60-780: The Höfle telegram (or Hoefle telegram ) is a cryptic one-page document, discovered in 2000 among the declassified World War II archives of the Public Record Office in Kew , England. The document consists of several radio telegrams in translation, among them a top-secret message sent by SS Sturmbannführer Hermann Höfle on 11 January 1943; one, to SS Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann in Berlin , and one to SS Obersturmbannführer Franz Heim in German-occupied Kraków (Cracow). The telegram contains
120-572: A threat model that is broadly similar to that faced by a large private company. The Official Sensitive classification replaced the Restricted classification in April 2014 in the UK; Official indicates the previously used Unclassified marking. Unclassified is technically not a classification level. Though this is a feature of some classification schemes, used for government documents that do not merit
180-401: A change from the previous rule, under which documents could have their classification time length renewed indefinitely, effectively shuttering state secrets from the public. The 2011 law applies retroactively to existing documents. The government of Canada employs two main types of sensitive information designation: Classified and Protected. The access and protection of both types of information
240-504: A classification in public sectors, such as commercial industries. Such a level is also known as " Private Information". Official (equivalent to US DOD classification Controlled Unclassified Information or CUI) material forms the generality of government business, public service delivery and commercial activity. This includes a diverse range of information, of varying sensitivities, and with differing consequences resulting from compromise or loss. Official information must be secured against
300-564: A fair and just social contract . The purpose of classification is to protect information. Higher classifications protect information that might endanger national security . Classification formalises what constitutes a "state secret" and accords different levels of protection based on the expected damage the information might cause in the wrong hands. However, classified information is frequently "leaked" to reporters by officials for political purposes. Several U.S. presidents have leaked sensitive information to influence public opinion. Although
360-402: A government agency or group shares information between an agency or group of other country's government they will generally employ a special classification scheme that both parties have previously agreed to honour. For example, the marking Atomal, is applied to U.S. Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data and United Kingdom Atomic information that has been released to NATO. Atomal information
420-494: A particular classification or which have been declassified. This is because the information is low-impact, and therefore does not require any special protection, such as vetting of personnel. A plethora of pseudo-classifications exist under this category. Clearance is a general classification, that comprises a variety of rules controlling the level of permission required to view some classified information, and how it must be stored, transmitted, and destroyed. Additionally, access
480-547: A person, organization, or agency". Secret material would cause "serious damage" to national security if it were publicly available. In the United States, operational "Secret" information can be marked with an additional "LimDis", to limit distribution. Confidential material would cause "damage" or be prejudicial to national security if publicly available. Restricted material would cause "undesirable effects" if publicly available. Some countries do not have such
540-514: A result, the RSHA decreed the Fabrik-Aktion , an initiative to register all Jews working in armaments production. The primary targets of this action were Jews who were married to Aryans. The RSHA planned to remove all German Jews from Berlin in early 1943 (the deadline to deport these Jews was 28 February 1943, according to a diary entry Goebbels wrote in early February). On 27 February 1943,
600-400: A routine level of protection and is treated as OFFICIAL. Information that does not form part of official duty is treated as UNOFFICIAL. OFFICIAL and UNOFFICIAL are not security classifications and are not mandatory markings. Caveats are a warning that the information has special protections in addition to those indicated by the security classification of PROTECTED or higher (or in the case of
660-522: A satisfactory background investigation. Documents and other information must be properly marked "by the author" with one of several (hierarchical) levels of sensitivity—e.g. restricted, confidential, secret, and top secret. The choice of level is based on an impact assessment; governments have their own criteria, including how to determine the classification of an information asset and rules on how to protect information classified at each level. This process often includes security clearances for personnel handling
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#1732780531990720-548: A typical overblown bureaucracy", wrote British author Gerald Reitlinger . "The complexity of RSHA was unequalled... with at least a hundred... sub-sub-sections, a modest camouflage of the fact that it handled the progressive extermination which Hitler planned for the ten million Jews of Europe". The organization at its simplest was divided into seven offices ( Ämter ): RSHA-controlled activities included gathering intelligence, criminal investigation, overseeing foreigners, monitoring public opinion, and Nazi indoctrination. The RSHA
780-629: Is a decoded message, encrypted at source by the German Enigma machine . A missing "5" is added in the table, and is considered to be the correct figure, because only the number 713,555 yields the correct total of 1,274,166, and also the Korherr Report of 1943 substantiates that the total number of 1,274,166 Jews subjected to "special treatment" ( Sonderbehandlung ) in the General Government district of German- occupied Poland
840-545: Is an acronym for "Control of Secret Material in an International Command". Most countries employ some sort of classification system for certain government information. For example, in Canada , information that the U.S. would classify SBU (Sensitive but Unclassified) is called "protected" and further subcategorised into levels A, B, and C. On 19 July 2011, the National Security (NS) classification marking scheme and
900-866: Is correct to the last incongruous digit. The British decoded version of the telegram would almost certainly be a transcription error, since British security clearly did not realise what this message was about (see above). It is unlikely that the numerical mistake would have been noticed by them at the time. Admittedly the interception and decoding was not 100% accurate (see reproduction). 12. OMX de OMQ 1000 89 ? ? State secret! To
960-665: Is desired that no document be released which refers to experiments with humans and might have adverse effect on public opinion or result in legal suits. Documents covering such work field should be classified "secret". April 17, 1947 Atomic Energy Commission memo from Colonel O.G. Haywood, Jr. to Dr. Fidler at the Oak Ridge Laboratory in Tennessee. As of 2010 , Executive Order 13526 bans classification of documents simply to "conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error" or "prevent embarrassment to
1020-555: Is governed by the Security of Information Act , effective 24 December 2001, replacing the Official Secrets Act 1981 . To access the information, a person must have the appropriate security clearance and the need to know. In addition, the caveat "Canadian Eyes Only" is used to restrict access to Classified or Protected information only to Canadian citizens with the appropriate security clearance and need to know. SOI
1080-476: Is marked COSMIC Top Secret Atomal (CTSA), NATO Secret Atomal (NSAT), or NATO Confidential Atomal (NCA). BALK and BOHEMIA are also used. For example, sensitive information shared amongst NATO allies has four levels of security classification; from most to least classified: A special case exists with regard to NATO Unclassified (NU) information. Documents with this marking are NATO property ( copyright ) and must not be made public without NATO permission. COSMIC
1140-404: Is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance with a need to know . Mishandling of the material can incur criminal penalties. A formal security clearance is required to view or handle classified material. The clearance process requires
1200-541: Is not a classification of data per se . It is defined under the Security of Information Act , and unauthorised release of such information constitutes a higher breach of trust, with a penalty of up to life imprisonment if the information is shared with a foreign entity or terrorist group. SOIs include: Classified information can be designated Top Secret , Secret or Confidential . These classifications are only used on matters of national interest. Protected information
1260-669: Is not classified. It pertains to any sensitive information that does not relate to national security and cannot be disclosed under the access and privacy legislation because of the potential injury to particular public or private interests. Federal Cabinet ( King's Privy Council for Canada ) papers are either protected (e.g., overhead slides prepared to make presentations to Cabinet) or classified (e.g., draft legislation, certain memos). RSHA The Reich Security Main Office ( German : Reichssicherheitshauptamt pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯çsˌzɪçɐhaɪ̯t͡sˌhaʊ̯ptʔamt] , RSHA )
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#17327805319901320-421: Is restricted on a " need to know " basis. Simply possessing a clearance does not automatically authorize the individual to view all material classified at that level or below that level. The individual must present a legitimate "need to know" in addition to the proper level of clearance. In addition to the general risk-based classification levels, additional compartmented constraints on access exist, such as ( in
1380-599: The Kriminalpolizei (Kripo; "Criminal Police"). In correspondence, the RSHA was often abbreviated to RSi-H to avoid confusion with the SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt (RuSHA; "SS Race and Settlement Office"). The creation of the RSHA represented the formalization, at the highest level, of the relationship under which the SD served as the intelligence agency for the security police. A similar coordination existed in
1440-580: The Reichsbahn according to a schedule, at a cost of 4 Pfennig per track kilometer. The actual waybills did not include the number of prisoners in each cattle car because calculations were predetermined. The standard means of delivery was a 10-metre-long covered goods wagon , although third class passenger carriages were also used with train tickets paid by the Jews themselves, when the SS wanted to keep up
1500-475: The Access to Information Act : ultrassecreto (top secret), secreto (secret) and reservado (restricted). A top secret ( ultrassecreto ) government-issued document may be classified for a period of 25 years, which may be extended up to another 25 years. Thus, no document remains classified for more than 50 years. This is mandated by the 2011 Information Access Law ( Lei de Acesso à Informação ),
1560-818: The Deutsche Reichsbahn . The SS paid German Railways the equivalent of a third class ticket for every prisoner transported via the Holocaust trains ( Sonderzüge ) to the extermination camps of Operation Reinhard from ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe and Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland . Children under four went free. The payment was collected from the SS by the German Transport Authority on behalf of
1620-695: The Einsatzgruppen , related agencies, and foreign auxiliary troops co-opted by the Nazis, killed more than two million people, including 1.3 million Jews. As early as 1941, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels began to complain that large numbers of Jews had not been transported out of Germany because of their work in the armaments industry. They were protected from deportation as they were considered to be irreplaceable labourers, and many were also married to Aryan Germans. These Jews believed that these factors ensured their safety. But by late 1942, Hitler and
1680-629: The Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes against the Polish Nation , the quoted numbers shed a new light on the evidential standard of proof for the scope of the crimes committed by the SS . The telegram gave train arrivals in the prior fortnight, as well as cumulative arrivals until 31 December 1942, for the extermination camps during the deadliest phase of the " Final Solution ". All Holocaust trains were run by
1740-722: The Reich Security Main Office , for the attention of SS Obersturmbannführer EICHMANN , BERLIN [...rest missed...] 13/15. OLQ de OMQ 1005 83 234 250 State secret! To
1800-543: The US National Security Agency and the Holocaust historians, "it appears the British analysts who had decrypted the message missed the significance of this particular message at the time. No doubt this happened because the message itself contained only the identifying letters for the extermination camps followed by the numerical totals. The only clue would have been the reference to Operation Reinhard,
1860-529: The Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka in 1942, trains carried up to 7,000 victims each, which reduced the cost to the SS by more than half. According to an expert report established on behalf of the German "Train of Commemoration" project, the receipts taken in by the state-owned Deutsche Reichsbahn for mass deportations in the period between 1938 and 1945 reached a sum of US$ 664,525,820.34. The Höfle telegram
Höfle telegram - Misplaced Pages Continue
1920-468: The "resettlement to work in the East" myth. The Deutsche Reichsbahn manual, which was used by the SS for making payments, had a listed carrying capacity of each trainset setup at 50 boxcars, each loaded with 50 prisoners. In reality, boxcars were crammed with up to 100 persons and routinely loaded from the minimum of 150% to 200% capacity for the same price. Notably, during the mass deportation of Jews from
1980-504: The NATIONAL CABINET caveat, OFFICIAL: Sensitive or higher). Australia has four caveats: Codewords are primarily used within the national security community. Each codeword identifies a special need-to-know compartment . Foreign government markings are applied to information created by Australian agencies from foreign source information. Foreign government marking caveats require protection at least equivalent to that required by
2040-772: The Non-National Security (NNS) classification marking scheme in Australia was unified into one structure. As of 2018, the policy detailing how Australian government entities handle classified information is defined in the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF). The PSPF is published by the Attorney-General's Department and covers security governance, information security , personal security, and physical security . A security classification can be applied to
2100-426: The RSHA sent plainclothes Gestapo officials to arrest intermarried Jews and charge them with various crimes. Around 2,000 intermarried Jewish men were taken to Rosenstrasse 2–4, where they were held. Goebbels complained that many of the arrests had been "thwarted" by industrialists since some 4,000 Jews were expected to be detained. Angry wives—as "Women of German blood"—began protesting against this action in front of
2160-437: The RSHA were ready to rid Berlin of its remaining German Jews. In September 1942, Hitler decided that these labourers would still be protected, but that they were to be sent out of the country. Meanwhile, Auschwitz administrators were lobbying the government to send them more armaments workers, as they had struck a bargain with the arms producer IG Farben to construct a camp specifically for arms development using slave labour. As
2220-576: The RSHA, centrality within Nazi Germany was pronounced since the organization completed the integration of government and Nazi Party offices as to intelligence gathering and security. Departments like the SD and Gestapo (within the RSHA) were controlled directly by Himmler and his immediate subordinate SS- Obergruppenführer and General of Police Reinhard Heydrich ; the two held the power of life and death for nearly every German and were essentially above
2280-582: The Reich. According to German historian, Klaus Hildebrand , the RSHA was "particularly concerned with racial matters". Adolf Eichmann stated in 1937 that "the anger of the people expressed in riots [was] the most effective means to rob the Jews of a sense of security". Entry into the Second World War afforded the RSHA the power to act as an intermediary in conquered or occupied territories, which according to Hans Mommsen , lent itself to implementing
2340-546: The U.S. ) Special Intelligence (SI), which protects intelligence sources and methods, No Foreign dissemination (NoForn), which restricts dissemination to U.S. nationals, and Originator Controlled dissemination (OrCon), which ensures that the originator can track possessors of the information. Information in these compartments is usually marked with specific keywords in addition to the classification level. Government information about nuclear weapons often has an additional marking to show it contains such information ( CNWDI ). When
2400-536: The United Kingdom and other members of the British Empire used Most Secret , but this was later changed to match the United States' category name of Top Secret in order to simplify Allied interoperability. The Washington Post reported in an investigation entitled "Top Secret America" that, as of 2010, "An estimated 854,000 people ... hold top-secret security clearances" in the United States. It
2460-506: The classification systems vary from country to country, most have levels corresponding to the following British definitions (from the highest level to lowest). Top Secret is the highest level of classified information. Information is further compartmented so that specific access using a code word after top secret is a legal way to hide collective and important information. Such material would cause "exceptionally grave damage" to national security if made publicly available. Prior to 1942,
Höfle telegram - Misplaced Pages Continue
2520-961: The commander of the Security Police , for the attention of SS Obersturmbannführer HEIM , KRAKAU . Re: 14-day report Operation REINHARD . Reference: radiogram from there. Recorded arrivals until 31 December 42, L 12761, B 0, S 515, T 10335 totaling 23611. Situation [ ... ] 31 December 42, L 24733, B 434508, S 101370, T 71355, totaling 1274166. SS and police leader of Lublin , HOEFLE , Sturmbannführer . According to
2580-455: The definition of classified ought to be information that would cause injury to the cause of justice, human rights, etc., rather than information that would cause injury to the national interest; to distinguish when classifying information is in the collective best interest of a just society, or merely the best interest of a society acting unjustly to protect its people, government, or administrative officials from legitimate recourses consistent with
2640-546: The detailed statistics on the 1942 killings of Jews in the extermination camps of Operation Reinhard including at Belzec (B), Sobibor (S), Treblinka (T), and at Lublin-Majdanek (L). The numbers were compiled and quoted by Höfle, likely from the very precise records shared with the Deutsche Reichsbahn . Even though the Holocaust railway transportation records were notoriously incomplete as revealed by
2700-885: The extermination of Jewish populations in those places. An order issued by the RSHA on 20 May 1941 to block emigration of any and all Jews attempting to leave Belgium or France as part of the "imminent Final Solution of the Jewish question" demonstrates its complicity for the systematic extermination of Jews. Part of the RSHA's efforts to encourage occupied nations to hand over their Jews included coercing them by assigning Jewish advisory officials. Working with Eichmann's Reich Association of Jews in Germany, they also deliberately deceived Jews still living in Germany and other countries by promising them good living quarters, medical care, and food in Theresienstadt (a concentration camp which
2760-603: The foreign government providing the source information. Special handling instructions are used to indicate particular precautions for information handling. They include: A releasability caveat restricts information based on citizenship . The three in use are: Additionally, the PSPF outlines Information Management Markers (IMM) as a way for entities to identify information that is subject to non-security related restrictions on access and use. These are: There are three levels of document classification under Brazilian Law No. 12.527,
2820-407: The information itself or an asset that holds information e.g., a USB or laptop . The Australian Government uses four security classifications: OFFICIAL: Sensitive, PROTECTED, SECRET and TOP SECRET. The relevant security classification is based on the likely damage resulting from compromise of the information’s confidentiality.. All other information from business operations and services requires
2880-476: The information. Some corporations and non-government organizations also assign levels of protection to their private information, either from a desire to protect trade secrets , or because of laws and regulations governing various matters such as personal privacy , sealed legal proceedings and the timing of financial information releases. With the passage of time much classified information can become less sensitive, and may be declassified and made public. Since
2940-422: The late twentieth century there has been freedom of information legislation in some countries, whereby the public is deemed to have the right to all information that is not considered to be damaging if released. Sometimes documents are released with information still considered confidential obscured ( redacted ), as in the adjacent example. The question exists among some political science and legal experts whether
3000-668: The law. Heydrich remained the RSHA chief until his assassination in 1942 . In January 1943 Himmler delegated the office to SS- Obergruppenführer and General of Police Ernst Kaltenbrunner , who headed the RSHA until the end of the war in Europe. The head of the RSHA was also known as the CSSD or C hef der S icherheitspolizei und des SD (Chief of the Security Police and of the Security Service). The RSHA "became
3060-487: The local offices, where the Gestapo, criminal police, and SD were formally separate offices. This coordination was carried out by inspectors on the staff of the local higher SS and police leaders. One of the principal functions of the local SD units was to serve as the intelligence agency for the local Gestapo units. In the occupied territories, the formal relationship between local units of the Gestapo, criminal police, and SD
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#17327805319903120-481: The meaning of which – the plan to eliminate Polish Jewry that was named after the assassinated SS General Reinhard Heydrich – also probably was unknown at the time to the codebreakers at Bletchley ." The Höfle's radio telegram is one of two evidential proofs making use of the very precise figures, suggesting their common origin; the other one is the Korherr Report to Himmler by professional statistician Dr Richard Korherr from January 1943. Both of them quote exactly
3180-490: The same number of Jews "processed" during Operation Reinhard. Apart from providing identical totals as of December 31, 1942, the Höfle telegram also indicates that the camp at Lublin (Majdanek) was part of Odilo Globocnik 's Operation Reinhard, a fact that historians previously had not fully realised. [REDACTED] Media related to Hoefle Telegram at Wikimedia Commons Classified information Classified information
3240-584: The units were re-formed prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the men of the Einsatzgruppen were recruited from the SD, Gestapo, Kripo , Orpo , and Waffen-SS . The units followed the invasion forces of the German Army into Eastern Europe. Not infrequently, commanders of Einsatzgruppen and Einsatzkommando sub-units were also desk officers from the main office of the RSHA. Historian Raul Hilberg estimates that between 1941 and 1945
3300-736: Was a significant factor in the growth in power of the Nazi state. With the formation of the RSHA, Himmler combined under one roof the Nazi Party's Sicherheitsdienst (SD; SS intelligence service) and the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; "Security Police"), which was nominally under the Interior Ministry. The SiPo was composed of two sub-departments, the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo; "Secret State Police") and
3360-577: Was a way station to extermination facilities like Auschwitz) if they turned over their assets to the RSHA through a fictitious home-purchase plan. The RSHA oversaw the Einsatzgruppen , death squads that were formed under the direction of Heydrich and operated by the SS. Originally part of the SiPo, in September 1939 the operational control of the Einsatzgruppen was taken over by the RSHA. When
3420-542: Was also "the central office for the extra-judicial NS (National Socialist) measures of terror and repression from the beginning of the war until 1945". The list of persecuted people included Jews, Communists, Freemasons , pacifists, and Christian activists. In addition to dealing with identified enemies, the RSHA advocated expansionist policies for the Reich and the Germanization of additional territory through settlement. Generalplan Ost (General Plan East), which
3480-450: Was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as Chef der Deutschen Polizei (Chief of German Police) and Reichsführer-SS , the head of the Nazi Party's Schutzstaffel (SS). The organization's stated duty was to fight all "enemies of the Reich" inside and outside the borders of Nazi Germany . Himmler established the RSHA on 27 September 1939. His assumption of control over all security and police forces in Germany
3540-472: Was slightly closer. The RSHA continued to grow at an enormous rate during World War II in Europe. Routine reorganization of the RSHA did not change the tendency for centralization within Nazi Germany , nor did it change the general trend for organizations like the RSHA to develop direct relationships to Adolf Hitler , adhering to Nazi Germany's typical pattern of the leader-follower construct. For
3600-434: Was the secret Nazi plan to colonize Central and Eastern Europe exclusively with Germans, displacing inhabitants in the process through genocide and ethnic cleansing in order to obtain sufficient Lebensraum , stemmed from officials in the RSHA, among other Nazi organizations. In its role as the national and Nazi security service, the RSHA coordinated activities among various agencies with wide-ranging responsibilities within
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