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Last-Modified: 1999/05/27

The Deportation of the Jews of Stettin

75. At the same time, the Jews of Stettin were being
deported to the Generalgouvernement area.  This action (as
well as similar action against the Jews of Schneidemuehl)
was out of the ordinary at this stage in the development of
affairs, because here, for the first time, Jews of German
nationality were deported from the Old Reich, and not from
territories in the East recently annexed to the Reich.  The
first indication of this we find in the minutes of the above
meeting dated 30 January 1940 (exhibit T/166), at which
Heydrich stated that "in the middle of February, one
thousand Jews will be deported from Stettin, since their
apartments are urgently required for reasons connected with
the war economy, and they, too, will be sent to the
Generalgouvernement area (see p.7 supra).

The deportation from Stettin was carried out during one
single night in the early hours of 13 February 1940.  The
Jews were taken from their apartments.  They were allowed to
take one suitcase with them.  Every head of family had to
sign a waiver in respect of all his property.  They were not
allowed to take with them provisions for the journey.  One
thousand three hundred persons were evacuated; amongst them
children and old people.  If anyone was unable to walk, he
was taken to the railway station on a stretcher.  Twenty-
four hours later, the first corpses were removed from the
train.  The deportees were taken to Lublin, and from there
all of them - men, women and children - were taken on foot
to villages at a distance of 26-30 kilometres from the town.
The temperature was 22 degrees below zero and the snow was
deep.  During this march, which lasted fourteen hours,
seventy-two persons fell by the way, and most of these froze
to death.  In one of the reports from which these details
are taken (T/666; T/669), we read about a woman who was
found frozen on the road with a child of three in her arms,
whom she had tried to protect with her clothes from the
cold.  Most of those who reached the three villages were
housed in stables and farms, under terrible hygienic
conditions.  By 12 March 1940, 230 people of this transport
had died.  When the Accused was questioned in connection
with the reports on this deportation, this was his reaction:

     "There is a grain of truth in this information.  The
     reason is the exaggerated speed with which these
     deportations and expulsions were ordered to be carried
     out.  Only fifteen days elapsed from the day the order
     was given until the expulsion was carried out."
     (Session 76, Vol. IV, pp. xxxx116-120.)

The deportation of Jews from the Reich to the
Generalgouvernement area again aroused resistance from
Frank.  In March 1940, Goering responded to his pressure and
prohibited further deportations without his and Frank's
consent (T/383).  But in a later document (T/384), we see
that at the beginning of 1941, and until March 1941, once
again Jews were deported from Eastern Territories annexed to
the Reich, and also from Vienna, to the Generalgouvernement
area.  The Accused bears responsibility for all the
deportations to the Generalgouvernement area described
above, because of the role of "central direction" which he
played in this matter, in accordance with the appointment he
had received from Heydrich.  When cross-examined by the
Attorney General, he finally admits and says, in connection
with the Stettin deportation (Session 98, Vol. IV,
p.xxxx15):

     "This was divided into a number of parts, this was not
     one independent matter.  A number of authorities
     participated.  As far as I was competent to do so, I
     had to carry this out."

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