29 Nov. 45
camps were not an end in themselves but rather they were an
integral part of the Nazi system of government. As we shall show, the
black-shined guards of the SS and the Gestapo stood ranged behind the
official pages of the Reichsgesetzblatt.
We intend to prove that each and every one of these defendants
knew of the existence of these concentration camps; that fear and
terror and nameless horror of the concentration camps were
instruments by which the defendants retained power and suppressed
opposition to any of their policies, including, of course, their
plans for aggressive war. By this means they enforced the controls
imposed upon the German people, as required to execute these plans,
and obliterated freedom in Germany and in the countries invaded and
occupied by the armies of the Third Reich.
Finally, we ask the Tribunal in viewing this film to bear in mind
the fact that the proof to be offered at a later stage of this Trial
will show that on some of the organizations charged in this
Indictment lies the responsibility for the origination, the control,
and the maintenance of the whole concentration camp system: Upon the
SS, the SD--a part of the SS which tracked down the victims-upon the
Gestapo, which committed the victims to the camps, and upon other
branches of the SS which were in charge of the atrocities committed
therein.
Commander James Donovan will introduce the film with a statement
explaining its source and its authenticity.
COMMANDER JAMES BRITT DONOVAN, USNR. (Prosecution Counsel for the
United States): May it please the Tribunal, I refer to Document
Number 2430-PS, concerning the motion picture entitled "Nazi
Concentration Camps" and to the affidavits of Commander James B.
Donovan, Lieutenant Colonel George C. Stevens, Lieutenant E. R.
Kellogg and Colonel Erik Tiebold contained therein. The affidavits of
Colonel Stevens and of Lieutenant Kellogg are also contained in the
motion picture, and thus will be in the record of the Tribunal. With
the permission of the Tribunal, I shall now, however, read into the
record those affidavits not appearing in the film.
THE PRESIDENT: In the absence of any objection by the Defense
Counsel, we don't think it is necessary to read these formal
affidavits.
COMMANDER DONOVAN: Yes, Sir. The United States now offers in
evidence an official documentary motion picture report on Nazi
concentration camps. This report has been compiled from motion
pictures taken by Allied military photographers as the Allied armies
in the West liberated the areas in which these camps were