Max Amann has admitted in an affidavit that he discharged his duties as Reich Press Leader consistently with the statement of his functions contained in the Party Organization Book and with Article 23 of the Party Program. He has further stated that racial and other discriminatory legislation made it expedient for firms “owned or controlled by Jewish interests, or by political or religious interests hostile to the NSDAP * * * to sell their newspapers or assets to the Eher concern”; and that there was “no free market for the sale of such properties and the Franz Eher Verlag was generally the only bidder.” His affidavit concludes as follows:
“It is a true statement to say that the basic purpose of the Nazi press program was to eliminate all press in opposition to the Party.” (3016-PS)
(4) Parteiamliche Prufungskommission zum Schutz des NS-Christums (Office of Party Examining Commission for the Protection of National Socialist Publications) (PPK).
The PPK was charged with the censorship and supervision of all literature with cultural or political implications. According to the Party Manual:
“The functional scope of the official Party Examining Commission is not confined to any one group of publications but includes the entire publishing field. Thus the work of the Official Party Examining Commission is sub-divided into departments for books, magazines and newspapers. Out of these main departments a group of important special fields have emerged as more or less independent fields. They are specifically the editing of speeches, scientific books, textbooks, scientific periodicals and the calendar as a special type of magazine.” (2319-PS)
The Examining Commission’s function was to protect National Socialist literature from attempts to destroy its propagandistic effect or to pervert its political and social content. The Party Manual stated:
“It is the function of the Examining Commission to protect the National Socialist literature from abuse, corruption, and attempts at dissolution. Thus it forestalls the infiltration of elements within the National Socialist literature which are irreconcilable with it.” (2319-PS)
In addition, the PPK concerned itself with the actual suppression of literature incompatible with Party tenets, and with the approval of those works which it deemed beneficial to the extension of the National Socialist ideology. The Party Manual specified as follows:
“Particularly it is the function of the official Party Examining Commission to determine whether or not a work can be considered National Socialist literature.” (2319-PS)
This office worked in close collaboration with the Delegate of the Fuehrer for the Total Supervision of the Intellectual and Ideological Training and Education of the People (Rosenberg). (2319-PS; 2383-PS)