7 Jan. 46
VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: No, as I said before, I was
already at the front in the year 1941. Again and again I was with the
fighting units: In 1941 at Moscow, in 1942 at Velikie-Luki, and later at
Koebel, at Warsaw during the uprising in Warsaw; and from 1944 onwards I
commanded an SS corps.
DR. STAHMER: Did you not know that you were particularly commended by
Hitler and Himmler and decorated mainly for your ruthless and efficient
actions in the war against the partisans?
VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: No. I received no decoration for the war against
the partisans. I received all my decorations, beginning with the
clusters to the Iron Cross II, at the front and from the Wehrmacht. I
will gladly give you names.
DR. STAHMER: The Brigade Dirlewanger was an SS brigade, wasn't it?
VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: The Brigade Dirlewanger did not belong to the
Waffen-SS. It was an organization which could possibly be classified as
part of the Allgemeine-SS. It was not supplied and kept up by the
Waffen-SS, but by the Berger office.
DR. STAHMER: Was the commander of the Brigade Dirlewanger a member of
the SS?
VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes.
DR. STAHMER: Didn't you yourself suggest that criminals should be
organized and used for fighting the partisans?
VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: No.
DR. THOMA: Witness, do you know that the civil government in White
Ruthenia often protested against the manner in which the anti-partisan
activities were carried on?
VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes.
DR. THOMA: The civil authority was subordinate to the Reich
Commissioner, and he in turn was subordinate to Rosenberg as Minister
for the Occupied Eastern Territories, is that correct?
VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes.
DR. THOMA: If I understood you correctly, you disapproved of the manner
in which the fighting against partisans was carried on, involving many
innocent people; and you disapproved also of the existence of the
Dirlewanger Regiment and of the speech of Reichsführer SS Himmler?
VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes.
DR. THOMA: How could you then reconcile it with your conscience to
remain chief or inspector of anti-partisan units and also head of such
Einsatzgruppen?
VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: I was never chief of Einsatzgruppen.