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NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNAL
Volume IV · Page 221

[judg…] ment of the International Military Tribunal and consequently within the meaning of Control Council Law No. 10.

II. CONNECTION BETWEEN GESTAPO AND SD

The International Military Tribunal has left no doubt about the close collaboration which existed between these two criminal organizations. After having permitted the SD to present its case separately because of a claim of conflicting interests, the Tribunal decided, after having examined the evidence, to consider the case of the Gestapo and the SD together.¹ The International Military Tribunal found that these two organizations were first linked together in 1936 when both were placed under the command of Heydrich.² The creation of the RSHA (27 Sept 1939) represented the formalization, at the top level, of the relationship under which the SD served as the intelligence agency for the Security Police. A similar coordination existed in the local offices — one of the principal functions of the local SD units was to serve as the intelligence agency for the local Gestapo units. In the occupied territories, the formal relationship between local units of the Gestapo and SD was slightly closer. Members of the Gestapo, Kripo (criminal police), and SD were joined together into military type organizations— the Einsatzgruppen.³ The International Military Tribunal concluded from the evidence before it that "from a functional point of view both the Gestapo and the SD were important and closely related groups within the organization and the SD."⁴

Thus it is patently clear that the contention of several of the defendants — that they having been SD experts of the different Einsatzgruppe and their subunits had no connection whatsoever with Department IV (Gestapo) of these units — is entirely without foundation.

III. THE RSHA (Reich Security Main Office).

Most of the defendants were at different times and in different positions officials of the RSHA. The International Military Tribunal found —

"The SS Central Organization had 12 main offices. The most important of these were the RSHA * * *." ⁵

And —

"The RSHA was divided into seven offices (Aemter), two of which (Amt I and Amt II) dealt with administrative matters. The security police were represented by Amt IV, the head office of the Gestapo, and by Amt V, the head office of the criminal

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¹ Ibid., p. 262.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid., pp. 262-3.
⁴ Ibid., p. 264.
⁵ Ibid., P. 269.

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