dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
THE PRESIDENT: No, but at any rate, isn't it all gone into in the evidence the witness gave before the Commission?
DR. SERVATIUS: It is unavoidable that certain things have to be brought up here once more. I have endeavored to summarize them, to give an over-all picture. I am through with the problem of the unions and I come to the subject of the cake for foreign workers. Witness, did not the workers suffer disadvantages through the DAF; did they not protest against the change?
HUPFAUER: In one of the previous questions I already explained that the German Labor Front worked in the interest of its members and of German workers as a whole.
DR. SERVATIUS: That will suffice. Did the DAF receive instructions for the preparation of a war of aggression?
HUPFAUER: I do not know of any written or oral announcement whatsoever which brought the war of aggression to the notice of the DAY
DR. SERVATIUS: Was the German Labor Front entrusted with care of foreign workers during the war?
HUPFAUER: The German Labor Front, as far as I. can recall, voluntarily took over the care of foreign workers as early as 1938.
DR. SERVATIUS: Witness, we are interested here in the question of those foreign workers who came to Germany during the war and particularly those who came under compulsion.
HUPFAUER: The German Labor Front took over the care for all foreign workers during the war
DR. SERVATIUS: What did the task of the DAF consist of?
HUPFAUER: The task of the DAF consisted in the first place in supporting the factory managers who were legally responsible for the welfare of their workers. Furthermore, through its own special measures it endeavored to lighten the factory manager's task.
DR. SERVATIUS: Did the Labor Front perform this duty?
HUPFAUER: The conditions were particularly difficult during the war, especially in those districts which were the targets of enemy bombers. I may, however, state that the German Labor Front did everything humanly possible to care for these workers.
DR. SERVATIUS: During the severe air raids on the Ruhr in 1943 and 1944 you were sent there especially by the Labor Front in order to carry out the difficult task of taking care of the workers; is that correct?
HUPFALTER: About July 1943 I received an order to go to the Ruhr, in order to see that industrial production was maintained in spite of the air raids and to support the competent local authorities to this end.
DR. SERVATIUS: Do you know about the conditions at Krupp's firm in Essen at this period?
HUPFAUER: I do not know details of factory conditions at Krupp's but I can give information about essential matters since I, myself, visited the Krupp concern two or three times during this period; certainly not the whole plant, but part of it.
DR. SERVATIUS: What was undertaken there on the whole in the field of social welfare?
HUPFAUER: In the main, there were two things that had to be taken care of, that is, food for the workers and lodgings. Since Krupp's, as well as the city of Essen, were subjected to repeated, vigorous attacks by bombers, this concern was working under extraordinarily difficult conditions and it was often necessary for outside institutions to assist the works; that is, through the DAF, the State Economic Office; and similar institutions.
DR. SERVATIUS: A report of Dr. Jäger's was shown you in the Commission, a Document D-288. It mentions abuses in connection with the treatment of workers. Does this report correspond to the facts as you found them?
HUPFALTER: Personally, of course, I cannot verify to what extent this report of Dr. Jäger's corresponds to the facts. On the basis of my own experience, however, I am under the impression that in some respects matters were described in a somewhat exaggerated form by Dr. Xiger, certainly with the good intention of influencing the administration offices which were to help him. I recall that Dr. Jäger once said that the foreign workers only received 1,000 calories. I would like to say in this connection that in Germany, even during the war, there was never a ration of only 1,000 calories a day, even for normal consumers.
DR. SERVATIUS: Can conditions as described by Dr. Jäger about a few camps be applied to all the camps of the Krupp firm?
HUPFAUER: Dr. Jäger, as far as I recall, describes the conditions in two camps and only describes individual incidents there. Conditions were difficult at Krupp's. In spite of that, these circumstances cannot be applied to all camps. If Dr. Jäger points out that for weeks, rain poured into one particular hut, then I can only say that in the city of Essen rain poured for weeks into thousands of houses, and the people who had any shelter at all were happy there, even if the rain did bother them a little.
DR. SERVATIUS: In the Commission other documents referring to the treatment of the workers at Krupp's were shown to you. Do these give an approximate picture of conditions throughout the Reich?
HUPFALTER: The following may be said about that: In the Reich we had tens of thousands of medium-sized and large concerns, and one cannot under any circumstances just generalize about the conditions found at Essen and consider them as normal with regard to the treatment of foreign workers in Germany.
DR. SERVATIUS: Were security measures taken so that no unqualified elements from the DAF would be entrusted with this welfare work?
HUPFAUER: The German Labor Front on the Reich, Gau, and Kreis level had an office which was the Office for the Allocation of Labor, which dealt exclusively with these problems of foreigners. All orders issued by this office to the administration offices and to the firms constantly reiterate in some form or another the necessity for correct and just treatment of the foreign workers for reasons of humanity as well as for reasons of production. To prevent men who had in any way misused their powers, from coming again into contact with the foreign workers, this Office for the Allocation of Labor issued to the Kreise and Gaue a black list of camp leaders. This list contained the names of all men who had misused their powers, listing the punishment they had received for doing so, and stressing the fact, that they were no longer to be used as camp leaders. Orders were even issued enjoining correct treatment, such as for instance, the prohibition of corporal punishment.
DR. SERVATIUS: Does this not show that such orders were necessary so as not to generalize such abuses?
HUPFAUER: In every organization there are antisocial elements and I do not deny that a functionary of the German Labor Front also sometimes misused his powers. This fact was the reason for such an order. On the other hand, this order is to be considered as a collection of the many decrees which had been issued up to that time. One can also say the following about7 it: In every civilized state there are laws prohibiting murder, robbery, and so forth, and with threats of punishment.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it necessary to go into all these details?
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, it is only because the witness was repeatedly asked this question by the Commission, that I also wanted to present it to the Court. I do not see what special interest the Prosecution has in this question, but it. was repeated many times. I shall now proceed with the next question. ITurning to the witness.] What measures were taken to safeguard the supervision and execution of the orders concerning social welfare?
HLTPFAUER: Besides the office for the Allocation of Labor which I have already mentioned and which was in itself competent, Dr. Ley set up a so-called "camp inspectorate" within the Labor Front, which was under the direction of a DAF functionary outside the jurisdiction of the Office for the Allocation of Labor, whose task was to inspect the camps for foreigners and on his part to remedy any irregularities. This arrangement also served the tactical purpose of preventing other organizations outside of the DAF from meddling in this problem.
DR. SERVATIUS: Were you yourself able to observe anything about inhuman treatment of the workers, or did you receive any reports to that effect? You visited many works all over the country. What was your general impression?
HUPFAUER: These things were not reported to me directly since I was not the competent official chief for these matters. However, as deputy for the production effort of German factories I have been in hundreds of factories and camps, and I must say that apart from individual cases things were in order there.
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, I have no more questions put to this witness and I have examined all my witnesses.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn. [A recess was taken.] LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES. Witness, I want to ask you one question on the expert staff officers of the Gau-, Kreis-, and Ortsgruppenleiter. Did they all come under their respective Hoheitsträger in matters of discipline?
HUPFAUER: Yes. Every functionary of the German Labor Front came under the orders of his immediate superior, also for discipline. I personally, as office chief of the DAF, was subordinate to the leader of the German Labor Front. He alone could appoint me to aspost or remove me from office.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: The experts in the Gau staff, for instance the DAF representatives, received their technical instructions from the DAF chiefs. Is that correct?
HUPFAUER: I personally, as well as the other functionaries, received official instructions from the chiefs; for instance mine came from the DAF leader.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I am sure you can answer my question "yes" or "no." The point I am putting is this. Although you received your professional or expert instructions from your DAF superior, you were also subordinate, were you not, to the Hoheitsträger to whose staff you belonged, for all matters of discipline and matters connected with the Party?
HUPFAUER: If one was a Political Leader, of course, he was subject to Party discipline, and he was concerned only with those matters which belonged to his department and to his official sphere.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Now one question about the Political Leaders of the DAF. A Political Leader in the DAF-was he sworn in as a Political Leader in the same way as any other Political Leader was sworn in?
HUPFAUER: A Political Leader of the DAF took his oath to the Fuehrer.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Did he also receive a special certificate or identity card as issued to all other Political Leaders?
HUPFAUER: Yes, he did; he received a certificate on which his rank was recorded.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONBS: Now, My Lord, this witness was cross-examined before the Commission, and I would only draw the Tribunal's attention to one new document which was not put to him, and to two others which affect the DAF particularly. The first one is a new document, D-338, which will be handed up to the Tribunal. My Lord, it is a report of the conditions in the sick bay of one of the Krupp camps. My purpose in putting it in is that it is addressed to the KVD and the Gauamtsleiter, Doctor Heinz. Perhaps I might put one other question to the witness on that. Witness, is the KVD the association of doctors and physicians?
HUPFALTER: That is a medical association for Germany, that is to say a relief fund. The organization for the doctors and physicians was the Arztebund (league of doctors and physicians).
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: It is an association of doctors. Now, is the Gauamtsleiter, Doctor Heinz-would you presume from that document, that he was the expert nonpolitical Leiter of the Gau staff concerned with medical matters?
HUPFALTER: The position that he held is not noted here, but I assume it concerns the Gauamtsleiter for the people's health.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: My Lord, the next document the Tribunal will find ...
THE PRESIDENT: What is the number?
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I beg your pardon, Exhibit GB-547. The next document will be found on Page 19 of the Tribunal's document book.. My Lord, it is a document which has been put in and I am not certain whether or not it was read to the Tribunal, and I would particularly refer to the penultimate paragraph of the first page which is of considerable importance in connection with the DAF. It is a report by one of the Krupp offices or works managers. It is an original German document and it refers to a discussion which that gentleman had with three members of the DAF in connection with the food which he was trying to get for the starving Russian prisoners of war and Russian laborers. My Lord, the Tribunal, I know, will stop me if it is familiar with the document, but perhaps I might be allowed to read the one paragraph describing that interview?
THE PRESIDENT: The document has been read,
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: My Lord, I will no more than draw the attention of the Tribunal to the remarks which were passed by the DAYs representative. My Lord, the other document to which I shall draw the attention of the Tribunal will be found on Pages 9 and 10, Document D-226, Exhibit USA-697. Perhaps I might ask the witness one question on this. Witness, will you look at this document and the covering letter, which is dated November 10, 1944. Is that letter signed by you?
HUPFAUER: Yes.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: On Page 10 you will see that it is a covering letter enclosing a decree on the employment of foreign labor, in which it says: "It is of particular importance not only that the present good output should be maintained, but also that further working reserves should be freed which, without doubt, can still be obtained from these millions of foreign workers." It then goes on to say in the Paragraph Number 2: "All men and women of the NSDAP, its subsidiaries and affiliated bodies in the works will, in accordance with instructions from the Kreisleiter, be warned by their Ortsgruppen leaders and be put under obligation..." My Lord, the document further states that the close co-operation between the Party, the State, and industry with departments of the Secret Police is absolutely necessary for this purpose. I now read the last three lines of Paragraph 2b: "Party members, both men and women, and members of Party organizations and affiliated bodies must be expected more than ever before to conduct themselves in an exemplary manner." At the bottom of the page will be seen: "The Gau trustee of the DAF will issue detailed instructions in co-operation with the Gau propaganda leader and the leader of the Gau department for social questions." And then again in the next paragraph it will be seen that there is further evidence of co-operation between the Political Leaders, the Kreisleiter in particular-and the Gestapo. I have no further questions.
THE PRESIDENT: If there are no further questions, the witness may retire. Dr. Servatius, would you like to make such comments as you think necessary on your documents?
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, I do not have the documents here now and they have not yet been translated, so that they are not yet before the Tribunal. I would suggest first of all that all the witnesses be examined and by that time the documents will be ready and I will then submit them.
THE PRESIDENT: We have the books ourselves.
DR. SERVATIUS: It is not only the document books which have not been submitted, but it is the affidavits which I do not have yet. Nor could I present them now as I have not yet classified them, for I had assumed that I was to do so in my closing speech. That is the way I understood the decision. I could do it tomorrow morning.
THE PRESIDENT: Then, Dr. Servatius, would it be convenient to comment on some of these documents in these two document books now and leave the affidavits to a later time?
DR. SERVATIUS: I do not have them with me and am also not prepared. It would take up a lot of time and be in disorder. I would prefer to submit them some other time; I would prefer to be given a little more time.
TBE PRESIDENT: Then the Tribunal had better go on with the evidence for the next organization.
DR.SERVATIUS: Mr. President, when shall I submit this matter? After the hearing of witnesses for the next organization, or after all witnesses have been heard for all the organizations?
THE PRESIDENT: After the next one, I think.
DR.SERVATIUS: Very well.
THE PRESIDENT: What is the next organization we will deal with?
DR.RUDOLF MERKEL (Counsel for Gestapo): Mr. President, may it please the Tribunal, first of all I should like to submit documentary proof. For the first one, I am submitting my two document books, Document Book Number 1, containing Numbers 1 to 31, and Document Book Number 2, containing Numbers 32 to 62. Mr. President, shall I give my opinion on the individual documents now or only after the conclusion of the hearing of witnesses?
THE PRESIDENT: When it is convenient to you.
DR. MERKEL: I should prefer to do so after the hearing of witnesses.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
DR. MERKEL: First of all, I would like to submit a list of 13 witnesses who have been heard before the Commission. Furthermore, I should like to submit a German copy of these 13 records and would ask you first of all to accept them as evidence. I will then deal with the argumentation myself at the conclusion of the hearing of witnesses. Finally, I should like to submit a list of the names and a summary of the affidavits given in the Commission, numbered 1 to 85, which I should also like to offer in evidence. The three records of the Commission sessions in which these affidavits were discussed I shall submit later, as soon as I have them. Further, I have still about 1,500 affidavits to submit which I would like to hand over in one collective affidavit. As the summary has not yet been completed, I should like to ask permission to submit this after the conclusion of the hearing of witnesses. With the permission of the Tribunal, I should like to call the witness, Dr. Best.
THE PRESIDENT: Bring on the witness. [The witness Best took the stand.] Will you state your full name?
KARL RUDOLF WERNER BEST (Witness): Dr. Karl Rudolf Werner Best.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you repeat this oath after me: I swear by God-the Almighty and Omniscient-that I will speak the pure truth-and will withhold nothing. [The witness repeated the oath.]
DR.MERKEL: Witness, please describe your professional career.
BEST: I am a jurist and a professional civil servant. I have been a judge since the beginning of 1929, and since 1933 I have been an administrative official, and since 1942 I have been a diplomat.
DR.MEAKEL: When and how did you join the Gestapo?
BEST: From 1 January 1935 I was employed as Oberregierungsrat and departmental chief for administration and law in the Gestapo office in Berlin, from 1936 until 1940 in the Department of the Security Police within the Reich Ministry of the Interior. From 1940 and until 1942 I was a military administrative official, and since 1942 Reich Plenipotentiary in Denmark.
DR. MERKEL: Was the Gestapo a union of people?
BEST: No.
DR.MERKEL: What was the Gestapo?
BEST: The Gestapo was a group of State authorities.
DR.MERKEL: However, the Prosecution seems to consider the Gestapo as a union of people joined together voluntarily in order to realize certain aims. What have you to say about it?
BEST: An organization has members. The officials of the Secret State Police were officials employed by the State, and they occupied a public position. Am organization sets its own aims. The officials of the Secret State Police received their orders from the State and from the State leaders.
DR. MERKEL: Did the Gestapo belong in any way to the NSDAP or to the National Socialist organization?
BEST: No, the officials of the Gestapo were purely and simply State officials.
DR. MERKEL: Was there- a uniform Secret State Police set up in January 1933 throughout the territory of the German Reich?
BEST: No. In the individual German states, political police systems were set up which were created by the various state governments concerned.
DR. MERKEL: Were these police authorities set up entirely new?
BEST: No, they were brought about through the regrouping and reorganization of the political police systems which already existed.
DR. MERKEL: How was this done?
BEST: Through the orders or decrees of the state governments concerned.
DR. MERKEL: For what reasons were these new authorities created by the state governments?
BEST: I can state from my own personal experience that in the state of Hesse a state police office was created, as the authority of the police had been shaken by the events that occurred before 1933, and the authority of these officials had to be restored once more through a new kind of political police, especially in relation to the members of the National Socialist movement. I assume that this motive also carried weight in other German states.
DR. MERKEL: Were these new authorities charged with new tasks? BEST. No. No, they were charged, with the same duties as the political police had been given in the past.
DR. MERKEL: What were these duties?
BEST: On the one hand, the prosecution of political crimes, that is to say, for actions which were committed for political reasons or motives in violation of the criminal law, and, on the other hand, the taking of police measures for the prevention of such crimes.
DR. MERKEL: What do you understand by "police preventive measures"?
BEST: Police preventive measures are those which serve to deter groups of perpetrators or individual perpetrators so that they do not undertake the impending criminal act.
DR. MERKEL: When and how did Himmler become the commander of the political police of the German states?
BEST: Between March of 1933 and March of 1934 Himmler gradually came to an agreement with the governments of the various German states regarding his appointment as chief of political police of each individual state in Germany.
DR. MERKEL: Did Himmler's power arise from his police work or from his political work as a whole?
BEST: No, he had never had anything to do with the police, and he never became familiar with police theories or methods.
DR. MERKEL: Were the authorities and the officials of the various political police responsible for Himmler's coming to power?
BEST: No, they were notified of the appointment as a fait accompli.
DR. MERKEL: When and how were the political police systems of the various German states formed into a uniform German Secret State Police?
BEST: After Himmler's appointment in 1936 as Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, the political police systems of the various German states were formed into a uniform Secret State Police, by means of several orders and decrees issued by the Reich Ministry of the Interior.
DR. MERKEL: Did the NSDAP establish a political police anywhere in the German Reich?
BEST: No, nowhere.
DR. MERKEL: Was there anywhere an establishment or an organization of the Party taken over by the State as a political police system?
BEST: No, nowhere.
DR. MERKEL: Were the political police posts of the German states occupied by Party members in 1933?
BEST: No, those posts were occupied by former police.  Only a few officials were newly taken on at that time.
DR. MERKEL: Were the leading officials members of the Party?
BEST: That varied in the various states. There were even in part officials who had formerly held quite different views and belonged to other parties.
DR. MERKEL: Can you give an example of this?
BEST: There are several well-known examples. It is well known that Herr Diels, the chief of the Prussian Secret State Police, had formerly held other political opinions; the closest collaborators of Himmler and Heydrich from Munich, who were then assigned to the office of the Secret State Police in Berlin-such as Mueller, who later was head of Amt IV; Huber, Fresch, Beck-they were formerly adherents of the Bavarian People's Party, and even the chief of my small Hessian state police office was a former democrat and Freemason, whom I considered qualified for this post.