Twenty-First Day: Monday, 17th December, 1945
[Page 28]
I next come to the statistics relating to the Leadership
Corps of the Nazi Party and the evidence relating to the
size of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party. As
previously shown, the Leadership Corps comprised some of the
officials of the Nazi Party including, in addition to Hitler
and the members of the Reichsleitung, such as the
Reichsleiter and the Reichs office holders, a hierarchy of
Hoheitstraeger, which I have described, as well as the staff
officers attached to the Hoheitstraeger. I now offer in
evidence Document 2958-PS, Exhibit USA 325; and this is
issue No. 8, 1939, of the official Leadership Corps organ
'Der Hoheitstraeger' similar to the one I exhibited a moment
ago, and is for the year 1939. This shows that there were:--
With respect to the scope and composition of the Leadership
Corps of the Nazi Party, the prosecution adopts the view and
respectfully submits to this Tribunal that, in defining the
limits of the Leadership Corps, staff officers should only
be included down to and including the Kreis. Upon this
basis, the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party constituted
the Fuehrer, the members of the Reichsleitung, the five
levels of the Hoheitstraeger, and the staff officers
[Page 29]
It is true that this figure is based upon an admittedly
limited view of the size of the membership of the Leadership
Corps of the Nazi Party, for the evidence has shown that the
Leadership Corps, in effect, embraced staff officers
attached to the subordinate Hoheitstraeger and the inclusion
of such staff officers in the estimation of the size of the
Leadership Corps, if we had so recommended, would have been
considerably enlarged so that he final figure, if we had
included staff officers to the Blockleiter would have been
2,000,000 in round numbers.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What reason did you have for
excluding them?
COLONEL STOREY: For this reason, your Honour. A person on
the last level of Blockleiter might have called on an
individual laborer who might have been on his staff, but he
certainly would not have the discretion that a staff leader
had, for example, or perhaps the Gauleiter, as a propaganda
man who disseminated information down as well as helping to
participate in plans and policies of the upper organisation
The subordinate staff officers thus excluded were
responsible functionally to the higher staff officers with
respect to their particular specialty, such as propaganda,
Party organisation, and so on, and to their respective
Hoheitstraeger with respect to discipline and policy control
and, as I mentioned, such higher staff officers also
participated in planning and policy and passed those
policies down through technical levels or technical channels
as opposed to command channels.
"The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party joined and
participated in the Common Plan Or Conspiracy" is the next
title.
The programme of the Nazi Party, proclaimed by Hitler on
24th February, 1920, contained the chief elements of the
Nazi plan for domination and conquest. I now quote from
Document 1708-PS, which is the Year Book for 1943, published
by the Party, and edited by the late Robert Ley. This book
contains the famous 25 points of the Party which I now offer
in evidence as Exhibit USA 324. Departing from the text, I
don't intend to quote these 25 Party objectives, but only
refer to a few of them, and I quote from Page 1 of the
English translation of Document 1708-PS.
[Page 30]
All legal precepts are to be applied in the spirit of
the Party Programme.
Since the taking over of control, the Fuehrer has
succeeded in the realisation of the essential portions
of the Party Programme from the fundamentals to the
details.
The Party programme of the N.S.D.A.P. was proclaimed on
the 24th February, 1920, by Adolf Hitler at the first
large Party gathering in Munich and since that day has
remained unaltered. The National Socialist philosophy
is summarised in 25 points." [
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(Part 10 of 16)
[COLONEL STOREY continues]
40 Gaue and 1 Foreign Gau, each led by a Gauleiter;
However, as shown by the evidence previously introduced, the
Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party was composed not only of
the Hoheitstraeger, but also of the staff officers or
officeholders attached to the Hoheitstraeger. The Gauleiter,
for example, was assisted by a deputy Gauleiter, several Gau
inspectors, and a staff which was divided into main offices
(Hauptaemter) and offices (Aemter) including such
departments as the Gau Staff Office, Treasury, Education
Office, Propaganda Office, Press Office, University
Teachers, Communal Policy, and so forth. As previously
shown, the staff office structure of the Gau was
substantially represented in the lower levels of the
Leadership Corps organisation such as the Kreise, the
Ortsgruppen, and so on. The Kreise and the smaller
territorial areas of the Party were also organised into
staff offices dealing with the various activities of the
Leadership Corps. But, of course, the importance and the
number of such staff offices diminished as the unit dropped
in the hierarchy; so that, while the Kreisleiter staff
contained all or most of the departments mentioned for the
Gau, the Ortsgruppe had fewer departments and the lower ones
fewer still. Firm figures have not been found as to the
total number of staff officers, as distinguished from the
Hoheitstraeger or political commanders themselves included
within the Leadership Corps.
that is 41;
808 Kreisleiter;
28,376 Ortsgruppenleiter;
89,378 Zellenleiter; and
463,048 Blockleiter."We demand the unification of all Germans in Greater
Germany on the basis of the right of self-determination
of peoples."
Point 2 of that programme which I quote demanded unilateral
abolition of the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St.
Germain which I quote:--
"We demand equality of rights for the German people in
respect to the other nations; abrogation of the Peace
Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain."
Point 3:--
We demand land and territory (colonies) for the
sustenance of our people and colonisation by our
surplus population."
"Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member
of the race can only be one who is of German blood
without consideration of confession. Consequently, no
Jew can be a member of the race."
Point 6:--
"We demand that every public office, of any kind
whatsoever, whether in the Reich, the county or
municipality, be filled only by citizens. We fight the
corrupting parliamentary regime, office-holding only
according to party inclinations without consideration
of character or abilities."
Point 22 (this is from Page 2 of the English translation of
Document 1708-PS):--
"We demand the abolition of the mercenary troops and
the formation of a National Army."
Back to Page 1 -- another quotation:--
"The programme is the political foundation of the
N.S.D.A.P. and accordingly the primary political law of
the State.
As previously mentioned, the Party programme was binding
upon the Political Leaders and they were duty bound to
support and carry out that Programme.