One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth Day:
Monday, 29th July, 1946
[Page 55] Streicher
Together with Himmler, Kaltenbrunner, Pohl and those who conceived,
constructed and brought into action the gas chambers and "gas wagons";
together with those who personally committed mass "actions," Streicher
must bear responsibility for the monstrous crimes of German Fascism.
The incitement to national and racial dissension, the cultivation of
perverted cruelty and the call to murder-all these not only represented
the Party duties of this man for many years, they were also the source
of his income.
And it is not by accident that in his greeting to Streicher of April,
1937, which is already known to the Tribunal, Himmler expressed his high
esteem for the merits of Der Sturmer and of its publisher.
One can consider Streicher as the actual " spiritual father " of those
who quartered the children of Treblinka. Had it not been for Der Sturmer
and its pub-
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Over a period of many years Streicher spiritually corrupted the children
and the youth of Germany. The so-called "children's editions" of Der
Sturmer have been submitted to the Tribunal.
And therefore, together with Baldur von Schirach, Streicher must bear
responsibility for the selection of Jewish children from the Lvov ghetto
for target practice by the morally perverted "Hitlerjugend." It is not
by accident that von Schirach held Streicher's "historical merits" in so
high esteem.
The fanatical "Nuremberg laws" were only the "beginning of the struggle
for" Judophobe No. 1 " (as he called himself), who was also the
organizer of the first Jewish pogroms. As the Tribunal will recall,
after these laws were issued, Streicher called for the actual
extermination of the Jews in Europe and wrote: " This problem will only
be solved when world Jewry is exterminated."
I will not dwell again, either, on the shameless and mendacious "ritual
numbers" of Der Sturmer, intended to incite the SS men to the killing of
millions of innocent persons and to justify any atrocity directed
against the Jews. These proofs of Streicher's guilt, which were, inter
alia, submitted to the Tribunal, are indisputable and of common
knowledge.
In 1939 he anticipated Maidanek and Treblinka and wrote that "perhaps
graves alone will testify to the previous existence of Jews in Europe."
In 1943, when the gas chambers of Treblinka and Auschwitz were already
engulfing millions of victims, Der Sturmer published articles inciting
to the liquidation of the " ghetto," articles full of lies and malice,
and finally Der Sturmer could state with sadistic satisfaction that:
"The Jews of Europe have disappeared."
Streicher lied all his life. He attempted to lie here, in Court. I do
not know whether he believed he would be able to deceive anybody by
these lies, or whether he lied from habit or from fear.
But it seems to me that it must be apparent, even to the defendant
himself, that his last lie will not deceive anybody and will never bring
him salvation.
Schacht
Schacht's position, where his defence is concerned, is extremely simple.
If he is to be believed, purely patriotic motives attracted him to
Hitlerism. He was against aggressive wars, but in favour of rearmament
for Germany in order to maintain peace. He was all for the return of
Germany's colonies in view of establishing economic stability in Europe.
Having come to the conviction that the policy of the Nazi Government was
directed towards excessive armament and thereby threatened another world
war, Schacht went over to the opposition. He sabotaged the measures
taken by the Hitlerite Government and, as a result, he was persecuted as
a participant in the plot against Hitler.
Defendant Schacht now strives to depict the enthusiastic letters, full
of exprestions of loyalty, which he addressed to Hitler as a method of
camouflaging his true feeling of opposition towards the Hitlerite
regime.
Actually, Schacht's connection with the Nazi movement dates back to
1930. Schacht gravitated towards National Socialism, and both Hitler and
Goering sought Schacht's support. Indeed, the latter, with his vast
connections in Germany's industrial and financial spheres, could, like
nobody else, render invaluable services to the Nazi movement. And this
he did.
As far back as 29th August, 1932, in a letter addressed to Hitler,
Schacht assured the latter of his loyalty.
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As early as 1932, he, Schacht, declared to von Papen, then Reich
Chancellor of Germany: "Hand over your post to Hitler."
It was Schacht again who, in 1933, on the eve of the Reichstag
elections, called the conference of industrialists which created an
election fund of several million marks for the Nazi Party.
Hitler's closest follower, Goebbels, thus characterizes the part played
by Schacht and his importance in the creation of Nazi Germany. On the
21st November, 1932, he wrote down in his diary:
The prosecution and the proceedings have proved the extraordinary part
played by Schacht in the preparation of German armaments and,
consequently, in the launching of aggressive wars.
The former War Minister, von Blomberg, testified that in 1937 the
development plans of the armed forces were nearing completion and that
Schacht was informed of these plans and of their financing.
Schacht was one of the most consistent supporters of the Nazi criminal
plans. In a talk with the United States Ambassador, Fuller, on the 23rd
September, 1936, Schacht stated that: "Germany absolutely needs
colonies. If it is possible, we shall acquire them by negotiations. If
not, we shall seize them."
Speaking in Vienna in March, 1938, Schacht declared:
Over a period of many years, Schacht cumulated the functions of
President of the Reichsbank, Minister of Economics and Plenipotentiary
General of War Economy.
If only as a result of these functions, the defendant Schacht played an
enormous and decisive part in the creation and resurrection of Nazi
Germany's war economy and armed forces.
This activity of the defendant Schacht is clearly described in the
numerous laudatory letters which he received from Hitler.
The defendant Schacht, and no other, was the creator of the adventurous
method Of issuing so-called " MEFO bills," by which twelve million
Reichmarks were allotted, apart from budget allocations, to Germany's
economy for purposes of rearmament.
As mentioned above, the defendant Schacht attempted, at various periods
of his activities, to stress his alleged and ever-increasing dissension
with the Nazi
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It was only in 1943, when the downfall of Nazi Germany became apparent
to such a hard-boiled politician as Schacht, that he contacted the
circle of the opposition. However, true to himself, he took precautions
for any event and did not actually do anything personally to
overthrow the Nazi regime. That is why Hitler spared him.
This is the portrait of the defendant Schacht, and this is the part he
played in Hitler's conspiracy and war crimes.
It is the part of the creator of Nazi Germany's war economy and of an
instigator of the Second World War, launched by the criminal Nazi
Government.
Funk
An article published in the newspaper Das Reich on 13th August, 1940,
under the heading "Walter Funk - Pioneer of National Socialist
Thought," read as follows:
Funk declared that he had nothing in common with the SS, but it was he,
Funk, who transformed the vaults of the Reichsbank into depositories
for the treasures plundered by the SS men in the Eastern and other
occupied territories.
Funk personally gave the orders, after his negotiations with Himmler, to
take into the Reichsbank the gold teeth and plates, the spectacle frames
and other valuables belonging to the victims tortured to death in
numerous concentration .camps.
The Gruppenfuehrer SS Hoiler was Funk's deputy. Also under Funk's
direction operated Ohlendorf, the murderer, with the death of 90,000
persons on his conscience.
Funk, in supplement of Schacht's measures, placed the whole of Germany's
economy at the service of Hitlerite plans for aggression and, later on,
the economy of the territories occupied by Germany.
As far back as in May, 1939, Funk, together with his deputy, Landfried,
elaborated plans for financing the war and utilizing the economic
resources of Germany, and of Czechoslovakia, which had already been
seized, for war purposes.
On 23rd June, 1939, Funk took part in the conference of the Reich
Defence Council, which adopted detailed plans for the placing of all
national economy on a war footing.
Already at that time, Funk was not only informed of Germany's impending
attack on Poland, was not only co-operating in the realization of this
aggressive plan, but was also economically preparing new war, and the
seizure of new territories. These were the Fuehrer's " great political
aims " which were set out by Funk a few months later, in his article
entitled " Economic and Financial Mobilization."
I shall mention one more document; on 25th August, 1939, Funk wrote to
Hitler:
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Funk attached his collaborators to Rosenberg's ministry and to that
predatory organization Economic Staff "Ost." Funk's agents participated
also in the plunder of Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia and other occupied
countries.
Funk was the president of the "Continental Oil " company, created for
the exploitation by the Germans of the crude oil wealth in the occupied
Eastern territories, and especially the oil-fields of Grosny and Baku.
Funk was in full agreement with the predatory aims of the war launched
by Germany against the USSR. He made a speech on 17th December, 1941,
in. Prague, to the effect that the East is the future German colony.
Funk participated at the conference held on 6th August, 1942, at
Goering's office for the discussion of the most effective measures for
the economic plunder of the occupied territories of the USSR, Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, France, Norway and other countries.
At this conference, as well as the conference of the "Central Planning
Board," Funk participated in the drafting of plans for the deportation
to slavery of millions of people from the occupied territories.
Such are the fundamental stages in the criminal activities of that
Hitlerite conspirator, the defendant Funk-Hitler's personal adviser on
economic questions ever since 1931, Reich Minister and Plenipotentiary
General for Economic Questions, President of the Reichsbank and Member
of the Reich Defence Council during the period of the preparation and
the realization of the criminal plan. (conspiracy).
The guilt of Funk, this active participant in fascist conspiracy, for
the realization. of crimes against individuals, in war crimes and crimes
against humanity, has been fully proved and he must bear the
responsibility for the evil deeds perpetrated by him.
Schirach
After the publication on 1st December, 1936, of a decree concerning the
Hitlerite youth, von Schirach was - in his capacity of the Reich Youth
Leader - directly subordinated to Hitler.
In his deposition before the Court, the defendant Schirach, in his
efforts to evade the responsibility for the education of German youth in
the spirit of National Socialist ideas, made frequent references to the
fact that the "Hitlerjugend" was a youth organization independent of
the Nazi Party and the Hitlerite Government.
To defend himself, the defendant Schirach considered it both possible
and relevant to refer to the great Goethe, whose words - "Youth itself
educates young people" - were utilized by Schirach with open cynicism.
Goethe was, of course, right when he said that "youth itself educates
young people." But he meant the healthy, normal joyful youth, and not
youth corrupted with the obscurantism of the Hitlerites, so clearly
described by Hitler's words. addressed to Rauschning:
[Page 60]
During cross-examination, the defendant Schirach was finally forced to
admit that the youth of Germany was brought up in the spirit of the
National Socialist idea, that members of the SA, officers of the German
armed forces and the SS participated in its education, and that intense
preparation of the youth for war was being carried out in Germany. For
this purpose special agreements were made between the Reich leaders of
"Hitlerjugend " and the OKW, as represented by the defendant Keitel and
the Reichsfuehrer Himmler, which provided for the education of youth in
the spirit of aggressive militarism, and appropriate recruitment and the
preparation of youth for the German armed forces and the units of the
SS.
The part played by the defendant von Schirach and his participation in
the common conspiracy, in war crimes and crimes against humanity, are
characterized best of all by the behaviour of German youth brought up in
the "Hitlerjugend" during the war.
The Soviet Prosecution has presented to the Tribunal under No. USSR 6,
in conformity with Article 21 of the Charter, a report of the
Extraordinary State Commission about the crimes of the Germans on the
territory of Lvov.
This report records the declaration of the French citizen Ida Wasseaux
about the inhuman execution by the members of the "Hitlerjugend" of
young children, whom they used as targets for shooting practice.
In her written deposition of 16th May, 1946, and also in her answers to
the questionnaire of counsel for the defendant Schirach, Ida Wasseaux
has fully confirmed this declaration.
Conclusive testimony about the actions of the members of the
"Hitlerjugend" within the cadre of the German armed forces was given by
a German soldier prisoner of war, Hertom Knitel, himself a former member
of the "Hitlerjugend" since 1938 on, who in 1942, at the age of 18,
enlisted in the German Army.
Describing his participation in numerous crimes, Hertom Knitel declared:
Schirach himself did not, of course, shoot, did not set on fire, but he
did arm the German youth, morally corrupted it and prepared it for the
realization of every atrocity.
But the activities of the "Hitlerjugend" during the war and of the
defendant Schirach were not limited only to these crimes.
The "Hitlerjugend" actively participated in the preparation of the war
of aggression by creating fifth columns in Poland and Yugoslavia; the
official reports of the Polish and the Yugoslav Governments testify to
this fact. The "Hitlerjugend" organization took an active part in the
execution of all the measures undertaken by the Ministry for Occupied
Eastern TerritoriesI and this is proved by the report of the defendant
Rosenberg, presented to the Tribunal as Document 1039-PS; it also
participated in the deportation for slavery from the occupied
territories of children between the ages of io and 14, which fact is
proved by a document presented to the Tribunal as 1031-PS.
[Page 61]
In 1940, the defendant Schirach sent a telegram to Bormann, in which he
demanded the destruction from the air of one of the cultural towns of
Great Britain, as a reprisal for the murder of Heidrich, hangman of
Bohemia and Moravia.
This telegram is in itself a sufficiently vivid and convincing
description of the moral aspect of von Schirach's character. Faithful to
the Hitlerite clique, right until the end, aware of all its criminal
deeds, in which he himself had actively participated, the defendant von
Schirach is one of the most sinister figures of the third Reich.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn now.
(The Tribunal adjourned until Tuesday, 30th July, at 1000 hours.)
(Part 12 of 12)
[GENERAL RUDENKO continues.] "In a talk with Dr. Schacht, I came to the conviction that he fully
shares our point of view. He is one of the few who absolutely agree
with the position of the Fuehrer."
In his Spring Fair speech at Leipzig, on the 4th March, 1935, the
defendant Schacht himself defined his part in the Nazi State:
"I can assure you that all that I do and say is in full agreement
with the Fuehrer, and that I will do and say nothing that would not
be approved by the Fuehrer. That is why it is the Fuehrer, and not
I, who is the guardian of all economic intelligence."
As expected by Schacht, Hitler appreciated his merits at their full
value. On his advent to power in 1933, Hitler first appointed Schacht to
the post of President of the Reichsbank, then to the Ministry of
National Economy and finally to the post of General Plenipotentiary on
matters of War Economy.
"Thank God, this could not hinder the great German people in its
forward march, because Adolf Hitler unified German will and German
thought. He strengthened it with reborn armed forces and in the end
he gave an outer shape to the inner unity of Germany and Austria."
Defendant Schacht was entrusted with extraordinary powers in the sphere
of war economy.
"Walter Funk was true to his principles because he was, is and
always will be a true National Socialist, a champion devoting all
his labours to the victory of the Fuehrer's ideals."
The Fuehrer's ideals are only too well known. Funk devoted fifteen years
of his life to these "ideals."
"Field-Marshal Goering told me that my Fuehrer yesterday evening
approved the main points of the measures conceived by me for the
financing of war, stabilization of prices, fixation of wages and
the organization of obligatory donations; this news made me
profoundly happy."
A long time before the treacherous attack of Germany against the USSR,
Funk participated in the elaboration of plans for the spoliation of the
riches of the Soviet Union.
"We shall educate a youth before which the whole world shall
tremble, rough, exacting, cruel youth. That is what I want. Our
youth must possess all these qualities. It must be pitiless before
the sight of suffering. It must
be without weakness or softness. I want to see a glint of the wild
animal in its eye."
And the defendant Schirach instilled systematically the ideas of
Hitlerism in the conscience of German youth and educated the German
youth in the spirit of Hitler's wishes, modelling them after the image
of the adult leaders of the Hitlerite gang.
"In the locality of Lishaisk, in June, 1943, our company set fire
to a house with all the people in it.... All who tried to jump out
of the house we shot down, excepting one old woman whom we did not
shoot, as she became insane under our very eyes ......"
For all these crimes the defendant von Schirach bears full
responsibility together with Hertom Knitel and thousands of others.