“Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop; Prussian Minister President, Reich Minister of the Air, Supreme Commander of the Air Forces, General Field Marshal Hermann Göring; the Führer’s Deputy, Reich Minister Rudolf Hess; Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Dr. Joseph Goebbels; Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Dr. Hans Heinrich Lammers;”—that is shown at the top immediately under Hitler—“Supreme Commander of the Army, Colonel General Walther von Brauchitsch; Supreme Commander of the Navy, Grand Admiral Dr. Raeder; Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, General of the Artillery Wilhelm Keitel.”
It will be noted that every member was either a Reich Minister or, as in the case of the Army, Navy, and OKW heads, had the rank and authority of a Reich Minister.
On 30 August 1939 Hitler established the Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich, better known as the Ministerial Council—coming down from the year 1939, the Ministerial Defense Council. This was the so-called war cabinet. The decree appears in the 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, at Page 1539. I now refer to Document 2018-PS of the Laws and Decrees, and I quote Section Number 1:
“(1) A Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich shall be formed out of the Reich Defense Council as a standing committee;
“(2) The standing members of the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich shall include:
“General Field Marshal Göring, as chairman; the Führer’s Deputy”—the Defendant Hess—“the Plenipotentiary General for Reich Administration”—who was the Defendant Frick—“the Plenipotentiary General for Economy”—the Defendant Funk—“the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery”—Dr. Lammers—“the Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces”—who was the Defendant Keitel.