Chapter XII: Part I: , Page 713 (4)

Now, one further quotation from the same document, which shows very explicitly why there was the building up of this order of Nordic blood, appears on Page 3 of the translation, the same document from which I have just quoted, about the middle of the first paragraph. It appears on Page 11 of the original speech, about the middle of the page. That is the speech to the officers of the SS Leibstandarte “Adolf Hitler”:

“Please understand we would not be able to hold the great
Germanic Reich which is about to take shape. I am convinced that
we can hold it, but we have to prepare for that. If once we have
not enough sons, those who come after us will have to become
cowards. A nation which has an average of four sons per family
can venture a war; if two of them die, two transmit the name.
The leadership of a nation having one or two sons per family
will have to be faint-hearted in any decision, on account of
their own experience, because they will have to tell themselves:
We cannot afford it. Look at France, which is the best example.
France had to have her line of action dictated by us.”

Domination of Europe through a Nazi elite required more, however, than a positive side of racism . . .

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Is that one of the crimes you allege, domination of Europe through an elite?

MAJOR FARR: One of the crimes alleged is a conspiracy to dominate Europe, preparation for aggressive war, leading to the ultimate colonization of Europe for the benefit of the conspirators. One of the instruments, we submit, used for carrying out that policy was the SS. The conspirators began at the very beginning the creation of the SS, to build it up so that it would be the elite through which Germany would be able to dominate and rule the conquered territories.

We think that this conception of the SS has played a vital part in the conspiracy. It has bearing on the whole program of the conspirators. Now, this certainly, in itself . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but, Major Farr, what you have to show is not the criminality of the people who used the weapon but the criminality of the people who composed the weapon.

MAJOR FARR: I think I have to show two things, certainly the criminality of the persons who composed the weapons, but it seems to me I must also show that that weapon played a part in the conspiracy because the Indictment alleges . . .

THE PRESIDENT: I should have thought you had shown that over and over again, that the SS were a part of the weapon. If there was a criminal conspiracy, then the SS were one of the weapons which were used by the conspirators. But what you have got to show in this part of the case is that the persons who formed that weapon were criminal and knew of the criminal objects of the SS.

MAJOR FARR: I quite agree I have to show that. I suppose I have to show, before showing that the persons involved knew of the criminal aims of the organization, what those criminal aims were. I was simply attempting to show the Tribunal that one of those aims which I submit as criminal was a plan to dominate Europe, and that the SS was one of the means by which that was to be done.

Now, this is just one aspect of the SS criminality. I am quite ready not to proceed any further with the point if the Court already has the point, and thinks that the evidence of that aspect of its criminality is sufficient. I certainly do not want to labor the point too hard.

I now proceed further with the point as to the building up of the SS as a racial elite to take over; but I do think one other thing is important, and that is the negative side of that racism: the hatred for other races. And Himmler made some very striking points along that line as to what the SS was to be taught. I quote from his Posen speech, that is, our Document 1919-PS. The passage in question appears on Page 23 of the original speech, middle of the page, and will be found on Page 1 of the English translation, third paragraph. I quote:

“One basic principle must be the absolute rule for the SS man.
We must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of
our own blood and to nobody else. What happens to a Russian, to
a Czech, does not interest me in the slightest.”

The next few sentences from that same paragraph have already been read into evidence, and I shall not repeat them. But I do want to quote, in the same paragraph, the conclusion that Himmler draws from what he just said. This sentence is about seven lines from the bottom of the paragraph, beginning:

“That is what I want to instill into this SS and what I believe
I have instilled in them as one of the most sacred laws of the
future.”

Now these principles—that is, the conception of being an elite which was to take over Europe and the conception of hatred towards inferior races, which was instilled in the SS—these were principles which were publicly reiterated over and over again so that the newest recruit was thoroughly steeped in them.

I quote from Himmler’s Kharkov speech, which appears in the same Document 1919-PS.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Can’t you just give us the meaning of the speech without quoting from it; can you just refer to it?

MAJOR FARR: I will be very glad to do that, if the Court will take judicial notice of it. I will refer you to the passage I have in mind. The passage in question appears on Page 14 of the translation, about 15 lines from the bottom of the page; it appears on Page 17 of the original, at about the middle of the page.

In that passage, after having talked at great length about the racial struggle, Himmler tells his commanding officers—and he is making this speech to the commanding officers of three divisions of the Waffen-SS—he tells his officers that the thing which he wants so thoroughly instilled into every recruit in the organization that he becomes saturated with it, is the necessity of the SS standing firm and carrying on the racial struggle without mercy.

On the same point one further quotation—if the Tribunal will bear with me—and I think this is important because this, again, is a public quotation, found in the _Organization Book_ of the Party. That is our Document Number 2640-PS. It is a very short passage, appearing on Page 418 of the original and Page 1 of the English translation, the third paragraph from the end of the page in the translation:

“He openly and unrelentingly fights the most dangerous enemies
of the State: Jews, Freemasons, Jesuits, and political
clergymen.”

Now these were the fundamental principles of the SS: racial superiority and blind obedience. A necessary corollary of these two principles was ruthlessness. The evidence that we will introduce on these activities will show how successfully the SS learned the lesson it was taught.

The SS had to, and did, develop a reputation for terror which was carefully cultivated. Himmler himself publicly attested it as early as 1936 in his pamphlet, _The SS as an Anti-Bolshevist Fighting Organization_, our Document 1851-PS, which has already been introduced into evidence as Exhibit Number USA-440. I quote two sentences which appear at Page 29 of the original pamphlet and on Page 4 of the translation, the first two sentences:

“I know that there are some people in Germany who become sick
when they see these black coats. We understand the reason for
this and do not expect that we shall be loved by too many.”

The role which the SS was required to play demanded that it remain constantly the essence of Nazism and that its elite quality should never be diluted.

As evidence that even in 1943 the SS standards were still being maintained, I offer in evidence a letter written to the Defendant Kaltenbrunner by Himmler. This letter is our Document Number 2768-PS. It is a letter from the Reichsführer SS, written at his field command post and bearing the date 24 April 1943. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-447. I quote from the first paragraph of that letter:

“Referring again to the matter which we discussed some time
ago—that is, the admission of Sipo officials into the SS—I
wish to clarify again: I want an admission only if the following
conditions, are fulfilled:

“1. If the man applies freely and voluntarily;

“2. If, by applying strict and peace-time standards, the
applicant fits racially and ideologically into the SS,
guarantees according to the number of his children a really
healthy SS stock, and is neither ill, degenerate, nor
worthless.”

Then, continuing with the third paragraph:

“I beg you not only to act accordingly in the future, but
especially also that numerous admissions into the ranks of the
SS in the past be re-examined and revised according to these
instructions.”

Now I have appended this to indicate to the Tribunal the normal manner in which a man became a member of the SS. That is discussed by Himmler in our Document 1992(a)-PS, at Page 142 of the original and Page 5 of the translation. If the Court thinks that it can take judicial notice of that passage, I shall not venture to read it. What it does is to describe how a young man comes into the SS normally, at the age of 18, serves an apprenticeship and receives his instructions in SS ideology, takes the SS oath, receives the SS dagger, and how long he remains in the General SS. I will not venture to read that paragraph, since I assume that the Court will take judicial notice of it.

I do think it may be worth quoting the very brief oath which the SS man takes. That oath is quoted in the Waffen-SS recruiting pamphlet, entitled _The SS Calls You_, our Document Number 3429-PS, which I offer in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-446. The oath appears on Page 18 of that pamphlet, and on Page 2 of the translation, in the middle of the page. I quote the oath:

“The Oath of the SS Man:

“I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as Führer and Reich Chancellor,
loyalty and bravery; I vow to you, and to those you have named
to command me, obedience unto death, so help me God.”

I turn now to a consideration of the activities of the SS, the manner in which it carried out the purposes of the conspirators and performed its function of guarding the internal security of the Nazi regime. The proof of the elite Nazi quality and thorough reliability of the SS—the test by which it won its spurs—occurred on June 30, 1934, when it participated in the purge of the SA and other opponents or potential opponents of the Nazi regime. That was the first real occasion for the use of this specialized organization which could operate with the blessing of the Nazi State, but outside the law.

I offer in evidence an affidavit by the Defendant Wilhelm Frick, signed and sworn to here in Nuremberg on 19 November 1945. It is our Document Number 2950-PS. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-448. I shall quote a portion of that affidavit, beginning about the middle of the first paragraph of the affidavit, the 10th line in the original. I quote:

“Many people were killed—I don’t know how many—who actually
did not have anything to do with the Putsch. People who just
weren’t liked very well were killed, as for instance,
Schleicher, the former Reich Chancellor. Schleicher’s wife was
also killed; as was Gregor Strasser, who had been the
Reichsleiter and second man in the Party after Hitler. Strasser,
at the time he was murdered, was not active in political affairs
any more. However, he was against the Führer in the elections of
November 1932. The SS was used by Himmler for the execution of
these orders to suppress the Putsch.”

It was in recognition of its services in this respect that the SS was elevated to the status of being a component of the Party equal in rank to the SA, and other similar ranking. I ask the Court to take judicial notice of a passage which appears on Page 1 of the _Völkischer Beobachter_ of July 26, 1934. It is our Document Number 1857-PS, Exhibit USA-412. I shall read the translation of that passage, which is very brief:

“The Reich Press office of the NSDAP announces the following
order of the Führer:

“In consideration of the great meritorious service of the SS,
especially in connection with the events of 30 June 1934, I
elevate it to the standing of an independent organization within
the NSDAP. The Reichsführer SS, like the Chief of Staff, is,
therefore, directly subordinate to the highest SA leader.”

By its action on June 30th, the SS proved itself. It was, therefore, the type of organization which the conspirators wanted for the first necessary step in their program, the acquisition of control over the police, because one of the first steps essential to the security of any regime is control of the police. The aim of the conspirators was to fuse the SS and the police; to merge them into a single, unified, repressive force.

I turn now to the consideration of the development whereby the SS and the police became intermingled. Shortly after the seizure of power the conspirators began to develop, as a part of the State machinery, secret political police forces, originating in Prussia in the Gestapo established by decree of the Defendant Göring in 1933; and this development will be dealt with in the case against the Gestapo. By 1934 the Reichsführer SS had become the chief of these secret political police forces in all the states of Germany except Prussia, and deputy chief of the Prussian Gestapo. In that capacity he infiltrated these forces with members of the SS until a virtual identity of membership of the SS and the Gestapo was achieved.

On 17 June 1936, by the “Decree on the Establishment of a Chief of the German Police,” published in the _Reichsgesetzblatt_ for 1936, Part I, Pages 487 and 488, our Document Number 2073-PS, of which I assume the Court will take judicial notice, the new post of Chief of the German Police was created in the Ministry of the Interior. Under the terms of the decree Himmler was appointed to this post with the title of “Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Ministry of the Interior.”

The combination of these two positions, that of leadership of the SS and head of all the police forces in the Reich, was no accident but was intended to establish a permanent relation between the two bodies and not a mere transitory fusion of personnel. The significance of this combination of these two positions was referred to by Hitler in his secret order of 17 August 1938 on the organization and mobilization of the SS, our Document Number 647-PS, which I introduce in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-443 and from which I will now quote just the preamble, which will be found on the first page of our Document Number 647-PS and at the beginning of the original order. I quote:

“By means of the nomination of the Reichsführer SS and Chief of
the German Police in the Ministry of the Interior on June 17,
1936 (_Reichsgesetzblatt_ I, Page 487), I have created the basis
for the unification and reorganization of the German Police.
With this step the Schutzstaffeln of the NSDAP, which were under
the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police even up to
now, have entered into close connection with the duties of the
German Police.”

Upon his appointment Himmler immediately proceeded to reorganize the entire police force, designating two separate branches: (1) The regular uniformed police force (Ordnungspolizei, or Orpo, as they were called by their abbreviated title); and (2) the so-called Security Police, or as they came to be known by their abbreviated title, Sipo. The Security Police was composed of all the criminal police in the Reich and all the Gestapo. This reorganization was achieved by the decree assigning functions to the Office of the Chief of the German Police, published in the _Reichsministerialblatt_ for 1936, Pages 946-948, our Document Number 1551-PS. Of that decree I assume the Court will take judicial notice.

To be head of the Sipo, that is, of the Criminal Police and the Gestapo, Himmler appointed Reinhard Heydrich, who was at that time the Chief of the SD, the SS intelligence agency to which I have already referred. Thus, through Himmler’s dual capacity as Reichsführer SS, and as Chief of the German Police, and through Heydrich’s dual capacity as head of the SD and of the Security Police, a unified personal command of the SS and Security Police Forces was achieved.

But further steps towards unification were taken. In 1939 the Security Police and the SD, which up to that time was only an agency of the SS, were both combined in a single department: the Reich Security Main Office, commonly referred to as RSHA. An important point to be observed is this: This newly created department, RSHA, was not a mere department of the Government. It was a dual thing. It was simultaneously an agency of the Government, organizationally placed in the Ministry of the Interior, and at the same time, one of the principal departments of the SS, organizationally placed in the Supreme Command of the SS. This division in the SS is shown by the chart before you; RSHA being indicated by the sixth block from the left of the chart. But it was not merely the Gestapo and Criminal Police which came under the sway of the SS; the regular uniformed police as well were affected. Like the RSHA, the department of the Regular Police (the Ordnungspolizei) was also not merely a department in the Ministry of the Interior, but also simultaneously in the Supreme Command of the SS. Its position in the SS is indicated by the seventh block on the chart, on the left.

Now this unity of command between SS and Police was not a mere matter of the highest headquarters. It extended down to the operating level. The Court will observe from the chart that the Higher SS and Police Leader in each region, who was directly subordinate to Himmler, had under his command both the Security Police (Sipo) and the regular uniformed police (Ordnungspolizei); and also that these forces, Sipo and Orpo, were not only under command of the Higher SS and Police Leader, but as indicated by the blue line, were also under command of the RSHA, and the Department of the Ordnungspolizei, and the SS. Thus you have organizationally a unity of command over the SS and the police. This organization was not the only way by which unity was achieved. Unity of personnel was also achieved. Vacancies occurring in the police forces were filled by SS members. Police officials who were in the force were able to join the SS; and schools were operated by the SS for the police, as well as for the SS officials.

These measures are described in Himmler’s article “Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police,” our Document Number 1992(a)-PS. They are also described in an authoritative book on the police, entitled _The German Police_, the book published in 1940, written by Dr. Werner Best, a ministerial director in the Ministry of the Interior, and a department head in the Security Police. It bears on its fly-leaf the imprimatur of the Nazi Party, and the book is listed in the official list of National Socialist bibliography. Chapter 7 from that book is our Document Number 1852-PS. I offer this book in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-449.

Through this unity of organization and personnel, the SS and the police became identified in structure and in activity. The resulting situation was described in Best’s book, which I have just offered in evidence, our Document Number 1852-PS, as follows. I quote from Page 7 of that document, Paragraph 5; from the original book, Page 95, Paragraph 3:

“Thus the SS and the police form one unit, both in their
structure and in their activity, although their individual
organizations have not lost their true individuality and their
position in the larger units of the Party and State
administration which are concerned with other points of view.”

Through the police, the SS was in a position to carry out a large part of the functions assigned to it. The working partnership between the Gestapo, the Criminal Police, and the SD under the direction of the Reichsführer SS resulted in the end in repressive and unrestained police activity. That will be dealt with in the case against the Gestapo. In considering that evidence, the Tribunal will bear in mind that the police activities there shown were one aspect of SS functions, one part of the whole criminal SS scheme. I shall not, therefore, consider here evidence relating strictly to the police functions of the SS.

Control over the police was not enough. Potential sources of opposition could be tracked down by the SD. Suspects could be seized by the Criminal Police and the Gestapo, but these means alone would not assure the complete suppression of all opponents and potential opponents of the regime. For this purpose concentration camps were invented. The evidence already presented to the Tribunal has shown what the concentration camp system involved, and the end result of that system was graphically illustrated in the moving pictures displayed about 10 days ago. The responsibility of the SS in that system is a topic to which I now turn.

The first requirement for the camps was guard and administrative personnel. Part-time volunteer members of the Allgemeine SS were originally utilized as guards; but part-time volunteers could not adequately serve the needs of the extensive and long-range program that was planned. So beginning in 1933 full-time professional guards units, the Death’s-Head Units, which I have already described, were organized. During the war, members of the General SS resumed the function of guarding camps, which they had initially undertaken when the camps were created. The Tribunal will recall the provisions of the Hitler order which I read a few moments ago, directing the substitution of General SS members to the Death’s-Head Units in the event of mobilization. It is unnecessary to repeat the evidence of wholesale brutality, torture, and murder committed by SS guards. They were not the sporadic crimes committed by irresponsible individuals but a part of a definite and calculated policy, a policy necessarily resulting from SS philosophy, a policy which was carried out from the initial creation of the camps.

Himmler bluntly stated the SS view as to the inmates of the camps in his article, “Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police,” Exhibit Number USA-439, our Document 1992(a)-PS. I quote from Page 7 of the translation, last paragraph; from Page 148 of the original, third paragraph:

“It would be extremely instructive for everyone—to some members
of the Wehrmacht I could give the opportunity—to inspect such a
concentration camp. Once you have seen it, you are convinced of
the fact that no one has been sent there unjustly; that it is
the offal of criminals and freaks. No better demonstration of
the laws of inheritance and race, as set forth by Dr. Guett,
exists than such a concentration camp. There you can find people
with hydrocephalus, people who are cross-eyed, deformed, half
Jewish, and a number of racially inferior products. All that is
assembled there. Of course, we distinguish between those inmates
who are only there for a few months for the purpose of education
and those who are to stay for a long time. On the whole,
education consists only of discipline, never of any kind of
instruction on an ideological basis, for the prisoners have, for
the most part, slave-like souls and only very few people of real
character can be found there.”

Then, omitting the next two sentences, he continues with this striking remark:

“Education thus means order. The order begins with these people
living in clean barracks. Such a thing can really be
accomplished only by Germans; hardly another nation would be as
humane as we are. The laundry is frequently changed. The people
are taught to wash themselves twice daily and to use a
toothbrush, a thing with which most of them have been
unfamiliar.”

Having heard the evidence and seen the pictures as to conditions in concentration camps, this Tribunal can appreciate how grim and savage that callous jest was. He made no such pretense in his speech to his own Gruppenführer at Posen, our Document 1919-PS, Exhibit Number USA-170. I quote from Page 43 of the original, last paragraph; from Page 2 of the translation, the first full paragraph.

“I don’t believe the Communists could attempt any action, for
their leading elements, like most criminals, are in our
concentration camps. And here I must say this: We shall be able
to see after the war what a blessing it was for Germany that, in
spite of all the silly talk about humanitarianism, we imprisoned
all this criminal sub-stratum of the German people in
concentration camps. I’ll answer for that.”

But he is not here to answer.

Certainly there was no “silly humanitarianism” in the manner in which SS men performed their tasks. Just as an illustration, I should like to examine their conduct, not in 1944 or 1945, but 1933. I have four reports relating to the deaths of four different inmates of the concentration camp Dachau between May 16 and May 27, 1933. Each report is signed by the Public Prosecutor of the District Court in Munich and is addressed to the Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court in Munich. These four reports show that during that 2-week period in 1933, at the time when the concentration camps had barely started, that SS men had murdered—a different guard each time—an inmate of the camp.

Now I don’t want to take the time of the Tribunal to read that evidence if it feels that it is a minor point. The significance of it is this: It is just an illustration of the sort of thing that happened in the concentration camps at the earliest possible date, in 1933. I am prepared to offer those four reports in evidence and to quote from them, if the Tribunal thinks that the point is not too insignificant.

THE PRESIDENT: Where are they?

MAJOR FARR: They are right here. I will offer them in evidence. The first is our Document Number 641-PS. It is a report dated 1 June 1933 and relates the death of Dr. Alfred Strauss, a prisoner in protective custody in Dachau. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-450. I shall read a few paragraphs from that report, beginning with Paragraph 1:

“On May 24, 1933, the 30-year-old, single, attorney-at-law, Dr.
Alfred Strauss from Munich, who was in the concentration camp
Dachau as a prisoner under protective custody, was killed by two
pistol shots from SS Man Johann Kantschuster who escorted him on
a walk, prescribed for him by the camp doctor, outside the
fenced part of the camp.

“Kantschuster gives the following report: He himself had to
urinate; Strauss proceeded on his way. Suddenly Strauss broke
away towards the bushes located at a distance of about 6 meters
from the line. When Kantschuster noticed it, he fired two shots
at the fugitive from a distance of about 8 meters; whereupon
Strauss collapsed dead.

“On the same day, May 24, 1933, a judicial inspection of the
locality took place. The corpse of Strauss was lying at the edge
of the wood. Leather slippers were on his feet. He wore a sock
on one foot, while the other foot was bare, obviously because of
an injury to this foot. Subsequently an autopsy was performed.
Two bullets had entered the back of the head. Besides, the body
showed several black and blue spots and also open wounds.”

Skipping now to the last paragraph of the report:

“I have charged Kantschuster today with murder and have made
application for the opening and execution of a judicial
preliminary investigation as well as for the issuance of a
warrant of arrest against him.”

That is the first of the four reports. The significance is that you have, one after the other, murders committed within a short space of time. And, in each instance, an official report by the camp commander or the guard as to the cause of death which was completely disproved by the facts.

The second report, a report dated 1 June 1933, relates to the death of Leonhard Hausmann, another prisoner in Dachau. It is our Document 642-PS and I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-451.

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think you need read the details.

MAJOR FARR: I will offer it without reading it.

The third report which I shall offer is dated 22 May 1933. It relates to the death of Louis Schloss, an inmate of Dachau, and is our Document 644-PS. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-452.

The fourth document, our Number 645-PS, dated 1 June 1933, relates to the death of Sebastian Nefzger, another Dachau prisoner. I offer this in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-453.

These four murders committed within the short space of 2 weeks in the spring of 1933, each by different SS guards, are but a few examples of SS activities in the camps at that very early date. Many similar examples from that period and later periods could be produced.

Indeed, that sort of thing was officially encouraged. I call the Tribunal’s attention to the disciplinary Regulation for the Dachau Concentration Camp, our Document 778-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-247. I want to read the fourth paragraph of the introduction to those rules, a passage which was not read when the document was originally introduced. The fourth paragraph on the first page of the translation and of the original is as follows:

“Tolerance means weakness. In the light of this conception,
punishment will be mercilessly handed out whenever the interests
of the Fatherland warrant it. The fellow countryman who is
decent but misled will never be affected by these regulations.
But let it be a warning to the agitating politicians and
intellectual provocateurs, regardless of which kind: Be on guard
not to be caught, for otherwise it will be your neck and you
will be silenced according to your own methods.”

Those regulations were issued in 1933 by SS Führer Eicke, who, it is to be noted, was the commandant of the SS Totenkopf Verbände.

Furnishing guard and administrative personnel was not the only function of the SS with relation to the camps. The entire internal management of the camps, including the use of prisoners, their housing, clothing, sanitary conditions, the determination of their very right to live, and the disposal of their remains, was controlled by the SS. Such management was first vested in the Leader of the SS Death’s-Head Units who had the title of Inspector of Concentration Camps. This official was originally in the SS Hauptamt—represented on the chart by the second box from the left.

During the course of the war, in March 1942, control of concentration camps was transferred to another of the departments of the SS Supreme Command, the SS Economic and Administration Department, commonly known as WVHA. That department is indicated on the chart by the 3rd box from the left. And the Court will note under the top box the breakdown “Concentration Camps” which in turn is broken down into “Prison,” “Labor,” “Medical,” and “Administration.”

That change was announced in a letter to Himmler, dated 30 April 1942, from the Chief of WVHA. The letter is our Document Number R-129 and it has already been received in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-217. I shall not quote from that letter now.

This shift of control to WVHA, the economic department of the SS, coincided with a change in the basic purposes of the concentration camps. Political and security reasons, which previously had been the ground for confinement, were abandoned; and the camps were frankly made to serve the slave-labor program. The Tribunal will recall the evidence relating to that program which was presented last week by Mr. Dodd. I shall not deal at any length with the matter again, except to summarize the principal facts bearing on SS responsibility which were demonstrated by that evidence.

To satisfy the increased demands for manpower it was not enough to work the inmates of the camp harder. More inmates had to be obtained. The SS, through its police arm, was prepared to satisfy this demand, as through the WVHA it was prepared to work those who were already in the camp.

THE PRESIDENT: Have you got any figures you can give the Tribunal as to the total numbers in the SS and the total numbers who were employed on concentration camps? If you gave us the total number of the SS and the total number employed in concentration camps, we should see what the proportion was.

MAJOR FARR: I think I can only give you these figures: I earlier quoted some figures from D’Alquen in his book published in 1939, in which he said that the total strength of the General SS was about 240,000. That is the General SS, which was not at that time engaged in the guarding of concentration camps. The Totenkopf Verbände (the Death’s-Head Units) at that time consisted of some three or four regiments at the most. They were the guards; so that of the personnel who were employed in actual guard duty there were, in 1939, about three or four regiments.

The Court will recall that after the war had started, the Totenkopf Verbände were no longer employed in that duty and that the members of the General SS took it up. How many were employed is something that is difficult to estimate. The concentration camp program was constantly expanding; and of course, as more camps were added more personnel was needed. I can’t give the Tribunal figures on the number of persons involved in guarding the camps, but one of the matters I think significant is this: We have not only guards, we have administrative personnel; we have the whole of the WVHA which, as I want to show by evidence, had complete control of the management of the concentration camps. The members of the staff office, WVHA, were derived from the General SS; so you have on the one hand the guard personnel, Death’s-Head Units up to 1939, and then you have after 1939 more guards from the Allgemeine SS. You have, after 1939, more guards from the General SS and also administrative personnel from WVHA.

I do not have figures on how many persons were engaged in one or another phase of the concentration camp activities. You have, of course, the SD and Security Police involved in it, insofar as they went out and seized victims. You have WVHA, the entire administrative personnel of that section involved in it, insofar as they handled administrative matters.

Some conception of the number of persons who must have been engaged in the activity may be gained from noting the number of persons involved in a camp. I have a document, a report by WVHA in August 1944, which reports the number of prisoners who were then on hand in the camps and the new arrivals who were expected. That document is our Document Number 1166-PS, which I will now offer in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-458.

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think we had better go into that tonight. What will you be dealing with tomorrow?

MAJOR FARR: Tomorrow, Sir, I intend to offer evidence showing how WVHA and other SS personnel were involved in the control of every phase of the concentration camp program. That is the first thing. The second thing is to point out the role that the SS played in the persecution of the Jews and their extermination; not with a view to repeating the substantive evidence to show that such acts took place, but to show how many components, how many parts, of the organization were involved in that program.

Then I shall consider the role of the SS with respect to preparations for aggressive war and the Crimes against Peace—a relatively brief discussion—and then pass on to the role that the SS played in War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, set out in Counts Three and Four of the Indictment; and finally, the role of the SS in the colonization program.

THE PRESIDENT: Colonization?

MAJOR FARR: That may be an unfortunate word. Perhaps I should have said Germanization program, a program of resettlement, evacuation, colonization, and exploitation of the conquered territories.

Those, I think, are the four main functions of the SS which remain to be considered; and I shall endeavor not to go again into the substantive crimes which have already been shown to the Tribunal, but to try to show how almost every department—in fact, every department of the SS and every component—was involved in one or more—and mostly more—of these crimes.

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal hopes that you will be able to confine yourself to the reading of evidence which is not cumulative.

MAJOR FARR: I have that in mind and I don’t intend to do that except to show the figures and components of the SS which were involved in various programs.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

[_The Tribunal adjourned until 20 December 1945 at 1000 hours._]

TWENTY-FOURTH DAY
Thursday, 20 December 1945

_Morning Session_

MAJOR FARR: May it please the Tribunal, when the Tribunal rose yesterday, we were discussing the number of persons who might be involved in the concentration camp program with which the SS was concerned. Nothing better illustrates the integrated character of the whole organization than the concentration camp program.

WVHA, one of the departments of the Supreme Command, handled the administration and control of that camp program and dealt with the victims once they were in the camp. They were assisted by the Death’s-Head Units, who furnished the guard personnel for the camps, and subsequently by the Allgemeine SS, which took over guard duties during the war.

RSHA played a part in the concentration camp program—the police arm of the SS—because through it the victims were apprehended and taken to the camps. Thus the SD appears in the picture, the personal staff, the first department of the Supreme Command, sort of the top office of the whole organization, and naturally it had much to do with the work of all subordinate departments.

Thus when the question is asked how many persons in the SS had something to do with the concentration camp program, it is a question which I think it is impossible to answer. You may point out how many persons were involved in the Death’s-Head Units, who originally furnished the guard details; you might estimate how many persons were in the Allgemeine SS, but to say just what percentage of the whole organization was involved in that program, is something which I find myself unable to do.

I had just pointed out . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Can you say that one or another branch of the SS provided the whole of the staff of the concentration camps?

MAJOR FARR: By the staff, I take it, you mean guards at the camp, the camp personnel. You cannot do that. For example, the Death’s-Head Units originally started off as being the units which furnished all the guard personnel. Subsequently, their task was taken over by members of the Allgemeine SS.

THE PRESIDENT: Those are both branches of the SS?

MAJOR FARR: Both are branches, yes. Now with respect to the camp commandants, for instance, normally all high ranking officers in the SS were members of the Allgemeine SS, so doubtless such personnel would be drawn from that branch. It is certainly not beyond question that some members of the Waffen-SS may have been called on to act as guards in certain camps. I do not think that you can say that there is no component of the SS which may not have had some of its personnel involved in the program.

THE PRESIDENT: That wasn’t exactly what I meant. What I meant was: Could you say that one or other branches of the SS furnished the whole staff of the concentration camps?

MAJOR FARR: I don’t think I can say that. I think I could say this . . .

THE PRESIDENT: What other organization was it that furnished a part of the staff of the concentration camps?

MAJOR FARR: You mean an organization other than the SS?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MAJOR FARR: I know of none.

THE PRESIDENT: Then the answer would be “yes” then?

MAJOR FARR: I thought Your Honor was referring to any one branch of the SS which was concerned alone with that. The SS, so far as I know, is the only organization which played a part in the concentration camp picture, except at the very end of the war when I think, as Colonel Storey said yesterday, some members of the SA were also involved as guard personnel of concentration camps.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Do you know the total personnel at the end of the war?

MAJOR FARR: Of the entire SS?

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Yes.

MAJOR FARR: That is something you would have to estimate. I quoted to the Tribunal yesterday the figures that D’Alquen gave as the strength of the Allgemeine SS in 1939. He said then that there were about 240,000 men in the Allgemeine SS. There were, at that time, about four regiments of Death’s-Head Units, several other regiments of the Verfügungstruppe, a few thousand personnel involved in the SD, so that I should say in 1939 you had about 250,000 to 300,000 members of the SS. With the outbreak of the war, the Waffen-SS was built up from a few regiments of the Verfügungstruppe to about 31 divisions at the end of the war, which probably would mean that the Waffen-SS by 1945 had had some 400,000 to 500,000 persons involved. I take it that 400,000 to 500,000 members of the Waffen-SS would be in addition to personnel of the Allgemeine SS, who were subject to compulsory military service in the Wehrmacht. So that, if I had to estimate, I would say that probably some 750,000 persons would be the top figure of personnel who had been involved in the SS from the beginning, but that is an estimate.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Then you have no breakdown to show how many of those were civilians, clerks, stenographers, soldiers, and so on?

MAJOR FARR: No. When we are talking about SS members, we are not talking about stenographers who worked in the office, who were not members of the SS. By SS members, we mean personnel who took the oath and appeared on the membership list, either as a member of the Allgemeine SS, the Death’s-Head Units, or the Waffen-SS. I would think that my figure of 750,000 was a figure including members of the SS, Allgemeine SS, the Totenkopf Verbände, and the Waffen-SS.

I was pointing out the shift of control of concentration camps to WVHA in 1942, which was coincident with the shift in the basic purpose of the camps, which heretofore has been concerned with custody of individuals for political and security reasons. Now the basic purpose of the camps was to furnish manpower, and I now want to point out to the Court the agencies of the SS which were involved in that manpower drive.

The Tribunal has already received evidence of an order which was issued in 1942, shortly after the transfer to WVHA of concentration camp control, directing Security Police to furnish at once 35,000 prisoners qualified for work in the camps. That order is our Document 1063-PS, and was received in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-219.

Thirty-five thousand prisoners were, of course, merely the beginning. The SS dragnet was capable of catching many more slaves. I offer in evidence a carbon, typewritten copy of a directive to all the departments of the SS Supreme Command, issued from Himmler’s field headquarters on August 5, 1943. It is our Document Number 744-PS. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-455. That directive appears on Page 2 of the translation. It implements an order signed by the Defendant Keitel directing the use of all males captured in guerilla fighting in the East for forced labor. The Keitel directive appears on Page 1 of the translation.

I shall read only the Himmler directive appearing on Page 2 of the translation. The Tribunal will note that it is addressed to every main office of the SS Supreme Command. I read that list of addressees of the directive:

“(1) Chief of the personnel staff of Reichsführer SS; (2) SS
Main Office; (3) Reich Security Main Office; (4) Race and
Resettlement Main Office; (5) Main Office, Ordinary Police; (6)
SS Economic Administrative Main Office; (7) SS Personnel Main
Office; (8) Main Office SS Court; (9) SS Supreme Command,
Headquarters of the Waffen-SS; (10) Staff Headquarters of the
Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of Germanism; (11) Main
Office Center for Racial Germans; (12) Office of SS
Obergruppenführer Heissmeyer; (13) Chief of the anti-partisan
combat. . . .”

I point out to the Court that every one of the main offices appearing on the chart is a recipient of that directive. The next addressees are the Higher SS and Police Leaders in the various regions.

I continue to quote the body of the directive:

“Referring to Item 4 of the above-mentioned order, I order that
all young female prisoners capable of work are to be sent to
Germany for work, through the agency of Reich Commissioner
Sauckel.

“Children, old women, and old men are to be collected and put to
work in the women’s and children’s camps established by me on
estates, as well as on the border of the evacuated area.”

In April 1944 the SS was called on to produce even more laborers—this time 100,000 Jews from Hungary. The Tribunal will recall the minutes of the Defendant Speer’s discussion with Hitler on April 6 and 7, 1944, which were found in our Document R-124 at Page 36 and were read to the Court in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-179—minutes in which Speer referred to Hitler’s statement that he would call on the Reichsführer SS to produce 100,000 Jews from Hungary.

The last source of manpower had not been tapped. To Jews, deportees, women, and children, there was added the productive power of prisoners of war. It was through the SS that the conspirators squeezed the last drop of labor from such prisoners.

I refer to a statement by the Defendant Speer which appears in our Document R-124 at Page 13 of the translation, the document itself having already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-179. The statement is found at Page 7, last paragraph of the original, Page 13 of our Document R-124, the next to the last paragraph on Page 13. That appears in Volume 2 of the document book. I quote:

“Speer: ‘We have to come to an arrangement with the Reichsführer
SS as soon as possible so that PW’s he picks up are made
available for our purposes. The Reichsführer SS gets from 30,000
to 40,000 men per month.’”

In order to insure SS control over the labor of prisoners of war, the Reichsführer SS was finally appointed as head of all prisoner-of-war camps on 25 September 1944. I offer in evidence the letter referring to his appointment. It is our Document 058-PS. It is Exhibit Number USA-456. It will be found in Volume 1 of the document book. That letter is a circular letter from the Director of the Party Chancellery dated 30 September 1944 and signed “M. Bormann.” I quote, beginning with the first paragraph of that letter:

“1. The Führer has ordered under the date of 25 September 1944:

“‘The custody of all prisoners of war and interned persons, as
well as prisoner-of-war camps and installations with guards, are
transferred to the Commander of the Reserve Army from 1 October
1944.’”

Passing to Paragraph 2 of the letter, I shall read Subparagraphs (a) and (c); I quote:

“2. The Reichsführer SS has commanded:

“(a) In my capacity as Commander of the Reserve Army, I transfer
the affairs of prisoners of war to SS Obergruppenführer and
General of the Waffen-SS, Chief of Staff of the Volkssturm,
Gottlob Berger.”

Skipping now to Subparagraph (c):

“(c) The mobilization of labor of the prisoners of war will be
organized in joint action of SS Obergruppenführer Berger and SS
Obergruppenführer Pohl with the appropriate offices for
allocation of labor.

“The strengthening of security in the field of prisoner-of-war
affairs is to be accomplished between SS Obergruppenführer
Berger and the Chief of the Security Police, SS
Obergruppenführer Dr. Kaltenbrunner.”

Thus the SS finally took over direction and control of prisoner-of-war-camps.

So impressive were the results obtained from SS concentration camp labor that in 1944 the Defendant Göring called on Himmler for more inmates for use in the aircraft industry. The Tribunal will recall his teletype to Himmler, our Document 1584-PS, Part 1, which was read in evidence by Mr. Dodd as Exhibit Number USA-221. Let me now read Himmler’s reply to that teletype. It is our Document 1584-PS, Part 3, and will be found on Page 2. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-457. I quote the beginning of that letter:

“Most Honored Reich Marshal:

“Following my teletype letter of 18 February 1944, I herewith
transmit a survey on the employment of prisoners in the aviation
industry.

“This survey indicates that at the present time about 36,000
prisoners are employed for the purposes of the Air Force. An
increase to a total of 90,000 prisoners is contemplated.

“The production program is being discussed, established, and
executed by the Reich Ministry of Aviation and the chief of my
Economic Administrative Main Office, SS Obergruppenführer and
General of the Waffen-SS Pohl.

“We assist with all the forces at our disposal.

“The task of my Economic Administrative Main Office, however, is
not solely fulfilled with the allocation of the prisoners to the
aviation industry, as SS-Obergruppenführer Pohl and his
assistants take care of the required working speed through
constant control and supervision of the work-groups (Kommandos)
and therefore have some influence on the results of production.
In this respect I may suggest consideration of the fact that in
enlarging our responsibility through a speeding-up of the total
work, better results can definitely be expected.”

I pass now to the last two paragraphs of the letter, which will be found on the next page of the translation:

“The movement of manufacturing plants of the aviation industry
to subterranean locations requires further employment of about
100,000 prisoners. The plans for this employment on the basis of
your letter of 14 February 1944 are already under way.

“I shall keep you, most honored Reich Marshal, currently
informed on this subject.”

Incidentally, I might call to the Tribunal’s attention the fact that SS Obergruppenführer Pohl, who was head of the WVHA, was also a general of the Waffen-SS, which goes to show that there is no manner in which you can characterize functions in the SS.

The extent to which the number of prisoners was increased through SS efforts is illustrated by our Document 1166-PS, which I offered in evidence yesterday as Exhibit Number USA-458. That document is a report from Office Group D of WVHA, dated 15 August 1944. I shall read the first page of that report, beginning:

“With reference to the above-mentioned telephone call, I am
sending herewith a report on the actual number of prisoners for
1 August 1944 and of the new arrivals already announced, as well
as the clothing report for 15 August 44.

“(1) The actual number on 1 August 44 consisted of: a) male
prisoners, 379,167; b) female prisoners, 145,119.

“In addition, there are the following new arrivals already
announced:

“1) From the Hungary program (anti-Jewish action), 90,000; 2)
from Litzmannstadt (police prison and ghetto), 60,000; 3) Poles
from the Government General, 15,000; 4) convicts from the
Eastern Territories, 10,000; 5) former Polish officers, 17,000;
6) from Warsaw (Poles), 400,000; 7) continued arrivals from
France approximately 15,000 to 20,000.

“Most of the prisoners are already on the way and will be
received into the concentration camps within the next few days.”

This intensive drive for manpower to some extent interfered with the program which WVHA had already undertaken to exterminate certain classes of individuals in the camps. I offer a photostatic copy of a letter from WVHA, dated 27 April 1943, our Document 1933-PS. It is Exhibit Number USA-459. The letter is addressed to a number of concentration camp commanders, is signed by Glücks, SS Brigade Führer and Major General of the Waffen-SS. I read the letter:

“The Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police has decided
after consultation, that in the future only mentally sick
prisoners may be selected for action 14-F-13 by the medical
commissions appointed for this purpose.