19 Dec. 45
I now pass to Page 7 of this same document, Page 7 of
the English translation. It begins ...
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, does that mean that the SA were
eliminated for the purpose of arrest or for other purposes too?
COL. STOREY: No, Sir. As I understand, Sir, the SA reached its height
of popularity in 1934 and immediately after the Röhm purge began to
decline. In the meantime, the SS, which originated out of the SA, was
growing and became really the strong part and grew and prospered after
that. So I think the evidence will show that after 1934 the SA started a
rapid decline in its importance.
Now, on Page 7 of the English translation I should like to quote a part
of the consul's report, beginning in the middle of the page:
"Another American, Herman I. Roseman,
made an affidavit which stated:
"'Yesterday, March 10th, 1933, in the afternoon about 4:30, I
came out of KDW with my fianceé Fräulein Else Schwarzlose,
residing in Wilmersdorf (giving the address). A man in SA uniform
stepped on my toe purposely, obviously offended me and said "Pardon."
I said "Bitte," and walked ahead. He then followed me and
kicked me saying, "Na und?" A policeman saw this and walked
ahead, paying no attention to attacks made on me. Then I took my
passport out of my pocket, showed it to the second policeman, and said
that I was an American citizen, but he walked ahead, obviously not
able to afford me protection, or at least being unwilling. The SA man
continued to attack me, struck me in the face, wounded me over the
eye, and continued to do me bodily harm. During this attack, all the
time my walking along, we reached another policeman, and I applied to
him, showing my passport and said, "I am an American and am
entitled to protection." He shrugged his shoulders and said "What
can I do?" By this time the SA man had obviously inflicted enough
attack upon me and walked away.
"'Upon my appeal, the policeman brought my fiancée and me
to the station house at 13 Bayreutherstrasse. My fiancée and I
reported to the officer in charge. He heard the story and said that he
was sorry, but that there was nothing to do. My face was bleeding. The
policeman said that he had orders not to interfere in any affair in
which an SA man took part. I then asked him what I could do to protect
myself. He said that there was nothing to do but to wait until the
situation was better. He added that the police were absolutely
powerless, and were under the direction of the SA, and that there were
SA Sturm Abteilungen in the police itself. Thereupon I departed ...