Paul Blobel quotes

Paul Blobel was a German SS officer and war criminal, known for organizing mass executions during the Holocaust. Most notoriously, he led the Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine, where thousands of Jews were murdered. He was later convicted at the Nuremberg Trials and executed for his crimes. Here are 10 of his quotes:

The executions of agents, partisans, saboteurs, suspicious people, indulging in espionage and sabotage, and those who were of a detrimental effect to the German Army, were, in my opinion, completely in accordance with the Hague Convention.

Paul Blobel

Out of the total number of the persons designated for the execution, fifteen men were led in each case to the brink of the mass grave where they had to kneel down, their faces turned towards the grave. When the men were ready for the execution one of my leaders who was in charge of this execution squad gave the order to shoot. Since they were kneeling on the brink of the mass grave, the victims fell, as a rule, at once into the mass grave.

Paul Blobel

The nervous strain was far heavier in the case of our men who carried out the executions than in that of their victims. From the psychological point of view they had a terrible time.

Paul Blobel

After each firing order, when the shots were addressed, somebody looked at the victims, because the victims were then put into the grave when they did not fall into the grave themselves, and these tasks were in the field of tasks of the men of the individual Kommandos. The edge of the grave had to be cleaned, for instance. Two men who had spades dealt with this. They had to clean it up and then the next group was led there.

Paul Blobel

Our men taking part in the executions suffered more from nervous exhaustion than those who were to be shot.

Paul Blobel

Every spy and saboteur knew what he had to expect when he was arrested.

Paul Blobel

I would not say that they were happy. They knew what was going to happen to them. Of course, they were told what was going to happen to them, and they were resigned to their fate, and that is the strange thing about these people in the East.

Paul Blobel

Here lie my thirty-thousand Jews.

Paul Blobel

I die in the faith of my people. May the German people be aware of its enemies!

Paul Blobel