It is impossible, and the presenting of written affidavits is unavoidable.
Your Honors referred Mr. Jackson to Article 17, with respect to the calling of witnesses by the Tribunal. This is quite correct. Article 17 establishes this right; and the Prosecution naturally understands that the calling of witnesses to trial is unavoidable; but it is impossible to call all the witnesses, all those people who could give their testimony about those crimes which were perpetrated by the defendants. Therefore, Your Honors, once again I want to refer to Article 17 of the Charter, which provides that the Tribunal shall not be bound by rules of technical evidence. The Tribunal establishes and adopts whatever most expeditious -- and I emphasize, Your Honors, "most expeditious" -and less complicated by formalities the order of procedure, and it admits any evidence which, in its opinion, has probative value.
I also would ask Your Honors to consider this as a basis, and this naturally allows acceptance of such written testimony by the witnesses, which is being presented. Justice Jackson said, and whatever he said, I fully share.
MR. ROBERTS: May it please the Tribunal, as far as the British Delegation is concerned, they desire to support what the American Chief Prosecutor has said, and we do not feel we can usefully add anything.
THE PRESIDENT: (To a member of the French Delegation, Mr. Edgar Faure) Do you wish to add anything?
MR. FAURE: Mr. President, I wish simply to inform the Court that the French Prosecution is entirely in accord with the remarks which weremade by the American Prosecutor, and by the Soviet Prosecutor. that it is not possible to settle the questions of evidence in this trial, solely by the practice of verbal testimony in the courtroom, or under these conditions, it might be opportune to call to the witness stand, which is obviously impossible, all the inhabitants of the territories who have been involved, and which have been occupied. The defense has every opportunity to discuss, later on, the documents which have been presented by the Prosecution, and notably, the written testimony.
THE PRESIDENT: I don't think that Counsel for Kaltenbrunner was suggesting that every witness must be called, but that witnesses who were in Germany and available should be called, and that their evidence should not be given by affidavit.
MR. FAURE: The Defense has a right to call them as witnesses if it desires to hear them.
DR. KAUFFMAN: Excuse me if I add just a few words to this important question. Those who have just spoken have said that one of the main principles of this trial is the circumstance that the trial should proceed speedily. That is also expressed in Paragraph 19 of the Charter. No one can more hope that this principle is put into execution than we Defense Counsel ourselves; but it is nevertheless my opinion that one principle, which is the highest that mankind knows, cannot suffer in the interests of speed, and that principle is the principle of truth; and if it were simply a possibility that an over-hasty trial might give offense to truth, then the formal methods of procedure must step into the background.
There are principles in mankind that are unspoken, and that do not have to be spoken. essential content. The objections I raised to the testimony of the witness in question, seem to me so justified, that the correct principle of speed should be confronted with the principle of truth, and should withdraw in its favor. It is a question of humanity. Humanity is in question here, and we want to find the truth for our children. If such testimony remains uncontradicted for months, then a part of humanity could feel desperation, and particularly, the German folk would suffer as a consequence.
DR. BERGOLD: (Counsel for Defendant Bormann) If it please the Court, I am Dr. Bergold, Defense Counsel for Bormann.
In this debate, I should like to bring up one point. It appears important to me, because it has apparently be the source of this debate. According to our system of jurisprudence, the Prosecution has the duty, not only of producing the incriminating evidence, but also that which serves to help the defendants. I can well understand the Defense Counsel for Kaltenbrunner, because he protests if this important point is net observed. his wife, and condemned them to death, it is highly probably that the Prosecution knew of this fact, and that the horrible exhibits that were presented to us were found in the files of the German Government. along with this exhibit, had made the statement that the German authorities had condemned such terrible things, and had condemned the perpetrators of them to death.
procedure, the Prosecution in this case simply presents incriminating evidence, and on the basis of a single document or a single witness, but it does not present the exculpating evidence from the same sources. If this procedure were changed, and if the prosecution had stated that this man had been condemned to death, then, first of all, the impression about Kaltenbrunner would not have been so bad: and secondly, public opinion would have been left with a different impression. Then, presumably, in this case, my colleague, Kauffmann, could have limited himself to the request that in the further course of this trial, Kaltenbrunner would have been given the opportunity to say that he had nothing to do with it; but the terrible impression which has been left with the world and on us, would have been avoided.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you refer me to the part of the German Law to which you were referring, where you say it is the duty of the Prosecution, not only to produce evidence for the Prosecution, but also to produce evidence for the Defense.
DR. BERGOLD: That is a general principle of jurisprudence, Paragraph 161 of the Reichsstrafgesetzblatt. That is one of the basic principles of law that we have in Germany.
THE PRESIDENT: Give me that reference again.
DR BERGOLD: Paragraph 161. This principle, according to German Law
THE PRESIDENT: 161 of what?
DR. BERGOLD: Reichsstrafprozessordnung. The same thing is true of Austria. There is a similar paragraph in Austrian jurisprudence. This principle is supposed to permit that a defendant should have the whole truth said about him, because frequently he is not in a position to produce all the evidence in his favor. Therefore, German jurisprudence has commissioned the Prosecution also to present exculpating evidence, along with its incriminating evidence.
DR. KUBSCHOF (Counsel of Defendant von Papen): Specifically, with regards to the question of Pfaffenberger, Pfaffenberger does not concern the Defendant von Papen, since he is not concerned in this part of the indictment. I am simply speaking here as regards the principal involved. the Prosecution and the Defense Counsel cannot be competent. Justice Jackson agrees with us that every witness whose affidavit can be presented, be thus presented, and then be given over to the Defense, if he is obtainable. If in every case in which the Defense stands on the point that an affidavit does not adequately serve as proof, and that only first-hand evidence, such as oral testimony, should be taken, in such a case, if this point of view were taken, there would always be a double hearing of testimony, namely, first the affidavit, and secondly, the hearing and cross-examination of the witness. Thus undoubtedly would lead to a prolongation of the trial. In each of these cases, the Court would, right at the very beginning, not allow the reading of the affidavit, in order to prevent this delay. Consequently, it is probably just as pointless if the Prosecution presents affidavits of which it can be expected that the witness will later be called and heard. (At this point there was no translation of some of Dr. Kubuschof's argument). about this. The Defense, of course, want nothing more than what we already assume of the Prosecution, namely, a speedy but also just course of the trial; and it is, of course, not well if things are presented through an affidavit.
The hearing of witnesses must be clarified.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will consider the objection that has been raised when the Court adjourns.
JUSTICE JACKSON: May I have one word?
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Justice Jackson, it is unusual to hear counsel who oppose an objection for a second time.
JUSTICE JACKSON: I merely want to give you the answer to the question which you asked me as to the whereabouts of Pfaffenberger. My information is that these affidavits were taken by the American Army at the time they liberated the people in these concentration camps, at the time the films were taken, and the whole evidence available gathered. This witness was present at the concentration camp, and at that time his statements were taken. We do not know his present whereabouts, and I see no reasonable likelihood that we will be able to locate him within any short time. We will make an effort.
MR. ROBERTS: May it please the Tribunal, might I endeavor to assist? I think I have now found the German order to which the Defense Counsel referred, paragraph 161. It is, of course, an order in German. Perhaps I might hand it up, and the Court Translators will no doubt deal with the paragraph (handing up volume to the Tribunal).
JUSTICE JACKSON: I think one bit of that initial information must be furnished, in view of the statements made here that we have information that we are witholding. Kaltenbrunner has been interrogated. At no time has he made such a claim, so I am advised by our interrogators; and under the Charter, our duty is to present the case for the Prosecution. I do not, not in any purpose, serve two masters.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, I call upon Major Walsh.
THE PRESIDENT: Major Walsh, did you give a lettering to the document books with which you are dealing?
MAJOR WALSH: I didn't understand, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Did you give a letter of the alphabet to the document books with which you were dealing?
MAJOR WALSH: Yes. If Your Honor please, it is the letter "T".
THE PRESIDENT: "T"?
MAJOR WALSH: Yes. May it please the Tribunal, during the last session the Prosecution presented briefly the preliminary steps leading to the ultimate objective of the Nazi Party and the Nazi controlled state, that is, the extermination of the Jews. Propaganda, decress, the infamous Nurnberg Laws, boycotts, registration and ghettoization were the initial measures in the program. I shall, with the Court's permission, continue with a discussion of the methods utilized for the annihilation of the Jewish people.
I would like to first discuss starvation. Policies were designed and adapted to deprive the Jews of the most elemental necessities of life. Again the Defendant Hans Frank, then Governor General of Poland, wrote in his diary that Hunger rations were introduced in the Warsaw Ghetto and, referring to the new food regulations in August 1942, he callously, and perhaps casually, noted that by these food regulations virtually condemned more than one million Jews to death. I offer in evidence that part of Document 2233E-PS, diary of Hans Frank, Conference Volume, 24 August 1942, US Exhibit 283.
THE PRESIDENT: What letter is after 2233?
MAJOR WALSH: That is 2233E-PS.
THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.
MAJOR WALSH: And I quote.
"That we sentence 1,200,000 Jews to die of hunger should be noted only marginally. It is a matter of course that should the Jews not starve to death it would we hope result in a speeding up of the anti-Jewish measures." End of quotation.
Frank's diary is not the only guide to the deliberate policy of starvation of the Jews. They were prohibited from pursuin agricultural activities in order to cut then off from access to source of food. I offer Document 1138-PS in evidence, US Exhibit 284.
I refer the Court to page 4 of the translation, marked with the Roman Numeral V, paragraphs a und b. The document is entitled "Provisional Directives on the Treatment of Jews", and it was issued bt the Reichscommissar for the Ostland I read:
"Jews must be cleaned out from the countryside. The Jews are to be removed from all trades, especially from trade with agricultural products and other foodstuffs." End of quotation. meat, eggs and milk. paragrph 2 on the first page of the translation before the Court. This ist an original decree dated 18 September 1942, from the Ministry of Agriculture. I quote:
"Jews will no longer receive the following foods, beginnung with the 42nd distribution period (19 October 1942): meat, meat products, eggs, wheat products (cake, white bread, wheat rolls, wheat flour, etc.) whole milk, fresh skimmed milk, as well as such food distributed not on food ration cards issued uniformly throughout the Reich but on local supply certificates or by special announcement of the nutrition office on extra coupons of the food cards.
"Jewish children und young people over ten years of age will receive the bread ration of the normal consumer." End of quote. food concessions allotted to non-Jews. Seizure by the State Police of food shipments to Jews from abroad was authorized, and the Jewish ration cards were distinctly marked with the word "Jew" in color across the face of the cards, so that the storekeepers could readili identify and discriminate against Jewish purchasers.
The Czechoslovakian Government published in 1943 an official document entitled "Czechoslovakia Fights Back". I offer this book in evidence, Document 1689-PS, US Exhibit 286.
To summarize the contents of page 110, it states that the Jewish food purchases were confined to certain areas and to certain days and hours. As might be expected, the period permitted for the purchases was during the time when food stocks were likely to be exhausted.
By Special Order No.44 for the Eastern Occupied Territories, dated 4 Nov. 1941, the Jews were limited to rations as low as only one-half of the lowest basic category of other people, and the Ministry of Agriculture was empowered to exclude Jews entirely or partially from obtaining food, thus exposing the Jewish community death by starvation.
THE PRESIDENT: Did you read anything from 1689-PS?
MAJOR WALSH: Just to summarize, Sir, the contents of page 110
THE PRESIDENT: I see. Now you are offerin L...
MAJOR WALSH:L-165, Your Honor, US Exhibit 287. I refer the Court to the last half of the first paragraph of the translation. This is a press bulletin issued by the Polish Ministry of Information, dated 15 November 1942. The Polish Ministry concludes that upon the basis of the nature of the seoarate rationing and the amount of food available to Jews in the Warsaw and Cracow ghettos, the system was designed to bring about starvation, and from the quotation I read:
"In regard to food supplies they are brought under a completely separate system, which is obviously aimed at depriving them of the most elemental necessities of life." End of quotation. Justice Jackson in his opening address to the Tribunal made reference to Document 1061-PS "The Warsaw Ghetto is No More", marked USA Exhibit 275. bound, profusely illustrated, typed on heavy bond paper, is the almost unbelievable recital of a proud accomplishment by Major General of the Police Stroop, who signed the report with a bold hand. General Stroop in this report first pays tribute to the bravery and heroism of the German forces who participated in the ruthless and merciless action against a helpless, defenseless group of Jews, numbering, to be exact, 56,065, including, of course, the infants and the women. In this document he proceeds to relate the day-by-day account of the ultimate accomplishment of his mission -- to destroy and to obliterate the Warsaw Ghetto. Warsaw in November 1940, was inhabited by about 400,000 Jews, and prior to the action for the destruction of this Ghetto, some 316,000 had already been deported. The Court wall note that this report is approximately 75 pages in length, and the Prosecution believes that the contents are of such striking evidentiary value that no part should be omitted from the permanent records of the Tribunal, and that the Tribunal should consider the entire report in judging the guilt of these defendants. of the document at least twenty days ago, and have had ample time, I am sure, to scrutinize it in detail. If the Court, in the exercise of its judgment, determines that the entire report may be accepted in toto, the Prosecution believes that the reading of a portion of the summary, together with brief excerpts from the daily teletype reports, will suffice for the oral record.
I would like the Court to examine it, if I may, and present it to the Court, together with the duplicate original thereof, and ask that the Court rule that the entire document may be accepted.
THE PRESIDENT: Major Walsh, the Court will take that course, provided that the Prosecution supplies as soon as possible, both to the Soviet and to the French members of the Tribunal, copies in Russian and French of the whole document.
MAJOR WALSH: Yes, sir; may I consult with . . .
THE PRESIDENT: I don't say present immediately, but present as soon as possible.
MAJOR WALSH: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: You are going to read the passages that you think necessary?
MAJOR WALSH: Yes. From page 6 of the translation before the Court of Document 1061-PS, I would like to read the boastful but nonetheless vivid account of some of this ruthless action within the Warsaw Ghetto. I quote, second paragraph, page 6:
"The resistance put up by the Jews and bandits could be broken only by relentlessly using all our forces and energy by day and night. On 23 April 1943 the Reichs Fuehrer SS issued through the Higher SS and Police fuehrer East at Cracow his order to complete the combing out of the Warsaw Ghetto with the greatest severity and relentless tenacity. I therefore decided to destroy the entire Jewish residential area by setting every block on fire, including the blocks of residential buildings near the armament works. One concern after the other was systematically evacuated and subsequently destroyed by fire. The Jews then emerged from their hiding places and dugouts in almost every case. Not infrequently, the Jews stayed in the burning buildings until, because of the heat and the fear of being burned alive, they preferred to jump down from the upper stories after having thrown mattresses and other upholstered articles into the street from the burning buildings. With their bones broken, they still tried to crawl across the street into blocks of buildings which had not yet been set on fire or were only partially in flames.
Often the Jews changed their hiding places during the night, by moving into the ruins of burnt out buildings, taking refuge there until they were found by our patrols. Their stay in the sewers also ceased to be pleasant after the first week. Frequently from the street, we could hear loud voices coming through the sewer shafts. Then the men of the Waffen SS, the Police, or the Wehrmacht Engineers courageously climbed down from the shafts to bring out the Jews and not infrequently they then stumbled over Jews already dead, or were shot at. It was always necessary to use smoke candles to drive out the Jews. Thus one day we opened 183 sewer entrance holes, and at a fixed time lowered smoke candles into them, with the result that the bandits fled from what they believed to be gas in the center of the former Ghetto, where they could then be pulled out of the sewer holes there. A great number of Jews who could not be counted were exterminated by blowing up sewers and dugouts.
"The longer the resistance lasted the tougher the men of the Waffen SS, Police, and Wehrmacht became. They fulfilled their duty indefatigeably in faithful comradeship, and stood together as models and examples of soldiers. Their duty hours often lasted from early morning until late at night. At night search patrols with rags wound round their feet remained at the heels of the Jews and gave them no respite. Not infrequently they caught and killed Jews who used the night hours for supplementing their stores from abandoned dugouts and for contacting neighboring groups or exchanging news with them.
"Considering that the greater part of the men of the Waffen SS had only been trained for three to four weeks before being assigned to this action, high credit should be given to the pluck, courage and devotion to duty which they showed. It must be stated that the Wehrmacht Engineers, too, executed the blowing up of dugouts, sewers and concrete buildings with indefatigeability and great devotion to duty. Officers and men of the Police, a large part of whom had already been at the front, again excelled by their dashing spirit.
"Only through the continuous and untiring work of all involved did we succeed in catching a total of 56,065 Jews whose extermination can be proved.
To this should be added the number of Jews who lost their lives in explosions or fires, but whose number could not be ascertained.
THE PRESIDENT: Major Walsh, in the section that you are just upon now, oughtn't you to read the opening paragraphs of this document, which set out the amount of the losses of the German troops?
MAJOR WALSH: I will do so, sir. On page 1 of the translation, I quote. The title: "There is no Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw anymore."
"For the Fuehrer and their country the following fell in the battle for the destruction of Jews and bandits in the former ghetto of Warsaw." Fifteen names are thereafter listed.
"Furthermore, the Polish Police Sergeant Julian Zielinski, born 13 November 1891, 8th Commissariat, fell on 19 April 1943 while fulfilling his duty. They gave their utmost, their life. We shall never forget them.
"The following were wounded:" Then follows the names of 60 Waffen SS personnel; 11 watchmen from training camps, probably Lithuanians; 12 Security Police Officers in SS units; 5 men of the Polish Police; and 2 regular army personnel, engineers.
I read:
"Our setting the block on fire achieved the result in the course of the night that those Jews whom we had not been able to find despite all our search operations left their hideouts under the roofs, in the collars, and elsewhere, and appeared on the outside of the buildings, trying to escape the flames. Masses of then - entire families - were already aflame and jumped from the windows or endeavored to let themselves down by means of sheets tied together or the like. Steps had been taken so that these Jews as well as the remaining ones were liquidated at once." paragraph, I read:
"When the blocks of buildings mentioned above were destroyed, 120 Jews were caught and numerous Jews were destroyed when they jumped from the attics to the inner courtyards, trying to escape the flames. Many more Jews perished in the flames or were destroyed when the dugouts and sewer entrances were blown up."
And on page 30, second half of the second paragraph, I read:
"Not until the blocks of buildings were well aflame and were about to collapse did a further considerable number of Jews emerge, forced to do so by the flames and the smoke. Time and again the Jews try to escape even through burning buildings. Innumerable Jews whom we saw on the roofs during the conflagration perished in the flames. Others emerged from the upper stories in the last possible moment and were only able to escape death from the flames by jumping down. Today we caught a total of 2,283 Jews, of whom 204 were shot, and innumerable Jews were destroyed in dugouts and in the flames." line:
line:
"The Jews testify that they emerge at night to get fresh air, since it is unbearable to stay permanently within the dugouts owing to the long duration of the operation. On the average the raiding parties shoot 30 to 50 Jews each night. From these statements it was to be inferred that a considerable number of Jews are still underground in the Ghetto. Today we blew up a concrete building which we had not been able to destroy by fire. In this operation we learned that the blowing up of a building is a very lengthy process and takes an enormous amount of explosives. The best and only method for destroying the Jews therefore still remains the setting of fires".
And from page 35, the last part of the second paragraph, I read:
"Some depositions speak of three to four thousand Jews who still remain in underground holes, sewers, and dugouts. The undersigned is resolved not to terminate the large-scale operation until the last Jew has been destroyed." that the operation is in its last stage. I read the end of the first paragraph on page 44:
"A special unit once more searched the last block of buildings which was still intact in the Ghetto, and subsequently destroyed it. In the evening the chapel, mortuary, and all other buildings in the Jewish cemetery were blown up or destroyed by fire." Stroop. He reports on page 45, last paragraph:
"Of the total of 56,065 caught, about 7,000 were destroyed in the former Ghetto during large-scale operation. 6, 929 Jews were destroyed by transporting them to T.II:" - which we believe to be Trablinka. Camp No. 2, which will later be referred to - "the sum total of Jews destroyed is therefore 13,929. Beyond the number of 56,065 an estimated number of 5 to 6,000 Jews were destroyed by being blown up or by perishing in the flames."
graphs, and with the Court's permission I should like to show a few of these photographs, still pictures, on the screen, unless the Court believes that reference to the original text will be sufficient for the Court's purpose.
THE PRESIDENT: No: If you want to put them on the screen you may do so. Perhaps it would be convenient to adjourn now and you can put them on the screen afterwards.
(A recess was taken from 1130 to 1140 hours).
This first picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is shown on page twenty-seven of the photographs in Exhibit 1061-PS. It is entitled, "The Destruction of a Block of Buildings." The Court will recall those portions of the teletype messages that referred to the setting of fires for the purpose of driving out the Jews. This picture, taken from the record, portrays such a scene.
This picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is from page twenty-one contained in the exhibit, and the caption is, "Smoking out of the Jews and Bandits." Excerpts from the teletype messages read in the record relate to the use of smoke as a means of forcing Jews out of the hiding places.
use of smoke as a means of forcing the Jews out of their hiding places.
This picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is from page 36 of the photographs in the exhibit and it is called "Fighting a Nest of Resistance." It is obviously a picture of an explosive blast being used to destroy one of the buildings, and the Court may recall the message of 7 May 1943 that related to the blowing up of buildings as a lengthy process requiring an enormous amount of explosive. The same message reported that the best method of destroying the Jews was the setting of fires.
This picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is taken from page 36 of the photographs. The Court's attention is invited to the figure of a man in mid-air who appears in the picture about halfway between the center and the upper right-hand comer. He has jumped from one of the upper floors of the burning building. A close examination of this picture by the Court in the original photograph will disclose other figures in the upper floor windows, who apparently are about to follow him. The teletype message of 22 April reported that entire families jumped from burning buildings and were liquidated at once.
This picture (pointing to a picture on the screen) is from page 39 of the photographs. It is entitled "The Deader of the Large-Scale Action." The Nazi-appointed leader of this action was S.S. Major General Strupp, who probably is the central figure in this picture. I cannot refrain from commenting at this point on the smiling faces of the group shown there in the midst of the violence and destruction.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you passing from that document now?
MAJOR WALSH: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you tell the Tribunal where the document was found?
MAJOR WALSH: Where the document itself was found?
THE PRESIDENT: Found, yes.
MAJOR WALSH: It is a captured document, sir. The history I haven't got, but I shall be very pleased to submit the background and history to the Court at the beginning of the afternoon session, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal, I think, would like to know where it was found and to whom it was submitted.
MAJOR WALSH: I have it. I believe that is contained in the document. The teletype messages, sir, that are contained in this exhibit were all addressed to the higher S.S. and Police Fuehrer, S.S. Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Police Kruger, or his deputy. within the ghettos to effect elimination. In the Baltic States a more direct course of action was followed. I refer to Document L 180, now in evidence, which is U.S. Exhibit No. 276. This is a report by SS Brigade Fuehrer Stahlocker to Himmler, dated 15 October 1941, entitled "Action Group A," found in Himmler's private files. He reported that 135,567 persons, nearly all Jews, were murdered in accordance to basic orders directing the complete annihilation of the Jews. This voluminous document provides me with the following statement by the same SS Brigade Fuehrer, and from the translation at the bottom of page 6, the second sentence of the last paragraph I read:
"To our surprise it was not easy at first to sat in motion an extensive pogrom against the Jews.
KLIMATIS, the leader German instigation was noticed from the outside.
During consisting of about 60 houses.
During the following nights about 2,300 Jews were made harmless in a similar way.
..." From the last part of paragraph 3, page 7, I read:
"It was possible, though, through similar influences on the Jews also in Riga.
During this pogrom all synagogues were destroyed and about 400 Jews were killed."
Nazi ingenuity reached a new high mark with the construction and operation of the gas van as a means of mass annihilation of the Jews. A description of these vehicles of horror and death and the operation of them is fully set forth in captured top secret document dated 16 May 1942, addressed to SS Obersturmbannfuehrer RAUFF, 8 Prince Albrecht-strasse, Berlin, from Dr. Becker, SS Untersturmfuehrer. I offer this document, 501-PS, U.S. Exhibit 288. I quote:
"The overhauling of vans by groups D and C is finished.
series (Saurer) stop completely in rainy weather. If it cannot be used, because it simply skids away.
It can only be used in absolutely dry weather.
It is only a at the place of execution.
First the van has to be weather.
The place of execution is usually 10 to 15 because of its location; in damp or wet weather it is not accessible at all.
If the persons to be executed is to be avoided as far as possible.
There is only one way left; to load them at the collecting point and to "I ordered the vans of group D to be camouflaged as the country.
The vans became so well-known that not called the van 'death van', as soon as one of the vehicles appeared.
It is my opinion the van cannot be kept secret for any length of time, not even camouflaged."
And then I read the fourth paragraph on this page:
"Because of the rough terrain and the indescribable in the course of time.
I was asked if in such cases the vans should not be brought to Berlin for repairs.
Transpor demand too much fuel.
In order to save those expenses mediately by radio, that Pol.
Nr ... is out of order.
health by the gas which eventually would escape. I lowing to your attention:
several, commands have had their own men.
I brought to the attention of the com mander of these S.K. concerned the immense psychological least later on.
The men complained to me about head aches which appeared after each unloading.
Nevertheless they don't want to change the orders, because they are opportune moment to flee.
To protect the men from those "The application of gas usually is not undertaken correctly.
In order to come to an end as fast as possible, asleep peacefully.
Distorted faces and excretions, such "Today I shall continue my journey to group B, where I can be reached with further news."
Signed "Doctor Becker, SS Untersturmfuehrer."