2 Jan. 46
emanated from this conference — attended by
himself, General Reinecke, Colonel Breuer, and Müller, the head of
the Gestapo. At this conference the command to kill Soviet functionaries
and Communists among the Soviet prisoners of war was discussed. The
executions were to be carried out by Einsatzkommandos of the Sipo and
the SD. Lahousen further recalled that Müller, who was the head of
the Gestapo, insisted on carrying out the program and that the only
concession he made was that, in deference to the sensibilities of the
German troops, the executions would not take place in the presence of
the troops. Müller also made some concessions as to the selection
of the persons to be murdered; but, according to Lahousen, the selection
was left entirely to the commanders of these screening units. I refer to
Page 633 of the official transcript (Volume II, Page 458).
Now I offer Document 502-PS as the next exhibit, Exhibit Number
USA-486. This document is a Gestapo directive of the 17 of July 1941 —
If you will recall, Lahousen said this conference was in the summer of
1941 — It is addressed to commanders of the Sipo and SD stationed
in camps and provides in part as follows, and I read from the first page
of the English translation. Now, if the Tribunal please, our colleagues,
the Soviet prosecutors, will present most of that document; and I am
only going to read enough to show that the Gestapo were the ones that
took part in it. From the beginning:
"The activation of Commandos will
take place in accordance with the agreement of the Chief of the
Security Police and Security Service and the Supreme Command of the
Armed Forces as of 16 July 1941. Enclosure 1.
"The Commandos will work independently within the limits of the
camp regulations according to special authorization and according to
the general directives given to them. Naturally the Commandos will
keep close contact with the camp commander and the intelligence
officer assigned to him.
"The mission of the Commandos is the political investigating of
all camp inmates, the separation and further treatment of:
"a. All political, criminal, or in some other way, intolerable
elements among them;
"b. Those persons who could be used for the reconstruction of
the occupied countries."
Now
I skip to the beginning of the fourth paragraph:
"The Commandos must use for their
work, as far as possible at present and even later, the experiences of
the camp commanders which the latter have collected meanwhile from the
observation of the prisoners and examination of the camp inmates.
Further, the Commandos must make efforts from