dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. DODD: I now offer in evidence Document 2697-PS, a copy of Der Sturmer , Exhibit Number USA-259. This publication, Der Sturmer, was published by the Defendant Streicher's publishing firm. In this publication, Streicher, speaking of the Jewish faith, said, "The Holy Scripture is a horrible criminal romance abounding with murder, incest, fraud, and indecency." And again he said, "The Talmud is the great Jewish book of criminal instructions that the Jew practices in his daily life." This is contained in Document 2698-PS, Der Sturmer , which I now offer in evidence, Exhibit Number USA-260. This propaganda campaign of hate was too widespread and notorious to require further elaboration. Within the documents offered in evidence in this and in other phases of the case will be found similar and even more scurrilous statements, many by the defendants themselves and others by their accomplices. When the Nazi Party gained control of the German State, a new and terrible weapon against the Jews was placed within their grasp, the power to apply the force of the state against them. This was done by the issuance of decrees. Jewish immigrants were denaturalized: 1933 Reichgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 480, signed by Defendants Frick and Neurath. Native Jews were precluded from citizenship: 1935 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1146, signed by Defendant Frick. Jews were forbidden to live in marriage or to have extramarital relations with persons of German blood: 1935 Reichspesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1146, signed by Frick and Hess. 523 13 Dec. 45 Jews were denied the right to vote: 1936 Reichsgesetzblatt Part I, Page 133, signed by Defendant Frick. Jews were denied the right to hold public office or civil service positions: Reichsgesetzblatt 1933, Part I, Page 277, signed by Defendant Frick. It was determined to relegate the Jews to an inferior status by denying them common privileges and freedoms. Thus, they were denied access to certain city areas, sidewalks, transportation, places of amusement, restaurants: 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1676.
MR. DODD: Progressively more and still more stringent measures were applied, even to the denial of private pursuits. They were excluded from the practice of dentistry: 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 47, signed by Defendant Hess. The practice of law was denied: 1938 Reichspesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1403, signed by Defendants Frick and Hess. The practice of medicine was denied: 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 969, signed by Defendants Frick and Hess. They were denied employment by press and radio: 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 661. From stock exchanges and stock brokerage: 1934 Reichspesetzblatt , Part I, Page 169. And even from farming: 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 685. In 1938 they were excluded from business in general and from the economic life of Germany: 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1580, signed by the Defendant Goering. The Jews were forced to pay discriminatory taxes and huge atonement fines. Their homes, bank accounts, real estate, and intangibles were expropriated. To digress for a moment from a recital of decrees and to refer specifically to the atonement fines, I wish to offer Document 1816-PS, Exhibit Number USA-261. This exhibit is a stenographic report of a conference under the chairmanship of the Defendant Goering, attended by the Defendant Funk among others, held at 11 o'clock on 12 November 1938 at the Reich Ministry for Air. From Pages 8 and 9 of Section 7, I quote the Defendant Goering: "One more question, gentlemen, what would you think the situation would be if I announced today that Jewry shall have to contribute this 1,000,000,000 as a punishment." And then the last paragraph on Page 22 of the translation before the Court-I quote: "I shall choose the wording this way-that German Jewry shall, as punishment for their abominable crimes, et cetera,et cetera, have to make a contribution of 1,000,000,000. That will work. The pigs won't commit another murder in a hurry. 524 13 Dec. 45 I should like to say again that I would not like to be a Jew in Germany.
MR. DODD: It was whimsical remarks such as these that originated decrees, for following this meeting a decree was issued placing upon the German Jews the burden of 1,000,000,000 Reichsmark fine: 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1579, date 12 November 1938, signed by the Defendant Goering. Similar decrees are contained in 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 282, signed by Defendant Goering, and 1941 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 722, signed by Defendants Frick and Bormann. Finally, in the year 1943, the Jews were placed beyond the protection of any judicial process by a decree signed by the Defendants Bormann and Frick and others; and the police became the sole arbiters of punishment and death: 1943 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 372, signed by Frick and Bormann. I ask the Court to take judicial notice of the Reichsgesetzblatt decrees cited. Side by side with the passage of these decrees and their execution went still another weapon, wielded by the Party and the Party-controlled state. These were the openly sponsored and official anti-Jewish boycotts against Jews. I now offer Document 2409-PS, the published diary of Joseph Goebbels, Exhibit Number USA-262, and I invite the Court's attention to Page 290 where, under date of 29 March 1933-the Court will find the quotation on the top of Page 1 of the translation of 2409-PS-"The boycott appeal is approved by the entire Cabinet." And again on the 31st of March 1933 he wrote, on Page 1, first sentence of Paragraph 2, "We are having a last discussion among a very small circle and decide that the boycott is to start tomorrow with all severity." The Defendant Streicher and the Defendant Frank, together with Himmler, Ley, and others, were members of a central committee who conducted the 1933 boycott against the Jews. Their names are listed in Document 2156-PS, National Socialist Party Correspondence, 29 March 1933, Exhibit Number USA-263. As early as 1933 violence against the Jews was undertaken. Raids were conducted, by uniformed Nazis, on services within synagogues.
MR. DODD: Attending members of the synagogues were assaulted and religious insignia and emblems were desecrated. A report of such an occurrence is contained in the official dispatch from the American Consul General in Leipzig, dated 5 April 1933. I offer in evidence Document 2709-PS... THE PRESIDENT: What do you refer to 2156 for? MAJOR WALSH: Only, Sir, to show the names of the Defendants Streicher and Frank as members of the boycott committee. 525 13 Dec. 45 THE PRESIDENT: I see. MAJOR WALSH: Document 2709 has been given Exhibit Number USA-265. From Paragraph 1 of Page 1, I quote: "In Dresden, several weeks ago, uniformed Nazis raided the Jewish prayer house, interrupted the evening religious service, arrested 25 worshippers, and tore the holy insignia or emblems from their head covering worn while praying." At a meeting here in Nuremberg, before the representatives of the German press, the Defendant Streicher and Mayor Liebel of Nuremberg revealed in advance to the gathered members of the press that the Nuremberg synagogue was to be destroyed. I offer in evidence Document 1724-PS, Exhibit Number USA-266, which is minutes of this meeting, dated 4 August 1938. From Page 1, Paragraph 4 of the original, I quote the translation before the Court: "The breaking up of the synagogue (information must still be secret). On August 10, 1938, at 10 o'clock a.m., the breakup of the synagogue will commence. Gauleiter Julius Streicher will personally set the crane into motion with which the Jewish symbols, Star of David, et cetera , will be torn down. This should be arranged in a big way. Closer details are still unknown." The Defendant Streicher himself supervised the demolition. In support of this, I offer Document 2711-PS, a newspaper account of 11 August 1938, Exhibit Number USA-267, Paragraph 1 of the translation before the Court: "In Nuremberg the synagogue is being demolished; Julius Streicher himself inaugurates the work by a speech lasting more than an hour and a half.
MR. DODD: By his order then-so to speak as a prelude of the demolition-the tremendous Star of David came off the cupola." These accounts of violence were not localized anti-Semitic demonstrations but were directed and ordered from a centralized headquarters in Berlin. This is established by a series of teletype messages sent by the Berlin Secret State Police headquarters to chiefs of police throughout Germany on 10 November 1938, which contained instructions pertaining to the pre-arranged demonstration. I now refer to Document 3051-PS, previously offered in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-240. I shall quote the relevant part of one of these confidential orders signed by Heydrich, the translation before the Court, the last half on Page 2: "Because of the attempt on the life of the Secretary of the Legation, Vom Rath, in Paris tonight, 9-10 November 1938, demonstrations against Jews are to be expected throughout 526 13 Dec. 45 the Reich. The following instructions are given on how to treat these events: "1) The Chiefs of the State Police or their deputies must. get in telephonic contact with the political leaders who have jurisdiction over their Districts and must arrange a joint meeting with the appropriate inspector or commander of the Order Police to discuss the organization of the demonstrations At these discussions the political leaders have to be informed that the German Police has received from the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police the following instructions, in accordance with which the political leaders should adjust their own measures. "a) Only such measures should be taken which do not involve danger to German life or property. (For instance synagogues are to be burned down only when there is no danger of fire to the surroundings.) "b) Business and private apartments of Jews may be destroyed but not looted.
MR. DODD: The police is instructed to supervise the execution of this order and to arrest looters." To this point we have found a gradual and a mounting emphasis in the campaign against the Jews, one of the basic tenets of the Nazi Party and of the state. The flame of prejudice has now been lighted and fanned. The German people have been to a large degree indoctrinated, and the seeds of hatred have been sown. The German State is now armed and is prepared for conquest and the force of world opinion can now safely be ignored. Already they have forced out of Germany 200,000 of its original 500,000 Jews. The Nazi-controlled German State is therefore emboldened; and Hitler, in anticipation of the aggressive wars already planned, casts about for a "whipping boy" upon whose shoulders can be placed the blame for the world catastrophe yet to come. The speech before the Reichstag on 30 January 193g is set forth in Document Number 2663-PS, which I now offer in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-268. I quote: "If the international Jewish financiers within and without Europe succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, the result will not be the Bolshevization of the world and the victory of Jewry, but the obliteration of the Jewish race in Europe." THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn for 10 minutes. [A recess was taken.] THE PRESIDENT: Major Walsh, it would, I think, assist the Tribunal if you were careful to state the PS number which we 527 13 Dec. 45 have rather more clearly and slowly. You see, the United States Exhibit number we do not have and I do not know whether it would be better to state the United States Exhibit number first and then give us the PS number; I am not sure it would. Anyhow, if you would go a little more slowly and make certain we get the PS number, it would be helpful. MAJOR WALSH: Yes, Your Honor. The Chief Editor of the official organ of the SS, the Schwarze Corps , expressed similar sentiments on August 8, 1940.
MR. DODD: I offer in evidence Document 2668-PS; this is Exhibit Number USA-269, Page 2 of the original and the full excerpt before the Court in translation, as follows: "Just as the Jewish question will be solved for Germany only when the last Jew has been deported, so the rest of Europe should also realize that the German peace which awaits it must be a peace without Jews.' These were not the only officials of the Party and of the State to voice the same views. The Defendant Rosenberg wrote for the publication World Struggle. I offer in evidence Document 2665-PS, Exhibit Number USA-270. This publication, Volumes 1 and 2, April and September 1941, Page 71 of the original, reads, ' The Jewish question will be solved only when the last Jew has left the European continent." The Court will recall Mr. Justice Jackson's reference to the apologetic note contained in the diary of Hans Frank when he wrote, and I quote from Document 2233(c)-PS, Exhibit Number USA-271, bottom of Page 1 of the translation: "Of course, I could neither eliminate all lice nor al1 Jews in only 1 year's time. But in the course of time and, above all, if you will help me, this end will be attained." THE PRESIDENT: I forgot to say, Major Walsh, it would help us too, when you do not begin at the beginning of a paragraph, if you would indicate about where it is. MAJOR WALSH: Yes, Sir; I shall do that. While this presentation is not necessarily intended to be a chronological narrative of events in the treatment of the Jewish people, it would appear at this point that we should pause to examine the record to date. We find that the Nazi Party and the Nazi-dominated State have, by writings and by utterances, by decrees and by official acts, clearly expressed their intent: the Jew must be eliminated. How do they now progress to the accomplishment of this purpose?
MR. DODD: The first requirement was a complete registration of all Jews; and inasmuch as the policy relating to the Jews followed 528 13 Dec.45 on the heels of German aggression, such registration was required not only within the Reich but successively within the conquered territories. For example, within Germany registration was required by decree Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, 1938, Page 922, 23 July, signed by the Defendant Frick; within Austria Reichsgesetzblatt , Volume 1, 1940, Page 694, 29 April; within Poland Courier Krakowski, 5 October 1939); in France (Journal Official Number 9, Page 92, 30 September 1940); in Holland ( Verordnungsblatt , Number 6, 10 January 1941, signed by the Defendant Seyss-Inquart). The second step was to segregate and concentrate the Jews within restricted areas called ghettos. This policy was carefully worked out, and perhaps the confidential statement taken from the files of the Defendant Rosenberg will best serve as an illustration. I offer in evidence a copy of a memorandum from Defendant Rosenberg's file entitled, "Directions for Handling of the Jewish Question," Document 212-PS, Exhibit Number USA-272. I quote from the top of Page 2 of the translation before the Court: "The first main goal of the German measures must be strict segregation of Jewry from the rest of the population. The presupposition of this is, first of all, the registration of the Jewish population by the introduction of a compulsory registration order and similar appropriate measures...." And then, in the second sentence, in the second paragraph, on Page 2, I continue: "...all rights of freedom for Jews are to be withdrawn-. They are to be placed in ghettos and at the same time are to be separated according to sexes. The presence of many more or less closed Jewish settlements in White Ruthenia and in the Ukraine makes this mission easier. More over , places are to be chosen which make possible the fun use of the Jewish manpower as a consequence of present labor programs.
MR. DODD: These ghettos can be placed under the supervision of a Jewish self government with Jewish officials. The guarding of the boundaries between the ghettos and the outer world is, however, the duty of the police. "Also, in the case in which a ghetto could not yet be established, care is to be taken through strict prohibition and similar suitable measures that a further intermingling of blood of the Jews and the rest of the populace does not continue." In May 1941 Rosenberg, as the Reich Mister for the Eastern regions, issued directions confining the Jews to ghettos in the Ukraine. 529 13 Dec. 45 I offer in evidence Document 1028-PS, Inhibit Number USA-273, and from the first sentence of the translation before the Court, I read: "After the customary removal of Jews from all public offices, the Jewish question Will have to be solved conclusively through the institution of ghettos." The policies expressed in the quoted Rosenberg memoranda were not isolated instances nor the acts of one individual It was the expressed state policy. Defendant Von Schirach played his part in the program of "ghettoization." I offer in evidence Document 3048-PS; Exhibit Number USA-274. Before the Court is a full translation of that which I wish to quote. The Defendant Von Schirach spoke before the European Youth Congress held in Vienna on 14 September 1942, and from Page 2, Column 2, of the Vienna edition of the Volkischer Beobachter of 15 September, I quote: "Every Jew who exerts influence in Europe is a danger to European culture. If anyone reproaches me with having driven from this city, which was once the European metropolis of Jewry, tens of thousands upon tens of Thousands of Jews into the ghetto of the East, I feel myself compelled to reply, 'I see in this an action contributing to European culture."' One of the largest ghettos was within the City of Warsaw.
MR. DODD: The original report made by SS Major General Stroop concerning this ghetto is entitled, "The Warsaw Ghetto is no more." I now offer this in evidence at this time, if the Court please, and request leave to refer to it later on in this presentation-Exhibit Number USA-276, 1061-PS , top of Page 3 of the translation, Document 1061-PS : "The ghetto thus established in Warsaw was inhabited by about 400,000 Jews. "It contained 27,000 apartments with an average of two and a half rooms each. It was separated from the rest of the city by partitions and other walls and by walling-up of thoroughfares, windows, doors, open spaces, et cetera ." Some idea of the conditions within this ghetto can be gathered from the fact that an average of six persons lived in every room. Himmler received a report from the SS Brigadefuehrer Group A, dated 15 October 1941 which further illustrates the establishment and operation of the ghettos. I offer Document L-180 in evidence as Exhibit Number. USA-276. The translation, if the Tribunal please, is from the second paragraph from the bottom of Page 9: "Apart from organizing and carrying out measures of execution, the creation of ghettos was begun in the larger towns at once during the first days of operations. This was especially 530 13 Dec. 45 urgent in Kovno because there were 30,000 Jews in a total population of 152,400." And from the last paragraph on Page 9 continuing to page 10 I quote: "In Riga the so-called Moscow suburb' was designated as a ghetto: This is the worst dwelling district of Riga, already now mostly inhabited by Jews. The transfer of the Jews into the ghetto district proved rather difficult because the Latvian dwellings in that district had to be evacuated and residential space in Riga is very crowded. Of the 28,000 Jews living in Riga 24,000 have been transferred into the ghetto so far.
MR. DODD: In creating the ghetto the Security Police restricted themselves to mere policing duties, while the establishment and administration of the ghetto as well as the regulation of the food supply for the inmates of the ghetto was left to civil administration; the Labor Offices were left in charge of labor allocation. In the other towns with a larger Jewish population ghettos shall be established likewise." Jews were also forced into ghettos in the Polish Province of Galicia. No words in my vocabulary could describe quite so adequately the conditions as those contained in the report from Katzmann, Lieutenant General of Police, to Kruger, General of the Police East dated 3 June 1943, entitled "Solution of Jewish Question in Galicia." I offer Document L-18 in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-277. From the translation, if the Court please, we will begin with the last three sentences on Page 11, that is, the last three sentences prior to the word "nothing" which is there on that page: "Nothing but catastrophical conditions were found in the ghettos of Rawa-Ruska and Rohatyn." "The Jews of Rawa-Ruska, fearing the evacuation, had concealed those who suffered from spotted fever in underground holes. When evacuation was to start it was found that 3,000 Jews suffering from spotted fever lay about in this ghetto. In order to destroy this center of pestilence at once, every police officer inoculated against spotted fever was called into action. Thus we succeeded in destroying this plague-boil, losing thereby only one officer. Almost the same conditions were found in Rohatyn." On page 19 of the same document, L-18, the last paragraph, I wish to quote further. THE PRESIDENT: Yes. MAJOR WALSH: "Since we received more and more alarming reports on the Jews becoming armed in an ever 531 13 Dec. 45 June 1943, an action throughout the whole of the District of Galicia with the intent to use strongest measures to destroy the Jewish gangsterdom.
MR. DODD: Special measures were found necessary during the action to dissolve the living quarters in Lvov where the dug-out mentioned above had been established. Here we had to act brutally from the beginning in order to avoid losses on our side; we had to blow up or to burn down several houses. On this occasion the surprising fact arose that we were able to catch about 20,000 Jews instead of 12,000 Jews who had registered. We had to pull at least 3,000 Jewish corpses out of every kind of hiding place; they had committed suicide by taking poison." On Page 20 of this document, the third paragraph I read: "Despite the extraordinary burden heaped upon every single SS and Police member during these actions, the mood and spirit of the men were extraordinarily good and praiseworthy from the first to the last day." These acts and actions of removal and slaughter were not entirely without profit. The author of this report, on the ninth page of this translated copy stated, and I quote the last paragraph: "Together with the evacuation action we executed the confiscation of Jewish property. Very high values were confiscated and handed over to the Special Staff 'Reinhard.' Apart from furniture and many textile goods, the following amounts were confiscated and turned over to Special Staff 'Reinhard."' I would like to read a few of the many and assorted items listed under this confiscation: "20.952 kilograms of golden wedding rings; 7 stamp collections, complete; 1 suitcase with pocket knives; 1 basket of fountain pens and propelling pencils; 3 bags filled with rings -not genuine; 35 wagons of furs." I will not burden the Court with the detailed lists of objects of value and of the money confiscated; but the foregoing is cited to illustrate the thoroughness of the looting of a defenseless people, even to the 11.73 kilograms of gold teeth and inlays. By the end of 1942 Jews in the Government General of Poland had been crowded into 55 localities whereas before the German invasion there had been approximately 1,000 Jewish settlements within this same area.