Translation of document 3710-PS

                       SWORN STATEMENT

In the middle of May 1943, as far as I remember, the Chief
of Amt 4 of the RSHA (SS-Brigadefuehrer Mueller), in the
name of the Chief of the RSHA (SS-Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich),
held discussions with the Generalquartiermeister of the Army
(General Wagner) about questions connected with the
operations of the SIPO and SD within the bounds of the Field
Army during the imminent campaign against Russia. Wagner
could come to no agreement with Mueller and therefore asked
Heydrich to send another representative. I was at that time
Chief of Section E in Amt 4 of the RSHA under Chief of A;
Mueller and was selected by Wagner because of my experience
in matters of protocol to be sent to Heydrich for the
purpose of drawing up the final agreement. According to the
instructions given to me, I was supposed to make sure that
this agreement would provide that the responsible
headquarters in the Army would be firmly obligated to give
complete support to all activities of the Combat Groups and
Combat Commandos of the SIPO and SD. I discussed the problem
of this mutual relationship in great detail with Wagner. In
accordance with this discussion I then presented him with
the completed draft of an agreement, which met

                                                  [Page 421]

with his full approval. This draft of an agreement was the
basis for a- final discussion between Wagner and Heydrich
towards the end of May 1941.

The contents of this agreement, as far as I remember, were
substantially as follows. Its basis was the Fuehrer's
command, mentioned at the very beginning of the agreement,
that the SIPO and SD should operate within the combat
elements of the Field Army, with the mission of utterly
smashing all resistance in conquered front-line areas as
well as in conquered rear supply zones by every means and as
quickly as possible. The various areas were then set down in
which the SIPO and SD were to be active and operating. The
individual Combat Groups were then assigned to the army
groups which were to take part in the campaign and the
individual Combat Commandos to the respective armies which
were to take part in the campaign.

The Combat Groups and Combat Commandos were to operate in
detail:

     (1) In front-line areas:

          In complete subordination to the Field Army,
          tactically, functionally, and administratively;

     (2) In rear operational areas:

          In merely administrative subordination to the
          Field Army, but under the command and functional
          control of the RSHA;

     (3) In rear Army areas:

          Arrangement as in (2);

     (4) In areas of the civil administration in the East:

          Same as in the Reich.

The tactical and functional authority and responsibility of
front-line headquarters of the Field Army over the Combat
Commandos found no limitation in the agreement and therefore
needed no further clarification.

The agreement made it clear that the administrative
subordination embraced not only disciplinary subordination
but also the obligation for rear headquarters of the Field
Army to support the Combat Groups and Combat Commandos in
matters of supply (gasoline, rations, etc.) as well as in
the use of the communications network.

This agreement was signed by Heydrich and Wagner in my
presence. Wagner
signed it either “acting for” or “by order of” the OKH.

After Wagner and Heydrich had affixed their signatures, both



                                                  [Page 422]



of them asked me to leave the room for half an hour. Just
while leaving I heard how they both wanted to discuss in
complete privacy the Fuehrer’s command, which was apparently
known in advance by each of them personally, and its far-
reaching implications. After the half hour was over I was
called in once more just to say goodbye.

Today I read the “Operational and Situational Report No. 6
of the Combat Groups of the SIPO and SD in the USSR
(covering the period from 1 to 31 October 1941),” as well as
the “Comprehensive Report of Combat Group A up to 15 October
1941.” The whole substance of these reports shows that the
prime mission of the Combat Groups and Combat Commandos of
the SIPO and SD was to undertake and carry out mass
executions of Jews, Communists, and other elements of
resistance. It is also clear from the above-cited
"Comprehensive Report,” which embraces no more than the
first four months of these operations, that the cooperation
of the respective Oberbefehlshabers with Combat Group A was
"in general good and in individual instances, for instance
that of Panzergruppe 4 under Colonel General Hoeppner, very
close, in fact almost cordial” (page 1). From an inclosure
to this same report, bearing the title “Summary of the
Number of Executed Persons,” particularly from the figures
arranged according to the successively conquered areas, it
is evident that the SIPO and SD operated in front-line areas
so as to fully carry out their prime function of conducting
mass executions of all elements of resistance even from the
very beginning of the advance against Russia. I acknowledge
the reliability and authenticity of both of the above-cited
reports. Therefore I must today express my firm conviction
that during the secret oral discussion between Wagner and
Heydrich the extensive future activity of the Combat Groups
and Combat Commandos within the combat elements of the Field
Army was obviously discussed and delineated so as to include
even planned mass executions. The close cooperation between
the Field Army and the Combat Groups cited above as taking
place even in the first weeks of the Russian campaign makes
me today give expression to my firm conviction that the
Oberbefehlshabers of the army groups and armies which were
to take part in the Russian campaign were accurately
informed through the normal OKH channels of communication
about the extensive future mission of the Combat Groups and
Combat Commandos of the SIPO and SD as including planned
mass executions of Jews, Communists, and all other elements
of resistance.

                                                  [Page 423]

In the beginning of June 1941 all of the Ic
counterintelligence officers, and, as far as I remember, all
of the Ic officers of all army groups, armies, army corps,
and some of the divisions which were to take part in the
coming Russian campaign were called in by Wagner, together
with Heydrich and the Chief of the Amt for
Counterintelligence Abroad in the OKW (Admiral Canaris) for
a general conference in the OKW Building at Berlin. The
responsible leaders of the Combat groups and Combat
Commandos of the SIPO and SD were for the most part likewise
present. I was also there. The essential substance and
purpose of this meeting was to outline the military strategy
against Russia and to announce the above-mentioned details
of the written agreement reached by Wagner and Heydrich.

This group of Ic counterintelligence officers and Ic
officers remained at Berlin a few days longer and was
carefully instructed in several additional conferences, at
which I was not present, about further details of the coming
Russian campaign. I assume that these discussions were
concerned with the exact delineation of the Fuehrer's
command “to smash utterly all resistance in occupied areas
by every means and as quickly as possible,” including even
planned mass executions of all elements of resistance.
Otherwise the cooperation between the Field Army and the
Combat Groups, which in the above-cited documents is clearly
revealed as existing but a few weeks thereafter, could not
in my opinion have been forthcoming. In any event there is
hardly any reason to doubt that these Ic counterintelligence
officers, immediately upon their return from Berlin,
accurately informed their own superiors, including all
Oberbefehlshabers of the army groups and armies which were
to march against Russia, about the full extent of the
agreements.

                                 [signed] WALTER SCHELLEBERG
                                                    26.XI.45

CITY OF NURNBERG: SS

Before me, Paul A. Neuland, Major, QMC, ASN O-385720, an
officer duly qualified to take oaths, appeared Walter
Schellenberg. to me known, who in my presence signed the
foregoing statement consisting of five pages in the German
language, and who swore that the same was true on the 26th
day of November 1945.

I further certify that the two reports cited on pages 2-3 of
the foregoing statement are documents contained in the
official files of the Documentation Section of the Office of
the U.S. Chief of Counsel at Nurnberg, Germany. I further
certify that the document whose title is “Taetigkeitsund
Lagebericht Nr.

                                                  [Page 424]



6 der Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD in
der UdSSR (Berichtszeit vom 1. 31 October 1941)” is document
No. R102, and that the document bearing the title
"Gesamtbericht der Einsatzgruppe A bis zum 15 October 1941”
is document No. L- 180.

                                    [signed] Paul A. Neuland
                                             PAUL A. NEULAND
                                                  Major, QMC
                                                    O-385720