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VII. EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENTS ON
IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THE CASE |
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A. Selections from Evidence
and Arguments of the Prosecution |
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I.
INTRODUCTION |
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For the purpose of publication, the
prosecution's case has been divided into four parts |
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1. The task of the Einsatzgruppen.
The prosecution alleged that it was the primary task of the Einsatzgruppen to
carry out the Hitler order calling for the extermination of Jews, Communists,
gypsies, and other racial or national groups considered by the Nazis as
"racially inferior" or "politically undesirable". It was further alleged that
another task of these Einsatzgruppen consisted in dispatching small detachments
into prisoner-of-war camps in the East for the segregation and extermination of
those inmates who were politically or racially undesirable. Selections from the
evidence of the prosecution on this point, consisting of contemporaneous
documents and affidavits of the defendants, are set forth in pp. 119 to 140.
2. The magnitude of the enterprise. Of the contemporaneous
documents on this point appearing in pp. 141 to 197, one document reports the
killing of more than 220,000 people, another of more than 130,000, still others
more than 91,000 persons, 80,000 persons, and 60,000 persons, respectively, and
some report the killing of smaller numbers but the document reproduced here
reports upon the killing of fewer than 10,000 persons.
3. Methods of
execution. It was alleged by the prosecution that mass exterminations of
Jews and other undesirables were carried out mainly by shooting, and that gas
vans were also used for this purpose. Selections from the prosecution's
evidence on this point set forth in pp. 198 to 216 include a contemporaneous
document, an affidavit of an eyewitness, the German businessman Friedrich
Graebe, and affidavits of several defendants.
4. Membership in
criminal organizations. In count three of the indictment, all defendants
were charged with membership in organizations declared to be criminal by the
International Military Tribunal, namely, of the SS, the SD, and the Gestapo,
respectively. The prosecution introduced in evidence extracts from the original
SS personnel files. These files showed the duration of membership, |
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