institution which had formerly served various purposes and of late had been used as a nursing home; this institution was renovated and furnished as a place in which, by consensus of opinion, the above-mentioned Euthenasia has been systematically practiced for months-approximately since February 1941. The fact has become known beyond the administrative district of Wiesbaden, because death certificates from a Registry Hadamar-Moenchberg are sent to the home communities. * * * "Several times a week buses arrive in Hadamar with a considerable number of such victims. School children of the vicinity know this vehicle and say: "There comes the murder-box again.' After the arrival of the vehicle, the citizens of Hadamar watch the smoke rise out of the chimney and are tortured with the ever-present thought of the miserable victims, especially when repulsive odors annoy them, depending on the direction of the wind. "The effect of the principles at work here are: Children call each other names and say, 'You're crazy; you'll be sent to the baking oven in Hadamar.' Those who do not want to marry, or find no opportunity, say 'Marry, never! Bring children into the world so they can be put into the bottling machine!' You hear old folks say, 'Don't send me to a state hospital! After the feeble-minded have been finished off, the next useless eaters whose turn will come are the old people.' 66* * * The population cannot grasp that systematic actions are carried out which in accordance with Par. 211 of the German criminal code are punishable with death! ** * ** "Officials of the Secret State Police, it is said, are trying to suppress discussion of the Hadamar occurrences by means of severe threats. In the interest of public peace, this may be well intended. But the knowledge and the conviction and the indignation of the population cannot be changed by it; the conviction will be increased with the bitter realization that discussion is prohibited with threats but that the actions themselves are not prosecuted under penal law. "Facta loquuntur. "I beg you most humbly, Herr Reich Minister, in the sense of the report of the Episcopate of July 16 of this year, to prevent further transgressions of the Fifth Commandment of God. "(Signed) Dr. Hilfrich" (615-PS). Nevertheless, the killings in these institutions continued year after year. This is shown by a certified copy of the charge, specifications, and findings of the U.S. Military Commission at Wiesbaden, against the individuals who operated the Hadamar Sanitarium, where many Russians and Poles were done away with. In this particular proceeding, seven defendants were charged with the murder in 1944 and 1945 of 400 persons of Polish and Russian nationality. Three of the defendants were sentenced to be hanged; the other four were sentenced to confinement at hard labor (3592-PS). But the murdering in Hadamar was only part of a systematic program. The official report of the Czechoslovak War Crimes Commission, entitled "Detailed Statement on the Murdering of Ill and Aged People in Germany," shows that Frick was one of the originators of the secret law of 1940, which authorized the killing of sick and aged persons and under which the Hadamar "murder mill" was operated until 1945. The first 3 paragraphs of that report read as follows: "1. The murdering can be traced back to a secret law which was released some time in the summer of 1940. * * * "2. Besides the Chief Physician of the Reich, Dr. L. Conti, Thus, Frick bears full responsibility for the systematic killing of the "unproductive eaters," for whom the Nazi war machine had no use. (4) Oppression in Bohemia and Moravia. The final phase of Frick's criminal activities began with his appointment as Protector in Bohemia and Moravia, on 20 August 1943 (3086–PS). His authority was clearly defined in a Secret Decree issued on 29 August 1943. That Decree provided that the Reich Protector was "the representative of the Fuehrer in his capacity as Chief of State." In addition to this over-all authority, Frick was given jurisdiction "to confirm the members of the government of the Protectorate, to appoint, dismiss and retire the German civil servants in the Protectorate." He was given full power "to grant pardons and to quash proceedings in all cases except in cases before the Military and SS Police Courts" (1366-PS). These broad powers establish the clear responsibility of Frick for the crimes committed in the Protectorate under his administration during the last 20 months of the War. As representative of the Fuehrer in the Protectorate, he covered these criminal acts with Hitler's name and absolute power. As a single example of these crimes, reference may be made to Supplement 6 to the official Czechoslovak Report on German Crimes Against Czechoslovakia: "During the tenure of office of defendant Wilhelm Frick as Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia from August 1943 until the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945, many thousands of Czechoslovak Jews were transported from the Terezin ghetto in Czechoslovakia to the concentration camp at Oswiecziem (Auschwitz) in Poland and were there killed in the gas chambers." (3589–PS). Frick was also fully responsible for the multiple and notorious miscarriages of justice by which the population of the Protectorate was systematically persecuted and oppressed. His failure to correct these miscarriages of justice through the exercise of his right to grant pardons and to quash legal proceedings is tantamount to a confirmation of the cruel and illegal sentences imposed upon the inhabitants of the Protectorate (1556-PS; 3589-PS). Frick's specific responsibility on these counts must be added to the over-all responsibility which he bears because of the fact that he was in power as Reich Protector while such Crimes against Humanity were committed against the population of Bohemia and Moravia (3443-PS). H. CONCLUSION. Frick, who joined the Nazi conspiracy at its early beginning, played within the conspiracy the role of expert administrator and coordinator of State and Party affairs. Misusing his governmental positions in the pre-Hitler era, he gave aid and protection to the conspirators when they were still weak. He supported them in their first attempt to come into power by force, expecting to gain high office from their success. He was the first to carry their revolutionary program from the Beer Hall to the Reichstag Rostrum. As their earliest important office-holder (in Thuringia), he developed for the first time their totalitarian and terroristic methods of political and intellectual control. Upon the accession to power of the Nazi conspirators on 30 January 1933, Frick took over the vital Ministry of Interior. From this position he directed the realization of the entire domestic program of the conspiracy. He took complete charge of the successive destruction of the parliamentary system, of autonomous State and local government, and of the career civil service. He planned and executed the measures which subjected the government itself to the domination of the Nazi Party. He then proceeded to establish a huge Reich Police Force under Himmler, which became the instrument with which the Nazi conspirators terrorized and ultimately "liquidated" all opposition inside and outside Germany in concentration and extermination camps. In order to give the semblance of law to the criminal acts of the conspirators, Frick drafted legislation to withdraw constitutional protection from the rights and liberties which they had determined to wipe out. He participated in the relentless and violent persecution of all persons and groups who were considered as actual or potential opponents of the conspirators' plans. Among these were the churches, the free trade unions, and especially the Jews. Having secured absolute control over Germany for the conspirators, Frick proceeded to bring the German people and State into readiness for the wars of aggression planned by the conspirators. He established the system of military and labor service on which the Wehrmacht was to rest. He took over the planning of Germany's civilian wartime administration, which was to back it up. In this capacity he organized and supervised the killing of the useless eaters, the insane, crippled, aged, and such foreign forced laborers who were no longer able to work. As the Nazi conspirators began to achieve their predatory aims, Frick was active in the coordination of the administration of the territories and peoples which fell into Nazi hands. He presided over the annexation of territories and the denationalization of their inhabitants in violation of the Hague Conventions. When the conspirators were ready to proceed to the realization of their ultimate goals, especially the complete enslavement and annihilation of conquered populations, Frick devised the basic legislation for their disfranchisement and finally took personal charge of one of the oppressed nations, Czechoslovakia. Thus, Frick was one of the principal artisans of the conspiracy throughout its course. His contribution to its progress was essential in all its phases, and decisive in many. He nurtured the conspiracy, directed its followers, terrorized its opponents, and destroyed its victims. I. POSITIONS HELD BY FRICK. (1) Between 1932 and 1945 Frick held the following positions: (a) Member of the Nazi Party, 1925-1945 (3127-PS). (b) Reichsleiter (Member of the Party Directorate) in his. capacity as Fraktionsfuehrer (Floorleader) of NSDAP in the Reichstag. (c) Member of the Reichstag, 7 December 1924-1945. (d) Reich Minister of the Interior, 30 January 1933-20 August 1943 (2381-PS; 3086–PS). (e) Prussian Minister of the Interior, 1 May 1934-20 August 1943 (3132-PS; 3086-PS). (f) Reich Director of Elections, 30 January 1933-20 August 1943 (3123-PS; 3086-PS). (g) General Plenipotentiary for the Administration of the Reich, 21 May 1935–20 August 1943 (2978–PS; 3086–PS). (h) Head of the Central Office for the Reunification of Austria and the German Reich (2307-PS; 1060-PS; 3123-PS). (i) Director of the Central Office for the Incorporation of Sudetenland, Memel, Danzig, the Eastern Incorporated Territories, Eupen, Malmedy, and Moresnot (3076-PS; 3077-PS). (i) Director of the Central Office for the Protectorate of Bohemia, Moravia, the Government General, Lower Styria, Upper Carinthia, Norway, Alsace, Lorraine, and all other occupied territories (2119-PS; 3123-PS). (k) Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia, 20 August 1943-1945 (3086-PS). (2) Between 1917 and 1945, Wilhelm Frick held the additional following positions: (a) Chief of the Criminal (later the Political) Division of the Munich Police Department, 1917-1923 (2381-PS). (b) Fraktionsfuehrer (Floorleader) of the NSDAP in the Reichstag, 1927-1945 (2381–PS). (c) Minister of the Interior and of Education of the Free State of Thuringia, 23 January 1930-1 April 1931 (2381-PS). (d) Member of the Reich Defense Council, 21 May 1935-20 August 1943 (2978-PS). (e) Member of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich, 30 August 1939-20 August 1943 (2018–PS). (f) Reich Minister without Portfolio, 20 August 1943-1945 (3086-PS). |