“At the same time there was pronounced nausea. One of the

poisoned persons tried in vain to vomit. In order to succeed he

put four fingers of his hand, up to the main joint, right into

his mouth. In spite of this, no vomiting occurred. His face

became quite red.

“The faces of the other two subjects were already pale at an

early stage. Other symptoms were the same. Later on the

disturbances of the motor nerves increased so much that the

persons threw themselves up and down, rolled their eyes, and

made aimless movements with their hands and arms. At last the

disturbance subsided, the pupils were enlarged to the maximum,

the condemned lay still. Rectal cramps and loss of urine was

observed in one of them. Death occurred 121, 123, and 129

minutes after they were shot.”

The fact that SS doctors engaged in such experiments was no accident. It

was consistent with an ideology and racial philosophy which, to use

Himmler’s words, regarded human beings as lice and offal. But the most

important factor was that the SS alone was in a position to supply

necessary human material. And it did supply such material through WVHA.

I refer to our Document 1751-PS, which is a letter from the Chief of

Office Group D of WVHA, dated 12 May 1944. I offer it as Exhibit Number

USA-468. I quote that letter. It appears in the original file on the

last page. I quote:

“There is cause to call attention to the fact that in every case

permission for assignment has to be requested here before

assignment of prisoners is made for experimental purposes.

“To be included in this request are number, kind of custody, and

in case of Aryan prisoners, exact personal data, file number in

the Reich Security Main Office, and the reason for detainment in

the concentration camp.

“Herewith, I explicitly forbid assignment of prisoners for

experimental purposes without permission.”

The translation says that the signature is illegible, but I think it

appears from the original that it is the signature of Glücks, since he

was the department chief of Department D of WVHA. It was on the basis of

being able to supply such material that the Reich Ministry of Finance

was prepared to subsidize the SS experimental program. I offer in

evidence a series of letters between the Reich Ministry of Finance, the

Reich Research Council, and the Reich Surgeon of the SS and Police. They

are our Document 002-PS, which I offer in evidence as Exhibit Number

USA-469. The first letter from which I shall quote appears on Page 4 of

our Document 002-PS and is from the head of the Executive Council of the

Reich Research Council, addressed to the Reich Surgeon of SS and Police.

It is dated 19 February 1943. I quote the first three paragraphs of the

letter:

“The Reich Minister of Finance told me that you requested 53

leading positions . . . for your office, partly for new research

institutes.

“After the Reich Marshal of the Greater German Reich has as

President of the Reich Research Council entrusted himself with

all German research, he issued directives, among other things,

that in the execution of scientific tasks important for war, the

available institutions including equipment and personnel should

be utilized to the utmost for reasons of necessary economy of

effort.

“The foundation of new institutes comes therefore in question

only insofar as there are no outstanding institutes for the

furtherance of important war research tasks.”

I omit the rest of the letter.

To this letter the Reich Surgeon of the SS and Police replied on the 26

February 1943. The reply will be found on Page 2 of the English

translation. It is a letter from the Reich Surgeon SS and Police to the

head of the Executive Council of the Reich Research Department, dated 26

February 1943. I quote the first three paragraphs of that letter. It

begins:

“My Dear Ministerial Director:

“In acknowledgment of your correspondence of 19 February 1943, I

am able to reply the following to it today:

“The statement of the budget for the 53 key positions of my

office which you made the basis of your memorandum was a

veritable peace plan.

“The special institutes of the SS which are to be filled, in

part, with these positions should serve the purpose to establish

and make accessible for the entire realm of scientific research

the particular possibilities of research only possessed by the

SS.”

Omitting the next two paragraphs, I continue:

“I will gladly be at your disposal at any time to discuss the

particular research aims, in connection with the SS, which I

would like to bring up after the war upon the direction of the

Reichsführer SS.”

An interview between the Reich Surgeon and Mentzel, the author of the

original letter, took place; and on the 25th of March 1943 Mentzel wrote

a letter to the Reich Minister of Finance, which will be found on Page 1

of the translation. It is a letter from the President of the Reich

Research Department, Head of the Executive Council, to the Reich

Minister of Finance, dated 25 March 1943. The letter begins:

“In regard to your correspondence of 19 December”—and then

follows the serial number of the letter—“to which I gave you a

preliminary communication on 19 February, I finally take the

following position:

“The Reich Surgeon SS and Police, in a personal discussion, told

me that the budget claim which he looked after is used primarily

in the pure military sector of the Waffen-SS. Since it is

established on a smaller scale for the enlarging of scientific

research possibilities, they pertain exclusively to such

affairs, which are carried out with the material (prisoners)

which is only accessible to the Waffen-SS and are therefore not

to be undertaken by any other experimental office. I cannot

object therefore on behalf of the Reich Research Council against

the budget claim of the Reich Surgeon SS and Police.”

The letter is signed, “Mentzel, Ministerial Director.”

Thus it was because the SS was in a position to supply material for the

program of experiments that it took the lead in that field of endeavor.

THE PRESIDENT: Does the letter on Page 4 mean that the Defendant Göring

was President of the Reich Research Department?

MAJOR FARR: Page 4 of the translation? That I understand to be the case.

The point of the letter being that Göring had laid down the rule that

during the war there was to be no duplication of experimental

facilities. Therefore, the Reich Research Department to whom the

Minister of Finance had turned for an opinion, asked the Reich Surgeon,

“Why do you want to carry out this program of experiments?”

THE PRESIDENT: I was only asking whether the President of the Reich

Research Department was the Defendant Göring.

MAJOR FARR: That is what is stated in the letter. I understand that to

be the case.

THE PRESIDENT: Then what do the words, “President of the Reich Research

Department” on Page 1 mean? Does that mean that the letter went to the

Defendant Göring?

MAJOR FARR: No. The letterhead bears the notation “President of the

Reich Research Department,” and the letter proceeds from an office of

that department, Head of the Executive Council. The letter was addressed

to the Reich Minister of Finance.

THE PRESIDENT: I see.

MAJOR FARR: I have concluded the concentration camp phase.

THE PRESIDENT: We will recess now for 10 minutes.

[_A recess was taken._]

THE PRESIDENT: It will perhaps be convenient that I should announce that

the Tribunal will adjourn today at 4 o’clock.

MAJOR FARR: Through its activities with respect to concentration camps,

the SS performed part of its mission to safeguard the security of the

Nazi regime. But another specialized aspect of that mission must not be

forgotten. The Tribunal will recall Himmler’s definition of that task—a

definition I referred to earlier—the prevention of a Jewish-Bolshevist

revolution of subhumans; in plain words, participation in the Nazi

program of Jewish persecution and extermination.

It would be idle for me to refer again at any length to the evidence

relating to that program which the Tribunal heard a day or so ago from

Major Walsh. I want to call attention to just a few documents showing

how the program involved every branch and component of the SS.

The racial philosophy of the SS, which I dealt with at the very outset,

made that organization a natural agency for the execution of all types

of anti-Semitic measures. The SS position on the Jewish question was

publicly stated in the SS newspaper _Das Schwarze Corps_, the issue of

August 8, 1940, by its editor, Gunter d’Alquen, a statement which has

already been read into evidence as Exhibit Number USA-269. It is our

Document 2668-PS. I shall not repeat that quotation in which D’Alquen

says that the Jewish question will not be solved until the last Jew has

been deported, and that the German peace which awaits Europe must be a

peace without Jews.

The attempted solution of the Jewish question through the “spontaneous”

demonstrations in Germany, following the murder of Vom Rath in November

of 1938, has been presented to the Tribunal. In those demonstrations all

branches of the SS were called on to play a part. I refer to the

teletype message from SS Gruppenführer Heydrich, Chief of the Security

Police and SD, issued on the 10th of November 1938. It is our Document

3051-PS. Portions of that teletype have already been read into evidence

as Exhibit Number USA-240. I wish to read one further paragraph, which

has not been read. It appears on Page 2 of the translation, the fourth

paragraph. I quote:

“The direction of the measures of the Security Police concerning

the demonstrations against Jews is vested with the organs of the

State Police”—by which he means the Gestapo—“inasmuch as the

inspectors of the Security Police are not issuing their own

orders. In order to carry out the measures of the Security

Police, officials of the Criminal Police as well as members of

the SD, of the Verfügungstruppe, and the Allgemeine SS may be

used.”

With the outbreak of the war and the march of Nazi armies over Europe,

the SS participated in solving the Jewish question in other countries in

Europe. The solution was nothing short of extermination. To a large

degree these wholesale murders were disguised under the name of

“anti-partisan” or “anti-guerilla” actions and as such they included as

victims not merely Jews but Soviets, Poles, and other Eastern peoples.

With this anti-partisan activity I shall deal in a few moments.

I want to refer now to a few actions confined essentially to Jews. To

take one example—the mass annihilation of Jews in gas vans—described

in our document 501-PS, which was read into the record by Major Walsh as

Exhibit Number USA-288. I do not think that that document appears in the

document book, because I am not going to read from it. I simply want to

point out that these gas vans, as appears from the letters, were

operated by the Security Police and SD under the direction of RSHA. Or

to take another example—the report entitled, “Solution of the Jewish

Question in Galicia,” our Document L-18, prepared by SS Gruppenführer

and Lieutenant General of the Police Katzmann and rendered to SS

Obergruppenführer and General of the Police Krüger—that report has

already been received in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-277. The

Tribunal will recall that the solution, which consisted in the

evacuation and extermination of all the Jews in Galicia and the

confiscation of their property, was carried out under the energetic

direction of the SS and Police Leaders with the assistance of SS Police

units. I wish to read three short items in the report which have not

already been read. The first is a text under a photograph which appears

on Page 3 of the translation and on Page 3(a) of the original report. It

is the first item on Page 3 of the translation. I quote: “Great was the

joy of the SS men when the Reichsführer SS in person in 1942 visited

some camps along the Rollbahn.”

The second is a balance sheet, which appears on Page 11 of the

translation and Page 17 of the report. I read Item 3 on the balance

sheet:

“3. Amount paid over to the SS cashier: a. Camps, 6,867,251.00

zlotys; b. industrial and armament factories, 6,556,513.69

zlotys; total, 13,423,764.69 zlotys.

“Further payments to the SS cashier are effected every month.”

The third item I desire to read is the last two paragraphs of the report

found on Page 20 of the translation and on Page 64 of the original

document. I read the last two paragraphs of the report:

“Despite the extraordinary burden heaped upon every single SS

Police Officer during these actions, mood and spirit of the men

were extraordinarily good and praiseworthy from the first to the

last day.

“Due to the high personal sense of duty of every single leader

and man we have succeeded in getting rid of this plague in so

short a time.”

The final example of SS participation in Jewish extermination to which I

shall call the Tribunal’s attention is the infamous report by SS

Brigadeführer and Major General of the Police Stroop, on the destruction

of the Warsaw ghetto, our Document 1061-PS. That report was introduced

in evidence by Major Walsh as Exhibit Number USA-275, and the Tribunal

indicated that it would take the whole report in evidence without the

necessity of reading it in full. I shall not, therefore, read any

further passages; but I do want to point out specifically two sections

dealing with the constitution of the forces which participated in that

fearful action. On Page 1 of the translation is a table of the units

used.

THE PRESIDENT: It is here?

MAJOR FARR: Our Document 1061-PS. I am just going to call your attention

to the table of units which were employed in this action, indicating the

average number of officers and men from each unit employed per day. It

will be observed that among the units involved were the staff of the SS

and Police Leader, two battalions of the Waffen-SS, two battalions of

the 22d SS Police Regiment, and members of the Security Police. The part

played by the Waffen-SS came in for high praise from the writer of the

report. The Tribunal will recall the passage which was read by Major

Walsh in which reference was made to the toughness of the men of the

Waffen-SS, the Police, and the Wehrmacht and in which the writer said

that “considering that the greater part of the men of the Waffen-SS had

been trained for only 3 or 4 weeks before being assigned to this action,

high credit should be given to them for the pluck, courage, and devotion

which they showed.”

The Tribunal has already heard Himmler’s proud boast of the part that

the SS played in the extermination of the Jews. It occurs in his Posen

speech, our Document 1919-PS, and was read into the record in the

presentation of the case dealing with concentration camps. The passage

to which I refer appears on about the middle of Page 4 of the

translation and on Page 66 of the original. Since that passage has

already been read, it is unnecessary for me to quote it again; but I do

want the Tribunal to note that Himmler stated that only the SS could

have carried out this extermination program of the Jews and that its

participation in that program was a page of glory in its history which

could never be fully appreciated.

I now turn to the manner in which the SS fitted into the aggressive war

program of the conspirators and, too, its responsibility for the Crimes

against Peace which were alleged in the Indictment. From its very

beginning, it made prime contributions to the conspirators’ aggressive

war aims.

First, it served as one of the para-military organizations under which

the conspirators disguised their building up of an army in violation of

the Versailles Treaty. Second, through affiliated SS organizations in

other countries and through some of the departments in its own Supreme

Command, it fostered Fifth Column movements outside Germany and prepared

the way for aggression. Third, through its militarized units, it

participated in aggressive actions which eventually were carried out.

The Tribunal has just heard the evidence against the SA, which

demonstrated that from 1933 to 1938 the SA were militarized and were in

fact nothing but a camouflaged army. Some of that evidence referred to

the SS as well. The para-military character of the Allgemeine SS is

apparent. I have already described the military character of its

structure, the military discipline required of its members, and the

steps it took to enlist in its ranks young men of military age. In

addition to this volunteer army, the SS created as early as 1933 fully

armed professional units. These were the SS Verfügungstruppe and the

Death’s-Head Units with which I have dealt yesterday.

While building up the SS as a military force within Germany, the

conspirators also utilized it in other countries to lay the groundwork

for aggression. The evidence, presented by Mr. Alderman, of the

preparations for the seizure of Austria showed the part played by the SS

Standarte 89 in the murder of Dollfuss and described the memorial plaque

which was erected as a tribute to the SS men who participated in that

murder. I refer to Exhibit Number USA-59 and USA-60, our Document Number

L-273 and 2968-PS, which were introduced by Mr. Alderman. The Tribunal

will recall the subsequent story of the events of the night of March 11,

1938, when the SS marched into Vienna and occupied all government

buildings and important posts in the city—a story unfolded in Exhibit

Number USA-61, our Document Number 812-PS, the report of Gauleiter

Rainer which was read in evidence by Mr. Alderman, and in our Document

Number 2949-PS, Exhibit Number USA-76, the record of the telephone

conversation between the Defendant Göring and Dombrowski, which appears

on Page 570 of the transcript of the record (Volume II, Page 417).

The same pattern was repeated in Czechoslovakia. Henlein’s Free Corps

played in that country the part of Fifth Column which the Austrian SS

had played in Austria, and it was rewarded by being placed under the

jurisdiction of the Reichsführer SS in September 1938. I refer to our

Document 388-PS, which was read in evidence by Mr. Alderman as Exhibit

Number USA-26.

The items touched are Items 37 and 38 of the so-called Schmundt file.

Moreover, as shown by Item 36 of that file, which Mr. Alderman read into

the record, the SS had its own armed units—four battalions of the

Totenkopf Verbände—actually operating in Czechoslovakia before the

Munich Pact was signed. SS preparations for aggression in Czechoslovakia

were not confined to military forces. One of the departments of the SS

Supreme Command—the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle—which is represented on

the chart by the third box from the top at the extreme right—was a

center for Fifth Column activity. The Tribunal may recall the secret

meeting between Hitler and Henlein in March 1938, described in notes of

the German Foreign Office, Exhibit Number USA-95, at which the line to

be followed by the Sudeten German Party was determined. The

Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle was represented at that meeting by Professor

Haushofer and SS Obergruppenführer Lorenz. And when the Foreign Office,

in August 1938, awarded further subsidies to Henlein’s Sudeten Party,

the memorandum of that recommendation for further subsidies contained

the significant footnote “Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle will be

informed. . . .” I refer to Exhibit Number USA-96, our Document 3059-PS,

which was read into the record by Mr. Alderman, at Pages 789 and 790

(Volume III, Pages 75 and 76).

When at last the time came to strike, the SS was ready. I quote from the

_National Socialist Yearbook_ for 1940, our Document 2164-PS, Exhibit

Number USA-255, on Page 1, Paragraph 2, of the translation, Page 365 of

the original, Paragraph 3:

“When the march into the liberated provinces of the Sudetenland

began, on that memorable 1st of October 1938, the emergency

forces”—Verfügungstruppe—“as well as the Death’s-Head

Units”—Totenkopf Verbände—“were along with those in the lead.”

I omit the balance of the paragraph and continue with the next

paragraph:

“The 15th of March 1939 brought a similar utilization of the SS

when it served to establish order in the collapsed

Czechoslovakia. This action ended with the founding of the

Protectorate Bohemia-Moravia.

“Only a week later, on the 22d of March 1939, Memel also

returned to the Reich upon basis of an agreement with Lithuania.

Again it was the SS, here above all the East Prussian SS, which

played a prominent part in the liberation of this district.”

In the final act in setting off the war—the attack on Poland in

September 1939—the SS acted as a sort of stage manager. The Tribunal

will recall the oral testimony of Erwin Lahousen with relation to the

simulated attack on the radio station at Gleiwitz, by Germans dressed in

Polish uniform—what Lahousen referred to as one of the most mysterious

actions which took place in the Abwehr. Describing his task of getting

the Polish uniforms and equipment together, he said at Page 620 of the

transcript (Volume II, Page 450):

“These articles of equipment had to be prepared, and one day

some man from the SS or the SD—the name is on the official

diary of the War Department—fetched them.”

The war erupted and the Waffen-SS again took its place in the van of the

attacking forces.

During the war great use was made of the peculiar qualities possessed by

the SS, qualities not only of its combat forces but of its other

components as well. I turn now to a consideration of some of the tasks

in which the SS was engaged during the war—tasks which embraced the

commission of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity described in the

Indictment.

The Tribunal has already received in evidence our Document 447-PS as

Exhibit Number USA-135. It is a directive issued by the Defendant

Keitel, on the 13th of March 1941, covering some of the preparations

made 3 months in advance for the attack on Russia. Paragraph 2b of that

directive, which was read into the record, provided that in the area of

operations the Reichsführer SS was entrusted with special tasks for the

preparation of the political administration, tasks which would result

from the struggle about to commence between two opposing political

systems.

One of the steps taken by the Reichsführer SS to carry out those

“special tasks” was the formation and use of so-called “anti-partisan”

units. They were discussed by Himmler in his Posen speech, our Document

1919-PS, at Page 3 of the translation, Paragraph 5, Page 57 of the

original, last paragraph. I read those two paragraphs in which he

discusses the anti-partisan units:

“In the meantime, I have also set up the office of the chief of

the anti-partisan units. Our comrade SS Obergruppenführer Von

dem Bach is chief of the anti-partisan units. I considered it

necessary for the Reichsführer SS to be in authoritative command

in all these battles, for I am convinced that we are best in

position to take action against this enemy struggle, which is

decidedly a political one. Except where units which had been

supplied and which we had formed for this purpose were taken

from us to fill in gaps at the front, we have been very

successful.

“It is notable that by setting up this agency by division,

corps, army in turn, we have gained for the SS the next higher

step—which is the High Command of an army or even a group, if

you wish to call it that.”

What the SS did with its divisions, corps, and army out of which the

anti-partisan units were formed, is illustrated in the reports rendered

as to the activities of such units. I offer in evidence the Activity and

Situation Report 6 of the task forces of the Security Police and SD in

the U.S.S.R., covering the period from the 1st to the 31st of October

1941. It is our Document R-102, and will be found in Volume 2 of the

document book. It is Exhibit Number USA-470. The report shows that

so-called “anti-partisan” activity was actually nothing but a name for

extermination of persons believed politically undesirable and of Jews.

The report is a very carefully organized and detailed description of

such extermination. Section I describes the stations of the various task

forces involved, Section II their activities. The latter section is

divided into parts, each dealing with a different geographical

region—the Baltic area, White Ruthenia, and the Ukraine.

Under each area the report of activities is classified under three

headings: (a) Partisan activity and counteraction, (b) arrests and

execution of Communists and officials, and (c) Jews. I shall read only a

few typical paragraphs selected almost at random.

First, to show the units involved, I quote the second and third

paragraphs of Page 4 of the translation, which also appear on Page 1 of

the original:

“The present stations are:

“Task Force A, since 7 October 1941 Krasnowardeisk; Task Force

B, continues in Smolensk; Task Force C, since 27 September 1941

in Kiev; Task Force D, since 27 September 1941 in Nikolaiev.

“The action and special commandos”—Einsatz- und

Sonderkommandos—“which are attached to the task force continue

on the march with the advancing troops into the sectors which

have been assigned to them.”

I shall now read from the section headed “Baltic area” and subsection

labelled “Jews,” beginning with the first paragraph on Page 5 of the

translation, Page 8 of the original, second paragraph:

“The male Jews over 16 were executed with the exception of

doctors and the elders. At the present time this action is still

in progress. After completion of this action there will remain

only 500 Jewesses and children in Ostland.”

I skip now to the section headed “White Ruthenia,” the subsection

headed, “Partisan activity and counteraction.” The paragraph I shall

read begins on Page 6, Paragraph 5 of the translation, found on Page 11,

Paragraph 1 of the original. I quote:

“In Wultschina eight juveniles were arrested as partisans and

shot. They were inmates of a children’s home. They had collected

weapons which they hid in the woods. Upon search the following

were found: 3 heavy machine guns, 15 rifles, several thousand

rounds of ammunition, several hand grenades, and several

packages of poison gas Ebrit.

“b) Arrests and executions of Communists, officials, and

criminals. A further large part of the activity of the Security

Police was devoted to the combatting of Communists and

criminals. A special Commando in the period covered by this

report executed 63 officials, NKGB agents, and agitators.”

The subsection on arrests and executions of Communists, officials, and

criminals in White Ruthenia ends as follows; and I read from Page 6 of

the translation, Paragraph 14, Page 12 of the original, Paragraph 5:

“The liquidations for the period covered by this report have

reached a total of 37,180 persons.”

The final item I shall quote is from the section headed “Ukraine”, under

the subsection, “Jews.” It will be found on Page 8 of the translation,

Paragraph 10, Page 18 of the original, next to the last paragraph:

“In Zhitomir 3,145 Jews had to be shot, because from experience

they have to be regarded as bearers of Bolshevik propaganda and

saboteurs.”

This report, the Tribunal will recall, deals with the activities of four

task forces: A, B, C, and D. The more detailed report of Task Force A up

to 15 October 1941 is our Document L-180. It has already been introduced

in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-276 and some paragraphs were read from

it. It will be referred to again in the case against the Gestapo. I

desire to read only two paragraphs, which show the great variety of SS

components in such a task force.

I might point out to the Court that this elaborately bound report, which

the Court has already seen, has a sort of pocket-part supplement in

which appears a breakdown of the personnel engaged in this action, in

graphic form. I shall read the component parts which appear on this

chart in a moment. First, I will quote from Page 5 of the translation,

fourth paragraph . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Does that book you just put in refer to the extermination

of the Jews in Galicia?

MAJOR FARR: This is the report of Action Group A, an anti-partisan task

force which operated in the Baltic States in 1941.

The passage I will read appears on Page 5 of the translation, Paragraph

4 and on Page 12 of the original, first paragraph; I quote:

“This description of the over-all situation shows that the

members of the Gestapo”—the Secret State Police—“Kripo”—that

is the Criminal Police—“and the SD”—Security Service—“who are

attached to the task-force group, are active mainly in

Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, White Ruthenia, and to a lesser

extent, in front of Leningrad. It shows further that the forces

of the uniformed police and the Waffen-SS are active mainly in

front of Leningrad, in order to take measures under their own

officers against the streaming back of the population. This is

so much easier because the task forces in Lithuania, Latvia, and

Estonia have at their disposal native police units, as described

in Enclosure 1, and because so far 150 Latvian reinforcements

have been sent to White Ruthenia.

“The distribution of the leaders of Security Police and SD

during the individual phases can be gathered from Enclosure 2;

the advance and activities of the task force group and the task

force commands, from Enclosure 3. It should be mentioned that

the leaders of the Waffen-SS and of the uniformed police, who

are on the reserve, have declared their wish to stay with the

Security Police and the SD.”

I now quote from Enclosure 1a which was referred to, showing the

constitution of the force. This will be found on Page 14 of the

translation. It is the graphic chart which I showed the Court a few

moments ago, the translation having simply the breakdown of the

components. I quote:

“Total strength of Task Force Group A, 990; Waffen-SS, 340, 34.4

percent; drivers, 172, 17.4 percent; administration, 18, 1.8

percent; Security Service”—SD—“35, 3.5 percent; Criminal

Police”—Kripo—“41, 4.1 percent; State Police”—Stapo—“89, 9.0

percent; auxiliary police, 87, 8.8 percent; Order Police, 133,

13.4 percent; female employees, 13, 1.3 percent; interpreters,

51, 5.1 percent; telautograph operators, 3, 0.3 percent,

wireless operators, 8, 0.8 percent.”

The Tribunal will observe that in that list there appear the Waffen-SS,

the SD, Criminal Police, the Gestapo, and the ordinary police, all of

which were part of the SS or under SS jurisdiction.

One final report of anti-partisan activity may be referred to. It is a

report from the General Commissar for White Ruthenia to the Reich

Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories. It is our Document R-135,

which I think is in the document book under 1475-PS—two document

numbers have been combined. That document was introduced into evidence

by Major Walsh as Exhibit Number USA-289, and he read into the record

the letter from the Reich Commissar of the Eastern Territories

transmitting the report in question. The letter he read appears on Page

1 of the translation. I desire to read a paragraph or two from the

report itself, which is found on Page 3 of the translation. It deals

with the results of the police operation “Cottbus.” I quote the first

paragraph:

“SS Brigadeführer, Major General of Police Von Gottberg reports

that the operation ‘Cottbus’ had the following result during the

period mentioned: Enemy dead, 4,500; dead suspected of belonging

to bands, 5,000; German dead, 59.”

I think it is unnecessary to continue further with the list. I skip to

the fourth paragraph of the report:

“The figures mentioned above indicate that again a heavy

destruction of the population must be expected. If only 492

rifles are taken from 4,500 enemy dead, this discrepancy shows

that among these enemy dead were numerous peasants from the

country. The Battalion Dirlewanger especially has a reputation

for destroying many human lives. Among the 5,000 people

suspected of belonging to bands, there were numerous women and

children.

“By order of the Chief of Anti-Partisan Combat, SS

Obergruppenführer Von dem Bach, units of the Armed Forces have

also participated in the operation.”

This is as far as I will quote.

The Tribunal will recall that SS Obergruppenführer Von dem Bach was

referred to in the Posen speech by Himmler as “our comrade” whom he had

placed in charge of anti-partisan activity.

The activities I have just dealt with were joint activities, in which

the Gestapo, Order Police, the Waffen-SS, and SS police regiments were

all involved. But these units were also used individually to carry out

tasks of such a nature.

I offer in evidence a letter from the Chief of the Command Office of the

Waffen-SS, our Document 1972-PS, as Exhibit Number USA-471. It is a

letter from the Chief of the Command Office of the Waffen-SS to the

Reichsführer SS, dated 14 October 1941; subject: “Intermediate Report on

Civilian State of Emergency.” I shall read that letter; I quote:

“I deliver the following interim report regarding the commitment

of the Waffen-SS in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia during

the civilian state of emergency:

“In turn all battalions of the Waffen-SS in the Protectorate

Bohemia and Moravia were assigned to shootings and hangings.

“Up till now there occurred in Prague 99 shootings and 21

hangings, in Brünn 54 shootings and 17 hangings; total: 191

executions (including 16 Jews).

“A complete report regarding other measures and on the conduct

of the officers, noncommissioned officers, and men will be made

following the termination of the civilian state of emergency.”

It is not surprising that units of the Waffen-SS and the branches which

had thus been employed in extermination actions and in the execution of

civilians are also to be found violating the laws of warfare when

carrying on ordinary combat operations. I offer in evidence a

supplementary report of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary

Force Court of Inquiry in regard to shooting of allied prisoners of war

by the 12th SS Panzer Division in Normandy, France, between the 7th and

21st of June 1944. It is our Document 2997-PS, Exhibit Number USA-472.

Extracts from that report consist of the formal record of the

proceedings of the Court of Inquiry and the statement of its findings

are included in the document book under that document number. They have

been translated into German. Under Article 21 of the Charter, this

Tribunal is directed to take judicial notice of the documents of

committees set up in various Allied countries for the investigation of

War Crimes and also of the records and findings of military or other

tribunals of any of the United Nations. This report falls squarely

within that provision. Therefore, without reading portions of the

document, I shall summarize the findings of the Court of Inquiry which

are set out on Pages 8 to 10 of the document. The court concluded that

there occurred between the 7th and the 17th of June 1944 in Normandy,

seven cases of violations of the laws of war . . .

THE PRESIDENT: What page?

MAJOR FARR: I am not quoting, I am summarizing what appears on Pages 8

to 10.

There occurred seven cases of violations of the laws of war, involving

the shooting of 64 unarmed Allied prisoners of war in uniform, many of

whom had been previously wounded and none of whom had resisted or

endeavored to escape; that the perpetrators were members of the 12th SS

Panzer Division, the so-called Hitler Jugend Division; that enlisted men

of the 15th Company of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of that

Division were given secret orders to the effect that SS troops shall

take no prisoners and that prisoners are to be executed after having

been interrogated; that similar orders were given to men of the 3rd

Battalion of the 26th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the Division and of

the 12th SS Engineering and Reconnaissance Battalions; and that the

conclusion was irresistible that it was understood throughout the

division that a policy of denying quarter or executing prisoners after

interrogation was openly approved.

Other combatants met a similar fate at the hands of other components of

the SS. I refer to the execution of Allied fliers, of commandos and

paratroopers, and of escaped prisoners of war who were turned over to

the SD to be destroyed. Evidence of these actions will be presented in

the case against the Gestapo.

Combatants who were taken prisoner encountered the SS in another form.

In the case against the Gestapo, evidence will be presented of commando

groups stationed in prisoner-of-war camps to select prisoners for what

the Nazis euphemistically called “special treatment”. Finally, the

entire control of prisoners of war was turned over to the Reichsführer

SS. I have read in evidence this morning our Document 058-PS which

provided for the direction of all prisoner-of-war camps by Himmler.

The final but vital phase of the conspiracy in which the SS played a

leading role must be mentioned. The permanent colonization of conquered

territories, the destruction of their national existence, and the

permanent extension of the German frontier were fundamental objects of

the conspirators’ plans.

The Tribunal received evidence, a day or so ago, of the manner in which

these objectives were carried out through the forcible evacuation and

resettlement of inhabitants of conquered territories, confiscation of

their properties, denationalization and re-education of persons of

German blood, and the colonization of the conquered territories by

Germans.

The SS was the logical agency to formulate and carry out the program. I

have read into the record already the numerous statements made by

Himmler as to SS training to play the role of the aristocracy of the new

Europe. He put those theories into practice when he was appointed, on

October 7, 1939, as Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of German

folkdom. The decree by which he was appointed to that office, our

Document 686-PS, has already been introduced into evidence as Exhibit

Number USA-305. I shall not, therefore, read it.

To make and carry out plans for the program of evacuation and

resettlement, a new department of the SS Supreme Command was created:

Staff Headquarters of the Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of

German nationality. That is indicated on the chart by the fourth box

from the top, on the extreme right-hand side.

The functions of this office are described in the _Organization Book of

the NSDAP_ for 1943, our Document 2640-PS, which has already been

introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-323. I shall read the

description of the functions of that department appearing on Page 3 of

the translation, the last paragraph, and Page 421 of the original. I

quote:

“The main office of the staff of the Reich Commissioner for the

Preservation of German Nationality is entrusted with the whole

settlement and constructive planning, for inclusion within the

Reich of all those territories under the authority of the Reich,

including all administrative and economic questions in

connection with the settlement, especially the deployment, of

manpower for this purpose.”

The colonization program had two principal objectives: First, the

destruction of the conquered peoples by exterminating them, deporting

them, and confiscating their property; second, settling racial Germans

on the newly acquired land.

The extermination actions conducted by the SS, as to which I have just

introduced evidence, contributed in part to clearing the conquered

territories of persons who were deemed dangerous to the Nazi plan. But

not every undesirable could be liquidated. Mass deportations

accomplished the twin purpose of providing labor and of freeing the land

for German colonists.

Evidence as to the participation of SS agencies in deporting persons to

concentration camps I have already introduced.

The evacuation and resettlement program required the use of further

deporting agencies. I quote from our Document 2163-PS, the _National

Socialist Year Book_ for 1941, Exhibit Number USA-444. The passage in

question appears on Page 3 of the translation, Paragraph 5, and at Page

195 of the original. I quote:

“For some time now, the Reichsführer SS has had at his disposal

an office under the management of SS Obergruppenführer Lorenz,

the National German Central Office”—Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle

(VM).

“This office has the task of dealing with national German

questions and of gathering the required proofs.

“In addition to the VM, the Immigration Center Office (EWZ),

with the Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service

of the SS (under the management of SS Obersturmbannführer Dr.

Sandberger) and the Settlement Staff of the Reich Commissioner

were created which, in co-operation with the National Socialist

Welfare Organization and the Reich Railroad Agency, took charge

of the migration of national Germans.”

I also offer in evidence the affidavit of Otto Hoffmann, SS

Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS and Police, our Document

L-49. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-473. Hoffmann was Chief of the

Main Office for Race and Settlement in the SS Supreme Command, until

1943. This affidavit was taken on August 4, 1945, at Freising, Germany.

I shall read Paragraph 2 of that affidavit:

“The executive power, in other words the carrying out of all

so-called resettlement actions, that is to say, sending away of

Polish and Jewish settlers and those of non-German blood from a

territory in Poland destined for Germanization, was in the hands

of the Chief of the RSHA (Heydrich, and later Kaltenbrunner,

since the end of 1942). The Chief of the RSHA also supervised

and issued orders to the so-called immigration center, which

classified the Germans living abroad who returned to Germany and

directed them to the individual farms already freed. The latter

was done in agreement with the Staff Main Office of the

Reichsführer SS.”

Other SS agencies were involved in the program for deportation. The

Tribunal has already received in evidence our Document 1352-PS, as

Exhibit Number USA-176. It is a report relating to the confiscation of

Polish agricultural enterprises, dated May 22, 1940, and signed

“Kusche.” Portions of that document dealing with the confiscation of

Polish agricultural enterprises and the deportation of Polish owners of

the land to Germany were read into the record. I shall read only one

further paragraph showing SS personnel involved in this action. It

appears on Page 2 of the translation, the first full paragraph; and on

Page 10 of the original, Paragraph 2.

Referring to the deportation of Polish farmers, the report says; and I

quote:

“Means of transportation to the railroad can be provided: 1. By

the enterprise of the East German Corporation of Agricultural

Development; 2. By the SS noncommissioned officers’ school in

Lublinitz and the concentration camp of Auschwitz.

“These two latter places will also detail the necessary SS men

for the day of the confiscation, and so forth.”

The extent to which almost all departments of the Supreme Command of the

SS were concerned with the evacuation program is shown by the minutes of

a meeting on the 4th of August 1942 dealing with the deportation of

Alsatians. It is our Document R-114, and was received in evidence as

Exhibit Number USA-314. I shall read only the list of persons and

offices represented at that conference, since the body of the report has

been read in part into the record already.

I start at the beginning of the document, Page 1 of R-114:

“Memo on meeting of 4. 8. 42. Subject: General directions for

the treatment of deported Alsatians.

“Present: SS Hauptsturmführer Dr. Stier, SS Hauptsturmführer

Petri, R.R. Hoffmann, Dr. Scherler, SS Untersturmführer

Förster;”—there is a notation next to their names of “Staff

Main Office”; then—“SS Obersturmführer Dr. Hinrichs, Chief of

Estate Office and Settlement Staff, Strasbourg; SS

Sturmbannführer Brückner, Racial German Arbitration

Bureau;”—Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle—“SS Hauptsturmführer

Hummitsch, Reich Security Main

Office;”—Reichssicherheitshauptamt—“SS Untersturmführer Dr.

Sieder, Main Office for Race and

Settlement;”—RUS-Hauptamt—“Dr. Labes, D.U.T.”

The SS not only destroyed and deported conquered peoples and confiscated

their property, it also repopulated the conquered regions with so-called

racial Germans. Not all Germans were deemed reliable colonists, however.

Those who were not were returned to Germany for re-Germanization and

re-education along Nazi lines.

A typical instance of the fate of such Germans is told in our Document

Number R-112, which has already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit

Number USA-309. It is a decree of the Reich Commissioner for the

consolidation of Germandom. That decree, as the Tribunal will recall,

dealt with the treatment to be accorded so-called “Polonized” Germans.

By the terms of that decree two SS functionaries were charged with the

responsibility for the re-Germanization program: the Higher SS and

Police Leaders, and the Gestapo.

I think it is unnecessary for me to quote from that report, since

portions have already been read into evidence. I will refer the Court

specifically to Section III of the decree, which appears on Page 7 of

the translation, and to Section IV of the decree, which appears on the

same page, both of which indicate that the Higher SS and Police Leaders

and the Gestapo were responsible for the re-Germanization actions.

In the final stage of the process, the resettlement of the conquered

lands by racially and politically desirable Germans, still other SS

agencies participated. I quote again from our Document 2163-PS, the

_National Socialist Year Book_ for 1941, Exhibit Number USA-444. The

passage appears on Page 3 of the translation, Paragraph 7, and on Page

195 of the original. I quote:

“Numerous SS leaders and SS men helped with untiring effort in

bringing about this systematic migration of peoples which has no

parallel in history.

“There were many authoritative and administrative difficulties

which, however, were immediately overcome due to the

unbureaucratic working procedure. This was especially guaranteed

above all by the employment of the SS.

“The procedure called ‘Durchschleusung’ takes 3 to 4 hours as a

rule. The re-settler is being passed through eight or nine

offices, following each other in organic order: Registration

office, card-index office, certificate and photo office,

property office, and biological, hereditary, and sanitary test

offices. The latter was entrusted to doctors and medical

personnel of the SS and of the Armed Forces. The SS Corps Areas

Alpenland, Northwest, Baltic Sea, Fulda-Werra, South and

Southeast, the SS Main Office, the NPEA”—National Political

Education Institution—“Vienna, and the SS Cavalry School in

Hamburg, provided most of the SS officers and SS noncommissioned

officers who worked at this job of resettlement.”

I omit the next three paragraphs and continue with the year book’s

conclusion as to the SS participation in the colonization scheme:

“The settlement, establishment, and care of the newly-won

peasantry in the liberated Eastern Territory will be one of the

most cherished tasks of the SS in the whole future.”

THE PRESIDENT: This might be a good time to break off until 2 o’clock.

MAJOR FARR: Yes, Sir.

[_A recess was taken until 1400 hours._]

_Afternoon Session_

MAJOR FARR: In the course of its development from a group of strong-arm

bodyguards, some two hundred in number, to a complex organization

participating in every field of Nazi endeavor, the SS found room for its

members in high places; and persons in high places found for themselves

a position in the SS.

Of the defendants charged in the Indictment, seven were very high

ranking officers in the SS. They are the Defendants Ribbentrop, Hess,

Kaltenbrunner, Bormann, Sauckel, Neurath, and Seyss-Inquart. The vital

part that the Defendant Kaltenbrunner played in the SS, in the SD, and

in the entire Security Police will be shown by evidence to be presented

after the case on the Gestapo has gone in. With respect to the other six

defendants whom I have named, I desire to call the Tribunal’s attention

now to the fact of their membership in the SS. That fact is rather a

matter of judicial notice than proof. Evidence of the fact is to be

found in two official publications which I shall now offer the Court.

The first is this black book—the membership list of the SS as of

December 1, 1936. This book contains a list of members of the SS

arranged according to rank. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number

USA-474 (Document Number USA-474). Turning to Page 8 of this book, line

2, we find the following: The name “Hess, Rudolf” followed by the

notation, “By authority of the Führer the right to wear the uniform of

an SS Obergruppenführer.” I now offer the 1937 edition of the same

membership list as Exhibit Number USA-475 (Document Number USA-475).

Turning to Page 10, line 50, we find the name “Bormann, Martin”; and in

line with his name on the opposite page under the column headed

“Gruppenführer,” the following date: 30 January 1937.

In the same edition on Page 12, line 56, appears the name “von Neurath,

Constantin,” and on the opposite page under the column headed

“Gruppenführer,” the date “18 September 1937.” The other publication to

which I refer is _Der Grossdeutsche Reichstag_ for the fourth voting

period, a manual edited by E. Kienast, Ministerial Director of the

German Reichstag. This is an official handbook containing biographical

data as to members of the Reichstag. It is Document Number 2381-PS, and

I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-476. On Page 349 the

following appears: “von Ribbentrop, Joachim, Reichsminister des

Auswärtigen, SS Obergruppenführer.” On Page 360 the following appears:

“Sauckel, Fritz, Gauleiter und Reichsstatthalter in Thüringen, SS

Obergruppenführer.” On Page 389 the following appears: “Seyss-Inquart,

Arthur, Dr. iur., Reichsminister, SS Obergruppenführer.”

THE PRESIDENT: What was the date of that book?

MAJOR FARR: This book covers the fourth voting period, beginning on 10

April 1938 and covering the period up to 30 January 1947—that is, the

voting period covers that course of years. The edition, I think, was in

1943. I might point out that the rank of the defendants mentioned in the

1936 and 1937 editions of the membership list of the SS may not be the

final rank they held. They were Gruppenführer at that time, but they

were members of the SS, as shown by the book.

It is our contention that the SS, as defined in Appendix B, Page 36 of

the Indictment, was an unlawful organization. As an organization founded

on the principle that persons of “German blood” were a “master race” it

exemplified a basic Nazi doctrine. It served as one of the means through

which the conspirators acquired control of the German Government. The

operations of the SD and of the SS Totenkopf Verbände in concentration

camps were means used by the conspirators to secure their regime and

terrorize their opponents, as alleged in Count One. In the Nazi program

of Jewish extermination, all branches of the SS were involved from the

very beginning. Through the Allgemeine SS as a para-military

organization, the SS Verfügungstruppe and SS Totenkopf Verbände as

professional combat forces, and the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle as a

Fifth Column agency, the SS participated in preparations for aggressive

war and, through its militarized units, in the waging of aggressive war

in the West and in the East, as set forth in Counts One and Two of the

Indictment. In the course of such war all components of the SS had a

part in the War Crimes and the Crimes against Humanity set forth in

Counts Three and Four of the Indictment: the murder and ill-treatment of

civilian populations in occupied territory, the murder and ill-treatment

of prisoners of war, and the Germanization of occupied territories.

The evidence has shown that the SS was a single enterprise—a unified

organization. Some of its functions were, of course performed by one

branch or department or office, some by another. No single branch or

department participated in every phase of its activity, but every branch

and department and office was necessary to the functioning of the whole.

The situation is much the same as in the case of the individual

defendants at the bar. Not all participated in every act of the

conspiracy; but all, we contend, performed a contributing part in the

whole criminal scheme.

The evidence has also shown that the SS was not only an organization of

volunteers but that applicants had to meet the strictest standards of

selection. It was not easy to become an SS member. That was true of all

branches of the SS. We clearly recognize, of course, that during the

course of the war, as the demands for manpower increased and the losses

of the Waffen-SS grew heavier and heavier, there were occasions when

some men drafted for compulsory military service were assigned to units

of the Waffen-SS rather than to the Wehrmacht. Those instances were

relatively few. Evidence of the recruiting standards of the Waffen-SS in

1943, which I quoted yesterday, has shown that the membership in that

branch was as essentially voluntary and highly selective as in the other

branches. Doubtless some of the members of the SS, or of other

organizations alleged to be unlawful in the Indictment, might desire to

show that their participation in the organization was a small or

innocuous one, that compelling reasons drove them to apply for

membership, that they were not fully conscious of its aims or that they

were not mentally responsible when they became members. Such facts might

or might not be relevant, if such a person were on trial. But in any

event this is not the forum to try out such matters.

The question before this Tribunal is simply this: whether the SS was or

was not an unlawful organization. The evidence has finally shown what

the aims and activities of the SS were. Some of those aims were stated

in publications which I have quoted to the Court. The activities were so

widespread and so notorious, covering so many fields of unlawful

endeavor, that the illegality of the organization could not have been

concealed. It was a notorious fact, and Himmler himself in 1936, in a

quotation which I read to the Tribunal yesterday, admitted that when he

said:

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

when they see these black coats. We know the reason and we do

not expect to be loved by too many.”

It was, we submit, at all times the exclusive function and purpose of

the SS to carry out the common objectives of the defendant conspirators.

Its activities in carrying out those functions involved the commission

of the crimes defined in Article 6 of the Charter. By reason of its aims

and the means used for the accomplishment thereof, the SS should be

declared a criminal organization in accordance with Article 9 of the

Charter.

COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, the next presentation will be the

Gestapo, and it will take just a few seconds to get the material here.

If the Tribunal please, we are now ready to proceed, if Your Honors are.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

COL. STOREY: We first pass to the Tribunal document books marked

“Exhibit AA.” Your Honors will notice they are in two volumes, and I

will try at each time to refer to which volume. They are separated into

the D documents, the L documents, the PS documents, _et cetera_.

The presentation of evidence on the criminality of the Geheime

Staatspolizei (Gestapo) includes evidence on the criminality of the

Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and of the Schutzstaffeln (SS), which has been

discussed by Major Farr, because a great deal of the criminal acts were

so inter-related. In the Indictment, as Your Honors know, the SD is

included by special reference as a part of the SS, since it originated

as a part of the SS and has always retained its character as a Party

organization, as distinguished from the Gestapo which was a State

organization. As will be shown by the evidence, however, the Gestapo and

the SD were brought into very close working relationship, the SD serving

primarily as the information-gathering agency and the Gestapo as the

executive agency of the police system established by the Nazis for the

purpose of combatting the political and ideological enemies of the Nazi

regime.

In short, I think, we might think of the SD as the intelligence

organization and the Gestapo the executive agency, the former a Party

organization and the latter a State organization but merged together for

all practical purposes.

The first subject: The Gestapo and SD were formed into a powerful,

centralized, political police system that served Party, State, and Nazi

leadership.

The Gestapo was first established in Prussia on the 26th of April 1933

by the Defendant Göring with the mission of carrying out the duties of

the political police with, or in place of, the ordinary police

authorities. The Gestapo was given the rank of a higher police authority

and was subordinated only to the Minister of Interior, to whom was

delegated the responsibility of determining its functional and

territorial jurisdiction. That fact is established in the _Preussische

Gesetzsammlung_ of 26 April 1933, Page 122, and it is our Document

2104-PS.

Pursuant to this law and on the same date, the Minister of Interior

issued a decree on the reorganization of the police which established a

State Police Bureau in each governmental district of Prussia,

subordinate to the Secret State Police Bureau in Berlin; and I cite as

authority the _Ministerialblatt for the Internal Administration of

Prussia_, 1933, Page 503, and it is Document 2371-PS.

Concerning the formation of the Gestapo, the Defendant Göring said, in

_Aufbau einer Nation_, of 1934, Page 88, which is our Document 2344-PS,

and I quote from the English translation a short paragraph, of which

Your Honors will take judicial notice, unless Your Honors want to turn

to it in full:

“For weeks”—this is Göring talking—“I had been working

personally on the reorganization, and at last I, alone and upon

my own decision and my own reflections, created the office of

the Secret State Police. This instrument which is so feared by

the enemies of the State has contributed most to the fact that

today there can no longer be talk of a Communist or Marxist

danger in Germany and Prussia.”

THE PRESIDENT: What was the date?

COL. STOREY: The date? 1934, Sir.

On November 30, 1933 Göring issued a decree for the Prussian State

Ministry and the Reich Chancellor placing the Gestapo under his direct

supervision as Chief. The Gestapo was thereby established as an

independent branch of the Administration of the Interior responsible

directly to Göring as Prussian Prime Minister. This decree gave the

Gestapo jurisdiction over the political police matters of the general

and interior administration and provided that the district, county, and

local police authorities were subject to the directives of the

Gestapo—and that cites the Prussian laws of 30 November 1933, Page 413,

and Document 2105-PS.

In a speech delivered at a meeting of the Prussian State Council on 18

June 1934, which is published in _Speeches and Essays of Hermann

Göring_, 1939, Page 102, our Document 3343-PS, Göring said, and I quote

one paragraph:

“The creation of the Secret State Police was also a necessity.

You may recognize the importance attributed by the new State to

this instrument of state security from the fact that the Prime

Minister, himself, has made himself head of this department of

the administration just because it is the observation of all

currents directed against the new State which is of fundamental

importance.”

By a decree of 8 March 1934 the regional State Police offices were

separated from their organizational connection with the District

Government and established as independent authorities of the Gestapo.

That cites the _Preussische Gesetzsammlung_ of 8 March 1934, Page 143,

our Document 2113-PS.

I now offer in evidence Document Number 1680-PS, Exhibit USA-477. This

is an article entitled “10 Years of Security Police and the SD,”

published in the German Police journal, the magazine of the Security

Police and SD, of 1 February 1943. I quote one paragraph from this

article on Page 2 of the English translation, Document 1680-PS, which is

the third main paragraph:

“Parallel to that development in Prussia, the Reichsführer SS

Heinrich Himmler created in Bavaria the Bavarian Political

Police and also suggested and directed the establishment of

Political Police in the Länder other than Prussia. The

unification of the Political Police of all the Länder took place

in the spring of 1934 when Minister President Hermann Göring

appointed Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, who had meanwhile

been named Chief of the Political Police in all the Länder

except Prussia, to the post of Deputy Chief of the Prussian

Secret State Police.”

The Prussian law about the Secret State Police, dated 10 February 1936,

then summed up the development hitherto, and determined the position and

responsibilities of the Secret State Police in the executive regulations

issued the same day.

On 10 February 1936 the basic law for the Gestapo was promulgated by

Göring as Prussian Prime Minister—I refer to Document 2107-PS. This law

provided that the Secret State Police had the duty to investigate and to

combat in the entire territory of the State all tendencies inimical to

the State and declared that orders and matters of the Secret State

Police were not subject to the review of the administrative courts. That

is the Prussian State law of that date cited on Pages 21-22 of the

publication of the laws of 1936.

Also on that same date of 10 February 1936 a decree for the execution of

the law was issued by Göring, as Prussian Prime Minister, and by Frick,

as Minister of the Interior. This decree provided that the Gestapo had

authority to enact measures valid in the entire area of the State and

measures affecting that area—by the way, that is found in 2108-PS and

is also a published law—that it was the centralized agency for

collecting political intelligence in the field of political police, and

that it administered the concentration camps. The Gestapo was given

authority to make police investigations in cases of criminal attacks

upon the Party as well as upon the State.

Later, on the 28th of August 1936, a circular of the Reichsführer SS and

Chief of the German Police provided that as of 1 October 1936 the

Political Police forces of the German provinces were to be called the

“Geheime Staatspolizei.” That means the Secret State Police. The

regional offices were still to be described as State Police. The

translation of that law is in 2372-PS, _Reichsministerialblatt_ of 1936,

Number 44, Page 1344.

Later, on 20 September 1936, a circular of the Minister of Interior,

Frick, commissioned the Gestapo Bureau in Berlin with the supervision of

the duties of the Political Police commanders in all the states of

Germany. That is _Reichsministerialblatt_ 1936, Page 1343, our Document

L-297.

The law regulating and relating to financial measures in connection with

the police, of the 19th of March 1937, provided that the officials of

the Gestapo were to be considered direct officials of the Reich and

their salaries, in addition to the operational expenses of the whole

State Police, were to be borne from 1 April 1937 by the Reich. That is

shown in Document 2243-PS—which is a copy of the law of 19 March

1937—Page 325.

Thus, through the above laws and decrees, the Gestapo was established as

a uniform political police system operating throughout the Reich and

serving Party, State, and Nazi leadership.

In the course of the development of the SD, it came into increasingly

close co-operation with the Gestapo and also with the

Reichskriminalpolizei (the Criminal Police), known as Kripo, K-R-I-P-O,

shown up there under Amt V. The SD was called upon to furnish

information to various State authorities. On the 11th of November 1938 a

decree of the Reich Minister of Interior declared the SD to be the

intelligence organization for the State as well as the Party, that it

had the particular duty of supporting the Secret State Police, and that

it thereby became active on a national mission. These duties

necessitated a closer co-operation between the SD and the authorities

for the general and interior administration. That law is translated in

1638-PS.

The Tribunal has already received evidence concerning the decrees of 17

and 26 June 1936, under which Himmler was appointed Chief of the German

Police and by which Heydrich became the first Chief of the Security

Police and SD. Even then Göring did not relinquish his position as Chief

of the Prussian Gestapo. Thus, the decree of the Reichsführer SS and

Chief of German Police that was issued on the 28th of August 1936, which

is our Document 2372-PS, was distributed “to the Prussian Minister

President as Chief of the Prussian Secret State Police,” that is, to

Göring.

On 27 September 1939, by order of Himmler in his capacity as

Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police, the central offices of

the Gestapo and SD and also those of the Criminal Police were

centralized in the office of the Chief of the Security Police and SD

under the name of RSHA, which Your Honors have heard described by Major

Farr. Under this order the personnel and administrative sections of each

agency were co-ordinated in Amt I and II of the chart shown here of the

RSHA. The operational sections of the SD became Amt III, shown in the

box “Amt III,” except for foreign intelligence which was placed over in

Number VI. The operational sections of the Gestapo became Amt IV, as

shown on the chart, and the operational sections of the Kripo—that is,

the Criminal Police—became Amt V, as shown on the chart.

Ohlendorf was named the Chief of Amt III, the SD inside Germany, Müller

was named Chief of Amt IV, and Nebe was named Chief of Amt V, the Kripo.

On the 27th of September 1939 Heydrich, the Chief of the Security Police

and SD, issued a directive pursuant to the order of Himmler, in which he

ordered that the designation and heading of RSHA be used exclusively in

internal relations of the Reich Ministry of Interior, and the heading

“The Chief of the Security Police and SD” in transactions with outside

persons and offices. The directive provided that the Gestapo would

continue to use the designation and heading “Secret State Police”

according to the particular instructions.

This order is Document L-361, Exhibit USA-478, which we now offer in

evidence; and I refer Your Honors to the first paragraph of L-361. That

is found in the first volume. I just direct Your Honors’ attention to

the date and to the subject, which is the amalgamation of the

Zentralämter of the Sicherheitspolizei and of the SD, and the creation

of the four sections, and then to the words:

“. . . will be joined to the RSHA in accordance with the

following directives. This amalgamation carries with it no

change in the position of these Ämter in the Party nor in the

governmental administration.”

I might say here parenthetically, if the Tribunal please, that we like

to think of the RSHA as being the so-called administrative office

through which a great many of these organizations were administered and

then a number of these organizations, including the Gestapo, maintaining

their separate identity as operational organizations. I think a good

illustration, if Your Honors will recall, is that during the war there

may be a certain division or a certain air force which is

administratively under a certain headquarters, but operationally, when

they had an invasion, it may be under the general supervision of

somebody else who was operating a task force. So the RSHA was really the

administrative office of a great many of these alleged criminal

organizations.

The Gestapo and SD were therefore organized functionally on the basis of

the opponents to be combatted and the matters to be investigated.

I now invite the attention of the Tribunal to this chart, which has

already been identified, and I believe it is Exhibit USA-53. This

chart—I am in error—that is the original identification number. This

chart shows the main chain of command from Himmler, who was the Reich

Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police, to Kaltenbrunner, who

was Chief of the Security Police and SD, and from Kaltenbrunner to the

various field offices of the Gestapo and the SD.

We now formally offer in evidence this chart, Document L-219, as Exhibit

USA-479. The chart itself is based upon the document, which is L-219. We

have photostatic copies, and you probably want to refer to the one on

the wall.

This chart, from which the one on the wall is taken, has been certified

by Otto Ohlendorf, Chief of Amt III of the RSHA, and by Walter

Schellenberg, Chief of Amt VI of the RSHA, and has been officially

identified by both of those former officials.

The chart shows that the principal flow of command in police matters

came from Himmler as Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German

Police directly to Kaltenbrunner, who was the Chief of the Security

Police and SD and as such was also head of the RSHA, which is the

administrative office to which I have referred.

Kaltenbrunner’s headquarters organization was composed of seven Ämter,

plus a military office—the seven Ämter shown here.

Under Subsection D was Obersturmbannführer Rauff, who handled technical

matters, including motor vehicles of the SIPO and the SD, to which we

will refer later.

Amt III was the SD inside Germany and was charged with investigations

into spheres of German national life. It was the internal intelligence

organization of the police system and its interests extended into all

areas occupied by Germany during the course of the war. In 1943 it

contained four sections. I would like to mention them briefly. It shows

their scope of authority. Section A dealt with questions of legal order

and structure of the Reich. B dealt with national questions, including

minorities, race, and health of the people. C dealt with culture,

including science, education, religion, press, folk culture, and art;

and D with economics, including food, commerce, industry, labor,

colonial economics, and occupied regions.

Now Amt IV, with which we are dealing here, was the Gestapo and was

charged with combatting opposition. In 1945, as identified by these two

former officials, it contained six sections:

1. A dealt with opponents, sabotage, and protective service, including

communism, Marxism, reaction and liberalism;

2. B dealt with political churches, sects, and Jews, including political

Catholicism, political Protestantism, other churches, Freemasonry; and a

special section, B-4, that had to do with Jewish affairs, matters of

evacuation, means of suppressing enemies of the people and State, and

dispossession of rights of German citizenship; the head of the office

was Eichmann;

3. C dealt with protective custody;

4. D with regions under German domination;

5. E with security;

6. F with passport matters and alien police.

Now, Amt V, which will be referred to as the Kripo, was charged with

combatting crime. For example, Subsection D was the criminological

institute for the Sipo and handled matters of identification, chemical

and biological investigations, and technical research.

Number VI was the SD outside of Germany and concerned primarily with

foreign political intelligence. In 1944 the Abwehr, or military

intelligence, was joined with Amt VI as the military Amt. Your Honors

will recall that the Witness Lahousen was in the Abwehr. Amt VI

maintained its own regional organization.

And finally, Amt VII handled ideological research among enemies such as

Freemasonry, Judaism, political churches, Marxism, and liberalism.

Within Germany there were regional offices of the SD, the Gestapo, and

the Kripo, shown on the chart up at the right. The Gestapo and Kripo

offices were often located in the same place and were always

collectively referred to as the Sipo. You see that shady line around

refers to the collective operation of the Gestapo and Kripo—Gestapo,

the Secret Police; and Kripo, the Criminal Police. These regional

offices all maintained their separate identity and reported directly to

the section of the RSHA—that is, under Kaltenbrunner—which had the

jurisdiction of the subject matter. They were, however, co-ordinated by

Inspectors of the Security Police and SD, as shown at the top of the

chart. The inspectors were also under the supervision of Higher SS and

Police Leaders appointed for each Wehrkreis. The Higher SS and Police

Leaders reported to Himmler and supervised not only the inspectors of

the Security Police and SD but also the inspectors of the Order Police

and various subdivisions of the SS.

In the occupied territories the organization developed as the German

armies advanced. Combined operational units of the Security Police and

the SD known as Einsatz Groups, about which Your Honors will hear in a

few minutes, operated with, and in the rear of, the army. These groups

were officered by personnel of the Gestapo and the Kripo and the SD, and

the enlisted men were composed of Order Police and Waffen-SS. They

functioned with various army groups. The Einsatz Groups—and, if Your

Honors will recall, they are simply task force groups for special

projects—were divided into “Einsatzkommandos,” “Sonderkommandos,” and

“Teilkommandos,” all of which performed the functions of the Security

Police and the SD with, or closely behind, the army.

After the occupied territories had been consolidated, these Einsatz

Groups and their subordinate parts were formed into permanent combined

offices of the Security Police and SD within the particular geographical

location. These combined forces were placed under the Kommandeure of the

Security Police and SD, and the offices were organized as a section

similar to this RSHA headquarters. The Kommandeure of the Security

Police and SD reported directly to Befehlshaber of the Security Police

and SD, who in turn reported directly to the Chief of the Security

Police and SD.

In the occupied countries the Higher SS and Police Leaders were more

directly controlled by the Befehlshaber and the Kommandeure of the

Security Police and SD than within the Reich. They had authority to

issue direct orders so long as they did not conflict with the Chief of

the Security Police and SD, who exercised controlling authority.

The above chart and the remarks concerning it are based upon two

documents which I now offer in evidence. They are Document L-219, which

is the organization plan of the RSHA of 1 October 1943, and Document

2346-PS.

Now next, the primary mission of the Gestapo and the SD was to combat

the actual and ideological enemies of the Nazi regime and to keep Hitler

and the Nazi leadership in power as specified in Count One of the

Indictment. The tasks and methods of the Secret State Police were well

described in an article which is translated in Document 1956-PS, Volume

2 of the document book, which is an article published in January 1936 in

_Das Archiv_ at Page 1342, which I now offer in evidence and quote from.

It is on Page 1 of the English translation, 1956. I will first read the

first paragraph and then the third and fourth paragraphs. That is in

January 1936. Quoting:

“In order to refute the malicious rumors spread abroad, the

_Völkischer Beobachter_ of 22 January 1936 published an article

on the origin, purpose, and duties of the Secret Police;

extracts from this read as follows: . . .”

Then skip to the third paragraph:

“The Secret State Police is an official instrument of the

Criminal Police authorities, whose special task is the detection

of crimes and offenses against the State, especially treason

against Land or Reich. The task of the Secret State Police is to

discover these crimes and offenses, to find the perpetrators,

and to bring them to trial. The number of criminal proceedings

continually pending in the People’s Court for treasonable acts

against Land or Reich is the result of this work. The second

important field of operations for the Secret State Police is the

preventive combatting of all dangers threatening the State and

its leaders. As, since the National Socialist revolution, all

open struggle and all open opposition to the State and to the

leadership of the State is forbidden, a Secret State Police as a

preventive instrument in the struggle against all dangers

threatening the State is indissolubly bound up with the National

Socialist Führer State. The opponents of National Socialism were

not eliminated by the prohibition of their organizations and

their newspapers, but have withdrawn to other forms of

opposition to the state. Therefore the National Socialist State

has to track down, to watch, and to render harmless the

underground opponents fighting against it, in illegal

organizations, in camouflaged associations, in the coalitions of

well-meaning fellow-Germans, and even in the organizations of

the Party and the State, before they have succeeded in actually

executing any action against the interests of the State. This

duty of fighting with every means this battle against the secret

enemies of the State will be spared no Führer State, because

enemy forces from their foreign headquarters always secure the

services of some individuals in such a state and employ them in

underground activity against the state.

“The preventive measures of the Secret State Police consist

first of all in the close surveillance of all enemies of the

State in the Reich territory. As the Secret State Police cannot,

in addition to its important executive tasks, perform this

surveillance of the enemies of the State to the extent

necessary, there enters to supplement it, the Security Service

of the Reichsführer of the SS set up by the Führer’s deputy as

the political intelligence service of the Movement, putting

thereby into the service of the security of the State a large

part of the forces of the Movement mobilized by him.

“The Secret State Police takes the necessary police preventive

measures against the enemies of the State on the basis of the

results of observation. The most effective preventive measure

is, without doubt, deprival of freedom, which is imposed in the

form of ‘protective custody’ if it is feared that the free

activity of the persons in question might endanger the security

of the State in any way. The use of protective custody is so

regulated by directives of the Minister of the Interior of the

Reich and Prussia and by special arrest examination procedures

of the Secret State Police that—as far as preventive action

against the enemies of the State permits—ample guarantees

against the abuse of protective custody are provided. . . .”

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, haven’t we really got enough now as to

the organization of the Gestapo and its objects?

COL. STOREY: I’ll omit the reading of the rest of this paragraph.

THE PRESIDENT: I’m not sure that will satisfy me. What I was asking is

haven’t we got enough about the organization of the Gestapo now?

COL. STOREY: Your Honor, I was through with the organization. I was just

going into the question of this action of protective custody, for which

the Gestapo was famous, and showing how they went into that field of

activity and the authority for taking people into protective

custody—alleged protective custody.

THE PRESIDENT: I think that has been proved more than once in the

preceding evidence that we have heard.

COL. STOREY: There is one more law I would like to refer to, that is,

it’s not subject to judicial review—unless that has been established. I

do not know whether Major Farr did that, or not.

THE PRESIDENT: That they are not subject to judicial review?

COL. STOREY: Review, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: I think you have told us that already this afternoon.

COL. STOREY: The citation is in the _Reichsverwaltungsblatt_ of 1935,

Page 577, which is Document 2347-PS. I would like, if Your Honors

please, to refer to this quotation from that same law.

The decision of the Prussian High Court of Administration on the 2d of

May 1935 held that the status of the Gestapo as a special Police

authority removed its orders from the jurisdiction of the administrative

tribunal, and the court said in that law that the only redress available

was by appeal to the next higher authority within the Gestapo itself.

THE PRESIDENT: I think you told us that, apropos of the document of the

10th of February 1936, where you said the Secret State Police was not

subject to review by any of the state courts.

COL. STOREY: I just did not want there to be any question about the

authority. I refer Your Honors to Document 1852-PS, which is already in

evidence as Exhibit USA-449, also stating that theory, and also Document

1723-PS. That is the decree, Your Honor, of February 1, 1938, which

relates to the protective custody and the issuance of new regulations;

and I would like to quote just one sentence from that law:

“In order to counter all attempts of the enemies of the people

and of the State, protective custody may be ordered as a

coercive measure of the Secret State Police against persons who,

through their attitude, endanger the life and security of the

people and the State.”

And the Gestapo had the exclusive right to order protective custody and

that protective custody was to be executed in the State concentration

camps.

Now I pass to another phase where the SD created an organization of

agents and informers who operated through the various regional offices

throughout the Reich and later in conjunction with the Gestapo and the

Criminal Police throughout the occupied countries. The SD operated

secretly. One of the things it did was secretly to mark ballots in order

to discover the identity of persons who cast “No” and invalid votes in

the referendum. I now offer in evidence Document R-142, second volume. I

believe it is toward the end of the document book—R-142, Exhibit

USA-481.

This document contains a letter from the branch office of the SD at

Kochem to the SD at Koblenz. The letter is dated 7 May 1938 and refers

to the plebiscite of 10 April 1938. It refers to a letter previously

received from the Koblenz office and apparently is a reply to a request

for information concerning the way in which people voted in the

supposedly secret plebiscite. It is on Page 1 of Document R-142.

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, I am told that that has been read before.

COL. STOREY: I did not know it had, if Your Honor pleases. We will just

offer it without reading it then.

With reference to National Socialism and the contribution of the Sipo

and the SD, I refer to an article of 7 September 1942, which is shown in

3344-PS. It is the first paragraph, Volume 2. It is the official

journal. Quoting:

“Already before the taking over of power, the SD contributed its

part to the success of the National Socialist revolution. Since

the taking over of power, the Security Police and the SD have

borne the responsibility for the inner security of the Reich and

have paved the way for a powerful victory of National Socialism

against all resistance.”

In connection with the criminal responsibility of the SD and the

Gestapo, it will be considered with respect to certain War Crimes and

Crimes against Humanity which were in the principal part committed by

the centralized political police system. The development, organization,

and tasks have been considered before. In some instances the crimes were

committed in co-operation or in conjunction with other groups or

organizations.

Now in order to look into the strength of these various organizations, I

have some figures here that I would like to quote to Your Honors. The

Sipo and SD were composed of the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD. The Gestapo was

the largest, and it has a membership of about 40,000 to 50,000 in 1934

and 1935. That is an error; it is 1943 to 1945. It was the political

force of the Reich.

THE PRESIDENT: Did you say the date was wrong?

COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, the date was wrong, it is ’43 to ’45, if Your

Honor pleases; 40 to 50 thousand.

THE TRIBUNAL: (Mr. Biddle): Where are you reading from?

COL. STOREY: It is Document 3033-PS, and it is an affidavit of Walter

Schellenberg, one of the former officials I referred to a moment ago.

I believe, if Your Honor pleases, to get it in the record, I will read

that whole affidavit. It is Document 3033-PS, Exhibit USA-488. I have

the English translation here:

“The Sipo and SD was composed of the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD. In

1943-45 the Gestapo had a membership of about 40,000 to 50,000,

the Kripo had a membership of about 15,000, and the SD had a

membership of about 3,000. In common usage and even in orders

and decrees the term ‘SD’ was used as an abbreviation for the

term ‘Sipo and SD.’ In most cases actual executive action was

carried out by personnel of the Gestapo in place of the SD or

the Kripo. In occupied territories, members of the Gestapo

frequently wore SS uniforms with SD insignia. New members of the

Gestapo and the SD were taken on a voluntary basis.”

And then “subscribed and sworn to on the 21st of November 1945 before

Lieutenant Harris.”

I think I ought to say here, if Your Honors please, that it is our

information that a great many of the members of the Gestapo were also

members of the SS. We have heard various estimates of the amount but

have no direct authority. Some authorities say as much as 75 percent,

but still we have no direct evidence on that.

I now offer in evidence Document 2751-PS, which is Exhibit USA-482. It

is an affidavit of Alfred Helmut Naujocks, dated November 20, 1945. This

affidavit particularly refers to the actual occurrences in connection

with the Polish border incident. I believe it was referred to by the

Witness Lahousen when he was on the stand:

“I, Alfred Helmut Naujocks, being first duly sworn, depose and

state as follows:

“1. I was a member of the SS from 1931 to 19 October 1944 and a

member of the SD from its creation in 1934 to January 1941. I

served as a member of the Waffen-SS from February 1941 until the

middle of 1942. Later I served in the Economics Department of

the Military Administration of Belgium from September 1942 to

September 1944. I surrendered to the Allies on 19 October 1944.

“2. On or about 10 August 1939 the Chief of the Sipo and SD,

Heydrich, personally ordered me to simulate an attack on the

radio station near Gleiwitz, near the Polish border, and to make

it appear that the attacking force consisted of Poles. Heydrich

said: ‘Actual proof of these attacks of the Poles is needed for

the foreign press, as well as for German propaganda purposes.’ I

was directed to go to Gleiwitz with five or six SD men and wait

there until I received a code word from Heydrich indicating that

the attack should take place. My instructions were to seize the

radio station and to hold it long enough to permit a

Polish-speaking German, who would be put at my disposal, to

broadcast a speech in Polish. Heydrich told me that this speech

should state that the time had come for the conflict between the

Germans and the Poles and that the Poles should get together and

strike down any Germans from whom they met resistance. Heydrich

also told me at this time that he expected an attack on Poland

by Germany in a few days.

“3. I went to Gleiwitz and waited there a fortnight. Then I

requested permission of Heydrich to return to Berlin but was

told to stay in Gleiwitz. Between the 25th and 31st of August I

went to see Heinrich Müller, head of the Gestapo, who was then

nearby at Oppeln. In my presence Müller discussed with a man

named Mehlhorn plans for another border incident, in which it

should be made to appear that Polish soldiers were attacking

German troops . . . . Germans in the approximate strength of a

company were to be used. Müller stated that he had 12 or 13

condemned criminals who were to be dressed in Polish uniforms

and left dead on the ground at the scene of the incident to show

that they had been killed while attacking. For this purpose they

were to be given fatal injections by a doctor employed by

Heydrich. Then they were also to be given gunshot wounds. After

the assault members of the press and other persons were to be

taken to the spot of the incident. A police report was

subsequently to be prepared.

“4. Müller told me that he had an order from Heydrich to make

one of those criminals available to me for the action at

Gleiwitz. The code name by which he referred to these criminals

was ‘Canned Goods.’

“5. The incident at Gleiwitz in which I participated was carried

out on the evening preceding the German attack on Poland. As I

recall, war broke out on the 1st of September 1939. At noon on

the 31st of August I received by telephone from Heydrich the

code word for the attack which was to take place at 8 o’clock

that evening. Heydrich said, ‘In order to carry out this attack,

report to Müller for “Canned Goods.”’ I did this and gave Müller

instructions to deliver the man near the radio station. I

received this man and had him laid down at the entrance to the

station. He was alive, but he was completely unconscious. I

tried to open his eyes. I could not recognize by his eyes that

he was alive, only by his breathing. I did not see the shot

wounds, but a lot of blood was smeared across his face. He was

in civilian clothes.

“6. We seized the radio station as ordered, broadcast a speech

of 3 to 4 minutes over an emergency transmitter, fired some

pistol shots, and left.”

And then “sworn to and subscribed to before Lieutenant Martin”.

The Gestapo and the SD carried out mass murders of hundreds of thousands

of civilians of occupied countries, as a part of the Nazi program to

exterminate political and racial undesirables, by the so-called Einsatz

Groups. Your Honors will recall evidence concerning the activities of

these Einsatz Groups or Einsatzkommandos. I now refer to Document R-102.

If Your Honors please, I understand Major Farr introduced this document

this morning; but I want to refer to just one brief statement, which he

did not include, concerning the SD and the Einsatz Groups and Security

Police. It is on Page 4 of R-102. Quoting:

“During the period covered by this report the stations of the

Einsatz Groups of the Security Police and SD have changed only

in the northern sector.”

THE PRESIDENT: What was the document?

COL. STOREY: R-102, which was already introduced in evidence by Major

Farr, and it is in Volume 2 toward the end of the book. There are two

reports submitted by the chief of the Einsatz Group A available. The

first report is Document L-180, which has already been received as

Exhibit USA-276.

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, would you not pass quite so quickly from

one document to another?

COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, pardon me, Sir. L-180, and I want to quote from

Page 13. It is on Page 5 of the English translation. It is the beginning

of the first paragraph, near the bottom of the page. Quoting:

“In view of the extension of the area of operations and of the

great number of duties which had to be performed by the Security

Police, it was intended from the very beginning to obtain the

co-operation of the reliable population in the fight against

felons, that is, mainly the Jews and Communists.”

And also in that same document, Page 30 of the original, Page 8 of the

English translation, quoting:

“From the beginning it was to be expected that the Jewish

problem in Ostland could not be solved by pogroms alone.”

THE PRESIDENT: I am told that this has been read already.

COL. STOREY: I had it checked, and we did not catch that, Your Honor. I

will pass on then.

Now, if Your Honor pleases, we will pass to Document 2273-PS next. I

offer in evidence now just portions of Document 2273-PS, which is

Exhibit USA-487. This document was captured by the U.S.S.R. and will be

offered in detail by our Soviet colleagues later. But, with their

consent, I want to introduce in evidence a chart which is identified by

that document; and we have an enlargement which we would like to put on

the board, passing to the Tribunal photostatic copies.

If Your Honor pleases, this chart is identified by the photostatic copy

attached to the original report which will be dealt with in detail

later. I want to quote just one statement from Page 2 of the English

translation of that document. It is the third paragraph from the bottom

on Page 2 of the English translation:

“The Estonian self-protection movement, formed as the Germans

advanced, did begin to arrest Jews; but there were no

spontaneous pogroms. Only by the Security Police and the SD were

the Jews gradually executed as they became no longer required

for work. Today there are no longer any Jews in Estonia.”

That document is a top-secret document by Einsatz Group A, which was a

special projects group. This chart, of which the photostatic copy is

attached to the original in the German translation on the wall, shows

the progress of the extermination of the Jews in the area in which this

Einsatzkommando group operated.

If Your Honors will refer to the top, next to Petersburg—or Leningrad

as we know it—and down below, you will see the picture of a coffin; and

that is described in the report as 3,600 having been killed.

Next, over at the left, is another coffin in one of the small Baltic

states showing 963 in that area have been put in the coffin.

Then next, down near the capital of Riga, you will note that 35,238 were

put away in the coffins; and it refers to the ghetto there as still

having 2,500.

You come down to the next square or the next state showing 136,421 were

put in their coffins; and then in the next area, near Minsk and just

above Minsk, there were 41,828 put in their coffins.

THE PRESIDENT: Are you sure they were put in their coffins, the 136,000?

COL. STOREY: I beg your pardon, Sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Are you sure that they were executed, the

136,000?—because there is no coffin there.

COL. STOREY: No, Sir—the bottom statement—here are the totals from the

documents.

THE PRESIDENT: These photostatic copies are different from what you have

got there. In the area which is marked 136,421 there is no coffin.

COL. STOREY: Well, I am sorry. The one that I have is a true and correct

copy of theirs.

THE PRESIDENT: Mine has not got it and Mr. Biddle’s has not got it.

COL. STOREY [_Turning to an assistant._] Will you hand this to the

President, please?

THE PRESIDENT: I suppose the document itself will show it.

COL. STOREY: I will turn to the original and verify it. Let me have the

original, please. Apparently there is a typographical error. If Your

Honor pleases, here it is: 136,421, with the coffin.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Parker points out it is in the document itself, too.

COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, it is in the document itself. There is an error

on that.

The 128,000 at the bottom shows at that time there were 128,000 on hand,

and the literal translation of the statement, as I understand, means,

“still on hand in the Minsk area.”

I next refer to Document 1104-PS, Volume 2, Exhibit USA-483, which I now

offer in evidence.

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, did you tell us what the document was?

There is nothing on the translation, is there, to show what the document

is.

COL. STOREY: If Your Honor pleases, it is a report of the

special-purpose Group A, a top-secret report—or the Einsatz group in

other words—making a record of their activities in these areas, and

this chart was attached showing the areas covered.

THE PRESIDENT: Special group of the Gestapo?

COL. STOREY: The special group that was organized of the Gestapo and the

SD in that area. In other words, a Commando group.

As I mentioned, Your Honor, they organized these special Commando groups

to work in and behind the armies as they consolidated their gains in

occupied territories, and Your Honor will hear from other reports of

these Einsatz groups as we go along in this presentation. In other

words, “Einsatz” means “special action” or “action groups,” and they

were organized to cover certain geographical areas behind the immediate

front lines.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but they were groups, were they, of the Gestapo?

COL. STOREY: The Gestapo and the SD.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that is part of the Gestapo.

COL. STOREY: There were some of the Kripo in it too.

Now the next document is 1104-PS, dated October 30, 1941. This document

shows on that date the Commissioner of the territory of Sluzk wrote a

report to the Commissioner General of Minsk, in which he severely

criticized the actions of the Einsatzkommandos of the Sipo and the SD

operating in his area for the murder of the Jewish population of that

area, and I quote from the English translation, on Page 4 of that

document, beginning at the first paragraph after the colon:

“On 27 October, in the morning at about 8 o’clock, a first

lieutenant of the Police Battalion Number 11, from Kovno,

Lithuania, appeared and introduced himself as the adjutant of

the battalion commander of the Security Police. The first

lieutenant explained that the police battalion had received the

assignment to effect the liquidation of all Jews here in the

town of Sluzk within 2 days. The battalion commander with his

battalion in strength of four companies, two of which were made

up of Lithuanian partisans, was on the march here and the action

would have to begin instantly. I replied to the first lieutenant

that I had to discuss the action in any case first with the

commander. About half an hour later the police battalion arrived

in Sluzk. Immediately after the arrival a conference with the

battalion commander took place according to my request. I first

explained to the commander that it would not very well be

possible to effect the action without previous preparation,

because everybody had been sent to work and that it would lead

to terrible confusion. At least it would have been his duty to

inform me a day ahead of time. Then I requested him to postpone

the action 1 day. However, he refused this with the remark that

he had to carry out this action everywhere in all towns and that

only 2 days were allotted for Sluzk. Within those 2 days the

town of Sluzk had by all means to be cleared of Jews.”

That report was made to the Reich Commissioner for the Eastern

Territories through Gauleiter Hinrich Lohse, at Riga. Your Honors will

recall that he was referred to in another presentation.

Now skipping over to Page 5, the first paragraph—I would like to quote

it:

“For the rest, as regards the execution of the action, I must

point out, to my deepest regret, that the latter almost bordered

on sadism. The town itself during the action offered a picture

of horror. With indescribable brutality on the part both of the

German police officers and particularly of the Lithuanian

partisans, the Jewish people, and also with them White

Ruthenians, were taken out of their dwellings and herded

together. Everywhere in the town shots were to be heard, and in

different streets the corpses of Jews who had been shot

accumulated. The White Ruthenians were in the greatest anguish

to free themselves from the encirclement. In addition to the

fact that the Jewish people, among whom were also artisans, were

barbarously maltreated in sight of the White Ruthenian people,

the White Ruthenians themselves were also beaten with clubs and

rifle butts. It was no longer a question of an action against

the Jews. It looked much more like a revolution.”

And then I skip down to the next to the last paragraph on that same

page, quoting:

“In conclusion, I find myself obliged to point out that the

police battalion looted in an unheard-of manner during the

action and that not only in Jewish houses but equally in those

of the White Ruthenians. Anything of use, such as boots,

leather, cloth, gold and other valuables, was taken away.

According to statements of the troops, watches were torn off the

arms of Jews openly on the street and rings pulled off their

fingers in the most brutal manner. A disbursing officer reported

that a Jewish girl was asked by the police to obtain immediately

5,000 rubles to have her father released. This girl is said

actually to have run about everywhere to obtain the money.”

There is another paragraph, with reference to the number of copies, on

the third page of the translation, to which I would like to call Your

Honors’ attention—the last paragraph on Page 3 of the translation,

quoting:

“I am submitting this report in duplicate so that one copy may

be forwarded to the Reich Minister. Peace and order cannot be

maintained in White Ruthenia with methods of that sort. To have

buried alive seriously wounded people, who then worked their way

out of their graves again, is such extreme beastliness that this

incident as such must be reported to the Führer and the Reich

Marshal.

“The civil administration of White Ruthenia makes every effort

to win the population over to Germany, in accordance with the

instructions of the Führer. These efforts cannot be brought into

harmony with the methods described here.”—Signed by the

Commissioner General for White Ruthenia.

And then, on the 11th of November 1941, he forwards it on to the Reich

Minister for occupied countries, in Berlin.

THE PRESIDENT: Who was that at that time?

COL. STOREY: The Reich Minister, I believe—at that time at least—for

the eastern occupied countries was the Defendant Rosenberg. I think that

is correct. On the same date, by separate letter, the Commissioner

General of White Ruthenia reported to the Reich Commissioner for the

eastern countries that he had received money, valuables, and other

objects taken by the police in the action at Sluzk and other regions,

all of which had been deposited with the Reich Credit Institute for the

disposal of the Reich Commissioner.

On 21 November 1941 a report on the Sluzk incident was sent to the

personal reviewer of the permanent deputy of the Minister of the Reich

with a copy to Heydrich, who was the Chief of the Security Police and

the SD. That is shown on the first page of Document Number 1104-PS.

The activities of the Einsatz groups continued throughout 1943 and 1944

under Kaltenbrunner as Chief of the Security Police and SD. Under

adverse war conditions, however, the program of extermination was, to a

large extent, changed to one of rounding up slave labor for Germany.

I next refer to Document 3012-PS, which has heretofore been introduced

as Exhibit USA-190. This is a letter from the headquarters of one of the

Commando groups, a section known as Einsatz Group C, dated 19 March

1943. This letter summarizes the real activities and methods of the

Gestapo and SD, and I should like to refer to additional portions to

those previously quoted, on Page 2 of Document 3012-PS; and I believe I

will read the first page, beginning with the first paragraph:

“It is the task of the Security Police and of the Security

Service”—SD—“to discover all enemies of the Reich, and fight

against them in the interest of security, especially the

security of the Army in the zone of operations. Besides the

annihilation of active, avowed opponents, all other elements who

by virtue of their convictions or their past might under

favorable conditions actively appear as enemies are to be

eliminated through preventive measures. The Security Police

carries out this task according to the general directives of the

Führer, with all required severity. Energetic measures are

especially necessary in territories endangered by the activity

of partisan bands. The competence of the Security Police within

the zone of operations is based on the ‘Barbarossa’

decrees.”—The Tribunal will recall the famous “Barbarossa”

code-name decrees that were issued in connection with the

invasion of Russia—“I deem the measures of the Security Police,

carried out on a considerable scale during recent times,

necessary for the two following reasons:

“1. The situation at the front in my sector had become so

serious that the population, partly influenced by Hungarians and

Italians who were streaming back in confusion, were openly

opposing us.

“2. The strong expeditions by partisan bands, coming chiefly

from the forest of Bryansk, were another reason. Besides that,

other partisan groups formed from the population were appearing

like mushrooms in all districts. The procurement of arms

evidently provided no difficulties at all. It would have been

inexcusable if we had observed this whole activity without

taking measures against it. It is obvious that all such measures

are accompanied by severity.

“I want to take up the significant points of these severe

measures:

“1) The shooting of Hungarian Jews; 2) the shooting of

agriculturalists; 3) the shooting of children; 4) the burning to

the ground of villages; 5)”—the shooting, quoting—“while

trying to escape, of Security Service (SD) prisoners.

“Chief of Einsatz Group C confirmed once more the suitability of

the measures executed and expressed his appreciation for the

drastic steps taken. In consideration of the current political

situation, especially in the armament industry in the

fatherland, the measures of the Security Police are to be

subordinated to the greatest extent to the recruiting of labor

for Germany. In the shortest possible time the Ukraine has to

place at the disposal of the armament industry 1 million

workers, 500 of whom have to be sent from our territory daily.”

If Your Honor pleases, I believe the numbers have been quoted before by

Mr. Dodd. I refer on the next page to the first order, in 1 and

2—Subparagraphs:

“1. Special treatment is to be kept to a minimum.

“2. The listing of communist functionaries, activists, and so

on, is to take place only by roster for the time being, without

arrests. It is, for instance, no longer feasible to arrest all

the close relatives of a member of the Communist Party. Likewise

members of the Komsomolz are to be arrested only if they were

active in leading positions.”

The next subparagraphs have been read into evidence, 3 and 4, in a

previous presentation.

“5. The reporting of partisan bands as well as drives against

them is not affected hereby. I point out, however, that all

drives against those bands are to take place only with my

approval.

“6. The prisons are to be kept empty as a rule. We must be aware

of the fact that the Slavs interpret all soft treatment on our

part as weakness and that they will act accordingly, right away.

If we restrict our harsh Security Police measures through the

above orders for the time being, it is done only for the

following reason: the most important thing is the recruiting of

workers. No check of persons to be sent into the Reich will be

made. There are therefore no written certificates of political

reliability or the like to be furnished.”—Signed—“Christensen,

SS Sturmbannführer and Commanding Officer.”

I understood that Your Honor wanted to adjourn at 4 o’clock, and I

believe that I can introduce one more statement. It was the Einsatz

Groups of the Security Police and SD that operated the infamous death

vans. Previously, Document 501-PS, which was received as Exhibit

USA-288, referred to this operation. The letter from Becker, which is a

part of this exhibit, was addressed to Obersturmbannführer Rauff at

Berlin. We now refer to Document L-185. I simply refer to Document

501-PS as a reference to the death vans. Document L-185, Exhibit

USA-484, is the one I now offer in evidence, Page 7 of the English

translation—L-185. It will be observed that the chief of Amt II D of

the RSHA in charge of technical matters was Obersturmbannführer Rauff.

Mr. Harris advises me that the only point to be proved by that is that

the chief of Amt II D of the RSHA, who made this report on technical

matters, was the Obersturmbannführer Rauff; and then he refers in the

same connection to Document 2348-PS, which is Exhibit USA-485. The

previous one was to identify Rauff, and then to offer his affidavit

which is 2348-PS, second volume. Reading from the beginning of the

affidavit—it was made on 19 October 1945 in Ancona, Italy—quoting:

“I hereby acknowledge the attached letter, written by Dr. Becker

. . . on the 16 May 1942 and received by me on the 29 May 1942,

as a genuine letter. I did on 18 October 1945 write on the side

of this letter a statement to the effect that it was genuine. I

do not know the number of death vans being operated and cannot

give an approximate figure. The vans were built by the Saurer

Works, Germany, located, I believe, in Berlin. Some other firms

built these vans also. Insofar as I am aware, these vans

operated only in Russia. Insofar as I can state, these vans were

probably operating in 1941; and it is my personal opinion that

they were operating up to the termination of the war.”

If Your Honor pleases, I do not believe that we will have time to go

into the next exhibit.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well. Then the Tribunal will now adjourn, until

Wednesday, the 2d of January.

[_The Tribunal adjourned until 2 January 1946 at 1000 hours._]

TWENTY-FIFTH DAY

Wednesday, 2 January 1946

_Morning Session_

THE PRESIDENT: I call on the counsel for the United States.

COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, when Your Honors adjourned on 20

December we were presenting the Gestapo and had referred to the use of

the death vans by the Einsatz groups in the eastern occupied countries

and had almost concluded that phase of the presentation. Your Honors

will recall we had referred to the use of some death vans made by the

Saurer works, and the final reference that I want to make in that

connection is to a telegram attached to Document 501-PS, which it is not

necessary to read, which establishes the fact that the same make of

truck or vans were the death vans used by the Einsatz groups.

The final document in connection with the Einsatz groups in the Eastern

Occupied Territories which we desire to offer is Document 2992-PS, and I

believe it is in the second volume of the document book. This is an

affidavit made by Hermann Gräbe. Hermann Gräbe is at present employed by

the United States Government at Frankfurt. The affidavit was made at

Wiesbaden; and I offer excerpts from the affidavit, 2992-PS, Exhibit

Number USA-494.

This witness was at the head of a construction firm that was doing some

building in the Ukraine and he was an eyewitness to the anti-Jewish

actions at the town of Rovno, Ukraine, on 13 July 1942, and I refer to

the part of the affidavit which is on Page 5 of the English translation.

Beginning at the first:

“From September 1941 until January 1944 I was manager and

engineer-in-charge of a branch office in Sdolbunov, Ukraine, of

the Solingen building firm of Josef Jung. In this capacity it

was my job to visit the building sites of the firm. The firm

had, among others, a site in Rovno, Ukraine.

“During the night of 13 July 1942, all inhabitants of the Rovno

ghetto, where there were still about 5,000 Jews, were

liquidated.

“I should describe the circumstances of my being a witness of

the dissolution of the ghetto and the carrying out of the pogrom

during the night and morning, as follows:

“I employed for the firm in Rovno, in addition to Poles,

Germans, and Ukrainians, about 100 Jews from Sdolbunov, Ostrog,

and Mysotch. The men were quartered in a building, 5

Bahnhofstrasse, inside the ghetto, and the women in a house at

the corner of Deutschestrasse, 98.

“On Saturday, 11 July 1942, my foreman, Fritz Einsporn, told me

of a rumor that on Monday all Jews in Rovno were to be

liquidated. Although the vast majority of the Jews employed by

my firm in Rovno were not natives of this town, I still feared

that they might be included in this announced pogrom. I

therefore ordered Einsporn at noon of the same day to march all

the Jews employed by us—men as well as women—in the direction

of Sdolbunov, about 12 kilometers from Rovno. This was done.

“The Eldest of the Jews had learned of the departure of the

Jewish workers of my firm. He went to see the commanding officer

of the Rovno Sipo and SD, SS Major (SS Sturmbannführer) Dr.

Pütz, as early as Saturday afternoon to find out whether the

rumor of a forthcoming Jewish pogrom, which had gained further

credence by reason of the departure of Jews of my firm, was

true. Dr. Pütz dismissed the rumor as a clumsy lie and for the

rest had the Polish personnel of my firm in Rovno arrested.

Einsporn avoided arrest by escaping from Sdolbunov. When I

learned of this incident I gave orders that all Jews who had

left Rovno were to report back to work in Rovno on Monday, 13

July 1942. On Monday morning I myself went to see the commanding

officer, Dr. Pütz, in order to learn, for one thing, the truth

about the rumored Jewish pogrom and secondly to obtain

information on the arrest of the Polish office personnel. SS

Major Pütz stated to me that no pogrom whatever was planned.

Moreover, such a pogrom would be stupid because the firms and

the Reichsbahn would lose valuable workers.

“An hour later I received a summons to appear before the area

commissioner of Rovno. His deputy, Stabsleiter and Cadet Officer

Beck, subjected me to the same questions as I had undergone at

the SD. My explanation that I had sent the Jews home for urgent

delousing appeared plausible to him. He then told me—making me

promise to keep it a secret—that a pogrom would, in fact, take

place in the evening of Monday, 13 July 1942. After lengthy

negotiation I managed to persuade him to give me permission to

take my Jewish workers to Sdolbunov—but only after the pogrom

had been carried out. During the night it would be up to me to

protect the house in the ghetto against the entry of Ukrainian

militia and SS. As confirmation of the discussion he gave me a

document, which stated that the Jewish employees of Messrs. Jung

were not affected by the pogrom.”