Morning Session
DR. OTTO NELTE (Counsel for Defendant Keitel): Mr. President, you advised the Defense in yesterday’s session that the Defense should already at this stage of the Trial raise objections if they believe they have any against the documentary evidence introduced by the Prosecution.
The Chief Prosecutor introduced in Court yesterday a graphic presentation concerning the Reich Ministries and other bureaus and offices at the highest level of the German Government. My client is of the opinion that this presentation is erroneous in the following respects which concern his own person:
1. A Reich Defense Council has never existed. The Reich Defense Law, which provided for a Reich Defense Council in the event of war, has never been published; a session of a Reich Defense Council has never taken place. For this reason, the Defendant Keitel was never a member of a Reich Defense Council.
2. The Secret Cabinet Council which was to be created in accordance with the law of February 4, 1938, never came into existence. It was never constituted; it never held a session.
3. The Defendant Keitel never was Reich Minister. Like the Commanders-in-Chief of the Army and the Navy, he merely had the rank of a Reich Minister. Consequently, he never was a Minister without portfolio either. He did not participate in any advisory Cabinet session.
I should like to ask the Court for its opinion as to whether these objections may be made the object of an examination at this stage of the Trial or whether they are to be reserved for a later stage?
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal rules that the documents are admissible, but the defendants can prove at a later stage any matters which are relevant to the documents. It is not necessary for the defendants to make objections at this stage. At a later stage they can prove any matters which are relevant to the weight of the documents.
DR. DIX: May I ask the Tribunal a question?
We have now been able to see, in part, the briefs and documents which were introduced in court yesterday. In that connection we have established that some of the documents submitted by the Prosecution yesterday were not quoted in their entirety, nor were they presented in substance. My question now is: Shall the contents, the entire contents, of all the documents which were presented to Court form the basis for the Court’s decision, even in cases where the Prosecutor who presented the documents did not refer to their contents?
In other words, must we consider all of the documents presented in Court—including those the contents of which were not verbally referred to—as a basis for the judgment and, consequently, should they be examined with a view to determining whether the defendants wish to raise any objections?
Finally I wish to ask the Tribunal whether the entire contents of all the documents which were submitted to the Court yesterday, and which may possibly be submitted in the future, are to be understood by us as a basis for judgment even if the Prosecution does not present them word for word or in substance or refer to them in any other way.
THE PRESIDENT: Every document, when it is put in, becomes a part of the record and is in evidence before the Tribunal, but it is open to the defendants to criticize and comment upon any part of the document when their case is presented.
DR. DIX: Thank you. The question is clarified herewith.
THE PRESIDENT: There are three announcements which I have to make on behalf of the Tribunal; and the first is this:
That we propose that the Tribunal shall not sit on Saturday morning in this week, in order that defendants’ counsel may have more time for the consideration of the documents and arguments, which have been made up to that time. That is the first matter.
The second matter is that the Tribunal desires that all motions and applications shall, as far as practicable, be made in writing, both by the Prosecution and by the Defense. There are occasions, of course, such as this morning when motions and applications for the purposes of explanation, are more conveniently made orally, but as far as practicable, it is the desire of the Tribunal that they shall be made in writing, both by the Prosecution and by the Defense.
And the other matter is an observation, which the Tribunal desires me to make to the Prosecution, and to suggest to them that it would be more convenient to the Tribunal and possibly also to the Defense, that their briefs and volumes of documents should be presented to the Tribunal before Counsel speaking begins that branch of the case, so that the brief and volume of documents should be before the Tribunal whilst Counsel is addressing the Tribunal upon that branch of the case; and also that it would be convenient to the Tribunal—if it is convenient to Counsel for the Prosecution—that he should give a short explanation—not a prolonged explanation—of the documents, which he is presenting to the Court, drawing their attention to any passages in the documents, which he particularly wishes to draw attention to.
I will call upon the Chief Prosecutor for the United States to continue his address.
COL. STOREY: May it please the Tribunal, yesterday afternoon it appeared that there was some question about the identification of documents formally offered in evidence yesterday. Therefore, with the Tribunal’s permission I should like to offer them by number, formally, so that the Clerk can get them on his record and may be identified, with Your Honors’ permission.
The United States—and may I say, Sir, that we offer each one of these exhibits in evidence, requesting that they be received and filed as evidence for the United States of America, with the understanding that Defense Council may later interpose objections. If that is agreeable, Sir, the first is United States Exhibit Number 1, the affidavit of Major William H. Coogan, concerning the capture, processing and authentication of documents, together with Robert G. Storey’s accompanying statement:
United States Exhibit Number 2, being 2903-PS, being the Nazi Party chart, together with authentication certificates;
United States Exhibit Number 3, 2905-PS, the Nazi State chart, together with authentication certificates;
United States Exhibit Number 4, 2836-PS, the original statement of Defendant Göring as to positions held;
United States Exhibit Number 5, Document 2829-PS, the same, concerning Defendant Ribbentrop. . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Could not all this be done by the General Secretary . . . the numbering of these documents?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, that is correct. That is agreeable with us, Sir, but the General Secretary raised the question that it was not in the record. We have the complete tabulation describing each document by number, and if it is agreeable with Your Honors, I will offer the description on this page, correctly describing, by exhibit number, each one that was offered in evidence yesterday.
THE PRESIDENT: We will authorize the General Secretary to accept the documents so numbered.
COL. STOREY: Thank you, Sir. The tabulation referred to is set forth in the following words and figures:
| USA-1, Major Coogan’s affidavit with Colonel Storey’s statement; |
| USA-2, 2903-PS, Nazi Party chart and authenticating papers; |
| USA-3, 2905-PS, Nazi State chart and authenticating papers; |
| USA-4, 2836-PS, original statement of Göring’s positions; |
| USA-5, 2829-PS, original statement of Ribbentrop’s positions; |
| USA-6, 2851-PS, original statement of Rosenberg’s positions; |
| USA-7, 2979-PS, original statement of Frank’s positions; |
| USA-8, 2978-PS, original statement of Frick’s positions; |
| USA-9, 2975-PS, original statement of Streicher’s positions; |
| USA-10, 2977-PS, original statement of Funk’s positions; |
| USA-11, 3021-PS, original statement of Schacht’s positions; |
| USA-12, 2887-PS, original statement of Dönitz’s positions; |
| USA-13, 2888-PS, original statement of Raeder’s positions; |
| USA-14, 2973-PS, original statement of Von Schirach’s positions; |
| USA-15, 2974-PS, original statement of Sauckel’s positions; |
| USA-16, 2965-PS, original statement of Jodl’s positions; |
| USA-17, 2910-PS, original statement of Seyss-Inquart’s positions; |
| USA-18, 2980-PS, original statement of Speer’s positions; |
| USA-19, 2972-PS, original statement of Von Neurath’s positions; |
| USA-20, 2976-PS, original statement of Fritzsche’s positions. |
Document books:
USA-A, Common Objectives, Methods, and Doctrines of Conspiracy;
USA-B, The Acquiring of Totalitarian Control over Germany; Political; First Steps; Control Acquired;
USA-C, Consolidation of Control; (Utilization and Molding of Political Machinery);
USA-F, Purge of Political Opponents; Terrorization;
USA-G, Destruction of Trade Unions and Acquisition of Control over Productive Labor Capacity in Germany;
USA-H, Suppression of the Christian Churches in Germany;
USA-I, Adoption and Publication of the Program for Persecution of the Jews.
May it please the Tribunal, Mr. Justice Jackson called my attention—while we are offering all of these on behalf of the United States, naturally they are for the benefit and on the behalf of all the other nations who are cooperating in this case.
THE PRESIDENT: That is understood.
MAJOR WALLIS: May it please the Court, when we adjourned yesterday afternoon, I was in the process of developing the various means by which these conspirators acquired a totalitarian control of Germany. I wish to continue on that subject this morning, and I will first discuss the reshaping of education and the training of youth; and in accordance with Your Honors’ suggestion, I offer the document book, United States Exhibit D, and would call to the Court’s attention that this book contains translations of the documents which we rely upon with respect to this portion of the case. These documents consist of German writings, German speeches of the defendants and other Nazi leaders, and are matters that we suggest are clearly within the purview of judicial notice of the Court. And in the brief which is offered for the assistance of the Court in connection with this subject, the exact portions of the documents which are desired to be brought to the attention of the Tribunal are set forth either by quotation from the documents, or by reference to the specific page number of the documents.
Meanwhile, during this entire pre-war period, the nation was being prepared psychologically for war, and one of the most important steps was the reshaping of the educational system so as to educate the German youth to be amenable to their will. Hitler publicly announced this purpose in November 1933, and I am quoting from Document 2455-PS. He said:
“When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side, and you will not get me on your side’, I calmly say, ‘Your child belongs to me already. A people lives forever. What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camps. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community’.”
He further said in May 1937, and I refer to Document Number 2454-PS:
“This new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its education and its own upbringing.”
The first steps taken in making the German schools the tools of the Nazi educational system were two decrees in May 1934, whereby the Reich Ministry of Education was established and the control of education by local authorities was replaced by the absolute authority of the Reich in all educational matters. These decrees are set out in Documents 2078-PS, 2088-PS, 2392-PS. Thereafter, the curricula and organization of the German schools and universities were modified by a series of decrees in order to make these schools effective instruments for the teaching of Nazi doctrines.
The Civil Service Law of 1933, which was presented in evidence yesterday, made it possible for the Nazi conspirators to re-examine thoroughly all German teachers and to remove all “harmful and unworthy elements”, harmful and unworthy in the Nazi opinion. Many teachers and professors, mostly Jews, were dismissed and were replaced with State-spirited teachers. All teachers were required to belong to the National Socialist Teachers’ League, which organization was charged with the training of all teachers in the theories and doctrines of the NSDAP. This is set forth in Document 2452-PS. The Führerprinzip was introduced into the schools and universities. I refer to Document 2393-PS.
In addition, the Nazi conspirators supplemented the school system by training the youth through the Hitler Jugend. The law of the Hitler Jugend, which is set forth in Document 1392-PS, states:
“The German youth, besides being reared within the family and school, shall be educated physically, intellectually, and morally in the spirit of National Socialism to serve the people and community through the Hitler Youth.”
In 1925 the Hitler Youth was officially recognized by the Nazi Party and became a junior branch of the SA. In 1931 the Defendant Schirach was appointed Reich Youth Leader of the NSDAP with the rank of SA Gruppenführer. I refer to Document 1458-PS. In June 1933 the Defendant Schirach was appointed Youth Leader of the German Reich. I refer to the same document, 1458-PS. In that same month, on orders of the Defendant Schirach, the Nazi conspirators destroyed or took over all other youth organizations. This was accomplished by force in the first instance. The Defendant Schirach, by decree dated 22 June, 1933—I refer to Document 2229-PS—dissolved the Reich Committee of the German Youth Associations and took over their property. By similar decrees, all of which are set forth in the document book, all the youth organizations of Germany were destroyed. Then the Nazi conspirators made membership in the Hitler Jugend compulsory. I refer to Document 1392-PS.
The Hitler Jugend from its inception had been a formation of the Nazi Party. By virtue of the 1936 Youth Law, making membership compulsory, it became an agency of the Reich Government while still retaining its position as a formation of the Nazi Party. This is set forth in Document 1392-PS. By 1940 membership in the Hitler Jugend was over seven million. I refer you to Document 2435-PS. Through the Hitler Jugend the Nazi conspirators imbued the youth with Nazi ideology. The master race doctrine and anti-Semitism, including physical attack on the Jews, were systematically taught in the training program. I refer you to Document 2436-PS. The Hitler Jugend indoctrinated the youth with the idea that war is a noble activity. I refer to Document 1458-PS. One of the most important functions of the Hitler Jugend was to prepare the youth for membership in the Party and its formations. The Hitler Jugend was the agency used for extensive pre-military and military training of youth. I refer to Document 1850-PS. In addition to general military training, special training was given in special formations. These included flying units, naval units, motorized units, signal units, et cetera.
The full details with the accompanying documents of the methods used by the Nazi conspirators in reshaping the educational system and supplementing it with the Hitler Jugend so as to educate the German youth to be amenable to the Nazi will and prepare youth for war are set forth in the document book which has been offered, and in the accompanying briefs.
Now I would like to direct your attention to the weapon of propaganda that was used during this period, and for this purpose I offer United States Exhibit Number E with the accompanying brief. This document book and the briefs which accompany it. . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Have any copies of these documents been provided for the Defense Counsel?
COL. STOREY: I understand, Sir, they have been sent to the Defendants’ Information Center. I may say, Sir, that with tomorrow we will have them in advance to everybody, including the Court and the Defense Counsel.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MAJOR WALLIS: This document book and the accompanying brief is entitled “Propaganda Censorship and Supervision of Cultural Activities.”
During this period one of the strongest weapons of the conspirators was propaganda. From the outset they appreciated the urgency of the task of inculcating the German masses with the National Socialist principles and ideology. The early utterances of Hitler and his fellow conspirators evidenced full recognition of the fact that their power could endure only if it rested on general acceptance of their political and social views.
Immediately following their accession to power, the Nazi conspirators instituted a determined program for wholesale organization of the masses by seizing control of all vehicles of public expression. The wide-spread use of propaganda by the powerful machine thus created became a key device in establishing control over all phases of the German economy, public and private. They conceived that the proper function of propaganda was to prepare the ground psychologically for political action and military aggression and to guarantee popular support of a system which was based on a permanent and steadily intensified application of terror and aggression both in the sphere of domestic politics and foreign relations.
To attain these objectives, propaganda was used to create specific thought patterns designed to make the people amenable to the aims and program of the Nazis and to foster their active participation therein to the greatest extent possible. The nature of this propaganda is within the judicial purview of the Court. As Goebbels put it, it was aimed at “the conquest of the masses.” Its intended effect was the elimination of all serious resistance in the masses. To achieve this result, as will be shown later in the evidence, the Nazi conspirators were utterly unscrupulous in their choice of means, a total disregard of veracity that presented their case purely from the standpoint of political expediency and their conception of national self-interest. Inasmuch as propaganda was the means to an end, “the conquest of the masses,” it required different strategy at different times, depending on the objectives issued and pursued by the Nazi conspirators at any given moment. According to Hitler: “the first task of propaganda is the gaining of people for the future organization.”
The recruiting of people for enlistment in the Party and supervised organizations was the primary objective in the years preceding and immediately following the seizure of power. After the rise to power, this task was broadened to include the enlistment of the people as a whole for the active support of the regime and its policies. As the Reich Propaganda Leader of the Party and Reich Minister for Propaganda, Goebbels stated:
“Propaganda, the strongest weapon in the conquest of the State, remains the strongest weapon in the consolidation and building up of the State.”
The methods which they used to control this strongest weapon in the power of the State are set forth in a chart which I would like to call to the Court’s attention at this time, and would like to introduce in evidence as USA Exhibit Number 21.
As you will note from the chart, there were three separate levels of control within the German Reich. The first level was the Party controls, which are represented on the chart by the top block. And you will see that the Party through its Examining Commission controlled the books and magazines, and issued books and magazines setting forth the ideology of the Party.
The second block, the Press Leader Division, supervised all publishers, headed Party newspapers and book publishers.
The third block, Press Chief,—this office controlled the Press Political Office, the Press Personnel Office, and supervised Party treatment of the press and treatment of Party affairs in the press.
The center block, the Office of Propaganda Leader, had under its control not only the press, but exhibits and fairs, speakers’ bureaus, films, radio, culture, and other means of expression and dissemination of the ideology of the Party and its purposes.
The next block, Ideology, was devoted exclusively to the ideology of the Party headed by the Defendant Rosenberg. It supplied all the training materials, prepared the curricula for the schools, and the indoctrination of the people into the ideology of the Party. On that same level is Youth Education, presided over by the Defendant Schirach, who had under his control the Hitler Jugend; and then there were the University Students and Teachers Division of the Party controls.
On the next level you have the controls that were exercised by the State, and reading from left to right you have the Propaganda Coordination, Foreign Coordination and Cooperation, the radio, which was under the control of the Defendant Fritzsche, film, literature, the German press, periodicals, theater, arts, other cultural things, and the Ministry for Education.
Then, in the last tier, what is known as the corporate controls. These were under a semi-official control of both the Party and the State. These are the so-called cultural chambers. Their purpose was to have full control over the personnel engaged in the various arts and cultures, and engaged in the preparation and dissemination of news. First was the press—all reporters and writers belonged to that section. The next section is the fine arts, music, theater, film, literature, radio,—then going over into the Educational Branch the organization which the University teachers, the students and former corps members of the universities had to belong to.
By means of this vast network of propaganda machinery, the Nazi conspirators had full control over the expression and dissemination of all thought, cultural activities, and dissemination of news within the Reich. Nothing was or could be published in Germany that did not have the approval, express or implied, of the Party and State. The Defendant Schacht in his personal notes explains the effect of the killing of a piece of news in a totalitarian dictatorship. As he states it, it has never become publicly known that there have been thousands of martyrs in the Hitler regime. They have all disappeared in the cells or graves of the concentration camps, without ever having been heard of again; and he goes on to say, “what is the use of martyrdom in the fight against terror if it has no chance of becoming known and thus serving as an example for others.”
THE PRESIDENT: Before you pass from this subject, there is a docket on the documents which shows that certain documents are missing. What does that mean? 1708, 2030.
MAJOR WALLIS: Those documents are in the process of being reproduced and will be furnished to the Court, I hope, before the close of the day, Sir. They have been added to that book and, as yet, have not been completed in their process of reproduction.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Have they been translated?
MAJOR WALLIS: Yes, Sir, they have been translated, and the translations are in the process of being reproduced.
THE PRESIDENT: Are the documents in their original form in German?
MAJOR WALLIS: Yes, I believe they are, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MAJOR WALLIS: I would now like to direct the Court’s attention to the militarization of Nazi-dominated organizations during this pre-war period and for that purpose I offer United States Exhibit Number J, which consists of a document book with English translations, and I present to the Court also a brief which accompanies this portion of the case.
Throughout this pre-war period, and while the Nazi conspirators were achieving and consolidating their totalitarian control of Germany, they did not lose sight of their main objective—aggressive war. Accordingly, they placed a considerable number of their dominated organizations on a progressively militarized footing, with a view to the rapid transformation of these organizations whenever necessary, as instruments of war. These organizations were the SS, the SA, the Hitler Jugend, the NSKK (or National Socialist Motor Corps), the NSFK (which is the National Socialist Aviation Corps), the RAD (which is the Reich Labor Service), and the OT (which is the Todt Organization).
The manner in which the militarization was accomplished is detailed in part in the documents, which have been presented to the Court and will be detailed further when the particular organizations are taken up and discussed and their criminality established at subsequent stages in the case. At this time, I would like to call the Court’s attention to a chart, and while the chart is physically being placed on the board, I would offer United States Exhibit Number 22, which is Document 2833-PS and is a reproduction of Page 15 of the book entitled, History of the Nazi Party. You will note that on the left lower corner of the chart placed on the board, there are some papers attached. The top paper is an affidavit which reads as follows: “I certify that the above enlargement is a true and correct copy prepared under my direct supervision, of Document Number 2833-PS, Page 15 of the book entitled History of the Party,” and you will note that underneath is a second paper and this affidavit states it is a correct photographic copy, which appears in the left-hand corner of the panel. This affidavit is signed by David Zablodowsky, sworn to and subscribed the 23rd day of November 1945 at Nuremberg, Germany, before James H. Johnson, First Lieutenant, Office of the United States Chief of Counsel.
This chart visualizes, as vividly as possible, just how this militarization took place in Germany. The chart is entitled, “The Organic Incorporation of German Nationals into the National Socialist System, and the Way to Political Leadership.”
Starting at the bottom of the chart, you see the young folk, between the ages of 10 and 14. The arrows point both right and left. The arrow to the right is the Adolf Hitler School, for youth between the ages of 12 and 18. Both from the school and from the young folk, they proceed to the Hitler Jugend. At 18 years of age, they graduate from the Hitler Jugend into the various Party formations, the SA, the SS, the NSKK, the NSFK. At the age of 20, they continue from these Party formations into the Labor Front, and from the Labor Front, after they have served their period of time there, back again to the Party formations, of the SA, the SS, NSKK, NSFK, until they reach the age of 21. Then they proceed into the Army, serve in the Army from the ages of 21 to 23, and then back again into the Party formations of SA, SS, et cetera.
And then from that group, the select move up to be Political Leaders (Leiter) of the Nazi Party, and from that group are selected the cream of the crop who go to the Nazi Party Special Schools and from these schools, as is represented on the top of the chart, graduate the political Führer of the people.
I would emphasize again to the Court that this chart is not anything that was prepared by Counsel in this case. It was prepared by the Nazi Party people and it comes from their own history.
Thus, by the end of the pre-war period, the Nazi conspirators had achieved one of the first major steps in their grand conspiracy. All phases of German life were dominated by Nazi doctrine and practice and mobilized for the accomplishment of their militant aims. The extent to which this was accomplished can be no better expressed than in the words of Hitler when he spoke to the Reichstag on 20 February 1938. I refer to Document 2715-PS. He said:
“Only now have we succeeded in setting before us the great tasks and in possessing the material things which are the prerequisites for the realization of great creative plans in all fields of our national existence. Thus, National Socialism has made up with a few years for what centuries before it had omitted. . . . 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 not only has made the nation National Socialist, but also has given itself the perfect organizational structure which guarantees its permanence for all future. The greatest guarantee of the National Socialist revolution lies in the complete domination of the Reich and all its institutions and organizations, internally and externally, by the National Socialist Party. Its protection against the world abroad, however, lies in its 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 orders 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 the Reich.”
Thus spoke Adolf Hitler at the end of this period on the 20th of February 1938.
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please. . . .
DR. ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Frank): Mr. President, may I make a few short remarks in this connection? The defendants were given, along with the Indictment, a list of the documents. This list contains the following preamble:
“Each of the defendants is hereby informed that the Prosecution will use some or all of the documents listed in the appendix in order to corroborate the points enumerated in the Indictment.”
Now, the Chief Prosecutor introduced in court this morning about 12 documents and a scrutiny of that list revealed that not a single one of the documents is mentioned. Thus, already now, at the very beginning of the Trial, we are confronted with the fact that not only are documents presented to the Court without the defendant being acquainted with their contents, but that documents are being used as documentary evidence which are not even listed.
Not a single one of these documents is mentioned in the list and I must confess that an adequate defense is altogether impossible under these circumstances. I therefore move:
1. That the Tribunal direct the Prosecution to submit a list of all documents which will be placed before the Court during examination;
2. To instruct the Prosecution to make available to the defendants and their counsel—at the latest on the day when documents are being presented to the Court—a copy of the German text; and
3. That the main proceedings be suspended until the Prosecution is in a position to comply with these requests. Otherwise, I, at least, will not be able to proceed with the defense.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, or Counsel for the Prosecution, will you say what answer you have to make to this objection?
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, in the first place practically every document referred to by Major Wallis is a document of which the Court would take judicial knowledge. In the second place, a list of documents was filed in the Defense Information Center on November 1st. I am not sure as to whether all of these or a part of them were included. In the third place each attorney presenting each segment of the case sends down to the Defense Information Center a list of the documents which he proposes to offer in evidence upon his presentation. In the fourth place, I wonder if the Tribunal and Defense Counsel realize the physical problems that are imposed? I am informed that copies of these documents in English, as well as copies of the briefs, were delivered either last night or this morning in defendants’ Information Center. Lastly, other presentations that follow—we will abide by the Tribunal’s request: namely, that prior to the presentation the Court will be furnished with these document books, with these briefs, and Defense Counsel will also be furnished with them in advance. The weekend will permit us to do that.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal thinks that the Trial must now continue without any adjournment, but that in future as soon as possible the Defendants’ Counsel will be furnished with copies of the documents which are to be put in evidence.
DR. ROBERT SERVATIUS (Counsel for Defendant Sauckel): I should like to present the following: The documents are presented to the Court also in an English translation. An examination of these translations should be made available to the Defense. I point out particularly that the translation of technical terms could possibly lead to misunderstandings. Moreover, the documents are provided with an introductory remark and a table of contents. The Defense should also have opportunity to read through this table of contents and examine it.
I make the motion that these English translations and their preliminary remarks be made available to the Defense.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, I understood from you that you proposed to make available to the defendants the trial briefs which contain certain observations upon the documents put in.
COL. STOREY: That is right, Sir. They have been, are now, and will be completed during the weekend, and, as I understood Defense Counsel were willing for the briefs to be furnished in English, and if they want a translation, there will be German speaking officers in defendants’ Information Center at their service. I understood that was agreeable yesterday.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COL. STOREY: Now sir, while I am on my feet, and in order to obviate some misapprehension, for the benefit of Defense Counsel, when we refer to document numbers as, say, 1850-PS, in many instances that is a document which is a copy of a citation or a decree in the Reichsgesetzblatt, and, therefore, is not a separate document of ours, and we have placed in the defendants’ Information Center ample copies and sets of the Reichsgesetzblatt, and I dare say that one-half of the documents referred to in Major Wallis’ presentation will be found in the Reichsgesetzblatt, and I assure Your Honors that over the weekend we will do the utmost to explain to Defense Counsel and to make available to them all information that we have and will do so in the future in advance.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Colonel Storey. The Tribunal will now adjourn for 10 minutes.
[A recess was taken.]
COL. STOREY: If Your Honors please, the next subject to be presented is the economic preparation for aggressive war, by Mr. Dodd.
MR. THOMAS J. DODD (Executive Trial Counsel for the United States): May it please the Tribunal, Mr. President and Members of the Tribunal:
In view of the discussions which took place just before the recess period, I believe it proper for me to inform the Tribunal that the documents to which I shall make reference,—a list of those documents has been lodged in the defendants’ Information Center, and, as well, photostatic copies of the originals have been placed there this morning.
It is my responsibility on behalf of the Chief Prosecutor for the United States of America to present the proof with reference to the allegations of the Indictment under Section IV (E), on [[A]]Page 6 of the English version of the Indictment, and particularly beginning with the second paragraph under (E), which is entitled, “The Acquiring of Totalitarian Control in Germany, Economic, and the Economic Planning and Mobilization for Aggressive War.”
| [A] | Page numbers used in references throughout the Proceedings are to the original documents and do not apply to pagination used in the present volumes. |
The second paragraph:
“2. They used organizations of German business as instruments of economic mobilization for war.
“3. They directed Germany’s economy towards preparation and equipment of the military machine. To this end they directed finance, capital investment, and foreign trade.
“4. The Nazi conspirators, and in particular the industrialists among them, embarked upon a huge rearmament program, and set out to produce and develop huge quantities of materials of war and to create a powerful military potential.”
The fifth paragraph under that same heading (E), and the final one in so far as my responsibility goes this morning, is that which reads:
“With the object of carrying through the preparation for war the Nazi conspirators set up a series of administrative agencies and authorities. For example, in 1936 they established for this purpose the office of the Four Year Plan with the Defendant Göring as Plenipotentiary, vesting it with overriding control over Germany’s economy. Furthermore, on the 28th of August 1939, immediately before launching their aggression against Poland, they appointed the Defendant Funk Plenipotentiary for Economics; and on the 30th of August 1939 they set up the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich to act as a War Cabinet.”
I will not take the time of this Tribunal to prove what the world already knows: that the Nazi conspirators rearmed Germany on a vast scale. I propose to place in evidence the secret records of the plans and deliberations of the inner councils of the Nazis, which prove that the reorganization of the German Government, the financial wizardry of the Defendant Schacht, and the total mobilization of the German economy largely under the Defendant Schacht, Göring, and Funk, were directed at a single goal: aggressive war.
I should like to hand to the Court at this point the so-called document book, which contains the English translation of the original German document. I do not make an offer at this time of these documents in evidence, but hand them to the Court for the purpose of easing the task of the Court in following the discussion concerning these documents. I might say at this point also that I should like to submit at a little later date a brief for the assistance of the Court after I have concluded my remarks before it this morning.
The significance of the economic measures adopted and applied by the conspirators can, of course, be properly appraised only if they are placed in the larger social and political context of Nazi Germany. The economic measures were adopted while the conspirators were, as has already been shown, directing their vast propaganda apparatus to the glorification of war. They were adopted while the conspirators were perverting physical training into training for war. They were adopted while, as my colleagues will show, these conspirators were threatening to use force and were planning to use force to achieve their territorial and political objects. In short, if Your Honors please, these measures constitute in the field of economics and government administration the same preparation for aggressive war which dominated every aspect of the Nazi State.
In 1939 and 1940 after the Nazi aggression upon Poland, Holland, Belgium, and France it became perfectly clear to the world that the Nazi conspirators had created probably the greatest instrument of aggression in history.
That machine was built up almost in its entirety in a period of less than one decade. In May of 1939 Major General George Thomas, former Chief of the Military-Economic Staff in the Reich War Ministry, reported that the German Army had grown from seven Infantry divisions in 1933 to thirty-nine Infantry divisions, among them four fully motorized and three mountain divisions, eighteen Corps Headquarters, five Panzer divisions, twenty-two machine gun battalions. Moreover, General Thomas stated that the German Navy had greatly expanded by the launching, among other vessels, of two battleships of 35,000 tons, four heavy cruisers of 10,000 tons, and other warships; further, that the Luftwaffe had grown to a point where it had a strength of 260,000 men, 21 squadrons, consisting of 240 echelons, and 33 anti-aircraft batteries.
He likewise reported that out of the few factories permitted by the Versailles Treaty there had arisen, and I am quoting, if Your Honors please, from the document bearing our number EC-28, which consists of a lecture delivered by Major General Thomas on the 24th of May 1939 in the Nazi Foreign Office. General Thomas said in part—or rather he reported—that out of the few factories permitted by the Versailles Treaty there had arisen:
“. . . the mightiest armament industry now existing in the world. It has attained the performances which in part equal the German wartime performances and in part even surpass them. Germany’s crude steel production is today the largest in the world after America’s. The aluminum production exceeds that of America and of the other countries of the world very considerably. The output of our rifle, machine gun, and artillery factories is at present larger than that of any other state.”
That quotation, I repeat, was from a document bearing the lettering “EC” and the number after the dash “28”. It is United States of America Exhibit 23.
These results—the results which General Thomas spoke about in his lecture in May of 1939—were achieved only by making preparation for war the dominating objective of German economy. And, to quote General Thomas again, he stated:
“History will know only a few examples of cases where a country has directed, even in peace time, all its economic forces so deliberately and systematically towards the requirements of war, as Germany was compelled to do in the period between the two World Wars.”
That quotation from General Thomas will be found in the document bearing our Number 2353-PS. It is another quotation from General Thomas, but from another writing of his.
The task of mobilizing the German economy for aggressive war began promptly after the Nazi conspirators’ seizure of power. It was entrusted principally to the Defendants Schacht, Göring, and Funk.
The Defendant Schacht, as is well known, was appointed President of the Reichsbank in March of 1933 and Minister of Economics in August of 1934. The world did not know, however, that the responsibility for the execution of this program was entrusted to the office of the Four Year Plan under the Defendant Göring.
I should now like to call to Your Honors’ attention a document bearing the number EC-408, and I should also like to refer at this time to another document for Your Honors’ attention while I discuss the material—Number 2261-PS.
And I continue to say that the world did not know, as well, that the Defendant Schacht was designated Plenipotentiary for the War Economy on May 21, 1935, with complete control over the German civilian economy for war production in the Reich Defense Council, established by a top-secret Hitler decree.
I invite Your Honors’ attention to the Document 2261-PS, which I referred to a few minutes ago.
The Defendant Schacht recognized that the preparation for war came before all else for, in a memorandum concerning the problems of financing rearmament, written on the 3rd of May 1935, he stated that his comments were based on the assumption that the accomplishment of the armament program. . . .
THE PRESIDENT [Interposing]: Pardon me, but you referred us to Document 2261.
MR. DODD: Yes, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: But you haven’t read anything from it.
MR. DODD: I did not; I merely referred the Court to it since it. . . .
THE PRESIDENT [Interposing]: It would help us, I think, if, when you refer to a document, you refer to some particular passage in it.
MR. DODD: Very well.
THE PRESIDENT: I think it must be the middle paragraph in the document: “The Führer has nominated the President of the Directorate of the Reichsbank, Dr. Schacht. . . .”
MR. DODD: Yes, that is the paragraph to which I wish to make reference. If Your Honors please, I refer to the second paragraph, or the middle paragraph, which states, in a letter dated June 24, 1935 at Berlin:
“The Führer and Reich Chancellor has nominated the President of the Directorate of the Reichsbank, Dr. Schacht, to be Plenipotentiary General for the War Economy.”
I might point out, in addition to the second paragraph, the last paragraph of that letter or the last sentence of the letter, which reads: “I point out the necessity of strictest secrecy once more”—the letter being signed, “Von Blomberg.”
Through Schacht’s financial genius monetary measures were devised to restore German industry to full production; and through the control of imports and exports, which he devised under his plan of 1934, German production was channeled in accordance with the requirements of the German war machine.
I shall, with the Court’s permission, later discuss the details of documentary proof of this assertion.
In 1936, with an eye to the experience in the first World War, the Nazi conspirators embarked on an ambitious plan to make Germany completely self-sufficient in strategic war materials such as rubber, gasoline, and steel, in a period of 4 years, so that the Nazi conspirators would be fully prepared for aggressive war. The responsibility for the execution of this program was entrusted to the office of the Four Year Plan under the Defendant Göring—and at this point I should like to refer to the document bearing the number and the lettering EC-408. It is dated the 30th day of December 1936, marked “Secret Command Matter”, and entitled the “Report Memorandum on the Four Year Plan and Preparation of the War Economy.”
It sets out that the Führer and Reich Chancellor has conferred powers in regard to mobilization preparations in the economic field that need further definition, and in the third paragraph it refers specifically to Minister President, Generaloberst Göring as Commissioner of the Four Year Plan, by authority of the Führer and Reich Chancellor granted the 18th day of October 1936. The existence of this program involved the reorganization and control of the whole German economy for war.
Again referring to Major General Thomas—and specifically to our document marked EC-27—General Thomas, in a lecture on the 28th of February 1939, made at the Staff instructor’s course, stated:
“The National Socialist State, soon after taking over power, reorganized the German economy in all sections and directed it towards a military viewpoint, which had been requested by the Army for years. Due to the reorganization, agriculture, commerce and professions become those powerful instruments the Führer needs for his extensive plans, and we can say today that Hitler’s mobile politics, as well as the powerful efforts of the Army and economy, would not have been possible without the necessary reorganization by the National Socialist Government. We can now say that the economic organization as a whole corresponds with the needs, although slight adjustments will have to be made yet. Those reorganizations made a new system of economics possible which was necessary in view of our internal and foreign political situation as well as our financial problems. The directed economy, as we have it today concerning agriculture, commerce, and industry, is not only the expression of the present State principles, but at the same time also the economy of the country’s defense.”
If Your Honors please, this program was not undertaken in a vacuum; it was deliberately designed and executed to provide the necessary instrument of the Nazi conspirators’ plans for aggressive war.
In September of 1934 the Defendant Schacht frankly acknowledged to the American Ambassador in Berlin that the Hitler Party was absolutely committed to war, and the people too were ready and willing; and that quotation is found in Ambassador Dodd’s diary and is document bearing our Number 2832-PS and United States Exhibit Number 29, particularly on page 176 of Ambassador Dodd’s diary.
At the same time, the Defendant Schacht promulgated his new plan for the control of imports and exports in the interest of rearmament. A year later he was appointed Plenipotentiary for the War Economy by the top-secret decree referred to a few minutes ago.
In September 1936 the Defendant Göring announced—at a meeting attended by the Defendant Schacht and others—that Hitler had issued instructions to the Reich War Minister on the basis that the show-down with Russia is inevitable, and added that “all measures have to be taken just as if we were actually in the stage of imminent danger of war.”
I refer the Court to the document bearing the letters EC-416 and particularly. . . . Before I discuss the quotation I might indicate that this document is also marked a secret Reich matter in the minutes of the Cabinet meeting of the 4th of September 1936, at 12 o’clock noon. It tells who was present: the Defendant Göring, Von Blomberg, the Defendant Schacht, and others.
And on the second page of that document, in the second paragraph, is found the quotation by the Defendant Göring. It starts from the basic thought that:
“The show-down with Russia is inevitable. What Russia has done in the field of reconstruction we too can do.”
On the third page of that document, in the second paragraph, the Defendant Göring stated: “All measures have to be taken just as if we were actually in the stage of imminent danger of war.”
In the same month the office of the Four Year Plan was created with the mission of making Germany self-sufficient for war in 4 years. I refer back, at this point, to the Document Number EC-408, and particularly refer Your Honors to the third paragraph, again, of that document, where the statement is made as regards the war economy:
“Minister President Generaloberst Göring sees it as his task, within 4 years, to put the entire economy in a state of readiness for war.”
The Nazi Government officials provided the leadership in preparing Germany for war. They received, however, the enthusiastic cooperation of the German industrialists, and the role played by industrialists in converting Germany to a war economy is an important one, and I turn briefly to that aspect of the economic picture.
On the invitation of the Defendant Göring, approximately 25 of the leading industrialists of Germany, and the Defendant Schacht, attended a meeting in Berlin on the 20th day of February, 1933. This was shortly before the election of March 5, 1933 in Germany. At this meeting Hitler announced the conspirators’ aim to seize totalitarian control over Germany, to destroy the parliamentary system, to crush all opposition by force, and to restore the power of the Wehrmacht.
Among those present on that day, in February of 1933 in Berlin, were Gustav Krupp, head of the huge munitions firm Friedrich Krupp, A.G.; four leading officials of the I.G. Farben, one of the world’s largest chemical concerns; present, I repeat, was also the Defendant Schacht, and Albert Vögler was also there, the head of the huge steel trusts, the United Steel Works of Germany, and there were other leading industrialists there.
In support of the assertion with respect to that meeting at that time and in that place, I refer Your Honors to the document bearing the number EC-439, it being an affidavit of George von Schnitzler, and it reads as follows:
“I George von Schnitzler, a member of the Vorstand of I.G. Farben, make the following deposition under oath:
“At the end of February 1933 four members of the Vorstand of I.G. Farben, including Dr. Bosch, the head of the Vorstand, and myself, were asked by the office of the President of the Reichstag to attend a meeting in his house, the purpose of which was not given. I do not remember the two other colleagues of mine who were also invited. I believe the invitation reached me during one of my business trips to Berlin. I went to the meeting which was attended by about twenty persons, who I believe were mostly leading industrialists from the Ruhr.
“Among those present I remember:
“Dr. Schacht, who at that time was not yet head of the Reichsbank again and not yet Minister of Economics;
“Krupp von Bohlen, who in the beginning of 1933 presided the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie, which later on was changed in the semi-official organization ‘Reichsgruppe Industrie’;
“Dr. Albert Vögler, the leading man of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke;
“Von Loewenfeld from an industrial work in Essen;
“Dr. Stein, head of the Gewerkschaft Auguste Victoria, a mine which belongs to the I.G. Dr. Stein was an active member of the Deutsche Volkspartei.
“I remember that Dr. Schacht acted as a kind of host.
“While I had expected the appearance of Göring, Hitler entered the room, shook hands with everybody and took a seat at the table. In a long speech he talked mainly about the danger of communism over which he pretended that he just had won a decisive victory.
“He then talked about the Bündnis (alliance) into which his party and the Deutschnationale Volkspartei had entered. This latter party, in the meantime, had been reorganized by Herr Von Papen. At the end he came to the point which seemed to me the purpose of the meeting. Hitler stressed the importance that the two aforementioned parties should gain the majority in the coming Reichstag election. Krupp von Bohlen thanked Hitler for his speech. After Hitler had left the room, Dr. Schacht proposed to the meeting the raising of an election fund of, as far as I remember, RM 3 million. The fund should be distributed between the two ‘allies’ according to their relative strength at the time being. Dr. Stein suggested that the Deutsche Volkspartei should be included. . . .”
THE PRESIDENT [Interposing]: Mr. Dodd, it seems to me that really all that that document shows is that there was a meeting at which Mr. Schacht was present, and at which it was determined to subscribe an election fund in 1933.
MR. DODD: That is quite so, Your Honor. I will not labor the Court by reading all of it. There were some other references, but not of major importance, in the last paragraph, to a division of the election fund. I just call Your Honors’ attention to it in passing.
I should like, at this point, to call Your Honors’ attention to the document bearing the Number D-203. It is three-page document: D-203.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. DODD: I wish to read only excerpts from it very briefly. It is the speech delivered to the industrialists by Hitler, and I refer particularly to the second paragraph of that document: “Private enterprise cannot be maintained in the age of democracy. . . .”
THE PRESIDENT [Interposing]: What is the date of that?
MR. DODD: It is the speech made at the meeting on the 20th of February 1933 at Berlin.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. DODD:
“Private enterprise cannot be maintained in the age of democracy; it is conceivable only if the people have a sound idea of authority and personality.”
I refer to Page 2 of the document, and I should like to read an excerpt from that first paragraph on Page 2, about 13 sentences down, beginning with the words:
“I recognized even while in the hospital that one had to search for new ideas conducive to reconstruction. I found them in Nationalism, in the value of . . . strength and power of individual personality.”
And, a little further down, the next to the last and the last sentence of that same paragraph, Hitler said:
“If one rejects pacifism, one must put a new idea in its place immediately. Everything must be pushed aside, must be replaced by something better.”
And, in the third paragraph, the last sentence beginning:
“We must not forget that all the benefits of culture must be introduced more or less with an iron fist, just as once upon a time the farmers were forced to plant potatoes.”
Then finally, on that page, in the fourth paragraph—nearly at the end of it:
“With the very same courage with which we go to work to make up for what had been sinned during the last 14 years, we have withstood all attempts to move us off the right way.”
Then, on the top of the next page, the second paragraph, these words:
“Now we stand before the last election. Regardless of the outcome there will be no retreat, even if the coming election does not bring about a decision.”
THE PRESIDENT: Why did you not read the last line on Page 2?
MR. DODD: Beginning with the words “while still gaining power”?
THE PRESIDENT: The sentence before:
“We must first gain complete power if we want to crush the other side completely. While still gaining power, one should not start the struggle against the opponent. Only when one knows that one has readied the pinnacle of power, that there is no further possible development, shall one strike.”
MR. DODD: I was going to refer to that, if Your Honor pleases, in a minute. However, I think it is quite proper to have it inserted here.
Before starting to read this last paragraph, I suggest that it is nearly the accustomed recess time, as I understand it, and it is a rather lengthy paragraph. . . .
THE PRESIDENT [Interposing]: Yes, we will adjourn until 2 o’clock.
[The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours.]