Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl, being duly sworn, declares:
It was the task of the SD to inform its chief Himmler and through him the Nazi Regime about all matters within Germany, the occupied countries, and the other foreign countries. This task was carried out in Germany by the Department III, Information Service for Germany proper—and abroad by Department VI, Foreign Information Service. In the occupied countries things ran in a different manner—in some of them there was only Department VI, and again in others both. (This is true only as far as the information service is concerned.) Since 1944 there was within the framework of the RSHA the Department MIL, which concerned itself with the military information service abroad. It was also subordinate to the chief of Department VI.
For the tasks in Germany proper the Department III had organized a large net of informers who operated out of the various regional offices of the SD. This organization consisted of many hundreds of professional SD members who were assisted by thousands of honorary SD members and informers [Vertrauenspersonen]. These informers and honorary collaborators of the SD were placed in all fields of business, education, state and party administration. Frequently they performed their duties secretly in their organizations. This information service reported on the morale of the German people, on all the important events in the state, as well as on individuals.
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In this information service there were also many decent people who believed that by their work they could contribute by eliminating bad elements and conditions in the Third Reich. They had but little success because the Department III aimed mainly at having only 100 percent Nazis in all leading positions and they fought everybody else viciously. For that reason many persons who were hostile toward the Hitler regime could not keep their positions. That strengthened this system. In some State organizations the SD had decisive influence in the rating of the officials.
Group III in Department HI was concerned with questions of nationalities, of national minorities, and of the public health. This group, in my opinion, is coresponsible for the radical attitude in Germany toward the national minorities such as Czechs, Poles, as well as the arrogance in relation to other nations, especially in the East.
The Gestapo was the special executive organization which the Hitler Regime used against its political and ideological opponents. Himmler tried to merge the Gestapo, which was an organization of the state, with the SD, which was an organization of the Party. In some fields—for instance in the questions of the national minorities—there existed already a close cooperation between the Gestapo and the SD.
As a result of the grant of power given to the Gestapo by Hitler, the Gestapo was enabled during the course of the years to discover and destroy all types of opponents of the Nazi leadership. In my opinion the Gestapo was one of the strongest tools in the possession of Hitler and the Nazi Regime for the purpose of domination of the German people and the suppression of the occupied countries. [signed] Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 5 November 1945.
[signed] Whitney R. Harris
Lieut., U. S. Naval Reserve