"Muenchen, 20 March, 1941, Brown House.
"C i r c u l a r L e t t e r No. 5g "To all Gauleiters "Subject Matter:
Sequestration of Church Properties "Valuable church properties had to be sequested to a large extent lately, especially in Austria; according to reports of the Gauleiter to the Fuehrer these sequestrations were frequently caused by offences against ordinances relating to war economy (e.g. hoarding of food-stuffs of various kinds, textiles, leather-goods etc.)
,. In other cases they were caused by offences against the Law relating to malicious attacks against the State and in some cases because of prohibited possession of firearms. Obviously no compensation is to be paid to the Churches for sequestrations made because of the abovementioned reasons.
"With regard to further sequestrations, several Austrian Gauleiter have attempted to clarify the question who should acquire such sequestered properties at the occasion of the Fuehrer's last visit to Vienna. Please take note of the Fuehrer's decision, as contained in the letter written by Reich Minister Dr. Lammers to the Reich Minister for the Interior, dated 14, March 1941. I enclose copy of extracts of same.
"(signed) M. Bormann".
I had offered that document as U.S. Exhibit 678. Do you still wish me to read the enclosure that went with it?
THE TRIBUNAL (By Mr. Biddle): I don't wish you to read anything; I was simply pointing out that, as you read it, it wasn't in evidence.
CAPTAIN SPRECHER: In that event I will continue. The copy reads as follows:
"The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery "To the Reich Minister for the Interior "Subject:
Draft of an ordinance supplementing the provisions on confiscation of property inimical to People and State.
"Re. letter of this office dated 27 January 1941.
"The Reich Governor's and Gauleiter von Schirach, Dr. Jury , and Eigruber complained recently to the Fuehrer that the Reich-Minister of Finance still maintains the point of view that confiscation of property inimical to the People and State should be made in favor of the Reich and not in favor of the Reich-Gaue.
As a consequence the Fuehrer has informed me that he desires the confiscation of such properties to be effected in favor of the respective Reich-Gau, in which area the confiscated property is situated, and not in favor of the Reich."
THE PRESIDENT: You need not read any more of it.
CAPTAIN SPRECHER: I pass over now to the Jewish persecution. and participated in anti-Semitic measures. Of course, the whole ideology and teaching of the Hitler Youth was predicated upon the Nazi racial myth. Before the war, Schirach addressed a meeting of the National Socialist German Students League, the organization he headed from 1929 to 1931. Ziemer. I wish to read merely from the bottom of page 95 of the Document Book to the end of the first paragraph at the top of page 96 of the Document Book. ded, some time before the war, personally, at which Baldur von Schirach addressed the Students League, which he at one time himself led.
THE PRESIDENT: What is this document?
CAPTAIN SPRECHER: This is 2441.
THE PRESIDENT: I mean, what sort of a document is it?
CAPTAIN SPRECHER: It is an affidavit of Gregor Ziemer.
"He"--meaning Schirach--"declared that the most important phase of German university life in the Third Reich was the program of the NSDSTB. He extolled various activities of the Bund. He reminded the boys of the service they had rendered during the Jewish purge. Dramatically, he pointed across the river to the old university town of Heidelberg where several burntout synagogues were mute witnesses of the efficiency of Heidelberg students. These skeleton buildings would remain there for centuries as inspiration for future students, as warning to enemies of the state." Jews under Schirach, we must look to his activities in the Reichsgau, Vienna, to the activities of his assistants, the SS and the Gestapo, in Vienna.
Document No. 1948, page 63 of your Document Book, is offered as US Exhibit 680. You will note it is on the stationery of the last Governor of Vienna.
THE PRESIDENT: Captain Sprecher, I have been reading on in this document 2441-PS, on page 22. It seems to me you ought to read the next three para graphs, page 96, in red, from the place where you left off.
CAPTAIN SPRECHER: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: The second, third, and fourth paragraphs.
CAPTAIN SPRECHER: "Even as old Heidelberg Castle was evidence that old Germany had been too weak to resist the invading Frenchmen who destroyed it, so the black remains of the synagogues would be a perpetual monument reminding the coming generations of the strength of New Germany.
"He reminded the students that there were still countries who squandered their time and energy with books and wasteful discussions about abstract topics of philosophy and metaphysics. Those days were over. New Germany was a land of action. The other countries were sound asleep.
"But he was in favor of letting them sleep. The more soundly they slumbered, the better opportunity for the men of the Third Reich to prepare for more action. The day would come when students of Heidelberg would take their places side by side with, legions of other students to conquer the world for the ideology of Nazism." found at page 63 of your Document Book, and which I offer as US Exhibit 680. This, you will note, is on the stationery of the Reich Governor of Vienna, The Reichsstatthalter:
"Vienna, 7 November 1940.
"Subject: Compulsory labor of able-bodies Jews.
"1. Notice:
"On 5 November 1940 telephone conversation with Colonel (Standartenfuehrer) Huber of the Gestapo. The Gestapo has received directions from the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) as to how able-bodies Jews should be drafted for the compulsory labor service. Investigations are being made at present by the Gestapo to find out how many able-bodied Jews are still available, in order to make plans for the contemplated mass projects. It is assumed that there are nor many more Jews available. If some should still be available, however, the Gestapo has no scruples to use the Jews even for the removal of the destroyed synagogues.
"SS Colonel Huber will report personally to the 'Regierungspraesident' in this matter.
"I have reported to the 'Regierungspraesident' accordingly. The matter should further be kept in mind."
The signature is by Dr. Fischer.
I want to call the Court's attention to the significance of the title "Regierungspraesident". The SS Colonel, you will note, was to report to the Regierungspraesident. If you will refer back again to the decree which set up the Reichstag, Vienna, 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 777, you will find that the Regierungspraesident was Schirach's personal representative within the governmental administration of Vienna.
Fischer, concerning compulsory labor of able-bodied Jews, answers the argument that persons of the rank of Gauleiter were ignorant of the atrocities of the Gestapo and the SS in their own locality. It shows further that even the assistants of the Gau leaders were informed of the details of the persecution projects which were afoot at the time. in Vienna, which was alleviated for some members of the alleged "Master Race" who succeeded to the houses of the luckless Jews who were moved into the oblivion of Poland. Schriach. It is our Document 1950, page 64 of your Document Book, and it is offered in evidence as US Exhibit 681. The letter is very short:
"Berlin, 3 December 1940." Chancellery, and it is marked "secret". It is to the Reich Govenor in Vienna, Gauleiter von Schirach:
"As Reichsleiter Bormann informs me, the Fuehrer has decided, after receipt of one of the reports made by you, that the 60,000 Jews still residing in the Roichsgau, Vienna, will be deported most rapidly -- that is, still during the war -- to the General Government, because of the housing shortage prevalent in Vienna.
"I have informed the Govenor General in Cracow, as well as Reichsfuehrer SS, about this decision of the Fuehrer, and I request you also to take cognizance of it."
Signed, "Lammers". of the defendants in the dock, I take something from how own lips, which was published for all Vienna, and indeed, for all Germany and the world to know even at that time. It appears in the Vienna edition of the Voelkischer Beobachter, on the 15th of September 1942 Document 3048-PS, your Document Book page 106. It is already in evidence as US Exhibit 274.
so-called European Youth League in Vienna in 1942. Youth Education in the NSDAP at that time:
"Every Jew who exerts influence in Europe is a danger to European culture. If anyone reproaches me with having driven from this city, which was once the European metropolis of Jewry, tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of Jews into the ghetto of the East, I feel myself compelled to reply, 'I see in this an action contributing to European culture."
Although Schirach's principal assistance to the conspiracy was made in his commission of the German Youth to the conspirators' objectives, he also stands guilty of heinous crimes against humanity as a Party and governmental administrator of high standing after the conspiracy had reached its inevitable involvement in wars of aggression. responsibility of the Defendant Schirach. Martin Bormann, and the presentation will be made by Lieutenant Lambert.
DR. FRITZ SAUTER (Counsel for Defendant von Schirach): Mr. President, as to the various errors made in the case against Schirach, I shall take a position when I have a chance to conduct my defense. But I should like to take the opportunity now to point out an error in translation in one of the documents. That is Document 3352; I believe it is page 117 in the Document Book - 117 or 116. and this order concerns itself with the fact that the work departments must be at the disposal of the Gauleiter under certain circumstances. In the German original of this order it reads as follows: "anregungen und wuensche," The first translation -- I mean, the translation for "anregungen" - we consider to be correct; but the second translation, namely, "demand" for "wuensche", we hold to be false, because, so far as we know, the word "demand" means such as "befehl" or "forderunger" in German, and is much stronger than "wuensche". We would hold it to be correct if the English translation "demand" could be changed to the word "wishes", which is an exact translation of the word "wuensche."
I don't know whether I have pronounced the word exactly correctly in English.
So much for the time being. I thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you wish to say anything about that?
CAPTAIN SPRECHER: I think that Dr. Sauter has made a very good point.
I have checked with the translator beside me, your Honor, and the German word "wuensche" has been translated too strongly.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
LIEUTENANT THOMAS F. LAMBERT, JR: May it please the Tribunal, set forth in the Indictment.
And if the Tribunal will allow, we His official title was Chief of the Party Chancery.
Before that ago.
In 1922, only 22 years of age, he joined the Organization struggling pacifist minority in Germany.
While he was District purposes satisfactory to himself.
On 15 May, 1924, he was found subversive activities.
He joined the militarist organization, his ascent to a prominent position in the conspiracy.
In 1927 he became Press Chief for the Party Gau of Thuringia.
In other became an important staff officer and a Gauleiter.
On 1 April, We come now to a particularly important point, involving Bormann's tieup with the SA.
Command of the SA. SA, and knows full well that this was a semi-military organization of young men whose main mission was to get control of the streets, and to impost terror on oppositional elements of the conspiracy.
Our submission at this stage is that by virtue of Bormann's position on the staff of the Supreme Command of the SA, he shares responsibility for the illegal activities of the SA in furtherance of the conspiracy. Party, of which he became head. Through this fund he collected large sums for the alleged purpose of aiding the families of Party members who had been killed or injured while fighting for the Party. Party took over the Government of Germany. Shortly thereafter, in July 1933, Bormann was given the number three position in the Party, that of Chief of Staff to the Defendant Hess, the Deputy of the Fuehrer. At the same time, he was made a Reichsleiter, and, as the Tribunal knows, that makes him a member of the top level of the alleged illegal organization, the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. German publication, "The Greater German Reichstag", edition of 1943, The facts which I have recited in the foregoing sketch of Defendant Bormann's career are set forth on page 167 of that publication, the English translation of which appears in Document 2981-PS of the Document Book now before the Tribunal.
With respect to Bormann's conviction for political murder, I offer in evidence Document 3355-PS, USA Exhibit 682, which is the affidavit of Dr. Robert M.W. Kempner, and I quote therefrom briefly as follows:
"I, Robert M. W. Kempner, an expert consultant of the War Department, appeared before the undersigned attesting officer and, having been duly sworn, stated as follows:
"In my capacity as Superior Government Counsellor and Chief Legal Advisor of the pre-Hitler Prussian Police Administration, I became officially acquainted with the criminal record of Martin Bormann, identical with the Defendant Martin Bormann now under indictment before the International Military Tribunal in Hurnberg, Germany.
"The official criminal record of Martin Bormann contained the following entry:
"Bormann, Martin, sentenced on May 15, 1924, by the State Tribunal for the Protection of the Republic, in Leipzig, Germany, to one year in prison, for having been an accomplice in the commission of a political murder. Signed: Robert M. W. Kempner." End of quotation.
THE PRESIDENT: Lt. Lambert, I don't think it is necessary for you, in dealing with a document of that sort, to read the formal parts. If you state the nature of the document and read the material part, you needn't deal with the formal parts; for instance, "I, Robert Kempner, an expert consultant", and all that. Do you understand me?
LT. LAMBERT: Thank you very much, sir, for a very helpful suggestion.
As Defendant Hess' Chief of Staff, Bormann was responsible for receiving and channeling up to the Defendant Hess the demands of the Party in all fields of state action. These demands were then secured by the Defendant Hess by virtue of his participation in the legislative process, his power with respect to the appointment and promotion of government officials, and by virtue of his position in the Reich Cabinet. Defendant Bormann with the SD and the Gestapo. As Chief of Staff to the Defendant Hess, Bormann took measures to reinforce the grip of the Gestapo and the SD over the German civil population. I request the Tribunal to notice judicially a Bormann order of 14 February 1935, set forth in the official publication, "Decrees of the Deputy of the Fuehrer", Edicition 1937, page 257.
I quote merely the pertinent portions of that decree, the English version of which is set forth in our Document 3237-PS, which reads as follows. That is our Document 3237-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: If you can summarize it -- if it is a document of which we can take judicial notice, it is sufficient for you to summarize it without reading it.
LT. LAMBERT: I appreciate that, sir. This quotation is so succinct and so brief that we perhaps could avoid -
THE PRESIDENT: Very well, go on.
LT. LAMBERT: (quoting) "The deputy of the Fuehrer expects that Party Offices will now abandon all distrust of the SD and will support it wholeheartedly in solving the difficult tasks with which it has been entrusted in order to protect the Movement and our people.
"Because the work ofthe party is primarily benefited by the work of the SD, it is unadmissable that its expansion be upset by prejudiced attacks when individuals fail. On the contrary, it must be wholeheartedly assisted. Signed, Bormann, Chief of Staff to the Deputy of the Fuehrer." End of quotation. That is with respect to Bormann's support of the SD.
I deal now with Bormann's effort to support the work of the Gestapo.
THE PRESIDENT: Lt. Lambert, wouldn't it be sufficient to say that that document indicates the support Bormann promised to the SD?
LT. LAMBERT: I was anxious merely on one point, sir, that a document that was not in evidence unless it had neen quoted.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you began by asking us to take judicial notice of it.
LT. LAMBERT: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: If we can take judicial notice of it
LT. LAMBERT: Then it needn't be quoted?
THE PRESIDENT: It needn't be quoted That is what I am saying.
LT. LAMBERT; Then with respect to Bromann's efforts to reinforce the grip of the Gestapo, I request the Tribunal to notice judicially a Bormann order of 3 September, 1935, calling on Party agencies to report to the Gestapo all persons who criticize Nazi institutions or the Nazi Party. This decree appears in the official Party publication, "Decrees of the Deputy of the Fuehrer", 1937, at page 190. The English translation is set forth in our Document 3239--PS. I shall summarize the effect of this document shortly. In its first paragraph it refers to a law of 20 December 1934. As the Tribunal will recall, this law gave the same protection to Party institutions and Party uniforms as enjoyed by the State; and in the first and second paragraphs of this decree it is indicated that whenever a case came up involving malicious or slanderous attack on Party members or the Nazi Party or its institutions, the Reich Minister of Justice would consult with the Deputy of the Fuehrer in order to take joint action against the offender;
and then, in the third paragraph, Bormann gives his orders to all Party agencies with respect to reporting to the Gestapo on individuals who criticized the Nazi Party or its institutions. I quote merely the last paragraph.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I took down what you said in your first sentence, which was that the document showed that he was ordering that a report should be made to the Gestapo for anyone criticizing the Party. Well, that is sufficient, it seems to me, and all that you said after that is irrelevant -not irrelevant, but cumulative.
LT. LAMBERT: There is, however, one brief point, if I may be permitted, which I should like to emphasize, about the last paragraph, because I think it is helpful to the Prosecution's case against the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. with respect to whether the Prosecution's evidence involved the rank and file of the Leadership Corps. In the last paragraph of this decree Bormann instructs the Ortsgruppenleiter to report to the Gestapo persons who criticize Nazi Party institutions. Now, an important point with respect to the tie-up between Bormann and the SS. The Tribunal has already received the evidence establishing the criminality of the SS. In this connection, I respectfully request the Tribunal to notice judicially the July 1940 issue of "Das Archiv" our Document 3234-PS. On page 399 of that publication, under date 21 July 1940, it is stated that the Fuehrer promoted Defendant Bormann from Major General to Lieutenant General in the SS. Accordingly, we respectfully submit that Bormann is chargeable and jointly responsible for the criminal activities of the SS. Defendant Bormann succeeded him as head of the Nazi Party under Hitler, with the title Chief of the Party Chancery. I request the Tribunal to take judicial notice of a decree of 24 January 1942, 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 35. In our conception this is an extremely important decree, because by virtue of it the participation of the Party in all legislation and in government appointments and promotions had to be undertaken exclusively by Bormann. He was to take part in the preparation -- and we emphasize that -- as well as the enactment and promulgation of all Reich laws and enactments; and, further, he had to give his assent to all enactmentsof the Reich Lander, that is, the States, as well as all decrees of the Reich Governors.
All communications between State and Party officials had to pass through his hands. And, as a result of this law, we respectfully submit, Bormann is chargeable for every enactment issued in Germany after 24 January 1942, which facilitates and furthers the conspiracy. to take judicial notice of a decree of 29 May 1941, 1941 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 295. In this decree Hitler ordered that Bormann should take over all powers and all offices formerly held by the Defendant Hess. I request the Tribunal to take judicial notice of another very important decree, that of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich, 16 November 1942.
THE PRESIDENT: Are these documents set out in the document book?
LT. LAMBERT: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: You haven't given us the reference.
LT. LAMBERT: That is true, sir. I recall from memory, although I do not have it in my manuscript, that document, that important decree of 24 January 1942 is our document, I believe, 2001-PS. decree of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich, dated 16 November, 1942, 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt, fart I, page 649. Under this decree, all Gauleiter who were under Bormann by virtue of his position, Chief of the party Chancery, were appointed Reich Defense Commissars and charged with the coordination, supervision, and management of the aggressive Nazi war effort.
planning and conducting the aggressive Nazi war economy.
On 12 April 1943, as is shown in the publication "The Greater German Reichstag", 1943 Edition, page 167, our Document 2981-PS, Bormann was appointed Secretary of the Fuerher, and we submit that this fact testifies to the intimacy and incluence of the Defendant Bormann on the Fuehrer and enlarges his role in, and responsibility for, the conspiracy.
We now come to the important point of Bormann's executive responsibility for the acts of the Volksturm. I request the Tribunal to notice judicially a Fuehrer order of 18 October 1944, which was published in the official Voelkischer Beobachter, 20 October 1944 edition, in which Hitler appointed Bormann political and organizational leader of the Volksturm. This is set forth in our Document 3018-PS, In this decree, Himmler is made the military leader of the Volksturm, but the organizational and political leadership is entrusted to Bormann. The Tribunal will know that the Volksturm was an organization consisting of all German males between 16 and 60. By virtue of Bormann's leadership of the Volksturm, he was instrumental in needlessly prolonging the war, with a consequential destruction of the German and the European war economy, and a loss of life and destruction of property. with respect to persecution of the Church. The Defendant Bormann authorized, directed, and participated in measures involving the persecution of the Christian Church. The Tribunal, of course, has heard much in this proceeding concerning the acts of the conspiracy involving the persecution of the Church. We have no desire now to rehash that evidence. We are interested in one thing alone, and that is nailing on the Defendant Bormann his responsibility, his personal, individual responsibility, for the persecution of the Church. with respect to such persecution of the Christian Churches. and Christian Clergy in Germany and in German-occupied Europe. I shall refer the Tribunal, without quoting therefrom, to Document D-75, previously introduced in evidence as USA Exhibit No. 348, which contains a copy of the secret Bormann decree of 6 June 1941 entitled "The Relationship of National Socialism to Christianity."
In this decree, as the Tribunal will well recall, Bormann bluntly declared that National Socialism and Christianity were imcomptible, and he indicated that the ultimate aim of the conspirators was to assure the elimination of Christianity itself. previously put in as USA Exhibit No. 350. This is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 22 February 1940, in which Bormann reaffirms the incompatibility of Christianity and National Socialism.
Now, in furtherance of the conspirators' aim to undermine the Christian Churches, Bormann took measures to eliminate the influence of the Christian Church from within the Nazi Party and its formations. I now offer in evidence Document 113-PS, as USA Exhibit 683. This is an order of the Defendant Bormann, dated 27 July 1938, issued as Chief of Staff to the Deputy of the Fuehrer, Hess, which prohibits clergymen from holding Party offices. I shall not take the time of the Tribunal to spread this quotation upon the record. The point of it is, as indicated, that Bormann issued an order forbidding the appointment of clergymen to Party positions.
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps this would be a good time to break off for ten minutes.
(A recess was taken from 1120 to 1130 hours ) LT.
LAMBERT: May it please the Tribunal, we are dealing with the efforts of the Defendant Bormann to expel and exorcise from the Party all church and religious influence.
I offer in evidence Document 838-PS, as USA Exhibit 684. I shall not burden the record with extensive quotation from this exhibit, but merely point out that this is a copy of a Bormann decree dated 3 June 1939, which laid it down that followers of Christian Science should be excluded from the Party. previously introduced in evidence as USA Exhibit 355. The Tribunal will recall that this was a Bormann decree of 14 July 1939, referring with approval to an earlier Bormann decree of 9 February 1937 in which the Defendant Bormann ruled that in the future all Party members who entered the clergy or who undertook the study of theology were to be expelled from the Party. circular directive of the Defendant Bormann dated 17 June 1938, addressed to all Reichsleiters and Gauleiters, top leaders of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, transmitting a copy of directions relating to the nonparticipation of the Reich Labor Service in religious celebrations. The Reich Labor Service, the Tribunal will recall, compulsorily incorporated all Germans within its organization.
DR. BERGOLD (Counsel for Defendant Bormann): The member of the Prosecution just mentioned a number of documents as proof, in which he proved that, as caused by Bormann, members of the Christian religion were excluded from the Party, or affiliated members, and I beg the High Tribunal to tell the member of the Prosecution how and why his activity, that is, the exclusion of Christian members from the Party, can be a war crime. I cannot gather this evidence from the trial brief. The Party is regarded as the conspiracy. Is it a crime to exclude certain people from membership in a criminal organization Is that considered a crime or why was this exclusion of certain members from the Party considered a crime?
THE PRESIDENT: Counsel will answer you.
LT. LAMBERT: If the Tribunal will willingly accomodate argument at this stage, we find that the question --
THE PRESIDENT (Interposing): Only short argument.
LT. LAMBERT: Yes, sir. --- admits of a short, and, as it seems to us, easy answer. is that Bormann had a hatred and an enmity and took oppositional measures towards the Christian Church. The Party was the repository of political power in Germany. To have power one had to be in the Party or subject to its favor. By his efforts, concerted, continuing and consistent, to exclude clergynen, theological students or any persons sympathetic to the Christian religion, Bormann could not have chosen a clearer method of showing and demonstrating his hatred and his distrust of the Christian religion and those who supported it.
THE PRESIDENT: Counsel for Bormann can present his argument upon this subject at a later stage. The documents appear to the Tribunal to be relevant.
LT. LAMBERT: With the Tribunal's permission, I had just put in Document 107-PS and pointed out that it transmitted directions relating to the nonparticipation of the Reich Labor Service in religious celebrations. I quote merely the fourth and fifth paragraphs of page 1 of the English translation of Document 107-PS, which reads as follows:
"Every religious practice is forbidden in the Reich Labor Service because it distrubs the comrade-like harmony of all working men and women.
"On this behalf, every participation of the Reich Labor Service in churchly that is religious, arrangements and celebrations is not possible". put in as USA Exhibit No. 349. The Tribunal will recall that this was a Letter from Bormann's office to Defendant Rosenberg, dated 25 April 1941, in which Bormann declared that he had achieved progressive success in reducing and abolishing religious services in schools, and in replacing Christian prayers with National Socialist mottoes and rituals. In this letter, Bormann also proposed a Nazified morning service in the schools in place of the existing confession and morning service. Bormann authorized, directed, and participated in measures leading to the closin reduction, and suppression of theological schools, faculties and institutions.