“Die Reichsregierung (Reich Cabinet)” referred to in the Indictment
consists of persons who were:
(i) Members of the ordinary cabinet after 30 January 1933, the date on
which Hitler became Chancellor of the German Republic. The term
“ordinary cabinet” as used herein means the Reich Ministers, i. e.,
heads of departments of the central Government; Reich Ministers
without portfolio; State Ministers acting as Reich Ministers; and
other officials entitled to take part in meetings of this cabinet.
(ii) Members of der Ministerrat für die Reichsverteidigung (Council of
Ministers for the Defense of the Reich).
(iii) Members of der Geheimer Kabinettsrat (Secret Cabinet Council).
Under the Führer, these persons functioning in the foregoing capacities
and in association as a group, possessed and exercised legislative,
executive, administrative, and political powers and functions of a very
high order in the system of German Government. Accordingly, they are
charged with responsibility for the policies adopted and put into effect
by the Government including those which comprehended and involved the
commission of the crimes referred to in Counts One, Two, Three, and Four
of the Indictment.
DAS KORPS DER POLITISCHEN LEITER DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN
DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI
(LEADERSHIP CORPS OF THE NAZI PARTY)
“Das Korps der Politischen Leiter der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen
Arbeiterpartei (Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party)” referred to in the
Indictment consists of persons who were at any time, according to common
Nazi terminology, “Politischen Leiter” (Political Leaders) of any grade
or rank.
The Politischen Leiter comprised the leaders of the various functional
offices of the Party (for example, the Reichsleitung, or Party Reich
Directorate, and the Gauleitung, or Party Gau Directorate), as well as
the territorial leaders of the Party (for example, the Gauleiter).
The Politischen Leiter were a distinctive and elite group within the
Nazi Party proper and as such were vested with special prerogatives.
They were organized according to the Leadership Principle and were
charged with planning, developing and imposing upon their followers the
policies of the Nazi Party. Thus the territorial leaders among them were
called Hoheitsträger, or bearers of sovereignty, and were entitled to
call upon and utilize the various Party formations when necessary for
the execution of Party policies.
Reference is hereby made to the allegations in Count One of the
Indictment showing that the Nazi Party was the central core of the
common plan or conspiracy therein set forth. The Politischen Leiter, as
a major power within the Nazi Party proper, and functioning in the
capacities above described and in association as a group, joined in the
common plan or conspiracy, and accordingly share responsibility for the
crimes set forth in Counts One, Two, Three, and Four of the Indictment.
The prosecution expressly reserves the right to request, at any time
before sentence is pronounced, that Politische Leiter of subordinate
grades or ranks or of other types or classes, to be specified by the
Prosecution, be excepted from further proceedings in this Case No. 1,
but without prejudice to other proceedings or actions against them.
DIE SCHUTZSTAFFELN DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN
DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (COMMONLY KNOWN AS
THE SS) INCLUDING DER SICHERHEITSDIENST (COMMONLY
KNOWN AS THE SD)
“Die Schutzstaffeln der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei
(commonly known as the SS) including Der Sicherheitsdienst (commonly
known as the SD)” referred to in the Indictment consists of the entire
corps of the SS and all offices, departments, services, agencies,
branches, formations, organizations, and groups of which it was at any
time comprised or which were at any time integrated in it, including but
not limited to, the Allgemeine SS, the Waffen SS, the SS Totenkopf
Verbände, SS Polizei Regimente, and the Sicherheitsdienst des
Reichsführers-SS (commonly known as the SD).
The SS, originally established by Hitler in 1925 as an elite section of
the SA to furnish a protective guard for the Führer and Nazi Party
leaders, became an independent formation of the Nazi Party in 1934 under
the leadership of the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler. It was composed
of voluntary members, selected in accordance with Nazi biological,
racial, and political theories, completely indoctrinated in Nazi
ideology and pledged to uncompromising obedience to the Führer. After
the accession of the Nazi conspirators to power, it developed many
departments, agencies, formations, and branches and extended its
influence and control over numerous fields of Governmental and Party
activity. Through Heinrich Himmler, as Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the
German Police, agencies and units of the SS and of the Reich were joined
in operation to form a unified repressive police force. The
Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS (commonly known as the SD), a
department of the SS, was developed into a vast espionage and
counter-intelligence system which operated in conjunction with the
Gestapo and criminal police in detecting, suppressing and eliminating
tendencies, groups and individuals deemed hostile or potentially hostile
to the Nazi Party, its leaders, principles and objectives, and
eventually was combined with the Gestapo and criminal police in a single
security police department, the Reich Main Security Office.
Other branches of the SS developed into an armed force and served in the
wars of aggression referred to in Counts One and Two of the Indictment.
Through other departments and branches the SS controlled the
administration of concentration camps and the execution of Nazi racial,
biological, and resettlement policies. Through its numerous functions
and activities it served as the instrument for insuring the domination
of Nazi ideology and protecting and extending the Nazi regime over
Germany and occupied territories. It thus participated in and is
responsible for the crimes referred to in Counts One, Two, Three, and
Four of the Indictment.
DIE GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI (SECRET STATE POLICE,
COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE GESTAPO)
“Die Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police, commonly known as the
Gestapo)” referred to in the Indictment consists of the headquarters,
departments, offices, branches, and all the forces and personnel of the
Geheime Staatspolizei organized or existing at any time after 30 January
1933, including the Geheime Staatspolizei of Prussia and equivalent
secret or political police forces of the Reich and the components
thereof.
The Gestapo was created by the Nazi conspirators immediately after their
accession to power, first in Prussia by the Defendant GÖRING and shortly
thereafter in all other states in the Reich. These separate secret and
political police forces were developed into a centralized, uniform
organization operating through a central headquarters and through a
network of regional offices in Germany and in occupied territories. Its
officials and operatives were selected on the basis of unconditional
acceptance of Nazi ideology, were largely drawn from members of the SS,
and were trained in SS and SD schools. It acted to suppress and
eliminate tendencies, groups, and individuals deemed hostile or
potentially hostile to the Nazi Party, its leaders, principles, and
objectives, and to repress resistance and potential resistance to German
control in occupied territories. In performing these functions it
operated free from legal control, taking any measures it deemed
necessary for the accomplishment of its missions.
Through its purposes, activities, and the means it used, it participated
in and is responsible for the commission of the crimes set forth in
Counts One, Two, Three, and Four of the Indictment.
DIE STURMABTEILUNGEN DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN
DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI
(COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE SA)
“Die Sturmabteilungen der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen
Arbeiterpartei (commonly known as the SA)” referred to in the Indictment
was a formation of the Nazi Party under the immediate jurisdiction of
the Führer, organized on military lines, whose membership was composed
of volunteers serving as political soldiers of the Party. It was one of
the earliest formations of the Nazi Party and the original guardian of
the National Socialist movement. Founded in 1921 as a voluntary militant
formation, it was developed by the Nazi conspirators before their
accession to power into a vast private army and utilized for the purpose
of creating disorder, and terrorizing and eliminating political
opponents. It continued to serve as an instrument for the physical,
ideological, and military training of Party members and as a reserve for
the German Armed Forces. After the launching of the wars of aggression,
referred to in Counts One and Two of the Indictment, the SA not only
operated as an organization for military training but provided auxiliary
police and security forces in occupied territories, guarded
prisoner-of-war camps and concentration camps and supervised and
controlled persons forced to labor in Germany and occupied territories.
Through its purposes and activities and the means it used, it
participated in and is responsible for the commission of the crimes set
forth in Counts One, Two, Three, and Four of the Indictment.
GENERAL STAFF AND HIGH COMMAND OF THE GERMAN
ARMED FORCES
The “General Staff and High Command of the German Armed Forces” referred
to in the Indictment consist of those individuals who between February
1938 and May 1945 were the highest commanders of the Wehrmacht, the
Army, the Navy, and the Air Forces. The individuals comprising this
group are the persons who held the following appointments:
Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine (Commander in Chief of the Navy);
Chef (and, formerly, Chef des Stabes) der Seekriegsleitung (Chief of
Naval War Staff);
Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (Commander in Chief of the Army);
Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres (Chief of the General Staff of the
Army);
Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe (Commander in Chief of the Air Force);
Chef des Generalstabes der Luftwaffe (Chief of the General Staff of
the Air Force);
Chef des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Chief of the High Command of the
Armed Forces);
Chef des Führungsstabes des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Chief of the
Operations Staff of the High Command of the Armed Forces);
Stellvertretender Chef des Führungsstabes des Oberkommandos der
Wehrmacht (Deputy Chief of the Operations Staff of the High Command
of the Armed Forces);
Commanders-in-Chief in the field, with the status of Oberbefehlshaber,
of the Wehrmacht, Navy, Army, Air Force.
Functioning in such capacities and in association as a group at a
highest level in the German Armed Forces Organization, these persons had
a major responsibility for the planning, preparation, initiation, and
waging of illegal wars as set forth in Counts One and Two of the
Indictment and for the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity involved
in the execution of the common plan or conspiracy set forth in Counts
Three and Four of the Indictment.