dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
construction and in bringing up supplies, everywhere your men have done a real job and have thus contributed considerably to the successes of the German Luftwaffe." (2807-PS) (7) The TODT Organization (OT). The TODT organization, or OT, was another NSDAP affiliate used to further the militaristic aims of the Nazi conspirators. The OT, originally an offshoot of the RAD, was created as a separate entity in June 1938 when Dr. Fritz Todt was charged with the construction of the Siegfried Line or West Wall. The military employment of the OT is clearly shown in the following passage from "Manner dr OT": which was published by the Photographic office of the Reich Propaganda Office: " No sooner had the greatest and most modern fortifications of the world, the West Wall, been completed by the workers of the OT, when these very same workers were called upon by the Fuehrer to prove their worth also in direct front service * * * and they thus helped * * * to achieve the greatest victory in history. When the great offensive in the west began, the brown workers' columns of the TODT organization followed immediately behind them. After the armistice with France had been signed, an entirely new situation developed for the TODT organization. Its columns had pushed deep into enemy country. Not seldom did they have direct contact with the enemy- their losses in deed and wounded and the Iron Cross awards are heroic proof of that. While, as the foremost construction workers of the German Reich, they had already proved their worth when building the West Wall, they were now able to perfect what they had learned in the fight against the British world enemy. From the Channel coast to the Atlantic Ocean, the front technicians and front workers of the OT now proceeded to create the prerequisites for a successful fight against England". (2808-PS) Though the OT was in its origin technically a civilian organization, its subsequently became a para-military body which, before and during the war, cooperated fully with the German Army. On 2 July 1940, a directive was issued from the German High Command appointing a liaison officer. "* * * to establish the closest liaison and cooperation of the respective military offices with the main construction work of the TODT
body which, before and during the war, cooperated fully with the German Army. On 2 July 1940, a directive was issued from the German High Command appointing a liaison officer. "* * * to establish the closest liaison and cooperation of the respective military offices with the main construction work of the TODT Organization." (2812-PS) This militarization of the OT is further shown in the following passage from "Nationalsozialistische Monatscheffte" for 1942: "From the Autobahn workers was developed the 'Organization TODT' a body of hundreds of thousands of workers who help the Wehrmacht everywhere in eliminating obstacles, building bridges and erecting fortifications and shelters. The front soldier and the front worker stand side by side. Together they have shed their blood in this war and together they have won victories. Long-range guns on the Channel coast, U-boat bases on the Atlantic, and now the East will render theft' immortal for all times to come." (2809-PS) A letter from Fritz Sauckel to Hitler, dated 17 May 1943, states that the OT had supplied 248,200 workers by March 1943 for the completion of the Atlantic Wall, and praises the OT for its excellent work in this regard. (407-VIII-PS) By 1938, all phases of German life had been mobilized for the accomplishment of militant aims. Hitler declared to the Reichstag on 20 February 1938: "Only now we have succeeded in setting before us the great tasks and in possessing the material things which are the prerequisites for the realization of great creative plans in all fields of our national existence. Thus, National Socialism has made up within a few years for what centuries before it had omitted. * * * "National Socialism has given the German people that leadership which as party not only mobilizes the nation but also organizes it, so that on the basis of the natural principle of selection, the continuance of a stable political leadership is safeguarded forever * * * National Socialism * * * possesses Germany entirely and completely since the day when, five years ago, I left the house in Wilhelmplatz as Reich Chancellor. There is no institution in this state which is not National Socialist. Above all, however, the National Socialist Party in these five years not only has made the nation
* * possesses Germany entirely and completely since the day when, five years ago, I left the house in Wilhelmplatz as Reich Chancellor. There is no institution in this state which is not National Socialist. Above all, however, the National Socialist Party in these five years not only has made the nation National Socialist, but also has given itself that perfect organizational structure which guarantees its permanence for all future. The greatest guarantee of the National Socialist revolution lies in the complete domination of the Reich and all its institutions and organizations, internally and externally, by the National Socialist Party. Its protection against the world abroad, however, lies in its new National Socialist armed forces. * * * "In this Reich, anybody who has a responsible position is a National Socialist. * * * Every institution of this Reich is under the orders of the supreme political leadership. * * * The party leads the Reich politically, the armed forces defend it militarily. * * * There is nobody in any responsible position in this state who doubts that I am the authorized leader of this Reich." (2715-PS) LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS RELATING TO MILITARIZATION OF NAZI ORGANIZATIONS DocumentDescriptionVol.Page Charter of the International Military Tribunal, Article 6, especially 6 (a)......I5 International Military Tribunal, Indictment Number 1, Section IV (D) 3 (f).......I21 Note: A single asterisk (*) before a document indicates that the document was received in evidence at the Nurnberg trial. A double asterisk (**) before a document number indicates that the document was referred to during the trial but was not formally received in evidence, for the reason given in parentheses following the description of the document. The USA series number, given in parentheses following the description of the document, is the official exhibit number assigned by the court. *407-VIII-PSTelegram from Sauckel to Hitler, 17 May 1943, concerning foreign labor. (USA 210)......III394 2320-B-PSExtracts from Organization Book of NSDAP, 1940, p. 394......IV1026 *2715-PSSpeech by Hitler to the Reichstag on 20 February 1938, published in The Archive, February 1938, Vol. 47, pp. 1441-1442. (USA
from Sauckel to Hitler, 17 May 1943, concerning foreign labor. (USA 210)......III394 2320-B-PSExtracts from Organization Book of NSDAP, 1940, p. 394......IV1026 *2715-PSSpeech by Hitler to the Reichstag on 20 February 1938, published in The Archive, February 1938, Vol. 47, pp. 1441-1442. (USA 331)......V376 2804-PSExtracts from "Das NSKK" by Hans Helmut Krenzlein, NSKK Gruppenfuehrer, with foreword by Leader of NSKK, Korpsfuehrer A. Heuhnlein......V446 2805-PSExtract from Organization Book of NSDAP, 1943, p. 465......V447 2806-PSExtract from Leadership and Education, official magazine of Dutch Labor Service, 1 June 1943, p. 19.....V448 2807-PSLetter by Goering to Reich Labor Service Leader Konstantin Hirel, published by National Socialist Monthly, 1940, Vol. I, p. 155.....V448 2808-PSMen of the OT, published by Photographic Office of Reich Propaganda Office......V448 2809-PSExtract from National Socialist Monthly, February-March, 1492, p. 167......V449 2810-PSExtract from Germany in Battle, by Berndt of Reich Propaganda Ministry and von Wedel of German Army High Command, 1940, p. 107....V449 2811-PSExtracts from Organization Book of the NSDAP, 1938, pp. 470, 470(c).....V450 2812-PSdirective from German Army High Command, published in General Army Bulletin, 1940, Vol. VII, p. 96.....V450 2813-PSExtract from The National Socialist Air Corps, p. 14.......V451 *3054-PS"The Nazi Plan", script of a motion picture composed of captured German film. (USA 167).....V801 Chapter VI Contents Chapter VIII
CHAPTER VIII - ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE CONSPIRACY It is well known that the Nazi conspirators rearmed Germany on a vast scale. The purpose of that rearmament is revealed in the secret records of the plans and deliberations of the inner councils of the Nazis. These records show that the reorganization of the German government, the financial wizardry of Hjalmar Schacht, and the total mobilization of the German economy largely under Haljmar Schacht, Hermann Goering, and Walter Funk, were directed at a single goal: aggressive war. 1. ECONOMIC MOBILIZATION FOR WAR The significance of the economic measures adopted and applied by the conspirators can be properly appraised only if they are placed in the larger social and political context of Nazi Germany. These economic measures were adopted while the conspirators were directing their vast propaganda apparatus to the glorification of war. They were adopted while the conspirators were perverting physical training into training for war. They were adopted while these conspirators were threatening to use force and were planning to use force to achieve their material and political objects. In short, these measures constitute in the field of economics and government administration the same preparation for aggressive war which dominated every aspect of the Nazi state. In 1939 and 1940, after the Nazi aggression upon Poland, Holland, Belgium, and France, it became clear to the world that the Nazi conspirators had created probably the greatest instrument of aggression in history. That machine was built up almost in its entirety in a period of less than one decade. In May of 1939 Major General George Thomas, former Chief of the Military Economic Staff in the Reich War Ministry, reported that the German Army had grown from seven Infantry divisions in 1933 to thirty-nine Infantry divisions, among them four fully motorized and three mountain divisions; eighteen Corps Headquarters; five Panzer divisions; twenty-two machine gun battalions. Moreover, General Thomas stated that the German Navy had greatly expanded by the launching, among other vessels, of two battleships of thirty-five thousand tons, four heavy cruisers of ten thousand tons, and other warships; further, that the Luftwaffe had grown to a point where it had a strength of two hundred sixty thousand men,
stated that the German Navy had greatly expanded by the launching, among other vessels, of two battleships of thirty-five thousand tons, four heavy cruisers of ten thousand tons, and other warships; further, that the Luftwaffe had grown to a point where it had a strength of two hundred sixty thousand men, twenty-one squadrons, consisting of two hundred forty echelons, and thirty-three Anti-Aircraft Batteries. (EC-28) General Thomas further reported, in a lecture delivered on 24 May 1939 in the Nazi Foreign Office, that out of the few factories permitted by the Versailles Treaty there had arisen * * * "The mightiest armament industry now existing in the world. It has attained the performances which in part equal the German wartime performances and in part even surpasses them. Germany's crude steel production is today the largest in the world after the Americans. The aluminum production exceeds that of America and of the other countries of the world very considerably. The output of our rifle, machine gun, and artillery factories is at present larger than that of any other state." (EC-28) These results-about which General Thomas spoke in his book entitled Basic Facts for a History of German War and Armaments Economy-were achieved only by making preparation for war the dominating objective of German economy. As General Thomas stated on page 479 of his book: "History will know only a few examples of cases where a country has directed, even in peace time, all its economic forces deliberately and systematically towards the requirements of war, as Germany was compelled to do in the period between the two World Wars." (2353-PS) The task of mobilizing the German economy for aggressive war began promptly after the Nazi conspirators' seizure of power. It was entrusted principally to Schacht, Goering, and Funk. Schacht was appointed President of the Reichsbank in March 1933, and Minister of Economics in August 1934. The world did not know, however, that the responsibility for the execution of this program was entrusted to the office for the Four Year Plan under Goering (EC-408). Nor did the world know that Schacht was designated Plenipotentiary for the War Economy on 21 May 1935, with complete control over the German civilian economy for war production
however, that the responsibility for the execution of this program was entrusted to the office for the Four Year Plan under Goering (EC-408). Nor did the world know that Schacht was designated Plenipotentiary for the War Economy on 21 May 1935, with complete control over the German civilian economy for war production in the Reich Defense Council, established by a top secret Hitler decree. A letter dated 24 June 1935, at Berlin, and signed by von Blomberg, reads in part: "* * * The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor has nominated the President of the directorate of the Reichsbank, Dr. Schacht, to be Plenipotentiary-General for War Economy. "* * * I point out the necessity of strictest secrecy once more. * * *." (2261-PS) Through Schacht's financial genius monetary measures were devised to restore German industry to full production; and through the control of imports and exports, which he devised under his new plan of 1934, German production was channeled in accordance with the requirements of the German war machine. In 1936, with an eye to the experience in the First World War. the Nazi conspirators embarked on an ambitious plan to make Germany completely self-sufficient in strategic war materials such as rubber, gasoline, and steel, in a period of four years, so that Germany would be fully prepared for aggressive war. The responsibility for the execution of this program was entrusted to the office of the Four Year Plan under Goering. A "memorandum on the Four Year Plan and Preparation of the War Economy," dated 30 December 1936, and marked "Secret Command Matter", sets out that the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor has conferred powers in regard to mobilization preparations in the economic field that need further definition. The third paragraph refers specifically to Minister-President, Generaloberst Goering as Commissioner of the Four Year Plan, by authority of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor granted 18 October 1936. The existence of this program involved the reorganization and control of the whole German economy for war. (EC-408) The military objectives of the German economy were clearly stated by General Thomas in a lecture on 28 February 1939, delivered at the Staff Instructor's course.
Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor granted 18 October 1936. The existence of this program involved the reorganization and control of the whole German economy for war. (EC-408) The military objectives of the German economy were clearly stated by General Thomas in a lecture on 28 February 1939, delivered at the Staff Instructor's course. He stated: "The National Socialist State, soon after taking over the power, has reorganized the German economy in all sections and directed it towards a military viewpoint, which had been requested by the Army for years. Due to the reorganization, agriculture, commerce and professions became those powerful instruments the Fuehrer needs for his extensive plans, and we can say today that Hitler's mobile politics, as well as the powerful efforts of the Army and economy, would not have been possible without the necessary reorganization by the National Socialist Government. We can now say that the economic organization as a whole corresponds with the needs, although slight adjustments will have to be made yet. Those reorganizations made a new system of economics possible which was necessary in view of our internal and foreign political situation as well as our financial problems. The directed economy, as we have it today, concerning agriculture, commerce and industry, is not only the expression of the present State principles, but at the same time also the economy of the country's defense." (EC-27) This program was not undertaken in a vacuum; it was deliberately designed and executed to provide the necessary instrument of the Nazi conspirators' plans for aggressive war. In September 1934 Schacht admitted to the American Ambassador in Berlin that the Hitler Party was absolutely committed to war, and that the people to were ready and willing. (EC-461). At the same time Schacht promulgated his new plan for the control of imports and exports in the interest of rearmament. A year later he was appointed Plenipotentiary for War Economy by top secret decree (2261-PS) On 4 September 1936 Goering announced, at a Cabinet meeting attended by von Blomberg, Schacht, and others, that Hitler had issued instructions to the Reich War Minister on the basis that "the show-down with Russia is
A year later he was appointed Plenipotentiary for War Economy by top secret decree (2261-PS) On 4 September 1936 Goering announced, at a Cabinet meeting attended by von Blomberg, Schacht, and others, that Hitler had issued instructions to the Reich War Minister on the basis that "the show-down with Russia is inevitable," and added that "all measures have to be taken just as if we were actually in the stage of imminent danger of war." (EC-416) In the same month the office of the Four Year Plan was created with the mission of making Germany self-sufficient for war in four years. Goering regarded it as his task, within four years to put the entire economy in a state of readiness for war. (EC-408) 2. COLLABORATION OF THE INDUSTRIALISTS IN REARMAMENT Although the Nazi government officials provided the leadership in preparing Germany for war, they received also the enthusiastic and invaluable cooperation of the German industrialists. On the invitation of Goering, approximately 25 of the leading industrialists of Germany, together with Schacht, attended a meeting in Berlin on 20 February 1933. This was shortly before the German election of 5 March 1933. At this meeting Hitler announced the conspirators' aim to seize totalitarian control over Germany, to destroy the parliamentary system, to crush all opposition by force, and to restore the power of the Wehrmacht. Among those present at that meeting were Gustav Krupp, head of the munitions firm, Alfried Krupp, A.G.; four leading officials of the I. G. Farben Works, one of the world's largest chemical concerns; Albert Vogler, head of United Steel Works of Germany; and other leading industrialists. This meeting is described in the following affidavit of George von Schnitzler: "I, George von Schnitzler, a member of the Vorstand of I. G. Farben, make the following deposition under oath: "At the end of February 1933, four members of the Vorstand of I. G. Farben, including Dr. Bosch, the head of the Vorstand, and myself were asked by the office of the President of the Reichstag to attend a meeting in his house, the purpose of which was not given. I do not remember the two other colleagues of mine who were also invited. I believe the invitation reached me during one of
Dr. Bosch, the head of the Vorstand, and myself were asked by the office of the President of the Reichstag to attend a meeting in his house, the purpose of which was not given. I do not remember the two other colleagues of mine who were also invited. I believe the invitation reached me during one of my business trips to Berlin. I went to the meeting which was attended by about 20 persons, who I believe were mostly leading industrialists from the Ruhr. "Among those present I remember: "Dr. Schacht, who at that time was not yet head of the Reichsbank again and not yet minister of Economics. "Krupp von Bohlen, who in the beginning of 1933 presided over the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie, which later on was changed into the semi-official organization 'Reichsgruppe Industrie.' "Dr. Albert Vogler, the leading man of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke. "Von Lowenfeld from an industrial work in Essen. "Dr. Stein, head of the Geworkschaft Auguste Victoria, a mine which belongs to the I. G. Dr. Stein was an active member of the Deutsche Volkspartei. "I remember that Dr. Schacht acted as a kind of host. "While I had expected the appearance of Goering, Hitler entered the room, shook hands with everybody and took a seat at the top of the table. In a long speech he talked mainly about the danger of communism over which he pretended that he just had won a decisive victory. "He then talked about the Bundnis-alliance-into which his party and the Deutsch national Volkspartei had entered. This latter party, in the meantime, had been reorganized by Herr von Papen. At the end he came to the point which seemed to me the purpose of the meeting. Hitler stressed the importance that the two aforementioned parties should gain the majority in the coming Reichstag election. Krupp von Bohlen thanked Hitler for his speech. After Hitler had left the room, Dr. Schacht proposed to the meeting the raising of an election fund of, as far as I remember, RM 3,000,000. The fund should be distributed between the two 'allies' according to their relative strength at the time being. Dr. Stein suggested that the Deutsche Volkspartei should be included * * *." (EC-439) In a speech delivered to the industrialists in Berlin on 20 February 1933, Hitler stated: "Private
The fund should be distributed between the two 'allies' according to their relative strength at the time being. Dr. Stein suggested that the Deutsche Volkspartei should be included * * *." (EC-439) In a speech delivered to the industrialists in Berlin on 20 February 1933, Hitler stated: "Private enterprise cannot be maintained in the age of democracy; it is conceivable only if the people have a sound idea of authority and personality. * * * I recognized even while in the hospital that one had to search for new ideas conducive to reconstruction. I found them in nationalism, in the value of strength and power of individual personality. * * * If one rejects pacifism, one must put a new idea in its place immediately. Everything must be pushed aside, must be replaced by something better. * * * We must not forget that all the benefits of culture must be introduced more or less with an iron fist, just as once upon a time the farmers were forced to plant potatoes. "With the very same courage with which we go to work to make up for what had been sinned during the last 14 years, we have withstood all attempts to move us off the right way." "* * * We must first gain complete power if we want to crush the other side completely. While still gaining power, one should not start the struggle against the opponent. Only when one knows that one has reached the pinnacle of power, that there is no further possible development, shall one strike. * * * "* * * Now we stand before the last election. Regardless of the outcome there will be no retreat, even if the coming election does not bring about a decision. * * * "The question of restoration of the Wehrmacht will not be decided at Geneva but in Germany, when we have gained internal strength through internal peace." (D-203) In reply to these statements Goering, who was present at that same meeting, declared: "That the sacrifice asked for surely would be much easier for industry to bear if it realized that the election of March 5th will surely be the last one for the next ten years, probably even for the next hundred years." (D-203) In a memorandum dated 22 February 1933, found in the personal files of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Krupp briefly