Decree of 13 March 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1938, Part I, Page 237, Article 8, Document 2307-PS; decree of 1 October 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1938, Part I, Page 1331, Paragraph 8, Document 3073-PS; decree of 12 October 1939, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1939, Part I, Page 2077, Paragraph 8 (1), Document 3079-PS.
Frick’s ministry also arranged the selection and assignment of hundreds of occupation officials for the Soviet territory even before the invasion. This fact appears in a report by the Defendant Rosenberg of April 1941 on preparations for the administration of occupied territory in the East. May I refer to Page 2, Paragraph 2, of Document 1039-PS, which has previously been introduced as Exhibit Number USA-146.
One category of Frick’s contribution to the planning of, and preparation for, aggressive war deserves special notice. This is the systematic killing of persons regarded as useless to the German war machine, such as the insane, the crippled, and aged, and foreign laborers who were no longer able to work. These killings were carried out in nursing homes, hospitals, and asylums. The Tribunal will recall that the Defendant Frick, in his capacity as Reich Minister of the Interior, had jurisdiction over public health and all institutions. May I refer again briefly to the Manual for German Administrative Officials, Document 3475-PS, this time to Pages 3, 4, and 7 of the English partial translation. There the following are mentioned as Frick’s jurisdictional areas: “Health Administration,” “Social Hygiene,” “Racial Improvement and Eugenics,” “Reich Plenipotentiary for Sanatoria and Nursing Homes.”
As proof that Frick’s jurisdiction covered the death cases in these institutions, I now offer in evidence Document 621-PS, Exhibit Number USA-715. This is a letter of 2 October 1940 from the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Dr. Lammers, to the Reich Minister of Justice, informing the latter that material concerning the death of inmates of nursing homes had been transmitted to the Reich Minister of the Interior for further action. In fact, the Defendant Frick not only had jurisdiction of these establishments, but he was one of the originators of a secret law organizing the murdering.
I now offer Document 1556-PS, Exhibit Number USA-716. This is an official report, dated December 1941, of the Czechoslovak War Crimes Commission entitled, “Detailed Statement on the Murdering of Ill and Aged People in Germany.” I should like to quote very brief excerpts from this report. Paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 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 Reichsführer SS Himmler, the Reich Minister of the Interior Dr. Frick, as well as other men, the following participated in the introduction of this secret law:. . .”—Other names listed.
“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.”