MILCH: No, I was not informed. Everybody had to submit his papers, and the certificate of one of my grandparents could not be found.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And you were never required to do that under the Weimar Republic?
MILCH: No, there was no such question at that time.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And you knew that this whole question was raised by the Nazi Party, of which you became a member in 1933; in other words at about the time this happened. Is that right?
MILCH: I had applied for membership earlier, before this question came up.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: When did you apply for membership?
MILCH: I do not know exactly—I think in March or April.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And you had to clear up this question before you could become a member; wasn’t that the point?
MILCH: That had been cleared up in the meantime. I cannot say exactly when.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: In 1933 you became aware of the concentration camp, the first one?
MILCH: Yes, I believe in 1933 there was a public announcement about it.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And later, as I understand you, you heard so many rumors about concentration camps, that you thought the matter ought to be investigated; that you ought to go there and see?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: When was it that these rumors became so persistent that you thought the matter should be investigated?
MILCH: That must have been at the end of 1934 and in the spring of 1935, because, if I remember correctly, I was in Dachau in the spring of 1935.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And those rumors persisted throughout the entire period until the collapse of Germany, didn’t they?
MILCH: Those rumors which led me to ask to visit Dachau were really only current in the circle of the higher officers, who passed them on to me. I had little contact with other circles; I cannot say to what extent the thing was generally discussed.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, among the higher officers with whom you associated, the rumor went about that these concentration camps were the scene of atrocities as early as 1935. I understood you to say that; am I correct?
MILCH: No, not exactly. I said there . . .
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, now you tell us what it was that you went to investigate.
MILCH: I was quite unable to conduct any investigation; all I could do was to see for myself—in order to dispel the many rumors—whether it was true that many people were shut up there who should not have been there at all, innocent people who were brought there for political reasons only. At that time there was much talk about many members of the so-called “Reaction” having been sent there. Some officers were very concerned about this, and I told them that I would go and see for myself to try to gain a personal insight.