14 Dec.
45
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 offering L . . .
MAJOR WALSH: L-165, Your Honor, Exhibit USA-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 separate rationing and the amount of food available to Jews in
the Warsaw and Kraków 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."
I would now like to discuss annihilation within the ghettos. Justice
Jackson in his opening address to the Tribunal made reference to
Document 1061-PS, "The Warsaw Ghetto Is No More," marked
Exhibit USA-275.
This finest example of ornate German craftsmanship, leather 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.
According to this report, the ghetto, which was established in Warsaw
in November 1940, was inhabited by about 400,000 Jews; and prior to the
action for the destruction of this ghetto, some 3,16,000 had already
been deported. The Court will 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.
The defendants were furnished with several photostatic copies of the
entire document at least 20 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