Nazi conspiracy and aggression, Volume 04 (of 11)
Part VII
FINAL PROVISIONS
Section 20
(1) The Reich Commissioner for the Occupied Netherlands Territories (Commissioner General for Finance and Economic Affairs) shall carry out all measures necessary for the enforcement of this order. He is authorized to delegate his powers.
(2) The Reich Commissioner for the Occupied Netherlands Territories (Commissioner General for Finance and Economic Affairs) shall have general power to make legally binding final decisions, in doubtful cases arising from the application of the provisions of this order.
Section 21
This order shall become effective on the day of publication.
THE HAGUE August 11, 1941
Reich Commissioner for the Occupied Netherlands Territories SEYSS-INQUART
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2113-PS
1934 PREUSSISCHE GESETZSAMMLUNG, PAGE 143
Secret State Police Department Decree for Application of the Law of 30 November 1933, Concerning the Secret State Police of 8 March 1934
ARTICLE 1
(1) The tasks of the Secret State Police will be effected
_a._ by the Secret State Police Department in Berlin (Art. 1 of the law of the 26th April 1933--L.R. p. 122) for the entire State territory,
_b._ by the State Police Offices for the Provincial Police Districts [Landes Polizei Bezirke].
(2) The “Inspecteur” (Head of the Police) conducts the general supervision of the State Police Offices, on the order and according to the instructions of the “Ministerpraesident” (Chief of the Secret State Police).
(3) In so far as the Minister President does not otherwise order, the State Police Offices are subordinate to the Regional President and in Berlin to the Police President with whom they are in immediate working connection. The control of the State Police Offices will be effected by officials to be designated by the Minister President.
(4) In places where there is no State Police Office, subsidiary offices can be established on the proposal of the “Inspecteur”.
(5) The competence of the State Police Offices will cover
_a._ matters limited in their inferences to the Provincial Police Districts,
_b._ matters assigned to them by the “Inspecteur” of the Secret State Police without regard to the limitations of the Provincial Police District.
(6) The local or district police matters within the sphere of the Secret State Police will be conducted at the seat of the State Police Office by the latter, in places where there are subsidiary offices of the State Police by these, and for the rest by the Local and District Police authorities as auxiliaries to the Secret State Police.
ARTICLE 2
The receipts and expenditure of the Secret State Police will be treated separately in the Budget of the Ministry of the Interior. The task of the preparation of the Budget and the disposition of these funds belong to the Minister President.
ARTICLE 3
(1) The officers of the Secret State Police are officials of the general internal Administration. On the request of the Minister President, they will be placed at the disposal of the Secret State Police by the Minister of the Interior. The appointments of the higher administrative officials of the Secret State Police and of the Superior officials of the Criminal Police, from the Criminal Commissar upwards, will be made by the Minister President and the appointments of the other officials will be made by the “Inspecteur”.
(2) The “Inspecteur” has disciplinary powers over the officials of the Secret State Police in accordance with Art. 16, Art. 17, para. 1, No. 2 of the Officers’ Disciplinary Code of the 27th January 1932 (L.R. p. 59).
ARTICLE 4
(1) Art. 2 of the Second Decree of Application of the 26th April 1933, by the Minister of the Interior (L.R. p. 126), to the Decree of the President of the Reich concerning the protection of the German People, dated 4th February 1933, is hereby abolished.
(2) Art. 1, of the Decree of the Minister of the Interior of the 26th April 1933 (L.R. p. 127) reads as follows:
“Article 1
Besides the Police President in Berlin, in his capacity as Provincial and District Police Authority (Art. 1 and 2 of the Decree of the 2nd March 1933--L.R. p. 33), the Secret State Police Department in Berlin is also competent for the prohibition of periodicals, for the imposition of restrictions on property, on personal liberty, and on the right of union and assembly, as well as limitations on letter, post, telegraph and telephone secrecy, in accordance with Art. 1 of the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State of 28th February 1935 (Reichs Law Register p. 83).”
ARTICLE 5
Art. 2 of the Decree of the Minister of the Interior of the 2nd March 1933 (L.R. p. 33), concerning the supplement to the Decree of 1st October 1931 (L.R. p. 213), for the regulation of the competence of the Provincial and District Police Authorities, will be altered in such wise that, for the ordering of restrictions on personal freedom and the rights of union and assembly, as well as on limitations on letter, post and telegraph secrecy, the authorities of the Secret State Police (Art. 1, para. 1) shall also be competent, in so far as concerns their sphere of office, but that, for the regulation of restrictions on telephone secrecy, only the latter shall be competent.
ARTICLE 6
This Decree comes into force on the day of its proclamation.
THE PRUSSIAN MINISTER PRESIDENT. Berlin, 8 March 1934 Goering.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2115-PS
1939 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 710
Second Execution Order to the Law of the Hitler Youth (Youth Service Regulation) of 25 March 1939
On the basis of Article 4 of the law for the Hitler Youth of 1 December 1936 (RGBl I, page 993), I order:
Article 1
_Length of Service_
(1) Service in the Hitler Youth is honorary service to the German people.
(2) All juveniles from the 10th to the end of the 18th year of age are obliged to serve in the Hitler Youth, and namely:
1. Boys between the ages of 10 and 14 in the Junior Hitler Youth (DJ),
2. Boys between the ages of 14 and 18 in the Hitler Youth (HJ),
3. Girls between the ages of 10 and 14 in the Junior Hitler Youth (JM),
4. Girls between the ages of 14 and 18 in the German Girls League (BDM).
(3) Pupils of elementary schools, who have already completed their 10th year of age, are deferred from the service in the Hitler Youth until they leave the classes of the elementary schools.
(4) Pupils of elementary schools, who have already completed their 14th year of age, remain, until their discharge from school, members of the Junior Hitler Youth (DJ and JM).
Article 2
_Educational Authority_
All boys and girls of the Hitler Youth are subject to a public-legal educational authority according to the provisions of regulations, decreed by the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor.
Article 3
_Unworthiness_
(1) Those juveniles are unworthy of membership in the Hitler Youth, and thus are excluded from the community of the Hitler Youth, who
1. Commit dishonorable acts,
2. Were dismissed from the Hitler Youth, before this law came into effect, because of dishonorable acts,
3. Who cause offense by their moral behavior in the Hitler Youth or in public, and thus injure the Hitler Youth.
(2) Furthermore, juveniles are excluded from membership in the Hitler Youth, as long as they are in official custody.
(3) The youth leader of the German Reich can permit exceptions.
Article 4
_Unfitness_
(1) Juveniles, who have been found, in the opinion of a medical officer of the HJ or of a physician, commissioned by the HJ, to be unfit or only partially fit for service in the Hitler Youth, must be relieved altogether or partially from service in the Hitler Youth according to the medical decision.
(2) The cooperation between health offices and the execution of other hygienic measures will be regulated by the youth leaders of the German Reich in agreement with the Fuehrer’s Deputy and the Reich Minister of the Interior.
Article 5
_Deferment and Exemption_
(1) On request of the legal guardian or the HJ leader concerned, juveniles can in each case be deferred or exempted from service in the Hitler Youth up to the duration of one year, if they:
1. Are retarded considerably in their physical development,
2. In the judgment of the school principal cannot fulfill the demands of school without the exemption.
(2) In individual cases, a request for deferment or exemption from service in the Hitler Youth can also be granted, when the conditions of Part 1 do not exist, but if there are other urgent reasons, which justify the temporary or permanent absence of a juvenile from service in the Hitler Youth.
(3) The youth leader of the German Reich will issue further regulations.
Article 6
_German Subjects of non-German National Origin_
(1) Juveniles of German citizenship, whose both parents or father belong according to their own statement to the Danish or Polish ethnic groups, are to be exempted from membership in the Hitler Youth on request of those who are charged with their care. If several persons have the right and duty to care for the juvenile person, and not everyone of them makes the request, the juvenile may be exempted. Illegitimate juveniles may be exempted from membership in the Hitler Youth on request of those who are charged with their care, if the mother belongs according to her own statement to the Danish or Polish racial groups; they are to be exempted if the guardian agrees to the request.
(2) The request is to be made to the lower administrative authorities. The higher administrative authority will investigate whether there is an acknowledgment of membership in the Danish or Polish ethnic group. More specific administrative rules will be issued by the Reich Minister of the Interior in agreement with the youth leader of the German Reich.
(3) The Reich Minister of the Interior exercises the supervision over youth organizations of the Danish or Polish ethnic groups. New foundations need his permission.
(4) No compulsion may be exercised by anyone toward the joining of a youth organization of the Danish or Polish ethnic groups.
Article 7
_Racial Requirements_
Jews (Article 5 of the 1st proclamation to the law of Reich citizenship of 14 November 1935, RGBl I, page 1333) are excluded from the membership of the Hitler Youth.
Article 8
_German Subjects residing Abroad_
Juveniles of German citizenship, who reside abroad, and who are only temporarily in the German Reich, are not obliged to serve in the Hitler Youth.
Article 9
_Registration and Induction_
(1) All juveniles are to be registered with the respective Hitler Youth, leader for induction into the Hitler Youth before 15 March of the calendar year during which they complete their 10th year of age. If a juvenile fulfills the conditions for acceptance into the Hitler Youth (for instance release from official custody, receipt of citizenship, permanent residence in the German Reich) after this time, the juvenile is to be registered within one month after fulfillment of the conditions named.
(2) The legal representative of the juvenile is liable for the registration.
(3) Induction into the Hitler Youth takes place on 20 April of every year.
(4) The youth leader of the German Reich will issue more specific regulations about registration and induction into the Hitler Youth.
Article 10
_Discharge_
(1) The following will be discharged from the Hitler Youth:
1. Juveniles after the expiration of the period, fixed in Article 1, and girls who marry,
2. Juveniles concerning whom it is established that they are excluded from membership in the community of the Hitler Youth according to the regulations of this law.
(2) Article 3, part 3 apply accordingly to No. 2 and 3.
(3) Male and female leaders remain members of the Hitler Youth after the period fixed in Article 1 has expired. Their discharge will take place by special regulations. They are to be discharged on their request.
Article 11
_Leaves during Membership in the Hitler Youth_
(1) The membership in the Hitler Youth becomes inactive for the duration of active military service.
(2) Members of the Reich labor service may not be active in the service of the Hitler Youth.
Article 12
_Punitive Regulation_
(1) A legal guardian will be punished with a fine up to 150 marks or with confinement if he intentionally acts against the provisions of Article 9 of this law.
(2) Whoever malevolently prevents or attempts to prevent a juvenile from serving in the Hitler Youth, will be punished with prison and fine, or with one of these punishments.
(3) Legal punitive action will only be taken on request of the youth leader of the German Reich. The request can be withdrawn.
(4) Juveniles can be forced by the respective local authorities, to fulfill the duties with which they are charged on the basis of this law, and of the implementative regulations issued for it.
Article 13
_Final Regulations_
For juveniles of the age classes 1921 to 1929, who have not belonged to the Hitler Youth up to now, the youth leader of the German Reich will fix the time of their registration and induction into the Hitler Youth.
Berlin, 25 March 1939
The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler
The Deputy of the Fuehrer R. Hess
The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery Dr. Lammers
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2118-PS
1941 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 547
Police Decree on Identification of Jews 1 September 1941
In agreement with the Reichs-Protector for Bohemia and Moravia the following law based on the regulations regarding the Police-decrees of the Ministers of the Reich from 14 November 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 1582) and on the decree regarding the right of establishing of law [Rechtsetzungsrecht] in the protectorate Bohemia and Moravia from 7 June 1939 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 1039) is herewith published:
Article 1
(1) Jews (article 5 of the first decree regarding the law on German citizenship of 14 November 1935--Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 1333) who have completed their sixth year of life shall be prohibited to appear in public without wearing a Jewish star.
(2) The Jewish star is a yellow piece of cloth with a black border, in the form of a six pointed star of the size of a hand with the inscription “Jew”. It shall be worn visible, sewed on the left side of the chest of the garment.
Article 2
Jews are prohibited to:
_a._ leave the area of the community in which they live without written permission of the local police;
_b._ to wear medals, ribbons and other insignia.
Article 3
Article 1 & 2 shall not apply to:
_a._ a husband living in a Jewish mixed marriage if children, born from this marriage who are not considered as Jews exist. This also applies if the marriage is dissolved or if the only son was killed in the present war.
_b._ to a Jewish wife in a childless mixed marriage, for the duration of the marriage.
Article 4
(1) He who violates articles 1 & 2 willingly or carelessly shall be punished with a fine up to 150 Reichsmark or with imprisonment not to exceed 6 weeks.
(2) Further protective measures on the part of the police as well as rules according to which a more severe punishment is permitted remain unaffected.
Article 5
This decree shall also be valid within the borders of the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia with the specifications that the Reichs-Protector in Bohemia and Moravia shall adopt the rules of article 2 _a_, to the local situation in the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Article 6
This Police-law shall be valid two weeks after publication.
Berlin, 1 September 1941.
For the Reich Minister of the Interior. Heydrich
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2119-PS
1939 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 485
Decree of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor concerning the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, March 16, 1939
The Bohemian-Moravian countries belonged for a millennium to the living space of the German people. Violence and want of judgment have torn them arbitrarily from their old, historic environment and finally created, through their inclusion in the artificial structure of Czechoslovakia, a center of continuous unrest. Year after year the danger increased that out of this area--as once before in the past--would arise a new, stupendous menace to European peace. For the Czechoslovak State and its rulers had not succeeded in organizing in a reasonable manner the coexistence of the national groups arbitrarily comprised within it, and thus they failed to awaken and to preserve the interest of all concerned in the maintenance of the state common to them. Thereby this state has demonstrated its inherent inability to exist and therefore now has fallen into actual dissolution.
The German Reich cannot tolerate everlasting disturbances in these areas, areas so decisively essential not only to its own peace and security but also to the general welfare and the general peace. Sooner or later the German Reich would have had to suffer the most serious consequences because it is the power which is the most vitally interested and concerned by history as well as by geographical position. It is therefore only an act of compliance with the law of self-preservation if the German Reich is resolved to take decisive action for the reestablishment of the foundations of a Central European Order based on reason and to resort to measures impelled by this aim. For the millennial this historic past of the German Reich has proven that it alone is chosen by virtue of its greatness and the qualities of the German people to solve this problem.
Imbued with the earnest desire to serve the true interests of the nations settled in this living space, to safeguard the national life of the German and Czech nations, to promote peace and the social welfare of all, I therefore order, in the name of the German Reich, the following as foundations on which the inhabitants of these areas can live side by side in the future:
Article 1. (1) The territories of the erstwhile Czechoslovak Republic, occupied by the German Armies in March, 1939, are hereby incorporated into the territory of the Greater German Reich and are placed under its protection as the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.”
(2) In so far as the defense of the Reich requires it, the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor may issue, for specified areas of these territories, orders at variance with these articles.
Article 2. (1) The residents of the Protectorate of German origin are hereby declared to be German nationals and German citizens, in accordance with the provisions of the Reich Nationality Code [Reichsburgergesetz] of September 15, 1935 (RGBl I, p. 1146). Therefore, the provisions for the protection of German blood and German honor shall apply to them. They shall be subject to the jurisdiction of German courts.
(2) The other residents of Bohemia and Moravia are hereby declared to be citizens of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Article 3. (1) The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia is declared to be autonomous and shall govern itself.
(2) It shall exercise the sovereign rights to which it is entitled within the framework of the Protectorate in conformity with the political, military, and economic interests of the Reich.
(3) The Protectorate shall exercise these sovereign rights through its own political agencies, authorities, and officials.
Article 4. The head of the autonomous administration of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia shall be entitled to the protection and the full honors of the head of a sovereign government. The head of the Protectorate must enjoy, in the exercise of his high office, the confidence of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor.
Article 5. (1) The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor will appoint as a guardian of the interests of the Reich a “Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.” His official residence shall be in Prague.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Reich Protector, as representative of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor and as the agent of the Government of the Reich, to assure compliance with the political instructions issued by the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor.
(3) The members of the government of the Protectorate shall hold office subject to confirmation of the Reich Protector. A confirmation may be later revoked.
(4) The Reich Protector may demand information concerning all acts of the government of the Protectorate and may offer his counsel to the government. He may protest against measures which may be harmful to the Reich, and, in cases of emergency, may take all steps necessary to the common welfare.
(5) The publication of statutes, orders, and other general rules and regulations, and the enforcement of administrative measures and execution of judicial decisions which have become final, shall be suspended upon notice of protest given by the Reich Protector.
Article 6. (1) The foreign affairs of the Protectorate, especially the protection of its citizens abroad, shall be entrusted to the Reich. The Reich shall take charge of the foreign affairs in such a manner as shall conform with the common interest of both countries.
(2) The Protectorate shall have a representative with the Government of the Reich officially designated as Minister.
Article 7. (1) The Reich shall extend military protection to the Protectorate.
(2) For the purpose of extending such protection the Reich shall maintain garrisons and military establishments in the Protectorate.
(3) The Protectorate may establish its own units for the maintenance of home security and protection. The Government of the Reich shall determine the form of organization, the number of the forces, and the armament to be employed.
Article 8. The Reich shall directly supervise all traffic, posts, and telegraphs.
Article 9. The Protectorate shall form part of the German customs area and shall be subject to its customs authority.
Article 10. (1) In addition to the Reichsmark the Krone shall constitute legal tender until further notice.
(2) The rate of exchange for the two currencies shall be determined by the government of the Reich.
Article 11. (1) The Reich may issue orders having the force of statutes for the Protectorate, in so far as required by the common welfare of both of them.
(2) In so far as there is a common need, the Reich may take over branches of the administrative services and may establish the necessary Reich agencies in their stead.
(3) The Government of the Reich may take all measures necessary for the maintenance of security and order.
Article 12. The laws and statutes presently in effect in Bohemia and Moravia shall remain in effect unless incompatible with the purposes of protection by the German Reich.
Article 13. The Reich Minister of the Interior shall, in agreement with the Reich ministers concerned, issue all rules and regulations, general and administrative, required for the enforcement and implementation of this decree.
Prague, March 16, 1939.
Adolf Hitler, Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor Frick, Reich Minister of the Interior
von Ribbentrop, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Lammers, Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2120-PS
1938 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 1342
Law on Passports of Jews on 5 October 1938
Based on the law on passport, alien police and registration affairs as well as on identification affairs of 11 May 1934 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, Page 589) the following is ordered in agreement with the Reich Minister of Justice:
Article 1
(1) All German passports of Jews (Article 5 of the first law to the Reich citizenship of 14 November 1935--Reichsgesetzblatt I Page 1333), who reside in the Reich area, become invalid.
(2) The holders of the passports, mentioned in Section (1), are obliged to hand in these passports to the passport authority within Germany, in whose district the holder of the passport has his permanent residence or in lieu of such sojourns temporarily, within 2 weeks after this law becomes effective. For Jews who are staying abroad at the time of publication of this law, this period of two weeks begins with the day of their re-entry into the Reich area.
(3) The passports, made out to be valid abroad, will become valid again if they are marked with a sign designated by the Reich Minister of the Interior, which will mark the holder as a Jew.
Article 2
Whoever carelessly or willfully does not comply with the obligation described in article 1, section 2 will be punished with prison and fined up to 150 marks or with either one of them.
Article 3
The law becomes effective with its promulgation.
Berlin, 5 October 1938.
The Reich Minister of the Interior By order Dr. Best.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2124-PS
1938 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 594
Decree Introducing the Nurnberg Racial Laws into the Land of Austria 20 May 1938
Pursuant to Article II of the law relating to the reunion of Austria with the German Reich, 13 March 1938 (Reichsgesetz Bl. I, p. 237), the following is ordered:
ARTICLE I
LAW RELATING TO CITIZENSHIP OF THE REICH
Section 1
The following are applicable to the Land of Austria:
1. The Law Relating to Citizenship of the Reich of 15 September 1935 (Reichsgesetz Bl. I, p. 1146).
2. Section 2, Sub-Section 2, Section 4, Sub-Sections 1, 3 and 4, Sections 5 and 6, Sub-Section 1, and Section 7 of the First Decree under the Law Relating to Citizenship of the Reich of 14 November 1935 (Reichsgesetz Bl. I, p. 1333).
Section 2
The effective date of Section 1, Sub-Section 2, of the Reich Citizenship Law will be determined by the Reich Minister of the Interior.
Section 3
The elimination of Jews from public offices which they hold on the effective date of this decree will be specially regulated.
Section 4
For the application of Section 5, Sub-Section 2, of the First Decree under the Reich Citizenship Law, 16 September 1935 will be considered the effective date of the Reich Citizenship Law in Austria also, and 17 September 1935 will be considered the day on which the law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor came into effect.
ARTICLE II
THE LAW FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE BLOOD
Section 5
The Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor of 15 September 1935 (Reichsgesetz Bl. I, p. 1146) and the First Decree for the implementation of this Law of 14 November 1935 (Reichsgesetz Bl. I, p. 1334) are applicable to the Land of Austria.
Section 6
Section 3 of the Law for the Protection of the Blood will become effective on 1 August 1938.
Section 7
For the application of Section 12, paragraph 3, of the First Decree for the implementation of the Law for the Protection of the Blood, the 16 September 1935 is also to be considered the effective date of the Law for the Protection of the Blood in Austria.
Section 8
1. A marriage cannot be entered into unless it is proved by the testimony of the local Burgermeister of the bride’s permanent residence that there is no obstacle to the marriage according to the provisions of the Law for the Protection of the Blood and of the First Decree for the implementation of this law. If the bride has no permanent residence in Austria, the competence of the Burgermeister is determined by the further Provisions of Section 3 of the General Administrative Procedure Law (Austrian BG. BL. #274/1925).
2. If the Burgermeister has any doubt about the existence of a marriage obstacle in the sense of Section 6 of the First Decree for the implementation of the Law for the Protection of the Blood, he must demand a Marriage Fitness Certificate from the bride and groom of the official physician.
Section 9
In the application of Section 15, sentence 2, of the First Decree for the implementation of the Law for the Protection of the Blood, the former possession of Austrian citizenship is equivalent to the former possession of German citizenship.
ARTICLE III
PROCEDURE REGULATIONS
Section 10
In annulment proceedings, the provisions of the Austrian Law relating to the jurisdiction and the procedure of the courts in lawsuits relating to the annulment of marriages are applicable, subject to the following limitations:
1. The suit is to be made against both spouses. If the public prosecutor or one of the spouses files an appeal, then in the first case both spouses and in the second case the public prosecutor and the other spouse are to be considered as adverse parties.
2. The regulations relating to compulsory representation by counsel are not applicable to the public prosecutor.
3. If the public prosecutor is defeated, the Treasury is obliged to refund the expenses incurred by the spouses, according to Sections 40 et seq., of the Austrian Civil Law.
4. No counsel for the defense of the marriage bond will be appointed.
5. The suit can only be filed, if both spouses are alive. If one of the spouses should die before the sentence is executed, the case is to be considered in the main as closed.
Section 11
The court of first instance has jurisdiction over violations of Section 5, Sub-Sections 1 and 2, of the Law for the Protection of the Blood.
ARTICLE IV
CONCLUDING PROVISIONS
Section 12
If regulations introduced into Austria by this decree cannot be applied according to the letter, they are to be applied according to the spirit.
Section 13
This decree comes into effect on the day after its promulgation.
Berlin, 20 May 1938.
The Reichsminister of the Interior Frick
The Deputy of the Fuehrer Hess
The Reich Minister for Justice per Dr. Schlegelberger.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2149-PS
SECRET
[STAMP:] German Armistice Delegation 14 December 1942 Del. W. 7903 Berlin, 11 December 1942
Foreign Office, No. Ha Pol 7563 g
The enclosed statement of the Reichsbank, Department for National Economy [Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung], of the capability of France is submitted for your information.
To this the Reichsbank remarks as follows:
“The statement deals solely with the effect of an increase of the occupation expenses through levying on the French budget in regard to economy and currency.
“It is an entirely different question, however, how to act in practice in the face of the imperative military necessities.
* * * * * * *
“The Armed Forces’ money requirements must be supplied in any case--either through the budget of the French Government or in the form of an advance from the issuing bank or in any other form of financing; otherwise it would be necessary to issue Reich Credit Bills [Reichskredit Kassenscheine], which is undesirable.”
To: The German Armistice Delegation for Economy in Paris
per (signed:) DUMONT [pencil notation:]
The German Embassy _in Paris_
Occup. SECRET
--each separate--
# # # # #
Copy to be attached to Ha Pol. 7563/42 g
Berlin, 7, December 1942
SECRET:
German Reichsbank
Department for National Economy
Concerning the question of an increase of French contributions to the Occupation expenses.
Altogether the burden for France hitherto as an effect of the Armistice is nearly 18.5 billion marks or 370 billion francs.
* * * * * * *
France therefore has transferred the greatest part of her payments (17.6 billion marks) in the form of goods and labor.
* * * * * * *
Anyhow the conclusion is obvious that the French National Economy has been taxed more heavily since the Armistice in June 1940 than Germany was after the World War.
* * * * * * *
Since the French contributions for the occupation expenses could not be covered by taxes, they had to be financed in part from the proceeds of the issuing of treasury bills, but mostly by credit from the bank of issue.
* * * * * * *
Whether the economic exploitation of France could be intensified by raising the daily contributions to the occupation expenses from 15 to 25 million marks for the rest of the War seems to us--as far as we can judge from here--rather doubtful for the following reasons:
* * * * * * *
Under these circumstances the French Government would be obliged to utilize the credit of the bank of issue to still greater extent than hitherto in order to finance the demands for increased occupation expenses.
* * * * * * *
Inflationary rises in prices and wages in France would cause very grave disadvantages for Germany.
* * * * * * *
Such a measure also seems very problematical in regard to the goods [gueterseite] in French national economy.
* * * * * * *
With the loss of a large part of French imports, industrial production as well as the capacity of France to supply us with food will have to be further reduced in the future. Such a great weakening of French economic power is to be reckoned with that it does not seem to make much sense to raise the expenses of the occupation.
* * * * * * *
An increase in French contributions to the occupation expenses could be advocated, however, only if there were a corresponding chance of raising her production ability [Sachleistungen].
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2153-PS
NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY CORRESPONDENCE
NSK No. 358
30 March 1933
Defeat the Enemy of the World!
By Julius Streicher, head of the Central Committee for defense against Jewish horror and boycott agitation.
All Judah wanted the battle, it shall have it! It shall have it until it realizes that the Germany of the Brown Battalions is not the Germany of cowardice and of surrender: All Judah shall have the battle until victory is ours.
National Socialists!
Defeat the enemy of the World! And if the World were full of devils, we must still succeed!
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2154-PS
NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY CORRESPONDENCE
NSK No. 359 31 March 1933
Additional orders of the Central Committee for defense against Jewish horror and boycott agitation.
NSK. The following additional orders are issued by the Central Committee for defense against Jewish horror and boycott agitation:
Order No. 3
In enforcing the defensive boycott, the closing of Jewish business or the use of violence against their customers is to be avoided under all circumstances.
If such an establishment closes its doors voluntarily, no higher power is involved, and the proprietors have no excuse for discharges without notice or for the refusal to pay wages and salaries or for reductions.
Order No. 4
Numerous reports are received by the Central Committee saying that Jewish proprietors are transferring their establishments to German figureheads in order to avoid the effects of the defensive propaganda.
Therefore it is decreed that: Establishments transferred to German figureheads by the Jewish proprietors after 28 March 1933 will be considered as Jewish establishments for the duration of the defensive boycott.
Signed: Streicher
Order No. 5
Concerning the defensive action against the Jewish horror and boycott agitation beginning Saturday, 1 April at 10 AM, the local action committees are again reminded to see to it most strictly:
1. That any use of force is to be avoided, establishments cannot be closed by the committee or by its agents. On the other hand, closing by the proprietor himself is not to be prevented.
Entering of Jewish establishments is strictly forbidden to SA or SS members or other agents of the action committee.
The only duty of the defensive guards is to inform the public that the proprietor of the establishment is a Jew.
2. That boycotting of establishments is refrained from if it has not been definitely proved that the proprietor is a Jew.
3. That provocateurs cause no property damage which is counter to the purpose of the defensive action.
4. That the action committee be kept informed of all details of the course of the defensive action by the SA and SS controllers so as to be constantly well posted.
5. Posters with provocative contents are forbidden.
Central Committee for defense against the Jewish horror and boycott agitation. Streicher.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2156-PS
NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY CORRESPONDENCE
NSK No. 357 29 March 1933
The central committee for defense against Jewish horror and boycott agitation
NSK. The central committee for defense against Jewish horror and boycott agitation announces:
Julius Streicher, member of the Reichstag, commissioned with the task of creating and directing the central committee for defense against Jewish horror and boycott agitation, began his work on Wednesday, 29 March. As presiding deputy of the central committee he appointed Karl HOLZ (Nurnberg), the editor of the anti-Semitic weekly “Der Stuermer”. The other members of the central committee are:
Robert Ley, Reichstag member, staff leader of the Fuehrer, in the supreme leadership of the party organization.
Adolf Huehnlein, Major, Reichstag member, deputy chief of staff of the S. A.
Heinrich Himmler, Reichstag member, Reich Fuehrer of the S. S.
Reinhold Muchow, deputy head of the National Socialist factory cell leadership [Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellenleitung].
Hans Oberlindober, Reichstag member, head of the National Socialist list organization for the care of war victims.
Jakob Sprenger, Reichstag member, head of the National Socialist league of public officials.
Walter Darre, Reichstag member, head of the agrarian-political Dept. of the N. S. D. A. P.
Dr. von Renteln, Reichstag Fuehrer of the fighting league [Kampfbund] of the trade middle class.
Dr. Hans Frank II, Reichstag member, head of the National Socialist jurist’s league.
Dr. Gerhard Wagner, head of the National Socialist league of physicians.
Willy Koerber, deputy of the Reich youth leader.
Dr. Achim Gercke, head of the National Socialist information department of the Nazi party executive board [Reichsleitung].
The office of the central committee for defense against Jewish horror and boycott agitation is located in Munich, Hotel “Reichsadler”, 32 Herzog Wilhelm Street, Room 56. (Telephone Munich 90-0-12.)
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2163-PS
NATIONAL SOCIALIST YEARBOOK 1941
[Nationalsozialistisches Jahrbuch 1941]
Editor: Party Director for Organization of the NSDAP Dr. Robert Ley
The SS During the War-Year 1939/40.
In the foreground of the work and the battle of the SS during the war year 1939/40 stands the fight of the Waffen-SS in the Poland-Campaign and in the West, the matter-of-fact-employment of the leaders and men of the General-SS in all sections of the Armed Forces and the enormous performances of SS-Leaders and SS-men in the course of the work, which the Fuehrer imposed on the Reichsfuehrer-SS in his capacity as “Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationality” by order of 7th October 1939.
As the Reichsfuehrer-SS said: “Everyone of us knows that he is a representative of the Black Corps and has to do honor to this community by the best possible performance of his station, whether he is employed on the field of battle in the divisions of the Armed-SS, or whether he fights as an officer or soldier of the Army, whether he has been detailed as unit or part of the police, and serves the inner order of the Reich, or whether he fights against the enemies of the State as a member of the Security Service, or whether he labors in the framework of the historic mission, which has been carried over to the Reichsfuehrer as Reich-Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationality, or whether he is professionally with the home-front. The revolutionary spirit of fighting and sacrifice of this National-Socialist formation, its daily employment and hereby the best and most severe selection have determined its direction and its constant unique way.
The firm believing tie to the great blood stream of the people, the knowledge of the fulfillment of the deepest German longing by service to the people, this welding for a firm inner unity of solidarity which the SS could accomplish in the course of hard and fully filled years were the suppositions for the now following, largely increased missions of the Black Corps.” [Gunter d’Alquen].
The Armed-SS-divisions, a garrisoned organization, which have been constructed in accordance with the experiences of the SS and with the National-Socialist principles of selection, education, and formation of the will and leadership have been fully materialized during the winter 1938/39. They are at the exclusive disposal of the Fuehrer.
Already in March 1939 the SS-Emergency Force was required in this new form for the pacification of the Protectorate Bohemia-Moravia.
By decree of the Fuehrer they were committed in the framework of the Army.
Parts of the SS-Emergency Force crossed the German-Czech border together with units of the Army Groups 3 and 5, in the early hours of 15th March 1939. During the preceding night Army-units and the Leibstandarte “Adolf Hitler” had occupied Maehrisch-Ostrau and Wirkowitz. The German population in these localities was seriously threatened by Chauvinist Czechs. In the early morning of the same day 3 trucks with SS-leaders arrived at the Police Head Office in Prague and contacted the local security-officials.
The commitment of the SS-Emergency-Force in restoring order within collapsing Czechoslovakia, was their trial of efficiency in the new motorized form. After their return from this action a new order of the Fuehrer requested the immediate enlargement of the present SS-Emergency-Force into a motorized division. At once, new units were formed. As speedily as possible the SS-Artillery Regiments, the SS-Anti-Tank Battalions, the SS-Anti-Aircraft Machinegun Battalion and the SS-Reconnaissance Squadrons were formed.
The training of future leaders was undertaken by the Junker schools at Tolz and Braunschweig in which the selected SS men were trained for a soldierly and politically perfect Fuehrer Corps under the harshest conditions.
The aim of the summer training 1939 was the training of the new groups to make a troop which had grown to cope with any situation.
On 22nd March 1939 the Memel-land returned to the Reich, on the basis of an agreement with Lithuania. Also the SS had taken part in the liberation of the old German province, especially the Eastern-Prussian SS.
In the liberation of Danzig in August 1939 the SS-Home-Guard especially excelled.
When in August 1939 the Polish despotism grew and acts of violence increased day by day, the quickly formed SS-Home-Guard entered the scene.
The SS-Home-Guard formed for the first time in Danzig on 18th August 1939, at which time they received their colors from District Leader [Gauleiter] Forester. The commitment of the SS-Home-Guard made Danzig ready for defense and it became possible to proclaim the District-Leader of Danzig to become Head of the State of the Free City of Danzig in opposition to the Polish threats. This was done in accordance with the “Law for the Lifting of Distress from the People and State” to be effective as of 23rd August 1939. The political department of the Danzig President of the Police was at the same time placed under the Senate under the title “Secret State Police Danzig”, as an independent department. A further ordinance created the authority to appoint State-Commissioners for essential concerns.
When the Fuehrer gave the order that on 1st September the German sword should be wielded against Polish despotism, in order to break force by force, the SS-Home-Guard was employed in this battle.
They have proved their courage especially in the fighting for Dirschau and Gdynia and in defeating the Polish Army of the Corridor.
During the Polish Campaign, formations of the SS-Emergency-Force attached to the Army often fought shoulder to shoulder with units of the Army at decisive places. The report which the High Command of the Wehrmacht made public on the 23rd September 1939 regarding the Polish Campaign pays special tribute to this fact.
How much courage and daring commitment the leaders and men have shown during the Polish Campaign, is proven by the great number of Iron Crosses awarded to officers and men of the Waffen-SS in the Polish Campaign for gallantry in action.
Iron Crosses First Class were awarded to 26 officers and 1 non-commissioned officer, the Iron Cross Second Class to 241 officers, 227 non-coms, and 203 men.
Numerous reports contain the heroic actions of the Waffen-SS in the war against the Allied Western Powers, especially the most daring advance of the SS-Regiment “Der Fuehrer”. Reports about the actions of the Waffen-SS in this war shall be rendered when final victory has been won.
By decree of 1st August 1939 (RGBl I. p. 1335) the Fuehrer amplified the provisions of the Law concerning the Care and Welfare of former Members of the Armed Forces, dated 26th August 1938, making them applicable to former members of the SS-Junker schools, the SS-Death-Head-Units and the strengthening of the SS-Death-Head-Units and their bereaved.
The provisions of the Law concerning the Care and Welfare of Members of the Armed Forces are therefore applicable to all armed units of the SS.
The Reich-Minister for the Interior issued, in agreement with the Reich-Finance-Minister and the Chief of the High Command Armed Forces, an executionary decree to the decree of the Fuehrer, dated 3rd August 1939 (RGBl I. p. 1342). By this decree the Care and Welfare Office of the SS, created originally for the SS-Emergency-Force, was commissioned to carry out the care and welfare of all remaining armed units of the SS. A further Care-and-Welfare-Office-SS was created, which is subordinate to the Main-Welfare-Office-SS.
On the basis of an agreement between the Reichs-Fuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police and the Chief of the High Command of the Wehrmacht--the Reich-Finance-Minister consenting--the whole care and welfare of former members of the Sudeten-German Free Corps and their bereaved has been designated to the Care and Welfare authorities of the SS to become effective immediately.
On 7th October 1939 the Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police was, by decree of the Fuehrer, appointed “Reich-Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationality” with the duty to evacuate the persons of German race from the Baltic countries and from the former Polish territories of the Western Ukraine and White Russia. This is to be done in accordance with the National-Socialist ideology stating that common blood and race should have a common home as living space. It was to be his further duty to begin the racial consolidation and resettlement of the reclaimed German Eastern territories.
The SS takes a decisive part in this historic task and its solution.
The persons of German race from Galizia, Wolhynia, and the Narew area have been settled without loss or friction in full agreement with the Russian authorities.
For some time now the Reichsfuehrer-SS has had at his disposal an office under the management of SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Lorenz, the “National German Central Office” [Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle-VM]. 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 [Einwanderungszentralen, EWZ.] 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 NSV [National Socialist Welfare Organization] and the Reich-Railroad Agency, took charge of the Migration of National Germans.
Numerous SS-leaders and SS-men helped with untiring effort in bringing about this systematic migration of peoples, which has no parallel in history.
There were many authoritative and administrative difficulties which, however, were immediately overcome due to the unbureaucratic working procedure. This was especially guaranteed above all by the employment of SS leaders.
The procedure called “Durchschluesung” [literally passing through the lock] takes 3 to 4 hours as a rule. The resettler is being passed through 8 to 9 offices, following each other in organic order: registration office, card-index office, certificate and photo-office, property office, and biological hereditary and sanitary test office. The latter was entrusted to doctors and medical personnel of the SS and of the Armed Forces. The SS-Corps Areas [Oberabschnitte] Alpenland, North-West, Baltic Sea, Fulda-Werra, South and South-East, the SS-Main Office [SS-Hauptamt], the NPEA [National Political Education Institution] Vienna, and the SS-Cavalry-School in Hamburg provided most of the SS-Officer and SS-Non-Coms who worked at this job of resettlement.
Up to 30th April 1940, the Immigration Center dealt with 149,513 persons. Of these 56,777 were Germans from the Baltic countries, 92,736 Germans from Galizia, Wolhynia and the Narew-provinces.
While the resettlement of the Germans from Galizia and Wolhynia is now in full swing, the resettlement of the Germans from Esthonia and Latvia has nearly been finished. Of these resettling Baltic Germans, 37,134 persons have been resettled in the Warthe-district, a small number in the district Danzig-Western Prussia, and in the Reich proper.
The statistics office of the Immigration Center dealt with 107,882 migraters from Galizia, Wolhynia and the Narew-area up to 23rd March 1940.
The settlement, establishment and care of the newly-won peasantry in the liberated Eastern territory will be one of the most cherished tasks of the SS in the whole future.
The Security Service [SD] of the SS is a thorough political intelligence service, created in accordance with the principles of racial and ideological selection as required by the SS; it became the real security service for the SS, the Party and the Reich. It has proved its significance during the war year of 1939/40.
The Security Service is organized in Corps Areas and division areas in close similarity to the General-SS; its Chief is SS-Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich, who is at the same time Chief of the Security Police. Part of the duties of the Security Service is to watch for any changes in the manner of working and the tactics of the enemy and to protect the people against any kind of sedition. Leaders and men of the Security Service work in close cooperation with the German Security Police, whose members have the duty also to investigate and to fight against any nationally hostile intentions in the provinces of the Protectorate and the newly won Eastern territory, to evaluate and to gather the results of the uprisings.
The Fuehrer also assigned missions of police nature during the war year to the SS aside from those on military matters. Because of its ideological and political education the spirit of the SS is alive in the German Police.
Thus a front has been created in which the State and the Party, the official and the soldier not only cooperate in the defense against political and criminal enemies of the Nation, but also as protectors of the people. The Police, whose new members are recruited out of the ranks of the SS, has become friend and helper of the community of the people.
The Chief of the SS-Main Office SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Heissmeyer, was appointed Inspector of the National-Political Education Office. Thereby it has been ensured that the selected men of the SS-NPEA (National Political Education Office) are being educated exactly in the spirit of the SS. The educators and teachers of the NPEA are exclusively SS officers and non-coms.
The SS takes its share in the work in every sphere of racial life, according to the motto given to us by the Fuehrer as our obligation: “Our Honor means Faithfulness”.
Our work and fight continues in the spirit of the proclamation of the Reichsfuehrer SS: “Thus we have fallen in and are marching forward, in accordance with unchangeable laws, as a National Socialist soldierly order of men of Nordic designation and as a sworn community of their tribes, towards a far future. We wish and believe that we are not only the grandchildren fighting better to the end, but that we shall be, further, the ancestors of yet unborn generations, which are necessary for the eternal life of the German and Germanic People.”
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2164-PS
NATIONAL SOCIALIST YEARBOOK 1940 [Nationalsozialistisches Jahrbuch 1940]
Editor: Dr. Robert Ley, Pp. 365-371
The SS (The Schutzstaffeln of the NSDAP)
The SS since the Reichparteitag 1938
Between today and the Reichsparteitag 1938 there is a span of time which, saturated with important political events, was rich in missions and commitments for the SS as a whole. Only three of those occurrences of special significance are mentioned:
the incorporation of the Sudetenland into the Reich, the founding of the Protectorate Bohemia-Moravia, the return of Memel to the greater Germany.
When the march into the liberated provinces of the Sudetenland began on that memorable 1 October 1938, the Emergency Force [Verfuegungstruppen] as well as the Death Head units [Totenkopfverbaende] were along with those in the lead. Already previously they have proven themselves in the fulfillment of their assigned missions in every respect and thereby contributed to the results. However, not only the garrisoned parts of the SS were employed. Also the General SS [Allgemeine SS] were brought forth for special missions. Thousands of younger and older SS comrades were employed for the strengthening of the Police and for the guarding of Concentration Camps and have faithfully fulfilled their duty throughout the weeks.
The 15th of March 1939 brought a similar utilization of the SS when it served to establish order in the collapsing Czechoslovakia. This action ended with the founding of the protectorate Bohemia-Moravia.
Only a week later, on the 29th March 1939, Memel also returned to the Reich upon basis of an agreement with Lithuania. Again it was the SS, here above all, the East Prussian SS, which played a prominent part in the liberation of this province.
Aside from these illustrated commitments, the cordon-service [Absperrdienst], which is included among the well known missions of the SS, goes on. It placed increased requirements on the Berlin SS as a result of visits by the Italian Foreign Minister, Count Ciano, (21 to 23 May 1939), the Prince regent Paul of Yugoslavia (1 to 5 June 1939), and the return of the Condar Legion (6 June 1939). Also these missions were readily fulfilled in cooperation with other formations of the movement.
It is here especially emphasized that the SS did justice to the demand required of it in all cases and have proven themselves worthy of the confidence of the Fuehrer.
Naturally the territorial expansion of the Reich also brought along a further expansion of the SS.
The return of Austria already resulted in the creation of the SS-Regiment “Der Fuehrer” in the SS-V.T. [Verfuegungstruppen] and the creation of the SS-Regiment “Austria” in the SS-T. [Totenkopfverbaende] and the formation of the SS Corps area “Donau” in the General [Allgemeine] SS. Likewise, the incorporation of the Sudeten-German provinces necessitates the organization of new units by the Allgemeinen SS.
The founding of the protectorate Bohemia-Moravia also brought the possibility to construct an SS here which consists out of the independent SS division XXXIX in Prague with the 107th SS Regiment in Iglau and 108th in Prague, which are under the command of the higher SS and Police-fuehrer Bohemia-Moravia, SS-Brigadier General Frank.
Upon the return of Memel, the whole Memel Ordnungsdienst was taken over in the SS by the Reichsfuehrer SS. The members of the new Regiment retained the right to wear the native insignia of Memel, the elk antlers, as collar insignia.
The SS-Emergency Force [Verfuegungstruppen]
The SS-Emergency Force [Verfuegungstruppen]. The SS-Verfuegungstruppe is a standing armed force although it belongs to the SS in its entirety. It is neither a part of the Police nor a part of the Wehrmacht and stands at the exclusive disposal of the Fuehrer.
The construction of the individual groups of the SS-Verfuegungstruppe is similar to the corresponding units of the Army for organizational reasons. The Truppe was recruited out of volunteers from the number who are conscripted [Wehrpflichtigen]; these however are still subjected to special selective laws of the SS in addition to their usefulness determined by the Wehrmacht.
In the SS-Verfuegungstruppe, in which they must obligate themselves to four years service, they fulfill the first two years of their active lawful Army conscription.
In the year 1938 after the reincorporation of Austria into the Reich, new SS-Regiment “Der Fuehrer” was formed in Austria by Fuehrer decree. It appeared for the first time in public as a group on the Reichsparteitag 1938.
During the September crisis of the year 1938, the SS-Verfuegungstruppe was placed under the Army by special decree of the Fuehrer in order to solve the mission of the liberation of the Sudeten provinces with this combination.
In all parts of the newly returned German Sudeten provinces, units of the SS-Verfuegungstruppen marched over the border, along with the first formations of the Army. All the tasks assigned to the Truppe were entirely fulfilled in every case. Hereby, the Truppe showed excellent accomplishments.
Following the completion of this employment the order came to completely motorize the Truppe during the course of the winter. This brought a huge amount of work for all officers and men of the SS-Verfuegungstruppe for the winter.
In addition to the organizational measures which were required by this rearrangement, the training of a large number of drivers for the various types of vehicles had to take place in this short time. Specialists had to be schooled. Aside from that, the leadership principles of offices and men had to be retaught. While everyone still worked with all their might in the fulfillment of this task, already the March of 1939 saw the new employment for the pacification of the protectorate Bohemia-Moravia.
By decree of the Fuehrer the SS-Verfuegungstruppe again was committed into the framework of the Army. This commitment offered an excellent test of efficiency for the employability of the SS Verfuegungstruppe. Hardly was the work of motorization completed when a new employment in this new form had to follow without any apparent large preparatory practices.
The return from this commitment however in no way signified the continuation of the uninterrupted training period. A new decree by the Fuehrer demanded the immediate conversion of the existing units of the SS-Verfuegungstruppen into a motorized division. And so the organizational preparations for the construction of new groups already began on the military training grounds following their commitment in the protectorate. The SS Artillery Regiment, the SS Anti-tank Battalion, the SS Anti-aircraft machine gun Battalion and the SS Reconnaissance Squadrons were created.
The training of these new formations to a battle-ready, employable unit was the goal of the so short summer training of the year 1939.
The SS-Death Head Units [Totenkopfverbaende]
Once a year the SS-Totenkopfverbaende step forth into the open on a large scale: on the Reichparteitag. The participation on this day is a reward for the officers and men for the heavy services accomplished during the preceding year. At the same time it should bear testimony of the exclusiveness and of the soldierly discipline of this Armed part of the SS.
If the work of construction and the commitment during the preceding years should be quickly summarized then it must be said beforehand that hardly a young German goes through a tougher school of self-training and self-discipline as the men of the SS-Totenkopf regiments. The service in the concentration camps, the guarding of State enemies and of criminal sub-humanity requires unheard of demands of the man in physical as well as in psychological respects; the man who fulfills his duty day by day for the community in his unselfish commitment and in his exemplary trustworthiness. Here it does not only mean to be a soldier, but also beyond that, to be a character who remains hard despite all enmities and who remains hard toward any temptations which may approach him. Only the best human material, selected according to character and heredity, grew in this organization for service.
During the last year, as in all of the years of its existence, the spiritual tools for their daily employment were given by schooling and instruction in the quiet work of the troop while the military training provided for the increased striking power of the troop. This systematic training made it possible for the SS Totenkopf regiments [Standarte] to do justice to all their missions which were assigned to them outside of the sphere of their daily service. Was it the employment during the reincorporation of the Sudeten district into the Reich in which especially the men of the SS Totenkopf regiments were placed in the front lines and where it served to execute the quickest and most reliable commitment capabilities under orders; or was it the reception of foreign State officials which required the troop to serve as parade troops in public--always the SS Totenkopf regiments immaculately fulfilled their duties. Therefore, they can look back with justifiable pride upon all their achievements, in which they were employed and where they served to represent the SS. This also goes for their employment on district and county days [Kreistag] of the Party or on other occasions, as the Reich Warriors day in Kassel for example. Everywhere the men happily and unselfishly served according to their motto: “Be more than appears.”
One of the main missions in the past year was the continued construction of Special Units [Sondereinheiten], for example, all matters concerning transportation, communication and medical affairs. In addition, there also was the establishment of E-Battalions (Educational), the task of which is the training, in courses of 3 months each, of those comrades of the General [Allgemeinen] SS who are not inducted for service in the Wehrmacht. They were trained in weapons and terrain.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2168-PS
Writings of the Hochschule for Politics Edited by Paul Meier-Beneckenstein
II The organizational structure of the Third Reich
Number 21
“The German laborer of brain and fist, who marches in the SA, has long ago grown out of the bourgeoise notion of duty behind which stands ‘I must’ and has grown into the sublime feeling of the soldierly conception of duty which culminates in the absolute voluntariness of ‘I want to’.
We SA men want to live as men, to fight as men, and to die as men with the consciousness that we have done our utmost for and devoted our utmost to Fuehrer and Folk.”
/s/ VICTOR LUTZE
CONTENTS
I. History of the SA. The Path of the Struggle--The SA in the Third Reich.
II. Organization. The Branches of the SA--The Operational Staff of the Supreme SA Headquarters--The Operational Main Office--The Main Office for Education--The Main Office for Health--The Main Office for Personal Affairs--The Main Administrative Office--The Main Office for NS Tournaments--The Adjutant’s Office of the Chief of Staff--The Special Units of the SA--Engineer and Signal SA--The Mounted SA--The Naval SA--The SA Sanitation Men--The “Feldherrnhalle” Regiment--The Reichfuehrer School.
III. PROSPECTUS. The Law of Willingness to Volunteer.
THE SA
History, Work, Aim, and Organization of the Storm Troops of the Fuehrer and the Supreme SA Headquarters.
Compiled on order of the Supreme SA Headquarters.
By SA--Sturmfuehrer
Dr. Ernst Bayer
1938
Junker and Luennhaupt Publishing House, Berlin
I. HISTORY OF THE SA
The Path of the Struggle
Germany experienced in the year 1918 a revolution whose spiritual bearers were people to whom morals, honor, and love of the Fatherland were unknown conceptions, who ridiculed soldierly virtues and fighting behavior and laughed at the performance of the German Army. Their example and their propaganda found followers because the man of that time had not learned to think clear politically, because he was tossed here and there between political, economic, and religious directions and interests, and because he did not have the power, to decide for himself, out of a deep anchorage and belief, in a great ideological idea, and to hold himself firm against a breakdown. That which the Reich of the Kaiser had failed to do, which was the internal shaping of the human being into a knowing and convinced fighter for the nation, avenged itself in 1918 bitterly.
At this time of the complete breakdown of Germany, the Fuehrer with his Idea began the march among the people. And beside and with him marched men, embodiment of soldierly spirit, who perceived their highest mission in life to be in service for a new greater Germany, ready to enter upon and to sacrifice everything for the victory of National Socialism. They are the first political soldiers of the Fuehrer, the original cell of the SA.
Are we able today to write a history of the SA? Scarcely, for this history is still too much the present and we stand too close yet to the experiences of a great period in order to be able to measure and evaluate correctly the immense performance of the fighting period and of the upheaval in its forcible measures.
Numbers are distinctive of the picture of history. And, indeed, if we would give an historical presentation of the fight and the performance of the SA, we must not only name the dates of great events, which are apparent to all the world, but also we must go out into everyday affairs and experience there the path, spirit, and struggle of the SA as an historical performance of the unfolding power of a nation. Dates and numbers, however, win meaning and become valuable only if they come alive as the expression of a great deed, of an offered sacrifice or of an historical performance for the nation. And the SA has produced innumerable of such dates and figures which distinguish the path of the SA as the sacrificial way of the best of a nation. Along this path stand the eternal monuments of over 400 blood witnesses of the Movement, who gave their lives for the resurrection of Germany.
The SA was not founded as one forms just any sort of club. It was born in midst of strife and received from the Fuehrer himself the name “Storm Troops” after that memorable hall battle in the Hofbrauhaus at Munich on the 4th of November 1921. Forty-six National Socialist regulars stood against a thousand Marxists on this memorable day. The Fuehrer had spoken to his men before the meeting: “Today for the first time you will have to preserve the faith of the Movement come what may. Not one of us leaves the hall unless they bear us out as dead men. He who cowardly yields, from him I will personally tear off his arm band and take away his badge. Think about the fact that attack at the slightest attempt to make an explosion is the best defense.”
In a bitter struggle 46 German men, who were determined to carry through to the end even at the sacrifice of their lives, beat out of the hall and put to flight a thousand Marxists. It was a baptism of fire and a test of the willingness to bear a burden which this young shocktroop of the Movement had masterfully undergone and which secured for the Party peaceful meetings up to 9 November 1925, for no Marxist dared to raise his fist again in National Socialist meetings. Outside, however, on the streets the dissembling strife continued in strengthened extent.
Blood and sacrifice were the most faithful companions of the young SA on its hard path to power. The Storm Troops were and still are today the fist and propaganda arm of the Movement. The SA was not only messenger, but also pattern for the Idea, the spiritual and physical armament of the Party and the assembly basin for the fanatical fighters of the National Socialist ideology. So the SA became the school for practical National Socialism for all German men; it has so remained up to the present day and it will be so forever in the future.
It is one of the greatest historical services of the SA that at the time when the German People’s Army had to undergo a dissolution, it held high those virtues which marked the German soldier: personal courage, idealism, willingness to sacrifice, consciousness of responsibility, power to decide, and leadership. Thus, the SA became among the people the messenger and bearer of German armed strength and German armed spirit.
The 4th of November 1921 was not only the birth hour of the SA by itself, but was the day from which the young fighting troop of the Movement took its stand at the focal point of political events. With the clear recognition that now the unity of a troop led to victory, the SA was systematically reorganized and so-called “Centuries” were established. The year 1922 saw the SA variously in action. On the 16th of August the first marching columns demonstrated along with patriotic associations against the protective law of the Republic. The Marxists appeared but the SA struck destructively and by fighting gained for itself the liberty and right of the streets. The flow into the SA grew so, that in September 1922 eight Hundertschaften could be raised in Munich. These quickly grew further. On the 23rd of November the 11th Hundertschaft was formed, which was composed almost exclusively of students. The present deputy of the Fuehrer, Rudolf Hess, took over the leadership of this Century.
“We have to teach the Marxists that the master of the streets in the future is National Socialism, exactly as it will once be the master of the State”; thus, Adolf Hitler sketched the outlines of the task of the SA. And sooner perhaps than one supposed, the opportunity came to let deeds speak. The march in Coburg on the 14th and 15th of October 1922 became a beacon of the Germany which was awakening. It was to be a “German Day” set up by the citizens and it became a break-through battle for National Socialism. It became the day of the SA on which 800 SA men under the leadership of Adolf Hitler and Naval Lieutenant retired, Klintzsch, broke completely the Red Terror.
This mighty success and its linking danger for the system of government led to a step by the Berlin government which was often repeated in the following years: prohibition of the NSDAP for Prussia and other states. The more lively the activity became in Bavaria. For the first time, on 28 January 1923, the Reich Party Day of the NSDAP was held in Munich, where the four standards designed by Adolf Hitler himself were handed over to the SA as campaign symbols. And here, too, the 11th Hundertschaft appeared for the first time in uniform: grey cap, wind-breaker, swastika band, and knotted stick.
The Ruhr invasion by the French caused the conversion of the SA, which up to then had been only a political fighting troop, into an armed association for the purpose of employing these battle-tested men in a desired active resistance against foreign domination. All pressed for a decision. And in the matter the Storm Troops of the Fuehrer did not want to be inactive. They joined themselves with other fighting Bavarian bands and formed the “Labor group of patriotic fighting associations” under the leadership of retired First Lieutenant Kriebel. In March 1923 the last commandant of the Richthofen Squadron, Hermann Goering, took command of the entire SA. Activity and readiness is the password. Out at Forstenrieder Park and on the Froettmaninger heath near Munich the Labor group held great exercises, at which on May 1st an armed parade of the whole Bavarian SA and other fighting associations ensues on the Oberwiesen field. This day was supposed to bring the final reckoning with the Marxists. Only the employment of the Reichswehr and police prevented this intention.
The decision is pressing; the collapse of the Ruhr resistance and its consequences threaten the unity of the Reich and seem to bring about chaos. The 8th of November comes around. That evening, full of hope and certainty of success; the betrayal of that night, base and unbelievable. No one believes yet that men in the fateful and difficult hour have betrayed the struggle for Germany. On the morning of November 9th, Adolf Hitler casts his young Movement, his faithful and upright fighters, onto the scales of decision; the march to the Hall of the Field Generals through jubilant Munich. Betrayal causes this March of Triumph to become a Death March for the best of the nation.
The Fuehrer is in custody. The Head of the Movement is missing in the most difficult hours after the miscarriage of the revolution. Everything appears beaten and lost. But one thing is not: that spirit of the Storm Troops which has fought for the new Reich and which has become, under the concept “Spirit of the SA”, the pattern for voluntary and ceaseless preparedness for sacrifice and initiative for German men. And it was victorious over betrayal.
The faithful collaborators and comrades of the Fuehrer rescue what is to be rescued. The Illegal SA continues and waits for the return of the Fuehrer from the prison in Landsberg. He returns in 1925, and the men of the Storm Troops, with the same spirit of readiness for sacrifice and use, come to him and are strongest support to him at the Party refounding, which occurs on February 27, 1925. In his basic directions for the reestablishment of the National Socialist German Labor Party, Adolf Hitler ordered the refounding of the SA as a pure Party organization for meeting hall protection and propaganda, without having the character of an armed association.
And now a fight for Germany began of such a sort as was never before fought. What are names, what are words or figures which are not indeed able to express the magnitude of belief and of idealism on one side and the magnitude of hate on the other side.
1925: The Party lives again, and its iron spearhead is the SA. With it the power and meaning of the National Socialist movement grows. Around the central events of the whole Movement, the Reich Party Days, dates, decisions, fights, and victory roll themselves into a long list of German men of undenying willingness to sacrifice.
One cannot count up all of this at one time. However, we wish to present the sense and meaning as we tell what the SA was: the political strong arm, the visible representation of the idealism and daily initiative of the Party. Generally, it stopped the breaches. As an example of a seemingly impossible deed, the 11th of February 1927 should be firmly preserved. It is the day on which the SA broke the Red Terror, with heavy sacrifice, in the hall battle at the Pharaoh’s Hall in Berlin, the stronghold of the Communists, and thereby established itself decisively in the capital city of the Reich. In considering the badly wounded SA men, Dr. Goebbels coined the phrase “Unknown SA man”, who silently fights and bleeds, obeying only his duty.
Possession of the streets is the key to power in the state--for this reason the SA marched and fought. The public would have never received knowledge from the agitative speeches of the little Reichstag faction and its propaganda or from the desires and aims of the Party, if the martial tread and battle song of the SA companies had not beat the measure for the truth of a relentless criticism of the state of affairs in the governmental system. They wanted the young Movement to keep silent. Nothing was to be read in the press about the labor of the National Socialists, not to mention the basic aims of its platform. They simply did not want to awake any interest in it. However, the martial tread of SA took care that even the drowsiest citizens had to see at least the existence of a fighting troop.
The SA conquered for itself a place in public opinion and the leadership of the National Socialist Movement dictated to its opponents the law for quarrels. The SA was already a state within a state; a part of the future in a sad present.
In this period there was only one thing: discretionless use of the person and genuine spirit of offensive. This became more essential from year to year for sudden attacks on individual National Socialists and whole columns piled up in frightful quantity. The death roster of the Movement grew. However, the greater the losses became, the more tightly the SA men closed themselves into a sworn fighting partnership. Its exemplary employment did not remain without effect. The best from the ranks of the Reds came to the “Nazis”, because they were convinced by their deeds. When at the very end of 1926 the volunteer-corps fighters of the various Rossbach groups joined themselves to the SA, the SA received not only strengthening alone through that but also strong buoyancy.
With the end of 1926 there begins a new phase of development in the history of the SA. The Storm Troops until now had stood in loose connection with the political organization. A Reich branch or central command office was not yet in existence. Both were created with the ensuing founding of the Supreme SA Leadership Headquarters, on November 1st, 1926. With that a central control originated to which the SA, as well as the SS and the HJ, were subordinate. Adolf Hitler appointed the Gau leader and SA Fuehrer of the Gau of the Ruhr, Franz von Pfeffer as the highest SA Leader. In the course of the years 1926 and 1927 the SA was uniformly reorganized and divided into divisions [Gruppen], Gau areas [Gaustuerme], brigades [Brigaden], regiments [Standarten], battalions [Sturme], and platoons [Trupps] and at the same time a sharp separation from the political organization was achieved. That which had been established in practice became now the clear internal orientation for the SA: the Storm Troop men should be educated into political soldiers, politically dependable, spiritually motivated, physically steeled, disciplined and devoted to the Fuehrer in unconditioned fidelity and obedience. Thus the SA became the mightiest instrument in the hands of the Fuehrer.
1927: The first huge demonstration in Nurnberg of National Socialism which can no longer be dead silent. 30,000 SA men march a bloc of will and strength. The System becomes nervous. Up to then the Executive has looked on inactively for the most part. From then on it directed all measures against National Socialism and allowed thereby more and more liberty to Communism and Marxism. The word “Forbidden” was all too well known to SA men. The Berlin SA, which had been forbidden with the Party in May 1927, coined the password: In spite of prohibition, not dead. And this slogan, to the discomfort of the System, became an all too living reality when it issued like hail prohibitions of all shades and shapes in the following years. One of the old veterans coined the phrase once: the history of the SA and of the NSDAP generally has been a single, almost uninterrupted succession of prohibitions. Something was always prohibited. There was never a period in which the SA was granted nearly the same liberty in all Germany as was granted to the Reichbanner or certain patriotic associations.
Brown trousers and boots in themselves were dangerous for the State. The white shirt had to substitute for the brown shirt for a long time. Often the SA men came to meetings and parades with naked upper parts of the body and with bare feet, and many in their underwear, because along the way the pieces of clothes which were dangerous to the State were taken off of them. Chicanery after Chicanery. But all of this had to be borne. However, murder and terror governed this year of the strife. And always it was National Socialists who were stamped as the attackers.
Emergency orders and measures for the protection of the Republic aided the waves of prohibition. They promised themselves results from this because they believed they dealt with factionists and did not recognize that these National Socialists were bearers and heralds of an ideology. They themselves were conscious that they were the last levy of the German Folk. Thus the SA grew to be the troop which fought most strongly against the decaying Republic. It was spared no sacrifice but also no prohibition, no trickery, and no item could stem its march.
Almost 300 dead comrades marched with the ranks of the SA, foremost among them the songster of the Movement, Horst Wessel. His sacrificial death became a new beacon of the struggle for Germany. The labor and the struggle of the SA was not in vain. They stood at the foremost front of election fights. Adolf Hitler himself on the 2nd of September 1930 took over the leadership of the SA as the Supreme SA Fuehrer. He himself guided his SA in the fateful election fight of the year 1930. On the evening of the 14th of September the first battle was won. 107 representatives of the NSDAP took their seats in the German Reichstag. A huge victory was earned through the fight, but, the System took no reckoning of it.
1931: It was to be the year of decision. The Movement grew steadily; everywhere the election results were great. The burden which tested the SA was enormous, and only an iron discipline and internal union helped it to bear all the difficulties.
SA, SS and HJ were newly articulated. On April the 1st the National Socialist Automobile Corps as an auxiliary organization of the SA, which performed valuable service at election time, was founded. The 17th and 18th of October brought the SA meeting in Brunswick at which 104,000 SA and SS men passed in review before Adolf Hitler. Here before these faithful fighters the Fuehrer raised before all the world claim to the total state leadership by National Socialism. The men returned to every day affairs with enormous enthusiasm and new courage which could not be dampened by the announcement on December 8 prohibiting the uniform in all regions of the Reich.
The fateful year 1932 brings a heavy blow to the Movement. On April 13 the SA and SS are prohibited within the entire regions of the Reich, even after the vote of unprecedented activity in the second election for Reich president on April 10, 1932, had been 13,400,000 for the National Socialists. They wanted to beat an organization by the most brutal means. The wearers of the brown shirt were treated like criminals. Everything attainable was confiscated. SA homes and SA kitchens which gave protection and meals to needy and jobless SA men were pitilessly closed. Nevertheless, with exemplary discipline the SA and SS carries on and does not allow themselves to be enticed into rashness. As simple party partners the SA men fulfill their duty now. Finally on June 14th the uniform and demonstration prohibition is raised. Communism and Marxism raise themselves and want to stop the victory parade with bloody force. Not less than 32 National Socialists among whom were SA and SS men and Hitler Youths, fall as sacrifices to the Red Terror in a short six weeks. The Bloody Sunday of Altona was a terrible indictment against the governmental system. Eighteen Folk comrades are killed and 50 badly hurt. Nevertheless, the SA remains disciplined and unshaken. It is not the least of its meritorious services that the Reichstag election of 31 July 1932 brings the NSDAP a huge victory and makes the Movement the strongest Party in the Reichstag. And in spite of all, the SA men are still unprotected game, having nothing for their protection but their own strength and the fidelity of their comrades. It is difficult to clothe in words what lies and slanders were poured out over the SA during this period; it is also difficult to tell with what incomparable discipline and devotion these men have fought. “Bullies and beaters” they were called by the satiated citizenry, and yet it was they who protected the security of the citizenry from Bolshevism. “There can be no thanks for anyone when considering this greatest success of our Movement, but there is only the duty of all of us to take up and continue the fight again with renewed and increased strength”--thus Adolf Hitler recalled to mind on the night of the victory of his Movement, and that was a command for the SA.
The time of the most difficult trials arrives. The SA knows it is for the ultimate. Victory, already within grasp, must be finally gained by fighting. Comrades fall but unswervingly the columns march. The Fuehrer told them: “Victory belongs to him who in this fight brings the last levy and the last battalion onto the battlefield.” And the SA was prepared to enter its last battalion.
On the 22nd of January 1933 the decision, morally, comes. At the Bulowplatz before the Karl-Liebknecht House in Berlin, the Moscow Center in Germany, the Berlin SA parades. Before this collected strength of the Party the hirelings of Moscow crept cowardly into their lurking holes. Hour after hour the SA men passed in review before the bulwark of Communism and none of the Moscow disciples dared to raise a fist. It was a victory for the SA, the significance of which could only be measured later.
Then the day dawns which meant victory and fulfillment of the struggle of the SA: the 30th of January 1933. No command was given on this day, and yet ten thousands of SA men and National Socialists stood ready in the evening, in their old tattered brown shirts in which they had marched through murder and terror, to greet the Fuehrer, their Highest SA-Fuehrer, as Chancellor of the German Reich. In these SA men the young Germany marched through the Brandenburg Gate into a Reich which they had fought for at the foremost front and which to form and to carry today is the highest commandment of their lives.
THE SA IN THE THIRD REICH
Just as there was no celebration of victory by Adolf Hitler and his fighting comrades after the seizure of power, so was there no moment of rest for the SA men. What was worth cleaning up, was cleaned up. Whether as auxiliary police or with special orders, whether as a propagandist or as helper, the SA man in general was there and labored silently as the shining example of the Idea in the structure of the new State. Even after victory the SA had heavy losses to lament. It was generally employed where elements of the government foreign to the people had not yet understood the signs of the time or where Communism and elements hostile to the State still insolently dared to rebel. And not the last the fight against disguised opponents was a difficult labor of the SA. But it is proud, then and now, to be the tool for strengthening the structure of the new State and of the Community of Folk.
For the first time, on April 8, 1933, the entire SA in the regions of the Reich and of Austria, stands drawn up at the same hour to avow their immutable fidelity and willingness to follow to the Fuehrer, who addressed his men over the radio from the Berlin Sports Palace. The young Steel Helmets and the Steel Helmets during the year 1933 placed themselves under the SA and became members of it. The SA during the year experiences several changes which finally result in the present form of the organization as will be described in the following chapter.
With the consolidation of inner political perceptions within Germany the type of strife of the SA changed. Just as the SA man during the fighting period was not a companion along the way to great decisions, but was the one who prepared the way, so the SA retained in the Third Reich its original task, namely: to be the Shock Troops for Ideology and as the practical school of National Socialism. The SA trained no specialists in any form for its area of labor was among the entire German Folk. To carry to the Folk, through things previously experienced and by acts, the revolutionary spirit of the fighting period, the initiative and willingness to sacrifice and to keep awake among them those virtues which are the fundamentals for the preparedness of National Socialists, is one of the huge tasks of the SA. “All that you are, you are through me; and all that I am, I am through you alone”. These words of the Fuehrer, spoken to his SA on the 30th of January 1936, are a recognition as well as an obligation. It is a short formula of the platform of the SA: Germany.
The deeds and achievements of the SA are not carried upon huge rosters but are every day undertakings which will continue to live in the hearts of the people. And that is more valuable than the written word.
Several things out of the manifold labor sphere of the SA should be named in collective concepts: use at times of catastrophe, prevention of damage, thanksgiving of the Nation, cultural work, colonization, educational encampments, officer training schools, scholarships and many more. Over all of this is the eternal charge: shaping of human beings. The guiding motif of this labor to educate the German people in this powerful entity: strong soul, sound spirit, steel-like body.
National Socialism has never demanded a new state form but has always demanded the reformation of the individual German into a fighter who has intelligence, who has conviction, who is politically dependable, who is spiritually motivated, and physically hardened. Thus it was only the consistent continuation of a labor already begun to win the individual German when the Fuehrer handed over to the SA the execution of protective and aggressive training and education of the individual German. SA sports and SA sports badges, the latter established by the Fuehrer himself on the 15th of February, 1933, “in order to lend a conscious expression in all sections of the German people to the cultivation of a warlike spirit”, are essentially the new shape of the physical and spiritual training of the individual German within the meaning of the National Socialist Ideology. Therewith, the SA was commissioned to obtain an increase of and preservation of a warlike power and a warlike spirit as the expression of an aggressive attitude. The creation of the NS Contest Games on November 27, 1936, as a yearly spectacle of accomplishments of physical prowess and of a warlike spirit, and the order of March 18, 1937, that possession of the SA sports badge is made dependent upon yearly repetitive performance of the tests in order to maintain the warlike fitness of its bearers up to old age, are milestones along the way to attainment of the great goal of the SA.
The SA is aware of the magnitude of its task. But it is able to master the tasks given by the Fuehrer only because it emanates from the Folk and is a part of the Folk.
II. ORGANIZATION
The Branches of the SA
The Fuehrer himself has designated the SA as the guarantor of the National Socialist Movement and the National Socialist Revolution. The SA is the political soldiery. In this concept “political soldiery”, which was coined and found its animated shape during the fighting period, are contained all these tasks of the SA whose affairs represent still today the educational work of the Storm Troops. Tasks of this proportion are only completed by voluntary performance of service; however, they require, too, an organization which branches out widely and yet guarantees as much as possible, by a concentration of individual supervisory offices and their work sphere, a central, clear and united management.
The Supreme SA Fuehrer is Adolf Hitler, who gives his oldest fighting formation its tasks, determines its direction of work, and commands its uses. By order of the Fuehrer the Chief of Staff represents the SA in its totality. A high measure of recognition and trust of the Fuehrer lies in this charge, for to the Chief of Staff of the SA is entrusted, for ideological and physical education and for further development, the best and most valuable young strength of the German people.
The Supreme SA Headquarters in Munich and the Office of the Adjutant in Berlin are both bureaus of the Chief of Staff; the SA Fuehrers who head these are directly responsible to the Chief of Staff for their work.
The Supreme SA Headquarters is subdivided into the operational staff, main offices, offices, and divisions. The Stabsfuehrer of the Supreme SA Headquarters determines its employment as representative of the Chief of Staff.
The Storm Troops of the Fuehrer himself, which exist in all the regions of the Reich and in the free city of Danzig, are divided according to political and territorial considerations.
The entire SA is composed of 24 groups which are subordinate to the Chief of Staff. These are: SA Group Alpenland, Bavarian Eastern March, Berlin-Brandenburg, Danube, Franken, Hanseatic, Hessian, Hochland, Kurpfalz, Middle, Lower Rhine, Lower Saxony, North March, North Sea, Eastland, Eastern March, Pomerania, Saxony, Silesia, Southern March, Southwest, Thuringia, Westfalia, and Western March.
The next subordinate branch is the SA Brigade, which is composed of several regiments. A regiment consists of three to five battalions, which is formed from three to five companies. The SA Company is organized generally into three platoons, each of which is further subdivided into three squads.
The multilateral demands which are made of the SA formations require, above all, in the use of the SA for preparations, parades, catastrophes, accidents and all other acts of assistance, the incorporation of special or technical units. Therefore, the following special branches were established: signal, engineer, mounted, naval, bicycle, and sanitary units. Local considerations and geographical situations determine their incorporation into companies and battalions and govern the consideration of subordinate positions.
THE OPERATIONAL STAFF OF THE SUPREME SA HEADQUARTERS
The Stabsfuehrer is the permanent deputy of the Chief of Staff. As such he is the highest authority for the collective main offices of the Supreme SA Headquarters and of the SA groups. All decisions of a basic nature for the SA, as long as they are not reserved for the Chief of Staff himself, are made by the Stabsfuehrer. Immediately subordinate to him are the liaison office of the Supreme SA Headquarters, the central division, the staff for military affairs, the press and propaganda division, the legal division, and the architectural division. The liaison office keeps in continuous touch with all important bureaus of the Party and State in order to handle all the questions which are of importance to the SA.
The treatment of occurrences of a fundamental sort, which require rapid settlement and touch on the spheres of the various main offices so that the closest cooperation with these main offices becomes a matter of course, is the function of the central division with its two main departments. The Staff commandant’s office bears the responsibility for the total, internal operational service of the Supreme SA Headquarters.
The entire press and propaganda preparations or exploitations of all important events within the SA emanate from the press and propaganda division to which is also joined publication of the fighting sheet of the Supreme SA Headquarters, the SA-Man. Following the directions given by this division, the group press departments, whose function is the trusteeship of the local press, work through the individual SA groups. The activity is above all of an informative nature; for the SA lays no value on the quantitative nature of the things written about it, but is only concerned with the fact that the German editor may be trusted with the character and task of the SA.
The legal division is still in process of being formed. On the other hand the architectural division, which likewise was newly formed, is working on plans and projects for new building designs in which the creative genius of the SA will be expressed.
THE OPERATIONAL MAIN OFFICE
The chief of the operational main office is responsible for the entire organization and branches of the SA, for the education and suitable equipment of units, and, not last, for the employment of the SA.
The operational main office is subdivided into the office for organization and employment and the office for physical fitness. The latter, on the basis of the SA sports badges must prepare the fighting training of the bodies of all Germans capable of bearing arms and as preparation therefor must organize the execution of corporal exercises (basic physical training) and sports performances, so that the widest stratum of the population is laid hold upon and will be kept in condition to bear arms, both physically and spiritual, as well as ideologically in character up to the greatest old age.
The tasks of the organization and employment office are given in its title. Besides this it is entrusted with the special units of the SA: signal, engineer, naval, and mounted units; it treats with the air and gas protection of the SA; it carries on the education of the SA in the sphere of catastrophe protection and prevention of damage; and as well as keeping liaison with all Party and public offices which come into consideration for these questions.
In addition there arises the treatment of details of clothing and equipping the SA and the regulations for office plans for SA offices as well as the perfection of suggestions for investing certain SA units with standards and names of heroic champions of the Movement.
THE MAIN OFFICE FOR EDUCATION
The office of education is responsible for the entire education and orientation of the SA Officers’ Corps. Upon this office devolves one of the tasks of greatest significance for the people, the Reichsfuehrer School, which consists of the Reichsfuehrer School in Munich and the Officers’ School of the Supreme SA Headquarters in Dresden. The curricula and community of work at these officers’ schools, as well as at the 21 group schools and special schools, serves the purpose of creating an SA officers’ corps which bears the highest responsibility and great capability.
The comparatively young officers’ school of the Supreme SA headquarters in Dresden, above all, serves for the education of the intermediate SA officers’ corps which has earned its qualification to attend at one of the group schools. In this school the training for those who want to try out for the SA sports badge stands in the foreground. The spiritual and physical training on the fundamentals of the National Socialist’s ideology pursues the purpose of making the SA Fuehrer into a real educator of his troop. The threefold harmony: Soul, Spirit, and Body, which sets in unison for the common group capability, knowledge, and accomplishment, is an essential prerequisite here. Military sport, as an SA expression of sports activity, is just as much a means to accomplish our purpose as is instruction about the history of the Party and the Folk, about racial teaching, or training as speakers. The directions for this training hold good for the group schools, too, which are subordinate to the same office. The work is performed in close understanding with the leader of the group in whose territory the school lies, because he himself possesses the best possibility of choosing his future officers. This division, which is immediately subordinate to the main office, maintains liaison with the offices of Party and State, for which the experience won in the educational labor of the SA are significant. Thereby it is achieved that the educational labor of the SA stands in full and complete unison with the labor of the Party and all its branches.
The third office, ideology and culture, counts as its assigned sphere cultural forms of service, the cultivation of SA and Folk songs, and music. Directly and strictly avoided is publication of any sort of service plan for festive formations, for form is not the deciding factor, but the spirit with which that form is accomplished.
The division for scientific exploitation, finally, contains a voluminous library. It has the task of giving to every SA Fuehrer who desires to train himself further, information about the most important literature at hand on the subject.
THE MAIN OFFICE FOR HEALTH
The main health office is responsible for all questions of health and sanitary service of the SA. Since health forms the basis and prerequisite for physical fitness, the main health office inserts itself quite particularly into this branch of the SA service. Not only care of and looking after the sick and injured belong to the accomplishments of health service but, above all, preventive health care.
In the fighting period only the sanitation service existed. It is being organized and changed in some particulars at present. Ten thousand sanitation officers are trained and perfected in the best manner to be able to perform first aid at any time. The Reich Sanitation School of the SA in Tuebingen represents the ground floor for entire training activity in the essentials of sanitation. In all regiments in the whole Reich there are sanitation units ready for immediate employment in catastrophe and great accidents. The sanitation man accompanies his comrades everywhere in the SA service, whether it be employment in preparations, construction of barriers, parades, marches with full pack, or in the fields of sports contest.
Training, equipment, and organization of the sanitation service are gathered together in one office, the main office for health. Next to it is a second office with the task of health operations and fostering of race. The men of the SA have recognized the value of the health of a Folk, and bear the conviction that only a sound Folk can be an eternal Folk. With this conviction they fight for accomplishment of the directions and orders which emanate from the main office for Folk health and from the Reich Surgeon. In the foremost place are the sanitation men of the SA who use themselves for that great goal: Purity of blood and Purity of Race.
THE MAIN OFFICE FOR PERSONAL AFFAIRS
The trusteeship of the SA Officers’ Corps, just as the care for future SA officers, is a problem not only for the members themselves but, far and above, is also of the greatest significance for the Party and for the entire Nation.
The personal affairs main office, which is divided into three offices: personnel, social welfare courts and justice office, works in permanent, animated touch with the SA front, where the capabilities and suitabilities of the SA officers show themselves in daily employment. A continuous exchange between this front of staff work and application to educational spheres marks the future path of the SA officers. His evaluation results from consideration of the suitability of the character, of his ability and knowledge, and, above all, of his service to the Movement. The oldest veterans and champions of the SA also receive leading positions within the branches in so far as they prove their capability to do the job.
If there exists in one way a reward for the old tested fighters in the assignment to fulfill a great obligation and a more responsible mission, then the office for social welfare takes care that those SA comrades who were wounded in the fight for the new Germany or who find themselves in need, are looked out for. If it was imperative in the first years after the seizure of power to provide a job generally for these men, then, the problem of retraining stepped into the foreground. In the camps of Lockstedt and Falkenstein the SA gives unskilled manpower the possibility of earning, in about 40 weeks, the journeyman’s certificate, and, thereby, the prerequisites for an appointment as a skilled laborer in industry, or, in fact, in any of those places which suffer because of lack of such laborers. In addition to that men are retrained for mercantile professions and for work in administrative offices.
The same is true for the choice of settlers for those home sites which arise everywhere in the Reich by way of thanks offerings. Also here are old veterans who find a new home in the thanks-offering settlements alongside of the war victims.
To this office come officially the personal welfare matters of the men and their families. Comrades who have suffered injury at sports or in the service receive a cure or recuperation stay in the SA homes at Wyk in Foehr, Hohenlychen, or Trillup bei Hamburg. The needy are permitted support, and, in fact, in an understanding with the Reich treasurer, the means of the Adolf Hitler Thanks and the Adolf Hitler Foundation are placed at this office’s disposal. Above all, however, this office interests itself in those who were injured in the fighting period by political adversaries, so that a permanent personal touch gives to these men the certainty that one will never forget their sacrifice.
As third within the main personal affairs office the courts and justice office is mentioned. One task of this office lies in the fostering of honor and of clean behavior of the SA and the SA Officer’s Corps. For the clean behavior of the leadership two chambers of discipline serve. The personal rights of SA men are taken care of in a particular division.
Incumbent upon the justice division, composed of professional lawyers, is legal counsel to the main offices of the Supreme SA Headquarters and groups, cooperation with the remaining justice offices of the Movement, and, thirdly, official traffic with the Chancellory of the Fuehrer and treatment of pardon petitions of criminally convicted SA men as well as former SA members. This proceeds from the viewpoint that the SA man, it is true, on the one side has an enhanced duty to the Community of the Folk; on the other side, however, there comes into discussion manifold economics and mental after-effects of the period of the wrestling for power in the case of old tested veterans of the SA in which their significance can be fully adjudicated only by the SA.
THE MAIN ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE
The administration of the SA, in its present standard organization and proper economic operations, represents the tool which the Chief of Staff uses for the solution of great tasks given to him by the Fuehrer. Clarity is the distinguishing feature of SA administration in all its many spheres.
The matters pertaining to the property right of the NSDAP and, therefore, of concern to the SA, are placed under the Reich treasurer as Plenipotentiary of the Fuehrer. The deputy of the Reich treasurer for the entire SA administration is the Reich cashier administrator of the SA, who, without prejudice to his responsibility to the Reich treasurer, is at the same time in his quality as Chief of the main administrative office, the specialist of the Chief of Staff for all matters which touch upon the administration of the entire SA.
The large sphere of the tasks of the main administrative office is divided into three offices: _a._ money economy, budget bookkeeping, control of finances, and economics; _b._ things of value, procurement, insurance and contracts; _c._ construction and settlement office.
The salary of SA officers and men who are on the staffs which are essential to the main offices is regulated uniformly on the basis of an office plan. It is composed of base pay, quarters allowance, and increase for marriage and children. Considering it from the political standpoint of population, the increase for children in this ideal echelon of society was settled upon.
Great frugality which is pointed to particularly at every opportunity, is understood as a matter of course in the SA. A splendidly working accounting and control system makes possible an exact review of the economic operation of all units and makes easier the immediate remedy of a shortage of any kind. The examination reports, which are requested by the Deputy of the Reich treasurer of the units are treated and made use of in one special division of the Main Administrative Office.
The great property values of the SA, which is a consistent part of the total fortune of the NSDAP, is laid hold upon according to number and value and carefully administered. Many millions flow into economy through the settlement work called into being by the Supreme SA Headquarters with the aid of the thanks-offering of the Nation. The settlement work should offer to many thousands of needy people and to families, sound in heredity and rich in children, their own homes. Aside from settlements on the edge of town the construction and settlement office in the neighborhood of Aurich erected farm settlements with 60 to 80 acres of land, which, above all, are managed by former farm laborers. Here, too, they put cattle and even crops at their disposal gratuitously.
The many sided tasks of SA Administration are united closely with those of the headquarters. Parades and other arrangements, training, equipping, procurement, etc., cannot be accomplished without standard cooperation of the administration.
THE MAIN OFFICE FOR NS-TOURNAMENTS
On the 27th of November 1936 the Fuehrer decreed the following order: In pursuance of my proclamation at the Reich Party Day of Honor I hereby create for future Reich Party Days the NS-Tournament. The SA is charged with the preparation and execution of this tournament. I decree that the determinations necessary for execution be left up to the suggestions of the Chief of Staff of the SA. The Reich Sports Fuehrer is directed to cooperate with the sports department of the Supreme SA Headquarters. The Chief of Staff will keep me continually informed about the measures planned.
In order to solve organizationally the tasks sketched in this order of the Fuehrer, the main tournament office was created in February 1937. As the chief of this main tournament office, the Chief of Staff appointed the Reich Sports Fuehrer von Tschammer und Osten. By this appointment the guarantee is given that, in comradely cooperation with the Reichsbund for physical training, the tasks set by the Fuehrer in respect to the military fitness of the entire nation and the formation of a Folk will be solved by physical training.
Therewith, SA Obergruppenfuehrer von Tschammer und Osten holds in his hand responsibility for the organization and accomplishment of the NS Tournaments, which are to be held each year in Nurnberg during the Reich Party Day as an exhibition of the achievement of the whole German people.
Incumbent upon the office simultaneously is direction of the NS Winter Tournaments and Reich Contests of the SA which also experience continuous enlargement.
The main office for the NS Tournaments is divided into three offices: organization, military sports, and sports which from their titles alone indicate the limits of their spheres of work.
THE ADJUTANT’S OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF
In the Adjutant’s Office of the Chief of Staff are treated all questions which are proposed directly to the Chief of Staff by the offices of the Party and of the State, as well as by others. Next to the very voluminous labor of dealing with those questions and lectures of the Chief of Staff on important matters, the Adjutant’s Office, as the personal office of the Chief of Staff, has to take care of the preparation for and smooth execution of travel of the Chief of Staff. Continuously the Chief of Staff visits the individual Groups, using in the first place airplane, then rail transportation and automobile. All of the troublesome details, which these official trips demand, require thorough discharge so that appointments shall be kept and the entire program developed as foreseen. As a matter of course many SA Fuehrers, spending a while in the Reich capital, come in person to the Adjutant’s Office to speak with the Chief of Staff. Various wishes are attended to here and many worthwhile suggestions come from the ranks of the visitors. The men in the Adjutant’s Office whose task it is to do their duties in the personal service of the Chief of Staff endeavor, in order to facilitate for him his difficult and responsible task, take care of at least the pressing questions or help their fellows with professional advice. Next to that this office has value in that it fixes appointments for various official conferences of the Chief of Staff with leading men of the Party and State and in that it divides up the daily program according to current demands, so that all work can be executed smoothly. It is not easy work which the men in the Adjutant’s Office have to perform; only the consciousness of helping their fellows in the broad Front everywhere in the Reich and of supporting their fight gives to their work a valuable substance.
SPECIAL UNITS OF THE SA
Engineers and Signal SA
In the same measure that the little Shocktroop of the National Socialist Idea grew up into an organization in whose hands the Fuehrer has laid the whole physical and ideological education of our people, so in the same measure the sphere of the tasks of the brown Army of Adolf Hitler grew and received a multiformity which made necessary the special training of units which were capable of continuous employment and highest performance within their special areas.
First it was engineer companies, then further, it was signal companies. Since the time they were established, both units, when put to the test have proved that the men with “Pi” and “Na” on the lapels of their service uniform are found where German humanity needs their help. If storms whip the waves of the seas, and masses of water threaten the coasts of the Reich; if downpours and melting snows swell the mountain streams so that fields, plains, and farms are in danger; if fire is on the point of destroying the property of German people; or if anywhere a natural catastrophe happens, one finds, in all the Gaus of the Reich and at all times, the engineers and signal men among the first helpers who strike with cheer and with readiness to sacrifice. Very few have a suspicion of what takes place in the hour of bitterest wrestle with the might of Nature, but they scarcely think about the fact that these very same men, who perhaps gave their utmost during the entire night, are a few hours later going about their callings; and only the least number have a clear understanding of what basic and careful training and what untiring practice was necessary in order to achieve a complete success in time of serious accident. And in these practices we see how a bridge is made at the turn of a hand, how blasting is executed, and can alongside the performances of the engineers, who work hand in hand with the signal units, see with amazement how the latter lay their field cables, set up their telephones, let the blinker apparatus speak, and relay reports by bicycle riders, messenger dogs or carrier pigeons, in short, how they establish connection between the front and the staffs and thereby secure smooth cooperation. The status of training of the men of the signal units is kept under constant control by the signal certificate. This certificate is proof for its holder that his status of training is complete and excellent. It must be won by examinations for three consecutive years before it is finally the possession of the signal man.
Thus there originates in these technical units of the SA a trained crew whose capabilities and knowledge are not the last things of extraordinary value in the service for defense of the country. On one side the young SA man, who enters the Army from his branch, comes prepared with a multitude of prerequisites which facilitate and speed up his training in technical respects; while on the other side those very soldiers, having served, who return out of the Army into the SA, keep themselves, by constant practice, in a trained condition physically and spiritually and impart their knowledge to their fellows.
Thus they contribute a considerable portion to the enhancement of military strength and military spirit of the German people. As everywhere, the soldier of the army finds here, too, his closest confederates in political soldiers.
The Mounted SA
If today in Germany the sport of riding is not as it was in past decades, the prerogative and affair of a propertied class, but a thing for all of those who from enthusiasm and love of horses profess to ride, then it is just something else for which to thank the SA which has interested itself in the sport of riding as a means of fitting the people physically. The Fuehrer himself by his order about the establishment of the NS cavalry Corps on March 17, 1936, created the basis upon which first the SA Cavalry itself and then the German youth and above all the compulsory military duty classes could be led to the sport of riding. This order soon created the necessary organizational prerequisites, so that at present the SA each year is able to furnish many thousands of young trained cavalrymen to our Wehrmacht. All those who are 18 to 20 years of age must join the NSKK and even those in younger and older year groups, may join it, who come up for cavalry and motor training and want to earn a cavalry certificate before their period of service in order to be able to serve with a mounted or motorized troop.
The organization of the NSKK has its apex in the Reich Inspectorate for mounted and mobile units who is directly subordinate to the Chief of Staff and who at the same time presides over the recently created main office for mounted and mobile training within the Supreme SA Headquarters. In this way a conceivably close liaison has been established between both organizations, and in it at the same time lies the foundation for fruitful exchange between the SA cavalry and the NSKK. In each S.A. group was created the office of Group Cavalry Fuehrer, who is responsible to the Reich Inspectorate as his deputy for training and organization. At present the S.A. cavalry has at its disposition 101 cavalry regiments in whose schools, year in and year out, young Germans who are obligated for service receive the training which fits them for entrance into a section of troops which is of their own choosing.
The NSKK has discovered, by creation of the cavalry certificate, a means of fostering and requiring cavalry fitness. The cavalry certificate is granted only after careful testing and fulfilling essential conditions successfully; it requires an all-embracing quantity of riding ability. Thus the cavalry certificate is a way to select and require real talent. The NSKK is still young, but two years of serious labor have already proven the correctness of its objective.
The Naval S.A.
The men of the water’s edge, the navigators and fishermen, for the most part do their duty in the naval SA, since they are concerned in their daily professions with all sorts of things having to do with navigation and water. Nevertheless, there are not only naval S.A. regiments along the ocean but also in the interior. If there is no big ship at their disposal for training, a ship built on land often suffices for the accomplishment of the careful training of the men about masts, shrouds, and deck structure. The service of the naval S.A. operates as preparation and development for the Navy. Semaphore, radio, Morse Code, and flags as signal service, navigation, cutter operation, astronomy, professional use of sailing craft, rescue service--to mention only a few spheres of its tasks--complete its curriculum.
For the seafaring S.A. men however, who pass the greater portion of their lives on the seas of the world, there is, in the first place, ideological use as a border troop who make their appearance in foreign countries at celebrations, parades, and similar events. The naval S.A. furnishes yearly to the German merchant marine and navy splendidly prepared material and is, therefore, practically and theoretically, a valuable support of German seafaring and German navigating.
The SA Sanitation Men
The “Sani” men, the sanitation men of the S.A., were already at hand in the fighting period if it was necessary to bring help to injured comrades. Endless numbers thanked the S.A. for these S.A. sanitation men of the fighting period. And from these simple men came physicians for body and soul, who continuously struck the correct note and whom one knew could be depended upon in every situation of life. If security and peace rule internally at present, the S.A. sanitation men have not indeed become superfluous. The Service in the S.A. which is continually prepared for use, brings with it physical danger, and many injuries can be avoided or lessened by speedy aid. Be it hot weather or frost, mischance or sudden sickness, the “sani-men” are at their post. Highest demands, however, are placed on them if, at time of catastrophe medical assistance is not sufficient and the life of many depends upon the success of appropriate initial treatment. Then the S.A. sanitation men fall to the task and give their utmost. Unnamed and unknown they do their duty in the spirit and tradition demanded by the organization to which they belong.
The “Feldherrnhalle” Regiment
Under the symbol, which for us National Socialists is the embodiment of supreme preparedness to sacrifice, the sacrificial runic symbol, the S.A. has created a troop which is set up to symbolize the political soldiery of our time: The Feldherrnhalle Regiment. The fact that the Supreme S.A. Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, has appointed his tested comrade, S.A. Obergruppenfuehrer Hermann Goering, as its chief, proves the high calling which falls to the lot of this regiment today and tomorrow. As the elite troop of the S.A. it seeks to be the shining example in service and in obedience.
The measures are very strict which have been laid upon this young body of men who have assigned their lives to this regiment. Yearly young men from all callings and skills of the people thrust themselves into this original body. Differences of heredity or property are unknown. Here it is only the man, his performance and his obligation to obey as an ever ready S.A. man the commands of his leader, which has worth.
Every possibility stands open to him who proves himself true in this regiment. He who has performed his year of service may decide to remain or return to his calling. Likewise it is possible to work his way up into the main offices of the S.A. headquarters or to enter the administrative service; the decisive factors for that, frankly, are the capabilities of the candidate and the possibilities for their use in the political life of the people.
In six great camps, which lie scattered in the whole Reich, a valuable work of education is consummated for many hundreds of apt persons. The political value of this work cannot be grasped by bare numbers and dry statistics. These are not decisive factors; it seems to us to be much more essential and for the justification of this information of political soldiery, that out of the training of the Feldherrnhalle Regiment, National Socialists go forth who shall do their part to assure the continuation of that work begun by Adolf Hitler. For this reason there belongs in the Feldherrnhalle regiment the concepts of discipline, voluntary subordination, and leading a soldierly life as first prerequisites and basic conditions for the acceptance of future members.
Out of the apparent forms of political life developed by the present emulating in their behavior the proven example of the old S.A., the Feldherrnhalle regiment professes itself to the concept of a soldierly life. It unites in its ranks young, consciously political individuals who voluntarily wish to live their lives in hardiness and soldierly strictness.
The Reichsfuehrer School
Selection of officers and planned education of officers was the innovation drawn into the circle of political work of the Party after the seizure of power. An effective instrument for such officer training is the Reichsfuehrer School in Munich created in 1931 by the Fuehrer. Many thousands of S.A. officers are oriented here in accordance with the perceptions of the fighting period in their new form and have been trained and then, supplied with knowledge and ideological learning, have gone out into their units where they impart to those whom they have to lead, the Front of the political struggle of the present and their experiences and recently gained insights.
The work of the Reichsfuehrer School today is set aside to bring the synthesis of body and mind very near to the ideal form. All technical means are employed to do that. In a nine months course of study the future S.A. officers are introduced into all spheres of political life. The Reichsfuehrer School desires to stimulate self-created labor, to teach meditation, and to shape the young S.A. officer into a consciously strong charactered, political personality. Body, mind, soul--one cannot be thought of without the other. A hardy physical training, strict measures about health and racial values and continued supervision of the life being led are valuable, but are also indispensable expedients for strict and serious work.
A second task has been given to the Reichsfuehrer School with the comprehensive two weeks labor conference which takes place yearly in the time after the Reich Party Day, and is for the older unit officers from regimental commanders up to, and including, staff divisions. At these labor conferences the political balance sheet of the year is reckoned. Consequently, the Reichsfuehrer School has an outstanding part in the political training work of the Party. The success of the education of future officers will perhaps become apparent only in later decades, but even today the goal stands out in a clearly recognizable fashion: the individual German trained in National Socialism, hardened in mind and strength, and firm in character.
The Reichsfuehrer School of the S.A. in Dresden is guided according to similar directions. For special training of particular units there is at the disposal of the S.A. the Reich Sanitation School in Tuebingen and the Reich Cavalry School in Zehlendorf.
III. PROSPECTUS
The Law of Willingness to Volunteer.
In the beginning of the fight there was the Party and the S.A. The goal, tasks and changing requirements of the fight have led to the establishment of the branches of the Party out of the great collecting basin of the S.A. The strong impulses which emanated from the S.A. have been carried over into the labor of all branches of the Party. All branches fulfill their work at present according to their own laws and responsibilities. Most of their officers, however, and many of the men have marched in the ranks of the Storm Troops, and, thus at present there lives and works in these branches the further quality which we call the S.A. spirit.
“The fight continues”--that was from the start the password of the S.A. and will continue to be for all time. Never has the S.A. man fought just to be fighting, and never to be destructive, but he has fought only to be constructive. And only for that reason can the Fuehrer extend tasks to the S.A. in the new State, which have a decisive significance.
Our comrades in the past years in Austria have demonstrated with what spirit the S.A. is blessed. They were unshaken in avowal to the Fuehrer, in belief in the strength of blood, and in fidelity to their native place. They have fixed for themselves a monument to the S.A. spirit which will always renew itself. Their sacrifice was a cornerstone of liberty. They were proud to be permitted to suffer for Germany. Fate has let these men and their families go along a path whose milestones were need, hate, suffering, terror, and pursuit. Many have sacrificed their lives, and for many, who sat behind dungeon and prison walls, the hope of liberty had sunk away to nothing, and, yet not one word of bitterness came past their lips. He who fought thus is worthy of being called a German and an S.A. man.
A few months ago the S.A. men of Austria still stood in the midst of bloody fighting, and yet now they work in peaceful construction. Thus the S.A. in German Austria became the peace army of the people in the National Socialist State. The S.A. was only able to master this task because the goal always remained the same and they marched along all paths which the Fuehrer commanded, and because the voluntary will to serve is the supreme law of National Socialism.
Today the S.A. stands before the great task of being guardian and fashioner of the armed desire and armed strength of the German people. Its devotion, its preparedness to sacrifice, its belief in the idea, and its soldierly, combatant attitude will create and preserve in the German people that physical fitness and armed preparedness which the Fuehrer and the Reich need and without which a people cannot live.
Great achievements are only produced with unheard of personal application based upon voluntary will. And this law of voluntary service is the key to preparedness and successful labor of the S.A. Not spectator, but active participant is the password of the S.A. in all things it takes hold of.
The Storm Troops have made their way through most difficult trials. They have withstood them because this nucleus troop bears in it unshakeably the spirit of unconditional fidelity and unconditional obedience to the Fuehrer. The S.A. exists today stronger and firmer now and forever. It knows that the Fuehrer will also assign to it in the future new work spheres. The Storm Troops are ready to fulfil the commands of the Fuehrer and his charges with complete application because they desire in all things to be nothing other than the bearers of the Idea, the strong arm of the Movement, the secure support of the people and the German people’s infantry, prepared to sacrifice and happy to attack.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2169-PS
Copy
SS Garrison-doctor Hmb. Neuengamme Kl. Hmb.-Neuengamme 29 March 1945 _Az.: 14 h (Kl) 3.45/Tr./Um._--
Subject: Quarterly Sickreport on Internees of Concentration Camp Hmb.-Neuengamme
Re: Circular from there dated 27-12-1944 No. 242/Az.:14 h (Kl.) Attachments: 2 Diagrams Date: 1-4-1945
To the Head of the Medical-Service at SS Chief office of Economic Administration [Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt] and Chief of Bureau D III
Oranienburg
I. Concentration Camp
1. The average number of internees in the Concentration Camp Hmb.-Neuengamme during the quarter of the year reported on amounted to _40,393_ (including the affiliated working camps).
In addition there is an average of 11,768 female internees.
2. There were _6,224_ death cases during the quarter of the year reported on (from 26-12-1944 to 25-3-1945), among them _95_ female internees. Of this number the following deaths have occurred in the affiliated camps:
Base-Camp Hamburg 944 deaths ” Bremen 515 ” ” Druette 102 ” ” Watenstedt 298 ” ” Reimstedt 9 ” ” Porta 89 ” ” Hannover 453 ” ” Braunschweig 198 ” Affiliated Camp Meppen-Versen 379 ” ” Woebbelin 53 ” ------------ Total 3,040 deaths at concentration camp Hmb.-Neuengamme 3,089 ” ------------ Total deaths 6,129 In addition of the female internees: 95 deaths ------------
3. The average number of internees in the hospital buildings I, II, III, IV, and V during the quarter of the year reported on amounted to _1711_ daily.
4. During the period of time reported on _815_ internees daily were treated without being hospitalized.
SS Garrison doctor Kl. Hmb.-Neuengamme SS Captain
COPY OF DOCUMENT 2171-PS
Report B-2833
THE NUMERICAL EXPANSION OF THE CONCENTRATION CAMP BUCHENWALD DURING THE YEARS 1937-1945
(Based on the complete records of the competent service units)
PREFACE
The following figures are compiled from authentic material that the SS in their flight from the camp were unable to destroy. Particular attention is called to the fact that every number can be substantiated by the personal records of the prisoners in question.
I
In July 1937 the first advance headquarters of the so-called professional criminals arrived on the completely unimproved, untouched wooded terrain of the Ettersberg near Weimar for the construction of a new large concentration camp. At the time the SS had not yet named the future camp and called it KL Ettersberg. The first roll call was made on 19 July 1937 and recorded 149 prisoners. On the following day 70 prophylactic prisoners, that is to say so-called professional criminals from the KL Sachsenburg, arrived. On the 27th of July the first 91 political prisoners, among them 7 Bible research students also arrived from the KL Sachsenburg. On the 29 July 1937 the name “KL Buchenwald” appeared for the first time in the official correspondence. At that time the number in the camp had increased to 327 persons. On 30 July 1937 600 prisoners from the KL Lichtenburg were added and another convoy from the Lichte [Lichtenburg] arrived on 6 August 1937.
On the lists of the Reich’s German nationals the name of Hermann Kempek appears as the first deceased, who died on 13 August 1937 in Buchenwald. The two next dead persons are already reported on 15 August 1937.
Additional convoys followed from Sachsenburg and the Lichte individual arrivals were also recorded. The total number of arrivals in the year 1937 amounted to 2,912 persons. By 1 January 1938 already 48 or 1.65% of them had died.
The last roll call made by the SS took place on 3 April 1945. At the time the number of prisoners in the camp amounted to 80,011 persons. On 11 April 1945 the victorious Allied troops liberated the concentration camp.
The expansion of the concentration camp is shown in Table 1, which gives the total number of arrivals and the deceased for each year.
_Table 1_
---------------+--------------+---------------- Year | Arrivals | Deceased ---------------+--------------+---------------- 1937 | 2,912 | 48 1938 | 20,122 | 771 1939 | 9,553 | 1,235 1940 | 2,525 | 1,772 1941 | 5,890 | 1,522 1942 | 14,111 | 2,898 1943 | 42,177 | 3,516 1944 | 97,866 | 8,644 1945 (3 month) | 43,823 | 13,056 +--------------+---------------- Total | 238,980 | 33,462 ---------------+--------------+----------------
It is self-evident that under normal living conditions only a minor fraction of these 33,462 persons would have died. Most of them had reached the best years of their manhood. The living and working conditions in Buchenwald were such that every one could easily contract a serious illness, especially during the first months, owing to the sudden and violent change in their daily habits of life. In Buchenwald a serious illness resulted nearly always in death, because during the first years no medical help was dispensed or was so inefficient that the hope of a recovery was perforce without any prospects.
The number of unnatural deaths also reached a shocking figure. In desperation many chose voluntary death by hanging themselves or touching the electrically charged wire fence. In addition in the KL Buchenwald, like everywhere else where the SS and the Gestapo were in charge, numerous prisoners were shot “in flight”. This “shooting-in-flight” was often conducted after a certain pattern by forcing the prisoners in the labor units to cross the line of guards. This happened especially in the stone quarries, where they were maltreated to such a degree that in desperation they could find no other way of escape. The nearest SS guard would shoot them down only a few yards beyond the line. In the following Table 2 are not included those who were wounded by rifle fire or those who died in the camp area from the results of the maltreatment they received.
_Table 2_
----------+--------------------+------------------ | Number shot while | Number who chose Year | in flight | voluntary death ----------+--------------------+------------------ 1937 | 7 | -- 1938 | 34 | 11 1939 | 9 | 3 1940 | 89 | 11 1941 | 16 | 17 1942 | 48 | 3 1943 | 46 | 2 1944 | no accurate record | 46 1945 | no accurate record | 16 ----------+--------------------+------------------
A satanical asphyxiation installation equal to the one in the KL Auschwitz was not erected in the KL Buchenwald. The SS probably feared that they would not be able to keep the secret in the most densely settled part of Germany. But this does not mean that we were spared such installation in Buchenwald. Already on 13 July 1941 a convoy was formed consisting of 94 “invalide”, German Reich nationals and Poles, for the greater part but not exclusively Jews, and taken to Hohenstein near Dresden, guarded by heavily armed SS troopers. On the following day 93 more were dispatched. Several days later their clothes, including their personal effects, false teeth, etc., were returned to Buchenwald. In so far it became known at that time these persons were poisoned by gas at the place of their destination. It is probable that the SS had already at that time perfected its asphyxiation chambers and tested them. On 2, 11 and 12 March 1942 further convoys followed containing 285 prisoners, exclusively Jews.
Beginning Fall 1942 increasingly larger mass transports and individual transports of Jews, who had already been a long time in the camp, to KL Auschwitz took place, where unquestionably they were murdered. For this reason these prisoners were probably not entered on the records of the KL Auschwitz. In detail it concerns the following transports:
27 July 1942 163 prisoners, among them 119 Soviet PWs. 26 Sept. 1942 200 gypsies. 6 Oct. 1944 1,183 Jews.
It can no longer be determined today how high the number of the individual transports ran, but it is definite that these individual transports were carried out on special instructions from Berlin.
Since the beginning of the war a continually rising number of executions were carried out in the KL Buchenwald. The shooting or hanging of individual persons or of certain categories of prisoners took place on the basis of the orders issued by the SS Reich Management without any judicial verdict. Three executions in the KL Buchenwald by hanging were performed in public, that is to say, before the entire assembled camp inmates on the roll call grounds. The first prisoner was hung on 4 June 1938, the second on 21 December 1938, both of whom had beaten down their SS guards in their flight from an advance headquarters on 8 May 1938. The victim of the third execution on 13 September 1944 was a recaptured fugitive.
When other prisoners in the camp were to be executed they were called to the entrance and taken away. Exact figures can only be given with certainty for the years 1944 and 1945, because until then such prisoners were recorded as being turned over to the Gestapo and it is no longer possible to determine now which were actually turned over and which only allegedly. In the year 1944 at least 177 and in 1945 at least 54 prisoners of the camp were executed.
The mass executions of Soviet prisoners of war, officers, political officers and troops were introduced. However, Polish officers, German officials and higher ranking officers as well as German and foreign women were executed in Buchenwald. At that time the execution places were installed in the DAW terrain and in the horse stable and the crematory was considerably enlarged. Upon arrival, those destined to be executed were not entered on the camp records, but were separated from those arriving simultaneously in the normal course of procedure and handed over to the Court of Justice Division for “special treatment”, which in official language meant, for execution. Unfortunately the SS had already destroyed on 1 and 2 April 1945 all the relating documents therefore no figures of any kind can be quoted.
Based on the observations of the prisoners it would seem that approximately 7,000 persons were executed.
Furthermore to the total number of those who died in the concentration camp Buchenwald must be added the others who were killed in April 1945 during the retransport from the advance headquarters to the camp, in the advance headquarters itself and on the march. In addition innumerable others must be added, who during the evacuation of the camp died in other camps en route.
If on the whole the number of the victims of death is set at 50,000 this frightful figure will not be estimated too high.
II
The development of the camp shall now be followed in all its details.
The camp strength rose gradually after 1 January 1938 until it reached the figure of 3,000 on 1 May 1938. Then the phase “Arbeitsscheu Reich” (shirking to work for the Reich) set in. The first “asocials” 5 May 1938. Larger transports of a total of 1,000 “asocial” Jews arrived on 14 and 15 June 1938. With this event the camp strength jumped and reached its first high point of 7,968 on 7 August 1938. The number of the dead also jumped. Whereas the number of dead prisoners amounted to 4 in April 1938 it amounted to 16 in May, 62 in June and 105 in July.
In the following months the camp strength slowly decreased through deaths and discharges and only amounted to 7,791 persons on 1 September 1938. The first foreigners arrived in September 1938, namely, in round figures, 2,200 Austrian Jews from the KL Dachau. This influx increased the camp strength to 10,471 on 1 October 1938.
In November 1938 the notorious great movement against the Jews in the Third Reich was carried through, which Hitler tried to justify by referring to the attempt on the life of the official of the German Embassy in Paris, von Rath. In a very short time the camp strength doubled itself. Whereas on 9 November 1938 it still amounted to 9,842, it had grown to 19,676 on 13 November 1938. No lodging facilities were available for such an increase. Temporarily the new arrivals were camped on the roll call ground and in the half completed sheep stable, until very primitive wooden barracks without any sanitary installations were erected alongside the roll call grounds, which later became famous as the Blocks 1a-5a. During the first few days the SS had no clear survey that the keeper of the records would announce over the loudspeaker, “If another Jew hangs himself, will he kindly stick a piece of paper with his name on it in his pocket, so that one knows who he is.”
Where the Jews came from is given in the survey in Table 3.
_Table 3_
-----------------------------------+-------- Place of Origin | Number -----------------------------------+-------- Giessen | 138 Mainz | 97 Kassel | 693 Breslau | 2,471 Dresden | 151 Magdeburg | 375 Chemnitz | 171 Leipzig | 270 Oppeln | 703 Bielefeld | 406 Meiningen | 91 Dessau | 85 Darmstadt | 169 Frankfurt a/M | 2,621 Friedberg | 99 Erfurt | 197 Halle/Saale | 124 Hannover | 316 Nordhausen | 89 Aachen | 135 Wuerzburg | 103 Eisenach-Gotha | 112 Offenbach | 82 Worms | 87 Various small places in Thueringen | 689
This increase in the camp strength not only resulted in a definite but also in a greater percentage number of death cases, as indicated in Table 4.
_Table 4_
---------------------+------------+---------------+--------------- | Number of | Average | Deaths in % Period | deaths | Camp Strength | Camp Strength ---------------------+------------+---------------+--------------- Oct. 10-Nov. 9, ’38 | 53 | 10 156 | 0.52% Nov. 10-Dec. 12, ’38 | 244[4] | 17 262 | 1.41% ---------------------+------------+---------------+---------------
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Among them 3 unknown dead and 3 suicides.
At that time the first construction work of the concentration camp and the necessary troop billets were finished in the rough. The SS sent their prophylactic prisoners to new places for the erection of other camps and SS barracks. The first professional criminals were sent to Camps Mauthausen and Flossenburg on 3 November 1938. Other Transports followed shortly. The “Actions-Juden” (Jews arrested during the movement or campaign against them) were also discharged after a comparatively short time, that is to say, after plundering them and requisitioning their property, they were for the greater part expelled from the Third Reich and upon leaving the camp had to immediately board a ship or cross the frontier. Through these proceedings and the inclusion of death cases the camp strength went down to 8,650 in round figures by the end of February 1939 and stayed at this level, for the time being.
III
Immediately after the beginning of the war the camp strength rose anew. At that time the “Aktions” prisoners, Reich nationals and Austrians unfit to carry arms, arrived. Also the Czech hostages from the Protectorate were delivered as the next batch of foreigners in September 1939 amounting to a total number of 756, some of them coming from the KL Dachau. At the start of the war the KL Dachau was completely evacuated and on 26 September 1939 no less than 2,200 prisoners were transferred to Buchenwald.
On 5 October 1939 members of the Polish minority in Germany numbering 181 persons followed.
After the conclusion of the Polish campaign Buchenwald experienced a grim and tragic sequel in the action taken against the so-called Polish snipers and other Poles coming from those parts of Poland which belonged to Germany before 1918.
On 15 October 1939 and 16 October no less than 1,000 and 1,098 Poles arrived and were put in tents under the most primitive and barbaric conditions on the half-finished roll call grounds, where they received only half of the amount of the food furnished to the other prisoners. The terrible results of this annihilation process is reflected in the comparison of the death cases. In the period 16 September to 15 October 1939--44 prisoners died in the KL Buchenwald, and from 16 October to 15 November 1939, therefore in the same space of time, 6.4 times as many, or 283 prisoners.
After the attempt on Hitler’s life in the Buergerbraeu in Munich on 9 November 1939 a new terror deed by the SS filled the camp with a shuddering and paralyzing fright. The 9 November was a holiday and no work was being done. In the morning under the command of the SS Staff Sergeant Blanck heavily armed SS soldiers appeared and without any list or records selected at random 7 men from each block of Jews, mostly young ones. Thereupon, without any further explanation, they were marched to the stone quarry and shot down. The particulars of the records of these 21 victims are known.
The unbelievable bad conditions, especially the sanitary ones, in the special camp of the Poles, spread to the rest of the camp. The epidemics in the camp and the fear of contagion on the part of the troops forced the SS to quarantine the camp. Individual additions arrived only in exceptional cases. From 1 November 1939 to 30 June 1940, i.e. in 8 months, only a total of 131 additions arrived. Correspondingly the discharges from the camp were almost completely discontinued. Therefore, it was in the main the death cases which in this first winter of the war, owing to the miserable nourishment, hunger and dysentery, caused a decrease in the number of prisoners from 12,841 on 24 October 1939 to 7,986 on 1 May 1940. Death took an especially high toll among the Burgenland gypsies confined in the camp. In the aforementioned figures showing the decrease, a transport of 1,000 prisoners on 6 March 1940 and one of 3,000 on 14 April 1940 sent to the KL Mauthausen, is included. Who ever knows the reputation of this newly erected camp in Mauthausen must also know that not many of these prisoners remained alive.
A larger number of additions to the camp only began to arrive again in August 1940, namely again 1,100 Poles in two transports from Posen. In the following winter the camp strength remained about the same and averaged in round numbers about 7,500 prisoners.
(Hitler had promised a very generous pardon decree for his 50th birthday. It consisted in discharging in round figures 2,300 mostly “asocial” prisoners. Later delayed pardon act reduced the camp strength from 6,363 on 1 May 1939 to a low figure of 5,376 on 21 August 1939.)
IV
The first results of the Western Campaign soon manifested themselves in Buchenwald. Already on 2 July 1940 delivery of 216 Hollanders was made to the KL Buchenwald, mostly high-ranking officials and officers as hostages, and was followed by an additional 111 on 8 and 9 October 1940. The last Dutch hostages arrived on 23 August 1941. They were isolated in a block from the other camp inmates like the preceding ones, and were conceded certain modest facilities. A selected few of them were discharged during the year. The main body, however, remained in Buchenwald until 15 November 1941 and were then transported to the vicinity of Herzogenbusch.
In the beginning of 1941 the German security police raided the Amsterdam Jewish quarter after a strike and abducted for transfer to Buchenwald 389 Dutch Jews on 28 February 1941. They were immediately employed in the hardest physical work and in this manner destroyed. The balance of them, 341, with 350 other prisoners were transferred to the KL Mauthausen on 22 May 1941.
Finally it should be mentioned, that a large transport of 2,000 prisoners arrived from the KL Dachau at the beginning of the Summer of 1941. In contrast to Buchenwald the construction regarded as a sort of recreation camp to which invalids and sick prisoners were sent. When they had recuperated they were again sent to other camps for heavy enforced labor. More will be told later about these “transfers”, as they were officially termed, from one camp to another.
The aforementioned addition and transports, augmented by the regular additions which were delivered two or three a week from the police prisons, caused the camp strength to rise from the low figure of 6,705 on 1 June 1941 to 8,370 prisoners on 1 October 1941.
V
On June 22 1941 Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. The delivery of 2,000 Soviet prisoners of war was the first direct effect on the camp on 18 October 1941. The SS troopers could not prevent the joyful reception of these prisoners of war by the camp inmates who provided them with additional bread, food, tobacco and other articles. The whole camp was punished and especially certain individuals who attracted most attention. The prisoners were also strictly isolated from the others and their barracks provided with a sign having the inscription “prisoners of war”.
Probably Soviet reprisals were feared and they did not want to give the impression that the prisoners of war had been turned over to a concentration camp. Nevertheless they were subjected to the same strict camp discipline as the other prisoners and in the first months especially the quality of their food was considerably inferior. They were compelled to do the hardest physical work. Details of the future fate of the prisoners of war will be reported later. A transfer of 1,000 of them to the KL Mauthausen was made on 19 May 1942. In the following months and years more Soviet prisoners of war were delivered. At the end there were 821 prisoners of war in the camp which were evacuated in one group, when during the last days before the liberation the SS began to clean out the camp.
The camp strength rose to 10,342 persons with the arrival of the prisoners of war on 16 October 1941. During the winter of 1941/42 the figure slowly decreased and on 12 March 1942 amounted to 9,770 prisoners. On that day and the following one two large transports departed from the camp one on 12 March 1942 of 400 to the KL Natzweiler and one of 800 to the KL Ravensbrueck. The SS apparently tried to break the anti-fascist character of the camp by these transfers, which had manifested itself especially in its attitude toward the Soviet prisoners of war. Many long term political prisoners were sent away without any consideration. Undernourished and badly billeted they were forced to the hardest kind of physical labor in the new camps, so that the majority of them died and only a few were able to return to Buchenwald after a long time with other transports. After the departure of the transports the camp was again strictly searched for German political prisoners and a number of them isolated in a special company for hard physical labor. This matter will also be treated by another source in a special report, therefore, it will not be necessary to go into details at this time. These transports and the aforementioned transport of 1,000 Soviet prisoners of war to the KL Mauthausen reduced the camp strength on 1 June 1942 to the figure of 7,601, due to the relatively minor additions.
About this time, Sauckel, the Gauleiter of Thuringia and Hitler’s General Deputy for labor Employment, began to abduct on a large scale the population of the occupied eastern territories for forced labor in Germany. Partly voluntary, with a naive belief in the promises of the Nazis, and partly concerned they came in large mass transports to Germany for employment. Already at the beginning the Germans must have recognized that many undisciplined and politically undesirable “elements” were to be found among them, which threatened to endanger peace and order.
They were harshly treated and locked up for minor infraction in the punishment and concentration camps for “commitment to labor”, which in other words meant life-long slavery. No trouble was taken to determine in the individual cases the question of guilt. No one felt responsible for the fate of the abducted. The SS demanded and received their share of the booty derived from this unpaid labor and exploited it without any consideration and brutally for their own selfish purposes.
Beginning 1 June rapidly increasing numbers of Ukrainian, Russian, Tartar civilian workers and former prisoners of war arrived in the camp. In addition the normal collecting transports abducted people of all the various nations and of every age to the Ettersberg. Within a very short space of time the camp was inhabited by persons from 25 countries from all over Europe and overseas, one might say, shortly from nearly all the countries in the world. At the end for 1944 nationals from 36 different countries were imprisoned in the camp. If the influx let up, the Reich leader of the SS would issue new decrees on the basis of which new raids and actions were carried out causing the inflow to increase again by leaps and bounds.
The SS also understood how to procure slave labor from inside Germany. Beginning December 1942 the judicial authorities had to turn over in part their cheap labor employees to the concentration camps. A decree was issued which ordered the transfer of the prisoners of the courts of justice to the concentration camps for labor commitment. Committees visited the penal prisons and shortly thereafter pronounced criminals (murderers, persons guilty of manslaughter, persons guilty of moral turpitude) sentenced to long and life-long penal imprisonment were sent from the penal prisons Saxony, Thuringia, Hessen, the Rhineland and Westphalia, as well as from the Province of Brandenburg, (were sent) to the KL Buchenwald. Many of them were used as “guinea pigs” in the spotted fever barracks, while many others, accustomed to living for years in confined quarters, died, because they could not endure the sudden transition to a life in the open during the winter and in the spring.
If some of the concentration camps were overcrowded or workmen were needed at certain points, whether for the construction of airdromes, defense fortifications or barracks, or even for the completion of castles, country houses and homes of individual high-ranking SS officials and their staffs, the private slaves of the SS were dragged, without any consideration from one camp to another. Further developments are shown in Table 5, in which the camp strength and the number of the addition for the 12 months from 1 June 1942 to 31 May 1943 are given.
_Table 5_
-----------+---------------+--------------+------------------------------ | Camp Strength | Additions | Month | beg. of month | during month | Special Transport -----------+---------------+--------------+------------------------------ June ’42 | 7,601 | 1,019 | On 5 July--300 invalids July ’42 | 8,000 | 1,996 | and 51 clergymen to Dachau. Aug. ’42 | 8,849 | 1,715 | Sept. ’42 | 9,886 | 1,709 | 500 from KL Dachau Oct. ’42 | 10,075 | 984 | 13 Oct.--619 to KL | | | Sachsenhausen. | | | 17 Oct.--405 to KL Auschwitz. Nov. ’42 | 8,831 | 794 | Dec. ’42 | 9,092 | 1,044 | Jan. ’43 | 9,517 | 2,500 | On 23 Jan. 43--843 foreign | | | workers from Duesseldorf. Feb. ’43 | 11,275 | 1,291 | Mar. ’43 | 11,920 | 2,474 | The first in the small camp. Apr. ’43 | 12,461 | 2,773 | On 5 Mar.--500 to KL Dachau. May ’43 | 13,326 | 2,939 | On 23 Mar. to Riga. 31 May ’43 | 14,441 | | On 3 Apr.--933 Poles from | | | Lublin. | | | On 12 Apr.--339 from KL | | | Wewelsberg. -----------+---------------+--------------+------------------------------
In what manner the terrible conditions in the overcrowded German concentration camps and the pitiless exploitation of the prisoners crossed the plans of the higher authorities of an increased production, is revealed in a communication of the SS Main Office of the Economic Administration. According to this letter, the total number of additions in all the German concentration camps in the 6 months from June to November 1942 amounted to 136,780, whereas 70,610 died in the same period. (See copy of the document in Annex IV.)
VI
The Germans had to leave the Soviet Union after the decisive defeat at Stalingrad. During the retreat all the still available manpower reserves were combed out everywhere. Men and women, children and old men were dragged off to Germany. A great number of them were not even employed as foreign workers, but instead immediately delivered to the concentration camps. In the Fall of 1943 the following transports from the still occupied parts of the Soviet Union arrived in Buchenwald.
_Table 6_
-------------+-----------------+--------- Date | Origin | Number -------------+-----------------+--------- 26 Aug. ’43 | Dnjepropetrowsk | 998 29 Aug. ’43 | Dnjepropetrowsk | 781 19 Sept. ’43 | Dnjepropetrowsk | 1,362 5 Oct. ’43 | Nikolajew | 604 10 Oct. ’43 | Kiriwograd | 529 31 Oct. ’43 | Kiew | 233 1 Nov. ’43 | Kiriwograd | 318 28 Nov. ’43 | Nikolajew | 192 24 Mar. ’44 | Nikolajew | 377 | +-------- | | 5,394 -------------+-----------------+---------
Women and children also arrived with these men here. They were not allowed to enter the camp, but were passed on directly to the women’s concentration camp, or an exception was made, and they were temporarily billeted for one or two days until they were transported to other places.
At the same time conditions in France also took an unfavorable turn for the Third Reich. After the defeat on the East Front the lack and in correlation the want of manpower rose in Germany. Sauckel went to Paris and negotiated with Laval for the delivery of forced labor. This development reflected itself in the KL Buchenwald by deliveries of French prisoners of war from the German concentration camp in Compiegne. The poetical talents of the German Security Service and its sneering attitude toward these victims expressed themselves in designating this action as the “Meerschaum Operation”, which was followed in 1944 by another operation termed the “Spring Zephyr”. The large mass transports which arrived in KL Buchenwald from the West are compiled in Table 7.
_Table 7_
--------------+---------+----------------------------- Date | Number | Origin --------------+---------+----------------------------- 21 May ’43 | 50 | Compiegne via KL Mauthausen 27 June ’43 | 962 | Compiegne 4 Sept. ’43 | 896 | Compiegne 18 Sept. ’43 | 926 | Compiegne 30 Oct. ’43 | 911 | Compiegne 16 Dec. ’43 | 921 | Compiegne 19 Jan. ’44 | 1,940 | Compiegne 24 Jan. ’44 | 1,991 | Compiegne 29 Jan. ’44 | 1,580 | Compiegne 8 May ’44 | 967 | Brussels 14 May ’44 | 2,052 | Compiegne 14 May ’44 | 1,667 | Compiegne via KL Auschwitz 22 May ’44 | 891 | Brussels 19 June ’44 | 574 | Brussels 3 July ’44 | 435 | Compiegne 6 Aug. ’44 | 1,080 | Compiegne 10 Aug. ’44 | 827 | Compiegne 20 Aug. ’44 | 1,650 | Compiegne 21 Aug. ’44 | 1,246 | Compiegne 5 Febr. ’45 | 285 | Penal Prison Gross-Strehlitz --------------+---------+----------------------------- Total | 21,851 | --------------+---------+-----------------------------
Frenchmen and Belgians formed the bulk of these transports. However, all these transports also contained nationals of other countries, who were living temporarily or permanently in France, and were also delivered to Buchenwald.
The stream of mass transports stopped after the Red Army had reconquered the greater part of the Ukraine. However, many “normal” additions continued to arrive, i.e. prisoners from the Germany prisons, but also 90% foreigners, who were sent to the concentration camps on the orders of Himmler. Nevertheless, these additions could not have covered the disastrously increased demand, brought about by the inconsiderate waste of manpower, if the SS had not uncovered new sources.
Beginning in the early summer of 1944 Hungarian Jews were dragged into German slavery in undiscernible masses. They were followed in August by the civilian Polish population evacuated from Warsaw.
It is characteristic of the continually increasing catastrophic shaping of the conditions in the Third Reich, that the services conducting the arrests were no longer in a position to properly register the prisoners. Whereas the transport directing services sent lists along containing the records of the prisoners in the first mass transports from the Soviet Union, France and Belgium, such lists did not accompany the Hungarians and Poles coming from Warsaw.
Most of these transports passed through the KL Auschwitz where the prisoners probably were subjected to a first examination. Whoever appeared fit for work was provided with some scant clothing and after a few days sent on. In Auschwitz they were designated as “Transport Jews”, and no one took the trouble anymore to review their records. That work was left to the concentration camps to which the individuals were finally committed. The SS regarded the labor commitment as their first duty, and the prisoners engaged with the reception of the additions were faced with the greatest to determine the records of the additions so that the SS would not simply use them up as numbers. Only the fact that we insisted on carrying out the still existing order regarding the reception of the additions and did not ignore the regulations, which would have greatly pleased the SS it is now possible to report--who passed through the camp, who died in the camp--and in the near future it will be possible to give information to the brutally torn apart family members, relatives and acquaintances on the fate of their relatives.
The same applies to the Hungarian Jews, the Poles evacuated from Warsaw, the Polish Jews, Poles, Estonians and the Lithuanians, who had been interned in the labor camps in the East. They had been committed as foreign workers and in part had lived together with their families. When the demand for labor arose and with the approach of the Red Army in spite of the fact that they were not guilty of any transgressions, they were dragged off to the German concentration camps. In many cases these separations only took place here upon their arrival at the railroad station; where the families were ruthlessly torn asunder, parents from their children, husbands from their wives, brothers from brothers and sisters from sisters.
During the Summer and the Fall of 1944 the following transports from the East arrived in the KL Buchenwald.
_Table 8_
-----------+------+-----------------+-------------------- Date |Number|Type of Prisoners| Origin -----------+------+-----------------+-------------------- 24 May ’44| 1,000| Hungarian Jews |Auschwitz 2 June ’44| 1,000| Hungarian Jews |Budapest 18 June ’44| 1,000| Hungarian Jews |Auschwitz 16 July ’44| 2,500| Hungarian Jews |Auschwitz 5 Aug. ’44| 1,459| Polish Jews | 13 Aug. ’44| 2,651| Evacuated Poles |Warsaw 15 Aug. ’44| 1,999| Evacuated Poles |Warsaw via Auschwitz 9 Nov. ’44| 615| Hungarian Jews |Graz 18 Jan. ’45| 2,840| Polish Jews | 20 Jan. ’45| 1,446| Polish Jews | -----------+------+-----------------+--------------------
Also other domestic political events reflected themselves in new additions for the KL Buchenwald. After the disturbances at the University of Oslo 349 Norwegian students arrived at Buchenwald on 13 January 1944. Due to the intervention of the Swedish government they were better treated than the other prisoners. They were housed apart from the others, kept their civilian clothes, received the same food as the troops and for several months were given instruction courses and political education by SS instructors. Evidently they were to be converted to Nazism. The efforts of the SS, however, were in vain. Not one volunteered for the SS. Therefore 117 of them were first sent to a SS camp on 7 July 1944 and the rest of them on 23 October 1944, where they had to do heavy work on the field fortifications. When the Front moved closer they were evacuated from the SS camp and on 12 December 1944, with other Norwegian students who had not yet been in Buchenwald, making a total of 492 men, they were again delivered to Buchenwald. On 1 March 1945 they were evacuated to the KL Neuengamme.
In 1942 a change swept over the German concentration camps--instead of being detention camps for political opponents they became labor camps for the German war industries. Early in 1942 the high-ranking SS leaders organized the DAW [Deutsche Ausruestungs-Werke-German Equipment Works]. The DAW paid the camp administration a modest sum for the services of a prisoner with the result that the camps soon became self-supporting and the stockholders, having friendly relations with the military authorities and cheap labor at their disposal, were soon counted amongst the greatest war profiteers. Thusly, they had found a new means for garnering profits for the SS and its leaders out of state monies. For example, the Camp Commander Pister of Buchenwald was elected a director of the DAW-Buchenwald at a considerable monthly salary.
A further development plants were constructed and installed with machinery in the concentration camps. A railroad between Buchenwald and Weimar was built in record time, and the so-called Gustloff Works, consisting of 13 immense workshops were erected in the immediate vicinity of the camp. In addition increasing numbers of prisoners were employed in existing equipment plants. Sauckel himself obtained the first prisoners for the Sauckel Works in Weimar. At first they were only employed there and transported back and forth daily in automobiles. At a later date an equipment headquarters with shelters for the prisoners was installed close to the factory. Further outside headquarters soon followed in pronounced Nazi plants such as the Hasag-Leipzig, and at other points.
The largest and the most terrible of the outside headquarters was soon provided with the cover name of “_Dora_” and mentioned only with fear and fright by the prisoners. What at first had been only an assumption very soon became a certainty. The senseless and cruel V-weapons were a specialty of the SS. Their satanical plan provided for the construction of these weapons by those foreigners whose countries were to be totally destroyed by them. Possibly they also thought that the employment of prisoners isolated from the rest of the world would help to better guard their secret coupled with the hope that the Allied air power would not bomb the plants out of consideration for their countrymen. Everything in connection with the production was treated as a top-secret. Prisoners who were in the respective headquarters were designated as “secret carriers.” In so far as it concerned the Reich nationals and the Czechs, they had to be reported specially to the Main Office of the Reich Security, the Central Office of the Gestapo, to prevent the possibility of a premature discharge.
The most important centers of production were the outside headquarters “Dora” near Nordhausen/Harz, and “Laura” near Saalfeld/Thuringia. In the workshops Nos. 4-7 of the tremendous Gustloff Works separate parts for the V-weapons were also manufactured. At the “Dora” and “Laura” plants underground, bomb safe factories were constructed without any regard for the waste of manpower or the living requirements of the prisoners as regards air, sleep or nourishment. One transport after another of unfortunates went to these outside headquarters from Buchenwald--never to return. The number of the victims of death soon reached record heights and was increased by the victims of explosions and plant accidents. Those who became unfit for work were sent to such isolated camps as Lublin and Bergen-Belsen, where they were for the greater part liquidated by gas poisoning or injections.
The civilian additions were not in sufficient numbers to fill the gaps, therefore new transports arrived continuously from other camps which after a few days in Buchenwald for the necessary recording photographing and physical examination, were passed to the notorious outside headquarters.
The Service Group Command D of the Economic Administration Main Office in Berlin-Oranienburg was the Central Office for the distribution of the labor forces to the German concentration camps. Orders were issued from there as to how many and what type of prisoners were to be transported to other camps, that is, how many prisoners were to be committed to labor by the various outside headquarters. At first this Service Command issued a strict order that no political Reich nationals were to be shipped in these mass transports. The administrations of the various concentration camps strictly observed this rule in their own interests, not because they wanted to spare these Germans but because they were needed to perform the administration and disciplinary duties which the SS really should have handled had it not been for their lack of capability and ambition. We prisoners, therefore, had the great advantage of regulating many things ourselves, which by direct intervention of the SS would have aggravated considerably the already insupportable living conditions of all the inmates of the camp. Furthermore it is evident that every SS commander endeavored to keep his trained people because the new prisoners would only have meant trouble and work. In addition, regulations from the Reich Security Main Office forbade sending certain prisoners with the transports to assure a degree of isolation. Except for a few individual cases, this regulation applied in particular to the half-jews. On orders of the Reich Security Main Office all these as in Germany arrested “half-breeds”, Grade 1, as they were officially designated, were sent to Buchenwald and were not allowed to be transferred to another camp. Thusly it came about, that when larger transports were assembled, especially for the notorious outside headquarters or camps, the least capable and the latest additions were selected from the blocks and commands and sent away again. At the new places these persons were just as unfit for labor as at the previous ones, in other words, they were undesirable. After their arrival they very often had to be quarantined for some time. The attempted regulation of the distribution from one central office and the increasing impossibility to control this manpower, resulted in thousands of prisoners being continually on the move. They therefore, could not be committed to labor as the paper records seem to indicate.
From the Fall of 1943 to the Fall of 1944 the transports compiled in Table 9 arrived in Buchenwald from other concentration camps, which for the greater part had already been destined for shipment to “Dora” and other outside headquarters.
_Table 9_
-------------+--------+----------------------------+---------------- Date | Number | Type of Prisoner | From KL -------------+--------+----------------------------+---------------- 22 Sept. ’43 | 300 | Mostly Russians | Gross Rosen 22 Sept. ’43 | 210 | 149 Russians and oth. | Natzweiler 14 Oct. ’43 | 650 | 373 Frenchmen | Ravensbrueck | | 144 Russians and oth. | 17 Oct. ’43 | 849 | Mostly Russians | Mauthausen 19 Oct. ’43 | 311 | Mostly Russians and Poles | Stutthof 21 Oct. ’43 | 300 | Mostly Russians and Poles | Auschwitz 21 Oct. ’43 | 200 | Mostly Russians and Poles | Natzweiler 21 Oct. ’43 | 506 | Mostly Jugoslavs | Flossenburg 23 Oct. ’43 | 1,539 | Mostly Poles | Auschwitz 30 Oct. ’43 | 1,025 | Mostly Jugoslavs and | | | Russians | Dachau 20 Nov. ’43 | 375 | Mostly French and Poles | Mauthausen 21 Nov. ’43 | 417 | Mostly French and Russians | Dachau 12 Dec. ’43 | 200 | Russians and Poles | Auschwitz 25 Jan. ’44 | 400 | Germans and Russians | Sachsenhausen 3 Mar. ’44 | 421 | Mostly Czechs | Auschwitz 11 Mar. ’44 | 413 | Mostly Poles | Gross Rosen 2 Apr. ’44 | 202 | Czechs | Auschwitz 7 Apr. ’44 | 883 | Gypsies | Auschwitz 28 May ’44 | 350 | Mostly Poles and Russians | Stutthof 24 June ’44 | 2,000 | Mostly Poles and Russians | Auschwitz 29 July ’44 | 200 | Russians and Poles | Bergen-Belsen 3 Aug. ’44 | 510 | Gypsies | Auschwitz 3 Aug. ’44 | 400 | Russians and Poles | Neuengamme 16 Aug. ’44 | 1,350 | Jews various nations | Stutthof 27 Sept. ’44 | 1,085 | | Natzweiler near | | | Dora 1 Oct. ’44 | 1,500 | Poles and Russians | Auschwitz -------------+--------+----------------------------+----------------
In this table transports of less 200 prisoners from other camps and transports which went directly to the outside headquarters without passing through the main camp, are not listed.
The greater number of these additions, as well as the afore mentioned additions from the East and West proceeded quickly and intact to the outside headquarters of the equipment industry and only the completely emaciated in the camps until they died of old age or decrepitude. After months of the severest physical labor in those headquarters under the worst living conditions (bad food, no rest even during their free time, with out any sanitary installations, during months no thorough bodily cleansing and no change of underwear) they either perished [or were sent to] miserable concentration camps Lublin, Auschwitz or Belsen-Bergen not for recreation--but for final liquidation. This exploitation of the work potential of their slaves to the last gasp was termed by the SS “shredding”. In this manner they reduced every one they could lay their hands on to shreds--Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Jugoslavs, Frenchmen, Jews and Christians--they would have annihilated the population of a whole continent, if the Allied armies had not put a stop to matters by their victorious advance.
By reason of all these transports from the West and the East and from the other concentration camps the number of the additions, the camp strength and the number of death cases rose as shown in Table 10.
_Table 10_
----------+-----------+----------+--------------- | | | Camp Strength Month | Additions | Deaths | end of month ----------+-----------+----------+--------------- July ’43 | 1,725 | 191 | 15,796 Aug. ’43 | 4,537 | 118 | 19,641 Sept. ’43 | 5,444 | 123 | 24,688 Oct. ’43 | 9,048 | 109 | 33,377 Nov. ’43 | 4,454 | 314 | 35,112 Dec. ’43 | 3,734 | 967 | 37,319 Jan. ’44 | 8,017 | 1,000 | 42,833 Feb. ’44 | 1,979 | 880 | 41,240 Mar. ’44 | 5,065 | 1,311 | 43,371 April ’44 | 4,788 | 560 | 45,830 May ’44 | 9,655 | 390 | 54,287 June ’44 | 9,986 | 460 | 61,156 July ’44 | 7,398 | 347 | 66,609 Aug. ’44 | 17,170 | 742 | 82,391 Sept. ’44 | 4,251 | 497 | 84,505 Oct. ’44 | 6,728 | 770 | 55,473 ----------+-----------+----------+---------------
On the 6 October 1944 the camp strength reached its highest figure amounting to 89,134 prisoners. On 29 October 1944 the auxiliary headquarters “Dora” became an independent concentration camp with the name of KL Mittelbau containing 32,532 prisoners who were at that time attached to the various auxiliary headquarters. The names of these prisoners were removed from the Buchenwald records and the camp strength reduced accordingly.
On 24 August 1944 at noon the equipment plants belonging to the concentration camp were bombarded and completely destroyed. Not a single high-explosive bomb fell into the prisoners camp but a few incendiary bombs, diverted by the wind, set fire to the prisoners tailor shop, shoemaker shop, laundry and the disinfection station without injuring a single prisoner. The SS had not provided air raid shelters for the prisoners, in fact they did not even allow the prisoners to go into the camp during an air raid alarm. The prisoners were compelled to remain in the workshops or in their immediate vicinity. Bomb proof shelters or trenches for protection against bomb fragment had not been constructed for the prisoners. During an attack the water supply was shut off in the entire camp. Prisoners who attempted to escape from the high-explosive and the incendiary bombs by running into the open were shot down by the SS guards without mercy. Consequently, the air bombardment caused the death of 364 prisoners. It is not possible to determine now how many were shot down by the SS troopers. It is a fact however that Thaelmann, who allegedly was killed during the attack was an inmate of the Buchenwald camp. The prisoners had reason to be grateful that the pinpoint bombing of the Allied Air Force greatly reduced the number of victims.
The bombardment not only destroyed the factory buildings but also the important administration offices of the SS in Buchenwald, especially the so-called “Political Section,” in which the personal records of the prisoners were kept. Therefore no new prisoners were allowed to be shipped to the camp for a while. Those additions which were recorded in September 1944 were sent directly to the auxiliary headquarters, and in particular to “Dora”.
After the failure of the attempt on the life of Hitler on 20 July 1944 Himmler took over command of the Home Front Army. The concentration camp Buchenwald soon reflected the results of this event. On 22 August 1944 the operation, given by the code name of “Gitter” [trellis], was conducted throughout the entire territory of the Reich, by which the remainder of the former functionaries of the Anti-Fascist Parties, who were still at liberty, were arrested and sent directly to the nearest concentration camp. On the 22 or 23 August 1944 about 750 “trellis” prisoners arrived from the immediate surroundings of Weimar within a few hours. Further transport from Saxony, the Rhineland and from Westphalia were anticipated. However, after the attack of the Allied Air Forces on the 24 August 1944 these transports could no longer be made. In other Fascist circles this “trellis” action must also have met with some opposition. The details and the reasons were not known at that time. In any case, the Weimar Gestapo arrived in the camp a few days later briefly examined the arrested persons and then set most of them free.
If this was merely a police measure to use the camp temporarily as a lodging place for arrested persons, Himmler soon found other ways and means to increase the number of the slaves of the SS by new additions.
In November 1944 the first prisoners of a new category arrived which was termed “Zwischenhaft II” (intermediate custody II). This category included members of the Wehrmacht who had been condemned by the military courts to severe penal prison sentences for desertion and absence without official leave from their units. These soldiers were sent to the concentration camp for “intermediate custody” and to be set to work. It was Himmler’s plan to have these soldiers finish the balance of their penal prison sentence after the end of the war. According to orders from the highest authorities in Berlin they all had to be sent to the KL “_Mittelbau_” or in other words to “Dora.” At “Dora” they were probably put to work on the dangerous manufacture of the secret weapons, because being long term prisoners they were not to be spared. Furthermore, no difficulties could arise in the future because they could not be given a discharge on account of the secret nature of their work.
These intermediate prisoners were by no means only German Reich nationals, but among them were also members of all the European nations who had joined the German Wehrmacht as volunteers. In these months, even Himmler delivered members of his own SS units who were guilty of misdemeanors, to the concentration camps. In December 1944, January and February 1945 several small transports of Croatians, Turka (members of a Mohammedan SS formation) and Frenchmen, at the time in SS uniforms arrived in the camp as prisoners.
Other political events in occupied Europe brought new additions to the concentration camps. In September 1944 a large raid was carried out in Denmark, against the Danish police, especially in Copenhagen. On 30 September 1944, 1,480 Danish police functionaries arrived in the KL “Buchenwald,” after having been detained a few days in the KL “Neuengamme.” They were followed by 473 men on 5 October 1944. They were soon put to work and long columns of them had to carry building materials. However, they did not stay very long in the camp. The first 200, mostly high-ranking police officers, were removed by the Danish Red Cross on 8 December 1944, and as far as it was known here, taken to an internment camp in Schleswig Holstein. The next transport of 1,604 Danes left on 17 December 1944 and the balance followed during January and February 1945. The unaccustomed severe climate of Buchenwald, to which they had been transported at the beginning of the winter, demanded a relatively high total of victims. In the few months of their sojourn, approximately 90 Danes died.
X.
When the Auxiliary Headquarters “Dora” was declared an independent concentration camp in October 1944, the construction work had been completed and the production of V-weapons was running at full speed. In connection therewith the demand for unskilled labor had diminished a little.
The establishment of a new and even more notorious auxiliary headquarters near Ohrdruf in Thuringia with the designation “S III”, soon caused Buchenwald to experience a new increase in mass transports. In all haste an underground factory was to be built there, without any regard for any wastage of manpower. Again mass transports from all concentration camps either passed through Buchenwald or went directly to their point of destination. Again mass transports left Buchenwald itself for the new auxiliary headquarters. The SS found the SS ordered all the prisoners to fall in on the roll-call grounds, the latter were then closed off and the SS selected 1,000 prisoners for “S III”, who were shipped off that same night. The first large transport of 1,000 men arrived in the new headquarters on 20 November 1944. Already within a month the strength of the headquarters rose to 7,500 men and reached a maximum figure of 13,726 prisoners on 27 March 1945.
The increasing inefficiency of the administrative machine in the higher offices soon manifested itself very clearly. The new headquarters were put under the command of the Wehrmacht. The prisoners were struck off the records of the camp strength of the various concentration camps and were to be incorporated into the new headquarters. This soon proved itself impossible on account of the enormous inflow and the lack of experienced help. Therefore the whole headquarters had to be taken over again into the camp strength of the KL Buchenwald. It was absolutely unknown which prisoners were in “S III” and the SS had it compiled with the help of prisoners, a complete record of all the camp inmates. At that time the rolls disclosed a strength of 7,648 men of which about 2,000 were in the so-called North Camp and approximately 5,500 in the South Camp. Before the lists sent to the KL Buchenwald could be checked, 1,400 completely exhausted prisoners arrived at Buchenwald from “S III” on 12 December 1944. They gave the camp its first shocking impression of the horrible conditions in Ohrdruf. On their arrival at the Buchenwald railroad station more than 200 of the 1,400 prisoners had already died or were well spent and exhausted that they were unable to give their names or numbers. The transport lists, sloppily compiled by the SS, did not check. Prisoners were listed that did not come with the transport and vice-versa, consequently it was impossible to accurately identify later the dead. The SS management did not send the next transport of “shredded” workers to Buchenwald but to the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, where their final liquidation in the remoteness of the Lueneburger Heide, presumably, could be carried out less openly and more expeditiously.
The tragic end of the exterior headquarters is probably known by this time. At the approach of the victorious Allied troops the headquarters set out on foot in the direction of Buchenwald. Anyone who could not keep up with the marching column was shot. From 4 to 7 April 1945 about 9,300 prisoners (in view of the chaotic conditions which also existed here, an accurate count could not be made) arrived in Buchenwald. On the 9 and 10 April 1945 the SS evacuated the majority of them from Buchenwald. From all that has been learned so far about them it is probable that this transport was annihilated completely. At the end of March, according to the local reports, about 12,000 prisoners were in “S III”. The prisoners who did not arrive in Buchenwald, by the SS in the “S III” camp or on the road.
_Table 11_
--------------+--------+------------------------------+---------------- Date | Number | Type | From KL--All | | | to S III --------------+--------+------------------------------+---------------- 19 Nov. ’44 | 778 | Hung. Jews | Sachsenhausen 24 Nov. ’44 | 500 | Hung. Jews | Sachsenhausen 26 Nov. ’44 | 1,000 | Jews | Stutthof 27 Nov. ’44 | 500 | Jews | Sachsenhausen 29 Nov. ’44 | 500 | Lithuanians, Poles, Russians | Stutthof 2 Dec. ’44 | 353 | Polish jews | Camp Plaszow 5 Dec. ’44 | 1,997 | Various | Dachau 7 Dec. ’44 | 500 | Poles | Auschwitz 13 Dec. ’44 | 2,496 | Various | Dachau 18 Dec. ’44 | 425 | Mostly Poles | Auschwitz 26 Dec. ’44 | 394 | Mostly Poles | Natzweiler --------------+--------+------------------------------+----------------
In the following Table 12 transports are listed, consisting of prisoners from “S III” no longer capable of working, which were transferred to other camps. It is to be assumed, that at least a portion of these prisoners were not recorded as additions in the camps of their destination, because they were condemned to be liquidated and therefore, not booked on the rolls of the camp strength.
_Table 12_
-------------+--------+---------+-------------- Date | Number | Type | Destination -------------+--------+---------+-------------- 14 Febr. ’45 | 500 | Various | Bergen-Belsen 24 Febr. ’45 | 1,884 | Various | Bergen-Belsen 25 Febr. ’45 | 500 | Various | Bergen-Belsen -------------+--------+---------+--------------
In addition to the above there was one transport of 1,002 “invalids”, the greater number of which had also been in “S III”, or had keen destined for “S III”, but were sent directly from Buchenwald to the KL Bergen-Belsen.
Of the new arrivals booked by “S III” in the period of 24 December 1944 to 26 February 1945, the records indicate that 1,460 prisoners died in Ohrdruf.
XI.
The advance of the Red Army compelled the evacuation of the large concentration camps in the East. The result was a maddening increase in arrivals and a horrible, almost inconceivable increase of unnecessary suffering and senseless sacrifices. The offensive on the Vistula River began 13 January 1945. Within a short time the Red Army reached a menacing position close to the concentration camp Auschwitz, where there must have been about 80,000 prisoners. Auschwitz had to be evacuated. Shortly thereafter, the concentration camp Gross Rosen near Breslau had to be cleared. The first transports of evacuated Jews from the KL Auschwitz on open railroad cars arrived here on 22 January 1945, which were soon followed by others. In those days it was bitterly cold. These human beings had been traveling for days, insufficiently clad and underfed. In the overcrowded railroad cars their comrades had died from weakness and exhaustion, and to save themselves the living had to throw the dead bodies from the moving train. The commandant of the camp received complaints from the regions through which the trains had passed, that corpses had been found on the railway embankments. The arrivals very often dragged themselves from the railroad station to the camp with their last ounce of strength. Prisoners, the camp guards and the fire department had to proceed with two-wheeled carts and handcarts, usually, and for transporting building materials to the station to load up the collapsed persons and the dead bodies. The camp streets were littered with lost blankets, caps, overcoats, mess kits and collapsed human beings, who had not been able to drag themselves any further.
An accurate count of the additions was no longer possible. A check on the number of those leaving the point of departure and on how many had died on the way, escaped, or had simply remained behind also was no longer possible. Likewise the administrations of the dissolved camps did not know which prisoners had been transported to Buchenwald. The Reich Security Service sent a teletype letter to all the concentration camps, who had received additions from Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen, requesting that lists of the newly arrived prisoners with their old prisoner’s number be forwarded as soon as possible to the administration of the Auschwitz concentration camp, which latter in the meantime had been transferred to the KL Mittelbau. The concentration camps Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen, as well as other camps and prisons in the East and the West had to be evacuated in great haste and many of the inmates came to Buchenwald.
The transport which came here will be listed in detail in Table 13 and Table 14 will show the increases in the camp strength in the additions and the death cases.
_Table 13_
-------------+----------+--------------------+--------------------------- Date | Number | Type of Prisoner | Origin -------------+----------+--------------------+--------------------------- 24 Dec. ’44 | 916 | Polish Jews | Budapest via Vienna 25 Dec. ’44 | 1,913 | Hungarian Jews | 17 Jan. ’45 | 263 | Various | Cologne and | | | Aix-la-Chapelle. 17 Jan. ’45 | 2,740 | Polish Jews | Tschenstochau. 20 Jan. ’45 | 1,446 | Polish Jews | Tschenstochau. 22 Jan. ’45 | 2,224 | Jews diff. nations | Auschwitz. 23 Jan. ’45 | 917 | Jews diff. nations | Auschwitz. 26 Jan. ’45 | 3,987 | Various | Auschwitz. 3 Febr. ’45 | 291 | Various | Kuestrin. 5 Febr. ’45 | 285 | French a. Belgians | Prison Gr. Strehlitz. 7 Febr. ’45 | 250 | Various | Kuestrin. 10 Febr. ’45 | 6,805 | Various | Gross-Rosen. 24 Febr. ’45 | 464 | Russians | Gross-Rosen. 26 Febr. ’45 | 290 | Various | Exterior Hdg. Gross-Rosen. | | Various | { Gross-Rosen to Exterior. 5 Mar. ’45 | 580 | | { Hdqtrs. Leipzig. 7 Mar. ’45 | 905 | Mostly Jews | Gross-Rosen. 12 Mar. ’45 | 399 | Mostly Poles | Gross-Rosen. 30 Mar. ’45 | 280 | Various | Natzweiler. -------------+----------+--------------------+---------------------------
_Table 14_
----------+-----------+-----------+------------------- Date | Additions | Deaths | Camp Strength End | | | of month ----------+-----------+-----------+------------------- Nov. ’44 | 10,305 | 612 | 59,261 Dec. ’44 | 12,555 | 1,113 | 63,048 Jan. ’45 | 24,197 | 2,002 | 80,297 Febr. ’45 | 13,066 | 5,523 | 86,232 March ’45 | 6,560 | 5,531 | 80,436 ----------+-----------+-----------+-------------------
The further expansion in the last 11 days of the existence of the National Socialistic concentration camp Buchenwald was influenced by the ever closer approaching Allied Armies. The last of the exterior headquarters located in the West returned to the camp of origin Buchenwald. On 6 April the number of the prisoners amounted to about 47,700 men. The balance of 31,598, mostly employed in exterior headquarters east of Buchenwald, did not return to the camp. At this time nothing is known of their fate.
The SS began to evacuate the camp on April 6, 1945. It succeeded in transferring 28,285 prisoners to other camps. The transports in detail are given in Table 15.
_Table 15_
-------------+----------+-------------------+---------------- Date | Number | Type of Prisoners | Destination -------------+----------+-------------------+---------------- 6 Apr. ’45 | 3,105 | Jews | KL Flossenbuerg 7 Apr. ’45 | 1,500 | Various | Leitmeritz 7 Apr. ’45 | 4,800 | Mostly Jews | KL Flossenbuerg 9 Apr. ’45 | 9,600 | Various | Dachau 10 Apr. ’45 | 9,280 | Various | Unknown | ------ | | Total | 28,285 | | -------------+----------+-------------------+----------------
When the KL Buchenwald was liberated by the Allied Armies on 11 April 1945 there were still about 21,000 prisoners on the Ettersberg.
# # # # #
_Annex I_
Tabular Survey of the Numerical Expansion at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp
----------+----------+----------------------------------+--------- | | Decrease | Camp | +---------+--------+------+--------+ strength Month | Increase | Disch. | Trans. | Died | Total | end of | | | | | | month ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- July ’37 | 930 | | | | 1 | 929 Aug. ’37 | 1,414 | | | 8 | 48 | 2,295 Sept. ’37 | 180 | | | 7 | 55 | 2,420 Oct. ’37 | 109 | | | 2 | 60 | 2,469 Nov. ’37 | 133 | | | 9 | 75 | 2,527 Dec. ’37 | 146 | | | 22 | 112 | 2,561 +----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Total | 2,912 | | | 48 | 351 | ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+---------
----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Jan. ’38 | 139 | | | | 67 | 2,633 Febr. ’38 | 140 | | | | 45 | 2,728 Mar. ’38 | 138 | | | | 60 | 2,806 April ’38 | 236 | | | | 42 | 3,000 May ’38 | 1,785 | | | | 54 | 4,731 June ’38 | 3,103 | | | | 111 | 7,723 July ’38 | 463 | | | | 258 | 7,928 Aug. ’38 | 348 | | | | 485 | 7,791 Sept. ’38 | 3,059 | | | | 379 | 10,471 Oct. ’38 | 428 | | | | 711 | 10,188 Nov. ’38 | 10,098 | | | | 2,181 | 18,105 Dec. ’38 | 185 | | | | 7,262 | 11,028 +----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Total | 20,122 | | | 771 |11,655 | ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+---------
----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Jan. ’39 | 184 | | | | 1,727 | 9,485 Febr. ’39 | 113 | | | | 949 | 8,649 Mar. ’39 | 45 | | | | 30 | 8,664 Apr. ’39 | 13 | | | | 2,314 | 6,363 May ’39 | 20 | | | | 713 | 5,670 June ’39 | 103 | | | | 250 | 5,523 July ’39 | 166 | | | | 297 | 5,392 Aug. ’39 | 155 | | | | 165 | 5,392 Sept. ’39 | 3,314 | | | | 62 | 8,634 Oct. ’39 | 5,373 | | | | 1,232 | 12,775 Nov. ’39 | 50 | | | | 448 | 12,377 Dec. ’39 | 17 | | | | 587 | 11,807 +----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Total | 9,553 | | | 1,235| 8,774 | ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+---------
----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Jan. ’40 | 24 | | | | 875 | 10,956 Feb. ’40 | 21 | | | | 654 | 10,323 Mar. ’40 | 14 | | | | 1,518 | 8,819 Apr. ’40 | 67 | | | | 900 | 7,986 May ’40 | 19 | | | | 372 | 7,633 June ’40 | 26 | | | | 321 | 7,338 July ’40 | 250 | | | | 318 | 7,270 Aug. ’40 | 1,168 | | | | 239 | 8,199 Sept. ’40 | 52 | | | | 144 | 8,107 Oct. ’40 | 196 | | | | 502 | 7,801 Nov. ’40 | 96 | | | | 286 | 7,611 Dec. ’40 | 592 | | | | 763 | 7,440 +----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Total | 2,525 | | 1,772 | | 6,892 | ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+---------
----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Jan. ’41 | 50 | | | | 128 | 7,362 Feb. ’41 | 452 | | | | 217 | 7,597 Mar. ’41 | 236 | | | | 513 | 7,320 Apr. ’41 | 505 | | | | 336 | 7,489 May ’41 | 288 | | | | 992 | 6,785 June ’41 | 231 | | | | 209 | 6,807 July ’41 | 2,695 | | | | 920 | 8,582 Aug. ’41 | 396 | | | | 496 | 8,482 Sept. ’41 | 251 | | | | 363 | 8,370 Oct. ’41 | 251 | | | | 468 | 8,153 Nov. ’41 | 277 | | | | 520 | 7,910 Dec. ’41 | 258 | | | | 257 | 7,911 +----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Total | 5,890 | | 1,522 | | 5,419 | ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+---------
----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Jan. ’42 | 554 | | | | 479 | 7,986 Febr. ’42 | 480 | | | | 349 | 8,117 Mar. ’42 | 2,843 | | | | 2,154 | 8,806 Apr. ’42 | 521 | | | | 673 | 8,654 May ’42 | 452 | | | | 1,505 | 7,601 June ’42 | 1,019 | | | | 620 | 8,000 July ’42 | 1,996 | | | | 1,147 | 8,849 Aug. ’42 | 1,715 | | | | 678 | 9,886 Sept. ’42 | 1,709 | | | | 1,520 | 10,075 Oct. ’42 | 984 | | | | 2,228 | 8,831 Nov. ’42 | 794 | | | | 533 | 9,092 Dec. ’42 | 1,044 | | | | 619 | 9,517 +----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Total | 14,111 | | 2,898 | | 12,505 | ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+---------
----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Jan. ’43 | 2,500 | | | 111 | 742 | 11,275 Febr. ’43 | 1,291 | 94 | 377 | 175 | 646 | 11,920 Mar. ’43 | 2,474 | 40 | 1,582 | 311 | 1,933 | 12,461 Apr. ’43 | 2,773 | 1,102 | 299 | 507 | 1,908 | 13,326 May ’43 | 2,339 | 38 | 807 | 379 | 1,224 | 14,441 June ’43 | 1,858 | 122 | 348 | 211 | 681 | 15,618 July ’43 | 1,727 | 39 | 1,317 | 191 | 1,547 | 15,796 Aug. ’43 | 4,537 | 57 | 517 | 118 | 692 | 19,641 Sept. ’43 | 5,444 | 41 | 233 | 123 | 397 | 24,688 Oct. ’43 | 9,048 | 41 | 209 | 109 | 359 | 33,377 Nov. ’43 | 4,454 | 27 | 2,378 | 314 | 2,719 | 35,112 Dec. ’43 | 3,734 | 35 | 525 | 967 | 1,527 | 37,319 +----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Total | 42,177 | 1,636 | 8,592 |3,516 | 14,375 | ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+---------
----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Jan. ’44 | 8,017 | 49 | 1,454 |1,000 | 2,503 | 42,833 Febr. ’44 | 1,979 | 44 | 2,648 | 880 | 3,572 | 41,240 Mar. ’44 | 5,065 | 96 | 1,527 |1,311 | 2,934 | 43,371 Apr. ’44 | 4,788 | 120 | 1,649 | 560 | 2,329 | 45,830 May ’44 | 9,655 | 133 | 675 | 390 | 1,198 | 54,287 June ’44 | 9,986 | 464 | 2,193 | 460 | 3,117 | 61,156 July ’44 | 7,398 | 311 | 1,287 | 347 | 1,945 | 66,609 Aug. ’44 | 17,170 | 217 | 429 | 742 | 1,388 | 82,391 Sept. ’44 | 4,221 | 1,139 | 471 | 497 | 2,107 | 84,505 Oct. ’44 | 6,728 | 981 | 34,047| 732 | 35,760 | 55,473 Nov. ’44 | 10,305 | 698 | 5,207 | 612 | 6,517 | 59,261 Dec. ’44 | 12,555 | 2,076 | 5,579 |1,113 | 8,768 | 63,048 +----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Total | 97,867 | 6,328 | 57,166 |8,644 | 72,138 | ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+---------
----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Jan. ’45 | 24,197 | 190 | 4,756 | 2,002| 6,948 | 80,297 Febr. ’45 | 13,066 | 257 | 1,351 | 5,523| 7,131 | 86,232 Mar. ’45 | 6,560 | 488 | 6,337 | 5,531| 12,356 | 80,436 +----------+---------+--------+------+--------+--------- Total | 43,823 | 935 |12,444 |13,056| 26,435 | ==========+==========+=========+========+======+========+========= TOTAL 1937| | | | | | to 31 | | | | | | MARCH | | | | | | 1945: | 238,980 | | |33,462|158,544 | ----------+----------+---------+--------+------+--------+---------
_Annex II_
Copy of a letter from the SS Main Office of Economic Administration to all concentration camps.
SS Main Office of Economic Administration Service Group D Concentration Camp D III/Az.: 14 h (KL) 12.42 Lg/Wy
Oranienburg 28 December 1942
Regarding: Medical Activities in the Concentration Camps Reference: without Enclosure: 1
SECRET
TO the 1. Camp Doctors of the Concentration Camps Da., Sh., Bu., Neu., Au., Rav., Flo., Lu., Stu., Gr-Ro., Nied., Natz., Hinz., Mor., Herzog., Mau.,
Copy to the Camp Commandants.
In the inclosed a compilation of the current arrivals and departures in all the concentration camps is sent to you for your information. It discloses that out of 136,000 arrivals about 70,000 died. With such a high rate of death the number of the prisoners can never be brought up to the figure as has been ordered by the Reichsfuehrer of the SS. The 1. camp doctors must use all means at their disposal to reduce essentially this death rate in the various camps. The best doctor in a concentration camp is not the one, who believes that he must stand out for uncalled severity, but the one who by his supervision and exchange keeps the working capacity at the various labor commands at the highest possible level. The camp doctors must supervise more often than in the past the food of the prisoners and, with the approval of the administration, submit improvement proposals to the camp commandants. These, however, must not only appear on paper, but must be controlled regularly by the camp doctors. Furthermore, the camp doctors are to see to it that the working conditions at the various labor places are improved as much as possible. To this purpose it will be necessary that the camp doctors inspect the labor places on the ground and convince themselves about the conditions of work.
The SS Reichsfuehrer has ordered that the death rate absolutely must be reduced. For this reason the aforementioned has been ordered and a monthly report on this matter is to be submitted to the Chief of the Department D III. The first report to be submitted on 1 February 1943.
[Signature illegible]
Klueder[?]
SS Brigadefuehrer and Major General of the Arms
_Survey_
For the month of June-November 1942
------+------------------------------------ Month | Arrivals ------+------------------------------------ | Deliveries Uberst [?] Total ------+---------+--------+---------+------- June | 10,322 | 1,575 | 11,897 | 873 July | 25,716 | 6,254 | 31,970 | 907 Aug. | 25,407 | 2,742 | 28,149 | 581 Sept. | 16,763 | 6,438 | 23,201 | 652 Oct. | 13,873 | 5,345 | 19,218 | 1,089 Nov. | 17,780 | 4,565 | 22,345 | 809 +---------+--------+---------+------- Total| 109,861 | 26,919 | 136,870 | 4,711 ------+---------+--------+---------+-------
Table continued ...
------+-------------------------------------- Month | Departures ------+-------------------------------------- | Dischrg, Uberst [?] Dead Exek. Total ------+---------+--------+-------+----------- June | 1,903 | 4,080 | 243 | 6,899 July | 4,340 | 8,536 | 477 | 12,260 Aug. | 2,950 | 12,733 | 99 | 16,363 Sept. | 6,805 | 22,598 | 144 | 30,199 Oct. | 6,334 | 11,858 | 5,945 | 25,235 Nov. | 5,514 | 10,805 | 2,350 | 19,478 +---------+--------+-------+----------- Total| 27,846 | 70,610 | 9,267 | 112,434 ------+---------+--------+-------+-----------
COPY OF DOCUMENT 2176-PS
CONFIDENTIAL
REPORT OF INVESTIGATING OFFICER HEADQUARTERS THIRD UNITED STATES ARMY
Office of the Judge Advocate
APO 403 AG 092 (3 JA-132) GNMCJ 17 June 1945
SUBJECT: Report of Investigation of Alleged War Crimes.
TO: Commanding General, Twelfth Army Group, APO 655, U. S. Army.
I. _AUTHORITY_
1. This investigation was conducted in conformity with Letter, European Theater of Operations, 24 February 1945, by Eugene S. Cohen, ASN O-1573121, Major, 514th Quartermaster Group, APO 403, United States Army, Investigator-Examiner, during the period 6 May 1945 to 15 June 1945, and pursuant to directive of Commanding General, Third United States Army, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit 1.
II. _MATTERS INVESTIGATED_
2. Murder by shooting, beating, use of poison gas, drowning, starving, injections, stoning, exposure, burning, and choking of nationals of twenty-three (23) nations, including members of the United States armed forces, of the German civilian population working under the German armed forces and of other nationals under the orders of said German armed forces, in violation of Article 2 of the Geneva Prisoner of War Convention (Par 73, Rules of Land Warfare, Article 2 of same, Par 25, 26, 30, and 31, Rules of Land Warfare).
III. _PROCEEDINGS_
3. _a._ The testimony of all witnesses examined in the course of this investigation and which is attached and made a part hereof was secured through the use of interpreters where requisite, after the witness had been sworn by me, through the interpreter, under the authority of Article of War 114, in the following form: “You swear (or affirm) that the evidence you shall give in this investigation now being conducted by me shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God.” Where practicable, the witness was given an opportunity to sign his testimony in my presence and, in all cases, it was signed after such testimony had been read back to the witness in his own language by the interpreter. The use of a stenographic reporter was impracticable under existing conditions.
The interpreter was sworn in the following form: “You swear (or affirm) that you will truly interpret this investigation now being conducted by me. So help you God.”
_b._ The transcribed testimony of each such witness whose name is below listed is hereto attached as an Exhibit--the number of which is indicated immediately following the witness’ name. As a further aid, the name of each camp in the chain at which the said Exhibit was prepared is listed alongside the name of the witness:
* * * * * * *
_c._ Other Exhibits: _Description_
(_a_) (Exhibit 4 is a report by an International Committee set up by this Investigation, and same is sworn to in due form by the two witnesses named. The report is further documented with the names of others who helped compile the facts and figures).
(_b_) Journal Record of victims between certain dates, including information as to name, nationality, residence, date of birth, date of death, manner of death, and the names of guards performing the actual execution. (Ex. #214)
(_c_) “Totenbuch,” or Book of the Dead, representing names of victims, nationality, residence, date of birth, date of death, and manner of death, between certain dates. This is a sample of small journals which were later incorporated in the permanent records which number sixteen (16) volumes and which will be submitted in a supplemental report. (Ex. #215)
(_d_) Specimen of poisonous gas used in gas chamber at Mauthausen and Gusen No. 1 and No. 2. (Ex. #216)
(_e_) Rubber hose used by SS Guards to beat prisoners in the Mauthausen Chain of Camps. (Ex. #217)
(_f_) Heavy whip used by SS Guards to beat prisoners in the Mauthausen Chain of Camps. (Ex. #218)
(_g_) Cat of Nine Tails Whip used by SS guards. (Ex. #219)
IV. SUMMARY OF FACTS
4. A certificate by the Investigator-Examiner is attached hereto in separate form, summarizing the camp and methods of working them in the present investigation.
_a._ Between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000 political prisoners are known to have been incarcerated and labeled for extermination at the Mauthausen system of concentration camps from available records. The Chain consisted of between 23 and 30 individual camps between the years 1941 and 1945, the number varying as the smaller of these were occasionally evacuated when certain jobs had been finished (see Exhibits 4, 81, and 213).
_b._ Of the camps affiliated with Mauthausen, the present investigation covered 13 of them of which the largest were Mauthausen, Gusen, Number 1 and Number 2, Ebensee, Steyr, and Gunskirchen. Others in the list situated in Third Army Territory were Linz, Numbers 1, 2 and 3, Wells, Lenzing, Schlier, and Enns. The victims of this Chain of camps were murdered by the SS Guards working in these camps under the command of Franz Ziereis, Commandant and George Bachmayer, Assistant Commandant, both now deceased, whose headquarters were at the fortress in Mauthausen (see Exhibits 209, 210, and 212).
_c._ Evidence reveals that the orders for the systemic decimation of these prisoners originated in Berlin under the direct orders of SS Fuehrer Heinrich Himmler (see Exhibit 4).
_d._ American Forces liberated this camp on 5 May 1945 and this Investigator-Examiner and his team commenced this investigation on 6 May 1945.
_e._ The victims of the Mauthausen Chain of concentration camps are in the process of compilation and will be submitted in a supplementary report.
5. It may be added that one of the functions of the International Committee formed by this investigator to assist in the investigation of these camps was to arrange for each nation to copy the names of each of its dead from the available records in order to notify the next of kin. Therefore, it is confidently concluded that each such nation already has a list of its own dead with all information regarding their manner of death and the statistics thereupon. This International Committee was selected from the inmates by the team and consisted of the most distinguished members selected by the prisoners themselves. The Committee numbered six men as principals and many assistants have greatly helped the investigation in securing the best witnesses and covering all phases in the preparation of this case for trial (see Exhibit 4).
6. _Enemy Individuals_
_a._ See Exhibit 2.
_b._ Wanted notices for all perpetrators are in the process of preparation.
V. _CONCLUSIONS_
The evidence collected in this case shows very clearly that the whole purpose of the Mauthausen Chain of concentration camps was extermination of human beings for no other reason than their opposition to the Nazi way of thinking. There is no doubt that Mauthausen was the basis for long term planning. It was constructed as a gigantic stone fortress on top of a mountain flanked by small barracks.
Mauthausen, in addition to its permanency of construction, had facilities for a large garrison of officers and men, and had large dining rooms and toilet facilities for the staff. It was conducted with the sole purpose in mind of exterminating any so-called prisoner who entered within its walls.
The so-called branches of Mauthausen were under direct command of the SS officials located there. All records, orders, and administrative facilities were handled for these branches through Mauthausen. The other camps, including Gusen and Ebensee, its two most notorious and largest branches, were not exclusively used for extermination but prisoners were used as tools in construction and production until they were beaten or starved into uselessness, whereupon they were customarily sent to Mauthausen for final disposal.
The responsibility for the deaths of these victims lies definitely with the Nazi Party and with the SS men who executed its commands. Men like Himmler, Ziereis, Bachmayer, Schulz, Giesler, Pelzer, and other names in Exhibit 2 are but the arch criminals. However, although direct evidence is not established against all the members of the SS Guards in this disreputable Chain, the inescapable presumption is that all of them are prima facie guilty of these mass murders and the burden of proof is upon them individually to prove his innocence. In this connection the SS organization was purely a voluntary one and its purposes were obviously criminal, in violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions, and the rights of humanity.
It is the belief of the Investigator-Examiner that the theory of “Association des Malfaiteurs” should be employed most stringently in a case as virulent and as atrocious as the Mauthausen set-up (see Certificate attached hereto).
/s/Eugene S. Cohen EUGENE S. COHEN, Major, QMC, JA Section, Third US Army, Investigator-Examiner. 3 JA-132
# # # # #
CERTIFICATE OF OFFICER INVESTIGATING MAUTHAUSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP.
I hereby certify as follows:
1. The Mauthausen Chain of Concentration Camps varied in number from twenty to thirty or more, depending on the needs of any specific work assignment.
2. As shown in Exhibits 21, 22, and 201, the captured records indicated the names of most of these camps, which varied in size from the huge fortress of Mauthausen itself, to a small detached lager similar to Steyr or Lenzing. Lenzing for example, like Steyr (See Exhibits 86, 194 and 195) were detachments from Mauthausen sent and billeted in barracks to run two large factories.
3. The map herein included as Exhibit 201 shows the locations of these named camps with most important route number leading to them. It is thus seen that the majority of these camps were located East of the River Enns (which flows into the Danube and passes through Steyr and Enns-Township, Austria), and, therefore, are of Russian concern, since this river is the present International Occupation Boundary between ourselves and the Soviet Union.
4. However, the remainder of the camps (as shown in Exhibit 201), amounting roughly to about 13, have been accounted for in this present investigation. (See list of Exhibits.) The so-called most notorious of these camps are, of course, first Mauthausen (ranked with Auschwitz as by far the largest and worst of all Concentration Camps); Ebensee (ranked by many as worse than Dachau yet only an inferior Aussenlager (Branch to Mauthausen)); Gusen, divided into two large branches named Numbers one and two and of large size in themselves; Gunskirchen and Steyr, (see Exhibit 84), numbering at capacity five-thousand people. (See Exhibit 195.)
5. Many of these camps were evacuated almost immediately upon liberation, even so large a one as Gunskirchen. (See Exhibit 84.) This camp was said to have numbered as many as 20,000 prisoners at one time, but however, Gunskirchen, like Steyr and Lenzing and the Linz Group (Exhibit 22), and even Ebensee, were not equipped for Mass Murder (Extermination), like Mauthausen and the Gusens, and when deaths were “required” other than through starving, beatings, exposure, or lack of hygienic treatment, the prisoners were dispatched either to Mauthausen or the Gusens where _all_ were labelled for eventual annihilation. (See Exhibit 4 as a conclusive Exhibit which in itself, makes a complete case against the perpetrators involved.)
6. The total count of victims is impossible to estimate, but with Hartheim Castle (a building used for mysterious disposal of people), (see Exhibit 213) almost 2,000,000 are counted from the German Records themselves. (Also see again Exhibit 4).
7. As to the perpetrators or murderers, a complete list of leaders and some 10,000 (approximately) other SS names are included in this investigation. Descriptions are included whenever possible and at all events, Name, Rank, Date of Birth, Last Residence, and Residence of Next of Kin (to whom they might return) are given. (See Exhibit 2, and valuable Exhibit 213 which lists the victims between certain dates, giving their names, nationalities, Dates of Birth, Day of Death, Method of Death, and Names of Guards doing the killing).
8. All Camps presently investigated are as follows:
Mauthausen, Gusen (Nos. 1 and 2), Linz (Nos. 1, 2, and 3), and Ebensee. Wels, Gunskirchen, Lenzing, Steyr, and Schlier are also taken care of as part of the chain and as indicated heretofore. All others were either in Russian or British areas. All these camps have been treated as one case. However, a Supplemental Report is now being prepared to follow the present one in a short time. It should be noted that Franz Ziereis, Commandant of the Mauthausen Chain and Georg Bachmayer, Assistant Commandant, are now dead. (See Exhibits 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 209 and 210.)
9. Besides the books made Exhibits in this present report, sixteen Totenbucher (Books of the dead, as described in Exhibit 4) have been photographed in micro-film and although ready cannot be received in time to submit in this present report.
Additional still photographs and more than 1000 feet of motion pictures have been taken by an official Signal Corps Team and will also be submitted in the Supplemental Report.
/s/ Eugene S. Cohen EUGENE S. COHEN, Major, QMCorps, Investigating Officer.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2187-PS
Main SS economic administration office Office group chief D
--concentration camps--D I/Az : 14 e 3/Ot/S;--
Oranienburg, 14 July 1943
Re: Beating of female prisoners
Ref: Reichsfuehrer-SS B. Nz. I/1891/41 Ads.Sk/Fe.--of 7 July 1943
Enclosures / none
REGISTERED
To the camp commandants of concentration camps, Au., Rav., Herz., Lub. and Stutthof.
The Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police has ordered that the execution of sentence on Russian women has to be done by Polish women and on Polish and Ukrainian women by Russian women.
As a reward the prisoners inflicting the punishment may be given a few cigarettes.
Under no circumstances may German prisoners be employed to inflict punishment. Also other prisoners due for punishment themselves are not to be employed for this purpose.
per sig. Liebehenschel SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2189-PS
SS Economic Administrative Main Office Office Group Chief D Concentration Camps, D 1/Az: 14e 3/L/Ot.
Oranienburg, 11 Aug. 1942.
_Re_: Punishment by Beating. _Ref_: none _Encl_: none
To the camp commandants of concentration camps. Da, Sah, Bu, Mau, Flo, Neu, Au, Gr-Ro, Natz, _Nie_, _Stu_, _Arb_, _Rav_, _and prisoner of war camp Lublin_.
The Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police has ordered that punishment by beating will be executed in concentration camps for women by _prisoners_--under the ordered supervision.
In order to coordinate this order the main office chief of the main SS Economic Administration Office, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen-SS Pohl, has ordered, effective immediately, that punishment by beating will also be executed by prisoners in concentration camps for men.
It is forbidden to have foreign prisoners execute the punishment on German prisoners.
The order for punishment will read on page 2 under “executors”.
The following prisoners have executed physical punishment on the--
1. __________________________________ prison number 2. __________________________________ prison number [signature illegible] SS-Brigadefuehrer and Major General of the Waffen-SS
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2194-PS
REICH DEFENSE LAW
G-300 Top Secret
The Ministry for Economy and Labor Saxony Dresden and 6 for September 1939 Tel: 52151/Long Distance 52051
Ref: Wbv:407g
To The Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia, Transportation Section,
Attention of Construction Chief, Counselor Hirches or Representative in the Office.
_Prag_
[STAMP] The Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia received, Prag, 5 Sept. 1939. No. 274.
Enclosed please find a copy of the Reich Defense Law of 4 Sept. 1938 and a copy each of the decrees of the Reichsminister of Transportation dated 7 October 1938--RL/W10.2212/38, Top Secret--and of 17 July 1939--RL/LV 1.2173/39, Top Secret, for your information and observance.
By order-- 3 Encl.: SIGNED: Kretzschmar. Completed at Dresden 4 September 1939 3 Enclosures. SIGNED: Schneider.
Receipt for the letter of 4 September 1939, wbv:407g with 3 enclosures signed 5 September 1939 and returned to Construction Counselor Kretzschmar.
File: Wbv Signed: HI.
# # # # #
Top Secret
Enclosure 2. RL/LV 1.2861/39G The Reichsminister for Transportation. RL/V 1.2173/39
Berlin 17 July 1939 44 plus 2 copies. No. 45.
To the Subordinate Authority of the Reich and the States as well as the General Authority of the States to whom are attached:
(_a_) Waterways Deputies (Wbv). (_b_) Deputies for Local Transportation (Nbv). (_c_) Deputies for ocean traffic. (Sbv).
To each one individually:
Subject: Protection of the secrecy of the law for the Reich Defense. (RV--Gesetz). Ref: Decree of 7 October 1938 RL/W 10.2212/38, Top Secret.
The leader has agreed to the tacit omission of the secrecy protection of the Reich defense law of 4 September 1938 transmitted with the corresponding decree. In spite of the greater ease in business correspondence thus created, the following limitations, which are herewith brought to your attention for compliance, have been ordered by the competent office.
1. _It remains prohibited_ to cite the Reich Defense law in public or in connection with laws to be promulgated, as well as publication of the contents of the law in its entirety.
2. _It is permitted_
_a._ the mention of all installations founded on the Reich Defense Law and their functions in public without referring to the law;
_b._ the co-signature of laws which are prepared and announced in peace time for war.
Deputy Signed: Baur.
# # # # #
SECRET STATE MATTER!
To GRS Nr. 10/39 Enclosure for RL/LV. I.2861/39 g. The Reich Traffic Minister RL/W 10. 2212/38 secret state matter
Berlin, W8, Wilhelmstrasse 80, the 7th October 1938 47 and 3 copies Examination Nr. 49
To the following Reich and State authorities from whom have been ordered
(_a_) deputies for water ways, (_b_) deputies for the local traffic, (_c_) deputies for ocean traffic
--but especially--
Subject: Reich Defense Law [Reichsverteidigungsgesetz].
Enclosed is transmitted copy of the Reich Defense Law signed by the leader and Reich chancellor on 4 September 1938. The promulgation remains suspended.
Deputy Signed: Baur.
To wbv.: 407 g.
# # # # #
TOP MILITARY SECRET
To GRS Nr. 10/39 1432
Reich Defense Law of 4 September 1938.
The Reich cabinet has decided on the following law which is announced herewith.
I. _State of Defense_
par. 1
(1) As possessor of the complete power of state, the leader and Reich chancellor can decree for the Reich territory or its parts a “State of Defense”.
(2) If the political situation demands it, the leader and Reich chancellor decrees the “Mobilization”. The mobilization can be limited to a part of the Reich or of the armed forces.
par. 2
(1) Once the territory of operation is determined the chief of the army and the commanders of the armies have upon declaration of the state of defense without further order the authority to exercise executive power in this operational territory.
(2) The commanders exercising executive powers can, effective for the territory of operations, promulgate laws, institute special courts, and issue directives to the officials and offices competent in the territory of operations, with the exception of the supreme Reich officials, the supreme Prussian country officials, and the Reich leaders of the NSDAP. The lawfulness of directives precedes directives from otherwise superior offices.
(3) The boundaries of the territory of operations are determined by the supreme commander of the armed forces.
(4) Special directives for the case of a surprise threat to the Reich territory.
If a part of the Reich territory is surprised by a military threat, and if special decrees for defense against this danger cannot be awaited, then the commanders of the imperiled service commands have the right to issue the directives which cannot be delayed and which are necessary for the protection of the imperiled territory to all non-military offices within their sphere of command. The same rights apply to the commanding admirals of the Navy in case of surprise threats against the coastal territory, and to the commanders of air districts in case of surprise attacks from the air within the framework of their war tasks. The execution of these directives has precedence over the other commitments and the directives of superior offices. The named commanders can transmit their right of issuing directives to subordinate officers down to the village counselor.
par. 3
(1) With the declaration of the state of defense the plenipotentiaries for the Reich administration (GBV) named by the leader and Reich chancellor takes over the uniform leadership of the non-military administration with exception of the economic administration.
To him are subordinate--
the Reich minister of the Interior the Reich minister of Law the Reich minister for science, education and popular education, the Reich minister for religious matters, the Reich office for regional order.
(2) The GBV must comply with the demands of the supreme command of the armed forces (OKW) which are of considerable importance for the armed forces. If the demands cannot be brought in accord with the affairs of the Reich administration the leader and Reich chancellor makes the decision.
(3) The GBV has the right within his sphere to issue laws with the accord of the OKW and GBW which differ from the existing laws.
par. 4
(1) With the declaration of the state of defense the chief deputy for economics (GBW), appointed by the leader and Reich chancellor, takes over the direction of the economy except for the armament industry.
(2) It is the task of the GBW to put all economic forces into the service of the Reich defense, and to safeguard economically the life of the German nation. To him are subordinate--
the Reich minister of economics, the Reich minister of nutrition and agriculture, the Reich minister of work, the Reich chief of forestry, the Reich commissar for price control.
He is furthermore responsible for directing the financing of the Reich defense within the realm of the Reich finance ministry and the Reich bank.
(3) The GBW must carry out the demands of the OKW which are of considerable importance for the armed forces; and he must insure the economic conditions for the production of the armament industry directed immediately by the OKW according to its demands. If the demands of the armed forces cannot be brought into accord with the affairs of economy, then the leader and Reich chancellor decides.
(4) The GBW has the right within his sphere to issue laws with the consent of the OKW and GBV which differ from the existing laws.
par. 5
(1) The Reich postal minister, the Reich transportation minister, and the general inspector for the German road net are, with the declaration of the state of defense, bound to the demands of the OKW for the immediate affairs of the armed forces.
(2) The following will get orders from the OKW:
(_a_) the _Reich transportation minister_ for the use of means of transportation,
(_b_) the _Reich postal minister_ for the use and distribution of the complete communication connections to the armed forces and the other agencies.
(3) The Reich transportation minister must comply, with the declaration of the state of defense, with the demands of the GBW according to the directions given to him by the OKW for the use of the means of transportation.
(4) In the sphere of the Reich postal minister, of the Reich transportation minister, and of the general inspector for the German road net, the chief of the OKW has the right to promulgate laws in accord with the GBV and GBW which differ from the existing laws.
par. 6
The Reich ministers and chief Reich offices carry out the tasks within their spheres on their own responsibility, regardless of the special competence of the chief of the OKW, of the GBV, and of the GBW, according to paragraphs 3, 4 and 5.
par. 7
For the shaping of the political mill of the people the deputy of the leader of the NSDAP is responsible. He uses for that the NSDAP, its formations and coordinated units.
II. _State of War_
par. 8
(1) If the fight with an external enemy is forced upon the German people, the leader and Reich chancellor declares the state of war.
(2) With declaration of the state of war, the war laws and war decrees come into force without further order. The legal consequences provided in other laws for the state of war become effective.
par. 9
If the state of defense is not already declared beforehand, the decrees about the state of defense go into effect with declaration of the state of war.
III. _Preparatory Measures_
par. 10
The Reich Defense Council (RVR).
(1) The task of the Reich Defense Council consists in peace time in the decision on all measures for the preparation of the Reich defense and the gathering together of all forces and means of the nation according to the directions of the leader and Reich chancellor. The tasks of the RVR in war time will be specially determined by the leader and Reich chancellor.
(2) The leader and Reich chancellor is chairman in the RVR. His permanent deputy is general field marshal Goering. He has the right to call conferences of the RVR. Permanent members of the RVR are--
the Reich minister of air and supreme commander of the air force,
the supreme commander of the army,
the supreme commander of the navy,
the chief of the OKW,
the deputy of the leader,
the Reich minister and chief of the Reich chancellery,
the president of the secret cabinet council,
the chief plenipotentiary for the Reich administration,
the chief plenipotentiary for economics,
the Reich minister of foreign affairs,
the Reich minister of the interior,
the Reich finance minister,
the Reich minister for popular enlightenment and propaganda,
the president of the Reich bank directory.
The other Reich ministers and the Reich offices directly subordinate to the leader and Reich chancellor are consulted if necessary. Further personalities can be called as the case demands.
par. 11
The Reich Defense Committee (RVA).
(1) The Reich defense committee is the working committee of the RVR. It prepares the decisions of the RVR, sees to their execution, and secures collaboration between armed forces, chief Reich offices, and party.
(2) Presiding is the chief of the OKW. He regulates the activity of the committee and gives the directions to the GBV and GBW and to the Reich ministries not subordinated to them and to the chief Reich offices according to the decisions of the RVR, which directions are necessary for securing their uniform execution.
(3) The RVA is composed of the OKW, deputy of the commissioner for the four year plan, the leader staffs of the GBV and GBW, and the Reich Defense officials.
(4) Chief office officials for the Reich defense (RV-Referenten) and their deputies are commissioned by the deputy of the leader, by the Reich chancellery by each Reich Ministry, by the Reich leader of the SS and chief of the German police, by the Reich work leader, by the Reich forest master, by the chief inspector for the German road net, by the Reich office for regional order, by the Reich bank directory, and in the Prussian state ministry. The RV-Referent and his deputy are immediately subordinate to the minister or the state secretary, and to the chief of the Reich office, resp.
par. 12
The uniformity of the preparations for the start and the course of the mobilization is secured by the OKW.
As regards the actual formulation of the preparations, the GBV and GBW make the arrangements for their sphere.
par. 13
The Chief Plenipotentiary for the Reich Administration (GBV):
The GBV conducts the preparations for the Reich defense in the sphere of the ministries and Reich offices subordinate to him according to paragraph 3. They are bound by his directions already in peace time.
par. 14
The Chief Plenipotentiary for Economics (GBW):
(1) The GBW conducts the economic preparations for the Reich defense as far as they do not come in the sphere of the OKW as regards the armament industry.
(2) The GBW must secure the economic conditions for the production of the armament industry immediately directed by the OKW according to its demands.
(3) The ministries and Reich offices named in paragraph 4 (2) are, within the framework of these directives, already bound for the preparation of the Reich defense to the directions of the GBW, the Reich transportation minister to his demands according to paragraph 5 (3).
IV. _Final Directions_
par. 15
Penal Directions.
Whoever acts against the orders of a decree promulgated on the basis of this law, on purpose or negligently, will be punished with a jail sentence and money fine or with one of these punishments, if the act is not punishable with a heavier sentence according to other decrees.
par. 16
Execution and Completion Directives.
The OKW promulgates in agreement with the GBV and GBW the law and administrative directives necessary for the execution and completion of this law.
par. 17
The law takes effect immediately.
Berchtesgaden, the 4th September 1938.
The leader and Reich chancellor signed Adolf Hitler signed Goering
General Field Marshal The deputy of the leader signed R. Hess
The Reich Minister of the Interior signed Frick
The Chief Plenipotentiary for Economics signed Walther Funk
The Reich Foreign Minister signed Ribbentrop
The Chief of the OKW signed Keitel
The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery signed Dr. Lammers
# # # # #
Berchtesgaden, the 4 September 1938
_Note to the Reich Defense Law_
1. The Publication of the Reich Defense Law of 4 Sept. 1938, remains suspended.
2. The following laws and cabinet decisions are reputed effective immediately.
A. Reich Defense Law of 21 May 1935.
B. Decision of the Reich Cabinet of 4 April 1933 to form a Reich Defense Council.
C. Rectification and completion of 13 Dec. 1934 of the decision of the Reich Cabinet of 4 Apr. 1933.
D. Decision of the Reich Cabinet of 21 May 1935 on activity of the CB in peace times.
The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellery, (signed) Adolf Hitler
The Reich Minister and Chief of Reich Chancellery (signed) Dr. Lammers
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2195-PS
_File Memorandum_
Today I visited General Oshima. The conversation ranged over the following subjects:
1. The Fuehrer speech, which pleased him very much, especially because it had been spiritually warranted in all its features.
2. We discussed conclusion of a treaty to consolidate the triangle Germany/Italy/Japan into an even firmer mold. He also told me that, together with German counter-espionage [Abwehr], he was undertaking long-range projects aimed at the disintegration of Russia and emanating from the Caucasus and the Ukraine. However, this organization was to become effective only in case of war.
3. Furthermore he had succeeded up to now to send 10 Russians with bombs across the Caucasian frontier. These Russians had the mission to kill Stalin. A number of additional Russians, whom he had also sent across, had been shot at the frontier.
4. We then discussed the Mohammedan movement. He told me that a Japanese officer had worked in Afghanistan, but he had been expelled later because of suspicion that he had attempted to overthrow the Afghan government. I told him that I had a police officer there and that the two could very well collaborate once he again had someone there.
5. He told me confidentially that he had bought a piece of real estate in Falkensee under the name of a middleman. Six Russians were employed there, writing and printing leaflets, which were flown into Russia from Poland in small balloons, when the wind was favorable. He had reports and proofs from Russia that they had arrived in good condition and that they were obviously being passed around among the people very diligently.
6. Also he had bought a motor boat in order to bring leaflets from Roumania to the Crimea via the Black Sea. However, this had miscarried in the fall, but he would repeat it once more in summer.
Berlin, 31 January 1939
The Reichsfuehrer-SS:
(signed) H. Himmler
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2199-PS
SECRET
Copy
SS Economic-Administrative Main Office District Group D--Concentration Camps--DI/1 Az.: 14 f 5/L/Ot. Secret diary Nr. 645/42
Oranienburg, 12 Sept 42
Concerns: Return of urns of inmates deceased in concentration camps.
Reference: Chief of Security Police [Sipo] and the SD-ND1a-838/42--of 7.9.42
Encl: None
To the Commanders of Concentration Camps, Da., Sa., Bu., Mau., Flo., Neu., Au., Gro.-Ro., Natz., Nie., Stu., Arb., Rav., and Prisoners of War, Camp Lublin.
According to a communication of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD and conforming to a report of the Chief of Security Police and SD in Prague, urns of deceased Czechs and Jews were sent for burial to the home-cemeteries within the Protectorate.
Based on different events (demonstrations, erecting of posters inimical to the Reich on urns of deceased inmates in halls of cemeteries in the home-communities, pilgrimages to the graves of deceased inmates etc.) within the Protectorate, the delivery of urns with the ash remnants of deceased Nationals of the Protectorate and of Jews is henceforth prohibited. The urns shall be preserved within the Concentration Camps. In case of doubt about the preservation of the urns oral instructions shall be available at this agency.
The Chief of the Central Office sig: Liebehenschel, SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer.
Correctness of Copy is certified: Natzweiler, 16 September 1942 sig: [illegible signature] SS Oscha. und Stabsscharf.
# # # # #
SECRET
Copy
SS Economic-Administrative Main Office District Group D Concentration Camps--D I/1/Az.: 14 e 3/Ot./U.
III Oranienburg, 4 April 1942
_Concerns_: Lashing [Pruegelstrafen]
to the Concentration Camp Commanders of Da., Sah., Bu., Mau., Flo., Au., Gr. Ro., Natzw., Nie., Stu., Arb., Rav., and Commander of Prisoner of War Camp Lublin.
The Reich Fuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police has decreed that when the word “more severe” [verschaerft] is added in his orders for lashings, the execution of the sentence must be undergone with bare seat [unbekleidetes Gesaess]. (This includes male as well as female prisoners in protective or preventative custody.)
In all other cases the previously decreed punishment by Reichfuehrer-SS remains the same.
The Chief of the Central Office sig: Liebehenschel SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer
FdRda sig: [illegible] SS Oberscharfuehrer und Stabsscharfuehrer
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2219-PS
To the General Field Marshal
At Present in Vienna, 14 July 1939
Sir:
If I may add something about myself, it is the following: I know that I am not of an active fighting nature, unless final decisions are at stake. At this time of pronounced activism [aktivismus] this will certainly be regarded as a fault in my personality. Yet, I know that I cling with unconquerable tenacity to the goal in which I believe. That is Greater Germany [Grossdeutschland] and the Fuehrer. And if some people are already tired out from the struggle and some have been killed in the fight, I am still around somewhere and ready to go into action. This, after all, was also the development until the year 1938. Until July 1934 I conducted myself as a regular member of the party. And if I had quietly, in whatever form, paid my membership dues--the first one, according to a receipt, I paid in December 1931--I probably would have been an undisputed, comparatively old fighter and party member of Austria, but I would not have done any more for the union. I told myself in July 1934 that we must fight this clerical regime on its own ground in order to give the Fuehrer a chance to use whatever method he desires. I told myself that this Austria was worth a mass. I have stuck to this attitude with an iron determination because I and my friends had to fight against the whole political church, Freemasonry, Jewry, in short, against everything in Austria. The slightest weakness which we might have displayed would undoubtedly have led to our political annihilation; it would have deprived the Fuehrer of the means and tools to carry out his ingenious political solution for Austria, as became evident in the days of March 1938. I have been fully conscious of the fact that I am following a path which is not comprehensible to the masses and also not to my party comrades. I followed it calmly and would without hesitation follow it again because I am satisfied that at one point I could serve the Fuehrer as a tool in his work, even though my former attitude even now gives occasion to very worthy and honorable party comrades to doubt my trustworthiness. I have never paid attention to such things because I am satisfied with the opinion which the Fuehrer and the men close to him have of me.
[Seyss-Inquart]
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2220-PS
SECRET
Letterhead
THE REICH Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery
RK.318D g III
Berlin W8, April 17th, 1943. Vosstrasse 6, at present: FIELD-quarters. Mail must exclusively be directed to Berlin address.
To the Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police. Herr Himmler
Ref: The situation in the Government General.
Dear Mr. Reichleader,
We had agreed at our conference on March 27th of this year that written texts should be worked out about the situation in the Government General, on which our intended, mutual report to the Fuehrer, could be based.
The material gathered for this purpose by Lieutenant General Krueger was submitted to you immediately. Based on this material, I have had a sketch prepared, which sums up the most important points of this material, sub-divides them in a way quickly to grasp, and finally points out the kind of measurements to be taken.
The memorandum was checked, together with SS Lieutenant General Krueger who agrees with it in full. Part of it I herewith submit to you.
(signed) Dr. Lammers.
# # # # #
Copy to RK. 318 D g III. F.Q. April 12th, 1943
SECRET!
Ref: The situation in the Government General.
A. _The task of the German Administration in the Government General._ The German Administration in the Government General has to fulfill the following tasks:
1. For the purpose of securing food for the German people, to increase agricultural production and utilize it to the fullest extent, to allot sufficient rations to the native population occupied with work essential for the war effort and to deliver the rest to the armed forces and the homeland.
2. To employ the manpower of the native population in the Government General itself only for war important purposes, and to put at the homeland’s disposal such manpower which is not needed for the purpose mentioned above.
3. To consolidate German folkdom in the Government General and by means of inland settlement in particular to create a stronghold of German folkdom in the eastern border districts, also by means of colonization with racial Germans, transferred from other places, thus safeguarding these very border districts.
4. To safeguard the Government General as a transit zone for replacements and supplies to the East front.
5. To obtain troops as far as possible from the native population for the fight against Bolshevism.
B. _Wrong ways chosen for the fulfillment of these tasks._ The German administration in the Government General has failed by a wide margin in achieving the tasks listed under A. Although, in the year of 1942, one succeeded in meeting the delivery quota of agrarian products for the armed forces and the homeland at a relatively high percentage, namely over 90% and also met the demands of the homeland concerning the conscription of labor in general, one has to consider two things on the other hand: First, these accomplishments in the year of 1942 were achieved for the first time, prior, f. i. only 40,000 German tons [Translator’s remark: 2206 lbs. avoir p. makes a ton] bread grain had been delivered to the Armed Forces. Secondly, and above all, one had failed to create for the bringing about of such achievements the necessary organizational, economic, and political basis, which is absolutely required, if such achievements shall not strongly affect the entire situation, may eventually cause chaotic conditions in the future. This failure of the German administration can for one thing be explained by the system of the German administrative and governmental activity in the Government General, personally represented by the Governor General, and secondly, by the wrong basic principles of policy in all those questions, which were decisive for conditions in the Government General.
II. _The failure in basic principles of policy._
1. The realization of the task, listed in A 1, necessitates in the first place a strict and clear-cut structure of economics, as well as a disciplined and clear-cut official economic policy, accompanied by an elimination as totally as possible of clandestine trading and black markets. This stipulates above all the fullest utilization of the harvest and its public management, the stopping of all trade enterprises, which are not essential to the war and the care to be taken for a clear-cut management in war essential enterprises.
The German administration was in no respect capable of living up to these requirements. In the matter of raising food it took a request of a delivery contingent for the Reich and the Armed Forces amounting to 750,000 metric tons of bread grain in the summer of 1942, in order to have the attempt made, of drawing up an inventory of food products. For this purpose a census was taken. The result however turned out to be unreliable. The utilization of the harvest [Ernte-erfassung] did not even permit the full delivery of the contingent for the Reich and the Armed Forces (instead of 750,000 metric tons only 690,000 tons) let alone the ample feeding of the native population working for German interests. While 1.4 million metric tons were demanded, only 1.2 million metric tons of bread grain could be taken hold of, of which 690,000 m.t. were delivered to the Reich and the Armed Forces, so that for roughly 16 million natives only 510,000 m.t. were left. Accordingly, the weekly bread rations for the normal consumer had to be cut down to only 1050 g, compared with 1675 g in the Protectorate and 2600 g in the annexed Eastern territories. To make supplies available for the native population, black markets and clandestine trading were tolerated to the greatest extent, resulting in prices entirely unattainable for the population, working for German interests. A married Polish official, without children, with High school education f.i. has a net income of 234.27 Zloty per month. Compared with this, the prices in the clandestine trade are:
1 kg. rye bread 11.00 Zloty 1 ” potatoes 2.40 Zloty 1 ” pork 80.00 Zloty 1 ” bacon 160.00 Zloty 1 ” butter 170.00 Zloty
Under such conditions the foreign worker remains at his place of work for about 4 to 5 days per week only in order to purchase the missing provisions for himself and his family on the remaining other days. Daily ransackings, robberies, murders and other crimes are further consequences of these conditions.
The farmer received, as an incitement for delivery of his agrar-products, premium certificates for the obtaining of commodities (articles needed for farming, household necessities, salt, cigarettes, brandy, etc.). These commodities very often could not be had, however, despite the fact that they were obtainable in any desired quantity in the clandestine trade, but at exorbitant prices.
(1 bricklayer’s brush = 1 cow 1 dz. (Drusch) coal = 30.00 Zloty 1 pair of boots = 1500.00 ” 1 horse shoe nail = 3.00 ” 1 pair of wooden slippers = 2 calves 1 dress = 1 cow)
The consequences of this situation naturally lead to a severe curbing of the farmer’s willingness to produce. Instead of reducing prices in the trade section by means of taking the necessary measures in regard to the management, a decree of the Governor General recommended, to adjust the prices of agrar-products to the prices of commodities, which were as much as 300 to 4000% higher.
The trade economics are entirely built up according to capitalistic viewpoints, with the aim of earning quickly and much and any planned leadership, which might take war requirements into consideration, is lacking. There is a lack of state supervision and of guidance in the line of production and in the line of trade. The German individual business man as a “trustee” on his own, of enterprises personally directed by him, is given a free hand to do what he wants, in the unrestricted play of forces. These trustees very often make use of former Polish and Jewish owners of enterprises as agents empowered to sign in their names. These trustees make tremendous profits in clandestine trading, tolerated by the Government, and make them within the shortest time. Prohibition of production and control of individual management, as requested by the Armament Inspection (Lt. Gen. Schindler), were not carried out. Part of the trade production is directed only at putting at the disposal of the native population objects for the trade-in of food; metals, materials for spinning, leather, etc., are thus being drained off from the war economy.
2. _The Utilization of Manpower._ The most important presupposition for a proper and relatively frictionless regulation to utilize manpower taken from the native population within the Government General itself, as well as within the Reich, are normal conditions in the sphere of economics. Lack of this coordination influences the steering of labor employments unfavorably in many respects. If it would be possible to provide the population, working in the interest of Germany, with the minimum of food needed, and everyday objects, and to render impossible the access to other items by way of black market channels and clandestine trade, then the reserves of manpower at hand would volunteer for employment as planned, of their own volition. This would mean a basis for a sensible shaping of agrarian property-units. It is necessary in this respect that parts of the population thus available may then be employed in such work which will guarantee them a satisfactory standard of living. After failing to have created the necessary supposition for a well-planned and well-steered employment of manpower, the utilization of manpower is confronted with the greatest difficulties. It is clear that these difficulties have been increased by the elimination of Jewish manpower. But it is incorrect to consider this elimination as the cause of difficulties. If the necessary basis for proper management of manpower had been given, the elimination of Jewish manpower would not have caused any difficulties worth mentioning. As things were, the utilization of manpower had to be enforced by means of more or less forceful methods, such as the instances when certain groups appointed by the Labor Offices, caught Church and Movie-goers here and there and transported them into the Reich. That such methods not only undermine the people’s willingness to work and the people’s confidence to such a degree that it cannot be checked even with terror, is just as clear as the consequences brought about by a strengthening of the political resistance movement.
3. _The Treatment of the Native Populations._ Can only be led into the right channels based on a foundation of a clear-cut and well-organized administration and management. Only such a foundation permits that the native population may be handled strictly if necessary, even severely. On the other hand, it can be dealt with in a big-hearted manner and may be granted certain liberties, especially in cultural respect, causing a certain amount of contentment. Without such a foundation, severity would only strengthen the resistance movement and meeting the native population half way would only undermine the German reputation. That this foundation is missing can be concluded from the facts mentioned above. Instead of trying to create this basis, the Governor General inaugurates a promotion of cultural life on the part of the Polish population, which knows no bounds in itself. Under prevailing circumstances however and last, but not least, in connection with our military situation last winter, this could only be explained as a weakness and thus had to bring about exactly the opposite results of the aspired aim.
PARTIAL COPY OF DOCUMENT 2222-PS
HEADQUARTERS 12TH ARMY GROUP OFFICE OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE APO 655
REPORT OF INVESTIGATION of ALLEGED WAR CRIME
_Summary_
Nature of violation: Mistreatment, torture and Murder of Allied nationals.
Place and Date: 31 concentration camps all in vicinity of Nordhausen, Germany from 23 August 1943 to 10 April 1945.
Victims: Approximately 52,000 nationals of 18 Allied countries.
Perpetrators: German SS troops and civilians.
# # # # #
CONFIDENTIAL
Information to Establish Prima Facie Case Required by SHAEF Court of Inquiry
25 May 1945
SUBJECT: Murder and maltreatment of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in Mittelbau (Dora) Concentration Camps, near Nordhausen, Germany.
TO: Commanding General, Ninth United States Army, APO 339, U. S. Army.
FROM: War Crimes Investigating Team 6822, U. S. Army.
Date and Time: 11 April 1945 to 14 May 1945. Own File Ref: 315.
1. _Nature of violations._ Murder and maltreatment of political prisoners and prisoners of war in Mittelbau (Dora) concentration camps near Nordhausen, Germany. (Map Ref: GSGS 4346, M-52:D-12.)
2. _Place, date, time._ 23 August 1943 to 10 April 1945.
3. Brief resume of incident. Nordhausen, Germany, a city of approximately 39,000 peacetime population, is located eighteen miles east of the Harz Mountains. In August 1943 (Exhibit A), the construction of a V-bomb factory was undertaken in tunnels dug into the foothills of the Harz Mountains about two miles north of Nordhausen. The area was operated by a combination of commercial firms known as Mittelwark which was charged with the construction of V-bombs. The operating personnel was made up of forced laborers who were used in both the construction of the tunnels and manufacture of the V-bombs. These laborers were, with the exception of the German overseers, composed of a number of nationalities the majority of which were Russians, Poles, French, Belgians, and Czechs, in that order. There were also Norwegians, Danes, Hollanders, Spanish, Italians, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Latvians, Yugoslavians, Greeks, Albanians, Rumanians, Estonians, and the records also show (Exhibit 81) one American as having been in the camp (Exhibit A-1). There were thirty-one (31) camps which were utilized for housing the forced laborers and which were, in most cases, located in the vicinity of the area in which the laborers were utilized. These camps were known as:
Artern Ballenstedt Blankenburg Bleicherode Dora Ellrich Gross Werther Harzungen Hohlstedt Ilfeld Ilsenburg Kelbra Klein Bodungen Kleissingen Mackenrode Nixei Nordhausen (Boelcke-Kaserne) Osterhagen Osterode Quedlinburg Regenstein Rossla Rottleberode Sollstedt Sonderhausen Tettenborn Trautenstein Walkenried Wickerode Wieda Wolffleben
The camps were guarded by SS troops (Exhibit A-1), and SS troop headquarters were located at Dora (Exhibit 86). The SS personnel were assisted in their guard duties by block leaders who, for the most part, were Kapos (Capos), which was the name given to German Civilian Criminals who had been released from imprisonment for the specific assignment as block leaders in the aforementioned camps.
Between 75,000 and 80,000 forced laborers (Exhibit A-1) were shuttled into, and a few out of, these installations. A complete indifference to the welfare of the prisoners was exhibited by their guards and custodians. Drinking water and water for washing, in the first stages of the operation of Dora proper, was found only wherever the forced laborers could find a leak in the pipes (Exhibit EEE). At the time of the liberation hundreds of bodies to which death had come from starvation and bombings were strewn about Bolke Kaserne. These bodies were emaciated, and bony prominences of the skeletons were conspicuous under the skin. These bodies were laid in rows in various conditions of decomposition. A pile of naked bodies, the result of one day’s deaths, was found under the stairway at the Bolke Kaserne camp (Exhibit 87). Small piles of bodies were about the building (Exhibits 89, 90, 91, & 92). In their weakened condition the living were compelled to relieve themselves in their beds from which they were too weak to move. Deposits of human feces were frequent throughout. Both living and dead, in many cases, were in the same beds (Exhibits CC, DD, EE, & FF). The mental condition of the prisoners had degenerated with their physical condition, and due to a lack of water some were drinking their own urine (Exhibits A-1 & DD). Some effort had been made to burn some of the bodies, and the partially burned, blackened bodies of 100 children lay about the premises. No organized effort was made to bury the dead (Exhibits EE & FF).
The diet at the camps varied. At Dora the daily diet consisted of one litre of very thin soup, 400 grams of bread, 50 grams of margarine, and three times a week one slice of horse (hard) sausage or beef jelly, the equivalent of 70 grams of meat. One spoonful of marmalade and one spoonful of cream cheese once a week, and irregularly one canteen cup of black, ersatz coffee (Exhibits GG, HH, RR, SS, TT, UU, & EEE). This diet contained 1100 calories per day per man (Exhibit O). Deaths from starvation were numerous (Exhibits MM, UU, & JJJ).
During the period of construction of the camp at Dora no housing facilities were present. Prisoners for three months were required to sleep in the tunnels in which they worked. Many of them died from respiratory diseases contracted in the damp tunnels, and others died of heart ailments due to the under ground pressure (Exhibits A, A-1, TT, UU, CCC, & EEE). They were permitted to leave the tunnels during this period but once a week, and then only for roll call which lasted from one to three hours.
Transport was the name given to movements, whether they were made by vehicle or on foot, to the transfer of prisoners from one installation to another. When travel was by rail, groups numbering as high as 130 were placed in cattle and freight cars and during the inclement weather were given no extra clothing (Exhibits A, Q, GG, HH, and EEE). Of one group of 4,500 men and 500 women who were moved from Monowitz to Nordhausen in January 1945, a trip lasting approximately eight days, only twice were the passengers given food, at which times each was given one-half loaf of bread and 106 grams of meat. Upon arrival at Mittelbeau in the Nordhausen area, between 1,000 and 1,300 of the travelers were dead (Exhibits A-1, & Q). On the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th of March 1945, 2,000 prisoners were taken from Nordhausen to a so-called Red Cross Camp near Bolkenberg. They travelled by wagon and on foot, and were given three days food for the ten day trip. 1,000 of the 2,000 died within three days (Exhibit A). Of 1,600 prisoners who came to Bolke Kaserene from Ellrich 250 died within three days (Exhibit A). Approximately 100 prisoners a day, suffering from malnutrition, tuberculosis, etc., were shipped from Dora to Bolke Kaserene to be “hospitalized” (Exhibit A-1). As the Allied troops neared the vicinity of the camps, evacuation of the prisoners was attempted by the use of the so-called transports, and as transportation by rail became impossible due to tactical operations, prisoners were in some instances released and in other instances removed from their transports and taken to areas, there to be murdered by their overseers (Exhibits DDD, FFF, GGG, HHH, & III).
The SS guards shot laborers upon the slightest pretext. Six prisoners were shot one day because they had left their place of work to go to the water closet (Exhibits A, N, O, LL, QQ, & SS). Beatings were frequently administered upon the slightest provocation by SS guards and Kapos (Exhibits A, F, G, H, I, J, L, M, O, R, S, T, U, V, AA, PP, QQ, RR & TT). One instance of a prisoner’s failure to tip his hat to an SS man was sufficient justification for his being beaten (Exhibit V).
Executions were often performed without apparent trial under the shallow guise of the condemned man having been a saboteur. 75 prisoners were hanged on 10 March 1945 at Dora (Exhibit K). On 13 March 1945 twelve others, including a Yugoslavian Doctor, who was accused of administering too carefully to the prisoner’s ailments and as being a saboteur were hanged (Exhibit K). 35 were hanged in one day (Exhibit JJ). 80 were hanged in February 1945 for having built a radio transmitter (Exhibits OO & SS). An engineer who was accused of tampering with a voltmeter was hanged (Exhibit TT). On many occasions the entire personnel of the camp were forced to witness the hangings (Exhibits O, JJ, & VV). This area was visited by many high Nazi officials, including Goebbels and Himmler. Himmler spoke to the personnel at Dora on one of his visits there (Exhibits A-1 & TT).
10,000 (Exhibit A-1) forced laborers who died or were killed at Dora and auxiliary camps were cremated at Buchenwald and Dora. Medical attention was of the most meager type (Exhibit HH). Deaths at Dora and the Mittelbeau camps varied, and were caused by starvation and diseases contributed to thereby (Exhibit EEE). At Dora estimated deaths were as high as eighty (80) per day (Exhibit N).
/s/ Fulton C. Vowell FULTON C. VOWELL Signature P. 13 of Document Major, JAGD, Commanding Officer, WCIT 6822, U. S. Army
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2224-PS
THE END OF THE MARXIST CLASS STRUGGLE
Pages 1 and 2, Issue 381, 2 May 1933, of “NSK”. National Socialist Party Press Agency [NSK, Pressedienst der NSDAP--the official news agency of the NSDAP]. Edited by Wilhelm Weiss. Responsible for communications of the Reich Press Office. Dr. Otto Dietrich, Reich Press Chief. Published by Franz Eher’s Successor, Munich.
NSK. The Action Committee for the protection of German labor reports:
On 1 May 1933 the entire German people has made a mighty profession of confidence to the new governmental leadership and to the German folk community. The greatest event of the day was the unanimous stand which the entire German working class in all its strata, in all levels and trades, has taken up, behind the government of Adolf Hitler. The flags of the new Reich, the symbols of the National Socialist uprising and of German socialism fluttered in the workers’ districts of the cities just as on the farms, on factory smokestacks and on trade union headquarters, on state buildings and on homes in all German cities.
1 May 1933 was the death hour of the Marxist class struggle. Workers from the factories, manual and intellectual workers, clerical employees--they all marched behind the swastika banner. The folk community is here--the most splendid and exalted dream has become reality. The working masses have testified to their faith in National Socialism.
But as yet the trade associations of the German working class, the representative bodies of workers and employees, were in the hands of Marxist leaders, who did not guide the German labor movement for the benefit of the working German people, but only considered it as the shock troop of their crazy international Marxist class-struggle ideology.
National Socialism, which today has assumed leadership of the German working class, can no longer bear the responsibility for leaving the men and women of the German working class, the members of the largest trade organization in the world, the German Trade Union movement, in the hands of people who do not know a fatherland that is called Germany. Because of that, the National Socialist Factory Cell Organization [NSBO] has taken over the leadership of the trade unions. The NSBO has eliminated the old leadership of the Trade Unions of the AGDB [General German Trade Union League] and of the AFA [General Independent Employees’ Federation].
New German labor leaders have replaced senile ward-heelers [verkalkte Bonzen]. The proven pioneers of the National Socialist Factory Cell Organization [NSBO], who have fought to the limit for the rights of German labor from the beginning, have taken over the leadership of the trade union associations. That proves that the struggle of National Socialism is not directed against the trade union idea as such, but only against the bureaucratized leaderships, because they are the foes of the German labor movement. The old, painstakingly attained rights of the workers’ and employees’ associations will not be touched. On the contrary, the new National Socialist trade union leadership will make good the harm inflicted on the German working class by class struggle and internationalism.
On 2 May 1933 the National Socialist Factory Cell Organization took over the leadership of all trade unions, all trade union buildings were occupied and most stringent control has been organized over financial and personnel matters of the organizations.
The leadership of the Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor has been assumed by Party Member Dr. Ley, Deputy: Schmeer.
The leadership of the General German Trade Union League has been taken over by Party Member Schumann. Party Member Muchow takes care of the fundamental questions of organization. Party Member Biallas is responsible for press and propaganda.
Party Member Peppler assumes leadership of the General Independent Employees’ Federation [AFA].
Party Member Mueller assumes leadership of the “Bank for Workers, Employees and Civil Servants”.
Auditing has been taken over by Party Member Brinkmann.
German workers and employees! Help us to build a new Germany of national liberty and socialist justice. Help to transform the trade unions to the media of fruitful work. Maintain discipline, then your work will be accompanied by success, to the benefit of the entire German people, but primarily of German workers and employees.
The new National Socialist trade union leadership will attempt to make good the damage done to the German working class by class struggle and internationalism. We appeal to the entire German people, to trade union members of all shades and associations.
Have confidence in the proven fighters of the National Socialist Factory Cell Organization!
Attempts at sabotage by unscrupulous mischief-makers will be avenged with the whole severity of the law. Comply with all future directives, it is a matter of your and your children’s future!
Now to work! Long live Socialism! Long live Germany!
# # # # #
WORKERS’ CONGRESS IN BERLIN
NSK, Berlin, 2 May
The “National Socialist Party Press Agency” is informed that a great Workers’ Congress will take place on Wednesday, 10 May, in the Prussian House of Lords in Berlin. The united front of German workers will be formed there. Adolf Hitler will be asked to assume the position of Honorary Patron.
# # # # #
THE ACTION COMMITTEE WITH ADOLF HITLER
NSK. On Tuesday noon, at about two o’clock, the gentlemen of the Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor visited the Reich Chancellery under the leadership of Dr. R. Ley, in order to inform the Reich Chancellor of the accomplished coordination [Gleichschaltung] of the Free Trade Unions in line with the general political situation in Germany. Dr. Ley informed the Chancellor of the smooth course encountered by the project, the necessity of which was based on the attitude of the German working class itself, which had demanded an end to Marxist activity in the trade unions. The Action Committee then asked Adolf Hitler to become Honorary Patron of the Great Workers’ Congress to take place within the next few weeks.
The Fuehrer declared his readiness to assume this position of Honorary Patron and emphasized especially that he expected smooth execution of the various measures, so that especially from a financial point of view, the Purge Project [Reinigungsaktion] would result not only in harm to the German worker, but exclusively in benefit. The Action Committee asserted that the settlement was taking place in complete peace and order, and could promise that as of tomorrow the payments of the institutions concerned would be resumed to their full extent.
# # # # #
“ARBEITERTUM”
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ADGB
[General German Trade Union League]
NSK, Berlin, 2 May
In consequence of the coordination [Gleichschaltung] of the Free Trade Unions, the organ of the National Socialist Factory Cell Organizations [Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellenorganisation], “Das Deutsche Arbeitertum”, has been designated as official organ of the ADGB. In future “Arbeitertum” will appear weekly (instead of bi-weekly, as up to now) with a total circulation of about 4 million copies.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2225-PS
THE FRONT OF GERMAN WORKERS HAS BEEN ERECTED!
Page 1, Issue 382, 3 May 1933, of “NSK”. National Socialist Party Press Agency, [NSK, Pressedienst der NSDAP--the official news agency of the NSDAP]. Edited by Wilhelm Weiss. Responsible for communications of the Reich Press Office. Dr. Otto Dietrich, Reich Press Chief. Published by Franz Eher Successor, Munich.
NSK. We have been informed by the leader of the Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor, Dr. Ley, that the following organizations have unconditionally subordinated themselves to the leadership of Adolf Hitler and the directives of the Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor: Central League of Christian Trade Unions [Gesamtverband der Christlichen Gewerkschaften]; Trade Union Circle of Associations of German Employees, Workers and Civil Servants [Gewerkschaftsring deutscher Angestellten, Arbeiter und Beamtenverbaende] [Hirsch-Duncker]; Trade Union League of Employees [GDA], the RDA; and other associations. Tomorrow negotiations will begin with the German National Clerks’ League [DHV] as the last association. It is to be hoped that this organization, too, will discern the spirit of the times and integrate itself into the great undertaking.
For the first time in the German labor movement a concentration of all workers’ and employees’ associations would thus be reached and one of the greatest undertakings recorded in the history of the German working class brought to fruition.
We have been further informed by the leader of the Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor, Dr. Ley, that he intends now, after these associations have unconditionally and without reservation submitted to the NSDAP, to draft the positive and expert forces from these organizations for cooperation. This intention will already find expression at the great Workers’ Congress, which will take place in Berlin next week.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2226-PS
THE LABOR FRONT STANDS!
From Page 2, Issue 383, 4 May 1933 of “NSK”. National Socialist Party Press Agency, [NSK, Pressedienst der NSDAP--the official news agency of the NSDAP]. Edited by Wilhelm Weiss. Responsible for communications of the Reich Press Office. Dr. Otto Dietrich, Reich Press Chief. Published by Franz Eher Successor, Munich.
THE GERMAN NATIONALIST CLERKS’ LEAGUE [DHV], TOO HAS JOINED
NSK, Berlin, 4 May
_All German trade union associations of all shades having recognized the leadership of the NSDAP in German trade union affairs, the German Nationalist Clerks’ League_ [_Deutschnationaler Handlungsgehilfenverband_] has now too joined Adolf Hitler; the last big association to do so.
After a detailed conversation between the leader of the Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor, Dr. Ley, and the leadership of the German Nationalist Clerks’ League [DHV], integration of the DHV into the German Labor Front was decided upon.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2228-PS
ORDER ISSUED BY THE GERMAN LABOR FRONT
From Page 5, Issue 426, 26 June 1933, of “NSK”. National Socialist Party Press Agency, [NSK, Pressedienst der NSDAP--the official news agency of the NSDAP]. Edited by Wilhelm Weiss. Responsible for communications of the Reich Press Office. Dr. Otto Dietrich, Reich Press Chief. Published by Franz Eher Successor, Munich.
NSK. The leader of the Organizational Office of the German Labor Front, Party Member Muchow, has issued the following proclamation:
All associations and societies of workers and employees, which have not yet been concentrated [zusammengefasst] in the two big collective associations of workers and employees within the German Labor Front must report to the Organizational Office of the German Labor Front, Berlin SW 19, 34, Maerkisches Ufer, within 8 days. The requisite documents about membership figures and other pertinent data must be enclosed. They will then be notified by the Organizational Office, which Association they will have to join [eingliedern].
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2229-PS
THE REICH YOUTH LEADER AT WORK
Issue 423, 22 June 1933, of “NSK”. National Socialist Party Press Agency, [NSK, Pressedienst der NSDAP--the official news agency of the NSDAP]. Edited by Wilhelm Weiss. Responsible for communications of the Reich Press Office. Dr. Otto Dietrich, Reich Press Chief. Published by Franz Eher Successor, Munich.
IMPORTANT ORDER OF BALDUR VON SCHIRACH
NSK Berlin, 22 June
The Youth Leader of the German Reich, Baldur von Schirach, has published the following order:
* * * * * * *
_ORDER 2_
1. The Greater German League [Grossdeutscher Bund], together with its sub- and member organizations, is dissolved as of 17 June 1933. The property of the Greater German League and of the affiliated sub- and member organizations is to be secured. Thus, along with the Greater German League the following have been dissolved:
1. Free Band of the Young Nation [Freischar Junger Nation].
2. German Free Band [Deutsche Freischar].
3. German Boy Scout League [Deutscher Pfadfinderbund].
4. The Geuses [Die Geusen].
5. Community Circle of German Boy Scouts [Ringgemeinschaft deutscher Pfadfinder].
6. Circle of German Boy Scout Districts [Ring deutscher Pfadfindergaue].
7. German Boy Scout Corps [Deutsches Pfadfinderkorps].
8. Free Band of Protestant Boy Scouts [Freischar evangelischer Pfadfinder].
2. The Reich Committee of German Youth Associations [Reichsausschuss der deutschen Jugendverbaende] is dissolved herewith. Previous tasks of the Reich Committee will be taken over into the expanded sphere of tasks of the Youth Leadership of the German Reich.
3. All Youth Organizations in Germany are to be reported to the Youth Leader of the German Reich (Berlin NW 40, 10, Kronprinzenufer, Department for Organizations). Youth Organizations which have not reported, or reported only incompletely, by 15 July 1933, are to be considered as dissolved. It is expressly emphasized that the term “Youth Organizations” also comprises such organizations which are groups within adult organizations. The reports are to be submitted by the top leadership of individual youth organizations for the entire organization. Insofar as the youth groups of adult organizations do not have centralized youth leadership, the leadership of the adult organization is obligated to submit the report.
It is mandatory that the report contain:
1. name of the society (with accurate information about the legal status of the society);
2. board of directors of the society (accurate information about name, residence, and telephone number (if applicable));
3. information relative to person authorized to represent the society;
4. office of the society (telephone);
5. banking and postal checking accounts of the society, with indication who is authorized to sign for the society there;
6. accurate membership figures with indication when the figures were ascertained;
7. statutes of the society;
8. information about the organizational structure of the society, insofar as they are not contained in the statutes;
9. information about chairmen of districts, regions, states, or similar subdivisions;
4. The tasks of the Youth Leader of the German Reich must be accomplished partially with the help of contributions of affiliated organizations. The amount of contributions will be fixed in the very near future.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2230-PS
AGREEMENT ENTERED INTO BETWEEN THE REICH LEADER OF THE GERMAN LABOR FRONT, PARTY MEMBER DR. LEY, AND THE CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE STORM TROOPS [SA], VIKTOR LUTZE, WITH REGARD TO THE FACTORY TROOPS [WERKSCHAREN].
THE ORGANIZATION BOOK OF THE NSDAP
[Organisations Buch der NSDAP] Edition of 1938, editor: The Reichs Organization Leader of the NSDAP [Dr. Robert Ley]. Published by the Central Publishing House of the NSDAP, Franz EHER, Successor, Muenchen. [Pages 484, 485b, 486c].
1. The Factory Troop [Werkschar] is the National Socialist backbone of the factory. Its task is to permeate the factory with the National Socialist philosophy. The factory troop is the carrier of the factory community and incarnates community life within the factory; it bears witness to these facts by its factory celebrations and festivals. It is in the forefront in carrying through the tasks of the German Labor Front. It is the living incarnation of these tasks.
2. The Storm Troops [SA] will promote the building-up of the factory troops with all means. Storm Troops [SA] units will maintain closest comradeship and connection with the factory troops, frequently visiting their meetings, and inviting the factory troops to their own meetings.
3. Factory troops are formed on a voluntary basis by Storm Troopers [SA-Maenner] in a factory and by other workers in the factory. The latter simultaneously become Storm Troop candidates (insofar as they are not already members of another formation of the Party).
4. Officers and men of the Storm Troops, who are working in the factory and are members of the German Labor Front, are to be made leaders of the Factory Troops. On the basis of previous agreements, the appointments take place in accordance with the ordinance of 10 January 1936--Ch. Nr. 11150, as follows:
_a._ in the case of the Reich Directorate of the German Labor Front, upon recommendation of the Supreme Storm Troop Command [Oberste SA-Fuehrung]
_b._ in the case of Districts, upon recommendation of the SA-Group
_c._ in the counties, [Kreisen] upon recommendation of the SA-Standards [Standarten]
_d._ within the factory, the factory troop leader is appointed by the County Factory Troop Leader, after consultation with the factory representative of the German Labor Front.
5. Special sections [Referate] for factory troops will be established at the headquarters of Storm Troop Groups, respectively Brigades, and of Standards. They are to be merged with the previous Special Sections for Social Work at Storm Troop Bureaus. The District respectively County Factory Troop Leaders are in charge of this Special Section. Simultaneously these Storm Troop leaders are to be charged by the regional commissioners with the leadership of the Department factory troops in the German Labor Front. For disciplinary and personnel purposes they remain subordinate to their unit commanders.
The requisite financial means for the Special Sections are to be made available by the German Labor Front in accordance with agreements still to be reached.
6. Directives and regulations for commitment, and for the tasks to be accomplished within the factory, will be issued by the Reich Leader of the German Labor Front through factory troop channels (Reich factory troop leader; District factory troop leader; County factory troop leader; Factory factory troop leader).
7. 4 to 5 week days a month are available to the factory troop for carrying through their tasks.
In the case of urgent tasks within the factory, and in the case of protective measures against natural catastrophes and preparatory service for large-scale political utilization of the German Labor Front, factory troop service has priority over Storm Troop [SA] service.
8. Physical training will take place with Storm Troop [SA] cadre units.
9. The service Uniform for factory troops remains customary factory troop uniform for meetings within the factory as well as in parades of the German Labor Front.
Berlin, October 1936
The Chief of Staff of Storm Troops [SA] (signed) Lutze
The Reich Leader of the German Labor Front (signed) Dr. Ley
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2231-PS
“Die Reichskanzlei” by Hermann von Stutterheim
[Pages 19-34]
Nevertheless, there is still a “people’s legislation” even in the Third Reich, but this does not restrict the legislative power of the Reich Cabinet [Reichsregierung] in any way. According to the law on the plebiscite of 14th July 1933, the Reich Cabinet, which is, de facto and also, as we shall see later, de jure, nothing more nor less than the Fuehrer, can apply to the people for its approval or disapproval of a measure which is envisaged by the Reich Cabinet, whereby it is also a matter of an approval or disapproval of a planned law. It is therefore impossible for a people’s law to be passed without or even contrary to the will of the Fuehrer. Neither can drafts of laws put up for approval be passed if the content has been altered in any way. It must be either accepted or rejected just as it stands. Even should it be rejected, such a result of the vote does not oppose the will of the Fuehrer. For, in as much as the Fuehrer puts a law to the people’s vote, an action which he takes of his own free will, he shows that he is quite prepared for the law to be rejected.
Within the Reich Cabinet, the Reich Chancellor was de jure at first also the president of the Reich Cabinet which was a body of people who made the decisions, in which the Reich Chancellor had only a seat and a vote. He could therefore be overruled. In practice, since the day of the assumption of power, this was no longer the case. The dominating personality of the Fuehrer and the actual power possessed by him made it obvious from the start that the Reich Cabinet could not make any decisions which did not coincide with the will of the Fuehrer. The Reich Cabinet accordingly was from the outset, nothing more than an advisory body to the Fuehrer which was to advise the head of the cabinet [Regierungschef]. Even if the result of this advice was still called “the decision of the Reich Cabinet” the decision in reality was that of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor, which, after a previous conference, was passed by the Reich Cabinet. The same applied to administrative measures, political resolutions and legal decisions. Later, this situation also gained its legal semblance by the duty of obedience of the Reich Ministerate to the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor. This occurred at the time of the Reich Law of 16th October 1934, on the oath taken by Reich Ministers and members of the provincial governments [Landesregierungen], by which the Reich Ministers had to swear loyalty and obedience to the leader of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler. Thereby, the whole administrative power was concentrated in the person of the Fuehrer. From then on, he was also de jure head of the Reich, supreme legislator, Supreme Chief of all administration and supreme commander of the armed forces, without being restricted by any other factors or authorities when exercising the power with which he was endowed by virtue of the legal position. The cooperation of the members of the Cabinet [Regierungsmitglieder] in an advisory capacity in particular, is therefore no essential condition of the legality of the Cabinet Laws [Regierungsgesetze]. Even without the advisory cooperation of the Cabinet, the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor can issue decrees which are of course always in the form of a “Fuehrer Edict” or that of a Decree to differentiate between them and the designation “Reich Law” used for those laws issued with the formal cooperation of the Reich Cabinet.
It is neither an essential of the Fuehrer State, nor does it conform to the personal characteristics of the Fuehrer, that all the difficulties described above must be submitted to the supreme Fuehrer for his decision. On the contrary: although the Reich Ministers are today basically subject to the unlimited authoritative power of the Fuehrer when making their decisions even in unimportant individual cases, they actually have an independence in carrying out their official functions such as was never enjoyed by Reich Ministers during the republic [Systemzeit]. Responsibility, powers of decision, a driving energy and real authority, these are the qualities required, first and foremost by the Fuehrer of his ministers. Therefore he allows them great freedom in carrying out their official functions. But, if the evolutionary New Order is not to give way to revolutionary conditions, it is essential that the legal order be respected by the Reich Ministers, and by all their subordinate departments. And so it is necessary, in the middle of the gigantic process of reorganization that we are now experiencing, that the Fuehrer himself should continually be taking steps to abolish obstacles of a legal or any other kind which could not be eliminated in any other way by apportioning certain full powers and issuing other orders which might not be legally binding or might lack the required authority if they were not issued as laws or Fuehrer Edicts. Anyone who has a certain amount of experience in the sphere of administration knows how extraordinarily difficult it is to gauge what retrospective effects interference with the traditional and established administrative system will have. Should such interference be unavoidable, if higher ends are to be gained, it is necessary to direct and restrict them so that unwanted repercussions are eliminated. Even with practical experience and a knowledgeable survey of the whole sphere of administration and legislation, it is however also necessary to give thorough consideration to the problem to be solved before it is submitted to the Fuehrer. Of course, the final decision can be made, to a certain extent, by the competent departmental Minister himself. Too often, however, he is unable to come to an agreement with those other ministers whose departments are affected by the measure intended, and he sometimes lacks any definite knowledge of the Fuehrer’s possible plans to which such measures must conform.
Considered theoretically, the Reich Cabinet would be a suitable special committee to settle opposing points of view and make them fit in with the Fuehrer’s aims. In practice, however, this would mean that the cabinet would be in almost continuous session, a quite impossible demand on the Fuehrer. He has not the time to take part in long cabinet meetings [Kabinetsitzungen] to listen to detailed descriptions, justifications and counter-arguments which it is the duty of all ministers to make from the particular standpoint of their departments. The Fuehrer must be free and have the necessary time for those great decisions, which must be made in the field of state-leadership in interior-policy and also especially in foreign policy and which he alone must make. For he is not called to be the arbitrator in differences both of opinion and of other things, but purely a leader, an inspiration, a commander-in-chief--in short a creator. That causes the necessity of reducing cabinet meetings to the minimum and therefore only to those all-important questions, so that even drafts of laws, before they are handed to the Fuehrer are to be dealt with, not during cabinet deliberations, but by the so-called process of circulation, i.e. by obtaining the written statement of agreement from the individual members of the cabinet.
Under these conditions, it is the duty, first and foremost of the Chief of the Reich Chancellery to submit the matters to the Fuehrer, for his decisions and orders, in a concentrated manner and a suitable chronological order. This saddles him with the necessity of keeping conversant the whole time with the most important matters in the sphere of administration, economy and politics and, at the same time, of concerning himself in the preliminary work of legislation. It falls to him in particular to see whether and in what form any direct interference is to be recommended to the Fuehrer in as much as he must in any case be informed of occurrences in public life.
As they are so numerous, it is almost impossible to give an accurate individual picture of the extent and type of all the questions and concerns which, in this way, make up the substance of the reports made by the Chief of the Reich Chancellery to the Fuehrer. These questions and concerns are extremely numerous and affect all spheres of public life. Fundamentally, only those concerns can be separated which are the responsibility of the President’s Chancellery and of the Office of the head of the NSDAP and are laid before the Fuehrer by the heads of these departments, as well, particularly, as all military matters, which the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces has to report. Naturally even these matters could encroach on the sphere of activity of the Reich Chancellery on account of their connection with political and administrative questions and therefore require a special report by the Chief of the Reich Chancellery alone or together with the proper competent departmental heads.
Taken as a whole, it may be said that the severe limitation in frequency of the cabinet deliberations has resulted in a corresponding increase of the duties and heightening of the responsibility of the Chief of the Reich Chancellery.
However, the fact that cabinet meetings, under the pressure of circumstances, could take place only seldom, led to the necessity of setting up a special advisory body to the Fuehrer in the form of a Secret cabinet council [Kabinettsrat] to advise the Fuehrer on the direction of Foreign Policy. However, this fact meant a small reduction of the duties of the Reich Chancellery just as did the establishment of a cabinet council [Ministerrat] for the defence of the Reich later on. This subject will be dealt with anon. The “Secret Cabinet Council” was established by the Fuehrer Edict of 4th February 1938. The following persons are members: Reich Minister Baron von Neurath as president, as members, Reich Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop, General Field Marshall Goering, the deputy-Fuehrer, Reich Minister Hess, Reich Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels, Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Dr. Lammers, C-in-C of the Army, General von Brauchitsch, C-in-C of the Navy, Dr. H. C. Raeder and Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, General Keitel. The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery is in charge of any affairs with which the Secret Cabinet Council has to deal.
This is purely a deliberating body which is not called on or empowered to make orders or measures by itself. The special conditions of the war, especially the need to change the legal position and to meet the fast-arising wartime requirements however, made it vital to disembarrass the Fuehrer even in the sphere of legislation. This was accomplished by the Fuehrer Edict of 30th August 1939. Under this, a “Cabinet Council for the defence of the Reich” was formed with the power to issue decrees with a legal authority should the Fuehrer decide that a certain law was not to be issued by the Reich Cabinet or by the Reichstag. The following persons are members of the Cabinet council for the defence of the Reich: General Field Marshall Goering as president, the deputy-Fuehrer, the Plenipotentiary-General for Reich Administration, the Plenipotentiary-General for Economy, also the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery and the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces. The president can invite other persons to attend the deliberations of the Cabinet Council. The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery is in charge of the affairs of the Cabinet Council. Another legislative body, therefore, came into existence but here again, in accordance with the authoritarian principle of leadership, it was an organization of leadership in the hand of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor, a legislative organization, whose authority to issue decrees is based on the supreme legislative power of the Fuehrer and which can be used in specific cases only if the Fuehrer has not decided on some other procedure. Actually, the cabinet council’s authority to issue decrees has been made use of to a great extent since the beginning of the war.
The most important decrees issued by the Cabinet Council for the defence of the Reich are the following:
Decree on the appointment of Reich Defence Commissars dated 1st September 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p 1565), Decree on the compensation for personal damage (Personal damage decree) dated 1st September 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p 1623), Decree on measures concerning civic disputes, compulsory execution, bankruptcy and civic right dated 1st September 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p 1656), Decree on special radio measures dated 1st September 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p 1683), Decree on the restriction on changing the place of work dated 1st September 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p 1685), War-economy decree dated 4th September 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p 1609), Decree against elements of the population, dated 5th September 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p 1679), Decree on the assessment of damage to property (damage to property assessment decree) dated 8th September 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p 1754), Decree on the concession of delayed payment in legal disputes dated 7th October 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p 2004), Decree on the treatment of enemy capital dated 15th January 1940 (Reich Law Gazette I p 191).
This short list of the most important Cabinet Council Decrees should suffice to make clear the extent and significance of the Cabinet Council legislation. It is obvious that this has lifted a quite exceptionally heavy burden from the Fuehrer’s shoulders. The Reich Chancellery, however, participates fully in the work of the Cabinet Council since the Chief of the Reich Chancellery is not only a member but also directs its affairs. The Chief of the Reich Chancellery was given the task of directing these affairs because it put him in a position to keep the Fuehrer conversant all the time with the work of the Cabinet Council. In this connection, the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, in cases where there is any doubt on the point, has to make sure that the Fuehrer has the opportunity in good time to make clear whether he is in favour at all of a measure planned by the Cabinet Council, or whether he would not prefer the form of a Cabinet or Reichstag law instead of a cabinet Council decree. Basically the right possessed by the Cabinet Council for the defence of the Reich to issue decrees is limited to legal matters directly connected with the defence of the Reich. However, in special cases and at times when the Fuehrer is on a visit to the front, this rule cannot always be kept. Should there be any doubt, whether and to what extent deviations from this rule can be made, it usually falls to the Reich Minister and Chief of Reich Chancellery to take steps to obtain the Fuehrer’s decision should the occasion arise.
According to the assignment of duties in the Reich Cabinet the Chief of the Reich Chancellery is in charge of the affairs of the Reich Cabinet as well. In this capacity he has to arrange the meetings of the Reich Cabinet on the direct instructions of the Fuehrer and to issue summonses to these meetings together with the agenda and the subjects up for discussion. He must also see that the Reich Ministries concerned are in agreement beforehand on the subjects to be discussed, or if they are not unanimous, that a clear position has been reached about the incompatibility of the various opinions and about the reasons for the opposed points of view. Ministerial conferences among the Ministers concerned may be held prior to the cabinet meeting to clear up these differences of opinion. These Ministerial Conferences under the chairmanship of the Reich Chancellor, took place before the assumption of power. Apart from exceptional occasions, this no longer occurs. Summonses to Ministerial Conferences are sent out by the Chief of the Reich Chancellery at the request of one or more of the ministers concerned; he then as a rule presides at these conferences. Naturally, this does not apply to the numerous ministerial conferences arranged by the authoritative Reich Ministers of the day, in which the matters dealt with are such that it is not, or not yet, necessary that the Fuehrer be informed; therefore the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery need not be present at the conferences.
The drafts of Cabinet laws [Regierungsgesetze] are first prepared by the authoritative ministry, that is the ministry most concerned, in agreement with any other ministry concerned, in the matter. There is sometimes a preliminary discussion of these in conferences between departmental heads [Chefbesprechungen] and then they are handed to the Chief of the Reich Chancellery who determines whether they are to be included in the agenda of a cabinet meeting or whether the agreement of all the members of the cabinet is to be obtained in writing by the so called process of circulation. Should there still be differences of opinion remaining unsolved when the cabinet deliberates on the drafts of the laws, the Fuehrer makes the final decision on the content of the law and its passing. This procedure is also followed when any opposition remains during the process of circulation and deliberation on the draft in a cabinet meeting seems impracticable for some reason or other.
Cabinet laws [Regierungsgesetze] decided on are drawn up and issued by the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor. The finished law, the actual legal document, is signed first by the Fuehrer and then by the ministers concerned, who are thereby responsible to the Fuehrer for the law. Apart from the Reich Ministers concerned, the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery also appends his signature and, by this action, makes himself responsible that all Reich Ministers had the opportunity of stating their opinions. Furthermore, the president of the Cabinet Council for the defense of the Reich must append his signature to all Reich Laws and that under the signature of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor. Fuehrer Edicts with a legislative content are always signed also by the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery. This rule of signatures is based mainly on an internal regulation of the Fuehrer or on usage. It applies also to the Cabinet laws [Regierungsgesetze] which are issued as Reichstag laws or People’s laws.
The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery who, as we know, directs the affairs of the Cabinet Council plays a similar part in the work of the Cabinet Council for the defence of the Reich in issuing decrees which, as mentioned above, have the authority of laws, as he does with the Cabinet laws. It must be noted, that the peculiarity in this case is that the subjects dealt with by the Cabinet Council are distributed not merely among the members of the Cabinet Council, but also among all the members of the Cabinet who are thereby given the opportunity of guarding the interests of their spheres of office by adding their appropriate standpoints in the Cabinet Council legislation, even if they do not participate in making the decree.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2232-PS
GERMAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW [Deutsches Verwaltungsrecht]
by Dr. Hans Frank.
Published by: Central Publishing House of the NSDAP
Franz Eher Successor, Munich.
[Pages 420, 421, 424, 425, 430]
Task and Means of a Political Police.
A. The Task
The task of a political police in the sense of the National Socialist conception of this institution has been formulated best so far in Section 1 of the Prussian law concerning the Secret State Police of 10 February 1936 (Prussian law collection, 1936, p. 21): “The Secret State Police has the task of investigating and fighting all attempts dangerous to the State, of collecting and evaluating the result of the inquiries, of informing the State Government and of keeping the other authorities currently informed on important facts pertaining to them and of supplying them with suggestions.” This formulation also outlines the task of Political Police Systems in other German countries for which this task assignment is to be concluded from the National Socialist conception of a Political Police, since a legal formulation is mostly missing.
* * * * * * *
_b._ All attempts dangerous to the State are subject to the activity of the Political Police. “Dangerous to the State” is more than “hostile to the State” and includes not only undertakings with programs hostile to the State but also all attempts--no matter what their aim--which in their effects endanger the State.
Not the State in its outward organic appearance but the tasks of the leadership in the sense of the National-Socialist idea is the object of protection. It is the task of the National Socialist leadership to preserve and to develop all national values. These being endangered, the Political Police is called upon for protection against the endangering attempts, e.g. if there is any danger:
to the State leadership and structure of the State by intentions of terror and revolutionary plans,
to the Armed Forces and the forces of defense by espionage and (intellectual and technical) sabotage,
to the people’s community and the state principles by disintegration and instigation,
to the people’s health and blood purity by moral corruption (e.g. offenses according to Section 175 of the Reich penal code) and racial disgrace,
to the ideological unity of the people by intellectual poisoning and distortion (e.g. by “Jehovah’s Witnesses” and other sects).
A complete catalogue of “attempts dangerous to the State” can never be drawn up because it can never be foreseen what may endanger leadership and people sometime in the future. National Socialist recognition of threatening danger and National Socialist knowledge of responsibility will understand and fulfill the duties of the Political Police according to the real necessities in any political situation.
* * * * * * *
_b._ The lawful means for _preventive police measures_ of the Political Police have not been regulated legally. They cannot be regulated, for the preventive police duties of the Political Police--and the means necessary for their performance--cannot be described and standardized for all time.
The duties of the Political Police and the necessary means for their performance are not chosen freely but are prescribed by the foe. Just as the operations of an army against the outward enemy and the means to fight this enemy cannot be prescribed, so the Political Police also must have free hand in the choice of the means necessary at times to fight attempts dangerous to the State.
Since the National Socialist revolution, the powers of the Political Police in a legally positive respect are derived immediately from the new conception of the State and the resulting conception of the duties of a police force. According to this conception the duty of the Political Police, due to its nature, is to fight all attempts dangerous to the State. And it thus has the right to take all necessary measures for this fight as long as there are not any expressly contrary regulations. This conception is confirmed by the decree of the Reichspresident for the Protection of People and State of 28 February 1933 (RGBl I, p. 83) by which the so-called basic rights of the Weimar Constitution have been abrogated. This means that ever since, every State institution--particularly the Political Police--may take measures in the performance of its duties which were barred before by those basic rights.
“The decree for the Protection of People and State of 28 February 1933 has eliminated the negative law barriers of the State power. The positive competence of the police to restrict liberty of any kind, especially to order protective custody, results already from the character of the function which the Police in the National-Socialist State has to perform.” (Dr. Walter Hamel: “The Police in the National-Socialist State,” German lawyers’ newspaper of 15 March 1935, col. 326.)
According to kind and purpose the measures taken by the Political Police can logically be subject to a check only by their own channels of administrative supervision. This is recognized for instance in Section 7 of the Prussian law concerning the Secret State Police of 10 February 1936 by the stipulation: “Orders in matters of the Secret State Police are not subject to the check of the administrative courts.” In its decision of 2 May 1935 (III C 43/35) the Prussian High Court of Administration had already come to the same conclusion, before the decree of 10 February 1936 was issued, by reason of the legal situation in Prussia. Also for the other German countries--if not expressly settled to the contrary--and for a future Reich regulation the principle has to be maintained that measures of the Political Police can be checked only by their own channels of administrative supervision. In view of the tasks and means of the Political Police which cannot be standardized individually, there can be no legal backing for a court decision. Any agency outside of the Political Police must lack the necessary expert knowledge for a decision by way of administrative supervision.
* * * * * * *
_f._ The Secret State Police administers the State Concentration Camps through the Inspector of the Concentration Camps who is affiliated with the Office of the Secret State Police.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-A-PS
FRANK DIARY, Meetings of Departmental Chiefs in 1939/40 [Abteilungsleitersitzungen 1939/40]
Minutes of the 1st conference of the Departmental Chiefs on the 2nd December 1939.
[Page 3, line 4-13]
The condemning to death of an archbishop and bishop gives cause to the fundamental observation that a total war against any kind of resistance is being waged in the Government General. The two bishops have been condemned quite rightly, because arms were found in their possession. If, despite that, they were pardoned to hard labor, then certain other considerations were the cause for that. Reports by the press concerning the shooting of Jews are not desirable because such reports would intimidate the Jews.
Minutes of the 2nd conference of the Departmental Chiefs on the 8th December 1939.
[Page 4, par. 1 and 2]
The question of forced labor for the Jews could not be solved satisfactorily from one day to the other. Prerequisite for this would be the card indexing of the male Jews from 14 to 50 years of age. In this it had to be ascertained which trade the Jews had so far carried on, because just in those territories the Jews had had various skilled trades, and it would be a loss if this manpower would not be usefully exploited. To do this, sweeping planning is necessary. For the time being the Jews had to be gathered in columns and had to be employed wherever there was a pressing need. It is the task of the chief of the district to determine these needs.
The police was being reenforced by 4 police battalions. The commitment would be such that each government section was to receive one battalion. Moreover, it was ordered that the police battalions in the Government General would be relieved and interchanged from time to time with battalions from home. Already before Xmas the relief of 4 battalions would take place. No insecurity would result.
[Page 7, 2 last paragraphs]
_Governor Dr. Lasch_ called attention to the fact that the order of the Governor General regarding the institution of compulsory work provided, that Poles from their 18th year upward were to be conscripted for compulsory labor. A regulation of the age groups from 14 to 18 would also be desirable. One should not neglect the danger that particularly the youth of this age group in high schools could become a source of national resistance.
_Governor General Reich Minister Dr. Frank_ orders the preparation of a supplementary decree, according to which the compulsory labor was to be extended to the age groups from 14 to 18.
Meeting of Departmental Chiefs at the Bergakademie (Academy for mines).
Friday, 10th May 1940
[Page 23, par. 1]
Then the Governor General deals with the problem of the _Compulsory Labor Service_ of the Poles. Upon the demands from the Reich it has now been decreed that compulsion may be exercised in view of the fact that sufficient manpower was not voluntarily available for service inside the German Reich. This compulsion means the possibility of arrest of male and female Poles. Because of these measures a certain disquietude had developed which according to individual reports, was spreading very much, and which might produce difficulties everywhere. General Fieldmarshal Goering some time ago pointed out in his long speech the necessity to deport into the Reich a million workers. The supply so far was 160,000. However, great difficulties had to be overcome. Therefore it would be advisable to consult the district and town chiefs in the execution of the compulsion, so that one could be sure from the start that this action would be reasonably successful. The arrest of young Poles when leaving church service or the cinema would bring about an ever-increasing nervousness of the Poles. Generally speaking, he had no objections at all if the rubbish, capable of work yet often loitering about, would be snatched from the streets. The best method for this, however, would be the organization of a raid, and it would be absolutely justifiable to stop a Pole in the street and to question him what he was doing, where he was working, etc.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-B-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1940 1st Vol., January-March.
[Page 18, 3rd paragraph]
Thursday, January 11th
1520 Section Chief Dr. Frauendorfer reports to the Governor General on the possibilities and the extent of the transport of workers into the Reich. The German State Railway sends daily 10 transports, each carrying 1000 workers. Beginning with January 15, these transports, which were stopped temporarily--will be taken up again.
In regard to the project of resettlement, it should be avoided, that it be carried out further in the brutal manner which has prevailed up till now, because otherwise it is to be feared that people will not volunteer any more to go into the Reich, and also because of the way in which the resettlement is carried out, the possibility of using these people in the Reich will be impaired. As an extra allowance for the unemployment pay the Reich Ministry for labor has held out the prospect of an additional sum of 3 million Reichmarks a month.
* * * * * * *
[Pages 183-184]
March 7th, 1940
Citadel of Cracow
1645 Conference with SS Brigadier General Schreckenbach
1650 Attaché Dr. Albers is introduced by Councillor of Legation v. Grolinan to the Governor General
1700 Conference with Brigadier General Buehrmann, Stabsleiter Reichert, Reichhauptamtsleiter Dr. Frauendorfer, and 2 special advisors.
Subject of the discussion is the question of the shipment of Polish agricultural workers into the Reich.
Brigadier General Buehrmann started by saying that Stabsleiter Reichert has been appointed by the Reich Food Ministry, to make sure, that Polish workers would be sent into the Reich under all circumstances, and--if necessary--a compulsory service should be enforced upon them. Brigadier General Buehrmann would like to recommend, that the Governor General--for the time being does not make any decision for the introduction of a compulsory service or employment of force against the Polish agricultural workers.
Stabsleiter Reichert emphasizes that Berlin insists that the one million agricultural workers be sent into the Reich.
Reichshauptamtsleiter Dr. Frauendorfer replies to a question of the Governor General, that so far 81,477 Polish agricultural workers were sent into the Reich--of which 56,721 were men, and 24,756 women.
Since 12 February, 154 special trains have been sent off, that was the utmost that could have been accomplished in this time. To these figures--just mentioned--are to be added 42,000 workers, who had been already in the Reich so that the amount is increased to 130,000.
The Governor General has the opinion, that the 480,000 prisoners of war should also be included in the sum of one million. On account of the railroad and the highway conditions, it is not at present possible to do anything by force, also there were not sufficient police forces there at disposal, to carry such measures out. If any force were exercised, then it would affect workers who were employed as specialized workers for the plants.
Stabsleiter Reichert asks--if the occasion arises--that superior offices should make the decision in this question.
Cracow
Wednesday, March 6th 1940
10:00 Conference with Ministerial-Director Dr. Buehler. 10:50 Conference with bank-director Dr. Paerscl. 11:00 Conference with Reichshauptamtsleiter Dr. Frauendorfer.
Reichshauptamtsleiter Dr. Frauendorfer reports, that 73,000 Polish workers have been sent now into the Reich. At present 4,000 men are transferred daily. Further, Dr. Frauendorfer reports on the organization in the plants. It is as simple as possible. On Monday, he visited a few plants in Warsaw, and he could only say that they all were running excellently, this applies also to the machinery. Kitchens were also installed everywhere now and furthermore, the necessary quantities of soap had been provided. 5,000 sets of underwear and linen, 32,000 Kg. flour, 4,000 Kg. of beef and of pork and other merchandise had been distributed. The Governor-General ordered that the exact figures should be published in the press. Now, as before, he thinks that the soup given out daily was one of the best solutions, for the problem of the welfare for the working men.
Reichshauptamtsleiter Dr. Frauendorfer remarks that this soup is being served daily now with one pound of bread.
The Governor-General will not out of basic considerations give his consent to the proposal that an introductory note should be added to the 2nd decree for the regulation of social insurance, but he thinks it better to point out in a suitable way, that the chief of the labor section has given an explanation about it to the press chief.
In this conference the question of the sending of Polish agricultural workers into the Reich was then discussed. Here, Dr. Frauendorfer points out that workmen from the Lublin area had never gone to the Reich before, from which naturally certain difficulties arise. Besides numerous letters from the agricultural workers to their families had already come from the Reich, in which the Polish agricultural workers expressed themselves very gratefully concerning their treatment in Germany. The Governor-General orders that some of these letters should be published in the press.
[Page 216]
15 March 1940
Conference with ambassador v. Wuehlisch.
18:30: Ambassador v. Wuehlisch reports that the preparations for the transport of the _Vert Stoss Altar_ to Nurnberg have been completed. The church really looked better, due to the space gained by the removal of the altar. Ambassador v. Wuehlisch reported furthermore, that the former ambassador Wysoski had asked again for an audience with the Governor-General. The Ambassador v. Ruemelin had been asked to make a request that he be taken into the service of the Government-General.
[Page 216, last 12 lines.]
The question of the Polish relief committee: the Security service wrote to Mr. Arlt, and pointed out, that the head of this organization Count Radziwill, participated in Silesian revolt, that he supported Korfanty and that he also was supposed to have disloyal remarks about the Reich. The ambassador v. Wuehlisch asked Arlt, to proceed very carefully in this matter, before expelling Count Radziwill from the relief committee because such a procedure might have disagreeable consequences.
Under any circumstances, the consent of the Governor-General would be necessary for this.
The so-called Polish Government in anger has completed a “White Book” which deals with the arch-diocese of Posen and Suesen. The Governor General said that he discussed this question with the Papal Nuncio in Berlin. He gathered from this conversation that a great deal was said about the treatment of the churches and apparently it was attempted to push many things off into the government general, for which it was not at all responsible.
Ambassador v. Wuehlisch thinks it worth while that those and similar questions be discussed in Berlin. Such negotiations would have to be handled through the foreign office.
The Governor General said that he had long conferences with the Ministry of Finance and with the representatives of the Reich Food Ministry. It was requested there very urgently, that the Polish agricultural workers be sent in greater quantities to the Reich. In Berlin he explained that if he were asked to do so, he could naturally exercise some compulsion in perhaps such a way, that he might have the police surround a village and bring out the men and women in question by force, and then send them to Germany. But besides these police measures one also could proceed by withholding unemployment relief for the workers in question. Ambassador v. Wuehlisch discussed then certain violations of the border which occurred at the Soviet frontier. By request of the Reich Minister of Finance and by request of the Armed Forces High Command representation had been made in Moscow evidently for the reason that the Soviet border guards always employed their firearms immediately. It was suggested that such incidents be straightened out right away on the spot.
The deputy foreign commissar Potemkin suggested that liaison officers should be appointed by both sides for this purpose. The liaison staff Russia should serve as central office.
The Governor General does not consider this method practicable and he feels that here also the Government General should be unhindered, he requested that the ambassador v. Wuehlisch confer on this question with the Secretary of state Dr. v. Wuehlisch. This question did not only concern the Wehrmacht but also for example the customs administration, for this reason representatives of the Ministry of Finance must also cooperate in this matter.
Ambassador v. Wuehlisch draws attention to the fact that the customs officials are subordinated to the Wehrmacht.
The Governor General points out, that a superior office would not make any decision. In this matter the decision would be up to him. For the time being one must try to reach the goal by employing different means. For instance letters might be published, that were sent from the Reich, written by Polish workers to their families. If the occasion arises, such compulsory decree should not be announced publicly.
Reichshauptamtsleiter Dr. Frauendorfer confirms, on the basis of his experiences, that in many cases there was no possibility of employing recruiters from the Reich. On account of the snowfall, the passenger cars could not be used, and by using field sleighs, the recruiters could have travelled not more than 60 km. daily. Also, the Warsaw district was never really an emigration-area for Polish agricultural workers.
It has to be observed, that unfortunately the agricultural workers have medical certificates or statements made out by the words, which purport to say that they are not fit for service. Other workers took refuge into the woods. Often complaints were expressed, that the words did not support the action sufficiently, and cases have been observed, where official labor measures, had been intentionally violated. Besides, the activity of the recruiter can not be without danger; just some time ago, one of these German officers was fired upon. Also the fact should be noted, that of 800 workers, which were already assigned, only 69 reported to the station.
All that could be traced back to the fact that the rural population is affected by a psychosis of anxiety, without mentioning the fact that the Poles might have organized themselves well in the meantime.
The Governor General is not at all disinclined to take the most extreme measures. But then, the authority of the Reich would have to be fully utilized, but as long as there is snow on the ground, any change in this situation can not be contemplated. * * *
[Page 198, lines 15-22]
12 March 1940
Governor General Dr. Frank:
In view of the propaganda in the U.S.A. any use of force should if possible be avoided, but a light pressure could be exerted by stopping the payment of unemployment relief, for those categories which are concerned at all, at any rate agriculture should not send back young, strong workers, just because they were unskilled.
Reichsobmann Behrendt: The Agriculture needs skilled as well as unskilled workers. One unskilled worker could be employed for each two skilled workers.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-C-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1940.
Vol. IV, October-December
[Page 943, 4th-6th lines]
10/7/40
The Governor-General then addresses the assembly with the following words:
My dear Comrades!
* * * * * * *
[Page 946, lines 1-3, 21-30]
10/7/40
* * * There are so few of us here that no one can actually really conceal himself. Everybody has to fear that the spotlight will now and then rest on him * * *
* * * It is clear that education will perhaps still be necessary here and there; furthermore, it is clear that this open-minded comradeship, this common spirit of close contact finds its counter-part in the unstinted observation of authority in inner office relations. We cannot permit the offices to become 5 o’clock tea rooms. But, of course, our position as Germans here must be such that the lowest of us is still far above the highest Pole in this room * * *
[Page 1158, 2nd par. to p. 1159 4th line]
* * * And another thing was told me by the Fuehrer in all seriousness, a few days ago: that the old Japanese proverb:--after the war tighten your helmet strap--should retain its validity. Comrades, never again shall we be a weak Reich. The Armed Forces will represent the crown of community education. Just as the NSDAP is the crown of social, political and ideological leadership, so the Armed Forces will be the essence of military training, of the proud and immaculate bearing of our people. And you can say: you took part in it as soldiers. I am very happy about this hour of the Armed Forces, for it joins us all together. Some of you left your mothers, your parents at home, others their wives, their brides, their brothers, their children. In all these weeks, they will be thinking of you, saying to themselves: my God, there he sits in Poland where there are so many lice and Jews, perhaps he is hungry and cold, perhaps he is afraid to write. It would not be a bad idea then to send our dear ones back home a picture, and tell them: well now, there are not so many lice and Jews any more, and conditions here in the Government General have changed and improved somewhat already. Of course, I could not eliminate all lice and Jews in only one year’s time (public amused). But in the course of time, and above all, if you help me, this end will be attained. After all, it is not necessary for us to accomplish everything within a year and right away, for what would otherwise be left for those who follow us to do?
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-D-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1941 Oct-Dec.
CABINET SESSION
Tuesday 16 December 1941 in the Government Building at Krakow
Speech of the Governor General Closing the Session
[Page 76, line 10 to page 77 line 33]
As far as the Jews are concerned, I want to tell you quite frankly, that they must be done away with in one way or another. The Fuehrer said once: should united Jewry again succeed in provoking a world-war, the blood of not only the nations, which have been forced into the war by them, will be shed, but the Jew will have found his end in Europe. I know, that many of the measures carried out against the Jews in the Reich, at present, are being criticized. It is being tried intentionally, as is obvious from the reports on the morale, to talk about cruelty, harshness, etc. Before I continue, I want to beg you to agree with me on the following formula: We will principally have pity on the German people only, and nobody else in the whole world. The others, too had no pity on us. As an old National-Socialist, I must say: This war would only be a partial success, if the whole lot of Jewry would survive it, while we would have shed our best blood in order to save Europe. My attitude towards the Jews will, therefore, be based only on the expectation that they must disappear. They must be done away with. I have entered negotiations to have them deported to the East. A great discussion concerning that question will take place in Berlin in January, to which I am going to delegate the State-Secretary Dr. Buehler. That discussion is to take place in the Reich-Security Main-Office with SS-Lt. General Heydrich. A great Jewish migration will begin, in any case.
But what should be done with the Jews? Do you think they will be settled down in the “Ostland”, in villages [Siedlungdoerfer]? This is what we were told in Berlin: Why all this bother? We can do nothing with them either in the “Ostland” nor in the “Reichkommissariat”. So, liquidate them yourself.
Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourself of all feeling of pity. We must annihilate the Jews, wherever we find them and wherever it is possible, in order to maintain there the structure of the Reich as a whole. This will, naturally, be achieved by other methods, than those pointed out by Bureau Chief Dr. Hummel. Nor can the judges of the Special Courts be made responsible for it, because of the limitations of the frame work of the legal procedure. Such outdated views cannot be applied to such gigantic and unique events. We must find at any rate, a way which leads to the goal, and my thoughts are working in that direction.
The Jews represent for us also extraordinarily malignant gluttons. We have now approximately 2,500,000 of them in the general government, perhaps with the Jewish mixtures and everything that goes with it, 3,500,000 Jews. We cannot shoot or poison those 3,500,000 Jews, but we shall nevertheless be able to take measures, which will lead, somehow, to their annihilation, and this in connection with the gigantic measures to be determined in discussions from the Reich. The general government must become free of Jews, the same as the Reich. Where and how this is to be achieved is a matter for the offices which we must appoint and create here. Their activities will be brought to your attention in due course.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-E-PS
FRANK DIARY, Conference Volume,
Cabinet session in Cracow on 24 August 1942
Cabinet session in the Great Conference Room of the Government Building in Cracow
Monday, 24 August 1942
Subject: A new Plan for seizure and for food [Ernaehrung] of the General Gouvernement
written in 3 Copies:
1. Office of the Governor General 2. State Secretary Dr. Boepple 3. District Court Judge [Oberlandesgerichtsrat] Dr. Weh
_List of those present at the session of 24 August 1942_
The Governor General State Secretary Krueger State Secretary Dr. Boepple General Becker Schoengarth Kobusch Dr. Wendler Dr. Siebert Dr. Radtke Plodeck Tetzner Naumann Dr. Eissfeldt Dr. Gschliesser Ohlenbusch Watzke Bauder Gerteis Dr. Breithaupt Dr. Paersch Dr. Weh Dr. Schulte-Wissermann Dr. Wohlrab Neumann Dr. Behr Bette Rauber Eden Neumann Dr. Zeisner Winkler Grafmann Gareis Dr. Odenthal Pietschmann Krahmer Schubert Colonel Fischer Reitz Major Dr. Herrmann Capt. Behringer Verwaltungsrat Korff Von Dazur Vogel Dr. Ness Topf Blauer
Beginning of the Session at 4 p.m.
The _Governor General_ opens the meeting with the following words:
Gentlemen,
I have called you together today with special speed and emphasis in order to acquaint you with a measure which is unusually important and decisive for all the work in the General Government in the year to come. What I tell you, I tell you in strictest confidence. I call your attention to the fact that every word which leaks out of this meeting, unofficially, might mean a tremendous damage to our country.
A few days ago a meeting with the Reich Marshal took place in Berlin. The Reich Marshal had the reports concerning the almost catastrophic developments in the _food situation in Germany_. According to all confidential reports of the police, as well as of the Gauleiter, which, as he expressed himself, also confirmed by his own experiences, the situation is as follows: unless a considerable improvement in the food situation in Germany can be achieved in a short time, serious consequences as to the health of the people, especially the German working people, would result. In hundreds of thousands of sick cases, one can already see the tragic consequences not only of this food shortage but also a deterioration of foodstuffs which endangers health. That is especially true of the quality of bread which has been distributed to the German people within the last few weeks: this leads to the most serious health disorders.
A serious situation, therefore, has arisen since Germany not only has to feed herself but also a large proportion of other European people. We must also take care that in the months to come and during the coming winter sufficient food will be distributed to the German people that they will be able to withstand the great nervous strain of the coming months in every case.
Under these circumstances you probably will not be surprised that the saying now has become true: Before the German people are to experience starvation, the occupied territories and their people shall be exposed to starvation. In this movement, therefore, we here in the General Government must also have the iron determination to help the Great German people, our fatherland.
Germany had almost sufficient rye to tide them over until the new harvest, but not sufficient wheat. In large parts of Germany, therefore, no more wheat can be distributed in the near future. We therefore must aid the fatherland until the beginning of the new wheat harvest.
The General Government therefore must do the following: The General Government has taken on the obligation to send 500,000 tons bread grains to the fatherland in addition to the foodstuffs already being delivered for the relief of Germany or consumed here by troops of the armed forces, Police or SS. If you compare this with our contributions of last year you can see that this means a six-fold increase over that of last year’s contribution of the General Government.
The new demand will be fulfilled exclusively at _the expense of the foreign population_. It must be done cold-bloodedly and without pity; for this contribution of the General Government is still more important this year since the occupied Eastern territories--Ukraine and Ostland--will not yet be able to make an important contribution toward the relief of Germany’s food problem. Even if a million tons of bread grains could be delivered from Ostland and Ukraine, it would in the face of Germany’s food situation be only a “drop in the bucket”.
For this reason I wanted to acquaint you, Gentlemen, here in this governmental session with the decisions which I have made known today to Party member Naumann. You will essentially find an additional _increase_ of the _quota_ of foodstuffs to be shipped to Germany and _new regulations for the feeding of the population_; especially of the Jews and of the Polish population, whereby, if possible, the provisioning of the working people, especially of those working for German interests, shall be maintained.
The step which we are taking together today, is one of the most decisive ones, because it will surely have certain consequences as to the internal order of this country in January or February of next year. These consequences have to be accepted, because before the German people be starved, others, as a matter of course, must undergo the same.
I first of all give the word to Party member Naumann, who will give you a general report about this problem.
_Naumann_, President of the Main Department for Food and Agriculture:
Governor General, Gentlemen!
At the beginning of July during the last session of the government, I acquainted you with the _food budget_ of the year 42/43. I hoped that this budget would be adequate. The Governor General, in order to increase the high goal that was originally set in the General Government, had decreed martial law for the harvest time [Ernteausnahmezustand] in order to drain even the last possibilities for the execution of the seizure (of the harvest).
Previously we concluded conferences with the Reich Food Ministry. We had included the shipments which, according to the then prevailing interpretation, were to be delivered by the General Government, in the food budget, and could hope to reach the harvest of 1943 without friction. Meanwhile a message from State Secretary Backe as well as a message from Reich Marshal Goering has arrived, and the Governor General has ordered that all requirements of the Reich are from now on to be fulfilled under all circumstances.
Out of this situation the following needs arise:
_1. Grain_
After exact considerations the grain quota is raised 25%, that is, from 960,000 tons to 1.2 million tons. The dry measure [Metze] of _self-feeders_, which was 30 kg per head per year, will be raised to 50 kg per head per year. This means: Self-feeder--there total 8.8 million persons in the General Government who heretofore could eat two bushels and 20 kg of bread grain per year--will in the future eat two bushels per year. By this means it will be possible to cause an increase in the dry measure from 160,000 tons to 264,000 tons. This is the burden which we shall place upon and must place upon Polish and Ukrainian agriculture.
On the other hand, I gave an estimated total requirement of 670,000 tons of _bread grain_ for the General Government in the food budget of early July. The requirements of the Reich make it necessary that exceptional savings be carried out in the interest of absolute fulfillment of Reich deliveries.
The feeding of a _Jewish population_, estimated heretofore at 1.5 million, drops off to an estimated total of 300,000 Jews, who still work for German interests as craftsmen or otherwise. For these the Jewish rations, including certain special allotments which have proved necessary for the maintenance of working capacity, will be retained. The other Jews, a total of 1.2 million, will no longer be provided with foodstuffs.
_Non-German normal consumers_ will receive, from 1 January 1943 to 1 March 1943, instead of 4.2 kg bread per month, 2.8 kg; from 1 March 1943 to 30 July 1943 the total bread ration for these non-German normal consumers will be cancelled.
Those _entitled to be supplied_ [Versorgungsberechtigten] are composed as follows. We estimate that 3 million persons come into consideration as war workers, the A- and B-card holders and their kin, and that somewhat more than 3 million persons are non-German normal consumers, who do not work directly or indirectly in the interests of Germany. The war workers, A- and B-card holders and their families, about 3 million persons, will however continue to be supplied, up to the harvest of 1943, at the prevailing rates.
Furthermore, savings will be brought about in the sphere of _seed grain_ in such a way that seed grain will be issued for general seed grain needs only when the farm [Betrieb] delivers for it, in excess of its quota, an equal amount of food grain.
_Rations of oats for feed_ to those who own horses in their professions must be reduced to a great extent. Unfortunately a certain portion of oats will also fall away which heretofore was placed at the disposal of the main forestry department for the horses with which the urgent transport of wood was carried out. Extensive restrictions will be carried out in _Manufacturing and finishing plants_, which will take effect in the food sphere. Also special allotments, as we carried them out last year during the winter months in Warsaw, Radom, Cracow, etc. cannot be carried out this winter. By this measure a saving of 115,000 tons of bread grain will be attained.
When the above mentioned increased quota will be brought in 100%, it will be possible to maintain a new food balance in the grain sector. Every amount which is missing from a 100% achievement of the total quota takes the form of a further reduction, first of all for the 3 million non-German normal consumers who do not work in the interest of Germany. In case the seizure and collection of the dry measure should even then create certain difficulties, this will have an effect on the family members of war workers working in the interests of Germany and on A- and B-card holders. The Main Department for Food and Agriculture will try, however, not to take these last measures if the acquisition to some extent brings about the result we all hope from it.
_2. Potatoes_
Also here the changed _potato quota_ must be raised 25 percent, that is, from 1.2 million to 1.5 million tons. It is planned that war workers and A- and B-card holders will again receive, as during last year, 3.5 double-bushels of potatoes which they can use for themselves and the members of their families. For Germans 2 double-bushels per head per year are planned, for the 7 main cities of the General Government, 1 double-bushel per person. Before supplying the main cities with potatoes, the requirements and quotas of factory potatoes must be primarily secured. Only then, when this securing has been made, will potatoes be issued to the main city population at the rate of a double-bushel per head. This precautionary measure has the purpose above all of seeing to it that enough alcohol can be produced, first of all to maintain equal quality amounts [Praemienmengen] and secondly to have enough alcohol available for other important purposes.
_3. Meat_
Also in the domain of meat a 25% _quota increase_ takes place, so that the new Reich contributions can be fulfilled. The now almost completely accomplished registry of cattle aids the seizure. We hope to be able to achieve, with what are considerable encroachments in themselves, that the 400 grams per month for non-German normal consumers can be issued. Nevertheless the situation can arise that at certain times here and there the 400 grams per month may for once not be issued, but less must be given, since here also the deliveries to the armed forces and the Reich contributions have priority.
These drastic measures can only succeed when the following prerequisites can be created and/or maintained. Every _ration increase_ for war workers, A- and B-card holders or members of their families must be refused. Just a short time ago the armament inspection requested from me an increase of rations. Furthermore requests have come in to raise the insufficient rations of the Drohobycz oil region. In the face of the serious food situation in which the General Government finds itself, ration quota increases for these groups of workers, and the members of their families as well, cannot be carried out.
New _ration applicants_ can under no circumstances be accepted any more. This means: New industries, new construction projects or major enterprises cannot be satisfied with supplementary, insofar as a need is created by new masses of workers, unless the Reich makes available and allows an amount to be deflected which corresponds to the requirements of the additional masses of workers, from those supplies which we have to deliver to the Reich.
The _Bonus amounts_ approved by the Main Department of Economies and Monopoly must be delivered without fail. Beyond that new bonus goods must be made available due to the raising of quotas of the main Department of Food and Agriculture. If it is not possible to secure cigarettes, liquor, textiles, and earlier bonus goods, I request that _salt_ be also fully counted into the bonus drive now, this means that, starting immediately, the total salt ration is to be provided in the cities through food cards and on farms through bonus certificates.
Proposed _resettlement projects_, such as are planned, according to reports from the Department Leaders of Lemberg and Lublin, must in my opinion be postponed, for the sake of a frictionless procurement and effecting of the harvest for the coming year.
The _securing of all depots and food processing plants_ as well as their transport facilities must be assured, as otherwise irreplaceable losses result which mean a further burdening of the food budget. I have had maps made of all districts [Kreise] on which the depots have all been drawn in. I request that the necessary measures be taken on the part of the police that these depots, which are in the eyes of the hungering masses above all at times when the restrictions are carried out, should be strictly guarded, so that the meager supplies which we have until the new harvest should not be destroyed by sabotage or arson.
The still outstanding _price adjustment_ of various products in the district of Galicia to the price level of the old General Government must be carried out at once. Furthermore the strong inroads upon the substance of farm establishments caused by the raising of quotas undoubtedly involves damage which will have unfavorable results on the procurement of the 1943 harvest.
Finally it must be determined at the beginning of November whether the _martial law for the harvest period_, which has been proclaimed up to 30 November, must be extended to 30 December. Martial law for the harvest period has been extended to all products which are to be reaped.
The planned quota increase and reduction of ration quantities must be kept secret under all circumstances and may be published only at that time which the Main Department for Food and Agriculture considers proper. Should the reduction of ration quantities and the increase of quotas become known earlier, extremely noticeable disturbances in the seizure would take place. The mass of the Polish population would then go to the land and would become a supplementary competitor of our requisitioning agencies. Should the quota increase become known prematurely, the winter sowing and work of procurement would suffer noticeable damage. We have therefore decided first to have the winter planting in the ground and then to announce the quota increase.
In the realm of food the General Government has lived through serious and difficult times during the last 3 years. However, I believe that the coming year 1942-43 will be the hardest in the food sector. My co-workers and I will do everything to master the situation under the given circumstances.
The _Governor General_.
Gentlemen! You have heard the very serious presentation of President Neumann. You will also derive therefrom that every debate about the figures or measures announced by him would be completely superfluous and actually entirely harmful to the matter. For every debate would give rise to the illusion that perhaps some other method would be possible.
I must point out that some sectors of the administration will feel this very keenly. In the first place the _police_ will feel this, for it will have to deal, if I may say so, with an increased activity of the black market and a neglect of food customs. I will gladly give the police extraordinary powers so that they can overcome these difficulties.
The _economy_ will feel it. The decrease of work rendered will become felt in all sectors, branches and regions. I also assume that our _transport system_ will feel it too. In view of the worsening living conditions an extraordinary hardship will set in for railroad workers and other categories; as the previous quantities of food were already not enough. The monopolies will feel it through a decrease of their incomes, as the amounts of potatoes available for the production of vodka will be less.
The _Germans_ in this area shall not feel it. We wish in spite of this new plan to see to it that the supplies for Germans will be maintained. Also the Wehrmacht and other encamped units in this area shall not feel it. We hope that it will be possible for us to keep up the whole quotas here.
To help in this necessity there is a corresponding measure, namely that the supervision of persons travelling from the General Government to the Reich, above all of military personnel, in order to see whether they are _taking food out_ of the General Government, should be suspended. This means that in addition to all that which we must now extract from the land economically, there must take place a complete removal of control over that which is dragged out of the land by thousands upon thousands--doubtless illegally and against our government measures.
From this you realize how seriously the situation will develop. In this connection do not forget, however, that the food situation in the Reich is less favorable. In whatever difficulties you observe some place here, in the form of the sicknesses of your workers, the breakdown of your associations, etc., you must always think of the fact that it is still much better when a Pole breaks down than that a German succumb. That we sentence 1.2 million Jews to die of hunger should be noted only marginally. It is a matter, of course, that should the Jews not starve to death it would, we hope, result in a speeding up of anti-Jewish measures. [Page 15.]
However, that on the other hand it is expected of all that they will show an understanding of these government measures is also to be noted only marginally. The original demand of the Reich from the General Government amounted to 1 million tons. However it was fortunately possible to reduce this demand by half.
When you consider that a land like the Protectorate with a size of barely 50,000 square kilometers and a large industrial population was required to deliver over 200,000 tons of bread grain, that countries like France and Holland are forced to deliver up to the last remnant to the Reich, then you can estimate how the food situation of the Reich is regarded.
I did not wish to fail to inform you of this decree, which I now put into effect.
To a question by president _Gerteis_, the _Governor General_ explained that according to the coming new regulation the maintenance of members of the Eastern Railway [Ostbahn] will come under the categories of war workers, A- and B-card holders.
The _Governor General_ then requested the representatives of the Wehrmacht, in view of the food situation in the General Government, to help the government more intensively to prevent a _buying up of foodstuffs_ for the other eastern territories. He directed the same request to State Secretary Krueger for the SS and police. It would be out of the question entirely that purchasers from some other regions should be active in the General Government. Army and police should take care, in their own representing a supply--or purchasing territory for other regions or troop units, unless it were within the compass of the quota obligations of the General Government of the Reich.
Ministerialrat _Reis_ indicated that the Oberquartiermeister would introduce a command to that effect with the Generalquartiermeister.
The _Governor General_ then declared that it was left to a coming conference of the authoritative factors of the government of the General Government to take measures against the results of the present decision. The results would, to be sure, first take effect at the beginning of next year, since the old rations were valid until the end of this year.
In this connection the _Governor General_ declares the new decree in force and empowers Main Departmental President [Hauptabteilungspraesident] Naumann, in line with his proposal, to lead the nutritional policy of the General Government.
State Secretary _Dr. Boepple_ points out that by reason of the attendance list the names of all who took part in the meeting were known. Should rumors about the measures decided on today eventually seep through to the public, he would, as representative of the government, have them traced to their source, and bring the responsible parties to account.
End of the meeting: 1640 hrs
* * * * * * *
Not unimportant manpower has been taken from us in form of our old proven Jewish communities. It is clear that the working program is made difficult when in the middle of this program, during the war, the order for complete annihilation of the Jews is given. The responsibility for this cannot be placed upon the government of the General Government. The directive for the annihilation of the Jews comes from higher quarters. We have to be content with the consequences and can only report that the Jew has caused tremendous difficulties with regard to the work-program. I was able to prove, the other day, to Staatssekretaer Ganzenmueller, who was complaining that a big building project in the General Government came to a halt, that this would not have happened if the many thousands of Jews working at it had not been deported. Now the order is given that the Jews will have to be removed from the armament projects. I hope that this order, if not already cancelled, will soon be cancelled, for then the situation will be still worse.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-F-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1944.
Loose Leaf Volume covering period from 1 January 1944 to 28 February 1944--speech delivered by Hans Frank in Berlin 25 January 1944 before the Representatives of the German Press
[Page 5]
At the present time we still have in the General Government perhaps 100,000 Jews.
* * * * * * *
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-G-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1939, from 25 October to 15 December
[Pages 6-7]
1230 hours. The governor general received Captain Benninghoff. The latter reported about the extensive _reconstruction works_ on the _bridges blown up_ by the Poles and pointed out that _special engineer troops_ are occupied on rebuilding these bridges (at the present time still 25 units).
The governor general received the president of the police of Lodsch, SS-Lieut. General Beckerle.
Questions pertaining to the commitment of _Police_ and _civil service employees_ were discussed. Lieutenant General Beckerle pointed out that the former _fear psychology_ present among the people _had passed_ and that there were more _Jews_ in Lodsch than before. This is one of the reasons for the continued deterioration of the food situation.
The Governor General received the district chief in Warsaw [Reichshauptamtsleiter] Dr. Fischer.
He discussed with him current questions, especially on the subject of _finance_ and _monopoly_. Dr. Fischer was instructed to clear up the question of mayoralty in Warsaw, and to determine what amounts of _copper_ and _scrap metal_ are available. Dr. Fischer promises to secure 300 _fur coats_ for the main office. The Governor General requested information concerning the _diplomatic representation_, who were still _in Warsaw_, and concerning the shooting of Jews and other matters. Dr. Fischer reported also that there is a _cable connection_ from Warsaw to _Krakau_ and moreover there is a large cable supply at hand. Dr. Fischer was requested to set up _border signs_ at the border of the general government * * *
[Page 44].
* * * By spring 1,000,000 Poles and Jews from East and West Posen, Danzig, Poland and Upper Silesia must be received by the general government. The resettlement of the ethnic Germans and the taking on of Poles and Jews (10,000 daily) must be accomplished according to plan. Especially urgent is the instituting of _forced labor for the Jews_. The Jewish population if possible must be extracted from the Jewish cities and be put to _work on roads_. The critical questions of housing and feeding are still to be cleared up * * *
[Page 19]. 11:00 o’clock.
* * * The Governor General received SS Lieutenant General Krueger, General Becker, SS Brigadier General Streckenbach, and Lieutenant Colonel Gudewill.
Brigadier General Streckenbach reported:
The Reichsfuehrer SS wishes that all _Jews_ be evacuated from the newly gained Reich territories. Up to February approximately 1,000,000 people are to be brought in this way in to the general government. The families of good racial extraction present in the occupied Polish territory (approximately 4,000,000 people) should be transferred into the Reich and individually housed and thereby be uprooted as a people. The deadline provided for the migration transport is the 15th of November. The Governor General points out that better and greater transport ways be made ready for both the West-East as well as the East-West movements. SS Lieutenant General Krueger explained that, starting 15 November, the entire railroad net of the general government will be at the disposal of the resettlement transports. The general governor gave SS Lieutenant General Krueger the assignments to organize these refugee transports * * *
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-H-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1941, Vol. II, 19 April.
[Page 313]
8 PM Demonstration of the department of operations (Arbeitsbereich) “Generalgouvernement” of the NSDAP in the _Uraniol_ in Cracow.
After a short welcome speech by the Chief Department leader (Oberbereichsleiter) _Schalk_, the _Governor General_ (_Generalgouverneur_), Reichsleiter _Dr. Frank_ begins to deliver the following address:
* * * * * * *
[Pages 316-317]
We are absolutely optimistic (Lively applause). I have the impression that the German Reich will always become greater and will keep growing ever more in the final fight against England. The Greater German Reich is by far not the greatest German Reich. The task we have here must move us to think always in terms of the greatest connections. Let us be on guard not to let enter here the petty currents and tendencies which are not yet completely overcome at times here and there in the Reich, in spite of all consciousness of unity. It would be senseless, if one would start to feel superior and arrogantly assume to be higher than the other one, in our Government General. There the value of the German as such is the yardstick. And here the NSDAP, the department of operations [Arbeitsbereich] in the Government General can set up a model. The revolution of National Socialism can gain the original power of its fighting energy again and again only from territories like the one which we organize here. I have to watch myself like a hawk that the finger of egoism do not get hold of me in a more or less hidden form. I have to watch like a hunter that those individual cases of departmental competence craze and self-styled glory do not develop here which we often felt were the most vicious evil in the Reich. (lively applause)
It is therefore clear that I sit in my castle like an old rapacious knight and sometimes step out, in order to strike with my hammer all around the country. After all, it would be a nice state of affairs if I would not do that.
(public amused)
And, therefore, I believe it is always in order for us that we find the great line of direction remembering the personality of the Fuehrer, his own philosophy, and his conduct of life. We have all possibilities in the Government General, we have received full powers from the Fuehrer and can accomplish, by planning on a large scale, that has been assigned to us. Thanks to the heroic courage of our soldiers, this territory has become German, and the time will come when the valley of the Vistula, from its source to its mouth at the sea, will be as German as the valley of the Rhine.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-K-PS
FRANK DIARY, Department Heads Meetings, 1939-1940
_Protocol re the Conference of Department Heads_, 2 December 1939.
[Page 1, lines 14-25]
Dr. Frank: * * * That which is stated in the Reichsgesetzblatt is not applicable in the General Government, except when applied on the basis of the Fuehrer Decree of 12.10.1939. This means that the authority rests with the Chairman of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich and he will only use this authority with the consent of the Governor General. The final structure of the General Government is not yet known, even less does one know whether it will remain permanently as the General Government. Decisive in the administrative activities of the General Government is the will of the Fuehrer that this area shall be the first colonial territory of the German nation.
[Page 2, last 4 lines and page 3, lines 1-3]
Dr. Frank: * * * Principally it can be said regarding the administration of the General Government: This territory in its entirety is booty of the German Reich, and it thus cannot be permitted that this territory shall be exploited in its individual parts, but that the territory in its entirety shall be economically used, and its entire economic worth redound to the benefit of the German people.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-L-PS
FRANK DIARY, Department Heads Meetings 1939-1940 Conference of Department Heads, 19 January 1940
[Page 11, last line; page 12, lines 1-6 and 16-19]
Dr. Frank: * * * My relationship with the Poles is like the relationship between ant and plant louse. When I treat the Poles in a helpful way, so to speak tickle them in a friendly manner, then I do it in the expectation that their work performance redounds to my benefit. This is not a political but a purely tactical-technical problem * * * In cases where in spite of all these measures the performance does not increase, or where the slightest act gives me occasion to step in, I would not even hesitate to take the most draconic action.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-M-PS
FRANK DIARY, Department Head Meetings 1939-1940
Meeting of Department Heads in the Bergakademie, Friday 8 March 1940.
[Page 5, lines 25-26; page 6, lines 1-8]
Frank: One thing is certain. The authority of General Government as the representative of the Fuehrer and the will of the Reich in this territory is certainly strong, and I have always emphasized that I would not tolerate the misuse of this authority. I have allowed this to be known anew at every office in Berlin, especially after Herr Field Marshal Goering on 12.2.1940 from Karin Hall had forbidden all Administrative Offices of the Reich, including the Police and even the Wehrmacht, to interfere in administrative matters of the General Government * * *
[Page 7, lines 22-28; page 8, lines 1-5].
There is no authority here in General Government which is higher as to rank, influence, and authority than that of the Governor General. Even the Wehrmacht has no governmental or official functions of any kind in this connection; it has only security functions and general military duties--it has no political power whatsoever. The same applies here to the Police and SS. There is here no state within a state, but we are the representatives of the Fuehrer and of the Reich. In final conclusion, this applies also to the Party, which has here no far-reaching influence, except for the fact that very old members of the National Socialist Party and loyal veterans of the Fuehrer take care of the general matters * * *
[Page 13, lines 28-30; page 14, lines 1-8].
Wherever there is the least attempt by the Poles to start anything, an enormous campaign of destruction directed against the Poles will follow. Then I would not hesitate to set up a regime of terror with all its consequences. I have issued the order to place under arrest for three months several hundred members of such secret organizations, so that nothing can happen in the immediate future. The last word of the Fuehrer at my departure was: See to it that there is absolute peace over there, I cannot allow anything to disturb peace in the East. I will see to it.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-N-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1940, Second Volume, April to June
* * * * * * *
1245 Discussion with State Secretary _Dr. Buehler_, SS Lieutenant general _Krueger_ and Reichshauptamtsleiter _Dr. Frauendorfer_ in presence of Reich Minister _Dr. Seyss-Inquart_.
Subject of the discussion is _the sending of workers, particularly agricultural workers into the Reich_.
Reichshauptamtsleiter _Dr. Frauendorfer_ reports, that so far about 160,000 agricultural workers and about 50,000 industrial workers have been sent to the Reich, however, in total there should be 500,000. It is to be hoped that there would yet be enough voluntary enlistments.
The governor-general stated that the fact that all means in form of proclamations etc. did not bring success, leads to the conclusion that the Poles out of malevolence, and guided by the intention of harming Germany by not putting themselves at its disposal, refuse to enlist for working-duty. Therefore, he asks Dr. Frauendorfer if there are any other measures, not as yet employed, to win the Poles on a voluntary basis.
Reichshauptamtsleiter _Dr. Frauendorfer_ answered this question negatively.
The General Governor emphasized the fact that he now will be asked to take a definite attitude toward this question. Therefore the question will arise whether any form of _coercive measures_ should now be employed.
The question put by the general governor to SS lieutenant general Krueger: does he see possibilities of calling Polish workers by coercive means, is answered in the affirmative by SS lieutenant general _Krueger_.
So far as he knows another 300,000 Polish workers should be sent into the Reich, and it will be possible to fill this request once the working-duty decree has gone into effect.
Reichshauptamtsleiter _Dr. Frauendorfer_ suggests to begin by issuing _orders to report for certain age_ groups and to wait for the result of this measure. However, some difficulties will be encountered as it is not known where to send these orders to report. There might be the possibility of getting the cooperation of the Woids. It is important, however, that the workers of large cities be recruited and there the difficulties will naturally be particularly great.
The general governor is willing to agree to any practical measure, however, he wishes to be informed personally about the measures to be taken. One measure, which no doubt would be successful, would be the _discontinuance of unemployment compensation_ for unemployed workers and their _transfer to public welfare_. Therefore, he decrees that, beginning _1 May_, claim for unemployment compensation will cease to exist and only public welfare may be granted. For the time being only men are to report and above those men living in cities. There might be a possibility of combining the moving of the 120,000 Poles from the Warthe district with this measure.
Reich Minister _Dr. Seyss-Inquart_ mentions that not many of the Polish workers are left in the Warthe district who would be qualified to be sent to the Reich. All those who are fit for work are already being sent to the Reich. Those capable of assimilation are going to the Reich with their families anyway. Of those not capable of assimilation only useful men are being chosen.
The general governor closes the discussion by saying that guiding directions are now given. The officials involved must work out the details by themselves. Wherever the labor section does not succeed, the police must act.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-O-PS
FRANK DIARY, Department Heads Meetings 1939-1940
Warsaw, 19 December 1940
Present: Dr. Hans FRANK and others
[Page 12, last 7 lines, and page 13, first 2 lines].
Dr. Frank: * * * In this country the force of a determined leadership must rule. The Pole must feel here that we are not building him a legal state, but that for him there is only one duty, namely, to work and to behave himself. It is clear that this leads sometimes to difficulties, but you must in your own interest see, that all measures are ruthlessly carried out in order to become master of the situation. You can rely on me absolutely in this.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-P-PS
FRANK DIARY 1941--Part III
9th September 1941
[Page 830, par. 1]
Obermedizinalrat Dr. _Walbaum_ expresses his opinion of the _health condition_ of the Polish population. Investigations which were carried out by his department proved that the majority of Poles eat only about 600 calories, whereas the normal requirement for a human being is 2,200 calories. The Polish population was enfeebled to such an extent that it would fall an easy prey to _spotted fever_. The number of diseased Poles amounted today already to 40%. During the last week alone 1,000 new spotted fever cases have been officially recorded. That represented so far the maximum number. This health situation represented a serious danger for the Reich and for the soldiers who were coming into the Government General. A spreading of the pestilence into the Reich is absolutely feasible. The increase in tuberculosis, too, was causing anxiety. If the food rations were to be diminished again, an enormous increase of the number of illnesses could be predicted.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-Q-PS
FRANK DIARY, Government Meetings, Oct.-Dec., 1941
Meeting of the Government of General Government
Cracow, in the Government Building, 16 December 1941
[Page 35, lines 22-29]
Dr. Frank: Severe measures must and will be adopted against Jews leaving the ghettos. Death sentences pending against Jews for this reason must be executed as quickly as possible. This order according to which every Jew found outside the ghetto is to be executed, must be carried out without fail. * * *
[Page 66, lines 13-22].
Chief of Office in Warsaw, Dr. Hummel: * * * In Warsaw, in spite of the setting up of a third court chamber, we have been able to decree only 45 death sentences, only 8 of which have been carried out since in each individual case, the Pardon Commission [Gnadenkommission] in Cracow has to make the final decision. A further 600 sentences were demanded and are under consideration. An effective isolation of the ghetto is not possible by way of the Special Court Procedure. The procedure to be followed up to liquidation takes too much time. It is burdened with too many formalities and must be simplified.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-R-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1942, Part I
Conference of the District Standartenfuehrer of the NSDAP in Cracow, 18 March 1942.
[Pages 185-186]
Dr. Frank: As you know, I am a fanatic as to unity in administration * * * It is therefore clear that the Higher SS and Police Leader is subordinated to me, that the Police is a component of the Government, that the SS and Police Leader in the district is subordinated to the Governor, and that the Kreis chief has the authority of command over the gendarmerie in his Kreis. This the Reichsfuehrer SS has recognized; in the written agreement all these points are mentioned word for word and signed. It is also self-evident that we cannot set up a closed shop here which can be treated in the traditional manner of small states. It would, for instance, be ridiculous if we would build up here a security policy of our own against our Poles in the country, while knowing that the Polacks in West Prussia, in Posen, in Wartheland and in Silesia have one and the same movement of resistance. The Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police thus must be able to carry out with the aid of his agencies his police measures concerning the interests of the Reich as a whole. This, however, will be done in such a way that the measures to be adopted will first be submitted to me and carried out only when I give my consent. In the General Government, the Police is the armed forces. As a result of this, the Leader of this Police system will be called by me into the Government of the General Government; he is subordinate to me, or to my deputy, as a State Secretary for the Security System.
[Pages 195-196]
Incidentally, the struggle for the achievement of our aims will be pursued cold bloodedly. You see how the state agencies work. You see that we do not hesitate before anything, and stand whole dozens of people up against the wall. This is necessary because here simple consideration says that it cannot be our task at this period when the best German blood is being sacrificed to show regard for the blood of another race. For out of this one of the greatest dangers may arise. One already hears today in Germany that prisoners-of-war for instance with us in Bavaria or in Thuringia are administering large estates entirely independently, while all the men in a village fit for service are at the front. If this state of affairs continues then a gradual retrogression of Germanism will show itself. One should not underestimate this danger. Therefore, everything revealing itself as a Polish power of leadership must be destroyed again and again with ruthless energy. This does not have to be shouted abroad, it will happen silently.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-S-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1942, Part III
[Page 798, lines 26-28]
Mass Meeting of the NSDAP District Standartsfuehrung Galicia in Lemberg. 1 August 1942.
Dr. Frank: We have to understand that the purpose of this whole war is to expand the living space for our people in a natural manner.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-T-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1942, Part III
Meeting to discuss Special Problems of the District Lublin Cracow, 4 August 1942.
[Page 830, lines 23-32 and page 831, line 1]
State Secretary Krueger then continues, saying that the Reichsfuehrer’s next immediate plan until the end of the following year would be to settle the following German racial groups in the two districts (Zamosc and Lublin): 1000 peasant settlements (1 settlement per family of about 6) for Bosnian Germans; 1200 other kinds of settlements; 1000 settlements for Bessarabian Germans; 200 for Serbian Germans; 2000 for Leningrad Germans; 4000 for Baltic Germans; 500 for Wolhynia Germans and 200 settlements for Flemish, Danish and Dutch Germans, in all 10,000 settlements for 50,000 to 60,000 persons.
[Page 832, lines 15-23]
The Governor General directs that the resettlement plan is to be discussed cooperatively by the competent authorities and declares his willingness to approve the final plan by the end of September after satisfactory arrangements had been made concerning all the questions appertaining thereto (in particular the guaranteeing of peace and order), so that by the middle of November, as the most favorable time, the resettlement can begin.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-V-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1942, Part III
Official Meeting of Political Leaders of the NSDAP, Cracow, 5 August 1942
[Page 866, lines 14-23]
Dr. Frank: The situation in regard to Poland is unique insofar as on the one hand--I speak quite openly--we must expand Germanism in such a manner that the area of the General Government becomes pure German colonized land at some decades to come; and, on the other hand, under the present war conditions we have to allow foreign racial groups to perform here the work which must be carried out in the service of greater Germany * * *.
[Page 896, lines 24-28]
What a dirty people made up of Jews swaggered around here before 1939! And where are the Jews today? You scarcely see them. If you see them then they are working.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-W-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1942, Part III
Discussion with Gauleiter Sauckel, Cracow, 18 August 1942
[Page 918, lines 18-21]
Dr. Frank: I am pleased to report to you officially, Party Comrade Sauckel, that we have up to now supplied 800,000 workers for the Reich.
[Page 918, lines 28-34]
Dr. Frank: Recently, they have requested us to supply them with a further 140,000. I have pleasure in informing you officially that in accordance with our agreement of yesterday 60% of the newly requested workers will be supplied to the Reich by the end of October, and the balance of 40% by the end of the year.
[Page 920, lines 6-10]
Dr. Frank: Beyond the present figure of 140,000 you can, however, next year reckon upon a higher number of workers from the General Government. For we shall employ the Police to conscript them.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-X-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1942, Part III
Kressendorf, 28 August 1942
Present: Dr. Hans FRANK and others
[Page 968, 969, 983]
Dr. Frank: I have since 1920 continually dedicated my work to the NSDAP. * * * As National Socialist I was a participant in the events of November 1923 for which I received the Bluorden. After the resurrection of the movement in the year 1925, my real greater activity in the movement began, which made me, first gradually, later almost exclusively, the legal adviser of the Fuehrer and of the Reich leadership of the NSDAP. I thus was the representative of legal interests of the growing Third Reich in a legal ideological as well as practical legal way * * * The culmination of this work I see in the big Leipzig Army Trial in which I succeeded in having the Fuehrer admitted to the famous oath of legality, a circumstance which gave the Movement the legal grounds to expand generously. The Fuehrer indeed recognized this achievement and in 1926 made me leader of the National Socialist Lawyer’s League; in 1929 Reich Leader of the Reich Legal office of the NSDAP; in 1933 Bavarian Minister of Justice; in the same year Reich Commissioner of Justice; in 1934 President of the Academy of German Law founded by me; in December 1934 Reich Minister without portfolio; and in 1939 I was finally appointed to Governor General for the occupied Polish territories.
So I was, am and will remain the representative jurist of the struggle period of National Socialism * * *
I profess myself now, and always, as a National Socialist and a faithful follower of the Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, whom I have now served since 1919.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-Y-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1942 Vol. IV [Pages 1212-1213]
_Friday, 20 November 1942_:
Of the total 180,000 head of cattle to be delivered, 159,000 have been delivered to the Reich up to now.
360,000,000 eggs have been collected. 92,000,000 of those eggs were delivered for the Reich, and 85,000,000 are already in possession of the Reich; the remaining 7,000,000 eggs would be delivered within the next few days.
The other deliveries were also being executed without friction on the whole, and it was hoped that the necessary achievements, for example in honey, poultry and sugar, would be completely fulfilled.
The _Governor General_ expresses his satisfaction over those results and points out in that connection, that two thirds of the increase in the rations, carried out in the Reich were to be credited to the General Government, according to a statement of Ministerialdirektor Riche.
President _Naumann_ then takes a position to the question concerning the distribution of the remaining stocks of food in the General Government. It was stated in the decree of 25 August 1942 that a decrease in the rations should occur, respectively that rations should be denied completely to the Polish population not working for the German interest.
The following plan has now been taken into consideration:
Starting 1 February 1942 the food ration cards should not be issued to the individual Pole or Ukrainian by the Nutrition Office [Ernaehrungsamt], but to the establishments working for the German interest. 2,000,000 people would thus be eliminated from the non-German, normal ration-consuming contingent. Now, if those ration cards are only distributed by the factories, part of those people will naturally rush into the factories. Labor could then be either procured for Germany from them or they could be used for the most important work in the factories of the General Government. This would also constitute a help for the main department of labor to a certain extent, enabling it to get a better control over the available labor potential within the Polish population. In the case of the eventual exclusion of 2,000,000 Poles from the rationing system, the family members of the non-German, working population could be granted higher rations under circumstances, as for instance in the form of an increase of the bread ration to 1400 gr., the allotment of flour and larger meat rations.
The Plant-manager [Betriebsfuehrer] must, of course, realize the responsibility conferred upon him by the distribution of those food ration cards, and statements about the number of workers employed by the establishment must be absolutely correct.
Very harsh directives must, therefore, be issued in order to avoid eventual frauds; the plant-manager is personally responsible for the correctness of the number, which he must report every month.
It is planned furthermore to put a certain amount of foodstuff at the disposal of the _Polish Central Committee_, for the purpose of taking adequate care of old and infirm people, who cannot work any longer.
After having reached into the existing stocks, the main attention will have to be directed towards the greatest effort to _secure the harvest 1943_.
He has, therefore, already in September instructed his Department II to draft the necessary plans for it.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-Z-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1942, Part IV.
Official Meeting of Political Leaders of the NSDAP Area of Operation in the General Government.
Cracow. 14 Dec. 1942
[Page 1329, lines 11-15]
Dr. Frank: You know that we have delivered over 940,000 Polish workers to the Reich. Thereby the General Government absolutely and relatively stands at the head of all the European countries. This achievement is enormous: it has also been recognized as such by Gauleiter Sauckel.
[Page 1331, lines 5-7, 18-34]
Dr. Frank: I will endeavor to get out of the reservoir of this territory everything that is yet to be got out of it.
When you consider that it was possible for me to deliver to the Reich 600,000 tons of bread grain, and in addition 180,000 tons to the Armed Forces stationed here; further an abundance amounting to many thousands of tons of other commodities such as seed, fats, vegetables, besides the delivery to the Reich of 300 million eggs, etc--you can estimate the significance this territory possesses for the Reich. In order to make clear to you the significance of the consignment from the General Government of 600,000 tons of bread grain, you are referred to the fact that the General Government by this achievement alone covers the raising of the bread ration in the Greater German Reich by two-thirds during the present rationing period. This enormous achievement can rightfully be claimed by us.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-AA-PS
FRANK DIARY, Official Meetings, 1943
Warsaw, 25 January 1943
Present: Dr. Hans FRANK and others
[Page 16]
State Secretary Krueger: When we settled about the first 4,000 in Kreis Zamosc shortly before Christmas I had an opportunity to speak to these people.
* * * * * * *
(State Secretary Krueger) It is understandable that in resettling this area * * * we did not make friends of the Poles.
* * * * * * *
[Page 17]
(State Secretary Krueger) In colonizing this territory with racial Germans, we are forced to chase out the Poles.
* * * * * * *
(State Secretary Krueger) We are removing those who constitute a burden in this new colonization territory. Actually, they are the asocial and inferior elements. They are being deported, first brought to a concentration camp, and then sent as labor to the Reich. From a Polish propaganda standpoint this entire first action has had an unfavorable effect. For the Poles say: After the Jews have been destroyed then they will employ the same methods to get the Poles out of this territory and liquidate them just like the Jews.
* * * * * * *
[Page 19]
(State Secretary Krueger) As I have mentioned a great deal of unrest in Polish territory has resulted because of this resettlement.
* * * * * * *
Dr. Frank: We will discuss each individual case of resettlement in the future exactly in the same manner as in the case of Zamosc, so that you will, Mr. State Secretary, appear before me and render a report.
* * * * * * *
[Page 53]
Dr. Frank: Gentlemen, be assured that this composite structure of General Government, on which all who are gathered around this table have worked so splendidly, really has the power to endure over this period. The great task which is given us will grow more difficult. No one will help us; we are fully and entirely dependent on ourselves. The Fuehrer can only help us as a kind of administrative island or administrative pill-box. We must defend ourselves from all sides. To all criticism of methods which we have heard--you know my basic principle, I don’t need to say it in this circle--I would like to stress one thing: we must not be squeamish when we learn that a total of 17,000 people have been shot. These persons who were shot were nothing more than war victims. If we compare this number against the irreplaceable blood sacrifices which the German people uninterruptedly day by day and every hour are making, then it weighs as nothing in the balance. We are now duty bound to hold together. Each must bring with him understanding for the other, he must be convinced that he is doing his best. The main thing is that we do not allow any personal slackness to arise. We must remember that we, who are gathered together here, figure on Mr. Roosevelt’s list of war criminals. I have the honour of being Number One. We have, so to speak, become accomplices in the world historic sense. Just because of this we must hold together, and be in agreement with one another, and it would be ridiculous if we were to let ourselves get involved in any squabbles over methods.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-BB-PS
FRANK DIARY
Loose Leaf Bound File, 1 Jan. 1944--28 Feb. 1944.
Speech to Members of District Standortfuehrung to Political Leaders, Conference Room of District Standortfuehrung Cracow.
14 January 1944.
[Page 24, lines 10-14]
Frank: Once we have won the war, then, for all I care, mincemeat can be made of the Poles and the Ukrainians and all the others who run around here--it doesn’t matter what happens. * * *
# # # # #
Meeting of the Political Leaders of the NSDAP in General Government Area, on 15 January 1944 in NSDAP House Cracow.
[Page 13, lines 9-11]
Frank: I have not been hesitant in declaring that when a German is shot, up to 100 Poles shall be shot too * * *
# # # # #
Conference with Ambassador Counselor Dr. Schumburg, 8 February 1944, at the Castle, Cracow.
[Page 7, lines 19-28]
* * * Ambassador Counselor Dr. Schumburg then brought up the question of a possible amnesty of Poles who, because of trivial offences or trespass of the law, had been taken to the concentration camp Auschwitz and kept there for months.
The Governor General will take under consideration an amnesty, probably for 1 May of this year. Nevertheless, one must not lose sight of the fact that the German leadership of the General Government must not show any kind of weakness.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2233-CC-PS
FRANK DIARY, 1939, Page 99.
14 December 1939
The General Governor announces the following order of rank:
1. General Governor 2. Reich Minister Seyss-Inquart 3A. Ministerial Director Dr. Buehler 3B. The first SS and police leaders 4. The district chiefs 5. The department leaders of the Office of the General Governor 6. Office Chief and first police leaders of the District Chief
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2237-PS
SECRET
File on actions against the Jews in November 1938
1120
Action against the Jews on 9 and 10 November 1938
Legal Regulations
Reich Commissioner for the Re-Union of Austria with the German Reich
Vienna I, 18 November 1938 Parliament phone R, 50-5-60
To the Minister President, Generalfieldmarshal Goering _Berlin_
Sir!
The action in Vienna which took place during the night from 9 to 10 November was finished up completely by Tuesday.
The following is what happened substantially:
A decree of Dr. Goebbels, the Reichsminister for Propaganda, but above all his speech which he delivered in Berlin on the evening of 9 Oct 1938 as well as the contents of the speech he made in Munich were preludes for this so-called action. Though the hint was somehow indefinite, no different conclusion could be drawn since it said: “The fire-department has to be notified”. This order was not given in the first place to the district leaders, but the lower echelons [Gliederungen] were notified first so that the district-leader had no chance to possibly take counter-measures. Besides there existed a few orders which were farther reaching than the hint by Dr. Goebbels. Here in Vienna in many cases even the schools were closed in the morning so that the youth could participate--“according to the order” in the demonstrations. As always happens in such cases, the disorderly elements soon were leading and 40 different places were on fire. Around noontime the Major reported that the fire-department was no more in the position to control the situation. Simultaneously, the tumult against the Jewish stores began. That, one may say was the signal for the day and the night of the long fingers. How did the Party act in this situation, and especially the political leaders?
Fieldmarshal, I assure you, that after thorough investigation I am able to state today that the political leaders, and that is the district leaders and their Kreis-leaders, are the ones who have prevented chaos in Vienna. Enormous quantities of stolen merchandise, above all jewelry and valuables were safeguarded immediately by the Kreis-leaders, and at this moment an inventory is being made. Gold, silver and valuables will be brought to a safe in a bank today. There is no question of returning the goods which were taken away from the Jews because one does not know their original owners and also because the Jews make the most outrageous and untruthful statements. Therefore I am forced, my Fieldmarshal, to safeguard an extremely high quantity of valuables. The rest of the goods will be checked, and shall be sold to retail-shops for the purchase-value, since we have to expect a scarcity of goods on account of the protective measures for our territory which we had to take [Gebietsschutzmassnahmen].
Especially the enclosed orders will be necessary, for the restoration of normal conditions and of a legal status.
Fieldmarshal, please do examine the enclosures. In case you have no objections, I would like to enforce them immediately.
I may refer again to my request for support as for the introduction of the laws on organization and also for the execution of the Fuehrer-order.
Heil Hitler! sign.: [illegible]
# # # # #
Telephone-message of the Kripo D.D.
State Police Vienna, Reg. Rat Dr. Pifrader gives the following information via phone at 07,30:
Since the Kripo-agencies [Kripostellen] of the “POl.-Aemter” are constantly making inquiries at the state police (Stapo), they will have to be informed by phone of the following:
Influential and rich male Jews of German nationality of not too high an age and who are healthy have to be arrested.
The owners of the firearms are to be treated especially severely and a special notation has to be made about them.
The police agencies [Po. Amtsdienststellen] have to be informed (as top secret) that the property of all native Jews has to be razed entirely. Therefore the police is not supposed to come to the aid of Jews in such cases.
Fires may be started only where there is no danger that the fire may spread. Therefore, as a rule, not in narrowly built parts of the city.
On a whole about 3,000 Jews are to be arrested.
Dr. Bayer D.D. of the Kripo
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2239-PS
Secret State Police / State Police Precinct WEIMAR. Received March 12, 1945 [red stamp] FS.-NR. 2470 [blue stamp]
PRAG NR. 8005 2.3.45 1730--KIL-- To State Police DARMSTADT
Subject: Protective prisoner ALEX MUUL, born Nov. 1, 1899 in KRIUSCH, Russia Estonia.
Reference: Report of January 26, 1945--ROEM. 4-6 Kl. B--2181/44--SCHM.--
Protective custody until further notice
Examination date May 19, 1945
Reason: Anti-German remarks
As prisoner of grade--11--to be left in concentration camp Buchenwald.
RSHA-ROEM. 4A 6 Kl. B--Nr. M 34 591--
DR. KALTENBRUNNER
# # # # #
File of Orders for Commitment to Concentration Camps
All issued by RSHA, Amt IV A 6, Prague to Stapo Darmstadt signed by Dr. KALTENBRUNNER.
+--------------------+--------------+-----+-----------+----------- Date | Grounds | KL |Class| Name |Nationality ---------+--------------------+--------------+-----+-----------+----------- 6.10.44 |Vagrancy, suspected |Lachrenhausen | I | Vaculik |Czech | subversive | | | | | activity | | | | | | | | | 20.9.44 |Sex relations with |Ravensbrueck | -- | Hartmann |German | Pole | | | | | | | | | 30.9.44 |Refusal to work |Ravensbrueck | -- | Hilbert |German | | | | | 19.10.44 |Religious |Dachau | I | Bruecher |German | propaganda | | | | | | | | | 2.11.44 |Association with |Ravensbrueck | -- | Wetzel |German | Frenchmen and | | | | | suggesting breach | | | | | of labor contract | | | | | | | | | 22.11.44 |Sex relations with |Ravensbrueck | -- | Merz |German | PW’s. | | | | | | | | | 2.12.44 |Work sabotage and |Dachau | I | Meriadec |French PW | obstinacy | | | | | | | | | 2.12.44 |Work sabotage |Dachau | I | Selderyk |Dutch | | | | | 20.12.44 |Sexual intercourse |Ravensbrueck | -- | Dillmann |German | with Pole | | | | | | | | | 20.12.44 |Work sabotage |Ravensbrueck | -- | Francurchi|[French?] | | | | | Corsican | | | | | 27.12.44 |Vagrancy; escape |Dachau | I | Garco |Italian | from transport; | | | | | illegal use of RB. | | | | | | | | | 31.12.44 |Escape from |Dachau | I | Dellominut|Italian | transport, | | | | | vagrancy | | | | | | | | | 31.12.44 |Work sabotage and |Ravensbrueck | -- |Buettner |German | association with | | | | | foreigners | | | | | | | | | 12.1.45 |Molestation and |Hossenburg | II |Nomkin |Lithuanian | threatening of | | | | | German woman; | | | | | Communist | | | | | statements | | | | | | | | | 20.1.45 |Loafing on job |Bergen-Belsen | -- |Filber |German | repeatedly | | | | | | | | | 1.2.45 |Conduct inimical to |Hossenburg | II |Leclair |French | Germany; spreading | | | | | of enemy | | | | | propaganda; | | | | | suspected | | | | | membership in | | | | | resistance | | | | | movement | | | | | | | | | 9. 2.45 |Working against |Buchenwald | I |Etie |French | Reich | | | | | | | | | 9. 2.45 |Spreading of rumors |Buchenwald | I |Farichon |French | detrimental to | | | | | morale | | | | | | | | | 9. 2.45 |Spreading of rumors |KL transfer | |Farichon |French | detrimental to | later | | | | morale | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |“Aktion Gitter” |Dachau | I |Laux |German | | | | | 2. 3.45 |“Aktion Gitter” |Dachau | I |Appel |German | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Creating public |(KL transfer | |Rauxloh |German | nuisance | later) | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Black market |Buchenwald | I |Cau |French | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Breach of work |Buchenwald | I |Coudoning |French | contract | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Sex relations with |(Investigation| |Meyer |German | French PW. | cont’d) | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Black market |Flossenburg | II |Biache |French | operator | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Black marketing of |Dachau | I |Fruche |French | stolen goods | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |“Aktion Gitter” |Dachau | I |Rueffer |German | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Work sabotage; |Buchenwald | I |Revenranius|Greek | suspected activity | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Loafing on job; |(KL transfer | |Oberle |German | creating public | later) | | | | nuisance | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Statements against |Buchenwald | I |Agurini |Italian | Germany | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Statements against |Buchenwald | II |Muul |[USSR?] | Germany | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Loafing on job |Thurenanstadt | |Lang |Jew | | | | | 2. 3.45 |{“Aktion Gitter” |Ravensbrueck | |Maurer |Jew | Man and wife? | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |{“Aktion Gitter” |Dachau | I |Maurer |German | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Assault on foreman |Buchenwald | I |Toorn |Dutch | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Theft of foodstuffs;|Dachau | IA |Rouanet |French | resale at excess | | | | | prices; or | | | | | bartering | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Defeatist statements|(KL transfer | |Ezrenlaub |German | | later) | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Working against |Buchenwald | II |Bougoen | ? | Reich | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Attempted looting |Buchenwald | II |Borge | ? | after air raid | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Theft and escape |Buchenwald | I |Top |Dutch | from jail | | | | | | | | | 2. 3.45 |Work sabotage |(KL later) | |Eberhardt |German ---------+---------------------+--------------+-----+-----------+----------
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2241-PS
The employment of foreign labor forces in Germany.
Decree of the Plenipotentiary General for Manpower on the execution of the transportation of workers, in this case: damage to and soiling of passenger coaches of the German Railways and their fittings.
20 July 1942.
In his letter of 10 August 1940--21 Bauer 106--the Reich Minister of Transport laid down that the management of the German Railway be directed that the costs of the repair of damage caused to railway coaches and their fittings by the careless or malicious behaviour of foreign workers in special labour trains be charged to the guilty persons, and where these are not determined, to the authorities responsible for the transportation. After the German Railway claimed again last winter considerable damage to and extraordinary soiling of railway coaches, it proposed to the management of the German Railway the demand of the costs of the repair of the damage and soiling from the Manpower Authorities. In this respect I direct, that it must definitely be left to the German Railway to pull up the guilty transport users. The writing off of the costs on the budget of the Reich stocks [Reichstocks] can only be considered exceptionally in the event of special circumstances. All cases are particularly to be refused in which the workers used normal trains or in which the damage was caused by deficiencies in the special trains provided.
According to reports of transportation commanders [Transportleiters] presented to me, the special trains provided by the German Railway have frequently been in a really deficient condition. Numerous windowpanes have been missing in the coaches. Old French coaches without lavatories have been partly employed, so that the workers had to fit up an emptied compartment as a lavatory. In other cases the coaches were not heated in winter so that the lavatories quickly became unusable because the water system was frozen and the flushing apparatus was therefore without water.
In order to obtain reliable records of the condition of special trains at the time of provision, in agreement with the Reich Minister of Transport, I beg to direct the transportation commanders, together with a representative of the station of departure, to determine in writing before the departure of a special train the deficiencies existing in the interior fittings of the railway coaches. The records are to be given up after completion of the transport operation to the labour reception office which has to present them to the competent state labour office. The transportation commanders will have to contact the office director of the station at least 1 to 2 hours before the departure of the train.
Simultaneously, I beg to direct the transportation commanders to give particular attention during the journey to the exclusion of damage and soiling of the railway carriages.
In view of the further tasks, involved in the winding up of the transport operation, incumbent on the transportation commander he will have to be relieved of the further mutual determination of the condition of railway carriages at the end of the journey.
I transfer the discharge of claims of the German Railway in respect of repairs to the state labour offices in whose area the special train was dispersed.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2243-PS
1937 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 325
Law relating to Finance Measures in connection with the Police
19 March 1937
The government of the Reich has resolved upon the following law, which is hereby proclaimed:
1
(1) The following are to become direct officials of the Reich:
1. Officials in organizing posts of the establishment “Reichfuehrer of SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior.”
2. Officials of the Security Police [Gestapo and Criminal Police], but not police officials serving in the State Police Administrations for the Criminal Police.
3. Officials of the Civil Police, the Gendarmerie and the police medical and veterinary officers serving therein, professional police instructors and technical officials.
(2) The employees and workers who:
serve in the establishment mentioned in paragraph 1. No. 1,
serve in the Security Police, the Civil Police, the Gendarmerie and the auxiliary establishments belonging to them, such as schools, hospitals, convalescent homes, supply offices and equipment offices and persons who
serve in the State Police Administrations
enter into the service of the Reich.
(3) The number of appointments of police administrative officials henceforth remaining dependent on the finances of the districts can be determined by the Reich Minister for Finance in agreement with the Reich Minister of the Interior.
2
The Reich pays the personal allowances and bears the maintenance expenses of the officials, employees and workers of the Reich mentioned in (1) paragraphs 1 and 2 and the material expenditure of the whole of the State Police but not the personal allowances, maintenance expenses and costs of removal of the Police Administrative officials mentioned in (1) paragraph 3.
3
(1) The revenues of the State Police are revenues of the Reich.
(2) The only revenues to remain in the districts are those which are still to be booked for the Financial Year 1936, and all revenues from taxes and fines.
4
(1) The Reich will assume all property dues and rights which are connected with the State Police of the districts, in so far as they are not left to the districts according to 2 and 3. When the law comes into force, the liability of the Reich is also extended to taking over maintenance allowances falling due to persons who were formerly entitled to them.
(2) The Reich also assumes the responsibility, which, according to the instructions regarding the liability of officials, rests with the districts, for damage caused by police administrative officials, who according to (1) remain under the districts. The districts owe compensation to the Reich; their right to make claims against officials is untouched.
5
The authorities who hitherto represented the districts (exchequer) in matters relating to the police, will now represent the Reich (exchequer) in these matters. The Reich Minister of the Interior can arrange the representation otherwise.
6
(1) Premises and movable property belonging to the districts will become the property of the Reich if at the time of the proclamation of the law they are being used exclusively or mainly by the State Police or the establishments mentioned in (1) paragraph 2 or are intended for future use by these establishments.
(2) The premises of the Reich and Prussian Ministry of the Interior in Berlin, Unter den Linden 70/72/74, and the premises of the Chief of Police in Berlin which are to be specially indicated in the executive orders, will remain exempt from transference to the Reich.
(3) Due to the transference of property to the Reich, taxes, duties and other fees will not be levied. Cash payments remain out of account.
(4) When this law comes into force, if any premises transferred to the Reich become dispensable or unfit to be employed for the purposes of the Reich police, without replacement being necessary, they are to be offered for use to the district without recompense, in their present state, before further use is made of them.
7
(1) Where the Reich, the districts or the municipalities (municipal unions) have placed officials, employees and workers or property at the disposal of the State Police or of the establishments mentioned in (1) paragraph 2, or have carried out service transactions, no change will occur until a further ruling is made by the Reich Minister of the Interior. The same applies in cases where the State Police or the establishments mentioned in (1) paragraph 2 have placed their official employees and workers or property at the disposal of other authorities or have carried out service transactions, which have no connection with police duties.
(2) No further compensations than hitherto may be claimed for the services mentioned in paragraph 1.
8
The municipalities will pay their contributions to the Reich for the State Police according to the regulations hitherto in existence. The total contribution paid by the municipalities of a district during the Financial Year 1936 may not be exceeded. A special ruling may occur in cases of state control or regional change. The contributions of the municipalities can be reckoned on the shares in the Reich revenue remittances of the district.
9
The shares of a district in the Reich revenue remittances are for each Financial Year, first of all for the Financial Year 1937, reduced by the balance between the expenditure and the revenues (deficit) of its police, who, by this law are taken over on the Reich budget. The deficit is calculated on the basis of the budget of the district for the Financial Year 1936. If a greater deficit should be evident in the average of the Financial Years 1925 to 1934, this deficit is the standard. The Reich Minister for Finance fixes the sum to be reduced.
10
The districts must place at the disposal of the Reich the remaining expenses carried over into the Financial Year 1936 and not yet paid out at the end of that year. The districts must also place at the disposal of the Reich the additional sums not yet paid out at the end of the Financial Year 1936, which are made over by the Reich, and which are extra subsidies towards the material expenditure of the State Police.
11
The Reich Ministers for Finance and for the Interior will determine whether and how financial compensation is to be carried out if, in the municipalities (municipal unions) municipal, uniformed police officials are replaced by State Police or if, in the state police administrations, the relative authorities of the State Police and the municipal (remaining) police are ruled otherwise.
12
For the officials, employees and workers of the State Police or of the establishments mentioned in (1) paragraph 2, who are entering into the direct service of the Reich, the legal and administrative orders of the districts are to be applied temporarily. The Reich Minister for the Interior can make a further ruling in agreement with the Prussian Prime Minister.
13
In so far as State contracts or other agreements between districts for matters concerning their police are not rendered inapplicable by this law, they will remain in force as Reich legal orders.
14
The Reich Ministers of the Interior and for Finance will issue the necessary legal and administrative orders for the execution and the completion of this law and will decide upon all questions of doubt arising from the application of this law. If the functions of other ministers are thereby affected their approval is necessary.
15
This law comes into force on 1st April 1937.
Berlin, 19th March 1937.
The Fuehrer and Chancellor of the Reich Adolf Hitler
The Reich Minister of the Interior Frick
The Reich Minister for Finance Graf Schwerin von Krosigk
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2245-PS
1936 MINISTERIAL GAZETTE OF THE REICH AND PRUSSIAN MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR
[Reichsministerialblatt]
The Employment of Security Police Inspectors
[Pages 1343, 1344]
Circular Decree by the Reich and Prussian Minister of the Interior dated 20.9.1936.
Police Special Order 1. 7/36 g
(already promulgated)
1. With effect from 1.10.1936 I am appointing Security Police Inspectors to the Prussian Provinces and the States of Baden, Bavaria, Wuerttemberg and Saxony. Detailed decrees to follow.
2. The duties to be undertaken by these Inspectors and entailed by their appointment are laid down in the appended Service Directives for Security Police Inspectors.
3. A special decree will be promulgated regarding the appointment of Security Police Inspectors to the remaining States.
To the State Governments (for Prussia: to the Prussian Ministerpraesident), the Ober- & Regierungs-Praesidente, to the Gestapo Office in Berlin, to the State Political Head Offices, to the State Political Offices.
# # # # #
Police Special Order 1.
Circular Decree of 20.9.1936
272/36
_Appendix_
Service Directive for Security Police Inspectors
1. The special duties of the Security Police necessitate the closest and most sympathetic cooperation with the Central Offices of the General and Interior Administrations of the Provinces and States as well as with the Gauleiters of the NSDAP and the Armed Forces Authorities.
2. The Security Police Inspectors are to foster this cooperation. Especially are they to keep in the closest contact with the Oberpraesident and/or the Ministry of the Interior of their area and to keep them informed of all important occurrences, all essential reports and observations of the Security Police and where necessary stimulate the authorities of the Interior Administration and eliminate any difficulties which may arise.
3. The Security Police Inspectors are personally and immediately subordinate to the Oberpraesident and/or Staatsminister of the Interior and are to follow his directives. Should these directives not be in accordance with the general and special Orders and Directions of the Chief of Security Police and should it be impossible to reach an agreement, then the Chief of Security Police is to be referred to for a decision.
4. The inspectors are furthermore charged with the task of supervising the execution in their area of any Decrees issued by the Chief of Security Police. They are to ensure that the Gestapo and the Civil Police are organized on the same basis. Any difficulties arising are to be reported to the Chief of Security Police together with suggestions as to how they may be overcome.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2246-PS
The Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the German Reich on Special Mission
Vienna, 1 September 1936
To: The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor, Berlin (by courier)
Subject: Report on Danube situation.
* * * * * * *
The progress of normalizing relations with Germany at the present time is obstructed by the continued persistence of the Ministry of Security, occupied by the old anti-National Socialist officials. Changes in personnel are therefore of utmost importance. But they are definitely not to be expected prior to the conference on the abolishing of the Control of Finances [Finanzkontrolle] at Geneva. The Chancellor of the League has informed Minister de Glaise-Horstenau, of his intention, to offer him the portfolio of the Ministry of the Interior.
As a guiding principle [Marschroute], I recommend on the tactical side, continued, patient psychological treatment, with slowly intensified pressure directed at changing the regime. The proposed conference on economic relations, taking place at the end of October, will be a very useful tool for the realization of some of our projects. In discussion with government officials as well as with leaders of the illegal party (Leopold and Schattenfroh) who conform completely with the agreement of July 11, I am trying to direct the next developments in such a manner to aim at corporative representation of the movement in the fatherland front [Vaterlaendischen Front] but nevertheless refraining from putting National-socialists in important positions for the time being. However such positions are to be occupied only by personalities, having the support and the confidence of the movement. I have a willing collaborator in this respect in Minister Glaise-Horstenau.
(Signature) Papen
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2247-PS
The Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary on Special Mission
At present Berlin W.9, Lennestr. 9, 17 May 1935
Mein Fuehrer:
* * * * * * *
The news, which I communicated to you the day before yesterday, that the Austrian Government would proclaim its intention to arm through an autonomous act and simultaneously on 2 June would announce a Starhemberg regency becomes more and more likely.
* * * * * * *
I suggest that we take an active part in this game. The fundamental idea should be to pit Schuschnig and his Christian-social Forces, who are opposed to a home front dictatorship, against Starhemberg. The possibility of thwarting the measures arranged between Mussolini and Starhemberg should be afforded to him, in such way that he would submit the offer to the government of a definitive German-Austrian compromise of interests. According to the convincing opinion of the leader of the NSDAP in Austria, Capt. Leopold, the totalitarian principle of the NSDAP in Austria must be replaced in the beginning by a combination of that part of the Christian-elements which favors the Greater Germany idea and the NSDAP. If Germany recognizes the national independence of Austria and guarantees full freedom to the Austrian national opposition, then as a result of such a compromise the Austrian government would be formed in the beginning by a coalition of these forces.
There should follow a gradual disintegration of the barriers erected between the two countries. The rearmament of the army would have to be effected in close cooperation with the German army even if material aid from Germany would be limited.
A further consequence of this step would be the possibility of the participation of Germany in the Danube pact, which would take the sting out of its acuteness due to the settlement of relations between Germany and Austria. Such a measure would have a most beneficial influence on the European situation and especially on our relationship with England.
One may object, that Mr. Schuschnig will hardly be determined to follow such a pattern, that he will rather in all probability immediately communicate our offer to our opponents.
Of course, one should first of all explore the possibility of setting Schuschnig against Starhemberg through the use of “Go-betweens”. The possibility exists. If Mr. Schuschnig will finally say “no” and makes our offer known in Rome, then the situation would not be any worse by that; but, on the contrary, the efforts of the Reich government to make peace with Austria would be revealed--without prejudice to other interests. Therefore even in the case of refusal this last attempt would be an asset. I consider it completely possible, that in view of the far spread dislike of the Alpine countries of the pro-Italian course and in view of the sharp tensions within the federal government [Bundesregierung], Mr. Schuschnig will grasp this last straw--always under the supposition that the offer could not be interpreted as a trap by the opponents, but that it bears all the mark of an actually honest compromise with Austria.
Assuming success of this step, we would again establish our active intervention in Central European politics, which, as opposed to the French-Czech and Russian political maneuvers, would be a tremendous success, both morally and practically.
Since there are 2 weeks left to accomplish very much work in the way of explorations and Conferences, an immediate decision is necessary.
The Reich Army Minister shares the opinion presented above and the Reich Foreign Minister wanted to discuss it with you, my Fuehrer.
(signed) Papen.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2248-PS
The Extraordinary Emissary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the German Reich in Special Mission.
Vienna, July 27, 1935.
To the Fuehrer and Chancellor _BERLIN_ by courier.
Contents: One year after the death of the Bundeskanzler Dollfuss. Review and Outlook.
* * * * * * *
It seems to me to be expedient to use this incident ourselves also to draw the balance.
* * * * * * *
National Socialism must and will overpower the new Austrian ideology. If today it is contended in Austria that the NSDAP is only a centralized Reich German party and therefore unable to transfer the spirit of thought of National Socialism to groups of people of a different political make-up, the answer must rightly be that the national revolution in Germany could not have been brought about in a different way. But when the creation of the people’s community in the Reich will be completed, National socialism could, in a much wider sense than this is possible through the present party organization--at least apparently--certainly become the rallying point for all racially German units beyond the borders. Spiritual progress in regard to Austria cannot be achieved today with any centralized tendency. If this recognition would once and for all be stated clearly from within the Reich, then it would easily become possible to effect a break-through into the front of the New Austria. A Nurnberg Party Day designated as “The German Day” as in old times and the proclamation of a national socialistic people’s front, would be a stirring event for all beyond the borders of the Reich. Such attacks would win us also the particularistic Austrian circles, whose spokesman, the legitimistic Count Dubsky wrote in his pamphlet about the “Anschluss”: The Third Reich will be with Austria, or it will not be at all. National Socialism must win it or it will perish, if it is unable to solve this task; * * *
(signed) Papen.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2260-PS
SETTLEMENT OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NSDAP AND STAHLHELM (STEEL HELMETS)
From Page 1, Issue 422, 21 June 1933, of “NSK” National Socialist Party Press Agency [NSK, Pressedienst der NSDAP, the official news agency of the NSDAP]. Edited by Wilhelm Weiss. Responsible for communications of the Reich Press Office Dr. Otto Dietrich, Reich Press Chief. Published by Franz Eher Successor, Munich.
NSK The Reich Press Office of the NSDAP informs us:
The following agreement was reached in a conference that took place today between the Reich Chancellor, the Reich Labor Minister Seldte, the Reich War Minister and the Vice-Chancellor:
To ensure the striking power of the National Socialist revolution the Stahlhelm, League of front-line Soldiers [Bund der Frontsoldaten], integrates itself into the National Socialist movement in the following manner:
_a._ The Old-Guard Nucleus of the Stahlhelm [Kernstahlhelm] remains, as heretofore, under the leadership of the League Leader.
_b._ The League Leader prohibits, as of now, any party membership except that in the NSDAP to members of the Old-Guard Nucleus of the Stahlhelm.
_c._ The leader of the NSDAP, Adolf Hitler, thus permits membership in the Stahlhelm for the NSDAP.
_d._ The Stahlhelm Youth [Jungstahlhelm] takes its place side by side with the SA and SS, and is subordinate to the Supreme SA Leader [Obersten SA-Fuehrer]. The “Scharnhorst” will be integrated into the Hitler Youth.
_e._ The leader of the Stahlhelm Youth [Jungstahlhelm] von Morozowicz, joins the staff of the Supreme SA Leader.
Berlin, 21 June 1933.
Adolf Hitler Franz Seldte
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2261-PS
TOP SECRET
Copy
The Reich Minister of War and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
No. 1820/35 Top Secret L. II a
Berlin, 24 June 1935
To
The Supreme Commander of the Army The Supreme Commander of the Navy The Supreme Commander of the Air Forces
In the appendix I transmit one copy each of the law for the defense of the Reich of the 21 May 1935 and of a decision of the Reichs Cabinet of 21 May 1935 concerning the Reich’s defense council. The publication of the Reich’s defense law is temporarily suspended by order of the Fuehrer and Reichschancellor.
The Fuehrer and Reichschancellor has nominated the President of the directorate of the Reichsbank Dr. Schacht to be “plenipotentiary-general for war economy”.
I request that the copies of the Reich defense law needed within the units of the armed forces be ordered before 1 July 1935 at armed forces office (L) where it is to be established with the request that the law should only be distributed down to Corps Headquarters outside of the Reichministry of war.
I point out the necessity of strictest secrecy once more.
(signed) von Blomberg.
# # # # #
No. 1820/35 L Top Secret II a Berlin, 3 Sept 1935 To _Defense--Economic Group G-3_ transmitted (copy) (signed) Jodl
# # # # #
Copy
Reich Defense Law of 21 May 1935
The Reich Cabinet has enacted the following law that is hereby made public: