Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-018-01
Last-Modified: 1999/05/30

Session No. 18
11 Iyar 5721 (27 April 1961)

Presiding Judge: I declare the eighteenth Session of the
trial open.

Mr. Bar-Or, are you bringing more witnesses?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Yes, Your Honour. I shall also bring
witnesses today. But I would ask permission to begin the
Session with the submission of documents. The first document
I offer is Prosecution document No. 1241. It is an "Erlass
des Reichsfuehrers SS" of 9 July 1936, and certain
subsequent executive instructions by Heydrich concerning the
manner in which correspondence is to be conducted between
the various branches of the police departments, not only
amongst themselves, but also from them to other bodies. In
the course of the trial, we shall see many documents where
certain marks on the letterheads indicate the division or
section from which they originated.  We shall find that
these instructions issued in 1936 did not introduce much
change in the situation, as it also existed earlier. But
they are important for an understanding of the documents and
the way they are written.

This document was received here through the American
Archives in Alexandria. The relevant affidavit was submitted
by Mr. Bar-Shalom when he spoke about the microfilm from
Alexandria No. 4. I have here a photocopy which refers, of
course, to the same affidavit. I propose to submit it. I
also request permission to read a short passage from these
instructions.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/94. What do you wish
to read from it?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  As I said, this comes from the
Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police at the
Ministry of the Interior, Berlin, 9 July 1936 and is
addressed to the heads of the departments.

Presiding Judge: There is no need to read it all. Please
read the passage. Do not forget that these items are
submitted to the Court. They are now before the Court and
the Court can read them.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  On page 2 the Court will find
examples for letters emanating from the Ministry of the
Interior, namely Pol. O-K...Nr...[or Pol. O-V...Nr. ] [or
Pol. S-Kr....Nr....] On page 3, I draw attention to
paragraph 5 which says: "I authorize the Chiefs of the head
offices or the Ordnungspolizei and the Sicherheitspolizei to
have letters with the heading 'Reichsfuehrer SS and the
Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the
Interior' signed by the heads of the offices 'I.A'."

Presiding Judge: It says here "J.A."

State Attorney Bar-Or:  That is a typing error.

I wish to draw attention to a passage further down, in
paragraph c on page 5, under the heading "Correspondence
Procedures." It reads:

"To the reference Pol. S-PP there should be added, between
brackets, the mark (IIA) when the matter is dealt with by
the person in charge of the desk for Communism and other
Marxist groups, (IIB) when the matter is dealt with by the
person in charge of the desk for churches and religious
organizations, sects, Jews, Freemasons, emigrants."

On page 6 in paragraph 2 we find these words: "To
correspondence under the heading 'The Chief of the Security
Police' apply the marks as stipulated under paragraph 1
without mention of the letter S."

Further down, at the end, passage 4 reads:

"The Chief of the Office for Administration and Justice
signs under the heading 'The Chief of the Security Police,'
'I.V.' [The initials "I.V." mean "in Vertretung" (per pro)]

     "The Deputies of the Chiefs of the Security Police in
     the Departments of the Political Police, Section
     Political Police for the Interior, and Section of
     Police for Counterespionage Abwehrpolizei  and the
     Criminal Police will sign under the heading 'The Chief
     of the Security Police,''I.A.'"

I now come to Prosecution document No. 921. This document
was document No. 361L before the International Military
Tribunal and it is quoted in full in the IMG volume in the
German edition No. 38, on pages 107-110. The document, dated
23 September 1939, was issued by the Chief of the Security
Police - "Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des
Sicherheitshauptamtes" - and deals with the reorganization
of the State Police Posts - "Staatspolizeistellen" It deals
with the coordination of the local branches of the SD on the
one hand, and the branches of the State Police, the Gestapo
and the various districts on the other hand. I hereby submit
a copy of the document as published in IMG volume 38.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/95.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The translation which I attached to
this document, Your Honour, includes the contents of almost
the entire document insofar as it is of importance to us.
Maybe there really is no need to read all those passages
contained in the translation.

Presiding Judge: Is this not a complete translation? State
Attorney Bar-Or:  It is not entirely complete. It is almost
complete. In fact, I would like to draw attention only to
one passage, namely the one on Chapter I, paragraph c, which
reads: "The SD-Commanders of the SS-Oberabschnitte
(territorial divisions) bear the title 'Inspector of the
Security Police and of the SD'." We shall encounter this
title often. "Their area of authority coincides with that of
the Higher SS and Police Leaders (Wehrkreise)" i.e. in
military zones they correspond to the conscription
districts. "Exceptions will be determined by the Security
Head Office."

I come now, Your Honour, to Prosecution document No. 919.
This is an order from Himmler of 27 September 1939, on the
establishment of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt , by merger
of the designated organizations, as specified in that
document. It was document 361L before the Nuremberg
International Military Tribunal. It too, was published in
full in volume 38 of the German edition and appears on pages
102-104.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/96.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  I draw the attention of the Court to
page 2, paragraph d and I read it in its Hebrew translation:
"The Political Police Office of the Security Police Head
Office and Departments II and III of the Secret State Police
Office constitute Office IV of the Head Office for Security
of the Reich, and its chief is SS-Oberfuehrer
Reichskriminaldirektor Mueller."

I now come to Prosecution document No. 920. This is a
document dated 27 September 1939 on the concentration of the
central offices of the Security Police and the SD and refers
to the documents I already submitted. Also this was a
document that was submitted to the Nuremberg Military
Tribunal and was also published in volume 38 of the German
edition on pages 105-106.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/97.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  This document does not require the
reading of particular passages. I shall confine myself to
mentioning that this one, too, speaks of the authority of
the Heads of Departments to sign for the Reich Minister of
the Interior and the Chief of the Security Police.

I now come to Prosecution document No. 554. It is called
"Service Instruction for the Higher SS and Police Leaders"
dated 18 December 1939. This document originates in document
No. 148. Mr. Bar Shalom submitted an affidavit relating to
this document which refers to the reel Yad Vashem which was
given to Mr. Shapira, namely Y.V.-02081.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/98.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  And as I already mentioned, Your
Honour, this document deals with the definition of the
functions of the senior commanders of the SS and the Police.
It is clear from this document, without reading it in all
its detail, that the function of these senior commanders was
mainly one of representation, i.e., to represent the
Reichsfuehrer SS in their districts, and that the
Sachbearbeiter (desk officer) dealing with the matters
according to sections and departments did not receive their
executive instructions from these commanders, but directly
from the departments with which they were connected.

I now come to Prosecution document No. 36 "Verteilung der
Aemter des Reichssicherheitshauptamtes" (Distribution of
functions in the Head Office for the Security of the Reich)
of 1 March 1941. This was also a document at the Nuremberg
International Military Tribunal and appeared there under No.
185L; it was published in the Blue Series in the German
edition in volume 38, pages 1-24. I hereby submit it.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/99.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The document shows the composition
of the departments of the Head Office for the Security of
the Reich as of 1 March 1941. I shall refer you only to page
16 of the document in question:

In Department IVB, the Gruppenleiter (Department Head) is
Sturmbannfuehrer Hartl, his deputy SS Sturmbannfuehrer
Regierungsrat Roth. And now the departments:

Department IVB1 Political Catholicism  - Roth

Department IVB2 Political Protestants  - Roth

Department IVB3 Other Freemason churches  - vacant

Department IVB4 Jewish matters and Evacuation matters - SS
Sturmbannfuehrer Eichmann.

I now come to Prosecution Document No. 466. These are
minutes of a meeting of 6 March 1942. I want to dwell on the
origins of this document before I go into its details. It
was document NG-2586 and it appears also on the microfilm,
details of which were submitted by Mr. Bar-Shalom. It
originates in Alexandria, Washington.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/100.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  I now see that in our original - I
am holding the lists - two other figures were transposed.
The Prosecution document was not No. 466, but No. 446. At
the moment, I confine myself to submitting the document.
With the Court's permission I shall proceed with another
document.

Presiding Judge: But do you wish it to be submitted?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  I wish to submit it.

Presiding Judge: All right.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Now I come to Prosecution document
No. 543, of 28 August 1941. Its subject is "Enge
Zusammenarbeit mit SS-Dienststellen" - Close cooperation
with SS Units. Its original was in document No. 4852 and it
reaches this Court in the same way through the "Alex. 4"
reel, on which Mr. Bar-Shalom gave details. I request
permission to submit it.

Presiding Judge: Is this only a part of it?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  We submit here in fact only a part
of that document. It is possible that because of that the
order was reversed. I refer to the service instructions
contained in this document regarding the Police Attaches to
the German Embassies and legations outside Germany.

Presiding Judge: Mr. Bar-Or, there are, in fact part of one
document and a second complete document.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The entire document is No. 4852.

Presiding Judge: In the order in which you submitted it?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Yes. the subject of this document is
Enge Zusammenarbeit mit SS-Dienststellen (Close cooperation
with SS Units).

Presiding Judge: I see that it is completely mixed up. It
will be T/101.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The document looks like a standing
order, the purpose of which is to explain the competence and
obligations of the attaches for police matters serving at
diplomatic missions outside Germany. I draw attention to
that part, where it says:

     "The Police Attaches are counsellors to the ambassadors
     and heads of missions in matters concerning the police.
     The task of the Police Attache is to obtain a clear
     picture and judgment on police matters in the host
     country."

I proceed to paragraph 4:

     "Notwithstanding their relation to the Reichsfuehrer-SS
     and the Chief of the German Police in connection with
     their activity abroad, the Police Attaches report to
     the Head of the mission, and in his absence, or in the
     case of some other hindrance, to his acting deputy,
     whether appointed as charge d'affaires or not."
     I read paragraph 5:
     
     "The Police Attaches must carry out service
     instructions of the Head of the mission, or his deputy
     (paragraph 4), even though they lie outside the scope
     of their task proper. They shall communicate to the
     Head of the mission all their observations and news
     that have come to their knowledge concerning political
     or police matters of importance. The Head of the
     mission, or his deputy shall, for his part, keep the
     Police Attache currently informed on the general
     political situation of the country, knowledge whereof
     is indispensable as a basis for the evaluation of the
     tasks to be performed. In addition, the Police Attaches
     are to follow the guidelines given to them by the
     Reichsfueher-SS in respect of their professional field.
     Instructions from the bureaus of the Reichsfueher-SS
     are transmitted to them through the Foreign Ministry
     and conveyed to them by the Head of the mission, who
     thereby assumes political responsibility for the
     effectiveness of these instructions from the point of
     view of foreign policy."

Finally, I shall read the first sentence of paragraph 6:

     "All reports by the Police Attaches are, in conformity
     with the regulations applying to military attaches, to
     be forwarded through the Head of the mission or his
     deputy, addressed to the Reichsfueher-SS and Chief of
     the German Police (RSHA) - Head Office for the Security
     of the Reich)."

With the Court's permission, I now come to Prosecution
document No. 778, dated 21 October 1941, of which I need now
only a small part for my purposes. It is document No. 4134.
It appears in the collection of documents which Mr. Bar-
Shalom referred to and from which this was copied. I wish to
submit it.

Presiding Judge: What are its contents?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  In fact, it amends the instructions
that were in force in respect of the obligation to report on
the activities of the operation groups to the various
departments at the Reichssicherheitshauptamt.  I draw
attention to the subheading under the reference "Operation
Barbarossa - Integration of the bureau of the operations
intelligence officer in the Command Staff." This
notification, or these instructions were transmitted to the
various Departments IA1, IIA1, ID1 and, finally, we find
IVB4. I shall perhaps confine myself to the third paragraph
which reads:

     "All communications and documents received from
     operation-groups A though D must, from now on, be
     transmitted immediately by the Head Office (the special
     bureau for incoming mail), after they have first been
     marked and recorded, to the Command Staff, through the
     Chief of Department IV; communications received during
     the night shall be transmitted at the start of work the
     following day."

Presiding Judge: Exhibit T/102.

The document is signed by Mueller. Is that the same Mueller?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  That is the same Mueller we shall
encounter many times, the Superior of the Accused.

I shall now proceed to Prosecution document No. 411. The
original of this document was also used in Nuremberg, in
Case No. 4 of the subsequent trials, the trial against Pohl
et al. It was a document of the Prosecution and it appears
there as document No. 2128. I wish to submit it.

Presiding Judge: Could you please quote the heading of the
document: what is it about?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  These are executive instructions
issued by the SS-Head Office for Economy and Administration
on 23 July  1942 and we are interested in the instructions
Pohl gives on behalf of his Department which was responsible
for the administration of the concentration camps, on the
way in which the most important occurrences in the
concentration camps are to be reported to the various
departments of the Police and the SS.

Presiding Judge: You have given me only a copy and not a
photostat.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  That copy comes from Trial 4.

Presiding Judge: Was it printed there?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Yes, we promised - and we shall have
to do it - to furnish the Court with the fifteen volumes of
the subsequent trials. In respect of these documents, we use
that green edition here.

Presiding Judge: Did you take it directly from there?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Correct. This is simply a copy and
on its cover page the original from which it was taken is
marked.

Presiding Judge: This will be exhibit T/103.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  In respect of this document, I would
like to draw the attention to page 7, No. 11, under the
heading "concentration camps." It says there: "For all
matters of the concentration camps, the SS-Administrator is
competent."

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