dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
Councils by giving the Governors of the Laender authority to cancel the membership of labor representatives in the councils; by abrogating the right of the councils to oppose the dismissal of a worker when he was "suspected of an unfriendly attitude toward the state" (1770-PS); and finally by limiting membership in all Factory Representative Councils to Nazis (2336-PS). (After 7 April 1933, the Governors of the Laender were appointed by the Reich President "upon the proposal of the Reich Chancellor," Hitler, 2005-PS). (4) Soon after coming to power the Nazi conspirators proceeded to destroy the independent unions. In mid-April 1933, Hitler directed Dr. Robert Ley, then staff director of the PO (Political Organization) of the NSDAP, to take over the trade unions. (2283-PS) Ley issued an NSDAP circular directive on 21 April 1933 detailing a "coordination action" (Gleichschaltunsaktion) to be taken on 2 May 1933 against the General German Trade Union Federation (ADGB) and the General Independent Employees Federation (AFA), the so-called "Free Trade Unions" (392-PS). This directive created a special "Action Committee" to direct the entire action and declared that the supporters of the action were to be drawn from the National Socialist Factory Cells Organization or NSBO (Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellen-Organisation), the NSDAP political leaders (Politische Leiter) in the factories; it named NSDAP commissars for the administration of the larger ADGB unions to be seized in the action; it made the Gau leaders (Gauleiter) of the NSDAP responsible for the disciplined execution of the action in their respective areas and authorized them to nominate additional commissars to administer the unions subjected to the action. The directive ordered that SA and SS were to be used in occupying union offices and the Bank of Workers, Employees and Officials, Inc., and for taking into protective custody the higher union leaders. The order of seizure was carried out as planned and ordered. On 2 May the official NSDAP press service reported that the NSBO had "eliminated the old leadership" of Free Trade Unions and taken over their leadership. (2224-PS) On 3 May 1933 the NSDAP press service announced that the Central League of Christian Trade Unions (Gesamtverband der
was carried out as planned and ordered. On 2 May the official NSDAP press service reported that the NSBO had "eliminated the old leadership" of Free Trade Unions and taken over their leadership. (2224-PS) On 3 May 1933 the NSDAP press service announced that the Central League of Christian Trade Unions (Gesamtverband der Christlichen Gewerkschaften) and several smaller unions "have unconditionally subordinated themselves to the leadership of Adolf Hitler" (2225-PS). The next day the NSDAP press stated that the German Nationalist Clerks League (DHV) had also "recognized the leadership of the NSDAP in German trade union affairs * * * after a detailed conversation" between Dr. Ley and the leader of the DHV (2226-PS). In late June 1933, as a final measure against the Christian Trade Unions, Ley directed that all their offices were to be occupied by National Socialists. (392-PS) The duress practiced by the Nazi conspirators in their assumption of absolute control over the unions is shown by a proclamation of Muchow, leader of the organizatonal office of the German Labor Front, in late June 1933. By this Party proclamation, all associations of workers not yet "concentrated" in the German Labor Front had to report within eight days. Thereafter they were to be notified of the branch of the German Labor Front which "they will have to join". (2228-PS) (5) The Nazi Conspirators eliminated the right of collective bargaining generally. During the same months in which the unions were abolished, a decree eliminated collective bargaining on conditions of employment and substituted regulation by "trustees of labor" (Treuhaender der Arbeit) appointed by Hitler. (405-PS) (6) The Nazi conspirators confiscated all union funds and property. The NSDAP circular ordering the seizure of the Free Trade Unions on 2 May 1933 directed that the SA and SS were to be used to occupy the branches and paying offices of the Bank for Workers, Employees and Officials and appointed a Nazi commissar, Mueller, for the bank's subsequent direction. The stock of this bank was held entirely by the General German Trade Union Association and its affiliated member unions. The NSDAP circular also directed that all union funds were to be blocked until re-opened under the authority and control of NSDAP-appointed commissars
commissar, Mueller, for the bank's subsequent direction. The stock of this bank was held entirely by the General German Trade Union Association and its affiliated member unions. The NSDAP circular also directed that all union funds were to be blocked until re-opened under the authority and control of NSDAP-appointed commissars (392-PS; 2895-PS). The Fuehrer's basic order on the German Labor Front of the NSDAP in October 1934 declared that all the property of the trade unions and their dependent organizations constituted (bildet) property of the German Labor Front (2271-PS). Referring to the Seizure of the property of the unions in a speech at the 1937 Party Congress, Ley mockingly declared that he would have to be convicted if the former trade union leaders were ever to demand the return of their property. (1678-PS) (7) The Nazi conspirators persecuted union leaders. The NSDAP order on the seizure of the "Free Trade Unions" directed that the chairmen of the unions were to be taken into "protective custody". Lesser leaders could be arrested with the permission of the appropriate Gau leader of the NSDAP (392-PS). In late June 1933 the German Labor Front published a "List of Outlaws" who were to be denied employment in the factories. The List named union leaders who had been active in combatting National Socialism and who allegedly continued to carry on their resistance secretly. (2336-PS) The Nazi conspirators subjected union leaders to maltreatment ranging from assaults to murder. Among the offenses committed against union leaders are the following: assault and battery; degrading work and work beyond their physical capacity; incarceration in concentration camps; solitary confinement; denial of adequate food; surveillance; arrest and maltreatment of members of their families; murder. (2330-PS; 2331-PS; 2335-PS; 2334-PS; 2928-PS; 2277-PS; 2332-PS; and 2333-PS) B. The Nazi conspirators introduced the Leadership Principle into industrial relations. In January 1934, a decree introduced the Leadership Principle (Fuehrerprinzip) into industrial relations, the entrepreneur becoming the leader and the workers becoming his followers. (1861-PS) C. The Nazi conspirators supplanted independent unions by an affiliated Party organization, the German Labor Front (DAF). (1) They created the German Labor Front. On
the Leadership Principle (Fuehrerprinzip) into industrial relations, the entrepreneur becoming the leader and the workers becoming his followers. (1861-PS) C. The Nazi conspirators supplanted independent unions by an affiliated Party organization, the German Labor Front (DAF). (1) They created the German Labor Front. On the day the Nazis seized the Free Trade Unions, 2 May 1933, they publicly announced that a "united front of German workers" with Hitler as honorary patron would be formed at a Workers' Congress on 10 May 1933. (2224-PS) Ley was appointed "leader of the German Labor Front" (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, or "DAF") on 10 May 1933 (1940-PS). The German Labor Front succeeded to the confiscated property of the suppressed trade union. It was an affiliated organization of the NSDAP, subject to the Leadership Principle; Ley was concurrently Reich Organization Leader (Reichsorganisationsleiter) and leader of the German Labor Front (1814-PS). The National Socialist Factory Cells Organization or NSBO contained the political leaders (Politische Leiter) of the NSDAP in the German Labor Front and those political leaders were given first preference in the filling of jobs in the DAF (2271-PS). The German Labor Front became the largest of the Party's organizations. At the outbreak of the war it had 23 million individual members and about 10 million corporative members who were members of organizations affiliated with it. (2275-PS) (2) They utilized the German Labor Front as an instrument to impose their ideology on the masses, to frustrate potential resistance, and to insure effective control of the productive labor capacity of Germany. The DAF was charged with the ideological orientation of the broad masses of Germans working in the factories. its leaders were charged with weeding out potential opponents to National Socialism from the ranks of the DAF and from employment in industry. In its surveillance functions, the German Labor Front relied on Gestapo reports and on its own intelligence service (2336-PS). The German Labor Front took over the leadership of the German Cooperatives with the view to their subsequent liquidation (2270-PS). The Nazi conspirators established Factory Troops (Werkscharen) within the Strength Through Joy branch of the German Labor Front
relied on Gestapo reports and on its own intelligence service (2336-PS). The German Labor Front took over the leadership of the German Cooperatives with the view to their subsequent liquidation (2270-PS). The Nazi conspirators established Factory Troops (Werkscharen) within the Strength Through Joy branch of the German Labor Front as an "ideological shock squad (Weltanschaulicher Stosstrupp) within the factory" (1817-PS). These shock squads were formed only of voluntary members ready "to fight" for Nazi conceptions. Among their objects were the speeding up of labor effort and the forging of a "single-willed community" (1818-PS). The SA was charged with the promotion and building up of Factory Troops by all means. When a factory worker joined the Factory Troops, he automatically became an SA candidate. Factory Troops were given a special uniform and their physical training took place within SA cadre units. (2230-PS) During the war, the German Labor Front was made responsible for the care of foreign labor employed within the Reich (1913-PS). Barely two years after the suppression of the independent unions and the creation of the German Labor Front, the Nazi conspirators decreed compulsory labor service (Reichsarbeitsdienst) under which young men and women between 18 and 25 years of age were conscripted for labor service under the administration of the Reich Minister of Interior, Frick. (1389-PS) After war had been declared, the Nazi conspirators openly admitted the objectives of the Nazis' control over labor. A publication of the Scientific Institute of the German Labor Front declared that it had been difficult to make the German people understand continuous renunciations in social conditions because all the nation's strength had been channeled into armaments (Wehrhaftigkeit) for "the anticipated clash with an envious surrounding world" (2276-PS). Addressing workers five days after the launching of war on Poland, Ley admitted that the Nazis had mobilized all the resources and energies of Germany for seven years "so as to be equipped for the supreme effort of battle" and that the First World War had not been lost because of cowardice of German soldiers, "but because dissension and discord tore the people asunder" (1939-PS). Ley's confidence in the Nazis' effective control over the productive labor
energies of Germany for seven years "so as to be equipped for the supreme effort of battle" and that the First World War had not been lost because of cowardice of German soldiers, "but because dissension and discord tore the people asunder" (1939-PS). Ley's confidence in the Nazis' effective control over the productive labor capacity of Germany in peace or war was declared as early as 1936 to the Nurnberg Party Congress: "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 traitors 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." (2283-PS) LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS RELATING TO DESTRUCTION OF THE FREE TRADE UNIONS AND ACQUISITION OF CONTROL OVER THE PRODUCTIVE LABOR CAPACITY DocumentDescriptionVol.Page Charter of the International Military Tribunal, Article 6, especially 6 (a).....I5 International Military Tribunal, indictment Number 1, Section IV (D) 3 (c) (1).....I19 Note: A single asterisk (*) before a document indicates that the document was received in evidence at the Nurnberg trial. A double asterisk (**) before a document number indicates that the document was referred to during the trial but was not formally received in evidence, for the reason given in parentheses following the description of the document. The USA series number, given in parentheses following the description of the document, is the official exhibit number assigned by the court. *392-PSOfficial NSDAP circular entitled "The Social Life of New Germany with Special Consideration of the German Labor Front", by Prof. Willy Mueller (Berlin, 1938). (USA 326).....III380 *404-PSExcerpts from Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 456, 475. (USA 256)....III385 405-PSLaw Concerning Trustees of Labor, 19 May 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 285.....III387 614-PSProclamation of the Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor, 2 May 1933.
Willy Mueller (Berlin, 1938). (USA 326).....III380 *404-PSExcerpts from Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 456, 475. (USA 256)....III385 405-PSLaw Concerning Trustees of Labor, 19 May 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 285.....III387 614-PSProclamation of the Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor, 2 May 1933. Documents of German Politics, Vol. I, p. 151-3.....III447 1389-PSLaw creating Reich Labor Service, 26 June 1935. 1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 769.....III963 *1678-PSSpeech of Dr. Robert Ley. Documents of German Politics, Vol. V, pp. 373, 376. (USA 365)....IV190 1770-PSLaw concerning factory representative councils and economic organizations, 4 April 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 161....IV343 *1814-PSThe Organization of the NSDAP and its affiliated associations, from Organization book of the NSDAP, editions of 1936, 1938, 1940 and 1943, pp. 86-88. (USA 328)....IV411 1817-PSBureau for factory troops, from Organization Book of the NSDAP, 1936 EDITION, P. 211....211457 1818-PSBureau for Factory troops and training, from Organization Book of the NSDAP, 1940 edition, pp. 195-196b....IV457 1861-PSLaw on the regulation of National labor, 20 January 1934. 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 45....IV497 *1913-PSAgreement between Plenipotentiary General for Arbeitseinsatz and German Labor Front concerning care of non-German workers. 1943 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 588. (USA 227)....IV547 1939-PSSpeech by Ley published in Forge of the Sword, with an introduction by Marshal Goering, pp. 14-17.....IV581 1940-PSFuehrer edict appointing Ley leader of German Labor Front. Voelkischer Beobachter, Munich (Southern German) edition. p. 1....IV584 1947-PSLetter from von Fritsch, 11 December 1938, concerning need of Germany to be victorious over working class, Catholic Church and Jews.....IV585 2005-PSSecond law integrating the "Laender" with the Reich, 7 April 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 173....IV641 2050-PSThe Constitution of the German Reich, 11 August 1919. 1919 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 1383...IV662 *2224-PSThe End of the Marxist Class Struggle, published in National Socialist Party Press Agency, 2 May 1933, pp. 1-2. (USA 364)....IV864 2225-PSThe Front of German Workers has been Erected, published in National Socialist Party Press Agency, 3
Reich, 11 August 1919. 1919 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 1383...IV662 *2224-PSThe End of the Marxist Class Struggle, published in National Socialist Party Press Agency, 2 May 1933, pp. 1-2. (USA 364)....IV864 2225-PSThe Front of German Workers has been Erected, published in National Socialist Party Press Agency, 3 May 1933, p. 1....IV868 2226-PSThe Labor Front Stands, published in National Socialist Party Press Agency, 4 May 1933, p. 2....IV869 2228-PSOrder issued by German Labor Front, published in National Socialist Party Press Agency, 26 June 1933, p. 5....IV869 2230-PSAgreement between Ley and lutze, chief of staff of SA, published in Organization Book of NSDAP, 1938, pp. 484-485b, 486c...IV871 2270-PSCoordination of Cooperatives, published in National Socialist Party Press Agency release of 16 May 1933.....IV938 2271-PSThe National Socialist Factory Cells Organization, published in Organization Book of NSDAP, PP. 185-187....IV940 2275-PSThe German Labor Front, published in Nature-Aim-Means. Footnote on p. 11....IV949 2276-PSThe German Labor Front, published in Nature-Aim-Means. p. 55....IV950 *2277-PSAffidavit, 17 October 1945, of Gustav Schiefer, Chairman of General German Trade Union Association, Local Committee, Munich, in 1933. (USA 748)....IV951 *2283-PSThe Fifth Day of the Party Congress, from Voelkischer Beobachter, Munich (Southern German) Edition, Issue 258, 14 September 1936. (USA 337)....IV971 *2330-PSOrder of Protective Custody, Police Directorate of Nurnberg-Fuerth of Josef Simon, Chairman of German Shoemaker's Union, 29 August 1935. (USA 237)...IV1038 *2331-PSDeclaration required of union leader Josef Simon upon his release from Protective Custody by Bavarian Political Police, 20 December 1935. (USA 743)....IV1039 2332-PSDeath certificate, Flossenburg Concentration Camp, concerning union leader Staimer and official letter to his wife, 22 December 1941....IV1040 *2333-PSDeath certificate, Flossenburg Concentration Camp, concerning union leader Herrmann, and official letter to his wife, 29 December 1941. (USA 744)....IV1040 *2334-PSAffidavits of Lorenz Hagen, Chairman of Local Committee, German Trade Unions, Nurnberg. (USA 238)....IV1041 *2335-PSAffidavits of Josef Simon, Chairman of German Shoemakers' Union in 1933. (USA 749)....IV1046 2336-PSSpecial Circular on Securing of association of
his wife, 29 December 1941. (USA 744)....IV1040 *2334-PSAffidavits of Lorenz Hagen, Chairman of Local Committee, German Trade Unions, Nurnberg. (USA 238)....IV1041 *2335-PSAffidavits of Josef Simon, Chairman of German Shoemakers' Union in 1933. (USA 749)....IV1046 2336-PSSpecial Circular on Securing of association of German Labor Front against hidden Marxist sabotage, 27 June 1933....IV1052 2411-PSChart of unions of workers and employees, from Statistical yearbook for German Reich, 1932, p. 555...V87 *2895-PSJoint affidavit of union leaders Simon, Hagen, and Lex, 13 November 1945. (USA 754)....V563 *2928-PSAffidavit of Mathias Lex, deputy president of the German Shoemakers Union. (USA 239)....V594 Statement XIIPolitical Testament of Robert Ley, written in Nurnberg prison, October 1945.....VIII742 Statement XIIIOutline of Defense of Dr. Robert Ley, written in Nurnberg prison, 24 October 1945....VIII749 6. SUPPRESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES A. The Nazi conspirators sought to subvert the influence of the churches over the people of Germany. (1) They sought to eliminate the Christian Churches in Germany. (a) Statements of this aim. Martin Bormann stated in a secret decree of the Party Chancellery signed by him and distributed to all Gauleiters 7 June 1941: "Our National Socialist ideology is far loftier than the concepts of Christianity, which in their essential points have been taken over from Jewry * * *. A differentiation between the various Christian confessions is not to be made here * * * the Evangelical Church is just as inimical to us as the Catholic Church. * * * All influences which might impair or damage the leadership of the people exercised by the Fuehrer with the help of the NSDAP must be eliminated. More and more the people must be separated from the churches and their organs the pastors. * * * Just as the deleterious influences of astrologers, seers and other fakers are eliminated and suppressed by the State, so must the possibility of church influence also be totally removed. * * * Not until this has happened, does the state leadership have influence on the individual citizens. Not until then are the people and Reich secure in their existence for all time." (D-75) Hans Kerrl, Reich Minister for Church
by the State, so must the possibility of church influence also be totally removed. * * * Not until this has happened, does the state leadership have influence on the individual citizens. Not until then are the people and Reich secure in their existence for all time." (D-75) Hans Kerrl, Reich Minister for Church Affairs, in a letter dated 6 September 1939 to a Herr Stapel, which indicated that it would be brought to the attention of the Confidential Council and of the defendant Hess, made the following statements: "The Fuehrer considers his efforts to bring the Evangelical Church to reason, unsuccessful and the Evangelical Church with respect to its condition rightfully a useless pile of sects. As you emphasize the Party has previously carried on not only a fight against the political element of the Christianity of the Church, but also a fight against membership of Party Members in a Christian confession. * * * "The Catholic Church will and must, according to the law under which it is set up, remain a thorn in the flesh of a Racial State * * *". (129-PS) Gauleiter Florian, in a letter dated 23 September 1940 to the defendant Hess, stated: "The churches with their Christianity are the danger against which to fight is absolutely necessary." (064-PS) Regierungsrat Roth, in a lecture 22 September 1941, to a group of Security Police, in the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) concluded his address on Security Police (Sipo) measures for combatting church politics and sects with the following remarks: "The immediate aim: the church must not regain one inch of the ground it has lost. The ultimate aim: Destruction of the Confessional Churches to be brought about by the collection of all material obtained through the intelligence service (Nachrichtendienst) activities which will at a given time be produced as evidence for the charge of treasonable activities during the German fight for existence." (1815-PS) The Party Organization Book states: "Bravery is valued by the SS man as the highest virtue of men in a struggle for his ideology. "He openly and unrelentingly fights the most dangerous enemies of the State; Jews, Free Masons, Jesuits, and political clergymen. "However, he recruits and convinces the weak