18 Dec. 45
"The final expropriation of these
properties thus placed at our disposal can then be carried out step by
step in the course of time."
On 5 April 1940 the Security Police and Security Service SS sent a
letter to the Reich Commissar for the consolidation of Germandom,
enclosing a copy of the foregoing letter from Heydrich to Himmler of 21
February 1940, proposing the confiscation of Church properties. The
letter of 5 April 1940 is included in the Document R-101(a), just
introduced in evidence; and I quote from the second sentence of the
first paragraph thereof, on Page 1 of the English translation of
Document R-101(a):
"The Reich Leader SS has agreed to
the proposals made in the enclosed letter and has ordered the matter
to be dealt with by collaboration between the Chief of the Security
Police and Security Service and your office."
I now offer in evidence Document R-101(c), Exhibit USA-358. This is a
letter dated July 30, 1941, written by an SS Standartenführer whose
signature is illegible, to the Reich Leader of the SS. The letter
supplies further evidence of the participation of the Gauleiter in the
seizure of church property. I quote from the first three paragraphs of
the English translation of Document R-101(c), at the bottom of the page:
"With reference to the report of 30
May 1941, this office considers it its duty to call the Reich Leader's
attention to the development which is taking place in the incorporated
Eastern countries with regard to seizure and confiscation of church
property.
"As soon as the Reich laws on expropriation became effective,
the Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter in the Reichsgau Wartheland
adopted the practice of expropriating church real estate for use as
dwellings and paying the appraised value into blocked accounts.
"Moreover, the East German Agricultural Administration,
.Limited, reports that in the Warthegau all church-owned real estate
is being claimed by the local Gau administration."
I next offer in evidence Document R-101(d), which immediately follows
Exhibit Number USA-358 already in evidence. This is a letter from the
Chief of Staff of the Main Office to Himmler, dated 30 March 1942,
dealing with the confiscation of church property. The letter evidences
the active participation of the Party Chancellery in the confiscation of
religious property.
In this letter the Chief of Staff, Main Office, reports to Himmler
concerning the policy of the SS in suspending all payment of rent to
monasteries and other church institutions whose property had been
expropriated. The letter discusses a proposal made by the