Korherr Report (Korherrbericht)
The Inspector for Statistics
At the Reichsführer SS 23 March 1943
Secret Reich Matter
The Final Solution of the European Jewish Question
Statistical Report
C o n t e n t s:
I. Introduction
II. The Balance of Jews in Germany
III. Jewish Population Weakness
IV. The Emigration of Jews from Germany
V. The Evacuation of the Jews
VI. The Jews in the Ghettos
VII. The Jews in the Concentration Camps
VIII. Jews in Penitentiaries
IX. The Use of Jewish Labor
X. European Balance of Jews
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THE FINAL SOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN JEWISH QUESTION
Statistical Report
I. INTRODUCTION
In order to make a balance of the results on the way to the solution of the Jewish question it is necessary to determine the number of Jews and its development. The contradictions in the data about the number of Jews, however, make necessary an introduction in the sense that numbers about Jewry are always to be taken with special reservation and can lead to wrong conclusions without a knowledge as to their source and as to how they came about.
The sources of mistakes lie mainly in the nature of Jewry and its historical development, in its millenary restless wandering, the countless admissions and withdrawals, the efforts at assimilation, the mixtures with the host peoples, the efforts of Jews to avoid registration and finally the wrong or wrongly interpreted statistics about Jewry.
Furthermore statistics – partially as a statistical makeshift, partially due to the wide coincidence†between Jewish faith and Jewish race, partially in ignorance of the idea of race, partially due to the religious thinking of the respective time – have until lastly recorded Jews according to their religious confession and almost never according to their race. The recording of the race requires a training of many years and also ancestry research. It also turned out to be difficult mainly in the southern and eastern countries, given that despite all coincidence a uniform Jewish race was difficult to delimitate. The adhesion to Mosaic or Israeli faith in turn is no fully valid proof, given that due to the former Jewish missionary movement with its taking in of heathens and Christians, and also due to conversions to Jewry and mixed marriages in more recent times, there are not a few confessional Jews of non-Jewish race, while on the other hand forced christianizing and the number of baptized Jews that again increased in the last century, together with the number of non- confessionals of Jewish race, brought down the number of Jews. In 1893 Leroy-Beaulieu estimated the loss of Jewry to Christianity at four to ten times its present-day adherents; according to Maurice Fishberg and Mathias Mieses three times the actual number of Jews have merged with Aryan Europe. Even Hans Günther estimates the number of Jews in Germany at double the number of Jews of Mosaic faith who have German citizenship. The Lithuanian Jew Brutzkus even goes as far as to consider the Jews of Berlin as more pure Europeans, according to the composition of their blood, than the Germans of Berlin.
In accordance with these opinions the number of racial Jews including half-breeds in Europe has been frequently calculated as three times as high as that of the confessional Jews (twice as high in eastern Europe, four times as high in central Europe, even eight times as high in the rest of Europe), and the portion of more of less Jewish blood in the European population has been calculated at more or less 6 per cent. On the other hand Burgdörfer estimated the number of Jews in Germany in 1933 at 850,000 full, half and quarter Jews (with 502,799 confessional Jews) and the number of Jews in Austria in 1934 at 300-400,000 (with 191,738 confessional Jews). The recording of racial Jews at the German census in 1939 resulted in 307,892 confessional Jews and the only a little higher number of 330,892 full Jews, 72,738 half Jews and 42,811 quarter Jews, numbers that are by no means to be considered reliable especially in what concerns the half – and quarter Jews. The numbers obtained can thus only be considered as minimum numbers. They came about through the question “Was or is one of the 4 grandparents a full Jew?” contained in a “supplementary form” to the list of households of the 1939 census, which had to be answered by “yes” or “no” for each grandparent. As the supplementary form was to be delivered in a closed envelope and thus beyond control on site, it was wrongly filled in. In many cases only lines were drawn in the respective field, instead of an answer.
The first official attempt to record the Jews according to their race was immediately sabotaged by the Jews. It happened at the Austrian census of 7 March 1923. Vice Chancellor Dr. Frank (Greater German People’s Party) signed a decree shortly before the census, according to which under question 7 of the census sheet (language) "ethnicity and race" were also to be indicated. As the census sheets had already been printed, this was only pointed out in a red reminder sheet without clarification and examples. The Austrian Jews sabotaged this question pursuant to the request, forwarded to its readers by the Jewish-Marxist press on the day immediately before the census date, to answer the question about the race with “white” The result was that “the “white” race turned out to be as widely represented in Austria as the sphere of influence of the Jewish-Marxist press and political parties was.” Only in Kärnten and in the Burgenland the processing of the material was carried out with rather dubious success, in all other federal states and principally in Vienna, however, it was given up as being pointless.
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II. THE BALANCE OF JEWS IN GERMANY
The following data about the number and development of Jews in Germany are based on official census data and other official records of the Reich and on scientific calculations and estimations, but they have mainly been prepared by the Reich Association of the Jews in Germany and by the cult communities in Vienna and Prague, who work with counting, counting forms for population movements, extrapolations, and estimates. These Jewish entities work under the control of the Reichssicherheitshaupt [Reich Main Security Office] and for its purposes. Apart from the dubious data about the initial numbers the Reich Association of the Jews in Germany seems to produce reliable work. On the basis of the statistics prepared by this entity and so far checked by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, the following balance on the development of Jewry from before the taking of power (30.1.1933 in the Old Reich, March 1938 in Austria and March 1939 in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia) until 01.01.1943 can be drawn:
1. Balance of Jews in the Old Reich including Sudetengau and Danzig
Number of Jews in the Old Reich(without Sudetengauand Danzig) on 30.1.1933
around
561,000
Reduction between 30.1.33 an 1.1.43 through Excess mortality(Old Reich )
- 61,193 Excess emigration
- 352,534 Off-going (Evacuation)
- 100,516
514,243
Increase from 30.1.33 to 1.1.43 through Incorporation of the Sudeten-Land
+ 2,649 * other changes (Danzig immigration, emigration, authorized withdrawals, recognition
as I. degree half breed, new recording, rectification of data sheets
+ 1,921
+ 4,570
Number of Jews in the Old Reich (with Sudetengauand Danzig) on1.1.1943
51,327
2. Balance of Jews in the Ostmark[Austria]
Number of Jews in the Ostmark on 1.3.1938
around
220,000Reduction from 1.3.38 to 1.1.43 through Excess mortality
- 14,509 Excess emigration
149,124 Off-going (Evacuation)
- 47,555 Other changes
- 710
211,898
Number of Jews in the Ostmark on 1.1.1943
8,102
3. Balance of Jews in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia
Number of Jews in the
Protectorate on 15.3.1943
118,310 Reduction from 15.3.39 to 1.1.43 through Excess mortality
- 7,074 Excess emigration
- 26,009 Off-going (Evacuation)
- 69,677
102,760
Number of Jews in the Protectorate on 1.1.1943
- 15,550
*This number of 2,649 Jews in the Sudetenland was established during the census of 1939. Prior to the incorporation of the Sudetenland into the Reich the number of Jews was around 3 ... who however very quickly, without crossing a state border and without losses in patrimony, left for the Protectorate.
In this balance the newly acquired eastern territories (except for Danzig) are not included. A balance for these cannot yet be made. However, there are several estimates about the number of Jews in these areas, which should lead to a number of about 630,000. In addition to these there are 160,000 Jews in the Bialystok district and around 1.3 million Jews in the General Government as at the time of its constitution. This would lead to a total number of Jews in the whole German area (without the occupied eastern territories) of about 2.5 million x) at the end of 1939, the greatest past thereof in the new East.
On 1.1.1943 the Reich without the new eastern territories, the old-age ghetto Theresienstadt and the labor usage within the scope of the Organisation Schmelt had only 74,979 Jews, thereof 51,327 in the Old Reich, 8,102 in the Ostmark and 15,550 in the Protectorate. In the Old Reich with the Sudetenland there are now only 9.2 per cent of the number of Jews on the day of the taking over of power. On 30.1.1943 their number has been further reduced to 48,242 or 8.6 per cent, on 25.2.1943 even further to 44,589 or 7.9 per cent. In Berlin, where already in 1880 there lived one- eighth, in 1910 more than a quarter and in 1933 almost a one third of the Jews of Germany, there are on 1.1.1943 no less than 32,999 or 64.3 per cent of all Jews of the Old Reich, on 30.1.1943 still 30,121, on 28.2.1943 still 27 281. In the Ostmark there are Jews only in Vienna.
Of the 51,327 Jews in the Old Reich 23,197 are men and 28,130 are women. 40,351 are confessional Jews, 10,976 are non-confessional Jews, 16,760 live in mixed marriages. In the Ostmark the number is 4,803 (out of 8,102), in the Protectorate it is 6,211 (out of 15,550).
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III. JEWISH POPULATION WEAKNESS
The balance of Jews in Germany shows an extraordinary excess mortality that is due not only to a very high mortality of the Jews, but also to the marked scarcity of births. Thus the natural population development in the Old Reich including the Sudetenland from 1933 to 1942 has been as follows (according to the estimates and date of the Reich Association of the Jews in Germany, given that the counting by confessional Jews is much more complicated and unreliable):
_______________
x) Without Lemberg district with around 700,000 Jews.
Births and Deaths of Jews in the Old Reich (calculated and estimated until 1939) Year Births Deaths Excess mortality indicated by: (-)
1933 3,425 8,925 - 5,500
1934 2,300 8,200 - 5,900
1935 2,500 8,100 - 5,600
1936 2,300 8,000 - 5,700
1937 2,100 8,000 - 5 900
1938 1,000 7,448 - 6,448
1939 610 8,136 - 7,526
1940 396 6,199 - 5,803
1941 351 6,249 - 5,898
1942 239 7,657 - 7,418
1933-1942 15,221 76,914 - 61,693
The excess mortality from the day of taking over of power (30.1.1933) until 1.1.1943 in the Old Reich including the Sudetenland is 61,693; this is the result of 14,921 births versus 76,114 deaths. While the migration on the one hand and the absence of recording in the first year and deficiency of recording since especially in regard to deaths in the concentration camps by the Reich Association of the Jews on the other hand leave room for many errors, the approximate overview shows a constant number of deaths despite the reduction of the number of Jews. Jewish mortality thus amounts to 80-85(against the European average of 10 to 15) in 1000 (in the calendar year 1942).
What is further to be noted is the decrease of births, which by far anticipates the decrease of the number of Jews. The Jewish birth rate in the Old Reich thus amounts to only 2 1/2 per 1,000 in 1942. Also in the Ostmark between 1.3.1938 and 1.1.1943 there were 15,188 Jewish deaths for only 679 Jewish births. In the Old Reich there were only 14 Jewish children born in December 1942, 7 and 8 in January and February 1943, respectively. It must in this respect be taken into account that Jewry has topped the civilized Western states in lack of births for decades, as can be seen on hand of the confessional statistics of births. The Jew Felix Theilhaber already in 1911 pointed to the “Demise of German Jewry” resulting therefrom, which was only covered up by the constant influx of Eastern Jewish blood. This phenomenon was only partially related to the over-aging of European big city Jewry: It was mainly due to a real lack of life strength. In the actual extraordinary mortality of the Jews and the extremely low birth rate, however, the Jewish age structure is also a factor to be considered.
After their best classes have gone off, the Jews in Germany are mainly old people, for which reason their age structure, when graphically represented, has the form of a “club,” according to the objectively accurate terminology of the Reich Association of the Jews. There is a lack of children and reproductive classes, whereas the classes of older people are not only much stronger in proportion than the younger classes, but also much stronger in absolute numbers.
This is also one of the reasons for the excessive suicide rate, given that suicide is primarily a cause of death of older people.
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IV. THE EMIGRATION OF JEWS FROM GERMANY
The migration of Jews from eastern, central, and western Europe and the whole of Europe overseas, mostly to the United States of America, is a generally observed phenomenon. Many Jews emigrated from Germany mainly between 1840 and 1870, but after 1870 emigration stopped almost completely. Now in turn the Germans emigrated. The Jewish emigration from Germany since 1933, in a certain sense a recuperation of the movement that did not occur in 1870, caught the special attention of the whole civilized world, especially the democratic countries ruled by Jews. It was attempted by the most varied entities with the most varied methods to record the number and structure of the emigrants. Yet no uniform results were achieved. The numbers of the German emigration statistics, those of the Reich Association of the Jews in Germany and of the Israeli cult communities in Vienna and Prague, the numerous foreign recordings, calculations and estimates, the statistics of international Jewry, and the numbers of scientific studies show great discrepancies among each other. Professor Zielenziger in Amsterdam, for instance, considered that there were 135,000 emigrants from the taking over of power until the end of 1937, while the Reich Association of the Jews concluded that there had been 203,000 emigrants. Since 1938 emigration increased considerably, but it ended almost completely (save for a few exceptions each month) with the interdiction of Jewish emigration in the autumn of 1941. The Reich Association of Jews and the Israeli cult communities in Vienna and Prague concluded on the following high emigration numbers until 1.1. 1943 (including double counting):
Emigrants from Number Period
Old Reich with Sudetenland 352,543 (30.1.33-1.1.43)
Ostmark 149,124 (1.3.38-1.1.43)
Protectorate 26,009 (15.2.39-1.1.43)
The hurried emigration in the beginning made exact data impossible. Also the destination of emigration, insofar as it was a European country, is in many cases to be considered a mere intermediate station. Of the emigrants from the Old Reich about 144,000 went to other European countries, about 57,000 went to the USA, 54,000 to South America, 10,000 to Central America, 53,000 to Palestine, 15,000 to Africa (mainly South Africa), 16,000 to Asia (China), and 4,000 to Australia. Of the 144,000 Jews who emigrated to European countries more than 32,000 went to England alone, 39,000 went to Poland or the General Government, 18,000 went to France, 8,000 to Italy, 7,500 to the Netherlands, 6,000 to Belgium. It is to be assumed that the greater part of these emigrants went on overseas from said countries. For the Jewish emigrants from the Ostmark, the following goals were indicated: 65,500 to European countries, 50,000 to America, 20,000 to Asia, 9,000 to Palestine, 2,600 to Africa, and 2,000 to Australia.
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V. THE EVACUATION OF THE JEWS
The evacuation of the Jews replaced the emigration of the Jews, at least on the territory of the Reich. It was extensively prepared since the prohibition of Jewish emigration in the autumn of 1941 and to a large extent carried out throughout the Reich territory in the year 1942. In the balance of Jewry it is referred to as "off-going."
Until 1.1.1943, according to the records of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, the following numbers went off:
From the Old Reich with Sudetenland 100,516 Jews
From the Ostmark 47,555 "
From the Protectorate 69,677 "
Sum 217,748 Jews
In these numbers the Jews evacuated to the old-age ghetto Theresienstadt are also included.
All evacuations on the territory of the Reich and including the eastern territories and further in the German area of power and influence in Europe from October 1939 or later until 31.12.1942 resulted in the following numbers:
1. Evacuation of Jews from Baden and the Palatinate to France ....... 6,504 Jews
2. Evacuation of Jews from the Reichterritory incl. the Protectorate and Bialystok
district to the East...... 170,642 "
3. Evacuation of Jews from the Reich area and the Protectorateto Theresienstadt.... 87,193 "
4. Transportation of Jews from the eastern provinces to the Russian East: .....1,449,692 "
The following numbers were sifted through the camps in the General government .....1,274,166 "
through the camps in the Warthegau..... 145,301 "
5. Evacuation from other countries, namely: France (insofar as occupied before 10.11.42)..... 41,911 "
Netherlands........................ 38,571 "
Belgium............................ 16,886 "
Norway ........................... 532 "
Slovakia................. 56,691 "
Crotia ................ 4,927 "
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Evacuations total (including Theresienstadt and including special treatment).... 1,873,549 "
w./o Theresienstadt.......... 1,786,356 "
6. In addition, according to data from the Reichssicherheitshauptamt there is the evacuation of... 633,300 Jews in the Russian territories including the former Baltic countries since the beginning of the Eastern Campaign.
The above numbers do not include the inmates of ghettoes and concentration camps.
The evacuations from Slovakia and Croatia were carried out by these states themselves.
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VI. THE JEWS IN THE GHETTOS
There must be mentioned here:
1. The old age ghetto Theresienstadt, to which there were led a total of: 87,193 Jews,
thereof from the Reich 47,471 (Ostmark 14 222)
" " " Protectorate 39,722
At the beginning of the year 1943 it had a total of Jewish inmates: 49,392
Thereof with German nationality 24,313
Protectorate nationality 25,079
The reduction occurred mainly by deaths. Besides Theresienstadt there are on the territory of the Reich a number of Jewish old age and sick homes with smaller capacity, which however are considered as neither ghettoes nor evacuation sites.
2. The ghetto Litzmannstadt at the beginning of 1943 had 87,180 Jews,
thereof 83,133 with former Polish nationality.
3. The numbers Jews placed in other ghettos of the General Government as of 31.12.1942 are indicated or estimated as follows:
District Number of Jews
Cracow 37,000
Radom 29,000
Lublin 20,000 (estimated)
Warsaw 50,000
Lemberg 161,514
General Gov. sum 297,914
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VII. THE JEWS IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS
In the concentration camps there were, from the
taking over of power to 31.12.1942, 73,417 interments of Jews
thereof released 36,943
died 27,347
Remainder as of 31.12.42: 9,127 Jews
It must be taken into account that the number of internments of Jews is higher than the number of Jews in the concentration camps, as repeated internments of one Jews are counted repeatedly. Not included are the Jews accommodated in the concentration camps Auschwitz and Lublin within the scope of the evacuation action. For the various concentration camps we have, divided by internments, releases, deaths and the status as of 31.12.1942, the following numbers:
Jews in the Concentration Camps
Concentration Camp Internments Releases Deaths Status as of 31.12.1942
Lublin/Men 23,409 4,509 14,217 4,683
Lublin/Women 2,849 59 131 2,659
Auschwitz/Men 4,917 1 3,716 1,200
Auschwitz/Women 932 - 720 212
Buchenwald 16,827 13,805 2,795 227
Mauthausen/Gusen 2,064 - 1,985 79
Sachsenhausen 7,960 6,570 ,344 46
Stutthof/Men 28 - 13 15
Stutthof/Women 3 - - 3
Ravensbrück/Women 1,321 531 787 3
Ravensbrück/Men 273 44 229 -
Dachau 12,026 11,140 886 -
Gross-Rosen 231 - 231 -
Lichtenburg 195 195 - -
Neuengamme 192 2 190 -
Flossburg 80 2 78 -
Sachsenburg 52 53 - -
Esterwegen 36 33 2 -
Niederhagen 12 - 12 -
Natzweiler 10 - 10 -
Sum all camps 73,417 36,943 27,347 9,127 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIII. JEWS IN PENITENTIARIES
At the beginning of the year 1943 there were in the penitentiaries on the territory of the Reich 458 Jews, distributed among men and women and the various types of detention as follows:
Men Women Sum
Criminal detention 350 78 428
Security detention 29 - 29
Work House - 1´ 1
Penitentiaries Together 379 79 458
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IX. THE USE OF JEWISH LABOR
Working for the war effort at the beginning of the year 1943 there were in the territory of the Reich 185,776 Jews.
They were employed as follows:
1) within the inspector areas of the security police and the SD (without Posen and without Soviet Russian Jews) 21,659, thereof 18,546 with German nationality, 107 with Protectorate nationality, 2,519 stateless and 487 foreigners. They were distributed by the inspection areas without Posen) as follows:
Berlin 15,100 Königsberg 296
Braunschweig 110 München 313
Breslau 12,451 Nürnberg 89
Danzig - Salzburg 7
Dresden 485 Stettin 18
Düsseldorf 673 Stuttgart 178
Hamburg 497 Wien 1,226
Kassel 259 Wiesbaden 139
__________
1) without Organization Schmelt 2)without Soviet Russian Jews
2) in the inspector area Königsberg there are a further 18,435 foreign, i.e. almost exclusively Soviet Russian Jews.
3) in the inspector area Posen there are in ghetto – and camp employment 95,112 mainly Polish Jews.
4) within the scope of Organization Schmelt (Breslau) there are 50,570 Jews, thereof 42,382 stateless and 8,188 foreigners.
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X. EUROPEAN BALANCE OF JEWS
The collapse of European Jewry was initiated decades ago by the population demise of European big city Jewry on the one hand and Jewish emigration on the other. The Jewish statistician Lestschinsky in 1927 clarified the reduction of European Jewry as follows: "At the beginning of the 19th century 85 % of all Jews lived in Europe, 80 % in Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany alone; in America there were only 2 - 3,000 Jews at this time. In 1925 63 % of all Jews lived in Europe; within the borders of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia there were only 57 % of all Jews, while in America there were 30 % and in the rest of the world 7%." According to the calculations of the Reich Institute of Statistics the part of European Jews in 1880 was even 88.4 per cent, while in 1937 it was only 60.4 per cent. In 1943 the European part of World Jewry should still be 1/3.
Around 1930 and in the last years the number of Jews in some more important European states was the following:
State Census year Number of Jews More recent counting of estimate Number of Jews in 1,000's per cent of population of host people
Old Reich 1933/1935 502,799 1943 51 0,07
Austria 1934 191,481 1943 8 0,1
Czechoslovakia 1930 356,830 - - -
Protectorate . - 1943 16 0,2
Danzig 1929 10.448 - - -
Memel Area 1925 2,402 1937 3 2,0
Belgium . - 1937 80 1,0
Bulgaria 1934 48 398 1937 50 0,8
Finland . - 1937 2 0,04
France . - 1937 280 0,7
Greece 1928 72,791 1937 90 1,1
Great Britain 1931/33 234,000 1937 345 0,7
Italy 1930 47,825 1937 52 0,1
Ireland . - 1937 4 0,1
Yugoslavia 1930 68,405 1937 75 0,3
Latvia 1935 93,479 1937 96 4,9
Lithuania 1923 155,125 1937 175 7,4
Netherlands 1930 111,917 1937 135 1,6
Poland 1930 3,113,933 1937 3,300 9,6
Romania 1930 984,213 1941 302 (1) 2,2
Slovakia . - 1940 89 3,4
Soviet Russia 1926 2,570,330 1939 4,600 (2) 2,4
Hungary 1930 444,567 1940 750 (3) 5,8
1) New territorial status
2) New territorial status, with East Poland; the number was estimated.
3) New territorial status; the number was calculated
The total number of Jews in the world in 1937 is generally estimated at around 17 million, thereof more than 10 million in Europe. They concentrate or concentrated mainly in the former Polish- Russian areas occupied by Germany between the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland and between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, further in the centers of commerce and the Rhine area of central and western Europe and on the coasts of the Mediterranean.
From 1937 to the beginning of 1943 the number of Jews, partially due to the excess mortality of the Jews in central and western Europe, partially due to the evacuations especially in the more strongly populated eastern Territories which are here counted as off-going, should have diminished by an estimated 4 million. It must not be overlooked in this respect that of the deaths of Soviet Russian Jews in the occupied eastern territories only a part was recorded, whereas deaths in the rest of European Russia and at the front are not included at all. In addition there are movements of Jews inside Russia to the Asian part which are unknown to us. The movement of Jews from the European countries outside the German influence is also of a largely unknown order of magnitude. On the whole European Jewry should since 1933, i.e. in the first decade of National Socialist German power, have lost almost half of its population.
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In January of 1943, Dr. Richard Korherr, a noted statistician who was outside SS circles, working with Adolf Eichmann and camp commanders, began compiling reports and figures to present to Heinrich Himmler.
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