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Last-Modified: 1997/09/10

                          Judgment
                           of the
               International Military Tribunal
                           For The
             Trial of German Major War Criminals

                           London
               His Majesty's Stationery Office
                            1951
                                                            
                                                  [Page 112]
                                                            
General NIKITCHENKO:

                        VON SCHIRACH

Von Schirach is indicted under Counts One and Four. He
joined the Nazi Party and the SA in 1925. In 1929 he became
the leader of the National Socialist Students Union. In 1931
he was made Reichs Youth Leader of the Nazi Party with
control over all Nazi youth organisations, including the
Hitler Jugend. In 1933, after the Nazis had obtained control
of the Government, Von Schirach was made Leader of Youth in
the German Reich, originally a position within the Ministry
of the Interior, but, after 1st December, 1936, an office in
the Reich Cabinet. In 1940 Von Schirach resigned as head of
the Hitler Jugend and Leader of Youth in the German Reich,
but retained his position as Reichsleiter with control over
Youth Education. In 1940 he was appointed Gauleiter of
Vienna, Reichs Governor of Vienna, and Reichs Defense
Commissioner for that territory.

                                                  [Page 113]
                                                            
Crimes against Peace

After the Nazis had come to power Von Schirach, utilizing
both physical violence and official pressure, either drove
out of existence or took over all youth groups which
competed with the Hitler Jugend. A Hitler decree of 1st
December, 1936, incorporated all German youth within the
Hitler Jugend. By the time formal conscription was
introduced in 1940, 97% of those eligible were already
members.

Von Schirach used the Hitler Jugend to educate German Youth
"in the spirit of National Socialism" and subjected them to
an intensive program of Nazi propaganda. He established the
Hitler Jugend as a source of replacements for the Nazi Party
formations. In October, 1938, he entered into an agreement
with Himmler under which members of the Hitler Jugend who
met SS standards would be considered as the primary source
of replacements for the SS.

Von Schirach also used the Hitler Jugend for pre-military
training. Special units were set up whose primary purpose
was training specialists for the various branches of the
service. On 11th August, 1939, he entered into an agreement
with Keitel under which the Hitler Jugend agreed to carry
out its pre-military activities under standards laid down by
the Wehrmacht and the Wehrmacht agreed to train 30,000
Hitler Jugend instructors each year. The Hitler Jugend
placed particular emphasis on the military spirit and its
training program stressed the importance of return of the
colonies, the necessity for Lebensraum, and the noble
destiny of German youth to die for Hitler.

Despite the warlike nature of the activities of the Hitler
Jugend, however, it does not appear that Von Schirach was
involved in the development of Hitler's plan for territorial
expansion by means of aggressive war, or that he
participated in the planning or preparation of any of the
wars of aggression.

Crimes against humanity

In July, 1940 Von Schirach was appointed Gauleiter of
Vienna. At the same time he was appointed Reichs Governor
for Vienna and Reichs Defense Commissioner, originally for
Military District 17, including the Gaue of Vienna, Upper
Danube, and Lower Danube and, after 17th November, 1942, for
the Gaue of Vienna alone. As Reichs Defense Commissioner, he
had control of the civilian war economy. As Reichs Governor
he was head of the municipal administration of the City of
Vienna, and, under the supervision of the Minister of the
Interior, in charge of the governmental administration of
the Reich in Vienna.

Von Schirach is not charged with the commission of War
crimes in Vienna, only with the commission of Crimes against
humanity. As has already been seen, Austria was occupied
pursuant to a common plan of aggression. Its occupation is,
therefore, a "crime within the jurisdiction of the
Tribunal", as that term is used in Article 6 (c) of the
Charter. As a result, "murder, extermination, enslavement,
deportation, and other inhumane acts" and "persecutions on
political, racial, or religious grounds" in connection with
this occupation constitute a Crime against Humanity under
that Article.

As Gauleiter of Vienna, Von Schirach came under the Sauckel
decree, dated 6th April, 1942, making the Gauleiters
Sauckel's plenipotentiaries for manpower with authority to
supervise the utilization and treatment of manpower within
their Gaue. Sauckel's directives provided that the forced
laborers were to be fed, sheltered, and treated so as to
exploit them to the highest possible degree at the lowest
possible expense.

                                                  [Page 114]
                                                            
When Von Schirach became Gauleiter of Vienna the deportation
of the Jews had already been begun, and only 60,000 out of
Vienna's original 190,000 Jews remained. On 2nd October,
1940, he attended a conference at Hitler's office and told
Frank that he had 50,000 Jews in Vienna which the General
Government would have to take over from him. On 3rd
December, 1940, Von Schirach received a letter from Lammers
stating that after the receipt of the reports made by Von
Schirach, Hitler had decided to deport the 60,000 Jews still
remaining in Vienna to the General Government because of the
housing shortage in Vienna. The deportation of the Jews from
Vienna was then begun and continued until the early fall of
1942. On 15th September, 1942. Von Schirach made a speech in
which he defended his action in having driven "tens of
thousands upon tens of thousands of Jews into the ghetto of
the East" as "contributing to European culture".

While the Jews were being deported from Vienna, reports,
addressed to him in his official capacity, were received in
Von Schirach's office from the office of the Chief of the
Security Police and SD which contained a description of the
activities of Einsatzgruppen in exterminating Jews. Many of
these reports were initialed by one of Von Schirach's
principal deputies. On 30th June, 1944, Von Schirach's
office also received a letter from Kaltenbrunner informing
him that a shipment of 12,000 Jews was on its way to Vienna
for essential war work and that all those who were incapable
of work would have to be kept in readiness for "special
action".

The Tribunal finds that Von Schirach, while he did not
originate the policy of deporting Jews from Vienna,
participated in this deportation after he had become
Gauleiter of Vienna. He knew that the best the Jews could
hope for was a miserable existence in the ghettos of the
East. Bulletins describing the Jewish extermination were in
his office.

While Gauleiter of Vienna Von Schirach continued to function
as Reichsleiter for Youth Education and in this capacity he
was informed of the Hitler Jugend's participation in the
plan put into effect in the fall of 1944 under which 50,000
young people between the ages of 10 to 20 were evacuated
into Germany from areas recaptured by the Soviet forces and
used as apprentices in German industry and as auxiliaries in
units of the German Armed Forces In the summer of 1942 Von
Schirach telegraphed Bormann urging that a bombing attack on
an English cultural town be carried out in retaliation for
the assassination of Heydrich which, he claimed, had been
planned by the British.

Conclusion: The Tribunal finds that Von Schirach is not
guilty on Count One. He is guilty under Count Four.


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