These Germans formed, the skeleton of the Free Corps. On paper the Free Corps had a strength of 40,000 men. Part of the equipment furnished to Henlein, mostly haversacks, cooking utensils and blankets, were supplied by the SA." is demonstrated by its activities subsequent to the outbreak of the war. During the war the SA continued to carry out its military training program, but it also engaged in other functions. Its wartime activities are set out in Documents 3219, which is US Exhibit 403, and Document 3216, US Exhibit 434, which are excerpts from "Das Archiv." of the heading:
"The General of the SA, Wilhelm Schepmann, gave further orders to increase the employment of the SA in the homeland war territories, because of the requirements of total war employment. This was done in numerous business conferences with Fuehrers of the SA divisions.
"As a result of these conferences, as well as of measures already carried out earlier for the totalization of the war employment, the SA now has placed 86 percent of its main professional Fuehrer Corps at disposal at the Front even though the war missions of the SA have increased in the fields of pre-military training, the SA penetration into new territorial parts of the Reich, the air war employment, the State and national guard, etc, during, wartime.
"The SA as a whole has given at present an even 70 percent of its nearly million members to the Wehrmacht." ship of August 26, 1944. I quote briefly from 3216, the English translation, just one sentence:
"By command of the General of the SA, the 'SA Unit General Government' was established, the command of which was taken over by Govenor General SA Ober ruppenfuehrer, Lt. Gen. Dr. Frank."
US Exhibit 435, by "Walter Schellenberg:
"From the beginning of 1944 on the SA also participated in many of the functions which had previously been entrusted only to the SS, SIPO and Army, for instance, the guarding of concentration camps, the guarding of prisoner of war camps, the supervision over forced laborers in Germany and occupied areas. This cooperation of the SA was planned and arranged for by high officials in Berlin as early as the middle of 1943."
concerning the participation of theSA in the conspiracy, but before I conclude, I should like to present to the Tribunal a few points which establish the participation in the conspiracy by the defendant Goering in his capacity as an SA member or leader.
In 1923, Goering became commander of the entire SA. This is shown in the pamphlet, "The SA", which is already in evidence and the notation concerning Goering's command appears at page 2 of the translation, which I do not intend to quote but simply refer to.
Goering's intention to employ the SA as a terroristic force to destroy political opponents, is shown by a speech made by him on 3 March, 1933, at a Nazi demonstration in Frankfurt. It is document 1856-PS, U.S. Exhibit 437. It is an excerpt from a book entitled, "Hermann Goering, Speeches and Essays". Document 1856. I quote: Goering said:
"Certainly I shall use the power of the State and the police to the utmost, my dear Communists; So you won't with those down there.
Those are the Brown Shirts." Nazi movement is shown by Document No. 3259-PS, U.S. Exhibit No. 424, and it is an English translation from the same book. 3259-PS. This is a letter written to Goering by Hitler and I quote the letter:
"My dear Goering, with which I could bear that struggle.
Highest necessity had that success.
After receiving a grave wound, you again entered comrade in the battle for power.
You contributed essentially to creating the basis for the 30th January.
Therefore, at the end Adolf Hitler."
maintained close affiliation with the organization. This is shown by the photographs of Goering participating in the activities which I have already introduced in evidence. Similarly, in 1937, Goering became the Commander of the Felderrnhalle Regiment of the SA. The Tribunal will recall, also, my reference to the participation of that regiment in the occupation of the Sudetenland. this brief, demonstrates the participation of the SA as an organization in the conspiracy alleged in Count One. Thus, the SA was first employed by the conspirators to destory, by force and brutality, all opponents of National Socialism and to gain possession of the streets. Thereafter, upon the seizure of control by the NSDAP, the SA was used to consolidate and strengthen Nazi power and to cruelly persecute and destroy all socalled "enemies" of the state, including the Jewry and the Church. During the period from 1934 to 1939, the SA was employed for the actual preparation and training of the German people for war, and for participation in aggressive warfare. and disseminate the ideology of the Nazi Movement throughout Germany, and particularly, to perform the function of disseminating anti-Jewish propaganda and creating and fostering a militaristic and warlike spirit among the people of Germany. of the SA corresponded to, and were designated to promote the progression of the conspiracy through its various phases; and the conclusion, we think, is irresistible, that the SA was an organization devoted exclusively to the task of assisting the defendants and their co-conspirators in carrying out the objectives of the conspiracy.
conspirators and participants in a conspiracy which contemplated and involved plans against the peace and crimes against humanity and war crimes. is SS, by Major Farr.)
Do your Honors want to go ahead with that now?
THE PRESIDENT: perhaps we had better adjourn then, until 2:00 o'clock.
(Whereupon, at 1238 hours, the hearing of the Tribunal adjourned to reconvene at 1400 hours).
Military Tribunal, in the matter of: The presiding:
MAJOR FARR: May it please the Tribunal, the next organization to be dealt with is the SS. The document books in this case are lettered "Z". For convenience in handling the book because of the bulk of documents, we have divided them into two volumes. I shall in referring to a document number, refer to the volume in which that document appears. lated in Nurnberg an account of a visit by that paper's correspondent to a camp in which SS prisoners of war were confined. The thing which particularly struck the correspondent was the one question asked by the SS prisoners. Why are we charged as war criminals? What have we done except our normal duty? answer that question. It will show that just as the Nazi Party was the very heart - the core - of the conspiracy, so the SS was the very essence of Naziism. For the SS was the elite group of the Party, composed of the most thorough-going adherents of the Nazi cause, pledged to blind devotion to Nazi principles, and prepared to carry them out without any question - and at any cost - a group in which every ordinary value has been so subverted that its members can ask - What is there unlawful about the things we have done? conspirators' criminal program for aggressive war, for concentration camps, for the extermination of the Jews, for enslavement of foreign labor and illegal use of prisoners of war, for deportation and Germanization of inhabitants of conquered territories. Through all this evidence the name of the SS ran like a thread. Again and again that organization and its components were referred to. It is my purpose to show why it performed a responsible role in every one of these criminal activities, why it was - and, indeed, had to be - a criminal organization.
essential for the execution of the conspirators' plans. Their sweeping program and the measures they were prepared to use, and did use, could be fully accomplished neither through the machinery of the government nor of the Party. Things had to be done for which no agency of government and no political party - even the Nazi Party - would openly take full responsibility. A specialized type of apparatus was needed - an apparatus which was to some extent connected with the government and given official support - but which, at the same time, could maintain a quasi-independent status, so that all its acts could be attributed neither to the government nor to the Party as a whole. The SS was that apparatus. the Nazi party, referred to in the Decree on the Enforcement of the Law for Securing the Unit of Party and State of 29 March 1935, published in the Reichsgesetzblatt for that year, Part I, page 503. That decree will be found in our Document 1725-PS. I shall not read it. I assume that the Court will take judicial notice of it. The status of the SS, however, was above that of the other formations. As the plans of the conspirators progressed, it acquired new functions, new responsibilities, and an increasingly more important place in the regime. It developed during the course of the conspiracy into a highly complex machine, the most powerful in the Nazi State, spreading its tentacles into every field of Nazi activity. towards showing very briefly the origin and early development of the SS; second, how it was organized - that is, its structure and its component parts; third, the basic principles governing the selection of its members and the obligations they undertook; and finally, its aims and the means used to accomplish them - the manner in which it carried out the purposes of the conspirators, and thus is a responsible participant in the crimes alleged in the Indictment.
the SS are not controversial matters. They are not matters to be learned only from secret files and captured documents. They were recounted in many publications, circulated widely throughout Germany and the world - official books of the Nazi Party itself, and books, pamphletsand speeches by SS and State officials published with SS and Party approval. Throughout the presentation of the case I shall frequently refer to five or six such publications, translations of which - in whole - or in part - appear in the document books. Although I shall quote portions of them, I shall not attempt to read them all in full, since I assume that the contents of such authoritative publications may be judicially noticed by the Tribunal.
Now to take up the origin of the SS. The first aim of the conspirators as the evidence already presented to the court has shown - was to gain a foothold in politically hostile territory, to acquire mastery of the streets and to combat any and all opponents with force. For that purpose they needed their own private, personal police organization. Evidence has just been introduced in the case against the SA - showing how that organization was created to fill such a role. But the SA was outlawed in 1923. When Nazi Party activity was again resumed in 1925, the SA remained outlawed. To fill its place and to play the part of Hitler's own personal police, small mobile groups known as protective squadrons - Schutzstaffel - were created. This was the origin of the SS in 1925. With the reinstatement of the SA in 1926, the SS for the next few years ceased to play a major role. But it continued to exist as an organization within the SA - under its own leader, however the Reichsfuehrer SS. This early history of the SS is related in two of the authoritative publications to which I have referred: The first is a book by SS Standartenfuehrer Gunter d'Alquen, entitled "The SS". This book a pamphlet of some 30 pages - is an authoritative account of the history, mission and organization of the SS, published in 1939. As indicated on its frontispiece, it was written at the direction of the Reichsfuehrer SS, Heinrich Himmler. Its author, SS Standartenfuehrer Gunter d'Alquen, was the editor of the official SS publication "Das Schwarzs Korps". This book is cur Document No. 2284-PS. I offer it in evidence as U.S. Exhibit No. 438. The passage to which I refer will be found on pages 6 and 7 of the original, and on page 1 of the translation.
The second publication is an article by Himmler, entitled "Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police." It was published in 1937 in a booklet containing a series of speeches or essays by important officials of the Party and the State - known as "National Political Course for the Armed Forces from 15 to 23 January 1937." The article by Himmler, to which I refer, appears on pages 137-161 of that pamphlet. Large extracts from it make up our Document No. 1992-A-PS. I offer the essay by Himmler as U.S. Exhibit No. 439. The passage to which I have referred appears on page 137 of the original and page 1 of the translation, our Document 1992a-PS. I shal have occasion to quote from both these publications, but with respect to this matter of history, I assume that these references to the pertinent passages in them are enough.
an organization in which the main principles of the Nazi system, specifically the racial principles, would not only be jealously guarded but would be carried to such extremes as to inspire or intimidate the rest of the population - an organization in which, also, there would be assured complete freedom on the part of the leaders and blind obedience on the part of the members. The SS was built up to meet this need. I quote from d'Alquen's book, Die SS, at page 7 - this passage appears in our Document No. 2284-PS at page 4 of the translation, paragraph 4:
"On the 16th of January, 1929, Adolf Hitler appointed his Reichsfuehrer SS.
Heinrich Himmler assumed charge therewith troop dependable in every circumstance.
With this day the National Socialist movement.
For the SS and its Reichsfuehrer, in the course of these battle-filled years."
Carrying out Hitler's directive, Himmler proceeded to build up out of this small force of men an elite organization - to use d'Alquen's words: "composed of the best physically, the most dependable, and the most faithful men in the Nazi movement." I read another passage from d'Alquen at page 12 of the original, page 6 of the translation, paragraph 5:
"When the day of seizure of power had finally come, there were everywhere, in their stations and positions, in profession and in science, and in science, and in all their essential tasks."
The initial function of the SS - that of acting as their private army and personal police force - was thus completed. But its mission was in fact really just begun. That mission is described in the Organization Book of the NSDAP for 1943. The pages from that book dealing with the SS - pages 417 to 428 - are translated in our Document No. 2640-PS. The organization's book has already been offered in evidence as USA Exhibit 303. The passage to which I refer appears on page 417 of the original, and on page, paragraph 2 of the translation, our Document 2640-PS:
"Missions "The most original and most eminent duty of the SS is to serve enlarged to include the internal security of the Reich."
was somewhat more colorfully defined by Himmler in his pamphlet "The SS as an Antibolshevist Fighting Organization", published in 1936. It is our document No. 1851-PS. I offer this document in evidence as U.S. Exhibit No. 440. The definition to which I refer appears in the original at the bottom of page 29 of the original, on the third page of the translation, middle of the paragraph:
"We shall unremittingly fulfill our task, the guaranty of and the peace of the Reich from the exterior.
We shall without.
Without pity we shall be a merciless sword of justice for all those forces whose existence and activity; we know on the day of the slightest attempt, may it be today, may it be in decades or may it be in centuries." the SS into many fields It involved, of course, the performance of police functions. But it involved more. It requirad participation in the suppression and extermination of all internal opponents of the regime. It meant participation in extending the regime beyond the borders of Germany, an, therefore, came to mean eventually participation in every type of activity designed to secure a hold over those territories and populations which, through military conquest, had come under German domination. of several branches and numerous departments and the eventual development of a highly complex machinery. Those various branches and departments cannot be adequately described out of the context of their history. That description I hope will emerge fully as evidence of the activities of the SS is presented. But it may be appropriate to anticipate, and at this point to say a word about the structure of the SS. of the SS as it appeared in 1945 may be helpful. There is being handed to the Tribune 1 small copies of this chart, two in English, one in French and one in Russian. In addition, there is handed up eight larger copies of the chart in the original German, bearing on it the photostat of the affidavit ox Gottlieb Berger, formerly Chief of the SS Main Office, who examined the chart, and stated that it correctly represented the organization of the SS. of the SS, as U.S. Exhibit No 445. commanded the entire organization. Immediately below-running across the chart and down the right hand side, embraced within the heavy line - are the twelve main departments constituting the Supreme Command of the SS.
Some of these departments have been broken down into the several offices of which they were composed - as indicated by the boxes beneath them. Other departments have not been so broken down. It is not intended to indicate that there were not subdivisions of these latter departments as well. The breakdown is shown only in those cases where the constituent offices of some department may have a particular significance in this case. Nazi publications: the first is the Organizations Book of the NSDAP for 1943 (our Document No. 2640-PS) already introduced in evidence as U.S. Exhibit No. 323. The description, which I shall not now read, appears on pages 419-420 of the original and pages 2 to 4 of the translation. The second is an SS manual, which bears the title:"The Soldier Friend Pocket Diary for the German Armed Forces - Edition D: Waffen SS." It was prepared at the direction of the Reichsfuehrer SS, and issued by the SS Main Office for the year ending 1942. It is our Document No. 2825-PS. I offer it in evidence as U.S. Exhibit No.441. The description to which I refer appears on pages 20 to 22 of the original and pages 1 and 2 of the translation. I will later have occasion to read the description of the functions of some of the departments in full. But I assume that the court will take judicial notice of the entire passages to which I have referred. In addition, the departments are listed in a directory of the SS, published by one of the Main Departments of the SS. This docu was found in the files of the Personal Staff of the Reichsfuehrer SS, the first department from the left of the chart. It is entitled "Directory for the Schutzstaffel of the NSDAP, 1 November 1944". It is marked "Restricted" and bears the notation "Published by SS Fuehrungshauptamt, Kommandant of the General SS", which is the 5th box from the left. It is our document 2679-PS. I offer it in evidence as U.S. Exhibit No.442. It is simply a list of the names of the departments and offices with their addresses and telephone numbers, and corroborates the statements in the two earlier publications to which I referred.
Reichsfuehrer SS to the regional level, we come to the Higher SS and Police Leader, commonly known as HSSPF, the supreme SS commander in each region. I shall refer to his functions at a later point. Immediately below him i the breakdown of the organization of the Allgemeine or General SS. To the left are indicated two other branches of the SS the Death Head Units (Totenkopf Verbaende) and the Waffen SS. To the right, under the HSSPF, is the SD. All of these components, together with the SS Police Regiments, are specifically named in the IndictmentAppendix B, page 36 - as being included in the SS.
Now a word as to these components. Up to 1933, there were no such specially designated branches. The SS was a single group - a group of "volunteer political soldiers." It was out of this original nucleus that the new units developed. main stem out of which the various branches grew. It was composed of all members of the SS who did not belong to any of the special branches.
It was the backbone of the entire organization. The personnel and officers of the Main Departments of the SS Supreme Command were members of this branch. Except for high ranking officers and those in staff capacities in the Main Offices of the SS Supreme Command, its members were part-time volunteers. As the evidence will show, its members were utilized in about every phase of SS activity; They were called upon in the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1938; they took over the task of guarding concentration camps during the war; they participated in the colonization and resettlement program. In short, the term "SS" normally meant the General SS. ranging from distinct (Oberabschnitt) and sub district (Abschnitt) down through the regiment, battalion, company, to the platoon. Until after the beginning of the war it constituted numerically the largest branch of the SS In 1939 d'Alquen, the official SS spokesman, said, and 1 quote from his book, our Document No.2284-PS, page 9, paragraph 3 of the English translation, and page 18 of the original document:
"The strength of the General SS, 2*0,000 men, is sub-divided today and medical units.
This General SS stand fully and wholly on call as in the fighting years."
be found in Himmler's speech "Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police", our Document No. 1992A-PS, at page 4 of the translation, and in the Organizations Book of the NSDAP for 1943, our Document No. 2468-PS, personnel - were subject to compulsory military service.
As the result during the war.
Older SS men and those working in or holding high position in the Main Departments of the Supreme Command of the SS remained.
Its Reichsfuehrer SS - almost always referred to as the S.D. Himmler des cribed it in his speech, "Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police" - our Document No. 1992A-PS.
I quote a passage from page 8, last paragraph 3:" Now come to the Security Service (SD), it is the great the SS.
At that time we had, for quite natural reasons, an companies."
- "I interpolate he refers there to the regiments, battalions and companies of the General SS" We had to and similar things.
I separated this service already in 1931 from the troops".- "I note that it appears in the mimeographed next pages of the translation, it was 1931 to.
which he was referring."
- from the units of the General SS, because I considered it to be wrong.
For one thing, the secrecy is en too likely to discuss everyday problems."
it became a much more important organization promply thereafter. It had I refer in support of that statement to d'Alguen's book, Die SS, our Document No. 2284-PS, at Page 11 of the translation.
I shall not pause to quote that passage.
The organization and numbers of the SD, as they ment No. 1992A-PS at page 9 of the translation, second paragraph, page 151 of the original, paragraph 4:"The Security Service was already separated from the troop in 1931 and separately organized.
Its higher headquarters, coin cide today with the Oberabschnitte and Abschnitte.
I refer to and men strong, at least when it is built up."
Up to 1939, its headquarters was the SS Main Security Office (Sicher heitshauptamt), which - as I shall shortly show - became amalgamated in Gestapo.
The SD was, of course, at all times an integral and important aggressive war.
The reason underlying the creation of this combat branch Party for 1943.
It appears on page 427A of the original; page 5, paragraph 7 of the translation:
"The Armed SS originated out of the thought: to create for the special missions.
It should make possible for members of the unified groups, partly within the framework of the Army."
The term "Waffen SS" did not come into use until after the begin ning of the war.
Up to that time there were two branches of the SS the SS Totenkopf Verbaende - The Death Head Units.
After the beginning of strength, and new divisions were added to them.
Parts of the SS Death All these divisions then came to be known collectively as the "Waffen SS".Let me now trace that development.
I quote again from the Organiza tion Book of the Nazi Party for 1943, out Document No. 2640-PS, page 427b of the original, page 5, last paragraph of the translation:
"The origin of the Waffen SS goes back to the decree of 17 March 1933 establishing the "Stabswache" with the original strength of 120 men.
Out of this small group developed the later-called SS Verfeugungstruppe (SS Emergency Force), relatively the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler.
In the course of the war, these
THE PRESIDENT: Major Farr, is it necessary to go into this degree of detail about the organization of the SS?
MAJOR FARR: Sir, it seemed to me that it is highly important to know exactly what the organization with which we are dealing is. There has been, I understand, suggestion made to the Court that certain portions of this organization are not criminal. It is contended by some that the part they played was a perfectly innocuous one, and it seems to me that before we can determine whether the organization as a whole is criminal, whether any portion of it is severable, then We must know what the organization is.
THE PRESIDENT: Wouldn't it be possible to leave that question to evidence in rebuttal, if the defendants are setting up that any particular branch of the SS is not criminal?
MAJOR FARR: If we adequately lay the basis for our case now, it may not be necessary for us to make any rebuttal. We may satisfy the defendants that there is nothing to the contention that any portion of the SS is a lawful portion. The point I am particularly trying to make now is: There has been a good deal of contention that the Waffen SS is severable; that whatever may be said, for example, about the SD or the Death Head Unit, the Waffen SS is something different. The Waffen SS is part of the Army. I think it is important to establish at the outset that the Waffen SS is as much a part of the SS, as integral a part of the whole organization, as any of the other branches. I propose, therefore, to show the development of the Waffen SS, growing out of the SS Emergency Troop, and to call to the attention of the Tribunal evidence showing how the Waffen SS is an integral part of the SS as a whole.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you must take your own course then,
MAJOR FARR: (Continuing) The SS Verfuegungstruppe were described in a top secret Hitler order, dated the 17th of August, 1938. It is our Document No. 647-PS. I offer it in evidence as U. S. Exhibit 443. That document will be found in Volume I of the Document Book. I quote from Section II of that order, which appears on page 2 of the translation, at the top of the page, and also on page 2 of the original.
"II. The Armed Units of the SS.
"A. (The SS Verfuegungstruppe) 1. The SS Verfuegungstruppe is neither a part of the Wehrmacht nor a part of the Police.
It is a standing armed unit exclusively at my disposal.
As such and as and for the Schutzstaffe.
1. Its members are to be their duties in the obligatory labor service.
The service period for volunteers is 4 years.
It may be prolonged for SS Unterfuehrer.
Such regulations are in force for SS leaders.
The regular compulsory military service (par 8 of the law relating to military service)
SS Verfuegungstruppe." be found on page 3 of the translation in the middle of the page and on page 4 of the original order:
"III. Orders for the Case of Mobilization.
"A. The employment of the SS Verfuegunstruppe in case of mobiliza 1. By the Supreme Commander of the Army within the wartime army.
In that case it comes completely under military 2. In case of necessity in the interior according to my "In case of mobilization I myself will make the decision about the time, strength and manner of the incorporation of the SS Verfuegungstruppe into the war-time army, these things will depend on the inner-political situation at that time."
recall it was issued in August of 1938, this militarized force was employed with the Army for aggressive purposes - the taking over of the Sudetenland. Following this action, feverish preparations to motorize the force and to organize new units such as anti-tank, machine gun and reconnaissance battalions were undertaken pursuant to further directives of the Fuehrer. By September 1939, the forces were fully motorized, its units had been increased to division strength and it was prepared for combat. These steps are described in the National Socialist Yearbook for the years 1940 and 1941. I offer in evidence pages 365 to 371 of the 1940 Yearbook.