THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps you can look at it and we will have it handed to us later.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL FYFE: By Lord, if I understood Dr. Servatius correctly it is on the numbers of those who ore to be included on the organizations. Colonel Griffith Jones has prepared an exact statement of these when the Prosecution think are to be included and their numbers, which he proposed to give to the Tribunal at the close of Dr. Servatius' speech which may remove some of the difficulties which Dr. Servatius has in mind. But My Lord, I make no objection to the document going in to assist the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, I did not quite follow as to when I was to receive these figures; after my final submission or before then. Of course, I think it would be important if I could knew that in advance.
THE PRESIDENT: I think you will receive the document to which Sir David Maxwell Fyfe was referring to before you make your final submission because after you have dealt with your documents the other representatives of the organizations will have to deal with their documents and their affidavits. We will have it during that time.
DR. SERVATIUS: May I submit this statistical report?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
DR. SERVATIUS: Then I should like to conclude my statement herewith, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Now which of the organizations shall we take next. I beg your pardon. Yes?
LT. COLONEL GRIFFITH JONES: I do not know whether it would be convenient for the Tribunal if I submitted some particulars of the figures which we were discussing the other day.
THE PRESIDENT: Could you not put in and hand to Dr. Servatius this statistical summary and then deal with the rest of the matter in argument? I understood from Sir David that you have a statistical document showing the number of political leaders whom the Prosecution contend are involved.
Well, Dr. Servatius wants to see that and, therefore, if you wall give him that, that will be all that is necessary, will it not?
LT. COLONEL GRIFFITH JONES: My Lord, yes, except simply to explain what the document is, which will take two minutes. I think it will be of assistance to the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: If it will only take two minutes.
LT. COLONEL GRIFFITH JONES: They are figures taken from the organization book. On pare one the Tribunal will see the total numbers set cut of all the political leaders whom the Prosecution are including inthe organizations; the Hoheitstraeger, the staff of the Reichsleiter, the staff of the Gauleiter, the staff of the Kreisleiter. For the information of the Tribunal I have also included the staff of the Ortsgruppenleiter of 340,000. That total is 940,000. You deduct again the Ortsgruppen staff which I excluded and you get your figure of 600,000. officeholders on the Reichsleiter, Gauleiter and Kreisleiter staffs. The Reichsleiter, I think, speaks for itself. The Tribunal perhaps will look at Appendix "C". There it all be seen that the offices on the Gauleiter staff are set out. only say that those show the maximum establishment of the Gau and Kreis staffs and they were not by any means always up to strength so that the figures, the total figure 600,000 is to be the maximum that is possible.
THE PRESIDENT: Now we will deal with the Gestapo.
DR. MERKEL (Counsel for the Gestapo): Mr. President, first of all I should like to have permission to discuss my document book. I have already introduced the various documents with the exception of Gestapo Exhibit Number 31, which I should like to submit at this point. the political police in general. I should like to ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of both these documents and I should like to ask the same with reference to Gestapo Exhibit 3 and 8. They contain the basic laws and directives dealing with the set-up, the development and the aims behind the Gestapo and first of all dealing with Prussia and finally for the entire Reich area.
German police official law dealing with the 24th of June, 1937. I shall read Paragraph 1 from it. This is found on Page 20 of the document book.
"This law pertains to the executive officials of the Security police and the Criminal Investigation Police of the Reich and the communities, the Military Police, and the secret State Police, as well as for other police executive agents of the Security Police (police executive agents)." executive officials had a special position in that they alone were subordinate to the police law, not the other branches, such as, for instance, administrative.
Now, Gestapo Exhibit No. 10 contains the temporary executive decree of this law which we have just mentioned, It delineates the concept of the executive police officials. I quote from Part 1, concerning Paragraph 1 of the law; and this may be found on Page 33 of the document book: "Police executive officials are with the Reich Criminal Investigation police, the Secret State Police, and also with other branches of the Security Police : Criminal Assistants (Kriminalassistenten), Criminal Senior Assistants (Kriminaloberassistenten), Criminal Secretaries, (Kriminalsekretaere), Criminal District Secretaries (Kriminalbezirkssekretaere), Criminal Inspectors (Kriminalinspektoren), Criminal Commissars (Kriminalkommissare), Criminal Counsels (Kriminalraete), Criminal Directors (Kriminaldirektoren), Councillors of the Government and, Criminal Police (Regierungs und Kriminalraete), Senior Councillors of the Government and Criminal police (Oberregierungs and Kriminalraete), Directors of Government Criminal Police Departments (Regierungs und Kriminaldirektoren) and Directors of the Reich Criminal Police (Reichskriminaldirektoren)."
officials of the Gestapo became direct Reich Officials. I quote from Gestapo Exhibit No. 11, Page 36 of the document book, "Article 1. The following are to become direct officials of the Reich:
Officials of the Security police (Gestapo and Criminal Police), but not police officials serving in the State Police Administrations for the Criminal Police." like to have the High Tribunal take official notice of It. It is a copy of the law of the 17th of June, 1936, dealing with the appointment of a chief of the German police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior; and I should like to have the High Tribunal take official notice of Gestapo Exhibit No. 13, which concerns itself with the use of inspectors in the Security Police.
Gestapo Exhibit No. 14 was submitted as USA Exhibit 266 and has been submitted as such already, and it is proved that it was prohibited to the Party to be active in the Gestapo. I should like to quote from Figure 1, second paragraph, which is at page 42 of the first document book.
"I forbid all offices of the Party, its organizations and affiliated associations to undertake investigayions and interrogations in matters which are the business of the Gestapo. All occurrences of a political-police character are to be brought immediately to the knowledge of the competent offices of the Gestapo, as before, without prejudice to their being further reported along Party channels." book, I should like to quote a third paragraph. "I particularly emphasize that all cases of treasonable activity against state or realm coming to the knowledge of the Party are to be reported to the Gestapo without delay. It is in no way a task of the Party to make investigations or inquiries of any kind in the so matters on its own initiative."
THE PRESIDENT : From which page was it that you were reading then?
DR. MERKEL. Page 43, Mr. President, Page 43 of the German document book.
THE PRESIDENT : May I have the herding?
DR. MERKEL : Yes, the heading is "Reporting of Treasonable Activities to the Gestapo", and from that I read the third paragraph, starting with the words : "I particularly emphasize that ..."
THE PRESIDENT : Yes, I sec.
DR. MERKEL : That the taking over of political offices by officials of the gestapo was not welcomed by the Gestapo may be seen from Page 3 of this document, which is Page 44 of the document book, the last paragraph : "since it", that is, the Secret State Police, "is still in the process of organization and the available officials and employees are very much in demand. they are only to take over positions in the Party to the extent that this is compatible with their official duties in the Gestapo.
From Gestapo Exhibit No. 15, which is an excerpt from the Reich administrative law of 1933, I should like to say that the Gestapo could receive complaints. This is the first paragraph, Page 46 of the document book: "Since the Law on the Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei) of the 30th of November, 1933, became effective, orders of the Office of the Secret state Police (Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt) can no longer be contested according to the provisions of the Law on the Administration of Police. The only comedy against them is a complaint to the superior authority. the Gestapo and of the Office of the Gestapo page 3 of this same document, which is Page 48 of the document book.
I shall quote paragraph 2, "In accordance with all this the legal status of the Office of the Secret State Police since the Law of the 3oth of November 1933, became effective is the following : The office is part of a special authoritative organization, the "Secret State Pllice" which forms an independent branch of the Administration of the Prussion State. It hasm like the Secret State Police as a whole, a special field of duties : the management of affairs of the political police." High tribunal take official notice. They deal with the introduction of the laws establishing the Gestapo in non-German areas. Gestapo Exhibit No, 19 deals with the border police as a part of the Gestapo and is the copy of a circular of the Reich and Prussion Ministry of the Interior of the 8th of May, 1937. I shall quote from No. III. This is Page 53 of the document book, "The execution of the police tasks at the frontier is entrusted to the Border Police Branches (Border Police Commissioners office and Border Police Posts)." I shall omit the next sentence. "The Border Police Commissioners" Offices (including the Border Police Posts established by them) are, as before the Border Service Stations in Prussia and Baden , offices for foreign service of the State Police Branches competent for their district."
Gestapo Exhibit No. 19 is a copy of a circular given out by the Chief of the SIPO and Department III of the 30th of June 1944, in which thenunification of the military and political police defense machine is set up. I shall quote from this text, just auote the first three paragraphs, at Page 56 of the document book. I quote :
"The resulte of the transfer of the special department III. Economy existing within the former branches to the agencies of the State Police, is the union of the counter-espionage protection entrusted to the army, and the political police in industry and economy.
"The responsibility for the defense of the armaments industry as well as of all other was and vital plants from esionnage is henceforth the responsibility of the chief of the Security Police and of the Security Service and his subordinate offices of the Secret State Police.
"The carrying out of counter-espionnago departments in plants are now exclusively the task of the Secret State Police, according to the instructions given by the Reich Security Office.
Dealing with other Gestapo Exhibit No. 20, I ask the High Tribunal to take official notice. It is a directive given out by Himmler on the 25th of November 1938, dealing with the are tion of a central office for preliminary registration for police purposes. Through the setting up on this office, it was possible to detail members for service in this branch, even against their will.
Concerning Gestapo Exhibit No. 21, I should like to have hte High Tribunal take official notice of that document as well. It Goals with qualification tests for applicants for service in the Security Police; and the same applies to Gestapo Exhibit No. 22, which is a directive of the 14th of December 1936. It says that candidates for Criminal Commissioners will have to meet the same tests or have the same qualifications as candidates for the regular criminal Police.
Then, concerning Gestapo Exhibit No. 23, I should like to have the High Tribunal take official notice of that document, which is a decree of the 2nd of June, 1937, whuch says that police and gendarmerie officials details for service were detailed for service in that they did not come to the Gestapo voluntarily.
THE PRESIDENT : What you are doing now isn't assisting the Tribunal in the very least. Would it not be better to submit all these documents, that is to say, to put them in, and ask us to take judicial notice of them, which we shall do, because they are decrees, and then to refer to any particular paragraphs in them when you come to make your argument? I say that because this is meaningless to us to read excerpts; and it is confusing to read a number of them without Making any submissions at all about them. When you come to make your argument, you can draw our attention to any particular passage you want in order to explain the arguments, but this is not doing you any good at all.
DR. MERKEL: Yes, Mr. President, 1 have made provisions 19 Aug M LJG Daniels 5-1 for that in my final summation.
However, in my final summation I am trying to be as brief as possible, and I only refer to these documents, on the assumption that I might read them now in the submission of documents. However, if the High Tribunal wish to take judicial notice of these documents, then of course I shall be satisfied.
THE PRESIDENT: It is more informative to our minds than to have it separated between the reading of the documents now and your final argument. If we have to listen to the same sort of thing from all other organizations, why it is beyond human ability to carry all these things in our minds.
Dr. Merkel, if there are any special passages in these decrees or documents which you wish to draw our attention to now, in order that we may read them carefully before you make your speech, well and good; but it is no good going through one after the other like this without making any comment at all. Dc you follow what I mean?
DR. MERKEL: Yes, Mr. President, I quite understand. For that reason I only read you a few brief sentences from the verr, very important ones, and I ask that the High Tribunal take judicial notice of the rest.
THE PRESIDENT: I don't know what you call a very few brief ones, but we have had about fifteen or twenty already. That doesn't seem to me to be very few.
DR. MERKEL: Of course, Mr. President, we must take into consideration that we have only three hours at our disposal for the final summation. For that reason it seems suitable to me, first of all, to submit my documentary evidence in such a way so that the documents can be submitted to the High Tribunal. Then, in the final summation, I would refer to it in a summary way. Since this documentary material must be submitted to the High Tribunal in some way or other, at some time or other, we considered it mere suitable to separate the two, to submit the documentary material now, shortly, and then, in our final summary, to deal with an evaluation of these pieces of evidence which 19 Aug M LJG Daniels 5-2 had been submitted briefly.
these documents. In the second, volume of my document book there are but a few documents from which I wish to quote a few brief passages.
THE PRESIDENT: Go on, then.
DR. MERKEL: Gestapo Exhibit number 32, the first one in my document book number 2, shows that the combatting of partisan bands was not the concern of the party or of Himmler, but rather of the Army itself; and I should like to refer to an affidavit in this case deposed by a certain Rode, which has already been submitted as USA document 562.
Gestapo Exhibit No. 33 shows that the orders regarding the execution of Russian prisoners of war in the concentration camps came from the inspector of the concentration camp and not from Amt IV, or Office IV, of the RSHA. execution of protective custody, and I ask that the High Tribuanl take judicial notice of them, as well as No. 37.
I now turn to Gestapo Exhibit No. 38, which is a copy of a letter of the Inspector of the Concentration Camps of the 15th of October, 1936. I quote from figure number 2, at page 101 of my document back:
"Besides the Chief of the German Police, the following are authorized to enter concentration camps:
"a. The Chiefs of the three SS Main Headquarters.
"b. The administrative Chief of the SS.
"c. The chief of RFSS Personnel.
"d. The SS Gruppenfuehrers."
I should like to quote figure 4:
"All other SS members, official commissioners And civilians, desiring to enter promises in which prisoners are ledged or engaged in work, for the purpose of visiting, require my express written authorization."
19 Aug M LJG Daniels 5-3 Gestapo Exhibit No. 39 deals with the same topic.
42, 43, 44 and 45, as proof of the fact that concentration camps were not under the Gestapo, but rather the Reich Administrative Office. 47. Number 46 is a questionnaire ire addressed to August Eigruber of the 27th of March 1946; and number 47 is a questionnaire addressed to Friedrich Karl von Eberstein, dated, the 26th of March, 1946. Both have already been submitted by the defense counsel for the defendant Kaltenbrunner. workers for the Reich area, and there is proof that this was the solo responsibility of the General Plenipotentiary for Labor. Exhibits 54 to 57. are matters contained in 58 and 59.
Gestapo Exhibit No. 60 is the well-known decree about increased or intensified interrogations. Heydrich to Goering of the 11th of November, 1938, and it shows that the Gestapo took stops against the excesses of the night of the 9th to the 10th of November, 1938. testimony given by Dr. Mildner of the 22nd of June, 1945. It refers to the deportation of the Jews, and the subordination of the concentration camps under the SS Administrative and Economic Main office.
Mr. President, this will conclude my documentary evidence. submit, first of all, the German copies of the transcript taken.
before the Commission, which I did not have up until now. I 19 Aug M LJG Daniels 5-4 should like to submit them to the Tribunal.
They are copies of the transcript of the 9th, 19th and 27th of July, and the 3rd of August. They are contained, in summary fern, in Gestapo Exhibits 1 through 91.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Merkel, it isn't necessary for you to submit copies of the transcript of the Commission's evidence; it comes to us directly from the Commission, so you need not trouble about that.
DR. MERKEL: Very well, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: It is suggested to me that perhaps it would be better for you to crier it in evidence and give it a number in your list of numbers.
DR. MERKEL: Then I shall give the transcript of the 9th of July the number Gestapo Exhibit No. 63; the 19th of July shall be Exhibit No. 64; the 27th of July, 65; and the 3rd of August, Gestapo Exhibit No. 36. affidavits has been prepared in the following way so that time can be saved, Twenty-two out of the 91 have been translated. their subject matter, and I shall read from these affidavits which have been translated some few brief passages which seen of especial importance to me. I would like to read these into the record.
Se far as the rest of the affidavits are concerned. I should like to have the High Tribunal take judicial notice of them. affidavit is at hand composed of 1255 special, single affidavits This summary is in line with the resolution of the Court of the 5th of July, 1946. It was made out by former members of the Gestapo who are now interned, and the authenticity of this summary was affirmed by me. I ask your permission to read this brief summary.
19 Aug M LJG Daniels 5-5 numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 13, 71, and 90. They deal with the occupied countries. the leadership of Dannecker. From 1940 to 1942, they were carried out by the German military authorities, in agreement with the Ambassadors, and the German military commander decreed the rest. was done by the Field Commanders. In May of 1942 the Secret Field Police were, perforce, taken into the SIPO. Police directives, up until April of 1942, lay in the hands of the French police and of the German military police units. ask permission to read the following. Page 1, paragraph 2.
"From October 1940 until October 1941, 1 was chief of the outside office of the Security Police and of the Security Service in Dijon, and from December 1943 up to the retreat from France I was Commander of the Security Police and of Security Service in Dijon.
"Composition of the Security Police Command Dijon:
"There were about ten Gestapo members; 13 criminal investigation, Kripo, members; and 69 men called up for emergency service (Notdienstverpflichtete).
"As can be seen from the list, of the 92 male members of my Command at the time, ten only belonged to the Gestapo. Hereby it must be taken into account that of these 10 Gestapo members, the larger part did not volunteer for the Gestapo but were transferred or ordered to it, or came to it for some other reason, without these concerned having been able to have any influence on the decision or to resist it."
"The Security Police Command Dijon must be regarded as an average command in France, for its strength as well as for its 19 Aug M LJG Daniels 5-6 composition.
On page 3 of this affidavit, after the heading "Jewish Questions", I shall read a brief paragraph which follows. It reads:
"Recaptured prisoners of war were not even once brought to a concentration camp or shot by the Dijon office, but immediately turned over to the nearest competent army office."
THE PRESIDENT: Where are you reading now?
DR. MERKEL: Mr. President, this is taken from Affidavit No. 2, at page 3 of the German original, and it follows after the brief heading, "Jewish Question". It is the first paragraph on the page.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
DR. MERKEL: It begins with the words "Recaptured prisoners of wars".
I shall skip the next four paragraphs and shall continue:
"There were no special Security-police or Security service (SD) prisons in the Dijon area. Besides, never were arrestees in any prisons executed by orders of the Security Police (Sipo) or Security Service (SD), to prevent their liberation by allied troops."
Dealing with affidavit Number 3. May I read the following? It is in the beginning of the second paragraph.
"In September 1941 I was transferred from the infantry to the GFP (Secret Field Police), and without my having anything to do with it, in June 1942 I was commanded to the office of the commander of the Sipo and the SD in Poitiers."
Next paragraph, "The Sipo command at Poitiers was composed of about 5 officials of the Stapo and about 5 officials of the Kripo; about 80 former members of the GFP, who, the same as I, were released jointly from the Wehrmacht and were engaged for war emergency service."
On page 2 of this affidavit, under the heading "Command Order", I should like to read the following.
"This order is known to me only in its basic idea through Wehrmacht reports, press, and so forth." I shall omit the next sentence. "This order was not carried out in the Poitier sphere. I an mention two examples:
"In June 1942 in a joint action of the Sipo and the Wehrmacht, a camp with 40 English parachute troops was raided whereby during the short fight only 3 Englishmen were killed, while those left were taken prisoner and given over to the Wehrmacht, although it was established that the group had carried out acts of sabotage on a railroad three kilometers from Poiters, and more than 200 kilometers behind the invasion line, and had provided French partisans with arms and had organized them."
THE PRESIDENT: What does that mean, "200 kilometers behind the invasion line" in reference to June, 1942?
DR. MERKEL: That is the town of Portiers which is about 200 kilometers behind the invasion line.
THE PRESIDENT: There was no invasion in 1942.
DR. MERKEL: I beg your pardon. It is June 1944. That is a typographical error, your Lordship.
THE PRESIDENT: Go on.
DR. MERKEL: "Likewise, in March 1944, in the same territory, 5 American airmen who were met wearing civilian clothes and in company of 40 armed partisans, were taken prisoners and over to the Luftwaffe."
The next point I should like to summarize. Those are affidavits numbered 5, 6, 7, 8, and 14. Mr. President, in this connection, I beg your pardon that the numbers are not in consecutive order, and this may be explained through the fact that these affidavits, as far as they come from camps, were received at various intervals. The affidavits deposed by the witnesses here in the local jail were received one at a time, therefore it is inevitable that these affidavits are not numbered consecutively. I should like to repeat the numbers: 5, 6, 7, 8, and 14. These affidavits prove that the Gestapo was not concerned with the excesses of the 9th and 10th of November, 1938, and that it was not only not participating, but took stops against it. In numerous cases, it undertook arrests of the members of the SA and the SD. The 20,000 Jews who were arrested were once more released after their immigration papers had been established.
The numbers 15 through 21; 21 through 34, 72, 73, 76, 84, and 85 comprise a group which deals with the following. The offices of the Security Police and SD in occupied countries were not made up of voluntary members, administrative officials, or technical officials of the Gestapo. The Gestapo had nothing to do with the executive work, and in accordance with the strictest secrecy which was preserved, they could not Know anything about detail and emergency workers and other employees cannot be accused and considered as co-perpetrators. Now members were not brought in voluntarily, but rather, as a result of transfers and special detail.
Now, I shall read from affidavit number 15. I should like to read the following into the record. It is the second page, second paragraph.
"In May, 1919, I was assigned to the Political Police, newly established as Dept. VI with the Police Headquarters in Munich."
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute. Are you reading affidavit number 15?
DR. MERKEL: 15, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: You say the second page, the second paragraph, and you begin something about 1919. I do not see that.
DR. MERKEL: No, Mr. President, it's the first page, second paragraph, right at the beginning of the affidavit.
THE PRESIDENT: On the first page, it begins on January 1913.
DR. MERKEL: "On 1 January 1913 I was employed as policeman in Munich". However, I omitted that, and the third sentence begins with, "In 1933, I, with almost all other members of this office, was transferred to the Bavarian Political Police which, with almost the same personnel setup, was again transferred to the Secret State Police in Munich. The entire personnel was screened politically by the SD whereby a large part of the civil servants and employees of the former political department of the Police Headquarters were judged negative."
"While I was in charge of the office during the time from 1933 to 1939 I always pointed out to the officials under me that it was forbidden to mistreat the prisoners. I did not hear of any of my officials laying violent hands upon a prisoner." paragraph.
"I learned that persons frequently pretended to be Gestapo officials. These persons also committed criminal acts. Because of the increase of such incidents, Himmler issued a decree according to which all persons who impersonated an official of the Gestapo were to be put into a concentration camp." 4th paragraph. It can be found in the first three sentences.
"On the basis of my activity with the Secret State-Police Office in Berlin I can confirm that the Secret State Police Office was made up of almost exclusively the former officials of the old system."
THE PRESIDENTL You are reading 16 are you? Which page?
DR. MERKEL: The paragraph from which I was reading is on page 1. The paragraph begins with the fact that "In the year 1935" and the 4th sentence, "On the basis of my activity. . ."
THE PRESIDENT: "Without being consulted I was in 1935 ordered and transferred. . ."
DR. MERKEL: Yes, yes, Mr. President, that's the paragraph. And a little bit farther down, the 4th sentence, "On the basis of my activity with the Secret State-Police Office in Berlin." Then I shall read the following paragraph.
"Just like the Secret state-Police Office in Berlin, so too did the large majority of the working-force of the State-Police offices throughout the Reich consist of old professional police officials who had been transferred from the old 1-A sections of the criminal police and from the remaining branches of the police to the State Police, or were ordered there to, without their wishes being taken into consideration."
Then I skip a paragraph, "Transfers back were out of the question because an order existed which absolutely prohibited it. If, in spite of this requests were handed in for transfer back or transfer from the Gestapo to another branch of the police, such requests were usually answered with penal transfer. Such requests were not made because the Gestapo was considered a criminal organization, but mostly for purely personal reasons."
From the affidavit number 18 I should like to read the following: Page 3 of the German original, arabic number 1, under the heading "Officers."
"There were about 50-60 officers' positions in the whole Sipo".
Then, arabic figure 2, "Administrative Civil Servants."
"The administrative civil servants were engaged exclusively in office work of the entire police-administration. They were strictly separated from the executive officials by different regulations of their career, by different titles, and different duty passes. They especially had nothing to do with the executive work. A chance in their position and activity never took place."
Arabic 3, "Executive officials".
"They executed the real tasks of the Gestapo which were laid down by law.
Thereby, it should be noted, however, that a number of these officials also were engaged in pure office work as is the case in every office."
Arabic 4, "Civilian employees".
"The civilian employees were mainly clerks and other office personnel and other personnel for subordinate work."
Arabic 5, "Emergency-Conscripts". Here I shall read only the end of this paragraph.
"But if an emergency conscript came to the Gestapo and not to any other governmental office or to another private enterprise, against that no right whatsoever to complain existed."
I shall omit two paragraphs and shall read the third one which follows:
"I would estimate that the Gestapo had about 10,000 emergency conscripts by the end of 1944."
Arabic 6, "Men Detailed from the Waffen SS".
"In order to guarantee the requirements of personnel for the Gestapo, members of the Waffen-SS who, due to wounds and other physical handicaps could not be utilized at the front any more, were detailed to the Gestapo in increasing numbers during the war."
THE PRESIDENT: I think we had better break off now.
(A short recess was taken.)
7, to the members of the former Secret Field Police. "With the transfer of the tasks of the Secret Field Police to the Security Police, at first in the occupied territories in the West, the members of the Secret Field Police were also taken over into the SIPO respectively -- the Gestapo were taken over. The transfer was done by order, so that none of the transferred men could have do anything against it." And then the final papers of that -- altogether approximately 5,500 men were taken over. And again to the first sentence of the following paragraph: "Particular importance was attached to secrecy in the case of the Gestapo." I skip the following sentence, and I call attention in particular to the Fuehrer order from January, 1940, which was extended immediately by the Reichsfuehrer SS to include the security police. "Secrecy was pronounced as the supreme duty of all members of the security police, and thereby of the Gestapo. These security regulations were announced in certain periods to all members of the individual offices, and the announcement taken down by protocol. In that connection, it was pointed out time and again that any offences against the security regulations would beseverely dealt with, and, in certain cases, even be punishable by death."
From Affidavit No. 20, I beg to be allowed to read as follows: On page one, second paragraph: "The members of the administration service for the lower, middle and higher service were taken, by orders of the Gestapo and from 1937 by the Security Police Main Office, from the officials of all authorities ,ainly, however, from the police administration and were transferred to the Security Police or to the Gestapo".
From No. 30, I shall read the following: First from the one under the heading "Construction and composition of the Gestapo in Bielefeld.". "When the Gestapo was founded, in 1934, about eight criminal investigation officials and two police administration officials of the criminal investigation police of other cities were transferred to the Bielefeld Gestapo. The transfer was made without previous consent of the concerned officials."