dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: This is still part of the report. It is, in fact, as I say, the findings of the commission. "Gauleiter Streicher likes to beat people with a riding whip but only if he is in the company of several persons assisting him. In most cases the beatings are carried out with sadistic brutality. "The best known case is that of Steinruck, whom he beat in the prison cell until the blood came, together with Deputy Gauleiter Holz and SA Oberfuehrer Konig. After returning from this scene to the Deutscher Hof he said, 'Now I am relieved. I needed that again!' Later he also stated several times that he needed another Steinruck case in order to 'relieve' himself. "In August 1938 he beat the editor Burker at the Gauhaus together with District Of Office Leader Schiller and his adjutant, Konig." To show the authority and power that he held in his Gau, I refer to the last paragraph on that page: "According to reports of reliable witnesses, Gauleiter Streicher is in the habit of pointing out on the most varied occasions that he alone gives orders in the district of Franconia. For instance, at a meeting in the Colosseum in Nuremberg in 1935 he said that nobody could remove him from office. In a meeting at Herkules Hall, where he described how he had beaten Professor Steinruck, he emphasized that he would not let himself be beaten by anybody, not even by an Adolf Hitler .... "For, this also must be stated here, in Franconia the Gau acts first and then orders the absolutely powerless authorities to approve." My Lord, both of those volumes of that report, Document 1757-PS, will become Exhibit GB-175.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal isn't altogether satisfied that that has any bearing on the case against Streicher.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: My Lord, it is the object of that document to show the kind of treatment and persecution which the Jews were receiving in the district or Gau over which this defendant ruled and, secondly, to show the absolute authority with which this defendant acted in his district. That is the purpose of that document. As a result either of that investigation or of some other matter the defendant was relieved of his position as Gauleiter in February 1940, but he did not cease from his propaganda or from the control of his newspaper. I would only quote one further short extract from Der Sturmer. An article written by him on the 4th of November 1943, which appears in the document book on Page 53, is Document 1965-PS and becomes Exhibit GB-176; and it is an extract of importance: "It is actually true that the Jews have so to speak disappeared from Europe and that the Jewish 'Reservoir of the East,' from which the Jewish pestilence has for centuries beset the peoples of Europe, has ceased to exist. But the Fuehrer of the German people at the beginning of the war prophesied what has now come to pass." My Lord, that article was signed by Streicher, and it is my submission that it shows that he had knowledge of what was going on in the East, of which this Court has had such evidence. That was written November 1943. In April '43, the Tribunal will remember, the Warsaw ghetto was destroyed. Between April 1942 and April 1944, 1,700,000-odd Jews were killed in Auschwitz and Dachau I quote now from the transcript - and throughout the whole of that period millions of Jews were to die. It is my submission that that article appearing on the 4th of November and signed by him shows that he knew what was happening, perhaps not the details, but that he knew that the Jews were being exterminated.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I leave Der Sturmer and I would draw the attention of the Tribunal quite shortly to a matter which is perhaps as evil as any other aspect of this man's activity, and that is the particular attention that he paid to the instruction - if you can call it that - or the perversion of the children and the youth of Germany. He was not content with inciting the German population. He seized the children as early as he could at their schools, and he started to poison their minds at the earliest possible date. Already in some of the extracts to which I have referred, the Tribunal will remember that there are mentions of children and the need for teaching them anti-Semitism. I refer now to Page 54 of the document book, and I would quote four or five lines from the last paragraph, starting in the middle of the last paragraph. It is a report of a speech by Streicher as early as June 1925, when he says: "I repeat, we demand the transformation of the school into an ethno-German institution of education. If German children are taught by German teachers, then we shall have laid the foundations for the ethno-German school. This ethno-German school must teach racial doctrine." I now go to the last line of the first paragraph on the following page: "We demand, therefore, the introduction of racial doctrine into the school." That is in a copy of Der Sturmer which has already been put in. It is Exhibit GB-165 (Document M-30). The following Document, M-43, is an extract from the Frankische Tageszeitung of the 19th of March 1934, when he addressed the pupils at a girls' school at Preisslerstrasse after their finishing their vocational course. He was continually holding children's meetings and attending children's schools. I quote the third paragraph: "Then Julius Streicher spoke about his life and told them about a girl who had at one time been a pupil of his and who had fallen a victim to a Jew and was finished for the rest of her life." I need not read the rest. It is all in the same tone. That becomes Exhibit GB-177.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Every summer they celebrated in Nuremberg what they called their solstice celebration, some pagan rite where the youth of Nuremberg rallied organized or at least encouraged by the Defendant Streicher. On Page 58 of the document book is a report taken from his paper, Frankische Tageszeitung, of his speech to the Hitler Youth on what they called the "Holy Mountain" near Nuremberg, on the 22d of June 1935. "Boys and girls, look back a little more than 10 years ago. A great war the World War - had raged over the peoples of the earth and had left in the end a heap of ruins. Only one people remained victorious in that dreadful war, a people of whom Christ said that its father is the Devil. That people had ruined the German Nation in body and soul. At that time Adolf Hitler, an unknown man, arose from among the people and became a voice which proclaimed a holy war and struggle. He cried to the people to take courage again and to rise and join in liberating the German people from the Devil, so that mankind might again be free from that race which has roamed the globe for centuries and millennia, marked with the brand of Cain. "Boys and girls, even if it is said that the Jews were once the chosen people do not believe it, but believe us when we say that the Jews are not a chosen people. Because it cannot be that a chosen people should act among the peoples as the Jews do today." And so on, with similar kind of propaganda. That Document, M-1, will be Exhibit GB-178. The next Document, M-44, from which I will not read now, becomes Exhibit GB-179. The Tribunal will see that it was a report of Streicher's address to 2,000 children at Nuremberg at Christmastime 1936. Underlined it says: "'Do you know who the Devil is?' he asked his breathlessly listening audience. 'The Jew, the Jew,' resounded from a thousand children's voices." But he wasn't content only with writing and talking. He actually issued a book for teachers, a book which he published from his Der Sturmer offices, called The Jewish Question and School Instruction.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I have not had the whole of that book translated. It is addressed to school teachers. It is intended for their benefit, and it emphasizes the necessity of anti-Semitic teaching in schools, and it suggests ways in which the subject can be introduced and handled. On Page 60 of the document book, M-46, the Tribunal will see a few extracts which have been taken from that book. The preface part of it is as follows: "The National Socialist State has brought fundamental changes into all spheres of life of the German people. "It has also presented the German teacher with new duties. The National Socialist State demands that its teachers instruct German children on racial questions. As far as the German people is concerned the racial question is a Jewish question. Those who want to teach the child about the Jew must themselves have a thorough knowledge of the subject." I will quote from the paragraph opposite "Page 5" in the margin. The whole of the rest of the extracts are really suggestions for teachers as to how to introduce the Jewish subject into their teaching, and at Page 5 of the introduction: "Racial and Jewish questions are the fundamental problems of the National Socialist ideology. The solution of these problems will secure the existence of National Socialism and with this the existence of our nation for all time. The enormous significance of the racial question is recognized almost without exception today by all the German people. In order to come to this realization, our people had to travel through a long road of suffering."
DR. MARX: I should like to point out the following: The prosecutor omitted in his presentation to state that the book he referred to was not written by the Defendant Streicher but by the school inspector Fink. If the prosecutor had read the next sentence, the Tribunal would have known about this fact. My client has called my attention to this point. I noticed it myself also because the next sentence reads as follows: "Schulrat Fritz Fink desires to help German teachers on the road to information and knowledge with his book: The Jewish Question in the Schools." There can thus be no doubt that this School Inspector Fink is the author of the book. It is, after all, an essential thing to know that Fink and not Streicher was the author of this book.
THE PRESIDENT: Have you finished what you wish to say? DR. MARX: Yes; that is what I wanted to say.
THE PRESIDENT: I would point out to you that although the book does appear to have been written by Fritz Fink, which is stated in the paragraph at the top, it has a preface by Streicher, so we may presume that Streicher authorized it; and it was published and printed by Der Sturmer.
DR. MARX: That is correct. I just wanted to point out to the Tribunal that it did not appear to be understood, that just that particular sentence was not read. One might have thought that an original work of Streicher's was concerned, in which case the question of whether Streicher agreed with that work would appear of minor importance.
THE PRESIDENT: But you see, Dr. Marx, counsel was reading actually from the preface by Streicher. The last passage that he read, or almost the last, was the preface by Streicher. The last passage I have got marked is the passage on Page 60, which is headed "Preface" and is signed by Julius Streicher, which says in terms that the book was written by School Inspector Fritz Fink. Let us not take any further time about it.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I think I have reached...
THE PRESIDENT: Will you read the last words of that preface on Page 60 there: "Those who take to heart..."?
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: If Your Lordship pleases, I read towards the end of the paragraph - the first paragraph of the preface: "Those who take to heart all that has been written with such feeling by Fritz Fink, who for many years has been greatly concerned about the German people, will be grateful to the creator of this outwardly insignificant publication." Then it is signed "Julius Streicher, City of the Reich Party rallies, Nuremberg, in the year 1937." I omitted that last part only in the interest of time. THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: That book is Exhibit GB-180. I would just read the last two lines, which I was not able to read before Dr. Marx interposed. The last three lines of the paragraph under "Introduction": "No one should be allowed to grow up in the midst of our people without this knowledge of the frightfulness and dangerousness of the Jew." I will not occupy the time of the Tribunal by reading further from that book. The nature of the book I hope is clear. I would only refer to the last three lines on the next page in the document book, taking another extract from it: "One who has reached this stage of understanding will inevitably remain an enemy of the Jews all his life and Will instill this hatred into his own children." Der Sturmer also published some children's books, although 1 make it quite clear that I am not alleging that the defendant himself wrote the books. But they were published from his publishing business; and they are, of course, on the same line as everything else that was published and issued from that business. The first of them to which I would call attention was entitled in English or the English translation is - as follows: Don't Trust the Fox in the Green Meadow Nor the Jew on His Oath. It is a picture book for children. There are pictures, all of them offensive pictures depicting Jews, of which a variety of selections appears in the Tribunal's book. And opposite each picture there is a little story. On Page 62 of the document book the Tribunal will see the kind of thing which appears opposite each picture. Opposite the picture in the Tribunal's document book appears the following: "Jesus Christ says, 'The Jew is a murderer through and through.' And when Christ had to die the Lord didn't know of any other people that would torture him to death, so he chose the Jews. That is why the Jews pride themselves on being the chosen people." The writing opposite the first picture, which depicts a very unpleasant looking Jewish butcher cutting up meat, is as follows: "The Jewish butcher: He sells half-refuse instead of meat.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: A piece of meat lies on the floor, the cat claws another. This doesn't worry the Jewish butcher since the meat increases in weight. Besides, one mustn't forget, he won't have to eat it himself." Again in the interest of time, it is not worth quoting the contents of that book any further. The Tribunal can see the type of book it is, the type of teaching it was instilling into the minds of the children. The pictures speak for themselves. The second picture is a rather beastly picture of a girl being led away by a Jew. On the next page we see the defendant smiling benignly at a children's party, greeting the little children. The next picture depicts copies of Der Sturmer posted on a wall with children looking at them. The next picture perhaps requires a little explanation. It is a picture of Jewish children being taken away from an Aryan school, led away by an unpleasant looking father; and all the Aryan children shouting and dancing and enjoying the fun very much. That book, Document M-32, becomes Exhibit GB-181.
THE PRESIDENT: You won't be able, will you, to finish in a short time? Perhaps we'd better adjourn now.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I have about another 20 minutes.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yes; we will adjourn now. [A recess was taken.]
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: My Lord, I had finished describing that one children's book. There is a similar book called The Poisonous Fungus, which has, in fact, been put in evidence already as Exhibit USA-257, but it was not read to the Tribunal; and I would like to read one of the short stories from that book because it shows, perhaps more strikingly, I think, than any other extract to which we have referred, the revolting way in which this man poisoned the minds of his listeners and readers. It is a book of pictures again with short stories, and Page 69 of the document book shows one of the pictures, a girl sitting in a Jewish doctor's waiting room. My Lord, it is not a very pleasant story, but he is not a very pleasant man; and it is only by reading these things that it becomes possible to believe the kind of education that the German children have been receiving during these years, led by this man. I quote from the story: "Inge" - that is the girl - "Inge sits in the reception room of the Jew doctor. She has to wait a long time. She looks through the journals which are on the table. But she is much too nervous to read even a few sentences. Again and again she remembers the talk with her mother. And again and again her mind reflects on the warnings of her leader of the League of German Girls. A German must not consult a Jew doctor. And particularly not a German girl. Many a girl that went to a Jew doctor to be cured met with disease and disgrace. "When Inge had entered the waiting room, she experienced an extraordinary incident. From the doctor's consulting room she could hear the sound of crying. She heard the voice of a young girl, 'Doctor, doctor, leave me alone.' "Then she heard the scornful laughter of a man. And then, all of a sudden it became absolutely silent. Inge had listened breathlessly. "'What can be the meaning of all this?' she asked herself, and her heart was pounding. And again she thought of the warning of her leader in the League of German Girls. "Inge had already been waiting for an hour. Again she takes the journals in an endeavor to read. Then the door opens. Inge looks up.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: The Jew appears. She screams. In terror she drops the paper. Horrified she jumps up. Her eyes stare into the face of the Jewish doctor. And this face is the face of the Devil. In the middle of this devil's face is a huge crooked nose. Behind the spectacles gleam two criminal eyes. Around the thick lips plays a grin, a grin that means, 'Now I have you at last, you little German girl!' "And then the Jew approaches her. His fat fingers snatch at her. But now Inge has got hold of herself. Before the Jew can grab hold of her, she smacks the fat face of the Jew doctor with her hand. One jump to the door. Breathlessly Inge runs down the stairs. Breathlessly she escapes from the Jew house." Comment is almost unnecessary on a story like that, read by children of the age of those who are going to read the books you have seen. Another picture which I have included in the book is a picture, of course of the defendant, and the script opposite that picture, which appears on Page 70 of the document book, includes the words - and I quote from the last but one paragraph: "Without a solution of the Jewish question there will be no salvation for mankind." The page itself contains an account of how some boys attended one of his speeches: "That is what he shouted to us. We all understood him. And when, at the end, he shouted, 'Sieg-Heil for the Fuehrer,' we all acclaimed him with tremendous enthusiasm. Streicher spoke for two hours that time. To us it seemed to have been but a few minutes." One can begin to see the effect that all this was having from the columns of Der Sturmer itself. In April 1936 there appears only one letter - many others appear in other copies from children of all ages - I quote the third paragraph of this letter, the letter signed by the boys and girls of the National Socialist Youth Hostel at Gross-Mollem: "Today we saw a play on how the Devil persuades the Jew to shoot a conscientious National Socialist. In the course of the play the Jew did it, too. We all heard the shot. We would have all liked to jump up and arrest the Jew.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: But then the policeman came and after a short struggle took the dew along. You can imagine, dear Sturmer, that we heartily cheered the policeman. In the whole play not one name was mentioned, but we all knew that this play represented the murder by the Jew Frankfurter. We were very sad when we went to bed that night. None felt like talking to the others. This play made it clear to us how the Jew sets to work." My Lord, that book is already in evidence as I have stated. It is Exhibit GB-170 (Document M- 25). To conclude, I would draw the attention of the Tribunal again only to his authority as a Gauleiter. It appears in the Organization Book of the NSDAP for 1938 which is already in as Exhibit USA-430 in the description of the duties and authority of Gauleiter: The Gauleiter bears over-all responsibility to the Fuehrer for the sector of sovereignty entrusted to him. The rights, duties, and jurisdiction of the Gauleiter result primarily from the mission assigned by the Fuehrer and, apart from that, from detailed direction. His association with the Fuehrer and with the other defendants or some of the other defendants can be seen from the newspapers. On the occasion of his 50th birthday Hitler paid a visit to Nuremberg to congratulate him. That was on the 13th of February 1935. The account of that meeting is published in the Volkischer Beobachter of that date, and I quote as follows: "Adolf Hitler spoke to his old comrade in arms and the latter's followers in words which went straight to their hearts. By way of introduction he remarked that it was a special pleasure for him to spend, on this day of honor to Julius Streicher, a short while in Nuremberg, the town of battle-steeled National Socialist solidarity, within the circle of the veteran standard-bearers of the National Socialist idea. "Just as they all, during the years of misery, had unshakeably believed in the victory of the Movement, so his friend and comrade in arms, Streicher, had stood faithfully at his side at all times. It had been this unshakeable belief that had moved mountains.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: "For Streicher it would surely be an inspiring thought that this 50th anniversary meant to him not only the turn of a half century, but also of a thousand years of German history. He had in Streicher a comrade of whom he could say that here in Nuremberg was a man who would never waver for a single second and who would unflinchingly stand behind him in every situation." That is Document M-8 and becomes Exhibit GB-182. The next document (M-22) is a letter from Himmler published in Der Sturmer of April 1937. That edition is already Exhibit USA-258. "When in future years the history of the reawakening of the German people is written and the next generation is already unable to understand that the German people were once friendly to the Jews, it will be recognized that Julius Streicher and his weekly paper Der Sturmer contributed a great deal toward the enlightenment regarding the enemy of mankind." Signed "The Reichsfuehrer SS, H. Himmler." That is Exhibit USA-258. A number of these documents are already in evidence in the bound volumes. Lastly, we have a letter from Baldur von Schirach; the Reich Youth Leader, published in Der Sturmer of March 1938 (Document M-45, Exhibit USA-260): "It is the historical merit of Der Sturmer to have enlightened the broad masses of our people in a popular way as to the Jewish world danger. Der Sturmer is right in not carrying out its task in a purely aesthetic manner, for Jewry has shown no regard for the German people. We have, therefore, no reason for being considerate toward our worst enemy. What we fail to do today, the youth of tomorrow will have to suffer for bitterly." My Lord, it may be that this defendant is less directly involved in the physical commission of the crimes against Jews, of which this Tribunal have heard, than some of his co-conspirators. The submission of the Prosecution is that his crime is no less the worse for that reason.