1 Volume 7. Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 Telex Message.docx

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Volume 7. Nazi Germany, 1933-1945
Telex Message by the Conspiratorial Stauffenberg Group to the
Holders of Executive Power
(July 20, 1944)
What is probably the best known and broadest conspiracy
against the Nazi regime was headed
by Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg (1907-1944), who
attempted to assassinate Hitler on
July 20, 1944, and then led the subsequent, failed coup.
Stauffenberg had initially supported the
military goals of the Nazis, but when Hitler’s aggression and his
methods of warfare came to
light later in the 1930s, he shared in the increasing alienation
felt by some other high-ranking
Wehrmacht officers. Since the Gestapo and the Security Service
(SD) of the SS could only
penetrate the Wehrmacht to a limited extent, it was the only
organization that had at its disposal
the instruments of power for a potentially successful coup.
Nonetheless, earlier attempts at
assassination and sabotage that had come from various
resistance groups within the
Wehrmacht had failed. It would appear that it was only
Germany’s imminent defeat that
prompted many of the co-conspirators, who were also recruited

from the ranks of the police and
the state administration, to engage in active resistance.
On Thursday, July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg, in his capacity as
chief of staff to the Commander of
the Reserve Army [Befehlshaber des Ersatzheeres, BDE], flew
to a briefing at the Führer’s East
Prussian headquarters, the Wolf’s Lair [Wolfsschanze]. He set
off a bomb there and fled. On his
way back to Berlin, Stauffenberg believed that the assassination
attempt had been successful,
but Hitler, in fact, had only been slightly injured. Thus,
Stauffenberg was operating under the
assumption that the coup would be completed according to the
so-called Valkyrie Plan
[Walküreplan], whereby the military would assume executive
power and eliminate the party’s
most important sources of power – the Gestapo, the SS, and the
SD.
As the following proclamation by Stauffenberg reveals, the
conspirators were hoping to blame
Hitler’s assassination on a fictitious clique of party
functionaries as a way of justifying the
takeover of power by the Reserve Army. In the absence of
official word about Hitler’s death, the
follow-up actions of the co-conspirators were too slow and
uncoordinated, and the attempted
coup was quickly quashed by supporters of the regime.
Stauffenberg was shot that same night.
In the wake of the extensive Gestapo investigation, which lasted
until the end of the war, about
1,500 people were imprisoned and 200 killed.

The Führer Adolf Hitler is dead!
I. An unscrupulous clique of party leaders without frontline
service have exploited this situation
to stab the fighting front in the back and to seize power for their
own selfish ends.
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II. In order to maintain law and order in this situation of acute
danger the Reich Government has
declared a state of martial law and has transferred the executive
power to me together with the
supreme command of the Wehrmacht.
III. 1. I hereby transfer executive power with the right of
delegation to the territorial commanders,
in the home territory to the Commander of the Reserve Army,
while simultaneously appointing
him Supreme Commander in the home territory [ . . . ].
2. The following are subordinated to the holders of executive
power:
a) All Wehrmacht offices and units in their area of command,
including the Waffen SS, the
RAD, and the OT.
b) All public authorities (of the Reich, the states, and local
government), in particular the entire
order police, security police, and administrative police.
c) All officials and formations of the NSDAP and its associated
leagues.
d) The public transportation services and public utilities.

3. The whole of the Waffen SS is to be integrated in the army
with immediate effect.
4. The holders of executive power are responsible for the
maintenance of law and order. They
are to ensure in particular:
a) The security of the communications networks.
b) The neutralization of the SD.
Any resistance against the military authorities is to be
ruthlessly suppressed. In this hour of the
greatest peril for the Fatherland the unity of the Wehrmacht and
the maintenance of discipline is
the most important requirement. I therefore make it the duty of
all army, navy, and air force
commanders to support the holders of executive power with all
means at their disposal and to
ensure that their directives are obeyed by the agencies
subordinate to them.
The German soldier is faced with an historic task. It will depend
on his energy and behavior
whether or not Germany will be saved.
The same thing [is true?] [sic] for all territorial commanders,
the supreme commanders of the
sections of the Wehrmacht and the subordinate commanders of
the army, navy and air force.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht
Field Marshal von Witzleben
Source of English translation: Jeremy Noakes, ed., Nazism,

1919-1945, Vol. 4: The German
Home Front in World War II. Exeter: University of Exeter
Press, 1998, p. 621. (With one small
addition by GHI staff.)
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Original German text printed in: Hans-Adolf Jacobsen,
Opposition gegen Hitler und der
Staatsstreich von 20. Juli 1944. Geheime Dokumente aus dem
ehemaligen
Reichssicherheitsamt. Stuttgart: Seewald Verlag, 1984, vol. 1,
pp. 24-25.
Count Helmuth James von Moltke’s Memo to Hans Wilbrandt
and Alexander Rüstow on
Conditions in Germany and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (July
9, 1943)
Count Helmuth James von Moltke was born in 1907 into one of
Prussia’s most distinguished
noble families – he was the great-grandnephew of Helmuth von
Moltke (1800-1891), Chief of
the Prussian General Staff under Bismarck. In 1935, Moltke

began working as a self-employed
lawyer in Berlin, where, among other professional activities, he
used his expertise in
international law and international private law to help victims
of Nazi persecution emigrate. At
the same time, he also took advantage of any opportunity to
make contacts for the German
resistance, especially in England. As founder of the resistance
group known by the Gestapo as
the Kreisau Circle [Kreisauer Kreis] (Kreisau being the name of
his family’s Silesian estate,
where group meetings were held), Moltke was actively involved
in planning Germany’s new
political and social order after the hoped-for downfall of the
Hitler regime. On account of his
Christian convictions, however, he initially rejected the idea of
assassinating Hitler. In his work
in the Office of Military Intelligence [Amt Ausland/Abwehr]
within the High Command of the
Wehrmacht (OKW), Moltke tried to prevent the German military
from engaging in activities that
were against international law. At the same time, he also used
his access to secret information
to strengthen the opposition.
In July 1943, Moltke travelled to Turkey, where he met with
two émigrés, Hans Wilbrandt and
Alexander Rüstow, and gave the following report on conditions
in Germany and the status of the
resistance movement. Both Wilbrandt and Rüstow had contact
with the U.S. Office of Strategic
Services (OSS) and were members of the German Alliance for
Freedom [Deutscher
Freiheitsbund], an association of German exiles who opposed
the Hitler government.

Some of the information that Moltke gave Wilbrandt and
Rüstow was of potential military use to
the Allies, and he asked them to pass it on. He also supplied an
account of the Warsaw Ghetto
uprising of April-May 1943. The information that he provided,
however, included a false (i.e.,
exaggerated) description of how much assistance the Jewish
fighters had received from others
and how many weapons they possessed. Apparently, this
information came from SS officials,
who needed to make excuses when asked to explain their
difficulty in crushing the uprising to
the German military. Moltke did, however, accurately report
that transports of Jews from the
Warsaw ghetto had been sent to “annihilating institutes” in
Poland.
In January 1944, Moltke was arrested for warning a friend of
his own impending arrest. At first,
he was not charged with anything. A year later, Roland
Freisler’s (1893-1945) People’s Court
sentenced him to death for high treason in connection with the
July 20, 1944, assassination
attempt on Hitler. It was a kangaroo trial, with the government
ultimately failing to prove his
participation in preparations for the act. He was executed on
January 23, 1945.
A note on the source: this memo was found, in English, in the
U.S. National Archives. Being the
son of a British South-African mother and having passed the
British bar exam, Moltke would
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have certainly been capable of writing in English. But as
Moltke, Wilbrandt, and Rüstow were
native speakers of German, it is more likely that the original
memo was written in German and
translated into English for the benefit of the OSS.
Unfortunately, no information on the
presumed German original could be found in either the U.S.
National Archives or the German
Bundesarchiv.
9. 7. 34
Air Bombardments of Western Germany.
The statements made in Allied broadcasts to the effect that
German war production has
dropped by 25 – 30% up to now as a result of bombardments of
Germany's armament centres
are entirely erroneous. The decline of production is relatively
light. It appears that the aerial
photographs brought back by Allied reconnaissance aircraft are
used far more extensively as
bases for the judgment of damage inflicted than first-hand
reports. Such photographs may well
show the destruction of entire work-shops, but they give no
indication as to the actual extent of
[the] destruction of machine equipment. It has been established
that even when work-shops are
completely smashed, the machine tool equipment generally
suffers only minor damage unless
destroyed by direct hits. The intact machines are then put back
into operation 3 – 4 weeks after

the bombardment, when the debris has been cleared away; while
the shop-buildings
themselves are reconstructed only so far as is necessary for the
routine of production, in order
to conserve the appearance to the aerial observer of heavy
damage and stoppage of work.
Exceptions to this rule are naturally those plants which from
their character are paralyzed
entirely by direct hits in any vital part, such as boiler houses,
power stations, chemical factories,
refineries, etc.
A circumstance that very seriously interferes with industrial
production, and one that has not
been fully appreciated as yet by the Allies, is the destruction of
residences. As a result of the
extensive destruction of workers' settlements and residential
quarters in the Ruhr, housing
accommodation for workers has become so scarce that a more
appreciable direct effect in
lowering rates of production is traceable to this circumstance
than to any direct damage to
centres of production. The acute shortage of building materials
and construction workers makes
it impossible to cope effectively with this situation. The remedy
of evacuating from areas subject
to air attack all inhabitants whose presence is not essential to
armament production cannot be
applied because it would involve other serious dislocations,
especially of the transport system.
No Decentralization in Germany's Administrative System.
Contrary to the belief current among the Allies that German
administration has been partially
decentralized, it must be emphasized that the entire

administrative mechanism of the Reich and
the Nazi Party continues to be centred in Berlin and the other
traditional administrative centres,
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and that, moreover, no preparations are being made for any
future decentralization. The
recurring remonstrances made by the High Command of the
Wehrmacht are met by Party
Headquarters with the argument that it would injure the prestige
of the Party if the centres of
administration were to be moved elsewhere, and that the
potential influence of such preparatory
measures upon the morale of the home front made it imperative
to avoid them. Consequently, a
concentrated bombardment and possible destruction of the
central administrative authorities,
which are all still housed in the traditional public buildings,
would very effectively paralyze
Germany's administrative system.
U-Boat Warfare.
As regards the abortive Doenitz Offensive, it is true that it
represents a major German defeat;
but although the U-Boats were indeed recalled late in June this
must not be regarded as a
purely defensive measure, but must be interpreted in connection
with the evolution of new
offensive tactics as a rejoinder to the improved Allied defence.
The OKW (High Command of the
Wehrmacht) confidently anticipates new great U-boat successes
in August as a result of a novel

offensive strategy.
Foreign Workers.
The foreign workers in Germany represent the most serious
problem of internal security. In most
factories the percentage of foreign workers is already greater
than that of the German
personnel. This foreign labour is a hostile element, dissatisfied
to a degree, and almost without
exception communist by conviction and, it appears, guided by
communist organizations.
(German labour, on the other hand, seems hardly to show any
communist tendencies.) The
OKW realizes that in the case of a revolution the foreign
workers will also have arms at their
disposal, and that an armed [up]rising of this numerically
powerful element might have serious,
even decisive consequences.
The General Situation.
The Gestapo and SS are complete masters of the situation.
Despite all symptoms of strong
opposition there is nothing to indicate that in the near future
internal difficulties might arise which
would precipitate or give a chance for an [up]rising. The
Wehrmacht is passing more and more
into the service of the Party, which has shown great skill and
psychological insight in winning
over for its purposes the most influential generals by bestowing
upon them huge estates and
manors as tokens of "the nation's" admiration and gratitude for
their military exploits. This
procedure is designed to involve the Wehrmacht irretrievably in
the Party's responsibilities, and

make any change of front on the former's part impossible. The
majority of the marshals,
generals, and high officers thus honoured see things only as
they want them to be for the sake
of conserving their new wealth and influence. This makes them
blind to certain self-evident
facts; contrary to Allied suppositions, the major part of the
officer corps of the OKW and the
Wehrmacht generally, who are in a position to listen in on
Allied broadcasts in safety, do not
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avail themselves of this possibility. They have acquired – and
this applies to lower ranks also –
a fullness of wealth, affluence, and personal power unheard of
in the history of military castes,
and opportunities for action of every kind such as professional
soldiers dream of all their lives.
This accounts for the fact that the Wehrmacht, with
insignificant exceptions, backs up the Party
and supports its strategy and policies. The number of clear-
thinking men in the OKW and in the
armed forces is small. This section is positive in its opinion that
a total and unmitigated military
defeat is necessary to destroy once and for all German
Militarism and the myth of Germany's
invincibility in the field, and to make Germany as a nation fit
for a lasting peace.
Allied Broadcasts.
It must be pointed out that only reports of bare and unadorned
facts have any effect upon

German listeners, [with] every exaggeration or "talking down"
jeopardizing the success of the
entire propaganda effort. Even commentaries to the bare news
bulletins should be abstained
from, because in this way it is left to the people themselves to
form their own judgment – a thing
that has been consistently denied them by their own propaganda.
The Munich Student Riots
Reports concerning the recent student riots at Munich
University indicate that they were on a far
larger scale than the first accounts that reached the outside
world had suggested. The ruthless
measures taken by the Gestapo are due to the dangerous extent
of the disorders. Prof. Huber
of Munich University has not been shot or beheaded as reported
in British broadcasts; he is still
alive, and is slowly tortured to death by the Gestapo.
The Catholic Movement in Germany.
The Catholic revival in Germany is spreading in an astonishing
manner. Attendance of Divine
Service is the only way of registering a silent protest, and the
churches can hardly contain the
huge congregations. The German bishops enjoy a tremendous
popularity, especially Count
Preysing, who is given similar ovations as Count Galen.
It is highly significant that according to recent reports an
average of 30% of Catholic schoolboys
about to take their school certificates (Abiturium), when asked
in the customary way what
careers they propose to enter, state that they wish to study
Theology and become priests.

Special attention is drawn to one case which occurred at a
Stettin gymnasium (Classical High
School for Boys), where except for three young men who had
decided to go in for Law,
Agriculture, and the Army, respectively, all stated that they
wished to read Theology and take
orders. As a result, all members of the gymnasium have been
arrested and detained by order of
the Gestapo. These cases concern boys of ages from 15 to 17.
These are not local
occurrences, but similar accounts come from all parts of the
Reich.
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The Battle in the Ghetto of Warsaw.
Concerning the fighting that took place in the Ghetto of Warsaw
last May the following details
are now available:
Approximately 30,000 – 35,000 Jews interned in the Warsaw
Ghetto had for months been
working tenaciously to transform their barracks and stone
houses into a defensive system, and
had dug subterranean passages connecting the Ghetto with the
outer city, in preparation for the
expected arrival of SS "annihilation squads" for the partial or
total liquidation of the Ghetto.
Through underground ducts and dug-out connecting passages to
the surrounding parts of the
city, the Jews had succeeded with the help of Polish partisans

and German soldiers in
transporting food, building materials, and arms into the Ghetto.
The most modern equipment,
from light automatic weapons to the heaviest arms, had been
secured – in some cases bought –
out of army and SS stores and secretly accumulated in the
Ghetto. Several hundred German
deserters had also taken refuge in the Ghetto and worked on the
makeshift fortifications
together with the Jews.
Late in April, 2 platoons of the regular German garrison of
Warsaw received orders to conduct a
certain transport of Jews from the Ghetto to one of the nearby
railway stations, where they were
to be taken over by SS guards and consigned to one of the
"annihilating institutes" which have
been set up in Poland.
These two platoons did not return. Two further platoons which
were sent out to find out what
had become of them, and to execute the order, did not return
either. It has been ascertained
that both units met with armed resistance, that a large part of
them went over to the defenders
with all arms and equipment, while the rest were overcome and
taken prisoners. These events,
it is important to note, were preceded by a protest by officers of
the regular army against their
employment for tasks unconnected with the military service of
warfare.
Early in May, motorized units were brought up to crush the
resistance of the Ghetto. A regular
battle began, during which the assault troops had occasion to
convince themselves that the

Jews were equipped with the most up-to-date weapons,
automatic guns, field guns, even
antitank and anti-aircraft guns, and were entrenched in veritable
fortified bunkers. Up to the
middle of May, many hundred officers and men from the
companies charged with breaking the
resistance of the Ghetto deserted or went over with their arms to
help the defenders, until on
May 16 the regular companies had to be retired to be replaced
by mechanized SS [Waffen-SS].
Bitter fighting then went on between the defenders and large
detachments of SS troops, during
which several thousand German Officers and men were killed or
wounded. The resistance of
the Ghetto was almost entirely broken down by heavy tanks and
dive-bombers, and the Ghetto
itself all but razed to the ground. Only a few thousand of the
30,000 odd interned Jews are
reported to have survived the battle; they have been transferred
to new camps where they have
probably been "liquidated" by now. Only a few Jews and a small
number of the defending
German soldiers are said to have succeeded in escaping to the
city by way of the underground
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passages. The extensive investigations started by the Gestapo,
SD (Sicherheits-Dienst), and
SS (Security Service) have brought to light the fact that in
addition to several hundred German
deserters about 1200 – 1500 German officers and men had gone
over and helped in the
defence of the Ghetto. The defence was conducted under the

command of a German colonel,
who is reported to have made this escape during the last days of
the fighting.
The proceedings instituted in the matter have been kept a close
secret, and the Gestapo has
done everything in its power to keep the news from leaking
through even to the OKW and the
Party. Hundreds of arrests, deportations, and executions are said
to have taken place in order
to confine the circle of those informed of the occurrences to the
most trusted members of the
Gestapo, SD, and SS. According to a secret report of the
German Sicherheitsdienst, the motive
of the German officers and men in taking action against the
"liquidation" of the internees of the
Ghetto has been their refusal to take any further part in the
perpetration of massacres and
atrocities, from their conviction that the German soldier's duty
was to defend the German people
against an external enemy, if the interest of the State demanded
it, but not to assist in senseless
and inhuman cruelties against innocent and helpless men and
women by order of a party which
professed to act in the name of the German people.
U.S. War effort.
Party circles still detect some chances for a successful
termination of the War for Germany, if it
can be drawn out. It is argued in this connection that time is
working for Germany; this belief has
been strengthened lately by the impression that America is
showing signs of moral
disintegration and war-weariness which, it is felt, will become
more and more pronounced as the

War drags on. The argument is based upon the long-drawn and
constantly recurring strikes, and
upon signs of wavering and symptoms of a revival of
Isolationism which are given publicity in
some American journals.
It is incomprehensible why the American Labour troubles are
incessantly dwelt upon in British
broadcasts. The effect of this can be studied with profit in the
German press of the last weeks,
which devoted a special campaign to gloating over the strikes
and drawing encouraging
conclusions from them.
Sentences passed upon Catholic Priests.
Among the many recent cases of prosecution of Catholic priests,
a particularly interesting case
is that of the Dean of St. Hedwig's Church, Berlin. Because of
the solicitude and protection he
extended to Jews and other victims of political persecution, the
Dean was tried some weeks ago
before a law court. In his defence, he stood up vigorously for all
he did, and is said to have
impressed some of his judges deeply by his dauntless courage.
His sentence was deportation
to "Litznannstadt" (Lods, Poland). After the verdict, the Dean
declared solemnly that this
sentence made him very happy and that it was particularly
suited to him, because it was not
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only his wish but his supreme vocation to extend comfort,
edification, and hope to the terribly
afflicted inmates of the Litzmannstadt concentration camps.
The Allied Attitude towards the Austrians.
Some considerable astonishment is expressed by informants at
the fact that the Austrians are
set apart from the Germans when the question of the German
people's share in the guilt for
what has occurred, and is daily occurring in its name, is under
discussion by the Allies. For the
sake of truth, it should be admitted that cruelties and inhuman
atrocities have been perpetrated
in Austria such as could hardly have occurred even in Germany.
The population of Austria is
reported to have taken part in excesses from which the German
people have kept aloof. These
facts stand out the more clearly when it is confirmed that
Sudeten Germans and Austrians are
given preference for the job of concentration camp guard,
because they are known as
particularly cruel. There has evolved a sort of classification by
nationalities of guard personnel in
descending order of frightfulness, according to which the
Sudeten Germans top the list, the
Austrians are second, the Bavarians third, with the rest of
Germany following far behind. The
classification is reported to be generally confirmed by the
inmates of concentration camps and
ghettos.
The Situation in the Occupied Territories.
The situation in Greece, Yugoslavia, and Croatia is causing

particular anxiety. Increasing
partisan activity is anticipated as the opening of a second front
draws nearer, and new
measures for the rigorous suppression of irregulars have
accordingly been taken last month.
German casualties in Croatia owing to partisan activity from the
occupation of the country to the
end of June amounted to 27,000 officers and men. In Greece the
dislocations of the transport
system, particularly those caused by blown-up bridges and
railroad sections, are reported to
have repeatedly caused grave difficulties.
Respecting the "inner front" in France, it is stated that the
intimidation caused by the terrorist
measures enforced there so far is keeping the will of the French
population to resist from
expressing itself in more pronounced action. For the case of an
invasion of the European
continent and a closing-in of the fronts around the inner
defensive ring of Greater Germany, it is
planned by some accounts to exterminate ruthlessly, by Gestapo
and SS measures, entire
sections of the population, which might at such a junction
engage in anti-German activity.
Source: Count Helmuth James von Moltke’s Memo to Hans
Wilbrandt and Alexander Rüstow on
Conditions in Germany and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, July 9,
1943, U.S. National Archives
and Records Administration, College Park, MD, Record Group
226, Entry 137, Box 23, Folder
160, Envelope 3a, part 2.

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The Fifth Broadsheet of the “White Rose” (January 1943)
By offering active political resistance to the Nazi regime, the
Munich student group known as the
“White Rose” earned a special place in the history of Germany’s
youth opposition. No doubt the
best-known members of the group were siblings Hans (1918-
1943) and Sophie Scholl (1921-
1943), both of whom had supported the Nazi regime early on
but eventually came to oppose it.
Information about the government’s crimes – the euthanasia
program and conditions on the
Eastern Front, for example – hastened their move toward
resistance. In addition to the Scholls,
the core group consisted of Hans's friends and fellow students
Alexander Schmorell (1917-
1943), Christoph Probst (1919-1943), and Willi Graf (1918-
1943). Professor Kurt Huber (1893-
1943) joined the “White Rose” later on.
In 1942 and 1943, group members distributed six broadsheets in
which they appealed to the
public’s sense of moral duty, called for active resistance to the
Nazi dictatorship, and demanded

an end to the war. Whereas their first four broadsheets only
circulated within a small group of
mostly Munich-based academics, the fifth one (see below) was
distributed in thousands of
copies and found its way into several cities in southern
Germany. Written by Hans Scholl,
Schmorell, and Probst, and addressed to all Germans, it warns
that complicity in Nazi crimes
could only be avoided by active resistance.
When Sophie Scholl went to distribute the group’s sixth and
final broadsheet at Ludwig
Maximilians University on February 18, 1943, she was spotted
by the school’s janitor, who
informed the authorities. The Gestapo arrested Hans and Sophie
along with Christoph Probst.
On February 22, 1943, the People’s Court sentenced all three to
death. They were beheaded
the same day. Schmorell, Graf, and Huber were sentenced on
April 19, 1943. Schmorell and
Huber were executed on July 13 of the same year. Graf was
executed on October 12, 1943.
A Call to All Germans!
The war is approaching its destined end. As in the year 1918,
the German government is trying
to focus attention exclusively on the growing threat of
submarine warfare, while in the East the
armies are constantly in retreat and invasion is imminent in the
West. Mobilization in the United
States has not yet reached its climax, but already it exceeds
anything that the world has ever

seen. It has become a mathematical certainty that Hitler is
leading the German people into the
abyss. Hitler cannot win the war; he can only prolong it. The
guilt of Hitler and his minions goes
beyond all measure. Retribution comes closer and closer.
2
But what are the German people doing? They will not see and
will not listen. Blindly they follow
their seducers into ruin. Victory at any price! is inscribed on
their banner. “I will fight to the last
man,” says Hitler – but in the meantime the war has already
been lost.
Germans! Do you and your children want to suffer the same fate
that befell the Jews? Do you
want to be judged by the same standards as your traducers? Are
we to be forever the nation
which is hated and rejected by all mankind? No. Dissociate
yourselves from National Socialist
gangsterism. Prove by your deeds that you think otherwise. A
new war of liberation is about to
begin. The better part of the nation will fight on our side. Cast
off the cloak of indifference you
have wrapped around you. Make the decision before it is too
late! Do not believe the National
Socialist propaganda which has driven the fear of Bolshevism
into your bones. Do not believe
that Germany’s welfare is linked to the victory of National
Socialism for good or ill. A criminal
regime cannot achieve a German victory. Separate yourselves in
time from everything

connected with National Socialism. In the aftermath a terrible
but just judgment will be meted
out to those who stayed in hiding, who were cowardly and
hesitant.
What can we learn from the outcome of this war – this war that
never was a national war?
The imperialist ideology of force, from whatever side it comes,
must be shattered for all time. A
one-sided Prussian militarism must never again be allowed to
assume power. Only in large-
scale cooperation among the nations of Europe can the ground
be prepared for reconstruction.
Centralized hegemony, such as the Prussian state has tried to
exercise in Germany and in
Europe, must be cut down at its inception. The Germany of the
future must be a federal state. At
this juncture only a sound federal system can imbue a weakened
Europe with a new life. The
workers must be liberated from their condition of down-trodden
slavery under National Socialism.
The illusory structure of autonomous national industry must
disappear. Every nation and each
man have a right to the goods of the whole world!
Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the protection of
individual citizens from the arbitrary
will of criminal regimes of violence – these will be the bases of
the New Europe.
Support the resistance. Distribute the leaflets!

Source of English translation: Inge Scholl. “The Fifth
Broadsheet of the White Rose” from The
White Rose: Munich 1942-1943. © 1983 by Inge Aicher-Scholl
and reprinted by permission of
Wesleyan University Press.
Source of original German text: Inge Scholl, Die Weiße Rose.
Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg:
Fischer Bücherei, 1955, pp. 147-50.
The Wannsee Conference (Jan. 20, 1942)
Source: http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/wannsee.html
Stamp: Top Secret
30 copies
16th copy
Minutes of discussion.
I.
The following persons took part in the discussion about the
final solution of the Jewish question which took place in
Berlin, am Grossen Wannsee No. 56/58 on 20 January 1942.
Gauleiter Dr. Meyer Reich Ministry for the
Occupied
and Reichsamtleiter Eastern territories
Dr. Leibbrandt

Secretary of State Dr. Stuckart Reich Ministry for the
Interior
Secretary of State Neumann Plenipotentiary for the
Four Year Plan
Secretary of State Dr. Freisler Reich Ministry of Justice
Secretary of State Dr. Bühler Office of the Government
General
Under Secretary of State Foreign Office
Dr. Luther
SS-Oberführer Klopfer Party Chancellery
Ministerialdirektor Kritzinger Reich Chancellery
SS-Gruppenführer Hofmann Race and Settlement Main
Office
SS-Gruppenführer Müller Reich Main Security
Office
SS-Obersturmbannführer Eichmann
SS-Oberführer Dr. Schöngarth Security Police and SD
Commander of the Security Police
and the SD in the Government General
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Lange Security Police and SD
Commander of the Security Police
and the SD for the General-District
Latvia, as deputy of the Commander
of the Security Police and the SD
for the Reich Commissariat "Eastland".

II.
At the beginning of the discussion Chief of the Security Police
and of the SD, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich,
reported that the Reich Marshal had appointed him delegate for
the preparations for the final solution of the Jewish
question in Europe and pointed out that this discussion had been
called for the purpose of clarifying fundamental
questions. The wish of the Reich Marshal to have a draft sent to
him concerning organizational, factual and material
interests in relation to the final solution of the Jewish question
in Europe makes necessary an initial common action
of all central offices immediately concerned with these
questions in order to bring their general activities into line.
The Reichsführer-SS and the Chief of the German Police (Chief
of the Security Police and the SD) was entrusted
with the official central handling of the final solution of the
Jewish question without regard to geographic borders.
The Chief of the Security Police and the SD then gave a short
report of the struggle which has been carried on thus
far against this enemy, the essential points being the following:
Wannsee Conference, p. 2
a) the expulsion of the Jews from every sphere of life of the
German people,
b) the expulsion of the Jews from the living space of the
German people.
In carrying out these efforts, an increased and planned
acceleration of the emigration of the Jews from Reich

territory was started, as the only possible present solution.
By order of the Reich Marshal, a Reich Central Office for
Jewish Emigration was set up in January 1939 and the
Chief of the Security Police and SD was entrusted with the
management. Its most important tasks were
a) to make all necessary arrangements for the preparation for an
increased emigration of the Jews,
b) to direct the flow of emigration,
c) to speed the procedure of emigration in each individual case.
The aim of all this was to cleanse German living space of Jews
in a legal manner.
All the offices realized the drawbacks of such enforced
accelerated emigration. For the time being they had,
however, tolerated it on account of the lack of other possible
solutions of the problem.
The work concerned with emigration was, later on, not only a
German problem, but also a problem with which the
authorities of the countries to which the flow of emigrants was
being directed would have to deal. Financial
difficulties, such as the demand by various foreign governments
for increasing sums of money to be presented at the
time of the landing, the lack of shipping space, increasing
restriction of entry permits, or the cancelling of such,
increased extraordinarily the difficulties of emigration. In spite
of these difficulties,
537,000 Jews were sent out of the country between the takeover
of power and the deadline of 31 October 1941. Of
these

approximately 360,000 were in Germany proper on 30 January
1933
approximately 147,000 were in Austria (Ostmark) on 15 March
1939
approximately 30,000 were in the Protectorate of Bohemia and
Moravia on 15 March 1939.
The Jews themselves, or their Jewish political organizations,
financed the emigration. In order to avoid
impoverished Jews' remaining behind, the principle was
followed that wealthy Jews have to finance the emigration
of poor Jews; this was arranged by imposing a suitable tax, i.e.,
an emigration tax, which was used for financial
arrangements in connection with the emigration of poor Jews
and was imposed according to income.
Apart from the necessary Reichsmark exchange, foreign
currency had to presented at the time of landing. In order to
save foreign exchange held by Germany, the foreign Jewish
financial organizations were - with the help of Jewish
organizations in Germany – made responsible for arranging an
adequate amount of foreign currency. Up to 30
October 1941, these foreign Jews donated a total of around
9,500,000 dollars.
In the meantime the Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German
Police had prohibited emigration of Jews due to the
dangers of an emigration in wartime and due to the possibilities
of the East.
III.
Another possible solution of the problem has now taken the
place of emigration, i.e. the evacuation of the Jews to

the East, provided that the Führer gives the appropriate
approval in advance.
These actions are, however, only to be considered provisional,
but practical experience is already being collected
which is of the greatest importance in relation to the future final
solution of the Jewish question.
Approximately 11 million Jews will be involved in the final
solution of the European Jewish question, distributed as
follows among the individual countries:
Country Number
Germany proper 131,800
Austria 43,700
Eastern Territories 420,000
General Government 2,284,000
Bialystok 400,000
Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia 74,200
Estonia -free of Jews-
Latvia 3,500
Lithuania 34,000
Belgium 43,000
Denmark 5,600
France/ occupied territory 165,000
France/ unoccupied territory 700,000
Greece 69,600
Netherlands 160,800
Norway 1,300
Bulgaria 48,000

England 330,000
Finland 2,300
Ireland 4,000
Italy including Sardinia 58,000
Albania 200
Croatia 40,000
Portugal 3,000
Rumania including Bessarabia 342,000
Sweden 8,000
Switzerland 18,000
Serbia 10,000
Slovakia 88,000
Spain 6,000
Turkey (European portion) 55,500
Hungary 742,800
USSR 5,000,000
Ukraine 2,994,684
White Russia excluding Bialystok 446,484
Total Over 11,000,000
The number of Jews given here for foreign countries includes,
however, only those Jews who still adhere to the
Jewish faith, since some countries still do not have a definition
of the term "Jew" according to racial principles.
The handling of the problem in the individual countries will
meet with difficulties due to the attitude and outlook of
the people there, especially in Hungary and Rumania. Thus, for
example, even today the Jew can buy documents in
Rumania that will officially prove his foreign citizenship.
The influence of the Jews in all walks of life in the USSR is

well known. Approximately five million Jews live in
the European part of the USSR, in the Asian part scarcely 1/4
million.
The breakdown of Jews residing in the European part of the
USSR according to trades was approximately as
follows:
Agriculture 9.1 %
Urban workers 14.8 %
In trade 20.0 %
Employed by the state 23.4 %
In private occupations such as medical profession, press,
theater, etc. 32. 7%
Under proper guidance, in the course of the final solution the
Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the
East. Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be
taken in large work columns to these areas for work on
roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion
will be eliminated by natural causes.
The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly
consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated
accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and
would, if released, act as a the seed of a new Jewish
revival (see the experience of history.)
In the course of the practical execution of the final solution,
Europe will be combed through from west to east.
Germany proper, including the Protectorate of Bohemia and

Moravia, will have to be handled first due to the
housing problem and additional social and political necessities.
The evacuated Jews will first be sent, group by group, to so-
called transit ghettos, from which they will be
transported to the East.
SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich went on to say that an
important prerequisite for the evacuation as such is the exact
definition of the persons involved.
It is not intended to evacuate Jews over 65 years old, but to
send them to an old-age ghetto - Theresienstadt is being
considered for this purpose.
In addition to these age groups - of the approximately 280,000
Jews in Germany proper and Austria on 31 October
1941, approximately 30% are over 65 years old - severely
wounded veterans and Jews with war decorations (Iron
Cross I) will be accepted in the old-age ghettos. With this
expedient solution, in one fell swoop many interventions
will be prevented.
The beginning of the individual larger evacuation actions will
largely depend on military developments. Regarding
the handling of the final solution in those European countries
occupied and influenced by us, it was proposed that
the appropriate expert of the Foreign Office discuss the matter
with the responsible official of the Security Police
and SD.
In Slovakia and Croatia the matter is no longer so difficult,
since the most substantial problems in this respect have
already been brought near a solution. In Rumania the
government has in the meantime also appointed a
commissioner for Jewish affairs. In order to settle the question

in Hungary, it will soon be necessary to force an
adviser for Jewish questions onto the Hungarian government.
With regard to taking up preparations for dealing with the
problem in Italy, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich
considers it opportune to contact the chief of police with a view
to these problems.
In occupied and unoccupied France, the registration of Jews for
evacuation will in all probability proceed without
great difficulty.
Under Secretary of State Luther calls attention in this matter to
the fact that in some countries, such as the
Scandinavian states, difficulties will arise if this problem is
dealt with thoroughly and that it will therefore be
advisable to defer actions in these countries. Besides, in view of
the small numbers of Jews affected, this deferral
will not cause any substantial limitation.
The Foreign Office sees no great difficulties for southeast and
western Europe.
SS-Gruppenführer Hofmann plans to send an expert to Hungary
from the Race and Settlement Main Office for
general orientation at the time when the Chief of the Security
Police and SD takes up the matter there. It was
decided to assign this expert from the Race and Settlement Main
Office, who will not work actively, as an assistant
to the police attaché.
IV.
In the course of the final solution plans, the Nuremberg Laws
should provide a certain foundation, in which a
prerequisite for the absolute solution of the problem is also the

solution to the problem of mixed marriages and
persons of mixed blood.
The Chief of the Security Police and the SD discusses the
following points, at first theoretically, in regard to a
letter from the chief of the Reich chancellery:
1) Treatment of Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree
Persons of mixed blood of the first degree will, as regards the
final solution of the Jewish question, be treated as
Jews.
From this treatment the following exceptions will be made:
a) Persons of mixed blood of the first degree married to persons
of German blood if their marriage has resulted in
children (persons of mixed blood of the second degree). These
persons of mixed blood of the second degree are to
be treated essentially as Germans.
b) Persons of mixed blood of the first degree, for whom the
highest offices of the Party and State have already
issued exemption permits in any sphere of life. Each individual
case must be examined, and it is not ruled out that
the decision may be made to the detriment of the person of
mixed blood.
The prerequisite for any exemption must always be the personal
merit of the person of mixed blood. (Not the merit
of the parent or spouse of German blood.)

Persons of mixed blood of the first degree who are exempted
from evacuation will be sterilized in order to prevent
any offspring and to eliminate the problem of persons of mixed
blood once and for all. Such sterilization will be
voluntary. But it is required to remain in the Reich. The
sterilized "person of mixed blood" is thereafter free of all
restrictions to which he was previously subjected.
2) Treatment of Persons of Mixed Blood of the Second Degree
Persons of mixed blood of the second degree will be treated
fundamentally as persons of German blood, with the
exception of the following cases, in which the persons of mixed
blood of the second degree will be considered as
Jews:
a) The person of mixed blood of the second degree was born of
a marriage in which both parents are persons of
mixed blood.
b) The person of mixed blood of the second degree has a
racially especially undesirable appearance that marks him
outwardly as a Jew.
c) The person of mixed blood of the second degree has a
particularly bad police and political record that shows that
he feels and behaves
like a Jew.
Also in these cases exemptions should not be made if the person
of mixed blood of the second degree has married a
person of German
blood.
3) Marriages between Full Jews and Persons of German Blood.

Here it must be decided from case to case whether the Jewish
partner will be evacuated or whether, with regard to
the effects of such a step on the German relatives, [this mixed
marriage] should be sent to an old-age ghetto.
4) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Blood of the First
Degree and Persons of German Blood.
a) Without Children.
If no children have resulted from the marriage, the person of
mixed blood of the first degree will be evacuated or
sent to an old-age ghetto (same treatment as in the case of
marriages between full Jews and persons of German
blood, point 3.)
b) With Children.
If children have resulted from the marriage (persons of mixed
blood of the second degree), they will, if they are to
be treated as Jews, be evacuated or sent to a ghetto along with
the parent of mixed blood of the first degree. If these
children are to be treated as Germans (regular cases), they are
exempted from evacuation as is therefore the parent of
mixed blood of the first degree.
Degree and Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree
or Jews.
In these marriages (including the children) all members of the
family will be treated as Jews and therefore be
evacuated or sent to an old-age ghetto.

Degree and Persons of Mixed Blood of the Second
Degree.
In these marriages both partners will be evacuated or sent to an
old-age ghetto without consideration of whether the
marriage has produced children, since possible children will as
a rule have stronger Jewish blood than the Jewish
person of mixed blood of the second degree.
SS-Gruppenführer Hofmann advocates the opinion that
sterilization will have to be widely used, since the person
of mixed blood who is given the choice whether he will be
evacuated or sterilized would rather undergo
sterilization.
State Secretary Dr. Stuckart maintains that carrying out in
practice of the just mentioned possibilities for solving
the problem of mixed marriages and persons of mixed blood
will create endless administrative work. In the second
place, as the biological facts cannot be disregarded in any case,
State Secretary Dr. Stuckart proposed proceeding to
forced sterilization.
Furthermore, to simplify the problem of mixed marriages
possibilities must be considered with the goal of the
legislator saying something like: "These marriages have been
dissolved."
With regard to the issue of the effect of the evacuation of Jews
on the economy, State Secretary Neumann stated that
Jews who are working in industries vital to the war effort,

provided that no replacements are available, cannot be
evacuated.
SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich indicated that these Jews
would not be evacuated according to the rules he had
approved for carrying out the evacuations then underway.
State Secretary Dr. Bühler stated that the General Government
would welcome it if the final solution of this
problem could be begun in the General Government, since on
the one hand transportation does not play such a large
role here nor would problems of labor supply hamper this
action. Jews must be removed from the territory of the
General Government as quickly as possible, since it is
especially here that the Jew as an epidemic carrier represents
an extreme danger and on the other hand he is causing
permanent chaos in the economic structure of the country
through continued black market dealings. Moreover, of the
approximately 2 1/2 million Jews concerned, the
majority is unfit for work.
State Secretary Dr. Bühler stated further that the solution to the
Jewish question in the General Government is the
responsibility of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD and
that his efforts would be supported by the officials
of the General Government. He had only one request, to solve
the Jewish question in this area as quickly as possible.
In conclusion the different types of possible solutions were
discussed, during which discussion both Gauleiter Dr.
Meyer and State Secretary Dr. Bühler took the position that
certain preparatory activities for the final solution
should be carried out immediately in the territories in question,
in which process alarming the populace must be
avoided.

The meeting was closed with the request of the Chief of the
Security Police and the SD to the participants that they
afford him appropriate support during the carrying out of the
tasks involved in the solution.
1
Major General Walter Bruns’s Description of the Execution of
Jews outside Riga on
December 1, 1941, Surreptitiously Taped Conversation (April
25, 1945)
The German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941,
marked the beginning of a new
phase of the war. Intent upon realizing all of its geopolitical and
ideological goals – which
included the conquest of additional “living space” [Lebensraum]
for the German nation and the
prosecution of a war of annihilation against the Jews – the Nazi
regime ordered Reinhard
Heydrich’s so-called Special Operations Units [Einsatzgruppen]
and numerous battalions of the
Order Police [Ordnungspolizei] to follow the Wehrmacht as it
advanced into newly conquered
territories. The alleged task of these special units was to secure
the conquered territories and
eliminate dangerous political enemies. In reality, however,

these troops were engaged in mass
shootings of Jews. By the end of 1941, more than 700,000
Jewish civilians had been
systematically murdered in a wave of massacres similar to the
one described below.
The following document is the official English translation of a
transcript of a surreptitiously taped
conversation between German prisoners of war in a Combined
Services Detailed Interrogation
Centre (C.S.D.I.C.), a British-run detention camp for staff
officers. The British military hoped to
learn military secrets by eavesdropping on prisoners of war. The
conversation reproduced
below focused on events that had taken place in Latvia in
December 1941. The transcript
includes Major General Walter Bruns’s description of the mass
execution of Jewish civilians
outside Riga at the hands of Nazi occupiers. In 1948, Bruns
testified as a witness to this crime
in the trail against the High Command of the Wehrmacht.
Top Secret
C.S.D.I.C. (U.K.)
G.G. Report
S.R.G.G. 1158 (C)
The following conversation took place between: --
CS/1952 – Generalmajor BRUNS (Heeres-Waffenmeisterschule

I, BERLIN), Capt’d
GÖTTINGEN (8 Apr 45) and other Senior Officer PW[s] whose
voices could not be identified.
Information received: 25 Apr 45
2
TRANSLATION:
BRUNS: As soon as I heard those Jews were to be shot on
Friday I went to a 21-year old boy
and said that they had made themselves very useful in the area
under my command, besides
which the Army MT park had employed 1500 and the
'Heeresgruppe' 800 women to make
underclothes of the stores we captured in RIGA; besides which
about 1200 women in the
neighborhood of RIGA were turning millions of captured
sheepskins into articles we urgently
required: ear-protectors, fur caps, fur waistcoats, etc. Nothing
had been provided, as of course
the Russian campaign was known to have come to a victorious
end in October 1941. In short,
all those women were employed in a useful capacity. I tried to
save them. I told that fellow
ALTENMEYER(?) whose name I shall always remember and
who will be added to the list of war
criminals: "Listen to me, they represent valuable man-power."
"Do you call Jews valuable

human beings, sir?". I said: "Listen to me properly, I said
'valuable man-power'. I didn't mention
their value as human beings." He said: "Well, they're to be shot
in accordance with the
FÜHRER's orders. I said: "FÜHRER's orders?" "Yes",
whereupon he showed me his orders.
This happened at SKIOTAWA(?), 8 km. from RIGA, between
SIAULAI and JELGAVA, where
5000 BERLIN Jews were suddenly taken off the train and shot. I
didn't see that myself, but what
happened at SKIOTAWA(?) - to cut a long story short, I argued
with the fellow and telephoned
to the General at HQ, to JAKOBS and ABERGER(?), and to a
Dr. SCHULTZ who was attached
to the Engineer General, on behalf of these people; I told him:
"Granting that the Jews have
committed a crime against the other peoples of the world, at
least let them do the drudgery;
send them to throw earth on the roads to prevent our heavy
lorries skidding." "Then I'd have to
feed them." I said: "The little amount of food they receive, let's
assume 2 million Jews - they got
125 gr. of bread a day - if we can't even manage that, the sooner
we end the war the better."
Then I telephoned, thinking it would take some time. At any
rate on Sunday morning I heard that
they had already started on it. The Ghetto was cleared and they
were told: "You're being
transferred; take along your most essential things." Incidentally
it was a happy release for those
people, as their life in the Ghetto was a martyrdom. I wouldn't
believe it and drove there, to have
a look.
? [Unidentified P.O.W.]: Everyone abroad knew about it; only
we Germans were kept in

ignorance.
BRUNS: I'll tell you something: some of the details may have
been correct, but it was
remarkable that the firing squad detailed that morning - six men
with tommy-guns were posted
at each pit; the pits were 24 m in length and 3 m in breadth -
they had to lie down like sardines
in a tin, with their heads in the centre. Above them were six
men with tommy-guns who gave
them the coup de grace. When I arrived those pits were so full
that the living had to lie down on
top of the dead; then they were shot and, in order to save room,
they had to lie down neatly in
layers. Before this, however, they were stripped of everything at
one of the stations - here at the
edge of the wood were the three pits they used that Sunday and
here they stood in a queue 1½
3
km long which approached step by step - a queuing up for
death. As they drew nearer they saw
what was going on. About here they had to hand over their
jewelry and suitcases. All good stuff
was put into the suitcases and the remainder thrown on a heap.
This was to serve as clothing
for our suffering population - and then, a little further on they
had to undress and, 500 m in front
of the wood, strip completely; they were only permitted to keep
on a chemise or knickers. They
were all women and small two-year-old children. Then all those
cynical remarks. If only I had
seen those tommy-gunners, who were relieved every hour

because of over-exertion, carry out
their task with distaste, but no, nasty remarks like: "Here comes
a Jewish beauty." I can still see
it all in my memory: a pretty woman in a flame-colored
chemise. Talk about keeping the race
pure: at RIGA they first slept with them and then shot them to
prevent them from talking. Then I
sent two officers out there, one of whom is still alive, because I
wanted eye-witnesses. I didn't
tell them what was going on, but said: "Go out to the forest of
SKIOTAWA(?), see what's up
there and send me a report." I added a memorandum to their
report and took it to JAKOBS
myself. He said: "I have already two complaints sent me by
Engineer 'Bataillone' from the
UKRAINE." There they shot them on the brink of large crevices
and let them fall down into them;
they nearly had an epidemic of plague, at any rate a pestilential
smell. They thought they could
break off the edges with picks, thus burying them. That loss
there was so hard that two
Engineer 'Bataillone' were required to dynamite the edges; those
'Bataillone' complained.
JAKOBS had received that complaint. He said: "We didn't quite
know how to tell the FÜHRER.
We'd better do it through CANARIS." CANARIS had the
unsavory task of waiting for the
favorable moment to give the FÜHRER certain gentle hints. A
fortnight later I visited the
'Oberbürgermeister' or whatever he was called then, concerning
some other business.
ALTENMEYER(?) triumphantly showed me: "Here is an order,
just issued, prohibiting mass-
shootings on that scale from taking place in future. They are to
be carried out more discreetly."
From warnings given me recently I knew that I was receiving

still more attention from spies.
? [Unidentified P.O.W.]: A wonder you're still alive.
BRUNS: At GÖTTINGEN I expected to be arrested every day.
Source of English translation: Major General Walter Bruns’s
Description of the Execution of
Jews outside Riga on December 1, 1941, Surreptitiously Taped
Conversation (April 25, 1945),
National Archives (UK), WO 208/4169, Report SRGG 1158.
Source of original German transcript: National Archives (UK),
WO 208/4169, Report SRGG
1158.
1
Directives for the Treatment of Political Commissars
(“Commissar Order”) (June 6, 1941)
That Hitler did not see the pending invasion of Russia as a
conventional war of territorial

conquest was clear, not least from the following “Commissar
Order” of June 6, 1941. As early as
the 1920s, Hitler had identified the Soviet Union as the
Bolshevist command center of the
alleged Jewish world conspiracy. His intention now was to
crush this supposed racial-ideological
archenemy of the German Volk through a war of annihilation
that would involve the
extermination of the Jews as well as the decimation and
enslavement of “inferior” Slavic
peoples. The following order, the so-called Commissar Order,
which instructed the German
military leadership – in clear violation of international law – to
engage in the systematic
persecution and murder of Soviet political commissars, sealed
the cooperation of the
Wehrmacht with the annihilation campaign of the SS. Hitler’s
formal repeal of the order on
March 6, 1942 – partly an attempt to accommodate the
opposition of some military
commanders – did not change anything about the way Germany
conducted war during
“Operation Barbarossa.”
High Command of the Armed Forces Fuehrer Headquarters, 6
June 1941
WFSt. (Armed Forces Operational
Staff) Department L (IV Q)
(“Intelligence”)
No 44822/41 Top Secret for general
officers only

In addition to the Fuehrer’s decree of 14 May regarding
Military jurisdiction in the “Barbarossa”
zone (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces/Armed Forces
Operational Staff/Department L
(IV Q) (Intelligence) No 44718/41, (Top Secret, for General
Officers only), the enclosed
“directives for the treatment of political commissars” are being
transmitted herewith:
You are requested to limit the distribution to Commanders in
Chief of Armies or of Air
Commands, respectively, and to inform the Junior commanders
by word of mouth.
The Chief of the Supreme Command
Of the Armed Forces
By Order.
Signed: Warlimont
2
Enclosure to Supreme Command of the Armed
Forces/Department L IV Q (Intelligence)
No. 44822/41 Top Secret
For General Officers only.
Directives for the treatment of political commissars.
When fighting Bolshevism one can not count on the enemy
acting in accordance with the
principles of humanity or International Law. In particular it

must be expected that the treatment
of our prisoners by the political commissars of all types who are
the true pillars of resistance, will
be cruel, inhuman and dictated by hate.
The troops must realize:
1.) That in this fight it is wrong to trust such elements with
clemency and consideration in
accordance with International Law. They are a menace to our
own safety and to the rapid
pacification of the conquered territories.
2.) That the originators of the asiatic-barbaric methods of
fighting are the political commissars.
They must be dealt with promptly and with the utmost severity.
Therefore, if taken while fighting or offering resistance they
must, on principle, be shot
immediately.
For the rest, the following instructions will apply:
I. Theatre of Operations.
1) Political commissars who oppose our troops will be dealt
with in accordance with the “decree
concerning jurisdiction in the “Barbarossa” area”. This applies
to commissars of any type and
position, even if they are only suspected of resistance, sabotage
or instigation thereto.
Reference is made to “Directives on the behavior of troops in
Russia.”
2) Political commissars in their capacity of officials attached to

the enemy troops are
recognizable by their special insignia – red star with an
inwoven golden hammer and sickle on
the sleeves – [ . . . ]. They are to be segregated at once, i.e.
while still on the battlefield, from the
prisoners of war. This is necessary in order to deprive them of
any possibility of influencing the
captured soldiers. Those commissars will not be recognized as
soldiers; the protection granted
to prisoners of war in accordance with International Law will
not apply to them. After having
been segregated they are to be dealt with.
3) Political commissars who are not guilty of any hostile act or
are not suspected of such will
remain unmolested for the time being. Only in the course of a
deeper penetration into the
country will it be possible to decide whether they are, or should
be handed over to the
“Sonderkommandos”. The latter should preferably scrutinize
these cases themselves.
As a matter of principle, when deliberating the question of
“guilty or not guilty”, the personal
impression received of the commissar’s outlook and attitude
should be considered of greater
importance than the facts of the case which may not be decisive.
3
4) In cases 1) and 2) a brief report (report form) on the incident
is to be submitted:

a) to the Division (Ic) (Field Intelligence Officer) by troops
subordinated to a Division.
b) to the Corps Command or other respective Commands, as
follows (Ic) by troops directly
subordinated to a Corps Command, an Army High Command or
the Command or an Army
group, or Armored Group.
5) None of the above mentioned measures must delay the
progress of operations. Combat
troops should therefore refrain from systematic rounding-up and
cleansing measures.
II. In the Rear Areas.
Commissars arrested in the rear area on account of doubtful
behavior are to be handed over to
the “Einsatzgruppe” or the “Einsatzkommandos” of the SS
Security Service (SD) respectively.
III. Restriction with regard to Court Martials and Summary
Courts.
The Court Martials and Summary Courts of regimental and
other commanders must not be
entrusted with the carrying out of the measures as under I and
II.
Distribution:
Sector Staff Silesia 1st copy
Army Group B 2nd copy
Sector Staff East Prussia 3rd copy

High Command 16th Army 4th copy
Sub-sector East Prussia I 5th copy
Fortress Staff Blaurock 6th copy
Sector Staff Staufen 8th copy
Labor Staff Gotzmann 9th copy
High Command 2nd Army 11th copy
Chief Construction Group South 12th copy
Fortress Staff 49 13th copy
Fortress Staff Wegener 14th copy
4
Armoured Group 4 15th copy
High Command of Army in Norway 16th copy
Army High Command/ Adjutants Office 17th copy
Army C.i.C.
Army High Command/ Adjutants Office 18th copy

Army General Staff
Army High Command/ Department: 19th copy
Foreign Armies East
Army High Command/ Operational 20th copy
Section (without OKW decree)
Army High Command/ Quartermaster- 21st copy
General (without OKW decree)
In reserve copy 22-30
Source of English translation: Directives for the Treatment of
Political Commissars [Commissar
Order] (June 6, 1941), U.S. National Archives and Records
Administration, College Park, MD,
Nuremberg Trial, National Archives Record Group 238m, Entry
175, Box 27, NOKW-1076.
Source of original German text: Richtlinien für die Behandlung
politischer Kommissare
[Kommissarbefehl] (6. Juni 1941), U.S. National Archives and
Records Administration, College
Park, MD, Nuremberg Trial, National Archives Record Group
238m, Entry 175, Box 27, NOKW-
1076.

1
American Consul Samuel Honaker’s Description of Anti-
Semitic Persecution and Kristallnacht
and its Aftereffects in the Stuttgart Region (November 12 and
November 15, 1938)
During its first years in power, the Nazi regime sought to avoid
criticism from both the
international community and the general German population. To
this end, it tried to contain
street violence and other excesses against German Jews.
Instead, Hitler directed National
Socialist anti-Semitism into legal channels, using
discriminatory laws to isolate the Jews socially
and economically and to force them to emigrate. By 1938, this
approach had prompted 250,000
Jews to leave Germany. Still, Hitler’s policy frustrated the most
radical elements of the party and
the government, who demanded an immediate solution to the so-
called Jewish Question.
With anti-Semitism on the rise in Germany, the Polish
government began to fear that Polish
Jews living in Germany would want to return home. Thus, in
March of 1938, the Polish
government announced that all Polish citizens living abroad
who failed to renew their passports
by October 31st would lose their citizenship. The new policy
had serious implications for the

roughly 70,000 Polish Jews living in Germany, for failure to
comply threatened to prevent them
from either returning home or emigrating elsewhere. As a result,
in the fall of 1938, Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop ordered police action against
Polish Jews living in Germany.
On the night of October 28, 1938, the Gestapo arrested about
17,000 Polish Jews with the
intention of deporting them to Poland. But Poland closed its
borders on October 31st, leaving
the majority of the deported stranded in the no-man’s-land
between the German and the Polish
border near the town of Zbaszyn. Since the Polish government
initially refused to admit them,
they had to endure extremely harsh living conditions for several
weeks until their situation was
finally resolved.
After seventeen-year-old Herschel Grynszpan (also written as
"Grünspan" in German), then
living in Paris, heard that his parents were caught up in this
action, he decided to commit a
spectacular assassination to draw the world's attention to the
suffering of the Nazis’ Jewish
victims. On the morning of November 7, 1938, he entered the
German embassy in Paris and
shot Legation Secretary Ernst Eduard vom Rath, who died of his
injuries two days later. The SA
and SS responded with immediate excesses against Jewish
persons and institutions in
Germany. When Hitler was informed of the diplomat’s death, he
authorized Goebbels to stage a
pogrom throughout all of Germany. It was to be sold to the
world as a spontaneous eruption of
the German people’s outrage over the so-called Jewish crime.
That same night, the SA and SS

unleashed a wave of violence and destruction over the entire
country: thousands of Jewish
synagogues, shops, factories, apartments, and houses were
looted and vandalized. As the
following eyewitness report by American Consul Samuel
Honaker reveals, the Nazi regime was
not able to maintain the fiction of the spontaneous people’s
uprising against the Jews in the
eyes of the world.
2
I. Letter to Hugh R. Wilson, American Embassy, Berlin
American Consulate
Stuttgart, Germany, November 12, 1938
No. 307
Subject: Anti-Semitic Persecution in the Stuttgart Consular
District
The Honorable Hugh R. Wilson, American Ambassador, Berlin
Sir:
I have the honor to report that the Jews of Southwest Germany
have suffered vicissitudes
during the last three days which would seem unreal to one

living in an enlightened country
during the twentieth century if one had not actually been a
witness of their dreadful experiences,
or if one had not had them corroborated by more than one
person of undoubted integrity. To the
anguish of mind to which the Jews of this consular district have
been subjected for some time,
and which suddenly became accentuated on the morning and
afternoon of the tenth of
November, were added the horror of midnight arrests, of hurried
departures in a half-dressed
state from their homes in the company of police officers, of the
wailing of wives and children
suddenly left behind, of imprisonment in crowded cells, and the
panic of fellow prisoners.
These wholesale arrests were the culmination of a day of
suffering on the part of the Jews. The
desecration and burning of synagogues started before daylight
and should have proved a
warning signal of what was to come during the course of the
next few hours. At 10:30 A.M.
about twenty-five leaders of the Jewish community were
arrested by a joint squad of policemen
and plain clothes men. The arrested persons ranged from thirty-
five to sixty-five years of age
and were taken from their community officer (Israelitischer
Oberrat) to the police station in two
motor vehicles. As the victims passed from the building to the
motor cars bystanders cursed and
shouted at them.
Other arrests took place in various parts of Stuttgart. While this
city was the scene of many anti-
Semitic demonstrations during the course of the day, similar
events were taking place all over

Württemberg and Baden. Jews were attacked here and there. So
great had become the panic
of the Jewish people in the meantime that, when the consulate
opened after Armistice Day,
Jews from all sections of Germany thronged into the office until
it was overflowing with
humanity, begging for an immediate visa or some kind of letter
in regard to immigration which
might influence the police not to arrest or molest them. Women
over sixty years of age pleaded
on behalf of husbands imprisoned in some unknown place.
American mothers of German sons
invoked the sympathy of the Consulate. Jewish fathers and
mothers with children in their arms
were afraid to return to their homes without some document
denoting their intention to
immigrate at an early date. Men in whose homes old, rusty
revolvers had been found during the
3
last few days cried aloud that they did not dare ever again to
return to their places of residence
or business. In fact, it was a mass of seething, panic-stricken
humanity.
Burning of Synagogues.
Early on the morning of November 10th practically every
synagogue – at least twelve in number
– in Württemberg, Baden and Hohenzollern was set on fire by
well disciplined and apparently
well equipped young men in civilian clothes. The procedure was
practically the same in all cities

of this district, namely, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Freiburg,
Heidelberg, Heilbronn, et cetera. The
doors of the synagogues were forced open. Certain sections of
the building and furnishings
were drenched with petrol and set on fire. Bibles, prayer books,
and other sacred things were
thrown into the flames. Then the local fire brigades were
notified. In Stuttgart, the city officials
ordered the fire brigade to save the archives and other written
material having a bearing on vital
statistics. Otherwise, the fire brigades confined their activities
to preventing the flames from
spreading. In a few hours the synagogues were, in general,
heaps of smoking ruins.
Devastation of Jewish Shops.
Practically all the Jewish shops in the Stuttgart consular district
are reported to have been
attacked, ransacked, and devastated. These actions were carried
out by young men and half-
grown boys. It was easy to recognize under the civilian clothes
of the former trained and
disciplined S.A. or S.S. men, while in the case of the latter the
Hitler Youth uniform was evident
in some instances. The young men set about their task in most
cases quietly and efficiently.
They first smashed windows, destroyed furnishings, and then
began to throw merchandise into
the street. Throughout these actions the police looked on, either
smilingly or unconcernedly.
Most of the Jewish shops in Stuttgart are situated in the main
business section of the city. On
the Königsstrasse, the principal business street, no looting was
observed, but in the side streets

looting was noticed in a number of cases. In front of one shop
people were seen trying on shoes
which had been thrown into the street. Before the Café Heimann
was demolished, people
helped themselves to cake and so forth.
The following is a list of Jewish shops in Stuttgart which were
badly damaged:
Name of Firm Address Principal Business
Bamberger & Hertz 2 Poststrasse Clothing
Bloch 1 Rotbühlstrasse Restaurant
Jacobs 32 Hauptstätterstrasse Radios
Katz 6 Leonhardsplatz Shoes
Robert 8 Marktstrasse Clothing
Salberg 56 Königstrasse Photographer
Scheinmann 45 Königstrasse Shoes
Speier 58 Königstrasse Shoes
Speier 4 Marktplatz Shoes
Tanne 6 Tübingerstrasse Department store
Ika 21 Königstrasse Lingerie
4
Arrests and Other Persecutive Activities.
It has been learned from reliable sources that practically the
entire male Jewish population of
the city of Stuttgart, ranging from the age of eighteen to sixty-
five years, has been arrested by
authorities representing the police. In most cases the arrests are
reported to have been effected

by two policemen wearing civilian clothes. These arrests
included many prominent Jewish
businessmen and several consuls of foreign states, among whom
the most notable is the
Danish Consul General for Württemberg. All of the arrested
persons were immediately
conducted to police headquarters and then placed in cells.
During the course of November 11th
some of the persons arrested were transported to Welzheim,
which is the most important
concentration camp in Württemberg. Arrests were also made as
late as 10 A.M. on Saturday,
the 12th of November. It is understood that the latter arrests
consisted very largely of young
men living in rural districts, who have since been brought to
police headquarters in Stuttgart.
In several small places in Württemberg, notably in Rexingen,
Buttenhausen, and Laupheim,
Jews have been prohibited from leaving their homes since the
10th of November. They are not
permitted to receive or send mail. Unconfirmed reports are even
to the effect that these persons
are having difficulty in securing food, and in some cases it has
been reported that farmers have
been slipping food to them through the back doors of their
homes.
In Heilbronn an order was issued Friday (November 11th)
prohibiting Jews from entering
cinemas in that city. Early on the morning of the 10th of
November a number of Jews who had
been arrested were forced to march in the streets of Kehl two by
two, reporting in chorus: “We
are guilty of the murder in Paris and we are traitors to
Germany.” Among there were ex-

servicemen, some of whom had been wounded during the Great
War, and some of whom had
received war decorations.
At the time of writing this report it seems as if arrests in rural
districts have not been as
widespread as in the city of Stuttgart. Many Jewish men, some
of whom are of excellent
business standing, are reported to have left their homes on
Thursday and to have disappeared
in the meantime. Their friends assume that they are wandering
about, in the hope that possibly
the storm will blow itself out and they will be left unmolested.
It is reported that, in such cases,
the police have left word with their families that the missing
men should report to police
headquarters as soon as they appear at their homes. Naturally,
there are rumors of many
suicides, especially of elderly Jewish men, but so far reports of
this kind have not been
confirmed.
Although the writer has spoken with the proprietors of homes
which have been demolished in
other parts of Germany during the last few days, no attacks on
private houses and apartments
occupied by Jews in Württemberg have been reported in the
case of Stuttgart, with the
exception of two isolated instances. It is known, however, that
the Jewish State Orphans’
Asylum in Esslingen, which is only about six miles from
Stuttgart, has been forcibly evacuated
5

and the children chased out into the streets. Many families, the
males of which have been
arrested, are without any money and are now being assisted by
more fortunate Jewish families.
Jewish organizations have not been able to extend aid during
the last few days, for their offices
have been closed and their funds sequestered.
After a period of three days during which persecutive measures
against the Jews have been
unprecedented in this part of Germany, depression among this
section of the population has
become indescribable. Many Jewish women are afraid that the
worst is yet to be experienced.
They look forward with dread to the day on which Herr von
[sic] Roth will be buried.
Apprehension is prevalent in Jewish circles that a large number
of the Jews already in prison
will be kept by the authorities as hostages. They are hoping that
Jews in foreign countries and
the foreign Press will not give occasion to the German
authorities to make more severe their
persecution and apprehension as regards the future.
Reaction of the People to the Events Described.
There is a strong belief among many conservative people in
Stuttgart that the violent action
against the Jews which has taken place during the last three
days was planned and in
practically no way spontaneous as the German Press would like
to have everyone believe. It
became quickly known in Stuttgart that action against the Jews
in Württemberg and
Hohenzollern had taken place more or less simultaneously. It

was just as quickly known that
three measures were being executed throughout this section of
Germany:
(a) the burning of synagogues;
(b) the smashing of windows and the forced closing of all
Jewish shops; and
(c) the wholesale arrests of Jewish men.
These actions have caused a great part of the population to feel
very uneasy and quickly to give
expression to their lack of agreement with such practices.
Reactions on the part of the populace
have, however, shown a division of sentiment. The vast majority
of the non-Jewish population,
perhaps as much as 80 percent, have given evidence of complete
disagreement with these
violent demonstrations against the Jews. Many people, in fact,
are hanging their heads with
shame. On the other hand, possibly 20 percent of the population
has shown satisfaction as a
result of the application of radical measures.
Respectfully yours,
Samuel Honaker,
American Consul General
Original copy to Embassy, Berlin
Copy to Department of State, Washington
Copy to Consulate General, Berlin

6
II. Letter to George S. Messersmith, Department of State,
Washington, DC
American Consulate
Stuttgart, Germany, November 15, 1938
The Honorable George S. Messersmith
Assistant to the Secretary of State
Washington, DC
Dear Mr. Messersmith:
Appreciating your keen interest in German matters I believe that
you will wish to have a first-
hand account of the reprisals which have been taken against the
Jews in this section of
Germany during the last few days. Therefore, I am enclosing for
ready reference a copy of my
report no. 307, of November 12, 1938, entitled "Anti-Semitic
Persecution in the Stuttgart
Consular District." After careful investigation and personal
knowledge this report was very
hurriedly written so that it could reach the Embassy at Berlin at
the earliest practicable date. You
may wish to have additional information on the subject.
Of all the places in this section of Germany, the Jews in Rastatt,
which is situated near Baden-
Baden, have apparently been subjected to the most ruthless

treatment. Many Jews in this
section were cruelly attacked and beaten and the furnishings of
their homes almost totally
destroyed. Practically all male Jews in that city were arrested
and transported either to prisons
or to concentration camps. Those that escaped arrest are hiding
in the woods or have sought
refuge with friends. Similar developments occurred in other
places, and there were doubtless
many outrages of which I have not yet heard.
Even Jews directing charitable organizations were seriously
molested, although it must have
been apparent to the authorities that these Jews could have
rendered much necessary relief
had they been allowed to remain at liberty and retain the use of
funds which were immediately
confiscated. In the meantime, Aryan doctors in Stuttgart have
been refusing to render medical
aid to Jews greatly needing their services, unless evidence is
furnished that no Jewish doctor is
available. An old Jew living in Bad Cannstatt, a suburb of
Stuttgart, suffered a heart collapse on
Friday (November 11th) and, when a member of his family
called a well-known heart specialist
in Stuttgart, the latter is reported to have replied that "as long
as there is a Jewish doctor still at
liberty I cannot come." So far as I have been able to learn, all
Jewish doctors in Stuttgart, except
Dr. Einstein, a child specialist of over sixty-five years of age,
have been arrested in spite of the
overwhelming demand for medical treatment on account of
ruthless action most apparently
inspired by the German authorities.

7
All Jewish automobiles are systematically being confiscated. As
a rule, two men in civilian
clothes with police authority visit the homes of Jewish owners
of automobiles and demand the
keys of their garages and cars. Upon request receipts are usually
given for the automobiles, and
these receipts are signed "by the Criminal Police."
A few Aryan people have been arrested for giving too open
expression to their disgust over the
events of the last few days. Many persons secretly sympathizing
with the Jews or
discountenancing such ruthless treatment of helpless people are
becoming more and more
afraid to give expression to their feelings. However, I have
heard of many instances where
Aryans are rendering secret service to afflicted Jewish families
and are even providing them
with money and food.
Even consideration of religion has not prevented the arrest of
persons of the Jewish race who
were born and baptized as Christians. A typical example of this
character is the arrest in
Stuttgart of Dr. Gabriel, who until 1933 was the head of the
Bureau of Academic Information at
the University of Cologne. It is understood that Dr. Gabriel,
who is said to have collaborated for
some time with Professor Sprague of Columbia University, has
been placed in a concentration
camp at Welzheim, Württemberg.

So far as Stuttgart is concerned, I can state confidently that
these so-called reprisals against the
Jews were not a spontaneous movement originating from the
people as a whole. In any event,
the movement clearly seems to have been well organized and
planned and carried out by
persons having the confidence of the authorities. For instance,
the fire brigade was stationed in
the vicinity of the synagogue in Bad Cannstatt before the
building was ever set on fire. Again, on
Thursday morning (November 10th) while the demolition of
Jewish shops was in full swing at
Stuttgart, a new 12-cylinder Mercedes automobile carrying high
S.S. officials drove up in front of
the shops under devastation. These men made an inspection of
what was going on, and
apparently after giving their approval drove pompously away
while the destruction continued.
Dr. Max Immanuel, a member of the board of the Berlin Credit
Investment Company, who is
said to have collaborated closely in the past with Herr Schacht,
has informed me that all the
interior furnishings of his sister's home in Nuremberg were
completely destroyed. Nuremberg
seems to have been the scene of much destruction and ill-
treatment.
Only yesterday (Sunday, the 13th of November) the wife of a
prominent Jew in Nuremberg
whom I have known well for several years, and who has been of
much assistance to me in
connection with certain reports, called at my home in the hope
that I could render some
assistance in obtaining the release of her husband who was
arrested [at] about 3.30 o'clock on

the morning of November 10th. This lady told me that she had
been awakened [at] about 1
o'clock by rude knocking and [the] ringing of her door bell.
Men in S.A. uniforms entered
abruptly when the door was opened and immediately began to
destroy the furnishings of the
drawing room and dining room. Leather chairs were cut and
stabbed with knives to such an
extent that they are now practically worthless. China was
thrown on the floor and broken. Not a
8
piece of glassware was left unbroken in the apartment. When
these men left, the interior of the
building, except the bedrooms which they did not enter, were a
mass of ruins.
This destruction did not satisfy the people responsible for it, for
at approximately 4 a.m. two men
dressed in civilian clothes and representing the police again
called at her home and rudely
demanded that her husband dress immediately. Her husband was
placed under arrest and
transported to prison. Although this lady is a person of some
influence and has contact with the
police at Nuremberg, she has not yet been able to ascertain to
what prison or concentration
camp her husband has been transported.
During the course of the day two people reported to me that the
Jewish Old People's Home in
Neustadt, Palatinate, had been burned to the ground and that
about sixty inmates, all of whom

were old people, and some of whom were ill and crippled and
some just merely infirm from age,
had been removed to the Jewish Old People's Home at
Mannheim. There was really no
accommodation for them in the latter institution and apparently
they have been lying on the floor
here and there in the building.
There are many similar stories, but I feel that you will be
sufficiently informed to wish me now to
turn to the immediate experiences which I have had during the
past few days as the officer in
charge of the Consulate at Stuttgart.
In a figurative sense, my home has been bombarded by visitors
and telephone calls giving
evidence of the distressing circumstances in which many people
are finding themselves.
Hundreds are appealing for help and encouragement, and with
husbands in concentration
camps many are without funds. Late last night an American
woman of over sixty years of age
begged for assistance in ascertaining the whereabouts of her
aged and sick husband who had
been rounded up with the German Jews. I have strong hopes that
he will be at her side again
within a few hours. Many other Americans are appealing on
behalf of their Jewish relatives.
The Consulate received almost one hundred telegrams yesterday
and almost as many today.
Many of these have been from the United States and have
expressed the utmost interest in their
relatives in Germany. In the majority of cases the male members
of the families concerned were
ascertained to be in concentration camps. Even up to this minute

arrests have been made in
Stuttgart and telegrams are constantly being received, although
it is late at night.
For more than five days the office has been inundated with
people. Each day a larger and larger
crowd has besieged the Consulate, filling all the rooms and
overflowing into the corridor of a
building six stories high. Today there were several thousand.
Each person has been handled
with the greatest possible consideration and each person must
have felt that he or she had
been as courteously and sympathetically handled as the
enormous crowd would permit.
The entire staff has responded most loyally and efficiently to
the demands with which we have
been faced. Of the officers, all of whom have worked well under
trying conditions, I wish
9
especially to mention, first, Consul L'Heureux, and secondly,
Vice Consul Spalding. Of the
clerks, Mr. Morton Bernath has been outstanding.
These situations are not entirely new to us at Stuttgart. While
this one is on a much greater
scale, we have been experiencing similar but minor situations
during the past three years, some
of which appear retrospectively to have been much more
difficult and to have required much
more ingenuity. In reality, I have handled many protection
cases, with the able assistance of

Morton Bernath, which have involved arrests for political
offences, exchange infractions, et
cetera, and I am glad to report to you that we have been
uniformly successful. At the present
time matters involving the transfer of money on behalf of
American citizens in the United States
are proving unusually difficult features of our work on account
of the attitude of the German
Government. Only a few days ago, however, we were successful
in prevailing upon the German
Government to release its claim on the entire fortune of an aged
Jewish woman of American
nationality.
I trust that the foregoing description will, in addition to the
political reports of this office, with
which the Embassy seems to be very pleased, give you a
concrete idea of the situation which
has been confronting us from time to time over the last three
years, and will especially depict
the conditions which are immediately confronting us.
Sincerely yours,
[signed: Samuel Honaker]
Enclosure: copy of report no. 307
Source of original English text: American Consul General
Samuel Honaker’s description of Anti-
Semitic persecution and Kristallnacht and its aftereffects in the
Stuttgart region (November 12
and November 15, 1938), State Central Decimal File (CDF)
862.4015/2002, Records of the

Department of State in the National Archives, Record Group 59,
General Records of the
Department of State; reprinted in John Mendelsohn, ed., The
Holocaust: Selected Documents in
Eighteen Volumes. Vol. 3, New York: Garland, 1982, pp. 176-
89.
! !"!1"!!
Memorandum
BERLIN, November 10, 1937.
Minutes of a Conference in the Reich Chancellery, Berlin,
November 5, 1937, from 4:15 to
8:30 P.M.
Present:
The Führer and Chancellor,
Field Marshal von Blomberg, War Minister,
Colonel General Baron von Fritsch, Commander in Chief, Army,
Admiral Dr. h. c. Raeder, Commander in Chief, Navy,
Colonel General Göring, Commander in Chief, Luftwaffe,
Baron von Neurath, Foreign Minister,
Colonel Hossbach.
The Führer began by stating that the subject of the present
conference was of such importance
that its discussion would, in other countries, certainly be a
matter for a full Cabinet meeting, but
he – the Führer – had rejected the idea of making it a subject of
discussion before the wider circle
of the Reich Cabinet just because of the importance of the

matter. His exposition to follow was
the fruit of thorough deliberation and the experiences of his
41/2 years of power. He wished to
explain to the gentlemen present his basic ideas concerning the
opportunities for the development
of our position in the field of foreign affairs and its
requirements, and he asked, in the interests of
a long-term German policy, that his exposition be regarded, in
the event of his death, as his last
will and testament.
The Führer then continued:
The aim of German policy was to make secure and to preserve
the racial community
[Volksmasse] and to enlarge it. It was therefore a question of
space.
The German racial community comprised over 85 million people
and, because of their number
and the narrow limits of habitable space in Europe, constituted a
tightly packed racial core such
as was not to be met in any other country and such as implied
the right to a greater living space
than in the case of other peoples. If, territorially speaking, there
existed no political result
corresponding to this German racial core, that was a
consequence of centuries of historical
development, and in the continuance of these political
conditions lay the greatest danger to the
preservation of the German race at its present peak. To arrest
the decline of Germandom
[Deutschtum] in Austria and Czechoslovakia was as little
possible as to maintain the present level
in Germany itself. Instead of increase, sterility was setting in,
and in its train disorders of a social
character must arise in course of time, since political and

ideological ideas remain effective only
so long as they furnish the basis for the realization of the
essential vital demands of a people.
Germany's future was therefore wholly conditional upon the
solving of the need for space, and
such a solution could be sought, of course, only for a
foreseeable period of about one to three
generations.
Before turning to the question of solving the need for space, it
had to be considered whether a
solution holding promise for the future was to be reached by
means of autarky or by means of an
increased participation in world economy.
Autarky:
Achievement only possible under strict National Socialist
leadership of the State, which is
assumed; accepting its achievement as possible, the following
could be stated as results:-
A. In the field of raw materials only limited, not total, autarky.
! !"!2"!!
1) In regard to coal, so far as it could be considered as a source
of raw materials, autarky was
possible;
2) But even as regards ores, the position was much more
difficult. Iron requirements can be met
from home resources and similarly with light metals, but with
other raw materials – copper, tin –
this was not the case.

3) Synthetic textile requirements can be met from home
resources to the limit of timber supplies.
A permanent solution impossible.
4) Edible fats-possible.
B. In the field of food the question of autarky was to be
answered by a flat "No."
With the general rise in the standard of living compared with
that of 30 to 40 years ago, there has
gone hand in hand an increased demand and an increased home
consumption even on the part of
the producers, the farmers. The fruits of the increased
agricultural production had all gone to meet
the increased demand, and so did not represent an absolute
production increase. A further
increase in production by making greater demands on the soil,
which already, in consequence of
the use of artificial fertilizers, was showing signs of exhaustion,
was hardly possible, and it was
therefore certain that even with the maximum increase in
production, participation in world trade
was unavoidable. The not inconsiderable expenditure of foreign
exchange to insure food supplies
by imports, even when harvests were good, grew to catastrophic
proportions with bad harvests.
The possibility of a disaster grew in proportion to the increase
in population, in which, too, the
excess of births of 560,000 annually produced, as a
consequence, an even further increase in
bread consumption, since a child was a greater bread consumer
than an adult.
It was not possible over the long run, in a continent enjoying a
practically common standard of
living, to meet the food supply difficulties by lowering that
standard and by rationalization. Since,

with the solving of the unemployment problem, the maximum
consumption level had been
reached, some minor modifications in our home agricultural
production might still, no doubt, be
possible, but no fundamental alteration was possible in our
basic food position. Thus autarky was
untenable in regard both to food and to the economy as a whole.
Participation in world economy:
To this there were limitations which we were unable to remove.
The establishment of Germany's
position on a secure and sound foundation was obstructed by
market fluctuations, and commercial
treaties afforded no guarantee for actual execution. In particular
it had to be remembered that
since the World War, those very countries which had formerly
been food exporters had become
industrialized. We were living in an age of economic empires in
which the primitive urge to
colonization was again manifesting itself; in the cases of Japan
and Italy economic motives
underlay the urge for expansion, and with Germany, too,
economic need would supply the
stimulus. For countries outside the great economic empires,
opportunities for economic expansion
were severely impeded.
The boom in world economy caused by the economic effects of
rearmament could never form the
basis of a sound economy over a long period, and the latter was
obstructed above all also by the
economic disturbances resulting from Bolshevism. There was a
pronounced military weakness in
those states which depended for their existence on foreign trade.
As our foreign trade was carried
on over the sea routes dominated by Britain, it was more a
question of security of transport than

1 Volume 7. Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 Telex Message.docx

1 Volume 7. Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 Telex Message.docx

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1 Volume 7. Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 Telex Message.docx