This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
Transcription: [00:10:15]
[00:10:15]
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
I think they tried to avoid that too many separate files fell into the hands of the American side.
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Mmm-hmm. They were concerned that the bargaining chip-
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Yes, separate bargaining.
[00:10:34]
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
That they would have a bargaining chip of the central files that that not be undermined.
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
That's right.
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
So that was the main concern in burning the files.
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
This is what I think was a reason.
[00:10:50]
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Mmm-hmm. So you were told by, did you say it was Rudolph who told you that the files should be burned at that location or?
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
No, no, that was not Rudolph. You know, we had our command system Bleicherode, and we got from Bleicherode this order.
[00:11:12]
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Uh-huh. Which goes back to before the surrender, then.
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Yep. Yep.
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
OK, so that was that. There was one thing you mentioned I think informally that we hadn't talked about. You said that you had
[00:11:27]
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
uh seen Mittelwerk once and it made an unpleasant impression.
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Yes, a very unpleasant impression.
[00:11:36]
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Do you, do you want to talk about that?
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Uh, the working conditions underground were uh, very depressing. Let me explain it this way. And you immediately, when you see that, you ask yourself, how could you improve that? Could you? You come finally to the conclusion, no, you can't, because it is not un, un --
[00:12:09]
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
So it was an un-- the tunnels seem like a very depressing working environment?
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Very, depressing, very depressing.
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Was that because they were cold or dark or damp or all of the above?
{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
All of it. All of it.