BY DR. HELZER:
Q When were you born and where?
Q What was the profession of your father?
Q Do you have any brothers or sisters? parents' home?
A My father was a liberal during the Weimar Republic. He was a democrat.
Q What was the religious attitude in the parents' house?
Q Will you briefly comment about your childhood and adolescence?
A My mother was Italian by birth. For this reason, I learned both German and Italian when I was young.As a boy already I visited Italy, and these first impressions made me yearn for the faraway countries, which never left me again. My liking for foreign languages is to be ascribed to these circumstances.
Q What schooling did you have? school in Kempten. the beginning of the war. Kempten, my home town. During my two years' apprenticeship I learned English and Portuguese, too. I wanted to go to South America. In 1922 In Went to Brazil.
First of all, I was English correspondent with an import and export firm. Later I was an English-German correspondent, in an export firm -- coffee export firm. By teaching in the evening at a technical high school I managed to get a good knowledge about machine construction. I learned various types of machine construction. I worked in a factory in Dolz. Here I met manufacturers and tradesmen and farmers and got to know the people and the country I made good money for my age and wanted to remain in Brazil. Unfortunately, I received bad reports from home. The firm of my parents had practically lost all its money because of the inflation. My brothers and sisters were still too yound and, therefore, I had to return to help out. In 1925 I entered my parents' plant and used all my strength in order to get the concern going again. After three or four years I succeeded in doing so. In 1932 I wanted to go back to Brazil. Unfortunately, this was not possible because of the restriction on foreign currency. the boycott against German merchandise began in South America, and this was responsible for the fact that German businessmen and technicians were rejected. I had to defer my plans. In 1934 I became independent as a business agent; by hard work and by saving, I managed to found my own business. I sold tractors and refrigadaires. My yearly income amounted to 12,000 marks. Because of my activity in the firm Humbo Dolz in Cologne, I was hoping that I could realize my old plan of emigrating. In June 1939 I was in cologne for this purpose. On the first of January 1940 I was to start a position in Valparaiso, Chile and then the war interfered.
Q. Thank You. I think that suffices. Witness, how and when did you come to the SS?
A. I was an enthusiastic motorist when in 1993 in Kempten the SS motorized unit was formed and that is how I came to this SS unit with some friends.
Q. When did you join the party, the Nazi Party?
A. On the 1st of May 1993.
Q. Did you at any time hold a position in the Party?
A. Never in the party, as a political leader, that is.
Q. From 1993 on did you belong to the SS uninterruptedly?
A. No, in 1936 I left the SS.
Q. Why?
A. I had personal differences with my superior.
Q. Did you rejoin the SS before September 1939?
A. No.
Q. What effect did the outbreak of the war in September 1939 have on you? I mean by this, were you drafted into the army or were you able to continue with your profession?
A. On the 25th of August 1939, I was drafted for a short time to the Army Service Command as a driver. I was Assistant Driver with the motor pool. On the 8th of September 1939, I was released again without having received any military training. I continued with my profession.
Q. How did you get to the SD?
A. In the beginning of January 1940, I received the message that I was drafted into the SD by the Reichsfuehrer SS, as an auxiliary worker for the time of the war, as war emergency worker and that I was to report to the office in Augsburg. There I was told that I was on a war emergency Status and that I had been deferred for service in the SD under the Reichsfuehrer SS, and that my salary would be regulated according to the directives which existed.
Q. Did you try to raise any objections against this drafting?
A. Yes, but it was useless. I was told that I would have to comply with a war emergency call.
Q. Why didn't you want to go to the SD?
A. I only had disadvantages to expect. I was born in the year 1903 and I had not served previously and I did not yet have to expect to be drafted in 1940. My business was intact. I had good allocation of merchandise and as an independent businessman I earned much more than what I was getting in the SD.
Q. Did you, after you were drafted into the SD, get any police or military training?
A. No, in no form. This is not necessary for SD activity.
Q. What was your position and activity in the SD?
A. I was auxiliary employee at the office in Kempten and later I was to take over the SD sector.
Q. Through your war emergency call and your transfer to the SD, were you a memeber of the SD or were you merely a temporary employee of it, for the duration of the war?
A. I was not a member of the SD, but merely a temporary employee for the duration of the war.
Q. Can you tell the Tribunal on what this opinion of yours is based?
A. After I was drafted and assigned to the SD the Labor Office in Kempten gave me a service record for my activity in the SD. In this service record from the time of my drafting on, that is the first of March, 1940, the term, "employee of an agency" was listed as my job and furthermore the MOS 25, that is, type of work, that too was listed down in Group B. I was again and again requested to join the organization and I wanted to remain as such.
I had no to position. I was merely an auxiliary employee for the duration of the war.
Q. Did you try, after your objections against this draft were of no avail, to get out of the SD after you had gotten into it?
A. Yes, I tried to get to the General Kommando as an interpreter for English.
Q. Were you successful?
A. No. when the Inspector of the Security Police found out about it, I was transferred to Dueben a few days later.
DR. BELZER: Your Honor, in this connection I would like to submit this document. Document No. 9 in the Document Book Graf on page 23 of the Document Book. This is the correspondence which the Defendant Graf has had at that time with the army District Command. The first letter on page 23 is a letter from the Army Service Command in Kempten of the 25th of February, 1941.
MR. HORLICK-HOCHWALD: If the Tribunal please, I have just examined the exhibit. This exhibit offered by Dr. Belzer is a typewritten copy. It is the understanding of the prosecution that either the original or a photostatic copy must be submitted as an exhibit. The prosecution is in no position to find out from a typewritten copy anything about the genuiness of the document.
THE PRESIDENT: Firstly, Dr. Belzer, what do you mean to show -
DR. BELZER: May I say something to this? I was told in the Defense Center that everything that can be copied by typewriter is not photostated.
Therefore, I was not in a position to submit a photostat here, but I was told in Room 545 that I would have to copy these documents and that I would have to certify them, and then I could submit them.
THE PRESIDENT: Where is the original? Where is the original?
DR. BELZER: The original is in my possession.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if you have the original and you will proffer that for inspection, certainly the copy will be accepted.
DR. BELZER: Yes, your Honor. Unfortunately, I do not have it with me, but I will bring it this afternoon.
THE PRESIDENT: Certainly.
DR. BELZER: I repeat then. this is, first of all, a message from the 25th of February 1941, to the Defendant Graf, according to which he is asked to present his birth and christening certificate of him and his family. On the 16th of September 1941, the Draft Board in Kempten told the Defendant Graf that he had to get his release from his office immediately and that he had to confirm his release to the Draft Board. This is a letter of the 16th of April 1941. The next letter is the application of the Defendant Graf of the 18th of April 1941, for the release from the SD. Here I only have the copy and not the original and this circumstance gives me cause to submit the document so that I can ask an additional question of the witness.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, by all means. BY DR. BELZER:
Q. Witness, to whom was this application of 18 April 1941 addressed?
A. To the Inspector of Security Police and SD in Munich , who was competent for me personally.
MR. HOCHAWALD: If Your Honor please, I do understand that these three documents mentioned by Mr. Belzer are not as yet evidence. There will be an offer in evidence as soon as Dr. Belzer gets the original, I presume, and the Prosecution reserves the right to object to these three documents as soon as they are formally offerred.
THE PRESIDENT: You will have all three then this afternoon, Doctor?
DR. BELZER: I hope so, but at the latest tomorrow morning.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
DR. BELZER: Because I don't know whether I have them at home.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, tomorrow morning will be sufficiently early.
DR. BELZER: Thank you. BY DR. BELZER:
Q. Witness, I shall then come back to your previous statement that you were transferred to Deuben, when the Inspector heard of your attempts to get to the Army. I shall ask you now, did the Inspector of the Security Police and SD in Munich get any knowledge of this application of 18th of April?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you have a written reply to this application?
A. No, I got no reply, either written nor oral.
Q. In your opinion was the transfer to Dueben the answer to your application for release?
A. Absolutely.
THE PRESIDENT: When was the transfer to Deuben?
THE WITNESS: On 18 May 1941.
Q. Just one month after you had made the request?
A. Yes, Your Honor. BY DR. BELZER:
Q. Did you try to have the transfer order to Deuben revoked?
A. Yes.
Q. Why and with what success?
A. My wife was sick at the time in Stuttgart Hospital, and had telephoned as soon as I heard about my transfer to have this revoked, because at that point it was not clear whether my wife would survive.
Q. Where you successful?
A. No.
Q. Could you have refused to comply with this order?
A. No, that would have been a military disobedience.
Q. Did you have to expect punishment?
A. Yes, according to the regulations I was under the jurisdiction of the SS and Police as an auxilliary was worker.
Q. What were you told about the purpose of your transfer to Deuben?
A. It was a brief military training.
Q. How long were you in Deuben?
A. Until the 22 June 1941, until we left for Russia.
Q. Didn't you get to Schmiedeberg then?
A. Yes, pardon me. For our concept , Schmiedeberg, Dueden and Pretsch are in a locality close by and they were all the same for us.
Q. What did you do in Dueben or Schmiedeberg?
A. In Dueben we merely waited, and a SD officer who was unknown to me asked me a few questions, and the end of May 1941 I was transferred to Schmiedeberg.
Q. And what happened in Schmiedeberg?
A. In Schmiedeberg we were organized into Einsatzcommandos; were lined up in various formation, State Police, Criminal Police and SD, according to a definite plan the men were assigned from these units and were formed into commandos.
I was sent to Einsatzcommando VI together with a SS sergeant, UIrich Krimminger. We were to handle Department III, Which is SD reports. Krimminger as the analyst and I as his aid.
Q. Do I understand you correctly when I assume that only you and Krimminger as SD men were assigned to this EK-VI?
A. Yes.
Q. How large was the commando, otherwise?
A. I can not tell you exactly but it might have been between onehundred sixty and one-hundred eight men.
Q. Did you receive any police or military training in Dueben or Schmiedeberg?
A. No police training but hardly any military training. In the short time of my stay there we had marching exercises, and we were trained very generally in the use of arms.
Q. Did you receive a uniform in Dueben?
A. Yes, field gray with the SD insignia.
THE PRESIDENT: witness, had you had any military training prior to this?
THE WITNESS: No, your Honor.
Q. What training did you receive in the use of arms here at this school, or rather at this assembly point?
A. First of all we got -- theoretical training. We had to take a part carbines and put them together again by ourselves, and later -we had no weapons before, they only arrived a few days before we left for Russia , we did a few exercises on the range, firing exercises, Most of the men the non-coms of the commandos had had a military training. They were men from the Waffen-SS, from the regular police, and officials of the criminal police, and the Gestapo, who were mostly soldiers who had served for twelve years. There were only a very few men there who had not served previously.
Q. Altogether how long did your military training at this point continue?
A. All told, four weeks.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. BY DR. BELZER:
Q. What was your rank in the SS?
A. Unterscharfuehrer, which is equivalent to a sergeant in the German Army.
Q. What were you armed with when you left for Russia?
A. Pistol and a carbine
Q. What were you told about the type of your future assignment?
A. Major Hennicke, who was Chief III of Einsatzgruppe C -- B, rather, at the time it was still called "B" , told Krimminger and myself , or rather informed Krimminger and myself about the mission of the experts of Department III. Where and when the assignments were to take place we were not told.
Q. Did you receive either in Dueben or Schmiedeberg any knowledge in any form whatever about the Fuehrer Order, or about the killing of Jews, Communist functionaries, etc.?
A. No.
Q. When did you hear that you were to be assigned in Russia?
A. On the day we left, after the outbreak of the war with Russia.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Belzer, do you think this might be a good point at which to suspend for recess.
DR. BELZER: Yes, I consider it a suitable point.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well, the Tribunal will be in recess for fifteen minutes.
(Recess)
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
DR. STUEBINGER for Braune: Your Honor, I would like the defendant Braune to be excused from the session this afternoon as I have to discuss with him various matters concerning his document book.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Braune will be excused from attendance in Court this afternoon.
BY DR. BELZER for the defendant Mathias Graf: examination of the witness. you were to be assigned to the Russian campaign you have not answered yet. When did you go to the East? it was the 23rd. I do not remember exactly.
Q What was the means of transport of the Kommando? the Soviet Union?
Q What was the first garrison of EK-6 in Russian territory?
Q How long did you stay in Lemberg? 6 July 1941.
Q What did you do in Lemberg? Einsatzkommando C-6 arrived in Lemberg. The NKWD building which was assigned to us for billets, a former Polish bank, was at that time inhabited by other units. I believe EK-4-B, EK-5, and EK-C, as well as the Security Police and Crakau, his name was Schoengat, were housed in the center of the town in the school. The vehicles stood on a open square and had to be guarded.
For sentry duty those were appointed who had no special assignment yet. On the first day of our stay I had sentry duty. On the second day I had 24 hour standby. I was to be relieved by SS-Unterscharfuehrer Krimminger. As he did not arrive I took his guard duty as well in order to protect him from punishment. Later on I found out that he was unconscious, apparently poisoned, and he had been delivered to the Hospital. Krimminger came from my home town and at the same time was my superior officer. I asked the Kommando chief SSStandartenfuehrer Dr. Kroeger to care for Krimminger. I got this order and I went to see Krimminger in the field hospital. I turned over to the medical officer his personal belongings, that is, Krimminger's and I tried, as the staff him whether I could take he, Krimminger, would die very soon, I asked him whether I could take his last greetings to his wife. Unfortunately he never woke up again from him unconsciousness. especially of carrying out execution of Jews? active in the actual main building but what they were doing I never learned. EM-6?
A EK-6 moved to the East. As it was raining and the roads were in very poor condition -- they had been partly destroyed -- EK-6 moved very very slowly. We spent the nights in various villages on the roadside and eventually we moved into a brick yard in time which was two kilometers from Proskurov.
Q How long did you stay in Proskurov?
Q What did you do in Proskurov?
Q What was the next garrison?
long did you remain there? remained there until toward the end of July. period?
A No. A few days after we marched into Winiza I was detailed to the liaison officer of AOK-17. That was Untersturmfuehrer Heyer. post with Heyer? Golshevists had not destroyed and with a number of auxiliary workers, they were Russians and mechanics of the Kommando, we catalogized these films and chose the cultural films and also the propaganda films. We packed them into boxes and sent them to the Einsatzgruppe. August when I finally arrived back at my Kommando. Untersturmfuehrer Heyer? That was the Ministry of Economics Staff which had been installed. These military economic leaders had the task to issue several economic decrees. All roads met there. As this economic staff was advancing together with the 17th Army therefore a contact with the SD work was of major importance. In Winiza, however, there was no such German office. untersturmfuehrer Heyer, or did these bits of information also have bits of police matter or were they just merely general information concerning all domestic spheres?
concerning all domestic spheres. you arrived back with your Einsatz-Kommando 6. Where did you meet your Kommando?
Q How long had the Kommando been there?
A I don't know how long it had been there when I arrived, but as far as I remember it remained there until the beginning of October 1941 in Kriwoij-Rog.
Q And you stayed all this time, did you? your activities in Kriwoij-Rog but be as brief as you can.
A May I just point out on the map just where Kriwoij-Rog is?
(The witness pointed out the place on the map)
THE PRESIDENT: How do you spell that town?
MR. HOCKWALD: May I spell it, your Honor? K-r-i-w-o-i-j-r-o-g, Kriwoij-Rog.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. important ones of eastern Europe. As far as I can remember 60-70% of the Russian-European supplies are being won there. While until then EK-6 had been mainly active in agricultural territories, with Agricultural installations, the Kommando came for t he first time into an industrial territory. It is obvious that, of course, through this the SD reports became of major importance to this. First of all we had to make an inventory as far as this was concerned -- how many ore mines were there before the war, what is the stateof affairs after the occupation, what industries are there, and how far they are intact. All documents concerning these things I obtained and I submitted them to the Kommando chief.
Apart from this the general reporting was started and things had to be found out such as exactly what difficulties the German Military Government wasconfronted with as far as current and lack of water supplies, assignment of indigenous personnel, it had to be esta blished whether any experts or skilled workers or technicians were available. The atmosphere of Kriwoij-Rog was something newto us as well because it was first a purely industrial town with the major part of the population being workers. Therefore, the atmosphere, the mode of the working people had to be reported about, the attitude toward the German Wehrmacht, their preparedness to take up work again, the effect of the German rules and regulations on the general atmosphere, food, health, culture, and the effect on the government. Shortly, we had more and more work with each day, therefore one man was not able to cope with it. Therefore, I suggested to the Kommando chief that as a substitute for Unterscharfuehrer Krimminger, who had died, Unterscharfuehrer Dr. Haste should be appointed as my collaborator. This was agreed to by the Kommando chief. executions on the part of EK-6?
well as the other criminal assistants and secretaries and inspectors who were all contained in the executive department, carried out arrests and interrogations. Who actually carried out executions, I do not know but I only knew that such executions were actually carried out. Jews and Gypsies without being interrogated first?
Q Did not on one occasion Himmler come to Kriwoij-Rog to Kommando 6?
A Yes, I think it was at the end of September 1941. As it was known that Himmler was very interested in German settlements, the Kommando had to prepare for his visit. That is, such settlements had to be prepared for ceremonial welcome. It was my task to deal with these preparations. which you are sitting now it was said that Himmler on the occasions of a visit to Einsatzgruppe D spoke to the officers and Men of Einsatzgruppe D and made known the Fuehrer order to them. I now ask you, did Himmler do the same with EK-6 in Kriwoij-Rog?
Q Did Himmler give a speech in front of a collection of men?
THE PRESIDENT: Did you see Himmler yourself?
THE PRESIDENT: What was the occasion? dinner, to Himmler.
THE PRESIDENT: Did you give him a good dinner?
THE PRESIDENT: If he were alive would you serve him the same dinner now?
BY DR. BELZER:
Q Where did the Kommando go after they had been in Kriwoij-Rog?
A From Kriwoij-Rog we went to Dnepro petrowsk. May I spell it D-n-e-p-r-o-p-e-t-r-o-w-s-k. Dnepropetrowsk.
Q Did you come in one unit to Dnepropetrowsk?
Q What was the unit with which you arrived there?
Q How long did the main Kommando remain in Dnepropetrowsk? in a few short sentence your activity in Dnepropetrowsk.
THE PRESIDENT: Why don't you say in that place.
A Thank you your Honor, I shall follow this ruling. - - - were similar to those in Kriwoij-Rog. The only difference was there were a number of bigger towns with specific industrial institutions. As far as I remember before the War there were in the vicinity of this town two million people living there. Again I had to ask for expert workers, skilled workers, technicians, engineers. And, through these I had to affirm and establish whether these industrial workers were still there and still available. I had to report about the re-opening of plans and industrial enterprises and about the difficulties connected with the feeding and paying of the working population, as well as other problems, such as electric current, water supply, raw materials, question of transportation, colloboration of the over-lapping German agencies, as far instance, the labor exchange, the mining offices East, railroad administration. I had to take up contact with Economic Agencies and Economic Kommandos who had already founded their central offices for the whole Kommando in Dnepropetrowsk. Apart from that, this place was a university town and the local population tried very hard to re-open the university, especially the medical faculty.
The professors had to be taken care of and the university teachers. Apart from that the effect of the independent administration, that is, the Ukranian mayor's office and the other Ukranian agencies had to be reported about. Furthermore the black market which was extremely active in this place had to be reported about. Then there was an order in existence to compile and collect all important material and yo sent it on to Kiew. Current reports went to the Kommando leader first who then passed them on to the competent agency of the AOK or to the Einsatzgruppe itself. Is your activity as a reporter to be understood with that effect that you were the information piece for the organization?
A No. SD information work and executive activity exclude each other. An SD official, for instance, cannot arrive at a place in the morning in order to carry out an arrest and then in the afternoon report about the same enterprise, about the mode and atmosphere in the working stage. that is quite impossible - dealing with the case in the executive is the work of the Police officials and for this a counter-intelligence service is necessary who has to report about actual cases of persons and who actually deals with these cases. The establishing that the working population takes and the attitude that they work whether willingly or unwillingly, or for this or that reason do not want to work, the executive authority cannot do very much with a report of this nature or, at least, they can't do anything at all with it because there is no basic case from which they can start. But such reports are very significant for all competent authorities in German Administration because if they are issued with expert knowledge they can, or may, be the basis for the elimination of unnecessary severity. Also they can be the basis of further directives and regulations.
and the administrative. what do you exactly mean by executive authorities? up to the carrying out of sentences, in other words, the assignments of Departments 4 and 5 of the domestic agencies. so-called authority in the EK-6, or rather, who was in charge of it? or state police, Stapo. authorities concerning executions, arrests, or even only interrogations in Dnepropetrowsk?
A No. I had so much to do with my work with the Einsatzgruppe C for the department chief of Department 3, that he had no reason whatsoever to assign me to deal with any tasks of the executive authorities. cutions were carried out by the Einsatzgruppe or by other authorities?
A No. In several discussions with the local population I learned that in October numerous Jews had been shot. This I reported, in accordance with my duty, to my kommando chief, the SS Standartenfuehrer Dr. Kroeger, who said that this had been a special police action ordered by the Higher SS and Police Leader Jeckeln, and no official or no man of his kommando had participated in this operation. He did not approve of such measures.
Q were you enlightened about a special figure of Jews? nor by kommando leaders and officers. members of the local population about this fact. Were you then under the impression that knowledge about such facts was a general thing among the population or that it was only certain circles who knew about it?
Ukrainian authorities. One could almost say official agencies because they had been approved of by the German administration, and it is obvious that the chief of a food supply office or the population office, or even the mayor of such a large city has, of course, some extensive knowledge, more extensive knowledge at least than any, citizen. I never heard such remarks expressed by members of the population. you see any Jews there?
Q At any time? were a usual picture in the city. Of any measures of confining these Jews to ghettos in Denpropetnowsk I never heard about. any Jews?
A No. I heard merely and only afterwards of this operation which I have mentioned on the part of the Higher SS and Police Leader Jeckeln.
Q Where did the EK 6 move from Dnepropetrowsk?
A The Kommando advanced via Saporosje to Stalino. In the activity of Saporosje, the kommando, during the night of the 12th to the 13th of November, 1941, was surprised by a fall in temperature, by a catastrophic fall in temperature. Within a few hours the temperature had fallen from plus 10 degrees Centigrade to minus 20 degrees Centigrade, and this had as a consequence that most of our vehicles froze, and the kommando chief passed on the order that the individual vehicles should move on their own independently, or at least try to move, to Stalino. The EK remained in Stalino for eight months.
Q How was the kommando billeted in Stalino? This large building made it possible for us to subdivide the kommando according to departments exactly as it was in the Reich. I myself and my collaborators moved into our own office which was a special office for Department 3, as all other departments of the kommando had other offices allocated to them.