Testimony of Anton Ledderstatter

(June 18, 1947)

Summarized by Jan-Ruth Mills

Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

Biographical Information

Anton Ledderstatter, a German mason from Munich, was in Mauthausen and Gusen from August of 1940 until the liberation (219) because he was a Christian Scientist although “the Nazi special report says ‘for offenses against people and state’” (224). He worked in the administration buildings in St. Georgen and then in the carpentry shop in Gusen (220).

Various Defendants

Ledderstatter recalls that at time Heisig was deputy detail leader of his detail [unclear if this is in St. Georgen or Gusen] (220), he saw him slap a prisoner and beat another with a stick badly but “he was not too bad” (221).

Ledderstatter recalls Schuettauf giving orders to the guards standing in front of the Jourhaus (221) outside of the camp. “We had a little fun about him standing there because we knew he had been a parson at one time” (221). He was known as General Bauch. Ledderstatter does not recall hearing him give orders to the guards nor if Schuettauf ever had anything to do with work details (221).

Ledderstatter once received three pictures in the mail which was against the rules, but was not punished by Grill (222).

Ledderstatter recalls that Jungjohann always carried a stick and personally witnessed him beat prisoners on several occasions (222)

On 25 July 1944 Ledderstatter saw seven American flyers shot down during an air raid on the Herman Goering works [in Linz]. An American major with shrapnel wounds in his stomach was interrogated by Seidler then taken not to the SS dispensary but to Dr. Vetter in the prisoner dispensary who also interrogated him. The American died several days later (222). He did not hear if any of the other American flyers were beaten (223).

Ledderstatter reports that he only knew Tandler as “the Father of the Russians” (223). Of the six defendants, he says that in comparison with other guards Ledderstatter thought they were generally tolerable. “It may be that some of these did somewhere something else that I or we do not know about but so far as is known to me, they were tolerable” (223). He declines to say that Grill was one of the worst and says he did not know Hartung closely. He does not recall any of them being nicknamed “the Beast” (223).