This is a 1991 interview done in Stuttgart with Dr. Martin Sandberger, former member of the SS and head of various departments for internal security, including the Sonderkommando 1a of Einsatzgruppe A, as well as the Sicherheitspolizei and SD.


[Above: Dr. Martin Sandberger in Allied captivity]

Dr. thank you for meeting with me, I would like to ask you some questions regarding what you experienced during the Third Reich and the war. I understand you were in the SS, how did you choose this branch of service?

Dr. Sandberger: I am afraid the SS chose me, instead of me choosing the SS. I was an early member of the NSDAP and supporter of the Führer. I joined the SA while in university, but my primary focus was to obtain my degree, politics came second. Because my family was a social family, we knew many people, some in very high positions or stations if you will.

When it became clear that we would win the election as the leaders of Germany, I started to look for ways to fit in. Friends and acquaintances started to use my name around RF Himmler who asked to meet with me. We had lunch in Berlin, and he laid out his vision for Germany, and his personal beliefs about religion and the SS. I was very impressed with his intellect, and his vision for a healthy, productive, and idealistic society. I agreed to accept assignment in the Allgemeine SS, working with the legal side of national security. I earned my SS dagger, promotions, and held many offices and ranks. Wearing the black uniform was a symbol of elite status in the new government.

Being a SS man gave one discounts with party affiliated stores, good food, and top-notch medical care. My family was well taken care of, and I had no worries in the world. Life was good with no angst and the SS was a very professional business organization.

The SS stands labeled as a criminal organization at Nurnberg do you support this judgement.

Dr. Sandberger: No, Nurnberg was a legal farce as are all the trials regarding how we conducted the war. They tried us by a standard that was illegal and against all laws that the west was founded on. The Allies made up charges for deeds that were not crimes until May 1945. They practiced the same actions the Reich did, like removing an alien people who had declared a war on the host nation. Much of the evidence used in the trials was dubious at best, and the defense had their hands tied on what could be rebutted. This was a case of Allied revenge, disguised as justice, and innocent humans murdered cheered on by the ignorant masses.

I can tell you without fear that we did nothing that would tarnish our reputation, as an organization, and a political party. The victors of the war have had 55 years to work on their side of the story, to use traitors and cowards to help them build a twisted history of our movement and military. The SS was a very elite and honorable cadre of men and women; we honored our God, our ancestors, our people, and we fought for Europe until death or defeat. It is my belief that any crimes the SS stands accused of must have impartial investigation looking at all sides. Oradour-sur-glane, le paradis, malmady, and many more seem on shaky legal ground. It was not policy, or okay in the SS to shoot prisoners or civilians unless a trial and lawful orders came from the top.

I have met with Dr. Morgen, who was a fellow SS jurist, after the war and he had grave reservations about the claims the Allies made. He agreed then with some claims, as he just wanted to return to private life and did not want to be bothered by the war anymore. Surely, there was some of our men who were corrupted, but as a rule, our forces behaved well in all areas, with few exceptions. The stories of our forces running around Europe, killing everyone we disliked are just false, they take an isolated incident that was complex with many viewpoints, and make it unlawful state policy. I believe as more people become curious and start to investigate these claims that a different truth will come out and prevail.

You were on the Eastern front and in the Baltics, what was your experience with the non-German population?

Dr. Sandberger: I was, I served in the RSHD to protect our Reich from terrorists and spies, and part of that work was to help our allies combat the enemy within the borders. I started out in the Baltic States and it was troublesome to see what just one year of Bolshevist control did. When I arrived in Estonia, we of course had the Jewish problem to face, when the Soviets invaded one of the first acts was to use loyal Jews to help point out Christians, and anyone who might be opposed to the Soviets. When we struck the Soviets in any area we freed the same scenario played out; Jews who did not retreat with the Soviets were hunted down and killed by militias and angry civilians.

This happened in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia; Jews were rounded up and executed by local militia who were enraged at what was done to their people. I had to file reports about these killings, which the victors then used to accuse us of the killings. I had to step in and order the arrest of some militia members who used their power to kill innocent people. Pressure was put on us to release them, as we needed their help for the war effort. These states insisted that all Jews leave; they demanded to be Jew free. We had to place all Jews under arrest, along with any remaining Marxists, all were interrogated and many were sent for resettlement in the East, we talked the mayors into allowing Jews who had done nothing wrong to return. I want to state that many Jews were left alone, and free to live their lives, as they did nothing against us or the people in whose land they lived.

Once the Jewish problem had been solved by rooting out enemies, I went to work helping to rebuild these areas; we opened the Churches again, retooled schools and brought our expertise in to give National Socialism to the people. Tens of Thousands flocked to join the fight, many more left to go work for better pay in the Reich. We had to be on constant watch, as the Soviets had many allies who infiltrated these nations and spied on us. When we caught saboteurs and spies, they publicly were executed and sadly we had to do this many times.

I moved into Russia once we had liberated an area, and went to work to help rebuild their destroyed infrastructure. The Soviets destroyed everything while they retreated, something our forces did in return when we were forced to retreat. This was done to deny the enemy any comfort or resources. It also hurt the civilian population. It was made clear to all that we were at war with Bolshevism, not the Russian people. We had 20 years of their propaganda to correct, and we had to deal with the hidden bands of terrorists that attacked our vulnerable rear areas.

My task was to secure the areas our welfare teams worked in, it was a hard job. These were the people who bore the brunt of attacks by terrorists many of whom ended up being Jews. One example of the barbarity of these criminals was in 1942 a bus full of nurses was being taken to a town to staff a hospital clinic that was being rebuilt. The bus was attacked and all nurses were murdered, some showing signs of being taken out and raped as they had blood and seamen on genital areas. The local SD office was assigned to track down who did this and a large reward was offered, and informants went to work. Informants gave names of those involved, they were tracked down, brought in for intense interrogation, and tried for murder.

This was a large band made up of Soviet soldiers, Jews, and others opposed to us. I ordered all to be executed as long as the convictions could be upheld. They were, and all who had helped hide, feed, or shield these killers were brought to justice, some being sent to work camps. Repeatedly we had fight these people, a large portion Jews, who worked against our allies and us. When caught, all were tried and sentenced according to the law that governed our decisions.

Did you work with Reinhard Heydrich, if so what was your impression?

Dr. Sandberger: I did, he was my boss and I have nothing bad to say about him. He was a very dedicated leader who shared the same vision as Reichsführer-SS Himmler. I remember how he followed to the letter of the law our orders regardless of whom he stepped over. I remember that right after the fighting ended in Poland he received a file from the police chief of an eastern German town at the request of a party leader. In 1939, a German girl of 15 was attacked and raped by a Polish man who illegally crossed the border to steal from our citizens, she was a member of the BDM and was walking home from a meeting in her uniform. The Pole saw her and attacked her, beating her so bad she had to be taken to Berlin for special treatment. She became pregnant, which an abortion was authorized as she was too young to bear a child, and it would be a sin to force her to bear a consequence of rape.

The man, caught in 1940 and interrogated, admitted he attacked her but denied raping her. The judge sentenced him to prison. Heydrich ordered this man be executed immediately, denied his family’s request for leniency stating the damage caused to this girl needed justice and closure. The man lived with his parents, so Heydrich ordered that if they wanted to claim the body they would have to pay for shipping, otherwise he would be cremated and ashes scattered in the trash.

Heydrich was killed by Allied agents, whom today claim they killed him because he was terrible to the Czech people. This is a complete lie, he was sent to the protectorate as the Reichsführer-SS felt he was humane, and could unite the Czech people to help the war effort. He was very successful, their productivity grew, and they were happy. The Reichsführer-SS even bragged about getting letters telling him how happy they were with Heydrich. He was that good.

Agents whom our enemies coached and trained were sent in to kill him as they hoped it would stop the good he was doing, and cause the population to think twice about working with us. They would also propagandize any reprisals carried out against the agents. Which they did, accusing us of raising a town called Liddice, but I am skeptical of any Allied claims, they are either false or misrepresented. In short, he was killed because he was such a good leader and human being.

What about the actions of the Einsatzgruppen. I understand you were part of this, and I have been taught these groups hunted and killed Jews and anyone else who was undesirable, killing up to 1 million.

Dr. Sandberger: Yes, one day the whole story of the holocaust will hinge on us, remember this, however, much like the number of Jews killed is wrong, the number of criminals we killed is nowhere near a million, maybe in the thousands. We were tasked with protecting our nation, and our sphere of influence. We were fighting the three most powerful nations on earth, so they had a lot they could throw at us. Part of their war was to send in agents to whip up the population to resist us. Again, I must state they fought in a criminal way, targeting anyone, military or civilian, who helped us.

Many times, we would see the results of their attacks, young, old, civilians, servants, militia, and military people murdered in the cruelest ways. As we ordered the arrest of Jews so they could be identified and tracked, many fled into the swamps and joined Soviet led bands, who at times could number in the hundreds. The Einsatz men had to track and hunt these animals, and when found they were dealt with according to the law of war.

We openly photographed the executions of these criminals, not to gloat or glorify what we had to do, but to show the world who we had to deal with. This was such a hard task, that many men broke down, you had to be very hard mentally, and to understand why it was being done, always remembering the victims of these beasts. I understand that today it is said that some Wehrmacht officers were angered about seeing some of these executions; I feel they embellished some stories to get sympathy from the Allies. Indeed these were hard to watch, and I felt sorry for the men who had this task to do, but we always remembered that there were victims who demanded justice.

It was so bad that the Reichsführer-SS had to meet with leadership to get them to understand that this was a hard job; but we could not let these people go. Once caught, identified as guilty, they had to be punished, and many times, it meant ending their lives. Therefore, this was the task of all the Einsatzgruppen, to fight terror and bring criminals to justice in occupied areas.

I can tell you about one large operation that happened in 1943, the propaganda from the Allies were alerting the bands we were in retreat so they really stepped up attacks on anyone helping us. A village close to the Estonian border had a sawmill that had been taken over by local Russian militia. They were working to help rebuild their village and worked with us. A terror band attacked them killing everyone, children, women, even dogs. This was one of many along the swamp lines; they then hid in the dense areas that were hard to get at.

We brought in every resource we could, locals, militia, Wehrmacht, and police. We came in from different directions, with the help of the Luftwaffe; we found a large camp with hundreds of bandits and their families. A large battle ensued, involving artillery, bombers, and small T26 tanks. This band was routed, most were killed due to fighting and any men left were executed. The women were sent to labor camps unless they had children, then they could be pardoned if they were just tagging along.

My area of control did very well in keeping the terrorists under control, so new duties awaited me as new threats appeared.

What was your impression of Reichsführer Himmler?

Dr. Sandberger: I always admired him. We did not always agree but he was always open to suggestions and other viewpoints. That is what made him a great leader; he treated everyone with respect and kindness. I remember him to be a hard worker, but he also enjoyed vacations and getting away. On the surface he seemed anti-religious but the more I worked with him the more I understood, he was only against religion because the Jew had infiltrated and twisted meanings of God’s word.

They were being called God’s chosen, and they put pressure on our churches to agree, teaching that anything a Jew did wrong was somehow Ok to God, so we should turn a blind eye also. This is an example of what he wanted to use the SS to fix, to turn our people back to their roots and away from false teachings of the church. I am a devout Christian and understood that in no way was the SS against religion, we stood against the devils children using our faith against us, to destroy us.

This was Himmler’s mission, to get our people to see they were misled; the SS was the vanguard to open their eyes to a truer way of faith and living.

He died at the hands of the English, and I do not believe the story that he took his life, I believe he was killed because he could tell too much dirt on the Allies. He knew firsthand what the concentration camps were really for, how they were bombed, killing thousands of inmates. How the gas chambers were a lie, how the bombing of the Reich caused the camp system to collapse in the last month of the war, condemning thousands to die. He had open channels to Zionists to send our Jews to Palestine, and to work with the Arabs to have a healthy transition. Look at what we have today, which will one day lead to war.

Do you feel guilty that Jews were sent to concentration camps?

Dr. Sandberger: No, I do not. The reason I can say that with a clear soul is that people today do not know what these aliens did to us to cause our reaction. It is said that we were just jealous of the success Jews were having and targeted them because they are smarter than we are, this is not true. They were such a small group in Germany but held most all of the power and wealth of the nation; something was not right with how they got to this point. As a rule their morals were not compatible with ours, they brought in all manner of filth, and pushed this on our youth. When the Führer removed them from power, they declared war on our nation, and promptly began to kill German’s abroad and sabotage our efforts at rebuilding our nation.

This all came to a head when the war with Russia started, since we freed many areas it was agreed that we would send the Jews who opposed us back from where they came. Our final plan was to remove all Jews, but during the war, we found that many Jews had actually been loyal to Germany and wanted to honestly help us. This put us in a dilemma because it meant we would have to choose who would stay and who would have to leave.

It was easy for some, as they openly defied us, and sought to wage war with the pen and sometimes sabotage. Others were criminals guilty of espionage, pornography, swindling, fraud, theft, and sex crimes. They were sent away to be resettled or to serve a sentence handed down by a court. As we occupied more territory, the population wanted their Jews out also, so we had to find ways to remove whole families in a humane way, while keeping families together. We created ghettos to house them; we opened camps to hold them until they could be resettled. This was all done in a safe and mostly voluntary way. If we wanted to kill them all, why build all the camps, hospitals, and facilities to care for them. Auschwitz had a daycare, swimming pool, store, soccer teams, and hospital, as many camps did.

We never intended to harm any Jews who were being resettled east, orders were to insure they were removed, but with compassion. I do not see how this could have been done any other way. The deaths that occurred I blame on the Allies, as they took away our ability to care for them. Belsen was a sick prisoner camp, which was hit by a bad typhus epidemic in the last month of the war, we could not stop it. I should add that in some areas, inmates who were released and given a free hand by the Allies turned their anger on the civilians, killing and raping many yet they went unpunished.

We do not hear of this today. In Auschwitz, deadly outbreaks struck, Himmler needed to step in to bring in highly trained medical teams to combat diseases, sadly, many died, and these were valuable workers for our factories. I know the photos seem to agree with the Allies’ story, but there is so much more to what is shown today. We only wanted resettlement of enemies, not what ended up happening. The Americans removed many Japanese, but because they had strong medical staff, and a good infrastructure very few died.

In closing on this topic, and I wish to not discuss anymore, many Jews lived in the Reich and were not bothered at all. They served our nation, stayed loyal, and did not commit any crimes. Some served in the armed forces, helped the war effort, held jobs in factories, and denounced what their brethren had caused.

You were charged with killing Jews, and sentenced to death can you tell me what it felt like to be on trial.

Dr. Sandberger: Well, it was not a good time I can tell you that. I turned myself in to the Allies, expecting to be released, as I was only a soldier who faithfully did my duty. Since I was with the SD I was a priority person, they wanted information about what I did and whom I worked with. Comrades warned me the Allies were out of control, and using no sensible legal basis for the crimes they accused us of. These trials had all the pageantry and air of being official and true, but upon closer examination, they were show trials, using vengeance, hate, and dirty tricks to force us to say things that we really did not agree with or have a hand in.

I was accused of ordering the killings of innocents in Estonia; they accused me of killing everyone who was missing. Jews, Gypsies, deviants, priests, pastors, and Russians. These charges could not be defended as no defense was allowed, the Soviets were allowed to introduce people that I am sure were nowhere near these areas. Being a lawyer, I could see right through the flimsy evidence and made up eyewitnesses. Witness’s that would defend us were not allowed to do so, the courts turned them away. A total show trial masked as legal precedent, every trial was like this.

I am a human so I was terrified at what was happening to me, some guards were cruel and harassed me, the interrogators many times were former German Jews who we kicked out, only to return to deal out their revenge. We all were guilty in the courts eyes, and had no way to defend ourselves, as the court would not allow the defense access to witness’s or to properly cross-examine, which is a crime in itself. I knew I was doomed, but prayed to God that he would somehow see me out of this when so many were having their lives taken from them, for only serving their nation in wartime. The reading of the death sentence was my lowest point in life.

Luckily, for me my prayers were answered, as my family was able to rally support and at first, my sentence was commuted to life, then with further intervention I was released after many years.

Do you harbor any anger towards the Allies?

Dr. Sandberger: Of course, I do and all Germans who lived through the war have anger and resentment for what was done to us. The Allies try to show that we were so very tired of Hitler and war, and welcomed their “liberation”; the truth is we capitulated because we had nothing left to fight with. You may watch wartime newsreels showing cheering crowds and happy children, but this is staged propaganda. I was there at the end, and the German people wanted nothing to do with “liberation” as we knew what that meant. Our women, raped and taken advantage of by Allied soldiers using starvation as a weapon to gain sexual favors, were the primary victims.

Many marriages in the States were destroyed I am told by GI’s taking German girls as trophies and leaving their American wives. This will forever be a stain on America if true. We never wanted to fight this war; it was forced on us by England, who would not let us out of it. America was not our enemy, but Roosevelt made it clear he would not be a friend of Germany. He illegally aided England, which brought his resources against ours, and in some case shots were fired. When the Führer declared war, which many criticize him for, he was only making it legal for our navy to shoot back.

The war with Bolshevism was going to happen at some point, our intelligence suggested that they were plotting to attack us, and we struck them first. Europe will one day thank us, fore even though we lost; we held them at bay and the western Allies blocked them from marching to the channel. I firmly believe, and a defector has told me, Stalin was planning an invasion of all of Europe, once England and we had weakened ourselves, it was always the aim of the Bolshevist to have world domination.

Weak, stupid, and corrupt leaders who failed to see the larger picture that Europeans were starting to succumb to materialism and laziness destroyed our plans of a strong, healthy, and united Europe. They were caring less and less about their peoples, and population numbers were shrinking, while the rest of the world was exploding in numbers. Therefore, while I hate the Allies for the war, they brought on; I wish for us to unite, now that Germany is reuniting maybe in the future this will happen.


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