Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression It appears that a certain amount of discord existed between
officials of the German government as to the proper means
and methods to be used in connection with the extermination
program. A secret report dated 18 June 1943, addressed to
Rosenberg, complained that five thousand Jews killed by the
police and SS might have been used for forced labor, and
chided them for failing to bury the bodies of those
liquidated:
"The fact that Jews receive special treatment requires
no further discussion. However, it appears hardly
believable that this is done in the way described in
the report of the General Commissioner of 1 June 1943.
What is Katyn against that? Imagine only that these
occurrences would become known to the other side and
exploited by them! Most likely such propaganda would
have no effect only because people who hear and read
about it simply would not be ready to believe it."
"To lock men, women, and children into barns and to set
fire to them does not appear to be a suitable method of
combatting bands, even if it is desired to exterminate
the population. This method is not worthy of the German
cause and hurts our reputation severely." (R-135)
Gunther, the prison warden at Minsk, in a letter dated 31 May
[Page 1002]
1943, addressed to the General Commissioner for White
Ruthenia, was critical by implication. This letter,
entitled, "Action Against Jews," reads:
"On 13 April 1943 the former German dentist Ernst
Israel Tichauer and his wife, Elisa Sara Tichauer, nee
Rosenthal, were committed to the court prison by the
Security Service. Since that time all German and
Russian Jews who were turned over to us had their
golden bridgework, crowns, and fillings pulled or
broken out. This happens always one to two hours before
the respective action.
"Since 13 April 1943, 516 German and Russian Jews have
been finished off. On the basis of a definite
investigation gold was taken only in two actions -- on
14 April 1943 from 172, and on 27 April 1943 from 164
Jews. About fifty percent of the Jews had gold teeth,
bridgework, or fillings. Hauptscharfuehrer Rube of the
Security Service was always personally present and he
took the gold along, too.
"Before 13 April 1943 this was not done. (signed)
Gunther, Prison Warden." (R-15)
The foregoing letter was forwarded to Rosenberg, as Reich
Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, on June 1943.
The covering letter to Rosenberg reads:
"The enclosed official report from the warden of the
prison in Minsk is submitted to the Reich Minister and
the Reich Commissar for Information.
"(signed) The General Commissar in Minsk." (R-15)
A further complaint is contained in a secret letter
addressed to General of Infantry, Thomas, Chief of the
International Armament Department, dated 2 December 1941
(3257-PS). The writer of this letter apprehensively stated
his reason for not forwarding the communication through
official channels:
"For the personal information of the Chief of the
Industrial Armament Department I am forwarding a total
account of the present situation in the
Reichskommissariat Ukraine in which the difficulties
and tensions encountered so far and the problems which
give rise to serious anxiety are stated with
unmistakable clarity.
"Intentionally I have desisted from submitting such a
report through official channels or to make it known to
other departments interested in it because I do not
expect any results that way, but to the contrary am
apprehensive that the difficulties and tensions and
also the divergent opinions might only be increased due
to the peculiarity of the situation."
*******
[Page 1003]
"Jewish problem: "Regulation of the Jewish question in the Ukraine was a
difficult problem because the Jews constituted a large
part of the urban population. We therefore have to deal
-- just as in the General Government -- with a mass
problem of policy concerning the population. Many
cities had a percentage of Jews exceeding fifty
percent. Only the rich Jews had fled from the German
troops. The majority of Jews remained under German
administration. The latter found the problem more
complicated through the fact that these Jews
represented almost the entire trade and even a part of
the manpower in small and medium industries besides the
business which had in part become superfluous as a
direct or indirect result of the war. The elimination
therefore necessarily had far-reaching economic
consequences and even direct consequences for the
armament industry (production for supplying the
troops)."
*******
"The attitude of the Jewish population was anxious -
obliging from the beginning. They tried to avoid
everything that might displease the German
administration. That they hated the German
administration and army inwardly goes without saying
and cannot be surprising. However, there is no proof
that Jewry as a whole or even to a greater part was
implicated in acts of sabotage. Surely there were some
terrorists or saboteurs among them just as among the
Ukrainians. But it cannot be said that the Jews as such
represented a danger to the German armed forces. The
output produced by Jews who, of course, were prompted
by nothing but the feeling of fear, was satisfactory to
the troops and the German administration.
The
original plaintext version
of this file is available via
ftp.
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Volume
I Chapter XII
The Persecution of the Jews
(Part 11 of 14)