dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
we must prepare for this danger, for this internal theater of war, and always realize clearly that any war brought about by neglect of this internal theater of war would lead to damage. I picture the scope of obligations in case of war as follows: The police of course would, according to their duty as I see it, be able to give up a maximum of 15,000 to 20,000 men (not more) to the Wehrmacht as soldiers. I have a total of 80,000 to 90,000 uniformed police. It must be taken into consideration that a large part of this uniformed police is over or at least over 40, so that if I should give up 15,000 to 20,000, I really would give up the backbone of this police. I can substitute men over 55 or 60 whom I may reactivate. That could be done if unavoidable. However, it is possible only if I assure myself of an attack unit [Eingreiftruppe] which I can use for large scale projects. These are the Death head Units. By and large, I can get along with this old Police force. I can carry out all the former tasks of the Landsturm, i.e. guarding munition factories, railroad crossings, etc., with civilians over 45, who would be drafted as auxiliary police as planned provided I have as a backbone a troop that is young. For this the Death head Units are provided, ranging in age from 25 to 35, not older and not younger. I do not wish to have any very young nor any old persons, for the sabotage and terror troops consist of young, very lively persons with the most modern equipment. This opponent cannot be fought with old Landsturm personnel. The Death Head Units will enter every government district of Germany. The following measures have been provided: firstly, no unit is to go to its native province, thus a Pomeranian troop would never serve in Pomerania. Secondly, each unit will change after three months. Thirdly, the unit will never be assigned to street duty singly. An individual with the death head insignia will never be used as a policeman for street service, that must not be. Fourth, if such use is made relentless measures are to be taken. Anything else is out of the question. Otherwise we would have to reckon in Germany with such possibilities as parachute jumps, use of saboteurs, use of bold groups of 16 or 20 men who might, with the support of Communist
not be. Fourth, if such use is made relentless measures are to be taken. Anything else is out of the question. Otherwise we would have to reckon in Germany with such possibilities as parachute jumps, use of saboteurs, use of bold groups of 16 or 20 men who might, with the support of Communist personnel, entrench themselves in a munitions factory. If these measures are not provided for one could not get along with such a limited personnel. In closing, I may say one thing: I can manage with the officers' corps of the civil police and with the men of the Security Service, whom I naturally cannot release even in war, and with the men and leaders of the Death Head Units, only if I have valuable and decent people in them. I must make it possible by way of the Verfuegungstruppe which will be in combat, to have a constant exchange of wounded or those who have been at the front a long time, in return for officers and men of the police and the Death Head Units. Otherwise, I either would get no decent characters for these home formations, and then obviously could not fulfill the obligations; or else there would appear in the home formations manifestations of disturbances as happened with the fleet during the war, because it didn't get out. This must be avoided, and for this reason rotation is planned within the organization. Every SS leader of the Verfuegungstruppe-we have about 300 SS leaders yearly coming from the Toelz and Brunswick SS schools-is placed with the civil police once every half year, in order to become a reserve officer of the police. I can make good use of these people. If, for instance, one of them is wounded and has only one arm, he can still render excellent service at home. An appreciation of this completely new kind of organization must penetrate everywhere, as well as an understanding of this internal theater of war which will mean the difference between the existence or nonexistence of our people if we ever would have to stand a trial. It is the obligation of the SS and of the police to solve positively the problem of internal security. That is the assignment given to us by the Fuehrer. We are tackling it in all seriousness and are really convinced that it is no second-rate task, and we are
have to stand a trial. It is the obligation of the SS and of the police to solve positively the problem of internal security. That is the assignment given to us by the Fuehrer. We are tackling it in all seriousness and are really convinced that it is no second-rate task, and we are further convinced that only the best ideological training of our men and a racial selection will enable us to solve this problem some day. In this short outline I have depicted for you the task of the SS and police. Just as I do in every address to Wehrmacht officers, I ask you in your circle to think yourselves into these somewhat novel channels of thought, and create understanding for it wherever you can. Let us all clearly realize, the next decades do not signify any foreign political argument which Germany either can or cannot overcome, but they signify a fight of extermination of the abovementioned subhuman opponents in the whole world who fight Germany, as the nuclear of the Northern race, Germany as nucleus of the German people, Germany as bearer of the culture of mankind; they signify the existence or nonexistence of the white race of which we are the leading people. We have, of course, one conviction: we are lucky enough to be alive just at the time when once in 2,000 years an Adolf Hitler has been born, and we are convinced that we shall survive every danger in both good and bad times because we all hold together and because each one approaches his work with his conviction. Source: Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume IV Office of the United States Chief Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality Washington, DC : United States Government Printing Office, 1946 Previous Document Volume IV Menu
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PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1992-PS
Lecture by General [Obergebietsfuehrer]
Dr. Hellmuth Stellrecht:
"The Military Education of the German Youth"
From: National Political Course for the Armed Force, from 15-23 January 1937
[National-Politischer Lehrgang der Wehrmacht, vom 15-23. January 1937]
Restricted for the Armed Forces
[Pages 163-166]
All of you know already the words: Pre-military training, youth's physical training or military education [Wehrerziehung].
The first term "pre-military training" means, that the young person prior to his induction into the Army should acquire a certain amount of knowledge; the second term "youth's physical training" means conditioning of the body to a certain degree of physical fitness will be reached. However, we are choosing of the three terms the last one which is "military education". because not only does it mean acquiring a certain amount of knowledge and reaching a certain degree of physical fitness, but what is more important, it will have a decisive influence on the soldier.
One will ask: Why is it that there is such an endless debate going on in Germany today about the term "military education"? Why are attempts being made just at present to define clearly the term "military education" to carry out what is recognized as correct? Is it done for the sole purpose of trying to get the lead over foreign countries? Is it because of reasoning that we did this, or does it go much deeper than is noticeable on the surface?
Gentlemen, I believe that it was not only because of the reasoning of individuals who inspired us that a change in our thinking unnoticeable for many is taking place and becomes visible to all in its effects.
that we did this, or does it go much deeper than is noticeable on the surface? Gentlemen, I believe that it was not only because of the reasoning of individuals who inspired us that a change in our thinking unnoticeable for many is taking place and becomes visible to all in its effects.
The term "military education" cannot be realized in a vacuum but it is closely connected with the symbol of the German soldier. Just like this symbol changes, the term "military education" also changes. Military education of the youth makes sense only under certain historical conditions. These in turn are closely connected with the ideology of state and society current at the time.
The young Germany found herself again in a soldierly way of life. The great historic development which lasted over a hundred years had finally reached its conclusion and consequently the German people had gained new possibilities. Under Frederic the Great the military and the bourgeoisie (middle class) as different estates [Staende] opposed each other without understanding as hopeless strangers; the reforms, the wars of independence brought about, had united again both terms. However, they could not overcome the bourgeois way of life permanently.
Only within our time was this development concluded since life was again molded into one unit. No more the citizen of the sovereign ruler but each citizen of the New Reich is being born to bear arms. It is not a "cursed obligation" which puts him under military law but his own free will urges him to do it and makes him recognize the necessity of military service not only for one or two years but for a life-time, under a new unified system which begins in the earliest childhood and ends only when he is also unable to do service at home for the well being of all.
own free will urges him to do it and makes him recognize the necessity of military service not only for one or two years but for a life-time, under a new unified system which begins in the earliest childhood and ends only when he is also unable to do service at home for the well being of all.
Considering all this, it goes without saying that we are talking about the military education of the German youth and carrying it out. It is just as clear before our eyes that Friederich Ludwig Jahn with all his knowledge and the great effort put forward by him did not succeed in carrying it out. But now the time is ripe because the newly gained philosophy of life may be realized. It would only be self deception to believe that this task could be solved from the top only. German youth has been a movement since a generation.
This movement started long before the war as a first proof of its coming great renovation protesting against the bourgeoise.
The Youth Movement before the war was not yet soldierly but it was hard against itself and on long hiking tours it helped to lay the foundation for a real great Germany. The volunteer spirit of the great war would be unthinkable without this youth movement-that volunteer-spirit which is the prerequisite of military duty! Of course, those who only came in order to fulfill their own duty did not spare themselves anything either in the great war. They were no less brave than the volunteers. The only difference was that the volunteer was willing to take responsibility for his fate, injury and death, while the other one felt more secure if the State and the Law were responsible for himself and the family when the misfortune arose.
The voluntary service was contained in the free corps [Freikorps], in the military organizations [Wehrverbaenden], in the organizations of the NSDAP and in the Hitler Youth Movement.
other one felt more secure if the State and the Law were responsible for himself and the family when the misfortune arose. The voluntary service was contained in the free corps [Freikorps], in the military organizations [Wehrverbaenden], in the organizations of the NSDAP and in the Hitler Youth Movement.
The German youth has formed its own Reich within this youth movement in which it has the right and privilege of its own way of life. In a decree issued by the Fuehrer on 1 December 1936, pertaining to the Hitler Youth Movement this own Reich was approved by him. It might be said that its own way of life gives its own character to German youth but we are lucky in that the philosophy of life of National Socialism has become the philosophy of life of youth and that there are no political differences between the different generations of present day Germany. Only the way of life of German youth has its individual emphasis. This has hardly penetrated the older generations. The way of life could also not be changed by an order from above because it did not grow by order or by accident but through a movement that has grown through the decades. We have to observe the fact that in the youth organization and in other organizations different ways of life confront each other. For instance, the way of life of the Army which is based on the probably oldest tradition which we have. There is no doubt that a boy who changes from one organization to another feels that the different ways of life are different and that he tries to decide for himself if one or the other is the right one. He probably tries to compare youth hostel and barracks, comradeship leader [Kameradschaftsfuehrer] and sergeant, an evening in a youth hostel and military instruction, the comradely "thou" which bound him to all leaders up to the Reichs Youth Leader and the pronounced separation from his superior even the corporal, also, abstinence from nicotine and alcohol and the sudden abolition of this abstinence.
and sergeant, an evening in a youth hostel and military instruction, the comradely "thou" which bound him to all leaders up to the Reichs Youth Leader and the pronounced separation from his superior even the corporal, also, abstinence from nicotine and alcohol and the sudden abolition of this abstinence.
It would, of course, be completely senseless for the individual to start to investigate if this or that way seems right to him. It goes without saying that an army which is to be trained for battle must be handled entirely different from a unit of boys. I believe that there is no organization in Germany which has gathered so much experience through its century old tradition in leading men as the army. Only at a later age one comes to see those things as a result of a deep psychological knowledge which, as a private, as a young sergeant or lieutenant, seemed obscure, or which one carried out without thinking, as and how it has always been done.
It would be just as senseless to argue that the army, as the oldest organization, should demand that the way of life in the youth organization should be patterned after the army's way and that this should be done at once by a system of orders and regulations. That would be completely wrong because the present youth movement is of a natural growth which cannot suddenly be sent by coercion but needs a certain amount of freedom to be able to grow further. And nothing would be more harmful than to substitute a system of orders, which developed under totally different conditions, for the free will of the present young generation. the forty years of German youth history cannot and shall not be erased because what has developed alive out of an idealistic motive shall never be extinguished.
And nothing would be more harmful than to substitute a system of orders, which developed under totally different conditions, for the free will of the present young generation. the forty years of German youth history cannot and shall not be erased because what has developed alive out of an idealistic motive shall never be extinguished.
But, from a long range point of view, it is necessary that we do not allow the life of a German boy who has to pass through all the organizations, to go through as many breaking experiences as there are organizations. On the contrary, it is necessary to give to his life and his development actual stability. We do not only want to train our boys and through the difference of the organizations give them the opportunity to compare and to criticize but we want to lead them in an unbroken line of development from boy to man, a development which must be natural to them, which does not give them cause to investigate why they have been dealt with in this or that manner. The political education of the boy stops when he enters the service of the Armed Forces.
We have to admit that the way of life in the youth organization is different from that in the Armed Forces. But our time gives us an opportunity to draw one line of development from the tenth year to the time of discharge from the Armed Forces; that is the line of development of military training and military education. Therefore, it is in general of tremendous educational value and not only for the training of a soldier. The boy should feel that he is part of a natural course of events and react to it by feeling a constant uninhibited enhancement of life.
The young scout grows into the armour-bearer of the nation. Thus the natural course of events is again completed which has been characteristic of every natural warriordom. It always let the boy become a scout first, then gave him practice weapons and only then let him earn the deathly weapon of the man.
enhancement of life. The young scout grows into the armour-bearer of the nation. Thus the natural course of events is again completed which has been characteristic of every natural warriordom. It always let the boy become a scout first, then gave him practice weapons and only then let him earn the deathly weapon of the man.
All military training must thus be regarded a building of life without friction, following only the laws of life and supported by the one as well as the other organization and nothing to block it. Life itself knows no abrupt fundamental changes from one day to another. One is not a boy one day and a man the next one but every age period has educational and formative significance, which needs to be recognized and utilized.
In case these laws are observed one will, a few decades from now, be incredulous before the achievements which will be made by development of physical potentialities and by technical knowledge and also before the high degree of ideological readiness which is inherent in the German soldier. The recognition of the laws of development will and must give us an incredible advantage over the achievements of other nations, especially in the present which is carried along by the impulse of national uprising. There is no question that even with several years of military training another nation cannot ever make up for that which was neglected in regard to development which we recognized and utilized in time.
But that which will happen in the future in regard to this will not only mean the training to be a German soldier but training to be a German man, the decisive final finish of whom takes place in the service of the Armed Forces. In addition, an extensive exchange of experiences will come about on the broadest possible basis between the armed Forces in the youth Organization on all things so decisive for all future development in order to continue the one education in every respect at the exact point where the other one stopped.
In addition, an extensive exchange of experiences will come about on the broadest possible basis between the armed Forces in the youth Organization on all things so decisive for all future development in order to continue the one education in every respect at the exact point where the other one stopped.
In regard to work with pure military education, this has already been done in years of collaboration and very extensively. The result has been put down in a book written by me which regulates future military education up to the last detail of training and which, on mutual consent, includes a preface by the Reichs minister of war [Reichskriegsminister] and the Reichs Youth Leader [Reichsjugendfuehrer].
The basic idea of this work is to present to the body what fits into the particular state of his development. In doing this one quite naturally avoids to bring up something before hand that belongs into the future training of the Armed Forces and does not fit the boy but only the man. For that reason no boy is given a military weapon, simply because it does not make sense from the point of view of development. But, on the other hand, it makes sense to give him practice guns of smaller caliber. Just as there are military exercises which fit only adult men there are exercises which are better tackled at the age of a boy. Among others, for instance, outdoor training.
The young man of twenty who has become estranged to nature in the city-and two-thirds of the German population today live in cities-will find it very difficult to reestablish contact. Everything has become too foreign to him and he will never again be able to become a bush or woods runner [busch-und Waldlaeufer] whose best friends are nature and terrain.
to nature in the city-and two-thirds of the German population today live in cities-will find it very difficult to reestablish contact. Everything has become too foreign to him and he will never again be able to become a bush or woods runner [busch-und Waldlaeufer] whose best friends are nature and terrain.
It is different for the boy. At the age of 12 to 16 or 17 a boy is actually ideal for the terrain. It is exactly the age of wild west romanticism when he thinks only in terms of secret paths, ambush and surprise raids. If at that time nothing brings the boy into the terrain if he only continues the dull way of going to school something ingrown and crooked develops in him which can never again be straightened out. The right time to put him into the terrain has been missed.
The same is true of the training of the senses. I am of the opinion that to the training for seeing even the most insignificant things in nature, for noticing the slightest change in the normal world around us, a very systematic training of the ear should be added. One has to learn again to distinguish from entire noise pictures the single important sound which has something to say. One has to learn direction hearing and distance hearing and one has to train the ear to be constantly on the alert and immediately registers the slightest noise which shows danger. This kind of training belongs entirely to a youthful age. If the right time has been missed it can hardly be made up in later years.
The boy starts to learn while he plays and in more and more systematic training becomes a young scout. He again acquires the incredible agility of primitive men to find cover and camouflage in the terrain, to used every indentation in the ground, every bit of vegetation to close in, to cover long distances without any noise also at night and, at the same time, to see everything, to hear everything and finally to appear out of nowhere before the baffled enemy; thus growing into the future battle technique through his full life of a boy.