To: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. Brandt
Berlin
Dear Comrade Brandt!
The Reich Leader SS once ordered, as you know, that SS Hauptsturmfuehrer
Prof. Dr. Hirt should be provided with all necessary material for his
research work. I have already reported to the Reich Leader SS that for
some anthropological studies 150 skeletons of inmates or Jews are needed
and should be provided by the Auschwitz concentration camp. It is only
necessary for the Reich Security Main Office to be furnished now with an
official directive by the Reich Leader SS; by order of the Reich Leader
SS, however, you could issue it yourself.
Sincerely yours,
Heil Hitler!
[Signed] SIEVERS
1 enclosure:
Draft of a letter to the Reich Security Main Office
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-087
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 181
LETTER FROM SIEVERS TO EICHMANN (COPY TO RUDOLF BRANDT), 21 JUNE 1943,
CONCERNING SELECTION OF SUBJECTS FOR A SKELETON COLLECTION
[Handwritten] XI a 56
Ahnenerbe Office
Institute for Military Scientific Research
G/H/6, S2/He.
Berlin-Dahlem, Puecklerstrasse 16, 21 June 1943
Top Secret
G.R.Z.I. A.H. Sk. No. 10
5 copies—2d copy
no enclosures
To
Reich Security Main Office
Office IV B 4
Attention: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann,
Berlin SW 11, Prinz Albrecht Strasse 8
Subject: Assembling of a skeleton collection.
With reference to your letter of 25 September 1942, IV B 4 3576/42 g
1488, and the personal talks which have taken place in the meantime on
the above matter, you are informed that the coworker in this office who
was charged with the execution of the above-mentioned special task, SS
Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Bruno Beger, ended his work in the Auschwitz
concentration camp on 15 June 1943 because of the existing danger of
infectious diseases.
A total of 115 persons were worked on, 79 of whom were Jews, 2 Poles, 4
Asiatics, and 30 Jewesses. At present, these prisoners are separated
according to sex and each group is accommodated in a hospital building
of the Auschwitz concentration camp and are in quarantine.
For further processing of the selected persons an _immediate transfer to
the Natzweiler concentration camp is now imperative_; this must be
accelerated in view of the _danger of infectious diseases in Auschwitz_.
Enclosed is a list containing the names of the selected persons.
It is requested that the necessary directives be issued.
Since with the transfer of the prisoners to Natzweiler the danger of
spreading diseases exists, it is requested that an immediate shipment of
_disease-free and clean prisoners’ clothing_ for 80 men and 30 women be
ordered sent from Natzweiler to Auschwitz.
At the same time one must provide for the accommodation of the _30
women_ in the Natzweiler concentration camp for a short period.
[Signature] SIEVERS
SS Standartenfuehrer
Carbon copies to—
_a._ SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Beger
_b._ SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Hr. Hirt
_c._ SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. Brandt
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT SIEVERS 45
SIEVERS DEFENSE EXHIBIT 46
EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DR. GISELA SCHMITZ, 27 MARCH 1947, ON
SIEVERS’ POSITION IN THE AHNENERBE SOCIETY AND HIS CONNECTION WITH THE
SKELETON COLLECTION
* * * * *
In 1937 I was appointed Secretary in the Research and Instruction
Society, the Ahnenerbe, Registered Association, where I remained until
the end of the war in 1945. During all these years I worked for Wolfram
Sievers, who was Reich Business Manager, and I gained thereby a fairly
comprehensive insight into the organization of the Ahnenerbe and into
Sievers activity.
The organization of the Ahnenerbe during the time when I was attached to
it was as follows:
Himmler was the president; Professor Wuest, Rector of Munich University,
was his curator; Sievers was responsible to the latter as Reich Business
Manager.
An internal code of procedure laid down as a regulation for the Reich
Business Manager stipulated that all decisive functions were the concern
of the department chief and curator of the Ahnenerbe. According to this
all decisions had to be obtained by the Reich Business Manager from the
department chief if they were not dealt with by the president. Professor
Wuest had the right to report direct to Himmler as president on all
questions; Sievers could only do so on administrative concerns, and then
only when Himmler consulted him on special matters and requested a
report of him.
Sievers’ own sphere was financial and staff administration and the
supervision of the business dealings of the Ahnenerbe. In scientific
matters Sievers was denied the right to issue any orders. He was also
forbidden personally to sign letters concerning scientific matters.
However, as it was not always possible in practice to send all letters
from Berlin to Munich, the domicile and permanent residence of the
curator, for signature, Sievers often signed; Wuest then countersigned
the copy.
When in 1942 the Ahnenerbe became a department of the personal staff of
the Reich Leader SS, Professor Wuest became department chief. He was
thus made responsible for all matters of administration and personnel,
which had hitherto been the responsibility of the Reich Business
Manager. Himmler personally made it quite clear to Sievers that he was
not to interfere in scientific affairs.
In this connection I mention briefly the Ahnenerbe diary which it was
Sievers’ duty, as Reich Business Manager, to write up. By express order
of Himmler, all departments of the Reich Leader SS had to keep diaries.
They were a hobby-horse of Himmler’s, and failure to comply with this
order would have had very unpleasant consequences for the person
responsible. Sievers who was frequently away from Berlin used to dictate
the diary entries on his return. I know that the entries would not
always have been able to stand close examination—they were inaccurate
in parts and sometimes fabricated. Sievers insisted upon keeping the
diary ostensibly correct, so as not to offend Himmler. The reasons for
this will be explained by a later part of my statement. Sievers also
mentioned to me the collection of Jewish-Bolshevik skulls, which was
planned by Professor Hirt of Strasbourg.
Document NO-085, Prosecution Exhibit 175, regarding the collection of
Jewish skeletons has been submitted to me. With the exception of the
last paragraph which begins with the words “For the preservation * * *”,
the report was—as far as I remember—drafted by Dr. Bruno Beger who had
come from the SS Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA).[86] I first
saw the report in the autumn of 1941. The report had already been
circulated in all possible offices and one copy had also been sent to
the Ahnenerbe. The reasons why the report had also been sent to the
Ahnenerbe are unknown to me; in any case, Sievers showed me this
proposal with all signs of horror and defined it as a hybrid outgrowth
of the propaganda which at that time used to describe the eastern
nations as “subhuman.” The report itself was filed away, as it did not
concern us, or passed on to the chief of the Ahnenerbe, Professor Wuest,
as it was really a “scientific” matter. One day Sievers told me that
Himmler had mentioned this matter in a private conversation—I believe
it was in connection with Professor Hirt—and ordered the document to be
submitted after obtaining an opinion from Professor Hirt. Hirt then
added the last paragraph. With this addition the report was forwarded to
the personal staff of the Reich Leader SS and to Dr. Rudolf Brandt.
With regard to the Document NO-087, Prosecution Exhibit 181, as shown to
me, I can state: the letter to the Reich Security Main Office bears the
dictation reference S 2/Ha. According to this, the letter was not
dictated by Sievers himself, but—as I remember—by Dr. Beger who
dictated the letter in the office of subdepartment Chief Wolff, whose
reference number was S 2.
With regard to Document NO-088, Prosecution Exhibit 182, I can say that
Professor Hirt had asked by telephone for a decision on the suggestions
which appear at the end of this document. Sievers only passed this
request of Hirt on to the personal staff of the Reich Leader SS.
Sievers spoke to me repeatedly about the experiments on humans and also
about the collection of skeletons and always said that these things were
very much against his inner feelings. Repeatedly, I had an opportunity
to see how much Sievers suffered in this connection. He sometimes had
pronounced periods of depression.
* * * * *
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT SIEVERS 54
SIEVERS DEFENSE EXHIBIT 50
REGULATIONS FOR THE COMMANDOS (EINSATZKOMMANDOS)[87] OF THE SECURITY
POLICE AND THE SECURITY SERVICE TO BE ACTIVATED IN STALAGS
B 101
Enclosures 2
Office IV Berlin, 17 July 1941