“On the 6th of January 1929 Adolf Hitler appointed his tested

comrade of long standing, Heinrich Himmler, as Reichsführer SS.

Heinrich Himmler assumed charge therewith of the entire

Schutzstaffel totalling at that time 280 men with the express

and particular order of the Führer to form this organization

into an elite troop of the Party, a troop dependable in every

circumstance.

“With this day the real history of the SS begins as it stands

before us today in all its deeper essential features, firmly

anchored in the National Socialist movement. For the SS and its

Reichsführer, Heinrich Himmler, its first SS man, have both

become inseparable in the course of these battle-filled years.”

Carrying out Hitler’s directive, Himmler proceeded to build up out of

this small force of men an elite organization—to use D’Alquen’s

words—composed of “the best physically . . . the most dependable, and

the most faithful . . . men” in the Nazi movement. I read another

passage from D’Alquen at Page 12 of the original, Page 6 of the

translation, Paragraph 5:

“When the day of seizure of power had finally come, there were

52,000 SS men, who in this spirit bore the revolution in the

van, marched into the new state which they began helping to form

everywhere, in their stations and positions, in profession and

in service, and in all their essential tasks.”

The conspirators now had the machinery of government in their hands. The

initial function of the SS—that of acting as private army and personal

police force—was thus completed. But its mission had in fact really

just begun. That mission is described in the _Organization Book of the

NSDAP_ for 1943. The pages from that book dealing with the SS—Pages 417

to 428—are translated in our Document Number 2640-PS. The

organization’s book has already been offered in evidence as Exhibit

Number USA-323. The passage to which I refer appears on Page 417 of the

original and on Page 1, Paragraph 2, of the translation:

“Missions. The original and most eminent duty of the SS is to

serve as the protectors of the Führer. By decree of the Führer

the sphere of duties has been enlarged to include the internal

security of the Reich.”

This new mission—protecting the internal security of the regime—was

somewhat more colorfully defined by Himmler in his pamphlet _The SS as

an Anti-Bolshevist Fighting Organization_, published in 1936. It is our

Document Number 1851-PS. I offer this document in evidence as Exhibit

Number USA-440. The definition to which I refer appears in the original

at the bottom of Page 29 of the original, on the third page of the

translation, middle of the paragraph:

“We shall unremittingly fulfill our task, the guaranty of the

security of Germany from the interior, just as the Wehrmacht

guarantees the safety of the honor, the greatness, and the peace

of the Reich from the exterior. We shall take care that never

again in Germany, the heart of Europe, will the

Jewish-Bolshevistic revolution of sub-humans be able to be

kindled either from within or through emissaries from without.

Without pity we shall be a merciless sword of justice for all

those forces whose existence and activity we know, on the day of

the slightest attempt, may it be today, may it be in decades or

may it be in centuries.”

This conception necessarily required an extension of the duties of the

SS into many fields. It involved, of course, the performance of police

functions. But it involved more. It required participation in the

suppression and extermination of all internal opponents of the regime.

It meant participation in extending the regime beyond the borders of

Germany; and therefore came to mean eventually participation in every

type of activity designed to secure a hold over those territories and

populations which, through military conquest, had come under German

domination.

The expansion of SS duties and activities resulted in the creation of

several branches and numerous departments and the eventual development

of a highly complex machinery. Those various branches and departments

cannot be adequately described out of the context of their history. That

description I hope will emerge fully as evidence of the activities of

the SS is presented. But it may be appropriate to anticipate; and at

this point, to say a word about the structure of the SS.

For this purpose, a glance at a chart depicting the organization of the

SS as it appeared in 1945 may be helpful. There are being handed to the

Tribunal small copies of this chart, two in English, one in French and

one in Russian. In addition, there are handed eight larger copies of the

chart in the original German, bearing on it the photostat of the

affidavit of Gottlob Berger, formerly Chief of the SS Main Office, who

examined the chart and stated that it correctly represented the

organization of the SS.

I now offer in evidence the chart of the Supreme and Regional Command of

the SS, as Exhibit Number USA-445.

At the very top of the chart is Himmler, the Reichsführer SS, who

commanded the entire organization. Immediately below—running across the

chart and down the right hand side, embraced within the heavy line—are

the 12 main departments constituting the Supreme Command of the SS. Some

of these departments have been broken down into the several offices of

which they were composed, as indicated by the boxes beneath them. Other

departments have not been so broken down. It is not intended to indicate

that there were not subdivisions of these latter departments as well.

The breakdown is shown only in those cases where the constituent offices

of some department may have a particular significance in this case.

These departments and their functions are described in two official Nazi

publications. The first is the _Organization Book of the NSDAP_ for

1943, our Document Number 2640-PS, already introduced in evidence as

Exhibit Number USA-323. The description, which I shall not read now,

appears on Pages 419-422 of the original and Pages 2 to 4 of the

translation. The second is an SS manual, which bears the title, _The

Soldier Friend-Pocket Diary for the German Armed Forces—Edition D,

Waffen-SS_. It was prepared at the direction of the Reichsführer SS and

issued by the SS Main Office for the year ending 1942. It is our

Document Number 2825-PS. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number

USA-441. The description to which I refer appears on Pages 20 to 22 of

the original and Pages 1 and 2 of the translation. I will later have

occasion to read the description of the functions of some of the

departments in full. But I assume that the Court will take judicial

notice of the entire passages to which I have referred. In addition, the

departments are listed in a directory of the SS, published by one of the

main departments of the SS. This document was found in the files of the

Personal Staff of the Reichsführer SS, the first department from the

left of the chart. It is entitled _Directory for the Schutzstaffel of

the NSDAP_, 1 November 1944. It is marked “restricted” and bears the

notation “Published by SS Führungshauptamt,” (Command Office of the

General SS), which is the fifth box from the left. It is our Document

Number 2769-PS. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-442. It is

simply a list of the names of the departments and offices with their

addresses and telephone numbers, and corroborates the statements in the

two earlier publications to which I referred.

Returning now to the chart—following down the central spine from the

Reichsführer SS to the regional level—we come to the Higher SS and

Police Leader, commonly known as HSSPF, the Supreme SS Commander in each

region. I shall refer to his functions at a later point. Immediately

below him is the breakdown of the organization of the Allgemeine or

General SS. To the left are indicated two other branches of the SS—the

Death’s-Head Units (Totenkopf Verbände) and the Waffen-SS. To the right,

under the HSSPF, is the SD. All of these components, together with the

SS Police regiments, are specifically named in the Indictment—Appendix

B, Page 36—as being included in the SS.

Now a word as to these components. Up to 1933 there were no such

specially designated branches. The SS was a single group—a group of

“volunteer political soldiers.” It was out of this original nucleus that

the new units developed.

The Allgemeine, that is, General SS, was the common basis, the main

stem, out of which the various branches grew. It was composed of all

members of the SS who did not belong to any of the special branches.

It was the backbone of the entire organization. The personnel and

officers of the main departments of the SS Supreme Command were members

of this branch. Except for high ranking officers and those in staff

capacities in the main offices of the SS Supreme Command, its members

were part-time volunteers. As the evidence will show, its members were

utilized in about every phase of SS activity. They were called upon in

the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1938; they took over the task of guarding

concentration camps during the war; they participated in the

colonization and resettlement program. In short, the term “SS” normally

meant the General SS.

It was organized on military lines as will be seen from the chart,

ranging from district (Oberabschnitt) and sub-district (Abschnitt) down

through the regiment, battalion, company, to the platoon. Until after

the beginning of the war it constituted numerically the largest branch

of the SS. In 1939 D’Alquen, the official SS spokesman, said, and I

quote from his book, our Document Number 2284-PS, Page 9, Paragraph 3,

of the English translation, and Page 18 of the original document:

“The strength of the General SS, 240,000 men, is subdivided

today into 14 corps, 38 divisions, 104 infantry regiments, 19

mounted regiments, 14 communication battalions, and 9 engineer

battalions, as well as motorized and medical units. This General

SS stands fully and wholly on call as in the fighting

years. . . .”

Similar reference to the military organization of the General SS will be

found in Himmler’s speech, “Organization and Obligations of the SS and

the Police,” our Document Number 1992(a)-PS, at Page 4 of the

translation, and in the _Organization Book of the NSDAP_ for 1943, our

Document Number 2640-PS, at Pages 4 and 5 of the translation.

Members of this branch, however, with the exception of certain staff

personnel, were subject to compulsory military service. As the result of

the draft of members of the General SS of military age into the Army,

the numerical strength of presently active members considerably declined

during the war. Older SS men and those working in or holding high

positions in the main departments of the Supreme Command of the SS

remained. Its entire strength during the war was probably not in excess

of 40,000 men.

The second component to be mentioned is the Security Service of the

Reichsführer SS, almost always referred to as the SD. Himmler described

it in his speech, “Organization and Obligations of the SS and the

Police”—our Document Number 1992(a)-PS. I quote a passage from Page 8,

last paragraph of the translation, Page 151 of the original, Paragraph

3:

“I now come to the Security Service (SD); it is the great

ideological intelligence service of the Party and, in the long

run, also that of the State. During the time of struggle for

power it was only the intelligence service of the SS. At that

time we had, for quite natural reasons, an intelligence service

with the regiments, battalions and companies.”—I interpolate;

he refers there to the regiments, battalions and companies of

the General SS.—“We had to know what was going on on the

opponent’s side, whether the Communists intended to hold up a

meeting today or not, whether our people were to be suddenly

attacked or not, and similar things. I separated this service

already in 1931 from the troops—”

I note that it appears in the mimeographed translation as 1941; but, as

will appear from a passage on the next pages of the translation, it was

1931 to which he was referring.

“. . . from the units of the General SS, because I considered it

to be wrong. For one thing, secrecy is endangered, then the

individual men, or even the companies, are too likely to discuss

everyday political problems.”

Although, as Himmler put it, the SD was only the intelligence service of

the SS during the years preceding the accession of the Nazis to power,

it became a much more important organization promptly thereafter. It had

been developed into such a powerful scientific espionage system under

its chief, Reinhard Heydrich, that on 9 June 1934, just a few weeks

before the bloody purge of the SA, it was made by decree of the

Defendant Hess, the sole intelligence and counter-intelligence agency of

the entire Nazi Party. I refer in support of that statement to

D’Alquen’s book, _Die SS_, our Document Number 2284-PS, at Page 11 of

the translation. I shall not pause to quote that passage. The

organization and numbers of the SD, as they stood in 1937, were thus

described by Himmler—I quote again from his article, “Organization and

Obligations of the SS and the Police,” our Document Number 1992(a)-PS,

at Page 9 of the translation, second paragraph, Page 151 of the

original, Paragraph 4:

“The Security Service was already separated from the troop in

1931 and separately organized. Its higher headquarters coincide

today with the Oberabschnitte and Abschnitte”—I refer to the

Abschnitte and Oberabschnitte indicated on the chart—“and it

has also field offices, its own organization of officials, and a

great many command posts, approximately 3,000 to 4,000 men

strong, at least when it is built up.”

Up to 1939 its headquarters was the SS Main Security Office

(Sicherheitshauptamt) which, as I shall shortly show, became amalgamated

in 1939 in the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) one of the SS main

departments shown on the chart before you—the sixth box from the left.

The closer and closer collaboration of the SD with the Gestapo and

Criminal Police—which eventually resulted in the creation of this

RSHA—and the activities in which the SD engaged in partnership with the

Gestapo will be taken up in the presentation of the case against the

Gestapo. The SD was, of course, at all times an integral and important

component of the SS. But it is more practicable to deal with it in

connection with the activities of the whole repressive police system

with which it functioned.

The third component to be mentioned is the Waffen-SS—the combat arm of

the SS—created, trained, and finally utilized for purposes of

aggressive war. The reason underlying the creation of this combat branch

was described in our Document Number 2640-PS, the _Organization Book of

the Nazi Party_ for 1943. It appears on Page 427a of the original, Page

5, Paragraph 7 of the translation:

“The armed SS originated out of the thought: to create for the

Führer a selected, long-service troop for the fulfillment of

special missions. It should make it possible for members of the

General SS, as well as for volunteers who fulfill the special

requirements of the SS, to fight in the battle for the

realization of the National Socialist idea with weapon in hand

in unified groups partly within the framework of the Army.”

The term “Waffen-SS” did not come into use until after the beginning of

the war. Up to that time there were two branches of the SS composed of

full-time, well-trained, professional soldiers: The so-called SS

Verfügungstruppe, translatable perhaps as SS Emergency Troops, and the

SS Totenkopf Verbände (the Death’s-Head Units). After the beginning of

the war, the units of the SS Verfügungstruppe were brought up to

division strength, and new divisions were added to them. Parts of the SS

Death’s-Head Units were formed into a division, the SS Totenkopf

Division. All these divisions then came to be known collectively as the

Waffen-SS.

Let me now trace that development. I quote again from the _Organization

Book of the Nazi Party_ for 1943, our Document Number 2640-PS, Page 427b

of the original, Page 5, last paragraph of the translation:

“The origin of the Waffen-SS goes back to the decree of 17 March

1933 establishing the Stabswache with the original strength of

120 men. Out of this small group developed the later-called SS

Verfügungstruppe,”—SS Emergency Force—

“the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. In the course of the war,

these groups grew into divisions.”

THE PRESIDENT: Major Farr, is it necessary to go into this degree of

detail about the organization of the SS?

MAJOR FARR: Sir, it seemed to me that it is highly important to know

exactly what the organization with which we are dealing is. There has

been, I understand, a suggestion made to the Court that certain portions

of this organization are not criminal. It is contended by some that the

part they played was a perfectly innocuous one; and it seems to me that

before we can determine whether the organization as a whole is criminal,

whether any portion of it is severable, then we must know what the

organization is.

THE PRESIDENT: Wouldn’t it be possible to leave that question to

evidence in rebuttal, if the defendants are setting up that any

particular branch of the SS is not criminal?

MAJOR FARR: If we adequately lay the basis for our case now, it may not

be necessary for us to make any rebuttal. We may satisfy the defendants

that there is nothing to the contention that any portion of the SS is a

lawful portion. The point I am particularly trying to make now is: There

has been a good deal of contention that the Waffen-SS is severable; that

whatever may be said, for example, about the SD or the Death’s-Head

Units, the Waffen-SS is something different, the Waffen-SS is part of

the Army. I think it is important to establish at the outset that the

Waffen-SS is as much a part of the SS, as integral a part of the whole

organization, as any of the other branches. I propose, therefore, to

show the development of the Waffen-SS, growing out of the SS Emergency

Troops, and to call to the attention of the Tribunal evidence showing

how the Waffen-SS is an integral part of the SS as a whole.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you must take your own course.

MAJOR FARR: The Verfügungstruppe were described in a top-secret Hitler

order dated the 17th of August 1938. It is our Document Number 647-PS. I

offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-443. That document will be

found in Volume I of the document book. I quote from Section II of that

order, which appears on Page 2 of the translation at the top the page

and also on Page 2 of the original:

“II. The Armed Units of the SS.

“A. The SS Verfügungstruppe.

“1. The SS Verfügungstruppe is neither a part of the Wehrmacht

nor a part of the police. It is a standing armed unit

exclusively at my disposal. As such and as a unit of the NSDAP,

its members are to be selected by the Reichsführer SS according

to the ideological and political standards which I have ordered

for the NSDAP and for the Schutzstaffeln. Its members are to be

trained and its ranks filled with volunteers from those who are

subject to military service, having finished their duties in the

obligatory labor service. The service period for volunteers is 4

years. It may be prolonged for SS Unterführer. Special

regulations are in force for SS leaders. The regular compulsory

military service (Paragraph 8 of the law relating to military

service) is fulfilled by service of the same duration in the SS

Verfügungstruppe.”

I want to quote a further short passage from that decree which will be

found on Page 3 of the translation in the middle of the page and on Page

5 of the original order:

“III. Orders in case of Mobilization.

“A. The employment of the SS Verfügungstruppe in case of

mobilization is a double one.

“1. By the Supreme Commander of the Army within the wartime

army. In that case it comes completely under military laws and

regulations, but remains a unit of the NSDAP politically.

“2. In case of necessity in the interior according to my orders;

in that case it is under the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the

German Police.

“In case of mobilization I myself will make the decision about

the time, strength, and manner of the incorporation of the SS

Verfügungstruppe into the wartime army; these things will depend

on the internal political situation at that time.”

Immediately after the issuance of this decree—and the Court will recall

it was issued in August of 1938—this militarized force was employed

with the Army for aggressive purposes—the taking over of the

Sudetenland. Following this action feverish preparation to motorize the

force and to organize new units such as antitank, machine gun, and

reconnaissance battalions were undertaken pursuant to further directives

of the Führer. By September 1939 the force was fully motorized; its

units had been increased to division strength and it was prepared for

combat. These steps are described in the _National Socialist Yearbook_

for the years 1940 and 1941. I offer in evidence Pages 365 to 371 of the

1940 yearbook. It is our Document Number 2164-PS. It bears Exhibit

Number USA-255. I offer Pages 191 to 193 of the 1941 yearbook, which is

our Document Number 2163-PS, as Exhibit Number USA-444. Since the

yearbook is an official publication of the Nazi Party, edited by

Reichsleiter Robert Ley and published by the Nazi Party publishing

company, I assume that the Court will take judicial notice of the

contents of these exhibits.

After the launching of the Polish invasion and as the war progressed,

still further divisions were added. The _Organization Book of the Nazi

Party_ for 1943, our Document Number 2640-PS, lists some eight divisions

and two infantry brigades as existing at the end of 1942. I refer to

Page 427b of the original, Page 5, last paragraph of the translation.

This was no longer an emergency force. It was an SS army and hence came

to be designated as the Waffen-SS. Himmler referred to this spectacular

development of this SS combat branch in his speech at Posen on 4 October

1943 to SS Gruppenführer. That speech has already been introduced in

evidence at an earlier stage in the case, as Exhibit Number USA-170. It

is our Document Number 1919-PS.

I shall quote from that speech, Page 51 of the original, Page 2 of the

translation, second paragraph, headed “The SS in Wartime.” I quote:

“Now I come to our own development, to that of the SS in the

past months. Looking back on the whole war, this development was

fantastic. It took place at an absolutely terrific speed. Let us

look back a little to 1939. At that time we were a few

regiments, guard units, 8,000 to 9,000 strong—that is, not even

a division, all in all 25,000 to 28,000 men at the outside.

True, we were armed, but we really only got our artillery

regiment as our heavy arm 2 months before the war began.”

I continue, quoting from the same speech a passage found on Page 8 of

the English translation and on Page 104 of the original. The passage in

the translation appears at about the middle of the page.

“In the hard battles of this year, the Waffen-SS has been welded

together in the bitterest hours from the most varied divisions

and sections out of which it was formed: Bodyguard

units”—Leibstandarte—“military

SS”—Verfügungstruppe—“Death’s-Head Units, and then the

Germanic SS. Now when our Divisions ‘Reich,’ ‘Death’s-Head,’ the

Cavalry Division, and ‘Viking’ were together, everyone knew in

these last weeks: ‘Viking’ is at my side, ‘Reich’ is at my side,

‘Death’s-Head’ is at my side. Thank God, now nothing can happen

to us.”

The transformation of small emergency forces into a combat army did not

result in a separation of this branch from the SS.

Although tactically under the command of the Wehrmacht while in the

field, it remained as much a part of the SS as any other branch of the

organization. Throughout the war it was recruited, trained,

administered, and supplied by the main offices of the SS Supreme

Command. Ideologically and racially its members were selected in

conformity with SS standards.

I shall read a passage relating to the recruiting standards of the

Waffen-SS published in the SS Manual, _The Soldier Friend_, our Document

Number 2825-PS, which appears on Page 7 of the English translation,

first paragraph on Page 36, Paragraph 2 of the original. I quote:

“Today at last is the longed-for day of the entrance

examinations where the examiners and physicians decide whether

or not the candidate is ideologically and physically qualified

to do service in the Waffen-SS. Everyone has acquainted himself

with the comprehensive Manual for the Waffen-SS . . . the

principal points are as follows: ‘1. Service in the Waffen-SS

counts as military service. Only volunteers are accepted.’”

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What is the purpose of reading all this

evidence? What has what you just read got to do with what you are

presenting?

MAJOR FARR: Sir, I want to prove, as I said a moment ago, one thing

first: that the Waffen-SS is an integral, component part of the SS. I

want to establish that it is completely administered and controlled by

the Supreme Command of the SS. That is one thing.

The second thing I want to prove is this: that service in the Waffen-SS

is voluntary service just as membership in the Allgemeine SS or

Death’s-Head Units is voluntary service. It is true that there were some

instances towards the close of the war when a few men were conscripted

into the Waffen-SS but that was the exception and not the rule. In

quoting from the recruiting standards of the Waffen-SS appearing in this

booklet, which was published in 1942 and which indicate that at that

time service in the Waffen-SS was open only to volunteers, I think I am

serving the purpose of proving one of the two points which I think ought

to be established.

I want to read, if I may, one further paragraph from that translation. I

shall read the paragraph indicating that service is voluntary. Now I

want to read the third requirement, which shows that service was open

only to persons who could meet the ideological and other standards of

the SS as a whole.

If the Tribunal is satisfied on the point that service in the Waffen-SS

is essentially voluntary and that the Waffen-SS is an integral part of

the SS, I do not want to impose further by reading further evidence.

THE PRESIDENT: I think the Tribunal is satisfied on both those points,

up to the present time, that it is voluntary and is an integral part of

the SS.

MAJOR FARR: If the Court is satisfied on both those points, I shall not

pursue, any further, the introduction of this particular evidence.

THE PRESIDENT: It may, as you say, be possible to show that there were

some members conscripted into it at a later date, but we have not had

that evidence yet.

MAJOR FARR: No, Your Honor, you have not.

All I want to show is that the normal thing is that it is voluntary and

that the Waffen-SS is an integral part of the whole organization. If the

Court is completely satisfied on that point I shall proceed no further

with the description of the Waffen-SS.

I shall pass on now then, to a description of the SS Totenkopf Verbände

(the Death’s-Head Units), which are the fourth component to be

mentioned.

The origin and purpose of the Totenkopf-Verbände were succinctly

described by D’Alquen in his book, _Die SS_, our Document Number

2284-PS. I shall read from Page 10 of the English translation, Paragraph

5, a passage that appears on Page 20 of the original, Paragraph 3:

“The SS Death’s-Head Units form one part of the garrisoned SS.

They arose from volunteers of the General SS who were recruited

for the guarding of concentration camps in 1933. Their mission,

aside from the indoctrination of the armed political soldier, is

the guarding of enemies of the state who are held in

concentration camps. The SS Death’s-Head Units obligate their

members to 12 years’ service. They are composed mainly of men

who have already fulfilled their duty to serve in the Wehrmacht.

This time of service is counted toward the service obligation in

the SS Death’s-Head Units.”

Since the Death’s-Head Units—like the SS Verfügungstruppe—were

composed of well-trained professional soldiers, they were also a

valuable nucleus for the Waffen-SS. The secret Hitler order of 17 August

1938, Document Number 647-PS, which has already been introduced in

evidence, provided for the tasks of the SS Totenkopf Verbände in the

event of mobilization. The Totenkopf Verbände were to be relieved from

the duty of guarding concentration camps and transferred as a skeleton

corps to the SS Verfügungstruppe. I quote from that order, a passage

found on Page 5 of the translation, Paragraph 4; Page 9 of the original.

I quote:

“5) Regulations for the case of the Mobilization.

“The SS Totenkopf Verbände form the skeleton corps for the

reinforcement of the SS Totenkopf Verbände (Polizeiverstärkung)

and will be replaced in the guarding of concentration camps by

members of the General SS who are over 45 years of age and have

had military training.”

If I may point out to the Court, the purpose in offering that bit of

evidence is to show that the foundation was laid for having the

Allgemeine SS (the General SS) take over the duties of guarding

concentration camps after the war had started. The Totenkopf Verbände

were originally created for that purpose. When the war came they went

into the Waffen-SS and their duties were taken over by members of the

General SS.

The final component which was specifically referred to in the Indictment

is the SS police regiments. I shall very shortly turn to the steps by

which the SS assumed control over the entire Reich police. Out of the

police special militarized forces were formed originally known as SS

police battalions and later expanded to SS Police Regiments.

I shall quote from Himmler’s Posen speech, our Document Number 1919-PS,

Page 3 of the translation, next to the last paragraph; Page 59 of the

original. I quote:

“Now to deal briefly with the tasks of the regular uniformed

police and the Sipo—they still cover the same field. I can see

that great things have been achieved. We have formed roughly 30

police regiments from police reservists and former members of

the police—police officials, as they used to be called. The

average age in our police battalions is not lower than that of

the security battalions of the Armed Forces. Their achievements

are beyond all praise. In addition, we have formed police rifle

regiments by merging the police battalions previously drawn up

of the ‘savage peoples.’ Thus, we did not leave these police

battalions untouched but blended them in the ratio of about 1 to

3.”

The results of this blend of militarized SS police and “savage peoples”

will be seen in the evidence which I shall later introduce relating to

extermination actions conducted by them in the Eastern

Territories—exterminations which were so eminently successful and

ruthlessly conducted that even Himmler could find no words adequate for

their eulogy.

THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for 10 minutes.

[_A recess was taken._]

MAJOR FARR: Each of the various components which I have described played

its part in carrying out one or more functions of the SS. The personnel

composing each differed. Some were part-time volunteers; others

professionals enlisted for different periods of time. But every branch,

every department, every member, was an integral part of the whole

organization. Each performed his assigned role in the manifold tasks for

which the organization had been created. No better witness to this fact

could be called upon than the Reichsführer SS whose every endeavor was

to insure the complete unity of the organization. I quote his words,

taken from his Posen speech, our Document 1919-PS, Exhibit Number

USA-170. I read from Page 103 of the original, third line from the

bottom of the page, from the English translation, Page 8:

“It would be an evil day if the main offices, in performing

their tasks with the best, but mistaken, intentions made

themselves independent by each having a downward chain of

command. I really think that the day of my overthrow would be

the end of the SS. It must be, and so come about, that this SS

organization with all its branches—the General SS which is the

common basis of all of them, the Waffen-SS, the regular

uniformed police, the Sipo, with the whole economic

administration, schooling, ideological training, the whole

question of kindred is, even under the 10th Reichsführer SS, one

bloc, one body, one organization.”

And continuing about the middle of Page 8 of the translation and at the

bottom of Page 104 of the original speech:

“The regular uniformed police and Sipo, General SS and

Waffen-SS, must now gradually amalgamate, too, just as this is

and must be the case within the Waffen-SS. This applies to

matters concerning filling of posts, recruiting, schooling,

economic organization, and medical services. I am always doing

something towards this end, a bond is constantly being drawn

around these sections of the whole to cause them to grow

together. Alas, if these bonds should ever be loosened, then

everything—you may be sure of this—would sink back quickly

into its old insignificance within one generation.”

I now turn to the underlying philosophy of the SS, the principles by

which its members were selected and the obligations imposed upon them.

To understand this organization the theories upon which it was based

must be kept clearly in mind. They furnish the key to all its

activities. It is necessary, therefore, to consider them in some detail.

The fundamental principle of selection was what Himmler called that of

blood and elite. The SS was to be the living embodiment of the Nazi

doctrine of the superiority of Nordic blood—the carrying into effect of

the Nazi conception of a master race. To put it in Himmler’s own words

the SS was to be a “National Socialist Soldier Order of Nordic Men.” In

describing to the Wehrmacht the reasons behind his emphasis on racial

standards of selection and the manner in which they were carried out he

said—and I quote from our Document 1992(a)-PS, Page 1 of the

translation, last paragraph, Page 138, Paragraph 1 of the original:

“Accordingly, only good blood, blood which history has proved to

be leading and creative and the foundation of every state and of

all military activities, only Nordic blood, can be considered. I

said to myself that should I succeed in selecting from the

German people for this organization as many people as possible,

a majority of whom possess this desired blood, in teaching them

military discipline and, in time, the understanding of the value

of blood and the entire ideology which results from it, then it

will be possible actually to create such an elite organization

which would successfully hold its own in all cases of

emergency.”

Further on, on Page 5 of the translation—I beg your pardon, on Page 4

of the translation, first line, Page 140 of the original, bottom

paragraph, he says, referring to the method by which applicants were

selected:

“They are very thoroughly examined and checked. Of 100 men we

can use on the average 10 or 15, no more. We ask for the

political record of his parents, brothers and sisters, the

record of his ancestry as far back as 1750, and naturally the

physical examination and his record from the Hitler Youth.

Further, we ask for a eugenic record showing that no hereditary

disease exists in his parents and in his family.”

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t seem to get the point of this. We have already

been told that the SS was a _corps d’elite_, and all this is showing the

details of the choice.

MAJOR FARR: That is correct; it is showing the details of the choice.

THE PRESIDENT: But that has nothing to do with its being a criminal

organization, has it?

MAJOR FARR: I think it has, Your Honor. I want to make again, if I may,

two points. The very essence of this organization was that of race. Its

racial standards of selection had two purposes: One, making it an

organization which would be an aristocracy not only for Germany, but

which would be in a position to dominate all of Europe. For that

purpose, not only were strict racial standards imposed for selection,

but a great drive was made to perpetuate the SS stock, to build up a

group of men who would be in a position to take over Europe when it was

conquered.

There was nothing questionable about that aim. Himmler explicitly said

time and time again: “What we are after is making ourselves the

superclass which will be able to dominate Europe for centuries.” That

was one of the fundamental purposes of the SS, and it was a purpose

which was not kept by Himmler to himself, but a purpose which was

explained and publicly announced again and again.

THE PRESIDENT: You haven’t yet shown us where it was announced, have

you?

MAJOR FARR: I have not, Sir, and I am coming to that very shortly; but I

wanted first to show Your Honor what the racial basis of selection was.

That is, one aspect of the racial selective process. The second is this:

The negative side of the racism. Not only did Himmler intend to build up

an elite which would be able to take over Europe, but he indoctrinated

that elite with hatred for all “inferior,” to use his word, races.

Now, I think unless it is clearly understood that that is the basis of

the SS, we cannot understand the organization. I am quite prepared, if

the Tribunal desires, not to go further into a discussion of the detail

of the process of selection. I do think it important that I quote

Himmler’s own statement—what his aims were. And also I quote to the

Tribunal the publicly announced basis for selection.

With the Tribunal’s permission then, I would like to quote one passage

from the _Organization Book_ for the Nazi Party, which explains the

racial basis on which the SS was founded. That is our Document Number

2640-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number

USA-323. I quote from Page 417 of the German text and from Page 1 of the

translation, fourth paragraph, entitled “Selection of Members.” And I

quote this because this is not a hidden pronouncement. This is what the

official Nazi Party publication said the SS was:

“Selection of members.

“For the fulfillment of these missions a homogeneous, firmly

welded fighting force has been created, bound by ideological

oaths, whose fighters are selected out of the best Aryan

humanity.

“The conception of the value of the blood and soil serves as

directive for the selection into the SS. Every SS man must be

deeply imbued with the sense and essence of the National

Socialist movement. He will be ideologically and physically

trained so that he can be employed individually or in groups in

the decisive battle for the National Socialist ideology.

“Only the best and thoroughbred Germans are suited for

commitment in this battle. Therefore it is necessary that an

uninterrupted selection is maintained within the ranks of the

SS, first roughly, then with more and more scrutiny.”

Now I would like to proceed to quote a paragraph on the same page, three

paragraphs down, with respect to obedience. It appears on Page 418 of

the original, second paragraph. I quote:

“Obedience is unconditionally demanded. It arises from the

conviction that the National Socialist ideology must reign. He

who possesses it and passionately supports it, submits himself

voluntarily to the compulsion of obedience. Therefore, the SS

man is prepared to carry out blindly every order which comes

from the Führer or is given by one of his superiors even if it

demands the greatest sacrifice of himself.”

There are stated the two fundamental principles of the SS: (1) racial

selection, (2) blind obedience.

Now, let me state what Himmler conceived that this organization was to

be used for. I quote from his address to the officers of the SS

Leibstandarte “Adolf Hitler” on the Day of Metz, our Document Number

1918-PS, Exhibit Number USA-304. I quote from Page 12 of the original

document, the middle of the page, from the translation Page 3, last

paragraph. I will begin the translation with the third sentence of that

paragraph:

“The ultimate aim for these 11 years during which I have been

the Reichsführer SS has invariably been the same: To create an

order of good blood which is able to serve Germany, which

unfailingly and without sparing itself can be made use of

because the greatest losses can do no harm to the vitality of

this order, the vitality of these men, because they will always

be replaced; to create an order which will spread the idea of

Nordic blood so far that we will attract all Nordic blood in the

world, take away the blood from our adversaries, absorb it so

that never again—looking at it from the viewpoint of the grand

policy—will Nordic Germanic blood in great quantities and to an

extent worth mentioning fight against us. We must get it and the

others cannot have it. We never gave up the ideas and the aim

conceived so many years ago. Everything we have done has taken

us some distance further on the way. Everything we are going to

do will lead us further on the way.”

Now, one further quotation from the same document, which shows very

explicitly why there was the building up of this order of Nordic blood,

appears on Page 3 of the translation, the same document from which I

have just quoted, about the middle of the first paragraph. It appears on

Page 11 of the original speech, about the middle of the page. That is

the speech to the officers of the SS Leibstandarte “Adolf Hitler”:

“Please understand we would not be able to hold the great

Germanic Reich which is about to take shape. I am convinced that

we can hold it, but we have to prepare for that. If once we have

not enough sons, those who come after us will have to become

cowards. A nation which has an average of four sons per family

can venture a war; if two of them die, two transmit the name.

The leadership of a nation having one or two sons per family

will have to be faint-hearted in any decision, on account of

their own experience, because they will have to tell themselves:

We cannot afford it. Look at France, which is the best example.

France had to have her line of action dictated by us.”

Domination of Europe through a Nazi elite required more, however, than a

positive side of racism . . .

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Is that one of the crimes you allege,

domination of Europe through an elite?

MAJOR FARR: One of the crimes alleged is a conspiracy to dominate

Europe, preparation for aggressive war, leading to the ultimate

colonization of Europe for the benefit of the conspirators. One of the

instruments, we submit, used for carrying out that policy was the SS.

The conspirators began at the very beginning the creation of the SS, to

build it up so that it would be the elite through which Germany would be

able to dominate and rule the conquered territories.

We think that this conception of the SS has played a vital part in the

conspiracy. It has bearing on the whole program of the conspirators.

Now, this certainly, in itself . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but, Major Farr, what you have to show is not the

criminality of the people who used the weapon but the criminality of the

people who composed the weapon.

MAJOR FARR: I think I have to show two things, certainly the criminality

of the persons who composed the weapons, but it seems to me I must also

show that that weapon played a part in the conspiracy because the

Indictment alleges . . .

THE PRESIDENT: I should have thought you had shown that over and over

again, that the SS were a part of the weapon. If there was a criminal

conspiracy, then the SS were one of the weapons which were used by the

conspirators. But what you have got to show in this part of the case is

that the persons who formed that weapon were criminal and knew of the

criminal objects of the SS.

MAJOR FARR: I quite agree I have to show that. I suppose I have to show,

before showing that the persons involved knew of the criminal aims of

the organization, what those criminal aims were. I was simply attempting

to show the Tribunal that one of those aims which I submit as criminal

was a plan to dominate Europe, and that the SS was one of the means by

which that was to be done.

Now, this is just one aspect of the SS criminality. I am quite ready not

to proceed any further with the point if the Court already has the

point, and thinks that the evidence of that aspect of its criminality is

sufficient. I certainly do not want to labor the point too hard.

I now proceed further with the point as to the building up of the SS as

a racial elite to take over; but I do think one other thing is

important, and that is the negative side of that racism: the hatred for

other races. And Himmler made some very striking points along that line

as to what the SS was to be taught. I quote from his Posen speech, that

is, our Document 1919-PS. The passage in question appears on Page 23 of

the original speech, middle of the page, and will be found on Page 1 of

the English translation, third paragraph. I quote:

“One basic principle must be the absolute rule for the SS man.

We must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of

our own blood and to nobody else. What happens to a Russian, to

a Czech, does not interest me in the slightest.”

The next few sentences from that same paragraph have already been read

into evidence, and I shall not repeat them. But I do want to quote, in

the same paragraph, the conclusion that Himmler draws from what he just

said. This sentence is about seven lines from the bottom of the

paragraph, beginning:

“That is what I want to instill into this SS and what I believe

I have instilled in them as one of the most sacred laws of the

future.”

Now these principles—that is, the conception of being an elite which

was to take over Europe and the conception of hatred towards inferior

races, which was instilled in the SS—these were principles which were

publicly reiterated over and over again so that the newest recruit was

thoroughly steeped in them.

I quote from Himmler’s Kharkov speech, which appears in the same

Document 1919-PS.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Can’t you just give us the meaning of the

speech without quoting from it; can you just refer to it?

MAJOR FARR: I will be very glad to do that, if the Court will take

judicial notice of it. I will refer you to the passage I have in mind.

The passage in question appears on Page 14 of the translation, about 15

lines from the bottom of the page; it appears on Page 17 of the

original, at about the middle of the page.

In that passage, after having talked at great length about the racial

struggle, Himmler tells his commanding officers—and he is making this

speech to the commanding officers of three divisions of the

Waffen-SS—he tells his officers that the thing which he wants so

thoroughly instilled into every recruit in the organization that he

becomes saturated with it, is the necessity of the SS standing firm and

carrying on the racial struggle without mercy.

On the same point one further quotation—if the Tribunal will bear with

me—and I think this is important because this, again, is a public

quotation, found in the _Organization Book_ of the Party. That is our

Document Number 2640-PS. It is a very short passage, appearing on Page

418 of the original and Page 1 of the English translation, the third

paragraph from the end of the page in the translation:

“He openly and unrelentingly fights the most dangerous enemies

of the State: Jews, Freemasons, Jesuits, and political

clergymen.”

Now these were the fundamental principles of the SS: racial superiority

and blind obedience. A necessary corollary of these two principles was

ruthlessness. The evidence that we will introduce on these activities

will show how successfully the SS learned the lesson it was taught.

The SS had to, and did, develop a reputation for terror which was

carefully cultivated. Himmler himself publicly attested it as early as

1936 in his pamphlet, _The SS as an Anti-Bolshevist Fighting

Organization_, our Document 1851-PS, which has already been introduced

into evidence as Exhibit Number USA-440. I quote two sentences which

appear at Page 29 of the original pamphlet and on Page 4 of the

translation, the first two sentences:

“I know that there are some people in Germany who become sick

when they see these black coats. We understand the reason for

this and do not expect that we shall be loved by too many.”

The role which the SS was required to play demanded that it remain

constantly the essence of Nazism and that its elite quality should never

be diluted.

As evidence that even in 1943 the SS standards were still being

maintained, I offer in evidence a letter written to the Defendant

Kaltenbrunner by Himmler. This letter is our Document Number 2768-PS. It

is a letter from the Reichsführer SS, written at his field command post

and bearing the date 24 April 1943. I offer it as Exhibit Number

USA-447. I quote from the first paragraph of that letter:

“Referring again to the matter which we discussed some time

ago—that is, the admission of Sipo officials into the SS—I

wish to clarify again: I want an admission only if the following

conditions, are fulfilled:

“1. If the man applies freely and voluntarily;

“2. If, by applying strict and peace-time standards, the

applicant fits racially and ideologically into the SS,

guarantees according to the number of his children a really

healthy SS stock, and is neither ill, degenerate, nor

worthless.”

Then, continuing with the third paragraph:

“I beg you not only to act accordingly in the future, but

especially also that numerous admissions into the ranks of the

SS in the past be re-examined and revised according to these

instructions.”

Now I have appended this to indicate to the Tribunal the normal manner

in which a man became a member of the SS. That is discussed by Himmler

in our Document 1992(a)-PS, at Page 142 of the original and Page 5 of

the translation. If the Court thinks that it can take judicial notice of

that passage, I shall not venture to read it. What it does is to

describe how a young man comes into the SS normally, at the age of 18,

serves an apprenticeship and receives his instructions in SS ideology,

takes the SS oath, receives the SS dagger, and how long he remains in

the General SS. I will not venture to read that paragraph, since I

assume that the Court will take judicial notice of it.

I do think it may be worth quoting the very brief oath which the SS man

takes. That oath is quoted in the Waffen-SS recruiting pamphlet,

entitled _The SS Calls You_, our Document Number 3429-PS, which I offer

in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-446. The oath appears on Page 18 of

that pamphlet, and on Page 2 of the translation, in the middle of the

page. I quote the oath:

“The Oath of the SS Man:

“I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as Führer and Reich Chancellor,

loyalty and bravery; I vow to you, and to those you have named

to command me, obedience unto death, so help me God.”

I turn now to a consideration of the activities of the SS, the manner in

which it carried out the purposes of the conspirators and performed its

function of guarding the internal security of the Nazi regime. The proof

of the elite Nazi quality and thorough reliability of the SS—the test

by which it won its spurs—occurred on June 30, 1934, when it

participated in the purge of the SA and other opponents or potential

opponents of the Nazi regime. That was the first real occasion for the

use of this specialized organization which could operate with the

blessing of the Nazi State, but outside the law.

I offer in evidence an affidavit by the Defendant Wilhelm Frick, signed

and sworn to here in Nuremberg on 19 November 1945. It is our Document

Number 2950-PS. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-448. I shall quote a

portion of that affidavit, beginning about the middle of the first

paragraph of the affidavit, the 10th line in the original. I quote:

“Many people were killed—I don’t know how many—who actually

did not have anything to do with the Putsch. People who just

weren’t liked very well were killed, as for instance,

Schleicher, the former Reich Chancellor. Schleicher’s wife was

also killed; as was Gregor Strasser, who had been the

Reichsleiter and second man in the Party after Hitler. Strasser,

at the time he was murdered, was not active in political affairs

any more. However, he was against the Führer in the elections of

November 1932. The SS was used by Himmler for the execution of

these orders to suppress the Putsch.”

It was in recognition of its services in this respect that the SS was

elevated to the status of being a component of the Party equal in rank

to the SA, and other similar ranking. I ask the Court to take judicial

notice of a passage which appears on Page 1 of the _Völkischer

Beobachter_ of July 26, 1934. It is our Document Number 1857-PS, Exhibit

USA-412. I shall read the translation of that passage, which is very

brief:

“The Reich Press office of the NSDAP announces the following

order of the Führer:

“In consideration of the great meritorious service of the SS,

especially in connection with the events of 30 June 1934, I

elevate it to the standing of an independent organization within

the NSDAP. The Reichsführer SS, like the Chief of Staff, is,

therefore, directly subordinate to the highest SA leader.”

By its action on June 30th, the SS proved itself. It was, therefore, the

type of organization which the conspirators wanted for the first

necessary step in their program, the acquisition of control over the

police, because one of the first steps essential to the security of any

regime is control of the police. The aim of the conspirators was to fuse

the SS and the police; to merge them into a single, unified, repressive

force.

I turn now to the consideration of the development whereby the SS and

the police became intermingled. Shortly after the seizure of power the

conspirators began to develop, as a part of the State machinery, secret

political police forces, originating in Prussia in the Gestapo

established by decree of the Defendant Göring in 1933; and this

development will be dealt with in the case against the Gestapo. By 1934

the Reichsführer SS had become the chief of these secret political

police forces in all the states of Germany except Prussia, and deputy

chief of the Prussian Gestapo. In that capacity he infiltrated these

forces with members of the SS until a virtual identity of membership of

the SS and the Gestapo was achieved.

On 17 June 1936, by the “Decree on the Establishment of a Chief of the

German Police,” published in the _Reichsgesetzblatt_ for 1936, Part I,

Pages 487 and 488, our Document Number 2073-PS, of which I assume the

Court will take judicial notice, the new post of Chief of the German

Police was created in the Ministry of the Interior. Under the terms of

the decree Himmler was appointed to this post with the title of

“Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Ministry of the

Interior.”

The combination of these two positions, that of leadership of the SS and

head of all the police forces in the Reich, was no accident but was

intended to establish a permanent relation between the two bodies and

not a mere transitory fusion of personnel. The significance of this

combination of these two positions was referred to by Hitler in his

secret order of 17 August 1938 on the organization and mobilization of

the SS, our Document Number 647-PS, which I introduce in evidence as

Exhibit Number USA-443 and from which I will now quote just the

preamble, which will be found on the first page of our Document Number

647-PS and at the beginning of the original order. I quote:

“By means of the nomination of the Reichsführer SS and Chief of

the German Police in the Ministry of the Interior on June 17,

1936 (_Reichsgesetzblatt_ I, Page 487), I have created the basis

for the unification and reorganization of the German Police.

With this step the Schutzstaffeln of the NSDAP, which were under

the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police even up to

now, have entered into close connection with the duties of the

German Police.”

Upon his appointment Himmler immediately proceeded to reorganize the

entire police force, designating two separate branches: (1) The regular

uniformed police force (Ordnungspolizei, or Orpo, as they were called by

their abbreviated title); and (2) the so-called Security Police, or as

they came to be known by their abbreviated title, Sipo. The Security

Police was composed of all the criminal police in the Reich and all the

Gestapo. This reorganization was achieved by the decree assigning

functions to the Office of the Chief of the German Police, published in

the _Reichsministerialblatt_ for 1936, Pages 946-948, our Document

Number 1551-PS. Of that decree I assume the Court will take judicial

notice.

To be head of the Sipo, that is, of the Criminal Police and the Gestapo,

Himmler appointed Reinhard Heydrich, who was at that time the Chief of

the SD, the SS intelligence agency to which I have already referred.

Thus, through Himmler’s dual capacity as Reichsführer SS, and as Chief

of the German Police, and through Heydrich’s dual capacity as head of

the SD and of the Security Police, a unified personal command of the SS

and Security Police Forces was achieved.

But further steps towards unification were taken. In 1939 the Security

Police and the SD, which up to that time was only an agency of the SS,

were both combined in a single department: the Reich Security Main

Office, commonly referred to as RSHA. An important point to be observed

is this: This newly created department, RSHA, was not a mere department

of the Government. It was a dual thing. It was simultaneously an agency

of the Government, organizationally placed in the Ministry of the

Interior, and at the same time, one of the principal departments of the

SS, organizationally placed in the Supreme Command of the SS. This

division in the SS is shown by the chart before you; RSHA being

indicated by the sixth block from the left of the chart. But it was not

merely the Gestapo and Criminal Police which came under the sway of the

SS; the regular uniformed police as well were affected. Like the RSHA,

the department of the Regular Police (the Ordnungspolizei) was also not

merely a department in the Ministry of the Interior, but also

simultaneously in the Supreme Command of the SS. Its position in the SS

is indicated by the seventh block on the chart, on the left.

Now this unity of command between SS and Police was not a mere matter of

the highest headquarters. It extended down to the operating level. The

Court will observe from the chart that the Higher SS and Police Leader

in each region, who was directly subordinate to Himmler, had under his

command both the Security Police (Sipo) and the regular uniformed police

(Ordnungspolizei); and also that these forces, Sipo and Orpo, were not

only under command of the Higher SS and Police Leader, but as indicated

by the blue line, were also under command of the RSHA, and the

Department of the Ordnungspolizei, and the SS. Thus you have

organizationally a unity of command over the SS and the police. This

organization was not the only way by which unity was achieved. Unity of

personnel was also achieved. Vacancies occurring in the police forces

were filled by SS members. Police officials who were in the force were

able to join the SS; and schools were operated by the SS for the police,

as well as for the SS officials.

These measures are described in Himmler’s article “Organization and

Obligations of the SS and the Police,” our Document Number 1992(a)-PS.

They are also described in an authoritative book on the police, entitled

_The German Police_, the book published in 1940, written by Dr. Werner

Best, a ministerial director in the Ministry of the Interior, and a

department head in the Security Police. It bears on its fly-leaf the

imprimatur of the Nazi Party, and the book is listed in the official

list of National Socialist bibliography. Chapter 7 from that book is our

Document Number 1852-PS. I offer this book in evidence as Exhibit Number

USA-449.

Through this unity of organization and personnel, the SS and the police

became identified in structure and in activity. The resulting situation

was described in Best’s book, which I have just offered in evidence, our

Document Number 1852-PS, as follows. I quote from Page 7 of that

document, Paragraph 5; from the original book, Page 95, Paragraph 3:

“Thus the SS and the police form one unit, both in their

structure and in their activity, although their individual

organizations have not lost their true individuality and their

position in the larger units of the Party and State

administration which are concerned with other points of view.”

Through the police, the SS was in a position to carry out a large part

of the functions assigned to it. The working partnership between the

Gestapo, the Criminal Police, and the SD under the direction of the

Reichsführer SS resulted in the end in repressive and unrestained police

activity. That will be dealt with in the case against the Gestapo. In

considering that evidence, the Tribunal will bear in mind that the

police activities there shown were one aspect of SS functions, one part

of the whole criminal SS scheme. I shall not, therefore, consider here

evidence relating strictly to the police functions of the SS.

Control over the police was not enough. Potential sources of opposition

could be tracked down by the SD. Suspects could be seized by the

Criminal Police and the Gestapo, but these means alone would not assure

the complete suppression of all opponents and potential opponents of the

regime. For this purpose concentration camps were invented. The evidence

already presented to the Tribunal has shown what the concentration camp

system involved, and the end result of that system was graphically

illustrated in the moving pictures displayed about 10 days ago. The

responsibility of the SS in that system is a topic to which I now turn.

The first requirement for the camps was guard and administrative

personnel. Part-time volunteer members of the Allgemeine SS were

originally utilized as guards; but part-time volunteers could not

adequately serve the needs of the extensive and long-range program that

was planned. So beginning in 1933 full-time professional guards units,

the Death’s-Head Units, which I have already described, were organized.

During the war, members of the General SS resumed the function of

guarding camps, which they had initially undertaken when the camps were

created. The Tribunal will recall the provisions of the Hitler order

which I read a few moments ago, directing the substitution of General SS

members to the Death’s-Head Units in the event of mobilization. It is

unnecessary to repeat the evidence of wholesale brutality, torture, and

murder committed by SS guards. They were not the sporadic crimes

committed by irresponsible individuals but a part of a definite and

calculated policy, a policy necessarily resulting from SS philosophy, a

policy which was carried out from the initial creation of the camps.

Himmler bluntly stated the SS view as to the inmates of the camps in his

article, “Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police,”

Exhibit Number USA-439, our Document 1992(a)-PS. I quote from Page 7 of

the translation, last paragraph; from Page 148 of the original, third

paragraph:

“It would be extremely instructive for everyone—to some members

of the Wehrmacht I could give the opportunity—to inspect such a

concentration camp. Once you have seen it, you are convinced of

the fact that no one has been sent there unjustly; that it is

the offal of criminals and freaks. No better demonstration of

the laws of inheritance and race, as set forth by Dr. Guett,

exists than such a concentration camp. There you can find people

with hydrocephalus, people who are cross-eyed, deformed, half

Jewish, and a number of racially inferior products. All that is

assembled there. Of course, we distinguish between those inmates

who are only there for a few months for the purpose of education

and those who are to stay for a long time. On the whole,

education consists only of discipline, never of any kind of

instruction on an ideological basis, for the prisoners have, for

the most part, slave-like souls and only very few people of real

character can be found there.”

Then, omitting the next two sentences, he continues with this striking

remark:

“Education thus means order. The order begins with these people

living in clean barracks. Such a thing can really be

accomplished only by Germans; hardly another nation would be as

humane as we are. The laundry is frequently changed. The people

are taught to wash themselves twice daily and to use a

toothbrush, a thing with which most of them have been

unfamiliar.”

Having heard the evidence and seen the pictures as to conditions in

concentration camps, this Tribunal can appreciate how grim and savage

that callous jest was. He made no such pretense in his speech to his own

Gruppenführer at Posen, our Document 1919-PS, Exhibit Number USA-170. I

quote from Page 43 of the original, last paragraph; from Page 2 of the

translation, the first full paragraph.

“I don’t believe the Communists could attempt any action, for

their leading elements, like most criminals, are in our

concentration camps. And here I must say this: We shall be able

to see after the war what a blessing it was for Germany that, in

spite of all the silly talk about humanitarianism, we imprisoned

all this criminal sub-stratum of the German people in

concentration camps. I’ll answer for that.”

But he is not here to answer.

Certainly there was no “silly humanitarianism” in the manner in which SS

men performed their tasks. Just as an illustration, I should like to

examine their conduct, not in 1944 or 1945, but 1933. I have four

reports relating to the deaths of four different inmates of the

concentration camp Dachau between May 16 and May 27, 1933. Each report

is signed by the Public Prosecutor of the District Court in Munich and

is addressed to the Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court in Munich.

These four reports show that during that 2-week period in 1933, at the

time when the concentration camps had barely started, that SS men had

murdered—a different guard each time—an inmate of the camp.

Now I don’t want to take the time of the Tribunal to read that evidence

if it feels that it is a minor point. The significance of it is this: It

is just an illustration of the sort of thing that happened in the

concentration camps at the earliest possible date, in 1933. I am

prepared to offer those four reports in evidence and to quote from them,

if the Tribunal thinks that the point is not too insignificant.

THE PRESIDENT: Where are they?

MAJOR FARR: They are right here. I will offer them in evidence. The

first is our Document Number 641-PS. It is a report dated 1 June 1933

and relates the death of Dr. Alfred Strauss, a prisoner in protective

custody in Dachau. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-450. I

shall read a few paragraphs from that report, beginning with Paragraph

1:

“On May 24, 1933, the 30-year-old, single, attorney-at-law, Dr.

Alfred Strauss from Munich, who was in the concentration camp

Dachau as a prisoner under protective custody, was killed by two

pistol shots from SS Man Johann Kantschuster who escorted him on

a walk, prescribed for him by the camp doctor, outside the

fenced part of the camp.

“Kantschuster gives the following report: He himself had to

urinate; Strauss proceeded on his way. Suddenly Strauss broke

away towards the bushes located at a distance of about 6 meters

from the line. When Kantschuster noticed it, he fired two shots

at the fugitive from a distance of about 8 meters; whereupon

Strauss collapsed dead.

“On the same day, May 24, 1933, a judicial inspection of the

locality took place. The corpse of Strauss was lying at the edge

of the wood. Leather slippers were on his feet. He wore a sock

on one foot, while the other foot was bare, obviously because of

an injury to this foot. Subsequently an autopsy was performed.

Two bullets had entered the back of the head. Besides, the body

showed several black and blue spots and also open wounds.”

Skipping now to the last paragraph of the report:

“I have charged Kantschuster today with murder and have made

application for the opening and execution of a judicial

preliminary investigation as well as for the issuance of a

warrant of arrest against him.”

That is the first of the four reports. The significance is that you

have, one after the other, murders committed within a short space of

time. And, in each instance, an official report by the camp commander or

the guard as to the cause of death which was completely disproved by the

facts.

The second report, a report dated 1 June 1933, relates to the death of

Leonhard Hausmann, another prisoner in Dachau. It is our Document 642-PS

and I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-451.

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think you need read the details.

MAJOR FARR: I will offer it without reading it.

The third report which I shall offer is dated 22 May 1933. It relates to

the death of Louis Schloss, an inmate of Dachau, and is our Document

644-PS. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-452.

The fourth document, our Number 645-PS, dated 1 June 1933, relates to

the death of Sebastian Nefzger, another Dachau prisoner. I offer this in

evidence as Exhibit Number USA-453.

These four murders committed within the short space of 2 weeks in the

spring of 1933, each by different SS guards, are but a few examples of

SS activities in the camps at that very early date. Many similar

examples from that period and later periods could be produced.

Indeed, that sort of thing was officially encouraged. I call the

Tribunal’s attention to the disciplinary Regulation for the Dachau

Concentration Camp, our Document 778-PS, which has already been

introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-247. I want to read the

fourth paragraph of the introduction to those rules, a passage which was

not read when the document was originally introduced. The fourth

paragraph on the first page of the translation and of the original is as

follows:

“Tolerance means weakness. In the light of this conception,

punishment will be mercilessly handed out whenever the interests

of the Fatherland warrant it. The fellow countryman who is

decent but misled will never be affected by these regulations.

But let it be a warning to the agitating politicians and

intellectual provocateurs, regardless of which kind: Be on guard

not to be caught, for otherwise it will be your neck and you

will be silenced according to your own methods.”

Those regulations were issued in 1933 by SS Führer Eicke, who, it is to

be noted, was the commandant of the SS Totenkopf Verbände.

Furnishing guard and administrative personnel was not the only function

of the SS with relation to the camps. The entire internal management of

the camps, including the use of prisoners, their housing, clothing,

sanitary conditions, the determination of their very right to live, and

the disposal of their remains, was controlled by the SS. Such management

was first vested in the Leader of the SS Death’s-Head Units who had the

title of Inspector of Concentration Camps. This official was originally

in the SS Hauptamt—represented on the chart by the second box from the

left.

During the course of the war, in March 1942, control of concentration

camps was transferred to another of the departments of the SS Supreme

Command, the SS Economic and Administration Department, commonly known

as WVHA. That department is indicated on the chart by the 3rd box from

the left. And the Court will note under the top box the breakdown

“Concentration Camps” which in turn is broken down into “Prison,”

“Labor,” “Medical,” and “Administration.”

That change was announced in a letter to Himmler, dated 30 April 1942,

from the Chief of WVHA. The letter is our Document Number R-129 and it

has already been received in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-217. I shall

not quote from that letter now.

This shift of control to WVHA, the economic department of the SS,

coincided with a change in the basic purposes of the concentration

camps. Political and security reasons, which previously had been the

ground for confinement, were abandoned; and the camps were frankly made

to serve the slave-labor program. The Tribunal will recall the evidence

relating to that program which was presented last week by Mr. Dodd. I

shall not deal at any length with the matter again, except to summarize

the principal facts bearing on SS responsibility which were demonstrated

by that evidence.

To satisfy the increased demands for manpower it was not enough to work

the inmates of the camp harder. More inmates had to be obtained. The SS,

through its police arm, was prepared to satisfy this demand, as through

the WVHA it was prepared to work those who were already in the camp.

THE PRESIDENT: Have you got any figures you can give the Tribunal as to

the total numbers in the SS and the total numbers who were employed on

concentration camps? If you gave us the total number of the SS and the

total number employed in concentration camps, we should see what the

proportion was.

MAJOR FARR: I think I can only give you these figures: I earlier quoted

some figures from D’Alquen in his book published in 1939, in which he

said that the total strength of the General SS was about 240,000. That

is the General SS, which was not at that time engaged in the guarding of

concentration camps. The Totenkopf Verbände (the Death’s-Head Units) at

that time consisted of some three or four regiments at the most. They

were the guards; so that of the personnel who were employed in actual

guard duty there were, in 1939, about three or four regiments.

The Court will recall that after the war had started, the Totenkopf

Verbände were no longer employed in that duty and that the members of

the General SS took it up. How many were employed is something that is

difficult to estimate. The concentration camp program was constantly

expanding; and of course, as more camps were added more personnel was

needed. I can’t give the Tribunal figures on the number of persons

involved in guarding the camps, but one of the matters I think

significant is this: We have not only guards, we have administrative

personnel; we have the whole of the WVHA which, as I want to show by

evidence, had complete control of the management of the concentration

camps. The members of the staff office, WVHA, were derived from the

General SS; so you have on the one hand the guard personnel,

Death’s-Head Units up to 1939, and then you have after 1939 more guards

from the Allgemeine SS. You have, after 1939, more guards from the

General SS and also administrative personnel from WVHA.

I do not have figures on how many persons were engaged in one or another

phase of the concentration camp activities. You have, of course, the SD

and Security Police involved in it, insofar as they went out and seized

victims. You have WVHA, the entire administrative personnel of that

section involved in it, insofar as they handled administrative matters.

Some conception of the number of persons who must have been engaged in

the activity may be gained from noting the number of persons involved in

a camp. I have a document, a report by WVHA in August 1944, which

reports the number of prisoners who were then on hand in the camps and

the new arrivals who were expected. That document is our Document Number

1166-PS, which I will now offer in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-458.

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think we had better go into that tonight. What

will you be dealing with tomorrow?

MAJOR FARR: Tomorrow, Sir, I intend to offer evidence showing how WVHA

and other SS personnel were involved in the control of every phase of

the concentration camp program. That is the first thing. The second

thing is to point out the role that the SS played in the persecution of

the Jews and their extermination; not with a view to repeating the

substantive evidence to show that such acts took place, but to show how

many components, how many parts, of the organization were involved in

that program.

Then I shall consider the role of the SS with respect to preparations

for aggressive war and the Crimes against Peace—a relatively brief

discussion—and then pass on to the role that the SS played in War

Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, set out in Counts Three and Four of

the Indictment; and finally, the role of the SS in the colonization

program.

THE PRESIDENT: Colonization?

MAJOR FARR: That may be an unfortunate word. Perhaps I should have said

Germanization program, a program of resettlement, evacuation,

colonization, and exploitation of the conquered territories.

Those, I think, are the four main functions of the SS which remain to be

considered; and I shall endeavor not to go again into the substantive

crimes which have already been shown to the Tribunal, but to try to show

how almost every department—in fact, every department of the SS and

every component—was involved in one or more—and mostly more—of these

crimes.

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal hopes that you will be able to confine

yourself to the reading of evidence which is not cumulative.

MAJOR FARR: I have that in mind and I don’t intend to do that except to

show the figures and components of the SS which were involved in various

programs.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

[_The Tribunal adjourned until 20 December 1945 at 1000 hours._]

TWENTY-FOURTH DAY

Thursday, 20 December 1945

_Morning Session_

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?

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 such 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 (Mr. 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 Verfügungstruppe,

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 Verfügungstruppe 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 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 Verbände, 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 Reichsführer SS; (2) SS

Main Office; (3) Reich Security Main Office; (4) Race and

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

Obergruppenführer 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 Reichsführer 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 Reichsführer

SS as soon as possible so that PW’s he picks up are made

available for our purposes. The Reichsführer SS gets from 30,000

to 40,000 men per month.’”

In order to insure SS control over the labor of prisoners of war, the

Reichsführer 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 Führer 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 Reichsführer SS has commanded:

“(a) In my capacity as Commander of the Reserve Army, I transfer

the affairs of prisoners of war to SS Obergruppenführer 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 Obergruppenführer Berger and SS

Obergruppenführer 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 Obergruppenführer

Berger and the Chief of the Security Police, SS

Obergruppenführer 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 Göring 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.

“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 Obergruppenführer 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-Obergruppenführer 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

Obergruppenführer 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; 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 Glücks, SS Brigade Führer and Major General of

the Waffen-SS. I read the letter:

“The Reichsführer 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 Reichsführer 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 Reichsführer 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 regulated by

the WVHA. As an illustration of WVHA management, I call the Court’s

attention to our Document 2189-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 Brigade Führer and General of the Waffen-SS Glücks, who was Chief of

Office Group D of WVHA. That is Document Number 2189-PS. I will read the

body of that letter:

“The Reichsführer 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 Office, SS Obergruppenführer

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 Obersturmbannführer

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 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 Führer

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 Führer 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. This 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

experiments 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 experiments at Dachau.

THE PRESIDENT: There is no date on that document you just read, is

there?

MAJOR FARR: There 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.

The 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 Reichsführer 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 Luftgaukommando

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 Bodenständige

Prüfstelle für Höhenforschung 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

Reichsführer SS, and the initials, “K Br,” which initials are those of

SS Sturmbannführer Karl Brandt. I offer this letter as Exhibit Number

USA-462. I quote the first two paragraphs of that letter:

“Dear Dr. Rascher:

“Shortly before flying to Oslo, the Reichsführer 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

Reichsführer 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 Obergruppenführer 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 Wölffchen”:

“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.

MAJOR FARR: The letter on the preceding page, dated 31 August 1942, is

also from General Field Marshal Milch, and is addressed to the

Reichsführer 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-PS, 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 life-jacket 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 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 Reichsführer 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 Reichsführer 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 Führer, 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 with particular efficiency

because 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 Holzlöhner, 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 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

and Police and signed SS Oberführer 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 Sturmbannführer 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: