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"Special treatment" (Sonderbehandlung)
1. Holocaust deniers like to claim that "special treatment" did not mean "to kill", but actually meant something much more benign. They also claim that anyone who admitted that "special treatment" did mean "to kill" must have been tortured by the Allies.
2. However, these quick facts - the words of the Nazis themselves - show that "special treatment" clearly did mean "to kill". These statements were all made by the Nazis long before they were ever questioned by the Allies.
- Here is what Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Reich Main Security Office, and responsible for the "Jewish question" had to say about "Sonderbehandlung" in 1939. On September 20th, 1939, Heydrich sent a telegram to Gestapo regional and subregional headquarters on the "basic principles of internal security during the war." (Remember that Heydrich was assassinated in 1942, long before the Russians or Americans could have tortured him into writing this):
Zur Beseitigung aller Mißverständnisse teile ich folgendes mit:
...ist zu unterscheiden zwischen solchen, die auf dem bisher üblichen Wege erledigt werden können, und solchen, welche einer Sonderbehandlung zugeführt werden müssen. Im letzteren Falle handelt es sich um solche Sachverhalte, die hinsichtlich ihrer Verwerflichkeit, ihrer Gefährlichkeit oder ihrer propagandistischen Auswirkung geeignet sind, ohne Ansehung der Person durch rücksichtloses Vorgehen (nämlich durch Exekution) ausgemerzt zu werden.[translation]
To clear up all misunderstandings, I inform you of the following:
... a differentiation is to be made between those who can be finished off in the hitherto usual way, and those to whom a special treatment applies. In the latter case, we are dealing with circumstances that because of their degradation, their danger or their propaganda consequences, it is appropriate without regard to the person, to eliminate him through a ruthless procedure (namely by execution).Nuremberg Document 1944-PS
- And here is what Heinrich Himmler wrote on February 20, 1942 in a secret order to S.D. and Security Police Officers concerning Eastern workers, once again long before there were Americans or Russians about.
Bekämpfung der Diziplinwidrigkeit
(4) In besonders schweren Fällen ist beim Reichsicherheitshauptamt Sonderbehandlung unter Angabe der Personalien und des genauen Tatbestandes zu beantragen.
(5) Die Sonderbehandlung erfolgt durch den Strang.
[translation]
Combatting adverseness to discipline
(4) In especially serious cases, special treatment is to be applied for from the Reich Main Security Office by transmission of the particulars and the exact facts of the case.
(5) Special treatment takes place by hanging.
Nuremberg Document 3040-PS
- "Executions must not be held in the camp. … If the camps in the Government General are located in the immediate vicinity of the border the prisoners are to be taken if at all possible to former Soviet Russian territory for special treatment."
Nuremberg Document 502-PS
- By 1943, Himmler was so sure that just about everyone understood the meaning of the word "Sonderbehandlung", that he ordered it replaced in the secret Korherr Report on the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. Korherr had used the word on page 9 of the document. Here is what he received from Himmler's assistant.
Der Reichsführer-SS hat Ihren statistischen Bericht über "Die Endlösung der europäischen Judenfrage" erhalten. Er wünscht, daß an keiner Stelle von "Sonderbehandlung der Juden" gesprochen wird. Auf Seite 9 muß es folgerndermaßen heißen:
"Transportierung von Juden aus den Ostprovinzen nach dem russichen Osten:
Es wurden durchgeschleust
durch die Lager im Generalgouvernement...
durch die Lager im Warthegau..."
Eine andere Formulierung darf nicht genommen werden...
[translation]
The Reichsführer-SS has received your report on "The Final Solution of the European Jewish Question". He wishes that "special treatment of the Jews" not be mentioned anywhere. On page 9, it must be formulated as follows:
"They were guided [through]
through the camps in the General Government
through the camps in the Warthegau [one of the provinces in occupied Poland]No other formulation is to be employed.
Bundesarchiv, Signatur NS (neu) 1570
3. All quotes from Eugen Kogon, Hermann Langbein, et al, Nationalsozialistische Massentötungen durch Giftgas, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1995.
The complete text of the Korherr Report in German and English can be found beginning at http://www.mazal.org/Klarsfeld/Mythomania/T165.htm