the carrying o ut of the Nacht and Nebel decree. part of the prosecution that the SD, in summary proceedings, had arrested citizens of occupied territories and took them before tribunals and courts and punished them. also L-316, and from that I shall quote one sentence: "Foreign nationals are in the future to be turned over to the police."
I quote one regulation, one sentence, from document SD-56: "Penal actions of Jews are punished by the police." of the prosecution according to which the SD had cooperated in the confiscation by force of private property.
From document SD-58 I shall quote one sentence:
"The confiscation will be declared my the main office of the State Police in favor of the Reich of Greater Germany."
In this connection I beg to draw the Tribunal's attention to Roman Numeral IV which deals with the jurisdiction of Department IV, Secret State Police. In document SD-60 are the existing regulations applicable to the Security Police. The documents 60-a up to SD-64 deal with the illegality in reference to the SD according to which crimes against humanity are to be submitted. SD-60-a up to 63 deal with the persecution of Jews. Document 62 -- In connection with this document I beg to draw the attention of the Tribunal to Roman Numeral IV-B, and also the signature "Mueller". Document SD-64 refers to the reports against the SD in reference to the persecution of the churches. regulations on the strength of which during the war a large portion of members of the SD Department III and VI were called up. From document SD-65 I should like to draw the attention of the Tribunal to the following sentence.
"As consumers", and I shall omit a few words, ". . . the SD sectors are, during war-time, based on the requirements of the popular demands in reference to the trials of prisoners." agree with the Prosecution. I should like-the Tribunal to make a decision, therefore, regarding the question as to whether or not I am allowed to introduce this document.
THE PRESIDENT: I have only got one document book.
DR. GAWLIK: It is in the appendix, your Lordship. Your Lordship, may I send up the original?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Will you tell the Tribunal what it is about?
DR. GAWLIK: With this document I am first going to try and prove that the SD did not belong to the Police and did not belong to the SS. I shall furthermore establish, by means of this document, that in the Reich the SD and the Security Police were separate organizations and I want to prove the different tasks of Department III. I beg to draw the Tribunal's attention to the fact that in Section IV the SD is called the German Intelligence Service.
THE PRESIDENT: This is a book produced by the Allied Commission, isn't it? Supreme Headquarters, Allied Commission, and you are offering that, is that it?
DR. GAWLIK: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Has there been any formal application for this document?
DR. GAWLIK: Oh yes. In my appendix to the document book. There the document is included. But I have not reached an agreement regardingthat book with the Prosecution.
THE PRESIDENT: We will hear the Prosecution about it.
LT. COMMANDER HARRIS: May It please the Tribunal, we have no strong objection to this document. It is simply one of several which we discussed and we did not agree upon it. Our objection is primarily to its value insofar as intelligence is concerned. It is an intelligence book and therefore what is had in that book is of a purely intelligence nature. It is dated April, 1945. That is the date of its publication and quite obviously, as of that date, the information could not be available as is now available to the Tribunal in a competent form.
DR. GAWLIK: Your Lordship, may I . . .
THE PRESIDENT: You may admit the book for what it is worth.
DR. GAWLIK: Well, then, first of all I beg to draw the Tribunal's attention to the fact that in this book the position of the State and the Party is sub-divided into, four parts and the intelligence service is given a section of its own -- Roman Number IV. Roman Number I is the Police; Roman Number II is Military Units; Roman Number III, German Police, and Roman Number IV, is the German Intelligence Service: The organization that is of Department III and VI. the case of the SS, it states that the SS consists firstly of the Waffen SS and then of the General SS, and the SD is not listed there. And I further beg to draw the Tribunal's attention to the fact that the intelligence service mentioned under Roman numeral IV is sub-divided into too SD in the Reich; under Roman numeral II the organization of the Security Police, and the SD outside of the Reich, and thirdly, into Department VI.
to the following statements regarding the activities of Department III. There it says: "The information supplied by intelligence agents are digested into reports. These reports are extraordinarily frank." I translated that myself. "They contained a complete and undisturbed picture of the attitude and frame of mind in Germany."
I now pass on to my last document. That's a letter from a clergyman Wohlfass, and I submit it because I just received it lately and I have not had time to have it translated. The letter refers to a document where the SD is supposed to have supervised the illegal. . . and in that document there is an assertion that the population had voted "no" and had submitted the vote as "no" to the letter. And then follows the statement that no measures were taken against the father who has since died. This completes my summarization of documents. to submit that in writing where the documents can be found, that is, on what pages?
THE PRESIDENT: I think we have got that. Haven't we got it at the beginning of your document book? We have an index.
DR. GAWLIK: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you going to make a separate document of it?
DR. GAWLIK: Yes, I wanted to say here that I have the original documents. I only have some of the original documents, some of them are documents of the Prosecution, of course.
THE PRESIDENT: If you think it would serve a useful purpose, by all means submit your index under a Separate number and deposit it with the Tribunal.
DR. GAWLIK: Very well.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Kubuschok, when you were dealing with the witnesses were we dealing with the Reich cabinet next? Are you prepared to go on with your documents?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Dr. Kubuschok.
DR. KUBUSCHOK: Altogether I have four affidavits. They have been submitted to the Commission. They are being translated, and the translations are not yet ready. I shall submit them at a later stage, and I shall confine myself today to submitting a few very important passages from those affidavits which I shall read into the record.
The first affidavit is No. 1. That is from the Secretary of State and later Minister Dr. Otto Meissner. I shall read the following passages from this affidavit. with the first period after Hitler had formed the government; and he states in this connection:
"The Reich Government worked according to previous custom; that is to say, draft laws were decided upon at meetings of the cabinet, during which procedure objections could be raise. The superior and uncontested leadership of that government was Hitler, right from the beginning, who, in this connection, was basing his actions, formally speaking, on the existing legislation, according to which the direction of the police of the Reich was to be decided upon by the Chancellor. These directions were no different from these which he stated publicly, repeatedly during speeches which he had made." such as the annexation of Austria, the march into the Sudetenland, the signing of the pact with Italy, the march into Bohemia and Moravia, and the attack against Poland and the neutral countries, all took place without previous resolutions' being passed by the cabinet, and even without previous information's being passed, to the members of the government unless they had been personally informed by Hitler. the radio and the press. The members of the Reich government were thus removed from any political activity, against their will and without any guilt on their part, and they were limited to the managing of their department. They were merely loading civil servants in their department.
Any possible intention on Hitler's part to begin a war was therefore not recognizable by these ministers, no more than were intentions regarding the use of his power for actions in violation of existing international law. end of the Roehm Putsch. Finally, the affidavit goes on to state as foll ows, "that members of the Reich government, in spite of the increasing brutality of the course pursued, remained in their offices, according to my own observation, and apart from the fact that principally the Fuehrer would not accept resignations and particularly in war time, considered the reduction of the armed strength entirely due to the fact that at least middle class ministers were under the impression that by their resignation their departments would be all the more headed by untrained officials. In that manner they would not only have damaged the legitimate interests of their departments, but they would have surrendered themselves totally to attack."
Affidavit No. 2 originates from the former Reich Minister Darre; and I quote:
"Foreign political questions of principal importance were, according to my memory, not discussed in the cabinet. In no case were there during cabinet meetings any utterances of even hints from which an agressive war could be inferred."
A further part of the affidavit states:
"I emphasize that no agressive plans against Poland were known to me, and that as far as that is concerned no tasks were given to me in my capacity as Minister of Agriculture".
"During a discussion with Hitler about this subject -- and that was before the actual creation of the law -- there had been arguments about this law, which was to be introduced into the occupied territories. There was a very serious clash, in the course of which I resigned. Hitler thereupon replied that I was subject to the laws of war, and that I would have to leave my position as and when he, Hitler, thought the right moment had come, and not when I thought it best to do so."
the last part of the affidavit. Hitler had given orders to Darre. I quote:
"For the outside world I was to report sick, and it was desired that the public impression should be that it was for reasons of health that I should temporarily leave my office. I refused, however, to report sick, and I was told to leave Berlin. After that I lived in a lonely blockhouse in the Schorst Heide, out of the world. Formally speaking I remained a minister unto the collapse of the German Reich, although I asked Lammers repeatedly to remove my name from the budget, and Lammers had actually reported to Hitler about this point." Schwerin Krosigk. Schwerin Krosigk describes in one part of the affidavit a meeting with the former Reich Chancellor Bruening in 1932. I quote:
"I waspartly in agreement with Bruening, who, a few weeks before his resignation, had told me at Baden Weile, while we were both taking a vacation, that the time had now come to give responsible positions to the National Socialists. In the long run one could not resign by means of the emergency laws published by the Reich President, and the strongest party could not permanently be left in the position of the opposition. Unbounded agitation on the part of National Socialists could only be effectively deleted by means of giving them full responsibility." was on the 30th of January, 1933, when he saw Hitler for the first time in his life. I quote:
"My joining Hitler's cabinet was due to the reason that I, together with all the other bourgeois ministers, wanted to form a counter-balance to the totalitarian claims for power put up by the party." this at great length; but I shall quote only one sentence:
"In addition, the course that was followed at that time appeared a moderate one. That objection raised on the part of the bourgeois ministers did, in fact, lead to alleviation of certain hardships, even to the cancellation of certain legal rulings which had been proposed." of the Reich President, the affidavit states among other things:
"Hitler's demand to hand both offices over for his own purposes and thus completing the last step in a totalitarian reign could not be opposed by the bourgeois ministers, because it was perfectly clear even at that time that such a powerful position of Hitler corresponded completely to the will of the German people." question -- and I should like to remark in this connection that Hitler himself, with reference to his demand for holding both these positions, made this demand acceptable to the cabinet by stating that he did not consider that to be the final solution, but that he took no responsibilityfor a later mergerof these two offices -- summarily that the Reich Government as such had no political tasks as far as giving orders or leadership tasks were concerned, because persons as such were acting who were personally and specially chosen.
At the end of the affidavit Schwerin Krosigk states:
"Upon retrospective reflection I must maintain that Hitler deceived his ministers no less than he deceived the German people, and that over and above that he deceived the world. The statements he made to us, the Ministers, regarding his intentions were principally speaking no different from those he made publicly. That his will was in reality different could not be expected, considering the convincing power of his words. This applies in particular to his repeatedly emphasized will for peace. If I am told today that as early as November, 1937, Hitler was thinking of war as a means of achieving his foreign political aims, then this is diametrically opposed to what he told me at the beginning of 1939, or had had expressly communicated to me through Secretary of state Reinhardt, namely that I need hot worry about armament expenses since now we had before us a long period of peace, and through it, a reduction of those very expenses.
Finally, with Affidavit No.4, I propose to submit an affidavit from the former ministerial director,in the Ministry of Food, his name being Rudolf Harmeninck.
Harmeninck describes a task given by Hitler to Secretary of State Backe, which deals with,preparations for war for the Russian campaign. There are explicit instructions in this from Hitler according to which the minister himself, Darre, is to be kept in the dark regarding thos preparations. And concerning that, I quote:
"A fewmonths before the outbreak of war with Russia, measures were introduced in the Reich Ministry of Food, which, for instance, entailed the getting ready of agricultural machinery and agricultural workers for a special task, as became apparent after the beginning of the Russian campaign, namely the use in Russia. The order for this purpose had been given to the Secretary of State Backe directly, and by leaving out the Minister Darre. In fact, they had to be kept secret from the minister according to instructions attached."
Those, Mr. President, are the affidavits which I am going to submit. Then I have a document book with altogether 68 documents, which I have submitted to the Tribunal.
I refer to this document book as follows: In the main, the documents contained therein are the official reasons and official points of view with reference to the draft laws of that particular period. Those laws were attached to the draft laws and circulated amongst the various ministers. Whatever is contained in these arguments is therefore the reasons the individual ministers were given with reference to the admittedly proposed law. Perusal of these arguments will show with which pertinent reasons these laws were justified. The remaining documents which I have submitted, are the following: I should like to draw your attention particularly to No. 3, the Manifesto by the Reich Government to the German people, f of 1933, containing the directives for the policy of the cabinet.
Document No. 9 contains official information from the leaders of the parties which were dissolving themselves in the year of 1933. The individual party leaders in this document confess their belief in the new course of the government and they are calling upon their followers to follow this government and support it.
Finally, I refer you to document No. 63 which is an article by Reich Minister von Blomberg, Reichsminister for War, on the subject of Germany's compulsory military service. As far as the remaining questions are concerned and particularly the work in the organization, witnesses Lammers, Weizsaecker, Goering and von Neurath had been heard at considerable length. I got the Tribunal to consider that testimony when considering the case of the Reich Government; and with that, Mr. President, I have come to the end.
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn.
(A recess was taken.)
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Pelckmann.
DR. PELCKMANN: Your Lordship, the Tribunal? I refer first to the transcript on the examination of witnesses before the Commission, which the Tribunal no doubt has. There were twenty-nine witnesses. Then I begin with the presentation of documents. I have divided the documents into various groups so that I hope I can finish the presentation very quickly. First, the documents Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 84. The first three documents deal with the so-called "ideals" of the SS; something is said of the community of morals and so forth; and proof is given that this was too basis of the training.
normal civil occupation and the SS Service was only supplementary. and in contrast to the other SS formations, which I shall present later. This was represented by the NSDAP in case of complaints.
In document No. 6 and USA 441, which I submit once more, the basic laws of the SS are mentioned which, for the individual men, were laws which decidedly decent -- regulation regarding savings and so forth. I must present what is important for my final plea.
Document 4 and 103 belong together. Document 4 shows that the SS men swore an oath which did not differ from that of the old civil servants but did differ from that of a soldier, for the soldier swears absolute obedience but the SS man does not.
Document 103 deals with, the fact that this oath was made in God's name, and Himmler says in reference to that that men who donot believe in God, "I consider the men to have megalomania and to be dumb. They are not suitable for us." Verfuegungstruppe and the SS- Totenkopf units did not belong to the General SS. For they did not have civil occupation, they were state employees. And in case of complaints against these members or these formations, that means SS Verfuegungstruppe and the Totenkopf units, the complaint is to be directed be the Ministry of the Interior. This is very important for the concentration camp question.
Then there follow documents 8, 9, 10, 11, and 42. During the war the Waffen SS was created. Its members are instructed to fight decently and chivalrously and not make themselves guilty of punishable action in the enemy country toward the civilian population, and to respect the prisoners of war and the dead. For the members of the Waffen SS, which is shown especially by document 42, the basic rules of the SS apply only when the individual Waffen SS men were at the same time numbers of the General SS. For example, the so-called marriage order. The ideology is not applicable to theWaffen SS men, or the Verfuegungstruppe SS men were not subject to these special laws of the SS. o ccupied eastern territory, those documents show that the laws in this respect were issued by the Deputy of the Four-Year Plan, Goering, or the Ministry of the Interior, Frick. The task of the Reichskommissars for Strengthening of Germanism and of the National German Agency were the resettlement and the return of Germans. This is shown by documents 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, and 23. Documents 25, 25, 30, 33, 54, 40, and USA 674, I submit as evidence that the civil service law, the emergency regulation, the constitution of Germanstudents, the agreement between the Reichs Fuehrers, and the Reichs Youth Leader, the Reichs Labor Leader, the Reichs Finance Minister, represented forced measures which made it possible for Germans to be placed in the General SS, the Waffen SS, Verfuegungstruppe SS, the Totenkopf units. Even the police auxiliary assistants were forcibly placed in the SS Women's Auxiliary.
Documents 28, 30, 31, and 32 can be put together. They give an example of such compulsory obligations as just mentioned, by drafting into the General SS, Waffen SS, and the SS Verfuegungstruppe, Documents 29, 36, 38, and 39 show that citizens of foreign states, in so far as they were of German decent, were not drafted into the army of their respective countries, but into the Waffen SS. This was based on state treaties. The documents show further that large or small groups of persons were forcibly placed under SS jurisdiction without being SS members, and were left under their old occupational designation but with the addition of the tern "SS". compulsion exerted on police officials to join the SS. This was demanded with the expression, "I therefore expect that so-and-so will join.
..." It was demanded by continuous inquiries as to whether the person had joined. Even members of the order police, the Ordnungspolizei, were also more or less forced to join. Court officials, doctors, young officers, and non-commissioned officers were also pressed to join the SS. On the other hand, documents 52 to 55 and 56, show that the members of the police who joined the SS in this way did not carry out any SS service, They were also not obliged to perform SS training. The only sign of the membership in the SS was that when they were promoted they were also promoted in the SS. purely external SS designations in police units. The Battalions and regiments as well as fire prevention, police units, that is, units of the fire department received the designation SS as an external sign of recognition as it is mention in the decrees. As an example, I mention in this document, the Second Gendarmerie Battalion which became the Second SS-Gendarmerie Battalion; or the police regiment "Alpenland" which became the SS police regiment, and so forth. regiments remained with the Ordnungspolizei, that they received their equipment from the Ordnungspolizei, and everything else was attended to by the Ordnungspolizei. The individual policeman of these regiments, by this SS designation for the units, did not become a member of the General SS, nor a member of the Waffen SS. extent the members of the SS knew of and desired the crimes charged by the Prosecution. Documents 70, 71, 73, 75, 76 and 79 are taken together. Through constant speeches, Hitler pretended his unchangeable will for peace. The government also stated that it ranted to preserve peace under all circumstances. The paper "Das Schwarze Korps", belying those statements, wrote that the SS did not like war; a statement of January, 1937, mates detailed statements about opposition to war. The documents 77 and 76 show that even outsiders like the Austrian Bishops and the English Government both, in tie gear 1933, were deceived.
It expresses the will of both peoples never to wage war against each other again SA and the SS, it is shown that neither the SA nor the SS were armed and were no given any training with arms and were not trained otherwise for military purpose I assert that here only for the case of the SS. ment offered the English Government a guarantee of the fact that the SS and the SA had no arms and were not trained for military purposes. this case. This is shown by SS document 82. It is a secret Fuehrer Decreee of 17 August 1938. This Fuehrer Decree states that the SS as a political organization of the NSDAP is not a military organization and needs no training and is unarmed. It states further in this decree that the members of the General--that is the unarmed--SS are at the disposal of the Wehrmacht in case, of war, in accordance within the provisions of the National Defense Law, and not of the Waffen SS.
A small example of the deception of the masses on the peace aims: It is document 92, according to which it is a law of the Reich Government that any participation in the Spanish Civil war in any form what ever is subject to prison punishment, although thousands were fighting in Spain on Hitler's orders at the time.
Documents 87, 88, 90, and 99 show the following: Through the law on the transfer of defensive strength, the prohibition against listening to foreign radio, any spreading of the truth--and I take as an example the spreading of rumor on concentration camps--is in practice made impossible.
This policy continued strongly during the war. That is proved by Document 98. It is the well known speech of Himmler in Posen in 1943, Document PS 1919. I refer only to one sentence, in which it is said that, "Whoever is disloyal, be it even in thought, will be dismissed from the SS and will be seen to that he will be removed from life."
On the Jewish question, there are documents 93 and 95. In February 1934 the Reich minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick, said to the diplomatic corps that the only intention was to reduce the activity of the Germans of Jewish-faith in pro portion to other Germans, but it is expressly denied that forced emigration of those citizens would be undertaken.
tructions of Jews were underway, a law created a settlement in Theresienstadt for Jewish citizens. This, consciously or unconsciously, served to deceive the public about this extermination, and it deceived the SS members too.
The events of the 30 June 1935 are dealt with in Documents 83, 100, 75. 105 and 106. The public did not learn the truth. Through telgrams of Reich President von Hindenburg to Hitler and Goering, Hitler was thanked for taking steps. These telegrams were published in all papers. In his speech of 13 July 1935, Hitler described in detail the preparations Roehm had taken to overthrow the government, how he was in contact with foreign countries, and how an SS Fuehrer, who was mentioned by name, had prepared to attack his life. The situation was presented as so urgent that only immediate action, without judicial proceedings, could do any good. This speech, furthermore, promises the punishment of illegal excesses during this action. von Eberstein. The actual position of the Higher SS and the Police Fuehrer is clarified.
The Document SS 107. I was able to give it to the Prosecution only this morning. I ask that it may be accepted, since I have just found it in the collect ion of decrees. It is a decree of the Reichsfuehrer as of 27 August 1952. This decree expressly states that the main office of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle" i not an SS office but a state organization. This question is important for the responsibility of the SS in the So-called Germanization program. This document has not yet been translated. I shall attempt to have translations made as quickly as possible.
That is my presentation of Documents. Your Lordship.
Now I come to my affidavits. In the examination before the Commission and in the examination of the five witnesses before the Tribunal. I could bring only witnesses who, because of their high positions, could give the Court an extensive survey of certain questions. With the affidavits the Defense had to attempt to present as large a number as possible of statements on the whole material of the Indictment, if possible, so that the Court might obtain an insight into the knowledge and deeds of the mass of small, people.
I have attempted to do so in the form of individual affidavits on certain points and in gathering together large numbers of statements on certain groups of subjects.
I submit first 114 single affidavits. They are SS affidavits 1 to 60, 63 64, 65, 66, and 69, 71 to 118. Affidavit Number 70 is made up by two SS members. It contains the contents of the affidavits of the internees of one camp. Camp No. 73. If refers to almost all of the points of the Indictment against the SS. ive affidavits. I have given the numbers 119 to 122 to this. Number 123. I regret that I cannot give the Tribunal the texts of those affidavit in English today. As far as I know, translations into French are available for all affidavits, and I shall attempt to turn in the English translation as soon as possible. I shall hand ever the French translations.
I then submit SS affidavits of Dr. Morgen, 65 to 67. I consider them so very important.....
THE PRESIDENT: Which are the ones you said were very important?
DR. PELCKMANN: 64, 68, 69 and 70.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Go on,
DR. PELCKMANN: I had asked for their translation. I have not submitted any summaries before the Commission, only the whole contents can be given. No. 70 is for the question of legal hearing of the aims of SS men. affidavits. in groups and I hope that by giving these numbers I have made it possible for the Tribunal to have a few of the individual affidavits. distinction can be made according to composition or to time. This is asserted by the Trial Brief on page IX and X in the German version. In addition in the transcript on pages 1607 and 1608 of the 19th and 20th of December. USA 443, does not have the purpose of forming an organic connection between the General SS Death Head Formation and Verguegungstruppe but on like contrary to support those individual branches of the SS. 97, 98, 53, 50, 51 and 38. Of these affidavits I might remark, your Lordship there is a translation in English of 52, which is being distributed. I beg your pardon, it is only in French, Your Lordship. With these affidavits I prove the following; Certain groups are charged in the general indictment of the SS. They cannot be brought under the concept of a common conspiracy bee they had only a very temporary relationship to the SS or none at all. Other sponsors of the SS, the Farmers' Leader, the so-called honorary fuehrers, the SS Front Workers, the so-called SS railroad construction brigade, the postal protection, the national political education institution; furthermore, the Leaders of the Reich Warrior League, (that is something similar to the Stahlh the SS sport communities; furthermore, the Reiter Groups which were transferred to the SS, known as so-called SS Reiter Stuerme, which had exactly the same characteristics and history as the SA Reiter Stuerme; and furthermore the students who were taken into the SS on a compulsory basis.
organization. They prove that the tasks of this organization were to support families of many children and to care for children and mothers, including illegitimate children and unmarried mothers, but they did not involve the opportunity for illegal begetting of children as the prosecution has assorted.
SS affidavit #47 is a valuable Supplement to the testimony of the witness Lieblicht, an SS doctor, before the Commission. It proves that doctors were taken into the SS exclusively on the basis of their technical ability. Leading doctors and leading authority is were taken into the SS to raise its prestige. It is assorted that the activity of the SS doctors of the GeneralSS was recognized by foreign countries, giving example of international authorities.
SS affidavits No. 95 and 96 prove that the SS Women's League were not members of the SS and were not sponsored. These girls had the some activities as the information and staff assistants in the Wehrmacht and must not be confused with the female supervisors in the concentration camps for female prisoners. an extensive and very difficult point of the indictment. Affidavits No. 2, 112 115, 113, 110, 115, 55, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 11, 53, 72, 75, 76, 78 and 80. May I add at this opportunity that in taking such a large group together, these individual affidavits are not cumulative, but the affidavits supplement each other. Only in this way could a complete picture be made of the points of the indictment and their defense. These affidavits prove that the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the so-called Staff Main Office-of the Reich Commissar for the Strengthening of Germanism -- I repeat, Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and Stabshauptamt des Reichskommissars fuer die Festigung des Deutsehen Volkstums -were not SS agencies but were State Offices. That in the formal side of the defense. The material shows, from another part of these documents just quoted, that the SS did not have anything to do with the evacuation measures, Germanization measures, and the settlement of Germans in the occupied territories.
