I would like the Court to examine it, if I may, and present it to the Court, together with the duplicate original thereof, and ask that the Court rule that the entire document may be accepted.
THE PRESIDENT: Major Walsh, the Court will take that course, provided that the Prosecution supplies as soon as possible, both to the Soviet and to the French members of the Tribunal, copies in Russian and French of the whole document.
MAJOR WALSH: Yes, sir; may I consult with . . .
THE PRESIDENT: I don't say present immediately, but present as soon as possible.
MAJOR WALSH: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: You are going to read the passages that you think necessary?
MAJOR WALSH: Yes. From page 6 of the translation before the Court of Document 1061-PS, I would like to read the boastful but nonetheless vivid account of some of this ruthless action within the Warsaw Ghetto. I quote, second paragraph, page 6:
"The resistance put up by the Jews and bandits could be broken only by relentlessly using all our forces and energy by day and night. On 23 April 1943 the Reichs Fuehrer SS issued through the Higher SS and Police fuehrer East at Cracow his order to complete the combing out of the Warsaw Ghetto with the greatest severity and relentless tenacity. I therefore decided to destroy the entire Jewish residential area by setting every block on fire, including the blocks of residential buildings near the armament works. One concern after the other was systematically evacuated and subsequently destroyed by fire. The Jews then emerged from their hiding places and dugouts in almost every case. Not infrequently, the Jews stayed in the burning buildings until, because of the heat and the fear of being burned alive, they preferred to jump down from the upper stories after having thrown mattresses and other upholstered articles into the street from the burning buildings. With their bones broken, they still tried to crawl across the street into blocks of buildings which had not yet been set on fire or were only partially in flames.
Often the Jews changed their hiding places during the night, by moving into the ruins of burnt out buildings, taking refuge there until they were found by our patrols. Their stay in the sewers also ceased to be pleasant after the first week. Frequently from the street, we could hear loud voices coming through the sewer shafts. Then the men of the Waffen SS, the Police, or the Wehrmacht Engineers courageously climbed down from the shafts to bring out the Jews and not infrequently they then stumbled over Jews already dead, or were shot at. It was always necessary to use smoke candles to drive out the Jews. Thus one day we opened 183 sewer entrance holes, and at a fixed time lowered smoke candles into them, with the result that the bandits fled from what they believed to be gas in the center of the former Ghetto, where they could then be pulled out of the sewer holes there. A great number of Jews who could not be counted were exterminated by blowing up sewers and dugouts.
"The longer the resistance lasted the tougher the men of the Waffen SS, Police, and Wehrmacht became. They fulfilled their duty indefatigeably in faithful comradeship, and stood together as models and examples of soldiers. Their duty hours often lasted from early morning until late at night. At night search patrols with rags wound round their feet remained at the heels of the Jews and gave them no respite. Not infrequently they caught and killed Jews who used the night hours for supplementing their stores from abandoned dugouts and for contacting neighboring groups or exchanging news with them.
"Considering that the greater part of the men of the Waffen SS had only been trained for three to four weeks before being assigned to this action, high credit should be given to the pluck, courage and devotion to duty which they showed. It must be stated that the Wehrmacht Engineers, too, executed the blowing up of dugouts, sewers and concrete buildings with indefatigeability and great devotion to duty. Officers and men of the Police, a large part of whom had already been at the front, again excelled by their dashing spirit.
"Only through the continuous and untiring work of all involved did we succeed in catching a total of 56,065 Jews whose extermination can be proved.
To this should be added the number of Jews who lost their lives in explosions or fires, but whose number could not be ascertained.
THE PRESIDENT: Major Walsh, in the section that you are just upon now, oughtn't you to read the opening paragraphs of this document, which set out the amount of the losses of the German troops?
MAJOR WALSH: I will do so, sir. On page 1 of the translation, I quote. The title: "There is no Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw anymore."
"For the Fuehrer and their country the following fell in the battle for the destruction of Jews and bandits in the former ghetto of Warsaw." Fifteen names are thereafter listed.
"Furthermore, the Polish Police Sergeant Julian Zielinski, born 13 November 1891, 8th Commissariat, fell on 19 April 1943 while fulfilling his duty. They gave their utmost, their life. We shall never forget them.
"The following were wounded:" Then follows the names of 60 Waffen SS personnel; 11 watchmen from training camps, probably Lithuanians; 12 Security Police Officers in SS units; 5 men of the Polish Police; and 2 regular army personnel, engineers.
I read:
"Our setting the block on fire achieved the result in the course of the night that those Jews whom we had not been able to find despite all our search operations left their hideouts under the roofs, in the collars, and elsewhere, and appeared on the outside of the buildings, trying to escape the flames. Masses of then - entire families - were already aflame and jumped from the windows or endeavored to let themselves down by means of sheets tied together or the like. Steps had been taken so that these Jews as well as the remaining ones were liquidated at once." paragraph, I read:
"When the blocks of buildings mentioned above were destroyed, 120 Jews were caught and numerous Jews were destroyed when they jumped from the attics to the inner courtyards, trying to escape the flames. Many more Jews perished in the flames or were destroyed when the dugouts and sewer entrances were blown up."
And on page 30, second half of the second paragraph, I read:
"Not until the blocks of buildings were well aflame and were about to collapse did a further considerable number of Jews emerge, forced to do so by the flames and the smoke. Time and again the Jews try to escape even through burning buildings. Innumerable Jews whom we saw on the roofs during the conflagration perished in the flames. Others emerged from the upper stories in the last possible moment and were only able to escape death from the flames by jumping down. Today we caught a total of 2,283 Jews, of whom 204 were shot, and innumerable Jews were destroyed in dugouts and in the flames." line:
line:
"The Jews testify that they emerge at night to get fresh air, since it is unbearable to stay permanently within the dugouts owing to the long duration of the operation. On the average the raiding parties shoot 30 to 50 Jews each night. From these statements it was to be inferred that a considerable number of Jews are still underground in the Ghetto. Today we blew up a concrete building which we had not been able to destroy by fire. In this operation we learned that the blowing up of a building is a very lengthy process and takes an enormous amount of explosives. The best and only method for destroying the Jews therefore still remains the setting of fires".
And from page 35, the last part of the second paragraph, I read:
"Some depositions speak of three to four thousand Jews who still remain in underground holes, sewers, and dugouts. The undersigned is resolved not to terminate the large-scale operation until the last Jew has been destroyed." that the operation is in its last stage. I read the end of the first paragraph on page 44:
"A special unit once more searched the last block of buildings which was still intact in the Ghetto, and subsequently destroyed it. In the evening the chapel, mortuary, and all other buildings in the Jewish cemetery were blown up or destroyed by fire." Stroop. He reports on page 45, last paragraph:
"Of the total of 56,065 caught, about 7,000 were destroyed in the former Ghetto during large-scale operation. 6, 929 Jews were destroyed by transporting them to T.II:" - which we believe to be Trablinka. Camp No. 2, which will later be referred to - "the sum total of Jews destroyed is therefore 13,929. Beyond the number of 56,065 an estimated number of 5 to 6,000 Jews were destroyed by being blown up or by perishing in the flames."
graphs, and with the Court's permission I should like to show a few of these photographs, still pictures, on the screen, unless the Court believes that reference to the original text will be sufficient for the Court's purpose.
THE PRESIDENT: No: If you want to put them on the screen you may do so. Perhaps it would be convenient to adjourn now and you can put them on the screen afterwards.
(A recess was taken from 1130 to 1140 hours).
This first picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is shown on page twenty-seven of the photographs in Exhibit 1061-PS. It is entitled, "The Destruction of a Block of Buildings." The Court will recall those portions of the teletype messages that referred to the setting of fires for the purpose of driving out the Jews. This picture, taken from the record, portrays such a scene.
This picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is from page twenty-one contained in the exhibit, and the caption is, "Smoking out of the Jews and Bandits." Excerpts from the teletype messages read in the record relate to the use of smoke as a means of forcing Jews out of the hiding places.
use of smoke as a means of forcing the Jews out of their hiding places.
This picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is from page 36 of the photographs in the exhibit and it is called "Fighting a Nest of Resistance." It is obviously a picture of an explosive blast being used to destroy one of the buildings, and the Court may recall the message of 7 May 1943 that related to the blowing up of buildings as a lengthy process requiring an enormous amount of explosive. The same message reported that the best method of destroying the Jews was the setting of fires.
This picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is taken from page 36 of the photographs. The Court's attention is invited to the figure of a man in mid-air who appears in the picture about halfway between the center and the upper right-hand comer. He has jumped from one of the upper floors of the burning building. A close examination of this picture by the Court in the original photograph will disclose other figures in the upper floor windows, who apparently are about to follow him. The teletype message of 22 April reported that entire families jumped from burning buildings and were liquidated at once.
This picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is from page 39 of the photographs. It is entitled "The Deader of the Large-Scale Action." The Nazi-appointed leader of this action was S.S. Major General Strupp, who probably is the central figure in this picture. I cannot refrain from commenting at this point on the smiling faces of the group shown there in the midst of the violence and destruction.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you passing from that document now?
MAJOR WALSH: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you tell the Tribunal where the document was found?
MAJOR WALSH: Where the document itself was found?
THE PRESIDENT: Found, yes.
MAJOR WALSH: It is a captured document, sir. The history I haven't got, but I shall be very pleased to submit the background and history to the Court at the beginning of the afternoon session, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal, I think, would like to know where it was found and to whom it was submitted.
MAJOR WALSH: I have it. I believe that is contained in the document. The teletype messages, sir, that are contained in this exhibit were all addressed to the higher S.S. and Police Fuehrer, S.S. Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Police Kruger, or his deputy. within the ghettos to effect elimination. In the Baltic States a more direct course of action was followed. I refer to Document L 180, now in evidence, which is U.S. Exhibit No. 276. This is a report by SS Brigade Fuehrer Stahlocker to Himmler, dated 15 October 1941, entitled "Action Group A," found in Himmler's private files. He reported that 135,567 persons, nearly all Jews, were murdered in accordance to basic orders directing the complete annihilation of the Jews. This voluminous document provides me with the following statement by the same SS Brigade Fuehrer, and from the translation at the bottom of page 6, the second sentence of the last paragraph I read:
"To our surprise it was not easy at first to sat in motion an extensive pogrom against the Jews.
KLIMATIS, the leader German instigation was noticed from the outside.
During consisting of about 60 houses.
During the following nights about 2,300 Jews were made harmless in a similar way.
..." From the last part of paragraph 3, page 7, I read:
"It was possible, though, through similar influences on the Jews also in Riga.
During this pogrom all synagogues were destroyed and about 400 Jews were killed."
Nazi ingenuity reached a new high mark with the construction and operation of the gas van as a means of mass annihilation of the Jews. A description of these vehicles of horror and death and the operation of them is fully set forth in captured top secret document dated 16 May 1942, addressed to SS Obersturmbannfuehrer RAUFF, 8 Prince Albrecht-strasse, Berlin, from Dr. Becker, SS Untersturmfuehrer. I offer this document, 501-PS, U.S. Exhibit 288. I quote:
"The overhauling of vans by groups D and C is finished.
series (Saurer) stop completely in rainy weather. If it cannot be used, because it simply skids away.
It can only be used in absolutely dry weather.
It is only a at the place of execution.
First the van has to be weather.
The place of execution is usually 10 to 15 because of its location; in damp or wet weather it is not accessible at all.
If the persons to be executed is to be avoided as far as possible.
There is only one way left; to load them at the collecting point and to "I ordered the vans of group D to be camouflaged as the country.
The vans became so well-known that not called the van 'death van', as soon as one of the vehicles appeared.
It is my opinion the van cannot be kept secret for any length of time, not even camouflaged."
And then I read the fourth paragraph on this page:
"Because of the rough terrain and the indescribable in the course of time.
I was asked if in such cases the vans should not be brought to Berlin for repairs.
Transpor demand too much fuel.
In order to save those expenses mediately by radio, that Pol.
Nr ... is out of order.
health by the gas which eventually would escape. I lowing to your attention:
several, commands have had their own men.
I brought to the attention of the com mander of these S.K. concerned the immense psychological least later on.
The men complained to me about head aches which appeared after each unloading.
Nevertheless they don't want to change the orders, because they are opportune moment to flee.
To protect the men from those "The application of gas usually is not undertaken correctly.
In order to come to an end as fast as possible, asleep peacefully.
Distorted faces and excretions, such "Today I shall continue my journey to group B, where I can be reached with further news."
Signed "Doctor Becker, SS Untersturmfuehrer."
sturmfuehrer Truehe on the subject of S-vans addressed to the Reich Security Main Office, Room 2-D-3-A, Berlin, marked "Top Secret." This letter establishes that the vans were used for the annihilation of the Jews. I read this "Top Secret" message, subject: S-vans.
"A transport of Jews, which has to be treated in a special way, arrives weekly at the office of the commandant of the Security Police and the Security Service of White Ruthenia.
"The three S-vans which are there are not sufficient for that purpose. I request assignment of another S-van (five tons). At the same time I request the shipment of twenty gas hoses for the three S-vans on hand (two Diamond, one Saurer), since the ones on hand are leaky already." Signed, the Commandant of the Security Police and the Security Service, Ostland." discord existed between the officials of the German Government as to the proper means and methods used in connection with the program of extermination. A secret report dated 18 June 1943, addressed to Defendant Rosenberg, complained that five thousand Jews killed by the police and SS might have been used for forced labor, and chided them for failing to bury the bodies of those liquidated. I offer in evidence this file, Document No. R-135, U.S. Exhibit 289-
THE PRESIDENT: Is it in these volumes, sir? MAJOR WALSH: I think, sir, that will be found in the assembly of the document books in our case that has been placed in front of R-124.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Major.
MAJOR WALSH: I quote from the letter referred to addressed to the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, the first paragraph of the translation.
"The fact that Jews receive special treatment requires no further discussion. However, it appears hardly believable that this is done in the way described in the report of the General Commissioner of 1 June 1943. What is Katyn against that? Imagine only that these occurrences would become known to the other side and exploited by them! Most likely such propaganda would have no effect only because people who hear and read about it simply would not be ready to believe it."
The last part of paragraph three on this page reads:
"To lock men, women, and children into barns and to set fire to them does not appear to be a suitable method of combatting bands, even if it is desired to exterminate the population. This method is not worthy of the German cause and hurts our reputation severely." addressed to the General Commissioner for White Ruthenia, subject: "Action Against Jews," was critical by implication. With the Courts permission I would like to read this entire letter, part of Document R-135, page five, subject: Action Against Jews.
"On 13 April 1943 the former German dentist Ernst Israel Tichauer and his wife, Elisa Sara Tichauer, nee Rosenthal, were committed to the court prison by the Security Service. Since that time all German and Russian Jews who were turned over to us had their golden bridgework, crowns, and fillings pulled or broken out. This happens always one to two hours before the respective action.
"Since 13 April 1943, 516 German and Russian Jews have been finished off. On the basis of a definite investigation gold was taken only in two actions,--on 14 April 1943 from 172, and on 27 April 1943 from 164 Jews. About fifty percent of the Jews had gold teeth, bridgwork, or fillings. Hauptscharfuehrer Rube of the Security Service was always personally present, and he took the gold along, too.
"Before 13 April 1943 this was not done. Signed Gunther, Prison Warden." the Occupied Eastern Territories on June 1943. I will read the covering letter, part of Document R-135, page four, to the Reich Minister of the Occupied Eastern Territories, Berlin, through the Reich Commissioner for the Eastland, Riga. Subject: Actions Against Jews in the Prison of Minsk.
"The enclosed official report from the warden of the prison in Minsk is submitted to the Reich Minister and the Reich Commissar for Information. Signed The General Commissar in Minsk.
THE PRESIDENT: Does "Respective Action", as indicated in letter dated the 31st of May, 1943, mean execution?
MAJOR WALSH: Yes, sir; we interpret it as such. The Court will recall that the ridding of the Jews via gas vans ties in very closely with the second letter of the transport of Jews arriving for that purpose.
THE PRESIDENT: Was this document found in Rosenberg's file?
MAJOR WALSH: I am so informed, sir. A further complaint is contained in a secret letter addressed to the General of the Infantry, Thomas, Chief of the Industrial Armament Department, dated 2 December 1941. It might be noted with interest that the apprehensive writer of this letter stated that he did not forward the communication through official channels. I offer in evidence captured document 3257-PS, and I quote from the first paragraph through--this is U.S. Exhibit 290.
"For the personal information of the Chief of the Industrial Armament Department I am forwarding a total account of the present situation in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine in which the difficulties and tensions encountered so fan and the problems which give rise to serious anxiety are stated with unmistakable clarity.
"Intentionally I have desisted from submitting such a report through official channels or to make it known to other departments interested in it because I do not expect any results that way, but to the contrary am apprehensive that the difficulties and tensions and also the divergent opinions might only be increased due to the peculiarity of the situation.
"Jewish problem (paragraph seven, page one).
"Regulation of the Jewish question in the Ukraine was a difficult problem because that the Jews constituted a large part of the urban population. We therefore have to deal--just as in the General Government--with a mass problem of policy concerning the population. Many cities had a percentage of Jews exceeding fifty percent. Only the rich Jews had fled from the German troops. The majority of Jews remained under German administration. The latter found the problem more complicated through the fact that these Jews represented almost the entire trade and even a part of the manpower in small and medium industries besides the business which had in part become superfluous as a direct or indirect result of the war.
The elimination therefore necessarily had far-reaching economic consequences and even direct consequences for the armament industry (production for supplying the troops)."Paragraph one on page two:
"The attitude of the Jewish population was anxious -- obliging from the beggining. They tried to avoid everything that might displease the German administration. That they hated the German administration and army inwardly goes without saying and cannot be surprising. However, there is no proof that Jewry as a whole or even to a greater part was implicated in acts of sabotage. Surely there were some terrorists or saboteurs among them just as among the Ukrainians. But it cannot be said that the Jews as such represented a danger to the German armed forces. The output produced by Jews who, of course, were prompted by nothing but the feeling of fear, was satisfactory to the troops and the German administration.
"The Jewish population remained temporarily unmolested shortly after the fighting. Only weeks, sometimes months later, specially detached formations of the police executed a planned shooting of Jews. This action as a rule proceeded from east to west. It was done entirely in public with the use of the Ukrainian militia, and unfortunately in many instances also with members of the armed forces taking part voluntarily. The way these actions, which included men and old men, women, and children of all ages were carried out was horrible. The great masses executed make this action more gigantic than any similar measure taken so far in the Soviet Union. So far about 150,000 to 200,000 Jews may have been executed in the part of the Ukraine belonging to the Reichskommissariat; no consideration was given to the interests of economy.
"Summarizing, it can be said that the kind of solution of the Jewish problem applied in the Ukraine which obviously was based on the ideological theories as a matter of principle had the following results:
"(a) Elimination of a part of partly superfluous eaters in the cities.
"(b) Elimination of a part of the population which hated us undoubtedly.
"(c) Elimination of badly needed tradesmen who were in many instances indispensable even in the interests of the armed forces.
"(d) Consequences as to foreign policy -- propaganda which are obvious, "(e) Bad effects on the troops which in any case get indirect contact "(f) Brutalizing effect on the formations which carry out the executions-regular police."
existed only in the East, I invite attention to the official Netherlands Government report by the Commissioner for Repatriation as indicative of the treatment of the Jews in the West. against the Dutch Jews. The decrees, the anti-semitic demonstrations, the burning of synagogues, the purging of Jews from the economic life of their country, the food restrictions against them, forced labor, concentration camp confinement, deportation, and death,-- all follow the same pattern that was effected throughout Nazi-occupied Europe.
I now refer to Document 1726-PS, U.S. Exhibit 195, already in evidence. It is not intended to read this document in evidence, but it is deemed important to invite the Court's attention to that portion of the report relating to the deportation of Dutch Jews, shown on page five of the translation. There the Court will note that full Jews being liable to deportation number 140,000. The Court will also note that the total number of deportees was 117,000, representing more than eighty-three per cent of all the Jews in the Netherlands. Of these 115,000 were deported to Poland for slave labor, according to the Netherlands report, and after departure all trace of them was lost. Regardless of victory or defeat, to Germany the Jew was doomed. It was the expressed intent of the Nazi state that whatever the German fate might be the Jew would hot survive.
I offer in evidence Document 1-53, stamped "Top Secret", U.S. Exhibit 291. This message is from the Commandant of the SIPO and SD for the Radom District, addressed to SS Kauptsturmfuehrer Thiel on the subject: "Clearance of Prisons." I read the body of this message.
"I again stress the fact that the number of inmates of the SIPO and SD prisons must be kept as low as possible. In the present situation, particularly those suspects handed over by the civil police, need only be subjected to a short, formal interrogation, provided there are no serious grounds for suspicion.
They are then to be sent by the quickest route to a concentration camp, should no court martial proceeding be necessary or should there be no question of discharge. Please keep the number of discharges very low. Should the situation at the front necessitate it, early preparations are to be made for the total clearance of prisons. Should the situation develop suddenly in such a way that it is impossible to evacuate the prisoners, the prison inmates are to be liquidated and their bodies disposed of as far as possible (burning, blowing up the building, etc). If necessary, Jews still employed in the armament industry or on other work are to be dealt with in the same way.
"The liberation of prisoners or Jews by the enemy, be it the WB or the Red Army, must be avoided under all circumstances, nor may they fall into their hands alive."
THE PRESIDENT: What is the WB?
MAJOR WALSH: I have inquired about the WB, your Honor, from several sources and have not found an understanding or a statement of it. Perhaps before the afternoon session I may be able to enlighten the Court. I have not yet been able to find out.
THE PRESIDENT: Where was the document found?
MAJOR WALSH: It is a captured document, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Does it relate to prisoners of war, did you say?
MAJOR WALSH: No, sir; including therein, of course, prisoners of war as well as all Jews. The history of the document, sir, I will try to gather for the Court's information.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Did you tell us what the SIPO were?
MAJOR WALSH: Yes, sir; I furnished the Court with that; that is the Security Police, sir. This presentation, if the Court please, will be incomplete without incorporating herein reference to concentration camps insofar as they relate to the hundreds of thousands -- millions -- of Jews who died by mass shooting, gas, poison, starvation, and other means. The subject of concentration camps and all its horrors was shown to this Tribunal not only in the motion pciture film, but by the most able presentation of Mr. Dodd yesterday, and it is not intended at this time to refer to the camps only insofar as they relate to the part they played, in the annihilation of the Jewish people.
For example, in the camp Auschwitz, during July 1944, Jews were killed at the rate of 12,000 daily. This information is contained in document L-161, U.S. Exhibit 292. The Document L-161 is an official Polish report on Auschwitz Concentration Camp. It is dated 31 May 1945. I have taken a short excerpt from this report on the original marked -
THE PRESIDENT: I think you made a mistake, didn't you? It is not a Polish report; it is a British report.
MAJOR WALSH: I understand, sir, it was compiled originally by the Polish Government, and perhaps distributed from London.
THE PRESIDENT: I see. Very well.
MAJOR WALSH: I quote:
"During July 1944, they were being liquidated at the rate of 12,000 Hungarian Jews daily, and as the crematory could not deal with such numbers, many bodies were thrown into large pits and covered with quick lime."
I offer in evidence Document 3311-PS, U. S. Exhibit 293. This is an official Polish Government Commission report on the investigation of German crimes in Poland. The document described the concentration camp at Treblinka, and from page 1, paragraph 3 and 4, I read as follows:
"In March 1942, the Germans began to erect another camp, Treblinka B, in the neighborhood of Treblinka A, intended to become a place of torment for Jews.
"The erection of this camp was closely connected with the German plans aiming at a complete destruction of the Jewish population in Poland which necessitated the creation of a machinery by means of which the Polish Jews could be killed in large numbers. Late in April 1942, the erection of the first three chambers was finished in which these general massacres were to be performed by means of steam. Somewhat later the erection of the real death building was finished, which contains ten death chambers. It was opened for wholesale murders early in autumn 1942."
the Polish Commission describes graphically the procedure for the extermination within the camp:
"The average number of Jews dealt with at the camp in summer 1942 was about two railway transports daily, but there were days of much higher efficiency. From autumn 1942 this number was falling.
"After unleading in the siding all victims were assembled in one place where men were separated from women and children. In the first days of the existence of the camp the victims were made to believe that after a short stay in the camp, necessary for bathing and disinfection, they would be sent farther east, for work. Explanations of this sort were given by SS men who assisted at the unloading of the transports and further explanations could be read in notices stuck up on the walls of the barracks. But later, when more transports had to be dealt with, the Germans dropped all pretenses and only tried to accelerate the procedure.
"All victims had to strip off their clothes and shoes, which were collected afterwards, whereupon all victims, women and children first, were driven into the death chambers. Those too slow or too weak to move quickly were driven on by rifle butts, by whipping and kicking, often by Sauer himself. Many slipped and fell, the next victims pressed forward and stumbled over them. Small children were simply thrown inside. After being filled up to capacity the chambers were hermetically closed and steam was let in. In a few minutes all was over. The Jewish menial workers had to remove the bodies from the platform and to bury them in mass graves. By and by, as new transports arrived, the cemetery grew, extending in eastern direction.
"From reports received, it may be assumed that several hundred thousands of Jews have been exterminated in Treblinka."
I now offer in evidence the document identified by No. L-22, U. S. Exhibit 294. This is an official United States Government report issued by the Executive Office of the President of the United States, War Refugee Board, on the German camp at Auschwitz and Birkenau, dated 1944.
On page 33 of this report is set forth the number of Jews gassed in Birkenau in the two-year period between April 1942 and April 1944. I have been assured that the figure printed in this report is not a typographical error. The number shown is 1,765,000. for enlightenment on the extermination of Jews in Poland. Referring again to the diary of Hans Frank, already in evidence, Document 2233-D-PS, U.S.A. Exhibit 281, I read briefly from the beginning of the fourth paragraph on page 1:
"The Jews for us also represent extraordinarily malignant gluttons.
"We have now approximately 2,500,000 of them in the general government"
THE PRESIDENT (Interposing): Major Walsh, you have read this already yourself.
MAJOR WALSH: Yes, sir, that is true. I just want to make reference to it again, sir, for comparison with other figures.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MAJOR WALSH: " - perhaps with the Jewish mixtures, and everything that goes with it, 3,500,000 Jews."
Now this figure, if the Court please, was as of 16 December 1941. I now wish to turn to 25 January 1944, three years and one month later, and make reference to another excerpt from Frank's diary, 2233-F-PS, looseleaf volume U.S.A. Exhibit 295. This volume covers the period from 1 January 1944 to 28 February 1944, and page 5 of the original reads:
"At the present time we still have in the General Government perhaps 100,000 Jews." Governor General of Occupied Poland, between 2,400,000 and 3,400,000 Jews had been eliminated.