I also quote from the second paragraph of Page 2 of that same document which reads, quoting:
“The following are to be taken into protective custody: All trade union chairmen, the district secretaries and the branch directors of the ‘Bank for Workers, Employees, and Officials, Incorporated,’ included.”
I now offer in evidence Document 2474-PS, Exhibit Number USA-327, which is a copy of a decree issued by the Defendant Hess as Deputy of the Führer, dated 25 October 1934, which underwrites the authority of the Hoheitsträger with respect to Party formations. I quote from the numbered Paragraphs 1, 5, and 6 of Page 1 of Document 2474-PS which reads as follows—Page 1 of the English translation:
“The political leadership within the Party and its political representation towards all offices, state or others which are outside of the Party, lie solely and exclusively with the Hoheitsträger”—bearers of sovereignty—“which is to say with me, the Gauleiter, Kreisleiter, and Ortsgruppenleiter. . . .
“The departmental workers of the Party organizations, such as Reichsleiter, office directors, et cetera, as well as the leaders of the SA, SS, HJ, and the subordinate affiliations, may not enter into binding agreements of a political nature with State and other offices except when so authorized by their Hoheitsträger.
“In places where the territories of the units of the SA, SS, HJ, and the subordinate affiliations do not coincide with the zones of the Hoheitsträger, the Hoheitsträger will give his political directives to the ranking leader of each unit within his zone of sovereignty.”
It was the official policy of the Leadership Corps to establish close and co-operative relations with the Gestapo. The Tribunal will recall that the head of the German Police and SS, Himmler, was a Reichsleiter on the top level of the Leadership Corps. Without offering in evidence a decree issued by the Defendant Bormann as Chief of Staff of the Deputy of the Führer, dated 26 June 1935, I ask the Court to take judicial knowledge; and I quote:
“In order to effect a closer contact between the offices of the Party and its organizations with the Directors of the Secret State Police,”—Gestapo—“the Deputy of the Führer requests that the directors of the Gestapo be invited to attend all the larger official rallies of the Party and its organizations.”
That is from the 1935 edition, Page 143, dated the 26th June 1935, The Decrees of the Deputy of the Führer.