Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Judgment/Judgment-050 Last-Modified: 1999/05/27 156. This is the place to add a few words about the Accused's personal contact with the Mufti, Hajj Amin al- Husseini. It has been proved to us that the Mufti, too, aimed at the implementation of the Final Solution, viz., the extermination of European Jewry, and there is no doubt that, had Hitler succeeded in conquering Palestine, the Jewish population of Palestine as well would have been subject to total extermination, with the support of the Mufti. Memoranda sent by the Mufti to the German Foreign Ministry, Ribbentrop (T/1260, T/1261), and to the satellite governments of Romania and Bulgaria (T/1263, T/1264), have been submitted to us, containing the insistent demand that all Jewish immigration into Palestine be prevented. In the memorandum to the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, dated 6 May 1943 (T/1263, p. 3), it says: "I take the liberty of drawing your attention to the fact that it would be indeed appropriate and advantageous if the Jews were to be prevented from emigrating from your country, and if they were sent to a place where they would be placed under strict control, as for example Poland." It is unnecessary to make any comment upon the phrase "strict control," when the subject under reference is Polish Jewry in the year 1943. In his notes, exhibit T/89, dated 26 July 1946, Wisliceny quotes the Accused as saying that the Mufti visited his office in Berlin at the end of 1941 or the beginning of 1942. The Accused gave him an account of the Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe, and the Mufti was duly impressed. The Mufti told the Accused that Himmler had agreed to his request that a member of the Accused's Section should come to Jerusalem to serve as personal adviser to him (the Mufti) upon the latter's return to Jerusalem after the victory of the Axis Powers. The Accused asked Wisliceny if he would like to take this task upon himself, and he, Wisliceny, declined to consider the suggestion. In his Statement, the Accused admitted that he had met the Mufti, though not in his office, but on the occasion of a more widely attended gathering, and continues (p. 564): "But it is correct that those who accompanied the Grand Mufti visited me, and certainly there was some discussion then, though I cannot remember that I ever had a longer conversation with these Iraqi majors beyond general greetings and receiving them and handing them over to the members of my staff." Shortly afterwards (pp. 568-569), he speaks of a visit paid to his office by a nephew (or other close relative) of the Mufti's. In the light of this partial admission by the Accused, we accept as correct Wisliceny's statement about this conversation between the Mufti and the Accused. In our view it is not important whether this conversation took place in the Accused's office or elsewhere. On the other hand, we cannot determine decisive findings with regard to the Accused on the basis of the notes appearing in the Mufti's diary which were submitted to us. Discussions with Regard to the Descendants of Mixed Marriages 157. Nazi legislation defined in paragraph 5 of Regulation No. 1 under the Citizenship Law (one of the Nuremberg Laws) who was to be regarded as a Jew (T/68). The Nazi legislator had no doubts that a person who had three Jewish grandparents was to be regarded as a Jew, whereas a person having only one Jewish grandparent was not regarded as a Jew. Special instructions existed with regard to half-Jews, but we do not propose to detail them here. During the first period, evacuation orders were based upon this legislation. They laid down that Jews were to be evacuated, and they defined who was a Jew for this purpose in accordance with paragraph 5 above (see, for example, T/713, T/664, T/730, T/737). The evacuation orders issued by the Accused's Section also deal with this subject. For example, in the instructions for the evacuation of Jews to Terezin, dated 20 February 1943 (T/850), we see that various categories of descendants of mixed marriages (in the language of the indictment before us, children of mixed marriages) who were regarded as Jews, were to be evacuated to Terezin and not to the East. But, in the meantime, the question of how to deal with borderline cases concerning children of mixed marriages did not cease to occupy the experts on race theory and the Nazi jurists. In exhibit T/526, dated 19 September 1941, a person named Stiller, who worked in the German administration in Holland, reports on a conversation with Loesener, the Referent for Jewish Affairs in the German Ministry of the Interior. According to Loesener, there are circles which recommend making the existing regulations more stringent, and especially that half-Jews should be regarded as Jews for all purposes. The Accused also, it is there stated, adopts this point of view zealously. Army circles opposed this extention, because of the bad impression which such severity was likely to make upon soldiers who were one quarter Jewish, and whose parents would thus be regarded as Jews in the full sense of the word. The matter went right up to Hitler himself, and he rejected the proposal for widening the scope of the law. In a sworn affidavit, dated 24 February 1948 (T/693), Loesener states that he tried to prevent the harsh treatment of children of mixed marriages, and that Nazi Party and SS circles were angry with him because of this. In this connection he mentions the name of the Accused as that of one of the most fanatical and vicious Jew-haters. In the statements of Stiller and Loesener, we see adequate proof of the Accused's attitude on the question under discussion. In the minutes of the Wannsee Conference (T/185), the debate on the treatment of children of mixed marriages of the first and second degree occupies considerable space, and extreme views are expressed, including a proposal for sterilization; but the discussion on this question was not concluded. On 6 March 1942, a month and a half after the Wannsee Conference, a meeting takes place in the Accused's office, attended by representatives of the various ministries and offices. The entire the meeting was devoted to the question of the treatment of children of mixed marriages. The list of the participants does not include the name of the Accused, but that of Bilfinger, as representing the RSHA. The discussion was most detailed, and in particular the question of sterilization was debated. At this meeting, also, no final conclusion was reached. On 27 October 1942, a further meeting took place in the Accused's Section on the question of the children of mixed marriages, this time with his participation (T/190). Those present agreed to the proposal for voluntary sterilization of children of mixed marriages of the first degree, in return for granting them permission to remain on Reich territory. But here, again, the results of the meeting were to be communicated to various offices, so that they could decide upon their final attitude on the question, and we do not know how the matter ended. Thus, it has been shown that the Accused himself handled the question of the children of mixed marriages, but on the basis of the material before us, we are unable to find that the discussions on this question ever brought about a change in the racial legislation, as it existed until then, or in the implementation of the plan for the sterilization of the children of mixed marriages. On 30 January 1942, a meeting took place in the Ministry for Eastern Occupied Territories (T/299), attended also by Suhr, one of the officials in the Accused's Section. All the participants assumed that the Nuremberg Laws did not apply in the East, and the debate turned on the question as to how the term "Jew" should be defined in the East. Heydrich also intervened in this debate (T/301), but again it has not been proved to us that matters went beyond discussion and correspondence and ever reached any final conclusion. Sterilization and the Prevention of Births 158. As we have seen, a suggestion had already been made at the Wannsee Conference that the children of mixed marriages be sterilized. But the Nazis' interest in sterilization went far beyond this. Rudolf Brandt, one of Himmler's men, testified to this in his affidavit dated 19 October 1946 (T/816): "Himmler was especially interested in the development of a cheap, quick method of sterilization which could be used against enemies of the German Reich, such as Russians, Poles and Jews. It was hoped thereby not only to defeat, but also to destroy the enemy. Germany would be able to exploit the working capacity of the sterilized persons, while averting the danger that they might multiply." Brandt, in his declaration, describes some of the shameful acts by which Nazi doctors desecrated the name of medical science: At Auschwitz and Ravensbrueck, experimental sterilizations were carried out on women. Many thousands of women, and especially Jewesses and Gypsies, were sterilized. According to Brandt's statement, at Auschwitz men, too, were sterilized for experimental purposes. Two of the victims of these experiments have given evidence before us. According to a letter (T/1379), dated 4 July 1942, sent to the Accused's Section for the attention of Guenther, a telephone conversation took place between Fischer, one of Himmler's adjutants, and Guenther. Fischer attaches to his letter photographs which apparently relate to experiments which are to be carried out. Fischer also requests Guenther's close co-operation in this matter with the office of Pohl, the chief of the Economic-Administrative Head Office. In his Statement to the police (T/37, p. 2237 et seq.), the Accused denies all knowledge of the matter and expresses his astonishment at the fact that Guenther's name appears on the letter, which had been sent from Himmler's office. In his testimony before us, he surmised that apparently this had been a special task allotted to Guenther personally (Session 79, Vol. IV, p.xxxx8). On 10 July 1942, a letter (T/1377) was sent to Professor Klauberg (or Glauberg), whose name became infamous in connection with sterilization experiments on Jewesses. The subject of this letter is: The experimental sterilization of one thousand Jewesses in Ravensbrueck. A copy of this letter was sent to the RSHA for information. The words "SS Sturmbannfuehrer Guenther, IVB4, Jewish Department" appear typed on this document, but above that, the words "SS Gruppenfuehrer Mueller" were written by hand (see T/37 (178)). We have come to the conclusion that on this subject the Accused should be given the benefit of the doubt. Mention of Mueller's name in exhibit T/1377 shows that it is not at all impossible that this matter was handled at a higher level. Because of this doubt, we do not find that the Accused and his Section took part in the implementation of the sterilization programme or in its preparation.
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