Part I, page 1565, appointed about 16 Gauleiter as Reich Defense

[Cover Illustration]

TRIAL

OF

THE MAJOR WAR CRIMINALS

BEFORE

THE INTERNATIONAL

MILITARY TRIBUNAL

N U R E M B E R G

14 NOVEMBER 1945-1 OCTOBER 1946

[Illustration]

P U B L I S H E D A T N U R E M B E R G , G E R M A N Y

1 9 4 7

This volume is published in accordance with the

direction of the International Military Tribunal by

the Secretariat of the Tribunal, under the jurisdiction

of the Allied Control Authority for Germany.

VOLUME IV

O F F I C I A L T E X T

I N T H E

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

P R O C E E D I N G S

17 December 1945 — 8 January 1946

CONTENTS

Twenty-first Day, Monday, 17 December 1945,

Morning Session 1

Afternoon Session 29

Twenty-second Day, Tuesday, 18 December 1945,

Morning Session 66

Afternoon Session 99

Twenty-third Day, Wednesday, 19 December 1945,

Morning Session 132

Afternoon Session 161

Twenty-fourth Day, Thursday, 20 December 1945,

Morning Session 194

Afternoon Session 228

Twenty-fifth Day, Wednesday, 2 January 1946,

Morning Session 253

Afternoon Session 286

Twenty-sixth Day, Thursday, 3 January 1946,

Morning Session 308

Afternoon Session 340

Twenty-seventh Day, Friday, 4 January 1946,

Morning Session 374

Afternoon Session 407

Twenty-eighth Day, Monday, 7 January 1946,

Morning Session 440

Afternoon Session 475

Twenty-ninth Day, Tuesday, 8 January 1946,

Morning Session 506

Afternoon Session 539

TWENTY-FIRST DAY

Monday, 17 December 1945

_Morning Session_

THE PRESIDENT (Lord Justice Sir Geoffrey Lawrence): I have four

announcements to make on behalf of the Tribunal. I will read those

announcements now and they will be posted upon the board in the

defendants’ counsel’s Information Center in German as soon as possible.

The first announcement is this:

The attention of the Tribunal has been drawn to publications in the

press of what appear to have been interviews with some of the defendants

in this case, given through the agency of their counsel. The Tribunal

considers it necessary to state with the greatest emphasis that this is

a procedure which cannot and will not be countenanced. Therefore,

counsel are warned that they should observe the highest professional

standards in such matters and should not use the opportunity afforded to

them of conferring freely with their clients to act in any way as

intermediaries between the defendants and the press, and they must

exercise the greatest professional discretion in making any statement on

their own behalf.

The Tribunal recognizes that in a trial of this kind, where the public

interest is world-wide, it is in the highest degree important that all

those who take part in the trial in any capacity whatever should be

aware of their responsibility to see that nothing is done to detract

from the proper conduct of the proceedings.

The press of the world is rendering a very great service in giving

publicity to the proceedings of the Tribunal, and the Tribunal feels

that it may properly ask for the co-operation of all concerned to avoid

anything which might conflict with the impartial administration of

justice.

The second announcement that I have to make is this:

The Tribunal understands that the counsel appointed under Article 9 of

the Charter are in doubt whether they have been appointed to represent

the groups and organizations charged in the Indictment as criminal or to

represent individual applicants who have applied to be heard under the

said article.

The Tribunal directs that counsel represent the groups and organizations

charged, and not the applicants. As the Tribunal has already directed,

counsel will be entitled to call as witnesses representative applicants

and may also call other persons whose attendance may be ordered by the

Tribunal. Application to call any witness must be made in the ordinary

way. The evidence of such witnesses and the arguments of counsel must be

confined to the question of the criminal nature of the group or

organization. Counsel will not be entitled to call evidence or to

discuss any question as to the individual responsibility of particular

applicants, except in so far as this may bear upon the criminal

character of the organizations. Counsel will be permitted, as far as

possible, to communicate with applicants in order to decide what

witnesses they wish to apply to call.

The third announcement is this:

The Chief Prosecutor for the United States has requested the Tribunal to

make a change in its formal order which provided that only such portions

of documents which are read in court would be admitted as evidence. In

order to meet the needs, so far as possible, of the members of the

Tribunal, of the Prosecution, and of counsel for the defendants to have

before them all the evidence in the case, the Tribunal, having carefully

considered the request, makes the following order:

All documents may be filed in court. The Tribunal shall only admit in

evidence, however:

1. Documents or portions of documents which are read in court;

2. Documents or portions of documents which are cited in court, on the

condition that they have been translated into the respective languages

of the members of the Tribunal for their use and that sufficient numbers

in German are filed in the Information Center for the use of Defense

Counsel.

This does not apply to the documents of which the Court will take

judicial notice, in accordance with Article 21 of the Charter; and the

Prosecution and the defendants will be at liberty to read those

documents or to refer to them without reading them.

Trial briefs and document books may be furnished to the Tribunal if

sufficient copies thereof are, at the same time, filed for Defense

Counsel in the Information Center. As far as possible, these should be

furnished in advance of their introduction in court. In order to permit

the Interpretation and Translation Division to make translations in

time, it is suggested that all documents be submitted to the division at

least 5 days before they are to be offered in evidence.

This is the fourth announcement:

The Tribunal has passed upon a number of applications for witnesses.

Some of these have been granted, subject to their evidence being

relevant. Some have been declined. And in some cases orders have been

made that the witness be alerted; that is to say, that if he can be

located, he be advised to hold himself in readiness to come here as a

witness, if the application is granted.

It is the desire of the Tribunal to secure for the defendants those

witnesses who are material and relevant to their defense. To prevent the

unnecessary prolonging of the Trial, however, it is clear that the

witnesses whose testimony is irrelevant or merely cumulative should not

be summoned. At the conclusion of the Prosecution’s testimony, the

Tribunal shall hear from defendants’ counsel as to which of the

witnesses granted or alerted they think necessary to bring here to

testify. At that time, the Tribunal may hear from them further as to any

witnesses that have been declined, if in view of the case, it then

appears to the Tribunal that the testimony of such witnesses is material

and not cumulative.

Counsel appearing for any defendant may question any other defendant as

to any relevant matter, and may interrogate him as a witness for that

purpose. If the other defendant takes the stand in his own behalf, the

right shall be exercised at the conclusion of his testimony.

Examination of witnesses called by other defendants: The same person has

been asked as a witness by a number of defendants in some cases. It is

only necessary that such witness be called to the stand once. He may

then be interrogated by counsel for any defendant as to any material

matter.

That is all.

I call on counsel for the United States.

CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States):

May it please the Tribunal, we are resuming the presentation of evidence

of the conspirators’ plans for Germanization and spoliation.

The next general subject upon which we propose to introduce evidence is

the conspirators’ plans for the spoliation and Germanization of the

Soviet Union.

As Mr. Alderman has shown, the invasion of the Soviet Union was the

culmination of plans meticulously laid by the conspirators. We wish now

to introduce evidence upon the conspirators’ plans for the exploitation

and Germanization of the Soviet Union after their anticipated conquest.

The Chief Prosecutor for the Soviet Union will demonstrate what the

execution of these plans meant in terms of human suffering and misery.

We submit that the few exhibits which we propose to offer at this time

will show the following:

1. The conspirators planned to remove to Germany all foodstuffs and raw

materials from the south and southeast of the Soviet Union over and

above the needs of the Nazi invading forces and the absolute minimum

necessary to supply the bare needs of the people in these particular

regions, who produced the materials which were to be removed to Germany.

This region had previously supplied the northern area of the Soviet

Union, which the conspirators called the forest zone. The latter zone

embraced some of the leading industrial areas of the Soviet Union,

including Moscow and Leningrad.

2. They deliberately and systematically planned to starve millions of

Russians. Starvation was to be accomplished by the following means:

a. As indicated under point 1, products from the south and southeast of

the Soviet Union, which ordinarily were sent to the industrial regions

of the north, were to be forcibly diverted to Germany. Moreover, all

livestock in the industrial regions was to be seized for use by the

Wehrmacht and the German civilian population. The necessary consequence

was that the population of the northern regions would be reduced to

starvation.

b. They established the following order of priority in which food

produced by the Russians would be allocated:

First, the combat troops; second, the remainder of troops in enemy

territory; third, troops stationed in Germany; fourth, the German

civilian population; and lastly, the population of the occupied

countries.

Thus even Russians in the food surplus area of the Ukraine, who were not

essential to the production of products for the German war machine, were

to be systematically starved.

3. They planned the permanent destruction of all industry in the

northern area of the Soviet Union in order that the remnants of the

Russian population would be completely dependent upon Germany for their

consumer goods.

4. They planned to incorporate a part of Galicia and all of the Baltic

countries into Germany and to convert the Crimea, an area north of the

Crimea, the Volga territory, and the district around Baku into German

colonies.

I now turn to the specific items of proof.

I first offer in evidence Document Number EC-472, Exhibit Number

USA-315. This document is offered for the particular purpose of showing

the status and functions of the Economic Staff East, Group La. The

exhibit which we shall next offer in evidence was prepared by this

organization. Document Number EC-472 is a directive issued by Defendant

Göring’s office for “The Operation of the Economy in the Newly Occupied

Eastern Territories.” It is the second edition and it is dated Berlin,

July 1941. The first edition was obviously published some time before

July 1941. The document was found among the captured OKW files at

Fechenheim.

Under this directive, Defendant Göring established the Economic

Executive Staff East, which was directly responsible to him, and under

it created the Economic Staff East. The Economic Staff East, in turn,

was subdivided into four groups: The Chief of the Economic Staff, Group

La, Group W, and Group M. I now quote from Page 2, lines 7-9 of the

English text; in the German text it is at Page 7, lines 7-9. I quote:

“Group La. Sections for nutrition and agriculture, allotment of

all agricultural products, provision of food supplies for the

Army, in accordance with the competent army services.”

I next offer in evidence Document Number EC-126, which is Exhibit Number

USA-316. This is a report dated 23 May 1941, which was before the

invasion of the Soviet Union. It was found among the captured files of

the OKW. It is entitled, “Economic Policy Directives for Economic

Organization East, Agricultural Group.” It was prepared by the Economic

Staff East, Group La, the Agricultural Group, which as shown by the

exhibit introduced a moment ago, was an important part of the

organization which Defendant Göring established to formulate plans for

the economic administration of Russia.

The underscoring in the English text merely reflects the underscoring in

the original.

The document begins by a recitation of facts pertaining to the

production of agricultural products in the Soviet Union. It states that

the grain surplus of Russia is determined by the level of domestic

consumption and that this fact affords the basis upon which the planners

must predicate their actions and economic policy. I now quote from the

sixth and seventh paragraphs of Page 2 of the English text. The German

text is the last three lines of Page 3 and the first five lines of Page

4. I quote:

“The surplus territories are situated in the black soil district

(that is in the south and southeast) and in the Caucasus. The

deficit areas are principally located in the forest zone of the

North (podsol-soil district). Therefore, an isolation of the

black soil areas will in any case place greater or lesser

surpluses in these regions at our disposal. _The consequences

will be cessation of supplies to the entire forest zone,

including the essential industrial centers of Moscow and

Leningrad._”

Next, I quote from the last 11 lines of Page 2 and all of Page 3 of the

English text. The German text begins in the middle of line 6 of Page 5

and continues through to line 29 of Page 6. I quote:

“This”—the cessation of supplies—“means:

“1. All industry in the deficit area, particularly the

manufacturing industries in the Moscow and Leningrad regions as

well as the Ural industrial regions will be abandoned. It may be

assumed that these regions today absorb an annual 5 to 10

million tons from the food production zone.

“2. The Trans-Caucasian oil district will have to be excepted,

although it is a deficit area. This source of oil, cotton,

manganese, copper, silk, and tea must continue to be supplied

with food in any case, for special political and economic

reasons.

“3. No further exception, with a view to preserving one or the

other industrial region or industrial enterprise, must be

permitted.

“4. Industry can only be preserved insofar as it is located in

the surplus region. This applies, apart from the above-mentioned

oil field regions in the Caucasus, particularly to the heavy

industries in the Donets district (Ukraine). _Only the future

will show to what extent it will prove possible to maintain in

full these industries, and in particular the Ukrainian

manufacturing industries, after the withdrawal of the food

surplus required by Germany._

“The following consequences result from this situation, which

has received the approval of the highest authorities, since it

is in accord with the political tendencies (preservation of the

Little Russians, preservation of the Caucasus, of the Baltic

provinces, of White Russia, to the prejudice of the Great

Russians):

“I. _For the forest zone_:

“a) Production in the _forest zone_ (the food-deficit area) will

become ‘naturalized,’ similar to the events during the World War

and the Communist tendencies of the war, and so forth—namely,

agriculture in that territory will begin to become a mere ‘home

production.’ The result will be that the planting of products

destined for the market, such as flax and hemp in particular,

will be discontinued; and the area used therefor will be taken

over for products for the producer (grain, potatoes). Moreover,

discontinuance of fodder deliveries to that area will lead to

the collapse of the dairy production and of pig-producing in

that territory.

“b) Germany is not interested in the maintenance of the

productive power of these territories, except for supplying the

troops stationed there. The population, as in the old days, will

utilize their land for growing their own food. It is useless to

expect grain or other surpluses to be produced. Only after many

years can these extensive regions be intensified to an extent

that they might produce genuine surpluses. The population of

these areas, in particular the urban population, will have to

face most serious distress from famine. It will be necessary to

divert the population into the Siberian spaces. Since rail

transport is out of the question, this too, will be an extremely

difficult problem.

“c) In this situation, Germany will only draw substantial

advantages by quick, non-recurrent seizure—that is, it will be

vitally necessary to make the entire flax harvest available for

German needs, not only the fibers but also the oleaginous seeds.

“It will also be necessary to utilize for German purposes the

livestock which has no fodder base of its own—that is, it will

be necessary _to seize livestock holdings_ immediately and to

make them available to the troops, not only for the moment but

in the long run, and also for exportation to Germany. Since

fodder supplies will be cut off, pig and cattle holdings in

these areas will of necessity drastically decline in the near

future. If they are not seized by the Germans at an early date,

they will be slaughtered by the population for their own use,

without Germany getting anything out of it.”

That is the end of that particular quotation. Our next quotation is from

the first paragraph of Page 4 of the English text. The German text is at

Page 7, the last two words of line 26 down to the beginning of line 31:

“It has been demanded by the Führer that the reduction of the

meat ration should be ended by fall. This can only be achieved

by the most drastic seizure of Russian livestock holdings,

particularly in areas which are in a favorable transport

situation in relation to Germany.”

In the interests of expedition, Your Honors, I am omitting some sections

from this last exhibit, which I had originally intended to quote.

I skip now to line 29 of Page 4 of the English text, beginning with the

underscored words “_in the future_,” and quote to line 48. In the German

text it is at Page 8, third line from the bottom, continuing to line 17

of Page 9:

“_In the future, southern Russia must turn its face towards

Europe. Its food surpluses, however, can only be paid for if it

purchases its industrial consumer goods from Germany or Europe.

Russian competition from the forest zone must, therefore, be

abolished._

“It follows from all that has been said that the German

administration in these territories may well attempt to mitigate

the consequences of the famine _which undoubtedly will take

place_ and to accelerate the return to primitive agricultural

conditions. An attempt might be made to intensify cultivation in

these areas by expanding the acreage under potatoes or other

important food crops giving a high yield. However, these

measures will not avert famine. Many tens of millions of people

in this area will become redundant and will either die or have

to emigrate to Siberia. _Any attempt to save the population

there from death by starvation, by importing surpluses from the

black-soil zone, would be at the expense of supplies to Europe.

It would reduce Germany’s staying power in the war and would

undermine Germany’s and Europe’s power to resist the blockade.

This must be clearly and absolutely understood._”

I next quote from Page 5, lines 18 to 30 of the English text. The German

text is at Page 12, lines 1 to 11.

“I. _Supplies for the Army_:

“Germany’s food situation in the third year of war demands,

imperatively, that the Wehrmacht, in all its provisioning, must

not live off Greater German territory or that of incorporated or

friendly areas from which this territory receives imports. _This

minimum aim, the provisioning of the Wehrmacht from enemy

territory in the third year and if necessary in later years,

must be attained at any price._ This means, that one-third of

the Wehrmacht must be fully provisioned by French deliveries to

the army of occupation. The remaining two-thirds (and even

slightly more in view of the present size of the Wehrmacht) must

without exception be provisioned from the Eastern areas.”

I now quote from Page 8 of the English text, the last nine lines. The

German text is at Page 18, lines 15 to 22:

“_Thus it is not important, under any circumstances, to preserve

what has existed; but what matters is a deliberate turning away

from the existing situation and introducing Russian food

resources into the European framework._ This will inevitably

result in an extinction of industry as well as a large part of

the people in what so far have been the food-deficit areas.”

It is impossible to state this alternative in sufficiently hard and

severe terms.

My next quotation is from the first 10 lines of Page 9 of the English

text. The German text is at Page 19, lines 11 to 20:

“Our problem is not to replace intensive food production in

Europe through the incorporation of new space in the East, but

to replace imports from overseas by imports from the East. The

task is two-fold:

“1. We must use the Eastern areas for overcoming the food

shortages during and after the war. This means that we must not

be afraid of drawing upon the capital substance of the East.

Such an intervention is much more acceptable from the European

standpoint than drawing upon the capital substance of Europe’s

agriculture.”

Finally, I quote from the remainder of Page 9 to the end of the

penultimate paragraph of the English text. The German text appears at

lines 24 to 31 of Page 19:

“2. For the future New Order, the food-producing areas in the

East must be turned into a permanent and substantial

complementary source of food for Europe, through intensified

cultivation and resulting higher yields.

“The first-named task must be accomplished at any price, even

through the most ruthless cutting down of Russian domestic

consumption, which will require discrimination between the

consuming and producing zones.”

It is submitted, Your Honors, that this document discloses, on its face,

a studied plan to murder millions of innocent people through starvation.

It reveals a program of premeditated murder of millions of innocent

people through starvation. It reveals a program of premeditated murder

on a scale so vast as to stagger the human imagination. Major Elwyn

Jones, of the British Delegation, will subsequently show that this plan

was, in effect, the logical culmination of general objectives clearly

announced by Adolf Hitler in _Mein Kampf_. Each defendant in the box was

fully aware of these general objectives when he committed the acts with

which he is charged.

I next introduce in evidence a document no less damaging than the one I

have just quoted. This document is Number L-221, which is Exhibit Number

USA-317. This is a top-secret memorandum, dated 16 July 1941, of a

conference at the Führer’s headquarters, concerning the war in the East.

It seems to have been prepared by Defendant Bormann because his initials

appear at the top of Page 1. It was captured by the United States

Counter-Intelligence branch. The text of the memorandum indicates that

the conference was attended by Hitler, Lammers, and Defendants Göring,

Keitel, Rosenberg, and Bormann.

The exhibit is particularly important for the light it throws upon the

conspirators’ plans to germanize conquered areas of the Soviet Union. It

is important also for its disclosure of the utterly fraudulent character

of the whole Nazi propaganda program. It shows how the conspirators

sought to deceive the entire world; how they pretended to pursue one

course of action when their aims and purposes were to follow precisely

the opposite course.

I first quote from Page 1 of the English text, beginning at line 14 of

Page 1 and continuing through to line 22 of Page 2. The German text is

at Page 1, beginning with the last paragraph and continuing through to

line 19 of Page 3. I quote:

“A. Now it was essential that we did not publicize our aims

before the world, also there was no need for that; but the main

thing was that we ourselves knew what we wanted. By no means

should we render our task more difficult by making superfluous

declarations. Such declarations were superfluous because we

could do everything wherever we had the power, and what was

beyond our power we would not be able to do anyway.

“What we told the world about the motives for our measures ought

to be conditioned, therefore, by tactical reasons. We ought to

act here in exactly the same way as we did in the cases of

Norway, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium. In these cases, too, we

did not publish our aims; and it was only sensible to continue

in the same way.

“Therefore, we shall emphasize again that we were forced to

occupy, administer, and secure a certain area; it was in the

interest of the inhabitants that we provided order, food,

traffic, and so forth, hence our measures. Nobody shall be able

to recognize that it initiates a final settlement. This need not

prevent our taking all necessary measures—shooting, desettling,

_et cetera_—and we shall take them.

“But we do not want to make any people our enemies prematurely

and unnecessarily. Therefore we shall act as though we wanted to

exercise a mandate only. At the same time we must know clearly

that we shall never leave those countries. Our conduct therefore

ought to be:

“1) To do nothing which might obstruct the final settlement, but

to prepare for it only in secret; 2) To emphasize that we are

liberators.

“In particular: The Crimea has to be evacuated by all foreigners

and to be settled by Germans only.

“In the same way the former Austrian part of Galicia will become

Reich Territory. Our present relations with Romania are good,

but nobody knows what they will be at any future time. This we

have to consider, and we have to draw our frontiers accordingly.

One ought not to be dependent on the good will of other people.

We have to plan our relations with Romania in accordance with

this principle.

“On principle, we have now to face the task of cutting up the

giant cake according to our needs, in order to be able: First,

to dominate it; second, to administer it; and third, to exploit

it.

“The Russians have now ordered partisan warfare behind our

front. This partisan war again has some advantage for us; it

enables us to eradicate everyone who opposes us.

“Principles: Never again must it be possible to create a

military power west of the Urals, even if we have to wage war

for a hundred years in order to attain this goal. Every

successor of the Führer should know security for the Reich

exists only if there are no foreign military forces west of the

Urals. It is Germany who undertakes the protection of this area

against all possible dangers. Our iron principle is and has to

remain: We must never permit anybody but the Germans to carry

arms.”

I next quote from Page 3, lines 19 to 31 of the English text. In the

German text this is at the last 13 lines of Page 5:

“The Führer emphasizes that the entire Baltic country will have

to be incorporated into Germany.

“At the same time, the Crimea, including a considerable

hinterland (situated north of the Crimea), should become Reich

territory; the hinterland should be as large as possible.

“Rosenberg objects to this because of the Ukrainians living

there.

“(Incidentally: It occurred to me several times that Rosenberg

has a soft spot for the Ukrainians; thus he desires to

aggrandize the former Ukraine to a considerable extent.)”

Departing from the text for just a moment, it may be noted

parenthetically that this was the only aspect of the program outlined by

Hitler at this meeting to which Rosenberg objected in any way. Resuming

the quotation:

“The Führer emphasizes furthermore that the Volga colony, too,

will have to become Reich territory, also the district around

Baku; the latter will have to become a German concession

(military colony).”

Thus the program, as outlined by the conspirators at this meeting of 16

July 1941, called for the unlawful incorporation of a part of Galicia

and all of the Baltic countries into Germany and for the unlawful

conversion of the Crimea and areas north of it, the Volga territory, and

the district around Baku, into German colonies.

In further support of this point, I invite the attention of Your Honors

to Document Number 1029-PS, already introduced in evidence by Mr.

Alderman as Exhibit Number USA-145. This document was not included in

our document book, Your Honors, but has been read into the record by Mr.

Alderman, Pages 1202 and 1203 (Volume III, Page 357). This document is

entitled, “Instructions for a Reich Commissar in Ostland.”

THE PRESIDENT: Where are you quoting from?

CAPT. HARRIS: Sir, it is not included in our document book, but it is in

the record. In the German text, the original of which we have here, it

is at Pages number 2 and 3:

“The aim of a Reich Commissar for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,

and White Ruthenia”—last two words added in pencil—“must be to

strive to achieve the form of a German protectorate and then

transform the region into part of the Greater German Reich by

germanizing racially possible elements, colonizing Germanic

races, and banishing undesirable elements. The Baltic Sea must

become a Germanic inland sea under the guardianship of Greater

Germany.”

I now offer in evidence Document Number EC-3, which is Exhibit Number

USA-318, which was likewise found among the captured OKW files at

Fechenheim. This document, Your Honors, is offered as direct proof of

the fact, to which we have previously referred, that even in the

food-surplus areas of the occupied regions of the Ukraine the

conspirators planned to allocate food on a basis which left virtually

nothing for those persons who were not engaged in the compulsory

production of commodities for the German war machine. This document, as

well as Document Number EC-126, which was introduced a few moments ago,

and others we offer should, it is submitted, be read in the light of the

explicit provision in Article 52 of the Hague Regulations of 1907, that

requisitions in kind and services shall not be demanded from

municipalities or inhabitants except for the needs of the army of

occupation.

I first quote from our Page 3, lines 21 to 23 of the English text of

EC-3. In the German text it is Page 13, lines 1 to 3. The particular

document from which I am about to quote is a top-secret memorandum,

dated 16 September 1941, concerning a meeting of German military

officials presided over by Defendant Göring. This is our Page 3, Sir,

lines 21 to 23 of EC-3. The memorandum was signed by General Nagel,

liaison officer between Defendant Göring’s Four Year Plan office and the

OKW. I now quote:

“At this conference which was concerned with the better

exploitation of the occupied territories for the German food

economy, the Reich Marshal”—Göring—“called attention to the

following:”

I next quote from the first two paragraphs of Page 4 of the English

text. The German text is at Page 13, the third and fourth paragraphs:

“It is clear that a graduated scale of food allocations is

needed.

“First in line are the combat troops, then the remainder of

troops in enemy territory, and then those troops stationed at

home. The rates are adjusted accordingly. The supply of the

German non-military population follows and only then comes the

population of the occupied territories.”

I now quote from another portion of this document, starting at Page 1 of

the English text. This is a memorandum, dated 25 November 1941, relating

to the general principles of economic policy in the newly-occupied

Eastern Territories as prescribed in a conference held in Berlin on 8

November 1941. This memorandum was also written by General Nagel. It is

on the stationery of the Liaison Staff of Supreme Headquarters, Armament

Procurement Office with the Reich Marshal Göring.

I quote from lines 13 to the bottom of Page 1.

THE PRESIDENT: Isn’t this document, the part you are going to read now,

merely cumulative to EC-126, which you have just read to us—that

economic policy directive?

CAPT. HARRIS: It affords further proof, Sir, of the conspirators’ plans

to exploit the Eastern Occupied areas. I can omit it, if you like, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: It doesn’t seem to add anything.

CAPT. HARRIS: Very well, Sir. I shall pass on to the next point.

On 17 July 1941 Hitler and the Defendant Keitel issued a decree

appointing Defendant Rosenberg as the Reich Minister for the Occupied

Eastern Territories. This was the day following the meeting at the

Führer’s headquarters, which is reported in Document Number L-221 and

from which we have already quoted at length.

The decree appointing Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Occupied

Eastern Territories is set forth in Document Number 1997-PS, which is

Exhibit Number USA-319; and I offer it in evidence. I quote from

Articles 2 and 4 on Page 1 of this decree. The German text is at Pages

27 and 28, Articles 2 and 4:

“The civil administration in the newly-occupied Eastern

Territories, where these territories are not included in the

administration of the territories bordering on the Reich or the

Government General, is subject to the Reich Minister for the

Occupied Eastern Territories.

“I appoint Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg as Reich Minister for

the Occupied Eastern Territories. He will hold office in

Berlin.”

Defendant Rosenberg’s views well fitted him for this task as one of the

chief executioners of the conspirators’ plans in the Soviet Union. His

views were plainly expressed in a speech delivered on 20 June 1940 and

are set forth in Document Number 1058-PS, now Exhibit Number USA-147. I

refer Your Honors to the first three sentences of the English text. The

German text appears on Page 8, last five lines and continuing through to

line 2 of Page 9. In the speech Defendant Rosenberg stated, and I quote:

“The job of feeding the German people stands, this year, without

a doubt, at the top of the list of Germany’s claims on the East;

and here the southern territories and the northern Caucasus will

have to serve as a balance for the feeding of the German people.

We see absolutely no reason for any obligation on our part to

feed also the Russian people with the products of that surplus

territory. We know that this is a harsh necessity, bare of any

feelings.”

I next offer in evidence Document Number EC-347, which is Exhibit Number

USA-320. This document was likewise found among the captured files of

the OKW. It contains a set of directives issued by Defendant Rosenberg

in his capacity as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

I quote from the first two full paragraphs of Page 1 of this exhibit.

The German text is at Page 39, Paragraphs 4 and 5. In these directives

Defendant Rosenberg stated, and I quote:

“The principal task of the civilian administration in the

Occupied Eastern Territories is to represent the interests of

the Reich. This basic principle is to be given precedence in all

measures and considerations. Therefore, the occupied

territories, in the future, may be permitted to have a life of

their own in a form not as yet to be determined. However, they

remain parts of the Greater German living space and are always

to be governed according to this guiding principle.

“The regulations of the Hague Convention on land warfare, which

concern the administration of a country occupied by a foreign

belligerent power, are not applicable, since the U.S.S.R. is to

be considered dissolved and, therefore, the Reich has the

obligation of exercising all governmental and other sovereign

functions in the interests of the country’s inhabitants.

Therefore, any measures are permitted which the German

administration deems necessary and suitable for the execution of

this comprehensive task.”

THE PRESIDENT: Hasn’t that been read before?

CAPT. HARRIS: Not to my knowledge, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

CAPT. HARRIS: Implicit in Defendant Rosenberg’s statement that the Hague

Regulations are not applicable to the Soviet Union is the recognition by

him that the conspirators’ actions in the Soviet Union flagrantly

violated the Hague Regulations. The statement indicates that the

conspirators were utterly contemptuous of applicable principles of

international law.

Mr. Dodd has already introduced into evidence Document 294-PS, now

Exhibit Number USA-185, in connection with the slave labor presentation.

This document is a top-secret memorandum, dated 25 October 1942, which

was found in Defendant Rosenberg’s files. It was written by Bräutigam,

who was a high official in Defendant Rosenberg’s Ministry for the

Occupied Eastern Territories. I should like to quote two additional

passages from this document. I quote from the English text Page 1, the

first full paragraph, line 17 to 20. The German text is at Page 1, the

first full paragraph, lines 22 to 25.

“In the East, Germany is carrying on a three-fold war: A war for

the destruction of bolshevism, a war for the destruction of the

Greater Russian empire, and finally a war for the acquisition of

colonial territory for colonizing purposes and economic

exploitation. . . .

“With the inherent instinct of the Eastern peoples, the

primitive man soon found out also that for Germany the slogan:

‘Liberation from Bolshevism’ was only a pretext to enslave the

Eastern peoples according to her own methods.”

This completes, Your Honors, the list of the exhibits with respect to

the Soviet Union which we propose to introduce at this time. As I

mentioned at the outset of this presentation, these exhibits do not

disclose all of the conspirators’ plans with respect to the occupied

countries but they do, we submit, show a constant pattern, a pattern of

ruthless Germanization and destruction.

In conclusion we desire to offer in evidence two documents which

disclose that German industrialists and financiers aided and abetted

Himmler in his relentless program of Germanization, exploitation,

oppression, and destruction.

I first offer in evidence Document Number EC-454, which is Exhibit

Number USA-321. This document was found in the vaults of the Stein Bank

in Cologne among the files of the banker Baron Kurt von Schröder, by a

joint British-American team, headed by Colonel Kellam on the British

side and Captain Roth on the American side. It is a carbon copy of a

letter from Von Schröder to Himmler, dated 27 August 1943, and bears Von

Schröder’s initials. I quote it in its entirety:

“My very honorable Reichsführer: With great joy I learn of your

appointment as Reich Minister of the Interior and take the

liberty to extend my heartiest congratulations to you on

assuming your new post.

“A strong hand is now very necessary in the operation of this

department; and it is universally welcomed, but especially by

your friends, that it was you who were chosen for this by the

Führer. Please be assured that we will always do everything in

our power at all times to assist you in every possible way.

“I am pleased to inform you at this opportunity that your circle

of friends has again placed at your disposal this year a sum

slightly in excess of 1 million RM for ‘your particular tasks.’

An exact list showing the names of the contributors will be sent

to you shortly.

“Again all my very best wishes—as well as those of my family. I

remain yours in old loyalty and esteem. Heil Hitler! Yours

truly.”

I next offer in evidence—and this is the final exhibit, Your

Honors—Document Number EC-453, which is Exhibit Number USA-322. This

document was likewise found in the Stein Bank in Cologne by the

above-mentioned joint British-American team. It is a carbon copy of a

letter from Von Schröder to Himmler, dated 21 September 1943, bearing

Von Schröder’s initials, with the enclosed list of contributors . . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Captain Harris, on what principle do you suggest that

either of these letters can possibly be evidence in this case?

CAPT. HARRIS: Your Honors, at the time the motion to postpone the Trial

as to Gustav Krupp was argued before this Tribunal, the British Chief

Prosecutor specifically stated that if it should be the decision of the

Tribunal that Krupp should be dismissed, the evidence as to the part

which he, his firm, and other industrialists played in the preparation

and conduct of the war would still be given to this Tribunal as forming

part of the general conspiracy in which these defendants were involved,

with divers other persons not now before the Court.

The evidence we are now offering, Your Honors, is precisely of the type

indicated by Sir Hartley Shawcross. It is evidence which goes to prove

the length and breadth of the general conspiracy which is alleged in the

Indictment. Evidence showing contributions to one of the leading

conspirators, a conspirator who was in the forefront of the unlawful

program to plunder public and private property and to germanize a large

part of the world, is, it is submitted, relevant to this proceeding. May

I continue?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

CAPT. HARRIS: I quote the last letter, EC-453, in its entirety:

“Dear Reich Leader:

“I thank you very much for your kind letter of the 14th of this

month with which you made me very happy. At the same time I am

enclosing a list with the total amount of funds made available

to you by your circle of friends and totalling 1,100,000 RM. We

are very glad indeed to render some assistance to you in your

particular tasks and to be able to provide some small relief for

you in your still further extended sphere of duties.

“Wishing you, dear Reich Leader, the best of luck, I remain in

old loyalty and esteem. Heil Hitler! Yours very truly.”

I had intended, Your Honor, to quote the names of the contributors; but

I shall not, if Your Honor considers it unnecessary.

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think it would add to the expedition of the

Trial, do you?

CAPT. HARRIS: Very well, Sir. I am exceedingly grateful to Your Honors

for your very kind attention.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Colonel Storey.

COLONEL ROBERT G. STOREY (Executive Trial Counsel for the United

States): Do Your Honors want to proceed now before the recess?

THE PRESIDENT: No, perhaps we had better adjourn now for 10 minutes.

[_A recess was taken._]

COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, the remainder of the presentation

during the week will be concerning the criminal organizations. The first

to be presented now is the Leadership Corps, including some of the

illustrative crimes against the churches, against the Jews, against the

trade unions, and the operation of the “Einsatzstab Rosenberg”

concerning the looting of art treasures.

On the threshold of presenting the proof establishing the criminality of

the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party it is in point to restate the

Prosecution’s theory of this case. It is this: The Nazi Party was the

central core of the Common Plan or Conspiracy alleged in Count One of

the Indictment, a conspiracy which contemplated and embraced the

commission of Crimes against the Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against

Humanity as defined and denounced by the Charter.

The Leadership Corps, upon the evidence, was responsible for planning,

directing, and supervising the criminal measures carried into execution

by the Nazi Party in furtherance of the conspiracy. More than this, as

will be shown, the members of the Leadership Corps themselves actively

participated in the commission of illegal measures in aid of the

conspiracy. In the light of the evidence to be offered this Tribunal,

the Leadership Corps may be fairly described as the brain, the backbone,

and the directive arms of the Nazi Party. Its responsibilities are more

massive and comprehensive than those of the army of followers it led and

directed in the assault against the peace-loving peoples of the world.

Accordingly, upon the record made in this case and now to be enlarged

upon, the Prosecution requests this Tribunal to declare that the

Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party is a criminal group or organization

in accordance with Article 9 of the Charter.

At this time I should like to submit to the Tribunal the document book

supporting the brief as Exhibit USA-V.

If Your Honors please—diverting from the manuscript—during the recess

there was placed upon your bench the document book, which has each

document marked by tab and each quoted portion embraced by red pencil

marks for the assistance of Your Honors. In addition, we have handed up

two documents that have already been introduced in evidence: An enlarged

copy of this chart, more detailed, which Your Honors have before you,

and another chart, in photostatic form, with reference to the Leadership

Corps; and both of those will be identified later.

I now proceed to present the proof relating to the composition, the

functions, and the responsibilities and powers of the Leadership Corps

of the Nazi Party. First, what was the Leadership Corps . . .

DR. ROBERT SERVATIUS (Counsel for the Leadership Corps of the Nazi

Party): After the last meeting I received a statement by Justice Jackson

with the proposal concerning the taking of evidence and the time for the

discussion of certain questions which will arise. I cannot understand

the scope of these proposals, and must therefore ask that I may at some

time speak about these points again, if it is necessary.

THE PRESIDENT: Of course, counsel will have the opportunity of making a

full argument in answer to the argument presented on behalf of the

Prosecution.

What I understood from Mr. Justice Jackson on Friday was that he

proposed that the evidence on the question of criminal organizations

should be presented first, and the argument presented afterwards.

Counsel for the organizations will, as I stated this morning, have the

opportunity of calling evidence in answer to the evidence of the

Prosecution, and will also have the opportunity of making whatever

argument they think right in answer to the evidence and argument

presented on behalf of the Prosecution.

COL. STOREY: First, what was the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party?

What persons made up its membership? What was its size and scope?

In considering the composition and organizational structure of the

Leadership Corps it will be convenient for the Tribunal to refer to

Document Number 2903-PS, which is this exhibit on the wall and which was

introduced by Mr. Albrecht at the opening of the Trial. And,

supplementing the chart on the wall, I now offer in evidence Document

2833-PS, Exhibit Number USA-22, which is a chart of the Leadership Corps

of the Nazi Party, appearing at Page 9 of a magazine published by the

Chief Education Office of the Nazi Party, entitled _The Face of the

Party_. It is this little photostatic copy that you have. Later on we

expect to put the big one on the wall.

These charts and the evidence to follow show that the Leadership Corps

constituted the sum total of the officials of the Nazi Party. It

included the Führer at the top; the Reichsleiter, on the horizontal

line; the Reich officeholders, immediately below—the five categories of

leaders who were area commanders, called the “Hoheitsträger” or “bearers

of sovereignty.” They are in the red-lettered or red-lined boxes at the

bottom. They range all the way from the 40-odd Gauleiter in charge of

large districts, down through the intermediate political leaders, the

Kreisleiter, the Ortsgruppenleiter, the Zellenleiter, and finally, to

the Blockleiter who were charged with looking after 40 to 60 households

and what may be best described as staff officers attached to each of the

five levels of the Hoheitsträger.

Organized upon a hierarchical basis, forming a pyramidal structure—as

appears from the chart which Your Honors hold in your hands—the

principal political leaders on a scale of descending authority were:

The Führer, at the top; the Reichsleiter, as I have mentioned, and the

main office and officeholders; the Gauleiter, who was the district

leader, with his staff officers; the Kreisleiter, who was the county

leader, and his staff officers; the Ortsgruppenleiter, the local chapter

leader, and his staff officers; the Zellenleiter, who was the cell

leader, and his staff officers; and then, finally, the Blockleiter, with

his staff officers.

I now offer in evidence Document 1893-PS. This is Exhibit Number

USA-323. And this, if Your Honors please, is the _Organization Book of

the NSDAP_, the National Socialist Party. It was edited by the

Defendant, Reich Organization Leader of the NSDAP—the late

Defendant—Dr. Robert Ley, and it is the 1943 edition. A large part of

the evidence to be offered relating to the composition of the Leadership

Corps of the Nazi Party will be drawn from this primer of the Nazi

organizations, and I shall later quote from it. And without so

requesting the Tribunal each time to take judicial notice, I shall

assume, in the absence of questions, that it is so understood. The

English translation, to which we will refer, is Document 1893-PS.

I now proceed to offer evidence on the make-up and powers of the

Reichsleitung or the Leadership Corps, which consisted of the

Reichsleiter or Reich Leaders of the Nazi Party—and they are shown on

that long horizontal list at the top of the chart—the Hauptämter (main

offices), and the Ämter, or officeholders.

The Reichsleiter of the Party were annexed to Hitler, the highest

officeholders in the Party hierarchy. All of the Reichsleiter in the

main office and officeholders within the Reichsleitung were appointed by

Hitler and directly responsible to him.

I quote from the first paragraph of Page 4, Document 1893-PS:

“1. The Führer appoints the following political directors:

“(a) Reichsleiter and all political directors, to include the

directors of the Womens Leagues, within the Reich Directorate

(Reichsleitung).”

The significant fact to be grasped is that through the Reichsleitung

perfect co-ordination of the Party and State machinery was guaranteed.

The Party manual puts it this way—and I quote from the fourth sentence

of the third paragraph of Page 20 of that document. You will find the

page number at the bottom, Page 20. It is a very short quotation. I

quote: “In the Reichsleitung the arteries of the organization of the

German people and of the German State merge.”

If Your Honors please, there is a little different translation in that

portion in your book. To prove . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Just a moment, please. It begins, “It is in the Reich

Directorate where the strings of the organization of the German people

and of the German State merge.” Is that it?

COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, that is it. This translation says, “the arteries

of the organization of the German people and of the German State merge.”

To prove that the Reichsleiter of the Leadership Corps included the most

powerful coalition of political overlords in Nazi Germany, it is

necessary only to put in evidence their names. The list of Reichsleiter

now to be offered in evidence will include the following defendants now

on trial before this Tribunal: Rosenberg, Von Schirach, Frick, Bormann,

Hans Frank, and the late Defendant Robert Ley.

The evidence to be introduced will show that the Defendant Rosenberg was

the leader of an organization named for him, the “Einsatzstab

Rosenberg”—which is not shown on this chart, if Your Honor

please—which carried out a vast program of looting and plunder of art

treasures throughout occupied Europe.

The evidence will further show that, as representative of the Führer for

the supervision of Nazi ideology and schooling, Rosenberg participated

in an aggressive campaign to undermine the Christian churches and to

supersede Christianity by a German National Church founded upon a

combination of irrationality, pseudo-scientific theories, mysticism, and

the discredited cult of the racial state. It will further be shown that

the late Defendant Ley, acting as the agent of Hitler and the Leadership

Corps, directed the Nazi assault upon the independent labor unions of

Germany and that before destroying himself he first destroyed the

bastion of republican society, a free and independent labor movement,

replacing it by a Nazi organization, the German Labor Front, or the DAF,

and employed this organization as a means of exploiting the German labor

force in the interests of the conspiracy and to instill Nazi ideology

among the ranks of the German workers.

It will be shown that the Defendant Frick participated in the enactment

of many laws which were designed to promote the conspiracy in its

several phases.

The Defendant Frick shares responsibility for the grave injury done by

the officials of the Leadership Corps to the concept of the rule of law

by virtue of his efforts to give the color of law and formal legality to

a large volume of Nazi legislation which was violative of the rights of

humanity, such as the Nazi discriminatory legislation designed to

degrade, stigmatize, and eliminate the Jewish people of Germany and

German-occupied Europe.

Though the Defendant Bormann is physically absent from the dock, the

evidence as to his responsibility in directing and furthering the course

of the Nazi conspiracy is here and expands with the record in this case.

As Chief of the Party Chancellery, right under Hitler, the Defendant

Bormann was an extremely important force in directing the activities of

the Leadership Corps. As will be shown, a decree of January 16, 1942

provided that the participation of the Party in all important

legislation, governmental appointments, and promotions had to be

undertaken exclusively by Bormann. He took part in the preparation of

all laws and decrees issued by the Reich authorities and gave his assent

to those of the subordinate governments.

I now refer to Document 2473-PS, Exhibit Number USA-324. You will find

that the English translation contains a list of the Reichsleiter of the

NSDAP set forth on Page 170 of this book. It was edited by the late

Defendant and Reichsleiter for Party Organization, Robert Ley. The names

of the 15 Reichsleiter in office in 1943 will be found on Pages 1 and 2

of Document 2473-PS.

If the Tribunal please, I will not read all of them but will call

attention only to certain of them, as follows:

Martin Bormann, Chief of the Party Chancellery; then we skip over to

Wilhelm Frick, Leader of the National Socialist faction in the

Reichstag, shown on the big chart over at the second box from the end on

the right; Joseph Goebbels, Reich Propaganda Leader of the NSDAP, shown

also on the same level; Heinrich Himmler, Reich Leader of the SS, the

Deputy of the NSDAP for all questions of Germandom; Robert Ley, Reich

Organization Leader of the NSDAP and Leader of the German Labor Front;

Victor Lutze, Chief of Staff of the SA; Alfred Rosenberg, representative

of the Führer for the supervision of all mental and ideological training

and education of the NSDAP; Baldur von Schirach, Reich Leader for the

education of the youth of the National Socialist Party; and then,

finally, Franz Schwarz, Reich Treasurer of the National Socialist Party.

The principal functions of the Reichsleiter, which we might call

directors, included the responsibility of carrying out the tasks and

missions assigned to them by the Führer or by the Chief of the Party

Chancellery, the Defendant Martin Bormann. The Reichsleiter were further

charged with insuring that Party policies were being executed in all the

subordinate areas of the Reich. They were also responsible for insuring

a continual flow of new leadership into the Party.

With respect to the function and the responsibilities of the

Reichsleiter I now quote from Page 20 of Document Number 1893-PS:

“The NSDAP represents the political conception, the political

conscience, and the political will of the German nation.

Political conception, political conscience, and political will

are embodied in the person of the Führer. Based on his directive

and in accordance with the program of the NSDAP, the organs of

the Reich Directorate directionally determine the political aims

of the German people. It is in the Reich Directorate”—or

Reichsleitung—“that the arteries of the organization of the

German people and State merge. It is the task of the separate

organs of the Reich Directorate to maintain as close a contact

as possible with the life of the nation through their

sub-offices in the Gau . . . .

“The structure of the Reich Directorate is thus that the channel

from the lowest Party office upwards shows the most minute

weaknesses and changes in the mood of the people . . . .

“Another essential task of the Reich Directorate is to assure a

good selection of leaders. It is the duty of the Reich

Directorate to see that there is leadership in all phases of

life, a leadership which is firmly tied to National Socialist

ideology and which promotes its dissemination with all of its

energy . . . .

“It is the supreme task of the Reich Organization Leader to

preserve the Party as a well-sharpened sword for the Führer.”

The domination of the German Government by the top members of the

Leadership Corps was facilitated by a circular decree of the Reich

Minister of Justice, dated 17 February 1934, which established equal

rank for the offices within the Reichsleitung of the Leadership Corps

and the Reich offices of the German Government. In this decree it was

expressly provided that, “. . . . the supreme offices of the Reich Party

Directorate are equal in rank to the supreme Reich Government

authorities”. The Party Manual termed the control exercised over the

machinery of the Government by the Leadership Corps, “the permeation of

the state apparatus with the political will of the Party”.

At a later stage in this proceeding it will be shown that the Leadership

Corps of the Nazi Party incontestably dominated the German State and

Government. The control by the Leadership Corps of the German Government

was facilitated by uniting in the same Nazi chieftains both high offices

within the Reichsleitung and the corresponding offices within the

apparatus of the Government. For example, as shown in Document 2903-PS,

Goebbels was Reichsleiter in charge of Party propaganda, but he was also

a cabinet minister in charge of propaganda and public enlightenment.

Himmler held office within the Reichsleitung as head of the Main Office

for Folkdom and also was Reichsführer of the SS. At the same time,

Himmler held the governmental position of the Reich commissioner for the

consolidation of Germandom, and was the governmental head of the German

police system.

As will be shown, this personal union of high office in the Leadership

Corps and high governmental position in the same Nazi leaders greatly

accommodated the plan of the Leadership Corps to dominate and control

the German State and Government.

In addition to the Reichsleiter the Party Directorate included about 11

Hauptämter, or main offices, and about four Ämter, or offices. As set

forth in the exhibit, the Hauptämter of the Party included such main

organizations as those for personnel, training, technology, headed by

the Defendant Speer; folkdom, headed by Himmler; civil servants,

communal policy, and the like. The Ämter, or offices, of the Party

within the Reichsleitung included the office for foreign policy under

the Defendant Rosenberg which, the evidence will show, actively

participated in plans for the launching of the war of aggression against

Norway, the Office for Colonial Policy, the Office for Genealogy, and

the Office of Racial Policy.

As will be shown by the chart of the Leadership Corps in the folder

which Your Honors have, certain of the main offices and offices within

the Reichsleitung would appear again within the Gauleitung, or Gau Party

Directorate, and the Kreisleitung, or Party county directorate. It is

thus shown that the Reichsleiter and the main office and officeholders

within the Reichsleitung exercised, through functional channels through

the subordinate offices on lower regional levels, a total control over

the various sectors of the national life of Germany.

I shall next take up the Gauleiter. As will be seen from this

organizational chart of the Nazi Party now before the Tribunal as

Exhibit Number USA-2, for Party purposes Germany was divided into major

administrative regions, Gau, which in turn were subdivided into Kreise

(counties), Ortsgruppen (local chapters), Zellen (cells), and in Blocks

(blocks). A Gauleiter, who was the political leader of the Gau, was in

charge of each Gau or district. Each Gauleiter was appointed by and was

directly responsible to Hitler. I quote from Page 18 of this same

document, 1893-PS, the _Organization Book of the NSDAP_:

“The Gau represents the concentration of a number of Party

counties”—or Kreise—“The Gauleiter is directly subordinate to

the Führer. . . .”

“The Gauleiter bears over-all responsibility to the Führer for

the sector of sovereignty entrusted to him. The rights, duties,

and jurisdiction of the Gauleiter result primarily from the

mission assigned by the Führer, and apart from that, from

detailed directives.”

The responsibility and function of the Gauleiter and his staff officers

or officeholders were essentially political, namely, to insure the

authority of the Nazi Party within his area, to co-ordinate the

activities of the Party and all its affiliated and supervised

organizations, and to enlarge the influence of the Party over the people

and life in his Gau generally. Following the outbreak of the war, when

it became imperative to co-ordinate the various phases of the German war

effort, the Gauleiter were given additional important responsibilities.

The Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich, which was a sort

of general staff for civilian defense and the mobilization of the German

war economy, by a decree of 1 September 1939, 1939 _Reichsgesetzblatt_,

Part I, page 1565, appointed about 16 Gauleiter as Reich Defense

Commissars, concerning which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice.

Later, under the impact of mounting military reverses and an

increasingly strained war economy, more and more important

administrative functions were put on a Gau basis. The Party Gaue became

the basic defense areas of the Reich, and each Gauleiter became a Reich

Defense Commissar by a decree of the Ministerial Council for the Defense

of the Reich of 16 November 1942, 1942 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, page

649, of which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice. In the course

of the war additional functions were entrusted to the Gauleiter, so that

at the end, with the exception of certain special matters such as police

affairs, almost all phases of the German war economy were co-ordinated

and supervised by them. For instance, regional authority over price

control was put under the Gauleiter as Reich Defense Commissars, and

housing administration was placed under the Gauleiter as Gau Housing

Commissars. Toward the end of the war the Gauleiter were charged even

with the military and quasi-military tasks. They were made commanders of

the Volkssturm in their areas and were entrusted with such important

functions as the evacuation of civilian population in the path of the

advancing Allied armies as well as measures for the destruction of vital

installations.

The structure and organization of the Party Gaue were substantially

repeated in the lower levels of the Reich Party organization such as the

Kreise, Ortsgruppen, Zellen, and Blocks. Each of these was headed by a

political leader who, subject to the Führer principle and the orders of

superior political leaders, was a sovereign within his sphere. The

Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party was in effect a “hierarchy of

descending Caesars.” Each of the subordinate Party levels, such as the

Kreise, Ortsgruppen, and so on, was organized into offices, or Ämter,

dealing with the various specialized functions of the Party. But the

number of such departments and offices diminished as the Party unit

dropped in the hierarchy, so that, while the Kreis office contained all

or almost all of the offices in the Gau (such as the deputy, the staff

office leader, an organization leader, school leader, propaganda leader,

press office leader, treasurer, judge of the Party court, inspector, and

the like), the Ortsgruppe had less, and the Zellen and Blocks still

fewer.

The Kreisleiter was appointed and dismissed by Hitler upon the

nomination of the Gauleiter and directly subordinate to the Gauleiter in

the Party hierarchy. The Kreis usually consisted of a single county. The

Kreisleiter, within the Kreis, had in general the same position, powers,

and prerogatives granted the Gauleiter in the Gau. In cities they

constituted the very core of Party power and organization. I quote again

from Page 17 of Document 1893-PS, Page 17 of the English translation:

“The Kreisleiter carries over-all responsibility towards the

Gauleiter within his zone of sovereignty for the political and

ideological training and organization of the Political Leaders,

the Party members, as well as the population”.

The Ortsgruppenleiter was the local chapter leader. The area of the

Ortsgruppenleiter was comprised of one or more communes, or, in a town,

a certain district. The Ortsgruppe was composed of a combination of

blocks and cells according to local circumstances, and contained up to

1,500 households. The Ortsgruppenleiter also had a staff of office

leaders to assist him in the various functional activities of the Party.

All other Political Leaders in his area of responsibility were

subordinate to and under the direction of the Ortsgruppenleiter. For

example, the leaders of the various affiliated organizations of the

Party, within his area, such as the German Labor Front and the Nazi

organizations for lawyers, students, and civil servants, were all

subordinate to the Ortsgruppenleiter. In accordance with the

Führerprinzip, the Ortsgruppenleiter, or local chapter leaders, were

appointed by the Gauleiter and were directly under and subordinate to

the Kreisleiter.

The Party manual provides as follows with reference to the

Ortsgruppenleiter, and I quote from Pages 16 and 17 of Document 1893-PS:

“As Hoheitsträger”—bearer of sovereignty—“he is competent for

all expressions of the Party will; he is responsible for the

political and ideological leadership and organization within his

zone of sovereignty.

“The Ortsgruppenleiter carries the over-all responsibility for

the political results of all measures initiated by the offices,

organizations, and affiliated association of the Party. . . .

“The Ortsgruppenleiter has the right to protest to the

Kreisleiter against any measures contrary to the interests of

the Party with regard to a united political appearance in

public.”

The Zellenleiter was responsible for from four to eight blocks. He was

the immediate superior of, and had control and supervision over, the

Blockleiter. His mission and duties, according to the Party manual,

corresponded to the missions of the Blockleiter. I quote from the last

paragraph of Page 15, just one line of that same document: “The missions

of the cell-leader correspond to the missions of the block-leader.”

The Blockleiter was the one Party official who was peculiarly in a

position to have continuous contact with the German people. The block

was the lowest unit in the Party pyramidal organization. The block of

the Party comprised 40 to 60 households and was regarded by the Party as

the focal point upon which to press the weight of its propaganda. I

quote from Pages 13 and 14 of this same document:

“The household is the basic community upon which the block and

cell system is built. The household is the organizational focal

point of all Germans united in an apartment, and includes

roomers, domestic help, _et cetera_. . . . The Blockleiter has

jurisdiction over all matters within his zone relating to the

Movement, and is fully responsible to the Zellenleiter.”

The Blockleiter, as in the case of other Political Leaders, was charged

with planning, disseminating, and developing a receptivity to the

policies of the Nazi Party among the population in his area of

responsibility. It was also the expressed duty of the Blockleiter to spy

on the population. I quote from Pages 14 and 15 of this same document:

“It is the duty of the Blockleiter to find people disseminating

damaging rumors and to report them to the Ortsgruppe, so that

they may be reported to the respective State authorities.

“The Blockleiter must not only be a preacher and defender of the

National Socialist ideology towards the member of the Nation and

Party entrusted to his political care, but he must also strive

to achieve practical collaboration of the Party members within

his block zone. . . .

“The Blockleiter shall continuously remind the Party members of

their particular duties towards the people and the state. The

Blockleiter keeps a list (card file) about the households. . . .

In principle, the Blockleiter will settle his official business

verbally, and he will receive messages verbally and pass them on

in the same way. Correspondence will only be used in cases of

absolute necessity. . . . The Blockleiter conducts National

Socialist propaganda from mouth to mouth. He will eventually

awaken the understanding of the eternally dissatisfied as

regards the frequently misunderstood or wrongly interpreted

measures and laws of the National Socialist Government. . . . It

is not necessary for him to fall in with complaints and gripes

about possibly obvious shortcomings of any kind in order to

demonstrate solidarity. . . . A condition to gain the confidence

of all people is to maintain absolute secrecy in all matters.”

It will be shown that there were in Germany nearly half a million

Blockleiter. Large though this figure may appear, there can be no doubt

that these officials were in and of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi

Party. Though they stood at the broad base of the Party pyramid rather

than at its summit, where rested the Reichsleiter, by virtue of this

fact they were stationed at close intervals throughout the German civil

population.

THE PRESIDENT: I think, Colonel Storey, it would be an assistance to the

Tribunal if you could tell us, that is, at some time convenient to

yourself, approximately how many there were of each of these ranks in

the corps.

COL. STOREY: If Your Honor please, that is the next subject.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

COL. STOREY: It may be doubted that the average German ever looked upon

the face of Heinrich Himmler. But the man in the street in Nazi Germany

could not have avoided an uneasy acquaintance with the Blockleiter in

his own neighborhood. As it is the “cop on the beat” rather than the

chief magistrate of the nation who symbolizes law enforcement to the

average man and woman, so it was the Blockleiter who represented to the

people of Germany the police state of Hitler’s Germany. In fact, as may

be inferred from the evidence, the Blockleiter were “little Führers”

with real and literal power over the civilians in their domains. As

proof of the authority of the Blockleiter to exercise coercion and the

threat of force upon the civil population, I quote from Document

2833-PS, which is an excerpt from Page 7 of the magazine entitled _The

Face of the Party_, Document 2833-PS. It is just a line of quotation:

“Advice and sometimes also the harsher form of education is

employed if the faulty conduct of an individual harms this

individual himself, and thus also the community.”

Before I get to the numbers, I wanted to deal with the Hoheitsträger.

THE PRESIDENT: Don’t you think it is time to break off?

COL. STOREY: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Until 2 o’clock.

[_A recess was taken until 1400 hours._]

_Afternoon Session_

COL. STOREY: Your Honors will notice that we have substituted an

enlarged chart for the photostatic copy that was introduced in evidence

this morning. Another thing I would like to call Your Honors’ attention

to is the fact that the other chart, the big one, was dated 1945 and

therefore did not show the Defendant Hess because of his flight to

England in 1941, and it will be recalled that the Defendant Hess

occupied the position before Bormann directly under the Führer in the

Party organization.

We now take up the Hoheitsträger. The Hoheitsträger, diverting from the

text, is shown on this chart very well; and all of those shown in black

blocks constitute the Hoheitsträger, beginning with the Führer and going

down the vertical column clear down to the Blockleiter.

Within the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party certain of the political

leaders possessed a higher degree of responsibility than others, were

vested with special prerogatives, and constituted a distinctive and

elite group within the Party hierarchy. Those were the so-called

Hoheitsträger, or bearers of sovereignty, who represented the Party

within the area of jurisdiction, which is a section of Germany, the

so-called “Hoheitsgebiet.” I now quote from Page 9 of the English

translation of Document 1893-PS:

“Among the political leaders, the Hoheitsträger assume a special

position. Contrary to the other political leaders who have

departmental missions . . . the Hoheitsträger themselves are in

charge of a geographical sector known as the

Hoheitsgebiet”—sectors of sovereignty.

“The Hoheitsträger are:

“The Führer, the Gauleiter, the Kreisleiter, the

Ortsgruppenleiter, the Zellenleiter, and the Blockleiter.

“Hoheitsgebiete are:

“The Reich, the Gau, the Kreis, the Ortsgruppe, the Zelle, the

Block.

“Within their sector of sovereignty the Hoheitsträger have

sovereign political rights. They represent the Party within

their sector. The Hoheitsträger supervise all Party offices

within their jurisdiction and are responsible for the

maintenance of discipline.”

If Your Honors please, that is Page 9 of the English translation, if you

find it, of 1893.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

COL. STOREY: “The directors of offices, _et cetera_, and of the

affiliated organizations are responsible to their respective

Hoheitsträger . . . as regards their special missions. The

Hoheitsträger are superior to all political leaders, managers,

and so forth, within their sector. As regards personal

consideration, Hoheitsträger are endowed with special rights

. . . .

“The Hoheitsträger of the Party are not to be administrative

officials . . . but are to move in a continuous vital contact

with the political leaders of the population within their

sector. The Hoheitsträger are responsible for the proper and

good supervision of all members of the nation within their

sector . . . .

“The Party intends to achieve a state of affairs in which the

individual German will find his way to the Party . . . .”

The distinctive character of the Politische Leiter constituting the

Hoheitsträger and their existence and operation as an identifiable group

are indicated by the publication of a magazine entitled _Der

Hoheitsträger_ whose distribution was limited by regulation of the Reich

Organization Leader to the Hoheitsträger and certain other designated

Politische Leiter. I now refer to Document 2660-PS, which I offer in

evidence; and I would like to digress from the published manuscript and

call Number 2660-PS Exhibit Number USA-325. I would like to exhibit this

book to Your Honors. This is the book itself and it is for the

Hoheitsträger, with a very limited distribution, and I quote from the

inside cover of this magazine which reads as follows—it is right in the

beginning:

“_Der Hoheitsträger_, the contents of which is to be handled

confidentially, serves only for the orientation of the competent

leaders. It may not be loaned out to other persons.”

Then follows a list of the Hoheitsträger and other political leaders

authorized to receive the magazine. The magazine states, in addition,

that the following are entitled to receive it—I would like to emphasize

the ones to receive it:

“Commandants, unit commanders, and ‘Ordensburg’ members; The

Reich, Shock Troop, and Gau speakers of the NSDAP; the

Obergruppenführer and Gruppenführer of the SA, the SS, the

NSFK”—which is the Flying Corps—“and the NSKK”—the Party

Motor Corps—“Obergebietsführer and Gebietsführer of the

HJ”—that is the Hitler Jugend.

The fact that this magazine existed, that it derived its name from the

commanding officers of the Leadership Corps, that it was distributed to

the elite of the Leadership Corps, in other words, that a house bulletin

was circulated down the command channels of the Leadership Corps is

probative of the fact that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party was a

group or an organization within the meaning of Article 9 of the Charter.

An examination of the contents of the magazine _Der Hoheitsträger_

reveals a continuing concern by the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party

in measures and doctrines which were employed throughout the course of

the conspiracy charged in the Indictment. I shall not trouble the

Tribunal nor encumber the record by offering in evidence exhaustive

enumeration of these matters; but it may serve to clarify the plans and

policies of the inner elite of the Leadership Corps by indicating that a

random sampling of articles published and policies advocated in the

various issues of the magazine from February 1937 to October 1938

included the following:

Slanderous anti-Semitic articles, attacks on Catholicism and the

Christian religion and the clergy; the need for motorized armament; the

urgent need for expanded Lebensraum and colonies; persistent attacks on

the League of Nations; the use of the block and cell in achieving

favorable Party votes, the intimate association between the Wehrmacht

and the political leadership; the racial doctrines of Fascism, the cult

of leadership; the role of the Gaue, Ortsgruppen, and Zellen in the

expansion of Germany; and related matters all of which constituted

elements and doctrinal techniques in the carrying out of the conspiracy

charged in the Indictment.

The political leaders were organized according to the leadership

principle. I quote from the fourth paragraph of Page 2 of Document

1893-PS, at the bottom of the page, and top of Page 3:

“The basis of the Party organization is the Führer idea. The

public is unable to rule itself either directly or indirectly

. . . . All political leaders stand as appointed by the Führer

and are responsible to him. They possess full authority toward

the lower echelons. . . . Only a man who has gone through the

school of subordinate functions within the Party has a claim to

the higher Führer offices. We can only use ‘Führer’ who have

served from the ground up. Any political leader who does not

conform to these principles is to be dismissed or to be sent

back to the lower offices, as Blockleiter, Zellenleiter, for

further training. The political leader is not an office worker

but the political deputy of the Führer . . . . With the

political leader we are building the political leadership of the

State . . . . The type of the political leader is not

characterized by the office which he represents. There is no

such thing as a political leader of the NSBO, _et cetera_, but

there is only the political leader of the NSDAP.”

Each political leader was sworn in yearly. According to the Party manual

the wording of the oath was as follows; and I quote from the second

paragraph on Page 3, Document 1893-PS:

“I pledge eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler; I pledge

unconditional obedience to him and the Führer appointed by him.”

The _Organization Book of the NSDAP_ also provides, and I quote from

Page 3, Paragraph 4, of the same document:

“The political leader is inseparably tied to the ideology and

the organization of the NSDAP. His oath only ends with his death

or with his expulsion from the National Socialist community.”

Appointment of political leaders:

With respect to the appointment of the political leaders constituting

the Leadership Corps of the Party, I quote from Page 4 of the

_Organization Book_, which is Document 1893-PS:

“1. The Führer appoints the following political leaders:

“a) Reichsleiter and all political leaders within the

Reichsleitung”—Reich Party Directorate—“including women’s

leaders; b) Gauleiter, including the political leaders holding

offices in the Gauleitung”—Gau Party Directorate—“including

Gau women’s leaders; c) Kreisleiter. . . .

“2. The Gauleiter appoints:

“a) The political leaders and women’s leaders within the Gau

Party Directorate . . . b) the political leaders and the

directors of women’s leagues in the Kreis Party Directorate; c)

Ortsgruppenleiter.

“3. The Kreisleiter appoints the political leaders and the

directors of the women’s leagues of the Ortsgruppen including

the block and cell leaders . . . .”

The power of Hoheitsträger to call upon other Party formations:

The Hoheitsträger among the Leadership Corps were entitled to call upon

and utilize the various Party formations as necessary for the execution

of the Nazi Party policies.

The Party manual provides, with respect to the power and authority of

the Hoheitsträger to requisition the services of the SA—and I quote

from Page 11 of this same Document 1893-PS:

“The Hoheitsträger is responsible for the entire political

appearance of the Movement within this zone. The SA leader of

that zone is tied to the directives of the Hoheitsträger in that

respect . . . . The Hoheitsträger is the ranking representative

of the Party to include all organizations within his zone. He

may requisition the SA located within his zone from the

respective SA leader if they are needed for the execution of a

political mission. The Hoheitsträger will then assign the

mission to the SA . . . . Should the Hoheitsträger need more SA

for the execution of a political mission than is locally

available, he then applies to the next higher office of

sovereignty which, in turn, requests the SA from the SA office

in his sector.”

According to the Party manual, the Hoheitsträger had the same authority

to call upon the services of the SS and NSKK as they possessed with

respect to the SA.

With respect to the authority of the Hoheitsträger to call upon the

services of the Hitler Youth (the HJ), the Party manual states, and I

quote from Page 11, the last paragraph of that translation:

“The political leader has the right to requisition the HJ”—that

is the Hitler Jugend—“in the same manner as the SA for the

execution of a political action . . . .

“In appointing leaders of the HJ . . . the office of the HJ must

procure the approval of the Hoheitsträger of its zone. This

means that the Hoheitsträger can prevent the appointment of

leaders unsuited for the leadership of youth. If his approval

has not been procured, an appointment may be cancelled if he so

requests.”

An example of the use of the Party formations at the call of the

Leadership Corps of the Party is provided by the action taken by the

Reichsleiter for Party Organization of the National Socialist Party, Dr.

Robert Ley, leading to the deliberate dissolution of the Free Trade

Unions on 2 May 1933. I quote from Document 392-PS, Exhibit Number

USA-326, which is a copy of the directive issued by the Defendant Ley on

21 April 1933, reproduced on Pages 51-52 of the _Social Life in New

Germany_ by Professor Müller. In this directive the late Defendant Ley

directed the employment of the SA and the SS in the occupation of trade

unions and for taking trade union leaders into protective custody. I now

quote from Paragraph 6 of Page 1 of Document 392-PS. It is the third and

fourth paragraph from the bottom of the page:

“SA as well as SS are to be employed for the occupation of trade

union properties and for the taking of personalities, who come

into question, into protective custody.

“The Gauleiter is to proceed with his measures on a basis of the

closest understanding with the competent regional cell

director.”

I also quote from the second paragraph of Page 2 of that same document

which reads, quoting:

“The following are to be taken into protective custody: All

trade union chairmen, the district secretaries and the branch

directors of the ‘Bank for Workers, Employees, and Officials,

Incorporated,’ included.”

I now offer in evidence Document 2474-PS, Exhibit Number USA-327, which

is a copy of a decree issued by the Defendant Hess as Deputy of the

Führer, dated 25 October 1934, which underwrites the authority of the

Hoheitsträger with respect to Party formations. I quote from the

numbered Paragraphs 1, 5, and 6 of Page 1 of Document 2474-PS which

reads as follows—Page 1 of the English translation:

“The political leadership within the Party and its political

representation towards all offices, state or others which are

outside of the Party, lie solely and exclusively with the

Hoheitsträger”—bearers of sovereignty—“which is to say with

me, the Gauleiter, Kreisleiter, and Ortsgruppenleiter. . . .

“The departmental workers of the Party organizations, such as

Reichsleiter, office directors, _et cetera_, as well as the

leaders of the SA, SS, HJ, and the subordinate affiliations, may

not enter into binding agreements of a political nature with

State and other offices except when so authorized by their

Hoheitsträger.

“In places where the territories of the units of the SA, SS, HJ,

and the subordinate affiliations do not coincide with the zones

of the Hoheitsträger, the Hoheitsträger will give his political

directives to the ranking leader of each unit within his zone of

sovereignty.”

It was the official policy of the Leadership Corps to establish close

and co-operative relations with the Gestapo. The Tribunal will recall

that the head of the German Police and SS, Himmler, was a Reichsleiter

on the top level of the Leadership Corps. Without offering in evidence a

decree issued by the Defendant Bormann as Chief of Staff of the Deputy

of the Führer, dated 26 June 1935, I ask the Court to take judicial

knowledge; and I quote:

“In order to effect a closer contact between the offices of the

Party and its organizations with the Directors of the Secret

State Police,”—Gestapo—“the Deputy of the Führer requests that

the directors of the Gestapo be invited to attend all the larger

official rallies of the Party and its organizations.”

That is from the 1935 edition, Page 143, dated the 26th June 1935, _The

Decrees of the Deputy of the Führer_.

With reference to the meetings and conferences among the Hoheitsträger

of the Leadership Corps, it is the contention of the Prosecution that

the members of the Leadership Corps constituted a distinctive and

identifiable group or organization. It is strongly supported by the fact

that the various Hoheitsträger were under an absolute obligation to meet

and confer periodically, not only with the staff officers of their own

staffs, but with the political leaders and staff officers immediately

subordinate to them. For example, the Gauleiter was bound to confer with

his staff officers (such as his deputy and so forth, which included the

school leader, propaganda leader, press leader, his Gau Party judge, and

so on) every 8 to 14 days. Furthermore, the Gauleiter was obligated to

meet with the various Gauleaders subordinate to him once every 3 months

for a 3-day convention for the purpose of discussing and clarifying Nazi

Party policies and directives, for hearing basic lectures on Party

policy, and for the mutual exchange of information pertinent to the

Party’s current program. The Gauleiter was also obligated to meet at

least once a month with the leaders of the Party formations and

affiliated organizations within his Gau area, such as the leaders of the

SA, and SS, Hitler Youth, and others. In support of these statements, I

quote from Page 8 of Document 1893-PS. I don’t think it is necessary to

read all of that:

“Leader conferences in the district:

“A. District Leaders.”

If Your Honor please, with your permission I will omit the reading of

that because it was really summarized in my previous statement. I will

quote Subparagraph (d):

“(d) The bearer of sovereignty will meet at least once a month

with the leaders of the SA, SS, NSKK, HJ, as well as the RAD and

the NSFK who are within the zone, for the purpose of mutual

collaboration.”

The _Organization Book_ of the Party imposes a similar requirement of

regular and periodical conferences and meetings upon all the other

Hoheitsträger, including the Kreisleiter, Ortsgruppenleiter,

Zellenleiter, and Blockleiter.

The clear consequence of such regular and obligatory conferences and

meetings by all the Hoheitsträger, both with their own staff officers

and with the political leaders and staff officers subordinate to them,

was that basic Nazi policies and directives issued by Hitler and the

leader of the Party Chancellery, the Defendant Bormann, directly through

the chain of command of the Hoheitsträger, and functional policies

issued by the various Reichsleiter and Reich officeholders down

functional and technical channels, were certain to be notified to,

received, and understood by the bulk of the membership of the Leadership

Corps.

If I may digress from my text and call attention to this chart, you will

see the dotted lines connecting down from the Party level, Gau level, to

similar offices in the lower level.

Now I next come to the statistics relating to the Leadership Corps of

the Nazi Party and the evidence relating to the size of the Leadership

Corps of the Nazi Party. As previously shown, the Leadership Corps

comprised the sum of officials of the Nazi Party including, in addition

to Hitler and the members of the Reichsleitung, such as the Reichsleiter

and the Reich officeholders, a hierarchy of Hoheitsträger, which I have

described, as well as the staff officers attached to the Hoheitsträger.

I now offer in evidence Document 2958-PS, Exhibit Number USA-325; and

this is Issue Number 8, 1939, of the official Leadership Corps organ

_Der Hoheitsträger_, similar to the one I exhibited a moment ago, and

this is for the year 1939. This shows that there were: 40 Gaue and 1

Foreign Gau, each led by a Gauleiter—that is 41; 808 Kreisleiter;

28,376 Ortsgruppenleiter; 89,378 Zellenleiter; and 463,048 Blockleiter.

However, as shown by the evidence previously introduced, the Leadership

Corps of the Nazi Party was composed not only of the Hoheitsträger, but

also of the staff officers or officeholders attached to the

Hoheitsträger. The Gauleiter, for example, was assisted by a deputy

Gauleiter, several Gau inspectors, and a staff which was divided into

main offices (Hauptämter) and offices (Ämter) including such departments

as the Gau staff office, treasury, education office, propaganda office,

press office, university teachers, communal policy, and so forth. As

previously shown, the staff office structure of the Gau was

substantially represented in the lower levels of the Leadership Corps

organization such as the Kreise, the Ortsgruppen, and so on. The Kreise

and the smaller territorial areas of the Party were also organized into

staff offices dealing with the various activities of the Leadership

Corps. But, of course, the importance and the number of such staff

offices diminished as the unit dropped in the hierarchy; so that, while

the Kreisleiter staff contained all or most of the departments mentioned

for the Gau, the Ortsgruppe had fewer departments and the lower ones

fewer still.

Firm figures have not been found as to the total number of staff

officers, as distinguished from the Hoheitsträger or political

commanders themselves, included within the Leadership Corps.

With respect to the scope and composition of the Leadership Corps of the

Nazi Party, the Prosecution adopts the view and respectfully submits to

this Tribunal, that in defining the limits of the Leadership Corps,

staff officers should only be included down to and including the Kreis.

Upon this basis, the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party did constitute

the Führer, the members of the Reichsleitung, the five levels of the

Hoheitsträger, and the staff officers attached to the 40-odd Gauleiter

and the 800 or 900 Kreisleiter. Adopting this definition of the

Leadership Corps, it will be seen that the total figure for the

membership of that organization, based upon the statistics cited from

the basic handbook for Germany, amounts to around 600,000. And by

excepting the staff officers of the lower levels, as is provided in the

Indictment, and as just defined, and without prejudice to any later

individual action against those excepted, we think the figure of around

600,000 is approximately correct.

It is true that this figure is based upon an admittedly limited view of

the size of the membership of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party,

for the evidence has shown that the Leadership Corps, in effect,

embraced staff officers attached to the subordinate Hoheitsträger; and

the inclusion of such staff officers in the estimation of the size of

the Leadership Corps, if we had so recommended, would have been

considerably enlarged so that the final figure, if we had included staff

officers to the Blockleiter, would have been 2,000,000, in round

numbers.

MR. FRANCIS BIDDLE (Member for the United States): What reason is there

for excluding them?

COL. STOREY: For this reason, Your Honor, a person on the last level of

Blockleiter might have called on an individual laborer who might have

been on his staff; but he certainly did not have the discretion that a

staff leader did, for example, or the Gauleiter, say, as a propaganda

man who disseminated information down as well as helped participate in

plans and policies of the upper organization.

The subordinate staff officers thus excluded were responsible

functionally to the higher staff officers with respect to their

particular specialty, such as propaganda, Party organization, and so on,

and to their respective Hoheitsträger with respect to discipline and

policy control and, as I mentioned, likewise such higher staff officers

participated in planning and policy and passed those policies down

through technical levels or technical channels as opposed to command

channels.

“The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party joined and participated in the

Common Plan or Conspiracy” is the next title.

The program of the Nazi Party, proclaimed by Hitler on 24 February 1920,

contained the chief elements of the Nazi plan for domination and

conquest. I now quote from Document 1708-PS, which is the _Year Book for

1941_, published by the Party, and edited by the late Robert Ley. This

book contains the famous 25 points of the Party which I now offer in

evidence as Exhibit Number USA-324. Diverting from the text—I don’t

intend to quote these 25 Party objectives, but only refer to a few of

them, and I quote from Page 1 of the English translation of Document

1708-PS:

Point 1:

“We demand the unification of all Germans in Greater Germany on

the basis of the right of self-determination of peoples.”

Point 2 of that program which I quote demanded unilateral abolition of

the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain:

“We demand equality of rights for the German people in respect

to the other nations; abrogation of the Peace Treaties of

Versailles and St. Germain.”

Point 3:

“We demand land and territory (colonies) for the sustenance of

our people and colonization by our surplus population.”

Point 4:

“Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the

race can only be one who is of German blood without

consideration of confession. Consequently, no Jew can be a

member of the race.”

Point 6:

“We demand that every public office, of any sort whatsoever,

whether in the Reich, the county, or municipality, be filled by

citizens only. We combat the corrupting parliamentary regime,

office-holding only according to party inclinations without

consideration of character or abilities.”

Point 22—this is from Page 2 of the English translation of Document

1708-PS:

“We demand the abolition of the mercenary troops and the

formation of a National Army.”

Back to Page 1—another quotation:

“The program is the political foundation of the NSDAP and

accordingly the primary political law of the State. . . .

“All legal precepts are to be applied in the spirit of the Party

program.

“Since the taking over of power, the Führer has succeeded in the

realization of the essential portions of the Party program from

the fundamentals to the details.

“The Party program of the NSDAP was proclaimed on 24 February

1920 by Adolf Hitler at the first large Party gathering in

Munich and since that day has remained unaltered. The National

Socialist philosophy is summarized in 25 points.”

As previously mentioned, the Party program was binding upon the

political leaders and they were under duty to support and carry out that

program.

The Party manual states, and I quote again from the middle of Page 1 of

Document 1893-PS:

“The Commandments of the National Socialists: The Führer is

always right. . . . The program be your dogma; it demands your

utter devotion to the Movement. . . . Right is what serves the

Movement and thus Germany. . . .”

And on Page 2 of the same document another brief quotation:

“The Leadership Corps is responsible for the complete

penetration of the German nation with the National Socialist

spirit. . . .”

The oath of the political leaders to Hitler has been previously

mentioned. In this connection the Party manual provides, and I quote

from the second paragraph on Page 3 of the same document:

“The political leader is inseparably tied to the ideology and

the organization of the NSDAP. His oath only ends with his death

or with his expulsion from the National Socialist community.”

While the leadership principle assured the binding nature of Hitler’s

statements, program, and policies upon the entire Party and the

Leadership Corps thereof, the leadership principle also established the

full responsibility of the individual political leader within the

province and jurisdiction of his office or position.

The leadership principle applies not only to Hitler as the supreme

leader but also to the political leaders under him and thus permeated

the entire Leadership Corps. I quote from the middle of Page 2 of

Document 1893-PS:

“The basis of the Party organization is the Führer idea. . . .

“All political leaders stand as appointed by the Führer and are

responsible to him. They possess full authority toward the lower

echelons. . . .”

The various Hoheitsträger of the Leadership Corps were, in their

respective areas, themselves Führer. I quote from the third paragraph of

Page 9 of this same document:

“Within their sector of sovereignty, the Hoheitsträger have

sovereign political rights. . . . They are responsible for the

entire political situation within their sector.”

I again refer to and quote from Document 1814-PS, Exhibit Number

USA-328, which is the Party book. It is just a one-sentence quotation,

and it states: “The Party is an Order of ‘Führer.’”

The subjugation of the entire membership of the Leadership Corps to the

fiat of the leadership principle is clearly shown in the following

passage from the Party manual; it is this same document on Page 3:

“A solid anchorage for all the organizations within the Party

structure is provided and a firm connection with the sovereign

leaders of the NSDAP is created in accordance with the

leadership principle.”

Next is the subject, “The Nazi Party, directed by the Leadership Corps,

dominated and controlled the German State and Government.”

The trial brief dealing with the criminality of the Reich Cabinet sets

forth the evidence as to the identity of various ministers comprising

the Cabinet, and I shall not deal with that subject. The presence of the

Reichsleiter and other prominent members of the Leadership Corps in the

Cabinet facilitated the domination of the Cabinet by the Nazi Party and

the Leadership Corps.

And I omit the next paragraph down to the law of July 14, 1933.

A law of 14 July 1933 outlawed and forbade the formation of any

political parties other than the Nazi Party and made offenses against

this a punishable crime, thereby establishing the one-party state and

rendering the Leadership Corps immune from the opposition of organized

political groups. I now quote from Document 1388-PS, that being the

English translation of the “Law against the Formation of New Political

Parties” stated in _Reichsgesetzblatt_, 1933, Part I, Page 479; and I

quote the first two articles of this law, which read as follows:

“The National Socialist German Workers’ Party constitutes the

only political party in Germany. Whoever undertakes to maintain

the organizational structure of another political party or to

form a new political party will be punished with penal servitude

up to 3 years or with imprisonment of from 6 months to 3 years,

if the deed is not subject to a greater penalty according to

other regulations.”

I will skip the next paragraph.

I now quote from Document 1398-PS, which is the English translation of

“Law to Supplement the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil

Service,” dated 20 July 1933—1933 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page

518.

On 13 October 1933 “A Law to Guarantee Public Peace” was enacted which

provided, _inter alia_, that the death penalty or other severe

punishment should be imposed upon any person who “undertakes to kill

. . . a member of the SA or the SS, a trustee or agent of the NSDAP

. . . out of political motives or on account of their official

activity.”

THE PRESIDENT: Where is that you were reading, 1398-PS?

COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir; 1398-PS. I am in error, Sir, it is 1394-PS just

previous.

THE PRESIDENT: Which article are you reading?

COL. STOREY: I am afraid I don’t have the reference, but here is the

quotation, I think it is on that one page. “A Law to Guarantee Public

Peace,” and then it has to do—it is Article 2, I believe—Paragraph 2,

Article 1.

I next refer to Document 1395-PS, which is the English translation of

the Law on Security and the Unity of Party and State of 1 December 1933,

and it was enacted “to secure the unity of Party and state.” This law

provided that the Nazi Party was the pillar of the German State and was

linked to it indissolubly; it also made the Deputy of the Führer (then

Hess) and the Chief of Staff of the SA (then Röhm) members of the Reich

Cabinet. I quote:

“After the victory of the National Socialist revolution the

National Socialistic German Labor Party is the bearer of the

concept of the German State and is inseparably the State. It

will be a part of the public law. Its organization will be

determined by the Führer. . . .

“The Deputy of the Führer and the Chief of Staff of the SA will

become members of the Reich Government in order to insure close

co-operation of the offices of the Party and SA with the public

authorities.”

This law was a basic measure in enthroning the Leadership Corps in a

position of supreme political power in Germany. For it laid down that

the Party, directed by the Leadership Corps, was the embodiment of the

State and in fact was the State. Moreover, this law made both the

Führer’s Deputy and the Chief of Staff of the SA, which was a Party

formation subject to the call of the Hoheitsträger, Cabinet members,

thus further solidifying the leadership control of the Cabinet. The

dominant position of the Leadership Corps is further revealed by the

provision that the Reich Chancellor would issue the carrying-out

regulations of this law in his capacity as Führer of the Nazi Party. The

fact that Hitler, as Führer of the Leadership Corps, could promulgate

rules which would have statutory force and be published in the

_Reichsgesetzblatt_, the proper compilation for State enactments, is but

a further reflection of the reality of the Party’s domination of the

German State.

I now refer to Document 2775-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-330, which

is the English translation of certain extracts from Hitler’s speeches to

the 1934 and 1935 Party Congress at Nuremberg. I quote from the second

extract in Document 2775-PS, which is a declaration by Hitler to the

1934 Party Congress and which reads—just one sentence, “It is not the

State which gives orders to us, it is we who give orders to the State.”

Upon the evidence, that categorical statement of the Führer of the

Leadership Corps, affirming the dominance of the Party over the State,

cannot be refuted.

On the 30th of June 1934 Hitler, as head of the Nazi Party, directed the

massacre of hundreds of SA men and other political opponents. Hitler

sought to justify these mass murders by declaring to the Reichstag that

“at that hour I was responsible for the fate of the German nation and

the supreme judge of the German people.” The evidence relating to these

events will be presented at a later stage in connection with the case

against the SA.

On the 3rd of July 1934 the Cabinet issued a decree describing the

murders and the massacre of 30 June 1934, in effect, as legitimate

self-defense by the State. By this law the Reich Cabinet moved to make

themselves accessories after the fact of these murders. The domination

by the Party, however, makes the Cabinet’s characterization of these

criminal acts by Hitler and his top Party leaders as state measures

consistent with political reality. I refer now to Document 2057-PS,

which is the English translation of the “Law Relating to the National

Emergency Defense Measures” of 3 July 1934, in the _Reichsgesetzblatt_

of that year, Part I, Page 529, and I quote the single article of that

law, which reads as follows—this still has reference to the blood

purge:

“The measures taken on 30 June and 1 and 2 July 1934 to

counteract attempts at treason and high treason shall be

considered as national emergency defense.”

On 12 July 1934 there was enacted a law defining the function of the

Academy for German Law. I refer to Document 1391-PS, which is an English

translation of the statute of the Academy for German Law, 12 July 1934,

1934 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Pages 605 and 606:

“In constant, close connection with the agencies competent for

legislation, it”—the academy—“shall further the realization of

the National Socialist program in the realm of the law.”

On 30 January 1933, Hitler, the Leader of the Nazi Party and Führer of

the Leadership Corps, was appointed Chancellor of the Reich. When

President Von Hindenburg died in 1934, the Führer amalgamated into his

person the offices of Chancellor and Reich President. I refer to

Document 2003-PS, which establishes that fact, and I do not quote. It is

_Reichsgesetzblatt_ 1934, Part I, Page 747.

By decree of the 20th of December 1934 Party uniforms and institutions

were granted the same protection as those of the State. This law was

entitled, “Law Concerning Treacherous Acts against the State and Party

and for the Protection of Party Uniforms.” This law imposed heavy

penalties upon any person making false statements injuring the welfare

or prestige of the Nazi Party or its agencies. It authorized the

imprisonment of persons making or circulating malicious or baiting

statements against leading personalities of the Nazi Party, and it

provided punishment by forced labor for the unauthorized wearing of

Party uniforms or symbols. I again refer to Document 1393-PS, not

quoting, which is the English translation and gives the authority.

Finally, by the law of 15 September 1934 the swastika flag of the Party

was made the official flag of the Reich. I refer to Document 2079-PS,

which is the English translation of the Reich Flag Law found in

_Reichsgesetzblatt_ 1935, Part I, Page 1145. Just this one sentence—the

quotation, “The Reich and national flag is the swastika flag.”

The swastika was the flag and symbol of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi

Party. By law it was made the flag of the State; a recognition that the

Party and its corps of political leaders were the sovereign powers in

Germany.

On 23 April 1936 a law was enacted granting amnesty for crimes which the

offender had committed “in his eagerness to fight for the National

Socialist ideals.” I cite Document 1386-PS, which is the English

translation of the “Law Concerning Amnesty,” _Reichsgesetzblatt_ 1936,