Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-031-01 Last-Modified: 1999/05/31 Session No.31 22 Iyar 5721 (8 May 1961) Presiding Judge: I declare the thirty-first Session of the trial open. Attorney General: May it please the Court. We still have a number of documents concerning the chapter of Poland and I shall present them now. The first document is our No. 1535. It is a report by Oberstleutnant Lahousen on the first stage of the first actions of the Einsatzgruppen in 1939. He describes his visit to Poland and on 20 September 1939 he reports about his activities in the neighbourhood of Lemberg. At that time the German troups also occupied the area in Poland from which they later retreated when the Soviets moved in. On 21 September the demarcation line was decided on. Lahousen says that there was unrest and dissatisfaction in the Army, particularly on account of the fact that young people are carrying out mass murders - especially of Jews - instead of proving their courage at the front. Presiding Judge: This will be T/358. Attorney General: These were the first actions of the Einsatzgruppen at that time, for which proof has already been given in documents from the meeting of 21 September 1939. And now, with the permission of the Court, a series of documents concerning mainly the uprooting of Poles, but also of Jews, from the area incorporated into the Reich. Judge Halevi: In connection with the previous document: To whom was the report submitted? Attorney General: This is an Army report, a military report sent by an Army colonel together with Rittmeister (Cavalry Captain) Jary to his superiors about this visit. We do not know what his exact function was. And now a number of documents concerning the role of the Accused in the expulsion of the population and in that major operation of transferring people from their homes and the homes of their fathers to other areas, in order to make room for German settlers. I shall more or less follow the chronological order. No. 1402 is a telegram from Poznan signed by Hauptsturmfuehrer Mohr who refers to transports schedules and asks for approval for re-routing the trains,* {*The document refers to one transport.} which should not go, as envisaged at first, to a town called Checiny but to Kielce. He asks that Hauptsturmfuehrer Eichmann who was, then in Poznan, be informed of the change which became necessary. Verification is to be found in Polish Bulletin No. 12, which is already a document of the Court. Presiding Judge: This will be T/359. Attorney General: In pursuance of that action a report is sent to the Head Office for Reich Security concerning a labour force which Section IVD4 promises from the incorporated Eastern areas. It says here that the papers of the deported families must be stamped "Evakuiert" (evacuated) and that arrangements have to be made so that after the end of their period of work they will not be returned to the Eastern areas but transferred to the Generalgouvernement. After that reference is made to the Labour Exchange in Litzmannstadt. Presiding Judge: This will be T/360. Attorney General: Here we have a report on this terrible operation of expulsion. The document is our No. 149. In this operation of transferring people and of searching for those suitable to become German deportations were carried out in two stages. In the first stage 261,517 persons were expelled and here is a list of all the districts, tens of districts, from which the Poles were deported by Section IVD4. The next page refers already not only to "expelled Poles" but of "expelled and dislodged Poles." And again there is a list of all the districts from which, in the years 1939 till the end of 1943, a total of 534,384 Poles were expelled from their homes and transferred to other localities. All of this by IVD4 headed by Adolf Eichmann. Presiding Judge: This will be T/361. Attorney General: We have a partial report compiled until 15 November 1940 on these evacuations, which was submitted by the Chief of the Security Police. Until then the number of deported Poles was 356,862. Presiding Judge: This will be T/362. Attorney General: May I be permitted, in this context, to mention a document already submitted which touches on the same matter, T/211. I presented it in connection with one of the testimonies we heard about the 20 zlotys each deported person was allowed to take with him. It was document No. 1403. Presiding Judge: Where does T/362 come from? I see it is page 117 of something. Attorney General: It is No. 5150, Your Honour. That is to say, authentication is to be found in the files of the Prosecution of Nuremberg and this is how we obtained it. Judge Raveh: And the preceding document? Attorney General: The preceding document is from the Polish Bulletin No. 12, which has already been submitted to the Court. The Court will find it on pages 136-165 F in Bulletin No. 12 of the Polish Committee. Presiding Judge: What is it? Attorney General: It concerns an arrangement with Hauptsturmfuehrer Eichmann about the Ciechanow district from which 11,000-12,000 Poles were to be transferred until completion of the necessary arrangements. The deported persons would take food for three months with them. Presiding Judge: On what authority did the Accused act in these matters according to your argument? Attorney General: He was Head of Section IVD4. If I may remind the Court, Himmler received special authorization to act in these matters and he in turn authorized Heydrich; and Heydrich announced, at a meeting about which a document has already been submitted and in a paper which has already been mentioned and submitted, that in order to coordinate all these activities, he appoints Eichmann to carry out the deportation operations. Presiding Judge: The document will be T/363. Attorney General: Our next document is No. 1404. It is a minute by Hauptsturmfuerer Hoeppner who worked in Poznan. It is authenticated by Bulletin No. 12, Document 35 and it contains the summary of a conversation between Eichmann and Untersturmfuehrer Seidl in Poznan on 5 June 1940. In paragraph 2 it says that difficulties which have arisen in connection with the evacuation from the areas of the East will be removed - as Eichmann promised,* {*In the original: "Will be reported to Eichmann."} not later than 10 June 1940. Further on in the document there is mention of the activities of Krumey as well as Schmied and Schwarzhuber. We shall meet Schwarzhuber later in Auschwitz. Presiding Judge: This will be T/364. Attorney General: Our No. 1405 is again the summary of a conversation, about a meeting, apparently the same meeting between Eichmann and Seidl in Poznan. Again it was recorded for Hauptsturmfuehrer Hoeppner. This also is to be found in Bulletin No. 12 as document 34. The question was asked what was to happen to Poles who helped ethnic Germans in the occupied areas; were they also to be condemned to deportation? And this is what is said in paragraph 3: "Regarding Poles who saved the lives of ethnic Germans it was decided to treat each case in accordance with the circumstances. Poles who have demonstrably saved the lives of ethnic Germans will not leave immediately with the first evacuation but will be shifted to the end of the evacuation procedures." This is the reward to those who saved Germans. In paragraph 6 the question seems to have been asked: What is to be the fate of families of Poles who are still in prisoner of war camps. And the competent department in the Head Office for Reich Security said that it had no information concerning any special arrangement for families of prisoners of war. Presiding Judge: This will be T/365. Attorney General: Prosecution Document No. 1406 is a note from Section IVD4 signed by Eichmann and contains the report of a meeting held on 7 August with Krumey, Jahnke and Dreier. It was decided there that the deportation of 20,000 Poles was the task of the Security Police alone. That is in paragraph 1. In paragraph 3 it was confirmed that the transports of Poles would be implemented in accordance with instructions from IVD4. And in paragraph III it is decided that reports on the transports are to be transmitted to the Commander of the Security Police in Poznan, the Commander of the Security Police in Litzmannstadt, Krumey, and to the Head Office for Reich Security, IVD4 to SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Eichmann. All reports have to go there. Presiding Judge: What is Saybusch? Do you know what district this is. It seems to be the Germanization of some Polish name. Attorney General: No, I do not know. I also thought so. It is apparently in the Kattowitz district, according to what is said later on. Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/366. Attorney General: Prosecution Document No. 1407 is a telegram contained in Bulletin No. 12 as Document No. 65. It is a communication to Eichmann in accordance with standing instructions concerning the departure of deportation transports. It informs him of the departure of transports from Litzmannstadt to Tarno64w, Zaklikow and Dabrowa. The informant is Krumey. Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/367. Attorney General: The next document is Prosecution Document No. 1408. It is a telegram from Eichmann to Hoeppner. The Court will find it in Bulletin No. 12, Document No. 26. Eichmann informs Hoeppner on 26 February 1941 that he has made arrangements with the Reich Railways for the transports mentioned, complete with numbers of the trains, dates of departure and arrival. He asks him to take note and take further action. Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/368. Attorney General: Your Honour, we have now a number of documents contained in Polish Bulletin No. 2. They were translated into Polish and I do not have them in the original German. I ask that they be accepted. We shall submit to the Court the re-translation from Polish into Hebrew. The Poles did not publish the original document. I herewith submit Bulletin No. 2. Presiding Judge: Has this not yet been submitted? Attorney General: This has not yet been submitted. Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/369. Attorney General: Document No. 284 is contained in the Bulletin I have just submitted on pages 101-102. Guenther writes to Krumey in Lodz on behalf of IVB4 about the evacuation of Poles from the Lublin, Lvov and Radom district (the Generalgouvernement). He orders the opening of education camps for children up to the age of 10. In these camps the children must be carefully examined. Children proving themselves to be valuable from the racial point of view will be sent to the Reich. There Brigadefuehrer 3Hilgenfeldt will deal with them. At the end there is also mention of those Poles who are destined for deportation to the Reich as labour force and of Poles who are to be sent to concentration camps. I draw the attention of the Court to the fact that the document refers to the area of the Generalgouvernement. Presiding Judge: Will you submit a Hebrew translation? Attorney General: Yes, we shall submit translations into Hebrew of all these documents. Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/370. Attorney General: Prosecution Document 285, again in Polish, from the same Bulletin No. 2: Krumey writes to IVB4, attention Guenther, about the overall number of 140,000 Poles intended for deportation. Of these, those up to the age of 10, about 25 per cent are to be housed in children's camps; 12 per cent in leaseholders' villages; 21 per cent in concentration camps; 15 per cent to be sent to work without families; 22 per cent to be sent to the East; 5 per cent intended for "re-Germanization." This is the answer to the telegram of 10 October 1942 which we have submitted. Presiding Judge: This is marked T/371. Attorney General: Prosecution Document No. 289 deals with the expulsion of Poles from Zamosc. In paragraph 2E the subject is: Families and persons who will be sent to Birkenau. Birkenau was part of Auschwitz. And further on mention is made of an exact card index, which will divide the population into those capable of being re-Germanized; those who can be sent to work in the Reich; those who may be sent to villages; children separated from their parents; those to be sent to work in the Generalgouvernement; and those who will be sent to Birkenau. Initials were designated for marking each type of deportation. And in paragraph 5, second passage, instructions are given as to how the deportation to Birkenau is to be carried out. Every 1,000 persons shall be accompanied by an escort commando, 15 deportees to one escort. "These Poles are to be provided with food for 5 days." And IVB4, Kurfuerstenstrasse 115/116 has to be notified* {*In the original: Trains have to be ordered from RSHA,IVB4.} of each transport. Signed: Krumey. Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/372. Attorney General: Prosecution Document No. 1411 is a telegram signed by Guenther on behalf of IVB4 to Krumey and deals with the evacuation of Poles from the Lvov and Radom Districts. Krumey was at the time in Cracow. Instructions are given for carrying out the deportation from Zamosc to Auschwitz. Will the Court please note that in the meantime the function of IVB4 were transferred to IVD4 and IVB4 deals mainly with population transfers. Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/373. Attorney General: The next document, our No. 1412, is a letter from IVB4 to the Reichfuehrer-SS and deals with the evacuation of the Poles from the Lublin district. It refers to the families which were separated and sent to Litzmannstadt. There is mention of the deportation of children. The age of children is now fixed at up to 14 because children under 14 cannot be sent to work - above the age of 14 they are of course material for forced labour in the Reich. In paragraph 5 it says that those belonging to the fourth category, i.e. ages 14 to 60, will be sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The letter comes from IVB4 and is signed by Mueller. Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/374. Attorney General: On 10 November 1942 an Order is issued in connection with the Polish population. Krueger, the senior police officer in Cracow, gives detailed instructions. But he says himself at the beginning of the Order that they only supplement the general directives of the Head Office for Reich Security. In other words, Krueger acts in this matter only in order to supplement instructions already given. Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/375. Attorney General: The next document is again in Polish. We submit it herewith. It is to be found in Bulletin No. 2, page 112. Krumey writes to Eichmann at IVB4 about the evacuation of the Poles in the Lublin district and informs him that the evacuation from Zamosc will take place at the beginning of January - apparently January 1943, since the document is dated 29 December 1942. The Ukrainians to be deported from there will also be settled in the Hrubieszow district. He asks for the question of transports to Auschwitz as well as possible cancellation to be coordinated with the Ministry of Transport. At the end Krumey apologizes: "The operation was not possible until now because the officials in charge were not at his disposition until 20 December." No. 293 is again in Polish. Presiding Judge: Krumey's letter will be marked T/376. Attorney General: On 26 February 1943 there is a report from the Warsaw district on these same transports. It says that fifteen people froze to death on the way, that many were shot when trying to escape, that the guards were forced to deter people from attempts to escape by frequent firing and that, when the transport reached its destination, there were on it many corpses of people who had frozen to death on the way. Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/377. Attorney General: On 29 December 1942 Guenther writes to Krumey - Re: Evacuation of Poles in the Lublin (Zamosc) District. He orders the arrest of the priests in the district during the evacuation and their transfer to concentration camps. As regards special cases Section IVB4 has to be contacted and asked for the order of arrest. Guenther asks how many priests, approximately, have already been seized. Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/378. Attorney General: I have our Document No. 287 in German as well as in Polish. I shall submit to the Court only the German version. We shall supply the Court with additional copies. The document concerns the transfer of Polish landowners, farm owners. It says that these will only be allowed one hour to put their affairs in order when they are deported. Their homes must be locked and sealed. Police forces have to be used for this purpose. Care has to be taken that the proportion of deportees to members of the deporting unit shall be one to one. In case of resistance fire arms are to be used. It has to be kept in mind that the deportees are sent to work in the Reich. Therefore they have to be treated accordingly, but in case of need - with all the necessary severity. These are the instructions issued by the Commander of the Security Police in Zamosc. Presiding Judge: This will be T/379.
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