“At the proposal of the President of the Reichstag, on its
session of 26 April 1942, the Greater German Reichstag has
unanimously approved of the rights which the Führer has
postulated in his speech with the following decision:
“There can be no doubt that in the present war, in which the
German people is faced with a struggle for its existence or
annihilation, the Führer must have all the rights postulated by
him which serve to further or achieve victory. Therefore,
without being bound by existing legal regulations, in his
capacity as leader of the nation, Supreme Commander of the Armed
Forces, Governmental Chief and Supreme Executive Chief, as
Supreme Justice and as leader of the Party, the Führer must be
in the position to force with all means at his disposal every
German, if necessary—whether he be a common soldier or officer,
low or high, official or judge, leading or subordinate official
of the Party, worker or employee—to fulfill his duties. In case
of violation of these duties, the Führer is entitled, after
conscientious examination, regardless of so-called well-deserved
rights, to mete out due punishment and to remove the offender
from his post, rank, and position without introducing prescribed
procedures.
“At the order of the Führer, this decision is hereby made
public. Berlin, 26 April 1942.”
Hitler, himself, perhaps, best summarized the political realities of his
Germany which constituted the basis for the Prosecution’s submission
that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party and its following
effectively dominated the State. The core and crux of the matter was
stated by Hitler in his speech to the Reichstag on 20 February 1938,
when he declared, in effect, that every institution in Germany was under
the direction of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party.
I cite as the Prosecution’s final exhibit in support of the proposition
that the Leadership Corps dominated the German State with resulting
responsibility, Document 2715-PS, which is the book containing Hitler’s
speech to the Reichstag on the 20th of February 1938, as reported in
_Das Archiv_, Volume 47, February 1938, Pages 1441 and 1442. I quote a
brief excerpt from Document 2715-PS; and I introduce it as Exhibit
USA-331:
“National Socialism has given the German people that leadership
which as Party not only mobilizes the nation but also organizes
it, so that on the basis of the natural principle of selection,
the continuance of a stable political leadership is safeguarded
forever. . . . National Socialism . . . possesses Germany
entirely and completely since the day when, 5 years ago, I left
the house in Wilhelmsplatz as Reich Chancellor. There is no
institution in this State which is not National Socialist. Above
all, however, the National Socialist Party in these 5 years has
not only made the nation National Socialist but also has given
itself that perfect organizational structure which guarantees
its preservation for all the future. The greatest guarantee of
the National Socialist revolution lies in the complete
domination of the Reich and all of its institutions and
organizations, internally and externally, by the National
Socialist Party. Its protection against the world abroad,
however, lies in the new National Socialist Armed Forces. . . .
In this Reich anybody who has a responsible position is a
National Socialist. . . . Every institution of this Reich is
under the command of the supreme political leadership. . . . The
Party leads the Reich politically; the Armed Forces defend it
militarily . . . . There is nobody in any responsible position
in this state who doubts that I am the authorized leader of this
Reich. . . .”
The supreme power which the Leadership Corps exercised over the German
State and Government is pointed out by an article published in this same
authoritative magazine _Der Hoheitsträger_, in February 1939. In this
article, which was addressed to all Hoheitsträger, the Leadership Corps
is reminded that it has conquered the state and possesses absolute and
total power in Germany. I cite Document 3230-PS, which is the English
translation of an article entitled “Fight and Order”; and I quote from
this article, which trumpets forth in what we might term as accents of
Caesarism, the battle call of the Leadership Corps in German life. I
quote:
“Fight? Why do you always talk of fighting? You have conquered
the state, and if something does not please you, then just make
a law and regulate it differently. Why must you always talk of
fighting? For you have every power. Over what do you fight?
Foreign politics? You have the Wehrmacht—it will wage the fight
if fight is required. Domestic politics? You have the law and
the police which can change everything which does not agree with
you.”
THE PRESIDENT: Is this a good time to break off?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir.
[_A recess was taken._]
COL. STOREY: In view of the domination of the German State and
Government by the Nazi Party and the Leadership Corps thereof as
established by the foregoing and other evidence heretofore recited in
the previous trial briefs, it is submitted that the Leadership Corps of
the Nazi Party is responsible for the measures, including the
legislative enactments, taken by the German State and Government in
furtherance of the conspiracy formulated and carried out by the
co-conspirators and the organizations charged with criminality in the
present case.
I now skip and go to the overt acts and crimes of the Leadership Corps.
The evidence now to be presented will establish that the membership of
the Leadership Corps actively entered into a wide variety of acts and
measures designed to advance the course of the conspiracy. The evidence
will show that such participation by the Leadership Corps in the
conspiracy embraces such measures as anti-Semitic activities, war crimes
committed against members of the Allied Forces, participation in the
forced-labor program, measures to subvert and undermine the Christian
religion and persecute the Christian clergy, the plundering and
spoliation of cultural and other property in German occupied territories
in Europe, participation in plans and measures leading to the initiation
and prosecution of aggressive war, and in general, the wide variety of
measures embracing the Crimes against the Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes
against Humanity as defined and denounced by the Charter.
The first item of evidence we have to introduce is in connection with
the participation of the Gauleiter and Kreisleiter in what the Nazis
describe as the “spontaneous uprising of the people” against the Jews
throughout Germany on 9 and 10 November 1938. We do not intend to
introduce, by diverting from the text, any evidence formerly introduced
by Major Walsh on the persecution of the Jews but only to show the
connection of a few of the Party officials in connection with the
assassination of an official of the German Embassy in Paris on the 7th
of November.
The evidence relating to these pogroms has been thoroughly presented in
connection with the Prosecution’s evidence in other phases of the case,
particularly of the persecution of the Jews. I shall therefore limit
myself to two documents and will request the Tribunal to recall that in
the teletyped directive from SS Gruppenführer Heydrich, issued the 10th
of November 1938 to all police headquarters and SD districts, all chiefs
of the State Police were ordered to contact the political leaders in the
Gaue and the Kreise and to arrange with these high officials in the
Leadership Corps the organization of the so-called spontaneous
demonstrations against the Jews.
The evidence previously presented shows that pursuant to this directive
a large number of the Jewish shops and businesses were pillaged and
wrecked, synagogues set on fire, individual Jews beaten up, and large
numbers taken to concentration camps. This evidence forcibly illustrates
the employment and participation of all the Kreisleiter and Gauleiter in
illegal and inhuman measures designed to further the anti-Semitic
program which was an original and continuous objective of the Leadership
Corps of the Nazi Party. I simply refer again to Document 3051-PS,
Exhibit Number USA-240, and simply call Your Honors’ attention to the
different political leaders that were named in that document; and I will
not attempt to read nor refer to it again.
Diverting again from the text, I want to offer at this time in evidence
. . .
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, is it addressed to these various ranks in
the Leadership Corps?
COL. STOREY: Your Honor, I notice on the first page it is addressed—I
am not good in German—but to the State Police, to the SD, and to some
other SD officials.
THE PRESIDENT: What has that got to do with the Leadership Corps?
COL. STOREY: It has to do with directions to Party officials to take
part in these demonstrations. In other words, through certain officials
of the Leadership Corps this directive was dispatched and directed.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you sure the State Police and SD are any of these
ranks in the Leadership Corps?
COL. STOREY: If Your Honors will refer to this original chart, this big
one, you will notice that the SA, and SS, and several of the
organizations are listed on the left-hand part of that big chart. I
think it is in the folder there on Your Honors’ desk. In other words,
the close examination of that directive will show that they were to
contact different political leaders in connection with the carrying into
effect of this demonstration of the 9th and 10th of November. That is
the only purpose for which it is offered. It has been introduced in
evidence, but the reason I mention it at this time . . .
THE PRESIDENT: I can’t see that it shows it. It seems to me to be a
letter from the Chief of the Security Police to all headquarters and
stations of the State Police.
COL. STOREY: I don’t have the English translation before me at this
moment, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, go on.
COL. STOREY: I now offer in evidence Document 3063-PS, Exhibit USA-332.
This was a report from the Chief Party Judge Buch to the Defendant
Göring, dated the 13th of February 1939, concerning actions taken by the
Supreme Party Court for excesses in connection with the demonstrations
of 9 and 10 November 1938. I don’t believe this, if Your Honors please,
is in the document book—3063-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it is.
COL. STOREY: I beg your pardon. I had forgotten whether it is in here. I
quote just a brief portion of it:
“When all the synagogues burned down in one night it must have
been organized in some way and can only have been organized by
the Party.”
It is a long document, and that is the only portion I quote. I don’t
have the reference to it.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What page?
COL. STOREY: I am sorry, Sir, I don’t have the reference book.
THE PRESIDENT: On Page 1. As you say you don’t have the document before
you, there isn’t much use referring you to it.
COL. STOREY: I gave the German text over there, Sir.
“When all the synagogues burned down in one night it must have
been organized in some way, and can only have been organized by
the Party.”
The first paragraph, Page 7.
Now I turn to illustrate the crimes against the Allied airmen. The
members of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party participated in and
shared the responsibility for the murder, beating, and ill-treatment of
Allied airmen who landed in German or German-controlled territory. Many
Allied airmen who bailed out of disabled planes over Germany were not
treated as prisoners of war but were beaten and murdered by German
civilians with the active condonation, indeed at the instigation, of
some of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. Such a course of conduct
by the Leadership Corps represented a flagrant and deliberate violation
by the German Government of its obligations under the Geneva Convention
to protect prisoners of war against acts of violence and ill-treatment.
As shown by Document 2473-PS—it is necessary to turn to that—which is
a list of the Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party appearing in the _National
Socialist Yearbook_ of 1943 and by Document 2903-PS, which is this large
chart, Heinrich Himmler was a Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party and thus a
top official in the Leadership Corps by virtue of his positions as
Reichsführer of the SS and Delegate for German Folkdom. I now offer in
evidence an original order signed by Himmler, Document R-110 as Exhibit
Number USA-333. It is dated 10 August 1943, and I quote:
“It is not the task of the police to interfere in clashes
between Germans and English and American terror fliers who have
bailed out.”
This order was transmitted in writing to all senior executive SS and
Police officers, and orally to their subordinate officers and to all
Gauleiter. As shown in Document 2473-PS and by the chart, Joseph
Goebbels . . .
THE PRESIDENT: I was only thinking that the police are not part of the
Leadership Corps, are they?
COL. STOREY: But Himmler, if Your Honor pleases, combined the offices
himself of the Reichsführer of the SS and head of the German police. He
was an officer of the State; he was an officer of the Party; and he
issued this to officials of the Leadership Corps.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): And your point is, this order of Himmler’s
would be proof against the 600,000 members that you have spoken of?
COL. STOREY: Not against the members, but I said against the
organization as a criminal organization, because from the top it
disseminated orders of this type through the channels of the Leadership
Corps.
THE PRESIDENT: But that is what I was putting to you, that it was not
through the channels of the Leadership Corps, but through the channels
of the police.
COL. STOREY: But the police, if Your Honor pleases, were connected with
the Leadership Corps; and Himmler stood at the top of both. It does not
show on that chart; but it is shown on the other big chart, if Your
Honors please, with reference to Goebbels, who was a top-flight official
in the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, by virtue of his position as
Propaganda Leader of the Party. In the issue of the _Völkischer
Beobachter_ of 29 May 1944 there appeared an article written by
Goebbels, the Reichsleiter for Party Propaganda, in which he openly
invited the German civilian population to punish Allied fliers shot down
over Germany. I refer to Document 1676-PS, Exhibit USA-334, which is the
issue of the _Völkischer Beobachter_ containing this article inciting
the people to the commission of War Crimes. I now quote:
“It is only possible with the aid of arms to secure the lives of
enemy pilots who were shot down during such attacks, for they
would otherwise be killed by the sorely tried population. Who is
right here? The murderers who, after their cowardly misdeeds,
await a humane treatment on the part of their victims, or the
victims who wish to defend themselves according to the
principle: ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’? This
question is not hard to answer.”
Reichsleiter Goebbels then proceeds to answer this question in the
following language, and still quoting:
“It seems to us hardly possible and tolerable to use German
police and soldiers against the German people when it treats
murderers of children as they deserve.”
On the 30th of May 1944 the Defendant Bormann, Reichsleiter and Chief of
the Party Chancellery, issued a circular letter on the subject which
furnishes indisputable proof that British and American fliers, who were
shot down, were lynched by the German population. I offer this circular
letter of the Defendant Bormann into evidence—Document 057-PS; it is up
towards the top.
THE PRESIDENT: Have you got the original book?
COL. STOREY: Just a moment, Your Honor.
After alleging that in recent weeks English and American fliers had
repeatedly shot children, women, peasants, and vehicles on the highways,
Bormann then states as follows in the second paragraph of the English
translation; I quote:
“Several instances have occurred where members of the crews of
such aircraft, who have bailed out or who have made forced
landings, were lynched on the spot immediately after capture by
the populace, which was incensed to the highest degree. No
police measures or criminal proceedings were invoked against the
German civilians who participated in these incidents.”
The attention of the Tribunal is particularly invited to the fact that
this letter of the Defendant Bormann is distributed through the chain of
command of the Nazi Party, expressly mentioning on the distribution list
Reichsleiter, Gauleiter, Kreisleiter, and leaders of the incorporated
and affiliated organizations of the Party. The Defendant Bormann
requested, in the first paragraph of the second page which is found in
the English translation, that the local group leaders
(Ortsgruppenleiter) be informed of the contents of his circular letter
orally—only by oral means.
The effect of Reichsleiter Bormann’s circular letter may be seen in an
order dated 25 February 1945 which I now offer in evidence; it is
Document L-154, Exhibit Number USA-335. It is an order from Albert
Hoffmann, an important member of the Leadership Corps by virtue of his
position as Gauleiter and National Defense Commissioner of the Gau
Westfalen-Sud. It is addressed to all county councillors, mayors, police
officials, and to county leaders and county chiefs of the Volkssturm.
“Fighter-bomber pilots who are shot down are in principle not to
be protected against the fury of the people. I expect from all
police officers that they will refuse to lend their protection
to these gangster types. Authorities acting in contradiction to
the popular sentiment will have to account to me. All police and
gendarmerie officials are to be informed immediately of this, my
attitude.”
The obligations . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Who is Hoffmann?
COL. STOREY: Albert Hoffmann was a member of the Leadership Corps by
virtue of his position as Gauleiter and National Defense Commissar of
the Gau Westfalen-Sud. In this connection, if Your Honor pleases, I
quote the provisions of the Geneva Convention, 27 July 1929, Article 2,
which provides—and I simply ask the Court to take judicial knowledge:
“Prisoners of war are in the power of the hostile power, but not
of the individuals or corps who have captured them. They must at
all times be humanely treated and protected, particularly
against acts of violence, insults, and public curiosity.
Measures of reprisal against them are prohibited.”
THE PRESIDENT: Is that the 1907 . . .
COL. STOREY: 1929, the Geneva Convention dated 27 July 1929—Article
2—and it was also ratified by Germany and the United States. It is
clear from the foregoing quoted provisions that the Geneva
prisoners-of-war convention imposes upon its signatories the strictest
obligations to protect its prisoners of war from violence. The evidence
just presented shows that the German State violated this provision. The
evidence also proves that members of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi
Party participated in the conspiracy to incite the German civilian
population to take part in these atrocities.
Now I next turn to some illustrative crimes against foreign labor.
On 13 September 1936 Reichsleiter of the Party Organization, Dr. Robert
Ley, addressed 20,000 people attending a session of the Party Congress.
The official account of the Party rally states that the Führer was
received with “enthusiastic shouts of exaltation” when he strode through
the hall with his deputy, his constant retinue, and several Reichsleiter
and Gauleiter. I am referring to Document 2283-PS, and it is the
_Völkischer Beobachter_ of 14 September 1936, Page 11, which we offer as
Exhibit Number USA-337. In his speech Reichsleiter Robert Ley states
that he had been mystified when the Führer ordered him in “mid-April
1933 to take over the trade unions . . . since I could not see any
connection between my task as organizational leader of the Party and my
new task.” Ley continues by stating that very soon it became clear to
him why his responsibilities as Reichsleiter of the Party Organization
and Leader of the German Labor Front made logical his selection by the
Führer as the man to direct the smashing and dissolution of the free
trade unions; and I quote from that document:
“Very soon your decision, my Führer, became clear to me and I
recognized that the organizational measures of the Party could
only come to full fruition when supplemented by the organization
of the people, that is to say by the mobilization of the
energies of the people and by their concentration and
alignment. . . . My tasks as Reichsleiter of the Party
Organization and as Leader of the German Labor Front were a
completely homogeneous task; in other words, in everything I
did, I acted as Reichsleiter of the Party Organization. The
German Labor Front was an institution of the Party and was led
by it. The German Labor Front had to be organized regionally and
technically—according to the same principles as the Party. That
is why trade union and employee associations had to be smashed
unrelentingly, and the basis of construction was formed, as in
the Party, by the cell and the local section.”
On 17 October 1944 Reichsleiter Rosenberg sent a letter to Reichsleiter
Bormann which I introduce as Document 327-PS, Exhibit Number USA-338, in
which he informed the latter that he had sent a telegram to the
Gauleiter urging them not to interfere in the liquidation of certain
listed companies and banks under his supervision. Rosenberg emphasizes
to Bormann that any “delay of liquidation or independent confiscation of
the property by the Gauleiter would impair or destroy an organized plan”
for the liquidation of a vast amount of property.
On 7 November 1943 the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
delivered a lecture at Munich to the Reichsleiter and the Gauleiter. I
now refer to Document L-172, previously introduced in evidence as
Exhibit Number USA-34. The Chief of Staff stated that his object was to
give a review of the strategic position at the outset of the fifth year
of war; and he stated that he realized that the political leaders in the
Reich and Gau areas, in view of their burdensome tasks in supporting the
German war effort, were in need of information he could give. He stated,
in part, as follows:
“Reichsleiter Bormann has requested me to give you a review
today of the strategic position in the beginning of the fifth
year of war. . . . No one—the Führer has ordered—may know more
or be told more than he needs for his immediate task; but I have
no doubt at all in my mind, gentlemen, that you need a great
deal in order to be able to cope with your tasks. It is in your
Gaue, after all . . . that all the enemy propaganda, and the
demoralization through malicious rumors that try to find
themselves a place among our people concentrate . . . . Against
this wave of enemy propaganda and cowardice . . . you need to
know the true situation; and for this reason, I believe that I
am justified in giving you a perfectly open and uncovered
account of the state of affairs.”
Reichsleiter Bormann distributed to all Reichsleiter, Gauleiter, and
leaders of Party-affiliated organizations an undated letter, which is
Document 656-PS, Exhibit Number USA-339, on the National Socialist Party
stationery, signed by Bormann, an order of the Supreme Command of the
Wehrmacht relating to self-defense by German guard personnel and German
contractors and workers against prisoners of war. The order of the
Wehrmacht referred to states that the question of treatment of prisoners
of war is continually being discussed by the Wehrmacht and Party
bureaus. The order states that should prisoners of war refuse to obey
orders to work, the guard has “in the case of the most pressing need and
danger the right to force obedience with the weapon if he has no other
means. He can use the weapon as much as is necessary to attain his
goal.”
On 18 April 1944 Reich Commissar Lohse, Reich Minister for the Occupied
Eastern Territories, in a letter to Reich Youth Leader Axmann—I now
offer in evidence Document 347-PS, Exhibit Number USA-340—proposed that
the Hitler Youth participate in and supervise the military education of
the Estonian and Latvian youth. Lohse states in the above letter that:
“In the military education camps the young Latvians are trained
under Latvian leaders in the Latvian language, not because this
is our ideal but because absolute military necessity demands
this.”
Lohse further stated in the above letter, and I quote:
“. . . in contrast to the Germanic peoples of the West, military
education is no longer to be carried out through voluntary,
enlistments but through legal conscription. The camps in Estonia
and Latvia will have to be under German leadership; and as
military education camps of the Hitler Youth, they must be a
symbol of our educational mission beyond Germany’s borders. I
consider the execution of the military education of the Estonian
and Latvian youth not only a military necessity but also a war
mission of the Hitler Youth, especially. I would be thankful to
you, Party Member Axmann, if the Hitler Youth would put itself
at our disposal with the same readiness with which they have so
far supported our work in the Baltic area.”
An order of the Reich Minister of the Interior, Frick, dated 22 October
1938, is Document 1438-PS, of which I ask the Court to take judicial
notice, and I quote:
“The Reichsführer SS and the Chief of the German Police . . .
can take the administrative measures necessary for the
maintenance of security and order even beyond the legal limits
otherwise set on such measures.”
The above order related to the administration of the Sudeten-German
territory.
In a letter dated 15 April 1943, our Document Number 407-PS, already in
evidence as Exhibit Number USA-209, Gauleiter and Plenipotentiary for
the direction of labor Fritz Sauckel wrote to Hitler advising him of the
success of the forced-labor program as of that date and stating
that—and I quote:
“You can be assured that the District of Thuringia and I will
serve you and our dear people with the employment of all our
strength.”
I now offer in evidence Document 630-PS, Exhibit Number USA-342. If Your
Honor pleases, I would like to call to your attention that this is on
the personal stationery of Adolf Hitler, dated 1 September 1939. It is
addressed to Reichsleiter Bouhler and Doctor of Medicine Brandt, and it
is signed personally by Adolf Hitler. I want to quote all of that
document; it is short:
“Reichsleiter Bouhler and Dr. Brandt are charged with the
responsibility of enlarging the authority of certain physicians
to be designated by name in such a manner that persons who,
according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most
careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a
mercy death. Signed, A. Hitler.”
A handwritten note on the face of the document states: “Given to me by
Bouhler on 27 August 1940. Signed, Dr. Gürtner.”
In a memorandum recording an agreement between himself and Himmler, the
Minister of Justice Thierack stated that on the suggestion of
Reichsleiter Bormann an agreement had been reached between Himmler and
himself with respect to “special treatment at the hands of the police in
cases where judicial sentences were not severe enough.”
I will offer Document 654-PS, Exhibit Number USA-218, which was
previously introduced, and I want to quote one portion:
“The Reich Minister of Justice will decide whether and when
special treatment at the hands of the police is to be applied.
The Reich Führer SS will send the reports, which he sent
hitherto to Reichsleiter Bormann, to the Reich Minister of
Justice.”
If the views of the Reich Führer SS and the Reich Minister of Justice
disagreed, “the opinion of Reichsleiter Bormann will be brought to bear
upon the case, and he will possibly inform the Führer.”
In the above note it is further stated:
“The delivery of asocial elements from execution of their
sentence to the Reich Führer of SS to be worked to death:
Persons under preventative arrest, Jews, Gypsies, Russians and
Ukrainians, Poles with more than 3-year sentences, Czechs and
Germans with more than 8-year sentences, according to the
decision of the Reich Minister of Justice. First of all the
worst asocial elements amongst those just mentioned are to be
handed over. I shall inform the Führer of this through
Reichsleiter Bormann.”
With respect to the “administration of justice by the people,” he
continues:
“This is to be carried out step by step . . . as soon as
possible. . . . I shall rouse the Party particularly to
co-operate in this scheme by an article in the ‘Hoheitsträger.’”
And Your Honors have already seen copies of that publication. I now skip
Paragraphs 16 and 17.
A letter from RSHA (which is the Reich Security Main Office) to police
chiefs, dated 5 November 1942, which is Document L-316, Exhibit Number
USA-346—this was addressed to all police chiefs—recites an agreement
between the Reich Führer SS and the Reich Minister of Justice, approved
by Hitler—I call the attention of Your Honors to the red border around
this original, and then having the Party seal on it—provides that the
ordinary criminal procedure was no longer to be applied to Poles and
members of the Eastern populations. The agreement provided that such
people, including Jews and Gypsies, should henceforth be turned over to
the police. The principles applicable to a determination of the
punishment of German offenders, including appraisal of the motives of
the offender, were not to be applied to foreign offenders. I quote from
Page 2 of the document:
“The offense committed by a person of foreign extraction is not
to be regarded from the view of legal retribution by way of
justice but from the point of view of preventing dangers through
police action.
“From this it follows that the criminal procedure against
persons of foreign extraction must be transferred from justice
to the police.
“The preceding statements serve for personal information. There
are no objections if the Gauleiter are informed in the proper
form, should the need arise.”
I now skip Paragraphs 19 and 20 of the text. I next refer to Document
1058-PS, previously introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-147.
In a speech to a gathering of persons intimately concerned with the
Eastern problem, on 20 June 1941, Reichsleiter Rosenberg stated that the
southern Russian territories and the northern Caucasus would have to
provide food for the German people. I quote Rosenberg’s words:
“We see absolutely no obligation on our part to feed the Russian
people, also, with the products of that surplus territory. We
know that this is a harsh necessity, bare of any feelings.”
THE PRESIDENT: We have already had that read to us twice.
COL. STOREY: I am sorry, Sir. I did not hear it. Strike it from the
record.
I now refer to Document R-114. I believe it is the last one in the book,
Exhibit Number USA-314.
Gauleiter Wagner, of the German-occupied areas of Alsace, prepared plans
and took measures leading to the expulsion and deportation of certain
groups within the Alsatian civilian population. His plans called for the
forcible expulsion of certain categories of so-called undesirable
persons as a means of punishment and compulsory Germanization. The
Gauleiter supervised deportation measures in Alsace from July to
December 1940 in the course of which 105,000 persons were either
expelled or prevented from returning. A memorandum, dated 4 August 1942,
of a meeting of high SS and police officials convened to receive the
reports and plans of the Gauleiter relating to the Alsatian evacuations,
states that the persons deported were mainly “Jews, Gypsies, and other
foreign racial elements, criminals, asocial and incurably insane
persons, as well as Frenchmen and Francophiles.” The memorandum further
states the Gauleiter stated that the Führer had given him permission “to
cleanse Alsace of all foreign, sick, or unreliable elements”; and that
the Gauleiter emphasized the political necessity of further
deportations. The memorandum further records that the SS and police
officials present at the conference approve the Gauleiter’s proposals
for further evacuation.
I now skip over to the next paragraph, 24.
A memorandum by Reichsleiter Bormann of a conference called by Hitler at
his headquarters, 16 July 1941, which is Document L-221, Exhibit Number
USA-317. I’m sorry, I believe that one was quoted this morning. The only
purpose in referring to it is in connection with the Reichsleiter. I
believe Captain Harris quoted from that document this morning, and I’ll
not read the quotation.
I call attention to the fact, however, that this conference was attended
by Reichsleiter Rosenberg, Reich Minister Lammers, Field Marshal Keitel,
the Reich Marshal, and Bormann and lasted about 20 hours. The memorandum
states that discussion occurred with respect to the annexation by
Germany of various parts of conquered Europe. The memorandum also states
that a long discussion took place with respect to the qualifications of
Gauleiter Lohse, who was proposed by Rosenberg at this conference, as
Governor of the Baltic States.
Discussion also occurred, according to the memo, with respect to the
qualifications of other Gauleiter and commissioners for the
administration of various areas of Occupied Russia. Göring stated,
according to the memorandum, that he intended to appoint Gauleiter
Terboven for “exploitation of the Kola Peninsula; the Führer agrees.”
I believe the next portion has been quoted, too. I now pass to the
participation of the Leadership Corps in the suppression of the
Christian Church and persecution of the clergy and cite some
illustrative crimes.
The evidence relating to the systematic effort of the defendants and
co-conspirators to eliminate the Christian churches in Germany has been
previously introduced in U.S.A. Exhibit Book H by Major Wallis with
respect to the Nazi efforts to eliminate the Christian Church. The
evidence now to be presented is limited to proving and pointing out the
responsibility of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party and the members
thereof for illegal activities against the Christian Church and clergy.
The Defendant Bormann issued a secret decree to all Gauleiter entitled,
“Relationship of National Socialism and Christianity.” And that is
Document D-75—it is up toward the top, I believe, Your Honor—Exhibit
Number USA-348. In this decree Reichsleiter Bormann flatly declares that
National Socialism and Christianity are incompatible and that the
influence of the churches in Germany must be eliminated. I quote from
pertinent portions of this decree beginning with the first paragraph
thereof, top of Page 3, which reads as follows:
“National Socialist and Christian concepts are
irreconcilable. . . .
“Our National Socialist ideology is far loftier than the
concepts of Christianity which, in their essential points, have
been taken over from Jewry. For this reason, also, we do not
need Christianity. . . . If, therefore, in the future our youth
learn nothing more of this Christianity whose doctrines are far
below ours, Christianity will disappear by itself. . . . It
follows from the irreconcilability of National Socialist and
Christian concepts that a strengthening of existing confessions
and every assistance to originating Christian confessions is to
be rejected by us. A differentiation between the various
Christian confessions is not to be made here. For this reason,
also, the thought of an erection of an Evangelical National
Church by merger of the various Evangelical churches has been
definitely given up, because the Evangelical Church is just as
inimical to us as the Catholic Church. Any strengthening of the
Evangelical Church would merely react against us. . . .
“For the first time in German history, the Führer consciously
and completely has the leadership of the people in his own hand.
With the Party, its components, and attached units, the Führer
has created for himself and thereby the German Reich Leadership,
an instrument which makes him independent of the Church. All
influences which might impair or damage the leadership of the
people, exercised by the Führer with the help of the NSDAP, must
be eliminated. More and more the people must be separated from
the churches and their organs, the pastors. Of course, the
churches must and will, seen from their viewpoint, defend
themselves against this loss of power. But never again must an
influence on leadership of the people be yielded to the
churches. This influence must be broken completely and finally.
“Only the Reich leadership and, by its direction, the Party, its
components and attached units have a right to leadership of the
people. Just as the deleterious influences of astrologers,
seers, and other fakirs are eliminated and suppressed by the
state, so must the possibility of Church influence also be
totally removed. Not until this has happened does the state
leadership have influence on the individual citizens. Not until
then are people and Reich secure in their existence for all the
future.”
I next offer in evidence Document 070-PS, towards the beginning, Exhibit
Number USA-349, which is a copy of a letter issued from Bormann’s
office, dated 25 April 1941, to the Defendant Rosenberg in his capacity
as the Führer’s representative for the supervision of the entire mental
and ideological training and education of the NSDAP. In this letter
Bormann’s office states that the measures have been taken leading to the
progressive cancellation of morning prayers and other religious services
and their substitution by Nazi mottoes and slogans. I quote from the
first paragraph of Document 070-PS:
“We are inducing schools more and more to reduce and abolish
morning religious services. Similarly the confessional and
general prayers in several parts of the Reich have already been
replaced by National Socialist mottoes. I would be grateful to
know your opinion on a future National Socialist morning service
instead of the present confessional morning services which are
usually conducted once per week.”
In a letter from Reichsleiter Bormann to Reichsleiter Rosenberg dated 22
February 1940, Document 098-PS, Exhibit Number USA-350, which I offer in
evidence, Bormann declares to Rosenberg that the Christian religion and
National Socialism are incompatible. Bormann cites, as examples of
hostile . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Would you take care to give us the number of the
document.
COL. STOREY: I beg pardon, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: This is 098-PS.
COL. STOREY: Document 098-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: The one before you referred to was 070-PS.
COL. STOREY: Yes—070-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: Before that, D-75?
COL. STOREY: That’s correct. With Your Honor’s permission, rather than
to quote the whole document I have summarized it here. Bormann’s letter
cites as examples the hostile divergence between Nazism and the
churches, the attitude of the latter on the racial question, celibacy of
the priests, monasteries and nunneries. Bormann further declares that
the churches could not be subjugated through compromise but only through
a new philosophy of life as prophesied in Rosenberg’s writings. Bormann
proposes the creation of a National Socialist catechism in order to give
that part of the German youth which declines to practice confessional
religion a moral foundation and to lay a moral basis for National
Socialist doctrines, which are gradually to supplant the Christian
religions. Bormann suggests that some of the Ten Commandments could be
merged with the National Socialist catechism and states that a few new
commandments should be added, such as: “Thou shalt be courageous; Thou
shalt not be cowardly; Thou shalt believe in God’s presence in the
living nature, animals, and plants; Thou shalt keep thy blood pure;” _et
cetera_. He concludes that he considers the problem so important that it
should be discussed with the members of the Reich directorate as soon as
possible.
And now one quotation from the fifth paragraph on the first page of that
translation. I would like to quote Paragraph 5 of the first page:
“Christianity and National Socialism are phenomena which
originated from entirely different basic causes. Both differ
fundamentally so strongly that it will not be possible to
construct a Christian teaching which would be completely
compatible with the point of view of the National Socialist
ideology; just as the communities of Christian faith would never
be able to stand by the ideology of National Socialism in its
entirety. . . .”
And then I quote from the last paragraph on Page 5 of that document:
“The Führer’s deputy finds it necessary that all these questions
should be thoroughly discussed in the near future in the
presence of the Reich leaders”—Reichsleiter—“who are
especially affected by them. . . .”
I next offer in evidence Document 107-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you suggest that the Blockleiter would have to be
present at that discussion?
COL. STOREY: Your Honor, in connection with the policy directives, the
Führerprinzip goes from the top to the bottom; and if that policy is
adopted, they may, by directive, send it as far as the Blockleiter. He
says to discuss it in connection with the Reichsleiter, who are the
Party directors; and I assume that, if the Party directors establish it
as a policy, then they were to issue appropriate directives to the other
subordinate members. Mr. Lambert has suggested also that it would not be
possible to discuss this matter with all the Leadership Corps and
therefore they discussed it with the Party directors.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Does that show they did discuss it with the
directors?
COL. STOREY: No, Sir, that doesn’t follow; but it shows that it was a
subject of discussion for the board of directors of the Nazi Party.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but the question is, who are the directors?
COL. STOREY: Five or six of them sit here; a total of 16.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but I thought that you were asking us to declare the
whole of the organization down to the Blockleiter as criminal.
COL. STOREY: That is true, Your Honor, but this is one evidence, one
instance of the criminality of the organization and we cannot prove at
each stage that all of them knew about it. We are trying to select
different offenses and different crimes that were committed within the
Party.
Document 107-PS, Exhibit USA-351, which we now offer in evidence, is a
circular letter, dated 17 June 1938, addressed by the Defendant Bormann
as Reichsleiter and Deputy of the Führer to all Reichsleiter and
Gauleiter. Bormann’s letter encloses a copy of rules, prepared by
Reichsleiter Hierl, setting forth certain restrictive regulations with
respect to participation of the Reich Labor Service in religious
celebrations. I quote pertinent portions of the directions issued by
Reichsleiter Hierl, beginning with the first paragraph in the list of
directions in Document 107-PS, on Page 1 of the English translation:
“The Reich Labor Service is a training school in which the
German youth should be educated to national unity in the spirit
of National Socialism. . . .
“What religious beliefs a person has is not a decisive factor,
but it is decisive that he first of all feels himself a German.
“All confessional discussions are forbidden in the Reich Labor
Service because it disturbs the comrade-like harmony of all the
Labor Service men and the Labor Service women.
“This is also the reason why all participation of the Reich
Labor Service in revivals and other meetings and festivals of
religious character are impossible.”
The Tribunal will appreciate that the position of the Defendant Bormann,
as Deputy of the Führer of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party and
Chief of the Nazi Party Chancellery, and the position of the Defendant
Rosenberg, as the Führer’s representative for the whole spiritual and
philosophical education of the Nazi Party, give to the views of these
defendants on religion and religious policy the highest official
backing. The anti-Christian utterances and policies of these two
defendants reveal a community of mind and intention amongst the most
powerful leaders of the Party which was amply confirmed, as the evidence
will show, by the actual treatment of the churches since 1933 and
throughout the course of the conspiracy. I now offer in evidence
Document 2349-PS, Exhibit Number USA-352, which is an excerpt from the
book _The Myth of the 20th Century_, written by the Defendant Rosenberg.
I quote from that document:
“The idea of honor—national honor—is for us the beginning and
the end of our entire thinking and doing. It does not admit of
any equal-valued center of force alongside of it, no matter of
what kind, neither Christian love, nor the Free-Masonic
humanity, nor the Roman philosophy.”
I now offer in evidence Document 848-PS, Exhibit Number USA-353, which
is a Gestapo telegram, dated 24 July 1938, dispatched from Berlin to
Nuremberg, dealing with demonstrations and acts of violence against
Bishop Sproll in Rottenburg. The Gestapo office in Berlin wired its
Nuremberg office a teletype account received from its Stuttgart office
of disorderly conduct and vandalism carried out by Nazi Party members
against Bishop Sproll. I quote from the fourth paragraph of Page 1 of
the English translation of Document 848-PS, which reads as follows:
“The Party, on 23 July 1938, from 2100 on, carried out the third
demonstration against Bishop Sproll. Participants, about
2,500-3,000, were brought from outside by bus, _et cetera_. The
Rottenburg populace again did not participate in the
demonstration. This town took a rather hostile attitude toward
the demonstrations. The action got completely out of hand of the
Party member responsible for it. The demonstrators stormed the
palace, beat in the gates and doors. About 150 to 200 people
forced their way into the palace, searched through the rooms,
threw files out of the windows, and rummaged through the beds in
the rooms of the palace. One bed was ignited. . . . The Bishop
was with Archbishop Gröber of Freiburg and the ladies and
gentlemen of his menage in the chapel at prayer. About 25 to 30
people pressed into this chapel and molested those present.
Bishop Gröber was taken for Bishop Sproll. He was grabbed by the
robe and dragged back and forth.”
The Gestapo official in Stuttgart added that Bishop Gröber desired “to
appeal to the Führer and to Reich Minister of the Interior Dr. Frick,”
and the Gestapo official added that he had rendered a detailed report of
the demonstration after suppressing counter mass meetings.
On 23 July 1938 the Reich Minister for Church Affairs, Kerrl, sent a
letter to the Minister of State and Chief of the Präsidium Chancellery,
Berlin, stating that Bishop Sproll had angered the population by
abstaining from the plebiscite of 10 April. I now offer in evidence
Document 849-PS, Exhibit Number USA-354. In this letter Kerrl stated
that the Gauleiter and Governor of Württemberg had decided that in the
interest of preserving the State’s authority and in the interest of
quiet and order, Bishop Sproll could no longer remain in office. I quote
from the third paragraph of the first page of the Document 849-PS:
“The Reich Governor had explained to the Ecclesiastical
Authority that he would no longer regard Bishop Sproll as head
of the Diocese of Rottenburg on account of his refraining from
the election in the office and that he desired Bishop Sproll to
leave the Gau Württemberg-Hohenzollern because he could assume
no guarantee for his personal safety; that in the case of the
return of the Bishop of Rottenburg he would see to it that all
personal and official intercourse with him on the part of State
offices as well as the Party offices and the Armed Forces would
be denied.”
Kerrl further states in the above letter that his deputy had moved the
Foreign Office, through the German Embassy at the Vatican, to urge the
Holy See to persuade Bishop Sproll to resign his Bishopric. Kerrl
concludes by stating that should the effort to procure the Bishop’s
resignation prove unsuccessful, “the Bishop would have to be exiled from
the land or there would have to be a complete boycott of the Bishop by
the authorities.”
On 14 July 1939 the Defendant Bormann in his capacity as Deputy of the
Führer issued a Party regulation which provided that Party members
entering the clergy or undertaking the study of theology would have to
leave the Party. I now offer in evidence Document 840-PS, Exhibit Number
USA-355; and this is a copy of a regulation by Bormann, relating to the
admission of the clergy and students of theology into the Party. I quote
from the last paragraph of the English translation, which reads—I
quote. “I decree that in the future Party members who enter the clergy
or who turn to the study of theology have to leave the Party.”
In this directive Bormann also refers to an earlier decree, dated 9
February 1939, in which he had ruled that the admission of members of
the clergy into the Party was to be avoided. In this decree, also,
Bormann refers with approval to a regulation of the Reich Treasurer of
the Party, dated 10 May 1939, providing that “clergymen as well as other
fellow Germans who are also closely connected with the Church cannot be
admitted into the Party.”
I now offer in evidence Document 3268-PS, Exhibit Number USA-356, which
contains excerpts from the Allocution of His Holiness Pope Pius XII to
the Sacred College, June 2d, 1945. In this address His Holiness, after
declaring that he had acquired an appreciation of the great qualities of
the German people in the course of 12 years of residence in their midst,
expressed the hope that Germany could “rise to new dignity and a new
life once it has laid the satanic specter raised by National Socialism
and the guilty have expiated the crimes they have committed.” After
referring to repeated violations by the German Government of the
Concordat concluded in 1933, His Holiness declared; and I quote from the
last paragraph of Page 1 of the English translation of Document 3268-PS:
“The struggle against the Church did, in fact, become ever more
bitter; there was the dissolution of Catholic organizations; the
gradual suppression of the flourishing Catholic schools, both
public and private; the enforced weaning of youth from family
and Church; the pressure brought to bear on the conscience of
citizens, and especially of civil servants; the systematic
defamation, by means of a clever, closely-organized propaganda,
of the Church, the clergy, the faithful, the Church’s
institutions, teachings, and history; the closing, dissolution,
confiscation of religious houses and other ecclesiastical
institutions; the complete suppression of the Catholic press and
publishing houses . . . .
“In the meantime the Holy See itself multiplied its
representations and protests to governing authorities in
Germany, reminding them, in clear and energetic language, of
their duty to respect and fulfill the obligations of the natural
law itself that were confirmed by the Concordat. In these
critical years, joining the alert vigilance of a pastor to the
long-suffering patience of a father, our great predecessor, Pius
XI, fulfilled his mission as Supreme Pontiff with intrepid
courage.
“But when, after he had tried all means of persuasion in vain,
he saw himself clearly faced with deliberate violations of a
solemn pact, with a religious persecution masked or open but
always rigorously organized, he proclaimed to the world on
Passion Sunday 1937 in his Encyclical, _Mit brennender Sorge_,
that National Socialism really was: the arrogant apostasy from
Jesus Christ, the denial of His doctrine and of His work of
redemption, the cult of violence, the idolatry of race and
blood, the overthrow of human liberty and dignity . . . .
“From the prisons, concentration camps, and fortresses are now
pouring out, together with the political prisoners, also the
crowds of those, whether clergy or laymen, whose only crime was
their fidelity to Christ and to the faith of their fathers or
the dauntless fulfillment of their duties as priests.
“In the forefront, for the number and harshness of the treatment
meted out to them, are the Polish priests. From 1940 to 1945,
2,800 Polish ecclesiastics and religious were imprisoned in that
camp; among them was the Auxiliary Bishop of Wloclawek, who died
there of typhus. In April last there were left only 816, all the
others being dead except for two or three transferred to another
camp. In the summer of 1942, 480 German-speaking ministers of
religion were known to be gathered there; of these, 45 were
Protestants, all the others Catholic priests. In spite of the
continuous inflow of new internees, especially from dioceses of
Bavaria, Rhenania and Westphalia, their number, as a result of
the high rate of mortality, at the beginning of this year did
not surpass 350. Nor should we pass over in silence those
belonging to occupied territories, Holland, Belgium, France
(among whom the Bishop of Clermont), Luxembourg, Slovenia,
Italy. Many of those priests and laymen endured indescribable
sufferings for their faith and for their vocation. In one case
the hatred of the impious against Christ reached the point of
parodying on the person of an interned priest, with barbed wire,
the scourging and the crowning with thorns of our Redeemer.”
THE PRESIDENT: I think perhaps it would be time now to adjourn.
[_The Tribunal adjourned until 18 December 1945 at 1000 hours._]
TWENTY-SECOND DAY
Tuesday, 18 December 1945
_Morning Session_
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, before adjourning yesterday
afternoon, Your Honors properly asked a question or two about Documents
3051-PS and 3063-PS, to which I think I have an answer that will help
the Tribunal. Your Honors will recall, with reference to Document
3051-PS—I believe it might be of assistance to turn to that document.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COL. STOREY: Your Honors asked yesterday afternoon, since this had to do
with the SD and the SS, how the Party was involved. And I should like to
quote Paragraph Number 1 on Page 2 of the English translation, which
answers this question, and I am quoting:
“The Chiefs of the State Police or their deputies, upon receipt
of this teletype, must get in contact by telephone with the
political administration (Gauleitung or Kreisleitung) having
jurisdiction over their districts and must arrange a joint
meeting with the appropriate inspector or commander of the Order
Police to discuss the organization of the demonstration. At
these discussions the political leaders are to be informed that
the German Police have received from the Reichsführer SS and
Chief of the German Police the following instructions, in
accordance with which the political leaders should adapt their
measures.”
That had to do with the preparation for the general anti-Jewish
uprisings.
Now, with reference to Document 3063-PS, which follows just below that
one, if Your Honor pleases.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
COL. STOREY: That, if you recall, Your Honor, was a report from the
Supreme Party Court Justice Buch to the Defendant Göring concerning
punishment for the uprisings that followed the 9th and 10th of November
demonstration. I should like to quote the portion signed by the
Defendant Göring. It is, I believe, the second page of the English
translation. It is dated “Berlin, 22 February 1939”:
“Dear Party Member Buch:
“I thank you for forwarding the report of your special court on
the proceedings concluded up to now concerning the excesses on
the occasion of the anti-Jewish incidents of 9 and 10 November
1938, of which I have taken cognizance. Heil Hitler! Yours,
signed, Göring.”
And then, passing, Your Honor, to Page Number 1, immediately following,
of the English translation, I think the next two paragraphs will answer
Your Honor’s question. I quote:
“On the evening of 9 November 1938 the Reich Propaganda
Director, Party Member Dr. Goebbels told the Party leaders
assembled at a reunion in the old town hall in Munich that in
the districts”—Gaue—“of Kurhessen and Magdeburg-Anhalt
anti-Jewish demonstrations had taken place, during which Jewish
shops were demolished and synagogues were set on fire. The
Führer, at Goebbels’ suggestion, had decided that such
demonstrations were not to be prepared or organized by the
Party; but so far as they originated spontaneously, they were
not to be interfered with either. Besides that, Party Member Dr.
Goebbels interpreted the sense of the contents of the teletype
of the Reich Propaganda Administration of 10 November
1938. . . .”
THE PRESIDENT: What does “12:30 to 1 o’clock” mean there?
COL. STOREY: That is the time of the teletype message, I assume, Your
Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COL. STOREY: “It was probably understood by all the Party
leaders present, from the oral instructions of the Reich
Propaganda Director, that the Party should not appear outwardly
as the originator of the demonstrations but in reality should
organize and execute them. Instructions in this sense were
telephoned immediately—thus a considerable time before
transmission of the first teletype—to the headquarters of their
districts”—Gaue—“by a large part of the Party members
present.”
Now Your Honors properly asked yesterday afternoon how the Blockleiter
would be affected. Your Honors will recall that, in the instructions to
the Blockleiter defining his offices, it was stated that his
instructions would be received orally and they would be transmitted
orally and never to use writing except in extreme cases. Therefore I say
that these quoted portions clearly indicate that the Party was in fact
used in connection with these famous 9 and 10 November 1938, anti-Jewish
demonstrations.
Now, reverting back to the text where I left off yesterday afternoon:
The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party participated in the confiscation
of church and religious property.
I offer in evidence Document 072-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-357, a
letter dated 19 April 1941 from Reichsleiter Bormann to Reichsleiter
Rosenberg. This letter exposes the participation of the Gauleiter in
measures relating to the confiscation of religious property.
I now quote from the last paragraph of Page 1 of the English translation
of Document 072-PS, which reads:
“The libraries and art objects of the monasteries confiscated in
the Reich were to remain for the time being in these monasteries
insofar as the Gauleiter had not directed otherwise. . . .”
On 21 February 1940 the Chief of the Security Police and SD, Heydrich,
wrote a letter to Reichsführer SS Himmler, proposing that certain listed
churches and monasteries be confiscated for the accommodation of
so-called “racial Germans.”
The Tribunal, of course, will recall Himmler’s position.
After pointing out that on political grounds outright expropriation of
religious property would not be feasible at the time, Heydrich suggested
certain specious interim actions with respect to the church properties
in question, to be followed progressively by outright confiscation.
I now offer in evidence R-101(a)—it is right towards the end of Your
Honor’s Exhibit—as Exhibit USA-358.
If Your Honors please, there are several of those documents under R-101,
and at the bottom you will notice they are labeled “a,” “b,” and “c.”
The first one is R-101(a), and I quote the first five paragraphs on Page
2 of the English translation:
“Enclosed is a list of church possessions which might be
available for the accommodation of racial Germans. The list,
which I beg you to return, is supplemented by correspondence and
illustrated material pertinent to the subject.
“For political reasons, expropriation without indemnity of the
entire property of the churches and religious orders will hardly
be possible at this time.
“Expropriation with indemnity or in return for assignment of
other lands and grounds will be even less possible.
“It is therefore suggested that the respective authorities of
the orders be instructed that they make available the
monasteries concerned for the accommodation of racial Germans
and remove their own members to other less populous
monasteries.”
There is a marginal note opposite this paragraph that, translated, means
“very good.”
“The final expropriation of these properties thus placed at our
disposal can then be carried out step by step in the course of
time.”
On 5 April 1940 the Security Police and Security Service SS sent a
letter to the Reich Commissar for the consolidation of Germandom,
enclosing a copy of the foregoing letter from Heydrich to Himmler of 21
February 1940, proposing the confiscation of Church properties. The
letter of 5 April 1940 is included in the Document R-101(a), just
introduced in evidence; and I quote from the second sentence of the
first paragraph thereof, on Page 1 of the English translation of
Document R-101(a):
“The Reich Leader SS has agreed to the proposals made in the
enclosed letter and has ordered the matter to be dealt with by
collaboration between the Chief of the Security Police and
Security Service and your office.”
I now offer in evidence Document R-101(c), Exhibit USA-358. This is a
letter dated July 30, 1941, written by an SS Standartenführer whose
signature is illegible, to the Reich Leader of the SS. The letter
supplies further evidence of the participation of the Gauleiter in the
seizure of church property. I quote from the first three paragraphs of
the English translation of Document R-101(c), at the bottom of the page:
“With reference to the report of 30 May 1941, this office
considers it its duty to call the Reich Leader’s attention to
the development which is taking place in the incorporated
Eastern countries with regard to seizure and confiscation of
church property.
“As soon as the Reich laws on expropriation became effective,
the Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter in the Reichsgau Wartheland
adopted the practice of expropriating church real estate for use
as dwellings and paying the appraised value into blocked
accounts.
“Moreover, the East German Agricultural Administration, Limited,
reports that in the Warthegau all church-owned real estate is
being claimed by the local Gau administration.”
I next offer in evidence Document R-101(d), which immediately follows
Exhibit Number USA-358 already in evidence. This is a letter from the
Chief of Staff of the Main Office to Himmler, dated 30 March 1942,
dealing with the confiscation of church property. The letter evidences
the active participation of the Party Chancellery in the confiscation of
religious property.
In this letter the Chief of Staff, Main Office, reports to Himmler
concerning the policy of the SS in suspending all payment of rent to
monasteries and other church institutions whose property had been
expropriated. The letter discusses a proposal made by the Reich Minister
of the Interior, in which the Party Chancellery prominently
participated, to the effect that the church institutions should be paid
amounts corresponding to current mortgage charges on the premises
without realizing any profit. The writer further suggests that such
payments should never be made directly to the ecclesiastical
institutions but rather should be made to the creditors of the
institutions.
I now quote from the fourth sentence on Page 3 of that document, the
English translation, whereby such an arrangement would be in line with
“the basic idea of the settlement originally worked out between the
Party Chancellery and the Reich Minister of the Interior.”
I understand the Reich Minister of Interior for 1933-1944 was the
Defendant Frick.
The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party participated in the suppression
of religious publications and interfered with free religious education.
In a letter dated 27 September 1940 Reichsleiter and Deputy of the
Führer Bormann transmitted to the Defendant Rosenberg a photostatic copy
of a letter from Gauleiter Florian dated 23 September 1940, which
expresses the Gauleiter’s intense disapproval, on Nazi ideological
grounds, of a religious pamphlet entitled, _The Spirit and Soul of the
Soldier_, written by a Major General Von Rabenau.
I now offer in evidence Document 064-PS, Exhibit Number USA-359. It is
an original letter signed by Rosenberg attaching the copy of that
matter. It contains Defendant Bormann’s letter to Rosenberg, dated 27
September 1940, transmitting the Gauleiter’s letter of 23 September 1940
to the Defendant Hess, in which the Gauleiter urges that the religious
writings of General Von Rabenau be suppressed. In his letter to the
Defendant Hess, Gauleiter Florian discusses a conversation he had with
General Von Rabenau at the close of a lecture delivered by the General
to a group of younger Army officers at Aachen. This conversation
illumines the hostile attitude of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party
towards the Christian Churches. I quote from the second sentence of the
second paragraph of the second page of the Gauleiter’s letter to the
Defendant Hess, which appears on Page 2 of the English translation—the
second paragraph—and I quote:
“After he had affirmed the necessity of the churches, Rabenau
said, with emphasized self-assurance, something like the
following:
“‘Dear Gauleiter, the Party is making mistake after mistake in
the treatment of the churches. Obtain for me the necessary
powers from the Führer and I guarantee that I shall succeed in a
few months in establishing peace with the churches for all
time.’
“After this catastrophic ignorance, I gave up the
conversation. . . .