"3. The length of the period of custody must in no case be made known, even if the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police or the Chief of the Security Police and the SD has already fixed it.
"The term of commitment to a concentration camp is to be openly announced as 'until further notice'.
"In most serious cases, there is no objection to the increasing of the deterrent effect by the spreading of cleverly carried out rumor propaganda, more or less to the effect that, according to hearsay, in view of the seriousness of his case, the arrested man will not be released for 2 or 3 years.
"4. In certain cases, the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police will order flogging in addition to detention in a concentration camp. Orders of this kind will, in future, also be transmitted to the State Police District Office concerned. In this case, too, there is no objection to spreading the rumor of this increased punishment as laid down in Section 3, paragraph 3, in so far as this appears suitable, to add to the deterrent effect.
"5. Naturally, particularly suitable and reliable people are to be chosen for the spreading of such news."
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, the Tribunal think that they will take judicial notice of that United States Document No. 2309, and for the convenience of the Defence Counsel, the Tribunal having sat until one will not sit again until two-fifteen.
MR. DODD: Very well, your Honor.
(Whereupon, at 1305 hours the hearing of the Tribunal recessed to reconvene at 1415 hours.)
MR. THOMAS DODD: May it please the Tribunal, the deterrent effect of the concentration camps was based on the promise of brutal treatment. Once in the custody of the SS guards, the victim was beaten, tortured, starved, and often murdered through the so-called "extermination through work" program which I described the other day, or through the mass execution gas chambers and furnaces of the camps, which were shown several days ago on the moving picture screen in this court room. additional evidence of the conditions within the concentration camps. the Tribunal has taken judicial notice, I now refer to again, particularly to the second page of the English text, beginning with the third sentence of the second paragraph:
"The work at these camps mainly consisted of underground labor, the purpose being the construction of large underground factories, storage rooms, etc. This labor was performed completely underground and as a result of the brutal treatment, Working and living conditions, a daily average of 100 prisoners died. To the one camp OBERSTAUBLING, 700 prisoners were transported in February 1945, and on the 15th of April 1945 only 405 of these men were living. During the 12 months preceding the liberation, FLOSSENBURG and the branch camps under its control accounted for the death of 14,539 male inmates and 1,300 women. These figures represent the deaths as were obtained from the available records in the camp. However, they are in no way complete, as many secret mass executions and deaths took place. In 1941 an additional stockade was added at the FLOSSENBURG CAMP, to hold 2,000 Russian prisoners.
From these 2,000 prisoners only 102 survived. dealing in death. Although this camp had in view the primary object of putting to work the mass slave labor, another of its primary objectives was the elimination of human lives by the methods employed in handling the prisoners.
"Hunger and starvation rations, sadism, housing facilities, inadequate clothing, medical neglect, disease, beatings, hangings, freezing, forced hand hanging, forced suicides, shooting, all played a major role in obtaining their objective. Prisoners were murdered at random, spite killings against Jews were common. Injections of poison and shooting in the neck were everyday occurrences. Epidemics of typhus and spotted fever were permitted to run rampant as a means of eliminating prisoners. Life in this camp meant nothing. Killing became a common thing, so common that a quick death was welcomed by the unfortunate ones." quoting directly:
THE PRESIDENT (interposing): What are those exhibits that are referred to?
MR. DODD: They are in evidence with the affidavit. They are attached to it.
THE PRESIDENT: They are not, I suppose, mimeographed in our copy?
MR. DODD: No, we haven't had an opportunity to mimeograph each one of them.
THE PRESIDENT: Are they documents or photographs or what?
MR. DODD: They are principally documents. There are some few plans and photographs, and so on.
THE PRESIDENT: Are they affidavits or what?
MR. DODD: Some of them are in the form of affidavits taken at the time of the liberation of the camp from prisoners who were there, and others are pictures of writings that were found there and of the plans, and so on--that sort of thing.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. The Tribunal will take judicial notice of those exhibits as well.
MR. DODD: Very well, Your Honor. page, quoting:
"On Christmas 1944 a number of prisoners were hung at one time. The prisoners were forced to view this hanging. By the side of the gallows was a decorated Christmas tree, and as expressed by one prisoner, 'It was a terrible sight, that combination of prisoners hanging in the air and the glistening Christmas tree.' " hanged. They had been delivered to this camp sometime before and had been captured while trying to blow up bridges. reports. I wish however, to make reference to the Concentration Camp MAUTHAUSEN, one of the most notorious extermination centers. I refer to document No. 2176-PS, which I have already placed in evidence as U.S.A. Exhibit No. 249. This is also an official report of the office of the Judge Advocate General of the Third United States Army, dated 17 June 1945. I read from the conclusions on page 3 of the English text, at paragraph numbered Roman V, beginning with the second sentence as follows:
"V. CONCLUSIONS:
ning. It was constructed as a gigantic stone fortress on top of a mountain franked by small barracks.
MAUTHAUSEN, in addition to its the staff.
It was conducted with the sole purpose in mind of extermin ating any so-called prisoner who entered within its walls.
The so officials located there.
All records, orders, and administrative facilities were handled for these branches through MAUTHAUSEN.
The sent to MAUTHAUSEN for final disposal."
reports, which were made by the Third Army of the United States and other arrivals, at these centers, we say it is clear that the conditions in those concentration camps over Germany, and in a few instances outside of the actual forcers of the Old Reich, followed the same general pattern. The wide-spread incidence of these conditions makes it clear that they were not the result of sporadic excesses on the part of individual jailers, but were the result of policies deliberately imposed from above. The crimes committed in these camps were on so vast a scale that individual atrocities pale into insignificance. show to this Tribunal only because they illustrate the depths to which the administration of these camps had sunk shortly before, at least, the time they were liberated by the Allied Army. The Tribunal will recall that in the showing of the moving picture, with respect to one of the camps, there was a showing of sections of human skin taken from human bodies in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and preserved as ornaments. They were selected, these particular hapless victims, because of the tattooing which appeared on the skin.
This exhibit, which we have here, is U.S.A. Exhibit 252. Attached to the exhibit is an extract of an official U.S. Army report describing the circumstances under which this exhibit was obtained, and that extract is set forth in Document 3420-PS, which I refer to in part. It is entitled:
"Mobile Field Interrogation Unit No. 2.
"PW Intelligence Bulletin.
"13. Concentration Camp, Buchenwald.
"Preamble. The author of this account is PW Andreas Pfaffenberger, 1 Coy, 9 Landesschuetzen Bn. 43 years old and of limited education. He is a butcher by trade. The substantial agreement of the details of his story with those found in PWIS (H)/LF/736 established the validity of his testimony. PW has not been questioned on statements which, in the light of what is known, are apparently erroneous in certain details, nor has any effort been made to alter the subjective character of the PW's account, which he wrote without being told anything of the intelligence already known. Results of interrogation on personalities at Buchenwald have already been published (PWIB No. 2/12, item 31).
"In 1939 all prisoners with tattooing on them were ordered to report to the dispensary."
THE PRESIDENT: Is this what Pfaffenberger said?
MR. DODD: Yes, sir. "No one knew what the purpose was, but after the tattooed prisoners had been examined the ones with' the best and most artistic specimens were kept in the dispensary and then killed by injections administered by Karl Beigs, a criminal prisoner. The corpses were then turned over to the pathological department where the desired pieces of tattooed skin were detached from the bodies and treated. The finished products were turned over to SS Standartenfuehrer Koch's wife, who had them fashioned into lamp shades and other ornamental household articles. I myself saw such tattooed skins with various designs and legends on them, such as 'Hans'1 and Gret'l,' which one prisoner had on his knee, and ships from prisoners, chests. This work was done by a prisoner named Wernerbach."
I also refer to Document 3421-PS, which bears U.S.A. Exhibit 253.
"I, George C. Demas, Lieutenant, USNR., associated with the United States Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, hereby certify that the attached exhibit, consisting of parchment, was delivered by the War Crimes Section, Judge Advocate General, U. S. Army, to me in my above capacity, in the usual course of official business, as an exhibit found in Buchenwald Camp and captured by military farces under the command of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces." a United States Army report, and I quote it:
"Based on the findings in paragraph two, all three specimens are tattooed human skin."
This document is also attached to the exhibit on the board. We do not wish to dwell on this pathological phase of the Nazi culture, but we do feel compelled to offer one additional exhibit which we offer as U.S.A. Exhibit No. 254. This exhibit, which is on the table, is a human head with the skull removed, shrunken, stuffed, and preserved. The Nazis had one of their many victims decapitated, after having had him hanged apparently for fraternizing with a German woman, and fashioned this terrible ornament from his head. I have just read deals with the manner in which this exhibit was acquired. It reads as follows:
"There I also saw the shrunken heads of two young Poles who had been hanged for having relations with German girls. The heads were the size of a fist, and the hair and the marks of the rope were still there."
Another certificate by Lt. Demas, set forth in Document 3422-PS. It is similar to the one which I have read a few minutes ago with relationship to the human skin, excepting that it applies to this second exhibit. We have no accurate estimate of how many persons died in these concentration camps and perhaps none will ever be made, but as the evidence already introduced before this Tribunal indicates, the Nazi conspirators were generally meticulous record keepers. But the records which they kept about concen tration camps appear to have been quite incomplete.
Perhaps the character of the records resulted from the indifference which the Nazis felt for the lives of their victims. But occasionally we find a death book or a set of index cards. For the most part, nevertheless, the victims apparently faded into an unrecorded death. Reference to a set of death books suggests at once the scale of the concentration-camp operations, and we refer now and offer Document No. 493-PS as U.S.A. Exhibit 251. This exhibit is a set of seven books, the death ledger of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Each book has on its cover the word "Totenbuch" or Death Book--Mauthausen. or were murdered in this camp, and the books cover the period from January of 1939 to April of 1945. They give the name, the place of birth, the assigned cause of death, anti time of death of each individual recorded. In addition each corpse is assigned a serial number, and adding up the total serial numbers for the five-year period one arrives at the figure of 33,318.
An examination of the books is very revealing insofar as the camp's routine of death is concerned, and I invite the attention of the Tribunal to Volume 5 from pages 568 to 582; a photostatic copy of which has been passed to the Tribunal. These pages cover death entries made for the 19th day of March 1943, between fifteen minutes past one in the morning until two o'clock in the afternoon. In this space of twelve and threequarter hours, on these records, 203 persons are reported as having died. They were assigned serial numbers running from 8390 to 8593. The names of the dead are listed. And interestingly enough the victimes are all recorded of having died of the same ailment - heart trouble. They died at brief intervals. They died in alphabetical order. The first who died was a man named Ackermann, who died at one fifteen a.m. and the last was a man named Zynger, who died at two o'clock in the afternoon.
At twenty minutes past two o'clock of that same afternoon, according to these records, on the 19th of March 1945 the fatal roll-call began again and continued until half past four o'clock. In a space of two hours seventy-five more persons died, and once again they died all from heart failure and in alphabetical order. We find the entries recorded in the same volume, from pages 582 through 586.
There was another death book found at Camp Mauthausen. It is our Document No. 495-PS and bears U.S.A. Exhibit No. 250. This is a single volume, and again has on its cover the words, "Death Book - Prisoners of War." I invite the attention of the Tribunal in particular to pages 234 through 246. Here the entries record the names of 208 prisoners of war, apparently Russians, who at fifteen minutes past midnight on the 10th day of May 1942 were executed at the sane time. The book notes that the execution was directed by the chief of the SD and the SIPO, at that time Heydrick. of a New York newspaper published in the United States, part of which is made up of three or more pages consisting of advertisements from the families, the relatives, of people who once resided in Germany or in Europe, asking for some advice about them.
Most of the advertisements refer to one of these concentration camps or another. The paper is called, "Der Aufbau." It is a German-language newspaper in New York City, published on the 23rd day - this particular issue on the 23rd day of November 1945. I do not propose to burden the record of this Tribunal with the list of the names of all of these unfortunate individuals, but we refer to it as a publication in the City of Now York, a German-language newspaper of recent date, which illustrates the horrible extent of this terrible tragedy, which has affected so many people as a result of this concentration-camp institution. We feel that no argument, no particular argument, is necessary to support our statements that the Nazi conspirators used these concentration camps and the related instruments of terror in them to commit crimes against humanity and to commit war crimes. presentation concerning the persecution of the Jews. This concludes our presentation with respect to the concentration camp as a specific entity of proof.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, speaking for myself, I should like to know what these headings mean.
MR. DODD: Yes; I have them here.
THE PRESIDENT: Exhibit 495-PS.
MR. DODD: Yes; Exhibit 495-PS. Column one is the serial number assigned to the prisoners in the order of their deaths.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. DODD: Column two, prisoner of war serial number. Column three is the last name, Column four is the first name.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. DODD: Column five is the date of birth. Column six, the place of birth. Column seven, cause of death. In these cases their cause of death is stated as follows:
"Execution pursuant to order of the Chief of SIPO and SD dated 30th April 1942, and the ditto marks beneath indicate that the same cause of death was assigned to the names which come beneath it. In the eighth column is the date of death and the hour of death. The first one being 9-5-42 at 23.35 hours. In the ninth column there is a space which says it is reserved for comments.
THE PRESIDENT: There are numbers there too - M1681 is the first one.
MR. DODD: Well, the German word, I am told, means that it confirms the death with that number. Apparently the number of the
THE PRESIDENT: I think yon said the number of the corpse.
MR. DODD: The number of the corpse, I think that is what it is as distinguished from the number of the prisoner. Each corpse was given a number as well after the individual died.
COLONEL STOREY; If the Tribunal please, the next phase of war crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Persecution of Jews, will be presented by Major Walsh.
MAJOR WALSH: If the Tribunal please, on behalf of the United States Counsel I now present to this august Tribunal the evidence to establish certain phases of the indictment alleged in Count I under War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, and by agreement between the prosecutors the allegations in Count IV, paragraph 10(b), Crimes Against Humanity. The topical title of this presentation is, "The Persecution of the Jews". U.S.A Exhibit . . . These documents contained in the books are arranged according to the D-, TL-, PS-, and the R-series; and under the series the translations are listed numerically. This title, "The Persecution of the Jews," is singularly inappropriate when weighted in the light of the evidence to follow. Academically, I am told, to persecute is to afflict, harrass, and annoy the term used does not convey, and indeed I cannot conjure a term that does convey the ultimate aim, the avowed purpose to obliterate the Jewish race.
the crimes committed against the Jews. The extent and the scope of the crimes was so great that it permeated the entire German nation, its people, and its organizations. evidence under other phases of the prosecution's case. Evidence relating to the Party and State organizations, whose criminality the prosecution will seek to establish, will disclose and emphasize the part that these organizations played in the pattern and plan of annihilation. all related to this subject, which will be submitted in the course of this trial. tion of the Jews, I am prepared to show that those acts and policies within Germany from the year 1933 to the end of the war related to the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of aggressive wars, and thus falling within the definition of "Crimes Against Humanity", as defined in Article 6(c) of the Charter. Germany's defeat because of a collapse in the zone of the interior. In planning for future wars it was determined that the home front must be secured to prevent a repetition of this 1918 debacle. Unification of the German people was essential to successful planning and waging of war, and the Nazi political premise must be established --"One race, one State, one Fuehrer."
Free trade unions must be abolished, political parties (other than the National Socialist Party) must be outlawed, civil liberties must be suspended, and opposition of every kind must be swept away. Loyalty to God, church, and scientific truth was declared to be incompatible with the Nazi regime. The anti-Jewish policy was part of this plan for unification because it was the conviction of the Nazis that the Jews would not contribute to Germany's military program, but on the contrary would hamper it. The Jew must therefore be eliminated.
Document 1919-PS, United States Exhibit 170. This document is a transcript of a Himmler speech at a meeting of the SS Major Generals on 4 October 1943, and from page four, paragraph three, of the translation before the court, I read a very short passage:
"We know how difficult we should have made it for ourselves if with the bombing raids, the burdens and deprivations of war -- we still had Jews, today in every town as secret saboteurs, agitators, and trouble mongers, we would now probably have reached the 1916-17 stage when the Jews were still in the German national body." of a plan for aggressive war as was the building of armaments and the conscription of manpower. It falls within the jurisdiction of this Tribunal as an integral part of the planning and preparation to wage a war of aggression. the conquered territories of Europe following 1939 are war crimes as defined by Article 6(b) of the Charter. It further violates Article 46 of the Regulations of the Hague Convention of 1907, to which Germany was a signatory. I quote Article 46 and ask the Court to take judicial notice thereof.
"Family honor and rights, the liven of persons, and private property, as well as religious convictions and practice, must be respected." its details than the treatment of the Jews. It is intended to establish that the Nazi Party precepts, later incorporated within the policies of the German State, often expressed by the defendants at bar, were to annihilate the Jewish people. I shall seek to avoid the temptation to editorialize or to draw inferences from the documents, however great the provocation; rather I shall let the documentary evidence speak for itself -- its stark realism will be unvarnished.
Blood lust may have played some part in these savage crimes, but the underlying purpose and objective to annihilate the Jewish race was one of the fundamental principles of the Nazi plan to prepare for and to wage aggressive war. I shall from this point limit my proof to the overt acts committed but I dare to request the Court's indulgence, if it is deemed necessary to weaving the pattern of evidence, to make reference to certain documents and evidence previously submitted. extermination of the Jews, could not be accomplished without preliminary steps and measures. The German State must first be seized by the Nazi Party, the force of world opinion must be faced, and even the regimented German people must be indoctrinated with hatred against the Jews. the Jews was expressed in the Party program in February 1920. Socialist Party, U.S. Exhibit 255. With the Court's permission, I would like to quote the relevant part of that program:
"Paragraph (b). Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood without consideration of confession."
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): May I interrupt a minute. It is a little hard to know where these exhibits are or what volume you are now quoting from.
MAJOR WALSH: This, sir, is 1708-PS.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Volume 2?
MAJOR WALSH: Volume 2.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): And what page of that exhibit?
MAJOR WALSH: That is Paragraph 4, and Paragraph 6, sir, on the first page.
Paragraph (4):
"Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood, without consideration of confession.
Consequently, no Jew can be a member of the race."
And again, in Paragraph (6):
"The right to determine matters concerning administration and law belongs only to the citizen; therefore, we demand that every public office of any sort whatsoever, whether in the Reich, the county or municipality, be filled only by citizens."
I now offer Document 2662-PS, Mein Kampf, U.S. Exhibit 256. On pages 724-725, Hitler, in this book, speaking of the Jew, said that if the National Socialist movement was to fulfil its task -- and I quote:
"It must open the eyes of the people with regard to foreign nations and must remind them again and again of the true enemy of our present day world. In the place of hate against Aryans -- from whom we may be separated by almost everything, to whom, however, we are tied by common blood or the great tie of a common culture -- it must dedicate to the general anger the evil enemy of mankind as the true cause of all suffering.
"It must see to it, however, that at least in our country he be recognized as the most mortal enemy and that the struggle against him may show, like a flaming beacon of a better era, to other nations too, the road to salvation for a struggling Aryan mankind." groups was published and circulated throughout Germany. Illustrative of this type of publication is the bock Der Giftpilz.
I offer in evidence Document 1778-PS, U.S. Exhibit 257. as a race defiler, devil in human form, a poisonous mushroom, and a murderer. This particular book instructed school children to recognize the Jew by caricature of his physical features, shown, on pages 6 and 7, taught them that the Jew abuses little boys and girls, on page 30, and that the Jewish Bible permits all crimes, pages 13-17. The Defendant Streicher's periodical Der Stuermer, No.14, April 1937, in particular, went to such extremes as to publish the statement that Jews at the ritual celebration of their Passover slaughtered Christians.
I offer Document 2699-PS, U.S. Exhibit 258. On page 2, Column 1, paragraphs 6 to 9, I quote:
"The numerous confessions made by the Jews show that the execution of ritual murders is a law to the Talmud Jew. The former Chief Rabbi, and later monk, Teofite, declared that the ritual murders take place especially on the Jewish Purim in memory of the Persian murders, and Passover in memory of the murder of Christ. The instructions are as follows:
"The blood of the victims is to be tapped by force. On Passover it is to be used in wine and matzos. Thus, a small part of the blood is to be poured into the dough of the matzos and into the wine.
The mixing is done by the Jewish head of the family. The procedure is as follows:
"The family head empties a few drops of the fresh and powdered blood into the glass, wets the fingers of the left hand with it and sprays, blesses, with it everything on the table. The head of the family then says, 'Thus we ask God to send the ten plagues to all enemies of the Jewish faith,' Then they eat, and at the end the head of the family exclaims, 'May all Gentiles perish, as the child whose blood is contained in the bread and wine.'
"The fresh, or dried and powdered blood of the slaughtered is further used by young married Jewish couples, by pregnant Jewesses, for circumcision and so on. Ritual murder is recognized by all Talmud Jews. The Jew believes he absolves himself thus of his sins." could fall on fertile soil, that a literate nation could read, digest, or believe. We must realize, however, that with a rigidly controlled press which precluded an expose of such lying propaganda, some of the ignorant and gullible would be led to believe. U.S. Exhibit 259.
This publication, Der Stuermer, was published by the Defendant Streicher' publishing firm. In this publication, Streicher, speaking of the Jewish faith, said:
"The Holy Scripture is a horrible criminal romance abounding with murder, incest, fraud and indecency."
And again he said:
"The Talmud is the great Jewish book of crimes that the Jew practices in his daily life." in evidence, U.S. Exhibit 260. require further elaboration. Within the documents offered in evidence in this and in other phases of the case will be found similar and even more scurrilous statements, many by the defendants themselves, and others by their accomplices.
terrible weapon against the Jews was placed within their grasp, the power to apply the force of the State against them. This was done by the issuance of decrees. Jewish immigrants were denaturalized: and Neurath; native Jews were precluded from citizenship;
1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 1146, signed by Defendant Frick; Jews were forbidden to live in marriage or to have extra-marital relations with persons of German blood;
1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 1146, signed by Frick and Hess; Jews were denied the right to vote;
1936 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 133, signed by Defendant Frick; Jews were denied the right to hold public office or civil service positions;
Reichsgesetzblatt 1933, Part I, page 277, signed by Defendant Frick; It was determined to relegate the Jews to an inferior status by denying them common privileges and freedoms. Thus, they were denied access to certain city areas, sidewalks, transportation, places of amusement, restaurants; Progressively, more and still more stringent measures were applied, even to the denial of private pursuits. They were excluded from the practice of dentistry; The practice of law was denied. and Hess. The practice of medicine was denied. and Hess. They were denied employment by press and radio; brockerage.
In 1938 they were excluded from business in general and from the economic life of Germany. Their homes, bank accounts, real estate and intangibles were appropriated. specifically to the atonement fines, I wish to offer Document 1816-PS, U.S. Exhibit 261. This exhibit is a stenographic report of a conference under the chairmanship of the Defendant Goering, attended by the defendant Funk, among others, held at 11 o'clock on 12 November 1938 at the Reich Ministry for Air.
From pages 8 and 9 of Section 7, I quote the defendant Goering:
"One more question, gentlemen, what would you think the situation would be if I'd announced today that Jewry"-
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle)(Interposing): What page are you on?
MAJOR WALSH: From the English, sir, the middle of page 22.
"One more question, gentlemen, what would you think the situation would be if I'd announced today that Jewry shall have to contribute this one billion as a punishment." Court -- I quote:
"I shall close the wording this way that German Jewry shall, as punishment for their abominable crimes, etc., etc., have to make a contribution of one billion, that'll work. The pigs won't commit another murder. I'd like to say again that I would not like to be a Jew in Germany." following this meeting, a decree was issued placing upon the German Jews the burden of a billion Reichsmark fine. by the Defendant Goering.
signed by the Defendant Goering, and 1941 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 722, signed by Defendants Frick and Bormann. of any judicial process by a decree signed by the Defendants Bormann and Frick and others, and the police became the sole arbiters of punishment and death.