THE DEFENDANT ALTSTOETTER

“He (Oeschey) frequently insulted the defendants and presented the crimes to them as if these crimes were already a proven fact. His behavior was often so extreme that one might well believe he was a psychopathic case. The abusive insults that he inflicted upon the defendants were, to the highest degree, unworthy of a court trial. He wielded such influence over the form of the administration of justice through his close Party affiliations that the other officials of equal rank at the Nuernberg administration of criminal justice were almost always forced to yield.”

Mueller mentions several cases in which Oeschey announced before trial that the defendant would be executed. In a case against Schnaus he states that Oeschey—

“* * * told me that, as a result of a discussion with government officials, he was certain to obtain the death sentence. At that time I was still unaware of the changed situation at the Special Court occasioned by the war, and turned to my immediate superior for information. He then informed me of the very close relations existing between judges and the prosecutors.”

Concerning the case Montgelas, Mueller stated:

“Concerning the case of Montgelas it must be pointed out that this was a case of political extermination, which was handled in a most hideous fashion.”

Again, he said:

“Oeschey was the most brutal judge that I have ever known in my life and a most willing instrument of the Nazi terroristic justice.”

Dr. Armin Baur was the medical officer at the Special Court. He said:

“One always had the impression that the verdict was already previously decided upon and that Oeschey and Rothaug were just playing cat and mouse with the defendants for hours. No occasion was missed to insult the defendants in the filthiest way.”

This medical expert dealt with cases which were tried both by Rothaug and by Oeschey. In the Katzenberger case the defendant Rothaug told the doctor that he wanted the defendant examined but that the examination was a matter of pure formality because the Jew “would be beheaded anyhow,” and he added, “It is sufficient for me that the swine said that a German girl sat on his lap.” Dr. Baur states that “foreigners were generally dealt with by Rothaug and Oeschey as inferior beings whose task it was only to serve the German master race.”

Hans Kern, defense counsel, stated “that foreigners were told at the beginning and throughout the trial that they were to be annihilated.” Again he said:

“Rothaug and Oeschey declined, as a matter of principle, to believe Polish citizens who were under accusation. They were branded as liars. It was assumed that their innate tendency made liars of them.”

He described Oeschey as a “notorious Pole baiter.”

Dr. Gustav Kunz, leading court doctor at Nuernberg, was an excellent and reliable witness. He stated:

“Insult, humiliation, and mental torture of the defendants were routine and the two judges, especially Oeschey, did not even renounce them in cases in which—according to the legal situation—the verdict had to be and actually was acquittal or an insignificant sentence.”

Kurt Hoffmann, prosecutor at Nuernberg, states that Oeschey was severe as to the German defendants and was—

“* * * even more severe with regard to sentences against foreigners and much more furious in his conduct of their trials, especially in the case of Poles.”

Adolf Paulus, former public prosecutor, speaks of the “brutality of which only Oeschey was capable.”

Friedrich Doebig, who was president of the district court of appeals at Nuernberg, later senate president of the Reich Supreme Court, stated that “Oeschey like Rothaug was a fanatical Nazi,who consistently interpreted and enforced the law in accord with Nazi ideologies.”

Dr. Herbert Lipps served with defendant Oeschey on the Special Court, Nuernberg. He states that Oeschey was autocratic and would not tolerate contradiction.

“Defendants were insulted by Oeschey in the most abusive manner and death candidates were told by Oeschey right at the beginning of the session that they had forfeited their lives.“Toward foreigners, particularly Poles, Oeschey was especially rigorous and here upheld the National Socialist theory of liquidating where nationals of the occupied territories were concerned. I remember a case in which a Polish farmhand was ill-treated by his employer and defended himself. Oeschey told the defendant that a Pole was not allowed to oppose a German.”

“Defendants were insulted by Oeschey in the most abusive manner and death candidates were told by Oeschey right at the beginning of the session that they had forfeited their lives.

“Toward foreigners, particularly Poles, Oeschey was especially rigorous and here upheld the National Socialist theory of liquidating where nationals of the occupied territories were concerned. I remember a case in which a Polish farmhand was ill-treated by his employer and defended himself. Oeschey told the defendant that a Pole was not allowed to oppose a German.”

Dr. Franz Gros was an associate judge at Nuernberg. He states that Oeschey followed the harsh procedural methods of Rothaug and was a “fanatic National Socialist who pursued his dishonorable motives with conviction and who willingly lent his hand to blood-thirsty National Socialist jurisdiction.”

Dr. Pfaff was an associate judge at Nuernberg and corroborates the statements of Dr. Gros.

Dr. Joseph Mayer was a Referent in the prosecutor’s office at Nuernberg. Concerning Oeschey, he said:

“Oeschey * * * was obviously of Rothaug’s school. Outwardly he gave the impression of being morose and unrelenting. I cannot remember ever having had a personal conversation with him. As a rule he began the proceedings with a preconceived opinion to which he adhered. Anyone who tried to oppose this opinion was overridden by him in the most brutal way. He insulted the defendants all the time in a most offensive manner, informing them repeatedly all the way through, what he intended to do with them. He had an extensive vocabulary of invectives for that purpose, the use of which he developed to a fine art. * * * It was literally tormenting if one had to listen to this tirade often for hours at a time. When his face became distorted into a repulsive mask by his continual scolding and abusive language, Faust’s words to Mephistopheles would often quite involuntarily come to my mind: ‘Thou freak of filth and fire.’”

Joseph Eichinger, defense attorney at Nuernberg, stated:

“His prejudice was so strong that he did not consider, seriously, the statements of the defense and dismissed them rudely or ironically. Even during the trial he repeatedly addressed thedefendant thus: ‘People such as you deserve to be exterminated,’ ‘You will be convicted;’ or he called the defendant insulting and humiliating names such as ‘criminal,’ or ‘scoundrel,’ ‘enemy of the people.’”

Again, he said:

“As leader of the Gau legal office (Gaurechtsamt) and, after the latter’s disbanding, as member in the Gau staff (Gaustab), he enjoyed a special position of power which enabled him to hold the defense strongly in check; it was well known that a sign from the Gau authorities, instigated by Oeschey, was sufficient to have a lawyer turned over to the Gestapo.“I had the impression that he supported, knowingly and willingly, the policy of Hitler to ‘decimate’ (Dezimierung) aliens, especially Poles, by increasing the number of death sentences against them * * *.”

“I had the impression that he supported, knowingly and willingly, the policy of Hitler to ‘decimate’ (Dezimierung) aliens, especially Poles, by increasing the number of death sentences against them * * *.”

On cross-examination Eichinger admitted that he did not know of any lawyer who had been turned over to the Gestapo by Oeschey. It is clear that in his statements Eichinger was relying only upon general information as the basis of his opinion. We think, however, that his opinion merits consideration.

Dr. Karl Mayer, defense counsel, said that Rothaug was judge of the worst Special Court in Germany and used to tell defendants even during the trial that they would be exterminated. He adds that after Rothaug was transferred to Berlin, Oeschey even surpassed him in the spitefulness of his manner. Space does not permit the discussion of the other cases which illustrate Oeschey’s ruthless exercise of arbitrary power. Mention should, however, be made of the trial of a group of foreign boys who had some fights with boys in the Nuernberg Hitler Youth Home. Dr. Mueller characterizes the action of the boys as harmless pranks. At worst they were indulging in street fights with the Hitler Youth. Oeschey held that they constituted a resistance movement and several of the boys were sentenced to death.

The defendant Oeschey is charged under count four of the indictment with being a member of the Party Leadership Corps at Gau level within the definition of the membership declared criminal according to the judgment of the first International Military Tribunal in the case against Goering, et al.

We have previously quoted the findings of the first International Military Tribunal which define the organizations and groups within the Leadership Corps which are declared to be criminal. Oeschey was provisionally commissioned with the direction of the legal office of the NSDAP in the Franconia Gau and served in that official capacity for a long time. In his testimony he states thatfrom 1940 to 1942 he was solely in charge of the Gau legal office as section chief. The evidence clearly establishes the defendant’s voluntary membership as the chief of a Gau staff office subsequent to 1 September 1939. The judgment of the first International Military Tribunal lists among the criminal activities of the Party Leadership Corps the following:

“The Leadership Corps played its part in the persecution of the Jews. It was involved in the economic and political discrimination against the Jews which was put into effect shortly after the Nazis came into power. The Gestapo and SD were instructed to coordinate with the Gauleiter and Kreisleiter the measures taken in the pogroms of 9 and 10 November 1938. The Leadership Corps was also used to prevent German public opinion from reacting against the measures taken against the Jews in the East. On 9 October 1942, a confidential information bulletin was sent to all Gauleiter and Kreisleiter entitled ‘Preparatory measures for the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe—rumors concerning the conditions of the Jews in the East.’ This bulletin stated that rumors were being started by returning soldiers concerning the conditions of Jews in the East which some Germans might not understand, and outlined in detail the official explanation to be given. This bulletin contained no explicit statement that the Jews were being exterminated, but it did indicate they were going to labor camps, and spoke of their complete segregation and elimination and the necessity of ruthless severity. * * *“The Leadership Corps played an important part in the administration of the slave labor program. A Sauckel decree dated 6 April 1942 appointed the Gauleiter as plenipotentiary for labor mobilization for their Gaue with authority to coordinate all agencies dealing with labor questions in their Gaue, with specific authority over the employment of foreign workers, including their conditions of work, feeding, and housing. Under this authority the Gauleiter assumed control over the allocation of labor in their Gaue, including the forced laborers from foreign countries. In carrying out this task the Gauleiter used many Party offices within their Gaue, including subordinate political leaders. For example, Sauckel’s decree of 8 September 1942, relating to the allocation for household labor of 400,000 women laborers brought in from the East, established a procedure under which applications filed for such workers should be passed on by the Kreisleiter, whose judgment was final.“Under Sauckel’s directive the Leadership Corps was directly concerned with the treatment given foreign workers, and the Gauleiter were specifically instructed to prevent ‘politicallyinept factory heads’ from giving ‘too much consideration to the care of eastern workers’. * * *“The Leadership Corps was directly concerned with the treatment of prisoners of war. On 5 November 1941 Bormann transmitted a directive down to the level of Kreisleiter instructing them to insure compliance by the army with the recent directives of the department of the interior ordering that dead Russian prisoners of war should be buried wrapped in tar paper in a remote place without any ceremony or any decorations of their graves. On 25 November 1943 Bormann sent a circular instructing the Gauleiter to report any lenient treatment of prisoners of war. On 13 September 1944 Bormann sent a directive down to the level of Kreisleiter ordering that liaison be established between the Kreisleiter and the guards of the prisoners of war in order ‘better to assimilate the commitment of the prisoners of war to the political and economic demands’. * * *“The machinery of the Leadership Corps was also utilized in attempts made to deprive Allied airmen of the protection to which they were entitled under the Geneva Convention. On 13 March 1940 a directive of Hess, transmitted instructions through the Leadership Corps down to the Blockleiter for the guidance of the civilian population in case of the landing of enemy planes or parachutists, which stated that enemy parachutists were to be immediately arrested or ‘made harmless.’”[675]

“The Leadership Corps played an important part in the administration of the slave labor program. A Sauckel decree dated 6 April 1942 appointed the Gauleiter as plenipotentiary for labor mobilization for their Gaue with authority to coordinate all agencies dealing with labor questions in their Gaue, with specific authority over the employment of foreign workers, including their conditions of work, feeding, and housing. Under this authority the Gauleiter assumed control over the allocation of labor in their Gaue, including the forced laborers from foreign countries. In carrying out this task the Gauleiter used many Party offices within their Gaue, including subordinate political leaders. For example, Sauckel’s decree of 8 September 1942, relating to the allocation for household labor of 400,000 women laborers brought in from the East, established a procedure under which applications filed for such workers should be passed on by the Kreisleiter, whose judgment was final.

“Under Sauckel’s directive the Leadership Corps was directly concerned with the treatment given foreign workers, and the Gauleiter were specifically instructed to prevent ‘politicallyinept factory heads’ from giving ‘too much consideration to the care of eastern workers’. * * *

“The Leadership Corps was directly concerned with the treatment of prisoners of war. On 5 November 1941 Bormann transmitted a directive down to the level of Kreisleiter instructing them to insure compliance by the army with the recent directives of the department of the interior ordering that dead Russian prisoners of war should be buried wrapped in tar paper in a remote place without any ceremony or any decorations of their graves. On 25 November 1943 Bormann sent a circular instructing the Gauleiter to report any lenient treatment of prisoners of war. On 13 September 1944 Bormann sent a directive down to the level of Kreisleiter ordering that liaison be established between the Kreisleiter and the guards of the prisoners of war in order ‘better to assimilate the commitment of the prisoners of war to the political and economic demands’. * * *

“The machinery of the Leadership Corps was also utilized in attempts made to deprive Allied airmen of the protection to which they were entitled under the Geneva Convention. On 13 March 1940 a directive of Hess, transmitted instructions through the Leadership Corps down to the Blockleiter for the guidance of the civilian population in case of the landing of enemy planes or parachutists, which stated that enemy parachutists were to be immediately arrested or ‘made harmless.’”[675]

As to his knowledge, the defendant Oeschey joined the NSDAP on 1 December 1931. He was head of the Lawyers’ League for the Gau Franconia and a judicial officer of considerable importance within the Gau. These offices would provide additional sources of information as to the crimes outlined. Furthermore, these crimes were of such wide scope and so intimately connected with the activities of the Gauleitung that it would be impossible for a man of the defendant’s intelligence not to have known of the commission of these crimes, at least in part if not entirely.

We find the defendant Oeschey guilty under counts three and four of the indictment. In view of the sadistic attitude and conduct of the defendant, we know of no just reason for any mitigation of punishment.

Joseph Altstoetter was born 4 January 1892. He was educated for the bar and passed the State examination in jurisprudence in Munich. He subsequently served in the Bavarian and in the Reich Ministries of Justice.

In 1932 he was promoted and sent to the Reich Supreme Court in Leipzig. In 1933 he was a member of the appeals criminal senate. In 1936 he was a member of the Reich Labor Court. From 1939 to 1943 he served with the Wehrmacht. In 1943 he was assigned to the Reich Ministry of Justice where he was made chief of the civil law and procedure division in the Ministry of Justice with the title of Ministerialdirektor and served in that capacity until the surrender. He had been a member of the Stahlhelm prior to the Nazi rise to power. When the Stahlhelm was absorbed into the Nazi organization, he automatically became a member of the SA. Prior to May 1937 he resigned from the SA to become a member of the general SS. His membership in the SS, from his personnel files, dates from 15 May 1937. He applied for membership in the NSDAP in 1938 and his membership was dated back to 1 May 1937. He was awarded the Golden Party Badge for service to the Party.

Upon the evidence in this case it is the judgment of this Tribunal that the defendant Altstoetter is not guilty under counts two and three of the indictment.

The question which remains to be determined as to the defendant Altstoetter is whether, knowing of its criminal activities as defined by the London Charter, he joined or retained membership in the SS, an organization defined as criminal by the International Military Tribunal in the case of Goering, et al.

The evidence in this case as to his connection with the SS is found primarily in his personnel record which covers a great many pages, in his correspondence with SS leaders, and his own testimony. From this evidence it appears that the defendant, upon the request of Himmler, joined the SS in May 1937. He stated that Himmler told him he would receive a rank commensurate with his civil status. The record does not indicate what rank in the SS was commensurate with his civil status as a member of the Reich Supreme Court, but on 20 April 1938 he was promoted to Untersturmfuehrer, which corresponds to a second lieutenant in the army. He was subsequently promoted on 20 April 1939 to Obersturmfuehrer; on 20 April 1940 to Hauptsturmfuehrer. On 12 March 1943, according to a letter to the SS Main Personnel Office, signed by Himmler, he was promoted to Sturmbannfuehrer, effective 25 January 1943 and, by the same letter, to Obersturmbannfuehrer as of 20 April 1943, and it was directed that he be issued a skull and crossbones ring. In June 1943 he wrote to the Chief of the SS Main Office, SS Gruppenfuehrer Berger, thanking him for this ring bestowed by the Reich Leader SS. In this letter he wrote:

“Both this promotion and the honoring of this decoration with the skull and crossbone ring I will take not only as a token of the Reich Leader’s most distinct proof of trust in me, but also as an incentive for further active proof of my loyalty and for strictest adherence to my duties in my career as an SS man.”

On 11 February 1944 he wrote SS Gruppenfuehrer and Lieutenant General of the Waffen SS, Professor Dr. Karl Gebhardt, a letter containing the following paragraph:

“One more personal remark—You kindly promoted me SS Oberfuehrer. It is not that far yet. At least, I did not get to know it until now. I merely tell you this because I do not want to claim anything for me which does not correspond to facts.”

By letter dated 16 June 1944 he was notified that the Reich Leader SS had promoted him to the rank of Oberfuehrer, effective 21 June 1944.

The defendant stated that he was assigned to the legal staff of the 48th Standarte and later to the legal staff of the SS Main Office. He stated that he had no actual duties. However, part of his service credentials, dated 14 March 1939, under the heading of qualifications, signed by Dalski, SS Obersturmbannfuehrer, the following is stated:

“SS Untersturmfuehrer Altstoetter is frank, honest, and helpful. His ideology is firmly established on a National Socialist basis. A. was a leader of the staff of the 48th Standarte and there at all times performed his duties in a satisfactory manner.”

In a report from Leipzig, dated 10 June 1939, it is stated that he was awarded the “badge of honor for legal service, in silver”, effective 19 April 1938, signed Sachse, SS Untersturmfuehrer and Adjutant.

The defendant was evidently highly regarded by Himmler who, on 18 September 1942, at a meeting with Thierack and Rothenberger, referred to him as a reliable SS Obersturmfuehrer.

It also appears that his appointment to the Ministry of Justice was at the suggestion of Himmler and that the defendant’s relationship with Himmler was one which Thierack fostered for purposes of his own.

At the instance of Thierack, he visited Himmler at his headquarters and was present at a speech given by Himmler at Kochem, where he attended a dinner for twelve people, including SS Standartenfuehrer Rudolf Brandt and SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl.

He visited Berger, a high SS official, at Berger’s request. He carried on considerable correspondence with high officials in theSS, including Himmler, SS Gruppenfuehrer Professor Dr. Gebhardt, SS Gruppenfuehrer Berger, and Kaltenbrunner, Chief of the Security Police and SD.

On 25 May 1940 Altstoetter wrote to the Reich Leader SS as follows:

“If I can contribute my small part towards helping our Fuehrer to accomplish his great task for the benefit of our nation, this causes me particular joy and satisfaction, especially in my capacity as SS officer.”

According to a letter to Gebhardt, Himmler had instructed the SS leaders to request Altstoetter’s advice in certain matters.

On 6 June 1944 he wrote Gebhardt, congratulating him upon a recent award. In this letter he states:

“I am especially glad about your distinction, especially because I do not see only in it a recognition of your great war service as a physician and surgeon but also as a research scientist and organizer and which is attributed to our old and trusty friend.”

The evidence in this case clearly establishes that the defendant joined and retained his membership in the SS on a voluntary basis. In fact it appears that he took considerable interest in his SS rank and honors. The remaining fact to be determined is whether he had knowledge of the criminal activities of the SS as defined in the London Charter. In this connection we quote certain extracts from the judgment of the International Military Tribunal in the case of Goering, et al., as to the SS—

“Criminal activities: SS units were active participants in the steps leading up to aggressive war. The Verfuegungstruppe was used in the occupation of the Sudetenland, of Bohemia and Moravia, and in Memel. The Henlein Free Corps was under the jurisdiction of the Reich Leader SS for operations in the Sudetenland in 1938, and the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle financed fifth column activities there.“The SS was even a more general participant in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Through its control over the organization of the police, particularly the Security Police and SD, the SS was involved in all the crimes which have been outlined in the section of this judgment dealing with the Gestapo and SD. * * * The Race and Settlement Office of the SS, together with the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle were active in carrying out schemes for Germanization of occupied territories according to the racial principles of the Nazi Party and were involved in the deportation of Jews and other foreign nationals. Units of the Waffen SS and Einsatzgruppenoperating directly under the SS Main Office were used to carry out these plans. These units were also involved in the widespread murder and ill-treatment of the civilian population of occupied territories. * * *“From 1934 onward the SS was responsible for the guarding and administration of concentration camps. The evidence leaves no doubt that the consistently brutal treatment of the inmates of concentration camps was carried out as a result of the general policy of the SS, which was that the inmates were racial inferiors to be treated only with contempt. There is evidence that where manpower considerations permitted, Himmler wanted to rotate guard battalions so that all members of the SS would be instructed as to the proper attitude to take to inferior races. After 1942 when the concentration camps were placed under the control of the WVHA they were used as a source of slave labor. An agreement made with the Ministry of Justice on 18 September 1942 provided that antisocial elements who had. finished prison sentences were to be delivered to the SS to be worked to death. * * *“The SS played a particularly significant role in the persecution of the Jews. The SS was directly involved in the demonstrations of 10 November 1938. The evacuation of the Jews from occupied territories was carried out under the directions of the SS with the assistance of SS police units. The extermination of the Jews was carried out under the direction of the SS central organizations. It was actually put into effect by SS formations. * * *“It is impossible to single out any one portion of the SS which was not involved in these criminal activities. The Allgemeine SS was an active participant in the persecution of the Jews and was used as a source of concentration camp guards. * * *“The Tribunal finds that knowledge of these criminal activities was sufficiently general to justify declaring that the SS was a criminal organization to the extent hereinafter described. It does appear that an attempt was made to keep secret some phases of its activities, but its criminal programs were so widespread, and involved slaughter on such a gigantic scale, that its criminal activities must have been widely known. It must be recognized, moreover, that the criminal activities of the SS followed quite logically from the principles on which it was organized. Every effort had been made to make the SS a highly disciplined organization composed of the elite of national socialism. Himmler had stated that there were people in Germany ‘who become sick when they see these black coats’, and that he did not expect that ‘they should be loved by too many’. * * *Himmler in a series of speeches made in 1943, indicated his pride in the ability of the SS to carry out these criminal acts. He encouraged his men to be ‘tough and ruthless’; he spoke of shooting ‘thousands of leading Poles’, and thanked them for their cooperation and lack of squeamishness at the sight of hundreds and thousands of corpses of their victims. He extolled ruthlessness in exterminating the Jewish race and later described this process as ‘delousing’. These speeches show that the general attitude prevailing in the SS was consistent with these criminal acts. * * *“In dealing with the SS the Tribunal includes all persons who had been officially accepted as members of the SS, including the members of the Allgemeine SS, members of the Waffen SS, members of the SS Totenkopf Verbaende, and the members of any of the different police forces who were members of the SS. * * *“The Tribunal declares to be criminal within the meaning of the Charter the group composed of those persons who had been officially accepted as members of the SS as enumerated in the preceding paragraph who became or remained members of the organization with knowledge that it was being used for the commission of acts declared criminal by article 6 of the Charter * * *.”[676]

“The SS was even a more general participant in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Through its control over the organization of the police, particularly the Security Police and SD, the SS was involved in all the crimes which have been outlined in the section of this judgment dealing with the Gestapo and SD. * * * The Race and Settlement Office of the SS, together with the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle were active in carrying out schemes for Germanization of occupied territories according to the racial principles of the Nazi Party and were involved in the deportation of Jews and other foreign nationals. Units of the Waffen SS and Einsatzgruppenoperating directly under the SS Main Office were used to carry out these plans. These units were also involved in the widespread murder and ill-treatment of the civilian population of occupied territories. * * *

“From 1934 onward the SS was responsible for the guarding and administration of concentration camps. The evidence leaves no doubt that the consistently brutal treatment of the inmates of concentration camps was carried out as a result of the general policy of the SS, which was that the inmates were racial inferiors to be treated only with contempt. There is evidence that where manpower considerations permitted, Himmler wanted to rotate guard battalions so that all members of the SS would be instructed as to the proper attitude to take to inferior races. After 1942 when the concentration camps were placed under the control of the WVHA they were used as a source of slave labor. An agreement made with the Ministry of Justice on 18 September 1942 provided that antisocial elements who had. finished prison sentences were to be delivered to the SS to be worked to death. * * *

“The SS played a particularly significant role in the persecution of the Jews. The SS was directly involved in the demonstrations of 10 November 1938. The evacuation of the Jews from occupied territories was carried out under the directions of the SS with the assistance of SS police units. The extermination of the Jews was carried out under the direction of the SS central organizations. It was actually put into effect by SS formations. * * *

“It is impossible to single out any one portion of the SS which was not involved in these criminal activities. The Allgemeine SS was an active participant in the persecution of the Jews and was used as a source of concentration camp guards. * * *

“The Tribunal finds that knowledge of these criminal activities was sufficiently general to justify declaring that the SS was a criminal organization to the extent hereinafter described. It does appear that an attempt was made to keep secret some phases of its activities, but its criminal programs were so widespread, and involved slaughter on such a gigantic scale, that its criminal activities must have been widely known. It must be recognized, moreover, that the criminal activities of the SS followed quite logically from the principles on which it was organized. Every effort had been made to make the SS a highly disciplined organization composed of the elite of national socialism. Himmler had stated that there were people in Germany ‘who become sick when they see these black coats’, and that he did not expect that ‘they should be loved by too many’. * * *Himmler in a series of speeches made in 1943, indicated his pride in the ability of the SS to carry out these criminal acts. He encouraged his men to be ‘tough and ruthless’; he spoke of shooting ‘thousands of leading Poles’, and thanked them for their cooperation and lack of squeamishness at the sight of hundreds and thousands of corpses of their victims. He extolled ruthlessness in exterminating the Jewish race and later described this process as ‘delousing’. These speeches show that the general attitude prevailing in the SS was consistent with these criminal acts. * * *

“In dealing with the SS the Tribunal includes all persons who had been officially accepted as members of the SS, including the members of the Allgemeine SS, members of the Waffen SS, members of the SS Totenkopf Verbaende, and the members of any of the different police forces who were members of the SS. * * *

“The Tribunal declares to be criminal within the meaning of the Charter the group composed of those persons who had been officially accepted as members of the SS as enumerated in the preceding paragraph who became or remained members of the organization with knowledge that it was being used for the commission of acts declared criminal by article 6 of the Charter * * *.”[676]

In this regard the Tribunal is of the opinion that the activities of the SS and the crimes which it committed as pointed out by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal above quoted are of so wide a scope that no person of the defendant’s intelligence, and one who had achieved the rank of Oberfuehrer in the SS, could have been unaware of its illegal activities, particularly a member of the organization from 1937 until the surrender. According to his own statement, he joined the SS with misgivings, not only on religious grounds but also because of practices of the police as to protective custody in concentration camps.

Altstoetter not only had contacts with the high ranking officials of the SS, as above stated, but was himself a high official in the Ministry of Justice stationed in Berlin from June 1943 until the surrender. He attended conferences of the department chiefs in the Ministry of Justice and was necessarily associated with the officials of the Ministry, including those in charge of penal matters.

The record in this case shows as part of the defense of many of those on trial here that they claim to have constantly resisted the encroachment of the police under Himmler and the illegal acts of the police.

Documentary evidence shows that the defendant knew of the evacuation of Jews in Austria and had correspondence with the Chief of the Security Police and Security Service regarding witnesses for the hereditary biological courts. This correspondence states:

“If the Residents’ Registration Office or another police office gives the information that a Jew has been deported, all other inquiries as to his place of abode as well as applications for his admission of hearing or examination are superfluous. On the contrary, it has to be assumed that the Jew is not attainable for the taking of evidence.”

It also quotes this significant paragraph:

“If in an individual case it is to the interest of the public to make an exception and to render possible the taking of evidence by special provision of persons to accompany and means of transportation for the Jew, a report has to be submitted to me in which the importance of the case is explained. In all cases offices must refrain from direct application to the offices of the police, especially also to the Central Office for the Regulation of the Jewish Problem in Bohemia and Moravia at Prague, for information on the place of abode of deported Jews and their admission, hearing, or examination.”

He was a member of the SS at the time of the pogroms in November 1938, “Crystal Week,” in which the IMT found the SS to have had an important part. Surely whether or not he took a part in such activities or approved of them, he must have known of that part which was played by an organization of which he was an officer. As a lawyer he knew that in October of 1940 the SS was placed beyond reach of the law. As a lawyer he certainly knew that by the thirteenth amendment to the citizenship law the Jews were turned over to the police and so finally deprived of the scanty legal protection they had theretofore had. He also knew, for it was part of the same law, of the sinister provisions for the confiscation of property upon death of the Jewish owners, by the police.

Notwithstanding these facts, he maintained his friendly relations with the leaders of the SS, including Himmler, Kaltenbrunner, Gebhardt, and Berger. He refers to Himmler, one of the most sinister figures in the Third Reich, as his “old and trusty friend.” He accepted and retained his membership in the SS, perhaps the major instrument of Himmler’s power. Conceding that the defendant did not know of the ultimate mass murders in the concentration camps and by the Einsatzgruppen, he knew the policies of the SS and, in part, its crimes. Nevertheless he acceptedits insignia, its rank, its honors, and its contacts with the high figures of the Nazi regime. These were of no small significance in Nazi Germany. For that price he gave his name as a soldier and a jurist of note and so helped to cloak the shameful deeds of that organization from the eyes of the German people.

Upon the evidence in this case it is the judgment of this Tribunal that the defendant Altstoetter is guilty under count four of the indictment.

This Tribunal has held that it has no jurisdiction to try any defendant for the crime of conspiracy as a separate substantive offense, but we recognize that there are allegations in count one of the indictment which constitute charges of direct commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, after eliminating the conspiracy charge from count one, we find that all other alleged criminal acts therein set forth and committed after 1 September 1939 are also charged as crimes in the subsequent counts of the indictment. We therefore find it unnecessary to pass formally upon the remaining charges in count one. Our pronouncements of guilt or innocence under counts two, three, and four dispose of all issues which have been submitted to us.

Concerning those defendants who have been found guilty, our conclusions are not based solely upon the facts which we have set forth in the separate discussions of the individual defendants. In the course of 9 months devoted to the trial and consideration of this case, we have reached conclusions based upon evidence and observation of the defendants which cannot fully be documented within the limitations of time and space allotted to us. As we have said, the defendants are not charged with specific overt acts against named victims. They are charged with criminal participation in government-organized atrocities and persecutions unmatched in the annals of history. Our judgments are based upon a consideration of all of the evidence which tends to throw light upon the part which these defendants played in the entire tragic drama. We shall, in pronouncing sentence, give due consideration to circumstances of mitigation and to the proven character and motives of the respective defendants.

[Signed]James T. Brand

Presiding Judge

Mallory B. Blair

Judge

Justin W. Harding

Judge

Back to Index Next