MAJOR FARR: May it please the Tribunal, when the Tribunal rose yesterday, we were discussing the number of persons who might be involved in the concentration camp program with which the SS was concerned. Nothing better illustrates the integrated character of the whole organization than the concentration camp program.
WVHA, one of the departments of the Supreme Command, handled the administration and control of that camp program and dealt with the victims once they were in the camp. They were assisted by the Death's-Head Units, who furnished the guard personnel for the camps, and subsequently by the Allgemeine SS, which took over guard duties during the war.
RSHA played a part in the concentration camp program-the police arm of the SS-because through it the victims were apprehended and taken to the camps. Thus the SD appears in the picture, the personal staff, the first department of the Supreme Command, sort of the top office of the whole organization, and naturally it had much to do with the work of all subordinate departments.
Thus when the question is asked how many persons in the SS had something to do with the concentration camp program, it is a question which I think it is impossible to answer. You may point out how many persons were involved in the Death's-Head Units, who originally furnished the guard details; you might estimate how many persons were in the Allgemeine SS, but to say just what percentage of the whole organization was involved in that program, is something which I find myself unable to do.
I had just pointed out...
THE PRESIDENT: Can you say that one or another branch of the SS provided the whole of the staff of the concentration camps?
MAJOR FARR: By the staff, I take it, you mean guards at the camp, the camp personnel. You cannot do that. For example, the Death's-Head Units originally started off as being the units which furnished all the guard personnel. Subsequently, their task was taken over by members of the Allgemeine SS.
THE PRESIDENT: Those are both branches of the SS?
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MAJOR FARR: Both are branches, yes. Now with respect to the camp commandants, for instance, normally all high ranking officers in the SS were members of the Allgemeine SS, so doubtless personnel would be drawn from that branch. It is certainly not beyond question that some members of the Waffen-SS may have been called on to act as guards in certain camps. I do not think that you can say that there is no component of the SS which may not have had some of its personnel involved in the program.
THE PRESIDENT: That wasn't exactly what I meant. What I meant was: Could you say that one or other branches of the SS furnished the whole staff of the concentration camps?
MAJOR FARR: I don't think I can say that. I think I could say this...
THE PRESIDENT: What other organization was it that furnished a part of the staff of the concentration camps?
MAJOR FARR: You mean an organization other than the SS?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MAJOR FARR: I know of none.
THE PRESIDENT: Then the answer would be "yes" then?
MAJOR FARR: I thought Your Honor was referring to any one branch of the SS which was concerned alone with that. The SS, so far as I know, is the only organization which played a part in the concentration camp picture, except at the very end of the war when I think, as Colonel Storey said yesterday, some members of the SA were also involved as guard personnel of concentration camps.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Do you know the total personnel at the end of the war?
MAJOR FARR: Of the entire SS?
THE TRIBUNAL (lair. Biddle): Yes.
MAJOR FARR: That is something you would have to estimate. I quoted to the Tribunal yesterday the figures that D'Alquen gave as the strength of the Allgemeine SS in 1939. He said then that there were about 240,000 men in the Allgemeine SS. There were, at that time, about four regiments of Death's-Head Units, several other regiments of the Verfugungstruppe, a few thousand personnel involved in the SD, so that I should say in 1939 you had about 250,000 to 300,000 members of the SS. With the outbreak of the war, the Waffen-SS was built up from a few regiments of the Verfugungstruppe to about 31 divisions at the end of the war, which probably would mean that the Waffen-SS by 1945 had had some 400,000 to 500,000 persons involved. I take it that 400,000 to 500,000 members of the Waffen-SS would be in addition to personnel of the
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Allgemeine SS, who were subject to compulsory military service in the Wehrmacht. So that, if I had to estimate, I would say that probably some 750,000 persons would be the top figure of personnel who had been involved in the SS from the beginning, but that is an estimate.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle):Then you have no breakdown to show how many of those were civilians, clerks, stenographers, soldiers, and so on?
MAJOR FARR: No. When we are talking about SS members, we are not talking about stenographers who worked in the office, who were not members of the SS. By SS members, we mean personnel who took the oath and appeared on the membership list, either as a member of the Allgemeine SS, the Death's-Head Units, or the Waffen-SS. I would think that my figure of 750,000 was a figure including members of the SS, Allgemeine SS, the Totenkopf Verbande, and the Waffen-SS.
I was pointing out the shift of control of concentration camps to WVHA in 1942, which was coincident with the shift in the basic purpose of the camps, which heretofore has been concerned with custody of individuals for political and security reasons. Now the basic purpose of the camps was to furnish manpower, and I now want to point out to the Court the agencies of the SS which were involved in that manpower drive.
The Tribunal has already received evidence of an order which was issued in 1942, shortly after the transfer to WVHA of concentration camp control, directing Security Police to furnish at once 35,000 prisoners qualified for work in the camps. That order is our Document 1063-PS, and was received in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-219.
Thirty-five thousand prisoners were, of course, merely the beginning. The SS dragnet was capable of catching many more slaves. I offer in evidence a carbon, typewritten copy of a directive to all the departments of the SS Supreme Command, issued from Himmler's field headquarters on August 5, 1943. It is our Document Number 744-PS. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-455. That directive appears on Page 2 of the translation. It implements an order signed by the Defendant Keitel directing the use of all males captured in guerilla fighting in the East for forced labor. The Keitel directive appears on Page 1 of the translation.
I shall read only the Himmler directive appearing on Page 2 of the translation. The Tribunal will note that it is addressed to every main office of the SS Supreme Command. I read that list of addressees of the directive:
"(1) Chief of the personnel staff of Reichsfuehrer SS; (2) SS Main Office; (3) Reich Security Main Office; (4) Race and
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Resettlement Main Office; (5) Main Office, Ordinary Police; (6) SS Economic Administrative Main Office; (7) SS Personnel Main Office; (8) Main Office SS Court; (9) SS Supreme Command, Headquarters of the Waffen-SS; (10) Staff Headquarters of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of Germanism; (11) Main Office Center for Racial Germans; (12) Office of SS Obergruppenfuehrer Heissmeyer; (13) Chief of the anti-partisan combat...."
I point out to the Court that every one of the main offices appearing on the chart is a recipient of that directive. The next addressees are the Higher SS and Police Leaders in the various regions.
I continue to quote the body of the directive:
"Referring to Item 4 of the above-mentioned order, I order that all young female prisoners capable of work are to be sent to Germany for work, through the agency of Reich Commissioner Sauckel.
"Children, old women, and old men are to be collected and put to work in the women's and children's camps established by me on estates, as well as on the border of the evacuated area."
In April 1944 the SS was called on to produce even more laborers-this time 100,000 Jews from Hungary. The Tribunal will recall the minutes of the Defendant Speer's discussion with Hitler on April 6 and 7, 1944, which were found in our Document R-124 at Page 36 and were read to the Court in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-179-minutes in which Speer referred to Hitler's statement that he would call on the Reichsfuehrer SS to produce 100,000 Jews from Hungary.
The last source of manpower had not been tapped. To Jews, deportees, women, and children, there was added the productive power of prisoners of war. It was through the SS that the conspirators squeezed the last drop of labor from such prisoners.
I refer to a statement by the Defendant Speer which appears in our Document R-124 at Page 13 of the translation, the document itself having already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-179. The statement is found at Page 7, last paragraph of the original, Page 13 of our Document R-124, the next to the last paragraph on Page 13. That appears in Volume 2 of the document book. I quote:
"Speer: 'We have to come to an arrangement with the Reichsfuehrer SS as soon as possible so that PW's he picks up are made available for our purposes. The Reichsfuehrer SS gets from 30,000 to 40,000 men per month."'
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In order to insure SS control over the labor of prisoners of war, the Reichsfuehrer SS was finally appointed as head of all prisoner-of-war camps on 25 September 1944. I offer in evidence the letter referring to his appointment. It is our Document 058-PS. It is Exhibit Number USA-456. It will be found in Volume 1 of the document book. That letter is a circular letter from the Director of the Party Chancellery dated 30 September 1944 and signed "M.-Bormann." I quote, beginning with the first paragraph of that letter:
"1. The Fuehrer has ordered under the date of 25 September 1944:
" 'The custody of all prisoners of war and interned persons, as well as prisoner-of-war camps and installations with guards, are transferred to the Commander of the Reserve Army from 1 October 1944.' "
Passing to Paragraph 2 of the letter, I shall read Subparagraphs (a) and (c); I quote:
"2. The Reichsfuehrer SS has commanded:
"(a) In my capacity as Commander of the Reserve Army, I transfer the affairs of prisoners of war to SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen-SS, Chief of Staff of the Volkssturm, Gottlob Berger."
Skipping now to Subparagraph (c):
"(c) The mobilization of labor of the prisoners of war will be organized in joint action of SS Obergruppenfuehrer Berger and SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl with the appropriate offices for allocation of labor.
"The strengthening of security in the field of prisoner-of-war affairs is to be accomplished between SS Obergruppenfuehrer Berger and the Chief of the Security Police, SS Obergruppenfuehrer Dr. Kaltenbrunner."
Thus the SS finally took over direction and control of prisoner-of-war-camps.
So impressive were the results obtained from SS concentration camp labor that in 1944 the Defendant Goering called on Himmler for more inmates for use in the aircraft industry. The Tribunal will recall his teletype to Himmler, our Document 1584-PS, Part 1, which was read in evidence by Mr. Dodd as Exhibit Number USA-221. Let me now read Himmler's reply to that teletype. It is our Document 1584-PS, Part 3, and will be found on Page 2. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-457. I quote the beginning of that letter:
"Most Honored Reich Marshal:
"Following my teletype letter of 18 February 1944, I herewith transmit a survey on the employment of prisoners in the aviation industry.
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"This survey indicates that at the present time about 36,000 prisoners are employed for the purposes of the Air Force. An increase to a total of 90,000 prisoners is contemplated.
"The production program is being discussed, established, and executed by the Reich Ministry of Aviation and the chief of my Economic Administrative Main Office, SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen-SS Pohl.
"We assist with all the forces at our disposal.
"The task of my Economic Administrative Main Office, however, is not solely fulfilled with the allocation of the prisoners to the aviation industry, as SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl and his assistants take care of the required working speed through constant control and supervision of the work-groups (Kommandos) and therefore have some influence on the results of production. In this respect I may suggest consideration of the fact that in enlarging our responsibility through a speeding-up of the total work, better results can definitely be expected." I pass now to the last two paragraphs of the letter, which will be found on the next page of the translation:
"The movement of manufacturing plants of the aviation industry to subterranean locations requires further employment of about 100,000 prisoners. The plans for this employment on the basis of your letter of 14 February 1944 are already under way.
"I shall keep you, most honored Reich Marshal, currently informed on this subject."
Incidentally, I might call to the Tribunal's attention the fact that SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl, who was head of the WVHA, was also a general of the Waffen-SS, which goes to show that there is no manner in which you can characterize functions in the SS.
The extent to which the number of prisoners was increased through SS efforts is illustrated by our Document 1166-PS, which I offered in evidence yesterday as Exhibit Number USA-458. That document is a report from Office Group D of WVHA, dated 15 August 1944. I shall read the first page of that report, beginning:
"With reference to the above-mentioned telephone call, I am sending herewith a report on the actual number of prisoners for 1 August 1944 and of the new arrivals already announced, as well as the clothing report for 15 August 44.
"(1) The actual number on 1 August 44 consisted of: a) male prisoners, 379,167; b) female prisoners, 145,119.
"In addition, there are the following new arrivals already announced:
"1) From the Hungary program (anti-Jewish action), 90,000; 2) from Litzmannstadt (police prison and ghetto), 60,000;
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3) Poles from the Government General, 15,000; 4) convicts from the Eastern Territories, 10,000; 5) former Polish officers, 17,000; 6) from Warsaw (Poles), 400,000; 7) continued arrivals from France approximately 15,000 to 20,000.
"Most of the prisoners are already on the way and will be received into the concentration camps within the next few days."
This intensive drive for manpower to some extent interfered with the program which WVHA had already undertaken to exterminate certain classes of individuals in the camps. I offer a photostatic copy of a letter from WVHA, dated 27 April 1943, our Document 1933-PS. It is Exhibit Number USA-459. The letter is addressed to a number of concentration camp commanders, is signed by Plucks, SS Brigadefuehrer and Major General of the Waffen-SS. I read the letter:
"The Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police has decided after consultation, that in the future only mentally sick prisoners may be selected for action 14-F-13 by the medical commissions appointed for this purpose.
"All other prisoners incapable of working (tubercular cases, bedridden cripples, et cetera) are to be basically excepted from this action. Bedridden prisoners are to be drafted for suitable work which they can perform in bed.
"The order of the Reichsfuehrer SS is to be obeyed strictly in the future.
"Therefore requests for fuel for this purpose are unnecessary."
· The action "14-F-13" is not defined in the letter, but it is perfectly apparent what it means. Every human being, bedridden, crippled, no matter what his physical condition, from whom any work at all could be extracted was to be excepted from the action. Only the insane, from whom nothing could be expected, were to suffer the action. What could the action be? It is perfectly apparent. The action was extermination.
The SS, however, was to some extent enabled to achieve both goals: that of increased production and of elimination of undesirables. The Tribunal will recall the agreement between Minister of Justice Thierack and Himmler on September 18, 1942, our Document 654-PS, which was read in evidence by Mr. Dodd as Exhibit Number USA-218. I am not going to quote again from that document but will remind the Tribunal that the agreement provided for the delivery of anti-social elements after the execution of their sentences to the Reichsfuehrer SS to be worked to death.
The conditions under which such persons worked in the camps were well calculated to lead to their death. Those conditions were
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regulated by the WVHA. As an illustration of WVHA management, I call the Court's attention to our Document-PS, which I offer in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-460. It is an order directed to commandants of concentration camps, dated 11 August 1942, and bearing the facsimile signature, which does not appear on the translation but does appear on the original, of SS Brigadefuehrer and General of the Waffen-SS Glucks, who was Chief of Office Group D of WVHA. That is Document Number 2189-PS. I will read the body of that letter:
"The Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police has ordered that punishment by beating will be executed in concentration camps for women by prisoners under the ordered supervision.
"In order to co-ordinate this order the Main Office Chief SS of the Economic Administration Main Of lice, SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen-SS Pohl, has ordered, effective immediately, that punishment by beating will also be executed by prisoners in concentration camps for men.
"It is forbidden to have foreign prisoners execute the punishment on German prisoners."
Even after their death the prisoners did not escape the management of WVHA. I refer the Court to our Document 2199-PS, a letter to commanders of concentration camps dated 12 September 1942 and signed by the Chief of the Central Office Group D of WVHA, SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Liebehenschel. I offer this as Exhibit Number USA-461. I shall read the body of that directive, which appears on Page 1 of the translation. I quote:
"According to a communication of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD, and conforming to a report of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD in Prague, urns of deceased Czechs and Jews were sent for burial to the home cemeteries within the Protectorate.
"In view of different events (demonstrations, erecting of posters inimical to the Reich on urns of deceased inmates in the halls of cemeteries of the home communities, pilgrimages to the graves of deceased inmates, et cetera) within the Protectorates, the delivery of urns with the ash remnants of deceased nationals of the Protectorate and of Jews is henceforth prohibited. The urns shall be preserved within the concentration camps. In case of doubt about the preservation of the urns oral instructions shall be available at this agency."
The SS indeed regarded the inmates of concentration camps as its own personal property to be used for its own economic advantage. The Tribunal will recall that as early as 1942 the Defendant
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Speer recognized that the SS was motivated by the desire for further profits when he suggested to Hitler that the SS receive a share of the war equipment produced by concentration camp labor in ratio to the working hours of the prisoners. I refer to our Document R-124, at Page 36, which was read into evidence by Mr. Dodd as Exhibit Number USA-179. The Fuehrer agreed that a 3 to 5 percent share should satisfy the SS commanders. Himmler himself frankly admitted his intention to derive profits for SS purposes from the camp in his Metz speech to the officers of the SS Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler," our Document 1918-PS, Exhibit Number USA-304-the passage in question being found at the top of Page 3 of the English translation and on Page 10 of the original German, 7 lines from the bottom. The passage begins:
"The apartment-building program, which is the prerequisite for a healthy and social basis of the entire SS, as well as of the entire leadership corps, can be carried out only when I get the money for it from somewhere. Nobody is going to give me the money. It must be earned, and it will be earned by forcing the scum of mankind, the prisoners, the professional criminals, to do positive work. The man guarding those prisoners serves harder than the one on close-order drill. The one who does this and stands near these utterly negative people will learn within 3 to 4 months-and we shall see. In peacetime, I shall form guard battalions and put them on duty for 3 months only. They will learn to fight the inferior beings; and this will not be a boring guard duty, but if the officers handle it right, it will be the best indoctrination on inferior beings and inferior races. This activity is necessary, as I said, 1) to eliminate these negative people from the German people; 2) make them work once more for the great national community by having them break stones and bake bricks, so that the Fuehrer can again erect his grand buildings; and 3) to in turn invest the money, earned soberly this way, in houses, in ground, in settlements, so that our men can have houses in which to raise large families and have many children. His in turn is necessary because we stand or die with this leading blood of Germany; and if the good blood is not reproduced, we will not be able to rule the world."
One final aspect of SS control over concentration camps remains to be mentioned. That is its direction of the program of biological experiment on human beings, which was carried on in the camps. Just a few days ago another military tribunal passed judgment on some of those who participated in the experiment at Dachau.
THE PRESIDENT: There is no date on that document you just read, is there?
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MAJOR FARR: appears to be no date on the English translation. The original document bears the notation of a speech in April 1943.
At a later stage in this case, evidence of some of the details of this program of experiments will be presented. It is not my purpose to deal with those experiments from the substantive aspect. I shall show only that they were the result of SS direction and that the SS played a vital part in their successful execution.
me program seems to have originated in a request by a Dr. Sigmund Rascher to Himmler for permission to utilize persons in concentration camps as material for experiments with human beings in connection with some research he was conducting on behalf of the Luftwaffe.. I refer to our Document 1602-PS, a photostatic copy of a letter dated 15 May 1941, addressed to the Reichsfuehrer SS, and signed "S. Rascher." I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-454. I shall quote from the second paragraph of the translation, the fourth paragraph of the original letter. I quote:
"For the time being I have been assigned to the Luftgau Commando VII, Munich, for a medical course. During this course where researches on high-altitude flights play a prominent part (determined by the somewhat higher ceiling of the English fighter planes), considerable regret was expressed at the fact that no tests with human material had yet been possible for us, as such experiments are very dangerous and nobody volunteers for them. I put, therefore, the serious question: Can you make available two or three professional criminals for these experiments? The experiments are made at Bodenstandige Prufstelle fur Hohenforschung der Luftwaffe, Munich. The experiments, by which the subjects may, of course, die, would take place with my co-operation. They are essential for researches on high-altitude flight and cannot be carried out, as has been tried, with monkeys, who offer entirely different test-conditions. I have had a very confidential talk with the deputy of the Surgeon of the Air Force, who makes these experiments. He is also of the opinion that the problem in question could only be solved by experiments on human persons. (Feeble-minded could also be used as test material.)"
Dr. Rascher promptly received assurance from the SS that he would be allowed to utilize concentration camp inmates for his experiments.
I refer to our Document 1582-PS, a letter dated 22 May 1941 addressed to Dr. Rascher, and bearing the stamp of the Personal Staff of the Reichsfuehrer SS, and the initials, "K Br," which initials are those of SS Sturmbannfuehrer Karl Brandt. I offer this letter
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as Exhibit Number USA-462. I quote the first two paragraphs of that letter:
"Dear Dr. Rascher:
"Shortly before flying to Oslo, the Reichsfuehrer SS gave me your letter of 15 May 1941 for partial reply.
"I can inform you that prisoners will, of course, be gladly made available for the high-flight researches. I have informed the Chief of the Security Police of this agreement of the Reichsfuehrer SS, and requested that the competent official be instructed to get in touch with you."
The altitude experiments were conducted by Rascher; and in May 1942 General Field Marshal Milch, on behalf of the Luftwaffe, expressed his thanks to the SS for the assistance it furnished in connection with the experiments.
I refer to our Document 343-PS which will be found in Volume I of the document book. I offer an original letter, dated 20 May 1942, addressed to SS Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff, and signed E. Milch, as Exhibit Number USA-463. That letter, which appears on Page 2 of the translation and on Page 1 of the original German, is as follows:
"Dear Wolff"-the German says, "Liebes Wolffchen":
"In reference to your telegram of 12 May, our sanitary inspector reports to me that the altitude experiments carried out by the SS and Air Force at Dachau have been finished. Any continuation of these experiments seems not to be necessary. However, the carrying out of experiments of some other kind, in regard to perils on the high seas, would be important. These have been prepared in immediate agreement with the proper offices; Major Weltz (Medical Corps) will be charged with the execution and Captain Rascher (Medical Corps) will be made available until further orders in addition to his duties within the Medical Corps of the Air Corps. A change of these measures does not appear necessary, and an enlargement of the task is not considered pressing at this time.
"The low-pressure chamber would not be needed for these low-temperature experiments. It is urgently needed at another place and therefore can no longer remain in Dachau. "I convey the special thanks from the Supreme Commander of the Air Corps to the SS for their extensive co-operation. "I remain with best wishes for you in good comradeship and with Heil Hitler! Always yours, E. Milch."
THE PRESIDENT: Major Farr, hadn't you better read the letter on the preceding page? It may be capable of an explanation.
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MAJOR FARR: The letter on the preceding page, dated 31 August 1942, is also from General Field Marshal Milch, and is addressed to the Reichsfuehrer SS. It reads as follows:
"Dear Mr. Himmler:
"I thank you very much for your letter of the 25th of August. I have read with great interest the reports of Dr. Rascher and Dr. Romberg. I am informed about the current experiments. I shall ask the two gentlemen to give a lecture, combined with the showing of motion pictures, to my men in the near future.
"Hoping that it will be possible for me to see you at the occasion of my next visit to headquarters, I remain with best regards and Heil Hitler! Yours, E. Milch."
Having finished his high-altitude experiments, Dr. Rascher proceeded to experiment with methods of rewarming persons who had been subjected to extreme cold. I refer to our Document 1618-PS3 which is an intermediate report on intense chilling experiments which had been started in Dachau on 15 August 1942. That report, signed by Dr. Rascher, I offer in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-464. I shall read only a few sentences from the report, beginning with the first paragraph:
"Experimental procedure.
"The experimental subjects (VP) were placed in the water, dressed in complete flying uniform, winter or summer combination, and with an aviator's helmet. A lifejacket made of rubber or kapok was to prevent submerging. The experiments were carried out at water temperatures varying from 2.5° to 12.° (centigrade). In one experimental series the neck (brain stem) and the back of the head protruded above the water, while in another series of experiments the neck (brain stem) and the back of the head were submerged in the water. "Electrical measurement gave low temperature readings of 26.4° in the stomach and 26.5° (centigrade) in the rectum. Fatalities occurred only when the brain stem and the back of the head were also chilled. Autopsies of such fatal cases always revealed large amounts of free blood, up to a half liter, in the cranial cavity. The heart invariably showed extreme dilation of the right chamber. As soon as the temperature in these experiments reached 28°, the experimental subjects (VP) were bound to die despite all attempts at resuscitation."
I skip now to the last paragraph of the report. I quote:
"During attempts to save severely chilled persons, it was evident that rapid rewarming was in all cases preferable to a slow rewarming because, after removal from the cold
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water, the body temperature continued to sink rapidly. I think that for this reason we can dispense with the attempt to save intensely chilled subjects by means of animal warmth.
"Rewarming by animal warmth-animal bodies or women's bodies-would be too slow."
Although Rascher was thus of the preliminary opinion that rewarming by women's bodies would be too slow, means for conducting such experiments were nevertheless placed at his disposal. I refer to our Document 1583-PS, a photostatic copy of a letter from Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler addressed to General Pohl, dated 16 November 1942. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-465. I shall read just the first two paragraphs of that letter:
"Dear Pohl:
"The following struck me during my visit to Dachau on the 13th of November 1942 regarding the experiments conducted there for the saving of people whose lives are endangered through intense chilling in ice, snow, or water, and who are to be saved by the employment of every method or means:
"I had ordered that suitable women are to be set aside from the concentration camp for these experiments for the warming of those who were exposed. Four girls were set aside who were in the concentration camp for loose morals and because as prostitutes they were a potential source of infection."
I think it is unnecessary for me to go on with the rest of the paragraph, in which he expresses his dissatisfaction that a German prostitute should be used for this purpose.
To insure the continuance of Rascher's experiments, Himmler arranged for his transfer to the Waffen-SS. I offer in evidence a letter which appears as our Document 1617-PS. It is a letter from Reichsfuehrer SS addressed to "Dear Comrade Milch"-General Field Marshal Milch-dated November 1942. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-466. I will now read the first two paragraphs of that letter, our Document 1617-PS. I quote:
"Dear Comrade Milch:
"You will recall that through SS General Wolff I particularly recommended to you for your consideration the work of a certain SS Fuehrer, Dr. Rascher, who is a physician of the supplementary reserve of the Air Force.
"These researches which deal with the reaction of the human organism at great heights, as well as with manifestations caused by prolonged chilling of the human body in cold water, and similar problems which are of vital importance to the Air Force, in particular, can be performed by us
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with particular efficiency I personally assumed the responsibility for supplying asocial individuals and criminals, who only deserve to die, from concentration camps for these experiments."
I shall omit the next four paragraphs, in which Himmler reflects upon the difficulties of conducting such experiments because Christian medical circles were opposed, and pass on to the last paragraph on the first page of the translation. That is the seventh paragraph of the letter:
"I beg you to release Dr. Rascher, medical Officer in the Reserve, from the Air Force and to transfer him to me to the Waffen-SS. I would then assume the sole responsibility for having these experiments made in this field and would put the experiences, of which we in the SS need only a part for the frost injuries in the East, entirely at the disposal of the Air Force. However, in this connection I suggest that with the liaison between you and Wolff a non-Christian physician should be charged, who should be at the same time honorable as a scientist and not prone to intellectual theft and who could be informed of the results. This physician should also have good contacts with the administrative authorities, so that the results could really attract attention. "I believe that this solution to transfer Dr. Rascher to the SS, so that he could carry out the experiments under my responsibility and under my orders, is the best way. The experiments should not be stopped; we owe that to our men. If Dr. Rascher remained with the Air Force, there would certainly be much annoyance because then I would have to bring a series of unpleasant details to you because of the arrogance and presumption which Professor Holzlohner, who is under my command, has displayed in his post at Dachau by making remarks about me to SS Colonel Sievers. In order to save both of us this trouble, I suggest again that Dr. Rascher should be transferred to the Waffen-SS as quickly as possible...."
THE PRESIDENT: Is that letter from Himmler?
MAJOR FARR: Yes, Sir.
Now Rascher's experiments were by no means the only experiments in which the SS were interested. Without attempting even to outline the whole extent of the experimental program, I shall give just one further illustration of this type of SS activity. I refer to our Document L-103, which is a report prepared by the chief hygienist in the Office of the Reich Surgeon of the SS and Police, dated 12 September 1944. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-467. (Parenthetically I might note that the office of the Reich
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Surgeon SS and Police will be found in the personal staff department, as indicated by the second box on the right-hand side of the line leading down from the personal staff.)
I shall read a few paragraphs from this report, which is a report prepared by the chief hygienist in the office of the Reich Surgeon of SS end Police and signed SS Oberfuehrer Dr. Mrugowsky. It relates to experiments with poison bullets. Beginning with the first paragraph, I quote:
"On 11 September 1944, in the presence of SS Sturmbannfuehrer Dr. Ding, Dr. Widmann, and the undersigned, experiments with aconite nitrate bullets were carried out on five persons who had been sentenced to death. The caliber of the bullets used was 7.65 millimeters, and they were filled with poison in crystal form. Each subject of the experiment received one shot in the upper part of the left thigh, while in a horizontal position. In the case of two persons, the bullets passed clean through the upper part of the thigh. Even later no effect from the poison could be seen. These two subjects were therefore rejected."
I omit the next few sentences and proceed beginning with Paragraph 3 of the report:
"The symptoms shown by the three condemned persons were surprisingly the same. At first, nothing special was noticeable. After 20 to 25 minutes, a disturbance of the motor nerves and a light flow of saliva began, but both stopped again. After 40 to 44 minutes, a strong flow of saliva appeared. The poisoned persons swallowed frequently; later the flow of saliva is so strong that it can no longer be controlled by swallowing. Foamy saliva flows from the mouth. Then a sensation of choking and vomiting starts."
The next three paragraphs describe in coldly scientific fashion the reactions of the dying persons. The description then continues, and I want to quote the two paragraphs before the conclusion. It is the last paragraph on Page 1 of the translation, the sixth paragraph of the report:
"At the same time there was pronounced nausea. One of the poisoned persons tried in vain to vomit. In order to succeed he put four fingers of his hand, up to the main joint, right into his mouth. In spite of this, no vomiting occurred. His face became quite red.
"The faces of the other two subjects were already pale at an early stage. Other symptoms were the same. Later on the disturbances of the motor nerves increased so much that the persons threw themselves up and down, rolled their eyes, and made aimless movements with their hands and arms. At
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last the disturbance subsided, the pupils were enlarged to the maximum, the condemned lay still. Rectal cramps and loss of urine was observed in one of them. Death occurred 121, 123, and 129 minutes after they were shot."
The fact that SS doctors engaged in such experiments was no accident. It was consistent with an ideology and racial philosophy which, to use Himmler's words, regarded human beings as lice and offal. But the most important factor was that the SS alone was in a position to supply necessary human material. And it did supply such material through WVHA.I refer to our Document 1751-PS, which is a letter from the Chief of Office Group D of WVHA, dated 12 May 1944. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-468. I quote that letter. It appears in the original file on the last page. I quote:
"There is cause to call attention to the fact that in every case permission for assignment has to be requested here before assignment of prisoners is made for experimental purposes.
"To be included in this request are number, kind of custody, and in case of Aryan prisoners, exact personal data, file number in the Reich Security Main Office, and the reason for detainment in the concentration camp.
"Herewith, I explicitly forbid assignment of prisoners for experimental purposes without permission."
The translation says that the signature is illegible, but I think it appears from the original that it is the signature of Glucks, since he was the department chief of Department D of VVVHA. It was on the basis of being able to supply such material that the Reich Ministry of Finance was prepared to subsidize the SS experimental program. I offer in evidence a series of letters between the Reich Ministry of Finance, the Reich Research Council, and the Reich Surgeon of the SS and Police. They are our Document 002-PS, which I offer in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-469. The first letter from which I shall quote appears on Page 4 of our Document 002-PS and is from the head of the Executive Council of the Reich Research Council, addressed to the Reich Surgeon of SS and Police. It is dated 19 February 1943. I quote the first three paragraphs of the letter:
"The Reich Minister of Finance told me that you requested 53 leading positions . . . for your office, partly for new research institutes.
"After the Reich Marshal of the Greater German Reich has as President of the Reich Research Council entrusted himself with all German research, he issued directives, among other things, that in the execution of scientific tasks important for
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war, the available institutions including equipment and personnel should be utilized to the utmost for reasons of necessary economy of effort.
"The foundation of new institutes comes therefore in question only insofar as there are no outstanding institutes for the furtherance of important war research tasks."
I omit the rest of the letter
To this letter the Reich Surgeon of the SS and Police replied on the 26 February 1943. The reply will be found on Page 2 of the English translation. It is a letter from the Reich Surgeon SS and Police to the head of the Executive Council of the Reich Research Department, dated 26 February 1943. I quote the first three paragraphs of that letter. It begins:
"My Dear Ministerial Director:
"In acknowledgment of your correspondence of 19 February 1943, I am able to reply the following to it today:
"The statement of the budget for the 53 key positions of my office which you made the basis of your memorandum was a veritable peace plan.
"The special institutes of the SS which are to be filled, in part, with these positions should serve the purpose to establish and make accessible for the entire realm of scientific research the particular possibilities of research only possessed by the SS."
Omitting the next two paragraphs, I continue:
"I will gladly be at your disposal at any time to discuss the particular research aims, in connection with the SS, which I would like to bring up after the war upon the direction of the Reichsfuehrer SS."
An interview between the Reich Surgeon and Mentzel, the author of the original letter, took place; and on the 25th of March 1943 Mentzel wrote a letter to the Reich Minister of Finance, which will be found on Page 1 of the translation. It is a letter from the President of the Reich Research Department, Head of the Executive Council, to the Reich Minister of Finance, dated 25 March 1943. The letter begins:
"In regard to your correspondence of 19 December"-and then follows the serial number of the letter-"to which I gave you a preliminary communication on 19 February, I finally take the following position:
"The Reich Surgeon SS and Police, in a personal discussion, told me that the budget claim which he looked after is used primarily in the pure military sector of the Waffen-SS. Since it is established on a smaller scale for the enlarging of
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scientific research possibilities, they pertain exclusively to such affairs, which are carried out with the material (prisoners) which is only accessible to the Waffen-SS and are therefore not to be undertaken by any other experimental office. I cannot object therefore on behalf of the Reich Research Council against the budget claim of the Reich Surgeon SS and Police." The letter is signed, "Mentzel, Ministerial Director."
Thus it was because the SS was in a position to supply material for the program of experiments that it took the lead in that field of endeavor.
THE PRESIDENT: Does the letter on Page 4 mean that the Defendant Goering was President of the Reich Research Department?
MAJOR FARR: Page 4 of the translation? That I understand to be the case. The point of the letter being that Goering had laid down the rule that during the war there was to be no duplication of experiment 1 facilities. Therefore, the Reich Research Department to whom the Minister of Finance had turned for an opinion, asked the Reich Surgeon, "Why do you want to carry out this program of experiments?"
THE PRESIDENT: I was only asking whether the President of the Reich Research Department was the Defendant Goering.
MAJOR FARR: That is what is stated in the letter. I understand that to be the case.
THE PRESIDENT: Then what do the words, "President of the Reich Research Department" on Page 1 mean? Does that mean that the letter went to the Defendant Goering?
MAJOR FARR: No. The letterhead bears the notation "President of the Reich Research Department," and the letter proceeds from an office of that department, Head of the Executive Council. The letter was addressed to the Reich Minister of Finance.
Am; PRESIDENT: I see.
MAJOR FARR: I have concluded the concentration camp phase.
THE PRESIDENT: We will recess now for 10 minutes.
[A recess was take.]
THE PRESIDENT: It will perhaps be convenient that I should announce that the Tribunal will adjourn today at 4 o'clock.
MAJOR FARR: Through its activities with respect to concentration camps, the SS performed part of its mission to safeguard the security of the Nazi regime. But another specialized aspect of
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that mission must not be forgotten. The Tribunal will recall Himmler's definition of that task-a definition I referred to earlier-the prevention of a Jewish-Bolshevist revolution of subhumans; in plain words, participation in the Nazi program of Jewish persecution and extermination.
It would be idle for me to refer again at any length to the evidence relating to that program which the Tribunal heard a day or so ago from Major Walsh. I want to call attention to just a few documents showing how the program involved every branch and component of the SS.
The racial philosophy of the SS, which I dealt with at the very outset, made that organization a natural agency for the execution of all types of anti-Semitic measures. The SS position on the Jewish question was publicly stated in the SS newspaper Das Schwarze Corps, the issue of August 8, 1940, by its editor, Gunter d'Alquen, a statement which has already been read into evidence as Exhibit Number USA-269. It is our Document 2668-PS. I shall not repeat that quotation in which D'Alquen says that the Jewish question will not be solved until the last Jew has been deported, and that the German peace which awaits Europe must be a peace without Jews.
The attempted solution of the Jewish question through the "spontaneous" demonstrations in Germany, following the murder of Vom Rath in November of 1938, has been presented to the Tribunal. In those demonstrations all branches of the SS were called on to play a part. I refer to the teletype message from SS Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police and SD, issued on the 10th of November 1938. It is our Document 3051-PS. Portions of that teletype have already been read into evidence as Exhibit Number USA-240. I wish to read one further paragraph, which has not been read. It appears on Page 2 of the translation, the fourth paragraph. I quote:
"The direction of the measures of the Security Police concerning the demonstrations against Jews is vested with the organs of the State Police"-by which he means the Gestapo- "inasmuch as the inspectors of the Security Police are not issuing their own orders. In order to carry out the measures of the Security Police, officials of the Criminal Police as well as members of the SD, of the Verfugungstruppe, and the Allgemeine SS may be used."
With the outbreak of the war and the march of Nazi armies over Europe, the SS participated in solving the Jewish question in other countries in Europe. The solution was nothing short of extermination. To a large degree these wholesale murders were disguised under the name of "anti-partisan" or "anti-guerilla" actions and as such they included as victims not merely Jews but Soviets, Poles,
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and other Eastern peoples. With this anti-partisan activity I shall deal in a few moments.
I want to refer now to a few actions confined essentially to Jews. To take one example-the mass annihilation of Jews in gas vans- described in our document 501-PS, which was read into the record by Major Walsh as Exhibit Number USA-288. I do not think that that document appears in the document book, because I am not going to read from it. I simply want to point out that these gas vans, as appears from the letters, were operated by the Security Police and SD under the direction of RSHA. Or to take another example-the report entitled, "Solution of the Jewish Question in Galicia," our Document L-18, prepared by SS Gruppenfuehrer and Lieutenant General of the Police Katzmann and rendered to SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Police Kruger-that report has already been received in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-277. The Tribunal will recall that the solution, which consisted in the evacuation and extermination of all the Jews in Galicia and the confiscation of their property, was carried out under the energetic direction of the SS and Police Leaders with the assistance of SS Police units. I wish to read three short items in the report which have not already been read. The first is a text under a photograph which appears on Page 3 of the translation and on Page 3(a) of the original report. It is the first item on Page 3 of the translation. I quote: "Great was the joy of the SS men when the Reichsfuehrer SS in person in 1942 visited some camps along the Rollbahn."
The second is a balance sheet, which appears on Page 11 of the translation and Page 17 of the report. I read Item 3 on the balance sheet:
"3. Amount paid over to the SS cashier: a. Camps, 6,867,251.00 zlotys; b. industrial and armament factories, 6,556,513.69 zlotys; total, 13,423,764.69 zlotys.
"Further payments to the SS cashier are effected every month."
The third item I desire to read is the last two paragraphs of the report found on Page 20 of the translation and on Page 64 of the original document. I read the last two paragraphs of the report: "Despite the extraordinary burden heaped upon every single SS Police Officer during these actions, mood and spirit of the men were extraordinarily good and praiseworthy from the first to the last day.
"Due to the high personal sense of duty of every single leader and man we have succeeded in getting rid of this plague in so short a time."
The final example of SS participation in Jewish extermination to which I shall call the Tribunal's attention is the infamous report
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by SS Brigadefuehrer and Major General of the Police Stroop, on the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto, our Document 1061-PS. That report was introduced in evidence by Major Walsh as Exhibit Number USA-275, and the Tribunal indicated that it would take the whole report in evidence without the necessity of reading it in full. I shall not, therefore, read any further passages; but I do want to point out specifically two sections dealing with the constitution of the forces which participated in that fearful action. On Page 1 of the translation is a table of the units used.
THE PRESIDENT: It is here?
MAJOR FARR: Our Document 1061-PS. I am just going to call your attention to the table of units which were employed in this action, indicating the average number of officers and men from each unit employed per day. It win be observed that among the units involved were the staff of the SS and Police Leader, two battalions of the Waffen-SS, two battalions of the 22d SS Police Regiment, and members of the Security Police. The part played by the Waffen-SS came in for high praise from the writer of the report. The Tribunal will recall the passage which was read by Major Walsh in which reference was made to the toughness of the men of the Waffen-SS, the Police, and the Wehrmacht and in which the writer said that "considering that the greater part of the men of the Waffen-SS had been trained for only 3 or 4 weeks before being assigned to this action, high credit should be given to them for the pluck, courage, and devotion which they showed."
The Tribunal has already heard Himmler's proud boast of the part that the SS played in the extermination of the Jews. It occurs in his Posen speech, our Document 1919-PS, and was read into the record in the presentation of the case dealing with concentration camps. The passage to which I refer appears on about the middle of Page 4 of the translation and on Page 66 of the original. Since that passage has already been read, it is unnecessary for me to quote it again; but I do want the Tribunal to note that Himmler stated that only the SS could have carried out this extermination program of the Jews and that its participation in that program was a page of glory in its history which could never be fully appreciated.
I now turn to the manner in which the SS fitted into the aggressive war program of the conspirators and, too, its responsibility for the Crimes against Peace which were alleged in the Indictment. From its very beginning, it made prime contributions to the conspirators' aggressive war aims.
First, it served as one of the para-military organizations under which the conspirators disguised their building up of an army in violation of the Versailles Treaty. Second, through affiliated SS
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organizations in other countries and through some of the departments in its own Supreme Command, it fostered Fifth Column movements outside Germany and prepared the way for aggression. Third, through its militarized units, it participated in aggressive actions which eventually were carried out.
The Tribunal has just heard the evidence against the SA, which demonstrated that from 1933 to 1938 the SA were militarized and were in fact nothing but a camouflaged army. Some of that evidence referred to the SS as well. The pare-military character of the Allgemeine SS is apparent. I have already described the military character of its structure, the military discipline required of its members, and the steps it took to enlist in its ranks young men of military age. In addition to this volunteer army, the SS created as early as 1933 fully armed professional units. These were the SS Verfugungstruppe and the Death's-Head Units with which I have dealt yesterday.
While building up the SS as a military force within Germany, the conspirators also utilized it in other countries to lay the groundwork for aggression. The evidence, presented by Mr. Alderman, of the preparations for the seizure of Austria showed the part played by the SS Standarte 89 in the murder of Dollfuss and described the memorial plaque which was erected as a tribute to the SS men who participated in that murder. I refer to Exhibit Number USA-59 and USA-60, our Document Number L-273 and 2968-PS, which were introduced by Mr. Alderman. The Tribunal will recall the subsequent story of the events of the night of March 11, 1938, when the SS marched into Vienna and occupied all government buildings and important posts in the city-a story unfolded in Exhibit Number USA-61, our Document Number 812-PS, the report of Gauleiter Rainer which was read in evidence by Mr. Alderman, and in our Document Number 2949-PS, Exhibit Number USA-76, the record of the telephone conversation between the Defendant Goering and Dombrowski, which appears on Page 570 of the transcript of the record (Volume II, Page 417).
The same pattern was repeated in Czechoslovakia. Henlein's Free Corps played in that country the part of Fifth Column which the Austrian SS had played in Austria, and it was rewarded by being placed under the jurisdiction of the Reichsfuehrer SS in September 1938. I refer to our Document 388-PS, which was read in evidence by Mr. Alderman as Exhibit Number USA-26.
The items touched are Items 37 and 38 of the so-called Schmundt file. Moreover, as shown by Item 36 of that file, which Mr. Alderman read into the record, the SS had its own armed unit four battalions of the Totenkopf Verbande-actually operating in Czechoslovakia before the Munich Pact was signed. SS preparations for aggression in Czechoslovakia were not confined to
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military forces. One of the departments of the SS Supreme Command-the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle-which is represented on the chart by the third box from the top at the extreme right-was a center for Fifth Column activity. The Tribunal may recall the secret meeting between Hitler and Henlein in March 1938, described in notes of the German Foreign Office, Exhibit Number USA-95, at which the line to be followed by the Sudeten German Party was determined. The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle was represented at that meeting by Professor Haushofer and SS Obergruppenfuehrer Lorenz. And when the Foreign Office, in August 1938, awarded further subsidies to Henlein's Sudeten Party, the memorandum of that recommendation for further subsidies contained the significant footnote "Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle will be informed...." I refer to Exhibit Number USA-96, our Document 3059-PS, which was read into the record by Mr. Alderman, at Pages 789 and 790 (Volume III, Pages 75 and 76).
When at last the time came to strike, the SS was ready. I quote from the National Socialist Yearbook for 1940, our Document 2164-PS, Exhibit Number USA-255, on Page 1, Paragraph 2, of the translation, Page 365 of the original, Paragraph 3:
"When the march into the liberated provinces of the Sudetenland began, on that memorable 1st of October 1938, the emergency forces"-Verfugungstruppe-"as well as the Death's Head Units"-Totenkopf Verbande-"were along with those in the lead."
I omit the balance of the paragraph and continue with the next paragraph:
"The 15th of March 1939 brought a similar utilization of the SS when it served to establish order in the collapsed Czechoslovakia. This action ended with the founding of the Protectorate Bohemia-Moravia.
"Only a week later, on the 22d of March 1939, Memel also returned to the Reich upon basis of an agreement with Lithuania. Again it was the SS, here above all the East Prussian SS, which played a prominent part in the liberation of this district."
In the final act in setting off the war-the attack on Poland in September 1939-the SS acted as a sort of stage manager. The Tribunal will recall the oral testimony of Erwin Lahousen with relation to the simulated attack on the radio station at Gleiwitz, by Germans dressed in Polish uniform-what Lahousen referred to as one of the most mysterious actions which took place in the Abwehr. Describing his task of getting the Polish uniforms and equipment together, he said at Page 620 of the transcript (Volume II, Page 450):
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"These articles of equipment had to be prepared, and one day some man from the SS or the SD-the name is on the official diary of the War Department-fetched them."
The war erupted and the Waffen-SS again took its place in the van of the attacking forces.
During the war great use was made of the peculiar qualities possessed by the SS, qualities not only of its combat forces but of its other components as well. I turn now to a consideration of some of the tasks in which the SS was engaged during the war-tasks which embraced the commission of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity described in the Indictment.
The Tribunal has already received in evidence our Document 447-PS as Exhibit Number USA-135. It is a directive issued by the Defendant Keitel, on the 13th of March 1941, covering some of the preparations made 3 months in advance for the attack on Russia. Paragraph 2b of that directive, which was read into the record, provided that in the area of operations the Reichsfuehrer SS was entrusted with special tasks for the preparation of the political administration, tasks which would result from the struggle about to commence between two opposing political systems.
One of the steps taken by the Reichsfuehrer SS to carry out those "special tasks" was the formation and use of so-called "anti-partisan" units. They were discussed by Himmler in his Posen speech, our Document 1919-PS, at Page 3 of the translation, Paragraph 5, Page 57 of the original, last paragraph. I read those two paragraphs in which he discusses the anti-partisan units:
"In the meantime, I have also set up the office of the chief of the anti-partisan units. Our comrade SS Obergruppenfuehrer Von dem Bach is chief of the anti-partisan units. I considered it necessary for the Reichsfuehrer SS to be in authoritative command in all these battles, for I am convinced that we are best in position to take action against this enemy struggle, which is decidedly a political one. Except where units which had been supplied and which we had formed for this purpose were taken from us to fill in gaps at the front, we have been very successful.
"It is notable that by setting up this agency by division, corps, army in turn, we have gained for the SS the next higher step-which is the High Command of an army or even a group, if you wish to call it that."
What the SS did with its divisions, corps, and army out of which the anti-partisan units were formed, is illustrated in the reports rendered as to the activities of such units. I offer in evidence the Activity and Situation Report 6 of the task forces of the Security Police and SD in the U.S.S.R., covering the period from the 1st to
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the 31st of October 1941. It is our Document R-102, and will be found in Volume 2 of the document book. It is Exhibit Number USA-470. The report shows that so-called "anti-partisan" activity was actually nothing but a name for extermination of persons believed politically undesirable and of Jews. The report is a very carefully organized and detailed description of such extermination. Section I describes the stations of the various task forces involved, Section II their activities. The latter section is divided into parts, each dealing with a different geographical region-the Baltic area, White Ruthenia, and the Ukraine.
Under each area the report of activities is classified under three headings: (a) Partisan activity and- counteraction, (b) arrests and execution of Communists and officials, and (c) Jews. I shall read only a few typical paragraphs selected almost at random.
First, to show the units involved, I quote the second and third paragraphs of Page 4 of the translation, which also appear on Page 1 of the original:
"The present stations are:
"Task Force A, since 7 October 1941 Krasnowardeisk; Task Force B. continues in Smolensk; Task Force C, since 27 September 1941 in Kiev; Task Force D, since 27 September 1941 in Nikolaiev.
"The action and special commandos"-Einsatz- und Sonderkommandos-"which are attached to the task force continue on the march with the advancing troops into the sectors which have been assigned to them."
I shall now read from the section headed "Baltic area" and subsection labelled "Jews," beginning with the first paragraph on Page 5 of the translation, Page 8 of the original, second paragraph:
"The male Jews over 16 were executed with the exception of doctors and the elders. At the present time this action is still in progress. After completion of this action there will remain only 500 Jewesses and children in Ostland."
I skip now to the section headed "White Ruthenia," the subsection headed, "Partisan activity and counteraction." The paragraph I shall read begins on Page 6, Paragraph 5 of the translation, found on Page 11, Paragraph 1 of the original. I quote:
"In Wultschina eight juveniles were arrested as partisans and shot. They were inmates of a children's home. They had collected weapons which they hid in the woods. Upon search the following were found: 3 heavy machine guns, 15 rifles, several thousand rounds of ammunition, several hand grenades, and several packages of poison gas Ebrit.
"b) Arrests and executions of Communists, officials, and criminals. A further large part of the activity of the Security
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Police was devoted to the combatting of Communists and criminals. A special Commando in the period covered by this report executed 63 officials, NKGB agents, and agitators."
The subsection on arrests and executions of Communists, officials, and criminals in White Ruthenia ends as follows; and I read from Page 6 of the translation, Paragraph 14, Page 12 of the original, Paragraph 5:
"The liquidations for the period covered by this report have reached a total of 37,180 persons."
The final item I shall quote is from the section headed "Ukraine", under the subsection, "Jews." It will be found on Page 8 of the translation, Paragraph 10, Page 18 of the original, next to the last paragraph:
"In Zhitomir 3,145 Jews had to be shot, because from experience they have to be regarded as bearers of Bolshevik propaganda and saboteurs."
This report, the Tribunal will recall, deals with the activities of four task forces: A, B. C, and D. The more detailed report of Task Force A up to 15 October 1941 is our Document L-180. It has already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-276 and some paragraphs were read from it. It will be referred to again in the case against the Gestapo. I desire to read only two paragraphs, which show the great variety of SS components in such a task force.
I might point out to the Court that this elaborately bound report, which the Court has already seen, has a sort of pocket-part supplement in which appears a breakdown of the personnel engaged in this action, in graphic form. I shall read the component parts which appear on this chart in a moment. First, I will quote from Page 5 of the translation, fourth paragraph...
THE PRESIDENT: Does that book you just put in refer to the extermination of the Jews in Galicia?
MAJOR FARR: This is the report of Action Group A, an antipartisan task force which operated in the Baltic States in 1941.
The passage I will read appears on Page 5 of the translation, Paragraph 4 and on Page 12 of the original, first paragraph; I quote: "This description of the over-all situation shows that the
members of the Gestapo"-the Secret State Police-"Kripo"- that is the Criminal Police-"and the SD"-Security Service- "who are attached to the task-force group, are active mainly
in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, White Ruthenia, and to a lesser extent, in front of Leningrad. It shows further that the forces of the uniformed police and the Waffen-SS are active mainly in front of Leningrad, in order to take measures under their
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own officers against the streaming back of the population. This is so much easier because the task forces in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have at their disposal native police units, as described in Enclosure 1, and because so far 150 Latvian reinforcements have been sent to White Ruthenia.
"The distribution of the leaders of Security Police and SD during the individual phases can be gathered from Enclosure 2; the advance and activities of the task force group and the task force commands, from Enclosure 3. It should be mentioned that the leaders of the Waffen-SS and of the uniformed police, who are on the reserve, have declared their wish to stay with the Security Police and the SD."
I now quote from Enclosure 1a which was referred to, showing the constitution of the force. This will be found on Page 14 of the translation. It is the graphic chart which I showed the Court a few moments ago, the translation having simply the breakdown of the components. I quote:
"Total strength of Task Force Group A, 990; Waffen-SS, 340, 34.4 percent; drivers, 172, 17.4 percent; administration, 18, 1.8 percent; Security Service"-SD-"35, 3.5 percent; Criminal Police"-Kripo-"41, 4.1 percent; State Police"-Stapo-"89, 9.0 percent; auxiliary police, 87, 8.8 percent; Order Police, 133, 13.4 percent; female employees, 13, 1.3 percent; interpreters, 51, 5.1 percent; telautograph operators, 3, 0.3 percent; wireless operators, 8, 0.8 percent."
The Tribunal will observe that in that list there appear the Waffen-SS, the SD, Criminal Police, the Gestapo, and the ordinary police, all of which were part of the SS or under SS jurisdiction.
One final report of anti-partisan activity may be referred to. It is a report from the General Commissar for White Ruthenia to the Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories. It is our Document R-135, which I think is in the document book under 1475-PS-two document numbers have been combined. That document was introduced into evidence by Major Walsh as Exhibit Number USA-289, and he read into the record the letter from the Reich Commissar of the Eastern Territories transmitting the report in question. The letter he read appears on Page 1 of the translation. I desire to read a paragraph or two from the report itself, which is found on Page 3 of the translation. It deals with the results of the police operation "Cottbus." I quote the first paragraph:
"SS Brigadefuehrer, Major General of Police Von Gottberg reports that the operation 'Cottbus' had the following result during the period mentioned: Enemy dead, 4,500; dead suspected of belonging to bands, 5,000; German dead, 59."
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I think it is unnecessary to continue further with the list. I skip to the fourth paragraph of the report:
"The figures mentioned above indicate that again a heavy destruction of the population must be expected. If only 492 rifles are taken from 4,500 enemy dead, this discrepancy shows that among these enemy dead were numerous peasants from the country. The Battalion Dirlewanger especially has a reputation for destroying many human lives. Among the 5,000 people suspected of belonging to bands, there were numerous women and children.
"By order of the Chief of Anti-Partisan Combat, SS Obergruppenfuehrer Von dem Bach, units of the Armed Forces have also participated in the operation."
This is as far as I will quote.
The Tribunal will recall that SS Obergruppenfuehrer Von dem Bach was referred to in the Posen speech by Himmler as "our comrade" whom he had placed in charge of anti-partisan activity.
The activities I have just dealt with were joint activities, in which the Gestapo, Order Police, the Waffen-SS, and SS police regiments were all involved. But these units were also used individually to carry out tasks of such a nature.
I offer in evidence a letter from the Chief of the Command Office of the Waffen-SS, our Document 1972-PS, as Exhibit Number USA-471. It is a letter from the Chief of the Command Office of the Waffen-SS to the Reichsfuehrer SS, dated 14 October 1941; subject: "Intermediate Report on Civilian State of Emergency." I shall read that letter; I quote:
"I deliver the following interim report regarding the commitment of the Waffen-SS in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia during the civilian state of emergency:
"In turn all battalions of the Waffen-SS in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia were assigned to shootings and hangings.
"Up till now there occurred in Prague 99 shootings and 21 hangings, in Brunt 54 shootings and 17 hangings; total: 191 executions (including 16 Jews).
"A complete report regarding other measures and on the conduct of the officers, noncommissioned officers, and men will be made following the termination of the civilian state of emergency."
It is not surprising that units of the Waffen-SS and the branches which had thus been employed in extermination actions and in the execution of civilians are also to be found violating the laws of warfare when carrying on ordinary combat operations. I offer in
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evidence a supplementary report of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Court of Inquiry in regard to shooting of allied prisoners of war by the 12th SS Panzer Division in Normandy, France, between the 7th and 21st of June 1944. It is our Document 2997-PS, Exhibit Number USA-472. Extracts from that report consist of the formal record of the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry and the statement of its findings are included in the document book under that document number. They have been translated into German. Under Article 21 of the Charter, this Tribunal is directed to take judicial notice of the documents of committees set up in various Allied countries for the investigation of War Crimes and also of the records and findings of military or other tribunals of any of the United Nations. This report falls squarely within that provision. Therefore, without reading portions of the document, I shall summarize the findings of the Court of Inquiry which are set out on Pages 8 to 10 of the document. The court concluded that there occurred between the 7th and the 17th of June 1944 in Normandy, seven cases of violations of the laws of war...
THE PRESIDENT: What page?
MAJOR FARR: I am not quoting, I am summarizing what appears on Pages 8 to 10.
There occurred seven cases of violations of the laws of war, involving the shooting of 64 unarmed Allied prisoners of war in uniform, many of whom had been previously wounded and none of whom had resisted or endeavored to escape; that the perpetrators were members of the 12th SS Panzer Division, the so-called Hitler Jugend Division; that enlisted men of the 15th Company of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of that Division were given secret orders to the effect that SS troops shall take no prisoners and that prisoners are to be executed after having been interrogated; that similar orders were given to men of the 3rd Battalion of the 26th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the Division and of the 12th SS Engineering and Reconnaissance Battalions; and that the conclusion was irresistible that it was understood throughout the division that a policy of denying quarter or executing prisoners after interrogation was openly approved.
Other combatants met a similar fate at the hands of other components of the SS. I refer to the execution of Allied fliers, of commandos and paratroopers, and of escaped prisoners of war who were turned over to the SD to be destroyed. Evidence of these actions will be presented in the case against the Gestapo.
Combatants who were taken prisoner encountered the SS in another form. In the case against the Gestapo, evidence will be presented of commando groups stationed in prisoner-of-war camps to select prisoners for what the Nazis euphemistically called "special
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treatment". Finally, the entire control of prisoners of war was turned over to the Reichsfuehrer SS. I have read in evidence this morning our Document 058-PS which provided for the direction of all prisoner-of-war camps by Himmler.
The final but vital phase of the conspiracy in which the SS played a leading role must be mentioned. The permanent colonization of conquered territories, the destruction of their national existence, and the permanent extension of the German frontier were fundamental objects of the conspirators' plans.
The Tribunal received evidence, a day or so ago, of the manner in which these objectives were carried out through the forcible evacuation and resettlement of inhabitants of conquered territories, confiscation of their properties, denationalization and re-education of persons of German blood, and the colonization of the conquered territories by Germans.
The SS was the logical agency to formulate and carry out the program. I have read into the record already the numerous statements made by Himmler as to SS training to play the role of the aristocracy of the new Europe. He put those theories into practice when he was appointed, on October 7, 1939, as Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of German folkdom. The decree by which he was appointed to that office, our Document 686-PS, has already been introduced into evidence as Exhibit Number USA-305. I shall not, therefore, read it.
To make and carry out plans for the program of evacuation and resettlement, a new department of the SS Supreme Command was created: Staff Headquarters of the Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of German nationality. That is indicated on the chart by the fourth box from the top, on the extreme right-hand side.
The functions of this office are described in the Organization Book of the NSDAP for 1943, our Document 2640-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-323. I shall read the description of the functions of that department appearing on Page 3 of the translation, the last paragraph, and Page 421 of the original. I quote:
"The main office of the staff of the Reich Commissioner for the Preservation of German Nationality is entrusted with the whole settlement and constructive planning, for inclusion within the Reich of all those territories under the authority of the Reich, including all administrative and economic questions in connection with the settlement, especially the deployment, of manpower for this purpose."
The colonization program had two principal objectives: First, the destruction of the conquered peoples by exterminating them,
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deporting and confiscating their property; second, settling racial Germans on the newly acquired land.
The extermination actions conducted by the SS, as to which I have just introduced evidence, contributed in part to clearing the conquered territories of persons who were deemed dangerous to the Nazi plan. But not every undesirable could be liquidated. Mass deportations accomplished the twin purpose of providing labor and of freeing the land for German colonists.
Evidence as to the participation of SS agencies in deporting persons to concentration camps I have already introduced.
The evacuation and resettlement program required the use of further deporting agencies. I quote from our Document 2163-PS, the National Socialist Year Book for 1941, Exhibit Number USA-444. The passage in question appears on Page 3 of the translation, Paragraph 5, and at Page 195 of the original. I quote:
"For some time now, the Reichsfuehrer SS has had at his disposal an office under the management of SS Obergruppenfuehrer Lorenz, the National German Central Office"-Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VM).
"This office has the task of dealing with national German questions and of gathering the required proofs.
"In addition to the VM, the Immigration Center Office (EWZ), with the Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service of the SS (under the management of SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. Sandberger) and the Settlement Staff of the Reich Commissioner were created which, in co-operation with the National Socialist Welfare Organization and the Reich Railroad Agency, took charge of the migration of national Germans."
I also offer in evidence the affidavit of Otto Hoffmann, SS Obergruppenfuehrer and general of the Waffen-SS and Police, our Document L-49. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-473. Hoffmann was Chief of the Main Office for Race and Settlement in the SS Supreme Command, until 1943. This affidavit was taken on August 4, 1945, at Freising, Germany. I shall read Paragraph 2 of that affidavit:
"The executive power, in other words the carrying out of all so-called resettlement actions, that is to say, sending away of Polish and Jewish settlers and those of non-German blood from a territory in Poland destined for Germanization, was in the hands of the Chief of the RSHA (Heydrich, and later Kaltenbrunner, since the end of 1942). The Chief of the RSHA also supervised and issued orders to the so-called immigration center, which classified the Germans living abroad who returned to Germany and directed them to the individual
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farms already freed. The latter was done in agreement with the Staff Main Office of the Reichsfuehrer SS."
Other SS agencies were involved in the program for deportation. The Tribunal has already received in evidence our Document 1352-PS, as Exhibit Number USA-176. It is a report relating to the confiscation of Polish agricultural enterprises, dated May 22, 1940, and signed "Kusche." Portions of that document dealing with the confiscation of Polish agricultural enterprises and the deportation of Polish owners of the land to Germany were read into the record. I shall read only one further paragraph showing SS personnel involved in this action. It appears on Page 2 of the translation, the first full paragraph; and on Page 10 of the original, Paragraph 2.
Referring to the deportation of Polish farmers, the report says; and I quote:
"Means of transportation to the railroad can be provided: 1. By the enterprise of the East German Corporation of Agricultural Development; 2. By the SS noncommissioned officers school in Lublinitz and the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
"These two latter places will also detail the necessary SS men for the day of the confiscation, and so forth."
The extent to which almost all departments of the Supreme Command of the SS were concerned with the evacuation program is shown by the minutes of a meeting on the 4th of August 1942 dealing with the deportation of Alsatians. It is our Document R-114, and was received in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-314. I shall read only the list of persons and offices represented at that conference, since the body of the report has been read in part into the record already.
I start at the beginning of the document, Page 1 of R-114:
"Memo on meeting of 4. 8. 42. Subject: General directions for the treatment of deported Alsatians.
"Present: SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Stier, SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Petri, R.R. Hoffmann, Dr. Scherler, SS Untersturmfuehrer Forster;"-there is a notation next to their names of "Staff Main Office"; then-"SS Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Hinrichs, Chief of Estate Office and Settlement Staff, Strasbourg; SS Sturmbannfuehrer Bruckner, Racial German Arbitration Bureau;"-Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle-"SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Hummitsch, Reich Security Main Office;"-Reichssicherheitshauptamt-"SS Untersturmfuehrer Dr. Sieder, Main Office for
Race and Settlement;"-RUS-Hauptamt-"Dr. Labes, D.U.T."
The SS not only destroyed and deported conquered peoples and confiscated their property, it also repopulated the conquered regions
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with so-called racial Germans. Not all Germans were deemed reliable colonists, however. Those who were not were returned to Germany for re-Germanization and re-education along Nazi lines.
A typical instance of the fate of such Germans is told in our Document Number R-112, which has already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-309. It is a decree of the Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of Germandom. That decree, as the Tribunal will recall, dealt with the treatment to be accorded so-called "Polonized" Germans. By the terms of that decree two SS functionaries were charged with the responsibility for the re-Germanization program: the Higher SS and Police Leaders, and the Gestapo.
I think it is unnecessary for me to quote from that report, since portions have already been read into evidence. I will refer the Court specifically to Section III of the decree, which appears on Page 7 of the translation, and to Section IV of the decree, which appears on the same page, both of which indicate that the Higher SS and Police Leaders and the Gestapo were responsible for the re-Germanization actions.
In the final stage of the process, the resettlement of the conquered lands by racially and politically desirable Germans, still other SS agencies participated. I quote again from our Document 2163-PS, the National Socialist Year Book for 1941, Exhibit Number USA-444. The passage appears on Page 3 of the translation, Paragraph 7, and on Page 195 of the original. I quote:
"Numerous SS leaders and SS men helped with untiring effort in bringing about this systematic migration of peoples which has no parallel in history.
"There were many authoritative and administrative difficulties which, however, were immediately overcome due to the unbureaucratic working procedure. This was especially guaranteed above all by the employment of the SS.
"The procedure called 'Durchschleusung' takes 3 to 4 hours as a rule. The re-settler is being passed through eight or nine offices, following each other in organic order: Registration Office, card-index Office, certificate and photo Office, property Office, and biological, hereditary, and sanitary test of fines. The latter was entrusted to doctors and medical personnel of the SS and of the Armed Forces. The SS Corps Areas Alpenland, Northwest, Baltic Sea, Fulda-Werra, South and Southeast, the SS Main Office, the NPEA"-National Political Education Institution-"Vienna, and the SS Cavalry School in Hamburg, provided most of the SS officers and SS noncommissioned officers who worked at this job of resettlement."
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I omit the next three paragraphs and continue with the year book's conclusion as to the SS participation in the colonization scheme:
"The settlement, establishment, and care of the newly-won peasantry in the liberated Eastern Territory will be one of the most cherished tasks of the SS in the whole future."
THE PRESIDENT: This might be a good time to break off until 2 o'clock.
MAJOR FARR: Yes, Sir.
[A recess was taken until 1400 hours.]
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Afternoon Session
MAJOR FARR: In the course of its development from a group of strong-arm bodyguards, some two hundred in number, to a complex organization participating in every field of Nazi endeavor, the SS found room for its members in high places; and persons in high places found for themselves a position in the SS.
Of the defendants charged in the Indictment, seven were very high ranking officers in the SS. They are the Defendants Ribbentrop, Hess, Kaltenbrunner, Bormann, Sauckel, Neurath, and Seyss-Inquart. The vital part that the Defendant Kaltenbrunner played in the SS, in the SD, and in the entire Security Police will be shown by evidence to be presented after the case on the Gestapo has gone in. With respect to the other six defendants whom I have named, I desire to call the Tribunal's attention now to the fact of their membership in the SS. That fact is rather a matter of judicial notice than proof. Evidence of the fact is to be found in two official publications which I shall now offer the Court.
The first is this black book-the membership list of the SS as of December 1, 1936. This book contains a list of members of the SS arranged according to rank. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-474 (Document Number USA-474). Turning to Page 8 of this book, line 2, we find the following: The name "Hess, Rudolf" followed by the notation, "By authority of the Fuehrer the right to wear the uniform of an SS Obergruppenfuehrer." I now offer the 1937 edition of the same membership list as Exhibit Number USA475 (Document Number USA-475). Turning to Page 10, line 50, we find the name "Bormann, Martin"; and in line with his name on the opposite page under the column headed "Gruppenfuehrer," the following date: 30 January 1937.
In the same edition on Page 12, line 56, appears the name "van Neurath, Constantin," and on the opposite page under the column headed "Gruppenfuehrer," the date "18 September 1937." The other publication to which I refer is Der Grossdeutsche Reichstag for the fourth voting period, a manual edited by E. Kienast, Ministerial Director of the German Reichstag. This is an official handbook containing biographical data as to members of the Reichstag. It is Document Number 2381-PS, and I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-476. On Page 349 the following appears: "van Ribbentrop, Joachim, Reichsminister des Auswartigen, SS Obergruppenfuehrer." On Page 360 the following appears: "Sauckel, Fritz, Gauleiter und Reichsstatthalter in Thuringen, SS Obergruppenfuehrer." On Page 389 the following appears: "Seyss-Inquart, Arthur, Dr. fur., Reichsminister, SS Obergruppenfuehrer."
THE PRESIDENT: What was the date of that book?
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MAJOR FARR: This book covers the fourth voting period, beginning on 10 April 1938 and covering the period up to 30 January 1947-that is, the voting period covers that course of years. The edition, I think, was in 1943. I might point out that the rank of the defendants mentioned in the 1936 and 1937 editions of the membership list of the SS may not be the final rank they held. They were Gruppenfuehrer at that time, but they were members of the SS, as shown by the book.
It is our contention that the SS, as defined in Appendix B. Page 36 of the Indictment, was an unlawful organization. As an organization founded on the principle that persons of "German blood" were a "master race" it exemplified a basic Nazi doctrine. It served as one of the means through which the conspirators acquired control of the German Government. The operations of the SD and of the SS Totenkopf Verbande in concentration camps were means used by the conspirators to secure their regime and terrorize their opponents, as alleged in Count One. In the Nazi program of Jewish extermination, all branches of the SS were involved from the very beginning. Through the Allgemeine SS as a pare-military organization, the SS Verfugungstruppe and SS Totenkopf Verbande as professional combat forces, and the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle as a Fifth Column agency, the SS participated in preparations for aggressive war and, through its militarized units, in the waging of aggressive war in the West and in the East, as set forth in Counts One and Two of the Indictment. In the course of such war all components of the SS had a part in the War Crimes and the Crimes against Humanity set forth in Counts Three and Four of the Indictment: the murder and ill-treatment of civilian populations in occupied territory, the murder and ill-treatment of prisoners of war, and the Germanization of occupied territories.
The evidence has shown that the SS was a single enterprise-a unified organization. Some of its functions were, of course performed by one branch or department or office, some by another. No single branch or department participated in every phase of its activity, but every branch and department and office was necessary to the functioning of the whole. The situation is much the same as in the case of the individual defendants at the bar. Not all participated in every act of the conspiracy; but all, we contend, performed a contributing part in the whole criminal scheme.
The evidence has also shown that the SS was not only an organization of volunteers but that applicants had to meet the strictest standards of selection. It was not easy to become an SS member. That was true of all branches of the SS. We clearly recognize, of course, that during the course of the war, as the demands for manpower increased and the losses of the Waffen-SS grew heavier and
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heavier, there were occasions when some men drafted for compulsory military service were assigned to units of the Waffen-SS rather than to the Wehrmacht. Those instances were relatively few. Evidence of the recruiting standards of the Waffen-SS in 1943, which I quoted yesterday, has shown that the membership in that branch was as essentially voluntary and highly selective as in the other branches. Doubtless some of the members of the SS, or of other organizations alleged to be unlawful in the Indictment, might desire to show that their participation in the organization was a small or innocuous one, that compelling reasons drove them to apply for membership, that they were not fully conscious of its aims or that they were not mentally responsible when they became members. Such facts might or might not be relevant, if such a person were on trial. But in any event this is not the forum to try out such matters. The question before this Tribunal is simply this: whether the SS was or was not an unlawful organization. The evidence has finally shown what the aims and activities of the SS were. Some of those aims were stated in publications which I have quoted to the Court. The activities were so widespread and so notorious, covering so many fields of unlawful endeavor, that the illegality of the organization could not have been concealed. It was a notorious fact, and Himmler himself in 1936, in a quotation which I read to the Tribunal yesterday, admitted that when he said:
"I know that there are people in Germany now who become sick when they see these black coats. We know the reason and we do not expect to be loved by too many."
It was, we submit, at all times the exclusive function and purpose of the SS to carry out the common objectives of the defendant conspirators. Its activities in carrying out those functions involved the commission of the crimes defined in Article 6 of the Charter. By reason of its aims and the means used for the accomplishment thereof, the SS should be declared a criminal organization in accordance with Article 9 of the Charter.
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, the next presentation will be the Gestapo, and it will take just a few seconds to get the material here.
If the Tribunal please, we are now ready to proceed, if Your Honors are.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COL. STOREY: We first pass to the Tribunal document books marked "Exhibit AA." Your Honors will notice they are in two volumes, and I will try at each time to refer to which volume. They are separated into the D documents, the L documents, the PS documents, et cetera.
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The presentation of evidence on the criminality of the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) includes evidence on the criminality of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and of the Schutzstaffeln (SS), which has been discussed by Major Farr, because a great deal of the criminal acts were so inter-related. In the Indictment, as Your Honors know, the SD is included by special reference as a part of the SS, since it originated as a part of the SS and has always retained its character as a Party organization, as distinguished from the Gestapo which was a State organization. As will be shown by the evidence, however, the Gestapo and the SD were brought into very close working relationship, the SD serving primarily as the information-gathering agency and the Gestapo as the executive agency of the police system established by the Nazis for the purpose of combatting the political and ideological enemies of the Nazi regime.
In short, I think we might think of the SD as the intelligence organization and the Gestapo the executive agency, the former a Party organization and the latter a State organization but merged together for all practical purposes.
The first subject: The Gestapo and SD were formed into a powerful, centralized, political police system that served Party, State, and Nazi leadership.
The Gestapo was first established in Prussia on the 26th of April 1933 by the Defendant Goering with the mission of carrying out the duties of the political police with, or in place of, the ordinary police authorities. The Gestapo was given the rank of a higher police authority and was subordinated only to the Minister of Interior, to whom was delegated the responsibility of determining its functional and territorial jurisdiction. That fact is established in the Preussische Gesetzsammlung of 26 April 1933, Page 122, and it is our Document 2104-PS.
Pursuant to this law and on the same date, the Minister of Interior issued a decree on the reorganization of the police which established a State Police Bureau in each governmental district of Prussia, subordinate to the Secret State Police Bureau in Berlin; and I cite as authority the Ministerialblatt for the Internal Administration of Prussia, 1933, Page 503, and it is Document 2371-PS.
Concerning the formation of the Gestapo, the Defendant Goering said, in Aufbau einer Nation, of 1934, Page 88, which is our Document 2344-PS, and I quote from the English translation a short paragraph, of which Your Honors will take judicial notice, unless Your Honors want to turn to it in full:
"For weeks"-this is Goering talking-"I had been working personally on the reorganization, and at last I, alone and upon my own decision and my own reflections, created the office of the Secret State Police. This instrument which is so
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feared by the enemies of the State has contributed most to the fact that today there can no longer be talk of a Communist or Marxist danger in Germany and Prussia."
THE PRESIDENT: What was the date?
COL. STOREY: The date? 1934, Sir.
On November 30, 1933 Goering issued a decree for the Prussian State Ministry and the Reich Chancellor placing the Gestapo under his direct supervision as Chief. The Gestapo was thereby established as an independent branch of the Administration of the Interior responsible directly to Goering as Prussian Prime Minister. This decree gave the Gestapo jurisdiction over the political police matters of the general and interior administration and provided that the district, county, and local police authorities were subject to the directives of the Gestapo-and that cites the Prussian laws of 30 November 1933, Page 413, and Document 2105-PS.
In a speech delivered at a meeting of the Prussian State Council on 18 June 1934, which is published in Speeches and Essays of Hermann Goering, 1939, Page 102, our Document 3343-PS, Goering said, and I quote one paragraph:
"The creation of the Secret State Police was also a necessity. You may recognize the importance attributed by the new State to this instrument of state security from the fact that the Prime Minister, himself, has made himself head of this department of the administration just because it is the observation of all currents directed against the new State which is of fundamental importance."
By a decree of 8 March 1934 the regional State Police offices were separated from their organizational connection with the District Government and established as independent authorities of the Gestapo. That cites the Preussische Gesetzsammlung of 8 March 1934, Page 143, our Document 2113-PS.
I now offer in evidence Document Number 1680-PS, Exhibit USA-477. This is an article entitled "10 Years of Security Police and the SD," published in the German Police journal, the magazine of the Security Police and SD, of 1 February 1943. I quote one paragraph from this article on Page 2 of the English translations Document 1680-PS, which is the third main paragraph:
"Parallel to that development in Prussia, the Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler created in Bavaria the Bavarian Political Police and also suggested and directed the establishment of Political Police in the Lander other than Prussia. The unification of the Political Police of all the Lander took place in the spring of 1934 when Minister President Hermann Goering
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appointed Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler, who had mean while been named Chief of the Political Police in all the Lander except Prussia, to the post of Deputy Chief of the Prussian Secret State Police."
The Prussian Law about the Secret State Police, dated 10 February 1936, then summed up the development hitherto, and determined the position and responsibilities of the Secret State Police in the executive regulations issued the same day.
On 10 February 1936 the basic law for the Gestapo was promulgated by Goering as Prussian Prime Minister-I refer to Document 2107-PS. This law provided that the Secret State Police had the duty to investigate and to combat in the entire territory of the State all tendencies inimical to the State and declared that orders and matters of the Secret State Police were not subject to the review of the administrative courts. That is the Prussian State 1a\v of that date cited on Pages 21-22 of the publication of the laws of 1936.
Also on that same date of 10 February 1936 a decree for the execution of the law was issued by Goering, as prussian Prime Minister, and by Frick, as Minister of the Interior. This decree provided that the Gestapo had authority to enact measures valid in the entire area of the State and measures affecting that area-by the way, that is found in 2108-PS and is also a published law-that it was the centralized agency for collecting political intelligence in the field of political police, and that it administered the concentration camps. The Gestapo was given authority to make police investigations in cases of criminal attacks upon the Party as well as upon the State.
Later, on the 28th of August 1936, a circular of the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police provided that as of 1 October 1936 the Political Police forces of the German provinces were to be called the "Geheime Staatspolizei." That means the Secret State Police. The regional of flees were still to be described as State Police. The translation of that law is in 2372-PS, Reichsministerialblatt of 1936, Number 44, Page 1344.
Later, on 20 September 1936, a circular of the Minister of Interior, Frick, commissioned the Gestapo Bureau in Berlin with the supervision of the duties of the Political Police commanders in all the states of Germany. That is Reichsministerialblatt 1936, Page 1343, our Document L-297.
The law regulating and relating to financial measures in connection with the police, of the 19th of March 1937, provided that the officials of the Gestapo were to be considered direct officials of the Reich and their salaries, in addition to the operational expenses of the whole State Police, were to be borne from 1 April 1937 by the
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Reich. That is shown in Document 2243-PS-which is a copy of the law of 19 March 1937-Page 325.
Thus, through the above laws and decrees, the Gestapo was established as a uniform political police system operating throughout the Reich and serving Party, State, and Nazi leadership.
In the course of the development of the SD, it came into increasingly close co-operation with the Gestapo and also with the Reichskriminalpolizei (the Criminal Police), known as Kripo, K-R-I-P-O, shown up there under Amt V. The SD was called upon to furnish information to various State authorities. On the 11th of November 1938 a decree of the Reich Minister of Interior declared the SD to be the intelligence organization for the State as well as the Party, that it had the particular duty of supporting the Secret State Police, and that it thereby became active on a national mission. These duties necessitated a closer co-operation between the SD and the authorities for the general and interior administration. That law is translated in 1638-PS.
The Tribunal has already received evidence concerning the decrees of 17 and 26 June 1936, under which Himmler was appointed Chief of the German Police and by which Heydrich became the first Chief of the Security Police and SD. Even then Goering did not relinquish his position as Chief of the Prussian Gestapo. Thus, the decree of the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of German Police that was issued on the 28th of August 1936, which is our Document 2372-PS, was distributed "to the Prussian Minister President as Chief of the Prussian Secret State Police," that is, to Goering.
On 27 September 1939, by order of Himmler in his capacity as Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police, the central offices of the Gestapo and SD and also those of the Criminal Police were centralized in the office of the Chief of the Security Police and SD under the name of RSHA, which Your Honors have heard described by Major Parry. Under this order the personnel and administrative sections of each agency were co-ordinated in Amt I and II of the chart shown here of the RSHA. The operational sections of the SD became Amt III, shown in the box "Amt III," except for foreign intelligence which was placed over in Number VI. The operational sections of the Gestapo became Amt IV, as shown on the chart, and the operational sections of the Kripo-that is, the Criminal Police- became Amt V, as shown on the chart.
Ohlendorf was named the Chief of Amt III, the SD inside Germany, Muller was named Chief of Amt IV, and Nebe was named Chief of Amt V, the Kripo.
On the 27th of September 1939 Heydrich, the Chief of the Security Police and SD, issued a directive pursuant to the order of Himmler, in which he ordered that the designation and heading
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of RSHA be used exclusively in internal relations of the Reich Ministry of Interior, and the heading "The Chief of the Security Police and SD" in transactions with outside persons and offices. The directive provided that the Gestapo would continue to use the designation and heading "Secret State Police" according to the particular instructions.
This order is Document L-361, Exhibit USA-478, which we now offer in evidence; and I refer Your Honors to the first paragraph of L-361. That is found in the first volume. I just direct Your Honors' attention to the date and to the subject, which is the amalgamation of the Zentralamter of the Sicherheitspolizei and of the SD, and the creation of the four sections, and then to the words:
". . . will be joined to the RSHA in accordance with the following directives. This amalgamation carries with it no change in the position of these Amter in the Party nor in the governmental administration."
I might say here parenthetically, if the Tribunal please, that we like to think of the RSHA as being the so-called administrative office through which a great many of these organizations were administered and then a number of these organizations, including the Gestapo, maintaining their separate identity as operational organizations. I think a good illustration, if Your Honors will recall, is that during the war there may be a certain division or a certain air force which is administratively under a certain headquarters, but operationally, when they had an invasion, it may be under the general supervision of somebody else who was operating a task force. So the RSHA was really the administrative office of a great many of these alleged criminal organizations.
The Gestapo and SD were therefore organized functionally on the basis of the opponents to be combatted and the matters to be investigated.
I now invite the attention of the Tribunal to this chart, which has already been identified, and I believe it is Exhibit USA-53. This chart-I am in error-that is the original identification number. This chart shows the main chain of command from Himmler, who was the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police, to Kaltenbrunner, who was Chief of the Security Police and SD, and from Kaltenbrunner to the various field offices of the Gestapo and the SD.
We now formally offer in evidence this chart, Document L-219, as Exhibit USA-479. The chart itself is based upon the document, which is L-219. We have photostatic copies, and you probably want to refer to the one on the wall.
This chart, from which the one on the wall is taken, has been certified by Otto Ohlendorf, Chief of Amt III of the RSHA, and by
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Walter Schellenberg, Chief of Amt VI of the RSHA, and has been officially identified by both of those former officials.
The chart shows that the principal flow of command in police matters came from Himmler as Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police directly to Kaltenbrunner, who was the Chief of the Security Police and SD and as such was also head of the RSHA, which is the administrative office to which I have referred.
Kaltenbrunner's headquarters organization was composed of seven Amter, plus a military office-the seven Amter shown here.
Under Subsection D was Obersturmbannfuehrer Rauff, who handled technical matters, including motor vehicles of the SIPO and the SD, to which we will refer later.
Amt III was the SD inside Germany and was charged with investigations into spheres of German national life. It was the internal intelligence organization of the police system and its interests extended into all areas occupied by Germany during the course of the war. In 1943 it contained four sections. I would like to mention them briefly. It shows their scope of authority. Section A dealt with questions of legal order and structure of the Reich. B dealt with national questions, including minorities, race, and health of the people. C dealt with culture, including science, education, religion, press, folk culture, and art; and D with economics, including food, commerce, industry, labor, colonial economics, and occupied regions.
Now Amt IV, with which we are dealing here, was the Gestapo and was charged with combatting opposition. In 1945, as identified by these two former officials, it contained six sections:
1. A dealt with opponents, sabotage, and protective service, including communism, Marxism, reaction and liberalism;
2. B dealt with political churches, sects, and Jews, including political Catholicism, political Protestantism, other churches, Freemasonry; and a special section, B-4, that had to do with Jewish affairs, matters of evacuation, means of suppressing enemies of the people and State, and dispossession of rights of German citizenship; the head of the office was Eichmann;
3. C dealt with protective custody;
4. D with regions under German domination;
5. E with security;
6. F with passport matters and alien police.
Now, Amt V, which will be referred to as the Kripo, was charged with combatting crime. For example, Subsection D was the criminological institute for the Sipo and handled matters of identification, chemical and biological investigations, and technical research.
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Number VI was the SD outside of Germany and concerned primarily with foreign political intelligence. In 1944 the Abwehr, or military intelligence, was joined with Amt VI as the military Amt. Your Honors will recall that the Witness Lahousen was in the Abwehr. Amt VI maintained its own regional organization.
And finally, Amt VII handled ideological research among enemies such as Freemasonry, Judaism, political churches, Marxism, and liberalism.
Within Germany there were regional offices of the SD, the Gestapo, and the Kripo, shown on the chart up at the right. The Gestapo and Kripo offices were often located in the same place and were always collectively referred to as the Sipo. You see that shady line around refers to the collective operation of the Gestapo and Kripo-Gestapo, the Secret Police; and Kripo, the Criminal Police. These regional offices all maintained their separate identity and reported directly to the section of the RSHA-that is, under Kaltenbrunner-which had the jurisdiction of the subject matter. They were, however, co-ordinated by Inspectors of the Security Police and SD, as shown at the top of the chart. The inspectors were also under the supervision of Higher SS and Police Leaders appointed for each Wehrkreis. The Higher SS and Police Leaders reported to Himmler and supervised not only the inspectors of the Security Police and SD but also the inspectors of the Order Police and various subdivisions of the SS.
In the occupied territories the organization developed as the German armies advanced. Combined operational units of the Security Police and the SD known as Einsatz Groups, about which Your Honors will hear in a few minutes, operated with, and in the rear of, the army. These groups were officered by personnel of the Gestapo and the Kripo and the SD, and the enlisted men were composed of Order Police and Waffen-SS. They functioned with various army groups. The Einsatz Groups-and, if Your Honors will recall, they are simply task force groups for special projects- were divided into "Einsatzkommandos," "Sonderkommandos," and "Teilkommandos," all of which performed the functions of the Security Police and the SD with, or closely behind, the army.
After the occupied territories had been consolidated, these Einsatz Groups and their subordinate parts were formed into permanent combined offices of the Security Police and SD within the particular geographical location. These combined forces were placed under the Kommandeure of the Security Police and SD, and the offices were organized as a section similar to this RSHA headquarters. The Kommandeure of the Security Police and SD reported directly to Befehlshaber of the Security Police and SD, who in turn reported directly to the Chief of the Security Police and SD.
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In the occupied countries the Higher SS and Police Leaders were more directly controlled by the Befehlshaber and the Kommandeure of the Security Police and SD than within the Reich. They had authority to issue direct orders so long as they did not conflict with the Chief of the Security Police and SD, who exercised controlling authority.
The above chart and the remarks concerning it are based upon two documents which I now offer in evidence. They are Document L-219, which is the organization plan of the RSHA of 1 October 1943, and Document 2346-PS.
Now next, the primary mission of the Gestapo and the SD was to combat the actual and ideological enemies of the Nazi regime and to keep Hitler and the Nazi leadership in power as specified in Count One of the Indictment. The tasks and methods of the Secret State Police were well described in an article which is translated in Document 1956-PS, Volume 2 of the document book, which is an
article published in January 1936 in Das Archiv at Page 1342, which I now offer in evidence and quote from. It is on Page 1 of the English translation, 1956. I will first read the first paragraph and then the third and fourth paragraphs. That is in January 1936. Quoting:
"In order to refute the malicious rumors spread abroad, the Volkischer Beobachter of 22 January 1936 published an article on the origin, purpose, and duties of the Secret Police; extracts from this read as follows:..."
Then skip to the third paragraph:
"The Secret State Police is an official instrument of the Criminal Police authorities, whose special task is the detection of crimes and offenses against the State, especially treason against Land or Reich. The task of the Secret State Police is to discover these crimes and offenses, to find the perpetrators, and to bring them to trial The number of criminal proceedings continually pending in the People's Court for treasonable acts against Land or Reich is the result of this work. The second important field of operations for the Secret State Police is the preventive combatting of all dangers threatening the State and its leaders. As, since the National Socialist revolution, all open struggle and all open opposition to the State and to the leadership of the State is forbidden, a Secret State Police as a preventive instrument in the struggle against all dangers threatening the State is indissolubly bound up with the National Socialist Fuehrer State. The opponents of National Socialism were not eliminated by the prohibition of their organizations and their newspapers, but have withdrawn to other forms of opposition to the state. Therefore the National Socialist State has to track down, to watch, and to
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render harmless the underground opponents fighting against it, in illegal organizations, in camouflaged associations, in the coalitions of well-meaning fellow-Germans, and even in the organizations of the Party and the State, before they have succeeded in actually executing any action against the interests of the State. This duty of fighting with every means this battle against the secret enemies of the State will be spared no Fuehrer State, because enemy forces from their foreign headquarters always secure the services of some individuals in such a state and employ them in underground activity against the state.
"The preventive measures of the Secret State Police consist first of all in the close surveillance of all enemies of the State in the Reich territory. As the Secret State Police cannot, in addition to its important executive tasks, perform this surveillance of the enemies of the State to the extent necessary, there enters to supplement it, the Security Service of the Reichsfuehrer of the SS set up by the Fuehrer's deputy as the political intelligence service of the Movement, putting thereby into the service of the security of the State a large part of the forces of the Movement mobilized by him.
"The Secret State Police takes the necessary police preventive measures against the enemies of the State on the basis of the results of observation. The most effective preventive measure is, without doubt, deprival of freedom, which is imposed in the form of 'protective custody' if it is feared that the free activity of the persons in question might endanger the security of the State in any way. The use of protective custody is so regulated by directives of the Minister of the Interior of the Reich and Prussia and by special arrest examination procedures of the Secret State Police that-as far as preventive action against the enemies of the State permits-ample guarantees against the abuse of protective custody are provided...."
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, haven't we really got enough now as to the organization of the Gestapo and its objects?
COL. STOREY: I'll omit the reading of the rest of this paragraph.
THE PRESIDENT: I'm not sure that will satisfy me. What I was asking is haven't we got enough about the organization of the Gestapo now?
COL. STOREY: Your Honor, I was through with the organization. I was just going into the question of this action of protective custody, for which the Gestapo was famous, and showing how
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they went into that field of activity and the authority for taking people into protective custody-alleged protective custody.
THE PRESIDENT: I think that has been proved more than once in the preceding evidence that we have heard.
COL. STOREY: There is one more law I would like to refer to, that is, it's not subject to judicial review-unless that has been established. I do not know whether Major Farr did that, or not.
THE PRESIDENT: That they are not subject to judicial review?
COL. STOREY: Review, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: I think you have told us that already this afternoon.
COL. STOREY: The citation is in the Reichsverwaltungsblatt of 1935, Page 577, which is Document 2347-PS. I would like, if Your Honors please, to refer to this quotation from that same law.
The decision of the Prussian High Court of Administration on the 2d of May 1935 held that the status of the Gestapo as a special Police authority removed its orders from the jurisdiction of the administrative tribunal, and the court said in that law that the only redress available was by appeal to the next higher authority within the Gestapo itself.
THE PRESIDENT: I think you told us that, apropos of the document of the 10th of February 1936, where you said the Secret State Police was not subject to review by any of the state courts.
COL. STOREY: I just did not want there to be any question about the authority. I refer Your Honors to Document 1852-PS, which is already in evidence as Exhibit USA-449, also stating that theory, and also Document 1723-PS. That is the decree, Your Honor, of February 1, 1938, which relates to the protective custody and the issuance of new regulations; and I would like to quote just one sentence from that law:
"In order to counter all attempts of the enemies of the people and of the State, protective custody may be ordered as a coercive measure of the Secret State Police against persons who, through their attitude, endanger the life and security of the people and the State."
And the Gestapo had the exclusive right to order protective custody and that protective custody was to be executed in the State concentration camps.
Now I pass to another phase where the SD created an organization of agents and informers who operated through the various regional offices throughout the Reich and later in conjunction with
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the Gestapo and the Criminal Police throughout the occupied countries. The SD operated secretly. One of the things it did was secretly to mark ballots in order to discover the identity of persons who cast "No" and invalid votes in the referendum. I now offer in evidence Document R-142, second volume. I believe it is toward the end of the document book-R-142, Exhibit USA-481.
This document contains a letter from the branch office of the SD at Kochem to the SD at Koblenz. The letter is dated 7 May 1938 and refers to the plebiscite of 10 April 1938. It refers to a letter previously received from the Koblenz office and apparently is a reply to a request for information concerning the way in which people voted in the supposedly secret plebiscite. It is on Page 1 of Document R-142.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, I am told that that has been read before.
COL. STOREY: I did not know it had, if Your Honor pleases. We will just offer it without reading it then.
With reference to National Socialism and the contribution of the Sipo and the SD, I refer to an article of 7 September 1942, which is shown in 3344-PS. It is the first paragraph, Volume 2. It is the official journal. Quoting:
"Already before the taking over of power, the SD contributed its part to the success of the National Socialist revolution. Since the taking over of power, the Security Police and the SD have borne the responsibility for the inner security of the Reich and have paved the way for a powerful victory of National Socialism against all resistance."
In connection with the criminal responsibility of the SD and the Gestapo, it will be considered with respect to certain War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity which were in the principal part committed by the centralized political police system. The development, organization, and tasks have been considered before. In some instances the crimes were committed in co-operation or in conjunction with other groups or organizations.
Now in order to look into the strength of these various organizations, I have some figures here that I would like to quote to Your Honors. The Sipo and SD were composed of the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD. The Gestapo was the largest, and it has a membership of about 40,000 to 50,000 in 1934 and 1935. That is an error; it is 1943 to 1945. It was the political force of the Reich.
THE PRESIDENT: Did you say the date was wrong?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, the date was wrong, it is '43 to '45, if Your Honor pleases; 40 to 50 thousand.
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THE TRIBUNAL: (Mr. Biddle): Where are you reading from?
COL. STOREY: It is Document 3033-PS, and it is an affidavit of Walter Schellenberg, one of the former officials I referred to a moment ago. .
I believe, if Your Honor pleases, to get it in the record, I will read that whole affidavit. It is Document 3033-PS, Exhibit USA-488. I have the English translation here:
"The Sipo and SD was composed of the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD. In 1943-45 the Gestapo had a membership of about 40,000 to 50,000, the Kripo had a membership of about 15,000, and the SD had a membership of about 3,000. In common usage and even in orders and decrees the term 'SD' was used as an abbreviation for the term 'Sipo and SD.' In most cases actual executive action was carried out by personnel of the Gestapo in place of the SD or the Kripo. In occupied territories, members of the Gestapo frequently wore SS uniforms with SD insignia. New members of the Gestapo and the SD were taken on a voluntary basis."
And then "subscribed and sworn to on the 21st of November 1945 before Lieutenant Harris."
I think I ought to say here, if Your Honors please, that it is our information that a great many of the members of the Gestapo were also members of the SS. We have heard various estimates of the amount but have no direct authority. Some authorities say as much as 75 percent, but still we have no direct evidence on that.
I now offer in evidence Document 2751-PS, which is Exhibit USA-482. It is an affidavit of Alfred Helmut Naujocks, dated November 20, 1945. This affidavit particularly refers to the actual occurrences in connection with the Polish border incident. I believe it was referred to by the Witness Lahousen when he was on the stand:
"I, Alfred Helmut Naujocks, being first duly sworn, depose and state as follows:
"1. I was a member of the SS from 1931 to 19 October 1944 and a member of the SD from its creation in 1934 to January 1941. I served as a member of the Waffen-SS from February 1941 until the middle of 1942. Later I served in the Economics Department of the Military Administration of Belgium from September 1942 to September 1944. I surrendered to the Allies on 19 October 1944.
"2. On or about 10 August 1939 the Chief of the Sipo and SD, Heydrich, personally ordered me to simulate an attack on the radio station near Gleiwitz, near the Polish border, and to make it appear that the attacking force consisted of
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Poles. Heydrich said: 'Actual proof of these attacks of the Poles is needed for the foreign press, as well as for German propaganda purposes.' I was directed to go to Gleiwitz with five or six SD men and wait there until I received a code word from Heydrich indicating that the attack should take place. My instructions were to seize the radio station and to hold it long enough to permit a Polish-speaking German, who would be put at my disposal, to broadcast a speech in Polish. Heydrich told me that this speech should state that the time had come for the conflict between the Germans and the Poles and that the Poles should get together and strike down any Germans from whom they met resistance. Heydrich also told me at this time that he expected an attack on Poland by Germany in a few days.
"3. I went to Gleiwitz and waited there a fortnight. Then I requested permission of Heydrich to return to Berlin but was told to stay in Gleiwitz. Between the 25th and 31st of August I went to see Heinrich Muller, head of the Gestapo, who was then nearby at Oppeln. In my presence Muller discussed with a man named Mehlhorn plans for another border incident, in which it should be made to appear that Polish soldiers were attacking German troops .... Germans in the approximate strength of a company were to be used. Muller stated that he had 12 or 13 condemned criminals who were to be dressed in Polish uniforms and left dead on the ground at the scene of the incident to show that they had been killed while attacking. For this purpose they were to be given fatal injections by a doctor employed by Heydrich. Then they were also to be given gunshot wounds. After the assault members of the press and other persons were to be taken to the spot of the incident. A police report was subsequently to be prepared.
"4. Muller told me that he had an order from Heydrich to make one of those criminals available to me for the action at Gleiwitz. The code name by which he referred to these criminals was 'Canned Goods.'
"5. The incident at Gleiwitz in which I participated was carried out on the evening preceding the German attack on Poland. As I recalls war broke out on the 1st of September 1939. At noon on the 31st of August I received by telephone from Heydrich the code word for the attack which was to take place at 8 o'clock that evening. Heydrich said, 'In order to carry out this attack, report to Muller for "Canned Goods."' I did this and gave Muller instructions to deliver the man near the radio station. I received this man and had
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him laid down at the entrance to the station. He was alive, but he was completely unconscious. I tried to open his eyes. I could not recognize by his eyes that he was alive, only by his breathing. I did not see the shot wounds, but a lot of blood was smeared across his face. He was in civilian clothes.
"6. We seized the radio station as ordered, broadcast a speech of 3 to 4 minutes over an emergency transmitter, fired some pistol shots, and left."
And then "sworn to and subscribed to before Lieutenant Martin".
The Gestapo and the SD carried out mass murders of hundreds of thousands of civilians of occupied countries, as a part of the Nazi program to exterminate political and racial undesirables, by the so-called Einsatz Groups. Your Honors will recall evidence concerning the activities of these Einsatz Groups or Einsatzkommandos. I now refer to Document R-102.
If Your Honors please, I understand Major Farr introduced this document this morning; but I want to refer to just one brief statement, which he did not include, concerning the SD and the Einsatz Groups and Security Police. It is on Page 4 of R-102. Quoting:
"During the period covered by this report the stations of the Einsatz Groups of the Security Police and SD have changed only in the northern sector."
THE PRESIDENT: What was the document?
COL. STOREY: R-102, which was already introduced in evidence by Major Parry, and it is in Volume 2 toward the end of the book. There are two reports submitted by the chief of the Einsatz Group A available. The first report is Document L-180, which has already been received as Exhibit USA-276.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, would you not pass quite so quickly from one document to another?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, pardon me, Sir. L-180, and I want to quote from Page 13. It is on Page 5 of the English translation. It is the beginning of the first paragraph, near the bottom of the page. Quoting:
"In view of the extension of the area of operations and of the great number of duties which had to be performed by the Security Police, it was intended from the very beginning to obtain the co-operation of the reliable population in the fight against felons, that is, mainly the Jews and Communists."
And also in that same document, Page 30 of the original, Page 8 of the English translation, quoting:
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"From the beginning it was to be expected that the Jewish problem in Ostland could not be solved by pogroms alone."
THE PRESIDENT: I am told that this has been read already.
COL. STOREY: I had it checked, and we did not catch that, Your Honor. I will pass on then.
Now, if Your Honor pleases, we will pass to Document 2273-PS next. I offer in evidence now just portions of Document 2273-PS, which is Exhibit USA-487. This document was captured by the U.S.S.R. and will be offered in detail by our Soviet colleagues later. But, with their consent, I want to introduce in evidence a chart which is identified by that document; and we have an enlargement which we would like to put on the board, passing to the Tribunal photostatic copies.
If Your Honor pleases, this chart is identified by the photostatic copy attached to the original report which will be dealt with in detail later. I want to quote just one statement from Page 2 of the English translation of that document. It is the third paragraph from the bottom on Page 2 of the English translation:
"The Estonian self-protection movement, formed as the Germans advanced, did begin to arrest Jews; but there were no spontaneous pogroms. Only by the Security Police and the SD were the Jews gradually executed as they became no longer required for work. Today there are no longer any Jews in Estonia."
That document is a top-secret document by Einsatz Group A, which was a special projects group. This chart, of which the photostatic copy is attached to the original in the German translation on the wall, shows the progress of the extermination of the Jews in the area in which this Einsatzkommando group operated.
If Your Honors will refer to the top, next to Petersburg-or Leningrad as we know it-and down below, you will see the picture of a coffin; and that is described in the report as 3,600 having been killed.
Next, over at the left, is another coffin in one of the small Baltic states showing 963 in that area have been put in the coffin.
Then next, down near the capital of Riga, you will note that 35,238 were put away in the coffins; and it refers to the ghetto there as still having 2,500.
You come down to the next square or the next state showing 136,421 were put in their coffins; and then in the next area, near Minsk and just above Minsk, there were 41,828 put in their coffins.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you sure they were put in their coffins, the 136,000?
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COL. STOREY: I beg your pardon, Sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Are you sure that they were executed, the 136,000?-because there is no coffin there.
COL. STOREY: No, Sir-the bottom statement-here are the totals from the documents.
THE PRESIDENT: These photostatic copies are different from what you have got there. In the area which is marked 136,421 there is no coffin.
COL. STOREY: Well, I am sorry. The one that I have is a true and correct copy of theirs.
THE PRESIDENT: Mine has not got it and Mr. Biddle's has not got it.
COL. STOREY [Turning to an assistant.] Will you hand this to the President, please?
THE PRESIDENT: I suppose the document itself will show it.
COL. STOREY: I will turn to the original and verify it. Let me have the original, please. Apparently there is a typographical error. If Your Honor pleases, here it is: 136,421, with the coffin.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Parker points out it is in the document itself, too.
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, it is in the document itself. There is an error on that.
The 128,000 at the bottom shows at that time there were 128,000 on hand, and the literal translation of the statement, as I understand, means, "still on hand in the Minsk area."
I next refer to Document 1104-PS, Volume 2, Exhibit USA-483, which I now offer in evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, did you tell us what the document was? There is nothing on the translation, is there, to show what the document is.
COL. STOREY: If Your Honor pleases, it is a report of the special-purpose Group A, a top-secret report-or the Einsatz group in other words-making a record of their activities in these areas, and this chart was attached showing the areas covered.
THE PRESIDENT: Special group of the Gestapo?
COL. STOREY: The special group that was organized of the Gestapo and the SD in that area. In other words, a Commando group.
As I mentioned, Your Honor, they organized these special Commando groups to work in and behind the armies, as they consolidated their gains in occupied territories, and Your Honor
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will hear from other reports of these Einsatz groups as we go along in this presentation. In other words, "Einsatz" means "special action" or "action groups," and they were organized to cover certain geographical areas behind the immediate front lines.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but they were groups, were they, of the Gestapo?
COL. STOREY: The Gestapo and the SD.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that is part of the Gestapo.
COL. STOREY: There were some of the Kripo in it too.
Now the next document is 1104-PS, dated October 30, 1941. This document shows on that date the Commissioner of the territory of Sluzk wrote a report to the Commissioner General of Minsk, in which he severely criticized the actions of the Einsatzkommandos of the Sipo and the SD operating in his area for the murder of the Jewish population of that area, and I quote from the English translation, on Page 4 of that document, beginning at the first paragraph after the colon:
"On 27 October, in the morning at about 8 o'clock, a first lieutenant of the Police Battalion Number 11, from Kovno, Lithuania, appeared and introduced himself as the adjutant of the battalion commander of the Security Police. The first lieutenant explained that the police battalion had received the assignment to effect the liquidation of all Jews here in the town of Sluzk within 2 days. The battalion commander with his battalion in strength of four companies, two of which were made up of Lithuanian partisans, was on the march here and the action would have to begin instantly. I replied to the first lieutenant that I had to discuss the action in any case first with the commander. About half an hour later the police battalion arrived in Sluzk. Immediately after the arrival a conference with the battalion commander took place according to my request. I first explained to the commander that it would not very well be possible to effect the action without previous preparation, because everybody had been sent to work and that it would lead to terrible confusion. At least it would have been his duty to inform me a day ahead of time. Then I requested him to postpone the action 1 day. However, he refused this with the remark that he had to carry out this action everywhere in all towns and that only 2 days were allotted for Sluzk. Within those 2 days the town of Sluzk had by all means to be cleared of Jews."
That report was made to the Reich Commissioner for the Eastern Territories through Gauleiter Hinrich Lohse, at Riga. Your Honors will recall that he was referred to in another presentation.
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Now skipping over to Page 5, the first paragraph-I would like to quote it:
"For the rest, as regards the execution of the action, I must point out, to my deepest regret, that the latter almost bordered on sadism. The town itself during the action offered a picture of horror. With indescribable brutality on the part both of the German police officers and particularly of the Lithuanian partisans, the Jewish people, and also with them White Ruthenians, were taken out of their dwellings and herded together. Everywhere in the town shots were to be heard, and in different streets the corpses of Jews who had been shot accumulated. The White Ruthenians were in the greatest anguish to free themselves from the encirclement. In addition to the fact that the Jewish people, among whom were also artisans, were barbarously maltreated in sight of the White Ruthenian people, the White Ruthenians themselves were also beaten with clubs and rifle butts. It was no longer a question of an action against the Jews. It looked much more like a revolution."
And then I skip down to the next to the last paragraph on that same page, quoting:
"In conclusion, I find myself obliged to point out that the police battalion looted in an unheard-of manner during the action and that not only in Jewish houses but equally in those of the White Ruthenians. Anything of use, such as boots, leather, cloth, gold and other valuables, was taken away. According to statements of the troops, watches were torn off the arms of Jews openly on the street and rings pulled off their fingers in the most brutal manner. A disbursing officer reported that a Jewish girl was asked by the police to obtain immediately 5,000 rubles to have her father released. This girl is said actually to have run about everywhere to obtain the money."
There is another paragraph, with reference to the number of copies, on the third page of the translation, to which I would like to call Your Honors' attention-the last paragraph on Page 3 of the translation, quoting:
"I am submitting this report in duplicate so that one copy may be forwarded to the Reich Minister. Peace and order cannot be maintained in White Ruthenia with methods of that sort. To have buried alive seriously wounded people, who then worked their way out of their graves again, is such extreme beastliness that this incident as such must be reported to the Fuehrer and the Reich Marshal.
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"The civil administration of White Ruthenia makes every effort to win the population over to Germany, in accordance with the instructions of the Fuehrer. These efforts cannot be brought into harmony with the methods described here."- Signed by the Commissioner General for White Ruthenia.
And then, on the 11th of November 1941, he forwards it on to the Reich Minister for occupied countries, in Berlin.
THE PRESIDENT: Who was that at that time?
COL. STOREY: The Reich Minister, I believe-at that time at least-for the eastern occupied countries was the Defendant Rosenberg. I think that is correct. On the same date, by separate letter, the Commissioner General of White Ruthenia reported to the Reich Commissioner for the eastern countries that he had received money, valuables, and other objects taken by the police in the action at Sluzk and other regions, all of which had been deposited with the Reich Credit Institute for the disposal of the Reich Commissioner.
On 21 November 1941 a report on the Sluzk incident was sent to the personal reviewer of the permanent deputy of the Minister of the Reich with a copy to Heydrich, who was the Chief of the Security Police and the SD. That is shown on the first page of Document Number 1104-PS.
The activities of the Einsatz groups continued throughout 1943 and 1944 under Kaltenbrunner as Chief of the Security Police and SD. Under adverse war conditions, however, the program of extermination was, to a large extent, changed to one of rounding up slave labor for Germany.
I nest refer to Document 3012-PS, which has heretofore been introduced as Exhibit USA-190. This is a letter from the headquarters of one of the Commando groups, a section known as Einsatz Group C, dated 19 March 1943. This letter summarizes the real activities and methods of the Gestapo and SD, and I should like to refer to additional portions to those previously quoted, on Page 2 of Document 3012-PS; and I believe I will read the first page, beginning with the first paragraph:
"It is the task of the Security Police and of the Security Service"-SD-"to discover all enemies of the Reich, and fight against them in the interest of security, especially the security of the Army in the zone of operations. Besides the annihilation of active, avowed opponents, all other elements who by virtue of their convictions or their past might under favorable conditions actively appear as enemies are to be eliminated through preventive measures. The Security Police carries out this task according to the general directives of the Fuehrer, with all required severity. Energetic measures
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are especially necessary in territories endangered by the activity of partisan bands. The competence of the Security Police within the zone of operations is based on the 'Barbarossa' decrees."-The Tribunal will recall the famous "Barbarossa" code-name decrees that were issued in connection with the invasion of Russia-"I deem the measures of the Security Police, carried out on a considerable scale during recent times, necessary for the two following reasons:
"1. The situation at the front in my sector had become so serious that the population, partly influenced by Hungarians and Italians who were streaming back in confusion, were openly opposing us.
"2. The strong expeditions by partisan bands, coming chiefly from the forest of Bryansk, were another reason. Besides that, other partisan groups formed from the population were appearing like mushrooms in all districts. The procurement of arms evidently provided no difficulties at all. It would have been inexcusable if we had observed this whole activity without taking measures against it. It is obvious that all such measures are accompanied by severity.
"I want to take up the significant points of these severe measures:
"1) The shooting of Hungarian Jews; 2) the shooting of agriculturalists; 3) the shooting of children; 4) the burning to the ground of villages; 5)"-the shooting, quoting-`'while trying to escape, of Security Service (SD) prisoners.
. "Chief of Einsatz Group C confirmed once more the suitability of the measures executed and expressed his appreciation for the drastic steps taken. In consideration of the current political situation, especially in the armament industry in the fatherland, the measures of the Security Police are to be subordinated to the greatest extent to the recruiting of labor for Germany. In the shortest possible time the Ukraine has to place at the disposal of the armament industry 1 million workers, 500 of whom have to be sent from our territory daily."
If Your Honor pleases, I believe the numbers have been quoted before by Mr. Dodd. I refer on the next page to the first order, in 1 and 2-Subparagraphs:
"1. Special treatment is to be kept to a minimum.
"2. The listing of communist functionaries, activists, and so on, is to take place only by roster for the time being, without arrests. It is, for instance, no longer feasible to arrest all the close relatives of a member of the Communist Party.
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Likewise members of the Komsomolz are to be arrested only if they were active in leading positions."
The next subparagraphs have been read into evidence, 3 and 4, in a previous presentation.
"5. The reporting of partisan bands as well as drives against them is not affected hereby. I point out, however, that all drives against those bands are to take place only with my approval.
"6. The prisons are to be kept empty as a rule. We must be aware of the fact that the Slavs interpret all soft treatment on our part as weakness and that they will act accordingly, right away. If we restrict our harsh Security Police measures through the above orders for the time being, it is done only for the following reason: the most important thing is the recruiting of workers. No check of persons to be sent into the Reich will be made. There are therefore no written certificates of political reliability or the like to be furnished."-Signed-"Christensen, SS Sturmbannfuehrer and Commanding Officer."
I understood that Your Honor wanted to adjourn at 4 o'clock, and I believe that I can introduce one more statement. It was the Einsatz Groups of the Security Police and SD that operated the infamous death vans. Previously, Document 501-PS, which was received as Exhibit USA-288, referred to this operation. The letter from Becker, which is a part of this exhibit, was addressed to Obersturmbannfuehrer Rauff at Berlin. We now refer to Document L-185. I simply refer to Document 501-PS as a reference to the death vans. Document L-185, Exhibit USA-484, is the one I now offer in evidence, Page 7 of the English translation-L-185. It will be observed that the chief of Amt II D of the RSHA in charge of technical matters was Obersturmbannfuehrer Rauff. Mr. Harris advises me that the only point to be proved by that is that the chief of Amt II D of the RSHA, who made this report on technical matters, was the Obersturmbannfuehrer Rauff; and then he refers in the same connection to Document 2348-PS, which is Exhibit USA-485. The previous one was to identify Rauff, and then to offer his affidavit which is 2348-PS, second volume. Reading from the beginning of the affidavit-it was made on 19 October 1945 in Ancona, Italy-quoting:
"I hereby acknowledge the attached letter, written by Dr. Becker... on the 16 May 1942 and received by me on the 29 May 1942, as a genuine letter. I did on 18 October 1945 write on the side of this letter a statement to the effect that it was genuine. I do not know the number of death vans being operated and cannot give an approximate figure.
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The vans were built by the Saurer Works, Germany, located, I believe, in Berlin. Some other firms built these vans also. Insofar as I am aware, these vans operated only in Russia. Insofar as I can state, these vans were probably operating in 1941; and it is my personal opinion that they' were operating up to the termination of the war." If Your Honor pleases, I do not believe that we will have time to go into the next exhibit.
THE PRESIDENT Very well Then the Tribunal will now adjourn until Wednesday, the 2d of January.
[The Tribunal adjourned until 2 January 1946 at 1000 hours.]
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