dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
DR. SAUTER: Another aim was postgraduate training and advancement of working youth and the improvement of the position of adolescent wage earners through youth legislation, particularly by prohibiting night work, increasing spare time, granting paid vacations, prohibiting child labor, raising the protected age of adolescents, et cetera. Advanced vocational training was promoted so successfully that finally more than a million boys and girls entered for the annual occupational competitions, and from year to year the average performance in each branch rose very considerably. A third main aim of youth education was the promotion of love of nature, far away from the dens of iniquity of large cities, through hiking trips and in youth hostels. Thousands of youth homes and youth hostels were built in the course of these years on Schirach's initiative out of the Hitler Youth movement's own funds, in order to get the young people out of the large cities with their temptations and vices and return them to rural life to show them the beauties of the homeland and to afford a vacation to even the poorest child. But Schirach concentrated his chief attention on the fourth goal of youth education, namely, co-operation with the youth of other nations; and this activity is a particularly suitable test for the question as to whether one can accuse the Defendant Von Schirach of having taken part in the planning of wars of aggression and of having committed crimes against peace. Schirach has told us here on the witness stand that time and again, both in summer and winter of every year, foreign youth groups were the guests of German youth; and it is shown by the documents in Von Schirach's document book that, for instance, already in the year 1936 no less than 200,000 foreign youths received overnight lodgings in German youth hostels, and correspondingly year after year German youth delegations went abroad, especially to England and France, in order to enable young people to get acquainted with and respect one another.
DR. SAUTER: Those very endeavors of Schirach's, which would be absolutely incompatible with any intention to prepare wars of aggression, received unreserved recognition abroad before the war. In 1937 in one of the special numbers of the Hitler Youth magazine Wille And Macht dedicated to this task of understanding, which was also published in French and circulated very widely in France and which is quoted here only as an example, the French Prime Minister Chautemps-I have the evidence in the document book-declared his willingness, as head of the French Government, to promote these peaceful meetings. "I wish"-he wrote-"that the young men of both nations could live every year side by side by the thousands and in this way learn to know, to understand, and to respect each other." And further: "Our two nations know that an understanding between them would be one of the most valuable factors for world peace; therefore it is the duty of all those on either side of the frontier who have a clear view and human feeling to work for the understanding and rapprochement of both nations. But no one could do it more sincerely and more enthusiastically than the leaders of our wonderful youth, of French and German youth. If they could manage to unite this youth, they would hold in their hands the future of European and human culture" (Document Schirach-110). The mayor of Versailles of that time wrote in the same spirit to Schirach, ending his appeal in the monthly organ of the Hitler Youth with the words: "The education of youth in this spirit is one of the most important tasks of the politicians of both our countries" (Document Schirach-111). The French Ambassador, Francois Poncet, gave credit to Schirach's efforts no less heartily in the same publication under the title "Youth as a Bridge" and concluded his lengthy article with the words: "French participation enriches German soil. German influence fertilizes the French spirit.... May this exchange develop further.
DR. SAUTER: May also the generations which will at some time benefit from it contribute to bringing the two halves of Charlemagne's empire closer and to create between them those relations of mutual respect, harmony, and good comradeship for which both nations are deeply longing, because their instinct tells them that the welfare of European culture depends on it and because they know for certain, when they look, into themselves, that they have many more reasons to respect and admire than to hate each other" (Document Schirach-112). And Schirach himself answered in the next issue of his monthly publication, which also appeared in French, with an enthusiastic article under the title, "Salute to France!" In it he writes, .for instance: "The rapprochement of our two peoples is a European task of such urgent necessity that youth has no time to lose in order to work for its achievement."-He then continues-"Youth is the best ambassador in the world; it is disinterested, frank, and without the eternal distrust of which diplomats can frequently not be cured because, to a certain extent, it is their professional disease. However, there must be no propaganda intentions hidden behind youth exchange." -And he concludes-"I consider it now my task to bring about an exchange of views between German and French youth, which must not, on the German side, consist of nice statements from me, but of many personal conversations of thousands of young Germans with just as many young Frenchmen.
DR. SAUTER: One must believe in youth because they, above all, can achieve a true understanding." At the end Schirach calls attention to the fact that all higher youth leaders of the German Hitler Youth movement had a short time previously expressed their respect in the name of the young generation of Germany to the French Unknown Warrior by placing a wreath under the Arc de Triomphe, and he concludes with the words: "The dead of the Great War died while fulfilling their patriotic duty and nobly devoting themselves to the ideal of liberty, and Germans as well as French were always filled with respect for a gallant foe. If the dead respected each other, then the living should try to shake hands. If the returned combat veterans of both nations could become comrades, why should the sons and grandsons not become friends?" (Document Schirach-113.) These, Gentlemen of the Tribunal, are the words of the same Baldur van Schirach whom the Prosecution tries to brand as a deliberate partner in a Hitlerian conspiracy for war. The Prosecution wants to make a war criminal out of this untiring prophet for international understanding and peace, who is charged with having militarized youth and prepared it, bodily and psychologically, for wars of aggression and of having worked against peace. So far, the Prosecution has not been able to furnish evidence to this effect. Schirach has written various doctrinal books for youth, which were held against him in the trial brief; he has published a quantity of essays on a vast variety of problems of youth education; his innumerable speeches addressed to youth have been printed; his orders and instructions to youth are available to you and the Prosecution in collected form. Yet it must be concluded that among all these, which constitute his views during the whole of the time when he was active as Reich Youth Leader, not a single item is to be found in which he made inflammatory remarks in favor of war or preached attacks against other countries.
DR. SAUTER: The Prosecution has stated in this very connection that he referred to the "Lebensraum" in his book The Hitler. Youth, which I have repeatedly mentioned, and by so doing adopted as his own a slogan of Hitlerite aggression policy. This claim is incorrect, for the whole book, The Hitler Youth, does not, any more than every other speech and writing of Schirach, contain this word at all. True, he has referred at two points to "Eastern space" in his book, The Hitler Youth, published in 1936; but he quite obviously did not in any way employ this term with reference to Polish or SovietRussian territories but to the eastern provinces of the former German Empire, that is to say, to territories which formerly belonged to Germany; they were known to be very thinly populated and well suited for the settlement of excess German population., Nowhere has Schirach, I would like to state in conclusion with regard to this topic, at any time up to the outbreak of the second World War expressed the idea that he might wish Germany to conquer foreign territories; neither has he ever uttered the odious slogans of the German "Master Race" or the "Sub-humanity" of other nations; on the contrary, he was always in favor of preserving peace with the neighboring nations and always advocated the peaceful settlement of any conflicts that cropped up out of inevitable clashes of interests. Gentlemen of the Tribunal, had Hitler possessed but a fraction of the love of peace which his Youth Leader preached time and again, then perhaps this war would have been spared us Germans and the whole world.
PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now. [The Tribunal adjourned until 18 July at 1000 hours.]
MARSHAL: May it please the Tribunal, the Defendants Hess, Von Ribbentrop, and Fritzsche are absent.
DR. SAUCER: May it please the Tribunal, yesterday at the end of my statement I dealt with the charge of the Prosecution that the Defendant Von Schirach had trained and educated the youth of the, Third Reich in a military sense, that he had prepared them for the waging of aggressive wars and had participated in a conspiracy against peace. Now I turn to a further accusation which has been made by the Prosecution against Defendant Von Schirach. Since the Prosecution could not prove that the Defendant Von Schirach had ever promoted Hitler's war policy before the war, he is being charged with having had various connections with the SS and SA, and especially with the fact that the SS, the SA, and the Leadership Corps of the Party obtained their recruits-from the Hitler Youth. This last fact is quite correct, but it proves nothing as to Schirach's attitude toward Hitler's war policy and is equally pointless as regards the question of his participation in Hitler's war conspiracy. For since 90 or 95 percent or more of German youth belonged to the Hitler Youth movement it was only natural that the Party and its formations as the years went by should receive their young recruits in an ever-increasing measure from the Hitler Youth. Practically no other youth was available. The Prosecution has referred to the agreement between the Reich Youth Leadership and the Reichsfuehrer SS, dated October 1938, concerning the patrol service of the Hitler Youth, which was submitted to Your Honors as Document 2396-PS; however, no inference can be drawn therefrom, for patrol service in the Hitler Youth was merely an institution designed to check up on and supervise the discipline of Hitler Youth members when they appeared in public. It was, therefore, a kind of organization police which was employed by the Hitler Youth movement entirely within its own ranks.
DR. SAUCER: In order, however, to guard against difficulties with the regular Police, an arrangement with the Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler was necessary because as chief of the whole police organization in Germany he might have made trouble for the institution of the HJ patrol service This was the only object of the agreement of October 1938, which in reality had just as little to do with providing recruits for the SS as with the conduct and preparation of war. Moreover, it can clearly be seen how resolutely Schirach strove against any influence on the part of the Party over the Hitler Youth from the fact that in 1938 he protested very sharply against having the education of the Hitler Youth during their last 2 years from 16 to 18 taken over by the SA. He emphatically opposed this plan and through personal intervention with Hitler prevented the Fuehrer decree in question from being applied in practice. As for his attitude toward the SS, we know from the testimony of the witness Gustav Hoepken, who was heard here on 28 May 1946, and from the affidavit of the witness Maria Hoepken, Schirach Document Book Number 3, that Schirach always feared he was being shadowed and spied upon by the SS in Vienna. He always had an uncomfortable feeling because at the beginning of his activity in Vienna a permanent deputy had been appointed for him in his capacity as Reich Governor (Reichsstatthalter) and Reich Defense Commissioner in the person, of all things, of a higher SS leader, a certain Dr. Delbruegge; he was, as Schirach knew, closely associated with the Reichsfuehrer SS who, as has been proved, proposed to Hitler in 1943 that Schirach should be imprisoned for defeatism and brought before the Peoples' Court, which meant in practice that Himmler would have had Schirach hanged.
DR. SAUCER: These facts alone are already proof of the real relationship between the Defendant Von Schirach and the SS, and it will be understood why Schirach finally refused even the police protection squad assigned to him and preferred to entrust his personal protection to a unit of the Wehrmacht which was not subordinate to the order of Himmler. (See affidavit of Maria Hoepken in Schirach Document Book Number 3.) Another accusation which has been made against the Defendant Von Schirach concerns his attitude in the Church question. This attitude corresponds to the impression given by the present proceedings, and while this issue is not given any prominence in the Indictment, it is nevertheless of considerable importance as far as the appreciation of Schirach's personality is concerned. Schirach himself, as well as his wife, always remained members of the Church. To the foreign critic this circumstance may perhaps appear an unimportant detail, but we Germans know what pressure was exerted upon high-ranking Party officials in these very matters, and how few in his position ventured to resist such pressure. Schirach was one of those few. He was the one high-ranking Party Leader who constantly and invariably punished with extreme severity any hostile interference and outrages against the Church on the part of the Hitler Youth. He has also been reproached for the fact that various songs were sung by the Hitler Youth which contained offensive remarks about religious institutions, but in this respect Schirach could with a clear conscience confirm on his oath that partly he was unaware of those songs, which is quite conceivable where an organization of 7 or 8 million members is involved; on the other hand, certain songs now considered objectionable date back to the Middle Ages and figured in the song book of the Wandervogel, a former youth organization which the Prosecution surely does not propose to condemn.
DR. SAUCER: Schirach has however especially pointed out that during the years 1933 to 1936 several million youths from an entirely different spiritual environment joined the Hitler Youth and that during the first revolutionary years, that is, in the period of storm and stress of the Movement, it was quite impossible to hear of and prevent all lapses of this sort. Whenever Schirach did hear of such things he intervened and remedied abuses of that kind, which after all represented offenses on the part of isolated elements incapable of compromising the youth organization as a whole. It is Schirach's conviction that the examination of evidence leaves no doubt as to his conciliatory behavior in the matter of the Church, and that he strove to establish proper relations of mutual respect between the Church on the one hand and the Third Reich, and more especially the Reich Youth Leadership, on the other hand, and to observe their respective rights and competences. At his own request Schirach was permitted by the Reich Minister of the Interior to take part in conducting the Concordat negotiations with the Catholic Church in 1934, because he hoped to achieve an agreement with the Catholic Church more easily by his personal co-operation. He honestly endeavored to find a formula for the settlement of the youth question by which agreement with the Catholic Church could be possible. His moderation and good will in this respect were frankly acknowledged by the representative of the Catholic Church at that time. But everything was ultimately frustrated by Hitler's opposition and the complications created for these negotiations by the events of 30 June 1934, the so-called Rohm Putsch. With the Protestant Church, on the other hand, Schirach achieved an agreement with the Reich Bishop, Dr.
DR. SAUCER: Muller, so that the incorporation of the Protestant youth groups into the Hitler Youth was not attained by constraint but by mutual agreement, not by breaking up these associations by the State or the Party, as the Prosecution assumes, but upon the initiative of the Protestant ecclesiastical head and in complete agreement with him. It must be pointed out here that it was always Schirach's policy that no restrictions were to be imposed on church services by the Youth Leadership, neither then nor later. On the contrary, as he himself has testified and as was confirmed by the witness Lauterbacher, Schirach emphatically stated in 1937 that he would leave it to the churches to educate the younger generation according to the spirit of their faith, and at the same time he ordered that, as a principle, no Hitler Youth service was to be scheduled on Sundays during the time of church services. He gave strict orders to the unit leaders of the Hitler Youth not to schedule duties which might disturb church services. If, however, in individual cases such interference did occur and some religious authorities lodged complaints as the cross-examination revealed, then the Defendant Schirach cannot be blamed for this, nor does it alter the fact that he had every good intention.
DR. SAUCER: During the Trial not a single case could be proved in which he stirred up feeling against the Church Or made antireligious statements; on the contrary, at numerous rallies as submitted- to the Tribunal in the Schirach document book, he not only repeatedly opposed the allegation that the Hitler Youth were enemies of the Church or atheists, but he always positively impressed upon the leaders and members of the Hitler Youth the necessity of fulfilling their obligation toward God; he would not tolerate anyone in the Hitler Youth who did not believe in God; every true teacher, he told them, must imbue youth with religious feeling, since it was the basis of all educational activities; Hitler Mouth service and religious convictions could very well be associated with each other and exist side by side; no Hitler Youth leader was to engender conflicts of conscience whatsoever in his boys. Leave of absence was to be granted to Hitler Youth members for religious services, rites, et cetera. Such was Von Schirach's point of view Whoever gives such instructions to his subleaders, and continues to do so over and over again, can demand that he should not be judged an enemy of the Church and an enemy of religious life. Incidentally, it is interesting in this connection to note what such a reliable judge as Neville Henderson wrote in his oft-quoted book Failure of a Mission about a speech which he heard Schirach deliver at the 1937 Reich Party Rally, parts of which have been submitted in Schirach's document book. Henderson, who as Ambassador in Berlin knew German conditions intimately, evidently expected that Baldur Schirach would speak against the Church at the Reich Party Rally and would influence the young people in the spirit of enmity to the Church, as was often done by other leaders of the Party. Henderson writes, and I quote two sentences: "That day, however, it was Von Schirach's speech which... impressed me most, although it was quite short....
DR. SAUCER: One part of this speech surprised me when, addressing the boys, he said, 'I do not know if you are Protestants or Catholics, but that you believe in God, that I do know.'" And Henderson added: "I had been under the impression that all references to religion were discouraged among the Hitler Youth, and this seemed to me to refute that imputation." What Schirach thought with regard to religion, and in what sense he influenced youth, is indicated not only by a statement he made on the occasion of a speech before the teachers of the Adolf Hitler Schools at Sonthofen, to the effect that Christ was the greatest leader in the history of the world, but likewise by the small book, submitted to you in evidence, entitled, Christmas Gift of the War Welfare Service. This book, which was sent out in large numbers, was dedicated by Schirach to the front-line soldiers who joined from the ranks of the Hitler Youth movement in 1944, at a time when radicalism in all spheres of German life could hardly become more pronounced. Here also Schirach was an exception: You will find no swastika, no picture of Hitler, no SA song in the book of Reichsleiter Von Schirach, but among other things a distinctly Christian poem from Schirach's own pen, then a picture of a Madonna, and next to it a reproduction of a painting by Van Gogh who, as is generally known, was strictly banned in the Third Reich. Instead of inflammatory words, we find an exhortation to a Christian way of thinking and the "Wessobrunner Gebet," familiar as the earliest Christian prayer in the German language. Bormann stormed when he saw the pamphlet, but Schirach remained firm and refused to withdraw the little book or alter it in any way. The Defendant Von Schirach has been charged with having once undertaken a hostile act against the Church, and with having thereby taken part in the persecution of the Church.
DR. SAUCER: From a letter by Minister Lammers of 14 March 1941 (Document R-146), it appears that Schirach had proposed to keep confiscated property at the disposal of the Gaue, and not to hand it over to the Reich, but this case is no justification at all for connecting the Defendant Von Schirach in some way or other with the persecution of the Church. The case mentioned by the Prosecution does not concern church property at all, but confiscated property of a Prince Schwarzenberg in his Vienna palace. This affair therefore never had anything to do with the Church. This is also confirmed unequivocally by Minister Lammers' letter of 14 March 1941 (R-146), which mentions only, I quote, "a confiscation of the property (of persons) hostile to the people and the State," whereas Bormann's far-reaching personal intention becomes apparent and betrays his hostile attitude toward the Church when he writes about "church properties (monastic possessions, and so forth)" in his accompanying letter of 20 March 1941 referring to this case. Moreover, the confiscation of Prince Schwarzenberg's property was not caused, pronounced, or carried out by Schirach. Schirach had nothing to do with the confiscation as such; Schirach, however, in agreement with the other Gauleiter of the Austrian NSDAP, and at their request, personally applied to Hitler and asked that such confiscated property should not be taken to the Reich and not be used on behalf of the Reich, but that it should remain in Vienna. This suggestion met with approval. Hitler complied with his request, the result of Schirach's efforts being that, when the confiscation was rescinded later on, the property could be returned to the legitimate owner, whereas it would otherwise have been lost by him. By acting thus, Schirach no doubt rendered a service to the Gau of Vienna and to the owner of the property seized.