the few eyewitness accounts that could provide first-hand insights into everyday life in the Maly Trascjanec labour camp. This record, which contains neither the name of the author nor the date, is attributed to Wolf Seiler from Vienna, who with his family was one of the few survivors of the camp. It is assumed that this report was written as testimony for the Soviet investigative commission.

The Seiler report as a historical source

The original 8-page Seiler report is a typewritten carbon copy on which neither the author, nor the place or date were indicated. Since Wolf Seiler (born in 1895) and his family were among the few survivors of the camp, it is highly probable that he recorded this report with his memories, impressions and experiences of his time in the Maly Trascjanec labour camp as testimony for later generations, possibly also for the Soviet investigative commission. Seiler's record is significant because it gives insight into the processes and everyday life in Maly Trascjanec.

It seems likely that Seiler wrote the report while he was still in the internment camp in Karaganda (Kazakhstan). He had been taken there by Soviet forces after he had been able to flee eastwards from Maly Trascjanec with his family in 1944. Since the report is available as a typewritten text, it is likely that Seiler wrote the text himself as a witness report or dictated it to someone who had access to a typewriter in the internment camp.

The original is still kept in the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) in Vienna. It reached there via Friedrich Hexmann, who after the end of the war negotiated with the Soviet authorities on behalf of the KPÖ for the repatriation of the liberated Austrians who had been interned in Soviet camps.[2] However, it is not known how exactly Hexmann came into possession of this report.

Seiler's report provides insights into the Maly Trascjanec crime complex. It documented the forced labour there, violent excesses and the mass murder of prisoners in the camp, as well as crimes in the ghettos in and around Minsk.

In addition to personal impressions and descriptions, it also contains a great deal of factual information. Some names and dates were corrected during the transcription by the DÖW.

Seiler seems to have acquired background information about the identities of a few camp commanders in Maly Trascjanec, which he also included in his report. However, it is not known where he got this information. It is probable that he had actively gathered this knowledge through his own research after he had been freed. In general, it is difficult to differentiate between what Seiler personally experienced and what he reported as hearsay from other people, such as fellow prisoners or the camp guards.

As a so-called "camp elder", Seiler held a special position among the camp prisoners, which could have been the reason that he and his family survived their time in the camp.[3] Other survivors such as Ludwig Grünberg also referred to Seiler in their accounts as, among other things, the "Jewish leader of the Judenrat"[4] . However, the report does not mention this function at any point. Nor does it mention any typical activities of a camp elder as known from other camp elders in other camps - for example, coordinating and supervising the labour services of the other camp prisoners.[5]

Source:

The entire text of the Seiler report can be found on the website of the Austrian Resistance Documentation Archive: https://www.doew.at/erinnern/fotos-und-dokumente/1938-1945/vernichtung-deportationen-nach-maly-trostinec-1942/vernichtungsort-maly-trostinec 

[1] so-called Seiler report, p. 10.

[2] Cf.: Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes: Vernichtungsort Maly Trostinec. Der erste Bericht über den Massenmord und die Hürden der Erinnerung, Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, 12.12.2017, online at: https://www.ikg-wien.at/event/vernichtungsort-maly-trostinec-der-erste-bericht-ueber-den-massenmord-und-die- huerden-der-erinnerung/ [10.05.2021].

[3] Cf.: Dalhouski Aliaksandr; Diehl, Nazim: Seiler Wolf William, in: Zeitzeugenarchiv der Minsker Geschichtswerkstatt. Erinnern, lernen, forschen am historischen Ort, online at: http://arch.gwminsk.com/de/archiv/wien/seiler-wolf-william [06.06.2021].

[4] Ibid.

[5] Cf.: Dregger, Sebastian: Die Rolle der Funktionshäftlinge im Vernichtungslager Auschwitz – und das Beispiel Otto Küsels, 29.05.2010, online at: https://www.aventinus-online.de/neuzeit/krise-der-klassischen-moderne-1918-1945/art/Die_Rolle_der_F/html/ca/819409dd06302568ca0abfc8f0dab72a/indexee27.html?tx_mediadb_pi1%5BmaxItems%5D=10 [06.06.2021].