The domination of the German Government by the top members of the Leadership Corps was facilitated by a circular decree of the Reich Minister of Justice, dated 17 February 1934, which established equal rank for the offices within the Reichsleitung of the Leadership Corps and the Reich offices of the German Government. In this decree it was expressly provided that, “. . . . the supreme offices of the Reich Party Directorate are equal in rank to the supreme Reich Government authorities”. The Party Manual termed the control exercised over the machinery of the Government by the Leadership Corps, “the permeation of the state apparatus with the political will of the Party”.
At a later stage in this proceeding it will be shown that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party incontestably dominated the German State and Government. The control by the Leadership Corps of the German Government was facilitated by uniting in the same Nazi chieftains both high offices within the Reichsleitung and the corresponding offices within the apparatus of the Government. For example, as shown in Document 2903-PS, Goebbels was Reichsleiter in charge of Party propaganda, but he was also a cabinet minister in charge of propaganda and public enlightenment.
Himmler held office within the Reichsleitung as head of the Main Office for Folkdom and also was Reichsführer of the SS. At the same time, Himmler held the governmental position of the Reich commissioner for the consolidation of Germandom, and was the governmental head of the German police system.
As will be shown, this personal union of high office in the Leadership Corps and high governmental position in the same Nazi leaders greatly accommodated the plan of the Leadership Corps to dominate and control the German State and Government.
In addition to the Reichsleiter the Party Directorate included about 11 Hauptämter, or main offices, and about four Ämter, or offices. As set forth in the exhibit, the Hauptämter of the Party included such main organizations as those for personnel, training, technology, headed by the Defendant Speer; folkdom, headed by Himmler; civil servants, communal policy, and the like. The Ämter, or offices, of the Party within the Reichsleitung included the office for foreign policy under the Defendant Rosenberg which, the evidence will show, actively participated in plans for the launching of the war of aggression against Norway, the Office for Colonial Policy, the Office for Genealogy, and the Office of Racial Policy.
As will be shown by the chart of the Leadership Corps in the folder which Your Honors have, certain of the main offices and offices within the Reichsleitung would appear again within the Gauleitung, or Gau Party Directorate, and the Kreisleitung, or Party county directorate. It is thus shown that the Reichsleiter and the main office and officeholders within the Reichsleitung exercised, through functional channels through the subordinate offices on lower regional levels, a total control over the various sectors of the national life of Germany.
I shall next take up the Gauleiter. As will be seen from this organizational chart of the Nazi Party now before the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USA-2, for Party purposes Germany was divided into major administrative regions, Gau, which in turn were subdivided into Kreise (counties), Ortsgruppen (local chapters), Zellen (cells), and in Blocks (blocks). A Gauleiter, who was the political leader of the Gau, was in charge of each Gau or district. Each Gauleiter was appointed by and was directly responsible to Hitler. I quote from Page 18 of this same document, 1893-PS, the Organization Book of the NSDAP:
“The Gau represents the concentration of a number of Party counties”—or Kreise—“The Gauleiter is directly subordinate to the Führer. . . .”
“The Gauleiter bears over-all responsibility to the Führer for the sector of sovereignty entrusted to him. The rights, duties, and jurisdiction of the Gauleiter result primarily from the mission assigned by the Führer, and apart from that, from detailed directives.”