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Shofar FTP Archive File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts//Sessions/Session-076-04


Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-076-04
Last-Modified: 1999/06/08

Presiding Judge: What do you have to say about this?

Accused  Dr. Loewenherz' choice of the term Leitung
(control) of the Reich Central Office is not a happy one.
This can be confirmed by the two documents to which I just
begged to refer, according to which the head (Leiter) of the
Reich Central Office, in accordance with Goering's
appointment, was the Chief of the Security Police and the
Security Service.  In accordance with an operational order
by this head, that is Heydrich, the chief of Department IV
Mueller, was appointed manager  (Geschaeftsfuehrer).  I was
subordinate to this Chief of Department Mueller as a
specialist officer, so that my position was that of a
representative of the manager.  That would be the correct
term, and not "head" (Leiter).

Presiding Judge: All right.

Dr. Servatius:  The next exhibits, T/164 and T/165, go
together.  The first one is a note on a consultation of
department chiefs and heads of Operations Units.  The second
is an express letter, dated 21 September 1939, on the same
topic.  The note starts by referring to political plans for
the future, and then, on page 4, there is a reference to the
Jewish Question.  On the first page, one of the persons
listed as present is SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Eichmann, Jewish
Central Emigration Office.

Witness, what can you say about this discussion?

Accused:  As proved by the documents which have just been
discussed, at this time I was not in Berlin at all, and,
therefore, I cannot possibly have taken part in such a
consultation.  Apart from this, Dr. Six - at that time
Standartenfuehrer and my superior, until I was actually
transferred to Berlin - took part in the meeting.  A few
days ago, he was examined by the Technan Court of the First
Instance as a witness, and he stated: "I saw Heydrich every
three or four weeks, on the occasion of the consultations of
department chiefs.  Eichmann did not take part in these
consultations."  That had also been my opinion, because I
never took part in a consultation of department chiefs.
That is what I have to say regarding these documents.

Presiding Judge: In other words, you are saying that, in
this case, the note is not correct where your name is given.

Accused:  Yes, Your Honour.

Dr. Servatius:  Witness, perhaps you would comment on the
reference number of this document?

Accused:  It says Stabskanzlei (Headquarters Chancellery),
and then, below it, 11, and below that, the reference RF/FH.
Now, as far as I remember, I know that there was no
Stabskanzlei in the Head Office of the Security Police, that
is to say, after the offices were centralized.  Stabskanzlei
was a typical term for the period of the Security Service
Head Office, and that shows me that this note was dictated
by a member of the Security Service, and not by someone from
Department IV, that is to say, the Security Police.  Apart
from the dictation sign, nothing else can be gathered; the
minute is not signed.

Dr. Servatius:  That will do.  In the second letter, T/165,
document No. 775, Heydrich writes as follows to the heads of
all the Operations Units: "I write in connection with the
consultation held today in Berlin, and draw your attention
again to the fact that the planned overall measures (i.e.,
the final aim) are to be kept top secret."  Further details
follow.  I should like to refer to the last section of the
letter, under VI.  This shows all those taking part in this
matter.  It says there: "The OKH (Army High Command), the
Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan (for the attention of
State Secretary Neumann), the Reich Ministry of the Interior
(for the attention of State Secretary Stuckart), for Food
and Economic Affairs (for the attention of State Secretary
Landfried) and the Chiefs of the Civilian Administration of
the Occupied Territories are to receive copies of this
ordinance."  This shows that this matter is not confined to
the narrow framework of Department IV.

The next exhibit is T/167...

Judge Raveh:   Perhaps, first of all, Dr. Servatius could
check with the Accused as to when he returned from Prague to
Berlin?

Dr. Servatius:  Witness, did you hear the question to you
from the Court?

Accused:  Yes, I did.  I am unable today to give the precise
date, but perhaps the following indications will be helpful.
First of all, this report which has just been mentioned,
that is the memorandum by Dr. Loewenherz in Vienna, gives a
date.  Now it is possible that I was ordered to Berlin a few
days earlier, in order to deal with some preliminary work,
but there is another very important indication which I
myself have only just now discovered - in Prosecution
document No. 775, in the heading under "Chief of the
Security Police and the Security Service," it says `PP
(II)', that is Political Police, II, Office of Secret State
Police, as can be seen in the operational decrees dealt with
in the chapter on "Organization."  When I compare this with
my Certificate of Appointment as Specialist Officer, which
is shown by another document here, where in the heading
underneath "Chief of the Security Police and the Security
Service" it already states IV, then that document in
question, document No. 775, must have been drawn up when the
offices had not yet been centralized, whilst my Certificate
of Appointment as Specialist Officer must have been issued
after the offices were centralized,  which would roughly
indicate the weeks in which I must have come to Berlin - it
must have been late autumn already, 19 December 1939, at the
latest.

Dr. Servatius:  The next exhibit is T/167, document No.
1396.  This sets up a new office - Plenipotentiary of the
Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of German Folkdom.
It is a letter dated 7 November 1939 to the Higher SS and
Police Leader for the area of the Vistula, SS Gruppenfuehrer
Hildebrandt.  He is being appointed Plenipotentiary for the
Strengthening of German Folkdom.  Attached to the letter is
the ordinance of 7 October 1939 - of the Fuehrer, the Reich
Chancellor for the Strengthening of German Folkdom.

Did you have dealings with this office, and what was its
function?

Accused:  The office of Plenipotentiary of the Reich
Commissioner for the Strengthening of German Folkdom was in
charge of the handling of the evacuation of Jews and Poles
from the German Eastern provinces, in accordance with the
directives laid down by the Reich Commissioner.  However, it
also had, as Part II, to implement the settlement of the
ethnic Germans who were coming into the country.  The duties
of this office were transferred to local offices - such as
Administrative Chief for the Ober-Ost (North-East) area, or
the competent local offices of the Reich Minister for Food
and Agriculture, as can be seen in III on page 2 of the
ordinance.  The dealings I myself and my Section had with
this office, were when it was in the interest of the office
to receive a copy of the results of the timetable
conferences which were held between my Section and the Reich
Transport Ministry.  However, that was not the case at the
time indicated in the date at the top of this document -  7
November 1939 - only later on, from the beginning of 1940,
because practically - as shown clearly by these documents -
I did not start with this activity, which I was ordered to
undertake, until the beginning of 1940, that is to say,
early January.  In conclusion, I should like to point out
that this communication, this decree, went not only to the
Higher SS and Police Leader Vistula, Danzig, but, as shown
by a later document, altogether another five Higher SS and
Police Leaders were involved in the sphere of this new
office, apart from those who worked exclusively for it.
However, another document anyhow makes this point more
clearly.

Dr. Servatius:  Perhaps I could also refer the Court to
Paragraph II of this decree which reads: "In the occupied
former Polish territories, the Administrative Chief of the
North-Eastern Area shall carry out the duties delegated to
the Reichsfuehrer-SS according to the latter's general
directions," so that the local arrangements, which are
specified in greater detail later, do not appear here.

I now come to exhibit T/205, document No. 1087.  The
document contains a decree from Himmler, dated 10 November
1939, showing the activities of this new office for the
Strengthening of German Folkdom.  This concerns confiscation
of assets, and mention is made here of the Main Trustee
Office East, a Mayor Dr. Winkler, who is the head of this
office.  Page 3 goes into the various types of assets; who
is to carry out the confiscations, who receives them, and
then, at the bottom of the page, under IV, it says: "Other
Polish or Jewish-owned assets will be confiscated by the
Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police at the
request of the Main Trustee Office East for the benefit of
the German Reich.... The seizure of these assets is to be
dealt with by the Trustee Office East."

Witness, did you, in fact, have any dealings with this
office under the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of
German Folkdom?

Accused:  No, the document shows very clearly that totally
different forces were at work here.

Dr. Servatius:  The next exhibit is T/169, document No.
1397.  This is a communication dated 4 November 1939, with
an attached order from Himmler, dated 30 October 1939.  Item
4 of this order says that the Higher SS and Police Leader
East announces the possibilities for reception by the
Generalgouvernement of those to be resettled, broken down
according to districts and larger cities.  Under item 5, the
Higher SS and Police Leaders for the various areas, together
with the Inspectors and Senior Commanders of the Security
Police, will together draw up the resettlement plan.
Witness, did you have anything to do with this resettlement
operation?

Accused:  The only thing I had to do with the whole
resettlement operation was, as indicated by the name of my
Section, relative to timetables, technical transport
aspects, and there the whole thing revolved around the
negotiations between my Section and the Reich Transport
Ministry. I must also add that I cannot have had anything to
do with the matters specifically mentioned in this document,
because this document is dated 4 November 1939, and I could
not yet have been occupied with this kind of work at that
time, as I have already indicated.

Dr. Servatius:  The next exhibit is T/206, document No. 779.
These are directives from the Reich Commissioner for the
Strengthening of German Folkdom.  The letter is not dated.
Under item I, it says:

     "The following matters are to be dealt with in the
     first phase of our activity:
     
     (1) Expulsion of some 550,000 Jews and of the leading
     anti-German Poles and the Polish intelligentsia,
     starting with Danzig and Posen, across the German Reich
     border to the Polish Generalgouvernement."

Further on in the letter, reference is made to 9 October
1939, the date of Goering's ordinance, so that the earliest
date possible for this letter is the date there stated.
Such an operation requires a considerable time for its
implementation.

Did you have anything to do with the implementation of these
measures?

Accused:  No; and here, too, I should like to say that, when
the basic decisions were drafted, on the basis of which the
office of the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of
German Folkdom was to operate, my area of activities was
still in Vienna or Prague; to what extent I subsequently
became involved with these matters, as regards timetables
and technical transport aspects, can be seen from the
documents which are to be presented later.

Dr. Servatius:  The next exhibit is T/207, document No.
1090.  The document concerns residence restrictions
applicable to resettled Jews, and the penalty threatened is
death, if they leave their place of abode.  The ordinance is
dated 15 October 1941.

Did your Section have anything to do with carrying out such
death penalties or other punishments?

Accused:  My Section had nothing to do with the punishments
decreed by the Governor General.  However, my Section dealt
with punishments decreed by the Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief
of the German Police, about which there are, anyhow, two
documents in this collection of documents, which are to be
submitted later.

Dr. Servatius:  The next document has not yet been submitted
and does not have a T number; it is Bureau 06 No. 1458.

Presiding Judge: I mark this exhibit N/7.

Dr. Servatius:  This document is a minute of a consultation
which took place on 8 November 1939 with the Governor
General of Poland in Cracow.  It concerns the resettlement
of Poles and Jews.  On page 2, the details of the
resettlement plan appear, and, at the bottom, there is
Himmler's overall plan, according to which all Jews and
Poles of the area of Congress Poland are to be evacuated by
the end of February 1940, that is to say, from the Danzig
and Posen Reich Districts, and also from East Upper Silesia
and the south of East Prussia.  For the remaining
undesirable Poles, an extension until the beginning of 1941
is given.

Witness, on page four of the document, at the end, mention
is made of a Central Planning Office in Cracow, that of the
Higher SS and Police Leader of the Generalgouvernement of
Poland.  Were you in touch with this office?

Accused:  At the time of this consultation, I was not in
touch with any of the persons or offices mentioned.  This is
confirmed on page 3, where it says: "the negotiations with
the Reich Railways are generally carried out by SS
Brigadefuehrer Streckenbach, from Cracow."

Dr. Servatius:  The next exhibit has not yet been submitted
and has no T number; it is Bureau 06 No. 1459.  The document
is a decree by Heydrich, dated 29 November 1939, for the
evacuation of Poles and Jews to the new eastern provinces.

Presiding Judge: I mark this exhibit N/8.

Dr. Servatius:  The first paragraph of this text is the
crucial one.  It reads:

     "In accordance with the basic order of the
     Reichsfuehrer-SS, the evacuation of Poles and Jews to
     the new eastern provinces will be carried out by the
     Security Police.  Responsibility for this is shared by
     the Higher SS and Police Leaders, the Inspectors of the
     Security Police, and their subordinate departments."

I should like to direct the Court's attention to page 2, at
the top, in connection with what the Accused, as witness,
said before, with regard to these being local transport
matters. It says there:

     "In principle, transport questions are to be dealt with
     by Inspectors on the local level, as the Transport
     Ministry or the Central Office of Reich Railways has
     assigned the arrangements for local transport matters
     to the local offices of the Reich Railways."

The next document has no T number as yet - this is Bureau 06
No. 1460, and I now submit it...
Presiding Judge: I mark this exhibit N/9.

Dr. Servatius:  This is the Regulation for the Warthe
District (Warthegau), with the same arrangement, according
to which the Inspector of the Security Police and the
Security Service runs the operation.  Then, in the middle,
it says: "He will also, in accordance with proposals from
the District Officers (Landraete) determine when, and how
many people, are to be deported from the various districts
under the plan for immediate action, and, in general, the
same arrangements apply as previously."

Witness, were you involved in the Warthe District Operation?

Accused:  I could not have been at that time, because this
teletype is dated 28 November 1939, while the document with
my appointment as a Specialist Officer is dated 21 December
1939.  Other regulations were issued subsequently, but that
is shown by the other documents...

Dr. Servatius:  I come now to exhibit T/171, document No.
1399.  This is a memorandum dated 8 January 1940, about a
consultation in Berlin.  It is signed by SS Obersturmfuehrer
Abromeit.  It concerns preliminary discussions of
evacuations in the immediate future of Jews and Poles in the
Eastern Territories.  It says here: "The conference was
chaired by SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Eichmann of the Head Office
for Reich Security, Department IV."

Witness, would you explain in what connection you were
concerned with this planned evacuation?

Dr. Servatius:  The reason was the occurrence of various
shortcomings and difficulties at the places where
resettlement was carried out in accordance with
instructions.  That is why the Special Section was set up,
in order to remedy such shortcomings.  On page 1, one of the
things it says is: "People had to spend up to eight days in
closed railway waggons, without being able to relieve
themselves."  These were difficulties which arose when the
Special Section was not yet operating - not just one
problem, but dozens of them.  I ask for permission to quote
a few sentences from Krumey's testimony.

Dr. Servatius:  If it is not too long.

Presiding Judge: That is not entirely in order, Dr.
Servatius; however, I shall permit this now, but, if
anything from statements by other witnesses is to be
mentioned, Counsel for the Defence will do so.  However,
this time we will permit this.

Dr. Servatius:  Your Honour, it is because there is such an
enormous amount of material, occasionally things might be
forgotten, and the Accused is now really reminding me of
this.

Presiding Judge: All right.


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