On 27 October 1941, a horrible slaughter of Jews took place in Sluzk, committed by the four companies of a police battalion, because the commander received an order from his superior to clear the city of all Jews without exception. The district commissioner immediately made vigorous protests, demanded that the action be stopped at once, and gun in hand kept the police officers in check as far as he was able. He reported to the General Commissioner of White Ruthenia, Kube, at Minsk, and the latter suggested to the Reich Commissioner Ostland, Lohse, that the officers implicated be punished for this “unheard-of bestiality.” He in turn reported to the Reich Minister for the East, with the request that immediate measures be taken at higher levels. The Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories sent the entire report to Heydrich, the Chief of the Security Police and of the SD, requesting further action. Due to an ingenious system according to which the Police were not responsible to the competent administrative chief and were not even obliged to report, Rosenberg could not take any further steps either in this or in similar cases. He was not head of the Police, and could only hope that the transmission of the report to Heydrich would be sufficient to stop what he considered to be regional excesses of the Police.
It can be seen from the indignation of all the administrative offices over the reported incidents that none of them knew that it was no question of excesses, but of an action ordered by Heydrich and Himmler. Even though Rosenberg violently disliked Heydrich and Himmler, not even he could suspect anything of this kind.
(2) Also from October 1941 dates Document 3663-PS in which the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, for whom Dr. Leibbrandt signed, calls for a report by the Reich Commissioner Ostland, because a complaint has been made by the Reich Security Main Office that the Reich Commissioner Ostland had prohibited executions of Jews in Libau. To this the addressee replied:
“I prohibited the execution of Jews in Libau because there was no justification for the way in which it was carried out.”
This is followed by a request for further instructions. Regarding this document—which is signed by the departmental chief Leibbrandt, and which in no way points to any knowledge on the part of the Defendant Rosenberg—I wish to make the following provisional brief statement:
It is not conceived as a reproach by the Reich Minister for the East because the executions of Jews were discontinued, but it simply represents the transmittal of a complaint by the Reich Security Main Office, adding a request to report. It is to be presumed that the reason for the complaint was that the Reich Commissioner Ostland encroached on the competency of the Reich Security Main Office and the demand for a report was presumably issued in that sense. In a letter of 18 December 1941, the Reich Minister, in a letter also signed “By order: Bräutigam,” asked the Reich Commissioner Ostland to settle directly any questions which might arise with the Higher SS and Police Leader.
To identify the letter “R” as Rosenberg’s initial, because the Prosecution obviously was more than doubtful about Rosenberg’s knowledge of matters, turned out to be equally unfortunate. This “R” is not Rosenberg’s.
(3) Document Number 3428-PS concerns a letter of the General Commissioner for White Ruthenia to the Reich Commissioner for the East. It is a shocking document about the mass extermination of Jews in White Ruthenia; however, there is nothing of interest in it for the case against Rosenberg, because those horrible events could be attributed to him only if he knew of them, and in neglect of his duty failed to intervene. There is no actual proof to found a supposition of such knowledge. The claim that these documents were found in Rosenberg’s possession cannot be in accordance with the actual facts, for they show the Reich Commissioner in Riga as the addressee.
(4) In the “Memorandum for the Führer of 18 December 1941” (Document Number 001-PS) the defendant suggested the following, which I must quote literally:
“The assaults against members of the German Armed Forces have not stopped, but have gone on. It seems to be an obvious plan to disturb German-French co-operation, to force Germany to take measures of retaliation, thereby bringing about a new defensive attitude on the part of the French against Germany. My suggestion to the Führer is that instead of killing 100 Frenchmen, he should have 100 or more Jewish bankers, lawyers, et cetera, shot.”