Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume I

1135 Pages·2007·49.45 MB·English

.

NAZI CONSPIRACY

AND AGGRESSION

6
Chief of Counsel Prosecution
of Axis Criminality
For Sale by the

Superintendent of Documents

U. S. Government Printing Office

Washington 25, D. C.
A Collection of Documentary Evidence and Guide Materials
Prepared by the American and British Prosecuting Staffs for
tentation before the International Military Tribunal at Nurn-
berg, Germany, in the case of
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE FRENCH RE-
PUBLIC, THE UNITED KINGDOlM OF GREAT BRITAIN
AND NORTHERN IRELAND, and THE UNION OF
SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
- -
against
HERMAINN WILHELM GOERING, RUDOLF HESS,
JOACHIM von RIBBENTROP, ROBERT LEY, WILHELM
KEITEL, ERNST KALTENBRUNNER, ALFRED ROS-
ENBERG, HANS FRANK, WILHELM FRICK, JULIUS
STREICHER, WALTER FUNK, HJALMAR SCHACHT,
GUSTAV KRUPP vm BOHLEN und HALBACH, KARL
DOENITZ, ERICH RAEDER, BALDUR von SCHIRACH,
FRITZ SAUCKEL, ALFRED JODL, MARTIN BORMANN,
FRANZ von PAPEN, ARTUR SEYSS-INQUART, A L
BERT SPEER, CONSTANTIN von NEURATH, and HANS
FRITZSCHE, Individually and as Members of Any of the
Following Groups or Organizations to which They Respec-
tively Belonged, Namely : DIE REICHSREGIERUNG
(REICH CABINET); DAS KORPS DER POLITISCHEN
LEITER DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUT-
SCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (LEADERSHIP CORPS OF
THE NAZI PARTY); DIE SCHUTZSTAFFELN DER
NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEIT-
ERPARTEI (commonly known as the "SS") and including
DIE SICHERHEITSDIENST (commonly known as the
"SD"); DIE GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI (SECRET
STATE POLICE, commonly known as the "GESTAPO") ;
DIE STURMABTEILUNGEN DER N.S.D.A.P. (commonly
known as the "SA") and the GENERAL STAFF and HIGH
COMMAND of the GERMAN ARMED FORCES all as de-
fined in Appendix B of the Indictment,
Defendants.
iii
C O N T E N T S
Pane

Preface ......................................................... v

Chapter
.
I Agreement by the United States. France. Great Britain. and the

Soviet Union for the Prosecution and Punishment of the Major

........................
War Criminals of the European Axis 1

.
I1 Charter of the International Military Tribunal and Protocol of
............................................
6 October 1945 4

. .
I11 International Military Tribunal, Indictment No 1 and Statement

. . ................
of Reservation Filed by U S Chief of Counsel 13

.
IV Motions, ~ulin~asn;d Explanatory Material Relating to Certain
of r;he Defendants .............. ....... 83

1. Robert Ley ............................................. 83

. ..................
2 Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach 84

3. Martin Bormann ....................................... 94

. ...................................
4 Ernst Kaltenbrunner 95

. ........................................
5 Julius Streicher 96

. ...........................................
6 Rudolf Hess 97

. ......................
V Opening Address for the United States 114

. ....................
VI Organization of the Nazi Party and State 175

.
VII Means used by the Nazi Conspirators in Gaining Control of the
........................................
German State 184

.
1 Co.mmon Objectives, Methods, and Doctrines of the Con-
.................................................
spiracy 184

. ..............
2 Acquisition of Totalitarian Political Control 199

. .............
3. Consolidation of Totalitarian Political Control 218

..........
4 Purge of Political Opponents and Terrorization 239

.
5 Destruction of the Free Trade Unions and Acquisition of

...............
. Control over the Productive Labor Capa.c.i.ty. ............... 252

6. Suppression of the Christian Churches 263

7 Adoptibn and' Publication of the Program for Persecution
...............................................
of Jews 296

. ...........
8 Reshaping of Education and Training of Youth 312

9. Propaganda, Censorship, and' Supervision of Cultural Ac-
........................................
tivities 328

. ....................
10 Militarization of Nazi Organizations. 341

. .........................
VIII Economic Aspects of the Conspiracy 349

. ...........................
IX Launching of Wars of Aggression 370

. .........................
,,I The Plotting of Aggressive War 370

8, . Preparation for Aggression: 1933-1936 ................... 410
.

. .............................
-3 Aggression Against Austria 450
. - 4. The Execution of the Plan to Invade Czechoslovalria ........ 515

. ................
,-6 Opening Address for the United Kingdom 593

--6 . Aggression as a Basic Nazi Idea: Mein Kampf ............ 644

. ......................................
7 Treaty Violations 651

8. Aggression against Poland, Daniig, England and France ... 673

. ................
9 Aggression against Norway and Denmark 733

.
10 Aggression against Belgium. the Netherlands, and Luxum-
...............................................
bourg 760

111. Aggression against Greece and Yugoslavia ............... 775

. ...........................
12 Aggression against the USSR 794

.
13 Collaboration with Italy and Japan and Aggressive War
against the United States: November 1936 to December 1941 840
.
X The Slave Labor Program, the Illegal Use of Prisoners of War.

and the Special Responsibility of Sauckel and Speer Therefor 875

. ......................................
XI Concentration Camps 949

XI1. The Persecution of the Jews ................................. 978

. ..............................
XI11 Germanization and Spoliation 1023

. ................................
XIV The plunder of Art Treasures 1097
iv
PREFACE
I .
On the 2d day of May 1945, President Truman signed Executive
Order 9547 appointing Justice Robert H. Jackson as Representa-
tive of the United States and as its Chief of Counsel in the prepa-
ration and prosecution of the case against the major Axis war
criminals. Since that date and up-to the present, the staff of the
Officeo f Chief of Counsel, or OCC, has been engaged continuously
in the discovery, collection, examination, translation, and mar- #
shalling of documentary evidence demonstrating the criminality
of the former leaders of the German Reich. Since the 20th day
of November 1945, a considerable part of this documentary ar-
senal has been directed against the 22 major Nazi war criminals
who are on trial before the International Military Tribunal in
Nurnberg. As of this writing the American and British cases-
in-chief, on Counts I and I1 of the Indictment charging, respec-
tively, conspiracy and the waging of wars of aggression, have
been completed.
'
There is perhaps no need to recall in these pages that the Nurn-
berg trial represents the first time in history that legal proceed-
ings have been instituted against leaders of an enemy nation. It
is perhaps equal supererogation to state here that there are no
exact precedents for the charges made by the American, British,
French, and Russian prosecutors that to plot or wage a war of
aggression is a crime for which individuals may be puqished. Yet
it was because of these very facts that in its indictment the pros-
ecution presented a challenge to itself quite as great as to the
defense. A heavy burden was laid on the accusing nations to
make sure that their proof measuredip to the magnitude of their
accusations, and that the daring of their grand conception was
matched by the industry of their research, lest the hard-bought
opportunity to make International Law a guardian of peace should
fail by default.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the American collecting and
processing of documentary evidence, under the general direction
of Col. Robert G. Storey, gradually developed into an operation of
formidable scope. Although some pieces of evidence were secured
in Washington and London, by far the greater part was obtained
in the land of the enemy. As the American Armies had swept
into Germany, military investigating teams had filled document
centers with an increasing wealth of materials which were freely
PREFACE
made available by the Army to OCC field investigators. Special
assistance was given by the Document Section, G-2 Division,
SHAEF, and by the Document Sections of the Army Groups and
Armies operating in the European Theater. OCC investigators
also made valuable discoveries while prospecting on their own.
They soon found themselves embarrassed with riches. Perhaps
foremost among the prize acquisitions was the neatly crated col-
lection of all the personal and official correspondence of Alfred
Rosenberg, together with a great quantity of Nazi Party corre-
spondence. This cache was discovered behind a false wall in an
old castle in Eastern Bavaria, where it had been sent for safe-
keeping. Another outstanding collection consisted of thirty-nine
leather-bound volumes containing detailed inventories. of the art
treasures of Europe which had been looted by the ~insatxstah
Rosenberg. These catalogues, together with much of the priceless
plunder itself, were found hidden deep in an Austrian salt mine.
An innocent-appearing castle near Marburg was found to contain
some 485 tons of crated papers, which inspection revealed to be
the records of the German Foreign Office from 1837 to 1944.
Among other outstanding bulk acquisitions were more than 300
crates of German High Command files, 85 notebooks containing
minutes of Hitler's conferences, and the complete files of the
German Navy.
The task was to screen thoroughly this abundance of material
so as to overlook no relevant item, and yet at the same time
to obtain the proof and to translate it in season, so as not to
deIay preparation of the Indictment or commencement of the trial.
The procedures followed in this process are described in the affi-
davit of Maj. William H. Coogan (001-A-PS), which is listed nu-
merically among the documents. As a result of those procedures,
more than 100,000 documents were individually examined in order
\
to segregate those of importance. Of these 100,000 documents,
approximately 4,000 were found to be of clear or potential value.
This group of 4,000 was further reduced through exacting stand-
ards of elimination to a total of some 2,000 documents which it
was proposed to offer in evidence, and which make up the bulk of
this publication. Thus, the documents presented in these volumes
are the fittest survivors of a rigorous sifting. Each of them has
met requirements designed to ensure the selection of only the
most significant in bearing on the American, case. Documents
primarily concerned with the report of individual barbarities or
perversions were excluded, in conformity with the emphasis placed
upon those tending to prove elements in the Nazi Master Plan.
These documents consist, in the main, of official papers found
PREFACE
in archives of the German Government and Nazi Party, diaries
and letters of prominent Germans, and captured reports and or-
ders. There are included, in addition, excerpts from governmental
and Party decrees, from official newspapers and from authorita-
tive German publications. The authenticity of all these materials
is established by Maj. Coogan's affidavit (001-A-PS). Considered
together, they reveal a fairly comprehensive view of the inner
workings and outward deeds of the German government and of
the Nazy Party, which were always concealed from the world, and
for which the world will always hold the Hitler regime in horror
and contempt.
I1
It is important that it be clearly understood what this collection
of documents is not. In the first place, it is neither an official
record nor an unofficial transcript of the trial proceedings. It is
not designed to reproduce what has taken place in court. It is
merely the documentary evidence prepared by the American and
British prosecuting staffs, and is in no wise under the sponsorship
of the Tribunal. It is presented in the belief that this collection
containing the full text of the documents, classified under appro-
priate subjects, may be more useful to students of the Nurnberg
trial than the official record, when prepared, may be.
The reason for this goes back to the first few days of the trial,
when the Tribunal ruled that it would treat no written matter
as in evidence unless it was read in full, word by word, in court.
The purpose of the ruling was to enable the documentary ma-
terial which the American and British staffs had translated from
German into English to be further translated into Russian and
French through the simultaneous interpreting system in the court-
room. The consequence, however, was to enforce upon the Amer-
ican and British prosecution the task of trimming their evidence
drastically unless the trial was to be protracted to an unconscion-
able length. Counsel therefore had to content themselves in most
instances with introducing, by reading verbatim, only the most
vital parts of the documents relied upon. Only these evidentiary
minima appear in the daily transcript, and presumably, since no
more is officially in evidence under the Tribunal's ruling, no more
can properly be included in the official record. It has frequently
been the case, furthermore, that different parts of certain docu-
ments were read in proof of different allegations, and hence are
scattered throughout the transcript. American counsel, in several
instances, read only sketchy portions of some documents, leaving
other portions, at the request of the French and Soviet delega-
vii
PREFACE
tions, to be read later as a part of their case. Still other portions
of the same document will undoubtedly be read later on by the
defense. It is an unavoidable consequence that the transcript it-
self will be a thing of shreds and patches, and.that any compre-
hensive and orderly notion of the documentary evidence must be
obtained elsewhere. The documentary excerpts, when accompa-
nied by the explanation of trial counsel, are of course sufficient for
the trial and for the judgment of the Tribunal. But the purposes
of historians and scholars will very likely lead them to wish to
examine the documents in their entirety. It is to those long-
range interests that these volumes are in the main addressed.
Secondly, this collection of documents is not the American case.
It is at once more and less than that. It is less, because it of
course cannot include the captured motion picture and still photo-
graphic evidence relied upon, and because it contains only a few
of the organizational charts and visual presentation exhibits util-
ized at the trial. It is more, because although it does contain all
the evidence introduced either in part or in whole by the Amer-
ican staff in proof of Count I, it also includes many documents not
introduced into evidence at all. There were various reasons for
not offering this material to the Tribunal: the documents were
cumulative in nature, better documents were available on the
same point, or the contents did not justify the time required for
reading. (The document index at the end of Volume VIII is marked
to indicate which documents were introduced, either in whole or in
part, in evidence.) Of more than 800 American documents so far
introduced in evidence, a small number were received through
judicial notice or oral summarization, while some 500 were read,
in part or in whole, in court. Approximately 200 more went into
evidence in the first few days of the trial, under an earlier ruling
of the Tribunal which admitted documents without reading, and
merely on filing with the court after proof of authenticity. Of
the documents not now in evidence and thus not before the Tri-
bunal for consideration in reaching its decision, many have been
turned over to the French and Soviet prosecuting staffs and, by
the time these volumes are published, will have been introduced
in the course of their cases. Others will have been put before the
Tribunal by the American case in rebuttal or utilized in cross-
examining witnesses called by the defense.
This publication includes a series of affidavits prepared under
the direction of Col. John Harlan Amen, chief of the OCC In-
terrogation Division. Those which were introduced into evidence
are listed among the documents in the PS series. A number of
affidavits which were not offered to the Tribunal are printed in a
PREFACE
separate section at the end of the document series. Affidavits of
the latter type were prepared in an attempt to eliminate surprise
by delineating clearly the testimony which the affiant might be ex-
pected to give in court, should it be decided to call him as a wit-
ness. In the case of the affiants who testified in court, their af-
fidavits represent a substantially accurate outline of their testi-
mony on direct examination. Others of the affiants may, by the
time of publication, have been called as rebuttal witnesses for the
pmsecution. In addition, there are included selected statements
of certain defendants and prisoners written to the prosecutors
from prison. It should be mentioned in this connection that as a
result of many months of exhaustive questioning of the defend-
ants, prisoners of war, and other potential witnesses, the Interro-
gation Division has harvested approximately 15,000 typewritten
pages of valuable and previously unavailable information on a
variety of subjects. These extensive transcripts represent approx-
imately 950 individual interrogations and are presently being
edited and catalogued in Nurnberg so that the significant mate-
rials may be published in a useful form and within a manageable
sdope, as a supplement to these present volumes.
-

This collection also includes approximately 200 documents ob-
tained and processed by the British prosecuting staff, known as
the British War Crimes Executive, and presented in substantia-
tion of Count I1 of the Indictment, which the British delegation
assumed the responsibility of proving. It seems altogether fitting
that these documents should be included in these volumes since,
in proving illegal acts of aggression, they naturally supplement
the American documents proving the illegal conspiracy to commit
aggression. The American prosecuting staff is grateful to Sir
I
David Maxwell-Fyfe, the British Deputy Chief Prosecutor, from
'
whom and from ,the goodly company of whose associates there has
ever been the most generous cooperation, for consent to the publi- ,
cation of the British documents by the United States Government.
Under the division of the case agreed on by the Chief Prosecu-
tors of the four Allied nations, the French and Soviet delegates
are responsible for the presentation of evidence bearing on the
proof of Count I11 (War Crimes) and Count IV (Crimes against
Humanity) of the Indictment. The French case will concern it-
self with these crimes when committed in the West, while the
Russian evidince will concern the commission of these crimes in
the East. None of the documents obtained by these two prosecut-
ing nations are included in these volumes. The reason is that,
at this writing, the French case has just commenced and the
Soviet case will not be reached for several weeks. Since one of