dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
HERR BOHM: Document 316 shows that in 1933 the Party and the Church had come to an agreement. The proclamation of the German Episcopate shows that the Church believed it could be confident that the prohibitions and warnings previously issued were no longer necessary. For that reason, entire formations were again permitted to attend services. Document SA-317 says that youth was asked to join the formations of the Party and to work in them for the future of Germany. I quote: "For that reason, we mean to devote our entire Catholic heritage, Christian conservative ideas, and Christian progressive forces to the New Germany; to enhance her spirit and make it our own. We are, therefore, determined to work actively, with all the means and ways at our disposal, for the union of all Germans. And for the same reason, we commend to all our members a practical military training as their duty." And then: "It must particularly be the task of youth to work with courage for a union between our vigorous national movement and the eternal Christian values." Document SA-320 mentions the assurance given in the 115th Session of the Bavarian Diet of 29 April 1931. It reads: "On the contrary, our Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, has repeatedly stated that the Party will always be, led in a way which will not bring any Roman Catholic, as a faithful member of the National Socialist Party, into conflict with his conscience." Document SA-327, the Hitler speech of 23 March 1933, contains the same assurance: "The National Government considers both the Christian Churches factors of the greatest importance in the life of our nation. It will respect the agreements concluded between them and the administrations of the Under, and their rights shall not be infringed. The National Government will permit and safeguard the rightful influence of the Christian Churches in school and education.
HERR BOHM: The Government is anxious to secure sincere co-operation between Church and State." This shows that there was no reason to anticipate a struggle with the Church, particularly since, after feelings had run high, a directive issued by the Fi1hrer's Deputy on 23 January 1939, Document SA-321, stated: "In my directives of 11 April 1937 and I June 1938 1 decreed that the Party, its formations, and its affiliated organizations were to abstain from influencing internal Church matters in any way." Document SA-326 shows that in 'the year 1931 there was no thought of exterminating the Jews, which unfortunately became a reality later. Now I shall deal with the members of the Stahlhelm who came from the Stahlhelm into the SA. May I draw the attention of the Tribunal to the SA Document Book dealing with the Stahlhelm. Document Number 1 is a radio address of the leader of the Stahlhelm, Franz Seldte.
THE PRESIDENT: Which book is it?
HERR BOHM: Book 4, Mr. President. The first document is a radio address of the leader of the Stahlhelm organization, Franz Seldte, delivered on 27 April 1933. It contains the condition for the transfer which subsequently took place, a condition based on sovereign rights. I quote: "Having no party affiliation, I hereby declare my entry into the National Socialist German Workers' Party, because this Party is the movement which will unite the entire German people in a single unit. I therefore place myself and the Stahlhelm Association of Front-line Soldiers which I founded, as a soldierly unit complete in itself, under the command of the Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler." Document 2 contains a statement of the Reichsleitung of the NSDAP, signed by Rudolf Hess and dated I May 1933, as taken from the newspaper Frankischer Kurier. This document shows that the Stahlhelm, despite its subordination to Hitler, was to remain a unit complete in itself. Document 3 is an excerpt from a report made by the leader of the Stahlhelm. on 28 April 1933. The first few paragraphs show that the deputy leader, Dilsterberg, was not willing to accept the contact established by the leader, Seldte, with the National Socialists. The next paragraph describes the immediate dismissal of the deputy leader, Dilsterberg, in a telegraphic order of Seldte. From the last paragraph of this document, I should like to quote the last sentence of Seldte's telegram of the same day: "I herewith assume the sale dictatorial leadership of the Association." Document 5 contains the open letter of one of the leaders of the Stahlhelm, dated 3 May 1933; the letter speaks of these events and states that as a result of Seldte's unconstitutional measures the opposition group Dilsterberg would no longer consider him as the lawful leader of the organization. Document 6 contains an agreement between Hitler and Seldte.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Bohm, if I remember right, one of your witnesses who was heard here before the Tribunal dealt with the entry of the Stahlhelm. into the SA, did he not?
HERR BOHM: Yes. 22 Aug. ~'G
THE PRESIDENT: And was he cross-examined at all to contradict him?
HERR BOHM: No, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if that is so, then surely these documents which relate to the introduction of the Stahlhelm into the SA can be dealt with quickly as a group. You can give us the numbers of the documents. As the witness has given evidence and has not been cross-examined, it isn't necessary to refer us in detail to these documents which merely support the evidence of your own witness.
HERR BOHM: Yes, Mr. President. I now refer to Document Number 6 which shows that the so-called Jungstahlhelm was put under the Supreme Command of the SA. I turn to Document Number 7 which is a decisive order of Hitler, from which I should like to quote toward the end, Page 1, Paragraph 6: "The entire Stahlhelm will be placed under the Supreme SA Command and will be reorganized according to its directives." Then I should like to refer to Document Number 8 which shows that the Wehrstahlhelm was also taken over by the SA and especially that the members of the Wehrstahlhelm continued also to remain members of the Stahlhelm. I also refer to Document Number 9, decreeing that the incorporation of the Stahlhelm be speeded up. Documents 10 and 12 show that the members of the Wehrstahlhelm were to be given equal rights, and a certain joint status, before their final incorporation. Then there are Documents 13, 14, 15, and 17, in connection with which I should like to refer particularly to Hitler's decree of 25 January 1934. Then Document 17 and Document 18. In the latter the complete amalgamation of the SA Resen7e I, that is, the former Stahlhelm with the SA is proclaimed. . Document 18-A states that all age classes over 45 years will be incorporated into the SA Reserve. Then I submit Document 19 and Document 21, from which I should like to quote briefly Paragraph 2: "Members of the former Stahlhelm who have already been transferred into SA Reserve I, cannot of their own volition sever their connection with SA Reserve I for the sole purpose of joining other associations. Anyone who, because of a physical defect, cannot discharge his duties or who for other reasons wishes to leave the SA Reserve, must apply for his discharge, stating the reasons for his request.
HERR BOHM: Dual membership in the SA Reserve I and in the NS Veterans' Association is permitted, provided the individual joined the former Stahlhelm before 30 January 1933." 22 Au.~ 46 Now I should like to refer to Document 22, which shows how in practice a member of the Stahlhelm in the Rhineland was incorporated into SA Reserve I. Document 23 deals with the dissolution of the National Socialist German Veterans' Association in November 1939. Document 26 contains several quotations from the Stahlhelm handbook, published by Heinrich Hildebrandt and Walter Kenner. I should like to quote one sentence on Page 17: "The Stahlhelm has experienced war and therefore desires; peace." Then I should like to refer to Documents 29 and 30, which prove that members of the Stahlhelm attempted to leave the SA Reserve L The documents which follow deal with the members of the Stahlhelm who did not agree with the incorporation into the SA.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Bohm, couldn't you tell us what the effect of all these documents is rather than read all through 30 documents? You have told us now about the Stahlhelm. Haven't you got any idea what you will come to?
HERR BOHM: I submit these documents to show the High Tribunal that the Stahlhelm was not at all in agreement with the measures taken at the time when the organization was transferred -to the SA;~ that members of the Stahlhelm. tried to leave the SA, that they met with difficulties in such attempts, and that the ideology of the Stahlhelm was, in a large measure, quite different from that of the SA.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, go on.
HERR BOHM: I should like to refer now to a series of newspaper articles which are contained in Documents 32, 33, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, and 49. Document 34 is a report made by a Sturmbannfuehrer of the SA about a conspiracy of the Stahlhelm against the SA in 1933 in Pomerania. Document 36 is a poster containing a warning and threat by Gauleiter Loeper of Magdeburg-Anhalt against the National Socialist Veterans' Association. ' Document 33 states, may I quote quite briefly: "The Stahlhelm in Brunswick has been dissolved. 1350 men were arrested and interned." From the second paragraph in the center ...
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Bohm, you have given us a long list of newspaper articles. Now, what is the object of them? Is there anything which connects those together, makes them into a group?
HERR BOHM: There is a certain connection between all of them, Mr. President, inasmuch as they are to prove that units of the Stahlhelm. were dissolved in various places, that members of the Stahlhelm were arrested, and that they encountered difficulties because most of them disagreed with their incorporation into the SA, and with the political and intellectual attitude of the SA.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, well, I understand then that they are illustrations of the difficulties which the Stahlhelm Organization had with the SA incidents.
HERR BOHM: Yes, quite. I should like briefly ...
THE PRESIDENT: The contention, I suppose, is that the Steel Helmet weren't volunteers into the SA; is that it?
HERR BOHM: Yes, Mr. President, they came into the SA on the strength of an order.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. Then you can pass from that group, I think.
HERR BOHM: Yes. Now I should like to turn to Document Book Number 5, which contains documents relating to the Mounted Corps. Documents 56 and 57 deal with the origin, the development, and the organization of the NS Mounted Corps. Document 56 is an excerpt from the official periodical of the Reiter Korps, Deutsches Kaltblut, of the year 1933. 1 think it is important to mention here the statement of the president of the rural riding associations, namely, that these associations were to be turned into a National Socialist Reiter Korps so that all rural riding interests would remain embodied in a special organization with its own administration without being permanently incorporated into part~ of the SA. Document 57 contains the diagram showing that the NS Reiter Korps was connected with the General SA only at the top level. The next documents deal with the tasks, aims, and activities of the NS Reiter Korps. Documents 59, 60, and 61 are extracts from the regulations of rural riding clubs before 1933; members of these clubs were not permitted to engage in political activity within the clubs, and this rule was retained after 1933. Documents 62, 63, 65, 66, and 67 are official orders showing the activity of the NS Reiter Korps. Document 69 is an official brochure on the requirements for obtaining the rider's certificate. This document, too, has no military or political character at all. Document 70 lists the prerequisites for winning the German rider's emblem, and again in this connection military and political considerations have no part. The emblem was a sports badge of honor, and it was the highest aim of all members of the NS Reiter Korps to win it. I submit this rider's emblem-it is made of silver-to the High Tribunal as Document 71, and perhaps I might add that I think it is the only emblem which bears no National Socialist insignia. The last four Documents 101, 102, 103, and 124 have been selected from a tremendous number of photographs typifying the activities of the Reiter Korps.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. B6hm, will you please continue.
HERR BOHM: I shall now turn to the affidavits, Mr. President, and deal with the first group of affidavits which I have submitted. I should like to refer to the General SA Affidavits Numbers 17, 74, and 81, which deal with coercion, legal coercion, regarding entry into the formations. Affidavit General SA Number 1, deposed by Dr. Menge, also deals with the problem of compulsory incorporation into the SA, in this case, the incorporation of water sports clubs into the Marine SA. Affidavit General SA Number 60 deals with the compulsory incorporation of sports clubs as separate units of the SA. Affidavit Number 61 deals with the impossibility of leaving the SA. - That the SA did not assist the state government in preparing for war, is stated in General SA Affidavits 38, 39, and 40, which also show that preaching a war of revenge against France resulted ' in expulsion from the SA, because the SA Command had forbidden all discussion of the questions of South Tyrol and Alsace-Lorraine. Affidavit SA-38, deposed by Dr. Busse, characterizes the Chief of Staff, Lutze, as an opponent of warmongering. The Affidavit SA-1 of Dr. Menge deals with the agreement between the Wehrmacht and the SA, that in the event of a conflict between the SS and the Wehrmacht, the SA would side with the Wehrmacht, and also shows that the Chief of Staff, Lutze, strongly opposed a war against Poland during a conference with Hitler and Goebbels in the autumn of 1939. Affidavits General SA Numbers 5 and 6 deal with the preparations of the SA for the Party Rally in 1939. Affidavit Number 76, deposed by General Von H6rauf, deals with the negotiations of R6hm in 1931 and 1932 and the agreements he reached with English and French political circles on the following points: "1) Within a brief period of time R6hm will put himself at the head of the NSDAP. "2) The press of the NSDAP will come under British influence. "3) The establishment of a foreign political and military political bureau. In connection with these negotiations.. ."
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. B6hm, the Tribunal is finding this very difficult to follow. You have here, I suppose, about 200 affidavits, something like that. Now, wouldn't it be the best way to put them into groups, and tell us the numbers of those which relate to some subject? Don't they relate to any particular subject, or are there 200 subjects that they relate to? Have they no possibility of being grouped together?
HERR BOHM: Well, Mr. President, that will be hard to do, because within the individual affidavits there are always special points which have to be emphasized and which are not found in any other affidavits. However, I shall willingly shorten this procedure, and I did so when I grouped the summaries of the affidavits together; but as far as these individual affidavits are concerned, it is not really possible to find a common denominator.
THE PRESIDENT: It is a great deal more difficult for the Tribunal to follow.
HERR BOHM: For instance, only one affidavit, namely Number 76, deposed by General Horauf, deals with the aims of R6hm. If all the affidavits ...
THE PRESIDENT: Surely, Dr. Bohm, if you are going to inflict upon us the whole of these 200 affidavits, you might at least do it in order.
HERR BOHM: I turn then to Number 83, deposed by Adolf Freund...
THE PRESIDENT: I would think that if it is up to 83, we are not going to hear any more about it, or are we going to jump back to 1, 2, 3, and 4?
HERR BOHM: Mr. President, these affidavits have already been grouped according to certain subjects, and I cannot. therefore present them in consecutive numerical order.
THE PRESIDENT: That is all I asked you,... I am afraid I must not be speaking clearly or else the translation is not coming through to you clearly. What I asked you to do was to give us the topics with which these affidavits deal, and then give us the numbers of the affidavits which deal with each topic. Now you are telling me that there are groups, and that the affidavits are grouped with reference to topics. Well, will you kindly give us the topics and the numbers of the affidavits?
HERR BOHM: Certainly, Mr. President. I told you, Mr. President, that I was able to group the summaries of the affidavits, but that it was very difficult to follow the same procedure completely with regard to the individual affidavits. That, at any rate, was my meaning.
THE PRESIDENT: Go on.
HERR BOHM: But I shall try to adhere to this grouping as far as possible. I now turn to the group- of affidavits which show that the SA was not a military formation. This topic is dealt with in Affidavits 25, 27, 28, and 30. That the schools set up by the Chief of Training did not have a military character is explained in Affidavits 32, 33, and 37. The sport insignia of the SA and its significance is dealt with in Affidavit Number 8. The question of whether and to what extent the "Feldherrnhalle" Division was subordinate to the Wehrmacht or to the SA is clarified by General SA Affidavit Number 18, deposed by Major General Gunther Bade, the Commander of the 1st Panzer Division "Feldherrnhalle." The next group of affidavits deals with the charge that the SA was a terrorist organization. Affidavit Number 15, deposed by General Von H6rauf, shows that it was Reich Minister Severing who approved the SA service regulations. Affidavits Numbers 19, 20, 21, 22 ...
THE PRESIDENT: Well now, Dr. Bohm, I don't know whether you were in Court yesterday, but I pointed out to the counsel who was dealing with the matter then that it is utterly useless to simply read over to us the summary which we have before us. Now, you have just referred us to Affidavit Number 15 and the summary before us is this: "Franz von HE)rauf. 24.6.46. Former Reich Minister Severing's failure to object to the SA service regulations." That is to say, practically the identical words which you have just repeated to us. Now, what is the good of that?
HERR BOHM: Mr. President, I do not know the summary you have before you, I have not read it, and I have not received a translation of it. So I don't know what is contained and what is not contained in your summary.
THE PRESIDENT: You mean you haven't got this summary?
HERR BOHM: I received a book and I repeatedly asked that I should also receive a translation of it, because since my assistants are fully occupied I myself cannot have it translated.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if you were here yesterday, you must have heard me say over and over again to counsel who was presenting the documents that we had before us a summary and that it was useless for him to repeat the summary to us. Now, what would be useful would be, as I have already pointed out, if you would group these affidavits and tell us what topics they relate to, and also tell us which of them have been translated, and if there are any to which you particularly desire to draw our attention, which have been translated, then draw our attention to the passages in those which you wish to draw our attention to.
HERR BOHM: The last group which I compiled is to prove that the SA was a protective organization against terror, and in this connection I mentioned Affidavits Numbers 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. The fact that excesses in Berlin were restricted to a small circle of persons is proved by Affidavit Number 84.
THE PRESIDENT: Have any which you have just given us, which show that the SA was not a terrorist organization, been translated?
HERR BOHM: The translations of my affidavits have not yet been returned to me, Mr. President, and I am not in a position to check which have been translated and which have not been translated.
THE PRESIDENT: But surely you must know which you have asked to be translated?
HERR BOHM: Yes, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Somebody must have asked it.
HERR BOHM: But I don't know whether they have actually been translated, as I did not receive any copies.
THE PRESIDENT: You can tell us which ones you wanted to have translated, couldn't you, which were being translated.
HERR BOHM: I applied to have 21 affidavits translated; they are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 76, 79, 82 and 89.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. Now go on with your group, if you will. The last one you gave us was 84, which you said showed that the excesses were only very exceptional.
HERR BOHM: On the same topic, I should like to submit Affidavit Number 87, showing the many measures taken against excesses in the West. Affidavits Numbers 84 and 57 show that the attitude of the SA toward the Jews was not hostile, as the Prosecution asserts, and Affidavits Numbers 54 and 53 show the same. Affidavits 85 and 86 deal with Document 1721 which has already been discussed here, and prove a specific case, namely, that the Gruppenfuehrer of the Brigade "Kurpfalz-Mannheim',' did not order the destruction of the synagogues. In the same connection, I should like to mention Affidavit Number 89, and finally Affidavit Number 76, which shows that after 9 November 1938, Lutze prohibited the use of the SA for purposes of the Political Leaders, insofar as he ordered that in the future the higher authorities had to approve the use of the SA at any time. Affidavits 71 and 72 deal with the attitude of Chief of Staff Lutze himself. Affidavit Number 70 shows how people who participated in the incidents during the night from 9th to 10th November 1938 were punished. How the SA took measures of its own accord against those who had participated in the events of that night in November 1938, may be seen from Affidavit Number 4. The basic attitude of the SA toward the Church is described in Affidavits 43, 44, and 45. The activity of physicians in the SA is evident from Affidavits Numbers 62 and 63. The facts regarding, the connection of the SA with concentration camps are contained in Affidavit Number 16, deposed by Leonhard Gontermann. Finally, to conclude this group of affidavits, I should like to submit Affidavit Number 62, deposed by Priese who is a member of the KPD and an official in the Bavarian Ministry for Political Liberation. As a political opponent who was able to obtain an over-all picture, he states that the SA cannot be called a criminal organization in the sense of Article 6 of the Charter.
THE PRESIDENT: Which number was that?
HERR BOHM: That was -Number 62, no, I beg your pardon, there seems to be a typing error-82. Mr. President, I come now to the collective affidavits. They are summarized on about 21 pages, but I need not discuss them now, if I could have this document translated. The document is of importance because it is a summary of more than 17,000 statements, which would in my opinion ...
THE PRESIDENT: 17,000 what?
HERR BOHM: 17,000 affidavits.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
HERR BOHM: I have summarized the whole contents of these affidavits in 21 pages and I believe that it might be of value to have the document translated. It would then not be necessary to deal with the summary now.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Dr. Bohm, it may be translated, but it should not be translated till after your speech has been translated.