A. Yes, in Ravensbrueck there were, generally speaking, 20 or 30 releases every day; in some cases there were more, in some others there were less. Many inmates knew when they were going to be released from their protective custody order.
DR. BERGOLD: Thank you. I have no further questions.
THE PRESIDENT: The Marshal may escort the witness from the witness stand.
(The witness was excused.)
DR. BERGOLD: If the Tribunal please, before calling the witness Klein to the witness stand, I would like to submit my documents with my document book. I shall need some of them in my examination. I submit as Exhibit No. 1, Document No. 1. This is a graphic chart of the competencies of the SS Corps at Wewelsburg. I shall interrogate the defendant about that.
Then, as Exhibit No. 2 I offer Document Klein No. 2, from the Document Book which is an extract from the Registry of the clubs of the Local Court at Munich concerning the Association for the Promotion and Preservation of German Cultural Monuments. I should like to draw the court's attention to the fact that on page 3 of the Document Book, the Directors of the club are named as Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuehrer, and as business manager Oswald Pohl, Gruppenfuehrer in the SS. In Germany all members of the Board who were responsible on the outside had to be entered on the Register. The defendant Klein, consequently, was not on the Board of this club.
As Exhibit No. 3 I offer -
THE PRESIDENT: What was this, Dr. Bergold?
DR. BERGOLD: This was the Association for the Promotion and Preservation of German Cultural Monuments. That is an association which financed the construction at the Wewelsburg. You may recall that in connection with the construction project at the Wewelsburg we have the main charges raised at the defendant by the Prosecution.
THE PRESIDENT: The suspicion is that the funds of this society were used for the construction program at Wewelsburg?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes, quite.
As I said, as Document 3 I shall offer Exhibit 3, which is an extract from the Register of the Local Court in Berlin concerning the Convalescent Homes for Natural Cures and Natural Living. I should like to point out here that, unlike the first association on page 5 of the document book, which is also page 5 of the English book, as members of the Board there are named Oswald Pohl as chairman, and the defendant Horst Klein as the manager. Here he appeared an a responsible member of the Board. I shall refer to this Association later on.
Klein Exhibit No. 4 will be Document No. 4, and it is a certified copy of the general power of attorney from the Association for the Promotion and Preservation of the German Cultural Monuments, to the defendant Horst Klein. I shall read only very briefly on page 6, where it says:
"General Power of Attorney for the conclusion of purchases and transfers of property rights of landed properties and for the execution of all legal transactions connected with the purchase and transfer of property rights of landed properties." Signed Pohl, SS-Gruppenfuehrer.
That power of attorney describes the extent and scope of defendant Klein's authority to deputize.
Then as Exhibit No. 5, we have Document No. 5. This is an affidavit by the witness Karl Wolff, who has testified here once before.
THE PRESIDENT: Twice before. Twice. This is Karl Wolff from Milch's office, his adjutant.
DR. BERGOLD: Yes, once in the Milch case, and once here.
I have added this affidavit later on because I only heard later on that he was in a position to testify about this. I want to read very briefly from this because it seem important. It says, here in the fourth paragraph on page eight:
"From about 1938 there was a special department Wewelsburg in the Main Office, Personal Staff of the Reichsfuehrer SS. This department had its official seat at the Wewelsburg. I know with certainty that this department Wewelsburg existed until at least 18 February 1943, at which date my term of office as Main Department Chief in the Personal Staff of the Reich Fuehrer-SS expired. But I am convinced that the Department Wewelsburg existed until the end of the war.
"SS-Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen-SS Tauberg was the office chief of the Department Wewelsburg."
I shall leave the balance of the document to the Court.
As exhibit Klein 6, I am offering Document No. 6. This is an affidavit by Johannes Steuer. It is dated 20 May 1942. This is a somewhat long affidavit, but I would like to draw the Court's attention to one or two points. First of all, I would like to correct the English translation on page 10. It contains a mistake under paragraph 1-a. Towards the end of that paragraph small "a". It says there, that the term "with" has been used together with the above mentioned societies. That term "with" is wrong here. It should say, "just like the above mentioned associations". But from paragraph "b" on page 10 I shall read this --
THE PRESIDENT: Just a second. We didn't get the connection, nor the correction, in paragraph "a".
DR. BERGOLD: In German the sentence reads as follows: "I can state with certainty that Klein had nothing to do with the DWB nor did the above-mentioned societies". And the English transition states: "nor with any of the above societies" - which is wrong. The "with" is wrong. The above mentioned societies had nothing to do with the DWB.
DR. BERGOLD: I should like to read from Paragraph b: "Klein had no connection in the real sense of the word with the SS castle Wewelsburg and the construction work to be carried out there. The building up of the castle there was a particular hobby of Himmler. The basic agreements with the Dresdner Bank concerning the credits for the execution of the construction work were made by Himmler's adjutant Wolff and by Pohl. Pohl as business manager concluded the credit contracts. Klein had to arrange for the transfers and other particular transactions.
"The constructions were executed by SS Standartenfuehrer Bartels, architect, and member of the board of building inspectors, of the personal staff of the Reichsfuehrer SS. Bartels was completely independent of Klein and received his instructions directly from Himmler or via the Personal Staff of the Reichsfuehrer SS, to which he belonged. Klein merely had to assign the sums of money which Bartels requested of him. He did not have the slightest possibility of influencing these requests. In the beginning Bartels was supposed to keep an account of the expenditures by posting the figures mechanically and by adequate vouchers, without Klein's having any influence on the particular use of this money. Bartels himself, however, rejected such rendering of accounts and control, because he did not consider Klein to be either competent or his superior. During the following time Bartels only reported on the expenditures in a general way for purposes of information. Klein often had great doubts because of this arrangement and also remonstrated with Pohl about the matter. He feared that he might some time be held responsible for Bartels' uncontrolled expenditures of these sums, in particular because Bartels, according to Klein's opinion, disposed of the funds very generously, to put it mildly."
I skip a few sentences and then continue: "For his protection Klein obtained an agreement to this effect between Pohl and Bartels, which contained this regulation."
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Bergold, will you explain what the Wewelsburg project was exactly? We are not quite sure that we understand what was being done at Wewelsburg.
DR. BERGOLD: Yes. Himmler or the SS had bought an old castle at Wewelsburg. That castle was to be extended for an SS school for the highest leaders of the SS. Only persons above the rank of Gruppenfuehrer could go there; General Officers, in other words. It was a highly confused and somewhat idealistic idea on the part of Himmler, who wanted to build a hall; and downstairs in the tower when somebody died, his shield was to be burned solemnly, and ideas of that type.
THE PRESIDENT: Valhalla.
DR. BERGOLD: Yes, yes, quite so. I shall then read from Paragraph c on Page 12. "Klein had nothing whatsoever to do with the prison camp at Wewelsburg. It was in no way placed under his authority. It is known to me that the prison camp in Wewels burg was established on direct orders from Himmler to the Inspectorate of the concentration camps and this probably was done through a personal request of Bartels to Himmler in order to provide Bartels with a sufficient number of workers for his construction project. I also know that Bartels in several reports to Himmler had requested the allocation of an increasing number of inmates."
I shall then read the next but one paragraph on Page 13:
"The camp was under the command of Hauptsturmfuehrer Haas who was completely independent of Klein. I know that Klein tried to supply the administration of the camp with additional food from the estate Boeddecken which he administered, because from his work for the convalescent homes he was aware of the general difficulties concerning the food provisions."
Then from Paragraph d: "The castle as such was under the command of the Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen SS Taubert," which I have read from Wolff's affidavit.
He was office chief or Amt Chef of the Wewelsburg office. "It was prohibited to enter the castle. When Klein wanted to enter the castle, he had to have a special permit by Taubert."
From "e": "Klein's real task in Wewelsburg consisted in conducting the legal negotiations concerning the acquisition of real estate. The orders which properties were to be bought always came from Bartels. After these orders Klein had to make the deal with the owners."
From Paragraph 2, as far as Pohl's order of May 1942 is concerned, Document Number R-129; Exhibit Number 40, the Court will recall that this is the order that the inmates were to do exhaustive work. "I have never read this order myself. I can remember that Klein was in Italy in May 1942. As the division W-VIII had in my opinion only cultural and charity tasks, I myself rarely submitted such general circulars but threw them away or discarded them somehow. We also never received these general circulars currently because we were not considered on an equal standing with the other offices in the WVHA. I can confirm that Klein spoke to me frequently about this lack of consideration for our division.
"I never heard any remarks by Klein from which I could have gathered that he was informed of the regulations of prison labor or of the general tasks of the WVHA on the whole or that he was interested in it. He only cared for his charitable work."
I shall skip a few things now and leave it to the Court to read. During the examination I may come back to one or two points. I should merely like the Tribunal to look at Page 17 because there again we have a translation mistake. There in the second sentence it says: "I had a member of the W/V Amt inform me of Ravensbrueck because the nurseries were under the control of W/V." "Nurseries" -- that means "kindergarten" in German. Should it not read "horticulture"? It refers to gardens.
THE PRESIDENT: In English the word "nursery" means two things. It's a place where you raise horticulture, flowers, or babies, the same word. This, I take it, refers to gardens, not babies.
DR. BERGOLD: It doesn't refer to babies, no. May I read that sentence because it is important about the extent of the defendant's knowledge? I begin on Page 16, Paragraph 6, the last paragraph on the bottom: "Prior to the date when Klein's sister was taken to the concentration camp Ravensbrueck, Klein had instructed me to obtain information about the conditions prevailing there. From his remarks at that time I could draw the positive conclusion that Klein himself did not have any idea of the general conditions in the concentration camp. I myself was not informed either and put Klein at his ease by saying that the solution attained, namely, that his sister was put into a concentration camp, was to be preferred to a trial by the Volksgerichtshof, the People's Court. I had a member of W/V office inform me of Ravensbrueck because the nurseries were under the control of W/V. The latter informed me that the women in Ravensbrueck were housed very well, were given normal employment with normal working hours, and the food was very good. I told Klein this; and he was very pleased about it indeed."
I shall then come back to the other paragraphs later on. I shall now offer as Exhibit Number V II Document Number 7, an affidavit by Kurt Kraemer. Here again I must correct the mistake on Page 20. There in the third paragraph it says, "The contractor for the Wewelsburg building enterprise ...." There a semi-colon has been placed wrongly. The semi-colon is in front of the term "Berlin" for the second time should be after, where Berlin is named for the first time. It should come after "Head Office Berlin." I shall read from this affidavit the last paragraph on Page 20:
"Herr Assessor Klein had as little authority with regard to the Wewels burg concentration camp as anybody from the construction management.
Wewelsburg concentration camp was administrated as a completely separate office, both with regard to military and economic matters, by Oranienburg and later by Buchenwald. Whoever was local camp commandant received his instructions from his superior office. The camp even had its own construction management. Herr Klein exercised no influence upon the construction measures in Wewelsburg. For example ---"I shan't give you the example. "As a legal man he was not competent for this, but the architects of the Wewelsburg construction management which was not subordinate to him."
Then I have to rectify another mistake on the same page. This is on Page 21a. It should be added there in the last paragraph: "... was protected by Klein from imprisonment when Herr Klein happened to be present in Wewelsburg," because otherwise it doesn't explain who protected him.
Then I shall offer as Exhibit Klein VIII Document Number 8, which is an affidavit by Pastor Franz Josef Tusch, who was a pastor at Wewelsburg.
THE PRESIDENT: You may start with that in the morning, Dr. Bergold.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal will be in recess until 0930 tomorrow morning.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 13 August 1947 at 0930 hours.)
Official Transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the matter of the United States of America against Oswald Pohl, et al., defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 13 August 1947, 0945-1630, Justice Robert M. Toms, presiding.
THE MARSHAL: Take your seats, please.
The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal No. 2.
Military Tribunal No. 2 is now in session. God save the United States of America and this Honorable Tribunal.
There will be order in the court.
THE PRESIDENT: The record will indicate that the defendant Sommer is still ill, and will be excused from this session of court.
DR. BERGOLD (Counsel for defendant Klein): May it please the Tribunal, will you please look at the Horst Klein Document Book? First of all, I have to draw your attention to three mistakes in the translation from the affidavit by Herr Steier already introduced, on page 17 of the document book, under VI-A in the first sentence. There is the word "Volk" which was a reference to the defendant Volk. That has been translated as "people". We did not mean "people" -- "Volk" -- in that sense; we meant the defendant Volk.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: What page is that, Dr. Bergold.
DR. BERGOLD: Page 17, in the last paragraph, VI-A; and it is the last sentence. It is the third line from VI-A. "He had me informed by Voile"--not "informed by the people".
In the came paragraph there is the WVHA is translated as the Main Office for the Security of the Reich. I think we need hardly say in this trial that we do not know the difference between the two institutions.
Then the next mistake occurs on page 20 of the document book, in the third paragraph, which begins "The contractor for the Wewelsburg," but it should not be the "contractor" but either the bearer or the man who financed it.
I suggest that it should, read, "The man who financed the Wewelsburg enterprise was a society for the furtherance and care of German cultural monuments.....
I shall continue with introducing documents. The last thing I started yesterday was Exhibit Klein 8, which is Document No. 8, an affidavit by the Reverend Franz Josef Tusch. That document I offer because in Wewelsburg there is a church which had been purchased by the company, in order to prove that this was not persecuting the church. In this document it is confirmed that he negotiated with the parish in a friendly manner. The results I shall read from page 26: "The Archbishop Dr. Caspar Klein regarded the negotiations as good. Execution of the plan would not have meant any harm to the parish of Wewelsburg from the economic point of view, even if for other reasons -
I am so sorry, I have read the wrong sentence. I apologize. I am reading from the wrong document now, by mistake I read from Document No. 9. I shall read from Document No. 8. It is on page 23, the second paragraph, the last sentence.
"The Archbishop of Paderborn, Dr. Caspar Klein, at that time decided that the grounds of the church should be sold, as he thought the SS would be obliging on some other occasion."
"When the bill of sale was signed on 4 July 1939, as well as during the negotiations which were--" It is on page 23. "necessary after the signing of the sale, Herr Assessor Klein proved not only to be free of any hostile sentiment towards the church, but he showed through his loyal conduct on every occasion that he did not share the wrong and chauvinistic ideas of the NSDAP and that he rejected the fighting aims of the SS."
"In my opinion, Herr Assessor Klein should neither be charged with the presumptiousness of the Party, nor with the unrestrained actions of the SS."
I shall then offer, as Exhibit Klein 9, Document No. 9. This is a certificate from the Vicar-General of the Archbishop in Paderborn.
That agency is the superior agency of the Reverend Tusch, the highest ecclesiastical authority in that region, above which there is only His Holiness, the Pope. I shall read what I have started on before, on page 26, the last paragraph.
"The result of the contract was considered satisfactory by the late Archbishop Dr. Caspar Klein and the office of the Vicar-General. The execution of the plan would not have meant any harm to the parish of Wewelsburg from an economic point of view, even if for different reasons they would have rather kept their old place of worship."
Then I am offering, as Exhibit No. 10, Document No. 10. This is an original copy of the letter from the Construction Office of the SS School House Wewelsburg on 20 July, 1939. This is a letter by Herr Bartels. As could be seen from Wolff's affidavit and testimony, Bartels was the man in charge of the construction project in Wewelsburg which functioned under the Wewelsburg office of which Taubert was in charge. From this original copy, it becomes clear that Bartels had far-reaching authority to carry out the construction measures there, that he even interfered in such matters which actually were the duties of Klein, the purchase of land. This is all the reference which I shall make to this, and the court will no doubt read it later.
I shall then offer Exhibit Klein No. 11, which is Document No, 11, an affidavit by a Kurt Kraemer of 28 June, 1947. I shall not read it, but I shall come back to it later when the defendant is on the stand.
I shall then offer, as Exhibit Klein No. 12, Document No. 12, which is a letter from Albert Radkowski of 29 June, 1947, and I shall come back to this letter also later on.
Then, one of my most important documents will be Exhibit No. 13, Document No. 13, an affidavit by Heinrich Schwarz. If your Honors please, I should like to say this about the document. There is a reference here to a document which has been submitted in Document Book 17 of the Prosecution, as Exhibit 456, Document No. 2169.
This is an affidavit of the same Heinrich Schwarz from whom I had obtained this affidavit which he gave in Dachau. And he, to a very large extent, takes back what he said in his affidavit and, as far as the defendant Klein is concerned, takes it back altogether. As it is such an important document, I shall read it in its entirety. I shall start with paragraph 1:
"1. I signed the affidavit of 24 February, 1947. For its clarification I supplement it with the statement of today."
"2. During my whole life, I was in Wewelsburg only for a fortnight, between 14 and 28 July 1942. Because of illness I was confined to bed in the infirmary of the camp during this two-week period. My transfer was ordered before I had fully recovered."
"3. All this time I was never in the prisoner camp proper. All my knowledge of the camp is derived from the tales of comrades and not from my own observations. I learned at Wewelsburg that there was a certain Klein. I do not recall what rank this Klein had in the SS. I was informed that he was staying at the castle and had something to do with the construction of the Wewelsburg. I even had the impression that Klein was not well-liked by my comrades, the men of the guard, but I cannot state the reason."
"4. I do not remember having seen Klein personally at Wewelsburg. When I was questioned for the first time, I was shown photographs. I believed to be able to recognize the picture of a man known to me in one of the photos. Then I was told that this was Obersturmbannfuehrer Klein; thus I got knowledge of his rank. I cannot say any more today where I may have seen him before."
"5. In order to comply with the truth, I have to correct my statements of 24 February, 1947, that Klein was the superior of Hauptsturmfuehrer Haas and department chief of the Wewelsburg enterprise, and that he was permanently on the castle by stating that these declarations were only assumptions on my part. Today I can only say that I learned in Wewelsburg about prisoners having been assigned to the quarry command.
This information was imparted to me by comrades. I do not know who gave the orders. In particular, I did not hear that these orders were given by Klein. When I stated further that I have seen that Klein could inform himself of the conditions personally, this equally was an assumption of mine. Finally, when I stated that Klein had prisoners liquidated this was only a conclusion too. I have not heard anything about it."
"6. At my first interrogation, I explained to the interrogator almost at every second sentence that all that was only an assumption, as I had done no active service. When I gave my signature, I did so in the belief that it could be clearly seen, that my statements were based on assumptions."
JUDGE PHILLIPS: Just a minute, DR. Bergold. Mr. Higgins, who was the interrogator that took the interrogation of this witness on the 24th day of February 1947?
MR. HIGGINS: Your Honor, the interrogator in this instance was Mr. Ortmann.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: Where is he?
MR. HIGGINS: He is, at present, in Room 398.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: I think that the Tribunal should have some of these interrogators up on the stand in this court and let us know what took place. Practically every affidavit, practically every interrogation that has any merit in it or any particular evidence in it is repudiated by these assignees by a later affidavit and I want to hear from them what took place at the interrogations, because there has been entirely too much repudiation. If it is the truth, I want to know it. If it is not the truth, I want to know it. In order words, we want to know that the truth is.
MR. HIGGINS. In this particular affidavit the signature of Mr. Ortmann appears. I don't know whether conducted the interrogation or whether he was solely responsible for deqwing up the affidavit. However, during the recess, I will check on it to ascertain just what conditions are and, if Your Honor wishes, we will produce the man and see what the matter is and get the truth.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: Yes, I want to get the truth. The affidavit sets out facts and then they come to a repudiation and say "I never swore to that as a fact, I swore to that as a conclusion and an assumption of that, and we want to know what the witness said and whether or not the affidavit that the Prosecution has offered is the truth or is not the truth.
DR. BERGOLD: (Attorney for the Defendant): If Your Honor Please, I believe this was not taken down by Mr. Ortmann. It says here at the end of my document that it was confirmed by a man called Lorry Wolf. If the Tribunal please, I might add, the interrogation which I carried out in Dachau was made in the presence of an American interrogation officer.
I was never alone with the witness Schwarz for one moment and in the presence of the American interrogating officer. I always told him emphatically that I did not care for him re repudiate the document. If my client had done something wrong, I wanted him to be punished. I wanted him to tell me the truth and nothing but the truth and my secretary can confirm this. I told him that several times in the presence of the American interrogating officer. He was completely free and all he had to do was to tell the truth. There was no point in making wrong statements.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: We are not casting any aspersions on your Dr. Berghold and we are not insinuating that you had anything to do with the witness changing his testimony. We just want to know why the witness first made one statement and then made another, and then we want to know whether the first one was the truth or the second.
MR. HIGGINS: I got it. I thought it was Mr. Ortmann and now I remember Mr. Wolf went to Dachau and he conducted the interrogation and then wrote the affidavit. He is present here now and I am sure we can have him here concerning the interrogations.
DR. BERGOLD: If Your Honors please, I would like to draw your attention retrospectively to the document somewhile back. Exhibits 11 and 12, from which it becomes clear -- that is why I didn't have reference to it right away that in Wewelsburg, in the concentration camp Wewelsburg, there were two guards who were also called "Klein." They were Czecks. One of them was an Unterscharfuehrer in the SS. If the witness Schwarz, therefore, during this fortnight in Wewelsburg heard the name "Klein" in a hospital, nobody knows whether this man meant the present defendant or because he heard it from the guards, who were merely talking about their comrade Klein, in the concentration camp, the SS-Unterscharfuehrer. I believe the whole trouble comes from the fact that an efficient interrogating officer, as soon as he hears the name of a defendant, believe that he is the defendant, but the name "Klein" is a common in Germany, as the name "Smith" is in the United States.
THE PRESIDENT: Wir haben zu viele Klein.
DR. GERGOLD: Then I shall offer Exhibit Klein No.14, Document No. 14, as affidavit by Frau Klein, the defendant's wife, and she has reference particularly to the period of to, when it was not safe for the defendant to be in Wewelsburg between January, 1942 and June and July 1942. It was during that period of time when they had just been married and spent their honeymoon and you may rest assured that a young wife knows very well the first week of her married life. This affidavit by Schwarz which I have attached is concerned with July, 1942. This affidavit by Frau Liein provides that Klein in that period of time was not in Wewelsburg at all.
Then I shall offer Exhibit No.15, which is Document No.15, and affidavit by Ernst Ruff. He is an inmate who worked on the Berghaus of Sudelfeld. This establishment also used material from the association. A document has been submitted in connection with the experiments according to which the notorious doctors wanted to carry out their freezing experiments. The court will surely remember the cold and freezing experiments from the Milch case and brief reference was made to the fact that in Sudelfeld experiments of that type were carried out. Ruff's affidavit repudiates that and he says no freezing experiments were carried out up there.
And then I shall offer Exhibit 16, Document No.16, an affidavit of Gerhard Maurer.
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute. What is the name you mentioned Sudelfeld?
DR. BERGOLD: Sudelfeld, yes. Ther berghaus of Sudelfeld. It is near Bayerisch-Zell. It is the same thing. One it is call BayerischZell and on another accation it is called Sudelfeld.
THE PRESIDENT: That was the health resort, was it not, the bath?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes, it was a recreational center, Sudelfeld near Bayerisch-Zell. It is in the Bavarian mountains.
THE PRESIDENT: How far from Dachau?
DR. BERGOLD: Oh, well from Dachau, it's at least 100 kilometers. Dachau is relatively near the Bavarian mountains, because it is so close to Minich. Dachau is not very far from the Bavarian mountains.
THE PRESIDENT: What is the document which states that at Bayerisch Zell there were experiments being carried out?
DR. BERGOLD: It is in Document Book VII on pages 46 and 102 in the German text. Unfortunately, I have forgotten that particular document book, and I shall have it brought here and we will give the court some particulars. Perhaps we can continue, if Your Honor please. My secretary will bring the book up in a minute and then I can give you the particulars.
I shall then offer as Exhibit 16, Document No.16, an affidavit by Gerhard Maurer. I have to correct another mistake, I am afraid. In the last but one paragraph, the last sentence should read, "This applies also to W-VIII," and not "D-VIII." It is on the bottom of page 38, if Your Honors please, the same applies to "Department D-VIII". but it should read. W-VIII." Maurer, who was in charge of D-II confirmed that Klein never approached him in order to obtain inmates. The company which he directed had nothing to do with the request for inmate labor. Then I shall offer as Exhibit No.17, Document No. 17, an affidavit by Frau Olly Oldanch. I shall read the last paragraph on page 40 of this document.
"The son of my sister, Frau Betty Klein, nee Post, was often at my apartment in Berlin during the years of the Hitler regime and I discussed with him in detail the daily events of that time. I talked with him too after the plundering of Jewish shops on 8/9 November 1938. He told me that the SS-office for which he weeked had not been involved in excesses just as severely as I did myself." The court will no doubt read the remainder.
Then I shall offer as Exhibit 18, Document No. 18 an affidavit by Fraulein Sofie Wolff. Fraulein Wolff was the secretary of the defendant's father. She says roughly the same as the witness we heard yesterday ab out the attitude taken by the circle around Klein's father, and in particular she also testifies to the events which took place after Frau Von Ruppert had been arrested and describes the defendant's efforts to secure her release.
I do not believe it is necessary for me to read this affidavit. Her testimony also shows, and perhaps I should read that one particular part that both Klen's father and Klein himself did not know the details about concentration. I shall therefore read from page 48 the long paragraph:
"Horst KLEIN affuaged the great anxiousness of his parents about the life of their daughter in the concentration camp, in a convincing way by such remarks as that he was grateful to the fate that his sister by being sentenced imprisonment in a concentration camp, had escaped the People's Court, although this period now would be a time of hard labor for her. But due to the circumstance the concentration camps were properly managed and - in comparison to a confinement in city prison she was now sheltered somewhat against air-raids, he was full of hope that according to human judgement his sister would get over the time of detention in the concentration camp, this also in view of the fact that the war would undoubtedly be ever soon. He said that he had tried to get more detailed information about the conditions in concentration camps and had been fortunate to learn that the inmates were getting enough food, medical care if necessary, and that they were assigned to different groups according to their professional training, or that they were being re-trained. From the results of his investigations he must conclude that his sister due to her profession of a commercial artist would be employed with office work or designing, as had also been told to his father and to him in the Reich Main Security Office the RSHA in Berlin.
To my later question from man to man whether it has to be feared that his sister might have to suffer ill-treatment which as it was whispered, was common in concentration camps, Horst KLEIN replied that he thought that these things are only rumours and that he did not believe that"
DR. BERGOLD(Attorney for Defendant Klein): That should suffice. Then I shall submit as Klein Exhibit No. 19, an affidavit by Frau Eva Stahl. Here we have a few more mistakes once again. On page 52, I am talking about a paragraph which begins after page of the original. "On several occasions Klein has used mis influence with the Secret State Police on my behalf." The term "used his influence" is not correct. It means something else in German, and if you look at page 53, at the first sentence of the second paragraph, "In my opinion it was extremely dangerous for Klein to intercede in my favor," there the German word "Winsetzen" is translated correctly by "To intercede in my favor." I should like to ask that on page 52 it should read the same; "to intercede" does not mean "use his influence." It simply means, "he did something for me," so on page 52, I suggest it should also read,"Klein has interceded in my favor." This witness is a Jewess and Klein has saved her on several occasions from the Gestapo for the reason that under the Third Reich she had illegal intercourse with Aryans. She had love affairs with German officers. She therefore make herself liable to punishment, but Klein, himself, will tell us more about this. I don't think I need to go into any details by reading from this document. However, it is also interesting to note from this affidavit that later on it can also be confirmed that my client did not only intercede for her, although she was Jewish, but he did the same for a German girl who had a love affair with a Chinese and this might also come under the heading of "Racial Pollution." She was arrested by the Gestapo, but he helped this girl also. He will explain himself later, how he saved her from the clutches of the Gestapo.
Then Exhibit 20 will be Document 20, an affidavit by Dr. Klaus Boeltzig. This man was an officer in the Luftwaffe and he had connections with the Witness Stahl and because he had a love affair with a Jewess he had been before a court-martial, and he also confirms that it was only due to Klein's efforts that he was saved from the consequences.
Then, finally, Exhibit 21 will be Document No. 21, an affidavit by Thea Bresser. She is the wife of Dr. Bresser about whom the witness Von Ruppert has told us yesterday, that he belonged to the circle of friends and that he was also sentenced to death by the Gestapo and the People's court for his anti-Nazi attitude. This lady also gives us all the details of how much Klein knew about the deportation of Jews and altogether what he knew in this respect. From page 61, perhaps, from this document, which is given by this lady, both in English and German, I should like to read the last paragraph:
"Assessor Klein apparently had no knowledge at all of the deportation of Jews and the concentration camp excesses. I myself have been present, when my husband asked him about conditions in concentration camps, but Herr Klein was not able to give any information, because, as he said, conditions in concentration camps were unknown to him. I furthermore noticed his ignorance when my husband demanded his help for a Jewish employee of the work, one Max Cohn"--and Frau Von Ruppert has told us about him yesterday-"who in the middle of 1942 was taken to Theresienstadt and about whose fate he tried but unfortunately unsuccessfully to obtain information. Anyhow Mr. Cohn was spared and returned after cessation of hostilities. He is again employed in our works."
That is all the document contained in my document book. Before I continue, I should like to answer the court's question about the document to which the document, Exhibit Klein 16, by Gerhard Maurer has reference. It's in Book VII. It is Document 242, Exhibit 205, an affidavit by Herr Brandt and Exhibit 213, which is Document 1612PS. In the first document the passage concerned is in paragraph 11 in Document 205 and Exhibit 213 the important passage is under para graph 4.