. NMT03-T1106
Volume III · Page 1106
| be. This note stated that the action taken
was based upon the approval of the State Secretary. Surely Hansen, an official
under the Minister of Justice, whatever his character might have been, would
never have dared to use falsely an alleged authority by the State Secretary to
account for the liquidation of some 800 people and then make an official report
that, according to all normal procedure, would come directly into the hands of
the State Secretary. This Tribunal is asked to believe that in the middle of January, Himmler took over the operations of the penitentiary at Sonnenburg and that the first time that the State Secretary, the defendant Klemm, heard of the liquidation of those who were not evacuated was in this trial. That Himmler controlled evacuations within the area of his command was shown by evidence in this case and can be assumed from the nature of the evacuation. An evacuation is a matter of military concern since it involves interference on the roads with military operations and transport. The operational control of a penal institution is an entirely different matter. In the middle of January, Himmler was in command of an army which was having considerable difficulty and he was scarcely in a position to assume the functions and responsibilities in the Ministry of Justice as regards the operations of a penal institution. Certainly if he did so it is strange that Eggensperger, a Referent in Department V dealing with penal institutions, or Hecker, also in Department V and in charge of evacuations of penal institutions, or the director of the institution at Sonnenburg, knew nothing about this transfer of authority some two weeks after it is alleged to have been made. It was also strange that Hansen, who is alleged to have known of this transfer of authority, would call the Ministry of Justice and make an official report as to the transaction on the night when it was under way and cite as his authority for his connection therewith the State Secretary. That the defendant Klemm knew nothing about the liquidation of some 800 people in this institution until he learned it in this trial, overtaxes the credulity of this Tribunal. Even in Nazi Germany the evacuation of a penal institution and the liquidation of 800 people could hardly have escaped the attention of the Minister of Justice himself or his State Secretary charged with supervision of Department V which was competent for penal institutions. Exhibit 290, herein extensively quoted, shows that the operations of penal institutions and the disposition of the inmates remained a function of the Ministry of Justice, and it is the opinion of this Tribunal that the Ministry of Justice was, at the time of the evacuation of Sonnenburg, responsible for the turning over of the |
