Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-03/tgmwc-03-23.02
Last-Modified: 1998/10/27

I now pass to Page 7 of this same Document, Page 7 of the
English translation. It begins:--

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, does that mean that the S.A.
were eliminated for the purpose of arrest or for other
purposes too?

COLONEL STOREY: No, Sir. As I understand, Sir, the S.A.
reached its height of popularity in 1934, and immediately
after the Roehm purge began to decline. In the meantime, the
S.S., which originated out of the S.A.,

                                                  [Page 110]
                                                            
was growing and became really the strong part, and grew and
prospered after that. So I think the evidence will show that
after 1934 the S.A. started a rapid decline in its
importance.

Now, on Page 7 of the English translation I should like to
quote a part of the Consul's report, beginning in the middle
of the page.  Another American, Herman I. Roseman, made an
affidavit which stated:--

     "'Yesterday, 10th March, 1933, in the afternoon about
     4:30, I came out of K.D.W. with my fiancee, Fraulein
     Else Schwarzlose, residing in Wilmersdorf (giving the
     address). A man in S.A. uniform stepped on my toe
     purposely, obviously offended me and said `Pardon.' I
     said `Bitte,' and walked ahead. He then followed me and
     kicked me saying, "Na und?" A police man saw this and
     walked ahead, paying no attention to attacks made on
     me. Then I took my passport out of my pocket, showed it
     to the second policeman, and said that I was an
     American citizen, but he walked ahead, obviously not
     able to afford me protection, or at least being
     unwilling to do so. The S.A. man continued to attack
     me, struck me in the face, wounded me over the eye, and
     continued to do me bodily harm. During this attack, all
     the time my walking along, we reached another
     policeman, and I applied to him, showing my passport
     and said: `I am an American and am entitled to
     protection.' He shrugged his shoulders and said `What
     can I do?' By this time the S.A. man had obviously
     attacked me enough and walked away.
     
     Upon my appeal, the policeman brought my fiancee and me
     to the station house at 13 Bayreuther Strasse. My
     fiancee and I reported to the officer in charge. He
     heard the story and said that he was sorry, but that
     there was nothing to do. My face was bleeding. The
     policeman said that he had orders not to interfere in
     any affair in which an S.A. man took part. I then asked
     him what I could do to protect myself. He said that
     there was nothing to do but to wait until the situation
     was better. He added that the police were absolutely
     powerless, and were under the direction of the S.A.,
     and that there were S.A. Sturm Abteilungen in the
     police itself. Thereupon I departed...."

Now on the next page, on Page 8, is another American, Mrs.
Jean Klauber, and I quote from her affidavit.

     "On the night of Friday, 10th March, 1933, she and her
     husband had retired for the night when they were
     awakened by a prolonged ringing of their apartment
     bell. They heard pounding upon the street door and a
     demand for immediate entry, and at the same time a
     threat to break the door down. The street door was
     opened by the janitor's wife, and a party of four or
     five men entered and went at once to the apartment of
     the deponent, where they again rang and pounded on the
     door. Mr. Klauber asked who was there and was answered
     --  'The police.' He opened the door and a party of
     four or five men in brown uniforms, one wearing a dark
     overcoat and carrying a rifle, pushed in, jostling Mr.
     and Mrs. Klauber aside. One asked Mrs. Klauber where
     the telephone was and she indicated the room where it
     was to be found, and started to go there. Thereupon,
     she was knocked down by one of them. They went on to
     the bedroom where Mr. and Mrs. Klauber followed them,
     and there they demanded their passports.
     
     Mr. Klauber went to the wardrobe to get his, and was
     stopped, being asked by the intruders whether he was
     carrying any weapons. Being clothed only
     
                                                  [Page 111]
                                                            
     in pajamas, his denial was accompanied by a gesture
     indicating his garb. He then turned to the wardrobe,
     opened it, and reached for one of his four suits
     hanging therein where he thought the passport was, and
     was immediately attacked from behind by all but one of
     the intruders, who beat him severely with police clubs,
     the one with the overcoat and rifle standing by.
     Remarks were shouted such as, `Look! Four suits, while
     for fourteen years we have been starving.' Mrs. Klauber
     tried to inquire the reason for their actions, and was
     answered--  'Jews. We hate you. For fourteen years we
     have been waiting for this, and tonight we will hang
     many of you.'

     When the intruders stopped beating Mr. Klauber he was
     unconscious, and they again demanded the passports of
     Mrs. Klauber. Mrs. Klauber found her American passport
     and her German passport (required by local authorities
     as the wife of a German citizen and issued by the
     police at Munich after her arrival here), and the
     intruders took both in spite of Mrs. Klaubers protests
     that she was American. She then searched for her
     husbands passport, laid hold of his pocket-book, and in
     her excitement offered it to them. Though full of money
     they refused it, and again demanded the passport. Mrs.
     Klauber then found it and handed it over.
     
     Then the intruders returned to the unconscious Mr.
     Klauber saying: 'He hasn't had enough yet,' and beat
     him further. Then they left, saying, 'We are not yet
     finished,' and just as they departed, one of them said
     to Mrs. Klauber, 'Why did you marry a Jew? I hate them'
     and struck her on the jaw with his police club...."

That is the end of the affidavit.  Now continuing, the next
paragraph is the statement of the Consul:

     "I personally can verify that the police had been
     instructed not to interfere; and that is, that there
     was official sanction for these activities. Affidavits
     taken from numerous victims attest this fact. I had
     become acquainted with the two police officers
     stationed at the corner of Bellevuestrasse and
     Tiergartenstrasse near where the Consulate General was
     located; these officers told me that they and all the
     other police officers had received definite
     instructions not to interfere with the S.A., the S.S.,
     or the Hitler Youth."

In addition, S.A. members served as guards at concentration
camps during this consolidating period, and participated in
the persecution and mistreatment of persons imprisoned
therein. I now refer to Document 2824-PS, which is a book
entitled, Concentration Camp at Oranienburg. It is Exhibit
USA 423. This was by an S.A.-Sturmbannfuehrer named
Schaefer, who was the commander of the concentration camp at
Oranienburg. I quote the excerpt on the first page of the
English translation, reading:--

     "The most trusted, boldest  S.A. men were selected in
     order to give them homes in the camp, since they were
     the permanent camp guards, and in such a manner we
     created a cadre of experienced guardsmen who were
     constantly prepared to be employed."

Further evidence concerning the operation of the
concentration camps by the S.A. is found in Document 787-PS,
Exhibit USA 421. This is a report to Hitler from the public
prosecutor of Dresden concerning the

                                                  [Page 112]
                                                            
nolle-prosequi of one Vogel, who was accused of mistreatment
of persons imprisoned in the concentration camp. I quote
from that report:

     "The prosecuting authority in Dresden has indicted
     Oberregierungsrat Erich Vogel in Dresden on account of
     bodily injury while in office. The following subject
     matter is the basis of the process:

     Vogel has belonged to the Gestapo office of the State
     of Saxon since its foundation and is chief of Main
     section II, which formerly bore the title ZUB. In the
     process of combating efforts inimical to the State,
     Vogel carried out several so-called 'borderland
     actions' in the year 1933, in which a large number of
     politically unreliable persons and persons who had
     become political prisoners in the border territories,
     were taken into 'protective custody and brought to the
     Hohnstain protective custody camp. In the camp serious
     mistreatment of the prisoners has been going on at
     least since the summer of 1933. The prisoners were not
     only, as in the protective custody camp Bredow near
     Stettin, beaten into a state of unconsciousness for no
     reason, with whips and other tools, but were also
     tortured in other ways, as for instance with a drip-
     apparatus especially constructed for the purpose, under
     which the prisoners had to stand so long that they came
     away with serious purulent wounds on the scalp. The
     guilty S.A.-leaders and S.A.-men were sentenced to
     punishments of six years to nine months of imprisonment
     by the main criminal Court of the provincial court in
     Dresden on 15th May, 1935. Vogel, whose duties
     frequently brought him to the camp, took part in this
     mistreatment, in so far as it happened in the reception
     room of the camp during completion of the reception
     formalities, and in the supply room, during issuing of
     the blankets. In this respect it should be pointed out
     that Vogel was generally known to the personnel of the
     camp -- because of his function as head of the ZUB --
     and his conduct became at least partly a standard for
     the above-named conduct of the S.A. leaders and men."

I want to read the remainder of that quotation. I am sorry,
I have not got it here. There is a little portion there that
should be read immediately following my statement -- I will
skip to the quotation just below:

     "Vogel stayed in the reception room a long time and
     watched these proceedings without doing anything about
     them. In his presence for instance, the S.A.-man Mutze
     dealt such blows to one man, without provocation, that
     he turned on him. As already stated, Vogel not only
     took no steps against this treatment of the prisoners,
     but he even made jokes about it and stated that it
     amused him the way `things were popping' here.
     
     In the supply room, Vogel himself took a hand in the
     beating amid the general severe mistreatment. The S.A.
     men there employed whips and other articles and beat
     the prisoners in such a manner that serious injuries
     were produced, the prisoners partly became unconscious
     and had to lie in the dispensary a long time. Vogel was
     often present in the supply room during the
     illtreatment. At least in the following cases he
     personally laid violent hands upon prisoners."

And then skipping down:

     --- "the prisoner was laid across the counter in the
     usual manner, held fast by the head and arms, and then
     beaten for a considerable
     
                                                  [Page 113]
                                                            
     time by the S.A. men with whips and other articles.
     Along with this Vogel himself took part in the beating
     for a time, and after this mistreatment slapped him
     again, so that the prisoner appeared green and blue in
     the face. The prisoner is the tinsmith Hans Kuehitz,
     who bore the nickname 'Johnny.' Upon his departure,
     Vogel gave the head of the supply room, Truppfuehrer
     Meier from five to six reichsmarks with the stated
     reason that the S.A. men 'had sweated so.' The money
     was then distributed by Meier to those S.A. comrades
     who had taken part in the illtreatment."

Another activity of the S.A. during the days just following
the Nazi seizure of power was to act as auxiliary police.
This is shown in Document 3252-PS, Exhibit USA 424. This
publication is a book written about Hermann Goering.

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, is that a document which
shows on its face that the man was punished for this
conduct?

COLONEL STOREY: I think it does; yes, Sir. I think it does.

THE PRESIDENT: I think that fact ought to be stated.

COLONEL STOREY: I believe it is stated, Sir. You see in the
beginning it says that the prosecuting authority in Dresden
had indicted Vogel on account of bodily injury, and I
thought it stated that he had been punished.

THE PRESIDENT: The document does appear to state it, but I
think you ought to state it in Court. The document ends up
with -- paragraph three --

COLONEL STOREY: It does state that he was punished. The
purpose of introducing it was to show what actually took
place.

I now turn to Document 3252-PS. As I have just mentioned,
the book is entitled, "Hermann Goering, the Man and His
Work," by Erich Gritzbach, in which it is declared that the
ranks of the Security Police were strengthened by the S.A.
and which was characterised as the most reliable instrument
of the movement. I should like to quote on the first page of
Document 3252-PS, the English translation -- it is the
fourth paragraph:

     "The present reorganisation of the Security Police is
     hardly noticed by the public. Their ranks are
     strengthened by the S.A., the most reliable instrument
     of the movement. The Auxiliary Police have given
     effective aid by their fighting spirit, in the struggle
     against the Communists and other enemies of the State,
     not only to Goering, but have, driven by their National
     Socialist desire for a new spirit within the executive
     police, assisted in their rigid organisation."

I now skip to the S.A. participation in the Jewish pogrom of
10th - 11th November, 1938, shown by Document 1721-PS,
Exhibit USA 425. This is a confidential report of the S.A.-
Brigadefuehrer to his Group Commander, dated 29th November,
1938, in the English translation, starting at the beginning.
Without reading the addresses, it is to S.A. Group Electoral
Palatinate (Kurpfalz) Mannheim.

     "The following order reached me at 3 o'clock on 10th
     November, 1938.
     
     On the order of the Gruppenfuehrer, all Jewish
     synagogues within the 50th Brigade are to be blown up
     or set on fire immediately.
     
     Neighboring houses occupied by Aryans are not to be
     damaged. The action is to be carried out in civilian
     clothes. Rioting and
     
                                                  [Page 114]
                                                            
     plundering are to be prevented. Report of execution of
     orders to reach the brigade Fuehrer or office by 8.30.
     
     I immediately alerted the Standartenfuehrer and gave
     them the most exact instructions; the execution of the
     order began at once.
     
     I hereby report that the following were destroyed in
     the area of:" ---

Then there follows a list of 35 synagogues that were
destroyed.

I just refer to a few of them:--

     "No. 1. The Synagogue at Darmstadt, Bleichstrasse,
     destroyed by fire.
     
     No. 4. The Synagogue at Graefenhausen, interior and
     furnishings wrecked."
     
And then under "Standarte 145":--

     "The synagogue at Bensheim, destroyed by fire."

And then the next four items are synagogues destroyed by
fire. In Standarte 168, eight synagogues are shown to have
been destroyed by fire.

In Standarte 168, the synagogue in Beerfelden was blown up,
and then follow several others where the furnishings were
wrecked. In Standarte 221, the synagogue and chapel in Gross-
Gerau was destroyed by fire, and the next one torn down and
the furnishings destroyed. And then it is signed by the
Fuehrer of Brigade 50, by the signature which is illegible,
"Brigadefuehrer."

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