The late Goebbels was named as Reich Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda.
On 5 May 1933 the Ministry of Air (Reichsgesetzblatt 1933, Part I, Page 241, our Document 2089-PS). On 1 May 1934 the Ministry of Education. I refer to 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 365, our Document 2078-PS. On 16 July 1935 the Ministry for Church Affairs (1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 1029, our Document 2090-PS). The Defendant Göring was made Air Minister; Bernhard Rust, Gauleiter of South Hanover, was named Education Minister; and Hans Kerrl named Minister for Church Affairs.
Two ministries were added after the war started. On 17 March 1940 the Ministry of Armaments and Munitions was established (1940 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 513, our Document 2091-PS). The late Dr. Todt, a high Party official, was appointed to this post. The Defendant Speer succeeded him. The name of this department was changed to “Armaments and War Production” in 1943 (1943 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 529, our Document 2092-PS). On 17 July 1941, when the seizure of the Eastern Territories was in progress, the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories was created. The decree appointing the Defendant Rosenberg to the post of Minister of this department has already been received in evidence as Exhibit USA-319.
During the years 1933 to 1945 one ministry was dropped—that of Defense which was later called “War”. This took place in 1938 when, on 4 February, Hitler took over command of the whole Armed Forces. At the same time he created the “Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces” or, in other words, the Chief of the OKW. This was the Defendant Keitel. The decree accomplishing this change is published in the 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, at Page 111. It appears in our document book as 1915-PS, and I would like to quote a brief portion of that decree. It begins at the bottom of the second paragraph:
“He”—referring to the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces—“is an equal in rank to a Reich Minister.
“At the same time, the Supreme Command takes the responsibility for the affairs of the Reich Ministry of War; and by my order, the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces exercises the authority formerly belonging to the Reich Minister.”
Another change in the composition of the Cabinet during the years in question should be noted. The post of Vice-Chancellor was never refilled after the Defendant Von Papen left on 30 July 1934.
In addition to the heads of departments that I have outlined, the ordinary Cabinet also contained Reich Ministers without portfolio. Among these were the Defendants Hans Frank; Seyss-Inquart; Schacht, after he left the Economics Ministry; and Von Neurath, after he was replaced as Minister for Foreign Affairs. There were other positions that were also an integral part of the Cabinet. These were: the Deputy of the Führer, the Defendant Hess, and later his successor; the Leader of the Party Chancellery, the Defendant Bormann; the Chief of Staff of the SA, Ernst Röhm, for 7 months prior to his assassination; the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Lammers; and, as we have already mentioned, the Chief of the OKW, the Defendant Keitel. These men had either the title of, or the rank of, Reich Minister. I have already read portions of the law creating the Chief of the OKW where his importance in Cabinet affairs is delineated. The importance of the Defendants Hess and Bormann will soon be expounded, while that of the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Lammers, will also soon become self-evident.
But there were others, such as State Ministers acting as Reich Ministers. Only two persons fell within this category: the Chief of the Presidential Chancellery, Otto Meissner; and the State Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Karl Hermann Frank. In addition, the Indictment names as belonging to the ordinary Cabinet “others entitled to take part in Cabinet meetings.” Many governmental agencies were created by the Nazis between the years 1933 and 1945, but the peculiarity of such creations was that in most instances such new posts were given the right to participate in Cabinet meetings. Here the list is long but significant. Thus those entitled to take part in Cabinet meetings were: the Commanders-in-Chief of the Army and the Navy, the Reich Forest Master, the Inspector General for Water and Power, the Inspector General of German Roads, the Reich Labor Leader, the Reich Youth Leader, the Chief of the Foreign Organization in the Foreign Office, the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, the Prussian Finance Minister, and the Cabinet Press Chief.