“(3) The chairman may draw on any other members of the Reich Defense Council as well as other personalities for advice.”
Again it will be seen that all were also members of the ordinary Cabinet. But this use of the Cabinet as a manpower reservoir from whom the trusted collaborators were selected becomes particularly poignant when we consider the actions of the Nazi conspirators which were not published in the Reichsgesetzblatt, which were concealed from the world, and which were part and parcel of their conspiracy to wage aggressive war. It will have been noted that the decree setting up the Ministerial Council contained this language, the one to which I have just referred:
“A Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich shall be formed out of the Reich Defense Council as a standing committee . . . .”—also Subparagraph 3 of the same one—“The chairman may draw on any other members. . . .”
There is evidence already before this Tribunal establishing the creation—by the Cabinet—on 4 April 1933 of this really secret war-planning body. I refer the Tribunal to Exhibit USA-24, which appears in our document book as Document 2261-PS. That document contains the unpublished Reich Defense Law of 21 May 1935. As to the membership of that Council when first created, I have here a copy of the minutes of the second session of the working committee of the delegates for the Reich defense, dated 22 May 1933, and signed by the Defendant Keitel. It appears in our document book as EC-177, Exhibit USA-390. The composition of the Reich Defense Council appears on Page 3 of the original, and also on Page 3 of the translation:
THE PRESIDENT: I thought you were going to refer to 2261-PS.
COL. STOREY: If Your Honor pleases, I just referred to it as being an exhibit already in evidence and said that it was one of the unpublished Reich defense laws. That was the only purpose in referring to it.
The quotation is from Page 3 of the translation, beginning at the top of the page:
“Composition of the Reich Defense Council:
“President, Reich Chancellor; Deputy, Minister of the Reichswehr; Permanent Members, Minister of the Reichswehr, Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs, Reich Minister of the Interior, Reich Minister of Finance, Reich Minister of Economic Affairs, Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Reich Air Ministry, Chief of the Army Command Staff, Chief of the Navy Command Staff, and—as the case may be—the remaining Reich Ministers, other personalities, for example, leading industrialists, et cetera.”