Documents on the Nazi concentration camp system

[David Thompson]

Document Georg Loerner 28, in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 5: United States v. Oswald Pohl, et. al. (Case 4: 'Pohl Case'). District of Columbia: GPO, 1950. pp. 424-426

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT GEORG LOERNER 28 [Document is same as Document NG-340, introduced as prosecution Exhibit 257 in case of United States vs Josef Altstoetter, et al., vol. III.]

GEORG LOERNER DEFENSE EXHIBIT 25

LETTER OF LAMMERS TO GUERTNER, REICH MINISTER OF JUSTICE, 8 AUGUST 1939, AND LETTER OF BOUHLER, CHIEF OF THE PARTY CHANCELLERY, TO LAMMERS, 26 JULY 1939, CONCERNING TRANSFER OF SECURITY DETAINEES TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS

"For Press only"

Berlin W 8, 8/8/1939
Vosstrasse 6

The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery
Rk.21364 B

To the Reich Minister of Justice, Dr. Guertner
Subject: Accommodation of persons in security detention.
Ref. my letter of 24 June 1939
Rk 17778 B-III al 932/40 Ia 4535

Dear Herr Guertner,

According to the letter as per enclosed photostat of the Chief of the Chancellery of the Fuehrer of the NSDAP, dated 26 July of this year, the Fuehrer has meanwhile decreed that all dispensable persons held in security detention are to be made available to the Reich Leader SS with immediate effect.

As you will see from the letter, the Chief of the Chancellery of the Fuehrer of the NSDAP reported the matter personally to the Fuehrer. Therefore, to my regret, I was not able to keep the promise I made in my letter of 24 June to give you the opportunity of expressing your point of view prior to the Fuehrer's decision.

Heil Hitler!
Yours very truly,
[Signed] DR. LAMMERS

No. III 15l11841 encl.

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Rk 21364 B Berlin W 8,
Vosstrasse 4
Telephone local: 12 00 54
long distance: 12 66 21

S/Pue

26 July 1939

To the Chief of the Reich Chancellery
Reich Minister Dr. Lammers
in the Building

Subject: Persons held in security detention.

Dear Party Member Dr. Lammers,

The Reich Leader SS requested the Reich Minister of Justice quite some time ago to make part of the persons held in security detention available to him for urgent work in the concentration camps. This became all the more urgent because, on the occasion of the Fuehrer's fiftieth birthday, a larger number of persons held in protective custody were released. The request made by the Reich Leader SS was turned down in the letter dated 14 July 1938, on the grounds that, in
addition to work to cover the requirements of the penal institutions themselves, persons held in security detention were also doing work which must be considered urgent from the point of view of the Four Year Plan. As opposed to, it was ascertained on the occasion of an inspection of the penitentiary Brandenburg-Goehrden by the chief of the Department for Pardons and Reprieves in the office of the Fuehrer, that at the present time a large number of the persons held in security detention are occupied painting cardboard soldiers, for the account of private firms. In view of the far more important and actually urgent work in the sense of the Four Year Plan, carried on for example by the inmates in the concentration camp Sachsenhausen and the annexed brickyard, the Fuehrer has decreed that all dispensable persons held in security detention are to be made available to the Reich Leader SS with immediate effect.

In spring, after an inspection of the concentration camp Sachsenhausen, at the request of the Reich Leader SS, I supported his application to the Fuehrer and was ordered to ascertain in what manner persons held in security detention were at present occupied. Pursuant to this order I made the necessary investigations and also received a report on the subject from the Reich Minister of Justice, which reads as follows:

"The number of persons held in security detention amounts to 4303, according to the latest facts ascertained. Of these, 4096 persons in security detention are employed, i.e., 721 persons in security detention (16.8 percent) on work for the requirements of the penal institutions themselves and the requirements of other agencies, and 3375 persons in security detention (78.4 percent) on work within the scope of the Four Year Plan (including work for export and for war economy). The remainder of 207 persons held in security detention (4.8 percent) was unemployed on the day when the check was made, due to sickness or because they were serving sentences of arrest." There can be no doubt that in this instance the persons held in security
detention, who are occupied at work on toys as already mentioned and are earning for the institution RM 1.20 to RM 1.80 per person per day, are classified under the heading "Urgent Four Year Plan Work."

Therefore, after I had presented the case to him at Obersalzberg, the Fuehrer made the above mentioned decision and already at the time of my first presentation of the case inclined to the opinion that persons held in security detention are to be classified under the heading of concentration camps and subordinated to the Reich Leader SS.

I specifically refrained from any direct notification to the Reich Minister of Justice. Will you kindly forward the Fuehrer's decision to the Reich Minister of Justice?

I have informed the Reich Leader SS of the Fuehrer's decision and of my letter to you.

Heil Hitler!
[Signed] signature

[David Thompson]

Document L-41: [Increased Recruitment For Concentration Camps] [translation], in Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression. Volume VII: US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1947. pp. 784-788.

COPY OF COPY

Chief of Security Police and SD
No. IV656/42 Secret

Berlin, 17 December 1942
[Stamp] SECRET
[pencil note - Increased Recruitment For Concentration Camps]

To be sent "Secret"
To all commanders of the Security Police and SD.
To all Inspectors of the Security Police and SD.
To all unit commanders of the Security Police and SD.
To all directors of State Police Headquarters.
For the information of: SS Lieutenant General Pohl
Chief of the Main Office for Economics and Administration.
To all higher SS and Police Officials.
To all Inspectors of Concentration Camps.

For reasons essential to the war effort but which cannot be discussed here, Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police has ordered as of the 14 December 1942 that until the end of January 1943 at least 35000 inmates who are able to work are to be inducted into concentration camps.

In order to reach this quota the following is necessary:

1. Effective immediately (provisionally until 1 November 1943) workers from the East and other foreign labor who are runaways or have broken their contract and are not members of Allied, friendly, or neutral countries are to be sent as quickly as possible to the nearest concentration camp whereby the necessary formalities as described in No. 3 are to be observed. In order to avoid and in any case adjust complaints it is essential in dealing with other agencies that in every case each one of the above directives is explained as an essential security measure of the police, whereby a reasonable explanation based upon the case at hand should be given.

2. The commanders and unit commanders of the Security Police and SD and the directors of the State Police Headquarters are to inspect immediately:

a. All areas of detention.

b. All workers' correction camps whereby especially strict and high standards should be set.

All inmates able to work are to be sent if it is physically and humanly at all possible according to directives cited below to the nearest concentration camps even where a ban suit has been or is to be brought against the individual. Only such inmates who in the interest of further investigation, are to remain without fail in solitary confinement, may remain.

Every Individual Laborer is Essential

This inspection is to be started immediately. To withhold any inmates capable of work is forbidden. Exceptions need my approval.

3. Inmates who are delivered to a concentration camp up to the 1 November 1943 are to be listed solely in rosters, reference to be made to this decree (serial number, first and family name, date and place of birth, domicile, reason for apprehension in catch words). One copy of this roster is to be sent to the Chief Office of Reich Security, and counts as a collection requisition for protective custody as well as for the transfer into a concentration camp; it can be assumed in advance that these requisitions will be granted.

For workers from the East, that is, those who carry the emblem "Ost" the indication of the number of arrestees is sufficient. One copy is to be sent with the shipment to the commanding officer of the concentration camp. A further copy is to remain with the agency from which the shipment originated.

In order to simplify procedure all rosters should only be written on one side and there should be sufficient space between each individual record of the inmate that names can be cut out.

The rosters are to be sent to the Chief Office or Reich Security Sect. IV C-2.

By order
(signed) Mueller (LS)

Certify: [signed]: Helmuth Chief Police Secretary
Certified copy: [signed] Kolberg Chancellery employee
Certified copy: [signed]: Jahr Chancellery employee

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COPY

Berlin, 23 March 1943

The Chief of the Security Police and the SD
IV C 2 General No. 656/42
Secret

To:
a. All Commanders of the Security Police and the SD
b. All Inspectors of the Security Police and the SD
c. Unit Commanders of the Security Police and the SD
d. All Directors of State Police (district) offices
For information, to:
e. Chief of SS economics and Administration Main Office, SS
Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl.
f. All higher ranking SS and Police officers.
g. SS Economics and Administration Main Office Section D, Concentration Camps at Oranienburg. (with 30 copies for the Camps)

Subject: Increased transfer into the Concentration Camps.

Reference: My decree dated 17 December 1942 IV 656/42 secret.

The measures ordered in the above-mentioned decree which were originally limited to a period ending 1 February, can be carried out until further notice for the moment, however, only until 30 April 1943.

Care must, however, be taken, that only prisoners who are fit for work are transferred to concentration camps and adolescents only in accordance with the given directions; otherwise, the concentration camps would become overcrowded and this would impair the intended aim. With regard to any adolescents who have already been transferred who are not covered by the directions for the transfer into camps, (Reich Germans of over 18 years of age, Poles and workers from the East of 16 years of age) application for removal must be made without delay. These prisoners are to be restored to their former place of employment in cooperation with the employment office concerned, unless a request for institutionalization in a camp for juvenile delinquent seems necessary. In each case an action report is to be given.

Shipments of prisoners eligible for concentration camps are not necessary if the prisoners are already engaged in armament industry, or actually with war essential work or are occupied in the occupied territories of the East with urgent tasks, for the supply system of the eastern front. In case the removal of such labor forces would endanger the productivity of any plants or would even cause work stoppages or would hamper transport facilities of supplies for the Eastern front; individuals are to be put into concentration camps in order to safeguard the interests of the Wehrmacht.

Transfer is always to be made into the nearest concentration camp which is also a reception camp. The Herzogenbosch concentration camp is for prisoners from the Dutch area but it is only suitable to receive prisoners from that area, while the Sachsenhausen concentration camp which is quite full at the moment, is barred to all larger transports for the time being.

No prisoners can be transferred to the Niederhagen Concentration Camp (not a reception camp), while transfer to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp (also not a reception camp) can be undertaken only after direct inquiries have been made.

Female prisoners are to be sent either to the Ravensbrueck Concentration Camp for women, or to the sections for women in the Lublin or Auschwitz Concentration Camps. Members of the Eastern countries are to be sent preferably to the two last-named camps.

If these directives concern prisoners on whom special orders have been issued or which represent special problems, the sections concerned are to be informed with reference to this and the previous decree and if necessary they are to be asked for a decision, in advance or afterwards which ever the case may be.

Poles capable of Germanization and prisoners for whom special petitions have been made are not to be sent into concentration camps, but are to be disposed of according to the individual decision made or pending.

In order to avoid overcrowding of concentration camps short reports are to be submitted on the fifth of April and the fifth of May indicating: The number of prisoners sent in 2/1943 and during the past months due to the above order. The number of Eastern workers contained in the above number who are still not[words evidently missing]. Further facts are not necessary

For workers from the East who according to the decree of 17 December 1942 are only to be reported by numbers; in no case -- as has partly happened -- are lists or forms to be submitted for them. Neither should protective custody file cards be sent.

This answers numerous individual questions, which were asked on this subject.

This decree is not for district or local police authority.

For and on behalf of: (signed): Mueller

Certified copy [sgd.] Kolberg Chancellery employee
Witnessed: [sgd.] Bleeck Chancellery employee

[Rubber stamp: Security Police Special Purpose Unit 1/II Chancellery 4]