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Volume V · Page 481
| or pay anything to further the
interests of the Equipment Works, but kept his visit on a completely private
level. It was with satisfaction as I noted that Dr. Hohberg agreed in principle with my condemnation of the way SS men treated prisoners; in this connection, he was especially impressed with a column of female prisoners he saw marching in the neighborhood of Auschwitz. He confirmed this opinion to me at a subsequent visit I made to his home in Berlin. |
| [Signed] HEINZ SAVELSBERG |
| C. Economic Enterprises and Activities of the WVHA |
| I. INTRODUCTION |
| The indictment charged that the WVHA
“was responsible for the operation and maintenance of various industrial,
manufacturing, and service enterprises throughout Germany and the occupied
countries” (par. 10) and that these activities involved utilization of
plants and other assets acquired in a criminal manner as well as forcing
“thousands of concentration camp inmates and other persons into
employment” in WVHA enterprises (par. 15) under inhuman conditions. The
defense claimed that the economic activities of the WVHA constituted legitimate
business enterprises and that, insofar as crimes may have been committed in
connection with particular aspects of these economic functions, the defendants
were not involved in such offenses. In this section, evidence of the prosecution, on pages 484 to 549 is followed by evidence of the defense on pages 549 to 577. Further evidence concerning another aspect of the economic activities of the WVHA is reproduced in section, “Acquisition and Disposal of Property and Valuables of ‘Evacuated’ Jews, ‘Action Reinhardt,’” beginning at page 692. Special reference is made to defense evidence contained in section, “Development and Organization of the WVHA,” beginning at page 290, and to defense argument contained in the closing statement of the defendant Pohl, beginning at page 865. |
