The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Shofar FTP Archive File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts//Sessions/Session-018-03


Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-018-03
Last-Modified: 1999/05/30

State Attorney Bar-Or:  I now come to Prosecution document
No. 462; It is a circular letter signed by Staatssekretaer -
(Secretary of State) - Weitsaecker of the German Foreign
Ministry. It is dated 8 July 1938. It is addressed to all
the German diplomatic missions - London, Paris, Rome,
Washington, Warsaw, Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Prague
Sofia and Geneva. The document deals with the attitude of
the Foreign Ministry and the German authorities to what is
known today as the Evian Conference which purported to deal
with the consequences of Jewish emigration under German and
Austrian pressure. This document was No. NG 3702, and it,
too, is found in the Alexandria 4 reel. I wish to submit it.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/110.

With all due respect, Mr. Bar-Or, it is possible to condense
and summarize still more.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  I shall try, Your Honour. I wish to
draw the Court's attention only to one sentence, namely:
"The question whether Germany could facilitate the transfer
of capital which is in Jewish hands must be answered in the
negative, since one cannot expect of Germany to allow the
transfer of German capital amassed by the Jews - in
particular after the War. Cooperation with the powers now
assembled in Evian is therefore for Germany out of the
question."

I come now to document No. 1508, also from the National
Archives on the Alexandria reel. It originates in the SD
Head Office and there are handwritten notes of the Accused
attached to it. I wish to submit this document. In fact it
is a document with accompanying documents. For the
convenience of the Court, I asked that the handwritten notes
be copied. Pages 2,3,4 are handwritten. Is there a
transcript?

Presiding Judge: No, there is no transcript of the notes of
the Accused.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  I submit herewith three copies.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/111.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Thank you, Your Honour. In fact, I
would request to read only the last part. It says: "Thirdly,
Once those without means have emigrated, it is the turn of
the capitalists, who until then can have been slowly
deprived of their capital by means  of punitive measures.
Furthermore, it can be solved when no restrictions are
imposed on the SD Head Office."

Presiding Judge: Do you not have the document to which these
notes refer?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The explanation is as follows: We
have here an instruction transmitted to II 1123. We shall
find in T/37 (239) which was submitted to the Accused, that
he states that he was the person in charge of that section
1123. Therefore, it is addressed to him. It says here that
it is requested to prepare a memorandum to C - to Heydrich -
in which it "is to be proved that the Jewish question cannot
be solved on the present basis (financial difficulties)" and
"that one should begin to find an external political
solution, as already once negotiated between Poland and
France."

In accordance with these instructions, the Accused started
making notes. At the end we find:

     "Secondly, monthly discussions with all offices
     involved (Hinkel). Thirdly: Countries (Madagascar)."

I pass on now to document No. 1452. This document too
reached us through the Alexandria 4 microfilm. It is dated
11 November 1938 and was issued in Hanover. It is addressed
to the Mayor of Hameln with a copy to the
Regierungspraesident (Chief Government Administrator) in
Hanover. It deals with the "Blocking of, and payments from
Jewish bank- and savings fund accounts and/or confiscated
funds."

Presiding Judge: This document has been marked T/112.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  By these instructions the bank
accounts of Jews were in fact blocked. Trustees were
appointed who had to be given Power of Attorney to operate
the account and the amounts the banks could pay to Jews were
limited to 50 Reichsmarks per week, to cover minimal living
expenses.

With the Court's permission, I shall proceed to document No.
1503. This document was before the International Military
Tribunal and it received their number USA 508. The American
Prosecutor submitted it as P S -3058. We received a copy,
certified by the Registrar of the International Court in the
Hague, where these documents are at present.  He certifies
here the English translation of this document, but we submit
to the Court, for its convenience, a copy of the photostat
of the original document which was also received from The
Hague International Court. This is a letter from Heydrich of
November 11, 1938 on the "Operation against the Jews." This
is Heydrich's first report to Goering on the occurrences of
the Crystal Night.

Presiding Judge: How did this get to the International Court
in The Hague?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The (Allied) Powers deposited the
documents that were submitted to the International Tribunal
in Nuremberg, at the International Court in The Hague. The
department reference on Heydrich's letter is IIB4, and we
already saw this number this morning. I would like to ask if
the Court could consider the possibility to return this
heavy document which, in fact, only contains the English
translation as certified by the Registrar of The Hague
International Court, because in the end we shall want to
return it.

Presiding Judge: After the end of the trial. Mr. Bar-Or, you
will make a note of it for yourself. I understand that you
copied only part of it.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The document of the Court in The
Hague contained many documents we did not need. I marked
only one document from this collection which relates to the
matter we are interested in. The sub-file contains the
photostat.

Presiding Judge: Is this  a copy of one of the documents?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  This is the photostatic copy of the
original, but in the thicker file we have...

Presiding Judge: I think I shall return it to you right
away, for you really need only the photostat of the original
letter. Could you perhaps just open it and show us where it
appears and that will be recorded in the minutes. [Mr. Bar-
Or opens the Collection and shows the Court that this
document is contained in the document book - photostatic
copies - of the International Military Tribunal].

This document has been marked T/113 (the document that was
deposited with the International Court at The Hague).

State Attorney Bar-Or:  With the Court's permission I shall
read the short letter:

     "Subject: Operation against the Jews" (This is
     Heydrich's writing).
     
     "From the reports that reached us so far from the State
     Police units the following is the general picture
     obtained, until 11 November 1938:
     
     Plundering of Jewish shops and businesses occurred in
     many cities. In all cases strong measures were taken to
     prevent more plundering. 174 people have been arrested
     for plundering. So far, it is not possible to establish
     figures on the extent of the destruction of Jewish
     homes and businesses. The figures mentioned in reports:
     815 businesses destroyed, 29 department stores set on
     fire or otherwise destroyed, 171 homes set on fire or
     otherwise destroyed, represent -  all these, apart from
     the cases of arson, provide only a partial picture of
     the actual destruction. Because of the urgency of
     making the reports, many communications received so
     far, had to be limited to general indications, such as
     'many' or 'most businesses were destroyed.' The figures
     stated above may therefore well be exceeded many times.
     
     191 synagogues were set on fire, 76 others were
     completely destroyed. 11 community centres, cemetery
     chapels etc., were set on fire and 3 others completely
     destroyed.
     
     Approximately 20,000 Jews, 7 Aryans and 3 foreigners
     were arrested. The latter were taken into custody for
     their own protection. Notice was received of 36 cases
     of death and also 36 seriously injured persons. The
     dead and injured are Jews. One Jew is still missing.
     Among the killed Jews there is one, and among the
     injured two Polish citizens.
                                                  Heydrich."
                                                            
I now pass on to Prosecution document No. 76. This was
document PS-1816 at the Nuremberg International Military
Tribunal. I submit here a copy of the document as published
in IMG, the German edition of the Nuremberg trials, volume
38, pages 449-540. The document I wish to submit contains
the stenographic minutes of a meeting that took place at the
Air Ministry in Goering's office on 12 November 1938; it
deals with "The removal of the Jews from the German Economy,
Confiscation of insurance indemnifications for the damage
caused to Jews on 10 November and other measures against the
Jews."

Presiding Judge: This document has been marked T/114.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  This document reveals a discussion
on 12 November on a number of problems that resulted
directly from the events of 10 November.  The first part of
the document deals with insurance matters. It appeared that
most of the damaged [property] was insured, and someone had
to pay for it. The insurance companies insisted, as the
insurers, that they pay for the damage, notwithstanding the
opposition from the Ministers. At the meeting, not only
Goering, but also Goebbels and Funk were present. As the
reputation of the German insurance companies with the
reinsurers abroad might be damaged if they were to refuse to
pay, the suggestion was made that they would pay
compensation, but the monies so paid for the damage would be
confiscated in favour of the Reich and the Jews would be
compelled to repair the damage at their own expense.
Finally, the meeting also received a short report on what
happened on Crystal Night. Heydrich, who was present at the
meeting, gives the report, and on page 7/1 he says: "Even if
all Jews are removed from the economy, the basic problem
still remains in the end that the Jews must leave Germany.
May I make some suggestion on this? In Vienna, upon the
instructions from the Commissioner of the Reich, we
established a Jewish Emigration Centre, and through it we
got 50,000 Jews out of Austria, whereas during the same
period we succeeded in making only 19,000 Jews leave the old
Reich. We succeeded thanks to the co-operation between the
Ministry of Economics which was responsible, and the foreign
aid organizations."

Goering remarks: "More than anything else, you cooperated
with the local leaders of the green border."

Heydrich then explains that it was not only a matter of the
greeen border.

Finally Heydrich wishes to make a suggestion:

     "May I propose that we establish a similar centre in
     the Reich with the cooperation of the competent
     authorities and that we find on the basis of these
     experiences a solution for the Reich, while avoiding
     the mistakes which the Generalfeldmarschall [Goering]
     justly criticized."

Heydrich adds: "I would like to submit several proposals,
from the point of view of the police, toward isolating [the
Jews], which are also important for their psychological
effect on public opinion, for instance - personal
identification of the Jews, saying: Every Jew in the sense
of the Nuremberg laws must wear a certain identification
badge. That is one possibility that will make many other
things easier - I do not see any danger as regards excesses
(Ausschreitungen) it makes easier our relationship to
foreign Jews."

Goering ends the meeting with: "One more question,
gentlemen. What do you think would happen if I declare today
that the Jews must pay as punishment this amount of 1
billion as a contribution."

On this, Gauleiter Buerckel answers: "The Viennese will
agree to it entirely..."

With the Court's permission, I now pass on to Prosecution
document No. 505. This is a cable from the then American
Ambassador in London, Mr. Joseph Kennedy, to the Acting
Secretary of State in Washington. It is document PS-3319 in
Nuremberg. We received it through the reel prepared by Mr.
Grisha Shapira, as per the affidavit that was submitted. I
request permission to submit a photostatic copy of this
cable.

Presiding Judge: What does it deal with?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  It deals with the contents of a
meeting with Ribbentrop about the German refugee problems.
The ways in which it might perhaps be possible to help from
the outside to mitigate the fate of these refugees. Here,
Ambassador Kennedy quotes to his superiors things he had
heard himself.

Presiding Judge: T/115.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The date of the cable is 8 December
1938, that is after the events we talked about before. It
reads:

     "The Jews in Germany without exception were
     pickpockets, murderers and thieves" (he is quoting von
     Ribbentrop). "The property they possessed had been
     acquired illegally. The German Government had therefore
     decided to equate them with the criminal element of the
     population. The property which they had acquired
     illegally would be taken from them. They would be
     forced to live in districts frequented by the criminal
     classes. They would be under police observation like
     other criminals. They would be forced to report to the
     police as other criminals were obliged to do. The
     German Government could not help it if some of these
     criminals escaped to other countries which seemed so
     anxious to have them. It was not, however, willing for
     them to take the property which had resulted from their
     illegal operations, with them."

Presiding Judge: I see this is information Ambassador
Kennedy received from his French colleague, Bonnet.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Correct. I shall confine myself to
this quotation. I now come to Prosecution document No.1368.
In the flow of submissions there is a link missing here,
again for the same reason. I shall have to come back to it
and apologize. I refer to Prosecution document No. 1368
which originates in the German Foreign Ministry. It is a
letter from Heydrich to the German Foreign Minister dated 30
January 1939, and it deals with Die Reichszentrale fuer die
juedische Auswanderung. The document is authenticated by an
affidavit from Professor Verete. I wish to submit the
document.

Presiding Judge: That will be T/116.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  With the Court's permission I shall
read the letter:

     "Subject: 'The Reich Central Office for the Emigration
     of the Jews.' I attach a copy of the letter from
     Generalfeldmarschall Goering as Commissioner for the
     Four Year Plan, dated 24 January 1939, to Reich
     Minister of the Interior, by virtue of which a Reich
     Central Office for the Emigration of the Jews is to be
     established in the Ministry of the Interior and of
     which I shall be in charge. By virtue of the
     instruction to assume the responsibility for the Reich
     Central Office I order the following:
     
     (a) The Reich Central Office  consists of a committee
     and an executive office (Geschaeftsstelle)
     
     (b) The committee consists of representatives of the
     government units taking part in the task to be
     accomplished.
     
     (c) I determine that an executive office will serve
     Department II of the Gestapo, which materially already
     deals with these tasks, and appoint as its responsible
     officer the head of  that Department, SS-
     Standartenfuehrer Oberregierungsrat Mueller.

     I request the Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs, the
     Reich Minister of Economics, the Reich Minister of
     Finance and the Secretary of State Dr. Stuckart to
     submit to me the name of one representative each for
     the Committee of the Reich Central Office, so that I
     shall be able to convene the first meeting of the
     Committee."

With the Court's permission I shall now pass on to
Prosecution document No. 296. This is Adolf Hitler's speech
before the Reichstag of Greater Germany on 30 January 1939.
I submit the speech in its official edition by the
Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Ebert Nachfolger, Munich,
1939. In this speech, Hitler speaks of the danger of war,
and here is one of the threats of what will be the fate of
the Jews if war breaks out.

Presiding Judge: T/117.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  I draw the Court's attention to page
46 of the booklet. These are Hitler's words in the course of
this speech:

     "It is most possible that on this problem there will
     sooner or later be a concensus of opinion among nations
     who otherwise are not close to each other. There is
     enough room in the world to live, but the opinion that
     the Jewish people has been appointed by the good Lord
     to be in a certain percentage the parasites on the body
     and the productive work of other peoples, must be
     eradicated. The Jews will have to adjust themselves to
     the same productive activities as are carried out by
     other peoples; otherwise they will sooner or later
     succumb to a crisis of immeasurable size. And one thing
     I would like to say on this day, which is perhaps
     memorable not only for us Germans: In my life, I have
     often been a prophet and was most often laughed at.
     During my struggle for power, it was first of all the
     Jewish people that reacted to my prophesies with
     laughter, that one day I would take over the leadership
     of the state and thereby of the entire people in
     Germany, and that then I would solve, among others,
     also the Jewish problem. I believe that the loud
     laughter of the Jews in Germany in those days, has now
     been stuck in their throats.
     
     "Today I want to be a prophet once more: If
     international financial Jewry, in and outside Europe,
     would succeed in plunging the peoples once again into a
     world war, then the result will not be a Bolshevized
     world and thereby a victory for the Jews, but the
     annihilation (Vernichtung) of the Jewish race in
     Europe."


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