THE PRESIDENT: What date did you say it is?
DR. NELTE: The 29th of March 1946. I do not think there is any date in the document book. I will present the original, which I have here.
THE PRESIDENT: How is it described in the document itself? We have a document dated 4 March 1946, “The Economic Armament Office of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht.” Is that right?
DR. NELTE: The document was written on 4 March 1946, but the affidavit was added on 29 March 1946.
THE PRESIDENT: But that appears to have been 8 March? Is it that document?
DR. NELTE: The Wirtschaftsrüstungsamt in the OKW. It is possible.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s here.
DR. NELTE: In any case, there is no doubt about the identity of the document.
[Turning to the defendant.] Now I come to a topic which is presented again and again before the high Tribunal and which is very difficult because the reason for these questions is not properly understood.
The charge has been made against you that in your capacity as a member of the government, as the Prosecution contend, you knew, or must have known of the happenings in the concentration camps. I am therefore compelled to ask you what you know about the existence of the concentration camps, how much you knew and what you had to do with them. Did you know of their existence? Did you know that concentration camps existed?