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Minsk,
December 16, 1941
Generalkommissar
for Byelorussia
To
Reichskommissar for Ostland
Gauleiter
Hinrich Lohse
Riga
Reich
Secret Document
My
Dear Hinrich,
I
wish to ask you personally for an official directive for the
conduct of the civilian administration towards the Jews
deported from Germany to Byelorussia. Among these Jews are men
who fought at the Front and have the Iron Cross, First and
Second Class, war invalids, half-Aryans, even three-quarter
Aryans. Up to now only 6,000 to 7,000 Jews have arrived, of
the 25,000 who were expected. I am not aware what has become
of the others. In the course of several visits to the Ghetto I
noted that these Jews, who also differ from the Russian Jews
in their personal cleanliness, are also skilled workers
capable of doing five times as much in a day as the Russian
Jews.
These
Jews will probably freeze or starve to death in the coming
weeks. They present a terrible threat of disease for us, as
they are naturally just as much exposed to the 22 epidemics
prevalent in Byelorussia as we Reich-Germans (Reichsdeutsche).
Serum is not available for them.
On
my own responsibility I will not give the SD any instructions
with regard to the treatment of these people, although certain
units of the Wehrmacht and the police already have an eye on
the possessions of the Jews from the Reich. Without asking,
the SD has already simply taken away 400 mattresses from the
Jews from the Reich, and has also confiscated various other
things. I am certainly a hard [man] and willing to help solve
the Jewish question, but people who come from our own cultural
sphere just are not the same as the brutish hordes in this
place. Is the slaughter to be carried out by the Lithuanians
and Letts, who are themselves rejected by the population here?
I couldn't do it. I beg you to give clear directives [in this
matter], with due consideration for the good name of our Reich
and our Party, in order that the necessary action can be taken
in the most humane manner.
With
heartfelt greetings
Heil
Hitler!
Your
Wilhelm
Kube
PS-3665. |
