A. No, I did not know anything about that. I said only that what was contained in the deposits made by the SS I did not know and that the SS did have deposits in the Reichsbank I did know, but what was contained in them I did not know. I never saw them and no one ever told me about the nature and the origin and the size of these things.
Q. Well, you recall when you testified here before the Tribunal, an 7 May, that I asked you if you knew anything about the gold deposits from she concentration camps, and this testimony is on page 9104 of the record. out said, at that time, that Mr. Puhl told you that the SS had delivered a old deposit and "he also told me, and he said this in a some what ironical manner, 'it would be best if we don't try to ascertain what this deposit is'.' This was your own testimony, in this courtroom, in the same chair, as before the same Tribunal, just a month or two ago. Now, you had same knowledge that there was something sinister about these deposits when Director Puhl told you that it would be best if you didn't try to ascertain what this deposit was. What do you say to that this morning? What is the fact of the matter?
A. This testimony was already corrected by me insofar as discussions about these are concerned. For instance, these conversations between Himmler and myself in which Himmler told me that the SS had confiscated considerable assets and valuables, and, among other things, assets such as gold foreign coins, foreign bank notes, valuable papers, and many other things. Whereupon I asked him -- and I testify to this as well -- to see to it that someone be charged with this matter who could discuss this matter with Vice-President Pohl. Himmler sent Pohl to Puhl after I had told Puhl abort my conversation with Himmler. When those deposits arrived, when the first deposits were made, Puhl told me that the SS had made deposits and on that occasion he perhaps made a sarcastic remark, "who knows what is contained in these depostis?", and that is in accord with what have testified to here.
Q. You also told us, on that same day, and in the next answer to the very next question, you made this statement to the Tribunal, "And I personally assumed, since they are always speaking about a gold deposit, that this gold consisted of gold coins or other foreign currency or possibly small bars of gold or something similar which had been brought in from the inmates of the concentration camps."
You had some knowledge of the source and the origin of those deposits. You knew where they were coming from, and that is all we want to establish here, and you had a pretty good idea, to put it mildly.
A. That didn't have to come from the concentration camps alone.
Q. There is no sense in arguing about it at all. All I am trying to clarify is the fact that you told the Tribunal yourself that you assumed it came from the inmates of the concentration camps. Now, this is your own testimony.
Not just the gold. The foreign exchange, the bank notes, and everything which was earmarked for the legal affairs of the Reichsbank, that these things could come from the concentration camps as well, that was clear to me, for the inmates of the concentration camps had to be relieved of these things, just as every other person, and only of these other things I did not know about -- those things which were stored in the Reichsbank I did not know about the agreements between Himmler and .....
Q. Let's see whether you know about it or not. Mr. Elwyn Jones, in the presentation of document 4042-PS here in court, told us about the action "Reinhardt". You heard that document discussed here, didn't you?
A. Yes.
Q. That document is before the Tribunal, and in that document it is shown that over 100,047,000 reichsmarks were deposited either in the Reichsbank or in the Ministry of Economics. That is just from this action alone. Are you telling the Tribunal that this amount of over 100,000,000 Reichsmarks was deposited in your bank or credits to that amount were placed in the deposit of your bank and you did not know about it? You would have to know about that, wouldn't you ?
A. Will you please repeat it? The sum, I don't think it came through.
Q. We don't need to got it down to exact figures, it was over 100,000,000.
A. 1,000,000?
Q. No, 100,000,000.
A. 100,000,000 marks, that is completely out of the question. It is absurd.
Q. But the document here shows it.
A. That's quite absurd. Where were these 100,000,000 marks to come from? That's absurd.
Q. I am glad you are enjoying this, but let's get on with this matter. This document of the SS men further says that over $500,000, that is American dollars, was also deposited. Wouldn't you have to know about that money being deposited in your bank? That's quite a lot of money too, in dollars, and in Germany in 1943 I assume.
A. Yes, of course, certainly. But I don't recall that anything like that was ever reported to me. About 100,000,000 -- that would have been a sum which would be diseased with me I admit, but it was not discussed with me.
Q. You know, this document goes on and there is listed coins from every country in the world in various amounts. You know that, don't you ? You know that that money was being turned over to the Reichsbank, five hundred thousand dollars, francs of all kinds. Now, you certainly had to know that it was coming into your bank in 1934, and in such an amount. You must know from whence it came. What do you say about that ?
A. That the SS, on the strength of the action which I have mentioned deposited foreign exchange and bank notes and gold coins and whatever else there might have been, these things were charged to the Reichsbank and that I knew. The size of the shipments coming in, that was not reported to me. At any rate, I do not remember it and from where they came I do not know at all. And I am quite surprised that the sum is so high.
Q. Yes, so are we. The important thing is that as the head of that banks Mr. Witness, don't you agree that it is impossible that you did not know about these sums of money ? You were just something more of an or name surely ? So far I do not think that you have given any kind of a satisfactory answer. Is your answer that you do not remember or that you absolute don't know ? Or is it both ?
A. The amount mentioned first of 100,000, 000 marks that I consider absolutely absured. Secondly, the other sum, the second amount of $500,0 that I consider possible. It is quite within the sphere of possibility that amounts like that were taken away from people in the nature of these actions -- that is, people who were taken into concentration camps.
Q. Well, it isn't possible that they were taken away when they were being taken to the concentration camps.
A. No, I did not know about that. I know that in normal ways, they were taken away, but the amount as such .....
Q. I am not going to go through these documents, but you have probably read about the thousands of glasses and fountain pens that were taken ? You knew about them, and about the Ministry of Economics taking them, didn't you ?
A. No, I didn't
Q. You have not heard about the 1,000,000 wagons of textiles that these SS men said had been shipped and were the clothing of the dead Jews and other inmates who had been exterminated ? Didn't you have to know something about this as minister of economics ?
A. No, I did not know about these things and I may explain here before this Court that they applied to the Reichs Commissioner for the use of old material and that came from the various concentration camps to the factories for scrap material. Not a single person told me anything about it.
Q. Well .....
A. I would like to say one more word in connection with the Reichsbank matter. Here I am confronted with the fact that these millions of valuables German pearls and so forth, were deposited in the Reichsbank. Perhaps these things were not deposited with the Reichsbank, because the Reichsbank was only a clearing housem and for that reason no one told me any of the details. But, I assume the responsibility. I carry the responsibility for everything that happened in the Reichsbank, together with the directors. If, however, officials were suspicious about thess things which were happening, these things on the basis of criminal acts which had taken place, then it was their. duty to tell me quite frankly and cell me quite clearly. And I remember, that in a conversation with Mr. Wilhelm, he said, when we discussed this matter, that a serious responsibility, or incriminations, that it would be a heavy incrimination for the official. At that time when I knew nothing about these matters, how should I ever arrive at the conclusion that they were......
Q. I do not know how long you are going on with this, but far as I am concerned, I have everything that I need. Really, Mr. President, I do not think this is being very helpful to the Tribunal. I just want to ask one or two more questions before luncheon. Did you ever have any trouble with Oswald Pohl, the Finance Minister, over the fact that the clothing came from dead Jews? Or did you have any trouble with him in your life, any private difficulty ?
A. As far as I remember, I only talked with Pohl once and perhaps he visit me twice.
Q. The answer is no, is that right ?
A. No.
Q. Now, you have seen this affidavit which goes into detail of when he saw you, where you were, who were present, how many people were present, even to the number of people in the dining room. Do you know of any reason why he should fabricate testimony like that ? Could you know why he should lie about you in this terrible way ? Could you give us any suggestion, any motive any cause for him to lie ?
A. In my opinion, there is a purely psychological reason with people who find themselves in such a terrible situation as Pohl, who is himself accused of the murder of millions, it is quite likely that they should lie.
Q. You mean in the same position that you find yourself ?
A. No, I don't consider myself a million-fold murderer.
Q. No, I don't care about that. I merely want to give you an opportunity to state to the Tribunal what your idea was as to why Pohl would lie like this about you. Although there must have been millions of valuables taken from the people who were killed in the concentration camps, and looted , do you, as economic minister, and with the assistance of your Reichsbank, on you want us to believe that you knew reading about this ? And you can answer it briefly, yes or no.
A. I never asserted the fact that I knew nothing about it. I said that I knew that the SS confiscated certain valuables, and that they were deposited with the Reichsbank such as foreign exchange, gold coins and other foreign assets, bank notes, and that they were used by the Reichsbank.
Q. Wait a minutes please. I don't think you misunderstood my question. I was asking you about the textiles only. You did not know about the textile transaction at all ?
A. No, I did not know about these textiles, that they were coming from concentration camps to be used by the Ministry of Economy.
Q. Now thousands of other articles of a personal nature, from wrist watch to all kinds of jewelry, was flowing through your economic ministry with the assistance of the Reichsbank and you want the Tribunal to understand that you had no knowledge of all of those transactions ?
A. I did not know anything about those things, nothing at all.
Q. And gold teeth, or gold dentures, were in the vaults of your bank, but you didn't know anything about that strange deposit; you knew nothing about that either ? So you didn't know anything about all these great suns of foriegn currency actually going through your Reichsbank and deposited there, did you ?
A. I know nothing about the mammoth amounts which are being mentioned here I know only that foreign currency was being deposited.
Q. Are you sure you were in the Reichsbank in those days ?
A. Yes, of course.
MR. DODD: That is all I have.
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now.
(A recess was taken until 1400 hours.)
(The hearing reconvened at 1400 hours, 16 August 1946.)
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Sauter, have you any questions you want to put ?
DR. SAUTER: No. BY MR. BIDDLE:
Q. Defendant, I am not quite clear about your conversation with Himmler. Was this first time that a deposit this sort had been opened by the SS ?
A. Yes.
Q. You have never discussed this with any SS personalities before ?
A. No, with no one.
Q. And of course it wasn't Himmler's business to see that gold and notes were brought into the bank under the German law, was it ?
A. Himmler told, me that considerable valuables had been confiscated by the SS and they they included valuable which interested the Reichsbank.
Q. I didn't ask you that. Will you listen now ? Was it any of Himmler's business or duties to see that gold and notes were turned into the bank ? That didn't come under his jurisdiction, did it ?
A. Yes, if these things, for example, had been taken from, the inmates of concentration camps.
Q. That is exactly what I meant. So that you knew or suspected, since Himmler was dealing with you, that the gold and the notes had come from concentration camps which were under Himmler. Wasn't that the reason that you supposed that this material had come from camps ? It was obvious, wasn't it ?
A. Not only from concentration camps. Himmler was also in charge of the customs police and the SS was police in the occupied territories. It did not absolutely have to come from concentration camps alone.
Q. No, but you suspected it did came from the concentration camps when Himmler talked to you, didn't you ?
Q Did you ask him where it came from?
Q He said these gold and notes were part of other property; there was other property, too?
A No, he said they ware confiscated valuables. The interview was very brief and took place in Lammer's field headquarters, as I recall, when I met him there. It was a vary short conversation. He told me, We have confiscated a large amount of valuables, especially in the East, and we would like to deposit them in the Reichbank. May I add something? Then when these things came to the bank, Puhl and, as I recall Wilhelm were present at one talk. They said that I should ask Himmler whether these things which had been sent in by the SS in their deposit--we were not allowed to touch a deposit -- whether they could be used by the Reichsbank. I did ask him and he said yes.
Q Well, now, let's see. The "East" meant the Government General, didn't it?
Q But he didn't mean Germany; he meant occupied territories, didn't he?
A He spoke of "the East".
Q You had no idea what he meant when he said "the East", I suppose.
A I thought the occupied territories in the East. That is what I understood. The occupied eastern territories.
Q This was not one of your regular deposits; I think it would be appropriate to any that, was it? It was not one of your regular deposits, was it? It was unused
Q You didn't ask him any questions about it at all?
A No. I didn't speak at all with in any more, except what I have, told of he I had tried so hard yesterday to reconstruct everything. I can't remember.
Q You weren't curious about this deposit at all? You weren't curious about It didn't interest you?
A No. Once or twice I talked to pull, and once to Wilhelm quite briefly.
MR BIDDLE: Thank you; that is all.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant may return to the dock.
DR. STAHMER: MR. President, I asked for information, and the questions which I am to deal with were dealt with preciously.
I have learned that on the session of the 8th of March, 1946, the witness Milch was asked by me about two letters which Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff sent to him, a letter which wolff sent to him, and the answer. They are of May, 1942. This is on the transcript, in the English transcript on Page 5578. Jackson on page 5263 of the English transcript. Then General Rudenko, in cross examination with the same witness Milch, discussed another letter of Himmler to Milch of November, 1942. This is on the English transcript on Page 5674. time which was available. I do not recall having asked Goering about it, myself . This is quite a limited point. I considered it cleared up sufficiently by the testimony of Milch. Milch was examined before Goering. In my opinion, this deals with other events. The means against spotted typhus was not discussed at all. This is another subject than the one discussed Milch.
THE PRESIDENT: DO you mean that the defendant Goering didn't discuss the subject of experiments on inmates of concentration camps at all? What you refer to is General Milch.
DR. STAHMER: Yes. As far as I recall the matter now. I was not able to investigate it as to Goering. As far as I recall, I asked only Milch about the subject. Then in the examination of Goering which took place later, I did not come back to because I assumed that this question has been cleared up through Milch. But I should like to examine the transcript carefully. This noon I was not able to do so.
In this connection I should like to point out one thing. Mr. President. In my written application I made an application in case the witness Professor Schreiber, whose statement was referred to by the Russian Prosecution a few days ago--in case he is called as a witness. If the witness Schreiber is to be produced, I ask to be emitted to examine Goering after the examination of the witness Schreiber so that it will not be necessary to recall him to the witness stand a third time.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will consider that, too. General Rudenko, can you inform the Tribunal whether Dr. Schreiber is going to be brought here, whether you are going to make use of the affidavit and have him brought here, or not?
GENERAL RUDENKO: We have taken all necessary measures in order to bring the witness Schreiber here to this courtroom, but we as yet have no data as to whether the witness will be brought before the case of the organizations is closed.
He is in a prisoner of war camp near Moscow. I presume that in the course of today to tomorrow we will be in a position to inform the Tribunal more exactly.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, Sir David, have you been able to find out whether the defendant Goering did give any evidence upon this topic?
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: My staff are on that matter at the moment. They haven't quite completed checking the transcript. I hope to be able to inform your Lordship very shortly.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. The Tribunal will deal with the question of documents on behalf of the organizations, and I think that Dr. Servatius is going to deal with it first.
DR. SERVATIUS: Dr. Servatius for the Corps of Political Leaders. Mr. President, first I shall present the contents of the document book, then I shall comment on the affidavits, I have already introduced the documents themselves following the taking of evidence; and the exhibit numbers were agreed on with the general secretary.
On page 1 is document 10. It deals with statistics of the Party. It is an excerpt from an issue of "Der Hoheitstraeger". The significance is to indicate how many people were affected by the proceeding. If you will look at page 1 of the year 1935, the number of officers for Block, Zelle, Ortsgruppe and Gau is given as approximately 600,000. If you will look at page 2, in the lower half of page 2, is the leadership of the organization for the year '35, in order to give the figures. They are in the women's organizations about 50,000; in the Student Associations, 1,600; DAF and so forth 800,000; and the Office of Public Welfare and NSV 300,000. I am only giving round figures And the Reichs Food Estate about 100,000. Office of War Victims, 84,000. The offices altogether, 1,475,000. If the 600,000 of before are added, it reaches a figure of over 2,000,000/
THE PRESIDENT: Are these figures, figures of persons who were political leaders within the definition ?
DR. SERVATIUS: Yes, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, either the Gauleiters or the Kreisleiter -
DR. SERVATIUS: May I explain it briefly ? One must make the distinction between the real political leaders who directed the political machinery from the Gau to the Blockleiter, and aside from them, the large number of people who were employed in the Labor Front, NSV, and such other organization who were also called political leaders. This is clear when the witness Hupfauer was examined here. He said that in his organization which had 20,000,000 members. This organization was directed by political leaders. are all included in the "Corps of Political Leaders." The prosecution apparently -- the indictment apparently only meant these who actually directed the political offices from the Gau to the Block; but they are all included In the word.
That is why I have given these figures.
THE PRESIDENT: What have we get to do with any of those ? From the Gau to Block Leiters, the rest of them are rank and file as far as the Tribunal is concerned.
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, they are included in the Corps of Political Leaders. The indictment included them, it did not make an exception of them. It is of significance because from these organizations, in the technical -
THE PRESIDENT: It doesn't say specifically from the Gauleiter to the Blockleiter, is timply says "political leaders".
DR. SERVATIUS: It is later defined, but at first in the introduction the whole Corps of Political Leaders is mentioned. If the Prosecutor would clarify that, the number would be considerably reduced. I only wanted to point out this statistical material.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, where was it that the indictment was confined to the Gauleiters and the Blockleiters.
DR. SERVATIUS: In the Trial Brief. The offices are listed in detail, but it is never said that the others are omitted.
THE PRESIDENT: As I understand what you say, that the indictment charge the political leaders in that corps. There are persons who were political leaders, but who are not included in the Gauleiter down to the Blockleiters. At a later stage in the Trial Briefs, the Prosecution limits their implications for criminal declaration to one Gauleiters down to the Blockleiters as was the original scope of the indictment.
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, I understood that you mean that the staff of the Ortsgruppenleiter and the Block and Zelle assistants were not omitted ? Then the mass still remains.
THE PRESIDENT: The Block and Zelleleiters were not omitted, you see.
DR. SERVATIUS: No, the assistants of the Block and Zelleleiters, their staffs, and the staff of the Ortsgruppenleiters.
THE PRESIDENT: That is what I said, that the original indictment included the whole Corps of Political Leaders, and those were limited to include only those from the Gauleiter down to the Blockleiters,
THE PRESIDENT: Those numbers would have to be deducted from the numbers that are here?
COL. FRIFFITH JONES: Those numbers would have to be deducted. The Prosecution has not included the number that Dr. Servatius has given the Tribunal now. From that you have to deduct the complete staff of all the Ortsgruppenleiters, which forms a very large part of the total given you. Speaking from memory, the total, if you exclude that, was in the region of 600,000.
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps you could give us the figures in writing, or perhaps you can state them now, because if there are 2,000,000 here, how many staff officers of the Ortsgruppenleiters are there, according to you?
COL. GRIFFITH JONES: My Lord, I will be able to tell the Tribunal within a quarter of an hour, if I might just send for the figures. I am afraid that I can not carry them in memory. I will get them, and I will let the Tribunal know.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
DR. SERVATIUS: May I comment on that question? It is true that the staffs of the Ortsgruppenleiters were omitted. According to my calculations, they amount to about 1,000,000, but the number is increased by the fact that one and a half times, on an average, in the course of these years a turnover took place, so that one gets one and a half times the figures, and it is still a number amounting to millions. These Ortsgruppenleiters and these offices are not given according to the number of persons but as offices, so that the deputies and successors are not included. Only a state official can discuss this question in detail, but I do not believe that it is important to figure it out in detail but to get a general impression that there are actually millions involved.
Then I go on to page four. This is also an excerpt from "Der Hoheitstraeger". Unfortunately, it can not be seen from the document that this is another issue, from the year 1937, Second Series. Here one can see the percentages of Blockleiters, Reichsleiters, and Gauleiters. The majority -- over 50 per cent are Block Leiters and Zellenleiters. These are included in the Indictment.
Their assistants were not included. The care of the political leaders are the Kreis and Gauleiters, who amount to 1.3 per cent.
The figures under (5) and (6) are also significant. The departmental offices were 27.8 and the internal Party offices, administration, 16.3 percent political leaders of the professional league -- the DAF, the NSD -- but they are by no means all political leaders of these formations who were at the same time on the staffs of the Gau, Kreis and Ortsgruppen. Only a very few of the is each Gau, perhaps one or two, in the Kreis a few; perhaps with the Ortgruppen, so that it remains a fairly small number. The majority of these exports are in their own formations, of course.
Then I go on to page 5. That is document number 12. It is significant in regard to the term "Corps of Political Lenders". Whether such a corps existed or can now be formed is doubtful. Here it says that a political organization is forbidden and expressly prohibited. It is an order of Hess, issued in the year 1935, with the legal explanation that there can not be such a special organization.
Then I come to document number 13. This is significant for the following reason: One does not become a political leader by being given a position, but by special appointment. That is stated here. Since this appointment as Hoheitstraeger must be made by a special act, whoever is not appointed is not a Hoheitstraeger and does not belong to the Corps of Political Leaders. war -- all those who hold lower offices in an honorary capacity. service and that it is not a private appointment to an office. DAF are also political leaders of the Party. Thus, according to the concept of the Indictment, they belong to the Corps of Political Leaders, if they are not excluded.
traeger to Kreisleiter, and shows that the Ortsgruppenleiter and below are treated differently in regard to appointment. Hitler himself appointed the Gauleiters, the adjutants, the Gauamtsleiters, and Kreisleiters. That is significant in the judgment of these persons. concept of "political leader". It mentions the awarding of this title to mot vehicle drivers, telephone operators, caretakers of buildings, orderlies. It is said that they should be made political leaders in the organization, but not in the political department between Gau and Ortsgruppenleiters. are suspended until further notice. It is from the year 1944. The consequence would be that those who received an office after August 1944 Were not made Political Leaders. In part, this was so before this time.
The word "Hoheitsgraeger" is of great importance. The Prosecution has placed great weight on it, and the small functionaries -- the Zellenleiters and the Blockleiters -- were not emitted from the trial because they are Hoheitstraeger. Hoheitstraeger are only Gauleiters, Kreisleiters and Orts gruppenleiters. It is not expressly said, but it can be concluded from the text. closes the circle of Hoheitstraeger with the Ortsgruppenleiters, omitting the small functionaries in the employment of this term.
The next document is number 21 on page 15. It also limits the term to Gauleiters, Kreisleiters, and Ortsgruppenleiters. are clearly determined. It is the book "The Administration of the National Socialist German Labor Party", 1940, published by a Dr. Lingg. It says:
"For the execution of its task the Party is divided into four areas of authority: Reich, Gau, Kreis, and Ortsgruppe. At the top of each of these areas of authority is placed the Party dignitary:
the Fuehrer, the Gauleiter, the Kreisleiter, the Ortsgruppenleiter." the same effect which defines the tern "Hoheitstraeger."
Document 4, page 18, is also to the same effect. It is an order of raids. The competent Hoheitstraeger, Gauleiters, Kreisleiters and Ortsgruppenleiters are permitted to enter. Where something happens in the area of the Blockleiter of Zellenleiter, he is not admitted, because he is not a Hoheitstraeger.
Document No. 25, on Page 21 is an excerpt from "Der Hoheitstraeger." It deals with confidential information and tells how far this information may he passed.
Defendant's Document 9 on Page 23, is a decree of the Reich Finance Minister concerning the granting of marriage loans. The document is of importance because it states "In the cases of applications for the granting of marriage loans, the collecting of information about political reliability is necessary only in cases where justifiable doubts exist concerning the political reliability of the applicant. The Blockleiter and Zellenleiter must prove his political reliability. He cannot be a Hoheitstraeger in the true sense of the word.
Now I come to another subject, Document 26, Page 26. The question is to what extent SA and SS are subordinate to political leaders. It says there is no such relation either for the SA, SS, Hitler Youth or NSKK.
Document 27 is to the same effect. It confirms that the leaders of the SA Gruppen or Brigaden were not under the orders of the Gauleiter. how propaganda should be spread.
The next document is No. 29. This refers to the connection between the party and the state, interference of the party in state rights. It is an instruction which says "Keep away from measures which to enforce is the state's responsibility. In calling upon state organs, it is to be carefully considered whether an interference is justified."
Document 30 is on page 31. It is a decree of Hess as to the attitude of a National-Socialist, he should endeavor to bring about confidence and willingness to co-operate. position or membership in a party office for personal ends. punishable acts committed by party members which resides with the State's Attorney and/or the Reich Minister of Justice.
The next document is No.33 It is an order of Hess from the year 1935. It refers to political evaluation from the Kreisleiter up. I should like to call special attention to this because I consider it a significant indication of the higher party leader.
It is a characteristic which must lead to another judgment.
Document 34 was issued by Hess in October, 1936. "Never, even when taking care of the least important Volksgenossen and their families, should Zellenleiters and Blockleiters become obnoxious, and their duty should never degenerate into prying and spying on them, which would arouse not confidence, but distrust."
The next document, No.35, is an order of 1937. It says that investigations and inquiries are in no way the task of the Party. These are up to the state agencies which were created to discover and eliminate these dangers. to instigate investigations and proceedings in matters which are the concern of the Gestapo. The German Civil Service law is quoted here. "Paragraph 3. (2) A civil servant has to act in the interest of the National Socialist State at any time and unreservedly. All circumstances which may endanger the interests of the Reich or of the NSDAP, even if not discovered in the course of official duties, should be brought to the attention of his superior in office."
Document 38 is on page 39. It is a separation between the two departments. The following documents deal with the conspiracy against peace. Document 39 is on page 41. It is an excerpt from the commentary on the party program by Gottfried Feder. It is an influential commentary from the year 1934. It says "We declare, that however, we do not contemplate to force by violence the reunion with Germans, living outside of Germany under Danish, Polish, Czech, Italian or French authority." I will skip a sentence. "That demand lacks the presence of any imperialistic tendency. It is the plain and natural demand made and recognized by every virile nation as a matter of course."
Document 40 is on page 42. It is an excerpt from "Journal of Instructions of the Reichsleadership of the NSDAP, 1933-1935. "In some sectors of foreign countries, the anti-German propaganda has recently used a new, untrue assertion, that the NSDAP is contemplating to annex in the longrun, parts of Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Denmark etc.
"Though that supposition is utterly ludicrous, nevertheless it is relieved here and there. The Reichsleadership, therefore, desires together that no serious person in Germany thinks of even touching the independence of other states."
"Document 41 is on page 43. Again, this is an order of Hess. It is one year later, October, 1934. It says "Above all, expressions must be avoided, by which either nations and states might feel insulted or despise through the German nation and its Fuehrer's desire to live in peace and mutual respect with them." to the Party, That is Document 42. It refers to the biggest speeches of Hitler who wishes for a peaceful settlement of all unsettled questions. Foreign statements are considered malicious inventions.
The next document, 43, is again by Hess in January, 1937. It refers to the armament. The purpose was to protect Germany against arbitrary measures from abroad. works against conspiracy. The well-known secrecy order which was issued for the Wehrmacht and for the Party was that no office and no officer must have more knowledge of a matter which is to be kept secret than is absolutely necessary for the execution of their task. and every worker..
Document 46 deals with the question of the press. It regards secrecy to the extent that it says articles must be discussed with the Reich Press Agency.
Document 49 is on Page 49. Here it is ordered that discussion on the military situation are prohibited and a case is quoted where a Blockleiter spread his information.
Document 48 is on page 50. This document deals with the law concerning the interrogation of members of the NSDAP and its formations. Secrecy again is emphasized.
Document 49 is on page 53. This confidential information of the party. It includes preparatory measures for the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe, rumors concerning conditions of the Jews in the East.