Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
D. Acts and Decrees of the Reichsregierung.
Under the Nazi regime the Reichsregierung became the
instrument of the Nazi party.
(1) Execution of the Nazi Party Program. In the original
Cabinet of 30 January 1933 only three cabinet members were
members of the Party -- Goering, Frick, and Hitler. As new
Ministries were added to the Cabinet, prominent Nazis were
placed at their head. On 30 January 1937, Hitler accepted
into the Party those Cabinet members who were not already
members. This action is reported in the Voelkischer
Beobachter, South German Edition, of 1 February 1937 (2964-PS):
"In view of the anticipated lifting of the ban for
party membership, the Fuehrer, as the first step in
this regard, personally carried out the enlistment into
the party of the
[Page 110]
members of the Cabinet, who so far had not belonged to
it and he handed them simultaneously the Gold Party
Badge, the supreme badge of honor of the party. In
addition, the Fuehrer awarded the Gold Party Badge to
Generaloberst Freiherr von Fritsch; Generaladmiral Dr.
H. C. Raeder; the Prussian Minister of Finance,
Professor Popitz; and the Secretary of State and Chief
of the Presidential Chancellery, Dr. Meissner.
"The Fuehrer also honored with the gold party badge the
party members State Secretary Dr. Lammers, State
Secretary Funk, State Secretary Koerner and State
Secretary General of the Airforce Milch."
It was possible to refuse the party membership thus
conferred. Only one man, von Eltz-Rubenach, who was the
Minister of Post and Minister of Transport at the time, did
this. His letter from von Eltz-Rubenach to Hitler, dated 30
January 1937, reads as follows (1534-PS):
"This decision has been infinitely difficult for me.
For never in my life have I performed my duty with
greater joy and satisfaction than under your wise state
leadership.
"I ask to be permitted to resign.
"With German Greetings:
But the Nazis did not wait until all members of the cabinet
were party members. Shortly after they came to power, they
quickly assured themselves of active participation in the
work of the Cabinet. On 1 December 1933, the Cabinet passed
a law securing the unity of party and state (1395-PS). In
Article 2 of that law the Deputy of the Fuehrer, Hess, and
the Chief of Staff of the SA, Roehm, were made members of
the Cabinet (195-PS). Lest mere membership in the Cabinet
would not be effective, Hitler endowed his deputy with
greater powers of participation. An
[Page 111]
unpublished decree signed by Hitler, dated 27 July 1934, and
addressed to the Reich Ministers, provides (D-138):
"This order will apply in the same sense to legislative
ordinances. The Deputy of the Fuehrer in his capacity
of Reich Minister can send as representative an expert
on his staff. These experts are entitled to make
statements to the Reich Ministers on his behalf.
"[signed] Adolph Hitler" (D-138).
Hess himself made pertinent comment on his right of
participation on behalf of the party, in a letter dated 9
October 1934, on the stationery of the NSDAP, addressed to
the Reich Minister for Enlightenment of the People and
Propaganda (D-139:
"I must therefore ask the Reich Ministers to arrange
that drafts of laws and decrees reach me in sufficient
time. Failing this, I would be obliged in future to
refuse my agreement to such drafts from the beginning
and without giving the matter detailed attention, in
all cases where I am not given a sufficiently long
period for dealing with them.
"[signed] R. Hess." (D-139).
[Page 112]
A handwritten note attached to the letter reads:
"2. File in file 7B (?)
"[signed] "R" (D-139).
The participating powers of Hess were later broadened,
according to a letter dated 12 April 1938 from Doctor
Lammers to the Reich Ministers (D-140):
"[signed] Dr. LAMMERS" (D-140).
After Hess' flight to England, Bormann, as Leader of the
Party Chancellery, took over the same functions. He was
given the authority of a Reich Minister and made a member of
the cabinet. (2099-PS)
The Nazi constitutional lawyer, Ernst Rudolf Huber, has this
to say about the unity of party and Cabinet (1774-PS):
In 1943, out of 16 Reich Leaders (Reichsleiters) of the
NSDAP, eight were members of the Cabinet: Martin Bormann;
Walter Darre, Otto Dietrich; Wilhelm Frick; Paul Josef
Goebbels; Constantin Hierl; Heinrich Himmler; Alfred
Rosenberg (2473-PS). Through its domination of the Cabinet
the Nazi Party strove to secure the fulfilment of its
program under a facade of legality.
(a) Decrees of the Ordinary Cabinet. To the Nazi Cabinet,
the Nazi Party program of 25 points (1708-PS) was more than
a mere political platform; it was a mandate for action. And
the Cabinet acted.
Point 1 of this program declared:
In implication of this demand the Nazi Cabinet enacted,
among others, the following laws: the law of 3 February 1938
concerning the obligation of German citizens in foreign
countries to register (1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page
113); the law of 13 March 1938 for the reunion of Austria
with Germany ( 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 237)
(2307-PS); the law of November 1938 for the reintegration of
the German Sudetenland with Germany (1938 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, page 1641); the law of 23 March 1939 for the
reintegration of Memel in Germany (1939 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, page 559).
Point 2 of the Party platform stated in part:
The following acts of the Cabinet supported this part of the
program: The proclamation of 14 October 1933 to the German
people concerning Germany's withdrawal from the League of
Nations and the Disarmament Conference (1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 730); the proclamation and
law of 16 March 1935, for the establishment of the Wehrmacht
and compulsory military service (1935 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, pages 369, 375) (1654-PS); and the defense law of 21
May 1935 implementing the last-named law (1935
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I; page 609).
Point 4 of the Party platform read as follows:
Among the cabinet laws which implemented this point were
these: the law of 14 July 1933 for the recall of
naturalization and the deprivation of citizenship (1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 480); the law of 7 April
1933 permitting persons of non-Aryan descent to be refused
permission to practice law (1933 Reichs-
[Page 114]
gesetzblatt, Part I, page 188) (1401-PS); the law of 25
April 1933 restricting the number of non-Aryans in schools
and higher institutions (1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I,
page 225) (2022-PS); the law of 29 September 1933 excluding
persons of Jewish blood from the peasantry (1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 685) (1402-PS); the law of
26 June 1936, forbidding people of Jewish blood to hold
positions of authority in the army (1936 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, page 518) (1398-PS); the law of 19 March 1937
excluding Jews from the Reich Labor Service (1937
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 325); the law of 28 March
1938 on the legal status of Jewish religious communities
1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 338); and the law of 6
July 1938 prohibiting Jews from participating in six
different types of business (1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I,
page 823).
Point 23 of the platform proclaimed:
To carry out this point numerous Cabinet laws were passed,
of which the following are merely examples: the law of 22
September 1933 for the establishment of the Reich Culture
Chamber (1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 661) (2082-
PS); the law of 4 October 1933 regarding editors (1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 713) (2083-PS); and the law
of 15 May 1934 regarding the theater (1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 411).
All the laws referred to above and hereafter were enacted
specifically in the name of the Cabinet (Reichsregierung). A
typical introductory paragraph reads:
In furtherance of the Nazi plans to acquire totalitarian
control of Germany (cf. Section 1-2 of Chapter VII), the
Cabinet passed the following laws: Law of 26 May 1933,
providing for the confiscation of Communist property (1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 293) (1396-PS); Law of 14
July 1933 against the new establishment of parties 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 479); Law of 14 July 1933
providing for the confiscation of property of Social
Democrats and others (1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page
479) (1388-PS); and Law of 1 December 1933 securing the
unity of party and state (1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I,
page 016. (1395-PS)
In the course of consolidating Nazi control of Germany, (cf.-
[Page 115]
Section 3 of Chapter VII) the following laws were enacted by
the Cabinet: Decree of the Cabinet, 21 March 1933, creating
special courts (1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 136)
(2076-PS); Law of 31 March 1933 for the integration of
States into the Reich (1933 Reichsgesetzblatt Part I, page
153) (2004-PS); Law of 7 April 1933 for the reestablishment
of the Professional Civil Service 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, page 175) (1397-PS); law of 7 April 1933 for the
integration of states into the Reich (1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 173) (2005-PS); Law of 30
June 1933 eliminating non-Aryan civil servants or civil
servants married to non-Aryans (1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part
I, page 433) (1400-PS ); Law of 20 July 1933 providing for
the discharge of Communist officials (1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 518) (198-PS); Law of 24
April 1934 creating the People's Court (1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 341) (2014-PS); Law of
August 1934 uniting the office of President and Chancellor
(1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 747) (2003-PS); Law of
30 January 1935, Reich Governors Law, further reducing the
independence of the states (1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I,
page 65); Law of 30 January 1935 providing for the abolition
of representatives or deliberative bodies in the
municipalities (1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 49)
(2008-PS); Law of 26 January 1937, the comprehensive civil
service law (1937 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 39); and
Law of 18 March 1938 providing for the submission of one
list of candidates to the electorate for the entire Reich
(1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 258).
Nazi extermination of political internal resistance in
Germany, through the purge of political opponents and
through acts of error, (cf. Section 4 of Chapter VII), was
facilitated and legalized by the following Cabinet laws: Law
of 14 July 1933 against the new establishment of parties
(containing a penal clause) (1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I,
page 479 (188-PS); Law of 3 July 1934 concerning measures
for emergency defense of the State (legalizing the Roehm
purge) (1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 529 (2057-PS);
Law of 20 December 1934 on treacherous t against state and
party and for the protection of party uniforms (1934
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 1269) (1393-PS); Law of 24
April 1934 making the creation of new or continuance of
existing parties an act of treason (1934 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, page 341) (2014-PS); Law of 28 June 1935 changing
the Penal code permitting punishment under analogous law
(1935 Reichsgesetzblatt Part I, page 839) (1962-PS); Law of
16 September
[Page 116]
1939 permitting second prosecution of a acquitted person
before a special court, the members of which were named by
Hitler (1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 1841). (2550-PS)
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Volume II
Criminality of Groups and Organizations
The Reich Cabinet
(Part 6 of 8)
"I thank you for the confidence you have placed in me
during the four years of your leadership and for the
honor you do me in offering to admit me to the party.
My conscience forbids me however to accept this offer.
I believe in the principles of positive Christianity
and must remain faithful to my Lord and to myself.
Party membership however would mean that I should have
to face without contradiction the steadily aggravating
attacks by party offices on the Christian confessions
and those who want to remain faithful to their
religious convictions.
Yours very obediently,
"(signed) Baron v. Eltz" (1554-PS).
"I decree that the Deputy of the Fuehrer, Reich
Minister Hess, will have the capacity of a
participating Reich Minister in connection with the
preparation of drafts for laws in all Reich
Administrative spheres. All legislative work is to be
sent to him when it is received by the other Reich
Minister concerned. This also applies in cases where no
one else participates except the Reich Minister making
the draft. Reich Minister Hess will be given the
opportunity to comment on drafts suggested by experts.
"By a decree of the Fuehrer dated 27 July 1934, I have
been granted the right to participate in the
legislation of the Reich as regards both formal laws
and legal ordinances. This right must not be rendered
illusory by the fact that I am sent the drafts of laws
and decrees so late and am then given a limited time,
so that it becomes impossible for me to deal with the
material concerned during the given time. I must point
out that my participation means the taking into account
of the opinion of the NSDAP as such, and that in the
case of the majority of drafts of laws and decrees,
consult with the appropriate departments of the Party
before making my comment. Only by proceeding in this
manner can I do justice to the wish of the Fuehrer as
expressed in the decree of the Fuehrer of 27 July 1934.
"1. The identical letter seems to have been addressed
to all Reich Ministers. In our special field the decree
of 27 July 1934 has hardly become applicable so far. A
reply does not seem called for.
"*** The Deputy of the Fuehrer will also have
participation where the Reich Ministers give their
agreement to the State Laws and legislative ordinances
of States under paragraph 3 of the first decree
concerning reconstruction of the Reich of 2 February
1934 (Reich Law Gazette I 81). Where the Reich
Ministers have already, at an earlier date been engaged
in the preparation of such laws or legislative
ordinances, or have participated in such preparation,
the Deputy of the Fuehrer likewise becomes
participating Reich Minister. Laws and legislative
decrees of the Austrian State are equally affected
hereby.
"Unity of party and Reich-Cabinet (Reichsregierung) is
furthermore secured by the numerous personal unions
i.e. association of Central State Offices with
corresponding party offices. Such personal unions exist
in the cases of Food Minister and the Propaganda
Minister, the Chief of the German Police and the Reich
Labor Leader, the Chief of the Organization in foreign
countries, and the Reich Youth Fuehrer. Furthermore,
the majority of the Reich Ministries is occupied by
leading old party members. Finally, all Reich Ministers
have been accepted by the party on 30 January 1937 and
have been decorated with golden party insignia." (1774-PS)
"We demand the inclusion of all Germans in a greater
Germany on the grounds of the right of self-
determination.". (1708-PS)
"We demand *** the cancellation of the treaties of
Versailles and St. Germain." (1708-PS)
"Only those who are members of the 'Volk' can be
citizens. Only those who are of German blood, without
regard to religion, can be members of the 'Volk'. No
Jew, therefore, can be a member of the 'Volk'."
"We demand legislative action against conscious
political lies and their broadcasting through the
press." (1708-PS)
"The Reich Cabinet (de Reichsregierung) has enacted the
following law which is hereby promulgated. ***" [Law of
1 August 1934, 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page
747]. (200-PS)