Some of the concentration camps had several of such installations. These installations were planned, erected, and maintained by some competent authority and Amt of the WVHA. Since Amt C-II was the supreme authority for the planning and building of special tasks, the logical conclusion of the Tribunal is that such installations were planned and erected under the authority of Amt C-II of the WVHA. The Tribunal further concludes that the very nature of such installations and their continued maintenance constituted knowledge of the purposes for which they were to be used.
The defendant's knowledge of the classes of inmates in concentration camps is shown by the following testimony of the defendant himself:
"According to my opinion there is a big difference between a political prisoner and a criminal. I myself was definitely convinced that there were political prisoners in the concentration camps, prisoners whom the state wanted to get rid of or at least secure for special reasons. In my opinion the criminals were in the jails, whereas all the other ones were in the concentration camps." (R. 3387) The Tribunal finds that the defendant was also aware that inmate labor was used in construction projects authorized and planned by Amt C-II and other offices within Amtsgruppe C. He testified that he saw Kammler's letter to Gluecks, dated March 10, 1942, concerning the assignment of prisoners of war, inmates and Jews, to carry out the construction program of Amtsgruppe C but that no action was taken because it was not in his field of tasks.
(Document No.NO-1292, Exhibit 56, and Record page 3367). In the preface to this document, the following appears:
"Subject: Employment of Prisoners, Prisoners of War, Jews, etc. to Carry Out the Construction Program of the SS Economic Administrative Main Office, Amtsgruppe C, 1942, in the Third Year of War."
A summary attached to the document shows the required workers listed under the various construction projects and the number of prisoners and prisoners of war, Jews, etc., required to carry out the construction program for 1942. The summary shows conclusively that thousands of inmates, Jews, and prisoners of war, were to be used for construction projects at the various concentration camps. These included construction projects at Ravensbrueck, Oranienburg, Natzweiler, Wewelsburg, Dachau, Gross-Rosen, Auschwitz, Freudenthal, Weimar-Buchenwald, Neuengamme, Flossenbuerg, Geishuebel, Krondorf, Sued, Gruen, Neu-Rohlau, Mauthausen, Gusen, Brettstein, Litzmannstadt, and Posen. The last entry in the summary was a request for 5,000 prisoners of war to be used at Danzig-Stutthof. Thus, the defendant Kiefer was officially put on notice that concentration camp labor, Jews, and prisoners of war, were the means whereby his architectural plans were transferred from blueprints into actual constructions. The defendant contends that even though he might have read the document at the time he was totally ignorant of concentration camp conditions.
The Tribunal cannot accept this contention of the defendant. He was directly subordinate to Kammler, Chief of Amtsgruppe C, and was also his Deputy. As to his Deputyship there can be no doubt. Kammler's appointment of the defendant as his Deputy was in writing, and dated September 8, 1943, and states:
"SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Kiefer will in principle act as my deputy until further notice." (Exhibit 45).
The evidence clearly discloses that Kammler was throughly aware of the conditions in the concentration camps, and of the atrocities, murders, and ill treatment of the inmates.
The Tribunal concludes that the defendant knew what Kammler knew, since he was his Deputy and Chief of Amt CII, and his duties required that he have such knowledge.
The Tribunal further concludes that a person so close to Kammler and directly subordinate to him and designated by Kammler as his deputy would be advised of these facts. Such knowledge would of necessity entail familiarity with the facts as to the labor conditions on construction jobs, the type of labor employed, and the treatment accorded such labor. If these facts were known to him, the defendant would have had to know of the atrocities and inhuman tortures visited upon concentration camp inmates through AmtC-II, Amtsgruppe C, and the WVHA.
Another source of information for the defendant was the weekly conferences of Chiefs of Offices and Experts. These conferences were held, and the Tribunal concludes that they were through and detailed. Kammler's position and duties increased to the point where he was forced to devote less and less time to Amt C-II, and finally he was forced to move his offices from the WVHA Building. Subsequently, the only contace between himself and the collaborators in Amtsgruppe C, was in the conferences with the Amts Chiefs (R. 3336). During these conferences Kiefer had ample opportunity to learn of the existence of the gas chambers and the crematoria, the use of slave labor, the treatment of concentration camp inmates, the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, and many other instances of the criminality of the organization of which he was an integral part.
The evidence clearly discloses that the defendant did not make the slightest effort to improve these conditions, or failing in that, to sever his relationship with the organization. His activities and willing cooperation clearly shows the voluntary manner in which he worked as an Amt Chief of the WVHA.
The Tribunal has given careful consideration to all the contentions mace by the defendant, and all the evidence and documents offered by him to rebut the case of the prosecution, but the Tribunal cannot accept his version as to his knowledge, duties, and activities as Amt Chief of Office C-II in the WVHA.
CONCLUSIONS The Tribunal therefore concludes (bearing in mind the presumption of innocence of the defendant and the burden of proof required of the prosecution) that the evidence clearly established beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Max Kiefer is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged in Counts II and III of the indictment.
He did not function in the role of the mutual executioner, but was an Office Chief in the WVHA, which organization carried out the functions of extracting labor and personal resources from millions of unfortunate concentration camp inmates, Jews, and prisoners of war. His office duties and activities constituted one of the integral cogs in the evil machine of human destruction. His high professional learning, skill, and vast knowledge was prostituted to the needs of this organization. The planning and erection of a vast number of SS structures, both in the concentration camps and outside, would not have been possible without the contribution of the defendant Kiefer, as one whose services were most valuable and indispensable.
The defendant admits that he was a member of the SS from 1935 and that he continued to be a member of the SS until the end. His contention that he was drafted into the SS in 1942 cannot be accepted by the Tribunal. His continued membership in the organization, his outstanding record in Amt C-II, and all the other evidence in the case leads the Tribunal to the conclusion that the defendant voluntarily joined the SS and voluntarily remained in such organization until the end and participated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He remained in such organization with knowledge of its criminal activities subsequent to September 1, 1939, Therefore, the Tribunal finds and adjudges the defendant Kiefer guilty under Count IV of the indictment.
FRANZ EIRENSCHMALZ Defendant Eirenschmalz was born October 20, 1901, at Munich.
He joined the general SS in July 1931. On October 1, 1932, the defendant received a full time position with the SS in the administrative office. He did some outside construction work subsequent to occupying this position, but returned to the administration office and resumed his work in June 1934. His immediate superior in the Administration Office of the SS in 1934 was the defendant Pohl. From July 1934 until approximately the autumn of 1939, he was in the Office, "Budget and Construction". In 1939, he was transferred to the Main Department for the Construction Management of the Waffen-SS and Administration, as Chief of Amt V-5. His immediate superior in this office was the defendant Frank. On February 1, 1943, the Main Office, Budget and Building, was incorporated within the WVHA, and the defendant joined this organization as Chief of Amt CVI of Amtsgruppe C. He was subordinate to Kammler, Chief of Amtsgruppe C. Sometime between February 1, 1942 and February 1943, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Amtsgruppe C, or Kammler's Deputy. In May 1943, owing to illness, he entered a hospital and did not return to work with the WVHA until January 1944, and upon his return he was no longer Deputy for Kammler. At all times between February 1, 1942 and May 1945, he was Chief of Amt C-VI of Amtsgruppe C of the WVHA.
In order for the Tribunal to arrive at the truth in this case, a close scrutiny of the evidence was required. Witnesses made affidavits and later repudiated their contents by other affidavits, or while testifying as a witness. The defendant Eirenschmalz took the stand and testified in his own defense. He has utterly failed to impress the Tribunal with the truthfulness of his testimony. On the contrary, his answers to direct and simply questions were most evasive and indefinite. After much insistence, when a direct answer was finally obtained from him by either the Tribunal or counsel, he would later repudiate such an answer. In his testimony may be seen so many contradictions and evasive answers that the Tribunal was unable to determine the facts from his testimony. After a careful review of all of the evidence, the Tribunal arrived at its own conclusions as to the true facts of this case.
Amt C-VI of Amtsgruppe C of the WVHA was sub-divided into the following divisions:
1. Amt C.-VI-1, Building Material and Maintenance (Construction Maintenance) 2. Amt C-VI-2, Plant Economy 3. Amt C-VI-3, Auditing Price Control (and after 1943, Price and Control).The prosecution offered in evidence Exhibit No. 523, which was an affidavit made by the defendant Pohl, and the Tribunal deems it expedient to here incorporate certain portains of this affidavit:
Beginning with:
"9. Amtsgruppe C of the WVHA arose from Amt II, Buildings, of the former Main Office of Budget and Buildings. SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Dr. Kammler was Chief of Amtsgruppe C from 1 February 1942 until the capitulation in May 1945.
"10. Amtsgruppe C was the highest construction office of the SS. Among other things, guiding principles concering all constructions carried out within the SS were laid down by this office and passed on to subordinate Construction Offices and Construction Inspection Sections.
"11. Furthermore, it was the duty of Amtsgruppe C to calculate the total building-material requirements of all Construction Inspection Sections and to send requisition for this total requirement to the Speer Armaments Ministry. That was done once a year, and after Kammler had received these allocation of materials (quotas) from the Speer Armaments Ministry, he distributed them, according to requirements to the individual Construction Inspection Sections. Thereby Kammler was given control over the construction undertaken by the offices carrying out the building for they were not legally able not allowed to build without an official quota allocation being made by Amtsgruppe C.
"12. Kammler had a further means of control over the construction activity of the SS because the expenditures of the offices subordinate to him were examined by him; this also included an examination of prices.
The above mentioned examinations were carried out by Office VI of Amtsgruppe C. Standartenfuehrer Eirenschmalz was Chief of this office from February 1942 until the capitulation.
14. The new construction and repair of Concentration Camps was in principle the task of Amtsgruppe C, and its subordinate offices.
15. It was the duty of the Budget Office in the former Main Office for Budget and Building to put those sums of money which were necessary for the establishment of concentration camps at the disposal of the Inspector of Concentration Camps, Eicke. These sums were there fixed in the SS Budget. Eicke had his own Construction Section with which he carried out the construction of concentration camps.
16. I remember that the Auschwitz Concentration Camp was built in 1943. This work was carried out by the local Construction Inspection Section (Construction Inspection Section Auschwitz), after the necessary allocations of material had been made to this Construction Inspection Section by Amtsgruppe C of the Economic and Administrative Main Office.
17. The gas chamber installations and the crematorium in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp was built by the method described in paragraph 16.
18. The statement of accounts for these constructions were forwarded to Office VI of Amtsgruppe C for preliminary examination for the supreme Auditing Count of the Reich or else they were submitted to the auditors of Amt C-VI. That was the prescribed official channel for all Construction Inspection Sections which were responsible to Amtsgruppe C of the Economic and Administrative Main Office.
19. The liquidation of Jews in the Auschwitz concentration camp in the years 1942 and 1943, when Rudolf Hoess was commander, was known to me, through Himmler's speech and I myself also saw the gas chambers and the crematorium in Auschwitz in the summer of 1944.
20. The construction, that is to say, the extension of the Riga Concentration Camp was undertaken during the second half of 1942 or the beginning of 1943 as far as I know.
This work was ordered by the Reich Security Main Office, and the carrying out of the project was undertaken and completed by the locally competent Construction Inspection Section, as described above in Paragraphs 16 and 19.
21. Standartenfuehrer Franz Eirenschmalz was Chief of Office C-VI from February 1942 until May 1945. He had been an associate of mine since 3 February 1934 with interruptions. From January 1943 until May 1943 he was Deputy Chief of Amtsgruppe C."
"... Amtsgruppe C had a number of subordinate offices (construction inspectorates, etc.) in the Reich territory as well as in the occupied territories."
The defendant's activities in the construction and maintenance of concentration camps prior to the formation of the WBHA, is shown from the following documents:
Affidavit of Heinrich Ernst Krone, (Exh. No. 53), which reads in part as follows:
"In August 1937 I was employed in the Central Construction Management at Buchenwald as a specialist in technical branches. I was subordinate to the SS Administration Office and the section for building under Eirenschmalz. The protective electric fence was built by this Central Construction Management under order of Eicke. The crematorium in Buchenwald was built in 1939 or 1940 by a private contractor.
In February 1943 I was transferred to Belgrade, where I did maintenance and building special jobs under the direction of Office Group C of the SS Economist, who was head of the building section of Group C and who was subordinate to Office Group C in Berlin.
During the last years of the war it was the job of Office Group C to erect prisoner-of-war camps. The maintenance and repair of all buildings, particularly of those pertaining to the concentration camps, was Eirenschmalz' concern. He had to be kept informed of every repair job in concentration camps and also if gas chambers or crematoria failed to function and needed repairs it was his job to have the repairs carried out."
Later in the same affidavit, the affiant outlines some of the duties of the defendant Eirenschmalz in connection with concentration camps after the creation of the WVHA, as follows:
"In February 1944 I heard for the first time, through the head of the Building Inspectorate, of an order that prisoner-of-war camps were to be erected by Office Group C. I know that a small prisoner-ofwar camp was to be built somewhere and exact building instructions regarding measurements, projected buildings, washing facilities, etc., were furnished by Office Group C. During the last years of the war it was the job of Office Group C to erect prisoner-of-war camps."
The Prosecution offered in evidence an affidavit of Wolfgang Grosch (Exh. 513) which tended to show the duties and activities of the defendant Eirenschmalz in regard to the construction and maintenance of concentration camps and SS projects before and after the formation of the WVHA. The pertinent parts are as follows:
"The first time I heard about Standartenfuehrer Eirenschmalz was in the middle of 1939. At that time Eirenschmalz was Chief of the entire building operations within the SS Administrative Office. This position was similar to the position which Gruppenfuehrer Kammler had later on in the Economic and Administrative Main Office. Among other things it was Eirenschmalz' job to pay out the moneys for building projects of the SS Death Head Units, and the General SS. It was his job to approve these moneys and to have them paid. Eirenschmalz remained in this position until about 1940 and then moved to Berlin to work with the Budget and Building Main Office. In this capacity he was assigned the tasks which he later had to carry out within the Economic and Administrative Main Office, Amt C-VI.
After the reorganization in 1942, and after the foundation of the Economic and Administrative Main Office, he became Chief of Amt C-VI, and remained there until the end of the war.
About Spring of Summer of 1943, by Kammler's or Pohl's orders he became Deputy Chief of Office Group C and remained in this position, while still holding office as Office Chief C- VI, up to the end of 1943.
During the time he was Kammler's deputy, Eirenschmalz signed the official mail 'by order of Kammler'. Since the foundation of the Economic and Administrative Main Office, Eirenschmalz, among other things, was charged with granting subsidies for keeping up building operation of all building projects of the Waffen-SS, which also included the Concentration Camps. In this capacity he had to grant annual subsidies for keeping up the building operations and for repair work. The bills obtained in return for these annual payments were sent to him afterwards as vouchers. Eirenschmalz knew by way of the bills which he had to examine, when gas chambers or crematoria or other concentration camp establishments were in need of repair.
Eirenschmalz's position in the SS Administrative Office was that of the supreme Chief for all questions concerning building operations. Within the Office Budget and Buildings his tasks were restricted to the tasks carried out by the later Office C-VI, which he continued to carry out up to the end, in the Economic and Administrative Main Office."
The Tribunal is mindful of the testimony of this affiant when called upon to testify on cross examination on behalf of the defendant. Even though he repudiated certain parts of this affidavit, from a review of all the evidence in the case, the Tribunal is of the opinion that this affidavit, upon the whole, speaks the truth.
The Prosecution also offered in evidence another affidavit of Wolfgang Grosch (Exh. 52). The pertinent parts are as follows:
"February, 1, 1938, I was attached to SS Administrative Office with Eirenschmalz as immediate superior, where I remained until November, 1941, when I was transferred to the Central Russian Office. I was in Russia during the entire life of the WVHA.
"Amtsgruppe C was responsible for the construction of gas chambers and crematoria when such construction had been demanded by Amtsgruppe D. The official channels were as follows:
Amtsgruppe D contacted Amtsgruppe C. Amt C-1 drew up the building plans for these installations as far as the construction work was concerned and passed those on to Amt C-III, who worked on the engineering section of the construction, the airing of gas chambers or the appliances for the gas to enter the chamber. Amt C-III then handed these plans to a private firm which was to supply the special machinery of the cremating furnaces. Further on, through official channels, C-III informed C-V which passed on the order via the Public Works Administrative Division to the Central Public Works Department. The Central Public Works Department then handed the construction assignment to the respective construction department of the concentration camp which undertook the actual building with detainees assigned to them by D-II. Amtsgruppe D gave orders and instructions to Amtsgruppe C with regard to the required building space and the purpose of these constructions. The actual consigner for the gas chambers and crematoria was Amtsgruppe D."
Other evidence discloses that while the defendant Eirenschmalz was in the Main Office, Budget and Building, he ordered the erection of a crematorium at Dachau in the summer of 1940 (Exh. 541), and that at approximately the same time he ordered the construction of a crematorium at Buchenwald (NO-4400 and 4401). The defendant Eirenschmalz emphatically disputed all evidence that he had any authority or gave any orders or participated in any way in the maintenance or construction of any installations of concentration camps.
The defendant admitted upon cross examination that he visited Dachau in 1936 and 1937, and quite often thereafter he visited the Garrison Office at Dachau. He further admitted that on these visits to Dachau he sometimes saw the inmates working. He also admitted that he visited concentration camp Sachsenhausen, but that he rarer entered the protective custody part of the camp. He also admitted that he visited con centration camp Oranienburg, and saw inmates working there.
He admitted that he visited Buchenwald in 1940 or 1941, but did not enter the protective custody part of the camp. He admitted that he visited concentration camp Ravensbrueck and talked to the Construction Manager of the Clothing Depot, but would not say how many times he had visited this camp. He testified:
"Q. When you made the visits to these camps that we have been talking about, you usually went on business, didn't you, that had something to do with your office affairs?"
"A. Yes."
He also admitted that he visited Auschwitz on one occasion in 1943 or 1944. He said that he was not sure that he saw inmates working in the armament plant on this visit. He denied ever visiting the concentration camps at Neuengamme, Stutthof, Natzweiler, Cross-Rosen, Mauthausen, and Bergen-Belsen. He did admit, however, that in 1940 and 1941 he visited Lublin for the purpose of discussing construction matters for the Waffen-SS, but did not see any inmates working while there. He denied any knowledge of foreigners or prisoners of war being confined in concentration camps, but assumed that Jews were confined therein. He testified:
"Q. You know, did you not, that the construction that was carried out by Amtsgruppe C in the concentration comps used inmate labor?
"A. Yes."
The defendant denied any knowledge of the fact that Amtsgruppe W used inmate labor, but said that he could reach that assumption, although he did not know anything about the allocation of inmate labor. He emphatically denied having heard at any time during the war that anyone was mistreated or killed in a concentration camp, and stated that at no time was he informed that inmates were being underfed and under-nourished in any concentration camp.
From all of the evidence in the case the Tribunal concludes the following: the defendant Franz Eirenschmalz was a member of the SS from an early date, and attained the high rank of Colonel in the Waffen-SS.
Over a long period of time, prior to the war, and prior to the organization of the WVHA and all during the war, he was occupied directly with construction matters of the SS, including the concentration camps. Throughout the entire trial he has endeavored to hide in every way possible his responsibility and participation in concentration camp construction-maintenance affairs. The evidence clearly discloses his active participation in matters pertaining to the operation, construction and maintenance of concentration camps located in the German Reich and in the occupied territories. His Chief, the defendant Pohl, recognized his worth in the fields of task assigned to him in the WVHA, and when recommending his promotion gave a glowing account of his achievements and his loyalty to his tasks. The evidence clearly discloses that at all times, as Chief of Amt C-IV, he bore a full measure of responsibility for concentration camp construction matters, including the construction and maintenance of crematoria and gas chambers. From his own testimony, it is clear that he visited a great number of the concentration camps at various times; that he saw and had an opportunity of seeing the inmates as they worked, the conditions under which they worked, and the housing conditions of the various camps.
The Tribunal concludes that the knowledge of the defendant concerning the erection and maintenance of the gas chambers and crematoria in the various concentration camps put him upon actual notice of the intended use of these installations. Owing to the high position he held in the WVHA, we are forced to conclude that defendant Eirenschmalz had actual knowledge of "Action Reinhardt" and the "Final Solution of the Jewish Problem," and that he knew that numberless thousands of unfortunate Jews and nationals of occupied territories were exterminated in the gas chambers and crematoria erected and maintained under the supervision of his office and other officer of the WVHA.
His activities in the SS, both before and after the organization of the WVHA, constituted a material cog in the machinery necessary for the operation of the concentration camps.
The Tribunal does not find that he was a so-called "trigger man" in the deaths and atrocities committed on unfortunate people in the concentration camps, but that he, with others, operated and maintained the gigantic enterprises which resulted in the unlawful deaths of millions of slave laborers from occupied territories, and prisoners of war.
The Tribunal finds and adjudges from the evidence, and beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Defendant Eirenschmalz was a principal in, accessory to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, and was connected with plans and enterprises involving the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and finds him guilty as charged in Counts II and III of the indictment.
The Tribunal finds and adjudges from the evidence, and beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant Eirenschmalz is guilty of belonging to the SS, an organization declared to be criminal by the International Military Tribunal, and as charged in Count IV of the indictment
THE PRESIDENT: The Presiding Judge now reading:
KARL SOMMER This defendant was born on the 25th of March 1915 in Cologne; he attended the elementary schools and four classes of high school; he belonged neither to the NSDAP, nor any other political party.
He joined the Allgemeine-SS in the last part of 1933 and became an SS private on January 30, 1934. His last rank in the Allgemeine-SS was Obersturmfuehrer. In March 1941, Sommer was appointed to the Inmate Labor Assignment Office of the Deutsche Erd und Stein Werke, an SS enterprise.
In this office he had the task of supervising inmate labor assignments, together with the supervision of the general welfare of the inmates. In October 1941, he succeeded to the head of the Department for Inmate Labor Assignment. Amt D-II of the WVHA was called "Labor Allocation of Inmates", and it was the task of Amt-D-II to arrange the labor allocation of inmates who were confined in concentration camps. Originally, labor forces were made available only for enterprises operated by the SS; later, after August or September of 1942, inmates were turned over to the industries outside of Germany, as well as in the occupied territories. The defendant Sommer was released from the WaffenSS in 1941, by reason of incapacity caused by a food wound. We was then assigned to DEST on March 1, 1941. He met Pohl about the end of 1941, and met Maurer early in 1942. Later Mummenthey secured the appointment of Sommer to Office D-II, as collaborator of Inmate Labor Assignment with Maurer. He entered upon his duties with D-II on May 5, 1942, and worked with this Amt until about April 1945. He was first Maurer's co-worker, and at the end of 1943 became Maurer's Deputy. He lived in Berlin until 1943, then moved his permanent residence to Oranienburg.
THE ALLOCATION OF INMATE LABOR IN AMT D-II OF THE WVHA
From all of the evidence in the case, including the testimony of the defendant, he was thoroughly familiar with every detail of Amt D-II, its fields of task, training of inmates, allocation of labor for all inmates, wherever located, the amount and kinds of work performed by them, their living conditions, treatment, food, clothing, and housing; the camps from which they were assigned, and the industries to which they were assigned; the payments made by the various industries for their work, the payment for work, if any, to the inmates, and the collection of the money for the work of the inmates from the various industries.
The Tribunal was greatly impressed by the detailed information which the defendant had in regard to every aspect of inmate labor and its allocation.
The defendant testified that after March 1944 Maurer told him that he could designate himself as a Chief of a Main Department, which he did, and at the end of 1942, or early in 1943, he became the Deputy of Maurer, Chief of Amt D-II. By order of Gluecks he was permitted to wear slack trousers while in uniform and at other times to wear civilian clothing on account of the wound in his foot. He further testified that he never knew of any prisoners being confined in a concentration camp except political prisoners and criminal inmates. Laber, he saw some Russian prisoners of war that were volunteers, he claimed. The defendant testified that he personally visited every one of the concentration camps during his work with Amt D-II; that he remembered clearly his visits to Auschwitz in August 1943 and November 1944, and Bergen-Belsen in 1944 and again in 1945. He further testified that during a conversation with Gluecks, the Chief of Amtsgruppe D and Inspector of the concentration camps, he was informed about the program for the extermination of the Jews in Auschwitz, but that he did not participate in this program in any way, even though he was asked by Gluecks to do so. Immediately after this conversation with Gluecks, Pohl gave to Maurer an order concerning this program at Auschwitz. He further testified that all Amt Chiefs of Amtsgruppe D had the permanent permission to enter and visit the concentration camps.
The prosecution offered in evidence an affidavit of the defendant Sommer (Ex. 304), which disclosed that the defendant personally knew of the allocation of between 500,000 and 600,000 inmate laborers from the concentration camps to the various plants and industries. This affidavit further disclosed that prisoners were requested by the plants from Amtsgruppe D (Maurer and Gluecks) or in case of personal connections, from Pohl.
The evidence disclosed that from Amt D-II, the defendant Sommer furnished guards for the prisoners; that he made tabulations computing the wages due from DAW for concentration camp labor, also, that he reported that 36,784 prisoners from Lublin were supplied during July 1944 to DAW and that DAW was due to pay the sum of 55,176 Reichsmarks for such labor.
(Ex. 710).
From another affidavit of the defendant, (Ex. 630), it is clearly shown that the defendant was throughly familiar with the program for the extermination of the Jews at Auschwitz and of the illegal medical experiments which were carried out in the various concentration camps.
The evidence further clearly discloses that the defendant was familiar with "Action Reinhardt" and was guilty of personally participating in this illegal and unwarranted action.
The evidence of the prosecution witness Jelzy Fielsky, an inmate at Auschwitz from August 1942 until October 1944, tended to show that the defendant Sommer personally murdered two inmates at Auschwitz. After a careful review of all the evidence the Tribunal is of the opinion that the defendant Sommer was not guilty of these two atrocious murders and that the witness Bielsky was mistaken as to the identity of the person responsible for such crimes.
There is evidence in the case which tends to show that the defendant Sommer actually knew of the existence of crematoria and gas chambers in the concentration camps, and the purposes for which they were used.
Wolfgang Sanner, witness for the prosecution, testified that during 1944 and 1945 he was an inmate and was working on labor assignments at Mauthausen concentration camp. He received three letters from Amt D-II signed by the defendant. In these letters Sommer gave the names of approximately twelve inmates, with instructions that they were not to be transferred to other camps and were not to be employed in Camp Mauthausen. Within three to five days after receiving these letters, the inmates named therein were reported dead. The causes of death in these reports were: "shot while trying to escape", "suicide by running into electrically charged wire".The Tribunal does not deem it necessary to again enumerate in this Judgment, the horrors and deaths of concentration camp inmates that resulted from inhumane treatment, beatings, tortures, starvation, murders, shootings, hangings, gassings and burnings - nor would any useful purpose be served by again describing the millions of deaths and wholesale pillage and unlawful confiscation of property resulting from "Action Reinhardt" and the "Final Solution of the Jewish Problem". Reference is hereby made to other parts of this Judgment for these details.
Amt D-II and the defendant Sommer Played an important part in the commission of these atrocities and murders, and for such participation on his part, the defendant Sommer is criminally responsible.
The defendant Sommer testified at great length in his own defense, and attempted in various ways to answer and explain the evidence offered on the part of the prosecution. He offered documents, affidavits, and witnesses, in an effort to show a lack of criminal responsibility on his part in the operation of Amt D-II of the WVHA. He emphatically denied all evidence which would tend to show guilt on his part of all charges in the indictment.
The Tribunal has carefully considered the evidence brought to its attention by the defendant, and has carefully and thoughtfully considered the closing argument of his counsel. But the Tribunal can not and does not accept as true the defendant's contentions that his actions in D-II did not involve criminal responsibility.
Without attempting to pass upon his guilt or innocence, the Tribunal deplores the fact that Gerhardt Maurer was not apprehended prior to the commencement of this case, in order that his responsibility, if any, for the operation of D-II could be determined.
CONCLUSIONS The Tribunal finds and adjudges from the evidence, and beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant Karl Sommer is guilty of the charges contained in Counts II and III of the indictment.
From all of the evidence in the case, including the admissions of the defendant, the Tribunal finds and adjudges, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant Karl Sommer is guilty of the charges contained in Count IV of the indictment.
HERMANN POCK Defendant Pook was born on May 1, 1901 in Berlin; after completing his education at the elementary scho Is, he studied dentistry from 1921 to 1925 at the University of Berlin and nassed his State examination in 1925.
In 1927 he received his Doctor's degree in Berlin and began practice as an independent dentist in Berlin-Lichterfelde. He joined the NSDAP in 1933, and in the same year became a member of the Reiter SS. He was called into the Waffen-SS on October 1, 1940, and the highest rank attained by him in the WaffenSS was Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lieutenant Colonel). On September 6, 1943, after completing a number of duty assignments for the Waffen-SS, he was transferred to the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office, Amt D-III of Amtsgruppe D, as chief dental officer, and held this position until the end of the war.