Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-01/tgmwc-01-03.05
Last-Modified: 1999/08/28

The Council of Ministers for the Defence of the Reich was

responsible to the Fuehrer alone. Its membership, as would

seem to be indicated on the chart, was taken from the Reich

Council. It had broad powers to issue decrees with the force

of law in so far as the Reichsregierung itself had not

legislated on the subject.



It should be stressed that this delegation of Cabinet

functions to various groups, composed largely of its own

members, helped to conceal some of the important policies of

the " Reichsregierung," namely, those relating to the

preparation of war, which delegated the necessary authority

to secret and semi-secret agencies. Thus in a general way,

as I have outlined, did the National Socialist Party succeed

in putting Nazi policies into effect through its dummy,

through the machinery of the State, the Reichsregierung, in

its revised form.



I think it might be helpful if your Honour will permit me to

point out on this chart the large number of instances in

which the defendants' names reappear in connection with the

functions of the Government of the Reich.



Now, first of all, the Reichsregierung itself - I am sorry

to say in that connection that there is one omission, a very

important omission. It is the name of the Vice Chancellor

under Hitler, von Papen, who was Vice Chancellor from the

seizure of power until some time around the purge in June,

1934.



Your Honours will see a grouping of Reich Ministers with

portfolio, and under it of Ministers without portfolio, in

which mostly the names of the defendants in court are

listed. There are State Ministers acting as Reich Ministers

listed, and you will note the name of the defendant Frank.

There are other participants in cabinet meetings, among

which you will notice the name of the defendant von

Schirach.



Now, this whole line on which the cabinet hangs is the level

of the Reich Cabinet, and as I have stated, organisations

that grew out of this maternal organism, the

"Reichsregierung."



To the left the Secret Cabinet Council includes the names of

the defendants. Still further to the left is the delegate

for the Four Year Plan. And over to the



                                                   [Page 99]



very end is the Reichstag, of which the president was the

defendant Goering, and the leader of the

"Reichstagsfraktion," the defendant Frick.



If we proceed to the right of the median line, we have the

Reich Defence Council, with Hitler himself as Chairman, the

Reich Defence Committee under it, and the Ministerial

Council for the Defence of the Realm, which grew out of the

Reich Defence Council. And we see mostly the names of

cabinet ministers, including, if I may refer to that fact,

particularly the names of purely military leaders, such as

the defendant Raeder and the defendant Keitel.



And farther to the right, all names mentioned as defendants

in these proceedings, Schacht, the first Plenipotentiary for

War Economy, later succeeded by Funk Field Marshal Keitel as

the Chief of the O.K.W., and the defendant Funk again as

Plenipotentiary for Administration, in the triangle which

became known as the "Dreierkollegium."



If we descend the vertical line to the horizontal line in

the middle, we have the various ministries over which these

cabinet ministers, this "Reichsregierung," presided. We have

also at the extreme left and the extreme right, very

important and special offices that were set up at the

instigation of the Party, and those offices reported

directly to the Fuehrer himself.



If I may start at the extreme left, I will point out that as

the civil government moved after the military machine into

the Lowlands, the defendant Seyss-Inquart became the

Reichskommissar for the Netherlands.



A few names below that of Seyss-Inquart is the name of the

defendant von Neurath, the "Reichsprotektor" for Bohemia and

Moravia, who was later succeeded by the defendant Frick; and

under those names, the name of the defendant Frank, the

"General-gouvenieur" of Poland.



Adjoining the box of these administrators who reported

directly to the Reich Chancellor and President was the

Foreign Office, presided over first by the defendant von

Neurath, and subsequently by the defendant von Ribbentrop.



If we proceed down below the elongation under the smaller

box dealing with German legations, there should, of course,

in any itemised, detailed treatment of that box appear the

name of the defendant von Papen, the representative of the

Reich in Austria for a time, and later in Turkey.



The next box on the horizontal line is the Ministry of

Economics, the "Reichs-wirtschaftsministerium." First is the

name of the defendant Schacht, followed by the name of the

defendant Goering, and by the name of the defendant Funk.



The next box, the Ministry for Armament and War Production,

the "Reichs-ministerium fur Ruestung und Kriegsproduktion,"

was presided over by the defendant Speer. And out of this

organisation, and subordinate to it, in the box devoted to

the Organisation Todt, again the name of the defendant

Speer, who succeeded Todt in the Leadership of that

organisation upon the death of the latter.



Two boxes over, the Ministry of Justice, if your Honour will

follow me, down close to the bottom of the page to the last

left-hand box, appearing under the Ministry of Justice, is

the "Reichsrechtsanwaltskammer" - I am sorry, the box next

to the bottom at the left which is devoted to the Academy

for German Law, "Die Akademie fur deutsches Recht," over

which the defendant Frank presided for a time.



Almost at the vertical line, the Air Ministry, of which the

defendant Goering was Oberkommandant; and next to it again

the Ministry of the Interior, presided over by the defendant

Frick.



If your Honour will follow me again to the bottom of all the

squares to the small horizontal line at the bottom of the

Ministry of the Interior, we come to certain state

officials, called Reich Governors, " Reichstatthalter." And

if those boxes were sufficiently detailed there would appear

thereon the name, among others, of the defendant Sauckel,

who besides being the Gauleiter of Thuringia, was also the

Reichstatthalter or Governor there. There would also appear

the name of the



                                                  [Page 100]



defendant von Schirach, who was not only the Gauleiter of

Vienna, but also the State representative there, the

Governor, the "Reichstatthalter," of Vienna.



And springing out of the Ministry of the Interior is the box

or boxes devoted to the German police, and in the first sub-

division appearing to the right, the Chief of the Security

Police and SD, is the name of the defendant Kaltenbrunner.



In the Ministry of Propaganda, about midway down in this

box, appears the name of the defendant Fritzsche, who, as

the chart is drawn, although he would not appear in the

position of one of the chief directing heads of the

Ministry, actually was very much more important than his

position there will indicate; and proof will be submitted to

your Honour in support of that contention.



At the end of the horizontal line is the Ministry for the

Occupied Eastern Territories, the " Reichsministerium fur

die Besetzten Ostgebiete," of which the defendant Rosenberg

was the head.



And to the right of that box, among the agencies immediately

subordinate to Hitler as Reichskanzler and President, there

is the office of General Inspector for Highways, with the

name of the defendant Speer associated with it; the General

Inspector for Water and Energy, again with the name of the

defendant Speer associated with it.



There follows the Reich Office for Forestry, the

"Reichsforstamt," under the defendant Goering; the

"Reichsjugendfuehrer," the leader of the Reich Youth, the

defendant von Schirach, the Reich Housing Commissioner,

"Reichswohnungskommissar," the late defendant Robert Ley;

and among the subsequent agencies, that of the important

"Reichsbank," over which the defendant Schacht presided, to

be succeeded subsequently by the defendant Funk; the General

Inspector for the Reich Capital, "Generalbauinspekt fur die

Reichshauptstadt," the defendant Speer.



I think I have named all of the defendants as they appear on

this chart, and of those now before your Honour in this

cause I think they all appear on this chart in one capacity

or another; in one or more capacities, all, I might add,

except the defendant Jodl. Jodl was the Chief of Staff of

all the Armed Forces. He was the head of the "Wehrmacht

Fuehrungsstab," and in the chart as evidential material

which will be subsequently brought before your Honour, the

name Jodl will figure prominently in connection with the

Organisation of the Armed Forces.



If I may make one correction at this point, a slip of the

tongue that was called to my attention, in discussing the

chart of the Party, in the small box to the left containing

the designates of the Fuehrer to succeed him to the Party

leadership, I made the statement that Goering succeeded Hess

as Fuehrer designate. Actually, when the designations were

announced by the Fuehrer, Goering was always the first

designate, and the defendant Hess the second.



In Annex A of the Indictment, the various offices, Party

functions and State offices which these defendants held in

the course of the period under discussion, these various

offices are mentioned. And we would like to submit at this

time and offer into evidence as exhibits, proof of the

offices that were occupied by these defendants. This proof

consists of 17 statements, more or less, signed by the

defendants themselves and/or their counsel, certifying to

the Party and State offices that they have held from time to

time. Some of these statements were not as complete as we

desired to have them, and we have appended thereto a

statement showing such additional offices or proof of Party

membership as was available to us. I would like to offer

those into evidence.



(Several documents were distributed to defence counsel)



MR. ALBRECHT: And now, if your Honour pleases, I offer into

evidence the two charts to which my remarks have been

addressed in the course of the morning.



THE PRESIDENT. Will Counsel for the United States continue

the evidence until 1230 hours ?



                                                  [Page 101]



COLONEL STOREY: If your Honour pleases, it lacks two minutes

until 11230 hours. Mr. Albrecht has finished, and will it be

convenient for your Honour for Major Wallis to start at 1400

hours ?



THE PRESIDENT: Very well.



(The court is adjourned)



COLONEL STOREY: If the Tribunal please, Major Frank Wallis

will now present the briefs, and documents supporting the

briefs, on behalf of the phase of the case known as the

Common Plan or Conspiracy, from 1939.



MAJOR WALLIS: Mr. President, members of the Tribunal:



It will be my purpose to establish most of the material

allegations of the Indictment running from Paragraph IV on

page 3, to sub-paragraph  E on page 6. The subjects involved

are

    The aims of the Nazi Party.

    Their doctrinal techniques.

    Their rise to power, and

    The consolidation of control over Germany between 1933

    and 1939in preparation for aggressive war.



This story has already been sketched by the American Chief

Prosecutor. Moreover, it is history, beyond challenge by the

defendants. For the most part, we rely upon the Tribunal to

take judicial notice of it. What we offer is merely

illustrative material - including statements by the

defendants and other Nazi leaders - laws, decrees, and the

like. We do not need to rest upon captured documents or

other special sources, although some have been used.



For the convenience of the Court and defence counsel, the

illustrative material has been put together in document

books, and the arguments derived from them have been set out

in trial briefs.



I intend only to comment briefly on some of the materials

and to summarise the main lines of the briefs.



What is the charge in Count One?



The Charge in Count One is that the defendants, with divers

other persons, participated in the formulation or execution

of a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit, or which involved

the commission of Crimes against Humanity (both within and

without Germany), War Crimes, and Crimes against Peace.



The charge is, further, that the instrument of cohesion

among the defendants, as well as an instrument for the

execution of the purposes of the conspiracy, was the Nazi

Party, of which each defendant was a member or to which he

became an adherent.



The scope of the proof which I shall offer is:



First, that the Nazi Party set for itself certain aims and

objectives, involving basically the acquisition of

"Lebensraum," or living space, for all "racial Germans.



Second, that it was committed to the use of any methods,

whether or not legal, in attaining these objectives, and

that it did in fact use illegal methods.



Third, that it put forward and disseminated various lines of

propaganda, and used various propaganda techniques to assist

it in its unprincipled rise to power.



Fourth, that it ultimately did seize all governmental power

in Germany.



Fifth, that it used this power to complete the political

conquest of the State, to crush all opposition, and to

prepare the nation psychologically and otherwise for the

foreign aggression upon which it was bent from the outset.



In general, we undertake to outline, so far as relevant to

the charge, what happened in Germany during the pre-war

period, leaving it to others to carry the story and proof

through the war years.



The aims of this conspiracy were open and notorious. It was

far different from any other conspiracy ever unfolded before

a court of justice, not only because



                                                  [Page 102]



of the gigantic number of people involved, the period of

time covered, the magnitude and audacity of it, but because,

unlike other criminal conspirators, these conspirators often

boastfully proclaimed to the world what they planned to do,

before they did it.



As an illustration, Hitler, in his speech of 30th January,

1941, said



    "My programme was to abolish the Versailles Treaty. It

    is futile nonsense for the rest of the world to pretend

    today that I did not reveal this programme until 1933

    or 1935 or 1937. . . .Instead of listening to the

    foolish chatter of emigres, these gentlemen would have

    been wiser to read what I have written thousands of

    times. No human being has declared or recorded what he

    wanted more than I. Again and again I wrote these

    words, 'the abolition of the Treaty of Versailles'."



First, a brief reference to the history of the Nazi Party.



The Court will no doubt recollect that the National

Socialist Party had its origin in the German Labour Party,

which was founded on 5th January, 1919, in Munich. It was

this organisation which Hitler joined as seventh member on

12th September, 1919. At a meeting of the German Labour

Party held on 24th February, 1920, Hitler announced to the

world the "25 Theses" that subsequently became known as the

"unalterable" programme of the National Socialist German

Workers Party.



A few days later, on 4th March, 1920, the name of the German

Labour Party was changed to the "National Socialist German

Workers Party", frequently referred to as the NSDAP, or Nazi

Party. It is under that name that the Nazi Party continued

to exist until its dissolution after the collapse and

unconditional surrender of Germany in 1945.



The disagreements and intrigues within the Party between

Hitler's followers and those who opposed him were finally

resolved on 29th July, 1921, when Hitler became "First

Chairman" and was invested with extraordinary powers. Hitler

immediately reorganised the Party and imposed upon it the

"Fuehrerprinzip," the leadership principle-of which you will

hear more later. Thereafter Hitler, the Fuehrer, determined

all questions and made all decisions for the Party.



The main objectives of the Party, which are fastened upon

the defendants and their co-conspirators by reason of their

membership in, or knowing adherence to the Party, were

openly and notoriously avowed. They were set out in the

Party Programme of 1920, were publicised in "Mein Kampf" and

in Nazi literature generally, and were obvious from the

continuous pattern of public action of the Party from the

date of its founding.



Now two consequences, of importance in the trial of this

case, derive from the fact that the major objectives of the

Party were publicly and repeatedly proclaimed:



First, the Court may take judicial notice of them.



Second, the defendants and their co-conspirators cannot be

heard to deny them or to assert that they were ignorant of

them.



The prosecution offers proof of the major objectives of the

Party-and hence of the objectives of the conspiracy-only to

refresh or implement judicial recollection. The main

objectives were:



First, to overthrow the Treaty of Versailles and its

restrictions on military armament and activity in Germany.



Second, to acquire territories lost by Germany in World War

I.



Third, to acquire other territories inhabited by so-called

"racial Germans," and



Fourth, to acquire still further territories said to be

needed as living space by the racial Germans so incorporated

- all at the expense of neighbouring and other countries.

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