DR. FRITZ: Witness, before answering the next question, will you check your memory very carefully, and particularly remember your oath. Was it the aim of this propaganda for which Fritzsche received orders and which he carried out, to arouse unrestrained passions tantamount to incitement to murder and violence, or what was its purpose?
VON SCHIRMEISTER: No. The minister could not use passions at all in his propaganda, for passions flare up and die down again. What the minister did need was a steady and constant line, steadfastness even in hard times. Stirring up of passions, inciting to hatred, or even murder would not have appealed to the German people nor could Dr. Goebbels use anything like that.
DR. FRITZ: Did German propaganda abroad, especially in Russia, come under the direction of the Propaganda Ministry at all?
VON SCHIRMEISTER: I must differentiate here. I do not know whether I should go into the well-known differences between Dr. Goebbels and Ribbentrop. At the beginning of the war the Foreign Office had demanded charge of all foreign propaganda, namely, propaganda in foreign countries, radio propaganda broadcasts to foreign countries, and, propaganda directed towards foreigners living in Germany. Very disagreeable controversies resulted; the problem was put to the Führer himself, but finally both sides interpreted his decision in their own favor.
DR. FRITZ: Witness, would you, perhaps, be a little more brief?
VON SCHIRMEISTER: Very well, I can leave that. The differences between the two men are well known. However, in regard to Russia, I must add that there both press and propaganda came under the jurisdiction of Herr Rosenberg up to about March of 1944. And in this sphere as well, Dr. Goebbels...
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute, wait a minute. What has this Russian propaganda got to do with the defendant?
DR. FRITZ: No; the German propaganda in Russian territory—that is what I asked him about. He is only going to say one sentence about it; in fact, he has already said it.
VON SCHIRMEISTER: Up to 1944, Rosenberg—to the great concern of Dr. Goebbels who believed that the Russian campaign could have been won in the field of propaganda.
DR. FRITZ: I have one more question to put to you.