The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

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There are additional organisations that were officially

designated within the Party, as affiliated organisations,

not "Gliederungen" nor controlled organisations,



                                                   [page 94]



but affiliated organisations (Angeschlossene Verbaende der

NSDAP). Among those organisations we have the German Labour

Front (Deutsche Arbeiterfront) the DAF; we have an

organisation that controlled the Civil Service (Reichsbund

der Deutschen Beamten). There were the physicians in the

Deutscher Aerztebund; there were the teachers in the

"Lehrerbund;" there were the lawyers within the National

Socialist "Rechtswahrerbund," of which, at one time, the

defendant Frank was the head.



There is another group of organisations, which was

officially known as supervised organisations (Betreute

Organisationen der NSDAP), organisations that included

certain specialised women's organisations (Deutsches

Frauenwerk), certain student societies (Deutsche

Studentenschaft) and former university students

(Altherrenbund der Deutschen Studenten). There was a group

that had reference to the German communes (National-

Sozialistischer Deutscher Gemeindetag) and there was a

"Reichsbund fur Leibesuebungen," that interested itself in

controlling all those interested in physical exercise.



According to the official Party designations applicable to

the various organisations and associations that controlled

German life, there was a fourth classification, which is the

last organisation that appears to the right on the chart

before your Honour, which is sometimes simply called

"Weitere Nationalsozialistische Organisationen," and here,

in some respects, we are in "No Man's Land," because the

party was not static, it was dynamic and our latest

information is now to the effect that the organisations that

ordinarily came within this category, well known

organisations like the RAD (Reich Labour Service) and the

NSFK (National Sozialistisches Fliegerkorps), may no longer

be included there. At least that was the opinion of the

Party Treasurer, who certified to this chart.



I think with these few remarks, I have given some general

impression of the structure of the Party with which we are

dealing, in this Proceeding before your Honours.



Before leaving the Chart perhaps I would just like to point

out several other instances where some of the defendants

appear in this set-up.



At the very top, to the left of the Fuehrer, as marked on

the chart before your Honour, are the successors-designate

of the Fuehrer. First is defendant Hess, until 1941, and

followed by the defendant Goering. Under the Fuehrer appears

the Chief of the Party Chancellery, the defendant Martin

Bormann, and then, if we come to the left of the

Reichsleiter, and go to the left, opposite Rosenberg's name,

we find somewhat below that his name is repeated as the Head

of an office on a lower level, namely, the Foreign Relations

Office of the Party, which played such a sinister influence

in the early work of the Party, as will later appear in the

documentary evidence to be presented to your Honour.



We then come to the late defendant Ely's name, on the main

horizontal division, and follow the dotted line to a lower

level, and we will find he was the Chief of the German

Labour Service, and if we come closer to the vertical line,

to a lower level, below the "Reichsleiter," we find the

defendant Speer, in the "Hauptamt Fur Technik," the Office

of Technical Affairs, and below that, as the Chief of the

"Bund Deutscher Technik " (German Technological League).



With the permission of the Tribunal, the prosecution will

now pass to the consideration of the governmental machinery

of the German State, which, like the Organisation of the

Nazi Party, requires some brief observations before the

prosecution proceeds with the submission of proof on the

Common Plan or Conspiracy, with which the defendants have

been charged.



If the Tribunal will allow, the prosecution will offer as

its second exhibit, another chart, delineating substantially

the governmental structure of the Third Reich, as it existed

in March, 1945, and also "The chief leadership corps of the

Reich Government and the Reich Administration during those

years."



This chart has been prepared by the prosecution on the basis

of information



                                                   [Page 95]



contained in two official publications, "Das Taschenbuch fur

Verwaltungsbeamte," the Manual for Administrative Officers,

and the National Socialist Year Book, to which I have

already alluded, edited by the defendant Ley.



This chart has been examined, corrected and certified by the

defendant Wilhelm Frick, whose affidavit is submitted with

it. In fact, it is reproduced directly on the copies of the

charts before your Honour.



It seems plain that the defendant Frick, a former Minister

of Interior of the Reich from January, 1933, to August,

1943, was well qualified, by reason of his position and long

service in public office during the National Socialist

regime, to certify to the substantial accuracy of the facts

disclosed in this chart.



Now, with the permission of the Tribunal, I would like to

make some brief comments on this chart.



First of all, we refer to the "Reichsregierung," which is

the big box in the centre of the chart on the vertical line,

directly below Hitler. The " Reichsregierung" is a word that

may not be translated literally as "government of the

Reich." The word "Reichsregierung" is a word of art and is

applied collectively to the ministers who composed the

German Cabinet.



The "Reichsregierung" has been named as a defendant in this

proceeding, and as used in the Indictment, the expression is

used to identify a group which, we will urge, should be

declared to have been a criminal organisation.



This group includes all the men named in that centre box,

who were members of the Cabinet after 30th January, 1933,

that is Reich Ministers with and without Portfolio, and all

other officials entitled to participate in the deliberations

of the Cabinet.



Secondly, it includes members of the Council of Ministers

for the Defence of the Reich. It is called "Ministerrat Fur

die Reichsverteidigung," which is the large box to the right

of the vertical line.



Then, it includes the members of the Secret Cabinet Council,

which is the small box to the left of the vertical line, the

"Geheimer Kabinettarat," of which the defendant von Neurath

was the President.



Unlike the Cabinets and Ministerial Councils in countries

that were not within the orbit of the Axis, the

"Reichsregierung," after 30th January, 1933, when Adolf

Hitler became Chancellor of the German Reich, did not remain

merely the executive branch of the Government. In short

order it also came to possess, and it exercised, legislative

and other functions as well, in the governmental system into

which the German Government developed while under the

domination of the National Socialist Party.



It is proper to observe here that, unlike such Party

organisations as the S.A. and S.S., the " Reichsregierung,"

before 1933, certainly, was not a body created exclusively

or even predominantly for the purpose of committing illegal

acts. The "Reichsregierung' was an instrument of government

provided for by the Weimar Constitution. Under the Nazi

regime, however, the "Reichsregierung" gradually became a

primary agent of the Party, with functions formulated in

accordance with the objectives and methods of the Party

itself. The Party, to all intents and purposes, was intended

to be a "Fuehrerorden," an order of fuehrers, a pool of

political leaders. And while the Party was, in the words of

a German law, "the bearer of the concept of the German

State," it was not identical with the State.



Thus, in order to realise its ideological and political

objectives and to reach the German people, the Party had to

avail itself of official State channels.



The Reichsregierung, and such agencies and offices

established by it, were the chosen instruments by means of

which Party politics were converted into legislative and

administrative acts, binding upon the German people as a

whole.



In order to accomplish this result, the "Reichsregierung"

was thoroughly remodelled by the Party. Some of the steps

may be here recorded, by which the



                                                   [Page 96]



co-ordination of Party and State machinery was assured in

order to impose the will of the Fuehrer on the German

people.



On 30th January, 1933, the date that the Fuehrer became

Reich Chancellor, there were few National Socialists that

were Cabinet members. But, as the power of the Party in the

Reich grew, the Cabinet came to include an ever-increasing

number of Nazis, until by January, 1937, no non-Party member

remained in the "Reichsregierung." Now cabinet posts were

created and Nazis appointed to them. Many of these cabinet

members were also in the "Reichsleitung" of the Party.



To give but a few examples:-



The defendant Rosenberg, whose name your Honours will find

in that central box on the vertical line, the delegate of

the Fuehrer for Ideological Training and Education of the

Party, was a member of the "Reichsregierung," in its

capacity as Minister for the Occupied Eastern Areas, the "

Reichsminister fur die besetsten Ostgebiete."



And if your Honours will follow me on the vertical line to

the main horizontal line and proceed to the very end, you

will find a box marked "Ministry for the Occupied Eastern

Territories," of which the head was the defendant Rosenberg.



The defendant Frick, the leader of the National Socialist

faction in the " Reichstag," was also Minister of the

Interior.



If your Honours will follow me down to the main horizontal

line and two boxes over you will find the Ministry presided

over by the defendant Frick. Goebbels, the " Reichsleiter

fur Propaganda," also sat in the Cabinet as Minister for

Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, "Reichsminister fur

Volksaufklaerung und Propaganda." He is in Propaganda, the

next box to the right from the Ministry of the Interior.



After the 25th of July, 1934, participation in the work of

the cabinet was at all times achieved through the person of

the defendant Rudolf Hess, the Deputy Fuehrer. By a decree

of Hitler the defendant Hess was invested with the power to

take part in the editing of legislative bills with all the

departments of the Reich. Later this power of the Fuehrer's

deputy was expanded to include all executive decisions and

orders that were published in the "Reichsgesetzblatt," the

official volume in which are contained the decrees of the

State. After Hess's flight to England in 1941, the defendant

Martin Bormann, as his successor, took over the same

functions, and in addition he was given the authority of a

"Reichsminister " so that he could sit in the Cabinet.



Now, another item of importance:-



On 30th January, 1937, four years after Hitler became

Chancellor, the Fuehrer executed the acceptances into the

Party of those last few Cabinet members who still remained

out of the Party. Only one Cabinet member had the strength

of character to reject membership in the Party. That was the

Minister of Transportation and Minister of Posts, Mr. Eltz-

Ruebenau. His example was not followed by the defendant von

Neurath. His example was not followed by the defendant

Raeder. And if the defendant Schacht was not yet at that

time a member of the Party, I might say that his example was

not followed by the defendant Schacht.



The chart shows many other instances where Party members on

the highest, as well as subordinate levels, occupied

corresponding or other positions in the organisation of the

State. Take Hitler himself as the Fuehrer of the N.S.D.A.P.

He was also the Chancellor of the Reich with which office,

furthermore, the office of President of the Reich was joined

and merged after the death of President von Hindenburg in

1934.



Take the defendant Goering, the successor-designate of

Hitler. As Fuehrer of the S.A. he sat in the Cabinet as Air

Minister, "Luftfahrtminister," and he also held many other

important positions, including that of Commander-in-Chief of

the "Luftwaffe," the German Air Force, and that of Delegate

for the Four Year Plan.



                                                   [Page 97]



Himmler, the notorious head of the S.S., the Reichsfuehrer

S.S., was also the Chief of the German Police, reporting to

the defendant Frick. He himself later became Minister of the

Interior after the attempted assassination of Hitler on 20th

June, I944, which event also catapulted him into the

position of Commander-in-Chief of the German Reserve Army.



Now, at the extreme upper left of the chart is a box that is

labelled "Reichstag," the former German parliament.



(A short recess was taken.)



In that box is the label "Reichstag," the former German

parliament.



The " Reichstag " presents an anomaly in this picture. Under

the Republic it had been the supreme law-making body of the

Reich, subject only to a limited check by the "Reichsrat" -

the Council of the Reich, by the President and by the people

themselves by way of Initiative and Referendum.



Putting their opposition to all forms of Parliamentarianism

into effect at once, the Nazis proceeded to curtail the

powers of the " Reichstag," to eliminate the "Reichsrat,"

and to merge the Presidency with the Office of Chancellor

occupied by the Fuehrer. By the Act of 24th March, 1933, the

Cabinet was given unlimited legislative powers, including

the right to deviate from the Constitution. Subsequently, as

I stated, the Reichsrat was abolished, and with that act the

residuum of the power to legislate in the Reichstag was

reduced to a minimum. I say the power was reduced to a

minimum, because the actual power to legislate was never

taken away from the Reichstag, but certainly after the

advent of the Party to power it was never permitted to

exercise as a legislature.



The "Reichsregierung" retained its legislative powers

throughout, even though from time to time other agencies of

the "Reichsregierung," such as the Plenipotentiary for

Administration, in the upper right of the chart, the

"Generalbevollmaechtigter fur die Reichsverwaltung," the

Plenipotentiary for Economy, also in the right-hand corner

of the chart, the "Generalbevollmaectitigter fur die

Wirtschaft" and the Council of Ministers for the Defence of

the Reich, were created. That is the big box to the right of

the vertical line. And these agencies of the Reichsregierung

received certain concurrent legislative powers.



The development of the Reichstag into an emasculated

legislative body was, however, only an intermediate step on

the road to rule by Fuehrer decrees. That was the ultimate

goal of the Party, and a goal which they achieved.



The Nazis then proceeded to delegate some of the powers of

the Reich Cabinet to all sorts of newly created agencies,

some of which I have already mentioned. Cabinet functions

were delegated first of all to the Reich Defence Council,

the "Reichsverteidigungsrat," possibly as early as 4th

April, 1933, but we believe certainly not later than 1935. I

might say in this connection that with respect to a number

of these agencies of the Reichsregierung which received

delegated powers, we are moving in a somewhat shadowy land,

because in developing this organisation we are dealing - to

some extent, at least - with decrees and actions that were

secret, or secretive, in character.



A number of these decrees were never definitely fixed in

time. A number of them were never published, and the German

people themselves never became acquainted with them. And

that is why I say that the Reich Defence Council may

possibly have been created as early as two and one-half

months after the advent of Hitler to power, but we believe

that we will be able to show to the satisfaction of the

Tribunal that that important body in the government of the

Reich was created certainly not later than May, 1935.



I say it was an important body. This was the war-planning

group, of which Hitler himself was chairman and the

defendant Goering the alternate. It was a large war-planning

body, as your Honour will note, that included many cabinet

members, and there was also a working committee - the true

numerical size of which does not appear from the chart -

which was presided over by the defendant



                                                   [Page 98]



Keitel. That also was composed of Cabinet members and of

Reich defence officials, the majority of whom were appointed

by Cabinet officers and subject to their control. Other

powers were delegated to the Plenipotentiary, whom I have

named before, for Administration, appearing at the extreme

right of the chart. That was the defendant Frick, and later

the notorious Himmler.



Subordinate to Frick in his capacity as Plenipotentiary for

Administration were complete ministries, the Ministry of the

Interior, Frick's old ministry, Ministry of Justice,

Education, Church Affairs, and " Raumordnung," the Ministry

for Special Planning.



Other powers went to the delegate for the Four Year Plan,

again the defendant Goering, whose box appears to the left

of the median line, half way to the edge.



There were certain other powers that went to an organisation

within the shadow-land I mentioned, and which,

unfortunately, does not have it, name on this chart, the

"Dreierkollegium," the College of Three, which title should

really be imposed over the last three boxes in the upper

right-band corner; because the "Dreierkollegium " consisted

not alone of the Plenipotentiary for Administration, but

also the Plenipotentiary for War Economy. And the Chairman

of that group, I believe, was the defendant Keitel, as the

head of the O.K.W., the Wehrmacht, all the armed forces. The

duties of the "Dreierkollegium " would seem to have included

the drafting of decrees in preparation of and for use during

war. To the Secret Cabinet Council, the "Geheimer

Kabinettsrat," of which the defendant von Neurath was

Chairman, or President I believe was his title, went other

powers. That secret Cabinet Council was created by a decree

of the Fuehrer in 1938.



Certain other delegation of power took place to the

"Ministerrat fur die Reichsverteidigung," the Ministerial

Council for the Defence of the Realm, which is the smallest

box appearing under the large box of the Reich Defence

Council, to the right of the vertical line.




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