Weimar, 25 November 1941,
Hotel Elephant
2058 hours
At 7 o’clock tomorrow morning we will be awakened. At about 8 o’clock we
will have our coffee and then we will drive out in Schmalenbach’s car,
but he himself will soon leave for Dresden again. On Thursday and Friday
a meeting will be held in Pirna in connection with the action in which
problems of the future will be discussed and in which Schmalenbach will
take part as the medical adjutant of Herr Brack (Jennerwein). No experts
will be present * * *. The first working day at Buchenwald is over. At
8:30 this morning we were out there. At first I introduced myself to the
authoritative leaders. The deputy of the camp commandant is SS
Hauptsturmfuehrer Florstaedt; camp physician is SS Obersturmfuehrer Dr.
Hoven. At first another 40 reports of a first portion of Aryans had to
be completed. The two other colleagues worked on these yesterday
already. Out of these 40 I worked up about 15. After this whole portion
had been worked up, Schmalenbach left for Dresden. He will not return
until our work here is done. Following this, the “examination” of the
patients was carried out, i. e., a presentation of the individuals and a
comparison with the entries taken from the files. We did not finish this
work until noon, because the other two colleagues worked only in theory
yesterday, so that I had to “re-examine” those whom Schmalenbach (and I
myself this morning) had prepared and Mueller did his people. At 12
o’clock we stopped for lunch * * *.
Afterwards we continued our examination until about 4 o’clock. I myself
examined 105 patients, Mueller 78 patients, so that finally a total of
183 reports were ready as a first group. As a second group a total of
1,200 Jews followed, all of whom do not need to be “examined”, but where
it is sufficient to take the reasons for their arrest from the files
(often very voluminous!) and to transfer them to the reports. Therefore,
it is merely theoretical work which will certainly keep us busy until
next Monday inclusive, perhaps even longer. Of this second group (Jews),
we completed today. I myself did 17, and Mueller 15. At 5 o’clock sharp,
“we threw away the trowel” and went for supper * * *.
Exactly as the day I described above, the following days will pass—with
exactly the same program and the same work. After the Jews, another 300
Aryans follow as a third group who will again have to be “examined”.
Therefore, we are busy here until the end of next week. Then on
Saturday, 6 December, we shall go home.
* * * * *
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-1007
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 413
CIRCULAR FROM GLUECKS TO CONCENTRATION CAMP COMMANDANTS, 27 APRIL 1943,
STATING THAT IN THE FUTURE ONLY INSANE PRISONERS SHOULD BE USED FOR
ACTION “14 F 13” (EUTHANASIA)
SS Economic and Administrative Main Office
Division Chief D Concentration Camps
D I/1/File No.: 14 f 13/L/S.—
Secret Journal No. 612/43
Oranienburg, 27 April 1943.
Subject: Action 14 f 13 in Concentration Camps.
Re: Our Order—D I/1/File No. 14 f 13/Ot/S.—Secret Diary No.
32/43 of 15 January ’43.
Enclosures: None.
[Stamp]
Top Secret
——th copy
To the Camp Commanders of the Concentration Camps
Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenbuerg,
Neuengamme, Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Natzweiler, Stutthof,
Ravensbrueck, Riga, Hertogenbosch, Lublin, and Bergen-Belsen.
Copy to: Chief of Amt DII, III in the building.
The Reich Leader SS and Chief of the German Police has decreed that in
future only insane prisoners can be selected for the Action 14 f 13 by
the medical commissions appointed for this purpose.
All other prisoners unfit for work (persons suffering from tuberculosis,
bedridden invalids, etc.) are definitely to be excluded from this
action. Bedridden prisoners are to be given suitable work which can be
performed in bed.
The order of the Reich Leader SS must be strictly observed in the
future.
Requests for gasoline for this purpose will therefore be discontinued.
[Signed] GLUECKS
SS Brigadefuehrer and Generalmajor of the Waffen SS
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-891
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 414
DIRECTIVE OF THE REICH MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, 6 SEPTEMBER 1944,
ORDERING EUTHANASIA EXTENDED TO INSANE EASTERN WORKERS
Reich Minister of the Interior
Berlin, 6 September 1944
_g 9255/44_
To:
_a._ The Reich Governor [Reichsstatthalter] (State government)
_b._ The Oberpraesidenten (administration of the provincial association)
_c._ The County Presidents
_d._ The Police President in Berlin
_e._ The Lord Mayor [Oberbuergermeister] of the Reich capital Berlin.
Re: Mentally insane Eastern workers and Poles—Circular decrees of the
Reich Minister of the Interior of—_A g 9255/44-5100_—.
1. Due to the considerable number of Eastern workers and Poles brought
into the German Reich for employment, the assignment of mental cases
among them to German asylums is constantly increasing. The purpose of
such assignments must be in any case the speediest possible recovery to
working ability. Thus every means of modern therapy must also be applied
to those mentally insane people. But due to lack of space in German
institutions there can be no justification for patients who are
considered incurable and, therefore, unable to work again in a
reasonably short time to remain permanently or for a long time in German
institutions. In order to avoid this, the following is ordered:
2. In the following list I have established for each district in the
Reich a collective list for incurable mentally insane Eastern workers
and Poles. They should be assigned to those institutions immediately if
possible. If this is impossible due to urgency or to transportation
difficulties, the institution in question should deliver their Eastern
or Polish patients to the collecting institution in their respective
district within one month at the most. It is not necessary to carry out
the removal if the patient is considered able to leave the institution
within 6 weeks at the latest.
3. It is the task of the collecting institution to decide whether the
restoration of working ability might be considered within a reasonable
period of time.
4. The expenses from the date of registration in the collecting
institution are to be taken over by the head of the Central Financial
Clearing Office of the sanatorium in Linz/Upper Danube, P. O. Box 324,
which has to be informed immediately of such assignments. The fixed rate
for patients of the general class will be paid to the institutions. The
Eastern workers and Poles already assembled in collecting institutions
are to be reported on a list immediately to the Central Financial
Clearing Office. The expenses for those patient are transferred as from
1 October 1944 to the Central Accounts Office.
5. After 4 weeks, at the latest, of the registration in the collecting
institution a short report on the prognosis of the case and on the
question of working ability has to be sent to the head of the Central
Financial Clearing Office. It is the task of that office to direct the
transportation of patients from the collecting institutions to nearby
special asylums in their home district.
6. Only those people are to be considered as Poles who were brought into
the Reich for employment. This decree does not apply to the local Polish
population.
7. The leaders of mental institutions in the districts, etc., are to be
informed by their superior officials, and the leaders of welfare and
private institutions by their competent higher administrative
authorities. The required copies are enclosed herewith.
_List of the collecting institutions_
1. For East Prussia, Danzig, and West Prussia and Wartheland: Mental
Institution Tiegenhof.
2. For Upper and Lower Silesia and the Sudetengau: Mental Institution
Lueben.
3. For Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Kurmark, and Berlin: Mental Institution
Landsberg-Warthe.