Twenty-Third Day: Wednesday, 19th December, 1945
[Page 105]
THE PRESIDENT: The point that the defendant is taking seems
to me to be premature. This is not the stage for you to
argue the question whether your client is a member of the
Reich Cabinet or not. The argument upon the whole question
will take place after the evidence and after the prosecution
have had the opportunity of putting forward their arguments
as to the criminal nature of the Reich Cabinet. You or other
counsel on behalf of those concerned will be able to put
forward your arguments. We do not desire to hear arguments
now about the criminal nature, but to hear the evidence. Is
that clear?
DOCTOR SAUTER: Yes. I shall then return to this point while
the witnesses are being heard, and shall then bring
witnesses to prove that the defendant von Schirach was never
a member of the Reich Cabinet.
COLONEL STOREY: If the Tribunal please, yesterday afternoon
we had just started on the participation of the S.A. in the
first point -- the dissemination of ideology or propaganda.
In an article which appeared in Der S.A.-Mann, at Page 1 of
the issue of January, 1934, which is Document 3050-PS, and
I refer to Page 25 of the English translation -- Document
3050-PS, Page 25, if your Honour pleases -- the portion
shown in red brackets. It is dated the 6th January, 1934:
[Page 106]
If your Honour pleases, I had ended the quotation. I am
sorry if I did not refer to it.
I need hardly point out the importance of this function to
the successful carrying out of the conspiracy, for it is
self-evident that the Nazis could not have carried their
conspiracy to the stages which they did, had not the minds
of the people of Germany been cruelly and viciously
influenced and infected with their evil ideologies.
I now proceed to the other functions of the S.A. which I
mentioned previously. The next is its use in the early
stages of the conspiracy, as the "strong-arm" of the
N.S.D.A.P. In the early stages of the Nazi movement, the
employment of the S.A. as the propagandist instrument of the
Party, involved, and was combined, with the exercise of
physical violence and brutality.
As said by Hitler in Mein Kampf -- and this excerpt appears
at Page 4 of Document 2760-PS, Page 4 of the English
translation, Exhibit USA 256 -- I quote:
[Page 107]
A number of such articles have been translated, and the
titles are sufficiently descriptive to constitute evidence
of the activities the S.A. in the early stages of the Nazi
movement. I should like to quote from a few of these titles
by giving the page reference of this big newspaper volume.
Here is one of 24th February, 1934, Page 4. The title: "We
Subdue the Red Terror."
The 8th September, 1934, Page 12. The article is entitled:
"Nightly Street Battles on the Czech Border."
[Page 108]
Another one of the 20th October, 1934, Page 7. The title:
"Victorious S.A."
I will skip several of them. Here is one of 26th January,
1935, Page 7. The title: The S.A. Conquers Rastenburg."
Another on 23rd February, 1935, Page 5: "Company 88 Receives
Its Baptism of Fire."
One of 20th October, 1934, Page 7. The article is: "S.A.
Against Sub-Humanity."
Finally, I mention the one of 10th August, 1935, Page 10.
The title is, "The Blood Sunday of Berlin."
And then there is a portrait in the article of 11th
September, 1937, Page 1, which symbolises the S.A.-Mann as
the "Master of the Streets."
For an example of the nature of these articles, one appeared
the Franken edition of the S.A.-Mann for 30th October, 1937,
Page 3. It is entitled, "9th November, 1923, in Nuernberg,"
and I should like to quote from Pages 14 and 15 of Document
3050-PS, which is an English translation of this article:--
Then in the evening we marched, although the Police had
forbidden it, to a meeting in Fuerth. On our way the
police again attempted to stop us. It was all the same
to us. In the next moment in our anger we attacked the
police so that they were forced to flee. We marched on
to Geissmann Hall. There again they tried to stop us.
But the Landsturm, which was also there, attacked the
protection forces like persons possessed and drove them
from the streets. After the meeting we dissolved and
went to the edge of town. From there we marched in
close column back to Nuernberg. In Will Street near
Plaerrer the police came again. We simply shoved them
aside. They did not dare to attack, for this would have
meant a blood bath. We decided beforehand not to take
anything from anyone. In Fuerth they had already
noticed that we were up to no good. A mass of people
accompanied us on the march. We marched with unrolled
flags and sang so that the streets resounded: `Comrade
give me your hand; we want to stand together firmly;
even if they misunderstand the S.A., the spirit must
not die; Swastika on the steel helmet, black-white-red
armband; we are known as Storm Troop (S.A.) Hitler!"
[Page 109]
The S.A. groups were employed to destroy political
opposition by force and brutality wherever necessary. An
example of this is shown in Document 3221-PS, Exhibit USA
422, and that is an original affidavit made in the State of
Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, by William F.
Sollman, which we now quote in its entirety:--
Signed and sworn to." [
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Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
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(Part 1 of 8)
"The new Germany would not have come into existence
without Der S.A.-Mann, and the new Germany would
continue to exist if Der S.A.-Mann would now, with the
feeling of having fulfilled his duty, quietly and
unselfishly and modestly step aside, or if the new
State would send him home, much like the Moor who has
done his duty. On the contrary, Der S.A.-Mann,
following the will of the Fuehrer, stands as a
guarantor of the National Socialist revolution before
the gates of power, and will remain standing there at
all times. For there are still gigantic missions
awaiting fulfillment which would not be thinkable
without the presence and the active co-operation of the
S.A. What has been accomplished up till now, the taking
over of the power in the State, and the ejection of
those elements which are responsible for the pernicious
developments of the postwar years,
as bearers of Marxism, Liberalism, and Capitalism, are
only the preliminaries, the spring-board, for the real
aims of National Socialism. Being conscious of the
fact that the real National Socialist construction work
would be building in an empty space, without the taking
over of power by Adolf Hitler, the Movement and Der
S.A.-Mann as the aggressive bearer of its will,
primarily have directed all of their efforts to achieve
the goal by continued striving, and to obtain the
foundation or the realisation of their desires in the
State by force. Out of this comes the further mission
of the S.A. for the completion of the German
revolution: first, to be the guarantor of the power of
the National Socialist State against all attacks from
without as well as from within: second, to be the high
institute of education of the people for the living
National Socialism."
The function of S.A. as the propagandist of the Party was
more than a responsibility which S.A. took unto itself. It
was the responsibility recognised by the law of Germany.
Document 1395-PS, is a copy of the law entitled, "Law on
Securing the Unity of Party and State," which I have
referred to before -- and it was promulgated by the Reich
Cabinet in 1933 -- I desire to read Article 3, on Page 1 of
the English translation:
"The members of the National Socialist German Party and
the S.A., including their subordinate organisations, as
the leading and driving force of the National Socialist
State, will bear greater responsibility toward the
Fuehrer, People, and State. In case they violate these
duties they will be subject to special jurisdiction by
Party and State. The Fuehrer may extend these
regulations in order to include members of other
organisations."
Thus were the S.A. members the ideology bearers of the Nazi
Party -- the soldiers of an idea -- to use the expression
employed by the Nazi writers. And permit me to emphasize
that the S.A. was the propagandist agency, the principal
agency employed by the conspirators to disseminate their
fanaticism among the people of Germany.
"The young Movement from the first day, espoused the
standpoint that its idea must be put forward
spiritually, but that the defence of this spiritual
platform must, if necessary, be secured by strong-arm
means."
"Faithful to its belief in the enormous significance of
the new doctrine, it seems obvious to the movement
that, for the attainment of its goal, no sacrifice can
be too great."
So, in the early days of the Nazi movement, in order that
the Nazis might better spread their fanatical philosophies,
the S.A. was employed as a terroristic group, so as to gain
for the Nazis possession and control of the streets. That is
another way of saying that it was a function of the S.A. to
beat up and terrorize all political opponents. The
importance of this function is indicated in Document 2168-
PS, Exhibit USA 411, which was written by S.A. Sturmfuehrer
Bayer on orders from S.A. headquarters. I refer to Page 3 of
the English translation of that document, the third
paragraph from the bottom:
"Possession of the streets is the key to power in the
State -- for this reason the S.A. marched and fought.
The public would never have received knowledge of the
agitative speeches of the little Reichstag faction and
its propaganda, or of the desires and aims of the
Party, if the martial tread and battle song of the S.A.
Companies had not beat the measures for the truth of a
relentless criticism of the state of affairs in the
governmental system. They wanted the Young Movement to
keep silent. Nothing was to be read in the Press about
the labour of the National Socialists, not to mention
the basic aims of its platform. They simply did not
want to awaken any interest in it. However, the martial
tread of the S.A. took care that even the drowsiest
citizens had to see at least the existence of a
fighting troop."
The importance of the work of the S.A. in the early days of
the movement was indicated by Goebbels in a speech which
appeared in Das Archiv, October, 1935. This is our Document
3211-PS, Exhibit USA 419. It is on the first page of the
English translation, No. 3211, quoting:--
"The inner-political opponents did not disappear due to
mysterious unknown reasons, but because the Movement
possessed a strong arm within its organisation, and the
strongest arm of the Movement is the S.A. The Jewish
question will not be solved separately, but by laws
which we enact, for we are the anti-Jewish Government."
Specific evidence of the activities of the S.A. during the
early period of the Nazi movement, from 1922 to 1931, is
found in a series of articles appearing in Der S.A.-Mann,
entitled "S.A. Battle Experiences Which We Will Never
Forget." Each of these articles an account of a street or a
meeting-hall battle waged by the S.A. against a group of
political opponents in the early days of the Nazi struggle
for power. These articles demonstrate that during this
period it was the function of the SA to employ physical
violence in order to destroy and subvert all forms of
thought and expression which might be considered hostile to
the Nazi aims or philosophy.
"We stayed overnight in the Colosseum (that means
Nuernberg). Then in the morning we found out what had
happened in Munich. 'Now a revolution will also be made
in Nuernberg', we said. All of a sudden the Police came
from the Master Guard and told us that we should go
home, that the `putsch' in Munich had failed. We did
not believe that and we did not go home. Then came the
State Police with fixed bayonets and drove us out of
the hall. One of us then shouted: 'Let's go to the Cafe
Habsburg!' By the time we arrived, however, the Police
again had everything surrounded. Some shouted then,
'The Jewish place will be stormed.... Out with the
Jews!' Then the police started to beat us up. Then we
divided into small groups and roamed through the town,
and wherever we caught a Red or a Jew we knew, a fist
fight ensued.
I now skip to the use of the S.A. to consolidate the power
of the Party.
"William F. Sollman, Pendle Hill School, Wallingford,
Pennsylvania, being duly sworn according to law,
deposes and says: From 1919 until 1933 I was a Social-
Democrat and a member of the German Reichstag. Prior to
11th March, 1933, I was Editor-in-Chief of a chain of
daily newspapers with my office in Cologne, Germany,
which led the fight against the Nazi Party. On 9th
March, 1933, members of the S.S. and S.A. came to my
home in Cologne and destroyed the furniture and my
personal records. At that time I was taken to the Brown
House in Cologne, where I was tortured, being beaten
and kicked for several hours. I was then taken to the
regular Government prison in Cologne, where I was
treated by two medical doctors and released the next
day. On 11th March, 1933, I left Germany.
Prior to the organisation of the Gestapo on a national
scale, local S.A. meeting places were designated as arrest
points, and the S.A. members were employed in the taking
into custody of Communists and other persons who were
actually or supposedly hostile to the Nazi Party. This
activity is described in Document 1759-PS, Exhibit USA 420,
which is an original affidavit made by Raymond H. Geist. Mr.
Geist was formerly United States Consul in Berlin. He is now
in Mexico City. I should like to quote from a portion of his
affidavit, the first being on Page 5 of the English
translation, about the middle of the page, starting:--
"At the beginning of the Hitler regime, the only
organisation which had meeting-places throughout the
country was the S.A. (Storm Troopers). Until the
Gestapo could be organised on a national scale, the
thousands of local S.A. meeting-places became the
arrest points. There were at least 50 of these in
Berlin. Communists, Jews, and other known enemies of
the Nazi Party were taken to these points, and if they
were enemies of sufficient importance they were
immediately transferred to the Gestapo Headquarters.
During 1933 and 1934, when the Gestapo became
universally organised, the S.A. were gradually
eliminated as arresting agents, and the S.S. were
incorporated as administrative and executive officials
into the Gestapo. By the end of 1934, the S.A. had been
fairly well eliminated and the S.S., the members of
which wore elegant black suits and were therefore
called Elite Guards, became almost identical as
functionaries with the Gestapo."