THE PRESIDENT (Lord Justice Sir Geoffrey Lawrence): I have four announcements to make on behalf of the Tribunal. I will read those announcements now and they will be posted upon the board in the defendants' counsel's Information Center in German as soon as possible.
The first announcement is this:
The attention of the Tribunal has been drawn to publications in the press of what appear to have been interviews with some of the defendants in this case, given through the agency of their counsel. The Tribunal considers it necessary to state with the greatest emphasis that this is a procedure which cannot and will not be countenanced. Therefore, counsel are warned that they should observe the highest professional standards in such matters and should not use the opportunity afforded to them of conferring freely with their clients to act in any way as intermediaries between the defendants and the press, and they must exercise the greatest professional discretion in making any statement on their own behalf.
The Tribunal recognizes that in a trial of this kind, where the public interest is world-wide, it is in the highest degree important that all those who take part in the trial in any capacity whatever should be aware of their responsibility to see that nothing is done to detract from the proper conduct of the proceedings.
The press of the world is rendering a very great service in giving publicity to the proceedings of the Tribunal, and the Tribunal feels that it may properly ask for the co-operation of all concerned to avoid anything which might conflict with the impartial administration of justice.
The second announcement that I have to make is this:
The Tribunal understands that the counsel appointed under Article 9 of the Charter are in doubt whether they have been appointed to represent the groups and organizations charged in the Indictment as criminal or to represent individual applicants who have applied to be heard under the said article.
The Tribunal directs that counsel represent the groups and organizations charged, and not the applicants. As the Tribunal has
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already directed, counsel will be entitled to call as witnesses representative applicants and may also call other persons whose attendance may be ordered by the Tribunal. Application to call any witness be made in the ordinary way. The evidence of such witnesses and the arguments of counsel must be confined to the question of the criminal nature of the group or organization. Counsel will not be entitled to call evidence or to discuss any question as to the individual responsibility of particular applicants, except in so far as this may bear upon the criminal character of the organizations. Counsel will be permitted, as far as possible, to communicate with applicants in order to decide what witnesses they wish to apply to call.
The third announcement is this:
The Chief Prosecutor for the United States has requested the Tribunal to make a change in its formal order which provided that only such portions of documents which are read in court would be admitted as evidence. In order to meet the needs, so far as possible, of the members of the Tribunal, of the Prosecution, and of counsel for the defendants to have before them all the evidence in the case, the Tribunal, having carefully considered the request, makes the following order:
All documents may be filed in court. The Tribunal shall only admit in evidence, however:
1. Documents or portions of documents which are read in court;
2. Documents or portions of documents which are cited in court, on the condition that they have been translated into the respective languages of the members of the Tribunal for their use and that sufficient numbers in German are filed in the Information Center for the use of Defense Counsel.
This does not apply to the documents of which the Court will take judicial notice, in accordance with Article 21 of the Charter; and the Prosecution and the defendants will be at liberty to read those documents or to refer to them without reading them.
Trial briefs and document books may be furnished to the Tribunal if sufficient copies thereof are, at the same time, filed for Defense Counsel in the Information Center. As far as possible, these should be furnished in advance of their introduction in court. In order to permit the Interpretation and Translation Division to make translations in time, it is suggested that all documents be submitted to the division at least 5 days before they are to be offered in evidence.
This is the fourth announcement:
The Tribunal has passed upon a number of applications for witnesses. Some of these have been granted, subject to their evidence being relevant. Some have been declined. And in some
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cases orders have been made that the witness be alerted; that is to say, that if he can be located, he be advised to hold himself in readiness to come here as a witness, if the application is granted.
It is the desire of the Tribunal to secure for the defendants those witnesses who are material and relevant to their defense. To prevent the unnecessary prolonging of the Trial, however, it is clear that the witnesses whose testimony is irrelevant or merely cumulative should not be summoned. At the conclusion of the Prosecution's testimony, the Tribunal shall hear from defendants' counsel as to which of the witnesses granted or alerted they think necessary to bring here to testify. At that time, the Tribunal may hear from them further as to any witnesses that have been declined, if in view of the case, it then appears to the Tribunal that the testimony of such witnesses is material and not cumulative.
Counsel appearing for any defendant may question any other defendant as to any relevant matter, and may interrogate him as a witness for that purpose. If the other defendant takes the stand in his own behalf, the right shall be exercised at the conclusion of his testimony.
Examination of witnesses called by other defendants: The same person has been asked as a witness by a number of defendants in some cases. It is only necessary that such witness be called to the stand once. He may then be interrogated by counsel for any defendant as to any material matter.
That is all.
I call on counsel for the United States.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): May it please the Tribunal, we are resuming the presentation of evidence of the conspirators' plans for Germanization and spoliation.
The next general subject upon which we propose to introduce evidence is the conspirators' plans for the spoliation and Germanization of the Soviet Union.
As Mr. Alderman has shown, the invasion of the Soviet Union was the culmination of plans meticulously laid by the conspirators. We wish now to introduce evidence upon the conspirators' plans for the exploitation and Germanization of the Soviet Union after their anticipated conquest. The Chief Prosecutor for the Soviet Union will demonstrate what the execution of these plans meant in terms of human suffering and misery. We submit that the few exhibits which we propose to offer at this time will show the following:
1. The conspirators planned to remove to Germany all foodstuffs and raw materials from the south and southeast of the Soviet Union over and above the needs of the Nazi invading forces and the
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absolute minimum necessary to supply the bare needs of the people in these particular regions, who produced the materials which were to be removed to Germany. This region had previously supplied the northern area of the Soviet Union, which the conspirators called the forest zone. The latter zone embraced some of the leading industrial areas of the Soviet Union, including Moscow and Leningrad.
2. They deliberately and systematically planned to starve millions of Russians. Starvation was to be accomplished by the following means:
a. As indicated under point 1, products from the south and southeast of the Soviet Union, which ordinarily were sent to the industrial regions of the north, were to be forcibly diverted to Germany. Moreover, all livestock in the industrial regions was to be seized for use by the Wehrmacht and the German civilian population. The necessary consequence was that the population of the northern regions would be reduced to starvation.
b. They established the following order of priority in which food produced by the Russians would be allocated:
First, the combat troops; second, the remainder of the troops in enemy territory; third, troops stationed in Germany; fourth, the German civilian population; and lastly, the population of the Occupied countries.
Thus even Russians in the food surplus area of the Ukraine, who were not essential to the production of products for the German war machine, were to be systematically starved.
3. They planned the permanent destruction of all industry in the northern area of the Soviet Union in order that the remnants of the Russian population would be completely dependent upon Germany for their consumer goods.
4. They planned to incorporate a part of Galicia and all of the Baltic countries into Germany and to convert the Crimea, an area north of the Crimea, the Volga territory, and the district around Baku into German colonies.
I now turn to the specific items of proof.
I first offer in evidence Document Number EC-472, Exhibit Number USA-315. This document is offered for the particular purpose of showing the status and functions of the Economic Staff East, Group La. The exhibit which we shall next offer in evidence was prepared by this organization. Document Number EC-472 is a directive issued by Defendant Goering's office for "The Operation of the Economy in the Newly Occupied Eastern Territories." It is the second edition and it is dated Berlin, July 1941. The first edition was obviously published some time before July 1941. The document was found among the captured OKW files at Fechenheim.
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Under this directive, Defendant Goering established the Economic Executive Staff East, which was directly responsible to him, and under it created the Economic Staff East. The Economic Staff East, in turn, was subdivided into four groups: The Chief of the Economic Staff, Group La, Group W. and Group M. I now quote from Page 2, lines 7-9 of the English text; in the German text it is at Page 7, lines 7-9. I quote:
"Group La. Sections for nutrition and agriculture, allotment of all agricultural products, provision of food supplies for the Army, in accordance with the competent army services."
I next offer in evidence Document Number EC-126, which is Exhibit Number USA-316. This is a report dated 23 May 1941, which was before the invasion of the Soviet Union. It was found among the captured files of the OKW. It is entitled, "Economic Policy Directives for Economic Organization East, Agricultural Group." It was prepared by the Economic Staff East, Group La, the Agricultural Group, which as shown by the exhibit introduced a moment ago, was an important part of the organization which Defendant Goering established to formulate plans for the economic administration of Russia.
The underscoring in the English text merely reflects the underscoring in the original.
The document begins by a recitation of facts pertaining to the production of agricultural products in the Soviet Union. It states that the grain surplus of Russia is determined by the level of domestic consumption and that this fact affords the basis upon which the planners must predicate their actions and economic policy. I now quote from the sixth and seventh paragraphs of Page 2 of the English text. The German text is the last three lines of Page 3 and the first five lines of Page 4. I quote:
"The surplus territories are situated in the black soil district (that is in the south and southeast) and in the Caucasus. The deficit areas are principally located in the forest zone of the North (podsol-soil district). Therefore, an isolation of the black soil areas will in any case place greater or lesser surpluses in these regions at our disposal. The consequences will be cessation of supplies to the entire forest zone, including the essential industrial centers of Moscow and Leningrad."
Next, I quote from the last 11 lines of Page 2 and all of Page 3 of the English text. The German text begins in the middle of line 6 of Page 5 and continues through to line 29 of Page 6. I quote:
"This"-the cessation of supplies-"means:
"1. All industry in the deficit area, particularly the manufacturing industries in the Moscow and Leningrad regions as
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well as the Ural industrial regions will be abandoned. It may be assumed that these regions today absorb an annual 5 to 10 million tons from the food production zone.
"2. The Trans-Caucasian oil district will have to be excepted, although it is a deficit area. This source of oil, cotton, manganese, copper, silk, and tea must continue to be supplied with food in any case, for special political and economic reasons.
"3. No further exception, with a view to preserving one or the other industrial region or industrial enterprise, must be permitted.
"4. Industry can only be preserved insofar as it is located in the surplus region. This applies, apart from the abovementioned oil field regions in the Caucasus, particularly to the heavy industries in the Donets district (Ukraine). Only the future will show to what extent it will prove possible to maintain in full these industries, and in particular the Ukrainian manufacturing industries, after the withdrawal of the food surplus required by Germany.
"The following consequences result from this situation, which has received the approval of the highest authorities, since it is in accord with the political tendencies (preservation of the Little Russians, preservation of the Caucasus, of the Baltic provinces, of White Russia, to the prejudice of the Great Russians):
"I. For the forest zone:
"a) Production in the forest zone (the food-deficit area) will become 'naturalized,' similar to the events during the World War and the Communist tendencies of the war, and so forth -namely, agriculture in that territory will begin to become a mere 'home production.' The result will be that the planting of products destined for the market, such as flax and hemp in particular, will be discontinued; and the area used therefor will be taken over for products for the producer (grain, potatoes). Moreover, discontinuance of fodder deliveries to that area will lead to the collapse of the dairy production and of pig-producing in that territory.
"b) Germany is not interested in the maintenance of the productive power of these territories, except for supplying the troops stationed there. The population, as in the old days, will utilize their land for growing their own food. It is useless to expect grain or other surpluses to be produced. Only after many years can these extensive regions be intensified to an extent that they might produce genuine surpluses. The population of these areas, in particular the
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urban population, will have to face most serious distress from famine. It will be necessary to divert the population into the Siberian spaces. Since rail transport is out of the question, this too, will be an extremely difficult problem. "c) In this situation, Germany will only draw substantial advantages by quick, non-recurrent seizure-that is, it will be vitally necessary to make the entire flax harvest available for German needs, not only the fibers but also the oleaginous seeds.
"It will also be necessary to utilize for German purposes the livestock which has no fodder base of its own-that is, it will be necessary to seize livestock holdings immediately and to make them available to the troops, not only for the moment but in the long run, and also for exportation to Germany. Since fodder supplies will be cut off, pig and cattle holdings in these areas will of necessity drastically decline in the near future. If they are not seized by the Germans at an early date, they will be slaughtered by the population for their own use, without Germany getting anything out of it."
That is the end of that particular quotation. Our next quotation is from the first paragraph of Page 4 of the English text. The German text is at Page 7, the last two words of line 26 down to the beginning of line 31:
"It has been demanded by the Fuehrer that the reduction of the meat ration should be ended by fall. This can only be achieved by the most drastic seizure of Russian livestock holdings, particularly in areas which are in a favorable transport situation in relation to Germany."
In the interests of expedition, Your Honors, I am omitting some sections from this last exhibit, which I had originally intended to quote.
I skip now to line 29 of Page 4 of the English text, beginning with the underscored words "in the future," and quote to line 48. In the German text it is at Page 8, third line from the bottom, continuing to line 17 of Page 9:
"In the future, southern Russia must turn its face towards Europe. Its food surpluses, however, can only be paid for if it purchases its industrial consumer goods from Germany or Europe. Russian competition from the forest zone must, therefore, be abolished.
"It follows from all that has been said that the German administration in these territories may well attempt to mitigate the consequences of the famine which undoubtedly will take place and to accelerate the return to primitive
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agricultural conditions. An attempt might be made to intensify cultivation in these areas by expanding the acreage under potatoes or other important food crops giving a high yield. However, these measures will not avert famine. Many tens of millions of people in this area will become redundant and will either die or have to emigrate to Siberia. Any attempt to save the population there from death by starvation, by importing surpluses from the black-soil zone, would be at the expense of supplies to Europe. It would reduce Germany's staying power in the war and would undermine Germany's and Europe's power to resist the blockade. This must be clearly and absolutely understood."
I next quote from Page 5, lines 18 to 30 of the English text. The German text is at Page 12, lines 1 to 11.
"I. Supplies for the Army:
"Germany's food situation in the third year of war demands, imperatively, that the Wehrmacht, in all its provisioning, must not live off Greater German territory or that of incorporated or friendly areas from which this territory receives imports. This minimum aim, the provisioning of the Wehrmacht from enemy territory in the third year and if necessary in later years, must be attained at any price. This means that one-third of the Wehrmacht must be fully provisioned by French deliveries to the army of occupation. The remaining two-thirds (and even slightly more in view of the present size of the Wehrmacht) must without exception be provisioned from the Eastern areas."
I now quote from Page 8 of the English text, the last nine lines. The German text is at Page 18, lines 15 to 22:
"Thus it is not important, under any circumstances, to preserve what has existed; but what matters is a deliberate turning away from the existing situation and introducing Russian food resources into the European framework. This will inevitably result in an extinction of industry as well as a large part of the people in what so far have been the food-deficit areas."
It is impossible to state this alternative in sufficiently hard and severe terms.
My next quotation is from the first 10 lines of Page 9 of the English text. The German text is at Page 19, lines 11 to 20:
"Our problem is not to replace intensive food production in Europe through the incorporation of new space in the East, but to replace imports from overseas by imports from the East. The task is two-fold:
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"1. We must use the Eastern areas for overcoming the food shortages during and after the war. This means that we must not be afraid of drawing upon the capital substance of the East. Such an intervention is much more acceptable from the European standpoint than drawing upon the capital substance of Europe's agriculture."
Finally, I quote from the remainder of Page 9 to the end of the penultimate paragraph of the English text. The German text appears at lines 24 to 31 of Page 19:
"2. For the future New Order, the food-producing areas in the East must be turned into a permanent and substantial complementary source of food for Europe, through intensified cultivation and resulting higher yields.
"The first-named task must be accomplished at any price, even through the most ruthless cutting down of Russian domestic consumption, which will require discrimination between the consuming and producing zones."
It is submitted, Your Honors, that this document discloses, on its face, a studied plan to murder millions of innocent people through starvation. It reveals a program of premeditated murder of millions of innocent people through starvation; It reveals a program of premeditated murder on a scale so vast as to stagger the human imagination. Major Elwyn Jones, of the British Delegation, will subsequently show that this plan was, in effect, the logical culmination of general objectives clearly announced by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf. Each defendant in the box was fully aware of these general objectives when he committed the acts with which he is charged.
I next introduce in evidence a document no less damaging than the one I have just quoted. This document is Number L-221, which is Exhibit Number USA-317. This is a top-secret memorandum, dated 16 July 1941, of a conference at the Fuehrer's headquarters, concerning the war in the East. It seems to have been prepared by Defendant Bormann because his initials appear at the top of Page 1. It was captured by the United States Counter-Intelligence branch. The text of the memorandum indicates that the conference was attended by Hitler, Lammers, and Defendants Goering, Keitel, Rosenberg, and Bormann.
The exhibit is particularly important for the light it throws upon the conspirators' plans to germanize conquered areas of the Soviet Union. It is important also for its disclosure of the utterly fraudulent character of the whole Nazi propaganda program. It shows how the conspirators sought to deceive the entire world; how they pretended to pursue one course of action when their aims and purposes were to follow precisely the opposite course.
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I first quote from Page 1 of the English text, beginning at line 14 of Page 1 and continuing through to line 22 of Page 2. The German text is at Page 1, beginning with the last paragraph and continuing through to line 19 of Page 3. I quote:
"A. Now it was essential that we did not publicize our aims before the world, also there was no need for that; but the main thing was that we ourselves knew what we wanted. By no means should we render our task more difficult by making superfluous declarations. Such declarations were superfluous because we could do everything wherever we had the power, and what was beyond our power we would not be able to do anyway.
"What we told the world about the motives for our measures ought to be conditioned, therefore, by tactical reasons. We ought to act here in exactly the same way as we did in the cases of Norway, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium. In these cases, too, we did not publish our aims; and it was only sensible to continue in the same way.
"Therefore, we shall emphasize again that we were forced to occupy, administer, and secure a certain area; it was in the interest of the inhabitants that we provided order, food, traffic, and so forth, hence our measures. Nobody shall be able to recognize that it initiates a final settlement. This need not prevent our taking all necessary measures-shooting, Resettling, et cetera-and we shall take them.
"But we do not want to make any people our enemies prematurely and unnecessarily. Therefore we shall act as though we wanted to exercise a mandate only. At the same time we must know clearly that we shall never leave those countries. Our conduct therefore ought to be:
"1) To do nothing which might obstruct the final settlement, but to prepare for it only in secret; 2) To emphasize that we are liberators.
"In particular: The Crimea has to be evacuated by all foreigners and to be settled by Germans only.
"In the same way the former Austrian part of Galicia will become Reich Territory. Our present relations with Romania are good, but nobody knows what they will be at any future time. This we have to consider, and we have to draw our frontiers accordingly. One ought not to be dependent on the good will of other people. We have to plan our relations with Romania in accordance with this principle.
"On principle, we have now to face the task of cutting up the giant cake according to our needs, in order to be able:
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First, to dominate it; second, to administer it; and third, to exploit it.
"The Russians have now ordered partisan warfare behind our front. This partisan war again has some advantage for us; it enables us to eradicate everyone who opposes us.
"Principles: Never again must it be possible to create a military power west of the Urals, even if we have to wage war for a hundred years in order to attain this goal. Every successor of the Fuehrer should know security for the Reich exists only if there are no foreign military forces west of the Urals. It is Germany who undertakes the protection of this area against all possible dangers. Our iron principle is and has to remain: We must never permit anybody but the Germans to carry arms."
I next quote from Page 3, lines 19 to 31 of the English text. In the German text this is at the last 13 lines of Page 5:
"The Fuehrer emphasizes that the entire Baltic country will have to be incorporated into Germany.
"At the same time, the Crimea, including a considerable hinterland (situated north of the Crimea), should become Reich territory; the hinterland should be as large as possible.
"Rosenberg objects to this because of the Ukrainians living there.
"(Incidentally: It occurred to me several times that Rosenberg has a soft spot for the Ukrainians; thus he desires to aggrandize the former Ukraine to a considerable extent.)"
Departing from the text for just a moment, it may be noted parenthetically that this was the only aspect of the program outlined by Hitler at this meeting to which Rosenberg objected in any way. Resuming the quotation:
"The Fuehrer emphasizes furthermore that the Volga colony, too, will have to become Reich territory, also the district around Baku; the latter will have to become a German concession (military colony)."
Thus the program, as outlined by the conspirators at this meeting of 16 July 1941, called for the unlawful incorporation of a part of Galicia and all of the Baltic countries into Germany and for the unlawful conversion of the Crimea and areas north of it, the Volga territory, and the district around Baku, into German colonies.
In further support of this point, I invite the attention of Your Honors to Document Number 1029-PS, already introduced in evidence by Mr. Alderman as Exhibit Number USA-145. This document was not included in our document book, Your Honors,
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but has been read into the record by Mr. Alderman, Pages 1202 and 1203 (Volume III, Page 357). This document is entitled, "Instructions for a Reich Commissar in Ostland."
THE PRESIDENT: Where are you quoting from?
CAPT. HARRIS: Sir, it is not included in our document book, but it is in the record. In the German text, the original of which we have here, it is at Pages number 2 and 3:
"The aim of a Reich Commissar for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and White Ruthenia"-last two words added in pencil-"must be to strive to achieve the form of a German protectorate and then transform the region into part of the Greater German Reich bar germanizing racially possible elements, colonizing Germanic races, and banishing undesirable elements. The Baltic Sea must become a Germanic inland sea under the guardianship of Greater Germany."
I now offer in evidence Document Number EC-3; which is Exhibit Number USA-318, which was likewise found among the captured OKW files at Fechenheim. This document, Your Honors, is offered as direct proof of the fact, to which we have previously referred, that even in the food-surplus areas of the occupied regions of the Ukraine the conspirators planned to allocate food on a basis which left virtually nothing for those persons who were not engaged in the compulsory production of commodities for the German war machine. This document, as well as Document Number EC-126, which was introduced a few moments ago, and others we offer should, it is submitted, be read in the light of the explicit provision in Article 52 of the Hague Regulations of 1907, that requisitions in kind and services shall not be demanded from municipalities or inhabitants except for the needs of the army of occupation.
- I first quote from our Page 3, lines 21 to 23 of the English text of EC-3. In the German text it is Page 13, lines 1 to 3. The particular document from which I am about to quote is a top-secret memorandum, dated 16 September 1941, concerning a meeting of German military officials presided over by Defendant Goering. This is our Page 3, Sir, lines 21 to 23 of EC-3. The memorandum was signed by General Nagel, liaison officer between Defendant Goering's Four Year Plan office and the OKW. I now quote:
"At this conference which was concerned with the better exploitation of the occupied territories for the German food economy, the Reich Marshal"-Goering-"called attention to the following:"
I next quote from the first two paragraphs of Page 4 of the English text. The German text is at Page 13, the third and fourth paragraphs:
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"It is clear that a graduated scale of food allocations is needed.
"First in line are the combat troops, then the remainder of troops in enemy territory, and then those troops stationed at home. The rates are adjusted accordingly. The supply of the German population follows and only then comes the population of the occupied territories."
I now quote from another portion of this document, starting at Page 1 of the English text. This is a memorandum, dated 25 November 1941, relating to the general principles of economic policy in the newly-occupied Eastern Territories as prescribed in a conference held in Berlin on 8 November 1941. This memorandum was also written by General Nagel. It is on the stationery of the Liaison Staff of Supreme Headquarters, Armament Procurement Office with the Reich Marshal Goering.
I quote from lines 13 to the bottom of Page 1.
THE PRESIDENT: Isn't this document, the part you are going to read now, merely cumulative to EC-126, which you have just read to us-that economic policy directive?
CAPT. HARRIS: It affords further proof, Sir, of the conspirators' plans to exploit the Eastern Occupied areas. I can omit it, if you like, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: It doesn't seem to add anything.
CAPT. HARRIS: Very well, Sir. I shall pass on to the next point.
On 17 July 1941 Hitler and the Defendant Keitel issued a decree appointing Defendant Rosenberg as the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. This was the day following the meeting at the Fuehrer's headquarters, which is reported in Document Number L-221 and from which we have already quoted at length.
The decree appointing Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories is set forth in Document Number 1997-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-319; and I offer it in evidence. I quote from Articles 2 and 4 on Page 1 of this decree. The German text is at Pages 27 and 28, Articles 2 and 4:
"The civil administration in the newly-occupied Eastern Territories, where these territories are not included in the administration of the territories bordering on the Reich or the Government General, is subject to the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.
"I appoint Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. He will hold office in Berlin."
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Defendant Rosenberg's views well fitted him for this task
as one of the chief executioners of the conspirators' plans in the Soviet Union. His views were plainly expressed in a speech delivered on 20 June 1940 and are set forth in Document Number 1058-PS, now Exhibit Number USA-147. I refer Your Honors to the first three sentences of the English text. The German text appears on Page 8, last five lines and continuing through to line 2 of Page 9. In the speech Defendant Rosenberg stated, and I quote:
"The job of feeding the German people stands, this year, without a doubt, at the top of the list of Germany's claims on the East; and here the southern territories and the northern Caucasus will have to serve as a balance for the feeding of the German people. We see absolutely no reason for any obligation on our part to feed also the Russian people
with the products of that surplus territory. We know that this is a harsh necessity, bare of any feelings."
I next offer in evidence Document Number EC-347, which is Exhibit Number USA-320. This document was likewise found among the captured files of the OKW. It contains a set of directives
issued by Defendant Rosenberg in his capacity as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.
I quote from the first two full paragraphs of Page 1 of this exhibit. The German text is at Page 39, Paragraphs 4 and 5. In these directives Defendant Rosenberg stated, and I quote:
"The principal task of the civilian administration in the Occupied Eastern Territories is to represent the interests of the Reich. This basic principle is to be given precedence in all measures and considerations. Therefore, the occupied territories, in the future, may be permitted to have a life of their own in a form not as yet to be determined. However, they remain parts of the Greater German living space and are always to be governed according to this guiding principle.
"The regulations of the Hague Convention on land warfare, which concern the administration of a country occupied by a foreign belligerent power, are not applicable, since the U.S.S.R. is to be considered dissolved and, therefore, the Reich has the obligation of exercising all governmental and other sovereign functions in the interests of the country's inhabitants. Therefore, any measures are permitted which the German administration deems necessary and suitable for the execution of this comprehensive task."
THE PRESIDENT: Hasn't that been read before?
CAPT. HARRIS: Not to my knowledge, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
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CAPT. HARRIS: Implicit in Defendant Rosenberg's statement that the Hague Regulations are not applicable to the Soviet Union is the recognition by him that the conspirators' actions in the Soviet Union flagrantly violated the Hague Regulations. The statement indicates that the conspirators were utterly contemptuous of applicable principles of international law.
Mr. Dodd has already introduced into evidence Document 294-PS, now Exhibit Number USA-185, in connection with the slave labor presentation. This document is a top-secret memorandum, dated 25 October 1942, which was found in Defendant Rosenberg's files. It was written by Brautigam, who was a high official in Defendant Rosenberg's Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. I should like to quote two additional passages from this document. I quote from the English text Page 1, the first full paragraph, line 17 to 20. The German text is at Page 1, the first full paragraph, lines 22 to 25.
"In the East, Germany is carrying on a three-fold war: A war for the destruction of bolshevism, a war for the destruction of the Greater Russian empire, and finally a war for the acquisition of colonial territory for colonizing purposes and economic exploitation....
"With the inherent instinct of the Eastern peoples, the primitive man soon found out also that for Germany the slogan: 'Liberation from Bolshevism' was only a pretext to enslave the Eastern peoples according to her own methods."
This completes, Your Honors, the list of the exhibits with respect to the Soviet Union which we propose to introduce at this time. As I mentioned at the outset of this presentation, these exhibits do not disclose all of the conspirators' plans with respect to the occupied countries but they do, we submit, show a constant pattern, a pattern of ruthless Germanization and destruction.
In conclusion we desire to offer in evidence two documents which disclose that German industrialists and financiers aided and abetted Himmler in his relentless program of Germanization, exploitation, oppression, and destruction.
I first offer in evidence Document Number EC-454, which is Exhibit Number USA-321. This document was found in the vaults of the Stein Bank in Cologne among the files of the banker Baron Kurt van Schroder, by a joint British-American team, headed by Colonel Kellam on the British side and Captain Roth on the American side. It is a carbon copy of a letter from Von Schroder to Himmler, dated 27 August 1943, and bears Von Schroder's initials. I quote it in its entirety:
"My very honorable Reichsfuehrer: With great joy I learn of your appointment as Reich Minister of the Interior and take
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the liberty to extend my heartiest congratulations to you on assuming your new post.
"A strong hand is now very necessary in the operation of this department; and it is universally welcomed, but especially by your friends, that it was you who were chosen for this by the Fuehrer. Please be assured that we will always do everything in our power at all times to assist you in every possible way.
"I am pleased to inform you at this opportunity that your circle of friends has again placed at your disposal this year a sum slightly in excess of 1 million RM for 'your particular tasks.' An exact list showing the names of the contributors will be sent to you shortly.
"Again all my very best wishes-as well as those of my family. I remain yours in old loyalty and esteem. Heil Hitler! Yours truly."
I next offer in evidence-and this is the final exhibit, Your Honors-Document Number EC-453, which is Exhibit Number USA-322. This document was likewise found in the Stein Bank in Cologne by the above-mentioned joint British-American team. It is a carbon copy of a letter from Von Schroder to Himmler, dated 21 September 1943, bearing Von Schroder's initials, with the enclosed list of contributors....
THE PRESIDENT: Captain Harris, on what principle do you suggest that either of these letters can possibly be evidence in this case?
CAPT. HARRIS: Your Honors, at the time the motion to postpone the Trial as to Gustav Krupp was argued before this Tribunal, the British Chief Prosecutor specifically stated that if it should be the decision of the Tribunal that Krupp should be dismissed, the evidence as to the part which he, his firm, and other industrialists played in the preparation and conduct of the war would still be given to this Tribunal as forming part of the general conspiracy in which these defendants were involved, with divers other persons not now before the Court.
The evidence we are now offering, Your Honors, is precisely of the type indicated by Sir Hartley Shawcross. It is evidence which goes to prove the length and breadth of the general conspiracy which is alleged in the Indictment. Evidence showing contributions to one of the leading conspirators, a conspirator who was in the forefront of the unlawful program to plunder public and private property and to germanize a large part of the world, is, it is submitted, relevant to this proceeding. May I continue?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
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CAPT.HARRIS: I quote the last letter, EC-453, in its entirety:
"Dear Reich Leader:
"I thank you very much for your kind letter of the 14th of this month with which you made me very happy. At the same time I am enclosing a list with the total amount of funds made available to you by your circle of friends and totalling 1,100,000 RM. We are very glad indeed to render some assistance to you in your particular tasks and to be able to provide some small relief for you in your still further extended sphere of duties.
"Wishing you, dear Reich Leader, the best of luck, I remain in old loyalty and esteem. Heil Hitler! Yours very truly." I had intended, Your Honor, to quote the names of the contributors; but I shall not, if Your Honor considers it unnecessary.
THE PRESIDENT: I don't think it would add to the expedition of the Trial, do you?
CAPT. HARRIS: Very well, Sir. I am exceedingly grateful to Your Honors for your very kind attention.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Colonel Storey.
COLONEL ROBERT G. STOREY (Executive Trial Counsel for the United States): Do Your Honors want to proceed now before the recess?
THE PRESIDENT: No, perhaps we had better adjourn now for 10 minutes.
[A recess was taken.]
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, the remainder of the presentation during the week will be concerning the criminal organizations. The first to be presented now is the Leadership Corps, including some of the illustrative crimes against the churches, against the Jews, against the trade unions, and the operation of the "Einsatzstab Rosenberg" concerning the looting of art treasures.
On the threshold of presenting the proof establishing the criminality of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party it is in point to restate the Prosecution's theory of this case. It is this: The Nazi Party was the central core of the Common Plan or Conspiracy alleged in Count One of the Indictment, a conspiracy which contemplated and embraced the commission of Crimes against the Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity as defined and denounced by the Charter.
The Leadership Corps, upon the evidence, was responsible for planning, directing, and supervising the criminal measures carried into execution by the Nazi Party in furtherance of the conspiracy.
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More than this, as will be shown, the members of the Leadership Corps themselves actively participated in the commission of illegal measures in aid of the conspiracy. In the light of the evidence to be offered this Tribunal, the Leadership Corps may be fairly described as the brain, the backbone, and the directive arms of the Nazi Party. Its responsibilities are more massive and comprehensive than those of the army of followers it led and directed in the assault against the peace-loving peoples of the world. Accordingly, upon the record made in this case and now to be enlarged upon, the Prosecution requests this Tribunal to declare that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party is a criminal group or organization in accordance with Article 9 of the Charter.
At this time I should like to submit to the Tribunal the document book supporting the brief as Exhibit USA-V.
If Your Honors please-diverting from the manuscript-during the recess there was placed upon your bench the document book, which has each document marked by tab and each quoted portion embraced by red pencil marks for the assistance of Your Honors. In addition, we have handed up two documents that have already been introduced in evidence: An enlarged copy of this chart, more detailed, which Your Honors have before you, and another chart, in photostatic form, with reference to the Leadership Corps; and both of those will be identified later.
I now proceed to present the proof relating to the composition, the functions, and the responsibilities and powers of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. First, what was the Leadership Corps...
DR. ROBERT SERVATIUS (Counsel for the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party): After the last meeting I received a statement by Justice Jackson with the proposal concerning the taking of evidence and the time for the discussion of certain questions which will arise. I cannot understand the scope of these proposals, and must therefore ask that I may at some time speak about these points again, if it is necessary.
THE PRESIDENT: Of course, counsel will have the opportunity of making a full argument in answer to the argument presented on behalf of the Prosecution.
What I understood from Mr. Justice Jackson on Friday was that he proposed that the evidence on the question of criminal organizations should be presented first, and the argument presented afterwards.
Counsel for the organizations will, as I stated this morning, have the opportunity of calling evidence in answer to the evidence of the Prosecution, and will also have the opportunity of making whatever argument they think right in answer to the evidence and argument presented on behalf of the Prosecution.
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COL. STOREY: First, what was the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party? What persons made up its membership? What was its size and scope?
In considering the composition and organizational structure of the Leadership Corps it will be convenient for the Tribunal to refer to Document Number 2903-PS, which is this exhibit on the wall and which was introduced by Mr. Albrecht at the opening of the Trial. And, supplementing the chart on the wall, I now offer in evidence Document 2833-PS, Exhibit Number USA-22, which is a chart of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, appearing at Page 9 of a magazine published by the Chief Education Office of the Nazi Party, entitled The Face of the Party. It is this lithe photostatic copy that you have. Later on we expect to put the big one on the wall.
These charts and the evidence to follow show that the Leadership Corps constituted the sum total of the officials of the Nazi Party. It included the Fuehrer at the top; the Reichsleiter, on the horizontal line; the Reich officeholders, immediately below-the five categories of leaders who were area commanders, called the "Hoheitstrager" or "bearers of sovereignty." They are in the redlettered or red-lined boxes at the bottom. They range all the way from the 40-odd Gauleiter in charge of large districts, down through the intermediate political leaders, the Kreisleiter, the Ortsgruppenleiter, the Zellenleiter, and finally, to the Blockleiter who were charged with looking after 40 to 60 households and what may be best described as staff officers attached to each of the five levels of the Hoheitstrager.
Organized upon a hierarchical basis, forming a pyramidal structure-as appears from the chart which Your Honors hold in your hands-the principal political leaders on a scale of descending authority were:
The Fuehrer, at the top; the Reichsleiter, as I have mentioned, and the main office and officeholders; the Gauleiter, who was the district leader, with his staff officers; the Kreisleiter, who was the county leader, and his staff officers; the Ortsgruppenleiter, the local chapter leader, and his staff officers; the Zellenleiter, who was the cell leader, and his staff officers; and then, finally, the Blockleiter, with his staff officers.
I now offer in evidence Document 1893-PS. This is Exhibit Number USA-323. And this, if Your Honors please, is the Organization Book of the NSDAP, the National Socialist Party. It was edited by the Defendant, Reich Organization Leader of the NSDAP-the late Defendant-Dr. Robert Ley, and it is the 1943 edition. A large part of the evidence to be offered relating to the composition of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party will be drawn from this primer of the Nazi organizations, and I shall later
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quote from it. And without so requesting the Tribunal each time to take judicial notice, I shall assume, in the absence of questions, that it is so understood. The English translation, to which we will refer, is Document 1893-PS.
I now proceed to offer evidence on the make-up and powers of the Reichsleitung or the Leadership Corps, which consisted of the Reichsleiter or Reich Leaders of the Nazi Party-and they are shown on that long horizontal list at the top of the chart-the Hauptamter (main offices), and the Amter, or officeholders.
The Reichsleiter of the Party were annexed to Hitler, the highest officeholders in the Party hierarchy. All of the Reichsleiter in the main of lice and officeholders within the Reichsleitung were appointed by Hitler and directly responsible to him.
I quote from the first paragraph of Page 4, Document 1893-PS:
"1. The Fuehrer appoints the following political directors:
"(a) Reichsleiter and all political directors, to include the directors of the Womens Leagues, within the Reich Directorate (Reichsleitung)."
The significant fact to be grasped is that through the Reichsleitung perfect co-ordination of the Party and State machinery was guaranteed. The Party manual puts it this way-and I quote from the fourth sentence of the third paragraph of Page 20 of that document. You will find the page number at the bottom, Page 20. It is a very short quotation. I quote: "In the Reichsleitung the arteries of the organization of the German people and of the German State merge."
If Your Honors please, there is a little different translation in that portion in your book. To prove...
THE PRESIDENT: Just a moment, please. It begins, "It is in the Reich Directorate where the strings of the organization of the German people and of the German State merge." Is that it?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, that is it. This translation says, "the arteries of the organization of the German people and of the German State merge."
To prove that the Reichsleiter of the Leadership Corps included the most powerful coalition of political overlords in Nazi Germany, it is necessary only to put in evidence their names. The list of Reichsleiter now to be offered in evidence will include the following defendants now on trial before this Tribunal: Rosenberg, Von Schirach, Frick, Bormann, Hans Frank, and the late Defendant Robert Ley.
The evidence to be introduced will show that the Defendant Rosenberg was the leader of an organization named for him, the "Einsatzstab Rosenberg"-which is not shown on this chart, if Your
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Honor please which carried out a vast program of looting and plunder of art treasures throughout occupied Europe.
The evidence will further show that, as representative of the Fuehrer for the supervision of Nazi ideology and schooling. Rosenberg participated in an aggressive campaign to undermine the Christian churches and to supersede Christianity by a German National Church founded upon a combination of irrationality, pseudo-scientific theories, mysticism, and the discredited cult of the racial state. It will further be shown that the late Defendant Ley, acting as the agent of Hitler and the Leadership Corps, directed the Nazi assault upon the independent labor unions of Germany and that before destroying himself he first destroyed the bastion of republican society, a free and independent labor movement, replacing it by a Nazi organization, the German Labor Front, or the DAF, and employed this organization as a means of exploiting the German labor force in the interests of the conspiracy and to instill Nazi ideology among the ranks of the German workers.
It will be shown that the Defendant Frick participated in the enactment of many laws which were designed to promote the conspiracy in its several phases.
The Defendant Frick shares responsibility for the grave injury done by the officials of the Leadership Corps to the concept of the rule of law by virtue of his efforts to give the color of law and formal legality to a large volume of Nazi legislation which was violative of the rights of humanity, such as the Nazi discriminatory legislation designed to degrade, stigmatize, and eliminate the Jewish people of Germany and German-occupied Europe.
Though the Defendant Bormann is physically absent from the dock, the evidence as to his responsibility in directing and furthering the course of the Nazi conspiracy is here and expands with the record in this case. As Chief of the Party Chancellery, right under Hitler, the Defendant Bormann was an extremely important force in directing the activities of the Leadership Corps. As will be shown, a decree of January 16, 1942 provided that the participation of the Party in all important legislation, governmental appointments, and promotions had to be undertaken exclusively by Bormann. He took part in the preparation of all laws and decrees issued by the Reich authorities and gave his assent to those of the subordinate governments.
I now refer to Document 2473-PS, Exhibit Number USA-324. You will find that the English translation contains a list of the Reichsleiter of the NSDAP set forth on Page 170 of this book. It was edited by the late Defendant and Reichsleiter for Party Organization, Robert Ley. The names of the 15 Reichsleiter in office in 1943 will be found on Pages 1 and 2 of Document 2473-PS.
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If the Tribunal please, I will not read all of them but will call attention only to certain of them, as follows:
Martin Bormann, Chief of the Party Chancellery; then we skip over to Wilhelm Frick, Leader of the National Socialist fraction in the Reichstag, shown on the big chart over at the second box from the end on the right; Joseph Goebbels, Reich Propaganda Leader of the NSDAP, shown also on the same level; Heinrich Himmler, Reich Leader of the SS, the Deputy of the NSDAP for all questions of Germandom; Robert Ley, Reich Organization Leader of the NSDAP and Leader of the German Labor Front; Victor Lutze, Chief of Staff of the SA; Alfred Rosenberg, representative of the Fuehrer for the supervision of all mental and ideological training and education of the NSDAP; Baldur von Schirach, Reich Leader for the education of the youth of the National Socialist Party; and then, finally, Franz Schwarz, Reich Treasurer of the National Socialist Party.
The principal functions of the Reichsleiter, which we might call directors, included the responsibility of carrying out the tasks and missions assigned to them by the Fuehrer or by the Chief of the
Party Chancellery, the Defendant Martin Bormann. The Reichsleiter were further charged with insuring that Party policies were being executed in all the subordinate areas of the Reich. They were also responsible for insuring a continual flow of new leadership into the Party.
. With respect to the function and the responsibilities of the Reichsleiter I now quote from Page 20 of Document Number 1893-PS:
"The NSDAP represents the political conception, the political conscience, and the political will of the German nation. Political conception, political conscience, and political will are embodied in the person of the Fuehrer. Based on his directive and in accordance with the program of the NSDAP, the organs of the Reich Directorate directionally determine the political aims of the German people. It is in the Reich Directorate"-or Reichsleitung-that the arteries of the organization of the German people and State merge. It is the task of the separate organs of the Reich Directorate to maintain as close a contact as possible with the life of the nation through their sub-offices in the Gau....
"The structure of the Reich Directorate is thus that the channel from the lowest Party office upwards shows the most minute weaknesses and changes in the mood of the people ....
"Another essential task of the Reich Directorate is to assure a good selection of leaders. It is the duty of the Reich Directorate to see that there is leadership in all phases of life,
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a leadership which is firmly tied to National Socialist ideology and which promotes its dissemination with all of its energy ....
"It is the supreme task of the Reich Organization Leader to preserve the Party as a well-sharpened sword for the Fuehrer."
The domination of the German Government by the top members of the Leadership Corps was facilitated by a circular decree of the Reich Minister of Justice, dated 17 February 1934, which established equal rank for the offices within the Reichsleitung of the Leadership Corps and the Reich offices of the German Government. In this decree it was expressly provided that, ".... the supreme offices of the Reich Party Directorate are equal in rank to the supreme Reich Government authorities". The Party Manual termed the control exercised over the machinery of the Government by the Leadership Corps, "the permeation of the state apparatus with the political will of the Party".
At a later stage in this proceeding it will be shown that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party incontestably dominated the German State and Government. The control by the Leadership Corps of the German Government was facilitated by uniting in the same Nazi chieftains both high offices within the Reichsleitung and the corresponding offices within the apparatus of the Government. For example, as shown in Document 2903-PS, Goebbels was Reichsleiter in charge of Party propaganda, but he was also a cabinet minister in charge of propaganda and public enlightenment.
Himmler held office within the Reichsleitung as head of the Main Office for Folkdom and also was Reichsfuehrer of the SS. At the same time, Himmler held the governmental position of the Reich commissioner for the consolidation of Germandom, and was the governmental head of the German police system.
As will be shown, this personal union of high of lice in the Leadership Corps and high governmental position in the same Nazi leaders greatly accommodated the plan of the Leadership Corps to dominate and control the German State and Government.
In addition to the Reichsleiter the Party Directorate included about 11 Hauptamter, or main offices, and about four Amter, or offices. As set forth in the exhibit, the Hauptamter of the Party included such main organizations as those for personnel, training, technology, headed by the Defendant Speer; folkdom, headed by Himmler; civil servants, communal policy, and the like. The Amter,
or offices, of the Party within the Reichsleitung included the office for foreign policy under the Defendant Rosenberg which, the evidence will show, actively participated in plans for the launching
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of the war of aggression against Norway, the Office for Colonial Policy, the Office for Genealogy, and the Office of Racial Policy.
As will be shown by the chart of the Leadership Corps in the folder which Your Honors have, certain of the main offices and offices within the Reichsleitung would appear again within the Gauleitung, or Gau Party Directorate, and the Kreisleitung, or Party county directorate. It is thus shown that the Reichsleiter and the main office and officeholders within the Reichsleitung exercised, through functional channels through the subordinate of flees lower regional levels, a total control over the various sectors of the national life of Germany.
I shall next take up the Gauleiter. As will be seen from this organizational chart of the Nazi Party now before the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USA-2, for Party purposes Germany was divided into major administrative regions, Gau, which in turn were subdivided into Kreise (counties), Ortsgruppen (local chapters), Zellen (cells), and in Blocks (blocks). A Gauleiter, who was the political leader of the Gau, was in charge of each Gau or district. Each Gauleiter was appointed by and was directly responsible to Hitler. I quote from Page 18 of this same document, 1893-PS, the Organization Book of the NSDAP:
"The Gau represents the concentration of a number of Party counties"-or Kreise-"The Gauleiter is directly subordinate to the Fuehrer...."
"The Gauleiter bears over-all responsibility to the Fuehrer for the sector of sovereignty entrusted to him. The rights, duties, and jurisdiction of the Gauleiter result primarily from the mission assigned by the Fuehrer, and apart from that, from detailed directives."
The responsibility and function of the Gauleiter and his staff officers or officeholders were essentially political, namely, to insure the authority of the Nazi Party within his area, to co-ordinate the activities of the Party and all its affiliated and supervised organizations, and to enlarge the influence of the Party over the people and life in his Gau generally. Following the outbreak of the war, when it became imperative to co-ordinate the various phases of the German war effort, the Gauleiter were given additional important responsibilities. The Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich, which was a sort of general staff for civilian defense and the mobilization of the German war economy, by a decree of 1 September 1939, 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 1565, appointed about 16 Gauleiter as Reich Defense Commissars, concerning which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice. Later, under the impact of mounting military reverses and an increasingly strained war economy, more and more important administrative functions were put on a Gau
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basis. The Party Gaue became the basic defense areas of the Reich, and each Gauleiter became a Reich Defense Commissar by a decree of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich of 16 November 1942, 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 649, of which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice. In the course of the war additional functions were entrusted to the Gauleiter, so that at the end, with the exception of certain special matters such as police affairs, almost all phases of the German war economy were co-ordinated and supervised by them. For instance, regional authority over price control was put under the Gauleiter as Reich Defense Commissars, and housing administration was placed under the Gauleiter as Gau Housing Commissars. Toward the end of the war the Gauleiter were charged even with the military and quasi-military tasks. They were made commanders of the Volkssturm in their areas and were entrusted with such important functions as the evacuation of civilian population in the path of the advancing Allied armies as well as measures for the destruction of vital installations.
The structure and organization of the Party Gaue were substantially repeated in the lower levels of the Reich Party organization such as the Kreise, Ortsgruppen, Zellen, and Blocks. Each of these was headed by a political leader who, subject to the Fuehrer principle and the orders of superior political leaders, was a sovereign within his sphere. The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party was in effect a "hierarchy of descending Caesars." Each of the subordinate Party levels, such as the Kreise, Ortsgruppen, and so on, was organized into offices, or Amter, dealing with the various specialized functions of the Party. But the number of such departments and offices diminished as the Party unit dropped in the hierarchy, so that, while the Kreis office contained all or almost all of the offices in the Gau (such as the deputy, the staff office leader, an organization leader, school leader, propaganda leader, press office leader, treasurer, judge of the Party court, inspector, and the like), the Ortsgruppe had less, and the Zellen and Blocks still fewer.
The Kreisleiter was appointed and dismissed by Hitler upon the nomination of the Gauleiter and directly subordinate to the Gauleiter in the Party hierarchy. The Kreis usually consisted of a single county. The Kreisleiter, within the Kreis, had in general the same position, powers, and prerogatives granted the Gauleiter in the Gaul In cities they constituted the very core of Party power and organization. I quote again from Page 17 of Document 1893-PS, Page 17 of the English translation:
"The Kreisleiter carries over-all responsibility towards the Gauleiter within his zone of sovereignty for the political and ideological training and organization of the Political Leaders, the Party members, as well as the population".
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The Ortsgruppenleiter was the local chapter leader. The area of the Ortsgruppenleiter was comprised of one or more communes, or, in a town, a certain district. The Ortsgruppe was composed of a combination of blocks and cells according to local circumstances, and contained up to 1,500 households. The Ortsgruppenleiter also had a staff of office leaders to assist him in the various functional activities of the Party. All other Political Leaders in his area of responsibility were subordinate to and under the direction of the Ortsgruppenleiter. For example, the leaders of the various affiliated organizations of the Party, within his area, such as the German Labor Front and the Nazi organizations for lawyers, students, and civil servants, were all subordinate to the Ortsgruppenleiter. In accordance with the Fuehrerprinzip, the Ortsgruppenleiter, or local chapter leaders, were appointed by the Gauleiter and were directly under and subordinate to the Kreisleiter.
The Party manual provides as follows with reference to the Ortsgruppenleiter, and I quote from Pages 16 and 17 of Document 1893-PS:
"As Hoheitstrager"-bearer of sovereignty-"he is competent for all expressions of the Party will; he is responsible for the political and ideological leadership and organization within his zone of sovereignty.
"The Ortsgruppenleiter carries the over-all responsibility for the political results of all measures initiated by the offices, organizations, and affiliated association of the Party....
"The Ortsgruppenleiter has the right to protest to the Kreisleiter against any measures contrary to the interests of the Party with regard to a united political appearance in public."
The Zellenleiter was responsible for from four to eight blocks. He was the immediate superior of, and had control and supervision over, the Blockleiter. His mission and duties, according to the Party manual, corresponded to the missions of the Blockleiter. I quote from the last paragraph of Page 15, just one line of that same document: "The missions of the cell-leader correspond to the missions of the block-leader."
The Blockleiter was the one Party official who was peculiarly in a position to have continuous contact with the German people. The block was the lowest unit in the Party pyramidal organization. The block of the Party comprised 40 to 60 households and was regarded by the Party as the focal point upon which to press the weight of its propaganda. I quote from Pages 13 and 14 of this same document:
"The household is the basic community upon which the block and cell system is built. The household is the organizational focal point of all Germans united in an apartment, and includes roomers, domestic help, et cetera.... The Blockleiter has
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jurisdiction over all matters within his zone relating to the Movement, and is fully responsible to the Zellenleiter."
The Blockleiter, as in the case of other Political Leaders, was charged with planning, disseminating, and developing a receptivity to the policies of the Nazi Party among the population in his area of responsibility. It was also the expressed duty of the Blockleiter to spy on the population. I quote from Pages 14 and 15 of this same document:
"It is the duty of the Blockleiter to find people disseminating damaging rumors and to report them to the Ortsgruppe, so that they may be reported to the respective State authorities.
"The Blockleiter must not only be a preacher and defender of the National Socialist ideology towards the member of the Nation and Party entrusted to his political care, but he must also strive to achieve practical collaboration of the Party members within his block zone....
"The Blockleiter shall continuously remind the Party members of their particular duties towards the people and the state. The Blockleiter keeps a list (card file) about the households.... In principle, the Blockleiter will settle his official business verbally, and he will receive messages verbally and pass them on in the same way. Correspondence will only be used in cases of absolute necessity.... The Blockleiter conducts National Socialist propaganda from mouth to mouth. He will eventually awaken the understanding of the eternally dissatisfied as regards the frequently misunderstood or wrongly interpreted measures and laws of the National Socialist Government.... It is not necessary for him to fall in with complaints and gripes about possibly obvious shortcomings of any kind in order to demonstrate solidarity.... A condition to gain the confidence of all people is to maintain absolute secrecy in all matters."
It will be shown that there were in Germany nearly half a million Blockleiter. Large though this figure may appear, there can be no doubt that these officials were in and of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. Though they stood at the broad base of the Party pyramid rather than at its summit, where rested the Reichsleiter, by virtue of this fact they were stationed at close intervals throughout the German civil population.
THE PRESIDENT: I think, Colonel Storey, it would be an assistance to the Tribunal if you could tell us, that is, at some time convenient to yourself, approximately how many there were of each of these ranks in the corps.
COL. STOREY: If Your Honor please, that is the next subject.
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THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
COL. STOREY: It may be doubted that the average German ever looked upon the face of Heinrich Himmler. But the man in the street in Nazi Germany could not have avoided an uneasy acquaintance with the Blockleiter in his own neighborhood. As it is the "cop on the beat" rather than the chief magistrate of the nation who symbolizes law enforcement to the average man and woman, so it was the Blockleiter who represented to the people of Germany the police state of Hitler's Germany. In fact, as may be inferred from the evidence, the Blockleiter were "little Fuehrers" with real and literal power over the civilians in their domains. As proof of the authority of the Blockleiter to exercise coercion and the threat of force upon the civil population, I quote from Document 2833-PS, which is an excerpt from Page 7 of the magazine entitled The Face of the Party, Document 2833-PS. It is just a line of quotation:
"Advice and sometimes also the harsher form of education is employed if the faulty conduct of an individual harms this individual himself, and thus also the community."
Before I get to the numbers, I wanted to deal with the Hoheitstrager.
THE PRESIDENT: Don't you think it is time to break off?
. COL. STOREY: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Until 2 o'clock.
[A recess was taken until 1400 hours.]
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Afternoon Session
COL. STOREY: Your Honors will notice that we have substituted an enlarged chart for the photostatic copy that was introduced in evidence this morning. Another thing I would like to call Your Honors' attention to is the fact that the other chart, the big one, was dated 1945 and therefore did not show the Defendant Hess because of his flight to England in 1941, and it will be recalled that the Defendant Hess occupied the position before Bormann directly under the Fuehrer in the Party organization.
We now take up the Hoheitstrager. The Hoheitstrager, diverting from the text, is shown on this chart very well; and all of those shown in black blocks constitute the Hoheitstrager, beginning with the Fuehrer and going down the vertical column clear down to the Blockleiter.
Within the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party certain of the political leaders possessed a higher degree of responsibility than others, were vested with special prerogatives, and constituted a distinctive and elite group within the Party hierarchy. Those were the so-called Hoheitstrager, or bearers of sovereignty, who represented the Party within the area of jurisdiction, which is a section of Germany, the so-called "Hoheitsgebiet." I now quote from Page 9 of the English translation of Document 1893-PS:
"Among the political leaders, the Hoheitstrager assume a special position. Contrary to the other political leaders who have departmental missions... the Hoheitstrager themselves are in charge of a geographical sector known as the Hoheitsgebiet"- sectors of sovereignty.
"The Hoheitstrager are:
"The Fuehrer, the Gauleiter, the Kreisleiter, the Ortsgruppenleiter, the Zellenleiter, and the Blockleiter.
"Hoheitsgebiete are:
"The Reich, the Gau, the Kreis, the Ortsgruppe, the Zelle, the Block.
"Within their sector of sovereignty the Hoheitstrager have sovereign political rights. They represent the Party within their sector. The Hoheitstrager supervise all Party offices within their jurisdiction and are responsible for the maintenance of discipline."
If Your Honors please, that is Page 9 of the English translation, if you find it, of 1893.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COL. STOREY: "The directors of offices, et cetera, anal of the affiliated organizations are responsible to their respective
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Hoheitstrager ... as regards their special missions. The Hoheitstrager are superior to all political leaders, managers, and so forth, within their sector. As regards personal consideration, Hoheitstrager are endowed with special rights....
"The Hoheitstrager of the Party are not to be administrative officials . . . but are to move in a continuous vital contact with the political leaders of the population within their sector. The Hoheitstrager are responsible for the proper and good supervision of all members of the nation within their sector ....
"The Party intends to achieve a state of affairs in which the individual German will find his way to the Party...."
The distinctive character of the Politische Leiter constituting the Hoheitstrager and their existence and operation as an identifiable group are indicated by the publication of a magazine entitled Der Hoheitstrager whose distribution was limited by regulation of the Reich Organization Leader to the Hoheitstrager and certain other designated Politische Leiter. I now refer to Document 2660-PS, which I offer in evidence; and I would like to digress from the published manuscript and call Number 2660-PS Exhibit Number USA-325. I would like to exhibit this book to Your Honors. This is the book itself and it is for the Hoheitstrager, with a very limited distribution, and I quote from the inside cover of this magazine which reads as follows-it is right in the beginning:
"Der Hoheitstrager, the contents of which is to be handled confidentially, serves only for the orientation of the competent leaders. It may not be loaned out to other persons."
Then follows a list of the Hoheitstrager and other political leaders authorized to receive the magazine. The magazine states, in addition, that the following are entitled to receive it-I would like to emphasize the ones to receive it:
"Commandants, unit commanders, and 'Ordensburg' members; The Reich, Shock Troop, and Gau speakers of the NSDAP; the Obergruppenfuehrer and Gruppenfuehrer of the SA, the SS, the NSFK"-which is the Flying Corps-"and the NSKK"- the Party Motor Corps-"Obergebietsfuehrer and Gebietsfuehrer of the HJ"-that is the Hitler Jugend.
The fact that this magazine existed, that it derived its name from the commanding officers of the Leadership Corps, that it was distributed to the elite of the Leadership Corps, in other words, that a house bulletin was circulated down the command channels of the Leadership Corps is probative of the fact that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party was a group or an organization within the meaning of Article 9 of the Charter.
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An examination of the contents of the magazine Der Hoheitstrager reveals a continuing concern by the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party in measures and doctrines which were employed throughout the course of the conspiracy charged in the Indictment. I shall not trouble the Tribunal nor encumber the record by offering in evidence exhaustive enumeration of these matters; but it may serve to clarify the plans and policies of the inner elite of the Leadership Corps by indicating that a random sampling of articles published and policies advocated in the various issues of the magazine from February 1937 to October 1938 included the following:
Slanderous anti-Semitic articles, attacks on Catholicism and the Christian religion and the clergy; the need for motorized armament; the urgent need for expanded Lebensraum and colonies; persistent attacks on the League of Nations; the use of the block and cell in achieving favorable Party votes, the intimate association between the Wehrmacht and the political leadership; the racial doctrines of Fascism, the cult of leadership; the role of the Gaue, Ortsgruppen, and Zellen in the expansion of Germany; and related matters all of which constituted elements and doctrinal techniques in the carrying out of the conspiracy charged in the Indictment.
The political leaders were organized according to the leadership principle. I quote from the fourth paragraph of Page 2 of Document 1893-PS, at the bottom of the page, and top of Page 3:
"The basis of the Party organization is the Fuehrer idea. The public is unable to rule itself either directly or indirectly.... All political leaders stand as appointed by the Fuehrer and are responsible to him. They possess full authority toward the lower echelons.... Only a man who has gone through the school of subordinate functions within the Party has a claim to the higher Fuehrer offices. We can only use 'Fuehrer' who have served from the ground up. Any political leader who does not conform to these principles is to be dismissed or to. be sent back to the lower offices, as Blockleiter, Zellenleiter, for further training. The political leader is not an office worker but the political deputy of the Fuehrer....With the political leader we are building the political leadership of the State .... The type of the political leader is not characterized by the of lice which he represents. There is no such thing as a political leader of the NSBO, et cetera, but there is only the political leader of the NSDAP."
Each political leader was sworn in yearly. According to the Party manual the wording of the oath was as follows; and I quote from the second paragraph on Page 3, Document 1893-PS:
"I pledge eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler; I pledge unconditional obedience to him and the Fuehrer appointed by him."
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The Organization Book of the NSDAP also provides, and I quote from Page 3, Paragraph 4, of the same document:
"The political leader is inseparably tied to the ideology and the organization of the NSDAP. His oath only ends with his death or with his expulsion from the National Socialist community."
Appointment of political leaders:
With respect to the appointment of the political leaders constituting the Leadership Corps of the Party, I quote from Page 4 of the Organization Book, which is Document 1893-PS:
"1. The Fuehrer appoints the following political leaders:
"a) Reichsleiter and all political leaders within the Reichsleitung"-Reich Party Directorate-"including women's leaders; b) Gauleiter, including the political leaders holding of flees in the Gauleitung"-Gau Party Directorate-"including Gau women's leaders; c) Kreisleiter....
"2. The Gauleiter appoints:
"a) The political leaders and women's leaders within the Gau Party Directorate... b) the political leaders and the directors of women's leagues in the Kreis Party Directorate; c) Ortsgruppenleiter.
"3. The Kreisleiter appoints the political leaders and the directors of the women's leagues of the Ortsgruppen including the block and cell leaders...."
- The power of Hoheitstrager to call upon other Party formations:
The Hoheitstrager among the Leadership Corps were entitled to call upon and utilize the various Party formations as necessary for the execution of the Nazi Party policies.
The Party manual provides, with respect to the power and authority of the Hoheitstrager to requisition the services of the SA-and I quote from Page 11 of this same Document 1893-PS:
"The Hoheitstrager is responsible for the entire political appearance of the Movement within this zone. The SA leader of that zone is tied to the directives of the Hoheitstrager in that respect .... The Hoheitstrager is the ranking representative of the Party to include all organizations within his zone. He may requisition the SA located within his zone from the respective SA leader if they are needed for the execution of a political mission. The Hoheitstrager will then assign the mission to the SA.... Should the Hoheitstrager need more SA for the execution of a political mission than is locally available, he then applies to the next higher office of sovereignty which, in turn, requests the SA from the SA office in his sector."
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According to the Party manual, the Hoheitstrager had the same authority to call upon the services of the SS and NSKK as they possessed with respect to the SA.
With respect to the authority of the Hoheitstrager to call upon the services of the Hitler Youth (the HJ), the Party manual states, and I quote from Page 11, the last paragraph of that translation:
"The political leader has the right to requisition the HJ"- that is the Hitler Jugend-"in the same manner as the SA for the execution of a political action....
"In appointing leaders of the HJ . . . the office of the HJ must procure the approval of the Hoheitstrager of its zone. This means that the Hoheitstrager can prevent the appointment of leaders unsuited for the leadership of youth. If his approval has not been procured, an appointment may be cancelled if he so requests."
An example of the use of the Party formations at the call of the Leadership Corps of the Party is provided by the action taken by the Reichsleiter for Party Organization of the National Socialist Party; Dr. Robert Ley, leading to the deliberate dissolution of the
Free Trade Unions on 2 May 1933. I quote from Document 392-PS, Exhibit Number USA-326, which is a copy of the directive issued
by the Defendant Ley on 21 April 1933, reproduced on Pages 51-52 of the Social Life in New Germany by Professor Muller. In this directive the late Defendant Ley directed the employment of the SA and the SS in the occupation of trade unions and for taking trade union leaders into protective custody. I now quote from Paragraph 6 of Page 1 of Document 392-PS. It is the third and fourth paragraph from the bottom of the page:
"SA as well as SS are to be employed for the occupation of trade union properties and for the taking of personalities, who come into question, into protective custody.
"The Gauleiter is to proceed with his measures on a basis of the closest understanding with the competent regional cell director."
I also quote from the second paragraph of Page 2 of that same document which reads, quoting:
"The following are to be taken into protective custody: All trade union chairmen, the district secretaries and the branch directors of the 'Bank for Workers, Employees, and Officials, Incorporated,' included."
I now offer in evidence Document 2474-PS, Exhibit Number USA-327, which is a copy of a decree issued by the Defendant Hess as Deputy of the Fuehrer, dated 25 October,1934, which underwrites the authority of the Hoheitstrager with respect to Party
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of Page 1 of Document 2474-PS which reads as follows-Page 1 of the English translation:
"The political leadership within the Party and its political representation towards all offices, state or others which are outside of the Party, lie solely and exclusively with the Hoheitstrager"-bearers of sovereignty-"which is to say with me, the Gauleiter, Kreisleiter, and Ortsgruppenleiter....
"The departmental workers of the Party organizations, such as Reichsleiter, office directors, et cetera, as well as the leaders of the SA, SS, HJ, and the subordinate affiliations, may not enter into binding agreements of a political nature with State and other offices except when so authorized by their Hoheitstrager.
"In places where the territories of the units of the SA, SS, HJ, and the subordinate affiliations do not coincide with the zones of the Hoheitstrager, the Hoheitstrager will give his political directives to the ranking leader of each unit within his zone of sovereignty."
It was the official policy of the Leadership Corps to establish close and co-operative relations with the Gestapo. The Tribunal will recall that the head of the German Police and SS, Himmler, was a Reichsleiter on the top level of the Leadership Corps. Without offering in evidence a decree issued by the Defendant Bormann as Chief of Staff of the Deputy of the Fuehrer, dated 26 June 1935, I ask the Court to take judicial knowledge; and I quote:
"In order to effect a closer contact between the offices of the Party and its organizations with the Directors of the Secret State Police,"-Gestapo-"the Deputy of the Fuehrer
requests that the directors of the Gestapo be invited to attend all the larger official rallies of the Party and its organizations."
That is from the 1935 edition, Page 143, dated the 26th June 1935, The Decrees of the Deputy of the Fuehrer.
With reference to the meetings and conferences among the Hoheitstrager of the Leadership Corps, it is the contention of the Prosecution that the members of the Leadership Corps constituted a distinctive and identifiable group or organization. It is strongly supported by the fact that the various Hoheitstrager were under an absolute obligation to meet and confer periodically, not only with the staff officers of their own staffs, but with the political leaders and staff officers immediately subordinate to them. For example, the Gauleiter was bound to confer with his staff officers (such as his deputy and so forth, which included the school leader, propaganda leader, press leader, his Gau Party judge, and so on)
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every 8 to 14 days. Furthermore, Gauleiter was obligated to meet with the various Gauleiters subordinate to him once every 3 months for a 3-day. convention for the purpose of discussing and clarifying Nazi Party policies and directives, for hearing basic lectures on Party policy, and for the mutual exchange of information pertinent to the Party's current program. The Gauleiter was also obligated to meet at least once a month with the leaders of the Party formations and affiliated organizations within his Gau area, such as the leaders of the SA, and SS, Hitler Youth, and others. In support of these statements, I quote from Page 8 of Document 1893-PS. I don't think it is necessary to read all of that:
"Leader conferences in the district:
"A. District Leaders."
If Your Honor please, with your permission I will omit the reading of that because it was really summarized in my previous statement. I will quote Subparagraph (d):
"(d) The bearer of sovereignty will meet at least once a month with the leaders of the SA, SS, NSKK, HI, as well as the RAD and the NSFK who are within the zone, for the
purpose of mutual collaboration."
The Organization Book of the Party imposes a similar requirement of regular and periodical conferences and meetings upon all the other Hoheitstrager, including the Kreisleiter, Ortsgruppenleiter, Zellenleiter, and Blockleiter.
The clear consequence of such regular and obligatory conferences and meetings by all the Hoheitstrager, both with their own staff officers and with the political leaders and staff officers subordinate to them, was that basic Nazi policies and directives issued by Hitler and the leader of the Party Chancellery, the Defendant Bormann, directly through the chain of command of the Hoheitstrager, and functional policies issued by the various Reichsleiter and Reich officeholders down functional and technical channels, were certain to be notified to, received, and understood by the bulk of the membership of the Leadership Corps.
If I may digress from my text and call attention to this chart, you will see the dotted lines connecting down from the Party level, Gau level, to similar offices in the lower level.
Now I next come to the statistics relating to the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party and the evidence relating to the size of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. As previously shown, the Leadership Corps comprised the sum of officials of the Nazi Party including, in addition to Hitler and the members of the Reichsleitung, such as the Reichsleiter and the Reich officeholders, a hierarchy of Hoheitstrager, which I have described, as well as the
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staff officers attached to the Hoheitstrager. I now offer in evidence Document 2958-PS, Exhibit Number USA-325; and this is Issue Number 8, 1939, of the official Leadership Corps organ Der Hoheitstrager, similar to the one I exhibited a moment ago, and this is for the year 1939. This shows that there were: 40 Gaue and 1 Foreign Gau, each led by a Gauleiter-that is 41; 808 Kreisleiter; 28,376 Ortsgruppenleiter; 89,378 Zellenleiter; and 463,048 Blockleiter.
However, as shown by the evidence previously introduced, the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party was composed not only of the Hoheitstrager, but also of the staff officers or officeholders attached to the Hoheitstrager. The Gauleiter, for example, was assisted by a deputy Gauleiter, several Gau inspectors, and a staff which was divided into main offices (Hauptamter) and offices (Amter) including such departments as the Gau staff office, treasury, education office, propaganda office, press office, university teachers, communal policy, and so forth. As previously shown, the staff office structure of the Gau was substantially represented in the lower levels of the Leadership Corps organization such as the Kreise, the Ortsgruppen, and so on. The Kreise and the smaller territorial areas of the Party were also organized into staff offices dealing with the various activities of the Leadership Corps. But, of course, the importance and the number of such staff offices diminished as the unit dropped in the hierarchy; so that, while the Kreisleiter staff contained all or most of the departments mentioned for the Gau, the Ortsgruppe had fewer departments and the lower ones fewer still
Firm figures have not been found as to the total number of staff officers, as distinguished from the Hoheitstrager or political commanders themselves, included within the Leadership Corps.
With respect to the scope and composition of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, the Prosecution adopts the view and respectfully submits to this Tribunal, that in defining the limits of the Leadership Corps, staff officers should only be included down to and including the Kreis. Upon this basis, the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party did constitute the Fuehrer, the members of the Reichsleitung, the five levels of the Hoheitstrager, and the staff officers attached to the 40-odd Gauleiter and the 800 or 900 Kreisleiter. Adopting this definition of the Leadership Corps, it will be seen that the total figure for the membership of that organization, based upon the statistics cited from the basic handbook for Germany, amounts to around 600,000. And by excepting the staff officers of the lower levels, as is provided in the Indictment, and as just defined, and without prejudice to any later individual action against those excepted, we think the figure of around 600,000 is approximately correct.
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It is true that this figure is based upon an admittedly limited view of the size of the membership of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, for the evidence has shown that the Leadership Corps, in effect, embraced staff officers attached to the subordinate Hoheitstrager; and the inclusion of such staff officers in the estimation of the size of the Leadership Corps, if we had so recommended, would have been considerably enlarged so that the final figure, if we had included staff officers to the Blockleiter, would have been 2,000,000, in round numbers.
MR. FRANCIS BIDDLE (Member for the United States): What reason is there for excluding them?
COL. STOREY: For this reason, Your Honor, a person on the last level of Blockleiter might have called on an individual laborer who might have been on his staff; but he certainly did not have the discretion that a staff leader did, for example, or the Gauleiter, say, as a propaganda man who disseminated information down as well as helped participate in plans and policies of the upper organization.
The subordinate staff officers thus excluded were responsible functionally to the higher staff officers with respect to their particular specialty, such as propaganda, Party organization, and so on, and to their respective Hoheitstrager with respect to discipline and policy control and, as I mentioned, likewise such higher staff officers participated in planning and policy and passed those policies down through technical levels or technical channels as opposed to command channels.
"The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party joined and participated in the Common Plan or Conspiracy" is the next title.
The program of the Nazi Party, proclaimed by Hitler on 24 February 1920, contained the chief elements of the Nazi plan for domination and conquest. I now quote from Document 1708-PS, which is the Year Book for 1941, published by the Party, and edited by the late Robert Ley. This book contains the famous 25 points of the Party which I now offer in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-324. Diverting from the text-I don't intend to quote these 25 Party objectives, but only refer to a few of them, and I quote from Page 1 of the English translation of Document 1708-PS:
Point 1:
"We demand the unification of all Germans in Greater Germany on the basis of the right of self-determination of peoples."
Point 2 of that program which I quote demanded unilateral abolition of the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain:
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"We demand equality of rights for the German people in respect to the other nations; abrogation of the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain."
Point 3:
"We demand land and territory (colonies) for the sustenance of our people and colonization by our surplus population."
Point 4:
"Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood without consideration of confession. Consequently, no Jew can be a member of the race."
Point 6:
"We demand that every public office, of any sort whatsoever, whether in the Reich, the county, or municipality, be filled by citizens only. We combat the corrupting parliamentary regime, office-holding only according to party inclinations without consideration of character or abilities."
Point 22-this is from Page 2 of the English translation of Document 1708-PS:
"We demand the abolition of the mercenary troops and the formation of a National Army."
Back to Page 1-another quotation:
"The program is the political foundation of the NSDAP and accordingly the primary political law of the State....
"All legal precepts are to be applied in the spirit of the Party program.
"Since the taking over of power, the Fuehrer has succeeded in the realization of the essential portions of the Party program from the fundamentals to the details.
"The Party program of the NSDAP was proclaimed on 24 February 1920 by Adolf Hitler at the first large Party gathering in Munich and since that day has remained unaltered. The National Socialist philosophy is summarized in 25 points."
As previously mentioned, the Party program was binding upon the political leaders and they were under duty to support and carry out that program.
The Party manual states, and I quote again from the middle of Page 1 of Document 1893-PS:
"The Commandments of the National Socialists: The Fuehrer is always right.... The program be your dogma; it demands your utter devotion to the Movement.... Right is what serves the Movement and thus Germany...."
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And on Page 2 of the same document another brief quotation: "The Leadership Corps is responsible for the complete penetration of the German nation with the National Socialist spirit...."
The oath of the political leaders to Hitler has been previously mentioned. In this connection the Party manual provides, and I quote from the second paragraph on Page 3 of the same document: "The political leader is inseparably tied to the ideology and the organization of the NSDAP. His oath only ends with his death or with his expulsion from the National Socialist community."
While the leadership principle assured the binding nature of Hitler's statements, program, and policies upon the entire Party and the Leadership Corps thereof, the leadership principle also established the full responsibility of the individual political leader within the province and jurisdiction of his office or position.
The leadership principle applies not only to Hitler as the supreme leader but also to the political leaders under him and thus permeated the entire Leadership Corps. I quote from the middle of Page 2 of Document 1893-PS:
"The basis of the Party organization is the Fuehrer idea.... "All political leaders stand as appointed by the Fuehrer and are responsible to him. They possess full authority toward the lower echelons...."
The various Hoheitstrager of the Leadership Corps were, in their respective areas, themselves Fuehrer. I quote from the third paragraph of Page 9 of this same document:
"Within their sector of sovereignty, the Hoheitstrager have sovereign political rights.... They are responsible for the entire political situation within their sector."
I again refer to and quote from Document 1814-PS, Exhibit Number USA-328, which is the Party book. It is just a one-sentence quotation, and it states: "The Party is an Order of 'Fuehrer."'
The subjugation of the entire membership of the Leadership Corps to the fiat of the leadership principle is clearly shown in the following passage from the Party manual; it is this same document on Page 3:
"A solid anchorage for all the organizations within the Party structure is provided and a firm connection with the sovereign leaders of the NSDAP is created in accordance with the leadership principle."
Next is the subject, "The Nazi Party, directed by the Leadership Corps, dominated and controlled the German State and Government."
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The trial brief dealing with the criminality of the Reich Cabinet sets forth the evidence as to the identity of various ministers comprising the Cabinet, and I shall not deal with that subject. The presence of the Reichsleiter and other prominent members of the Leadership Corps in the Cabinet facilitated the domination of the Cabinet by the Nazi Party and the Leadership Corps.
And I omit the next paragraph down to the law of July 14, 1933. A law of 14 July 1933 outlawed and forbade the formation of any political parties other than the Nazi Party and made offenses against this a punishable crime, thereby establishing the one-party state and rendering the Leadership Corps immune from the opposition of organized political groups. I now quote from Document 1388-PS, that being the English translation of the "Law against the Formation of New Political Parties" stated in Reichsgesetzblatt, 1933, Part I, Page 479; and I quote the first two articles of this law, which read as follows:
"The National Socialist German Workers' Party constitutes the only political party in Germany. Whoever undertakes to maintain the organizational structure of another political party or to form a new political party will be punished with penal servitude up to 3 years or with imprisonment of from 6 months to 3 years, if the deed is not subject to a greater penalty according to other regulations." I will skip the next paragraph.
I now quote from Document 1398-PS, which is the English translation of "Law to Supplement the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service," dated 20 July 1933-1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 518.
On 13 October 1933 "A Law to Guarantee Public Peace" was enacted which provided, inter alia, that the death penalty or other severe punishment should be imposed upon any person who "undertakes to kill ... a member of the SA or the SS, a trustee or agent of the NSDAP ... out of political motives or on account of their official activity."
THE PRESIDENT: Where is that you were reading, 1398-PS?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir; 1398-PS. I am in error, Sir, it is 1394-PS just previous.
THE PRESIDENT: Which article are you reading?
COL. STOREY: I am afraid I don't have the reference, but here is the quotation, I think it is on that one page. "A Law to Guarantee Public Peace," and then it has to do-it is Article 2, I believe-Paragraph 2, Article 1.
I-next refer to Document 1395-PS, which is the English translation of the Law on Security and the Unity of Party and State
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of 1 December 1933, and it was enacted "to secure the unity of Party and state." This law provided that the Nazi Party was the pillar of the German State and was linked to it indissolubly; it also made the Deputy of the Fuehrer (then Hess) and the Chief of Staff of the SA (then Rohm) members of the Reich Cabinet. I quote:
"After the victory of the National Socialist revolution the National Socialistic German Labor Party is the bearer of the concept of the German State and is inseparably the State. It will be a part of the public law. Its organization will be determined by the Fuehrer....
"The Deputy of the Fuehrer and the Chief of Staff of the SA will become members of the Reich Government in order to insure close co-operation of the offices of the Party and SA with the public authorities."
This law was a basic measure in enthroning the Leadership Corps in a position of supreme political power in Germany. For it laid down that the Party, directed by the Leadership Corps, was the embodiment of the State and in fact was the State. Moreover, this law made both the Fuehrer's Deputy and the Chief of Staff of the SA, which was a Party formation subject to the call of the Hoheitstrager, Cabinet members, thus further solidifying the leadership control of the Cabinet. The dominant position of the Leadership Corps is further revealed by the provision that the Reich Chancellor would issue the carrying-out regulations of this law in his capacity as Fuehrer of the Nazi Party. The fact that Hitler, as Fuehrer of the Leadership Corps, could promulgate rules which would have statutory force and be published in the Reichsgesetzblatt, the proper compilation for State enactments, is but a further reflection of the reality of the Party's domination of the German State.
I now refer to Document 2775-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-330, which is the English translation of certain extracts from Hitler's speeches to the 1934 and 1935 Party Congress at Nuremberg. I quote from the second extract in Document 2775-PS, which is a declaration by Hitler to the 1934 Party Congress and which reads- just one sentence, "It is not the State which gives orders to us, it is we who give orders to the State."
Upon the evidence, that categorical statement of the Fuehrer of the Leadership Corps, affirming the dominance of the Party over the State, cannot be refuted.
On the 30th of June 1934 Hitler, as head of the Nazi Party, directed the massacre of hundreds of SA men and other political opponents. Hitler sought to justify these mass murders by declaring to the Reichstag that "at that hour I was responsible for the fate of the German nation and the supreme judge of the German
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people." The evidence relating to these events win be presented at a later stage in connection with the case against the SA.
On the 3rd of July 1934 the Cabinet issued a decree describing the murders and the massacre of 30 June 1934, in effect, as legitimate self-defense by the State. By this law the Reich Cabinet moved to make themselves accessories after the fact of these murders. The domination by the Party, however, makes the Cabinet's characterization of these criminal acts by Hitler and his top Party leaders as state measures consistent with political reality. I refer now to Document 2057-PS, which is the English translation of the "Law Relating to the National Emergency Defense Measures" of 3 July 1934, in the Reichsgesetzblatt of that year, Part I, Page 529, and I quote the single article of that law, which reads as follows- this still has reference to the blood purge:
"The measures taken on 30 June and 1 and 2 July 1934 to counteract attempts at treason and high treason shall be considered as national emergency defense."
On 12 July 1934 there was enacted a law defining the function of the Academy for German Law. I refer to Document 1391-PS, which is an English translation of the statute of the Academy for German Law, 12 July 1934, 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Pages 605 and 606:
"In constant, close connection with the agencies competent for legislation, it"-the academy-"shall further the realization of the National Socialist program in the realm of the law."
On 30 January 1933, Hitler, the Leader of the Nazi Party and Fuehrer of the Leadership Corps, was appointed Chancellor of the Reich When President Von Hindenburg died in 1934, the Fuehrer amalgamated into his person the offices of Chancellor and Reich President. I refer to Document 2003-PS, which establishes that fact, and I do not quote. It is Reichsgesetzblatt 1934, Part I, Page 747!.
By decree of the 20th of December 1934 Party uniforms and institutions were granted the same protection as those of the State. This law was entitled, "Law Concerning Treacherous Acts against the State and Party and for the Protection of Party Uniforms." This law imposed heavy penalties upon any person making false statements injuring the welfare or prestige of the Nazi Party or its agencies. It authorized the imprisonment of persons making or circulating malicious or baiting statements against leading personalities of the Nazi Party, and it provided punishment by forced labor for the unauthorized wearing of Party uniforms or symbols. I again refer to Document 1393-PS, not quoting, which is the English translation and gives the authority.
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Finally, by the law of 15 September 1934 the swastika flag of the Party was made the official flag of the Reich. I refer to Document 2079-PS, which is the English translation of the Reich Flag Law found in Reichsgesetzblatt 1935, Part I, Page 1145. Just this one sentence-the quotation, "The Reich and national flag is the swastika flag."
The swastika was the flag and symbol of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. By law it was made the flag of the State; a recognition that the Party and its corps of political leaders were the sovereign powers in Germany.
On 23 April 1936 a law was enacted granting amnesty for crimes which the offender had committed "in his eagerness to fight for the National Socialist ideals." I cite Document 1386-PS, which is the English translation of the "Law Concerning Amnesty," Reichsgesetzblatt 1936, Part I, Page 378.
In furtherance of the conspiracy to acquire totalitarian control over the German people, a law was enacted on 1 December 1936 which incorporated the entire German youth within the Hitler Youth, thereby achieving total mobilization of the German youth And I cite Document 1392-PS, containing that law, ยท1936 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 993. The law further provided that the task of educating the German youth through the Hitler Youth was entrusted to the Reichsleiter of the German youth in the NSDAP. By this law a monopoly control over the entire German youth was placed in the hands of the top official, a Reichsleiter of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, the Defendant Von Schirach.
On 4 February 1938 the Fuehrer of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, Hitler, issued a decree in which he took over direct command of the whole German Armed Forces. I cite Document 1915-PS, 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 111. Hitler says, "From now on, I take over directly and personally the command of the whole Armed Forces."
By virtue of the earlier law of 1 August 1934 Hitler combined the offices of the Reich President and the Chancellorship. In the final result, therefore, Hitler was Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the Head of the German State, and the Fuehrer of the Nazi Party. With respect to this, the Party manual states as follows, and I quote from Page 19 of Document 1893-PS:
"The Fuehrer created the National Socialist German Workers' Party. He filled it with his spirit and his will, and with it he conquered the power of the State on 30 January 1933. The Fuehrer's will is the supreme law in the Party....
"By authority of the law about the Chief of State of the German Reich, dated 1 August 1934, the of lice of the Reich President has been combined with that of the Reich Chancellery.
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Consequently, the powers heretofore possessed by the Reich President were transferred to the Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. Through this law, the conduct of the Party and State has been combined in one hand. By desire of the Fuehrer, a plebiscite was conducted on this law on 19 August 1934. On this day, the German people chose Adolf Hitler to be their sole leader. He is responsible only to his conscience and to the German nation."
A decree of 16 January 1942 provided that the Party should participate in legislation and official appointments and promotions. I cite as proof Document 2100-PS, which is the English translation of a directive concerning the application of the Fuehrer decree "elating to the Chief of the Party Chancellery, 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 35. The decree further provided that such participation should be undertaken exclusively by the Defendant Bormann, Chief of the Party Chancellery and Reichsleiter of the Leadership Corps. The decree provided that the Chief of the Party Chancellery was to take part in the preparation of all laws and decrees issued by Reich authorities, including those issued by the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich, and to give his assent to those of the Lander and of the Reich governors-the Lander being the German states. All communications between the State and Party authorities, unless within the Gau only, were to pass through Bormann's hands. This decree is of crucial importance in demonstrating the ultimate control and responsibility imputable to the Leadership Corps for governmental policy and actions taken in furtherance of the conspiracy.
On or about the 26th of April 1942 Hitler declared in a speech that in his capacity as leader of the nation, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Supreme Head of the Government, and as Fuehrer of the Party, his right must be recognized to compel with all means at his disposal every German, whether soldier, judge, State official, or Party official, to fulfill his desire. He demanded that the Reichstag officially recognize this asserted right; and on the 26th of April 1942 the Reichstag issued a decision in which full recognition was given to the rights of the Fuehrer which I have just asserted. I cite Document 1961-PS, which is the English translation of that decision, found in 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 247. I quote:
"At the proposal of the President of the Reichstag, on its session of 26 April 1942, the Greater German Reichstag has unanimously approved of the rights which the Fuehrer has postulated in his speech with the following decision:
"There can be no doubt that in the present war, in which the German people is faced with a struggle for its existence or
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annihilation, the Fuehrer must have all the rights postulated by him which serve to further or achieve victory. Therefore, without being bound by existing legal regulations, in his capacity as leader of the nation, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Governmental Chief and Supreme Executive Chief, as Supreme Justice and as leader of the Party, the Fuehrer must be in the position to force with all means at his disposal every German, if necessary-Whether he be a common soldier or officer, low or high, official or judge, leading or subordinate official of the Party, worker or employee-to fulfill his duties. In case of violation of these duties, the Fuehrer is entitled, after conscientious examination, regardless of so-called well-deserved rights, to mete out due punishment and to remove the offender from his post, rank, and position without introducing prescribed procedures.
"At the order of the Fuehrer, this decision is hereby made public. Berlin, 26 April 1942."
Hitler, himself, perhaps, best summarized the political realities of his Germany which constituted the basis for the Prosecution's submission that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party and its following effectively dominated the State. The core and crux of the matter was stated by Hitler in his speech to the Reichstag on 20 February 1938, when he declared, in effect, that every institution in Germany was under the direction of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party.
I cite as the Prosecution's final exhibit in support of the proposition that the Leadership Corps dominated the German State with resulting responsibility, Document 2715-PS, which is the book containing Hitler's speech to the Reichstag on the 20th of February 1938, as reported in Das Archiv, Volume 47, February 1938, Pages 1441 and 1442. I quote a brief excerpt from Document 2715-PS; and I introduce it as Exhibit USA-331:
"National Socialism has given the German people that leadership which as Party not only mobilizes the nation but also organizes it, so that on the basis of the natural principle of selection, the continuance of a stable political leadership is safeguarded forever.... National Socialism... possesses Germany entirely and completely since the day when, 5 years ago, I left the house in Wilhelmsplatz as Reich Chancellor. There is no institution in this State which is not National Socialist. Above all, however, the National Socialist Party in these 5 years has not only made the nation National Socialist but also has given itself that perfect organizational structure which guarantees its preservation for all the future. The greatest guarantee of the National Socialist revolution lies
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in the complete domination of the Reich and all of its institutions and organizations, internally and externally, by the National Socialist Party. Its protection against the world abroad, however, lies in the new National Socialist Armed Forces.... In this Reich anybody who has a responsible position is a National Socialist.... Every institution of this Reich is under the command of the supreme political leadership.... The Party leads the Reich politically; the Armed Forces defend it militarily.. . There is nobody in any responsible position in this state who doubts that I am the authorized leader of this Reich...."
The supreme power which the Leadership Corps exercised over the German State and Government is pointed out by an article published in this same authoritative magazine Der Hoheitstrager, in February 1939. In this article, which was addressed to all Hoheitstrager, the Leadership Corps is reminded that it has conquered the state and possesses absolute and total power in Germany. I cite Document 3230-PS, which is the English translation of an article entitled "Fight and Order"; and I quote from this article, which trumpets forth in what we might term as accents of Caesarism, the battle call of the Leadership Corps in German life. I quote:
. "Fight? Why do you always talk of fighting? You have conquered the state, and if something does not please you, then just make a law and regulate it differently. Why must you always talk of fighting? For you have every power. Over what do you fight? Foreign politics? You have the Wehrmacht-it will wage the fight if fight is required. Domestic politics? You have the law and the police which can change everything which does not agree with you."
THE PRESIDENT: Is this a good time to break off?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir.
[A recess was taken.]
COL. STOREY: In view of the domination of the German State and Government by the Nazi Party and the Leadership Corps thereof as established by the foregoing and other evidence heretofore recited in the previous trial briefs, it is submitted that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party is responsible for the measures, including the legislative enactments, taken by the German State and Government ire furtherance of the conspiracy formulated and carried out by the co-conspirators and the organizations charged with criminality in the present case.
I now skip and go to the overt acts and crimes of the Leadership Corps. The evidence now to be presented will establish that the
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membership of the Leadership Corps actively entered into a wide variety of acts and measures designed to advance the course of the conspiracy. The evidence will show that such participation by the Leadership Corps in the conspiracy embraces such measures as anti-Semitic activities, war crimes committed against members of the Allied Forces, participation in the forced-labor program, measures to subvert and undermine the Christian religion and persecute the Christian clergy, the plundering and spoliation of cultural and other property in German occupied territories in Europe, participation in plans and measures leading to the initiation and prosecution of aggressive war, and in general, the wide variety of measures embracing the Crimes against the Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity as defined and denounced by the Charter.
The first item of evidence we have to introduce is in connection with the participation of the Gauleiter and Kreisleiter in what the Nazis describe as the "spontaneous uprising of the people" against the Jews throughout Germany on 9 and 10 November 1938. We do not intend to introduce, by diverting from the text, any evidence formerly introduced by Major Walsh on the persecution of the Jews but only to show the connection of a few of the Party officials in connection with the assassination of an official of the German Embassy in Paris on the 7th of November.
The evidence relating to these pogroms has been thoroughly presented in connection with the Prosecution's evidence in other phases of the case, particularly of the persecution of the Jews. I shall therefore limit myself to two documents and will request the Tribunal to recall that in the teletyped directive from SS Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich, issued the 10th of November 1938 to all police headquarters and SD districts, all chiefs of the State Police were ordered to contact the political leaders in the Gaue and the Kreise and to arrange with these high officials in the Leadership Corps the organization of the so-called spontaneous demonstrations against the Jews.
The evidence previously presented shows that pursuant to this directive a large number of the Jewish shops and businesses were pillaged and wrecked, synagogues set on fire, individual Jews beaten up, and large numbers taken to concentration camps. This evidence forcibly illustrates the employment and participation of all the Kreisleiter and Gauleiter in illegal and inhuman measures designed to further the anti-Semitic program which was an original and continuous objective of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. I simply refer again to Document 3051-PS, Exhibit Number USA-240, and simply call Your Honors' attention to the different political leaders that were named in that document; and I will not attempt to read nor refer to it again.
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Diverting again from the text, I want to offer at this time in evidence .
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, is it addressed to these various ranks in the Leadership Corps?
COL. STOREY: Your Honor, I notice on the first page it is addressed-I am not good in German-but to the State Police, to the SD, and to some other SD officials.
THE PRESIDENT: What has that got to do with the Leadership Corps?
COL. STOREY: It has to do with directions to Party officials to take part in these demonstrations. In other words, through certain officials of the Leadership Corps this directive was dispatched and directed.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you sure the State Police and SD are any of these ranks in the Leadership Corps?
COL. STOREY: If Your Honors will refer to this original chart, this big one, you will notice that the SA, and SS, and several of the organizations are listed on the left-hand part of that big chart.
I think it is in the folder there on Your Honors' desk. In other words, the close examination of that directive will show that they were to contact different political leaders in connection with the carrying into effect of this demonstration of the 9th and 10th of November. That is the only purpose for which it is offered. It has been introduced in evidence, but the reason I mention it at this time . . .
THE PRESIDENT: I can't see that it shows it. It seems to me to be a letter from the Chief of the Security Police to all headquarters and stations of the State Police.
COL. STOREY: I don't have the English translation before me at this moment, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, go on:
COL. STOREY: I now offer in evidence Document 3063-PS, Exhibit USA-332. This was a report from the Chief Party Judge Buch to the Defendant Goering, dated the 13th of February 1939, concerning actions taken by the Supreme Party Court for excesses in connection with the demonstrations of 9 and 10 November 1938. I don't believe this, if Your Honors please, is in the document book- 3063-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it is.
COL. STOREY: I beg your pardon. I had forgotten whether it
is in here. I quote just a brief portion of it:
"When all the synagogues burned down in one night it must have been organized in some way and can only have been organized by the Party."
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It is a long document, and that is the only portion I quote. I don't have the reference to it.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What page?
COL. STOREY: I am sorry, Sir, I don't have the reference book.
THE PRESIDENT: On Page 1. As you say you don't have the document before you, there isn't much use referring you to it.
COL. STOREY: I gave the German text over there, Sir. "When all the synagogues burned down in one night it must have been organized in some way, and can only have been organized by the Party."
The first paragraph, Page 7.
Now I turn to illustrate the crimes against the Allied airmen. The members of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party participated in and shared the responsibility for the murder, beating, and ill-treatment of Allied airmen who landed in German or German controlled territory. Many Allied airmen who bailed out of disabled planes over Germany were not treated as prisoners of war but were beaten and murdered by German civilians with the active condonation, indeed at the instigation, of some of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. Such a course of conduct by the Leadership Corps represented a flagrant and deliberate violation by the German Government of its obligations under the Geneva Convention to protect prisoners of war against acts of violence and ill-treatment.
As shown by Document 2473-PS-it is necessary to turn to that-which is a list of the Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party appearing
in the National Socialist Yearbook of 1943 and by Document 2903-PS, which is this large chart, Heinrich Himmler was a Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party and thus a top official in the Leadership Corps by virtue of his positions as Reichsfuehrer of the SS and Delegate for German Folkdom. I now offer in evidence an original order signed by Himmler, Document R-110 as Exhibit Number USA-333. It is dated 10 August 1943, and I quote:
"It is not the task of the police to interfere in clashes between Germans and English and American terror fliers who have bailed out."
This order was transmitted in writing to all senior executive SS and Police officers, and orally to their subordinate officers and to all Gauleiter. As shown in Document 2473-PS and by the chart, Joseph Goebbels...
THE PRESIDENT: I was only thinking that the police are not part of the Leadership Corps, are they?
COL. STOREY: But Himmler, if Your Honor pleases, combined the offices himself of the Reichsfuehrer of the SS and head of the
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German police. He was an officer of the State; he was an officer of the Party; and he issued this to officials of the Leadership Corps.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): And your point is, this order of Himmler's would be proof against the 600,000 members that you have spoken of?
COL. STOREY: Not against the members, but I said against the organization as a criminal organization, because from the top it disseminated orders of this type through the channels of the Leadership Corps.
THE PRESIDENT: But that is what I was putting to you, that it was not through the channels of the Leadership Corps, but through the channels of the police.
COL. STOREY: But the police, if Your Honor pleases, were connected with the Leadership Corps; and Himmler stood at the top of both. It does not show on that chart; but it is shown on the other big chart, if Your Honors please, with reference to Goebbels, who was a top-flight official in the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, by virtue of his position as Propaganda Leader of the Party. In the issue of the Volkischer Beobachter of 29 May 1944 there appeared an article written by Goebbels, the Reichsleiter for Party Propaganda, in which he openly invited the German civilian population to punish Allied fliers shot down over Germany. I refer to Document 1676-PS, Exhibit USA-334, which is the issue of the Volkischer Beobachter containing this article inciting the people to the commission of War Crimes. I now quote:
"It is only possible with the aid of arms to secure the lives of enemy pilots who were shot down during such attacks, for they would otherwise be killed by the sorely tried population. Who is right here? The murderers who, after their cowardly misdeeds, await a humane treatment on the part of their victims, or the victims who wish to defend themselves according to the principle: 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'? This question is not hard to answer."
Reichsleiter Goebbels then proceeds to answer this question in the following language, and still quoting:
"It seems to us hardly possible and tolerable to use German police and soldiers against the German people when it treats murderers of children as they deserve."
On the 30th of May 1944 the Defendant Bormann, Reichsleiter and Chief of the Party Chancellery, issued a circular letter on the subject which furnishes indisputable proof that British and American fliers, who were shot down, were lynched by the German population. I offer this circular letter of the Defendant Bormann into evidence-Document 057-PS; it is up towards the top.
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THE PRESIDENT: Have you got the original book?
COL. STOREY: Just a moment, Your Honor.
After alleging that in recent weeks English and American fliers had repeatedly shot children, women, peasants, and vehicles on the highways, Bormann then states as follows in the second paragraph of the English translation; I quote:
"Several instances have occurred where members of the crews of such aircraft, who have bailed out or who have made forced landings, were lynched on the spot immediately after capture by the populace, which was incensed to the highest degree. No police measures or criminal proceedings were invoked against the German civilians who participated in these incidents."
The attention of the Tribunal is particularly invited to the fact that this letter of the Defendant Bormann is distributed through the chain of command of the Nazi Party, expressly mentioning on the distribution list Reichsleiter, Gauleiter, Kreisleiter, and leaders of the incorporated and affiliated organizations of the Party. The Defendant Bormann requested, in the first paragraph of the second page which is found in the English translation, that the local group leaders (Ortsgruppenleiter) be informed of the contents of his circular letter orally-only by oral means.
The effect of Reichsleiter Bormann's circular letter may be seen in an order dated 25 February 1945 which I now offer in evidence; it is Document L-154, Exhibit Number USA-335. It is an order from Albert Hoffman, an important member of the Leadership Corps by virtue of his position as Gauleiter and National Defense Commissioner of the Gau Westfalen-Sud. It is addressed to all county councillors, mayors, police officials, and to county leaders and county chiefs of the Volkssturm.
"Fighter-bomber pilots who are shot down are in principle not to be protected against the fury of the people. I expect from all police officers that they will refuse to lend their protection to these gangster types. Authorities acting in contradiction to the popular sentiment will have to account to me. All police and gendarmerie officials are to be informed immediately of this, my attitude."
The obligations...
THE PRESIDENT: Who is Hoffmann?
COL. STOREY: Albert Hoffmann was a member of the Leadership Corps by virtue of his position as Gauleiter and National Defense Commissar of the Gau Westfalen-Sud. In this connection, if Your Honor pleases, I quote the provisions of the Geneva Convention, 27 July 1929, Article 2, which provides-and I simply ask the Court to take judicial knowledge:
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"Prisoners of war are in the power of the hostile power, but not of the individuals or corps who have captured them. They must at all times be humanely treated and protected, particularly against acts of violence, insults, and public curiosity. Measures of reprisal against them are prohibited."
THE PRESIDENT: Is that the 1907...
COL. STOREY: 1929, the Geneva Convention dated 27 July 1929-Article 2-and it was also ratified by Germany and the United States. It is clear from the foregoing quoted provisions that the Geneva prisoners-of-war convention imposes upon its signatories the strictest obligations to protect its prisoners of war from violence. The evidence just presented shows that the German State violated this provision. The evidence also proves that members of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party participated in the conspiracy to incite the German civilian population to take part in these atrocities.
Now I next turn to some illustrative crimes against foreign labor. On 13 September 1936 Reichsleiter of the Party Organization, Dr. Robert Ley, addressed 20,000 people attending a session of the Party Congress. The official account of the Party rally states that the Fuehrer was received with "enthusiastic shouts of exaltation" when he strode through the hall with his deputy, his constant retinue, and several Reichsleiter and Gauleiter. I am referring to Document 2283-PS, and it is the Volkischer Beobachter of 14 September 1936, Page 11, which we offer as Exhibit Number USA-337. In his speech Reichsleiter Robert Ley states that he had been mystified when the Fuehrer ordered him in "mid-April 1933 to take over the trade unions... since I could not see any connection between my task as organizational leader of the Party and my new task." Ley continues by stating that very soon it became clear to him why his responsibilities as Reichsleiter of the Party Organization and Leader of the German Labor Front made logical his selection by the Fuehrer as the man to direct the smashing and dissolution of the free trade unions; and I quote from that document:
"Very soon your decision, my Fuehrer, became clear to me and I recognized that the organizational measures of the Party could only come to full fruition when supplemented by the organization of the people, that is to say by the mobilization of the energies of the people and by their concentration and alignment.... My tasks Reichsleiter of the Party Organization and as Leader of the German Labor Front were a completely homogeneous task; in other words, in everything I did, I acted as Reichsleiter of the Party Organization. The German Labor Front was an institution of the Party and was led by it. The German Labor Front had to be organized
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regionally and technically-according to the same principles as the Party. That is why trade union and employee associations had to be smashed unrelentingly, and the basis of construction was formed, as in the Party, by the cell and the local section."
On 17 October 1944 Reichsleiter Rosenberg sent a letter to Reichsleiter Bormann which I introduce as Document 327-PS, Exhibit Number USA-338, in which he informed the latter that he had sent a telegram to the Gauleiter urging them not to interfere in the liquidation of certain listed companies and banks under his supervision. Rosenberg emphasizes to Bormann that any "delay of liquidation or independent confiscation of the property by the Gauleiter would impair or destroy an organized plan" for the liquidation of a vast amount of property.
On 7 November 1943 the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces delivered a lecture at Munich to the Reichsleiter and the Gauleiter. I now refer to Document L-172, previously introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-34. The Chief of Staff stated that his object was to give a review of the strategic position at the outset of the fifth year of war; and he stated that he realized that the political leaders in the Reich and Gau areas, in view of their burdensome tasks in supporting the German war effort, were in need of information he could give. He stated, in part, as follows:
"Reichsleiter Bormann has requested me to give you a review today of the strategic position in the beginning of the fifth year of war.... No one-the Fuehrer has ordered-may know more or be told more than he needs for his immediate task; but I have no doubt at all in my mind, gentlemen, that you need a great deal in order to be able to Cope with your tasks. It is in your Gaue, after all. . . that all the enemy propaganda, and the demoralization through malicious rumors that try to find themselves a place among our people concentrate.... Against this wave of enemy propaganda and cowardice... you need to know the true situation; and for this reason, I believe that I am justified in giving you a perfectly open and uncovered account of the state of affairs."
Reichsleiter Bormann distributed to all Reichsleiter, Gauleiter, and leaders of Party-affiliated organizations an undated letter, which is Document 656-PS, Exhibit Number USA-339, on the National Socialist Party stationery, signed by Bormann, an order of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht relating to self-defense by German guard personnel and German contractors and workers against prisoners of war. The order of the Wehrmacht referred to states that the question of treatment of prisoners of war is continually being discussed by the Wehrmacht and Party bureaus. The order states that should prisoners of war refuse to obey orders to
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work, the guard has "in the case of the most pressing need and danger the right to force obedience with the weapon if he has no other means. He can use the weapon as much as is necessary to attain his goal."
On 18 April 1944 Reich Commissar Lohse, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, in a letter to Reich Youth Leader Axmann-I now offer in evidence Document 347-PS, Exhibit Number USA-340-proposed that the Hitler Youth participate in and supervise the military education of the Estonian and Latvian youth. Lohse states in the above letter that:
"In the military education camps the young Latvians are trained under Latvian leaders in the Latvian language, not because this is our ideal but because absolute military necessity demands this."
Lohse further stated in the above letter, and I quote,
". . . in contrast to the Germanic peoples of the West, military education is no longer to be carried out through voluntary enlistments but through legal conscription. The camps in Estonia and Latvia will have to be under German leadership; and as military education camps of the Hitler Youth, they must be a symbol of our educational mission beyond Germany's borders. I consider the execution of the military education of the Estonian and Latvian youth not only a military necessity but also a war mission of the Hitler Youth, especially. I would be thankful to you, Party Member Axmann, if the Hitler Youth would put itself at our disposal with the same readiness with which they have so far supported our work in the Baltic area."
An order of the Reich Minister of the Interior, Frick, dated 22 October 1938, is Document 1438-PS, of which I ask the Court to take judicial notice, and I quote:
"The Reichsfuehrer SS and the Chief of the German Police... can take the administrative measures necessary for the maintenance of security and order even beyond the legal limits otherwise set on such measures."
The above order related to the administration of the Sudeten-German territory.
In a letter dated 15 April 1943, our Document Number 407-PS, already in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-209, Gauleiter and Plenipotentiary for the direction of labor Fritz Sauckel wrote to Hitler advising him of the success of the forced-labor program as of that date and stating that-and I quote:
"You can be assured that the District of Thuringia and I will serve you and our dear people with the employment of all our strength."
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I now offer in evidence Document 630-PS, Exhibit Number USA342. If Your Honor pleases, I would like to call to your attention that this is on the personal stationery of Adolf Hitler, dated 1 September 1939. It is addressed to Reichsleiter Bouhler and Doctor of Medicine Brandt, and it is signed personally by Adolf Hitler. I want to quote all of that document; it is short:
J
"Reichsleiter Bouhler and Dr. Brandt are charged with the responsibility of enlarging the authority of certain physicians to be designated by name in such a manner that persons who, according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a mercy death. Signed, A. Hitler."
A handwritten note on the face of the document states: "Given to me by Bouhler on 27 August 1940. Signed, Dr. Gurtner."
In a memorandum recording an agreement between himself and Himmler, the Minister of Justice Thierack stated that on the suggestion of Reichsleiter Bormann an agreement had been reached between Himmler and himself with respect to "special treatment at the hands of the police in cases where judicial sentences were not severe enough."
I will offer Document 654-PS, Exhibit Number USA-218, which was previously introduced, and I want to quote one portion:
"The Reich Minister of Justice will decide whether and when special treatment at the hands of the police is to be applied. The Reich Fuehrer SS will send the reports, which he sent hitherto to Reichsleiter Bormann, to the Reich Minister of Justice."
If the views of the Reich Fuehrer SS and the Reich Minister of Justice disagreed, "the opinion of Reichsleiter Bormann will be brought to bear upon the case, and he will possibly inform the Fuehrer."
In the above note it is further stated:
"The delivery of asocial elements from execution of their sentence to the Reich Fuehrer of SS to be worked to death: Persons under preventative arrest, Jews, Gypsies, Russians and Ukrainians, Poles with more than 3-year sentences, Czechs and Germans with more than 8-year sentences, according to the decision of the Reich Minister of Justice. First of all the worst asocial elements amongst those just mentioned are to be handed over. I shall inform the Fuehrer of this through Reichsleiter Bormann."
With respect to the "administration of justice by the people," he continues:
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"This is to be carried out step by step. . . as soon as possible.... I shall rouse the Party particularly to co-operate in this scheme by an article in the 'Hoheitstrager."'
And Your Honors have already seen copies of that publication. I now skip Paragraphs 16 and 17.
A letter from RSHA (which is the Reich Security Main Office) to police chiefs, dated 5 November 1942, which is Document L-316, Exhibit Number USA-346-this was addressed to all police chiefs-i recites an agreement between the Reich Fuehrer SS and the Reich Minister of Justice, approved by Hitler-I call the attention of Your Honors to the red border around this original, and then having the Party seal on it-provides that the ordinary criminal procedure was no longer to be applied to Poles and members of the Eastern populations. The agreement provided that such people, including Jews and Gypsies, should henceforth be turned over to the police. The principles applicable to a determination of the punishment of German offenders, including appraisal of the motives of the offender, were not to be applied to foreign offenders. I quote from Page 2 of the document:
"The offense committed by a person of foreign extraction is not to be regarded from the view of legal retribution by way of justice but from the point of view of preventing dangers through police action.
"From this it follows that the criminal procedure against persons of foreign extraction must be transferred from justice to the police.
"The preceding statements serve for personal information. There are no objections if the Gauleiter are informed in the proper form, should the need arise.')
I now skip Paragraphs 19 and 20 of the text. I next refer to Document 1058-PS, previously introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-147.
In a speech to a gathering of persons intimately concerned with the Eastern problem, on 20 June 1941, Reichsleiter Rosenberg stated that the southern Russian territories and the northern Caucasus would have to provide food for the German people. I quote Rosenberg's words:
"We see absolutely no obligation on our part to feed the Russian people, also, with the products of that surplus territory. We know that this is a harsh necessity, bare of any feelings."
THE PRESIDENT: We have already had that read to us twice.
COL. STOREY: I am sorry, Sir. I did not hear it. Strike it from the record.
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I now refer to Document R-114. I believe it is the last one in the book, Exhibit Number USA-314.
Gauleiter Wagner, of the German-occupied areas of Alsace, prepared plans and took measures leading to the expulsion and deportation of certain groups within the Alsatian civilian population. His plans called for the forcible expulsion of certain categories of so-called undesirable persons as a means of punishment and compulsory Germanization. The Gauleiter supervised deportation measures in Alsace from July to December 1940 in the course of which 105,000 persons were either expelled or prevented from returning. A memorandum, dated 4 August 1942, of a meeting of high SS and police officials convened to receive the reports and plane; of the Gauleiter relating to the Alsatian evacuations, states that the persons deported were mainly "Jews, Gypsies, and other foreign racial elements, criminals, asocial and incurably insane persons, as well as Frenchmen and Francophiles." The memorandum further states the Gauleiter stated that the Fuehrer had given him permission "to cleanse Alsace of all foreign, sick, or unreliable elements"; and that the Gauleiter emphasized the political necessity of further deportations. The memorandum further records that the SS and police officials present at the conference approve the Gauleiter's proposals for further evacuation.
I now skip over to the next paragraph, 24.
A memorandum by Reichsleiter Bormann of a conference called by Hitler at his headquarters, 16 July 1941, which is Document L-221, Exhibit Number USA-317. I'm sorry, I believe that one was quoted this morning. The only purpose in referring to it is in connection with the Reichsleiter. I believe Captain Harris quoted from that document this morning, and I'll not read the quotation.
I call attention to the fact, however, that this conference was attended by Reichsleiter Rosenberg, Reich Minister Lammers, Field Marshal Keitel, the Reich Marshal, and Bormann and lasted about 20 hours. The memorandum states that discussion occurred with respect to the annexation by Germany of various parts of conquered Europe. The memorandum also states theta long discussion took place with respect to the qualifications of Gauleiter Lohse, who was proposed by Rosenberg at this conference, as Governor of the Baltic States.
Discussion also occurred, according to the memo, with respect to the qualifications of other Gauleiter and commissioners for the administration of various areas of Occupied Russia. Goering stated, according to the memorandum, that he intended to appoint Gauleiter Terboven for "exploitation of tile Kola Peninsula; the Fuehrer agrees."
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I believe the next portion has been quoted, too. now pass to the participation of the Leadership Corps in the suppression of the Christian Church and persecution of the clergy and cite some illustrative crimes.
The evidence relating to the systematic effort of the defendants and co-conspirators to eliminate the Christian churches in Germany has been previously introduced in U.S.A. Exhibit Book H by Major Wallis with respect. to the Nazi efforts to eliminate the Christian Church. The evidence now to be presented is limited to proving and pointing out the responsibility of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party and the members thereof for illegal activities against the Christian Church and clergy.
The Defendant Bormann issued a secret decree to all Gauleiter entitled, "Relationship of National Socialism and Christianity." And that is Document D-75 - it is up toward the top, I believe, Your Honor-Exhibit Number USA-348. In this decree Reichsleiter Bormann flaky declares that National Socialism and Christianity are incompatible and that the influence of the churches in Germany must be eliminated. I quote from pertinent portions of this decree beginning with the first paragraph thereof, top of Page 3, which reads as follows:
"National Socialist and Christian concepts are irreconcilable....
Our National Socialist ideology is far loftier than the concepts of Christianity which, in their essential points, have been taken over from Jewry. For this reason, also, we do not need Christianity.... If, therefore, in the future our youth learn nothing more of this Christianity whose doctrines are far below ours, Christianity will disappear by itself.... It follows from the irreconcilability of National Socialist and Christian concepts that a strengthening of existing confessions and every assistance to originating Christian confessions is to be rejected by us. A differentiation between the various Christian confessions is not to be made here. For this reason, also, the thought of an erection of an Evangelical National Church by merger of the various Evangelical churches has been definitely given up, because the Evangelical Church is just as inimical to us as the Catholic Church. Any strengthening of the Evangelical Church would merely react against us....
"For the first time in German history, the Fuehrer consciously and completely has the leadership of the people in his own hand. With the Party, its components, and attached units, the Fuehrer has created for himself and thereby the German Reich Leadership, an instrument which makes him independent of the Church. All influences which might impair or damage
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the leadership of the people, exercised by the Fuehrer with the help of the NSDAP, must be eliminated. More and more the people must be separated from the churches and their organs, the pastors. Of course, the churches must and will, seen from their viewpoint, defend themselves against this loss of power. But never again must an influence on leadership of the people be yielded to the churches. This influence must be broken completely and finally.
"Only the Reich leadership and, by its direction, the Party, its components and attached units have a right to leadership of the people. Just as the deleterious influences of astrologers, seers, and other fakirs are eliminated and suppressed by the state, so must the possibility of Church influence also be totally removed. Not until this has happened does the state leadership have influence on the individual citizens. Not until then are people and Reich secure in their existence for all the future."
I next offer in evidence Document 070-PS, towards the beginning, Exhibit Number USA-349, which is a copy of a letter issued from Bormann's office, dated 25 April 1941, to the Defendant Rosenberg in his capacity as the Fuehrer's representative for the supervision of the entire mental and ideological training and education of the NSDAP. In this letter Bormann's office states that the measures have been taken leading to the progressive cancellation of morning prayers and other religious services and their substitution by Nazi mottoes and slogans. I quote from the first paragraph of Document 070-PS:
"We are inducing schools more and more to reduce and abolish morning religious services. Similarly the confessional and general prayers in several parts of the Reich have already been replaced by National Socialist mottoes. I would be grateful to know your opinion on a future National Socialist morning service instead of the present confessional morning services which are usually conducted once per week."
In a letter from Reichsleiter Bormann to Reichsleiter Rosenberg dated 22 February 1940, Document 098-PS, Exhibit Number USA-350, which I offer in evidence, Bormann declares to Rosenberg that the Christian religion and National Socialism are incompatible. Bormann cites, as examples of hostile...
THE PRESIDENT: Would you take care to give us the number of the document.
COL. STOREY: I beg pardon, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: This is 098-PS.
COL. STOREY: Document 098-PS.
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THE PRESIDENT: The one before you referred to was 070-PS.
COL. STOREY: Yes-070-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: Before that, D-75?
COL. STOREY: That's correct. With Your Honor's permission, rather than to quote the whole document I have summarized it here. Bormann's letter cites as examples the hostile divergence between Nazism and the churches, the attitude of the latter on the racial question, celibacy of the priests, monasteries and nunneries. Bormann further declares that the churches could not be subjugated through compromise but only through a new philosophy of life as prophesied in Rosenberg's writings. Bormann proposes the creation of a National Socialist catechism in order to give that part of the German youth which declines to practice confessional religion a moral foundation and to lay a moral basis for National Socialist doctrines, which are gradually to supplant the Christian religions. Bormann suggests that some of the Ten Commandments could be merged with the National Socialist catechism and states that a few new commandments should be added, such as: "Thou shalt be courageous; Thou shalt not be cowardly; Thou shalt believe in God's presence in the living nature, animals, and plants; Thou shalt keep thy blood pure;" et cetera. He concludes that he considers the problem so important that it should be discussed with the members of the Reich directorate as soon as possible.
And now one quotation from the fifth paragraph on the first page of that translation. I would like to quote Paragraph 5 of the first page:
"Christianity and National Socialism are phenomena which originated from entirely different basic causes. Both differ fundamentally so strongly that it will not be possible to construct a Christian teaching which would be completely compatible with the point of view of the National Socialist ideology; just as the communities of Christian faith would never be able to stand by the ideology of National Socialism in its entirety...."
And then I quote from the last paragraph on Page 5 of that document:
"The Fuehrer's deputy finds it necessary that all these questions should be thoroughly discussed in the near future in the presence of the Reich leaders"-Reichsleiter-"who are especially affected by them...."
I next offer in evidence Document 107-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you suggest that the Blockleiter would have to be present at that discussion?
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COL. STOREY: Your Honor, in connection with the policy directives, the Fuehrerprinzip goes from the top to the bottom; and if that policy is adopted, they may, by directive, send it as far as the Blockleiter. He says to discuss it in connection with the Reichsleiter, who are the Party directors; and I assume that, if the Party directors establish it as a policy, then they were to issue appropriate directives to the other subordinate members. Mr. Lambert has suggested also that it would not be possible to discuss this matter with all the Leadership Corps and therefore they discussed it with the Party directors.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Does that show they did discuss it with the directors?
COL. STOREY: No, Sir, that doesn't follow; but it shows that it was a subject of discussion for the board of directors of the Nazi Party.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but the question is, who are the directors?
COL. STOREY: Five or six of them sit here; a total of 16.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but I thought that you were asking us to declare the whole of the organization down to the Blockleiter as criminal.
COL. STOREY: That is true, Your Honor, but this is one evidence, one instance of the criminality of the organization and we cannot prove at each stage that all of them knew about it. We are trying to select different offenses and different crimes that were committed within the Party.
Document 107-PS, Exhibit USA-351, which we now offer in evidence, is a circular letter, dated 17 June 1938, addressed by the Defendant Bormann as Reichsleiter and Deputy of the Fuehrer to all Reichsleiter and Gauleiter. Bormann's letter encloses a copy of rules, prepared by Reichsleiter Hierl, setting forth certain restrictive regulations with respect to participation of the Reich Labor Service in religious celebrations. I quote permanent portions of the directions issued by Reichsleiter Hierl, beginning with the first paragraph in the list of directions in Document 107-PS, on Page 1 of the English translation:
"The Reich Labor Service is a training school in which the German youth should be educated to national unity in the spirit of National Socialism....
"What religious beliefs a person has is not a decisive factor, but this decisive that he first of all feels himself a German.
"All confessional discussions are forbidden in the Reich Labor Service because it disturbs the comrade-like harmony of all the Labor Service men and the Labor Service women.
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"This is also the reason why an participation of the Reich Labor Service in revivals and other meetings and festivals of religious character are impossible."
The Tribunal will appreciate that the position of the Defendant Bormann, as Deputy of the Fuehrer of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party and Chief of the Nazi Party Chancellery, and the position of the Defendant Rosenberg, as the Fuehrer's representative for the whole spiritual and philosophical education of the Nazi Party, give to the views of these defendants on religion and religious policy the highest official backing. The anti-Christian utterances and policies of these two defendants reveal a community of mind and intention amongst the most powerful leaders of the Party which was amply confirmed, as the evidence will show, by the actual treatment of the churches since 1933 and throughout the course of the conspiracy. I now offer in evidence Document 2349-PS, Exhibit Number USA-352, which is an excerpt from the book The Myth of the 20th Century, written by the Defendant Rosenberg. I quote from that document:
"The idea of honor-national honor-is for us the beginning and the end of our entire thinking and doing. It does not admit of any equal-valued center of force alongside of it, no matter of what kind, neither Christian love, nor the Free-Masonic humanity, nor the Roman philosophy."
I now offer in evidence Document 848-PS, Exhibit Number USA-353, which is a Gestapo telegram, dated 24 July 1938, dispatched from Berlin to Nuremberg, dealing with demonstrations and acts of violence against Bishop Sproll in Rottenburg. The Gestapo office in Berlin wired its Nuremberg office a teletype account received from its Stuttgart office of disorderly conduct and vandalism carried out by Nazi Party members against Bishop Sproll. I quote from the fourth paragraph of Page 1 of the English translation of Document 848-PS, which reads as follows:
"The Party, on 23 July 1938, from 2100 on, carried out the third demonstration against Bishop Sproll Participants, about 2,500-3,000, were brought from outside by bus, et cetera. The Rottenburg populace again did not participate in the demonstration. This town took a rather hostile attitude toward the demonstrations. The action got completely out of hand of the Party member responsible for it. The demonstrators stormed the palace, beat in the gates and doors. About 150 to 200 people forced their way into the palace, searched through the rooms, threw files out of the windows, and rummaged through the beds in the rooms of the palace. One bed was ignited....The Bishop was with Archbishop Grober of Freiburg and the ladies and gentlemen
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Of his menage in the chapel at prayer. About 25 to 30 people pressed into this chapel and molested those present. Bishop Grober was taken for Bishop Sproll. He was grabbed by the robe and dragged back and forth."
The Gestapo official in Stuttgart added that Bishop Grober desired "to appeal to the Fuehrer and to Reich Minister of the Interior Dr. Frick," and the Gestapo official added that he had rendered a detailed report of the demonstration after suppressing counter mass meetings.
On 23 July 1938 the Reich Minister for Church Affairs, Kerrl, sent a letter to the Minister of State and Chief of the Prasidium Chancellery, Berlin, stating that Bishop Sproll had angered the population by abstaining from the plebiscite of 10 April. I now offer in evidence Document 849-PS, Exhibit Number USA-354. In this letter Kerrl stated that the Gauleiter and Governor of Wurttemberg had decided that in the interest of preserving the State's authority and in the interest of quiet and order, Bishop Sproll could no longer remain in office. I quote from the third paragraph of the first page of the Document 849-PS:
"The Reich Governor had explained to the Ecclesiastical Authority that he would no longer regard Bishop Sproll as head of the Diocese of Rottenburg on account of his refraining from the election in the office and that he desired Bishop Sproll to leave the Gau Wurttemberg-Hohenzollern because he could assume no guarantee for his personal safety; that in the case of the return of the Bishop of Rottenburg he would see to it that all personal and official intercourse with him on the part of State offices as well as the Party offices" and the Armed Forces would be denied."
Kerrl further states in the above letter that his deputy had moved the Foreign Office, through the German Embassy at the Vatican, to urge the Holy See to persuade Bishop Sproll to resign his Bishopric. Kercl concludes by stating that should the effort to procure the Bishop's resignation prove unsuccessful, "the Bishop would have to be exiled from the land or there would have to be a complete boycott of the Bishop by the authorities."
On 14 July 1939 the Defendant Bormann in his capacity as Deputy of the Fuehrer issued a Party regulation which provided that Party members entering the clergy or undertaking the study of theology would have to leave the Party. I now offer in evidence Document 840-PS, Exhibit Number USA-355; and this is a copy of a regulation by Bormann, relating to the admission of the clergy and students of theology into the Party. I quote from the last paragraph of the English translation, which reads-I quote. "I
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decree that in the future Party members who enter the clergy or who turn to the study of theology have to leave the Party."
In this directive Bormann also refers to an earlier decree, dated 9 February 1939, in which he had ruled that the admission of members of the clergy into the Party was to be avoided. In this decree, also, Bormann refers with approval to a regulation of the Reich Treasurer of the Party, dated 10 May 1939, providing that "clergymen as well as other fellow Germans who are also closely connected with the Church cannot be admitted into the Party."
I now offer in evidence Document 3268-PS, Exhibit Number USA-356, which contains excerpts from the Allocution of His Holiness Pope Pius XII to the Sacred College, June 2d, 1945. In this address His Holiness, after declaring that he had acquired an appreciation of the great qualities of the German people in the course of 12 years of residence in their midst, expressed the hope that Germany could "rise to new dignity and a new life once it has laid the satanic specter raised by National Socialism and the guilty have expiated the crimes they have committed." After referring to repeated violations by the German Government of the Concordat concluded in 1933, His Holiness declared; and I quote from the last paragraph of Page 1 of the English translation of Document 3268-PS:
"The struggle against the Church did, in fact, become ever more bitter; there was the dissolution of Catholic organizations; the gradual suppression of the flourishing Catholic schools, both public and private; the enforced weaning of youth from family and Church; the pressure brought to bear on the conscience of citizens, and especially of civil servants; the systematic defamation, by means of a clever, closely organized propaganda, of the Church, the clergy, the faithful, the Church's institutions, teachings, and history; the closing, dissolution, confiscation of religious houses and other ecclesiastical institutions; the complete suppression of the Catholic press and publishing houses....
"In the meantime the Holy See itself multiplied its representations and protests to governing authorities in Germany, reminding them, in clear and energetic language, of their duty to respect and fulfill the obligations of the natural law itself that were confirmed by the Concordat. In these critical years, joining the alert vigilance of a pastor to the long suffering patience of a father, our great predecessor, Pius XI, fulfilled his mission as Supreme Pontiff with intrepid courage.
"But when, after he had tried all means of persuasion in vain, he saw himself clearly faced with deliberate violations of a solemn pact, with a religious persecution masked or open but
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always rigorously organized, he proclaimed to the world on Passion Sunday 1937 in his Encyclical, Mitbrennender Sorge, that National Socialism really was: the arrogant apostasy from Jesus Christ, the denial of His doctrine and of His work of redemption, the cult of violence, the idolatry of race and blood, the overthrow of human liberty and dignity....
"From the prisons, concentration camps, and fortresses are now pouring out, together with the political prisoners, also 'the crowds of those, whether clergy or laymen, whose only crime was their fidelity to Christ and to the faith of their fathers or the dauntless fulfillment of their duties as priests. "In the forefront, for the number and harshness of the treatment meted out to them, are the Polish priests. From 1940 to 1945, 2,800 Polish ecclesiastics and religious were imprisoned in that camp; among them was the Auxiliary Bishop of Wloclawek, who died there of typhus. In April last there were left only 816, all the others being dead except for two or three transferred to another camp. In the summer of 1942, 480 German-speaking ministers of religion were known to be gathered there; of these, 45 were Protestants, all the others Catholic priests. In spite of the continuous inflow of new internees, especially from dioceses of Bavaria, Rhenania and Westphalia, their number, as a result of the high rate of mortality, at the beginning of this year did not surpass 350. Nor should we pass over in silence those belonging to occupied territories, Holland, Belgium, France (among whom the Bishop of Clermont), Luxembourg, Slovenia, Italy. Many of those priests and laymen endured indescribable sufferings for their faith and for their vocation. In one case the hatred of the impious against Christ reached the point of parodying on the person of an interned priest, with barbed wire, the scourging and the crowning with thorns of our Redeemer."
THE PRESIDENT: I think perhaps it would be time now to adjourn.
[The Tribunal adjourned until 18 December 1945 at 1000 hours.]
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