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On the other hand, however, they were also thinking of constructing a
railroad which would bypass the site and branch off south of Auschwitz on the
line Dzieditz – Auschwitz, to follow along the south side of the
plant-site and then, east of Monowitz, again run into the line
Auschwitz-Cracow.
Apart from this, I only received information of a
general nature from Dr. Greif. For example, that the whole area was very
densely populated; that most villages had 2,000 and more inhabitants; that in
Auschwitz, out of approximately 18,000 living there, 70 percent were Jews; that
south of Auschwitz there was a concentration camp with 20,000 Jews, et cetera.
For my guidance on the spot itself, I made myself another blueprint of
the Auschwitz district which corresponded approximately to the section of the
ordnance survey map which you sent me.
On the same day, I drove by car
to Oppeln [Opole] where I spent the night, and on the following day I went via
Gross-Strehlitz [Strzelce Opolskie], Peiskretscham, Gleiwitz [Gliwice], Rybnik,
Loslau, and Freistadt to Teschen.
At the Waterways Office in Teschen, I
was received by Baurat Broess, who informed me that, for reasons of competency,
he had passed on the whole affair to the Waterways Office in Katowice which was
under the charge of Provinzialbaurat [regional construction councillor] Weber.
I then went on through Skotschau, Schwarzwasser, Pless [Pszczyna],
Tichau, and Berun to Auschwitz. If ever you take this trip yourself, I advise
you to go from Skotschau to Auschwitz via Bielitz and Kety. You will have a
chance then (if, from Kety, you go a little out of your way towards the south),
to look at the Sola Dam near Porabka, where the landscape is extremely
beautiful, they say. (Built by the Poles.)
The site for the plants
— east of Auschwitz on both sides of the Auschwitz-Monowitz road —
seems to me to be extraordinarily favorable. It is completely flat and will
hardly need any levelling at all. It lies approximately 248 meters above sea
level, whilst the Weichsel [Vistula River] is about 225 meters above sea level,
so that it is never in danger of floods. In Dr. Greif's opinion, roads can be
built front Auschwitz to Dwory and Monowitz. Apart from this, the population of
the Auschwitz area, which is entirely Polish, will be moved out by 1 April
1942, as well as all Jews. The possibilities as regards rail- […road]
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