The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)
Nuremberg, war crimes, crimes against humanity

The Trial of German Major War Criminals

Sitting at Nuremberg, Germany
29th July to 8th August 1946

One Hundred and Ninety-First Day: Wednesday, 31st July, 1946
(Part 8 of 11)


[Page 138]

CROSS EXAMINATION

of the witness Dr. Theo Hupfauer

BY LT. COL. GRIFFITH JONES:

Q. Witness, I want to ask you one question on the expert staff officers of the Gau , Kreis and Ortsgruppenleiter. Did they all come under their respective Hoheitstrager in matters of discipline?

A. Yes. Each of the functionaries of the German Labour Front came under the orders of his immediate superior, also for discipline. I personally as office chief of the DAF was subordinate to the leader of the German Labour Front. He alone could appoint me to a post or. remove me from office.

Q. The experts in the Gau staff, for instance the DAF representative, received their technical instructions from the DAF chiefs. Is that correct?

A. I personally, as well as the other functionaries, received all official instructions from the chiefs; for instance mine came from the DAF leader.

Q. I am sure you can answer my question "yes" or "no." The point I am putting is this. Although you received your professional or expert instructions from your DAF superior, you were also subordinate, were you not, to the Hoheitstrager to whose staff you belonged for all matters of discipline and matters connected with the Party?

A. If anyone was a political leader, he of course was subject to the Party discipline, and he was only concerned with those matters which belonged to his department and to his official sphere.

[Page 139]

Q. Now one question about the political leaders of the DAF. A political leader in the DAF, was he sworn in as a political leader in the same way as any other political leader was sworn in?

A. A political leader of the DAF took his oath to the Fuehrer.

Q. Did he also receive a special certificate or identity card which was issued to all other political leaders?

A. Yes, he did, he received a certificate on which his rank was recorded.

LT. COL. GRIFFITH J0NES: Now, my Lord, this witness was cross examined before the Commission, and I would only draw the Tribunal's attention to one new document which was not put to him and to two others which affect the DAF particularly. The first one is a new document, D 338, which will be handed up to the Tribunal. My Lord, it is a report of the conditions in the sick bay of one of the Krupp camps. My purpose in putting it in is that it is addressed to the KVD and the Gauamtsleiter Doctor Heiriz. Perhaps I might ask one other question of the witness on that.

Q. Witness, is the KVD the Association of Doctors and Physicians?

A. That is a medical association for Germany, that is to say a relief fund. The organization for the doctors and physicians was the "Arztebund," League of Doctors and Physicians.

Q. It is an association of doctors. Now, was the Gauamtsleiter, Doctor Heinz, would you presume from that document that he was the expert nonpolitical Leiter of the Gau staff concerned with medical matters?

A. The position that he held is not noted here, but I assume it was the same person, the Gauamtsleiter for the people's health.

LT. COL. GRIFFITH JONES: My Lord, the next document the Tribunal will find -

THE PRESIDENT: What is the number?

LT. COL. GRIFFITH JONES: I beg your pardon -- GB 547. The next document will be found on Page 19 of the Tribunal's document book. My Lord, it is a document which has been put in and I am not certain whether or not it was read to the Tribunal; and I would particularly refer to the penultimate paragraph of the first page which is of considerable importance in connection with the DAF. It is a report by one of the Krupp offices or works managers. It is an original German document and it refers to a discussion which that gentleman had with three members of the DAF in connection with the food which he was trying to get for the starving Russian prisoners of war and Russian labourers.

My Lord, the Tribunal, I know, will stop me if it is familiar with the document, but perhaps I might be allowed to read the one paragraph describing that interview?

THE PRESIDENT: The document has been read.

LT. COL. GRIFFITH JONES: My Lord, I will no more than draw the attention of the Tribunal to the remarks which were passed by the DAF's representative. My Lord, the other document to which I will draw the attention of the Tribunal will be found on Pages 9 and 10 Document D 226, Exhibit USA 697 -- perhaps I might ask the witness one question on this.

BY LT COL. GRIFFITH JONES:

Q. Witness, Will you look at this document and the covering letter, which is dated 10th November, 1944. Is that letter signed by you?

A. Yes.

LT. COL. GRIFFITH JONES: On Page 10, you will see that it is a covering letter, enclosing a decree on the employment of foreign labour, in which it says:

"It is of particular importance that not only the present good output should be secured, but also that further working reserves should be freed,

[Page 140]

which, without doubt, can still be obtained from these millions of foreign workers."

It then goes on to say in the paragraph No. 2: "All men and women of the NSDAP, its subsidiaries and affiliated bodies in the works, will in accordance with instructions from the Kreisleiter be warned by their Ortsgruppen leaders, and be put on their honour to do their utmost."

My Lord, the document further states that the close co operation between the Party, the State and Industry, with departments of the Secret Police is absolutely necessary for this purpose.

I now read the last three lines of Paragraph 2-b: "Party members, both men and women, and members of Party organizations and affiliated bodies must be expected more than ever before to conduct themselves in an exemplary manner."

At the bottom of the page will be seen: "The Gau Trustee of the DAF will issue detailed instructions in co operation with the Gau propaganda leader and the leader of the Gau Department for Social Questions."

And then again in the next paragraph it will be seen that there is further evidence of co operation between the political leaders the Kreisleiter in particular and the Gestapo.

I have no further questions.

THE PRESIDENT: If there are no further questions, the witness may retire. Dr. Servatius, would you like to make such comments as you think necessary on your documents?

DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, I do not have the documents here now and they have not yet been translated; so that they are not yet before the Tribunal. I would suggest first of all that all the witnesses be examined and by that time the documents will be ready and I will then submit them.

THE PRESIDENT: We have the books ourselves.

DR. SERVATIUS: It is not only the document books which have not been submitted, but it is the affidavits which I have not yet got myself. Nor could I present them now as I have not yet classified them, for I had assumed that I was to do so in my closing speech. That is the way I understood the decision. I could do it tomorrow morning.

THE PRESIDENT: Then, Dr. Servatius, would it be convenient to comment on some of these documents in these two document books now and leave the affidavits to a later time?

DR. SERVATIUS: I do not have them with me and am also not prepared. It would take up a lot of time and be out of order. I would prefer to submit them some other time; I would prefer to be given a little more time.

THE PRESIDENT: Then, the Tribunal had better go on with the evidence for the next organization.

DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, when shall I submit this matter? After the hearing of witnesses for the next organization, or after all witnesses have been heard for all the organizations?

THE PRESIDENT: After the next one, I think.

DR. SERVATIUS: Very well.


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