Another one with reference to restrictions as to the use of the theater,
on May 15, 1934, 1934 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 411.
Now, passing from those illustrative laws, the ordinary Cabinet in fact
enacted most of the legislation which set the stage for and put into
execution the Nazi conspiracy described under Count One of the
Indictment. Many of these laws have been referred to previously by the
Prosecution. All of the laws to which I shall refer or have referred
were enacted specifically in the name of the Cabinet. A typical
introductory paragraph reads, and I quote: “The Reich Cabinet has
enacted the following law which is hereby promulgated.” In other words,
that shows it is a Cabinet law.
THE PRESIDENT: That applies to all the ones you have just given us?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir. That is a typical heading.
In connection with the acquiring of control of Germany, under Count One
of the Indictment, I refer to some of the following laws.
Here is a law of the 14th of July 1933 against the establishment of new
parties. I believe I referred to that yesterday. That is 1933
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 479.
Another of 14 July 1933 provided for the confiscation of property of
Social Democrats and others, 1933 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 479.
I have already referred to that law of 1 December 1933 which
consolidated the Party and the State, which is found in 1933
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 1016. In the course of consolidating
the control of Germany these laws were enacted, and I give a few
illustrations: 21 March 1933, creating special courts—that is in 1933
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 136; law of the 31st of March 1933 for
the integration of all the states into the Reich, 1933
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 153.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you repeat that. Integration of what?
COL. STOREY: Integration of the states—that is the separate states into
the Greater Reich.
Here is one of 30 June 1933, eliminating non-Aryan civil servants or
civil servants married to non-Aryans, 1933 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I,
Page 433; then the law of the 24th of April 1934 creating the People’s
Court, 1934 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 341—and that was the same
court Your Honors saw functioning in one of the movies exhibited last
week.
Here is the law of 1 August 1934, uniting the office of President and
Chancellor, 1934 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 747.
I am not introducing all of them or referring to all of them.
Here is a law of the 18th of March 1938 that provides for the submission
of one list of candidates to the electorate of the entire Reich, 1938
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 258.
Nazi extermination of political internal resistance in Germany through
the purge of their political opponents and through acts of terror, which
are set forth in Paragraph III(D) 3(b) of Count One, was facilitated or
legalized by the following Cabinet laws, translations being found in
Document Book F, which has previously been submitted. I will just refer
to a few of these as they are translated in that book.
Here is one of 14th of July 1933 that prohibits the establishment of new
parties and contains a penal clause. That is found in 1933
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 479. Here is one of 20th December 19
. . .
THE PRESIDENT: You have already given that one.
COL. STOREY: I believe so; yes, Sir.
Here is a law of the 3rd of July 1934 concerning measures for emergency
defense of the State, and which legalized their own purge. That is in
1934 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 529.
Here is a law of the 20th of December 1934 on treacherous acts against
the State and Party and for protection of the Party uniforms, 1934
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 1269.
Here is one of the 24th of April 1934 that makes the creation of a new,
or continuance of existing, political Parties an act of treason, 1934
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 341.
Here is one of the 28th of June 1935 that changes the Penal Code, 1935
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 839.
Here is the final one I will mention: 16 September 1939, permitting
second prosecution of an acquitted person before a special court, the
members of which were named by Hitler, 1939 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I,
Page 1841.
Now, next are some laws that related to the extermination of the Trade
Unions, which I have already cited, and they are in Document Book G. I
will not refer to them. Then the laws abolishing collective
bargaining—I have referred to those; I will pass them.
In fact, even the infamous Nuremberg Laws of September 15, 1935,
although technically passed by the Reichstag, were nevertheless worked
out by the Ministry of the Interior. This is verified by a work of Dr.
Franz A. Medicus, Ministerialdirigent, published in 1940. It is Document
2960-PS, Exhibit USA-406. I would like to refer to the paragraphs at
Page 62 of the original publication, and translated in our Document
2960-PS. Beginning the first paragraph:
“The work of the Reich Ministry of Interior forms the basis for
the three ‘Nuremberg Laws’ passed by a resolution of the
Reichstag on the occasion of the Reich Party Meeting of Freedom.
“The ‘Reich Citizenship Law’ as well as the ‘Law for the
Protection of German Blood and German Honor’ opened extensive
tasks for the Ministry of the Interior not only in the field
. . . of administration. The same applies to the ‘Reich Flag
Law’ that gives the basis for the complete revision of the
national flags.”
A few decrees of the Council of Ministers which similarly supplied the
legal basis for the criminal acts and conduct of the conspirators, about
which the Tribunal has already heard and will hear more, relate to those
of August 5, 1940, which imposed a discriminatory tax on Polish workers
in Germany, and that is in 1940 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 1077;
also the law of 4 December 1941, which imposed penal measures against
the Jews and the Poles in the eastern occupied countries, 1941
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 759. The last one was concerning the
employment of Eastern Workers, which I referred to this morning.
Almost immediately upon Hitler’s coming into power, the Cabinet
commenced to implement the Nazi conspiracy to wage aggressive war. Three
of the documents that establish this point have already been introduced
in evidence. They are EC-177, 2261-PS, and 2194-PS, respectively.
Document EC-177, which is Exhibit USA-390, is a long copy of the
minutes; and I beg the indulgence of the Tribunal for referring to it
again. It is EC-177 . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Is it in this book?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, EC-177. Your Honors, I didn’t intend to quote
from that. I am simply referring to it as being the minutes of the
second session of the working committee of the delegates for Reich
defense and being signed by the Defendant Keitel.
Document 2261-PS consists of a letter dated the 24th of June 1935. That
transmits a copy of a secret, unpublished defense law of 21 May 1935 and
also a copy of a decision of the Reich Cabinet of the same date, in the
Council for Defense of the Reich. These have been previously introduced,
but they are illustrative laws passed by this Cabinet.
Document 2194-PS also transmits a copy of the secret, unpublished Reich
Defense Law, 4 September 1938.
I will skip down to the laws passed by the Reich Defense Council, on
Page 50, for the record.
The Reich Defense Council was a creation of the Cabinet. On 4 April 1933
it was decided to form that agency. The decision of the Cabinet attached
to Document 2261-PS, which is Exhibit USA-24, Page 4 of the translation,
Paragraph 1, proves that fact. The two secret laws contained in Document
2261-PS, as well as 2194-PS, were passed by the Cabinet; nor was this a
case of one group setting up an entirely distinct group to do its dirty
work. The Cabinet put itself into the picture. This might have been a
difficult task to accomplish before the Nazis assumed power, but with
the Nazis in control, things could move swiftly; and I now refer again
to Document EC-177, but I will not undertake to quote from that,
although the quotation is set out here.
There is only one point in that connection which would not be
cumulative. It is Page 5 of the translation and Page 8 of the original
of EC-177, on the question of security and secrecy, that I think would
be pertinent to the criminal nature. I quote:
“The question has been brought up by the Reich Ministries. The
secrecy of all Reich defense work has to be maintained very
carefully. Communications with the outside, by messenger service
only, has been settled already with the Ministry of Posts,
Ministry of Finance, Prussian Ministry of the Interior, and the
Reichswehr Ministry. Main principle of security: no document
must be lost, since otherwise enemy propaganda would make use of
it. Matters communicated orally cannot be proved; they can be
denied by us in Geneva. Therefore the Reichswehr Ministry has
worked out security directives for the Reich Ministries and the
Prussian Ministry of the Interior.”
I will skip the next reference. I believe I will skip over to the
affidavit of Defendant Frick, on Page 60.
THE PRESIDENT: What is that?
COL. STOREY: It is, if Your Honor pleases, Document 2986-PS. It is
Exhibit USA-409. It is the original affidavit, signed by the Defendant
Frick. I believe Defendant Frick sums up pretty well how the work was
carried on.
“I, Wilhelm Frick, being first duly sworn, depose and say:
“I was Plenipotentiary General for the Reich Administration from
the time when this office was created until 20 August 1943.
Heinrich Himmler was my deputy in this capacity. Before the
outbreak of the war my task as Plenipotentiary General for Reich
Administration was the preparation of organization in the event
of war, such as, for instance, the appointment of liaison men in
the different ministries who would keep in touch with me. As
Plenipotentiary General for Reich Administration I, together
with the Plenipotentiary General for Economy and the OKW, formed
a so-called ‘Three-Man College.’ We were also members of the
Reich Defense Council, which was to plan preparations and
decrees in case of war, which later were published by the
Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich. Since, as soon as
the war had started, everything would have to be done speedily
and there would be no time for planning, such war measures and
decrees were prepared in advance. All one then had to do was to
pull out of the drawer the war orders that had been prepared.
Later on, after the outbreak of the war, these decrees were
enacted by the Ministerial Council for Defense of the
Reich.”—Signed and sworn to by Dr. Wilhelm Frick, on the 19th
of November 1945.
To sum up this particular phase of the proof, the Cabinet by its own
decision and its own laws created a large war-planning body—the Reich
Defense Council—the members of which were taken from the Cabinet.
Within the Council they set up a small working committee, again composed
of Cabinet members and certain defense officials, a majority of whom
were appointed from the Cabinet members. And to streamline the action,
they placed all of its ministries—except Air, Propaganda, and Foreign
Affairs—into the groups headed respectively by the Plenipotentiaries
for Economy and Administration, and the OKW; and everything was
organized in and for the greatest of secrecy.
That is this Three-Man College.
Now, in conclusion, if Your Honor pleases, I would like at this time to
summarize briefly the proof concerning the Reichsregierung.
From 1933 to the end of the war, the Reichsregierung comprised the
dominant body of influence and leadership below Hitler in the Nazi
Government. The three subdivisions were included in the term
Reichsregierung in the Indictment: the ordinary Cabinet, the Secret
Cabinet Council, and the Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich.
Yet in reality there existed only an artificial, illusory boundary
between the three.
The predominant subdivision was, of course, the ordinary Cabinet, which
was commonly referred to as the Reichsregierung. In it were the leading
political and military figures in the Nazi Government. Seventeen of the
22 defendants before this Tribunal were integral parts of the ordinary
Cabinet.
I should like now to name these defendants and to indicate the positions
they held in the Reichsregierung:
Martin Bormann, Leader of the Party Chancellery; Karl Dönitz,
Commander-in-Chief of the Navy; Hans Frank, Reich Minister without
Portfolio; Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior, Plenipotentiary for
Reich Administration; Walter Funk, Minister of Economics,
Plenipotentiary for Economy; Hermann Göring, Minister for Air, Reich
Forest Master; Rudolf Hess, Deputy of the Führer; Wilhelm Keitel, Chief
of the OKW; Constantin H. K. von Neurath, Minister for Foreign Affairs,
President of the Secret Cabinet Council; Franz von Papen,
Vice-Chancellor; Erich Raeder, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy; Joachim
von Ribbentrop, Minister for Foreign Affairs; Alfred Rosenberg, Minister
of the Occupied Eastern Territories; Hjalmar Schacht, Acting Minister of
Economics, Reich Minister without Portfolio, President of the
Reichsbank, Plenipotentiary for War Economy; Baldur von Schirach, Reich
Youth Leader; Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Reich Minister without Portfolio;
and finally, Albert Speer, Minister for Armaments and War Production.
From the ordinary Cabinet there came not only the members of the Secret
Cabinet Council and the Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich,
but also the members of the war planning group, the Nazi secret Reich
Defense Council. When it was deemed essential for the purposes of the
conspiracy to wage aggressive war, that power was concentrated in a few
individuals. Again these individuals were drawn from the ordinary
Cabinet. Thus the Plenipotentiaries for Economy and Administration were
also Ministers of the ordinary Cabinet, and they were also members of
the Reich Defense Council and Ministerial Council.
Under them were grouped practically all the ministers of the ordinary
Cabinet.
Where political considerations of foreign policy required that another
select group be chosen to act as advisors, the secret Cabinet was
created and populated with members of the ordinary Cabinet.
The Reichsregierung was dominated by the Nazi Party through the control
exercised over its legislation by the Deputy of the Führer, Hess, and
later by the Leader of the Party Chancellery, Bormann. Party control was
also effected through the individual membership of all members and the
union of various key Cabinet and Party positions in one man. As a result
of this fusion of the Party and State, an enormous concentration of
political power was gathered into the Cabinet.
The laws enacted by the Cabinet established the framework within which
the Nazi conspirators established their control of Germany, set forth in
Count One of the Indictment, by virtue of which they were enabled to
commit the crimes alleged in Counts One, Two, Three, and Four of the
Indictment. The Cabinet enacted harsh penal laws, discriminatory laws,
confiscatory laws, in violation of the principles of justice and
humanity. Decrees enacted by the Ministerial Council during the war
clothed the criminal acts of the Nazi conspirators with a semblance of
legality. As an instrument of the Party, the Cabinet effectively
implemented the notorious points of the Party program. Finally, the
Cabinet, almost immediately upon the coming into power of Hitler, became
a war-planning group through its establishment in 1933 of a Reich
Defense Council and its active participation in the schemes and plans
for waging aggressive war.
It is therefore most respectfully submitted that, by virtue of all of
the foregoing, the Reichsregierung, as defined in Appendix D, Page 35,
of the Indictment, should be declared a criminal group within the
meaning of Article 9 of Section II of the Charter.
That concludes, if Your Honor pleases, this presentation, and the next
subject is the SA. It will take just about a couple of minutes to be
ready for that.
May it please the Tribunal, I passed up Document Book Y, which contains
the English translations of the documents relied upon in this
presentation.
The organization which I shall now present for your consideration is the
Sturmabteilung, the organization which the world remembers as the “Brown
Shirts” or “Storm Troops,” the gangsters of the early days of Nazi
terrorism. It came to be known in latter years as the SA, and I shall
refer to it in that manner in the course of my presentation.
The SA was the first of the organizations conceived and created by the
Nazis as the instrument and weapon to effectuate their evil objectives,
and it occupied a place of peculiar and significant importance in the
scheme of the conspirators. Unlike some of the other organizations, the
functions of the SA were not fixed or static. On the contrary, it was an
agency adapted to many designs and purposes, and its role in the
conspiracy changed from time to time—always corresponding with the
progression of the conspiracy through its various phases towards the
final objective: abrogation of the Versailles Treaty and acquisition of
the territory of other peoples and nations. If we might consider this
conspiracy as a pattern, with its various parts fitting together like
the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, we would find that the piece representing
the SA constituted a link in the pattern vitally necessary to the
presentation and development of the entire picture.
The SA participated in the conspiracy as a distinct and separate unit
having a legal character of its own. This is shown by Document 1725-PS,
which is tabbed in the document book, of which the Court will take
judicial notice. It is an ordinance passed in March 1935,
_Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 502. It declares that the SA and
certain other agencies were thereafter to be considered “components” of
the Nazi Party. This ordinance further provided in Article 5—and it is
on the second page of the English translation, right after the word
“Article 5”—I quote, “The affiliated organizations can have their own
corporate identity.”
Similarly the _Organization Book_ of the Nazi Party characterizes the SA
as an “entity.” Document 3220-PS, which I now offer, is an excerpt from
the 1943 edition of the _Organization Book_, Page 358 of the original,
and I quote from the English translation. It is there declared:
“The Führer prescribes the law of conduct and commands its use.
The Chief of Staff represents the SA as a complete entity on the
mandate of the Führer.
I am sure the evidence will demonstrate and characterize the SA as an
entity and organization having a legal character of its own. This
evidence will show that, while the SA was composed of many individual
members, these members acted collectively and cohesively as a unit. They
were closely bound and associated together by many common factors,
including: uniform membership standards and disciplinary regulations; a
common and distinctive uniform; common aims and objectives; common
activities, duties, and responsibilities; and—probably the most
important factor of all—a fanatical adherence to the philosophies and
ideologies conceived by the Nazi conspirators.
This is partially demonstrated by Document Number 2354-PS, which again
is simply an excerpt from the _Organization Book_; and it is found on
Page 7 of the English translation. It provides that membership in the SA
was voluntary but that the SA man should withdraw if “he can no longer
agree with SA views or if he is not in a position to fulfill completely
the duties imposed upon him as a member of the SA.”
The SA man was well schooled in the philosophies, attitudes, and
activities which he was expected and required to adopt and reflect in
his daily life. Cohesion of thought and uniformity of action with
respect to such matters was in part obtained by the publication and
distribution of a weekly periodical entitled _Der SA-Mann_ (_The SA
Man_). This publication was principally devoted to the creation and
fostering of the various aspects of Nazi ideology which constituted the
doctrinal motives of many of the conspirators.
May I digress from my text and say to the Tribunal that we have here on
the table all of these publications, beginning with the year 1934, up
through and including the year 1939. The official weekly newspaper
entitled _Der SA-Mann_, meaning _The SA Man_, published in Munich, had
wide distribution and was on sale at news stands and distributed
throughout Germany and occupied countries.
In addition, _Der SA-Mann_ served to report upon and document the
activities of the SA as an organization and those of its constituent
groups. I shall have occasion at a later point to refer to certain
portions of this publication for the consideration of the Tribunal.
The general organizational arrangement or plan of the SA will be
demonstrated to the Tribunal by the documents which will subsequently
appear. At this point I may say simply that this proof will show that
the SA developed from scattered bands of street ruffians to a well-knit,
cohesive unit organized on a military basis with military training and
military functions and, above all, with an aggressive, militaristic, and
warlike spirit and philosophy. The organization extended throughout the
entire Reich territory and was organized vertically into local groups
and divisions. Horizontally, there were special units including military
cavalry, communications, engineer, and medical units. Your Honors will
observe the chart that I will introduce officially a little later on the
wall. Co-ordination of these various groups and branches was strictly
maintained by the SA headquarters and operational offices, and those
offices were located in Munich.
The relationship between the SA and the NSDAP is the next subject.
The case against the SA is a strong one and its basis or foundation
consists of its significant and peculiar relationship and affiliation
with the Nazi Party and the principal conspirators.
It is submitted that a relationship or association among the alleged
conspirators constitutes important and convincing evidence of their
joint participation in an established conspiracy; and this principle is
particularly applicable because the affiliation between the SA and the
Nazi leaders was closely maintained and adhered to and was adapted to
the purpose of enabling the conspirators to employ the SA for any use or
activity which might be necessary in the course of effectuating the
objectives of the conspiracy.
Thus we find that the SA was, in fact, conceived and created by Hitler
himself in the year 1921 at the very inception of the conspiracy. Hitler
retained direction of the SA throughout the period of the conspiracy,
delegating the responsibility for its leadership to a Chief of Staff.
Hitler, in fact, was often known throughout Germany as OSAF, or
“Oberster SA Führer,” or, translated, meaning the highest SA Führer.
The Defendant Göring was an early member of the SA and he maintained a
close affiliation with it throughout the course of the conspiracy.
The Defendant Hess participated in many of the early battles of the SA
and was leader of an SA group in Munich.
The Defendants Frank, Streicher, Von Schirach, and Sauckel each held a
position of Obergruppenführer in the SA, a position corresponding to the
rank of Lieutenant General; and the Defendant Bormann was a member of
the staff of the SA High Command.
The close relationship between the SA and the leaders of the Nazi Party
is demonstrated by the fact that the Hoheitsträger of the Nazi
Leadership Corps were authorized to call upon the SA for assistance in
carrying out particular phases of the Party program. This was
established yesterday by Document 1893-PS, which, Your Honors will
recall, I quoted from a number of times in connection with the
presentation of the Leadership Corps. It was declared in that excerpt,
Page 11 of the English translation, as Your Honors will recall, that the
Hoheitsträger were empowered to call upon the SA for the execution of
political missions connected with the movement. This responsibility of
the SA to the Party is also shown by Document 2383-PS, which is an
ordinance for the execution of the Hitler decree, which I now offer in
evidence as Exhibit USA-410. I quote from Page 3 of the English
translation. If Your Honors will turn to Page 3 of the English
translation, it is the fourth paragraph on Page 3:
“The affiliates of the NSDAP, with exception of the SS, for whom
special provisions apply, are subordinated to the Hoheitsträger
politically and for assignment to duty. Responsibility for the
leadership of the units rests in the hands of the unit leader.”
It was in accordance with such authority, as proved yesterday in the
Leadership Corps presentation, that the SA was used in the seizure of
trade union properties.
In addition the SA demonstrated its close affiliation to the Nazi Party
by participating in various ways in election proceedings. This is shown
in Document 2168-PS, which is a pamphlet entitled _The SA_, which is
Exhibit USA-411; and this pamphlet depicts the history and general
activities of the SA, written by an SA Sturmführer named Bayer upon
orders from SA headquarters. In that pamphlet, and I quote on Page 4 of
the English translation, down towards the bottom of the page, the last
paragraph, beginning on line 3:
“The labor and the struggle of the SA was not in vain. They
stood at the foremost front of election contests.”
Adolf Hitler himself, on the 2d of September 1930, took over the
leadership of the SA as the Supreme SA Führer. He himself guided his SA
in the fateful election fight of the year 1930.
Further evidence of the interest and participation of Nazi leaders in
the activities of the SA is to be found in these five bound volumes,
which consist of the issues of the SA newspaper, _Der SA-Mann_, from the
year 1934 to 1939 inclusive; and I should like at this time to ask that
each of these bound volumes be marked for identification, because each
of them will be referred to from time to time during this presentation.
They will begin with Exhibit USA-414, 415, 416, 417, and 418 and they
are referred to by appropriate document numbers, which I will refer to
when the quoted portions come in the English translation.
Throughout these volumes there appear photographs portraying the
participation of Nazi leaders in SA activities. I should like at this
time to describe a few of the photographs, and I will indicate the page
numbers upon which they appear.
If Your Honors please, we set out a number of these pictures and a
number of photographs; but I should like, at this time, to exhibit to
the Tribunal and pass into evidence one of the photographs appearing in
the January 1937 issue. It is a photograph of Göring at the ceremonies
held upon the occasion of his being made Obergruppenführer of the
Feldherrnhalle Regiment of the SA on the 23rd of January 1937, and we
offer in evidence the photograph and the page of the newspaper. We will
pass it up to Your Honors if you would like to see it. We offer it in
evidence.
Another photograph of Göring, leading the Feldherrnhalle Regiment of the
SA in parade on the 18th of September 1937, is shown at Page 3. The
other photograph was at Page 3 of the 1937 January edition of the
_SA-Mann_.
I call the attention of Your Honors to a few of the other photographs
that appear. There is a photograph of Hitler greeting Hühnlein, bearing
the caption, “The Führer greets Corps Führer Hühnlein at the opening of
the International Automobile Fair—1935.” That is dated the 23rd of
March 1935, at Page 6.
Here is another photograph of Himmler and Hühnlein, who was the Führer
of the NSKK, and Lutze, who was Chief of Staff of the SA, bearing the
caption, “They lead the soldiers of National Socialism,” 15th of June
1935, Page 1.
Another photograph of Hitler at an SA ceremony, carrying the SA battle
flag; and the picture bears the caption, “As in the fighting years, the
Führer, on the Party Day of Freedom, dedicates the new regiments with
the Blood Banner,” 21 September 1935, Page 4.
I pass on. Here is a photograph of Göring in the SA uniform, reviewing
SA marching troops, under the caption, “Honor Day of the SA,” 21
September 1935, Page 3.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, is there any doubt that Hitler and Göring
were members of the SA?
COL. STOREY: No, Sir; but the purpose in showing those photographs, if
Your Honors please, was to show the militaristic character of the SA. If
there is no question about that and it is cumulative, then I will pass
on.
The work of the SA did not end with the seizure by the Nazis of the
German Government, but affiliation between the SA and the Nazi leaders
was continued after the acquisition by the Nazis of the control of the
German State. The importance of the SA in connection with the Nazi
Government and control of Germany is shown by the law of December 1,
1933. I have already referred to that, that is, the union of Party and
State. However, there is one paragraph that has not been quoted before,
if Your Honors please, and I would like to call Your Honors’ attention
to it. It is our Document 1395-PS, and it appears in the English
translation on Page 1, and I quote Article 2:
“The Führer’s Deputy and the Chief of Staff of the SA 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.”
Similarly, in Document 2383-PS, which I referred to a moment ago—I will
simply refer to it—that is 2383-PS, Page 11, the last paragraph:
“The Party and State offices must support the SA in this
training program and value the certificate of award of the SA
defense medal accordingly.”
That the Nazis at all times possessed complete control of the SA is
shown by the so-called Röhm Purge of June 1934. Evidence concerning this
matter is to be found in the _Völkischer Beobachter_ of 1 July 1934, at
Page 1. I will not quote from that.
Röhm had been Chief of Staff of the SA for several years and was
responsible for the development of the SA into a powerful organization
with definite programs and objectives.
Members of the SA were required to take a personal oath of fidelity to
him. But when his policies conflicted with those of the Nazi leaders, he
was removed and murdered and replaced by Victor Lutze. This drastic
action was accomplished without revolt or dissension in the ranks of the
SA and with no change in the objectives or program of the organization.
The SA remained “a reliable and strong part of the National Socialist
Movement”—and I am quoting; this is Document 2407-PS, Exhibit USA-412,
the English translation of the _Völkischer Beobachter_. It is the last
paragraph in the English translation, just above the name “Adolf
Hitler.” I will say for the translators that the quotation is included
in our text. If we might go on, I quote:
“It is my wish that the SA be built up as a reliable and strong
part of the National Socialist movement, full of obedience and
blind discipline. They must help to create and form the new
German citizens.”
The importance of the SA in the Nazi plan for the utilization of the
people of Germany is shown in Hitler’s pronouncement, “The Course for
the German,” which appears in the issue of _Der SA-Mann_ of the 5th of
September 1936, at Page 22. It is our Document 3050-PS, Exhibit Numbers
USA-414 and USA-418; and it is at Page 29 of the English
translation—Page 29 of Document 3050-PS, the paragraph in the middle of
the page; and I quote:
“. . . the young boy will enter the Jungvolk, and the adolescent
will enter the Hitler Youth; the young man of the Hitler Jugend
will go into the SA, the SS, and other units, and the SA and SS
men will one day enter into the labor service and from there the
Army, and the soldier of the Volk will return again into the
organization of the Movement, of the Party, into the SA and SS,
and never again will our Volk decay as it once had decayed.”
And so we see that at all times during the conspiracy the relationship
between the SA and the Nazi Party was such that the SA was constantly
available to the conspirators as an instrument to further their aims.
The SA was created by the conspirators at the inception of the Nazi
movement. It was at all times subject to the direction of Adolf Hitler.
Seven of the defendants held positions of leadership and responsibility
in the organization, and at all times the SA was subject to the call of
the Hoheitsträger. The SA stood at the forefront of the election fights;
and co-operation between the offices of the Party, of the SA, and of the
State was assured by law.
And so it was declared by Victor Lutze, the former Chief of Staff of the
SA, in a pamphlet entitled _The Nature and Tasks of the SA_; and it is
our Document Number 2471-PS. The original we offer in evidence as
Exhibit USA-413; and I quote from the top of Page 1 of the English
translation, 2471-PS. I believe I will read that whole paragraph, the
first paragraph on the top of the page:
“Before touching the real subject matter, I must tell you first,
in order to clear up any uncertainty about my own position, that
I never speak primarily as a member of the SA, but as a National
Socialist, since the SA cannot be independent of the National
Socialist movement but can only exist as a part of it.”
I should next like to present to the Tribunal evidence which will
demonstrate the principal functions and activities performed by the SA
pursuant to the relationship which I have described above and in
furtherance of the objectives of the conspiracy. These activities may be
logically classified or divided into four distinct phases or aspects,
each of which, I might add, corresponds with a particular phase in the
progression of the conspiracy toward the objectives alleged in the
Indictment.
The first phase consists of the use of the SA and its members as the
instrument for the dissemination of ideology and fanaticism of the Nazis
throughout Germany. The employment of the SA for this purpose continued
throughout the entire period of the conspiracy as will, I am sure, be
apparent from the evidence.
The second phase relates to the period prior to the Nazi seizure of
power. During this period the SA was a militant and aggressive group of
fighters or gangsters whose function was to combat, physically and
violently, all opponents of the Party.
The third phase relates to the period of several years following the
Nazi seizure of power. During this period the SA participated in various
measures designed to consolidate the control of the Nazis, including
such Nazi-inspired programs as the dissolution of the trade unions, the
persecution of the Church, and the Jewish persecutions to which I have
already alluded. During this period they continued to serve as a force
of political soldiers whose purpose was physically to combat members of
political parties which were considered hostile or opposed to the Nazi
Party.
The fourth aspect of the SA activities consisted of its employment as an
agency for the building up of an armed force in Germany in violation of
the Treaty of Versailles and for the preparation of the youth of
Germany—mentally and physically—for the waging of an aggressive war.
I should now like to discuss what I consider the highlights of the
evidence relating to these four phases.
The first phase is in connection with the dissemination of ideology.
The first function of the SA consisted of its responsibility to
disseminate the doctrines and ideologies, acceptance of which was
necessary for the fulfilment of the Nazi objectives. From the very start
the Nazi leaders emphasized the importance of this mission. During the
course of the conspiracy the SA undertook many duties and
responsibilities, but one responsibility which remained constant
throughout was that of being propagandist of the National Socialist
ideology.
I now refer, Your Honors, to the English translation of Document
2760-PS, Exhibit USA-256, which is an excerpt from _Mein Kampf_, and it
is shown at Page 5 of the translation of the document. This is the third
paragraph on Page 5 of the document, quoting:
“As the directing idea for the inner training of the
Sturmabteilung, the intention was always dominant, aside from
all physical education, to teach it to be the unshakeably
convinced defender of the National Socialist idea. . . .”
I might add that Hitler’s pronouncement as to the function of the SA in
this respect became, in effect, the guiding principle of SA members, for
_Mein Kampf_ was taken to express the basic philosophy of the SA.
In Document Number 2354-PS, which is an excerpt from the _Organization
Book_ of the Party, on Page 1 of the English translation—it is quoted
in the text—I quote Paragraph 1:
“Education and training, according to the doctrines and aims of
the Führer as they are set down in _Mein Kampf_ and in the Party
program, for all phases of our living and of our National
Socialist ideology. . . .”
This same document—the _Organization Book_ of the Party—refers to the
SA’s function as the propagandist of the Party.
I believe the next one, if Your Honor pleases, would simply be
cumulative of what we have already referred to. I next refer to an
article . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps this would be a convenient time to break off.
COL. STOREY: All right, Sir.
[_The Tribunal adjourned until 19 December 1945 at 1000 hours._]
TWENTY-THIRD DAY
Wednesday, 19 December 1945
_Morning Session_
DR. FRITZ SAUTER (Counsel for the Defendant Von Schirach): Mr.
President, yesterday a table depicting the construction of the Reich
Cabinet, one of the accused organizations, was shown on the screen here.
On this chart the Defendant Von Schirach was also listed under the
heading, “Other participants in the meetings of the Cabinet.” The
Defendant Von Schirach has explained to me and asked me to inform the
Tribunal that he never took part in any meeting of the Reich Cabinet,
that he was never named a member of the Reich Cabinet, and that he never
had a part in any decision of the Reich Cabinet.
THE PRESIDENT: The point that you are taking seems to the Tribunal to be
premature. This is not the stage at which you are to argue the question
whether your client is a member of the Reich Cabinet or not. The
argument upon the whole question will take place after the evidence and
after the Prosecution have had the opportunity of putting forward their
arguments as to the criminal nature of the Reich Cabinet. You or other
counsel on behalf of those concerned will be able to put forward your
arguments. We do not desire to hear arguments now about the criminal
nature, but to hear the evidence. Is that clear?
DR. SAUTER: Yes. I shall then return to this point during the
examination of witnesses, and prove that the Defendant Von Schirach was
never a member of the Reich Cabinet. Thank you.
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, yesterday afternoon we had just
started on the participation of the SA in the first point—the
dissemination of ideology or propaganda. In an article which appeared in
_Der SA-Mann_, at Page 1 of the issue of January 1934, which is Document
3050-PS; and I refer to Page 25 of the English translation, if Your
Honor pleases, the portion shown in red brackets—it is dated the 6th of
January 1934:
“The new Germany would not have been without the SA man; and the
new Germany would not go on existing if the SA man would now,
with the feeling of having fulfilled his duty, quietly,
unselfishly, and modestly step aside, or if the new State would
send him home much like the Moor who has done his duty. On the
contrary, the SA man, following the will of the Führer, stands
as a guarantor of the National Socialist revolution before the
gates of power and will remain standing there at all times. For
gigantic missions still await fulfillment which would not be
thinkable without the presence and the active co-operation of
the SA.
“What has been accomplished up till now, the taking over of the
power in the State and the ejection of those elements which are
responsible for the pernicious developments of the postwar years
as bearers of Marxism, liberalism, and Capitalism, are only the
preliminaries, the springboard, for the real aims of National
Socialism.
“Being conscious of the fact that the real National Socialist
construction work would be building in an empty space without
the seizure of power by Adolf Hitler, the Movement and the SA
man as the fighting bearer of its will, primarily have directed
all of their efforts thereupon, to achieve the platform of
continued striving and to obtain the foundation or the
realization of our desires. . . .
“Out of this comes the further mission of the SA for the
completion of the German revolution: First, to be the guarantor
of the power of the National Socialist State against all attacks
from without as well as from within; second, to be the high
institute of education of the people for the living National
Socialism.”
The function of SA as the propagandist of the Party was more than a
responsibility which SA took unto itself. It was the responsibility
recognized by the law of Germany. From Document 1395-PS, which is the
copy of the law entitled, “Law on Securing the Unity of Party and
State,” which I have referred to before—and it was promulgated by the
Reich Cabinet in 1933—I desire to read Article 3, on Page 1 of the
English translation:
“The members of the National Socialist German Labor Party and
the SA, including their subordinate organizations, as the
leading and driving force of the National Socialist State, will
bear greater responsibility toward the Führer, people, and
State. In case they violate these duties they will be subject to
special jurisdiction by Party and SA. The Führer may extend
these regulations in order to include members of other
organizations.”
Thus were the SA members the ideology bearers of the Nazi Party—the
soldiers of an idea—to use the expression employed by the Nazi writers.
And permit me to emphasize that the SA was the propagandist agency, the
principal agency employed by the conspirators to disseminate their
fanaticism among the people of Germany.
I need hardly point out the importance of this function to the
successful effectuation of the conspiracy, for it is self-evident that
the Nazis could not have carried their conspiracy to the stages which
they did, had not the minds of the people of Germany been cruelly and
viciously influenced and infected with their evil ideologies.
I now proceed to the other functions of the SA which I mentioned
previously. The next is its use in the early stages of the conspiracy as
the “strong-arm” of the NSDAP. In the early stages of the Nazi movement,
the employment of the SA as the propagandist instrument of the Party,
involved and was combined with the exercise of physical violence and
brutality.
As said by Hitler in _Mein Kampf_—and this excerpt appears at Page 4 of
Document 2760-PS, Page 4 of the English translation, Exhibit Number
USA-256:
“The young Movement, from the first day, espoused the
stand-point that its idea must be put forward spiritually, but
that the defense of this spiritual platform must, if necessary,
be secured by strong-arm means.”
I will read the rest of that paragraph:
“Faithful to its belief in the enormous significance of the new
doctrine, it seems obvious to the Movement that for the
attainment of its goal no sacrifice can be too great.”
And so, in the early days of the Nazi movement, so that the Nazis might
better spread their fanatical philosophies, the SA was employed as a
terroristic group, in order to gain for the Nazis possession and control
of the streets. That is another way of saying that it was a function of
the SA to beat up and terrorize all political opponents. The importance
of this function is indicated in Document 2168-PS, Exhibit Number
USA-411, which was written by SA Sturmführer Bayer on orders from SA
headquarters. I refer to Page 3 of the English translation of Document
2168-PS, the third paragraph from the bottom:
“Possession of the streets is the key to power in the State—for
this reason the SA marched and fought. The public would never
have received knowledge of the agitative speeches of the little
Reichstag faction and its propagandists or of the desires and
aims of the Party if the martial tread and battle song of the SA
companies had not beat the measures for the truth of a
relentless criticism of the state of affairs in the governmental
system. They wanted the young Movement to keep silent. Nothing
was to be read in the press about the labor of the National
Socialists, not to mention the basic aims of its platform. They
simply did not want to awaken any interest in it. However, the
martial tread of the SA took care that even the drowsiest
citizens had to see at least the existence of a fighting troop.”
The importance of the work of the SA in the early days of the Movement
was indicated by Goebbels in a speech which appeared in _Das Archiv_,
October 1935. This is our Document 3211-PS, Exhibit Number USA-419. It
is on the first page of the English translation:
“The inner-political opponents did not disappear due to
mysterious unknown reasons, but because the Movement possessed a
strong arm within its organization; and the strongest arm of the
movement is the SA. The Jewish question will not be solved
separately but by laws which we enact, for we are an anti-Jewish
government.”
Specific evidence of the activities of the SA during the early period of
the Nazi movement, from 1922 to 1931, is found in a series of articles
appearing in _Der SA-Mann_ entitled, “SA Battle Experiences Which We
Will Never Forget.” Each of these articles is an account of a street or
a meeting-hall battle waged by the SA against a group of political
opponents in the early days of the Nazi struggle for power. These
articles demonstrate that during this period it was the function of the
SA to employ physical violence in order to destroy and subvert all forms
of thought and expression which might be considered hostile to the Nazi
aims or philosophy.
A number of such articles have been translated, and the titles are
sufficiently descriptive to constitute evidence of the activities of the
SA in the early stages of the movement. I should like to quote from a
few of these titles by giving the page reference of this big newspaper
volume.
Here is one of 24 February 1934, Page 4—the title: “We Subdue the Red
Terror.” From the 8th of September 1934, Page 12; the article is
entitled: “Nightly Street Battles on the Czech Border.” From 6th of
October 1934, Page 5: “Street Battle in Chemnitz.” Another one of 20
October 1934, Page 7—the title: “Victorious SA.” I will skip several of
them. Here is one of 26 January 1935, Page 7—the title: “The SA
Conquers Rastenburg.” Another on 23 February 1935, Page 5: “Company 88
Receives Its Baptism of Fire.” One of 20 October 1934, Page 7—the
article is: “SA against Sub-humanity.” Finally, I mention the one of 10
August 1935, Page 10—the title is: “The Blood Sunday of Berlin.” And
then there is a portrait in the article of 11 September 1937, Page 1,
which symbolizes the SA man as the master of the streets.
For an example of the nature of these articles, one appeared in the
Franken edition of the _SA-Mann_ for 30 October 1937, Page 3. It is
entitled: “9 November 1923 in Nuremberg,” and I should like to quote
from Pages 14 and 15 of Document 3050-PS, which is an English
translation of this article:
“We stayed overnight in the Colosseum (that means Nuremberg).
Then in the morning we found out what had happened in Munich.
‘Now a revolution will also be made in Nuremberg’, we said. All
of a sudden the police came from the Maxtor police station and
told us that we should go home, that the Putsch in Munich had
failed. We did not believe that and we did not go home. Then
came the State Police with fixed bayonets and drove us out of
the hall. One of us then shouted: ‘Let’s go to the Cafe
Habsburg!’ By the time we arrived, however, the police again had
everything surrounded. Some shouted then, ‘The Jewish place will
be stormed. . . . Out with the Jews!’ Then the police started to
beat us up. Then we divided into small groups and roamed through
the town, and wherever we caught a Red or a Jew we knew, blows
ensued.
“Then in the evening we marched, although the police had
forbidden it, to a meeting in Fürth. In the Hornschuch promenade
the police again attempted to stop us. It was all the same to
us. In the next moment we attacked the police in our anger so
that they were forced to flee. We marched on to Geissmann Hall.
There again they tried to stop us. But the Landsturm, which was
also there, attacked the policemen like persons possessed and
drove them from the streets. After the meeting we dissolved and
went to the edge of town. From there we marched in close column
back to Nuremberg. In Willstrasse, at the Plärrer, the police
came again. We simply shoved them aside. They did not trust
themselves to attack, for that would have meant a blood bath. We
decided beforehand not to take anything from anyone. In Fürth,
too, they had already noticed that we were up to no good. A
large mass of people accompanied us on the march. We marched
with unrolled flags and sang so that the streets resounded:
Comrade reach me your hand; we want to stand together; even
though they have false impressions, the spirit must not die;
swastika on the steel helmet, black-white-red armband; we are
known as Storm Troop (SA) Hitler!”
I now skip to the use of the SA to consolidate the power of the Party.
The third function of the SA was to carry out various programs designed
to consolidate Nazi control of the German State, including particularly
the dissolution of the trade unions and the Jewish persecutions.
The SA groups were employed to destroy political opposition by force and
brutality wherever necessary. An example of this is shown in Document
Number 3221-PS, Exhibit Number USA-422; and that is an original
affidavit made in the State of Pennsylvania, in the United States of
America, by William F. Sollman, which we now quote in its entirety:
“William F. Sollman, Pendle Hill School, Wallingford,
Pennsylvania, being duly sworn according to law, deposes and
says: From 1919 until 1933 I was a Social Democrat and a member
of the German Reichstag. Prior to March 11th, 1933, I was
editor-in-chief of a chain of daily newspapers with my office in
Cologne, Germany, which led the fight against the Nazi Party.
“On March 9th, 1933, members of the SS and SA came to my home in
Cologne and destroyed the furniture and my personal records. At
that time I was taken to the Brown House in Cologne, where I was
tortured, being beaten and kicked for several hours. I was then
taken to the regular government prison in Cologne, where I was
treated by two medical doctors and released the next day. On
March 11th, 1933, I left Germany. (Signed and sworn to).”
Prior to the organization of the Gestapo on a national scale, local SA
meeting-places were designated as arrest points; and the SA members were
employed in the taking into custody of Communists and other persons who
were actually or supposedly hostile to the Nazi Party. This activity is
described in Document Number 1759-PS, Exhibit Number USA-420, which is
an original affidavit made by Raymond H. Geist. Mr. Geist was formerly
United States Consul in Berlin. He is now in Mexico City. I should like
to quote from a portion of his affidavit, the first being on Page 5 of
the English translation, about the middle of the page, starting:
“At the beginning of the Hitler regime, the only organization
which had meeting-places throughout the country was the SA
(Storm Trooper). Until the Gestapo could be organized on a
national scale, the thousands of local SA meeting-places became
the arrest points. There were at least 50 of these in Berlin.
Communists, Jews, and other known enemies of the Nazi Party were
taken to these points, and if they were enemies of sufficient
importance they were immediately transferred to the Gestapo
headquarters. During 1933 and 1934, when the Gestapo became
universally organized, the SA were gradually eliminated as
arresting agents, and the SS were incorporated as administrative
and executive officials into the Gestapo. By the end of 1934,
the SA had been fairly well eliminated and the SS, the members
of which wore elegant black suits and were therefore called
Elite Guards, became almost identical as functionaries with the
Gestapo.”
I now pass to Page 7 of this same document, Page 7 of the English
translation. It begins . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, does that mean that the SA were
eliminated for the purpose of arrest or for other purposes too?
COL. STOREY: No, Sir. As I understand, Sir, the SA reached its height of
popularity in 1934 and immediately after the Röhm purge began to
decline. In the meantime, the SS, which originated out of the SA, was
growing and became really the strong part and grew and prospered after
that. So I think the evidence will show that after 1934 the SA started a
rapid decline in its importance.
Now, on Page 7 of the English translation I should like to quote a part
of the consul’s report, beginning in the middle of the page:
“Another American, Herman I. Roseman, made an affidavit which
stated:
“‘Yesterday, March 10th, 1933, in the afternoon about 4:30, I
came out of KDW with my fiancée, Fräulein Else Schwarzlose,
residing in Wilmersdorf (giving the address). A man in SA
uniform stepped on my toe purposely, obviously offended me and
said “Pardon.” I said “Bitte,” and walked ahead. He then
followed me and kicked me saying, “Na und?” A policeman saw this
and walked ahead, paying no attention to attacks made on me.
Then I took my passport out of my pocket, showed it to the
second policeman, and said that I was an American citizen, but
he walked ahead, obviously not able to afford me protection, or
at least being unwilling. The SA man continued to attack me,
struck me in the face, wounded me over the eye, and continued to
do me bodily harm. During this attack, all the time my walking
along, we reached another policeman, and I applied to him,
showing my passport and said, “I am an American and am entitled
to protection.” He shrugged his shoulders and said “What can I
do?” By this time the SA man had obviously inflicted enough
attack upon me and walked away.
“‘Upon my appeal, the policeman brought my fiancée and me to the
station house at 13 Bayreutherstrasse. My fiancée and I reported
to the officer in charge. He heard the story and said that he
was sorry, but that there was nothing to do. My face was
bleeding. The policeman said that he had orders not to interfere
in any affair in which an SA man took part. I then asked him
what I could do to protect myself. He said that there was
nothing to do but to wait until the situation was better. He
added that the police were absolutely powerless, and were under
the direction of the SA, and that there were SA Sturm
Abteilungen in the police itself. Thereupon I departed. . . .’”
Now on the next page, on Page 8, is another American, Mrs. Jean Klauber,
and I quote from her affidavit:
“Oh the night of Friday, March 10, 1933, she and her husband had
retired for the night when they were awakened by a prolonged
ringing of their apartment bell. They heard pounding upon the
street door and a demand for immediate entry and a concurrent
threat to break the door down. The street door was opened by the
janitor’s wife; and a party of four or five men entered and went
at once to the apartment of the deponent, where they again rang
and pounded on the door. Mr. Klauber asked who was there and was
answered, ‘The police.’ He opened the door and a party of four
or five men in brown uniforms, one wearing a dark overcoat and
carrying a rifle, pushed in, jostling Mr. and Mrs. Klauber
aside. One asked Mrs. Klauber where the telephone was and she
indicated the room where it was to be found and started to go
there. Thereupon, she was knocked down by one of them. They went
on to the bedroom where Mr. and Mrs. Klauber followed them, and
there they demanded their passports. Mr. Klauber went to the
wardrobe to get his and was stopped, being asked by the
intruders whether he was carrying any weapons. Being clothed
only in pajamas, his denial was accompanied by a gesture
indicating his garb. He then turned to the wardrobe, opened it,
and reached for one of his four suits hanging therein where he
thought the passport was, and was immediately attacked from
behind by all but one of the intruders, who beat him severely
with police clubs, the one with the overcoat and rifle standing
by. Remarks were shouted such as, ‘look! Four suits, while for
14 years we have been starving!’ Mrs. Klauber tried to inquire
the reason for their actions, and was answered, ‘Jews. We hate
you. For 14 years we have been waiting for this, and tonight we
will hang many of you.’
“When the intruders stopped beating Mr. Klauber he was
unconscious, and they again demanded the passports of Mrs.
Klauber. Mrs. Klauber found her American passport and her German
passport (required by local authorities as the wife of a German
citizen and issued by the police at Munich after her arrival
here); and the intruders took both in spite of Mrs. Klauber’s
protests that she was American. She then searched for her
husband’s passport, laid hold of his pocketbook, and in her
excitement offered it to them. Though full of money they refused
it, and again demanded the passport. Mrs. Klauber then found it
and handed it over.
“Then the intruders returned to the unconscious Mr. Klauber,
saying, ‘He hasn’t had enough yet,’ and beat him further. Then
they left, saying, ‘We are not yet finished,’ and just as they
departed, one of them said to Mrs. Klauber, ‘Why did you marry a
Jew? I hate them,’ and struck her on the jaw with his police
club. . . .”
That is the end of the affidavit.
Now continuing, the next paragraph is the statement of the U.S. Consul:
“I personally can verify that the police had been instructed not
to interfere; and that is, that there was official sanction for
these activities. Affidavits taken from numerous victims attest
this fact. I had become acquainted with the two police officers
stationed at the corner of Bellevuestrasse and Tiergartenstrasse
near where the Consulate General was located; these officers
told me that they and all the other police officers had received
definite instructions not to interfere with the SA, the SS, or
the Hitler Youth.”
In addition, SA members served as guards at concentration camps during
this consolidating period and participated in the persecution and
mistreatment of persons imprisoned therein. I now refer to Document
2824-PS, which is a book entitled, _Concentration Camp at Oranienburg_.
It is Exhibit Number USA-423. This was by an SA-Sturmbannführer named
Schäfer, who was the commander of the concentration camp at Oranienburg.
I quote the excerpt on the first page of the English translation,
reading:
“The most trusted SA men of long service were selected in order
to give them homes in the camp, since they were the permanent
camp guards, and in such a manner we created a cadre of
experienced guardsmen who were constantly prepared to be
employed.”
Further evidence concerning the operation of the concentration camps by
the SA is found in Document 787-PS, Exhibit Number USA-421. This is a
report to Hitler from the public prosecutor of Dresden concerning the
_nolle-prossing_ of one Vogel, who was accused of mistreatment of
persons imprisoned in the concentration camp. I quote from that report:
“On 14 March 1935 the prosecuting authority in Dresden has
indicted . . . Oberregierungsrat Erich Vogel in Dresden on
account of inflicting bodily injury while in office. The
following subject matter is the basis of the process:
“Vogel belongs to the Gestapo office of the state of Saxony
since its foundation and is chief of Main Section II, which
formerly bore the title ZUB (central section for combatting
subversive movements). In the process of combatting efforts
inimical to the State, Vogel carried out several so-called
‘borderland actions’ in the year 1933 in which a large number of
politically unreliable persons and persons who had become
political prisoners in the border territories were taken into
protective custody and brought to the Hohnstein protective
custody camp. In the camp unusually severe ill-treatment of the
prisoners has been going on at least since the summer of 1933.
The prisoners were not only, as in the protective custody camp
Bredow near Stettin, beaten into a state of unconsciousness for
no reasons with whips and other tools, but were also tortured in
other ways, as for instance with a drip-apparatus, especially
constructed for the purpose, under which the prisoners had to
stand so long that they came away with serious purulent wounds
on the scalp. The guilty SA leaders and SA men were sentenced to
punishments of 6 years to 9 months of imprisonment by the main
criminal court of the provincial court in Dresden on 15 May 1935
. . . Vogel, whose duties frequently brought him to the camp,
took part in this mistreatment, insofar as it happened in the
reception room of the camp during completion of the reception
formalities and in the supply room, during issuing of the
blankets. In this respect it should be pointed out that Vogel
was generally known to the personnel of the camp—exactly
because of his function as head of the ZUB—and his conduct
became at least partly a standard for the above-named conduct of
the SA leaders and men.”
I want to read the remainder of that quotation. I am sorry, I don’t have
it here. That is a little portion there that should be read immediately
following my statement, and then I started—I will skip to the quotation
just below there:
“Vogel stayed in the reception room a long time and watched
these proceedings without doing anything about them. In his
presence for instance, the SA man Mutze dealt such blows to one
man, without provocation, that he turned around on himself. As
already stated, Vogel not only took no steps against this
treatment of the prisoners, but he even made jokes about it and
stated that it amused him the way things were popping here.
“In the supply room, Vogel himself took a hand in the beating
amid the general severe mistreatment. The SA men there employed
whips and other articles and beat the prisoners in such a manner
that serious injuries were produced, the prisoners became partly
unconscious and had to lie in the hospital a long time. Vogel
was often present in the supply room during the mistreatment. At
least in the following cases he personally participated actively
in these mistreatments.”
And then skipping down:
“. . . the prisoner was laid across the counter in the usual
manner, held fast by the head and arms, and then beaten for a
considerable time by the SA men with whips and other articles.
Along with these, Vogel himself took part in the beating for a
time, and after this mistreatment slapped him again, so that the
prisoner appeared green and blue in the face. The prisoner is
the tinsmith Hans Kühitz, who bore the nickname ‘Johnny.’ Upon
his departure, Vogel gave the head of the supply room,
Truppführer Meier from 5 to 6 Reichsmark with the stated reason
that the SA men ‘had sweated so.’ The money was then distributed
by Meier to those SA comrades who had taken part in the
mistreatment.”
Another activity of the SA during the days just following the Nazi
seizure of power was to act as auxiliary police. This is shown in
Document 3252-PS, Exhibit Number USA-424. This publication is a book
written about Hermann Göring.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, is that a document which shows on its
face that the man was punished for this conduct?
COL. STOREY: I think it does; yes, Sir. I think it does.
THE PRESIDENT: I think that fact ought to be stated.
COL. STOREY: I believe it is stated, Sir. You see in the beginning it
says that the prosecuting authority in Dresden had indicted Vogel on
account of bodily injury, and I thought it stated that he had been
punished.
THE PRESIDENT: The document does appear to state it, but I think you
ought to state it in court. The document ends up with—Paragraph 3.
COL. STOREY: It does state that he was punished. The purpose of
introducing it was to show what actually took place.
I now turn to Document 3252-PS. As I have just mentioned, the book is
entitled, _Hermann Göring, the Man and His Work_ by Erich Gritzbach, in
which it is declared that the ranks of the Security Police were
strengthened by the SA and which was characterized as the most reliable
instrument of the Movement. I should like to quote on the first page of
Document 3252-PS, the English translation—it is the fourth paragraph:
“The present reorganization of the Protection Police is hardly
noticed by the public. Its ranks are strengthened by the SA, the
most reliable instrument of the Movement. The auxiliary police
has given effective aid by its fighting spirit in the struggle
against the Communists and other enemies of the State, not only
to Göring but has, driven by its National Socialist desire for a
new spirit within the executive police, assisted in the rigid
organization.”
I now skip to the SA participation in the Jewish pogrom of 10-11
November 1938 shown by Document 1721-PS, Exhibit Number USA-425. This is
a confidential report of the SA-Brigadeführer to his group commander,
dated 29 November 1938. In the English translation, starting at the
beginning without reading the addresses, it is to SA Group Electoral
Palatinate (Kurpfalz) Mannheim:
“The following order reached me at 3 o’clock on 10 November
1938.
“On the order of the Gruppenführer, all Jewish synagogues within
the 50th Brigade are to be blown up or set on fire immediately.
“Neighboring houses occupied by Aryans are not to be damaged.
The action is to be carried out in civilian clothes. Rioting and
plundering are to be prevented. Report of execution of orders to
reach the brigade Führer or office by 8:30.
“I immediately alerted the Standartenführer and gave them the
most exact instructions; the execution of the order began at
once. I hereby report that the following were destroyed in the
area of. . . .”
Then there follows a list of 35 synagogues that were destroyed. I just
refer to a few of them:
“1) The synagogue at Darmstadt, Bleichstrasse, destroyed by
fire. . . . 4) The synagogue at Gräfenhausen, interior and
furnishings wrecked.”—And then under “Standarte 145”—“The
synagogue at Bensheim, destroyed by fire.”
And then the next four items are synagogues destroyed by fire. In
Standarte 168 eight synagogues are shown to have been destroyed by fire.
In Standarte 86 the synagogue in Beerfelden was blown up; and then
follow several others where the furnishings were wrecked. In Standarte
221 the synagogue and chapel in Gross-Gerau was destroyed by fire, and
the next one torn down and the furnishings destroyed. And then it is
signed by the Führer of Brigade 50, by the signature which is illegible,
“Brigadeführer.”
In connection with the persecution of the Jews, we again find the SA
performing its function of propaganda agency for the Nazis. In this
connection it was the function of the SA to create and foster among the
people an anti-Jewish spirit and sentiment without which the terrifying
Crimes against Humanity perpetrated against the Jewish race certainly
would not have been tolerated by any civilized peoples. Substantial and
convincing evidence of this function is to be found in these bound
volumes of _Der SA-Mann_. Throughout the period covered by these
volumes, there appeared in this publication article after article
consisting of the most cruel and vicious sort of anti-religious
propaganda designed to engender and foster hatred and hostility toward
the Jewish race.
I will simply refer to a few of the titles appearing. On 27 July 1935,
at Page 4, the title is “Finish up with the Jew.” That is shown, if Your
Honor pleases, in Document 3050-PS, Pages 16 to 18 there listed. In the
issue of 2 February 1935, Page 5, “The Jewish World Danger”; on 20 July
1935, Page 4, “Jewish Worries”; on 1 June 1935, Page 1, “Jews Are Not
Wanted Here.” And then follows a statement:
“Then, also, outside of the last German village the sign will
stand, ‘Jews Are Not Wanted Here’; and then, finally, no German
citizen will again cross the threshold of a Jewish store. To
achieve this goal is, among others, the mission of the SA man as
the political soldier of the Führer. Next to his word and his
explanations shall stand his example.”
Then further on, 17 August 1935, Page 1, “God Save the Jews.” Then
another, of 5 October 1935, Page 6, the title “The Face of the Jew”
(with a portrait of a Jew holding the hammer and sickle).
I will just refer to one or two more of them. Here is one on 23 November
1935, Page 2, the title, “The Camouflaged Benjamin—Jewish Cultural
Bolshevism in German Music.” Here is one of 2 January 1937, Page 6—a
hideous-looking picture—the title being “Romania to the Jews?” I give
the final quotation, the last one, 3 February 1939, Page 14, the title
being “Friends of World Jewry: Roosevelt and Ickes.”
The impressive thing about all these articles is the fact that it was
not intended that the philosophies expressed in them should be confined
to members of the SA; on the contrary, the plan was to educate the
members of the SA with this iniquitous philosophy, and for the SA in
turn to be employed for its dissemination into the minds of the German
people. This fact is demonstrated in the introduction to a series of
anti-Jewish articles in the paper of 5 December 1936, at Page 6. I will
just read the title. It is found on Page 28 of the same document and the
title is as follows: “Gravediggers of World Culture.” Also on that same
Page, 28, I quote this statement:
“We suggest that the comrades especially take notice of this
series of articles and see that they are further circulated.”
In addition, intensive campaigns were conducted to persuade the public
to purchase and read _Der SA-Mann_ and the various issues were posted in
public places so that the general public might read them. _Der SA-Mann_
itself contained several photographs which show particular issues posted
upon street bulletin boards; and there are several photographs showing
advertising displays, one of which, for example, reads as follows—this
is in the issue of 31 October 1936: “_Der SA-Mann_ belongs in every
house, every hotel, every inn, every waiting room, and every store.”
Also in the issue of 24 August 1935, at Page 3, there was a group
picture of SA men on trucks and in front of the trucks were large signs,
one of which read, “Read _Der Stürmer_ and you will know the Jew.” On
the same page of the publication I mentioned there is a photograph of
what appears to be a public rally, at which there is displayed a large
poster reading, “He who knows the Jew, knows the devil!”
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, the Tribunal expressed their view
yesterday that they did not desire to hear cumulative evidence. Isn’t
this rather cumulative?
COL. STOREY: I agree with Your Honor that possibly it is. I am trying to
draw the line on it. I will omit the rest of them.
Now we will pass to the final phase of the function of the SA in the
conspiracy.
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps we had better adjourn now for 10 minutes.
[_A recess was taken._]
COL. STOREY: If Your Honor pleases, I have just started into the
function of the SA in the conspiracy, that of its participation in the
program for preparation for warfare.
In this connection, Your Honors asked this morning a question about the
arresting and police activities of the SA, and I mentioned that they had
declined after 1934. For fear there was some misapprehension, I would
like to state that as a police organization and as an arresting agency
they declined steadily after 1934.
We go now into the phase where they went into military preparations, the
next phase; and that is the phase with which I deal now. If Your Honor
pleases, I have here all official government publication issued by the
British Government in 1943, the title being, _The Nazi Party and
Organizations_; and I should like to quote as to the organization and
membership of the SA from that publication. It is the most authoritative
that I have been able to find, and I would like to quote briefly from
it:
“The SA was founded in 1921 as a para-military organization to
protect Nazi meetings and leaders, to throw out interrupters and
hecklers, to fight political enemies, and to provide
pre-military training at a time when the legal ‘Reichswehr’ was
limited to 100,000 men. Their highest leader is Hitler himself;
his deputy is called the Stabschef (Chief of Staff) of the SA;
from 1930 till June 1934 it was Röhm; from then onwards till his
death in May 1943, Victor Lutze; since August 1943, Wilhelm
Schepmann. In January 1933 the SA had only 300,000 members.
After the seizure of power, its strength increased quickly; at
present it has a membership of 1,500,000 to 2,000,000.” (JN-4)
Now, the date of this is 1943. We again find the SA employed to
inculcate a particular Nazi ideology into the minds of the people of
Germany. At this point it was the function of the SA to prepare Germany
mentally for the waging of a vicious and aggressive war.
At all times, and especially during the period from 1933 to 1939, SA
leaders emphasized to SA members the duty and responsibility of creating
and fostering a militaristic spirit throughout Germany. In 1933 Hitler
established the so-called SA sports program; and at that time, according
to Sturmführer Bayer, in his pamphlet which I have previously introduced
in evidence as 2168-PS—on Page 6 of the English translation—it is just
one sentence, and I quote:
“. . . commissioned to increase and to preserve the warlike
power and the fighting spirit as the expression of the
soldier-like attitude of a people.”
In 1937 Hitler renewed the so-called sports program and, as recited in
Document 3050-PS, which is the English translation of these newspaper
articles, on Page 12, he made a statement “for the fostering of a
military spirit.”
The _Organization Book_ of the Party is to the same effect, in Document
3220-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-323. I quote from a portion of that
document—Paragraphs 1 to 3 on Page 1 of the English translation,
beginning at the first paragraph:
“While the political organization of the NSDAP has to carry out
the political leadership, the SA is the training and education
instrument of the Party for the realization of an ideologically
soldier-like attitude.
“In conformity with the directives of the Führer given at the
Reich Party meeting of freedom, the SA is, as the voluntary
political soldiery, the guarantor of the National Socialist
movement, of the National Socialist revolution, and of the
resurgence of the German people.
“Consequently, the young German in the SA is being inculcated in
the first instance from the standpoint of ideology and
character, and trained as the bearer of the National Socialist
ideas.
“Equally significant is a suitable education and training which
the SA members have accomplished within the yearly classes which
have completed their military service. This prevails until the
age they and all their spiritual, mental, and physical powers
are ready for use in maintaining the Movement, the people, and
the State. They should find their best home in the SA. All that
which could divide them economically, culturally,
professionally, or because of origin is being overcome in the SA
by the spirit of comradeship and manly dignity.
“In that manner the SA is developing a decisive factor on the
path to a popular community. Its spirit should radiate with
soldierly tradition and the possibility of application on all
existing units outside of the movement. Their guardianship is
thus an important mission of the SA.”
A number of articles which were obviously designed to serve as war
propaganda material have been translated, in other cases only the
titles, the titles themselves being so comprehensive that they disclose
the nature and substance of the articles. I should like to refer to a
few of these titles on this subject. They are shown on the English
translation of 3050-PS and they are listed on Page 1.
On the question of the Nazi Lebensraum philosophy: The issue of 5
January 1935, Page 13, the article “The German Living Space”; the issue
of 10 October 1936, Page 15, “Our Right, Our Colonies”; another, of 14
October 1938, Page 3, the title “Space and Folk”; “Colonies for
Germany,” 2 January 1937, Page 4. I should like to quote briefly from
that article. I believe that it is on Page 2 of the English translation,
3050-PS:
“The German Ambassador in London, Herr Von Ribbentrop recently,
on occasion of a reception in the Anglo-German Fellowship . . .
has renewed, in a speech which dealt with all problems from a
high level, the indubitable claim of Germany for the restitution
of its colonies which had been snatched away.
“Shortly thereafter the Reich Bank president and Reich Minister
of Economics, Dr. Schacht, published in the English magazine,
_Foreign Affairs_, a detailed article on the German colonial
problem.”
That is on Page 2, I believe, of the English translation.
“For the rest Dr. Schacht laid out the categorical demand that
Germany must, in order to solve the problem of its raw
materials, get colonies which must be administered by Germany
and in which the German standard currency must be in
circulation.”
Now, the next group are articles dealing with the Versailles Treaty, and
I will quote only from a few of them on Page 3 of that same translation.
Here is one of 7 April 1934, Page 14, “What is the Situation Regarding
Our Battle for Equal Rights?”. Another is entitled, “The Dictate of
Versailles,” 30 June 1934, Page 15. The article reads in part:
“The dictate of Versailles established the political,
economical, and financial destruction of Germany in 440
artfully—one could also say devilishly—devised paragraphs;
this work of ignominy is a sample of endless and partly
contradictory repetitions in constantly new forms. Not too many
have occupied themselves with this thick book to a great extent,
for one could only do it with abomination.”
Another title is 7 July 1934, Page 15, “The Unbearable Limitations on
our Fleet.” Another one: 19 January 1935, Page 13, “Versailles after 15
Years.” This article reads in part:
“This terrible word ‘Versailles’, since a blind nation ratified
it, has become a word of profanity for all those who are
infatuated with the spirit of this enormous production of
hatred. The Versailles dictate is German fate in the fullest
sense of the word. Every German bore up under the operation of
this fate during the past 15 years. Therefore, every last German
must also grasp the contents of this dictate so that one single
desire of its absolute destruction fills the whole German Volk.”
I shall omit the other quotation. The last one I shall refer to is
February 1937, quoting “Versailles Will Be Liquidated”; and that, if
Your Honor pleases, is the last paragraph on Page 4 of the English
translation:
“The National Socialist movement has again achieved a victory,
for upon its flag since the beginning of the fight stands: The
liquidation of the Versailles Treaty. For this fight the SA
marched year after year.”
A third group of articles describing preparations for war, purportedly
being carried on by other nations, are found on Page 5 of that same
document, and I shall refer to just a few of them:
The issue of January 26, 1935, Page 14, “Military Training of English
Youth,” showing pictures of Eton students wearing the traditional Eton
dress—tall hats and frock coats—marching with rifles; another one is
“The Army of the Soviet Union,” dated 16 March 1935, Page 14; another
one, 4 April 1936, Page 13, “The Red Danger in the East”; another one,
29 August 1936, Page 10, “Russia Prepared for World War”; another one,
19 June 1937, Page 7, “Red Terrorism Nailed Down.”
I shall pass the rest of them.
Now, the next is the SA participation in the aggressive war phase of the
conspiracy—the preparation by SA of the youth of Germany for
participation in aggressive warfare. I hardly think I need emphasize
that one of the most important steps in carrying out the conspiracy was
the training of the youth of Germany in the technique of war and their
preparation physically and spiritually for the waging of aggressive war.
To the SA was delegated this most important responsibility. I have here
Document Number 3215-PS, Exhibit Number USA-426, which I offer in
evidence; and it is an excerpt from _Das Archiv_ and contains Hitler’s
characterization of the task of the SA in this respect. It is on Page 1
of the English translation of 3215-PS. I start the reading where it
says:
“Already in 1920 by the founding of the National Socialist
Sports Section (SA) the Führer established the extensive mission
of this SA at that time by declaring in the protocol of its
charter. . . . ‘The Sports Section (SA) shall one day be the
bearer of the military thought of a free people.’”
In the same sense the Führer said in his book, _Mein Kampf_:
“Give the German nation 6 million bodies perfectly trained in
sport, all fanatically inspired with the love of the fatherland
and trained to the highest offensive spirit, and a national
state will, if necessary, have created an army out of them in
less than 2 years. . . .”
The military character of the SA is demonstrated by its organizational
composition. I refer to the chart on the wall, which is our Document
Number 2168-PS. It is taken from this book, being the pamphlet of the SA
Sturmführer; and the chart is taken from the official book. I simply
refer to the chart and call to the attention of Your Honor that it was
organized into units closely corresponding to those of the German Army.
As the Tribunal will see, the organizational scheme consisted of
divisions; at the top in that pyramidal structure the division, next the
brigade, the regiment, the battalion, the company, the platoon, and the
squad.
In addition, there were special units and branches, over to the right as
Your Honor will notice, including cavalry, signal corps, engineer corps,
and medical corps. There were also, as Bayer pointed out in his
pamphlet, three officer training schools. Similarly, SA members wore
distinctive uniforms adapted to military functions, bore arms, and
engaged in training, forced marches, and other military exercises.
SA members, moreover, were governed by general regulations which closely
resembled service regulations of an armed force. They are contained in
Document Number 2820-PS, Exhibit Number USA-427, which I offer in
evidence. If Your Honor pleases, they are found at Page 3 of the
translation. I will simply refer to a few of them. These regulations
provide for punishment, designating them as penal regulations, for
disobedience of orders and infractions of regulations. The punishments
which are provided demonstrate the militaristic character of the SA and
include the following: Reprimand in private; reprimand in presence of
superiors and announcement thereof at formations; prohibition of the
right to wear service uniform; house arrest, _et cetera_.
Preparation for war through the SA training program was commenced in
Germany as early as 1933, but the scope of this program was not made
public because of the fact that it actually constituted a violation of
the Treaty of Versailles. The strict secrecy with which the program was
surrounded is shown in Document D-44, Exhibit Number USA-428, which I
offer in evidence.
On Page 1 of the English translation—this is from the Supreme Command
of the SA, Chief of Staff—and it has to do with publications on the SA:
“Further to my instruction Z II 1351/33 dated 11 July 33, I find
cause to ask all SA authorities to exercise the greatest caution
with regard to any publicity given to the SA service not only in
the press but also in the information and news sheets of the
individual SA units.
“Only during the last few days the Reich Ministry of the
Interior at the request of the Foreign Office has given strict
instructions to all Reich authorities according to which the
most severe control is to be exercised on all publications which
might give other countries an occasion to construe German
infringements of the terms of the Versailles Treaty.
“As is known from the Geneva negotiations, our opponents have
piled up material, collected in Germany and submitted to them,
which they use against us on every occasion during the
conferences.
“From this point of view, the information sheets circulating
among the subordinate SA units cause the liveliest concern. I
hold all higher SA leaders responsible that any such internal
information sheets appearing in the district of their command
are submitted to the most stringent control before they go into
print; and I feel compelled to draw attention to the liability
to prosecution for treason, as pronounced in official
instructions issued in the last few days, in cases where such
reports, printed no doubt in good faith, are published and
therefore exposed to the danger of falling into the wrong hands.
“On principle, pictures of the special technical units of the SA
and SS, in particular of the motorized, signal, and possibly
also of the air squads which now exist outside these formations,
are forbidden, such pictures enabling other countries to prove
the alleged formation of technical troop units.”
Similarly, secrecy was provided for in the order assigning a Wehrmacht
officer to the SA in January 1934 to assist in the SA training program.
This Document, 2823-PS, Exhibit Number USA-429, which is a copy of a
memorandum of SA headquarters dated January 1934, designates an officer
of the Wehrmacht to assist in the military training of SA members, and
it goes on to provide—and I quote from Paragraph 7 of the English
translation:
“For the purpose of camouflage, Lieutenant Colonel Auleb will
wear SA uniform with the insignia of rank according to more
detailed regulations of the Supreme SA leader.”
The military training program of the SA was for many years conducted
under the guise of a sports program. This plan was created by Hitler as
early as 1920 by the founding of what he called the sports program. The
fact that the so-called sports program was in reality closely associated
with, and in fact a means of providing, military training for the German
youth is shown by the following characterization of the program by
Lutze, the Chief of Staff of the SA, in an article written in 1939. I
now refer to Document 3215-PS, Exhibit Number USA-426; and I quote
excerpts of the English translation on Page 2:
“The decrees issued by the Führer to the SA in 1935 about the
renewal, in 1936 regarding the bestowal of the diploma and in
1937 about the repetition of the yearly exercises of the SA
sport badge, all served this goal. Parallel to this decree of
the Führer for physical strengthening and military
indoctrination, adequate measures were taken within the SA,
regarding organization and drilling. Out of the idea that the
preservation and the advancement of the military power of our
people must be specially fostered by military and physical
exercises, resulted a particular and systematic training in
these fields.
“In 25 troop schools and in three Reichsführer schools of the SA
22,000 to 25,000 officers and noncommissioned officers were
trained yearly since 1934 in special educational courses until
they possessed the education and examination certificates. In
clearly outlined training directives, the training goals which
had to be achieved yearly were given and at the same time the
yearly Reich competitive contests were established. Hand in hand
the training of the Führer Corps and the corresponding
organizational measures and the training at the front proceeded
on the broadest basis.”
In connection with the military training of the sports program, I refer
to Document 2354-PS, Exhibit Number USA-430, which demonstrates the
tests and standards required for obtaining the sports award—Page 2 of
the English translation. I am not going to read all of it, if Your Honor
pleases, but just refer to a few of them:
“Group II: Military sports; 25-kilometer march with pack; firing
of small-caliber arms; aimed throwing of hand grenades,
200-meter cross-country race with gas masks over four obstacles;
swimming or bicycle riding; basic knowledge of first aid in case
of accidents.”
I will pass the others.
In 1939 the SA sports program was formally recognized in a decree issued
by Hitler as a military training program, and the SA was openly declared
to be an agency for pre- and post-military training, that is, for
military training prior to and following service in the Wehrmacht. I
have Document Number 2383-PS . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, you have just drawn our attention to a
Document Number 3215-PS, which shows that from 1934 onwards, 25,000
officers and noncommissioned officers were trained by the SA.
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Isn’t that sufficient to show the military nature of the
organization?
COL. STOREY: I think so. This was just the decree of Hitler. May I just
refer to it by reference for the record? I will not read the decree.
THE PRESIDENT: Go on; what are you referring to?
COL. STOREY: Document 2383-PS, Page 11 of the English translation,
contains a copy of the decree legalizing the training program for pre-
and post-military training.
It would have been one thing for the SA to conduct a military training
program for its members, but the SA program was not confined to its
members. The entire youth of Germany was enlisted into a feverish
program of military training.
I refer to a quotation in Document 2354-PS from the same organization
book, which is at Page 2 of the English translation, in which the Chief
of Staff Lutze said, and I quote briefly:
“In order to give conscious expression to the fostering of a
valiant spirit in all parts of the German people, I further
decide that this SA sports badge can also be earned and worn by
persons who are not members of the movement insofar as they
comply racially and ideologically with the National Socialist
requirements.”
Document 2168-PS shows that responsibility for conducting this
nation-wide program was lodged in the operational main office of the SA.
Page 8 of the English translation says, and I quote:
“The latter has, on the basis of the SA sport badge, to prepare
a thorough physical training of the bodies of all Germans
capable of bearing arms. In order to reach this goal, it has to
organize body exercises and sporting advancement so that the
masses of the people will be included by it and will be kept fit
to bear arms until old age. This martial preparedness must not
be achieved only by physical and mental training but also with
regard to character and ideology.”
I pass from that phase now.
Document 3215-PS is an excerpt from Das Archiv, and I refer to Pages 2
to 3 of the English translation beginning at the bottom of Page 2, and I
quote:
“Next to the companies of the SA were the SA sport badge
associations, in which entered all the nationals who were
capable of bearing arms and who were prepared to voluntarily
answer the call of the SA for the preservation of military
proficiency. Up till now about 800,000 nationals outside the SA
could successfully undergo the physical betterment as well as
the political-military indoctrination of the SA on the basis of
the SA badge.”
The military program of the SA was not that of a mere marching and drill
society; it embraced every phase of the technique of modern warfare.
This is particularly demonstrated by consideration of the articles on
military training which appeared publicly throughout the issues of the
_SA-Mann_. I should like to refer to only a few of the titles, and they
are set out on Pages 8 and 10 of Document 3050-PS. It is a great, long
list, and I will only refer to five or six.
There is one of them, 17 February 1934, Page 7, “Pistol Shooting”; 21
April 1934, Page 13, “What Every SA Man Must Know about Aviation”; 19
May 1934, Page 13, “Chemical Warfare”; 2 June 1934, Page 14, “Modern
Battle Methods in the View of the SA Man”; 4 August 1934, Page 13, “The
Significance of Tanks and Motors in the Modern War.” I will omit
references to the remainder.
Similarly, the issues of the _SA-Mann_ contain many photographs and
articles demonstrating and portraying SA participation in military
exercises, including forced marching, battle maneuvers, obstacle runs,
small-caliber firing, and so on. I simply refer these to Your Honors,
and they are shown on Pages 11 to 13 of Document Number 3050-PS. Just
one or two titles: 24 August 1935, Page 2, “The SA Is and Remains the
Shock Troop of the Third Reich.” Here is one showing the connection with
the Wehrmacht: 2 September 1938, Page 1, “The SA and the Wehrmacht,”
with pictures of SA men on field maneuvers throwing hand grenades. I
will omit the rest of those.
Convincing evidence demonstrating the participation of the SA in the
conspiracy is found in the fact that care was taken at all times to
co-ordinate the military training of the SA with the requirements of the
Wehrmacht. This is shown by Document 2821-PS, Exhibit Number USA-431,
Page 1 of the English translation, quoting:
“Permanent liaison between the Reich Defense Ministry and the
Supreme Commander of the SA . . . has been assured.”
Another document, 3215-PS, which is an excerpt from _Das Archiv_, sets
forth the co-operation and collaboration with the Wehrmacht and
specialized military training; and it was stated in a speech of the
Chief of Staff of the SA, Document 3215-PS, Page 2 of the English
translation, Exhibit Number USA-426:
“In the course of this development also, special missions for
military training were placed on the SA. The Führer gave the SA
the cavalry and motor training and appointed SA
Obergruppenführer Litzmann as Reich Inspector with the mission
of securing the cavalry recruits and the requirements of the
German Wehrmacht through the SA. In close co-operation with
parts of the Wehrmacht, special certificates were created for
the communications, engineer, and medical units which, like the
cavalry certificate of the SA, are valued as a statement of
preference for employment in said units.”
Your Honor, we have two or three more quotations about co-operation with
the Wehrmacht, but I believe they would be cumulative, and I will omit
them. I will refer only to Document 2383-PS, Exhibit Number USA-410,
Page 11. I will read a portion of the decree:
“The Führer: In amplification of my decrees of 15 February 1935
and of 18 March 1937 regarding the acquisition of the SA sports
insignia and the yearly repetitive exercises, I elevate the SA
sports badge to the level of the SA military badge and make it a
basis for pre- and post-military training. I designate the SA as
the standard bearer of this training.”
I skip now to Page 48 for the record.
The specialized training given SA members, in accordance with the
requirements of the technical branches of the Wehrmacht, is described by
SA Sturmführer Bayer, in Document Number 2168-PS, Exhibit Number
USA-411; and it is Page 13 of the English translation:
“On one side, the young SA man who enters the Armed
Forces”—Wehrmacht—“from his branch comes prepared with a
multitude of prerequisites which facilitate and speed up
training in technical respect; while on the other side, those
very soldiers who, having served, return out of the Armed Forces
into the SA keep themselves, by constant practice, in a trained
condition physically and mentally and impart their knowledge to
their fellows.
“Thus they contribute a considerable portion to the enhancement
of the armed strength and fighting spirit of the German people.”
And then skipping down: “The SA each year is able to furnish many
thousands of young trained cavalrymen to our Wehrmacht.” I will omit the
rest of that.
I simply call attention now to an issue of the _SA-Mann_ dated 3
February 1939, at Page 3, which contains a photograph of Chief of Staff
Lutze addressing a group of SA men. This photograph bears the caption,
“We will be the Bridge between the Party and the Wehrmacht.”
The second reference shows a photograph of General Brauchitsch and Chief
of Staff Lutze reviewing an SA unit.
Now, I pass to Document 3214-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-432. There
is only one page of it. Quoting:
“It was announced that SA men and Hitler Youths liable to
military service can fulfill their military duties in the SA
Regiment Feldherrnhalle, whose commander is General Field
Marshal, SA Obergruppenführer Göring. The regiment, for the
first time, was employed as Regiment of the Luftwaffe in the
occupation of the Sudetenland . . . under its leader and
regimental commander, SA Gruppenführer Reimann.”
THE PRESIDENT: Up to now you have brought evidence to our notice showing
that the SA was voluntary. This shows it was conscripted. When did it
become conscripted?
COL. STOREY: As I understand, Your Honor, if you joined the SA you got
out of conscription, but once you were in it they could use you as
desired. In other words, the SA was a voluntary organization.
THE PRESIDENT: That is the evidence you have given up to date.
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, when did it become liable to conscription or used
as a substitute for conscription?
COL. STOREY: If Your Honor pleases, may I ask Mr. Burdell to answer that
question? He has been working on it.
MR. CHARLES S. BURDELL (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States):
If Your Honor pleases, there never was conscription in the SA. As this
document shows—Document 3214-PS—service in the Feldherrnhalle Regiment
of the SA took the place of conscription. This first sentence in
Document 3214-PS, which reads, “It was announced that SA men and Hitler
Youths liable to military service can fulfill their military
conscription in the SA Regiment Feldherrnhalle . . .” means, as I
understand it, that SA men who are conscripted, that is SA men who are
drafted after they have joined the SA, may serve their conscription by
remaining in the SA or by transferring to the Feldherrnhalle Regiment of
the SA.
The next paragraph of Document Number 3214-PS designates the
requirements that must be fulfilled before the SA man can join this
Feldherrnhalle Regiment, but if he fulfills those requirements he may
join that regiment, and having done so, that serves the purpose or
serves the function of conscription in the Wehrmacht.
I hope that answers Your Honor’s question.
COL. STOREY: In view of the above we would expect the SA to have been
used as a striking force in the first steps of the aggressive war
launched by Germany and as a basis for so-called commando groups, and
such was the case. SA units were among the first of the Nazi military
machine to invade Austria in the spring of 1938, as was proudly
announced in an article appearing in the _SA-Mann_ of 19 March 1938,
Page 10, the article entitled, “We Were There First.”
The SA participation in the occupation of the Sudetenland is also shown
by Document Number 3036-PS, Exhibit Number USA-102; and that is an
affidavit by Gottlob Berger, a former officeholder in the SS, who was
assigned to the Sudeten German Free Corps. I quote Paragraphs 1 and 2 of
the affidavit:
“1. In the fall of 1938 I held the rank and title of Oberführer
in the SS. In mid-September I was assigned as SS liaison officer
with Konrad Henlein’s Sudeten German Free Corps at their
headquarters in the castle at Donndorf outside Bayreuth. In this
position I was responsible for all liaison between the
Reichsführer SS Himmler and Henlein”—Your Honors will recall
Henlein was the leader in the Sudetenland—“and in particular, I
was delegated to select from the Sudeten Germans those who
appeared to be eligible for membership in the SS or VT
(Verfügungstruppe). In addition to myself, liaison officers
stationed with Henlein included an Obergruppenführer from the
NSKK, whose name I have forgotten, and SA Obergruppenführer Max
Jüttner, from the SA. In addition, Admiral Canaris, who was head
of the OKW Abwehr, appeared at Donndorf nearly every 2 days and
conferred with Henlein.”
Your Honors will recall that the Abwehr was the intelligence
organization.
“2. In the course of my official duties at Henlein’s
headquarters I became familiar with the composition and
activities of the Free Corps. Three groups were being formed
under Henlein’s direction: One in the Eisenstein area, Bavaria;
one in the Bayreuth area; one in the Dresden area; and possibly
a fourth in Silesia. These groups should be composed only of
refugees from the Sudetenland who had crossed the border into
Germany, but they actually contained Germans with previous
service in the SA and the NSKK (Nazi Motor Corps) as well. These
Germans formed the backbone of the Free Corps. On paper the Free
Corps had a strength of 40,000 men . . . . Part of the equipment
furnished to Henlein, mostly haversacks, cooking utensils, and
blankets, was supplied by the SA.”
The adaptability of the SA to whatever purpose was required of it is
demonstrated by its activities subsequent to the outbreak of the war.
During the war the SA continued to carry out its military training
program, but it also engaged in other functions. Its wartime activities
are set out in Document 3219-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-433, and
Document 3216-PS, Exhibit Number USA-434, which are excerpts from _Das
Archiv_.
I quote first, briefly, from Document 3219-PS, the whole text exclusive
of the heading:
“The Chief of Staff of the SA, Wilhelm Schepmann, gave further
orders to increase the employment of the SA in the homeland war
territories, according to the requirements of total war. This
was done in numerous business conferences with leaders of the SA
divisions.
“As a result of these conferences as well as of measures already
carried out earlier for the totalization of the war employment,
the SA has placed 86 percent of its professional leader corps at
the disposal of the front, even though the war missions of the
SA have increased in the fields of pre-military training, the SA
penetration into new territorial parts of the Reich, the air-war
employment, the city and country guard, _et cetera_, during
wartime.
“The SA as a whole has given at present 70 percent of its
millions of members to the Wehrmacht.”
I call attention of Your Honors to the statement of the membership of
August 26, 1944. I quote briefly from Document Number 3216-PS, the
English translation, just one sentence:
“By command of the Chief of Staff of the SA, the SA unit
‘General Government’ was established, the command of which was
taken over by Governor General, SA Obergruppenführer Dr. Frank.”
I next offer in evidence an affidavit, being Document Number 3232-PS,
Exhibit Number USA-435, by Walter Schellenberg:
“From the beginning of 1944 on, the SA also participated in many
of the functions which had previously been entrusted only to the
SS, the Sipo, and Army—for instance, the guarding of
concentration camps, of prisoner-of-war camps, supervision of
forced laborers in Germany and occupied areas. This co-operation
of the SA was planned and arranged for by high officials in
Berlin as early as the middle of 1943.”
This concludes my presentation of the principal points of evidence
concerning the participation of the SA in the conspiracy, but before I
conclude, I should like to present to the Tribunal a few points which
establish the participation in the conspiracy by Defendant Göring in his
capacity as an SA member or leader.
In 1923 Göring became commander of the entire SA. This is shown in the
pamphlet, _The SA_, which is already in evidence, and the notation
concerning Göring’s command appears at Page 2 of the translation, which
I do not intend to quote but simply refer to.
Göring’s intention to employ the SA as a terroristic force to destroy
political opponents is shown by a speech made by him on 3 March 1933, at
a Nazi demonstration in Frankfurt. It is Document Number 1856-PS,
Exhibit Number USA-437. It is an excerpt from a book entitled, _Hermann
Göring, Speeches and Essays_. I quote what Göring said:
“Certainly I shall use the power of the State and the police to
the utmost, my dear Communists, so you won’t draw any false
conclusions; but the struggle to the death, in which my fist
will grasp your necks, I shall lead with those down there who
are the Brown Shirts.”
The importance of the SA under Göring in the early stages of the Nazi
movement is shown by Document Number 3259-PS, Exhibit USA-424; and it is
an English translation from the same document book. This is a letter
written to Göring by Hitler, and I quote the letter:
“My dear Göring:
“When in November 1923, the Party tried for the first time to
conquer the power of the State, you, as commander of the SA,
created within an extraordinarily short time that instrument
with which I could dare that struggle. Most pressing necessity
had forced us to act, but by a wise providence at that time we
were denied success. After receiving a grave wound, you again
entered the ranks as soon as circumstances permitted as my most
loyal comrade in the battle for power. You contributed
essentially to creating the basis for the 30th of January.
Therefore, at the end of the year of the National Socialist
revolution, I desire to thank you wholeheartedly, my dear Party
comrade Göring, for the great services you have rendered to the
National Socialist revolution and consequently to the German
people.
“In cordial friendship and grateful appreciation, yours, Adolf
Hitler.”
Although Göring did not retain command of the SA, he at all times
maintained close affiliation with the organization. This is shown by the
photographs of Göring participating in the activities which I have
already introduced in evidence. Similarly, in 1937 Göring became the
commander of the Feldherrnhalle Regiment of the SA. The Tribunal will
recall, also, my reference to the participation of that regiment in the
occupation of the Sudetenland.
Now, finally, the evidence considered in the foregoing sections of this
brief demonstrates the participation of the SA as an organization in the
conspiracy alleged in Count One. Thus, the SA was first employed by the
conspirators to destroy, by force and brutality, all opponents of
National Socialism and to gain possession of the streets. Thereafter,
upon the seizure of control by the NSDAP, the SA was used to consolidate
and to strengthen Nazi power, and cruelly to persecute and destroy all
so-called “enemies of the state,” including Jewry and the Church. During
the period from 1934 to 1939, the SA was employed for the actual
preparation and training of the German people for war and participated
in aggressive warfare.
The SA was at all times employed by the conspirators to promote and
disseminate the ideology of the Nazi Government throughout Germany, and
particularly, to perform the function of disseminating anti-Jewish
propaganda and creating and fostering a militaristic and warlike spirit
among the people of Germany.
Thus, at all times during the course of its existence, the functions of
the SA corresponded to, and were designated to promote, the progression
of the conspiracy through its various phases; and the conclusion, we
think, is irresistible, that the SA was an organization devoted
exclusively to the task of assisting the defendants and their
co-conspirators in carrying out the objectives in the conspiracy.
Thus, in this sense, SA, as well as its members, were in fact
co-conspirators and participants in a conspiracy which contemplated and
involved Crimes against the Peace and Crimes against Humanity and War
Crimes.
That concludes the presentation of the SA, Your Honor, and the next is
the SS, by Major Farr.
Do Your Honors want to go ahead with that now?
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps we had better adjourn then, until 2 o’clock.
[_A recess was taken until 1400 hours._]
_Afternoon Session_
MAJOR WARREN F. FARR (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States):
May it please the Tribunal, the next organization to be dealt with is
the SS. The document books in this case are lettered “Z.” For
convenience in handling the book because of the bulk of documents, we
have divided them into two volumes. I shall in referring to a document
number refer to the volume in which that document appears.
About a week or 10 days ago there appeared in a newspaper circulated in
Nuremberg, an account of a visit by that paper’s correspondent to a camp
in which SS prisoners of war were confined. The thing which particularly
struck the correspondent was the one question asked by the SS prisoners.
Why are we charged as war criminals? What have we done except our normal
duty?
The evidence now to be presented to the Tribunal will, we expect, answer
that question. It will show that just as the Nazi Party was the very
heart—the core—of the conspiracy, so the SS was the very essence of
Nazism. For the SS was the elite group of the Party, composed of the
most thorough-going adherents of the Nazi cause, pledged to blind
devotion to Nazi principles, and prepared to carry them out without any
question and—at any cost—a group in which every ordinary value has
been so subverted that its members can ask, “What is there unlawful
about the things we have done?”
During the past weeks the Tribunal has heard evidence of the
conspirators’ criminal program for aggressive war, for concentration
camps, for the extermination of the Jews, for enslavement of foreign
labor and illegal use of prisoners of war, for deportation and
Germanization of inhabitants of conquered territories. Through all this
evidence the name of the SS ran like a thread. Again and again that
organization and its components were referred to. It is my purpose to
show why it performed a responsible role in every one of these criminal
activities, why it was—and, indeed, had to be—a criminal organization.
The creation and development of such an organization was, indeed,
essential for the execution of the conspirators’ plans. Their sweeping
program and the measures they were prepared to use, and did use, could
be fully accomplished neither through the machinery of the Government
nor of the Party. Things had to be done for which no agency of
Government and no political party, even the Nazi Party, would openly
take full responsibility. A specialized type of apparatus was needed, an
apparatus which was to some extent connected with the Government and
given official support but which, at the same time, could maintain a
quasi-independent status, so that all its acts could be attributed
neither to the Government nor to the Party as a whole. The SS was that
apparatus.
Like the SA, it was one of the seven components or formations of the
Nazi Party referred to in the “Decree on the Enforcement of the Law for
Securing the Unity of Party and State” of 29 March 1935, published in
the _Reichsgesetzblatt_ for that year, Part I, Page 503. That decree
will be found in our Document 1725-PS. I shall not read it. I assume
that the Court will take judicial notice of it. The status of the SS,
however, was above that of the other formations. As the plans of the
conspirators progressed, it acquired new functions, new
responsibilities, and an increasingly more important place in the
regime. It developed during the course of the conspiracy into a highly
complex machine, the most powerful in the Nazi State, spreading its
tentacles into every field of Nazi activity.
The evidence which I shall present will be directed, first, towards
showing very briefly the origin and early development of the SS; second,
how it was organized, that is, its structure and its component parts;
third, the basic principles governing the selection of its members and
the obligations they undertook; and finally, its aims and the means used
to accomplish them, the manner in which it carried out the purposes of
the conspirators, and thus is a responsible participant in the crimes
alleged in the Indictment.
The history, organization, and publicly announced functions of the SS
are not controversial matters. They are not matters to be learned only
from secret files and captured documents. They were recounted in many
publications circulated widely throughout Germany and the world,
official books of the Nazi Party itself and books, pamphlets, and
speeches by SS and State officials published with SS and Party approval.
Throughout the presentation of the case I shall frequently refer to five
or six such publications, translations of which—in whole or in
part—appear in the document books. Although I shall quote portions of
them, I shall not attempt to read them all in full, since I assume that
the contents of such authoritative publications may be judicially
noticed by the Tribunal.
Now to take up the origin of the SS. The first aim of the
conspirators—as the evidence already presented to the Court has
shown—was to gain a foothold in politically hostile territory, to
acquire mastery of the streets, and to combat any and all opponents with
force. For that purpose they needed their own private, personal police
organization. Evidence has just been introduced in the case against the
SA, showing how that organization was created to fill such a role. But
the SA was outlawed in 1923. When Nazi Party activity was again resumed
in 1925, the SA remained outlawed. To fill its place and to play the
part of Hitler’s own personal police, small mobile groups known as
protective squadrons (Schutzstaffeln) were created. This was the origin
of the SS in 1925. With the reinstatement of the SA in 1926, the SS for
the next few years ceased to play a major role. But it continued to
exist as an organization within the SA, under its own leader, however,
the Reichsführer SS. This early history of the SS is related in two of
the authoritative publications to which I have referred: The first is a
book by SS Standartenführer Gunter d’Alquen, entitled _Die SS_. This
book, a pamphlet of some 30 pages, is an authoritative account of the
history, mission, and organization of the SS, published in 1939. As
indicated on its frontispiece, it was written at the direction of the
Reichsführer SS, Heinrich Himmler. Its author, SS Standartenführer
Gunter d’Alquen was the editor of the official SS publication _Das
Schwarze Korps_. This book is our Document Number 2284-PS. I offer it in
evidence as Exhibit Number USA-438. The passage to which I refer will be
found on Pages 6 and 7 of the original and on Page 1 of the translation.
I shall not now read that passage.
The second publication is an article by Himmler entitled, “Organization
and Obligations of the SS and the Police.” It was published in 1937 in a
booklet containing a series of speeches or essays by important officials
of the Party and the State—known as _National Political Course for the
Armed Forces from 15 to 23 January 1937_. The article by Himmler, to
which I refer, appears on Pages 137-161 of that pamphlet. Large extracts
from it make up our Document Number 1992(a)-PS. I offer the essay by
Himmler as Exhibit Number USA-439. The passage to which I referred
appears on Page 137 of the original and Page 1 of the translation, our
Document 1992(a)-PS. I shall have occasion to quote from both these
publications, but with respect to this matter of history, I assume that
these references to the pertinent passages in them are enough.
As early as 1929 the conspirators recognized that their plans required
an organization in which the main principles of the Nazi system,
specifically the racial principles, would not only be jealously guarded
but would be carried to such extreme as to inspire or intimidate the
rest of the population—an organization in which, also, there would be
assured complete freedom on the part of the leaders and blind obedience
on the part of the members. The SS was built up to meet this need. I
quote from D’Alquen’s book, _Die SS_, at Page 7; this passage appears in
our Document Number 2284-PS at Page 4 of the translation, Paragraph 4: