Afternoon Session
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, Major Frank Wallis will now present the briefs and documents supporting the briefs in behalf of the phase of the case known as the Common Plan or Conspiracy, up through 1939.
Major Wallis.
MAJOR FRANK B. WALLIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): Mr. President, members of the Tribunal:
It will be my purpose to establish most of the material allegations of the Indictment running from Paragraph IV on Page 3, to Subparagraph E on Page 6. The subjects involved are:
The aims of the Nazi Party, their doctrinal techniques, their rise to power, and the consolidation of control over Germany between 1933 and 1939 in preparation for aggressive war.
This story has already been sketched by the American Chief Prosecutor. Moreover, it is history, beyond challenge by the defendants. For the most part, we rely upon the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. What we offer is merely illustrative material—including statements by the defendants and other Nazi leaders—laws, decrees, and the like. We do not need to rest upon captured documents or other special sources, although some have been used.
For the convenience of the court and Defense counsel, the illustrative material has been put together in document books, and the arguments derived from them have been set out in trial briefs.
I intend only to comment briefly on some of the materials and to summarize the main lines of the briefs.
What is the charge in Count One?
The charge in Count One is that the defendants, with divers other persons, participated in the formulation or execution of a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit, or which involved the commission of Crimes against Humanity (both within and without Germany), War Crimes, and Crimes against Peace.
The charge is, further, that the instrument of cohesion among the defendants, as well as an instrument for the execution of the purposes of the conspiracy, was the Nazi Party, of which each defendant was a member or to which he became an adherent.
The scope of the proof which I shall offer is:
First, that the Nazi Party set for itself certain aims and objectives, involving basically the acquisition of “Lebensraum”, or living space, for all “racial” Germans.
Second, that it was committed to the use of any methods, whether or not legal, in attaining these objectives, and that it did in fact use illegal methods.
Third, that it put forward and disseminated various lines of propaganda, and used various propaganda techniques to assist it in its unprincipled rise to power.
Fourth, that it ultimately did seize all governmental power in Germany.
Fifth, that it used this power to complete the political conquest of the State, to crush all opposition, and to prepare the nation psychologically and otherwise for the foreign aggression upon which it was bent from the outset.
In general we undertake to outline, so far as relevant to the charge, what happened in Germany during the pre-war period, leaving it to others to carry the story and proof through the war years.
The aims of this conspiracy were open and notorious. It was far different from any other conspiracy ever unfolded before a court of justice, not only because of the gigantic number of people involved, the period of time covered, the magnitude and audacity of it, but because, unlike other criminal conspirators, these conspirators often boastfully proclaimed to the world what they planned to do, before they did it.
As an illustration, Hitler, in his speech of 30 January 1941, said:
“My program was to abolish the Versailles Treaty. It is futile nonsense for the rest of the world to pretend today that I did not reveal this program until 1933 or 1935 or 1937. Instead of listening to the foolish chatter of emigres, these gentlemen would have been wiser to read what I have written thousands of times. No human being has declared or recorded what he wanted more than I. Again and again I wrote these words, ‘The abolition of the Treaty of Versailles’.”
First, a brief reference to the history of the Nazi Party.
The Court will no doubt recollect that the National Socialist Party had its origin in the German Labor Party, which was founded on 5 January 1919 in Munich. It was this organization which Hitler joined as seventh member on 12 September 1919. At a meeting of the German Labor Party held on 24 February 1920, Hitler announced to the world the “25 Theses” that subsequently became known as the “unalterable” program of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
A few days later, on 4 March 1920, the name of the German Labor Party was changed to the “National Socialist German Workers Party,” frequently referred to as the NSDAP, or Nazi Party. It is under that name that the Nazi Party continued to exist until its dissolution after the collapse and unconditional surrender of Germany in 1945.
The disagreements and intrigues within the Party between Hitler’s followers and those who opposed him were finally resolved on 29 July 1921, when Hitler became “First Chairman” and was invested with extraordinary powers. Hitler immediately reorganized the Party and imposed upon it the Führerprinzip—the leadership principle—of which you will hear more later. Thereafter Hitler, the Führer, determined all questions and made all decisions for the Party.
The main objectives of the Party, which are fastened upon the defendants and their co-conspirators by reason of their membership in, or knowing adherence to the Party, were openly and notoriously avowed. They were set out in the Party program of 1920, were publicized in Mein Kampf and in Nazi literature generally, and were obvious from the continuous pattern of public action of the Party from the date of its founding.
Now two consequences, of importance in the Trial of this case, derive from the fact that the major objectives of the Party were publicly and repeatedly proclaimed:
First, the Court may take judicial notice of them.
Second, the defendants and their co-conspirators cannot be heard to deny them or to assert that they were ignorant of them.
The Prosecution offers proof of the major objectives of the Party—and hence of the objectives of the conspiracy—only to refresh or implement judicial recollection. The main objectives were:
First, to overthrow the Treaty of Versailles and its restrictions on military armament and activity in Germany;
Second, to acquire territories lost by Germany in World War I;
Third, to acquire other territories inhabited by so-called “racial Germans”;
and
Fourth, to acquire still further territories said to be needed as living space by the racial Germans so incorporated—all at the expense of neighboring and other countries.
In speaking of the first aim, Hitler made an admission which applied equally to the other aims, namely, that he had stated and written a thousand times or more that he demanded the abolition of the Versailles Treaty.
These aims are fully documented in the evidence offered by the Prosecution on this phase of the case, and it is not my purpose at this time to recite to the Court numerous declarations made by the defendants and others with respect to these aims.
Moreover, these conspirators again and again publicly announced to the still unbelieving world that they proposed to accomplish these objectives by any means found opportune, including illegal means and resort to threat of force, force, and aggressive war. The use of force was distinctly sanctioned, in fact guaranteed, by official statements and directives of the conspirators which made activism and aggressiveness a political quality obligatory for Party members. As Hitler stated in Mein Kampf:
“What we needed and still need are not a hundred or two hundred reckless conspirators, but a hundred thousand and a second hundred thousand fighters for our philosophy of life.”
In 1929 Hitler stated:
“We confess further that we will tear anyone to pieces who would dare hinder us in this undertaking. Our rights will be protected only when the German Reich is again supported by the point of the German dagger.”
Hitler, in 1934, addressing the Party Congress at Nuremberg, stated the duties of Party members in the following terms:
“Only a part of the people will consist of really active fighters. It is they who were fighters of the National Socialist revolution. Of them, more is demanded than of the millions among the rest of the population. For them it is not sufficient to confess, ‘I believe’, but to swear, ‘I fight’.”
In proof of the fact that the Party was committed to the use of any means, whether or not legal or honorable, it is only necessary to remind the Court that the Party virtually opened its public career by staging a revolution—the Munich Putsch of 1923.
Now let us consider for a moment the doctrinal techniques of the Common Plan or Conspiracy which are alleged in the Indictment.
To incite others to join in the Common Plan, or Conspiracy and as a means of securing for the Nazi conspirators the highest degree of control over the German community, they disseminated and exploited certain doctrines.
The first of these was the “master race” doctrine—that persons of so-called “German blood” were a master race. This doctrine of racial supremacy was incorporated as Point 4 in the Party program, which provided:
“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.”
They outlined this master race doctrine as a new religion—the faith of the blood—superseding in individual allegiance all other religions and institutions. The Defendant Rosenberg and the Defendant Streicher were particularly prominent in disseminating this doctrine. Much of the evidence to be offered in this case will illustrate the Nazi conspirators’ continued espousal and exploitation of this master race doctrine.
This doctrine had an eliminatory purpose. Call anything “non-German” or Jewish, and you have a clear right, indeed a duty, to cast it out. In fact purges did not stop at so-called racial lines, but went far beyond.
The second important doctrine which permeates the entire conspiracy and is one of the important links in establishing the guilt of each of these defendants is the doctrine or concept of the Führerprinzip, or leadership principle.
This doctrine permeated the Nazi Party and all its formations and allied organizations and eventually permeated the Nazi State and all institutions, and is of such importance that I would like to dwell upon it for a few moments and attempt to explain the concepts which it embraces.
The Führerprinzip embodies two major political concepts:
1. Authoritarianism;
2. Totalitarianism.
Authoritarianism implies the following: All authority is concentrated at the top and is vested in one person only, the Führer. It further implies that the Führer is infallible as well as omnipotent. The Party manual states:
“Under the Commandments of the National Socialists: The Führer is always right. . . .”
Also, there are no legal or political limits to the authority of the Führer. Whatever authority is wielded by others is derived from the authority of the Führer. Moreover, within the sphere of jurisdiction allotted to him, each appointee of the Führer manipulates his power in equally unrestricted fashion, subordinate only to the command of those above him. Each appointee owes unconditional obedience to the Führer and to the superior Party leaders in the hierarchy.
Each Political Leader was sworn in yearly. According to the Party manual, which will be introduced in evidence, the wording of the oath was as follows:
“I pledge eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler. I pledge unconditional obedience to him and the Führer appointed by him.”
The Party manual also provides that:
“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.”
As the Defendant Hans Frank stated in one of his publications:
“Leadership principle in the administration means:
“Always to replace decision by majority, by decision on the part of a specific person with clear jurisdiction and with sole responsibility to those above, and to entrust to his authority the realization of the decision to those below.”
And finally the concept of authoritarianism contained in the Führerprinzip implies: The authority of the Führer extends into all spheres of public and private life.
The second main concept of the Führerprinzip is totalitarianism which implies the following:
The authority of the Führer, his appointees, and through them, of the Party as a whole, extends into all spheres of public and private life.
The Party dominates the State.
The Party dominates the Armed Forces.
The Party dominates all individuals within the State.
The Party eliminates all institutions, groups, and individuals unwilling to accept the leadership of its Führer.
As the Party manual states:
“Only those organizations can lay claim to the institution of the leadership principle and to the National Socialist meaning of the State and people in the National Socialist meaning of the term, which . . . have been integrated into, supervised and formed by the Party and which, in the future, will continue to do so.”
The manual goes on to state:
“All others which conduct an organizational life of their own are to be rejected as outsiders and will either have to adjust themselves or disappear from public life.”
Illustrations of the Führerprinzip and its application to the Party, the State and allied organizations are fully set forth in the brief and accompanying documents, which will be offered in evidence.
The third doctrine or technique employed by the Nazi conspirators to make the German people amenable to their will and aims was the doctrine that war was a noble and necessary activity of Germans. The purpose of this doctrine was well expressed by Hitler in Mein Kampf when he said:
“The question of restoration of German power is not a question of how to fabricate arms, but a question of how to create the spirit which makes a people capable of bearing arms. If this spirit dominates a people, the will finds a thousand ways to secure weapons.”
Hitler’s writings and public utterances are replete with declarations rationalizing the use of force and glorifying war. The following is typical, when he said:
“Always before God and the world, the stronger has the right to carry through his will. History proves it! He who has no might has no use for right.”
As will be shown in subsequent proof, this doctrine of the glorification of war played a major part in the education of the German youth of the pre-war era.
I now offer the documents which establish the aims of the Nazi Party and their doctrinal techniques. I also have for the assistance of the Court and Defense Counsel, briefs which make the argument from these documents.
I now direct your attention to the rise to power of the Nazi Party.
The first attempt to acquire political control was by force. In fact at no time during this period did the Party participate in any electoral campaigns, nor did it see fit to collaborate with other political. . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Major Wallis, have you got copies of these for defendants’ counsel?
MAJOR WALLIS: In Room 54, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, they will be wanting to follow them now.
MAJOR WALLIS: Mr. President, my remarks, which I am proceeding toward, will cover an entirely different subject than in the briefs before you. The briefs cover what I have already said, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you depositing a copy of these briefs for each of the defendants’ counsel?
MAJOR WALLIS: I am informed, if Your Honor pleases, that the same procedure has been followed with respect to these briefs as has been followed with respect to the documents, namely, a total of six has been made available to the defendants in Room 54. If Your Honor does not deem that number sufficient, I feel sure that I can give assurance, on behalf of the Chief Prosecutor of the United States, that before the close of the day an ample supply of copies will be there for use.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal thinks that the Defense Counsel should each have a copy of these briefs.
MAJOR WALLIS: That will be done, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Members of the Defense Counsel: You will understand that I have directed on behalf of the Tribunal that you should each have a copy of this brief.
DR. DIX: We are very grateful for this directive, but none of us has seen any of these documents so far. I assume and hope that these documents will be given to the Defense in the German translation.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Major Wallis.
MAJOR WALLIS: I now direct your attention to the rise to power of the Nazi Party.
The 9th of November 1923 warranted the end as well as the beginning of an era. On the 9th of November occurred the historical fact popularly known as the Hitler Putsch. During the night of November 8th to 9th Hitler, supported by the SA under the Defendant Göring, at a meeting in Munich, proclaimed the National Revolution and his dictatorship of Germany, and announced himself as the Chancellor of the Reich. On the following morning the duly constituted authorities of the State, after some bloodshed in Munich, put an end to this illegal attempt to seize the Government. Hitler and some of his followers were arrested and tried, and sentenced to imprisonment.
The new era in the National Socialist movement commences with Hitler’s parole from prison in December 1924. With the return of its leader, the Party took up its fight for power once again. The prohibitions invoked by the Government against the Nazi Party at the time of the Munich Putsch gradually were removed and Hitler the Führer of the Party, formally announced that in seeking to achieve its aims to overthrow the Weimar Government, the Party would resort only to “legal” means. A valid inference from these facts may well be suggested, namely that the Party’s resort to “legality” was in reality only a condition on which it was permitted to carry on its activities in a democratically organized state. But consistent with its professed resort to “legality”, the Party now participated in the popular elections of the German people and generally took part in political activity. At the same time it engaged in feverish activity to expand the Party membership, its organizational structure and activities. The SA and the SS recruited numerous new members. Hitler’s Mein Kampf appeared in 1925. The Hitler Youth was founded. Newspapers were published, among them the Völkischer Beobachter of which the Defendant Rosenberg was editor, and Der Angriff published by Goebbels, later the notorious Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment. Meetings of other political parties were interfered with and broken up, and there was much street brawling.
The results of the Party’s attempt to win political power made little headway for a number of years, despite the strenuous efforts exerted to that end. In 30 elections in which the National Socialists participated from 1925 to 1930 for seats in the Reichstag and in the Landtage or Provincial Diets of the various German states, the Nazis received mandates in but 16 and gained no seats at all in 14 elections. The National Socialist vote in the 1927 elections did not exceed 4 per cent of the total number of votes cast. The year 1929 marks the first modest success at the polls in the State of Thuringia. The Nazi received over 11 per cent of the popular vote, elected 6 representatives out of the total of 53 to the Diet, and the Defendant Frick became Minister of Interior of Thuringia, the first National Socialist chosen to ministerial rank.
With such encouragement and proof of the success of its methods to win support, the Nazi Party redoubled its traditional efforts (by means of terror and coercion). These met with some rebuff on the part of the Reich and various German states. Prussia required its civil servants to terminate their membership in the Party and forbade the wearing of brown shirts, which were worn by the SA of the Party. Baden likewise ruled against the wearing of brown shirts, and Bavaria prohibited the wearing of uniforms by political organizations. New National Socialist writings appeared in Germany. The new National Socialist Monthly appeared under the editorship of the Defendant Rosenberg, and shortly thereafter, in June 1930, Rosenberg’s Myth of the 20th Century was published.
Against this background—President Von Hindenburg having meanwhile dissolved the Reichstag when Chancellor Brüning failed to obtain a vote of confidence—Germany moved to the polls once more on the 14th September 1930. By this election their representation in the Reichstag was increased from 12 seats to 107 seats out of a total of 577.
The new Reichstag met and 107 Nazis marched into the session dressed in brown shirts. Rowdy opposition at once developed, intent on causing the fall of the Brüning Cabinet. Taking advantage of the issues caused by the then prevailing general economic distress, the Nazis sought a vote of non-confidence and dissolution of the Reichstag. Failing in these obstructionary tactics, the Nazis walked out on the Reichstag.
With 107 members in the Reichstag the Nazi propaganda increased in violence. The obstruction by the Nazi deputies of the Reichstag continued with the same pattern of conduct. Repeatedly motions of non-confidence in Brüning and for dissolution of the Reichstag were offered and were lost. And after every failure the Nazi members stalked out of the chamber anew.
By spring of 1932, Brüning’s position became untenable and the Defendant Von Papen was appointed Chancellor. The Reichstag was dissolved and new elections held in which the Nazis increased the number of their seats to 230 out of a total of 608. The Nazi Party was becoming a strong party in Germany, but it had failed to become the majority party. The obstructive tactics of the Nazi deputies in the Reichstag continued, and by the fall of 1932 Von Papen’s Government was no longer able to continue. President Von Hindenburg again dissolved the Reichstag, and in the new elections of November the Nazi representation in the Reichstag actually decreased to 196 seats. The short-lived Von Schleicher Government then came into being—it was the 3rd December 1932—and by the end of January 1933 it went out of existence. With the support of the Nationalist Party under Hugenberg and other political assistance, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany by designation of Von Hindenburg.
That is the end of the prologue, as it were, to the dramatic and sinister story that will be developed by the Prosecution in the course of this Trial. Let it be noted here, however, and remembered, as the story of the misdeeds and crimes of these defendants and their fellow conspirators are exposed, that at no time in the course of their alleged “legal” efforts to gain possession of the State, did the conspirators represent a majority of the people.
Now it is commonly said that the Nazi conspirators “seized control” when Hitler became Chancellor of the German Republic on 30 January 1933. It may be more truly said that they seized control upon securing the passage of the Law for the Protection of the People and the State on 24 March 1933. The steps leading to this actual seizure of power are worthy of recital. The Nazi conspirators were fully cognizant of their lack of control over the legislative powers of the republic. They needed, if they were to carry out the first steps of their grand conspiracy under the cloak of law, an enabling act which, would vest supreme legislative power in Hitler’s Cabinet, free from all restraints of the Weimar constitution. Such an enabling act however required a change in the constitution which, in turn, required two-thirds of the regular members of the Reichstag to be present, and at least two-thirds of the votes of those present.
The time-table of events leading up to the passage of this enabling act, known as the Law for the Protection of the People and the State, is as follows:
1. On January 30th, 1933 Hitler held his first Cabinet meeting and we have the original minutes of that meeting, which will be offered in evidence. The Defendants Von Papen, Von Neurath, Frick, Göring, and Funk were present. According to the minutes of this meeting, Hitler pointed out that the adjournment of the Reichstag would be impossible without the collaboration of the Center Party. He went on to say:
“We might, however, consider suppressing the Communist Party to eliminate its votes in the Reichstag and by this measure achieve a majority in the Reichstag.”
He expressed the fear, however, that this might result in a general strike. The Reich Minister of Economy, according to these official minutes, stated that in his opinion, it was impossible to avoid the suppression of the Communist Party of Germany, for, if that were not done they could not achieve a majority in the Reichstag, certainly not a majority of two-thirds; that, after the suppression of the Communist Party, the passage of an enabling act through the Reichstag would be possible. The Defendant Frick suggested that it would be best initially to request an enabling law from the Reichstag. At this meeting Hitler agreed to contact representatives of the Center Party the next morning to see what could be done by way of making a deal with them.
2. The next event in this time-table was the Reichstag fire on the 28th of February 1933.
3. Taking advantage of the uncertainty and unrest created by the Reichstag fire, and the disturbances being created by the SA, the provisions of the Weimar constitution guaranteeing personal freedom, and other personal liberties were suspended by a decree of the Reich President on February 28, 1933.
Then on 5th of March 1933, elections to the Reichstag were held. The Nazis acquired 288 seats out of a total of 647.
On the 15th of March 1933, another meeting of the Reich Cabinet was held, and we also have the original official minutes of that meeting which bears the initials, opposite their names, of the defendants who were present at that meeting, signifying that they have read—I contend that it is a reasonable inference to state that it signifies that they read these minutes and approved them. The following defendants were present at this meeting: Von Papen, Von Neurath, Frick, Göring, and Funk. At this meeting, according to these official minutes Hitler stated that the putting over of the enabling act in the Reichstag by a two-thirds vote would, in his opinion, meet with no opposition. The Defendant Frick pointed out that the Reichstag had to ratify the enabling act with a constitutional majority within three days, and that the Center Party had not expressed itself negatively. He went on to say that the enabling act would have to be broadly conceived in a manner to allow for deviation from the provisions of the Constitution of the Reich. He further stated that as far as the constitutional requirements of a two-thirds majority was concerned, a total of 432 delegates would have to be present for the ratification of the enabling act. The Defendant Göring expressed his conviction at this meeting that the enabling act would be ratified with the required two-thirds vote for, if necessary, the majority could be obtained by refusing admittance to the Reichstag of some Social Democrats.
Now on the 20th of March another Cabinet meeting was held, and we also have the official, original records of this meeting which will be offered in evidence. The Defendants Frick, Von Papen, Von Neurath, Göring, and Funk were present. The proposed enabling act was again the subject of a discussion. Hitler reported on the conference he had completed with the representatives of the Center Party. The Defendant Neurath proposed a note concerning the arrangement to be agreed to by the representatives of the Center Party. The Defendant Frick expounded to the meeting the contents of the draft of the proposed law, and further stated that changes in the standing orders or rules of the Reichstag were also necessary, that an explicit rule must be made that unexcused absent delegates be considered present, and if that was done it would probably be possible to ratify the enabling act on the following Thursday in all three readings.
It is interesting to note that among the things recorded in the official minutes of this Cabinet meeting was the Defendant Göring’s announcement that he had ordered SA troops on the Polish border to be cautious and not to show themselves in uniform, and that the Defendant Neurath recommended also that the SA be cautious, especially in Danzig. In addition, the Defendant Neurath pointed out that Communists in SA uniforms were being caught continuously. These stool pigeons had to be hanged. Justice had to find means and ways to make possible such punishment for Communist stool pigeons, according to the Defendant Neurath.
On 14th March 1933 the Defendant Frick announced:
“When the Reichstag meets the 21st of March, the Communists will be prevented by urgent labor elsewhere from participation in the session. In concentration camps they will be re-educated for productive work. We will know how to render harmless permanently, sub-humans who don’t want to be re-educated.”
During this period, taking advantage of the decree suspending constitutional guarantees of freedom, a large number of Communists, including Party officials and Reichstag deputies, and a smaller number of Social Democrat officials and deputies, were placed in protective custody. On 23 March 1933, in urging the passage of the enabling act, Hitler stated before the Reichstag:
“It is up to you gentlemen, to make the decision now. It will be for peace or war.”
On 24 March 1933 only 535 out of the regular 747 deputies of the Reichstag were present. The absence of some was unexcused; they were in protective custody in concentration camps. Subject to the full weight of the Nazi pressure and terror, the Reichstag passed an enabling act known as the “Law for the Protection of the People and State,” with a vote of 441 in favor. This law marks the real seizure of political control by the conspirators. Article 1 provided: that the Reich laws can be enacted by the Reich Cabinet. Article 2 provided: the National laws enacted by the Reich Cabinet may deviate from the constitution. Article 3 provided: National Laws enacted by the Reich Cabinet are prepared by the Chancellor and published in the Reichsgesetzblatt. Article 4 provided: Treaties of the Reich with foreign states, which concern matters of national legislation, do not require the consent of the parties participating in legislation. The Reich Cabinet is empowered to issue the necessary provisions for the execution of these treaties.
Thus the Nazis acquired full political control, completely unrestrained by any provision of the Weimar constitution.
I now offer the documents which establish the facts which I have just stated, and I also present, for the assistance of the Court and the Defense Counsel, the briefs covering this portion of the case.
THE PRESIDENT: I wish to speak to Major Wallis. Would it be possible for the Prosecution to let defendants’ counsel have at least one copy between each two of them here in court? If not today, then tomorrow?
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, there has been some misunderstanding and the briefs were delivered to the Defendants’ Document Room. We have sent for some of them and they should be here shortly. However, Sir, in all fairness the briefs themselves are not in the German language, because we had intended to take the trial brief and the lawyers follow it over the translating system and thus, when it was finished, it would be translated into all languages.
However, in order to shorten the proceeding, Major Wallis has made a summary, and he is giving the summary and will offer the documents in evidence and later the briefs, as needed, to the Tribunal, and to Defense Counsel, and unfortunately, in the rush of time, they have been put down in the Defendants’ Document Room and we have sent for some of them. We understand, also, if the Tribunal please, that Dr. Kempner approached some of the distinguished counsel for the Defense, and learned that a great many of them not only speak English, but understand it when they read it, and to save the tremendous physical burden on facilities, the briefs have not, as yet, been translated into German. If there is objection, the only thing we can do is to withhold them at this time, but we understood it would be agreeable to pass them to them in English, and that is what we propose to do at the present moment, and have German speaking officers in the Document Room who will translate for any of them who may not be able to read German—pardon me, to read English.
DR. DIX: I have one request. We are here, as German Defense Counsel, and in face of great difficulties. These proceedings are conducted according to Anglo-American customs. We are doing our best to make our way through these principles, and would be very grateful if the President would take into consideration our difficult situation.
I have heard—I am not quite sure if it was right—that according to these Anglo-American principles, it is necessary to prepare objections immediately, if one has any objections to the contents of a document, and that this is not possible unless one does it at once. This is a point on which I would like to make my request. I am convinced that both the trial brief and the documents will be made available to us, and we will see if we can have a German translation of one or the other. If this trouble can be spared, if the Defense Counsel needs a translation, we shall have it, but I should like—I have one request—that we have leisure to raise an objection later when we have had a chance to discuss it. I think in that way we shall easily overcome the difficulties raised by the present situation, and we are trying to cooperate in order to overcome any difficulties.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal is glad that defendants’ counsel are making efforts to cooperate in the Trial. After the adjournment, the Tribunal will consider the best method of providing defendants’ counsel with as many translations as possible, and you are right in thinking that you will be able to make objections to any document after you have had time to consider it.
DR. DIX: Thank you, Sir.
MAJOR WALLIS: Having acquired full political control, the Nazi conspirators now proceeded to consolidate their power, and at this point I would like to impress upon the Tribunal once again that with the exception of a very few documents, the subject matter of my remarks is within the purview of judicial notice of the Court, a matter of history well known to these defendants and their counsel. Their first step in the consolidation of power was ruthlessly to purge their political opponents by confining them to concentration camps or by murder. Concentration camps made their first appearance in 1933 and were first used as means of putting political opponents out of circulation by confining them to a so-called “protective custody.” This system of concentration camps grew and expanded within Germany. At a subsequent stage in these proceedings full and complete evidence of the concentration camp system and the atrocities committed therein will be presented to the Court, both by documents and films.
Illustrative documentary evidence of the arrest, mistreatment, and murder by the Nazi conspirators of their political opponents is contained in the documentary evidence offered by the United States.
As an illustration, affidavit of Raymond H. Geist, former American Consul and First Secretary of the Embassy in Berlin from 1929 to 1938, states (which will be offered):
“Immediately in 1933, the concentration camps were established and put under charge of the Gestapo. Only political prisoners were held in concentration camps.
“The first wave of terroristic acts began in March 1933, more particularly from March 6 to 13, 1933, accompanied by unusual mob violence. When the Nazi Party won the elections in March 1933, the accumulated passion blew off in wholesale attacks on the Communists, Jews, and others suspected of being either. Mobs of SA men roamed the streets, beating up, looting and even killing persons.
“For Germans taken into custody by the Gestapo there was a regular pattern of brutality and terror. All over Germany victims were numbered by the hundred thousand.”
On the 30th of June and 1 and 2 July 1934 the conspirators proceeded to destroy opposition within their own ranks by wholesale murder. In discussing this purge, the Defendant Frick stated, in an affidavit under oath, signed on the 19th day of November 1945, in the presence of his Defense Counsel, as follows. This is document number 2950-PS. It has not yet been introduced in evidence, Sir:
“Himmler, in June of 1934, was able to convince Hitler that Röhm wanted to start a Putsch. The Führer ordered Himmler to suppress the Putsch which was supposed to take place at the Tegernsee, where all of the SA leaders were coming together. For northern Germany, the Führer gave the order to suppress the Putsch to Göring.”
Frick goes on to say:
“Pursuant to this order, a great many people were arrested and something like a hundred, and possibly more, were even put to death, accused of high treason; all this was done without judicial process.” They were just killed on the spot. Many people were killed—I don’t know how many—who actually did not have anything to do with the Putsch. People who just weren’t liked very well as, for instance, Schleicher, the former Reich Chancellor, were killed. Schleicher’s wife was also killed. Also Gregor Strasser, who had been the Reich Organization Leader and second man in the Party after Hitler. Strasser, at the time he was murdered, was not active in political affairs any more; he had however separated himself from the Führer in November or December of 1932”.
Frick goes on to say:
“The SS was used by Himmler for the execution of these orders to suppress the Putsch.”
During this period the conspirators created, by a series of decrees of the Reich Cabinet, a number of new political crimes. Any act or statement contrary to the Nazi Party was deemed to be treason and punished accordingly. The formations of the Party, the SA, SS, as well as the SD and the Gestapo, were the vicious tools used in the extermination of all opposition, real or potential. As the Defendant Göring said on July 24th, 1933—I refer to Document Number 2494-PS, which will be introduced in evidence:
“Whoever in the future raises a hand against a representative of the National Socialist movement or of the State, must know that he will lose his life in a very short while. Furthermore, it will be entirely sufficient, if he is proven to have intended the act, or, if the act results not in a death, but only in an injury.”
The Defendant Frank stated, in a magazine of the Academy for German Law, 1936, which will be introduced as Document Number 2533-PS, as follows:
“By the world we are blamed again and again because of the concentration camps. We are asked, ‘Why do you arrest without a warrant of arrest?’ I say, ‘Put yourself into the position of our nation.’ Don’t forget that the very great and still untouched world of Bolshevism cannot forget that we have made final victory for them impossible in Europe, right here on German soil.”
And Raymond Geist, whose affidavit I previously referred to, being Document Number 1759-PS, states:
“The German people were well-acquainted with what was happening in concentration camps, and it was well known that the fate of anyone too actively opposed to any part of the Nazi program was liable to be one of great suffering. Indeed, before the Hitler regime was many months old, almost every family in Germany had received first-hand accounts of the brutalities inflicted in the concentration camps from someone, either in the family circle or in the circle of friends who had served a sentence, and consequently the fear of such camps was a very effective brake on any possible opposition.”
And as the Defendant Göring said in 1934,—and I refer to Document Number 2344-PS, which will be offered in evidence:
“Against the enemies of the State, we must proceed ruthlessly . . . therefore the concentration camps have been created, where we have first confined thousands of Communist and Socialist Democrat functionaries.”
In addition to ruthlessly purging all political opponents, the Nazi conspirators further consolidated their position by promptly proceeding to eliminate all other political parties. On 21 March 1933, the Defendant Frick announced that the Communists would be prevented from taking part in the Reichstag proceedings. This was accomplished, as has been pointed out, by placing them in “protective custody in concentration camps.” On the 26th May 1933 a Reich Cabinet decree, signed by Hitler and the Defendant Frick, provided for the confiscation of the Communist property. On 22 June 1933 the Social Democratic Party was suppressed in Prussia, it previously having been seriously weakened by placing a number of its members in concentration camps. On the 7th of July 1933 a Reich decree eliminated Social Democrats from the Reichstag and from the governing bodies of the provinces and municipalities. On the 14 of July 1933, by a decree of the Reich Cabinet, the property of the Social Democrats was confiscated, and the Nazi Party was constituted as the sole political party in Germany, and thereupon it became illegal to maintain or to form any other political party. Thus, Hitler was able to say within hardly more than 5 months after becoming Chancellor, I quote: “The Party has become the State.”
The Nazi conspirators immediately proceeded to make that statement a recorded fact, for on the 1st of December 1933 the Reich Cabinet issued a law for “Securing the Unity of Party and State.” This law was signed by Hitler and the Defendant Frick.
Article 1 provided that the Nazi Party:
“. . . is the bearer of the concept of the State and is inseparably the State. It will be a part of the public law. Its organization will be determined by the Führer.”
Article 2 provided:
“The Deputy of the Führer and the Chief of Staff of the SA will become members of the Reich Cabinet in order to insure close cooperation of the offices of the Party and SA with public authorities.”
Article 3 provided:
“The members of the National Socialist German Workers Party and the SA (including their subordinate organizations) as the leading and driving force of the National Socialist State will bear greater responsibility toward Führer, People, and State.”
[A recess was taken.]
COL. STOREY: During the recess defendants’ counsel and the Prosecution arrived at an agreement for the furnishing of briefs to the defendants, which I understand to be this:
Copies of the documents offered in evidence in German will be delivered in the Defendants’ Information Center, with the understanding that if any Defense Counsel needs to show the German photostatic copy to his client he may do so in the defendants’ counsel room adjacent thereto; that the briefs which we are passing to the Tribunal as an aid will likewise be passed to defendants’ counsel in English, and that if any of them have trouble in the translation of any portion of the briefs, we have German-speaking officers in the Defendants’ Information Center who will assist counsel. I understand that all of these defendants’ counsel have so agreed.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Now, Major Wallis.
MAJOR WALLIS: May it please the Court, at the moment of recess I was referring to the law which was passed on 1 December 1933, for securing the unity of Party and State.
Article 6 of that law provided:
“The public authorities have to grant legal and administrative assistance to the offices of the Party and the SA which are entrusted with the execution of the jurisdiction of the Party and SA.”
Article 8 provided:
“The Reich Chancellor as Führer of the National Socialistic German Workers Party and, as the supreme commander of the SA, will issue the regulations necessary for the execution and augmentation of this law, particularly with respect to the organization and procedure of the jurisdiction of the Party and SA.”
Thus by this law the Nazi Party became a para-governmental organization in Germany.
The further merger of the Party and State occurred on the death of Hindenburg. Instead of holding an election to fill the office of President, the merger of the offices of President and Chancellor, in the person of Hitler, was accomplished by the law of 1 August 1934, signed by the entire Reich Cabinet. One of the significant consequences of this law was to give to Hitler the supreme command of the German Armed Forces, always a prerequisite of the presidency, and every soldier was immediately required to take an oath of loyalty and unconditional obedience to Hitler. On 4 February 1938 Hitler issued a decree which stated in part—and I quote from Document Number 1915-PS, which will be offered in the document book at the close of my remarks—as follows: “From now on, I take over directly the command of the whole Armed Forces.”
As a further step in the consolidation of their political control, the Nazi conspirators reduced national elections to mere formalities devoid of the element of freedom of choice. Elections, properly speaking, could not take place under the Nazi system. In the first place, the basic doctrine of the Führerprinzip dictated that all subordinates must be appointed by their superiors in the Government hierarchy. Although it had already become the practice, in 1938 it was specifically provided by law that only one list of candidates was to be submitted to the people. By the end of this pre-war period little of substance remained in the election law. The majority of the substantive provisions had become obsolete.
By a series of laws and decrees the Nazi conspirators reduced the powers of regional and local governments and substantially transformed them into territorial subdivisions of the Reich Government. With the abolition of representative assemblies and elective officials in the Länder and the municipalities, regional and local elections ceased to exist. On 31 January 1934 the last vestiges of Land independence was destroyed by the Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich. The Defendant Frick, Minister of the Interior throughout this period, has written of this Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich as follows:
“The reconstruction law abolished the sovereign rights and executive powers of the Länder and made the Reich the sole bearer of the rights of sovereignty. The supreme powers of the Länder do not exist any longer. The natural result of this was the subordination of the Land government to the Reich Government and the Land ministers to the corresponding Reich ministers. On 30 January, 1934 the German Reich became one state.”
Another step taken by the Nazi conspirators in consolidating their political power was the purge of civil servants on racial and political grounds and their replacement by Party members and supporters. This purge was accomplished through a series of Nazi laws and decrees. The first was on 7 April 1933, entitled: “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.” Article 3 of the law applied the Nazi blood and master race theories in providing that officials who were not of Aryan descent were to be retired. The political purge provision of the law is contained in Article 4, and I quote:
“Officials who, because of their previous political activities, do not offer security that they will assert themselves for the National State without reservations may be dismissed.”
The effect of this law and the decrees and regulations issued thereunder was to fill every responsible position in the Government with a Nazi and to prevent the appointment of any applicant opposed, or suspected of being opposed, to the Nazi program and policy.
Even the judiciary did not escape the purge of the Nazi conspirators. All judges who failed to fulfill the racial and political requirements of the conspirators were quickly removed. In addition, the Nazis set up a new system of special criminal courts independent of the regular judiciary and directly subservient to the Party program. Moreover, the Nazis controlled all judges through special directives and orders from the central Government, their aim being, as expressed by one Gerland, one of the leading Nazi lawyers of that time: “. . . to make the word ‘terrorization’ in the penal law respectable again.”
As their control was consolidated, the conspirators greatly enlarged existing State and Party organizations and established an elaborate network of new formations and agencies. The Party spread octopus-like throughout all of Germany. This process of growth was summed up late in 1937 in an official statement of the Party Chancellery, as follows:
“In order to control the whole German nation in all spheres of life”—and I repeat, in order to control the whole German nation in all spheres of life—“the NSDAP, after assuming power, set up under its leadership, the new Party formations and affiliated organizations.”
At this point I would like to offer to the Court the document book which contains the laws and conditions which I have referred to in this part of my presentation together with the briefs covering this part of it.
Labor unions:
I would like to direct the Tribunal’s attention to some case histories in the consolidation of control by the conspirators.
The first case history in the consolidation of the Nazi conspirators’ control of Germany is the destruction of the free trade unions and the obtaining of control over the productive labor capacity of the German nation.
The position of organized labor in Germany, at the time of the Nazi seizure of power, the obstacles they afforded to the Nazi plans, the speed with which they were destroyed, the terror and maltreatment ranging from assault to murder of union leaders, were fully outlined in the opening address of the Chief Prosecutor of the United States, and are fully set forth in the document book which I will present to the Court on this phase of the case.
The result achieved by the Nazi conspirators is best expressed in the Words of Robert Ley. Ley’s confidence in the Nazis’ effective control over the productive labor capacity of Germany in peace or in war was declared as early as 1936 to the Nuremberg Party Congress. I refer to Document 2283-PS which is included in the document book which will be presented on this phase of the case. He stated:
“The idea of the factory troops is making good progress in the plants, and I am able to report to you, my Führer, that security and peace in the factories has been guaranteed, not only in normal times, but also in times of the most serious crisis. Disturbances, such as the munitions strikes of the traitor Ebert and confederates, are out of the question. National Socialism has conquered the factories. Factory troops are the National Socialist shock troops within the factory, and their motto is: The Führer is always right.”
At this time I would like to offer to the Court the document book containing the documents on this phase of the case, namely, “The destruction of labor unions and the gaining of control of all productive labor in Germany,” together with the brief on that subject. At the same time, if it please the Court, I would like to offer the document book concerning the consolidation of control with respect to the utilization and molding of political machinery, which is, in law, a decree which I referred to just prior to my discussion of the destruction of labor unions.
I would now direct your attention to the second case history in the consolidation of control.
The Nazi conspirators early realized that the influence of the Christian churches in Germany was an obstacle to their complete domination of the German people and contrary to their master race dogma. As the Defendant Martin Bormann stated in a secret decree of the Party Chancellery signed by him and distributed to all Gauleiter on 7 June 1941—it is identified as Document Number D-75 and will be included in the document book which will be presented to the Court—he stated as follows:
“More and more must the people be separated from the churches and their organizations and pastors .... Not until this has happened does the State leadership have influence on the individual citizens.”
Accordingly, the Nazi conspirators, seeking to subvert the influence of the churches over the people of Germany, proceeded to attempt to eliminate these churches:
1. By promoting beliefs and practices incompatible with Christian teachings.
2. By persecuting priests, clergy, and members of monastic orders. This persecution, as the documentary evidence will show, ran the gauntlet of insults and indignities, physical assault, confinement in concentration camps, and murder.
3. By the confiscation of church properties.
4. By suppressing religious publications.
5. By the suppression of religious organizations. In addition, they also suppressed religious education. This is illustrated by the secret decree of the Party Chancellery which I just referred to in Document D-75, when the Defendant Bormann stated:
“No human being would know anything of Christianity if it had not been drilled into him in his childhood by his pastors. The so-called “dear God” in no wise gives knowledge of His existence to young people in advance, but in an astonishing manner, in spite of His omnipotence, leaves this to the efforts of the pastors. If, therefore, in the future our youth learns nothing more of this Christianity, whose doctrines are far below ours, Christianity will disappear by itself.”
At a subsequent stage in these proceedings, additional documentary evidence of the acts of the conspirators in their attempt to subvert the influence of the Christian churches will be offered. At this time I offer the document book in support of this phase of the case together with the accompanying brief.
We now come to what might be called the third case history, the persecution of the Jews. The Nazi conspirators adopted and publicized a program of ruthless persecution of Jews.
It is not our purpose at this time to present to the Court a full and complete story, in all its sickening details, of the Nazi conspirators’ plans and acts for the elimination and liquidation of the Jewish population of Europe. This will be done in due course, at a subsequent stage of these proceedings, but it is our purpose at this time to bring before you, as one of the elements in the Nazi scheme for the consolidation of their control of Germany, the action which was planned and taken with respect to the Jews within Germany during the pre-war period.
As a means of implementing their master race policy and as a means of rallying otherwise discordant elements behind the Nazi banner, the conspirators adopted and publicized a program of relentless persecution of Jews. This program was contained in the official, unalterable 25 points of the Nazi Party, of which 6 were devoted to the master race doctrine. The Defendants Göring, Hess, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Funk, Schirach, Bormann, and others, all took prominent parts in publicizing this program. Upon the Nazis coming into power, this Party program became the official State program.
The first organized act was the boycott of Jewish enterprises on 1 April 1933. The Defendant Streicher, in a signed statement, admits that he was in charge of this program only for one day. We, of course, reserve the right to show additional evidence with respect to that fact. The Nazi conspirators then embarked upon a legislative program which was gradual and which dates from 7 April 1933 until September 1935. During this period a series of laws was passed removing the Jews from civil service, from the professions and from the schools and military service.
It was clear, however, that the Nazi conspirators had a far more ambitious program for the Jewish problem and only put off its realization for reasons of expediency. After the usual propaganda barrage, in which the speeches and writings of the Defendant Streicher were most prominent, the Nazi conspirators initiated the second period of anti-Jewish legislation, namely, from 15 September 1935 to September 1938. In this period the infamous Nuremberg Laws were passed, depriving the Jews of their rights as citizens, forbidding them to marry Aryans, and eliminating them from additional professions. In the autumn of 1938 the Nazi conspirators began to put into effect a program of complete elimination of the Jews from German life. The measures taken were partly presented as a retaliation against world Jewry in connection with the killing of a German embassy official in Paris. Unlike the boycott action in April 1933, when care was taken to avoid extensive violence, an allegedly spontaneous pogrom was staged and carried out all over Germany. The legislative measures which followed were discussed and approved in their final form at a meeting on 12 November 1938 under the chairmanship of the Defendant Göring, with the participation of the Defendants Frick and Funk and others. I refer to Document 1816-PS, which will appear in the document book. The meeting was called following Hitler’s orders “requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all, coordinated and solved one way or the other.” The participants agreed on measures to be taken for the elimination of the Jew from German economy. The laws issued in this period were signed mostly by the Defendant Göring in his capacity as Deputy of the Four Year Plan, and were thus strictly connected with the consolidation of control of the German economy and preparation for aggressive war. These laws obliged all German Jews to pay a collective fine of 1 billion Reichsmarks; barred the Jews from trades and crafts; limited movement of Jews to certain localities and hours; limited the time for the sale or liquidation of Jewish enterprises; forced Jews to deposit shares and securities held by them; forbade the sale or acquisition of gold or precious stones by a Jew; granted landlords the right to give notice to Jewish tenants before legal expiration of the leases; and forced all Jews over 6 years of age to wear the Star of David.
In the final period of the anti-Jewish crusade of the Nazi conspirators within Germany, very few legislative measures were passed. The Jews were just delivered to the SS, Gestapo, and the various extermination staffs. The last law dealing with Jews in Germany put them entirely outside the law and ordered the confiscation by the State of the property of dead Jews. This law was a weak reflection of a factual situation already in existence. As Dr. Stuckart, assistant to the Defendant Frick, stated, at the time:
“The aim of the racial legislation may be regarded as already achieved and consequently the racial legislation as essentially closed. It led to the temporary solution of the Jewish problem and at the same time essentially prepared for the final solution. Many regulations will lose their practical importance as Germany approaches the achievement of the final goal on the Jewish problem.”
Hitler, on January 30, 1939, in a speech before the Reichstag, made the following prophesy: “The result (of a war) will be the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.”
I will leave to others in this case the task of presenting to the Court the evidence as to how well that prophesy was fulfilled.
I would now offer to the Court the document book which contains the laws referred to, with respect to the persecution of the Jews, and the brief outlining that subject.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will now adjourn until 10 o’clock tomorrow morning.
[The Tribunal adjourned until 23 November 1945 at 1000 hours.]