dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
down. Only those inmates who correspond to the conditions laid down and, this is the most important thing, who are no longer fit to work, are brought before the examining commission. "In order to enable the concentration camps to carry out the tasks they are set, every inmate fit to work is to be put at the disposal of the camp. The camp commanders of the concentration camps are asked to give their special attention to this matter." It is thus apparent that the euthanasia program had as its main purpose the execution of those no longer able to work. However, it was also used as a means for the extermination of Jews. This is clearly shown in the method of selecting Jews. The physical examination of Aryan inmates was certainly no more than perfunctory but as to Jewish inmates there was no examination whatever. In November 1941, Dr. Mennecke wrote to his wife concerning the euthanasia examinations in Buchenwald as follows: "As a second portion a total of 1200 Jews followed, all of whom do not need to be 'examined', but where it is sufficient to take the reasons for their arrest from the files (often very voluminous!) and to transfer them to the reports. Therefore, it is merely a theoretical work * * *." The reasons for arrest which were considered as sufficient to justify exterminating Jews are also illuminating. We will present to the Tribunal a series of pictures of 63 Jews who were selected in Buchenwald. Dr. Mennecke wrote the reasons for arrest on the back of each of these pictures. One Jewess was noted as having a "derogatory attitude toward the Reich; continuous race defilement by keeping her Jewish descent a secret and rendering the Hitler salute." Another had made "incredibly impudent and spiteful remarks toward Germans; on the train made acquaintance of soldiers coming from the front, introducing herself as Jewess, gave them bread for coffee and cocoa, then insulted the soldiers in the meanest possible way." A third was said to be an "anti-German eastern Jew agitator; in the camp, lazy, impudent, recalcitrant." This murderous program continued long after the WVHA had assumed jurisdiction over the concentration camps. From the middle of 1943 the selections were supposed to be limited to insane inmates
possible way." A third was said to be an "anti-German eastern Jew agitator; in the camp, lazy, impudent, recalcitrant." This murderous program continued long after the WVHA had assumed jurisdiction over the concentration camps. From the middle of 1943 the selections were supposed to be limited to insane inmates unable to work. On 27 April 1943 Gluecks, chief of Amtsgruppe D, sent the following order to the concentration camps: "The Reich Leader SS and chief of the German police upon demonstration has decreed that in the future only insane prisoners can be selected for the action 14 f 13 by the medical commissions appointed for this purpose. "All other prisoners unfit for work (persons suffering from tuberculosis, bedridden invalids, etc.) are absolutely to be excluded from this action. Bedridden prisoners are to be given suitable work, which can also be done in bed." The prosecution will present evidence on the operation of the euthanasia program in the Buchenwald, Dachau, Gross-Rosen, Mauthausen and Natzweiler concentration camps. These invalid transports were a thing of terror to all inmates as they were frequently used by the camp management as a means of disposing of prisoners considered to be undesirable. It appears that the extermination stations of Bernburg and Hartheim were the principle centers for killing prisoners. Frank Ziereiss, former commander of Mauthausen, estimated that at least 20,000 prisoners were executed at Hartheim over a period of one and one-half years. The criminality of the euthanasia program as it operated in the Third Reich presents no novel question of law. The International Military Tribunal found that it involved the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity and I quote from the judgment , pages 169117 of the English transcript (5) : "Reference should also be made to the policy which was in existence in Germany by the summer of 1940, under which all aged, insane, and incurable people, 'useless eaters', were transferred to special institutions where they were killed, and their relatives informed that they had died from natural causes. The victims were not confined to German citizens, but included foreign laborers, who were no longer able to work, and were therefore useless to the German war machine.
people, 'useless eaters', were transferred to special institutions where they were killed, and their relatives informed that they had died from natural causes. The victims were not confined to German citizens, but included foreign laborers, who were no longer able to work, and were therefore useless to the German war machine. It has been estimated that at least some 275,000 people were killed in this manner in nursing homes, hospitals, and asylums, which were under the jurisdiction of the defendant Frick, in his capacity as Minister of the Interior. How many foreign workers were included in this total it has been quite impossible to determine." A number of decisions of German courts since the end of the war have also held that the euthanasia program was in violation of the German penal law Slave Labor MR. ROBBINS: A primary phase of National Socialist policy which permeated every level of Party and government, from the highest to the lowest, was that of enslaving peoples and exploiting their labors and energies. This policy of labor exploitation was emphasized in many of Hitler's speeches. His declaration on 9 November 1941 - quoted in the judgment of the International Military Tribunal - is typical. There he boasted that 250 million men lived in the territory which worked solely for Germany, and that the territory which worked indirectly for Germany contained 350 million men. "It is not doubtful," Hitler said, "that we shall succeed in harnessing the very last man to our work." In Himmler's now infamous Poznan speech on 4 October 1943 the attitude of the SS toward Germany's slave laborers was strikingly related, and I quote: "What happens to a Russian, to a Czech, does not interest me in the slightest. What the nations can offer in the way of good blood of our type, we shall take, if necessary by kidnaping their children and raising them here with us. Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death interests me only insofar as we need them as slaves for our Kultur; otherwise, it is of no interest to me. Whether 10,000 Russian females fall down from exhaustion while digging an anti-tank ditch interests me only insofar as the anti-tank ditch for Germany is finished. We shall never be rough and heartless when it is not necessary,
insofar as we need them as slaves for our Kultur; otherwise, it is of no interest to me. Whether 10,000 Russian females fall down from exhaustion while digging an anti-tank ditch interests me only insofar as the anti-tank ditch for Germany is finished. We shall never be rough and heartless when it is not necessary, but it is clear, we Germans, who are the only people in the world who have a decent attitude towards animals, will also assume a decent attitude towards these man animals. But it is a crime against our own blood to worry about them and give them ideals, thus causing our sons and grandsons to have a more difficult time with them." It was appropriate that the most unmerciful and satanic part of the slave labor program that carried out in the concentration camps should have been entrusted to Oswald Pohl and the members of the WVHA. The various precursors of the WVHA, with the help of Pohl and others of the defendants, had proved their ability to exploit the inmates of concentration camps. As early as 1939 Himmler ordered that supervision over economic matters and use of inmate labor should be under Pohl, although administration of camps at that time was still under the Concentration Camp Inspectorate. In 1939 also, the defendant Mummenthey was made business manager of the DEST industry which was one of the most lethal employers of concentration camp inmates. In 1940 he argued vigorously, on the basis of his experience, that the DEST industry should remain an enterprise operated with inmate labor only. Volk, too, as well as others of the defendants, had thoroughly mastered the economics of slave labor. By the time Pohl's group was reorganized in February 1942, they had developed a science of exhausting the last effort of those whose productive capacity was so pitifully small from malnutrition and mistreatment. When the WVHA assumed complete jurisdiction over the concentration camps, Pohl wrote to Himmler explaining his plans for the utilization of inmate labor: "1. The war has brought about a marked change in the structure of the concentration camps and has changed their duties with regard to the employment of the prisoners. The custody of prisoners for the sole reasons of security, education, or prevention is no longer the main consideration. The
of inmate labor: "1. The war has brought about a marked change in the structure of the concentration camps and has changed their duties with regard to the employment of the prisoners. The custody of prisoners for the sole reasons of security, education, or prevention is no longer the main consideration. The mobilization of all prisoners who are fit for work, for purposes of the war now, and for purposes of construction in the forthcoming peace, come to the foreground more and more. "2. From this knowledge some necessary measures result with the aim to transform the concentration camps into organizations more suitable for the economic tasks, while they were formerly merely politically interested. "3. For this reason I have gathered together all the leaders of the former Inspectorate of Concentration Camps, all camp commanders, and all managers and supervisors of work. On 23 April 1942 and 24 April 1942, I compiled in the order attached, the main essentials which have to be brought into effect with the utmost urgency if the commencement of work for purposes of the armament industry is not to be delayed." The order by Pohl referred to in the letter to Himmler, was addressed to all concentration camp commanders and work managers and contained the following provisions: "The camp commanders alone are responsible for the employment of the labor available. This employment must be, in the true meaning of the word, exhaustive in order to obtain the greatest measure of performance. "Work is allotted by the chief of the Department D centrally and alone. The camp commanders themselves may not accept on their own initiative work offered by third parties and may not negotiate about it. "There is no limit to working hours. Their duration depends on the kind of working establishments in the camps and the kind of work to be done. They are fixed by the camp commanders alone. "Any circumstances which may result in a shortening of work hours (e.g., meals, roll calls) have therefore to be restricted to a minimum which cannot be condensed any further It is forbidden to allow long walks to the place of working and noon intervals are only for eating purposes. "Guard duties have to be freed from traditional rigidity and to be made more flexible having regard to the
roll calls) have therefore to be restricted to a minimum which cannot be condensed any further It is forbidden to allow long walks to the place of working and noon intervals are only for eating purposes. "Guard duties have to be freed from traditional rigidity and to be made more flexible having regard to the coming tasks of peace. Sentries on horseback, watch dogs, and movable obstacles are to be developed." Every means, except humane treatment, was employed by the defendants to extract every effort to the last gasp of the workers before they died, as they did by the thousands, from overwork; "employment must be in the true sense of the word exhaustive," "there is no limit to working hours," "sentries on horseback and watchdogs are to be used." In the SS industries, in stone quarries gravel pits, coal mines, underground armament plants, construction brigades, and camp workshops the laborers weltered in their bloody misery. The labor economics of the defendants was not, however, designed simply to produce work, for had it been, far more could have been achieved by decent treatment of the workers. But an equally important purpose of the SS, as a criminal organization, and of the WVHA, as an essential element of the SS, was the annihilation of so-called inferior peoples. Thousands were marked as subhuman and thereby slated for death for being Jews and poles. But before they were to die they were to be driven, degraded, and damnified until death was a merciful delivery. Under the WVHA the typical concentration camp was not actually an extermination camp nor a labor camp, for either purposes could have been carried out quicker and much more efficiently. But they were the cruelest and most fiendish combination both of which could be devised by these defendants. Impossible physical exertion extracted under the whip of a mounted guard provided torture and ultimately death. This dichotomy in purpose of the slave labor program is also shown by the fact that senseless and useless labor, without any constructive purpose, was carried out continuously in the camps. Walls and even entire buildings were erected only to be torn down the following day, again to be rebuilt on the next. Prisoners were forced to carry huge rocks from one place to another,
shown by the fact that senseless and useless labor, without any constructive purpose, was carried out continuously in the camps. Walls and even entire buildings were erected only to be torn down the following day, again to be rebuilt on the next. Prisoners were forced to carry huge rocks from one place to another, and on the following day to carry them back again. Contradictory purposes - profit and production, on the one hand, and torture and murder, on the other - made the search for manpower one of the most important parts of the concentration camp labor program. In the work details both inside and outside the concentration camps, every inmate was utilized political and criminal prisoners, the sick, the lame, those who had already been exhausted from overwork, clergymen, prisoners of war, women, and children. As an illustration, the fact that one-third of the workers in the SS industries were sick was put forward by one of the WVHA officials as an objection to a proposed increase in the charges for concentration camp labor. A file memorandum of 24 April 1944 on this subject stated: "The prisoners receiving a pay of RM 0.25 per working day are those who can only be employed on a very limited scale. They are all sick people engaged in the manufacturing of weaving and plaiting products in the plants of Auschwitz, Dachau, Neuengamme, and Stutthof. Consequently about one-third of the DAW workers are already excluded from a pay raise for prisoners in the sense of the letter received." Priests of Polish and Lithuanian nationality were worked and used on all kinds of labor pursuant to an order of Himmler. However, the order mercifully provided that German, Dutch, and Norwegian priests were to be employed only in gardening work. But, even gardening work in the concentration camps was deadly and consisted primarily of carrying stone and earth. Workers were forced to carry tremendous loads, on the double, under the constant scrutiny of guards. Dogs were set upon those who fell behind. Many were shot while working; many others died from beatings and attacks by the dogs. Nevertheless, gardening was considered one of the better assignments. Simply to obtain another source of slave labor, prisoners of war were placed in concentration camps upon the
of guards. Dogs were set upon those who fell behind. Many were shot while working; many others died from beatings and attacks by the dogs. Nevertheless, gardening was considered one of the better assignments. Simply to obtain another source of slave labor, prisoners of war were placed in concentration camps upon the slightest pretext. An order of Mueller of 30 March 1943 provided that escaped Russian prisoners of war were to be sent to concentration camps if they stole bread at night while making their escape. By 1944 no reason whatever was given in many cases for transferring prisoners of war into the custody of the WVHA other than that workers were needed. As an example, Himmler sent the following telegram to SS Gruppenfuehrer Fegelein on 6 August 1944: "Find out what the Polish officers still in the prisoners of war camp are doing. Have they been assigned to work or not If not, I suggest that they be transferred to the concentration camps immediately and be assigned to work as prisoners." Under the most inhumane conditions prisoners of war were used in munitions factories, coal mines, and stone quarries. On 30 September 1944, Himmler officially recognized the extensive use of prisoners of war by the WVHA and ordered that their mobilization would be coordinated with Pohl and Berger in joint action with the then existing labor mobilization offices. The work of women and children was also a part of the labor program of the WVHA. On 6 January 1943, Himmler wrote to Pohl as follows: "In operations against guerilla troops, men, women, and children suspected of guerilla activities will be rounded up and shipped to the camps in Lublin or Auschwitz. "The Higher SS and Police Chiefs will arrange the shipments with the Chief of the Security Police, the Chief of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office, and the Inspector of the Concentration Camps. The Chief of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office, in agreement with the Chief of the Security Police and SD, suggest the establishment of collective camps for children and adolescents in Lublin. In these camps a racial and political examination will take place. Racially worthless adolescents, male and female, will be assigned as apprentices to the economic
in agreement with the Chief of the Security Police and SD, suggest the establishment of collective camps for children and adolescents in Lublin. In these camps a racial and political examination will take place. Racially worthless adolescents, male and female, will be assigned as apprentices to the economic enterprises of the concentration camps. "Children will have to be brought up. This will be done by teaching them obedience, diligency, unconditional subordination, and honesty towards their German masters. They will do sums to one hundred, learn to recognize traffic signs, and be prepared for their special occupations as farm workers, locksmiths, stonemasons joiners, etc. The girls will be trained as farmworkers, weavers, spinners, knitters, and for similar jobs." Women were used in the most exacting labor, and even in the deadly construction commandos, pursuant to Pohl's request. On 4 May 1944 Pohl sent the following telegram to Himmler: "The first transportation of Jews from Hungary show that about 50 percent of the Jews who are fit to work are women. Since there is not sufficient adequate purely female work available for this large number of women, we must put them to work for OT construction projects. Your approval is requested. The OT [Todt organization] agrees." Himmler replied: "Of course Jewish women are to be used for labor. In this case one has merely to provide a healthy diet. Here a diet with raw vegetables is important. Be sure to import garlic from Hungary in sufficient quantity The ever-present problem for the WVHA was to obtain replacements as fast as the inmates were killed or disabled in the work program. It is an almost unbelievable fact that workers were killed by overwork, mistreatment, and malnutrition at such a rate that it was impossible for the apprehension agencies to replenish the workers as fast as they died. Rudolf Hoess, chief of Amt D I, has estimated that in the industries with particularly severe working conditions, as in the mines, 20 percent of the workers each month either died at their work or were sent back for extermination because of inability to work. The dilemma became so acute that the chief of the Security Police and SD made the following complaint to Pohl in December 1942: "In answer
severe working conditions, as in the mines, 20 percent of the workers each month either died at their work or were sent back for extermination because of inability to work. The dilemma became so acute that the chief of the Security Police and SD made the following complaint to Pohl in December 1942: "In answer to the letter addressed to the Reich Leader SS and Chief of the German Police, a copy of which was sent to me by the Adjutant's Office of the Reich Leader SS, I have to inform you that in the meantime measures have been taken to increase the total number of prisoners in the concentration camps. "As soon as these measures are completed I shall give other instructions. But I should like, however, to point out in this connection that because of the great number of deaths in the concentration camps, it was impossible to increase the total number of prisoners, in spite of the increased numbers sent to them recently, and that with a constant or even increasing death rate, it is unlikely that an improvement can be effected even by sending an increased number of prisoners." Similarly, in the same month, the medical office of the WVHA, Amt D III, complained in a letter to the camp doctors of all the concentration camps: "In the enclosed a compilation of the current arrivals and departures in all the concentration camps is sent to you for your information. It discloses that out of 136,000 arrivals about 70,000 died. With such a high rate of death the number of the prisoners can never be brought up to the figure as has been ordered by the Reich Leader SS." On 20 August 1942, the camp physician at Buchenwald made the following request in the interest of saving paper: "It is requested to examine whether it is necessary to issue reports of the death of political Russians * * * as political Russians form the greatest number among the dead prisoners at the present time, more time and paper could be saved if these death reports were dropped." One source of concentration camp inmates was the Reich Ministry of Justice. On 18 September 1942 Himmler and the Minister of Justice conferred at Himmler's field command post. A captured file memorandum by the minister records that one of the items of agreement was that certain