AFFIDAVIT
I, Otto Ohlendorf, being first duly sworn, declare:
I was chief of the Security Service (SD), Amt III of the main office of the chief of the Security Police and the SD (RSHA), from 1939 to 1945. In June 1941 I was designated by Himmler to lead one of the special commitment groups [Einsatzgruppen], which were then being formed, to accompany the German armies in the Russian campaign. I was the chief of the Einsatzgruppe D. Chief of the Einsatzgruppe A was Stahlecker, department chief in the foreign office. Chief of Einsatzgruppe B was Nebe, chief of Amt V (KRIPO) of the Main Office of the chief of the security police and the SD (RSHA). Chief of Einsatzgruppe C was first Rasch (or Rasche) and then Thomas. Himmler stated that an important part of our task consisted of the extermination of Jews—women, men, and children—and of communist functionaries. I was informed of the attack on Russia about 4 weeks in advance.
According to an agreement with the armed forces high command and army high command, the special commitment detachments [Einsatzkommandos] within the army group or the army were assigned to certain army corps and divisions. The army designated the areas in which the special commitment detachments had to operate. All operational directives and orders for the carrying out of executions were given through the chief of the SIPO and the SD (RSHA) in Berlin. Regular courier service and radio communications existed between the Einsatzgruppen and the chief of the SIPO and the SD.
The Einsatzgruppen and Einsatzkommandos were commanded by personnel of the Gestapo, the SD, or the criminal police. Additional men were detailed from the regular police [Ordnungspolizei] and the Waffen SS. Einsatzgruppe D consisted of approximately 400 to 500 men and had about 170 vehicles at its disposal.
When the Germany army invaded Russia, I was leader of the Einsatzgruppe D in the Southern sector, and in the course of the year, during which I was leader of the Einsatzgruppe D, it liquidated approximately 90,000 men, women, and children. The majority of those liquidated were Jews, but there were among them some communist functionaries too.
In the implementation of this extermination program the special commitment groups were subdivided into special commitment detachments, and the Einsatzkommandos into still smaller units, the so-called Special Purpose Detachments [Sonderkommandos] and Unit Detachments [Teilkommandos]. Usually, the
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smaller units were led by a member of the SD, the Gestapo, or the criminal police. The unit selected for this task would enter a village or city and order the prominent Jewish citizens to call together all Jews for the purpose of resettlement. They were requested to hand over their valuables to the leaders of the unit, and shortly before the execution to surrender their outer clothing. The men, women and children were led to a place of execution which in most cases was located next to a more deeply excavated antitank ditch. Then they were shot, kneeling or standing, and the corpses thrown into the ditch. I never permitted the shooting by individuals in the group D, but ordered that several of the men should shoot at the same time in order to avoid direct, personal responsibility. The leaders of the unit or especially designated persons, however, had to fire the last bullet against those victims which were not dead immediately. I learned from conversations with other group leaders that some of them demanded that the victims lie down flat on the ground to be shot through the nape of the neck. I did not approve of these methods.
In the spring of 1942 we received gas vehicles from the chief of the security police and the SD in Berlin. These vehicles were made available by Amt II of the RSHA. The man who was responsible for the cars of my Einsatzgruppe was Becher. We had received orders to use the cars for the killing of women and children. Whenever a unit had collected a sufficient number of victims, a car was sent for their liquidation. We also had these gas vehicles stationed in the neighborhood of the transient camps into which the victims were brought. The victims were told that they would be resettled and had to climb into the vehicles for that purpose. Then the doors were closed and the gas streamed in through the starting of the vehicles. The victims died within 10 to 15 minutes. The cars were then driven to the burial place, where the corpses were taken out and buried.
I have seen the report of Stahlecker [document L-180] concerning Einsatzgruppe A, in which Stahlecker asserts that his group killed 135,000 Jews and communists in the first 4 months of the program. I know Stahlecker personally, and I am of the opinion that the document is authentic.
I was shown the letter which Becher has written to Rauff, the head of the technical department of Amt II, in regard to the use of these gas vehicles. I know both these men personally, and am of the opinion that this letter is an authentic document.
[signed]
Ohlendorf
342
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Subscribed and sworn to before me this fifth day of November 1945 at Nürnberg, Germany.
[signed] Smith W. Brookhart
Lt. Col. IGD
Ex 0—Ohlendorf Nov. 5, 45
R. R. Kerry, Reporter.