ABSTRACT
What gave the prisoners a new chance was the situation facing Nazi Germany, especially in the east. Frpm the beginning of 1943, with the surrender of Paul us at Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht faced a steadily increasing need for men, and the whole German economy had a similar need for skilled labour. Many German Greens and Blacks accepted the offer to serve in the Wehrmacht, 1 and some Green Kapos were transferred in late 1944 to other camps where the crimes they had committed in Mauthausen were unknown. 2 But the SS had another reason for removing the old Kapos, and especially the old Lagerschreiber: if they survived they could testify to the crimes committed. 3 This explains the secret order, which Ziereis divulged on his death-bed, calling for the liquidation of the current crematorium Kommando every three weeks. 4 It also explains in part the dismissal and subsequent execution of the Lagerschreiber I himself. Josef Leitzinger was cordially hated by his fellow-prisoners. He beat everyone, and he once hit his fellow-clerk Juan de Diego. The litt le Spaniard waited his moment, and when Leitzinger was about to hit him again de Diego drove his elbow into the Austrian's mid-section with all his force. Leitzinger did not trouble de Diego again, but the Spaniards and the Reds were determined to oust him, and since Leitzinger was a drug addict they knew how to trap him. With the help of Professor Podlaha, who obtained the wherewithal, Leitzinger was given a massive dose and was then found by Bachmayer, on 12 March 1944, in a total daze. The Schutzhafdagerführer prompdy removed him from his post - certainly not because he was a brutal sadist - and sent him to Gusen. 5 According to the most authoritative source we have, 6 Leitzinger was shot in Gusen on 16January 1945 'while attempting to escape'. This account is neverthless refuted by Manuel Garcia, who enjoys the authority of 20 years as custodian of Mauthausen's post-war museum. According to Manuel García, who was also at Gusen at the time, Leitzinger was not known as a drug addict but he was known as a homosexual, and at Gusen he was murdered by another Lagerschreiber, a certain Kruska, who slit his throat with a razor. Leitzinger had entered into a homosexual relationship with his Block-altester, and Kruska killed him out of jealousy, whereupon die Blockaltester killed him in revenge. 7
