THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MAJOR WALLIS: This document book and the accompanying brief entitled "Propaganda Censorship and Supervision of Cultural Activities". of the conspirators was propaganda. From the outset they appreciated the urgency of the task of inculcating the German masses with the National Socialist principles and ideology. The early utterances of Hitler and his fellow conspirators evidenced full recognition of the fact that their power could endure only if it rested on general acceptance of their political and social views. Immediately following their accession to power, the Nazi conspirators instituted a determined program for wholesale organization of the masses by seizing control of all vehicles of public expression. The wide-spread use of propaganda by the powerful machine thus created became a key device in establishing control over all phases of the German economy, public and private. They conceived that the proper function of propaganda was: "To prepare the ground psychologically for political action and military aggression and to guarantee popular support of a system which was based on a permanent and steadily intensified application of terror and aggression both in the sphere of domestic politics and foreign relations." create specific thought patterns designed to make the people amenable to the aims and program of the Nazis and to foster their active participation therein to the greatest extent possible. The nature of this propaganda is within the judicial purview of the court. As Goebbels put it, it was aimed at "conquest of the masses."
Its intended effect was the elimination of all serious resistance in the masses. To achieve this result, as will be shown later in the evidence, the Nazi conspirators were utterly unscrupulous in their choice of means, a total disregard of veracity that presented their case purely from the standpoint of political expediency and their conception of national self-interest. Inasmuch as propaganda was the means to an end, "the conquest of the masses" required different strategy at different times depending on the objectives issued and pursued by the Nazi conspirators at any given moment. According to Hitler: "The first task of propaganda is the gaining of people for the future organization." and supervised organizations was the primary objective in the years preceding and immediately following the seizure of power. After the rise to power, this task was broadened to include the enlistment of the people as a whole for the active support of the regime and its policies. As the Reich Propaganda Leader of the Party and Reich Minister for Propaganda, Goebbels stated: "Propaganda, the strongest weapon in the conquest of the State, remains the strongest weapon in the consolidation and building up of the State." weapon in the power of the state are set forth in a chart which I would like to call to the Court's attention at this time, and would like to introduce in evidence as United States Exhibit No. 21. separate levels of control within the German Reich. The first level was the Party Controls, which are represented on the chart by the top block.
And you will see that the Party through its Examining Commission controlled the books and magazines and issues of books and magazines setting forth the ideology of the Party. supervised all publishers, and headed the Party newspapers and book publishers. the Press Political Office, the Press Personnel Office, and supervised the Party treatment of the press and treatment of Party affairs in the press. had under its control not only the press but Exhibits, Affairs, Speaker's Bureau, Films, Radio, Culture, and other means of expression and dissemination of the ideology of the Party and its purposes. to the ideology of the Party headed by the defendant Rosenberg. It supplied all the training periodicals, prepared the curricula for the schools, and the indoctrination of the people into the ideology of the Party. On that same level is Youth Education, presided over by the defendant Schirach, who had under his control the Hitler Jugend; and there were the University Students and Teachers Division of the Party Control. exercised by the state, and reading from left to right you have the Propaganda Coordinations, Foreign Coordination, and Cooperation. Fritsche, Film, Literature, the German Press, Periodicals, Theatre, Arts, Other Cultural Things, and the Ministry for Education.
Corporate Controls. These were under a semi-official control of both the Party and the state. These are the so-called Cultural Chambers. Their purpose was to have full control over the personnel engaged in the various arts and cultures, and engaged in the preparation and dissemination of news. That first was the Press. All reports and writers belonged to that section. The next section was Fine Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Literature, Radio, and then going over into the Educational Branch the organization were the University Teachers, the Students, the former Corps Members of the university had to belong too.
spirators had full control over the expression and dissemination of all thought, cultural activities, and dissemination of news within the Reich. Nothing was or could be published in Germany that did not have the approval, express or implied, of the Party and State. The defendant Schacht in his personal notes explains the effect of the killing of a piece of news in a totalitarian dictatorship. As he states it, it has never become publicly know that there have been thousands of martyrs in the Hitler regime. They have all disappeared in the cells or graves of concentration camps without ever having been heard of again, and he goes on to say, what is the use of martyrdom in the fight against terror if it has no chance of becoming known and thus serving as an example for others.
THE PRESIDENT: What were you reading from then? From what document were you reading when you quoted Schacht?
MAJOR WALLIS: I am afraid ...
THE PRESIDENT: You can tell us later on.
MAJOR WALLIS: I will tell you later on, sir. I would now like to turn your attention ...
THE PRESIDENT: Before you pass from this subject, there is a docket on the documents which shows that certain documents are missing. What does that mean? 1708, 2030.
MAJOR WALLIS: Those documents are in the process of being reproduced and will be furnished to the court, I hope, before the close of the day, sir. They have been added to that book and as yet, have not been completed in their process of reproduction.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Have they been translated?
MAJOR WALLIS: Yes, sir, they have been translated, and the translations are in the process of being reproduced.
THE PRESIDENT: Are the documents in their original form in German?
MAJOR WALLIS: Yes, I believe they are, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MAJOR WALLIS: I would now like to direct the Court's attention to the militarization of Nazi-dominated organizations during this pre-war period and for that purpose I offer United States Exhibit Number J, which consists of a document book with English translations, and I present to the court also, a brief which accompanies this portion of the case.
achieving and consolidating their totalitarian control of Germany, they did not lose sight of their main objective -- aggressive war. Accordingly, they placed a considerable number of their dominated organizations on a progressively militarized footing, with a view to the rapid transformation of these organizations wherever necessary, as instruments of war. These organizations were the SS, the SA, the Hitler Jugend, the NSKK or National Socialistist Motor Corps, the NSFK, (the National Socialist Aviation Corps), the RAD, (Reich Labor Service) and the OT, the Todt Organization. part in the accompanying documents, which have been presented to the court and will be detailed further when the particular organizations are taken up and discussed and their criminality established at subsequent stages in the case. At this time, I would like to call the Court's attention to a chart, and while the chart is physically being placed on the board, I would offer United States Exhibit 22 - 23, I beg your pardon - - it is United States Exhibit 22, which is document 2833-PS and is a reproduction of Page 15 of the book entitled, "History of the Nazi Party". You will note that on the left lower corner of the chart, placed on the board, there are some papers attached. The top paper is an affidavit which reaes as follows: "I certify that the above enlargement is a true and correct copy prepared under my direct supervision, of Document Number 2833-PS, Page 15 of the book entitled "History of the Party", and you will note that underneath is a second paper and this affidavit states it is a correct photographic copy, and which appears in the left-hand corner of the panel. This affidavit is signed by David Zablodowsky, sworn to and subscribed 23rd day of November 1945 at Nurnberg, Germany, before James H. Johnston, 1st Lt., Office of U. S. Chief of Counsel. took place in Germany. The Chart is entitled, "The Organic Incorporation of German Nationals into the National Socialist System and the Way to Political Leadership". ages of 10 and 14.
The arrows point both right and left. The arrow to the right is the Adolf Hitler School for youth between the ages of 12 and 18.
Both from the School and from the young folk, they proceed to the Hitler Jugend. At 18 years of age, they graduate from the Hitler Jugend into the various party formations, the SA, SS, the NSKK, and the NSFK. At the age of 20, they continue from these party formations into the Labor Front, and from the Labor Front, after they have served their period of time there, back again to the Party Formations, the SA, SS, NSKK, SFK, until they reach the age of 21. Then they proceed into the Army, serve in the Army from the ages of 21 to 23, and then back again into the party formations of SA, SS, etc. political leaders of the Nazi party and from that group are selected the cream of the crop who go to the Nazi Party Special Schools and from these schools, as is represented on the top of the chart, graduate the political Fuehrers of the People. is not anything that was prepared by counsel in this case. It was prepared by the Nazi Party people and it comes from their own history. Nazi conspirators had achieved one of the first major steps in their grand conspiracy. All phases of German life were dominated by Nazi doctrine and practice and mobilized for the accomplishment of their militant aims. To the extent to which this was, accomplished, can be no better expressed than the words of Hitler when he spoke to the Reichstag on 20 February 1938. I refer to Document 2715-PS. He said:
"Only now we have succeeded in setting before us the great tasks and in possessing the material things which are the prerequisites for the realization of great creative plans in all fields of our national existence. Thus, National Socialism has made up with a few years for what centuries before it had omitted.....National Socialism has given the German people that leadership which as Party not only mobilizes the nation but also organizes it, so that on the basis of the natural principle of selection, the continuance of a stable political leadership is safeguarded forever.....National Socialism.....possesses Germany entirely and completely since the day when, five years ago, I left the house in Wilhelmsplatz as Reich Chancellor. There is no institution in this state which in not National Socialist. Above all, however, the National Socialist Party in these five years not only has made the nation National Socialist, but also has given itself the perfect organizational structure which guarantees its permanence for all future. The greatest guarantee of the National Socialist revolution lies in the complete domination of the Reich and all its institutions and organizations, internally and externally, by the National Socialist Party. Its protection against the world abroad, however, lies in its New National Socialist armed forces.....
"In this Reich, anybody who has a responsible position is a National Socialist.....Every institution of this Reich is under the orders of the supreme political leader ship.....The Party leads the Reich politically, the armed forces defend it militarily....There is nobody in any responsible position in this state who doubts that I am the authorized leader of this Reich."
February 1938.
COLONEL STOREY: If the Tribunal please ...
DR. SEIDL (For Defendant Frank): Mr. President, may I make a few short remarks in this connection? The defendants were given, along with the indictment, a list of the documents which is introduced as follows: Every one of the .... in order ,..
(Here there was a short pause in translation).
THE PRESIDENT: (interposing) You must speak more slowly.
DR. SEIDL: (continuing)... in order to become acquainted with the points in the indictment and for that reason all the documents here listed can be used by them or referred to by them. documents this morning. Only one of the documents in this list was given to the defense. At the beginning of this trial it was stated as a fact that documents given to the court should also be given to the defense. However, the defense has no knowledge of these documents and documents are presented to the Tribunal which are not even listed in this list. Not one of them is so listed. defense is completely impossible. I should therefore like to make the motion - firstly, that the court should give the defense counsel a list of the documents that are to be presented to the court, and secondly, the defense counsel should be given, at the latest on the day on which the documents are to be presented to the court, a copy of the documents, for the use of the defense counsel and defendants, in their own language. be met, since otherwise, we, at least myself, will not be in a position to proceed with our defense.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, or counsel for the prosecution, will you say what answer you have to make to this objection?
COLONEL STOREY: If the Tribunal please, in the first place practically every document referred to by Major Wallace is a document of which the court would take judicial knowledge.
In the second place -- in the second place, daily lists of documents which the prosecution proposes -- secondly, a list of documents was filed in the Defense Information Center on November 1st. I am not sure as to whether all of those or a part of them were included. Secondly, that each attorney presenting each segment of the case sends down to the Defense Information Center a list of the documents which he proposes to offer in evidence upon his preparation. Thirdly, I wonder if the Tribunal and Defense Counsel realize the physical problems that are inposed? I am informed that copies of these documents in English as well as copies of the briefs, were delivered either last night or this morning in Defendants' Information Center. Lastly, other presentations that follow, we wall abide by the Tribunal's request - namely, that, prior to the presentation the court will be furnished with these document books, with these briefs, and defense counsel will also be furnished with them in advance. The weekend will permit us to do that.
(here follows Bill Weigel's transcript).
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal thinks that the trial must now continue without any adjournment, but that in the future as soon as possible the defendants' counsel will be furnished with copies of the documents which are to be put in evidence.
DR. SERVATIUS (Defense Counsel): I should like to present the following: The documents are presented to the Court also in an English translation. An examination of these translations should be made available to the Defense. I point out particularly that the translation of technical terms could possibly lead to misunderstandings. Moreover, the documents are provided with an introductory remark and a table of contents. The Defense should also have opportunity to read through this table of contents and to examine it. preliminary remarks be made available to the Defense.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, I understood from you that you proposed to make available to the Defense the trial briefs which contain certain observations upon the documents put in.
COLONEL STOREY: That is right, sir. They have been, are now, and will be completed during the week-end, and, as I understood, Defense Counsel were willing for the briefs to be furnished in English, and if they want a translation, there will be German speaking officers in Defendants' Information Center at their service. I understood that was agreeable yesterday. apprehension, for the benefit of Defense Counsel, when we refer to document numbers as, say, 1850 PS, in many instances that is a document which is a copy of a citation or a decree in the Reichsgesetzblatt, and, therefore, is not a separate document of ours. We have placed in the Defendants' Information Center ample copies of the Reichsgesetzblatt, and I dare say that one-half of the documents referred to in Major Wallis' presentation will be found in the Reichsgesetzblatt. I assure your Honor that over the weekend we will do the utmost to explain to Defense Counsel and to make available to them all information that we have and will do so in the future in advance.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. The Tribunal will now adjourn for ten minutes.
(The Tribunal then took a ten minute recess, after which proceedings continued as follows:)
COLONEL STOREY: If your Honors please, the next subject to be presented is the economic preparation for aggressive war, by Mr. Dodd.
MR. THOMAS J. DODD: May it please the Tribunal, Mr. President, and Members of the Tribunal: In view of the discussions which took place just before the recess period, I believe it proper for me to inform the Tribunal that the documents to which I shall make reference or a list of those documents has been lodged in the Defendants' Information Center, and, as well, photostatic copies of the originals have been placed there this morning. United States of America to present the proof with reference to the allegations of the indictment under Section IV E, on Page 6 of the English version of the indictment, and particularly beginning with the second paragraph under E, which is entitled, "The Acquiring of Totalitarian Control in Germany: Economic: And the Economic Planning and Mobilization for Aggressive War." The second paragraph:
"2. They used organizations of German business as instruments of economic mobilization for war.
"3. They directed Germany's economy towards preparation and equipment of the military machine. To this end they directed finance, capital investment, and foreign trade.
"4. The Nazi conspirators, and in particular the industrialists among them, embarked upon a huge re-armament programme, and set out to produce and develop huge quantities of materials of war and to create a powerful military potential." in so far as my responsibility goes this morning, is that which reads:
"With the object of carrying through the preparation for war the Nazi conspirators set up a series of administrative agencies and authorities.
For example, in 1936 they established for this purpose the office of the Four Year plan with the defendant Goering as Plenipotentiary, vesting it with overriding control over Germany's economy. Furthermore, on 28th August, 1939, immediately before launching their aggression against Poland, they appointed the defendant Funk Plenipotentiary for Economics; and on 30th August 1939, they set up the Ministerial Council for the Defence of the Reich to act as a War Cabinet." world already knows, that the Nazi conspirators rearmed Germany on a vast scale. I propose to place in evidence the secret records of the plans and deliberations of the inner councils of the Nazis, which prove that the reorganization of the German government, the financial wizardry of the Defendant Schacht, and the total mobilization of the German economy largely under the Defendant Schacht, Goering, and Funk, were directed at a single goal:
Aggressive war. book, which contains the English translation of the original German document. I do not make an offer at this time of these documents in evidence, but hand them to the Court for the purpose of easing the task of the Court in following the discussion concerning these documents. I might say at this point also that I should like to submit at a little later date a brief for the assistance of the Court after I have concluded my remarks before it this morning. conspirators can, of course, be properly appraised only if they are placed in the larger social and political context of Nazi Germany. The economic measures were adopted while the conspirators were, as has already been shown, directing their vast propaganda apparatus to the glorification of war. They were adopted while the conspirators were perverting physical training into training for war. They were adopted while, as my colleagues will show, these conspirators were threatening to use force and were planning to use force to achieve their material and political objects. In short, if your Honors please, these measures constitute in the field of economics and government administration the same preparation for aggressive war which dominated every aspect of the Nazi state. Belgium, and France it became perfectly clear to the world that the Nazi conspirators had created probably the greatest instrument of aggression in history. That machine was built up almost in its entirety in a period of less than one decade. In May of 1939 Major General George Thomas, former Chief of the Military-Economic Staff in the Reich War Ministry, reported that the German Army had grown from seven Infantry divisions in 1933 to thirty-nine Infantry divisions, among them four fully motorized and three mountain divisions; eighteen Corps Headquarters; five Panzer divisions; twenty two machine gun battalions.
Moreover, General Thomas stated that the German Navy had greatly expanded by the launching, among other vessels, of two battleships of thirty-five thousand tons, four heavy cruisers of ten thousand tons, and other warships; further, that the Luftwaffe had grown to a point where it had a strength of two hundred-sixty thousand men, twentyone squadrons, consisting of two hundred-forty echelons, and thirty-three Anti-Aircraft Batteries. Versailles Treaty there had arisen, and I now quote him, quoting from the document bearing our number EC 28, which consists of a lecture delivered by Major General Thomas on the 24th of May 1939 in the Nazi Foreign Office -out of the few factories permitted by the Versailles Treaty there had arisen, and I now quote him, "The mightiest armament industry now existing in the world. It has attained the performances which in part equal the German wartime performances and in part even surpasses than. Germany's crude steel production is today the largest in the world after the Americans. The aluminum production excees that of America and of the other countries of the world very considerably. The output of our rifle, machine gun, and artillery factories is at present Larger than that of any other state." "EC" and the number after the dash "28". It is United States of America exhibit 23. lecture in May of 1939--were achieved only by making preparation for war the dominating objective of German economy. And, to quote General Thomas from that same speech, he stated: "History will know only a few examples of cases where a country has directed, even in peace time, all its economic forces deliberately and systematically towards the requirements of war, as Germany was compelled to do in the period between the two World Wars." ing our number 2353-
THE PRESIDENT (interposing): Mr. Dodd, it would help me personally if I knew where, in the document, you were reading from.
MR. DODD: Very well, sir. Would you like me to refer back to number EC-28?
THE PRESIDENT: I have it before me, but I haven't the particular passage in the document which you were reading.
MR. DODD: That document--the one from which I have just been reading, your Honor--is in document number 2353-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: It is not in EC-28?
MR. DODD: No. It is a quotation from General Thomas, but from another writing of his.
THE PRESIDENT: 2353?
MR. DODD. The document is 2353-PS. It will be found on the third page of that document 2353-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: I seem to have only two pages of that document 2353-PS.
MR. DODD: I am sorry; there should be a third page.
THE PRESIDENT: There is a page in between?
MR. DODD: There should be a third page. There may be one page missing.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh yes; I have it now.
MR. DODD: The task of mobilizing the German economy for aggressive war began promptly after the Nazi conspirator's seizure of power. It was entrusted principally to the defendants Schacht, Goering, and Funk. Reichsbank in March of 1933 and Minister of Economics in August of 1934. The world did not know, however, that the responsiblity for the execution of this program was entrusted to the office of the Four Year Plan under the defendant Goering.
I should now like to call to your Honors' attention document bearing the number EC-408, and I should also like to refer at this time to another document for your Honors' attention while I discuss the material, which is number 2261-PS. was designated Plenipotentiary for the War Economy on May 21, 1935, with complete control over the German civilian economy for war production in the Reich Defense Council, established by a top secret Hitler decree.
I invite your Honors' attention to document 2261-PS, which I referred to a few minutes ago. before all else for, in a memorandum concerning the problem of financing rearmament written on the 3rd of May, 1935, he stated that his comments were based on the assumption that the accomplishment of the armament program -
THE PRESIDENT (Interposing): Parden me, but you referred us to document 2261.
MR. DODD: Yes, your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: But you haven't read anything from it.
MR. DODD: I did not; I merely referred the Court to it since it -
THE PRESIDENT (Interposing): It would help us, I think, if, when you refer to a document, you refer to some particular passage in it.
MR. DODD Very well.
THE PRESIDENT: I think it must be the middle paragraph in the document: The Fuehrer has nominated the President of the Directorate of the Reichsbank, Dr. Schacht.
MR. DODD: Yes, that is the paragraph to which I wish to make reference. paragraph, which states, in a letter dated June 24, 1935, at Berlin:
"The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor has nominated the President of the Plenipotentiary General for the War Economy." paragraph or the last sentence of that letter, which reads: "I point out the necessity of strictest secrecy once more"; the letter being signed, "von Blomberg".
Through Schascht's financial genius monetary measures were devised to restore German industry to full production; and through the control of imports and exports, which he devised under his new plan of 1934, German production was channeled, in accordance with the requirements of the German war machine.
I shall, with the Court's permission, later dicuss the details of documentary proof of this assertion.
In 1936, with an eye to the experience in the First World War, the Nazi conspirators embarked on an ambitious plan to make Germany completely self-sufficient in strategic war materials such as rubber, gasoline, and steel, in a period of four years, so that the Nazi conspirators would be fully prepared for aggressive war.
The responsibility for the execution of this program was entrusted to the office of the Four Year Plan under the defendant Goering -- and at this point I should like to refer to the document bearing the number and the lettering EC-408. It is dated the 30th day of December 1936, marked "Secret Command Matter", and entitled, "Report, Memorandum on the Four Year Plan and Preparation of the War Economy." has conferred powers in regard to mobilization preparations in the economic field that need further definition. In the third paragraph it refers specifically to Minister-President, Generaloberst Goering as Commissioner of the Four Year Plan, by authority of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor granted the 18th day of October, 1936. The existence of this program involved the reorganization and control of the whole German economy for war. document marked EC-27 -- General Thomas, in a lecture on the 28th of February, 1939, made at the Staff Instructor's Course, stated:
"The National Socialist State, soon after taking over the power, has reorganized the German economy in all sections and directed it towards a military viewpoint, which had been requested by the Army for years. Due to the reorganization, agriculture, commerce and professions become those powerful instruments the Fuehrer needs for his extensive plans, and we can say today that Hitler's mobile politics, as well as the powerful efforts of the Army and economy, would not have been possible without the necessary reorganization by the National Socialist Government. We can now say that the economic organization as a whole corresponds with the needs, although slight adjustments will have to be made yet. Those reorganizations made a new system of economics possible which was necessary in view of our internal and foreign political situation as well as our financial problems.