"In order to prevent, if possible, similar occurrences in the future, I therefore order that, effective from today on, Soviet Russians, declared definitely suspect and obviously marked by death (for example with typhus) and who therefore would not be able to withstand the exertions of even a short march on foot, shall in the future, as a matter of basic principle, be excluded from the transport into the concentration camps for execution." concentration camps is found in an official report of the Flossenburg concentration camp by the Headquarters of the United States Third Army, the Judge Advocate Section, and particularly the War Crimes Branch, under date of the 21st day of June, 1945. It is our Document No. 2309-PS and bears USA Exhibit No. 245. At the bottom of page 2 of the English text, the last two sentences of that last paragraph say, and I quote:
"In 1941 an additional stockade was added at the FLOSSENBURG CAMP, to hold 2,000 Russian prisoners. From these 2,000 prisoners only 102 survived." camps, too; and at page 4 of this same Document No. 2309-PS, it will show, particularly paragraph 5, on page 4, and I quote it:
"The victims of FLOSSENBURG included among the Russian, civilians and prisoners of war, German nationals, Italians, Belgians, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, British and American prisoners of war. No practical means was available to complete a list of victims of this camp, however, since the foundation of the Camp in 1938 until the day of liberation it is estimated that more than 29,000 inmates died." conspirators, and these camps were especially set up as extermination centers, and we refer to Document No. 1630-PS, bearing USA Exhibit No.246. This document is a communication from the Secret State Police of Cologne and it is dated the 4th day of March, 1944.
At the very top of the English text it says "To be transmitted in secret -- to be handled as a secret Government matter."
In the third paragraph, quoting: "Concerning measures to be taken against captured escaped prisoners of war who are officers or non-working non-commissioned officers, except British and American prisoners of war. The Supreme Command of the Army has ordered as follows:"
"1. Every captured escaped prisoner of war who is an officer or a non-working non-commissioned officer, except British and American prisoners of war, is to be turned over to the Chief of the Security Police and of the Security Service under the classification 'Stop III' regardless of whether the escape occurred during a transport, whether it was a mass escape or an individual one.
"2. Since the transfer of the prisoners of war to the security police and security service may not become officially known to the outside under any circumstances other prisoners of war may by no means be informed of the capture. The captured prisoners are to be reported to the Army Information Bureau as 'escaped and not captured'. Their mail is to be handled accordingly. Inquiries of representatives of the Protective Power of the International Red Cross and of other aid societies will be given the same answer." Mueller, acting for the Chief of the Security Police and SD, directing the Gestapo to transport escaped prisoners directly to Mauthausen; and I quote the first two paragraphs of Mueller's order, which begin on the bottom of page 1 and run over to page 2 of the English text. Quoting:
"The State Police Directorates will accept the captured escaped officer prisoners of war from the prisoner of war camp commandants and will transport then to the Concentration Camp Mauthausen following the procedure previously used, unless the circumstances render a special transport imperative. The prisoners of war are to be put in irons on the transport - not on the station if it is subject to view by the public. The camp commandant at Mauthausen is to be notified that the transfer occurs within the scope of the action 'Kugel'. The State Police Directorates will submit semi-yearly reports on these transfers giving merely the figures, the first report being due on 5 July 1944 (Sharp)."
Passing the next three sentences, we come to this line:
"For the sake of secrecy, the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces has been requested to inform the Prisoner of war camps to turn the captured prisoners over to the local State.
Police Office and not to send them directly to Mauthausen." word 'Kugel' is the English word "bullet," since Mauthausen, where the escaped prisoners were sent, was an extermination center. camps over all of Europe. In this connection, we refer to Document No. R-129. It is a report on the location of concentration camps, signed by Pohl, who was an SS General, who was in charge of concentration camp labor policies. Document No. R-129, bears our U.S.A. Exhibit No 217. and 2 of this document, which are found on page 1 of the English translation. It is addressed to the Reichsfuehrer SS and bears the stamp "Secret." Reichsfuehrer: Today I report about the present situation of the concentration camps and about measures I have taken in order to carry out your order of the 3rd March 1942:
"1. At the outbreak of war there existed the following concentration camps:
a. Dachau - 1939, 4,000 prisoners; today 8,000.
b. Sachsenhausen - 1939, 6,500 prisoners; today 10,000.
c. Buchenwald - 1939, 5,300 prisoners; today 9,000.
d. Mauthausen - 1939, 1,500 prisoners; today 5,500.
e. Flossenburg - 1939, 1,600 prisoners; today 4,700.
f. Ravensbrueck - 1939, 2,500 prisoners; today 7,500." And then it goes on to say in paragraph number 2: quoting: "In the years 1940 to 1942 nine further camps were erected:
a. Auschwitz b. Neuengamme.
c. Guson.
d. Natzweiler.
e. Gross-Rosen.
f. Lublin.
g. Niederhagen.
h. Stutthof.
i. Arbeitsdorf." this Document R-129, from which I have just read these names and figures, there were many, many others. I refer to the official report by the United States Third Army Headquarters, to which we have already made reference, Document No. 2309-PS, on page 2 in the English text, Section IV, paragraph 4, Quoting:
"Concentration Camp Flossenburg was founded in 1938 as a camp for political prisoners. Construction was commenced on the camp in 1938 and it was not until April 1940 that the first transport of prisoners was received. From this time on prisoners began to flow steadily into the camp. (Exh. B-1). Flossenburg was the mother camp and under its direct control and jurisdiction were 47 satellite camps or outer-commandos for male prisoners and 27 camps for female workers. To these outercommandos were supplied the necessary prisoners for the various work projects undertaken.
"Of all these outer-commandos Horsbruck and Leitmeritz (in Czechoslovakia) Oberstaubling, Malsen and Sall, located on the Danube, were considered to be the worst." of the Nazi concentration camps which dotted the map of Europe. We feel that the widespread use of these camps is commonly known and notorious. We do, however, wish to invite the Tribunal's attention to a chart which we have had prepared. The solid black line marks the boundary of Germany after the Anschluss, and we call to the Tribunal's attention the fact that the majority of the camps shown on the chart are located within the territorial limits of Germany itself. They are the red spots, of course, on the map. In the center of Germany there is the Buchenwald camp located near the city of Weimar, and at the extreme bottom of the chart there is Dachau, several miles outside of Munich. At the top of the chart are Nouengamma and Bergen-Belsen, located near Hamburg. To the left is the Neiderhagen camp in the Ruhr Valley.
In the upper right there are a number of camps near Berlin, one named Sachsenhausen (formerly Orianenburg, which was one of the first camps established after the Nazis came into power). Near to that is the camp of Ravensbruck which was used exclusively for women.
Some of the most notorious camps were located indeed outside of Germany. Mauthausen was in Austria. In Poland was the infamous Auschwitz; and to the left of the chart is a camp called Hertogenbosch and this one was located in Holland, as the chart shows: and below it is Natzweiler, located in France. that surrounding each of the major camps - the larger red dots - is a group of satellite camps, and the names of the principal camps, the most notorious camps, at least, are above the map and below it on the chart; and those names, for most people, symbolize the Nazi system of concentration camps as they have become known to the world since May or a little later in 1945. which was meted out in these camps. The motion picture to which I have made reference a short time ago and which was shown to the members of this High Tribunal, has disclosed the terrible and savage treatment which was inflicted upon these Allied nationals, prisoners of war and other victims of Nazi terror. Because the moving picture has so well shown the situation as of the time of its taking at least, I shall confine myself to a very brief discussion of the subject. we say, directly related to the objectives which these Nazi conspirators sort to achieve outside of the camps through their employment of terror. "Concentration camps" rolled off the lips of these men. How simple all problems became when they could turn to the terror institution of the concentration camps. I refer to Document No. R-124, which is already before the Tribunal as U.S.A. Exhibit 179. It is again that document covering the minutes of the Central Planning Committee on which the Defendant Speer sat, and where the high strategy of the high Nazi armament production was formulated. I do not intend to read from the document again, because I read from it this morning, to illustrate another point, but the Tribunal will recall that it was at this meeting that the Defendant Speer and others were discussing the so-called slackers, and the conversation had to do with having drastic steps taken against these workers who were not putting out sufficient work to please their masters.
Speer suggested that "there is nothing to be said against the SS and Police taking steps and putting those known as slackers into concentration camps", and he used the words "concentration camps". And he said "Let it happen several times and the news will soon get around." victims. As for getting the news around, as suggested by the Defendant Speer, this was not left to chance, as we shall presently show. was a carefully planned thing. To heighten the atmosphere of terror, these camps were shrouded in secrecy. What went on in the barbed wire enclosures was a matter of fearful conjecture in Germany and countries under Nazi control; and this was the policy from the very beginning, when the Nazis first came into power and set up this system of concentration camps. we refer now to Document No. 778-PS, which bears U.S.A. Exhibit No.247. This document is an order issued on the 1st of October 1933, by the camp commander of Dachau. The document prescribed a program of floggings, solitary confinement and executions for the inmates for infractions of the rules. ing conditions within the camp; and I refer to the first page of the English text, paragraph numbered Article 11, and quoting:
"By virtue of the law on revolutionaries, the following offenders, considered as agitators, will be hung. Anyone who, for the purpose of agitating, does the following in the camp, at work, in the quarters, in the kitchens and workshops, toilets and places of rest; politicizes, holds inciting speeches and meetings, forms cliques, loiters around with others; who for the purpose of supplying the propaganda of the opposition with atrocity stories, collects true or false information about the concentration camp and its institution; receives such information, buries it, talks about it to others, smuggles it out of the camp into hands of foreign visitors or others by means of clandestine or other methods, passes it on in writing or orally to released prisoners or prisoners who are placed above them, conceals it in clothing or other articles, throws stones and other objects over the camp wall containing such information; or produces sacred documents; who, for the purpose of agitating, climbs on barracks' roofs and trees, seeks contact with the outside by giving light or other signals, or induces others to escape or commit a crime, gives them advices to that effect or supports such undertakings in any way whatsoever."
an officially inspired rumor campaign outside the camps. Concentration camps were spoken of in whispers, and the whispers were spread by agents of the secret police. When the Defendant Speer said that if the threatening of the concentration camp were used the news would get around soon enough, he knew whereof he spoke.
We refer to Document 1531-PS. With reference to this document, I wish to submit a word of explanation. The original German text, the original German document, the captured document was here in the Document Room and was translated into English as our translation shows. Yesterday, we were advised that it has either been lost or misplaced, the original German text, and unfortunately no photostatic copy was available here in Nurnberg. A certified copy is, however, being sent to the office here from Frankfurt and it is on its way today, and I ask the Tribunal's permission to offer the English translation of the German original, which is certified to be accurate by the translator, into evidence, subject to a motion to strike it if the certified copy of the original German document does not arrive.
Now, I refer to the Document No. 1531-PS. It bears our USA Exhibit No. 248. This document is marked "Top Secret," and it is addressed to all State Police, District Offices, and to the Gestapo Office, and for the Inspectors of the Security Police and the SD. It is an order relating to concentration camps, issued by the head of the Gestapo, and I read from the English text, beginning with the second paragraph, and quoting directly:
"In order to achieve a further deterrent effect, the following must, in future, be observed in each individual case.
"3. The length of the period of custody must in no case be made known, even if the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police or the Chief of the Security Police and the SD has already fixed it.
"The term of commitment to a concentration camp is to be openly announced as 'until further notice'.
"In most serious cases, there is no objection to the increasing of the deterrent effect by the spreading of cleverly carried out rumor propaganda, more or less to the effect that, according to hearsay, in view of the seriousness of his case, the arrested man will not be released for 2 or 3 years.
"4. In certain cases, the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police will order flogging in addition to detention in a concentration camp. Orders of this kind will, in future, also be transmitted to the State Police District Office concerned. In this case, too, there is no objection to spreading the rumor of this increased punishment as laid down in Section 3, paragraph 3, in so far as this appears suitable, to add to the deterrent effect.
"5. Naturally, particularly suitable and reliable people are to be chosen for the spreading of such news."
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, the Tribunal think that they will take judicial notice of that United States Document No. 2309, and for the convenience of the Defence Counsel, the Tribunal having sat until one will not sit again until two-fifteen.
MR. DODD: Very well, your Honor.
(Whereupon, at 1305 hours the hearing of the Tribunal recessed to reconvene at 1415 hours.)
MR. THOMAS DODD: May it please the Tribunal, the deterrent effect of the concentration camps was based on the promise of brutal treatment. Once in the custody of the SS guards, the victim was beaten, tortured, starved, and often murdered through the so-called "extermination through work" program which I described the other day, or through the mass execution gas chambers and furnaces of the camps, which were shown several days ago on the moving picture screen in this court room. additional evidence of the conditions within the concentration camps. the Tribunal has taken judicial notice, I now refer to again, particularly to the second page of the English text, beginning with the third sentence of the second paragraph:
"The work at these camps mainly consisted of underground labor, the purpose being the construction of large underground factories, storage rooms, etc. This labor was performed completely underground and as a result of the brutal treatment, Working and living conditions, a daily average of 100 prisoners died. To the one camp OBERSTAUBLING, 700 prisoners were transported in February 1945, and on the 15th of April 1945 only 405 of these men were living. During the 12 months preceding the liberation, FLOSSENBURG and the branch camps under its control accounted for the death of 14,539 male inmates and 1,300 women. These figures represent the deaths as were obtained from the available records in the camp. However, they are in no way complete, as many secret mass executions and deaths took place. In 1941 an additional stockade was added at the FLOSSENBURG CAMP, to hold 2,000 Russian prisoners.
From these 2,000 prisoners only 102 survived. dealing in death. Although this camp had in view the primary object of putting to work the mass slave labor, another of its primary objectives was the elimination of human lives by the methods employed in handling the prisoners.
"Hunger and starvation rations, sadism, housing facilities, inadequate clothing, medical neglect, disease, beatings, hangings, freezing, forced hand hanging, forced suicides, shooting, all played a major role in obtaining their objective. Prisoners were murdered at random, spite killings against Jews were common. Injections of poison and shooting in the neck were everyday occurrences. Epidemics of typhus and spotted fever were permitted to run rampant as a means of eliminating prisoners. Life in this camp meant nothing. Killing became a common thing, so common that a quick death was welcomed by the unfortunate ones." quoting directly:
THE PRESIDENT (interposing): What are those exhibits that are referred to?
MR. DODD: They are in evidence with the affidavit. They are attached to it.
THE PRESIDENT: They are not, I suppose, mimeographed in our copy?
MR. DODD: No, we haven't had an opportunity to mimeograph each one of them.
THE PRESIDENT: Are they documents or photographs or what?
MR. DODD: They are principally documents. There are some few plans and photographs, and so on.
THE PRESIDENT: Are they affidavits or what?
MR. DODD: Some of them are in the form of affidavits taken at the time of the liberation of the camp from prisoners who were there, and others are pictures of writings that were found there and of the plans, and so on--that sort of thing.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. The Tribunal will take judicial notice of those exhibits as well.
MR. DODD: Very well, Your Honor. page, quoting:
"On Christmas 1944 a number of prisoners were hung at one time. The prisoners were forced to view this hanging. By the side of the gallows was a decorated Christmas tree, and as expressed by one prisoner, 'It was a terrible sight, that combination of prisoners hanging in the air and the glistening Christmas tree.' " hanged. They had been delivered to this camp sometime before and had been captured while trying to blow up bridges. reports. I wish however, to make reference to the Concentration Camp MAUTHAUSEN, one of the most notorious extermination centers. I refer to document No. 2176-PS, which I have already placed in evidence as U.S.A. Exhibit No. 249. This is also an official report of the office of the Judge Advocate General of the Third United States Army, dated 17 June 1945. I read from the conclusions on page 3 of the English text, at paragraph numbered Roman V, beginning with the second sentence as follows:
"V. CONCLUSIONS:
ning. It was constructed as a gigantic stone fortress on top of a mountain franked by small barracks.
MAUTHAUSEN, in addition to its the staff.
It was conducted with the sole purpose in mind of extermin ating any so-called prisoner who entered within its walls.
The so officials located there.
All records, orders, and administrative facilities were handled for these branches through MAUTHAUSEN.
The sent to MAUTHAUSEN for final disposal."
reports, which were made by the Third Army of the United States and other arrivals, at these centers, we say it is clear that the conditions in those concentration camps over Germany, and in a few instances outside of the actual forcers of the Old Reich, followed the same general pattern. The wide-spread incidence of these conditions makes it clear that they were not the result of sporadic excesses on the part of individual jailers, but were the result of policies deliberately imposed from above. The crimes committed in these camps were on so vast a scale that individual atrocities pale into insignificance. show to this Tribunal only because they illustrate the depths to which the administration of these camps had sunk shortly before, at least, the time they were liberated by the Allied Army. The Tribunal will recall that in the showing of the moving picture, with respect to one of the camps, there was a showing of sections of human skin taken from human bodies in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and preserved as ornaments. They were selected, these particular hapless victims, because of the tattooing which appeared on the skin.
This exhibit, which we have here, is U.S.A. Exhibit 252. Attached to the exhibit is an extract of an official U.S. Army report describing the circumstances under which this exhibit was obtained, and that extract is set forth in Document 3420-PS, which I refer to in part. It is entitled:
"Mobile Field Interrogation Unit No. 2.
"PW Intelligence Bulletin.
"13. Concentration Camp, Buchenwald.
"Preamble. The author of this account is PW Andreas Pfaffenberger, 1 Coy, 9 Landesschuetzen Bn. 43 years old and of limited education. He is a butcher by trade. The substantial agreement of the details of his story with those found in PWIS (H)/LF/736 established the validity of his testimony. PW has not been questioned on statements which, in the light of what is known, are apparently erroneous in certain details, nor has any effort been made to alter the subjective character of the PW's account, which he wrote without being told anything of the intelligence already known. Results of interrogation on personalities at Buchenwald have already been published (PWIB No. 2/12, item 31).
"In 1939 all prisoners with tattooing on them were ordered to report to the dispensary."
THE PRESIDENT: Is this what Pfaffenberger said?
MR. DODD: Yes, sir. "No one knew what the purpose was, but after the tattooed prisoners had been examined the ones with' the best and most artistic specimens were kept in the dispensary and then killed by injections administered by Karl Beigs, a criminal prisoner. The corpses were then turned over to the pathological department where the desired pieces of tattooed skin were detached from the bodies and treated. The finished products were turned over to SS Standartenfuehrer Koch's wife, who had them fashioned into lamp shades and other ornamental household articles. I myself saw such tattooed skins with various designs and legends on them, such as 'Hans'1 and Gret'l,' which one prisoner had on his knee, and ships from prisoners, chests. This work was done by a prisoner named Wernerbach."
I also refer to Document 3421-PS, which bears U.S.A. Exhibit 253.
"I, George C. Demas, Lieutenant, USNR., associated with the United States Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, hereby certify that the attached exhibit, consisting of parchment, was delivered by the War Crimes Section, Judge Advocate General, U. S. Army, to me in my above capacity, in the usual course of official business, as an exhibit found in Buchenwald Camp and captured by military farces under the command of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces." a United States Army report, and I quote it:
"Based on the findings in paragraph two, all three specimens are tattooed human skin."
This document is also attached to the exhibit on the board. We do not wish to dwell on this pathological phase of the Nazi culture, but we do feel compelled to offer one additional exhibit which we offer as U.S.A. Exhibit No. 254. This exhibit, which is on the table, is a human head with the skull removed, shrunken, stuffed, and preserved. The Nazis had one of their many victims decapitated, after having had him hanged apparently for fraternizing with a German woman, and fashioned this terrible ornament from his head. I have just read deals with the manner in which this exhibit was acquired. It reads as follows:
"There I also saw the shrunken heads of two young Poles who had been hanged for having relations with German girls. The heads were the size of a fist, and the hair and the marks of the rope were still there."
Another certificate by Lt. Demas, set forth in Document 3422-PS. It is similar to the one which I have read a few minutes ago with relationship to the human skin, excepting that it applies to this second exhibit. We have no accurate estimate of how many persons died in these concentration camps and perhaps none will ever be made, but as the evidence already introduced before this Tribunal indicates, the Nazi conspirators were generally meticulous record keepers. But the records which they kept about concen tration camps appear to have been quite incomplete.
Perhaps the character of the records resulted from the indifference which the Nazis felt for the lives of their victims. But occasionally we find a death book or a set of index cards. For the most part, nevertheless, the victims apparently faded into an unrecorded death. Reference to a set of death books suggests at once the scale of the concentration-camp operations, and we refer now and offer Document No. 493-PS as U.S.A. Exhibit 251. This exhibit is a set of seven books, the death ledger of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Each book has on its cover the word "Totenbuch" or Death Book--Mauthausen. or were murdered in this camp, and the books cover the period from January of 1939 to April of 1945. They give the name, the place of birth, the assigned cause of death, anti time of death of each individual recorded. In addition each corpse is assigned a serial number, and adding up the total serial numbers for the five-year period one arrives at the figure of 33,318.
An examination of the books is very revealing insofar as the camp's routine of death is concerned, and I invite the attention of the Tribunal to Volume 5 from pages 568 to 582; a photostatic copy of which has been passed to the Tribunal. These pages cover death entries made for the 19th day of March 1943, between fifteen minutes past one in the morning until two o'clock in the afternoon. In this space of twelve and threequarter hours, on these records, 203 persons are reported as having died. They were assigned serial numbers running from 8390 to 8593. The names of the dead are listed. And interestingly enough the victimes are all recorded of having died of the same ailment - heart trouble. They died at brief intervals. They died in alphabetical order. The first who died was a man named Ackermann, who died at one fifteen a.m. and the last was a man named Zynger, who died at two o'clock in the afternoon.
At twenty minutes past two o'clock of that same afternoon, according to these records, on the 19th of March 1945 the fatal roll-call began again and continued until half past four o'clock. In a space of two hours seventy-five more persons died, and once again they died all from heart failure and in alphabetical order. We find the entries recorded in the same volume, from pages 582 through 586.
There was another death book found at Camp Mauthausen. It is our Document No. 495-PS and bears U.S.A. Exhibit No. 250. This is a single volume, and again has on its cover the words, "Death Book - Prisoners of War." I invite the attention of the Tribunal in particular to pages 234 through 246. Here the entries record the names of 208 prisoners of war, apparently Russians, who at fifteen minutes past midnight on the 10th day of May 1942 were executed at the sane time. The book notes that the execution was directed by the chief of the SD and the SIPO, at that time Heydrick. of a New York newspaper published in the United States, part of which is made up of three or more pages consisting of advertisements from the families, the relatives, of people who once resided in Germany or in Europe, asking for some advice about them.
Most of the advertisements refer to one of these concentration camps or another. The paper is called, "Der Aufbau." It is a German-language newspaper in New York City, published on the 23rd day - this particular issue on the 23rd day of November 1945. I do not propose to burden the record of this Tribunal with the list of the names of all of these unfortunate individuals, but we refer to it as a publication in the City of Now York, a German-language newspaper of recent date, which illustrates the horrible extent of this terrible tragedy, which has affected so many people as a result of this concentration-camp institution. We feel that no argument, no particular argument, is necessary to support our statements that the Nazi conspirators used these concentration camps and the related instruments of terror in them to commit crimes against humanity and to commit war crimes. presentation concerning the persecution of the Jews. This concludes our presentation with respect to the concentration camp as a specific entity of proof.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, speaking for myself, I should like to know what these headings mean.
MR. DODD: Yes; I have them here.
THE PRESIDENT: Exhibit 495-PS.
MR. DODD: Yes; Exhibit 495-PS. Column one is the serial number assigned to the prisoners in the order of their deaths.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. DODD: Column two, prisoner of war serial number. Column three is the last name, Column four is the first name.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. DODD: Column five is the date of birth. Column six, the place of birth. Column seven, cause of death. In these cases their cause of death is stated as follows: