NAZI CONSPIRACY AND AGGRESSION VOLUME I11 Ofice of United States + 4.3- 1 Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality Soid in complete sets by the Superintendent of Documents U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. CONTENTS Pages Document numjber 001-PS through document number 1406-PS, ar- ranged numerically ..............................................1-1003 (A descriptive list of docunlents appears at the end of the last volume.) A Collection of Documentary Evidence and Guide Materials Prepared by the American and British Prosecuting Staffs for Presentation before the International Military Tribunal at Nurn- berg, Germany, in the case of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE FRENCH RE- PUBLIC, THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, and THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS -against - HERMANN WILHELM GOERING, RUDOLF HESS, JOACHIM von RIBBENTROP, ROBERT LEY, WILHELM KEITEL, ERNST KALTENBRUNNER, ALFRED ROS- ENBERG, HANS FRANK, WILHELM FRICK, JULIUS STREICHER, WALTER FUNK, HJALMAR SCHACHT, GUSTAV KRUPP von BOHLEN und HALBACH, KARL DOENITZ, ERICH RAEDER, BALDUR von SCHIRACH, FRITZ SAUCKEL, ALFRED JODL, MARTIN BORMANN, FRANZ von PAPEN, ARTUR SEYSS-INQUART, AL- BERT SPEER, CONSTANTIN von NEURATH, and HANS FRITZSCHE, Individually and as Members of Any of the Following Groups or Organizations to which They Respec- tively Belonged, Namely : DIE REICHSREGIERUNG (REICH CABINET) ; DAS KORPS DER POLITISCHEN LEITER DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUT- SCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (LEADERSHIP CORPS OF THE NAZI PARTY); DIE SCHUTZSTAFFELN DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEIT- ERPARTEI (commonly know as the "SS") and including DIE SICHERHEITSDIENST (commonly known as the "SD") ; DIE GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI (SECRET STATE POLICE, commonly known as the "GESTAPO") ; DIE STURMABTEILUNGEN DER N.S.D.A.P. (commonly known as the "SA") and the GENERAL STAFF and HIGH COMMAND of the GERMAN ARMED FORCES all as defined in Appendix B of the Indictment, Defendants. TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 001-PS Copy to Regional Leader of the NSDAP Extract of par. 1to DEGENHARD 15 April SECRET Documentary Memorandum for the Fuehrer Concerning: Jewish Possessions in France In compliance with the order of the Fuehrer for protection of Jewish, cultural possessions, a great number of Jewish dwellings remained unguarded. Consequently, many furnishings have dis- appeared, because a guard could, naturally, not be posted. In the whole East, the administration has found terrible conditions of living quarters, and the chances of procurement are so limited that it is not practical to procure any more. Therefore, I beg the Fuehrer to permit the seizure of all Jewish home furnishings of Jews in Paris, who have fled, or will leave shortly, and that of Jews living in all parts of the occupied West, to relieve the shortage of furnishings in the administration in the East. 2. A great number of leading Jews were, after a short exam- ination in Paris, again released. The attempts on the lives of members of the armed forces have not stopped, on the contrary they continue. This reveals an unmistakable plan to disrupt the German-French cooperation, to force Germany to retaliate, and, with this, evoke a new defense on the part of the French against Germany. I suggest to the Fuehrer that, instead of executing 100 Frenchmen, we substitute 100 Jewish bankers, lawyers, etc. It is the Jews in London and New York who incite the French communists to commit acts of violence, and it seems only fair that the members of this race should pay for .this. It is not the little Jews, but the leading Jews in France, who should be held responsible. That would tend to awaken the Anti-Jewish senti- ment. BERLIN 18 Dec 1941 R/H signed : A. ROSENBERG COPY OF DOCUMENT 001-A-PS 19 November 1945 I, Major William H. Coogan, 0-455814, Q. M. C., a commis- sioned officer of the Army of the United States of America, do hereby certify as follows : 1. The United States Chief of Counsel in July 1945 charged the Field Branch of the Documentation Division with the respon- sibility of collecting, evaluating and assembling documentary evidence in the European Theater for use in the prosecution of the major Axis war criminals before the International Military Tribunal. 1was appointed Chief of the Field Branch on 20 July 1945. I am now the Chief of the Documentation Division, Office of United States Chief of Counsel. 2. I have served in the United States Army for more than four years and am a practicing attorney by profession. Based upon my experience as an attorney and as a United States Army officer, I am familiar with the operation of the United States Army in connection with seizing and processing captured enemy docu- ments. In my capacity as Chief of the Documentation Division, Office of the United States Chief of Counsel, I am familiar with and have supervised the processing, filing, translation and photo- stating of all documentary evidence for the United States Chief of Counsel. 3. As the Army overran German occupied territory and then Germany itself, certain specialized personnel seized enemy docu- ments, books, and records for information of strategic and tactical value. During the early stages such documents were handled in bulk and assembled at temporary centers. However, after the surrender of Germany, they were transported to the various document centers established by Army Headquarters in the United States Zone of Occupation. In addition to the documents actually assembled at such document centers, Army personnel maintained and secured considerable documents "in situ" at or near the place of discovery. When such documents were located and assembled they were catalogued by Army per- sonnel into collections and records were maintained which dis- closed the source alld such other information available concerning the place and general circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the documents. 4. The Field Branch of the Documentation Division was staffed by personnel thoroughly conversant with the German language. Their task was to search for and select captured enemy docu- ments in the European Theater which disclosed information relating to the prosecution of the major Axis war criminals. Officers under my command were placed on duty at various docu- ment centers and also dispatched on individual missions to obtain original documents. When documents were located, my rep- resentatives made a record of the circumstances under which they were found and all information available concerning their authenticity was recorded. Such documents were further identi- fied by Field Branch pre-trial serial numbers, assigned by my representatives who would then periodically dispatch the original documents by courier to the Office of the United States Chief of Counsel. 5. Upon receipt of these documents they were duly recorded and indexed. After this operation, they were delivered to the Screening and Analysis Branch of the Documentation Division of the Office of United States Chief of Counsel, which Branch re-examined such documents in order to finally determine whether or not they should be retained as evidence for the prosecutors. This final screening was done by German-speaking analysts on the staff of the United States Chief of Counsel. When the docu- ment passed the screeners, it was then transmitted to the Docu- ment Room of the Office of United States Chief of Counsel, with a covering sheet prepared by the screeners showing the title or nature of the document, the personalities involved, and its im- portance. In the Document Room, a trial identification number was given to each document or to each group of documents, in cases where it was desirable for the sake of clarity to file several documents together. 6. United States documents were given trial identification numbers in one of five series designated by the letters: "PS", "L", "R", "C", and "EC", indicating the means of acquisition of the documents. Within each series documents were listed nu- merically. 7. After a document was so numbered, it was then sent to a German-speaking analyst who prepared a summary of the docu- ment with appropriate references to personalities involved, index headings, information as to the source of the document as indi- cated by the Field Branch, and the importance of the document to a particular phase of the case. Next, the original document was returned to the Document Room and then checked out to the photostating department, where photostatic copies were made. Upon return from photostating, it was placed in an envelope in one of several fireproof safes in the rear of the Document Room. One of the photostatic copies of the document was sent to the translators, thereafter leaving the original itself in the safe. A commissioned officer has been, and is, responsible for the security of the documents in the safe. At all times when he is not present the safe is locked and a military guard is on duty outside the only door. If the officers preparing the certified translation, or one of the officers working on the briefs, found it necessary to examine the original document, this was done within the Document Room in the section set aside for that purpose. The only exception to this strict rule has been where it has been occasionally necessary to present the original document to the defendants for examination. In this case, the document was entrusted to a responsible officer of the prosecution staff. 8. All original documents are now located in safes in the Docu- ment Room, where they will be secured until they are presented by the prosecution to the court during the progress of the trial. 9. Some of the documents which will be offered in evidence by the United States Chief of Counsel were seized and processed by the British Army. Also, personnel from the Office of the United States Chief of Counsel and the British War Crimes Executive have acted jointly in locating, seizing and processing such documents. 10. Substantially the same system of acquiring documentary evidence was utilized by the British Army and the British War Crimes Executive as that hereinabove set forth with respect to the United States Army and the Office of the United States Chief of Counsel. 11. Therefore, I certify in my official capacity as hereinabove stated, to the best of my knowledge and belief, that the docu- ments captured in the British Zone of Operations and Occupation, which will be offered in evidence by the United States Chief of Counsel, have been authenticated, translated, and processed in substantially the same manner as hereinabove set forth with respect to the operations of the United States Chief of Counsel. 12. Finally, I certify, that all Documentary evidence offered by the United States Chief of Counsel, including those documents from British Army sources, are in the same condition as captured by the United States and British Armies; that they have been translated by competent and qualified translators; that all photo- static copies are true and correct copies of the originals and that they have been correctly filed, numbered and processed as above outlined. [Signed] WILLIAM H. COOGAN Major, QMC, 0-455814 TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 002-PS SECRET 25 March 1943 President of Reich Research Dept. Head of Executive Council To the Reichsminister of Finance Berlin W 8 Wilhelmplatz 1-2 Ref 503/43 G SR/GE In regard to your correspondence of the 19th Dec (J 4761-174 I g 111. Ang) to which I gave you a preliminary communication on the 19th Feb, I finally take the following position: The Surgeon General-SS and Police, in a personal discussion, told me that the budget which he administers concerns primarily the purely military sector of the Waffen SS. As for the small part used for the enlarging of scientific research possibilities, it pertains exclusively to such affairs that can be carried out only with the material (prisoners), which is accessible to the Waffen SS and can therefore not be undertaken by any other experi- mental agency. I cannot object therefore on the part of the Reich Experimental Counsel against the budget of the Surgeon General-SS and Police. Signed : Mentzel Ministerialdirektor SECRET Reich Leader SS Reich Surgeon SS and Police File: 135/ Secret / 43 TG, NR 24/43 geh. Berlin 26 Feb 43 Subj. : Scientific Institutes Ref to: Correspondence of 19 Feb. 43 Rf. 234/43 SR. - To the Head of the Executive Counsel of the Reich Research Counsel Ministerialdirektor Mentzel Berlin-Steglitz Grunewaldstrasse 35 My dear Ministerialdirektor : In acknowledgment of your letter of the 19th Feb 1943, I am able to reply the following to it today: The appropriation for the 53 key positions for my office which you made the basis of your memorandum was planned for peace times.