The prosecution didn't ask him a single question about the human-skin stuff.
DIRECT EXAMINATION
QUESTIONS BY DR. AHEIMER:
Q Please state your full name to the court?
A Nett, Heinrich.
Q What is your age?
A 47 years old.
Q What is your profession?
A I was a Criminal Secretary in the Reichs Headquarters of the Criminal Police in Berlin.
Q Since when have you been with the Reichs Criminal Police in Berlin?
A Since the first of January, 1941.
Q Where is your residence?
A In Dortmund. I also belonged to the Criminal Police Office in Dortmund. I was only detached to Berlin.
Q Mr. Nett, have you ever been in Buchenwald?
A I was only in Buchenwald from July, 1943, until January, 1944, to carry out the investigations.
Q In whose charge were you during your time in Buchenwald?
A The Reichs Criminal Police Headquarters.
Q On whose instigation were you sent to Buchenwald at that time?
A I received orders in Berlin to get together with Doctor Morgen and work on the case of an SS man [i.e. Bornschein]. I made my appointment with Doctor Morgen in Strasbourg who had driven ahead and gone to Weimar. I didn't know what it was all about.
[...; above from transcript 12 June 1947, pp.2914-2915]
CAPT. LEWIS: Direct examination on behalf of the accused Koch.
QUESTIONS BY CAPT. LEWIS:
Q During your investigations at Camp Buchenwald did you have occasion to meet also Mrs. Ilse Koch, the wife of the camp commander?
A Yes, and I arrested her.
Q When did that occur?
A I believe it was the 12th of September, 1943.
Q Before she was arrested did you have occasion to visit her house?
A No, at least I did not recall it. I don't know exactly. I have been in the house a few times, but I believe it was for the first time on the day I arrested her and after that a few times.
Q At the time of her arrest did Mrs. Koch know she was going to be arrested?
A No, this thing was a surprise.
Q Did Mrs. Koch know at that time that her conduct was being examined into?
A I don't think so. I cannot state it with certainty, but I don't think she had known it.
Q At the time of her arrest was a search made of her house?
A Yes, upon the arrest and after that, and since we didn't have the time to do it, the Gestapo of Weimar took care of it and they made an inventory of every piece contained in the house.
Q Did you partake of the search of Mrs. Koch's house?
A Yes, I took care of that and gave them instructions as to what they were to do. I also took the children to Mrs. Roedel, the neighbor of Mrs. Koch, because I had to take care of all of these things.
Q When you examined Mrs. Koch's house, did you have occasion to find there any articles made of human skin?
A That was one of the points with which Koch was charged and we paid particular attention to these articles made of human skin, but neither we [sic] found anything nor did the officials of the Gestapo who searched everything very thoroughly, nor did anyone else find anything there.
Q When you said this is one of the charges against Koch, did you mean Commander Koch or Mrs. Koch?
A Commander Koch, and all those charges preferred against Koch that he had gotten himself rich, that he had corporal punishment dealt out, and these things were brought to us by Weimar only [sic]. I didn't determine any such thing. One was able to determine that Mrs. Koch did not have too good a reputation and we tried to find out something about it, but were not successful. My personal opinion has always been that something like that didn't exist. We found prepared human skin in the concentration camp of Buchenwald and took it with us for the Criminal Museum in Berlin.
Q Did you examine the lamp shades in Mrs. Koch's house?
A yes, we saw those, too.
Q Could you determine of what material these lamp shades were made?
A Those were regular lamp shades. They were imitation pig skin or some material made of cardboard. Whatever it was, at least no [sic] human skin, not at all.
Q Did you examine the gloves you found in Mrs. Koch's house?
A We found quite a few gloves but none of them made of human skin, as has always been asserted.
Q Did you find any photo albums or family chronicles in Mrs. Koch's house?
A We saw family chronicles as well as photo albums, but not made from human skin. The stories of the prepared human skin were well known to us at the time. For that reason we looked for it but didn't find anything.
Q Did you have occasion to interrogate the prisoners in Buchenwald?
A Yes, in all respects.
Q Can you estimate for us the number of prisoners you interrogated in Buchenwald in connection with your investigation?
A No, that is impossible. No questioned [sic] dozens of them but I can't guess an exact number.
Q Did you have an occasion to interrogate prisoners in Buchenwald after Mrs. Koch was arrested?
A Yes.
Q Continue.
A We only started our investigation in the beginning of August. Five weeks after we arrested Mr. and Mrs. Koch and only after that our main investigation started, only after they had been arrested. Up to that time everybody was confused as to our activity there. Up to that time we only worked on the crimes against War Economics concerning Bornschein.
Q At the time you interrogated these prisoners in Buchenwald was it common knowledge that Mrs. Koch had been arrested?
A That became known quickly very quickly, not only in the camp of Buchenwald, where everything goes around fast, but also in Weimar.
Q Was there any reason for the prisoners whom you interrogated not to tell you the truth about Mrs. Koch?
A We tried everything to make these people talk. We told them we wouldn't tell their names. As a matter of fact, we would have treated that as confidential matter. However, these people would have said something if they had known something. They had no reason not to tell the truth. For that reason I ordered these people to come not to my official office but to an interrogation room which was far removed from that place and no one saw whom I ordered there.
Q Did you have an occasion to interrogate a prisoner by the name of Titz?
A Yes, this case at first promised to be very interesting.
Q Did you examine Titz after Mrs. Koch arrest?
A Yes, afterwards.
Q Did Titz at that time know Mrs. Koch was arrested?
A Yes.
Q Tell us what Titz told you?
A I told Titz in Miller's presence that he was going to be poisoned for the simple reason be had stolen some alcohol in the house of Koch and got drunk and put on the dresses of Mrs. Koch. For days and days I interrogated him and tried to find out what it was all about — this poison murder. He had every opportunity that if he had known something about the house of Koch he could have told me, mainly as Miller was present. I told him he was to be poisoned and I asked him to tell me what it was all about and to tell me all about the things that happened in the house of Koch. After I tried for days I finally gave up because all he did was laugh and say no.
Q Did Titz tell you he had ever seen lamp shades of human skins in Mrs. Koch's house?
A If he had seen something he would definitely have told me.
Q Did Titz tell you at that time that he had been beaten by Mrs. Koch?
A No.
Q Did any of the prisoners who you interrogated at that time tell you they had been beaten by Mrs. Koch?
A We heard repeatedly that prisoner had been beaten allegedly, but I didn't determine any.
Q Did a prisoner by the name of Froboess come to you and tell you what he knew about Mrs. Koch?
A The name Froboess is not known to me.
Q Did any prisoner come forward and tell you he had been beaten by Mrs. Koch?
A No, all they had to do was to put just one word on a slip of paper and put it on our desk in our absence. That would have been sufficient for us.
Q Did any prisoner do that while you were interrogating him?
A No.
Q Mrs, Koch was finally brought to trial, was she not?
A I wasn't there at that time any more. I was only there during the investigation and when the trial came up I was back in Berlin.
Q Do you know what the charges against Mrs. Koch contained?
A I don't know. Dr. Morgen took care of that. he compiled all the evidence and made the report. At any rate, we tried to charge her with the same thing that her husband had been charged with.
Q Did you ever have occasion to interrogate Mrs, Koch at the time she was arrested or shortly thereafter?
A At the time I interrogated Mrs. Koch myself.
Q And did you ask her about her activities in Buchenwald?
A Yes, I interrogated her very thoroughly, and I also interrogated her thereafter all the time.
Q Did she ever make any statement to you that she had the opportunity to look into the files of the prisoners in her husband's office?
A That's out of the question; she couldn't do that.
Q Did she admit to you at that time that she had reported prisoners for punishment?
A No, we couldn't prove that.
Q Do you know what the result of the trial against Mrs. Koch was?
A I don't know that.
[...; above from transcript 12 June 1947, pp.2927-2933]
Q [Prosecution] Now, Nett, you came to Buchenwald primarily to investigate corruption, is that not correct?
A [Nett] Yes, we didn't have any idea about other things before.
Q This was corruption of an economic nature, is that not correct?
A Yes.
Q And the other matters that you found there concerning murders and sadistic excess were merely incidental to the investigation concerning economic corruption, is that not correct?
A No, that is not entirely correct. As we were investigating these corruption incidents we noticed these abuses and then investigated those.
[...; above 13 June 1947, p. 2942]
Q As an experienced policeman did you get a confession from Mrs. Koch?
A During the first interrogation of Mrs. Koch I talked to her about these charges that had been made against Mr. Koch and God knows there was little left after we got through.
Q Doctor Morgen got a confession from Mrs. Koch didn't he?
A That may be so because Doctor Morgen worked for an entire year longer than I did.
Q And knows more about it, doesn't he?
A He must know more about it. In fact, he prepared the charges on this and I wasn't even there any longer.
Q You were interrogated by Mr. Kirschbaum, were you not?
A Yes. Interrogation? Well you can call it interrogation, I just call it instruction. You need something else for interrogation.
Q A what?
A Some questions were put to me and I was to answer them yes or no and I did to the best of my ability, but in my opinion it never got into an interrogation.
Q As a matter of fact didn't you say there were a number of things you didn't know about and didn't you suggest that Mr. Kirschbaum ask Doctor Morgen about them?
A Yes because I knew about this only by rumors. I suggested to Mr. Kirschbaum that he ask Doctor Morgen about them.
Q As a matter of fact you wrote down in your own handwriting some of those things that you didn't know about and told Mr. Kirschbaum to ask Doctor Morgen concerning them, did you not?
A I guess that's one other thing to show you how objective was.
Q That is true, isn't it, that's all I want to know?
A Yes I wrote down for Mr. Kirschbaum all these matters that were in doubt and told him to talk them over with Doctor Morgen in Nuernberg. As a matter of fact, he asked me.
Q When you were in Buchenwald did you know a man by the name of Herzog?
A I don't remember the name but this case of Herzog did show up in the investigation somewhere. I don't remeber in what connection and I am doing my best to give you information, but forgive me if I can't just remember everything.
[...; above 13 June 1947, pp.2958 - 2959]