dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: The Tribunal will remember a Document Number 1143-PS, Exhibit USA-40, dated the 20th of October 1932, which showed that a report on the preparation of material and the training of air personnel to provide for the armament of the Air Force was sent to Hess by Rosenberg's chief of staff. That document, for reference, appears on Page 43 of the Tribunal's document book. That was in 1932. Throughout the years we find him connected with the rearmament of the German Armed Forces. On the 16th of March 1935 it was Hess who signed the decree for the introduction of compulsory military service. On the 11th of October 1936 in a speech that he made, he took up Goering's cry of "Guns before Butter," when he said: "We are prepared in the future, too, if need be, at times to eat a little less fat, a little less pork, a few eggs less, since we know that this little sacrifice is a sacrifice on the altar of the freedom of our people. We know that the foreign exchange which we thereby save will benefit our armaments. The phrase still holds good today: 'guns instead of butter.' " That document is Document Number M-104. It becomes Exhibit Number GB-260, and will be found on Page 14 of the Tribunal's document book. In May of 1941 he was making a speech at the Messerschmidt Works, of which occasion the Tribunal has already got a photograph before it. It was one of those four photographs we were looking at a moment ago. Then he said: "The German soldier must understand that for the uniqueness and abundance of his weapons and his material, he has to thank Adolf HiMer's untiring efforts of many years." A report of that speech appears in the Volkischer Beobachter on the 2d of May 1941. It is Document Number M-105 and becomes Exhibit Number GB-261. It is on Page 15 of the Tribunal's document book. One of the most important parts that this defendant took in the preparation for aggressive war was his organization of the famous German Fifth Column.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: He was the responsible person, as Deputy of the Fuehrer, of the Ausland - Organisation of the Party, that is to say, the foreign organization of the Party. A history of that organization, a very brief "history, will be found in an American state publication, Document Number 3258-PS. It becomes Exhibit Number GB-262. It is on Page 147 of the document book. I would only mention now two matters. In October 1933 that organization was placed directly under Hess's control, and a year later it was Hess himself who gave it its present name of the Foreign Organization, (Auslands-Organisation). For the convenience again of the Tribunal, a chart is set out in the organization book for 1938, which is Document Number 2354-PS, Exhibit Number USA-430, and is on Page 69 of the Tribunal's document book, and I think it is unnecessary to refer to it now in detail. It had the various offices-civil services offices, cultural offices, press and propaganda offices, labor front offices, and the foreign trade offices, the various offices dealing with the German merchant marine-which afforded, of course, an excellent medium for spreading Nazi propaganda to every port through the world. The Tribunal has heard a good deal about a somewhat similar organization of Rosenberg; the APA. Very briefly and in a word, I think the distinction between the two can be said to be that the APA was concerned with the enrollment and propaganda for non-Germans, for foreigners, whereas the Auslands-Organisation was concerned with Germans living abroad, who, of course, were to form the basis of Fifth Column activities in future years. I think the Tribunal will see that there are set out under the heading, "Scope of the Organization's Work," two documents. I think that perhaps it is sufficient to refer to the first of them now, Document Number 3401-PS, which becomes Exhibit Number GB-263 and which the Tribunal will find on Page 173 of that document book.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: That is an article from the Volkischer Beobachter, which starts off by saying, "National Socialism is a philosophy which takes hold of our fellow Germans and strengthens them in holding fast to the German race and customs," and then goes on to say that the authority for the practical application of that policy and principle is the foreign organization of the NSDAP, which is directly subordinated to the Deputy of the Fuehrer, Hess. I quote the last three lines of that paragraph. "The activities of the Auslands-Organisation extend literally round the globe. With full justice there might be displayed over its offices at the Harvestehuderweg in Hamburg the device 'My field is the world.' The Auslands-Organisation under the leadership of Gauleiter Bohle, who is aided by a large staff of experts and qualified coworkers, today includes over 350 Landesgruppen and bases of the NSDAP in all parts of the world. In addition to this it looks after a large number of individual Party members in the most varied places." My Lord, in view of the time, I will not refer to any further documents about the activity and the scope of that organization. They will be found as set out in the following document, Document Number 3258-PS, which is at Page 150 of the document book. I beg your pardon, that is Exhibit Number GB-262, already in evidence. There is another extract from the British Basic Handbook on Germany, which is in the addendum to the document book. It is not, I think, actually put into the Tribunal's brief. It appears under the Document Number M-122, and becomes Exhibit Number GB-264. Two of the various other organizations which were run by the Foreign Organization were known as the League for Germans Abroad, the VDA, and the German Eastern League, the BDO. I would refer the Tribunal to a document which they will find on Page 38 of the document book. It is Document Number 837-PS, which becomes Exhibit Number GF-265. That is a letter, which it will be seen on the next page is signed by Hess, dated 3 February 1939.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: It is a circular order, "Not for publication." The subject is the League of Germans Abroad and the German Eastern League. I quote from the first paragraph: "The director of the agency for racial Germans, SS Gruppenfuehrer Lorenz...." The agency for racial Germans, which was the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, was another similar organization, but one run by Himmler and the SS. All these gentlemen appear to have had their own foreign organizations. No doubt they were all engaged for the same purpose. Himmler's was called the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle. I quote again: "The director for that agency has instigated on my behalf the following new ruling for questions affecting racial work and work in the border country. The League for Germans Abroad, the VDA, is the association responsible for national work beyond the frontiers." I go down to the last two lines of that paragraph: "The VDA is organized into state associations which correspond in area to the Gaue of the NSDAP." And the first two lines of the next paragraph: "The German Eastern League, the BDO, is the association responsible for work in the border country." I turn to the next page, Paragraph 4 of that letter: "The VDA is solely responsible for racial work beyond the frontiers. I hereby forbid the Party, its organizations, and affiliated associations from all racial work abroad. The only competent body for this task is the agency for racial Germans and the VDA as its camouflaged tool. Within the Reich, the VDA, generally speaking, is responsible only for providing the means for racial work beyond the frontiers. In this task VDA must be supported in every way by the Party offices. Any outward appearance of connection with the Party is, however, to be avoided." Then it goes on to set up the activity of the BDO and in the last paragraph: "The activity of the VDA and the BDO is to be supported in every way by the Party offices. The National Socialist 7 Feb. 46 leaders of both associations will assure energetic co-operation, on their part, in all tasks assigned to them by the NSDAP.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Their nature is determined by considerations of foreign policy and the associations must bear this in mind when representing them in public." Now I come to the activity, therefore, of the Foreign Organization, which as I say, was the basis of the Fifth Column movement when war eventually broke out. I pass, then, to consideration of Hess' part in the preliminary occupations of Austria and Czechoslovakia, which led up to the aggressive wars themselves. Hess is seen to be participating in the preparations to occupy Austria from the very beginning. In the autumn of 1934 it was he that appointed Reinthaller as leader of the Austrian peasants in the Nazi Party in Austria, after the failure of the July 1934 rising. That has already been given in evidence as Document Number 812-PS, (Exhibit Number USA-61) and the relevant passage was read into the transcript at Page 504 (Volume II, Page 372). Another document that has already been put in evidence, Document Number 3254-PS (Exhibit Number USA-704), is Seyss-Inquart's statement of the 10th of December 1945, when he mentions that he held meetings with Goering and Hess in 1936. On the morning that the German troops eventually marched into Austria, the 12th of March 1938, Hess and Himmler, together, were the first of the leaders of the German Government to appear in Vienna; and they were there by midday on that day. It was Hess who signed the law of the 13th of March, the next day, for the reunion of Austria with the German Reich; and the Tribunal will no doubt remember the occasion, which was described fully by Mr. Alderman, of the shocking celebrations which were held in anniversary of the murder of Dollfuss, the celebration's being held the 24th of July 1938, when the high-light of the occasion was a speech by Hess. I would refer the Tribunal to a document which appears on Page 165 of the document book, which throws some light on his own words, both on his activity as far as Austria was concerned and also with Czechoslovakia.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: This was a speech he made on 28 August 1938 at the annual meeting of the Foreign Organization. It is Document Number 3258-PS. It is already in as Exhibit Number GB-262. I quote from the third to last paragraph on Page 165 of the document book: "At the close of his talk Rudolf Hess recalls the days, last year, in Stuttgart, when German men and women, German boys and girls in their native costumes appeared here in Stuttgart aglow with enthusiasm for the ideal of greater Germany, passionately moved by National Socialism, but nevertheless outwardly 'Volksdeutsche' Germans of foreign citizenship. " 'Today,' Rudolf Hess continued, 'they also stand openly in our ranks. Proudly and happily they will march in the formation of the National Socialist movement past their Fuehrer in Nuremberg, this time with German citizens. With all our hearts we rejoice as we see them. They have fought a long and tough battle, a bathe against a treacherous and mendacious enemy.' "-and so on. And then on the next page, Number 166, where he turns to discuss the struggle of the Sudeten German: "The German people look at the German racial comrades in Czechoslovakia with the profoundest sympathy for their suffering. No one in the world who loves his own people and is proud of his own people will find fault with us if from this place here we also turn our thoughts to the Sudeten German. If we say to them Hat, filled with admiration, we see how they are maintaining an iron discipline, despite the worst chicanery, despite terror and murder. If it had, in general, required a proof . . .
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: " I don't think, perhaps, it is necessary for me to read any more of that document; but it shows, as I say, his interest in Czechoslovakia; and by Document Number 3061-PS, which has already been put in as Exhibit Number USA-126, it has been shown that during the summer of 1938-that speech was made in August 1938- during the whole of that summer continuous conversations were being held between Henlein and Hitler, Hess, and Ribbentrop, informing the Reich Government of the general situation in Czechoslovakia. That document has been read into the Record; but, if anything condemns Hess as participating in this action, it is a letter dated the 27th of September 1938, which was a letter, it will be remembered, that the Tribunal has had before it. It was written by Keitel to Hess, asking for the Party's participation in the secret mobilization, which was intended to take place without even issuing the code word for mobilization. It was on the 27th of September 1938 that that letter was written. It is Document Number 388-PS and has been put in as Exhibit Number USA-26, and it appears on Page 30 of the Tribunal's document book. I would refer the Tribunal to one short document on Page 120 of the document book, on which begins another speech by the defendant, a speech he made on the 7th of November 1938 on the occasion of the initiation of the Sudeten German Party into the NSDAP. "If we have had to defend our rights, then they would have really got to know us, we, the National Socialist Germans. The Fuehrer"-Rudolf Hess declared amidst the ringing cheers of the masses-"learned his lessons. He armed at a speed that no one would have believed possible. When the Fuehrer has gained the power and, especially since the Fuehrer has awakened the resolution of the German people to put their strength behind their rights, then Germany's right will be conceded!" One might wonder what all those rights were at that time, November 1938, when already Hitler had said on the 26th of September that he had no more territorial demands, at any rate, to make in Europe.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I turn then to some fragment of evidence of the part he played in the waging of aggressive war against Poland. On Page 16 of the document book there is a report of a speech that he made on the 27th of August 1939, which shows at least that he was taking part in the official propaganda that was being thrown at the world in those days, two days before the war was declared. I quote from the second paragraph: "Rudolf Hess, constantly interrupted with strong applause from the German citizens living abroad as well as fellow countrymen from the District of Styria, stressed the unexampled forbearance shown by Germany towards Poland in the magnanimous offer of the Fuehrer that had assured peace between Germany end Poland-an offer that Mr. Chamberlain seems to have forgotten, for he says he has heard nothing of Germany's having tried to solve certain acute present-day questions by peaceful discussion. What else was the German offer then, if it was not such an attempt?" Then he goes on to accuse Poland of agitating for war, Poland's lack of responsibility and so on. In view of the time, I shall quote no more of that. The Document Number M-107 is in evidence and it becomes Exhibit Number GB-266. After the conquest of Poland, it was Hess that signed the decree incorporating Danzig into the Reich, the decree of the 1st of September 1939, a decree incorporating Polish territories into the Reich on the 8th of October 1939 and on the 12th of October 1939, a decree of Polish territory, in which it was stated that regulations were to be made for the planning of German Lebensraum and economic scope. Those are all decrees in the Reichsgesetzblatt. I regret that the last two that I mentioned are not actually included in the Tribunal's document book, but the effect of them is set out in the trial brief. That, in view of the evidence that has been given as to his Fifth Column organization, is all that I propose to offer in respect to Poland.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: It must be clear that my submission will be that he was deeply involved both in the planning and fin the preparation for aggressive war. I turn to an example of his participation in War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity and would refer only to two documents; one appears as set out on Page 18 of the trial brief, Document Number 3245-PS, which becomes Exhibit Number GB-267. It was an order issued by Hess through the Party Chancellery demanding support from the Party for recruiting members for the Waffen-SS; and one paragraph, which is set out in the trial brief, I quote: "The units of the Waffen-SS, consisting of National Socialists, are more suitable than other armed units for the specific tasks to be solved in the Occupied Eastern Territories due to their intensive National Socialist training in regard to questions of race and nationality." But, in view of what was happening and what was going to happen in the Occupied Eastern Territories because of the Waffen-SS, we haven't, I know, forgotten the part they played in the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. I suggest that the inference that can be drawn from that letter is damning. There is one further document. That document will be found on Page 121 of the Tribunal's document book. The other document that I would refer to in this respect is Document Number R-96, which becomes Exhibit Number GB-268, and again that will be found on Page 175 of the document book. It is a letter written by the Reich Minister of Justice to the Chief of the Reich Chancellery on the 17th of April 1941, and it is discussing proposed penal laws for Jews and Poles in the Occupied Eastern Territories. It shows quite clearly that Hess has been involved in discussions on this subject because it refers to certain proposals that he, himself, has made. My Lord, I would venture to draw the attention of the Tribunal to one or two passages.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I quote from the beginning of that letter on Page 175: "It has been my opinion from the outset that special conditions prevailing in the annexed eastern territories require special measures of penal law and penal procedure against Poles and Jews." And then I go on to the second paragraph, the first two lines: "The aim to create a special law for Poles and Jews in the eastern territories was pursued further according to plan by the ordinance dated 6 June 1940. By this ordinance German penal law, which had been used in the eastern territories already from the outset Divas formally made applicable." There I skip three lines. "The procedure for enforcing a prosecution has been abrogated for it seems intolerable that Poles or Jews should be able to force the German public prosecutor to launch an accusation. Poles and Jews have also been deprived of the right to prosecute in their own names or join the public prosecutor in an action. In addition to this special law in the sphere of procedure, some special conditions have been included in Article 2 of the introductory ordinance. These provisions were established in agreement with the Reich Minister of the Interior by reason of requirements which had arisen. From the beginning it was intended to augment the special conditions in case of need. This need, which had become apparent in the meantime, should be met by an executive and supplementary order to be added to the original ordinance and which was referred to in the letter from the Deputy of the Fuehrer.... " I turn to the next page, top of the page: "After I was informed of the express wish of the Fuehrer that, as a matter of principle, Poles and presumably the Jews, too, are to be treated differently from the Germans within this sphere of penal law, after preliminary discussions,"-et cetera,-"I draw up the enclosed draft concerning criminal law and procedure against Poles and Jews.... " I skip to the next paragraph: "The draft represents altogether special law, both in the sphere of penal law and penal procedure.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: The suggestions of the Deputy of the Fuehrer have been taken into consideration to a far reaching extent. Number 1, Paragraph 3, contains a general crime formula on the basis of which any Pole or Jew in the eastern territory can in future be prosecuted and any kind of punishment can be inflicted on him for any attitude or action which is considered punishable and is directed against Germans." Then I go on to the next paragraph: "In accordance with the opinion of the Deputy of the Fuehrer, I started from the point of view that the Pole is less susceptible to the infliction of ordinary imprisonment." And a few lines further down: "Under these new kinds of punishment prisoners are to be lodged outside prisons in camps and are to be forced to do heavy and heaviest labor." I go to the next page, second paragraph: "The introduction of corporal punishment, and that is either as penal punishment or as disciplinary measure, which the Deputy of the Fuehrer has brought up for discussion, has not been included in the draft. I cannot agree to this type of punishment because its infliction does not, in my opinion, correspond to the cultural level of the German people." My Lord, as I said, the purpose of that document is to show that the Deputy of the Fuehrer was well aware of what was going on in the Eastern Occupied Territories and indeed was advocating even stronger measures than the Reich Minister of Justice was prepared to accept. I turn then to give such evidence as I can upon the flight of the Defendant Hess to England on the 10th of May 1941. On that evening he landed in Scotland, within 12 miles of the home of the Duke of Hamilton; and on landing he-at once asked to be taken to the Duke of Hamilton, whom he wanted to see. He gave a false name and was shut up; and on the following day, the 11th of May, he had an interview with the Duke of Hamilton, a report of which is set out in the addendum to the document book, if the Tribunal would now turn to the small addendum to the document book.
THE PRESIDENT: Has this been put in evidence yet or not?
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: My Lord, I am putting it in evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it properly authenticated?
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: It is authenticated, and the original is certified as being a government report from the files of the Foreign Office in London. There are four reports altogether, which come from the Foreign Of lice file and which have been certified as reports from the Foreign Office. The first one that I would refer to is Document Number M-116, which becomes Exhibit Number GB-269 and which is a report on the interview that he had with the Duke of Hamilton on the 11th of May 1941. I can summarize most of the contents of that report by saying that he introduced himself as Hess. He said that he had met the Duke of Hamilton at the Olympic Games in 1936, and that his old friend, Haushofer, under whom he studied at Munich University after the last war, had suggested that he, Hess, should make contact with the Duke of Hamilton. · And he said that, in order to do so, he had already tried to fly three times before, the first time being in December of 1940, the previous year. The reasons he then gave for his visit will be found on the second page of that document. I quote from the end of the fourth line. I beg your pardon. Perhaps I ought to say really before that, he said that he had said, earlier in the interview, that Germany was willing to have peace with England; she was certain to win the war; and he himself was anxious to stop the unnecessary slaughter that would otherwise inevitably take place. '`He asked me if I could get together leading members of my party to talk over things with a view to making peace proposals. I replied that there was now only one party in this country. He then said he could tell me what Hitler's peace terms would be. First, he would insist on an arrangement whereby our two countries would never go to war again.