19 Dec. 45
original, last paragraph; from Page 2 of the
translation, the first full paragraph.
"I don't believe the Communists could
attempt any action, for their leading elements, like most criminals,
are in our concentration camps, And here I must say this: We shall be
able to see after the war what a blessing it was for Germany that, in
spite of all the silly talk about humanitarianism, we imprisoned all
this criminal sub-stratum of the German people in concentration camps.
I'll answer for that."
But
he is not here to answer.
Certainly there was no "silly humanitarianism" in the manner
in which SS men performed their tasks. Just as an illustration, I should
like to examine their conduct, not in 1944 or 1945, but 1933. I have
four reports relating to the deaths of four different inmates of the
concentration camp Dachau between May 16 and May 27, 1933. Each report
is signed by the Public Prosecutor of the District Court in Munich and
is addressed to the Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court in Munich.
These four reports show that during that 2-week period in 1933, at the
time when the concentration camps had barely started, that SS men had
murdered — a different guard each time — an inmate of the
camp.
Now I don't want to take the time of the Tribunal to read that evidence
if it feels that it is a minor point. The significance of it is this: It
is just an illustration of the sort of thing that happened in the
concentration camps at the earliest possible date, in 1933. I am
prepared to offer those four reports in evidence and to quote from them,
if the Tribunal thinks that the point is not too insignificant.
THE PRESIDENT: Where are they?
MAJOR FARR: They are right here. I will offer them in evidence. The
first is our Document Number 641-PS. It is a report dated 1 June 1933
and relates the death of Dr. Alfred Strauss, a prisoner in protective
custody in Dachau. I offer it in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-450. I
shall read a few paragraphs from that report, beginning with Paragraph
1:
"On May 24, 1933, the 30-year-old,
single, attorney-at-law, Dr. Alfred Strauss from Munich, who was in
the concentration camp Dachau as a prisoner under protective custody,
was killed by two pistol shots from SS Man Johann Kantschuster who
escorted him on a walk, prescribed for him by the camp doctor, outside
the fenced part of the camp.
"Kantschuster gives the following report: He himself had to
urinate; Strauss proceeded on his way. Suddenly Strauss broke away
towards the bushes located at a distance of about