“Goebbels and Fritzsche took every measure in order to
popularize the racial theory among the Germans and to convince
them that the Germans were a master race and that other peoples,
as inferior races, must be subordinated to the German ‘master
race.’
“In order to convince the Germans of this and to compel them to
believe in this theory, the Ministry of Propaganda, run by
Goebbels and Fritzsche, made a large number of films before the
war and during the war and published books, pamphlets,
periodicals, and other literature in which the authors attempted
to prove the ‘superiority’ of the Germans over other nations.
“It can be said that as a result of the energetic activity of
Goebbels and Fritzsche the racial theory gained a firm hold on
the minds of large numbers of the German people. This
contributed to the fact that during the war the German soldiers
and officers, having assimilated the teaching of the leaders of
German propaganda, committed bestial crimes against peaceful
populations.”
Tell me, did Rainer Stahel correctly describe the part played by you in
the propagation of racial theory?
FRITZSCHE: No, I should like to add that the level of this statement is
even lower than that of the other statements submitted to me. I should
be happy if just one of those people whose testimony has been submitted
to me in this form, could appear here in person in order to testify as
to the documentary basis of his statement.
GEN. RUDENKO: I believe that during the 6 months that the Trial has
lasted, you have heard enough testimony. Well, let us go on.
FRITZSCHE: No, I have to make this observation: I have not been
confronted with any testimony of witnesses dealing with the subject
matter discussed here.
GEN. RUDENKO: You remember, I hope, the testimony of the witness Hoess
regarding the extermination of millions of persons.
[_There was no response._]
GEN. RUDENKO: I say that you, I hope, remember the testimony of Hoess,
the commander of the concentration camp in Auschwitz, concerning the
extermination of millions of people.
FRITZSCHE: I did not forget this testimony, and not for a minute did it
escape my memory.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. I merely wanted to remind you. I do not intend
questioning you on this matter. I am passing on to questions connected
with the propaganda regarding the preparation for aggressive war by
Hitler Germany. In order to shorten the cross-examination, I shall quote
a few of your own statements, dated 12 September 1945, which have
already been submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR-474. Please look
at the second excerpt. It is underlined.
FRITZSCHE: I object to the reading of this quotation in the same way as
I objected to the submission of the entire minutes of the interrogation,
and I refer you to what I testified a few hours ago as to the origin of
this record.
GEN. RUDENKO: You already gave an explanation to the Tribunal, and the
Tribunal will consider your explanation. This document is submitted, and
I intend to cite this part of the testimony. Please follow me—Excerpt
Number 2:
“In order to justify this aggressive action, Goebbels summoned
me to him and gave me instructions to conduct a hostile campaign
against Austria. Among other things he instructed me to dig out
old documents in the archives which in any way incriminated the
Austrian Government and to publish them in the press. Goebbels
stressed that the documents to be published must first of all
show that the Austrian people wished to unite themselves with
the German nation and that the Austrians adhering to these ideas
were being persecuted by the Austrian Government. Furthermore,
Goebbels said that the German press had to show that the Germans
living in Austria were being systematically persecuted by the
Austrian Government which even went to the length of carrying
out mass reprisals against them.”
And further on:
“When Germany occupied Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Poland, Belgium,
Norway, and the Balkan countries, acting on the instructions of
Goebbels, I organized a similar calumnious propaganda.”
THE PRESIDENT: General Rudenko, surely it would be better to ask him
with reference to one of these paragraphs: Did he say that?—rather than
to put to him the whole document at once.
GEN. RUDENKO: Mr. President, I have only one paragraph left, and I
intended to read it and then to put the question to him.
THE PRESIDENT: I am not objecting to that. I am only suggesting that it
would be better if you put to him each paragraph in turn, and not put
three or four paragraphs all in one question.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well, Mr. President; I will deal with it in this way.
I am asking you, Defendant Fritzsche, do you admit the paragraph read by
me concerning the Anschluss?
FRITZSCHE: No; and I maintain that that is not what I testified. That
extract contains rather the thoughts which the interrogating Russian
officer entertained in respect to my testimony. After it had been drawn
up, the record was submitted to me for my signature.
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute! What do you deny in it? Take the first
paragraph.
FRITZSCHE: Mr. President, I am protesting against everything,
particularly against the expressions applied here which I have never
used. During my interrogations in Moscow I stated exactly the same
things as I stated here in this Trial yesterday, the day before
yesterday and today or as I have set down in my affidavit.
THE PRESIDENT: Take the first paragraph. The first paragraph has just
been read to you: “In order to justify this aggressive action...” Were
you asked any question about that, and did you make any answer?
FRITZSCHE: Yes, indeed. In many interrogations which were held late at
night, I was asked such questions, and to the subjects condensed in this
one question I answered as follows:
I do not recall the date, but when the Austrian action was about to take
place I was summoned to Dr. Goebbels. Dr. Goebbels told me that the
Austrian Government of Schuschnigg had plans of such and such a
nature—they have been described in sufficient detail here—that a
government crisis had developed, that Seyss-Inquart had taken over the
Government, that a call for help had come from Austria, and that now the
march into Austria would take place.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you now telling us what you told the Russian
interrogator, or are you telling us what actually happened in Germany at
the time of the Anschluss?
FRITZSCHE: I am telling what I told the interrogating Russian officer,
and that is exactly what took place in the Propaganda Ministry on the
day in question.
THE PRESIDENT: You are saying, then, that this first paragraph is
entirely made up, are you?
FRITZSCHE: No; I should not like to use the expression “made up,” but I
should like to say—and I beg permission to do so—which parts in this
paragraph are correct. First of all, there is the point that there was a
hostile campaign against the Schuschnigg Government; such a campaign
actually was instigated in the German press; whether at the moment of
his resignation or just before his resignation I do not remember now.
Furthermore, it is correct, as set down in this paragraph, that it was
proposed to show, by quoting individual cases as far as possible, that
under the Schuschnigg Government those who were sympathetic toward
Germany were persecuted. These are the points that are correct.
GEN. RUDENKO: Strictly speaking, this means that you have now
corroborated what I have just read.
FRITZSCHE: No, no, sir. There is an essential difference.
GEN. RUDENKO: From your point of view. But I believe that you will not
deny the fact that you conducted propaganda directed against the
Austrian Government. This is the main point of this question.
FRITZSCHE: I must deny that as well. This propaganda was not conducted
by me, but by my predecessor, as chief of the German Press Department.
GEN. RUDENKO: Do I understand correctly that you deny having
participated personally in this propaganda, but do not deny the fact
that there was such propaganda?
FRITZSCHE: You understand me correctly if by the term “propaganda” in
this case you mean the enumeration of those measures used by the
Schuschnigg Government against German interests as a whole.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. I should like to read the following paragraph
of the same testimony which says:
“When Germany occupied Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Denmark, Poland,
Norway, and the Balkan countries, acting on the instructions of
Goebbels, I organized a similar calumnious propaganda. In every
such case I dug out every old document from the archives which
incriminated the Governments of these countries as far as
Germany was concerned, added my commentary to these documents
and attempted in this way to justify this or that aggressive
action on the part of Germany.”
Do you also deny this?
FRITZSCHE: Yes, in that form I deny that as well.
GEN. RUDENKO: But you will not deny that propaganda for the purpose of
aggression was conducted against all the countries enumerated in this
testimony?
FRITZSCHE: I contest your last remark. I admit the fact of the
propaganda, and I have described in detail the individual actions and my
participation in them in my affidavit, Document 3469-PS.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well; I do not intend questioning you further, as
this has been quite adequately explained in your statements dated 7
January 1946, Document 3469-PS, and which, in fact, do not contradict
what has been stated. Is that right?
FRITZSCHE: I see an essential difference. But this Document 3469-PS is
absolutely correct.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well, I should like as a supplement to this, to read
the testimony of Ferdinand Schörner, which is Document USSR-72 and which
has already been submitted to the Tribunal; I mean Extract Number 3. He
says in his statement, I read:
“Fritzsche’s political activity in his function as official
radio commentator, in the same way as the activity of the war
correspondent, General Dittmar, was subordinated to the main aim
of National Socialism, the unleashing of the world war against
democratic countries and the contributing by all possible means
to the victory of German arms. Fritzsche’s principal method,
applied during the several years of his activity, consisted in,
as I later realized, the deliberate deception of the German
people. I mention that because during the last years we soldiers
felt this deception especially keenly since in spite of
Fritzsche’s false lamentations we knew the actual conditions on
the front and the actual situation. The main guilt of people
such as Fritzsche is that they did know the actual state of
things, but despite this, proceeding according to the criminal
intentions of the Hitler Government, consciously fed the people
with lies or, to use a German expression, ‘threw sand in their
eyes.’”
Tell me, Defendant Fritzsche, does this characterization of German
propaganda correspond to the truth?
FRITZSCHE: That is utter nonsense and it happens that I can partly prove
that. Herr Schörner says part of the activity of the war correspondent
General Dittmar was the starting of aggressive wars. General Dittmar
spoke over the radio for the first time in the winter of 1942-43. That
is one point.
The second point is the following: I have never seen Herr Schörner. I do
not know him and I have never spoken to him. I should be very surprised
if he were in a position to judge whether I deliberately or
unconsciously at any time ever said anything that was not true.
However—and this is something I must add—during the last few days in
Berlin I received indirectly, through State Secretary Dr. Naumann, a
report from General Field Marshal Schörner with the instruction that it
was left to my discretion to make use of it. It reported that he was in
Bohemia with an army which was intact and that he could, if he wanted
to, hold this territory for an unlimited period. We in Berlin should not
lose courage; he could even come to our aid. I do not know whether
Schörner actually made this statement but I think it would be worth
while to call General Field Marshal Schörner here as a witness, in order
to ask him on what he based his judgment.
GEN. RUDENKO: The fact that you do not know Ferdinand Schörner does not
disprove this testimony, for you have yourself stated before this
Tribunal that although very many people knew you as an official
representative of the Government, you could, of course, not know
everybody; is that right?
FRITZSCHE: If you will permit me, sir, I should like to call your
attention to something illogical. Even without knowing me, it is very
easy for anyone to give an opinion about the things I said, but it is
impossible for anyone to judge whether I made those statements in good
faith or in bad faith. I am sure that you yourself realize this
distinction.
GEN. RUDENKO: You are speaking again of your personal participation, but
you do not deny the lying character of the German propaganda?
FRITZSCHE: Again I cannot answer “yes” to the question in the way that
you put it. This morning I gave you a basis for questions which can be
put to me. I contributed my share to a historical clarification by
trying to show what was pure idealism and what were false assumptions;
these things are now being confused.
GEN. RUDENKO: I am not putting questions on the basis which you pretend
you gave me, but upon the basis of documents which are at the disposal
of the Prosecution.
Let us go on. I should like to ask you: Did you know the documents about
the “Case Green” against Czechoslovakia, about the documents concerning
the aggression against Poland, the aggression against Yugoslavia—and
about the propaganda which had to be conducted in this respect?
FRITZSCHE: I heard for the first time here the documentary data for Case
Green. But as you are now again trying to tie this up with propaganda
measures, it is very hard for me to keep both of these matters separate.
Perhaps it will serve your purpose if I answer that neither in the case
of Czechoslovakia nor in the case of Poland nor in any other case did I
know about the German attacks until an hour or an hour and a half before
they were announced to the German public.
GEN. RUDENKO: Did you say an hour or an hour and a half?
FRITZSCHE: I do not wish to commit myself to an hour or an hour and a
half. I do recall that in the case of Russia I had advance knowledge
through Dr. Goebbels perhaps 5 or 6 hours beforehand.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. You will now be handed Document USSR-493. It is
your radio speech in connection with the aggression against Poland. This
speech was made on 29 August. Its purpose was to explain beforehand the
reasons for the German attack on Poland and it was made on 29 August. I
do not intend reading it, but the gist of this speech is that on 29
August you spoke of a series of unexpected events which were imminent.
Have you acquainted yourself with this document?
FRITZSCHE: Yes, indeed.
GEN. RUDENKO: You do not deny that on 29 August 1939 you made this
speech?
FRITZSCHE: No, I do not deny that. I should just like to refer to the
fact...
GEN. RUDENKO: Excuse me. Please answer my question first and give your
explanations later. This was on 29 August? You do not deny it. I am
asking you, did you yourself believe in these explanations of
unavoidable war with Poland? Did you yourself believe this at that
moment?
FRITZSCHE: Whether at that moment I considered a war unavoidable, that I
am not in a position to tell you. But I am able to tell you one thing: I
did not believe that Germany was to blame. That if this tension should
lead to a war...
GEN. RUDENKO: That is enough.
FRITZSCHE: I ask to be allowed to add...
GEN. RUDENKO: But please be brief.
THE PRESIDENT: General Rudenko, let the man answer.
GEN. RUDENKO: If you please.
FRITZSCHE: At that time it was a matter of great satisfaction to me that
in the weeks that followed I could see from the Soviet press that Soviet
Russia and its Government shared the German opinion of the question of
war guilt in this case.
GEN. RUDENKO: I believe it is not the time to discuss this now nor did I
ask you for explanations on this subject. You did not answer my
question, but let us pass on to another question. On 9 April 1940 you
made a speech concerning the reasons for a possible occupation of
Norway. You will now be handed an extract from this speech.
Mr. President, this is Document Number USSR-496.
You have that document, Defendant Fritzsche. It is Excerpt Number 4.
FRITZSCHE: No, I do not have it. Yes, I have found it. It is Page 4.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. Yes, it is Excerpt Number 4. I will read a
short passage:
“The fact that German soldiers had to carry out their duty
because the English violated Norwegian neutrality did not end in
a warlike but in a peaceful action. No one was injured, not a
single house was destroyed; life took its daily course.”
This was a lie. Do you admit it or will you deny it?
FRITZSCHE: No, that was not a lie, for I had just been in Norway myself
and I had seen these things. And everything will be quite clear if you
will permit me to read the next sentence, which says—the next sentence
reads as follows...
GEN. RUDENKO: Defendant Fritzsche, wait a minute. You will read it
later.
THE PRESIDENT: But, General Rudenko, you must let the man explain. He
wants to read the next sentence in order to explain this sentence.
FRITZSCHE: The next sentence reads:
“Even there, where Norwegian troops, instigated by the misguided
former Norwegian Government, put up resistance, the civilian
population was hardly affected by this, for the Norwegians
fought outside the cities and villages....”
GEN. RUDENKO: Well. Now I will show you a document, “An Official Report
of the Norwegian Government,” which has already been submitted to the
Tribunal by the French Prosecution as Exhibit RF-72.
Mr. President, in my document book this document is wrongly numbered
Exhibit USSR-78. It is Document 1800-PS and it has been submitted by the
French Prosecution as Exhibit RF-72.
[_Turning to the defendant._] Listen, Defendant Fritzsche, how correctly
you described the situation in Norway; listen what the “Official Report
of the Norwegian Government” says about it. I quote:
“The German attack on Norway on the 9th of April 1940 brought
war to Norway for the first time in 126 years. For 2 months war
raged throughout the country, causing destruction to the amount
of 250 million kroner. More than 40,000 houses were damaged or
destroyed and about 1,000 civilians were killed.”
And that describes the situation as it really was. Do you admit that
your speech on 2 May 1940 was full of the usual lies?
FRITZSCHE: No, I do not admit that, but I assert that you, sir, in
submitting this extract, are not taking into consideration the fact that
I, in my introduction, reported that I wanted to describe what I had
seen myself, when I made a journey into the Gulbran valley and which I
remember took me nearly as far as Atta. It does not in any way prove my
description to be incorrect, if, according to the facts ascertained by
the Norwegian Government, such loss and damage actually did occur in
connection with this undertaking.
GEN. RUDENKO: I believe that the Norwegian people and the Norwegian
Government had sufficient experience of the weight of the German
occupation, and the government report states actual facts and not the
sort of facts which you stated in your propaganda. This document has
been submitted in accordance with Article 21 as indisputable evidence,
and I do not intend to argue with you. The Tribunal will take note of
it. I have a few more questions to put to you in connection with a
matter which has already been dealt with in detail here. It is the
_Athenia_ case. I will not question you in detail on this matter, as it
has already been ascertained with sufficient accuracy. I am simply
asking you: Do you admit now that Fascist propaganda gave out to the
public slanderous and false information about the _Athenia_ case?
FRITZSCHE: Whether this was done by Fascist propaganda in Italy, that I
do not know. National Socialist propaganda did it in good faith, as I
have clearly described.
GEN. RUDENKO: I have already been speaking for nearly an hour about what
occurred here and what has been ascertained. Do you agree that this
speech was a slanderous one or do you still deny it?
FRITZSCHE: No, I have already admitted that and I also showed clearly
how these statements came about.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. I am interested only in the personal part you
played in this matter. Why did you take such an active part in this
matter, and why were you the first man to spread this slander?
FRITZSCHE: I do not believe that I was the first one to bring this
matter before the public. However, it is a fact that I spoke very
frequently about the case of the _Athenia_, on the basis of official
reports which I believed. I spoke about this case because I happened to
be the very man who, at the beginning of the war, spoke on the radio in
the evenings.
GEN. RUDENKO: Are you trying to assert that the first report on the
_Athenia_ appeared in the _Völkischer Beobachter_ in October, 1939?
FRITZSCHE: I never claimed that.
GEN. RUDENKO: Well. Then I will remind you that you dealt with the
_Athenia_ as early as September 1939; is that right?
FRITZSCHE: Yes, of course, the question of the _Athenia_...
GEN. RUDENKO: And you spoke about it before the report was published in
the _Völkischer Beobachter_?
FRITZSCHE: Many weeks before that, yes.
GEN. RUDENKO: Therefore, you were the first to spread those slanderous
assertions?
FRITZSCHE: No, I cannot confirm that, but rather...
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. In this connection I will put only one other
question to you. You will not deny that in 1940 you still spread this
version? I will repeat the question. I am asking you, you will not deny
that even in 1940 you continued to propagate this slander?
FRITZSCHE: It is the essence of every form of propaganda that it repeats
good and effective things as frequently and for as long a time as
possible. I have explained already that in December of 1945, here in the
prison only, I heard from Grossadmiral Raeder for the first time that it
was really a German U-boat that had stink the _Athenia_.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. I will pass on to a group of questions
regarding your participation in the carrying out of propaganda connected
with the preparation of aggression against the Soviet Union. You assert
that you had no knowledge of the preparation of aggression against the
Soviet Union until 5 o’clock on the morning of 22 June 1941—that is to
say, when the German troops had already entered Soviet territory—and
when you were called by Ribbentrop to the Foreign Office, where a press
conference was being held. Did I correctly understand your testimony?
FRITZSCHE: No. Several hours before that, on the evening of the day
preceding the entry, Dr. Goebbels had called some of the departmental
chiefs of the Ministry to his house at Wannsee and told them these facts
and forbade them to leave or to telephone. That was the first real
knowledge that I had of this fact.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. You also claim that you got to know of
Germany’s aggressive aims with regard to the Soviet Union only in 1942,
and this according to your own observations, is that right?
FRITZSCHE: I do not know what you mean by that. I tried this morning to
make it clear that I began to have doubts as to the truth of the
official German reasons given for this attack only when I was in prison.
I explained that this morning. A second point, which I emphasized
earlier in Moscow when I was interrogated, was that I observed in
1942—it may have been in 1941—after the war with the Soviet Union had
broken out, that preparations of all kinds must have been going on for
quite some time before 22 June.
GEN. RUDENKO: I will recall to your memory an excerpt from your
statement, a document which you confirm in full. It is Number 3469-PS.
In Paragraph 42 we read:
“At the beginning of 1942 I was a soldier in the eastern theater
of war. I saw the extensive preparations which had been made for
the occupation and administration of territories extending as
far as the Crimea. On the basis of my personal observations, I
came to the conclusion that the war against the Soviet Union had
been planned a long time before it broke out.”
Is that statement right?
FRITZSCHE: Yes, certainly.
GEN. RUDENKO: Well, then, I have no further questions to put to you
regarding this matter.
I would like to recall to your memory two further documents connected
with the carrying out of propaganda, in view of the preparation of war
and the actual attack against the Soviet Union. I am referring to the
minutes of a conference held by Hitler dated 16 July 1941.
This document, Mr. President, is Number L-221 and has already been
submitted.
[_Turning to the defendant._] This document will be handed to you and I
will quote one or two paragraphs on the first page. I quote:
“Now it is essential that we do not disclose our aims to the
whole world. There is also no need for that; the main thing is
that we ourselves know what we want. But on no account should we
render our task more difficult by making superfluous
declarations. Such declarations are superfluous for within the
reach of our power we can do everything, and what is beyond our
power we will not be able to do anyway.”
And further:
“What we tell the world about our motives for our actions must
be governed by tactical considerations. We must act here in
exactly the same way as we did in the case of Norway, Denmark,
Holland, and Belgium. In those cases, too, we did not say
anything about our aims, and we shall have the prudence to
adhere to this method in the future.”
Did you have any knowledge of such directives of Hitler?
FRITZSCHE: No, I did not know of any such directive, but the fact that
such statements and directives have been submitted in this courtroom has
made me realize, I have said, that some of the premises of our
propaganda have no foundation.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. You also had no knowledge either of the
instructions issued by the OKW and signed by the Defendant Jodl
regarding the carrying out of propaganda in the “Case Barbarossa”?
FRITZSCHE: I cannot say that without seeing these documents; the Case
Barbarossa as such meant nothing to me until this Trial.
GEN. RUDENKO: Mr. President, this is Document Number C-26 and has
already been submitted to the Tribunal. I will deal with it only in
connection with the matter of propaganda. It is Exhibit USSR-477 in your
document book, Mr. President, Document C-26.
[_Turning to the defendant._] I will quote one excerpt, Defendant. These
instructions say:
“Propaganda directed toward the dismemberment of the Soviet
Union into single states is not to be used for the time being.
In the various parts of the Soviet Union German propaganda must
use that language which is most spoken. But this should not be
done in such a way that the various propaganda texts might give
the impression that it is intended to dismember the Soviet Union
at an early date.”
Were you acquainted with these directives?
FRITZSCHE: I knew neither the document nor the contents of the directive
which you have just read.
GEN. RUDENKO: Yes, but I hope you will not deny that this was the spirit
in which the propaganda was carried on.
FRITZSCHE: No. As far as I could observe, the propaganda which was
carried on in the Soviet Union had just the reverse tendency. It tried
to educate the various nationalities, such as the Ukraine, White Russia,
Baltic States, and so forth, for independence.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. I would like to ask you now: When did you meet
the Defendant Rosenberg for the first time, and when did you get his
information concerning the tasks of German propaganda in the East?
FRITZSCHE: I doubt whether before this Trial I ever spoke with Herr
Rosenberg, but I do believe I met him socially. However, never in my
life have I had an official conversation with him.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. You will be handed Document Number 1039-PS.
This is Rosenberg’s report on the preparatory work concerning matters
connected with the eastern countries. This document has already been
submitted to the Defendant Rosenberg and he did not deny it, but
confirmed it.
I would like you to turn to the second quotation which is marked. In
order to shorten this cross-examination, I will not read the whole
quotation. This report states:
“Apart from these negotiations”—about which we spoke before—“I
received the responsible representatives of the entire
propaganda organization, namely Ministerial Director Fritzsche,
Minister Schmidt, Reich Superintendent of Broadcasting
Glasmeier, Dr. Grothe for the OKW, and others. Without going
into details as to political objectives, I instructed the
above-mentioned persons in confidence about the necessary
attitude, with the request to tone down the whole terminology of
the press on uniform lines, without issuing any statements.
“The schemes for dealing substantially with questions concerning
the eastern countries, which were prepared a long time ago, have
now been issued by my office and I have passed them on to the
propaganda representatives.”
Did Defendant Rosenberg correctly describe these events which occurred
in 1941, before the attack against the Soviet Union?
FRITZSCHE: No. I do not recall ever having been received by Rosenberg.
In any case I never received before 22 June, from Rosenberg or from any
of his colleagues, any report about the planned attack on the Soviet
Union.
On the other hand, and this perhaps may clarify matters, I do recall
that a colleague of Rosenberg’s frequently came to see me or my
colleagues. I even recall his name; he was chief of a press group, Major
Kranz, formerly an editor of the _Völkischer Beobachter_. This man
frequently came to see me and my colleagues and transmitted certain
wishes of Rosenberg’s pertaining to press propaganda. But in any case
this was not before 22 June.
GEN. RUDENKO: This means that as far as you are concerned what Rosenberg
writes in his report is not true?
FRITZSCHE: Untrue would be saying too much. It may be that this
information of which he talks refers to a later period of time. I cannot
judge that, as I have not read the entire document. It may also be that
Rosenberg, in this report, was not quite accurate when he mentions the
reception of the responsible representatives of the entire propaganda
organization.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. In this connection I would like to put two
questions to you. First of all, I would like to refer to the written
testimony of Hans Voss, which is Document USSR-471, and which you
already have. It is Excerpt Number 3 of Document USSR-471. Have you
found it?
FRITZSCHE: Yes, I have found it.
GEN. RUDENKO: I quote:
“After the defeat of the German troops at Stalingrad and after
the start of the general Soviet offensive on the whole Eastern
Front, Goebbels and Fritzsche took great pains to shape German
propaganda in such a way as to help Hitler very effectively in
mastering the situation at the front. This propaganda was based
on the hope that the Germans would succeed in holding out for a
long time. There was an attempt to frighten the German
population by disseminating calumnious reports of the brutal
acts of the Russian soldiers and the intention of the Soviet
Union to annihilate the German nation.
“In the last stage of the war the propaganda conducted by
Goebbels and Fritzsche made one last attempt to serve Hitler and
to organize resistance to Soviet troops.”
Is that correct?
FRITZSCHE: It is not only incorrect, it is nonsense.
GEN. RUDENKO: You frequently used such terminology. Obviously it is a
sign of a professional practice. All right, I do not intend to enter
into polemics with you.
I would like you to take a look at your testimony of 12 September 1945.
It is the third excerpt of the Document USSR-474. Have you found that
passage? I will quote your explanations concerning this question.
FRITZSCHE: All of them are not my statements. What passage are you
referring to, sir?
GEN. RUDENKO: I mean marked Excerpt Number 3, which begins with the
words, “The military aggression against the Soviet Union.”
FRITZSCHE: Yes.
GEN. RUDENKO: Please pay attention:
“Since we had a treaty with the Soviet Union the military attack
on the Soviet Union was prepared by Germany in secret.
Therefore, during the period of preparation for war against the
Soviet Union, no propaganda was carried on. Accordingly, the
German propaganda authorities did not begin active anti-Soviet
propaganda until after the war started on the Eastern Front.
“It must be added that the main task to which Goebbels set the
whole propaganda machinery was to justify Germany’s expansionist
policy toward the Soviet Union.
“From this point of view, as chief of the German press and
radio, I organized a vast campaign of anti-Soviet propaganda,
attempting to convince the public at large that the Soviet Union
and not Germany was the guilty party in this war. I must,
however, state that we had no documentary basis for accusing the
Soviet Union of preparing an armed attack on Germany.
“In my radio talks I tried especially to instill fear of the
horrors of Bolshevism in the hearts of the peoples of Europe and
the German population. Thus I asserted that only Fascist Germany
was the protective barrier for the European countries against
Anglo-American ‘plutocracy’ and ‘Red imperialism.’”
Do you admit this?
FRITZSCHE: Here again actual statements made by me have been distorted.
If I may, I want to give you the factual basis briefly for the various
points.
It is correct to say that I stated in Moscow that the war against the
Soviet Union had not been prepared for by propaganda, because this war
came very suddenly and as a surprise. Furthermore, it is correct to say
that after the attack on the Soviet Union it was the main task of German
propaganda to justify the necessity of this attack; therefore we had to
emphasize again and again that we had merely forestalled a Soviet
attack. Further, it is correct that I said that the next task for
propaganda was to show that not Germany but Russia was guilty of this
war, which amounts to practically the same thing. Unfortunately the most
important argument which I quoted is omitted from this record, namely,
that I and with me millions of Germans believed the official communiqués
given out by the German Government because it would have seemed to us
nonsensical and crazy if in the middle of a war which had not yet been
decided in the West, we wantonly and willfully risked another war in the
East.
I continue. It is also correct that the evidence given in the _White
Book_ published by the Foreign Office at the time was rather meager and
it is furthermore correct to say that German propaganda wanted to make
Europe afraid of Bolshevism. It is finally correct that German
propaganda again and again emphasized the fact that Germany was the only
bulwark against the Soviet world revolution.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. I would now like to draw your attention to
Excerpt Number 4 of the same document, which is in your possession, in
connection with propaganda to keep alive the spirit of resistance in the
German people, notwithstanding all evidence of Germany’s obvious defeat.
I would like to read this very short Excerpt Number 4 from the same
document Number USSR-474. I quote:
“Beginning in 1943 I tried my best to assert through German
radio propaganda that Germany was in possession of weapons which
would shake the power of our enemies. For this I used invented
data regarding the output of the German war industry which had
been given me by the Reich Minister for Munitions, Speer.”
Is that right?
FRITZSCHE: One part is wrong and the other part that is correct has been
wrongly stated.
To begin with the latter part: It is correct that I received figures
from the Ministry for Armaments and War Production which gave me great
hopes for progress. I received, for instance, figures dealing with
monthly aircraft production, figures dealing with new and especially
effective fighter planes. In the meantime, through direct questioning of
Speer himself, I have ascertained that the figures which I received were
quite correct at the time and that the airplanes either were used
wrongly, as, for instance, in the Ardennes offensive instead of for the
protection of the home country, or that they could not be used because
of the gasoline shortage. The first half however...
GEN. RUDENKO: You are going too much into details, Defendant Fritzsche.
You are going into a lot of details which have already been dealt with
here and which have nothing to do with you.
I would like to submit to you the testimony of Speer, who was
interrogated by the Soviet prosecutor here in Nuremberg on 14 November
1945. I submit this document as USSR-492. I would like to read into the
record only that part of the document which deals with the carrying out
of propaganda during this particular period. I quote:
“In September 1944 I wrote a letter to Dr. Goebbels...In this
letter I warned Goebbels that it was wrong to keep on giving out
propaganda about new V-weapons, for in this way he would merely
arouse vain hopes in the German people. This was secret
propaganda which was carried out by Dr. Goebbels in order to
inspire in the German people the hope of a favorable outcome of
the war.”
Is that correct?
FRITZSCHE: Only partially. It is a fact that Dr. Goebbels, more than a
year before the use of the first V-weapon, himself made propaganda with
it. On the other hand, Speer in the meantime has stated in his testimony
here that he now knows the actual source of the propaganda dealing with
“miracle weapons,” namely Standartenführer Schwarz van Berk. Finally,
Dr. Goebbels in the last months of 1944, likewise tried to stifle this
“miracle weapon” propaganda which he himself had once instigated.
GEN. RUDENKO: Now, I would like to remind you of the part you played in
this propaganda. You propagandized these new weapons to instill in the
hearts of the German people the hope of a successful resistance.
I submit to you Document USSR-496. You already have it. It is your radio
speech of 1 July 1944.
THE PRESIDENT: General, are you going to finish very soon or shall we
adjourn now?
GEN. RUDENKO: I believe we should adjourn now, Mr. President, because I
will still need about half an hour.
[_A recess was taken._]
GEN. RUDENKO: Well, Excerpt Number 6 from Document USSR-496 has been
submitted to you. It is your speech, dated 1 July 1944. I am going to
read it into the record:
“We Germans have been very reserved in our reports on the effect
of the new weapons. We could afford this reserve, knowing that
sometime or other Britain would break the silence with which she
tried at first to gloss over the effect of the V-1. We were
right about it. Reports from Britain during the last few days,
and especially today, prove that the effects of the first
thrusts with the new weapon are becoming all too obvious. It is
completely beside the point for the British to complain now
about the wave of hatred which is supposed to surge from Germany
against the British Isles. In the fifth year of the war it is
useless to talk about feelings, although much could be said
about this.”
Do you admit, Defendant Fritzsche, that by means of such propaganda you
duped the German people and incited them to senseless resistance?
FRITZSCHE: On the contrary, in this case I spoke much more reservedly
and much more modestly than, for instance, the German press did about
the results of the V-1. For that matter the very next sentence following
your quotation reads, “We can only repeat that for us the V-1 is the
means with which we can break the enemy terror.”
GEN. RUDENKO: Now I should like to remind you, Defendant Fritzsche, of
your testimony of 12 September 1945 with regard to the activity of the
Werewolf organization. This document is Exhibit USSR-474, Excerpt Number
5. Have you found it?
FRITZSCHE: Yes, I have found it.
GEN. RUDENKO: I am going to read it:
“At the end of February 1945 the State Secretary in the German
Ministry of Propaganda, Dr. Naumann, sent on to me instructions
from Goebbels to work out a plan for the organization of a
secret broadcasting station. In reply to my question as to why
this broadcasting station was needed, Naumann explained that the
German Government had made the decision to transfer members of
the NSDAP to an illegal secret organization called ‘Werewolf.’
Naumann also revealed that all these illegal Werewolf groups
would be directed by means of this broadcasting station, which I
was to establish.”
As can be seen by your testimony you were opposed to the organization of
this radio station and you spoke about it with Goebbels. In spite of
this, the station was created, and the former chief of the Reich
Propaganda Office, Schlesinger, was given the task of directing the
broadcasts. Is that correct?
FRITZSCHE: No. Two things have been mixed up here. Firstly, the plan
described in the paragraph which you have read for the creation of a
Werewolf broadcasting station was a plan for a mobile station and that
mobile station was not built. On the other hand—incidentally, it
happened during my absence—on 1 April 1945, by direct order from Dr.
Goebbels, the so-called “Old German Broadcasting Station” was opened as
a Werewolf station.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. I do not want to argue with you about it and I
should like to submit to you your own speech broadcast on 7 April 1945.
It is the same Document USSR-496, Excerpt Number 7. Have you found it?
FRITZSCHE: Yes.
GEN. RUDENKO: At that time you broadcasted as follows:
“However, as a result of superiority in manpower and material
reserves, the enemy has now penetrated deep into German
territory, and at this moment is about to carry out his program
of extermination directed against us.”