dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
CAPT. SPRECHER: Schirach extended the influence of the Hitler Youth beyond the borders of Germany by means of co-operation between the Hitler Youth and the League for Germans Abroad, the VDA. This is proved by an agreement made in 1933 between Schirach and leaders of the VDA which is contained in Document L-360(h), document book Page 3. This is offered in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-671. Now, Schirach discusses in his book, The Hitler Youth, under the chapter heading, "Work Abroad"-that is Chapter 4 of the book, Pages 34 to 38 of the document book-some of the connections of the Hitler Youth with such Nazi ideas as Lebensraum, colonial policy as an ideological weapon. I won't read from that, since it also covers to a certain extent ...
THE PRESIDENT: Did it talk about Lebensraum?
CAPT. SPRECHER: It actually used the word Lebensraum. At Page 36 of the document book there is reference made to the Ostraum, space in the East ...
THE PRESIDENT: I thought the document you were dealing with was L-360 on Page 3,
CAPT. SPRECHER: I am sorry. I had gone on from there, to speak about Schirach's book, Document 1458-PS, and I had mentioned that at Pages 34 to 38 of the document book there were references concerning the Nazi ideas. of colonial policy and Lebensraum, and that this book by Schirach indicated that the Hitler Youth was charged with spreading those ideas, He uses the word "Ostraum" in speaking of space in the East, and he discusses German youth organizations abroad and the German schools in these countries. And then I wish particularly to point out on Page 37 the following sentence: "It will be taken into consideration concerning this schooling that the guiding line of German population policy which aims at the utilization of the space in the East will not be violated." Now, the conspirators devoted a great deal of energy to the perpetuation of their scheme of things by selecting and training successors for Nazi leadership, selecting and training and acquiring active Nazis for the rank and file of the NSDAP and its affiliated organizations, including the SA and the SS which are alleged here to be criminal organizations. A number of orders issued by the Party Chancellery under the heading, "Successor Problems," show the dominant part assumed by Schirach and his Hitler Youth in this field. Our Document Number 3348-PS, "Selections from Volume I of the Decrees, Regulations, and Announcements of the Party Chancellery," already marked in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-41 0, contains some of these orders, which I won't take the time to read. But they are all contained on one page, Page 113, of your document book. Only Hitler Youth members who distinguished themselves were to be admitted to the Party. Nazi leaders were directed to absorb full-time Hitler Youth leaders into their staffs so as to offer them practical experience and thus secure necessary successors for the Leadership Corps which is also alleged as a criminal organization.
CAPT. SPRECHER: This pivotal and central function of the Hitler Youth in the domination of German life by the Party is also shown at Pages 80 and 81 of the 1938 Party manual, Exhibit Number USA-430, found at Page 74 of the document book.
THE PRESIDENT: That last page, Page 113, does that refer to any of the matters to which I drew your attention? It is simply the organization of the youth; it has nothing to do with any criminal aims.
CAPT. SPRECHER: Your Honor, it certainly is the contention of the Prosecution that any man who took an active part in furnishing for these criminal organizations young members committed a crime.
THE PRESIDENT: I quite understand that, and that is why I told you that we were satisfied that so far you had shown that he had acquired absolute control over and was the leader of the German youth. The only thing we want to hear about at this stage is whether he was a party to the schemes for aggressive war, to War Crimes, or to Crimes against Humanity. That is what we want to hear, and we don't want to hear anything else.
CAPT. SPRECHER: Your Honors, may I pass, then, to the connection of Hitler Youth to the SS. Document 2396-PS, which is found at Page 69 of the document book and which is offered as Exhibit Number USA-673, has a quotation in it concerning the Streifendienst of the Hitler Youth; the Streifendienst being the patrol service, a type of self-police organization of the Hitler Youth. The quotation which I intend to read will indicate how this organization became the principal supplier of the SS. Are Your Honors interested in having me read that quotation concerning the Hitler Youth as the main source of the SS?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, perhaps; I haven't read it.
CAPT. SPRECHER: This document is an agreement between Schirach and Himmler. It was concluded in October 1938. It bears, I think, partial quoting: "Organization of the Streifendienst. "1. Since the Streifendienst in the Hitler Youth has to perform tasks similar to those which the SS perform for the whole movement, it is organized as a special unit for the purpose of securing recruits for the General SS. However, as much as possible, recruits for the SS Special Troops, for the SS Death's Head Units, and for the officer-candidate schools, should also be taken from these formations." I am skipping down now to 4a, which is underlined in red in your book: "The selection of Streifendienst members is made according to the principles of racial selection of the Schutzstaffel. The competent officials of the SS, primarily unit leaders, race authorities, and SS physicians, will be consulted for the admission tests." Skipping to 5: "To insure from the beginning a good understanding between Reich Youth Leadership and Reich SS leadership, a liaison officer will be ordered from the Reich Youth Leadership to the SS Main- Office starting I October 1938. The appointment of other leaders to the higher SS sections is a subject for a future agreement." Then, going down to what I think is the most striking quotation, Your Honor, 6: "After the organization is completed, the SS takes its replacement primarily from these Streifendienst members. Admission of youths of German blood who are not members of the Hitler Youth is then possible only after information and advice of the competent Bannfuehrer." Now, the Bannfuehrer referred to there was the local leader of the Hitler Jugend; and without his consent no one could go into the SS in the future after that agreement was made; which was in October 1938. Now, the second agreement which Schirach made with Himmler was made in December 1938. It is found in our document book, Number 2567-PS, Page 98. It is offered in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-674.
CAPT. SPRECHER: It states that the Farm Service of the Hitler Youth "is, according to education and aim, particularly well suited as a recruiting agency for the SS, General SS, and the armed section of the SS, SS Special Troops, and SS Death's Head battalions." The agreement concludes by stating that Farm Service members of the Hitler Youth who pass the SS admission tests will be taken over by the SS immediately after leaving the Hitler Youth Farm Service. I might point out to Your Honors that this meant that after that time any Hitler Youth member who was in the Farm Service was obliged to go into the SS. And now, to come directly to the point you have been inquiring about, Your Honor: Throughout the 6 years of Nazi political control over Germany before the launching of aggressive war, Schirach was actively engaged in militarizing German youth. From the beginning, the Hitler Youth was set up along military lines with uniforms, ranks and titles. It was regimented and led in military fashion under the Leadership Principle. If Your Honors will take any edition whatsoever of the Organization Book, the Party manual, and turn to the tables, beginning with Table 54, and leaf through the book, you will see the very striking insignia of the Hitler Youth and how much it compares to what the normal military insignia were. You will further notice that one of the most prominent insignia is an "S" of the same type that the Nazis used with respect to the SS. You will notice that part of the uniform was a long knife.
THE PRESIDENT: Isn't that all a part of what they are pleased to call the Nazi ideology? I mean, the Fuehrer Principle, military training?
CAPT. SPRECHER: There is a relation between all of these things, perhaps, and the Leadership Principle, because the Leadership Principle dominated absolutely every aspect of German life. However, Your Honors, I suggest that showing to you, in this graphic means, the similarity between the uniform of the Hitler Youth and military uniforms has some bearing upon the preparation for aggressive wars, about which I am further to speak in just a moment. Now, Document 2654-PS, found at Page 102 of your document book, is a whole book given over to just this question of the organization and the insignia of the Hitler Youth. The Tribunal will see how the Hitler Youth was divided into branches or divisions which were very similar to military divisions. That document is offered as Exhibit Number USA-675. I will refer no further to it. Now, in a speech in February 1938, when the conspirators had already dropped some of the camouflage which surrounded their earlier military preparations for the wars which we have recently suffered, Hitler discussed the military training of the Hitler Youth in the Volkischer Beobachter of the 21st of February 1938. This is our Document 2454-PS, found at Page 97 of the document book. It is offered as Exhibit Number USA-676. Hitler there said that thousands of German boys had received specialized training through the Hitler Youth in naval, aviation, and motorized groups and that over 7,000 instructors had trained more than I million Hitler Youth members in rifle shooting. That was February 1938, shortly before the Anschluss. Note the progress of military training- within the Hitler Youth between then and August 1939, just 1 month before the invasion of Poland. At that time the Defendant Schirach and the Defendant Keitel, as Chief of the. High Command, entered into another one of those informative agreements, which many of these defendants liked to make among themselves. It is Document Number 2398-PS, your document book Page 72. It is offered as Exhibit Number USA-677.
CAPT. SPRECHER: It is taken from Das Archiv which, in introducing the actual agreement, 'declared that this agreement was "the result of close co operation" between Schirach and Keitel. The agreement itself states, in part: "While it is exclusively the task of the Hitler Youth to attend to the training of their units in this direction, it is suitable, in the sense of a uniformed training corresponding to the demands of the Wehrmacht, to support the leadership of the Hitler Youth for their responsible task as trainers and educators in all fields of training for defense by special courses." And then, skipping down towards the end, you will note this quotation within the agreement: "A great number of courses are in progress." Your Honor, if I may take about 5 minutes, I can finish this one section on the aggressive war phase.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
CAPT. SPRECHER: Whereas Hitler, in February 1938, mentioned that 7,000 Hitler Youth leaders were engaged in training German youngsters in rifle shooting, Schirach and Keitel, in their agreement of August 1939, note the following: "... 30,000 Hitler Youth leaders are already being trained annually in field service. The agreement with the Wehrmacht gives the possibility of roughly doubling that number. The billeting and messing of the Hitler Youth leaders is done, according to the regulations for execution already published, in the barracks, drill grounds, et cetera, of the Wehrmacht, at a daily cost of 25 Pfennig." Just as Schirach dealt with the head of the SS in obtaining zealous recruits for organized banditry and the commission of atrocities, so also he dealt with the head of the Wehrmacht in furnishing young men as human grist for the mill of aggressive war. The training of German youths runs through the Nazi conspiracy as an important central thread. It is one of the manifestations of Nazism which has shocked the entire civilized world. The principal responsibility for the planning and execution of the Nazi Youth policy falls upon this defendant. I wish to take merely one sentence from his own affidavit, Paragraph 5, Document Number 3302-PS, so that there can be no doubt before this Tribunal or before the world, indeed, as to this defendant's own feeling of responsibility: "I feel myself responsible for the policy of the youth movement in the Party and later within the Reich." I underline the phrase "I feel myself responsible." Your Honor, that is a convenient breaking point before coming to a discussion of Schirach's connection to War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. [The Tribunal adjourned until 16 January 1946 at 1000 hours.]
CAPT. SPRECHER: May it please the Tribunal, I now pass to activities which involve Schirach in the commission of Crimes against Humanity as they bear directly on Count One. The presentation of all specific acts will deal with the Reichsgau Vienna; but first allow me to refer back to two important points in the previous proof, which win show that Schirach bears responsibility for War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity which bring in the whole of Europe. Through his agreements with. Himmler he provided, through the Hitler Youth, many if not most of the SS men who administered, in the main, the concentration camps and whose War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity throughout Europe generally are notorious. Nor should we pass to further specific acts of Schirach. without mentioning one more thing: that he cannot escape responsibility for implanting in youth the Nazi ideology generally, with its tenets of a master race, sub-human peoples, and Lebensraum and world domination. For such notions were the psychological prerequisites for the instigation and for the tolerance of the atrocities which zealous Nazis committed throughout Germany and the occupied countries. To present Schirach's responsibilities for crimes committed within the Reichsgau Vienna, where Schirach was Gau leader and Reich governor from July 1940 until the downfall, the general basic functions of these two offices must be held in mind. The first document I refer to is Document Number 1893-PS. This is an extract from the Party manual of 1943 and therefore catches Schirach in midstream in his activities in the Reichsgau Vienna. That is Page 42 of the document book, and Pages 70, 71, 75, 98, 136, and\ 140b of the Party manual, extracts from each of those pages appearing in your document book. The following highlights concerning the Gau leader's functions will appear, and I propose only to paraphrase. Since Your Honor may take judicial notice of the Party manual, you may check at your leisure unless you wish me to read from any one of these specific orders.
CAPT. SPRECHER: These orders make it appear that the Gau leader was the highest representative of Hitler in his Gau, that he was the bearer of sovereignty-the top Hoheitstrager-and that he had sovereign political rights. Beyond that, he was responsible for the entire political situation in his Gau. He could call-and we believe this is important-he could call upon SA and SS leaders as "needed in the execution of a political mission." Beyond that he was obliged to meet at least once a month with the leaders of the affiliated Party organizations within his Gau, and this, of course, included the SS. Now, the position of the Reich Governor in Vienna is somewhat special. After the Anschluss the State of Austria was abolished, and Austria was divided into seven Reich Gaue. The most important of these Gaue was the Reichsgau Vienna, of which Schirach was Governor. Reference to any statistical manual of the Reich at this time will establish that at that time Vienna had a population of over 2 million people: Therefore it was certainly one of the principal cities of the Reich. The Tribunal is 'asked to take judicial notice of the decree, 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 777, our Document Number 3301-PS, found at Page 107 of the document book. This is the basic law on the administrative reorganization of Austria. It was enacted in April 1939, a little more than a year before Schirach became Governor. This law shows that Schirach, as Governor, was the lieutenant of the head of the German State, Hitler; that he could issue decrees and orders within the limitations set by the supreme Reich authorities; that he was especially under the administrative supervision of the Defendant Frick, Reich Minister of the Interior; and that he was also the first mayor of the city of Vienna. For the same period that Schirach was Gau leader and Reich Governor of Vienna, he was also Reich Defense Commissioner of Vienna; and after 1940, of course, the Reich was engaged in war.
CAPT. SPRECHER: Because of his far-reaching responsibilities and authority in these positions, the Prosecution contends that Schirach must be held guilty, specifically, of all the crimes of the Nazi conspirators in the Reichsgau Vienna, on the ground that he either initiated, approved, executed, or abetted these crimes. Specific examples follow which, in fact, demonstrate that Schirach was actively and personally engaged in Nazi crimes, and that, when he became boastful a characteristic never lacking in most of these defendants-he himself admitted his own involvement in acts which are crimes within the competence of this Tribunal. I come first to slave labor. The slave-labor program naturally played its part in staffing the industries of as large and important a city as Vienna. The general nature of this program and the crimes flowing therefrom have been in part set before you by Mr. Dodd. The Soviet prosecutors will. present further acts later on. Our Document Number 3352-PS, found at Page 116 of your document book, which I would like to offer as Exhibit USA-206, gives extracts from a number of orders of the Party chancellery. Each of these orders from which the extracts have been taken bear on the Gau leader's responsibility for manpower placement and utilization. They prove quite simply and in unmistakable language that the Gau leaders under the direction of the experienced old Gau leader Sauckel, who was plenipotentiary for manpower, became the supreme integrating and co-ordinating agents of the Nazi conspirators in the entire manpower program. At Page 116 of your document book-Page 508 of the original volume of orders-the Defendant Goering is shown to have agreed, as leader of the Four Year Plan, to Sauckel's suggestion that the Gau leaders be utilized to assure the highest efficiency in manpower.
CAPT. SPRECHER: At Page 117 of your document book Page 511 of the orders of the Party chancellery-Sauckel in July 1942 makes the Gau -leaders his special plenipotentiaries for manpower within their Gaue, with the duty of establishing a harmonious co-operation of all interests concerned. In effect the Gau leader became the supreme arbitrator for all the conflicting interests that exist during wartime with respect to claims upon manpower. Under this same order the regional labor offices and their staffs were "directed to be at the disposal of the Gau leaders for information and advice and to fulfill the suggestions and demands of the Gau leader for the purpose of improvements in manpower...." At Pages 118 and 119 of your document book-Page 567 of the Party chancellery orders-the Defendant Sauckel ordered that his special plenipotentiaries, the Gau leaders, familiarize themselves with the general regulations on Eastern Workers. He stated that his immediate objective was "to prevent politically inept factory heads giving too much consideration to the care of Eastern Workers and thereby cause justified annoyance among the German workers." We submit to the Tribunal that if Schirach as Gau leader was required to concern himself in such manpower details as concern over the alleged annoyance of German workers for the consideration given Eastern Workers, it is unnecessary to press further into the detailed workings of the manpower program to establish Schirach's connection with, and responsibility for, the slave-labor program in the Reichsgau Vienna. I now pass to the persecution of the churches. The elimination of the religious youth organizations while Schirach was chief Nazi youth leader has already been noted. In March 1941 two letters, one from the Defendant Bormann, the other from the conspirator Hans Lammers...
THE PRESIDENT: Captain Sprecher, have you any other evidence which connects Von Schirach with the problem of manpower?
CAPT. SPRECHER: I had planned on presenting nothing further, Your Honor. I felt that in view of the fact that our Soviet colleagues are going further with the details of the manpower program, particularly in the East, the main objective under Count One should merely be to show the general responsibility of the Defendant Schirach for the slave-labor program, and the question of specific acts will have to be taken from the other proof in the Record, which will come into the Record later.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
CAPT. SPRECHER: There is just one further point: When I come to the treatment of the Jews in a few minutes, there will be one or two specific examples.
THE PRESIDENT: You are now going to deal with the persecution of churches, is that right?
CAPT. S15RECHER: Yes, Sir. Now, the Tribunal is referred to Document R-146, at Page 5 of the document book. This is offered as Exhibit USA-678. I am a little in doubt, Your Honors, as to whether I should read all this document, in view of our common anxiousness to pass rapidly on; but perhaps I may paraphrase it, and if you are not satisfied I will read it. These documents establish clearly that during a visit by Hitler to Vienna, Schirach and two other officials brought a complaint before the Fuehrer that the confiscations of Church property in Austria, made on various pretexts, should be made in favor of the Gaue rather than of the Reich. Later the Fuehrer decided the issue in favor of the position which had been taken by Schirach, namely, in favor of the Gau. I use this merely to connect Schirach with the persecution of the churches, concerning which there has been a great deal of evidence before this time.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): None of it is in evidence yet. You have not put anything in evidence. We cannot take judicial notice of something unless you ask us to.
CAPT. SPRECHER: Your ruling is that this would not be in evidence unless I read it?
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): I am not making any ruling; I was merely pointing out to you that we have nothing in evidence on the last document.