The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

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In addition to ruthlessly purging all political opponents,

the Nazi conspirators further consolidated their position by

promptly proceeding to eliminate all other political

parties. On 21st March, 1933, the defendant Frick announced

that the Communists would be prevented from taking part in

the Reichstag proceedings. This was accomplished, as has

been pointed out, by placing them in "protective custody in

concentration camps." On 26th May, 1933, a Reich Cabinet

decree, signed by Hitler and the defendant Frick, provided

for the confiscation of the



                                                  [Page 112]



Communist property. On 22nd June, 1933, the Social

Democratic Party was suppressed in Prussia, it previously

having been seriously weakened by placing a number of its

members in concentration camps. On 7th July, 1933, a Reich

decree eliminated Social Democrats from the Reichstag and

from the governing bodies of the provinces and

municipalities. On 14th July, 1933, by a decree of the Reich

Cabinet, the property of the Social Democrats was

confiscated, and the Nazi Party was constituted as the sole

political party in Germany, and thereupon it became illegal

to maintain or to form another political party. Thus, Hitler

was able to say within hardly more than five months after

becoming Chancellor, I quote,



   "The Party has become the State."



The Nazi conspirators immediately proceeded to make that

statement a recorded fact, for on 1st December, 1933, the

Reich Cabinet issued a law for "Securing the Unity of Party

and State". This law was signed by Hitler and the defendant

Frick.



Article 1 provided that the Nazi Party ".is the bearer of

the concept of the State and is inseparably the State. It

will be a part of the public law. Its organisation will be

determined by the Fuehrer."



Article 2 provided: "The Deputy of the Fuehrer and the Chief

of Staff of the S.A. will become members of the Reich

Cabinet in order to insure close co-operation of the offices

of the Party and S.A. with public authorities."



Article 3 provided: "The members of the National Socialist

German Workers Party and the S.A. (including their

subordinate organisations) as the leading and driving force

of the National Socialist State will bear greater

responsibility toward Fuehrer, People and State."



(A recess was taken.)



COLONEL STORY: During the recess defendants' counsel and the

prosecution arrived at an agreement for the furnishing of

briefs to the defendants, which I understand to be this:



Copies of the documents offered in evidence in German will

be delivered in the defendants' information centre, with the

understanding that if any defence counsel needs to show the

German photostatic copy to his client he may do so in the

defendants' counsel room adjacent thereto; that the briefs

which we are passing to the Tribunal as an aid will likewise

be passed to defendants' counsel in English, and that if any

of them have trouble in the translation of any portion of

the briefs we have German-speaking officers in defendants'

information centre who will assist counsel. I understand

that all of these defendants' counsel have so agreed.



THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Now, Major Wallis.



MAJOR WALLIS: May it please the Court, at the moment of

recess I was referring to the law which was passed on 1st

December, 1933, for securing the unity of Party and State.



Article 6 of that law provided: "The public authorities have

to grant legal and administrative assistance to the officers

of the Party and the S.A. which are entrusted with the

execution of the jurisdiction of the Party and S.A."



Article 8 provided: "The Reich Chancellor as Fuehrer of the

National Socialistic German Workers Party and, as the

supreme commander of the S.A., will issue the regulations

necessary for the execution and augmentation of this law,

particularly with respect to the organisation and procedure

of the jurisdiction of the Party and S.A." Thus by this law

the Nazi Party became a paragovernmental Organisation in

Germany.



The further merger of the Party and State occurred on the

death of Hindenburg. Instead of holding an election to fill

the office of President, the merger of the offices of

President and Chancellor, in the person of Hitler, was

accomplished by the law of ist August, 1934, signed by the

entire Reich Cabinet. One of the significant consequences of

this law was to give to Hitler the supreme command of the

German Armed Forces, always a prerequisite of the

presidency, and every



                                                  [Page 113]



soldier was immediately required to take an oath of loyalty

and unconditional obedience to Hitler. On 4th February,

1938, Hitler issued a decree which stated in part (and I

quote from document 1915-P2), which will be offered in the

document book at the close of my remarks) as follows: "From

now on, I take over directly the command of the whole Armed

Forces."



As a further step in the consolidation of their political

control, the Nazi conspirators reduced national elections to

mere formalities devoid of the element of freedom of choice.

Elections, properly speaking, could not take place under the

Nazi system. In the first place, the basic doctrine of the

Fuehrerprinzip dictated that all subordinates must be

appointed by their superiors in the government hierarchy.

Although it had already become the practice, in 1938 it was

specifically provided by law that only one list of

candidates was to be submitted to the people. By the end of

this pre-war period little of substance remained in the

election law. The majority of the substantive provisions had

become obsolete.



By a series of laws and decrees the Nazi conspirators

reduced the powers of regional and local governments and

substantially transformed them into territorial subdivisions

of the Reich Government. With the abolition of

representative assemblies and elective officials in the

Lander, and the municipalities, regional and local elections

ceased to exist. On 31st January, 1934, the last vestiges of

Land independence was destroyed by the Law for the

Reconstruction of the Reich. The defendant Frick, Minister

of the Interior throughout this period, has written of this

Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich as follows:



  "The reconstruction law abolished the sovereign rights

  and executive powers of the Lander and made the Reich the

  sole bearer of the rights of sovereignty. The supreme

  powers of the Lander do not exist any longer. The natural

  result of this was the subordination of the Land

  government to the Reich Government and the Land ministers

  to the corresponding Reich ministers. On 30th January,

  1934, the German Reich becomes one State."



   Another step taken by the Nazi conspirators in

consolidating their political power was the purge of civil

servants on racial and political grounds and their

replacement by Party members and supporters. This purge was

accomplished through a series of Nazi laws and decrees. The

first was on 7th April, 1933, entitled " Law for the

Restoration of the Professional Civil Service." Article 3 of

the law applied the Nazi blood and master race theories in

providing that officials who were not of Aryan descent were

to be retired. The political purge provision of the law is

contained in Article 4 and I quote:



  "Officials who, because of their previous political

  activities, do not offer security that they will assert

  themselves for the National State without reservations

  may be dismissed."



The effect of this law and the decrees and regulations

issued thereunder was to fill every responsible position in

the government with a Nazi and to prevent the appointment of

any applicant opposed, or suspected of being opposed, to the

Nazi programme and policy.



Even the judiciary did not escape the purge of the Nazi

conspirators.



All judges who failed to fulfil the racial and political

requirements of the conspirators were quickly removed. In

addition, the Nazis set up a new system of special criminal

courts independent of the regular judiciary and directly

subservient to the Party programme.



Moreover, the Nazis controlled all judges through special

directives and orders from the central government, their aim

being, as expressed by one Garland, one of the leading Nazi

lawyers of that time, ".to make the word 'terrorisation' in

the penal law respectable again."



As their control was consolidated, the conspirators greatly

enlarged existing State and Party organisations and

established an elaborate network of new



                                                  [Page 114]



formations and agencies. The Party spread octopus-like

throughout all of Germany. This process of growth was summed

up late in 1937 in an official statement of the Party

Chancellery, as follows:-



   "In order to control the whole German nation in all

   spheres of life - and I repeat, 'in order to control the

   whole German nation in all spheres of life'- the

   N.S.D.A.P., after assuming power, set up under its

   leadership the new Party formations and affiliated

   organisations."



At this point I would like to offer to the court the

document book which contains the laws and conditions which I

have referred to in this part of my presentation together

with the briefs covering this part of it.



I would like to direct the Tribunal's attention to some case

histories in the consolidation of control by the

conspirators.



The first case history in the consolidation of the Nazi

conspirators' control of Germany is the destruction of the

free trade unions and the obtaining of control over the

productive labour capacity of the German nation.



The position of organised labour in Germany, at the time of

the Nazi seizure of power, the obstacles they afforded to

the Nazi plans, the speed with which they were destroyed,

the terror and maltreatment ranging from assault to murder

of union leaders, were fully outlined in the opening address

of the Chief Prosecutor of the United States, and are fully

set forth in the document book - which I will present to the

Court on this phase of the case.



The result achieved by the Nazi conspirators is best

expressed in the words of Robert Ley. Ley's confidence in

the Nazis' effective control over the productive labour

capacity of Germany in peace or in war was declared as early

as 1936 to the Nuremberg Party Congress. I refer to document

2283-PS which is included in the document book which will be

presented on this phase of the case. He stated:-



    "The idea of the factory troops is making good progress

    in the plants, and I am able to report to you, my

    Fuehrer, that security and peace in the factories has

    been guaranteed, not only in normal times, but also in

    times of the most serious crisis. Disturbances, such as

    the munitions strikes of the traitor Ebert and

    confederates, are out of the question. National

    Socialism has conquered the factories. Factory troops

    are the National Socialist shock troops within the

    factory, and their motto is "The Fuehrer is always

    right."



At this time I would like to offer to the Court the document

on this phase of the case, namely, "The destruction of

Labour unions and the gaining of control of all productive

labour in Germany." together with the brief on that subject.

At the same time, if it pleases the Court, I would like to

offer the document book concerning the consolidation of

control with respect to the utilisation and moulding of

political machinery, which is, in law, a decree which I

referred to just prior to my discussion of the destruction

of labour unions.



I would now direct your attention to the second case history

in the consolidation of control.



The Nazi conspirators early realised that the influence of

the Christian churches in Germany was an obstacle to their

complete domination of the German people and contra to their

master race dogma. As the defendant Martin Bormann stated in

a secret decree of the Party Chancellery, signed by him and

distributed to all Gauleiters on 7th June, 1941 - it is

identified as document D-75 and will be included in the

document book which will be presented to the Court - he

stated as follows:-



    "More and more must the people be separated from the

    churches and their organisations and pastors.. Not

    until this has happened does the State leadership have

    influence on the individual citizens."



Accordingly, the Nazi conspirators, seeking to subvert the

influence of the



                                                  [Page 115]



churches over the people of Germany proceeded to attempt to

eliminate these churches.

    1. By promoting beliefs and practices incompatible with

    Christian teachings.

    2. By persecuting priests, clergy and members of

    monastic orders. This persecution, as the documentary

    evidence will show, ran the gauntlet of insults and

    indignities, physical assault, confinement and

    concentration camps and murder.

    3. By the confiscation of church properties.

    4. By suppressing religious publications.

    5. By the suppression of religious organisations.



Moreover, they also suppressed religious education. This is

illustrated by the secret decree of the Party Chancellery

which I just referred to in document D-75, when the

defendant Bormann stated:-



    "No human being would know anything of Christianity if

    it had not been drilled into him in his childhood by

    his pastors. The so-called 'dear God' in no wise gives

    knowledge of his existence to young people in advance,

    but in an astonishing manner, in spite of His

    omnipotence, leaves this to the efforts of the pastors.

    If, therefore, in the future our youth learns nothing

    more of this Christianity, whose doctrines are far

    below ours, Christianity will disappear by itself."



At a subsequent stage in these proceedings, additional

documentary evidence of the acts of the conspirators in

their attempt to subvert the influence of the Christian

churches will be offered. At this time I offer the document

book in support of this phase of the case together with the

accompanying brief.



We now come to what might be called the third case history,

the persecution of the Jews. The Nazi conspirators adopted

and publicised a programme of ruthless persecution of Jews.



It is not our purpose at this time to present to the Court a

full and complete story, in all its sickening details, of

the Nazi conspirators' plans and acts for the elimination

and liquidation of the Jewish population of Europe. This

will be done in due course, at a subsequent stage of these

proceedings, but it is our purpose at this time to bring

before you, as one of the elements in the Nazi scheme for

the consolidation of their control of Germany, the action

which was planned and taken with respect to the Jews within

Germany during the pre-war period.



As a means of implementing their master race policy and as a

means of rallying otherwise discordant elements behind the

Nazi banner, the conspirators adopted and publicised a

programme of relentless persecution of Jews. This programme

was contained in the official, unalterable twenty-five

points of the Nazi Party, of which six were devoted to the

master race doctrine. The defendants Goering, Hess,

Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Funk, Schirach, Bormann

and others, all took prominent parts in publicising this

programme. Upon the Nazis' coming into power, this Party

programme became the official State programme. The first

organised act was the boycott of Jewish enterprises on the

1st April, 1933. The defendant Streicher, in a signed

statement, admits that he was in charge of this programme

only for one day. We, of course, reserve the right to show

additional evidence with respect to that fact. The Nazi

conspirators then embarked upon a legislative programme

which was gradual and which dates from 7th April, 1933 until

September, 1935. During this period a series of laws was

passed removing the Jews from civil service, from the

professions and from the schools and military service. It

was clear, however, that the Nazi conspirators had a far

more ambitious programme for the Jewish problem and only put

off its realisation for reasons of expediency. After the

usual propaganda barrage, in which the speeches and writings

of the defendant Streicher were most prominent, the Nazi

conspirators initiated the second period of anti-Jewish

legislation, namely, from 15th September, 1935 to

September,1938. In this period the famous Nuremberg laws

were passed,



                                                  [Page 116]



depriving the Jews of their rights as citizens, forbidding

them to marry Aryans and eliminating them from additional

professions. In the autumn of 1938, the Nazi conspirators

began to put into effect a programme of complete elimination

of the Jews from German life. The measures taken were partly

presented as a retaliation against world Jewry in connection

with the killing of a German embassy official in Paris.

Unlike the boycott action in April, 1933, when care was

taken to avoid extensive violence, an allegedly spontaneous

pogrom was staged and carried out all over Germany (see 374-

PS). The legislative measures which followed were discussed

and approved in their final form at a meeting on 12th

November, 1938, under the chairmanship of the defendant

Goering, with the participation of the defendants Frick and

Funk and others. I refer to document 516-PS, which will

appear in the document book. The meeting was called

following Hitler's orders "requesting that the Jewish

question be now, once and for all, co-ordinated and solved

one way or the other." The participants agreed on measures

to be taken for the elimination of the Jew from German

economy. The laws issued in this period were signed mostly

by the defendant Goering in his capacity as Deputy of the

Four-Year Plan, and were thus strictly connected with the

consolidation of control of the German economy and

preparation for aggressive war. These laws obliged all

German Jews to pay a collective fine of one billion

Reichsmarks; barred the Jews from trades and crafts; limited

movement of Jews to certain localities and hours; limited

the time for the sale or liquidation of Jewish enterprises;

forced Jews to deposit shares and securities held by them;

forbade the sale or acquisition of gold or precious stones

by a Jew; granted landlords the right to give notice to

Jewish tenants before legal expiration of the leases, and

forced all Jews over six years of age to wear the Star of

David.



In the final period of the anti-Jewish crusade of the Nazi

conspirators within Germany, very few legislative measures

were passed. The Jews were just delivered to the S.S.,

Gestapo and the various extermination staffs. The last law

dealing with Jews in Germany put them entirely outside the

law and ordered the confiscation by the State of the

property of dead Jews. This law was a weak reflection of a

factual situation already in existence. As Dr. Stuckart,

assistant to the defendant Frick, stated at the time:-



    "The aim of the racial legislation may be regarded as

    already achieved and consequently the racial

    legislation as essentially closed. It led to the

    temporary solution of the Jewish problem and at the

    same time essentially prepared for the final solution.

    Many regulations will lose their practical importance

    as Germany approaches the achievement of the final goal

    on the Jewish problem."



Hitler, on 30th January, 1939, in a speech before the

Reichstag, made the following prophecy:-



    "The result (of a war) will be the annihilation of the

    Jewish race in Europe."



I will leave to others in this case the task of presenting

to the Court the evidence as to how well that prophecy was

fulfilled.



I would now offer to the Court the document book, which

contains the laws referred to, with respect to the

persecution of the Jews, and the brief outlining that

subject.



THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will now adjourn until 10

o'clock to-morrow morning.



(The Tribunal adjourned until 23rd November at 1000 hours.)


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