"Great was the joy of the SS men when the Reichsfuehrer SS in person in 1942 visited some camps along the Rollbahn." translation, and page 17 of the report. I read item three on the balance sheet.
"3. Amount paid over to the SS cashier:
"a. Camps 6 876 251,00 zlotas "b. W & R Factories 6 556 513,69 zlotas "Total 13 423 764,69 zlotas "Further payments to the SS cashier are effected every month."
the report found on page twenty of the translation, and on page sixty-four of the original document. I read the last two paragraphs of the report.
"Despite the extraordinary burden heaped upon every single SS Police Officer during these actions, mood and spirit of the men were extraordinarly good and praiseworthy from the first to the last day. "Only thanks to the sense of duty of every singl leader and man have we succeeded to get rid of this plague in so short a time." The final example of SS participation in Jewish extermination to which I shall call the Tribunal's attention is the infamous report by SS Brigade-fuehrer and Major General of the Police, Stroop, of the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, our Document 1061-PS. That report was introduced in evidence by Major Walsh as US Exhibit No. 257, end the Tribunal indicated that it would take the whole report as evidence without the necessity of reading it in full. I shall not, therefore, read any further passages, but I do want to point out specifically two sections dealing with the constitution of the forces participating in that fearful action. On page one of the translation is a table of the units used.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it here?
MAJOR FARR: Our Document 1061-PS. I am just going to call your attention to the table of units which were employed in this action, indicating the average number of officers and men from each unit employed per day. It will be observed that among the units involved were the staff of the SS and Police Leader, two battalions of the Waffen SS, two battalions of the 22nd SS Police Regiment, and members of the Security Police. The part played by the Waffen SS came in for high praise from the writer of the report. The Tribunal will recall the passage which was read by Major Walsh in which reference was made to the toughness of the men of the Waffen SS, the Police, and the and the Wehrmacht; and in which the writer said that, "considering that the greater part of the men of the Waffen SS had been trained for only three or four weeks before being assigned to this action, high credit should be given for the pluck, courage, and devotion to duty which they showed."
The Tribunal has already heard Himmler's proud boast of the part that the SS played in the extermination of the Jews. It occurs in his Posen Speech, our Document 1919-PS, and was read into the record in the presentation of the case dealing with concentration camps. The passage to which I refer appears on about the middle of page four of the translation and on page sixty-five of the original. Since that passage has already been read, it is unnecessary for me to quote it again; but I do want the Tribunal to note that Himmler stated that only the SS could have carried out this extermination program of the Jews, and that its participation in that program was a page of glory in its history which could never be fully appreciated. war program of the conspirators, and, too, its responsibility for the crimes against peace which were alleged in the indictment. From its very beginning, it made prime contributions to the conspirators' aggressive war aims. which the conspirators disguised their building up of an Army in violation of the Versailles Treaty. Second, through affiliated SS organizations in other countries and through some of the departments in its own Supreme Command, it fostered Fifth Column movements outside Germany and prepared the way for aggression. Third, through its militarized units, it participated in the aggressive actions which were eventually carried out. demonstrated that from 1933 to 1938 the SA were militarized and in fact were nothing but a comouflaged Army. Some of that evidence related to the SS as well. The paramilitary character of the Allgemeine SS is apparent. I have already described the military character of its structure the military discipline required of its members and the steps it took to enlist in its ranks young men of military age.
In addition to this volunteer Arms the SS created as early as 1933 fully armed professional units. These were the SS Verfuegungstruppe and the Death Head Units with which I have dealt with yesterday.
conspirators also utilized it in other countries to lay the groundword for aggression. The evidence presented by Mr. Alderman of the preparations for the seizure of Austria show the part played by the SS Standarte 89 in the murder of Dolfuss and described the memorial plaque which was erected in Nurnberg as a tribute to the SS men who participated in that nurder. I refer to U.S. Exhibit No. 59 and 60, cur Document No's L-273 and 2968-PS, which were introduced by Mr. Alderman. The Tribunal will recall the subsequent story of the events of the night of March 11, 1938, when the SS marched into Vienna and occupied all government buildings and important posts in the city - a story unfolded in U.S. Exhibit 61, our Document No. 2949-PS, the report of Gauleiter Rainer to Reich Commissioner Duerckel, (which was read in evidence by Mr. Alderman) and in U.S. Exhibit 76, the record of the telephone conversation between the Defendant Goering and Dambrowski, which appears on page 575 of the transcript of the record.
The same pattern was repeated in Czechoslovakia. Henelin's Free Corps played in that country the part of fifth column which the Austrian SS had played in Austria, and it was rewarded by being placed under the jurisdiction of the Reichsfuehrer SS in September 1938. I refer to our Document 388-PS, which was read in evidence by Mr. Alderman as U.S. Exhibit No. 26 at page 598 of the record. The items touched in item 37 and 38 of the so-called Schmundt files. Moreover - as shown by item 36 of that file, which Mr. Alderman read into the record, the SS had its own armed units -- four battalions of Totenkopf Verbaende - actually operating in Czechoslovakia before the Munich Pact was signed. SS preparations for aggression were not confined to military forces. One of the departments of the SS Supreme Command - the Volkdeutsche Mittelstelle - which is represented on the chart by the third box from the top at the extreme right - was a center for fifth column activity. The Tribunal may recall the secret meeting between Hitler and Henlein in March 1938, described in the notes of the German Foreign Office, U.S. Exhibit No. 95, at which the line to be followed by the Sudetan German Party was determined.
The Volkdeutsche Mittelstelle was fuehrer Lorenz.
And when the Foreign Office in August 1938 awarded further subsidies to Henlein's Sudetan Party, the memorandum of that recommendation for further subsidies contained the significant footnote "Volkdeutoche Mittlestelle will be informed."
I refer to U.S. Exhibit 96, our Document 3059, which was read into the record by Mr. Alderman, at pages 789 and 790 When at last the time came to strike, the SS was ready.
I quote from the National Socialist Yearbook for 1940, our Document No. 2164-PS, US exhibit 255 on page 1, paragraph 2, of the translation; page 365 of the "When the march into the liberated provinces of the Sudetenland began on that memorable October 1, 1938, the emergency forces (Verfuegungstruppe) as well as the Death Head Units (Totenkopf Verbaende) were along with those in the lead."
I omit the balance of the paragraph and continue with the next paragraph:
"The 15th of March, 1939 brought a similar utilization of the SS when it served to establish order in collapsing Czechoslovakia. This action ended with the founding of the protectorate Bohemia-Moravia.
"Only a week later, on the 29th of March 1939, Meml also returned to the Reich upon basis of on agreement with Lithuania. Again it was the SS, here above all the Eastern Prussian SS, which played a prominent part in the liberation of this province". September 1939 -- the SS acted as a sort of stage manager. The Tribunal will recall the oral testimony of Erwin Lahousen with relation to the simulated attack on the radio station at Gleiwitz by Germans dressed in Polish uniforms -- what Lahousen referred to as one of the most mysterious actions which took place in the Abwehr office. Describing his task of getting the Polish uniforms and equipment together, he said at page 620 of the transcript:
"These articles of equipment had to be prepared, and one day some man from the SS or the SD - the name is on the official diary of the War Department -- fetched them". of the attacking forces. by the SS -- qualities not only of its combat force but of its other components as well. I turn now to a consideration of some of the tasks in which the SS was engaged during the war -- tasks embracing the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity described in the Indictment.
447-PS, as U.S.A. Exhibit 135. It is a directive issued by the Defendant Keitel on the 12 of March, 1941, covering some of the preparations made three months in advance for the attack on Russia. Paragraph 2b of that directive, which was read into the record, provided that in the area of operations the Reichsfuehrer SS was entrusted with special tasks for the preparation of the political administration, tasks which would result from the struggle about to commence between two opposing political systems.
One of the steps taken by the Reichsfuehrer SS to carry out those "special" tasks" was the formation and use of so-called "anti-partisan" units. They were discussed by Himmler in his Posen speech, cur Document No. 1919-PS, at page 3 of the translation, paragraph 5, page 57 of the original, last paragraph. I read these two paragraphs in which he discusses the anti-partisan units:
"In the meantime I have also set up the Chief of the anti-partisan units. Our comrade SS Obergruppenfuehrer von dem Bach is Chief of the anti-partisan units. I considered it necessary for the Reichsfuehrer SS to be in authoritative command in all these battles, for I am convinced that we are best in position to take action against this enemy struggle, which is decidedly a political one. Except where units which had been supplied and which we had formed for this purpose were taken from us to fill in gaps at the front, we have been very successful.
"It is notable that by setting up this department, we have gained for the SS in turn, a division, a corps, an army and the next step -- which is the High Command of on army or area of a group -- if you wish to call it that". anti-partisan units were formed, is illustrated in the reports rendered as to the activities of such units. I offer in evidence activity and situation report No.6 of the Task Forces of the Security Police and SD in the U.S.S.R. covering the period from the 1st to the 31st of October 1941. It is our Document No. R-102, and will be found in Volume 2 of the Document Book. It is the US Exhibit No. 470. The report shows that so-called "anti-partisan" activity was actually nothing but a name for extermination of persons believed politically undesirable and of Jews.
The report is a very carefully organized and detailed description of such extermination. Section I describes the stations of the various Task Forces involved; Section II their activities. The latter section is divided into parts, each dealing with a different geographical region -- the Baltic area, White Ruthenia, and the Ukraine. headings:
(a) Partisan activity and counteraction; (b) arrests and execution of communists and officials; and (c) Jews. I shall read only a few typical paragraphs, selected at random. paragraphs, of page 4 of the translation and which also appears on page one of the original.
"The present stations are:
"Task Force A: since 7 October 1941 Krasnowardeisk.
"Task Force B: continues in Smolensk "Task Force C: since 27 September 1941 in Kiev "Task Force D: since 27 September 1941 in Nikolajew.
"The Action and Special Commandos (Einsatz und Sender Commandos) which are attached to the Task Force continue on the march with the advancing troops into the sectors which have been assigned to them."
I shall now read from the section headed, "Baltic area" and subsection labelled "Jews", beginning with the first paragraph on page 5 of the translation, page 8 of the original, second paragraph.
"The male Jews over 16 were executed with the exception of doctors and the elders. At the present time this action is still in progress. After completion of this action there will remain only 500 Jewesses and children in the Eastern territory" I skip now to the section headed "White Ruthenia", the subsection headed,"Partisan activity and counteraction."
The paragraph I shall read begins on page 6, paragraph 5 of the translation, found on page 11, paragraph 1 of the original. I quote:
"In Wultschina 8 juveniles were arrested as partisans and shot. They were inmates of a children's home. They had collected weapons which they hid in the woods. Upon search the following were found; 3 heavy machine guns, 15 rifles, several thousand rounds of ammunition, several hand grenades, and several packages of poison gas Ebrit.
"b) Arrests and executions of Communists, Officials and "A further large part of the activity of the Security Police was devoted to the combatting of Communists and criminals.
A special Commando in the period covered by this report executed 63 officials, NKVD agents and agitators." The subsection on arrests and executions of Communists, officials and criminals in White Ruthenia, ends as follows and I read from page 6 of the translation, paragraph 14, page 12 of the original, paragraph 5:
"The liquidation for the period covered by this report have reached a total of 37,180 persons."
The final item I shall quote is the Section headed "Ukraine" under the subsection,"Jews". It will be found on page 8 of the translation, paragraph 10, page 18 of the original, next to the last paragraph:
"In Shitomir 3145 Jews had to be shot, because from experience they have to be regarded as bearers of Bolshevik propaganda and saboteurs." This report, the Tribunal will recall, deals with the activities of four Task Forces - A, B, C and D. The more detailed report of Task Force A up to 15 October 1941 is our Document L-180. It has already been introduced in evidence as U. S. Exhibit 276 and some paragraphs were read from it. It will be referred to again in the case against the Gestapo. I desire to read only two paragraphs which show the great variety of SS components in such a task force. (indicating) which the Court has already seen, has a sort of pocket-part supplement, in which appears a breakdown of the personnel engaged in this action, in graphic form. I shall read the component parts which appear on this chart in a moment. First, I will quote from page 5 of the translation, paragraph 4.
THE PRESIDENT: Does that Book you just put in, refer to the extermination of the Jews in Galicia?
MAJOR FARR: 180?
THE PRESIDENT: No, the book you just put in.
MAJOR FARR: No, 1061 is the Warsaw Ghetto. This is the report of Action Group A, an anti-partisan task force which operated in the Baltic states in 1941.
THE PRESIDENT: It is not L-180?
MAJOR FARR: It is L-180. graph 4, and on page 12 of the original, first paragraph. I quote:
"This description of the over-all situation showed and shows that the members of the Stapo (The Secret *---* Police), Kripo and SD-(that is the Criminal Police) and the SD (Security Service) who are attached to the Action Group, are active mainly in Lithuouania, Latvia, Esthonia, White Ruthenia and to a smaller part, in front of Leningrad. It shows further that the forces of the uniformed police and the Armed SS are active mainly in front of Leningrad, in order to take measures against the returning popu lation and under their own officers.
This is so much easier because the Action detachments in Lithuousnia, Latvia and Esthonia have at their disposal native police units, as described in enclosure 1, and because so far 150 Latvian reinforcements have been sent to White Ruthenia.
"The distribution of the leaders of Security Police and SD during the individual phases can be gathered from enclosure 2, the advance and the activities of the Action-Group and, the Action-detachments' from enclosure 3. It should be mentioned that the leaders of the armed SS and of the uniformed police who are reserves have declared their wish to stay with the Security Police and the SD." constitution of the Force. This will be found on page 14 of the translation. It was the graphic chart which I showed the Court a few moments ago, the translation having simply the breakdown of the components. I quote:
"Total Strength of Action Group A Total:
990 Waffen - SS 340 34.
4% Motor Dicycle-Riders 172 17.
4% Administration 18 1.8% Security Service (SD) 35 3.3% Criminal Police (Kripo) 41 4.1% State Police (Gestapo) 89 9.0% Auxilliary Police 87 8.8% Order Police 133 13.
4% Female Employees 13 1.3% Interpreters 51 5.1% Teleprinter-Operators 3 0.3% Wireless-Operators.
8 0.8% Waff en SS, the SD, Criminal Police, the Gestapo and the Order Police, all of which were part of the SS or under SS jurisdiction. It is a report from the General Commissar for White Ruthenia to the Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern territories. It is our Document R-135, which I think is in the Document Book under 1475-PS, two document numbers having been combined. I think you will find it under 1475. That document was introduced into evidence by Major Walsh as USA Exhibit No. 289 and he read into the record the letter from the Reich Commisar of the Eastern territories, transmitting the report in question.
The letter he read appears on page one of the translation. I desire to read a paragraph or two from the report itself, which is found on page 3 of the translation. It deals with the results of the police operation "Cotthus." I quote the first paragraph.
"SS Brigadefuehrer, Major General of Police von Gotteberg reports that the operation 'Cottbus' had the following result during the period mentioned:
"Enemy dead 4 500 "Dead suspected of belonging to bands 5 000 "German Dead 59" I think it is unnecessary to continue further with the list.
I skip to the fourth paragraph of the report:
"The figures mentioned above indicate that again a heavey destruction of the population must be expected. If only 492 rifles are taken from 4 500 enemy dead, this discrepancy shows that among these enemy dead were numerous peasants from the country. The battalion Dirlewanger especially has a reputation for destroying many human lives. Among the 5 000 people suspected of belonging to bands, there were numerous women and children.
"By order of the Chief of Band-Combatting SS Obergruppenfuehrer von dem Bach, units of the armed forces have also participated in the operation." was referred to in the Posen speech by Himmler as "our comrade" whom he had placed in charge of anti-partisan activity. which the Gestapo, Order Police, the Waffen SS and the SS Police Regiments, were all involved. But these units were also used individually to carry out tasks of such a nature. of the Waffen SS, our document 1972-PS, as USA Exhibit No 471. It is a from the Chief of the Command Office of the Waffen SS to the Reichsfuehrer SS, dated 14 October, 1941.
subject: Intermediate report on civilian state of emergency. I shall read that letter. I quote:
"I deliver the following report regarding the commitment of the civilian state of emergency:
"In the mutual changes, all Battalions of the Waffen SS in the "Up until now there occurred:
in Prague: 99 shootings in Bruenn:
54 shootings Total:
191 executions (including 16 Jews)."A complete report regarding other measures and on the conduct termination of the civilian state of emergency."
which had thus been employed in extermination actions and the executions of civilians, are also to be found violating the laws of warfare when carrying on ordinary combat operations. I now offer in evidence a supplementary report of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Court of Inquiry re: shooting of allied prisoners of war by the 12th SS Panzer Division in Normandy, France, between the 7th and 21st of June 1944. It is our Document No. 2997-PS, USA Exhibit 472. Extracts from that report consist of the formal record of the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry and the statement of its findings are included in the document book under that document number. They have been translated into German. Under Article 21 of the Charter, this Tribunal is directed to take judcial notice of the documents of committees set up in various allied countries for the investigation of war crimes, and also of the records and findings of military and other Tribunals of any of the United Nations. This report falls squarely within that provision. Therefore, without reading portions of the document, I shall summarize the findings of the Court of Inquiry which are set out on pages 8 to 10 of the document. The court concluded that there occurred between the 7 and the 17th of June, 1944 in Normandy, seven cases of violations of the laws of War -
THE PRESIDENT: What page?
MAJOR FARR: I am not quoting, I am summarizing what appears on pages 8 to 10 of the translation. war involving the shooting of 64 unarmed allied prisoners of war in uniform, many of whom had been previously wounded and none of whom had resisted or endeavored to escape; that the perpertrators were members of the 12th SS Panzer Division, the so-called Hitler Jugend Division; that enlisted men of the 15th Company of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of that Division were given secret orders to the effect that SS troops shall take no prisoners and that prisoners are to be executed after having been interrogated; that similar orders were given to men of the 3rd Battalion of the 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the Division and of the 12th SS Engineering and Reconnaissance Battalions; and that the conclusion was irresistible that it was understood throughout the Division that a policy of denying quarter or executing prisoners after interrogation was openlyapproved. of the SS. I refer to the execution of allied fliers, of commandos and paratroopers and of escaped prisoners of war who were turned over to the SD to be destroyed. Evidence of these actions will be presented in the case against the Gestapo. In the case against the Gestapo, evidence will be presented of commando groups stationed in prisoner of war camps to select prisoners for what the Nazis euphemistically called "special treatment." Finally, the entire control of prisoners of war was turned over to the Reichsfuehrer SS. I have read in evidence, this morning, our Document 058-PS, which provided for the direction of all prisoner of war camps by Himmler. The final, but vital phase of the conspiracy in which the SS played a loading role must be mentioned. The permanent colonization of conquered territories, the destruction of their national existence, and the permanent extension of the German frontier were fundamental objects of the conspirators' plans.
which these objectives were carried out through the forcible evacuation and resettlement of inhabitants of conquered territories, confiscation of their properties, denationalization and re-education of persons of German blood, and the colonization of conquered territories by Germans. program. I have read into the record already the numerous statements made by Himmler as to SS training, which played the role of the aristocracy of the New Europe. He put those theories into practice when he was appointed, on October 7, 1939, as Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Folkdom. The decree by which he was appointed to that office -- our Document 686-PS -- has already been introduced into evidence as US Exhibit No. 305. I shall not, therefore, read it. settlement, a new department of the SS Supreme Command was created: Staff Headquarters of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationality. That is indicated on the chart by the fourth box from the top, on the extreme right-hand side. Book of the NSDAP for 1943, our Document No. 2640-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence as US Exhibit 323. I shall read the description of the functions of that Department appearing on page 3 of the translation, the last paragraph, and page 421 of the original.
I quote:
"The main office of the staff of the Reichs Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationality is entrusted with the whole settlement and constructive planning and with its execution within the Reich and all those territories under the authority of the Reich, including all administrative and economic questions in connection with the settlement, especially the deployment of manpower for this purpose."
The colonization program had two principal objectives: First, the destruction of the conquered peoples by exterminating them, deporting them, and confiscating their property; second, settling racial Germans on the newly acquired land.
The extermination actions conducted by the SS, as to which I have just introduced evidence, contributed in part to clearing the conquered territories of persons who were deemed dangerous to the Nazi plan.
But not every undesirable could be liquidated. Mass deportations accomplished the twin purpose of providing labor and of freeing the land for German colonists. to concentration camps I have already introduced. deporting agencies. I quote from our Document 2163-PS, the National Socialist Yearbook for 1941, US Exhibit 444. The passage in question appears on page 3 of the translation, paragraph 5, and at page 195 of the original. I quote:
"For some time now the Reichsfuehrer SS has had at his disposal an office under the management of SS-Otergruppenfuehrer Lorenz, the National German Central Office, Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle. This office has the task of dealing with national German questions and the raising of required support.
"In addition to the VM, the Immigration Center Offices, with the Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service of the SS, under the management of SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. Sandberger, and the Settlement Staff of the Reich Commissioner were created, which, in cooperation with the National Socialist Welfare Organization and the Reich Railroad Agency, took charge of the migration of national Germans." fuehrer and General of the Waffen SS and Police, our Document No. L-49. I offer it as US Exhibit 473. Hoffmann was Chief of the Main Office for Race and Settlement in the SS Supreme Command until 1943. This affidavit was taken on August 4, 1945, at Freising, Germany. I shall read paragraph 2 of that affidavit:
"2. The executive power, in other words the carrying out of all so-called resettlement actions, that is to say, sending away of Polish and Jewish settlers and those of non-German blood from a territory in Poland destined for Germanization, was in the hands of the Chief of the RSHA Heydrich, and later Kaltenbrunner, since the end of 1942. The Chief of the RSHA also supervised and issued orders to the so-called immigration center, which classified the Germans living abroad who returned to Germany and directed them with the chief office of the Reichsfuehrer SS."
to the individual farms, already freed. The latter was done in agreement Other SS agencies were involved in the program for deportation.
The Tribunal has already received in evidence our Document 1352-PS, as US Exhibit No. 176. It is a report relating to the confiscation of Polish agricultural enterprises, dated May 22, 1940, and signed "Kusche". Portions of that document dealing with the confiscation of Polish agricultural enterprises and the deportation of Polish owners of the land to Germany were read into the record. I shall read only one further paragraph showing SS personnel involved in this action. It appears on page 2 of the translation, the first full paragraph; and on page 10 of the original, paragraph 2. and I quote:
"Leans of transportation to the railroad can be provided:
"1. By the enterprise of the East German Corporation of Agricultural Development.
"2. By the SS NCO School in Lublinitz and the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
"These two latter places will also detail the necessary SS men for the day of the confiscation, and so forth." SS were concerned with the evacuation program is shown by the minutes of a meeting on the 4th of August, 1942, dealing with the deportation of Alsatians.