Former SS General Karl Wulff told the court here trying him on charges of the murder of 300, 000 Jews that he became so sickened at a mass execution of Jews in Minsk, in 1941, that he demonstrated his disapproval.
He testified that he had been a “guest” of Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler at the mass execution in which the victims were forced to lie on their faces in a trench to be shot, and later victims were forced to lie down on the corpses. Wulff, who had been Himmler’s chief of staff, testified he “stood aside to demonstrate” his disapproval. He admitted, however, that he approved of the Nazi racial theories “in a positive sense.”
The accused insisted he did not know the full extent of the Nazi atrocities until after the war. Describing his relations with Himmler, the former SS general wept as he claimed he had often opposed Himmler. The presiding Judge commented that “Himmler was responsible for the death of millions, and you served him faithfully.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
