That is found on page 56 of the German, page 62 of the English.
Naumann's personnel record in the operational reports cannot be denied. The thousands of murders we hive described were committed by Einsatzgruppe B while the defendant was its commanding officer. defendant Blume. The defendant Blume is seated in the first row, fourth seat from the right-hand side. He is 41 years old and was an attorney. His affidavit has already been received in evidence in Document Book I as Exhibit 10. It is on page 37 of the English, page 43 of the German in the first document book. There he explains his rise and activities in the SS. In 1933, He jointed the nazi party. In 1934 or 1935, he became a member of the SS where he achieved the rank of colonel. In 1945, he was working for Office 4 of the Reich Security Main Office. the defendant with membership therein in count 3 of the indictment. termination of hostilities concealed his activities with the Security Police and went to work as the servant to a farmer. This summer he was apprehended. been unable to deny. He tells us in the first paragraph that in June of 1941 he was assigned to Dueben where the Einsatzgruppen were organized and until approximately the middle of August he was chief of Sonderkommando 7-A in Einsatzgruppe B. In paragraph 3, he swears that during May or June he heard lectures by Heydrich and Streckenback on the duties of the Einsatzgruppen and Einsatzkommandos. He says in paragraph 3, and I quote:
"At this time, we were already being instructed about the tasks of exterminating the Jews."
And further on he says: "I heard another speech by Heydrich in the Prinz-Albrecht-Palais in Berlin, in the course of which He again emphasized these points." his assignment. We turn again to has affidavitNO-4145 to learn of his activities during the months of terror while he was in command, I read from paragraph 4 of his affidavit, found on page 38 of the first document book, page 45 of the German copy:
"4. As Chief of the Sonderkommando 7 a I carried out one execution in the course of my duty. I remember one occasion on which between 70 and 80 people were executed in Witebsk and another occasion on which A similar number were executed in Minsk. On the latter occasion I only received a directed order from NEBE, Chief of the Einsatzgruppe B, to fine out whether this execution had taken place. I was not present during the whole execution, but convinced myself that it was carried out. In both cases a kind of trench was dug; the persons destined to die were placed front of it and shot with carbines. About 10 people were shot simultaneously by an exectuion force of 30 to 40 men. There was no doctor present at the execution, but the leader of the execution force who was responsible made sure that the people were dead. Coups de grace were not necessary. Neither was there in my unit any specialist in the art of shooting in the neck. I did not take part in any further mass execution.
5. I received all orders regarding executions, direction and duties of Sonderkommando 7 a, which was subordinate, to me in Dueben or in the Prinz-Albrecht-Palais in Berlin. During the campaign I never received any further orders." 7-A in the field was controlled solely by its commanding officer, the defendant.
Tribunal and the defendant some executions he neglected to mention, I offer his personnel record found in Document Book III-B, page 21, page 25 of the German. This is Document NO-3245 and simply corroborates his position in the SS and SD after 1939 as charged in count 3 of the indictment.
Mr. FERENCZ: Your Honor please, the defense counsel is asking to see the document. The document was introduced yesterday as an exhibit, and it is now in the court archives where it may be examined, and the defense counsel may raise objection to this at any time if he so sees fit.
DR. LUMMERT: (for defendant Blume) I would like to reserve the right to raise an objection against this, because it is not clear from where these personnel records originate, or from which agency they come. Furthermore, I believe I remember that the document has not been submitted yet. I am surprised by this.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Ferencz, was that the document submitted into evidence?
MR. FERENCZ: I beg your pardon, Your Honor, the document was not submitted. This is in Document Book III-B, and the document is now here, and it has been just now handed to me.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you now introduce it?
MR. FERENCZ: Yes, Your Honor. I was about to introduce it as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 115.
THE PRESIDENT: Vary well.
MR. FERENCZ: It is in Document Book III-B, on page 21, and it is simply a corroboration of the defendant's position in the SS and the SD after 1939 as charged in Count III, of the Indictment. page 20 of the German Prosecution's Exhibit No. 116. This is Document NO-4537, and is an operational situation report. It shows that Einsatzkommando 7-A killed an unspecified number of Jewish and Russian Communist Party functionaries on 3 July in Wilna, The numbers are not given, and even if the Einsatzkommando killed only one it was murder.
The report further states that Einsatzkommando 7-A is trying to push forward to Minsk as fast as possible. English, and page one of the German. Prosecution's Exhibit No. 57, Document NO-2937. This is another report where under the Einsatzgruppe B heading the report shows that in Minsk the Einsatzgruppe was screening all male inhabitants, and had executed 1050 Jews, with others being executed daily, including officials, and Asiatics. They further state that in-Wilna, and we saw in the last document that Kommando 7-A was in Wilna on 3 July. Up to 8 July Einsatzkommando had liquidated 321 Jews.
DR. LUMMERT: Dr. Lummert for the defendant Blume. So far as the document last mentioned is concerned, I would like to point out an obvious mistake. In the place just quoted, the German document book III-B, page 37, English Document Book - - - one moment, please, page 31, on top, and I quote: In Wilna the local Einsatzkommando liquidated 321 Jews up to 3 July." Sofar as this local kommando is concerned, they did not mean the Sonderkommando 7-A, which was commanded by the defendant Blume, but they mean Einsatzkommando. 9. This mistake is very evident when you look at the previous document --- may I draw the attention of the Court to document No. 4537, in the German document book, page 33, in the English document book, page 28, in the middle of the page there it says: "Einsatzkommando 9, location Wilna", this location Wilna is mentioned as the local Einsatzkommando in the other document book. The defendant Blume, therefore, has nothing to do with the paragraph in the Document Book NO-2937, and this is very obvious.
MR. FERENCZ: May it please Your Honors, I think the point of defense counsel is a reasonable one to make. However, the last of his statement, "This is very obvious" is not exactly accurate, because on the same page where he pointed it out that Einsatzkommando 9 was in Wilna on 3 July, the very same page 28 in the document book III-B, it also says Einsatzkommando 7-A was in Wilna on the same day. When I referred to the other document, five days later describing the execution in Wilna, it gave the total killed by the Einsatzkommando, without stating which Einsatzkommando it was. I concede it could have been one or the other, but it certainly has probative value to show what the Einsatzkommandos were doing, and that the Einsatzkommando 7-A was in that place five days previously.
DR. LUMMERT: If I may add another thing to this. I don't want to discuss this matter as such. I merely raise this objection, because so far as I think there is an obvious error here, for the local Einsatzkommando could never be a Sonderkommando, because the Sonerkommando had the mission, as is well known, to follow the troops and never had any headquarters.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Lummert, your objection and observation are now on record, and they will be available to you when you present your client's case.
DR. LUMMERT: Yes.
MR. FERENCZ: We have been showing, Your Honor, that Einsatzkommando 7-A was in Wilna on 3 July, and was trying to push forward to Minsk as fast as possible. We had referred to Prosecution's Exhibit No. 57, showing that in Minsk, report dated 13 July, thousands of people were executed for being officials, Jews and Asiatics, and, we have just shown that "A" kommando in Wilna had executed hundreds of people five days before the report shows that Sonerkommando Seven was there.
of the German, and offer Document NO 2954-E as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 117. Here under the heading "Einsatzkommando 7-A in reports from Witebsk", the report states and I refer to: "By appointed Jewish Council so far about 3000 Jews registered. Badges for Jews introduced. At present they are being employed with clearing rubble. For determent, 27 Jews, who had not come to work, were publicly shot in the streets. The Ruthenian part of the population has approved of this. Large scale execution of Jews will follow immediately." referred to executions, which he witnesses in Witebsk. I refer now to Document Book III-B, page 37, page 60 of the German, and I offer document NO 2949 as Prosecution Exhibit No. 118. Here under the heading Einsatzgruppe-B the report dated 5 August 1941, describes how various groups were rendered harmless in thirty different named localities, and that Einsatzgruppe executions by 31 July had reached 11,084. of the German. This was Prosecution Exhibit No. 58, Document No-2837. This is a report dated 29 August 1941, describing the numerous killings by Einsatzgruppe-B including on page 10 of the English, page 7 of the German, "In Witebsk also actions against the Jewish intelligentsia were continued," and, "In Minsk 615 more persons were liquidated in the course of the combing-out-action in the civilian prisoner camp there What could the defendant have been doing while all of his comrades were so busy.
the German. This is Document NO-3842, the affidavit of the successor of the defendant Blume. This is the affidavit of the defendant Steimle, and offered as Prosecution's Exhibit 119. Steimle states in the middle of paragraph 2, and I quote: "From talk by members of the Kommandos, I know that SS-Standartenfuehrer Dr. Blume, my predecessor in this Kommando in White Ruthenia, carried out shootings of Jews besides fighting against partisans." And further, Steimle states in the middle of paragraph 3, page 67, of the German copy, page 41 of the English: "SS Standartenfuehrer Dr. Blume: From Office I, Reich Main Security Office, later Commando-in-chief of the Security Police in Greece. Finally with the Waffen-SS, Led the EK 8a from the beginning until September 1941. Carried out shootings of Jews and partisans and partisan warfare on the march through white Ruthenia. Character, weak and bureaucratic."
COURT IIA CASE IX we Lave Document NO. 2844, Prosecutions Exhibit No. 61. This gives us some further indication of what Blume was doing. It reports on page 27, page 29 of the German, that by the 20 August 1941, Sonderkommando 7-A, very loosely termed, Vor-Kommando 7-a, liquidated a total of 996 persons. The defendant did not deny carrying out at least one execution, but he might have us believe that the more than nine-hundred executions, which he forgot to mention in his affidavit, occurred in a few days after he relinquished command of Sonderkommando 7-A in the middle of August, we rely on the judgment of the Tribunal. Steimle. The defendant Steimle is the last man in the second row of the dock on the righthand side. III-B, on page 44, German Book page 71, as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 120. It is Document NO-4459, and is the second affidavit of the defendant Eugen Steimle to be introduced. We see from the affidavit of Steimle, that Eugen Steimle, is thirty-eight years old, and in 1932 he joined the Nazi Party, and four years later he joined the SS where he achieved the rank of Colonel. In September 1936, he was appointed leader of the SD in Stuttgart. Like so many of his friends Steimle hid under an assumed name after the end of the war until he was arrested in October 1945. The defendant's membership in criminal organizations, as charged in Count III of the Indictment, is further confirmed by his SS personnel record. This is in Document Book III-B, on page 46, page 74 of the German, Document NO-3247, offered as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 121. His personnel record also contains a letter of recommendation from the COURT IIA CASE IX Reich Main Security Office, Berlin, and I quote from page 51 of the English, and page 80 of the German in the middle of the page, I quote:
"SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Steimle has proved his ideological and political dependability already during the time when National Socialism fought for its existence. He is a man of absolute integrity and an SS-leader conscious of his responsibility. His mental capacities are above average, and he has a talent to negotiate skillfully and is showing great assurance. Endowed with a good political instinct and corresponding psychological abilities, he made himself in relatively short time throroughly acquainted with the secret message communication service, and started first of all to solve with great success the problem of the gathering of intelligence information. He is pursuing with greatest tenacity and energy his aim to establish a well functioning secret communication service in Western Europe. During his assignment in the East as leader of a Sonderkommando he has shown excellent qualities in leading and treating the men entrusted to him. Especially during the winter combat 1942/43 the Kommando participated frequently and sucessfully in combat-actions. With the exception of his age, Steimle is meeting the conditions of the SS-order of 15 November 1942. Because of his whole personality, his performance and his official positions, we are asking for his extraordinary promotion to SS-Standartenfuehrer, inspite of the fact that he has not yet reached the minimun age of 36, which is required by the Reichsfuehrer SS for such a promotion." End of quote. of Sonderkommando 7-A from the beginning of September 1941, until the middle of December 1941. Paragraph 3 on page 44, page 72 of the German, goes on to say that the defendant COURT IIA CASE IX Steimle received instructions for executions early in October at a conference with Nebe who was then Chief of Einsatzgruppe B. Nebe told him that Sonderkommando 7-A, when fighting Jews, so far had not been shooting women and children, Nebe insisted, however, that henceforth Sonderkommando 7-A would shoot women and children as well.
The defendant Steimle tells us that he received these instructions from his superior officer. In the next breath he denies he ever passed on this order, He likewise denies in both of his affidavits that his kommando shot any Jews. of the German, NO-3842, where he even denies that workers were sent to Germany while he was in command, He admits that his unit had a gas van or gas chambers as he called it, and he just adds to it that it was never used. He does admit in his second affidavit that he carried out executions, in fact, he says, they numbered between 100 and 250, but the persons executed were partisans, persons suspected of being partisans, and members of the Russian Army, who had refused to surrender. He was quick to point out however, that even in those executions orders never came from him but were already in existence. The defendant Steimle also said in Document Book III-B, page 45 of the English, page 73 of the German, "It can be assumed that a Captain or 1st Lieutenant folt is in Sonderkommando 7-A, had been shooting people but it was on his own initiative. The defendant does not know that Foltis carried out executions of Jews," anyway. All of this makes interesting reading, However, let's now turn to the facts. page 71 of the German, we have Steimle's affidavit NO-4459, which was Prosecution's Exhibit No. 120. It tells us that COURT II CASE IX he was in command of Sonderkommando 7-A until the middle of December 1941.
page 63 of the German, we have prosecutions Exhibit No. 107, Document NO-4533. This report gives the correct listing of the leaders of the kommando, and clearly list Steimle as commander of Sonderkommando 7-A, on 1, February 1942, two months after Steimel swears he was back in Stuttgart. This is further corroborated by the following document in Document Book III-B on page 53 of the English, and on page 82 of the German, I offer Document NO-4784 as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 122. This report again show Steimle as commander of the Sonderkommando 7-A 30 January 1942. In Document Book II-A, on page 104 of the English, page 112 of the German, we have Exhibit No, 51, which was Document NO-3278, and shows Steimle in command on 12th of January. page 42 of the German, we have prosecution's Exhibit No. 64, NO-3143, which is the report of 23 September 1941, and states on page 53 of the English, and page 47 of the German, that executions totaled for Sonderkommando 7-A up to 13 September 1941, were 1011. English, and page 15 or the German, which is Document NO 3156, which is prosecution's Exhibit No. 60.
This report states on page 18, page 17 of the German, "The Sonderkommando 7a also reports of juvenile communists who were liquidated as they had had the intention of blowing up a railway bridge, nearing completion. Explosives had already been supplied and were at hand.
"In Welikije Luki a group of juveniles who had the intention of blowing up a railway bridge was also rendered harmless. The ringleader of the group had persuaded the others to participate." executions by Sonderkommando 7a, up to 28 September 1941 as 1252, an increase of almost 250. man. This is Prosecution Exhibit 63, Document NO-3403, This report dated 26 October 1941 gives the execution total for Sonderkommando 7a as 1344 persons. man. This is Prosecution Exhibit 59, Document NO-2825, here on page 14, page 13 of the German. After a long description of liquidations by Einsatzgruppe B for trivial offenses the report states that'Sonderkommando 7a carried out 173 liquidations during the report period.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Ferencz, would it be convenient for you to suspend at this point.?
MR. FERENCZ: Yes, your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well, the Tribunal will be in recess for fifteen minutes.
(A recess was taken.)
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the courtroom please take your seats.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Ferencz, before you begin I should like to make an announcement to defense counsel. Yesterday afternoon two of the attorneys, I presume speaking for all of the defense counsel, came to my chambers and again requested for some time in which to prepare the defense and the opening statements. The Prosecution has proceeded much more rapidly than I originally thought they might so that we will have some time available, and your request is not an unreasonable one. What is reasonable is apparent to the world and what is unreasonable is also apparent to the world, so therefore, we will allow you the balance of the week after the Prosecution terminates its presentation, which, it seems possible, may even happen this afternoon. In fact we will remain in session until the Prosecution has finished today so that, therefore, you will have Wednesday, Thursday and Firday and Saturday, of course, and Sunday also, to make whatever preparations you need to proceed with the case next week. before them, it is necessary that at least eight of the opening statements be ready by Friday afternoon. Now, eight attorneys, and it will be most convenient naturally, if they ware the first eight defendants, if those attorneys could have their speeches ready by Friday afternoon, they will be delivered to Room 106, to Mr. Hodges, who is the head of the translation section. The balance of the opening statements will be ready by Monday noon and will also be submitted to Mr. Hodges in Room 106. not have his opening statement ready by either one of those two dates? I hear no comment. Therefore, the Tribunal will assume that by Friday afternoon, by that we mean no later than four o'clock this Friday, the first eight opening statements will be in Mr. Hodges' hands, and the remainder in his hands by Monday afternoon.
than we will proceed to the taking of evidence on behalf of the defendants.
MR. FERENCZ: Before I proceed, your Honor, I would like to make an additional request of defense counsel. Yesterday the question was raised about having the original documents available to the defense counsel so that they might compare them with the photostatic copies. The Prosecution received permission from the Deputy Military Governor to have the original documents which were used in the case brought here by Colonel Helm, who is the custodian of the documents and the commanding officer of the Berlin Document Center. These documents are now in my office, but they must be returned to Berlin as quickly as possible. Inasmuch as considerable care is exercised with those documents and they must be guarded at all times, I would therefore request the defense counsel come to my office this afternoon if possible and compare the documents with the photostats to assure themselves that all the photostats are true copies and have not been altered in any way so that Colonel Helm may return to Berlin with the documents tomorrow if possible.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Ferencz, would it be agreeable to Colonel Helm, who is the custodian of these documents, to allow them to remain in Nurnberg for ome more day, that is to say, all of tomorrow? Defense counsel will then be free to make whatever comparisons they desire, and then he could leave on Thursday if that is satisfactory.
MR. FERENCZ: Yes, your Honors, I see it is satisfactory to Colonel Helm to leave on Thursday with the documents.
THE PRESIDENT: Then defense counsel will understand they will have all the rest of today and all tomorrow to make those comparisons. The documents will not be available after tomorrow night, and the Tribunal will not after that time hear any complaint about comparisons between photostats and originals.
MR. FERENCZ: To continue, your Honor, we were discussing the responsibility of the defendant Steimle, and I have referred to Document Book II-B, page 12, page 10 of the German, Prosecution Exhibit 59, where on page 14 of the English, page 13 of the German, there is a long description of liquidations by Einsatzgruppe B for trivial offenses, and the report states that Sonderkommando 7a carried out 173 liquidations during the report period. The total number of executions by Einsatzgruppe B up to the 14th day of November 1941 is then given as 45,467 and the total for Sonderkommando 7a as 15l7. This is on page 15 of the English, page 14 of the German.
Now by comparing Exhibit No. 64 with Exhibit No. 59, we can see that from the 13th day of September 1941 to the 14th day of November 1941, which is only part of the period during which the defendant Steimle admits he was in command, the total of executions increased from 1011 to 1517 giving an increase of over 500 persons killed in that time. In his affidavit the defendant Steimle conveniently forgot more than half of that.
Book 11-B, page 30, also page 30 of the German. This is Prosecution Exhibit 62, Document NO-284, This is the report of 19 December 1941, describing the general activities of Einsatzgruppe B without breading it down into particular units and describes executions in 14 different localities, resulting in the death of over 17,000 Jewish men, women, and children, but the Defendant, SS Colonel Steimle says he knows nothing about this. This is Prosecution Exhibit 65, Document NO-3160. In this report, dated the 25th of October, 1941, at a time when the Defendant Steimle was admittedly in command, it was reported that Sonderkommando 7-A gave special treatment to 63 communists, functionaries, NKBG agents, and agitators.
The description of the Kommando's activities follows in numerical order and it also states on page 54, page 48 of the German --Sonderkommando 7a and before its description of Sonderkommando 7a -- that -and I quote on page 48 of the German.
"The Jews partly resisted the turning of the village of Belowschtschina into a ghetto for the Jews of Sadrudubs and 272 Jews and Jewesses were liquidated consequently, most of them members of the Communist Party, publicaly dangerous elements and political agitators, amongst them a political commissary who had instigated the Jews in their opposition." parted by a document in Document Bock II-A, page 46, page 45 of the German, This was Prosecution Exhibit 39, Document NO-2656 and was an activity report sent by Heydrich, confirming these facts. The Defendant Steimle firmly denies that Jews were ever shot by his Kommando. I will not take up the time of the court by going into a lengthy examination of Steimle's activities as Commander of Sonderkommando 4a. It is clear that he was held in sufficiently high esteem by his superiors to assign him to that important position from 25 August 1942 to 15 January 1943.
part but in paragraph 4 of his affidavit, Document NO-4459, which is in Document Book III-B, on page 44 of the English, page 71 of the German, and prosecution Exhbit 120, he says that a deputy leader, Major Schmidt, was attached to Colonel Steimle and directed the executions independently. from the Defendant Blobel will be shown in greater detail in the presentation of the case against Blobel. It will be in the light of this total picture of death, despair, and destruction that the credence of Defendant Steimle's statement must be weighed.
We come to the responsibility of the Defendant Ott. Ott is seated fifth from the left in the second row of the dock. His affidavit was introduced previously in Document Book IIb, page 64, page 57 of the German. It is Document NO-2993 and prosecution Exhibit 67. It tells us that he became the commanding officer of Sonderkommando 7b on the 15th of February, 1942, and remained the head of this Kommando until about a year later in January 1943.
Let us turn to the defendant's own words to see what occurred while he was head of Kommando 7b. I quote from paragraph 4 of his affidavit, which is on page 64 of the English, page 57 of Document Book IIb. Quote:
"During the time I was Kommando Head of the Kommando 7b, about 80 to a 100 executions were carried out by this Kommando. I remember one execution which took place in the vicinity of Bryansk. The people to be executed were handed over to my unit by the local commandant. The corpses were temporarily buried in the snow and later buried by the army. The valuables which were collected from these people were sent to Einsatzgruppe B. This was ordered by command of Naumann, the head of Einsatzgruppe B, and the same was true for other executions."
In Document IIIb on page 66, page 124 of the German, we have Ott's SS Personal record. We offer that document, NO-4747, as prosecution Exhibit 123. I will read from page 71, which is a sketch of his life history prepared by Ott himself in 1934.
Ott states:
"In fall 1922 I joined the Party. I was an SA man until I resigned, together with a number of comrades because of the irregular conditions and the discord in the continuously changing administration of the Ortsgruppe at that time. I rejoined the Party on 1 September 1931. Since then I have been permitted to serve my Fuehrer also in the SS. During the period of my temporary withdrawal I remained faithful to Adolf Hitler's ideals. I have been a National Socialist since 1922 and never belonged to any other party. job with the SD of the Reichsfuehrer SS. The defendant's membership in the SS and SD has been charged against him in Count 3 of the indictment.
I refer now to a document in Book II-A. on page 66, page 92 of the German. This is Document NO-3236 and was Prosecution Exhibit 109. This report gives us the location and leaders of the Kommandos as of 27 March 1942 and clearly shows Ott as Chief of Sonderkommando 7b, located in Bryansk with detachment in Orel. This confirms the defendant's location and position in connection with his admis sion of executions in Bryansk; Document NO-3276, which is Prosecution Exhibit 66.
This states on page 62, page 56 of the German, that Sonderkommando 7b gave special treatment to -- which means executed -- 82 persons during the period 6 March to 30 March 1942. I quote:
"19 among them for collaborating with partisans, 22 for engaging in Communist propaganda and for proved membership of the Communist Party, 14 for making incendiary remarks, 27 Jews."
This was one month after the Defendant Ott took command. In this report also, each of the Einsatzgruppe Kommandos of Einsatzgruppe B reported executions totaling thousands of persons killed including thousands of Jews given special treatment. 80 to 100 executions. We have corroborated the fact that he was in command of 7b in Bryansk here he directed one execution. we have in addition presented the official report of another execution by Ott's commands while he was responsible and during which 82 persons were killed, some for membership in the Communist Parties, others merely for being Jews. We accept Defendant Colonel Ott's own statement of 80 to 100 executions committed under his command as adequate explanation of his later activities. is seated sixth from the left in the second row. I refer to Document Book III-B, page 57, page 112 of the German copy, and I offer Document NO-4235 as prosecution Exhibit 124. This is an affidavit of the Defendant SS Major Waldemar Klingelhoefer. In it he tells us that he joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and became a member of the SS in 1933.