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were Jewesses, 2 were Poles and 4 were Asiatics. At the moment these prisoners are segregated by sex and are under quarantine in two hospital buildings of the Concentration Camp Auschwitz. "For further experimentation on these selected prisoners it will be necessary to have them transferred to the Concentration Camp Na... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day | 10,800 | 11,300 |
to, be housed. MAJOR JONES: Were you present at that conference? SIEVERS: I did not talk with Himmler about that matter then. MAJOR JONES: Did you make any suggestion as to what should happen and what should be done with the human bodies that you had assembled at Strasbourg? Did you have any suggestions to make? SIEVER... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day | 11,250 | 11,750 |
parts could be declared as having been left by the French at the time we took over the Anatomical Institute and would be turned over for cremating. Please advise me which of the following three proposals is to be carried out: 1) The collection as a whole to be preserved; 2) The collection to be dissolved in part; 3) Th... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day | 11,700 | 12,200 |
that the collection in Strasbourg had been completely dissolved in the meantime in accordance with the directive given him at the time. He is of the opinion that this arrangement is for the best in view of the whole situation." SIEVERS: The authenticity of my testimony can be seen from the remarks of Hauptsturmfuehrer ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day | 12,150 | 12,650 |
longer. He further pointed out that it was much more important-and this was really our first working contact with Hirt-that sufficient experimental animals should be procured for the experiments, for at the outbreak of the war the supply of experimental animals had diminished to such an extent that necessary scientific... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day | 12,600 | 13,100 |
which I went to see SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl. Therefore, it was impossible for me to read it before hand. I only remembered what you had told me during our last conversation. If it should be necessary for me to take this matter up again, will you please let me know." Now, what were those deficiencies which you had de... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day | 13,050 | 13,550 |
you to turn now to another aspect of your work, the Rascher experiments. You remember telling me that you had no insight into the Rascher experiments? SIEVERS: I stated that I had a general insight, but knew nothing of particulars. MAJOR JONES: I want you to look now at your diary for the year 1944, the Ahnenerbe Diary... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day | 13,500 | 14,000 |
association with this matter. "23 January, 530 8 Aug. 46 1130 hours, report to RFSS together with Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. Brandt. 1. We shall receive the reports of Professor Schilling." Now, Professor Schilling is the man who has been sentenced to death for his malaria experiments at Dachau, isn't he? SIEVERS: Yes. M... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day | 13,950 | 14,450 |
Day Volume 20 Menu One Hundred Ninety-Ninth Day Nuremberg Trials Page Avalon Home Document Collections Ancient 4000bce - 399 Medieval 400 - 1399 15 th Century 1400 - 1499 16 th Century 1500 - 1599 17 th Century 1600 - 1699 18 th Century 1700 - 1799 19 th Century 1800 - 1899 20 th Century 1900 - 1999 21 st Century 2000 ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day | 14,400 | 14,498 |
Avalon Home Document Collections Ancient 4000bce - 399 Medieval 400 - 1399 15 th Century 1400 - 1499 16 th Century 1500 - 1599 17 th Century 1600 - 1699 18 th Century 1700 - 1799 19 th Century 1800 - 1899 20 th Century 1900 - 1999 21 st Century 2000 - Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 20 One Hundred Ninty-Eighth Day V... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 0 | 500 |
in the East. These experiments, however, could not be carried through at Dachau. This was reported to Himmler, and he ordered that they were to be carried through during the following winter. But they were never carried through, because Rascher was already arrested in April. MAJOR JONES: For whom were you carrying thro... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 450 | 950 |
on prostitutes to recover... to restore the warmth of these people: "Question: Who was present at such an experiment? "Answer: Heinrich Himmler and his staff generally witnessed these important experiments here at Dachau, or any new experiment. Standartenfuehrer Sievers was always present with Himmler." SIEVERS: That i... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 900 | 1,400 |
What was the participation of G6ring in these experiments? SIEVERS: That is unknown to me, because the experiments at Dachau started in the year 1941 and I only learned of them after they had already begun. Connection with the Luftwaffe was established through the medical inspection offices of the Luftwaffe. 536 9 Aug.... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 1,350 | 1,850 |
the cruel way in which he experimented, and the manner in which he exceeded his orders by fat, come to light. Himmler said ... MAJOR JONES: Well-just a moment. I will test you on that in a moment, but I just want you to try to apply your mind to these experiments for making sea water drinkable. Do you remember that the... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 1,800 | 2,300 |
how these directives were carried out, I did not know. We just confiscated the rooms; everything else was arranged by Grawitz. I do not know who worked there, or whether personnel of the SS worked there with the gentlemen of the Luftwaffe from Vienna. MAJOR JONES: Why was this staff working in Dachau? Why was Dachau ch... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 2,250 | 2,750 |
are being submitted now' and the accusations which are raised against me personally in that connection, I am forced to make a personal confession, a fundamental statement, and I should like to ask the Tribunal for permission to do so now. THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal thinks that you may say anything you wish in that reg... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 2,700 | 3,200 |
experiments on human beings carried out in 1900 by Dieth, and later by Goldberger, in America. Nevertheless my conflict of conscience ... MAJOR JONES: If Your Lordship pleases, I do not know whether the Tribunal wants to hear more of this material. It seems to me to be more an avoidance than a confession, and I have nu... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 3,150 | 3,650 |
the experiments, wasn't it? SIEVERS: This experiment was carried out by Rascher, not by Dr. Plotner, and it came to light only after Rascher's arrest. MAJOR JONES: I am not concerned with who carried them out. You knew the form they took, and that was the form that bullets were fired into detainees of concentration cam... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 3,600 | 4,100 |
know anything about them. MAJOR JONES: I want you to look at Document Number 010, Page 4 of the English document book, My Lord, Exhibit GB-584. That is a letter, as you see, from Grawitz to Himmler. It is dated I June 1943 and headed "Top Secret. Subject: Investigation into the cause of contagious jaundice." THE PRESID... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 4,050 | 4,550 |
and that is signed by Grawitz. Grawitz was the vice president of the German Red Cross, wasn't he? SIEVERS: Yes. MAJOR JONES: I want to turn to the Document Number 011 on Page 5 of the English document book-Exhibit GB-585. That is the reply of Himmler to the letter of Grawitz. It is dated 544 9 Aug. 46 16 June 1943. "Su... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 4,500 | 5,000 |
you gave your authorization on 25 October'1943 for the carrying out of experiments with a view to producing a new kind of typhus serum and transferred 100 suitable prisoners to Natzweiler for this purpose. It has been possible to carry out the experiments very satisfactorily so far with the help of the chief of Departm... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 4,950 | 5,450 |
and on his stationery. The various authorized persons and offices concerned were competent in this respect, and that is evident from this document which lists the chief of the Luftwaffe medical services. MAJOR JONES: The Tribunal has this document before it, so I am not going to argue with you on it. THE PRESIDENT: Who... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 5,400 | 5,900 |
of German Folkdom. MAJOR JONES: I asked you whether it was another branch of the SS that was involved in these medical experiments? SIEVERS: No, it had nothing to do with it. MAJOR JONES: I'll just read the letter in that' case. It has the initials of Himmler on the top, has it not, "H. H." You are extremely familiar w... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 5,850 | 6,350 |
Ad. Pokorny, specialist on skin and venereal diseases." Do you know that subsequent to that, greenhouses were erected and these plants were cultivated? SIEVERS: No, I do not know that. I only remember in this connection that this publication of Dr. Madaus, but without reference to this rather strange suggestion of Dr. ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 6,300 | 6,800 |
associations of lawyers, tutors, students, artists), that is the mission . . ." THE PRESIDENT: Well Mr. Elwyn Jones, are you submitting that this is a crime? MAJOR JONES: Yes, My Lord, I am submitting that it is an essential part of the machinery of this last instrument. First of all the perversion of science, secondly... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 6,750 | 7,250 |
difference that it does not show for what purpose it is drawn up, because it merely lists the SS leaders in the "Ahnenerbe" with reference to their marital status and the number of their children. I have- already said that approximately one-half of the colleagues belonged to the SS, the other half not at all. MAJOR JON... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 7,200 | 7,700 |
of the Reich. HERR PELCKMANN: What do you mean by membership dues? What members? 552 9 Aug. 46 SIEVERS: The inscribed members. Every German could become a member of the "Ahnenerbe." HERR PELCKMANN: Were they SS members? SIEVERS: No, everybody could become a member. Membership neither of the Party nor of the SS was a co... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 7,650 | 8,150 |
the general interests of all. HERR PELCKMANN: Witness, if fragments of this diary are presented to you as they were presented to you in your cross-examination, are you in a position to give exhaustive and correct explanations without going into the context and into the whole diary? SIEVERS: This is quite impossible bec... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 8,100 | 8,600 |
up by Gau economic adviser. Purchase of machines." HERR PELCKMANN: That means then that Dr. Plotner was initiated ... SIEVERS: Initiated into all the administrative and economic matters connected with the manufacture of Polygal. HERR PELCKMANN: Now you were going to describe what happened at that time. SIEVERS: Yes. Dr... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 8,550 | 9,050 |
as I have already testified, expressly refused to carry them out. HERR PELCKMANN: ' Did you, after that time, hear of any other inhuman experiments? SIEVERS: No, not in connection with the Institute of Scientific Research for Specific Military Purposes, into which I had insight. HERR PELCKMANN: You say that you had ins... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 9,000 | 9,500 |
would have been carried through in one way or another in any event. But wherever possible I did secretly what no other person would have done, or dared to do. I prevented, through silent sabotage, whatever could possibly be prevented. My repeated offers to elaborate on this point with the help of my secret data and rec... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 9,450 | 9,950 |
orders with regard to the Donets area. Get in 'touch with him immediately. I order you to co-operate as much as you can. The aim to be achieved is that when areas in the Ukraine are evacuated, not a human being, not a single head 558 9 Aug. 46 of cattle, not a hundredweight of cereals and not a railway line remain behi... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 9,900 | 10,400 |
children may be available as labor for the cultivation of Kok-Sagys and for agriculture. "Final proposals are to be submitted to me as soon as possible." Signed, "H. Himmler." There are the names of Berger and Backe below. HERR PELCKMANN: Your Lordship, may I put a formal ... THE PRESIDENT: Just one minute.... Yes, Dr.... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 10,350 | 10,850 |
I have forgotten. THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): And what connection did General Milch have with these experiments? Did he make the arrangements for them? SIEVERS: No, as far as I know the technical arrangements were made by the Medical Inspectorate of the Luftwaffe. THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What connection did General M... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 10,800 | 11,300 |
time we had only the photostatic copies of these documents, and I told the Tribunal that we would try to obtain the originals. We now have the originals in our possession, and they are being substituted for the photostatic copies. I also asked the witness Best at that time if he knew that in connection-that at about th... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 11,250 | 11,750 |
an unknown destination. First car, Generals Daine and de Boisse..." Now, parenthetically again, if the Tribunal will recall, General, de Boisse was the general whom it was first intended to murder, as shown by the document, and if you remember, it was decided that General de Boisse would not be killed because his name ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 11,700 | 12,200 |
'If up to 1944 1 always tried to prepare my escape, I gave, up trying altogether afterward, even if I had every chance of succeeding. First of all, the end of the war is only a question of weeks; and moreover, especially, I should be much too afraid that my flight would cost my eldest son his life! An hour before his d... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 12,150 | 12,650 |
witnesses for the SA, witness Juttner and others, who would probably deal with most of the points, I should offer them after the Defense Counsel have offered their documents, and in order that the Defense Counsel would not be prejudiced in any way, I suggest that, if that course were adopted, I should give them copies ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 12,600 | 13,100 |
also wish to respectfully suggest that, unless the witness Von Brauchitsch is going to talk about matters other than those that Manstein and Rundstedt have covered at length, it would be entirely fair and expeditious to confine the testimony of Von Brauchitsch to the matters 'of the affidavits, unless, as I say, it is ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 13,050 | 13,550 |
session of the court. I was not in Berlin at all, but away on official business. I heard of the orders which were given only after my return. DR. LATERNSER: Did not doubts arise in your mind at that time? VON BRAUCHITSCH: I was afraid of fraternal strife and I was also afraid that this action would result in further co... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 13,500 | 14,000 |
me, among other things, that-this was the essence of it-he alone knew quite well what he had to do. DR. LATERNSER: When, approximately, was that? VON BRAUCHITSCH: That was at the end of July, the second half of July 1938. DR. LATERNSER: In what connection was Generaloberst Adam relieved of his command? VON BRAUCHITSCH:... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 13,950 | 14,450 |
Army. DR. LATERNSER: Were you in touch with other leading political organs? VON BRAUCHITSCH: No. DR.LATERNSER: The conference on 23 May 1939 is of particular importance. Did you, at that time, gain the impression that war had been decided upon? VON BRAUCHITSCH: No. There are quite a number of circumstances and facts wh... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 14,400 | 14,900 |
trade agreement signed with the Soviet Union would, in my view, convince Poland that to settle differences by negotiations was the best way. Moreover, it was my opinion that the isolation of which Hitler had spoken would also result in Poland's readiness to negotiate. The decisive point was that Hitler expressly said t... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 14,850 | 15,350 |
the beginning of the Polish campaign did you know that, an agreement with the Soviet Union had been reached, setting up a line of demarcation? VON BRAUCHITSCH: No, I had no idea of that at all. DR. LATERNSER: After the conclusion of the war you had made provision for military administration in Poland. Why was this not ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 15,300 | 15,800 |
attack? VON BRAUCHITSCH: On 27 September 1939, Hitler announced his decision to attack in the West. He ordered the necessary preparations to be made, which would have to be concluded by 12 November. DR. IATERNSER: What position did you and the High Command of the Army take with reference to this plan? 573 9 Aug. 46 VON... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 15,750 | 16,250 |
had been trained to defend and protect their homeland. They did not think about wars of conquest, or the expansion of German domination over other peoples. It was quite clear to me that the entire question could be cleared up only by political means, if a sincere will to this end existed. But any political developments... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 16,200 | 16,700 |
to cite but one. This concerned the stopping of the German Panzers before Dunkirk, a matter which brought about a serious conflict. The result was that the mass of the personnel of the British Expeditionary Force escaped to England across the Channel. 575 9 Aug. 46 DR. LATERNSER: On the part of the High Command of the ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 16,650 | 17,150 |
time that the possibility of war with the Soviet Union would be considered? VON BRAUCHITSCH: In August of 1940 he made a remark to me to the effect that he was worried by the thought that the attitude of Russia might change. Thereupon, I talked with the Chief of the General Staff and told him that we would have to coll... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 17,100 | 17,600 |
and therewith the large number of picked reserves which were available, and the quite different level of education and enlightenment of the Russian population as compared with the years 1914-1918, matters which I could see for myself when I was a guest of the Red Army in the year 1931. And the third point was the high ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 17,550 | 18,050 |
up and distribution of the main reserves. There %were numerous armament installations which made it possible to equip the new formations. The High Command of the Army, therefore, was of the opinion that after the Dnieper-Smolensk-Lake Peipus line had been reached, one would then have to come into possession of the enti... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 18,000 | 18,500 |
knew of mass exterminations: and had reported this to the commanders-in-chief through official channels. Is this right? VON BRAUCHITSCH: He is speaking of a conviction, not of a certainty, and this conviction is not right. DR. LATERNSER: To whom were these units subordinated? VON BRAUCHITSCH: The subordination of the E... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 18,450 | 18,950 |
the Army for a battle? VON BRAUCHITSCH: That would have been similar. DR. LATERNSER: In general, what was the relationship of the leadership of the Waffen-SS to that of the Army, Luftwaffe, or Navy? Was it a particularly harmonious one? VON BRAUCHITSCH: Under battle conditions, yes, otherwise there was little connectio... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 18,900 | 19,400 |
in the past. The attitude towards the population was to remain correct in every way, and any excesses were to be punished. DR. LATERNSER: Would an open refusal or your threatened resignation have been successful with Hitler? VON BRAUCHITSCH: I have already said so-no. DR. LATERNSER: Now, one more question dealing with ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 19,350 | 19,850 |
man who believes that the whole world is revolving about him alone. DR. LATERNSER: Gisevius further stated that the generals had enriched themselves. Is that true? VON BRAUCHITSCH: I do not quite know in which way. DR. LATER.NSER: Did you yourself receive any grants? VON BRAUCHITSCH: No. DR. LATERNSER: Field Marshal yo... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 19,800 | 20,300 |
mentioned a moment ago, when signing the Affidavit Number 2 you pointed to the fact that the 584 9 Aug. 46 sketch was incorrect. Now, I shall have this sketch presented to you and I should like to ask you just what is wrong in it. VON BRAUCHITSCH: This chart causes misunderstandings ... THE PRESIDENT: Hadn't you better... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 20,250 | 20,750 |
another. He repeatedly talked to me about the Navy and the Luftwaffe and their commanders-in-chief in this way, and I know that he did the same thing about the Army and myself. The expression "Gruppe" therefore can be misunderstood and is misleading in its context here. It was understandable only in conjunction with th... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 20,700 | 21,200 |
had decided to take over the command of the Army himself and the reason he gave for doing this was that in view of the seriousness of the winter offensive he would have to put in the scales all the confidence which he enjoyed in the Army. On 19 December-he again told me not to say anything-on 19 December I received the... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 21,150 | 21,650 |
as far as I have pointed out that the individual sections of the staffs did not fit in as shown in the sketch, but were included independently, and that in reality all the other sections of the working staffs were included too. COL. TAYLOR: Your Honor, with respect to the question concerning the Eastern Front, I'm bear... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 21,600 | 22,100 |
AI8XANDROV: Thus there was really a plan for the conquest of Czechoslovakia, is that not so? VON BRAUCHITSCH: I do not understand the meaning of that question. GENERAL ALEXANDROV: I am asking you, was there actually a plan for the conquest of Czechoslovakia or not? VON BRAUCHITSCH: In May 1938 Hitler told me about that... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 22,050 | 22,550 |
action, proceeded to their area of concentration as ordered, on 23 June 1941, the second day of the campaign in the East. Army Group North, consisting of the 16th and 18th Armies and Panzer Group 4, had advanced the day before. "Our task was to quickly establish personal contact with the commanders of the armies and wi... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 22,500 | 23,000 |
the Russian winter campaign. That 591 9 Aug. 46 was expressed later on in the propaganda spread in Germany, which blamed me for these matters. GENERAL ALEXANDROV: I have no further questions, Mr. President. DR. LATERNSER: I have only a very few questions, which I wish to put following the cross-examination. [Turning to... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 22,950 | 23,450 |
a report to you? VON BRAUCHITSCH: Yes, surely. DR. IATERNSER: Thank you; I have no further questions. THE PRESIDENT: Witness, you read the evidence of the witness Gisevius? VON BRAUCHITSCH: Yes, Sir. THE PRESIDENT: And are you telling the Tribunal that insofar as it refers to yourself, it is entirely untrue? VON BRAUCH... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 23,400 | 23,900 |
VON MANSTEIN: I was given that position in November 1942 on the strength of an order from Hitler. DR. LATERNSER: The other commanders-in-chief were appointed in a similar way, were they not? VON MANSTEIN: Yes. DR. LATERNSER: For many years you have held important positions in the General Staff. In which capacity? VON. ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 23,850 | 24,350 |
say that the Chief of the General Staff was the decisive adviser of Hitler. The position of Chief of the General Staff in the Armed, Forces of the Third Reich differed entirely from the position held by the Chief of the General Staff at the time of the Kaiser. In those days the Chief of the General Staff was immediatel... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 24,300 | 24,800 |
of course, in the form in which it is now being mentioned, only came into being in 1938 as a working staff for Hitler. Before that Blomberg was Reich Minister of War, and in his position as a Minister he held a position which dealt with all matters affecting the Armed Forces, which he represented to both State and Part... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 24,750 | 25,250 |
have the possibility seriously to express that will in opposition to Hitler. DR. LATERNSER: What was the importance of the Schlieffen Club and what were its aims? VON MANSTEIN: The Schlieffen Club was, generally speaking, a club of elderly gentlemen who were ex-members of the General Staff. Apart from that, General Sta... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 25,200 | 25,700 |
each branch had different military ideas and aims which were quite often at cross purposes. Considered vertically, these 129 officers in the military hierarchy were classified in four grades, let us say, governed by the relationship of superiors to subordinates. The highest grade was the Fi1hrer and his working staff, ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 25,650 | 26,150 |
did come from the General Staff. In the case of the Army, of the 94 Army officers who are supposed to belong to the so-called organization, 74 had been General Staff officers; 20 on the other hand were not. With the Air Force, there were, as far as I know, only 9 out of 17 ex-members of the General Staff; and the Navy,... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 26,100 | 26,600 |
they were not exactly favorably disposed toward us and did not feel they belonged to us; that is pretty clear. DR. LATERNSER: But did not the Party and the Armed Forces work together on one plan in the interests of the Reich? VON MANSTEIN: The Party was working in the political field; and we were working in the soldier... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 26,550 | 27,050 |
aim and the degree of armament? VON MANSTEIN: Yes. DR. LATERNSER: Please be very brief. VON MANSTEIN: The goal of our armament, first of all, in the twenties, in the years before the seizure of power, was the most elementary security against an unprovoked attack on the part of any one of our neighbors. After all, since... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 27,000 | 27,500 |
a plan according to which troops, in the event of a threatening of war, are got ready along the frontiers, that is to say, a plan for the event of threatening political conflagration. Whether it may lead to war or whether from this formation one would enter into a war has actually nothing to do with the concentration p... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 27,450 | 27,950 |
occupation. Since we were completely surprised by the decision of the Fuehrer, I had only one afternoon in which to do it, because the following morning the generals concerned came to receive their orders. I know that at that time the Reich Minister of War and General Von Fritsch stated their objections, and warned Hit... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 27,900 | 28,400 |
The conference started about 11 o'clock and went on until about 1 o'clock and the orders would have to be ready to go out that afternoon at 6 o'clock. They went out 20 minutes late; I had to draft the orders for this concentration myself, so that I had 4 or 5 hours altogether to do it in. Before that, no thought whatev... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 28,350 | 28,850 |
VON MANSTEIN: That I cannot say because I only know that it was some sort of plan on the part of the High Command of the Armed Forces connected with an attempted restoration of the Hapsburgs in Austria, but we ourselves did not introduce any measures, as far as I can remember, nor do I know whether I myself had anythin... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 28,800 | 29,300 |
defended herself, we would have been held up by her fortifications, for we did not have the means to break through. It cannot therefore be , called a military rehearsal. But it was a matter of testing the political nervous system. DR.LATERNSER: When you were informed of the military preparations against Poland, did you... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 29,250 | 29,750 |
and then, of course, a war would have been inevitable. Considering all these signs, one could hardly assume that Hitler would, so to speak, pick a quarrel with Poland to unleash an aggressive war against her. The conference at Obersalzberg, for instance, on 22 August, did not give me the impression either that war was ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Day | 29,700 | 29,910 |
Avalon Home Document Collections Ancient 4000bce - 399 Medieval 400 - 1399 15 th Century 1400 - 1499 16 th Century 1500 - 1599 17 th Century 1600 - 1699 18 th Century 1700 - 1799 19 th Century 1800 - 1899 20 th Century 1900 - 1999 21 st Century 2000 - Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 20 One Hundred Ninty-Ninth Day Vo... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 0 | 500 |
West, from the point of view of the soldier, was an imperative necessity. The High Command of the Army was of a different opinion, and in this, to my thinking, they advocated the wrong military course. There again the results proved Hitler to be right, and it became apparent from his whole behavior that after that he t... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 450 | 950 |
where higher military leaders did not obey an order or carried it out differently. That is part of the higher responsibility which a high military leader bears. No army leader can be expected to join a battle when he knows he is bound to lose. In these questions, that is to say, operational questions, there is in pract... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 900 | 1,400 |
that any maltreatment of enemy prisoners of war would finally have repercussions upon our own soldiers. As a matter of principle, therefore, we treated prisoners of war in the manner which we had been taught as soldiers, and as we were bound to do in accordance with the laws of warfare. DR. LATERNSER: Did you yourself ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 1,350 | 1,850 |
that was an entirely temporary state of affairs? VON MANSTEIN: Yes, unless prisoners of war were employed in our army area. DR. LATERNSER: In cases where the prisoners remained with the army, how were they treated? VON MANSTEIN: Those prisoners whom we retained in our army areas were required to help in the work we had... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 1,800 | 2,300 |
In 1941 Stalin, quite lightly from his point of view, ordered his army to fight for every foot of ground. Hitler adopted the same system, and if you force armies to fight to the last for every foot of ground, the villages and the towns are bound to go up in flames and become heaps of rubble. Take, as an example, Sevast... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 2,250 | 2,750 |
in the Ukraine where we soldiers were on excellent terms with the population. That, after all, is the problem of the individual leader, whether or not he decides that his operational goal can be achieved with a minimum of destruction. It was different, for instance, when it came to the destruction of billets. In the Ea... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 2,700 | 3,200 |
about that as the German people, or possibly even less, because when one was fighting 1,000 kilometers away from Germany, I one naturally did not hear about such things. I knew from prewar days that there were two concentration camps, Oranienburg and Dachau, and an officer who at the invitation of the SS had visited su... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 3,150 | 3,650 |
removed from the influence of the commanders-in-chief; that is, he set up Reich Commissariats in the East and in the remaining countries, the spheres of the military commanders or rather national governments which were not under us commanders-in-chief. Apart from that he also took away from us the terrain in which this... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 3,600 | 4,100 |
against the population and carried out by other forces, which had nothing to do with the economic exploitation as such. DR. LATERNSER: What do you mean by special methods? VON MANSTEIN: By that I mean the methods of the so-called Einsatzgruppen and all the methods applied under the aegis of Himmler. DR. LATERNSER: Were... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 4,050 | 4,550 |
in the presence of my chief of staff. I should like to add that I had already spent several weeks in prison here when one day General Westphal told me: "There is an SD Fuehrer Ohlendorf here, who maintains that he was in the Crimea." I asked Westphal to point him out to me, and I said: "I may have seen him once, but I ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 4,500 | 5,000 |
came to see me in order to report to me on essential matters. One must also bear in mind that in our situation a commander-in-chief was completely occupied by the worries of the battle and that, quite rightly, only the essential points of other matters were reported to him. Point two is that our troops, almost down to ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 4,950 | 5,450 |
been murdered? VON MANSTEIN: That I do not know. The army quartermaster visited me once and reported that he had obtained a large number of watches for the army from Germany. He also showed me a watch which was fresh from the factory, a German watch. DR. LATERNSER: What was the chain of command for Einsatzgruppen? VON ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 5,400 | 5,900 |
100 kilometers in advance of the front with the armored corps. Between myself and the German infantry armies which followed there were the retreating Russian armies. In a case like that where the Russians were following us so closely, it is completely out of the question that the SD would undertake the shooting of Jews... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 5,850 | 6,350 |
strictest orders in the Army against looting, and rigorous action was taken against looters. The individual soldier was not allowed to requisition, but only troop units, and then only what the unit needed for the feeding of the troops within the ration allotments. On the other hand in 1943 we co-operated in bringing ba... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 6,300 | 6,800 |
VON MANSTEIN: It was in 1943. Rosenberg and Koch came to visit me. It must have been, I should think, in September or October, but try as I may I cannot give the exact date. It may have been earlier. DR.LATERNSER: Field Marshal, why did you, as a high military leader, tolerate all these violations of international law ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 6,750 | 7,250 |
as soon as we left the subject of military command, he cut short any discussion. On three occasions, however, I tried, in personal talks with him, to get him to alter the supreme military command, that is, in plain language, to surrender the supreme command, if not in name, at least in fact. THE PRESIDENT: What have we... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 7,200 | 7,700 |
afterwards, he had letters on him from Goerdeler, I believe, and Popitz, which he was supposed to show to me if he got the impression that I could be enlisted for a coup d'6tat. As it was always my point of view, however, that the removal or the assassination of Hitler during the war would lead to chaos, he never showe... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 7,650 | 8,150 |
who grew up in my house, died as young officers; my best comrades in this war, my young adjutant and my young chauffeur, were killed. Nearly all the sons of my brothers and sisters were killed. That we, the old soldiers, should have led into war for a criminal purpose that youth of ours which was so dear to us, would f... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 8,100 | 8,600 |
here. DR. GAWLIK: But as a former commander-in-chief you must have known the correct designation of these Einsatzgruppen. VON MANSTEIN: It may be that I already knew the name Einsatzgruppe. But I never thought of it as anything special. I merely, considered it to be a part of the SD, which was under Himmler and which h... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 8,550 | 9,050 |
occupied, were you not? VON MANSTEIN: Yes, indeed. COL. TAYLOR: And you were still a divisional commander while the attack upon Poland was being planned? VON MANSTEIN: Yes. COL. TAYLOR: Where was your division situated? VON MANSTEIN: My division was in Lower Silesia and the division headquarters was in Liegnitz. COL. T... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 9,000 | 9,500 |
Lordship, that will be 459-PS, and the exhibit number will be USA-926. [Turning to the witness.7 You will see from the heading on the document that it was issued by the OKW on 23 July 1941. VON MANSTEIN: Yes. But that, in my opinion, is a decision of the OKW, because the heading says, "The Chief of the High Command of ... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 9,450 | 9,950 |
and also for security in the rear areas of the conquered territory. At that time I was a long way from the front with my armored corps; actually, in July I was west of lake Ilmen, where I was cut off and surrounded for a time. It is quite impossible that an order would be sent to me concerning the entire front; if it w... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 9,900 | 10,400 |
COL. TAYLOR: We'll pass from that document. Now, Hitler regarded the war on the Eastern Front as ideological war and race conquest, didn't he? VON AIANSTEIN: Yes. COL. TAYLOR: And he wanted not only to conquer the Soviet Army but also to wipe out the Soviet political system, isn't that true? VON MANSTEIN: No doubt he w... | Yale Avalon (proceedings_vol20): Two Hundreth Day | 10,350 | 10,850 |
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