"Both without defense counsels:
"That they in Berlin, at See (Tyrolia) and at other places of this country, during the month of August 1942, have continuously and jointly by the same action:
"1. Prepared for the treasonable undertaking to tear by violence from the Reich territory belonging to the Reich, their deed having been directed to the preparation of high treason by establishing an organizational connection;
"2. Undertaken in the Reich during a war to support a power hostile to the Reich.
"3. To have damaged the welfare of the German Reich and people, being Poles."
Skipping now to the top of page 109-B:
"Essential findings of the investigation:
"Both accused belong to tho Polish nationality, are former Polish nationals and had their residence on 1 September 1939 in the territory of the former Republic of Poland. Stefanowicz states that his father, after the entry of the Soviet troops in the fall of 1939, was deported to the interior of Russia."
One moment, if the Court please. I am unprepared to state at this time, my knowledge of European history being rather vague, whether it is correct to say "the entry of the Soviet troops". It is either Soviet or German, I don't know, and I would have to consult the original to find out.
The next paragraph:
"On the basis of their registry both accused were put at work in Berlin Lenczewski in April 1941 in a chocolate factory, Stefanowicz in January 1942 in a hospital in Neukoelin.
"In March 1942, Stefanowicz left his working place without leave and tried to escape across the Danish border. He was arrested at Flensburg, and after having been kept for almost two months in a reformatory work camp he was brought back to his place of employment. There he expressed without reservation his fanatical nationalistic Polish conviction and his belief in the restoration of an enlarged Poland.
"2) On the basis of a suggestion of Stefanoticz the accused entered into an agreement and left their places of employment of 2 August 1942 without permission. Lenczewski, pretending that he desired to visit his parents, had taken a few days leave from his employer apparently to postpone the discovery of his escape.
"From Berlin the accused went to Landeck, Tirol, via Augsburg and Innsbruck. From there they marched toward the Swiss border which they wished to cross secretly. In the mountains they had to suffer from bad weather. On 6 August they were arrested by a customs patrol at See in the immediate vicinity of the border of the Reich.
"3) The claim of the accused that they only had intended to work in Switzerland under better conditions, does not merit any belief. They know that the "Polish Legion" after the military collapse of France had crossed into Switzerland and been interned there and that Polish units had also escaped to England. Stefanowicz does admit this. Due to their nationalistic Polish attitude and the propaganda for the "Polish Legion" sponsor everywhere among Poles, it is to be assumed that they planned to report abroad for entry into that Legion or some other Polish unit existing with the enemy.
"On account of these reasons one also must assume that the efforts of the "Polish Legion" directed towards the recreation of a Polish state including the absorbed Eastern territories were known to the accused."
Skipping now to the signature, this indictment bears the signature of the Defendant Lautz. Although it is marked illegible on the translation it is in fact the signature of the Defendant Lautz.
THE PRESIDENT: When you make that statement, you are referring to 119-c?
MR. WOLLEYHAN: I am referring to 119-c, Your Honor, yes. Turning to the Court's opinion, in the case to which the indictment just read refers, which begins at Page 110, the Prosecution submits that it does care to read, at length, from this opinion.
The Prosecution desires, by way of description of the document, to the Court's attention to the fact that particularly, on Page 111 of the Court's finding of fact, the factual findings are indistinguishable from the indictment.
I will read now Page 112a, the letterhead, "The Reich Minister of Just Berlin, 7 August 1943.
"To the Chief Public Prosecutor of the People's Court:
"Either personally or his deputy in office.
"In the Penal Case against Paul Stefanowicz sentenced to death by the People's Court on 21 May, 1943, I enclose the original and certified copy of the decree of 5 August 1943 with the request to arrange further steps with the utmost speed. The order for execution is to be given to execution Reichhart.
"Reichhart, in the disposal of the corpse in accordance with Number V of the Reich Ordinance of 19 February 1939, is to consider the Dissection Institute of the Munich University.
"I request that a publication in the press and by posters is not to be made." By order of Dr. Vollmer.
The Prosecution offers Exhibit Number 132, Document NG-351.
THE PRESIDENT: It will be received in evidence.
MR. WOOLEYHAN: Turning now to Page 114 in the English Document Book, and 126 in the German Document Book, I call your attention to Document NG642. This first page of the document appears to be a circular buck slip addressed to various officials in the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the People's Court.
The reason the Prosecution knows that it relates directly to the following pages of the document with which it was found originally, is that the file number code is the same. Anticipating questions of source or association of these two pages, this and the following, please note, if the Court please, there is a pencil note on the first line of Page 114 which says, "319-41g." We wish to compare that with the similar file number entry at the top of Page 115 which likewise is "319-41g." That, plus the fact that the document was found together in this form, leads us to believe that the first pare, 114, was a circular buck slip by which the following Indictment was circulated to the Chief Reich Prosecutor, and among others, to his assistant, Reich Prosecutor Dr. Barnickel.
However, we are not prepared to clear up the legibility or illegibility of those initials at the present time.
Reading now from Page 115 which is Page 127 in the German Document book, here is the indictment which presumably was attached to the previously mentioned circular or buck slip.
The letterhead, Chief Reich Prosecutor, People's Court, Berlin, 24 February 1942.
"Indictment."
Skipping now to Paragraph 1, "I accuse Johann Blaszczyk, commercial clerk, born 2 April 1913 at Warsaw, residence Feucht, near Nuernberg, single, Pole, former Polish citizen, not previously convicted, for having prepared for the highly treasonable act of separating from the Reich an area belonging to the Reich, with the endeavor to establish, or maintain an organisatory connection, for the purpose of preparing High Treason."
I skip now to Page 116.
"Essential Results of the Investigation."
"The accused is of Polish origin and a former Polish citizen. He states he received a suspended sentence of three months imprisonment by the District Court at Warsaw, as a result of an insult against the Polish "Nation;" there is, however, no mention in the Penal register of a conviction.
"From September 1937, to March 1938, he was a gunner in the former Polish Army. On 1 September 1939, he lived within the territory of the former Polish state.
"On 14 September 1941, the accused travelled from Feucht, where he started work only three weeks previously, via Nuernberg, Lindau, and Bregenz, to Lustenau, Vorarlberg. He was accompanied on his journey by a divorced woman, Krawczyk, a Pole, with whom he had formerly lived, and who had temporarily been employed at Lauf, near Nuernberg. Together with he he walked, from the frontier station Lustenau, not towards the town, but in the opposite direction, towards the Reich frontier.
At the Brugger-bridge across the Rhine, he watched the border police check the credentials of some and pass others without examination. When, thereupon, he also tried to cross the bridge together with Krawczyk, he was stopped and detained.
"The accused states that he went to Lustenau, because he wanted to l* for work in the mountains together with Krawczyk, for reasons of health; he was not aware that Lustenau is situated in the vicinity of the frontier.
"Considering the special circumstances, this statement deserves little belief. It must in fact be assumed that the accused counted on crossing the border unchallenged into Switzerland and that he intended to enter the "Polish Legion" there.
"The accused denies any knowledge of the existence of a "Polish Legion" However considering the propaganda conducted among the Poles for the "Polish Legion" raised by the enemy it must be assumed that the accused not only had knowledge of the legion's existence, but also of its aims towards the reestablishment of the Polish State by incorporating the annexed eastern territories."
I omit reading the remainder of the Indictment. We skip now to the Opinion in this case on Page 118, which is page 103 in the German Document Book.
"In the Name of the German People, in the case against the commercial clerk, Johann Blaszczyk, a Pole -- " skipping three lines-- "-- for preparation for High Treason, the People's Court, 2nd Senate, has found in law, by trial of 11 August 1942 -- " omitting the reading of the court personnel -- that the accused, a Pole, is condemned to 10 years penal servitude in a disciplinary camp for injury to the welfare of the German nation."
Skipping to page 119, which is page 133 of the German Document Book, the People's Court gives its reasons for this sentence.
"On the basis of the accused's statement, and the statements of witnesses, the following facts have been established:
"1) The Facts:
"The accused belongs to the Polish nation. He formerly possessed Polish nationality and was resident in former Poland on 1 September 1939."
The remainder of the facts we do not care to read except by way of description. By way of description, we invite the Court's attention to their striking similarity to the indictment. There is no new fact introduced.
"Paragraph 2. The Statement of the Accused and the actual and legal appreciation."
That is on the same page of the English Document Book, but it is on page 134 of the German Document Book.
"As reason for leaving his work the accused says he no longer wished to live away from Krawczyk. When they were sent to work in Germany they were promised that they would be employed no further than 2½ kilometers from each other. They intended going into the mountains to Vorarlberg or the Tyrol to find employment together in a hotel or boarding house. He denies having intended to go to Switzerland and asserts that they did not know that the way they took at Lustenau let to Switzerland. He had no knowledge of a Polish Legion in Switzerland and therefore could not have wished to enter it. The defendant's assertion is that he had wanted to go with Krawczyk to the German mountains and not to Switzerland in order to find work, deserves no credence. According to the testimony of the Witness Stetter it is certain that the defendant and Krawczyk were on their way to Switzerland when they were arrested on the Rhine bridge I skip to the next paragraph.
"It could, however, not be proved that the defendant intended to join the Polish Legion in Switzerland. In this respect the defendant already made himself suspicious by denying his intention to go to Switzerland. This indicates that he must have had a special reason for concealing his plans in connection with his flight to Switzerland, presumably because they were directed against Germany and with his joining the Polish Legion.
"The suspicion must also stand in view of some general circumstances. At about the same time a specially intense propaganda in favor of the Polish Legion was spread among the Poles following the entry of the Soviet Union into the war. Furthermore, during these weeks numerous Poles were captured in the same vicinity, some of whom could be convicted of intending to join the Polish Legion. The fact that the defendant traveled with a woman with whom he had intimate relations, causes the Senate some doubt as to whether the defendant actually had such intention, for they Could not have remained together in the legion.
This, however, was of particular importance to the defendant as is shown by his leaving his work in Germany because of being parted from her. Thus, the defendant can not be found guilty of the intention of entering the Polish Legion and thereby of preparation for High Treason and of treasonably assisting the enemy.
"The defendant, however, is guilty as the result of the trial of a crime according to the ordinance of the Criminal Law regarding Poles. This decree is applicable to him because he is a racial Pole and was domiciled in the territory of the former Polish State on 1 September 1939. Through leaving of his own accord his place of work, near Nuernberg, with the firm Noris at Feucht, near Nuernberg, he not only caused inconvenience to the firm, but in addition damaged the interests of the German nation for this firm which produces metal beds for hospitals and signalling equipment for the Reich Railway, is a war essential works."
Skipping to Paragraph 3, "The Award of Punishment."
"According to the ordinance of Criminal Law for Poles, the death sentence must be applied as a general rule. Prison sentence is only applicable in cases of a less serious nature. The Court has found for the latter in favor of the defendant. Of primary importance for this light judgment, it was decisive that the defendant acted singly and by his action caused only slight damage. Moreover, he voluntarily reported for work in Germany and evidently was led by reason that he could not live together with the woman with whom he had a love affair. On the other hand, care had to be taken in meting out his prison term, that such punishment would have a threatening effect on other Poles. Every Pole must realize thereby the punishment which threatens if he neglects his duties to the German nation even to the slightest degree. In consideration of these circumstances the Court considers severe penitentiary term of ten years an adequate and necessary punishment."
Skipping now to Page 123, we find the Court's ruling.
"Ruling in the criminal case against the commercial clerk Jan Blaszczy on account of preparation for high treason and aiding the enemy:
"The People's Court, Second Senate, at a meeting of 2 October 1941, after hearing the Chief Reich Prosecutor at the People's Court, has ruled the appeal of the defendant against the warrant of arrest of the investigating judge of the People's Court of 25 September 1941 is dismissed for lack of grounds with the directive that the accused is also under serious suspicion cf the crime of preparing for high treason. The law considers that there is suspicion of escape as the defendant has no fixed abode in Germany, in view of the Criminal facts of the case. The cost to be paid by the accused.
"Signed, Engert."
DR. GRUBE: Dr. Grube for the Defendant Lautz. I raise an objection against the submission of this document for the following reasons:
The Prosecution has first submitted the so-called distribution slip. That is the first page of Document 624-NG. The Prosecution has stated specifically that circulation slip proves that the indictment was circulated among the members of the Reich Prosecution whose names are listed on it. I have compared it with the original. From the photostat, it can be seen without difficulty, that this so-called circulation note was cut out from another document and added to this document.
Furthermore, it can be seen from that circulation slip that the signatures which were written by those individuals were all made in September, that is to say, after the verdict had become valid, after the sentence had been pronounced.
As this document in the form we received it is incomplete, considerable conclusions can be reached. I consider this document to be inadmissible.
MR. WOOLEYHAN: I wish to raise two points if Your Honor please. First, the Prosecution has never contended that it was necessary for other members of the Prosecution of the People's Court to see or review or even look at copies of findings of the People's Court before it occurred. This buck slip was put into evidence in an effort to show that the names thereon had seen the attached document at sometime. And if their initials were put on after the Court's decision was rendered, so much the better.
Secondly, if the defense is suggesting that this document, this circular, buck sheet, was cut out of another document and pasted on the front of this one by the Prosecution in an effort to show something where nothing existed; we take the strangest exception to such a remark.
I am sure the defense did not mean that, but I merely wish to state that this is the form in which this document was captured.
We have an affidavit stating that its original form has not been altered. That is in evidence.
***r than that, we merely seek to introduce it for whatever it may be worth on its face. And if I remember correctly, the Prosecution expressly made no claim as to the legibility of the initials on that piece of paper.
DR. GRUBE: May it please the Tribunal: I do not know whether the original document was really found in this form. But it can be seen that this buck slip was cut from something else, and further, that it was placed on the front of this document. The upper right hand corner contains "Page 32." The following pages of the document contain numbers considerably lower. They contain numbers such as 16, 17 and so on. This buck slip, without a doubt, comes from the same matter. It concerns the circulation of the verdict, which seems to be proved by the facts. It does not prove that the indictment was circulated.
MR. WOOLEYHAN: If the Court please, since the defense has concluded the buck sheet arises, in fact, out of the same matter, that is all the reason we wish to press it.
March-M-JP-11-1c-Fitzgerald (Int. Uiberall)
THE PRESIDENT: I would like to inquire how the name "Lautz" is identified with the document? I do not find that name in my very short examination.
MR. WOOLEYHAN: The word "Lautz" is not on that page, Your Honor, but the title, "Chief Public Prosecutor at the People's Court" is on the document There is an initial after it that for our purposes, at the moment, is illegible.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it claimed that Lautz was at that time Chief Prosecutor?
MR. WOOLEYHAN: It is.
THE PRESIDENT: I see.
DR. GRUBE: May it please the Tribunal, I merely object to the fact that the Prosecution contends that the indictment was circulated among the various members of the Reich Prosecution. That is not possible. The various dates entered on the buck slip are all around the middle of September. The verdict was rendered on 11 August. The indictment stems from February.
THE PRESIDENT: There seems to be sufficient identification in the figure "319-41g." We will therefore receive the document. We have now reached the time of our noon recess.
MR. WOOLEYHAN: May the Court please, may I offer this document in question in evidence at this time before we adjourn?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. WOOLEYHAN: I offer this document in evidence as Exhibit 133.
THE PRESIDENT: It will be received in evidence.
We will recess until one-thirty.
(The Tribunal recessed at 1215 hours, 24 March 1947, until 13:30 hours, 24 March 1947.)
AFTERNOON SESSION
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
MR. WOOLEYHAN: If the Court please, the last document in Book 3-A is NG-597, which the prosecution will offer in evidence at this time. The document commences with an indictment in the usual form - this, by the way, is page 125 of the English Book and page 139 of the German. This indictment in the usual form bears the letterhead of the Chief Reich Prosecutor at the People's Court, dated Berlin, 22 February 1941. "Arrest. Female Foreigner. (Female Resident of the Incorporated Eastern Territories of Polish Origin.) Indictment."
"The female teacher of needle work, Kasimira Sofia Szczerbinski, of Saybusch, born on 1 December 1912, single, former Polish national of Polish race, no prior convictions, provisionally arrested on 31 July 1940 and since 23 September 1940 in custody on remand in the court prison of Bielitz - defense counsel not yet appointed - is herewith indicted by me of having prepared in July 1940 in the inland, and especially at Saybusch, a treasonable act with a view to separating by violence or by threat of violence from the Reich a territory which forms part of the Reich, the action aiming to sway the masses by distributing pamphlets."
Skipping to page 126 in the English book, and 141 in the German, still in continuation of the indictment, "Essential Results of the Investigations, Paragraph II, the Offense."
"On 30 July 1940 the accused was stopped by a custom official in a train between the stations Sueha and Lachowice as a suspected smuggler and was taken into custody. Shortly before the train entered the station of Lachowice, the accused threw a bundle of papers from the moving train. These papers were found and confiscated immediately after the train had been stopped. Investigations showed that these papers comprised six illegal publications in the Polish language and that the accused had made handwritten corrections in one of these publications.
"During a search of the house of her parents at Saybusch a sheet of paper containing foreign news written by the accused as well as a letter addressed to her dated 18 July 1940 were found.
This letter was signed by someone named 'Halscha' and contained the following sentence underlined with red pencil: 'Remember what I told you if anyone needs help.'
"The accused has admitted that she had been in possession of the six illegal pamphlets and that she had thrown them out of the train. She further stated that she had found the publications on the date of her arrest while picking mushrooms in the forest and that she had taken them along without reading them. The pamphlets were in a yellow envelope hidden between the grass and covered with a stone and with earth. She said she intended to take the publications home, to read them there, and then burn them.
"The accused persisted in this statement although it was pointed out to her that this appeared incredible and especially denies having received these pamphlets - publications - from a third party. When recalling to the defendant that on the day of her arrest and in the preceding night it had rained almost uninterruptedly and that the ground was wet, but that neither the envelope nor the publications showed any signs of dirt or moisture, the accused declared that she had no comments to make.
"She admitted, however, to have made the handwritten corrections shown in the pamphlets but says she did this quite thoughtlessly.
"The defendant further admitted that the note found during the search of her house on which foreign news was written, dated 27 July 1940, was written by her. Regarding the source she states that she did not hear the news but that it was communicated to her verbally by another Pole whose name she would not reveal. When it was pointed out that the style of her handwritten notes was very similar to one of the inciting leaflets found in her possession, she refused to comment."
Skipping to the last paragraph, "Finally, the defendant declared that she had no further statements to make. She knew that she had committed a wrong and was prepared to suffer any punishment for it. She is a Pole, she said, and ready if necessary to die for her country."
Paragraph III, "Contents of the Pamphlets". Skipping to page 129, we will omit reading the contents of all these pamphlets but merely sample one of them.
"1. In the pamphlet 'Surma'", the following excerpt is quoted:
"Resurrection of plans for a federation. The whole Polish nation, in site of the tragic events in September, and in spite of what it is suffering now, and in spite of the persecutions, has not for one instant lost this deep faith that Poland, occupied at present by her arch-enemies will revive and will emerge on her way of historical destination. It is certain to the whole Polish people that Poland will and must exist again."
Skipping now to the final portion of this indictment, on page 131 in the English, 146 in the German, "Paragraph IV. Actual and legal judgment.
"Already shortly after the military collapse of Poland federations of chauvinistically minded Poles were established, in the re-incorporated Eastern Territories as well as in the General Government, who, hoping for an early military collapse of the Reich, and in conjunction with the western armed forces, wished to make preparations to seize from the Reich after the example of the Polish revolution of 1918-1921, together with the Western Powers, the regained Eastern Provinces by an armed rising and recreate a new Greater Poland. At the same time some former Polish politicians and militarists who escaped tried to maintain first from Paris and later from London a so-called Polish state, with the assistance of a de-jure recognition of a number of countries, in the form of an 'Independent National Government' which participated in the war against the Reich as a belligerent, by establishing a Polish Legion composed of former members of the defeated Polish army and exiled Poles, who fought against the Wehrmacht in France and Norway under the command of the French army and afterwards of the British army. Their delegates, generally former officers of the Polish army, endeavored to direct the organization of a planned armed rebellion in Poland. They also endea voured to re-awaken and increase the resistance of the Polish people by broadcasting news and proclamations in the Polish language from French and English radio stations.
With the aid of news taken from BBC and French broadcasts illegal pamphlets, even periodicals, were issued, printed or by duplicator, and distributed. The leaflets found in the possession of the accused represent some of these illegal documents of the underground movement. The above quoted short excerpts make it unequivocally clear that their object was to keep alive the hopes of a resuscitation of the former Polish republic and to strive for the realization of these efforts, while at the same time appealing to force for the removal of German domination in former Poland.
"The accused recognized this object of the leaflets, approved of it, and knowlingly endeavoured to encourage it. In her attempts to prove her innocence she stated she had only found the leaflets quite by accident on the day of her arrest and that she had not even read then. This statement, however, is not true.
"Firstly, the leaflets could not have been hidden and discovered by her in the manner she describes, as neither the yellow envelope nor the leaflets themselves showed any traces of dirt or dampness ---"
Skipping now to the top of page 132: "She must rather have received the leaflets from one or more agents. In order to conceal this and so as not to run the risk cf having to divulge their names, she evidently had recourse at this pretext. The falsity of this explanation is also borne out by the fact that she had even made handwritten corrections."
And skipping to the next paragraph: "The plae that she made the corrections unconsciously deserves no credence. The accused is a fanatical Pole *** hates Germans and obviosly has not learned the lesson taught by the collapse of the Polish Republic. One striking sentence contained in a pamphlet found in her dwelling house shows that the accused was also engaged in assistance to fellaw conspirators. The sentence reads: 'Remember what I told you if anyone needs help.' If this sentence had merely implied the meaning given in her statement, she need, not have concealed the name of the writer of the document."
Skipping to the last paragraph on page 148 of the German and 132 of the English: "All this justifies the assumption that the accused retained and carried these leaflets about with her with the intention of passing them on the third parties, in order to promote the highly treasonable aims stated in the leaflets and to influence a larger circle of people. Her behavior is therefore indictable under Article 60, Section 1, Article 83, Section 2 and Section 3, No. 3 of the Penal Code."
Skipping to the next page, which is page 149 in the German, 133 in the English: "I demand the trial of the accused Kasimira Szczerbinski before 2nd Senate of the People Court, to approve the continuance of detention, and to engage Defense Counsel for the accused." And this entire indictment is sign personally by the defendant Lautz.
Page 134, part cf this same document, NG-597, bears at the top the File No. 8 J 488/40. It will be seen, by comparison, with the file number contained on the coversheet of the indictment just read, at page 125, that this file number is the same. This sheet is described as, "For circulation among the following: Indictment; "Among others, of the Prosecution Staff of the People's Court, we will read only the first name, that of "Reich Prosecut of Reichsgericht Dr. Barnickel."
And there are initials of his name.
Page 135 is the Court's opinion: "In the name of the German people, in the criminal case a gainst the needlework teacher Kasimira Sofia Szczerbina next paragraph, "for preparation for high treason the second senate of the People Court, at the trial of 5 June 1941, at which were present," judges and prosecutors whose names we will not read, "has found in law that preparation for high treason the accused is sentenced to 6 - six - years penitentia* and the loss of civil rights for a term of 6 - six - years."
Skipping now to page 141 in the English, which is page 159 in the roman, we come to the last portion of the People's Court opinion in this case. "Paragraph VI, Punishment Award. The award of punishment must be based on the fact that the high treasonable aims of the national Poles represent a considerable danger for the security of the German Reich. Activities of that kind have to be punished with all possible severity, especial if they occur, as in this case, at a time when the German people is fighting for life in a war forced on them by the Eastern Powers. There is thus no grounds for leniency. If one considers further that the defendant obviously was closely connected with these illegal circles and that she displayed a strange criminal desire in as much as she would, under no circumstances, give away her accomplices, these circumstances make it necessary to regard her as fanatic and therefore especially dangerous fighter for these high treasonable aims. For this reason a severe sentence has to be pronounced. Six years penitentiary appeared to the Senate an adequate sentence having regard to the need for the security of the Reich.
The Defendant is not a German citizen. But as there is the possibility that she may in the course of later development acquire German citizenship and as she has acted to the detriment of the German community, it was considered necessary to withdraw, as a matter of precaution, her civil rights a period of six years.
The remand period has not been taken into account; the defendant forfeit this on account of her obstinate denials."
To that opinion we have just read is attached another circulation sheet, in the upper left-hand corner bearing the same file number -- "488/40. Verdict; Circulated to:" There follows a list of public prosecutors whose names we will not read except the first name on the list, which is, "Reich Prosecutor Dr. Bernickel;" and there are initials after his name.
Skipping to page 143 of this same document, 597; this is page 161 of the German. A communication bearing the letterhead of the "Women's Penitentiary, Cottbus, dated Cotbuss, 28 January 1943. Prisoners' book No. 161/41 to be mentioned in all communications. Addressed to the Chief Reich Prosecutor on the People's Court," and it is stamped with an official stamp of the Reich Chief Prosecutor, "as of 1 February 1943; Subject: Application for admittance 23 June 1941, file No. 8 J488/40," which is the file number of the case at hand. On 28 January 1943 Szerbinski, Kasinira was transferred to the civilian prisoners' camp in Auschwitz near Kattowitz to serve sentence. By order, Administrative Assistant."
Skipping now to page 145 of the English book, which is page 162 of the German book, which is another communication, likewise a part of this same document. We find another communication from Cotbuss, with the letterhead "The Board of the Women Penitentiary, Cotbuss, 15 March 1943. To: The Chief Public Prosecutor of the People's Court. Regarding the criminal case against Kasimira Szczerbinski you are informed that this" -- 'This' refers to a letter on page 144 of the English book, which is 161 of the German book, wherein there is an inquiry addressed to Cotbuss prison inquiring as to why Kasimira Szczerbinski was transferred to Auschwitz and the authority for such a transfer. The letter on page 145 answered that inquiry by stating, "this is a measure according to the ordinance of the Reich Minister of Justice of 22 October 1942.
The Prosecution offers as Exhibit No. 134, Document NG-597.
THE PRESIDENT: It will be received in evidence. I would like to inquire inasmuch as he has read the last part of that document book whether there are any more documents in that document book to be presented.
MR. WOOLEYHAN: Your Honors, you need not bring that book to Court any further; it is finished.
MR. KING: This might be a good time to speak in reference to further books that we hope to finish, and that is the Series 1. I hope tomorrow morning, at the opening of Court, to be able to present the outstanding documents in the I series, so I would recommend to the Court and Defense Counsel that they be brought at that time and we will henceforth then need Book I only as documents in Book I are referred to in the subsequent book; and as I indicated earlier, we will try to give the Court and Defense Counsel adequate notice so that they can bring those books as needed, rather than bringing the entire lot every time.
The next document from which we will read and introduce in evidence comes from Bock B of the III series. I think it is also likely that during the afternoon we will get into Book C of the III series. The Prosecution desires to introduce at this time the Document NG-354, which is to be found on page 1 of Book III-B, and it will become, when formally offered in evidence, Exhibit 135.