3 Jan. 46
THE PRESIDENT: Certainly.
OHLENDORF: I saw Kaltenbrunner for the first time during the journey
from Berlin to Himmler's headquarters at the time when Kaltenbrunner was
to be appointed Chief of the Sipo and SD. Before that, I only knew of
his existence.
DR. KAUFFMANN: You did not know him?
OHLENDORF: I only knew of his existence.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Did you come into personal contact with Kaltenbrunner in
private or official discussions after his appointment as Chief of the
RSHA?
OHLENDORF: Yes, of course.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Do you know his views on the Jewish question, for
example?
OHLENDORF: No, I don't know his particular views on this question.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Do you know his attitude in the church question?
OHLENDORF: In the question of the church — he repudiated the
anti-church course followed in Germany. We agreed that an understanding
had to be reached with the church.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Do you know his attitude on the liquidation of civilian
prisoners, parachutists, and so on?
OHLENDORF: No.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Do you know that Kaltenbrunner made special efforts to
use the SD, in order to supply the criticism lacking at the Führerstab?
OHLENDORF: Yes, that was the task of the SD even before Kaltenbrunner,
and he also gave his material support to this task.
THE PRESIDENT: A little bit more slowly.
OHLENDORF: It was the task of the SD even before Kaltenbrunner came,
and he approved and materially supported this tendency.
DR. KAUFFMANN: Do you know, either directly or indirectly, that
Kaltenbrunner had no authority to give executive orders, for example,
that he had no authority to send people to concentration camps or
release them from concentration camps, that all these things were
handled exclusively by Himmler and Müller?
OHLENDORF: I think this question is too general to be answered in a
concrete way, it must be divided up.
If you ask whether Kaltenbrunner could order executive actions, I must
answer in the affirmative. If you then name Himmler and Müller to
the exclusion of Kaltenbrunner, I must point out that in