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Volume V · Page 978
| channels. The thoroughness of this program of
looting is evidenced by the articles listed: featherbeds, quilts, blankets,
woolen yardage, shawls, umbrellas, canes, thermos bottles, flasks, baby
carriages, combs, handbags, belts, pipes, sun glasses, mirrors, table silver,
luggage, linens, pillows, eye glasses, furs, watches, clocks, and jewelry.
Everything that could be lifted was moved. The defendant :rank listed as
received up to 30 April 1943, 94,000 men's watches, 33,000 women's watches, and
25,000 fountain pens. Currency and precious metals seized reached a total value
of 60,000,000 Reichsmarks. About 2,000 carloads of textiles reached Germany as
a result of this plunder, and in all a grand total of over 100 million
Reichsmarks in personal property was thus acquired. When Jews died in
concentration camps, additional loot became available. The clothing was
stripped from their bodies and, after being carefully searched for hidden
valuables and the distinguishing Jewish Star removed, was distributed to still
living inmates or to German civilians. Camp commandants were cautioned not to
ship clothing which was stained with blood or showed bullet holes. To complete
the desecration, the hair was shorn from the heads of the dead (one report
showed a carload of 3,000 kilograms) and all the dental gold was extracted and
deposited through WVHA in the vaults of the Reich Bank. It was ordered by the
defendant Frank that all property originating from Action Reinhardt be called,
"goods originating from thefts, receiving of stolen goods, and hoarded goods."
In the true sense, this description is more accurate than Frank intended.
In the Southern German Legal Gazette, March 1947, crimes against humanity are defined as acts involving "cruelty against human life, degradation of the dignity of man or destruction of human civilization." The Tribunal is quite content to use this German concept as a standard in deciding whether or not the facts heretofore found constitute crimes against humanity. Only one conclusion is possible. These facts establish beyond a reasonable doubt the wholesale commission of both war crimes and crimes against humanity. It next becomes necessary to determine to what extent, if any, the several defendants are criminally responsible therefore, by reason of actual perpetration, participation, or taking a consenting part therein. A defense which has been almost universally advanced is that all the criminal acts of the Reich were conducted under a cloak of secrecy which prevented the defendants from knowing about them. Hitler's famous secrecy order has been offered by nearly every defendant. It has been urged that there was strict censorship of the press, that listening to foreign broadcasts was prohibited, that concentration camp prisoners were required upon |
