It is stated that the inmates of these camps will become concentration camp prisoners. Work shops which are to be erected by Osti will have these prisoners assigned to them. Wages are to be paid to the Exchequer of the Reich. All camps in the Government General are to be taken over by the Reich. All camps in the Government General are to be taken over by the WVHA and are to be subordinated to Amtsgruppe D - of the WVHA. This memorandum is signed by the Defendant Pohl.
On page 18 of the English Document Book I offer NO-3034. as Prosecution Exhibit 484.
THE PRESIDENT: 5.
MR. HIGGINS: I am sorry. Thank you. 485. This is a Himmler letter of 22 September 1943 -
THE PRESIDENT: You said "Hitler". You mean "Himmler".
MR. HIGGINS: This is a letter of Himmler to Pohl and Globocnik ordering Globocnik to balance the account of Reinhardt 1 and to turn it over to Pohl. Himmler states on page 18, "I order herewith that SS-Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik is to take ever the settlement of the account "Reinhard 1" up to 31 Dec, 1943, after which date he is to hand it over to SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl or the latter's deputy whose name will yet have to be submitted to me.
"On the whole, an effort should be made to balance the account "Reinhard 1" until then, and to use and transfer the results, so that, after 1 January 1944, only the newly accrued values will have to be accounted for."
JUDGE MUSMANNO: I see this is referred to as "Reinhardt 1". Can you distinguish that from Reinhardt 2, 3?
MR. HIGGINS: I have not as yet come across any distinction other than Reinhardt Fund and Rein hardt 1 Fund.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Does the Reinhardt Action refer specifically to the taking over of all property, personal property, from the Jews? Is that how you would define the Reinhardt Action?
MR. HIGGINS: Well, Your Honor, I believe it comprehends something a little more then just that. So far as I understand it, it not only comprehends the taking over of the personal property or personal effects of the exterminated Jewish masses and those people in the Government General, but it also was the exploitation of the labor of those individuals in factories and plants established by Globocnik and later taken over by the WVHA.
In other words, it is the utilization of the property of these people, as well as the labor, so long as they live.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: As distinguished from the actual execution of the Jews?
MR. HIGGINS: That is right, yes.
On page 20 of the English document book I offer NO-064 as Prosecution Exhibit 486. In compliance with the order by Himmler previously mentioned, Globocnik forwards the requested report. This document serves as the cover letter for it. Globocnik notes that a copy of his letter has been sent to the defendant Pohl.
As stated by Globocnik, the settlement contains two parts. It is broken down into the Economic Section of Operation Reinhardt, and the Economic Group's Settlement, "for the economic management of which I was also responsible and which is now transferred to civilian management."
On page 22 I offer Document NO-057 as Prosecution Exhibit 487. In this part of Globocnik's report on the winding up of the Economic Section of Action Reinhardt the action is broken down into four branches: (a) is the deportation; (b) is the utilization of manpower; (c) is the utiliza tion of property, and (d) the recovery of hidden values in real estate.
In his report he states the manner in which each of these phases was accomplished.
On page 27 of the English document book I offer NO-059 as Prosecution Exhibit 488.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Do you know, Mr. Higgins, whether this Reinhardt Action came about as a result of the assassination of Heydrich, Reinhardt Heydrich?
MR. HIGGINS: I doubt, Your Honor, that it came about or resulted from the assassination of Heydrich. However, there is some assumption that the action was given his name out of respect for him but I doubt that there was a direct correlation between the two events. I believe it was just realized that a solution of the Jewish problem should he made. In fact, plans were under way during his life and it was partly effected while he lived. After his death it was continued to be carried out, that is, so far as the exploitation of the property and the manpower and the real estate of the Jews were concerned. So I believe, at the most, the action simply carries his name. I don't believe that there is a direct connection, cause, and effect.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Of course, it is his name.
MR. HIGGINS: Yes, I believe so, yes.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: You don't know the date that this was actually formulated - the program?
MR. HIGGINS: It is very difficult to find any documentary evidence as to just when the Action Reinhardt was actually commenced as Action Reinhardt. We have dates, however, of the winding up of the action and the turning of it over to the defendant Pohl. Just at what particular point of time it began, I don't have that evidence here.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Very well.
MR. HIGGINS:NO-059 is Prosecution Exhibit 488 and is found on page 27 of the English document book. It is a report on the administrative development of Action Reinhardt and discloses, among other things, the very important part played by the WVHA in the administration of the property seized.
Globocnik states that the WVHA was entrusted with the settlement as over against the Reich office. Globocnik lists the valuables accounted for, outlining the manner of disposition of each.
On page 31 of the English document book I would like to present Document NO-062 as Prosecution Exhibit 489. This is an itemized account of the properties received through Action Reinhardt.
On page 35 of the English document book I offer Document NO-063 --I have been informed that this document has already been offered. However, I was not aware of the fact; I don't know just where it is contained at this time.
MR. ROBBINS: It is Exhibit 450 in Book 17.
MR. HIGGINS: In any event, it is the final report on the winding up of Action Reinhardt. It consists of a list of orders on hand in the various SS plants. It sets out the production capacity of each of these works and deals with the financial conditions of each in most cases.
Document NO-519 in page 41 of the English document book is correspondence concerning the taking over of the Jewish plants in the Ghetto at Litzmannstadt by Osti.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: Did you give that an exhibit number?
MR. HIGGINS: Excuse me, Your Honor, I have it. It is Exhibit 490.
The first letter comprisong this lengthy series is Horn's report to the defendant Pohl on the practicability of the Osti industry taking over the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Horn is of the opinion that it would be uneconomical for Osti to take over these plants. A copy of his prospectus was forwarded to the defendant Baier and the defendant Volk. This report sets out in great detail the factors to be considered in deciding whether or not the Ghetto plants could be brought to be profitable and therefore to be taken over by the WVHA.
Pages 54, 55, 56, and 57 of the English document book contain a report of a conference held by the defendants Volk and Baier and others, together with the Reich Governor, on this matter.
Page 58 of the English document book contains a letter from Pohl to the Reichsfuehrer SS requesting him to inform one Greiser of the decision made or to be made to have this Ghetto taken over by the WVHA. Pohl is subsequently informed that the Ghetto will not be transferred to the concentration camps but instead a special action will be carried out within the Ghetto and all those Jews not essential to the armament production will be eliminated.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: What about all these intervening pages that you leap over here?
MR. HIGGINS: In respect to which document, Your Honor?
JUDGE MUSMANNO: You were on page fifty something; now you have leaped to 64. There are various letters in between. Do they refer to the same transaction?
MR. HIGGINS: That is in connection with Document NO-519: The bulk of that report concerns itself with an analysis of the situation existing in the Ghetto at Litzmannstodt. The writer of the letter goes about analyzing the situation in order to determine just how productive this Ghetto would be to the WVHA, and after a great deal of analysis it is concluded that the Ghetto will not prove profitable; and subsequently a decision from Himmler is made to eliminate the Ghetto, to exterminate all those with the exception of the Jews employed in the armament production.
That is what takes up so very much space and I don't believe it is important enough to warrant a great deal of time on it.
On page 64 of the English Document Book I offer NO-1271 as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 491. It is a very long document consisting of a rough auditing of the books of Osti by Johannes Fischer through the direction of the defendant Mummenthey. The order for auditing these books was given following the decision to liquidate Osti. The report treats at great length the development of the company, setting out the aims and the purposes for which it was created, and lists the tasks which were designated to be taken over by Osti. These tasks as listed on page 67 were:
"1. Utilization of the working capacity of the Jews by erecting industrial plants in the Government General in connection with the Jewish Labor Camps.
2. Taking over commercial enterprises which had been maintained by the agencies of the SS and Police Leaders in the Government General.
3. Taking possession of moveable, formerly Jewish, property especially machines and raw materials. The machines were to be installed in the Osti plants, and the raw materials to be used there.
4. Utilization of machines, tools and merchandise, formerly Jewish property, which had been transferred in the meantime to non-Jewish ownership."
Page 68 of the Document Book sets up the reason for liquidation of Osti. "The main tasks of Osti consisted definitely in the utilization of Jewish manpower for the interest of the Reich. When in November 1943 Osti was deprived of these workers, the basis of its activity was taken from it, and liquidation remained the only possible way. This liquidation actually began in November '43 after the withdrawal of the workers, as it was impossible to staff the enterprises with civilian workers. As I was informed in the meantime, the liquidation-decision of Osti is to be cancelled, and the glass-works at Wolomin, a plant which did not employ Jewish workers, is now to remain as the only enterprise of Osti.
This does not alter the fact that the other factories of Osti will be wound up."
The following basis of this report consist of an analysis of each of the plants then going, and closing up of Osti. The capacity for production is discussed and in many instances the financial conditions of the companies involved are set out.
On page 89 of the English Document Book - excuse me, I might note at this time that the defendant Kruse - or the witness Kruse identified this report as having been typed or written up by him.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: This does not have any designation at all, does it. Merely referred to as a document. What is it?
MR. HIGGINS: Your Honor, are you referring to NO-2186?
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Yes.
MR. HIGGINS: As to the last remark I just made, I failed to mention the fact that my remark applied to the document in the last analysis to NO-1271, a very lengthy report which I just completed.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: But I thought that you were talking about the other one.
MR. HIGGINS: I am sorry.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Are you giving 2186 as exhibit number?
MR. HIGGINS: Yes, I am, Your Honor.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: You are returning to that now.
MR. HIGGINS:NO-2186 at Page 89 is Exhibit No. 492.
DR. HEIN: Dr. Hein for the defendant Hohberg. I object to the admission of this document which has been offered as Exhibit No. 492. This document quite obviously is part of a larger document unlike the one shown in the index. It does not show that this document is a report by the DAW.
The receiver and the sender as indicated by this document has not been signed there; for its admission here when in this condition it objected to, as this document has not been signed by anybody at all.
MR. HIGGINS: Your Honor, I request the retention of the exhibit number for that document until I look into it and see if we can not acquire the complete report.
THE PRESIDENT: It will not be admitted at this time.
MR. HIGGINS: On page 90 of the English Document Book I offer Document 1906 as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 493. This document contains the minutes of a company meeting of the industry on 1 March 1944, which was attended by the defendants Pohl and Georg Loerner, and provided for the liquidation of Osti. It is to be noted that on liquidation of Osti, the books and all records of this company are to be turned over to the DWB.
On page 97 of the English Document Book I offer NO-1268, as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 494. This is Horn's letter to the defendant Baier, dealing with the liquidation of a business conducted in Holland by Osti.
On page 99 of the English Document Book I offer NO-1262as Prosecution Exhibit No. 495. This letter from Horn to the defendant Baier, dated 4 June 1944, requesting the liquidation of Osti is temporarily cancelled, and that the East industries be continued as representative of the glassworks at Wolomin.
On page 100 of the English Document Book I offer NO-726 as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 496. This letter originated with the defendant Vogt, as chief of auditors on 15 March 1944, and addressed to the SS Economic Administrator, which directs the submission of reports by them on the seizure of Jewish property.
In this respect it is directed that reports be submitted to the chief auditor.
On page 103, Document NO-2074, contained in Book Number 4, as Exhibit 110.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Was this not introduced before?
MR. HIGGINS: Yes, it was, Your Honor.
JUDGE MUSSMANNO: Oh, I'm sorry.
MR. HIGGINS: This is the Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories' letter to the Reichsfuehrer-SS and the WVHA, stating that all income from the employment of Jewish labor in the occupied territories is the property of the Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories.
On page 107 of the English document book I offer NO-2130 as Prosecution Exhibit 497. This is Pohl's order abolishing the office of SS Economic Administrator for the Ostland and Russia as of 19 January 1945.
Mr. Mc Haney will continue with the presentation of Book Number 20.
MR. MC HANEY: May it please the Tribunal, I wonder if we might have the afternoon recess at this time and I could get along a little faster after the recess.
THE PRESIDENT: You took the words right out of my mouth.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is in recess for fifteen minutes.
(A recess was taken.)
THE MARSHAL: All persons in the courtroom will please take their seats.
Tribunal No. II is again in session.
THE PRESIDENT: The record will show that all defendants have been present in Court throughout the session today.
MR. McHANEY: May it please the Tribunal, before presenting documents from the last document book, I think it might be appropriate if I summed up in a few words the purpose of the putting in the proof in document books 13, Ip and 20. It is outlined much more actually in txat portion of the opening statement dealing with the extermination of Jews. But I think it might be well, for the purpose of clarity, to restate in broad outline again here what these document books prove.
The Tribunal will recall the first number of documents in Book No. 18 outline the policy of the Third Reich dealing with the extermination of the Jews. That, of course, was a matter which was dealt with at great length in Case No. I before the I.M.T; and we used a highly selective process in picking out documents to offer in this case, and we showed the three main ways in which extermination was carried out.
Firstly, by the Einsatzgruppen, operating primarily in the East: In Russia, and in the Baltic countries. And a very, very large number of Jews were exterminated by those Einsatzgruppen. They were composed primarily of police forces from personnel from the RSHA, and from personnel under the jurisdiction of the Higher SS and Police Leaders in the Occupied Territories. The second way -and really there is only one other primary way in which they were exterminated -- was in the so-called extermination camps, and there were two large areas in which Jews were exterminated. Firstly, in the concentration camp Auschwitz which has always -- at least after 3 March 1942 -- been under the control of the WVHA; and that was where probably the greatest number of Jews were killed.
And we put in the affidavit of Hoess. You also heard the testimony of a number of witnesses concerning the Jewish exterminations in Auschwitz.
The other large area of the extermination was around Lublin, in Poland, and there we had the extermination camps under the SS and Police Leader Globocnik. And the Tribunal will recall the names Treblinka, Maidanek and Sobibor, and one or two others. Those were all extermination camps.
Later documents in Book Number 18 showed how the WVHA participated in this mass-extermination of so-called "undesirable" peoples. Auschwitz gave rise to no large problems because it was administratively under the control of the WVHA. In the concentration camps surrounding Lublin, we have put in considerable proof on the so-called Action Reinhardt. That action was divided into three parts: firstly, the deportation of the Jews from their normal locality which, by and large, was in ghettoes. The extermination started in the extermination camps in 1942. The Einsatzgruppen were operating in 1941 on, but, as I recall, the extermination camps in the Lublin areas were set up in 1942. By that time all the Jews in Poland and those in Russia -- as it was overrun -- were congregated in ghettoes. So the first phase of Action Reinhardt was to remove these Jews physically into the extermination camps. That part of Action Reinhardt we have not yet come to. The proof on it is contained in Book No. 20, and perhaps it is a little bit out of logical order there.
The second phase of Action Reinhardt was the utilization of personal property from these Jews who were evacuated into the extermination camps, and we have offered the orders of Pohl issued to Auschwitz and Lublin primarily which deal with the method in which this personal property was to be handled. The property was channeled from the extermination camps into Berlin and, administratively, was handled by Amtsgruppe A of the WVHA, first under the defendant Frank, and then under the defendant Fanslau.
The defendant Volk audited the accounts of Globocnik which dealt with the gathering together of all this personal property of the Jews in the Lublin area.
That was the second phase of Action Reinhardt. The mustering of personal property by Globocnik with the assistance of personnel put at the disposal by the defendant Pohl in the General Government of Poland.
The third part which was dealt with in Book No. 19 was the utilization of Jewish manpower. It goes without saying that all Jews who were brought into extermination camps were not killed there. The testimony has shown that there was a screening-out process: the children, the old women, those men unable to work for various reasons -- because of sickness or age -- they were picked out and exterminated.--Those able to work were not immediately exterminated -so the question arose: How shall this Jewish manpower be utilized? It was utilized in a large measure through the Ost industry. That was the purpose for which the Ost industry was established: to utilize the Jewish manpower in the area of Lublin.
However, the extermination phase of the whole action gradually and progressively over rode the utilization of man power and so it happened that on the 3d of November 1943 all the Jews employed by the Ost industries were exterminated. If the Tribunal can recall, which I doubt, on the sound tract of the film, Majdanek, it is stated by the commentator that a sonderaktion, or a Jewish extermination action took place on the 3rd of November 1943, in which I think some 18,000 Jews were killed. That was the reason the Ost industry was liquidated. The workers, the Jewish people working in Ost industries were taken out and killed in Majdanek and Treblinka. Consequently we see the documents here which show that Ost industry was progressively liquidated until there was only one plant left, and, as I recall, that was some glass plant which employed Poles and that was the only plant run with Non-Jewish labor so the glass works continued to operate. I think it was finally transferred to the DAW later in 1944. The Tribunal will also recall in connection with the utilization of personal property, the warehouses full of clothes and valuables. Various shots which were exhibited in the two films which we showed a week or so ago and the Tribunal will also recall the testimony of our witnesses who were in the camp of Auschwitz about the carloads of valuables which were shipped out there which in the camp were normally known as presents for Pohl. I come now then -- I might say in connection with Action Reinhardt and the taking away of valuables from the extermination camps to Berlin that a Reinhardt fund was established in the Reich bank and that again was under the administration of Frank and later, Fanslau and more personally directed by one of their subordinates in Amtsgruppe A, a man named Mauer and they accumulated between ten and twelve million Reichmarks on this Reinhardt Fund and that fund was utilized in a large measure to finance operations by Amtsgruppe W and the industries which were under their control and we shall put in some proof in Document Book No. 19 which shows that industries of Amtsgruppe W were financed out of the Reinhardt fund.
I think the financing went into the neighborhood of 8,000,000 Reichsmarks, if my memory serves me correctly.
I come now then to the last book, Book No. 20, which deals with the first part of Action Reinhardt, that is, the deportation of Jews from the Ghettos into the extermination camps and we have picked simply as a typical example the rather murderous closing of the Warsaw Ghetto in the first half of 1943. On page 1 of the Document book we have Document NO-1611 which will be Prosecution Exhibit 498. This is an order from Himmler, dated 9 October 1942 concerning the Ghetto in Warsaw. It is understood to concern a previous memorandum dealing with the substitution of Polish for Jewish labor. In this order, which was directed to the Defendant Pohl, this distribution list, which is on the second page to the Defendant Pohl, Krueger who was the higher SS Police Leader in the East and who had jurisdiction over the Warsaw area, to Globocnik, who was the SS and Police Leader in Lublin, and Reichsich, Heitshauptamt, RSHA and SS Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff. The Tribunal will recall that Milch testified in the Milch case. This order of Himmler stated that the Jews working in the tailoring, fur, and shoe making work shops in the Ghetto of Warsaw are to be gathered together in a concentration camp in Warsaw and in Lublic, by Krueger and Pohl. Several hundreds of Jews in the General Government, the order goes on to state, who are not in Armament industries are, if possible, to be assigned in the General Goverment and finally, it states that of course, there too the Jews will some day disappear in accordance with the Fuehrer's wishes. This document and a number of documents which all follow the sense that the Jews in Warsaw are to be taken out and removed to Lublin. In Warsaw in the Ghetto, there were a number of industries, which were important for the armament. They were bringing cloth for uniforms. They had taken over various other activities which were important for the German war effort, and by and large they were apparently under private control that is, they had provate industries, in which Jews were employed or operating in the confines of the Ghetto itself.
Himmler wanted to eliminate that. He wanted to get those people out of the Ghetto. He wanted to get them to Lublin under the jurisdiction of Lublin for Lublin's industries were operated by the WVHA, operated as it happened by the Ost industries and that sense runs through all the orders, which first order of 6 October 1942 wants to move out those Jews working in tailoring, fur and shoe shops. The Army gave some resistance to some extent, becuase they thought it would interrupt their flow of does our of Warsaw Ghetto. Himmler was able to override that by promising that this work would maintain their flow of goods by transferring the Jews to Lublin and the object of course was that then they would be under the control of the SS, under the control of the WVHA, under the control of Pohl and not under the control of private institutions.
On page 3, Document NO-1883, I offer Prosecution Exhibit 499. This is a letter to Krueger, dated January 1943 from Himmler. A copy was sent to the RSHA and a copy to Pohl. Here again in this letter Himmler states that he has been in Warsaw and inspected the situation. He notes that there is still 40,000 Jews in Warsaw. In the next few days, 8,000 of them will be shipped out; 32,000 still are in so-called armament plants, and about 24,000 of them in textils and fur plants. This of course was a situation contrary to the order, we have just introduced in 1942, because Himmler told them positively to get them out, get them to Lublin, get them in a concentration camp, so he is lead to say in this letter to Krueger that his earlier order has not been observed and he mentions here the Army inspector, he apparently thinks this Lt. General Schindler had something to do with the fact that these people have not been moved out. He sets up a new time until 15 February 1942, in which he says private firms in the Ghetto are to be eliminated and that the 16,000 Jews are to be transferred to a concentration camp, the best one being Lublin and the private industries between those times dealing with Jews are to be closed up.
Pohl got a copy of that letter.
Again in September 1945, Document DO 2514 which will be Prosecution Exhibit 500. On the letter, the correct date is 16 February 1943. It is shown on the translation as 2 February. I will ask the Tribunal to change that on their copy. This is an order from Himmler direct to Pohl as Chief of the WVHA with a copy to Krueger and Pohl is directed by Himmler to establish a concentration camp in the Ghetto of Warsaw; that all the Jews, he is now amplifying the order to include all Jews, no Jews just in the fur, tailoring and shoe shops, all Jews are to be transferred to this camp private enterprises are to be turned over to the concentration camp and finally in paragraph 4, he says the concentration camps as a whole is to be transferred to Lublin.
Now, this is nothing more than a mechanical way of deporting the Jews from Warsaw to Lublin. The ghetto is Warsaw was a ghetto; it was not a concentration camp, although all the Jews were confined within the ghetto, physically speaking. What Pohl is told to do here is to formally set up a concentration camp as such, to put the Jews in it, to take over the private industries in the ghetto, and then the whole thing is to be transferred to Lublin. He was ordered to do this on the 16th of February 1943, with a copy going to Krueger.
We turn to the next page, Page 6, and find Document NO-2494, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 501. This is an order of the same date, 16 February 1943. It is from Himmler to Krueger. Here he orders him to destroy the ghetto. That is the reason for the order of the same date to Pohl. Pohl is to remove the Jews; Krueger is to direct the destruction. In using the word "destruction," that is exactly what he meant. They were to level the ghetto. This is a rather interesting letter, but I shall not read it at this time. A copy was sent to the Chief of the Security Police and SD, who at this time wan Kaltenbrunner, a defendant before the IMT.
On the next page, Page 7, is Document 2573, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 502. This is a letter from Krueger. It is dated the 2nd of June 1943. This is nothing but a cover letter to a report written by the notorious Brigadefuehrer and Generalmajor of the Police Stroop, who was the SS and Police Leader in Warsaw, who actually supervised the destruction of the ghetto. The report of Stroop attached to this cover letter is a separate document appearing on Page 8; that is to say, Document 1061-PS, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 503. This is a very long document. It runs from Page 8 clear over to Page 110, Pages 56 to 110 being pictures which were a part of the original report. It, of course, is impossible to adequately summarize the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto.
The first part of this report, that part which runs from Page 8 to Page 15, is the last report made by Stroop. It is a summary of previous daily reports which are part of this same document.
This action against the ghetto continued from the 19th of April to along about the latter part of May 1943. Actually, Himmler and I'm sure Stroop and Krueger, together with Pohl, did not expect to have all the trouble they actually had in Warsaw. This order of Himmler's which was issued on the 16th of February was simply another deportation order. There had originally been some 300,000 Jews in Warsaw. They had evacuated into the extermination camps all but about 10,00 at the time this order was issued on 16 February of 1943. So what they really expected to do was to send in a reasonably small police force to gather them together and evacuate them without any trouble and thereafter they would carry out an orderly destruction of the ghetto, if you want to call it that.
But what actually happened was that when they went in with their police force, they met with armed resistance. The Jews had been in there and seen their other 260,000 inhabitants evacuated, never to return, and they very well knew what was going to happen to them if they were evacuated. They had managed to get together a motley collection of arms; and so they put up a resistance. The action as it actually took place dragged out for some thirty days; and during the process, as we see on Page 15, at the top of the page, 56,165 Jews were captured within the ghetto; 7,000 were exterminated during the course of the action; 6,929 were transported to P-2, which is Treblinka 2, which was an extermination camp. As he goes on to say, that means a total of 14,000 Jews exterminated altogether, Additionally some five to fix thousand were killed in explosions and fires.
In this first part of the report the Tribunal will get a very good summary of the establishment of the ghetto. It shows, as I recall it, that they had about ten people living in each room in the ghetto, which was segregated from the rest of the city. The streets were walled up; all the windows, all the doorways were walled up, with no possible access to the rest of Warsaw from the ghetto. It tells you how many were there in 1940 when they were evacuated, how many were evacuated, and then, of course, the report as a whole shows the destruction of the ghetto.
I recommend that the Tribunal read the document completely. You will find that while they killed some 7,000 Jews in this action, very few, relatively few SS men were killed; and there, of course, can be no doubt that it was a very horrible and criminal thing.
There are a number of pictures which are part of the original report. If the Tribunal finds that the photostatic copies which are included in the document book are not clear enough, they can have reference to the exhibit where the pictures are somewhat larger and much clearer.
THE TRIBUNAL (JUDGE MUSMANNO): Mr. McHaney, are the original volumes of this report obtainable? I recall that in the first trial they were submitted, and they were rather lush objects in typography and binding, rather beautifully done.
MR. McHANEY: Yes, I thinks that is quite true, your Honor. They were very elaborate; and I am reasonably sure that the original document is obtainable from the archives of the IMT and is probably right here in Nurnberg. I'm sure that if the Tribunal would request the Secretary General's office to make it available, it could be done.
THE TRIBUNAL (JUDGE MUSMANNO): Yes, very well.
MR. McHANEY: I turn now to Page 110. This is Document NO-2496, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 504. Because of the resistance met in evacuating the Warsaw ghetto, it was, of course, not possible for the defendant Pohl to establish his concentration camp there quite as soon as might otherwise have been expected. So we find here in Document Prosecution Exhibit 504 an order from Himmler to the WVHA. and to Kaltenbrunner, in which he orders that the Dzielna Prison in the former ghetto of Warsaw is to be turned into a concentration camp and that the prisoners are to be used for cleaning up the ghetto, taking out the scrap iron, and so forth.