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.