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Volume V · Page 1060
| when the WVHA came into being, Main
Department HS-1 was designated Amt W VIII with Klein as its chief.
Although Amt W VIII was definitely an integral part of the WVHA and answerable to Pohl, it is not apparent that it was active in any aggressive way or that it forms part of the pattern of concentration camp inmate exploitation. This office had no connection with SS industries. Its work fell rather into the category of cultural and social welfare. In addition to directing the affairs of the society above-mentioned, Klein also managed the Society of Convalescent Homes for Natural Recovery and Standard of Life which operated convalescent homes for women and children and administered SS hospitals. Then there were two other organizations under his charge, the Externsteins and the King Henry establishment, the former devoted to the preservation of an old Germanic early Christian relic and the latter to the maintenance of the Cathedral at Quedlinburg. All these activities could have been effectively pursued outside the WVHA and they were not an indispensable part of the machinery of the WVHA. These organizations brought no monetary returns to the coffers of the Reich. The direct opposite is true, since they were subsidized by the State. It has been charged by the prosecution that Klein was responsible for excesses in the labor camp at Wewelsburg, but the proof before the Tribunal exonerates Klein from responsibility in that connection. He never managed or directed this camp. Several former inmates of Wewelsburg testified in Court that they not only never saw Klein in the camp, but never heard his name mentioned. The evidence would further establish that the Wewelsburg camp was not controlled by Klein, but by SS Obergruppenfuehrer Taubert. Further, that in the construction job itself which was being done at Wewelsburg, the man in charge was the architect SS Standartenfuehrer Bartels. Bartels had immediate control over the 500 men employed here and Mein had no authority whatsoever over them. In addition, Bartels had a rank superior to Mein's. The construction work at Wewelsburg, which had to do with the restoration of a castle, was ordered by Himmler and the chain of command from Himmler to Bartels did not even go through Pohl, chief of the WVHA. The only objective part played by Klein in this entire project was the acquisition of the site, but there was nothing in the plan of taking over the real estate which indicated to Klein that a forced labor camp would go into operation here. On the contrary, his only information was that the land was to be used for enlargement of the castle area and future SS settlements. The prosecution has charged Klein with obtaining credit on |
