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These quotations are from the book, The
Yellow Star, by Gerhard Schoenberner.
"Introduction. The Germans were
very careful to document their thoughts and actions. The following quotations come from a variety of sources including
a legal statement, a letter to a newspaper editor, military orders, and administartive reports."
"My measures will not be hindered by any legal consideration or bureaucracy whatsoever. It is not
justice that I have to carry out by annhilation and extermination."
~ Hermann Goering
March 4, 1933
"Unfortunately,
many people today still say 'God created Jews too. That is why you must respect them also.' We say, however, 'Vermin
are also animals, but we still destroy them.' The Jew is a half - caste. He has inherited characteristics of Aryans,
Asiatics, Negroes and Mongols. In a half - caste, the worst charcateristics predominate. The only good thing about
him is his white color....The Jews look on us as animals as well as treat us accordingly. They use cunning tricks to
take away our wealth.
"In
Gelsenkirchen the
Jew Grueneberg sold us rotten meat. His book of laws allows him to do that. The Jews have plotted and incited
war. They have led Russia into misery. In Germany
they gave the Communist Party money and paid their thugs. We were at death's door. Then Adolf Hitler came.
Now the Jews are abroad and stir up trouble against us. But we do not waver and we follow the Fuehren. We do not
buy from the Jew. Every penny we give them kills one of our people."
~
Erna Listing, Gelsenkirchen Oswaldstr.8
Reader's
letter to Der Sturmer
January
1935
"Marriages
between Jews and citizens of Germany or related blood are forbidden."
~
Laws for the Protection of German Blood
September 15, 1935
“Berlin Number 234 – 404 November 9, 1938
To all Gestapo stations.
- Action against the Jews and their synagogues will begin on short notice. They
are not to be hindered. Police are to stand by only to prevent looting.
- Preparations are to be made for the arrest of 20,000 – 30,000 Jews. Wealthy
in particular are to be selected.
- Should in the forthcoming action, Jews be found in possession of weapons, the most severe measures are to be taken. SS can be mobilized. The direction of
the Action is to be carried out by the Gestapo.
Gestapo 11 Mueller…This teleprinter
message is secret.”
~ Darmstadt
November 11, 1938
"The inhabitants were driven out into the street just as they were, whether they were dressed or in bed...There
was a continuous screaming of women and children, cracking whips and rifle shots as the people were forced into the wagons.
Women carried dead children in their arms. Children hauled and dragged their dead parents by the arms and legs through
the streets to the train."
~ Hermann Friedrich Graebe, a German witness to the killings of the Jews of Kovno
July 13 and 14, 1941
"On the first of December of 1941, I was on duty between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. at sentry post No.4 in Holstein
St. At 1500 hours I saw a Jewess climb on to the fence of the ghetto, stick her head through the fence and attempt to steal
turnips from a passing cart. I made use of my fire - arm. The Jewess received two fatal shots....Type of
fire - arm: Carbine 98. Ammunition used: two cartridges."
~ Report of Wachtmeister Naumann
December 1, 1941
" 'The Jewish race is being exterminated,' every party member says. That's quite clear, it's in our
program. Elimination of the Jews and we're doing it. Not one of all those who talk like this has witnessed it,
not one has been through it. Most of you will know what it means when 100 corpses are lying side by side, when 500 are
lying there or when 1000 are lying there. To have stuck this out and at the same time -- apart from exceptions dut to
human weaknesses -- to have remained decent, that is what has made us hard. This is a page of glory in our history which
has never been written and is never to be written."
~ Heinrich Himmler
"We discussed the ways and means of effecting the extermination. This could only be done by gassing
since it would have been absolutely impossible to dispose by shooting large numbers of people that were expected, and it would
have placed too heavy a burden on the SS men who had to carry it out especially because of the women and children among the
victims."
~ Adolf Eichman to Rudolf Hoess
"The way we selcted our victims was as follows: we had two SS doctors on duty at Auschwitz to examine the
incoming transports of prisoners. These would be marched by one of the doctors, who would make spot decisions as they
walked by. Those who were fit to work were sent into the camps. Others were sent immediately to the extermination
plants. Children of tender years were invariably exterminated since by reason of their youth they were unable to work."
~ Rudolf Hoess
Commandant of Auschwitz
"About four million Jews have been killed in the various extermination camps, while a further million met
their death in other ways, the majority being executed by the Einsatzkommandos of the Security Police during the
campaign against Russia."
~ Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl, former SS - Sturmbannfuehrer in an affidavit to Himmler
"Lt. Col. Brookhard: 'Did he [Eichmann] say anything at that time as to the number of Jews that had been
killed?'
Wisliceny: 'Yes, he expressed this in a particularly cynical manner. He said he would leap laughing
into the grave because the feeling that he had 5 million people on his conscience would be for him a source of extraordinary
satisfaction."
~ Dieter Wisliceny, former SS - Haupsturmfuehrer
Sworn statement at Nuremberg
January 3, 1946
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