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                                                  [Page 184]
                                                            
                         Chapter VII
                              
       MEANS USED BY THE NAZI CONSPIRATORS IN GAINING
                 CONTROL OF THE GERMAN STATE
                              
       I. COMMON OBJECTIVES, METHODS, AND DOCTRINES OF
                       THE CONSPIRACY

In 1921 Adolf Hitler became the supreme leader or Fuehrer of
the Nationalsozistishe Deutsche arbeiterpartei (National
Socialist German Workers Party), also known as the Nazi
Party, which had been founded in Germany in 1920. He
continued as such throughout the period covered by the
Indictment. As will be shown, the Nazi Party, together with
certain of its subsidiary organizations, became the
instrument of cohesion among the defendants and their co-
conspirators and an instrument for the carrying out of the
aims and purposes of the conspiracy. And as will also be
shown, each defendant became a member of the Nazi Party and
of the conspiracy, with knowledge of their alms and
purposes, or, with such knowledge, became an accessory to
their aims and purposes at some stage of the development of
the conspiracy.

A. Aims and Purposes. The aims and purposes of the Nazi
conspirators were:

(1) To abrogate and overthrow the Treaty of Versailles and
its restrictions upon the military armament and activity of
Germany. The first major public meeting of the NSDAP took
place in Munich on 24 February 1920. At that meeting Hitler
publicly announced the Program of the
Party. That program, consisting of 25 points (annually
reprinted in the National Socialist Yearbook), was referred
to as "The political foundation of the NSDAP and therewith
the fundamental political law of the state, and "has
remained unaltered" since the date of its
promulgation. Section 2 of the Program provided as follows:

    "We demand equality of rights for the German people
    with respect to other nations, and abolition of the
    Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain." (1708-
    PS)

In a speech at Munich on 13 April 1923, Hitler said:
     
     "It was no Peace Treaty which they have signed, but a
     betrayal of Peace. So long as this Treaty stands there
     can be no resurrection of the German people: no social
     reform of any kind is possible. The Treaty was made in
     order to bring 20 million Germans to their deaths and
     to ruin the German nation. But those who made the
     Treaty cannot set it
     aside. At its foundation our movement formulated three
     demands:

                                                  [Page 185]
                                                            
     1. Setting aside of the Peace Treaty
     2. Unification of all Germans
     3. Land and soil (Grund und Boden) to feed our nation."
     (2405-PS)

On August 1, 1923 Hitler declared:

     "The day must come when a German government shall
     summon up the courage
     to declare to the foreign powers: 'The Treaty of
     Versailles is founded on a monstrous lie.' We fulfill
     nothing more. Do what you will! If you want battle,
     look for it! Then we shall see whether you can turn 70
     million Germans into serfs and slaves!" (2405-PS; see
     also additional statements of Hitler contained in 2405-
     PS castigating those Germans who
     shared responsibility for the Treaty of Versailles,
     viz; the "November criminals.")

In his speech of 30 January 1941 Hitler alluded to the
consistency of his record concerning the aims of National
Socialist foreign policy: "My foreign policy had identical
aims. My program was to abolish the Treaty of Versailles. 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'. *******" (2541-PS)

Similar views were expressed by other Nazi conspirators.
Rosenberg stated that the lie of Germanys war guilt was the
basis of the Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain. He
rejected the idea of a "revision" of those Treaties and
demanded outright cancellation. (243-PS)

Hess, in advocating rearmament in violation of treaty
restrictions, stated in 1936 that "guns instead of butter"
were necessary lest "one day our last butter be taken from
us." (2426-PS)

(2) To acquire the territories lost by Germany as the result
of World War of 1914-1918, and other territory in Europe asserted to
be occupied by so-called "racial Germans." Section I of thee Nazi Party
Platform gave advance notice of the intentions of the Nazi
conspirators to claim territories occupied by so-called racial Germans. It
provided:

     "We demand the unification of all Germans in the
     Greater Germany on the basis of the right of self-
     determination of people." (1708-PS)

                                                  [Page 186]
                                                            
While Rosenberg pointed out in 1922 that it was not possible
at that time to designate "such European and non-European
territories which would be taken into consideration for
colonization" he nevertheless stated that the following
could be laid down as a basic objective, namely that

     "*******German Foreign Policy must make its most
     important primary goal the consolidation of all Germans
     living closely together in Europe in one state and to
     secure the territory of what today is the Polish-Czech
     East." (2433-PS)

In his Reichstag speech of 20 February 1928 Hitler said:

     "The claim, therefore, for German colonial possession
     will be voiced from year to year with increasing vigor,
     possessions which Germany did not take away from other
     countries, and which today are virtually of no value to
     these powers, but appear indispensable for our own
     people." (2772-PS)

Again, in his Reichstag speech of 30 January 1939 Hitler declared:

     "The theft of the German colonies was morally
     unjustified. Economically, it was utter insanity. The
     political motives advanced were so mean that one is
     tempted to call them silly. In 1918, after the end of
     the war, the victorious Powers really would have had the
     authority to bring about a reasonable settlement of
     international problems. *******
     
     "The great German colonial possessions, which the Reich
     once acquired peacefully by treaties and by paying for
     them, have been stolen contrary indeed to the solemn
     assurance given by President Wilson, which was the
     basic condition on which Germany laid down her arms.
     The objection that these colonial possessions are of no
     importance in any case should only lead to their being
     returned to us with an easy mind." (2773-PS)

(3) To acquire further territories in colonial Europe and
elsewhere claimed to be required by "racial Germans" as
"Lebensraum" or living space, at the expense of neighboring
and other countries. Hitler made it clear that the two
objectives of the Nazi conspirators set forth above were
only preliminary steps in a more ambitious plan of
territorial aggrandizement. Thus he stated:
     
     "One must take the point of view, cooly and soberly,
     that it certainly cannot be the intention of Heaven to
     give one people fifty times as much space (Grund und
     Boden) on this earth as to another. One should not
     permit himself to be diverted
     
                                                  [Page 187]
                                                            
     in this case by political boundaries from the
     boundaries of eternal justice.
     
     "The boundaries of 1914 do not mean anything for the
     future of the German nation. They did not represent
     either a defense of the past nor would they represent a
     power in the future. The German people will not obtain
     either its inner compactness by them, nor will its
     nutrition be secured by them, nor do these boundaries
     appear from a military standpoint as appropriate or
     even satisfactory. *******" (2760. A-PS)

While the precise limits of German expansion were only
vaguely defined by the Nazi conspirators, they clearly
indicated that the Lebensraum to which they felt they were
entitled would be acquired primarily in the East. Rosenberg
was particularly insistent in his declarations that Russia
would have to "move over" to make way for German living
space. He underlined this demand as follows:

     "The understanding that the German nation, if it is not
     to perish in the truest sense of the word, needs ground
     and soil for itself and its future generations, and the
     second sober perception that this soil can no more be
     conquered in Africa, but in Europe and first of all in
     the East-these organically determine the German foreign
     policy for centuries. (2777-PS)
     
     "The Russians *******will have to confine themselves so
     as to remove their center of gravity to Asia." (2426-
     PS)
     
A similar view was expressed by Hitler in Mein Kampf:

     "If one wanted territory in Europe, this could be done
     on the whole at the expense of Russia, and the new
     Reich would have to set out to march over the road of
     the former Knights, in order to give soil to the German
     plow by means of the German sword, and to give daily
     bread to the nation."

In Mein Kampf Hitler threatened war as a means of attaining
additional space:
     
     "If this earth really has space (Raum) for all to live
     in, then we should be given the territory necessary. Of
     course, one will not do that gladly. Then, however, the
     right of self-preservation comes into force; that which
     is denied to kindness, the fist will have to take. If
     our forefathers had made their decisions dependent on
     the same pacifistic nonsense as the present, then we
     would possess only a third of our present territory.
                                                            
                     *****************
                                                  [Page 188]
     
     "In contrast, we, National Socialists, have to hold on
     steadily to our foreign political goals, namely, to
     secure on this earth the territory due to the German
     people. And this action is the only one which will make
     bloody sacrifice before God and our German posterity
     appear justified." (2760-A-PS)
     

B. Methods. The Nazi conspirators advocated the
accomplishment of the foregoing aims and purposes by any
means deemed 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.

Hitler stated in Mein Kampf:

     "*******The lack of a great creative idea means at all
     times an impairment of the fighting spirit. The
     conviction that it is right to use even the most brutal
     weapons is always connected with the existence of a
     fanatical belief that it is necessary that a
     revolutionary new order of this earth should become
     victorious. A movement which does not
     fight for these highest aims and ideals will therefore
     never resort to the ultimate weapon."
     
     *****************
     
     "*******It is not possible to undertake a task half-
     heartedly or hesitatingly if its execution seems to be
     feasible only by expending the very last ounce of
     energy . . . One had to become clear in one's mind that
     this goal [i.e. acquisition of new territory in Europe]
     could be achieved by fight alone and then had to face
     this armed conflict with calmness nd composure." (2760-
     A-PS)
     
In 1934 Hitler set out the duties of Party members in the
following terms:

     "Only a part of the people will be really active
     fighters. But they were the fighters of the National
     Socialist struggle. They were the fighters for the
     National Socialist revolution, and they are the
     millions of the rest of the population. For them it is
     not sufficient to confess: 'I believe,' but to swear: I
     fight'." (2775-PS)

This same theme is expressed in the Party Organization Book:
"The Party includes Only fighters who are ready to accept
and sacrifice everything in order to carry through the
National Socialist ideology." (2774-PS)

At the trial of Reichswehr officers at Leipzig in September
1930 Hitler testified:

                                                  [Page 189]
                                                            
     "Germany is being strangled by Peace Treaties. *******
     The National Socialists do not regard the Treaty as a
     law, but as something forced upon us. We do not want
     future generations, who are completely innocent, to be
     burdened by this. When we fight this with all means at
     our disposal, then we are on the way to a revolution.

     President of the Court: 'Even by illegal means?'
     
     Hitler: "I will declare here and now, that when we have
     become powerful (gesiegt haben), then we shall fight
     against the Treaty with all the means at our disposal,
     even from the point of view of the world, with illegal
     means." (251-PS)

Moreover, Hitler stated the true reason for rearmament as
follows:

     "It is impossible to build up an army and give it a
     sense of worth if the object of its existence is not
     the preparation for war. Armies for the preservation of
     peace do not exist; they exist only for the triumphant
     exertion of war." (2541''' PS)

C. Doctrines. The Nazi conspirators adopted and published
the following doctrines:

1) That persons of so-called "German blood" were a master-
race and were accordingly entitled to subjugate, dominate,
or exterminate other "races" and "people..." The Nazi
doctrine of racial supremacy was incorporated as Point 4 in
the Party Program of 24 February 1920, which
provided as follows:

     "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 creed. Consequently no Jew can
     be a member of the race." (1708-S)

The Nazi conspirators' dogma of the racial supremacy of the
Germanic peoples was fully elucidated in the writings of
Rosenberg:

     "The meaning of world history has radiated out from the
     north over the whole world,
     borne by a blue-eyed blond rase which in several great
     waves determined the spiritual face of the world *******
     
     "We stand today before a definitive decision. Either
     through a new experience and cultivation of the old
     blood, coupled with an enhanced fighting will, we will
     rise to a purificatory action, or the last Germanic-
     western values of morality and state-culture shall sink
     away in the filthy human masses of the big cities,
     become stunted on the
     sterile burning asphalt of a bestialized inhumanity, or
     trickle away as a morbific
     
                                                  [Page 190]
                                                            
     agent in the form of emigrants bastardizing themselves
     in South America, China, Dutch East India, Africa.
     
     "A new faith is arising today: the myth of the blood,
     the faith, to defend with the blood the devine essence
     of man. The faith, embodied in clearest knowledge that
     the Nordic blood represents that mysterium which has
     replaced and overcome the old sacraments." (2771-PS)

Thus, the Nazi conspirators acclaimed the "master race"
doctrine as a new religion-the faith of the blood-
superseding in individual allegiance all other religions and
institutions. According to
Rosenberg:

     "The new thought puts folk and race higher than the
     state and its forms. It declares protection of the folk
     more important than protection of a religious
     denomination, a class, the monarchy, or the republic;
     it sees in treason against the folk a greater crime than
     treason against the state." (2771-PS; see also further
     excerpts from Rosenbergs writings contained in 2405-
     PS.)

Illustrative of the Nazi conspirators continued espousal and
exploitations of racial dogmas following their accession to
power was the discriminatory legislation which they caused
to be enacted. These laws, with particular reference to
Jews, are set forth in Section 7 of this Chapter on the
Program for Persecution of Jews.

The logical consequence of the "master race" dogma, in its
bearing on the right of Germany to dominate other "inferior"
peoples and to acquire such of their territory as was
considered necessary for German living space, was disclosed
by the Nazi conspirators. In a speech
concluding the Reichsparteitag at Nurnberg on 3 September 1933
Hitler said:

     "But long ago man has proceeded in the same way with
     his fellow man. The higher race -- at first "higher" in the
     sense of possessing a greater gift for organization-
     subjects to itself a lower race and thus constitutes a
     relationship which now embraces races of unequal value.
     Thus there results the subjection of a number of people under the 
     will often of only a few persons, a subjection based simply on the
     right of the stronger, a right which, as we see it in
     Nature, can be regarded as the sole conceivable right
     because founded on reason. The wild mustang does not
     take upon itself the yoke imposed by man either
     voluntarily or joyfully; neither does one people
     welcome the violence of another."
     (2584-PS)

                                                  [Page 191]
                                                            
(2) The Fuehrerprinzip (Fuehrer Principle).
(a) Essential elements.

     1. Complete and total authority is vested in the
     Fuehrer.
     
     "The Fuehrer Principle requires a pyramidal
     organization structure in the details as well as in its
     entirety.
     
     "The Fuehrer is at the top.
     
     "He nominates the necessary leaders for the various
     spheres of work of the Reichs direction, the Party
     apparatus and the State administration." (1814-PS)
     
     "He shapes the collective will of the people within
     himself and he enjoys the political unity and entirety
     of the people in opposition to individual interests.
     
     "The Fuehrer unites in himself all the sovereign
     authority of the Reich; all public authority in the
     state as well as in the movement is derived from the
     authority of the Fuehrer. We must speak not of the
     states authority but of the Fuehrers authority if we
     wish to designate the character of the political
     authority within the Reich correctly. The state does
     not hold political authority as an impersonal unit but
     receives it from the Fuehrer as the executor of the
     national will. The authority of the Fuehrer is complete
     and all-embracing; it unites in itself all the means of
     political direction; it extends into all fields of
     national life; it embraces the entire people, which is
     bound to the Fuehrer in loyalty and obedience. The
     authority of the Fuehrer is not limited by checks and
     controls, by special autonomous bodies or individual
     rights, but it is free and independent,
     all-inclusive and unlimited.
     
     "The Fuehrer-Reich of the (German) people is founded on
     the recognition that the true will of the people cannot
     be disclosed through parliamentary votes and
     plebiscites but that the will of the people in its pure
     and uncorrupted form can only be expressed through the
     Fuehrer." (2771-PS)
     
     "Thus at the head of the Reich, stands a single
     Fuehrer, who in his personality embodies the idea which
     sustains all and whose spirit and will therefore
     animate the entire community." (2780-PS)

As stated in the Organization Book of the Nazi Party:

                                                  [Page 192]
                                                            

     "The will of the Fuehrer is the Party's law." (1814-PS)

The first commandment for the Party members declares

     "The Fuehrer is always right." (1814-PS)

     "He (the Fuehrer) is responsible only to his conscience
     and the German people." (1814-PS)

Hess, in a speech broadcast at Cologne on 25 June 1934,
characterized the position of the Fuehrer as follows:

     "It is with pride that we see that one man is kept
     above all criticism -- that is the Fuehrer.
     
     "The reason is that everyone feels and knows: he was
     always right and will always be right. The National
     Socialism of us all is anchored in the uncritical
     loyalty, in the devotion to the Fuehrer that does not
     ask for the wherefore in the individual case, in the
     tacit performance of his commands. We believe that the
     Fuehrer is fulfilling a divine mission to German
     destiny! This belief is beyond challenge." (2426-PS;
     see also additional statements of the Nazi conspirators
     designed to condition the German people to blind
     acceptance of the decisions of the Fuehrer and his co-
     conspirators, as translated in 237-PS.)

2. The Fuehrer's power descends to subleaders in a
hierarchical order. In the words of the Organization Book of
the NSDAP:

     "The Party is the order of fuehrers.
     
     "All political directors (Politische Leiter) stand as
     appointed by the Fuehrer and are responsible to him.
     They possess full authority towards the lower echelons.
     (1893-PS)
     
     "He (The Fuehrer) nominates the necessary leaders for
     the various spheres of work of the Reichs' direction,
     the Party apparatus, and the State administration."
     (1814-PS)

The effect of this was aptly expressed by Hitler in 1933:

      "When our opponents said, 'It is easy for you: you are
     a dictator' We answer them, 'No, gentlemen, you are
     wrong; there is no single dictator, but ten thousand,
     each in his own place.' And even the highest authority
     in the hierarchy has itself only one wish, never to
     transgress against the supreme authority to which it,
     too, is responsible." (2771-PS)
     
                                                  [Page 193]

3. Each subleader is bound to unconditional obedience to his
immediate superior and to the Fuehrer. As Hitler said,

     "We have in our movement developed this loyalty in
     following the leader, this blind obedience of which
     all the others know nothing and which gave to us the
     power to surmount everything." (2771-PS)

The duty of obedience is so fundamental that it is
incorporated as the second of the NSDAP commandments for
party members:

     "Never go against discipline !" (2771-PS)
     
As Ley said:

     "Our conscience is clearly and exactly defined. Only
     what Adolf Hitler, our Fuehrer, commands, allows, or
     does not allow is our conscience." (2771-PS)

The obedience required was not the loyalty of a soldier to
the Fatherland, as was the case prior to the Nazi regime. On
the contrary, the obedience exacted was unconditional and
absolute, regardless of the legality or illegality of the
order. The oath taken by political leaders (Poltische
Leiter) yearly was as follows:

     "I pledge eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler. I pledge
     unconditional obedience to him and the Fuehrers
     appointed by him." (1893-PS)

4. Each subleader is absolute in his own sphere of
jurisdiction. The Nazi Party Organization Book lays down the
same principle with respect to the successive tiers of its
leaders:

     "The Fuehrer Principle represented by the Party imposes
     complete responsibility on all party leaders for their
     respective spheres of activity *******The responsibility
     for all tasks within a major sphere of jurisdiction
     rests with the respective leader of the NSDAP: i.e.,
     with the Fuehrer for the territory of the Reich, the
     Gauleiter for the territory of the Gau, the district
     leader for the territory of the district, the local
     leader for the territory of the local group, etc.

     "The Party leader has responsibility for the entire
     territory under his jurisdiction on the one hand, and
     on the other hand, his own political fields of activity
     appertaining thereto.
     
     "This responsibility for the complete or partial
     performance of task entails a relationship of subordina-
     
                                                  [Page 194]
                                                            
     tion of the leaders among themselves, corresponding to
     the fuehrer principle." (2771-PS)

(3) Glorification of War as a noble and necessary activity
of Germans. The Nazi conspirators disseminated dogmas
designed to engender in the masses a deep reverence for the
vocation of the warrior and to induce acceptance of the
postulate that the waging of war was good and
desirable per se. The motive underlying the concerted
program of the Nazis to glorify war was disclosed by Hitler
in Mein Kampf:

     "Thus the question of how to regain German power is
     not: How shall we manufacture arms?, but: How do we
     create the spirit which enables a nation to bear arms ?
     If this spirit governs a people, the will finds
     thousands of ways, each of which ends with a weapon!"
     
     "*******Oppressed countries are led back into the lap of
     a common Reich by a mighty sword and not by flaming
     protests. It is the task of the inner political leaders
     of a people to forge this sword; to safeguard the work
     of the smith and to seek comrades in arms in the task
     of the foreign policy." (2760-A-PS)

Hitler's writings and public utterances are full of
declarations rationalizing the use of force and glorifying
war. The following are typical:

     "Always before God and the world, the stronger has the
     right to carry through his will. History proves it: He
     who has no might, has no use for might. (2405-PS)

     "The political testament of the German People for its
     foreign policy should and must always follow this line
     of thought: Never tolerate the rise of two continental
     powers in Europe. See in every attempt to organize a
     second military power, *******an attack against Germany
     and take therefrom not only the right but the duty to
     prevent by all means, including the use of arms, the
     rise of such a state, respectively to destroy such a
     state if it has already arisen. Take care that the
     strength of our people should have its foundation not
     in colonies but in the soil of the home country in
     Europe. Never consider the Reich as secured as long as
     it cannot give to every descendant of our people his
     own bit of soil for centuries to come; never forget
     that the most sacred right on this earth is the right
     to own the soil which one wants to cultivate and the
     most sacred sacrifice, the blood which is shed for this
     soil." (2760-A-PS)
     
                                                  [Page 195]
                                                            

(4) The leadership of the Nazi Party.

(a) The Nazi Party leadership was the sole bearer of the
doctrines of the Nazi Party. The Party Organization Book
declares: "The Party as an instrument of ideological
education, must grow to be the Leader Corps (Fuehrer Korps)
of the German Nation.

     "This Leader Corps is responsible for the complete
     penetration of the German Nation with the National
     Socialist spirit *******" (1893-PS)
     
     "The Party is the order of fuehrers. It is furthermore
     responsible for the spiritual ideological National
     Socialist direction of the German people." (1814-PS)

Referring to the mission of the Ortsgruppenleiter (local
chapter leader) of the NSDAP, the Party Organization Book
states:

      "As Hoeheitstraeger (bearer of sovereignty) all
     expressions of the party will emanate from him; he is
     responsible for the political and ideological
     leadership and organization within his zone of
     sovereignty." (1893-PS)

Similar statements are made with regard to the Kreisleiter
(county leader) and the Gauleiter (Gau leader) and the Reich
Directorate (1893-PS).

(b The Nazi Party leadership was entitled to control and
dominate the German state and all related institutions and
all individuals therein. Hitler said at the 1935 Nurnberg
Party Congress:

     "It is not the State which gives orders to us, it is we
     who give orders to the State." (2775-PS)

Frick declared in a similar vein:

     "In National Socialist Germany, leadership is in the
     hands of an organized community, the National Socialist
     Party; and as the latter represents the will of the
     nation, the policy adopted by it in harmony with the
     vital interests of the nation is at the same time the
     policy adopted by the country. *******" (2771-PS)

Goebbels declared:

     "The Party must always continue to represent the
     hierarchy of National Socialist leadership. This
     minority must always insist upon its prerogative to
     control the state. *******It is responsible for the
     leadership of the state and it solemnly relieves the
     people of this responsibility." (2771-PS)
     
Hess remarked that the Party was a "necessity" in the German
State and constituted the cohesive mechanism with which to
"or-

                                                  [Page 196]
                                                            
ganize and direct offensively and defensively the spiritual
and political strength of the people." (2426-PS)

Nazi interpreters of constitutional law expressed the same
idea:

     "The NSDAP is not a structure which stands under direct
     state control, to which single tasks of public
     administration are entrusted by the state, but it holds
     and maintains its claim to totality as the 'bearer of
     the German state-idea' in all fields relating to the
     community -- regardless of how various single functions
     are divided between the organization of the Party and
     the organization of the State." (2771-PS)
     
This doctrine was incorporated into laws which established
the NSDAP as "the only political party in Germany" and
declared the NSDAP "The bearer of the German state idea" and
"indissolubly linked to the state." (1388-A-PS; 195-PS)

(c) The Nazi Party leadership was entitled to destroy all
opponents. Reference is made generally to Sections 2 and 3
on the Acquisition and Consolidation of Political Control of
Germany for proof of this allegation.

                                                  [Page 197]
                                                            
           LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS
           RELATING TO COMMON OBJECTIVES, METHODS,
               AND DOCTRINES OF THE CONSPIRACY

Charter of the International Military Tribunal,
Article 6, especially 6 (a). Vol I Page 5

International Military Tribunal, Indictment
Number 1, Sections IV (B, C). Vol I Page 16, 17

Note: A single asterisk (*) before a document indicates that
the document was received in evidence at the Nurnberg trial.
A double asterisk (**) before a document number indicates
that the document was referred to during the trial but was
not formally received in evidence, for the reason given in
parentheses following the description of the document. The
USA series number, given in parentheses following the
description of the document, is the official exhibit number
assigned by the court.

1388-A-PS; Law against the
establishment of Parties, 14 July 1933.1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 479. Vol III, Page 962

*1395-PS; Law to insure the unity of
Party and State, 1 December 1933. -1933 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 1016. (GB-252). Vol III Page 978

*1708-PS; The Program of the NSDAP.
National Socialistic Yearbook, 1941, p. 153. (USA-255; USA-
324). Vol IV Page 208
                                                  [Page 198]

*1814-PS; The Organization of the
NSDAP and its affiliated associations, from Organization
book of the NSDAP, editions of 1936, 1938, 1940 and 1943,
pp. 8688. (USA-328).  Vol IV Page 411

*1893-PS; Extracts from Organization
Book of the NSDAP, 1943 edition. (USA-823) Vol IV Page 529

2373-PS; Extracts from German
Publications Vol IV Page 1106

2405-PS; Extracts from German
Publications. Vol V Page 79

*2426-PS; Extracts from Speeches, by
Hess. (GB 253). Vol V Page 90

*2433-PS; Extracts from "Nature,
Foundation and Aims of NSDAP" by Rosenberg, 1934. (USA 596)
Vol V Page 93

2512-PS; Hitler's Testimony Before
the Court for High Treason, published in Frankfurter
Zeitung, 26 September 1931. Vol V Page 246

2541-PS; Extracts from German
Publications. Vol V Page 285

2584-PS; Hitler's speech concluding
the Reichsparteitag, 3 September 1933. The First Reichstag
of the United German Nation, 1933. Vol V Page 311

2760-A-PS; Extract from Mein Kampf by
Adolf Hitler, 41st edition, 1933. Vol V Page 407

2771-PS; US State Department,
National Socialism, published by US GPO, 1943. Vol V Page
417

2772-PS; Speech of Hitler, published
in Documents of German Politics, Vol. IV, Part I, p. 37. Vol
V Page 417

2773-PS; Speech of Hitler, published
in Documents of German Politics, Vol. VII, 1939, pp. 466-7.
Vol V Page 417

                                                  [Page 199]

2774-PS; Extract from Organization
Book of the NSDAP, 1937, 4th Edition, p. 86. Vol V Page 418

*2775-PS; Hitler's speech, published
in Nurnberg Party Congress, 1934. (USA 330). Vol V Page 418

*2777-PS; Article: Space Policy by
Rosenberg, published in National Socialist Monthly, May
1932, p. 199. (USA 594).Vol V Page 418

2780-PS; Extract from Constitution
and Administration in the Third Reich, by Paul Schmidt,
Berlin, 1937. Vol V Page 419

*3863-PS; Extracts from Operations in
the Third Reich by Lammers. (GB 320). Vol VI Page 786

           2. ACQUISITION OF TOTALITARIAN POLITICAL CONTROL
                              
A. First Steps in Acquiring Control of State Machinery.

(1) The Nazi conspirators first sought control of State
machinery by force. The Munich Putsch of 1923, aimed at the
overthrow of the Weimar Republic by direct action, failed.
On 8 November 1923 the so-called Munich Putsch occurred.
During the evening, von Kahr, State Commissioner
General of Bavaria, was speaking at the Buergerbraeukeller
in Munich. Hitler and other Nazi leaders appeared, supported
by the Sturmabteilungen (Storm Troops) and other fighting
groups. Hitler fired a shot and announced that a Nationalist
Revolution setting up a dictatorship had taken place. There
followed a conference after which von Kahr, von Lossow, and
Colonel of Police von Seisser, announced they would
cooperate with Hitler and that a "Provisional National
Government" was established, as follows:

Reich Chancellor                   Adolf Hitler
Leader of the National Army        Gen. von Ludendorff
Reich Minister of War              von Lossow
Reich Minister of Police           von Seisser
Reich Finance Minister             Feder

                                                  [Page 200]
                                                            
It was also announced that Kahr would be State Administrator
for Bavaria, Poehner would be Bavarian Prime Minister, and
Frick would be Munich Police President. Kahr, Lossow and
Seisser then departed. During the night the latter group
alerted the police, brought troops to Munich, and announced
that their consent to the Putsch had been obtained by force.
On the afternoon of the next day, Hitler, Ludendorff, and
their supporters attempted to march into the center of
Munich. At the Feldherrnhalle the procession met a patrol of
police, shots were exchanged, and men on both sides were
killed. Hermann Goering was wounded, the Putsch was broken
up, the Party and its organization were declared illegal,
and its leaders, including Hitler, Frick, and Streicher were
arrested. Rosenberg, together with Amann and Drexler, tried
to keep the Party together after it had been forbidden.
Hitler and others later were tried for high treason. At the
trial Hitler admitted his participation in the foregoing
attempt to seize control of the State by force. He was
convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. (252-PS; 2404-PS)

(2) The Nazi Conspirators then set out through the Nazi
Party to undermine and capture the German Government by
"legal" forms supported by terrorism.

(a) In 1925, the conspirators reorganized the Nazi Party and
began a campaign to secure support from Germany voters
throughout the nation. On 26 February 1925, the Voelkischer
Beobachter, the official newspaper of the National Socialist
German Worker's Party (NSDAP) appeared for the first time
after the Munich Putsch, and on the following day Hitler
made his first speech after his release from prison. He then
began to rebuild the Party organization. The conspirators,
through the Nazi Party, participated in election campaigns
and other political activity throughout Germany and secured
the election of members of the Reichstag. (252-PS)

As a reflection of this activity the Nazi Party in May 1928,
received 2.6% of the total vote and obtained 12 out of 491
seats in the Reichstag. In September 1930, the Nazi Party
polled 18.3% of the total vote and won 107 out of 577 seats
in the Reichstag. In July 1932, it received 37.3% of the
total vote cast and won 230 out of 608 seats. In November
1932, it polled 33.1% of the vote and won 196 out of 584
seats in the Reichstag. (2514-PS)

(b) The Nazi conspirators asserted they sought power only by
legal forms. In November 1934, Hitler, speaking of the
Munich Putsch of 1923 said:

     "It gave me the opportunity to lay down the new tactics
     of the Party and to pledge it to legality". (2741-PS)

                                                  [Page 201]
                                                            
In September 1931, three officers of the Reichswehr were
tried at Leipzig for high treason. At the request of Hans
Frank, Hitler was invited to testify at this trial that the
NSDAP was striving to attain its goal by purely legal means.
He was asked: "How do you imagine the setting up of a Third
Reich?" His reply was, "This term only describes the basis
of the struggle but not the objective. We will enter the
legal organizations and will make our Party a decisive
factor in this
way. But when we do possess constitutional rights then we
will form the State in the manner which we consider to be
the right one." The President then asked: "This too by
constitutional means ?" Hitler replied: "Yes." (612-PS)

(c) The purpose of the Nazi conspirators in participating in
elections and in the Reichstag was to undermine the
parliamentary system of the Republic and to replace it with
a dictatorship of their own. This the Nazi conspirators
themselves made clear. Frick wrote in 1927:

     "There is no National Socialist and no racialist who
     expects any kind of manly German deed from that gossip
     club on the Koenigsplatz and who is not convinced of
     the necessity for direct action by the unbroken will of
     the German people to bring about their spiritual and
     physical liberation. But there is a long road ahead.
     After the failure of
     November, 1923, there was no choice but to begin all
     over again and to strive to bring about a change in the
     spirit and determination of the most valuable of our
     racial comrades, as the indispensable prerequisite for
     the success of the coming fight for freedom. Our
     activities in parliament must be evaluated as merely
     part of this propaganda work.
     
     "Our participation in the parliament does not indicate
     a support, but rather an undermining of the
     parliamentarian system. It does not indicate that we
     renounce our anti-parliamentarian attitude, but that we
     are fighting the enemy with his own weapons and that
     we are fighting for our National Socialist goal from
     the parliamentary platform." (2742-PS)

On 30 April 1928, Goebbels wrote in his paper "Der Angriff";

     "We enter parliament in order to supply ourselves, in
     the arsenal of democracy, with its own weapons. We
     become members of the Reichstag in order to paralyze
     the Weimar sentiment with its own assistance. If
     democracy is so stupid as to give us free tickets and
     per diem for the this "blockade" (Barendienst), that is
     its own affair."

Later in the same article he continued:

     "We do not come as friend nor even as neutrals. we come
     
                                                  [Page 202]

     as enemies: As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come." (2500-PS)

In a pamphlet published in 1935, Goebbels said:

     "When democracy granted democratic methods for us in
     the times of opposition, this was bound to happen in a
     democratic system. However, we National Socialists
     never asserted that we represented a democratic point
     of view, but we have declared openly that we used
     democratic methods only in order to gain the power and
     that, after assuming the power, we would deny to our
     adversaries without any consideration the means which
     were granted to us in the times of opposition. (2412-
     PS)

A leading Nazi writer on Constitutional Law, Ernst Rudolf
Huber, later wrote of this period:

     "The parliamentary battle of the NSDAP had the single
     purpose of destroying the parliamentary system from
     within through its own methods. It was necessary above
     all to make formal use of the possibilities of the
     party-state system but to refuse real cooperation and
     thereby to render the parliamentary system, which is by
     nature dependent upon the responsible cooperation of the
     opposition, incapable of action." (2633-PS)

The Nazi members of the Reichstag conducted themselves as a
storm troop unit. Whenever representatives of the government
or the democratic parties spoke, the Nazi members marched
out in a body in studied contempt of the speaker, or entered
in a body to interrupt the speaker, thus making it physically 
impossible for the Reichstag President to maintain order. In the 
case of speakers of opposition parties, the Nazi members constantly 
interrupted, often resorting to lengthy and spurious parliamentary
maneuvers, with the result that the schedule of the session
was thrown out of order. The tactics finally culminated in
physical attacks by the Nazis upon members of the house as
well as upon visitors. (L-83)

In a letter of 24 August 1931 to Rosenberg, Hitler deplored
an article in "Voelkscher Beobachter" the effect of which
was to prevent undermining of support for the then existing
form of government, and said: "I myself am travelling all
over Germany to achieve exactly the opposite."
(047-PS)

(d) The Nazi conspirators supported their "legal" activities
by terrorism.

     1. The Nazi conspirators created and utilized as a
     Party formation the Sturmabteilungen (SA) a semi-
     military voluntary organization of young men trained
     for and com-
     
                                                  [Page 203]
                                                            
     mitted to the use of violence, whose mission was to
     make the Party the master of the streets. The SA was
     organized in 1921. As indicated by its name, it was a
     voluntary organization of young men trained for and
     committed to the use of violence. To quote from a
     pamphlet compiled on order of the Supreme SA
     Headquarters:

     "The SA was not founded as one forms just any sort of
     club. It was born in midst of strife and received from
     the Fuehrer himself the name "Storm Troops" after that
     memorable hall battle in Hofbrauhaus at Munich on
     4 November 1921. *******Blood and sacrifice were the most
     faithful companions of the young SA on its hard path to
     power. The Storm Troops were and still are today the fist 
     and propaganda arm of the movement". (2168-PS)

It was organized along semi-military lines from the
beginning. To quote again from the same official pamphlet:

     "It is one of the greatest historical services of the
     SA that at the time when the German People's Army had
     to undergo a dissolution, it held high those virtues
     which marked the German soldier: personal courage,
     idealism, willingness to sacrifice, consciousness of
     responsibility, power to decide, and leadership. Thus,
     the SA became among the people the messenger and bearer
     of German armed strength and German armed spirit.
     
     "The 4th of November 1921 was not only the
     birth hour of the SA by itself, but was the day from
     which the young fighting troop of the Movement took its
     stand at the focal point of political events. With the
     clear recognition that now the unity (Geschlossenheit)
     of a troop led to victory, the SA was systematically
     reorganized and so-called "Centuries" (undertschaften)
     were established *******" (2168-PS)

In March 1923, Goering took command of the entire SA. In
November 1923, SA units were used in the Munich Putsch. When
the Party was reorganized in 1925, the SA continued to be
the fighting organization of the Party. Again to quote the
official pamphlet on the SA:

     "And now a fight for Germany began of such a sort as
     was never before fought. What are names, what are words
     or figures which are not indeed able to. express the
     magnitude of belief and of idealism on one side and the
     magnitude of hate on the other side.

                                                  [Page 204]

     1925: the Party lives again, and its iron spearhead is
     the SA. With it the power and meaning of the National
     Socialist movement grows. Around the central events of
     the whole Movement, the Reich Party Days, dates,
     decisions, fights and victory roll themselves into a
     long list of German men of undenying willingness to
     sacrifice."

Mastery of the streets was at all times the mission of the
SA. While discussing his ideas as to the part which this
organization should play in the political activity of his
Party, Hitler stated:

     "What we needed and still need were and are not a
     hundred or two hundred reckless conspirators, but a
     hundred thousand and a second hundred thousand fighters
     for our philosophy of life. We should not work in
     secret conventicles, but in mighty mass demonstrations,
     and it is not by dagger and poison or pistol that the
     road can be cleared for the movement but by the
     conquest of the streets. We must teach the Marxists
     that the future master of the streets is National
     Socialism, just as it will some day be the master of
     the State." (404-PS)

To quote again from the official SA pamphlet:

     "Possession of the streets is the key to power in the
     state -- for this reason the SA marched and fought. The
     public would have never 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 measure for the truth of a
     relentless criticism of the state of affairs in the
     governmental system. *******
     
     "The SA conquered for itself a place in public opinion
     and the leadership of the National Socialist Movement
     dictated to its opponents the law for quarrels. The SA
     was already a state within a state; a part of the
     future in a sad present." (2168-PS; for further
     material concerning the SA, see Section 4 of Chapter XV.)

2. The Nazi conspirators constantly used physical violence
and terror to break up meetings of political opponents, and
to suppress opposition in their own meetings. The following
facts are indicative of the methods constantly used by the
Nazi conspirators during this period: On numerous occasions 
meetings of the Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft

                                                  [Page 205]
                                                            
(Peace Society) were broken up and terrorized by shock
troops and SA units. Groups of National Socialists invaded
meetings of the society, interrupted the speaker, attempted
to attack him, and endeavored to make sufficient disturbance
so that the meetings would have to be cancelled. (L-83)

To quote once again from the official SA pamphlet:

     "*******As an example of a seemingly impossible deed,
     the 11th of February 1927 should be firmly preserved.
     It is the day on which the SA broke the Red Terror,
     with heavy sacrifice, in the hall battle at the
     Pharaoh's Hall (Pharussaelen) in Berlin, the stronghold
     of the Communists, and thereby established itself
     decisively in the capitol city of the Reich. In
     considering the badly wounded SA men, Dr. Goebbels
     coined the phrase "unknown SA Man", who silently fights
     and bleeds, obeying only his duty." (2168-PS)

In Berlin, under the leadership of Goebbels, so-called
Rollkommandos were organized for the purpose of disrupting
political meetings of all non-Nazi groups. These Roll
kommandos were charged with interrupting, making noise, and
unnerving the speaker. Finally the Nazis broke up
meetings by Rollkommando raids. In many cases, fights
resulted, during which furniture was destroyed and a number
of persons hurt. The Nazis armed themselves with blackjacks,
brass knuckles, rubber truncheons, walking sticks, and beer
bottles. After the Reichstag election of 1930, Nazi
terrorism became more overt, and from then on scarcely a day
went by when the Chief of the Security Police in Berlin did
not receive a minimum of five to ten reports, and often
more, of riots instigated by Nazis. (2955-PS)

During the campaign for the Reichstag election of 14 September
1930, Nazi conspirators made it a practice to send speakers
accompanied by many Storm Troopers to meetings of other
political parties, often physically taking over the
meetings. On one such occasion a large detachment of
Storm Troopers, some of whom were armed with pistols and
clubs, attended a meeting called by the Social Democratic
Party, succeeded in forcibly excluding everybody not in
sympathy with their views, and concluded the meeting as
their own. Such violent tactics, repeated many
times, were an integral part of the political creed of the
Nazi. (L-83)

                                                  [Page 206]

Ultimately, in Berlin, just before the Nazis seized power,
it was necessary to devote the entire Police Force to the
job of fighting the Nazis, thus leaving little time for
other Police duties. (2955-PS)

The Nazi conspirators constantly threatened their opponents
with organized reprisals and terror. During the course of
the trial of three officers of the Reichswehr for high
treason in Leipzig in September 1931, Hitler said:

     "But I may assure you that if the Nazi movement's
     struggle is successful, then there will be a Nazi Court
     of Law too, the November 1918 revolution will be
     atoned, and there'll be some heads chopped off." (2512-PS)

Frick wrote in the National Socialist Yearbook for 1930:

     "No wonder that as the situation of the entire German
     people, as well as that of the individual racial comrade, grows 
     rapidly worse, increased numbers are realizing the incompetence of the
     parliamentarian system, and no wonder that even some
     who are responsible for the present system desperately
     cry for a dictatorship. This however, will not save
     them from their fate of one day being called to account
     before a German State Tribunal." (274-PS)

On 7 October 1929, the National Socialist District leader
Terboven said in a meeting in Essen:

     "This weakness is especially known to Severing, who
     symbolizes the present State, and he intends to render
     a service to the State, which is breathing its last;
     but this too will no longer save the present corrupt
     parliamentarian system. *******But I give such a
     dictatorship only four weeks. Then the people will
     awaken, then the National Socialists will come to
     power, and then there will not be enough lamp posts in
     Germany.
     
     "The National Socialists will march into the new
     Reichstag with thirty members; then there will be black
     eyes every day in this Reichstag; thus this corrupt
     parliamentarian system will be further discredited;
     disorder and chaos will set in, and then the National
     Socialists will judge the moment to have arrived in
     which they are to seize the political power." (2513-PS)

On 18 October 1929, Frick, while discussing the Young Plan
in a meeting in Pyritz said:

                                                  [Page 207]
                                                            

     "This fateful struggle will first be taken up with the
     ballot, but this cannot continue indefinitely, for
     history has taught us that in a battle, blood must be
     shed, and iron broken. The ballot is the beginning of
     this fateful struggle. We are determined to promulgate
     by force that which we preach. Just as Mussolini
     exterminated the Marxists in Italy, so must we also
     succeed in accomplishing the same through dictatorship
     and terror." (2513-PS)

In December 1932, Frick, at that time Chairman of the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the Reichstag, stated to a
fellow member of that committee:

     "Don't worry, when we are in power we shall put all of
     you guys into concentration camps." (L-83)

4. The Nazi conspirators openly approved acts of terrorism
committed by their subordinates. On 22 August 1932, five
National Socialists were condemned to death for a murder in
the town of Potempa. Hitler wired to the condemned men:

     "My Comrades! Faced with this terrible blood sentence,
     I feel myself bound to you in unlimited faithfulness.
     Your liberty is from this moment a question of our
     honor. To fight against a Government under which such a
     thing could happen is our duty." (2532-PS; 2511-PS)

Goering, two days later sent the following telegram to the
condemned men:

     "In nameless embitterment and rage against the terror
     sentence which has struck you, I promise you, My
     Comrades, that our whole fight from now on will be for
     your freedom. You are no murderers. You have defended
     the life and the honor of your Comrades. I send to your
     families today 1,000 Marks which I have received from your 
     friends. Be courageous. More than 14,000,000 of the best Germans
     have made your interest their own." (2634-PS)
     
On 2 September 1932, the death sentences were commuted to
imprisonment for life. In 1933, after the Nazis came into
power, the five were set free (2532-PS)

Soon after coming to power the Nazi conspirators took steps
to grant a general amnesty for all unlawful acts, including
acts of violence, committed by their adherents in the course
of their struggle for power. On 21 March 1933 a decree was
promulgated, signed by von Hindenburg,

                                                  [Page 208]
                                                            
Hitler, Frick, and von Papen granting amnesty "For penal
acts committed in the national revolution of the German
People, in its preparation or in the fight for the German
soil". (059-PS)

B. Control Acquired

(1) On 30 January 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of the
German Republic.

(2 After the Reichstag fire of 28 February 1933, clauses of
the Weimar Constitution guaranteeing personal liberty an
freedom of speech, of the press, of association and
assembly, were suspended. The Weimar Constitution contained
certain guarantees as to personal freedom
(Article 114), as to inviolability of the home (Article
115), and as to the secrecy of letters and other
communications (Article 117). It also had provisions
safeguarding freedom of speech and of the press (Article
118), and of assembly (Article 123), and of association
(Article 124). The Reich President was authorized, "if
public safety and order in the German Reich are considerably
disturbed or endangered," to take steps to suspend "the
Fundamental Rights" established in Articles 114, 115, 117,
118, 123, 124, and 153. (Article 48 (2) ). (2050-PS)

On 28 February 1933, the Nazi conspirators, taking as their
excuse a fire which had just destroyed the Reichstag
building, caused to be promulgated a Decree of the Reich
President suspending the constitutional guarantee of
freedom. This decree, which purported to be an exercise of
the powers of the Reich President under Article 48 (2) of
the Constitution, and which was signed by the Reich
President, Hindenburg, the Reich Chancellor, Hitler, the
Reich Minister of the Interior, Frick, and the Reich-
Minister of Justice, Guertner, provided in part:

     "Sections 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153 of the
     Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until
     further notice. Thus, restrictions on personal liberty,
     on the right of free expression of opinion, including
     freedom of the press, on the right of assembly and the
     right of association, and violations of the privacy of
     postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications, and
     warrants for house-searchers, orders for confiscations
     as well as restrictions on property, are also
     permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise
     prescribed."

(3) The Nazi conspirators secured the passage by the
Reichstag of a "Law for the Protection of the People and the
Reich",

                                                  [Page 209]
                                                            
giving Hitler and the members of his then Cabinet plenary
powers of legislation. At the first meeting of Hitler's
Cabinet on 30 January 1933, passage of an Enabling Law
(Ermaechtigungsgesetz) was discussed, and suppression of the
Communist Party was considered as a means for securing the
majority requisite for this and other purposes. (351-PS)
Since such a law involved a change in the Constitution it
was governed by Article 76 of the Weimar Constitution which
provided: "The Constitution may be amended by law. The acts
of the Reichstag amending the Constitution can only take
effect if two-thirds of the regular number of members are
present and at least two-thirds of those present consent."
(2050-PS) At the first meeting of the Hitler Cabinet on 30
January 1933, both Hitler and Goering favored early
dissolution of the Reichstag and new elections in an effort
to achieve a. majority for the new Cabinet. (51-PS) This
course was followed and new elections for the Reichstag were
held on March 1933, at which 288 Nazis were elected out of
647 members (2514-PS).

Taking advantage of the Presidential decree of 28 February
1933 suspending constitutional guarantees of freedom,
Goering and other Nazi conspirators immediately caused a
large number of Communists, including party officials and
Reichstag deputies, and a smaller number of Social
Democratic officials and deputies to be placed in
"protective custody". (2324-PS; 2573-PS; L-83) thus all
Communist deputies and a number of Social Democratic
deputies were prevented from attending the new session of
the Reichstag. On 9 March 1933, Frick announced that the
Communists would be prevented from participating in the
first session of the Reichstag on March 21st, because of
their being more usefully occupied. (240-PS) As Frick
cynically stated:

     "When the Reichstag meets the 21st of March, the
     Communists will be prevented by urgent labor elsewhere
     from participating in the session. In concentration
     camps they will be re-educated for productive work. We
     will know how to render harmless permanently sub-humans
     who do not want to be re-educated." (2651-PS)

At a meeting of the Reich Cabinet on 15 March 1933, the
problem of securing the necessary two-thirds majority in
favor of an Enabling Act was again considered. Frick stated
his belief that the Act would have to be broadly conceived,
in a manner to allow for any deviation from the
clauses of the Constitution of the Reich. Goering thought
the two-thirds majority would be forthcoming and that if
necessary some of the Social Democrats could be excluded
from the room during the voting. (2962-PS)

                                                  [Page 210]

At a meeting of the Cabinet on 20 March 1933, there was
further discussion of means for securing the majority and
quorum necessary to secure passage of the Act (2963-PS). On
23 March, Hitler spoke in favor of an Enabling Law proposed
by the Nazi conspirators and in the course of the debate
said:

     "The Government insists on the passage of this law. It
     expects a clear decision in any case. It offers to all
     the Parties in the Reichstag the possibility of a
     peaceful development and a possible conciliation in the
     future. But it is also determined to consider a
     disapproval of this law as a declaration of resistance.
     It is up to you, gentlemen, to make the decision now.
     It will be either peace or war." (2652-PS)

Thus subject to the,full weight of Nazi pressure and terror,
the Reichstag passed the proposed law, 441 deputies voting
in its favor, and 94 Social Democrats being opposed (2579-
PS). The following day, the law was promulgated. It
provided:

     "The Reichstag has resolved the following law, which
     is, with the approval of the Reichsrat, herewith
     promulgated, after it has been established that the
     requirements have been satisfied for legislation
     altering the Constitution.
     
     "SECTION 1. Reich laws can be enacted by the Reich
     Cabinet as well as in accordance with the Procedure
     established in the Constitution. This applies also to
     the laws referred to in article 85, paragraph 2, and in
     article 87 of the Constitution.
     
     "SECTION 2. The national laws enacted by the Reich
     Cabinet may deviate from the Constitution so far as
     they do not affect the position of the Reichstag and
     the Reichsrat. The powers of the President remain
     undisturbed.
     
     "SECTION 3. The national laws enacted by the Reich
     Cabinet are prepared by the Chancellor and published in
     the Reichsgesetzblatt. They come into effect, unless
     otherwise specified, upon the day following their
     publication. Articles 68 to 77 of the Constitution do
     not apply to the laws enacted by the Reich Cabinet.
     
     "SECTION 4. Treaties of the Reich with foreign states
     which concern matters of national legislation do not re
     quire the consent of the bodies participating in
     legislation. The Reich Cabinet is empowered to issue
     the necessary provisions for the execution of these
     treaties.
     
     "SECTION 5. This law becomes effective on the day of
     its publication. It becomes invalid on April 1, 1937;
     it further
     
                                                  [Page 211]
                                                            
     becomes invalid when the present Reich Cabinet is
     replaced by another." (2001-PS)

The time limit stated in the law was twice extended by
action of the Reichstag and once by decree of Hitler. (2047-
PS; 2048-PS; 2103-PS)

On 29 June 1933, Dr. Hugenberg resigned as Reich Minister of
Economy and as Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture (51-
PS). Thereafter, other members of the Cabinet resigned from
time to time, and new members were added. The Reich Cabinet
continued to exercise, on numerous occasions the plenary
powers conferred on it by the law of 24 March 1933. (See
Section 3 of Chapter XV for further material on the Reich
Cabinet.)

(4) The Nazi conspirators caused all political parties,
except the Nazi Party, to be prohibited. After the Reichstag
fire of 27 February 1933, the organization of the Communist
Party was destroyed. On 9 March 1933, the Reich Minister of
the Interior, Frick, announced that the Communists would be
prevented from taking part in the opening of the Reichstag
on 21 March 1933, because of their seditious activity. On
26 May 1933, a law was promulgated, signed by Hitler and
Frick, providing for the confiscation of Communist property.
(2403-PS; 1396-PS)

After suspension of the Constitutional guarantees of freedom
on 28 February 1933, numerous restraints were imposed on the
Social Democratic Party, including the arrest of a number of
its leaders and Reichstag deputies. The backbone of this
Party was broken by the occupation of
the trade union buildings and the smashing of free trade
unions in May 1933. On 22 June 1933, the Social Democratic
Party was suppressed in Prussia (2403-PS). On 7 July 1933 a
Reich decree eliminated Social Democrats from the Reichstag
and from the governing bodies of Provinces and
Municipalities. (2058-PS)

On 14 July 1933, provisions of the Law of 26 May 1933
confiscating Communist property were made applicable to
assets and interests of the Social Democratic Party and its
affiliated organizations, "and also to assets and interests
which are used or destined to promote Marxist or other
activities found by the Reich Minister of the Interior to be
subversive to people and state." (1388-PS) Faced with
similar pressure, the other German Parties either dissolved
or combined with the Nazis (2403-PS).

The Nazi conspirators then promulgated a law declaring the
Nazi Party to be the only political party in Germany and
making it criminal to maintain any other political party or
to form a new

                                                  [Page 212]
                                                            
political party. This law, which was signed by Hitler, Frick
and Guertner, Provided in part:

The National Socialist German Workers Party
(Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) constitutes
the only political party in Germany.

Whoever undertakes to maintain the organizational structure
of another political party or to form a new political party
will be punished with penal servitude up to three years or
with imprisonment of from six months to three years, if the
deed is not subject to a greater penalty according to other
regulations." (1388-PS)

In a speech on 6 July 1933 Hitler stated:

     "The political parties have finally been abolished.
     This is a historical occurance, the meaning and
     implication of which one cannot yet be fully conscious
     off. Now, we must set aside the last vestige of
     democracy, particularly the methods of voting and
     making majority decisions which today are used in local
     governments, in economic organizations and in labor
     boards; in its place we must validate the
     responsibility of the individual. The achievement of
     external power must be followed by the inner-education
     of the people *******"

Later in the same speech:

     "The Party has become the State. All power lies with
     the Reich Authorities." (2632-PS)

(5) The Nazi conspirators caused the Nazi Party to be
established as a para-governmental organization with
extensive and extraordinary privileges. On 1 December 1933
the Reich Cabinet promulgated a law designed for "Securing
the Unity of the Party and State". It was signed by Hitler
and Frick, and provided:

     "Art 1
     1. After the victory of the National Socialist
     Revolution, the National Socialistic German Labor Party
     is the bearer of the concept of the German State and is
     inseparably the state.
     2. It will be a part of the public law. Its
     organization will be determined by the Fuehrer.
     "Art 2
     The deputy of the Fuehrer and the Chief of Staff of the
     SA will become members of the Reichs government in
     order to
     
                                                  [Page 213]
                                                            
     insure close cooperation of the offices of the party
     and SA with the public authorities.
     "Art 3
     1. The members of the National Socialistic German Labor
     Party and the SA (including their subordinate
     organizations) as the leading and driving force of the
     National Socialist State will bear greater
     responsibility toward Fuehrer, people and state.
     2. In case they violate these duties, they will be
     subject to special jurisdiction by party and state.
     3. The Fuehrer may extend these regulations in order to
     include members of other organizations.
     "Art 4
     Every action or neglect on the part of members of the
     SA (including their subordinate organizations)
     attacking or endangering the existence, organization,
     activity or reputation of the National Socialistic
     German Labor Party, in particular any infraction
     against
     discipline and order, will be regarded as a violation
     of duty.
     "Art 5
     Custody and arrest may be inflicted in addition to the
     usual penalties.
     "Art 6
     The public authorities have to grant legal and
     administrative assistance to he offices of the Party
     and the SA which are entrusted with the execution of
     the jurisdiction of the Party and SA.
     "Art. 7
     The law regarding the authority to inflict penalties on
     members of the SA and SS, of the 28 April 1933 (RGBl,
     p. 230), will be invalidated.
     "Art. 8
     The Reichs Chancellor, as Fuehrer of the National
     Socialistic German Labor Party and as the supreme
     commander of SA will issue the regulation necessary for
     the execution and augmentation of this law,
     particularly with respect to the organization and
     procedure of the Jurisdiction of the Party and SA. He
     will determine the time at which the regulations
     concerning this jurisdiction will be effective." (1395-
     PS)

Thus the Nazi Party became a para-governmental organization
in Germany.

The Nazi conspirators granted the Nazi Party and its
components extensive and extraordinary privileges. On 19 May
1933,

                                                  [Page 214]
                                                            
they passed a law to protect and insure respect for Party
symbols (2759-PS). On 20 December 1934 the Nazi conspirators
caused a law to be promulgated, signed by Hitler, Guertner,
Hess, and Frick, making it a crime to make false or grievous
statements to injure the prestige of the Government of the
Reich, the NSDAP, or its agencies. This law also declared it
to be a crime to wear the uniform or the insignia of the
NSDAP without authority to do so, and controlled the
manufacture and sale of Party uniforms, flags, and insignia
(1393-PS). A decree of 29 March 1935, defining the legal
status of the NSDAP and of its components and affiliated
organizations, is a further indication of the extraordinary
privileges enjoyed by the Nazi Party. (1725-PS)

           LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS
           RELATING TO ACQUISITION OF TOTALITARIAN
                      POLITICAL CONTROL
                              
Charter of the International Military Tribunal,
Article 6, especially 6 (a).  Vol I Page 5

International Military Tribunal, Indictment
Number 1, Sections IV (D) 1, 2..  Vol I Pages 17,18

[Note: A single asterisk (*) before a document indicates that the
document was received in evidence at the Nurnberg trial. A
double asterisk (**) before a document number indicates that the
document was referred to during the trial but was not formally received
in evidence, for the reason given in parentheses following the
description of the document. The USA series number, given in parentheses
following the description of the document, is the official exhibit number
assigned by the court.]

                                                  [Page 215]
                                                            
*047-PS; Letter to Rosenberg signed
by Hitler, 24 August 1931. (USA 725)  Vol III Pg 82

*351-PS; Minutes of First Meeting of
Cabinet of Hitler, 30 January 1933. (USA 389) Vol III Pg 270

*404-PS; Excerpts from Hitler, Mein
Kampf, pp. 456, 475. (USA 256) Vol III Pg 385

1388-PS; Law concerning confiscation
of Property subversive to People and State, 14 July
1933.1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 479. Vol III Pg 962

1388-A-PS; Law against the
establishment of Parties, 14 July 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 479. Vol III Pg. 962

1390-PS; Decree of the Reich
President for the Protection of the People and State, 28
February 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 83  Vol
III Pg 968

1393-PS; Law on treacherous attacks
against State and Party, and for the Protection of Party
Uniforms, 20 December 1934. 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I,
p. 1269

*1395-PS; Law to insure the unity of
Party and State, 1 December 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 1016. (GB 252)  Vol III Pg 978

1396-PS; Law concerning the
confiscation of Communist property, 26 May 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 293. Vol III Pg 979

17250-PS; Decree enforcing law for
securing the unity of Party and State, 29 March 1935. 1935
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 502.  Vol IV Pg 224

2001-PS; Law to Remove the Distress
of People and State, 24 March 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 141. Vol IV Pg 638
                                                  [Page 216]
                                                            
2047-PS; Law for the extension of the
law concerning the removal of the distress of People and
Reich, 30 January 1937. 1937 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p.
105. Vol IV Pg. 660

2048-PS; Law for the extension of the
law concerning the removal of the distress of the People and
Reich, 30 January 1939. 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p.
95. Vol IV Pg 660

2050-PS; The Constitution of the
German Reich, 11 August 1919. 1919 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part
I, p. 1383. Vol. IV Pg. 662

2058-PS; Decree for the securing of
the State Leadership, 7 July 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 462. Vol. IV Pg. 669

2059-PS; Decree of the Reich President relating to
the granting of Amnesty, 21 March 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 134. Vol. IV Pg. 701

2103-PS; Decree of Fuehrer on Cabinet
Legislation, 10 May 1943. 1943 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p.
295. Vol IV Pg. 729

*2168-PS; Book by SA Sturmfuehrer Dr.
Ernst Bayer, entitled "The SA", depicting the history, work,
aim and organization of the SA. (USA 411)  Vol .IV Pg. 772

*2324-PS; Extracts from
Reconstruction of a Nation, by Hermann Goering, 1934. (USA
233) Vol. IV Pg. 1033

2403-PS; The End of the Party State,
from Documents of German Politics, Vol. I, pp. 55-56. Vol. V
Pg. 71

2404-PS; Report of Hitler's speech in
his own defense, published in The Hitler Trial (1934) Vol V
Pg. 73

2405-PS; Extracts from German.
Publications. Vol V Pg. 79

2412-PS; Extracts from Nature and
Form of National Socialism pamphlet by Dr. Joseph Goebbels,
Berlin, 1935. Vol V Pg 88

2500-PS; "What do we want in the
Reichstag?" one of Goebbels newspaper articles. Vol V Pg 237

2511-PS; Statement by Hitler from
Voelkischer Beobachter, 24 August 1932. Vol. V Pg. 246

2512-PS; Hitler's Testimony Before
the Court for High Treason, published in Frankfurter
Zeitung, 26 September 1931. Vol. V Pg. 246

*2513-PS; Extract from The National
Socialist Workers' Party as an Association Hostile to State
and to Republican Form of Government and Guilty of
Treasonable Activity. (USA 235) Vol. V Pg. 252

2514-PS; Extract from Statistical
Yearbook of the German Reich 1933, concerning elections in
the Reichstag. Vol. V. Pg. 253

2532-PS; Extract from The Third
Reich, by Gerd Ruehle. Vol. V. Pg. 268

2573-PS; Announcement of Official Prussian Press
Office, in Frankfurter Zeitung, 1 March 1933. Vol. V. Pg.
303

2579-PS; Extracts from the
Frankfurter Zeitung, 24 March 1933, concerning happenings 23
March. Vol. V. Pg. 303

2632-PS; Extracts from The National
Socialist Revolution 1933, published in Berlin 1935. Vol V.
Pg 343

2633-PS; Extracts from Constitutional
Law of the Greater German Reich, 1939. Vol. V Pg. 344

2634-PS; Goering to the Condemned,
published in Voelkischer Beobachter, 26 August 1932. Vol. V.
Pg. 344

2651-PS; Statement by Frick from
Voelkischer Beobachter, 14 March 1933. Vol. V Pg. 359

                                                  [Page 218]

2652-PS; Speech of Hitler to
Reichstag, 23 March 1933, from Voelkischer Beobachter, 24
March 1933. Vol. V Pg. 359

2741-PS; Speech by Hitler on 9
November 1934, published in Voelkischer Beobachter, 10
November 1934. Vol. V. Pg. 382

2742-PS; Passage written by Frick in
National Socialist Yearbook, 1927, p. 124. Vol. V. Pg. 833

2743-PS; Passage written by Frick in
National Socialist Yearbook, 1930, p. 178. Vol. V Pg. 383

2759-PS; Law for the protection of
Nationalist Symbols, 19 May 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 285. Vol. V. Pg. 394

*2955-PS; Affidavit of Magnus
Heimannsberg, 14 November 1945, referring to SA and other
Nazi groups posted at polling places. (USA 755) Vol. V Pg.
659

*2962-PS; Minutes of meeting of Reich
Cabinet, 15 March 1933. (USA 578). Vol. V Pg. 669

*2963-PS: Minutes of meeting of Reich
Cabinet, 20 March 1933. (USA 656). Vol. V Pg. 670

*3054-PS; "The Nazi Plan", script of
a motion picture composed of captured German film. (USA 167)
Vol. V Pg 801

*3740-PS; Affidavit of Franz Halder,
6 March 1946. (USA 779). Vol. VI Pg. 635

*L-83; Affidavit of Gerhart H. Seger,
21 July 1945. (USA 234) Vol. VII Pg. 859

3.CONSOLIDATION OF TOTALITARIAN POLITICAL CONTROL

Between the Accession to Power (early 1933) and the Outbreak
of the War (late 1939) the Nazi Conspirators Consolidated
Their Control of Germany by Utilizing and Molding Its
Political machinery to Their Own Ends.
                                                  [Page 219]
                                                            
A. The Nazi conspirators reduced the Reichstag to an
impotent body of their of appointees. Under the Weimar
Constitution of the German Reich, adopted by the German
people on 11 August 1919, the Reichstag was a representative
parliamentary body with broad legislative powers.
Article 20 provided that the Reichstag should be "composed
of the delegates of the German people." Article 68 of the
Chapter on Legislation provided that:

"Bills are introduced by the government of the Reich or by
members of the Reichstag. Reich laws shall be enacted by the
Reichstag." (2050-PS)

In Mein Kampf Hitler stated the conspirators' purpose to
undermine the Reichstag:

     "Our young movement in essence and structure is anti-
     parliamentarian, i.e., it rejects majority voting as a
     matter of principle as well as in its own organization
     *******Its participation in the activities of a
     parliament has only the purpose to contribute to its
     destruction, to the elimination of an institution which
     we consider as one of the gravest symptoms of decay of
     mankind *******" (288-PS).

With the passage of the Law for the Protection of the People
and the Reich (also known as the Enabling Act) the Nazi
succeeded, in effect, in depriving the Reichstag of its
legislative functions. The legislative as well as the
executive powers of the government were concentrated in
Hitler and the Cabinet (2001-PS; the legislative activities
of the Cabinet (Reichsregierung) and its power to contravene
constitutional limitations are treated in Section 3 of
Chapter XV).

During the period from March 1933 until the beginning of
1937, the Reichstag enacted only four laws: The
Reconstruction Law of 30 January 1934 and the three Nurnberg
laws of 15 September 1935. The Reichstag was retained
chiefly as a sounding board for Hitler's speeches. All other
legislation was enacted by the Cabinet, by the Cabinet
ministers, or by decree of the Fuehrer (2481-PS). Hess has
admitted the lack of importance of the Reichstag in the
legislative process after 1933. (2426-PS)

Hitler indicated in a 1939 decree that the Reichstag would
be permitted to enact only such laws as he, in his own
judgment, might deem appropriate for Reichstag legislation.
(2018-PS)

Immediately after the Nazis acquired the control of the
central government they proceeded systematically to
eliminate their opponents. First they forced all other
political parties to dissolve, and on 14 July 1933 issued a
decree making illegal the existence of any political party
except the Nazi Party. (1388-PS)

                                                  [Page 220]
                                                            
In early 1935 there were 661 delegates in the Reichstag. Of
this number 641 were officially registered as Nazi party
members and the remaining 20 were classified as "guests"
(Gaeste). (2384-PS; 2380-PS)

B. The Nazi conspirators curtailed the freedom of popular
elections throughout Germany. Under the Weimar Republic
there existed constitutional and legislative guarantees of
free popular elections. The Weimar Constitution guaranteed
the universal, equal and secret ballot and proportional
representation. (2050-PS) These general principles were
implemented by the provisions of the Reich Election Law of
1924, particularly with respect to the multiple party system
and the functioning of proportional representation. (2382-
PS)

In Mein Kampf Hitler stated the conspirators' purpose to
subvert the system of popular election:

     "Majority can never replace men. *******The political
     understanding of the masses is not sufficiently
     developed to produce independently specific political
     convictions and to select persons to represent them."
     (2883-PS)

The occasional national elections after 1933 were
formalities devoid of freedom of choice. Bona fide elections
could not take place under the Nazi system. The basic
ideological doctrine of the Fuehrerprinzip (Leadership
Principle) dictated that all subordinates must be appointed
by their superiors- in the governmental hierarchy. In order
to insure the practical application of this principle the
Nazis immediately liquidated all other political parties and
provided criminal sanctions against the formation of new
parties. (For further discussion see Section 2 on the
Acquisition of Totalitarian Political Control.)

Although the Reichstag, unlike all other elective assemblies
in Germany, was allowed to continue in existence, elections
no longer involved a free choice between lists or
candidates. At these elections there were usually large
bands of uniformed Nazis surrounding the polls and
intimidating the voters. (2955-PS)

The surreptitious marking of ballots (e.g. with skimmed
milk) wa also customary, to ascertain the identity of the
persons who cast "No" or invalid votes. (R-142)

Although it had already become practically impossible to
have more than one list of candidates, it was specifically
provided by law in 1938 that only one list was to be
submitted to the electorate: (2355-PS)

By the end of this period, little of substance remained in
the election law. In an official volume published during the
war there

                                                  [Page 221]
                                                            
are reprinted the still effective provisions of the law of
1924. The majority of the substantive provisions have been
marked "obsolete" (gegenstandslos) (2381-PS).

The comprehensive Nazi program for the centralization of
German government included in its scope the whole system of
regional and local elections, which soon ceased to exist.
Article 17 of the Weimar Constitution had required a
representative form of government and universal, secret
elections in all Laender and municipalities (2050-PS). Yet
in early 1934, the sovereign powers (Hoheitsrechte) of the
Laender were transferred by law to the Reich, and the Land
governments were placed under the Reich control:

"The popular assemblies (Volksvertretngen) of the Laender
shall be abolished." (2006-PS)

Pursuant to the German Communal Ordinance of 30 January
1935, the mayors and executive officers of all
municipalities received their appointments "through the
confidence of Party and State" (Article 6 (2)). Appointments
were made by Reich authorities from lists prepared by the
Party delegates (Article 41). City councillors were selected
by the Party delegates in agreement with the mayors (Article
51 (1)). (2008-PS)

C. The Nazi conspirators transformed the states, provinces,
and municipalities into what were, in effect, mere
administrative organs of the central government. Under the
Weimar Constitution of the pre-Nazi regime, the states,
provinces, and municipalities enjoyed considerable autonomy
in the exercise of governmental functions -- legislative,
executive and judicial. (2050-PS)

Hitler, in Mein Kampf, stated the conspirators' purpose to
establish totalitarian control of local government:

     "National Socialism, as a matter of principle, must
     claim the right to enforce its doctrines, without
     regard to present federal boundaries, upon the entire
     German nation and to educate it in its ideas and its
     thinking. *******The National Socialist doctrine is not
     the servant of political interests of individual
     federal states but shall become the ruler of the German
     nation." (2883-PS)

These views were echoed by Rosenberg:

     "In the midst of the great power constellations of the
     globe t here must be, for foreign as well as for
     internal political reasons, only one strong central
     national authority, if one wants Germany to regain a
     position which makes it fit for alliance with other
     countries."
     (2882-PS)

                                                  [Page 222]
                                                            
By a series of laws and decrees, the Nazi conspirators
reduced the powers of the regional and local governments and
substantially transformed them into territorial subdivisions
of the Reich government. The program of centralization began
almost immediately after the Nazis acquired the chief
executive posts of the government. On 31 March 1933, they
promulgated the provisional Law integrating the Laender with
the Reich (2004-PS). This law called for the dissolution of
all state and local self governing bodies and for their
reconstitution according to
the number of votes cast for each party in the Reichstag
election of 5 March 1933. The Communists and their
affiliates were expressly denied representation.

A week later there followed the Second Law Integrating the
Laender with the Reich (2005-PS). This Act established the
position of Reich Governor. He was to be appointed by the
President upon the proposal of the Chancellor, and was given
power to appoint the members of the Land
governments and the higher Land officials and judges, the
authority to reconstruct the Land legislature according to
the law of 31 March 1933 (2004-PS, supra), and the power of
pardon.

On 31 January 1934, most of the remaining vestiges of Land
independence were destroyed by the Law for the
Reconstruction of the Reich:

     "The popular referendum and the Reichstag election of
     12 November 1933, have proved that the German people
     have attained an indestructible internal unity
     (unloesliche mere Enheit) superior to all internal
     subdivisions of political character. Consequently, the
     Reichstag has enacted the following law which is hereby
     promulgated with the unanimous vote of the Reichstag
     after ascertaining that the requirements of the Reich
     Constitution have been met:
     
     Article I. Popular assemblies of the Laender shall be
     abolished.
     
     Article II. (1) The sovereign powers (Hohetsrechte) of
     the Laender are transferred to the Reich.
     
     (2) The Laender governments are placed under the Reich
     government.
     
     Article III. The Reich governors are placed under the
     administrative supervision of the Reich Minister of
     Interior.
     
     Article IV. The Reich Government may issue new
     constitutional laws."

This law was implemented by a regulation, issued by Frick,
providing that all Land laws must have the assent of the
competent

                                                  [Page 223]
                                                            
Minister of the Reich, that the highest echelons of the Land
Government were to obey the orders of the competent Reich
Minister, and that the employees of the Laender might be
transferred into the Reich Civil Service. (1653-PS)

The Reichsrat (Reich Council) was abolished by law on 14
February 1934, and all official representation on the part
of the Laender in the administration of the central
government was at an end (2647-PS). The legislative pattern
was complete with the enactment of the Reich
Governor Law on 30 January 1935, which solidified the system
of centralized control. The Reich Governor was declared to
be the official representative of the Reich government, who
was to receive orders directly from Hitler
(Reichstatthaltergesetz (Reich Governor Law), 30 January
1935, 1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 65). The same
development was apparent in the provinces, the territorial
subdivisions of Prussia. All local powers were concentrated
in the Provincial Presidents, who acted solely as
representatives of the national administration
(2049-PS). Similarly, in the case of the municipalities
local self-government was quickly reduced to a minimum and
communal affairs were placed under central Reich control.
The Nazi Party Delegate was given special functions:

     "*******in order to insure harmony between the communal
     administration and the Party." (Art. 6 (2)).

The Reich was given supervision over the municipalities:

     "*******in order to insure that their activities conform
     with the laws and the aims of national leadership."
     (2008-PS)

The Nazi conspirators frequently boasted of their
comprehensive program of government centralization. Frick,
Minister of the Interior throughout this period, wrote:

     "The reconstruction law abolished the sovereign rights
     and the executive powers of the Laender and made the
     Reich the sole bearer of the rights of sovereignty. The
     supreme powers of the Laender do not exist any longer.
     The natural result of this was the subordination of the
     Land governments to the Reich government and the Land
     Ministers to the corresponding Reich Ministers. On
     30 January 1934, the German Reich became one state. (2481-PS)

In another article Frick indicated even more clearly the
purposes which underlay this program of
centralization:

     "In the National Socialist revolution of 1933, it was
     stipulated for the first time in the history of the
     German nation that the erection of a unified state
     (Einhetsstaat) would be accomplished. From the early
     days of his political activity,
     
                                                  [Page 224]
     
     Adolf Hitler never left a doubt in the mind of anyone
     that he considered it the-first duty of National
     Socialism to create a German Reich in which the will of
     the people would be led in a single direction and that
     the whole strength of the nation, at home and abroad,
     would be placed on the balance scale." (2380-PS; 2378-
     PS.)

D. The Nazi conspirators united the offices of President and
Chancellor in the person of Hitler. The merger of the two
offices was accomplished by the law of 1 August 1934, signed
by the entire cabinet (2003-PS). The official Nazi statement
concerning the effect of this statute contains this
observation:

     "Through this law, the conduct of Party and State has
     been combined in one hand. *******He is responsible only
     to his own conscience and to the German nation." (1893-
     PS)

One of the significant consequences of this law was to give
to Hitler the supreme command of the German armed forces,
always a prerequisite of the Presidency (2050-PS).
Accordingly, every soldier was immediately required to take
an oath of loyalty and obedience to Hitler. (2061-PS)

E. The Nazi conspirators removed great numbers of civil
servants on racial and political grounds and replaced them
with party members and supporters.

Hitler publicly announced the conspirator's purpose:

     "We know that two things alone will save us: the end of
     internal corruption and the cleaning out of all those
     who owe their existence simply to the protection of
     members of the same political parties. Through the most
     brutal ruthlessness towards all officials installed by
     those political parties we must restore our finances. 
     *******The body of German officials must once more become what it was."
     (2881-PS)

The Nazi legislative machine turned to the task of purging
the civil service soon after the accession to power. On 7
April 1933, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional
Civil Service was promulgated (1397-PS). Article 3 of this
law applies the Nazi blood theories:

     "(1) Officials who are not of Aryan descent are to be
     retired (See Section 8); where honorary officials are
     concerned, they are to be discharged from office.
     
     (2) (1) Does not apply to officials who have been in
     service since 1 August 1914, or who fought in the World
     War at the front for the German Reich or for its allies
     or whose fathers or sons were killed in the World War.
     The Reich Minister
     
                                                  [Page 225]
     
     of the Interior after consultation with the competent
     Minister or with the highest state authorities may
     permit further exceptions in the case of officials who
     are in foreign countries."

Article 8 provides that retirement does not carry a pension
unless the official has served at least ten years. The
political purge provision of this law is contained in
Article 4:

     "Officials who because of their previous political
     activity do not offer security that they will exert
     themselves for the national state without reservations,
     may be discharged. For three months after dismissal,
     they will be paid their former salary. From this time
     on they receive three-quarters of their pensions (see
     8) and corresponding annuities for their heirs.''

The provisions of the Act apply to all Reich, Land, and
Communal officials (Art. 1 (2) ). Civil Servants may be
placed on the retired list without any reason, "for the
purpose of simplifying the administration" (Art. 6). Discharges 
and transfers, once decided on by the appropriate administrative chief, are
final and are not subject to appeal (Art. 7 (1)).

This basic enactment was followed by a series of decrees,
regulations, and amendments. For example, on 11 April 1933, the
term "non-Aryan" was defined to include persons with only
one non-Aryan grandparent (2012-PS). An amendatory law of 30
June ruled out all civil servants married to non-Aryans.
(1400-PS)

The political standards of the "Purge Law" were made more
explicit by the supplementary law of 20 July 1933. Officials
who belonged to any party or organization which, in the
opinion of the Nazis, furthered the aims of Communism,
Marxism, or Social Democracy were summarily to be
discharged (1398-PS). In the later years, these earlier
provisions were enlarged and codified, No longer solely for
the purposes of affecting the existing civil service, but
rather to set out the qualifications for the appointment of
new applicants and for their promotion. Proof of devotion to
National Socialism and documentary proof of acceptable
"blood" were prescribed as conditions to promotion. (2326-
PS)

The comprehensive German Civil Service Law of 26 January 1937
included the discriminatory provisions of the earlier
legislation, and prevented the appointment of any applicants
opposed r suspected of being opposed to the Nazi program and
policy (2340-PS). The legislation dealing with the training
and education of civil servants provided that no person can
be accepted for

                                                  [Page 226]

an official position unless he is a member of the Nazi Party
or one of its formations (Glederungen). (2341-PS)

The total subjugation of the German civil servant was
ultimately accomplished by the following resolution passed
by the Reichstag at the request of the Fuehrer.

     "*******without being bound by existing legal
     provisions, the Fuehrer must therefore in his capacity
     as Fuehrer of the nation, as commander-in-chief of the
     Armed Forces, as Head of the Government and as the
     highest bearer of all power, as highest Law Lord and as
     Fuehrer of the Party, always be in a position to
     require every German -- whether a simple soldier or
     officer, subordinate or higher official, or judge,
     supervisory or operating functionary of the Party,
     laborer or employer to carry out his duties with all
     the means available to him and to discharge these
     duties according to a conscientious examination
     without reference to so-called vested rights,
     especially without the preambles of pre-existing
     procedure, by removal of any man from his office, rank
     or position." (2755-PS)

F. The Nazi conspirators restricted the independence of the
judiciary and rendered it subservient to their ends.

The independence of judges, before the Nazi regime, was
guaranteed by the Weimar Constitution. The fundamental
principle was stated briefly in Article 102:

     "Judges are independent and subject only to the law."
     (2050-PS)

Article 104 contained a safeguard against the arbitrary
removal or suspension of judges, while Article 105
prohibited "exceptional courts". The fundamental rights of the 
individual are set out in Article 109 and include equality 
before the law. (2050-PS)

Like all other public officials, German judges who failed to
meet Nazi racial and political requirements became the
subject of a wide-spread purge. Non-Aryans, political
opponents of the Nazis, and all persons suspected of
antagonism to the aims of the Party were summarily
removed (2967-PS). The provisions of the Law for the
Restoration of Professional Civil Service of 7 April 1933
applied to all judges. This was declared expressly in the
third regulation for the administration of the law. (2867-
PS)

To make certain that cases with political ramifications
would be dealt with acceptably and in conformity with Party
principles, the Nazis granted designated areas of criminal
jurisdiction to the so-called Special Courts (Sondergerhte).
These constituted

                                                  [Page 227]

a new system of special criminal courts, independent of the
regular judiciary and directly subservient to the Party
(2076-PS). A later decree considerably broadened the
jurisdiction of these -courts. (2056-PS)

In 1934, the People's Court was set up as a trial court "in
cases of high treason and treason" (2014-PS). This action
was a direct result of the dissatisfaction of the Nazi
rulers with the decision of the Supreme Court (Rechsgercht)
in the Reichstag fire trial. Three of the four
defendants were acquitted although the Nazi conspirators had
expected convictions in all cases (2967-PS). The law which
created this new tribunal contained a wide definition of
treason which would include most of what were regarded by
the Nazis as "political" crimes (Art. 3 (1)). The express
denial of any appeal from the decisions of the People's
Court (Art. (2)) was a further indication of the intention
of the Nazis to set up a criminal law system totally outside
of accepted judicial pattern. The substantive organization of the
People's Court was later established by law in 1936. (2342-PS)

These new tribunals were staled almost exclusively with
Nazis and were used to tighten the Party's grip on Germany.
This control became progressively stronger, due first, to
the power of the prosecutor to pick the appropriate court;
second, to the restriction of defense counsel in these
courts to specially admitted attorneys; and finally, to the
absence of appeal from the decisions of these judges.
Moreover, there developed along side of the entire judicial
system the increasingly powerful police administration,
under which persons opposed to the regime were regularly
imprisoned in concentration camps without any type of
hearing, even after acquittal by the courts. (2967-PS)

Still another group of courts was established within the
Party itself. These Party Courts heard cases involving
internal party discipline and infractions of the rules of
conduct prescribed for members of formations and affiliated
organizations. The published rules for the Party judges
emphasized the complete dependence of these judges upon the
directions and supervision of their Party superiors. (2402-PS)

The Nazi legal theorists freely admitted that there was no
place in their scheme of things for the truly independent
judge. They controlled all judges through special directives
and orders from the central government. Frank underscored
the role of the judge as a political functionary and as an
administrator in the National Socialist state (2378-PS). Two
case histories of this period serve to illustrate the manner
in which criminal proceedings were directly suppressed or
otherwise affected by order of the Reich government.

                                                  [Page 228]
                                                            

In 1935, the Reich Governor of Saxony, Mutschmann, attempted
to quash criminal proceedings which, in this exceptional
instance, had been brought against officials of the
Hohnstein concentration camp for a series of extremely
brutal attacks upon inmates. The trial was held and
the defendants convicted, but during the trial the governor
inquired of the presiding judge whether he did not think the
penalty proposed by the prosecutor too severe and whether an
acquittal was not indicated. After the conviction, two
jurymen were ousted from the NSDAP and the prosecutor was
advised by his superior to withdraw from the SA. Although
Guertner, the then Minister of Justice, strongly recommended
against taking any action to alter the decision, Hitler
pardoned all the accused. (783-PS; 784-PS; 785-PS; 786-PS)

In another similar case, Guertner wrote directly to Hitler
narrating the horrible details of maltreatment and advising
that the case be regularly prosecuted. Nevertheless, Hitler
ordered complete suppression of the proceedings. (787-PS;
788-PS)

Under the Nazi regime, it was part of the official duty of
many Party functionaries to supervise the administration of
justice. The official papers of Hess contain detailed
statements concerning his own functions and those of the
Gauleiter in deciding criminal cases. (2639-PS)

Another type of governmental interference in judicial
matters is evidenced by the confidential letter which the
Ministry of Justice sent in early 1938 to the Chief Justices
of the Regional Supreme Courts
(Oberlandesgerichtspraesidenten). The judges were instructed
to submit lists of lawyers who would be sufficiently able and
trustworthy to represent in court persons who had been taken
into "protective custody". The main requirement was absolute
political reliability.  Simple Party membership was not enough; to 
be selected, the lawyer had to enjoy the confidence of the 
"Gestapo". (651-PS)

After the war began, Thierack, Minister of Justice, revealed
the low state to which the judiciary had fallen under Nazis
rule. He argued that the judge was not the "supervisor" but
the "assistant" of the government. He said that the word
"independent", as applied to the judge, was to be eliminated
from the vocabulary and that although the judge should
retain a certain freedom of decision in particular cases,
the government "can and must" give him the "general line" to follow.
For this purpose, Thierack decided in 1942 to send
confidential Judge's Letters (Richterbriefe) to all German
judges and prosecutors, setting forth the political
principles and directives with which all judicial personnel

                                                  [Page 229]
                                                            
were obligated to comply (2482-PS). The first of these
Judge's Letters clearly expresses the complete subordination
of the judges to the Fuehrer and his government. (D-229)

G. The Nazi conspirators greatly enlarged existing State and
Party organizations and established an elaborate network of
new formations and agencies.

The totalitarian character of the Nazi regime led to the
establishment of a great number of new official and semi-
official agencies and organizations in the various fields of
life which were permeated by Nazi doctrine and practice,
including culture, trade, industry, and agriculture.

New agencies had to be created to handle the large number of
additional administrative tasks taken over from the Laender
and the municipalities. Moreover, the mobilization of the
political, economic, and military resources of Germany
required the formation of such
coordinating "super-agencies" as the Four Year Plan, the
Plenipotentiary for Economics. the Plenipotentiary for
Administration? and the Ministerial Council for the Defense
of the Reich. At the time of the launching of war, the
central Reich government was an extremely complicated
structure held together under strict Nazi dictatorship. (See
Chart Number 18; also 2261-PS; 2194-PS; 2018-PS.)

Simultaneously, in the Party, the growth of agencies and or
organizations proceeded rapidly. The Party spread, octopus-
like, throughout all Germany and into many foreign lands.
(See Chart Number 1; also 1725-PS.)

This process of growth was summed up late in 1937 in an
official statement of the Party Chancellery:

     "In order to control the whole German nation in all
     spheres of life, the NSDAP, after assuming power, set
     up under its leadership the new Party formations and
     affiliated organizations." (2383-PS)

H. The Nazi conspirators created a dual system of government
controls, set up Party agencies to correspond with State
agencies, and coordinated their activities, often by uniting
corresponding State and Party offices in a single person.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler announced the conspirators' purpose

     "Such a revolution can and will only be achieved by a
     movement which itself is already organized in the
     spirit of such ideas and thus in itself already bears
     the coming state. Therefore, the National Socialist
     movement may today become imbued with these ideas and
     put them into practice in its own
     
                                                  [Page 230]
                                                            
     organization so that it not only may direct the state
     according to the same principles, but also may be in a
     position to put at the state's disposal the finished
     organizational structure of its own state." (2883-PS)

The Nazis attempted to achieve a certain degree of identity
between the Party and the State and, at the same time, to
maintain two separate organizational structures. After the
rise to power, the fundamental principle of unity was
translated into "law":

     "Article 1. After the victory of the National
     Socialistic Revolution, the National Socialistic German
     Labor Party is the bearer of the concept of the German
     State and is inseparably the state." (1395-PS)

The manner in which the Nazis retained a duality of
organization despite the theory of unity is graphically
portrayed in the charts of the Party and the State (Charts
Number 1 and 18). These visual exhibits demonstrate the
comprehensive character of the Party organization, which was
established on parallel lines with the corresponding
government structure. The Party structure remained at all
times technically separate and could be used for non-
governmental purposes
whenever such use best served the needs of the conspirators.
In innumerable instances, the corresponding Party and State
offices were, in fact, held by the same person. For example,
the Gauleiter of the Party in most instances also held the
post of Reich Governor (or, in Prussia, that of Provincial
President). (2880-PS)

The coordination of the Party and State functions started at
the top. The Chief of the Party Chancellery was designated a
Reich Minister and endowed with plenary powers in the
preparation and approval of legislation. He acted as liaison
officer at the highest level between
Party officials and cabinet ministers. He was given also the
duty of passing on the appointment of all the more important
civil servants. (2787-PS)

Many of the same powers were bestowed upon the other
Rechsleiter (Leaders composing the Party Directorate). The
official Nazi exposition of their position is as follows:

     "It is in the Reich Directorate where the strings of
     the organization of the German people and the State
     meet. By endowment of the Chief of the Party
     Chancellery with the powers of a Reich Minister, and by
     special administrative directives, the penetration of
     the State apparatus with the political will of the
     Party is guaranteed. It is the task of the separate
     organs of the Reich Directorate to maintain as close a
     contact as possible with the life of the nation through
     their
     
                                                  [Page 231]
                                                            
     sub-offices in the Gaus. Observations at the front are
     collected and exploited by the offices of the Reich
     Directorate." (1893-PS)

On the regional and local levels, the Gauleiter,
Kreisleiter, were also empowered to control the purely
governmental authorities on political matters. Hess issued
the following order shortly after the war began:

     "I, therefore order that the bearer of sovereignty
     (Hoheitstraeger) of the NSDAP (Gauleiter, Kreisleter,
     Ortsgruppenleiter) in the scope of his authority is
     responsible for the political leadership and the frame
     of mind (Stimmung) of population. It is his right and
     his duty to take or to cause to be taken any measures
     necessary for the expeditious fulfillment of his
     political duties and for the elimination of wrong
     within the Party. He is exclusively responsible to his
     superior bearers of sovereignty (Hoheitstraeger)."
     (2383-PS)

In the later years, the functional coordination of Party and
State offices became much more common. The appointment of
Himmler as Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police
is a typical example of the way in which State and Party
functions became inextricably merged so as to render any
clean lines of demarcation impossible.

                                                  [Page 232]

Charter of the International Military Tribunal,
Article 6, especially 6(a). Vol I Pg 5

International Military Tribunal, Indictment
Number 1, Section IV(D)3(a). Vol I Pg 18

[Note: A single asterisk (***) before a document indicates
that the document was received in evidence at the Nurnberg
trial. A double asterisk (******) before a document number
indicates that the document was referred to during the trial
but was not formally received in evidence, for the reason
given in parentheses following the description of the
document. The USA series number, given in parentheses
following the description of the document, is the official
exhibit number assigned by the court.]

***651-PS; Confidential circular signed
by Schlegeberger, 31 January 1938, concerning representation
by Counsel of Inmates of concentration camps. (USA 730) Vol
III P. 466

***783-PS; Letter from Guertner to
Mutschmann, 18 January 1935, concerning charges against
members of camp personnel of protective custody Camp
Hahnstein. (USA 731) Vol III P 558

***784-PS; Letters from Minister of
Justice to Hess and SA Chief of Staff, 5 June 1935,
concerning penal proceedings

                                                  [Page 233]
                                                            
against merchant and SA leader and 22 companions because of
inflicting bodily injury on duty. (USA 732) Vol III P 559

***785-PS; Memorandum of Guertner
concerning legal proceedings against the camp personnel of
concentration camp Hahnstein. (USA 733) V III P 564

***786-PS; Minister of Justice
memorandum, 29 November 1935, concerning pardon of those
sentenced in connection with mistreatment in Hohnstein
concentration camp. (USA-734) V III P 568

***787-PS; Memorandum to Hitler from
Public Prosecutor of Dresden, 18 June 1935, concerning
criminal procedure against Vogel on account of bodily injury
while in office. (USA 421) V III P 568

***788-PS; Letters from Secretary of
State to the Minister of Justice, 25 June 1935 and 9
September 1935, concerning criminal procedure against Vogel.
(USA 735)  V. III P. 571

1388-PS; Law concerning confiscation
of Property subversive to People and State, 14 July 1933.
1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 479. V. III P. 962

***1395-PS; Law to insure the unity of
the Party and State, 1 December 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 1016. V. III P. 978

1397-PS; Law for the Reestablishment
of the Professional Civil Service, 7 April 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 175. V. III P. 981

1398-PS; Law to supplement the Law
for the Restoration of the Professional

                                                  [Page 234]
                                                            
Civil Service, 20 July 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I,
p. 518.  V. III P.986

1400-PS; Law changing the regulations
in regard to public officer, 30 June 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 433. V. III P.987

1653-PS; First regulation concerning
the reconstruction of the Reich, 2 February 1934. 1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 81. V. IV P. 162

1725-PS; Decree enforcing law for
securing the unity of Party and State, 29 March 1935. 1935
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 502. V. IV P. 224

***1893-PS; Extracts from Organization
Book of the NSDAP, 1943 edition. (USA 323) V. IV P. 529

2001-PS; Law to Remove the Distress
of People and State, 24 March 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 141. V. IV P.638

2003-PS; Law concerning the Sovereign
Head of the German Reich, 1 August 1934. 1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 747. V. IV P.639

2004-PS; Preliminary law for the
coordination of Federal States under the Reich, 31 March
1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 153. V. IV P.640

2005-PS; Second law integrating the
"Laender" with the Reich, 7 April 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 173. V. IV P.641

2006-PS; Law for the reconstruction
of the Reich, 30 January 1934. 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part
I, p. 75. V. IV P. 642

2008-PS; German Communal Ordinance,
30 January 1935. 1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 49. V.
IV P. 643

                                                  [Page 235]

2012-PS; First regulation for
administration of the law for the restoration of
professional Civil Service, 11 April 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 195. V. IV P.647

2014-PS; Law amending regulations of
criminal law and criminal procedure, 24 April 1934. 1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 341. V. IV P. 648

***2018-PS; Fuehrer's decree
establishing a Ministerial Council for Reich Defense, 30
August 1939. 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 1539. (GB
250) V. IV P. 650

2049-PS; Second Decree concerning the
reconstruction of the Reich, 27 November 1934. 1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 1189. V. IV P. 661

2050-PS; The Constitution of the
German Reich, 11 August 1919. 1919 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part
I, p. 1383. V. IV P. 662

2056-PS; Decree concerning the
extension of the Jurisdiction of Special Courts, 20 November
1938. 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 1632. V. IV P. 698

2061-PS; Oath of Reich Officials and
of German Soldiers, 20 August 1934. 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 785. V. IV P. 702

2073-PS; Decree concerning the
appointment of a Chief of German Police in the Ministry of
the Interior, 17 June 1936. 1936 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I,
p. 487. V. IV P. 703

2076-PS; Decree of the Government
concerning formation of Special Courts, 21 March 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, pp. 136-137.  V. IV P.705

                                                  [Page 236]

***2194-PS; Top secret letter from
Ministry for Economy and Labor, Saxony, to Reich Protector
in Bohemia and Moravia, enclosing copy of 1938 Secret
Defense Law of 4 September 1938. (USA 36). V. IV P. 843

***2261-PS; Directive from Blomberg to
Supreme Commanders of Army, Navy and Air Forces, 24 June
1935; accompanied by copy of Reich Defense Law of 21 May
1935 and copy of Decision of Reich Cabinet of 12 May 1935 on
the Council for defense of the Reich. (USA 24). V. IV P.934

2326-PS; Reich Principles Regarding
recruiting appointment and promotion of Reich and Provincial
Officials, 14 October 1936. 1936 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I,
p. 893. V. IV P. 1034

2340-PS; German public officials law
of 27 January 1937. 1937 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 41.
V. IV P. 1058

2341-PS; Decree on Education and
Training of German officials, 28 February 1939. 1939
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 371. V. IV P. 1062

2342-PS; Law on People's Court and on
25th Amendment to Salary Law of 18 April 1936. 1936
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 369. V. IV P.1062

2355-PS; Second Law relating to right
to vote  for Reichstag, 18 March 1938. 1938
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 258. V. IV P.1098

2378-PS; Extracts from Documents of
German Politics, Vol. 4, pp. 207, 337. Vol. V P. 4

***2380-PS; Articles from National
Socialist Yearbook, 1935. (USA 396) Vol V P. 6

                                                  [Page 237]
                                                            

***2381-PS; Extracts from The Greater
German Diet, 1943. (USA 476) Vol. V P. 7

2382-PS; Law relating to the Reich
Election, 8 March 1924. 1924 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, pp.
159-162. Vol. V P. 8

***2383-PS; Ordinance for execution of
decree of Fuehrer concerning position of the Head of Party
Chancellery of 16 January 1942, published in Decrees,
Regulations, Announcements. (USA 410) Vol. V Pg. 9

2384-PS; The Delegates of the German
People, published in Movement, State and People in their
Organizations, 1935, p. 161. Vol. V Pg. 23

2402-PS; Guide for Party Courts, 17
February 1934. Vol. V Pg. 70

***2426-PS; Extracts from Speeches, by
Hess. (GB 253) Vol. V Pg. 90

Documents: 2481-PS; Extracts from Four Years of
the Third Reich, by Frick, published in Magazine of the
Academy for German Law, 1937. Vol. V Pg. 231

2482-PS; Extract from German Justice,
a legal periodical, 11th Year, Edition A, No. 42, 16 October
1942. Vol. V Pg. 233

2639-PS; Ordinances of the Deputy of
the Fuehrer, published in Munich 1937. Vol. V Pg. 345

2647-PS; Law relating to the
abolition of the Reichsrat, 14 February 1934. 1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 89. Vol. V Pg.358

2755-PS; Resolution of the Greater
German Reichstag, 26 April 1942. 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 247. Vol. V Pg.393

2787-PS; Excerpt from Order of the
Deputy of the Fuehrer. Vol. V Pg.420

                                                  [Page 238]
                                                            

2867-PS; Third Decree relating to
Implementation of Law for restoration of Professional Civil
Service, 6 May 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 245.
Vol. V Pg. 327

2880-PS; Extracts from Handbook for
Administrative Officials, 1942. Vol. V Pg. 547

2881-PS; Hitler's speech of 12 April
1922, quoted in Adolf Hitler's Speeches, published by Dr.
Ernst Boepple Munich, 1934, pp. 20-21, 72. Vol. V Pg.548

2882-PS; The Party Program of 1922,
by Rosenberg, 25th edition, 1942, p. 60.  Vol. V Pg.548

2883-PS; Extracts from Mein Kampf by
Adolf Hitler, 41st edition, 1933.  Vol. V Pg.549

***2955-PS; Affidavit of Magnus
Heimannsberg, 14 November 1945, referring to SA and other
Nazi groups posted at polling places. (USA 755) Vol. V
Pg.659

2957-PS; Extract from German Civil
Servants Calendar, 1940, p. 111.  Vol. V Pg.663

***2967-PS; Affidavit of Dr. Hans
Anschuetz, 17 November 1945. (USA 756). Vol. V Pg.673

***3054-PS; "The Nazi Plan", script of
a motion picture composed of captured German film. (USA
167). Vol. V Pg.801

D-229; Extract from pamphlet "Judges
Letters" concerning judgment of Lower Court, 24 April 1942,
on concealment of Jewish identification. V. VI Pg.1091

***R-142; Memoranda to Koblenz District
Headquarters, 22 April 1938 and 7 May 1938, relating to the
plebiscite of 10 April 1938. (USA 481). V. VIII Pg. 243

                                                  [Page 239]
                                                            

Statement X; The Relationship of
Party and State, As It Existed in Reality, by Wilhelm
Stuckhart, Nurnberg, 1 December 945. V. VIII Pg. 736

***Chart No.1; National Socialist
German Workers' Party. (2903-PS; USA 2) V. VIII Pg. 770

***Chart No. 18; Organization of the
Reich Government. (2905-PS; USA 3) End of Volume VIII

4. Purge of Political Opponents and Terrorization

A. The Nazi conspirators ruthlessly purged their political
opponents. Soon after the Nazi conspirators had acquired
political control, the defendant Goering, 3 March 1933,
stated:

     "Fellow Germans, my measures will not be crippled by
     any judicial thinking. My measures will not be crippled
     by any bureaucracy. Here, I don't have to give justice,
     my mission is only to destroy and exterminate, nothing
     more ! This struggle, fellow Germans, will be a
     struggle against chaos and such a struggle, I shall not
     conduct with the power of any police. A bourgeoisie
     state might have done that. Certainly, I shall use the
     power of the State and the police to the utmost, my
     dear Communists! So you won't draw any false
     conclusions; but the struggle to the death, in which my
     fist will grasp your necks, I shall lead with those
     down there those are the Brown Shirts." (1856-PS)

In 1934 Heinrich Himmler, the Deputy Leader of the Prussian
Secret State Police, stated:

     "We are confronted with a very pressing dutyboth the
     open and secret enemies of the Fuehrer and of the
     National Socialist movement and of our National
     Revolution must be discovered, combatted and
     exterminated. In this duty we are agreed to spare
     neither our own blood nor the blood of anyone else when
     it is required by our country." (25-PS)

Raymond H. Geist, former American Counsel and First
Secretary of the Embassy in Berlin, Germany 1929-1939, has
stated:

                                                  [Page 240]
                                                            

     "Immediately in 1933, the concentration camps were
     established and put under charge of the Gestapo. Only
     'political' prisoners were held in concentration camps
     *******.
     
     "The first wave of terroristic acts began in 6 March
     1933 -- 13 March 1933, accompanied by unusual mob
     violence. When the Nazi Party won the elections in
     March 1933 -- on the morning of the 6th -- the accumulated
     passion blew off in wholesale attacks on the Communists, Jews, and
     others suspected of being either. Mobs of SA men roamed
     the streets, beating up, looting, and even killing
     persons *******.
     
     "For Germans taken into custody by the Gestapo *******
     there was a regular pattern of brutality and terror.
     Victims numbered in the hundreds of thousands all over
     Germany." (1759-PS)

The Sturmabteilung (SA) had plans for the murder of former
Prime Minister Bruening, but his life was spared through the
negotiations and activities of the defendant Hess and Dr.
Haushofer, President of the Geopolitic Institute of Munich,
because they feared his death might result in serious
repercussions abroad. (1669-PS)

From March until October 1933 the Nazi conspirators
arrested, mistreated and killed numerous politicians,
Reichstag members, authors, physicians, and lawyers. Among
the persons killed were the Social Democrat Stolling; Ernst
Heilman, Social Democrat and member of the
Prussian Parliament; Otto Eggerstadt, the former Police
President of Altona; and various other persons. The people
killed by the Nazis belonged to various political parties
and religious faiths, such as Democrats, Catholics,
Communist, Jews, and pacifists. The killings were usually
camouflaged by such utterances as "killed in attempting to
escape" or "resisting arrest." It is estimated that during
this first wave of terror conducted by the Nazi
conspirators, between 500 and 700 persons died. (2544-PS;
see also 2460-PS and 2472-PS.)

On 30 June 1934 and 1 July 1934, 2 July 1934, the Nazi
conspirators proceeded to destroy opposition within their
own ranks by wholesale murder (2545-PS). In making a formal
report of these murders to the Reichstag on 13 July 1934,
Hitler stated:

     "The punishment for these crimes was hard and severe.
     There were shot 19 higher SA leaders, 31 SA leaders and
     SA members and also 3 SS leaders as participants in the
     plot. Also 13 SA leaders and civilians who tried to
     resist arrest and were killed in the attempt. 3 others
     committed suicide. 5 members of the Party who were not
     members of the SA were shot because of their
     participation. Finally, 3 SS
     
                                                  [Page 241]
                                                            
     members were at the same time exterminated because they
     had maltreated concentration camp inmates." (2572-PS)

In this same speech Hitler proudly boasted that he gave the
order to shoot the principal traitors and that he had
prosecuted thousands of his former enemies on account of
their corruption. He justified this action by saying,

     "In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the
     German people." (Voelkischer Beobachter (People's
     Observer), Berlin ed., issue 195, 14 July 1934, Beiblatt,
     p. 2.)

The conspirators took advantage of this occasion to
eliminate many opponents indiscriminately.

In discussing the Roehm purge, the defendant Frick stated:

     "On account of this order, many, many people were
     arrested *******something like a hundred, even more,
     were even killed who were accused of high treason. All
     of this was done without resort to legal proceedings.
     They were just killed on the spot. Many people were
     killed -- I don't know how many who actually did not have
     anything to do with the putsch. People who just weren't
     liked very well, as, for instance, SCHLEICHER, the
     former Reich Chancellor, were killed. SCHLEICHER's wife
     was also killed as was GREGOR STRASSER, who had been
     the Reich organization leader and second man in the
     Party after Hitler. STRASSER, at the time he was
     murdered, was not active in political affairs anymore.
     However, he had separated himself from the Fuehrer in
     November or December of 1932." (2950-PS)

Such a large scale of extermination could not be carried out
without errors. Shortly after the event, the Nazi
conspirators arranged for a Government pension to be paid to
one of its citizens, because "by mistake" the political
police had murdered her husband, Willi Schmidt, who had
never engaged in any kind of political activity. It was
believed at the time that the man intended was Willi
Schmidt, an SA leader in Munich, who was later shot on the
same day. (135)

The Nazi conspirators formally endorsed their murderous
purge within their own ranks by causing the Reichstag to
pass a law declaring that all measures taken in carrying out
the purge on 30 June 1934 and 1 July 1934 -- 2 July 1934
were legal as a measure of State necessity (2057-PS).
Referring to this act of approval on the part of the Nazi-
controlled Reichstag, Goering stated:

     "The action of the Government in the days of the Roehm
     revolt was the highest realization of the legal
     consciousness of the people. Later the action which
     itself was justified, now has been made legal by the
     passage of a law." (2496-PS)
     
                                                  [Page 242]

Furthermore, the leader of the Nazi conspiracy on 25 July
1934 issued a decree which stated that because of the
meritorious service of the SS, especially in connection with
the events of 30 June 1934, the organization was elevated to
the standing of an independent organization within the
NSDAP. (1857-PS)

B. The Nazi conspirators used the legislative and judicial
powers of the German Reich to terrorize all political
opponents.

(1) They created a great number of new political crimes. The
decree of 28 February 1933 punished the inciting of
disobedience to orders given out by State or Reich
Government authorities or the provocation of acts "contrary
to public welfare." (1390-PS) A month later, in order to
give themselves legal justification for murdering by
judicial process their political enemies, the Nazi
conspirators passed a law making the provisions of the above
decree applicable retroactively to acts committed during the
period from 31 January 1933 to 28 February 1933. (2654-PS)

Referring to these laws, the defendant Goering stated:

     "Whoever in the future raises a hand against a
     representative of the National Socialist movement or of
     the State, must know that he will lose his life in a
     very short while. Furthermore, it will be entirely
     sufficient, if he is proven to have intended the act,
     or, if the act results not in a death, but only in an
     injury." (2494-PS)

On 21 March 1933 a decree was issued which provided for
penitentiary imprisonment up to two years for possessing a
uniform of an organization supporting the government of the
Nationalist movement without being entitled thereto, or
circulating a statement which was untrue or greatly
exaggerated, or which was apt to seriously harm the welfare
of the Reich or the reputation of the Government, or of the
Party or organizations supporting the Government. (1652-PS)

The Nazi conspirators caused a law to be enacted punishing
whoever undertook to maintain or form a political party
other than the NSDAP. (1388-PS)

The Nazi conspirators enacted a law which made it a crime
deliberately to make false or grave statements calculated to
injure the welfare or the prestige of the Reich, or to
circulate a statement manifesting a malicious or low-minded
attitude toward leading personalities of the
State or the Party. The law also applied to statements of
this kind which were not made in public, provided the
offender counted on his statements being eventually
circulated in public. (1393-PS)

                                                  [Page 243]

In commenting on the above law, one of the leading Nazi
conspirators, Martin Bormann, stated:

     "Although it must absolutely be prevented that martyrs
     are created, one must take merciless action against
     such people, in whose attacks a bad character or
     attitude, decisively inimical to the State, can be
     recognized. For this purpose, I request the Gauleiters
     to report here briefly all crimes, which must
     absolutely be punished, and which have become known to
     the districts, regardless of the report to be made to
     the district attorney's office *******.
     
     "The district and local leaderships are to be notified
     accordingly. However, if it should be decided from
     wherein this or that punishable case, that the
     miscreant is to be given a simple or strong reprimand
     by the court, I shall give the directive for the
     future, that the Districts are informed of the names of
     the persons.
     
     "I therefore request, to see to it, that these
     compatriots be especially watched by the Ortsgruppen,
     and that it be attempted, to influence them in the
     National Socialist sense. Otherwise, it will be
     necessary to place the activities of such persons, who
     do not want to
     be taught, under exact control. In these cases, it will
     eventually be necessary, to notify the Secret State
     Police." (2639-PS)

On 24 April 1934 the Nazi conspirators passed a law imposing
the death penalty for "any treasonable act." Included in the
law was a declaration to the effect that the creating or
organizing of a political party, or continuing of an
existing one was a treasonable act. (2548-PS)

(2) By their interpretation and changes of the penal law,
the Nazi conspirators enlarged their terroristic methods.
After the enactment of these new political crimes, the Nazi
conspirators
introduced into the penal law the theory of punishment by
analogy. This enabled them legally to punish any act
injurious to their political interests even if no existing
statute forbade it. The culpability of the act and the
punishment was determined by the law most closely relating
to or covering the act which was in force at the time. (1962-
PS)

In interpreting this law, Dr. Guertner, Reich Minister of
Justice, stated:

     "National Socialism substitutes for the idea of formal
     wrong, the idea of factual wrong. *******Even without
     the threat of punishment, every violation of the goals
     toward which the community is striving is a wrong per
     se. As a
     
                                                  [Page 244]
                                                            
     result, the law ceases to be an exclusive source for
     the determination of right or wrong." (2549-PS)
     
Referring to the penal code of Nazi Germany, the defendant
Frank stated in 1935:

     "the National Socialist State is a totalitarian State,
     it makes no concessions to criminals, it does not
     negotiate with them; it stamps them out." (2552-PS)

The Nazi conspirators also revised the criminal law so that
the State could, within one year after a decree in a
criminal case had become final, apply for a new trial, and
the application would be decided by members of a Special
Penal Chamber appointed by Hitler personally. Thus, if a
defendant should be acquitted in a lower court, the Nazi
conspirators could rectify the situation by another trial.
(2550-PS)

In direct contrast to the severity of the criminal law as it
affected the general population of Germany, the Nazi
conspirators adopted and endorsed a large body of unwritten
laws exempting the police from criminal liability for
illegal acts done under higher authority. This principle was
described by Dr. Werner Best, outstanding Nazi lawyer, in
the following terms:

     "The police never act in a lawless or illegal manner as
     long as they act according to the rules laid down by
     their superiors up to the highest governing body.
     According to its nature, the police must only deal with
     what the government wants to know is being dealt with.
     What the Government wants to know is being dealt with
     by the police is the
     essence of the police law and is that which guides and
     restricts the actions of the police. As long as the
     police carry out the will of the Government, it is
     acting legally." (1852-PS)

C. The Nazi conspirators created a vast system of espionage
into the daily lives of all parts of the population.

(1) They destroyed the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and
telephonic communications. They enacted a law in February of
1933 providing that violations of privacy of postal,
telegraphic, and telephonic communications were permissible
beyond legal limitations. (1390-PS)

Dr. Hans Anschuetz, the present District Court Director
(Landgerichtsdirektor) at Heidelberg, Germany, recently
stated:

     "Subsequently, the system of spying upon and
     supervising the political opinions of each citizen
     which permeated the entire people and private life of
     Germany, was, of course, also extended to judges."
     (2967-PS)
     
                                                  [Page 245]
                                                            

(2) They used the Secret State Police (Gestapo) and Security
Service (SD) for the purpose of maintaining close
surveillance over the daily activities of all people in
Germany. The Gestapo had as its primary preventive activity
the thorough observation of all enemies of the state, in the
territory of the Reich. (1956-PS)

The SD was an intelligence organization which operated out
of various regional offices. It consisted of hundreds of
professional SD members who were assisted by thousands of
honorary members and informers. These people were placed in
all fields of business, education, State and
Party administration, and frequently performed their duties
secretly in their own organization. This information service
reported on the activities of the people. (2614-PS)

D. Without judicial process, the Nazi conspirators
imprisoned, held in protective custody and sent to
concentration camps opponents and suspected opponents.

They authorized the Gestapo to arrest and detain without
recourse to any legal proceeding. Officially, this power was
described as follows:
     
     "The Secret State Police takes the necessary police
     preventive measures against the enemies of the State on
     the basis of the results of the observation. The most
     effective preventive measure is without doubt the
     withdrawal of freedom which is covered in the form of
     protective custody. *******
     While protective arrests of short duration are carried
     out in police and court prisons, the concentration
     camps under the Secret State Police admit those taken
     into protective custody who have to be withdrawn from
     public life for a longer time." (1956-PS)

The Nazi conspirators issued their own orders for the taking
of people into protective custody and these orders set forth
no further details concerning the reasons therefore, except
a statement such as "Suspicion of activities inimical to the
State." (2499-PS)

The Defendant Frank stated:

     "To the world we are blamed again and again because of
     the concentration camps. We are asked, "Why do you
     arrest without a warrant of arrest? I say, put
     yourselves into the position of our nation. Dont forget
     that the very great and still untouched world of
     Bolshevism cannot forget that we have made final
     victory for them impossible in Europe, right here on
     German soil." (2533-PS)

                                                  [Page 246]
                                                            
The defendant Goering said in 1934:

     "Against the enemies of the State, we must proceed
     ruthlessly. It cannot be forgotten that at the moment
     of our rise to power, according to the official
     election figures of March 1933, six million people
     still confess their sympathy for Communism and eight
     million for
     Marxism. *******Therefore, the concentration camps have
     been created, where we have first confined thousands of
     Communists and Social Democrat functionaries. *******"
     (2344-PS)

US Ambassador George S. Messersmith, former Counsel General
in Berlin, Germany, 1930-34, and Raymond H. Geist, former
American Counsel and First Secretary of the Embassy in
Berlin, Germany, 1929-1939, have recently stated:

     "Independent of individual criminal acts committed by
     high functionaries of the German government or the Nazi
     Party, such as the murders ordered by Hitler, Himmler
     and Goering, all high functionaries of the German
     government and of the Nazi Party *******are guilty in
     the highest degree of complicity in and furtherance of
     the cardinal crimes of oppression against the German
     people, persecution and destruction of the Jews and all
     of their political opponents." (2386-PS)

Commenting further on the Nazi conspirators' use of
concentration camps to destroy political opposition, Raymond
H. Geist stated:

     "The German people were well acquainted with the goings
     on in concentration camps and it was well known that
     the fate of anyone too actively opposed to any part of
     the Nazi program was liable to be one of great
     suffering. Indeed, before the Hitler regime was many
     months old, almost every family in Germany had had
     first hand accounts of the brutalities inflicted in the
     concentration camps from someone either in the
     relationship or in the circle of friends who had served
     a sentence there; consequently the fear of such camps
     was a very effective brake
     on any possible opposition." (1759-PS)

The Nazi conspirators confined, under the guise of
"protective custody" Reichstag members, Social Democrats,
Communists, and other opponents or suspected opponents.
(2544-PS; L-73; L-83; 1430-PS.)

E. The Nazi conspirators created and utilized special
agencies for carrying out their system of terror.

                                                  [Page 247]

(See Chapter XV, Sections 5 and 6, on the Gestapo, SS, and
SD)

F. The Nazi conspirators permitted organizations.and
individuals to carry out this system of terror without
restraint of law.

(1) Acts of the Gestapo were not subject to review by the
courts. In 1935 the Prussian Supreme Court of Administration
held that the orders of the Gestapo were not subject to
judicial review; and that the accused person could appeal
only to the next higher authority within the State Police
itself. (2347-PS)

In 1936 a law was passed concerning The Gestapo in Prussia
which provided that orders in matters of the Gestapo were
not subject to review of the Administrative Courts. (2107-
PS)

On the same subject, the following article appeared in the
official German Lawyers Journal, 1935.

     "Once again the court had to decide on the question of
     whether political measures could be subjected to the
     review of the ordinary courts. *******The case in
     question concerned the official performance of his duty
     by an official of the NSDAP. *******The principle of the
     importance and the mission of the Party and its
     'Sovereign Functionaries' cannot be overlooked.
     Therefore, the plaintiff should have been denied the
     right to be in court." (2491-PS)
     
(2) Where no definite law protected terroristic acts of Nazi
conspirators and their accomplices, proceedings against them
were in the first instance suppressed or thereafter their
acts were pardoned. In 1935, proceedings against an employee
of the Gestapo accused of torturing, beating, and killing of
inmates of a concentration camp were suppressed (787-PS; 788-
PS). In June 1935 twenty-three SA members and policemen
convicted of the beating and murder of inmates of the
Hohnstein concentration camp were pardoned (786-PS). The
prosecutor was
forced to resign from the SA. (784-PS)

                                                  [Page 248]

Charter of the International Military Tribunal,
Article 6, especially 6(a). Vol. I Pg.5

International Military Tribunal, Indictment
Number 1, Section IV(D)3(b). Vol. I Pg.19

[Note: A single asterisk (***) before a document indicates
that the document was received in evidence at the Nurnberg
trial. A double asterisk (******) before a document number
indicates that the document was referred to during the trial
but was not formally received in evidence, for the reason
given in parentheses following the description of the
document. The USA series number, given in parentheses
following the description of the document, is the official
exhibit number assigned by the court.]

***784-PS; Letters from Minister of
Justice to Hess and SA Chief of Staff, 5 June 1935,
concerning penal proceedings against merchant and SA leader
and 22 companions because of inflicting bodily injury on
duty. (USA 732) Vol. III Pg.559

Document ***786-PS; Minister of Justice
memorandum, 29 November 1935, concerning pardon of those
sentenced in connection with mistreatment in Hohenstein
concentration camp. (USA 734) Vol. III Pg. 568

                                                  [Page 249]

***787-PS; Memorandum to Hitler from
Public Prosecutor of Dresden, 18 June 1935, concerning
criminal procedure against Vogel on account of bodily injury
while in office. (USA 421) Vol. III Pg.568

***788-PS; Letters from Secretary of
State to Minister of Justice, 25 June 1935 and 9 September
1935, concerning criminal procedure against Vogel. (USA 735)
Vol. III Pg.571

1388-PS; Law concerning confiscation
of Property subversive to People and State 14 July 1933.
1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 479. Vol. III Pg.962

1390-PS; Decree of the Reich
President for the Protection of the People and State 28
February 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt Part I, p. 83. Vol.III
Pg.968

1393-PS; Law on treacherous attacks
against State and Party, and for the Protection of Party
Uniforms, 20 December 1934. 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt Part I,
p. 1269. Vol. III Pg.973

1430-PS; Compilation of Leading Men
of the System Era, June 1939. Vol. IV Pg.15

1652-PS; Decree of the Reich
President for protection against treacherous attacks on the
government of the Nationalist movement, 21 March 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p 135. Vol. IV Pg.160

***1669-PS; Correspondence between Dr.
Haushofer and Hess, 24 August 1933 and 28 August 1933. (USA
741) Vol.IV Pg.184

***1759-PS; Affidavit of Raymond H
Geist. (USA 420) Vol. IV Pg.288

***1852-PS; "Law" from The German
Police, 1941, by Dr. Werner Best. (USA 449). (See Chart No.
16) Vol. IV Pg.490

                                                  [Page 250]
                                                            

***1856-PS; Extract from book entitled
"Hermann Goering - Speeches and Essays", 3rd edition 1939,
p. 27. (USA 437) Vol. IV Pg. 496

***1857-PS; Announcement of the
creation of the SS as independent formation of the NSDAP.
Voelkisher Beobachter, 26 July 1934, p. 1. (USA 412) Vol. IV
Pg. 496

1956-PS; Meaning and Tasks of the
Secret State Police, published in The Archives, January
1936, Vol. 22-24, p. 1342.  Vol. IV Pg. 598

1962-PS; Law to change the Penal Code
of 28 June 1935. 1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 839.
Vol. IV Pg.600

2057-PS; Law relating to National
Emergency Defense Measures of 3 July 1934. 1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 529.  Vol. IV Pg.699

2107-PS; Law on the Secret State
Police of 10 October 1936. 1936 Preussiche Gesetzsammlung,
pp. 21-22. Vol. IV Pg.732

2344-PS; Reconstruction of a Nation
by Goering, 1934, p. 89. Vol. IV Pg.1065

2347-PS; Court decisions from 1935
Reichsverwaltungsblatt, Vol. 56, pp. 577-578, 20 July 1935.
Vol. IV Pg. 1066

***2386-PS; Joint affidavit of George
S. Messersmith and Raymond H. Geist, 29 August 1945. (USA
750) Vol. V Pg. 39

***2460-PS; Affidavit of Rudolf Diels.
(USA 751) Vol. V Pg.205

***2472-PS; Affidavit of Rudolf Diels,
31 October 1945. (USA 752) Vol. V Pg. 224

2491-PS: Extract from Legal Review,
published in Lawyers Journal, 1935.  Vol. V Pg. 235

                                                  [Page 251]

2494-PS: Prime Minister Goerings
Press Conference, published in Voelkischer Beobachter,
Berlin edition, 23 July 1933 -- 24 July 1933, p. 1. Vol. V
Pg. 236

2496-PS; Extract from Goerings
address to Public Prosecutors of Prussia on 12 July 1934,
from the Archive, 1934, Vols. IV-VI, p. 495. Vol. V Pg. 236

***2499-PS; Original Protective Custody
Order served on Dr. R. Kempner, 15 March 1935. (USA 232)
Vol. V Pg.236

2533-PS; Extract from article
"Legislation and Judiciary of the Third Reich", from Journal
of the Academy for German Law, 1936, pp. 141-142. Vol. V
Pg.277

2543-PS; Extract from The Mission of
the SS, published in The National Socialist Magazine, Issue
46, January 1934. Vol. V Pg.288

***2544-PS; Affidavit of Rudolf Dies,
former Superior Government Counsellor of the Police Division
of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. (USA 753) Vol. V
Pg.288

2545-PS; Extract from Hitlers
cleaning up act in Reich, published in Voelkischer
Beobachter, Berlin edition, No. 182-183, 1 July 1934 -- 2
July 1934, p. 1. Vol. V Pg.290

2548-PS; Law about changing rules of
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure of 24 April 1934. 1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 34. Vol. V Pg.291

2549-PS; Extract from Germanys Road
to Freedom" as published in Documents of German Politics,
Vol. 3.

2550-PS; Law on the modification of
rules of general criminal procedure, 16 September 1939. 1939
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, P. 1841. Vol. V Pg.293

                                                  [Page 252]

2552-PS; Excerpt concerning
criminals, published in Journal of the Academy for German
Law, No. 3, March 1935. Vol. V Pg 293

2554-PS; Law concerning adjudication
and execution of the death penalties of 29 March 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 151. Vol. V Pg.294

2572-PS; Hitler's speech to the
Reichstag on 13 July 1934, printed in The Third Reich, Vol.
II, p. 27. Vol. V Pg.302

***2614-PS; Affidavit of Dr. Wilhelm
Hoettl, 5 November 1945. (USA 918). Vol. V Pg.337

2639-PS; Ordinances of the Deputy of
the Fuehrer, published in Munich 1937. Vol. V Pg.345

***2950-PS; Affidavit of Frick, 19 November 1945.
(USA 448). Vol. V Pg.654

***2967-PS; Affidavit of Dr. Hans
Anschuetz, 17 November 1945. (USA 756) Vol. V Pg.693

***L-73; Affidavit of Bruno Bettelheim,
10 July 1945. (USA 746) Vol. VII Pg.818

***L-83; Affidavit of Gerhart H. Seger,
21 July 1945. (USA 234)  Vol. VII Pg.859

***L-135; Affidavit of Kate Eva
Hoerlin, 9 July 1945. (USA 747)Vol. VII Pg.883

         5. DESTRUCTION OF THE FREE TRADE UNIONS AND
               ACQUISITION OF CONTROL OVER THE
                  PRODUCTIVE LABOR CAPACITY

A. They destroyed the independent organization of German
labor.

(1) Before the Nazis took control, organized labor held a
well established and influential position in Germany. Most
of the trade unions of Germany were joined together in two
large congresses or federations, the Free Trade Unions
(Freie Gewerk schaften) and Christian Trade Unions
(Christlichen Gewerk-

                                                  [Page 253]


schaften). Unions outside these two large groupings
contained only 15 per cent of the total union
membership. The Free Trade Unions were a congress of two
federations of affiliated unions: (1) the General German
Trade Union Federation (Allgemeinen Deutschen
Gewerkschaftsbund, or the "ADGB") with 28 affiliated unions
of industrial workers; (2) the General Independent Employees
Federation (Allgemeinen Freien Angestelltenbund, or the
"AFA") with 13 affiliated unions of white collar workers.
(92-PS)

The membership of the Free Trade Unions, the affiliated
organizations of the Christian Trade Unions, and all other
unions at the end of 1931 (the last year for which the
official government yearbook gives statistics) was as
follows (2411-PS):

Union Group         Number of members   Percentage of Total
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------

Free Trade Unions   4,569,876           65.9%.

Christian Trade Unions   1,283,272      18.5%.

Other Unions        1,081,371      15.6%.

Total                6,934,519          100.0%.

Under the Weimar Constitution, workers were "called upon to
take part on equal terms" with employers in regulating
conditions of employment. "It was provided that
organizations on both -sides and agreements between them
shall be recognized." Factory Representative Councils
(otherwise.known as Workmens or Factory Works Councils) had
the right, in conjunction with employers' representatives,
to take an official part in the initiation and
administration of social and economic legislation. (2050-PS)

(2) The Nazi conspirators conceived that the free trade
unions were incompatible with their objectives.

Hitler stated in Mein Kampf:

     "It (the trade union) created the economic weapon which
     the international world Jew uses for the ruination of
     the economic basis of free, independent states, for the
     annihilation of their national industry and of their
     national commerce, and thereby for the enslavement of
     free people in the service of the above-the-state-
     standing, world finance Jewry (ueberstaatlichen
     Weltfinanz-Judentums)." (404-PS)
     
In announcing to Germany the seizure of the Free Trade
Unions, Dr. Robert Ley, speaking as chairman of the Nazi
Committee for the Protection of German Labor, stated:

                                                  [Page 254]

     "You may say, what else do you want, you have the
     absolute power, but we do not have the whole people, we
     do not have you workers 100 percent, and it is you whom
     we want; we will not let you be until you stand with us
     in complete, genuine acknowledgement." (614-PS; see
     also 2224-PS and 2283-PS.)

(3) Soon after coming to power the Nazi conspirators took
drastic action to convert the Factory Representative
Councils into Nazi controlled organizations. The Nazi
conspirators eliminated the
independence of the Factory Representative Councils by
giving the Governors of the Laender authority to cancel the
membership of labor representatives in the councils; by
abrogating the right of the councils to oppose the dismissal
of a worker when he was "suspected of
an unfriendly attitude toward the state" (1770-PS); and
finally by limiting membership in all Factory Representative
Councils to Nazis (2336-PS). (After 7 April 1933, the Governors
of the Laender were appointed by the Reich President "upon
the proposal of the Reich Chancellor," Hitler, 2005-PS) .

(4) Soon after coming to power the Nazi conspirators
proceeded to destroy the independent unions. In mid-April
1933, Hitler directed Dr. Robert Ley, then staff director of
the PO (Political Organization) of the NSDAP, to take over
the trade unions. (2283-PS)

Ley issued an NSDAP circular directive on 21 April 1933
detailing a "coordination action" (Gleichschaltunsaktion) to
be taken on 2 May 1933 against the General German Trade
Union Federation (ADGB) and the General Independent
Employees Federation (AFA), the so-called "Free Trade
Unions" (392-PS). This directive created a special "Action
Committee" to direct the entire action and declared that the
supporters of the action were to be drawn from the National
Socialist Factory Cells Organization or NSBO
(Nationalsozialistiche Betriebszellen-organisation), the
NSDAP political leaders (Politische Leiter) in the
factories; it named NSDAP commissars for the administration
of the larger ADGB unions to be seized in the action; it
made the Gau leaders (Gauleiter) of the NSDAP responsible
for the disciplined execution of the action in their
respective areas and authorized them to nominate additional
commissars to administer the
unions subjected to the action. The directive ordered that
SA and SS were to be used in occupying union offices and the

                                                  [Page 255]
                                                            
Bank of Workers, Employees and Officials, Inc., and for
taking into protective custody the higher union leaders.

The order of seizure was carried out as planned and ordered.
On 2 May the official NSDAP press service reported that the
NSBO had "eliminated the old leadership" of Free Trade
Unions and taken over their leadership. (2224-PS)

On 3 May 1933 the NSDAP press service announced that the
Central League of Christian Trade Unions (Gesamtverband der
Chrilichen Gewerkschaften) and several smaller unions "have
unconditionally subordinated themselves to the leadership of
Adolf Hitler" (2225-PS). The next day the NSDAP press stated
that the German Nationalist Clerks League (DHV) had also
"recognized the leadership of the NSDAP in German trade
union affairs *******after a detailed conversation" between
Dr. Ley and the leader of the DHV (2226-PS). In late June
1933, as a final measure against the Christian Trade Unions,
Ley directed that all their offices were to be occupied by
National Socialists. (392-PS)

The duress practiced by the Nazi conspirators in their
assumption of absolute control over the unions is shown by a
proclamation of Muchow, leader of the organizational office
of the German Labor Front, in late June 1933. By this Party
proclamation, all associations of workers not yet
"concentrated" in the German Labor Front had to report
within eight days. Thereafter they were to be notified of
the branch of the German Labor Front which "they will have
to join". (2228-PS)

(5) The Nazi Conspirators eliminated the right of collective
bargaining generally. During the same months in which the
unions were abolished, a decree eliminated collective
bargaining on conditions of employment and substituted
regulation by "trustees of labor" (Treuhaender der Arbeit)
appointed by Hitler. (405-PS)

(6) The Nazi conspirators confiscated all union funds! and
property. The NSDAP circular ordering the seizure of the
Free Trade Unions on 2 May 1933 directed that the SA and SS
were to be used to occupy the branches and paying offices of
the Bank for Workers, Employees and
Officials and appointed a Nazi commissar Mueller, for the
bank's subsequent direction. The stock of this bank was held
entirely by the General German Trade Union Association and
its affiliated member unions. The NSDAP circular also
directed that all union funds were to be blocked until
reopened under the authority and control of NSDAP-appointed

                                                  [Page 256]
                                                            
commissars (392-PS; 2895-PS). The Fuehrers basic order on
the German Labor Front of the NSDAP in October 1934 declared
that all the property of the trade unions and their
dependent organizations constituted (bildet) property of the
German Labor Front (2271-PS). Referring to the seizure of
the property of the unions in a speech at the 1937 Party
Congress, Ley mockingly declared that he would have to be
convicted if the former trade union leaders were ever to
demand the return of their property. (1678-PS)

(7) The Nazi conspirators persecuted union leaders. The
NSDAP order on the seizure of the "Free Trade Unions"
directed that the chairman of the unions were to be taken
into "protective custody". Lesser leaders could be arrested
with the permission of the appropriate Gau leader of
the NSDAP (392-PS). In late June 1933 the German Labor Front
published a "List of Outlaws" who were to be denied
employment in the factories. The List named union leaders
who had been active in combatting National Socialism and who
allegedly continued to carry on their resistance
secretly. (2336-PS)

The Nazi conspirators subjected union leaders to
maltreatement ranging from assaults to murder. Among the
offenses committed against union leaders are the following:
assault and battery; degrading work and work beyond their
physical capacity; incarceration in concentration camps;
solitary confinement; denial of adequate food; surveillance;
arrest and maltreatment of members of their families;
murder. (2330-PS; 2331-PS; 2335-PS; 2334-PS; 2929-PS; 2277-
PS; 2332-PS; and 2333-PS)

B. The Nazi conspirators introduced the Leadership Principle
into industrial relations. In January 1934, a decree
introduced the Leadership Principle (Fuehrerprinzip) into
industrial relations, the
entrepreneur becoming the leader and the workers becoming
his followers. (1861-PS)

C. The Nazi conspirators supplanted independent unions by an
affiliated Party organization, the German Labor Front (DAF).

(1) They created the German Labor Front. On the day the
Nazis seized the Free Trade Unions, 2 May 1933, they
publicly announced that a "united front of German workers"
with Hitler as honorary patron would be formed at a Workers
Congress on 10 May 1933. (2224-PS)

Ley was appointed "Leader of the German Labor Front"

                                                  [Page 257]
                                                            
(Deutsche Arbeitsfront, or "DAF") on 10 May 1933 (1940-PS).
The German Labor Front
succeeded to the confiscated property of the suppressed
trade union. It was an affiliated organization of the NSDAP,
subject to the Leadership Principle; Ley was concurrently
Reich Organization Leader (Reichsorganisationsleiter) and
leader of the German Labor Front
(1814-PS). The National Socialist Factory Cells Organization
of NSBO contained the political leaders (Politische Leiter)
of the NSDAP in the German Labor Front and those political
leaders were given first preference in the filling of jobs
in the DAF (2271-PS). The German Labor Front became the
largest of the Partys organizations. At the outbreak of the
war it had 23 million individual members and about 10
million corporative members who were members of
organizations affiliated with it. (2275-PS)

(2) They utilized the German Labor Front as an instrument to
impose their ideology on the masses, to frustrate potential
resistance, and to insure effective control of the
productive labor capacity of Germany. The DAF was charged
with the ideological orientation of the broad masses of
Germans working in the factories. Its leaders were charged
with weeding out potential opponents to National Socialism
from the ranks of the DAF and from employment in industry.
In its surveillance functions, the German Labor Front relied
on Gestapo reports and on its own intelligence service (2336-
PS). The German Labor Front took over the leadership of the
German Cooperatives with the view to their subsequent
liquidation (2270-PS). The Nazi conspirators
established Factory Troops (Werkscharen) within the Strength
Through Joy branch of the German Labor Front as an
"ideological shock squad (Weltanschaulicher Stosstrupp)
within the factory" (1817-PS). These shock squads were
formed only of voluntary members ready "to fight" for Nazi
conceptions. Among their objects were the speeding up of the
labor effort and forging of a "single-willed community"
(1818-PS). The SA was charged with the promotion and
building up of Factory Troops by all means. When a factory
worker joined the Factory Troops, he automatically became an
SA candidate. Factory Troops were given a special uniform
and their physical training took place within SA cadre
units. (2230-PS)

During the war, the German Labor Front was made responsible
for the care of foreign labor employed within the Reich
(1913-PS). Barely two years after the suppression of the
independent unions and creation of the German Labor Front,
the Nazi conspirators decreed compulsory labor
service (Reichsar-

                                                  [Page 258]
                                                            
beitsdienst) under which young men and women between 18 and
25 years of age were conscripted for labor service under the
administration of the Reich Minister of Interior, Frick.
(1389-PS)

After war had been declared, the Nazi conspirators openly
admitted the objectives of the Nazis' control over labor. A
publication of the Scientific Institute of the German Labor
Front declared that it had been difficult to make the German
people understand continuous renunciations in social
conditions because all the nation's strength had been
channeled into armaments (Wehrhaftigkeit) for "the
anticipated clash with an envious surrounding world" (2276-
PS). Addressing workers five days after the launching of war
on Poland, Ley admitted that the
Nazis had mobilized all the resources and energies of
Germany for seven years "so as to be equipped for the
supreme effort of battle" and that the First World War had
not been lost because of cowardice of German soldiers, "but
because dissension and discord tore the people asunder"
(1939-PS). Ley's confidence in the Nazis' effective control
over the productive labor capacity of Germany in peace or
war was declared as early as 1936 to the Nurnberg Party
Congress:

     "The idea of the Factory Troops is making good progress
     in the plants, and I am able to report to you, my
     Fuehrer, that security and peace in the factories has
     been guaranteed, not only in normal times, but also in
     times of the most serious crisis. Disturbances such as
     the munitions strikes of the traitors Ebert and
     confederates, are out of the question. National
     Socialism has conquered the factories. Factory Troops
     are the National Socialist shock troops within the
     factory, and their motto is: THE FUEHRER IS ALWAYS
     RIGHT." (228-PS)
     
                                                  [Page 259]
                                                            
       LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS RELATING
           TO DESTRUCTION OF THE FREE TRADE UNIONS
             AND ACQUISITION OF CONTROL OVER THE
                  PRODUCTIVE LABOR CAPACITY

Charter of the International Military Tribunal,
Article 6, especially 6 (a). Vol. I Pg. 5

International Military Tribunal, Indictment
Number 1, Section IV (D) 3 (c) (1). Vol. I Pg. 19

[Note: A single asterisk (*) before a document indicates
that the document was received in evidence at the Nurnberg
trial. A double asterisk (**) before a document number
indicates that the document was referred to during the trial
but was not formally received in evidence, for the reason
given in parentheses following the description of the
document. The USA series number, given in parentheses
following the description of the document, is the official
exhibit number assigned by the court.]

*392-PS; Official NSDAP circular
entitled "The Social Life of New Germany with Special
Consideration of the German Labor Front", by Prof. Willy
Mueller (Berlin, 1938). (USA 326)  Vol. III Pg. 380

*404-PS; Excerpts from Hitler, Mein
Kampf, pp. 456, 475. (USA 256) Vol. III Pg. 385

405-PS; Law Concerning Trustees of
Labor, 19 May 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 285.
Vol. III Pg.387

                                                  [Page 260]

614-PS; Proclamation of the Action
Committee for the Protection of German Labor, 2 May 1933.
Documents of German Politics, Vol. I, p. 151-3. Vol. III
Pg.447

1389-PS; Law creating Reich Labor
Service, 26 June 1935. 1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p.
769. Vol. III Pg.963

*1678-PS; Speech of Dr. Robert Ley.
Documents of German Politics, Vol. V, pp. 373, 376. (USA
365) Vol. IV Pg.190

1770-PS; Law concerning factory
representative councils and economic organizations, 4 April
1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 161.

*1814-PS; The Organization of the
NSDAP and its affiliated associations, from Organization
book of the NSDAP, editions of 1936, 1938, 1940 and 1943,
pp. 86-88. (USA 328). Vol. IV Pg. 411

1817-PS; Bureau for factory troops,
from Organization Book of the NSDAP, 1936 edition, p. 211.
Vol. IV Pg.457

1818-PS; Bureau for Factory troops
and training, from Organization Book of the NSDAP, 1940
edition, pp. 195-196b.  Vol. IV Pg.457

1861-PS; Law on the regulation of
National labor, 20 January 1934. 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 45. Vol. IV Pg. 497

*1913-PS; Agreement between
Plenipotentiary General for Arbeitseinsatz and German Labor
Front concerning care of non-German workers. 1943
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 588. (USA 227) Vol. IV Pg.547

1939-PS; Speech by Ley published in
Forge of the
Sword, with an introduction by Marshal Goering, pp. 14-17.
Vol. IV Pg. 581

                                                  [Page 261]

1940-PS; Fuehrer edict appointing Ley
leader of German Labor Front. Voelkischer Beobachter, Munich
(Southern German) edition. p. 1. Vol. IV Pg.584

1947-PS; Letter from von Fritsch, 11
December 1938, concerning need of Germany to be victorious
over working class, Catholic Church and Jews. Vol. IV Pg.
585

2005-PS; Second law integrating the
"Laender" with the Reich, 7 April 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 173. Vol. IV Pg. 641

2050-PS; The Constitution of the
German Reich, 11 August 1919. 1919 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part
I, p. 1383. Vol. IV Pg. 662

*2224-PS; The End of the Marxist
Class Struggle, published in National Socialist Party Press
Agency, 2 May 1933, pp. 1-2. (USA 364) Vol. IV Pg. 864

2225-PS; The Front of German Workers
has been Erected, published in National Socialist Party
Press Agency, 3 May 1933, p. 1. Vol. IV Pg.868

2226-PS; The Labor Front Stands,
published in National Socialist Party Press Agency, 4 May
1933, p. 2. Vol. IV Pg. 869

2228-PS; Order issued by German Labor
Front, published in National Socialist Party Press Agency,
26 June 1933, p. 5. Vol. IV Pg.869

2230-PS; Agreement between Ley and
Lutze, chief of staff of SA, published in Organization Book
of NSDAP, 1938, pp. 484 485b, 486c. Vol. IV Pg.871

2270-PS; Coordination of
Cooperatives, published in National Socialist Party Press
Agency release of 16 May 1933. Vol. IV Pg.938

                                                  [Page 262]

2271-PS; The National Socialist
Factory Cells Organization, published in Organization Book
of NSDAP, pp.185-187. Vol. IV Pg.940

2275-PS; The German Labor Front,
published in Nature - Aim - Means. Footnote on p. 11. Vol.
IV Pg.949

2276-PS; The German Labor Front,
published in Nature-Aim-Means. p. 55. Vol. IV Pg.950

*2277-PS; Affidavit, 17 October 1945,
of Gustav Schiefer, Chairman of General German Trade Union
Association, Local Committee, Munich, in 1933. (USA 748).
Vol. IV Pg.951

*2283-PS; The Fifth Day of the Party
Congress, from Voelkischer Beobachter, Munich (Southern
German) Edition, Issue 258, 14 September 1936. (USA 337)
Vol. IV Pg.971

*2330-PS; Order of Protective
Custody, Police Directorate of Nurnberg-Fuerth of Josef
Simon, Chairman of German Shoemaker's Union, 29 August 1935.
(USA 237) Vol. IV Pg.1038

*2331-PS; Declaration required of
union leader Josef Simon upon his release from Protective
Custody by Bavarian Political Police, 20 December 1935. (USA
743) Vol. IV Pg.1039

2332-PS; Death certificate,
Flossenburg Concentration Camp, concerning union leader
Staimer and official letter to his wife, 22 December 1941.
Vol. IV Pg.1040

*2333-PS; Death certificate,
Flossenburg Concentration Camp, concerning union leader
Herrmann, and official letter to his wife, 29 December 1941.
(USA 744) Vol. IV Pg.1040

                                                  [Page 263]

*2334-PS; Affidavits of Lorenz Hagen,
Chairman of Local Committee, German Trade Unions, Nurnberg.
(USA 238). Vol. IV Pg.1041

*2335-PS; Affidavits of Josef Simon,
Chairman of German Shoemakers' Union in 1933. (USA 749) Vol.
IV Pg.1046

2336-PS; Special Circular on Securing
of association of German Labor Front against hidden Marxist
sabotage, 27 June 1933. Vol. IV Pg.1052

2411-PS; Chart of unions of workers
and employees, from Statistical Yearbook for German Reich,
1932, p.555. Vol. V Pg.87

*2895-PS; Joint affidavit of union
leaders Simon, Hagen, and Lex, 13 November 1945. (USA 754)
Vol. V Pg.563

*2928-PS; Affidavit of Mathias Lex,
deputy president of the German Shoemakers Union. (USA 239)
Vol. V Pg.594

Statement XII; Political Testament of
Robert Ley, written in Nurnberg prison, October 1945. Vol.
VIII Pg.742

Statement XIII; Outline of Defense of
Dr. Robert Ley, written in Nurnberg prison, 24 October 1945.
Vol. VIII Pg.749

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