The money value of these libraries can only be estimated but surely amounted to 30,000,000 to 49,000,000 Reichsmarks.
Then, quoting from the very end of the report:
"The Working Group, in executing the aforementioned tasks, is bound strictly to the pace set by the Reichskommissar for the handling of the Jewish questions and that of the international organizations." Seyss-Inquart to supervise the execution of the conspirators' program for deportation of Dutch citizens to Germany for slave labor. The Tribunal will recall that Mr. Dodd read into evidence at page 1372 a portion of a transcript of an interrogation of the defendant Sauckel on 5 October 1945, in which it appeared that the quotas for the workers for Holland were agreed upon, and then the numbers given to the Reichskommissar Seyss-Inquart to fulfill, and after the quota was given to Seyss-Inquart, it was his mission to fulfill it with the aid of Sauckel's representative, and then the Tribunal will recall that at Page 1310 of the record, Mr. Dodd, having shown the defendant Seyss-Inquart's part in recruitment for slave labor in this fashion and his responsibility for it, read into the record, page 1310, some portions from document 1726-PS, USA Exhibit 195, which showed the numbers of Netherlands citizens deported to the Reich at various times. Since that is all a matter of record, I will not go into it again. relentless in his treatment of Jewish Netherlanders. To illustrate his attitude, I offer in evidence document 3430-PS, extracts from the defendant's book, Four Years in the Netherlands, Collected Speeches. It becomes USA Exhibit 708. In a speech in Amsterdam on 13 March 1941 -- and I am now quoting from rage 57 of the original book, the last extract on the translation, Seyss-Inquart said:
"The Jews are net for us. They are those enemies with whom we can neither come to an armistice nor to peace. This applies here, if you wish, for the duration of the occupation. Do not expect an order from me which stipulates this, except regulations concerning police matters. We will beat the Jews wherever we meet them, and those who join them must bear the consequences. The Fuehrer declared that the Jews have played their final act in Europe, and therefore they play have played their final act."
Now, as promised, Seyss- Inquart proceeded to promulgate the long series of decrees which first threaten the Jewish people in the Netherlands of their property, of their rights, and degraded them to something lower than the lowest, which eventually resulted in their deportation to Poland.
These decrees, all signed by Seyss-Inquart, are collected in our brief, page 65. I ask the Court to take judicial notice of them. By way of illustration, the first to which I wish to refer appears in the document book as 3333-PS, and it is a decree of 26 October 1940, requiring the registration of businesses belonging to Jews as defined in the decree, including partnerships or corporations in which Jews owned a substantial interest. You've seen this type of law was the inevitable prelude to mass confiscation of the property of Jews under the Nazi administration. In a law found in Verordnungsblatt, No. 6, page 99, 14 February 1941, 3325-PS, Butch universities and colleges were limited in the registration of Jewish students. This of itself doesn't seem important, but it's a part of the program to take away from these people their leadership and degrade them. The decree is 3325-PS, 23 October 1941, decree published in Verordnungsblatt No. 44, at page 841, signed by Seyss-Inquart, prevented Jews from exercising any profession or trade.
THE PRESIDENT: Did you give us the PS number?
LT. ATHERTON: Yes, sir. That is 3328-PS, sir, and it's translated in full. It prevented the Jews from exercising any profession or trade without authorization from administrative authorities, and permitted such authorities to order the termination of any employment contract concerning Jews. lished in the Verordnungsblatt No. 13, page 289, and dated 23 May 1942. This decree required all Jews to make written declaration of claims of any kind of which they might be beneficiaries, at a banking firm known as LippmanRosenthal and Co., which was actually an agency of the Reich at Amsterdam. The degree gave the bank -- this named bank -- all rights to dispose of the claim and provided that payment to the bank should be released in full. This type of Nazi decree was, of course, a forerunner of ultimate deportation to the East and ultimate annihilation.
Evidence of the success of this defendant's efforts to annihilate all Jews in the Netherlands has already been read into the record.
The court will find that Major Walsh--again reading from the report of the Netherlands Government, USA Exhibit 195, at page 1497--showed that out of 140,000 Jewish Netherlanders, 117,000 were deported, over 115,000 of them to Poland, ever eighty per cent. The evidence has shown what was the probable fate of most of these people, and I shan't dwell on it further.
defendant for the systematic terror practiced against the inhabitants of the occupied territories by the Nazis throughout the Occupation. Referring again to the collected speeches in document 3430-PS, on 29 January 1943, the defendant left little doubt of his point of view. He said, and I quote:
"It is also clear, now more than ever, that every resistance which is directed against this fight for existence must be suppressed. Some time ago the representatives of the churches had written to the Wehrmacht commander and to me, and they presented their conception against the executions of death sentences which the Wehrmacht commander announced in the meantime. To this I can only say the following: The moment in which our men, fathers and sons with iron determination look towards their fate in the east and unflinchingly and steadfastly perform their highest pledge, it is unbearable to tolerate conspiracies whose goal is to weaken this easternfront. Whoever dares this must be annihilated. We must be severe and become even more severe against our opponenets. This is the command of a relentless sequence of events and for us perhaps humanly hard, but our holy duty. We remain human because we do not torture our opponents. We remain by annihilating." that is to be done by prosecutors of the French Republic. But the position of the defendant Seyss-Inquart as Reich Commissar, the control which he exercised, which has been shown, particularly over the SS and Police, and the attitude of the man himself will make clear his authorization and participation in the crimes to be proved, and are a further indication of his part in the common plan.
Seyss-Inquart supported the Nazi Party as early as '31. He was a trait to the Government to which he owed allegiance and in which he held high office With full knowledge of the ultimate purposes of the conspirators, he bent every effort to integrate Austria into the Reich and to make its resources and manpower as well as its strategic position available for the Nazi War machine.
He performed these tasks with ruthless efficiency that he was chosen thereafter for key positions in the enslavement of Poland and the Netherlands. The positions which he filled with such satisfaction to his superiors that ultimately he came to be one of the foremost and most detested leaders in this common plan. At such, under Article 6 of the Charter, he is responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of that plan. As such he is guilty of the crimes charged to him under Counts One and Two of the Indictment.
I wish to introduce to the Tribunal at this time Mr. Robert M.W. Kempner, who will represent the prosecution in the next phase of the case dealing with the defendant Frick.
DR. KEMPNER: May it please the Tribunal: There have been distributed to the Tribunal and to all defense counsel trial briefs an documents relating to the defendant Frick. The trial brief prepared by my colleague Karl Lachmann sets forth in great detail the evidence, both in the form of documents and decrees against the defendant Wilhelm Frick. English translations are evidential, and material referred to in the trial briefs are included in the document book prepared by my colleague Lt. Felton. This book has been marked "LL".
Defendant Frick's great contribution to the Nazi conspiracy was in the field of governmental administration. He was the administrative brain who devised the machinery of state for Nazism, who geared that machinery for aggressive war. 1923 to 1945, the defendant Frick occupied a number of important positions. Document 2978-PS, which has previously been introduced as USA Exhibit No. 8, lists the positions in detail. The original was signed by the defendant Frick on 14 October 1945. I do not repeat these positions; they are known to the Court. Frick's past activity on behalf of the Nazi conspirators was his participation in promoting their rise to power. Frick betrayed in his capacity as law enforcement official of the Bavarian Government by participati in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of November 8, 1923. Frick was quite intense to go with Hitler on a charge of complicity and treason. His position in that Putsch is described in a record of the proceedings called "The Hitler Trial Before the Peoples' Court in Munich", published in Munich in 1924.
proceedings. Hitler's appreciation of Frick's assistance is evidenced by the fact that he honored Frick by mentioning his name in "Mein Kampf". Only two other Defendants in this proceeding share this honor; namely, Hess and Streicher. I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of the favorable mention of Defendant Frick in "Mein Kampf", German edition, 1933, page 403. to the Nazi conspiracy. I should like to refer briefly to Document 2513-PS, an excerpt of pages 36 to 38 from the Report entitled "The National Socialist Workers Party as an Association Hostile to the State and to the Republican Form of Government and Guilty of Treasonable Activity." This Report has been previously introduced as Document 2513-PS, USA Exhibit 235. It is an official report of the criminal activities of Hitler, Frick and other Nazis prepared by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior in 1930. It states that Frick, next to Hitler, can be regarded as the most influential representative of the Nazi Party at their trial. This document reported that at the 1927 Party Congress in Nurnberg, Frick said that the Reichstag would first be misused by the Nazi Party, would then be abolished, and that its abolition would open the way for racial dictatorship. The document also reported that Frick stated in a speech in 1929 at Pyritz that this fateful struggle will first be taken up with the ballot, but this cannot continue indefinitely, for history has taught us that in a battle blood must be shed and iron broken.
Back in 1927 Frick's prominent role in helping to bring the Nazis to power was recognized when, on 23 January 1930, he was appointed Minister of the Interior and Education in the State of Thuringia.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you passing from that document now? I thought you were reading from 2513.
DR. KEMPNER: Now, this is an introduction for the next document. I just started with reference to the fact that Adolf Hitler at this time, when Frick was Minister of the Interior in the State of Thuringia, was a Stateless alien, not a German citizen. In his capacity as Minister of Moravia, the Defendant Frick began his manipulations to provide Adolf Hitler, the Stateless aryan, with German citizenship, an essential step toward the realization of the Nazi conspiracy.
of the Nazi Party because, as an alien, Hitler could not become a candidate for the Reich Presidency in Germany. manoeuvre. We now introduce into evidence Document 3564-PS, USA Exhibit No.709. This document is an affidavit by Otto Meissner of 27 December 1945. Meissner was former state secretary and chief of Hitler's Presidential Chancellory. The last two sentences of this affidavit read as follows:
"Frick also, in collaboration with Klagges, Minister of Brunswick, having him appointed a Brunswick government official (Counsellor of Government). This was done in order to make it possible for Reich."
a prominent post in the new regime as Reich Minister of the Interior. In this capacity he became responsible for the establishment of totalitarian control over Germany, an indispensable prerequisite for the preparation of aggressive warfare. Frick assumed responsibility for the realization of a large part of the Nazi conspirators' program both through administration and legislation. in the Nazi State to show the contribution made by Frick to the conspiracy. I offer as evidence of Prick's extensive jurisdiction as Minister of the Interior Document 3475-PS, USA Exhibit No. 710, which is part of the official German manual for administrative officials, dated 1943. I ask that the Tribunal take judicial notice of Frick's jurisdiction mentioned in this document. The names of the men who, according to this document, worked under Frick's supervision, are symbolic, and I stress this point "worked under Frick's supervision." They are listed on page 1 of the English translation.
Here we find among the subordinates of Frick "Reich Health Leader Dr. Conti", "Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police Heinrich Himmler", "Reich Labor Service Leader Rierl". This document shows Frick as supreme commander of three important pillars of the Nazi state:
the Nazi Health Service, the Police System and the Labor Service.
The wide variety of Prick's activities as Reich Minister of the Interior can be judged from the following catalogue of his functions, enumerated on the following catalogue of his functions, enumerated on the following pages of the manual. He had final authority over constitutional questions, drafted legislation, had jurisdiction over governmental administration and civil defense, and was final arbiter in all questions concerning race and citizenship. The manual also lists sections of the ministry concerned with administrative problems for the occupied territories and annexed territories, the new order in the Southeast, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and the new order in the East. He also had full jurisdiction in the field of civil service, including such matters as appointment, tenure, promotion and dismissal. Interior to advance the cause of the Nazi conspiracy. To accomplish this purpose , he drafted and signed the laws and decrees which abolished the autonomous state governments, the autonomous local governments and the political parties in Germany other than the Nazi Party. about 235 laws or decrees, all of which are published in the Reichsgesetzblatt. I should like to refer briefly to a few of the more important laws and decrees, such as the law of 14, July 1933 outlawing all political parties other than the Nazi Party, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1933, I, page 479 (Document 1388A-PS); the law of 1 December 1933 securing the unity of Party and state, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1933, I, page 1016 (Document 1395-PS); the law of 30 January 1934 transferring the sovereignty of the German states to the Reich, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1934, I, page 75 (Document 3068-PS); the German Municipality Act of 30 January 1935, which gave Frick's Ministry of the Interior final authority to appoint and dismiss all members of parties who are against Germany, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1935, I, page 49 (Document 2008-PS); and finally the Nazi Civil Service Act of 7 April 1933 which provided that all civil servants must be trustworthy as defined by Nazi standards and also must meet the Nazi racial requirements, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1933, I, page 175 (Document 1397-PS).One category of Frick's activities, however, deserves special notice; that is, the crushing of opposition by legally camouflaged police terror.
This is shown by the book, "Dr. Wilhelm Frick and His Ministry", our Document 3119-PS which is in evidence as US Exhibit No.711, written by Frick, Undersecretary, and some co-conspirator, Hans Fundner, apparently written to establish Frick's eternal contribution to the creation of the Nazi's thousand year Reich. It states, and I quote briefly from page 4, paragraph 4, of the English translation:
"While Marxism in Prussia was crushed by the hard fist of the Prussian Prime Minister, Hermann Goering, and a gigantic wave of propaganda was initiated for the Reichstag elections of 5 March 1933, Dr. Frick prepared the complete seizure of power in all states of the Reich. All at once the political opposition disappeared. All at once the Main (River) line was eliminated -- from this time on only one will and one leadership reigned in the German Reich."
How was this done? On February 28, 1933, the day after the Reichstag fire, civil rights in Germany were abolished. This decree was published in the Reichsgesetzblatt, 1933, page 83, and an English translation of it appears in the document book as number 1390-PS. I refer to this decree at this time because it carries the signature of the Reich Minister of the Interior, Frick.
And now something important. It is stated at the beginning of the decree, which was published on the morning after the Reichstag fire, that the suspension of civil rights is decreed as a defense measure against Communist acts of violence endangering the State. announced that a thorough investigation had proven that the Communists had set fire to the Reichstag building. to the Reichstag, but I should like to offer proof that the official Nazi statement that the Communists were responsible for the fire was issued without any investigation, and that the preamble of the decree which had Frick's signature was a mere subterfuge.
THE PRESIDENT: (Interposing): You are going too fast. You must try and go a little bit slower.
DR. KEMPNER: I offer into evidence a very short excerpt of an interrogation of Defendant Goering, dated October 13, 1945, our Document 3593-PS, USA Exhibit 712, and I should like to read the following brief portion, beginning on page 4:
My question to Goering: "How could you tell your press agent, one hour after the Reichstag caught fire, that the Communists did it, without investigation?"
Goering's answer: "Did the public relations officer say that I said that?"
My answer: "Yes. He said you said it."
Goering: "It is possible when I came to the Reichstag, the Fuehrer and his gentlemen were there. I was doubtful at the time but it was their opinion that the Communists had started the fire."
My question: "But you were the highest law enforcement official in a certain sense. Daluege was your subordinate. Looking back at it now, and not in the excitement that was there once, wasn't it too early to say without any investigation that the Communists had started the fire?"
Goering: "Yes , that is possible, but the Fuehrer wanted it this way," Question:
"Why did the Fuehrer want to issue at once a statement that the Communists had started the fire?"
Answer: "He was convinced of it."
Question: "It is right when I say he was convinced without having any evidence or any proof of that at this moment?"
Goering: "That is right, but you must take into account that at that time the Communist activity was extremely strong, that our new government as such was not very secure."
THE PRESIDENT : Dr. Kempner, what has that got to do with Frick?
DR. KEMPNER: He signed the decree, as I said before, abolishing civil liberties, on the morning after, pointing out that there was a Communist danger.
On the other side, this Communist danger was a mere subterfuge and was one of the things which finally led to the second World War. but he also became the organizer of the huge police network of the Nazi Reich. Reich Police system; the individual German states had police forces of their own. 1936, signed by Frick and published in the Reichsgesetzblatt, 1936, page 487. An English translation of this decree is in the document book under the number 2073-PS.
Section 1 of this Frick decree reads as follows:
"For the unification of police duties in the Reich, a Chief of German Police is instituted in the German Ministry of the Interior, to whom is assigned the direction and conduct of all police affairs." Hitler, the signers of the decree, who appointed Himmler as Chief of the German Police. quote, "subordinated individually and directly to the Reich and Prussian Minister of the Interior." And, of course, that is Frick. which has already been introduced into evidence as USA Exhibit 449, clearly shows the position of the Reich Minister of the Interior Frick as the supreme commander of the entire German police system, including the notorious RSHA, of which the Defendant Kaltenbrunner became chief, under Frick, in January 1943. police system for the promotion of the Nazi conspiracy. The Tribunal may take judicial notice of Frick's decree of September 20, 1936, published in the Minsterial Gazette of the Reich-Ministerialblatt des Reichs, und Preussischen Ministerium des Innern, 1936, page 1343, Document 2245-PS.
inspectors of the security police, subordinated them to his district governors, the Oberpraesidenten, and ordered them to have a close cooperation with the Party and the armed forces. in his ordinance of March 18, 1938, concerning the Austrian Anschluss, in which Frick authorized the Reichsfuehrer of the SS and Police, Himmler, to take security measures in Austria without regard to previous legal limitations. This decree is published in the Reichsgesetzblatt, 1938, page 262, and appears in the document book as 1437-PS. activities of the German police, over which the Defendant Frick had supreme authority. I should simply like to refer the Tribunal to the presentations already made on the subject of concentration camps and the Gestapo, two of the police institutions under Frick's jurisdiction. But I should like to show that not only Himmler's subordinate machine but also Frick's ministry itself was familiar with these institutions. Therefore, I now offer into evidence Document 1643-PS, as USA Exhibit 713.
of the Interior and its field offices from November 1942 through August 1943, on the subject of the legal aspects of the confiscation of property by the SS for the enlargement of the concentration camp at Auschwitz. At the bottom of page 1 and top of page 2 of the English translation there appears a synopsis of the minutes of a meeting held on December 17 and 18, 1942, concerning the confiscation of this property. These minutes indicate that a further discussion was to be held on the subject on 21 December, 1942, between the representatives of the Reich Minister of the Interior and the ReichsfuehrerSS. On page 2 there appears also a summary of a teletype letter dated January 22, 1943, from Dr. Hoffman, representing the Reich Minister of the Interior, to the District Governor in Kattwitz.
The summary begins as follows, and I quote:
"The territory of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp will be changed into an independent state"--which means an administrative territory of itself. a concentration camp became known through the testimony of Dr. Blaha, to which I should like to refer the Tribunal, and in which he testified that Frick visited the Dachau Camp in 1943. conspiracy concerns his promotion of racial persecution and racism, involving the wiping out of the Jews. administrative empire covered the entire area of the enactment and administration of racial legislation.
I refer again to Document 3475-PS, "The Maual for German Administrative Officials", previously introduced, and I refer to pages 2 and 4, showing that Frick was administrative and legislative guardian and protector of the German race. drafted by Frick's ministry against the Jews. The presentation concerning persecution of the Jews made by Major Walsh before the Christmas recess listed a number of decrees signed by Frick, including the infamous Nurnberg Laws, and the laws depriving Jews of their property, their rights of citizenship, and stigmatizing them with the Yellow Star.
But the activities of Frick's ministry were not restricted to the commission of such crimes, camouflaged in the form of legislation. The police field offices, subordinate to Frick, participated in the organization of such terroristic activities as the Progrom of November 9, 1938.
I refer to a series of Heydrich's orders and reports concerning the organization of these progroms - or, as they were termed by Heydrich, "spontaneous riots" - Documents 3051-PS and 3058-PS, which are already in evidence as USA Exhibits 240 and 508. Stuckart and his subordinates Heydrich and Daluege, participated in a conference on the Jewish question under the chairmanship of the defendant Goering. At this meeting the vario us measures were discussed which the individual governmental departments should initiate against the Jews. A stenographic record of this meeting, Document 1816-PS, is already in evidence as USA Exhibit 261, May I briefly refer to the bottom of page 23 of the English translation where we find Goering's concluding remarks:
"Also the Ministry of the Interior and the Police will have to think over what measures will have to be taken."
This remark shows that Goering regarded it as Frick's duty to follow up by administrative devices the progrom, organized by Frick's own subordinates. as a member of the conspiracy devised the machinery of the state for Nazism. In the following presentation, we will show that Frick actively supported the preparation of the Nazi State for war. the flagrent violations by Germany of her treaties of non-aggression. This is clearly shown by the affidavit of Ambassador Messersmith, Document 2385-PS, previously introduced as USA Exhibit 68. I shall quote only one sentence from this affidavit, page 4, line 10. It reads as follows:
"High ranking Nazis with whom I had to maintain official contact, Germany's interests to do so."
administration of the Reich, Frick became one of the big three in charge of preparing Germany for war. The other two members of the triumvirate were the Chief of the OKW and the General Plenipotentiary for Economy, at that time the defendant Schacht. Frick has admitted that he held the position of General Plenipotentiary since 21 May 1935, the date of the original secret Reich Defense Law. I refer to his statement of positions, Document 2978-PS, USA Exhibit No. 8. Defense Law of 4 September 1938, which was classified top military secret and appears in our document book as 2194-PS, USA Exhibit 36. Under this law of 1938, paragraph 3, tremendous power was concentrated in the hands of Frick as General Plenipotentiary for Administration. In addition to the offices under his supervision as Minister of the Interior, the law made the following offices subordinate to Frick for the purpose of carrying out the directives of the law: Reich Minister of Justice, Reich Minister of Education, Reich Minister for Religious Matters and the Reich Office for Planning. war as a member of the triumvirate in a speech made on 7 March 1940 at the University of Freiburg. Excerpts appear in the document book as 2608-PS, which I offer in evidence as USA Exhibit 714. I think it would be helpful if the Tribunal would allow me to read two short paragraphs, beginning at the top of page 1 of the English translation:
"... The organ ization of the non-military national defense fits government and administration.
This state of affairs is not Socialist order.
Thus, the conversion of our administration and changes of the entire structure of the State."
"The planned preparation of the administration for the possibility of a war has already been carried out during the peace. For this purpose, the Fuehrer appointed a Plenipotentiary General for the Reich Administration and a Plenipotentiary General for the Economy."
Many of Frick's contributions to the preparation of the German state for war are outlined in detail in the book "Dr. Wilhelm Frick and His Ministry", which is already in evidence (Document 3119-PS) May I quote two short sentences from the top of page 3 of the English translations:
"Besides, the leading cooperation of the Reich Minister of the emphasized.
After all, the Reich Minister of the Interior is the military supervision."
responsible for the administrative policy in occupied and annexed, territories. It was his ministry which introduced the new German order throughout the vast territory of Europe occupied by the German armed forces, and the defendant Frick exercized these powers. I request that the Tribunal take judicial notice of three decrees signed by Frick, introducing German law into Austria, the Sudetenland and the Government General of Poland respectively: Decree of 13 March 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1938, I, page 237, Art. 8. (Document 2307-PS): Decree of 1 October 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1938, I, page 1331, paragraph 8 (Document 3073-PS): Decree of 12 October 1939, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1939, I, page 2077, paragraph 8(1) (Document 3079-PS).
Frick's ministry also arranged the selection and assignment of hundreds of occupation officials for the Soviet territory even before the invasion. This fact appears in a report by the defendant Rosenberg of April 1941 on preparations for the administration of occupied territory in the East. May I refer to page 2, paragraph 2, of Document 1039-PS, which has previously been introduced as USA Exhibit 146.
One category of Frick's contribution to the planning of and preparation for aggressive war deserves special notice. This is the systematic killing of persons regarded as useless to the German war machine, such as the insane, crippled and aged, and foreign laborers who were no longer able to work. These killings were carried out in nursing homes, hospitals and asylums. The Tribunal will recall that the defendant Frick, in his capacity as Reich Minister of the Interior, had jurisdiction over public health and institutions. May I refer again briefly to the "Manual for German Administrative Officials", Document 3475-PS, this time to pages 3, 4 and 7 of the English partial translation. There, the following are mentioned as Frick's jurisdictional areas: "Health Administration", "Special Hygiene", "Heredity and Racial Welfare", "Reich Plenipotentiary for Sanataria and Nursing Homes."
As proof that Frick's jurisdiction covered the death cases in these institutions, I now offer in evidence Document 621-PS, USA Exhibit 715, which is a letter of 2 October 1940 from the Chief of the Reich Chancellory, Dr. Lammers, to the Reichsminister of Justice, informing the latter that material concerning the death of inmates of nursing homes had been transmitted to the Reichsminister of the Interior for further action.
In fact, the defendant Frick not only had jurisdiction over these establishments, but he was one of the originators of a secret law organizing the murdering.
I now offer Document 1556-PS, USA Exhibit 716. This is an official report dated December 1941 of the Czechoslovak War Crimes Commission, entitled "Detailed Statement on the Murdering of Ill and Aged People in Germany." I should like to quote very brief excerpts from this report. Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 read as follows:
"1) The murdering can be traced back to a secret law which was released "2) Besides the Chief Physician of the Reich, Dr. L. Conti, the introduction of this secret law:
(other names are listed).
"3) As I have already stated, there were - after careful calculation incurable cases - and at least 75,000 aged people."
which were under Frick's jurisdiction and operated under the order of which Frick was a co-author, is the famous Hadamar case. this presentation, because the Chief Prosecutors agreed, as I understood, to start tomorrow morning the case of the French, and I have just ten more minutes.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, very well.
DR. KEMPNER: Thank you, your Lordship.
I refer back to the Hadamar case. I now offer in evidence Document No. 615 PS, U.S.A. Exhibit 717.
THE TRIBUNAL (By Mr. Biddle): What is this last report that you spoke about, 1556? Whose is it?
DR. KEMPNER: The Czechoslovak War Crimes Commission report, and after I have shown the general scheme, of which Frick was a part also, I would like to show that Frick's ministry was acquainted with the things that were going on under his organizational authorship, and therefore I am quoting now a letter to show that he was acquainted with these killings and that these killings had even become public knowledge. For this reason I offer in evidence Document 615 PS, U.S.A. Exhibit No. 717. This document is a letter from the Bishop of Limburg of 13 August 1941 to the Reichsminister of Justice. Copies were sent to the Reichsminister of the Interior - this means Frick -and the Reichsminster for Church Affairs. I now quote from this letter:
"About 8 kilometers from Limburg, in the little town of Hadamar, nursing home; this institution was renovated and furnished as a proximately since February 1941.
The fact has become known be home communities."
........ And I quote further:
"Several times a week buses arrive in Hadamar with a considerable number of such victims.
School children of the vicinity know this vehicle and say:
'There comes the murder-box again.' After the "The effect of the principles at work here are:
Children call each other names and say, 'You re crazy; you'll be sent to the baking oven in Hadamar.
' Those who do not want to marry, or find no opportunity, say, 'Marry, never' Bring children into the world so they can be put into the bottling machine]' You hear old folks say, 'Don't send me to a state hospital.
' After the feeble come are the old people.