The SA remained "a reliable and strong part of the National Socialist movement"--and I am quoting; this is Document 2407, the English translation of the Voelkischer Beobachter. It is the last paragraph in the English translation, just above the name "Adolf Hitler." I will say for the translators that the quotation is included in our text, if we might go on.
I quote: "It is my wish that the SA be built up as a reliable and strong part of the National Socialist movement, full of obedience and blind discipline. They must help to create and form the new German citizens." the people of Germany is shown in Hitler's pronouncement; "The Course for the German Person." This appears in the issue of "Der SA-Mann", of the 5th of September, 1936, at page 22. It is our document 3050-PS, and it is at page 29 of the English translation; page 29, of Document 3050-PS, the paragraph in the middle of the page, and I quote:
"The boy, he will enter the Young Volk, and the lad, he will enter the Hitler Youth, the young man will go into the SA, in the SS, and in other units, and the SA and SS men will one day enter into the labor service and from there to the Army, and the soldier of the Volk will return again into the organization of the movement, the Party, in the SA and SS, and never again will our Volk decay as it once was decayed."
ionship between the SA and the Nazi Party was such that the SA was constantly available to the conspirators as an instrument to further their aims. The SA was created by the conspirators at the inception of the Nazi movement. It was at all times subject to the direction of Adolf Hitler. Seven of the defendants held positions of leadership and responsibility in the organization, and at all times the SA was subject to the call of the Hoheitstraeger. The SA stood at the forefront of the election fights, and cooperation between the offices of the Party, of the SA, and of the State was assured by law. of the SA, in a pamphlet entitled "The Nature and Tasks of the SA" and it is our Document No. 2471-PS. We offer the original in evidence as USA Exhibit 413, and I quote from the top of page 1 of the English translation of 2471. I believe I will read that whole paragraph, the first paragraph at the top of the page:
"Before touching the real subject matter, I must tell you first in order to clear up any uncertainty about my own position, that I never speak primarily as a member of the SA but as a National Socialist, since the SA cannot be independent of the National Socialist movement but can only exist as a part of it." demonstrate the principal functions and activities performed by the SA pursuant to the relationship which I have described above and in furtherance of the objectives of the conspiracy. Those activities may be logically classified or divided into four distinct phases or aspects, each of which, I might add, corresponds with a particular phase in the progression of the conspiracy toward the objectives alleged in the Indictment.
the instrument for the dissemination of ideology and fanaticism of the Nazis throughout Germany. The employment of the SA for this purpose continued throughout the entire period of the conspiracy as will, I am sure, be apparent from the evidence. power. During this period the SA was a militant and aggressive group of fighters or gangsters, the Nazi seizure of power.
During this period the SA participated in which I have already aluded.
During this period they continued to serve necessary for the fulfulment of the Nazi objectives.
From the very start the Nazi leaders emphasized the importance of this mission.
During the 2760, which is an excerpt from "Mein Kampf", and it is shown at page 5 of the translation of the document.
This is the third paragraph on page 5 of the document, and I quote:
"As the directing idea for the inner training of the Sturmabteilung, Dec-A-GES-2.Socialist idea."
I might add that Hitler's pronouncement as to the function of In Document No. 2354-PS, which is an excerpt from the Organization in the text, and I quote paragraph 1:"Education and training, according to the doctrines and aims of the all phases of our living and of our National Socialist ideology".to the SA's function as the propagandist of the Party.
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps this would be a convenient time to break
COLONEL STOREY: All right, sir.
(Whereupon at 1700 hours the hearing of the Tribunal adjourned to reconvene on 19 December 1945 at 1000 hours.)
in the matter of: The United States of America, the French
DOCTOR SAUTER (Counsel for Defendant von Schirach): Yesterday a table was shown on the screen, in which the construction of the Reich Cabinet was exposed, which is under accusation as an organization. And on this chart, under the heading "Other Participants of the Meetings of the Cabinet", the Defendant von Schirach was also mentioned. The Defendant von Schirach has explained to me and asked me to inform the Court that he never took part in any meeting of the Reich Cabinet; that he had never been named a member of the Reich Cabinet; that he never took part in any decision formed by the Reich Cabinet.
THE PRESIDENT: The point the Defendant is taking seems to me to be premature. This isn't the proper stage for you to argue the question, whether your client is a member of the Reich Cabinet or not. The argument upon the whole question will take place after the evidence and after the Prosecution have had the opportunity of putting forward their arguments as to the criminal nature of the Reich Cabinet. You or other counsel on behalf of those concerned will be able to put forward your arguments. We don't desire to hear arguments now about the criminal nature, but to hear the evidence. Is that clear?
DOCTOR SAUTER: Yes. I shall therefore return to this point while the witnesses are being heard, and shall then try to prove that the Defendant von Schirach was never a part of the Reich Cabinet.
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, yesterday afternoon we had just started on the participation of the SA in the first point--the dissemination of ideology or propaganda. In an article which appeared in "Der SA-Mann", at page 1 of the issue of January 1934, which is Document 3050-PS, and I refer to page 25 of the English translation-and I should like Document No. 3050, page 25, if your Honor please--the portion shown in red brackets. It is dated the 6th of January 1934:
"The new Germany would not have been without the SA-Mann, and the new Germany would not exist if the SA-Mann would now, with the feeling of having fulfilled his duty, quietly and unselfishly and modestly step aside, or if the new state would send him home much like the soldier who has done his obligation. On the contrary, the SA-Mann, following the will of the Fuehrer, stands as a guarantee of the National Socialist revolution before the gates of power, and will remain standing there at all times. For still gigantic missions await fulfillment which would not be thinkable without the presence and the active cooperation of the SA. What has been accomplished up until now, the taking over of the power in the state, and the rejection of those elements which are responsible for the pernicious developments of the post-war years as bearers of Marxism, liberalism and capitalism, are only the preliminaries, the spring-board for the real aims of National Socialism. Being conscious of the fact that the real National Socialist construction work would be building in an empty space without the usurpation of power by Adolf Hitler, the Movement and the SA-Mann, as the aggressive bearer of its will, primarily have directed all of their efforts thereupon, to achieve the platform of continued striving and to obtain the fundamental or the realization of our desires in the State by force. Out of this comes the further missions of the SA for the completion of the German revolution: first, to be the guaranty of the power of the National Socialist State against all attacks from without as well as from within; second, to be the high institute of education of the people for the living National Socialism." responsibility which SA took unto itself. It was the responsibility recognized by the law of Germany. Document 1395-PS, which is the copy of the law entitled "The Law on Securing the Unity of Party and State", which I have referred to before--and it was promulgated by the Reich Cabinet in 1933--I desire to read Article 3, on page 1 of the English translation:
"The members of the National Socialist German Party and the SA, including their subordinate organizations, as the leading and driving force of the National Socialist State, will bear greater responsibility toward the Fuehrer, people and State. In case they violate these duties they will be subject to special jurisdiction by Party and State. The Fuehrer may extend these regulations in order to include members of other organizations." the soldiers of an idea, to use the expression employed by the Nazi writers. And permit me to emphasize that the SA was the propagandist agency, the principal agency employed by the conspirators to disseminate their fanaticism among the people of Germany.
If your Honor please, I had ended the quotation. I am sorry if I didn't refer to it. successful effectuation of the conspiracy, for it is self-evident that the Nazis could not have carried their conspiracy to the stages which they did had not the minds of the people of Germany been cruelly and viciously influenced and infected with their evil ideologies. previously. The next is the use in the early stages of the conspiracy as the "strong-arm" of the NSDAP. In the early stages of the Nazi movement the employment of the SA as the propagandist instrument of the Party involved--and was combined with--the exercise of physical violence and brutality.
As said by Hitler in "Mein Kampf" --and this excerpt appears at page 4 of Document 2760, page 4 of the English translation, US Exhibit 256. I quote:
"The Young Movement from the first day, espoused the standpoint that its idea must be put forward spiritually but that the defense of this spiritual platform must, if necessary, be secured by strong-arm means."
I will read the rest of that paragraph:
"Faithful to its belief in the enormous significance of the new doctrine, it seems obvious to the Movement that for the attainment of its goal no sacrifice can be too great."
might better spread their fanatical philosophies--the SA was employed as a terroristic group in order to gain for the Nazis possession and control of the streets. This is another way of saying that it was the function of the SA to beat up and terrorize all political opponents. The importance of this function is indicated in Document 2168-PS, USA Exhibit No. 411, which was written by SA Sturmfuehrer Bayer, upon orders from SA Headquarters. And I refer to page 3 of the English translation of Document 2168, the third paragraph from the bottom. Quoting:
"Possession of the streets is the key to power in the State--for this reason the SA marched and fought. The public would never have received knowledge from the agitative speeches of the little Reichstag faction and its propaganda or from the desires and aims of the party if the martial tread and battle song of the SA Companies had not beat the measures for the truth of a relentless criticism of the state of affairs in the governmental system.
They wanted the young Movement to keep silent. Nothing was to be read in the press about the Labor of the National Socialists, not to mention the basic aims of its platform. They simply did not want to awake any interest in it. However, the martial tread of the SA took care that even the drowsiest citizens had to see at least the existence of a fighting troop." was indicates by Goebbels in a speech which appeared in "Das Archiv", October 1935. This is our Document 3211-PS, USA Exhibit 419. It is on the first page of the English translation, No. 3211. Quoting:
"The inner-political opponents did not disappear due to mysterious unknown reasons but because the Movement possesses a strong-arm within its organization, and the strongest arm of the Movement is the SA. The Jewish question will not be solved separately but by laws which we enact, for we are the anti-Jewish Government." of the Nazi movement, from 1922 to 1931, is found in a series of articles appearing in "Der SA-Mann", entitled, "SA Battle Experiences which we Will Never Forget." Each of these articles is an account of a street or a meeting hall battle waged by the SA against a group of political opponents in the early days of the Nazi struggle for power. These articles demonstrate that during this period it was the function of the SA to employ physical violence in order to destroy and subvert all forms of thought and expression which might be considered hostile to the Nazi aims or philosophy. ficiently descriptive to constitute evidence of the activities of the SA in the early stages of the Nazi movement. I should like to quote from a few of these titles by giving the page reference of this big newspaper volume.
Here is one of 24 February 1934, page 4. The title: "We Subdue the Red Terror."
8th of September 1934, page 12. The article is entitled, "Nightly Street Battle on the Czech Border."
6th of October 1934, page 5: "Street Battle in Chemnitz."
THE PRESIDENT: In where?
COL. STOREY: C-H-E-M-N-I-T-Z -- Chemnitz.
Another one of 20 October 1934, page 7. The title: "Victorious SA."
I will skip several of them. Here is one of 26 January 1935, page 5. The title: "The SA Conquers Rastenburg -- R-A-S-T-E-N-B-U-R-G.
Another on 23 February 1935: "Company 88 Receives its Baptism of Fire."
One of 20 October 1934, page 7. The article is "SA against Sub-Humanity."
Finally, I mention the one of 10 august 1935, page 10. The title is, "The Blood Sunday of Berlin." which symbolizes the SA Man as the "Master of the Streets." Franken Edition of the SA-Mann for 30 October 1937, page three. It is entitled, "9 November 1923 in Nurnberg," and I should like to quote from pages fourteen and fifteen of Document 3050-PS, which is an English translation of this article.
"We stayed overnight in the Coloseum (that means Nurnberg). Then in the morning we found out what had happened in Munich. 'Now a revolution will also be made in Nurnberg', we said. All of a sudden the Police came from the Maxtor Guard and told us that we should go home, that the Putch in Munich failed. We did not believe that and we did not go home. Then came the State Police with fixed bayonets and drove us out of the hall. One of us then shouted "Let's go to the Cafe Habsburg!" By the time we arrived, however, the Police again had everything surrounded. Some shouted then: "The Jewish place will be stormed... Out with the Jewish. Then the Police started to beat us up. Then we divided into small groups and roamed through town and wherever we caught a Red or a Jew we knew, a fist fight ensued.
"Then in the evening we marched, although the Police had forbidden it, to a meeting in Furth. During the promenade again the police attempted to stop us. It was all the same to us. Already in the next moment we attacked the police in our anger so that they were forced, to flee.
We marched on to the Geissmann Hall. There again they tried to stop us. But the Landstrum, which was also there, attacked the protection forces like persons possessed, and drove them from the streets. After the meeting we dissolved and went to the edge of town. From there we marched in close column back to Nurnberg. In the Will Street near the Plaerrer the Police came again. We simply shoved them aside. They did not trust themselves to attack, for what would a blood bath have meant? We decided beforehand not to take anything from anyone. Also in Furth they had already noticed that we were up to no good. A large mass of people accompanied us on the march. We marched with unrolled flags and sang so that the streets resounded: Comrade reach me your hand; we want to stand together, even though they have false impressions, the spirit must not die, Swastika on the steel helmet, black-white-red armband, we are known as Storm Troop (SA) Hitler!"
the Party. The third function of the SA was to carry out various by force and brutality wherever necessary.
An example of this is shown in document No. 3221-PS, US Exhibit No. 442, and that is an States of America, by William F. Sollman, which we now quote in its "William F. Sollman, Pendle Hill School, Wallingford, German Reichstag.
Prior to March 11th, 1933, I was the Editor in which led the fight against the Nazi Party.
On March 9th, 1933, the furniture and my personal records.
At that time I was taken to kicked for several hours.
I was then taken to the regular Government released the next day.
On March 11th, 1933, I left Germany."
Nazi Party. This activity is described in document No. 1759-PS,
US Exhibit No. 420, which is an original affidavit by Raymond H. Geist (G-e-i-s-t). Mr. Geist was formerly United States Consul in Berlin.
He is now in Mexico City. I should like to quote from a portion of translation, about the middle of the page, starting:
"At the beginning of the Hitler regime, the only organization which had meeting places throughout the country was the SA (Storm Troopers). Until the Gestapo could be organized on a national points.
There were at least fifty of these in Berlin. Communists, were immediately transferred to the Gestapo headquarters.
During Gestapo.
By the end of 1934 the SA had been fairly well eliminated functionaries with the Gestapo."
the English translation. It begins-
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, does that mean that the SA were eliminated for the purpose of arrest or for other purposes too?
COLONEL STOREY: No, sir. As I understand, sir, the SA Roehm purge began to decline.
In the meantime, the SS, which part and grew and prospered after that.
So I think the evidence will quote a part of the Consul's report, beginning in the middle of the page.
Another American, Herman I. Rosemar, made an affidavit which stated:
"Yesterday, March 10th, 1933, in the afternoon about 4.30, residing in Wilmersdorf (giving the address). A man in S.A. uniform stepped on my toe purposely, obviously offended me and said "Pardon."
I said "bitte", and walked ahead. He followed me and kicked me saying:
"Na und?" A policeman saw this and walked ahead, paying no attention to attacks made on me.
Then I took my passport out protection, or at least being unwilling.
The S.A. man continued to attack bodily harm.
During this attack, all the time my walking along, we reach ed another policeman, and I applied to him, showing my passport and said:
"I am an American and am entitled to protection." He shrugged his shoulder and said "What can I do?"
By this time the S.A. man had obviously in house at 13 Bayreither Strasse.
My fiancee and I reported to the officer in charge.
He heard the story and said that he was sorry, but that there was nothing to do.
My face was bleeding. The policeman said that he had had orders not to interfere in any affair in which an S.A. man took part.
I then asked him what I could do to protect myself. He said that there was nothing to do but wait until the situation was better.
He added the S.A., and that there were S.A. Sturm-Abteilung in the police itself.
Thereupon I departed..."
"On the night of Friday, March 10, 1933, she and her husband had their apartment bell.
They heard pounding upon the street door and a The street door was opened by the janitor's wife, and a party of four or they again rang and pounded on the door.
Mr Klauber asked who was there, and was answered - "The police". He opened the door and a party of ing a rifle, pushed in jostling Mr. and Mrs.
Klauber aside. One asked Mrs.
Klauber where the telephone was and she indicated the room where it was to be found, and started to go there.
Thereupon, she was knocked down by one of them.
They went on to the bedroom where Mr. Mrs. Klauber followed them, and there they demanded their passports.
Mr. Klauber went whether he was carrying any weapons.
Being clothed only in pyjamas, his denial was accompanied by a gesture indicating his garb.
He then turned police clubs, the one with the overcoat and rifle standing by.
Remarks were shouted such as "Look.
Four suits, while for fourteen years we have been starving."
Mrs Klauber tried to inquire the reason for their action and was answered - "Jews.
We hate you. For fourteen years we have been waiting for this, and tonight we'll hang many of you".When the intruders stopped beating Mr. Klauber he was unconcious, and they demanded the passports again of Mrs.
Klauber. Mrs Klauber found her American passport and her German passport (required by local authority her arrival here), and the intruders took both in spite of Mrs.
Klauber's protests that she was American.
She then searched for her husband's pass them.
Though full of money they refused it, and again demanded the pass port.
Mrs. Klauber then found it and handed it over.
Then the intruders returned to the unconcious Mr. Klauber, saying "He hasn't had enough yet," and beat him further.
Then they left, saying "We are not yet finished," and just as they departed, one of them said to Mrs, Klauber "Why did you marry a Jew?
I hate them" and struck her on the jaw with his police club.
.."
That is the end of the affidavit. Now continuing, the next paragraph interfere; that is that there was official sanction for these activities.
Affidavits taken from numerous victims attest this fact. I had become received definite instructions not to interfere with the S.A., *---* S.S.mistreatment of persons employed therein.
I now refer to document 2824-PS, which is a book entitled, "Concentration Camp at Oranienburg?
."
It is U.S. Exhibit 423. This was by an SA Sturnbannfuehrer named I quote the excerpt on the first page of the English translation readings:
"The most trusted, boldest SA men were selected in order to give them prepared to be employed."
with the SA is found in Document 778-PS, U.S. Exhinit 421. This is a nolle-pressing of one "Vogel, who was accused of mistreatment of persons employed in the concentration camp.
I quote from that report, beginning Erich Vogel in Dresden on account of bodily injury while in office.
The following subject matter is the basis of the process: its foundation and is chief of Main section II, which formerly bore the title ZUB. In the process of combatting efforts inimical to the State Vogel carried out several so called borderland actions in the year 1933 in which a large number of politically unreliable persons and persons who had become political prisoners in the border territories were taken into protective custody and brought to the Hohnstein protective custody camp. In the camp serious mistreatment of the prisoners has been going on at least since summer of 1933. The prisoners were not only, as in protective custody camp Bredow near Stettin, beatin into a state of unconsciousness for no reason, with whips and other tools, but were also tortured in other ways, as for instance with a drip-apparatus especially constructed for the purpose, under which the prisoners had to stand so long that they came away with serious purulent wounds of the scalp. The guilty SA-leaders and SA-men were sentenced to punishments of 6 years to 9 months of imprisonment by the main criminal court of the provincial court in Dresden of 15 May 1935. Vogel, whose duties frequently brought him to the camp, took part in this mistreatment, insofar as it happened in the reception room of the camp during completion of the reception formalities, and in the supply room, during issuing of the blankets. In this respect it should be pointed out that Vogel was generally known to the personnel of the camp - exactly because of his function as head of the ZUB - and his conduct became at least partly a standard for the abovenamed conduct of the SA leaders and men.
I want to read the remainder of that question. I am sorry, I don't have it here. That is a little portion there that should be read immediately following my statement, and then I started - I will skip to the quotation just below there.
"Vogel stayed in the reception room a long time and watched these proceedings without doing anything about them. In his prescence for instance, the SA-man Mutze dealt such blows to one man, without provocation, that he turned around on himself.
As already stated, Vogel not only took no steps against this treatment of the prisoners, but he even made jokes about it and stated that it amused him the way things were popping here. the general severe mistreatment. The SA man there employed whips and other articles and beat the prisoners in such a manner that serious injuries were produced, the prisoners partly became unconscious and had to lie in the dispensary a long time. Vogel was often present in the supply room during the mistreatment. At least in the following cases he personally laid violent hands upon prisoners. And then skipping down: fast by the head and arms, and then beaten for a considerable time by the SA men with whips and other articles. Along with this Vogel himself took part in the beating for a time, and after this mistreatment slapped him again, so that the prisoner appeared green abd blue in the face. The prisoner is the tinsmith Hans Kuhitz, who bore the nickname Johnny. Upon his departure, Vogel gave the head of the supply room, Truppenfuhrer Meier from 5 to 6 reichsmarks with the stated reason that the SA men "had sweated so". The money was then distributed by Meier to those SA comrades who had taken part in the mistreatment.
seizure of power was to act as auxiliary police. This is shown in Document 3252-PS, U. S. Exhibit 424. This publication is a book written by Herman Geering.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, is that a document which shows on its face that the man was punished for this conduct?
COLONEL STOREY: I think it does; yes, sir. I think it does.
THE PRESIDENT: I think that fact ought to be stated.
COLONEL STOREY: I believe it is stated, sir. You see, in the beginning it says that the prosecuting authority in Dresden had indicted Vogel on account of bodily injury, and I thought it stated that he had been punished.
THE PRESIDENT: The document does appear to state it, but I think you ought to tell it in court. The document ends up with -- paragraph three -
COLONEL STOREY: It does state that he was punished. The purpose of introducing it was to show what actually took place.
I now turn to Document 3252-PS. As I have just mentioned, the book is entitled, "Hermann Goering, the Man and His Work" by Erich Gritzbach, in which it is declared that the ranks of the Security Police were strengthened by the SA, and which was characterized as the most reliable instrument of the movement. I should like to quote on the first page of Document 3252, the English translation, -- it is the fourth paragraph:
"The present reorganization of the Security Police is hardly noticed by the public. Their ranks are strengthened by the SA, the most reliable instrument of the movement. The Auxiliary Police has given effective aid by their fighting spirit in the struggle against the Communists and other enemies of the State, not only to Goering, but has, driven by their national socialist desire for a new spirit within the executive police, assisted in their rigid organization. November 1938, shown by Document 1721-PS, USA Exhibit 425. This is a confidential report of the SA Brigade Fuehrer to his Group Commander, dated 29 November 1938, on the English translation, starting at the beginning.