Chapter XXX: Section IV: , Paragraph 4, quoting

“Concentration Camp Flossenbürg was founded in 1938 as a camp
for political prisoners. Construction was commenced on the camp
in 1938 and it was not until April 1940 that the first transport
of prisoners was received. From this time on prisoners began to
flow steadily into the camp. (Exhibit B-1.) Flossenbürg was the
mother camp and under its direct control and jurisdiction were
47 satellite camps or outer-commandos for male prisoners and 27
camps for female workers. To these outer-commandos were supplied
the necessary prisoners for the various work projects
undertaken.

“Of all these outer-commandos, Hersbruck and Leitmeritz (in
Czechoslovakia), Oberstaubling, Mulsen and Sall, located on the
Danube, were considered to be the worst.”

I do not wish to take the time of the Tribunal to discuss each of the Nazi concentration camps which dotted the map of Europe. We feel that the widespread use of these camps is commonly known and notorious. We do, however, wish to invite the Tribunal’s attention to a chart which we have had prepared. The solid black line marks the boundary of Germany after the Anschluss, and we call the Tribunal’s attention to the fact that the majority of the camps shown on the chart are located within the territorial limits of Germany itself. They are the red spots, of course, on the map. In the center of Germany there is the Buchenwald camp located near the city of Weimar, and at the extreme bottom of the chart there is Dachau, several miles outside of Munich. At the top of the chart are Neuengamme and Bergen-Belsen, located near Hamburg. To the left is the Niederhagen camp in the Ruhr Valley. In the upper right there are a number of camps near Berlin, one named Sachsenhausen (formerly Oranienburg, which was one of the first camps established after the Nazis came into power). Near to that is the camp of Ravensbrück which was used exclusively for women. Some of the most notorious camps were located indeed outside of Germany. Mauthausen was in Austria. In Poland was the infamous Auschwitz; and to the left of the chart is a camp called Hertogenbosch and this one was located in Holland, as the chart shows; and below it is Natzweiler, located in France.

The camps were established in networks; and it may be observed that surrounding each of the major camps—the larger red dots—is a group of satellite camps; and the names of the principal camps, the most notorious camps, at least, are above the map and below it on the chart; and those names, for most people, symbolize the Nazi system of concentration camps as they have become known to the world since May or a little later in 1945.

I should like to direct your attention briefly to the treatment which was meted out in these camps. The motion picture to which I have made reference a short time ago and which was shown to the members of this High Tribunal has disclosed the terrible and savage treatment which was inflicted upon these Allied nationals, prisoners of war, and other victims of Nazi terror. Because the moving picture has so well shown the situation, as of the time of its taking at least, I shall confine myself to a very brief discussion of the subject.

The conditions which existed inside these camps were, of course, we say, directly related to the objectives which these Nazi conspirators sought to achieve outside of the camps through their employment of terror.

It is truly remarkable, it seems to us, how easily the words “concentration camps” rolled off the lips of these men. How simple all problems became when they could turn to the terror institution of the concentration camps. I refer to Document Number R-124, which is already before the Tribunal as Exhibit USA-179. It is again that document covering the minutes of the Central Planning Committee on which the Defendant Speer sat and where the high strategy of the high Nazi armament production was formulated. I do not intend to read from the document again, because I read from it this morning to illustrate another point; but the Tribunal will recall that it was at this meeting that the Defendant Speer and others were discussing the so-called slackers, and the conversation had to do with having drastic steps taken against these workers who were not putting out sufficient work to please their masters. Speer suggested that, “There is nothing to be said against the SS and Police taking steps and putting those known as slackers into concentration camp industries,” and he used the words “concentration camp industries.” And he said, “Let it happen several times and the news will soon get around.”

Words spoken in this fashion, we say, sealed the fate of many victims. As for getting the news around as suggested by the Defendant Speer, this was not left to chance, as we shall presently show.

The deterrent effect of the concentration camps upon the public was a carefully planned thing. To heighten the atmosphere of terror, these camps were shrouded in secrecy. What went on in the barbed wire enclosures was a matter of fearful conjecture in Germany and countries under Nazi control; and this was the policy from the very beginning, when the Nazis first came into power and set up this system of concentration camps. We refer now to Document Number 778-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-247. This document is an order issued on the 1st of October 1933 by the camp commander of Dachau. The document prescribed a program of floggings, solitary confinement, and executions for the inmates for infractions of the rules.

Among the rules were those prescribing a rigid censorship concerning conditions within the camp; and I refer to the first page of the English text, paragraph numbered Article 11, and quoting:

“By virtue of the law on revolutionaries, the following
offenders considered as agitators, will be hanged:

“Anyone who, for the purpose of agitating, does the following in
the camp, at work, in the quarters, in the kitchens and
workshops, toilets and places of rest: holds political or
inciting speeches and meetings, forms cliques, loiters around
with others; who, for the purpose of supplying the propaganda of
the opposition with atrocity stories, collects true or false
information about the concentration camp and its institution,
receives such information, buries it, talks about it to others,
smuggles it out of the camp into the hands of foreign visitors
or others by means of clandestine or other methods, passes it on
in writing or orally to released prisoners or prisoners who are
placed above them, conceals it in clothing or other articles,
throws stones and other objects over the camp wall containing
such information, or produces secret documents; who, for the
purpose of agitating, climbs on barracks roofs and trees, seeks
contact with the outside by giving light or other signals, or
induces others to escape or commit a crime, gives them advice to
that effect or supports such undertakings in any way
whatsoever.”

The censorship about the camps themselves was complemented by an officially inspired rumor campaign outside the camps. Concentration camps were spoken of in whispers, and the whispers were spread by agents of the Secret Police. When the Defendant Speer said that if the threat of the concentration camp were used, the news would get around soon enough, he knew whereof he spoke.

We refer to Document 1531-PS. With reference to this document, I wish to submit a word of explanation. The original German text, the original German document, the captured document, was here in the document room and was translated into English as our translation shows. Yesterday we were advised that it has either been lost or misplaced, the original German text; and unfortunately no photostatic copy was available here in Nuremberg. A certified copy is, however, being sent to the office here from Frankfurt, and it is on its way today; and I ask the Tribunal’s permission to offer the English translation of the German original, which is certified to be accurate by the translator, into evidence, subject to a motion to strike it if the certified copy of the original German document does not arrive.

I now refer to the Document Number 1531-PS. It bears our Exhibit Number USA-248. This document is marked “top secret” and it is addressed to all State Police district offices and to the Gestapo office and for the information of the Inspectors of the Security Police and the SD. It is an order relating to concentration camps, issued by the head of the Gestapo; and I read from the English text, beginning with the second paragraph, and quoting directly:

“In order to achieve a further deterrent effect, the following
must, in the future, be observed in each individual case:

“3. The length of the period of custody must in no case be made
known, even if the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German
Police or the Chief of the Security Police and the SD has
already fixed it.

“The term of commitment to a concentration camp is to be openly
announced as ‘until further notice.’

“In most serious cases there is no objection to increasing the
deterrent effect by the spreading of cleverly carried out rumor
propaganda, more or less to the effect that, according to
hearsay, in view of the seriousness of his case, the arrested
man will not be released for 2 or 3 years.

“4. In certain cases the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German
Police will order flogging in addition to detention in a
concentration camp. Orders of this kind will, in the future,
also be transmitted to the State Police district office
concerned. In this case, too, there is no objection to spreading
the rumor of this increased punishment as laid down in Section
3, Paragraph 3, insofar as this appears suitable to add to the
deterrent effect.

“5. Naturally, particularly suitable and reliable people are to
be chosen for the spreading of such news.”

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, the Tribunal think that they will take judicial notice of that United States Document, Number 2309-PS; and for the convenience of the Defense Counsel, the Tribunal having sat until 1 will not sit again until 2:15.

MR. DODD: Very well, Your Honor.

[_A recess was taken until 1415 hours._]

_Afternoon Session_

MR. DODD: May it please the Tribunal, the deterrent effect of the concentration camps was based on the promise of brutal treatment. Once in the custody of the SS guards, the victim was beaten, tortured, starved, and often murdered through the so-called “extermination through work” program which I described the other day or through the mass execution gas chambers and furnaces of the camps, which were shown several days ago on the moving picture screen in this courtroom.

The reports of official government investigations furnish additional evidence of the conditions within the concentration camps.

Document 2309-PS, which has already been referred to and of which the Tribunal has taken judicial notice, I now refer to again, particularly to the second page of the English text, beginning with the second sentence of the second paragraph:

“The work at these camps mainly consisted of underground labor,
the purpose being the construction of large underground
factories, storage rooms, _et cetera_. This labor was performed
completely underground and as a result of the brutal treatment,
working and living conditions, a daily average of 100 prisoners
died. To the one camp Oberstaubling 700 prisoners were
transported in February 1945, and on the 15th of April 1945 only
405 of these men were living. During the 12 months preceding the
liberation, Flossenbürg and the branch camps under its control
accounted for the death of 14,739 male inmates and 1,300 women.
These figures represent the deaths as obtained from the
available records in the camp. However, they are in no way
complete, as many secret mass executions and deaths took place.
In 1941 an additional stockade was added at the Flossenbürg camp
to hold 2,000 Russian prisoners. From these 2,000 prisoners only
102 survived.

“Flossenbürg Concentration Camp can best be described as a
factory dealing in death. Although this camp had in view the
primary object of putting to work the mass slave labor, another
of its primary objectives was the elimination of human lives by
the methods employed in handling the prisoners.

“Hunger and starvation rations, sadism, housing facilities,
inadequate clothing, medical neglect, disease, beatings,
hangings, freezing, forced hand hanging, forced suicides,
shooting, all played a major role in obtaining their objective.
Prisoners were murdered at random; spite killings against Jews
were common. Injections of poison and shooting in the neck were
everyday occurrences. Epidemics of typhus and spotted fever were
permitted to run rampant as a means of eliminating prisoners.
Life in this camp meant nothing. Killing became a common thing,
so common that a quick death was welcomed by the unfortunate
ones.”

Passing to the next to the last sentence of this same paragraph, quoting directly . . .

THE PRESIDENT: What are those exhibits that are referred to?

MR. DODD: They are in evidence with the affidavit. They are attached to it.

THE PRESIDENT: They are not, I suppose, mimeographed in our copy?

MR. DODD: No, we have not had an opportunity to mimeograph each one of them.

THE PRESIDENT: Are they documents or photographs or what?

MR. DODD: They are principally documents. There are some few plans and photographs, and so on.

THE PRESIDENT: Are they affidavits or what? There seem to be instances of . . .

MR. DODD: Well, some of them are in the form of affidavits taken at the time of the liberation of the camp from persons who were there, and others are pictures of writings that were found there and of the plans and so on—such sort of thing.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Well the Tribunal will take judicial notice of those exhibits as well.

MR. DODD: Very well, Your Honor.

Reading from the last sentence of this same paragraph on the same page and quoting:

“On Christmas, 1944, a number of prisoners were hanged at one
time. The prisoners were forced to view this hanging. By the
side of the gallows was a decorated Christmas tree; and as
expressed by one prisoner, ‘It was a terrible sight, that
combination of prisoners hanging in the air and the glistening
Christmas tree.’”

“In March or April, 13 American or British parachutists were
hanged. They had been delivered to this camp some time before
and had been captured while trying to blow up bridges.”

We will not burden the Tribunal with a recital of all of these reports. We wish, however, to make reference to the Concentration Camp Mauthausen, one of the most notorious extermination centers; and I refer particularly to Document Number 2176-PS, which I have already placed in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-249. This is also an official report of the office of the Judge Advocate General of the United States 3rd Army, dated 17 June 1945. I wish to refer to the conclusions on Page 3 of the English text, at paragraph numbered Roman V, beginning with the second sentence as follows:

“V. Conclusions. 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.”

Both from the showing of the moving picture and from these careful reports, which were made by the 3rd Army of the United States on their arrival at those centers, we say it is clear that the conditions in those concentration camps over Germany—and in a few instances outside of the actual borders of the Old Reich—followed the same general pattern. The wide-spread incidence of these conditions makes it clear that they were not the result of sporadic excesses on the part of individual jailers, but were the result of policies deliberately imposed from above. The crimes committed in these camps were on so vast a scale that individual atrocities pale into insignificance.

We have had turned over to us two exhibits which we are prepared to show to this Tribunal only because they illustrate the depths to which the administration of these camps had sunk shortly before, at least, the time that they were liberated by the Allied Army. The Tribunal will recall that in the showing of the moving picture, with respect to one of the camps, there was a showing of sections of human skin taken from human bodies in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and preserved as ornaments. They were selected, these particular hapless victims, because of the tattooing which appeared on the skin. This exhibit, which we have here, is Exhibit Number USA-252. Attached to the exhibit is an extract of an official United States Army report describing the circumstances under which this exhibit was obtained; and that extract is set forth in Document 3420-PS, which I refer to in part. It is entitled:

“Mobile Field Interrogation Unit Number 2; PW Intelligence
Bulletin; 13. Concentration Camp, Buchenwald.

“Preamble. The author of this account is PW Andreas
Pfaffenberger, 1 Coy, 9 Landesschützen Bn., 43 years old and of
limited education. He is a butcher by trade. The substantial
agreement of the details of his story with those found in PWIB
(H) /LF/36 establishes the validity of his testimony. PW has not
been questioned on statements which, in the light of what is
known, are apparently erroneous in certain details, nor has any
effort been made to alter the subjective character of the PW’s
account, which he wrote without being told anything of the
intelligence already known. The results of interrogation on
personalities at Buchenwald have already been published (PWIB
Number 2/12, item 31.).

“‘In 1939 all prisoners with tattooing on them were ordered to
report to the dispensary.’”

THE PRESIDENT: Is this what Pfaffenberger said?

MR. DODD: Yes, Sir.

“‘No one knew what the purpose was; but after the tattooed
prisoners had been examined, the ones with the best and most
artistic specimens were kept in the dispensary and then killed
by injections administered by Karl Beigs, a criminal prisoner.
The corpses were then turned over to the pathological department
where the desired pieces of tattooed skin were detached from the
bodies and treated. The finished products were turned over to SS
Standartenführer Koch’s wife, who had them fashioned into lamp
shades and other ornamental household articles. I myself saw
such tattooed skins with various designs and legends on them,
such as “Hänsel and Gretel,” which one prisoner had on his knee,
and designs of ships from prisoners’ chests. This work was done
by a prisoner named Wernerbach.”

I also refer to Document 3421-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-253.

“I, George C. Demas, Lieutenant, USNR, associated with the
United States Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis
Criminality, hereby certify that the attached exhibit,
consisting of parchment, was delivered by the War Crimes
Section, Judge Advocate General, United States Army, to me in my
above capacity, in the usual course of business, as an exhibit
found in Buchenwald Camp and captured by military forces under
the command of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary
Forces.”

And the last paragraph of Document 3423-PS (Exhibit USA-252) is a conclusion reached in a United States Army report, and I quote it:

“Based on the findings in Paragraph 2, all three specimens are
tattooed human skin.”

This document is also attached to this exhibit on the board. We do not wish to dwell on this pathological phase of the Nazi culture; but we do feel compelled to offer one additional exhibit, which we offer as Exhibit Number USA-254. This exhibit, which is on the table, is a human head with the skull bone removed, shrunken, stuffed, and preserved. The Nazis had one of their many victims decapitated, after having had him hanged, apparently for fraternizing with a German woman, and fashioned this terrible ornament from his head.

The last paragraph of the official United States Army report from which I have just read deals with the manner in which this exhibit was acquired. It reads as follows:

“There I also saw the shrunken heads of two young Poles who had
been hanged for having relations with German girls. The heads
were the size of a fist, and the hair and the marks of the rope
were still there.”

Another certificate by Lieutenant Demas is set forth in Document 3422-PS (Exhibit USA-254) and is similar to the one which I have read a few minutes ago with relation to the human skin, excepting that it applies to this second exhibit. We have no accurate estimate of how many persons died in these concentration camps and perhaps none will ever be made; but as the evidence already introduced before this Tribunal indicates, the Nazi conspirators were generally meticulous record keepers. But the records which they kept about concentration camps appear to have been quite incomplete. Perhaps the character of the records resulted from the indifference which the Nazis felt for the lives of their victims. But occasionally we find a death book or a set of index cards. For the most part, nevertheless, the victims apparently faded into an unrecorded death. Reference to a set of death books suggests at once the scale of the concentration camp operations, and we refer now and offer Document Number 493-PS as Exhibit Number USA-251. This exhibit is a set of seven books, the death ledger of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Each book has on its cover the word “Totenbuch” (or Death Book)—Mauthausen.

In these books were recorded the names of some of the inmates who died or were murdered in this camp, and the books cover the period from January of 1939 to April of 1945. They give the name, the place of birth, the assigned cause of death, and time of death of each individual recorded. In addition each corpse is assigned a serial number, and adding up the total serial numbers for the 5-year period one arrives at the figure of 35,318.

An examination of the books is very revealing insofar as the camp’s routine of death is concerned; and I invite the attention of the Tribunal to Volume 5 from Pages 568 to 582, a photostatic copy of which has been passed to the Tribunal. These pages cover death entries made for the 19th day of March 1945 between 15 minutes past 1 in the morning until 2 o’clock in the afternoon. In this space of 12 and three-quarter hours, on these records, 203 persons are reported as having died. They were assigned serial numbers running from 8390 to 8593. The names of the dead are listed. And interestingly enough the victims are all recorded as having died of the same ailment—heart trouble. They died at brief intervals. They died in alphabetical order. The first who died was a man named Ackermann, who died at 1:15 a.m., and the last was a man named Zynger, who died at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

At 20 minutes past 2 o’clock of that same afternoon, according to these records, on the 19th of March 1945, the fatal roll call began again and continued until 4:30 p.m. In a space of 2 hours 75 more persons died, and once again they died all from heart failure and in alphabetical order. We find the entries recorded in the same volume, from Pages 582 through 586.

There was another death book found at Camp Mauthausen. It is our Document Number 495-PS and bears Exhibit Number USA-250. This is a single volume, and again has on its cover the words “Death Book—Prisoners of War.” And I invite the attention of the Tribunal in particular to Pages 234 through 246. Here the entries record the names of 208 prisoners of war, apparently Russians, who at 15 minutes past midnight on the 10th day of May 1942 were executed at the same time. The book notes that the execution was directed by the chief of the SD and the Sipo, at that time Heydrich.

It was called to my attention as late as this morning—a publication of a New York newspaper published in the United States, part of which is made up of three or more pages consisting of advertisements from the families, the relatives of people who once resided in Germany or in Europe, asking for some advice about them. Most of the advertisements refer to one of these concentration camps or another. The paper is called _Der Aufbau_. It is a German-language newspaper in New York City, published on the 23rd day—this particular issue—on the 23rd day of November 1945. I do not propose to burden the record of this Tribunal with the list of the names of all of these unfortunate individuals; but we refer to it as a publication in the City of New York, a German-language newspaper of recent date which illustrates the horrible extent of this terrible tragedy which has affected so many people as a result of this concentration-camp institution. We feel that no argument, no particular argument, is necessary to support our statement that the Nazi conspirators used these concentration camps and the related instruments of terror in them to commit Crimes against Humanity and to commit War Crimes.

More about concentration camps will of necessity be involved in the presentation concerning the persecution of the Jews, but this concludes our presentation with respect to the concentration camps as a specific entity of proof.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, speaking for myself, I should like to know what these headings mean.

MR. DODD: Yes, I have them here.

THE PRESIDENT: Document 495-PS?

MR. DODD: Yes, Document 495-PS. Column 1 is the serial number assigned to the prisoners in the order of their deaths.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MR. DODD: Column 2, prisoners-of-war serial number. Column 3 is the last name, Column 4 is the first name.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MR. DODD: Column 5 is the date of birth. Column 6, the place of birth. Column 7, cause of death. In these cases their cause of death is stated as follows: “Execution pursuant to order of the Chief of the Sipo and SD dated 30th April 1942,” and the ditto marks beneath indicate that the same cause of death was assigned to the names which come beneath it. In the eighth column is the date of death and the hour of death. The first one being 9.5.42 at 2335 hours. In the ninth column there is a space which says it is reserved for comments.

THE PRESIDENT: There are numbers there too—M1681 is the first one.

MR. DODD: Well, the German word, I am told, means that it confirms the death with that number. Apparently the number of the . . .

THE PRESIDENT: I think you said the number of the corpse.

MR. DODD: The number of the corpse, I think that is what it is as distinguished from the number of the prisoner. Each corpse was given a number as well after the individual died.

COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, the next phase of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, the Persecution of the Jews, will be presented by Major Walsh.

THE PRESIDENT: Major Walsh.

MAJOR WILLIAM F. WALSH (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): If the Tribunal please, on behalf of the United States Counsel, I now present to this august Tribunal the evidence to establish certain phases of the Indictment alleged in Count One under War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, and by agreement between the prosecutors the allegations in Count Four, Paragraph X(B), Crimes against Humanity. The topical title of this presentation is “The Persecution of the Jews.”

At this time I offer in evidence a Document Book of translations, lettered “T.” These documents contained in the books are arranged according to the D-, L-, PS-, and R-series; and under the series the translations are listed numerically. This title, “The Persecution of the Jews,” is singularly inappropriate when weighed in the light of the evidence to follow. Academically, I am told, to persecute is to afflict, harass, and annoy. The term used does not convey, and indeed I cannot conjure a term that does convey the ultimate aim, the avowed purpose to obliterate the Jewish race.

This presentation is not intended to be a complete recital of all the crimes committed against the Jews. The extent and the scope of the crimes was so great that it permeated the entire German nation, its people and its organizations.

I am informed that others to follow me will offer additional evidence under other phases of the Prosecution’s case. Evidence relating to the Party organizations and state organizations, whose criminality the Prosecution will seek to establish, will disclose and emphasize the part that these organizations played in the pattern and plan for annihilation.

The French and the Soviet Prosecutors, too, have a volume of evidence all related to this subject, which will be submitted in the course of the Trial.

Before I begin a recital of the overt acts leading to the elimination of the Jews, I am prepared to show that these acts and policies within Germany from the year 1933 to the end of the war related to the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of aggressive wars, thus falling within the definition of Crimes against Humanity as defined in Article 6(c) of the Charter.

It had long been a German theory that the first World War ended in Germany’s defeat because of a collapse in the zone of the interior. In planning for future wars it was determined that the home front must be secure to prevent a repetition of this 1918 debacle. Unification of the German people was essential to successful planning and waging of war, and the Nazi political premise must be established—“One race, one state, one Führer.”

Free trade unions must be abolished, political parties (other than the National Socialist Party) must be outlawed, civil liberties must be suspended, and opposition of every kind must be swept away. Loyalty to God, church, and scientific truth was declared to be incompatible with the Nazi regime. The anti-Jewish policy was part of this plan for unification because it was the conviction of the Nazis that the Jews would not contribute to Germany’s military program, but on the contrary would hamper it. The Jew must therefore be eliminated.

This view is clearly borne out by a statement contained in Document 1919-PS, Exhibit USA-170. This document is a transcript of a Himmler speech at a meeting of the SS major generals on 4 October 1943, and from Page 4, Paragraph 3, of the translation before the Court, I read a very short passage:

“We know how difficult we should have made it for ourselves if
with the bombing raids, the burdens and deprivations of war, we
still had Jews today in every town as secret saboteurs,
agitators, and trouble mongers; we would now probably have
reached the 1916-17 stage when the Jews were still in the German
national body.”

The treatment of the Jews within Germany was therefore as much of a plan for aggressive war as was the building of armaments and the conscription of manpower. It falls within the jurisdiction of this Tribunal as an integral part of the planning and preparation to wage a war of aggression.

It is obvious that the persecution and murder of Jews throughout the conquered territories of Europe following 1939 are War Crimes as defined by Article 6(b) of the Charter. It further violates Article 46 of the Regulations of the Hague Convention of 1907, to which Germany was a signatory. I quote Article 46 and ask the Court to take judicial notice thereof:

“Family honor and rights, the lives of persons, and private
property, as well as religious convictions and practices, must
be respected.”

I know of no crime in the history of mankind more horrible in its details than the treatment of the Jews. It is intended to establish that the Nazi Party precepts, later incorporated within the policies of the German State, often expressed by the defendants at bar, were to annihilate the Jewish people. I shall seek to avoid the temptation to editorialize or to draw inferences from the documents, however great the provocation; rather I shall let the documentary evidence speak for itself—its stark realism will be unvarnished. Blood lust may have played some part in these savage crimes, but the underlying purpose and objective to annihilate the Jewish race was one of the fundamental principles of the Nazi plan to prepare for and to wage aggressive war. I shall from this point limit my proof to the overt acts committed; but I dare to request the Court’s indulgence, if it is necessary in weaving the pattern of evidence, to make reference to certain documents and evidence previously submitted.

Now this ultimate objective, that is, the elimination and extermination of the Jews, could not be accomplished without preliminary steps and measures. The German State must first be seized by the Nazi Party, the force of world opinion must be faced, and even the regimented German people must be indoctrinated with hatred against the Jews.

The first clear-cut evidence of the Party policies concerning the Jews was expressed in the Party program in February 1920. I offer in evidence Document 1708-PS, “Program of the National Socialist Party,” Exhibit USA-255. With the Court’s permission, I would like to quote the relevant part of that program, Paragraph (4):

“Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the
race can only be one who is of German blood without
consideration of confession. . . .”

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): May I interrupt a minute. It is a little hard to know where these exhibits are or what volume you are now quoting from.

MAJOR WALSH: This, Sir, is 1708-PS.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Volume 2?

MAJOR WALSH: Volume 2.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): And what page of that exhibit?

MAJOR WALSH: That is Paragraph (4) and Paragraph (6), Sir, on the first page.

Paragraph (4):

“Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the
race can only be one who is of German blood, without
consideration of confession. Consequently, no Jew can be a
member of the race.”

And again, in Paragraph (6):

“The right to determine matters concerning administration and
law belongs only to the citizen; therefore, we demand that every
public office of any sort whatsoever, whether in the Reich, the
county, or municipality, be filled only by citizens.”

I now offer Document 2662-PS, _Mein Kampf_, Exhibit Number USA-256. On Pages 724-725, Hitler, in this book, speaking of the Jew, said that if the National Socialist movement was to fulfill its task—and I quote:

“It must open the eyes of the people with regard to foreign
nations and must remind them again and again of the true enemy
of our present-day world. In the place of hate against
Aryans—from whom we may be separated by almost everything but
to whom, however, we are tied by common blood or the great tie
of a common culture—it must dedicate to the general anger the
evil enemy of mankind as the true cause of all suffering.

“It must see to it, however, that at least in our country he be
recognized as the most mortal enemy and that the struggle
against him may show, like a flaming beacon of a better era, to
other nations, too, the road to salvation for a struggling Aryan
mankind.”

A flood of abusive literature of all types and for all age groups was published and circulated throughout Germany. Illustrative of this type of publication is the book entitled _Der Giftpilz_. I offer in evidence Document 1778-PS, Exhibit Number USA-257. This book brands the Jew as a persecutor of the labor class, as a race defiler, devil in human form, a poisonous mushroom, and a murderer. This particular book instructed school children to recognize the Jew by caricature of his physical features, shown on Pages 6 and 7; taught them that the Jew abuses little boys and girls, on Page 30; and that the Jewish Bible permits all crimes, Pages 13-17. The Defendant Streicher’s periodical _Der Stürmer_, Number 14, April 1937, in particular, went to such extremes as to publish the statement that Jews at the ritual celebration of their Passover slaughtered Christians.

I offer Document 2699-PS, Exhibit Number USA-258. On Page 2, Column 1, Paragraphs 6 to 9, I quote:

“Also the numerous confessions made by the Jews show that the
execution of ritual murders is a law of the Talmud Jew. The
former chief Rabbi (and later monk) Teofiti declares that the
ritual murders take place especially on the Jewish Purim (in
memory of the Persian murders) and Passover (in memory of the
murder of Christ). The rules are as follows:

“The blood of the victims is to be tapped by force. On Passover
it is to be used in wine and matzos. Thus a small part of the
blood is to be poured into the dough of the matzos and into the
wine. The mixing is done by the head of the Jewish family.

“The procedure is as follows: The family head empties a few
drops of the fresh and powdered blood into a glass, wets the
fingers of the left hand with it and sprays (blesses) with it
everything on the table. The head of the family then says, ‘Thus
we ask God to send the 10 plagues to all enemies of the Jewish
faith.’ Then they eat, and at the end the head of the family
exclaims, ‘May all Gentiles perish, as the child whose blood is
contained in the bread and wine.’

“The fresh (or dried and powdered) blood of the slaughtered is
further used by young married Jewish couples, by pregnant
Jewesses, for circumcision and so on. Ritual murder is
recognized by all Talmud Jews. The Jew believes he absolves
himself thus of his sins.”

It is difficult for our minds to grasp that falsehoods such as these could fall on fertile soil, that a literate nation could read, digest, or believe these doctrines. We must realize, however, that with a rigidly controlled press which precluded an exposé of such lying propaganda, some of the ignorant and gullible would be led to believe.

I now offer in evidence Document 2697-PS, a copy of _Der Stürmer_, Exhibit Number USA-259. This publication, _Der Stürmer_, was published by the Defendant Streicher’s publishing firm. In this publication, Streicher, speaking of the Jewish faith, said, “The Holy Scripture is a horrible criminal romance abounding with murder, incest, fraud, and indecency.”

And again he said, “The Talmud is the great Jewish book of criminal instructions that the Jew practices in his daily life.” This is contained in Document 2698-PS, _Der Stürmer_, which I now offer in evidence, Exhibit Number USA-260.

This propaganda campaign of hate was too widespread and notorious to require further elaboration. Within the documents offered in evidence in this and in other phases of the case will be found similar and even more scurrilous statements, many by the defendants themselves and others by their accomplices.

When the Nazi Party gained control of the German State, a new and terrible weapon against the Jews was placed within their grasp, the power to apply the force of the state against them. This was done by the issuance of decrees.

Jewish immigrants were denaturalized: 1933 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 480, signed by Defendants Frick and Neurath.

Native Jews were precluded from citizenship: 1935 _Reichsgesetzblatt_,