Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
Volume II
Criminality of Groups and Organizations
The Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) & Sicherheitsdienst
(Part 5 of 9)
Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
G. Crimes of the GESTAPO and SD Against Humanity.
The GESTAPO and the SD were primary agencies for the
persecution of the Jews. The persecution of the Jews under
the Nazi regime is a story of increasingly severe treatment,
beginning with restrictions, then seizure and spoliation of
property, commitment to concentration camps, deportation,
slave labor, and finally mass murder. The responsibility of
the GESTAPO and the SD for the mass extermination program
carried out by the Einsatz Groups of the SIPO and SD and in
the annihilation camps to which Jews were sent by the SIPO
and SD has already been considered. In this subdivision, the
place of the GESTAPO and SD in the development of this
persecution will be treated.
Section B of the SD dealt with problems of nationality,
including minorities race and national health, immigration,
and resettlement. Section B4 of the GESTAPO, headed by
Eichmann, dealt with Jewish affairs, including matters of
evacuation, means
[Page 296]
of suppressing enemies of the people and State, and
dispossession of rights of German citizenship. One of the
functions of the SD was to furnish information concerning
the Jews to the GESTAPO. One of the functions of the GESTAPO
was to carry out the Nazi program of persecution of the
Jews. (L-185; L-219)
The GESTAPO was charged with the enforcement of
discriminatory laws, such as those preventing Jews from
engaging in business, restricting their right to travel, and
prohibiting them from associating with gentiles. Violations
of such restrictions resulted in protective custody and
confinement in concentration camps by the GESTAPO. (L-217; L-
152; L-167.)
The Chief of the Security Police and SD ordered the GESTAPO
and the SD to supervise the anti-Jewish pogrom staged in
November 1938 following the von Rath incident in Paris. As
many Jews were to be arrested in all districts as the
available jail space would hold. Well-to-do Jews were to be
singled out for arrest, and primarily only healthy male
adults of not too advanced age. Immediately after completion
of the arrests, the competent concentration camp was to be
notified in order to provide for speediest transfer of Jews
to the camps. (3051-PS)
On 11 November 1938 Heydrich reported to Goering by secret
express letter on the results of the action as reported by
the GESTAPO. The report stated in part:
"191 synagogues were set on fire, and another 76
completely destroyed. In addition 11 parish halls,
[Gemeindehauser] cemetery chapels and similar buildings
were set on fire and 3 more completely destroyed.
"20,000 Jews were arrested, also 7 Aryans and
foreigners. The latter were arrested for their own
safety.
"36 deaths were reported and those seriously injured
were also numbered at 36. Those killed and injured are
Jews. One Jew is still missing. The Jews killed include
one Polish national, and-those injured include 2
Poles." (3058-PS)
On 31 July 1941 Goering sent the following order to the
Chief of the Security Police and SD, Heydrich:
[Page 297]
In February or March 1943, according to Gottfried Boley,
Ministerialrat in the Reich Chancery, a conference on the
solution of the Jewish problem, attended by representatives
of the ministries, was called by Kaltenbrunner as Chief of
the Security Police and SD. Boley
The deportation of Jews into concentration camps was part of
the program for slave labor. Jews not fit for work were
screened out at extermination centers, such as Auschwitz,
and the remainder were taken into concentration and work
camps. The orders were issued by Himmler and passed through
the Chief of the Security Police and SD, Kaltenbrunner
(formerly Heydrich) to Mueller, Chief of the GESTAPO, and
then to Eichmann for execution. (2376-PS; 147-PS.)
In Galicia, the deportation of Jews was carried out during
the period from April 1942 to June 1943. At the end of that
time Galicia had been entirely cleared of Jews. In all,
434,392 Jews were deported from Galicia alone. In connection
with the deportations Jewish property was confiscated,
including furniture, clothing, money, dental fillings, gold
teeth, wedding rings, and other personal property of all
kinds. The Security Police participated in this action along
with other police and SS detachments. (L-18)
In Warsaw the Security Police played a responsible role in
the
[Page 298]
segregation of the Jews and placing them in the Ghetto, in
the subsequent removal of the Jews to concentration camps,
and in the final clearance of the Ghetto. The Ghetto was
established in November of 1940. Over 300,000 Jews were
deported from it between July and October 1942, and 6,500
more were deported in January 1943. In April and May 1943
the final clearance of the Ghetto was accomplished under the
direction of the SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw area,
and with units of the SIPO, Waffen SS, Order Police, and
some military and Polish police units. Thousands of Jews
were killed in the action. About 7,000 were transported to
"T. II" where they were exterminated. The remaining 40,000
to 45,000 were placed in concentration camps.
In Denmark the Kommandeur of the SIPO and SD was ordered in
September of 1943 to arrest all Danish citizens of Jewish
belief and send them to Stettin by ship and from there to
the concentration camp at Theresienstadt. In spite of the
protests of the Kommander of the SIPO and SD, Kaltenbrunner
as Chief of the Security Police and SD gave direct orders to
carry out the anti-Jewish action. Eichmann, head of the
Jewish section in the GESTAPO, had direct charge of the
clearance program. (2375-PS)
In Hungary the deportation of Jews was again carried out by
Eichmann. This action took place under direction of the
GESTAPO after the German occupation of Hungary in March
1944. About 450,000 Jews were deported from Hungary due to
the pressure and direction of the GESTAPO. (2605-PS)
(2) The GESTAPO and the SD were primary agencies for the
persecution of the churches. The fight against the churches
was never brought out into the open by the GESTAPO and the
SD as in the case of the persecution of the Jews. The
struggle was designed to weaken the churches and to lay a
foundation for the ultimate destruction of the confessional
churches after the end of the war. (1815-PS)
Section C2 of the SD dealt with education and religious
life. Section B1 of the GESTAPO dealt with political
Catholicism. Section B2 with political Protestantism sects,
and Section B3 with other churches and Freemasonry. (L-185)
As early as 1934 the GESTAPO enforced restrictions against
the churches. An order by the State Police of Dusseldorf
prohibited the churches from engaging in public activities,
especially public appearances in groups, sports, hikes, and
the establishment of holiday or outdoor camps. (R-145)
In 1934 the Bavarian Political Police placed three ministers
in
[Page 299]
protective custody for refusing to carry out the order of
the Government to ring church bells on the occasion of the
death of Hindenburg. (1521-PS)
The GESTAPO dissolved those church organizations which it I
considered to have political objectives. In 1938 the GESTAPO
at Munich dissolved by order the Guild of the Virgin Mary of
the Bavarian dioceses. (1481-PS)
An insight into the hidden objectives and secret methods of
the GESTAPO and the SD in the fight against the churches is
disclosed in the file of the GESTAPO regional office at
Aachen (1816-PS). On 12 May 1941 the Chief of the GESTAPO
issued a directive in which he reported that the Chief of
the Security Police and SD had issued an order under which
the treatment of church politics which had theretofore been
divided between the SD and the GESTAPO was to be taken over
entirely by the GESTAPO. The SD "church specialists" were to
be temporarily transferred to the same posts in the GESTAPO
and operate an intelligence service in the church political
sphere there. SD files concerning such political opposition
were to be handed over to the GESTAPO, but the SD was to
retain material concerning the confessional influence on the
lives of the people.
On 22 and 23 September 1941 a conference of church
specialists attached to GESTAPO regional offices was held in
the lecture hall of the RSHA in Berlin. The notes on the
speeches delivered at this conference indicate that the
GESTAPO considered the church as an enemy to be attacked
with determination and "true fanaticism." The immediate
objective of the GESTAPO was stated to be to insure that the
Church did not win back any lost ground. The ultimate
objective was stated to be the destruction of the
confessional churches. This was to be brought about by the
collection of material through the GESTAPO church
intelligence system to be produced at a proper time as
evidence for the charge of treasonable activities during the
German fight for existence.
The executive measures to be applied by the GESTAPO were
discussed. It was stated to be impractical to deal with
political offenses under normal legal procedure owing to
lack of political perception which prevailed among the legal
authorities. The so-called "agitator-Priests," therefore,
had to be handled by GESTAPO measures, and when necessary
removed to a concentration camp. The following punishments
were to be applied to priests according to individual
circumstances: warning, fine, forbidden to preach, forbidden
to remain in parish, forbidden all activity as priest, short-
term arrest, protective custody. Retreats, youth and
recreational camps, evening services, processions and pil-
[Page 300]
grimages were all to be forbidden on grounds of interfering
with the war effort, blackouts, overburdened transportation,
etc.
In executing this program close cooperation was required
between the GESTAPO and the SD. The study and treatment of
the Church in its opposition to the Nazi state was the
responsibility of the GESTAPO. The result of this treatment
of the Church in the sphere of "religious life" remained the
province of the SD. By these means the GESTAPO and the SD
carried on the struggle of the Nazi conspirators against the
Church.
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Volume II
Criminality of Groups and Organizations
The Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) & Sicherheitsdienst
(Part 7 of 9)
"*** The extent of the destruction of Jewish shops and
houses cannot yet be verified by figures. The figures
given in the reports: 815 shops destroyed, 171 dwelling
houses set on fire or destroyed, only indicate a
fraction of the actual damage caused, as far as arson
is concerned. Due to the urgency of the reporting, the
reports received to date are entirely limited to
general statements such as 'numerous' or 'most shops
destroyed.' Therefore the figures given must have been
exceeded considerably.
"Complementing the task that was assigned to you on 24
January 1939, which dealt with arriving at a solution
of the Jewish problem through furtherance of emigration
and evacuation as advantageous as possible, I hereby
charge you with making all necessary preparations in
regard to organizational and financial matters for
bringing about a complete solution of the Jewish
question in the German sphere of influence in Europe."
(710-PS)
"The meeting was presided over by Eichmann who had
charge of Jewish problems in the GESTAPO. In his
opening remarks Eichmann referred to former conferences
that had taken place in the office of the Chief of the
Security Police and SD, and that on this occasion he
wished to discuss the matter in a more basic manner. He
stated that the Jewish question had to be solved in a
quick and proper way. Representatives of the Chief of
the Security Police and SD who attended the conference
made it clear to those present that the remaining Jews
had to be sent forcibly to concentration camps or be
sterilized. Those present at the conference must have
carried away the impression that the objectives were
the extermination of the Jewish people." (2645-PS)