Q. Now I shall proceed to Document 2376- PS, which is on page 66 of the English, on page 83 of the German, in Document Book No. 18. This is an affidavit of Rudolf Mildner, which the prosecution introduced as Prosecution Exhibit 469. It says on page 2, the following, literally:
"Orders of the Reichsfuehrer-SS Himmler, concerning the type of labor employment of the prisoners and the extermination of the Jews, so far as I could gather from conversations with comrades of the SIPO went directly through Obergruppebfuehrer Pohl, Gruppenfuehrer Gluecks, head of the Amtsgruppe D and the commandants of the concentration camps as "top secret" either written or orally." End of quotation.
I ask you, witness, is it correct that all the Reichsfuehrer-SS Himmler's orders which refer to the extermination of Jews went through your office?
A. No orders went through me that dealt with the extermination of Jews.
Q. I now proceed to Document 3944-PS, Document Book 18 on page 104 of the German, at page 81 of the English. This is an affidavit of Emil Puhl. He used to be the former Vice-President of the German Reichsbank; this was introduced by the prosecution as Exhibit 470. In connection with this exhibit, I ask you, from whom did you receive the order to have negotiations with Vice-President Buhl in this matter?
A. I received the order from Himmler.
Q. Do you know what values they were talking about there and where these values came from?
A. At the time I did not know it. Himmler simply told me that considerable amounts of values that were coming from the Government General and had been confiscated and in the East were to be sent to the German Reichsbank.
Q. What were the arrangements you made with Puhl?
A. First of all I called Vice-President Puhl -- I called him up by telephone and I asked him whether his minister who had spoken to Himmler about this matter had informed him about it. He said that he had heard about it.
However, he forbade me to tell anybody about it and to call on him in the Reichsbank. I did that, and we agreed that everyone of his collaborators' staff had to have an expert with him who could then work on the further execution of this matter. Then later on I transferred Hauptsturmfuehrer Melmer from my own staff of the WVHA for that particular task. I ordered him in case such a transport should arrive at Berlin to see to it from the WVHA that the transport be immediately forwarded to the Reichsbank. I expressly forbade him to take anything from those transports into the WVHA. I forbade him to open it or to bring it to any closer contact with the WVHA, but to limit him self to forwarding them to the Reichsbank and deliver them there.
Q. How was it the clearing took place with the Reichsbank?
A. The clearing with the Reichsbank did not take place. The transports that were coming in were transferred to the Reichsbank for good.
Q. Did you ever see one of those transports yourself.
A. No, I saw no such transport.
Q. These deliveries, were they in connection with the fund that had been mentioned by Funk concerning the financing of SS enterprises?
A. We had no fund with Funk.
Q. However, you know that such a fund has been mentioned?
A. No.
Q. Now, I shall proceed to Document NO-724, on page 85 of the English in Document Book 18, on page 108 of the German. This is a letter of the Defendant Frank to the SS administrator in Lublin and to the Chief of the Administration of the concentration camp of Auschwitz. The letter is dated 26 September, 1942. The subject of this letter is the use of property of Jews who had been resettled and I ask you now, Witness, who was it that issued the necessary orders for that?
A. I assume that the orders had been issued by Himmler. However, I couldn't say anything further about this matter, because I did not work on that myself.
Q. With reference to the development of the so-called Reinhardt Action, the prosecution Exhibits Nos.
473, 475 deal with it -
JUDGE PHILLIPS: Going back to Prosecution Exhibit 472, this letter that Counsel has just asked you about is signed by Frank, Defendant Frank. Defendant Frank was your immediate subordinate, was he not?
WITNESS: Yes.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: Didn't he discuss a matter of this importance with you?
WITNESS: I couldn't tell that for sure, because the whole matter is based on Himmler's decree.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: He was working under you, this defendant, and you mean to say that he didn't discuss a matter of this importance with you and let you know what he was doing about it?
WITNESS: It is possible that we might have discussed this letter.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: A matter of this importance -- all this money -he didn't discuss it with you at all?
WITNESS: Yes, he might have discussed it with me.
Q. Then I shall proceed to Prosecution Exhibit 473 to 475. These are the documents NO-056, NO-060, and NO-061 in Document Book No. 18 and on pages 114, 116, and 118 in the German and on pages 92 and 94 of the English. These documents deal with the development of the Action Reinhardt. I ask you now, Witness, what did you know at the time about the so-called Reinhardt Action? Who did you transfer the values to and what was the procedure used when doing so?
A. The first time that I heard of the Reinhardt Action in this form was after the examination of the report which Standartenfuehrer Vogt had written in June 1943 in Lublin, when he had audited the funds there and on that opportunity came across certain money that had come in and came from Reinhardt's action. Prior to that, a report had been sent through Amtsgruppe B to Himmler a few months prior to that which dealt with the delivery of textiles but I could not gain a clear picture from that because the entire matter had been kept very secret especially by Globocnik. After the auditing in June 1943 for the first time this term "Reinhardt Action" came up. The Reinhardt Action or, rather, this report was held by Globocnik until the end of 1943 and on the basis of one of Himmler's decrees we had to take over the further execution of the entire matter as of the 1st of January 1944, that is how things went.
Q. I shall now proceed to Document NO-606, which was introduced by the prosecution as Exhibit 151. It was already in Document Book 5 before. It's in Document Book No. 18 on pare 128 of the German and on page 123 of the English Document Book. In connection with this document, Witness, I wish to ask you, did the WVHA exert a control over the stocks of clothing that were in Lublin and Auschwitz?
A. No, we had no control over that.
Q. I shall now proceed to Document NO-1257. It is in Document Book No. 18, on page 128 of the English and on page 133 of the German Document Book. This is a report which you wrote on the 6th of February 1943, concerning textiles and material that could be used after the Jews had been resettled. The prosecution introduced this document as Exhibit 479. I ask you now, Witness, upon whose orders were these stocks delivered to the organizations that received them, as is stated in this report?
A. These organizations were defined by Himmler and they were reported to us by Brandt from his personal staff.
Q. As part of the Document NO-1257, the prosecution introduced a letter from the Reichsfuehrer SS of the 15th of January 1943, which is addressed both to you and the SS-Oberpruppenfuehrer Krueger. I ask you what steps did you take after receiving this letter? This letter is on page 137 of the German Document Book.
A. Yes. Well, there was a conference about this letter between Krueger and myself. Krueger then, as this whole matter happened within his sphere of activity had this matter taken care of by his economic expert.
Q. Obergruppenfuehrer Krueger was the Higher SS and Police Leader East with his main office in Cracow, is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. I shall now proceed to Document NO-3034. This document is in Document Book No. 19. It is on page 21 of the German Document Book.
THE PRESIDENT: You went very lightly over this letter from Himmler to Pohl and Krueger. You asked for an explanation of it, but I don't know what it was.
DR. SEIDL: Your Honor, you mean the letter of Himmler to Obergruppenfuehrer Krueger and Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl of the 15th of January 1943?
THE PRESIDENT: In which Himmler says: "I request Pohl to clear up and arrange these matters to the last detail, as the strictest accuracy now will spare us much vexation later." Well, what did Pohl do when Himmler said that he expected him to clear up and arrange these matters? Did you get this letter?
WITNESS: Yes, I received this letter.
THE PRESIDENT: And what did you do about it?
WITNESS: I saw the contents of this letter and I discussed Himmler's order with Obergruppenfuehrer Krueger. We met in Berlin. I believe that he came to Berlin quite often and, as he was the Higher SS and Police Leader, we agreed that he discuss the matter with his administrative agency that he clear up the matter by employing a person that he had on his staff in Cracow. We agreed entirely in this matter.
THE PRESIDENT: Everybody discussed it and agreed, but what did you do about it -- anything?
WITNESS: Well, as we had agreed about that, Krueger took over the carrying out of this order. We agreed as far as the execution was concerned, and he took it over, because it was within his sphere of activities, through his administration, you see.
THE PRESIDENT: In spite of Himmler's having designated you, Kruger took it over?
WITNESS: Well, one of the two could do it.
THE PRESIDENT: All right.
WITNESS: Because after all we would have to use a special man for that purpose. It was simpler, much simpler this way.
THE PRESIDENT: I don't suppose that Krueger is dead, is he?
WITNESS: I do not know that, Your Honor.
Q. I shall now proceed to Document NO-3034, which is in Document Book No. 19. It is on page 21 of the German and on page 18 of the English Document Book. This document was introduced as Exhibit 485 of the Prosecution. It is a letter of Himmler dated the 22nd of September, 1943, and it is addressed to you as Chief of the WVHA and also to SS-Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik. In connection with this letter, I ask you, Witness, did Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik after the 31st of December 1943 hand over to you the account on the Fund Reinhardt I which we are discussing here?
A. Yes, the WVHA the first of January 1944 took over the entire development of Action Reinhardt, or Reinhardt Action.
Q. I shall now proceed to five other documents. They refer to a correspondence between Globocnik and Himmler. As between Globocnik and yourself this was introduced by the Prosecution as Nos. 487, 488, 489 and 450. The correspondence concerning Action Reinhardt is the subject of this matter. The documents in detail consist of the following: NO-064, Document Book No. 19, at page 22 of the German, and Page 22 of the English Document Books; Document NO-059, on page 29 of the German Document book, and on page 27 of the English Document Book. Furthermore, Document NO-062, on page 34 of the German and page 31 of the English Document books, and then Document NO-063, on page 37 of the German and page 35 of the English Document Books. In the face of these documents I will ask you, witness, how was it that SS-Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik carried out the special task "G" of the WVHA?
A. The special task "G" in the WVHA never existed, and SS-Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik never did belong to the WVHA, and he was not subordinate to me. The special department "G" as special task "G", as he called it, was a special administrative department which he had set up in Lublin for the execution of his task. He set that up himself, because later I had seen in Lublin in June 1943, in the auditing department there, that the personnel at that local administration, which was subordinate to him, had been transferred to him for the execution of his task, and with this personnel, by using additional help, which was at his disposal as SS and Police Leader, he formed this special task "G". This department, however, never did belong to the WVHA.
Q. Did he ever have at his disposal any personnel from the WVHA?
A. I did not detail one single man to Lublin for this particular purpose from Berlin.
Q. I shall now proceed to Document NO-059, which I already mentioned and which is introduced as Exhibit No. 488. Globocnik reports here that these helps came from the WVHA, is that correct?
A. That can only be understood to mean that the personnel of the Standort Administration of Lublin, as expert personnel, was part of the WVHA. But once detailed the personnel came under the authority of the Higher SS and Police Leader. The personnel of this Standort Administration at Lublin had not been detailed to Lublin for this purpose. It was already there prior to that, and Globocnik simply used this personnel for his own purpose without asking me.
Q. In the same document it states in the second paragraph on page 29 of the German, and on page 27 of the English Document Books, and I shall quote: "The use and materialization of the valuables were carried out according to the directives of Reichsfuehrer SS." I ask you now if you know of the directives, or these regulations respectively of the Reichsfuehrer -SS?
A. The directives of the Reichsfuehrer SS must have come to us, as we were later on dealing with the development of the whole matter. The disposition of the directives that took place in WVHA did take place. That was the reason why they should have been known to us.
Q. If I understand you correctly you say that the WVHA was only winding up this matter with the competent Reich Agencies. Which were these Reich agencies?
A. First of all the Reich Finance Ministry, with the Reich Main Treasury, and the Reichsbank of Berlin, as far as the textiles were concerned, the Reich Economy Ministry was competent, and, apart from that in this auditing also the Reichsrechnunghof took part, that is, the Reich Auditing Department.
Q. These values, were they actually transferred to the WVHA, or did the WVHA only deal with the balancing and accounting of them?
A. I have given my men a clear order that the values which come from Lublin to me to be transferred immediately to the Reichsbank, for the WVHA was located in a number of renting houses, and I had no security measures, to be able to keep such valuables in there for even one night.
THE PRESIDENT: This report I am reading from, Exhibit No. 488, says that jewels, trinkets, watches and the like were assorted according to their value, and were delivered to the main Office for Economy and Administration. Was that you?
THE WITNESS: Yes, that is I.
A. Then under 5: "Valuable items of different type, such as stamps, coins, and the like were assorted and delivered to the SS Main Office for Economy and Administration," and that is you?
A. Yes.
A. Is that statement true? Were they delivered to you?
A. That statements true. This statement is true. However, they were not transferred to me.
Q. Well, what do you mean by that. Were they delivered to you, and you say yes, but "they were not transferred to me."
A. No, the valuables were not delivered to the WVHA. These were not accepted there, but through the WVHA they were transferred to the Reichsbank. That is what was said in paragraph 2, Your Honor.
Q. You were used as the channel for getting them into the Reichsbank?
A. Yes.
Q. So you knew that transaction was going on?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And you knew where the property came from?
A. Yes, I knew that they came from Auschwitz and Lublin.
Q. Did you see the report of the total amount of property taken from the East?
A. Yes, I saw that report, yes.
Q. Exhibit No. 489?
A. Yes.
Q. There were four and one-half million Reichsmarks in bank notes?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you see that?
A. Yes. Yes.
Q. There were a million and three-quarter Reichsmarks in coins and currency?
A. Yes.
Q. And there were thirty-six million and more in jewels and other valuables?
A. Yes.
Q. No, forty-three million.
A. Yes.
Q. And nearly nine million in precious metals?
A. Yes.
Q. Where did you think that all came from?
A. Your Honor, this did not arise as a delivery in one single transaction or transfer.
Q. Oh, no I know that.
A. The set up here, however, was that I received those lists after the action was completed.
Q. All right. When you did get the list of the grand total, where did you think those millions of marks came from?
A. When I got the report then I could account with some sort of an idea that might have had something to do with the extermination of the Jews.
Q. Well, you had a good idea, not some sort of an idea; you knew exactly where it came from, didn't you?
A. I did not know against whom it was directed, however, I could imagine that it was in connection with the extermination of the Jews. That was clear to me.
Q. You knew it was not a present from somebody?
A. Yes, I knew that.
Q. You knew it was taken away front somebody?
A. Yes, I knew that, too.
Q. And you suspected it was the Jews?
A. Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Good night.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal will adjourn until 9:30 o'clock tomorrow morning.
(The Tribunal adjourned to 22 May 1947 at 0930 hours)
Official Transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the matter of the United States of America against Oswald Pohl, et al., defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 22 May 1947, 0930, Justice Toms presiding.
THE MARSHAL: All persons in the court, please take their seats.
The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal No. 2 Military Tribunal No. 2 is now in session.
God save the United States of America and this Honorable Tribunal.
There will be order in the court.
OSWALD POHL - Resumed DIRECT EXAMINATION (Continued) BY DR. SEIDL:
Q Witness, we stopped yesterday at Document NO-059. That was introduced as Prosecution Exhibit 488. It is in Document 19 on page 29 of the German and page 27 of the English Document Book. This is a report concerning the administrative development of the Reinhardt Action, which had been written up by SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Globocnik; it says there under paragraph I of this document, and I shall quote:
"The remarkable thing of the account is that the collection of the revenue was not absolutely binding as the collection of the stocks was only carried out on order and only the decency and purity and also the supervision of the SS-men employed in this operation could guarantee an absolute delivery.
"However, what had been seized and collected then and taken by the Department Reinhardt, has been accounted for and delivered with the greatest expediency and without defrauding."
I ask you, witness, in this connection who was in charge of the Abteilung Reinhardt, which is mentioned here in this document?
A The Department Reinhardt probably belonged to the administrative apparatus which Globocnik himself set up in Lublin.
Q Then the paragraph, which I just mentioned goes on:
"A preliminary examination prior to 1 April 1943 by SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Vogt of the SS WVHA has already taken place and proved to be in correct order. For the rest, the preliminary examination has still to be carried out. On the basis of an agreement with the Reich Finance Ministry this preliminary examination is final and, without the Reich Accounting Court, the vouchers and documents will be destroyed in accordance with secrecy regulations."
I ask you now, witness, who was it that made the preliminary examination which is mentioned here by SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Vogt?
A I myself ordered this preliminary examination. Competent for the examination was the Economic Expert at Cracow. He came to see me in Berlin and complained about the fact that Globocnik was preventing him from carrying out the checking of the local fund of Lublin. Thereupon I said, "All right then, I shall send somebody from Berlin." Thereupon I sent Obersturmbannfuehrer Vogt to carry out the checking of the treasury of Standort Lublin.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: Is this the defendant in this case you are referring to, Defendant Vogt?
WITNESS: Yes, Your Honor.
Q Who was it that gave orders for the use of Reichmarks and foreign currency for the camps needs of the camps and in what connection is the credit of 13,000,000 to the German Economic Enterprises GMBH? Did you approve this fund?
AAs long as these valuables remained in Lublin, Globocnik could do anything he wanted to with it, but I used these amounts from the Standortuerwaltung Lublin. I was not asked. With reference to the credit of 13,000,000, to the German Economic Enterprises, the matter was the following: Due to strong orders for armament which started coming in after 1943 to the armament enterprises there was a lack of capital. Therefore, I made up my mind to write to the Reichs Finance Ministry in order to ask for a large credit, because the orders which came to the W-Enterprises, that is the Armament Enterprises, came exclusively from the Minister of Armament and War Production and from the Reich Air Ministry, which financed them, and in the last resort, from the Reich Ministry of Finance.
Therefore, I detailed Defendant Frank on the occasion of the report on the funds of Action Reinhardt, which had already been transferred to the WVHA to discuss this loan with the Reich Finance Ministry. Frank reported to me at the time that the Reich Ministry of Finance had nothing against a loan, although interest would have to be paid on it, also had nothing against using registered moneys of the Reinhardt fund. Then these last funds amounting to approximately 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 marks were used for the loan and the amount of approximately 18,000,000, I then took from the current Reich fund. As far as the total of 30,000,000 is concerned, it was a loan contract with the Reich.
Q How was it that the transfer of the other fund was carried out to the Reichsbank?
AAll other funds, that is, particularly for exchange, were given to the Reichsbank for final disposition. A compensation to the WVHA, or a crediting or identification did not take place.
Q What happened to the various jewels, watches, etc. what happened to them?
A The jewels also were transferred to the Reichsbank, and the watches and fountain pens were sent to Orienburg where they were fixed again in the workshops they had there. These watches and fountain pens were distributed by Himmler to the units of the Waffen-SS, the Army and the Navy.
Q What were the orders that were issued concerning textiles?
A With regard to textile, negotiations were carried out with the Reich Economic Ministry. However I do not remember that they were carried out by Globocnik, or by us. The Economic Ministry in any case requested the transfer of textile immediately to the textile factories, where they wore used as old material, and the textiles were distributed and usually were transferred to those agencies which Himmler designated, say, the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, and others.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Dr. Seidl, I would like to ask a question. Did the recipients of those various articles, watches, fountain pens and so on, knew from whence they came from?
THE WITNESS: The final recipients did not know that, because they were the soldiers. They did know they came from the WVHA, of course, that it was the WVHA they got it from. They could not possibly assume -
Q Well, were they given as outright gifts, or were they purchased?
A No, generally speaking they were distributed to these various units of Himmler's on Christmas. I had to set up lists by the WVHA, and they had to be set up according to divisions, and every division then received then a number of those things on the basis of this list, and the division commander then distributed them on to the various soldiers.
Q Then the division commanders, or all the intermediaries immediately preceding the actual recipients of the articles must have know that these articles were stolen property?
A No, they could not know that, Your Honor. I think it is impossible that individual soldiers knew that.
Q It was a pretty well kept secret then?
A They received them as gifts from their division commander, and receiving them from their commanders in the company, they would not have any knowledge were they came from.
Q Some of the articles must have carried evidence of wear, and it seems to me inevitable that a query would have been raised somewhere along the line where these articles came from?
A The soldiers could not see that, Your Honor.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Very well, that is all.
BY DR. SEIDL:
Q Let's proceed to document No. 519, in document book 19, on page 4 of the German and page 41 of the English document Books. This is a correspondance regarding the Osti in 1943, which was introduced by the Prosecution as Exhibit No. 490, and has reference to the taking over of the Jewish plants with Ghetto of Litzmannstadt by the Osti. I ask you, did you have anything to do with the transformation of the camp at Litzmannstadt into a concentration camp?
A No, the transformation of the Ghetto Litzmannstadt into a concentration camp had been ordered by Himller in July 1943 for the first time. However, this did not occur, and in December 1943 Himmler gave another order to the same effect. Thereupon, in January 1944 I detailed Vogt and Baier to Litzmannstadt, who were to report to me about the conditions there. In a short while, however, in February 1944, I had received this letter of the Reichsstatthalter in which it told me that Himmler had been there, and had canceled the transformation of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto into a concentration camp, and the matter was done with sofar as I was concerned.
Q Then to proceed to Document No-1271, which is on page 64 of the English Document Book No. 19 and on page 65 of the German. This is a report about to the auditing of the Osti, that is, from the beginning of this Osti enterprise until the end of the enterprise, 27 February 1944, and the document was introduced by the Prosecution as Exhibit No. 491. Do you know of this audit report, witness, and have you anything to add to the statement shown therein?
A This audit report was known to me at the time. I have nothing to add to it.
Q In connection with the introduction of the evidence in Exhibit Nos. 493 to 497, I will ask you, witness, what was the reason that contributed to the dissolution of the Osti GMBH, and what was the reason for it that it resumed work a little while later temporarily.
The relevant documents here are Documents No-1906, in Document Book 19, on page 90 of the English and page 98 of the German Document Books; No.1268, on page 99 of the English, and page 107 of the German Documents Books, Document No-726, on page 100 of the English and page 108 of the German Documents Books. Document No-2074, on page 103 of the English and page 111 of the German Document Books, Document No-2130, on page 107 of the English and page 114 of the German.
A The Osti was dissolved because all labor was removed from that factory. In November 1943, the liquidation later on was interrupted, because the Glasshutte which belonged Osti was to be kept going. The work was done on Polish labor, on orders from the Wehrmacht.
Q I have to concluding questions within that complex, witness. Did you yourself participate in any conference which dealt with the final solution of the Jewish problem, and did you ever issue orders to that effect?
A I did not participate in any conference which dealt with the final solution of the Jewish question; nor did I issue any kind of orders which were aiming at this final solution.
Q Did you yourself, or any other department of the WVHA ever issue an order which referred to the confiscation of Jewish property?
A No, such an order neither I nor any of the members of the WVHAcould issue, because we had no right of confiscation. In each case we would have had to refer to the State authority of that particular area, or then to the Gestapo, or the secret state Police, but I myself I could not do that.
Q I shall proceed to Document Book No. 20 which deals with the Warsaw Ghetto, and I want you to look at Document No-1611, on page 1 of the English and page 1 of the German document books, in Document Book No. 20. It was introduced by the Prosecution as Exhibit No, 498, as alter of the Reichsfuehrer SS of 9 October 1942, in the distribution list of which you are also mentioned. The letter deals with allocation of Jewish labor within the concentration camps, and in connection with this document I will ask you, witness, what were the reasons of compelling Himmler to take such a step, and what was the relationship between the Armament Inspectorate and the local SS-commander, who are mentioned in the Documents?
A The reasons which led to this measure of Himmler's were to be found in the basic conditions which developed in the armament field and the Government-General. The armament Inspectorate of the Wehrkreis Commander-SS and the Police Leaders were confronted already with the charge here.
The Army Inspectorate took the armament industries out of the Reich and took them into the Government General. That was during the transfer of enterprises where certain conditions developed which led Himmler to take that step. Enterprises already existing were being used by these private armament industries. The Jewish labor that was there was also being used to a high extent, and certain conditions developed out of that which were strongly corrupt. On the other hand, however, with regard to the SS and Police Leaders, and within their own sphere of activities, similar conditions had developed, where everyone in his own area wanted to open up his own enterprises. In these conditions the total lack of success of the armament industry can be explained and in order to clear up this matter Himmler took the measures which he described in this document.
Q. As Exhibit 499 the Prosecution introduced the letter of Himmler to Obergruppenfuehrer Krueger. The date cannot be seen clearly from here, but it seems January, 1943. This is Document NO-1882, Document Book No. 20, on Page 3, of both the German and English copies. The orders that are described in this document, were they ordered for the same reasons as were those measures discussed in the document cited before?
A. These measures are in connection with the orders which he issued in the document prior to this one.
Q. I shall then come to Document NO-2514, Document Book No. 20, on page 5 of the English and the German copy, the letter of the Reichsfuehrer-SS.
THE PRESIDENT: The date of this document it seems should be in 1942, in view of the statement in the document itself which says, "Now I once more set a term until 15 February 1942 when the following things are to be accomplished." Either that date should be 1943 or the date of the letter should be 1942.
DR. SEIDL: In my document I have the following sentence, your Honor.
That is in the fourth paragraph. "Now I once more set a term until the 15th of February, 1943, when the following things have to be accomplished." I have to draw the conclusion from that this letter might be dated January, 1943. It cannot be seen from my document.
THE PRESIDENT: In the English document it says February, 1942. That probably should be changed to 1943.
DR. SEIDL: Yes, your Honor. It would be a good idea perhaps, your Honor, to have the original here of this document in order to be able to judge on the basis of the photostatic copy or the original which date is the correct one.
THE PRESIDENT: All right.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: Dr. Seidl, it is evidently 1943 because there is another order about the date, the 9th of October, 1942, in the previous document.
DR. SEIDL: Yes, Your Honor.
Q. (By Dr. Seidl) Then I shall proceed to Document NO-2514, Document Book No. 20, on Page 5 of both the English and German copy. It was introduced as Prosecution's Exhibit 500, and is a letter of the Reichsfuehrer-SS to you of the 16th of February, 1943. It deals with the establishing of the concentration camp in the Warsaw Ghetto, and I ask you now, Witness, was this concentration camp actually established?
A. This concentration camp was actually established a few months later. That was approximately in July, 1943.
Q. Then I shall proceed to Document NO-2494, Document Book No. 20 on page 6 of both the German and English copies. It was introduced as Prosecution's Exhibit 501. It is a letter of the Reichsfuehrer-SS Himmler to Krueger, the Higher SS and Police Leader, East, dated 16 February, 1943, in which the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto is being ordered. I ask you now, Witness, did you know the contents of this order, and were you in any connection with the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto?