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The Supreme SS and Police Court summarily states the Nazi policy towards the Jews: "The Jews have to be exterminated".
This important document contains some excerpts from the decision
of the SS Court in the trial of Max Taubner, an SS-man who participated
in the mass murder of Jewish civilians in the Nazi-occupied USSR.
Note also that Taubner was tried not for the act of killing itself, but for "barbaric killing", which was judged to be "unworthy of a German man and an SS-officer", as well as showing photographs of the massacres to civilians while on vacation. This document proves that the extermination of the Jews was so deeply rooted in the Nazi ideology, that it was fully accepted even by the most authoritative judicial body in Nazi Germany. The text follows. It is quoted from 'The Good Old Days' - E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess, The Free Press, NY, 1988, p, 196-207, in which the full verdict and further details are included. Excerpts from verdict of the SS and Police Supreme Court in Munich, against SS-Untersturmfuehrer Max Taubner, passed on May 24 1943 before SS-Standartenfuehrer (Colonel) Dr. Reinecke (judge) and SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lt-Colonel) Dr. Brause, SS-Sturmbannfuehrer (Major) Sukkau, SS-Untersturmfuehrer (Second Lieutenant) Gamperl and SS-Untersturmfuehrer (Second Lieutenant) Tarnow. Document index: Az. St.L. 29/42.1. The accused shall not be punished because of the actions against the Jews as such. The Jews have to be exterminated and none of the Jews that were killed is any great loss. Although the accused should have recognized that the extermination of the Jews was the duty of Kommandos which were set up especially for this purpose, he should be excused for considering himself to have the authority to take part in the extermination of Jewry himself. Real hatred of the Jews was the driving motivation for the accused. In the process he let himself be drawn into committing cruel actions in Alexandriya which are unworthy of a German man and an SS-officer. These excesses cannot be justified, either, as the accused would like to, as retaliation for the pain that the Jews have caused the German people. It is not the German way to apply Bolshevic methods during the necessary extermination of the worst enemy of our people. In so doing the conduct of the accused gives rise to considerable concern. The accused allowed his men to act with such vicious brutality that they conducted themselves under his command like a savage horde...2. By taking photographs of the incidents or having photographs taken, by having these developed in photographic shops and showing them to his wife and friends, the accused is guilty of disobedience. Such pictures could pose the gravest risks to the security of the Reich if they fell into the wrong hands... Dismissal of the case against the remaining parties, 1 June 1943 The following has been established on the basis of the main trial of SS-Untersturmfuehrer Max Taubner... The following men were party to the punishable acts committed or ordered by SS-Untersturmfuehrer Max Taubner: SS-Unterscharfuehrer Walter Muller particularly stood out during the shootings of Jews with the brutality with which he tore small Jewish children from their mothers. He held these children in front of him with his left hand and then, with his right hand, shot them with a pistol. [three more SS-personnel accused] Allowances have been made for the fact that the accused were, without exception, acting on the orders of and under the responsibility of Untersturmfuehrer Max Taubner. In this respect, their own culpability may be described as slight... The cases against these accused have therefore been dismissed. | |||||
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Last modified: November 7, 2002
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