dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
me on the 5th and 20th of each month on measures taken in the second, resp. first half of the preceding month. Unless specially ordered, individual measures, including the suspension of periodicals in accordance with section 1 of this decree need not be reported unless it concerns a very important case.
5. If on principle (see figure 1, par. 2 of this circular) or for some special reason the application of the decree for the protection of the people and state (RGBl I, Page 83) dated 28 Feb., 1933, seems out of question or not advisable, the provisions of the decree for the protection of the German people (RGBl I, page 35) dated 4 February 1933, and the applicable executive directions remain in effect unchanged.
To all police dept. M Bli v. 1, page 233.
Reorganization of the political police
Circular decree of the Ministry for the Interior of 26 April 1933-II 1000/53
for the protection of the German people (RGBl I, page 35) dated 4 February 1933, and the applicable executive directions remain in effect unchanged. To all police dept. M Bli v. 1, page 233. Reorganization of the political police Circular decree of the Ministry for the Interior of 26 April 1933-II 1000/53
In order to guarantee effective countermeasures against all activities endangering the existence and security of the state, the state government has decided to reform the organization of the political police more severely than before and to create the necessary conditions for speedy and successful operations. For this purpose and for the benefit of a uniform supreme management of the political police of Office of Secret State Police (Which is) directly subordinated to myself has been established in Berlin SW 11, Prinz Albrechtstrasse 8 by the law of 26 April 1933 printed in annex 1 (Gesetz-Sammlung, Seite 122) (collection of laws, page 122). Its duty is to investigate all political activities endangering the state by special executors with the assistance of outside bureaus for the individual provincial police districts (State-Police-Bureaus) and with the support of the ordinary police authorities within the entire territory of the state, to collect and exploit the results of these investigations, to keep myself, the minister for the Interior, permanently informed, to prepare and provide at all times the necessary proofs for my decisions, and finally to report all politically important observations and statements also to other police authorities and provide them with suggestions. Furthermore the Office of the Secret State Police is authorized within the sphere of its activity to request political measures from other police-authorities and to give them instructions.
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
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Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume IV
Document No. 2372-PS
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TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2372-PS
1936 REICH MINISTERIAL GAZETTE [RMBl]-Part V, Pages 1344-5
Unified designation of the Offices of the Secret State Police in the Reich (Decree of RF-SS and Chief of German Police in the Reich Ministry of Interior 28 August 36)
After the Reichsfuehrer SS was installed as Chief of the German Police, the unified direction of all branches of the police and also the designation of the offices must become pronounced.
The greatest differences existed previously among the individual states [Laender] in the field of the political police. At present there are 17 different designations. The unified form of the credentials of the officials of the political police calls for a unified designation of their offices in order to eliminate confusion and misunderstanding among outsiders. Also the simplification of the business transactions calls for assimilation.
1. Therefore the political police of the German states will carry the designation of Secret State Police [Geheime Staatspolizei] from 1 October 1936 on.
2. The state central authorities of the Secret State Police carry the designation
a. in Prussia:
Secret State Police Bureau [Geheime Staatspolizeiamt]
b. in the rest of the state:
State police main office [Staatspolizeileitstelle] or State police office (Staatspolizeistelle)
and so
in Baden State police main office Karlsruhe
in Bayern State police main office Munich
in Wuerttenburg State police main office Stuttgart
in Sachsen State police main office Dresden
in Anhalt State police office Dessau
in Braunschweig State police office Braunschweig
in Bremen State police office Bremen
in Hamburg State police office, Hamburg
in Hessen State police office Darmstadt
in Luebeck State police office Luebeck
in Mecklenburg State police office Schwerin
in Oldenburg State police office Oldenburg
in Thueringen State police office Weimar
in Anhalt State police office Dessau in Braunschweig State police office Braunschweig in Bremen State police office Bremen in Hamburg State police office, Hamburg in Hessen State police office Darmstadt in Luebeck State police office Luebeck in Mecklenburg State police office Schwerin in Oldenburg State police office Oldenburg in Thueringen State police office Weimar
The state police directive offices have the tasks of a state police office for the area of their jurisdiction, a final regulation hereon is withheld.
To the Prussian secret state police office in Berlin, the political police of the exterior Prussian states. -For information to the Prussian Ministry President as chief of the Prussian secret state police, the state cabinet of exterior Prussia, the main office Ordnungs-Police, the Prussian state criminal police office in Berlin, the Prussian Supreme and Government President.
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
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Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume IV
Document No. 2373-PS
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TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2373-PS
EXCERPTS FROM GERMAN PUBLICATIONS
1. "The first chairman is responsible for the entire leadership of the movement. He divides the work among the committeemen, subordinated to him, as well as among the otherwise necessary collaborators. Each of these gentlemen is therefore fully responsible for the tasks that have been allotted to him. He is subordinate only to the first chairman, who has to concern himself with the cooperation of everyone responsible. Through selection of persons and issuance of general directives he must bring about this collaboration himself.
"This law of essential responsibility has gradually become a matter of course within the movement, at least insofar as it concerned the party leadership." (MEIN KAMPF, Adolf Hitler, Munich, 1933, page 661)
2. "How shall I give expression, my Fuehrer, to what is in our hearts? How shall I find words for your deeds? Has there ever been a mortal as beloved as you, my Fuehrer? Was there ever belief as strong as the belief in your mission? God sent you to us for Germany." (Goering, Speeches and Writing, [Reden und Aufsaetze] Munich, 1938, page 326)
to what is in our hearts? How shall I find words for your deeds? Has there ever been a mortal as beloved as you, my Fuehrer? Was there ever belief as strong as the belief in your mission? God sent you to us for Germany." (Goering, Speeches and Writing, [Reden und Aufsaetze] Munich, 1938, page 326)
3. "Above all was God's hand which has visibly guided the Fuehrer and his Movement. Only those who have no faith, claim that chance has persecuted us. In reality Moltke's word was proven to be true in regard to the Fuehrer and the Party; namely, that in the long run only the strong will have good luck. What had been prepared quietly and had grown organically during ten years, swept over all of Germany like a torrent on 30 January 1933 and during the time which followed. There was nobody in the country and in the world who could have escaped the powerful, resounding rhythm of these events. It was as if a whole people awoke from its sleep, threw off in one quick move the chains which oppressed it and rose like a Phoenix out of the ashes of a fallen system. And out of the flame and enthusiasm with which the masses of millions of people yielded to Hitler and his idea, the cry which once before at the time of the crusades had made Germany rise, seemed to come again: 'It is God's will!'
"And as he gave us his blessing, he denied it to the others. Although they called for him loudly from their pulpits and partyseats, their work was not his work, their faith was not his faith and their will not his will.
"It is not mere chance that millions in Germany are of the holy conviction that National Socialism is more than politics, that in it the word and the will of God proclaim itself, that the bulwark it has created against Bolshevism was conceived on higher inspiration as the last salvation of Occidental culture before the threat of Asiatic atheism." (Joseph Goebbels, From Kaiserhof to Reich Chancellery, [Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei], 1934, page 12.)
it the word and the will of God proclaim itself, that the bulwark it has created against Bolshevism was conceived on higher inspiration as the last salvation of Occidental culture before the threat of Asiatic atheism." (Joseph Goebbels, From Kaiserhof to Reich Chancellery, [Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei], 1934, page 12.)
4. "It is with pride that we see that one man is kept above all criticism - that is the Fuehrer.
"The reason is that everyone feels and knows: he was always right and will always be right. The National Socialism of us all is anchored in the uncritical loyalty, in the devotion to the Fuehrer that does not ask for the wherefore in the individual case, in the tacit performance of his commands. We believe that the Fuehrer is fulfilling a divine mission to German Destiny! This belief is beyond challenge." (Hess, Speeches [Reden] Munich, 1928, page 25; Radio speech at Cologne, 25 June 1934)
5. The Technique of the State-"Therefore the Fuehrer principle in administration means; instead of the results of a majority vote, to entrust in each case the decision to a definite person with clear-cut authority who will be solely responsible toward above and who will carry out the execution of the decision toward below. (Hans Frank, German Law, [Deutsches Recht] V. 11, Berlin, 1941, p. 2626; also Otto Koellreutter, German Administrative Law, [Deutsches Verwaltungsrecht], Berlin, 1938, p.8.
* U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1946-693257
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
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USA v. Pohl et. al - The Arraignment
II. Arraignment
Extract from transcript of Military Tribunal II, Case 4, in the matter of the
United States of America vs. Oswald Pohl, et al.,
defendants, sitting at Nuernberg, Germany, on 10 March 1947, Judge Toms presiding.
PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: There is before the Tribunal Case 4, United States of America against Oswald Pohl and others. The chief of counsel will read the
indictment
. It might be better to ascertain that all the defendants named in the
indictment
are present.
THE MARSHAL: May it please your Honor, all the defendants are present in the courtroom.
[At this point, Mr. McHaney read the
indictment
. For text, see pp. 200 to 208.]
*     *     *     *     *     *     *
PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: As the name of each defendant is called, he will stand and answer the questions put to him by the Tribunal and give his answers into the microphone.
DR. SEIDL (counsel for defendant Oswald Pohl): Mr. President, before the defendants are heard with reference to the question of guilt, I beg to have the opportunity to make an application on behalf of defendant Oswald Pohl, which refers to the indictment.
PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: You have already filed a written motion in behalf of defendant Pohl?
DR. SEIDL: On the first of March of this year I submitted an application in writing to the Secretary General, demanding on behalf of the defense, a supplement of facts with regard to the indictment. I should like to repeat this application here in open session of the Tribunal and should like to give a verbal argument in favor of it.
PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: The Tribunal has before it your written application or motion and it will be heard in due time, but we will proceed with the arraignment on the indictment as filed.
PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: Oswald Pohl, did you receive a copy of the
indictment
in this case on 13 January 1947?
DEFENDANT POHL: Yes.
Q. Are you represented by counsel?
Q. How do you plead to this
indictment
, guilty or not guilty?
A. I declare that I am not guilty.
Q
on the indictment as filed. PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: Oswald Pohl, did you receive a copy of the indictment in this case on 13 January 1947? DEFENDANT POHL: Yes. Q. Are you represented by counsel? Q. How do you plead to this indictment , guilty or not guilty? A. I declare that I am not guilty. Q. You may be seated.
[At this point the balance of the defendants were arraigned. All pleaded not guilty to the charges of the
indictment
.]
PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: The Secretary General will enter on behalf of each of the several defendants a plea of not guilty.
The Court has just signed the order approving the application of Dr. von Stein as attorney for the defendant Franz Eirenschmalz.
Various motions have been filed on behalf of the defendants Frank, [Hans] Loerner, Hohberg, Pohl, Pook, and Bobermin asking for various types of relief, particularly with reference to the
indictment
. These motions will be determined by the Tribunal in advance of the trial, and argument on the motions will be permitted, if requested.
Am I right Mr. McHaney, in stating that it is proposed to start the taking of proof in this case tentatively on 24 March?
MR. MCHANEY: That is correct, your Honor.
PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: Counsel for the defendants will be advised of that plan and will be ready to proceed on that day, unless otherwise notified in the meantime.
There being nothing further before the Tribunal at this moment, the Tribunal will be in recess without day, but with the advice to counsel that the next probable session of the Tribunal will be 24 March at 9:30 o'clock and in courtroom 581, not in this room.
Court will be in recess.
Source:
Trials of the War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10
Nuernberg October 1946-April 1949
Volume V
Washington, DC : Government Printing Office, 1950
Nuremberg War Crimes Trial Page
The Pohl Case
1. THE LAW UNDER WHICH NAZI ORGANIZATIONS ARE ACCUSED OF BEING CRIMINAL The following argument on the law and policy involved in the prosecution's charge that certain Nazi groups and organizations should be declared criminal, was delivered by Justice Jackson before the Tribunal on 28 February 1946. May it please the Tribunal: The unconditional surrender of Germany created, for the victors, novel and difficult problems of law and administration. Since it is the first such surrender of an entire and modernly organized society, precedents and past experiences are of little help in guiding our policy toward the vanquished. The responsibility implicit in demanding and accepting capitulation of a whole people must of necessity include a duty to discriminate justly and intelligently between opposing elements of the population which bore dissimilar relations to the policies and conduct which led to the catastrophe. This differentiation is the objective of those provisions of the Charter which authorize this Tribunal to declare organizations or groups to be criminal. Understanding of the problem which the instrument attempts to solve is essential to its interpretation and application. A. The Problem of the Nazi Organizations. One of the sinister peculiarities of German society at the time of the surrender was that the State itself played only a subordinate role in the exercise of political power, while the really drastic controls over German society were organized outside its nominal government. This was accomplished through an elaborate network of closely knit and exclusive organizations of selected volunteers oath-bound to execute, without delay and without question, the commands of the Nazi leaders. These organizations penetrated the whole German life. The country was subdivided into little Nazi principalities of about 50 households each, and every such community had its recognized party leaders, party police, and its undercover party spies. These were combined into larger units with higher ranking leaders, executioners and spies. The whole formed a pyramid of power outside the law, with the Fuehrer at its apex, and with the local party officials as its broad base resting heavily on the German population. The Nazi despotism, therefore, did not consist of these individual defendants alone. A
into larger units with higher ranking leaders, executioners and spies. The whole formed a pyramid of power outside the law, with the Fuehrer at its apex, and with the local party officials as its broad base resting heavily on the German population. The Nazi despotism, therefore, did not consist of these individual defendants alone. A thousand little fuehrers dictated, a thousand imitation Goerings strutted, a thousand Schirachs incited the youth, a thousand Sauckels worked slaves, a thousand Streichers and Rosenbergs stirred hate, a thousand Kaltenbrunners and Franks tortured and killed, a thousand Schachts and Speers and Funks administered, financed, and supported the movement. The Nazi movement was an integrated force in city and county and hamlet. The party power resulting from this system of organizations first rivaled, and then dominated, the power of the State itself. The primary vice of this web of organizations was that they were used to transfer the power of coercing men from the government and the law to the Nazi leaders. Liberty, self-government, and security of persons and property do not exist except where the power of coercion is possessed only by the State and is exercised only in obedience to law. The Nazis, however, set up a private system of coercion, outside of and immune from law, with party-controlled concentration camps and firing squads to administer privately decreed sanctions. Without responsibility to law and without warrant from any court, they were enabled to seize property, take away liberty, and even take life itself. These organizations had a calculated and decisive part in the barbaric extremes of the Nazi movement. They served cleverly to exploit mob psychology and to manipulate the mob. Multiplying the numbers of persons in a common enterprise tends to diminish each individual's sense of moral responsibility and to increase his sense of security. The Nazi leaders were masters of this technique. They manipulated these organizations to make before the German populace impressive exhibitions of numbers and of power. These were used to incite a mob spirit and then riotously to gratify the popular hates they had inflamed and the Germanic ambition they had inflated. These organizations indoctrinated and practiced
They manipulated these organizations to make before the German populace impressive exhibitions of numbers and of power. These were used to incite a mob spirit and then riotously to gratify the popular hates they had inflamed and the Germanic ambition they had inflated. These organizations indoctrinated and practiced violence and terrorism. They provided the systematized, aggressive, and disciplined execution throughout Germany and the occupied countries of the whole catalogue of crimes we have proven. The flowering of the system is represented in the fanatical SS General Ohlendorf, who told this Tribunal without shame or trace of pity how he personally directed the putting to death of 90,000 men, women, and children. No tribunal ever listened to a recital of such wholesale murder as this Tribunal heard from him and from Wisliceny, a fellow officer of the SS. Their own testimony shows the responsibility of the SS for the extermination program which took the lives of five million Jews, a responsibility the organization welcomed and discharged methodically, remorselessly, and thoroughly. These crimes are unprecedented ones because of the shocking numbers of victims. They are even more shocking and unprecedented because of the large number of persons who united to perpetrate them. All scruple or conscience of a very large segment of the German people was committed to Nazi keeping, and its devotees felt no personal sense of guilt as they went from one extreme measure to another. On the other hand, they developed a contest in cruelty and a competition in crime. Ohlendorf from the witness stand accused other SS commanders, whose killings exceeded his, of "exaggerating" their figures. There could be no justice and no wisdom in an occupation policy which imposed upon passive and unorganized and inarticulate Germans the same burdens as it placed upon those who voluntarily banded themselves together in these powerful and notorious gangs. One of the basic requirements, both of justice and of successful administration of the occupation responsibility of the victors, is a segregation of these organized elements from the masses of Germans for separate treatment. It seems beyond controversy that to punish a few top leaders but
notorious gangs. One of the basic requirements, both of justice and of successful administration of the occupation responsibility of the victors, is a segregation of these organized elements from the masses of Germans for separate treatment. It seems beyond controversy that to punish a few top leaders but to leave this web of organized bodies unscotched in the midst of German postwar society, would be to foster the nucleus of a new Nazidom. The members are accustomed to an established chain of centralized command; they have formed a habit and developed a technique of both secret and open cooperation. They still nourish a blind devotion to the suspended, but not abandoned, Nazi program. They will keep alive the hates and ambitions which generated the orgy of crime we have proved. They are carriers, from this generation to the next, of the infection of aggressive and ruthless war. The Tribunal has seen on the screen how easily an assemblage that ostensibly is only a common labor force can be in fact a military training unit drilling with shovels. The next war and the next pogroms will be hatched in the nests of these organizations as surely as we leave their membership with its prestige and influence undiminished by condemnation and punishment. The menace of these organizations is the more impressive when we consider the demoralized state of German society. It will be years before there can be established in the German State any political authority that is not inexperienced and provisional. It cannot quickly acquire the stability of a government aided by long habit of obedience and traditional respect. The intrigue, obstruction, and possible overthrow, which older and established governments fear from conspiratorial groups, is a real and present danger to any stable social order in the Germany of today and of tomorrow. Insofar as the Charter of this Tribunal contemplates a justice of retribution, it is obvious that it could not overlook these organized instruments and instigators of past crimes. In opening this case, I said that the United States does not seek to convict the whole German people of crime. But it is equally important that this trial shall not serve to absolve the whole German people except 22 men in the dock. The