AFFIDAVIT OF KHAIM KAGAN
I, KHAIM KAGAN, declare as follows:
1. I am a Jew and lived in the Ghetto of Kaunas (Lithuania) during the German occupation. I was on the Jewish Co.uncil of the Ghetto dealing with statistics and supplies. As representative of the Jews for rations, etc., I had to deal directly with the Town Governor's Office (Hauptsturmfuehrer SA Jordan's section). The Town Governor's Office was exclusively staffed by SA: even the girls in the office wore brown SA uniform.
2. The German Town Governor (Stadtkommissar) was called KRAMER, and he was a Brigadefuehrer SA. Jordan was the Advisor on Jewish Affairs to Kramer. I know their ranks and
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that they were in the SA, because they signed the orders which were posted in the Ghetto.
3. About 10 to 15 September 1941 a plundering operation was conducted throughout the Ghetto. It was done exclusively by SA men, Jordan was with them. They all wore brown uniform. They took gold, silver, valuables, furniture, etc. In order to scare people and to induce them to give up their property more easily they shot people indiscriminately in different parts of the Ghetto: they shot twenty-seven in all.
4. After the plundering was over Jews were employed to sort the plunder and pack it into parcels to send to private addresses in Germany.
5. On the 13th September 1941 Jordan and Sturmfuehrer SA KEPEN (with Brigadefuehrer LENZEN, who was Commissioner for the Rural District (Landkommissar) of Kaunas, standing by) shot three men in my presence. One of these men they first pulled out of bed.
6. On the 21st or 22nd September 1941 I was in a labor detachment. I saw about thirty SA men in uniform conducting a group of some 300 Russian prisoners of war. The Russians were quite exhausted, they could barely walk. Two collapsed and the SA shot them. The SA were beating them all the time. My labor detachment had to bury these Russians.
7. In October 1941 300 Jews including myself were taken by the SA from the Ghetto and forced to carry two chairs each, on their shoulders, for a distance of 5 kilometres and then back again, for no object whatsoever. Those who could not carry on were shot. Jordan was following the procession in his car. There were about 100 SA men guarding us: they were armed with automatic pistols.
8. On the 28th October 1941 there was a big "action" on in which 10,500 people from the Ghetto were shot. The Ghetto population was first divided into two groups, those for execution and those who were allowed to stay. The sorting was supervised in the morning by a man called RAUKA (who was I think in the Gestapo or the SD) and later in the day three prominent SA men, Jordan, Kepen and Poeschl came to help him. All these SA men were in uniform. I know the number of those who were shot because my job on the Jewish Council included the rationing for which we had taken a census of the Jews. A new census was taken after these executions.
9. On the 15th August 1941 the SA shut the Ghetto gates. A number of people had gone out of the Ghetto on the 11th August
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to try to get food. On the 15th after the gates had been shut Jordan came to me and said: "Go and get 20 bodies which I have just shot as a warning to you all not to have dealings with the outside population."
10. On the same day (15th August) Jordan announced that he wanted 530 intellectuals to work on archives. He was told there were not that number available. Thereupon the SA (assisted by others in German uniform which I cannot identify for certain but I think it was SD) seized 530 people at random. The SA personnel present included Jordan, Poeschl and Lenzen.
I declare the above to be correct:
[signed] : KHAIM KAGAN
10 August, 1946.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT D-968
Date: Date Unknown
Total Pages: 4
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: D-968
HLSL Item No.: Unknown