“Facta loquuntur.
“I beg you most humbly, Herr Reich Minister, in the sense of the report of the Episcopate of July 16 of this year, to prevent further transgressions of the Fifth Commandment of God.
“(Signed) Dr. Hilfrich” (615-PS).
Nevertheless, the killings in these institutions continued year after year. This is shown by a certified copy of the charge, specifications, and findings of the U. S. Military Commission at Wiesbaden, against the individuals who operated the Hadamar Sanitarium, where many Russians and Poles were done away with. In this particular proceeding, seven defendants were charged with the murder in 1944 and 1945 of 400 persons of Polish and Russian nationality. Three of the defendants were sentenced to be hanged; the other four were sentenced to confinement at hard labor (3592-PS).
But the murdering in Hadamar was only part of a systematic program. The official report of the Czechoslovak War Crimes Commission, entitled “Detailed Statement on the Murdering of Ill and Aged People in Germany,” shows that Frick was one of the originators of the secret law of 1940, which authorized the killing of sick and aged persons and under which the Hadamar “murder mill” was operated until 1945. The first 3 paragraphs of that report read as follows:
“1. The murdering can be traced back to a secret law which was released some time in the summer of 1940.
“2. Besides the Chief Physician of the Reich, Dr. L. Conti, the Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler, the Reichsminister of the Interior Dr. Frick, as well as other men, the following participated in the introduction of this secret law * * *.
“3. As I have already stated, there were—after careful calculation—at least 200,000 mainly mentally deficient, imbeciles, besides neurological cases and medically unfit people—these were not only incurable cases—and at least 75,000 aged people.” (1556-PS).
Thus, Frick bears full responsibility for the systematic killing of the “unproductive eaters,” for whom the Nazi war machine had no use.
(4) Oppression in Bohemia and Moravia. The final phase of Frick’s criminal activities began with his appointment as Protector in Bohemia and Moravia, on 20 August 1943 (3086-PS).