Reich Defense Commissioner for Lower Silesia in the "Wehrkreis" VIII c.o. ORR. Dreschhoff oViA., Bres lau Reich Defense Commissioner for Upper Silesia in the "Wehrkreis" VIII c.o. RR. Meyer-Tonndorf oViA., Kattowitz Reich Defense Commissioner for the "Wehrkreis" XVII c.o. .RR. Dr. Fischer oViA., Vienna Reich Defense Commissioner for the "Wehrkreis" XX c.o. ORR. Brien oViA., Danzig Reich Defense Commissioner for the "Wehrkreis" XXI Reich Defense Commissioner for the occupied Polish c.o. ORR. Dr. Schepers oViA., Berlin SS-Brif. [Brig. Gen.] Harms, Stettin (SS-Oberabschnitt [section] Baltic Sea) * Report No. 11 of the activities of the "Einsatzgruppen" of the Security Police (For the period from 1 March to 31 March 1942) * * * * [p. 50] I. Garrisons. II. Activities: A. Partisans B. Communists C. Jews INDEX III. Feeling and attitude of the population. IV. Movements for national independence. *** released from arrest, accusations against them were suppressed and false identification papers made out for them. E 1 1 A few days later the former NKVD-Major Koschemijak and his wife were arrested. They had tried to form a new NKVDorganization in Kiev and to organize terror and sabotage groups for the purpose of blowing up larger buildings and bridges. The checking of villages and the screening of the population led continually to the arrest of political activists. After they had been given a hearing, they were shot. At Yalta in the Crimea a new unit of the communist youth organization, just starting up, was raided and the leading woman was shot. C JEWS. The manner in which the Jewish question was solved differed very much at the various front sectors. Since the largest part of the Eastern territory [Ostland] was free from Jews, and the few who remained and were needed for the most urgent labor projects, were located in ghettos, it was the main task of the security-police and SD to get hold of the Jews who were mostly hiding in the country. Several times Jews were seized who had left the ghetto without permission or who were not wearing the Jewish star. [Page 64] At Riga, among others, three Jews from the Reich, who had been assigned to the ghetto and had made a breakaway, were seized and publicly hanged in the ghetto. In the course of some larger actions against the Jews, 3,412 of them were shot at Minsk, 302 at Vileyka, and 2,007 at Baranovitchi. The population welcomed these actions since upon inspection of the residences, they had found out that the Jews still had quite a supply of food, while the food situation of the population was extremely bad. Especially in the sphere of the black-market the Jews reappeared time and again. In the Minsk community kitchen, which was set up to feed the people and was managed by the city administration, two Jews were involved in extensive embezzlements and briberies. The food stuff thus obtained was sold on the blackmarket. Another Jew was arrested under strong suspicion of espionage. The man in question was a well known sculptor and painter who, because he had made portraits of numerous German officers, had access to almost all the German troop units garrisoned at Minsk. In the remaining territories of the Eastern Front, the duty of the security police and SD consisted in general clean up activities of larger villages, along with actions against individual Jews who put in a political or criminal appearance. [Page 65] Thus in Rakow alone 15,000 Jews were shot and 1,224 in Artenowsk, so that these places are free from Jews. In the Crimea 1000 Jews and Gipsies were executed. TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 3877-PS Reich Regent [Reichsstatthalter] in Vienna Head Office 1/1 Ballhausplatz 2, U-24-5-20 TELEPRINT LETTER 1087 Reichsstatthalter Vienna No. 1087, 28.5.1942, 20.35 hours. To Reichsleiter Bormann. Berlin, Party Chancellery Express-Urgent-Immediate attention Dear Martin Bormann, I request that the following be submitted to the Fuehrer: Knowing the Czechoslovak population and its attitude in Vienna as well as in the Protectorate, I would draw your attention to the following: The enemy powers and the British cliques round Benesch have for a long time felt bitterly regarding the loyalty to be observed generally among the Czechoslovak workers and their contribution to German war economy. They are seeking for a means to play off the Czechoslovak population and the Reich against each other. The attempt on Heydrich was without doubt planned in London. The British arms of the assailant point to parachuted agents. London hopes by this attempt to induce the Reich to take draconian measures for the purpose of creating a resistance movement among Czechoslovak workers. In order to prevent the world thinking that the population of the Protectorate is in opposition to Hitler, these acts must immediately be branded as of British authorship. A sudden and violent air attack on a British cultural town would be the most efficacious and the world would have to be informed thereof under the headline "Revenge for Heydrich". That alone should induce Churchill to desist immediately from plotting the outrages which have begun to occur in Prague. The Reich retaliates for the attack at Prague by a counterattack on world public opinion. It is proposed to give the following information to the Press tomorrow: Regarding the attempt on Heydrich's life Investigations have shown that the attempt on Heydrich was not made by Czechoslovak terrorists but by British agents. Parachutes and murderous weapons discovered were of British origin. It apparently involves four British parachutists who set out from London. One of these was injured on landing and was arrested. The authorities are on the track of the others. Sent: Rsthalter Vienna/Kloss, Heil Hitler. SCHIRACH Received: 28/5 2045 No. 1087 (45 zl) rvst bln/manczak [stamp:] Reported and forwarded to: (1) Regierungspraesident (2) Reference.. (3) Local Government (4) Central office on 9.15.1942 by: KS. 177 Z. TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 3881-PS Extract from the Transcript of the Proceedings before the People's Court [Volksgerichtshof] of the Greater German Reich 7 & 8 August 1944 In the Great Plenary Hall of the Berlin Supreme Court President: Dr. Freisler, President of the Volksgerichtshof Deputy President: Guenther Nebelung, President of the Senate. Honorary Assistant Judges: Gen. Reinecke (Infantry) Honorary Reserve Judges: Assisting Reporting Judge: Garden technician & small gardener Hans Kaiser (Berlin) Merchant Georg Seuberth (Fuerth) Engineer Kurt Wernicke Volksgericht Counsellor Lemmle Reserve Reporting Judge: Oberlandesgerichtsrat Dr. Koehler Prosecutors: Oberreichsanwalt (Attorney General) Lautz Oberstaatsanwalt (Senior Public Prosecutor) Dr. Gorisch Defense Counsel appointed by the President, Dr. Freisler, Lawyer Dr. Weissmann Lawyer Dr. L. Schwarz Lawyer Justizrat Dr. Neubert Lawyer Dr. Gustav Schwarz Lawyer Dr. Kunz Lawyer Dr. Falck Lawyer Hugo Bergmann Lawyer Boden Defendants: Erwin von Witzleben Erich Hoeppner Hellmuth Stieff Albrecht von Hagen Robert Bernadis Friedrich Karl Klausing Peter Yorck von Wartenburg Indictment: Participation in the attempt to assassinate Hitler on 20 July 1945. [Page 54] Von Hagen (a defendant): Mr. President, for me the situation was as follows: I did in fact have doubts that something was wrong. On one side was von Stauffenberg's statement. On the other stood my superiors who would have been put in a terribly difficult position at first if my report had been wrong. The President: Now listen here. It is natural that criminals should be put in a terribly difficult position; their place is behind bars. One must see what is to be done with them. Did you have scruples about arresting criminals? [Page 55] Defense Counsel: I should also like to ask whether he did not feel limited by his position of subordination. The President: But then he would have been perverted; for if one thinks that because one's superior is a criminal one must protect him, one is completeley perverted. [Page 117] The President: Then you are also responsible for the orders. To agree to something subsequently and carry it on is exactly the same as to have drafted it beforehand; it is all the same thing. [Page 158] The President: Another person who acted dangerously and stands close to the attempted assassination is the defendant Klausing, a young officer who-I must say-follows the order of his |