I will admit it also. The next has reference to the Ministerial Council, being given legislative power. I don't believe that that has been introduced before. That Council was given legislative powers. That is in Article 2 of the decree of 30 August 1939, our document 2018-PS; the ordinary cabinet continued to legislate throughout the war. This next document, if the Court please, it may be not necessary to read. It generally shows the above agencies continued to legislate side by side, and it really would be accumulative evidence. There were others that possessed legislative powers. Hitler, of course, had legislative power. Goering, as Deputy of the Four-year Plan, could and did issue decrees that had the effect of law. And the Cabinet delegated power to issue laws, which could deviate from existing law, to the Plenipotentiaries of Economy and Administration, and the Chief of the OKW, to the so-called 3-Man College, the 3-Man College having authority to legislate. This was done in the war planning law - the Secret Defense Law of 1938, USA Exhibit No. 36, our document 2194-PS. These three officials, Frick, Funk and Keitel, were also members of the Council of Ministers, as well as being part of the ordinary cabinet. It can, therefore, be readily said, in the language of the Indictment that the Reichsregierung possessed legislative powers of a very high order in the system of the German government, and that they exercised such powers as in part already has been demonstrate. I simply refer to that to show it was simply concentrated cabinet law, without quoting. That the executive and administrative powers of the Reich were concentrated in the Central Government primarily as the result of two basic Nazi laws that reduced the separate states (called Lander) to mere geographical divisions. Your Honor, please, these laws are cited, and I believe it would be accummulative evidence if I undertook to chronicallize the laws. I now pass to the part at the bottom of page 29. There were other steps taken towards the centralization, but those two laws were the fundamental ones for the purpose. Let us see therefore what powers the ordinary cabinet could wield as a result. We have here a periodical published in 1944 which was edited by Dr. Wilhelm Stuckert, State Secretary in the Reich ministry of the Interior, and Dr. Harry V. Rosen-v Hoewel, another official with the title of "Oberregierungstate", in the Reich ministry of the Interior.
It is entitled "Administration Law," and I offer it in evidence as exhibit 2959-PS. It details the powers and functions of all the ministires of the ordinary cabinet from which I will select but a few to illustrate the extent of control vested in the Reichsregierung. The quotation is from page 2 of the translation, and page 66 of the original. "The Reich Ministers. There are at present twenty-seven Reich Ministers, namely:" each Minister had jurisdiction over, and to what his authority extended, for example, the Reich minister for Foreign Affairs, it details what he handles. The Reich Minister of the Interior follows in detail on the matters extrusted to his jurisdiction, and so on.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, may I ask you what has that to do with criminality in the Reich Cabinet?
COLONEL STOREY: The point is as I see it, though it can be deemed accummulative,Your Honor, is to show how these defendants, end the others were for forming a cabinet, forming the ministries, to form committees, councils, so that they could give the semblance of legality to any act they determined to take advantage of, whether they were in session or not, and according to the dictates of the respective Ministers, in other words, showing a complete domination.
THE PRESIDENT: I suppose that was in there too.
COLONEL STOREY: All right, I'll pass to further references. I'll skip over the rest of the law, and go to page 35 of the record in reference to criminality, and particular crimes. I now come to the second phase of the proof against the Reichsregierung, that tending to establish its criminal characteristics. As the proof on all phases of the prosecutions' case is received, the Tribunal will note more and more the relationship such evidence bears to the Reichsregierung, and their resultant responsibility therefor. Here, we will direct the court's attention to some predominant elements of the evidence that brands this group. First, it cannot be stressed too frequently, that under the Nazi regime the Reichsregierung became the criminal instrument of the Nazi Party. In the original Cabinet of 30 January 1933, there were only three cabinet members, who were members of the Party: Goering, Frick, and of course, Hitler. I have already shown that as new Ministries were added to the Cabinet, prominent Nazis were placed at their head. On January 30, 1937, Hitler executed acceptance into the Party of those Cabinet members who were not already members of the Nazi Party. This action is reported in the Volkischer Beobachter, South German Edition, 1 February 1937, and this document No. 2964-PS I quote from, paragraphs 3 and 4, No. 2964-PS of the English translation:
"In viewof the anticipated lifting of the ban for party h.c. Raeder; the Prussian Minister of Finance, Professor Popitz; and the Secretary of State and Chief of the Presidential Chancellery, Dr. Meissner.
The Fuehrer also Secretary Dr. Lammers, State Secretary Funk, State Secretary of the Airforce Milch."
Unquote. ferred. Only one man did this, von Eltz-Rubenach, who was the Minister of Pots, and Minister of Transport at the time. I have here an original letter, dated 30 January 1937, from von Eltz Rubenach to Hitler, and it is his own personal handwriting. I offer it in evidence as document 1334-PS. I desire to offer it as USA 412, and I quote the entire document No. 1534-PS:
"Berlin, W.8. 30 January 1937, "My Fuehrer:
must remain faithful to my Lord, and to myself. Party This decision has been infinitely difficult for me.
For never With German Greetings:
(signed)
Baron von Eltz. " But the Nazis didn't wait until all members
THE PRESIDENT: Was anyone else permitted to resign?
COLONEL STOREY: Yes, but the Nazis didn't wait until all members, as I understand, Your Honor, of the cabinet were party members. Every one of them, each member did, except this one, and he declined and resigned, which was accepted. And the Nazis didn't wait until all members of the cabinet were party members. Shortly after it came to power it quickly assured itself of active participation in the work of the cabinet. On 1 December 1933, the cabinet passed a law securing the unity of party and state. That has been introduced previously and I will not refer to it any more. This refers to our document No. 1395.
THE PRESIDENT: Why is Eltz but no one else shown in the year 1938 as a member of the cabinet, in 1938?
COLONEL STOREY: Your Honor, please, the 1938 simply referred to the time the Secret Cabinet and Council were created. It does not have to do with when any of these people came to the cabinet.
THE PRESIDENT: I see.
COLONEL STOREY: in other words, all those arrows show what these different a encies were.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I follow it.
COLONEL STOREY: As created during those years.
I say for your Honors' information, that in this list of all the cabinet members and the members of the Reicheregierung, from 1933, his name is shown in the list that we handed to your Honors.
THE PRESIDENT: Up to 1937?
COL. STOREY: No, sir; from 1933 clear to 1945 his name is listed. If your Honors will recall, we handed in a separate list and it does contain the Baron's name and with the authorities of his appointment, and so forth.
THE PRESIDENT: You mean, that is a mistake?
COL. STOREY: No, sir; it is not a mistake.
THE PRESIDENT: He didn't resign?
COL. STOREY: He did resign, but your Honors asked if his name was shown up here and I said that in the separate list showing this list of all members of the Reicheregierung, from 1933 to 1945, the Baron's name was included and the proper reference is made in this separate list for your Honors' information. dated 27 July 1934. It is Document D-138, USA Exhibit 403, and it is in the section headed "Laws and Decrees," if your Honors please, and I offer it in evidence. This is a decree of Adolf Hitler:
"I decree that the Deputy of the Fuehrer, Reich Minister Hess, Reich Administrative spheres.
All legislative work is to Minister concerned.
This also applies in cases where no draft.
Reich Minister Hess will be given the opportunity send as representative an expert on his staff.
These experts (signed) Adolph Hitler" regarding his right of participation on behalf of the party.
I now offer in evidence Document D-139. This is an original letter dated 9 October 1943, on the stationery of the NSDAP, addressed to the Reich Minister for Enlightenment of the People and Propaganda, signed by Hess.
I now quote the entire document:
"By a decree of the Fuehrer dated 27 July 1934, I have been time.
I must point out that my participation means the Party before making my comment.
Only by proceeding in (signed) R. Hess".A handwritten note appears attached to the letter.
It reads and I quote from page 2 of the translation:
" Berlin, 17 October 1935.
1. The identical letter seems to have been addressed to all Reich Ministers.
In our special field the decree of 27 July 1934 has hardly become applicable so far.
A reply does not 2. File in file 7B (?)(signed) "R" " The participating powers of Hess were later broadened.
I now refer to Document D-140, U.S.A. Exhibit 405, and it is a letter dated 12 April 1938 from Doctor Lammers to the Reich Ministers. I offer it in evidence and quote from the English translation, paragraph 3:
"The Deputy of the Fuehrer will also have participation where the (Reich Law Gazette 181). Where the Reich Ministers have participating Reich Minister.
Laws and legislative decrees (signed) Dr. LAMMERS"
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, may I ask you what those three documents are supposed to prove?
COL. STOREY: In the first place, your Honor, the one I just referred to shows that they passed laws over conquered territory. That one related to Austria. The one signed by Hess, just before, gives him almost unlimited power as regards to both formal and legal ordinances and over administrative districts and in addition, I think, your Honor, the most important point is that Hess says "you must send them to me long enough in advance so that I may consult with the Party and the appropriate Party members and get their reaction."
THE PRESIDENT: Is that relied upon as evidence of criminality, that he took the trouble to find out information of this sort?
COL. STOREY: I think it is a part of the general conspiracy showing the domination of Party and State by the Nazi Party and particularly the leadership corps.
THE PRESIDENT: I thought I had already said that it appeared to us -and I think I speak on behalf of all the Tribunal -- that that matter had been amply proved and that we wished you to turn to criminality of the Reich Cabinet.
COL: STOREY: May I assume, your Honor, that we need offer no further proof that the Party itself had to do with the making of these laws as suggested by the Defendant Hess? I thought it was incumbent upon us to prove that the Party dominated this cabinet and particularly the leadership corps.
THE PRESIDENT: You are dealing now with the Reich Cabinet, and I think the Tribunal is satisfied that the Reich Cabinet had full powers to make laws.
COL: STOREY: I think that we go a little step further and undertake to show, if we have not already shown, that the way and manner in which they did it by consulting the Party was criminal. Now, I have some other laws to cite here in corroboration of that but if the Tribunal is satisfied, I don't see any use to cite them.
THE PRESIDENT: I don't think the Tribunal would imagine that they made laws without consulting somebody. Perhaps it would be a convenient time to break off for ten minutes.
(A recess was taken from 1515 to 1530 hours).
COL: STOREY: If your Honors please, when we adjourned we were speaking of these laws that had been passed, and certainly I do not want to offer any cumulative evidence or any that is not necessary. I therefore am briefly referring to the laws which we propose to offer now. which they had set out to achieve, as introduced in evidence yesterday. Those points, your Honors will recall, related to everything from the abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles and St. Germain to the obtaining of greater living space, and so forth. passed by this Cabinet carrying into effect what we contend were the criminal purposes of the Party, and that, therefore, the Reich Cabinet was asked by the Party to give semblance of legality to their alleged criminal purposes. That is the only reason we expect to chronicle or to mention the laws that were passed in pursuance thereof, And I shall proceed as your Honors suggest and simply list a group of the laws that seek to establish the so-called 25 points of the Nazi Party. Perhaps, with your Honors' permission, I will just refer to a few of them as being indicative of the type of laws that were passed to further their 25 points. enacted, among others, the following laws: citizens in foreign countries to register. That is cited in the Reichsgesetzblatt. with Germany -
THE PRESIDENT: Don't go too fast. What was that?
COL. STOREY: The law of March 13, 1938 for the reunion of Austria with Germany.
THE PRESIDENT: Were those laws passed by the Reich Cabinet?
COL. STOREY: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, aren't you going to cite the laws?
COL. STOREY: Yes, but I was going to show them as illustrative, and that is the 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 237. Sudetenland with Germany, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, pare 1641. page 559, of the 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you give me the place where the 25 points are set out?
Have you got a reference to that?
COLONEL STOREY: Yes, Sir; it appears in Document 1708-PS, in
THE PRESIDENT: Thank your.
COLONEL STOREY: And I believe we referred to it yesterday.
THE PRESIDENT: That is sufficient.
COLONEL STOREY: Yes, Sir.
Versailles and St. Germain -- the following acts of the Cabinet in support of this part of the program may be mentioned:
Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations and the Disarmament Con compulsory military service; 1935, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Pages 369 Now, with reference to Point 4 of the Party, which said:
"Only those who are members of the 'Volk' can be citizens. Only of the 'Volk'. No Jew, therefore, can be a member of the 'Volk'."That is Point 4. Among other Cabinet laws which implement this deprivation of citizenship of these people; 1933, Reichsgesetzblatt, schools and higher institutions of learning; 1933, Reichsgesetzblatt, from the peasantry; 1933, Reichsgestzblatt, Part I, Page 685.
Another one, March 19, 1937, excluding Jews from the Reich Labor Service;
pating in six different types of businesses; 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt, Point 23 of that platform proclaimed:
"We demand legislative action against conscious political lies and their broadcasting through the press."
passed. One of September 22, 1933, which established the Reich Culture Chamber; 1933, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 661.
THE PRESIDENT: The use of what?
COLONEL STOREY: Theater; shows. 1934, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, THE PRESIDENT:
What is the date of that?
COLONEL STOREY: May 15, 1934.
Indictment. Many of these laws have been referred to previously by the Prosecution.
All the laws I shall refer to and to which I have referred were enacted specifically in the name of the Cabinet.
A typical intro ductory paragraph reads, and I quote:
"The Reich Cabinet has enacted the following law which is hereby promulgated."
In other words, that shows it is a Cabinet law.
THE PRESIDENT: That applies to all the ones you have just given us?
COLONEL STOREY: Yes, sir. That is a typical heading of new parties.
I believe I referred to that yesterday. That is 1933, of Social Democrats and others; 1933, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page Part I, Page 1016.
In the course of consolidating the control of Germany these laws were enacted, and I give a few illustrations:
21 March 1933, creating special courts. That is in 1933, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 136.
Law of the 31st of March 1933 for
THE PRESIDENT: Integration of what?
COLONEL STOREY: 1933, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 153.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you repeat that, integration of what?
COLONEL STOREY: Integration of the States -- that servants or civil servants married to non-Aryans:
1933, The law of 24th April, 1934, creating the People's Court, 1934, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 341.
And that was the same Court Reich:
Reichsgesetzblatt, 1938, Part I, page 258.
acts of terror, which are set forth in Paragraph III (d) 3 (b) of submitted.
I will just refer to a few of these as they are of new Parties and contains a penal clause.
That is found in 1933, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 479.
Here is one of 20th December.
THE PRESIDENT: You have already given us that one.
COLONEL STOREY: I believe so, yes, Sir.
purge. That is in 1934, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 529.
Here is the final one I will mentions: 16th September, 1939, Special Court, the members of which were named by Hitler; 1939, Document Book G. I will not refer to them.
Then the laws abolishing collective bargaining.
I have referred to those. I will worked out by the Ministry of the Interior.
This is verified by the work of Dr. Franz A. Medicus, entitled "Ministerial-dirigent," published in 1940.
It is Document 2960-PS, USA Exhibit 406. I would 2960-PS, beginning the first paragraph:
"The work of the Reich Ministry of Interior forms the basis for the three 'Nurnberg Laws' passed by a "The 'Reich Citizenship Law' as well as the 'Law for the protection of German blood and German honor' not only in the field of administration.
The same applies to the 'Reich Flag Law' that gives the use of the flag."
acts and conduct of the conspirators, about whichthe Tribunal has already heard and will hear more, relate to those of August 5, 1940, which imposed a discriminatory tax on Polish workers in Germany; and that is in 1940, Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 1077. Jews and Poles in eastern occupied countries; 1941 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 759. referred to this morning.
Almost immediately upon Hitler's coming into power, the cabinet commenced to implement the Nazi conspiracy to wage aggressive war. Three of the documents that establish this point have already been introduced in evidence. They are EC-177, 2261-PS, and 2194-PS, respectively. Document EC-177, which is USA Exhibit 390, is a long copy of the minutes, and I beg the indulgence of the Tribunal for referring to it again, EC-177 -
THE PRESIDENT: Is it in this book?
COLONEL STOREY: Yes, sir, EC-177.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it after the D's or before the D's?
COLONEL STOREY: Before the D's.
Your Honors, I didn't intend to quote from that. I am simply referring to it as being the minutes of the second session of the working committee of the delegates for Reich Defense, and being signed by the Defendant Keitel. That transmits a copy of a secret, unpublished Defense Law of 21 May 1935, and also a copy of a decision of the Reich Cabinet of the same date in the Council for the defense of the Reich. These have been previously introduced, but they are illustrative laws passed by this Cabinet. Defense Law, 4 September 1938.
(I will skip down to the laws passed by the Reich Defense Council on Page 50, for the record.)
The Reich Defense Council was a creation of the cabinet. On 4 April 1932, it was decided to form that agency. The decision of the Cabinet, atta to Document 2261-PS, which is U.S. Exhibit 24, page 4 of the translation, paragraph 1, proves that fact.
The two secret laws contained in Document 2261, as well as 2194, were passed by the Cabinet; nor was this a case of one group setting up an entirely distinct group to do its dirty work. The cabinet put itself into the picture. This might have been a difficult task to accomplish before the Nazis assumed power - but with the Nazis in control, things could move swiftly, and I now refer again to Document EC-177, but I will not undertake to quote from that (although the quotation is set out here). It is page 5 of the translation and page 8 of that original of EC-177, on the question of security and secrecy, that I think would be pertinent to the criminal nature.
I quote: "Question has been brought up by the Reich Ministries.
maintained very carefully. Communications with the "Main Principle of Security:
No document must be lost, it.
Matters communicated orally cannot be proven;
they can be denied by us in Geneva. Therefore, the the Interior."
I will skip the next reference. I believe I will skip over to the Affidavit of Dr. Frick, on page 60. The Affidavit of Dr. Wilhelm Frick.
THE PRESIDENT: What is that?
COLONEL STOREY: It is Document, if your Honor please, 2186. Document 2186-PS. It is document U.S. Exhibit 409. The original Affidavit, signed by the Defendant Frick. I believe Dr. Frick sums up pretty well how the work was carried on.
"I, Wilhelm Frick, being first duly sworn, depose and say:
the 20 August 1943. Henirich Himmler was my deputy in this capacity. Before the outbreak of the war my task as plenipotentiay for Reich Administration was the preparation of organization in the event of war, such as, for instance, the appointment of liaison men in the different ministries who would keep in touch with me. As Plenipotentiary for Reich Administration, I, together with the Plenipotentiary for Economy and OKW formed what was called a "3-Man College". We also were members of the Reich Defense Council, which was supposed to plan preparations and decrees in case of war, which later on were published by the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich. Since, as soon as the war started, everything had to be done speedily and there would have been no time for planning, such measures and decrees were prepared in advance in case of war. All one then still had to do was to pull out of the drawer the war orders that had been prepared. Later on, after the outbreak of the war, these decrees were enacted by the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich."
Signed and sworn to by Dr. Wilhelm Frick, on the 19th of November, 1945. its own laws, created a large war-planning body - The Reich Defense Council the members of which were taken from the cabinet. Within the council they set up a small working committee, again composed of cabinet members and certain defense officials, a majority of whom were appointed from the cabinet members. To streamline the action, they placed all of its ministries except Air, Propaganda and Foreign Affairs, into the groups headed respectively by the Plenipotentiaries for Economy and Administration, and the OKW, and everything was organized in and for the greatest secrecy. summarize briefly the proof concerning the Reichsregierung. dominant body of influence and leadership below Hitler in the Nazi Government. The three sub-divisions were included in the term "Reichsregierung" in the indictment: the ordinary cabinet, the secret cabinet and the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich. Yet, in reality, there existed only an artificial, illusory boundry between the three.
which was commonly referred to as the Reichsregierung. Government. 17 of the 22 defendants before this Tribunal were integral parts of the ordinary Cabinet. they held in the Reichsregierung.
CONSTANTIN U. K. von NEURATH, Minister of Foreign Affairs, President secret cabinet council and the council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich, but also the members of the War Planning Group, the Nazi Secret Reich Defense Council. When it was deemed essential for the purposes of the conspiracy to wage aggressive war, that power was concentrated in a few indiv iduals.
Again, these individuals were drawn from the ordinary Cabinet. Thus, the Plenipotentiary for Economy and Administration were also Ministers of the ordinary Cabinet, and they were also members of the Reich Defense Council and Ministerial Council. Cabinet. select group be chosen to act as advisors, the Secret Cabinet was created and populated with members of the ordinary Cabinet. exercised over its legislation by the Deputy of the Fuehrer, Hess, and later, by the Leader of the Party Chancellery, Bormann. Party control was also effected through individual membership of all members and the union of various key cabinet and party positions in one man. As a result of this fusion of the Party and State, an enormous concentration of political power was gathered into the Cabinet.