The Judgment of the Tribunal correctly and adequately portrays the
outstanding position which Rudolf Hess occupied in the leadership of the
Nazi Party and State. He was indeed Hitler’s closest personal confidant
and his authority was exceedingly great: In this connection it is
sufficient to quote Hitler’s decree appointing Hess as his deputy: “I
hereby appoint Hess as my deputy and give him full power to make
decisions in my name on all questions of Party leadership” (Transcript,
Afternoon Session, 7 February 1946).
But the authority of Hess was not only confined to questions of Party
leadership.
The official NSDAP publication _National Socialist Year Book for 1941_
states that:
“In addition to the duties of Party leadership, the deputy of
the Führer has far-reaching powers in the field of the State.
These are: First—participation in national and state
legislation, including the preparation of the Führer’s order.
The deputy of the Führer in this way validates the conception of
the Party . . . Second—approval of the deputy of the Führer of
proposed appointments for official, and labor service leaders.
Third—securing the influence of the Party over the
self-government of the municipal units.” (USA-255, PS-3163)
Hess was an active supporter of Hitler’s aggressive policy. The Crimes
against Peace committed by him are dealt with in sufficient detail in
the Judgment. The mission undertaken by Hess in flying to England should
be considered as the last of these crimes, as it was undertaken in the
hope of facilitating the realization of aggression against the Soviet
Union by temporarily restraining England from fighting.
The failure of this mission led to Hess’s isolation and he took no
direct part in the planning and commission of subsequent crimes of the
Hitler regime. There can be no doubt, however, that Hess did everything
possible for the preparation of these crimes.
Hess, together with Himmler, occupied the role of creator of the SS
police organizations of German fascism which afterwards committed the
most ruthless Crimes against Humanity. The defendant clearly pointed out
the “special tasks” which faced the SS formations in occupied
territories.
When the Waffen SS was being formed Hess issued a special order through
the Party Chancellery which made aiding the conscription of Party
members into these organizations by all means compulsory for Party
organs. He outlined the tasks set before the Waffen SS as follows:
“The units of the Waffen SS composed of National Socialists are more
suitable than other armed units _for the specific tasks to be solved in
the occupied Eastern territories_ due to the intensive training in
regard to questions of race and nationality” (GB-267, PS-3245).
As early as 1934 the defendant initiated a proposal that the so-called
SD under the Reichsführer SS (Security Service) be given extraordinary
powers and thus become the leading force in Nazi Germany.
On 9 June 1934 Hess issued a decree in accordance with which the
“Security Service of the Reichsführer SS” was declared to be the “sole
political news and defense service of the Party” (GB-257).
Thus the defendant played a direct part in the creation and
consolidation of the system of special police organs which were being
prepared for the commission of crimes in occupied territories.
We find Hess to have always been an advocate of the man-hating “master
race” theory. In a speech made on 16 January 1937 while speaking of the
education of the German Nation, Hess pointed out: “_Thus, they are being
educated to put Germans above the subjects of a foreign nation_,
regardless of their positions or their origin” (GB-253, PS-3124).
Hess signed the so-called “Law for the Protection of Blood and Honor” on
15 September 1935 (USA-200, PS-3179). The body of this law states that
“the Führer’s deputy is authorized to issue all necessary decrees and
directives” for the practical realization of the “Nuremberg decrees”.
On 14 November 1935, Hess issued an ordinance under the Reich
citizenship law in accordance with which the Jews were denied the right
to vote at elections or hold public office (GB-258, PS-1417).
On 20 May 1938 a decree signed by Hess extended the Nuremberg laws to
Austria (GB-259, PS-2124).
On 12 October 1939 Hess signed a decree creating the administration of
Polish occupied territories (_Reichsgesetzblatt_, No. 210, 1939, p.
2077). Article 2 of this decree gave the Defendant Frank the power of
dictator.
There is sufficiently convincing evidence showing that this defendant
did not limit himself to this general directive which introduced into
the occupied Polish territories a regime of unbridled terror. As is
shown in the letter of the Reichsminister of Justice to the Chief of the
Reich Chancellery dated 17 April 1941, Hess was the initiator in the
formation of special “penal laws” for Poles and Jews in occupied Eastern
territories. The role of this defendant in the drawing up of these
“laws” is characterized by the Minister of Justice in the following
words:
“In accordance with the opinion of the Führer’s deputy I started
from the point of view that the Pole is less susceptible to the
infliction of ordinary punishment . . . . Under these new kinds
of punishment, prisoners are to be lodged outside prisons in
camps and are to be forced to do heavy and heaviest labor
. . . . The introduction of corporal punishment, which the
deputy of the Führer has brought up for discussion has not been
included in the draft. I can not agree to this type of
punishment . . . . The procedure for enforcing prosecution has
been abrogated, for it seemed intolerable that Poles or Jews
should be able to instigate a public indictment. Poles and Jews
have also been deprived of the right to prosecute in their own
names or join the public prosecution in an action . . . . From
the very beginning it was intended to intensify special
treatment in case of need: When this necessity became actual a
supplementary decree was issued to which the Führer’s deputy
refers to in his letter . . . .” (GB-268, R-96)
Thus, there can be no doubt that Hess together with the other major war
criminals is guilty of Crimes against Humanity.
Taking into consideration that among political leaders of Hitlerite
Germany Hess was third in significance and played a decisive role in the
crimes of the Nazi regime, I consider the only justified sentence in his
case can be death.