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.