Case IV. Court 2 "In the implementation of this extermination program the Special Commitment Groups (Einsatzgruppen) were subdivided into Special Commitment Detachments (Einsatzkommandos), and the Einsatzkommandos into still Smaller units, the so-called Special Purpose Detachments and Unit Detachments.
Usually, the smaller units were, led by a member of the SD, the GESTAPO or the Criminal police. The unit selected for this task would enter a village or city and order the prominent Jewish citizens to call together all Jews for the purpose of resettlement. They were requested to hand over their valuables to the leaders of the unit, and shortly before the execution to surrender their outer clothing. The men, women and children were led to a place of execution which in most cases was located next to a more deeply excavated antitank ditch. Then they were shot, kneeling or standing, and the corpses thrown into the ditch. I never permitted the shooting by individuals in the group D, but ordered that several of the men should shoot at the same time, in order to avoid direct, personal responsibility. The leaders of the unit or especially designated persons, however, had to fire the last bullet against these victims which were not dead immediately. I learned from conversations with other group leaders that some of them demanded that the victims lie down flat on the ground to be shot through the nape of the neck. I did not approve of these methods."
The extermination of the Jews was not limited to the Einsatzgruppen. Indeed, the slaughter in the charnel houses of Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, Belzec, and Sobiber was on a vaster scale. These extermination camps were all located in Poland. After the invasion of Poland, all Jews were forced to register, live in ghettes and wear the yellow star. The "final solution" of the Jewish problem could be resolved therefore with almost assemblyline precision. Train-loads of Jews were evacuated from the ghettos to such camps as Auschwitz where the test of life or death was physical ability to work. Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz until 1 December 1943, described the screening process in the following language:
"We had two SS doctors on duty at Auschwitz to examine the incoming transports of prisoners. The prisoners would be marched by one of the doctors who would make spot decisions as they walked by. Those who were fit for work were sent into the camp. Others were sent immediately to the extermination plants. Children of tender years were invariably exterminated since by reason of their youth they were unable to work. Still another improvement we made over Treblinka was that at Treblinka the victims almost always knew that they were to be exterminated and at Auschwitz we endeavored to Case IV -Court 2 to fool the victimes into thinking that they were to go through a delousing process.
Of course, frequently they realized our true intentions and we sometimes had riots and difficulties due to that fact. Very frequently women would hide their children under their clothing, but of course when we found them we would send the children in to be exterminated."
From the 3rd of March 1942 until the end, Auschwitz was one of the many concentration comps under the jurisdiction of the WVHA. The great influx of Jews in 1942 apparently so overtaxed the facilities at Auschwitz that the defendant Pohl, in November of that year, wrote to the Reich Minister of Finance in an effort to have the camp enlarged.
Extermination centers similar to Auschwitz existed at Treblinka, Majdanek, Belzec, and Sobibor in the vicinity of Lublin. There the procedure was the same. The victims were stripped of their clothes, money and valuables. The hair of the women was cut off, later to be manufacture into mattresses. Then, herded like so many cattle, the naked men, women, and children were driven to their death in the gas chambers. Gold teeth were pulled from the mouths of the corpses. An attempt was even made to manufacture soap from the fatty parts of the bodies, while the ashes remaining after cremation were used for fertilizer. This was indeed a gruesomely commercial exploitation of death on a mass basis.
In this compounded crime of genocide, the WVHA played a very essential part. This extermination of peoples, this mass departattion to slave labor in concentration camps, gave rise to the confiscation - or, to put it more precisely, the theft- of property on a gigantic scale. To the defendant Pohl and his collaborators in the WVHA fell the task of collecting that property and mustering those slaves for use by the Third Reich.
As to Auschwitz, no problem existed as it was already under the control of the WVHA. As to the operations of the Einsatzgruppen and the Higher SS and Police Leaders in occupied Europe however, new administrative machinery had to be created by Pohl. In August 1942, Case IV - Court 2 with the approval of Himmler, he appointed SS Economic Administrators to be attached to the staffs of the Higher SS and Police Leaders.
Among other things, it was the duty of the SS Economic Administrator to hold all booty and raw material for disposal by the WVHA. He had supervisory rights over all concentration and labor camps under the jurisdiction of the Higher SS and Police Leader. Allocations of labor were directed by him and economic enterprises were under his supervision. Executions in concentration camps had to be reported to him and then to the WVHA.
The extermination camps in the viccinity of Lublin, such as Troblinka and Majdaneck, gave rise to special problems because of the magnitude of their operations. These camps were, until the latter part of 1943, under the jurisdiction of one Odillo Globocnik, the Higher SS and Police Leader, Lublin.
In order to coordinate the undertaking, a Special Staff "G" was created within the framework of the WVHA. The head of this staff was Globocnik while the administrative and accounting personnel was supplied by the WVHA. It was the task of Special Staff "G" to seize and account for all property in the General Government of occupied Poland derived from the extermination and enslavement of Jews. This ghoulish program was called Action Reinhardt, presumably in honor of Reinhardt Heydrich who was assassinated in the summer of 1942.
In order to appreciate the extent of Action Reinhardt and the criminal participation of the WVHA in carrying it out, it will be convenient to consider the action in three steps - first, the deportation of Jews, second, the exploitation of personal property, and third, the exploitation of Jewish manpower and industrial equipment.
The removal of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto for extermination or enslavement in the camps of Lublin is a typical example of the deportation phase of Action Reinhardt. The final destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto in April and May 1943 was one of the most horrible chapters in Jewish persecution.
The Ghetto was established in Warsaw in November 1940, It was separated from the rest of the city by the walling up of streets, windows, doors, open spaces, and the like. Approximately 400,000 Jews were forced to live within its confines. Conditions were such that there was only one room for every six persons.
The first large evacuation of Jews from Warsaw to the extermination centers took place between 22 July and 3 October 1942. In this action over 300,000 were removed.
In a secret memorandum dated 9 October 1942, Himmler ordered Pohl and SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Krueger, the Higher SS and Police Leader East, to assemble in concentration camps in Warsaw and Lublin all Jews working in shoe, fur, and tailor shops. Jews working in actual armament firms were to be replaced gradually and segregated in a few concentration camp factories in the eastern part of the General Government. Himmler concluded with the statement that: "Of course, there too, the Jews shall someday disappear, in accordance with the Fuehrer's wishes." In January 1943, Himmler made a visit to Warsaw and to his great amazement discovered that 40,000 Jews were still in the Ghetto. Many of them were working in textile and fur plants contrary to his order of 9 October 1942. He instructed Krueger and Pohl to transfer them immediately to Lublin. On 16 February this order was amplified to include all Jews and all private enterprises in the Warsaw Ghetto. Himmler was angry because private employers in the Ghetto were profiteering from cheap Jewish labor and he wanted this benefit to accrue to the SS. As I shall explain a little later, Pohl immediately took stops to form a company for the purpose of employing the Jewish manpower and exploiting the industries in Lublin.
Himmler further ordered Kruger to submit plans for the complete destruction of the Ghetto. He said:
"For the razing of the Ghetto, a master-plan is to be submitted to me. It must be achieved, in any case, that the existing living space for 500,000 sub-humans, which will never be suitable for Germans, disappears from the picture, and that the metropolis of Warsaw, which is always a dangerous focal point of disintegration and mutiny, be reduced in size."
A graphic description of the end of the Ghetto is in the report of Jurgen Stroop, Higher SS and Police Leader in Warsaw, who supervised the final deportation action under Krueger.
The original plan was to transfer to Lublin the armament factories and other enterprises of military importance which were situated within the Ghetto, together with the personnel and machines, in three days. The hapless Jews, well aware of the fate in store for them, put up such a heavy resistance that, instead of three days, the action lasted from 19 April to 16 May 1943. Stroop said:
"The resistance put up by the Jews and bandits could be broken only by relentlessly using all our force and energy by day and night. On 23 April 1943 the Reichsfuehrer SS issued through the Higher SS and Police Fuehrer East of 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 dug-outs in almost every case. Not infrequently, the Jews stayed in the burning buildings until, because of the boat and the fear of being burned alive, they preferred to jump down 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 partly 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 server shafts. Then the men of the Waffen SS, the Police or the Wehrmacht Engineers courageously climbed down the shafts to bring out the Jews and not infrequently they them stumbled over Jews already dead, or were shot at.
It was always necessary to use smoke candles to drive the Jews out. Thus one day we opened 183 sewer entrance holes and at a fixed time lowered candles into them, with the result that the bandits fled from what they believed to gas to 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 dug-outs.
"Of the total of 56,065 Jews caught, about 7,000 were exterminated within the former Ghetto in the course of the largescale action, and 6,929 by transporting them to T.II (an obvious reference to Treblinka), which means 14,000 Jews exterminated altogether. Beyond the number of 56,065 Jews an estimated number of 5 to 6,000 were killed by explosions or in fires."
The loot from this action included about five million Reichsmarks in polish currency, large sums of foreign currency, and great quantities of valuables such as rings, watches, and jewels. As we shall see later, this property was transferred to the WVHA.
On 2 June 1943 Krueger transmitted to Himmler Stroop's final report on the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto. On 11 June 1943, Himmler directed Pohl to establish a concentration camp in Warsaw, the prisoners of which were to be used in salvaging the debris and scrap iron. In addition, the Ghetto was to be absolutely leveled, with a view to creating a large park.
By 23 July 1943, Pohl was able to report the establishment of a concentration camp at Warsaw. The actual demolition of the Ghetto was carried out by Amtsgruppe C and several reports on this matter will be submitted to the Tribunal. These reports indicate the employment of over two thousand concentration camp prisoners and reflect the use of large amounts of machinery and funds. On 29 July 1944, Kammler, Chief of Amtsgruppe C, sent a telegram to Rudolf Brandt, Himmler's adjutant, stating that the razing of the Warsaw Ghetto had been completed according to schedule, but that the subsequent work had not been carried out.
In short, the only portion of the whole plan which was not carried out was the establishment of a park.
The second phase of Action Reinhardt which I have mentioned is the confiscation personal property. This involved the murder and corpse-desecration of countless Jews. Every watch, every gold fountain pen, every pair of shoes represented a dead man, woman, or child. It is literally impossible to comprehend the enormity of the crimes committed in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, and the rest. To assist the Tribunal in that regard, we shall exhibit a motion picture which shows the warehouses of those death camps full of clothes, shoes, spectacles, and bales of human hair. The WVHA accounted for and controlled the disposition of those proceeds of mass murder.
On 26 September 1942, the defendant Frank issued basic instructions to the agents of the WVHA in Auschwitz and Lublin on what he termed the "utilization of property on the occasion of settlement and evacuation of Jews." He stated that the Jewish property and I am quoting "will in all orders of the future be called goods originating from thefts, receipt of stolen goods, and hoarded goods." Excerpts from this order read as follows:
A Cash-money in German Reichsbank notes have to be paid into the account: Economic and Administrative Main Office 158/1488 with the Reichsbank in Berlin-Schoneberg.
B Foreign exchange (coined or uncoined), rare metals, jewelry, precious and semi-precious stones, pearls, gold from teeth and scrap gold have to be delivered to the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office. The latter is responsible for the immediate delivery to the German Reichsbank.
C Watches and clocks of all kinds, alarm clocks, fountain pens, mechanical pencils, scissors, flashlights, wallets and purses are to be repaired by the Economic and Administrative Main Office in repair shops, cleaned and evaluated, and have to be delivered quickly to front line troops."
D Men's underwear and men's clothing including footwear has to be sorted and valued. After covering the needs of the concentration camps inmates and in exceptions for the troops they are to be handed over to the Volksdoutsche Mittelstelle. The proceeds go to the Reich in all cases.
E Valuable furs of all kinds, raw and cured, are to be delivered to the SS-WVHA. Ordinary furs (lamb, hare and rabbit skins) are to be reported to the SS-WVHA, Amt B II, and are to be delivered to the clothing plant of the Waffen-SS, Ravensbrueck near Fuerstenberg (Mecklenburg).
The order concluded:
"It has to be strictly observed, that the Jewish Star is removed from all garments and outer garments which are to be delivered. Furthermore, items which are to be delivered have to be searched for hidden and sewed in values, this should be carried out with the greatest possible care."
On 28 December 1943, the defendant Pohl issued the second basic order on the "administration of Jewish property. He admonished all SS Economic Administrators to keep their accounts as low as possible and to transfer all amounts abouve monthly requirements to Amstgruppe A of the WVHA, which would handle the final accounting with the Reich. The order further stated that: "Upon completion of the resettlement operation the vouchers will have to be presented for auditing to the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office, Section A IV." The defendant Vogt was Chief of that office.
What was the extent of this bloody loot received by the WVHA and what was done with it? Fortunately, the Prosecution is in possession of rather complete reports in that regard. Prior to December 1943, the WVHA accounted for personal property in excess of 180,000,000 Reichsmarks of murdered and enslaved Jews in the Lublin area alone. This included foreign currency from 48 different countries, not the least of which was $1,300,000 in United States banknotes and gold coin.
Also carefully listed and evaluated were 262,711 articles of considerable value, among them jewelry, watches and gold spectacle frames. Nearly 2,000 freight carloads of clothes, linens, and rags were disposed of on orders of the WVHA.
This material began flowing into the coffers of the WVHA at least as early as August 1942. The defendant Pohl made arrangements with Walter Funk, the President of the Reichsbauk and a defendant before the International Military Tribunal, for the deposit of the currency, jewelry, dental gold, and other valuables. A revolving fund was established, which reached 10 to 12 million Reichsmarks, for use primarily by Amtsgruppe W in financing economic enterprises controlled by the WVHA. This was known as the "Reinhardt Fund". In June of 1943, outstanding debts of various industries of Amtsgruppe W in the amount of approximately 8 million Reichsmarks were satisfied out of the Reinhardt Fund. This noxious deal was known to and participated in by the defendants Pohl, Frank, Fanslau, Georg and Hans Loerner, Hohberg, Baier, Volk, Bobermin, and Mummenthey, among others.
The source of the blood-stained loot from the extermination camps was also known to others in the WVHA. The defendant Vogt went to Lublin and personally audited the accounts of Globoenik. The defendant Georg Loerner, in agreement with the Reich Ministry of Economics, allocated for disposition hundreds of carloads of clothing from Auschwitz and Lublin. His own factory in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp reprocessed confiscated furs and rags. The defendant Sommer was familiar with the repair of thousands of watches of exterminated Jews in the workshops of the Sachsenhausen concentration camps. The defendant Pook was chief of the dentists who supervised the extraction of gold teeth from corpses in all concentration camps under the jurisdiction of the WVHA.
The third part of option Reinhardt was the employment of the working ability of these Jews not initially marked for execution together with the utilization of the confiscated industrial facilities. The WVHA was active in this phase of the program. In order to coordinate these economic enterprises, the East Industries Limited Liability Company (Ostindustrie GmbH), commonly called "Osti", was formed in March 1943. Its purposes were stated to have been: (1) to utilize the working capacity of the Jews by erecting industrial plants in connection with Jewish labor camps; (2) to take over commercial enterprises which had been maintained by the Higher SS and Police Leaders in the General Government; (3) to confiscate all Jewish machinery and raw materials; and (4) to utilize all former Jewish machines, tools, and merchandise which had been transferred to non-Jewish ownership.
The sole partners of Osti were the defendants Pohl and Georg Loerner. They also served on the board of directors with the notorious Wilhelm Krueger. The business managers were Globocnik and a Dr. Max Horn, an SS Economic Administrator, appointed to Krueger's staff at Cracow by Pohl. Part of the capital for Osti was furnished by the defendant Frank out of the Reinhardt fund.
One of the more immediate reasons for the organization of Osti was to establish iron foundries in the vicinity of Lublin. The WVHA expected to derive the machinery and other equipment for this enterprise from the Warsaw action. Thus, on 26 February 1943, Dr. Horn wrote to the defendant Hohberg:
"The organization of the Osti cannot be effected at the originally intended pace. The resettlement of the Jewish enterprises will probably last until June of this year, so that Osti will only be able to start properly by July of this year. Besides the utilization of the movable Jewish property in Warsaw must be started, a matter which I have not been able to attend to so far. I will start to take up this problem next week."
The unexpected resistance put up by the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, which has already been described, largely frustrated the plans for an iron industry in Lublin since substatial quantities of machinery were destroyed.
There were some 18 manufacturing establishments controlled by Osti, employing altogether about 52,000 slave laborers. These plants included a glass works, a textile mill, a peat cutting plant, an iron foundry, a brush manufacturing plant, a stone quarry, and finally, a pharmaceutical laboratory.
In November 1943, the remaining Jews in the Lublin area were exterminated. This deprived Osti of its principal source of labor and, except for the glass works which was operated by Polish slave labor, it was liquidated and the assets taken over by the German Equipment Works under the management of Amt W IV of the WVHA. The defendants Pohl, Georg Loerner, Baier, and Volk made an effort in January 1944 to secure the Litzmannstadt Ghetto with its industrial equipment and 80,000 Jews for Osti, but the Reichsfuehrer hold that the Ghetto should be left under the jurisdiction of the Gauleiter after the Jews had been reduced to a minimum by action of a "sonderkommando".
This, then, was Action Reinhardt - a coldly premeditated program of mass murder and gigantic theft visited upon a people whose only crime was that of failure to be born an Aryan. In scope and brutality, the crime is without parallel.
In Count Four of the Indictment it is charged that all of the defendants except Hohberg were members of the SS, an organization declared to be criminal by the International Military Tribunal, and that such membership is in violation of Paragraph 1 (d) of Article II of Control Council Law No. 10. The declaration of criminality by the International Military Tribunal applies to all persons who were officially accepted as members of any branch of the SS, and who remained members after 1 September 1939, with knowledge that the SS was being used for the commission of criminal acts, or who were personally implicated in the commission of such crimes, "excluding, however, those who were drafted into membership by the state in such a way as to give them no choice in the matter, and who committed no such crimes."
This Tribunal will be presented with no refined questions concerning voluntary membership in the SS or knowledge of its use for the commission of crimes. The defendants in this dock were full time, professional SS men; the SS was their way of life. Of the seventeen defendants charged in Count Four, all but three of them joined the SS in 1934 or earlier. The defendants Scheide and Tschentscher were members as early as 1930 when the total membership was only 2,500.
That these defendants not only knew of, but personally participated in, the systematic commission of crimes by the SS will be abundantly proved by the evidence. All of the defendants charged in Count Four hold officer rank in the SS, and most of them hold senior rank. There could have been no SS without a WVHA and these defendants are its surviving leaders.
The Prosecution has charged in the first three counts of the indictment that all of the defendants are responsible for the crimes alleged therein. This charge is based not only on the theory of conspiracy or participation in a common plan, but also on wellrecognized principles of criminal liability. One need not be the trigger-man to be guilty of murder. The criterial of criminality are clearly stated in Control Council Law No. 10, Article II, Section 2. Any person is deemed to have committed a crime, if he was (a) a principal or (b) was connected with plans or enterprises involving its commission or (e) was a member of any organization or group connected with the commission of any such crime.
And so in the case of the general and systematic commission of crimes in concentration camps all of the defendants are guilty. All of the defendants had substantial connections with the concentration camps, the very existence and operation of which necessarily involved murder, atrocities, torture, enslavement, and other inhumane acts.
But, we shall no doubt have to listen to long and tedious lectures by each of the defendants to the effect that Amtsgruppe A or B or C or W had nothing to do with the conditions in concentration camps -- that such conditions were the responsibility of Amtsgruppe D, the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps. And when we come to the two defendants unfortunate enough to have worked in Amtsgruppe D, that is Sommer and Pook, they will tell us that they did everything in their power to improve conditions, that it was the deat Gluecks and Lolling who were responsible. Several defendants may even testify that they never so much as set foot in a concentration camp. Pohl himself will say that even though he was Chief of the WVHA and even though concentration camps were under its control after March 3, 1942, nevertheless he left all concentration camp matters to Gluecks, who dealt directly with Himmler. It is indeed a curious and amazing thing that the only guilty Nazis are the dead ones. Kaltenbrunner testified at some length before the International Military Tribunal, at a time when Pohl's whereabouts were unknown, that he had nothing to do with concentration camps, that they were Pohl's responsibility. Upon being advised of this fact after his capture, Pohl stated in effect: "Kaltenbrunner counted too much on my death!"
No, the responsibility for the crimes committed in concentration camps can no more be limited to Amtsgruppe D or to dead men than to the sadistic camp guards who found it amusing to subject their helpless victims to degrading tortures. The concentration camps were the very life blood of the whole of the WVHA. The Amtsgruppen were all interrelated in their purposes and activities. Each depended on the other to a greater or lesser degree. The administrators and accountants of Amtsgruppe A cannot escape the charge of murder when they controlled two disposition of valuables of inmates killed by the millions in the camps of Auschwitz, Lublin, and Mauthausen.
Nor can the supply officers of Amtsgruppe B who ultimately controlled the food, clothing, and billeting for concentration camps and who were the recipients of train loads of clothing of exterminated Jews. Nor can the construction engineers of Amtsgruppe C who used inmates to construct crematoriums, gas chambers, and underground factories.
Nor can the "business men" of Amtsgruppe W who worked inmates to death by the thousands in the granite quarries of Mauthausen and the brick factories in Poland and who used the labor of Jews until the moment they were driven away to gas chambers.
One further word must be said with reference be the significance of this case. It cannot be charged against the defendants in this deck, as it was said of the leaders of German medicine and of the leaders of German law, that in acquiring and retaining their positions of influence they duped and deceived the German people. The existence of the SS was no secret, its purposes were not hidden, its principles were not disguised, its methods were not concealed. Himmler truthfully said that there were people in Germany "who became sick when they see these black coats" and that he did not expect that "they should be loved by too many." the International Military Tribunal fund that because of the widespread programs of the SS, its "criminal activities must have been widely known. These men did not betray their profession. Trust was not misplaced when the SS was permitted to become the powerful factor that it was. It did not represent itself to be a pillar of law and order nor an organization of benevolence. It was born and nurtured publicly amidst blood and violence.
The vastness of the crimes committed and the nature of the organization involved forcefully poses the questions Why was the SS permitted to become a State within a State? It is our deep obligation to the German people and to the peoples of the world not to avoid or to evade that question. For the sake of these nameless millions who perished under the heel of the SS -- Germans and non-Germans - let us not speak too softly or too late of the responsibility of every member of the community for its political weal! Let us not too soon lose sight of a collective civic responsibility to prevent the growth of such malignant organizations.
Before the memory of these crimes dies away let us speak of the duty of all patriotic and responsible men, in all walks of life, to protect the nation against such loathsome doctrines as these defendants preached and practiced. Here let the consequences be indelibly recorded of an organization based upon the execrable theories of racism. If there are those who doubt, let them come here and examine the documents, which Himmler's vial of cyanide could not destroy, showing the world-wide carnage wrought by that organization. And all peoples may learn that a nation may not be built upon persecution. That industry, no more than medicine or law may not be built upon death, destruction and desecration. That production may not be based upon pogroms, nor profits upon pillage. Today's misery exists the world over because these lessons were not sooner learned.
MR. MCHANEY: If it please the Tribunal, this completes the opening statement for the Prosecution. I think after a short adjournment we will be prepared to begin with the submission of the proof. I assume, however, that the Tribunal may wish to rule on the various motions which have been filed with respect to the indictment, namely motions in the nature of bills of particulars.
THE PRESIDENT: I think that if you had not mentioned them they probably wouldn't have over come to light. DefenceCounsel have been suppled with ample documents which I think will take the place of any bills of particulars. However, the motions are pending, and if urged, not by the Prosecution, but by the Defense -- We will just put a period at that point.
The broadcasting device has gone out anyway, so we will just stop the discussion and resume after the recess.
THE MARSHALL: This Tribunal is in recess fifteen minutes.
(A recess was taken.)
THE MARSHAL: Tribunal Number 2 is again in session.
The PRESIDENT: The Prosecution may proceed with the presentation of its proof.
MR. McHANEY: May it please the Tribunal: I would like to say a few words before we start. It is the plan of the Prosecution to put in its documentary proof as rapidly as possible. That means we will comment very little on the documents as they go in and read only those portions which we consider to be particularly significant. It may be that from time to time the Court of defense counsel will feel that we are going a bit too fast, that we are not explaining enough to make our case absolutely clear as it goes in. However, I think overall our plan will probably serve the best interests of every one. The opening statement has been drawn on the basis of outlining in some detail the prosecution's case. It can serve as the basis of orientation for the Tribunal and Defense Counsel alike.
If the Tribunal wishes, at the conclusion of the Prosecution's case in chief, the prosecution will, as soon as it can do so, present briefs which will then put together our proof in logical sequence. It is our hope and plan to put in the case in chief as expediously as possible. At this time, Mr. Hart will proceed with the introduction of documents contained in Prosecution's Document Number 1.
THE PRESIDENT: Your whole program, Mr. McHaney, especially that part about the brief presentation, meets with wholehearted approval of the Tribunal.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Mr. McHaney, may I ask a question? When you come to a document in your proof from which you have already quoted liberally in your presentation speech, could you not just refer to the speech?
MR. McHANEY: Absolutely, Your Honor. We shall certainly do that. It is our plan to quote very little from any of the documents in any event, because we think that -
JUDGE MUSMANNO: These quotations were very much in order. I do not mean that by any way of reasoning, they are not to be emphasized, but I would not see any purpose in reading again what you have already given to us, even though it is in the form of presentation.
MR. McHANEY: I quite agree with you, your Honor.
DR. GAWLIK (For the Defendant Bobermin and Volk): I would like to call the Tribunal's attention to the fact that on 25 February 1947, I protested against the indictment, and to this day, I have not received a reply from the Prosecution nor a ruling by the Tribunal.
MR. McHANEY: If the Tribunal pleases, I may speak of the delinquency of the prosecution. We have received approximately six or eight of these motions which attack the indictment or rather ask for a bill of particulars. After having received the first three or four and answered them all in the same manner, we then filed upon the receipt of the next one a general answer, at least what might be called a general answer stating that the prosecution was prepared to take the position that all of the defendants had filed a motion, and that the previous answers filed by the prosecution could serve as the answer to such other motions as might be filed. All of the motions were in the same tenor, and of course the answers from the Prosecution were also the same We could see no virtue in continuing to serve upon the defendants the sort of response.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal has three of your answers, Mr. McHaney to three of the motions. And, of course, they are identical. Will you wait just a moment until we can look at counsel's motion?
It is the opinion of the Tribunal that the indictment coupled with the opening statement of the prosecuting attorney, and additionally, the document books which counsel have now before them, Counsel for the Defense, sufficiently complies with the requirements of the law and fairly and adequately apprises each of the defendants of the nature of the crime with which he is charged. Therefore, all motions which attack the sufficiency of the indictment will be denied.