"The
Einsatzgruppen Case"
Military Tribunal II
Case No.9
The United States of America
--against--
Otto Ohlendorf, Heinz Jost, Erich Naumann, Otto Rasch
Erwin Schulz, Franz Six, Paul Blobel, Walter Blume,
Martin Sandberger, Willy Seibert, Eugen Steimle, Ernst
Biberstein, Werner Braune, Walter Haensch, Gustav
Mosske, Adolf Ott, Eduard Strauch, Emil Hausmann,
Waldemar Klingelhoefer, Lothar Fendler, Waldemar von
Radetzky, Felix Ruehl, Heinz Schubert, and Mathias Graf,
Defendants
Einsatzgruppen
Index Page
Part I
[I have not inserted hyperlinks in the text of the case
everywhere where this would have been possible. The two files that are most likely to be
of immediate interst are the Glossary and Bioprofiles, the latter providing brief biographical details,
both files being continually updated. There are links to those files at the bottom of this
`page', to which you can navigate by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the End key. For information on the referencing of Internet sources see Chapter
4 of S D Stein Learning, Teaching and Researching on the Internet. Addison Wesley
Longman. November 1998]
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INTRODUCTION
The "Einsatzgruppen Case" was officially designated United States of America
vs. Otto Ohlendorf, et al. (Case
No. 9). This trial has become known as the "Einsatzgruppen Case" because all of
the defendants were charged with criminal conduct arising out of their functions as
members of the Einsatzgruppen. The German term "Einsatzgruppen" may be roughly
translated "Special Task Forces". Four such special units were formed in May
1941 just before the German attack on Russia, at the direction of Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, the Reich Leader SS, and
Chief of the German Police.
The units were organized by Reinhardt
Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police and SD (Sicherheitsdienst or Security
Service) and operated under the direct control of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) . The personnel of the Einsatzgruppen came from
the SS, the SD, the Gestapo
(Secret State Police), and other police units. The prosecution alleged that the primary
purpose of the Einsatzgruppen was to accompany the German Army into the occupied East and
to exterminate Jews, gypsies, Soviet officials, and other elements of the civilian
population regarded as "racially" inferior or "politically
undesirable". It was charged that approximately one million human beings were victims
of this program.
The Einsatzgruppen Case was tried at the Palace of Justice
in Nuernberg before Military Tribunal II-A. The Tribunal convened 78 times, and the trial
lasted approximately eight months, as shown by the following schedule:
Indictment filed --3 July 1947
Amended indictment filed-- 29 July 1947
Arraignment 15-22 September-- 194'7
Prosecution opening statement-- 29 September 1947
Defense opening statement-- 6 October 1947
Prosecution closing statement-- 13 February 1948
Defense closing statement --4-12 February 1948
Judgment --8, 9 April 1948
Sentence-- 10 April 1948
Affirmation of sentences by Military Governor of the
United States Zone of Occupation-- 4 and 25 March 1949
The English transcript of the Court proceedings runs to 6,895 mimeographed pages. The
prosecution introduced into evidence 253 written exhibits (some of which contained several
documents), and the defense 731 written exhibits. The Tribunal heard oral testimony of one
prosecution witness (Francois Bayle, Commander, Medical Corps of the French Navy) who was
called as a handwriting expert during the prosecution's rebuttal case. The Tribunal heard
oral testimony of 18 witnesses, not including the
Page 4
defendants, called by the defense. However, some of the witnesses called by the defense
had given affidavits which were introduced as a part of the prosecution's case in chief,
and in some cases, these witnesses were examined about these affidavits by the defense.
Each of the 23 defendants who stood trial testified in his own behalf, except the
defendant Rasch who was unable to complete his testimony for reasons of health and whose
case was severed from that of the other defendants. Rasch died in prison on 1 November
1948. Each of the defendants who testified was subject to examination on behalf of other
defendants. The exhibits offered by both prosecution and defense contained documents,
photographs, affidavits, letters, maps, charts, and other written evidence. The
prosecution introduced 48 affidavits, 34 of which were affidavits given by the defendants
prior to their indictment. The defense introduced 549 affidavits. The prosecution called 3
of the defense affiants for cross-examination. In addition to examining the defendants who
gave affidavits prior to their indictment, the defense called one affiant for
cross-examination. The case-in-chief of the prosecution took 2 court days and the case for
the 23 defendants took 136 court days. The Tribunal was in recess between 30 September and
6 October 1947 to give the defense additional time to prepare its case. The members of the
Tribunal and prosecution and defense counsel are listed on the ensuing pages. Prosecution
counsel were assisted in preparing the case by Walter H. Rapp (Chief of the Evidence
Division), Rolf Wartenberg and Alfred Schwarz, interrogators, and Nancy Fenstermacher and
Charles E. Ippen, research and documentary analysts.
Selection and arrangement of the "Einsatzgruppen Case" material published
herein was accomplished principally by Arnost Horlik-Hochwald, working under the general
supervision of Drexel A. Sprecher, Deputy Chief Counsel and Director of Publications,
Office U. S. Chief of Counsel for War Crimes. Henry Buxbaum, Gertrude Ferencz, Paul H.
Gantt, Wolfgang Hildesheimer, Erhard Heinke, Helga Lund, Gwendoline Niebergall, Johanna K.
Reischer, and Enid M. Standring assisted in selecting, compiling, editing, and indexing
the numerous papers. John H. E. Fried, Special Legal Consultant to the Tribunals, reviewed
and approved the selection and arrangement of the material as the designated
representative of the Nuernberg Military Tribunals. FinaI compilation and editing of the
manuscript for printing was administered by the War Crimes Division, Office of the Judge
Advocate General, under the direct supervision of Richard A. Olbeter, Chief, Special
Projects Branch, with Alma Soller as editor, Amelia Rivers as assistant editor, and John
W. Mosenthal as research analyst.
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I. AMENDED INDICTMENT*
The United States of America, by the undersigned, Telford Taylor, Chief of Counsel for
War Crimes, duly appointed to represent said Government in the prosecution of war
criminals, charges that the defendants herein committed crimes against humanity and war
crimes, as defined in Control Council Law No. 10, duly enacted by the Allied
Control Council on 20 December 1945. These crimes included the murder of more than one
million persons, tortures, atrocities, and other inhumane acts, as set forth in counts one
and two of this indictment. All of the defendants are further charged with membership in
criminal organizations, as set forth in count three of this indictment. The persons accused as guilty of these crimes and accordingly named
as defendants in this case are
OTTO OHLENDORF-Gruppenfuehrer (major general) in the Schutzstaffeln der
Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei (commonly known as the "SS") ;
member of the Reichssicherheitsdienst des Reichsfuehrer SS (commonly known as the
"SD") ; Commanding Officer of Einsatzgruppe D
HEINZ Jost-Brigadefuehrer (brigadier general) in the SS ; member of the SD; Commanding
Officer of Einsatzgruppe A.
ERICH NAUMANN-Brigadefuehrer (brigadier general) in the SS ; member of the SD ;
Commanding Officer of Einsatzgruppe B.
OTTO RASCH-Brigadefuehrer (brigadier general) in the SS ; member of the SD ; member of
the Geheime Staatspolizei (commonly known as the "Gestapo") ; Commanding Officer
of Einsatzgruppe C.
ERWIN SCHULZ-Brigadefuehrer (brigadier general) in the SS ; member of the Gestapo ;
Commanding Officer of Einsatzkommando 5 of Einsatzgruppe C.
FRANZ SIX-Brigadefuehrer (brigadier general) in the SS ; member of the SD ; Commanding
Officer of Vorkommando Moscow of Einsatzgruppe B.
PAUL BLOBEL-Standartenfuehrer (colonel) in the SS; member of the SD; Commanding Officer
of Sonderkommando 4a of Einsatzgruppe C.
WALTER BLUME-Standartenfuehrer (colonel) in the SS; member of the SD ; member of the
Gestapo; Commanding Officer of Sonderkommando 7a of Einsatzgruppe B.
*The amended indictment was filed on 29 July 1947. The indictment filed originally
on I July 1947 did not include the defendants Steimle, Braune,
Haensch, Strauch, Klingelhoefer, and Radetzky.
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MARTIN SANDBERGER-Standartenfuehrer (colonel) in the SS ; member of the SD ; Commanding
Officer of Einsatzkommando la of Einsatzgruppe A.
WILLY SEIBERT-Standartenfuehrer (colonel) in the SS ; member of the SD; Deputy Chief of
Einsatzgruppe D.
EUGEN STEIMLE-Standartenfuehrer (colonel) in the SS; member of the SD; Commanding
Officer of Sonderkommando 7a of Einsatzgruppe B; Commanding Officer of Sonderkommando 4a
of Einsatzgruppe C.
ERNST BIBERSTEIN-Obersturmbannfuehrer (It. colonel) in the SS ; member of the SD ;
Commanding Officer of Einsatzkommando 6 of Einsatzgruppe C.
WERNER BRAUNE-Obersturmbannfuehrer (It. colonel) in the SS ; member of the SD ; member
of the Gestapo ; Commanding Officer of Sonderkommando llb of Einsatzgruppe D.
WALTER HAENSCH-Obersturmbannfuehrer (It. colonel) in the SS; member of the SD;
Commanding Officer of Sonderkommando 4b of Einsatzgruppe C.
GUSTAV NOSSKE-Obersturmbannfuehrer (It. colonel) in the SS ; member of the Gestapo ;
Commanding Officer of Einsatzkommando 12 of Einsatzgruppe D.
ADOLF OTT-Obersturmbannfuehrer (It. colonel) in the SS; member of the SD ; Commanding
Officer of Sonderkommando 7b of Einsatzgruppe B.
EDUARD STRAUCH-Obersturmbannfuehrer (lt. colonel) in the SS ; member of the SD ;
Commanding Officer of Einsatzkommando 2 of Einsatzgruppe A.
EMIL HAUSSMANN-Sturmbannfuehrer (major) in the SS; member of the SD; officer of
Einsatzkommando 12 of Einsatz-gruppe D.
WALDEMAR KLINGELHOEFER-Sturmbannfuehrer (major) in the SS ; member of the SD ; member
of Sonderkommando 7b of Ensatzgruppe B; Commanding Officer of Vorkommando Moscow.
LOTHAR FENDLER-Sturmbannfuehrer (major) in the SS; member of the SD; Deputy Chief of
Sonderkommando 4b of Einsatzgruppe C.
WALDEMAR VON RADETZKY-Sturmbannfuehrer (major) in the SS ; member of the SD ; Deputy
Chief of Sonderkommando 4a of Einsatzgruppe C.
FELIX RUEHL-Hauptsturmfuehrer (captain) in the SS ; member of the Gestapo; officer of
Sonderkommando 10b of Einsatzgruppe D.
HEINZ SCHUBERT-Obersturmfuehrer (1st lieutenant) in the SS; member of the SD; officer
of Einsatzgruppe D.
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MATHIAS GRAF-Untersturmfuehrer (2nd lieutenant) in the SS ; member of the SS ; officer of
EinsatZkommando 6 of Einsatzgruppe C.
COUNT ONE -CRIMES
AGAINST HUMANITY
1. Between May 1941 and July 1943 all of the defendants herein committed crimes against
humanity, as defined in Article II of Control Council Law No.10, in that they were
principals in, accessories to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, were connected
with plans and enterprises involving, and were members of organizations or groups
connected with, atrocities and offenses, including but not limited to, persecutions on
political, racial, and religious grounds, murder, extermination, imprisonment, and other
inhumane acts committed against civilian popu-ations, including German nationals and
nationals of other countries.
2. The acts, conduct, plans, and enterprises charged in paragraph 1 of this count were
carried out as part of a systematic program of genocide, aimed at the destruction of
foreign nations and ethnic groups by murderous extermination.
3. Beginning in May 1941, on the orders of Himmler, special task forces called
"Einsatzgruppen" were formed from the personnel of the SS, the SD, the Gestapo,
and other police units. The primary purpose of these groups was to accompany the German
Army into the eastern territories, and exterminate Jews, gypsies, Soviet officials, and
other elements of the civilian population regarded as racially "inferior" or
"politically undesirable."
4. Initially four Einsatzgruppen were formed, each of which supervised the operation of
a number of subordinate units called "Einsatzkommandos" or
"Sonderkommandos." Some Einsatzgruppen had, in addition, other units for special
purposes. Each Einsatzgruppe, together with its subordinate units consisted of about 500
to 800 persons. Einsatzgruppe A, operating mainly in the Baltic region, included
Sonderkommandos la and lb and Einsatzkommandos 2 and 3. Einsatzgruppe B, operating mainly
in the area towards Moscow, included Sonderkommandos 7a and 7b, Einsatzkommandos 8 and 9,
and special units named Vorkommando Moscow (also known as Sonderkommando 7c and Trupp
Smolensk. Einsatzgruppe C, operating mainly in the area towards Kiev, included
Sonderkommandos 4a and 4b and Einsatzkommandos 5 and 6. Einsatzgruppe D, operating mainly
in the area of southern Russia, included Sonderkommandos 10a and 10b and Einsatzkommandos
lla, llb, and 12.
5. All of the defendants herein, as officers or staff members of
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one or more Einsatzgruppen or their subordinate units, committed murders, atrocities, and
other inhumane acts as more specifically set forth in paragraphs 6 to 9, inclusive, of
this count.
6. Einsatzgruppe A and the units under its command committed murders
and other crimes which included, but were not limited to, the following :
(A) During the period 22 June 1941 to 15 October 1941 in Lithuania, Latvia, Esthonia,
and White Ruthenia, Einsatzgruppe A murdered 118,430 Jews and 3,398 Communists.
(B) On or about 4 July 1941 in the city of Riga, Sonderkommando la and Einsatzkommando 2,
together with auxiliary police under their command, carried out pogroms in which all
synagogues were destroyed and 400 Jews were murdered.
(C) During October 1941 in Esthonia, Einsatzkommando la, together with Esthonian units
under their command, committed murders pursuant to a program for the extermination of all
Jewish males over sixteen except doctors and Jewish elders.
(D) During the period 7 November 1941 to 11 November 1941 in Minsk, Sonderkommando1b
murdered 6,624 Jews.
(E) During the period 22 June 1941 to 16 January 1942 in its operational areas,
Einsatzkommando 2 murdered 33,970 persons.
(F) On 30 November 1941 in Riga, 20 men of Einsatzkommando 2 participated in the murder of
10,600 Jews.
(G) During the period 22 June 1941 to 19 September 1941 in Lithuania, Einsatzkommando 3
murdered 46,692 persons.
(H) During the period 22 June 1941 to 10 August 1941 in the area of Kovno [Kaunas] and
Riga, Einsatzgruppe A murdered 29,000 persons.
(I) During the period 2 October 1941 to 10 October 1941 in the vicinity of
Krasnogvardeisk, Einsatzgruppe A murdered 260 persons.
(J) During the period 15 October 1941 to 23 October 1941 in the vicinity of
Krasnogvardeisk, Einsatzgruppe A murdered 156 persons.
(K) During the period 24 October 1941 to 5 November 1941 in the vicinity of
Krasnogvardeisk, Einsatzgruppe A murdered 118 persons.
(L) On 20 November 1941 in the vicinity of Krasnogvardeisk, Einsatzgruppe A murdered 855
persons.
(M) In about December 1941 in the ghetto in Vitebsk, units of Einsatzgruppe A murdered
4,090 Jews.
(N) On 22 December 1941 in Vilnyus [Vilna] , units of Einsatzgruppe A murdered 402 persons
including 385 Jews.
(0) On 1 February 1942 in Loknya, units of Einsatzgruppe A murdered the 38 gypsies
and Jews remaining there.
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(P) On 2 and 3 March 1942 in Minsk, units of Einsatzgruppe A murdered 3,412 Jews.
(Q) On 2 and 3 March 1942 in Baranovichi, units of Einsatzgruppe A murdered 2,007 Jews.
(R) On 17 March 1942 in Ilya, east of Vileika, units of Einsatzgruppe A murdered 520 Jews.
(S) On or about 7 April 1942 in Kovno and Olita, Lithuania, units of Einsatzgruppe A
murdered 44 persons.
(T) During the period 10 April 1942 to 24 April 1942 in Latvia, units of Einsatzgruppe A
murdered 1,272 persons, includ-ing 983 Jews, 204 Communists and 71 gypsies. 7.
7. Einsatzgruppe B and the units under its command committed murders
and other crimes which included, but were not limited to, the following:
(A) In about July 1941 in the city of Minsk, units of Einsatzgruppe B murdered 1,050
Jews and liquidated political officials, "Asiatics" and others.
(B) During the period 22 June 1941 to 14 November 1941 in the vicinity of Minsk and
Smolensk, Einsatzgruppe B murdered more than 45,467 persons.
(C) On 15 October 1941 in Mogilev, units of Einsatzgruppe B murdered 83
"Asiatics."
(D) On 19 October 1941 in Mogilev, units of Einsatzgruppe B participated in the murder of
3,726 Jews.
(E) On 23 October 1941 in the vicinity of Mogilev, units of Einsatzgruppe B murdered 279
Jews.
(F) During the period 22 June 1941 to 14 November 1941 in its operational areas,
Sonderkommando 7a murdered 1,517 persons. (
G) In September or October 1941 in Sadrudubs, Sonderkom-mando 7a murdered 272 Jews.
(H) During the period 6 March 1942 to 30 March 1942 in the vicinity of Klintsy,
Sonderkommando 7a murdered 1,585 Jews and 45 gypsies.
(I) During the period 22 June 1941 to 14 November 1941 in its operational areas,
Sonderkommando 7b murdered 1,822 persons.
(J) During the period from September to October 1941 in Rechitsa, White Ruthenia,
Sonderkommando 7b murdered 216 Jews.
(K) During the period 6 March 1942 to 30 March 1942 in the vicinity of Bryansk,
Sonderkommando 7b murdered 82 persons, including 27 Jews.
(L) During the period 22 June 1941 to 14 November 1941 in its operational areas,
Einsatzkommando 8 murdered 28,219 persons.
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(M) In September or October 1941 in the area of Shklov, Einsatzkommando 8 murdered 627
Jews and 812 other persons.
(N) In September or October 1941 in Mogilev, Einsatzkommando 8 participated in the murder
of 113 Jews.
(0) In September or October 1941 in Krupka, Einsatzkom-mando 8 murdered 912 Jews.
(P) In September or October 1941 in Sholopaniche, Einsatzkommando 8 murdered 822 Jews.
(Q) During the period 6 March 1942 to 30 March 1942 in the vicinity of Mogilev,
Einsatzkommando 8 murdered 1,609 persons, including 1,551 Jews and 33 gypsies.
(R) On 8 October 1941 in the ghetto of Vitebsk, Einsatzkom-mando 9 began murdering Jews
and by 25 October 1941, 3,000 Jews had been executed.
(S) During the period 6 March 1942 to 30 March 1942 in the vicinity of Vitebsk,
Einsatzkommando 9 murdered 273 persons, including 170 Jews.
(T) During the period 22 June 1941 to 14 November 1941 in its operational areas, the group
staff of Einsatzgruppe B and the Vorkommando Moscow murdered 2,457 persons.
(U) During the period 22 June 1941 to 20 August 1941 in the vicinity of Smolensk, the
group staff of Einsatzgruppe B and the Vorkommando Moscow murdered 144 persons.
(V) In September or October 1941 in Tatarsk, the group staff of Einsatzgruppe B and the
Vorkommando Moscow murdered all male Jews.
(W) During the period 6 March to 30 March 1942 in the vicinity of Roslavl, Vorkommando
Moscow murdered 52 persons.
(X) During the period 6 March 1942 to 30 March 1942 in the vicinity of Smolensk, Trupp
Smolensk murdered 60 persons, including 18 Jews.
8. Einsatzgruppe C and the units under its command committed murders
and other crimes which included, but were not limited to, the following:
(A) During the period 22 June 1941 to 3 November 1941 in the vicinity of Zhitomir, Novo
Ukrainka and Kiev, Einsatzgruppe C murdered more than 75,000 Jews.
(B) On 19 September 1941 in Zhitomir, Einsatzgruppe C murdered 3,145 Jews and
confiscated their clothing and valuables.
(C) During the period 22 June 1941 to 29 July 1941 in the vicinity of Zhitomir,
Sonderkommando 4a murdered 2,531 persons.
(D) During the period 22 June 1941 to 12 October 1941 in its operational areas,
Sonderkommando 4a murdered more than 51,000 persons.
(E) During the period from 2'7 June to 29 June 1941 in the
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vicinity of Sokal and Lutsk, Sonderkommando 4a murdered 300 Jews and 317 Communists.
(F) In July or August 1941 in Fastov, Sonderkommando 4a murdered all the Jews between the
ages of 12 and 60.
(G) In September or October 1941 in the vicinity of Vyrna and Dederev, Sonderkommando 4a
murdered 32 gypsies.
(H) On 29 and 30 September 1941 in Kiev, Einsatzkommando 4a, together with the group staff
and police units, murdered 33,771 Jews and confiscated their clothing-and valuables.
(I) On 8 October 1941 in Jagotin, Sonderkommando murdered 126 Jews.
(J) On 23 November 1941 in Poltava, Sonderkommando murdered 1,638 Jews.
(K) In about July 1941 in Tarnopol, Sonderkommando murdered 180 Jews.
(L) During the period from 13 September to 26 September 1941 in the vicinity of
Kremenchug, Sonderkommando 4b murdered 125 Jews and 103 political officials.
(M) During the period 4 October 1941 to 10 October 1941 in Poltava, Sonderkommando 4b
murdered 186 persons. (
N) From about 11 October 1941 to 30 October 1941 in the vicinity of Poltava,
Sonderkommando 4b murdered 595 persons.
(0) During the period 14 January 1942 to 12 February 1942 in the vicinity of Kiev,
Sonderkommando 4b murdered 861 per-sons, including 139 Jews and 649 political officials.
(P) During the period from February 1942 to March 1942 in the vicinity of Artemovsk,
Sonderkommando 4b murdered 1,317 persons, including 1,224 Jews and 63 "political
activists."
(Q) During the period from 22 June 1941 to 10 November 1941 in its operational areas,
Einsatzkommando 5 murdered 29,644 persons.
(R) During July or August 1941 in Berdichev, Einsatzkom-mando 5 murdered 74 Jews.
(S) During the period 7 September 1941 to 5 October 1941 in the vicinity of Berdichev,
Einsatzkommando 5 murdered 8,800 Jews and 207 political officials.
(T) On 22 and 23 September 1941 in Uman, Einsatzkommando 5 murdered 1,412 Jews.
(U) During the period 20 October 1941 to 26 October 1941 in the vicinity of Kiev,
Einsatzkommando 5 murdered 4,372 Jews and 36 political officials.
(V) During the period from 23 November 1941 to 30 November 1941 in the vicinity of Rovno,
Einsatzkommando murdered 2,615 Jews and 64 political officials.
(W) During the period from 12 January 1942 to 24 January
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1942 in the vicinity of Kiev, Einsatzkommando 5 murdered about 8,000 Jews and 104
political officials.
(X) )During the period from 24 November 1941 to 30 November 1941 in the vicinity of
Dnepropetrovsk, Einsatzkommando 6 murdered 226 Jews and 19 political officials.
(Y) From about 10 January 1942 to 6 February 1942 in the vicinity of Stalino,
Einsatzkommando 6 murdered about 149 Jews and 173 political officials.
(Z) In about February 1942 in the vicinity of Stalino, Einsatz-kommando 6 murdered 493
persons, including 80 "political activ-ists" and 369 Jews.
9. Einsatzgruppe D and the units under its command committed murders
and other crimes which included, but were not limited to, the following:
(A) During the period from 22 June 1941 to July 1943, Einsatzgruppe D, in the area of
southern Russia, murdered more than 90,000 persons.
(B))On 15 July 1941 in the vicinity of Beltsy, Sonderkommando 10a murdered 45 persons,
including the Counsel [sic] of Jewish Elders.
(C) In July 1941 in the vicinity of Chernovitsy, Sonderkommando 10b murdered 16 Communists
and 682 Jews.
(D) During the period 22 June 1941 to 7 August 1941 in the vicinity of Kichinev,
Einsatzkommando lla murdered 551 Jews.
(E) In about July 1941 in Tighina, Einsatzkommando llb murdered 151 Jews.
(F) In about December 1941 in the vicinity of Simferopol, Einsatzkommando l1b murdered
over '700 persons.
(G) During the period from 22 June 1941 to 23 August 1941 in Babchinzy, Einsatzkommando 12
murdered 94 Jews.
(H) During the period 15 July 1941 to 30 July 1941 in the vicinity of Khotin,
Einsatzgruppe D murdered 150 Jews and Communists.
(I) During the period 19 August 1941 to 15 September 1941 in the vicinity of Nikolaev,
Einsatzgruppe D murdered 8,890 Jews and Communists.
(J) During the period 16 September 1941 to 30 September 1941 in the vicinity of Nikolacv
and Kherson, Einsatzgruppe D murdered 22,467 Jews.
(K) During the period 1 October 1941 to 15 October 1941 in the area east of the Dnepr,
Einsatzgruppe D murdered 4,891 Jews and 46 Communists.
(L) During the period 15 January 1942 to 31 January 1942 within its operational areas,
Einsatzgruppe D murdered 3,601 persons, including 3,286 Jews and 152 Communists.
(M) During the period 1 February 1942 to 15 February 1942 20 10
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within its operational areas, Einsatzgruppe D murdered 1,451 persons, including 920
Jews and 468 Communists.
(N) During the period 16 February 1942 to 28 February 1942 within its operational areas,
Einsatzgruppe D murdered 1,515 persons, including 729 Jews, 271 Communists and 421 gypsies
and other persons.
(0) During the period 1 March 1942 to 15 March 1942 within its operational areas,
Einsatzgruppe D murdered 2,010 persons, in-cluding 678 Jews, 359 Communists, and 810
gypsies and other persons.
(P) During the period 15 March 1942 to 30 March 1942 within its operational areas,
Einsatzgruppe D murdered 1,501 persons, including 588 Jews, 405 Communists, and 261
gypsies and other persons.
10. The acts and conduct of the defendants set forth in this count were committed
unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly and constitute violations of the law of nations,
international conventions, general principles of criminal law as derived from the criminal
law of all civilized nations, the internal penal laws of the countries in which such
crimes were committed, and Article II
of Control Council Law No. 10.
COUNT TWO-WAR
CRIMES
11. Between 22 June 1941 and July 1943 all of the defendants herein committed war
crimes as defined in Article II
of Control Council Law No. 10, in
that they were principals in, accessories to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in,
were connected with plans and enterprises involving, and were members of organizations or
groups connected with, atrocities and offenses against persons and property constituting
violations of the laws or customs of war, including, but not limited to, murder and
ill-treatment of prisoners of war and civilian populations of countries and territories
under the belligerent occupation of, or otherwise controlled by Germany, and wanton
destruction and devastation not justified by military necessity. The particulars
concerning these crimes are set forth in paragraphs 6 to 9, inclusive, of count one of
this indictment and are incorporated herein by reference.
12. The acts and conduct of the defendants set forth in this count were committed
unlawfully, wilfully, and knowingly and constitute violations of international
conventions, particularly of Articles 43 and 46 of the Regulations of the Hague Convention
No. IV, 1907, the Prisoner-of-War Convention (Geneva, 1929), the laws and customs of war,
the general principles of criminal
Page 22
law as derived from the criminal laws of all civilized nations, the internal and penal
laws of the countries in which such crimes were committed, and Article II of Control Counccil Law No. 10.
Page 23
II. ARRAIGNMENT*
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the courtroom will please find their seats.
The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal II-A. Military Tribunal II-A is now in
session. God save the United States of America and this honorable Tribunal.
There will be order in the Court.
PRESIDING JUDCE MUSMANNO: Military Tribunal II-A will come to order
and proceed with the arraignment of the defendants in Case No. 9. The Secretary General
will call the roll of the defendants.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Each defendant will stand and answer
"present" when his name is called, except in the case of Otto Rasch, who may
remain seated. Otto Ohlendorf. Answer present.
OTTO OHLENDORF: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Be seated. Heinz Jost.
HEINZ JOST: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Erich Naumann.
ERICH NAUMANN: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Otto Rasch. Remain seated.
OTTO RASCH: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL : Erwich Schulz
ERWIN SCHULZ: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Franz Six
FRANZ SIX: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Paul Blobel
PAUL BLOBEL: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Walter Blume
WALTER BLUME: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL : Martin Sandberger.
MARTIN SANDBERGER : Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Willy Seibert.
WILLY SEIBERT: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Eugen Steimle.
EUGEN STEIMLE: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Ernst Biberstein.
ERNST BIBERSTEIN : Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Werner Braune.
WERNER BRAUNE: Yes.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL: Walter Haensch.
*15 and 22 September 1947. Tr. pp. l-29.
Page 24
III. OPENING
STATEMENT OF THE PROSECUTION*
MR. FERENCZ: May it please your Honors: It is with sorrow and with hope that we
here disclose the deliberate slaughter of more than a million innocent and defenseless
men, women, and children. This was the tragic fulfillment of a program of intolerance and
arrogance. Vengeance is not out goal, nor do we seek merely a just retribution. We ask
this Court to affirm by international penal action man's right to live in peace and
dignity regardless of his race or creed. The case we present is a plea of humanity to law.
We shall establish beyond the realm of doubt facts which, before the dark decade of the
Third Reich, would have seemed incredible. The defendants were commanders and officers of
special SS groups known as Einsatzgruppen-established for the specific purpose of
massacring human beings because they were Jews, or because they were for some other reason
regarded as inferior peoples. Each of the defendants in the dock held a position of
responsibility or command in an extermination unit. Each assumed the right to decide the
fate of men, and death was the intended result of his power and contempt. Their own
reports will show that the slaughter committed by these defendants was dictated, not by
military necessity, but by that supreme perversion of thought, the Nazi theory of the
master race. We shall show that these deeds of men in uniform were the methodical
execution of long-range plans to destroy ethnic, national, political, and religious groups
which stood condemned in the Nazi mind. Genocide, the extermination of whole categories of
human beings, was a foremost instrument of the Nazi doctrine. Even before the war the
concentration camps within the Third Reich had witnessed many killings inspired by these
ideas. During the early months of the war the Nazi regime expanded its plans for genocide
and enlarged the means to execute them. Following the German invasion of Poland there
arose extermination camps such as Auschwitz and
Maidanek. In spring 1941, in
contemplation of the coming assault upon the Soviet Union, the Einsatzgruppen were created
as military units, but not to fight as soldiers. They were organized for murder. In
advance of the attack on Russia, the Einsatzgruppen were ordered to destroy life behind
the lines of combat. Not all life to be sure. They were to destroy all those
*Tr. pp. 30-60, 29 September 1947
Page 31
denominated Jew, political official, gypsy, and those other thousands called
"asocial" by the self-styled Nazi superman. This was the new German"
Kultur".
Einsatz units entering a town or city ordered all Jews to be registered. They were
forced to wear the Star of David under threat of death. All were then assembled with their
families to be "resettled" under Nazi supervision. At the outskirts of each town
was a ditch, where a squad of Einsatz men waited for their victims. Whole families were
arrayed, kneeling or standing near the pit to face a deadly hail of fire.
Into the prisoner-of-war camps went the Einsatz units, selecting men for extermination,
denying them the right to live.
Helpless civilians were conveniently labled "Partisans" or
"Partisan-sympathizers" and then executed.
In the hospitals and asylums the Einsatzgruppen destroyed the ill and insane, for
"useless eaters" could never serve the Third Reich.
Then came the gas vans, vehicles which could receive living human beings and discharge
corpses. Every Einsatzgruppe had its allotment of these carriages of death.
These in short were the activities of the Einsatzgruppen.
The United States, in 1942, joined 11 nations in condemnation of these Nazi slaughters
and vowed that justice would be done. Here we act to fulfill that pledge, but not alone
because of it.
Germany is a land of ruins occupied by foreign troops, its economy crippled and its
people hungry. Most Germans are still unaware of the detailed events we shall account.
They must realize that these things did occur in order to understand somewhat the causes
of their present plight. They put their faith in Hitler and their hope in his regime. The
Nazi ideology, devoid of humanism and founded on a ruthless materialism, was proclaimed
throughout Germany and was known to all Germans. Hitler and other Nazi leaders made no
secret of their purpose to destroy the Jews. As we here record the massacre of thousands
of helpless children, the German people may reflect on it to assess the merits of the
system they so enthusiastically acclaimed. If they shame at the folly of their choice they
may yet find a true ideal in place of a foul fetish.
Proof of a million murders will not be the most significant aspect of this case. We
charge more than murder, for we cannot shut our eyes to a fact ominous and full of
foreboding for all of mankind. Not since men abandoned tribal loyalties has any state
challenged the right of whole peoples to exist. And not since medieval times have
governments marked men for death because of race or faith. Now comes this
recrudescence-this Nazi
Page 32
doctrine of a master race-an arrogance blended from tribal conceit and a boundless
contempt for man himself. It is an idea whose toleration endangers all men. It is, as we
have charged, a crime against humanity.
The conscience of humanity is the foundation of all law. We seek here a judgment
expressing that conscience and reaffirming under law the basic rights of man.
NAZI DOCTRINE OF
SUPERIOR AND INFERIOR RACES
As this trial deals with the crime of genocide, it is essential to investigate the
basic tenets and the development of the Nazi doctrine which inspired the crimes we shall
prove. It is conceded that the Nazis neither invented nor monopolized this idea of
superior peoples, but the consequences they wrought gave it a new and terrible meaning.
The Nazi conception has little in common with that arrogance and pretention which has
frequently accompanied the mingling of different peoples. The master race dogma as the
Nazis understood and practiced it was nothing less than the most all-encompassing and
terrible racial persecution of all time. It was one of the most important points of the
"unalterable program of the Nazi party" and the only one which was consistently
advanced from the very beginning of Nazi rule in Germany to the bitter end. It was, as
Gottfried Feder, the official commentator of the Nazi program, called it "the emotion
[sic] foundation of the Nazi movement". The Jews were only one of the peoples marked
for extermination in the Nazi program. The motivation of the crime of genocide, as it was
carried out by Hitler and his legions in all of the occupied and dominated countries,
stemmed from the Nazi ideology of "blood and race". In this theory of the
predominance of the alleged Nordic race over all others and in the mystic belief that
Nordic blood was the only creative power in the world, the Einsatzgruppen had their
ideological basis. In this primitive theory, derived in part from Nietzsche's teaching of
the Germanic superman, the Nazis found the justification for Germany's domination of the
world. As Rosenberg put it in mystic fog:
"A new faith is arising today: the myth of the blood, the faith, to defend with
the blood the divine essence of man. The faith, embodied in clearest knowledge that the
Nordic blood represents that mysterium which has replaced and overcome the old
sacraments."
In his speech, concluding the Reichsparteitag in Nuernberg, on 3 September 1933, Hitler
professed a similar creed, but gave it a more practical expression:
Page 33
"But long ago man has proceeded in the same way with his fellowman. The higher
race-at first higher in the sense of possessing a greater gift for organization-subjects
to itself a lower race and thus constitutes a relationship which now embraces races of
unequal value. Thus there results the subjection of a number of people under the will
often of only a few persons, a subjection based simply on the right of the stronger, a
right as we see it in nature can be regarded as the sole conceivable right because founded
on reason."
This theory led the Nazis to consider many of the other nations and races, particularly
the Slavs of Eastern Europe, as inferior, and Jews and gypsies as sub-human. From this
thesis to the conclusion that inferior people should be decimated, and sub-humans
exterminated like vermin, is but an easy step. The International Military
Tribunal found in its judgment-
" The evidence shows that at any rate in the East, the mass murders and cruelties
were not committed solely for the purpose of stamping out opposition or resistance to the
German occupying forces. In Poland and the Soviet Union these crimes were part of a plan
to get rid of whole native populations by expulsion and annihilation, in order that their
territory could be used for colonization by Germans. Hitler had written in 'Mein Kampf' on
these lines, and the plan was clearly stated by Himmler in July 1942, when he wrote: 'It
is not our task to Germanize the East in the old sense, that is to teach the people there
the German language and the German law, but to see to it that only people of purely
Germanic blood live in the East. ' " *
In August 1942 the policy for the eastern territories as laid down by Bormann was summarized by a
subordinate of Rosenberg
as follows:
"The Slavs are to work for us. Insofar as we do not need them, they may die.
Therefore, compulsory vaccination and Germanic health services are superfluous. The
fertility of the Slavs is undesirable."
and
"In Poland the intelligentsia had been marked down for extermination as early as
September 1939, and in May 1940 the defendant Frank
wrote in his diary of 'taking advantage of the focussing of world interest on
the Western Front, by wholesale liquidation of thousands of Poles, first leading
representatives of the Polish intelligentsia.' "
This aim was openly admitted by the highest SS dignitaries.
*Trial of the Major War Criminals. vol. I. p. 237. Nuremberg. 1947
Page 34
Himmler gave vivid expression to
this viewpoint in a meeting of SS major generals at Poznan, in
October 1943.
"What happens to a Russian, to a Czech does not interest me in the slightest. What
the nations can offer in the way of good blood of our type, we will take, if necessary by
kidnaping their children and raising them here with us. Whether nations live in prosperity
or starve to death interests me only so far as as we need them as slaves for our Kultur;
otherwise, it is of no interest to me. Whether 10,000 Russian females fall down from
exhaustion while digging an antitank ditch interests me only insofar as the antitank ditch
for Germany is finished. We shall never be rough and heartless when it is not necessary,
that is clear. We Germans who are the only people in the world who have a decent attitude
towards animals will also assume a decent attitude towards these human animals. But it is
a crime against our own blood to worry about them and give them ideals, thus causing our
sons and grandsons to have a more difficult time with them. When somebody comes to me and
says, 'I cannot dig the antitank ditch with women and children, it is inhuman, for it
would kill them', then I have to say, 'You are a murderer of your own blood because, if
the antitank ditch is not dug, German soldiers will die, and they are the sons of German
mothers. They are our own blood. That is what I want to instill into this SS and what I
believe have [sic] instilled into them as one of the most sacred laws of the future. Our
concern, our duty is our people and our blood. It is for them that we must provide and
plan, work and fight, nothing else. We can be indifferent to everything else. I wish the
SS to adopt this attitude to the problem of all foreign non-Germanic peoples, especially
Russians. All else is vain, fraud against our own nation and an obstacle to the early
winning of the war." (1919-PS *)
Hans Frank, the Governor General
of occupied Poland, addressed a cabinet session in the government building at Krakow on 16
December 1941 and advocated the following solution of the Jewish problem:
"Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourself of all feeling of pity. We must
annihilate the Jews, wherever we find them and wherever it is possible, in order to
maintain there the structure of the Reich as a whole."
The same Hans Frank summarized in his diary of 1944 the Nazi policy as follows:
"The Jews are a race which has to be eliminated. Wherever we catch one it is his
end." And earlier, speak-
* Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression. vol. IV, p. 559. U. S. Government Printing Office.
Washington. 1946.
Page 35
ing of his function as Governor General of Poland, he confided to his diary this
sentiment: "Of course, I cannot eliminate all lice and Jews in only a year's
time."
When von dem Bach-Zelewski,
who testified before the Inter-national Military Tribunal*, was asked how the defendant
Ohlendorf could admit the murder of 90,000 people, he replied-
"I am of the opinion that when, for years, for decades, the doctrine is preached
that the Slav race is an inferior race, and Jews not even human, then such an outcome is
inevitable."
No one could have defined better the ideology which prompted Nazi Germany to embark on
the program of extermination. The prophecy of Hitler, made in his speech to the German
Reichstag on 30 January 1939, that the result of war would be the annihilation of the
Jewish race in Europe, came very near fulfillment. It is estimated that, of the 9,600,000
Jews who lived in Nazi-domi-nated countries, 6,000,000 have perished in the gas chambers
of the concentration camps or were murdered by the Einsatzgruppen. As the International
Military Tribunal found in its judgment-
" Adolf Eichmann, who had been put in charge of this pro-gram by Hitler, has
estimated that the policy pursued resulted in the killing of 6 million Jews, of which 4
million were killed in the extermination institutions."**
The unholy trinity, the SS, the Gestapo, and the SD,
accomplished this work with hideous and ruthless efficiency. It was Himmler who boasted
proudly in his speech to the highest SS leaders, in 1943,
"Only the SS was equal to the task of exterminating the Jewish people. Others
talked about it but had too many reservations .... To have completed such
a mission is an unwritten page of honor in the history of the SS."
At least one of the chief advocates of the master race theory, Hans Frank, has publicly
regretted his advocacy-
" We have fought against Jewry, we have fought against it for years, and we have
allowed ourselves to make utterances-and my own diary has become a witness against me in
this connection-utterances which arc terrible... A thousand years will
pass, and this guilt of Germany will still not be erased."
* Trial of the Major War Crlminals. vol. IV. p. 494. Nuremberg. 1947.
**Trial of the Major War CriminaL. vol. 1. pp. 252-252. Nummherg. 1947. |