2 Jan. 46
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
LT. COMDR. HARRIS: With full knowledge of conditions in, and the
purpose of, concentration camps, Kaltenbrunner ordered or permitted to
be ordered in his name the commitment of persons to concentration camps.
I offer Document L-38 as exhibit next in order, Exhibit Number USA-517.
This is an affidavit of Hermann Pister, the former commandant of
Buchenwald concentration camp, which was taken on 1 August 1945 at
Freising, Germany, in the course of an official military investigation
by the United States Army, and I quote from it as follows, beginning
with the second paragraph:
"With exception of the mass delivery
of prisoners from the concentration camps of the occupied territory,
all prisoners were sent to the Concentration Camp Buchenwald by order
of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt" — Reich Security Main
Office — "Berlin. These orders for protective custody (red
forms) were in most cases signed with the name 'Kaltenbrunner.' The
few remaining protective custody orders were signed by 'Förster.'
"
I now offer Document
2477-PS as exhibit next in order, Exhibit Number USA-518. This is the
affidavit of Willy Litzenberg, former Chief of Department IVAlb in the
RSHA. This document reads in part as follows, and I quote, beginning
with the second paragraph:
"The right of taking into summary
protective custody belongs to the directors of the State Police
Directorates or State Police Offices; previously for a period of 21
days; later, I think, for a period of 56 days. Custody exceeding this
time had to be sanctioned by the competent Office for Protective
Custody in the RSHA. The regulations for protective custody or the
signing of the protective custody order could only be issued through
the Director of the RSHA as Chief of the Sipo and SD. All regulations
and protective custody orders that I have seen bore a facsimile stamp
of Heydrich or Kaltenbrunner. As far as I can remember, I have never
seen a document of this kind with another name as signature. How far
and to whom the Chief of the Sipo and SD possibly gave authority for
the use of his facsimile stamp, I do not know. Perhaps the Chief of
Amt IV possessed a similar authority. The greater part of the
Protective Custody Office was transferred to Prague. Only one staff
remained in Berlin."
I now
offer Document 2745-PS as exhibit next in order, Exhibit Number USA-519.
This is an order, under date of 7 July 1943, which was found at the
former office of the section of the Gestapo which handled protective
custody matters in Prague. It was an order to