11. , Reichsfuehrer SS HEINRICH HIMMLER

11. , Reichsfuehrer SS HEINRICH HIMMLER

The Security Squadron as an Anti-Bolshevist Battle Organization. 1936.

Central Publishing House of the NSDAP., Franz Eher, Succ. Munich

OBEDIENCE.

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The fourth directive and virtue, which applies to us, is that of obedience; of obedience, which arises unconditionally through the highest spontaneity, through the service to our ideology [Weltanschauung], which is ready to make every necessary sacrifice of pride, superficial honors and of everything, which is dear and valuable to us; of obedience, not hesitating once, but following every order, which is given by the Fuehrer, or has lawfully been given by one of the superiors; the virtue of obedience, which keeps silent even during the time of the political fight, when the will of freedom believes to have to rise indignantly, which, with wide-awake senses and with strict attention toward the enemy, does not raise a finger, which also obeys unconditionally, and goes over to the attack, even if it should believe, in its heart, that it cannot conquer.

We are so honest, that we do not claim about ourselves, that all these laws are understood by the very last man, and in their last deepest sense. But we believe to be able to claim, that now for six years, the SS has generally assembled according to these directives, was organized and lives according to them. We know, that year for year, we will accept more of these virtues, and that they will more and more become the natural property of every SS man. We are convinced, when fate determines sooner or later, that as the first generation of the SS, we are no more, then we can hand down these virtues as a full heritage, as the best tradition to those, who are SS men after us.

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BLOOD and SOIL

I, as Reichsfuehrer SS, who am myself a peasant according to ancestry, blood and being, would like to state this second fact in front of you, German peasants: The idea of blood, advocated by the SS from the beginning would be condemned, if it were not tied eternally with the conviction about the value and holiness of the soil. From the beginning, the Race and Settlement Main Office [Rasse- und Siedlungs-Hauptamt], has incorporated the term “Blood and Soil” in its name, although with different words, but in the same meaning. I can assure you, that it is not a coincidence, that the Reich Leader of Peasants [Reichsbauernfuehrer des Deutschen Reiches] has belonged to the SS as a leader for years, and that he, as a SS Lt. Gen. is Chief of its Race and Settlement Main Office, as much as it is no coincidence, that I am a peasant, and belong to the Reich Council of Peasants [Reichsbauernrat]. Peasants and SS men both do not belong to those kind of men, who speak superfluously many kind and friendly words. But let it be said here clearly and plainly, as it was until now, so it should be according to our will in the future. Wherever Adolf Hitler’s peasants stand, they shall always have the SS at their side as their most faithful friend, just as we know, that wherever Adolf Hitler’s SS stands, it will have at its side the German peasant as its best friend and comrade. That is how it is today, and that is how it will be forever.

[Page 29]

I know that there are some people in Germany who become sick when they see these black coats; we understand the reason for this and do not expect that we shall be loved by too many. All those who love Germany close at heart will and shall respect us; those who shall fear us, in any way or at any time, must have a bad conscience toward the Fuehrer and the nation. For these persons we have established an organization called Security Service, and likewise, we the SS, place the men for the service in the Secret State Police. We shall unremittingly fulfill our task, the guaranty of the security of Germany from the interior, just as the Wehrmacht guarantees the safety of the honor, the greatness, and the peace of the Reich from the exterior. We shall take care that never again in Germany, the heart of Europe, will the Jewish-Bolshevistic revolution of sub-humans be able to be kindled either from within or through emissaries from without. Without pity we shall be a merciless sword of justice for all those forces whose existence and activity we know on the day of the slightest attempt, may it be today, may it be in decades or may it be in centuries.

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[Page 31]

Every one of us knows, that he does not stand alone, but that this tremendous force of two hundred thousand men, who are bound together by oath, gives him unmeasurable strength, and he knows as well, that he, as a representative of the black corps, must do honor to this community by his best performance at his place. Thus we assemble and march according to unalterable laws as a national socialist, soldierly order of distinctly Nordic men, and as a sworn community, of its clans, on our way into a far future, and we wish and believe, that we do not only want to be the descendants who fought it out better, but above that the ancestors of later generations, necessary for the eternal life of the German, Germanic people.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1852-PS

“THE GERMAN POLICE” by Dr. Werner Best, Pp. 14-20 1940 edition.

III. LAW. The conception and formation of “police” law, which governs the duties and activities of the “police” in detail, is based on the conception of the law and its formation in general.

1. Law. a. The personal-human (individual-human) conception of law.

For the personal-human (individual-human) conception, “law” is only that law laid down by those who are concerned with the validity of the law or those commissioned by them, in accordance with the rules of the fundamental law--the “constitution”--or a legal decree based on law, whereas the administrative decree which governs the actions of the authorities is not regarded as law. Every action which is not based upon the law and does not come within its framework, is wrong and illegal, insofar as it concerns individual men, because their agreement to such action cannot be stated or supposed.

b. The people’s conception of “Law”.

According to the people’s conception, law is every rule which fulfills the unity of the people’s “organs”--organizations and individuals--and which is sanctioned or approved by the leaders. There is, therefore, no difference between stronger and weaker “rules”, between “constitutional Law” and “common law”, between “law”, “orders” and “decrees”, between “public” and “private” law. The will of the leaders, in whatever form it is expressed whether through law, order, decree, single order or collective order, regulation of an organization or regulation of competence, etc., administers law and alters all theretofore valid law.

2. “Police” law. There is no written “Police” law of the German Reich, which rules the duties and activities of the Police (actual “Police” law).

The only government ruling, in which the “police duties” are mentioned, without any more detailed specification, is in the Fuehrer’s and Reich Chancellor’s decree concerning the appointment of the Chief of the German Police and Reich Ministry of the Interior, dated 17th June 1936 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 487):

For the unification of the police duties in the Reich, a chief of German Police of the Reichs Ministry of the Interior is appointed who will be commissioned with the leadership and organization of all police matters in the administrative sphere of the Imperial and Prussian Ministry of the Interior.

The contents of the “police duties”, which in this are specifically recognized by the leader as special State duties, must be gathered from the written and unwritten “law”, through which the action of the police is at present determined.

a. The written “police” law.

Written “police” law, which governs the duties and activities of the “police” exists at present only as common law of the individual German states. As an example, the Prussian Police Administration Law of 1.6.1931 (Prussian Law Manual, p. 77) is referred to.

The extent to which this written law can still be regarded as valid, evolves upon two points of view, insofar as differences of common law definitions can be established, firstly, to exercise duties uniformly in the German Reich, different rules in different districts cannot be recognized; secondly, in differences of common law, the laws drawn up by the national socialist regime take precedence over the laws of earlier times which are still valid.

The most important national socialist ruling on duties for a part of the “police” is contained in the Prussian Law of 10.2.1936 (Prussian Law Manual, p. 21) about the Secret State Police. Clause 1 of this law reads:

The Secret State Police has the task of investigating and combatting all activity dangerous to the state within the whole territory of the state, of collecting and evaluating the results of the investigations, of giving information to the government of the state, of keeping other authorities posted as to facts important for them, and of supplying them with suggestions. The Chief of the Secret State Police in agreement with the Minister of the Interior decides what individual matters come within the sphere of the Secret State Police.

The sphere of competence of the organs of the ordinary administration of justice remains unaffected.

Thus the “police” task for a branch of the “police” has been defined according to the law of the land, in such a way that it conforms to the task which forms the basis of the people’s conception of “police”: the safeguarding of national order against disturbance and destruction.

The decree for the protection of people and state of 28.2.1933 (Reich Law Publication I p. 83) is to be regarded not as “police” law, i.e. as the direction of police duties and activity, but as the expression of the changed conception of “state” after the national socialist revolution, out of which arose the new conception of “police”. Paragraph 1 of this decree reads:

The articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124 and 153 of the constitution of the German Reich are annulled until further notice. Therefore restrictions as regards personal freedom, the right of free expression of opinion including freedom of the Press, the right of forming unions and holding meetings, infringements on the secrecy of letter, post, telegraph and telephone communications, orders for house-searches and confiscation of property, as well as restrictions on property, even beyond the limits already fixed by law, are admissible.

By means of this legal statement it was formally made clear at the very moment of the revolution, that individual decisions of the law valid until then, even of constitutional law, are no longer to be used, as they are incompatible with the new conception of “state”; since that time countless other legal decisions of the past--even those of constitutional law--have been regarded as being no longer applicable without formal repeal or annulment, because they are no longer compatible with the new constitution of the state. The decree of 28.2.1933 for the protection of people and state was not a “legal foundation”, i.e. a statement of their duties and their activity, but only the confirmation of the fact that the duties which they had already begun to undertake were in accordance with the will of the highest governing body to set things right.

Both the second clause of the law of 18.3.1938 (Reich Law Publication I p. 262) dealing with the reunification of Austria and the German Reich and the third clause of the decree of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor of 22.10.1938 (Reich Law Publication I p. 1453) dealing with the administration of the Sudeten-German territories, served as the desired formal clarification, in the territories newly acquired by the Reich, that the restrictive legal decisions of the past must not stand in the way of the fulfilling by the “police” of their duties in Reich territory. The first paragraph of both these clauses is practically identical and reads:

The Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior can take the necessary measures for the maintenance of security and order (in the decree of 22.10.1938: administrative measures) even beyond the legal limits otherwise laid down for this purpose.

b. The unwritten “Police” law.

Not only the legal regulations drawn up by the national socialist regime, but also the whole activity of the German police since the year 1933 sanctioned by the highest governing body of the Reich--and partly on its sole instructions--as well as the rearrangement of the “police” regulations, show that the duty of the “police” is conceived by the government in the sense represented here, and that any other conception of the duty of the “police” can no longer be valid.

Thus all legal definitions which are at odds with this must be considered as altered in the sense of this new conception, without formal cancellation or alteration of the individual earlier laws. For the making of laws as a result of popular “voices” working together, of actively operating organizations and of “actively” or “passively” cooperating individuals, for the fulfilling of a definite task--here the task of the “police”--must not be contradictory in itself, or only because an individual law drawn up at an earlier date has not been formally altered, and to which laws at variance with the will of the government remain tied. At an early date this conception became evident in the administration of justice of individual German High Administrative Courts. The High Administrative Court of Saxony has already explained in a decision of 18.1.1935 (published in the Reich Administrative Publication of 1935, p. 117 ff.):

According to it (the national socialist conception of state and law), law is not the sum total of the single regulations expressly laid down by the legislator. Legislation is rather only the expression of the ideas of right which are rooted in the people. Not legislation but these ideas of law (“conceptions of right”), according to which laws are formed in steady development, represent “law” * * * In this sense, “law” as common law, i.e. as the orderly way in which the people lives as a community, is recognized as taking precedence over the statutes themselves.

This means that the orderly or regular way in which the people fulfills the “police” task through its “voices”--organizations and individuals--is “police” law, which takes precedence over statutory law, insofar as this does not reproduce the contents of the “police” law which is valid at the time but which belongs to an earlier date and has meanwhile been altered.

The unwritten “police” law, i.e. law which is not laid down in statutory form, by means of which all “police” action is determined, does not however consist of mere “ideas of law” which are “rooted in the people”, but of many sorts of regulations which in different forms--law, order, decree, single command, general command, organizational and competence regulations, etc.--were laid down by the highest governing body of the Reich or with its sanction. The “police” never acts in a lawless or illegal manner so long as it acts according to the rules laid down by its superiors--up to the highest governing body. The High Administrative Court of Hamburg rightly states in its judgment of 19.11.1937 (published in the Juristischen Wochenschrift 1937, p. 3335 f.):

According to its nature, the police must only deal with what the government wants to know is being dealt with.

What the “government” wants to know is being “dealt with” by the police is the essence of “police” law, and is that which guides and restricts the actions of the police. As long as the “police” carries out the will of the government, it is acting legally; should it overstep the will of the government, then it is no longer a matter of “police” action, but it is a case of a breach of duty by a member of the police.

Whether the will of the government lays down the “right” rules, i.e. those possible and necessary for police action--thus the “police” law suitable for and beneficial to the people--is no longer a question of law, but a question of fate. For actual misuse of the “right-to-put-right” on the part of a people’s government, whether it consist of harmful severity or of harmful weakness, will be punished more surely before history by fate itself with misfortune and overthrow and ruin, because of the violation of the “laws of life”, than by a State Court of Justice.

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As the intelligence service of the German National Socialist Labor Party, the Security Service has first of all the task of investigating and keeping a watch over all forces, events and facts which are of importance for the domination of the National Socialist idea and movement in German territory. With this task follows that duty laid down by the Reich Minister of the Interior--the duty of supporting the Security Police--which is fulfilled, so far as it goes, under State orders. In support of the task of the Security Police in securing the ranks of the German people against interference and destruction of any kind, the Security Service has to watch over every sphere of life of the German people with regard to the activities of inimical forces and the result of state and political measures, and to inform continually the competent State authorities and offices about the facts which have come to light. Finally, it has to investigate politically and explore fundamentally the activities and connections of the great ideological arch-enemy of National Socialism and the German people, in order thereby to render possible a purposeful and effective fight against it.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1855-PS

ORGANIZATION BOOK OF NSDAP, Page 418.

Bravery is valued by the SS man as the highest virtue of men in a struggle for his ideology.

He openly and unrelentingly fights the most dangerous enemies of the State: Jews, Free Masons, Jesuits, and political clergymen.

However, by his example, he recruits and convinces the weak and inconstant, who have not been able to bring themselves to the National Socialistic ideology.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1856-PS

HERMANN GOERING, SPEECHES AND ESSAYS.

Edited by Dr. Erich Gritzbach, Third Edition. Published by Central Publishing House of the NSDAP Franz Eher Successor, Muenchen. (1939)

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Excerpt from speech entitled: “We Bear the Responsibility”, delivered at an NSDAP demonstration on 3 March 1933, at Frankfurt am Main [page 27]:

Fellow Germans, my measures will not be crippled by any judicial thinking. My measures will not be crippled by any bureaucracy. Here I don’t have to give Justice, my mission is only to destroy and exterminate, nothing more! This struggle, fellow Germans, will be a struggle against chaos and such a struggle I shall not conduct with the power of any police. A bourgeoise state might have done that. Certainly, I shall use the power of the state and the police to the utmost my dear Communists, so that you won’t draw any false conclusions but the struggle to the death, in which my fist will grasp your necks, I shall lead with those down there,--those are the brown shirts.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1857-PS

VOELKISCHER BEOBACHTER, 26 July 1934 p.I.

The Fuehrer elevates the SS to a standing of an Independent Organization.

Munich, 25 July

The Reich Press Office announces the following order of the Fuehrer:

In consideration of the very meritorious service of the SS, especially in connection with the events of 30 June 1934, I elevate it to the standing of an independent organization within the NSDAP. The Reichsfuehrer SS, like the Chief of Staff, is therefore directly subordinate to the highest SS fuehrer. The Chief of Staff and the Reichsfuehrer SS are both invested with the party rank of Reichsleiter.

Munich, 20 July 1934.

/s/ Adolf Hitler.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1861-PS

1934 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 45

Law Regulating National Labor of 20 January 1934

The Government of the Reich has decided to enact the following law which is hereby made public:

SECTION I

The Leader of the enterprise and the board of employee representatives.

Paragraph 1

The entrepreneur works in the factory as leader of the enterprise together with the employees and the workers who constitute his followers for the furtherance of the aims of the enterprise and for the common benefit of people and state.

Paragraph 2

1. The leader of the enterprise makes the decisions for the employees and laborers in all matters concerning the enterprise, as far as they are regulated by this law.

2. He is responsible for the well-being of the employees and laborers. The employees and laborers owe him faithfulness according to the principles of the factory community.

Paragraph 3

1. In the case of legal persons and personal groups the legal representatives will be the leaders of the enterprises.

2. The entrepreneur or in the case of legal persons or personal groups, the legal representatives can appoint a person who participates in the management of the enterprise in a responsible capacity as their deputy. This must be done if they do not direct the enterprise themselves. In matters of lesser importance they can also appoint another person.

3. Should the court of honor legally deprive the leader of the enterprise of his qualifications to be a leader, then a new entrepreneur must be appointed.

Paragraph 4

1. Administrations are also considered as enterprises in the sense of this law.

2. Subordinate enterprises and parts of the enterprise which are connected with the main enterprise through common direction will only be considered as independent enterprises if they are situated far away from the main enterprise.

3. The regulations of this law, with the exception of paragraphs 32 and 33, do not apply to Ships, Inland navigation and Air-transport and their crews.

Paragraph 5

1. Representatives recruited from the employees and laborers act in an advisory capacity to the leader of an enterprise with, in the rule, at least 20 employees. They constitute with the leader and under his direction the board of representatives of the enterprise.

2. To the employees and laborers in the sense of the regulations concerning the board of representatives belong also the persons who do piece work at home, who work mainly for the same enterprise either alone or with their families.

Paragraph 6

1. It is the duty of the board of representatives to increase the mutual confidence within the enterprise-community.

2. It is the task of the board of representatives to discuss all measures concerning the improvement of the output, the form and execution of the general labor conditions, especially the enterprise regulations, the execution and the improvement of enterprise-protection, the strengthening of the ties between the members of the enterprise among themselves and toward the enterprise as well as the welfare of all the members of the community. It is furthermore their task to liquidate all quarrels within the enterprise-community. They must also be heard prior to the determination of punishment for violation of the plant-rules.

3. The board of representatives can charge certain representatives with the execution of certain of its tasks.

Paragraph 7

(1) The number of representatives is as follows:

in enterprises with 20- 49 employees 2 in enterprises with 50- 99 employees 3 in enterprises with 100-199 employees 4 in enterprises with 200-399 employees 5

(2) These numbers are increased by one representative for each 300 supplementary employees until they reach the maximum of ten representatives.

(3) An equal number of deputies shall be designated.

(4) Employees, workers and those who do piece work at home are to be considered in the choice of trustees.

The Chancellor of the Reich Adolf Hitler

The Reich Minister of Labor Franz Seldte

The Reich Minister of Economic Affairs Dr. Schmitt

The Reich Minister of Justice Dr. Guertner

The Reich Minister of Finance Graf Schwerin von Krosigk

The Reich Minister of Interior Frick

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1862-PS

1936 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 887

Ordinance for the Execution of the Four Year Plan of 18 October 1936.

The realization of the new Four Year Plan--announced by me at the Party Congress of Honor--requires homogeneous leadership of all forces in the German nation and the strict coordination of all competent authorities in Party and State.

The execution of the Four Year Plan, I intrust to Minister-President General Goering.

Minister-President General Goering shall take all steps necessary for the execution of the task put before him; he is authorized to issue decrees of ordinances and general administrative directives. He is empowered to receive reports from all governmental agencies, including the highest agencies of the Reich and from all Party offices, their departments and attached organizations--and issue orders to them.

Berchtesgaden, 18 Oct 36

The Fuehrer and Chancellor of the Reich Adolf Hitler

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1866-PS

Record of the conversation between the Reich Foreign Minister and the Duce in the Palazzo Venezia on the 13th May 1941, in the presence of Count Ciano.

To begin with the Reich Foreign Minister conveyed the Fuehrer’s greetings to the Duce.

He would shortly propose to the Duce a date for the planned meeting, which he would like to take place as soon as possible. As the place for the meeting he would probably prefer the Brenner. At the present moment he was, as the Duce well understood, still busy with the Hess affair and with a few military matters, but could be at his disposal after that for a meeting.

The Duce replied that he would agree with all the Fuehrer’s proposals concerning the place and date of this meeting. That he was prepared to go to Germany, to meet him at the Brenner, or to arrange for the conversation to take place anywhere else in Italy.

The Reich Foreign Minister then said that the Fuehrer had sent him to the Duce, in order to inform him about the Hess affair and the conversation with Admiral Darlan about the Hess affair. He remarked that the Fuehrer had been completely taken aback by Hess’ action, and that it had been the action of a lunatic.

Hess had been suffering for a long time from a bilious complaint and had fallen into the hands of magnetists and nature cure doctors who allowed his state of health to become worse.

All these matters were being investigated at the moment as well as the responsibility of the aides-de-camp who had known about Hess’ forbidden flights. Hess had for weeks carried out secret practice flights in a M.E. 110. Naturally he had acted only from idealistic motives. His being unfaithful to the Fuehrer was utterly out of the question. His conduct had to be explained by a kind of mysticism and a state of mind caused by his illness.

The Reich Minister went on to say that Hess was undoubtedly convinced that England was facing imminent defeat, but that the English could not take the step of drawing the necessary conclusions.

Being sympathetically inclined towards England Hess had conceived the crazy idea of using Great Britain’s Fascist circles to persuade the British to give in. He had explained all this in a long and confused letter to the Fuehrer. When this letter reached the Fuehrer, Hess was already in England. It was hoped in Germany that he would perhaps have an accident on the way, but he was now really in England and had tried to contact the former Marquis of Clydesdale, the present Duke of Hamilton. Hess quite wrongly considered him as a great friend of Germany and had flown to the neighbourhood of his castle in Scotland. He had thus carried out his plan at the risk of his life. The Fuehrer who was naturally and personally deeply stricken by these events, took up a very severe attitude under the circumstances, demoted Hess immediately and stated that he would have Hess shot immediately if he returned to Germany. The investigation of the event was continuing, but it was quite clear that Hess had not acted out of lack of faithfulness towards the Fuehrer.

The Duce replied that he was also of the opinion that Hess was no traitor. From the political point of view he did not consider the results of his action serious. He was wondering what Hess intended to say in England. It was said that his first words after being found were to the effect that he had always had a great sympathy for England.

Without failing to see that the psychological results of Hess’ flight were not slight, one could nevertheless say that the prosecution of the war and public opinion in the Axis countries remained untouched by it. In 3 or 4 days the whole affair would gradually subside. The question arose as to whether anyone in Germany knew about Hess’ attitude to England, and whether Hess had perhaps wanted to save England.

The Reich Foreign Minister remarked here that in Germany Hess had had supporters mainly among the * * * [illegible] party members, but that now every German was wondering how it was possible that Hess could have done such a thing. The Fuehrer would want first to see in what way enemy propaganda would make use of this affair. Considering England’s morale and its situation, Churchill could naturally not use Hess’ peace idea as propaganda material; this would immediately cause trouble among his own people. The British would probably rather direct their propaganda tactics towards making out that they regarded the whole event as a sign of discord and internal division and as an outcome of an allegedly difficult position of the Reich, and would also maintain that Germany would now no doubt have to make peace soon. If it should be necessary, the Fuehrer would carry out an energetic counter-attack against this propaganda and would, if necessary, summon the Reichstag, in order to clarify the whole situation there.

The Duce repeated his unworried view of the affair and remarked that to him also it seemed best that the whole truth should be told about the whole affair.

Going on to the matter of the talks with Admiral Darlan, the Reich Foreign Minister explained to the Duce that two subjects especially had been discussed:

1. the assistance which France could give in Syria for the support of Iraq, and

2. the facilities she could provide for German-Italian supplies to North Africa.

Darlan had agreed to deliver to Iraq certain quantities of arms and war materials out of the stocks stored in Syria under Italian control. Part of these arms would, no doubt, already be on their way to Iraq. Ambassador Rahn and a French official had flown to Syria and had submitted a directive of the Vichy Government to the local Government Commissioner, General Deuz, according to which he was to provide all the deliveries and other facilities recommended by the two delegates. Darlan had, furthermore, put landing places for German aircraft and stocks of petrol at their disposal.

At the same time, Ambassador von Papen had been recalled to Germany and been instructed, as he, the Reich Foreign Minister, could inform the Duce confidentially, to endeavour to obtain from the Turks permission for the secret passage of arms for Iraq through Turkish territory.

According to the impression he left, Darlan would certainly do all that was possible to help the Axis. Although, of course, one could not look into his heart, he yet definitely appeared to be an enemy of the English.

Should a large-scale transport of arms reach Iraq it would be possible to move airborne troops into the regions, who could then advance against the British with the material found there and who could, under certain circumstances, attack Egypt from the East from Iraq.

The Duce stated his point of view on the Iraq question:

1. One must definitely help Iraq, as a new front against the British would be created in this way and the indignation, not only of the Arabs, but also of the great number of Moslems would be aroused. Already the Grand Mufti had summoned the Arabs of the world to a holy war against England. In answer to an interpellation by the German Foreign Minister, the Duce declared that he ascribed a certain importance to these events in any case.

2. It would be necessary to get possession of Crete and Cyprus (the “anteroom” of Syria). If one could then obtain, from the French, permission to land troops and planes in Syria, the Axis powers help to Iraq could be very substantial. The Italians had already prepared five planes, which would proceed to Baghdad via Rhodes, in order to transport their 400 machine-guns, as well as 20 anti-tank guns. In addition, 12 fighter planes were ready for action.

Should the passage of arms through Turkey prove impossible, one would have to march against England from Syria. The great advantage here lay in the 100 km stretch of desert which had to be overcome in the event of an attack on Egypt from Syria, as compared with the 500 km stretch of desert in the case of an attack on Egypt from the West.

In answer to an interpolation by the Reich Foreign Minister as to how long Iraq would be able to hold out against the British, the Duce replied that the Head of the Iraq Government had declared that he could hold his own against the British, provided only he received some war material. If, however, he received no aid, opposition would, in the Duce’s opinion, be overcome by the British in 3 or 4 weeks. He was also wondering whether the de Gaullist movement in Syria would not perhaps put difficulties in the way of French assistance. The Reich Foreign Minister replied to that that Darlan appeared convinced that he could carry out the business in Syria as planned.

With regard to Tunis, the Reich Foreign Minister, reported on the purchase of lorries and the recent concession that these lorries could be sent to Tripolitania with freight. Darlan had agreed to place an Algerian harbour, Baume, at their disposal for the unloading of the materials transported by sea, (as these things could be carried out more easily in Algeria than in Tunis). The Reich Foreign Minister also mentioned, in this connection, that Darlan had told him that he would like it, for personal reasons, if lorries were sold to Germany only. Should Italy wish to obtain such vehicles from the French, he proposed that the sale should first take place to Germany, and that the trucks should then be given by the Reich to Italy. The Duce and Count Ciano agreed to this procedure.

In reply to the Duce’s question as to what Germany had conceded to France in exchange for these concessions, the Reich Foreign Minister pointed to the lowering of the occupation costs from 20 to 15 millions which, although it had not yet been definitely fixed, was expected, as well as to certain facilities with the regard to the Line of Demarcation. Further the rearming of some torpedo boats.

The Fuehrer had laid down as a principle that France could be granted facilities to the extent to which she on her part made the war against England for the Axis easier.

The Reich Foreign Minister answered the Duce’s question as to whether concessions had been made regarding French prisoners of war in the negative and mentioned that the Fuehrer had first of all reminded Darlan of how the German prisoners of war had only been released in the year 1920, when the World War had already been over a long time.

The Reich Foreign Minister further pointed out that he had suggested to Darlan that if France should now grant facilities for the continuation of the war against England, such an attitude would be taken into account when the peace was signed. Furthermore he had stressed to Darlan the necessity that France choose now, and place herself unambiguously on the side of the Axis. Germany had certain wishes concerning naval bases in Morocco for the maintenance of her submarines and surface vessels. If France agreed to that, she (Germany) would allow her some destroyers to arm, as she had long requested to do. Beyond this, Germany did not, for one moment, anticipate assistance from France on a larger scale, just as she did not expect the possible assistance of the French Fleet against England.

It had been made clear to Darlan that in future the Axis powers would be the decisive centre of power in Europe and that France would have to toe the line in this respect.

It was also pointed out that France must, of course, count on having to make concessions in the Mediterranean in the peace treaty; the Italian demands were indeed known to them. She might, however, receive compensation for the concessions elsewhere, e.g. in Africa, at the expense of England.

In a private tete-a-tete conversation, Darlan declared to the Reich Foreign Minister that he wished to assist the Axis powers against England under all circumstances, after the Reich Foreign Minister had analysed to him the three possibilities which offered themselves to France, namely, that France could either work against Germany, in which event she would be destroyed, or she could adopt a waiting attitude, which, however, would also be to her detriment. Finally she could give clear evidence of her will to cooperate with the Axis, and would then receive an honourable position amongst the peoples of Europe.

The Duce replied that there were two camps in France, those who wanted to wait, and those who were in favour of collaboration. When the Yugoslav campaign began, people in France had hoped that it would end unfavourably for the Axis. The opinion of French politicians was beginning to waver. Typical of the trend of public opinion was the fact, that in those days the monument of King Alexander of Yugoslavia in France had been decked with flowers by the population. But when the French saw how quickly Germany was victorious in the Balkans, they immediately turned round towards collaboration again. In Vichy the majority belonged to the camp that wanted to await events. Count Ciano here added that the only difference between Vichy and Paris was that in Paris people were saying: “Let us hope the British win,” whilst in Vichy people were saying, “Let us hope those British swine win”. To this the Reich Foreign Minister added, that of course chauvinists continued to exist in France and would have to be weeded out according to a plan yet to be laid down. In his opinion Pétain was an old fox, whose memory deserted him just at the moments when it best suited him. A few days before, and in connection with the invitation to Admiral Darlan to come to the Berghof [Hitler’s residence in Berchtesgaden], he had written a letter to the Fuehrer, which factually contained nothing of importance, but which nevertheless indicated that in France people were gradually becoming more and more certain that the war was finally lost. It was the Fuehrer’s opinion that final victory against England must under all circumstances be achieved. For this purpose he wanted to obtain from France a maximum of facilities, without in any way binding himself. The French questions would be dealt with on this basis, and it would now have to be seen how far Darlan was prepared to go along this road. But, as already stated, France would only be granted concessions in proportion to facilities for the battle against England. When the French would participate on a large scale in the battle against England was still undecided.

To this the Duce remarked that France could give many small, but very important bases to the Axis. In this connection he stressed the fact that France always drew closer to the Axis when the Axis gained a victory. But as soon as things were not making any proper headway, she made eyes at England and the United States. The latter, particularly, would have to be watched closely in this connection. The Reich Foreign Minister agreed with this and remarked that if France was to attach herself in any way to the Axis organization, this fact would make a deep impression on the United States.

The Duce agreed with this conception, and referred in this connection to the policy, expressed by the Fuehrer, of the unity of all Europe against England. Russia and Spain were alone absent from this united front. Serrano Suner had actually stated that Spain would march after this year’s harvest. But this seemed to him to be extremely doubtful. To this the Reich Foreign Minister remarked that at the beginning of this year Franco had unfortunately left the Axis completely in the lurch. This he had to note with regret again and again. If he had cooperated at that time, Gibraltar would today not be in the hands of the British, and the Spanish people would probably have far more to eat than now, when alms from England and America could not save them either.

The Duce returned to his remark concerning the united front of Europe against England and the two countries, Spain and Russia, that were absent from it, with the remark that, to him, it seemed that it would be advantageous if a policy of collaboration with Russia could be carried out. He asked the Reich Foreign Minister whether Germany excluded such a possibility, i.e. collaboration with Russia. The Reich Foreign Minister replied that Germany had treaties with Russia, and that the relations between the two countries were in other respects correct. He personally did not believe that Stalin would undertake anything against Germany. But should he do so, or should he carry out a policy that was intolerable to Germany, then he would be destroyed within 3 months.--The Duce agreed to this.--The Fuehrer would certainly not look for any quarrel, but he had nevertheless taken precautions for all eventualities. He had in no way come to any decision, but as a result of certain occurrences and want of clearness on the part of the Russians, he had become suspicious. Thus, for example, the Russians had strengthened their forces along their western Frontier, which of course caused Germany to reinforce her troops too, but only after the Russians started it.

But Russia would never be a problem that could have any influence on the final victory against England. She would never be able to interfere with Germany, for Germany had such a large number of troops available that she could easily deal with any eventuality.

The Duce then enquired whether Germany was not receiving deliveries of raw materials from Russia, whereupon the Reich Foreign minister mentioned the figures 1 million tons of oil and 1½ million tons of corn, and added that these deliveries were coming in relatively well.

During the further course of the conversation, the subject of Japan, and in particular the Japanese-American exchange of opinions, was touched upon. In this connection the Reich Foreign Minister stressed the fact that the principle that Japan shared a common destiny with Germany and Italy had been so clearly understood by the Japanese that he (the Reich Foreign Minister), did not think Japan would pursue a policy which would not in the end align itself once more with the policy pursued by Germany and Italy. In this connection the Reich Foreign Minister referred to Matsuoka’s remarks that he was forced into frequent manoeuvres for reasons of home politics, and that on occasion he might be forced to do things that would not be easily understood in Germany. At any rate he (the Reich Foreign Minister) trusted Matsuoka, although of course he could not know what was going on inside his heart. It was unfavourable that the discussions with Roosevelt were being conducted via Admiral Nomura, for at heart Nomura inclined rather towards the Anglo-Saxons. Matsuoka had, for the time being, made the following further enquiries:

1. Whether the United States were willing to enter into an undertaking not to enter into the European conflict, and

2. What was the attitude of the United States on the problem of the Philippines.

If against all expectations, Japanese policy should follow a course which does not correspond with the spirit of the Tripartite agreement, great opposition would certainly arise all over Japan and Ambassador Oshima would probably become the soul of such a real revolution. But these affairs should be handled carefully, and we should avoid creating unnecessary difficulties for Matsuoka.

The whole affair shows that Roosevelt is beginning to get alarmed, probably because he is gradually realizing that, in case of warlike complications, he can accomplish nothing, because of America’s bad armament position, and therefore wishes to keep his back free.

The Duce remarked, in this connection, that it would without doubt be favourable to Germany, and Italy if Matsuoka were in this manner to prevent the United States entering the war. On the other hand, the motive of his actions could, of course, also be Japan’s desire to keep out of the war herself.

To that, the German Foreign Minister remarked that, if a forcing hand were played and it were laid down that the American system of protecting convoys meant war, the Americans would most probably hesitate, because American rearmament was the biggest bluff in the world’s history.

In this connection the Duce referred to the split which had appeared in the United States and quoted speeches by Hoover and Lindbergh as the most prominent opponents of Roosevelt’s policy. As against this, the Jews and their propaganda were so strong that they had brought the whole of America under their influence. But if in a country a War party fights against a Peace party the War party usually wins, because war is much nearer the soul of man than peace.

The German Foreign Minister replied that the same naturally went for Japan as well, and that it was his conviction that sooner or later Japan would enter the war on the side of the Axis to exploit the opportunities offered. Anyhow he was absolutely certain that Japan would meet her treaty obligations.

The Duce went on to speak about Turkey, which he called Germany’s and Italy’s trump card. He asked the German Foreign Minister whether he believed that Turkey would go with Germany and Italy.

The German Foreign Minister replied that Germany was in the act of trying to influence Turkey in this sense. The preliminary conditions were favourable, in so much as it was not in Turkey’s interests to let great masses of English troops assemble in Iraq, so that Germany hoped to be able to draw the Turks over to her side. A certain improvement in the attitude of the Turkish press could already be noted.

Later on in the discussion the German Foreign Minister spoke about a great intended propaganda drive in the British Empire, with the motto that the Axis would support the liberation of all peoples oppressed by the British. In this connection he mentioned the presence in Germany of the Indian Nationalist leader--Bose--news which the Duce received with surprise and great interest. The Duce agreed to this kind of propaganda.

In conclusion, the German Foreign Minister explained the plans according to which he intended to employ Bose for Indian propaganda and he emphasized that the development of any antagonism between Bose and Ghandi should be avoided. Besides, Ghandi had written a very good article against the British a short while before.

In conclusion, the Duce mentioned in this connection that Italy was in contact with the Fakir of Ipi and was attempting by means of large sums of money to get him, as well as the Grand Mufti, to carry on some activity in the interests of the Axis. Even if these actions were not very extensive, they would nevertheless create some unpleasant difficulties for the English.

When parting, the possibility of having another discussion next morning shortly before the return flight of the German Foreign Minister, was left open.

This discussion took place in a very cordial spirit.

Fuschl, the 14th May 1941.

SCHMIDT.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1871-PS

Minutes of the conference between the Fuehrer and the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Ciano, in the presence of the Reich Foreign Minister of Obersalzberg on 12 August 1939.

At the beginning of the conference the Fuehrer with the aid of maps explained to Count Ciano the present situation of Germany from the military standpoint. He emphasized particularly the strength of the German fortifications in the west. There are three break-through points in the west at which the French had in former times always attempted to break through for geographical and strategic reasons, which have now been protected with particular care, so that a break-through seems impossible here as well. Moreover, fortifications have also been built along the Luxemburg and Belgian borders up to the Dutch border, so that a violation of Belgian neutrality would no longer give France any military advantages, but would only involve the danger that Belgium would join the German side in order to defend her neutrality and under pressure from the Flemish part of the population. The only remaining possibility of attack is therefore theoretically through the Netherlands. But they too would, in the opinion of the Fuehrer, defend their neutrality energetically because they would know that if they should participate in a general conflict they would lose their East Asiatic colonies, which are almost undefended, to Japan. Moreover, the Netherlands are completely unsuitable as an assembly area for a large army because of the numerous rivers and the possibility of flooding large parts of the land which lies below sea level. In case of a breach of Dutch neutrality Germany would of course move into the country immediately and would have the possibility of reaching the Meuse in a few hours because of its proximity to the German border. Besides, the Rhine which is 1 to 1½ km wide in Holland offers natural protection against attacks from this direction.

The third possibility of attacking Germany is a blockade by the British Navy. But it must be kept in mind the ships used for the blockade would be attacked from the air from Germany, since all of England is within the radius of attack of the German air force, because of the long range of the latest German bombers. There are no further possibilities of attack on Germany. The Nordic countries would no doubt remain neutral and are safe from air attack from any side, since there is hardly any question of occupying such large areas as Norway and Sweden. In the same way Switzerland would certainly defend her neutrality to the last against any invader.

Germany has likewise built strong fortifications in the East. The Fuehrer showed Count Ciano the various fortification systems of East Prussia (Koenigsberg, Heilsberg triangle, border fortifications). On the rest of the German frontier (Grenzmark, Silesia) strong fortifications are also being built, which have been developed, particularly on the Polish border opposite Berlin, into an impregnable system of lines lying one behind the other. Of course the capital is exposed to air attacks, since it lies only 150 km from the Polish border, particularly since because of its size (28 km north to south and 45 km east to west) the city could be bombed from a very great altitude (8 to 9,000 meters) without the possibility of attacking certain targets but with the certainty that the bombs would hit somewhere within the city.

Proceeding to the military situation of the western powers and Poland the Fuehrer again pointed out England’s vulnerability from the air. Although some progress has been made in air craft production, the anti-aircraft defense is still quite backward. It is known that England decided on a certain type of anti-aircraft gun only last fall, and we have enough experience on the basis of our own 7 years of rearmament to know that mass production is possible only a long time after the choice of a prototype, so that effective anti-aircraft defense can be expected in England only after 1 to 2 years. Moreover, London and other great cities and industrial centers have the same disadvantage which characterizes Berlin’s position in regard to Polish air attacks: from high altitude, out of range of the present English AA guns which are left from the war, bombing can be carried out in absolute safety, which would be successful in any case in the general target area.

At the present time England has no increase in sea power to record. The first units of the ships under construction cannot be put in service for some time. As for the land army, 60,000 men have been called up since the introduction of compulsory military service. If England keeps the necessary troops at home, she will be in a position to put at the disposal of France only two infantry divisions and one armored division. Furthermore she can transfer a few groups of bombers to France but hardly any groups of fighters, since the German air fleet would attack England immediately upon the outbreak of war, and the English fighter planes would be urgently needed for the protection of their own country.

In regard to France’s situation--the Fuehrer said that in a general conflict after the expected conquest, within a short time, of Poland, Germany would be in a position to assemble 100 divisions at the Westwall, which would force France to assemble all available forces from the colonies, from the Italian border, and elsewhere at the Maginot line for the life and death struggle which would then begin. Moreover, it is his opinion that the French cannot overrun the Italian fortifications any more than the Westwall.

At this point Count Ciano showed signs of extreme doubt.

The Polish Army varies greatly in its value. Besides several crack divisions there are a number of inferior units. Poland is very weak in AA and anti-tank defense. At present France and England cannot supply her. If, however, Poland is supported economically for a considerable period of time by the West, she could acquire these weapons, and Germany’s superiority would be reduced. The fanatics of Warsaw and Cracow are opposed by the indifferent peasant population of other districts. Besides, the composition of the population of the Polish state must be considered: out of 34 million inhabitants 1½ million are German, about 4 million are Jews, and an estimated 9 million Ukrainians, so that there are considerably fewer real Poles than the total population, and even these, as mentioned before, have to be differently evaluated in regard to fighting power. Under these circumstances, Poland would be conquered by Germany in a very short time.

As Poland makes it clear by her whole attitude that in case of conflict she will in any event be on the side of the enemies of Germany and Italy, quick liquidation at this moment would only be of advantages for the unavoidable conflict with the western democracies. If a hostile Poland should remain on Germany’s Eastern frontier, not only the 11 East Prussian Divisions, but also further contingents would be tied up in Pomerania and Silesia, which would not be the case in the event of previous liquidation. Generally speaking, it would be best to liquidate the pseudo-neutrals one after the other. This is fairly easily done, if one Axis partner protects the rear of the other, who is just finishing off one of the uncertain neutrals, and vice versa. Italy may consider Yugoslavia such an uncertain neutral. At the visit of Prince Regent Paul he (the Fuehrer) suggested, particularly in consideration of Italy that Prince Paul clarify his political attitude toward the Axis by a gesture. He had thought of a closer connection with the Axis and Yugoslavia’s leaving the League of Nations. Prince Paul agreed to the matter. Recently the Prince Regent was in London and sought reinsurance from the western powers. The same thing was repeated that happened in the case of Gafencu, who was also very reasonable during his visit to Germany and who denied any interest in the aims of the western democracies. Afterwards it was learned that he had later assumed a contrary standpoint in England. Among the Balkan countries the Axis can completely rely on Bulgaria, which is in a sense a natural ally of Italy and Germany. That is why Germany has supported Bulgaria as much as possible with supplies of weapons and will continue to do so. Yugoslavia would stay neutral only as long as it would be dangerous to take the side of the western democracies openly. At the moment when there would be a turn to the worse for Germany and Italy, however, Yugoslavia would join the other side openly, hoping thereby to give matters a final turn to the disadvantage of the Axis. Rumania is afraid of Hungary and is militarily very weak and internally corrupt. King Carol would doubtless not give up his neutrality unless absolutely necessary.

Hungary is friendly and Slovakia is under German influence and even has German garrisons in some parts.

Returning to the question of Danzig, the Fuehrer explained to Count Ciano that it is impossible to yield on this point. He has agreed with Italy to withdraw the Germans from South Tyrol, but for that very reason he must carefully avoid everything that could give the impression that a precedent has been created by the withdrawal of the Germans from South Tyrol, which could be applied to other regions, too. Besides, his justification to the German people of the withdrawal of these Germans from Italy is the German policy, which is in general, directed toward the east and the north-east. The east and the north-east--i.e., the Baltic countries--have always been Germany’s uncontested sphere of interest, just as the Mediterranean is Italy’s own sphere. Germany needs the grain and wood-producing countries of these eastern regions for economic reasons as well. Danzig is not only a case of material interests, however, although this city is the biggest Baltic port. The turn-over amounts to 40% of the tonnage of Hamburg.

Danzig, the Nordic Nurnberg, is an old German city, which awakens sentimental feelings in every German, and just this psychological element forces the Fuehrer to respect public opinion. To make the situation easier to understand for an Italian, Count Ciano should imagine that Trieste is in the hands of Yugoslavia and a strong Italian minority on Yugoslavian territory is being treated with brutal force. It can hardly be supposed that Italy would look on calmly for very long.

Count Ciano replied to the Fuehrer’s explanations by first pointing out the great surprise among the Italians at the absolutely unexpected seriousness of the situation. Neither in the Milan conversations nor in the talks on the occasion of his visit to Berlin was any indication given by the Germans that the situation with regard to Poland was so serious. On the contrary, the Reich foreign minister had declared that in his opinion the question of Danzig will be settled in the course of time. On the basis of this state of affairs, the Duce decided, true to his conviction that a conflict with the western democracies is unavoidable, to make his preparations for that eventuality and made his plans for a certain period of time of 2 to 3 years. If a conflict is unavoidable now, Italy would of course be on Germany’s side, as the Duce re-emphasized just before Count Ciano’s departure, but for various reasons, enumerated in detail, Italy would welcome a postponement of the general conflict.

Count Ciano then explained, with the aid of a map, the Italian position at the outbreak of a general conflict. Italy believes, he said, that a conflict with Poland would not be restricted to that country, but would grow into a general European war.

The Fuehrer remarked that opinions differ on that point. He personally is firmly convinced that the western democracies will in the end shy away from precipitating a general war.

Count Ciano replied that he hoped the Fuehrer was right, but he did not believe it. In any case, one should adapt one’s reflections to the worst possibility, i.e., to general conflict. Since the Abyssinian conflict Italy has actually been constantly living in a state of war and therefore urgently needs a breathing spell. Count Ciano proved with the aid of figures how great Italy’s material effort had been, especially in the Spanish conflict. Italy’s stock of raw materials is now exhausted. She needs time to restock her warehouses.

She must also transfer her war industries, all of which are in an exposed location, to the south, in order to be better able to defend them. In the same way the Italian artillery, particularly the AA defense, is greatly in need of modernization. The long coast line and other exposed points are not sufficiently defended.

The strength of the fleet is also extremely unfavorable. At the moment Italy can put against the combined English and French 11 to 12 battleships only 2 of its own, while in a few years a total of 8 battleships will be available.

At this point the Fuehrer remarked that of course England and France will have additional battleships of 35,000 and 40,000 tons.

Count Ciano pointed out the long Italian coastline, which is hard to defend and the numerous bases at the disposal of the English and French fleets, giving particular attention to the Greek ports.

The Italian colonies are especially vulnerable at present. Lybya is hard to attack from Egypt, it is true, while from Lybya there is the possibility of advancing to Marsah Matru. The situation in regard to Tunisia is quite different. The proportion of the Italian and French Arab population is 1 to 20, while the strength of white troops is 1 to 5 to Italy’s disadvantage. Besides, the Italian fortifications on the French frontier are quite inadequate. Only recently new armored bunkers were delivered.

Though Abyssinia is almost pacified, with the exception of certain regions along the border of the English territory, where the English create difficulties among the population with their money and propaganda, this pacification is only on the surface. It would be sufficient, in a general conflict for a few English airplanes to drop leaflets over Abyssinia, saying that the world had risen against Italy and that the Negus would return, to make the revolt of the Abyssinians flare up again. Besides, Abyssinia would be cut off completely from the motherland in case of a conflict, and the fate of the 200,000 Italians in Abyssinia would be very uncertain. In a few years there would be an army of 4 to 500,000 men in Abyssinia, and if a conflict should break out then it would be possible to attack the Sudan, Kenya, and French Somaliland successfully.

The islands of the Dodecanese would be in difficulties because of the attitude of Turkey. Of course Leros and Rhodes could defend themselves for years.

Albania is a completely undeveloped country and would make an effective base for operations against the Balkans only after several years. First roads have to be built and the natural resources (iron, copper, chromium, and petroleum) have to be exploited, and then one could consider, as the Fuehrer had indicated, advancing successfully on Saloniki and in other directions of the Balkans, as along the five fingers of an outstretched hand.

Italy has plans of economic autarchy which cannot be realized for several years and which would then put Italy in a position to withstand even a prolonged war without difficulties. Another reason for the Duce’s desire to postpone the conflict is the Italians abroad, who were to be brought back to Italy according to plan. One million Italians live in France, of whom about 700,000 are definitely lost for Italy. The other 300,000, however, would be used by France as hostages in case of a conflict, as could be seen from some measures taken by France in September of last year.

Besides, the Duce personally attaches great importance to the orderly execution of the world’s fair in 1942, for which Italy made big preparations and from which she hopes for good results in the economic field, especially as regards the inflow of foreign currency.

Besides these considerations, which are based on Italy’s position, there are others of a general political nature which recommend postponement of a general conflict. The Duce is convinced that the encirclement system of the western democracies would doubtless work at the present time. But after a certain length of time the points of friction and the seeds of disunity would come to the fore among the partners of the encirclement front, and the front would gradually disintegrate.

Moreover, the Duce is convinced that the present enthusiasm in England and France will not last very long. Soon, particularly in France, the union sacree will once more be replaced by party discord, on condition that the Axis keeps quiet for a time. At the present time it is only due to the Axis that internal differences have been buried in the respective countries.

Japan’s position would also be much stronger after the termination of the China conflict, which is to be expected in two years, while Roosevelt’s position in America would be seriously weakened after a period of calm in the field of foreign politics, so that he could not be elected president for a third time, which would certainly be the case if a conflict should break out soon.

Spain, which has just acquired government friendly to the Axis (Serano Suner, Beigbeder), needs peace after the civil war, but would stand at the side of the Axis in 2 to 3 years as a power not to be neglected. Thus, for example, within 2 years Spain would build 4 battleships of 35,000 tons each, the plans for which have just been taken to Spain by an Italian General. The construction is to take place in El Ferrol.

For these reasons the Duce wishes strongly (le Duce insiste) that the Axis powers should make a gesture which would emphasize anew the will of peace of Italy and Germany. This could be done by the publication of a communique which Count Ciano had given to the Reich foreign minister on the previous day and which he now presented again in the following English (and French version): * * *

Count Ciano said in connection with this tentative communique that the Duce had at first contemplated a proposal for a conference, but conscious of the Fuehrer’s misgivings, he now makes another suggestion in a milder form and is very much interested in its acceptance.

The Fuehrer declared concerning the conference plan that in future meetings of the powers it will not be possible to exclude Russia. In the German-Russian conversations the Russians made it plain, with reference to Munich and other occasions from which they had been excluded, that they would not tolerate this any more. Besides the 4 main powers, Poland and Spain would also have to be included in such a conference, besides Russia. This means, however, that Italy, Germany, and Spain would oppose England, France, Russia, and Poland, which certainly is an unfavorable position.

Count Ciano replied that the Duce is of the opinion that the one who wins at a conference is the one who is ready to let the conference fail if necessary and to accept war as a possible result. Moreover, the Duce took the Fuehrer’s misgivings into consideration and modified his proposal. He sees in an Italian and German peace gesture, as suggested in this proposal, the advantage that the western powers, which are internally not at all ready for war--but would surely start it at the present moment, if they were, so to speak, forced to the wall by the Axis and saw no other way out, according to the conviction of the Duce, based on very reliable information from the democracies. [Translator’s note: This sentence is incomplete--possibly something was omitted in copying]. The suggested gesture of Germany and Italy represents a face-saving way out for the western powers, which they will certainly use, for there are wide circles which warn against war and which would be backed up by a peace gesture. This means, however, that Poland, which would doubtless be abandoned by the western powers, would be isolated after a time and would have to agree to reasonable solutions of the existing difficulties.

The Fuehrer replied that there is no time to be lost in the solution of the Polish problem. The further we get into fall the harder military operations in the east of Europe will be. The air force could hardly be employed at all after the middle of September in those regions because of the weather conditions, while the motorized forces would also be unusable because of the condition of the roads, which are rapidly turned to mud by the rains which set in in the fall. From September to May Poland is one big swamp and absolutely unsuitable for any military operations. Thus Poland could simply occupy Danzig in October--and she probably intends to do so--without Germany’s being able to do anything against it; for it is out of the question to shell and destroy Danzig.

Count Ciano asked by what time the question of Danzig will have to be settled, in the Fuehrer’s opinion. The Fuehrer replied that this question will have to be settled one way or the other by the end of August. The Fuehrer replied to Ciano’s question as to how the Fuehrer imagined the solution, that Poland will have to give up Danzig politically, whereby her economic interests will of course be preserved, and that she will have to contribute by her general attitude to a release of the tension. It is doubtful whether Poland will be willing to do so; for hitherto she had rejected the German proposals. The Fuehrer personally made these proposals to Beck on the occasion of his visit to Obersalzberg. They were very favorable for Poland. In exchange for the political return of Danzig to Germany, with complete preservation of Polish economic interests and the establishment of a connection between East Prussia and the Reich, Germany conceded a border guarantee, a 25-year friendship pact, and Polish participation in influence on Slovakia. At that time Beck acknowledged the proposal with the remark that he wanted to examine it. The sharp refusal was only the consequence of English intervention. Poland’s aims can, moreover, be seen clearly in her press. All of East Prussia should be occupied, they want to advance to Berlin, etc. In the long run it is unbearable for a big power to tolerate such a hostile neighbor at a distance of only 150 km from its capital. The Fuehrer is therefore determined to use the opportunity of the next political provocation, in the form of an ultimatum, brutal mistreatment of Germans, an attempt to starve out Danzig, or something similar, to attack Poland within 48 hours and to solve the problem in this way. This would mean a considerable strengthening of the Axis, just as an Italian liquidation of Yugoslavia would mean a considerable increase of power for the Axis.

Count Ciano asked when such an undertaking against Poland is to be expected, since Italy must of course prepare for all eventualities. The Fuehrer replied that under the prevailing circumstances an attack on Poland is to be expected at any moment.

A telegram from Moscow and one from Tokyo were handed to the Fuehrer during this exchange of opinions. The conference was interrupted for a short time, and then Count Ciano was informed of the contents of the Moscow telegram. The Russians agreed to the sending of a German political mediator to Moscow. The Reich foreign minister added that the Russians were completely informed about Germany’s intentions against Poland. He himself had informed the Russian charge d’affaires, by order of the Fuehrer.

The Fuehrer remarked that in his opinion Russia would not be willing to pull chestnuts out of the fire for the western powers. Stalin’s position is endangered as much by a victorious Russian army as by a defeated Russian army. Russia is, at the most, interested in enlarging her access to the Baltic a little. Germany has no objection to that. Besides, Russia would hardly take the part of Poland, whom she hates from the bottom of her heart. The sending of the English-French military mission to Moscow has only the purpose of averting the catastrophic state of political negotiations.

After further discussion of the communique proposed by Count Ciano, the Fuehrer said that he wanted to think over for a day, this proposal as well as Count Ciano’s explanation of the general situation, and he therefore suggested that the discussion be resumed the next day.

Salzburg 12 August 1939

signed Schmidt.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1874-PS

Notes on the Conference Between General Field Marshal GOERING and the DUCE in the Presence of Count CIANO

15 April 1939

[Page 4, par. 2]

However, the heavy armament of Czechoslovakia shows, in any case, how dangerous this country could have been, even after Munich, in the event of a serious conflict. Because of Germany’s action the situation of both axis countries was ameliorated, among other reasons because of the economic possibilities which result from the transfer to Germany of the great production capacity (armament potential) of Czechoslovakia. That contributes toward a considerable strengthening of the axis against the Western powers. Furthermore, Germany now need not keep ready a single division for protection against that country in case of a bigger conflict. This, too, is an advantage by which both axis countries will, in the last analysis, benefit.

[Page 5, par. 2]

* * * the action taken by Germany in Czechoslovakia is to be viewed as an advantage for the axis in case Poland should finally join the enemies of the axis powers. Germany could then attack this country from 2 flanks and would be within only 25 minutes flying distance from the new Polish industrial center which had been moved further into the interior of the country, nearer to the other Polish industrial districts, because of its proximity to the border. Now by the turn of events it is located again in the proximity of the border.

[Page 6, par. 2]

Furthermore the Fieldmarshal happened to talk about the date at which Germany would be prepared best for a greater test of strength. In this connection he pointed out that Germany at the moment was comparatively weak on the sea because both the new battleships which had been launched recently would be ready for commissioning only next year and two additional battleships would be launched only next year. In the airforce also, regrouping and adaptation of a new bomber type “JU 88”, the production of which had yet to begin, was taking place. This new German bomber had such a range that it would be possible to attack not only England herself, but moreover that would push forward into a western direction, in order to bomb the ships which come from the Atlantic to England. Of course, Germany was ready for action, if suddenly some conflict should come up. But if one was considering at what period of time the armament situation was most favorable, both the facts mentioned above--the insufficient armament at sea and the reconversion of the airforce to the new type of bomber--should not be disregarded. Besides in the fall already a monthly production of 280 planes of the “JU 88” and at the end of the year of 350 planes, could be counted upon. On the basis of these calculations he came to the conclusion that in 9 months or one year the situation for the axis, from a military point of view, would be more favorable. On the other hand it was true that the rearmament in England and France had not made very much progress. In many cases, the factories for the production of war material were only in a state of construction. England would most likely not be able to show any results worth mentioning before 1942 for her new beginning high pressure rearmament in the air.

Furthermore, the Fuehrer considered it almost out of the question that England and France would not stand together. According to the German point of view, both countries would in any conflict eventually support each other to the utmost. Only if England should execute a complete reversal of her policy, and the costs and risks of her present political line should become too high, she would perhaps adapt herself to confining her efforts to the preservation of the empire and give the authoritarian countries a free hand for the securing of their vital necessities. At the present time England had a weak government which had yielded to the pressure of the leftist circles. England had deviated from her old line in a way that it offers assistance only on the basis of her own judgment of the situation in question from case to case and she had, in completely turning away from her traditional policy of giving support from time to time only on the basis of her own judgment of the situation at the time, now obliged herself in advance to render support, and that under conditions which could be determined by the other partner. It was another question, of course, how England could fulfill her guarantee obligation in fact. How was she going to help Poland or Rumania, for instance? She did not have the possibility of sending troops and could actually fulfill her obligations only by setting ablaze a general war.

All in all, however, it had to be stressed, that the situation of the axis was very strong and that it could defeat all possible opponents in a general conflict.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1877-PS

Report RAM 19/41

REPORT ON THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE REICH MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS [RAM] AND THE JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER MATSUOKA IN BERLIN ON 29 MARCH 1941.

The RAM resumed the preceding conversation with Matsuoka about the latter’s impending talks with the Russians in Moscow, where they had left off. He expressed the opinion, that it would probably be best, in view of the whole situation, not to carry the discussions with the Russians too far. He did not know how the situation would develop. One thing, however, was certain, namely that Germany would strike immediately, should Russia ever attack Japan. He was ready to give Matsuoka this positive assurance, so that Japan could push forward to the South on Singapore, without fear of possible complications with Russia. The largest part of the German army was anyway on the Eastern frontiers of the Reich, and fully prepared to open the attack at any time. He (the RAM) however believed, that Russia would try to avoid developments leading to war. Should Germany however enter into a conflict with Russia, the USSR would be finished off within a few months. In this case, Japan had of course even less reason to be afraid than ever, if it wants to advance on Singapore. Consequently, it need not refrain from such an undertaking because of possible fears of Russia.

He could not know of course, just how things with Russia would develop. It was uncertain, whether or not Stalin would intensify his present unfriendly policy against Germany. He (the RAM) wanted to point out to Matsuoka in any case, that a conflict with Russia was anyhow within the realm of possibility. In any case, Matsuoka could not report to the Japanese Emperor upon his return, that a conflict between Russia and Germany was impossible. On the contrary, the situation was such, that such a conflict, even if it were not probable, would have to be considered possible. * * *

Next, the RAM turned again to the Singapore question. In view of the fears, expressed by the Japanese, of possible attacks by submarines, based on the Philippines and of the intervention of the British Mediterranean and Home fleets, he had again discussed the situation with General-Admiral Raeder. The latter had stated, that the British Navy during this year would have its hands so full in the English home waters and in the Mediterranean, that it would not be able to send even a single ship to the Far East. General-Admiral Raeder had described the U.S. submarines as so bad, that Japan need not bother about them at all.

Matsuoka replied immediately, that the Japanese Navy had a very low estimate of the threat from the British Navy; it also held the view, that in case of a clash with the American Navy, it would be able to smash the latter without trouble. However it was afraid, that the Americans would not take up the battle with their fleet; thus the conflict with the United States might perhaps be dragged out to five years. This possibility caused considerable worry in Japan.

The RAM replied, that America could not do anything against Japan in the case of the capture of Singapore. Perhaps for this reason alone, Roosevelt would think twice before deciding on active measures against Japan. For while on one hand he could not achieve anything against Japan, on the other hand there was the probability of losing the Philippines to Japan; for the American President, of course, this would mean a considerable loss of prestige, and because of the inadequate rearmament, he would have nothing with which to offset such a loss.

In this connection, Matsuoka pointed out, that he was doing everything to reassure the English about Singapore. He acted as if Japan had no intention at all regarding this key position of England in the East. Therefore it might be possible, that his attitude toward the British would appear to be friendly in words and in acts. However, Germany should not be deceived by that. He assumed this attitude not only in order to reassure the British, but also in order to fool the pro-British and pro-American elements so long, until one day he would suddenly open the attack on Singapore.

In this connection, Matsuoka stated, that his tactics were based on the certain assumption, that the sudden attack against Singapore would unite the entire Japanese nation with one blow. (“Nothing succeeds like success,” the RAM remarked.) He followed here the example of the words of a famous Japanese statesman, addressed to the Japanese Navy at the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war: “You open fire, then the nation will be united”. The Japanese need to be shaken up to awaken. After all, as an oriental, he believed in the fate, which would come, whether you wanted it or not. * * *

Matsuoka then introduced the subject of German assistance in the blow against Singapore, a subject which had been broached to him frequently, and mentioned the proposal of a German written promise of assistance.

The RAM replied, that he had already discussed these questions with Ambassador Oshima. He had asked him to procure maps of Singapore in order that the Fuehrer--who probably must be considered the greatest expert on military questions at the present time--could advise Japan on the best method of attack against Singapore. German experts on aerial warfare, too, would be at their disposal; they could draw up a report, based on their European experiences, for the Japanese on the use of dive-bombers from airfields in the vicinity against the British fleet in Singapore. Thus the British fleet would be forced to disappear from Singapore immediately.

Matsuoka remarked, that Japan was less concerned with the British fleet, than with the capture of the fortifications.

The RAM replied, that here too, the Fuehrer had developed new methods for the German attacks on strongly fortified positions, such as the Maginot Line and Fort Eben Emael, which he could make available to the Japanese.

Matsuoka replied in this connection, that some of the younger expert Japanese naval officers, who were close friends of his, were of the opinion, that the Japanese naval forces would need three months until they could capture Singapore. As a cautious foreign minister, he had doubled this estimate. He believed, he could stave off any danger which threatened from America, for six months. If, however, the capture of Singapore required still more time and if the operations would perhaps even drag out for a year, the situation with America would become extremely critical and he did not know as yet how to meet it.

If at all avoidable, he would not touch the Netherlands East Indies, since he was afraid that in case of a Japanese attack on this area, the oilfields would be set afire. They could be brought into operation again only after 1 or 2 years.

The RAM added, that Japan would gain decisive influence over the Netherlands East Indies simultaneously with the capture of Singapore. * * *

Berlin, the 31st of March 1941.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1881-PS

Notes Fueh 20/41

NOTES

regarding the discussion between the FUEHRER and the Japanese Foreign Minister MATSUOKA in the presence of the Reich Foreign Minister and of the Minister of State MEISSNER in Berlin on the 4th of April 1941.

Matsuoka further mentioned, that he was induced to make those endeavors for peace particularly in view of the personality of Cardinal Caspari.

Furthermore he had endeavored to convince the Pope, that the United States and particularly the American President prolonged the war in Europe and in China. It was not the question to determine, if America or its President were right or wrong. They certainly had their definite reasons for their policy. Notwithstanding the question of right or wrong, one had to state the fact that they prolonged the war in Europe and in China. In regard to China, he tried to convince the Pope that Japan was not fighting the Chinese or China herself, but merely the Bolshevism which threatened to spread in China and in the entire Far East. It is regretful that America and England sided with Bolshevism.

The Fuehrer interrupted that both countries also sided in Spain with Bolshevism.

Matsuoka then also expressed the request, that the Fuehrer should instruct the proper authorities in Germany to meet as broad-mindedly as possible the wishes of the Japanese Military Commission. Japan was in need of German help particularly concerning the U-boat warfare, which could be given by making available to them the latest experiences of the war as well as the latest technical improvements and inventions. Japan would do her utmost to avoid a war with the United States. In case that country should decide to attack Singapore, the Japanese navy, of course, had to be prepared for a fight with the United States, because in that case America probably would side with Great Britain. He (Matsuoka) personally believed, that the United States could be restrained by diplomatic exertions from entering the war at the side of Great Britain. The Army and Navy had, however, to count on the worst situation, that is with war against America. They were of the opinion that such a war would extend for five years or longer and would take the form of guerilla warfare in the Pacific and would be fought out in the South Sea. For this reason, the German experiences in her guerilla warfare are of the greatest value to Japan. It was a question how such a war would best be conducted and how all the technical improvements of submarines, in all details such as periscopes and such like, could best be exploited by Japan.

To sum up, Matsuoka requested that the Fuehrer should see to it that the proper German authorities should place those developments and inventions concerning navy and army which were needed by the Japanese at their disposal.

The Fuehrer promised this and pointed out that Germany too considered a conflict with the United States undesirable, but that it had already made allowances for such a contingency. In Germany one was of the opinion that America’s contributions depended upon the possibilities of transportation, and that this again is conditioned by the available tonnage. Germany’s war against tonnage, however, means a decisive weakening not merely against England, but also against America. Germany has made her preparations so that no American could land in Europe. She would conduct a most energetic fight against America with her U-boats and her Luftwaffe, and due to her superior experience, which would still have to be acquired by the United States, she would be vastly superior, and that quite apart from the fact that the German soldiers naturally rank high above the American.

In the further course of the discussion the Fuehrer pointed out that Germany on her part would immediately take the consequences, if Japan would get involved with the United States. It did not matter with whom the United States would first get involved if with Germany or with Japan. They would always try to eliminate one country at a time, not to come to an understanding with the other country subsequently, but to liquidate this one just the same. Therefore, Germany would strike, as already mentioned, without delay in case of a conflict between Japan and America, because the strength of the tripartite powers lies in their joint action, their weakness would be if they would let themselves be beaten individually.

Matsuoka once more repeated his request, that the Fuehrer might give the necessary instructions, in order that the proper German authorities would place at the disposal of the Japanese the latest improvements and inventions, which are of interest to them, because the Japanese navy had to prepare immediately for a conflict with the United States.

As regards Japanese-American relationship, Matsuoka explained further that he has always declared in his country, that sooner or later a war with the United States would be unavoidable, if Japan continued to drift along as at present. In his opinion this conflict would happen rather sooner than later. His argument went on, why should Japan, therefore, not decisively strike at the right moment and take the risk upon herself of a fight against America? Just thus would she perhaps avoid a war for generations, particularly if she gained predominance in the South Seas. There are, to be sure, in Japan many who hesitate to follow those trends of thought. Matsuoka was considered in those circles a dangerous man with dangerous thoughts. He, however, stated that, if Japan continued to walk along her present path, one day she would have to fight anyway and that this would then be under less favorable circumstances than at present.

The Fuehrer replied that he could well understand the situation of Matsuoka, because he himself was in similar situations (the clearing of the Rhineland, declaration of sovereignty of armed forces). He too was of the opinion that he had to exploit favorable conditions and accept the risk of an anyhow unavoidable fight at a time when he himself was still young and full of vigor. How right he was in his attitude was proven by events. Europe now was free. He would not hesitate a moment to reply instantly to any widening of the war, be it by Russia, be it by America. Providence favored those who will not let dangers come to them, but who will bravely face them.

Matsuoka replied, that the United States or rather their ruling politicians had recently still attempted a last maneuver towards Japan, by declaring that America would not fight Japan on account of China or the South Seas provided that Japan gave free passage to the consignments of rubber and tin to America to their place of destination. However, America would war against Japan the moment she felt that Japan entered the war with the intention to assist in the destruction of Great Britain. Such an argument naturally did not miss its effect upon the Japanese, because of the education oriented on English lines which many had received.

The Fuehrer commented on this, that this attitude of America did not mean anything but that the United States had the hope that, as long as the British World Empire existed, one day they could advance against Japan together with Great Britain, whereas, in case of the collapse of the World Empire, they would be totally isolated and could not do anything against Japan.

The Reich Foreign Minister interjected that the Americans precisely under all circumstances wanted to maintain the powerful position of England in East Asia, but that, on the other hand, it is proved by this attitude to what extent she fears a joint action of Japan and Germany.

Matsuoka continued that it seemed to him of importance to give to the Fuehrer an absolutely clear picture of the real attitude inside Japan. For this reason he also had to inform him regretfully of the fact that he (Matsuoka) in his capacity as Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs could not utter in Japan itself a single word of all that he had expounded before the Fuehrer and the Reich Foreign Minister regarding his plans. This would cause him serious damage in political and financial circles. Once before he had committed the mistake, before he became Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, to tell a close friend something about his intentions. It seems that the latter had spread these things and thus brought about all sorts of rumors, which he as Foreign Minister had to oppose energetically, though as a rule he always tells the truth. Under these circumstances he also could not indicate, how soon he could report on the questions discussed to the Japanese Premier or to the Emperor. He would have to study exactly and carefully in the first place the development in Japan, so as to make his decision at a favorable moment, to make a clear breast of his proper plans towards the Prince Konoye and the Emperor. Then the decision would have to be made within a few days, because the plans would otherwise be spoiled by talk.

Should he, Matsuoka, fail to carry out his intentions, that would be proof that he is lacking in influence, in power of conviction, and in tactical capabilities. However, should he succeed it would prove that he had great influence in Japan. He himself felt confident that he would succeed.

On his return, being questioned, he would indeed admit to the Emperor, the Premier and the Ministers for the Navy and the Army, that Singapore had been discussed; he would, however, state that it was only on a hypothetical basis.

Besides this, Matsuoka made the express request not to cable in the matter of Singapore because he had reason to fear that, by cabling, something might leak out. If necessary he would send a courier.

The Fuehrer agreed and assured him, after all, that he could rest entirely assured of German reticence.

Matsuoka replied he believed indeed in German reticence, but unfortunately could not say the same of Japan.

The discussion was terminated after the exchange of some personal parting words.

Berlin, the 4th of April 1941.

Signed: SCHMIDT

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1882-PS

Aufz RAM 21/41

Notes on the talk between the Reich Foreign Minister and the Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka in Berlin on 5 April 1941.

[Pages 2 to 3]

Matsuoka then spoke of the general high morale in Germany referring to the happy faces he had seen everywhere among the workers during his recent visit to the Borsig Works. He expressed his regret that developments in Japan had not as yet advanced as far as in Germany and that in his country the intellectuals still exercised considerable influence.

The Reich Foreign Minister replied that at best a nation which had realized its every ambition could afford the luxury of intellectuals, most of whom are parasites, anyway. A nation, however, which has to fight for a place in the sun must give them up. The intellectuals ruined France; in Germany they had already started their pernicious activities when National Socialism put a stop to these doings; they will surely be the cause of the downfall of Britain, which is to be expected with certainty.

In answer to a remark by Matsuoka, that Japan was now awakening and, according to the Japanese temperament, would take action quickly after the previous lengthy deliberation, the Reich Foreign Minister replied that it was necessary, of course, to accept a certain risk in this connection, just as the Fuehrer had done so successfully with the occupation of the Rhineland, with the proclamation of sovereignty of armament, and with the designation from the League of Nations. * * *

[Pages 9 to 11]

The Reich Foreign Minister replied that the new German Reich would actually be built up on the basis of the ancient traditions of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which in its time was the only dominant power on the European Continent.

In conclusion, the Reich Foreign Minister once again summarized the points he wanted Matsuoka to take back to Japan with him from his trip:

1. Germany had already won the war. With the end of this year the world would realize this. Even England would have to concede it, if it had not collapsed before then, and America would also have to resign herself to this fact.

2. There were no conflicting interests between Japan and Germany. The future of both countries could be regulated for the long run on the basis that Japan should predominate in the Far East, Italy and Germany in Europe and Africa.

3. Whatever might happen, Germany would win the war. But it would hasten victory if Japan would enter the war. Such an entry into the war was undoubtedly more in the interest of Japan than in that of Germany, for it offered a unique opportunity which would hardly ever return, for the fulfillment of the national objectives of Japan, a chance which would make it possible for her to play a really leading role in East Asia.

Matsuoka replied that he himself could only repeat that he had long been of the opinion that every nation would be offered an opportunity only once in a thousand years. Japan was confronting such an opportunity, and she would have to assume the risk connected with it. She would have to act decisively at the right moment in order to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

Berlin, the 7th of April 1941 Sig. Schmidt

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1889-PS

Account Concerning the conference of the Fuehrer with the Italian Ambassador Attolico on August 31, 1939 at 1900 hours.

The Fuehrer handed the Italian Ambassador a copy of the German proposals and a press notice, pointing out that because of the Polish Government the proposals are now void. The mediation attempt of England must, therefore, be considered as having failed.

Ambassador Attolico recalled that the Fuehrer on the occasion of a mediation offer made a few days ago by Mussolini had declared that England had just made a proposal and that one would wait for its result. Since the Fuehrer had stated himself now, that the English proposal must be considered as having failed, the question arises now if the Duce on his part could not take over a mediation. He asks, therefore, the Fuehrer if it were all right if the Duce would mediate from now on.

The Fuehrer replied, one had to wait first of all for future developments. He is not in the mood to be slapped in the face time and again by Poland, and does not want to bring the Duce into an uncomfortable position through acceptance of his mediation. He is certain that because of the spiritual conception of the Poles, they wouldn’t listen to the Duce either.

To the question of Attolico whether herewith everything is at an end, the Fuehrer answered yes.

Herewith submitted to the Foreign Minister as per instructions. Berlin, 1 September 1939

(signed) Dr. Schmidt Ambassador

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1893-PS

Organization Book of the NSDAP 1943 edition, Editor the Reich Organization Leader of the NSDAP (Dr. Robert Ley), Published by the Central Publishing House of the NSDAP, Franz Eher Successor, Munich.

[Page 6 e.]

3. Resignations.

* * * * * * *

Authorized to decree dismissal on the basis of a lawful decision of a party court are:

(a) The Local Chapter Directors [Ortsgruppenleiter]. (b) The County Directors [Kreisleiter]. (c) The District Directors [Gauleiter]. (d) The Fuehrer.

[Page 7]

6. Duties of the Party Members.

The commandments of the National Socialists:

The Fuehrer is always right.

* * * * * * *

The program be your dogma:

It demands your utter devotion to the movement:

* * * * * * *

Right is, what serves the movement and thus Germany which means the Nation.

* * * * * * *

[Page 13]

The aims of the Party are Only Ideological Ones.

It must be attempted to transfer all professional duties which, during the reconstruction in connection with the rebuilding of the Reich, are still being executed by the Party, to the affiliated organizations or, if possible, to the State administration in due time. If necessary, and if possible, directives to this effect will be issued by the competent officers of the Reich Directorate [Reichsleitung].

The party as an instrument of ideological education, must grow to be the Leader Corps [Fuehrerkorps] of the German nation.

This Leader Corps is responsible for the complete penetration of the German Nation with the National Socialist spirit and to overcome the dependence on the international influences in which the nation is still partly rooted.

It will further be the duty of this Fuehrerkorps to see that the professional and general duties within the affiliated organizations and within the State administration will be handled according to National Socialist directives.

[Page 14]

The Political Director [Der Politische Leiter].

The basis of the Party organization is the Fuehrer thought. The public is unable to rule itself either directly or indirectly. The man best suited for the job will be a Fuehrer. He will be carried by the confidence of the people. All Political Directors stand as appointed by the Fuehrer and are responsible to him. They possess full authority towards the lower echelons. In choosing the Political Director the main consideration will be to put the right man in the right place * * * . In principle this is to be noted: Only a man who has absorbed the school of subordinate functions within the Party has a claim to the higher Fuehrer offices if he should be otherwise suited. We can only use Fuehrers who have served from the ground up. Any Political Director who does not conform to these principles is to be dismissed or to be sent back to the lower offices, as Blockleiter, Zellenleiter, for further training.

Each Political Director must be conscious always, as a Political Fuehrer, that leadership does not only confer greater powers, but first and foremost higher duties * * * .

[Page 15]

The Type of the Political Director.

All this shows the character of the Political Director. The Political Director is not an office worker but the Political Deputy of the Fuehrer * * * . With the Political Director we are building the political leadership of the State * * * . The type of the Political Director is not characterized by the office which he represents. There is no such thing as a Political Director of the NSBO, etc., but there is only the Political Director of the NSDAP.

[Page 16]

The Oath of the Political Director.

The Political Director is sworn in yearly. The oath is worded as follows:

“I pledge eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler. I pledge unconditioned obedience to him and the Fuehrers appointed by him.”

The Political Director is inseparably tied to the ideology and the organization of the NSDAP. His oath only ends with his death or with his expulsion from the National Socialist community.

[Page 17]

The Protection of the Honor of the Political Director.

The leading personalities of State and Party are protected against vicious attacks upon State and Party. (See Section 6).

This law primarily protects leading Party members from District Directors on up.

Should, however, a situation exist which is liable to degrade the Party and its institutions (for instance an allegation of embezzlement by a Kreisleiter in which matter nothing was being done which would mean, in other words, that bad conditions were tolerated) the prosecution may be directed by authority of paragraph 1 of the law.

In case of attacks which are liable to degrade the Party and its officers prosecution may be requested through the competent State prosecutor after consultation with the proper law office of the Party.

[Page 19]

The Appointment of Political Directors.

1. The Fuehrer appoints the following Political Directors:

(a) Reichsleiter and all Political Directors to include the Directors of the Women’s Leagues within the Reich Directorate [Reichsleitung].

(b) Gauleiters to include the Directors of an office of the Gau Directorate, as well as the Directors of the Women’s League’s of the Gau.

(c) Kreisleiters.

Their appointment will be published in the official paper [Verordnungsblatt].

2. The Gauleiter appoints:

(a) The Political Directors and the Directors of the Women’s Leagues within the Gau Directorate, and the Directors of the Main Offices up to Associate Directors [Mitarbeiter].

(b) The Political Directors and the Directors of the Women’s Leagues in the Kreis Directorate.

(c) The Local Chapter Directors [Ortsgruppenleiter].

3. The Kreisleiter appoints: The Political Directors and the Directors of the Women’s Leagues of the Local Chapter [Ortsgruppen] to include Block and Cell Directors and Block Helpers, as well as the Political Directors in the factories (inasmuch as they are Party members). All Political Directors and Directors of the Women’s Leagues will be issued an identity card.

[Page 24]

All political directors irrespective of the local chapter, the county, or the district in which they may be in office will wear a uniform office suit.

All political directors irrespective in what party offices they execute their duties, be it in the political directorate, the administration, the party courts, the affiliated associations or in the factories, will wear a uniform office suit.

[Page 49]

MEETINGS OF MEMBERS AND PUBLIC MEETINGS

The bearers of sovereignty of the party are responsible for the membership meetings planned by all party offices and affiliated associations. They will be approved:

1. By the local chapter director if they do not go beyond the local chapter in their importance.

2. By the county directors if they do not go beyond the county in their importance.

3. The district directors if they have a general political significance for the district.

The meetings will be conducted along the lines laid down by the local organization and propaganda offices.

[Page 50]

CELL EVENINGS OF THE NSDAP

1. Time of meetings:

Cell evenings of the NSDAP will be held once a month.

2. Conduct of the Cell Evenings:

The cell evenings of the Party will be conducted by the cell director of the NSDAP. If no suitable cell director is on hand--either because of his short time in office or insufficient indoctrination--the meeting will be in the hands of the local Chapter Director of the NSDAP.

3. Participants:

(a) Participation at a cell evening is compulsory for:

All political directors of the cell:

Block leaders and block helpers, cell foremen and block foremen living within the cell zone.

Factory cell and factory block foremen of the German Labor Front [DAF] and their co-workers.

NSV cell and block managers:

Cell and block leaders of the Women’s League and the co-workers of the NSV and NSF whose domicile is within the Cell Zone.

All Party members within the cell;

All members of organizations of the NSDAP. * * *

5. Program of the Cell Evenings. (During War Time):

Following are the rules for the program of a cell evening:

* * * * * * *

(b) Lecture (not over 30 minutes) based on the directives issued by the Reich Directorate for Propaganda of the NSDAP.

[Page 50A-51]

LEADER CONFERENCES--TIME OF MEETINGS

1. Leader conferences in the local chapter zone.

(a) Local chapter directors and office chiefs, cell directors and block directors possibly in the presence of cell and block foremen, as well as cell and block managers and cell and block directors of the Women’s League, as well as the local leaders of the organizations and possibly the deputies of the Kreis offices (health, education, civil servants, county policy, etc.).

Once a month.

(b) Cell directors with block directors and cell foremen, cell managers and cell directors of the Women’s League.

Once a month.

(c) Block directors with block foremen, block managers, block leaders of the Women’s League and block helpers.

Once a month.

(d) All officers of the local chapter are also to participate in:

1. The official formation within the region of the local chapter (may be combined with leader conference (a)).

2. Official formations of the county.

Every three months.

3. The District Day. [Gautag].

One every three years.

4. The County Day. [Kreistag].

If coinciding with District Day, County Day will be cancelled.

Once a year.

(e) Participation in schooling:

1. Participants: The political directors, foremen, managers, advisers, directors of the Women’s League, etc.

* * * * * * *

Once a month.

(f) Participation in education.

The political directors of the local chapter; in the evenings or Sunday mornings, sport to be conducted concurrently. (For further details see AVM).

Twice a month.

* * * * * * *

2. Leader conferences in the county [Kreis]:

(a) County director and his staff every 8 to 14 days.

(b) If possible the county director is to arrange for a week end course of 1½ to 2 days duration. (Possibly at a county school [Kreisschule], with the participation of the directors of the county offices and local chapter directors.)

One every 3 months.

Purpose: To hear fundamental lectures, to gather socially in the presence of the bearer of sovereignty, to get to know each other, to overcome difficulties of personal and professional nature by a mutual exchange of thought.

In counties having a large number of local chapters, these courses can be divided. Participation in these conventions is compulsory and official duties are not constituted an excuse under any circumstances.

* * * * * * *

(d) The bearers of sovereignty will meet at least once a month with the leaders of the SA, SS, NSKK, HJ, as well as the RAD, and NSFK, in so far as they are located within their sector for mutual orientation.

3. Leader conferences in the District:

(a) District leaders [Gauleiter] with his staff every 8 to 14 days.

(b) It is further absolutely necessary that the directors of the GAU offices will meet with the county directors of their district once every three months for a three day convention (possibly at a district schooling castle) where they will have an opportunity to overcome difficulties of personal and professional nature, apart from hearing fundamental lectures, by social gatherings in the presence of the bearer of the sovereignty, by getting to know each other and by a mutual exchange of ideas. Participation in these conferences is compulsory and duty would not constitute an excuse under any circumstances.

(c) The arrangement of social meeting in the presence of leaders of the organizations of RAD and NSFK of the respective zone of sovereignty. In the course of these meetings differences of opinions may be straightened out in discussions.

(d) The bearer of sovereignty will meet at least once a month with the leaders of the SA, SS, NSKK, HJ, as well as the RAD and the NSFK who are within the zone for the purpose of mutual orientation.

[Page 98]

Bearers of Sovereignty--[Hoheitstraeger].

Sectors of Sovereignty--[Hoheitsgebiete].

Among the Political Directors [Politische Leiter] the Bearers of Sovereignty assume a special position. Contrary to the other Political Directors who have departmental missions and serve as advisers to the Bearers of Sovereignty, the Bearers of Sovereignty themselves are in charge of a geographical sector known as the Sector of Sovereignty [Hoheitsgebiete].

Bearers of Sovereignty are:

The Fuehrer. The District Directors [Gauleiter]. The County Directors [Kreisleiter]. The Local Chapter Directors [Ortsgruppenleiter]. The Cell Directors [Zellenleiter]. The Block Directors [Blockleiter]. The Sectors of Sovereignty are: The Reich. The District. The County. The Local Chapter. The Cell. The Block.

Within their Sector of Sovereignty the Bearers of Sovereignty have sovereign political rights. They represent the Party within their Sector, internally and externally, and they are responsible for the entire political situation within their Sector. The Bearers of Sovereignty supervise all Party officers within their jurisdiction and they are responsible for the maintenance of discipline within their sector. On the other hand, the Directors of the Offices, etc., and of the affiliated organizations are responsible to their respective Bearers of Sovereignty as regards their specific missions apart from their responsibility towards their departmental superiors. The Bearers of Sovereignty are superior to all Political Directors, Managers, etc., within their sector. As regards personal considerations Bearers of Sovereignty, from a Local Chapter Director on up are endowed with special rights. They may, within the provisions of their general directives regarding personnel authorizations, appointments, leaves and dismissal of Political Directors, execute the judgments of the Party law courts which have jurisdiction within their Sector of Sovereignty.

The Bearers of Sovereignty of the Party are not to be administrative officials for a certain sector but are to move in a continuous vital contact with the Political Directors and the population within their sector. The Bearers of Sovereignty are responsible for the proper and good supervision of all members of the nation within their sector. The supervision within a Local Chapter of the NSDAP should, if possible, not be conducted through its business office but through the Blocks and Cells and by the Directors of those units. Through the arrangement of regular interview hours everyone should be given the opportunity to contact his Bearer of Sovereignty.

* * * The Party intends to achieve a state of affairs in which the individual German will find his way to the Party not only in cases of emergency but where the Party, upon its own initiative, as desired by the Fuehrer, will currently supervise and care for all members of the nation.

[Page 70]

POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE SA

The political leaders conduct the practical political work and care for the German nation.

The SA is the instrument of training and education through the Party. The parallel organizations, SS and NSKK, are charged with maintaining physical fitness and soldierly spirit within their organizations and with the possibility of commitment as an inner political troop.

* * * * * * *

Smooth cooperation in the service of the Movement and the avoidance of all petty jealousies is the absolute duty of both parties.

* * * * * * *

Mutual Leader Conferences.

To emphasize unity and to promote it, the following principles will apply:

Hoheitstrager [bearers of sovereignty], gauleiters, kreisleiters, etc., will meet at least once a month with the leaders of the SA, SS, NSKK, and HJ, as well as RAD and NSFK, as found within their zone for the purpose of mutual orientation.

More than that, it is desirable to invite the SA leader to other political Fuehrer talks and the political leader to the SA Fuehrer talks.

* * * * * * *

[Page 71]

The Hoheitstrager is responsible for the entire political appearance of the Movement within his zone. The SA leader of that zone is tied to the directives of the Hoheitstrager in that respect.

Requisitioning the SA.

The Hoheitstrager is the ranking representative of the Party to include all organizations within his zone. He may requisition the SA located within his zone from the respective SA leader if they are needed for the execution of a political mission. The Hoheitstrager will then assign the mission to the SA.

* * * * * * *

Should the Hoheitstrager need more SA for the execution of a political mission than is locally available, he then applies to the next higher office of sovereignty which, in turn, requests the SA from the SA office in his sector.

* * * * * * *

[Page 75]

POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE SS

The directives laid down with regard to the relationship to the SA are similarly applicable to the SS.

* * * * * * *

POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE NSKK

The directives laid down with regard to the relationship to the SA are similarly applicable to the NSKK.

[Page 76]

POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE HJ

The directives laid down with regard to the relationship to the SA are similarly applicable to the HJ.

In appointing leaders of the HJ and the DJ, the office of the HJ must procure the approval of the Hoheitstrager of his zone. This means that the Hoheitstrager can prevent the appointment of leaders unsuited for the leadership of youth. If his approval has not been procured, an appointment may be cancelled if he so requests.

* * * * * * *

The political leader has the right to requisition the HJ, in the same manner as the SA, for the execution of a political action.

* * * * * * *

[Page 76a]

THE POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE NS AVIATION CORPS (NSFK)

General Collaboration.

The ranking unit leader of the NSFK within the zone will be consulted during the general leader conferences by the Hoheitstrager of the NSDAP. Similarly, the Hoheitstrager or his deputy will be invited to general leader conferences and other meetings of the NSFK.

* * * * * * *

[Page 76b]

THE POLITICAL LEADER AND THE REICH LABOR SERVICE

General Collaboration.

Although the Reich Labor Service is no longer an organization within the NSDAP--on the basis of the Labor Duty Law of 26 June 1935--the connection of this service with the Party is demonstrated by the appointment of the Reich Labor Leader to be Reichsleiter of the NSDAP.

To emphasize this union, the leaders of the Reich Labor Service within the zone will participate in the monthly leader conferences of the Hoheitstrager. More than that, it is desirable that the Reich Labor Leader will be invited to other political Fuehrer talks and, vice versa, the political leader to meetings of the Reich Labor Service.

[Page 77]

THE POLITICAL LEADER AND THE STATE

To achieve unity of Party and State, the Chief of the Party Chancellery has been given the powers of a Reich Minister. In fundamental questions, the official channels of all Party offices and organizations of the NSDAP with the ministries and other State authorities and, in the opposite direction, of all State offices with organizations of the Party go through the Party Chancellery. This method will assure unified procedure of the Party towards the State.

The Chief of the Party Chancellery must be heard prior to the appointment of any higher civil servant; he will indicate the judgment of the Party towards the person of the proposed civil servant. To make sure of agreement between the municipal administration and the Party, the deputy of the NSDAP will have a decisive voice in the appointment and dismissal of the mayor, the alderman, and the municipal councillors, and furthermore, in the following decisions of the mayor:

1. The decree of principal directives.

2. The bestowal of honorary citizen rights and honorary titles.

The Chief of the Party Chancellery appoints the deputy of the NSDAP. On the basis of his directives, the gauleiter appoints the deputies as follows: for town and country districts, the kreisleiter. If this official happens to be an employee of a municipality or of an inspectorate, a gau inspector will be appointed. In special cases, the gauleiter may appoint himself as deputy.

[Page 92]

Membership in Affiliated Organizations.

The tasks of the affiliated organizations are laid down by the chief offices of the Party which have jurisdiction in the zone of those organizations.

* * * * * * *

Only those organizations may claim to uphold the Fuehrer principle and the form of National Socialist organization and thus be recognized as promoting the continuation of State and people in the National Socialist sense who have found, and will find in the future, structure, supervision, and general character through the Party.

All others, living an existence of their own, are to be turned away as outsiders and must either change or disappear from public life.

[Page 99]

BLOCK OF THE NSDAP

A. BLOCKLEITER

1. Regional Sector.

The household: The household is the basic community upon which the block and cell system is built. The household is the organizational focal point of all the Germans united in an apartment and including roomers, domestic help, etc.

* * * * * * *

The block of the NSDAP consists of 40 to 60 households (if possible no more than 50).

* * * * * * *

2. Personnel Questions.

a. The blockleiter is Hoheitstrager of the NSDAP.

* * * * * * *

c. Subordination: Within the local chapter the blockleiter is subordinate to the cell leader in disciplinary matters.

d. Appointment: The blockleiter will be appointed by the Ortsgruppenleiter (local chapter director).

* * * * * * *

3. Tasks and Jurisdiction.

The blockleiter has jurisdiction over all matters within his zone relating to the Movement, and he is fully responsible to the cell leader.

* * * * * * *

[Page 101]

It is his duty to find people disseminating damaging rumors and to report them to the Ortsgruppe so that they may be reported to the respective State authorities.

The blockleiter must not only be preacher and defender of the National Socialist ideology towards the members of nation and Party entrusted to his political care, but he must also strive to achieve practical collaboration of the Party members within his block zone and he must make those of special talents and ability known to the Hoheitstrager.

[Page 102]

The blockleiter shall continuously remind the Party members of their particular duties towards the people and the State.

* * * * * * *

Furthermore, the blockleiter completes a list (card file) about the households.

* * * * * * *

[Page 103]

It is the blockleiter’s aim to achieve to the greatest extent possible that the sons and daughters of families within his zone become members of the various formations of the HJ, SA, SS, NSKK, as well as the corresponding affiliated organizations of the Party, and the German Labor Front, that they visit the National Socialist meetings, rallies, celebrations, etc. In short, the blockleiter must be an untiring activist and propagandist of the Movement.

* * * * * * *

In principle, the blockleiter will settle his official business verbally, and he will receive messages verbally and pass them on in the same way. Correspondence will only be used in cases of absolute necessity and practicability.

[Page 104]

5. Attitude Towards Members of the Nation.

* * * * * * *

a. The blockleiter conducts National Socialist propaganda from mouth to mouth. He will eventually awaken the understanding of the eternally dissatisfied as regards the frequently misunderstood or wrongly interpreted measures and laws of the National Socialist government. He is to encourage the members of the nation to ask questions and he is to point out that they may go ahead and talk to him without having to expect difficulties. He will admonish them, however, to exercise discretion towards other members of the nation as regards loose talk. It is not necessary for him to fall in with complaints and gripes about possibly obvious shortcomings of any kind in order to demonstrate this solidarity, but he must always be eager to think in a positive manner and to influence those under his care by his attitude of confidence. * * *

b. A condition to gain the confidence of all people is to maintain absolute secrecy in all matters. * * *

[Page 110]

THE CELL OF THE NSDAP

A. CELL LEADER

1. Regional Sector.

The cell consists of four to eight blocks.

* * * * * * *

2. Personnel Questions.

a. The cell leader is the Hoheitstrager of the NSDAP immediately superior to the block leader.

* * * * * * *

[Page 112]

3. Mission and Jurisdiction.

The missions of the cell leader correspond to the missions of the block leader.

* * * * * * *

[Page 116]

THE LOCAL CHAPTER [ORTSGRUPPE] OF THE NSDAP

1. Regional Sector.

The zone of sovereignty includes one or more communities; if necessary, towns may be subdivided into several zones of sovereignty.

* * * * * * *

[Page 119]

3. The Local Chapter Director.

I. Personnel Questions.

a. The Ortsgruppenleiter of the NSDAP in his capacity as Hoheitstrager is endowed with special rights.

* * * * * * *

[Page 119a]

c. Place of Rank: The Ortsgruppenleiter is directly subordinate to the respective (County Director) [Kreisleiter].

d. Appointment: The Ortsgruppenleiter is appointed by the Kreisleiter.

* * * * * * *

[Page 120]

II. Mission and Jurisdiction.

(1) General Responsibility.

Contrary to the time before the assumption of power, the actions of the NSDAP are not limited to the care of its members but now include the care of the entire German nation. This results in the following basic conditions for the Ortsgruppenleiter and his office chiefs:

The Ortsgruppenleiter and his office chiefs must manage their Party duties in addition to the fulfillment of their professional and family duties.

Therefore, the proper conduct of Party tasks is only possible if the tasks of the individual and, in particular, the honorary co-workers of the Party are as limited as possible.

As Hoheitstrager, all expressions of the Party will emanate from him; he is responsible for the political and ideological leadership and organization within his zone of sovereignty.

The Ortsgruppenleiter carries the over-all responsibility for the political results of all measures initiated by the offices, organizations and affiliated associations of the Party. The Party office directors (office chiefs, etc.) within the staff of the Ortsgruppenleiter are the deputies of the Hoheitstrager in their respective offices.

The Ortsgruppenleiter has the right to protest to the Kreisleiter against any measures contrary to the interests of the Party with regards to a unified political appearance in public.

* * * * * * *

[Page 121]

(2) Special Tasks and Duties.

* * * * * * *

c. Leader Conferences: The Ortsgruppenleiter has the duty to issue directives in regular conferences.

* * * * * * *

[Page 130]

THE KREISLEITUNG OF THE NSDAP

[Page 131]

4. The County Director [Kreisleiter]

I. Personnel Questions.

a. Place of Rank: The Kreisleiter is directly subordinate to the Gauleiter.

* * * * * * *

c. Appointment: The Kreisleiter is appointed by the Fuehrer upon suggestion of the Gauleiter.

[Pages 132-133-134]

II. Mission and Jurisdiction of the Kreisleiter.

The Kreisleiter carries the over-all responsibility towards the Gauleiter within his zone of sovereignty for the political and ideological training and organization of the political leaders, the Party members, as well as the population.

* * * * * * *

[Page 136]

GAULEITUNG OF THE NSDAP

The Gauleitung--Gauleiter and Gau staff--have the political leadership of a designated sector of the Reich and there they perform creative work.

1. Regional Sector.

The Gau represents the concentration of a number of Party counties [Parteikreis].

* * * * * * *

4. The Gauleiter.

The Gauleiter is directly subordinate to the Fuehrer. He is appointed by the Fuehrer.

The Gauleiter bears the over-all responsibility to the Fuehrer for the sector of sovereignty entrusted to him. The rights, duties, and jurisdiction of the Gauleiter result primarily from the mission assigned by the Fuehrer and, apart from that, from detailed directives.

* * * * * * *

[Page 140b]

7 B. Functions.

(1) The edition of the official gazette of the Gauleitung.

* * * * * * *

(3) The central coordination office of the Gau directorate with the State authorities (Reich deputies, police, Gestapo, etc.). The arrangement of conferences between the Gauleiter and offices outside the Party (State, economy, and others) inasmuch as several Gau main offices or Gau offices are interested, in the presence of the respective professional Gau office directors.

(4) The installation of the M Section into the Gau staff office and, thus, the connection to the Armed Forces.

* * * * * * *

(7) Preparation of matters of pardon and commutation of sentence.

* * * * * * *

[Page 141a]

C. Structure.

To be able to handle all these tasks the staff office director of the Gau is assigned the necessary number of co-workers. The above-mentioned tasks of the staff office director of the Gau are combined in the following main offices.

(1) Referee for questions of the Armed Forces (mobilization matters).

(2) Information and report matters.

(3) Pardon matters.

(4) Matters of interior conduct of business in as far as these are not a concern of the Gau treasurer.

(5) Chancellery for personal-official concerns of the Gauleiter and the Deputy Gauleiter.

(6) Law consultant of the Gau.

(7) Complaints and reception of visitors.

[Page 146]

THE FUEHRER

The recognition of the sociological mismanagement in pre-war Germany which prevented the growth of a genuine people’s community, the front line experiences of the World War filled with the spirit of comradeship, and the disgust with the traitorous pacifist postwar Germany, matured the Fuehrer’s decision to become a politician and to give the German people a state form which would assume its justified life interests for centuries.

To achieve this aim the Fuehrer created the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. He filled it with his spirit and his will, and with it he conquered the power of the State on 30 January 1933. The Fuehrer’s will is supreme in the Party. As supreme bearer of sovereignty in the Movement, he possesses the right of pardon in Party court matters.

By authority of the law about the Chief of State of the German Reich, dated 1 August 1934, the office of the Reich President has been combined with that of the Reich Chancellery. Consequently, the powers heretofore possessed by the Reich President were transferred to the Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. Through this law, the conduct of Party and State has been combined in one hand. By desire of the Fuehrer, a plebiscite was conducted on this law on 19 August 1934. On this day, the German people chose Adolf Hitler to be their sole leader. He is responsible only to his own conscience and to the German nation.

To assist him, particularly in party-political questions, the Fuehrer uses the Party Chancellery.

The Chief of the Party Chancellery, to guarantee closest collaboration between the offices of the Party and the State authorities, has the powers of a Reich Minister and is a member of the Reich Cabinet.

With the execution of tasks particular to the Party, the Fuehrer has entrusted the Reichsleiter within the Reich Directorate of the NSDAP.

[Pages 148-149]

THE REICH DIRECTORATE OF THE NSDAP

The NSDAP represents the political conception, the political conscience, and the political will of the German nation. Political conception, political conscience, and political will are embodied in the person of the Fuehrer. Based on his directives and in accordance with the program of the NSDAP, the organs of the Reich Directorate directionally determine the political aims of the German people. It is in the Reich Directorate where the strings of the organization of the German people and the State meet. By endowment of the Chief of the Party Chancellery with the powers of a Reich Minister, and by special administrative directives, the penetration of the State apparatus with the political will of the Party is guaranteed. It is the task of the separate organs of the Reich Directorate to maintain as close a contact as possible with the life of the nation through their sub-offices in the Gaus. Observations at the front are to be collected and exploited by the offices of the Reich Directorate.

The structure of the Reich Directorate is thus that the channel from the lowest Party office upwards shows the most minute weaknesses and changes in the mood of the people, and that the directives thereby produced in the Reich Directorate will reach the outer command posts of the Party quickly and clearly.

The Reich Directorate, then, sees to it that the reports of the mood of the people will move from the lower to the higher echelons uninterruptedly and quickly, and that the will of the Fuehrer will reach the most distant branches quickly and accurately, even as in the healthy organism of a tree, where the roots receive the food from the soil and lead it into the leaves while the juices formed in the leaves are being sent to the most distant roots. This coordination guarantees an ever-renewed reception of power and an ever-strengthening anchorage of the roots, and it permits the crown to spread further and further, to reach higher and higher, and yet to withstand wind and weather.

Since the National Socialist Movement has originated from the people, it is the most noble task of the Reich Directorate to watch that the strong roots of the Party--namely its ties within the nation--will not die off.

Another essential task of the Reich Directorate is to assure a good selection of leaders. It is the duty of the Reich Directorate to see that there is leadership in all phases of life, a leadership which is firmly tied to National Socialist ideology and which promotes its dissemination with all its energy.

Apart from the general great political tasks which are the responsibility of the Reich Directorate, it will also see that the Party is well organized in all its offices. For that purpose, the Reich Organization Leader exercises a continuous supervision of the organizations of the entire Party apparatus, and he prevents the birth of a bureaucracy which would paralyze the striking power of the Party. It is the supreme task of the Reich Organization Leader to preserve the Party as a well-sharpened sword for the Fuehrer.

The inner organization of the Reich Directorate serves for the execution of the above-named tasks. The number of its offices is so arranged that there will be a representation of all phases of national life within the Reich Directorate. The offices will have subordinate organizations in the other zones of sovereignty as may become necessary. The tasks, jurisdiction, etc., of the offices are further defined in detail in the following chapters.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1903-PS

Decrees, Regulations, Announcements [Verfuegungen, Anordnungen, Bekanntgaben], Vol. II. Edited by the Party-Chancellery. Published by: Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Frz. Eher Nachf. GmbH., Muenchen. Page 510.

Decree of the Fuehrer on the execution of the decree concerning the Deputy General for the mobilization of labor [Arbeitseinsatz].

In the following the Fuehrer’s decree on the extension of the authority of the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz is made public:

“Decree of the Fuehrer on the execution of the decree concerning the Deputy General for the Arbeitsdienst of 30 September 1942.

I herewith authorize the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Reich-governor and district-leader [Gauleiter] Fritz Sauckel to take all necessary measures for the enforcement of my decree referring to a Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz of 21 March 1942 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, Page 179) according to his own judgment in the Greater German Reich, in the Protectorate, and in the Government General [Generalgouvernement] as well as in the occupied territories, measures which will safeguard under all circumstances the regulated deployment of labor [geordneter Arbeitseinsatz] for the German war-economy. For this purpose he may appoint commissioners [Beauftragte] to the bureaus of the military and civilian administration. These are subordinated directly to Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz, in order to carry out their tasks. They are entitled to issue directives to the competent military and civilian authorities in charge of the Arbeitseinsatz and of wage-policy.

More detailed directives will be issued by the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz.

Fuehrer-Headquarters 30 Sept 1942

The Fuehrer Sign. Adolf Hitler

The Reichminister and Chief of the Reich-Chancery Sign. Dr. Lammers

The chief of the German High Command Sign. Keitel.”

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1913-PS

1943 REICHSARBEITSBLATT, PART I, PAGE 588

Agreement between the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz and the German Labor Front concerning the care of non-German workers

The Commissioner for the Four Year Plan

The Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz VIc 5783/291

Berlin, 20 Sept. 1943

To the presidents of the Gau employment offices and to the Reich Trustees of Labor as well as to the directors of the employment offices.

AGREEMENT

The following agreement has been concluded between the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Gauleiter and Reich Governor [Reichstatthalter] Sauckel and the Reichsleiter of the German Labor Front, Reichsorganisation leader Dr. Ley.

1. The German Labor Front, on the basis of decree Nr 4 of the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz of 7 May 1942--GBA 405/42 (Nr 2b) has the sole and exclusive mission of caring for all foreign workers employed within the Reich. Excluded are the farm workers employed in the Reich food administration.

2. The Reichsleiter of the German Labor Front, Reichsorganisationleiter Dr. Ley, in collaboration with the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Gauleiter Sauckel, will establish a “central inspection” for the continuous supervision of all measures concerning the care of the foreign workers mentioned under 1. This will have the designation:

“Central inspection for the care of foreign workers.”

The central inspection for the care of foreign workers exercises its functions upon directives and in the name of the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz and of the Reichsleiter of the German Labor Front. In order to avoid all duplication of work, it will be its sole responsibility, to scrutinize all measures taken for the care of foreign workers employed in the factories and camps, also to remove immediately all defects discovered--as far as possible--on the spot and to issue the necessary instructions for this.

The authority of the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz to empower the members of his staff and the presidents of the state employment offices to get direct information on the conditions regarding the employment of foreigners in the factories and camps, will remain untouched.

3. The central inspection for the care of foreign workers will be continuously in touch with the main office VI of the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz. It will instruct the office on the general observations made and will make suggestions for changes, if that should become necessary.

4. The offices of the administration of the Arbeitseinsatz will be constantly informed by the “central inspection for the care of foreign workers” of its observations, in particular immediately in each case in which action of State organizations seems to be necessary.

This agreement becomes effective on the day of its signing.

Berlin, 2 June 1943

Dr. Robert LEY Fritz SAUCKEL

# # # # #

For the carrying out of this agreement I order the following:

1. The supervision of all welfare measures in the realm of the employment of foreign workers is the sole responsibility of the central inspection for the care of foreign workers. Complaints about bad quarters, food, deficient provision of free time activities and cultural and propagandistic care will in the future be directed by me to the central inspection for investigation and elimination of possible deficiencies. The labor offices and Gau labor offices must direct complaints and protests coming to them to the locally competent office of the German Labor Front.

The central inspection will inform the Plenipotentiary General for Arbeitseinsatz regarding its decisions and the measures instituted by it and their completion.

2. The employment of foreign workers, their identification, equalization between the plants, transfers, supervision of practical and vocationally correct employment in the plant, the promotion of instructional measures to increase production, as well as drafting of the labor-contract regulations, the carrying out of pay regulation measures, and the supervision of the orderly paying of foreign workers, remain as formerly the task of the competent offices of the administration of the Arbeitseinsatz and Reich trusteeship.

3. The directives for the employment of eastern and western laborers given in Va 5780.28/90 of 9 January and Va 5780/196 of 4 February 1943 remain in force with the provision that the labor offices and Gau labor offices and the specialists employed with them for the inspection of camps for eastern laborers need only undertake the tasks mentioned under No. 2.

4. The close interrelationship of the tasks of the Arbeitseinsatz and the care of foreign labor demands, independently of the measures to be effected, for the execution of the above agreement, a constant and close cooperation between the offices of the administration of the Arbeitseinsatz and the offices of the German labor front. If, for example, it is determined in the execution of Arbeitseinsatz measures, that an insufficient labor performance on the part of foreign labor results from absence of welfare work, then the competent agencies of the German Labor Front are to be informed of this without delay so that the latter may effect the correction of existing deficiencies. On the other hand the offices of the German Labor Front will bring to the attention of the competent agencies of the Arbeitseinsatz administrative findings made in the course of their welfare work which require an evaluation from the point of view of the Arbeitseinsatz.

For the adjustment of individual questions of cooperation between the offices concerned and the erection of a permanent exchange of findings the Gau labor offices will enter into negotiations with the appropriate administration [Gauwaltungen] of the German Labor Front and will inform the labor offices on the rulings effected for the districts.

By order

Dr BEISIEGEL

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1914-PS

Decrees, Regulations, Announcements [Verfuegungen, Anordnungen, Bekanntgaben], 1st part, 1943 Edition--Editor: The Party Chancellery. Published by the Central Publishing House of the NSDAP, Franz Eher, successor, Muenchen. Pages 318-320.

# # # # #

AGREEMENT

The following agreement between the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg and the director of the German Labor Front, Reichsorganisationsleiter Dr. R. Ley, was reached today:

I. On the basis of the agreement reached on June 2, 1943, between the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel and the leader of the German Arbeitsfront, Reich Organisationsleiter Dr. R. Ley, concerning a “Central inspection for the care of foreign laborers”, in order to avoid in the future duplication of work and overlapping in plants and camps in which foreign workers are employed or housed, special inspections of the plants and community camps will be effected only by the central inspection. In order to secure cooperation between the Reich Ministry for the occupied Eastern territories and the Central Inspection, a liaison agency will be created in the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

II. The Central Inspection for the care of foreign laborers is directed to give upon request the liaison office of the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, all information in questions related to the care of foreigners.

III. If, in special cases, the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories considers that a committee should be dispatched in order to inspect camps and plants, this will be done with the consent and cooperation of a representative of the central inspection for the care of foreign workers.

IV. However, the leader of the liaison agency will have at any time access to the community camps and plants in which workers from the Occupied Eastern Territories are housed or employed. Nevertheless, in these cases too the central inspection will have to be given advance notice of the intended inspections.

V. This agreement comes into force on the day of signing.

AGREEMENT

1. A liaison office of the Propaganda Ministry to the German Labor Front is established in the office of the Arbeitseinsatz between the Reichminister for Enlightenment and Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels and the Director of the German Labor Front, Reichsorganisationsleiter Dr. Ley as the result of the agreement reached on 2 June 1943, between the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel and the Director of the German Labor Front, Dr. Ley about the establishment of a “Central inspection for the care of foreign laborers”.

2. A similar agency will be created in the Gau administrations between the Reich Propaganda Office and/or the Gau Propaganda Office and the main section of the Arbeitseinsatz of the German Arbeitsfront.

3. The liaison agencies have to see that all the measures for caretaking should be carried out in closest cooperation.

4. In order to secure this cooperation, it will be ascertained that all reports, especially those of the central inspection, should be currently maintained to liaison agents.

5. The liaison agents will be currently notified of the visits to camps and plants effected by the German Arbeitsfront and by the delegates of the Central Inspection; it will be at their discretion to take part in these visits in person or by a representative. In special cases the liaison agent or his representative can also visit camps and plants after notifying the DAF.

6. This agreement comes into force on the day of signing.

# # # # #

Chief of Security Police and SD.

IV D--626/43 (ausl Arb.)

Berlin June 21, 1943 Night Letter!

To the inspectors of the Security Police and of the SD.

Subject: Central inspection for the care of foreign laborers.

For the permanent control of all measures for the care of foreign workers employed in the Reich--except in agriculture--the leader of the DAF has created:

“Central Inspection for the care of foreign labor”, in cooperation with the Deputy General for Arbeitseinsatz.

This Central inspection has the task of supervising all the measures for the care of foreign labor in plants and camps, of correcting the detected flaws right on the spot, as far as possible and to issue the directives which are necessary for this purpose.

The leader of Central Inspection for the care of foreign labor is the Hauptdienstleiter of the NSDAP.

Party member Otto Gohdes.

The erection and tasks of this central inspection will not interfere with the measures for which the Security Police and SD are responsible. The preventive tasks of the police which aims at an orderly treatment and care of foreign laborers to avoid incidents undesirable from the standpoint of the Security Police, will be considerably supported and secured by the central inspection and its delegates. The delegates of the central inspection for the care of foreign laborers are instructed to carry out their activities in close cooperation with the agencies of the Security Police and of the SD, particularly with the State Police (directive) agencies. I request, therefore, that close cooperation be afforded the delegates of the central inspection, that they be strongly assisted and taken everywhere committed, even where the care of foreign laborers does not forward the interests of the Security Police and the SD.

Care of laborers of a German blood.

In order to do justice to the particular position of people of German blood [Volksdeutschen], the DAF--Office of the Arbeitseinsatz--has confidentially instructed its agencies to carry out the care of Volksdeutschen in cooperation with the agencies of the Volksdeutschen information office and to avoid that foreign liaison agencies should take care of the Volksdeutschen workers. In the future, the DAF and the State Labor Office will not submit to the foreign liaison agencies such plants which employ only Volksdeutschen from the country in question.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1915-PS

1938 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 111

Decree concerning the leadership of the Armed Forces, 4 February 1938

From now on, I take over directly the command of the whole Armed Forces.

The former Armed Forces department in the Reichs War Ministry will come directly under my command with all its tasks which it fulfilled under the jurisdiction of the “supreme command of the Army” and my military staff.

At the head of the staff of the supreme command of the Armed Forces is the former Chief of the Armed Forces department as “Chief of the supreme command of the Armed Forces”. He is equal in rank to a Reichs Minister.

At the same time, the supreme command takes the responsibility for the affairs of the Reichs Ministry of War, and by my order, the chief of the supreme command of the Armed Forces exercises the authority formerly belonging to the Reichs Minister.

It is the supreme command of the Armed Forces’ duty to carry out in peace time in accordance with my instructions, the preparation of the defense system of the Reich.

Berlin 4 February 1938

The Fuehrer and Reichs Chancellor Adolph Hitler

The Reichs Minister and Chief of the Reichs Chancellery Dr. Lammers

The Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces Keitel

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1918-PS

HIMMLER’S ADDRESS TO OFFICERS OF THE SS-LEIBSTANDARTE “ADOLF HITLER” ON THE “DAY OF METZ” (PRESENTATION OF HISTORICAL NAZI FLAG).

Now I would like to bring another matter to your attention. Very frequently the member of the Waffen-SS thinks about the deportation of this people here. These thoughts came to me today when watching the very difficult work out there performed by the Security Police, supported by your men, who help them a great deal. Exactly the same thing happened in Poland in weather 40 degrees below zero, where we had to haul away thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands; where we had to have the toughness--you should hear this but also forget it again immediately--to shoot thousands of leading Poles, where we had to have the toughness, otherwise it would have taken revenge on us later. We also had to bring in, in this winter of 40 degrees below zero, ten thousands of Germans, and had to take care of their needs--that the women were warm; that, when they bore children, these children did not experience want and destitution; where we had to take care of their horses; where we had to take care of the baggage of these poor Germans from Volkynia; all duties where the proud soldier says: “My God, why do I have to do that, this ridiculous job here...!” Gentlemen, it is much easier in many cases--and that I would like to tell you this once, or would like to recall to you, you will gladly admit: in many cases it is much easier to go into combat with a company than to suppress an obstructive population of low cultural level in some area with a company, or to carry out executions, or to haul away people, or to evict crying and hysterical women, or to return our German racial brethren across the border from Russia and to take care of them. I want to tell you: In the entire Waffen-SS we must begin to view the other great activity of the entire SS [Gesamt-SS] and entire police. We must see to it that you consider the activity of the man in green uniform as just as valuable as the activity you yourself are engaged in. You have to consider the work of the SD man or of the man of the Security Police as a vital part of our whole work just like the fact that you can carry arms. You are the ones to be envied, because if you do something, if a unit achieves fame, then one can talk of fame, and it can be decorated. It is much more difficult in many other positions--and with that I do not want to underestimate your achievements; I would be the last one to do that--but, believe me, in many places it is much more difficult, this silent work-compulsion, this silent activity, this standing guard over our ideology, this necessity of remaining steadfast, this necessity of not compromising is very much more difficult in places. Now I want to tell you something else; I mentioned before that we absolutely were in danger of suffocating within ourselves, within the leadership corps [Fuehrerkorps]. There did not seem to be a way out. Either we would have become senile or we had to kick the people out too soon. Today, in the future, in time of peace, the possibility does not exist that a man, or a leader, provided he is worth his salt, does not perform valuable work in some position or that satisfactory work is not assigned to him. Of course we will do it in such a way--let there be no doubt about it--that we put the most capable ones into each position. In other words, if there are four company commanders, the most capable one will be promoted to battalion commander, the one who is best fitted for that activity. The other three, or the other 2, will be utilized in some activity which is just as valuable, but for which he is better adapted. In general, everyone should understand that the course of the past two years, which were pure war years with preparation for war, are of course not completed, education for Political Officers will become much more strongly emphasized. I would like to use this word for once, Political Leader, Political Officer. A period will commence where someone will be platoon leader in the Waffen SS for 3 or 4 years. During that time he will attend this training course or that, and already as a young leader he will come to know the sphere of activity of all other branches in the SS, in courses lasting 6 to 8 weeks. From the beginning it will then happen that mutual understanding sets in, mutual esteem and the absolute conviction that the duties of the other guy are very, very difficult, and are very, very valuable. On the other hand, I will not allow any branch to grow where the leading men, the members of the Fuehrercorps, are not at least reserve leaders of the Armed SS and did not get at least far enough to be able to lead a company as reserve leader. This way coherence will be achieved which is necessary. I believe that you can get an idea from what I said to the men today--and you as leaders can add to it by drawing your own conclusions--what the entire SS will have to do in order to secure our Reich, I mean in the first place with respect to ideology and safeguarding of the race [Blut] by settlements and extending of our Lebensraum, with respect to the work in colonies, and we shall have garrisons far away in South-Africa, and we shall have garrisons in the Arctic winter, as we have not in Kirkenes, that is up there on the North cape we are also going to have a garrison of a few battalions, we shall have garrisons on the Bug, and we shall now have garrisons in the West, where certainly Metz will not be the most distant western frontier. If we think the right way, some things will be of decisive importance. You would be surprised if I wanted to carry out immediately after the war when peace begins with an iron hand what I indicated today in my class with the men, that we must win the peace and be hard against ourselves. The first two years of peace will be decisive for our future. After victory we must nowhere become megalomaniacs, we must not relax in any respect but we must start an unheard-of education of ourselves. It is necessary, that obedience be granite-like, or else it would be impossible to have distant garrisons like Kirkenes which at times cannot be reached even by modern means, or colonial garrisons, if the officers there, the leader there, does not act strictly [eisern] in accordance with his orders and would take any consequences rather than disregard in any way an order, a basic order, given.

We shall have to do one thing: After the war we shall apply an unheard-of discipline against ourselves as far as external values are concerned they also are important. Whether it concerns our clothes or anything else, because you see, it is a great plus and a great danger at the same time, that what we are doing after the war, during Adolf Hitler’s life, will live on for centuries to come, and if we make a mistake, the mistake will live on for centuries, because silly descendants will say: “Yes this is what they did in Adolf Hitler’s time, consequently we must act likewise!” If we strike up a wrong tune, this wrong tune will resound through centuries. And mistakes unfortunately do grow in dimension the longer they are continued. Therefore, it is necessary that we train ourselves in the future in an unheard-of way. I believe it is not the right thing for us to do to discuss these worries which I have with each one of you separately. The one or the other among you who talks here and there like a fool and believes he must talk wildly in the Cassino might say: “For Heaven’s sake, those people up there don’t know, they have not the slightest idea!” Our idea goes very far and I know exactly what is going on within the troop, know exactly what they think and how they feel. You must also consider the following: I cannot concentrate my mind solely on--now, please don’t become conceited--the most splendid part of the SS because it is the most positive part and because the trade you are following is the most positive and most manly, I cannot do that, I must always have the entire SS in my mind.

If I did not see this part, I would deny life to this most positive and most manly part of our activity; i.e., the Armed SS. I would deny your life. Because this armed SS will live only if the entire SS is alive. If the entire corps is actually an order which lives according to these laws and realizes that one part cannot exist without the other--you are unimaginable without the general SS, and the latter is not imaginable without you. The police is not imaginable without the SS, nor are we imaginable without this executive branch of the state which is in our hands. The Fuehrercorps is not imaginable without the national-political institutions of education which we are building up now, and vice versa we cannot fill up our ranks without contact with the youth, we cannot exist without the business enterprises. A field which probably is unknown to most of you because nothing has ever been said about it. I want to tell you just a little bit of it: The apartment-building program which is the prerequisite for a healthy and social basis of the entire SS as well as of the entire Fuehrercorps can be carried out only when I get the money for it from somewhere; nobody is going to give me the money, it must be earned, and it will be earned by forcing the scum of mankind, the prisoners, the professional criminals to do positive work. The man, guarding these prisoners, serves just as hard as the one on close-order drill. The one who does this and stands near these utterly negative people will learn within 3 to 4 months * * * and we shall see: In peacetime I shall form guard-battalions and put them on duty for 3 months only--to fight the inferior being [Untermenschentum], and this will not be a boring guard duty, but if the officers handle it right, it will be the best indoctrination on inferior beings and the inferior races. This activity is necessary, as I said, 1. to eliminate these negative people from the German people, 2. to exploit them once more for the great folk community by having them break stones and bake bricks so that the Fuehrer can again erect his grand buildings and 3. to in turn invest the money, earned soberly this way, in houses, in ground, in settlements so that our men can have houses in which to raise large families and lots of children. This in turn is necessary because we stand or die with this leading blood of Germany and if the good blood is not reproduced we will not be able to rule the world. Please understand: We would not be able to hold the great Germanic Reich which is about to take shape. I am convinced, that we can hold it, but we have to prepare for that. If we once had not enough sons those who will come after us will have to become cowards. A nation which has an average of 4 sons per family can venture a war: if 2 of them die, 2 transplant the name. The leadership of a nation having one son or two sons per family will have to be faint-hearted at any decision on account of their own experience because they will have to tell themselves: We cannot afford it. Look at France, which is the best example. France had to accept from us a dictate. It could no longer dictate to us because they could not continue. All the things which sometimes seem strange to you because other things were more urgent during the last 2 years, because I could not explain them sufficiently to you, the leaders, because sometimes I did not explain them to you in order not to make too public what was just starting life, so that the tender nursling would not be pulled out by people who don’t like us. I preferred that very often not even my own troops knew anything about it and let the small nursling secretly grow into a small tree. Then when it is big, nowadays everything is big, now the trees are not being uprooted. Everything that seemed strange to you: “Why do we have to contribute to the spring of life [Lebensborn]?” “Why do we have to join the saving’s cooperative?” “Why do we have to do this and to do that?” If anything like that turns up, I demand from you in future:

In the first place be SS men who have the creed that everything being done is all right. One piece fits the other, even if you don’t recognize it beforehand, even if it does not appear at first sight that they fit each other. In the end, everything will be all right. The ultimate aim for those 11 years during which I have been the Reichsfuehrer SS has been invariably the same: To create an order of good blood which is able to serve Germany. Which unfailingly and without sparing itself can be made use of because the greatest losses can do no harm to the vitality of this order, the vitality of these men, because they will always be replaced. To create an order which will spread the idea of nordic blood so far that we will attract all nordic blood in the world, take away the blood from our adversaries, absorb it so that never again, looking at it from the viewpoint of grand policy, nordic blood in great quantities and to an extent worth mentioning will fight against us. We must get it and the others cannot have it. We never gave up the ideas and the aim conceived so many years ago. Everything we did has taken us some distance further on the way. Everything we are going to do will lead us further on the way. It can only be carried out, if everyone of us looks beyond the things he likes in his activity, his company, his regiment--and you are supposed to love it you may be proud of it--looks beyond it towards the great common goal, here the SS, and the SS also is only a means to an end, always the Reich, the ideology, created by the Fuehrer, the Reich, created by him, the Reich of all teutons.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1919-PS

Speech of the Reichsfuehrer-SS at the meeting of SS Major-Generals at Posen October 4th, 1943

The 1941 attack

In 1941 the Fuehrer attacked Russia. That was, as we can well see now, shortly,--perhaps 3 to 6 months--before Stalin prepared to embark on his great penetration into Central and Western Europe. I can give a picture of this first year in a few words. The attacking forces cut their way through. The Russian Army was herded together in great pockets, ground down, taken prisoner. At that time we did not value the mass of humanity as we value it today, as raw material, as labour. What after all, thinking in terms of generations, is not to be regretted, but is now deplorable by reason of the loss of labour, is that the prisoners died in tens and hundreds of thousands of exhaustion and hunger [p. 3].

It is basically wrong for us to infuse all our inoffensive soul and spirit, our good-nature, and our idealism into foreign peoples [p. 22]. This is true since the time of Herder who clearly wrote “Voices of the Nations” [Stimmen der Voelker], in a state of drunkenness, thereby bringing [p. 23] on us, who come after him, such immeasurable sorrow and misery. This is true for instance, of the Czechs and the Slovenes to whom we gave their consciousness of nationality. They were just not capable of it themselves; we had to discover it for them.

One basic principle must be the absolute rule for the SS man: we must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of our own blood and to nobody else. What happens to a Russian, to a Czech does not interest me in the slightest. What the nations can offer in the way of good blood of our type, we will take, if necessary by kidnapping their children and raising them here with us. Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death [verrecken--to die--used of cattle] interests me only in so far as we need them as slaves for our Kultur; otherwise, it is of no interest to me. Whether 10,000 Russian females fall down from exhaustion while digging an anti-tank ditch interests me only in so far as the anti-tank ditch for Germany is finished. We shall never be rough and heartless when it is not necessary, that is clear. We Germans, who [p. 24] are the only people in the world who have a decent attitude towards animals, will also assume a decent attitude towards these human animals. But it is a crime against our own blood to worry about them and give them ideals, thus causing our sons and grandsons to have a more difficult time with them. When somebody comes to me and says, “I cannot dig the anti-tank ditch with women and children, it is inhuman, for it would kill them,” then I have to say, “You are a murderer of your own blood because if the anti-tank ditch is not dug, German soldiers will die, and they are sons of German mothers. They are our own blood.” That is what I want to instil into the SS and what I believe have instilled into them as one of the most sacred laws of the future. Our concern, our duty is our people and our blood. It is for them that we must provide and plan, work and fight, nothing else. We can be indifferent to everything else. I wish the SS to adopt this attitude to the problem of all foreign, non-Germanic peoples, especially Russians. All else is vain, fraud against our own nation and an obstacle to the early winning of the war.

Foreigners in the Reich

We must also realize that we have 6 to 7 million foreigners in Germany. Perhaps it is even 8 million now [p. 43]. We have prisoners in Germany. They are none of them dangerous so long as we take severe measures at the merest trifle. It is a mere nothing today to shoot 10 Poles, compared with the fact that we might later have to shoot tens of thousands in their place, and compared to the fact that the shooting of these tens of thousands would then be carried out even at the cost of German blood. Every little fire will immediately be stamped out and quenched, and extinguished,--otherwise--as in the case of a real fire--a political and psychological surface-fire may spring up among the people.

The Communists in the Reich

I don’t believe the Communists could attempt any action, for their leading elements, like most criminals, are in our concentration camps. And here I must say this--that we shall be able to see after the war what a blessing it was for Germany that, in spite of all the silly talk about humanitarianism, we imprisoned all this criminal sub-stratum of the German people in concentration camps: I’ll answer for that. If they were going about free, we should be worse off. For then the sub-humans would have [p. 44] their NCOs and Commanding Officers, then they would have their councils of workers and military. As it is, however, they are locked up, and are making shells or projectile cases or other important things, and are very useful members of human society.

The SS in wartime

Now I come to our own development, to that of the SS in the past months. Looking back on the whole war, this development was fantastic [p. 51]. It took place at an absolutely terrific speed. Let us look back a little to 1939. At that time we were a few regiments, guard units [Wachverbaende] 8 to 9,000 strong,--that is, not even a division, all in all 25 to 28,000 men at the outside. True, we were armed, but really only got our artillery regiment as our heavy arm two months before the war began. We will recapitulate which tasks, which duties, and which assignments we have been given in the last 4½ years. But first I would like to enumerate and make known once more some outward changes.

Changes in Personnel

The following changes have taken place at the Main Offices:

Our comrade, SS Lieutenant General Kaltenbrunner has succeeded our fallen friend Heydrich. Unfortunately he is ill today. He has phlebitis, but it is, I am glad to say, not dangerous. That [p. 52] is why he could not come.

Our old friend Daluege has such severe heart trouble that he has to undergo courses of treatment and now has to retire from active service for 1½ to 2 years.--I would like this evening to send our two friends, Daluege especially, and Kaltenbrunner too, a teleprint or a telegram in the name of all of us. As I have said, we may hope that Daluege will have recovered in about two years, and can then return to the front and get into harness.

SS Lieutenant General Wuennenberg is in charge as his deputy. He has been in charge of the police division up till now, and was then appointed to be Officer Commanding IVth SS armored corps. He is General of the Waffen-SS and the police, and is in charge of the uniformed regular police [ordnungspolizei] as their Head.

SS-Gruppenfuehrer Breithaupt has succeeded our old comrade and friend Scharfe as Chief of the SS-court of justice.

SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Hofmann has made a change. He has given up the Main office for race and settlement [Rasse--u. Siedlungshauptamt] and has become Senior Executive SS and Police Officer [Hoehre SS--und Polizeifuehrer] for the South-West.

SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Hildebrandt has left Oberabschnitt Weichsel, and has become Chief of the Main Office for race and settlement [p. 53].

SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Schmidt has left the Head Office for Personnel at his own request and has joined my personal staff for special duties. He is succeeded by SS-Gruppenfuehrer von Herff.

One of my closest and most long-standing colleagues, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff, has now, I am glad to say, recovered completely from a severe illness which greatly endangered his life--(it was an operation for removing stones from the kidney)--and is now,--this is a new appointment--Supreme Executive SS and Police Officer for the whole of occupied Italy. He therefore has charge of 25 to 30 million people. Under him he has SS-Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik as Senior Executive SS and Police Officer for the coastal area. He too could not come today.

Senior Executive SS and Police Officers have since been appointed as follows: for Croatia--Kammerhofer, who on account of the Croatians is not called Senior Executive SS and Police Officer, but Commissioner of the Reichsfuehrer SS; for Serbia, Meyszner was appointed earlier, for Greece--[p. 54] Stroob at the moment but--I would like to tell you this now--I am transferring him from there to Schimana. Officials in Greece will become Senior Executive SS and Police Officers, and thus not command the Galician SS--Volunteer Division. SS-Gruppenfuehrer Pancke is to become Senior Executive SS- and Police Officer for Denmark.

Chief of the Anti-partisan Units [Bandenkampf-Verbaende]

In the meantime I have also set up the department of Chief of the anti-partisan units [p. 57]. Our comrade SS-Obergruppenfuehrer von dem Bach is Chief of the anti-partisan units. I considered it necessary for the Reichsfuehrer SS to be in authoritative command in all these battles, for I am convinced that we are best in a position to take action against this enemy struggle, which is a decidedly political one. Except where the units which had been supplied and which we had formed for this purpose were taken from us to fill in gaps at the front, we have been very successful.

It is notable that, by setting up this department we have gained [p. 58] for the SS in turn a division, a corps, an army, and the next step, which is the High Command of an army or even of a group--if you wish to call it that.

Regular uniformed Police and the Sipo

Now to deal briefly with the tasks of the regular uniformed police and the Sipo. They still cover the same field. I can see that great things have been achieved. We have formed roughly 30 police regiments from police reservists and former members of the police--police officials as they used to be called. The average age in our police battalions is not lower than that of the Security battalions of the Armed Forces. Their achievements are beyond all praise. In addition, we have formed Police Rifle Regiments by merging the police battalions of the “savage peoples”. Thus we did not leave these police battalions untouched but blended them in the ratio of about 1:3. That is why we have, at the present moment of crisis, a far greater stability than could be seen among the other units made up of natives or local inhabitants.

SS-industrial concerns

I now come to other individual great spheres of activity, of which it is important for you all to know [p. 63]. We have huge armament works in the concentration camps. This is the sphere of activity of our friend SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl. Every month we put in many millions of hours of work for armaments. We tackle the most thankless tasks and--I must give this its [p. 64] due--whether in the concentration camps, in Pohl’s industrial works, or outside at the offices of the Senior Executive SS and Police Officers or in the workshops of the Head Office of SS administration, one thing is obvious: wherever we are, we are SS-men. Where things are in a bad way, we act. I want every subordinate trained to this end. We want to help, unhampered by quibbles regarding authority, for we want to win the war. What we are doing, we are doing for Germany. Whether it is a question of building a road, if a tunnel is not going ahead somewhere, or if it is an invention which for sheer red-tape does not come to fruition, or anything else; where we can get to work, we get to work. What we are doing in our armament works will be a remarkable and noteworthy achievement, even if we can only assess it and prove it when the war is ended.

The Clearing out of the Jews

I also want to talk to you, quite frankly, on a very grave matter. Among ourselves it should be mentioned quite frankly, and yet we will never speak of it publicly. Just as we did not hesitate on June 30th, 1934 to do the duty we were bidden, and stand comrades who had lapsed, up against the wall and shoot them, so we have never spoken about it and will never [p. 65] speak of it. It was that tact which is a matter of course and which I am glad to say, is inherent in us, that made us never discuss it among ourselves, never to speak of it. It appalled everyone, and yet everyone was certain that he would do it the next time if such orders are issued and if it is necessary.

I mean the clearing out of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish race. It’s one of those things it is easy to talk about--“The Jewish race is being exterminated”, says one party member, “that’s quite clear, it’s in our program--elimination of the Jews, and we’re doing it, exterminating them.” And then they come, 80 million worthy Germans, and each one has his decent Jew. Of course the others are vermin, but this one is an A-1 Jew. Not one of all those who talk this way has witnessed it, not one of them has been through it. Most of you must know what it means when 100 corpses are lying side by side, or 500 or 1000. To have stuck it out and at the same time--apart from exceptions caused by human weakness--to have remained decent fellows, that is what has made us hard. This is a page of glory in our history which has never been written and is never to be [p. 66] written, for we know how difficult we should have made it for ourselves, if--with the bombing raids, the burdens and the deprivations of war--we still had Jews today in every town as secret saboteurs, agitators and trouble-mongers. We would now probably have reached the 1916/17 stage when the Jews were still in the German national body.

We have taken from them what wealth they had. I have issued a strict order, which SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl has carried out, that this wealth should, as a matter of course, be handed over to the Reich without reserve. We have taken none of it for ourselves. Individual men who have lapsed will be punished in accordance with an order I issued at the beginning, which gave this warning: Whoever takes so much as a mark of it, is a dead man. A number of SS men--there are not very many of them--have fallen short, and they will die, without mercy. We had the moral right, we had the duty to our people, to destroy this people which wanted to destroy us. But we have not the right to enrich ourselves with so much as a fur, a watch, a mark, or a cigarette or anything else. Because we have exterminated a bacterium we do not want, in the end, to be infected by the bacterium and die of it. I will not see so much as a small area of sepsis appear here or gain a [p. 67] hold. Wherever it may form, we will cauterize it. Altogether however, we can say, that we have fulfilled this most difficult duty for the love of our people. And our spirit, our soul, our character has not suffered injury from it.

The bearing of the SS-man

If I make a statement for us all and in the presence of all of us of all that we have done this year in the form of--I would almost say--a statement of accounts, then there is one thing that I must not overlook and pass over: the significance of the bearing of the SS-man.

The Principle of Selection

We are a product of the law of selection [p. 70]. We have made our choice from a cross-section of our people. This people came into being aeons ago, through generations and centuries, by the throw of the dice of fate and of history. Alien peoples have swept over this people and left their heritage behind them. Alien blood-streams have flowed into this people, but it has, nevertheless in spite of terrible hardships and terrible blows of fate, still had strength in the very essence of its blood to win through. Thus this whole people is saturated with, and held together by Nordic-Phalian-Germanic blood, so that after all one could, and can, still speak of a German people. From this people, of such varied hereditary tendencies, as it emerged from the collapse after the years of the battle of liberation, we have now consciously tried to select the Nordic-Germanic blood, for we could best expect this section of our blood to contain the creative, heroic and life-preserving qualities of our people. We have gone partly by outward appearances, and for the rest have kept these outward appearances in review by making constantly new demands, and by repeated tests both physical and mental, both of the character and the soul. Again and again we have sifted out and cast aside what was [p. 71] worthless, what did not suit us. Just as long as we have strength to do this will this organization remain healthy. The moment we forget the law which is the foundation of our race, and the law of selection and austerity towards ourselves, we shall have the germ of death in us, and will perish just as every human organization, every blossom in this world does some time perish. It must be our endeavour, our inner law, to make this blossoming and fructifying last for our people as long as possible, bringing as much prosperity as possible, and--don’t be alarmed--if possible for thousands of years. That is why, whenever we meet and whatever we do, we must be mindful of our principle: blood, selection, and austerity. The law of nature is just this: What is hard is good; what is vigourous is good; whatever wins through in the battle of life, physically, purposefully and spiritually, that is what is good--always taking the long view. Of [p. 72] course sometime--and this has happened often in history--someone can get to the top by deceit and cheating. That makes no difference to nature, to the fate of the earth, to the fate of the world. Reality, that is, Nature, Fate, removes the impostor after a time--time not reckoned in generations of man but in historical periods. It must be our endeavour never to deceive ourselves, but always to remain genuine, that is what we must continually preach and instill into ourselves, and into every boy and each one of our subordinates.

The SS after the war

One thing must be clear, one thing I would like to say to you today: the moment the war is over, we will really begin to weld together our organization, this organization which we have built up for 10 years, which we imbued and indoctrinated with the first most important principles during the 10 years before the war. We must continue to do this--we,--if I may say so, we older men--for twenty years full of toil and work, so that a tradition 30, 35, 40 years, a generation, may be created. Then this organization will march forward into the future young and strong, revolutionary and efficient to fulfill the task of giving the German people, the Germanic people the super-stratum of society which will combine and hold together this Germanic people and this Europe, and from which the brains which the people needs for industry, farming, politics, and as soldiers, statesmen and technicians, will emerge. In addition this super-stratum must be so strong and vital that every generation can unreservedly sacrifice two or three sons from every family on the battlefield, and that nevertheless the continued flowing of the bloodstream is assured.

The Virtues of the SS-Man

I will speak now of the most important virtues which I began years ago to preach and to impress on this organization, on this whole General-SS [Allgemeine-SS]--for that is the basis of this organization--and which are just now in the 5th year of war of such decisive significance and importance.

1. Loyalty

We have, I am glad to say, not had a single case among our ranks so far, of an SS-Man being disloyal. Let this one thing be our guiding principle: If within the sphere of your knowledge there is ever anyone who is disloyal to the Fuehrer or to the Reich, even if it is only in thought, you must see to it that this man is thrown out of the organization and we will see to it that he departs this life [p. 74]. For everything,--I have said this one already and repeat it today,--everything can be forgiven in this world, but one thing cannot be forgiven among us Teutons: that is disloyalty. It would be unforgivable and is unforgivable. Downfalls, like the downfall of Badoglio in Italy must not and will not happen in Germany. The name Badoglio will in future be the name for bad dogs, the name of abuse for four-legged mongrel curs, just as in the olden days the name Thersites was the name of abuse for traitors.--We can only say one thing and preach it constantly: Let the German people show, by unparalleled and wholehearted loyalty on the part of each one of its men and each one of its women that is worthy of being permitted to live at the time of an Adolf Hitler, and worthy of this leader having arisen for it, who has dedicated his life full of care, full of responsibility, full of work, to our German Teutonic people.

2. Obedience

Obedience is demanded and given in the soldier’s life morning, noon, and night. And the little man always obeys or usually does. If he does not, he is put in prison. The question of obedience in [p. 75] the case of senior officials in the state, party and the army, and even here and there in the SS, is more difficult. I would like here to state something clearly and unequivocally: It is a matter of course that the little man must obey. It is even more a matter of course that all the senior leaders of the SS, that is, the whole corps of Gruppenfuehrer, are a model of blind obedience. If anyone thinks that an order is based on a misunderstanding on the part of the superior or on a false basis it goes without saying that it is his duty and responsibility--that is, the duty and responsibility of every one of you--to say so, and also to state his reasons truthfully like a man if he is convinced that they deprecate the order. But the moment the superior concerned or the Reichfuehrer-SS--that applies to the Corps of Gruppenfuehrer in most cases--or even the Fuehrer has made the decision and given the order, it must be carried out, not only in word and letter, but also in spirit. Whoever carries out the order must do so as a good steward, as a true representative of the authority giving the command. If you thought at first that this would be right and that that would not be right or even wrong, then there are two alternatives. Thus if a man thinks that he cannot be answerable for obeying an order, then he should say quite honestly: [p. 76] I cannot be answerable for it. I beg you to excuse me from it. Then the order will usually be: You must still carry it out. Or you think: his nerve has gone he’s weak. Then you can say: Good, retire on a pension. But orders must be sacred. If the Generals obey, then the armies obey automatically. The more our territory grows, the more does this sacredness of orders apply. It was not all difficult to enforce an order in our little Germany. But to enforce an order once we--and I am convinced of this--have garrisons in the Urals,--that is more difficult. Here it will not always be possible to make sure that the order is carried out. Our controlling authority may not, may never be,--as in Russia--the Commissar. The only Commissar we have must be our own conscience, devotion to duty, loyalty, obedience. If you lead the way with this example, gentlemen, every subordinate will follow this example. But you will never be able to demand obedience of your men if you do not give the same obedience to authority over you, and give it blindly and without reserve.

3. Bravery

To bravery, I think we need least to exhort ourselves, for our leaders and men are brave [p. 77].

4. Truthfulness

I now come to a fourth virtue, which is very rare in Germany, to truthfulness. One of the greatest evils which has spread during the war is the lack of truthfulness in messages, reports, and statements which subordinate departments in civil life, in the state, the party and the Services send in to the departments over them. The message, the report is the basis of every decision. It is actually the fact that one can now in many spheres assume in wartime that 95 out of 100 messages are untrue or only half true or semi-correct [p. 80].

While on the subject of truthfulness I now come to another matter [p. 83]. It must so come about in war and in peace--in peace this will be above all a training task--that we SS-men no longer conclude written agreements, but that among us, as used to be the case formerly, the giving of one’s word and the hand-shake signify the contract, and that the hand-shake of one SS-man is--if necessary--certainly for 1 million or more. It must so happen that the hand-shake or the promise of an SS-man is more proverbially reliable than mortgage upon the greatest value of anybody else’s. It must be so!

If we conclude agreements, we must keep them. If I make a contract with an agent, even with a blackguard, I keep the contract. I take my stand unreservedly on this point of view. If I announce in the Generalgouvernement, that anyone who informs against a Jew who has sought shelter and gone into hiding, shall have a third of the Jew’s property, then it often happens that Secretary Huber or Second Lt. (SA) Huber who--when he can--makes illegal trips, or does not hesitate [p. 84] to order a new telephone or new pencils, who, that is, never saves,--suddenly begins to save for the German Reich. He says for instance: This Jew has 1200 RM. What, that means I would have to pay out to the Pole who denounced him 4000 RM. No, I’ll save that for Germany. The Pole shall only get 400 RM. So a little man goes and breaks the promise of a whole organization. That sort of thing should be impossible.

If we make a promise, it must be kept. If one Reichsfuehrer-SS pledges to anyone support for his organization--as may very often be the case now in the Balkans--this pledge must be kept. We must acquire such a reputation for the keeping of contracts in the whole world, we in the SS, that we thereby gain for Germany advantages of the greatest value, namely faith through confidence. Many will come to us, who will not approach official departments. The Balkans are always in a state of confusion. That is a blessing. If they were united it would be terrible. Things are chaotic in the Caucasus and in Russia. We can only see to it--this is also a [p. 85] precept,--that the territories we have occupied and the peoples we rule over never become united, that they always remain disunited. For they would only be united against us. If therefore we pledge our protection to a party [Splittergruppe] who approaches us, it must be quite out of the question for any member of the SS or the police, any member of the whole organization to go and break the promise. This promise must be sacred.

Practical Tasks

In the way of practical duties for the Senior SS executive and [p. 103] Police Officers I see above all one task, which applies at the same time to the Heads of the Main Offices as well. For me the Senior SS Executive and Police Officer is the representative of the Reichsfuehrer-SS in his area. It would be an evil day if the SS and police fell out. It would be an evil day if the Main Offices, performing their tasks well meaningly but mistakenly made themselves independent by each having a downward chain of command. I really think that the day of my overthrow would be the end of the SS. It must be, and so come about, that this SS organization with all its branches--the General-SS which is the common basis of all of them, the Waffen-SS, the regular uniformed police [Ordnungspolizei], the SIPO, (with the whole economic administration, schooling, ideological training, the whole question of kindred), is, even under the tenth Reichsfuehrer-SS one bloc, one body, one organization. Alas if we do not bring them together. Alas if the individual main offices, the individual chiefs had a false conception of their duty here, if they believed they were doing a good thing, whereas in fact they were taking the first step toward the end. We have come a long way on the road to amalgamation. In the hard battles of this year the Waffen-SS has been welded together in the bitterest hours from the most varied divisions and sections, and from these it formed: body-guard units [Leibstandart], military SS [Verfuegungstruppe], Death’s head units, and then the Germanic SS. Now when our “Reich”, Death’s Head Cavalry Divisions and “Viking” Divisions were there, everyone knew in these last weeks: “Viking” is at my side, “Reich” is at my side, “Death’s Head” is at my side,--“Thank God”, now nothing can happen to us.--The regular uniformed police and Sipo, General-SS and Waffen-SS must now gradually amalgamate too, just as this is and [p. 105] must be the case within the Waffen-SS. This applies to matters concerning filling of posts, recruiting, schooling, economic organization, and medical services. I am always doing something towards this end, a bond is constantly being cast around these sections of the whole to cause them to grow together. Alas, if these bonds should ever be loosened,--then everything--you may be sure of this--would sink back into its old insignificance in one generation, and in a short space of time. It could then be said that that would be no pity; if it wasn’t worth keeping alive, it should come to an end. That is right. I would not hear of anything being kept, even if it is my, our SS which is so dear to us, if it was not worth keeping alive.

Only I think that we could not be answerable for it to Germany, and to Germania, for this Germanic Reich needs the SS organization. She needs it at least for the next few centuries. Then, in a hundred, a thousand, or two thousand years another form will surely be found. When we are dead and gone, some remnant of us with a few of our fundamental ideas will pull through and carry on. Out of this will grow something new again, just as here and there we took over, and now bear, a torch from the time of the Teutons, from the age of chivalry, from the Vehmic organization, and from the [p. 106] Prussian army, in order to light a great light from it. It will be just like that later on. I believe that today we could not afford to let anything happen to this SS. That is why I urge one thing on all of you, on you, my heads of the main offices, my Senior Executive SS and Police Officers, and on this whole corps of Gruppenfuehrers, the highest gradation in this hierarchy of the SS organization: Always see the whole, always look at the whole organization, never at your branch of it only, or only your Oberabschnitt but always see the SS, and above it the Germanic Reich, and above that our Fuehrer who has created and is still creating this Reich.

The Future

When the war is won,--then, as I have already told you, our [p. 112] work will start. We do not know when the war will end. It may be sudden, or it may be long delayed. We shall see. But I say to you now, if an armistice and peace comes suddenly, let no-one think that he can then sleep the sleep of the just. Get all your Commanders, Chiefs and SS-Fuehrers attuned to this; only then, gentlemen, shall we be awake, for then, so many others will fall into this sleep. I am going so to rouse the whole SS, and keep it so wide awake that we can tackle reconstruction in Germany immediately. Then Germanic work will be begun immediately in the General-SS, for then the harvest will be ripe to be taken into the granary. We shall then call up age-groups thereby law. We shall then immediately put all our Waffen-SS units into excellent form, both as regards equipment and training. We shall go on working in this first 6 months after the war, as though the big offensive were starting on the next day. It will make all the difference, [p. 113] if Germany has an operative reserve, an operative backing, at the peace or armistice negotiations, of 20, 25 or 30 SS-divisions intact.

If the peace is a final one, we shall be able to tackle our great work of the future. We shall colonize. We shall indoctrinate our boys with the laws of the SS-organization. I consider it to be absolutely necessary to the life of our peoples, that we should not only impart the meaning of ancestry, grandchildren and future, but feel these to be a part of our being. Without there being any talk about it, without our needing to make use of rewards and similar material things, it must be a matter of course that we have children. It must be a matter of course that the most copious breeding should be from this racial super-stratum of the Germanic people. In 20 to 30 years we must really be able to present the whole of Europe with its leading class. If the SS, together with the farmers,--we together with our friend Backe, then run the colony in the East on a grand scale, without any restraint, without any question about any kind of tradition but with nerve and revolutionary impetus, we shall in 20 years push the national boundary [Volkstumsgrenze] 500 kilometers Eastwards.

I requested of the Fuehrer today, that the SS--if we have fulfilled our task and our duty by the end of the war--should have the privilege of holding Germany’s most Easterly frontier as a defence frontier [p. 114]. I believe this is the only privilege for which we have no competitors. I believe not one person will dispute our claim to this privilege. We shall be in a position there to exercise every young age-group in the use of arms. We shall impose our laws on the East. We will charge ahead and push our way forward little by little to the Urals. I hope that our generation will successfully bring it about that every age-group has fought in the East, and that every one of our divisions spends a winter in the East every second or third year. Then we shall never grow soft, then we shall never get SS members who only come to us because it is distinguished or because the black coat will naturally be very attractive in peacetime. Everyone will know that: “if I join the SS, there is the possibility that I might be killed.” He has contracted in writing that every second year he will not dance in Berlin or attend the carnival in Munich, but that he will be posted to the Eastern frontier in an ice-cold winter. Then we will have a healthy elite for all time. Thus we will create the necessary conditions for the whole Germanic people and [p. 115] the whole of Europe, controlled, ordered and led by us, the Germanic people, to be able, in generations, to stand the test in her battles of destiny against Asia, who will certainly break out again. We do not know when that will be. Then, when the mass of humanity of 1 to 1½ milliards lines up against us, the Germanic people, numbering, I hope, 250 to 300 millions, and the other European peoples, making a total of 600 to 700 millions--(and with an outpost area stretching as far as the Urals, or, a hundred years, beyond the Urals)--must stand the test in its vital struggle against Asia. It would be an evil day if the Germanic people did not survive it. It would be the end of beauty and “Kultur”, of the creative power of this earth. That is the distant future. It is for that that we are fighting, pledged to hand down the heritage of our ancestors.

We see into the distant future, because we know what it will be. That is why we are doing our duty more fanatically than ever, more devoutly than ever, more bravely, more obediently and more thoroughly than ever. We want to be worthy of being permitted to be the first SS-men of the Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, in the long history of the Germanic people, which stretches before us.

Now let us remember the Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, who will create the Germanic Reich and will lead us into the Germanic future [p. 116].

Our Fuehrer Adolf Hitler Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!

# # # # #

Speech of the Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler at Kharkow April 1943

My SS-Fuehrer,

It is perhaps very strange, that we should meet in a university of the Russian State, here at Kharkow,--at this Kharkow, which has played so great a part, and really will play a still bigger part in the history of the war. Until last year it was of no very great significance. This year it has become, like Stalingrad, but in the reverse sense, a city of destiny in German war history, in German history. I have asked you, the Commanding Officers of the three SS-Divisions, who took part in this campaign from the Dnieper to Kharkow and carried out this campaign practically alone and forced a decision, to come together here in order, as has been the custom for many many years, as long as there has been an SS, to meet each other again, and in order once more to establish a few facts about the past and the future.

I would like, in a few words, to outline the whole position and situation with regard to the war.

Today, Germany is on the borders of Europe everywhere. These European frontiers stretch up as far as the North Cape, down the Norwegian coast, through Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and France and jump over to Africa, continue to Tunis to form a bridgehead, run across as far as the frontiers formed by the sea, then from Greece and Crete up to the borders of the neutral states of Turkey and Bulgaria, to join hands again here in the East. I would like to give it a name: it is the great fortress of Europe.

It will undoubtedly happen, that the enemy will make the attempt, today, tomorrow or the next day, at some time, to break into this fortress of Europe at one point or another. That will undoubtedly be the case. Possibly he will be able to force an entry for a shorter or longer period at one point or another in places which we do not have in our personal and responsible control, or which we are not defending with our arms [p. 2]. One thing is certain: wherever the enemy lands, if once we can get to grips with him on the Continent, where we are not dependent on supplies from overseas, that ought to be, and will be, all right with us. On the whole, however, it is here in the East that the decision lies. The fortress of Europe with its frontiers must be held and will be held too, as long as is necessary. The decision, therefore, lies here in the East; here must the Russian enemy, this people numbering two hundred million Russians, be destroyed on the battle field and person by person, and made to bleed to death ...

It is my opinion--and here, I believe, I am speaking to men [p. 3] who already understand this--that we must conduct the war and our campaign on these lines:--how can we take the most men from the Russians--dead or alive? We shall do it by killing them or taking them prisoner and [p. 4] really putting them to work, by endeavoring to gain as much control as possible over any territory we occupy, and by leaving empty of people any territory we dispose of, any areas we make over to the enemy. Either they must be deported and will be used as labour in Germany for Germany, or they will just die in battle. To hand people back again, giving the enemy workers once more and enabling him to recruit again,--that I think, taking the broad view, would be absolutely wrong. That could not be advocated * * *

On the other side, one thing goes on the same as ever, the U-boat war, this dreadful stranglehold on the throat of the enemy. [p. 5] I have good reason to be convinced that this stranglehold will never be relaxed, but will tighten. I cannot help feeling that things are beginning to go worse with England these last few months in matters of supply. That by no means indicates that England will collapse today, tomorrow or the next day, but it does mean that we will just be approaching the time when one or other of our opponents, once Russia is conquered and eliminated as a factor, will come to the conclusion that it is not worth carrying on the war. The result--and I am convinced of this, I believe it and I know it--the result, the end of this war, regardless of however many months or even years it lasts, will be this: that the Reich, the German Reich or the Germanic Reich of the German nation, will with just title find confirmation of its evolution, that we have an outlet and a way open to us in the East, and that then centuries later, a politically Germany--a Germanic World Empire will be formed. That will be the result, that will be the fruit of all the many, many sacrifices, which have been made and which must still be made.

We have,--I would say, as very consistent National Socialists, [p. 7] taken the question of blood as our starting point. We were the first really to solve the problem of blood by action, and in this connection, by problem of blood, we of course do not mean anti-semitism. Anti-semitism is exactly the same as delousing. Getting rid of lice is not a question of ideology. It is a matter of cleanliness. In just the same way, anti-semitism, for us, has not been a question of ideology, but a matter of cleanliness, which now will soon have been dealt with. We shall soon be deloused. We have only 20,000 lice left, and then the matter is finished within the whole of Germany. But for us the question of blood was a reminder of our own worth, a reminder of what is actually the basis holding this German people together. Just as is the case in the years between 1938 and 1943, in exactly the same way as now, the same ill-founded reproaches were made then: well, if you bring the Nordic man so much to the fore, you’re creating a new split, a new class-distinction,--it’s a new class hatred. We’re overcoming the social barriers, so I’ve been told by important party members, and now you’re setting up racial ones. My reply to these people has always been: If you want to look at things in a negative way, there is nothing in the world which you cannot see in a negative way. From the negative angle, of course, you can argue that way. I see it differently, for I see it on this plane: What is the binding factor which holds the man in East Prussia and the man in the Black Forest together, the man in Schleswig-Holstein and in Hamburg and the man in Munich, in Graz, in Pomerania, in Berlin [p. 8] and in the Rhineland? What is then the factor or the element which contains all that is dear and precious and valuable to us? It is in fact what we Germans call inherent Kultur, it is this Germanic, this Nordic component of our blood.

In one operation those peoples must and will be incorporated in the Germanic Reich which, at one time, were part of Germany, part of the German Empire (the Roman Empire and the German nation) and belonged to us up to 1806 or only till 1648,--that is Flanders, Wallonia, and the Netherlands. They were a part of the Reich [p. 10]. Over and above this, we must have the power to bring into the fold, and make a part of our community in a second operation, those Germanic peoples and states too, which have never been part and parcel of the German Reich,--I mean Denmark and Norway, the Danish and Norwegian people.

I very soon formed a Germanic SS in the various countries. We very soon got Germanic volunteers from them [p. 11]. It has not always been liked and is still not liked today by many of the political leaders in these countries. From the beginning, I have said to them, “You can do what you like and leave what you like. I leave everything entirely to you, but you may be sure, that an SS will be set up in your country, and there is but one SS in Europe, and that is the Germanic SS, led by the Reichsfuehrer-SS. You can resist, or you can offer no resistance, it’s all the same to me. We shall do it in any case!” We have told them that curtly and plainly and clearly from the beginning.

I have said to the SS-men from the beginning too: We do not expect you to renounce your nation, or do anything which a proud and self-respecting fellow who loves his nation cannot do. We do not expect you to become German out of opportunism. But we do expect you to subordinate your national ideal to the greater racial and historical ideal, to the Germanic Reich.

In addition, one thing is quite obvious. All of us, who are members of the Germanic peoples, can be happy and thankful that once in thousands of years fate has given us, from among the Germanic peoples, such a genius, a leader, our Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, and you should be happy to be allowed to work with us.

Although I do not wish to discuss any individual official matters here, I would still like to mention in a slightly official way, in my capacity as a military man, what I said before about racial Germans. I beg you never to commit the psychological error of speaking of Germans who came from Roumania or Hungary or Croatia, as Croats, Roumanians or Hungarians. I also beg you never to make the mistake of letting a man who speaks [p. 12] German badly or cannot speak and read German, sense this, or let him sense the thought: “You are a second-rate German, for you can’t read or write German properly.” I beg you rather, (and here too I am stating a very sober opinion), to think in this case of these Germans in the whole of the Balkans, still more of those overseas, in America, when one day we must fetch over here in millions,--and we shall succeed in doing so--who have held out for centuries. I am certainly of the opinion that if a mighty German Reich with an incredible upward urge in its very being and a great German Fuehrer had not now come into being at this time and in the last few decades, it would have been the end of these Germans. A person with a very strong character can personally rise above his surroundings for years and perhaps for decades. A race, if it is in small groups, cannot in the long run hold out against its surroundings. And we must never forget this: these Germans do not usually live together in hundreds of thousands, but a thousand here in a few villages, and two thousand there, and 20 thousand at the most somewhere else. But they do not live together in large numbers. So they are always encircled by a foreign nation [Volkstum], and surrounded by its influence, but are above all surrounded by the influence of the people of the country. They are not the people of the country, those are the others. They are subjects of a state of foreign nationality, which, in any moment of doubt, is their enemy, or at the very best, as, shall we say, Roumania, a tolerably neutral and impartial observer. But on the whole these Germans have lived, throughout the centuries of German weakness, from the Thirty Years’ War up till now, in surroundings calculated not to strengthen their consciousness of German race [Deutschtum] but to destroy it.

There was something else besides this. If one of these Germans wanted to get anywhere he could only do so by entering the state system of the foreign people as an official or an officer. It is no mere chance--[p. 13]. I am not making spiteful assertions now but merely stating the facts--that, for instance, among Hungarian generals there is such a considerable percentage of men of German origin, who of course had, in most cases, to alter their names if they wanted to get anywhere. In many cases, if they did not do so, and remained obdurate about it, they were subsequently removed from office. I quote here as an example the present Chief of the Hungarian General Staff, General Sombacke, who in his youth at the Austrian Military Academy still had the thoroughly good German name of Knaus. May I remind you of Feldmarschall or Feldmarschall-Lieutnant Raab, who as we all know, has now retired. Both are of German descent, and one could name countless hundreds of leading men in these South-Eastern States who are all of German origin, had to become part of the alien nation, and were then drained [eine Auslaugung bildeten] of their own most valuable national characteristics.

If, then, we get sons of these racial Germans [Volksdeutschtum] who have still survived there--(some are genuine volunteers, and others come as a result of a levy, for we have organized the racial groups from within the Reich through the SS, so that without possessing political power we have in fact, morally such strength and power among these people that we can compel a man, compel him morally, to serve with us in Germany, due entirely to the power of the whole German national community)--if we therefore get these men, you must not make it difficult for them to enter our community by calling him by the name which you judge he will not wish to hear. A Saxon from Siebenburg will never let it be said that he is a Roumanian. It’s just against that that he and his fathers have fought for 700 years. And a German from Hungary will never let it be said that he is a Hungarian. If you know how he has been thrashed by many a Hungarian gendarme, before he came to us, how his mother was thrashed, and his parents driven from hearth and home, you can imagine how bitter it is for him if he now joins German service-men and they say: here comes a Hungarian. Or you can imagine how bitter it is for him when he is reproached for something which he cannot help. If we had not been to a German school we should not be able to read and write German either. If we had been forced, shall we say, to go to a Polish school, we should write Polish too, although we profess to be Germans. And that is often the case with these men. I must therefore expect of you understanding and human sympathy in this matter, and must expect that the leaders, in addition to their many other duties, will undertake to see that additional German instruction in reading, speaking and writing, be given to these men at every opportunity that is offered. I lay special emphasis on this matter, because by negotiations, we have now managed to make an arrangement enabling us in future to enlist even those Germans who up to now have been serving in the Roumanian army. So we can expect a great influx from the Germans of the South-East.

We know that these clashes with Asia and Jewry are necessary [p. 16] for evolution. They give the cue [Auftakt] for the European Continent to unite. These clashes are the only evolutionary possibility which will enable us one day, now that Fate has given us the Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, to create the Germanic Reich. They are the necessary condition, for our race, and our blood to create for itself and put under cultivation, in the years of peace, (during which we must live and work austerely, frugally and like Spartans), that settlement area in which new blood can breed, as in a botanical garden so to speak. Only by this means can the Continent become a Germanic Continent, capable of daring to embark, in one or [p. 17] two or three or five or ten generations, on the conflict with this Continent of Asia which spews out hordes of humanity. Perhaps we shall also have to hold in check other coloured peoples who will soon be in their certain prime, and thus preserve the world, which is the world of our blood, of our children and of our grandchildren. Now it is just this world we like the best, the Germanic world, the world of Nordic life. We know that this conflict with the advancing pressure from Asia, with the 200 million Russians, is necessary. And we shall win as sure as I am speaking here in the University of Kharkow. We shall have to pass through many a valley, many a narrow defile. Many will grow tired on the way. Of course they will mostly be those who have no reason to do so. To put it vulgarly, many will do something in their trousers. Many people will get shaky at the knees. The only thing that matters is that we stand firm. This is what is important for us as SS-men, for our province of duty and our mission (it is a task additional to those of the whole German Armed Forces and the whole German people): That is what I would like to impress upon you, this is what I beg you, as Commanding Officers, as Chiefs, and as leaders to teach the young men again and again in their ideological instruction. That is what I demand and exact of you,--that you really concern yourselves with the man, the young fellow of 17 to 18 who comes to us, and with many who are in our ranks not as volunteers but as conscripts. I ask you to look after them, and guide them, and not let them go before they are really saturated with our spirit and are fighting as the old guard fought before us--that is what I request and demand of you.

We have only one task, to stand firm and carry on the racial struggle without mercy. I will now say again something which I have already today said to the men elsewhere: we will never let that excellent weapon, the dread and terrible reputation which preceded us in the battles [p. 18] for Kharkow fade, but will constantly add new meaning to it. They can call us what they like in the world, the main thing is that we are the eternally loyal, obedient, steadfast and unconquerable fighting men of the Germanic people and of the Fuehrer, the SS of the Germanic Reich.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1932-PS

SS Main Economic Administrative office

[SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt]

Oranienburg 7 June 1943

Office group D, Concentrations Camps

D I/ 1 Az: 14 c 2 / Ot / S.--Secret diary No. 743/43

Subject: Treatment of prisoners who fall under the night and fog decree. [NN-Erlass].

Reference: Reich Security Main Office [Reichs-Sicherheitshauptamt] IV c 2 General No. 103/42 g - issued 5 May, 1943

Annexes: None

SECRET

To the Camp commanders of the Concentrations Camps

Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenburg, Neumarkt, Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Natzweiler, Stu., Ravensbruck, Herz., Riga, Lublin and the Civilian Camp Bergen-Belsen.

[Da., Sah., Bu., Mau., Flo., Neu., Au., Gr.-Ro., Natz., Stu., Rav., Herz., Ri., Lub., und Zil Bergen-Belsen.]

I send the following decree of the Reich Security Main Office [Reichssicherheitshauptamt] regarding treatment of Night and Fog [NN] prisoners for acknowledgement and strictest observation.

The purpose of the NN decree is the elimination of all anti-German forces in the occupied territories and their being brought into the Reich.

The relatives and the population are to be kept in uncertainty about the fate of these persons. In order to achieve this, the NN decree further provides that prisoners of this kind should be placed under prohibitions to write, to receive mail and parcels, to talk, or that information should be given about them. In this regard it is irrelevant whether it is the question of a NN-prisoner of the old or new type. By NN-prisoners of the old type are understood those whom the military courts have handed over to the disposing agencies for shipment to the Reich, while the so-called New-Type NN-prisoners have been brought directly by the arresting agencies of the Security-Police and of the SD to the concentration camps (KL) in the Reich without the participation of military courts.

The Agencies of the security police and of the SD in question are instructed to submit to the Reich security Main Office and to the concentration camp in charge questionnaires on all prisoners who fall under the NN-decree. This questionnaire should contain detailed personal data, data on racial origin, the reason for arrest, the former place of custody and other incriminating elements. These questionnaires are to be marked by a seal “Night and Fog” [Nacht und Nebel].

Upon the reports of the agencies of the Security Police and of the SD a collective order for protective custody will be issued here with the questionnaires attached and the agencies will be further instructed to transfer the arrestees to a concentration camp.

Insofar as Germanic NN-prisoners are concerned, they will be transferred from here to the concentration camp of Natzweiler exclusively; in all other cases the NN-prisoners will be shipped to a concentration camp depending on the location of the transferring agency of the Security Police and of the SD with consideration of the echelon division and of capacity of the concentration camp.

The camp commanders of concentration camps in which there are already NN-prisoners have to order immediately that the prisoners should be investigated according to racial points of view and that the Germanic NN-prisoners should be transferred to the concentration camp of Natzweiler. Compliance with this order is to be reported on individual questionnaires for each prisoner. The camp commander of the concentration camp of Natzweiler has to take care that the NN-prisoners are to be kept separated from the other prisoners.

In other respects the directives of the RSHA-Referat ND 4--which have been sent together with the secret letter No. 551/42, dated 18 Aug. 1942, are referred to.

Furthermore it is pointed out again as has been ordered already in the circular decree, issued 2 Feb. 1943, secret diary No. 111/43--that death notices of NN-prisoners are to be submitted exclusively to the agency particular transferring agency of the Security Police and of the SD, to the RSHA and to this agency, in order to exclude divulgence of the place of custody of an NN-prisoner. Hereby the decrees regulating the procedure in cases of death, particularly any notification of the relatives are cancelled. The effects of deceased Night and Fog prisoners are to be sent in their entirety to the transferring agency in charge which will guard it until further notice.

The chief of the central office [signature illegible] SS Lt. Colonel

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1933-PS

Main Bureau for SS Economic Administration

Bureau Group Chief D--Concentration Camp-- DI/l/Az: 14 f 13/L/S

Secret order of the day--No. 612/43

Subject: Action 14 f 13 in the concentration camps.

Reference: Local directive DI/1/Az: 14 f 13/OT/S--Secret order of the day No. 34/43 of S.1.43

STATE SECRET

To the Camp Commanders of the Concentration Camps

Da., Sah., Bu., Mau., Flo., Neu., Au., Gr.-Ro., Natz., Stu., Rav., Ri., Herz., Lubl., and Bergen-Belsen.

Copy to: Chief of Bureau D II, III in the house

The Reich Fuehrer-SS and Chief of German Police has decided, after consultation, that in the future only mentally sick [geisteskranke] prisoners may be selected for action 14 F 13 by the medical commissions appointed for this purpose.

All other prisoners incapable of working (tubercular cases, bed-ridden cripples, etc.) are to be basically excepted from this action. Bedridden prisoners are to be drafted for suitable work which they can perform in bed.

The order of the Reich Fuehrer SS is to be obeyed strictly in the future.

Requests for fuel for this purpose therefore do not take place.

[signature illegible] SS-Brigadefuehrer and Major General of the Waffen-SS

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1939-PS

A “Proclamation to Workers” addressed to employees and employers by Dr. Robert Ley on 5 September 1939. Quoted from the chapter “The German Worker Has Recognized * * *” pp. 14-17, of “Forge of the Sword”, a collection in book form of speeches by, and articles about, Dr. Robert Ley, published in 1942 by the Central Publishing House of the NSDAP, Franz Eher Successor, Munich, with a foreword by Reichs Marshal Goering.

The German people in its over-all attitude is what the Fuehrer has made of that people after the collapse. The poised and self-assured attitude of the German people in the current world crisis contrasts so enormously with the insecurity of the so-called democratic nations, that each thinking human being must ask himself about the cause of this state of affairs, which is so full of hope for us Germans.

The achievement of the Fuehrer in the entire political sphere is a LARGE SCALE AND UNIQUE ACHIEVEMENT OF EDUCATION. The following principles have been taught by the Fuehrer and are decisive for the present strong attitude of Germany.

The Fuehrer has taught the German people that its existence and its being is dependent upon the unqualified perception of all Germans that the battle for life of the German people cannot be fought in limited areas, but that this battle for life means wrestling and battling in all spheres of life. It is the teaching of the totality for the battle for life.

We National Socialists say: social policy and economy are one and belong together. Progress and development are socialism. A socialist can never be a pacifist; on the contrary, he must ALWAYS STAND PREPARED AT THE HIGHEST PITCH OF MILITARY READINESS to attain the socialist objective. Peace and war are not separate, mutually exclusive conditions, but in each case they are only a different guise [Erscheinungsform] for one and the same struggle of the people to secure its living potentialities. We National Socialists do not hope for gifts and miracles, but we recognize that every thing must be fought and worked for honestly. We do not believe in chance, and we leave nothing to arbitrariness either. To us Fight is Life, and to us Life means Fight. We have no inclination to rest and restrict ourselves to watching, but we know that Life would simply pass us by were we to withhold ourselves from the Fight. We could never make up for what we neglect today.

BECAUSE OF THAT THE FUEHRER HAS FURTHERMORE TAUGHT US THAT OUR GERMAN PEOPLE MUST COMMIT ALL THE STRENGTH AND ENERGY IT POSSESSES TO FIGHT THROUGH THE STRUGGLE OF LIFE AND DESTINY, SO AS TO ATTAIN VICTORY. We National Socialists REJECT HALF MEASURES AND COMPROMISES. They never lead to the goal, but lull people to sleep until they wake up one day in horror and dread. COWARDS PERISH!

Because of that we National Socialists have mobilized all resources and all our energies during the past seven years, so as to be equipped for the supreme effort of battle. WE DO NOT THROW OURSELVES INTO ADVENTURES, AND WE ARE NOT SO UNSCRUPULOUS AS TO LEAVE ANYTHING TO ACCIDENT.

True,--when according to human judgment and according to the state of our knowledge all preparations have been made, then we have never as yet hesitated to venture the ultimate.

OBSERVE THE FUEHRER! Is he not the living model! His own career, his leadership of the NSDAP, the seizure of power, the conduct of the state, the regaining of Austria, the Sudeten area, Bohemia and Moravia and finally the Memel territory,--all great events demonstrate ever anew the fortunate fact that the Fuehrer prepares anything and everything to the last detail. He calculates, ponders, elucidates,--he acts. But when a decision has been arrived at, then there is no more going back. He holds fast. He is tenacious.

Thus did the Fuehrer’s great successes come about, and thus new successes will be added.

In conclusion the Fuehrer has taught a third principle: THE PREREQUISITE for any battle and THE PREREQUISITE for the mobilization of all our strength and energy is the folk and fate community of all Germans. [Volks und Schicksalsgemeinschaft]. Even though our professions may differ, even though our interests may clash, even though the individuality of the various tribes and provinces may reveal itself, one thing encompasses us, whether we are workers or soldiers: THE RECOGNITION, THAT WE GERMANS BELONG TOGETHER IN AN INDISSOLUBLE COMMUNITY OF FATE.

For example, what a splendid example was the building of the West Wall, which revealed convincingly and unforgettably the cohesion of worker and soldier!

THE COMMUNITY OF THE FACTORY IS NOT A MATTER OF PAPER VERBIAGE, BUT IT IS AN UNEQUIVOCAL FACT.

The Great War 1914/1918 was not lost because the German soldier had become a coward, but because dissension and discord tore the people asunder.

Destiny will test us anew. This time we will demonstrate what the National Socialist community can accomplish. This community is not a matter of paper verbiage, it is not a phrase! The first precautionary measure, the introduction of rationing certificates has proven how seriously the National Socialist state believes in the total people’s community.

Thus you, German man and German woman workers, will understand that in this gigantic fight of Germany for justice and freedom, for living space and bread, THERE IS NO PLACE WHATEVER FOR EVERYDAY QUARRELS. YOU, working German, will learn to understand THAT THE LONG-RANGE PLANS OF THE FUEHRER AUTOMATICALLY PRECLUDE ALL DISSENSION.

It will be impossible in future, too, to play the Home Front against the Fighting Front and Fighting Front against the Home Front. Not a front sector at some border is alone involved in battle, but the entire German people. The worker at his drill press, the merchant at his counter, the inventor in his laboratory, the soldier in the trenches, they are all equally determined to fight for Germany’s freedom.

No one will be able to evade the question: “Do you believe in Germany?”, and no one will want to evade that question. And the answer to this question will resound audibly for the whole world: “Yes, indeed, we believe in Germany because we believe in the work of the Fuehrer.”

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1940-PS

VOELKISCHER BEOBACHTER, Southern German Edition (Publisher Franz Eher, Successor), issue 136, of 11 May 1933, Page 1, column 5.

THE GERMAN LEADERS OF LABOR AN EDICT BY ADOLF HITLER

Berlin, 10 May

The Fuehrer Adolf Hitler has issued the following edict:

I appoint the Chief of Staff of the Political Organization [P.O.] of the NSDAP, Dr. Robert Ley, as leader of the German Labor Front.

I appoint District Leader [Gauleiter] Forster Danzig, as leader of the Employees’ Associations [Angestelltenverbaende].

I appoint the leader of the National Socialist Factory Cell Organization [N.S.B.O.], Schuhmann, as leader of the Workers’ Associations [Arbeiterverbaende].

Berlin, 10 May Adolf Hitler.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1942-PS

LEGAL REGULATIONS AND LEGAL PROBLEMS OF THE MOVEMENT

[Rechtseinrichtungen und Rechtsaufgaben der Bewegung] by Dr. Otto Gauweiler (Munich 1939), page 20.

a. Amendments in Reich Legislation:

By an order of the Fuehrer, dated 25 July 1934, his Deputy, as well as appointed reviewers, were given the power to take part in the editing of bills dealing with all the departments of the Reich. On the basis of this decree, the Deputy of the Fuehrer was to be invited to all discussions of the department heads, to which he could also send his representatives. Drafts of the laws had to be presented to the Deputy of the Fuehrer in the form of reviewer’s drafts [Referentenentwuerfe] and not as Cabinet bills. From a special order from the Fuehrer, 6 April 35, this privilege of participation in government affairs by the Fuehrer’s Deputy was expanded to include all executive decisions and orders insofar as they were published in the Reichsgesetzblatt. The Deputy of the Fuehrer can on his own initiative introduce bills, etc. regardless in what field; insofar as the good of the party is concerned, he is the man in charge.

Thus, the direct influence of the movement on the legislation and the executive branch was assured at a point where up to now the laws were an internal affair of the individual ministries. From now on, technical considerations or considerations of time cannot interfere with the requests and plans of the party.

PARTIAL COPY OF DOCUMENT 1947-PS

From: Freiherr v. Fritsch.

To: Baronin Margot v. Schutzbar.

Achterberg, 11 Dec 38.

My dear Baroness:

Many thanks for your two letters. * * * It is really peculiar that so many people should look to the future with increasing fears, in spite of the Fuehrer’s indisputable successes during the past years. Herr von Wiegand’s letter interested me very much and I am returning it herewith. Unfortunately, I am afraid he is right when he speaks of the profound hate which is directed to us by a large part of the world.

Soon after the war I came to the conclusion that we should have to be victorious in three battles, if Germany were to become powerful again:

1. The battle against the working class--Hitler has won this.

2. Against the Catholic Church, perhaps better expressed against Ultramontanism, and

3. Against the Jews.

We are in the midst of these battles and the one against the Jews is the most difficult. I hope everyone realizes the intricacies of this campaign.

* * * * * * *

(signed): FRITSCH

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1948-PS

The Reichsstatthalter in Vienna

I a Pol.--VIII--136/40 Vienna 7 November 1940

Subject: Compulsory Labor of Able-bodied Jews.

1. Notice:

On 5 November 1940 telephone conversation with Colonel [Standartenfuehrer] Huber of the Gestapo. The Gestapo has received directions from the Reich Security Main Office [RSHA], as to how able-bodied Jews should be drafted for compulsory labor service. Investigations are being made at present by the Gestapo, to find out how many able-bodied Jews are still available in order to make plans for the contemplated mass projects. It is assumed that there are not many more Jews available. If some should still be available, however, the Gestapo has no scruples to use the Jews even for the removal of the destroyed synagogues.

SS Colonel Huber will report personally to the “Regierungspraesident” in this matter.

I have reported to the “Regierungspraesident” accordingly. The matter should further be kept in mind.

2. Presented anew: 25 November 1940

Presented anew: 20.12.40

[Initialed]

By order:

[Signed] Dr. Fischer.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1949-PS

State Administration of Reich Gau Vienna

Statistical Office for Reich Gau Ostmark

Zl. 3305/I 39

Vienna, 15 December 1939 1. Heldenplatz, Neue Burg Tel. R 27-5-65

To the Reich Commissar for the Reunion of the Austrian Nation with the German Reich

through channels via the Governor [Regierungspraesident] of Vienna

The Statistical Office for Reich Gau Ostmark has the honor to submit herewith, in the enclosure, an initial compilation of early results of this year’s census relative to the number and reduction in number of Jews and part Jews in Reich Gau Ostmark, especially in the Vienna districts, together with a brief commentary.

[Signature illegible]

1 file of the Statistical Office for the Reich Districts (Gaue) of the Ostmark, together with a summary of 15 December 1939. Zl. 3305/I 39

# # # # #

Jews and Part Jews in the Reich Districts [Gaue] of the Ostmark

In the census of 17 May 1939, the question was put for the first time whether one of an individual’s grandparents was full Jew by race. The declarations were to be made by the people on the “Supplementary Card for Data on Descent and Education” in full and to the best of their ability; this supplementary card was to be given to the honorary census taker in a sealed, opaque envelope, which was opened only when the statistical count was made. No check has yet been made as to the correctness of the information submitted. In the compiling of the statistics, everyone who reported that three or four of his grandparents were full Jews was counted as a full Jew himself, everyone with two Jewish grandparents as a part Jew, Grade I, and correspondingly everyone with only one Jewish grandparent as a part Jew, Grade II. The resulting slight deviation from the pertinent legal definitions of full Jew and part Jew was occasioned by formulation of the question in the simplest possible way.

According to the initial results of this year’s census, there were 91,480 full Jews and 22,344 part Jews of Grades I and II in Vienna as of 17 May 1939. In the remaining Reich Districts of the Ostmark there were 3,073 full Jews and 4,241 part Jews. According to this, there were altogether 121,138 Jews in the Ostmark, of whom 113,824, i.e. 94%, lived in Vienna, 3% in Niederdonau, 1% in the Steiermark, and less than 1% in each of the remaining Gaus.

While 80% of all the Jews in Vienna were full Jews and only 14% were part Jews, Grade I, and 6% part Jews, Grade II, in the other Reich Gaus the part Jews predominated, totaling 58%, as against 42% who were full Jews. Only in Niederdonau were the full Jews, with a total of almost 2,000, approximately as numerous as the part Jews.

These varying proportions of full Jews and part Jews are explained primarily by the emigration of Jews following the political change over. This emigration had reduced the number of full Jews in the Reich Gaus of the Ostmark, excluding Vienna and Niederdonau, to a small remainder of 1,103 by the time of the census.

The extent of the emigration of full Jews can be estimated approximately by comparison with the number of persons of Jewish faith reported in the census of 1934. It must be remembered, however, that in 1934 the number of those of Jewish faith did not include all full Jews and that, on the other hand, a small number of those of Jewish faith were part Jews, Grades I and II.

With this reservation, it can be stated that the number of Jews in the Ostmark (not including the annexed Sudeten-German regions) has diminished from 191,528 Jews by faith to 94,384 full Jews. At the same time the number of Jews in the Reich Districts (Gaus), excluding Vienna, decreased by 13,000 i.e. approximately 82% to 3,000. In Vienna alone, the decrease amounted to 84,000 persons, i.e. 48%.

The ratio of the sexes among full Jews has become so greatly dislocated that there are 100 male full Jews to every 136 female full Jews in Vienna, which can probably be ascribed to the earlier emigration of the Jewish males. The ratio among the part Jews, comparatively few of whom are thought to have emigrated, is 100:112, more nearly the average surplus of women in the population of Vienna.

According to data furnished by the Central Office for Jewish emigration, Vienna IV., about 100,000 Jews emigrated from the Ostmark in the period between the change over [Umbruch] and the census. This number is very close to the figure of 97,000 given above as the reduction in Jews since the census of 1934. Some 26,000 persons of Jewish faith emigrated from the Ostmark in the months succeeding the census.

While the problem of full Jews is almost completely solved, therefore, in the Reich Districts of the Ostmark, with the exception of Vienna, from a numerical standpoint the problem of part Jews still plays a relatively large role. For example, almost half of the approximately 1,000 Jews in Oberdonau are part Jews, Grade I, and more than one quarter are part Jews, Grade II. Similar conditions prevail in the remaining Reich Gaus, particularly in Salzburg, in Carinthia, and in the Tyrol.

Nevertheless the problem of part Jews in the Ostmark is first and foremost a problem for the Reich District of Vienna, where there are 86% of the part Jews Grade I and 80% of the part Jews Grade II. Gau Niederdonau takes second place, with a large interval, but has only 6% of the part Jews Grade I and 8% of the part Jews Grade II.

Out of all the part Jews in the Ostmark, 68% had two Jewish grandparents and 32% had one Jewish grandparent. It is worth noting that 70% of all Jews in Vienna were half-Jews, whereas less than 60% were half-Jews in the remaining Gaus of the Ostmark.

At the present time the problem of part Jews in Vienna is still numerically overshadowed by the large number of full Jews, of whom there are estimated in round figures to be 70,000, since approximately 4,000 persons of Jewish faith have emigrated from the Ostmark every month since the census--with the exception of September.

[Signature illegible] 15.12.39.

JEWS AND PART JEWS IN THE DISTRICT OF VIENNA

Preliminary Results of 1939 Census * JEWS

---------------------+--------------------------+-------------------------- | GRAND TOTAL | FULL JEWS DISTRICTS +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------- | total | male | female | total | male | female ---------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------- I. Innere Stadt | 6,825 | 3,001 | 3,824 | 5,947 | 2,596 | 3,351 II. Leopoldstadt | 33,889 | 14,483 | 19,406 | 31,564 | 13,370 | 18,194 III. Landstrasse | 7,623 | 3,290 | 4,333 | 5,890 | 2,530 | 3,360 IV. Wieden | 3,166 | 1,365 | 1,801 | 2,121 | 901 | 1,220 V. Margareten | 2,712 | 1,229 | 1,483 | 1,769 | 788 | 981 VI. Mariahilf | 4,634 | 2,016 | 2,618 | 3,826 | 1,653 | 2,173 VII. Neubau | 5,187 | 2,263 | 2,924 | 4,181 | 1,786 | 2,395 VIII. Josefstadt | 3,699 | 1,668 | 2,031 | 2,958 | 1,314 | 1,644 IX. Alsergrund | 12,784 | 5,179 | 7,525 | 11,281 | 4,527 | 6,754 X. Favoriten | 2,307 | 1,057 | 1,250 | 1,393 | 609 | 784 XI. Aimmering | 447 | 218 | 229 | 265 | 134 | 131 XII. Meidling | 1,986 | 900 | 1,086 | 1,045 | 444 | 601 XIII. Hietzing | 2,008 | 851 | 1,157 | 1,310 | 524 | 786 XIV. Penzing | 1,729 | 759 | 970 | 933 | 403 | 530 XV. Fanfhaus | 3,667 | 1,572 | 2,095 | 2,573 | 1,051 | 1,522 XVI. Ottakring | 3,123 | 1,440 | 1,683 | 1,874 | 831 | 1,043 XVII. Hernals | 1,690 | 760 | 930 | 934 | 394 | 540 XVIII. Wahlring | 3,246 | 1,411 | 1,835 | 2,155 | 922 | 1,233 XIX. Dobling | 2,961 | 1,325 | 1,636 | 2,030 | 845 | 1,185 XX. Brigittenau | 7,082 | 3,020 | 4,063 | 6,025 | 2,519 | 3,506 XXI. Floridsdorf | 1,391 | 671 | 720 | 524 | 224 | 300 XXII. Grossenzerdorf | 171 | 82 | 89 | 45 | 21 | 24 XXIII. Schwechat | 364 | 215 | 149 | 286 | 175 | 112 XXIV. Modling | 365 | 176 | 189 | 113 | 56 | 57 XXV. Liesing | 507 | 205 | 302 | 240 | 89 | 151 XXVI. Klosternauburg | 340 | 161 | 179 | 198 | 93 | 105 ---------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------- Total |113,824 | 49,317 | 64,507 | 91,480 | 38,798 | 52,682

Table continued ...

---------------------+-------------------------+------------------------- | PART JEWS, GRADE I | PART JEWS, GRADE II DISTRICTS +--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------- | total | male | female | total | male | female ---------------------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------- I. Innere Stadt | 650 | 293 | 357 | 228 | 112 | 116 II. Leopoldstadt | 1,862 | 885 | 977 | 463 | 228 | 235 III. Landstrasse | 1,180 | 520 | 660 | 553 | 240 | 313 IV. Wieden | 698 | 31 | 388 | 348 | 154 | 193 V. Margareten | 632 | 293 | 339 | 311 | 148 | 163 VI. Mariahilf | 608 | 263 | 345 | 200 | 100 | 100 VII. Neubau | 740 | 356 | 384 | 266 | 121 | 145 VIII. Josefstadt | 534 | 256 | 278 | 207 | 98 | 109 IX. Alsergrund | 1,076 | 498 | 578 | 347 | 154 | 193 X. Favoriten | 609 | 292 | 317 | 305 | 156 | 149 XI. Aimmering | 127 | 57 | 70 | 55 | 27 | 28 XII. Meidling | 610 | 298 | 312 | 331 | 158 | 173 XIII. Hietzing | 457 | 210 | 247 | 241 | 117 | 124 XIV. Penzing | 506 | 230 | 278 | 290 | 126 | 164 XV. Fanfhaus | 758 | 368 | 390 | 336 | 153 | 383 XVI. Ottakring | 833 | 410 | 423 | 416 | 199 | 217 XVII. Hernals | 508 | 249 | 259 | 248 | 117 | 131 XVIII. Wahlring | 744 | 329 | 415 | 347 | 160 | 187 XIX. Dobling | 633 | 315 | 318 | 298 | 165 | 133 XX. Brigittenau | 754 | 339 | 415 | 304 | 162 | 142 XXI. Floridsdorf | 540 | 279 | 261 | 327 | 168 | 159 XXII. Grossenzerdorf | 69 | 35 | 34 | 57 | 26 | 31 XXIII. Schwechat | 44 | 23 | 21 | 34 | 18 | 16 XXIV. Modling | 146 | 67 | 79 | 106 | 53 | 53 XXV. Liesing | 185 | 80 | 105 | 82 | 36 | 46 XXVI. Klosternauburg | 88 | 41 | 47 | 54 | 27 | 27 ---------------------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------- Total | 15,591 | 7,296 | 8,295 | 6,753 | 3,223 |3,530

Decrease of Jews in the Reich Districts [Gaue] of the Ostmark[3] (Based on preliminary results of 1939 census)

-----------+----------+--------+-------------------+-------- | | | Numbers less | | | | in 1939 than | Reich | Jews by | Full | in 1934 | Gau | religion |Jews by +--------+----------+ Jews | as of | race, | | | by | 22 Mar | as of | | |religion | 1934 | 17 May |Absolute|In percent| 1934 | | 1939 | | | -----------+----------+--------+--------+----------+-------- Vienna | 175,099 | 91,480 | 83,619 | 47.8 | 91.4 Niederdonau| 11,439 | 1,836 | 9,603 | 83.9 | 6.0 Oberdonau | 1,257 | 216 | 1,041 | 82.8 | 0.7 Steiermark | 2,818 | 563 | 2,255 | 80.0 | 1.5 Karnten | 273 | 60 | 213 | 78.0 | 0.1 Salzburg | 239 | 67 | 172 | 72.0 | 0.1 Tirol | 361 | 119 | 242 | 67.0 | 0.2 Vorarlbg. | 42 | 43 | 1 | ... | 0.0 -----------+----------+--------+--------+----------+-------- OSTMARK | 191,528 | 94,384 | 97,144 | 50.7 | 100.0 -----------+----------+--------+--------+----------+--------

Table continued ...

-----------+------------------- |Local distribution +------------------- Reich | 1939 Gau +------------------- | | Part Jews + Full +-----+------ | Jews |Grade|Grade | | I | II -----------+------+-----+------ Vienna | 96.9 | 86.8| 80.3 Niederdonau| 2.0 | 5.6| 7.1 Oberdonau | 0.2 | 2.4| 3.4 Steiermark | 0.6 | 2.9| 5.2 Karnten | 0.1 | 0.7| 1.5 Salzburg | 0.1 | 0.7| 1.0 Tirol | 0.1 | 0.8| 1.1 Vorarlbg. | 0.0 | 0.1| 0.4 -----------+------+-----+------ OSTMARK |100.0 |100.0|100.0 -----------+----- +-----+------

FOOTNOTES:

[3] Regional status as of Oct. 15, 1938, without the annexed Sudeten-German districts.

# # # # #

Jews and Part Jews in the Reich Districts (Gaus) of the Ostmark (Preliminary results of the census of 17 May 1939)

-----------+----------+--------+-----------------+------------------- | | | These include | In percentages | +--------+-----------------+-------+----------- | | | Part Jews | |Part Jews Reich | Jews and | +--------+--------+ Full +-----+----- Gau |part Jews | Full | Grade | Grade | Jews |Grade|Grade | together | Jews | I | II | | I | II -----------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------+-----+----- Niederdonau| 3,737 | 1,970| 1,117| 650| 52.7| 29.9| 17.4 Oberdonau | 1,015 | 251| 468| 296| 24.7| 46.1| 29.2 Steiermark | 1,512 | 563| 508| 441| 37.2| 33.6| 29.2 Karnten | 313 | 60| 129| 124| 19.2| 41.2| 39.6 Salzburg | 273 | 67| 123| 83| 24.5| 45.1| 30.4 Tirol | 360 | 119| 147| 94| 33.1| 46.8| 26.1 Vorarlberg | 104 | 43| 23| 38| 41.4| 22.1| 36.5 -----------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------+-----+----- Total | 7,314 | 3,073| 2,515| 1,726| 42.0 | 34.4| 23.6 -----------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------+-----+----- Vienna | 113,824 | 91,480| 15,591| 6,753| 80.4 | 13.7| 5.9 Ostmark | 121,138 | 94,553| 18,106| 8,479| 78.1 | 14.9| 7.0 -----------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------+-----+-----

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1950-PS

COPY

The Reichminister and Chief of the Reich Chancellory

RK. 789 B secret

Berlin, W8 3 Dec. 40 Voss Str. 6

SECRET

To the Reich Governor in Vienna Gauleiter von Schirach

VIENNA

Dear Mr. von Schirach,

As Reichleiter Bormann informs me, the Fuehrer has decided after receipt of one of the reports made by you, that the 60,000 Jews, still residing in the Reichsgau Vienna, will be deported most rapidly, that is still during the war, to the General Gouvernement because of the housing shortage prevalent in Vienna. I have informed the Governor General in Cracow as well as the Reichsfuehrer-SS about this decision of the Fuehrer, and I request you also to take cognizance of it.

HEIL HITLER! Yours Obedient /s/ Dr. LAMMERS.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1954-PS

Deposition of Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel

Investigating Officer: Dr. Bohuslav Ecer, Colonel of the Czechoslovak Judge-Advocate’s Department.

Secretary: Elizabeth Radziejewska, WCB, USFET.

Present: Dr. Schwartz, L. of Judge-Advocate’s Department

Place: Ashcan--Time: 3rd August 1945, afternoon.

On being interrogated Keitel deposes:

I am Wilhelm Keitel, born 22 September 1882 at Helmscherode, district of Gandersheim, Brunswick. Married to Liza, born Fontaine, I have 5 children. I have 3 sons, 30, 28, and 26 years old, the last one killed in action in the East in 1941, and 2 daughters; one of them 35 years old, married. The other one died at the age of 30. I saw my wife for the last time in middle of April 1945.

My functions.

On 4 February 1938 I was appointed Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces by Adolf Hitler. Before I was appointed there was a Reich-Minister for War, who was at the same time Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. It was von Blomberg. On 4 February 1938 Adolf Hitler ordered a change. He abolished the functions of the Minister for War, and himself took over the functions of Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

At that time I became entrusted with certain functions of the Minister for War, and that from case to case. The three Supreme Commanders of the three formations of the Armed Forces--Air Force, Army, Navy--were under direct orders of the Fuehrer, and contrary to Blomberg, I had no command authority with respect to them. Therefore I was not entitled to give orders independently, but only by order of Adolf Hitler and after reporting to him. I had no authority of command, my role was really that of a Chief of Staff. I was, however, able to submit proposals in military matters to the Fuehrer in his capacity as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces on my own initiative, if the three Supreme Commanders of the formations of the Armed Forces had not done so themselves; and generally the Fuehrer asked for my opinion in military matters. The decision was made by the Fuehrer alone.

On 1 September 1939 a Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich was created under the chairmanship of Hermann Goering. I was a member of this board only in so far as it dealt with military matters. I was never made a member of the Reich Government and I never had seat or vote in the Cabinet. For seat and vote in the Cabinet was never granted to me.

Relations to the Party.

In spring 1939 I was awarded the Golden Badge of Honor of the Party as a decoration. I never applied formally for admission to the Party. The Party considered me a member after the alteration of the law concerning the Armed Forces as from autumn 1944, because I held the Golden Party Badge; they asked me to pay a voluntary contribution to the Party. To begin with I sent them 1000 marks at that time. Personally I was a faithful follower of Adolf Hitler and my political conviction was National-Socialist. But when the Fuehrer granted me his confidence, I developed into National-Socialist under the influence of this personal contact. Even today I am a convinced adherent of Adolf Hitler; this does not exclude that I do not identify myself with some items of the Party programme and of the Party policy.

The German rearmament.

The German rearmament began approximately in the year 1935; at first to a modest extent, after we had withdrawn from the League of Nations and had reestablished the German sovereignty of arms.

Question: How much was the total expenditure for the German Armament up to 1 September 1939?

Answer: For the Armed Forces about 30 and not more than 40,000,000,000.

Q. Do you know about the speech of Adolf Hitler, delivered at the Sport Palace on 1 September 1939, in which he admitted to have spent 90,000,000,000 marks for German rearmament?

A. Yes. I know of his speech and also of the figure mentioned. I was utterly surprised by this figure and I nearly fainted when I heard this figure. As far as my knowledge went, this figure was exaggerated by about two thirds.

Q. Was it the purpose of German rearmament to prepare for a war of aggression?

A. Even during the years 1938 and 1939 none of us soldiers gave thought to a war of aggression. I knew that we were not at all prepared for a war of aggression, and even less for a world war.

Q. Did you ever advocate a German war of aggression in your official capacity?

A. I was in favor of a war of aggression under certain conditions, e.g. if by such a war of aggression a certainly impending attack of an adversary was to be prevented.

Q. What were the reasons for the German attack on the Soviet Union?

A. Because we had sure knowledge of the preparations of the Soviet Union for an attack and wished to prevent it.

Q. Did you know that some individuals in Germany, both military and civilian, advocated a total war?

A. No.

Q. Did you yourself favor total war, i.e. a war disregarding international law of warfare?

A. No.

Q. Was Germany prepared for a world war at the time of the Munich crisis?

A. No, for at that time no preparations had been made on our side, neither strategically nor operationally.

Q. Would Germany have begun the military attack if France and Gt. Britain had not agreed to the Munich Treaty?

A. Hardly, in my opinion, because as I said before, we were not prepared for a war at that time, especially if France had fulfilled her obligation to help Czechoslovakia.

Q. Had Adolf Hitler made up his mind firmly to get his political aims, even at the price of war of aggression waged by Germany or even of a world war?

A. I do not know that, but I am firmly convinced that he did not want a world war.

Q. Did you, in your capacity as Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, never sign an ordinance which might have implied a violation of the International Law of Warfare?

A. Not that I know of.

The investigating officer submits at this instance an ordinance of the Fuehrer concerning a General Trustee for the Employment of Labor to Wilhelm Keitel, an ordinance dated 21 March 1941.

Q. Were you one of the signatories of this ordinance?

A. Yes.

Q. Were you aware of the fact that a rule of International Law is violated by the employment of prisoners of war and the civilian population of the occupied countries in the German armament industry?

A. No, as long as the ordinance is applied in accordance with International Law. I am not responsible for further ordinances issued later on the basis of this ordinance in order to carry it into effect. I add, that the Fuehrer would have issued the ordinance also without my counter-signature; or to put it better that he would not have made the ordinance of 21 March 1942 dependent on my counter-signature.

The Czechoslovakian Problem.

Q. Who conceived the idea to solve the problem of the Sudeten-Germans by means of an occupation by German forces, and to solve the whole problem of Czechoslovakia forcibly by means of an occupation of the remainder of the Republic?

A. That was exclusively the idea of the Fuehrer, although possibly political advisers cooperated; about this I know nothing, though.

Q. Was there a part-mobilization or were there movements of German forces against Czechoslovakia during the second half of May 1938 with the purpose of solving the Sudeten-German problem by the use of force?

A. No. The idea of military action was not yet discussed at that time, so far as I know.

Q. Do you remember an order of Adolf Hitler’s of 28 May 1938, ordering the preparation of military action against Czechoslovakia for the 2 October?

A. I do not remember such an order, although I should have known about it.

The investigating officer now reads to Wilhelm Keitel the following passage from the Reichstag speech of Adolf Hitler’s of 30 January 1939, page 453 of the book “Dokumente der deutschen Politik” (Documents of German Policy), vol. 7, part 2:

As Germany had not mobilized, let alone any intentions to attack Czechoslovakia, the situation was bound--there is no doubt about it--to lead to a grave loss of prestige of the Reich. This unbearable provocation, made still worse by a really infamous prosecution and terrorization of our Germans living there, has led me to the decision to solve the Sudeten-German problem now finally and radically. On 28 May

(1) I ordered to prepare military interference against this state for the 2 October.

(2) I ordered the enormous and speedy completion of our defensive front in the West.

Keitel declares thereto:

Such orders may have been given, although from my memory I do not know anything about it; for according to my memory the respective preparatory measures were ordered only later, during the summer. I believe, though, that the declarations of Hitler’s are correct, but I do not know where they come from.

I stress the fact that Germany was not prepared for military action against Czechoslovakia in May 1938. I know, it is true, that the Fuehrer had made up his mind to solve the Sudeten-German problem in any case and within a reasonable space of time.

Q. Was the danger of a Czechoslovakian mobilization discussed at the time of the invasion of Austria by German forces?

A. I myself have drawn the attention of the Fuehrer to the fact that we were not prepared and could not occupy Austria if Czechoslovakia would mobilize. This indication was rejected by the Fuehrer.

Q. Do you know that at the time of the Austrian crisis Goering and Neurath gave guarantees, both in their own names and that of the Fuehrer, to Czechoslovakia that Germany felt bound by the Treaty of Arbitration concluded with Czechoslovakia in 1925 and that Germany had no intentions of attacking Czechoslovakia?

A. I do not know anything about such a guarantee.

Munich.

I was present, I admit, in Berchtesgaden, Godesberg, and Munich when Neville Chamberlain visited the Fuehrer. But I did not participate in any of the discussions and was but passively present, ready for any military information required.

Q. Did the Fuehrer consult you with regard to the military possibilities of Germany before the meetings with Chamberlain?

A. No. He was well informed about the military possibilities proper, and he knew that we were not at all prepared for war at the time of the Munich crisis.

Q. Was then Adolf Hitler in favor of war at that time?

A. No, because Germany was not prepared for war, as I have to stress again.

Q. What would have happened militarily, if Gt. Britain, France and the Soviet Union had taken the side of Czechoslovakia, and if they had declined the discussions with Germany and Italy, which led to the Munich Treaty?

A. The military means of the German Reich were by no means sufficient against such a constellation. An action at such a time would have been madness.

Q. Was it the political purpose of the Munich Treaty to eliminate the Soviet Union from the European affairs?

A. That is correct, for Czechoslovakia was considered to be a virtual field of deployment of the Soviet Union which might have dangerous consequences for military operations.

Q. Did the Armed Forces as a whole make their influence felt by means of an official representative with regard to the designation of the borderline in consequence of the so-called Munich Treaty?

A. I personally did not, neither did an officer of my Staff to my knowledge; but it may be that a representative of the Army was given the duty to point out strategical points of view, when the borderline was discussed.

signed: Wilhelm KEITEL

Wilhelm Keitel has signed this protocol consisting of 9 (nine) pages, on all copies and on every page in my presence.

signed: Guy A. Weill O-513470 Capt, AUS.

Signed Col. Dr. B. Ecer

Signed Lt. Dr. P. Schwarz

Signed Elisabeth Radziejewska.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1956-PS

Das Archiv, Vol. 22-24, Page 1342 January 1936.

Meaning and tasks of the Secret State Police.

In order to refute the malicious rumours spread abroad, the “Voelkische Beobachter” (V.B. of 22.1.36) published an article on the origin, meaning and tasks of the Secret State Police; extracts from this read as follows:

The Secret State Police was created simultaneously in all German Provinces after the National Socialist Revolution owing to cogent political necessity. In Prussia its creator was Prime Minister Goering who is still the Chief of the Secret State Police today. In Bavaria the Bavarian Political Police was created by the Reichs Leader of the S.S. Himmler, who at the same time directed the building of the political police forces in the other provinces outside Prussia. The Political Police Forces became uniformly coordinated when, in the spring of 1934, Prime Minister Goering appointed the Reichs Leader of the S.S. as deputy Chief of the Prussian Secret State Police--cf. Si P.38 (Vol. 1). Thereby a unified leadership and a proportionate extension of the Political Police Forces of all provinces was assured.

The Secret State Police is an official machinery on the lines of the criminal police, whose special task is the prosecution of crimes and offences against the State, above all the prosecution of high treason and treason. The task of the Secret State Police is to detect these crimes and offences, to ascertain the perpetrators and to bring them to judicial punishment. The number of criminal proceedings continually pending in the People’s Court on account of high treasonable actions and of treason is the result of this work. The next most important field of operations for the Secret State Police is the preventive combatting of all dangers threatening the State and the leadership of the State. As, since the National Socialist Revolution, all open struggle and all open opposition to the State and to the leadership of the State is forbidden, a State Police as a preventive instrument in the struggle against all dangers threatening the State, is indissolubly bound up with the National Socialist Leader State. The opponents of National Socialism were not removed by the prohibition of their organizations and their newspapers, but have withdrawn to other forms of struggle against the State. Therefore, the National Socialist State has to trace out, to watch over and to render harmless the underground opponents fighting against it in illegal organizations, in camouflaged associations, in the coalitions of well meaning fellow Germans and even in the organizations of party and state before they have succeeded in actually executing an action directed against the interest of the state. This task of fighting with all means the secret enemies of the state will be spared no Leader State, because powers hostile to the state, from their foreign headquarters, always make use of some persons in such a state and employ them in underground activity against the state.

The preventive activity of the Secret State Police consists primarily in the thorough observation of all enemies of the state in the Reichs territory. As the Secret State Police can not carry out, in addition to its primary executive tasks, this observation of the enemies of the state, to the extent necessary, there steps alongside to supplement it the Security Service of the Reichs Leader of the S.S., set up by the Deputy Fuehrer as the political intelligence service of the movement, which puts a large part of the forces of the movement mobilized by it into the service of the security of the state. The Secret State Police takes the necessary police preventive measures against the enemies of the state on the basis of the results of the observation. The most effective preventive measure is without doubt the withdrawal of freedom, which is covered in the form of “protective custody”, if it is to be feared that the free activity of the persons in question might endanger the security of the state in any way. The employment of protective custody is so organized by directions of the Reichs and Prussian Minister of the Interior and by a special arrest examination procedure of the Secret State Police, that--as far as the preventive fight against the enemies of the state permits--copious guarantees against a misuse of protective custody are provided. While protective arrest of short duration is carried out in police and court prisons, the concentration camps under the Secret State Police admit those taken into protective custody, who have to be withdrawn from public life for a longer time. The majority of the inmates of the concentration camps is formed by those communist and other Marxist functionaries, who, by previous experiences, would if free immediately resume their struggle against the state. Further police preventive measures against efforts hostile to the state consist in the dissolution of associations, in the prohibition and dissolution of assemblies and congregations, in the prohibition of publications of all kinds and so on. As the NSDAP and its leaders are also provided with special protection by legal regulations, the prosecution of crimes against these laws and the protection of the party and its leaders are also incumbent upon the Secret State Police.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1961-PS

1942 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 247

Decision of the Greater German Reichstag of 26 April 1942

At the proposal of the president of the Reichstag, on its session of 26 April 1942, the Greater German Reichstag has approved of the rights which the Fuehrer has postulated in his speech, with the following decision:

There can be no doubt, that in the present war, in which the German people is faced with a struggle for its existence or annihilation, the Fuehrer must have all the rights postulated by him which serve to further or achieve victory. Therefore--without being bound by existing legal regulations--in his capacity as leader of the nation, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, governmental chief and supreme executive chief, as supreme justice and leader of the party--the Fuehrer must be in a position to force with all means at his disposal every German, if necessary, whether he be common soldier or officer, low or high official or judge, leading or subordinate official of the party, worker or employee--to fulfill his duties. In case of violation of these duties, the Fuehrer is entitled after conscientious examination, regardless of so-called well-deserved rights, to mete out due punishment and to remove the offender from his post, rank and position without introducing prescribed procedures.

At the order of the Fuehrer this decision is hereby made public.

Berlin, 26 April 1942

The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery Dr Lammers

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1962-PS

1935 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PAGE 839

Law to change the Penal Code 28 June 1935

The Reich government has ratified the following law which is herewith announced:

Article 1

Creation of Law by suitable application of the penal law.

The sect. 2 and 2a of the penal code contain the following wording:

sect. 2

Any person who commits an act which the law declares to be punishable or which is deserving of penalty according to the fundamental conceptions of the penal law and sound popular feeling, shall be punished. If there is no penal law directly covering an act it shall be punished under that law which most closely fits, in regards to fundamental conception.

sect. 2a

The culpability of the act and the punishment are determined according to the law which is in force at the time of the act.

Should a milder law be in force at the time of judgment than at the time of the act, then the milder law can be applied; should the act no longer be subjected to punishment at the time of judgment, then punishment may not take place.

A law which is only valid for a designated time is also to be applied upon the acts which have been committed during its validity even if it has been rescinded.

Decisions on disciplinary measures of security and improvement are to be made according to the law which is in force at the time of judgment.

Berlin 28 June 1935

The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor ADOLF HITLER

The Reich Minister of Justice DR. GUERTNER.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1964-PS

1942 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PAGE 535

Decree of the Fuehrer regarding special jurisdiction of Reich Minister of Justice 20 Aug 1942.

A strong administration of Justice is necessary for the fulfillment of the tasks of the great German Reich. Therefore, I commission and empower the Reich Minister of Justice to establish a National Socialist Administration of Justice and to take all necessary measures in accordance with my directives and instructions made in agreement with the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery and the Leader of the Party-Chancellery. He can hereby deviate from any existing law.

Fuehrer Supreme Headquarters 20 August 1942

The Fuehrer ADOLF HITLER

Reich Minister and Chief of Reich Chancellery Dr. Lammers

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1965-PS

EXTRACT FROM “DER STURMER”, 4 November 1943

“It is really the truth that the Jews ‘so to speak’ have disappeared from Europe and that the Jewish ‘reservoir’ of the East, from which the Jewish plague has for centuries beset the peoples of Europe, has ceased to exist * * * However, the Fuehrer of the German people at the beginning of the war prophesied what has now come to pass * * *”

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1969-PS

NOTE

To the file.

Subject: Ottilienheim Absberg.

Dr. Hefelmann, Berlin, informed me by telephone that the transfer of the sick from the Ottilienheim was not carried out by the directive of Berlin, but by the directive from the Bavarian State Ministry, Munich, Regierungsrat Gaum.

Furthermore, he told me, that the bearer of sovereignty [Hoheitstraeger] could not be included, since the regulation does not call for that.

Nurnberg, 5 March 1941.

/s/ Sellmer /t/ Sellmer 297/12

[Seal]

# # # # #

Gau Staff Office Sel/Pf. 5 March 1941

To the Kreisleiter Party Member Michael Gerstner

Weissenburg/Bavaria

Subject: Your letter of 24 Feb 1941

Alarm of the population of Absberg.

The Reich Office [Reichsstelle], Berlin, informs me that the transfer of the sick from the Ottilienheim was not carried out by Berlin, but by Munich. Therefore, I have now turned to Munich. In the meantime, I have found from the Regierungspraesident that we also raised a complaint against the ways and means of the treatment of the sick. I therefore hope, that such cross mistakes will not occur in the future.

Heil Hitler S 297/11 [Initial: Semmler] Gaustabsamtsleiter

NB: The specialist [Sachbearbeiter] for Bavaria is Regierungsrat Gaum in the Bavarian State Ministry in Munich. If possible we should get in touch with him. Regierungsrat Gaum will see to it, that the institutions will be cleared out as soon as possible.

# # # # #

Berlin, 31 Dec 1940 NW 7, Unter den Linden 72 Telephone: Local 120034 Long Distance 120037 Teletype: Local 517 Long Distance K 1517 Cable Address: Reichsinnenminister [Rubber Stamp] Kreisleiter Informed

Reichministry of the Interior Ministerial Dr. Linden.

Iog 7633/40/5100.

It is requested, to mention this official designation and subject in any further correspondence.

[Red pencil] S.6.I.41

To the Gaustabsamtsleiter, Heinrich Sellmer in Nurnberg, Gauleitung

My dear party member Sellmer!

I forward in the enclosure an incident, which deals with the affair about which you have been informed by party member Blanicenburg from the Fuehrer’s chancellery. As you can see in the application of Mrs. Marie Kehr, the latter would like to have information whether it is possible by a law of the Reich, to relieve people from their incurable sufferings. I request that you investigate, whether Kehr is politically reliable, especially whether she does not have church connections. In case this should not be so, from my side, there are no misgivings, if you give Kehr the desired information orally.

Heil Hitler! /s/ Linden

In Ink

Ortsgruppenleiter Party member Popp is of the opinion, that one can inform Mrs. Kehr. She is calm and circumspect.

S 7 Jan 1941 297/21 2 DM

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1972-PS

SECRET

SS Fuehrungshauptamt [SS Main directorate office]

Kommandoamt of the Waffen SS

[Command Office]

Berlin--Wilmersdorf, 14 October 1941 Kaiserallee 188

Sect. Ia NR. 4116/41 geh.

SUBJ: Intermediate report on the civilian state of emergency.

TO: Reichsfuehrer SS

I deliver the following report regarding the commitment of the Waffen SS in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia during the civilian state of emergency:

In the mutual changes, all Battalions of the Waffen SS in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia will be brought forth for shootings, and relatively for the supervision of hangings.

Up until now there occurred:

in Prague: 99 shootings 21 hangings

in Bruenn: 54 shootings 17 hangings ---- Total 191 executions (including 16 Jews)

A complete report regarding other measures and on the conduct of the officers, non-coms and men will be made following the termination of the civilian state of emergency.

Signed: JUETTNER

SS Gruppenfuehrer [Maj. Gen.] and Generalleutnant of the Waffen SS

Official stamp of Personal Staff of Reichsfuehrer SS

15 Oct 1941

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1991-PS

6th Report on activities and final report of the German Armistice Delegation for Economy and of the Delegate of the Reich Government for Economic and Financial Questions with the French Government for the period from 1 July 1943 to 17 August 1944.

Salzburg. 15 December 1944.

No. 000101.

[Page 63, last paragraph].

During the four years of the occupation of France the Armistice Delegation transferred approximately 121 Million Rmk. worth of investments from French into German possession, among them shares of war vital enterprises in third countries, in France and in Germany. For details see the former activity reports of the Delegation. About half of these transfers have been paid for by Germany with economic compensations by delivery of French foreign bonds, which were acquired in Holland or Belgium, whereas the balance was paid through Clearing and from occupation costs. From the difference in the value of the French foreign bonds, between the German purchasing price and the French rate of purchase, there have been realized profits amounting to Rmk. 7 Million which could be paid to the Reich.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 boy what fits into the particular stage of his development. In doing this one quite naturally avoids to bring up something beforehand 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.

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 register 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 use 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.

I ask you, gentlemen, to think back for a moment and remember Langemarck, the volunteers who, for the idea, offered their lives to the bullets while singing “Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles”. And then think of the youth with the same ideological readiness of a few decades later which does not waste one drop of blood, which in defense and attack evades the enemy, against whom the best weapon becomes useless because it hardly any longer can find its aim. This is a picture of the goal of great education which starts with the playful training of the boy in the terrain and completes itself in the training in the Armed Forces.

If we in Germany use only a fraction of the effort which is used in the school to prepare the boy for that we will certainly get results. Because this service has one advantage: It meets the desires of the boy halfway while, thank heavens, sitting on a school bench never does. Because the fate of nations will also in the future not be determined by academicians but by politicians and finally by the soldier. Why shouldn’t it be possible to give back to German youth what is natural to primitive men? Our nation is healthy. The natural tendency for it still exists. They have not been lost, they are only obscured. First, they have to be forced so that they may grow again.

What a boy between 10 and 14 does in his games, the older boy practices in systematic training. But nowhere is there a place for unnatural drilling, everything shall and must be part of the life of youth. But the effort made by the individual must be increased as he grows older.

We Germans were given a great gift by providence. That is, that we are the only nation who knows how to hike. We are bound to nature not only by the necessity to exploit it but by the talent to understand nature emotionally. We experience nature when we hike because we add our own effort.

We do not wish our youth to goose step in a column, but travel in a small group which must find its own way. The group learns, after it has been taught essentials, to orient itself, to read maps and to judge the terrain. It increases the joy of hiking if the leader gives definite problems, for instance, to find a certain point visible in the terrain on the map, or, to look up a road on the map and lead the group to it, etc., etc.

The trip offers the great opportunity to fit in all that which belongs to the system: description and judgment of terrain; recognition and description of the aim; use of terrain, scouting; reporting; securing; and to end up in a terrain game which requires all the boy; initiative.

The trip does not alone train the boy in the terrain but, as I like to call it, to self-help. During the war we found that the truly useful soldiers were not those who had completed their training but those guys who knew what to do in any situation and could take care of themselves when it came to the smallest details. Only the mastery of these thousands of skills makes a completely useful soldier. The idealist reaching for the stars is of little use if he cannot deal with all the unpleasant things which must be overcome. Of what use is the most enthusiastic man if he neglects his footwear and has to stay behind with bad feet. It is a useless comrade who does not know how to set up a tent, to dig a hole for cooking, to make a fire, to dress a wound. The many repulsive tasks in the world of war will soon cause him to stay behind as unfit, or he will remain a constant source of trouble to the sergeant, who will be unable to grasp how anybody could be born with so little common sense.

We have no use for helpless professors but need agile, quick youths who can deal with every situation in life and have learned all that at a time when it was easiest to learn it. This is, to a large extent the purpose of the hiking trip and the camp.

But the hiking trip has still another purpose. It is one of the best means of education at our disposal; because it is the only way in which the boy can get acquainted with his fatherland for which he will have to fight one day. From the perspective of the back alley he can never win it. But he who has not been completely satisfied will still find in sun and rain and in his own effort the meaning of trees and soil, of villages and old towns. He can carry it with him as his true possession and with this possession he ceases to be a proletarian. It is even a prerequisite for the possibility that the new state once again may give him a piece of land. Then again it would have a meaning to the individual.

The systematic development of physical ability for all of us today has become something self-understood. We can hardly grasp the fact that the old state did so little for it with a few hours of gymnastic exercises up to the end of compulsory school and nothing up to the time of military service. And that at a time when the number of men fit for military service in the large cities decreased from year to year. It does not make sense to us to provide physical training only for those who desire it and, therefore, join sports clubs. Because he who does not do that is certainly much more in need of physical training. A definite program for physical training simultaneous with the physical development of the young person is a demand already made by the Fuehrer in his book “Mein Kampf” and which was therefore also demanded and carried out by the new state. The gap between school, labor and army service must finally be closed.

What shall and must be done in particular is clear today and established. The natural is the best. General physical training is the beginning. Then follows athletics. Track comes first, followed by jumping, throwing and pushing. But not everything belongs to athletics but only the simplest: short and long distance running, high and broad jumping, shot put and instead of javelin, club-throwing. For building the body those are the most beneficial exercises which require a minimum of tools and at the same time not too much technique. Among those swimming is one of the exercises which develop the body in general. Why should a boy wait till he is 20 years old to learn how to swim? In the question itself lies the contradiction. Why should the army occupy itself by teaching 70 percent of the recruits how to swim. The boy of ten can learn to swim and should master it long before he becomes a soldier.

* * * * * * *

Of special value for the development of the body is any fighting sport, especially boxing. Every boy first learns free wrestling and then boxing. There is no sport which educates better to hardiness and fighting spirit.

One could not start it too early but only after the body has almost stopped growing, under no circumstances during the grooming periods. After that it shall be the main part of body training.

* * * * * * *

[Pages 174-176]

Every boy endures within the proper limits of his strength and resistance. It is the art of the educator not to go further and to go so far that through a new test new hardiness follows and in such a manner that the new test can be on a higher level and increase resistance by not giving beyond its limits.

* * * * * * *

All that has been learned serves, from a military point of view, nothing but to get close to the enemy and to bring arms into effect. The entire education and training remains without value if it does not lead to the full effect of the weapon against the enemy. All training, therefore culminates in training in shooting. It cannot be emphasized enough and because shooting is a matter of practice one cannot start too early. In the course of years we want to achieve that a gun feels just as natural in the hands of a German boy as a pen. It is a strange state of mind in a nation if, through years many hours every day are spent in practicing penmanship and grammatical writing but not a single hour in practice-shooting. Liberalism put the following slogan above school doors “Knowledge is power”. We, on the other hand, have found out during the war and postwar period that the power of a nation, in the last analysis, always rests on its arms and on those who know how to handle them.

Shooting meets with the desire of a boy. There is hardly ever a boy who does not experiment with it, if only with a bow and arrow he made himself. Let us put into his hand that which suits him that gives him real pleasure. First a new air rifle with which he can really learn how to shoot and let us teach him how to do it correctly. Later, the older boy gets a small caliber rifle with which all the fine points of shooting can be taught and in the service of the army finally, as the last stage, a weapon.

In such a training course the art of shooting can be developed to a degree which, up to now, seemed not attainable.

* * * * * * *

In addition to general training there is special training for the new replacement generation in the Air Force, Navy and motorized troops. The training course for this has been established with the competent authorities in the Armed Forces. In addition, there is training in communications on a broad basis and, in the country, cavalry training.

* * * * * * *

With the law of 1 December 1936 on the Hitler-Youth, the Fuehrer made it possible to extend the principles which, so far, have been applied to the education of the Hitler-Youth to all German Youth. Military education is one of the most important tasks to be fulfilled by the future Hitler-Youth. Besides it, there are the other tasks which are inseparably connected with it. In our opinion it is not possible to divide the thinking of a human being into various sections which then are cultivated by various organizations. But man is an indivisible whole also in regard to education. Military education and philosophical education belong together. The latter is not to exhaust itself in lectures but always through ideological attitude has to draw the conclusion through action.

During the years the boy lives in the youth organization we want to give him the knowledge of that for which he has to fight and be a soldier. The army of the new Reich is not only a community of men who know how to fight according to the laws of military honor, but a community of faith in the mission of the German people and in their own great task. The education of youth has to take care that the knowledge and the principles, according to which the state and the Armed Forces of our time have been organized and which support them, enters so thoroughly into the thoughts of the individual that they never again can be taken away and remain direction-giving principles all through life.

But if faith should be shattered and the idea itself should no longer be firm enough then the German man must have been educated in such a manner that the laws of honor, which alone enable him to live in his community, still hold. And if even those should be shattered, there remains as the last resort the manly discipline, the iron habit to obey silently and to carry out, without a word that service by order of another for which the individual will does not suffice. He who cannot give orders to himself, must get used to obeying the orders of others and to feel the obligation so to do so strongly that even at the most dangerous moment it does not fail. It is a fine thing when a man of 20 learns to obey unconditionally but it is much better when the boy of ten starts to put his own wishes aside, to renounce, to give in, and to serve the will of the community.

Gentlemen, you can see for yourself that the tasks of present German youth education have gone far beyond the “playful”. Within the great order of the new Reich they have taken on a new and tremendous significance. In order to be able to solve these problems apart from everything old and inhibiting the Fuehrer has given its own realm to youth. But this problem can only be solved if the large educational organizations of the German people are coordinated in such a way that the life of the German boy constantly increases in physical skill as well as in ideological will. It would be a pleasure to know that I succeeded in showing you the great possibilities and in arousing your interest in the fact that the Armed Forces and the youth together, have to follow one road.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1992-A-PS

National Political Course for the Armed Forces, from 15 to 23 Jan. 1937.

[National-Politischer Lehrgang der Wehrmacht, vom 15.-23. Januar 1937]

Restricted for the Armed Forces.

HIMMLER: Organization and Obligations of the SS and the Police.

[Pages 141-161]

I shall speak first of all about the origin, organization, and the spheres of activity of the SS; secondly, about the organization and obligations of the Police; and thirdly, about the combined efforts of the SS and the Police, and about the important and vitally necessary question on the internal security of the Reich.

The SS originated in 1923, very early in the history of the movement, as shock troop [Stosstrupp] Hitler, was prohibited and disbanded on November 9, 1923. When the party was reestablished in 1925, the SA as a protective organization for the meetings was at first prohibited. The Fuehrer was also denied the right of speech and assembly in Prussia as well as in Bavaria. Assembly was permitted only in Saxony and Thuringia which at that time were entirely red.

In order to insure the success of these meetings, it was necessary to protect them from dispersal. Therefore in 1925 the Fuehrer ordered a small organization to be formed in order to protect these meetings, namely the SS [Schutzstaffeln, protective squadrons]--literally Staffeln at that time, namely small formations with the effective strength of one leader and 10 men in each location. Even as large a city as Berlin had a squadron of only 2 leaders and 20 men at that time. Throughout 1925 and 1926 we succeeded in carrying out and carrying through the meetings of the Fuehrer and also of other party speakers in Saxony and Thuringia with these squadrons.

In 1926 the SA was again permitted to exist, and for a few years the SS withdrew more into the background.

In the year 1929, eight years ago, I was ordered by the Fuehrer to take over the leadership of all SS units in the entire Reich, then totaling 280 men, and to change them according to the order, into a reliable elite organization of the Party.

I decided to tackle this problem--which I should like to discuss here to some extent--because I was a National Socialist, of course. I want to tell you also how this is to be interpreted. I am a strong believer in the doctrine that, in the end, only good blood can achieve the greatest, enduring things in the world. Strengthened by this conviction of mine, I began to work on this problem.

Accordingly only good blood, blood which history has proved to be leading and creative and the foundation of every state and all military activities, only Nordic blood, can be considered. I said to myself that should I succeed to select from the German people for this organization as many people as possible a majority of whom possess this desired blood, to teach them military discipline and, in time, the understanding of the value of blood and the entire ideology which results from it, then it will be possible actually to create such an elite organization which would successfully hold its own in all cases of emergency.

This form of selection of good blood has been very often theoretically recognized. Many books have been written on it from Chamberlain to Guenther of the years 1926/27, and many others which I shall not mention here. Now came the difficult question of the method of selecting these people. There are two kinds of selection procedures: first, the most severe selection procedure brought about by war, the struggle for life and death. In this procedure the value of blood is shown through achievement. In the year 1929, a great number of former soldiers still existed whose worth could be determined by their record during the war. Wars however, are exceptional circumstances, and a way had to be found to make selections in peace time as well, when courage could not be given this test. Thus, I could only draw conclusions from the appearance of the people in question. Of course, many will argue immediately: that is all very well but if you judge by height, blond hair and blue eyes and the dimensions of the skull then the matter is very problematical. That is known to me very well, too. One could never judge by that alone.

I then went on to require a certain height. I did not accept people under 1,7 m--and here I ask you to understand the exact meaning to my words--because I know that people who have reached a certain height must possess the desired blood to some degree. Of course it is impossible to be too discriminating here as it cannot be said that people who are smaller should not possess the same blood. That is natural but by choosing from this pool of people having the desired height there exists a greater probability of obtaining satisfactory results.

But we went further. It was not enough to go by height, but we began to obtain photographs at that time. That amounted to a hundred to two hundred people annually who were eligible for admission. I have personally seen each photograph and asked myself: Does the face of this man have distinct traits of foreign blood, excessive cheek bones, or as is the common way of asking: Does this one appear Mongolic or that one Slavic? Slavic, incidentally, is a faulty expression. It is merely a popular expression.

Why have I done all this? I should like to call to your attention here the types of soldier councils of the years 1918 and 1919. Everyone of you who was an officer at that time knows a number of such people by personal experience. You will have to admit that on the whole they were people whose appearance affected our German eye as rather peculiar, whose features looked strange and who had some foreign blood in them. They were the type of people who could be disciplined, who are orderly in normal times, who would even be brave, bold and daring in time of war but who, because of their blood, would fail to pass the final great test of character and nerves.

Since I knew these things I said to myself: I shall not accept people whom I expect to quit, to complain, to become disloyal and traitors, to have bad soldierly manners and the like at the moment of political tests, because of the nature of the composition of their blood. We had to be all the more careful because we had only voluntary discipline in the SS during the years of struggle, and therefore we were unable to compel a man to do something.

It was only possible to deprive the man of his arm band for a period of three or four weeks or impose on him penal drills, and that only if he voluntarily accepted the punishment. If he was unwilling he could always say: “I resign, I don’t like it any longer.” We therefore have followed the above-mentioned principle of selection and been able to remove the principal causes of defect.

With this outward screening however, no final selection had been attained, since it was always the performance of the person during the following months and years which was of importance. It was my point of view that we should always require difficult tasks and more than any other organization. Valuable personnel is never trained by means of easy service and conveniences, but by difficulties and added burdens. We therefore began by exacting from our men higher dues in spite of the widespread poverty of the times. At a time when no uniforms were issued to party organizations, we asked our people to acquire black trousers and boots from their own means--a tremendous expense for an unemployed person who had to pay the 40 marks of his own purse. If he failed to do so and declared: I cannot do that, then we explained to him: please go away, for you somehow failed to understand the matter for you do not possess the instinctive willingness to a sacrifice of your own accord, for we cannot use you. Thus we gradually arrived at our intended and desired picture.

This briefly-mentioned theory of selection of people may be criticised, today after eight years I believe I can say with sincerity that its practical application has justified its existence, and that it has really been possible to effect a certain selection of people in the SS already during the time of fighting.

I shall skip the next few periods and shall now occupy myself with the year 1933. This year was for the SS the hardest trial; for it was a time when all organizations flourished, a time of great assault and tidal waves of those who desired membership in the party and its organizations. A very difficult question confronted us at that time. It was a question of deciding whether to close the party and its organizations to further membership and thus remaining pure in quality but small in volume, or of opening them to further membership to increase their volume. This resulted in a dangerous situation, as was shown as a number of people poured in who were not entirely loyal and idealists, so that to a certain degree it became a menace of numbers, of the masses.

The SS too was endangered by this menace. Therefore I closed it in April 1933 while some of the other organizations still accepted as great a number of people as possible. This way I had the SS again under my control in April and said: We shall accept no more people. From the end of 1933 to the end of 1935 we expelled all those of the newly accepted members who proved unsuitable. In these years I have expelled approximately 60,000 men. Today the strength of the SS consists of approximately 210,000 men. This has been of great benefit to the SS and all of its units as its quality has greatly improved whereas it would have suffered considerably through quantity.

I shall close the question of selection by stating that today we accept young men of 18 years of age. We know them already from the Hitler Youth, have studied them already a few years, so that we are sure to get only the best. With 18 years they come to us as candidates.

They are extremely thoroughly examined and checked. Of 100 men we can use on the average 10 or 15, no more. We ask for the political reputation record of his parents, brothers and sisters, the record of his ancestry as far back as 1750 and naturally the physical examination and his records of the Hitler youth. Further we ask for a record of hereditary health showing that no hereditary diseases exist in his parents and in his family. Last, but perhaps most important, is a certification of the race commission. This examining commission is composed of SS leaders, anthropologists and physicians.

The behavior of this young man in front of this commission is now what is decisive: Not only the way he stands at attention but also his manly disciplined bearing, the ease and composition with which he answers the questions posed to him in the course of conversation, his gait, his hands, in fact all that which we have come to regard in the course of our eight years of experience as ideal. This is the way we determine whether to accept the man or not. The first years the company has been very unhappy in many cases. It asked: Why is this man refused us? We have just located in this or that village a man who has in every respect an orderly appearance and now when this man confronts the race commission he is being refused at a time when it is so difficult to obtain people. In such cases we have always remained and still remain severe and that is the right thing. That is the proper way to conduct a veritable selection.

I now come to the organization of the SS. It is necessary to distinguish among the following organizations of the SS. First the General SS which consists of about 190,000 men. This General SS is entirely civilian in nature except for the higher officer corps, which performs its duties on the higher levels, that is from Sturmbannfuehrer up. I am very proud of the fact that only 0.4 percent of the General SS are unemployed. These 0.4 percent come from Upper Silesia where it is really very difficult to obtain work. We have almost only professionals, and it is my opinion that it should be so. For a really capable man is of little value to me if he only excels in arts, he must also be otherwise honest and of good character, and accomplish something in his field, in his profession. A man who changes his position three times without satisfactory reason is expelled as we have no further interest in him. People who stand around idle are of no use to us. The General SS, therefore, is entirely professional in its nature and character and performs its duties nights and Sundays just like in war time. Besides the General SS there is the Verfuegungstruppe; also the Death Head Units, the SD, and the race and population system. I shall now discuss individual units in some detail.

The General SS is divided into 13 subdivisions which on the whole are exactly adapted to the present corps districts and one corps district being planned. Under these subdivisions headed by Oberabschnittsfuehrer who are Gruppenfuehrer or Obergruppenfuehrer, there are those which are headed by an Oberfuehrer or Brigadefuehrer. These subdivisions, in their turn, are subdivided into SS regiments [Standarten]. A regiment, if in its entire force, is made up of 1600 men. Under the regiments we have the battalions [Sturmbanne] and companies [Stuerme], and under the companies the platoons.

A great many SS men live very far apart. Of course, it would be much more convenient to set up a Sturmbanne in some town and in this way have all the people always together. That would facilitate considerably the exercises which always take place in the evening hours, instruction and sport, and require much less effort. However, that would inevitably result in a decreasing quality because not enough people possessing the desired qualities could be obtained in a town of approximately 20 to 25 thousand inhabitants. We have, therefore, extended our organization considerably and have many platoons in the country side. These platoons are then divided up between the villages, so that in a typical village only the two best young men are SS members. We have meetings over the week ends when the farmer is not too occupied, or one entire afternoon in the winter, while in summer we only have monthly roll calls. That is the outline of the organization of the General SS.

The age groups in the SS are as follows: With 18 years the young man enters the SS. He is first an applicant, after three months he takes the oath on the Fuehrer and thus becomes a candidate [Anwaerter]. As a candidate during the first year he takes examinations for his SA sport insignia and his bronze sport insignia. At the age of 19 or 19½, according to the time of his acceptance, he is conscripted for the labor service and subsequently for the Wehrmacht. After two more years he comes back from the Wehrmacht unless he remains there as a prospective non-commissioned officer or reenlists. If he returns to us he is still candidate. In these weeks he is especially thoroughly instructed in ideology. The first year is for him a period of elementary ideological indoctrination. In these weeks following his return from the Wehrmacht he receives special instruction about the marriage law and all other laws pertaining to the family, and the honor laws. On the 9th of November, following his return from the Wehrmacht, he becomes an SS man in the true sense. The Reichsfuehrer of the SS is just as much an SS man in the sense of the SS organization as the common man at the front. On this 9th of November he is being awarded the dagger, and at this occasion he promises to abide by the marriage law and the disciplinary laws of the SS, since the family is also subject to these laws. From this day on he has the right and the duty to defend his honor with a weapon as laid down by the honor laws of the SS. The applicants and candidates do not yet have this right. The SS man remains in the so called active general SS until his 35th year. From his 35th to his 45th year he is in the SS reserve, and after his 45th year in the Stammabteilung of the SS, identified by the grey color patch. Between the ages of 21 and 35 the SS man has to perform a great many duties, especially up to his 25th year. In these first four years there are a lot of marches, tournaments, i.e., sports of all kinds which take the form of contests that take place each year between Easter and Summer solstice so that we are able to select the best men of every company by these demonstrations of physical ability. Every SS man is being asked to pass some kind of annual test until his 50th year. And the reason for that? These men are for the most part professionals. In the SS perhaps anywhere from ½ to ⅗ live in cities. The workman in the cities is often engaged in occupations requiring him to stand or the intellectual worker to sit for a considerable amount of time. To that is added the misery of big cities which in my opinion is also a very serious military question.

People of the 20th Century no longer walk but travel in the subway, railroad or cars. Nobody is accustomed to marching in all the years of his civilian life. Or take those who hold leading positions as an example, all the professional State and Ministry leaders. These people are condemned to sit. Everybody is so pressed for time he has to take an automobile because there is no other way to keep up with the rush. The result of this is that people grow pale and fat and in some cases phlegmatic which is never good for the State. If we desire to remain young we have to be sportsmen. But all that would remain on paper if I did not hold annual checkups or arouse to a certain degree the ambition of the men so that they really become sportsmen and pass their annual tests. * * *

The performance insignia of the SA have the following meaning: every form of sport which requires the use of arms is being executed with both arms. Shot put is done with both arms; the same holds true for stone putting. Pistols and rifles are fired left and right. That appears terribly awkward and unaccustomed in the beginning, but it is an excellent form of exercise and very successful. Hand grenades and clubs are hurled left and right. In the beginning no record performances can be expected of course of people past their twentieth year, since the left arm or in the case of a left-handed person the right arm, are completely untrained, so that at a distance of 10 m the target is often missed by three or five meters. It will be, however, a very good development and application of all physical strength if we require such performances of youths in the ages of 13 to 14 from the very beginning. I believe that in this way we shall be very successful. Every year the performance insignia differ. Of course, I do not expect the conditions and time from a 40 year old for a 100 meter race as I do expect them from a man of 21, but I do require of the man of 40 greater endurance in marching than I do of the man of 21. I expect a 30 year old man to shoot calmer and better than a 19 or 20 year old with few examples. They are also graded to the extent that a wounded war veteran who e.g. cannot swim need not, for that reason, refuse every sport. But I want to help him by grading the conditions so that one who lost an arm can perform the exercise with the other arm. Such are the sport activities of the SS from the ages of 18 to 50. Aside from the sport activity, those between the ages of 21 and 35 receive complete training in street patrolling and barricading for cases of internal security.

Hand in hand with physical exercise is mental and ideological training. Weekly periods of instruction are held during which pages from Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” are read. The older a person, the more steadfast must he be in his ideology and the more training must he get in ideology.

I now come to the Verfuegungstruppe [Forerunner of Armed Forces SS]. The Verfuegungstruppe is divided into the following units: SS Regiment “Adolf Hitler,” with three battalions, which is motorized and at the same time contains infantrymen and additional companies; SS Regiment “Deutschland” with 4 battalions with the usual motorcycle riflemen and infantry howitzer companies; SS Regiment “Germania” with 3 battalions also with motorcycle riflemen and infantry howitzer companies; the SS battalion “Nurnberg,” an infantry battalion; the SS engineer battalion today in Leisnig; later in Dresden; and the SS signal battalion today in Berlin, later in Unna, upon completion of the barracks. The Regiment “Adolf Hitler” is in Berlin. The Regiment “Deutschland” has three battalions in Munich and one battalion in Ellwangen, the Regiment “Germania” has now one battalion and two companies in Hamburg, and one battalion in Arolsen and up to now one other battalion in Soltau. The final garrison is not yet stationary. The time of service is 4 years. No other form of conscription exists. The annual need for replacement will be approximately 2200 men, not a great number.

I now come to the Death Head Units. The employment and obligations of the Verfuegungstruppe I shall discuss later in connection with the police. The Death Head Units originated from the guard units of the concentration camps. In connection with these concentration camps, I should like to give a few data. We have in Germany today the following concentration camps which, in my opinion, should not decrease but increase in number for certain reasons:

(1) Dachau near Munich; (2) Sachsenhausen near Berlin, which is the former camp Esterwege in Emsland. I have dissolved this camp in Emsland upon the suggestion of Reich Labor Leader, Hierl, and the judiciary, who declared it was wrong to tell one person that the service in the swamps to make land arable is an honor, and another, by sending him there as a prisoner: “I’ll teach you people what it means to get sent to the swamps.” This indeed is illogical, and after half or three quarters of a year, I dissolved the camp in Esterwege and transferred it to Sachsenhausen near Oranienburg. Then there is a camp in Lichtenburg near Torgau, one in Sachsenburg near Chemnitz and besides a few smaller ones. The number of prisoners is about 8000. I shall explain to you why we must have so many and still more. We once had a very efficiently organized German Communist Party [KPD]. This KPD has been crushed in the year 1933. A part of the functionaries went to foreign countries. Another part was comprised in the very high number of protective custody prisoners in the year 1933. Because of my extensive knowledge of Bolshevism, I have always opposed the release of these people from the camps. It must be clear to us that the great mass of workmen are absolutely susceptible to National Socialism and the contemporary form of state as long as their way of thought has not been changed by the specifically indoctrinated, trained and financially backed functionaries. * * *

It would be extremely instructive for everyone--some members of the Wehrmacht were already able to do so--to inspect such a concentration camp. Once they have seen it, they are convinced of the fact that no one had been sent there unjustly; that it is the offal of criminals and freaks. No better demonstration of the laws of inheritance and race, as set forth by Doctor Guett, exists than such a concentration camp. There you can find people with hydrocephalus, people who are cross-eyed, deformed, half-Jewish, and a number of racially inferior products. All that is assembled there. Of course we distinguish between those inmates who are only there for a few months for the purpose of education, and those who are to stay for a very long time. On the whole, education consists of discipline, never of any kind of instruction on an ideological basis, for the prisoners have, for the most part, slave-like souls; and only very few people of real character can be found there. They would pretend to do all that would be asked of them, repeat all that is said in the “Voelkischer Beobachter” but in reality, stay the same. The discipline thus preens order. The order begins with these people living in clean barracks. Such a thing can really only be accomplished by us Germans, hardly another nation would be as humane as we are. The laundry is frequently changed. The people are taught to wash themselves twice daily, and the use of a toothbrush with which most of them have been unfamiliar. * * *

The concentration camps are guarded by these Death Head Units. It is impossible to use exclusively married people for guard duty as has been suggested once, for no state can afford to do so. It is further necessary to keep the number of such guards for concentration camps--there are 3,500 men in Germany--at a relatively high level, for no form of service is as exacting and strenuous for troops as the guarding of crooks and criminals. * * *

In case of war, it must become clear to us that a considerable number of unreliable persons will have to be put here if we are to assure ourselves of the absence of highly disagreeable developments in case of war.

The prisoner guards were formerly members of the general SS. We gradually collected them into the so-called Death Head Units. They are not arranged in companies, but in centuries (groups of 100) and have naturally also machine guns. In such camps there are two or three control towers, manned day and night with fully loaded machine guns, so that any attempt of a general uprising--a possibility for which we must always be prepared--can be immediately suppressed. The entire camp can be strafed from three towers.

The time of service in these Death Head Units is also four years. They consist today mainly of people who have served their time in the Wehrmacht and then enlisted with us for a period of four years. The Death Head Units have the additional purpose of being the cadre centuries for approximately 30 Death Head special battalions of the SS in case of war, for 25,000 men with whom we shall guarantee the safety in the interior. I shall come back to this subject later.

I now come to the Security Service [SD]; it is the great ideological intelligence service of the party and, in the long run, also that of the state. During the time of struggle for power it was only the intelligence service of the SS. At that time we had, for quite natural reasons, an intelligence service with the regiments, battalions and companies. We had to know what was going on on the opponent’s side, whether the Communists intended to hold a meeting today or not, whether our people were to be suddenly attacked or not and similar things. I separated this service already in 1931 from the troops, from the units of the general SS, because I considered it to be wrong. For one thing, the secrecy is endangered, then the individual men or even the companies are too likely to discuss every day problems.

That was indeed the principle of the SS from the beginning. Every day problems do not interest us; every leader appointed by the Fuehrer will be backed by us, every leader dismissed by the Fuehrer will be removed by us, if necessary by force, because only the command of the Fuehrer counts. Besides that we are only interested in ideological questions of importance for decades or centuries, so that the man is really above the concern of every day and knows that he is working for a great task, which occurs but once in 2000 years. The SS man is not interested in daily problems of the kind whether perhaps the local group is correctly manned, whether everything is done properly in the labor front, no matter what it is, he is not interested.

The Security Service was already separated from the troops in 1931 and separately organized. Its higher headquarters coincide today with the Oberabschnitte and Abschnitte (sectors), and it has also field offices, an own organization of officials with a great many Command Posts, approximately 3-4000 men strong, at least when it is built up. The spheres which it handles are above all Communism, Judaism, Freemasonry, ultra-mundane activities, the activity of political religion, and reaction. Here, too, the details of the work are not of interest. You will perhaps see that during your visit; I can, therefore, be short. The security service is only interested in the great ideological problems.

For example: Let us say that it is attempted on the part of ultra-mundane people to effect gradually for the territory of Austria a change into a Swiss like state by means of scientific exploitation of the theory of the Austrian man. Just as it happened to us in our history 700 or 800 years ago with Switzerland which, although it still speaks the German language today, does not consider itself inwardly as belonging to Germany; or as we had to suffer the loss of Holland with its entire lower German territory a few centuries ago; the attempt is now being made to point at this problem of the South-East German people, of the Austrian people, with propaganda, by scientific underrunning and scientific work at the universities, until spiritual separation is also possible. We are furthermore interested: Which German professors support this theory or are connected with any wire-pulling abroad or elsewhere?

These are spheres which interest us. To us as a security service it is of no interest whether, for instance, the cell organization of the German Communist party at Berlin-Wedding has been broken up or not. This is a question for the executive power. One day it will be broken up, or it is broken up already, and if it is reorganized, it will be broken up again. Therefore, this is of no interest to us, on account of that Germany will not perish. We are interested: What are the Communists’ large-scale plans for the next years, in which country do they intend to begin, which influences of Bolshevism are noticeable in foreign Freemasonry circles, what are their plans, where do the big emissaries go now? Recently, e.g. 800 emissaries went to Austria. They arrived there 3 or 4 months ago, and now we are extremely interested to know: How is this going to affect Austria? Or what plans do they have, what great organizational plans for Germany, from which angle do they start, how does Bolshevism make common cause, for instance, with the religious coalition [Bekenntnisfront], and suddenly supports as an atheist movement these religious parsons, how is that possible all of a sudden? Or we are furthermore interested in this:

What economic influence do the Jews exercise--again considered on a large scale--to suffocate business, to commit sabotage and to transfer foreign currency illegally? These are things which are being studied there scientifically and--in this case the word really fits--by a general staff, which may sometimes last for years, tasks which in many or in most cases are only in the beginning stage.

After the Security Service follows the last pillar, the race- and settlement organization. We thus have the general SS, which represents the majority of the SS, of the order, the Verfuegungs troops with a certain task in the country for the protection of the interior, the Death Head Units, also for the protection of the interior, the Security Service, the intelligence service of the party and the state, and finally the race--and settlement organization whose task of ideological training is of a positive nature, as contrasted with the Security Service which has the negative task to seek information about the opponent. In this race- and settlement office the marriage applications are being handled. In the last 4 or 5 years we have the order concerning marriages: No SS men can get married without the approval of the SS Reich leader. A physical examination of the bride and guarantees for the bride’s ideological and human character are required. We are not interested whether the woman has a fortune or not. We request only a statement whether or not she has defects. We prefer it if the rich girls take along only what they have earned themselves, or their dowry. In addition, the genealogical table up to 1750 is required, the hereditary physical report of both, and several police and other reports. This results in tremendous work, especially now that people are getting married in an unusually great number; because it is our concern, that our men get married. We desire that they get married at 26 years, if possible, so that there will be really young marriages which are also able to have children. * * *

I now turn to the Police and its structure. Today the Police is divided into two branches, namely civil and security police; the civil police wears a uniform. The security police is composed of the criminal police and of the Secret State Police [Gestapo]. We can certainly state without exaggeration that in 1933 we took over a wild confusion, a Police the decent elements of which were humiliated; for the sword had been taken away from the officers and a rubber truncheon had been given to the men. The police was permeated by persons with criminal records and by absolute Marxists; it did not care to actually take a stand against any crime because at once the League for Human Rights, the Peace Society and similar societies intervened, and because absolute glorification of crime was in vogue. This was the method of planned intellectual Bolshevization.

In Prussia, Goering took over the Police, put the uniformed police in order, and created a Landespolizei (gendarmerie) which in 1935-1936 was absorbed by the army; the same occurred in Bavaria. From my SS position, I first of all concerned myself only with the Secret State Police, with the political Police of the countries and with the Secret State Police in Prussia. Through the fact that I personally was political police commander of all German countries, and at the same time deputy of the Gestapo in Prussia, the Gestapo gradually came under the control of one person.

I may skip the whole further development. On the 17th of June of the previous year I became head of the German police, that is, of all the German Police together with its auxiliary organizations. I shall review for you my conception of my task as I have seen and still see it.

First:--I shall ultimately form one true Reich police out of these 16 different gendarmeries, for the Reich police is one of the strongest binding elements that a state can have. We now have for the first time in German history a Reich Police. Outwardly, I am eliminating the various uniforms, the laws and regulations which were still in force until six or nine months ago. When a Hamburg police official was pursuing a criminal who was bold enough to go into Prussian territory, he could not pursue him farther without the consent of the Prussian Police. This naturally was to the great advantage of the criminal, for he could very easily escape. The same was the case between the other states of the federation. These things were still on such a firm legal basis that one could not do away with them without legal revision.

For the creation of the Reich police, not only outwardly but also inwardly, I have already made a beginning in the officers’ corps and with the officials, by shifting the people somewhat, through transfers, etc., in this way showing Germany to them; thus my dear Bavarians may come North for a change, and the people from the North go South. If that is not done they all groan a little about it at first, as was the case with the SS a few years ago. Now a telegram arrives suddenly, the man is to be at his new post in two days. Transfers are effected on principle only by telegram, that keeps people young and fresh. As stated, this is only the beginning of our work with the Reich police.

The effective strength of officers and men is very low. That is quite understandable, for the police has given up much of its good or even best personnel for setting up the Landespolizei. The Landespolizei was absorbed by the Wehrmacht, and what is left in many places is the poorest not only of equipment, trucks, autos and other things, but sometimes the poorest of officers and men. All of this must now be painfully built up and brought into order. * * *

As far as I can, I am now bringing the police up to full strength with men leaving the Verfuegungstruppe (reserve unit) and the Death Head Units; I am bringing the police officers’ corps up to full strength with SS leaders who come into the police from the Toelz and Brunswick Fuehrerschulen [Leader Training schools] by way of the Verfuegungstruppe. This brings me to an important problem; I am fighting to prevent the police officers’ corps from becoming a second class officers’ corps. This happens very easily just as it did in the past.

In connection with this whole matter, I now come to the main problem: internal security and obligations of the police during war. In a future war we shall have not only an army front on land, a navy front at sea, and an air force front in the air over Germany, but we shall also have a fourth theater of war, namely internal Germany. This is the basis which must be kept sound, at all costs, lest the three combat branches of Germany be stabbed in the back again.

We must clearly recognize that an opponent in war is an opponent not only in a military but also in an ideological sense. When I speak here of opponents, I obviously mean our natural opponent, international Bolshevism, under Jewish-Masonic leadership. This Bolshevism, of course, has its supreme citadel in Russia. But this does not mean that there is danger of Bolshevist attack from Russia only. One must always reckon with this danger from wherever this Jewish Bolshevism has gained decisive influence for itself. The states or people under Jewish-Masonic-Bolshevist leadership, or at least strong influence, will of necessity be unfriendly toward Germany and will constitute a danger.

Thus we must constantly ask ourselves, “Who is, or would be an opponent in case of war? Who is an ideological opponent, that is, who is under Jewish-Masonic-Bolshevist influence”? We must clearly realize, that Bolshevism is the organization of the sub-humans, it is the absolute foundation of Jewish sovereignty, it is the exact contrary of all that is dear to an Aryan people. It is a diabolical teaching, for it appeals to the meanest and lowest instincts of mankind and makes a religion of this. Do not be deceived: Bolshevism, with its Lenin entombed in the Kremlin, will take only a few decades to become the diabolical religion of destruction, a religion native to Asia for the destruction of the whole world. Furthermore, remember that this Bolshevism is working according to plan for the Bolshevization of other peoples, and the destruction is aimed at the white race. One of the first institutions founded under Jewish leadership, as early as 1918, was an Asiatic university as I shall call it. It has a kind of department for each Asiatic population, whether numerous or not. The functionaries for these populations are instructed not only in their language, but also as to the customs, as to the religious and class quarrels, and the economic circumstances, etc. They are instructed whether these people are mostly rich or poor, whether the poorer class is particularly oppressed, etc. All of this is studied down to the smallest sects. The people who have finished their education there, then go out in a constant stream to all of these people and exploit their wishes and longings as their religious differences and their fanaticism, taking advantage of social misery, to draw them into a whirlpool and thus gradually convince them that the only ones who can really help them are the people in Moscow.

This general movement is also directed against the white race, and is today directed primarily against resurrected Germany, which was generally considered to have been ruined, because of having been subdued. If we wish to be immune to the poison of destruction in our people, our lives must again be founded on social well-being, order and cleanliness. We are in the process of creating both. The first four years have passed; unemployment has almost vanished, much has been accomplished, much more remains to be done by us. But the most important thing is the thorough ideological permeation of all our people with the profound realization that our people, a minority of 70 million in the heart of Europe, could stand only because we are qualitatively more valuable than the others.

And this brings me back to what I said about the race question at the beginning.

We are more valuable than the others who do now and always will surpass us in numbers. We are more valuable because our blood enables us to invent more than others, to lead our people better than the others; because it enables us to have better soldiers, better statesmen, higher culture, better characters. We also have better quality, speaking of your profession, because the German soldier is more devoted to duty, more decent, and more intelligent than the soldiers of other countries. And we shall maintain this quality as long as we keep our blood and people healthy, so long as this people recognizes and obeys the ancient laws for preservation of a people which National Socialism, thanks to Adolf Hitler, restored to it. We shall remain healthy and immune as long as we do not slide back into democracy, into a hereditary or legitimate imperialism which did not develop from the people. Let us realize clearly that we shall weather the next decades only if we are a people that has a profound conviction of itself, believes in its own strength, and proves this strength.

I spoke of the ideological permeation of the whole people in case of war. If this war should come sooner than any of us believe or wish, that is, if war will come at all, we must clearly realize that there will always be a residue among the German people who will form a nucleus for the Comintern. The Comintern have an easy time of it, for they have a political agitator and at the same time a military spy who sells. Every communist is also a military spy who reveals any military and industrial secret out of loyalty to his imaginary fatherland, Moscow, the native land of the proletarians. Because of his conviction, he engages in political agitation and sedition in exactly the same way in order to start the revolution. The sooner war would come, the greater would be the danger. The later it comes, the more generations of youth have grown up, year after year, the less is the danger. The danger would arise again only if the German people would deviate from today’s path. In any case, 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 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 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 above-mentioned subhuman opponents in the whole world who fight Germany, as the nuclear people 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.

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Copy of RK. 10714 B.

Decree of the Fuehrer concerning the administration of the newly-occupied Eastern territories, dated the 17 July 1941.

In order to restore and maintain public order and public life in the newly-occupied Eastern territories I decree that:

Article 1

As soon as the military operations in the newly-occupied territories are over, the administration of these territories shall be transferred from the military establishments to the civil-administration establishments. I shall from time to time determine by special decree, the territories which according to this are to be transferred to the civil administration, and the time when this is to take place.

Article 2

The Civil Administration in the newly-occupied Eastern territories, where these territories are not included in the administration of the territories bordering on the Reich or the General government, is subject to the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern territories.

Article 3

Military sovereign rights and powers are exercised by the commanders of the Armed Forces in the newly-occupied Eastern territories in accordance with my decree of 25 June 1941.

The powers of the Commissioner for the 4-year plan in the newly-occupied Eastern territories, according to my decree of 29 June 1941, and those of the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police according to my decree of 17 July 1941, are subject to special ruling, and are not effected by the following regulations.

Article 4

I appoint Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. He will hold office in Berlin.

Article 5

The parts of the newly-occupied Eastern territories which are subject to the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories are to be divided into Reich Commissariats, which are to be divided into General Regions [Generalbezirke] and these again into District Areas [Kreisgebiete]. Several “Kreisgebiete” can be joined into a Main Region [Hauptbezirk]. The Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories will issue more detailed instructions on this subject.

Article 6

At the head of each Reich Commissariat will be a Reich Commissar; at the head of each General Region a Commissar-General and at the head of every District Area an Area Commissar [Gebietskommissar]. Where a Main Region is formed, there will be a Head-Commissar [Hauptkommissar] in charge.

The Reich Commissars and the Commissar-Generals will be appointed by me, the heads of the main sections in the bureaux of the Reich Commissars, as well as the Head Commissars and District Commissars will be appointed by the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

Article 7

In cases where Article 3 is not applicable, the Reich Commissars will be responsible to the Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories, and will receive instructions exclusively from him.

Article 8

It is the responsibility of the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories to legislate for the newly occupied territories under his jurisdiction. He can delegate the legislative power to the Reich Commissars.

Article 9

As regards civil affairs, the Reich Commissars are responsible for the whole administration of their territory.

As long as military operations are in progress, it is the duty of the highest competent authorities of the Reich to guarantee railway and postal services in accordance with the instructions of the Chief of Supreme Command of the Armed Forces. Further ruling will remain pending until the time the military operations cease.

Article 10

In order that the measures taken by the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories or by the Reich Commissars in their areas may be brought into harmony with the over-all [uebergeordnete] aspects of the interests of the Reich, the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories will maintain close liaison with the highest Reich authorities. In differences of opinion which cannot be settled by direct negotiations, my decision is to be obtained through the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellory.

Article 11

The necessary regulations for carrying out and supplementing this decree will be issued by the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories in agreement with the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellory.

Fuehrer’s Headquarters, 17 July 1941

The Fuehrer Signed: Adolf Hitler

Chief of Supreme Command of the Armed Forces Signed: Keitel

Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancery Signed: Dr. Lammers.

[L.S.]

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1935 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, NO. 100, PAGE 1146.

Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor of 15 September 1935

Thoroughly convinced by the knowledge that the purity of German blood is essential for the further existence of the German people and animated by the inflexible will to safeguard the German nation for the entire future, the Reichstag has resolved upon the following law unanimously, which is promulgated herewith:

Section 1

1. Marriages between Jews and nationals of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they are concluded abroad.

2. Proceedings for annulment may be initiated only by the Public Prosecutor.

Section 2

Relations outside marriage between Jews and nationals of German or kindred blood are forbidden.

Section 3

Jews will not be permitted to employ female nationals of German or kindred blood in their household.

Section 4

1. Jews are forbidden to hoist the Reichs and national flag and to present the colors of the Reich.

2. On the other hand they are permitted to present the Jewish colors. The exercise of this authority is protected by the State.

Section 5

1. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of section 1 will be punished with hard labor.

2. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of section 2 will be punished with imprisonment or with hard labor.

3. A person who acts contrary to the provisions of sections 3 or 4 will be punished with imprisonment up to a year and with a fine or with one of these penalties.

Section 6

The Reich Minister of the Interior in agreement with the Deputy of the Fuehrer and the Reich Minister of Justice will issue the legal and administrative regulations which are required for the implementation and supplementation of this law.

Section 7

The law will become effective on the day after the promulgation, section 3 however only on 1 January 1936.

Nurnberg, the 15 September 1935 at the Reich Party Rally of freedom.

The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler

The Reich Minister of Interior Frick

The Reich Minister of Justice Dr. Guertner

The Deputy of the Fuehrer R. Hess Reich Minister without portfolio

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1933 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 141

Law to remove the distress of people and State of 24 March 1933

The Reichstag has resolved upon the following law which is promulgated herewith with approval of the Reichsrat after it has been established that all the requirements of legislation for changing the constitution have been complied with.

Section 1

Laws for the Reich can be resolved upon also by the Reich Cabinet besides the procedure provided by the constitution of the Reich. This also applies to the laws pursuant to sections 85 subsection 2 and 87 of the Reich-Constitution.

Section 2

The laws for the Reich resolved upon by the Reich Cabinet may deviate from the Reich-Constitution so far as they do not deal with the institution of the Reichstag or the Reichsrat as such. The powers of the Reich-President will remain intact.

Section 3

The laws for the Reich resolved upon by the Reich-Cabinet are issued by the Reich-Chancellor and promulgated in the Reichsgesetzblatt. They will become effective, so far as they do not determine otherwise on the day following their promulgation. Section 68 to 77 of the Reich-Constitution are not applicable to the laws resolved upon by the Reich-Cabinet.

Section 4

Treaties of the Reich with foreign countries relating to matters of the legislation of the Reich do not require the approval of the bodies participating in the legislation. The Reich-Cabinet issues the rules necessary for the execution of such treaties.

Section 5

This law will become effective on the day of its promulgation. It becomes ineffective on 1 April 1937. Moreover it becomes ineffective if the present Reich-Cabinet should be replaced by another.

Berlin, 24 March 1933

The Reich-President von Hindenburg

The Reich-Chancellor Adolf Hitler

The Reich-Minister for the Interior Frick

The Reich-Minister for Foreign Affairs Freiherr von Neurath

The Reich-Minister for Finances Count Schwerin von Krosigk

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1934 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 747

Law re the Sovereign Head of the German Reich 1 August 1934

The Reich Government has enacted the following law which is hereby promulgated:

Section 1

The office of the Reichspraesident will be consolidated with that of the Reich Chancellor. The existing authority of the Reichspraesident shall consequently be transferred to the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor, Adolph Hitler. He shall select his representative.

Section 2

This law is effective as of the time of the death of Reichspraesident von Hindenburg.

The Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler

The Reich Deputy Chancellor von Papen

The Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs Freiherr von Neurath

The Reich Minister of Interior Frick

The Reich Minister of Finance Graf Schwerin von Krosigk

The Reich Minister of Labor Franz Seldte

The Reich Minister of Justice Dr. Guertner

The Reich Minister for Defense von Blomberg

The Reich Postal Minister and Transportation Minister Freiherr von Eltz

The Reich Minister for Nutrition and Agriculture R. Walther Darre

The Reich Minister for Enlightenment and Propaganda Dr. Goebbels

The Reich Minister for Air Travel Hermann Goering

The Reich Minister for Science, Training and Education Bernhard Rust

The Reich Minister without Portfolio Rudolf Hess

The Reich Minister without Portfolio Hanns Kerrl

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1933 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 153

Preliminary Law for the Coordination of the Federal States under the Reich, 31 March 1933.

Article 4

(1) The popular representation of the federal states (diets [Landtage], citizens’ assemblies [Burgerschuften]) is hereby dissolved with the exception of the Prussian diet [Preussischer Landtag] elected 5 March 1933, so far as this has not already happened according to the law of the state.

(2) They will be newly constituted according to the number of votes which in the election to the German Reichstag were given to the electoral lists within each federal state. In this connection, seats falling to the Communist Party will not be given out. The same will be true for electoral lists of electoral groups which are to be regarded as a substitute for the electoral lists of the Communist Party.

* * * * * * *

Berlin, 31 March 1933.

The Reich Chancellor ADOLF HITLER

The Reich Minister of Interior FRICK

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1933 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 173

Second Law Integrating the Laender with the Reich 7 April 1933

The Reich Government has enacted the following law which is hereby promulgated:

1

(1) In the German “Laender”, with the exception of Prussia, the Reich President, upon the proposal of the Reich Chancellor, shall appoint the Reich governor, the Reich governor shall require the observance of the general policy laid down by the Reich Chancellor. The following powers of “Land” authority belong to him:

1. Appointment and removal of the head of the “Land” Government, and upon his proposal, the other members of the “Land” Government.

2. Dissolution of the legislature and designation of the new election subject to the rule of section 8 of the Provisional Law of March 31, 1933, Integrating the German “Laender” with the Reich.

3. Preparations and publication of “Land” laws, including the laws which are determined upon by the “Land” Government according to section I of the Provisional Law of March 31, 1933, Integrating the German “Laender” with the Reich. Article 70 of the Constitution of August 11, 1919, applies accordingly.

4. Upon the proposal of the “Land” Government, appointment and dismissal of the higher “Land” officials and judges, so far as this formerly was accomplished by the highest “Land” officials.

5. The power of pardon.

(2) The Reich governor may preside over the meetings of the “Land” Government.

(3) Article 63 of the German Constitution of August 11, 1919 remains unaltered.

2

(1) A Reich governor may not simultaneously be a member of a “Land” Government. He shall belong to the “Land” whose sovereign powers he exercises. His official residence is at the seat of the “Land” Government.

(2) For several “Lands” in each of which there are less than 2 million inhabitants, a common “Lands” governor who must be a resident of one of these “Lands”, may be appointed. The Reich President shall designate the governor’s official residence.

3

(1) The Reich governor is appointed for the duration of a “Land” Legislative period. He can be recalled at any time by the Reich President on the proposal of the Reich Chancellor.

(2) The provisions of the Reich Ministry Law of March 27, 1930, find appropriate application to the office of Reich governor. His remuneration is borne by the Reich; the establishment of its size remains unsettled.

4

Votes of no confidence of the “Land” legislature against the head and the members of the “Land” Government are not permissible. * * *

The Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler

The Reich Minister of the Interior Frick

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1934 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 75

Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich 30 January 1934

The popular referendum and the Reichstag election of November 12, 1933 have proven that the German people have attained an indestructible internal unity superior to all internal subdivisions of political character.

Consequently, the Reichstag has enacted the following law which is hereby promulgated with the unanimous vote of the Reichstag after ascertaining that the requirements of the Reich Constitution have been met:

ARTICLE I

Popular assemblies [Volksvertretungen] of the “Laender” shall be abolished.

ARTICLE II

(1) The sovereign powers [Hoheitsrechte] of the “Laender” are transferred to the Reich.

(2) The “Laender” governments are placed under the Reich government.

ARTICLE III

The Reich governors are placed under the administrative supervision of the Reich Minister of Interior.

ARTICLE IV

The Reich Government may issue new constitutional laws.

ARTICLE V

The Reich Minister of Interior may administer the necessary legal and administrative regulations for the execution of the law.

ARTICLE VI

This law shall be effective on the day of its promulgation.

Berlin, 30 January 1934.

The Reich President von Hindenburg

The Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler

The Reich Minister of the Interior Frick

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1935 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 49

German Communal Ordinance 30 January 1935

The German Communal Ordinance [Deutsche Gemeindeordnung] aims at qualifying the communes for the highest achievements in close cooperation with Party and State, affording them full opportunities for helping to accomplish--in the true spirit of Baron von Stein, the creator of communal home rule--the purpose of the State: to restore the priority of the common weal over the individual in a united people permeated by one national will; to place the public interest before selfish ends and to bring about the true national community under the leadership of the best of the people, in which every willing fellow-citizen finds the feeling of mutual solidarity.

The German Communal Ordinance is a basic law of the National Socialist State. The reconstruction of the Reich will be completed on the foundations laid by the act.

The Reich Government has therefore enacted the following law which is hereby promulgated. * * *

Section 6

(1) The mayor [Burgermeister] is the head of the commune. He is represented by the executive officers [Beigeordnete].

(2) The mayor and the executive officers receive their appointments through the confidence of Party and State. In order to insure harmony between the communal administration and the Party, the delegate of the National Socialist Workers’ Party participates in certain matters. Continuous contacts between the communal administration and the citizens is guaranteed by the councillors [Gemeinderaete], who as meritorious and experienced men assist the mayor through their advice. * * *

Section 33

(1) In order to insure harmony between the communal administration and the Party, the delegates of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party participate, apart from the appointment and recall of the mayor, the executive officers, and the councillors (Secs. 41, 45, 51, 54), in the following decisions of the mayor:

1. The issuance of the basic ordinance requires the approval of the Party delegate;

2. Honorary citizenship and honorary titles may be granted or revoked only with his consent.

(2) When the Party delegate [NSDAP] refuses to concur with the mayor he must give his reasons in writing within two weeks after the mayor has requested his decision. If the matter concerns the basic ordinance, the Party delegate must state the provisions disapproved by him, otherwise his approval is considered granted. Should further conferences or correspondence between the Party delegate and the mayor fail to bring about an agreement, the mayor must request the decision of the supervisory authority, in urban counties that of the Reich governor. In the case of the basic ordinance, the Reich governor must have the approval of the Reich Minister of the Interior for any final decision overruling the recommendation of the supervisory authority. The decision of the Reich governor is binding upon the supervisory authority. * * *

Section 41

(1) Vacant full-time positions of mayor and executive officer must be advertised before they are filled by the commune. All applications received are to be sent to the Party delegate, who after secretly conferring with the councillors, nominates up to three candidates. In the case of an executive officer, he must give the mayor an opportunity to express his opinion of the candidate.

(2) In submitting his nominations together with all the applications, the Party delegate proceeds as follows:

1. If the vacancy concerns the position of mayor, senior executive officer or chamberlain in cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants, the folder is sent through the supervisory authority to the Reich Minister of the Interior.

2. In the case of the position of another executive officer in cities of the above class and in the case of the position of mayor and executive officer in other urban counties, the folder is sent through the supervisory authority to the Reich governor;

3. In the case of the position of mayor and executive officer in cities belonging to a rural county, the folder is sent through the supervisory authority to the higher supervisory authority, and for all remaining communes to the supervisory authority.

(3) If the proper authority concerned with the matter approves of a nomination, the commune appoints the candidate. Otherwise new nominations must be submitted. If no new nomination finds the approval of the proper authority, the latter selects a candidate, whom the commune must appoint. The same applies if nominations are not made within the period of time specified by the proper authority.

(4) Vacancies in the position of unpaid mayor or executive officer need not be advertised. The proper authority may permit a commune to proceed without advertising a vacancy in a position mentioned under (2). Otherwise the regulations given in (1) to (3) apply accordingly.

(5) Nominations are to be kept confidential until the proper authority according to (2) has made its decision. * * *

Section 45

(1) The proper authority according to Sec. 41 (2) may revoke the appointment of a mayor or executive officer until the close of their first year of office. For positions of the first category under Sec. 41(2) the Reich governor must be invited to express himself on the matter. The same applies to the Party delegate for position of the third category under Sec. 41(2); cases of disagreement require a decision of the Reich governor. * * *

Title 2

Communal Councillors

Section 48

(1) It is the duty of the councillors to keep the communal administration in close touch with all groups of the citizenry. They must advise the mayor on their own responsibility and uphold his measures among the population. In their activities they are to be guided solely by the thought of preserving and promoting the common weal.

(2) In cities the councillors have the title of “Ratsherr.”

* * * * * * *

Section 51

(1) The Party delegate selects the councillors in agreement with the mayor. In making the appointment, he is to take into account national reliability, qualifications, and reputation, and must consider personalities whose activities give the commune its special significance or who exert an important influence upon the life of the community.

(2) Civil servants, employees and workers of the commune and civil servants of the supervisory authority may not be appointed councillors. The supervisory authority may grant exceptions from this rule.

* * * * * * *

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