dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MAJOR FARR: "In case of mobilization I myself will make the decision about the time, strength, and manner of the incorporation of the SS Verfugungstruppe into the wartime army; these things will depend on the internal political situation at that time." Immediately after the issuance of this decree-and the Court will recall it was issued in August of 1938-this militarized force was employed with the Army for aggressive purposes-the taking over of the Sudetenland. Following this action feverish preparation to motorize the force and to organize new units such as antitank, machine gun, and reconnaissance battalions were undertaken pursuant to further directives of the Fuehrer. By September 1939 the force was fully motorized; its units had been increased to division strength and it was prepared for combat. These steps are described in the National Socialist Yearbook for the years 1940 and 1941. I offer in evidence Pages 365 to 371 of the 1940 yearbook. It is our Document Number 2164-PS. It bears Exhibit Number USA-255. I offer Pages 191 to 193 of the 1941 yearbook, which is our Document Number 2163-PS, as Exhibit Number USA-444. Since the yearbook is an official publication of the Nazi Party, edited by Reichsleiter Robert Ley and published by the Nazi Party publishing company, I assume that the Court will take judicial notice of the contents of these exhibits. After the launching of the Polish invasion and as the war progressed, still further divisions were added. The Organization Book of the Nazi Party for 1943, our Document Number 2640-PS, lists some eight divisions and two infantry brigades as existing at the end of 1942. I refer to Page 427b of the original, Page 5, last paragraph of the translation. This was no longer. an emergency force. It was an SS army and hence came to be designated as the Waffen-SS. Himmler referred to this spectacular development of this SS combat branch in his speech at Posen on 4 October 1943 to SS Gruppenfuehrer. That speech has already been introduced in evidence at an earlier stage in the case, as Exhibit Number USA-170.
MAJOR FARR: It is our Document Number 1919-PS. I shall quote from that speech, Page 51 of the original, Page 2 of the translation, second paragraph, headed "The SS in Wartime." I quote: "Now I come to our own development, to that of the SS in the past months. Looking back on the whole war, this development was fantastic. It took place at an absolutely terrific speed. Let us look back a little to 1939. At that time we were a few regiments, guard units, 8,000 to 9,000 strong-that is, not even a division, all in all 25,000 to 28,000 men at the outside. True, we were armed, but we really only got our artillery regiment as our heavy arm 2 months before the war began." I continue, quoting from the same speech a passage found on Page 8 of the English translation and on Page 104 of the original. The passage in the translation appears at about the middle of the page. "In the hard battles of this year, the Waffen-SS has been welded together in the bitterest hours from the most varied divisions and sections out of which it was formed: Bodyguard units"-Leibstandarte-"military SS"-Verfugungstruppe- "Death's-Head Units, and then the Germanic SS. Now when our Divisions 'Reich,' 'Death's-Head,' the Cavalry Division, and 'Viking' were together, everyone knew in these last weeks: 'Viking' is at my side, 'Reich' is at my side, 'Death's-Head' is at my side. Thank God, now nothing can happen to us." The transformation of small emergency forces into a combat army did not result in a separation of this branch from the SS. Although tactically under the command of the Wehrmacht while in the field, it remained as much a part of the SS as any other branch of the organization. Throughout the war it was recruited, trained, administered, and supplied by the main offices of the SS Supreme Command. Ideologically and racially its members were selected in conformity with SS standards.
MAJOR FARR: I shall read a passage relating to the recruiting standards of the Waffen-SS published in the SS Manual, The Soldier Friend, our Document Number 2825-PS, which appears on Page 7 of the English translation, first paragraph on Page 36, Paragraph 2 of the original. I quote: "Today at last is the longed-for day of the entrance examinations where the examiners and physicians decide whether or not the candidate is ideologically and physically qualified to do service in the Waffen-SS. Everyone has acquainted himself with the comprehensive Manual for the Waffen-SS... the principal points are as follows: '1. Service in the Waffen-SS counts as military service. Only volunteers are accepted."'
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What is the purpose of reading all this evidence? What has what you just read got to do with what you are presenting?
MAJOR FARR: Sir, I want to prove, as I said a moment ago, one thing first: that the Waffen-SS is an integral, component part of the SS. I want to establish that it is completely administered and controlled by the Supreme Command of the SS. That is one thing. The second thing I want to prove is this: that service in the Waffen-SS is voluntary service just as membership in the Allgemeine SS or Death's-Head Units is voluntary service. It is true that there were some instances towards the close of the war when a few men were conscripted into the Waffen-SS but that was the exception and not the rule. In quoting from the recruiting standards of the Waffen-SS appearing in this booklet, which was published in 1942 and which indicate that at that time service in the Waffen-SS was open only to volunteers, I think I am serving the purpose of proving one of the two points which I think ought to be established. I want to read, if I may, one further paragraph from that translation. I shall read the paragraph indicating that service is voluntary. Now I want to read the third requirement, which shows that service was open only to persons who could meet the ideological and other standards of the SS as a whole. If the Tribunal is satisfied on the point that service in the Waffen-SS is essentially voluntary and that the Waffen-SS is an integral part of the SS, I do not want to impose further by reading further evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: I think the Tribunal is satisfied on both those points, up 'to the present time, that it is voluntary and is an integral part of the SS.
MAJOR FARR: If the Court is satisfied on both those points, I shall not pursue, any further, the introduction of this particular evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: It may, as you say, be possible to show that there were some members conscripted into it at a later date, but we have not had that evidence yet.
MAJOR FARR: No, Your Honor, you have not. All I want to show is that the normal thing is that it is voluntary and that the Waffen-SS is an integral part of the whole organization. If the Court is completely satisfied on that point I shall proceed no further with the description of the Waffen-SS. I shall pass on now then, to a description of the SS Totenkopf Verbande (the Death's-Head Units), which are the fourth component to be mentioned. The origin and purpose of the Totenkopf-Verbande were succinctly described by D'Alquen in his book, Die SS, our Document Number 2284-PS. I shall read from Page 10 of the English translation, Paragraph 5, a passage that appears on Page 20 of the original, Paragraph 3: "The SS Death's-Head Units form one part of the garrisoned SS. They arose from volunteers of the General SS who were recruited for the guarding of concentration camps in 1933. Their mission, aside from the indoctrination of the armed political soldier, is the guarding of enemies of the state who are held in concentration camps. The SS Death's-Head Units obligate their members to 12 years' service. They are composed mainly of men who have already fulfilled their duty to serve in the Wehrmacht. This time of service is counted toward the service obligation in the SS Death's-Head Units." Since the Death's-Head Units-like the SS Verfugungstruppe- were composed of well-trained professional soldiers, they were also a valuable nucleus for the Waffen-SS. The secret Hitler order of 17 August 1938, Document Number 647-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence, provided for the tasks of the SS Totenkopf Verbande in the event of mobilization. The Totenkopf Verbande were to be relieved from the duty of guarding concentration camps and transferred as a skeleton corps to the SS Verfugungstruppe. I quote from that order, a passage found on Page 5 of the translation, Paragraph 4; Page 9 of the original. I quote: "5) Regulations for the case of the Mobilization.
MAJOR FARR: "The SS Totenkopf Verbande form the skeleton corps for the reinforcement of the SS Totenkopf Verbande (Polizeiverstarkung) and will be replaced in the guarding of concentration camps by members of the General SS who are over 45 years of age and have had military training." If I may point out to the Court, the purpose in offering that bit of evidence is to show that the foundation was laid for having the Allgemeine SS (the General SS) take over the duties of guarding concentration camps after the war had started. The Totenkopf Verbande were originally created for that purpose. When the war came they went into the Waffen-SS and their duties were taken over by members of the General SS. The final component which was specifically referred to in the Indictment is the SS police regiments. I shall very shortly turn to the steps by which the SS assumed control over the entire Reich police. Out of the police special militarized forces were formed originally known as SS police battalions and later expanded to SS Police Regiments. I shall quote from Himmler's Posen speech, our Document Number 1919-PS, Page 3 of the translation, next to the last paragraph; Page 59 of the original. I quote: "Now to deal briefly with the tasks of the regular uniformed police and the Sipo-they still cover the same field. I can see that great things have been achieved. We have formed roughly 30 police regiments from police reservists and former members of the police-police officials, as they used to be called. The average age in our police battalions is not lower than that of the security battalions of the Armed Forces. Their achievements are beyond all praise.
MAJOR FARR: In addition, we have formed police rifle regiments by merging the police battalions previously drawn up of the 'savage peoples.' Thus, we did not leave these police battalions untouched but blended them in the ratio of about 1 to 3." The results of this blend of militarized SS police and "savage peoples" will be seen in the evidence which I shall later introduce relating to extermination actions conducted by them in the Eastern Territories-exterminations which were so eminency successful and ruthlessly conducted that even Himmler could find no words adequate for their eulogy.
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for 10 minutes.
MAJOR FARR: Each of the various components which I have described played its part in carrying out one or more functions of The SS. The personnel composing each differed. Some were part time volunteers; others professionals enlisted for different periods of time. But every branch, every department, every member, was an integral part of the whole organization. Each performed his assigned role in the manifold tasks for which the organization had been created. No better witness to this fact could be called upon than the Reichsfuehrer SS whose every endeavor was to insure the complete unity of the organization. I quote his words, taken from his Posen speech, our Document 1919-PS, Exhibit Number USA-170. I read from Page 103 of the original, third line from the bottom of the page, from the English translation, Page 8: "It would be an evil day if the main offices, in performing their tasks with the best, but mistaken, intentions made themselves independent by each having a downward chain of command. I really think that the day of my overthrow would be the end of the SS. It must be, and so come about, that this SS organization with all its branches-the General SS which is the common basis of all of them, the Waffen-SS, the regular uniformed police, the Sipo, with the whole economic administration, schooling, ideological training, the whole question of kindred is, even under the 10th Reichsfuehrer SS, one bloc, one body, one organization." And continuing about the middle of Page 8 of the translation and at the bottom of Page 104 of the original speech: "The regular uniformed police and Sipo, General SS and Waffen-SS, must now gradually amalgamate, too, just as this is and must be the case within the Waffen-SS. This applies to matters concerning filling of posts, recruiting, schooling, economic organization, and medical services. I am always doing something towards this end, a bond is constantly being drawn around these sections of the whole to cause them to grow together.
MAJOR FARR: Alas, if these bonds should ever be loosened, then everything-you may be sure of this-would sink back quickly into its old insignificance within one generation." I now turn to the underlying philosophy of the SS, the principles by which its members were selected and the obligations imposed upon them. To understand this organization the theories upon which it was based must be kept clearly in mind. They furnish the key to all its activities. It is necessary, therefore, to consider them in some detail. The fundamental principle of selection was what Himmler called that of blood and elite. The SS was to be the living embodiment of the Nazi doctrine of the superiority of Nordic blood-the carrying into effect of the Nazi conception of a master race. To put it in Himmler's own words the SS was to be a "National Socialist Soldier Order of Nordic Men." In describing to the Wehrmacht the reasons behind his emphasis on racial standards of selection and the manner in which they were carried out he said- and I quote from our Document 1992(a)-PS, Page 1 of the translation, last paragraph, Page 138, Paragraph 1 of the original: "Accordingly, only good blood, blood which history has proved to be leading and creative and the foundation of every state and of all military activities, only Nordic blood, can be considered. I said to myself that should I succeed in selecting from the German people for this organization as many people as possible, a majority of whom possess this desired blood, in teaching them military discipline and, in time, the understanding of the value of blood and the entire ideology which results from it, then it will be possible actually to create such an elite organization which would successfully hold its own in all cases of emergency." Further on, on Page 5 of the translation-I beg your pardon, on Page 4 of the translation, first line, Page 140 of the original, bottom paragraph, he says, referring to the method by which applicants were selected: "They are very thoroughly examined and checked.
MAJOR FARR: Of 100 men we can use on the average 10 or 15, no more We ask for the political record of his parents, brothers and sisters, the record of his ancestry as far back as 1750, and naturally the physical examination and his record from the Hitler Youth. Further, we ask for a eugenic record showing that no hereditary disease exists in his parents and in his family."
THE PRESIDENT: I don't seem to get the point of this. We have already been told that the SS was a corps d'elite, and all this is showing the details of the choice.
MAJOR FARR: That is correct; it is showing the details of the choice.
THE PRESIDENT: But that has nothing to do with its being a criminal organization, has it?
MAJOR FARR: I think it has, Your Honor. I want to make again, if I may, two points. The very essence of this organization was that of race. Its racial standards of selection had two purposes: One, making it an organization which would be an aristocracy not only for Germany, but which would be in a position to dominate all of Europe. For that purpose, not only were strict racial standards imposed for selection, but a great drive was made to perpetuate the SS stock, to build up a group of men who would be in a position to take over Europe when it was conquered. There was nothing questionable about that aim. Himmler explicitly said time and time again: "What we are after is making ourselves the superclass which will be able to dominate Europe for centuries." That was one of the fundamental purposes of the SS, and it was a purpose which was not kept by Himmler to himself, but a purpose which was explained and publicly announced again and again.
THE PRESIDENT: You haven't yet shown us where it was announced, have you? .
MAJOR FARR: I have not, Sir, and I am coming to that very shortly; but I wanted first to show Your Honor what the racial basis of selection was. That is, one aspect of the racial selective process. The second is this: The negative side of the racism. Not only did Himmler intend to build up an elite which would be able to take over Europe, but he indoctrinated that elite with hatred for all "inferior," to use his word, races. Now, I think unless it is clearly understood that that is the basis of the SS, we cannot understand the organization. I am quite prepared, if the Tribunal desires, not to go further into a discussion of the detail of the process of selection. I do think it important that I quote Himmler's own statement-what his aims were. And also I quote to the Tribunal the publicly announced basis for selection. With the Tribunal's permission then, I would like to quote one passage from the Organization Book for the Nazi Party, which explains the racial basis on which the SS was founded. That is our Document Number 2640-PS, which has already been introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-323. I quote from Page 417 of the German text and from Page 1 of the translation, fourth paragraph, entitled "Selection of Members." And I quote this because this is not a hidden pronouncement. This is what the official Nazi Party publication said the SS was: "Selection of members. "For the fulfillment of these missions a homogeneous, firmly welded fighting force has been created, bound by ideological oaths, whose fighters are selected out of the best Aryan humanity. "The conception of the value of the blood and soil serves as directive for the selection into the SS. Every SS man must be deeply imbued with the sense and essence of the National Socialist movement. He will be ideologically and physically trained so that he can be employed individually or in groups in the decisive battle for the National Socialist ideology. "Only the best and thoroughbred Germans are suited for commitment in this battle.
MAJOR FARR: Therefore it is necessary that an uninterrupted selection is maintained within the ranks of the SS, first roughly, then with more and more scrutiny." Now I would like to proceed to quote a paragraph on the same page, three paragraphs down, with respect to obedience. It appears on Page 418 of the original, second paragraph I quote: "Obedience is unconditionally demanded. It arises from the conviction that the National Socialist ideology must reign. He who possesses it and passionately supports it, submits himself voluntarily to the compulsion of obedience. Therefore, the SS man is prepared to carry out blindly every order which comes from the Fuehrer or is given by one of his superiors even if it demands the greatest sacrifice of himself." There are stated the two fundamental principles of the SS: (I) racial selection, (2) blind obedience. Now, let me state what Himmler conceived that this organization was to be used for. I quote from his address to the officers of the SS Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler" on the Day of Metz, our Document Number 1918-PS, Exhibit Number USA-304. I quote from Page 12 of the original document, the middle of the page, from the translation Page 3, last paragraph. I will begin the translation with the third sentence of that paragraph: "The ultimate aim for these 11 years during which I have been the Reichsfuehrer SS has invariably been the same: To create an order of good blood which is able to serve Germany, which unfailingly and without sparing itself can be made use of because the greatest losses can do no harm to the vitality of this order, the vitality of these men, because they will always be replaced; to create an order which will spread the idea of Nordic blood so far that we will attract all Nordic blood in the world, take away the blood from our adversaries, absorb it so that never again-looking at it from the viewpoint of the grand Policy-will Nordic Germanic blood in great quantities and to an extent worth mentioning fight against us. We must get it and the others cannot have it.
MAJOR FARR: We never gave up the ideas and the aim conceived so many years ago. Everything we have done has taken us some distance further on the way. Everything we are going to do will lead us further on the way." Now, one further quotation from the same document, which shows very explicitly why there was the building up of this order of Nordic blood, appears on Page 3 of the translation, the same document from which I have just quoted, about the middle of the first paragraph. It appears on Page 11 of the original speech, about the middle of the page. That is the speech to the officers of the SS Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler": "Please understand we would not be able to hold the great Germanic Reich which is about to take shape. I am convinced that we can hold it, but we have to prepare for that. If once we have not enough sons, those who come after us will have to become cowards. A nation which has an average of four sons per family can venture a war; if two of them die, two transmit the name. The leadership of a nation having one or two sons per family will have to be fainthearted in any decision, on account of their own experience, because they will have to tell themselves: We cannot afford it. Look at France, which is the best example. France had to have her line of action dictated by us." Domination of Europe through a Nazi elite required more, however, than a positive side of racism...
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Is that one of the crimes you allege, domination of Europe through an elite?
MAJOR FARR: One of the crimes alleged is a conspiracy to dominate Europe, preparation for aggressive war, leading to the ultimate colonization of Europe for the benefit of the conspirators. One of the instruments, we submit, used for carrying out that policy was the SS. The conspirators began at the very beginning the creation of the SS, to build it up so that it would be the elite through which Germany would be able to dominate and rule the conquered territories. We think that this conception of the SS has played a vital part in the conspiracy. It has bearing on the whole program of the conspirators. Now, this certainly, in itself...
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but, Major Farr, what you have to show is not the criminality of the people who used the weapon but the criminality of the people who composed the weapon.
MAJOR FARR: I think I have to show two things, certainly the criminality of the persons who composed the weapons, but it seems to me I must also show that that weapon played a part in the conspiracy because the Indictment alleges...
THE PRESIDENT: I should have thought you had shown that over and over again, that the SS were a part of the weapon. If there was a criminal conspiracy, then the SS were one of the weapons which were used by the conspirators. But what you have got to show in this part of the case is that the persons who formed that weapon were criminal and knew of the criminal objects of the SS.