12 Dec.
45
"5. There is no limit to working
hours. Their duration depends not on the kind of working
establishments in the camps and the kind of work to be done. They are
fixed by the camp commanders alone.
"6. Any circumstances which may result in a shortening of
working hours (for example, meals, roll-calls, etcetera), have
therefore to be restricted to an irreducible minimum. Time-wasting
walks and noon intervals, only for the purpose of meals, are
forbidden." The armament production program we have just
described was not merely a scheme for mobilizing the manpower
potential of the camps. It actually was integrated directly into the
larger Nazi program of extermination; and I wish to refer, at this
point, to our document Number 654-PS and Exhibit Number USA-218.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you think it will be convenient to break off now for
a few minutes?
Mr. DODD: Very well.
[A recess was taken.]
Mr. DODD: At the recess time I had made reference to
Document Number 654-PS,, which has the Exhibit Number USA-218. This is a
memorandum of an agreement between Himmler, Reichsführer SS, and
the Minister of Justice, Thierack. It is dated the 18th of September
1942. The concept of extermination to which I referred to shortly before
the recess was embodied in this document ]to quote from Page 1,
Paragraph 2:
"2. Transfer of asocial elements from
prison to the Reichsführer SS for extermination through work. To
be transferred without exception are persons under protective arrest,
Jews, Gypsies, Russians and Ukrainians, Poles with more than 3-year
sentences, Czechs, and Germans with more than 8-year sentences,
according to the decision of the Reich Minister for Justice. First of
all the worst asocial elements amongst those just mentioned are to be
handed over. I shall inform the this through Reichsleiter Bormann."
Now this agreement further provided, in Paragraph 12 on Page 2 of the
English text and Page 3, Paragraph 14, of the German text, as follows:
"14. It is agreed that, in
consideration of the intended aims of the Government for the clearing
up of the Eastern problems, in the future, Jews, Poles, Gypsies,
Russians, and Ukranians are no longer to be tried by the ordinary
courts, so far as punishable offenses are concerned; but are to be