The Reichsfuehrer-SS Personal Staff Log. No. 41/1/43g 1. Το Secret Command Post, 6 November 42 Main Office for the Security of the Reich Attention: SS-Lt Colonel [Obersturmbannfuehrer] EICHMANN Berlin SW 11 Prinz-Albrecht-Str. 8 Subject: Organization of a skeleton collection in the anatomical institute of Strassburg. The Reichsfuehrer-SS has ordered that everything necessary for the research work of SS-Captain [Hauptsturmfuehrer] Prof. Dr. HIRT, who is at the same time director of a branch of the institute for Military Scientific Researches for Specific Purposes in the Office "Ahnenerbe" [Ancestry Research based on racial theory] should be placed at his disposal. By order of the Reichsfuehrer-SS, I therefore request you, to make the organization of the planned skeleton collection possible. The SS-Lt Colonel [Obersturmbannfuehrer] SIEVERS will contact you for details. /s/ BRANDT SS-Lt Col [Obersturmbannfuehrer] COPY OF AFFIDAVIT K CROSS-AFFIDAVIT OF DR. RUDOLF MILDNER I, the undersigned Dr. Rudolf Mildner, made the following affidavit in answer to cross interrogations by representatives of the Office of United States Chief of Counsel relating to my affidavit of 29 March 1946, made in response to questions by Dr. Kaufmann for presentation to the International Military Tribunal: Question No. 1: Confirm or correct the following biographical data: Answer: December 1939, I became Chief of the Gestapo Office in Chemnitz. In March 1941, I became Chief of the Gestapo Office in Kattowitz. In September 1943, I became Commander of the SIPO and SD in Copenhagen. In January 1944, I became Inspector of the SIPO and On 15 March 1944, I was made Deputy Chief of In December 1944, I became Commander of the SIPO In December 1944, I became Deputy Inspector of the All of these appointments after January 1943 were made by Kaltenbrunner as Chief of the Security Police and SD. Question No. 2: Is it not true that while you were Gestapo leader at Kattowitz you frequently sent prisoners to Auschwitz for imprisonment or execution; that you had contacts with the Political Department (Abteilung) at Auschwitz during the time you were Chief of the Gestapo at Kattowitz with regard to inmates sent from the district of Kattowitz; that you visited Auschwitz on several occasions; that the Gestapo “SS Standgericht" frequently met within Auschwitz and you sometimes attended the trial of prisoners; that in 1942 and again in 1943, pursuant to orders by Gruppenfuehrer Mueller, Chief of Gestapo, the Commandant of Auschwitz showed you the extermination plants; that you were acquainted with the extermination plants at Auschwitz since you had to send Jews from your territory to Auschwitz for execution. Answer: Yes, these are true statements of fact. Question No. 3: With respect to your answer to Question No. 5 in your affidavit of 29 March 1946, did all orders for arrest, commitment to, punishment and individual executions in concentration camps come from RSHA? Was the regular channel for orders of individual executions from Himmler through Kaltenbrunner to Mueller, then to the concentration camp commandant. Did WVHA have supervision of all concentration camps for administration, utilization of labor, and maintenance of discipline? Answer: The answer is yes to each of the three questions. Question No. 3 a: Is it true that conferences took place between SS Obergruppenfuehrer Kaltenbrunner and SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl, Chief of the WVHA, and Chief of Concentration Camps? Was Dr. Kaltenbrunner acquainted with conditions in concentration camps? Answer: Yes and because of these conferences and on the occasion of discussion with the two Amt Chiefs, Gruppenfuehrer Mueller IV and Gruppenfuehrer Nebe, RSHA, the Chief of SIPO and SD, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Dr. Kaltenbrunner should be acquainted with conditions in concentration camps. I learned from SS-Gruppenfuehrer Mueller, Chief of Amt IV, that regular conferences took place between RSHA and Amt Group D of WVHA. Question No. 4: It is not a fact that in July or August of 1944, an order was issued to commanders and inspectors of the SIPO and SD by Himmler, through Kaltenbrunner as Chief of the SIPO and SD, to the effect that members of all Anglo-American Commando Groups should be turned over to the SIPO by the armed forces; that the SIPO was to interrogate these men and shoot them after questioning; that the killing was to be made known to the armed forces by a communique stating that the commando group had been annihilated in battle; and that this decree was classified Top Secret and was to be destroyed immediately after reading? Answer: Yes. Question No. 5: With respect to your answer to Question No. 7 of your affidavit of 29 March 1946, is it not a fact that: (a) After you sent a telegram to Mueller requesting that the Jewish Persecution be stopped you received an order by Himmler that the Jewish actions were to be carried out; (b) That you then flew to Berlin for the purpose of talking with the Chief of the SIPO and SD, Kaltenbrunner, personally, but that since he was absent you saw his deputy, Mueller, head of Office IV, of the RSHA, who, in your presence, wrote a message to Himmler containing your request that the persecutions of the Jews in Denmark be stopped? (c) That shortly after your return to Copenhagen you received a direct order by Himmler sent through Kaltenbrunner as Chief of the SIPO and SD, stating that "The Anti-Jewish actions are to be started immediately." (d) That for the purpose of carrying out this action the "Special Commando Eichmann," which was under the Gestapo, was sent from Berlin to Copenhagen for the purpose of deporting the Jews in two ships which it had chartered. Answer: Yes, to each question a, b, c, and d. Question No. 6: Is it not a fact that the action of "Special Commando Eichmann" was not a success; that Mueller ordered you to make a report explaining the cause for the lack of success in deporting of Jews; and that you sent this report directly to the Chief of the SIPO and SD, Kaltenbrunner? Answer: Yes, that is right. 4 I have read the above questions and answers as written and swear that the statements are true and correct. This affidavit is signed by me voluntarily and without any compulsion at Nurnberg, Germany, 9 April 1946. s/ R. Mildner t/ Dr. Rudolf Mildner. Subscribed to and sworn before me this 9th day of April 1946. TRANSLATION OF AFFIDAVIT L CROSS-AFFIDAVIT OF WILHELM HOETTL I, the undersigned, Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl, make the following affidavit in response to cross-interrogation relating to an affidavit executed by me on 30 March 1946 answering questions put by Dr. Kaufmann for presentation to the International Military Tribunal. 1. With respect to question No. 3., please give the following information: a. Explain the basis of your statement that when persons belonging to the SD were transferred to Einsatz Kommandos of the SIPO and SD, they resigned from the SD; your attention is invited to the fact that Ohlendorf, the head of the SD, has testified to the contrary. b. Explain the basis for your statement that Einsatz Kommandos had nothing to do with executions. Your attention is invited to the fact that your testimony in this regard is likewise in direct conflict with the head of the SD, Ohlendorf. c. What was Hitler's so-called "Commissar-order” and when did you first acquire knowledge of this order? With respect to la: In my affidavit I did not speak of a permanent separation from the SD but of a leave of absence for the time of activity with an Einsatzkommando. By that was meant that they did not exercise their SD functions during this time but that this function was inactive. With respect to 1b: My affidavit appears to have been misunderstood concerning this point. I did not state that Einsatzkommandos had nothing to do with executions but only that not all Einsatzkommandos were concerned with executions. I mentioned as an example the Einsatzkommandos in Africa, Hungary, Slovakia. In connection with that, I said that these Einsatzkommandos had nothing to do with executions; by that I meant not directly with the actual executions [Note: with the actual killing]. With respect to 1c: I, myself, do not know the so-called "Commissar Order" of Hitler. Dr. Stahlecker, who commanded an Einsatzgruppe of the SIPO and the SD in Russia, told me in Summer of 1942 that the executions of Commissars and Jews were carried out because of the “Commissar Order" wherein the extermination of the Jews, as the bearers of Bolshevism, was established. 2. With respect to Question 4, is it not a fact that Heydrich, as Chief of SIPO and SD, gave the initial instructions to Eichmann concerning the extermination of Jews, that in the RSHA, Eich- mann's immediate superior was Mueller, Chief of the Gestapo; that Mueller was first the deputy of Heydrich and later of Kaltenbrunner? With respect to 2: Yes, I heard from Eichmann, probably in August 1944, that Heydrich had given him these directives. It is also correct that Mueller, Chief of the Gestapo, was Eichmann's immediate superior. As far as I know, Mueller was the deputy of Heydrich and later of Kaltenbrunner only on the sector of the Gestapo, as likewise were the other AMT Chiefs of their sectors. 3. With respect to Question 5, is it not a fact that you know from your discussions with Kaltenbrunner and with Eichmann that they came from the same community in Austria and were exceptionally close friends; that Eichmann always had direct access to Kaltenbrunner and that they frequently conferred together; that Kaltenbrunner was well pleased with the manner in which Eichmann carried out his duties; that Kaltenbrunner was very interested in the extermination work performed by Eichmann, that you personally know that Kaltenbrunner went to Hungary for the purpose of discussing the extermination program in Hungary with officials of the Hungarian Government and with Eichmann and other members of his staff in Hungary? Please confirm or correct these statements and make any statement necessary to clarify your answer. With respect to 3: I heard from Eichmann that he knew Kaltenbrunner from Linz and that they served together in 1932 in an SS Sturm [Company] there. I do not know that they were extraordinarily close friends or that Eichmann always had direct access to Kaltenbrunner and that they conferred frequently. |