Third Day:
Thursday, 22st November, 1945
There are additional organisations that were officially
designated within the Party, as affiliated organisations,
not "Gliederungen" nor controlled organisations,
[page 94]
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 Ley'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]
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]
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]
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]
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.
[
Previous |
Index |
Next ]
Home ·
Site Map ·
What's New? ·
Search
Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.
As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and
provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist
and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.
(Part 4 of 8)
[MR. ALBRECHT continues]