Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-031-02
Last-Modified: 1999/05/31

Attorney General: We have here the proclamation issued by
the authorities in connection with these deportations. It is
contained in Bulletin 2, page 109. The proclamation, which
was widely published, says:

     "Judaism and Communism endanger not only Germany and
     her Allies, but the whole of Europe and they intend to
     draw you, too, into the abyss. We have to enlist all
     the forces of Europe to fight this demonic force.
     Therefore we have to enlist those of you who are able
     to work, send them to Germany and employ them
     there...If you want to write to your children and
     relatives send the first letter to: Umwandrungszentrale
     (Migration Centre), Litzmannstadt, Adolf Hitlerstrasse
     133 and from there the message will be delivered to
     your relatives. True, the separation from your families
     will be painful at first, but...the better you work,
     the faster you can be reunited with your families...."

Judge Halevi:  When was this published?

Attorney General: This is not indicated, but according to
the contents it must have been in 1943.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/380.

Attorney General: The next document is an internal report on
the result of the Resettlement Action, Zamosc in the Warsaw
District, which was published in the second Polish Bulletin
on pages 119-120. It reports on the panic which started
among the Polish population, their resistance, their
conviction that after the extermination of the Jewish
population the liquidation of the Poles will follow; it
reports on the transports of children some of whom died on
the way, about the sick, about intestinal, gastric and lung
diseases and on the mortality among the Polish evacuees and
deportees.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/381.

Judge Raveh:   This is apparently not a complete document.
Some parts seem to be missing. Are you aware of this?

Attorney General: This is what the Poles published. We
submit to you what we found in their report.
Our No. 288 is a report by Untersturmfuehrer Kinna from
Zamosc about the transport of 644 Poles to Auschwitz. He
says that this was done in accordance with instructions from
the Head Office for Reich Security. In connection with
deportation to work he says that persons with impaired
working capacity, idiots, cripples and the sick must be sent
to camps for liquidation in order to get rid of them there.
This operation meets with difficulties because, in
contradistinction to instructions from the Head Office for
Reich Security concerning the Jews, the Poles are to die a
natural death (that is to say, in contrast to the
instructions concerning the Jews, who have to be killed, the
Poles must be left to die a natural death).
The camps administration is therefore asked for a ruling
whether the new guidelines do not contradict the standing
instructions of the Head Office for Reich Security.* {*In
the original: "The camps administration requests not to send
persons which are not fit to be put to work.}

Judge Halevi:  In earlier documents it was already mentioned
that "Value Group 4 was sent." What does that mean?

Attorney General: In that same document the various groups
are defined. It defines there what is Group 1, what is Group
2, what is Group 3, and what is Group 4. It is stated
specifically in the document itself. The division is in
accordance with internal German data.

Judge Halevi:  Your No. 1412?

Attorney General: I shall look it up immediately.

Presiding Judge: Your No. 288 will be marked as our T/382.

Attorney General: Yes, 1412. Here, Your Honour, in paragraph
1 it says that Polish families belonging to Groups 1 and 2
are to be separated and sent to Litzmannstadt. Groups 3 and
4 - these are children. All this, Your Honour, in accordance
with the guidelines of the race doctrine. Who shall live and
who shall die, who may join the German nation and who will
be condemned to extinction.

Judge Halevi:  Group 4 - that is the lowest value?

Attorney General: That is the lowest value.

The two last documents: Our No. 935 is Goering's order of 23
March 1940 which comes as a result of Frank's complaints. We
already remember from Frank's diary that he complained about
the chaotic transports which caused so much trouble and work
to his staff. And he managed to obtain the order from
Goering that from now on people are not to be sent to
Generalgouvernement without Frank's personal consent.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/383.

Attorney General: However, only a year later was this order
passed on by IVB4, over the signature of Mueller, to all the
units concerned stating that for well-known reasons there
are to be no deportations until further notice. Please note
to which places this was sent: To Koenigsberg, Danzig,
Gotenhafen, Posen, Litzmannstadt, to the Centre for Jewish
Emigration in Vienna, and for information to the BdS.

Presiding Judge: Gotenhafen is Gdynia?

Attorney General: Yes.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/384.

Attorney General: Your Honour, this concludes for the
present the evidence concerning Poland and the countries of
the East. We shall now submit to the Court the chapter about
the destruction in the West and in the North. My colleague
Mr. Bach will present this material to the Court.

Presiding Judge: I wish to inform you that in the meantime
the first four communications have been sent out by the
Court for the examination of witnesses in Germany and
Counsel for both parties may obtain copies of them at the
end of this session. Please carry on, Mr. Bach.

State Attorney Bach:  Your Honours, as you will remember, at
the Wannsee Conference it was decided that Europe must be
combed from West to East and that the Jews must be seized
and transferred to what was called "The work effort in the
East" - in actual fact, to their destruction.

We shall now demonstrate to the Court this process of
combing Europe from West to East, this seizing of Jews and
transferring them to extermination camps in the East. We
shall show this country by country and stage by stage. We
shall demonstrate that the Accused was the person
immediately and directly responsible for the implementation
of this operation, that he directed it, guided it and
supervised it, whether personally or through his
subordinates, the men of his Department.

We shall begin with a description of the holocaust of the
Jews of France. First we shall submit a number of documents,
then we shall present evidence which will give further
substance to the contents of these documents. As far as
possible I shall follow the chronological order of the
documents.

One of the first actions taken after the occupation of
France was the seizing of Jewish property there. The first
document I shall submit is our No. 440, which was also
published in Nuremberg in IMG Volume 32, pages 432-433. It
is a letter from the German Foreign Minister, Ribbentrop, to
the Commander of the Army, the Commander of the Wehrmacht in
France. In it Ribbentrop announces the appointment of Otto
Abetz as German Ambassador to France and informs the
Commander of Abetz' functions. I draw the attention of the
Court to paragraph 7 of this document in which one of Abetz'
functions is defined as securing the public as well as
private art property, and above all Jewish art property and
taking possession thereof under specific instructions given
especially for this purpose.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/385.

State Attorney Bach:  What did this look like in practice? I
shall submit to you our document No. 488. This was also No.
2851. It says here: Legationsrat Dr. Carltheo Zeitschel,
Counsellor of the Embassy writes to Dannecker, the Accused's
representative in Paris and informs him that there is a
certain Jewish German emigrant who for some time has put
himself under Spanish protection and lives at a certain
address in Paris. He says that a short while ago, following
a demand by the German Embassy, Spanish protection of the
emigrant was discontinued. He writes that simultaneously the
Jew started to send away all his furniture in numerous
containers and crates, as Leutnant Faber informed him. To my
regret, says Mr. Zeitschel, I received news about this
matter only today, but according to the information some
crates are still there. Perhaps it is still possible to grab
something ("villeicht ist es noch moeglich, etwas zu
schnappen") and to find out where all the crates and cases
are and possibly to see to it that they are returned.

Presiding Judge: Somebody wrote on the margin: "c'est le
but!"

State Attorney Bach:  This is the aim. I saw this remark. I
do not know, if it was made at the time. It was written at a
later stage.

Presiding Judge: Somebody who read it wrote it.

State Attorney Bach:  Not in Bureau 06, by the way.

Presiding Judge: This will be No. T/386.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is our No. 955. In
it Luther from the German Foreign Ministry sends a reminder
to the Reichsfuehrer-SS (Personal Staff) and in it he points
out that he has not yet received a reply to his request for
their views on the question of introducing anti-Semitic
measures in France, which will make it possible to deport
Jews from the unoccupied part of the country. Here I draw
the attention of the Court especially to the marginal note
in handwriting on the document. This is in fact the
handwriting of Rademacher who writes in German: "Nach
Auskunft von SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Guenther ist eine Antwort
unterwegs. Die antisemitischen Massnahmen in Frankreich
werden empfohlen" (According to information from
Hauptsturmfuehrer Guenther the answer is on its way. The
anti-Semitic measures in France are recommended). The
importance lies in the date of that note.

Presiding Judge: It says: "Die beabsichtigten Massnahmen in
Frankreich werden empfohlen" (The measures intended are
recommended).

State Attorney Bach:  I am sorry, Your Honour. Yes, it says:
"Die beabsichtigten Massnahmen." You can see that the date
of this annotation is 19 September. This fact is important
in the light of the next document which I am about to
submit.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/367.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is our No. 86. This
is indeed Heydrich's reply to that request by Luther and a
reply to the letter of 23 August 1940. The date 23 August
1940 is also mentioned in the preceding document. It is
clear that the intention is to answer that letter and
Heydrich does really say here that he agrees to those
measures. The date of this letter is 20 September.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/388.

State Attorney Bach:  The Court will see that on the letter
which has just been submitted it says: "Geheime Reichssache"
(State Secret),* {*The stamp on the letter, as amended,
says: "Secret."} and it was signed, as I said, on the 20th
of the month. We can see that already on the 19th of the
month Guenther was in a position to transmit the contents of
the letter to the Foreign Ministry. From this one can draw a
certain conclusion concerning the office in which the letter
was prepared and drafted. There are references here to
measures prohibiting Jewish migration over the demarcation
line back into occupied France, to the obligation on Jews to
report, to prominent marking of Jewish businesses and to the
appointment of trustees for Jewish shops.

Presiding Judge: What is S-IVD6?

State Attorney Bach:  We have in fact not found any document
that would define exactly what was IVD6 at that time, but we
found that Heydrich signed several letters bearing that
marking.

I only want to draw attention to one final remark by
Heydrich when he says: "I consider extensive participation
of the Security Police in France to be indispensable since
it has experienced manpower available, especially in Jewish
affairs." It is clear that Dannecker is meant here whose
wide experience is constantly mentioned, as we shall also
see later. I just want to point out that the legislation
recommended by Heydrich was in fact adopted and passed; this
has already been established by another exhibit submitted to
you and marked T/196 which is a later report by Luther from
the Foreign Ministry, on page 3 of which it says that on 27
September these laws were indeed adopted by the Military
Commander in France.

The following document is our No. 1071, a letter signed by
Knochen. Knochen was BdS (Senior Commander of the Security
Police) in France, and of the SD, and at that time Dannecker
was his desk officer for Jewish affairs. From the beginning
of the letter it is clear that Dannecker was indeed the man
who drafted it. The Court can see the letters DAN on the top
and this points to the fact that Dannecker drafted it. The
letter is addressed to the chief of the Military
Administration in France and its subject is a recommendation
to set up concentration camps for Jews who are nationals of
foreign countries. Dannecker mentions here that almost half
of the Jewish community of France is composed of foreign
nationals and he proposes to set up concentration camps for
Jews from foreign countries. He mentions French law which
makes the housing of foreign Jews in concentration camps
possible.

I just call your attention to the last paragraph  of the
letter, which says:

     "It has become clear that breeding hatred of Jews on
     ideological grounds is almost impossible with the
     French, whereas approval of the fight against the Jews
     is more likely when economic advantages are offered.
     (Putting the approximately 100,000 foreign Jews who
     live in Paris into concentration camps would provide
     many Frenchmen with an opportunity to rise from the
     lower strata to the middle class)."

Presiding Judge: This will be T/389.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is our No. 442, the
description of a meeting in Paris with the participation of
Ambassador Abetz, Obersturmfuehrer Dannecker, and
Counsellors Achenbach and Zeitschel. The subjects of the
discussion were mainly an expose by Herr Dannecker on what
had so far been done about the Jewish Question in France,
and proposals by the Ambassador concerning important French
personalities who might be considered for setting up "the
Jewish Office" in France. On that occasion it transpired
that an exemplary card index of all the Jews of Paris, in
four types of listing, was almost completed, thanks to the
preparatory work of the SD headed by Herr Dannecker, who had
years of experience in Jewish affairs, starting back in
Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Dannecker now quotes statistical figures for the Jews in
Paris and France. And it says further: "Herr Dannecker made
the most interesting disclosure that, on the basis of the
Jewish laws of 4 October in the unoccupied sector, over
40,000 Jews are already in concentration camps and further
arrests are taking place all the time."

Presiding Judge: This will be T/390.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is our No. 319. It
is a letter from the Gestapo in Bordeaux to Dannecker's
office in Paris and in it a District Commander in the
Bordeaux area proposes to the office in Paris to let 150
Jews who are at present near the Spanish border emigrate to
Spain.

Presiding Judge: T/391.

State Attorney Bach:  Dannecker's reply is contained in our
Document No. 167. A short answer, in one sentence:

     "In this matter I refer again to my telegram No. 12071
     of 28 June  1940. It is not possible to agree with Mr.
     Henkel, if only because the Head Office for Reich
     Security has decided in a statement of principle that
     emigration of Jews from the occupied Western Zone must
     be prevented and also, as far as possible, their
     emigration from unoccupied France. I request a report
     on the further development of the matter."

Presiding Judge: T/392.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is our No. 432. Here
Dannecker sends Dr. Zeitschel a detailed report on the
number of Jews in different parts of France...

Presiding Judge: T/393.

State Attorney Bach:  ...and also a complaint about the
inactivity of the French authorities in regard to the anti-
Jewish measures in France.

The next document, which was received in France but has
wider implications, is our document No. 1209 drawn up in
Section IVB4b(Rz). It is signed by Mueller. The subject here
is emigration of Jews and it says:

     "The Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police
     has ordered with immediate effect that the emigration
     of Jews is to be prevented (zu verhindern ist) (This
     does not effect the deportation operations). I request
     that this order be brought to the attention of the
     internal German authorities concerned in the zone of
     jurisdiction there. Only in individual, exceptional
     cases, for instance where there exists a positive
     interest of the Reich, the emigration of individual
     Jews may be permitted after receipt of prior consent
     from the Head Office for Reich Security."

Presiding Judge: T/394.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document, No. 1179, signed by
the Accused, is a letter from him to the Foreign Ministry.
He refers to an earlier letter and says:

     "With reference to the last paragraph in the report of
     the German Embassy in Paris of 22 October 1941, I give
     notice that, in view of the impending Final Solution of
     the European Jewish Question, the emigration of Jews
     from the areas occupied by us has to be stopped. I ask
     to deal with this matter in strictest confidence and
     should like to add in this connection that the
     Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police has
     ordered in the meantime that all - jede - emigration of
     Jews has to be prevented."

And he repeats that the rest of the instruction was already
formulated by Mueller.

Presiding Judge: T/395.

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