One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth Day:
Monday, 29th July, 1946 [Page 15]
He was one of the most important factors in the criminal organization
which carried out the policy of extermination and effected genocide. His
responsibility for these mass murders has been established. Orders for
imprisonment and execution were signed by him.
We are aware of Rosenberg's important position in the Third Reich. A
department bore his name. Moreover, he was Minister for the Eastern
Territories and an exponent of the Nazi doctrine. In "Blood and Honour "
("Blut und Ehre"), in particular, he revived and elaborated the theory
of living-space to which the so-called German race was entitled. He
started with the unfounded statements that "the evolution of humanity
owes its entire meaning to the irradiation of Nordism " and that "a
decline takes place wherever this Nordic culture, instead of condemning
Asiatics and Jews to permanent enslavement, mingles with these impure
elements...." He concluded by saying that the Continent must be
subjected to the German philosophy and race. To restore the racial
purity of Germany by any means was the subject of his speech at
Nuremberg in 1933. He extolled the extermination of the Jews, and we
know today that it was no empty phrase. Furthermore, in a report to the
Fuehrer dated 11th August, 1942 (042-PS) he wrote:
[Page 16]
Frank was one of the Party's earliest adherents. He was its legal
adviser and took part in the elaboration of its programme. He was also
the Fuehrer's adviser. He was Minister of justice in Bavaria, then
Minister of State charged with the co-ordination of justice in the
Reich, and finally Governor General of Poland. It is he who tried to
give legal form to the programme of persecution and extermination drawn
up by the State and the Party. He defended the establishment of
concentration camps in the German Legal Gazette in 1936, and he
proclaimed that the second fundamental concept of the Hitlerite Reich
was racial legislation. His personal activities in Poland contributed to
the extermination of numerous Poles. He vaunted these activities in his
paper.
Frick was a member of the Party from 1925. He became a Reichsleiter and
afterwards Reich Director for Elections from 30th January, 1933, to 20th
August, 1943. He was chief of the service for the annexation of Austria
by Germany and for the incorporation of the Sudetenland, Mernel, Danzig,
the Eastern Territories, Eupen-Malmedy and Moresnet. He was also
Director of the Central Office for the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia,
the Government General, Lower Styria, Upper Carinthia, Norway, Alsace-
Lorraine, and all the other occupied countries. He was Protector of
Bohemia and Moravia for over a year. He had been Reich Minister of the
Interior ever since the assumption of power and a member of the Defence
Council. When he was elected to the Reichstag in 1924, he proposed anti-
Jewish laws. Strictly obedient, on several occasions he gave expression
to the political theories of the Party. In particular he declared:
Streicher entered the Party almost as soon as it was formed. He indulged
in unbridled propaganda,against the Jews, both in his speeches and in
his writings, and incited the German people to persecute and to
exterminate them. He was made Gauleiter. He does not dissociate himself
from anything that has been done. He stated:
[Page 17]
Doenitz was Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy. He succeeded Hitler,
with Seyss-Inquart as Foreign Minister. He was a recipient of the Golden
Party Badge. His adherence to the criminal policy of the system is
indisputable. He said, among other things (Document 640):
He approved and extolled massacres of Communists.
Raeder was Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy before Doenitz. He was
present at the conferences at which Hitler revealed his plans, notes of
which were taken at the time. He put the Navy at the service of the Nazi
regime. He conducted clandestine rearmament activities and contributed
to the preparation of aggression against Poland and Norway.
His contempt for International Law is well known. It will suffice to
refer to the memorandum of 15th October, 1939, Exhibit UK 65.
Schirach became a member of the Party at the age of 18 He joined in
1925, was leader of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940, and Gauleiter of
Vienna up to the capitulation. He was one of the essential parts of the
Nazi machine. He admits that as Gauleiter of Vienna he united in himself
the powers of the State, the city and the Party. He moulded the youth of
Germany according to the ideology of the Party; and he has claimed
responsibility for the consequences resulting from this exclusive
formation. He allowed Himmler to recruit the SS from among the Hitler
Youth.
From 1943 onwards, as he himself admits, he was aware of the treatment
inflicted on the Jews. Long before that date, however, he had taken a
very definite stand as to this question and had been active in
conducting anti-Semitic propaganda.
Sauckel joined the Party in 1925. Gauleiter of Thuringia,
Plenipotentiary-General for Manpower and Honorary Obergruppenfuehrer of
the SS, he held a highly eligible position in the State and Party
machine.
A fiery propagandist, he delivered more than five hundred speeches, in
all of which he expounded the Nazi ideology. He approved the principle
of extermination. He said:
Page 18]
Alfred Jodl was Chief of the Operations Staff of the OKW. He enjoyed the
absolute confidence of the F5hrer in the same degree as Keitel (3798-
PS). He took part in drafting the various plans for aggression.
Encouraged to serve Hitler by the presence of such conservatives as
Neurath, Papen, and Schacht at Hitler's side, he transmitted On 22nd
March, 1943, the decree ordering the expulsion of Jews from Denmark and
their internment in Germany. He was also responsible for the execution
of Hitler's order of 18th October, 1942, for the annihilation of
commandos. (Document 530-PS.)
He took part in the discussions on the measures to be taken against
airmen who were forced down. He signed the proclamation published by the
High Command of the Army relative to the struggle against guerilla
troops-a proclamation containing regulations which outraged the laws of
humanity.
Von Papen paved the way for Hitler's accession to power. The formation
of his Cabinet On 30th May, 1932, was contrary to the normal
parliamentary procedure. On 2nd June he ordered the dissolution of the
Reichstag, thereby giving free rein to Hitler's terrorism. At an
interview with Hitler in June, 1932, he said:
He allowed Nazi functionaries to usurp the public services.
Sir David Maxwell Fyfe reminded us of von Papen's vindication of
National Socialism in Essen in November, 1933.
Papen expressed himself very definitely on the racial problem (speech at
Gleiwitz in 1934):
Papen served the Party and State administration until the capitulation.
Neither the murder nor the imprisonment of his collaborators, of which
the State and the Party were guilty, interrupted his activities.
Seyss-Inquart joined the National Socialist Party on 13th March, 1938.
He occupied various positions within the inner circle of the Party and
in the State services, and was finally made Assistant Governor of Poland
and later Reich Commissar for the Netherlands. He declared
I quote:
" . . . we hold the task of a generation, that is to say of the
vital force of a people, to be the creation and the security of
Lebensraum for the cultural and economic life of that
nation..."(Speech of Seyss-Inquart of 23rd January, 1939 -
Document 3640-PS).
" . . . as the task of a whole generation, the entire Vistula region
and not only the territories now gained in the East must be settled
by Germans ... the Slovakia of today, the Hungary of today, the
Roumania of today, must be reorganized. I believe that the time has
come . . . I believe that soon the [Page 19]
Speer joined the Party in 1933. He was appointed personal architect to
Hitler, and in this capacity he came into very close contact with the
Fuehrer. Chief of the Todt Organization from February, 1942, Armaments
Chief for the Four-Year Plan from March, 1942, Minister for Armaments
from September, 1943, he was one of the high-ranking officials in both
the State and the Party. Speer utilized more than a million men in the
Todt Organization, and more than 50,000 deported Frenchmen in the Ruhr
territory alone in 1943. He is responsible for the ill-treatment of
foreign workers in German factories, particularly in the Krupp plants.
He employed more than 400,000 war prisoners in the armament industry.
His delegates. were authorized by the OKW to enter the camps and to
select skilled workmen. He exploited the manpower of the concentration
camps, affecting a total of more than 32,000 men, as he has himself
admitted. He visited Mauthausen and shares the responsibility for the
deportation of Jews to special labour camps, where they were
exterminated, as well as the deportation of 100,000 Hungarian Jews to
aircraft factories.
Von Neurath, Minister for Foreign Affairs since 1932, remained in this
office when the Nazis seized power in 1933. He continued to occupy this
post until 1939, and both he and his departments were gradually absorbed
by the growing State and Party machine. As he was a member of the
Government from the outset, he cannot have been ignorant of the
political ideology of the movement. If he claims to have been shocked
when he learned in 1937 that Hitler was planning aggression, he
nevertheless remained in office and made no attempt to dissuade Hitler.
On the contrary, it was he who by his approval encouraged Hitler to
reoccupy the left bank of the Rhine - the first stage in the wars of
aggression for the conquest of living-space. He remained Minister of the
Reich until the end. A conservative himself, his presence encouraged
conservative elements in Germany to co-operate with Hitler. Mainspring
of the Party and State machine, von Neurath is closely connected with
this machine in the crimes of extermination of which he was fully aware
and which he himself decreed.
On 31st August, 1940, von Neurath transmitted to Dr. Lammers two
memoranda, one drawn up by himself and the other by his Minister of
State Frank, both advocating the total Germanization of Bohemia and
Moravia and the elimination of the Czech intelligentsia. One of these
reports contains the following lines:
[Page 20]
By means of repeated addresses he furthermore endeavoured to imprint in
the German miqd the idea that its very life was imperilled by the Jews
and democracy, and that it must yield itself unreservedly to the men of
destiny who governed it.
Schacht's position is peculiar in itself. I shall deal with his case at
greater length. He claims to be a victim of the system and is surprised
to find himself here cheek by jowl with Kaltenbrunner, his jailer.
Schacht told us that the ideals of the Party did not appeal to him. None-
the-less, ex-Minister Severing stated at the session of 2ist May, 1946,
that in 1931 he had learned from a communication of the Berlin Police
that Schacht had taken part in discussions with the Nazi chiefs. He
added that Schacht's relations with plutocracy and militarism struck him
as highly compromising, and that he would not have cared to be a member
of the same Cabinet.
We know that Schacht had established relations with Hitler in 1930,
bringing to him the advantages of his credit in Germany and abroad.
National Socialism derived considerable benefit from this.
At the National Front rally at Hamburg in October, 1931, Schacht took
his scat next to Hitler, Hugenberg and Seldte. He had already attempted
to draw Hitler into the Bruening Government. He was responsible for
procuring funds for the decisive elections of March, 1933 (USA 874), at
a meeting between Goering and the leading industrialists, on which
occasion Hitler delivered a speech. After the seizure of power, Schacht
played an outstanding role within the machinery of Party and State. He
became President of the Reichsbank and Minister of Economics. On 19th
January, 1939, he left the Reichsbank, but he became a Minister of
State and held that post until 2ist January, 1943. Clever, subtle, and
capable of disguising his real thoughts behind a mask of irony or
insolence, he never committed himself completely. It has, however, been
proved that he persistently demanded increased living-space for Germany.
When he tried to mislead his questioners by speaking of colonial claims,
and it was pointed out that, considering world conditions, the
possession of colonies could in no way assist Germany in solving her
domestic problems, he failed to reply. He knew how to threaten the
democracies and even resorted to a form of extortion through fear. When
speaking of a Party success during a visit to America, he said:
As soon as he was established in the Reichsbank, a vast programme for
financing public works was launched. All of these works - new
railroads, motor highways, etc. - were of strategic importance.
Moreover, a large proportion of the credits was secretly used for purely
military purposes.
From 1935 onwards, rearmament was speeded up under the vigorous impulse
of the new financial measures which he devised. The academic and upright
economist of tradition turned into a "sharper" in order to realize the
great aims of the Party. By means of accommodation drafts - MEF0 drafts
- the rearmament was financed. Drawn on a drawee who provided no cover,
a company created to serve this express purpose, the blank drafts were
endorsed by a second and similar company....
(Part 4 of 12)
"Detention and protective custody," he said, "were measures
justified by the war."
At the same time, however, he tried to make us believe that he opposed
the introduction of these measures. It is impossible to believe this,
for we have proof that he had supreme authority over the camps.
"Measures aimed at preventing an increase in the population of the
Ukraine and which would render Article 218 of the German Penal Code
inapplicable were the object of a special study last year. The
subject was raised again on the occasion of a visit made by the
Director of the Ministry of Health.... In the Ukraine, measures
have been taken to prevent epidemics, not in the interest of other
races, but exclusively for the protection
of the German occupation forces and for maintaining labour in the
service of the German war industry."
Finally, he was implicated in the attack on Norway, and thanks to his
special staff he conducted the methodical plundering of the artistic
wealth of Europe.
"In National Socialist Germany, leadership is in the hands of an
organized community, the National Socialist Party; and as the
latter represents the will of the nation, the*policy adopted by it,
in harmony with the vital interests of the nation, is at the same
time the policy adopted by the country." (3258-PS.)
He it was who appointed Himmler. He was responsible for the anti-Jewish
legislation and ordered sterilization for the descendants of coloured
soldiers. Furthermore, he gave orders that the incurably insane should
be put to death.
"When one has known the profound depths of the Fuehrer's character
as I have done, and when 1 later learned from his testament that he
deliberately gave the order to execute the Jews-well, I declare
that this man had a right to do so."
Funk entered the Party in 1931 and was decorated with the golden badge.
He was Chief of the Reich Press and Secretary of State for Propaganda;
eventually he succeeded Schacht in the Ministry of Economics in 1937.
He became Plenipotentiary-General for Economic Affairs and President of
the Reichsbank in 1941. In 1932 he acted as middleman between the
Fuehrer and certain leaders of German industry. He attended the meeting
of industrialists organized by Gdring on 20th February, 1933, to obtain
the political hnd financial support of industry for the realization of
the Nazi programme. He stated on 4th May, 1946:
"As State Secretary for Propaganda I had a definite responsibility.
I have, of course, favoured propaganda, as did all those who found
themselves in positions of importance in Germany, for propaganda
filled and permeated the nation's intellectual life."
"The officer is the representative of the State. This ridiculous
talk about non-political officers is sheer nonsense."
He recommended the use of labour from the extermination camps in order,
he said, to increase output by 100 per cent. He proclaimed unrestricted
submarine warfare, and ordered his sailors " to be hard," and not to
effect any further rescues.
"With regard to the extermination of asocial elements, Goebbels is
of the opinion that the method of extermination by work is much the
best." (Document 682-PS.)
He also stated:
"The Fuehrer has said that we must revise our habitual conceptions
about the migration of peoples ... it is the Fuehrer's wish that a
hundred years from now 250 million people speaking the German
language be settled in Europe." (Document 025-PS.)
He personally played an active part in preparing the way for the
exterminations. On 28th May, 1946, he made here the following statement
on the subject:
"Best results in production can only be obtained by judicious use
of manpower."
He forced over two million Frenchmen to collaborate in the war effort
with their labour - to say nothing of millions of people of other
nationalities. They were recruited by force with the help of the police,
the SS and the Army (Document S 827):
"I have," he said, " given special authority to a few intelligent
men, with a view to procuring labour. They are working under the
direction of the
[ Supreme Chief of the SS and the police. I have armed and trained a
certain number of them, and I must make application to the Ministry
of Armaments for the necessary supplies for these men ......"
Through this declaration, the insinuation of counsel for defendant Speer
to the effect that the French Government had voluntarily given its
assent to sending forced labour to Germany is reduced to naught.
"I have agreed to Hitler's demands: the right of the SS and SA to
wear uniform."
At the same time Papen was under no illusions as to the consequences to
his Party of the Hitlerian agitation which he had himself instigated.
But he preferred Hitler to democracy. After the elections of 30th July
he endeavoured to induce Hindenburg to accept Hitler - and in the month
of November he succeeded.
"Certainly no objection can be made to racial research or to
measures taken on behalf of the race with the aim of preserving as
far as possible its national characteristics."
We know what these measures were.
"I cling with unchanging tenacity to the aim in which I believe:
greater Germany, and in the Fuehrer." (Excerpt from a letter of
Seyss-Inquart to Goering on 14th July, 1939 - Document 2219-PS.)
whole of this territory will be under the sole administration of
Germany. (Letter of Seyss-Inquart to Bormann of 20th July, 1940 -
Document 3645-PS.)
Seyss-Inquart endeavoured to realize the main political object of the
Party: conquest of space at all costs. He used all his available
resources for the annexation of Austria, of which he was a native (he
admitted that he had worked for twenty years to bring about the
Anschluss). His collusion with Konrad Henlein for the reincorporation of
the Sudeten territory in Germany has been proved. In Holland he gave
orders for the execution of hostages and forged political and economic
links between that country and the Reich. He is further responsible for
the systematic pillage inflicted on Holland, for the deportation of the
population and for the introduction of measures which led to famine.
"As regards the future organization of Bohemia and Moravia, all
considerations should be based on the goal set for this territory,
from the political and national-political angles [sic]. From the
political angle there can be only one goal: complete incorporation
into the Greater German Reich; from the national-political angle:
settling these territories completely with Germans. A brief survey
of the actual position as it presents itself from observations and
experience gained since the annexation in regard to the political
and national-political angles, indicates the path to be followed in
order to reach the clearly defined and unequivocal goal.... Things
present themselves in such fashion that a decision must be taken on
the fate of the Czech people so that the end in view may be
achieved, which is to incorporate the country
and populate it with Germans as quickly and as completely as
possible." (Document 3859-PS.)
Fritzsche served the Party before it came to power, but he did not
actually become a member of it until 1933, and then he became quickly a
remarkably efficient propagandist. In the course of the war he became
the head of the radio service. Expounding the doctrine of the regime, he
agitated for the massacre of Jews.
"I gave the greatest possible warning that if countries abroad did
not change their policy towards Germany, there would in a very
short time be many more members and adherents of Hitler's Party."
He also said:
"It is perfectly clear: We ask for territory in order to feed our
people."
What part did he play in the development ofthe criminal policy ?