Thirty-Fifth Day:
Wednesday, January 16th, 1946
[Page 331]
In this decree Frick reserved for himself the authority to
appoint inspectors of the Security Police, subordinated them
to his district governors, the Oberprasidenten, and ordered
them to have a close co-operation with the Party and the
Armed Forces.
Another example of the use of his activities in the police
sphere is in his ordinance of 18th March, 1938, concerning
the Austrian Anschluss, in which Frick authorised the
Reichsfuehrer of the S.S. and Police, Himmler, to take
security measures in Austria without regard to previous
legal limitations. This decree is published in the
Reichsgesetzblatt, 1938, Page 262, and appears in the
document book as 1437-PS.
I shall not here repeat the evidence concerning the criminal
activities of the German police, over which the defendant
Frick had supreme authority. I should simply like to refer
the Tribunal to the presentations already made on the
subject of concentration camps and the Gestapo, two of the
police institutions under Frick's jurisdiction. But I should
like to show that not only Himmler's subordinate machine but
also Frick's Ministry itself was familiar with these
institutions. Therefore, I now offer into evidence Document
1643-PS, as Exhibit USA 713.
This document is a synopsis of correspondence between the
Reich Ministry of the Interior and its field offices from
November, 1942, through August, 1943, on the subject of the
legal aspects of the confiscation of property by the S.S.
for the enlargement of the concentration camp at Auschwitz.
At the bottom of Page 1 and the top of Page 2 of the English
translation there appears a synopsis of the minutes of a
meeting held on 17th and 18th December, 1942, concerning the
confiscation of this property. These minutes indicate that a
further discussion was to be held on the subject on 21st
December, 1942, between the representatives of the Reich
Minister of the Interior and the Reichsfuehrer S.S. On Page
2 there appears also a summary of a teletype letter dated
22nd January, 1943, from Dr. Hoffmann, representing the
Reich Minister of the Interior, to the District Governor in
Kattowitz.
The summary begins as follows, and I quote:
The next aspect of the participation of the defendant Frick
in the Nazi conspiracy concerns his promotion of racial
persecution and racialism, involving the wiping out of the
Jews.
In addition to the many other responsibilities of Frick,
this vast administrative empire covered the entire area of
the enactment and administration of racial legislation.
I refer again to Document 3475-PS, "The Manual for German
Administrative Officials," previously introduced, and I
refer to Pages 2 and 4, showing that
[Page 332]
In order to avoid any repetition, I shall not quote the
various acts drafted by Frick's Ministry against the Jews.
The presentation concerning persecution of the Jews made by
Major Walsh before the Christmas recess listed a number of
decrees signed by Frick, including the infamous Nuremberg
laws and the laws depriving Jews of their property and their
rights of citizenship, and stigmatising them with the Yellow
Star.
But the activities of Frick's Ministry were not restricted
to the commission of such crimes, camouflaged in the form of
legislation. The police field offices, subordinate to Frick,
participated in the organisation of such terroristic
activities as the pogrom of 9th November, 1938.
I refer to a series of Heydrich's orders and reports
concerning the organisation of these pogroms - or, as they
were termed-by Heydrich, "spontaneous riots" - Documents
3051-PS and 3058-PS, Which are already in evidence as
Exhibits USA 240 and 508.
Three days after this pogrom of 9th November, 1938, Frick,
his Under-Secretary Stuckart and his subordinates, Heydrich
and Deluege, participated in a conference on the Jewish
question under the chairmanship of the defendant Goering. At
this meeting the various measures were discussed which the
individual governmental departments should initiate against
the Jews. A stenographic record of this meeting, Document
1816-PS, is already in evidence as Exhibit USA 261. May I
briefly refer to the bottom of Page 23 of the English
translation, where we find Goering's concluding remarks:
In the foregoing presentation we have shown that the
defendant Frick, as a member of the conspiracy, devised the
machinery of the State for Nazism. In the following
presentation we will show that Frick actively supported the
preparation of the Nazi State for war.
May we begin this portion by showing that Frick was in
sympathy with the flagrant violations by Germany of her
treaties of non-aggression. This is clearly shown by the
affidavit of Ambassador Messersmith, Document 2385-PS,
previously introduced as Exhibit USA 68. I shall quote only
one sentence from this affidavit, Page 4, line 10. It reads
as follows:
His functions as General Plenipotentiary are outlined in the
Reich Defence Law of 4th September, 1938, which was
classified top military secret and appears in our document
book as 2494-PS, Exhibit USA 36. Under this law of 1938,
paragraph 3, tremendous power was concentrated in the hands
of Frick as General Plenipotentiary for Administration. In
addition to the offices under his supervision as Minister of
the Interior, the law made the following offices
[Page 333]
Frick admitted the significant part he played in the
preparations for war as a member of the triumvirate, in a
speech made on 7th March, 1940, at the University of
Freiburg. Excerpts appear in the document book as 2608-PS,
which I offer in evidence as Exhibit USA 714. I think it
would be helpful if the Tribunal would allow me to read two
short paragraphs, beginning at the top of Page 1 of the
English translation:
The planned preparation of the administration for the
possibility of a war has already been carried out during
peacetime. For this purpose the Fuehrer appointed a
Plenipotentiary General for the Reich Administration and
a Plenipotentiary General for Economy."
Frick's Ministry also arranged the selection and assignment
of hundreds of occupation officials for the Soviet territory
even before the invasion. This fact appears in a report by
the defendant Rosenberg of April, 1941, on preparations for
the administration of occupied territory in the East. May I
refer to Page 2, paragraph 2, of Document 109-PS, which has
previously been introduced as Exhibit USA 146.
One category of Frick's contribution to the planning of and
preparation for aggressive war deserves special notice. This
is the systematic killing of persons regarded as useless to
the German war machine, such as the insane, the crippled and
aged, and foreign labourers who were no longer able to work.
These killings were carried out in nursing homes, hospitals
and asylums. The
[Page 334]
As proof that Frick's jurisdiction covered the death cases
in these institutions, I now offer in evidence Document 621-
PS, Exhibit USA 715. This is a letter of 2nd October, 1940,
from the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Dr. Lammers, to the
Reichsminister of Justice, informing the latter that
material concerning the death of inmates of nursing homes
had been transmitted to the Reichsminister of the Interior
for further action. In fact, the defendant Frick not only
had jurisdiction of these establishments, but he was one of
the originators of a secret law organising the murdering.
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(Part 10 of 11)
[Dr. Robert M. W. Kempner]
"The territory of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp will
be changed into an independent estate" - which means an
administrative territory of itself.
The fact that the defendant Frick demonstrated personal
interest in a concentration camp became known through the
testimony of Dr. Blaha, to which I should like to refer the
Tribunal, in which he testified that Frick visited the
Dachau Camp in 1943.
"Also the Ministry of the Interior and the police will
have to think over what measures have to be taken."
This remark shows that Goering regarded it as Frick's duty
to follow up by administrative devices the pogrom, organised
by Frick's own subordinates.
"High-ranking Nazis with whom I had to maintain official
contact, particularly men such as Goering, Goebbels,
Ley, Frick, Frank, Darre and others, repeatedly scoffed
at my attitude to the binding character of treaties and
openly stated to me that Germany would observe her
international undertakings only so long as it suited
Germany's interests to do so."
In May, 1935, by his appointment as General Plenipotentiary
for the Administration of the Reich, Frick became one of the
big three in charge of preparing Germany for war. The other
two members of the triumvirate were the Chief of the O.K.W.
and the General Plenipotentiary for Economy, at that time
the defendant Schacht. Frick has admitted that he held the
position of General Plenipotentiary since 21st May, 1935,
the date of the original secret Reich Defence Law. I refer
to his statement of positions, Document 2978-PS, Exhibit USA
8.
"The organisation of the non-military national defence
fits organically into the entire structure of the
National Socialist government and administration. This
state of affairs is not exceptional, but a necessary and
planned part of the National Socialist order. Thus, the
conversion of our administration and economy to wartime
conditions has been accomplished very quickly and
without any friction-avoiding the otherwise very
dangerous change of the entire structure of the State.
Many of Frick's contributions to the preparation of the
German State for war are outlined in detail in the book "Dr.
Wilhelm Frick and His Ministry," which is already in
evidence as Document 3119-PS. May I quote two short
sentences from the top of Page 3 of the English translation:
"Besides, the leading co-operation of the Reich Minister
of the Interior in the important field of 'military
legislation,' and thus in the establishment of our Armed
Forces, has to be particularly emphasised. After all,
the Reich Minister of the Interior is the civilian
minister of the defence of the country, who in this
capacity, together with the Reich War Minister, not only
signed the military law of 12th May, 1935, but in his
capacity as Supreme Chief of the General and Inner
Administration, as well as of the police, has also
received from the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor important
powers in the fields of the recruitment system and of
military supervision."
I have previously mentioned that, as Minister of the
Interior, Frick was responsible for the administrative
policy in occupied and annexed territories. It was his
Ministry which introduced the new German order throughout
the vast territory of Europe occupied by the German Armed
Forces, and the defendant Frick exercised these powers. I
request that the Tribunal take judicial notice of three
decrees signed by Frick, introducing German law into
Austria, the Sudetenland and the Government General of
Poland respectively: Decree of 13th March, 1938,
Reichsgesetzblatt, 1938, Part 1, Page 237, Article 8
(Document 2307-PS); Decree of 1st October, 1938,
Reichsgesetzblatt,1938, Part 1, Page 1331, paragraph 8
(Document 3073-PS); Decree of 12th October, 1939,
Reichsgesetzblatt, 1939, Part 1, Page 2077, paragraph 8 (1)
(Document 3079-PS).