The Chief of the Security Police and of the Security Service
Berlin 5 April 1944 110 Copies 53rd Copy
—IV A 2—B. Nr. 220/44 top secret
(a) To all Commanders and Inspectors of the Security Police
and the Security Service .
(To be announced orally to the subordinate offices).
(b) To the—Groups IV A and IV B The departments IV A 1
IV A 3
IV A 4—IV A 6 IV B 1—IV B 4
(c) To the Agency V—Reich Criminal Police Office For information to:
The Higher SS and Police Leaders The Chief of the Regular Police
(d) To the Chiefs of the Agencies I—III and VI of the Reich Main Security Office
Re : Treatment of enemy fliers who have bailed out.
Reference: None.
A series of questions concerning the treatment of enemy fliers who have been shot down needs clarification:
I
Enemy pilots who are picked up have to be bound on principle. This measure is necessary and is taken with the full approval of the Chief of the High Command of the Wehrmacht—
(a) To prevent the frequent escapes and
(b) In view of the very tense personnel situation in those organizations which are to handle these cases.
II
Enemy plane crews who—
(a) Put up resistance when captured or
(b) Are wearing civilian clothes under their uniforms are to be shot immediately upon being captured.
Ill
Enemy pilots—particularly of the Anglo-American air force— mostly carry escape kits filled with daggers, various kinds of maps, food ration stamps, escape tools, etc. Escape kits absolutely have to be secured by the police, as they represent most important aids in tracing. It is necessary that they be transmitted to the Luftwaffe.
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IV
The order by the Reich Fuehrer of the SS dated 10 August 1943 will partly not be observed, as it was probably not orally transmitted down to the subordinate police offices according to orders. It is therefore repeated : "It is not the task of the police to intervene in altercations between Germans and landed English and American terror pilots who have bailed out." .
V
An armband with the inscription: "German Wehrmacht" and a valid stamp was found with the body of an English pilot who had been shot down. This armband is worn only by combatants, and in the various territories of operations it gives the wearer access everywhere to military and strategically important points. Enemy agents who are landed will probably make use of this new means of camouflage.
VI
Individual cases in the last few months have shown that the German population, although they do seize enemy pilots, do not keep the necessary distance toward them until they are handed over to the police or the Wehrmacht. Too strict measures on the part of the State Police against these Germans would prevent them from participating without reservation in the seizure of enemy pilots, the more so as these cases must not be confused tcith the crime of helping escaped enemy pilots.
The Reich Fuehrer of the SS has ordered the following measures to be taken against Germans who, with evil intent or for reasons of mistaken pity, behave in an undignified way toward captured enemy pilots:
(1) In particularly severe cases, internment in a concentration camp, announcement in the papers of the district.
(2) In less severe cases, protective custody, not less than 14 days, with the competent State Police agency. Employment for clearing up work in the damaged territories.
In case there are no damaged territories suitable for employment of these people in the district of a State Police agency, the short-term protective custody is to be carried out in the neighboring State Police district. Since these are always less severe cases, there are no objections—in order to avoid unnecessary burdens on the agencies—to the person to be punished, upon request of the State Police, traveling at his own expense and without guard to the State Police agency indicated to him and reporting there to serve his term of protective custody.
The decision as to whether the case in question is severe or
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light is to be made by the head of the competent State Police agency after investigation and interrogation of the party, taking into consideration the total personality of the culprit. A short report (not teletype) giving personal data about the culprit and indicating whether it is a light or a severe case, to be sent to Reich Security Main Office.
The Reich Fuehrer of the SS has contacted Reichsleiter Bormann in this matter and has called his attention to the fact that it is the task of the Party functionaries to enlighten the population and to tell them to keep the absolutely necessary distance toward enemy pilots.
I leave it up to the commanders and inspectors of the Security Police and the Security Service to transmit paragraphs V and VI of above decree also in written form to the subordinate agencies.
Signed: Dr. Kaltenbrunner
certified: Rose, Office Clerk
This is to certify, that this photostatic copy is an exact and true copy of the document, consisting of 4 (four) pages, which has been found in the archives of the Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, and which is deposited with the Czechoslovak Government.
Signed this day the fourth of April, nineteen hundred and forty six.
Gen. Dr. B. Ecer.
Extraordinary Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary
Gen. Dr. B. Ecer.
Czechoslovak Representative on the United Nations Commission
for Investigation of War Crimes.
Nuernberg, 4th April, 1946
Instructions to security police and police commanders on the treatment of captured Allied airmen, including the shooting of those not in uniform, Himmler's order not to protect airmen from German civilians, and the disciplining of civilians who do not observe the "necessary distance" toward the captives
Authors
Ernst Kaltenbrunner (chief of security police and security service (SD), RSHA)
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Austrian SS official, a major perpetrator of the Holocaust and convicted war criminal (1903-1946)
- Born: 1903-10-04 (Ried im Innkreis) (country: Austria-Hungary)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg Court Prison)
- Country of citizenship: Austria; German Reich
- Occupation: lawyer; military officer; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Military rank: Obergruppenführer
- Military branch: Schutzstaffel (period: 1940-01-01 through 1945-01-01)
- Position held: Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (period: 1943-01-30 through 1945-05-08); President of Interpol (period: 1943-01-30 through 1945-05-12; replaces: Arthur Nebe); member of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany
Date: 05 April 1944
Literal Title: Subject: Treatment of enemy fliers who have bailed out.
Defendant: Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Total Pages: 3
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-3855
HLSL Item No.: 451771
Document Summary
PS-3855: Photostatic copy of directives signed Kaltenbrunner re: Treatment of enemy fliers who have bailed out