Judgment:
[Page 71]
Structure and Component Parts: The Prosecution has named Die
Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) and Der Sicherheitsdienst
des Reichsfuehrer SS (SD) as groups or organisations which
should be declared criminal. The Prosecution presented the
cases against the Gestapo and SD together, stating that this
was necessary because of the close working relationship
between them. The Tribunal permitted the SD to present its
defense separately because of a claim of conflicting
interests, but after examining the evidence has decided to
consider the case of the Gestapo and SD together.
The Gestapo and the SD were first linked together on 26th
June, 1936, by the appointment of Heydrich, who was the
Chief of the SD, to the position of Chief of the Security
Police, which was defined to include both the Gestapo and
the Criminal Police. Prior to that time the SD had been the
intelligence agency, first of the SS, and, after 4th June,
1934, of the entire Nazi Party. The Gestapo had been
composed of the various political police forces of the
several German Federal states which had been unified under
the personal leadership of Himmler, with the assistance of
Goering. Himmler had been appointed Chief of the German
Police in the Ministry of the Interior on 17th June, 1936,
and in his capacity as Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the
German Police issued his decree of 26th June, 1936, which
placed both the Criminal Police, or Kripo, and the Gestapo
in the Security Police, and placed both the Security Police
and the SD under he command of Heydrich.
This consolidation under the leadership of Heydrich of the
Security Police, a State organisation, and the SD, a Party
organisation, was formalized by the decree of 27th
September, 1939, which united the various State and Party
offices which were under Heydrich as Chief of the Security
Police and SD into one administrative unit, the Reichs
Security Head Office (RSHA) which was at the same time both
one of the principal offices (Hauptamter) of the SS under
Himmler as Reichsfuehrer SS and an office in the Ministry of
the Interior under Himmler as Chief of the German Police.
The internal structure of the RSHA shows the manner in which
it consolidated the offices of the Security Police with
those of the SD. The RSHA was divided into seven offices
(Amter), two of which (Amt I and Amt II) dealt with
administrative
[Page 72]
matters. The Security Police were represented by Amt IV, the
head office of the Gestapo, and by Amt V, the head office of
the Criminal Police. The SD were represented by Amt III, the
head office for SD activities inside Germany, by Amt VI, the
head office for SD activities outside of Germany and by Amt
VII, the office for ideological research. Shortly after the
creation of the RSHA, in November, 1939, the Security Police
was "coordinated" with the SS by taking all officials of the
Gestapo and Criminal Police into the SS at ranks equivalent
to their positions.
The creation of the RSHA represented the formalisation, at
the top level, of the relationship under which the SD served
as the intelligence agency for the Security Police. A
similar coordination existed in the local offices. Within
Germany and areas which were incorporated within the Reich
for the purpose of civil administration local offices of the
Gestapo, Criminal Police, and SD were formally separate.
They were subject to coordination by Inspectors of the
Security Police and SD on the staffs of the local Higher SS
and Police Leaders, however, and one of the principal
functions of the local SD units was to serve as the
intelligence agency for the local Gestapo units. In the
occupied territories, the formal relationship between local
units of the Gestapo, Criminal Police, and SD was slightly
closer. They were organized into local units of the Security
Police and SD and were under the control of both the RSHA
and of the Higher SS and Police Leader who was appointed by
Himmler to serve on the staff of the occupying authority.
The offices of the Security Police and SD in occupied
territory were composed of departments corresponding to the
various Amts of the RSHA. In occupied territories which were
still considered to be operational military areas or where
German control had not been formally established, the
organisation of the Security Police and SD was only slightly
changed. Members of the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD were joined
together into military type organisations known as Einsatz
Kommandos and Einsatzgruppen in which the key positions were
held by members of the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD and in which
members of the Order Police, the Waffen SS and even the
Wehrmacht were used as auxiliaries. These organisations were
under the over-all control of the RSHA, but in front line
areas were under the operational control of the appropriate
Army Commander.
It can thus be seen that from a functional point of view
both the Gestapo and the SD were important and closely
related groups within the organisation of the Security
Police and the SD. The Security Police and SD was under a
single command, that of Heydrich and later Kaltenbrunner, as
Chief of the Security Police and SD it had a single
headquarters, the RSHA; it had its own command channels and
worked as one organisation both in Germany, in occupied
territories, and in the areas immediately behind the front
lines. During the period with which the Tribunal is
primarily concerned applicants for positions in the Security
Police and SD received training in all its components, the
Gestapo, Criminal Police, and D. Some confusion has been
caused by the fact that part of the organisation was
technically a formation of the Nazi Party while another part
of the organisation was an office in the Government, but
this of no particular significance in view of the law of 1st
December, 1933, declaring the unity of the Nazi Party and
the German State.
The Security Police and SD was a voluntary organisation. It
is true that many civil servants and administrative
officials were transferred into the Security Police. The
claim that this transfer was compulsory amounts to nothing
more than the claim that they had to accept the transfer or
resign their positions, with a possibility of having
incurred official disfavor. During the war a member of the
Security Police and SD did not have a free choice of
assignments within that organisation and the refusal to
accept a particular
[Page 73]
position, especially when serving in occupied territory,
might have led to serious punishment. The fact remains,
however, that members of the Security Police and SD joined
the organisation voluntarily under no other sanction than
the desire to retain their positions as officials.
The organisation of the Security Police and SD also include
three special units which must be dealt with separately. The
first of these was the Frontier Police or Grenzpolizei which
came under the control of the Gestapo in 1937. Their duties
consisted in the control of passage over the borders of
Germany. They arrested persons who crossed illegally. It is
also clear from the evidence presented that they received
directives from the Gestapo to transfer foreign workers whom
they apprehended to concentration camps They could also
request the local office of the Gestapo for permission to
commit persons arrested to concentration camps. The Tribunal
is of the opinion that the Frontier Police must be included
in charge of criminality against the Gestapo.
The border and customs protection or Zollgrenzschutz became
part of the Gestapo in the summer of 1944. The functions of
organisation were similar to the Frontier Police in
enforcing border regulations with particular respect to the
prevention of smuggling. It does not appear, however, that
their transfer was complete but about half of their
personnel of 54,000 remained under the Reich Finance
Administration or the Order Police. A few days before the
end of the war the whole organisation was transferred back
to the Reich Finance Administration. The transfer of the
organisation to Gestapo was so late and it participated so
little in the over-all activities of the organisation that
the Tribunal does not feel that it should be dealt with in
considering the criminality of the Gestapo.
The third organisation was the so-called Secret Field Police
which was originally under the Army but which in 1942 was
transferred by military order to the Security Police. The
Secret Field police was concerned with security matters
within the Army in occupied territory, and also with the
prevention of attacks by civilians on military installations
or units, and committed War Crimes and Crimes against
Humanity on a wide scale. It has not been proved, however,
that it was a part of the Gestapo and the Tribunal does not
consider it as coming within the charge of criminality
contained in the Indictment, except such members as may have
been transferred to Amt IV of the RSHA or were members of
organisations declared criminal by this Judgment.
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The Accused Organisations:
Gestapo
And SD
(Part 4 of 10)
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