“Private enterprise cannot be maintained in the age of
democracy; it is conceivable only if the people have a sound
idea of authority and personality.”
I refer to Page 2 of the document, and I should like to read an excerpt
from that first paragraph on Page 2, about 13 sentences down, beginning
with the words:
“I recognized even while in the hospital that one had to search
for new ideas conducive to reconstruction. I found them in
Nationalism, in the value of . . . strength and power of
individual personality.”
And, a little further down, the next to the last and the last sentence
of that same paragraph, Hitler said:
“If one rejects pacifism, one must put a new idea in its place
immediately. Everything must be pushed aside, must be replaced
by something better.”
And, in the third paragraph, the last sentence beginning:
“We must not forget that all the benefits of culture must be
introduced more or less with an iron fist, just as once upon a
time the farmers were forced to plant potatoes.”
Then finally, on that page, in the fourth paragraph—nearly at the end
of it:
“With the very same courage with which we go to work to make up
for what had been sinned during the last 14 years, we have
withstood all attempts to move us off the right way.”
Then, on the top of the next page, the second paragraph, these words:
“Now we stand before the last election. Regardless of the
outcome there will be no retreat, even if the coming election
does not bring about a decision.”
THE PRESIDENT: Why did you not read the last line on Page 2?
MR. DODD: Beginning with the words “while still gaining power”?
THE PRESIDENT: The sentence before:
“We must first gain complete power if we want to crush the other
side completely. While still gaining power, one should not start
the struggle against the opponent. Only when one knows that one
has readied the pinnacle of power, that there is no further
possible development, shall one strike.”
MR. DODD: I was going to refer to that, if Your Honor pleases, in a
minute. However, I think it is quite proper to have it inserted here.
Before starting to read this last paragraph, I suggest that it is nearly
the accustomed recess time, as I understand it, and it is a rather
lengthy paragraph. . . .
THE PRESIDENT [Interposing]: Yes, we will adjourn until 2 o’clock.
[_The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours._]
_Afternoon Session_
MR. DODD: If Your Honor pleases, if I may go back for just a very little
bit to take up the train of thought where I left off at the noon recess.
We were discussing the document, bearing the number D-203, and I had
referred particularly to the third page of that document, and even more
particularly to the second paragraph on that page; and I wish to read
from a sentence approximately 8 or 10 lines down in that second
paragraph, which reads as follows:
“The question of restoration of the Wehrmacht will not be
decided at Geneva but in Germany, when we have gained internal
strength through internal peace.”
I wish to refer again to the same page of the same document, and to the
last paragraph and the last sentence, with reference to the Defendant
Göring, who was present at that same meeting to which this document
refers, the meeting of February 20, 1933 in Berlin. Göring said that the
sacrifices asked for surely would be so much easier for industry to bear
if it realized that the election of March 5th will surely be the last
one for the next 10 years, probably even for the next 100 years.
In a memorandum dated the 22d day of February 1933, and for the
information of the Court, in the document book bearing the number D-204,
Gustav Krupp described this meeting briefly, and in the memorandum wrote
that he had expressed to Hitler the gratitude of the 25 industrialists
present at the meeting on February 20, 1933.
There are other expressions in that memorandum, which we do not deem to
be particularly pertinent to the allegations of the Indictment with
which we are now concerned. It is also to establish the corroboration of
the affidavit of Puhl that the meeting was held.
I might point out to the Court that this memorandum, together with the
report of the speech of Hitler, were found by the British and the United
States armies in the personal files of the Defendant Krupp.
I am aware, if Your Honors please, that the method I am pursuing here is
a little tedious, because I am trying to refer specifically to the
documents, and particularly to the excerpts referred to in my remarks,
and therefore this presentation differs very considerably from that
which has gone before. I trust, however, that you will bear with me,
because this part of the case requires some rather careful and detailed
explanations.
In April of 1933, after Hitler had entrenched himself in power, Gustav
Krupp, as chairman of the Reich Association of German Industry, which
was the largest association of German industrialists, submitted to
Hitler the plan of that Association for the reorganization of German
industry, and in connection therewith, undertook to bring the
Association into line with the aims of the conspirators, and to make it
an effective instrument for the execution of their policies.
In a letter of transmittal, Krupp stated that the plan of reorganization
which he submitted on behalf of the Association of industrialists, was
characterized by the desire to coordinate economic measures and
political necessity, adopting the Führer conception of the new German
State. A copy of that letter of transmittal is set out in the document
book under the Number D-157.
In the plan of reorganization itself, Krupp stated:
“The turn of political events is in line with the wishes which I
myself and the board of directors have cherished for a long
time. . . . In reorganizing the Reich Association of German
Industry, I shall be guided by the idea of bringing the new
organization into agreement with the political aims of the Reich
Government.”
The ideas expressed by Krupp on behalf of the members of the Reich
Association of German Industry for introducing the Leadership Principle
into industry, were subsequently adopted.
I respectfully refer the Court to the _Reichsgesetzblatt_ of 1934, Part
I, Page 1194, Sections 11, 12, and 16.
Under the decree introducing the Leadership Principle into industry,
each group of industry was required to have a leader who was to serve
without compensation. The leaders were to be appointed and could be
removed at the discretion of the Minister of Economics. The charter of
each group was to be decreed by the leader, who was obligated to lead
his group in accordance with the principles of the National Socialist
State.
I think it is fair to argue that the introduction of the Leadership
Principle into the organizations of business permitted the
centralization of authority, and guaranteed the efficient execution of
orders, which the Government issued to business, in the interest of a
promotion of a war economy. And the overwhelming support given by German
industrialists to the Nazi war program is very vividly described in a
speech prepared by Gustav Krupp in January of 1944, for delivery at the
University of Berlin; and I must again respectfully refer Your Honors to
the document in your book bearing the identification Number D-317.
I shall not, of course, bore this court with a reading of that whole
document, but I should like to quote from it without wrenching any of
the material from its true context.
And this statement is found beginning in the third and the fourth
paragraphs, being the first large paragraph on the first page:
“War material is lifesaving for one’s own people, and whoever
works and performs in those spheres can be proud of it. Here,
enterprise as a whole finds its highest justification of
existence. This justification, I may inject this here,
crystallized especially during the time of interregnum between
1919 and 1933, when Germany was dying down disarmed. . . .”
And further on:
“It is the one great merit of the entire German war economy that
it did not remain idle during those bad years, even though its
activity could not be brought to light for obvious reasons.
Through years of secret work, scientific and basic groundwork
was laid in order to be ready again to work for the German Armed
Forces at the appointed hour without loss of time or
experience.”
And further quoting from that same speech, and the last paragraph,
particularly on the first page:
“Only through this secret activity of German enterprise,
together with the experience gained meanwhile through production
of peacetime goods, was it possible, after 1933, to fall into
step with the new tasks arrived at, restoring Germany’s military
power. Only through all that could the entirely new and various
problems, brought up by the Führer’s Four Year Plan for German
enterprise, be mastered. It was necessary to exploit new raw
materials, to explore and experiment, to invest capital in order
to make German economy independent and strong—in short, to make
it war-worthy.”
Quoting even further from this same speech:
“I think I may state here that the German enterprises followed
the new ways enthusiastically, that they made the great
intentions of the Führer their own, by fair competition and
conscious gratitude, and became his faithful followers. How else
could the tasks between 1933 and 1939, and especially those
after 1939, have been overcome?”
It must be emphasized that this secret rearmament program was launched
immediately upon the seizure of power by the Nazi conspirators. On April
4, 1933 the Reich Cabinet passed a resolution establishing a Reich
Defense Council. The function of this Council was secretly to mobilize
for war; and at the second meeting of the working committee of the
Councillors for Reich Defense, which was, by the way, the predecessor of
the Reich Defense Council,—at that second meeting which was held on May
22nd of 1933, the chairman was the Defendant Keitel, then Colonel
Keitel; and he stated that the Reich Defense Council would immediately
undertake to prepare for war emergency. He stressed the urgency of the
task of organizing a war economy, and announced that the Council stood
ready to brush aside all of their obstacles. Fully aware of the fact
that their action was in flagrant violation of the Treaty of Versailles,
the Defendant Keitel emphasized the extreme importance of absolute
secrecy when he said, and I quote from the document bearing the number
EC-177, on Page 5 of that document. Colonel Keitel is speaking, and he
said:
“No document ought to be lost, since otherwise it may fall into
the hands of the enemies’ intelligence service. Orally
transmitted matters are not provable; they can be denied by us
in Geneva.”
The singleness of purpose with which the Nazi conspirators geared the
German economy to the forging of a war machine is even further shown by
the secret minutes of the sixth meeting of the working committee of the
so-called Reich Defense Council, held on the 7th of February 1934, as
shown in the document bearing the number EC-404, marked “Secret Command
Matter”, and dated the 7th of February 1934. At this meeting, Lieutenant
General Beck pointed out that: “The actual state of preparation is the
purpose of this session.”
Parenthetically, I might say that on the first page of that document it
appears that besides Lieutenant General Beck, the Defendant Jodl was
present, then Lieutenant Colonel Jodl. There was a Captain Schmundt; and
there was a Colonel Guderian there; and there was a Major General Von
Reichenau; there was a Major Warlimont; and these are names that Your
Honors will hear more of in the course of the presentation of this case.
Detailed measures of financing a future war were discussed and it was
pointed out that the financial aspects of the war economy would be
regulated by the Reich Finance Ministry and the Reichsbank, which was
headed by the Defendant Schacht.
On May 31st of 1935—as stated earlier in this morning’s discussion—the
Defendant Schacht was secretly appointed plenipotentiary-general of the
war economy, and he had the express function of placing all economic
forces of the nation in the services of the Nazi war machine.
By the secret defense law of May 21, 1935, under which Schacht received
this secret appointment, he was in effect, given charge of the entire
war economy. In case of war, he was to be virtual economic dictator of
Germany. His task was to place all economic forces into the service for
the conduct of the war and to secure economically the life of the German
people. The Ministers of Economy, of Food, Agriculture, Labor, Forestry,
as well as all Reich agencies directly under the Führer, were
subordinated to him. He was to be responsible for the financing as well
as for the conduct of the war; and he was even authorized to issue
ordinances within his sphere of responsibility, even if these deviated
from the existing laws.
The rearmament of Germany proceeded at an amazingly rapid pace. By the
summer of 1935, the Nazi conspirators were emboldened to make plans for
the reoccupation of the Rhineland; and at the tenth meeting of this same
working committee of the Council, the question of measures to be taken
in connection with the proposed reoccupation of the Rhineland were
discussed.