AFFIDAVIT
The leaflet "G 42" attached hereto was produced by a British official organization in which I, Arnold Robert Walmsley of the. Research Department of the Foreign Office, was working at the time. It contains a mechanical reproduction of a document on three sheets numbered 1, 2, 3 in the leaflet. This document was passed to my section of the British War Office as an original document captured in March 1942 in Lybia from the staff of the 2nd Battery of Artillery Regt. 75 of the German Army.
[signed] A. R. Walmsley.
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Hitler's license for the S.S.
The document overleaf contains Hitler's ideas on the "necessity of the Waffen-SS." He wanted the widest possible publicity for them. We are giving them it.
In this secret document one can read Hitler's real war aims for the first time: he is not fighting for the defence of Germany but for the conquest of a new "Greater German Reich."
The task of the Waffen-SS in this new "Greater German Reich" is, according to Hitler's own words, war in the interior.
1. Against whom is the Waffen-SS to conduct war in the interior for Hitler?
Against the subjugated peoples of Europe.
"The Greater German Reich in its final form will not include within its frontiers nothing but national entities who are, right from the beginning, well disposed towards the Reich. It is therefore necessary to maintain, outside the core of the Reich, a State military police capable of representing and imposing the authority of the Reich within the country in any situation."
Against all the working class of Europe, including that of Germany.
"Such a formation—proud of its purity—will never fraternize with the proletariat and with the underworld which undermines the fundamental idea * *
2. Why does not Hitler wish to employ the Wehrmacht on the Home Front? Because he cannot rely on the German soldier firing on his own compatriots.
"We must never again tolerate in the future that the German Wehrmacht based on universal conscription should be used against its own compatriots, arm in hand, when critical situations arise in the interior."
3. Who has delivered up the German people to the Waffen-SS?
Not only Hitler. The Generals were in agreement with this
employment of the Waffen-SS on the Home Front. In this manner, they safeguard their own position of power within the state and yet keep a clean record, for they are after all "purely and solely meant for employment against the Reich's external enemies."
Since the 6th August 1940, when Hitler ordered that the Waffen-SS, "having returned home in the ranks of the army after having proved themselves in the field", are to carry out "their tasks as State Police" against the enemy at home, he has increased the Waffen-SS more than tenfold and has turned them into a separate body outside the army.
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Hitler cannot disown this official document. He thus silently admits:
That he is not conducting a war of defence but of conquest;
That he has expressly earmarked the Waffen-SS to be his own permanent civil war army on the Home Front.
And the Generals allow Germany to be delivered up by Hitler to Himmler's soldiery.
THE FUEHRER'S IDEAS ABOUT THE WAFFEN-SS Copy of a copy
SECRET H.Q., O.K.H., 21.3.41.
High Command of the Army
General Staff of the Army /Wes. Dept.
No. 137/3.41 Secret (I)
Subject: Statements of the Fuehrer re future State military police.
Reference: OKH, General Staff of the Army/Army Bes. Dept., No. 24/9.40 Secret of 11.9.40.
Doubts have arisen as to whether, when the Fuehrer's ideas on the Waffen-SS were passed on some time ago, it was intended that they should be given wider publicity. The Chief of the OKW has laid down in this connection that it can be nothing but desirable that the Fuehrer's idea should receive the greatest publicity.
The above-mentioned enactment was only distributed down to commanding Generals at the time. The Fuehrer's ideas re the Waffen-SS are therefore published again in the enclosed.
By Order
Signed: signature Lieut. Col. in the General Staff.
Enclosure: 1 sheet.
SECRET
Subject: Waffen-SS.
On the 6.8.40 on the occasion of the order for the organization of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (Adolf Hitler bodyguard), the Fuehrer stated the principles regarding the necessity for the existence of the Waffen-SS, as summed up below.
The Greater German Reich in its final form will not include within its frontiers nothing but national entities who are right from the beginning well-disposed towards the Reich.
It is therefore necessary to maintain, outside the core of the Reich, a State military police capable of representing and im-
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posing the authority of the Reich within the country in any situation.
This task can be carried out only by a State Police which has within its ranks men of the best German blood and which identifies itself unreservedly with the ideology at the base of the Greater German Reich. Only a formation composed in this way will resist disintegrating influences even in critical times. Such a formation—proud of its purity—will never fraternize with the proletariat and with the underworld which undermines the fundamental idea.
But further, our future Greater German Reich, a body of police will only have the necessary authority over its compatriots if it is trained along military lines.
Our people are so military-minded as a result of glorious events of a warlike nature and indoctrination by the National Socialist party, that a "sock-knitting police" (1848) or a "bureaucratized police" (1918) can no longer prevail. It is therefore necessary for this "State Police" to prove its worth and provide sacrifices of blood at the front in closed formations in the same way as every unit of the armed forces.
Having returned home in the ranks of the army after having proved themselves in the field, the units of the Waffen-SS will possess the authority to execute their tasks as "State Police."
This utilization of the Waffen-SS in the interior is just as much in the interests of the Wehrmacht itself. We must never again tolerate in the future that the German Wehrmacht based on universal conscription should be used against its own compatriots, arm in hand, when critical situations arise in the interior. Such a step is the beginning of the end. A state which has to resort to such methods is no longer in a position to use its armed forces against an enemy from without, and thereby surrenders itself. Our history contains sad examples of this. The Wehrmacht in future is intended for all time for use solely against the Reich's foreign enemies.
In order to ensure that the quality of the men in the units of the Waffen-SS always remains high, the organization of the units must remain limited. The Fuehrer sees this limitation in the fact that the units of the Waffen-SS should in general not exceed 5 to 10% of the peace-time strength of the army.
5.10. Division (mot.) Sect. Ila/Ilb
Div. Battle H.Q., 23.4.41.
693260—46—12
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Distribution: II & III.
Above copy for information.
1st Arty. Regt. 75
Sect. Ia No. 179/1^1 Secret.
Sect. Battle H.Q. 3.5.41.
A. B.
SECRET!
Sgd.
Major & Adj.
to 1, 2, 3 Batteries, H.Q. battery.
One copy sent to each with request that you take note.
A.B.
(signed)
Lieut. & Adj.
1 Battery, Arty. Regt. 75 received 3.5.41 Ref. No. 93/41 Secret, (initialled)
Cover note, memo, and Hitler's plan for the Waffen-SS as a state military police force within Germany
Authors
Arnold R. Walmsley (research department, Foreign Office (UK))
Arnold R. Walmsley
- Additional details not yet available.
Adolf Hitler (Fuehrer, Reich Chancellor, Supeme Commander of Wehrmacht)
Adolf Hitler
Austrian nationalized German politician, leader of the National Socialist party and dictator of Germany (1889-1945)
- Born: 1889-01-01 1889-04-20 (Braunau am Inn) (country: Austria-Hungary; located in the administrative territorial entity: Archduchy of Austria above the Enns; statement is subject of: Adolf-Hitler-Geburtshaus)
- Died: 1945-04-30 (Berlin Führerbunker) (country: Nazi Germany; located in the administrative territorial entity: Berlin; statement is subject of: death of Adolf Hitler)
- Country of citizenship: Cisleithania (period: 1889-04-20 through 1918-11-11); First Republic of Austria (period: 1919-01-01 through 1925-04-30); Nazi Germany (end cause: death of Adolf Hitler; period: 1933-01-30 through 1945-04-30); Republic of German-Austria (period: 1918-01-01 through 1919-01-01)
- Occupation: painter (statement is subject of: paintings by Adolf Hitler); political writer; politician (reason for preferred rank: generally used form); soldier
- Member of political party: German Workers' Party (period: 1919-09-12 through 1921-07-11); Nazi Party (series ordinal: 556)
- Member of: Nazi Party
- Participant in: Aktion T4; Beer Hall Putsch; The Holocaust; ethnic cleansing
- Significant person: Albert Speer; Benito Mussolini; Eva Braun; Joseph Stalin
Date: 23 March 1941
Literal Title: [Third page:] Subject: Statements of the Fuehrer re future State military police.
Defendant: Hermann Wilhelm Goering
Total Pages: 5
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: D-665
Citation: IMT (page 6286)
HLSL Item No.: 452342
Notes:Note by Walmsley on the captured text; British memo on "Hitler's license for the S.S."; German army letter (21 March 1941) distributing Hitler's statement; Hitler's statement, "Subject: Waffen-SS" (6 August 1940); distribution notes (23 April 1941). This document was entered as UK exhibit 280.