The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

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Archive/File: imt/nca/nca-02/nca-02-15-criminality-02-07
Last-Modified: 1997/08/21

In view of the domination of the German State and Government
by the Nazi Party and the Leadership Corps thereof, as
established by the foregoing evidence, the Leadership Corps
is responsible for the measures, including legislative
enactments, taken by the German State and Government in
furtherance of the conspiracy formulated and carried out by
the co-conspirators and the organizations charged with
criminality.

                                                   [Page 50]
                                                            
For example, as revealed by the above evidence, Point 4 of
the original Party Program declared that a Jew was not a
member of the German race and, therefore, was not entitled
to citizenship. This premise was incorporated into the law
of the Third Reich by numerous anti-Semitic and
discriminatory laws. Consequently, it is submitted that, by
virtue of their control over the German State and
Government, the Nazi Party and the Leadership Corps share
responsibility for, among other enactments and measures
furthering the Conspiracy, discriminatory laws against the
Jews.

(2) Overt Acts and Crimes of the Leadership Corps. The
membership of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party
actively participated in measures designed to further the
progress of the Conspiracy. The evidence will show that the
participation by the Leadership Corps in the Conspiracy
embraces such measures as anti-Semitic activities, war
crimes committed against members of the Allied forces, the
forced labor program, measures to subvert and undermine the
Christian religion and persecute the Christian clergy, the
plundering and spoliation of cultural and other property in
German-occupied territories of Europe, and plans and
measures leading to the initiation and prosecution of
aggressive war.

(a) Crimes against Jews. The Gauleiter and Kreisleiter
participated in what were disingenuously described by the
Nazis as the "spontaneous uprising of the people" against
the Jews throughout Germany on 9 November 1938 and 10
November 1938 in connection with the assassination of an
official of the German Embassy in Paris on 7 November. (The
evidence relating to these programs is discussed in Chapter
XI on the concentration camps, and Chapter XII on the
persecution of the Jews.) It will be recalled that in the
teletyped directive from SS-Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich, issued
on 10 November 1938, to all police headquarters and SD
districts, all chiefs of the State Police were ordered to
arrange with the political leaders in the Gaue and Kreise
the organization of the so-called spontaneous demonstrations
against the Jews (3051-PS). Pursuant to this directive, a
large number of Jewish shops and businesses were pillaged
and wrecked, synagogues were set on fire, individual Jews
were beaten up, and large numbers were taken off to
concentration camps. These events forcefully illustrate the
employment and participation of all the Kreisleiter and
Gauleiter in illegal measures designed to further the anti-

                                                   [Page 51]
                                                            
Semitic program. which was an original and continuing
objective of the Leadership

(b) Crimes against Allied Airmen. The members of the
Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party participated in the
murder, beating. and ill-treatment of American airmen who
landed in German or German-controlled territory. American
airmen who bailed out of disabled planes over Germany were
not treated as prisoners of war, but were beaten and
murdered by German civilians with the active condonence,
indeed at the instigation of the Leadership Corps. Such a
course of conduct by the Leadership Corps represented a
deliberate violation by the German Government of its
obligations, under the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention,
to protect prisoners of war against acts of violence and ill-
treatment.

Heinrich Himmler was a Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party and
thus official in the Leadership Corps by virtue of his
positions as Reichsfuehrer of the SS and Delegate for German
Folkdom (2473-PS; Chart No. 1). An order signed by Himmler
(R-110), dated 10 August 1943, reads as follows:

     "It is not the task of the police to interfere in
     clashes between Germans and English and American terror
     fliers who 'have bailed out." (R-110)

This order was transmitted in writing to all senior
executive SS police officers, and orally to their
subordinate officers and to all Gauleiter.

Joseph Goebbels was a top-flight official in the Leadership
Corps Nazi Party by virtue of his position as Propaganda
Leader of the Nazi Party (2473-PS; Chart No. 1). In the
issue of the Voelkischer Beobachter for 26/29 May 1944,
there appeared an article written by Goebbels, the
Reichsleiter for Party Propaganda, in which he openly
invited the German civil population to murder Allied fliers
shot down over Germany (1676-PS). After alleging that Anglo-
American pilots have engaged in machine gun attacks against
civilians, Goebbels continues:

     "It is only possible with the aid of arms to secure the
     lives of enemy pilots who were shot down during such
     attacks, for they would otherwise be killed by the
     sorely tried population. Who Is right here? The
     murderers who, after their cowardly misdeeds, await a
     humane treatment on the part of their victims, or the
     victims who wish to defend themselves according to the
     principle: 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'?
     This question is not hard to answer." (1676-PS)

                                                   [Page 52]
                                                            
Reichsleiter Goebbels then proceeds to answer his question
in the following language:

     "It seems to us hardly possible and tolerable to use
     German police and soldiers against the German people
     when it treats murderers of children as they deserve."
     (1676-PS)

On 30 May 1944, Bormann, Reichsleiter and Chief of the Party
Chancellery, issued a circular letter on the subject which
furnishes indisputable proof that British and American flies
who were shot down were Iynched by the German population
(057-PS). After alleging that in recent weeks English and
American fliers had repeatedly shot children, women,
peasants, and vehicles on the highway, Bormann then states:

     "Several instances have occurred where members of the
     crews of such aircraft, who have bailed out or who have
     made forced landings, were Iynched on the spot
     immediately after capture by the populace, which was
     incensed to the highest degree. No police measures or
     criminal proceedings were invoked against the German
     civilians who participated in these incidents." (057-
     PS)

This letter of Bormann was distributed through the chain of
command of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. Express
mention on the distribution list is made of Reichsleiter,
Gauleiter, Kreisleiter, and leaders of the incorporated and
affiliated organizations of the Party. Bormann requested
that the local group leaders (Ortsgruppenleiter) be informed
of the contents of his circular letter only by oral means.
(057-PS)

The effect of Reichsleiter Bormann's circular letter may be
seen in an order dated 25 February 1945 (L-154). This is an
order from Albert Hoffman, an important member of the
Leadership Corps by virtue of his position as Gauleiter and
National Defense Commissioner of the Gau Westfalen-South,
and it is addressed to all County Councillors, mayors, and
police officials, and to county leaders and county staff
chiefs of the Volkssturm. The order reads as follows:

     "Fighter bomber pilots who are shot down are not to be
     protected against the fury of the people. I expect from
     all police officers that they will refuse to lend their
     protection to these gangster types. Authorities acting
     in contradiction to the popular sentiment will have to
     account to me. All police and gendarmerie officials are
     to be informed immediately of this, my attitude." (L-
     154)

The obligations of belligerents towards prisoners of war are
clearly set forth in the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention
of

                                                   [Page 53]
                                                            
27 July 1929, which was ratified by both Germany and the
United States. Article Two of the Convention provides as
follows:

     "Prisoners of war are in the power of the hostile
     power, but not of the individuals or corps who have
     captured them.
     
     "They must at all times be humanely treated and
     protected, particularly against acts of violence,
     insults and public curiosity.
     
     "Measures of reprisal against them are prohibited."
     (3738-PS) .

The Geneva Prisoners of War Convention clearly imposes upon
its signatories the strict obligation to protect prisoners
of war from violence. The evidence just discussed shows that
the German State flagrantly violated its obligations under
that Convent to protect captured airmen who were shot down
in German hands. The evidence also proves that the entire
hierarchy of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party
participated in the conspiracy to incite the German civil
population to murder Allied airmen and also ordered police
and Party officials to take no steps to secure the safety of
these airmen.

(c) Crimes against Foreign Labor and Civilians in Occupied
areas. Alfred Rosenberg and Robert Ley were both
Reichsleiter the NSDAP. (2473-PS)

An agreement was concluded between the Reich Minister for
the Occupied Eastern Territories, Reichsleiter Rosenberg,
and the Director of the German Labor Front,
Reichsorganisationleiter relating to the inspection and care
of foreign workers. This agreement was based on an earlier
agreement of 2 June 1943 been the Deputy General for the
Arbeitseinsatz, Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel, and the Leader of
the German Labor Front, Reichsleiter the Party Organization,
Dr. Ley, concerning a "central inspection for the care of
foreign workers" (1913-PS). The purpose of the two
agreements was to coordinate activities of the organizations
concerned with respect to the administration of plants and
camps in which foreign workers were employed. (1914-PS)

On 17 October  1944, Reichsleiter Rosenberg sent a letter to
Reichsleiter Bormann, Chief of the Party Chancery, informing
the latter that he had sent a telegram to Gauleiter urging
them not to interfere in the liquidation of certain listed
companies and banks under his supervision. Rosenberg
emphasized to Bormann that any "delay of liquidation or ***
independent confiscation of the property by the Gauleiter
would impair or destroy

                                                   [Page 54]
                                                            
an organized plan" for the liquidation of a vast amount of
property. (327-PS)

On 7 November 1943, the Chief of the General Staff of the
Armed Forces delivered a lecture at Munich to the
Reichsleiter and Gauleiter. The Chief of Staff stated that
his object was to give a review of the strategic position at
the outset of the fifth year of war. He stated his
realization that the Political Leaders in the Reich and Gau
areas, in view of their burdensome tasks in supporting the
German War Effort, were in need of information he could
give. He stated, in part, as follows:

     "Reichsleiter Bormann has requested me to give you a
     review today of the strategic position in the beginning
     of the fifth year of war.
     
     "No one -- the Fuehrer has ordered -- may know more or
     be told more than he needs for his immediate task, but
     I have no doubt at all in my mind, gentlemen, but that
     you need a great deal in order to be able to cope with
     your tasks. It is in your Gau, after all *** that all
     the enemy propaganda, and the malicious rumors
     concentrate that try to find themselves a place among
     our people *** Against this wave of enemy propaganda
     and cowardice you need to know the true situation, and,
     for this reason, I believe that I am justified in
     giving you a perfectly open and uncovered account of
     the state of affairs ***." (L-172)


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