cellor, the Fuehrer executed the acceptances into the Party of those last few Cabinet members who still remained out of the Party. Only one Cabinet member had the strength of character to reject membership in the Party. That was the Minister of Transportation and Minister of Posts, Mr. EltzRuebenau. His example was not followed by the defendant, von Neurath. His example was not followed by the defendant, Raeder. And if the defendant Schacht was not yet at that time a member of the Party, I might say that his example was not followed by the defendant Schacht. highest, as well as subordinate levels, occupied corresponding or other positions in the organization of the State. Take Hitler himself, as the Fuehrer of the NSDAP. He was also the Chancellor of the Reich, with which office, furthermore, the office of President of the Reich was joined and merged after the death of President von Hindenberg in 1934.
Take the defendant Goering, the successor-designate of Hitler. As Fuehrer of the NSDAP he sat in the Cabinet as Air Minister, Luftfahrtminister, and he also held many other important positions, including that of Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, and that of Delegate for the Four Year Plan.
Himmler, the notorious head of the SS, the Reichsfuehrer's SS, was also the Chief of the German Police, reporting to the defendant Frick. He himself later became Minister of the Interior after the attempted assassination of Hitler on June 20, 1944, which event also catapulted him into the position of Commander-in-Chief of the German Reserve Army. labeled "Reichstag".
(Here a short recess was taken).
In that box is the label "Reichstag", the former German Parliament.
The Reichstag presents an anomaly in this picture. Under the Republic it had been the supreme law-making body of the Reich, subject only to a limited check by the Reichstag - the Council of the Reich, by the President and by the people themselves by way of Initiative and Referendum.
effect at once, the Nazis proceeded to curtail the powers of the Reichstag, to eliminate the Reichstag, and to merge the Presidency with the Office of Chancellor occupied by the Fuehrer. By the Act of 24th of March, 1933, the Cabinet was given unlimited legislative powers, including the right to deviate from the Constitution.
Subsequently, as I stated, the Reichstag was abolished, and with that act the residuum of the power to legislate in the Reichstag was reduced to a minimum. I say the power was reduced to a minimum because the actual power to legislate was never taken away from the Reichstag, but certainly after the advent of the Party to power it was never permitted to exercise as a legislature. even though from time to time other agencies of the Reichsregierung, such as the Plenipotentiary for Administration, in the upper right of the chart, the Generalbevollmaechtigter fuer die Reichsverwaltung, the Plenipotentiary for Economy, also in the right-hand corner of the chart, the Generalbevollmaechtigter fuer die Wirtschaft, and the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich, was created. That is the big box to the right of the vertical line. And these agencies of the Reichsgegierung received certain concurrent legislative powers. body was, however, only an intermediate step on the road to rule by Fuehrer decree. That was the ultimate goal of the Party, and a goal which they achieved. Reich Cabinet to all sorts of newly created agencies, some of which I have already mentioned. Cabinet functions were delegated first of all to the Reich Defense Council, the Reichsverteidigungsrat, possibly as early as the 4th of April, 1933, but we believe certainly not later than 1935. I might say in this connection that with respect to a number of these agencies of the Reichsregierung that received delegated powers, we are moving in a somewhat shadowy land, because in developing this organization we are dealing -- to some extent, at least -with decrees and actions that were secret, or secretive, in character.
A number of them were never published and the German people themselves never became acquainted with them. And that is why I say that the Reich Defense Council may possibly have been created as early as two and one-half months after the advent of Hitler to power but we believe that we will be able to show to the satisfaction of the Tribunal that that important body in the government of the Reich was created certainly not later than May, 1935.
I say it is an important body. This was the war-planning group of which Hitler himself was chairman and the Defendant Goering the alternate. It was a large war-planning body, as your Honors will note, that included many cabinet members, and there was also a working committee - the true numerical size of which does not appear from the chart - which was presided over by the Defendant Keitel. That also was composed of Cabinet members and of Reich Defense officials, the majority of whom were appointed by Cabinet officers and subject to their control.
Other powers were delegated to the Plenipotentiary, whom I have named, for administration, appearing at the extreme right of the chart. That was the defendant Frick, and later the notorious Himmler. istration were complete ministries, Ministry of the Interior, Frick's old ministry, Ministry of Justice, Education, Church Affairs, and Raumorthe defendant Goering, whose box appears to the left of the median line, half way to the edge. within the shadow land I mentioned, and which, unfortunately, does not have its name appear on this chart, the Dreierkollegium, the college of Three, which title should really be imposed over the last three boxes in the upper right hand corner; because the Dreierkollegium consisted not alone of the Plenipotentiary for Administration, but also the Plenipottentiary for War economy. And the Chairman of that group I believe was the defendant Keitel, as the head of the OKW, the Wehrmacht, all the armed forces. The du ties of the Dreierkollegium would seem to have included the drafting of decrees in preparation of and use during war. To the secret Cabinet Council, the Geheimer Kabinettsrat, of which the defendant von Neurath was Charman, or the President, I believe was his title, went other powers.
That secret Cabinet Council was created by a decree of the Fuehrer in 1939. Fuer die Reichsverteidigung, the Minister ial Council for defense of the Realm, which is the smallest box appearing under the large box of the Reich Defense Council, to the right of the vertical line. to the Fuehrer alone. Its membership, as would seem to be indicated in the chart, was taken from the Reich Council. It had broad powers to issue decrees with the force of law in so far as the Reichsregierung itself had not legislated on the subject.
to various groups, composed largly of its own members, helped to conceal s relating to the preparation of war, which delegated the necessary authority to secret and semi-secret agencies. Thus in a general way as I have outlined, did the National Socialist Party suceed in putting Nazi policies into effect through its dummy, through the machinery of the State, the Reichsregierung, in its revised form. out on this chart the large number of instances in which the defendan ts names reappear in connection with the functions of the Government of the Reich. thatconnection that there is one ommission, a very important ommission. It was the name of the Vice Chancellor under Mr Hitler, von Papen, who was Vice Chancellor from the seizure until some time around the purge June 1934. and under it of ministers without portfolio, in which mostly the names of the defendants in this court are listed. There are state minister acting as Reich ministers listed, and you will note the name of defendant Frank. There are other participants in cabinet meetings, among which you will notice the name of the defendant von Schirach. Reich Cabinet, and as I have stated, organizations that grew out of this ma names of the defendants.
Still further to the left is the delegate for the Four Year Plan. And over to the very end is the Reichstag, of which the president was the defendant Goering, and the leader of the Reichstagsfraktion, the defendant Frick. Defense Council, with Hitler himself as Chairman, the Reich Defense Committee under it, and the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Realm, which grew out of the Reich Defense Council. We see mostly the names of cabinet ministers, including, if I may advert to that fact, particularly the names of purely military leaders, such as the defendant Raeder and the defendant Keitel. proceedings, Schacht, the first Plenipotentiary for War Economy, later succeeded by Funk; Field Marshall Keitel as the Chief of the OKW, and the defendant Frick again as Plenipotentiary for Administration, in the triangle which became known as the Dreierkollegium. middle, we have the various ministries over which these cabinet ministers, this Reichsregierung, presided. We have also at the extreme left, and the extreme right, very important and special offices that were set up at the instigation of the Party, and those offices reported directly to the Fuehrer himself. civil government moved after the military machine into the Lowlands, the defendant Seyss-Inquart became the Reichskommissar for the Netherlands. dant von Neurath, the Reichsprotektor for Bohemia and Moravia, who was later succeeded by the defendant Frick; and under those names, the name of the defendant Frank, the General Governor of Poland. to the Reich Chancellor and President was the Foreign Office, presided over first by the defendant von Neurath, and subsequently by the defendant von Ribbentrop.
dealing with German legations, there should of course in any itemized, detailed treatment of that box appear the name of the defendant vonPapen, the representative of the Reich, in Austria for a time and later in Turkey. the Reichsweirtschaftsministerium. First is the name of the defendant Schacht, followed by the name of the defendant Goering, and then by the name of the defendant Funk. Reichsministerium fuer Ruestung and Kriegsproduktion, was presided over by the defendant Speer. And out of this organization, and subordinate to it, in the box devoted to the Organization-Todt, again the name of the defendant Speer, who succeeded Todt to the leadership of that organization upon the death of Todt. follow me, down close to the bottom of the page to the last lefthand box, appearing under the Ministry of Justice, is the Reichsrechtsanwaltskammer -- I am sorry, the box next to the bottom at the left which is devoted to the Academy for German Law, Akademie Fuer deutsches Recht, over which the defendant Frank presided for a time. defendant Goering was Oberkommando; and next to it, the Ministry of the Interior, presided over by the defendant Frick.
all the squares to the small horizontal line at the bottom of the Ministry of the Interior, we come to certain state officials, called Reich Governors, Reichstatthalter. And if these boxes were sufficiently detailed, there would appear thereon the names, among others, of the defendant Sauckel, who besides being the Gauleiter of Thuringia, was also the Reichstatthalter or Governor there. There would also appear the name of the defendant von Schirach, who was not alone the Gauleiter of Vienna, but also the state representative there, the Governor, the Reichstatthalter, of Vienna. is the box or boxes devoted to the German police, and in the first sub-division appearing to the right, the chief of the Security Police and SD, the name of the defendant Kaltenbrunner. in this box, appears the name of the defendant Fritzsche, who although as the charge is drawn would not appear in the position of one of the chief directing heads of the ministry, actually was very much more important than his position there will indicate; and proof will be submitted to your Honors in support of that contention. the Occupied Eastern Territories, the Reichsministerium fuer die Besetzten Ostgebiete, of which the defendant Rosenberg was the head. immediately subordinate to Hitler as Reich Chancellor and President, there is the office of General Inspector for Highways, with the name of the defendant Speer associated with it; the General Inspector for Water and Energy, again with the name of the defendant Speer associated with it.
Reichsforstamt, under the defendant Goering; the Reichsjugenfuehrer, the leader of the Reich Youth, the defendant von Schirach; the Reich Housing Commissioner, Reichswohnungskommissar, the late defendant Robert Ley; and among the subsequent agencies, that of the important Reichsbank, over which the defendant Schacht presided, to be succeeded, subsequently by the defendant Funk; the General Inspector for the Reich Capital, Generalbauinspekteur fuer die Reichshauptstadt, the defendant Speer. appear on this chart, and of those now before your Honors in this case I think they all appear on this chart in one capacity or another, in one or more capacities, all I might add except the defendant Jodl. Jodl was the Chief of Staff of all the armed forces. He was the head of the Wehrmacht Feurungstadt, and in the evidential material which will be subsequently brought before your Honors, the name Jodl will figure prominently in connection with the organization of the armed forces. of the tongue that was called to my attention, in discussing the chart of the Party, in the small box to the left containing the designates of the Fuehrer to succeed him to the Party leadership, I made the statement that Goering succeeded Hess as Fuehrer designate. Actually when the designations were announced by the Fuehrer, Goering was always the first designate, and the defendant Hess the second. party functions and state offices which these defendants held in the course of the period under discussion, these various offices are mentioned.
We would like to submit at this time and offer into evidence as exhibits proof of the offices that were occupied by these defendants. This proof consists of 17 statements, more or less, signed by the defendants themselves and/or their counsel, certifying to the Party and State offices that they have hold from time to time. Some of these statements were not as complete as we desired to have them, and we have appended thereto a statement showing such additional offices or proof of Party membership as was available to us. I would like to offer those into evidence.
(Several documents were distributed to Defense Counsel)
MR. ALBRECHT: (cont'g) And now, if your Honors please, I offer into evidence the two charts to which my remarks have been addressed in the course of the morning.
THE PRESIDENT: Will Counsel for the United States continue the evidence until half past 12:00?
COLONEL STOREY: If your Honor please, it lacks two minutes until half past 12:00. Mr. Albrecht has finished, and will it be convenient for Major Wallace to start at 2:00 o'clock?
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
Tribunal, in the matter of: The United States of America, The French Republic, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics against Hermann Wilhelm Goering, et al, Defendants, sitting at Nuremberg, Germany, on 22 November, 1945, 1400-1700, Lord Justice Lawrence, presiding.
COLONEL STOREY: If the Tribunal please, Major Frank Wallace will now present the briefs and documents supporting the briefs in behalf of the phase of the case known as the common plan or conspiracy, up through 1939.
MAJOR WALLACE: Mr. President, members of the Tribunal: material allegations of the Indictment running from Paragraph IV on page 3, to subparagraph E on page 6.
The subjects involved are:
Their rise to power; and 1933 and 1939 in preparation for aggressive war. Chief Prosecutor. Moreover, it is history, beyond challenge by the defendants. For the most part, we rely upon the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. What we offer is merely illustrative material--including statements by the defendants and other Nazi leaders-laws, decrees, and the like. We do not need to rest upon
the illustrative material has been put together in document books, and the arguments derived from them have been set out in trial briefs. materials and to summarize the main lines of the briefs.
What is the charge in Count One? divers other persons, participated in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit, or which involved the commission of crimes against humanity (both within and without Germany), war crimes, and crimes against peace. cohesion among the defendants, as well as an instrument for the execution of the purposes of the conspiracy, was the Nazi Party, of which each defendant was a member or to which he became an adherent.
The scope of the proof which I shall offer is: aims and objectives, involving basically the acquisition of Lebensraum, or living space, for all "racial" Germans. methods, whether or not legal, in attaining these objectives and that it did in fact use illegal methods. lines of propaganda; and used various propaganda techniques to assist it in its unprincipled rise to power. power in Germany.
political conquest of the State, to crush all opposition, and to prepare the nation psychologically and otherwise for the foreign aggression upon which it was bent from the outset. relevant to the charge, what happened in Germany during the pre-war period, leaving it to others to carry the story and proof through the war years. It was far different from any other conspiracy ever unfolded before a court of justice, not only because of the gigantic number of people involved, the period of time covered, the magnitude and audacity of it, but because, unlike other criminal conspirators, these conspirators often boastfully proclaimed to the world what they planned to do, before they did it.
As an illustration, Hitler, in his speech of 30 January 1941, said:
"My program was to abolish the Versailles Treaty. It is futile nonsense for the rest of the world to pretend today that I did not reveal this program until 1933 or 1935 or 1937... Instead of listening to the foolish chatter of emigres, these gentlemen would have been wiser to read what I have written thousands of times. No human being has declared or recorded what he wanted more than I. Again and again I wrote these words, 'The abolition of the Treaty of Versailles'". had its origin in the German Labor Party, which was founded on 5 January 1919, in Munich. It was this organization which Hitler joined as seventh member on 12 September 1919. At a meeting of the German Labor Party held on 24 February 1920, Hitler announced to the world that the "25 Theses" that subsequently became known as the "unalterable" program of the National Socialist German Workers Party. was changed to the National Socialist German Workers Party, frequently referred to as the NSDAP, or Nazi Party, It is under that name that the Nazi Party continued to exist until its dissolution after the collapse and unconditional surrender of Germany in 1945.
The disagreements and intrigues within the party between Hitler's followers and those who opposed him were finally resolved on 29 July 1921, when Hitler became "First Chairman" and was invested with extraordinary powers. Hitler immediately reorganized the Party and imposed on it the "Fuehrerprinzip", the leadership principle - of which you will hear more later. Thereafter Hitler, the Fuehrer, determined all questions and made all decisions for the Party. dants and their co-conspirators by reason of their membership in, or knowing adherence to the Party, were openly and notoriously avowed.
They were set out in the Party Program of 1920, were publicized in Mein Kampf, and in Nazi literature generally, and were obvious from the continuous pattern of public action of the Party from the date of its founding. the fact that the major objectives of the Party were publicly and repeatedly proclaimed: deny them or to assert that they were ignorant of them. and hence of the objectives of the conspiracy - only to refresh or implement judicial recollection. The main objectives were: on military armament and activity in Germany.
Third, to acquire other territories inhabited by so-called "racial Germans"; and living space by the racial Germans so incorporated - all at the expense of neighboring and other countries. equally to the other aims, namely, that he had stated and written a thousand times or more that he demanded the abolition of the Versailles Treaty. prosecution on this phase of the case, and it is not my purpose at this time to recite to the Court numerous declarations made by the defendants and others with respect to these aims.
publicly announced to the still unbelieving world that they proposed to accomplish these objectives by any means found opportune, including illegal means and resort to threat of force, force, and aggressive war. The use of force was distinctly sanctioned, in fact guaranteed, by official statements and directives of the conspirators which made activism and aggressiveness a political quality obligatory for Party members. As Hitler stated in Mein Kampf:
"What we needed and still need are not a hundred or two hundred reckless conspirators, but a hundred thousand and a second hundred thousand fighters for our philosophy of life."
In 1929 Hitler stated:
"We confess further that we will tear anyone to pieces who would dare to hinder us in this undertaking. Our rights will be protected only when the German Reich is again supported by the point of the German dagger." stated the duties of Party members in the following terms:
"Only a part of the people will consist of really active fighters. It is they who were fighters of the National Socialist struggle. It is they who were fighters of the National Socialist revolution. Of them more is demanded than of the millions among the rest of the population. For them it is not sufficient to confess, 'I believe', but to swear, 'I fight.'" any means whether or not legal or honorable, it is only necessary to remind the Court that the Party virtually opened its public career by staging a revolution--the Munich Putsch of 1923. the Common Plan of Conspiracy which are alleged in the Indictment. as a means of securing for the Nazi conspirators the highest degree of control over the German community, they disseminated and exploited certain doctrines.
of so-called German blood were a master race. This doctrine of racial supremacy was incorporated as Point 4 in the Party Program, which provided: "Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood without consideration of confession. Consequently, no Jew can be a member of the race." the faith of the blood--superseding in individual allegiance all other religions and institutions. The defendant Rosenberg and the defendant Streicher were particularly prominent in disseminating this doctrine. Much of the evidence to be offered in this case will illustrate the Nazi conspirators' continued espousal and exploitation of this master race doctrine.
This doctrine had an eliminatory purpose--call anything "nonGerman" or Jewish, and you have a clear right, indeed, a duty, to cast it out. In fact, purges did not stop at so-called racial lines, but went far beyond. Of course, the deeper psychological meaning of the "master race" is the doctrine of the scapegoat.
entire conspiracy and is one of the important links in establishing the guilt of each of these defendants is the doctrine or concept of the Fuehrerprinzip or leadership principle. formations and allied organizations and eventually permeated the Nazi State and all institutions and is of such importance that I would like to dwell upon it for a few moments and attempt to explain the concepts which it embraces.
The "Fuehrerprinzip" embodies two major political concepts:
1. Authoritarianism.
2. Totalitarianism.
Authoritarianism implies the following: All authority is concentrated at the top and is vested in one person only, the Fuehrer. It further implies that the Fuehrer is infallible as well as omnipotent. The Party Manual states:
"Under the Commandments of the National Socialists:
"The Fuehrer is always right ..." Also, there are no legal or political limits to the authority of the Fuehrer. Whatever authority is wielded by the others is derived from the authority of the Fuehrer. Moreover, within the sphere of jurisdiction allotted to him, each appointee of the Fuehrer manipulates his powers in equally unrestricted fashion, subordinate only to the command of those above him. Each appointee owes unconditional obedience to the Fuehrer and to the superior party leaders in the hierarchy.
Each Political Leader was sworn in yearly. According to the Party Manual, which will be introduced in evidence, the wording of the oath was as follows: