No more than
(probably) eight days after their visit to Katyn, Stevenson had been removed to
an unknown site, while shortly after that the two American officers, Van Vliet
and Stewart, were returned to Oflag IX A/Z.
Major changes were afoot in the Oflag, as the Germans were preparing to
comply with the Hague Convention and were preparing a camp, in what was
formerly Poland, but now incorporated into the Reich, and which had housed
French officers to hold the Americans who were now flowing into the Reich after
being captured in battle.
The last POW to be
held in Berlin was Dr. Gilder, although, if he had been accompanied by David
Suttie, the New Zealander, it would have made sense, because then the Germans
would not have held him alone. As
earlier mentioned, I have hypothesized that David Suttie was one of the Other
Ranks brought to Katyn, and my reasoning flows as follows:
·
In
his November 1944 report Dr. Gilder mentions David Suttie by name as the person
who was to have accompanied him. The
question arises, why, in a reasonably short report, would Gilder mention the
name of a person who DID NOT accompany him?
·
During
the stay in Berlin, Dr. Gilder mentions a batman who serviced the officers and
states that he was a New Zealander.
·
In
his report to the Polish underground, Dr. Wodziński clearly states that a New
Zealander was present.
·
Finally,
Witold Kawecki, the journalist who joined the group on that leg of the
Wroclaw-Katyn segment of the flight, mentions an Australian in the group –
perhaps New Zealand’s linkage to Australia in the British Empire allowed him to
compound the two.
Perhaps, and admittedly, this is an enormous supposition, it
is Sergeant Suttie, attired in British battle dress, who is visible on one of
the photos included as an exhibit in the Madden Hearings. This is the only enlisted
man who does not turn his face away from the autopsy being conducted before the
group, which response could only be ascribed to his work in the hospital both
in New Zealand and in Rottenmunster.
It is during these
last days in Berlin that Dr. Gilder discovered that Stevenson had been sent to
a separate location, from which he was later sent to Bologna, Italy.
One afternoon Lt.
Col. Stevenson was bundled off by the Germans on about ten minutes notice. He seemed very surprised and quite uneasy as
he left the Jail. We never saw or heard of him again.
However, there was
no public testimony to this matter, and the report was simply placed in the
record and not read into the record. It
must be noted that there are several other cases during the Madden Commission Hearings
when material, which might require greater discussion and lead to difficult
issues, is simply placed in the record – and not read into it.
Neither did Stewart,
despite not being accompanied by a US Army counsel, as the rest of the military
witnesses were, make any comment pertaining to Stevenson’s removal from the
Arbeit Lager in Berlin during his testimony some four months earlier. (Although generally officers were held in
Oflags or Officer Lagers – the witnesses were quite clear in their
reports/testimony that this was an Arbeit Lager – presumably one for individuals
who were willing to cooperate with the Germans – thus the decision of the
Germans to locate the witnesses there – which indicated a desire to keep them apart
from any other group of POWs which was not cooperating with the Germans.)
.
© Krystyna Piórkowska
