dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
COL. STOREY: I have already read portions of the law creating the Chief of the OKW where his importance in Cabinet affairs is delineated. The importance of the Defendants Hess and Bormann will soon be expounded, while that of the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Lammers, will also soon become self-evident. But there were others, such as State Ministers acting as Reich Ministers. Only two persons fell within this category: the Chief of the Presidential Chancellery, Otto Meissner; and the State Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Karl Hermann Frank. In addition, the Indictment names as belonging to the ordinary Cabinet "others entitled to take part in Cabinet meetings." Many governmental agencies were created by the Nazis between the years 1933 and 1945, but the peculiarity of such creations was that in most instances such new posts were given the right to participate in Cabinet meetings. Here the list is long but significant. Thus those entitled to take part in Cabinet meetings were: the Commanders-in-Chief of the Army and the Navy, the Reich Forest Master, the Inspector General for Water and Power, the Inspector General of German Roads, the Reich Labor Leader, the Reich Youth Leader, the Chief of the Foreign Organization in the Foreign Office, the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, the Prussian Finance Minister, and the Cabinet Press Chief. These, then, were the posts and some of the personnel in the ordinary Cabinet. They were all positions of such common knowledge and notoriety that the Tribunal can take judicial notice. Further, they all appear on the chart entitled "Organization of the Reich Government," which was authenticated by the Defendant Frick and is in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-3, which Mr. Albrecht introduced on the second day of the Trial.
COL. STOREY: They are also provable by laws and decrees published in the Reichsgesetzblatt and by notices in the semi-official monthly publication entitled Das Archiv, which was edited by an official of the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda-all of which, I submit, are within the judicial notice purview of the Tribunal. The persons who held these posts in the ordinary Cabinet varied between the years i933 to 1945. Does Your Honor wish to adjourn at 12:45?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, perhaps we had better.
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, the persons who held these posts in the ordinary Cabinet varied between the years 1933 and 1945. Although it is not incumbent upon us to prove who they were, since the group and not the individuals are under consideration, nevertheless their names are already before this Tribunal in the original governmental chart, Exhibit Number USA-3. Since it will be of interest to the Tribunal to see what persons-and 17 of them are defendants here-held what positions in the Cabinet, a table has been prepared which lists all the departments and posts I have mentioned and the incumbents thereof during the years 1933 to 1945. The German equivalents of the titles are also shown; and with the permission of the Tribunal, I will now distribute this table to the members of the Tribunal. Copies have likewise been filed in the defendants' Information Center. The table also is annotated with citations to sources verifying the facts shown-all of which, however, were of common knowledge during the period in question. Diverting from the text: This is simply prepared for the convenience of the Tribunal in connection with the studying of the briefs and the documents. As I said at the outset, the proof will show that there was only an artificial distinction between the ordinary Cabinet, the Secret Cabinet Council, and the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich. This is evidenced in the first instance by the unity of personnel between the three subdivisions. Thus, on 4 February 1938 Hitler created the Secret Cabinet Council. If Your Honors will refer to this big chart, you will notice under 1938 there is a red line pointing down to the Secret Cabinet Council created during that year. This decree appears in the 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, at Page 112. It is in our document booing, Document 2031-PS, and I should like to quote from this document. It begins with the opening paragraph, Document 2031-PS, under the Laws and Decrees Section. I quote: "To advise me in directing the foreign policy I am setting up a Secret Cabinet Council.
COL. STOREY: As President of the Secret Cabinet Council I nominate Reich Minister Baron von Neurath. As members of the Secret Cabinet Council I nominate: "Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs Joachim van Ribbentrop; Prussian Minister President, Reich Minister of the Air, Supreme Commander of the Air Forces, General Field Marshal Hermann Goering; the Fuehrer's Deputy, Reich Minister Rudolf Hess; Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Dr. Joseph Goebbels; Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Dr. Hans Heinrich Lammers;"-that is shown at the top immediately under Hitler-"Supreme Commander of the Army, Colonel General Walther von Brauchitsch; Supreme Commander of the Navy, Grand Admiral Dr. Raeder; Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, General of the Artillery Wilhelm Keitel." It will be noted that every member was either a Reich Minister or, as in the case of the Army, Navy, and OKW heads, had the rank and authority of a Reich Minister. On 30 August 1939 Hitler established the Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich, better known as the Ministerial Council- coming down from the year 1939, the Ministerial Defense Council. This was the so-called war cabinet. The decree appears in the 1939 Reichspesetzblatt, Part I, at Page 1539. I now refer to Document 2018-PS of the Laws and Decrees, and I quote Section Number 1: "(1) A Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich shall be formed out of the Reich Defense Council as a standing committee; "(2) The standing members of the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich shall include: "General Field Marshal Goering as chairman; the Fuehrer's Deputy"-the Defendant Hess-"the Plenipotentiary General for Reich Administration"-who was the Defendant Frick-"the Plenipotentiary General for Economy"-the Defendant Funk-"the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery"-Dr. Lammers-"the Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces"-who was the Defendant Keitel.
COL. STOREY: "(3) The chairman may draw on any other members of the Reich Defense Council as well as other personalities for advice." Again it will be seen that all were also members of the ordinary Cabinet. But this use of the Cabinet as a manpower reservoir from whom the trusted collaborators were selected becomes particularly poignant when we consider the actions of the Nazi conspirators which were not published in the Reichsgesetzblatt , which were concealed from the world, and which were part and parcel of their conspiracy to wage aggressive war. It will have been noted that the decree setting up the Ministerial Council contained this language, the one to which I have just referred: "A Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich shall be formed out of the Reich Defense Council as a standing committee...."-also Subparagraph 3 of the same one-The chairman may draw on any other members...." There is evidence already before this Tribunal establishing the creation-by the Cabinet-on 4 April 1933 of this really secret warplanning body. I refer the Tribunal to Exhibit USA-24, which appears in our document book as Document 2261-PS. That document contains the unpublished Reich Defense Law of 21 May 1935. As to the membership of that Council when first created, I have here a copy of the minutes of the second session of the working committee of the delegates for the Reich defense, dated 22 May 1933, and signed by the Defendant Keitel. It appears in our document book as EC-177, Exhibit USA-390. The composition of the Reich Defense Council appears on Page 3 of the original, and also on Page 3 of the translation:
THE PRESIDENT: I thought you were going to refer to 2261-PS.
COL. STOREY: If Your Honor pleases, I just referred to it as being an exhibit already in evidence and said that it was one of the unpublished Reich defense laws. That was the only purpose in referring to it. The quotation is from Page 3 of the translation, beginning at the top of the page: "Composition of the Reich Defense Council: "President, Reich Chancellor; Deputy, Minister of the Reichswehr; Permanent Members, Minister of the Reichswehr, Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs, Reich Minister of the Interior, Reich Minister of Finance, Reich Minister of Economic Affairs, Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Reich Air Ministry, Chief of the Army Command Staff, Chief of the Navy Command Staff, and-as the case may be-the remaining Reich Ministers, other personalities, for example, leading industrialists, et cetera." All but the Chiefs of the Army and Navy Command Staff were, then, component parts of the ordinary Cabinet. The composition of this Defense Council was changed in 1938. I refer the Tribunal to Exhibit USA-36, which appears in our document book as Number 2194-PS. This contains the unpublished Reich Defense Law of 4 September 1938. I now quote from Paragraph 10, entitled "The Reich Defense Council," which is found at Page 4 of the copy of the law in the original; and I now quote from Page 6 of the English translation, the top of the page: "(2) The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor is chairman in the Reich Defense Council. His permanent deputy is General Field Marshal Goering; he has the authority to call conferences of the Council. Permanent members of the Council are: "Reich Minister of Air and Supreme Commander of the Air Force, the Supreme Commander of the Army, the Supreme Commander of the Navy, the Chief of the OKW, the Fuehrer's 18 Dec.
COL. STOREY: 45 Deputy, the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, the President of the Secret Cabinet Council, the Plenipotentiary General for the Reich Administration, the Plenipotentiary General for Economics, the Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Reich Minister of the Interior, the Reich Minister of Finance, the Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, the President of the Reich Bank Directorate. "The other Reich Ministers and the Reich offices directly subordinate to the Fuehrer and the Reich Chancellor will be consulted if necessary. Further personalities may be called as the case demands."
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, it would help me if you explained to me what conclusions you are asking us to draw from these documents.
COL. STOREY: If Your Honor pleases, we were trying to show the progressive domination of the Reich Cabinet by the defendants and the members of this group, so that, as Your Honors will see as we later go ahead, they could pass laws and decrees secretly, by circulatory process or at the will, in effect, of the defendants. I realize it is a little detailed, but we are trying to show the composition and how it was set up, and the conclusions will be drawn later. By that time the Supreme Commanders of the Army and Navy had been given ministerial rank and authorized to participate in Cabinet meetings. I cite 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 215. May we at this time call the attention of the Tribunal to two members of the Defense Council who will also appear in the Ministerial Council under the same title: the Plenipotentiary for Administration and the Plenipotentiary for Economy. The former post was held by the Defendant Frick, while the latter was first held by the Defendant Schacht and then by the Defendant Funk, who signed the decree in that capacity. These facts are verified by the Defendant Frick in Exhibit Number USA-3, which is the Nazi governmental organization chart previously referred to. As we will later show, these two posts had many of the other ministries subordinated to them for war-planning aims and purposes. They, together with the Chief of the OKW, formed a powerful triumvirate, known as the "Three-Man College"-that is shown in the three boxes down from 1935 to 1938-which figured prominently, as the proof will disclose, in the plans and preparations to wage aggressive war. And the incumbents of these positions were Cabinet members: the Defendants Frick, Funk, and Keitel. This utilization of the ordinary Cabinet as a supply center for other governmental agencies and the cohesion between all of the groups is perhaps quickly seen on the chart which is shown. The points I have been making are illustrated on the chart. We are not offering this chart in evidence, although all facts thereon already have been or will be proved.
COL. STOREY: The chart is also designed to depict-to the left of the line running down the right center- the chronological development of the offshoots of the ordinary Cabinet. Thus in the main box entitled "Reich Cabinet"-which appears directly under Hitler-certain dates appear. I believe I will skip the part that describes those lines because it is self-evident. The Ministerial Defense Council was created in 1944; the Delegate for Total War Effort was Goebbels. These agencies were, next to Hitler, the important Nazi functionaries. In every case, as the chart shows, they were occupied by persons taken from the ordinary Cabinet. The arrow running from the Reich Defense Council to the Ministerial Defense Council is intended to reflect the fact, shown previously, that the latter was formed out of the former. We will, for other points of this presentation, refer again to the chart, especially to that portion to the right, which relates to ministries. The unity, cohesion, and inter-relationship of the subdivisions of the Reichsregierung were not the result of a co-mixture of personnel alone. It was also realized by the method in which it operated. The ordinary Cabinet consulted together both by meetings and through the so-called circulation procedure. Under this procedure, which was predominantly used when meetings were not held, drafts of laws prepared in the individual ministries were distributed to the other Cabinet members for approval or disapproval. The man primarily responsible for. the circulation of drafts of laws under this procedure was Dr. Lammers, the Leader and Chief of the Reich Chancellery. I have here an affidavit executed by him concerning that technical device, which we offer in evidence as Exhibit USA-391, Document 2999-PS. It is short and I should like to quote all of it: "I, Hans Heinrich Lammers, being first duly sworn, depose and say: "I was Leader of the Reich Chancellery from 30 January 1933 until the end of the war.
COL. STOREY: In this capacity I circulated drafts of proposed laws and decrees, submitted to me by the minister who had drafted the law or decree, to all members of the Reich Cabinet. A period of time was allowed for objections, after which the law was considered as being accepted by the various members of the Cabinet. This procedure continued throughout the entire war. It was likewise followed also in the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich."-Signed-"Dr. Lammers"-and sworn to before Lieutenant Colonel Hinkel. As an illustration of how the circulation procedure worked, I have here a memorandum dated 9 August 1943, which bears the facsimile signature of the Defendant Frick and is addressed to the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery. Attached to the memorandum is a draft of the law in question and a carbon copy of a letter dated 22 December 1943, from the Defendant Rosenberg to the Reich Minister of the Interior, containing his comments on the draft. I now offer Document 1701-PS as Exhibit USA-392, and I call Your Honors' attention to the big red border around the enclosure. The quoted portion is from Page 1 of the translation and Page 1 of the original. Quoting: "To the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin (We). For the information of the other Reich Ministers. Subject: Law on the Treatment of Asocial Elements of Society. Referring to my letter of 19 March 1942, 55 enclosures. "The draft of the Law on the Treatment of Asocial Elements of Society having been completely rewritten, I am sending the enclosed new draft with the consent of the Reich Minister of Justice, D r. Thierack, and ask that the law be approved in the circulatory manner. The necessary number of copies is attached." The same procedure was followed in the Council of Ministers when that body was created; and the decrees of the Council of Ministers were also circulated to the members of the ordinary Cabinet.
COL. STOREY: I have here a carbon copy of a memorandum found in the files of the Reich Chancellery by the Allied armies and addressed to the members of the Council of Ministers, dated 17 September 1939 and bearing the typed signature of Dr. Lammers. It is Document 1141-PS, Exhibit USA-393. From the English translation, the last paragraph just above Dr. Lammers' signature, I quote: "Matters submitted to the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich have heretofore been distributed only to the members of the Council. I have been requested by some of the Reich Ministers who are not permanent members of the Council to inform them of the drafts of the decrees which are being submitted to the Council, so as to enable them to check those drafts from the point of view of their respective offices. I shall follow this request so that all of the Reich Ministers will in the future be informed of the drafts of decrees which are to be acted upon by the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Retch. I therefore request that45 additional copies of the drafts, as well as of the letters which usually contain the arguments for the drafts, be added to the folders submitted to the Council." Von Stutterheim, who was an official of the Reich Chancellery, comments on this procedure at Page 34 of a pamphlet entitled The Reich Chancellery , which I now offer in evidence, Document 2231-PS . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, I don't understand what the importance of the last document is.
COL. STOREY: The last document, if Your Honor pleases, is in further evidence of the approval of laws and of the passing of laws by a circulatory process.
THE PRESIDENT: We already have that in Dr. Lammers' affidavit.
COL. STOREY: It might be considered strictly cumulative, if that is what Your Honor has in mind.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if it is cumulative, we don't really want to hear it.
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir; I will ask then that it be stricken from the record. I had really overlooked the fact that it was cumulative. Miss Boyd and Commander Kaplan tell me that the Document Number 2231-PS is probably also corroborative of the same process: and I will, therefore, not offer it. I have already stated that for a time the Cabinet consulted together through actual meetings. The Council of Ministers did likewise, but those members of the Cabinet who were not already members of the Council also attended the meetings of the Ministerial Council. And when they did not attend in person they were usually represented by State Secretaries of the Ministries. We have here the minutes of six meetings of the Council of Ministers of the 1, 4, 8, and 19 September 1939, also- of the 16 October and 15 of November 1939. These original documents were found in the files of the Reich Chancellery. I offer them in evidence as Document 2852-PS, Exhibit USA-395. It will only be necessary to point, for our purposes, to a few of the minutes. I call the attention of the Tribunal to the meeting held on the 1st of September 1939, which is probably the first meeting since the Council was created on the 30th August 1939; and I read from that document-showing who was present-beginning at the top of the English translation: "Present were the permanent members of the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich: "The Chairman, General Field Marshal Goering; the Fuehrer's Deputy, Hess;"-for some unknown reason a line appears through the name Hess-"the Plenipotentiary General for Reich Administration, Dr. Frick; the Plenipotentiary General for Economy, Funk; the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Dr. Lammers; and the Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces, Keitel, represented by Major General Thomas." These were the regular members of the Council. Also present were the Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture, Darre, and seven State Secretaries-naming the secretaries.
COL. STOREY: These State Secretaries were from the several ministries or other supreme Reich authorities, as, for example, to name a few: Korner was the Deputy of the Defendant Goering in the Four Year Plan; Stuckart was in the Ministry of the Interior; Landfried was in the Ministry of Economics; Syrup was in the Ministry of Labor. These later positions appear on the government chart which is already in evidence. Another meeting of the Council-I will skip that one. And then there came the names of nine State Secretaries...
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Colonel Storey, the last document showed only that certain members of the Cabinet came to a Cabinet meeting. Did it show any more than that?
COL. STOREY: It shows no more than that. I was just going on a little farther to show that an SS Gruppenfuehrer was present also, and other people were present.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What would that show?
COL. STOREY: In other words, that they called in these subordinate people, as in the meeting of the ministers.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What would that show?
COL. STOREY: Well, it just shows the permeation of the Party and the subordinate agencies, showing they could use the Reich Cabinet for whatever purpose they wanted and to devise laws any way they wanted. They called in these subordinate people, in these subordinate positions, to sit with them when they were passing Cabinet measures. I can also call Your Honors' attention to the Ministerial Council for Defense. It was supposed to be a ministerialrank Cabinet meeting; and as I just started to show, they called in SS Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich to this meeting.
THE PRESIDENT: There can be no doubt can there, that there was a Reich Cabinet?
COL. STOREY: No, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: And that the Reich Cabinet made decrees by this circulatory method? There is no doubt about that.
COL. STOREY: That is right, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: What does this document add to that? 18 Dec.45
COL. STOREY: It shows who participated, and how they went out into the Party ranks to bring others, but I will omit the rest of the references to these other individuals.
THE PRESIDENT: But we have had ample evidence before, haven't we, as to who formed the Reich Cabinet?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir. Well, I will skip the rest of the references to other people who participated, and pass over to Page 23 of the record. Before leaving these minutes and as indicative of the activities of the Reichsregierung, I would like to direct the attention of the Tribunal to some of the decrees passed and the minutes discussed at these meetings. At the first meeting of 1 September 1939, 14 decrees were ratified by the Council. Of this group I call the attention of the Tribunal to Decree Number 6, appearing on Page 2 of the translation, and I quote:
THE PRESIDENT: I don't think you gave us the number, did you?