19 Dec. 45

Supreme Command. Ideologically and racially its members were selected in conformity with SS standards.

I shall read a passage relating to the recruiting standards of the Waffen-SS published in the SS Manual, The Soldier Friend, our Document Number 2825-PS, which appears on Page 7 of the English translation, first paragraph on Page 36, Paragraph 2 of the original. I quote:
"Today at last is the longed-for day of the entrance examinations where the examiners and physicians decide whether or not the candidate is ideologically and physically qualified to do service in the Waffen-SS. Everyone has acquainted himself with the comprehensive Manual for the Waffen-SS ... the principal points are as follows: '1. Service in the Waffen-SS counts as military service. Only volunteers are accepted.' "
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What is the purpose of reading all this evidence? What has what you just read got to do with what you are presenting?

MAJOR FARR: Sir, I want to prove, as I said a moment ago, one thing first: that the Waffen-SS is an integral, component part of the SS. I want to establish that it is completely administered and controlled by the Supreme Command of the SS. That is one thing.

The second thing I want to prove is this: that service in the Waffen-SS is voluntary service just as membership in the Allgemeine SS or Death's-Head Units is voluntary service. It is true that there were some instances towards the close of the war when a few men were conscripted into the Waffen-SS but that was the exception and not the rule. In quoting from the recruiting standards of the Waffen-SS appearing in this booklet, which was published in 1942 and which indicate that at that time service in the Waffen-SS was open only to volunteers, I think I am serving the purpose of proving one of the two points which I think ought to be established.

I want to read, if I may, one further paragraph from that translation. I shall read the paragraph indicating that service is voluntary. Now I want to read the third requirement, which shows that service was open only to persons who could meet the ideological and other standards of the SS as a whole.

If the Tribunal is satisfied on the point that service in the Waffen-SS is essentially voluntary and that the Waffen-SS is an integral part of the SS, I do not want to impose further by reading further evidence.

THE PRESIDENT: I think the Tribunal is satisfied on both those Points, up to the present time, that it is voluntary and is an integral part of the SS.