It is our Document No. 2164-PS. It bears U. S. Exhibit No. 255. I offer pages 191 to 193 of the 1941 Yearbook - which is our Document No. 2163-PS - as US Exhibit No. 444. Since the Yearbook is an official publication of the Nazi Party, edited by Reichs leiter Robert Ley and published by the Nazi Party publishing company, I assume that the Court will take judicial notice of the contents of these exhibits. still further divisions were added. The Organization Book of the Nazi Party for 1943 - our Document No. 2640-PS - lists some eight divisions and two infantry brigades as existing at the end of 1942. I refer to page 427b of the original, page 5, last paragraph of the translation. This was no longer an emergency force. It was an SS army and hence became to be designated as the Waffen SS. Himmler referred to this spectacular development of this SS combat branch in his speech at Posen on 14 October 1943 to SS Gruppenfuchrers. That speech has already been introduced in evidence at an earlier stage in the case, as U.S. Exhibit 170. It is our Document No. 1919-PS. the translation, second paragraph, headed "The SS in War-Time." I quote:
"Now I come to our own development, to that of the SS in the past months. Looking back on the whole war, this development was fantastic. It took place at an absolutely terrific speed. Let us lock back a little to 1939. At that time we were a few regiments, guard units, 8 to 9000 strong -- that is, not even a division, all in all 25 to 28000 men at the outside. True, we were armed, but really only got our artillery regiment as our heavy arm two months before the war began." the English translation and on page 103 of the original. The passage in the translation appears at about the middle of the page.
"In the hard battles of this year, the Waffen-SS has been welded together in the bitterest hours from the most varied divisions and sections, and from these it formed: body-guard units (Leibstandarte), military SS (Verfuengungstruppe), Death's Head Units, and then the Germanic SS.
Although tactically under the Command of the Wehrmacht while in the field, it remained as much a part of the SS as any other branch of the organization. Throughout the war it was recruited, trained, administered and supplied by the main offices of the SS Supreme Command. Ideologically and racially, its members were selected in conformity with SS standards.
Waffen SS published in the SS Manual, "The Soldier Friend", our Document No. 2825-PS, which appears on page 7 of the English translation, first paragraph on page 36, paragraph 2of the original. I quote:
"Today at last is the longed for day of the entrance examina "Everyone has acquainted himself with the comprehensive Manual for the Waffen SS, the principal points are as follows:
"1. Service in the Armed forces SS counts as military ser vice.
Only volunteers are accepted."
THE TRIBUNAL: (Mr. Biddle) What is the purpose of reading all this evidence? What has what you just read got to do with what you are presenting?
MAJOR FARR: Sir, I want to prove, as I said a moment ago, one thing first; that the Waffen SS is an integral, component part of the SS. I want to establish that it is completely administered and controlled by the Supreme Command of the SS. That is one thing.
The second thing I want to prove is this; that service in the Waffen SS is voluntary service, just as membership in the Allgemeine SS or Death's Head Units is voluntary service. It is true that there were some instances towards the close of the war when a few men were conscripted into the Waffen SS but that was the exception and not the rule. In quoting from the Recruiting Standards of the Waffen SS, appearing in this booklet which was published in 1942 and which indicates that at that time service in the Waffen SS was open only to volunteers, I think I am serving the purpose of proving one of the two points which I think ought to be established. tion. I shall read the paragraph indicating that service is voluntary. Now I want to read the third requirement, which shows that service could be had only by persons who meet the ideological and ether standards of the SS as a whole.
SS is essentially voluntary and that the Waffen SS is an integral part of the SS, I do not want to impose further by reading further evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: I think the Tribunal is satisfied on both those points.
MAJOR FARR: I beg your pardon?
THE PRESIDENT: I think the Tribunal is satisfied on both those points, up to the present time.
MAJOR FARR: The Court is satisfied on both those points?
THE PRESIDENT: That it is voluntary and it is an integral part of the SS.
MAJOR FARR: If the Court is satisfied on both those points, I shall not pursue, any further, theintroduction of this particular evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: It may be, as you say, possible to show that there were some members conscripted into it at a later date, but we have not had that evidence yet.
MAJOR FARR: No, your Honor, you have not. and that the Waffen SS is an integral part of the whole organization. If the Court is completely satisfied on that point I shall proceed no further with the description of the Waffen SS. Verbaende, the Death Head Units, which are the fourth component to be mentioned. described by d'Alquen in his book, "The SS", our Document No. 2284-PS, I shall read from page 10 of the English translation, paragraph 5, a passage that appears on page 20 of the original, paragraph 3.
THE PRESIDENT: On what page of the translation?
MAJOR FARR: That is page 10 of the translation. It will be found in the middle of page 10.
"The SS Death Head Units form one part of the garrisoned SS. They arose from volunteers of the General SS who were recruited for the guarding of concentration camps in 1933.
"Their mission, aside from the indoctrination of the armed political soldier, is guarding enemies of the State who are held in concentration camps.
"The SS Death Head Units obligate their members to 12 years service. It is composed mainly of men who have already fulfilled their duty to serve in the Wehrmacht. This time of service is counted completely." composed of well-trained professional soldiers, they were also a valuable nucleus for the Waffen SS. The secret Hitler order of 1? August, 1938, Document No. 647-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence, provided for the tasks of the SS Totenkopf Verbaende in the event of mobilization. The Totenkopf Verbaende were to be relieved from the duty of guarding concentration camps and transferred as a skeleton corps to the SS Verfuegungstruppe. I quote from that order, a passage found on page 5 of the translation, paragraph 4, page 9 of the original. I quote:
"5) Regulations for the case of the Mobilization "The SS Totenkopf Verbaende form the skeleton corps for the reinforcement of the SS Totenkopf Verbaende (police reinforcement) military training."
evidence is to show that the foundation was laid, for having the Allgemeine SS, the general SS, take over the duties of guarding concentration camps after the war. The Totenkopf Verbaende were originally created for that purpose. Then the war came they went into the Waffen SS and their duties were taken over by members of the general SS. Indictment, is the SS Police Regiments. I shall very shortly turn to the steps by which the SS assumed control over the entire Reich Police. Out of the police, special militarized forces were formed, originally known as SS Police Battalions and later expanded to SS Police Regiments.
I shall quote from Himmler's Posen speech, our Document No. 1919-PS, page 3 of the translation, next to the last paragraph, page 58 of the original.
I quote:
"Now to deal briefly with the tasks of the regular uniformed police and the Sipo -- they still cover the same field. I can see that great things have been achieved. We have formed roughly 30 police regiments from police reservists and former members of the police -- police officials, as they used to be called. The average age in our police battalions is not lower than that of the security battalions of the Armed Forces. Their achievements are beyond all praise. In addition, we have formed police Rifle Regiments by merging the police battalions of the savage peoples. Thus, we did not leave these police battalions untouched but blended them in the ratio of about 1 to 3."
The results of this blend of militarized SS police and "savage peoples" will be seen in the evidence which I shall later introduce, relating to extermination actions, conducted by them in the Eastern territories-exterminations which were so eminently successful and ruthlessly conducted that even Himmler could find no words adequate for their eulogy.
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for 10 minutes.
(Whereupon a recess was taken from 3:20 to 3:30 p.m.)
MAJOR FARR: Each of the various components which I have described played its part in carrying out one or more functions of the SS. The personnel composing each differed. Some were part-time volunteers; others professionals enlisted for different periods of time. But every branch, every department, every member, was an integral part of the whole organization. Each performed his assigned role in the manifold tasks for which the organization had been created. No better witness to this fact could be called upon than the Reichsfuehrer SS whose every endeavor was to insure the complete unity of the organization. I quote his words, taken from his Posen speech, our document 1919-PS, US Exhibit No. 170. I read from page 104 of the original, fourth line from the top of the page, from the English translation, page 8.
"It would be an evil day if the Main Offices, performing their tasks well meaningly but mistakenly made themselves independent by each having a downward chain of command. I really think that the day of my overthrow would be the end of the SS. It must be, and so come about, that this SS organization with all its branches--the General SS which is the common basis of all of them, the Waffen-SS, the regular uniformed police, the SIPO, with the whole economic administration, schooling, ideological training, the whole question of kindred, is, even under the tenth Reichsfuehrer-SS, one bloc, one body, one organization." same page of the translation, and at the bottom of page 104 of the original speech, he says, "The regular uniformed police and SIPO"--I beg the Tribunal's pardon. I think I referred you to the wrong passage. It is about the middle of page 8 of the translation, beginning:
"The regular uniformed police and SIPO, General-SS and Waffen-SS must now gradually amalgamate too, just as this is and must be the case within the Waffen-SS. This applies to matters concerning filling of posts, recruiting, schooling, economic organization, and medical services. I am always doing something towards this end, a bond is constantly being cast around these sections of the whole to cause them to grow together. Alas, if these bonds should ever be loosened - then everything - you may generation, and in a short space of time."
them. To understand this organization the theories, upon which it was based must be kept clearly in mind.
They furnish the key to all its activities.
It is necessary, therefore, to consider them in some that of Blood and Elite.
The SS was to be the living embodiment of into effect of the Nazi conception of a master race.
To put it in Himmler's own words the SS was to be a "National Socialistic Soldierly Order of Nordic Men."
In describing to the Wehrmacht the reasons 138, paragraph 1 of the original:
"Accordingly, only good blood, blood which history has proved to military activities, only Nordic blood, can be considered.
I said its own in all cases of emergency."
were selected:
"They are extremely thoroughly examined and checked. Of 100 men we can use on the average of 10 or 15, no more.
We ask for the physical examination and his records of the Hitler South.
Further, disease exists in his parents and in his family."
THE PRESIDENT (interposing): I don't seem to get the point of this.
We have already been told that the SS was a Corps d'Elite,
MAJOR FARR: That is correct; it is showing the details of the
THE PRESIDENT: But that has nothing to do with its being a criminal organization, has it?
MAJOR FARR: I think it has, Your Honor. I want to make again, if I may, two points. The very essence of this organization was that of race. Its racial standards of selection had two things in mind: One, making it an organization which would be an aristocracy not only for Germany, but which would be in a position to dominate all of Europe. For that purpose, not only were strict racial standards imposed for selection, but a great drive was made to perpetuate the SS stock, to build up a group of men who would be in a position to take over Europe when it was conquered.
There was nothing questionable about that aim. Himmler explicitly said it time and time again, "What we are after is making ourselves the superstratum which will be able to dominate Europe for centuries." That was one of the fundamental purposes of the SS, and it was a purpose which was not kept by Himmler to himself, but a purpose which was explained and publicly announced again and again.
THE PRESIDENT: You haven't yet shown us where it was announced, have you?
MAJOR FARR: I have not, sir, and I am coming to that very shortly, but I wanted first to show Your Honor what the racial basis of selection was. That is one aspect of the racial selective process.
The second is this: The negative side of the racism. Not only did Himmler intend to build up an elite which would be able to take over Europe, but he indoctrinated that elite with hatred for all "inferior" -- to use his words -- races. of the SS, we can't understand the organization. I am quite prepared, if the Tribunal desires, not to go further into a discussion of the detail of the process of selection. I do think it important that I quote to the Tribunal the publicly announced basis for selection.
With the Tribunal's permission then, I would like to quote one passage from the Organization Book for the Nazi Party, which explains the racial basis on which the SS was founded. That is our Document 2640-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence as U.S. Exhibit 323. I quote from page 417 of the German text and from page 1 of the translation, fourth paragraph, entitled "Selection of Members." And I quote this because this is not a hidden pronouncement.
This is what the official Nazi Party publication said the SS was:
"Selection of Members.
"For the fulfillment of these missions a homogenous firmly welded fighting force has been created bound by ideological oaths, whose fighters are selected out of the best Aryan humanity.
"The conception of the value of the blood and soil serves as directive for the selection into the SS. Every SS man must be deeply imbued with the sense and essence of the National Socialist Movement. He will be ideologically and physically trained so that he can be employed individually or in groups in the decisive battle for the National Socialist ideology.
"Only the best and thoroughbred Germans are suited for commitment in this battle. Therefore it is necessary that an uninterrupted selection is retained within the ranks of the SS, first superficially, then constantly more thoroughly." three paragraphs down, with respect to obedience. It appears on page 418 of the original, second paragraph. I quote:
"Obedience is unconditionally demanded; arises from the conviction that the National Socialist ideology must rule. He who possesses it and passionately supports it, submits himself voluntarily to the compulsion of obedience. Therefore, the SS man is prepared to carry out blindly every order which comes from the Fuehrer or is given by one of his superiors even if it demands the greatest sacrifice of him."
There are stated the two fundamental principles of the SS: (1) Racial selection; (2) Blind obedience. be used for. I quote from his address to the officers of the SS Leibstandarte "Adolph Hitler" on the "Day of Metz", our document No. 1918-PS, U.S. Exhibit 304. I quote from page 12 of the original document, the middle of thepage; from the translation, page 3, last paragraph. I will begin the translation with the third sentence of that paragraph.
"The ultimate aim for these 11 years during which I have been the Reichsfuehrer SS has been invariably the same:
To create an order of good blood which is able to serve Germany. Which unfailingly and without sparing itself can be made use of because the greatest losses can do no harm to the vitality of this order, the vitality of these men, because they will always be replaced. To create an order which will spread the idea of nordic blood so far that we will attract all nordic blood in the world, take away the blood from our adversaries, absorb it so that never again, looking at it from the viewpoint of grand policy, nordic blood in great quantities and to an extent worth mentioning will fight against us. We must get it and the others cannot have it.
We never gave up the ideas and the aim conceived so many years ago. Everything we did has taken us some distance further on the way. Everything we are going to do will lead us further on the way." explicitly why there was the building up of this order of nordic blood appears on page 3 of the translation, the same document from which I have just quoted, about the middle of the first paragraph. It appears on page 11 of the original speech, about the middle of the page. That is the speech to the officers of the SS Leibstandarte "Adolph Hitler".
"Please understand we would not be able to hold the great Germanic Reich which is about to take shape. I am convinced that we can hold it, but we had to prepare for that. If we once had not enough sons, those who will come after us will have to become cowards. A nation which has an average of four sons per family can venture a war; if two of them die, two transmit the name. The leadership of a nation having one son or two sons per family will have to be faint-hearted at any decision on account of their own experience because they will have to tell themselves; We cannot afford it. Look at France, which is the best example. France had to accept from us a dictate." a positive side of racism -
THE TRIBUNAL (MR BIDDLE) (Interposing): Is that one of the crimes you allege, domination of Europe through an Elite?
MAJOR FARR: One of the crimes alleged is a conspiracy to dominate Europe, preparation for aggressive war, leading to the ultimate colonization of Europe for the benefit of the conspirators. One of the instruments, we submit, used for that policy, and carried out, was the SS. The conspriators began, at the very beginning, the creation of the SS, to build it up so that it would be the elite through which Germany would be able to dominate and rule the conquered territories. conspiracy. It has bearing on the whole program of the conspirators. Now, certainly, in and of itself -
THE PRESIDENT (Interposing): Yes, but, Major Farr, what you have to show is not the criminality of the people who used the weapon; the criminality of the people who composed the weapon.
MAJOR FARR: I think I have to show two things, certainly the criminality of the persons who composed the weapon, but it seems to me I must also show that that weapon played a part in the conspiracy because the indictment alleges -
THE PRESIDENT (interposing): I should have thought you had shown that over and over again, that the SS were a part of the weapon. If there was a criminal conspiracy, then the SS were one of the weapons which were used by the conspirators. But what you have got to show in this part of the case is that the persons who formed that weapon were criminal and knew of the criminal objects of the SS.
MAJOR FARR: I quite agree I have to show that. I suppose I have to show, before showing that the persons involved knew of the criminal aims of the organization, what those criminal aims were. I was simply attempting to show the Tribunal that one of those aims which I submit is criminal was a plan to dominate Europe, and that the SS was one of the means by which that was to be done.
Now, this is Just one aspect of the SS criminality. I am quite ready not to proceed any further with the point if the Court already has the point, and thinks that the evidence of that aspect of its criminality is sufficient. I certainly don't want to labor the point too hard. SS as a racial elite to take over, but I do think no other thing is important, and that is the negative side of that racisim, the hatred for other races, and Himmler made some very striking points along that line as to what the SS was to be to it. I quote from his Posen speech, that is, our Document 1919-PS. The passage in question appears on page 23 of the speech, the original speech, middle of the page, and will be found on page 1 of the English translation, third paragraph.
I quote:
"One, basic principle must be the absolute rule for the SS man. We must be honesty, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of our own blood and to nobody else. What happens to a Russian, to a Czech, does not interest me in the slightest." into evidence, and I shall not repeat them. However, I do want to quote, in the same paragraph, the conclusion that Himmler draws from what he has just said. This sentence is about seven lines from the bottom of the paragraph beginning:
"That is what I want to Instill into this SS and what I believe I have instilled in them as one of the most sacred laws of the future." which was to take over Europe, and the conception of hatred toward inferior races, which was instilled in the SS--these principles were principles which were publicly reiterated over and over again so that the newest recruit was thoroughly steeped in them.
I quote from Himmler's Kharkov speech, which appears in the same document 1919-PS.
MR. BIDDLE: Can't you just give us the meaning of the speech without quoting from it; can you just refer to it?
MAJOR FARR: I will be very glad to do that, if the Court will take judicial notice of it. I will refer you to the passage I have in mind. The passage in question appears on page 14 of the translation, about 15 lines from the bottom of the page; it appears on page 17 of the original, at about the middle of the page. racial struggle, Himmler tells his commanding officers - and he is making this speech to the commanding officers of three divisions of the Waffen SS- he tells his officersthat the thing that he wants to thoroughly instil into every recruit in the organization, so that he becomes saturated with it, is the necessity of the SS standing firm and carrying on the racial struggle without mercy. bear with me - and I think this is important because this, again, is a public quotation, found in the Organization Book of the Party. That is our Document 2640-PS. It is a very short passage, appearing on page 418 of the original, and page 1 of the English translation, the third paragraph from the end of the page in the translation:
"He openly and unrelentingly fights the most dangerous enemies of the State: Jews, Freemasons, Jesuits, and political clergymen." superiority and blind obedience. A necessary corollary of these two principles was ruthlessness. The evidence that we will introduce on these activities will show how successfully the SS learned the lesson it was taught. was carefully cultivated. Himmler himself publicly attested to it as early as 1936 in has pamphlet, "The SS as an anti-Bolshevist Fighting Organization"- our document 1851-PS, which, has already been introduced into evidence as US Exhibit 440. I quote two sentences which appear at page 29 of the original pamphlet, and on page 4 of the translation, the first two sentences:
"I know that there are some people in Germany who become sick when they see these black coats. We understand the reason for this and do not expect that we shall be loved by too many."
remain constantly the essence of Naziism and that its elite quality should never be diluted. maintained, I offer in evidence a letter written to the Defendant Kaltenbrunner by Himmler. This letter is our Document 2768-PS. It is a letter from the Reichsfuehrer SS, written at his field command post and bearing the date 24 April 1943. I offer it as US Exhibit 447. I quote from the first paragraph of that letter:
"Referring again to the matter which we discussed some time ago that is, the admission of SIPO officials into the SS - I wish to clarify again: I want an admission only if the following conditions are fulfilled:
"1. If the man applies freely and voluntarily.
"2. If, by applying strict and peace-time standards, the applicant fits racially and ideologically into the SS, guarantees according to the number of his children a really healthy SS stock, and is neither ill, degenerate, nor worthless."
Then, continuing with the third paragraph:
"I beg you not only to act accordingly in the future, but especially also that numerous admissions into the ranks of the SS in the past be re-examined and revised according to these instructions." manner in which a man became a member of the SS. This is discussed by Himmler in our Document 1992A-PS, at page 142 of the original and page 5 of the translation. If the Court thinks that it can take judicial notice of that passage, I shall not venture to read it. What it does is to describe how a young man comes into the SS normally, at the age of 18, serves an apprenticeship and receives his instructions in SS ideology, takes the SS oath, receives the SS dagger, and how long he remains in the general, active SS. Court will take judicial notice of it.
the SS man takes. That oath is quoted in the Waffen SS recruiting pamphlet, entitled, "The SS Calls You", our Document 3429-PS, which I offer in evidence as US Exhibit 446. The oath appears at page 18 of that pamphlet, and on page 2 of the translation, in the middle of the page. I quote the oath:
"The Oath of the SS Man:
"I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as Fuehrer and Reichschancellor, loyalty and bravery, I vow to you, and to those you have named to command me, obedience unto death, so help me God."
regime. The proof of the elite Nazi quality and thorough reliability opponents or potential opponents of the Nazi regime.
That was the It is our document 2950-PS.
I offer it as US Exhibit 448. I shall "Many people were killed--I don't know how many--who actually did not have anything to do with the putsch.
People who just weren't liked very well, as, for instance, Schleicher, the former Reich Chancellor, were killed.
Schleicher's wife was also killed, and second man in the Party after Hitler.
Strasser, at the time he December of 1932.
The SS was used by Himmler for the execution of these orders to suppress the putsch."
equal in rank to the SA, and other similar ranking. I ask the Court Voelkischer Beobachter of July 26th, 1934.
It is our document No. 1857-PS.
I shall read the translation of that passage, which "The Reich Press Office announces the following Order of Munich, 20th July, 1934."
"The Reichfuehrer SS like the Chief of Staff is, theory."
By its action on June 30th, the SS proved this. It was, to the security of any regime is control of the police.
The aim the SS and the police became intermingled.
Shortly after the in the case against the Gestapo.