6. THE GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI (GESTAPO) AND SICHERHEITSDIENST (SD) (continued 2)

On 25 June 1943, Mueller issued an order stating that the decrees of 17 December 1942 and of 23 March 1943 had achieved the intended goal. (1063-E-PS)

On 21 April 1943, the Minister of Justice declared in a letter that the RSHA had ordered on 11 March 1943 that all Jews who were released from prison were to be handed over to the GESTAPO for lifelong detainment in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Lublin. Poles released after an imprisonment of over six months were to be transferred to the GESTAPO for internment in a concentration camp for the duration of the war. (701-PS)

The arrest of Jews and their shipment to annihilation camps was carried out under the direction of Eichmann, head of the section handling Jews in the Gestapo. Eichmann’s staff was composed of members of the SIPO, especially the GESTAPO. The Jews were shipped on order of the SIPO and SD to annihilation camps in the East. Eichmann estimated, and so reported to Himmler, that 4,000,000 Jews were killed in the annihilation camps in the East, in addition to the 2,000,000 Jews shot by the Einsatz Groups. The extermination of Jews in the annihilation camps was accomplished mainly after the beginning of 1943, during the time Kaltenbrunner was the Chief of the Security Police and SD. (2615-PS)

(5) The GESTAPO and the SD participated in the deportation of citizens of occupied countries for forced labor and handled the disciplining of forced labor. On 26 November 1942, Fritz Sauckel transmitted a letter to the president of provincial employment offices in which he stated that he had been advised by the Chief of the Security Police and SD (RSHA) under date of 26 October 1942 that during the month of November the evacuation of Poles in the Lublin district would begin in order to make room for the settlement of persons of the German race. The Poles who were evacuated as a result of this measure were to be put into concentration camps for labor so far as they were criminal or asocial. The remaining Poles who were suitable for labor were to be transported without their families into the Reich, there to be put at the disposal of the Labor Allocation Offices to serve as replacements for Jews eliminated from the armament factories. (L-61)

During 1943 the program of mass murder carried out by the Einsatz Groups in the East was modified, and orders were issued to round up hundreds of thousands of persons for the armament industry.

“In the shortest possible time the Ukraine has to put at the disposal of the armament industry one million workers, 500 of whom have to be sent from our territory daily. * * * The activity of the labor offices * * * is to be supported to the greatest extent possible. * * * When searching villages, esp. when it has become necessary to burn down a village, the whole population will be put at the disposal of the Commissions by force. * * * The most important thing is the recruiting of workers.” (3012-PS)

On 18 June 1941 secret orders were issued from the Chief of the Security Police and SD, signed by Mueller, to prevent the return of Eastern emigrants and civilian workers from the Reich to the East, and to keep them in German war production. Any attempts at refusal to work were to be countered by the GESTAPO with the severest measures, arrest and confinement in concentration camps (1573-PS). The Chief of the Security Police and SD had exclusive jurisdiction over labor reformatory camps established under control of the GESTAPO for disciplining foreign workers. (1063-B-PS)

(6) The GESTAPO and SD executed captured commandos and paratroopers, and protected civilians who lynched Allied flyers. On 4 August 1942 Keitel issued an order which provided that the GESTAPO and SD were responsible for taking counter-measures against single parachutists or small groups of them with special missions. Even if such paratroopers were captured by the Wehrmacht, they were to be handed over to the GESTAPO and the SD. (553-PS)

On 18 October 1942, Hitler ordered that all members of Commando units, even when in uniform, or members of sabotage groups, armed or not, were to be exterminated to the last man by fighting or by pursuing them. Even if they wished to surrender, they were not to be spared. Members of such Commandos, acting as agents, saboteurs, etc., handed over to the Wehrmacht through other channels, were to be turned over immediately to the SD. (498-PS)

On 17 June 1944, the Chief of the Security Police and SD, in a Top Secret letter to the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, stated that he had instructed the Commander of the SIPO and SD in Paris to treat parachutists in English uniform as members of Commando operations in accordance with Hitler’s order of 18 October 1942. (1276-PS)

On 26 June 1944, WFSt issued an order in which it was stated that enemy paratroopers landing in Brittany were to be treated as commandos, and that it was immaterial whether the paratroopers were in uniform or civilian clothes. The order provided that in cases of doubt enemy soldiers who were captured alive were to be handed over to the SD for examination as to whether the Fuehrer Order of 18 October 1942 was to be applied or not. (532-PS)

Commandos turned over to the SIPO and SD under these orders were executed. (526-PS; 2374-PS.)

The affidavit of Adolf Zutter, former adjutant of Mauthausen concentration camp, states in part:

“* * * Concerning the American Military Mission which landed behind the German front in the Slovakian or Hungarian area in January, 1945, I remember, when these officers were brought to Camp Mauthausen; I suppose the number of the arrivals were about 12 to 15 men. They wore a uniform which was American or Canadian; brown-green color, shirt, and cloth cap. Eight or ten days after their arrival the execution order came in by telegraph or teletype. Standartenfuehrer Ziereis came to me into my office and told me now Kaltenbrunner has given the permission for the execution. This letter was secret and had the signature: signed Kaltenbrunner. Then, these people were shot according to martial law and their belongings were given to me by 1st Sgt. [Oberscharfuehrer] Niedermeyer. * * *” (L-51)

On 10 August 1943, Himmler issued an order to the Security Police stating that it was not the task of the Police to interfere in clashes between Germans and English and American terror flyers who had bailed out. (R-110)

In 1944 at a conference of Amt Chiefs Kaltenbrunner said:

“All offices of the SD and the security police are to be informed that pogroms of the populace against English and American terror-flyers are not to be interfered with; on the contrary, this hostile mood is to be fostered.” (2990-PS)

On 12 June 1944 the Chief of the SD-Abschnitte Koblenz stated that the Army had issued a similar order, namely, that German soldiers were not to protect enemy flyers from the populace and that the Army no longer attached value to enemy flyers taken prisoner. (745-PS)

(7) The GESTAPO and SD took civilians of occupied countries to Germany for secret trial and punishment (“Nacht und Nebel Erlass”). On 7 December 1941 Hitler issued the directive, since called the “Nacht und Nebel Erlass” (Night and Fog Decree), under which persons who committed offenses against the Reich or occupation forces in occupied territories, except where death sentence was certain, were to be taken secretly to Germany and surrendered to the Security Police and SD for trial or punishment in Germany. An executive ordinance was issued by Keitel the same date, and on 4 February 1942 the directive and ordinance were published to the police and the SS. (L-90)

In compliance with the above directive, the military intelligence turned over cases, other than those in which the death sentence was probable, to the GESTAPO and the Secret Field Police for secret deporting to Germany. (833-PS)

After the civilians arrived in Germany, no word of the disposition of their cases was permitted to reach the country from which they came, or their relatives. Even when they died awaiting trial, the SIPO and SD refused to notify the families, so that anxiety would be created in the minds of the family of the arrested person. (668-PS)

(8) The GESTAPO and SD arrested, tried, and punished citizens of occupied territories under special criminal procedure and by summary methods. The GESTAPO arrested, placed in protective custody, and executed civilians of occupied territories under certain circumstances. Even where there were courts capable of handling emergency cases, the GESTAPO conducted its own executions without regard to normal judicial processes. (674-PS)

On 18 September 1942, Thierack, the Reich Minister of Justice, and Himmler came to an understanding by which antisocial elements were to be turned over to Himmler to be worked to death, and a special criminal procedure was to be applied by the police to the Jews, Poles, gypsies, Russians, and Ukrainians who were not to be tried in ordinary criminal courts. (654-PS)

On 5 September 1942 an order was issued by the RSHA to the offices of the GESTAPO and SD covering this understanding. This order provided that ordinary criminal procedure would not be applied against Poles, Jews, gypsies, and other Eastern people, but that instead they would be turned over to the police. Such persons of foreign extraction were to be treated on a basis entirely different from that applied to Germans.

“* * * Such considerations which may be right for adjudicating a punishable offense committed by a German are, however, wrong for adjudicating a punishable offense committed by a person of alien race. In the case of punishable offenses committed by a person of alien race the personal motives actuating the offender must be completely eliminated. The only standard may be that German civil order is endangered by his action, and that consequently preventive measures must be taken to prevent the recurrence of such risks. In other words, the action of a person of alien race is not to be viewed from the angle of judicial expiation, but from the angle of the police guard against danger.

“As a result of this, the administration of penal law for persons of alien race must be transferred from the hands of the administrators of justice into the hands of the police. * * *” (L-316)

(9) The GESTAPO and SD executed or confined persons in concentration camps for crimes allegedly committed by their relatives. On 19 July 1944, the Commander of the SIPO and SD for the District Radom published an order transmitted through the Higher SS and Police Leaders to the effect that in all cases of assassination or attempted assassination of Germans, or where saboteurs had destroyed vital installations, not only the guilty person but also all his (or her) male relatives should be shot and the female relatives over 16 years of age put into a concentration camp. (L-37)

In the summer of 1944, the Einsatzkommando of the SIPO and SD at Luxembourg caused persons to be confined at Sachsenhausen concentration camp because they were relatives of deserters and were, therefore, “expected to endanger the interest of the German Reich if allowed to go free.” (L-215)

(10) The GESTAPO and SD were instructed to murder prisoners in the SIPO and SD prisons to prevent their release by the Allied armies. On 21 July 1944, the Kommandeur of the SIPO and SD for the District Radom forwarded an order of the Befehlshaber of the SIPO and SD to the effect that it was essential that the number of inmates of the SIPO and SD prisons be kept as low as possible. Inmates were to be subjected only to short formal interrogations and then to be sent by the quickest route to concentration camps. Preparations were to be made for total clearance of the prisons should the situation at the front necessitate such action. In the case of sudden emergency precluding the evacuation of the prisoners, they were to be shot and their bodies buried or otherwise disposed of, the buildings to be dynamited, and so forth. In similar circumstances, the Jews who were still employed in the armament industries or in other work were to be dealt with in the same way. The liberation of prisoners or Jews by the enemy was to be avoided at all costs. (L-53)

(11) The GESTAPO and the SD participated in the seizure and spoliation of public and private property. In connection with the program for the mass extermination of Jews and Communist functionaries, the GESTAPO and the SD seized all personal effects of the persons executed or murdered. On the eastern front the victims were required not only to give up all their personal possessions, but even to remove their outer garments prior to being murdered. (2620-PS)

In connection with the program of confiscation of scientific, religious, and art archives and objects, an agreement was entered into between Rosenberg and Heydrich, under which the SD and Rosenberg were to cooperate closely in the confiscation of public and private collections. (071-PS)

(12) The GESTAPO and SD conducted third degree interrogations. On 26 October 1939 an order to all GESTAPO offices from the RSHA signed Mueller, “by order,” in referring to execution of protective custody during the war, stated in part:

“In certain cases, the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police will order flogging in addition to detention in a concentration camp. Orders of this kind will, in the future, also be transmitted to the State Police District Office concerned. In this case, too, there is no objection to spreading the rumour of this increased punishment. * * *” (1531-PS)

On 12 June 1942 the Chief of the Security Police and SD, through Mueller, published an order authorizing the use of third degree methods in interrogating where preliminary investigation indicates that the prisoner could give information on important facts such as subversive activities, but not to extort confessions of the prisoner’s own crimes. The order stated in part:

“* * * 2. Third degree may, under this supposition, only be employed against Communists, Marxists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, saboteurs, terrorists, members of resistance movements, parachute agents, antisocial elements, Polish or Soviet-Russian loafers or tramps. In all other cases, my permission must first be obtained.

“* * * 4. Third degree can, according to the circumstances, consist amongst other methods, of:

very simple diet (bread and water)

hard bunk

dark cell

deprivation of sleep

exhaustive drilling

also in flogging (for more than 20 strokes a doctor must be consulted).” (1531-PS)

On 24 February 1944 the Kommandeur of the SIPO and SD for the district Radom, “in view of the variety of methods used to date in third-degree interrogations and in order to avoid excesses,” published an order issued by the BdS Cracow based on regulations in force for the Reich which followed closely the limitations laid down in the above decree of 12 June 1942. (L-89)

G. Crimes of the GESTAPO and SD Against Humanity.

(1) The GESTAPO and the SD were primary agencies for the persecution of the Jews. The persecution of the Jews under the Nazi regime is a story of increasingly severe treatment, beginning with restrictions, then seizure and spoliation of property, commitment to concentration camps, deportation, slave labor, and finally mass murder. The responsibility of the GESTAPO and the SD for the mass extermination program carried out by the Einsatz Groups of the SIPO and SD and in the annihilation camps to which Jews were sent by the SIPO and SD has already been considered. In this subdivision, the place of the GESTAPO and SD in the development of this persecution will be treated.

Section B of the SD dealt with problems of nationality, including minorities, race and national health, immigration, and resettlement. Section B4 of the GESTAPO, headed by Eichmann, dealt with Jewish affairs, including matters of evacuation, means of suppressing enemies of the people and State, and dispossession of rights of German citizenship. One of the functions of the SD was to furnish information concerning the Jews to the GESTAPO. One of the functions of the GESTAPO was to carry out the Nazi program of persecution of the Jews. (L-185; L-219.)

The GESTAPO was charged with the enforcement of discriminatory laws, such as those preventing Jews from engaging in business, restricting their right to travel, and prohibiting them from associating with gentiles. Violations of such restrictions resulted in protective custody and confinement in concentration camps by the GESTAPO. (L-217; L-152; L-167.)

The Chief of the Security Police and SD ordered the GESTAPO and the SD to supervise the anti-Jewish pogrom staged in November 1938 following the von Rath incident in Paris. As many Jews were to be arrested in all districts as the available jail space would hold. Well-to-do Jews were to be singled out for arrest, and primarily only healthy male adults of not too advanced age. Immediately after completion of the arrests, the competent concentration camp was to be notified in order to provide for speediest transfer of Jews to the camps. (3051-PS)

On 11 November 1938 Heydrich reported to Goering by secret express letter on the results of the action as reported by the GESTAPO. The report stated in part:

“* * * The extent of the destruction of Jewish shops and houses cannot yet be verified by figures. The figures given in the reports: 815 shops destroyed, 171 dwelling houses set on fire or destroyed, only indicate a fraction of the actual damage caused, as far as arson is concerned. Due to the urgency of the reporting, the reports received to date are entirely limited to general statements such as ‘numerous’ or ‘most shops destroyed.’ Therefore the figures given must have been exceeded considerably.

“191 synagogues were set on fire, and another 76 completely destroyed. In addition 11 parish halls, [Gemeindehauser] cemetery chapels and similar buildings were set on fire and 3 more completely destroyed.

“20,000 Jews were arrested, also 7 Aryans and 3 foreigners. The latter were arrested for their own safety.

“36 deaths were reported and those seriously injured were also numbered at 36. Those killed and injured are Jews. One Jew is still missing. The Jews killed include one Polish national, and those injured include 2 Poles.” (3058-PS)

On 31 July 1941 Goering sent the following order to the Chief of the Security Police and SD, Heydrich:

“Complementing the task that was assigned to you on 24 January 1939, which dealt with arriving at a solution of the Jewish problem through furtherance of emigration and evacuation as advantageous as possible, I hereby charge you with making all necessary preparations in regard to organizational and financial matters for bringing about a complete solution of the Jewish question in the German sphere of influence in Europe.” (710-PS)

In February or March 1943, according to Gottfried Boley, Ministerialrat in the Reich Chancery, a conference on the solution of the Jewish problem, attended by representatives of the ministries, was called by Kaltenbrunner as Chief of the Security Police and SD. Boley states:

“The meeting was presided over by Eichmann who had charge of Jewish problems in the GESTAPO. In his opening remarks Eichmann referred to former conferences that had taken place in the office of the Chief of the Security Police and SD, and that on this occasion he wished to discuss the matter in a more basic manner. He stated that the Jewish question had to be solved in a quick and proper way. Representatives of the Chief of the Security Police and SD who attended the conference made it clear to those present that the remaining Jews had to be sent forcibly to concentration camps or be sterilized. Those present at the conference must have carried away the impression that the objectives were the extermination of the Jewish people.” (2645-PS)

The deportation of Jews into concentration camps was part of the program for slave labor. Jews not fit for work were screened out at extermination centers, such as Auschwitz, and the remainder were taken into concentration and work camps. The orders were issued by Himmler and passed through the Chief of the Security Police and SD, Kaltenbrunner (formerly Heydrich) to Mueller, Chief of the GESTAPO, and then to Eichmann for execution. (2376-PS; 1472-PS.)

In Galicia, the deportation of Jews was carried out during the period from April 1942 to June 1943. At the end of that time Galicia had been entirely cleared of Jews. In all, 434,392 Jews were deported from Galicia alone. In connection with the deportations, Jewish property was confiscated, including furniture, clothing, money, dental fillings, gold teeth, wedding rings, and other personal property of all kinds. The Security Police participated in this action along with other police and SS detachments. (L-18)

In Warsaw the Security Police played a responsible role in the segregation of the Jews and placing them in the Ghetto, in the subsequent removal of the Jews to concentration camps, and in the final clearance of the Ghetto. The Ghetto was established in November of 1940. Over 300,000 Jews were deported from it between July and October 1942, and 6,500 more were deported in January 1943. In April and May 1943 the final clearance of the Ghetto was accomplished under the direction of the SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw area, and with units of the SIPO, Waffen SS, Order Police, and some military and Polish police units. Thousands of Jews were killed in the action. About 7,000 were transported to “T. II” where they were exterminated. The remaining 40,000 to 45,000 were placed in concentration camps. (1061-PS)

In Denmark the Kommandeur of the SIPO and SD was ordered in September of 1943 to arrest all Danish citizens of Jewish belief and send them to Stettin by ship and from there to the concentration camp at Theresienstadt. In spite of the protests of the Kommandeur of the SIPO and SD, Kaltenbrunner as Chief of the Security Police and SD gave direct orders to carry out the anti-Jewish action. Eichmann, head of the Jewish section in the GESTAPO, had direct charge of the clearance program. (2375-PS)

In Hungary the deportation of Jews was again carried out by Eichmann. This action took place under direction of the GESTAPO after the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944. About 450,000 Jews were deported from Hungary due to the pressure and direction of the GESTAPO. (2605-PS)

(2) The GESTAPO and the SD were primary agencies for the persecution of the churches. The fight against the churches was never brought out into the open by the GESTAPO and the SD as in the case of the persecution of the Jews. The struggle was designed to weaken the churches and to lay a foundation for the ultimate destruction of the confessional churches after the end of the war. (1815-PS)

Section C2 of the SD dealt with education and religious life. Section B1 of the GESTAPO dealt with political Catholicism. Section B2 with political Protestantism sects, and Section B3 with other churches and Freemasonry. (L-185)

As early as 1934 the GESTAPO enforced restrictions against the churches. An order by the State Police of Dusseldorf prohibited the churches from engaging in public activities, especially public appearances in groups, sports, hikes, and the establishment of holiday or outdoor camps. (R-145)

In 1934 the Bavarian Political Police placed three ministers in protective custody for refusing to carry out the order of the Government to ring church bells on the occasion of the death of Hindenburg. (1521-PS)

The GESTAPO dissolved those church organizations which it considered to have political objectives. In 1938 the GESTAPO at Munich dissolved by order the Guild of the Virgin Mary of the Bavarian dioceses. (1481-PS)

An insight into the hidden objectives and secret methods of the GESTAPO and the SD in the fight against the churches is disclosed in the file of the GESTAPO regional office at Aachen (1815-PS). On 12 May 1941 the Chief of the GESTAPO issued a directive in which he reported that the Chief of the Security Police and SD had issued an order under which the treatment of church politics which had theretofore been divided between the SD and the GESTAPO was to be taken over entirely by the GESTAPO. The SD “church specialists” were to be temporarily transferred to the same posts in the GESTAPO and operate an intelligence service in the church political sphere there. SD files concerning church political opposition were to be handed over to the GESTAPO, but the SD was to retain material concerning the confessional influence on the lives of the people.

On 22 and 23 September 1941 a conference of church specialists attached to GESTAPO regional offices was held in the lecture hall of the RSHA in Berlin. The notes on the speeches delivered at this conference indicate that the GESTAPO considered the church as an enemy to be attacked with determination and “true fanaticism.” The immediate objective of the GESTAPO was stated to be to insure that the Church did not win back any lost ground. The ultimate objective was stated to be the destruction of the confessional churches. This was to be brought about by the collection of material through the GESTAPO church intelligence system to be produced at a proper time as evidence for the charge of treasonable activities during the German fight for existence.

The executive measures to be applied by the GESTAPO were discussed. It was stated to be impractical to deal with political offenses under normal legal procedure owing to lack of political perception which prevailed among the legal authorities. The so-called “agitator-Priests,” therefore, had to be handled by GESTAPO measures, and when necessary removed to a concentration camp. The following punishments were to be applied to priests according to individual circumstances: warning, fine, forbidden to preach, forbidden to remain in parish, forbidden all activity as a priest, short-term arrest, protective custody. Retreats, youth and recreational camps, evening services, processions and pilgrimages were all to be forbidden on grounds of interfering with the war effort, blackouts, overburdened transportation, etc.

In executing this program close cooperation was required between the GESTAPO and the SD. The study and treatment of the Church in its opposition to the Nazi state was the responsibility of the GESTAPO. The result of this treatment of the Church in the sphere of “religious life” remained the province of the SD. By these means the GESTAPO and the SD carried on the struggle of the Nazi conspirators against the Church.

H. Conclusion.

The evidence shows that the GESTAPO was created by Goering in Prussia in April 1933 for the specific purpose of serving as a police agency to strike down the actual and ideological enemies of the Nazi regime, and that henceforward the GESTAPO in Prussia and in the other States of the Reich carried out a program of terror against all who were thought to be dangerous to the domination of the conspirators over the people of Germany. Its methods were utterly ruthless. It operated outside the law and sent its victims to the concentration camps. The term “GESTAPO” became the symbol of the Nazi regime of force and terror.

Behind the scenes, operating secretly, the SD, through its vast network of informants, spied upon the German people in their daily lives, on the streets, in the shops, and even within the sanctity of the churches.

The most casual remark of a German citizen might bring him before the GESTAPO, where his fate and freedom were decided without recourse to law. In this government, in which the rule of law was replaced by a tyrannical rule of men, the GESTAPO was the primary instrumentality of oppression.

The GESTAPO and the SD played an important part in almost every criminal act of the conspiracy. The categories of these crimes, apart from the thousands of specific instances of torture and cruelty in policing Germany for the benefit of the conspirators, indicate the extent of GESTAPO and SD complicity.

The GESTAPO and SD fabricated the border incidents which Hitler used as an excuse for attacking Poland.

Through the Einsatz Groups they murdered approximately 2,000,000 defenseless men, women, and children.

They removed Jews, political leaders, and scientists from prisoner of war camps and murdered them.

They took recaptured prisoners of war to concentration camps and murdered some of them.

The GESTAPO established and classified concentration camps and sent millions of people into them for extermination and slave labor.

The GESTAPO cleared Europe of the Jews and was responsible for sending 4,000,000 Jews to their deaths in annihilation camps.

The GESTAPO and SD rounded up hundreds of thousands of citizens of occupied countries and shipped them to Germany for forced labor, and sent slave laborers to labor reformatory camps and concentration camps for disciplining.

They executed captured commandos and paratroopers and protected civilians who lynched Allied flyers.

They took civilians of occupied countries to Germany for secret trial and punishment.

They arrested, tried, and punished citizens of occupied territories under special criminal procedures which did not accord them fair trials, and by summary methods.

They murdered or sent to concentration camps the relatives of persons who had allegedly committed crimes.

They ordered the murder of prisoners in SIPO and SD prisons to prevent their release by the Allied armies.

They participated in the seizure and spoliation of public and private property.

They were primary agencies for the persecution of the Jews and of the churches.

In carrying out these crimes the GESTAPO operated as an organization, closely centralized and controlled from Berlin headquarters. Reports were submitted to Berlin, and all important decisions emanated from Berlin. The regional offices had only limited power to commit persons to concentration camps. All cases, other than those of short duration, had to be submitted to Berlin for approval. From 1943 to the end of the war the defendant Kaltenbrunner was the Chief of the Security Police and SD in Berlin. The GESTAPO was organized on a functional basis. Its principal divisions dealt with the groups and institutions against which it committed the worst crimes—Jews, churches, communists, and political liberals. Thus, in perpetrating these crimes, the GESTAPO acted as an entity, each section performing its part in the general criminal enterprises ordered by Berlin. It must be held responsible as an entity.

The SD was at all times a department of the SS. Its criminality directly concerns and contributes to the criminality of the SS.

As to the GESTAPO, it is submitted that:

1.

The GESTAPO is an organization, in the sense in which that term is used in Article 9 of the Charter.

2.

The defendants Goering and Kaltenbrunner committed the crimes defined in Article 6 of the Charter in their capacity as members and leaders of the GESTAPO.

3.

The GESTAPO, as an organization, participated in and aided the conspiracy which contemplated and involved the commission of the crimes defined in Article 6 of the Charter.

In 1941, on German Police Day, Heydrich, the former Chief of the Security Police and the SD, said:

“Secret State Police, Criminal Police, and SD are still adorned with the furtive and whispered secrecy of a political detective story. In a mixture of fear and shuddering—and yet at home with a certain feeling of security because of their presence,—brutality, inhumanity bordering on the sadistic, and ruthlessness are attributed abroad to the men of this profession.” (Extract from a brochure on Reinhard Heydrich, published in December 1943.)

The evidence as it is submitted, shows that brutality, inhumanity, sadism, and ruthlessness were characteristic of the GESTAPO and that it was and should be declared, a criminal organization, in accordance with article 9 of the Charter.

LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI (GESTAPO) AND SICHERHEITSDIENST (SD)

DocumentDescriptionVol.Page

Charter of the International Military Tribunal, Article 9.I6

International Military Tribunal, Indictment Number 1, Section IV (H); Appendix B.I29, 70, 71

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Note: A single asterisk (*) before a document indicates that the document was received in evidence at the Nurnberg trial. A double asterisk (**) before a document number indicates that the document was referred to during the trial but was not formally received in evidence, for the reason given in parentheses following the description of the document. The USA series number, given in parentheses following the description of the document, is the official exhibit number assigned by the court.

————

071-PSRosenberg letter to Bormann, 23 April 1941, replying to Bormann’s letter of 19 April 1941 (Document 072-PS). (USA 371)III119

*498-PSTop Secret Fuehrer Order for killing of commandos, 18 October 1942. (USA 501)III416

*501-PSCollection of four documents on execution by gas, June 1942, one signed by Dr. Becker, SS Untersturmfuehrer at Kiev, 16 May 1942. (USA 288)III418

*502-PSOrder, 17 July 1941, entitled “Regulations for the Commandos of the Chief of the SIPO and SD which are to be activated in Stalags”. (USA 486)III422

*526-PSTop secret notice, 10 May 1943, concerning saboteurs captured and shot in Norway. (USA 502)III434

532-PSTelegram of WFSt, 24 June 1944, concerning treatment of Commandos.III437

*553-PSOrder signed by Keitel, 4 August 1942, regulating treatment of paratroops. (USA 500)III441

654-PSThierack’s notes, 18 September 1942, on discussion with Himmler concerning delivery of Jews to Himmler for extermination through work. (USA 218)III467

*668-PSLetter from Chief of the SIPO and SD and OKW letter, 24 June 1942, concerning prosecution of punishable offenses against the Reich or occupation forces in occupied territories. (USA 504)III476

*674-PSSecret letter from President of High District Court of Kattowitz re executions being carried out by Gestapo without judicial processes, 3 December 1941. (USA 505)III478

*701-PSLetter from Minister of Justice to Prosecutors, 1 April 1943, concerning Poles and Jews who are released from Penal institutions of Department of Justice. (USA 497)III510

*710-PSLetter from Goering to Heydrich, 31 July 1941, concerning solution of Jewish question. (USA 509)III525

745-PSLetter from Chief of SD, Koblenz, 12 June 1944, concerning enemy aviators who have been shot down.III543

775-PSMemorandum of Minister of the Interior concerning clarification of police matters, 1935.III547

779-PSDirective by Frick, regulating “protective custody”, 12 April 1934.III555

833-PSInstructions by Admiral Canaris, Head of the Abwehr, 2 February 1942, concerning prosecution of crimes against the Reich or occupying forces in the occupied territories.III600

1061-PSOfficial report of Stroop, SS and Police Leader of Warsaw, on destruction of Warsaw Ghetto, 1943. (USA 275)III718

*1063-A-PSOrder of Chief of SIPO and SD, 2 January 1941, concerning classification of concentration camps. (USA 492)III775

*1063-B-PSLetter signed by Kaltenbrunner, 26 July 1943, concerning establishment of Labor Reformatory camps. (USA 492)III777

*1063-D-PSMueller’s order, 17 December 1942, concerning prisoners qualified for work to be sent to concentration camps. (USA 219)III778

1063-E-PSCopy of Mueller’s order, 25 June 1942, concerning increased shipments to concentration camps.III780

*1104-PSMemorandum, 21 November 1941, enclosing copies of report concerning anti-Jewish action in Minsk. (USA 483)III783

1113-PSReport of 6 November 1942 concerning action “Marshfever”.III792

*1165-PSLetter from Commandant of concentration Camp Gross Rosen, 23 October 1941, and letter of Mueller to all Gestapo offices, 9 November 1941, concerning execution of Russian PW’s. (USA 244)III821

*1276-PSTop secret letter from Chief of SIPO and SD to OKW/WFSt, 17 June 1944, concerning Commando operations. (USA 525).III855

1285-PSExtract from The German Police, 1943, pp. 81-82.III863

1437-PSLaw concerning reuniting of Austria with German Reich, 18 March 1938. 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 262.IV17

1438-PSFuehrer concerning administration of Sudeten-German territory, 22 October 1938. 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 1453.IV17

*1472-PSCopy of telegram from Mueller to Himmler, 16 December 1942, concerning recruiting Jewish labor. (USA 279)IV49

*1481-PSGestapo order, 20 January 1938, dissolving and confiscating property of Catholic Youth Womens Organization in Bavaria. (USA 737).IV50

*1514-PSOrder, 27 July 1944, from 6th Corps Area Command concerning delivery of prisoners of war to secret state police. (USA 491)IV53

*1521-PSReport from the Bavarian Political Police to the Gestapo, Berlin, 24 August 1934, concerning National mourning on occasion of death of von Hindenburg. (USA 740)IV75

*1531-PSDirective from RSHA, 26 October 1939, concerning execution of protective custody, and directive, 12 June 1942, concerning third degree. (USA 248)IV93

1551-PSDecree assigning functions in Office of Chief of German Police, 26 June 1936. 1936 Reichs Ministerialblatt, pp. 946-948.IV106

*1573-PSOrder signed Mueller, 18 June 1941, concerning measures to be taken against Emigrants and civilian workers from Russian areas and against Foreign workers. (USA 498)IV112

1638-PSCircular of Minister of Interior, 11 November 1938, on cooperation of SD and other authorities. 1938 Reichs Ministerialblatt, p. 1906.IV142

*1650-PSDirective to State Police Directorates from Chief of SIPO and SD by Mueller, 4 March 1944, concerning captured escaped PWs except British and American PWs. (USA 246)IV158

*1680-PS“Ten Years Security Police and SD” published in The German Police, 1 February 1943. (USA 477)IV191

*1723-PSOrder concerning cooperation of Party offices with the Secret State Police, 25 January 1938, published in Decrees, Regulations, Announcements, 1937, Vol. II, pp. 430-439. (USA 206)IV219

*1815-PSDocuments on RSHA meeting concerning the study and treatment of church politics. (USA 510)IV415

*1852-PS“Law” from The German Police, 1941, by Dr. Werner Best. (USA 449) (See Chart No. 16.)IV490

1956-PSMeaning and Tasks of the Secret State Police, published in The Archives, January 1936, Vol. 22-24, p. 1342.IV598

2073-PSDecree concerning the appointment of a Chief of German Police in the Ministry of the Interior, 17 June 1936. 1936 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 487.IV703

2104-PSLaw on organization of Secret State Police office, 26 April 1933. 1933 Preussische Gesetzsammlung, p. 122.IV730

2105-PSLaw on Secret State Police of 30 November 1933. 1933 Preussische Gesetzsammlung, p. 413.IV731

2107-PSLaw on Secret State Police of 10 February 1936. 1936 Preussische Gesetzsammlung, pp. 21-22.IV732

2108-PSDecree for execution of Law on Secret State Police of 10 February 1936. 1936 Preussische Gesetzsammlung, pp. 22-24.IV732

2113-PSDecree for application of law of 30 November 1933, concerning Secret State Police of 8 March 1934. 1934 Preussische Gesetzsammlung, p. 143.IV743

2232-PSTasks and Means of a Political Police, from German Administrative Law by Hans Frank, pp. 420-430.IV881

2243-PSLaw relating to finance measures in connection with the police, 19 March 1937. 1937 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 325.IV924

2245-PSFrick decree of 20 September 1936 concerning employment of Security Police Inspectors. 1936 Reichs Ministerialblatt, pp. 1343-1344.IV928

*2273-PSExtract from a top secret report of Einsatz Group A. (USA 487) (See Chart No. 4.)IV944

*2285-PSAffidavit, 13 May 1945, by two French officers, about shooting of prisoners at Mauthausen. (USA 490)IV991

2344-PSReconstruction of a Nation by Goering, 1934, p. 89.IV1065

2347-PSCourt decisions from 1935 Reichsverwaltungsblatt, Vol. 56, pp. 577-578, 20 July 1935.IV1066

2348-PSAffidavit of Rauff, Head of Amt II D, RSHA, 19 October 1945. (USA 485)IV1068

2371-PSExecution of ordinance for Security of people and state, 28 February 1933. 1933 Reichs Ministerialblatt, Part I, p. 543.IV1102

2372-PSUnified Designation of offices of Secret State Police in Reich. 1936 Reichs Ministerial Gazette, Part V, pp. 1344-5.IV1105

2374-PSAffidavit of Rudolf Mildner, 27 June 1945, concerning treatment of English-American commando groups.V1

2375-PSAffidavit of Rudolf Mildner, 16 November 1945, concerning activities of SIPO and SD.V2

2376-PSAffidavit of Rudolf Mildner, 16 November 1945, concerning treatment of Jews.V3

*2460-PSAffidavit of Rudolf Diels. (USA 751)V205

*2477-PSAffidavit of Willy Litzenberg, 4 November 1945. (USA 518)V229

2478-PSAffidavit of Willy Litzenberg, 4 November 1945.V230

2479-PSAffidavit of Dr. Rudolf Mildner, 4 November 1945.V230

*2499-PSOriginal Protective Custody Order served on Dr. R. Kempner, 15 March 1935. (USA 232)V236

*2542-PSAffidavit of Kurt Lindow, 30 September 1945. (USA 489)V286

*2605-PSAffidavit of Dr. Rudolf Kastner, former President of the Hungarian Zionist Organization, 13 September 1945. (USA 242)V313

2614-PSAffidavit of Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl, 5 November 1945. (USA 918)V337

2615-PSAffidavit of Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl, 5 November 1945.V338

*2620-PSAffidavit of Otto Ohlendorf, 5 November 1945. (USA 919)V341

2622-PSAffidavit of Otto Ohlendorf, 5 November 1945.V343

2644-PSAffidavit of Otto Ohlendorf, 5 November 1945.V357

2645-PSAffidavit of Gottfried Boley, 14 November 1945.V357

*2751-PSAffidavit of Alfred Naujocks, 20 November 1945. (USA 482)V390

2752-PSAffidavit of Willy Litzenberg, 8 November 1945.V392

2846-PSAffidavit of Erwin Lahousen, 13 November 1945.V507

2884-PSAffidavit of Walter Warlimont, 14 November 1945.V550

2890-PSExtracts from Befehlsblatt of the SIPO and SD.V557

*2990-PSAffidavit of Walter Schellenberg, 18 November 1945. (USA 526)V694

*2992-PSAffidavits of Hermann Graebe. (USA 494)V696

*3012-PSOrder signed Christiansen, 19 March 1943, to all group leaders of Security Service, and record of telephone conversation signed by Stapj, 11 March 1943. (USA 190)V731

*3033-PSAffidavit of Walter Schellenberg, 21 November 1945. (USA 488)V741

*3051-PSThree teletype orders from Heydrich to all stations of State Police, 10 November 1938, on measures against Jews, and one order from Heydrich on termination of protest actions. (USA 240)V797

3058-PSLetter from Heydrich to Goering, 11 November 1938, reporting action against the Jews. (USA 508)V854

3343-PSSpeech delivered at labor-meeting of Prussian State Council on 18 June 1934, from Speeches and Essays of Hermann Goering.VI78

3344-PSExtract from Befehlsblatt of the Chief of Security Police and SD, Berlin, 7 September 1942, No. 39, p. 249.VI78

*3360-PSTeletype, 12 February 1944, relating to recaptured escaped Eastern laborers. (USA 499)VI95

3363-PSSpecial delivery letter, 21 September 1939, from Chief of Security Police to Chiefs of all detail groups concerning Jewish problem in Occupied zone.VI97

*3840-PSStatement of Karl Kaleske, 24 February 1946, concerning the elimination of the Warsaw Ghetto. (USA 803)VI775

*3841-PSStatement of SS and Polizeifuehrer Juergen Stroop, 24 February 1946, concerning elimination of the Warsaw Ghetto. (USA 804)VI776

*3868-PSAffidavit of Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Hoess, 5 April 1946, concerning execution of 3,000,000 people at Auschwitz Extermination Center. (USA 819)VI787

D-46Order designating Herzogenbosch as concentration camp, 18 January 1943.VI1025

D-50Order establishing concentration camps at Lublin, 9 April 1943.VI1027

D-183Order of Gestapo Office, Darmstadt, 7 December 1938, concerning treatment of articles secured during protest action against Jews.VI1075

*D-569File of circulars from Reichsfuehrer SS, the OKW, Inspector of Concentration Camps, Chief of Security Police and SD, dating from 29 October 1941 through 22 February 1944, relative to procedure in cases of unnatural death of Soviet PW, execution of Soviet PW, etc. (GB 277)VII74

*D-762Order of Hitler, 30 July 1944, concerning combatting of “terrorists” and “saboteurs” in Occupied Territories. (GB 298)VII221

*D-763Circular of OKW, 18 August 1944, regarding penal jurisdiction of non-German civilians in Occupied Territories. (GB 300)VII222

*L-18Official report, Katzmann to General of Police Krueger, 30 June 1943, concerning “Solution of Jewish Question in Galicia”. (USA 277)VII755

*L-37Letter from Illmer, Chief of the SIPO and SD of Radom, to subordinates, 19 July 1944, concerning collective responsibility of members of families of assassins and saboteurs. (USA 506)VII782

*L-41Orders of Mueller, Chief of the Gestapo, 17 December 1942 and 23 March 1943, concerning transfer of workers to concentration camps. (USA 496)VII784

*L-51Affidavit of Adolf Zutter, 2 August 1945. (USA 521)VII798

L-53Order from Commandant of the SIPO and SD for the Radom District to Branch Office in Tomaschow, 21 July 1944, on clearance of prisons. (USA 291)VII814

*L-61Express letter from Sauckel to Presidents of Landes Employment Office, 26 November 1942, concerning employment of Jews and exchange of Jews in essential employment against Polish labor. (USA 177)VII816

*L-89Top secret letter issued by the Commandant of the SIPO and SD, District Radom, 24 February 1944, concerning intensified interrogations. (USA 507)VII868

*L-90Fuehrer decree, February 1942, concerning prosecution of offenses in Occupied Territory; “First Ordinance” signed by Keitel for execution of the directive; memorandum of 12 December 1941, signed by Keitel. (USA 503)VII871

L-152RSHA Order concerning fraternization of Jews and Aryans, 3 November 1941.VII903

L-167Orders of the Reichsminister of the Interior, 24 March 1942, concerning use of public transportation by Jews, and covering letters.VII917

*L-180Report by SS Brigade Commander Stahlecker to Himmler, “Action Group A”, 15 October 1941. (USA 276)VII978

*L-185Organization plan of the RSHA, 1 January 1941. (USA 484)VII996

*L-215File of orders and dossiers of 25 Luxembourgers committed to concentration camps at various times in 1944. (USA 243)VII1045

L-217Order of Secret State Police concerning camouflage of Jewish businesses, 20 November 1936.VII1052

*L-219Organization plan of the RSHA as of 1 October 1943. (USA 479)VII1053

L-297Law commissioning Secret State Police Bureau with supervision of duties of Political Police commanders in provinces, 20 September 1936. 1936 Reichs Ministerialblatt, p. 1343.VII1099

L-301New ruling on protective custody, from The Archive, April 1934, p. 31.VII1099

*L-316RSHA Order of 5 November 1942, signed by Streckenbach, concerning jurisdiction over Poles and Eastern Nationals. (USA 346)VII1104

*L-358Extract from register of arrests by Gestapo in Poland, 1943. (USA 495)VII1107

*L-361Three documents concerning the formation of the RSHA, Himmler, 27 September 1939; Heydrich, 23 and 27 September 1939. (USA 478)VII1109

*R-102Report on activities of The Task Forces of SIPO and SD in USSR, 1-31 October 1941. (USA 470)VIII96

*R-110Himmler order of 10 August 1943 to all Senior Executive SS and Police officers. (USA 333)VIII107

*R-135Letter to Rosenberg enclosing secret reports from Kube on German atrocities in the East, 18 June 1943, found in Himmler’s personal files. (USA 289)VIII205

*R-142Memoranda to Koblenz District Headquarters, 22 April 1938 and 7 May 1938, relating to the plebiscite of 10 April 1938. (USA 481)VIII243

R-145State Police Order, 28 May 1934, at Duesseldorf, signed Schmid, concerning sanction of denominational youth and professional associations and distribution of publications in churches. (USA 745)VIII248

Affidavit AAffidavit of Erwin Lahousen, 21 January 1946, substantially the same as his testimony on direct examination before the International Military Tribunal at Nurnberg 30 November and 1 December 1945.VIII587

Affidavit BAffidavit of Otto Ohlendorf, 20 November 1945, substantially the same as his testimony on direct examination before the International Military Tribunal at Nurnberg 3 January 1946.VIII596

Affidavit CAffidavit of Dieter Wisliceny, 29 November 1945, substantially the same as his testimony on direct examination before the International Military Tribunal at Nurnberg, 3 January 1946.VIII606

Affidavit DAffidavit of Walter Schellenberg, 23 January 1946, substantially the same as his testimony on direct examination before the International Military Tribunal at Nurnberg, 4 January 1946.VIII622

Statement IXMy Relationship to Adolf Hitler and to the Party, by Erich Raeder, Moscow, fall 1945.VIII707

*Chart No. 1National Socialist German Workers’ Party. (2903-PS; USA 2)VIII770

Chart No. 3Organization of the SS. (USA 445)VIII772

*Chart No. 4Report of Special Purpose Group “A” regarding Jews killed in the Baltic Countries, White Russia and Lithuania. (2273-PS; USA 487)VIII773

*Chart No. 5Position of Kaltenbrunner and the Gestapo and SD in the German Police System. (USA 493)VIII774

*Chart No. 16The Structure of the German Police. (1852-PS; USA 449)End of VIII

*Chart No. 19Organization of the Security Police (Gestapo and Kripo) and the SD 1943-1945. (USA 480)End of VIII