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“4. Müller told me that he had an order from Heydrich to make one of those criminals available to me for the action at Gleiwitz. The code name by which he referred to these criminals was ‘Canned Goods.’
“5. The incident at Gleiwitz in which I participated was carried out on the evening preceding the German attack on Poland. As I recall, war broke out on the 1st of September 1939. At noon on the 31st of August I received by telephone from Heydrich the code word for the attack which was to take place at 8 o’clock that evening. Heydrich said, ‘In order to carry out this attack, report to Müller for “Canned Goods.”‘ I did this and gave Müller instructions to deliver the man near the radio station. I received this man and had him laid down at the entrance to the station. He was alive, but he was completely unconscious. I tried to open his eyes. I could not recognize by his eyes that he was alive, only by his breathing. I did not see the shot wounds, but a lot of blood was smeared across his face. He was in civilian clothes.
“6. We seized the radio station as ordered, broadcast a speech of 3 to 4 minutes over an emergency transmitter, fired some pistol shots, and left.”
And then “sworn to and subscribed to before Lieutenant Martin”.
Note that the simulated attack on the radio station is ordered already on August 10, whereas the Ribbentropp-Molotov pact was not signed until the 26th of August. It seems the prosecutors are wanting to show that it was pre-planned in order to emphasize the criminal nature of it. Heydrich tells Naujocks that the purpose is to create something for German propaganda and for the foreign press … but was it used for that? No.
Who were the five or six SD men who accompanied him? Why aren't they named? Pointing out that a Polish-speaking German was going to be put at his disposal to broadcast the message over the radio transmitter seems an unnecessary apendage.
After two weeks of waiting, Naujocks goes to see Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller and hears a discussion with a man named Mehlhorn about another planned incident in which it should be made to appear that Polish soldiers were attacking German troops. Twelve or thirteen condemned criminals were to be dressed in Polish uniforms and left dead on the ground. But rather than just shooting them, they were to be given “fatal injections” by a doctor employed by Heydrich, and then given gunshot wounds. Afterwards, members of the press were to be taken to the spot and shown the dead bodies. Do we have any reports of this? No.
Müller told Naujocks he had been ordered by Heydrich to make one of those condemned criminals available to him for Gleiwitz. On the 31st of August, Naujocks reported to Mueller again and requested his one “dead man” be delivered near to the radio station. The man who was delivered was still alive, but unconscious. Naujocks saw no gunshot wounds on the man and he, Naujocks, did not shoot him. But also, this man was not wearing a Polish uniform as previously determined, but was dressed in civilian clothes!
He then said “they” (wearing Polish uniforms?) broadcast a message of 3 to 4 minutes over the emergency transmitter… fired some shots, and left.
Identical to Holocaust survivor stories that had to be partially dreamed up by Nuremberg prosecutors (even to the “fatal injections” by Nazi doctors), this story doesn't hold together and doesn't sound like the kind of plan intelligent Germans would come up with. As pointed out above, it was totally unnecessary. It was only of value to the Nuremberg prosecutors who needed some believable German aggression against Poland for their “Crimes against Peace” charge.
But the Nuremberg prosecutors were accusing the SD of carrying out a crime against peace by staging so-called border incidents before the outbreak of the [German-Polish] war to give Hitler an excuse for starting the war. However, as the defense for the SD showed, nothing of the sort was carried out by the pertinent departments (Amt. III and VI). Naujocks explained this away by saying it was a personal request made to him by Reinhard Heydrich. No one in the appropriate SD departments had any knowledge of such an operation.
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