Court No. 11 - Case No. 4
Q. Yes, but you will have to agree that you were also forced to refrain from saying anything about the conditions in the camp. Will you answer me this question with yes or no?
A. No, I was not forced to do that, but I was forced to do it in the form that I was not allowed to make any statement about it whatsoever.
Q. But there you were also forced not to say anything about conditions in the camp.
A. After my statement went to the effect that I could not say anything about the fact that I had been arrested, I certainly could not say anything about conditions in the camp.
Q. Is it also agreed you were forced not to say anything about the conditions in the camp?
THE PRESIDENT: He has answered that. He says yes.
THE WITNESS: Yes. May I say something in addition? In spite of this on the second day I went to the German National Socialist faction of the Bavarian Landtag, Dr. Guttmann, who at that time was General Director of the Bavarian State Library, and for two hours, I told him everything that had happened in Dachau, for two hours. I told him that I had been in chains. I told him about the murders I had witnessed, and I not only told Dr. Guttmann as Chairman of the Landtag --
Q. (By Dr. Gawlik) Excuse me, please, but this is not of any importance here. I only have the following question. After you have admitted that you were also forced not to say anything about conditions in the camp, I am now asking you the following question: In your testimony that you could tell all the visitors details about Court No. 11 - Case No. 4 conditions in the camp, I am now asking you the following question:
In your testimony that you could tell all the visitors details about conditions in the camp, does your testimony not contrast with that?
A. I have not told the people about conditions in the camp. I did not tell them that twelve people would be shot in the course of one morning, but I only told them indirectly that a large number of people were dying here. If I had said, "Gentlemen, today there is already six persons who have been shot," or also again, "In the autopsy room there is a corpse who was killed in the bunker," then that would have been what I would call telling about conditions in the camp. I could only point out the various diseases which occurred, and I could only give a hint to these people just how big our mortality rate was in the camp and just how people were being treated in the camp.
Q. Have I understood you correctly, you did not give any details?
A. I was unable to give any details.
DR. GAWLIK: No further questions.
BY DR. FROESCHMANN (For Defendant Mummenthey):
Q. Witness, you were asked this morning about the Actions 14 F 13. Do you still remember when the order was issued?
A. I cannot tell you that any more today, but it was in the year 1944.
Q. 1944?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you not hear anything about it before?
A. In Buchenwald I did not get any such orders into my hands because the pathology section was geograph ically separated from the hospital.
To the contrary at Dora I was directly subordinate to the Camp physician, and I was in charge of the entire correspondence of the camp physician. There I received all orders as far as the medical section was concerned into my own hands.
Q. And have I understood you correctly to say that the list about the prisoners who were selected went to Amtsgruppe D?
A. Yes.
Q. Herr Ackermann, at the time you were in the concentration camps, you certainly could form a judgment about the quality of the guards, and I would like now to ask you did you know from what classes of the population these guards came?
A. During the war the guards in the Buchenwald camp, as well as at Dora, mainly came from foreign countries. It was grotesque that it happened that a high bearer of the Knight's Cross, together with the camp leader, Roedl, walked around the guards and inspected the posts, and he asked the first man there, "Where are you from and how long have you been here?" This man replied "I cannot understand you. I am a Dutchman." And he came to the second guard, and the second one said, "I am not a German. I am Ukrainian," and the third one said,"I am a Roumanian." When he had made the rounds and he did not meet a single German there, they conversed, and he asked the camp leader, "Don't you have any Germans here?" The camp leader said, "Yes, they are in there, in the enclosure."
Q. And the SS men who were in the camp, from what class of the population did they come?
Court No. 11 - Case No. 4
A. The SS guards in the camp mostly came from the German personnel, and although these men were big and strong they were never sent to the front. They remained there as permanent personnel within the camp, because Himmler considered them as necessary to form a front from the outside. These people came for the most part from circles of agriculture, and they also came from the working class. However, most prominent among them, and most of them were those who were hardly able to read and write. They were hardly able to write their own names, and could carry out the brutal dominations.
Q. That was the brutal type of SS men up to the Hauptscharfuehrer you had in the camp?
A. Yes.
Q. Did it come to your knowledge in the case of these SS guards they were also partly guards who had been criminally punished before?
A. That did not come to my knowledge. However, I do know that a number of higher SS leaders had received considerable punishment before as criminals.
Q. Do you have the impression that the treatment of the concentration camp prisoners in the camp had its origin in instructions which had been issued from higher agencies?
A. Yes.
Q What agency do you believe that these orders came from?
A I am unable to give you that information.
Q Do you believe that this structure which went up already ended with the camp commander, or in excess of that, that other personalities were included?
A Yes, it went very far beyond the camp commander.
Q Where do you think that structure led to?
A I can not give you that information.
Q Is the name of Heydrich known to you?
A The name of Heydrich is not only known to me, but I have personally known him, and my first arrest was ordered by Heydrich.
Q Please tell the Tribunal who Heydrich was.
A Heydrich was a very ambitious, man, originally from Munich. There he was a small official with the Gestapo. He joined the National Socialist Party at a late period of time; he only became a member in 1930. But he had employed a certain tactic of pushing his way up, and he further knew that with big drinking feasts with other leaders one could advance more quickly than by achievements. Very quickly he became the duputy of Himmler in Bavaria and, when Himmler was appointed to a Reich position, he became the deputy of Himmler for the entire Reich. Himmler was a very brutal man who did not mind walking over corpses, and he
Q I believe you have made a mistake. You were talking about Heydrich.
A Yes, I was talking about Heydrich.
Q What organization was Heydrich in charge of? Do you know that the Gestapo was subordinated to him?
A Yes, the Gestapo was subordinated to Heydrich.
Q Do you know of any further organization that was subordinated to Heydrich?
A Yes, the SD.
Q Do you believe that Heydrich gave indirectly the previously mentioned instructions, and that he had an influence in issuing them?
A Yes, I believe that.
DR. FROESCHMANN: I don't have any further questions.
THE PRESIDENT: Any other cross-examination? This witness may be excused
MR. ROBBINS: Your Honors, I have one question I would like to ask the witness.
RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. ROBBINS:
Q Mr. Ackermann, did conditions worsen at Dora after Kahr was relieved of his position as camp doctor?
A The conditions did not become worse because his deputy, Dr. Kurzke, already had been told by camp physician Kahr upon his arrival at Dora, and they had already been influenced in such a way that Dr. Kurzke continued in exactly the same work which had been done by Dr. Kahr. And he continued whatever Dr. Kahr had tried to achieve for the prisoners. Of course, things became worse with regard to food. The difficulties became larger and as a result of the over-crowding of the camp by the dissolution of the camps at Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen, the over-crowding took on a catastrophic extent. We were not able to provide the prisoners with a straw bag; they had to sleep on the bare floor. And the medical care became difficult because drugs did not arrive any more from Berlin. We did not have any dressings anymore. We did not have any more drugs. We, ourselves, tried to lessen the pains of the people who were dying in numbers.
MR. ROBBINS: That is all the questions I have.
BY JUDGE PHILLIPS:
Q You spoke of children being inmates in Buchenwald; were there any children inmates at Dora?
A There were children at Buchenwald and also at Dora. At Dora we had a lot of Gypsy children. They were boys who were six and seven years old. They had hundreds of children who were below the age of fourteen. The children had to work just like all the grown-ups. The practice, however, was such that we prisoners took care of the children and we prevented them being used for practical work by giving them small jobs to do, and by taking care of them otherwise.
Q Were any of the children killed in the same manner that adults were killed?
AAt Dora this did not happen. At Dora not a single child was killed.
Q Well, you have told us about the children in Buchenwald. You mentioned that there was a brothel kept at one of these camps. Which camp was that?
A From 1943 on, brothels were kept at Buchenwald and also, later on, at the camp Dora.
Q How many inmates did they have at these brothels?
A In the brothel at Buchenwald there were approximately twenty-one women. They were female prisoners from the women's concentration camp Ravensbrueck, and the inmates of the brothel at Dora also came from the concentration camp Ravensbrueck. Things were handled in such a way that they had the possibility to voluntarily report, to volunteer for work in a concentration camp brothel. In the case of the female prisoners of the concentration camp Dora, women volunteered who did not meet the preliminary requirements for work.
Upon examining these young women I found a Dutch student of law who was among the women who came there. I asked her if she realized what fate was in store for her because she volunteered for this. Thereupon, this Dutch student, who was approximately 24 years of age, told me that she had to do so much construction work, which was so hard, at Ravensbrueck that she could figure out mathematically when, as a result of the physical work she was doing, and as a result of the bad food, she would have to die there. She calculated that the war could not go on much longer and that in the brothel where the food was supposed to be very good, the time until the end of the war would pass under very dishonorable conditions - but that she would be able to survive.
Q Were these brothels maintained for the benefit of the inmates of the concentration camp or were they there for the guards and the higher-ups?
A No. These brothels were for the exclusive use of the prisoners. Usually the SS, beginning with the camp leader and including all the SS officers and the guards, would also visit these brothels at night and they used to be there quite frequently. But, fundamentally, the brothels were an institution for the use of the prisoners.
Q The money would go to the camp - or where would the money go to?
AAs far as we were informed, the money just like all other economic matters went to the Economic Leader of the camp.
BY THE PRESIDENT:
Q Witness, what happened to the English correspondent that was arrested at the time you were?
A Mr. Panther was first of all kept in confinement and then on the next day the British government lodged a protest through the then Foreign Minister, Lord Simon. The English generals stated that English ships would sail against Germany if Panther was not released within 48 hours. As a result of the diplomatic pressure which was exerted, the Gestapo was very embarrassed. Also, so was the Foreign Office. The Gestapo tried to move me to sign the statement which was presented to me in its entirety. In this record, against better knowledge and contrary to the truth, I was to give testimony about Mr. Panther which would have made it possible for the Gestapo to accuse Mr. Panther of espionage and to have him tried. I refused to do that. First of all I was tried with "kid gloves" and later on with whips. They tried to force me to sign this record. When I continued to refuse, Mr. Panther had to be released - while I was sent to Dachau as punishment.
BY MR. ROBBINS:
Q Mr. Ackermann, do you know whether the brothels were used as an incentive for harder work among the prisoners, used as a premium for the workers? Or was everyone permitted to go?
A I did not understand this question entirely.
Q Were the brothels used as a premium for hard work in the concentration camps, or were all of the prisoners permitted to visit the brothels?
A First of all it was left up to the individual if a prisoner wanted to go to the brothel. The prisoner in question had to sign a note on the night before where the following was stated: "Prisoner Number such and Such requests to be allowed to visit the special building tonight." This usually was approved if no special objections in the form of punishment was imposed by the camp administration of the prisoner. However, it was discovered that the political prisoners fundamentally refused to go into the brothel as a demonstration against the thoroughly unmoral institution of the concentration camp life. The political prisoners expressed to the camp administration, "Let us go home for two weeks every year so that we can see our wives at home." In any case, we refuse to go into a brothel where women are located who more or less are being forced in their capacity as prisoners to carry out this sort of work." Then the camp administration stated that was an organized form of resistance which was equal to a political demonstration; then the camp administration tried to exert a certain amount of pressure. I know that at the beginning of the brothel the camp eldest who also was a political prisoner was forced by the commander to be the example in opening the brothel and to be one of the first to go there to one of the women. In spite of this, the camp administration did not succeed and the political prisoners imposed a boycott on the brothel. At Dora things went on similarly. I was able to sabotage the brothel by postponing the physical examination of the female inmates. The SS now illegally opened this house for its own use and when I took the first Wasserman tests, when I was able to examine them, and when I was able to carry out the physical examination of these women, of these women I discovered three of them were suspected of syphillis and two of them had acute gonorrhea. In accordance with the result of this Wassermann blood test, then SS men began to report sick to the camp hospital until the end of the camp, Dora, the political prisoners did not enter the brothel.
MR. ROBBINS: I have no further questions.
THE PRESIDENT: Any cross-examination?
The witness may be excused.
DR, FRITSCH (Attorney for the Defendant Baier): May it please the Tribunal, I was not present in the court room when Document Book 14, Exhibit 384 was presented, Exhibit 384 in Document Book 14. I only want to point out briefly one fact. On page 27 of the German Document Book on the left hand corner is the file note in their letters.
THE PRESIDENT: We haven't found the document yet. What is the exhibit number?
DR. FRITSCH: The exhibit number is 384. It is located on page 27; in the German document book on the left upper corner, there is a file note to be treated very severely. In the English document book I have been unable to find this file note at all. I request that the document be submitted in order to discover what file note is actually located on the original document.
THE PRESIDENT: We have no file number on the English copy.
DR. FRITSCH: In the German document book this file note is contained. I have been unable to find it in the English document book.
MR. ROBBINS: Your Honor, I understand the Secretary General doesn't have the photostatic copy. I suggest that we get it at the recess and then we can compare it.
THE PRESIDENT: What is the page?
MR. ROBBINS: It is the 12th page of the document book in German.
THE PRESIDENT: I am trying to find the same in the English Document Book that appears in the German Document.
MR. ROBBINS: It's on 24, almost at the end of the document book.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, on the corresponding page in the English document book that stamp, file stamp, does not appear.
DR. FRITSCH: I only wanted to point out the fact, Mr. President, because I was unable to find it in the English document book, and so far I have been unable to see the original document.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, do you want it to be there or not? Do you object to the file number?
DR. FRITSCH: I only want to clarify this matter, if the file note is actually on the original, because, if it is there, it is also incorrect, I believe, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: You mean if it is there, it should not be there? It is wrong?
DR. FRITSCH: I am trying to say it is located within the German document book and even if it is on the original document, then it is incorrect in the German document book.
MR. ROBBINS: One of the two is obviously incorrect. I think we can determine that by getting the original at the recess and deciding which it is.
I think we are at Document NO-1005 in Document Book No. 14. Document NO-1290 has already been offered as Prosecution's Exhibit 60 in Book No. 3. I offer NO -- this is at Page 51 -- I offer NO-1005 as Exhibit 390. This consists of two letters. The first part of the document is a letter from Defendant Hohberg to the Defendant Bobermin, dated 9 February 1943, stating that all available auditors have been ear marked for special tasks to be carried out by Globotcnik and Hohn. The second part of the document is an earlier letter dated 29 January, 1943, from Bobermin to Hohberg asking for auditors and the first part of the document is Hohberg's reply.
At page 43, I offer Document NO-1569 as Exhibit 391. This is a memorandum by Hohberg listing unfinished jobs of Staff W.
At page 59 I offer Document NO-1563 as Prosecution's Exhibit 192.
THE PRESIDENT: 392.
MR. ROBBINS: Excuse me, 392. This is a circular letter which Defendant Baier stated that there will be a conference held at which final balance sheets will be discussed.
At page 61, I offer Document NO-1213, as Prosecution's Exhibit 393.
This is a letter from Pohl to all the chiefs regarding the accomplishment in the armament works.
Pohl states: "On occasion of the birthday of the ReichsfuehrerSS I had merely written him a letter giving him a few main figures on our armament output.
"How sound my choice was and how well the Reichsfuehrer-SS was pleased, is apparent from the attached copy of his acknowledgement."
Then he states he is inclosing that acknowledgment.
The second part of that document is Himmler's letter to Pohl stating:
"I thank you most heartily for your kind letter, your good wishes and your report on what you, your men and the prisoners under their direction achieved for the military power of Germany during this war. You certainly could not have made me a more welcome present than this report. I know that I will be able to rely on you, my old and faithful friends, among whom I count you for many years, during the coming year of my life which coincides with our hardest times and the final phase of our struggle."
On page 63, I now offer NO-1913 as Exhibit 394. This is a cable from Gruppenfuehrer Wolff regarding the Clinker Stone Factory at Linz. It reads in part as follows:
"General Director Pleiger of the Hermann Goering Works, Berlin, wants to use together with us the entire Clinker output of the Hermann Goering Works in Linz for moulding cast Bricks etc. by detainees and to give a 50 percent share in the enterprise supposed to be very lucrative."
The following document follows up the work at Linz. This is at page 65, NO-1914 which I offer as Exhibit 395. This is a letter from Hohberg to Pohl reporting on a conference regarding the Clinker Works at Linz. He states at the conference, the following people were present; Hohberg, Volk, Schwarz of Dest, Heinrich of Dest and others.
It says: "SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Schwarz stated that the output of the detainees amounted only to l/4 or l/5 of the labor output of a normal worker and that consequently more detainees are to be employed than originally planned."
On page 2 of the original, "The working capacity of a detainee will temporarily be estimated at the value of l/5 of a worker's normal wages."
At the end of the letter, the distribution list shows copies went to Kammler, Mummenthey and Mauer.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: What is meant, Mr. Robbins, if you know by that handwritten note, "nonsense"?
MR. ROBBINS: I see that is written at the point, according to the asterisk, of the first paragraph. I do not know whose handwriting that is.
The last part of the document is a memorandum Pohl concerning the agreement. Perhaps we can come back to that later.
THE PRESIDENT: Of course you will have that right.
DR. HEIM: Thank You.
MR. ROBBINS: May I ask the Secretary General to bring those documents in at the recess?
The document NO-1915 shows that this memorandum went to Mauer of Amtsgruppe D, Eirenschmalz of Amtsgruppe C, and Mummenthey of W-1 and Hohberg of the W staff. It states that Hohberg will handle the transaction establishing the Clinker Works at Linz.
I next offer NO-1916 as Prosecution Exhibit 397. This is a letter from the Defendant Hohberg to the Defendant Pohl regarding the agreement with Goering Works concerning the establishment of the Clinker Works at Linz. On the last page of the letter, reference is made to the fact that the SS will put prisoners at the disposal of the Goering Works. Copies of the letter went to Mummenthey, and Volk. The first page of the letter states that at a conference Mummenthey Hohberg were present.
The next document at Page 71 has already been offered in evidence. This is Exhibit 59, in Book Number 3, Document NO-1912.
I next offer Page 72, NO-544 as Exhibit 398. This is a copy of an extract from the German Commercial Registry showing the positions of Pohl, Wenner, and Volk in the DWB. It shows on the next to the last page of the document that Georg Wenner was what is called a certificated merchant. I think there may be some error in the translation. I will have to check that. Also, Confidential Clerk, Volk; Ministerial Director, Oswald Pohl.
On Page 79, I offer NO-2163 as Exhibit 399. This is a contract between the DWB AND Volk, hiring Volk as executive manager.
Paragraph Number 2 states: "It is Herr Dr. Volk's duty to manage the business transactions of the DWB with the care as benefits a proper business man."
JUDGE MUSMANNO: "Befits."
MR. ROBBINS: "Befits," yes.
The Tribunal will recall that the DWB is the parent holding company which had control over all of the SS industries.
"It is Herr Dr. Volk's duty to undertake, without separate remuneration, further duties which exceed the ramifications of the work outline in paragraph 1, which arise in the management of the companies which are under the supervision of the Reichsfuehrer SS, WVHA."
This concern was under the control of Staff W.
I next offer Document NO-1281 at Page 84 as Exhibit 400. This is a business statement of the DWB by Pohl. It states that the DWB is the sole partner of the Clinker Cement, Ltd, at Posen. The profit is also stated there.
At Page 85, I offer Document NO-845 as Exhibit 401. This is the code of procedure of the DWB. Article I states: "This code of procedure shall be valid for the 'German Economic Enterprises, Incorporated,' their subsidiary companies and such establishment, in which the 'German Economic Enterprises," have an indirect or immediate share of at least 50 per cent of the capital, as well as for all enterprises under the supervision and administration of the WVHA."
Article II provides: "The Chief of the Main Office is the 1st Manager and in that capacity the director of Economic Enterprises of the SS. His deputy is the 2nd Manager of the 'German Economic Enterprises, Incorporated.'" Article II provides:
"Assistants to the Chief of the Main Office in his tasks are (1) the Chief of the Economics Department, (2) the Amts Chiefs."
At Page 4 of this same document, the duty of Chief W is set out. This refers to the Chief of Staff, W, which at one time was Hohberg, and later on the Defendant Baier Article 8 states: "The Chief W is the economic advisor of the Chief of the Main Office."
Article 10, of the code of procedure provides that the Chief W has under his authority Staff W.
Article 11 sets out the duties of the Office Chiefs under Amtsgruppe W.
The balance of the document consists of file references and references to various industries under Amtsgruppe W and under the DWB.
At page 115 I offer document No. NO-2176 as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 402. This is a report by Volk on the statement of balance and profit and loss of the public utility, Cooperative House and Home Building, Ltd., which was another concern under Staff-W. Paragraph No. I provides, "The company is incorporated in the WVHA of the Reichsfuehrer-SS in organization, personnel business matters. The shares of the business are in the hands of the firm Dest. This company is likewise an organization of the Reichsfuehrer-SS, and has acquired the shares of the business as trustees of the SS and administers them as a trustee for the SS." Paragraph 1 under Roman numeral I the business manager is stated to be Mummenthey as business manager was recalled as of 1 September 1941, and Dr. Leo Volk was appointed as the new business manager. His work was on an honorary basis.
Under Roman numeral II, sub-paragraph B, you will note a statement in the war year of 1941 the company was occupied with the new acquisition and the management of one family houses, which were partly purchased from non-aryan estates. At page 3 of the document there is a statement, "In order to at least partly alleviate the growing housing emergency among the members of the Main Office, the Company, on the advice of the board of directors, acquired the following pieces of one family real estate for the purpose of renting them to members of the WVHA," and then there is a list. This is at page 3 of the original. Then under the list of seven properties acquired there is a statement, "All of the above mentioned pieces of real estate come from non-aryan estates, and were purchased for the most part at prices regarded to be advantageous."
I next offer document at page 135 --
THE PRESIDENT: Suppose that is advantageous to the WVHA and not to the non-aryans.
MR. ROBBINS: I am sure of that.
I offer document at page 135 of the document book, NO-2178as Prosecution's Exhibit 403. This is a letter signed by the defendant Volk of the Public Utility Dwelling and Homestead, Ltd. at Dachau, stating, "By order of the Obergruppenfuehrer I have today taken over the duties of Dr. Hohberg as Chief of Staff W. Henceforth the administration and all employees of the Building and Real Estate BMBH, and the Cooperative House and Home Building GMBH, Dachau, belong wholly to Staff W."
The last document in this book is NO-1048. I offer it as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 404. This is a letter signed by the defendant Pohl to all of his chiefs. He said, "I herewith give instructions for all Economic Offices in future to submit all matters of importance to SS rigadefuehrer Loerner in his capacity of co-director of the DWB for his comment and signature, before being passed on to me."
DR. HAENSEL: Dr. Haensel for the defendant Georg Loerner. In the German Document Book it is seen in the paragraph after "for his comment and signature", in this document, a stamp in it of "such relation." "Such relation" means that this document would have to be circulated around to the various departments where circulation actually took place. Georg Loerner disputes this as having taken place. I, therefore, request that the Prosecution be asked to present their remainder of the document as to the circulation, if that is at all possible.
MR. ROBBINS: I don't think the document shows that anything is missing. The circulation is shown at the top of the document as to "The Chief of Office W-I through to W-8, Staff W." Do you see that? Well, again, I shall examine that with the defense counsel at recess to see if anything is missing.
The next document, turning to Document Book No. 15, is the first document NO-1035. I offer that as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 405. This is at page one.
judge musmanno; Just a moment, Mr. Robbins.
MR. ROBBINS: Yes. This is a letter from the defendant Hohberg to Pohl concerning charges for the inmates labor. I might say that all the documents in this book concern charges for the use of inmate labor, which apparently was the function of Staff-W. The first paragraph of Hohberg's letter to Pohl reads: "The advantage of low prisoners' daily ages at RM 0.30 will become evident in the workshops employing prisoners only when all prisoners are aptly assigned to their jobs. Whenever prisoner work comes close to the work performed by free labor, calculations basing on actual prisoners' daily wages are rated so low as almost to cause uneasiness in the production branch concerned due to cheap offers from plants employing prisoners." In the third paragraph he proposes to eliminate the special advantage of daily wage in the following manner: "It is proposed to eliminate the special advantage of low prisoners' daily wages by the following method: "In the future prisoners for SS-run shops will no longer immediately be placed at the disposal of such shops, but will be turned over to the Reichsfuehrung-SS in its capacity as a Party organization, and represented by the SS-Chief Office for Economic Administration. The Reichsfuehrung-SS as a Party organization will then make prisoner labor available to the firms concerned at rates in excess of RM 0.30. The difference between RM 0.30, as payable to the Reich and the prisoner's daily wages charged by the Reichsfuehrung-SS to the firms, will be collected by the WVHA to be turned over in full or part to the "Lebensborn e.V." This is an organization the Court will recall which was the institution promoting the birth of illegitimate children. The literal translation is "Born of life" and known as "Hitler's children." The letter is signed by Dr. Hohberg.
The next part of the document is stamped "German Economic Plants, Ltd." DWB, addressed to "German Equipment Works, Ltd." - DAW, and concerns the balance of the account.
The next document in the document book is NO-1289. I offer that as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 406. This is on page 4 of the Document Book 15. This is a letter by the defendant Pohl, the first part concerning pay for concentration camp inmates, giving the wage scale which were established as of that time, 30 December 1942, which were to be valid from 1 January 1943. The last part of the letter is from Hohberg -- the last part of the document is from Hohberg to Maurer of Amtsgruppen D, and referring to the first paragraph, "Jewish prisoners enterprises in Lublin," he states in the second paragraph: "It is therefore possible to determine for any chosen period exactly what profits were derived by the employment of Jewish prisoners."
The next paragraph he states, "This is to be done in such a way that for the first quarter of 1943 an exact computation of the profits 'from the employment of Jewish prisoners' is to be made, and the amount arrived at is to be handed over. The letter is signed by the defendant Hohberg.
At page 7 I offer NO-736 as Prosecutions Exhibit No. 407. This is a memorandum by Dr. Wemner to one of the business managers of DAW. The memorandum contains a profit analysis, and proposal for establishment of a sound basis for the DAW enterprises. In the first paragraph he said: "A critical view of the balances and profit and loss accounts of the W-enterprises are far too high compared with the profits of other similar enterprises, and that considering the turnover, or the necessary capital our enterprises do not follow the guiding principles which war imposes on economy by paying excess profits tax. What are the causes for such high profits." The rest of the memorandum consist of investigation of the reason for the high profits of the SS industries.