Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-03/tgmwc-03-24-04
Last-Modified: 1999/07/29

THE PRESIDENT: It will perhaps be convenient that I should announce
that the Tribunal will adjourn today at four o'clock.

MAJOR FARR: Through its activities with respect to concentration
camps, the S.S. performed part of its mission to safeguard the
security of the Nazi regime. But another specialised aspect of that
mission must not be forgotten. The Tribunal will recall Himmler's
definition of that task -- a definition I referred to earlier -- the
prevention of a Jewish-Bolshevist revolution of subhumans. In plain
words, participation in the Nazi programme of Jewish persecution and
extermination.

It would be idle for me to refer again at any length to the evidence
relating to that programme which the Tribunal heard a day or so ago
from Major Walsh. I want to call attention to just a few documents
showing how the programme involved every branch and component of the
S.S.

The racial philosophy of the S.S., which I dealt with at the very
outset, made that organisation a natural agency for the execution of
all types of anti-Semitic measures. The S.S. position on the Jewish
question was publicly stated in the S.S. newspaper "Das Schwarze
Corps" the issue of 8th August, 1940, by its editor, Gunter d'Alquen,
in an article which has already been read into evidence as Exhibit USA
269. It is our Document 2668-PS. I shall not repeat that quotation, in
which d'Alquen says that the Jewish question will not be solved until
the Last Jew has been deported, and that the German peace which awaits
Europe must be a peace without Jews.

The attempted solution of the Jewish question through the
"spontaneous" demonstrations in Germany following the murder of von
Rath in November, 1938, has been presented to the Tribunal. In those
demonstrations all branches of the S.S. were called on to play a part.
I refer to the teletype message from S.S. Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich,
Chief of the Security Police and S.D., issued on 10th November, 1938.
It is our Document 3051-PS. Portions of that teletype have already
been read into evidence as Exhibit USA 240. I wish to read one further
paragraph, which has not been read. It appears on Page 2 of the
translation, the fourth paragraph.

     "The direction of the measures of the Security Police concerning
     the demonstrations against Jews is vested with the organs of the
     State Police (by which he means the Gestapo) inasmuch as the
     inspectors of the Security Police are not issuing their own
     orders. In order to carry out the measures of the Security
     Police, officials of the Criminal Police, as well as members of
     the S.D., of the Verfuegungstruppe and the Allgemeine S.S. may be
     used."

With the outbreak of the war and the march of Nazi armies over Europe,
the S.S. participated in solving the Jewish question in other
countries in Europe. The solution was nothing short of extermination.
To a large degree these wholesale murders were disguised under the
name of "anti-partisan " or "anti-guerilla " actions, and as such
included as victims not merely Jews but Soviets, Poles and other
Eastern peoples. With this antipartisan activity I shall deal in a few
moments.

[Page 168]

I want to refer now to a few actions confined essentially to Jews. To
take one example -- the mass annihilation of Jews in gas vans --
described in our Document 501-PS, which was read into the record by
Major Walsh as Exhibit USA 288. I simply want to point out that these
gas vans, as appears from the letters, were operated by the Security
Police and S.D. under the direction of R.S.H.A. Or to take another
example -- the report entitled "Solution of the Jewish Question in
Galicia," our Document L-18, prepared by S.S. Gruppenfuehrer and Lt.-
General of the Police Katzmann and rendered to S.S. Obergruppenfuehrer
and General of the Police Krueger -- that report has already been
received in evidence as Exhibit USA 277. The Tribunal will recall that
the solution, which consisted in the evacuation and extermination of
all the Jews in Galicia, and the confiscation of their property, was
carried out under the energetic direction of the S.S. and Police
Leaders, with the assistance of S.S. Police Units. I wish to read
three short items in the report, which has not yet been read. The
first is a text under a photograph which appears on Page 3 of the
translation and on Page 3 (a) of the original report. It is the first
item on Page 3 of the translation. I quote:

     "Great was the joy of the S.S. men when the Reichsfuehrer S.S. in
     person, in 1942 visited some camps along the Rollbahn."

The second is a balance sheet, which appears on Page 11 of the
translation and Page 17 of the report. I read item 3 on the balance
sheet:

     "3. Amount paid over to the S.S. cashier:
     
          a. Camps                    6 867 25 1,00 Zlotys
          b. W& R Factories     6 556 513,69 zlotys
          Total                        13 423 764,69 zlotys
     
     Further payments to the S.S. cashier are effected every month."


The third item I desire to read is the last two paragraphs of the
report found on Page 20 of the translation and on Page 64 of the
original document. I read the last two paragraphs of the report:

     "Despite the extraordinary burden heaped upon every single S.S.
     Police Officer during these actions, the mood and spirit of the
     men were extraordinarily good and praiseworthy from the first to
     the last day.
     
     Thanks only to the sense of duty of every single leader and man
     have we succeeded in getting rid of this plague in so short a
     time."

The final example of S.S. participation in Jewish extermination to
which I shall call the Tribunal's attention is the infamous report by
S.S. Brigadefuehrer and Major-General of the Police, Stroop, on the
destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, our Document 1061-PS. That report
was introduced in evidence by Major Walsh as Exhibit USA 275, and the
Tribunal indicated that it would take the whole report in evidence
without the necessity of reading it in full. I shall not, therefore,
read any further passages, but I do want to point out specifically two
sections dealing with the constitution of the forces which
participated in that fearful action. On Page 1 of the translation is a
table of the units used.

THE PRESIDENT: Is it here ?

MAJOR FARR: Our Document 1061-PS. I am just going to call your
attention to the table of units which were employed in this action,
indicating the average number of officers and men from each unit
employed per day. It will be observed that among the units involved
were the staff of the S.S. and Police Leader, two battalions of the
"Waffen S.S.," two battalions of the 22nd S.S. Police Regiment, and
members of the Security Police. The part

[Page 169]

played by the "Waffen S.S." came in for high praise from the writer of
the report. The Tribunal will recall the passage which was read by
Major Walsh in which reference was made to the toughness of the men of
the "Waffen S.S.," the Police and the Wehrmacht, and in which the
writer said that "considering that the greater part of the men of the
Waffen S.S. had been trained for only three or four weeks before being
assigned to this action, high credit should be given for the pluck,
courage, and devotion which they showed."

The Tribunal has already heard Himmler's proud boast of the part that
the S.S. played in the extermination of the Jews. It occurs in his
Posen Speech, our Document 1919-PS, and was read into the record in
the presentation of the case dealing with concentration camps. The
passage to which I refer appears on about the middle of Page 4 of the
translation and on Page 65 of the original. Since that passage has
already been read, it is unnecessary for me to quote it again ; but I
do want the Tribunal to note that Himmler stated that only the S.S.
could have carried out this extermination programme of the Jews, and
that its participation in that programme was a page of glory in its
history which could never be fully appreciated.

I now turn to the manner in which the S.S. fitted into the aggressive
war programme of the conspirators, and, also, its responsibility for
the Crimes Against Peace which were alleged in the Indictment. From
its very beginning, it made prime contributions to the conspirators'
aggressive war aims.

First, it served as one of the para-military organisations under which
the conspirators disguised their building up of an army in violation
of the Versailles Treaty. Second, through affiliated S.S.
organisations in other countries and through some of the departments
in its own Supreme Command, it fostered Fifth Column movements outside
Germany and prepared the way for aggression. Third, through its
militarised units, it participated in aggressive actions which
eventually were carried out.

The Tribunal has just heard the evidence against the S.A., which
demonstrated that from 1933 to 1938 they were militarised and were in
fact nothing but a camouflaged army. Some of that evidence related to
the S.S. as well. The paramilitary character of the "Allgemeine S.S."
is apparent. I have already described the military character of its
structure, the military discipline required of its members, and the
steps it took to enlist in its ranks young men of military age. In
addition to this volunteer army, the S.S. created as early as 1933
fully armed professional units. These were the "S.S.
Verfuegungstruppe" and the Death Head Units with which I dealt
yesterday.

While building up the S.S. as a military force within Germany, the
conspirators also utilised it in other countries to lay the groundwork
for aggression. The evidence presented by Mr. Alderman of the
preparations for the seizure of Austria showed the part played by the
S.S. Standarte 89 in the murder of Dollfuss, and described the
memorial plaque which was erected in Nuremberg as a tribute to the
S.S. men who participated in that murder. I refer to Exhibits USA 59
and 60, our Documents L-273 and 2968-PS, which were introduced by Mr.
Alderman. The Tribunal will recall the subsequent story of the events
of the night of 11th March, 1938, when the S.S. marched into Vienna
and occupied all government buildings and important posts in the city
-- a story unfolded in Exhibit USA 61, our Document 212-PS, the report
of Gauleiter Rainer to Reich Commissioner

[Page 170]

Buerckel (which was read in evidence by Mr. Alderman), and in our
Document 2949-PS, Exhibit USA 76, the record of the telephone
conversation between the defendant Goering and Dambrowski, which
appears on Page 451 of the transcript of the record.

The same pattern was repeated in Czechoslovakia. Henlein's Free Corps
played in that country the part of Fifth Column which the Austrian
S.S. had played in Austria, and it was rewarded by being placed under
the jurisdiction of the Reichsfuehrer S.S., in September, 1938. I
refer to our Document 388-PS, which was read in evidence by Mr.
Alderman as Exhibit USA 26. The items touched are 37 and 38 of the so-
called Schmundt file. Moreover, as shown by item 26 of that file,
which Mr. Alderman read into the record, the S.S. had its own armed
units -- four battalions of the "Totenkopf Verbaende " -- actually
operating in Czechoslovakia before the Munich Pact was signed. S.S.
preparations for aggression in Czechoslovakia were not confined to
military forces. One of the departments of the S.S. Supreme Command --
the "Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle " -- which is represented on the chart
by the third box from the top at the extreme right -- was a centre for
Fifth Column activity. The Tribunal may recall the secret meeting
between Hitler and Henlein in March, 1938, described in notes of the
German Foreign Office, Exhibit USA 95, at which the line to be
followed by the Sudeten German Party was determined. The
"Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle" was represented at that meeting by
Professor Haushofer and S.S. Obergruppenfuehrer Lorenz. And when the
Foreign Office, in August, 1938, awarded further subsidies to
Henlein's Sudeten Party, the memorandum of that recommendation for
further subsidies contained the significant footnote "Volksdeutsche
Mittelstelle will be informed." I refer to Exhibit USA 96, our
Document 3059, which was read into the record by Mr. Alderman, at
Pages 631 and 632 of the record.

When at last the time came to strike, the S.S. was ready. I quote from
the National Socialist Yearbook for 1940, our Document 2164-PS,
Exhibit USA 255, on Page 1, paragraph 2, of the translation ; Page 365
of the original, paragraph 3:

     "When the march into the liberated provinces of the Sudetenland
     began, on that memorable 1st October, 1938, the emergency forces
     (Verfuegungstruppe) as well as the Death Head Units (Totenkopf
     Verbaende) were with those in the lead."

I omit the remainder of the paragraph and continue with the next
paragraph:

     "The 15th March, 1939, brought a similar utilisation of the S.S.
     when it served to establish order in the collapsing
     Czechoslovakia. This action ended with the founding of the
     Protectorate Bohemia-Moravia.
     
     Only a week later, on 29th March, 1939, Memel also returned to
     the Reich upon the basis of an agreement with Lithuania. Again it
     was the S.S., here particularly the East-Prussian S.S., which
     played a prominent part in the liberation of this Province."

In the final act in setting off the war -- the attack on Poland in
September, 1939 -- the S.S. acted as a sort of stage manager. The
Tribunal will recall the oral testimony of Erwin Lahousen with
relation to the simulated attack on the radio station at Gleiwitz, by
Germans dressed in Polish uniforms -- what Lahousen referred to as one
of the most mysterious things which

[Page 171]

uniforms and equipment together, he said at Page 620 of the
transcript:

     "These articles of equipment had to be prepared, and one day some
     man from the S.S. or the S.D. (the name is on the official diary
     of the War Department) fetched them."

The war broke out and the "Waffen S.S." again took its place in the
van of the attacking forces.

During the war great use was made of the peculiar qualities possessed
by the S.S., qualities not only of its combat forces but of its other
components as well. 1 turn now to a consideration of some of the tasks
in which the S.S. was engaged during the war -- tasks which embraced
the commission of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity described in
the Indictment.

The Tribunal has already received in evidence a directive, our
Document 447-PS, as Exhibit USA 135. It is a directive issued by the
defendant Keitel, on 13th March, 1941, covering some of the
preparations made three months in advance for the attack on Russia.
Paragraph 2b of that directive, which was read into the record,
provided that in the area of operations the Reichsfuehrer S.S. was
entrusted with special tasks for the preparation of the political
administration, tasks which would result from the struggle about to
commence between two opposing political systems.

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