. NMT04-T1173
Volume IV · Page 1173
| declared to be criminal by the International Military Tribunal and hence guilty of acts constituting crimes under paragraph I-d of Article II of Control Council Law No. 10. Short extracts from the testimony of some of the defendants concerning their membership in the SS are set forth on pp. 1173 to 1185. |
| 2. EXTRACTS FROM TESTIMONY
CONCERNING MEMBERSHIP IN THE SS |
| EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY
OF DEFENDANT GREIFELT* |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| DIRECT EXAMINATION DR. HAENSEL (Counsel for
defendant Greifelt) : How was it that you came to the SS? DEFENDANT GREIFELT: Not for reasons of political conviction but truly speaking for reasons of pure distress. As I have already told you, in spite of all my efforts it was not possible in 1933 to find a new position. In June of 1933 quite by chance I met an old comrade of mine whose name was Seidel-Dittmarsch. He was a comrade from the First World War. He knew of my trouble and he asked me to come to him and work for him. I did not know what he was doing at the time and I was told that he held a high position in the SS. It was understandable that a person who for 15 or 18 months had been without work and income, and who had to look after his wife and family would make use of any possibility to earn a living which, even though modest, was adequate. Q. Wasn't a uniformed group within the state rather unusual, or were there other political organizations in Germany at that time that wore uniforms? A. Well, I don't know about that; there was the SA and there was a Red Front Fighters League [Rotfrontkaempferbund — Communists] , and the Stahlhelm [Nationalists] and the Reichsbanner [Social Democrats]. We saw all these formations on the streets during parades and propaganda marches. As for the purpose of the organizations or formations, or whatever you want to call them, I was not acquainted with that at the time, and as to the SS I knew as little about it as I did of the other organizations. By my old comrade from the First World War, I was persuaded to join the SS, all the more so as he told me that he wanted to make me his personal adjutant. I did my work as an adjutant merely by doing office work. |
* Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 24-26 November 1947, 1-2 December 1947, pp. 1404-1750.
