8 Jan. 46
'numerous' or 'most shops destroyed'.
Therefore" — says Heydrich — "the figures given
will be considerably augmented.
"One hundred and ninety-one synagogues were set on fire and
another 76 completely destroyed. In addition 11 parish halls, cemetery
chapels, and similar buildings were set on fire ...
"Twenty thousand Jews were arrested ...
"Thirty-six deaths were reported and those seriously injured
were also numbered at 36."
Immediately after these so-called "spontaneous" riots of 9
November, Göring acted as chairman of a meeting at the Reich
Ministry of Air devoted to the Jewish question, which also was attended
by the Defendant Funk and other conspirators. The stenographic report on
that meeting is an extraordinary document, and it does not make pretty
reading. It is our Document 1816-PS, which has already been offered as
Exhibit Number USA-261. I should like to read certain passages that have
not as yet been read into the record. I read from the top of first page,
the first two paragraphs of Page 1 of the German original; Göring
speaks:
"Gentlemen, today's meeting is of a
decisive nature. I have received a letter written on the Führer's
order by the Stabsleiter of the Führer's deputy, Bormann,
requesting that the Jewish question be now uniformly comprehended and
solved one way or another. And yesterday once again the Führer
requested me by phone to take co-ordinated action in the matter.
"Since the problem is mainly an economic one, it is from the
economic angle that it will have to be tackled. Naturally a number of
legal measures will have to be taken which fall into the sphere of the
Minister for Justice and into that of the Minister of the Interior;
then certain resulting propaganda measures shall be taken care of by
the office of the Minister for Propaganda. The Minister of Finance and
the Minister for Economic Affairs shall take care of problems falling
into their respective departments."
Specific measures to effect the Aryanization of Jewish business were
then discussed. A representative of German insurance companies was
called in to assist in the solving of the difficulties created by the
fact that most of the Jewish stores and other property destroyed in the
rioting were, in fact, insured, in some cases, ultimately by foreign
insurance companies. All present were agreed that it would be
unfortunate to pass a law which would have the effect of allowing
foreign insurance companies to escape liability. The Defendant Göring
then suggested a characteristic solution, and