Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Judgment/Judgment-030 Last-Modified: 1999/05/27 From Malines, the Jews were evacuated to Auschwitz. The number of Jews evacuated from Malines was 25,437, of whom 1,276 survived (p. 30 of T/520). 101. Of the Accused's activities in Holland, we hear for the first time in December 1941, when the question arises as to the attitude to be adopted towards Jews who were members of a Dutch pro-German association. He was of the opinion that they, too, should not be allowed to emigrate, but their evacuation could be postponed, so that "their turn will come last" (T/528). The Adviser on Jewish Affairs in Holland is Zoepf, one of the Accused's men. We have already mentioned, in connection with France, that at a meeting held in the Accused's Section on 11 June 1942 (T/419), it was decided to evacuate 15,000 Jews for the time being from Holland. On 24 September 1942, Rauter, Senior Commanding Officer of the SS and the Police in Holland, reports to Himmler that 20,000 Dutch Jews were "put on the march" to Auschwitz (T/531), adding that "on 15 October, Dutch Jewry will be declared outlawed." (Himmler marks this report with the words "very good.") The witness Dr. Melkman describes to us in detail the large-scale round- ups which took place as a result of this plan (Session 34, Vol. II, 613-614). On 27 April 1943, Zoepf sends in a report to the Accused's Section (T/543) concerning evacuations up to that time, which included 58,000 Jews in sixty trains "for posting to labour in the East." The summary is found in the report made by the Reich Commissioner for Holland in July 1944, which states: "The Jewish Question in Holland can be regarded as solved, since the great majority of Jews have been deported from the country." The number of those deported, according to this report, is 113,000 (T/577). At the end of 1943, a conflict of jurisdiction arose between the RSHA and the Reich Commissioner, Seyss-Inquart, who claimed authority to continue the handling of Jewish affairs ("especially mixed marriages, diamond Jews, etc."). About this, Zoepf writes in a memorandum (T/562), that: "The representatives of the RSHA" (that is the Accused, who was present during the discussion with Seyss- Inquart's representative) "expressed the opinion that it would be contrary to the order of the Reichsfuehrer- SS and illogical, if at this late stage other authorities again were to handle the Jewish Question after the Reich Commissioner himself had confirmed that this lay within the province of the Security Police." From a later cable (T/569), dated 3 February 1944, sent from the Accused's office, in which Kaltenbrunner demands that Sephardic Jews in Holland should also be included in evacuations, we learn that the RSHA had the upper hand in this dispute. As to the plunder of the victim's property in Holland, Seyss- Inquart's report of 28 February 1944 states that he estimates the value of the property seized at 500 million Dutch Gulden (T/571). Here, too, Rosenberg's special unit was active in the robbery of the property (T/508, p. 9). 102. Expulsions from Scandinavian Countries began at the end of 1942 and continued throughout 1943 The Accused's Section sends a cable on 25 November 1942 (signed by Guenther) to the Commander of the Security Police in Oslo, ordering the immediate evacuation of Norwegian Jews via Stettin to Auschwitz. The cable contains the usual instructions regarding the categories of the evacuees (nationality, mixed marriages, etc.) and the loss of Norwegian nationality on crossing the border. The very same day, a message is sent from Oslo to Stettin that 700-900 Jews would sail the next day. Arrests are carried out on the same day and, in fact, 532 Jews are deported from Oslo to Stettin, arriving at Stettin on 30 November 1942 and at Auschwitz on 1 December 1942 (exhibit T/591). The second wave was from 25 to 26 February 1943, and this time 158 Jews are expelled from Oslo via Stettin. The Accused's office (over his signature) instructs the local Gestapo office in Oslo to transfer these Jews to Berlin, "where they will be attached en bloc to one of the next transports of Jews to Auschwitz" (T/592). We heard from Mrs. Samuel how a similar number of Jews were saved by escaping to Sweden (Session 36, Vol. II, p. 649). In Norway, 64 Jews in all remained, all of them Jewish spouses of mixed marriages, and they were concentrated in one camp. The Swedish Government made efforts over an extended period to secure their transfer to Sweden, inter alia by granting them Swedish nationality. Already on 1 March 1943 (T/593), the Accused's Section, in a letter bearing his signature, strongly objected to these attempts, and on 2 October 1944, his Section finally rejected (over Guenther's signature) the Swedish request to have the 64 Jews transferred to Sweden (T/605). A total of 750 Jews was evacuated from Norway, and only 13 remained alive. 103. In Denmark the action was concentrated over a few days at the end of September and the beginning of October 1943. Most of the action failed, due to a `leakage' on the German side and the active assistance of all sections of the Danish people, from the King down to simple citizens, as was related by the witness Melchior in his testimony (Session 35, Vol. II, pp. 627-641). Only 202 Jews of Copenhagen fell into German hands at the time and were sent to Germany on 3 October 1943 (T/582). The order for expulsion came from Himmler, through the RSHA and the Accused's Section, as appears from the affidavits made by von Thadden (T/584) and Mildner (T/585); from a letter from the Foreign Ministry, dated 13 September 1943, to the Head of the Security Police, for the attention of the Accused (T/580); from a report, T/582, sent to the RSHA with a copy to the Accused's Section; and documents T/587-588, which also reflect the activity of the Accused in the matter of Danish Jewry. According to reports by the Danish Government (T/589), the total number of those deported was about 475. They were all sent to Terezin, and thanks to the continuous interest taken by Danish institutions, their fate there was better than that of all other inmates. The number of those who died in Terezin was 53. 104. From Western and Northern Europe, we move to Central, Southern and South-Eastern Europe. We shall deal first with Slovakia which was, by the grace of Hitler, an autonomous state. Wisliceny acted as "Adviser on Jewish Affairs" in this country on behalf of the RSHA and the Accused's Section, being formally attached to Ludin, the German Ambassador in Bratislava. Three periods can be discerned in the fate of the Jews of Slovakia: (a) The first period was that of "relocation and Aryanization," about which we heard from the witness Dr. Abeles. About the meaning of relocation we read in document T/1076, dated 22 October 1941: "The Slovakian Minister of the Interior...is planning the concentrated settlement of Jews in certain places in Slovakia, thereby achieving the complete evacuation of Jews from large areas, as well as the evacuation of the capital. This will be done by the setting up of ghettos - suggested by the German Counsellor, following the example of the Generalgouvernement." Concerning Aryanization, Dr. Abeles stated (Session 49, Vol. II. p. 888): "It was the large Jewish firms which were Aryanized, primarily industrial firms, part of which were owned by Jews." (b) The second decisive stage, that of evacuation, begins on 16 February 1942 (T/1078). On 13 March 1942, the German Embassy in Bratislava is informed that the Accused will arrive "for preliminary discussion of the evacuation of 20,000 Jews from Slovakia" (T/1079), and on 20 March 1942 (T/1080), the Foreign Ministry transmits to the German Embassy a detailed plan coming from the Head of the Security Police and the SD. The Slovak Government is to pay the German Government the sum of 500 Reichsmark for every Jew received. The Germans justify this demand by the low work productivity of the Jews, "not yet trained for new trades," and by the fact that Jewish property in Slovakia is worth three billion Slovakian Crowns. On 29 April 1942, Ludin reports that the plan was confirmed by the Slovak Government, that three trains had already been dispatched, and that after the evacuation of 20,000 "labour Jews" the evacuation of the remainder (some 70,000 Jews (T/1081)) could be commenced. The question of the payment of 500 Reichsmark for each evacuated Jew appears again a number of times in documents submitted, and for the last time in document T/1087, dated 2 May 1942, in which the Foreign Ministry defines the attitude of the German Government as follows: "The Reich Government undertakes responsibility that Jews removed from Slovakia and received by them will remain in the Eastern areas forever, and will not be given any opportunity to return to Slovakia. No claim is put forward by the Germans in regard to the property of these Jews of Slovakian nationality, except the demand for the payment of 500 Reichsmark in exchange for each Jew received. The Reich Government is to receive (abzunehmen) from Slovakia, during the month of May this year, 20,000 additional Jews, fit for labour, and send them to the East. The details will be arranged as heretofore."
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