dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir. Now, as an illustration, Point 2 of that Party platform -which, as Your Honors will recall, demanded the cancellation of the Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain-the following acts of the Cabinet in support of this part of the program may be mentioned: Proclamation of October 14, 1933 to the German people concerning Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations and the Disarmament Conference, 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 730. Law of March 16, 1935 for the establishment of the Wehrmacht and compulsory military service, 1935 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Pages 369 to 375. Now, with reference to Point 4 of the Party platform, which said: "Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood without consideration of confession. Consequently, no Jew can be a member of the race." That is Point 4. , Among other Cabinet laws, this point was implemented by the law of July 14, 1933 for the recall of naturalization and deprivation of citizenship of these people, 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 480. The law of April 7, 1933, which said that persons of non-Aryan descent could not practice law, 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 188. The law of April 25, 1933, restricting the number of non-Aryans in schools and higher institutions of learning, 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 225. The law of September 29, 1933, excluding persons of Jewish blood from the peasantry, 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 685. Another one, March 19, 1937, excluded Jews from the Reich Labor Service, 1937 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 325. There is another one of July 6, 1938, prohibiting Jews from participating in six different types of businesses, 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 823. Point 23 of that Party platform proclaimed, "We demand legislative action against conscious political lies and their broadcasting through the press...." To carry out this point I give a few of the Cabinet laws that were passed.
COL. STOREY: One of September 22, 1933, which established the Reich Culture Chamber, 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 661. One concerning editors, of October 4, 1933, 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 713. Another one with reference to restrictions as to the use of the theater, on May 15, 1934, 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 411. Now, passing from those illustrative laws, the ordinary Cabinet in fact enacted most of the legislation which set the stage for and put into execution the Nazi conspiracy described under Count One of the Indictment. Many of these laws have been referred to previously by the Prosecution. All of the laws to which I shall refer or have referred were enacted specifically in the name of the Cabinet. A typical introductory paragraph reads, and I quote: "The Reich Cabinet has enacted the following law which is hereby promulgated." In other words, that shows it is a Cabinet law.
THE PRESIDENT: That applies to all the ones you have just given us?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir. That is a typical heading. In connection with the acquiring of control of Germany, under Count One of the Indictment, I refer to some of the following laws. Here is a law of the 14th of July 1933 against the establishment of new parties. I believe I referred to that yesterday. That is 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 479. , Another of 14 July 1933 provided for the confiscation of property of Social Democrats and others, 1933 Reichspesetzblatt, Part I, Page 479. I have already referred to that law of 1 December 1933 which consolidated the Party and the State, which is found in 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1016. In the course of consolidating the control of Germany these laws were enacted, and I give a few illustrations: 21 March 1933, creating special courts-that is in 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 136; law of the 31st of March 1933 for the integration of all the states into the Reich, 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 153.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you repeat that. Integration of what?
COL. STOREY: Integration of the states-that is the separate states into the Greater Reich. Here is one of 30 June 1933, eliminating non-Aryan civil servants or civil servants married to non-Aryans, 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 433; then the law of the 24th of April 1934 creating the People's Court, 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 341-and that was the same court Your Honors saw functioning in one of the movies exhibited last week. Here is the law of 1 August 1934, uniting the office of President and Chancellor, 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 747. I am not introducing all of them or referring to all of them. Here is a law of the 18th of March 1938 that provides for the submission of one list of candidates to the electorate of the entire Reich, 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 258. Nazi extermination of political internal resistance in Germany through the purge of their political opponents and through acts of terror, which are set forth in Paragraph III(D) 3(b) of Count One, was facilitated or legalized by the following Cabinet laws, translations being found in Document Book F. which has previously been submitted. I will just refer to a few of these as they are translated in that book. Here is one of 14th of July 1933 that prohibits the establishment of new parties and contains a penal clause. That is found in 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 479. Here is one of 20th December 19...
THE PRESIDENT: You have already given that one.
COL. STOREY: I believe so; yes, Sir. Here is a law of the 3rd of July 1934 concerning measures for emergency defense of the State, and which legalized their own purge. That is in 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 529. Here is a law of the 20th of December 1934 on treacherous acts against the State and Party and for protection of the Party uniforms, 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1269. Here is one of the 24th of April 1934 that makes the creation of a new, or continuance of existing, political Parties an act of treason, 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 341. Here is one of the 28th of June 1935 that changes the Penal Code, 1935 Reichspesetzblatt, Part I, Page 839. Here is the final one I will mention: 16 September 1939, permitting second prosecution of an acquitted person before a special court, the members of which were named by Hitler, 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1841. Now, next are some laws that related to the extermination of the Trade Unions, which I have already cited, and they are in Document Book G. I will not refer to them. Then the laws abolishing collective bargaining-I have referred to those; I will pass them. In fact, even the infamous Nuremberg Laws of September 15 1935, although technically passed by the Reichstag, were nevertheless worked out by the Ministry of the Interior. This is verified by a work of Dr. Franz A. Medicus, Ministerialdirigent, published in 1940. It is Document 2960-PS, Exhibit USA-406. I would like to refer to the paragraphs at Page 62 of the original publication, and translated in our Document 2960-PS. Beginning the first paragraph: "The work of the Reich Ministry of Interior forms the basis for the three 'Nuremberg Laws' passed by a resolution of the Reichstag on the occasion of the Reich Party Meeting of Freedom. "The 'Reich Citizenship Law' as well as the 'Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor' opened extensive tasks for the Ministry of the Interior not only in the field. . . of administration.
COL. STOREY: The same applies to the 'Reich Flag Law' that gives the basis for the complete revision of the national flags." A few decrees of the Council of Ministers which similarly supplied the legal basis for the criminal acts and conduct of the conspirators, about which the Tribunal has already heard and will hear more, relate to those of August 5, 1940, which imposed a discriminatory tax on Polish workers in Germany, and that is in 1940 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 1077; also the law of 4 December 1941, which imposed penal measures against the Jews and the Poles in the eastern occupied countries, 1941 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 759. The last one was concerning the employment of Eastern Workers, which I referred to this morning. Almost immediately upon Hitler's coming into power, the Cabinet commenced to implement the Nazi conspiracy to wage aggressive war. Three of the documents that establish this point have already been introduced in evidence. They are EC-177, 2261-PS, and 2194-PS, respectively. Document EC-177, which is Exhibit USA-390, is a long copy of the minutes; and I beg the indulgence of the Tribunal for referring to it again. It is EC-177...
THE PRESIDENT: Is it in this book?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, EC-177. Your Honors, I didn't intend to quote from that. I am simply referring to it as being the minutes of the second session of the working committee of the delegates for Reich defense and being signed by the Defendant Keitel. Document 2261-PS consists of a letter dated the 24th of June 1935. That transmits a copy of a secret, unpublished defense law of 21 May 1935 and also a copy of a decision of the Reich Cabinet of the same date, in the Council for Defense of the Reich. These have been previously introduced, but they are illustrative laws passed by this Cabinet. Document 2194-PS also transmits a copy of the secret, unpublished Reich Defense Law, 4 September 1938. I will skip down to the laws passed by the Reich Defense Council, on Page 50, for the record. The Reich Defense Council was a creation of the Cabinet. On 4 April 1933 it was decided to form that agency. The decision of the Cabinet attached to Document 2261-PS, which is Exhibit USA-24, Page 4 of the translation, Paragraph 1, proves that fact. The two secret laws contained in Document 2261-PS, as well as 2194-PS, were passed by the Cabinet; nor was this a case of one group setting up an entirely distinct group to do its dirty work. The Cabinet put itself into the picture. This might have been a difficult task to accomplish before the Nazis assumed power, but with the Nazis in control, things could move swiftly; and I now refer again to Document EC-177, but I will not undertake to quote from that, although the quotation is set out here. There is only one point in that connection which would not be cumulative. It is Page 5 of the translation and Page 8 of the original of EC-177, on the question of security and secrecy, that I think would be pertinent to the criminal nature. I quote: "The question has been brought up by the Reich Ministries. The secrecy of all Reich defense work has to be maintained very carefully.
COL. STOREY: Communications with the outside, by messenger service only, has been settled already with the Ministry of Posts, Ministry of Finance, Prussian Ministry of the Interior, and the Reichswehr Ministry. Main principle of security: no document must be lost, since otherwise enemy propaganda would make use of it. Matters communicated orally cannot be proved; they can be denied by us in Geneva. Therefore the Reichswehr Ministry has worked out security directives for the Reich Ministries and the Prussian Ministry of the Interior." I will skip the next reference. I believe I will skip over to the affidavit of Defendant Frick, on Page 60.
THE PRESIDENT: What is that?
COL. STOREY: It is, if Your Honor pleases, Document 2986-PS. It is Exhibit USA-409. It is the original affidavit, signed by the Defendant Frick. I believe Defendant Frick sums up pretty well how the work was carried on. "I, Wilhelm Frick, being first duly sworn, depose and say: "I was Plenipotentiary General for the Reich Administration from the time when this office was created until 20 August 1943. Heinrich Himmler was my deputy in this capacity. Before the outbreak of the war my task as Plenipotentiary General for Reich Administration was the preparation of organization in the event of war, such as, for instance, the appointment of liaison men in the different ministries who would keep in touch with me. As Plenipotentiary General for Reich Administration I, together with the Plenipotentiary General for Economy and the OKW, formed a so-called 'Three Man College.' We were also members of the Reich Defense Council, which was to plan preparations and decrees in case of war, which later were published by the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich. Since, as soon as the war had started, everything would have to be done speedily and there would be no time for planning, such war measures and decrees were prepared in advance. All one then had to do was to pull out of the drawer the war orders that had been prepared. Later on, after the outbreak of the war, these decrees were enacted by the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich."-Signed and sworn to by Dr. Wilhelm Frick, on the 19th of November 1945. To sum up this particular phase of the proof, the Cabinet by its own decision and its own laws created a large war-planning body- the Reich Defense Council-the members of which were taken from the Cabinet. Within the Council they set up a small working committee, again composed of Cabinet members and certain defense officials, a majority of whom were appointed from the Cabinet members.
COL. STOREY: And to streamline the action, they placed all of its ministries-except Air, Propaganda, and Foreign Affairs-into the groups headed respectively by the Plenipotentiaries for Economy and Administration, and the OKW; and everything was organized in and for the greatest of secrecy. That is this Three-Man College. Now, in conclusion, if Your Honor pleases, I would like at this time to summarize briefly the proof concerning the Reichsregierung. From 1933 to the end of the war, the Reichsregierung comprised the dominant body of influence and leadership below Hitler in the Nazi Government. The three subdivisions were included in the term Reichsregierung in the Indictment: the ordinary Cabinet, the Secret Cabinet Council, and the Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich. Yet in reality there existed only an artificial, illusory boundary between the three. The predominant subdivision was, of course, the ordinary Cabinet, which was commonly referred to as the Reichsregierung. In it were the leading political and military figures in the Nazi Government. Seventeen of the 22 defendants before this Tribunal were integral parts of the ordinary Cabinet. I should like now to name these defendants and to indicate the positions they held in the Reichsregierung: Martin Bormann, Leader of the Party Chancellery; Karl Doenitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy; Hans Frank, Reich Minister without Portfolio; Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior, Plenipotentiary for Reich Administration; Walter Funk, Minister of Economics, Plenipotentiary for Economy; Hermann Goering, Minister for Air, Reich Forest Master; Rudolf Hess, Deputy of the Fuehrer; Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the OKW; Constantin H. K.
COL. STOREY: von Neurath, Minister for Foreign Affairs, President of the Secret Cabinet Council; Franz van Papen, Vice-Chancellor; Erich Raeder, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy; Joachim van Ribbentrop, Minister for Foreign Affairs; Alfred Rosenberg, Minister of the Occupied Eastern Territories; Hjalmar Schacht, Acting Minister of Economics, Reich Minister without Portfolio, President of the Reichsbank, Plenipotentiary for War Economy; Baldur von Schirach, Reich Youth Leader; Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Reich Minister without Portfolio; and finally, Albert Speer, Minister for Armaments and War Production. From the ordinary Cabinet there came not only the members of the Secret Cabinet Council and the Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich, but also the members of the war planning group, the Nazi secret Reich Defense Council. When it was deemed essential for the purposes of the conspiracy to wage aggressive war, that power was concentrated in a few individuals. Again these individuals were drawn from the ordinary Cabinet. Thus the Plenipotentiaries for Economy and Administration were also Ministers of the ordinary Cabinet, and they were also members of the Reich Defense Council and Ministerial Council. Under them were grouped practically all the ministers of the ordinary Cabinet. Where political considerations of foreign policy required that another select group be chosen to act as advisors, the secret Cabinet was created and populated with members of the ordinary Cabinet. The Reichsregierung was dominated by the Nazi Party through the control exercised over its legislation by the Deputy of the Fuehrer, Hess, and later by the Leader of the Party Chancellery, Bormann. Party control was also effected through the individual membership of all members and the union of various key Cabinet and Party positions in one man. As a result of this fusion of the Party and State, an enormous concentration of political power was gathered into the Cabinet.
COL. STOREY: The laws enacted by the Cabinet established the framework within which the Nazi conspirators established their control of Germany, set forth in Count One of the Indictment , by virtue of which they were enabled to commit the crimes alleged in Counts One , Two , Three , and Four of the Indictment. The Cabinet enacted harsh penal laws, discriminatory laws, confiscatory laws, in violation of the principles of justice and humanity. Decrees enacted by the Ministerial Council during the war clothed the criminal acts of the Nazi conspirators with a semblance of legality. As an instrument of the Party, the Cabinet effectively implemented the notorious points of the Party program. Finally, the Cabinet, almost immediately upon the coming into power of Hitler, became a war-planning group through its establishment in 1933 of a Reich Defense Council and its active participation in the schemes and plans for waging aggressive war. It is therefore most respectfully submitted that, by virtue of all of the foregoing, the Reichsregierung, as defined in Appendix D, Page 35, of the Indictment, should be declared a criminal group within the meaning of Article 9 of Section II of the Charter . That concludes, if Your Honor pleases, this presentation, and the next subject is the SA. It will take just about a couple of minutes to be ready for that. May it please the Tribunal, I passed up Document Book Y. which contains the English translations of the documents relied upon in this presentation. The organization which I shall now present for your consideration is the Sturmabteilung, the organization which the world remembers as the "Brown Shirts" or "Storm Troops," the gangsters of the early days of Nazi terrorism. It came to be known in later years as the SA, and I shall refer to it in that manner in the course of my presentation. The SA was the first of the organizations conceived and created by the Nazis as the instrument and weapon to effectuate their evil objectives, and it occupied a place of peculiar and significant importance in the scheme of the conspirators.
COL. STOREY: Unlike some of the other organizations, the functions of the SA were not fixed or static. On the contrary, it was an agency adapted to many designs and purposes, and its role in the conspiracy changed from time to time- always corresponding with the progression of the conspiracy through its various phases towards the final objective: abrogation of the Versailles Treaty and acquisition of the territory of other peoples and nations. If we might consider this conspiracy as a pattern, with its various parts fitting together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, we would find that the piece representing the SA constituted a link in the pattern vitally necessary to the presentation and development of the entire picture. The SA participated in the conspiracy as a distinct and separate unit having a legal character of its own. This is shown by Document 1725-PS, which is tabbed in the document book, of which the Court will take judicial notice. It is an ordinance passed in March 1935, Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, Page 502. It declares that the SA and certain other agencies were thereafter to be considered "components" of the Nazi Party. This ordinance further provided in Article 5-and it is on the second page of the English translation, right after the word "Article 5"-I quote, "The affiliated organizations can have their own corporate identity." Similarly the Organization Book of the Nazi Party characterizes the SA as an "entity." Document 3220-PS, which I now offer, is an excerpt from the 1943 edition of the Organization Book, Page 358 of the original, and I quote from the English translation. It is there declared: "The Fuehrer prescribes the law of conduct and commands its use. The Chief of Staff represents the SA as a complete entity on the mandate of the Fuehrer. I am sure the evidence will demonstrate and characterize the SA as an entity and organization having a legal character of its own. This evidence will show that, while- the SA was composed of many individual members, these members acted collectively and cohesively as a unit.
COL. STOREY: They were closely bound and associated together by many common factors, including: uniform membership standards and disciplinary regulations; a common and distinctive uniform; common aims and objectives; common activities, duties, and responsibilities; and-probably the most important factor of all-a fanatical adherence to the philosophies and ideologies conceived by the Nazi conspirators. This is partially demonstrated by Document Number 2354-PS, which again is simply an excerpt from the Organization-Book; and it is found on Page 7 of the English translation. It provides that membership in the SA was voluntary but that the SA man should withdraw if "he can no longer agree with SA views or if he is not in a position to fulfill completely the duties imposed upon him as a member of the SA." The SA man was well schooled in the philosophies, attitudes, and activities which he was expected and required to adopt and reflect in his daily life. Cohesion of thought and uniformity of action with respect to such matters was in part obtained by the publication and distribution of a weekly periodical entitled Der SA-Mann (The SA Man). This publication was principally devoted to the creation and fostering of the various aspects of Nazi ideology which constituted the doctrinal motives of many of the conspirators. May I digress from my text and say to the Tribunal that we have here on the table all of these publications, beginning with the year 1934, up through and including the year 1939. The official weekly newspaper entitled Der SA-Mann, meaning The SA Man, published in Munich, had wide distribution and was on sale at news stands and distributed throughout Germany and occupied countries. In addition, Der SA-Mann served to report upon and document the activities of the SA as an organization and those of its constituent groups. I shall have occasion at a later point to refer to certain portions of this publication for the consideration of the Tribunal.