For a deep dive into what Holocaust deniers believe and why they're wrong, with lots of useful illustrations (aerial photographs, documentation etc.) read Holocaust Documents by SirAaronRichards. Also see The Goebbels Diaries and Twitter memes debunked.

English translations

On January 27, 1942, Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary:

“From the General Government, starting at Lublin, the Jews are now being deported to the East. A fairly barbaric procedure – that is not to be described in detail – is being employed, and of the Jews not much remains. In general, it can be stated that 60% of them must be liquidated, while only 40% can be put to work. The former Gauleiter of Vienna, who is carrying out this operation, is doing so quite prudently and with a procedure that is not too conspicuous. Upon the Jews a criminal judgment is carried out which is barbaric but they fully deserve. The prophecy that the Führer gave them for bringing about a new world war is beginning to come true in the most terrible way. One should not have sentimentalities in these matters. ... If we do not defend ourselves against the Jews, they will destroy us. It is a fight to the death between the Aryan race and the Jewish bacillus. No other government or regime could muster the strength to solve this problem fully. Here too, the leader is the unwavering champion and spokesman for a radical solution that appears necessary and therefore inevitable. Thank God we now have a whole range of opportunities during the war that would be denied us in peacetime. We must take advantage of them. The ghettos freed up in the cities of the General Government are now being filled with Jews deported from the Reich, and after a certain period of time the process will then repeat itself. Jewry has nothing to laugh about. As its representatives are today organizing and propagating the war against Germany in England and America, its representatives in Europe will have to pay a very high price, which must also be considered justified.”

Below you will find 54 source texts (speeches, letters, telegrams, diary entries etc.) in chronological order. The following is from the English section of De Holocaust in the woorden van de nazi's zelf ("The Holocaust in the words of the Nazi's themselves"):

Introduction

 

These are translations and some original sources of the main quotations in the first and second chapter, this time without commentary but emphasizing important words and sentences in bold type.

 

Why include these in a Dutch book? Because you may have friends or students for whom English is easier to understand than Dutch or German. This way you can share and discuss the quotes with more people.

 

As a general commentary, let me explain why these parti­cu­lar quotes were selected. The first few quotations, from books and public speeches in the twenties and thirties, are from long before the ‘Final Solution’ formally started (in 1942) but illus­trate the mentality, intentions and rhetoric that eventually turned genocidal. Some of the documents give us insight into how the Jews were abused and discriminated against, economi­cal­ly or otherwise. Other documents explain why depor­tation was never considered a final solution to the ‘Jewish Question’.

 

What is of particular interest to the subject of this book is the use of cryptic language from the late thirties onward (typical­ly euphemisms like ‘special treatment’), because once decoded, much is revealed about the involvement of Nazi leaders like Himmler, Goebbels and Hitler. Although the secrecy was suc­cess­fully maintained during the operation (the German public had no idea what was going on), it was all decoded and exposed after the war. The very same room that was called a ‘special cellar’ in one letter, was called a 'gassing cellar' in another, to name just one example included here.

 

WARNING: these texts are examples of genocidal antisemitism and the conspiracy theories that encouraged it. Do not read if you are sensitive to this type of language.

 

Sources for each of these translations can be found here.

1920

 

1) Adolf Hitler, speech in München, augustus 1920:

 

“This is the first demand we must raise and carry out, that our people become free, that these chains are shattered, that Germany once again becomes the master of its soul and destiny, along with everyone who wants to join it.

And the fulfillment of this first demand will then pave the way for all other reforms. And here is perhaps something that distinguishes us from you [Austrians], even though in spirit we're on the same page: our attitude towards the Jewish question.

For us, this question is not a question of indulgent concessions that can be set aside with a certain indifference. For us, it is a question of whether our people can ever be healthy again, whether the Jewish mentality can ever be truly eradicated. One should not believe that a plague can be fought by isolating the sick while leaving the carriers of the plague untouched. One shouldn't believe that one can eradicate a racial disease without taking equally harsh measures against the carriers of the disease as one does against the sick. The Jewish contamination does not succumb, the poisoning of the people does not cease, until the carrier himself, the Jew, is eradicated.”

 

1925

 

2) Hitler, Mein Kampf, Chapter 11:

 

“A part of their race already openly declares itself as a foreign people, but not without lying again. For in trying to convince the rest of the world that the national self-awareness of Jews will find its satisfaction in the creation of a Palestinian state, Zionism once again fools the stupid goyim in the most cunning way. The Jews have no intention of building a Jewish state in Palestine in order to inhabit it. Instead they only desire to have a self-governed organizational center for their inter­national swindling, protected from the reach of other states; a place of refuge for convicted scoundrels and a school for future crooks.”

 

 

3) Hitler, Mein Kampf, Chapter 12:

 

“The soul of the nation can only be won if, in addition to leading a positive fight for our own goals, we destroy the opponents of those goals. Throughout history, people have perceived ruthless attacks on their opponents as proof of having truth on their side, and they perceive the failure to destroy others as a sign of their own weakness or even guilt. The masses are simply part of nature and do not understand the mutual handshakes of those who claim to have opposing goals. What they desire is the victory of the stronger and the destruction or unconditional submission of the weaker. Nationalizing our people will only succeed if we eradicate the inter­national poisoners of our soul while continuing our positive fight for the nation's sake.”

 

1928

 

4) Hitler, Second Book, Chapter 15:

 

“Every German worker and every German soldier that, during the war, returned to the hand of Marxist leaders, was another one lost to the fatherland. If at the beginning of the war and during the war, twelve or fifteen thousand of these Hebrew corrupters of the people had been subjected to poison gas the way hundreds of thousands of our best German workers from all classes and professions had to endure it on the battlefield, then the sacrifice of millions on the front would not have been in vain. On the contrary: Twelve thousand scoundrels eliminated at the right time might have saved the lives of perhaps a million decent Germans of value for the future.”

 

1933

 

5) Hitler interviews and table talk, 1933:

 

“As to the ‘persecuted’ Jews, whom you see peacefully walking in the streets and dining in all the best cafés in Berlin. I would be only too glad if the nations which take such an enormous interest in Jews would open their gates to them.

It is true we have made discriminatory laws, but they are directed not so much against the Jews as for the German people, to give equal economic opportunity to the majority.

You say the Jews suffer, but so do millions of others. Why should not the Jews share the privations which burden the entire nation?

You must remember our fight is not primarily against the Jews as such but against the Communists and all elements that demoralize and destroy us. When I proceed against a Communist, I do not ask if he is a Saxon or a Prussian. What I mean is that I cannot spare a Communist because he is a Jew.”

 

“Why does the world shed crocodile tears over the well-deserved fate of a small Jewish minority? [...] I ask Roosevelt, I ask the American people: Are you ready to take in these well-poisoners of the German people and universal Christianity? We would gladly give them a free boat ticket and a thousand Mark bill for travel expenses if we could get rid of them that way.”

 

“In England people assert that their arms are open to welcome all the op­pressed, especially the Jews who have left Germany [...] But it would be still finer if England did not make her great gesture dependent on the possession of £1,000 – England should say: “Anyone may enter” – as we unfortunately have done for 30 years. If we too had declared that no one could enter Germany save under the condition of bringing with him £1,000 or paying more, then today we should have no Jewish question at all. So we wild folk have once more proved ourselves better humans – less perhaps in external protestations, but at least in our actions! And now we are even more generous, giving the Jewish people a far greater percentage of life opportunities than we have ourselves.”

 

1938

 

6) Hitler, speech at Nuremberg, September 12, 1938:

 

“In these democracies, people complain about the immense cruelty with which Germany – and now Italy too – try to get rid of the Jewish elements. All these great democratic empires have only a few people per square kilometer. In Italy and Germany, there are over 140. Nevertheless, there was a time when for decades Germany took in hundreds of thousands of these Jews without any hesitation.

But now that the dissatisfaction has finally become too great and the nation is no longer willing to be sucked dry by these parasites, they are complaining. Yet these democratic countries don't translate their hypocritical question into helpful action. On the contrary, they coolly assert that there is, of course, no place for the Jews there! So they expect that Germany, with 140 people per square kilometer, can easily continue to maintain Jewry, but the democratic world empires, with only a few people per square kilometer, cannot possibly bear such a burden. So no help, but morality!”

 

7) Joseph Goebbels, diary entry the day after Kristallnacht, November 10, 1938:

 

“I present the matter to the Führer. He decides: let the demonstrations continue. Withdraw the police. The Jews should feel the people's wrath for once. That's true. I will give corresponding instructions to the police and the party immediately.”

 

8) Goebbels, two days later, November 12, 1938:

 

“At the Osteria [a restaurant in Munich], I report to the Führer. He agrees with everything. His views are quite radical and aggressive. The operation itself went flawlessly. 17 dead. But no German property was damaged.

With minor adjustments, the Führer approves my order pertaining to the termination of the actions. I will release it immediately through the press and radio. The Führer wants to take very harsh measures against the Jews. They will have to put their businesses back in order themselves. The insurance companies will not pay them anything. After that, the Führer wants to gradually expropriate the Jewish businesses and give the owners papers that we can annul at any time.”

 

9) Hermann Göring, decree, November 12, 1938:

 

“Decree on the Elimination of the Jews from Economic Life

On November 12, 1938.

Based on the regulations for the implementation of the Four-Year Plan of October 18, 1936 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 887), the following is decreed:

§1

(1) Jews (§5 of the First Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law of November 14, 1935 – Reichsgesetzblatt I p. 1333) are prohibited from operating retail shops, mail order businesses or sales agencies, and from independently practicing a trade, effective from January 1, 1939.

(2) Furthermore, as of the same date, they are prohibited from offering goods or commercial services of any kind at markets, fairs or exhibitions, advertising them or accepting orders for them.

(3) Jewish commercial enterprises (Third Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law of June 14, 1938 – Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 627) that are operated in violation of this ban are to be closed by the police.

§2

(1) As of January 1, 1939, no Jew can be a business executive within the meaning of the Law for the Regulation of National Labor of January 20, 1934 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 45).

(2) If a Jew is employed as a senior employee in an economic enterprise, he can be terminated with a notice period of six weeks. Upon expiry of the notice period, all claims of the employee arising from the terminated contract, in particular claims for pension benefits and severance pay, shall cease.

§3

(1) A Jew cannot be a member of a cooperative.

(2) Jewish members of cooperatives shall cease to be members on December 31, 1938. No special notice is required.

§4

The Reich Minister of Economy is authorized, in coordination with other Reich Ministers, to issue the necessary regulations for the implementation of this decree. He can allow exceptions if they are necessary for the transfer of a Jewish commercial enterprise to non-Jewish ownership, for the liquidation of Jewish commercial enterprises, or in special cases to ensure that essential supplies remain available.”

 

1939

 

10) Hitler, speech at the Reichstag, Berlin, January 30, 1939:

 

“Today, I want to be a prophet again: If international finance-Jewry within and without Europe should once again succeed in plunging the nations into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth and the victory of Jewry, but rather the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!

The peoples do not want to die on the battlefields anymore just so that this rootless international race can profit from the business of war and satisfy its Old Testament thirst for revenge. A higher understanding will triumph over the Jewish slogan 'Proletarians of all countries, unite', namely: 'Productive members of all nations, recognize your common enemy!'”

 

11) Reinhard Heydrich, instructions to the Einsatzgruppen, September 21, 1939:

 

“I refer to the meeting that took place in Berlin today and once again emphasize that the planned overall measures (i.e., the end goal) must be kept strictly secret.

It is important to distinguish between

(1) the end goal (which requires longer-term planning) and

(2) the stages necessary to achieve this goal (which will be carried out in the short term).

The planned measures require thorough preparation both from a technical and economic perspective.

It goes without saying that from this point onwards, the tasks ahead of us cannot be spelled out in detail. The following instructions and guidelines are also intended to urge the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen to implement the matter in practice.

I

For now, the first requirement for achieving the end goal is that the Jews from rural areas are concentrated in larger cities. This is to be carried out with all speed.

In doing so, a distinction must be made between

1) the areas of Danzig and West Prussia, Posen, East Upper Silesia and

2) the other occupied territories.

The area mentioned in point 1 is to be cleared of Jews if possible; at least the aim should be to establish only a few concentration cities.

In the areas mentioned in point 2, as few concentration points as possible should be set up to facilitate later measures. In this regard it should be noted that only cities that are railway junctions or at least located along railway lines are to be designated as concentration points.

As a general principle, Jewish communities with fewer than 500 people are to be dissolved and relocated to the nearest concentration city.

Care must be taken to ensure that the economic exploitation of the occupied territory is not negatively affected by the measures.”

 

1940

 

12) Himmler, essay on the Treatment of Foreigners in the East, May 15, 1940:

 

“In just a few years – I imagine in 4 to 5 years – the term Kaschubians, for example, should be unknown, because there will no longer be a Kaschubian people (this also applies especially to West Prussians). I hope to completely eradicate the term Jews by providing the possibility of a large-scale emigration of all Jews to Africa or to a colony elsewhere. It should also be possible, in a somewhat longer time frame, to make the concepts of the Ukrainian, Goral, and Lemko peoples disappear in our territory. The same applies, on a corres­pon­ding­ly larger scale, to the Poles.

A fundamental question in solving all these problems is the issue of schooling, and thus the question of screening and selecting the youth. For the non-German population of the East, there should be no education higher than the four-class elementary school. The goal of this elementary school should only be to teach:

Simple arithmetic up to a maximum of 500, writing one's name, and a lesson that it is a divine command to be obedient to the Germans and to be honest, diligent and well-behaved. I do not consider reading necessary.

Apart from this school, there should be no schools in the East at all. Parents who want to give their children better schooling in both elementary and higher education must from the outset apply to the Higher SS and Police Leaders. Whether the application will be approved, is primarily determined by whether the child is racially impeccable and meets our other requirements. If we recognize such a child as being of our own blood, the parents will be informed that the child will go to a school in Germany and stay in Germany permanently.

As cruel and tragic as each individual case may be, if out of inner conviction one rejects the Bolshevik method of physically exterminating a people as un-Germanic and impossible, this method is still the mildest and best.”

 

1941

 

13) Göring, letter to Heydrich, July 1941:

 

“In addition to the task already assigned to you by the decree of January 24th, 1939, to bring about a solution to the Jewish question in the form of emigration or evacuation in the most favorable manner according to current circumstances, I hereby commission you to make all necessary preparations in terms of organization, materials, and resources for a total solution to the Jewish question in the German sphere of influence in Europe. If this involves the jurisdiction of other central authorities, they are to be involved.

Furthermore, I instruct you to submit to me in the near future a comprehensive draft of the organizational, material, and preliminary measures for the implementation of the planned final solution to the Jewish question.”

 

14) Wetzel, letter about “gassing devices”, October 25, 1941:

 

“With reference to my letter of October 18, 1941, this is to inform you that Oberdienstleiter Brack of the Führer Chancellery has agreed to collaborate in the production of the required shelters and gassing devices [gas vans]. At this time, the desired devices are not available in sufficient quantity; they will first have to be manufactured. Since in Brack’s opinion, the manufacture of the devices in the Reich will cause much greater difficulties than doing it on the spot, Brack considers it most expedient to send his people to Riga, especially his chemist Dr. Kallmeyer, who will effect all further steps there. Oberdienstleiter Brack points out that the procedure in question is not without danger, so that special protective measures are necessary. In these circumstances, I request that you address yourself to Oberdienstleiter Brack in the Führer Chancellery through your Higher SS and Police Leader and request the dispatch of the chemist Kallmeyer and other assistants. I should inform you that Sturmbann­führer Eichmann, the expert for the Jewish Question in the RSHA is entirely in agreement with this process. According to information from Sturmbannführer Eichmann, camps for Jews are to be set up in Riga and Minsk, to which Jews from the Old Reich territory may also come. At this time, Jews are being evacuated out of the Old Reich to Litzmannstadt (Lodz), and also other camps, to then later be used for labour in the east insofar as they are capable of work.

As things now are, there are no objections if the Jews who are not capable of work, are eliminated with the Brackian devices. In this way, events such as those that, according to a report in front of me, took place on the occasion of the shootings of the Jews in Vilna, and which, considering that the shootings were carried out in public, can hardly be excused, will no longer be possible. On the other hand, those capable of work will be transported for labour in the east. It goes without saying that the male and female Jews capable of work will be kept apart from each other.

I request a report on your further measures.”

 

15) Hitler, table talk, October 25, 1941:

 

“In the presence of the Reichstag I prophesied to Jewry that if the war was not avoided, the Jew would disappear from Europe. This criminal race has the two million dead of the first world war on its conscience, and now once again hundreds of thousands. Don't tell me: 'We can't send them into the morass!' Who cares about our people? It is good when we are preceded by the terror of eradicating Jewry. The attempt to found a Jewish state will be a failure.”

 

16) Goebbels, diary entry, November 2, 1941:

 

“The Jews are the lice of civilized humanity. Somehow they must be exterminated, otherwise they will always play their tormenting and annoying role. To get rid of them, one must employ sufficient brutality. If you spare them, you will later on be their victim.”

 

17) Goebbels, essay titled The Jews are guilty!, 16 november 1941:

 

“The historical guilt of world Jewry for the outbreak and expansion of this war is sufficiently proven that no more words need to be wasted on it. The Jews wanted their war, and now they have it. But through them the prophecy that the Führer spoke in the German Reichstag on January 30, 1939, is also being fulfilled: that if international finance-Jewry should succeed in plunging the peoples into another world war, the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth and the victory of Jewry, but rather the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.

We are witnessing the fulfillment of this prophecy, and thus a fate that is harsh but well-deserved is befalling the Jews. Pity or even sympathy is completely inappropriate here. World Jewry completely misjudged the forces at its disposal in instigating this war, and it is now undergoing a gradual process of destruction that it had intended for us and would apply to us without hesitation if it had the power. It is now succumbing to its own law: 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'

In this historical confrontation, every Jew is our enemy, regardless of whether he vegetates in a Polish ghetto or still leads his parasitic existence in Berlin or Hamburg or blows the war trumpet in New York or Washington. All Jews belong, by virtue of their birth and race, to an international conspiracy against National Socialist Germany. They wish for its defeat and destruction and do what is in their power to help achieve it. The fact that they can find only limited opportunities to do so within the Reich is not due to their loyalty but solely due to the fact that we have taken the appropriate measures against them.

One of these measures is the introduction of the yellow Jewish star, which every Jew must visibly wear. We want to mark him outwardly, especially so that at the slightest attempt to go against the German community, he can immediately be recognized as a Jew. It is an extremely humane regulation, a kind of hygienic prophylaxis, which is intended to prevent the Jew from sneaking into our ranks unrecognized, to sow discord.

When the Jews appeared in the streets of Berlin a few weeks ago, adorned with their Jewish star, the first impression among the citizens of the capital of the Reich was one of general amazement. Only very few knew that there were still so many Jews in Berlin. Each person discovered in his surroundings or neighborhood a harmless contemporary who had occasionally stood out by grumbling or being sour, but whom nobody had considered a Jew. He had obviously disguised himself, engaged in mimicry, adapted to the milieu in which he lived in his protective camouflage, and waited for his moment. Who among us even had an inkling that the enemy was standing right beside him, that he was a silent or skillful instigator who listened to conversations on the street, in the subway, or in the lines in front of cigarette shops? There are Jews who can hardly be recognized by their appearance. They have also adjusted themselves in this regard, as far as possible. These are the most dangerous. It is characteristic that every measure we take against the Jews is already reported in English and American newspapers the next day. The Jews still have secret connections with the enemy abroad and use them not only for their own purposes but also in all matters that are essential to the war effort of the Reich. The enemy is therefore sitting right among us. What could be more natural than to make him recognizable, at least outwardly, to every citizen?

In the first few days after the introduction of the Jewish star, newspaper sales in Berlin soared rapidly. Every Jew who had to go out on the street bought a newspaper to shamefully cover up his mark of Cain. When that was forbidden, one could see Jews parading around the streets of West Berlin with non-Jewish foreigners. These lackeys of the Jews should actually be given a Jewish star as well. The arguments they put forward for their provocative behavior are always the same: the Jews are also human beings – as if we had ever claimed otherwise and as if the same did not also apply to robbers, child molesters, thieves and pimps without anyone wanting to take a walk with them on Kurfürstendamm!; their Jew is a decent Jew – every affected Jew has found a foolish and instinctless goy who thought he was decent!; they have known each other for years – as if that were a reason to give the Jew some kind of honorary guard; and what other nonsense there is.

The Jews now increasingly find themselves completely on their own and are trying a new trick. They know the good-natured ‘German Michel’ in us, who is always ready to forget all the injustice done to him for a sentimental tear: suddenly, one gets the impression that there are only cute little babies or frail elderly ladies among the Jews in Berlin, who are supposed to move us with their childish helplessness. The Jews send their sympathy brigade ahead. They may mislead some innocent minds for a moment, but not us. We know exactly what we are dealing with.

We must win the war for this reason alone. If we were to lose it, the seemingly harmless Jewish men of virtue would all of a sudden turn into ravenous wolves. They would pounce on our people, our women and children, to exact a revenge for which there is no precedent in history. That is what they did in Bessarabia and the Baltic States when Bolshevism took hold there; and neither the people nor the governments had inflicted any harm on them. We cannot turn back in our fight against Jewry – even if we wanted to. The Jews must be separated from the German national community, for they endanger our national unity. This is an elementary principle of racial, national and social hygiene. They will never give up. And if they could, they would lead one nation after another into war against us. What does the suffering of the people matter to them if they can force the world under their reign of money and blood! The Jews are a parasitic race that, like a festering mold, attaches itself to the cultures of healthy but instinctively poor peoples. There is only one effective remedy against this: to make a cut and repel them. How pathetic are the stupid, thoughtlessly sentimental arguments of some of these backward friends of the Jews in the face of this global problem that has occupied people for millennia! They would probably drop their jaws in shock if they ever saw their beloved Jews in possession of power. But then it would be too late. And that is why it is the duty of a national leadership to ensure, by whatever means it deems appropriate, that this state of affairs never arises. There is a difference between people and people, just as there is a difference between animals and animals. We know good and bad people, just as we know good and bad animals. The fact that the Jew still lives among us is not proof that he belongs to us, just as the flea does not become a pet by staying in the house. If Mr. Bramsig or Mrs. Knöterich feel a pang of pity at the sight of an old woman wearing the Jewish star, then they should not forget that a distant nephew of this old woman named Nathan Kaufman is sitting in New York preparing a plan to sterilize the entire German population under 60 years of age, and that the son of her distant uncle, as a war agitator under the name Baruch or Morgenthau or Untermayer, stands behind Mr. Roosevelt to push him into the war, and that, if he succeeds, a brave but ignorant U.S. soldier might shoot Mr. Bramsig's or Mrs. Knöterich's only son dead, all for the greater glory of Jewry, to which this old woman also belongs, no matter how fragile and pitiable she may seem.

If we Germans exhibit a fatal flaw in our national character, then it is one of all-too-great forgetfulness. This flaw may attest to our human decency and generosity, but not always to our political insight and wisdom. We assume that all people are as good-natured as we are. The French threaten to carve up our country in the winter of 1939/40 so that we would have to queue up with our families in front of their steaming field kitchens to get a hot meal. Our armies defeat France six weeks later, and then we see German soldiers distributing bread and sausages to hungry French women and children along the roadsides, and giving gasoline to Parisian refugees so they can return to their capital as quickly as possible and continue their agitation against the Reich.

That's just how we Germans are. Our national virtue is our national flaw. We wouldn't want to be any different, and as long as our world-renowned sense of fairness doesn't cause any serious harm, there's nothing to be said against it. But even Klopstock gave us good advice when he said one should not be too fair; our enemies don't think nobly enough to see how beautiful our flaw is.

If this word applies anywhere, it is to our relationship with the Jews. Here, softness is not only weakness, but also dereliction of duty and a crime against state security. Because the Jews are only waiting for an opportunity to reward our foolishness with blood and terror. That must never happen. And one of the most effective measures against it is an uncompromising, cold hardness against the corruptors of our people, against the instigators of this war, against its beneficiaries if we lose it, and therefore necessarily also against its victims if we win it.

Therefore, it shall be said once again to make things perfectly clear:

1. The Jews are our downfall. They instigated and brought about this war. They want to destroy the German Reich and our people with it. This plan must be thwarted.

2. There is no difference between Jews and Jews. Every Jew is a sworn enemy of the German people. If he does not show his enmity towards us, it is only out of cowardice and cunning, not because he does not bear it in his heart.

3. Every German soldier who dies in this war is added to the debit account of the Jews. They have him on their conscience, and so they will have to pay for it.

4. If someone wears the Jew star, he is marked as an enemy of the people. Anyone who still maintains private contact with him belongs to him and must be considered and treated like a Jew. He deserves the contempt of all the people for cowardly and meanly letting them down in their most difficult time in order to side with his haters.

5. The Jews enjoy the protection of hostile foreign countries. There is no need for further proof of the pernicious role they play in our folk.

6. The Jews are messengers of the enemy among us. Anyone who joins them in this war is defecting to the enemy.

7. The Jews have no right to pose as equals among us. Where they want to speak on the street, in queues in front of shops, or on public transport, they must be silenced, not only because they are fundamentally wrong, but because they are Jews and have no voice in the community.

8. If the Jews come to you sentimentally, know that this is to test your forgetfulness; show them immediately that you see through them and punish them with contempt.

9. The decent enemy deserves our magnanimity after the defeat. But the Jew is not a decent enemy, he only pretends to be one.

10. The Jews are to blame for the war. They suffer no injustice from the treatment we give them; they have more than earned it.

To finish with them definitively is a matter for the government. No one has the right to act on their own, but everyone has the duty to appreciate the measures of the state against the Jews, to represent them to everyone, and to not be misled by any tricks and maneuvers of the Jews in his clear recognition of their danger.

This is what the security of the state requires of us all.”

 

18) Alfred Rosenberg, press conference, November 18, 1941:

 

“At the same time, this East is called upon to solve a question that is posed to the peoples of Europe: the Jewish question. In the East, there are still about six million Jews, and this question can only be solved by a biological eradication of all of Jewry in Europe. The Jewish question is only solved for Germany when the last Jew has left German territory, and for Europe when no Jew stands on European soil up to the Urals. […]

For this reason it is necessary to expel them over the Urals or eradicate them in some other way.”

 

19) Karl Jäger, the Jäger Report, December 1, 1941:

 

“Executions carried out by Lithuanian partisans on my instructions and under my command:

[list]

Following deployment of a raiding commando under the leadership of SS First Lieutenant Hamann and 8 to 10 reliable men from Einsatzkommando 3, the following operations were carried out in collaboration with Lithuanian partisans:

[list]

I can state today that the goal of solving the Jewish problem for Lithuania has been achieved by Einsatzkommando 3. In Lithuania, there are no more Jews, other than the Work Jews, including their families. They are:

In Schaulen around 4,500

In Kauen “ 15,000

In Wilna “ 15,000

I also wanted to kill these Work Jews, including their families, which however brought upon me acrimonious challenges from the civil administration (the Reichskommisar) and the army and caused the prohibition: the Work Jews and their families are not to be shot!

The goal of making Lithuania free of Jews could only be attained through the deployment of a raiding commando with selected men under the leadership of SS First Lieutenant Hamann, who completely and entirely adopted my goals and understood the importance of ensuring the co-operation of the Lithuanian partisans and the competent civilian positions.

The implementation of such activities is primarily a question of organization. The decision to systematically make every district free of Jews necessitated an exhaustive preparation of each individual operation and reconnaissance of the prevailing circumstances in the applicable district. The Jews had to be assem­bled at one or several locations. Depending on the number, a place for the required pits had to be found and the pits dug. The marching route from the assembly place to the pits amounted on average to 4 to 5 kilometers. The Jews were transported to the place of execution in detachments of 500, at intervals of at least 2 kilometers.[...]

I consider the Jewish operations for Einsatzkommando 3 as essentially completed. The still available Work Jews and female Work Jews are urgently required and I can foresee that post-Winter, this manpower will still be most urgently required. I am of the view that sterilization of the male Work Jews should begin immediately to prevent reproduction. Should a Jewess nonetheless become pregnant, she is to be liquidated.”

 

20) Goebbels, diary entry, December 13, 1941:

 

“Regarding the Jewish question, the leader is determined to wipe the slate clean. He has prophesied to the Jews that if they were to bring about another world war, they would experience their destruction in it. That was not just a phrase. The world war is here, and the destruction of Jewry must be the necessary consequence. This question must be considered without any sentimentality. We are not here to have sympathy for the Jews but only for our German people. If the German people have now again sacrificed around 160,000 dead in the Eastern campaign, the instigators of this bloody conflict will have to pay for it with their lives.”

 

21) Hans Frank, speech in Krakau, December 16, 1941:

 

“As far as the Jews are concerned – I wish to tell you quite openly – we must one way or another be finished with them. As a senior National Socialist I must also tell you that if the Jewish clan in Europe were to survive the war, our victory would only be a partial success. But what should be done with the Jews? Do you think they will be settled in villages in the East? Gentlemen, I must ask you not to be swayed by considerations of compassion. We must destroy the Jews wherever we find them and wherever it is possible, in order to maintain the overall structure of the Reich here. The Jews are extremely harmful eaters for us as well. We have approximately 2.5, maybe 3.5 million Jews in the General Government. We cannot shoot them, we cannot poison them, but what we can do is carry out measures that will somehow lead to their destruction.”

 

22) Heinrich Himmler, handwritten note, December 18, 1941:

 

“Führer Headquarters Wolf's Lair

- Jewish question / to be eradicated as partisans

- Reorganization of the Waffen SS

- SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte”

 

1942

 

23) Heydrich, speech at the Wannsee conference, January 20, 1942:

 

“During its practical implementation, Europe will be combed through from west to east. This means that the Jews from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway will be evacuated first. [...] The aim is to transport the Jews from Central Europe to the East in the coming months. Although the intention is not to obtain labor force here, all able-bodied Jews will be used for construction work in these regions.

As an alternative to emigration, the evacuation of the Jews to the East is now, with the approval of the Führer, being considered as another solution. However, this solution should be considered only temporary, because it gives us the opportunity to gain practical experience that will be of use for the final solution to the Jewish question.”

 

24) Goebbels, diary entry, February 14, 1942:

 

“The suffering that the Russian people have had to endure under Bolshevism is indescribable. This Jewish terrorism must be eradicated from all of Europe, root and branch. That is our historical task. Doubtless, with the Bolshevist victory in Russia, Jewish rule will be established throughout the world. This war must be waged to keep that from happening. The Führer once again expressed his determination to ruthlessly cleanse Europe of its Jews. There must be no squeamish sentimentalism about it. The Jews have deserved the catastrophe that has now overtaken them. With the destruction of our enemies, they will also experience their own destruction. We must hasten this process with cold ruthlessness. The more ruthlessly we proceed with this, the better it will be for our own people in the end.

We must hasten this process with cold ruthlessness, and in doing so we are doing an invaluable service to the suffering humanity that has been tormented by Jewry for thousands of years. This clear anti-Jewish attitude must also be enforced upon the recalcitrant circles within our own people. The Führer expressly emphasized this, and again afterwards in a circle of officers who have now taken this to heart.”

 

25) Goebbels, diary entry, February 19, 1942:

 

“Last evening in a small circle of friends I watched a Polish-Yiddish movie called 'The Dybbuk'. This film is intended as Jewish propaganda but it is so anti-Semitic that one can only wonder how little the Jews know about them­selves and how little they are aware of what is repulsive to a non-Jewish person and what is not. While watching this film, you once again become aware that the Jewish race is the most dangerous one that populates the earth, and that towards it you must show no mercy or indulgence. This riffraff must be eradicated root and branch; without this, it is not possible to bring peace to the world.”

 

26) Goebbels, diary entry, March 6, 1942:

 

“The Jews everywhere act as agitators and instigators. It is therefore understandable that to a large extent they have to pay for it with their lives. In general, I am of the opinion that the more Jews are liquidated during this war, the more consolidated the situation in Europe will be after the war. False sentimentality should not prevail here. The Jews are the European misfortune; they must somehow be eliminated.”

 

27) Goebbels, diary entry, March 27, 1942:

 

“From the General Government, starting at Lublin, the Jews are now being deported to the East. A fairly barbaric procedure – that is not to be described in detail – is being employed, and of the Jews not much remains. In general, it can be stated that 60% of them must be liquidated, while only 40% can be put to work. The former Gauleiter of Vienna, who is carrying out this operation, is doing so quite prudently and with a procedure that is not too conspicuous. Upon the Jews a criminal judgment is carried out which is barbaric but they fully deserve. The prophecy that the Führer gave them for bringing about a new world war is beginning to come true in the most terrible way. One should not have sentimentalities in these matters.”

 

“If we do not defend ourselves against the Jews, they will destroy us. It is a fight to the death between the Aryan race and the Jewish bacillus. No other government or regime could muster the strength to solve this problem fully. Here too, the leader is the unwavering champion and spokesman for a radical solution that appears necessary and therefore inevitable. Thank God we now have a whole range of opportunities during the war that would be denied us in peacetime. We must take advantage of them. The ghettos freed up in the cities of the General Government are now being filled with Jews deported from the Reich, and after a certain period of time the process will then repeat itself. Jewry has nothing to laugh about. As its representatives are today organizing and propagating the war against Germany in England and America, its representatives in Europe will have to pay a very high price, which must also be considered justified.”

 

28) Goebbels, diary entry, April 29, 1942:

 

“The Jews are given short shrift in all occupied Eastern territories. Tens of thousands have to face their demise, and the prophecy of the Führer is fulfilled in them, that a world war sparked by Jewry will have to be paid for with the extermination of its race.”

 

29) Goebbels, diary entry, May 30, 1942:

 

“Germans only participate in subversive movements when Jews seduce them to do so. That's why the Jewish danger must be liquidated at any cost. It can be seen from the fact that when they are returned to the ghetto, they are quickly ghettoized again, that Jews cannot really adapt to Western European life. Western European civili­zation is only an external paint for them. However, there are also elements among the Jews who act with dangerous brutality and vindictiveness. Therefore, the Führer does not want the Jews to be evacuated to Siberia. There, under the toughest living conditions, they would undoubtedly become a vital element again. He would prefer to resettle them in Central Africa, where they would live in a climate that certainly wouldn't make them strong and resilient. In any case, the Führer's goal is to make Western Europe completely free of Jews.”

 

30) Nondisclosure agreement, Lublin, July 18, 1942:

 

“Agreement

regarding the obligations of . . . . . . . . .

as a specially authorized person for carrying out work related to the resettlement of Jews within the framework of 'Operation Reinhard' with the SS and Police Leader in the Lublin district.

The . . . [name] . . . states:

Through SS Hauptsturmführer Höfle, head of the main department 'Operation Reinhard' with the SS and Police Leader in the Lublin district, I have been extensively informed and instructed:

1. that under no circumstances may I provide any oral or written information about the course, execution or events of the resettlement of Jews to persons outside the circle of co-workers in ‘Operation Reinhard’;

2. that the events of the resettlement of Jews are a matter of 'Reich Secret' within the meaning of classification V. a;

3. about the corresponding special provisions of the business regulations of the SS and Police Leader in the Lublin district, with explicit reference to the fact that these regulations are “orders in official matters” or “commands and prohibitions” within the meaning of Section 92b of the Criminal Code;

4. about an explicit prohibition on photography in the camps of 'Operation Reinhard';

5. about Sections 88 to 93 of the Criminal Code in the version of April 24, 1934 and the Regulation against Bribery and Treason of Non-Civil Servants of May 3, 1917 and February 12, 1920;

6. about Sections 139 (duty to report) and 353c (violation of official secrecy) of the Criminal Code.

I am aware of the regulations and laws mentioned and am aware of the duties that arise from the assigned task.

I promise to perform them to the best of my knowledge and conscience. I am aware that the duty of confidentiality continues even after my departure from service.”

 

31) Ley, speech, September 13, 1942:

 

“We swear we are not going to abandon the struggle until the last Jew in Europe has been exterminated and is actually dead. It is not enough to isolate the Jewish enemy of mankind – the Jew has got to be exterminated.”

 

32) Otto Hofmann, speech, September 30, 1942:

 

“Maybe in 20 years there will be no more Jews. There are a total of 11 million Jews in [Europe and] European Russia, so there is still quite some work to be done. I can't imagine we have eliminated more than 1 million. It is high time we are freed from this plague in Europe.”

 

33) Hitler, speech , September 30, 1942:

 

“There was a time when the Jews in Germany laughed at my prophecies. I don't know if today they're still laughing or if they've stopped. But believe me: everywhere the laughter will cease.”

 

34) Goebbels, diary entry, December 11, 1942:

 

“Jewish rabbis in London are organizing a large protest around the theme 'England Awake!' It's hilarious that now, after 15 years, the Jews are forced to steal our slogans. The very same slogan with which we once called on the anti-Semitic world to fight against Jewry, they are now using to call upon the philosemitic world to fight against us. But it won't help the Jews at all. The Jewish race has prepared this war, it is the spiritual author of all the misfortunes that have befallen the world. Jewry must pay for its crime – as the leader prophesied in his Reichstag speech 121 – with the eradication of the Jewish race in Europe and perhaps in the whole world.”

 

35) Heinrich Kinna, report, December 16, 1942:

 

“Regarding work capability, SS-Hauptsturmführer Aumeier explained that only able-bodied Poles should be delivered, in order to avoid any unnecessary burden on the camp and transportation. The mentally impaired, idiots, cripples, and sick people must be removed from the camp as quickly as possible through liquidation, in order to relieve the camp of their presence. This measure is made more difficult, however, by the directions of the Reich Security Main Office which state that, contrary to the measures applied to the Jews, Poles must die a natural death. Therefore, the camp management requested that they refrain from allocating individuals who are incapable of working.”

 

36) Himmler, ‘Report to the Führer’, December 29, 1942:

 

“The Reichsführer-SS

Field Command Post

December 29, 1942

Subject: Report to the Führer on fighting the partizans

Report No. 51

Southern Russia, Ukraine, Bialystok

Successes in fighting partizans from 1.9 to 1.12.1942

1. Partizans:

a) confirmed dead after combat (x)

August: 227

September: 381

October: 427

November: 302

Total: 1,337

b) prisoners immediately executed

August: 125

September: 282

October: 87

November: 243

Total: 737

c) prisoners executed after longer and more detailed interrogation:

August: 2,100

September: 1,400

October: 1,596

November: 2,731

Total: 7,828

2. Partizan collaborators and suspects:

a) arrested

August: 1,343

September: 3,078

October: 8,337

November: 3,795

Total: 16,553

b) executed

August: 1,198

September: 3,020

October: 6,333

November: 3,706

Total: 14,257

c) Jews executed

August: 31,246

September: 165,282

October: 95,735

November: 70,948

Total: 363,211

3. Defectors due to German propaganda:

August: 21

September: 14

October: 42

November: 63

Total: 140

(x) As the Russians remove their fallen or immediately bury them, the casualty figures could be considerably higher, as confirmed by prisoner statements.”

1943

 

37) Karl Bischoff, ‘Vergasungskeller’, January 29, 1943:

 

“The crematorium II was completed with the use of all available hands, despite unspeakable difficulties and freezing weather, working day and night until only minor construction work remained. In the presence of Chief Engineer Prüfer of the executing company, Topf & Sons, Erfurt, the ovens were fired up and are functioning perfectly. The concrete ceiling of the corpse cellar could not yet be dismantled due to frost. This is of no great significance however since the gassing cellar can be used for this purpose. Due to a railway obstruction, Topf & Sons was unable to deliver the ventilation system on time, as requested by the central construction management. However, upon arrival of the ventilation system, installation will commence immediately, so that the system is expected to be fully operational by February 20, 1943. A report by the testing engineer from Topf & Sons is attached.”

 

38) Goebbels, diary entry, May 13, 1943:

 

“They will use any means to put up a fight against this gradual campaign of annihilation. One of these means is war. We must be aware that we still have very difficult battles to fight in this conflict between the Aryan race and the Jewish race, because Jewry has succeeded in enlisting large ethnic groups from the Aryan race – consciously or unconsciously – in its service. [...] According to the firm conviction of the Führer, world Jewry is facing a historic downfall. […] The intellectual man does not have the natural defenses against the Jewish danger, because he is fundamentally broken in his instincts. As a result, peoples with a high level of civilization are most exposed and most vulnerable to the danger. In nature, life always acts the same way against parasitism, but in the world of peoples, this is not exclusively the case. The Jewish danger is actually the result of this. Therefore, modern nations have no choice but to exterminate the Jews. […] Those peoples who are most likely to recognize the Jew and who are most likely to fight him will take his place in world domination.”

 

39) Alfred Franke-Gricksch, reporting on gas chambers, May 1943:

 

“Jewish resettlement action.

The Auschwitz camp has a special task in the settlement of the Jewish question. The most modern methods make it possible to implement the Führer Order very quickly and discreetly. The so called “resettlement action” for the Jews proceeds as follows:

The Jews arrive in special trains (goods wagons) towards evening and are taken by a special line to a special area of the camp. There they are unloaded and examined by a medical board in the presence of the Camp Commandant and several SS leaders in the first place to see if they are fit for work. Here anybody who can be integrated into the work process in any way is sent to a special camp. Those with some temporary ailment are sent immediately to the quarantine camp and are brought back to health through a special diet. The basic principle is: keep as many prisoners as possible for labor. The “resettle­ment action” of the old sort is completely rejected, for it is not permissible to systematically destroy substantial labour capacities.

The unfit go to a biggish house, into the basement rooms, which are accessi­ble from the outside. They descend 5 or 6 steps and come to a long, well built and ventilated basement, fitted with benches on the right and left. It is brightly lit, and above the benches are numbers. The prisoners are told that they are to be disinfected and washed ready for their new tasks. They therefore have to undress completely to be bathed. In order to avoid any panic or disorder, they are told to arrange their clothes neatly and leave them under a number so that they can find their things again after the bath. Everything proceeds in complete calm. They then go through a small corridor and arrive in a big basement room that resembles a shower room. In this room, there are three big pillars. Into these it is possible from above, outside the basement, to lower certain products. After 300 to 400 people have gathered in this room, the doors are closed and from above the containers with the products are lowered into the pillars. When the containers reach the floor of the pillars, they produce certain substances that put the people to sleep in one minute. A few minutes later, the door on the other side is opened, leading to a lift. The hair of the corpses is cut off and the teeth are broken out (gold teeth) by qualified people (Jews). It has been observed that Jews have hidden jewels, gold, platinum, etc. in hollow teeth. After this the corpses are loaded into the lift said go to the first floor. There, there are 10 big crematorium furnaces in which the corpses are burned. (As fresh corpses burn particularly well, the whole process requires only ½ to 1 kg of coke). The work itself is carried out by Jewish prisoners who will never leave this camp.

The result to date of this “resettlement action”: 500,000 Jews. The present capacity of the “resettlement action” furnaces: 10,000 in 24 hours.”

 

40) Martin Bormann, confidential circular, July 11, 1943:

 

“In accordance with the Führer's orders, I announce that in public discussion of the Jewish question, any mention of a future total solution must be avoided. However, it can be mentioned that the Jews as a whole are given appropriate labor assignments.”

 

 

41) Himmler, speech in Posen, October 4, 1943:

 

“I also want to mention, with complete openness here before you, a very difficult chapter here. It should be discussed between us, and yet we will never speak about it in public. Just as we did not hesitate on June 30th to do our duty and to line up and shoot comrades who had transgressed. About that we never talked and will never talk about. It was a sense of tact that fortunately existed within us, a natural tactfulness, that we never discussed it among ourselves, never talked about it. It made everyone shudder and everyone was clear that they would do it again next time if was ordered and if it was necessary.

I am referring to the ‘evacuation of the Jews’: the extermination of the Jewish people. It is one of those things that is easily said. “The Jewish people will be exterminated,” every party member will tell you, “that's clear, it's in our program, elimination of the Jews, extermination, we'll do that, pffft, no big deal!”

And then they all come, all the decent 80 million Germans, and each one has his decent Jew. They'll say: all the others are swine, but this one here is a fine Jew.

And none of them has seen it, endured it. Most of you will know what it means when 100 corpses are lying side by side, or 500, or 1,000 are lying there. And to have endured this, and at the same time to have remained decent – apart from some instances of human weakness – has made strength­en­ed us, and it's a glorious page in our history that's never mentioned and never to be mentioned.

Because we know how difficult it would be for us if today, in every city, amid the bombings, under the burdens and hardships of the war, we still had the Jews among us as secret saboteurs, agitators, and instigators. We would probably have reached the stage of 1916/17 now if the Jews were still in the German body politic.

We have appropriated the riches they had, and I have given strict orders which Obergruppenführer Pohl has carried out: we have handed all of those riches over to the Reich, to the state. We have not taken anything for ourselves. Individuals who have deviated will be dealt with according to the orders that I gave in the beginning: anyone who takes even a Mark will be sentenced to death. A number of SS men have deviated, but they are not many and they're marked for death – NO MERCY!

We have the moral right, we had the obligation to our people to do what we have done to this people that wanted to destroy us. But we don't have the right to enrich ourselves with a fur, a Mark, a cigarette, a watch, or anything else. We do not have that right. We do not want to, in the end, become sick and die from the germ we’re exterminating.

I will never allow even the slightest trace of corruption to enter or settle in our ranks. But where it should settle, we will burn it out together. Overall, we can say that we have done this most difficult task out of love for our people. And we have suffered no harm to our inner selves, our souls, our characters.”

 

1944

 

42) G.G. Otto, The Jew As World Parasite pamphlet for the Wehrmacht, 1944:

 

“In this war, which is about the existence or non-existence of the German people, we must remember every day that it was Jewry that unleashed this war against us. Whether the Jew confronts us as a Bolshevik or plutocrat, as a Freemason or in any other disguise, or even without a mask, he always remains the same. It is he who has incited and spiritually influenced the various nations that stand against us today, making them more or less willing tools of international Jewry against us. [...]

Especially now, at the beginning of the sixth year of the war, we must not allow ourselves to ignore the Jewish question in any way. To this end we must first and foremost counteract the various remnants of earlier educational influences and the generally accepted views that regard Judaism only as a confession. Instead, the issue of racial mixing, as represented by Judaism, must be emphasized as being funda­mental. Thus, the question of the Jews' respective religious affiliation should be completely ignored and only blood­line and race should be considered fundamental.

We National Socialists believe the Führer when he says that the end of this struggle – unleashed by the Jewish world parasite against us as its strongest oppo­nent – will result in the destruction of Jewry in Europe. However, until this destruc­tion is achieved, we must always remember that the Jew is our absolute and ruthless opponent who towards us knows only one goal: our complete annihilation. [...]

Therefore, we state:

The parasite among humans is the Jew. He can infest the individual as a single parasite, entire peoples as a social parasite, and humanity as a world parasite. [...]

We draw from this the consequence that the mere existence of the idea of Jewish world domination constitutes a threat, that the very possibility of Jewish world domination poses a particularly great danger to all peoples, and that the realization of Jewish world domination would mean the end not only of peoples but also of that world which is connected with the works of our entire culture, with the consciousness of our entire history, and with the essence of our blood heritage in general. [...]

The fulfillment of all these demands is – for each one of us – the best, safest, and most effective weapon against Jewry in general and against the parasitic nature of the Jew in particular. Only the unity of our national body and our national will closes off any opportunity for the Jew to penetrate our national life again. The Jew must then recognize that he cannot return to Germany as an individual, nor can he regain any intellectual influence over us.

And finally, such a united stance of the German people is the best guarantee that other nations not only recognize our struggle but also recognize that we are on the right path while they are on the wrong one.

The Führer says: “By defending myself against the Jew, I am doing the Lord's work.” As the Führer has shown us how to fight against Jewry, the German people have the same task of efficacy before the world: through the example of the decisive struggle against the Jewish world parasite!”

 

1945

 

43) Goebbels, diary entry, March 15, 1945:

 

“The Jews report back. Their spokesman is the well-known and notorious author Leopold Schwarzschild, who is now arguing in the American press that under no circumstances should Germany be accorded milder treatment. One day these Jews will have be killed like rats, by anyone who has the power to do so. In Germany, thank God, we have already dutifully taken care of that.”

 

44) Hitler's testament, April 29, 1945:

 

“Nor have I left anyone in doubt that, if the peoples of Europe are once more regarded as mere shares to be bought and sold by these international money and finance conspirators, then that race will also be held accountable who are actually to blame for this murderous struggle: Jewry!

I have likewise been very clear that this time around the millions of European children of Aryan descent won't be starving to death, the millions of men will not die in battle, and the hundreds of thousands of women and children will not be burned or bombed to death in our cities, without the true culprit having to pay for his guilt, albeit by more humane means.

Above all, I oblige the nation's leadership and its loyal followers to strictly observe the racial laws and to mercilessly fight back against the poisoner of all nations, international Jewry.”

 

Post-war

 

45) Adolf Eichmann, prison memoirs, 1960:

 

“These gentlemen [at the Wannsee conference] were discussing the subject quite bluntly, quite differently from the language that I had to use later in the record. During the conversation they minced no words about it at all. They spoke about methods of killing, about liquidation, about extermination.”

“I witnessed the gruesome workings of the machinery of death; gear meshed with gear, like clockwork. It was the biggest and most enormous dance of death of all times.”

 

46) Wilhelm Höttl, testimony in English at the Eichmann trial, 1961:

 

“When I gave evidence to the Nuremberg court from 1945 to 1947, I had the opportunity of discussing this question as well with many of the senior and highest-placed officials of the Third Reich. As a historian with a professional interest, I wished first of all to identify the origin of the order to destroy the Jewish People. Although everybody I asked stated that they were not familiar with the ultimate context of this extermination order, they all, without exception, believed that the idea of physically exterminating the Jewish People came from Hitler himself, who, when he included the war against Russia in his programme, apparently believed that it would only be possible to destroy Communism if, at the same time, the entire Jewish People was also physically exterminated.

According to the reports available, the appointment in the Russian army of 'Commissars', as they were known, was said to be restricted in the main to Jewish circles. In this instance, too, Hitler therefore doubtless equated 'Communist official' with 'Jew'. That would be the explanation for his "Commissars Order" which, as I see it, is the initial foundation for the first mass destructions of Jews. Thus the beginning of these mass destruction operations can be taken to be the beginning of the Russian campaign in the summer of 1941.

I would understand the question about Heydrich's special assignment as his having received Hitler's order through Himmler, and being responsible subsequently for its implementation just like Pohl (SS Economic-Administrative Head Office). [...]

As far as I remember, Eichmann came to see me in the late forenoon. He was wearing battledress, i.e., not his dress uniform which he had worn on his other visits to me. He gave an impression of being very nervous, and this became even more marked when I told him about the disastrous situation on the German front. Doubtless I, too, was very dejected at the time, because I was afraid that there was nothing which would be able to stop the Russian advance through Hungary to my native Austria. Eichmann then swallowed several glasses of brandy, one after the other. As far as I remember, I set a bottle of arrack down with a glass, so he could help himself.

I was alone in the room with Eichmann and, as far as I know, there was no one from my or Eichmann's staff around. The conversation on which I testified in 1945 before the Nuremberg Tribunal developed as follows, as I remember it:

Eichmann stood up and said farewell with the following words: "We shall probably never see each other again," or something similar. Then apparently he felt obliged to explain this pessimistic attitude and indicated that he was convinced that, with the German defeat, which was now to be expected, he stood no chance any more. When I asked him why he thought this, Eichmann said that, in view of his role in the programme to exterminate the Jews, he was considered by the Allies to be a top war criminal. When he made this comment, I immediately grasped the opportunity to say that I had always wanted to hear reliable information about the extermination programme, and particularly about the number of Jews exterminated. To my surprise Eichmann responded to that, and said something along the following lines (in 1945, when I testified before the Nuremberg court, I obviously remembered the details more clearly than today, seventeen years later. I therefore apologize for any minor deviations):

He said that the number of murdered Jews was a very great Reich secret, but with the situation in which he, Eichmann, found himself today, he still could tell me something about it, particularly since I was a historian. Eichmann then told me that, according to his information, some 6,000,000 (six million) Jews had perished until then – 4,000,000 (four million) in extermination camps and the remaining 2,000,000 (two million) through shooting by the Operations Units and other causes, such as disease, etc.

I presumably reacted in a very shocked fashion to this figure, because Eichmann immediately commented that Himmler believed that the figure of six million Jews killed could not be correct, and that the overall figure must be higher.

I do not remember Eichmann making any form of personal statement or excuse. Eichmann also did not say that he felt himself guilty of the deaths of these six million Jews. As I have said, he simply answered my question as to how many Jews had actually been exterminated. [...]

To conclude this point, I should like to add that the conversation with Eichmann did not indicate whether this figure of six million murdered Jews included only those who were Jews by race and religion, or whether it also included other categories, such as persons of mixed parentage, and perhaps also other ethnic groups, such as Gypsies, who were also within Hitler's extermination programme. [...]

As can be seen from my statement so far, it was only in Hungary that I was able to observe deportations of Jews with my own eyes, and to ascertain who was responsible for them. My statement at Nuremberg at the time is therefore primarily based on Eichmann's activities in Hungary, but in the first months of captivity I discovered in the meantime that Eichmann had been active in other occupied countries in a similar manner.”

 

47) Testimony of SS officer Rudolf Höss, commander of the Auschwitz camp:

 

“In the summer of 1941 – I cannot specify the exact time right now – I was suddenly ordered to report to the Reichsführer SS in Berlin, directly by his adjutant. Contrary to his usual practice, without the presence of an adjutant he essentially told me the following:

“The Führer has ordered the final solution of the Jewish question, and we – the SS – are to carry out this order. The existing extermination sites in the East are not able to carry out the intended large-scale operations. Therefore, I have designated Auschwitz for this purpose, firstly because of its favorable location near a railway, and secondly because the area to be designated there can easily be cordoned off and camouflaged. I had originally selected a higher-ranking SS leader for this task, but in order to avoid any jurisdictional difficulties, that decision was rescinded, and now you are to carry out this task. It is a tough and difficult job that requires a full commitment of the individual, disregarding any difficulties that may arise. You will receive further details from Sturmbannführer Eichmann from the RSHA, who will be coming to see you soon. The departments involved will be notified by me in due course. You are strictly forbidden to disclose this order to anyone, including your superiors. After your discussion with Eichmann, send me the plans of the intended camp immediately. The Jews are the eternal enemies of the German people and must be exterminated. All Jews that are within our reach are now, during the war, to be exterminated without exception. If we don't succeed now in destroying the biological foundations of Jewry, the Jews will one day destroy the German people.”

After receiving this grave order, I immediately returned to Auschwitz without reporting to my superior office in Oranienburg.

Shortly thereafter, Eichmann came to me in Auschwitz and informed me about the plans for the actions in various countries. I cannot recall the exact order, but first, East Upper Silesia and the adjoining parts of the General Government were to be targeted for Auschwitz. Simultaneously, and then depending on the situation, Jews from Germany and Czechoslovakia would be targeted, followed by the West: France, Belgium, and Holland. He also gave me approximate numbers of expected trans­ports, which I cannot recall.

We further discussed the implementation of the extermination. Gas was the only option because eliminating the expected masses through shooting would be simply impossible and too great a burden on the SS men who would have to carry it out, considering there would be women and children.

Eichmann acquainted me with the killing method of using motor exhaust fumes in trucks, which had been previously carried out in the East. However, this method was not suitable for the expected mass transports to Auschwitz. The killing method using carbon monoxide gas through showers in a bathhouse, as was carried out for the extermination of the mentally ill in some places in the Reich, required too much construction work, and the procurement of gas for the large masses would be very problematic. We did not come to a decision on this matter. Eichmann wanted to inquire about a gas that would be easy to obtain and would not require special facilities, and then report back to me. We went to the site to determine the suitable location. We considered the farmhouse at the northwest corner of the later construction area III of Birkenau suitable. It was secluded, protected against visibility from surrounding forests and hedges, and not too far from the railway. The bodies were to be buried in deep, long trenches on the adjacent meadow. At that time, we did not consider burning the bodies. We calculated that about 800 people could be killed simultaneously in the existing premises by sealing them and using a suitable gas. This also corresponded to the later capacity. Eichmann could not yet tell me the start date of the actions, as everything was still in preparation, and the RF-SS [Himmler] had not yet ordered the start.

Eichmann returned to Berlin to report our discussion to the RF-SS. A few days later, I sent a precise site plan and a detailed description of the facility to the RF-SS through a courier. I never received a response or notice about it. Some time later, Eichmann told me that the RF-SS had agreed with it.

At the end of November, there was a staff meeting of the entire department involved with the Jews at Eichmann's office in Berlin, to which I was also called. Eichmann's representatives in each country reported on the status of the actions and the difficulties that stood in the way of carrying out the actions, such as accommo­dating the detainees, providing transport trains, schedule conferences, and the like. I still could not find out the start of the actions. Eichmann had not yet found a suitable gas.

In the autumn of 1941, Russian politruks, commissars, and special political officials were separated by the Gestapo from the POW camps and taken to the nearest concentration camp for liquidation, under a secret special order. Smaller transports of this kind arrived continuously in Auschwitz, and the people in them were killed by shooting in the gravel pit near the Monopol buildings or in the courtyard of Block 11. During one of his business trips, my representative, Hauptsturmführer Fritsch, used gas to kill these Russian prisoners of war on his own initiative. He filled the individual cells in the basement with the Russians and, wearing gas masks, threw Zyklon B into the cells, causing immediate death. Zyklon B gas was continuously used in Auschwitz by the Tesch and Stabenow company for pest control, and there was always a supply of these gas canisters at the administration. In the beginning this poison gas, a preparation of hydrocyanic acid, was being applied, with the greatest precautions, by employees of the Tesch and Stabenow company. Later, some SS medical personnel were trained as disinfectants at the company, and they then carried out the application of the gas for disinfection and pest control. On Eichmann's next visit, I reported to him about the use of Zyklon B, and we decided to use this gas for future mass extermination.

In 1941 the first transport of Jews from Slovakia and the Upper Silesian region arrived. Those who were not fit for work were gassed in the front room of the crematorium on an order from Himmler, which he gave to me personally. I was summoned to Berlin in June 1941 to Himmler, who said something along these lines:

“The Führer has ordered the solution of the Jewish question in Europe. There already are some so-called extermination camps in the General Government (Belzec near Rawa Ruska, eastern Poland; Treblinka near Małkinia on the Bug River and Wolzek near Lublin). These camps are under the command of the Einsatz­komman­dos of the Security Police, led by senior Sipo officers and guards. However, these camps are not very efficient and can't be further developed.”

I visited the Treblinka camp myself in the spring of 1942 to inform myself about the conditions. The exterminations were carried out using small cham­bers the size of a living room, which were filled with gas from car engines through supply pipes.

I cannot recall the exact time when the extermination of Jews began. It was probably in December 1941, but perhaps not until January 1942. At first, it concerned Jews from Eastern Upper Silesia. These Jews were arrested by the Gestapo head­quarters in Katowice and brought in transports on the Auschwitz-Dziedzice railway line and unloaded there. As far as I can remem­ber, these transports were never more than 1,000 people. I only remember the numbers of the larger actions that were repeatedly mentioned to me by Eichmann or his representatives.

 

From Upper Silesia and the General Government: 250,000

From Germany and Theresienstadt: 100,000

 

I no longer remember the numbers of the smaller actions, but they were insignifi­cant compared to the above. I consider the number of 2 1/2 million to be far too high. Even at Auschwitz the possibilities for extermination had their limits.

In earlier interrogations, the figure I gave for the number of Jews sent to Auschwitz for extermination was 2 1/2 million. This number came from Eichmann, who gave it to my superior, Gruppenführer Glücks, shortly before the encirclement of Berlin, when he was ordered to report to the RF-SS. Eichmann or his permanent represen­tative, Günther, were the only ones who had any documentation on the total number of those exterminated. After each major action in Auschwitz, all documents that could provide information on the number of people exterminated had to be incinerated, in accordance with an order of the RF-SS.

Originally, according to a RF-SS order, all Jews transported to Auschwitz by the Eichmann office were to be exterminated, without exception. This was also done with the Jews from the Upper Silesia region, but with the first transports of German Jews, the order came to select all able-bodied Jews – men and women – and use them in the camp for the purpose of armaments manufacture.

However, the Jews were only to be used that way in the Auschwitz camp. Auschwitz-Birkenau was to become a purely Jewish camp, and all other nationalities were to be transported to other camps. This order was never completely carried out, and later on some Jews were also employed in armament factories outside the camp due to a shortage of other laborers. The selection of able-bodied Jews was to be carried out by SS doctors.”

 

Gas vans and crematoria

 

48) Letter from Dr. August Becker to commander Walter Rauff, May 16, 1942:

 

“In addition, I have ordered that during the gassings, all men should be kept as far away from the vans as is possible, so that they are not harmed by any escaping gases. On this matter I would like to draw attention to the following:

Several commanders have their own men do the unloading after the gassing is done.

1. I have notified the commanders of the respective Sonderkommandos of the immense psychological and physical damage that this work can cause to the men, if not immediately, then later. The men complained to me about headaches that occur after each unloading. Nevertheless, they do not want to deviate from this arrangement because it is feared that if prisoners are used for that work, they may take advantage of a favorable moment to escape. To protect the men from this harm, I request that appropriate instructions be issued.

2. The gassing is generally not carried out correctly. To end the procedure as quickly as possible, the drivers consistently go full throttle. But that causes the executed to die of suffocation instead of the intended death by sleep. My instructions have now shown that with the correct adjustment of the levers, death occurs faster and the prisoners fall asleep peacefully. Distorted faces and excrement, that were previously observed, can no longer be seen.”

 

49) Letter from mechanic Willy Just to Walter Rauff, June 5, 1942:

 

“For example, since December 1941, 97,000 [people] were processed with three used vehicles without any defects occurring. The well-known explosion in Kulmhof is to be considered an isolated case. Its cause can be traced back to an operating error. Special instructions were issued to the affected service branches to prevent such accidents. The instructions were designed to significantly increase the level of safety.

1. To enable rapid inflow of CO while avoiding overpressure, two open slots of 10 x 1 cm clear width are to be installed on the upper rear wall. These should be fitted with slightly movable hinged plate flaps on the outside, so that any excess pressure can be automatically balanced.

2. The load of the cars is normally 9-10 [people] per square meter. [...]

3. The connecting pipes between the exhaust and the vehicle often rust through, as they are corroded on the inside by accumulating fluids. To avoid this, the filling spout is now to be positioned so that the gas flows from above to below, thereby preventing the ingress of fluids.

4. To enable easy cleaning of the vehicle, the center of the floor should be provided with a tightly sealable drain opening. The drain cover, with a diameter of about 200 to 300 mm, should have a siphon elbow so that thin fluids can be drained off during operation. To prevent clogging, the elbow should be fitted with a sieve at the top. While cleaning the vehicle, sticky dirt can be flushed out through the large drain opening. The floor of the vehicle should be slightly inclined towards the drain opening. This should ensure that all liquids flow directly to the center, thereby largely preventing them from entering the tubes.

5. The observation windows previously installed can be dispensed with, as they are practically never used. In the production of future vehicles, the elimination of the windows will save a considerable amount of work time because of their difficult installation and tight sealing.

6. The lighting fixtures are to be better secured against destruction than hitherto was the case. The iron lattice is to be arched higher above the lamps so that damage to the lighting fixtures is no longer possible. In practice, it has been suggested that the lamps be omitted as they are allegedly never used. However, it has been found that when the rear door is closed and darkness sets in, there is always a strong pressure of the load towards the door. This is because the load is drawn towards the light in darkness. It makes it difficult to latch the door. It is therefore appropriate to switch on the lighting before and during the first few minutes of operation. The lighting is also advantageous during night operation and when cleaning the interior of the wagon.

7. To achieve quick and easy unloading of the vehicle, a retractable grate is to be installed.”

 

50) Heinrich Schwarz, commander of camp Monowitz, March 15, 1943:

 

“Concentration camp Auschwitz reports Jewish transport from Berlin. Arrival on March 13, 1943. Sum total of 964 Jews. For work deployment, 218 men and 147 women were selected. The men were transferred to Buna. 126 men and 473 women and children were housed separately.”

 

51) Kurt Prüfer, chief engineer of Topf & Sohne, November 8, 1942:

 

“Confidential! Secret!

Mr. Obersturmführer Krone called and explained that he had been summoned to Brigadeführer Kämmer to report on his inspection of the crematorium in Auschwitz, from which he returned yesterday. At the facility he couldn't get a clear picture and therefore wanted to be informed precisely about how many muffles were currently in operation there, and how many ovens with muffles we are currently building and delivering there.

I informed him that currently 3 two-muffle ovens with a capacity of 250 per day are in operation. Furthermore, 5 three-muffle ovens with a daily capacity of 800 are now under construction. Today and in the next few days, 2 eight-muffle ovens with a capacity of 800 each per day will be shipped from Mogilev.

Mr. K. explained that this number of muffles [with a total capacity of 2,650 corpses per day] is not yet sufficient; we should deliver more ovens as soon as possible.

Therefore, it is advisable that I come to Berlin on Thursday morning to discuss further deliveries with Mr. K. I am to bring documentation about Auschwitz so that the urgent calls will finally be silenced.”

 

52) Report from the Zentralbauleitung, June 28, 1943:

 

“Reporting on the completion of crematorium III as of 26.6.1943. All of the crema­toria that were ordered have thus been completed.

Capacity of the crematoria during 24-hour operation:

1.) Old crematorium I, 3 x 2 muffles: 340 persons

2.) New crematorium II, 5 x 3 muffles: 1,440 persons

3.) New crematorium III, 5 x 3 muffles: 1,440 persons

4.) New crematorium IV, 8 muffles: 768 persons

5.) New crematorium V, 8 muffles: 768 persons

Total capacity during 24-hour operation: 4,756 persons.”

 

53) Letter from Himmler's office to Dr. Richard Korherr, April 10, 1943:

 

“The Reichsführer-SS [Heinrich Himmler] has received your statistical report on 'The Final Solution of the European Jewish Question'. He wishes that at no point 'special treatment of Jews' be mentioned. On page 9, point 4, it must be worded as follows:

'Transportation of Jews from the eastern provinces to the Russian East:

They were processed through the camps in the General Government ...

through the camps in the Warthegau ...............'

No other wording may be used. I am returning the copy of the report that has already been signed by the Reichsführer-SS, with the request that you change page 9 accordingly and send it back.”

 

54) The partially (!) corrected report, April 19, 1943:

 

“The evacuation of the Jews replaced, at least in the Reich territory, the emigration of the Jews. Large scale preparations were made when Jewish emigration was banned in the fall of 1941, and has largely been carried out throughout the Reich territory in 1942. In the balance sheet of Jewry, it appears as 'emigration'. According to the compilations of the Reich Security Main Office up until January 1, 1943, the following numbers of Jews have emigrated:

 

From the Old Reich with Sudetenland: 100,516 Jews

From the Ostmark: 47,555 Jews

From the Protectorate: 69,677 Jews

Total: 217,748 Jews

 

These numbers also include the Jews evacuated to the Theresienstadt ghetto.

The total evacuations in the Reich territory including eastern territories and beyond the German sphere of power and influence in Europe from October 1939 or later until December 31, 1942, yielded the following numbers:

 

Evacuation of Jews from Baden and the Palatinate to France: 6,504 Jews

Evacuation of Jews from the Reich territory including the Protectorate and the Bialystok district to the east: 170,642

Evacuation of Jews from the Reich territory including the Protectorate and the Bialystok district to Theresienstadt: 170,642

Transportation of Jews from the eastern provinces to the Russian East: 1,449,692

Processed through the camps in the General Government: 1,274,166 Jews

through the camps in Warthegau: 145,301 Jews

Evacuation of Jews from other countries, namely:

France (occupied until November 10, 1942): 41,911 Jews

Netherlands: 38,571 Jews

Belgium: 16,886 Jews

Norway: 532 Jews

Slovakia: 56,691 Jews

Croatia: 4,927 Jews

Total evacuation (including Theresienstadt and special treatment): 1,873,549 Jews

Without Theresienstadt: 1,786,356 Jews

 

In addition, according to the Reich Security Main Office, there was the evacuation of 633,300 Jews in the Russian territories, including the former Baltic states, since the beginning of the Eastern campaign.

The above numbers do not include the inmates of the ghettos and concentration camps. The evacuations from Slovakia and Croatia were undertaken by these states themselves. [...]

The number of Jews in the Old Reich has decreased further from 51,327 on December 31, 1942 to 31,910 on April 1, 1943. [...]

In addition, the list probably includes a larger number of Jews who must ultimately be written off as untraceable, as is also the case with every population register. The Jewish population in the Old Reich territory (excluding eastern territories) is approaching its end.

Overall, since 1933, i.e. in the first decade of National Socialist power, European Jewry has probably lost almost half of its population. Of this, only about half, i.e. a quarter of the total European population in 1937, has flowed to other continents.”

 

Further reading: Holocaust Documents

 

“Truth or reality is avoided when it's painful.

We can revise our maps only when we have

the discipline to overcome pain.

To have such discipline, we must be totally dedicated to truth.

That is to say that we must always hold truth,

as best we can determine it,

to be more important,

more vital to our self-interest, than our comfort.

Conversely, we must always consider our personal

discomfort relatively unimportant and, indeed,

even welcome it in the service of the search for truth.

Mental health is an ongoing process of

dedication to reality at all costs.

 

What happens when one has striven long and hard

to develop a working view of the world, a seemingly

useful, workable map, and then is confronted with

new information suggesting that that view is wrong

and the map needs to be largely redrawn?

The painful effort required seems frightening,

almost overwhelming.

What we do more often than not, and

usually unconsciously, is to ignore the new information.

 

Often this act of ignoring is much more than passive.

We may denounce the new information as

false, dangerous, heretical,

the work of the devil.

We may actually crusade

against it, and even attempt to manipulate the world

so as to make it conform to our view of reality.

Rather than try to change the map, an individual may

try to destroy the new reality. Sadly, such a person

may expend much more energy ultimately in

defending an outmoded view of the world

than would have been required to

revise and correct it in the first place.”

 

M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled (1978)