DR. SEIDL: Mr. President, I am not sure how much of the translation you heard.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, there is some document that you are saying is not in the document book?
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I intend to say that the photographs are in the book. The affidavit by the photographer was by mistake omitted from the book; the original is here. I will produce a copy for Dr. Seidl, and I regret it was not done before. It was not a very important document.
My Lord, it might be expected that, in the positions he held, the Defendant Hess took a leading part in the acquisition of power by the Nazi Party and in its consolidation of control over the State. By the law of the 1st of August the office of Reich President. . . .
THE PRESIDENT: 1934?
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I beg your pardon, 1934, yes. [Continuing] . . . and of Reich Chancellor were joined together under Hitler. Hitler held both offices. That decree was signed by others and by Hess. Hess also signed a decree on the 20th of December 1934, a decree entitled “Laws against Treacherous Acts against the State and Party.” By Article 1 of that decree penalties were imposed upon anybody making false statements injuring the prestige of the government, the Party, or its agencies; and by Article 2 penalties were imposed for statements proving a malicious attitude against the Party or its leading personalities. The decree was signed by Hess, and it was Hess who had to issue the necessary regulations for carrying the decree into effect.
He took a leading part in the gaining of control over government appointments. I quote again in all these matters only a few examples. If one wanted to quote every decree that the defendant signed and every act he took in participation of these matters, it would really entail writing a history of the Nazi Party from 1920 until 1941, and a history of Germany from 1933 until 1941. Set out in the trial brief at Page 7, it will be seen that there are various decrees, all signed by Hess: On the 24th of September 1935, a decree providing for his consultation in the appointment of Reich civil servants; 3rd April 1936, providing for his participation in the appointment of labor service officials; and I refer again to the 10th of July 1937, another decree under which he participated by having to be consulted upon the appointment of other minor civil servants.
With respect to the control of the Nazi Party gained over the German youth, again there are various decrees signed by this defendant and I set out in the trial brief, particularly, a reference to the book which has already been put in, Volz’ dates of the Nazi Party, where it appears that he appointed a University Commission of the Party, which, was under his supervision. The Tribunal will remember that we have already seen from the chart of his staff that he had a department dealing with universities and with teachers.
And I am quoting from the same document. On the 18th of July 1934, the Nazi League of German Students was directly subordinated to the Deputy of the Führer.
The defendant, as the Tribunal has heard, was an Obergruppenführer himself in the SS and the SA. His responsibility for an association with those organizations can be seen from three documents. Amongst the papers found in the Krupp files was a circular sent by Hess, apparently to various industries, asking for funds or subscriptions for the Adolf Hitler Fund for German Industry. The document is Document Number D-151, which I put in now as Exhibit Number GB-256, and the relevant extract again is set out in the trial brief for convenience: