High Ranking German Officers Knew of the Holocaust After All

A soon to be released book titled Tapping Hitler's Generals: Transcripts Of Secret Conversations 1942-45 explodes the idea that high ranking German officers knew nothing about the Holocaust. The book compiles 167 transcripts of the most significant of over 64,427 secretly recorded conversations between captured German generals and other senior officers held at the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) based in Trent Park, near Cockfosters in North London.

The transcripts clearly show that even German officers captured in Italy, North Africa, and France knew full well of the atrocities being carried out against Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, suspected homosexuals, and the mentally disabled in the occupied lands. Generalleutnant Heinrich Kittel, commander of 462 Volksgrenadier division, told General-major Paul von Felbert, commandant of Feldkommandantur 560 in 1944, "The things I've experienced! In Latvia, near Dvinsk, there were mass executions of Jews carried out by the SS." In 1945 General major Johannes Bruhn, Commander of the 533 Volksgrenadier Division, was recorded discussing the Holocaust with Felbert, saying: "I must assume, after all I have read about the Fuhrer, that he knew all about it."

"Of course he knew all about it," replied Felbert. "He's the man who is responsible. He even discussed it with Himmler."