Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
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G. FRICK'S PARTICIPATION IN THE CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT CRIMES
AGAINST HUMANITY.
Frick actively participated in the execution of the
conspirators' program of atrocities and Crimes against
Humanity. Even without such personal participation, however,
Frick has admitted that he could properly be charged with
having for 12 years continued in the Reich Cabinet, after he
had realized the direction the conspiracy was taking (3043-
PS).
The scope of Frick's personal and direct responsibility for
Nazi Crimes against Humanity is so broad that reference need
be made only to a few of the most significant instances.
(1) Gestapo atrocities and concentration camps. Frick, as
jurisdictional head of the German Police Administration, is
responsible for the crimes and atrocities perpetrated by the
German police, especially the Gestapo and SS, inside and
outside of Germany. (See 1643-PS; also Chapter XI on
Concentration Camps.)
As already stated, Frick demonstrated particular interest in
the "medical" experiments carried on in the concentration
camps under the personal direction of Himmler. Frick paid a
personal visit to Germany's oldest concentration camp,
Dachau, in 1943, for the purpose of inspecting the malaria
station and Dr. Rascher's Experimental Station (3249-PS).
There he could personally acquaint himself with the forced
subjection of healthy camp inmates to malarial mosquitos and
the air-pressure and freezing experiments on human beings
carried on by Dr. Rascher.
(2) Oppression of inhabitants of occupied territories. As
administrative head of the occupied territories, Frick
issued decrees depriving the inhabitants of their rights and
subjecting them to a
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cruel and discriminatory regime. Among these enactments were
the decree of 4 December 1941 establishing a special penal
law or the Polish and Jewish inhabitants of the Gouvernment
General (R-96), (1249-PS); the decree of 1 July 1943
depriving Jews of rights remaining to them under the decree
of 4 December 1941 (1422-PS); and the Himmler ordinance of 3
July 1943 charging the Gestapo with the execution of the
decree of 1 July 1943 (published in Frick's Ministry of
Interior Gazette 1943, p. 1085) (3085-PS) .
Similarly, the Decree on the Utilization of Eastern Workers,
Which required that they be paid salaries substantially
below those fixed for German workers holding similar jobs,
was signed by Frick's name by his Secretary of State.
(3) Systematic killing of insane, ill, aged, and
incapacitated foreign slave laborers. Frick's greatest guilt
perhaps rests on his responsibility, as Reich Minister of
the Interior, for the systematic killing of the insane, the
sick, and the aged, including those foreign forced laborers
who were no longer able to work. These killings were carried
out in nursing homes, hospitals, and asylums. Frick, in his
capacity of Reichsminister of the Interior, had full
jurisdiction over all these institutions (3475-PS).
Proof that the Reichministry of the Interior under Frick
actually exercised this jurisdiction is to be found in a
letter of 2 October 1940 (621-PS) from the Chief of the
Reich Chancellery, Dr. Lammers, to the Reichsminister of
Justice. The letter informed the Minister of Justice that
the Chief Prosecutors' reports concerning the death of
inmates of nursing homes had been transmitted to the
Reichsminister of the Interior for further action (621-PS).
Through other correspondence Frick's Ministry of the
Interior was informed of the unexplained deaths of insane
persons (1696-PS; 1969-PS).
The most striking example of the continued killings in these
institutions, which were under Frick's jurisdiction, is the
famous Hadamar case. Systematic killing started at the
Hadamar nursing home as early as 1939. At least as early as
1941 Frick was officially acquainted with the fact that
these killings had become public knowledge. Proof is found
in a letter from the Bishop of Limburg of 13 August 1941 to
the Reichsminister of Justice, copies of which were sent to
the Reichsminister of the Interior and the Reichsminister
for Church Affairs. The letter reads in part as follows:
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institution which had formerly served various purposes
and of late had been used as a nursing home; this
institution was renovated and furnished as a place in
which, by consensus of opinion, the above-mentioned
Euthenasia has been systematically practiced for months
-- approximately since February 1941. The fact has
become known beyond the administrative district of
Wiesbaden, because death certificates from a Registry
Hadamar-Moenchberg are sent to the home communities.
***
"Several times a week buses arrive in Hadamar with a
considerable number of such victims. School children of
the vicinity know this vehicle and say: 'There comes
the murder-box again.' After the arrival of the
vehicle, the citizens of Hadamar watch the smoke rise
out of the chimney and are tortured with the ever-
present thought of the miserable victims, especially
when repulsive odors annoy them, depending on the
direction of the wind.
"The effect of the principles at work here are:
Children call each other names and say, 'You're crazy;
you'll be sent to the baking oven in Hadamar.' Those
who do not want to marry, or find no opportunity, say
'Marry, never! Bring children into the world so they
can be put into the bottling machine!' You hear old
folks say, 'Don't send me to a state hospital! After
the feeble-minded have been finished off, the next
useless eaters whose turn will come are the old
people.'
" The population cannot grasp that systematic
actions are carried out which in accordance with Par.
211 of the German criminal code are punishable with
death ! ***
"Officials of the Secret State Police, it is said, are
trying to suppress discussion of the Hadamar
occurrences by means of severe threats. In the interest
of public peace, this may be well intended. But the
knowledge and the conviction and the indignation of the
population cannot be changed by it; the conviction will
be increased with the bitter realization that
discussion is prohibited with threats but that the
actions themselves are not prosecuted under penal law.
"Facta loquuntur.
"I beg you most humbly, Herr Reich Minister, in the
sense of the report of the Episcopate of July 16 of
this year, to prevent further transgressions of the
Fifth Commandment of God.
"Signed) Dr. Hilfrich" (615-PS).
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Individual
Responsibility Of Defendants
Wilhelm Frick
(Part 9 of 11)
" About 8 kilometers from Limburg, in the little
town of Hadamar, on a hill overlooking the town, there
is an