Judgment in the Trial of Adolf Eichmann 

[Part 10]

85. During the period of these expulsions, Regulation No. 11 was published under the Reich Nationality Law (exhibit T/637), dated 25 November 1941.  According to para. 1 of this regulation: 

"a Jew whose regular place of sojourn is abroad cannot be a German national.  The regular place of sojourn is abroad when a Jew stays abroad under circumstances which show that he is not staying there only temporarily." 

Para. 3 provided that the property of a Jew, who lost his German nationality according to these regulations, is confiscated for the benefit of the Reich.  The sting in these regulations - "the legal trick," to use the expression of Counsel for the Defence - lies in the fact that this "legal" arrangement was used also against Jews expelled from the Reich territory, as if they moved their places of residence of their own will to the place to which they were expelled. 

The Wannsee Conference 

86. Now we pass on, in chronological order, to the central event in the history of the Final Solution which, on the one hand, sums up the events of the period from the beginning of the German-Russian war, and, on the other, serves as a starting point for all the events which follow - that is the Wannsee Conference. 

On 29 November 1941, identically phrased, but personally styled invitations went out from the Accused's office, signed by Heydrich, to a number of persons of the rank of State Secretary, or holding similar ranks.  Two such invitations were submitted to us, exhibits T/180 and T/181, sent to Under-Secretary of State Luther at the Foreign Ministry, and to Gruppenfuehrer Hoffman at the Head Office for Race and Resettlement.  In this invitation, Heydrich refers to Goering's letter of appointment, dated 31 July 1941, (T/179) and attaches a photocopy of this letter, and he continues: 

"Considering the extraordinary significance which is to be attached to these questions, and in order to reach an understanding amongst all central authorities concerned with the operations yet to be carried out in connection with this final solution, I propose to bring up these problems as a subject for joint discussion, especially because of the fact that, since 15 October 1941, Jews are being evacuated in regular transports from the Reich territory, including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia - to the East." 

The date set for the conference is 9 December 1941, and the letter concludes with a list of the other persons to whom an identical invitation was extended. 

Special invitations were sent to Buehler (State Secretary in the Generalgouvernement area) and to Krueger (Senior Commanding Officer of the SS and the Police in the Generalgouvernement).  It transpires from document T/182, that Heydrich instructed the Accused to invite them, too, after learning from a conversation with Krueger that "from measures taken in the area of the Generalgouvernement lately in this sphere, it can be seen with increasing clarity that the Governor General (Frank) aspires to take upon himself the entire handling of the Jewish Question." 

At the last moment, the conference was deferred - perhaps because of the outbreak of war with the United States - and on 8 January 1942 new invitations were sent for 20 January 1942. 

87. At this conference, State Secretaries and S.S. officers and senior officials of the same rank, or near that rank, participated, representing Reich and Party offices, the official in charge of the Four-Year-Plan (Goering's office), the Foreign Ministry and of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for the Eastern Occupied Territories and the Governor General in Poland.  Offices controlled by Himmler were represented by a representative of the Race and Resettlement Head Office, and by Heydrich, Mueller, and the Accused, as well as by the Commander of the SD and the Security Police in the Government General, and by the Commander of the Security Police and the SD of the "Reich Ostland Administration" (the latter five, naturally, were RSHA men).  Only one amongst all those present (the representative of the "Ostland" Security Police Command) was of a rank lower than that of the Accused, and all the others were of higher rank (see the conference minutes, exhibit T/185). 

Heydrich opened the conference with a speech, reviewing achievements in the field of emigration.  Summing up, he says: 

"In the meantime, emigration was banned (by Himmler), because of the dangers of emigration in wartime, and taking into consideration the possibilities in the East." 

And he continues: 

"Instead of emigration, evacuation of the Jews to the East now comes as an additional possible solution, after prior appropriate approval by the Fuehrer.  But these operations are to be regarded only as passing possibilities.  The results of these practical experiences are already being collected, since they are invaluable in view of the approaching Final Solution of the Jewish Question" (supra, p. 5). 

A statistical survey follows, in which the number of Jews throughout Europe (also including countries not under German rule) is estimated at eleven million; and now come the decisive sentences: 

"Under suitable direction, the Jews should be brought to the East in the course of the Final Solution, for use as labour.  In large labour gangs, with the sexes separated, the Jews capable of work will be transported to those areas and set to road-building, in the course of which, without doubt, a large part of them (ein Grossteil) will fall away through natural losses.  The surviving remnant, surely those with the greatest powers of resistance, will be given special treatment, since, if freed, they would constitute the germinal cell for the re-creation of Jewry, they being the result of natural selection, as history has proved" (supra, pp. 7-8). 

The intention behind this convoluted language is clear and simple: The Jews of Europe were to be expelled to the East and put to hard labour; the weak would die from overwork and the strong would be killed. 

In connection with questions of implementation, Heydrich gives the following information, inter alia: 

(a) Europe will be combed from the West to the East, giving priority to the Reich and the Protectorate. 

(b) A "ghetto for the aged" will be set up in Terezin, which will also take Jewish war invalids and those who hold medals for distinguished service. 

(c) "The `Central Authority' (Federfuehrung) for the handling of the Final Solution of the Jewish Question will be in the hands of the Reichsfuehrer-SS and the head of the German Police (the head of the Security Police and the SD - viz. Heydrich himself), without regard to geographical borders" (supra, p. 3). 

(d) "In regard to the handling of the Final Solution in the territories occupied by us and those under our influence, it has been suggested that the officials dealing with the matter at the Foreign Ministry contact the authorized Referent of the Security Police and the SD" (viz., the Accused) (supra at p.9). 

88. Not one of those present expressed any reservations to what Heydrich said.  On the contrary, there was a complete consensus of opinion.  The contribution to the discussion made by Buehler, representing the Generalgouvernement, is worthy of mention: 

"He (Buehler) stated that the Generalgouvernement would be glad if the Final Solution of this Question were launched in the area of the Generalgouvernement, since transport was not a serious problem there and labour considerations were not likely to disturb the smooth running of such an action.  Jews must be removed from the Generalgouvernement area as quickly as possible, since it was here that the Jew represented a blatant danger as the carrier of diseases, and he was always upsetting the country's economy by continuous profiteering.  Moreover, out of the two and a half million Jews to be handled, most were unfit for work" (supra, p. 14). 

And this is how the discussion ended: 

"In conclusion, various types of possible solutions were discussed, and the attitude taken (by representatives of the Ministry for the Eastern Occupied Territories and of the Generalgouvernement) was that they themselves would immediately make certain preparations to bring about the Final Solution in the areas concerned.  At the same time, the creation of unrest amongst the population should be avoided" (supra, p. 15). 

When the Accused was asked in cross-examination in this Court what was the meaning of the words 

"various types of possible solutions" discussed towards the end of the conference, he answered simply: "Various ways of killing were discussed" (Session 106, Vol. IV, p. xxxx11). 

According to the Accused, his role at the Wannsee Conference was threefold: (a) sending invitations in accordance with particulars given to him by Heydrich; (b) supplying Heydrich with material for the preparation of his opening speech; (c) taking the minutes. 

When the conference was over, Heydrich, Mueller and the Accused remained behind for a chat "by the fireside."  When asked why he, too, was asked to join in this intimate gathering, he replied that Heydrich gave him instructions in connection with the preparation of the minutes.  

But the Wannsee Conference carried a more important meaning also for the Accused personally, for it was there that his position as the authorized Referent of the RSHA in matters connected with the Final Solution of the Jewish Question was confirmed in the presence of representatives of all the other authorities.  This much we gather also from a letter sent by Heydrich to Luther (T/186) at the end of February 1942.  He notes there with satisfaction that the basic policy for the practical implementation of the Final Solution had now been laid down with the full consent of all the authorities concerned, and he invites Luther to send his representative to a discussion on details of implementation.  He requests that Luther's representative contact "my authorized Referent, SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann" for this purpose. 

The Implementation of the Final Solution after the Wannsee Conference 

89. We shall now review the implementation of the Final Solution in various countries and begin with those countries in which Jews were rounded-up, brought to assembly points, and expelled to places of mass extermination in the East.  We shall go from country to country and note briefly the background of events, emphasizing certain facts, the description of which is necessary to lay the ground for the evaluation of the Accused's responsibility, which will be made later on.  We wish to emphasize at this point again that we are neither require or able to take upon ourselves the task of the historian, and those matters of which we will mention will be made, out of the whole complicated web of events of the years of the Holocaust, will necessarily be fragmentary, and they are not cited here for the purpose of exhaustive historical description. 

90. Again, we begin with Germany itself, because the actions there served as the prototype for what happened in the other countries from which Jews were expelled to the East, both in regard to the anti-Jewish legislation which preceded the expulsion, and also in regard to the carrying out of the expulsions themselves, naturally with changes necessitated by special conditions in each country. 

Of the later anti-Jewish legislation in Germany, mention should be made of: 

(a) The order for the marking of Jewish apartments, issued in March [1942] (T/640), in order to complete the isolation of the Jews from the rest of the population.  As with other anti-Jewish decrees of this kind, this order was not published in the usual way, but handed to the Jewish organizations, which had to publish it in a bulletin intended for Jews only. 

(b)A Jew was no longer considered fit to keep domestic animals (dogs, cats and birds), according to special instructions published on 15 May 1942 (T/642). 

(c) Regulation No. 11 "legalized" the robbery of Jewish property only if the expulsion was to a place beyond the Reich borders.  When the expulsion was to a place within the Reich - for instance Terezin, or in the case of a Jew who had died before crossing the borders of the Reich - other ways were found, so that everything should proceed in a proper and orderly manner.  One of the ways is described in detail in a circular issued by the Accused's Section, signed by Suhr, the Section's expert in such matters (T/729).  The law dated 14 July 1933 (T/65) was invoked, enabling the confiscation of property devoted to aspirations "hostile to the nation and to the state," as defined by the Minister of the Interior.  The Minister of the Interior published an overall definition on 2 March 1942, which stated that the aspirations of all deported Jews were hostile to the nation and to the state. 

(d) On 18 September 1942, a conversation took place between Himmler and Thierack, the then Minister of Justice, drastically limiting legal proceedings and the ordinary processes of punishment.  It was agreed between them, inter alia, that "unsocial elements would be excluded from the operation of penal procedure and handed over to the Reichsfuehrer-SS for extermination through labour."  Those mentioned included all those under protective custody - Jews, Gypsies, Russians and Ukrainians (T/197).  In other words, a Jew, a Gypsy, a Russian or a Ukrainian who was sentenced to imprisonment for any offence, would be handed over to the SS for "extermination through labour."  The open use of this term should be noted, in contrast to the method customary in the Nazi regime, of euphemistically distorting the usual meaning of words.  Thierack again returns to this matter in his letter to Bormann, dated 13 October 1942 (T/198).  These discussions culminated in Regulation No. 13 under the Law of Nationality, published on 1 July 1943, according to which only the police was competent to deal with crimes committed by Jews (T/643).  This completed, also according to the letter of the "law," the process of putting the Jew outside the pale of the law, which had been a matter of practice long before this. 

How expulsions from Reich territory were carried out during the period after the Wannsee Conference, we shall illustrate by a Duesseldorf Gestapo file submitted to us (exhibits T/1395-1398).  The first document in this file (T/1395) is a circular dated 31 January 1942, issued by the Accused's office and bearing his signature.  The reference number is IVB4-2093/42g (391), which henceforth is the special marking for all transports of Jews from the Reich.  The circular includes instructions defining certain categories of Jews, such as foreign nationals, which are not to be included in the deportations.  For the time being, the purpose of the circular is to fix the number of people to be expelled.  According to the circular, the Duesseldorf office collects the necessary data and transfers them to the Accused's office on 9 February 1942.  Then, file T/1395 includes "instructions for the technical implementation of the evacuation of Jews to the Generalgouvernement (Trawniki near Lublin)."  The part played by the local Gestapo authorities was defined thus: 

"The rounding-up and arrest of individuals to be evacuated, the transport of these Jews in special trains of the Reich Railways according to a timetable laid down by the Head Office for Reich Security, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Transport, and also the transfer of property." 

Each train will carry one thousand Jews.  Each person is permitted to take with him fifty Reichsmark, one suitcase, a complete outfit (good shoes), bedding, food for two weeks, eating utensils (a plate or a pot) and a spoon.  The document continues: 

“The Commander of the Security Police and the SD in Cracow is responsible for the reception of the evacuees in the Generalgouvernement, and for this purpose he will avail himself of the  units of the Commander of the SS and the Police in the Lublin district...the departure of a deportation train is to be communicated immediately by means of the attached form...to the Head Office for Reich Security, Section IVB4, (b) to the Commander of the Security Police and the SD, SS Oberfuehrer Dr. Schoengarth, in Cracow, (c) to the Commander of the SS and the Police in the Lublin district, SS Brigadefuehrer Globocnik.  The arrival and orderly reception of transports at the place of destination, will be reported by the receiving authority (Commander of the SS and the Police in the Lublin district) to the Head Office for Reich Security, Section IVB4, by means of the attached form... On the completion of the operation, a general report containing numerical data (division according to sex, age and profession) is to be supplied to the Head Office for Reich Security by both the forwarding authority and the receiving authority."  (These instructions were submitted as exhibit T/737.) 

File T/1395 also included a copy of the above circular, T/729, in connection with the handling of the property of evacuated Jews, and also document T/724, which deals with the setting up of the Special Account "W." 

91. Special Account "W" was the name of a cunning device invented by the Accused's Section for the transfer of money from evacuated Jews to its own direct disposal (T/734).  Perhaps this device was rather aimed against other Reich authorities which might benefit from Jewish property than against the Jews themselves, for they lost their property in any case.  The procedure used was an instruction to the Reich Association of Jews in Germany, to ensure that each evacuated Jew "contribute" not less than twenty-five per cent of his cash to the Special Account "W."  The Accused in his testimony explained (Session 77, Vol. IV, p.xxxx71) that the account was used to finance the expulsion of the Jewish "contributors" themselves.  Even if this explanation is correct, the balance left over after the expulsion was completed in any case finally passed into the hands of the RSHA, all the accounts of the Association of Jews having been blocked in favour of the RSHA from the outset (T/665, p. 9). 

This is the directive transmitted by the Accused's office to the District Gestapo at Duesseldorf, which in turn writes on 17 March 1942 to its local branches, conveying to them instructions requiring action by them.  On 10 April 1942, a telephone message is received from the Accused's office stating that a transport is likely to leave Duesseldorf on 22 April 1942.  Accordingly, the action is planned in Dusseldorf: The timetable, the men to handle the matter and their duties are fixed along the lines of the instructions issued at Nuremberg (T/620), as mentioned above. The Gestapo man at Duesseldorf is charged with additional tasks before the transport leaves: 

He must see to it that two execution officers are present to hand the confiscation orders to the Jews; he has to meet  with the local railway authorities to co-ordinate subÞtransports from various points; he also has to overcome difficulties made by the local labour authority which is reluctant to release Jews employed in enterprises important to the war effort.  In this connection, a telephone conversation takes place with Novak, one of the Accused's assistants. 

Three Jews escaped and another three committed suicide.  And thus the transport rolled eastwards.On 22 April 1942 - too late - another cable was received from the Accused, which was typical of the methods of evacuation.  Not too many local communal workers of the Association of Jews, or of the local communities, are to be evacuated, in order not to endanger the implementation of the tasks the Jewish organizations were required to carry out, and their liquidation.  These communal workers are only to be evacuated gradually. 

The required reports sent to the Accused's office (for his attention or that of his deputy), as well as to Lublin and to Cracow, are dated 22 April 1942.  They state that a train carrying 941 Jews left Duesseldorf on the same day for Izbica (in the Lublin district), and that the commander of the transport holds the amount of 47,050 Reichsmark (941 multiplied by 50).  The detailed report, as required in the above  circular, is forwarded to the Accused's office on 29 April 1942. 

92.There is much material in file T/1395 in connection with belongings, money and bank deposits confiscated from evacuated Jews.  Before his evacuation, every Jew completed a very detailed "property declaration form" (T/650), and the Gestapo handed over these declarations to the Chief Finance Authority at Duesseldorf.  It transpired that Regulation No. 11 did not apply to 91 Jews, and they were given confiscation orders. 

93. Already on 21 May 1942 the Accused's Section demands figures in connection with an additional transport, this time directed in part to the East and in part to Terezin.  The Duesseldorf office replies on 27 May that 154 Jews can be evacuated from its district to the East and 1,735 to Terezin.  The handling of this transport is continued in file exhibit T/1396, in which there are new instructions dated 4 June 1942, in connection with evacuation to the East (Izbica near Lublin).  These instructions do not differ from the former instructions, and once again the reference number is IVB4-2093/42g (391).  On 18 June 1942, the Duesseldorf Gestapo informs the Accused's office that 142 Jews were evacuated, as part of a larger transport of a total of 1,003 Jews, collected from other districts in Western Germany.  The handling of this transport was identical with the handling of the previous transport; only this time the inmates of a Jewish hospital for the mentally sick in the town of Seyn near Koblenz were also evacuated, as stated in a cable dated 1 June 1942 and signed by the Koblenz Gestapo.  The expulsion of the mentally sick Jews is also mentioned by Dr. Plaut in his affidavit T/665 on pp. 14-16.  There is no doubt that these patients were taken directly to extermination in one of the extermination camps in the Lublin area. 

94. The evacuation of Jews destined for Terezin is described in file T/1397 of the same Duesseldorf Gestapo office, and since this is the first time that we come across a transport of this kind, we shall again mention a number of details here. 

On 3 July 1942 the Accused's office sends a circular dated 15 May 1942, signed by the Accused's deputy Guenther, comprising directives connected with evacuation to Terezin.  The categories of evacuees are: 

(a) Jews above the age of 65, and sick people above the age of 55, together with their spouses and children under the age of 14; 

(b) Jews who are war invalids or hold medals for distinguished service, with their spouses and children up to the age of 14; 

(c) Jewish spouses of mixed marriages, in cases where the marriages no longer exist; 

(d) unmarried offspring of mixed marriages who are considered as Jews. 

The man responsible for the reception of the evacuated Jews at the Terezin Ghetto will be "the Commander of Security Police and SD Office, the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, Prague."  A note about the transport is to be sent to : 

(a) the office of the Accused; 

(b) Commander of the Security Police and the SD, the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, Prague; 

(c) the Terezin Ghetto. 

The Commander of the Security Police and the SD, Central Office for Jewish Emigration, Prague, has to inform the Accused about the arrival and reception of the transport. 

On 21 July 1942, 965 Jews were evacuated. and on 25 July 1942, 978 Jews - 1,943 Jews in all, over and above the estimated number included in the above-mentioned letter of 27 May 1942.  On 4 August 1942, the Duesseldorf Gestapo informs the Accused's office about changes in the number, since thirteen Jews committed suicide, five died and six escaped.  In the concluding report, dated 15 August 1942, the total number included in the first transport is given, and it is reported that 694 were included in the second transport, making a total of 1,659 Jews evacuated to Terezin. 

"Contributions" to the Special Account "W" reached the amount of 160,000 Reichsmark. 

95. File T/1398 deals with those persons who survived previous evacuation and were evacuated during 1943. 

The file begins with a cable sent from the Accused's office on 21 May 1943, this time signed by Kaltenbrunner, the head of the RSHA.  Once again, it bears the special reference number for all transports from the Reich, IVB4a - 2093/42g (391). 

The cable reports that, according to an order by Himmler, all Jews are to be evacuated from the Reich and the Protectorate to the East and to Terezin by 30 June 1943 at the very latest. 

The cable confirms the previous instructions regarding the categories of evacuees, but there is a further tightening up, in order to complete the evacuation operation.  Amongst other things it is stated: (a) that all sick and invalid Jews are also to be seized; (b) that all Jews still employed on the war effort are also to be evacuated (and only those in labour camps are to be left behind); (c) similarly, all employees of the Jewish organizations and the communities are to be evacuated and thus, 

"These institutions are in fact being liquidated.  In their stead - as far as is necessary for those Jews remaining -  in order to fulfil the orders of the authorities, an organization of Jews living in mixed marriages will be set up in Berlin, which will employ only the remaining spouses of mixed marriages."

Technical instructions for transport to Auschwitz and Terezin are given, and a special postscript appears in the cable for Katowice and Lodz: 

"On the evacuation of Jews employed by the Schmelt (Forced Labour organization) and of the Jews in the Lodz Ghetto (our emphasis), Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, my Referent, will decide on the spot." 

On 25 May 1943, the Duesseldorf Gestapo sends information (following the usual pattern, to Berlin, Prague and Terezin) that on that day 32 Jews were evacuated to Terezin.  The changes which took place in the meantime in the economic situation of the Jews who remained, finds expression in a minute of 6 July 1943, which states that 22 Jews (out of the 32 evacuated) did not have the permitted 50 marks and could not deposit them.

The file of the Duesseldorf Gestapo contains no material in connection with the evacuation to Auschwitz, in pursuance of the above cable of 21 May 1943, and we do not know if this material was lost or if such evacuation did not take place, because there were no Jews left for evacuation in that district.  But there is in file T/1398 one more list of nine Jews evacuated to Terezin on 9 September 1943, and it seems that this completed the operation, leaving in that district only couples living in mixed marriages and offspring of those categories who were not subject to evacuation. 

96. In connection with expulsions of Jews from the Reich, Austria and the Protectorate to the East and to Terezin, we wish to point out two more special phenomena: 

(a) The expulsion to Terezin was called technically "change of residence" (T/850), and the plundering of the property of the Jews expelled to Terezin sometimes took on a special form.  Exhibit T/854, which was submitted to us, is a sample of "a Home Purchase Contract."  Such contracts were made, nominally, between the Association of Jews and the candidate for expulsion.  The candidate transferred his property to the Association (in the case of T/854 over 200,000 Reichsmark) and, in consideration, the Association undertook to grant him housing in Terezin, as well as food and medical care for life.  The transfer of property to the Association of Jews amounted to confiscation, because, as has been stated, the accounts of the Association were blocked in favour of the RSHA, and when the Association was liquidated in 1943, final ownership was vested in the RSHA.  This also applied to property of public institutions first transferred to the Association and to the huge "emigration funds" in Vienna and Prague which were fed, in the last analysis, from the property of the Jewish communities (vide, for instance, the original document T/154 at p. 44).  To demonstrate the authority of the Accused's Section over the public property of German Jewry, we shall mention here also exhibit T/681, containing a list of Jewish communities to be merged in the  Association of Jews, and an order dated 27 May 1941, signed by the Accused, ordering that one of the communities mentioned in the list be, in fact, so merged.  All the communities mentioned are in the Province of Baden, from which the Jews were evacuated already in 1940, as will be remembered.  Exhibits T/745, T/746 and N/27 testify to the transfer of the Jewish hospital in Nordrach to a Nazi institution by the name of Lebensborn in the autumn of 1942.  In letter T/746 it is stated that: 

"...the property belongs to the Reich Association of Jews, which is subject to the authority of Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann in Department IV of the RSHA, as being an institution of the Security Police." 

Therefore the application for the transfer of the property is addressed to the Accused. 

(b) The problem of foreign nationals amongst the Jews worried the planners of the extermination in no small measure.  Two problems arose: 

(1) Which foreign nationals can be expelled? 

(2) Who will benefit from their property?

There is considerable exchange of correspondence between the Accused's office and the German Foreign Ministry in connection with these questions, which we shall not relate in detail.  The conclusion reached at the stage of the final evacuation can be seen in circular T/761, dated 5 March 1943, emanating from the Accused's office and signed by Kaltenbrunner.  The circular gives a list of countries, nationality of which will not exclude the Jew from the application of the general decrees.  In 1944, Hungary was also added to the list. 

In connection with property, the circular reads as follows: 

"Since it has not been possible to reach final agreement with the various foreign governments in connection with the handling of the property of Jews of foreign nationality, necessary steps should be taken in each case of evacuation of a Jew of foreign nationality, to safeguard such assets temporarily.  To facilitate the administration of such property by our authorities, suitable trustees are to be appointed, insofar as this has not been done by the foreign diplomatic missions and consulates." 

Other foreign nationals, who were not mentioned in circular T/761, are divided into two categories: subjects of belligerent countries and subjects of neutral countries.  The letter from the Accused's office, signed by him, and dated 5 July 1943, addressed to the Foreign Ministry (T/779), shows the situation and the measures taken until then: 

"Since there have been a number of extensions of the dates set at the time - with the implied or explicit consent of this office - for foreign governments in regard to the return of their Jewish nationals to their countries, no further consent is to be given for any more extensions or concessions.  At the present stage of the Final Solution of the Jewish Question within the Reich, there are now on Reich territory only Jews who have entered into mixed marriages (Jewish-German) and a number of Jews of foreign nationality.  To the extent that you have agreed to the evacuation of Jews of foreign nationality, the evacuation has since been completed, and it is to be presumed that in most cases action for their repatriation was taken by the countries concerned.  In order that we may reach a complete solution in this respect, a final date must be set for the governments concerned to carry out the repatriation." 

There follows a list of the countries concerned, namely: Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Romania and Turkey.  The letter concludes with a proposal to grant exit visas to nationals of these countries only up to 31 July 19 July 1943, and to equate their status with that of Jews of German nationality as from 3 August 1943. 

The German Foreign Ministry deals with this question according to its internal procedure and replies to the Accused's office.  The result can be seen in the circular dated 23 September 1943 (T/784), bearing the mark of the Accused's Section, signed by Mueller, and sent to all offices affiliated to the RSHA in all territories under German rule.  The German Foreign Ministry also sends copies of this circular on 12 October 1943 to its branches in the occupied territories and to embassies in the countries concerned (T/786).  The gist of the circular is that all Jews who are subjects of the countries mentioned are to be evacuated within a few days.  Men above the age of 14 are to be sent to Buchenwald, and women and children up to the age of 14 to Ravensbrueck. 

97. Such is the pattern of evacuation from the Old Reich, Austria and the Protectorate, and the only difference - which is merely formal - between the implementation in these various parts of the Reich is that the executive instruments in the Old Reich were the various State Police authorities (Stapostellen, Stapoleitstellen), whilst in Austria and the Protectorate there were the Central Offices for Jewish Emigration in Vienna and Prague (see T/737, p. 1).  The difference is not material, because all these authorities are affiliated to Department IV of the RSHA and received their instructions in regard to Jewish affairs from the Accused's Section. 

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