VON SCHIRACH: He was the mayor of Vienna.
DR. SAUTER: This is a letter of 30 June 1944. In that letter Kaltenbrunner informs Blaschke that he had directed that several evacuation transports should be sent to Vienna-Strasshof. “There are four transports,” it says in the letter, “with about 12,000 Jews, which will arrive in the next few days.” So much about the letter. Its further content is only of importance because of what it says in the end—and I quote:
“I beg you to arrange further details with the State Police Office, Vienna, SS Obersturmbannführer Dr. Ebner, and SS Obersturmbannführer Krumey, of the Special Action Command Hungary, who is at present in Vienna.”
Did you have anything to do with that matter, and if so what?
VON SCHIRACH: I do not know of the correspondence between the Codefendant Kaltenbrunner and the mayor of Vienna. To my knowledge Camp Strasshof is not within Gau Vienna at all. It is in an altogether different Gau. The designation, “Vienna-Strasshof,” is, therefore, an error. The border runs in between the two.
DR. SAUTER: And were you informed of the matter itself at that time, or only here in the courtroom?
VON SCHIRACH: I know of that matter only from this courtroom, but I remember that mention was made about the use of Jewish workers in connection with the building of the Southeast Wall or fortifications. The Southeast Wall, however, was not in the area of Reich Gau Vienna. It was a project in the area of Gau Lower Danube, Lower Austria, or Styria. I had nothing to do with the construction of the Southeast Wall; that was in the hands of Dr. Jury, that is, the O. T....
DR. SAUTER: O. T. is the Organization Todt?
VON SCHIRACH: ...the Organization Todt. And in the other part of the border it was in the hands of Dr. Uiberreither, the Gauleiter of Styria, and his technical assistants.
DR. SAUTER: So I can sum up your statement to mean that you had nothing to do with these things because they were matters which did not concern your Gau.