Chapter XI: Part I: , Page 713 (3)

“When in November 1923, the Party tried for the first time to
conquer the power of the State, you, as commander of the SA,
created within an extraordinarily short time that instrument
with which I could dare that struggle. Most pressing necessity
had forced us to act, but by a wise providence at that time we
were denied success. After receiving a grave wound, you again
entered the ranks as soon as circumstances permitted as my most
loyal comrade in the battle for power. You contributed
essentially to creating the basis for the 30th of January.
Therefore, at the end of the year of the National Socialist
revolution, I desire to thank you wholeheartedly, my dear Party
comrade Göring, for the great services you have rendered to the
National Socialist revolution and consequently to the German
people.

“In cordial friendship and grateful appreciation, yours, Adolf
Hitler.”

Although Göring did not retain command of the SA, he at all times maintained close affiliation with the organization. This is shown by the photographs of Göring participating in the activities which I have already introduced in evidence. Similarly, in 1937 Göring became the commander of the Feldherrnhalle Regiment of the SA. The Tribunal will recall, also, my reference to the participation of that regiment in the occupation of the Sudetenland.

Now, finally, the evidence considered in the foregoing sections of this brief demonstrates the participation of the SA as an organization in the conspiracy alleged in Count One. Thus, the SA was first employed by the conspirators to destroy, by force and brutality, all opponents of National Socialism and to gain possession of the streets. Thereafter, upon the seizure of control by the NSDAP, the SA was used to consolidate and to strengthen Nazi power, and cruelly to persecute and destroy all so-called “enemies of the state,” including Jewry and the Church. During the period from 1934 to 1939, the SA was employed for the actual preparation and training of the German people for war and participated in aggressive warfare.

The SA was at all times employed by the conspirators to promote and disseminate the ideology of the Nazi Government throughout Germany, and particularly, to perform the function of disseminating anti-Jewish propaganda and creating and fostering a militaristic and warlike spirit among the people of Germany.

Thus, at all times during the course of its existence, the functions of the SA corresponded to, and were designated to promote, the progression of the conspiracy through its various phases; and the conclusion, we think, is irresistible, that the SA was an organization devoted exclusively to the task of assisting the defendants and their co-conspirators in carrying out the objectives in the conspiracy.

Thus, in this sense, SA, as well as its members, were in fact co-conspirators and participants in a conspiracy which contemplated and involved Crimes against the Peace and Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes.

That concludes the presentation of the SA, Your Honor, and the next is the SS, by Major Farr.

Do Your Honors want to go ahead with that now?

THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps we had better adjourn then, until 2 o’clock.

[_A recess was taken until 1400 hours._]

_Afternoon Session_

MAJOR WARREN F. FARR (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): May it please the Tribunal, the next organization to be dealt with is the SS. The document books in this case are lettered “Z.” For convenience in handling the book because of the bulk of documents, we have divided them into two volumes. I shall in referring to a document number refer to the volume in which that document appears.

About a week or 10 days ago there appeared in a newspaper circulated in Nuremberg, an account of a visit by that paper’s correspondent to a camp in which SS prisoners of war were confined. The thing which particularly struck the correspondent was the one question asked by the SS prisoners. Why are we charged as war criminals? What have we done except our normal duty?

The evidence now to be presented to the Tribunal will, we expect, answer that question. It will show that just as the Nazi Party was the very heart—the core—of the conspiracy, so the SS was the very essence of Nazism. For the SS was the elite group of the Party, composed of the most thorough-going adherents of the Nazi cause, pledged to blind devotion to Nazi principles, and prepared to carry them out without any question and—at any cost—a group in which every ordinary value has been so subverted that its members can ask, “What is there unlawful about the things we have done?”

During the past weeks the Tribunal has heard evidence of the conspirators’ criminal program for aggressive war, for concentration camps, for the extermination of the Jews, for enslavement of foreign labor and illegal use of prisoners of war, for deportation and Germanization of inhabitants of conquered territories. Through all this evidence the name of the SS ran like a thread. Again and again that organization and its components were referred to. It is my purpose to show why it performed a responsible role in every one of these criminal activities, why it was—and, indeed, had to be—a criminal organization.

The creation and development of such an organization was, indeed, essential for the execution of the conspirators’ plans. Their sweeping program and the measures they were prepared to use, and did use, could be fully accomplished neither through the machinery of the Government nor of the Party. Things had to be done for which no agency of Government and no political party, even the Nazi Party, would openly take full responsibility. A specialized type of apparatus was needed, an apparatus which was to some extent connected with the Government and given official support but which, at the same time, could maintain a quasi-independent status, so that all its acts could be attributed neither to the Government nor to the Party as a whole. The SS was that apparatus.

Like the SA, it was one of the seven components or formations of the Nazi Party referred to in the “Decree on the Enforcement of the Law for Securing the Unity of Party and State” of 29 March 1935, published in the _Reichsgesetzblatt_ for that year, Part I, Page 503. That decree will be found in our Document 1725-PS. I shall not read it. I assume that the Court will take judicial notice of it. The status of the SS, however, was above that of the other formations. As the plans of the conspirators progressed, it acquired new functions, new responsibilities, and an increasingly more important place in the regime. It developed during the course of the conspiracy into a highly complex machine, the most powerful in the Nazi State, spreading its tentacles into every field of Nazi activity.

The evidence which I shall present will be directed, first, towards showing very briefly the origin and early development of the SS; second, how it was organized, that is, its structure and its component parts; third, the basic principles governing the selection of its members and the obligations they undertook; and finally, its aims and the means used to accomplish them, the manner in which it carried out the purposes of the conspirators, and thus is a responsible participant in the crimes alleged in the Indictment.

The history, organization, and publicly announced functions of the SS are not controversial matters. They are not matters to be learned only from secret files and captured documents. They were recounted in many publications circulated widely throughout Germany and the world, official books of the Nazi Party itself and books, pamphlets, and speeches by SS and State officials published with SS and Party approval. Throughout the presentation of the case I shall frequently refer to five or six such publications, translations of which—in whole or in part—appear in the document books. Although I shall quote portions of them, I shall not attempt to read them all in full, since I assume that the contents of such authoritative publications may be judicially noticed by the Tribunal.

Now to take up the origin of the SS. The first aim of the conspirators—as the evidence already presented to the Court has shown—was to gain a foothold in politically hostile territory, to acquire mastery of the streets, and to combat any and all opponents with force. For that purpose they needed their own private, personal police organization. Evidence has just been introduced in the case against the SA, showing how that organization was created to fill such a role. But the SA was outlawed in 1923. When Nazi Party activity was again resumed in 1925, the SA remained outlawed. To fill its place and to play the part of Hitler’s own personal police, small mobile groups known as protective squadrons (Schutzstaffeln) were created. This was the origin of the SS in 1925. With the reinstatement of the SA in 1926, the SS for the next few years ceased to play a major role. But it continued to exist as an organization within the SA, under its own leader, however, the Reichsführer SS. This early history of the SS is related in two of the authoritative publications to which I have referred: The first is a book by SS Standartenführer Gunter d’Alquen, entitled _Die SS_. This book, a pamphlet of some 30 pages, is an authoritative account of the history, mission, and organization of the SS, published in 1939. As indicated on its frontispiece, it was written at the direction of the Reichsführer SS, Heinrich Himmler. Its author, SS Standartenführer Gunter d’Alquen was the editor of the official SS publication _Das Schwarze Korps_. This book is our Document Number 2284-PS. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-438. The passage to which I refer will be found on Pages 6 and 7 of the original and on Page 1 of the translation.

I shall not now read that passage.

The second publication is an article by Himmler entitled, “Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police.” It was published in 1937 in a booklet containing a series of speeches or essays by important officials of the Party and the State—known as _National Political Course for the Armed Forces from 15 to 23 January 1937_. The article by Himmler, to which I refer, appears on Pages 137-161 of that pamphlet. Large extracts from it make up our Document Number 1992(a)-PS. I offer the essay by Himmler as Exhibit Number USA-439. The passage to which I referred appears on Page 137 of the original and Page 1 of the translation, our Document 1992(a)-PS. I shall have occasion to quote from both these publications, but with respect to this matter of history, I assume that these references to the pertinent passages in them are enough.

As early as 1929 the conspirators recognized that their plans required an organization in which the main principles of the Nazi system, specifically the racial principles, would not only be jealously guarded but would be carried to such extreme as to inspire or intimidate the rest of the population—an organization in which, also, there would be assured complete freedom on the part of the leaders and blind obedience on the part of the members. The SS was built up to meet this need. I quote from D’Alquen’s book, _Die SS_, at Page 7; this passage appears in our Document Number 2284-PS at Page 4 of the translation, Paragraph 4:

“On the 6th of January 1929 Adolf Hitler appointed his tested
comrade of long standing, Heinrich Himmler, as Reichsführer SS.
Heinrich Himmler assumed charge therewith of the entire
Schutzstaffel totalling at that time 280 men with the express
and particular order of the Führer to form this organization
into an elite troop of the Party, a troop dependable in every
circumstance.

“With this day the real history of the SS begins as it stands
before us today in all its deeper essential features, firmly
anchored in the National Socialist movement. For the SS and its
Reichsführer, Heinrich Himmler, its first SS man, have both
become inseparable in the course of these battle-filled years.”

Carrying out Hitler’s directive, Himmler proceeded to build up out of this small force of men an elite organization—to use D’Alquen’s words—composed of “the best physically . . . the most dependable, and the most faithful . . . men” in the Nazi movement. I read another passage from D’Alquen at Page 12 of the original, Page 6 of the translation, Paragraph 5:

“When the day of seizure of power had finally come, there were
52,000 SS men, who in this spirit bore the revolution in the
van, marched into the new state which they began helping to form
everywhere, in their stations and positions, in profession and
in service, and in all their essential tasks.”

The conspirators now had the machinery of government in their hands. The initial function of the SS—that of acting as private army and personal police force—was thus completed. But its mission had in fact really just begun. That mission is described in the _Organization Book of the NSDAP_ for 1943. The pages from that book dealing with the SS—Pages 417 to 428—are translated in our Document Number 2640-PS. The organization’s book has already been offered in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-323. The passage to which I refer appears on Page 417 of the original and on Page 1, Paragraph 2, of the translation:

“Missions. The original and most eminent duty of the SS is to
serve as the protectors of the Führer. By decree of the Führer
the sphere of duties has been enlarged to include the internal
security of the Reich.”

This new mission—protecting the internal security of the regime—was somewhat more colorfully defined by Himmler in his pamphlet _The SS as an Anti-Bolshevist Fighting Organization_, published in 1936. It is our Document Number 1851-PS. I offer this document in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-440. The definition to which I refer appears in the original at the bottom of Page 29 of the original, on the third page of the translation, middle of the paragraph:

“We shall unremittingly fulfill our task, the guaranty of the
security of Germany from the interior, just as the Wehrmacht
guarantees the safety of the honor, the greatness, and the peace
of the Reich from the exterior. We shall take care that never
again in Germany, the heart of Europe, will the
Jewish-Bolshevistic revolution of sub-humans be able to be
kindled either from within or through emissaries from without.
Without pity we shall be a merciless sword of justice for all
those forces whose existence and activity we know, on the day of
the slightest attempt, may it be today, may it be in decades or
may it be in centuries.”

This conception necessarily required an extension of the duties of the SS into many fields. It involved, of course, the performance of police functions. But it involved more. It required participation in the suppression and extermination of all internal opponents of the regime. It meant participation in extending the regime beyond the borders of Germany; and therefore came to mean eventually participation in every type of activity designed to secure a hold over those territories and populations which, through military conquest, had come under German domination.

The expansion of SS duties and activities resulted in the creation of several branches and numerous departments and the eventual development of a highly complex machinery. Those various branches and departments cannot be adequately described out of the context of their history. That description I hope will emerge fully as evidence of the activities of the SS is presented. But it may be appropriate to anticipate; and at this point, to say a word about the structure of the SS.

For this purpose, a glance at a chart depicting the organization of the SS as it appeared in 1945 may be helpful. There are being handed to the Tribunal small copies of this chart, two in English, one in French and one in Russian. In addition, there are handed eight larger copies of the chart in the original German, bearing on it the photostat of the affidavit of Gottlob Berger, formerly Chief of the SS Main Office, who examined the chart and stated that it correctly represented the organization of the SS.

I now offer in evidence the chart of the Supreme and Regional Command of the SS, as Exhibit Number USA-445.

At the very top of the chart is Himmler, the Reichsführer SS, who commanded the entire organization. Immediately below—running across the chart and down the right hand side, embraced within the heavy line—are the 12 main departments constituting the Supreme Command of the SS. Some of these departments have been broken down into the several offices of which they were composed, as indicated by the boxes beneath them. Other departments have not been so broken down. It is not intended to indicate that there were not subdivisions of these latter departments as well. The breakdown is shown only in those cases where the constituent offices of some department may have a particular significance in this case.

These departments and their functions are described in two official Nazi publications. The first is the _Organization Book of the NSDAP_ for 1943, our Document Number 2640-PS, already introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-323. The description, which I shall not read now, appears on Pages 419-422 of the original and Pages 2 to 4 of the translation. The second is an SS manual, which bears the title, _The Soldier Friend-Pocket Diary for the German Armed Forces—Edition D, Waffen-SS_. It was prepared at the direction of the Reichsführer SS and issued by the SS Main Office for the year ending 1942. It is our Document Number 2825-PS. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-441. The description to which I refer appears on Pages 20 to 22 of the original and Pages 1 and 2 of the translation. I will later have occasion to read the description of the functions of some of the departments in full. But I assume that the Court will take judicial notice of the entire passages to which I have referred. In addition, the departments are listed in a directory of the SS, published by one of the main departments of the SS. This document was found in the files of the Personal Staff of the Reichsführer SS, the first department from the left of the chart. It is entitled _Directory for the Schutzstaffel of the NSDAP_, 1 November 1944. It is marked “restricted” and bears the notation “Published by SS Führungshauptamt,” (Command Office of the General SS), which is the fifth box from the left. It is our Document Number 2769-PS. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-442. It is simply a list of the names of the departments and offices with their addresses and telephone numbers, and corroborates the statements in the two earlier publications to which I referred.

Returning now to the chart—following down the central spine from the Reichsführer SS to the regional level—we come to the Higher SS and Police Leader, commonly known as HSSPF, the Supreme SS Commander in each region. I shall refer to his functions at a later point. Immediately below him is the breakdown of the organization of the Allgemeine or General SS. To the left are indicated two other branches of the SS—the Death’s-Head Units (Totenkopf Verbände) and the Waffen-SS. To the right, under the HSSPF, is the SD. All of these components, together with the SS Police regiments, are specifically named in the Indictment—Appendix B, Page 36—as being included in the SS.

Now a word as to these components. Up to 1933 there were no such specially designated branches. The SS was a single group—a group of “volunteer political soldiers.” It was out of this original nucleus that the new units developed.

The Allgemeine, that is, General SS, was the common basis, the main stem, out of which the various branches grew. It was composed of all members of the SS who did not belong to any of the special branches.

It was the backbone of the entire organization. The personnel and officers of the main departments of the SS Supreme Command were members of this branch. Except for high ranking officers and those in staff capacities in the main offices of the SS Supreme Command, its members were part-time volunteers. As the evidence will show, its members were utilized in about every phase of SS activity. They were called upon in the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1938; they took over the task of guarding concentration camps during the war; they participated in the colonization and resettlement program. In short, the term “SS” normally meant the General SS.

It was organized on military lines as will be seen from the chart, ranging from district (Oberabschnitt) and sub-district (Abschnitt) down through the regiment, battalion, company, to the platoon. Until after the beginning of the war it constituted numerically the largest branch of the SS. In 1939 D’Alquen, the official SS spokesman, said, and I quote from his book, our Document Number 2284-PS, Page 9, Paragraph 3, of the English translation, and Page 18 of the original document:

“The strength of the General SS, 240,000 men, is subdivided
today into 14 corps, 38 divisions, 104 infantry regiments, 19
mounted regiments, 14 communication battalions, and 9 engineer
battalions, as well as motorized and medical units. This General
SS stands fully and wholly on call as in the fighting
years. . . .”

Similar reference to the military organization of the General SS will be found in Himmler’s speech, “Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police,” our Document Number 1992(a)-PS, at Page 4 of the translation, and in the _Organization Book of the NSDAP_ for 1943, our Document Number 2640-PS, at Pages 4 and 5 of the translation.

Members of this branch, however, with the exception of certain staff personnel, were subject to compulsory military service. As the result of the draft of members of the General SS of military age into the Army, the numerical strength of presently active members considerably declined during the war. Older SS men and those working in or holding high positions in the main departments of the Supreme Command of the SS remained. Its entire strength during the war was probably not in excess of 40,000 men.

The second component to be mentioned is the Security Service of the Reichsführer SS, almost always referred to as the SD. Himmler described it in his speech, “Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police”—our Document Number 1992(a)-PS. I quote a passage from Page 8, last paragraph of the translation, Page 151 of the original, Paragraph 3:

“I now come to the Security Service (SD); it is the great
ideological intelligence service of the Party and, in the long
run, also that of the State. During the time of struggle for
power it was only the intelligence service of the SS. At that
time we had, for quite natural reasons, an intelligence service
with the regiments, battalions and companies.”—I interpolate;
he refers there to the regiments, battalions and companies of
the General SS.—“We had to know what was going on on the
opponent’s side, whether the Communists intended to hold up a
meeting today or not, whether our people were to be suddenly
attacked or not, and similar things. I separated this service
already in 1931 from the troops—”

I note that it appears in the mimeographed translation as 1941; but, as will appear from a passage on the next pages of the translation, it was 1931 to which he was referring.

“. . . from the units of the General SS, because I considered it
to be wrong. For one thing, secrecy is endangered, then the
individual men, or even the companies, are too likely to discuss
everyday political problems.”

Although, as Himmler put it, the SD was only the intelligence service of the SS during the years preceding the accession of the Nazis to power, it became a much more important organization promptly thereafter. It had been developed into such a powerful scientific espionage system under its chief, Reinhard Heydrich, that on 9 June 1934, just a few weeks before the bloody purge of the SA, it was made by decree of the Defendant Hess, the sole intelligence and counter-intelligence agency of the entire Nazi Party. I refer in support of that statement to D’Alquen’s book, _Die SS_, our Document Number 2284-PS, at Page 11 of the translation. I shall not pause to quote that passage. The organization and numbers of the SD, as they stood in 1937, were thus described by Himmler—I quote again from his article, “Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police,” our Document Number 1992(a)-PS, at Page 9 of the translation, second paragraph, Page 151 of the original, Paragraph 4:

“The Security Service was already separated from the troop in
1931 and separately organized. Its higher headquarters coincide
today with the Oberabschnitte and Abschnitte”—I refer to the
Abschnitte and Oberabschnitte indicated on the chart—“and it
has also field offices, its own organization of officials, and a
great many command posts, approximately 3,000 to 4,000 men
strong, at least when it is built up.”

Up to 1939 its headquarters was the SS Main Security Office (Sicherheitshauptamt) which, as I shall shortly show, became amalgamated in 1939 in the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) one of the SS main departments shown on the chart before you—the sixth box from the left.

The closer and closer collaboration of the SD with the Gestapo and Criminal Police—which eventually resulted in the creation of this RSHA—and the activities in which the SD engaged in partnership with the Gestapo will be taken up in the presentation of the case against the Gestapo. The SD was, of course, at all times an integral and important component of the SS. But it is more practicable to deal with it in connection with the activities of the whole repressive police system with which it functioned.

The third component to be mentioned is the Waffen-SS—the combat arm of the SS—created, trained, and finally utilized for purposes of aggressive war. The reason underlying the creation of this combat branch was described in our Document Number 2640-PS, the _Organization Book of the Nazi Party_ for 1943. It appears on Page 427a of the original, Page 5, Paragraph 7 of the translation:

“The armed SS originated out of the thought: to create for the
Führer a selected, long-service troop for the fulfillment of
special missions. It should make it possible for members of the
General SS, as well as for volunteers who fulfill the special
requirements of the SS, to fight in the battle for the
realization of the National Socialist idea with weapon in hand
in unified groups partly within the framework of the Army.”

The term “Waffen-SS” did not come into use until after the beginning of the war. Up to that time there were two branches of the SS composed of full-time, well-trained, professional soldiers: The so-called SS Verfügungstruppe, translatable perhaps as SS Emergency Troops, and the SS Totenkopf Verbände (the Death’s-Head Units). After the beginning of the war, the units of the SS Verfügungstruppe were brought up to division strength, and new divisions were added to them. Parts of the SS Death’s-Head Units were formed into a division, the SS Totenkopf Division. All these divisions then came to be known collectively as the Waffen-SS.

Let me now trace that development. I quote again from the _Organization Book of the Nazi Party_ for 1943, our Document Number 2640-PS, Page 427b of the original, Page 5, last paragraph of the translation:

“The origin of the Waffen-SS goes back to the decree of 17 March
1933 establishing the Stabswache with the original strength of
120 men. Out of this small group developed the later-called SS
Verfügungstruppe,”—SS Emergency Force—

“the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. In the course of the war,
these groups grew into divisions.”

THE PRESIDENT: Major Farr, is it necessary to go into this degree of detail about the organization of the SS?

MAJOR FARR: Sir, it seemed to me that it is highly important to know exactly what the organization with which we are dealing is. There has been, I understand, a suggestion made to the Court that certain portions of this organization are not criminal. It is contended by some that the part they played was a perfectly innocuous one; and it seems to me that before we can determine whether the organization as a whole is criminal, whether any portion of it is severable, then we must know what the organization is.

THE PRESIDENT: Wouldn’t it be possible to leave that question to evidence in rebuttal, if the defendants are setting up that any particular branch of the SS is not criminal?

MAJOR FARR: If we adequately lay the basis for our case now, it may not be necessary for us to make any rebuttal. We may satisfy the defendants that there is nothing to the contention that any portion of the SS is a lawful portion. The point I am particularly trying to make now is: There has been a good deal of contention that the Waffen-SS is severable; that whatever may be said, for example, about the SD or the Death’s-Head Units, the Waffen-SS is something different, the Waffen-SS is part of the Army. I think it is important to establish at the outset that the Waffen-SS is as much a part of the SS, as integral a part of the whole organization, as any of the other branches. I propose, therefore, to show the development of the Waffen-SS, growing out of the SS Emergency Troops, and to call to the attention of the Tribunal evidence showing how the Waffen-SS is an integral part of the SS as a whole.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you must take your own course.

MAJOR FARR: The Verfügungstruppe were described in a top-secret Hitler order dated the 17th of August 1938. It is our Document Number 647-PS. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-443. That document will be found in Volume I of the document book. I quote from Section II of that order, which appears on Page 2 of the translation at the top the page and also on Page 2 of the original:

“II. The Armed Units of the SS.

“A. The SS Verfügungstruppe.

“1. The SS Verfügungstruppe is neither a part of the Wehrmacht
nor a part of the police. It is a standing armed unit
exclusively at my disposal. As such and as a unit of the NSDAP,
its members are to be selected by the Reichsführer SS according
to the ideological and political standards which I have ordered
for the NSDAP and for the Schutzstaffeln. Its members are to be
trained and its ranks filled with volunteers from those who are
subject to military service, having finished their duties in the
obligatory labor service. The service period for volunteers is 4
years. It may be prolonged for SS Unterführer. Special
regulations are in force for SS leaders. The regular compulsory
military service (Paragraph 8 of the law relating to military
service) is fulfilled by service of the same duration in the SS
Verfügungstruppe.”

I want to quote a further short passage from that decree which will be found on Page 3 of the translation in the middle of the page and on Page 5 of the original order:

“III. Orders in case of Mobilization.

“A. The employment of the SS Verfügungstruppe in case of
mobilization is a double one.

“1. By the Supreme Commander of the Army within the wartime
army. In that case it comes completely under military laws and
regulations, but remains a unit of the NSDAP politically.

“2. In case of necessity in the interior according to my orders;
in that case it is under the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the
German Police.

“In case of mobilization I myself will make the decision about
the time, strength, and manner of the incorporation of the SS
Verfügungstruppe into the wartime army; these things will depend
on the internal political situation at that time.”

Immediately after the issuance of this decree—and the Court will recall it was issued in August of 1938—this militarized force was employed with the Army for aggressive purposes—the taking over of the Sudetenland. Following this action feverish preparation to motorize the force and to organize new units such as antitank, machine gun, and reconnaissance battalions were undertaken pursuant to further directives of the Führer. By September 1939 the force was fully motorized; its units had been increased to division strength and it was prepared for combat. These steps are described in the _National Socialist Yearbook_ for the years 1940 and 1941. I offer in evidence Pages 365 to 371 of the 1940 yearbook. It is our Document Number 2164-PS. It bears Exhibit Number USA-255. I offer Pages 191 to 193 of the 1941 yearbook, which is our Document Number 2163-PS, as Exhibit Number USA-444. Since the yearbook is an official publication of the Nazi Party, edited by Reichsleiter Robert Ley and published by the Nazi Party publishing company, I assume that the Court will take judicial notice of the contents of these exhibits.

After the launching of the Polish invasion and as the war progressed, still further divisions were added. The _Organization Book of the Nazi Party_ for 1943, our Document Number 2640-PS, lists some eight divisions and two infantry brigades as existing at the end of 1942. I refer to Page 427b of the original, Page 5, last paragraph of the translation. This was no longer an emergency force. It was an SS army and hence came to be designated as the Waffen-SS. Himmler referred to this spectacular development of this SS combat branch in his speech at Posen on 4 October 1943 to SS Gruppenführer. That speech has already been introduced in evidence at an earlier stage in the case, as Exhibit Number USA-170. It is our Document Number 1919-PS.

I shall quote from that speech, Page 51 of the original, Page 2 of the translation, second paragraph, headed “The SS in Wartime.” I quote:

“Now I come to our own development, to that of the SS in the
past months. Looking back on the whole war, this development was
fantastic. It took place at an absolutely terrific speed. Let us
look back a little to 1939. At that time we were a few
regiments, guard units, 8,000 to 9,000 strong—that is, not even
a division, all in all 25,000 to 28,000 men at the outside.
True, we were armed, but we really only got our artillery
regiment as our heavy arm 2 months before the war began.”

I continue, quoting from the same speech a passage found on Page 8 of the English translation and on Page 104 of the original. The passage in the translation appears at about the middle of the page.

“In the hard battles of this year, the Waffen-SS has been welded
together in the bitterest hours from the most varied divisions
and sections out of which it was formed: Bodyguard
units”—Leibstandarte—“military
SS”—Verfügungstruppe—“Death’s-Head Units, and then the
Germanic SS. Now when our Divisions ‘Reich,’ ‘Death’s-Head,’ the
Cavalry Division, and ‘Viking’ were together, everyone knew in
these last weeks: ‘Viking’ is at my side, ‘Reich’ is at my side,
‘Death’s-Head’ is at my side. Thank God, now nothing can happen
to us.”

The transformation of small emergency forces into a combat army did not result in a separation of this branch from the SS.

Although tactically under the command of the Wehrmacht while in the field, it remained as much a part of the SS as any other branch of the organization. Throughout the war it was recruited, trained, administered, and supplied by the main offices of the SS Supreme Command. Ideologically and racially its members were selected in conformity with SS standards.

I shall read a passage relating to the recruiting standards of the Waffen-SS published in the SS Manual, _The Soldier Friend_, our Document Number 2825-PS, which appears on Page 7 of the English translation, first paragraph on Page 36, Paragraph 2 of the original. I quote:

“Today at last is the longed-for day of the entrance
examinations where the examiners and physicians decide whether
or not the candidate is ideologically and physically qualified
to do service in the Waffen-SS. Everyone has acquainted himself
with the comprehensive Manual for the Waffen-SS . . . the
principal points are as follows: ‘1. Service in the Waffen-SS
counts as military service. Only volunteers are accepted.’”

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What is the purpose of reading all this evidence? What has what you just read got to do with what you are presenting?

MAJOR FARR: Sir, I want to prove, as I said a moment ago, one thing first: that the Waffen-SS is an integral, component part of the SS. I want to establish that it is completely administered and controlled by the Supreme Command of the SS. That is one thing.

The second thing I want to prove is this: that service in the Waffen-SS is voluntary service just as membership in the Allgemeine SS or Death’s-Head Units is voluntary service. It is true that there were some instances towards the close of the war when a few men were conscripted into the Waffen-SS but that was the exception and not the rule. In quoting from the recruiting standards of the Waffen-SS appearing in this booklet, which was published in 1942 and which indicate that at that time service in the Waffen-SS was open only to volunteers, I think I am serving the purpose of proving one of the two points which I think ought to be established.

I want to read, if I may, one further paragraph from that translation. I shall read the paragraph indicating that service is voluntary. Now I want to read the third requirement, which shows that service was open only to persons who could meet the ideological and other standards of the SS as a whole.

If the Tribunal is satisfied on the point that service in the Waffen-SS is essentially voluntary and that the Waffen-SS is an integral part of the SS, I do not want to impose further by reading further evidence.

THE PRESIDENT: I think the Tribunal is satisfied on both those points, up to the present time, that it is voluntary and is an integral part of the SS.

MAJOR FARR: If the Court is satisfied on both those points, I shall not pursue, any further, the introduction of this particular evidence.

THE PRESIDENT: It may, as you say, be possible to show that there were some members conscripted into it at a later date, but we have not had that evidence yet.

MAJOR FARR: No, Your Honor, you have not.

All I want to show is that the normal thing is that it is voluntary and that the Waffen-SS is an integral part of the whole organization. If the Court is completely satisfied on that point I shall proceed no further with the description of the Waffen-SS.

I shall pass on now then, to a description of the SS Totenkopf Verbände (the Death’s-Head Units), which are the fourth component to be mentioned.

The origin and purpose of the Totenkopf-Verbände were succinctly described by D’Alquen in his book, _Die SS_, our Document Number 2284-PS. I shall read from Page 10 of the English translation, Paragraph 5, a passage that appears on Page 20 of the original, Paragraph 3:

“The SS Death’s-Head Units form one part of the garrisoned SS.
They arose from volunteers of the General SS who were recruited
for the guarding of concentration camps in 1933. Their mission,
aside from the indoctrination of the armed political soldier, is
the guarding of enemies of the state who are held in
concentration camps. The SS Death’s-Head Units obligate their
members to 12 years’ service. They are composed mainly of men
who have already fulfilled their duty to serve in the Wehrmacht.
This time of service is counted toward the service obligation in
the SS Death’s-Head Units.”

Since the Death’s-Head Units—like the SS Verfügungstruppe—were composed of well-trained professional soldiers, they were also a valuable nucleus for the Waffen-SS. The secret Hitler order of 17 August 1938, Document Number 647-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence, provided for the tasks of the SS Totenkopf Verbände in the event of mobilization. The Totenkopf Verbände were to be relieved from the duty of guarding concentration camps and transferred as a skeleton corps to the SS Verfügungstruppe. I quote from that order, a passage found on Page 5 of the translation, Paragraph 4; Page 9 of the original. I quote:

“5) Regulations for the case of the Mobilization.

“The SS Totenkopf Verbände form the skeleton corps for the
reinforcement of the SS Totenkopf Verbände (Polizeiverstärkung)
and will be replaced in the guarding of concentration camps by
members of the General SS who are over 45 years of age and have
had military training.”

If I may point out to the Court, the purpose in offering that bit of evidence is to show that the foundation was laid for having the Allgemeine SS (the General SS) take over the duties of guarding concentration camps after the war had started. The Totenkopf Verbände were originally created for that purpose. When the war came they went into the Waffen-SS and their duties were taken over by members of the General SS.

The final component which was specifically referred to in the Indictment is the SS police regiments. I shall very shortly turn to the steps by which the SS assumed control over the entire Reich police. Out of the police special militarized forces were formed originally known as SS police battalions and later expanded to SS Police Regiments.

I shall quote from Himmler’s Posen speech, our Document Number 1919-PS, Page 3 of the translation, next to the last paragraph; Page 59 of the original. I quote:

“Now to deal briefly with the tasks of the regular uniformed
police and the Sipo—they still cover the same field. I can see
that great things have been achieved. We have formed roughly 30
police regiments from police reservists and former members of
the police—police officials, as they used to be called. The
average age in our police battalions is not lower than that of
the security battalions of the Armed Forces. Their achievements
are beyond all praise. In addition, we have formed police rifle
regiments by merging the police battalions previously drawn up
of the ‘savage peoples.’ Thus, we did not leave these police
battalions untouched but blended them in the ratio of about 1 to
3.”

The results of this blend of militarized SS police and “savage peoples” will be seen in the evidence which I shall later introduce relating to extermination actions conducted by them in the Eastern Territories—exterminations which were so eminently successful and ruthlessly conducted that even Himmler could find no words adequate for their eulogy.

THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for 10 minutes.

[_A recess was taken._]

MAJOR FARR: Each of the various components which I have described played its part in carrying out one or more functions of the SS. The personnel composing each differed. Some were part-time volunteers; others professionals enlisted for different periods of time. But every branch, every department, every member, was an integral part of the whole organization. Each performed his assigned role in the manifold tasks for which the organization had been created. No better witness to this fact could be called upon than the Reichsführer SS whose every endeavor was to insure the complete unity of the organization. I quote his words, taken from his Posen speech, our Document 1919-PS, Exhibit Number USA-170. I read from Page 103 of the original, third line from the bottom of the page, from the English translation, Page 8:

“It would be an evil day if the main offices, in performing
their tasks with the best, but mistaken, intentions made
themselves independent by each having a downward chain of
command. I really think that the day of my overthrow would be
the end of the SS. It must be, and so come about, that this SS
organization with all its branches—the General SS which is the
common basis of all of them, the Waffen-SS, the regular
uniformed police, the Sipo, with the whole economic
administration, schooling, ideological training, the whole
question of kindred is, even under the 10th Reichsführer SS, one
bloc, one body, one organization.”

And continuing about the middle of Page 8 of the translation and at the bottom of Page 104 of the original speech:

“The regular uniformed police and Sipo, General SS and
Waffen-SS, must now gradually amalgamate, too, just as this is
and must be the case within the Waffen-SS. This applies to
matters concerning filling of posts, recruiting, schooling,
economic organization, and medical services. I am always doing
something towards this end, a bond is constantly being drawn
around these sections of the whole to cause them to grow
together. Alas, if these bonds should ever be loosened, then
everything—you may be sure of this—would sink back quickly
into its old insignificance within one generation.”

I now turn to the underlying philosophy of the SS, the principles by which its members were selected and the obligations imposed upon them. To understand this organization the theories upon which it was based must be kept clearly in mind. They furnish the key to all its activities. It is necessary, therefore, to consider them in some detail.

The fundamental principle of selection was what Himmler called that of blood and elite. The SS was to be the living embodiment of the Nazi doctrine of the superiority of Nordic blood—the carrying into effect of the Nazi conception of a master race. To put it in Himmler’s own words the SS was to be a “National Socialist Soldier Order of Nordic Men.” In describing to the Wehrmacht the reasons behind his emphasis on racial standards of selection and the manner in which they were carried out he said—and I quote from our Document 1992(a)-PS, Page 1 of the translation, last paragraph, Page 138, Paragraph 1 of the original:

“Accordingly, only good blood, blood which history has proved to
be leading and creative and the foundation of every state and of
all military activities, only Nordic blood, can be considered. I
said to myself that should I succeed in selecting from the
German people for this organization as many people as possible,
a majority of whom possess this desired blood, in teaching them
military discipline and, in time, the understanding of the value
of blood and the entire ideology which results from it, then it
will be possible actually to create such an elite organization
which would successfully hold its own in all cases of
emergency.”

Further on, on Page 5 of the translation—I beg your pardon, on Page 4 of the translation, first line, Page 140 of the original, bottom paragraph, he says, referring to the method by which applicants were selected:

“They are very thoroughly examined and checked. Of 100 men we
can use on the average 10 or 15, no more. We ask for the
political record of his parents, brothers and sisters, the
record of his ancestry as far back as 1750, and naturally the
physical examination and his record from the Hitler Youth.
Further, we ask for a eugenic record showing that no hereditary
disease exists in his parents and in his family.”

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t seem to get the point of this. We have already been told that the SS was a _corps d’elite_, and all this is showing the details of the choice.

MAJOR FARR: That is correct; it is showing the details of the choice.

THE PRESIDENT: But that has nothing to do with its being a criminal organization, has it?

MAJOR FARR: I think it has, Your Honor. I want to make again, if I may, two points. The very essence of this organization was that of race. Its racial standards of selection had two purposes: One, making it an organization which would be an aristocracy not only for Germany, but which would be in a position to dominate all of Europe. For that purpose, not only were strict racial standards imposed for selection, but a great drive was made to perpetuate the SS stock, to build up a group of men who would be in a position to take over Europe when it was conquered.

There was nothing questionable about that aim. Himmler explicitly said time and time again: “What we are after is making ourselves the superclass which will be able to dominate Europe for centuries.” That was one of the fundamental purposes of the SS, and it was a purpose which was not kept by Himmler to himself, but a purpose which was explained and publicly announced again and again.

THE PRESIDENT: You haven’t yet shown us where it was announced, have you?

MAJOR FARR: I have not, Sir, and I am coming to that very shortly; but I wanted first to show Your Honor what the racial basis of selection was. That is, one aspect of the racial selective process. The second is this: The negative side of the racism. Not only did Himmler intend to build up an elite which would be able to take over Europe, but he indoctrinated that elite with hatred for all “inferior,” to use his word, races.

Now, I think unless it is clearly understood that that is the basis of the SS, we cannot understand the organization. I am quite prepared, if the Tribunal desires, not to go further into a discussion of the detail of the process of selection. I do think it important that I quote Himmler’s own statement—what his aims were. And also I quote to the Tribunal the publicly announced basis for selection.

With the Tribunal’s permission then, I would like to quote one passage from the _Organization Book_ for the Nazi Party, which explains the racial basis on which the SS was founded. That is our Document Number 2640-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-323. I quote from Page 417 of the German text and from Page 1 of the translation, fourth paragraph, entitled “Selection of Members.” And I quote this because this is not a hidden pronouncement. This is what the official Nazi Party publication said the SS was:

“Selection of members.

“For the fulfillment of these missions a homogeneous, firmly
welded fighting force has been created, bound by ideological
oaths, whose fighters are selected out of the best Aryan
humanity.

“The conception of the value of the blood and soil serves as
directive for the selection into the SS. Every SS man must be
deeply imbued with the sense and essence of the National
Socialist movement. He will be ideologically and physically
trained so that he can be employed individually or in groups in
the decisive battle for the National Socialist ideology.

“Only the best and thoroughbred Germans are suited for
commitment in this battle. Therefore it is necessary that an
uninterrupted selection is maintained within the ranks of the
SS, first roughly, then with more and more scrutiny.”

Now I would like to proceed to quote a paragraph on the same page, three paragraphs down, with respect to obedience. It appears on Page 418 of the original, second paragraph. I quote:

“Obedience is unconditionally demanded. It arises from the
conviction that the National Socialist ideology must reign. He
who possesses it and passionately supports it, submits himself
voluntarily to the compulsion of obedience. Therefore, the SS
man is prepared to carry out blindly every order which comes
from the Führer or is given by one of his superiors even if it
demands the greatest sacrifice of himself.”

There are stated the two fundamental principles of the SS: (1) racial selection, (2) blind obedience.

Now, let me state what Himmler conceived that this organization was to be used for. I quote from his address to the officers of the SS Leibstandarte “Adolf Hitler” on the Day of Metz, our Document Number 1918-PS, Exhibit Number USA-304. I quote from Page 12 of the original document, the middle of the page, from the translation Page 3, last paragraph. I will begin the translation with the third sentence of that paragraph:

“The ultimate aim for these 11 years during which I have been
the Reichsführer SS has invariably been the same: To create an
order of good blood which is able to serve Germany, which
unfailingly and without sparing itself can be made use of
because the greatest losses can do no harm to the vitality of
this order, the vitality of these men, because they will always
be replaced; to create an order which will spread the idea of
Nordic blood so far that we will attract all Nordic blood in the
world, take away the blood from our adversaries, absorb it so
that never again—looking at it from the viewpoint of the grand
policy—will Nordic Germanic blood in great quantities and to an
extent worth mentioning fight against us. We must get it and the
others cannot have it. We never gave up the ideas and the aim
conceived so many years ago. Everything we have done has taken
us some distance further on the way. Everything we are going to
do will lead us further on the way.”