And from another speech of 26 March 1938, which is also quoted from Hermann Göring’s Speeches and Compositions, Document Book Number 1, Page 41, Document Number 16, I quote the first and the second sentences:
“We do not wish to annihilate any Church, nor to destroy any belief or religion. All we want is to bring about a clear separation. The Church has its definite, very important and very necessary tasks, and the State and the Movement have other, just as important and just as decisive, tasks.”
I refer further to a document submitted by a clergyman Werner Jentsch, dated 30 October 1945, addressed to this Tribunal, Document Book Number 1, Pages 44 to 46, Exhibit Number 17.
I quote only one sentence, Figure 8:
“Hermann Göring himself, through his chief adjutant, had the following answer given to a petition for the introduction of a special chaplain’s office within the headquarters of the Air Force; that he could not at the moment do anything because Adolf Hitler had not yet made a final decision concerning the question of religion. However, he wished full freedom of religion in the Air Force, including the Christian denominations, and every member of the Air Force could choose for himself whatever chaplain or civilian pastor he desired.”
The affidavit from Gauleiter Dr. Uiberreither, dated 27 February 1946, deals with the question which I mentioned earlier and which is contained in Document Book Number 1, Page 31. It, under Figure 2, deals with the events of the night of 9 to 10 November 1938 and the knowledge thereof, as follows:
“A few weeks after the action against the Jews on the night of 9 to 10 November 1938—towards the end of November or the beginning of December 1938—Field Marshal Göring again called all the Gauleiter to Berlin. During this meeting he criticized the action in harsh words and stated that it had not been in keeping with the dignity of the nation. Moreover, it had also seriously lowered our prestige abroad. If the murder of Legation Counsellor Von Rath was regarded as an attack by Jewry against the Reich, then the German Reich had other means of countering such an attack than appealing to the baser instincts. In an orderly state no irregular mob action ought to take place under any circumstances.”
And in the last paragraph, under Number 2, it says:
“In conclusion, he asked the Gauleiter to use their entire influence to see to it that such incidents, which were detrimental to Germany, would not recur in the future.”
I can skip Page 16, Paragraph 5, as an explanation on that has already been given.