Chapter VII

MEANS USED BY THE NAZI CONSPIRATORS IN GAINING
CONTROL OF THE GERMAN STATE

I. COMMON OBJECTIVES, METHODS, AND DOCTRINES OF
THE CONSPIRACY

In 1921 Adolf Hitler became the supreme leader or _Fuehrer_ of the _Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei_ (National Socialist German Workers Party), also known as the Nazi Party, which had been founded in Germany in 1920. He continued as such throughout the period covered by the Indictment. As will be shown, the Nazi Party, together with certain of its subsidiary organizations, became the instrument of cohesion among the defendants and their co-conspirators and an instrument for the carrying out of the aims and purposes of the conspiracy. And as will also be shown, each defendant became a member of the Nazi Party and of the conspiracy, with knowledge of their aims, and purposes, or, with such knowledge, became an accessory to their aims and purposes at some stage of the development of the conspiracy.

A. _Aims, and Purposes._ The aims and purposes of the Nazi conspirators were:

(1) _To abrogate and overthrow the Treaty of Versailles and its restrictions upon the military armament and activity of Germany._ The first major public meeting of the NSDAP took place in Munich on 24 February 1920. At that meeting Hitler publicly announced the Program of the Party. That program, consisting of 25 points (annually reprinted in the National Socialist Yearbook), was referred to as “The political foundation of the NSDAP and therewith the fundamental political law of the state,” and “has remained unaltered” since the date of its promulgation. Section 2 of the Program provided as follows:

“We demand equality of rights for the German people with respect
to other nations, and abolition of the Peace Treaties of
Versailles and St. Germain.” (_1708-PS_)

In a speech at Munich on 13 April 1923, Hitler said:

“It was no Peace Treaty which they have signed, but a betrayal
of Peace. So long as this Treaty stands there can be no
resurrection of the German people: no social reform of any kind
is possible. The Treaty was made in order to bring 20 million
Germans to their deaths and to ruin the German nation. But those
who made the Treaty cannot set it aside. At its foundation our
movement formulated three demands:

1. Setting aside of the Peace Treaty

2. Unification of all Germans

3. Land and soil (_Grund und Boden_) to feed our
nation.” (_2405-PS_)

On August 1, 1923 Hitler declared:

“The day must come when a German government shall summon up the
courage to declare to the foreign powers: ‘The Treaty of
Versailles is founded on a monstrous lie.’ We fulfill nothing
more. Do what you will! If you want battle, look for it! Then we
shall see whether you can turn 70 million Germans into serfs and
slaves!” (_2405-PS_; see also additional statements of Hitler
contained in _2405-PS_ castigating those Germans who shared
responsibility for the Treaty of Versailles, viz; the “November
criminals.”)

In his speech of 30 January 1941 Hitler alluded to the consistency of his record concerning the aims of National Socialist foreign policy:

“My foreign policy had identical aims. My program was to abolish
the Treaty of Versailles. It is futile nonsense for the rest of
the world to pretend today that I did not reveal this program
until 1933 or 1935 or 1937. Instead of listening to the foolish
chatter of emigrés, these gentlemen would have been wiser to
read what I have written thousands of times.

“No human being has declared or recorded what he wanted more
than I. Again and again I wrote these words: ‘The abolition of
the Treaty of Versailles’. * * *” (_2541-PS_)

Similar views were expressed by other Nazi conspirators. Rosenberg stated that the lie of Germany’s war guilt was the basis of the Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain. He rejected the idea of a “revision” of those Treaties and demanded outright cancellation. (_2433-PS_)

Hess, in advocating rearmament in violation of treaty restrictions, stated in 1986 that “guns instead of butter” were necessary lest “one day our last butter be taken from us.” (_2426-PS_)

(2) _To acquire the territories lost by Germany as the result of the World War of 1914-1918, and other territories in Europe asserted to be occupied by so-called “racial Germans.”_ Section I of the Nazi Party Platform gave advance notice of the intentions of the Nazi conspirators to claim territories occupied by so-called racial Germans. It provided:

“We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany
on the basis of the right of self-determination of people.”
(_1708-PS_)

While Rosenberg pointed out in 1922 that it was not possible at that time to designate “such European and non European territories which would be taken into consideration for colonization” he nevertheless stated that the following could be laid down as a basic objective, namely that

“* * * German Foreign Policy must make its most important
primary goal the consolidation of all Germans living closely
together in Europe in one state and to secure the territory of
what today is the Polish-Czech East.” (_2433-PS_)

In his Reichstag speech of 20 February 1928 Hitler said:

“The claim, therefore, for German colonial possession will be
voiced from year to year with increasing vigor, possessions
which Germany did not take away from other countries, and which
today are virtually of no value to these powers, but appear
indispensable for our own people.” (_2772-PS_)

Again, in his Reichstag speech of 30 January 1939 Hitler declared:

“The theft of the German colonies was morally unjustified.
Economically, it was utter insanity. The political motives
advanced were so mean that one is tempted to call them silly. In
1918, after the end of the war, the victorious Powers really
would have had the authority to bring about a reasonable
settlement of international problems. * * *

“The great German colonial possessions, which the Reich once
acquired peacefully by treaties and by paying for them, have
been stolen—contrary indeed to the solemn assurance given by
President Wilson, which was the basic condition on which Germany
laid down her arms. The objection that these colonial
possessions are of no importance in any case should only lead to
their being returned to us with an easy mind.” (_2773-PS_)

(3) _To acquire further territories in colonial Europe and elsewhere claimed to be required by “racial Germans” as “Lebensraum” or living space, at the expense of neighboring and other countries._ Hitler made it clear that the two objectives of the Nazi conspirators set forth above were only preliminary steps in a more ambitious plan of territorial aggrandizement. Thus he stated:

“One must take the point of view, coolly and soberly, that it
certainly cannot be the intention of Heaven to give one people
fifty times as much space (_Grund und Boden_) on this earth as
to another. One should not permit himself to be diverted in this
case by political boundaries from the boundaries of eternal
justice.

* * * * * *

“The boundaries of 1914 do not mean anything for the future of
the German nation. They did not represent either a defense of
the past nor would they represent a power in the future. The
German people will not obtain either its inner compactness by
them, nor will its nutrition be secured by them, nor do these
boundaries appear from a military standpoint as appropriate or
even satisfactory. * * *” (_2760-A-PS_)

While the precise limits of German expansion were only vaguely defined by the Nazi conspirators, they clearly indicated that the _lebensraum_ to which they felt they were entitled would be acquired primarily in the East. Rosenberg was particularly insistent in his declarations that Russia would have to “move over” to make way for German living space. He underlined this demand as follows:

“The understanding that the German nation, if it is not to
perish in the truest sense of the word, needs ground and soil
for itself and its future generations, and the second sober
perception that this soil can no more be conquered in Africa,
but in Europe and first of all in the East—these organically
determine the German foreign policy for centuries. (_2777-PS_)

“The Russians * * * will have to confine themselves so as to
remove their center of gravity to Asia.” (_2426-PS_)

A similar view was expressed by Hitler in _Mein Kampf_:

“If one wanted territory in Europe, this could be done on the
whole at the expense of Russia, and the new Reich would have to
set out to march over the road of the former Knights, in order
to give soil to the German plow by means of the German sword,
and to give daily bread to the nation.” (_2760-A-PS_)

In _Mein Kampf_ Hitler threatened war as a means of attaining additional space:

“If this earth really has space (_Raum_) for all to live in,
then we should be given the territory necessary. Of course, one
will not do that gladly. Then, however, the right of
self-preservation comes into force; that which is denied to
kindness, the fist will have to take. If our forefathers had
made their decisions dependent on the same pacifistic nonsense
as the present, then we would possess only a third of our
present territory.

* * * * * *

“In contrast, we, National Socialists, have to hold on steadily
to our foreign political goals, namely, _to secure on this earth
the territory due to the German people_. And this action is the
only one which will make bloody sacrifice before God and our
German posterity appear justified.” (_2760-A-PS_)

B. _Methods. The Nazi conspirators advocated the accomplishment of the foregoing aims and purposes by any means deemed opportune, including illegal means and resort to threat of force, force, and aggressive war._ The use of force was distinctly sanctioned, in fact guaranteed, by official statements and directives of the conspirators which made activism and aggressiveness a political quality obligatory for Party members.

Hitler stated in _Mein Kampf_:

“* * * The lack of a great creative idea means at all times an
impairment of the fighting spirit. The conviction that it is
right to use even the most brutal weapons is always connected
with the existence of a fanatical belief that it is necessary
that a revolutionary new order of this earth should become
victorious. A movement which does not fight for these highest
aims and ideals will therefore never resort to the ultimate
weapon.”

* * * * * *

“* * * It is not possible to undertake a task half-heartedly or
hesitatingly if its execution seems to be feasible only by
expending the very last ounce of energy . . . One had to become
clear in one’s mind that this goal [i.e. acquisition of new
territory in Europe] could be achieved by fight alone and then
had to face this armed conflict with calmness and composure.”
(_2760-A-PS_)

In 1934 Hitler set out the duties of Party members in the following terms:

“Only a part of the people will be really active fighters. But
they were the fighters of the National Socialist struggle. They
were the fighters for the National Socialist revolution, and
they are the millions of the rest of the population. For them it
is not sufficient to confess: ‘I believe,’ but to swear: ‘_I
fight_’.” (_2775-PS_)

This same theme is expressed in the Party Organization Book:

“The Party includes _only fighters_ who are ready to accept and
sacrifice everything in order to carry through the National
Socialist ideology.” (_2774-PS_)

At the trial of _Reichswehr_ officers at Leipzig in September 1930 Hitler testified:

“Germany is being strangled by Peace Treaties. * * * The
National Socialists do not regard the Treaty as a law, but as
something forced upon us. We do not want future generations, who
are completely innocent, to be burdened by this. When we fight
this with all means at our disposal, then we are on the way to a
revolution.”

President of the Court: ‘Even by illegal means?’

Hitler: “I will declare here and now, that when we have become
powerful (_gesiegt haben_), then we shall fight against the
Treaty with all the means at our disposal, even from the point
of view of the world, with illegal means.” (_2512-PS_)

Moreover, Hitler stated the true reason for rearmament as follows:

“It is impossible to build up an army and give it a sense of
worth if the object of its existence is not the preparation for
war. Armies for the preservation of peace do not exist; they
exist only for the triumphant exertion of war.” (_2541-PS_)

C. _Doctrines. The Nazi conspirators adopted and published the following doctrines:_

(1) _That persons of so-called “German blood” were a master race and were accordingly entitled to subjugate, dominate, or exterminate other “races” and “peoples.”_ The Nazi doctrine of racial supremacy was incorporated as Point 4 in the Party Program of 24 February 1920, which provided as follows:

“Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the
race can only be one who is of German blood, without
consideration of creed. Consequently no Jew can be a member of
the race.” (_1708-PS_)

The Nazi conspirators’ dogma of the racial supremacy of the Germanic peoples was fully elucidated in the writings of Rosenberg:

“The meaning of world history has radiated out from the north
over the whole world, borne by a blue-eyed blond race which in
several great waves determined the spiritual face of the world *
* *

“We stand today before a definitive decision. Either through a
new experience and cultivation of the old blood, coupled with an
enhanced fighting will, we will rise to a purificatory action,
or the last Germanic-western values of morality and
state-culture shall sink away in the filthy human masses of the
big cities, become stunted on the sterile burning asphalt of a
bestialized inhumanity, or trickle away as a morbific agent in
the form of emigrants bastardizing themselves in South America,
China, Dutch East India, Africa.

“A new faith is arising today: the myth of the blood, the faith,
to defend with the blood the divine essence of man. The faith,
embodied in clearest knowledge that the Nordic blood represents
that mysterium which has replaced and overcome the old
sacraments.” (_2771-PS_)

Thus, the Nazi conspirators acclaimed the “master race” doctrine as a new religion—the faith of the blood—superseding in individual allegiance all other religions and institutions. According to Rosenberg:

“The new thought puts folk and race higher than the state and
its forms. It declares protection of the folk more important
than protection of a religious denomination, a class, the
monarchy, or the republic; it sees in treason against the folk a
greater crime than treason against the state.” (_2771-PS_; see
also further excerpts from Rosenberg’s writings contained in
_2405-PS_.)

Illustrative of the Nazi conspirators’ continued espousal and exploitation of racial dogmas following their accession to power was the discriminatory legislation which they caused to be enacted. These laws, with particular reference to Jews, are set forth in Section 7 of this Chapter on the Program for Persecution of Jews.

The logical consequence of the “master race” dogma, in its bearing on the right of Germany to dominate other “inferior” peoples and to acquire such of their territory as was considered necessary for German living space, was disclosed by the Nazi conspirators. In a speech concluding the _Reichsparteitag_ at Nurnberg on 3 September 1933 Hitler said:

“But long ago man has proceeded in the same way with his
fellowman. The higher race—at first ‘higher’ in the sense of
possessing a greater gift for organization—subjects to itself a
lower race and thus constitutes a relationship which now
embraces races of unequal value. Thus there results the
subjection of a number of people under the will often of only a
few persons, a subjection based simply on the right of the
stronger, a right which, as we see it in Nature, can be regarded
as the sole conceivable right because founded on reason. The
wild mustang does not take upon itself the yoke imposed by man
either voluntarily or joyfully; neither does one people welcome
the violence of another.” (_2584-PS_)

(2) _The Fuehrerprinzip (Fuehrer Principle)._

(_a_) _Essential elements._

_1. Complete and total authority is vested in the Fuehrer._

“The Fuehrer Principle requires a pyramidal organization
structure in its details as well as in its entirety.

“The Fuehrer is at the top.

“He nominates the necessary leaders for the various
spheres of work of the Reich’s direction, the Party
apparatus and the State administration.” (_1814-PS_)

“He shapes the collective will of the people within
himself and he enjoys the political unity and entirety
of the people in opposition to individual interests.

“The Fuehrer unites in himself all the sovereign
authority of the Reich; all public authority in the
state as well as in the movement is derived from the
authority of the Fuehrer. We must speak not of the
state’s authority but of the Fuehrer’s authority if we
wish to designate the character of the political
authority within the Reich correctly. The state does not
hold political authority as an impersonal unit but
receives it from the Fuehrer as the executor of the
national will. The authority of the Fuehrer is complete
and all-embracing; it unites in itself all the means of
political direction; it extends into all fields of
national life; it embraces the entire people, which is
bound to the Fuehrer in loyalty and obedience. The
authority of the Fuehrer is not limited by checks and
controls, by special autonomous bodies or individual
rights, but it is free and independent, all-inclusive
and unlimited.

“The Fuehrer-Reich of the (German) people is founded on
the recognition that the true will of the people cannot
be disclosed through parliamentary votes and plebiscites
but that the will of the people in its pure and
uncorrupted form can only be expressed through the
Fuehrer.” (_2771-PS_)

“Thus at the head of the Reich, stands a single Fuehrer,
who in his personality embodies the idea which sustains
all and whose spirit and will therefore animate the
entire community.” (_2780-PS_)

As stated in the Organization Book of the Nazi Party:

“The will of the Fuehrer is the Party’s law.”
(_1814-PS_)

The first commandment for the Party members declares:

“The Fuehrer is always right.” (_1814-PS_)

“He (the Fuehrer) is responsible only to his conscience
and the German people.” (_1814-PS_)

Hess, in a speech broadcast at Cologne on 25 June 1934,
characterized the position of the Fuehrer as follows:

“It is with pride that we see that one man is kept above
all criticism—that is the Fuehrer.

“The reason is that everyone feels and knows: he was
always right and will always be right. The National
Socialism of us all is anchored in the uncritical
loyalty, in the devotion to the Fuehrer that does not
ask for the wherefore in the individual case, in the
tacit performance of his commands. We believe that the
Fuehrer is fulfilling a divine mission to German
destiny! This belief is beyond challenge.” (_2426-PS_;
see also additional statements of the Nazi conspirators
designed to condition the German people to blind
acceptance of the decisions of the Fuehrer and his
co-conspirators, as translated in _2373-PS_.)

_2. The Fuehrer’s power descends to sub-leaders in a hierarchial
order._ In the words of the Organization Book of the NSDAP:

“The Party is the order of fuehrers.

“All political directors (_Politische Leiter_) stand as
appointed by the Fuehrer and are responsible to him.
They possess full authority towards the lower echelons.
(_1893-PS_)

“He (The Fuehrer) nominates the necessary leaders for
the various spheres of work of the Reichs’ direction,
the Party apparatus, and the State administration.”
(_1814-PS_)

The effect of this was aptly expressed by Hitler in 1933:

“When our opponents said, ‘It is easy for you: you are a
dictator’—We answer them, ‘No, gentlemen, you are
wrong; there is no single dictator, but ten thousand,
each in his own place.’ And even the highest authority
in the hierarchy has itself only one wish, never to
transgress against the supreme authority to which it,
too, is responsible.” (_2771-PS_)

_3. Each subleader is bound to unconditional obedience to his
immediate superior and to the Fuehrer._ As Hitler said,

“We have in our movement developed this loyalty in
following the leader, this blind obedience of which all
the others know nothing and which gave to us the power
to surmount everything.” (_2771-PS_)

The duty of obedience is so fundamental that it is incorporated
as the second of the NSDAP commandments for party members:

“Never go against discipline!” (_2771-PS_)

As Ley said:

“Our conscience is clearly and exactly defined. Only
what Adolf Hitler, our Fuehrer, commands, allows, or
does not allow is our conscience.” (_2771-PS_)

The obedience required was not the loyalty of a soldier to the
Fatherland, as was the case prior to the Nazi regime. On the
contrary, the obedience exacted was unconditional and absolute,
regardless of the legality or illegality of the order. The oath
taken by political leaders (_Politische Leiter_) yearly was as
follows:

“I pledge eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler. I pledge
unconditional obedience to him and the Fuehrers
appointed by him.” (_1893-PS_)

_4. Each subleader is absolute in his own sphere of
jurisdiction._ The Nazi Party Organization Book lays down the
same principle with respect to the successive tiers of its
leaders:

“The Fuehrer Principle represented by the Party imposes
complete responsibility on all party leaders for their
respective spheres of activity * * * The responsibility
for all tasks within a major sphere of jurisdiction
rests with the respective leader of the NSDAP: i.e.,
with the Fuehrer for the territory of the Reich, the
Gauleiter for the territory of the Gau, the district
leader for the territory of the district, the local
leader for the territory of the local group, etc.

“The Party leader has responsibility for the entire
territory under his jurisdiction on the one hand, and on
the other hand, his own political fields of activity
appertaining thereto.

“This responsibility for the complete or partial
performance of task entails a relationship of
subordination of the leaders among themselves,
corresponding to the fuehrer principle.” (_2771-PS_)

(3) _Glorification of War as a noble and necessary activity of Germans._ The Nazi conspirators disseminated dogmas designed to engender in the masses a deep reverence for the vocation of the warrior and to induce acceptance of the postulate that the waging of war was good and desirable _per se_. The motive underlying the concerted program of the Nazis to glorify war was disclosed by Hitler in _Mein Kampf_:

“Thus the question of how to regain German power is not: How
shall we manufacture arms?, but: How do we create the spirit
which enables a nation to bear arms? If this spirit governs a
people, the will finds thousands of ways, each of which ends
with a weapon!”

* * * * * *

“* * * Oppressed countries are led back into the lap of a common
Reich by a mighty sword and not by flaming protests. It is the
task of the inner political leaders of a people to forge this
sword; to safeguard the work of the smith and to seek comrades
in arms in the task of the foreign policy.” (_2760-A-PS_)

Hitler’s writings and public utterances are full of declarations rationalizing the use of force and glorifying war. The following are typical:

“Always before God and the world, the stronger has the right to
carry through his will. History proves it: He who has no might,
has no use for might. (_2405-PS_)

“The political testament of the German People for its foreign
policy should and must always follow this line of thought: Never
tolerate the rise of two continental powers in Europe. See in
every attempt to organize a second military power, * * * an
attack against Germany and take therefrom not only the right but
the duty to prevent by all means, including the use of arms, the
rise of such a state, respectively to destroy such a state if it
has already arisen. Take care that the strength of our people
should have its foundation not in colonies but in the soil of
the home country in Europe. Never consider the Reich as secured
as long as it cannot give to every descendant of our people his
own bit of soil for centuries to come; never forget that the
most sacred right on this earth is the right to own the soil
which one wants to cultivate and the most sacred sacrifice, the
blood which is shed for this soil.” (_2760-A-PS_)

(4) _The leadership of the Nazi Party._

(_a_) _The Nazi Party leadership was the sole bearer of the doctrines of the Nazi Party._ The Party Organization Book declares:

“The Party as an instrument of ideological education, must grow
to be the Leader Corps (_Fuehrer Korps_) of the German Nation.

“This Leader Corps is responsible for the complete penetration
of the German Nation with the National Socialist spirit * * *”
(_1893-PS_)

“The Party is the order of fuehrers. It is furthermore
responsible for the spiritual ideological National Socialist
direction of the German people.” (_1814-PS_)

Referring to the mission of the _Ortsgruppenleiter_ (local chapter leader) of the NSDAP, the Party Organization Book states:

“As Hoeheitstraeger (bearer of sovereignty) 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.” (_1893-PS_)

Similar statements are made with regard to the _Kreisleiter_ (county leader) and the _Gauleiter_ (Gau leader) and the Reich Directorate (1893-PS).

(_b_) _The Nazi Party leadership was entitled to control and dominate the German state and all related institutions and all individuals therein._ Hitler said at the 1935 Nurnberg Party Congress:

“It is not the State which gives orders to us, it is we who give
orders to the State.” (_2775-PS_)

Frick declared in a similar vein:

“In National Socialist Germany, leadership is in the hands of an
organized community, the National Socialist Party; and as the
latter represents the will of the nation, the policy adopted by
it in harmony with the vital interests of the nation is at the
same time the policy adopted by the country. * * *” (_2771-PS_)

Goebbels declared:

“The Party must always continue to represent the hierarchy of
National Socialist leadership. This minority must always insist
upon its prerogative to control the state. * * * It is
responsible for the leadership of the state and it solemnly
relieves the people of this responsibility.” (_2771-PS_)

Hess remarked that the Party was a “necessity” in the German state and constituted the cohesive mechanism with which to “organize and direct offensively and defensively the spiritual and political strength of the people.” (_2426-PS_)

Nazi interpreters of constitutional law expressed the same idea:

“The NSDAP is not a structure which stands under direct state
control, to which single tasks of public administration are
entrusted by the state, but it holds and maintains its claim to
totality as the ‘bearer of the German state-idea’ in all fields
relating to the community—regardless of how various single
functions are divided between the organization of the Party and
the organization of the State.” (_2771-PS_)

This doctrine was incorporated into laws which established the NSDAP as “the only political party in Germany” and declared the NSDAP “The bearer of the German state-idea” and “indissolubly linked to the state.” (_1388-A-PS_; _1395-PS_)

(_c_) _The Nazi Party leadership was entitled to destroy all opponents._ Reference is made generally to Sections2 and 3 on the Acquisition and Consolidation of Political Control of Germany for proof of this allegation.

* * * * *

LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS RELATING TO COMMON OBJECTIVES,
METHODS, AND DOCTRINES OF THE CONSPIRACY

Document │ Description │ Vol. │ Page
│ │ │
│Charter of the International Military │ │
│ Tribunal, Article 6, especially 6 (a).│ I │ 5
│International Military Tribunal, │ │
│ Indictment Number 1, Sections IV (B, │ │
│ C). │ I │ 16, 17
│ ————— │ │
│Note: A single asterisk (*) before a │ │
│document indicates that the document was│ │
│received in evidence at the Nurnberg │ │
│trial. A double asterisk (**) before a │ │
│document number indicates that the │ │
│document was referred to during the │ │
│trial but was not formally received in │ │
│evidence, for the reason given in │ │
│parentheses following the description of│ │
│the document. The USA series number, │ │
│given in parentheses following the │ │
│description of the document, is the │ │
│official exhibit number assigned by the │ │
│court. │ │
│ ————— │ │
1388-A-PS │Law against the establishment of │ │
│ Parties, 14 July 1933. 1933 │ │
│ Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 479. │ III │ 962
│ │ │
*1395-PS │Law to insure the unity of Party and │ │
│ State, 1 December 1933. 1933 │ │
│ Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 1016. │ │
│ (GB 252) │ III │ 978
│ │ │
*1708-PS │The Program of the NSDAP. National │ │
│ Socialistic Yearbook, 1941, p. 153. │ │
│ (USA 255; USA 324). │ IV │ 208
│ │ │
*1814-PS │The Organization of the NSDAP and its │ │
│ affiliated associations, from │ │
│ Organization book of the NSDAP, │ │
│ editions of 1936, 1938, 1940 and 1943,│ │
│ pp. 86-88. (USA 328) │ IV │ 411
│ │ │
*1893-PS │Extracts from Organization Book of the │ │
│ NSDAP, 1943 edition. (USA 323) │ IV │ 529
│ │ │
2373-PS │Extracts from German Publications. │ IV │ 1106
│ │ │
2405-PS │Extracts from German Publications. │ V │ 79
│ │ │
*2426-PS │Extracts from Speeches, by Hess. (GB │ │
│ 253) │ V │ 90
│ │ │
*2433-PS │Extracts from “Nature, Foundation and │ │
│ Aims of NSDAP” by Rosenberg, 1934. │ │
│ (USA 596) │ V │ 93
│ │ │
2512-PS │Hitler’s Testimony Before the Court for │ │
│ High Treason, published in Frankfurter│ │
│ Zeitung, 26 September 1931. │ V │ 246
│ │ │
2541-PS │Extracts from German Publications. │ V │ 285
│ │ │
2584-PS │Hitler’s speech concluding the │ │
│ Reichsparteitag, 3 September 1933. The│ │
│ First Reichstag of the United German │ │
│ Nation, 1933. │ V │ 311
│ │ │
2760-A-PS │Extract from Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler,│ │
│ 41st edition, 1933. │ V │ 407
│ │ │
2771-PS │U. S. State Department, National │ │
│ Socialism, published by U. S. │ │
│ Government Printing Office, 1943. │ V │ 417
│ │ │
2772-PS │Speech of Hitler, published in Documents│ │
│ of German Politics, Vol. IV, Part I, │ │
│ p. 37. │ V │ 417
│ │ │
2773-PS │Speech of Hitler, published in Documents│ │
│ of German Politics, Vol. VII, 1939, │ │
│ pp. 466-7. │ V │ 417
│ │ │
2774-PS │Extract from Organization Book of the │ │
│ NSDAP, 1937, 4th Edition, p. 86. │ V │ 418
│ │ │
*2775-PS │Hitler’s speech, published in Nurnberg │ │
│ Party Congress, 1934. (USA 330) │ V │ 418
│ │ │
*2777-PS │Article: Space Policy by Rosenberg, │ │
│ published in National Socialist │ │
│ Monthly, May 1932, p. 199. (USA 594). │ V │ 418
│ │ │
2780-PS │Extract from Constitution and │ │
│ Administration in the Third Reich, by │ │
│ Paul Schmidt, Berlin, 1937. │ V │ 419
│ │ │
*3863-PS │Extracts from Operations in the Third │ │
│ Reich by Lammers. (GB 320) │ VI │ 786

2. ACQUISITION OF TOTALITARIAN POLITICAL CONTROL

A. _First Steps in Acquiring Control of State Machinery._

(1) _The Nazi conspirators first sought control of State machinery by force. The Munich Putsch of 1923, aimed at the overthrow of the Weimar Republic by direct action, failed._ On 8 November 1923 the so-called Munich Putsch occurred. During the evening, von Kahr, State Commissioner General of Bavaria, was speaking at the _Buergerbraeukeller_ in Munich. Hitler and other Nazi leaders appeared, supported by the _Sturmabteilungen_ (Storm Troops) and other fighting groups. Hitler fired a shot and announced that a Nationalist Revolution setting up a dictatorship had taken place. There followed a conference after which von Kahr, von Lossow, and Colonel of Police von Seisser, announced they would cooperate with Hitler and that a “Provisional National Government” was established, as follows:

Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler
Leader of the National Army Gen. von Ludendorff
Reich Minister of War von Lossow
Reich Minister of Police von Seisser
Reich Finance Minister Feder

It was also announced that Kahr would be State Administrator for Bavaria, Poehner would be Bavarian Prime Minister, and Frick would be Munich Police President. Kahr, Lossow and Seisser then departed. During the night the latter group alerted the police, brought troops to Munich, and announced that their consent to the Putsch had been obtained by force. On the afternoon of the next day, Hitler, Ludendorff, and their supporters attempted to march into the center of Munich. At the _Feldherrnhalle_ the procession met a patrol of police, shots were exchanged, and men on both sides were killed. Hermann Goering was wounded, the Putsch was broken up, the Party and its organization were declared illegal, and its leaders, including Hitler, Frick, and Streicher were arrested. Rosenberg, together with Amann and Drexler, tried to keep the Party together after it had been forbidden. Hitler and others later were tried for high treason. At the trial Hitler admitted his participation in the foregoing attempt to seize control of the State by force. He was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. (_2532-PS_; _2404-PS_)

(2) _The Nazi Conspirators then set out through the Nazi Party to undermine and capture the German Government by “legal” forms supported by terrorism._

(_a_) _In 1925, the conspirators reorganized the Nazi Party and began a campaign to secure support from Germany voters throughout the nation._ On 26 February 1925, the _Voelkischer Beobachter_, the official newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) appeared for the first time after the Munich Putsch, and on the following day Hitler made his first speech after his release from prison. He then began to rebuild the Party organization. The conspirators, through the Nazi Party, participated in election campaigns and other political activity throughout Germany and secured the election of members of the Reichstag. (_2532-PS_)

As a reflection of this activity the Nazi Party in May 1928, received 2.6% of the total vote and obtained 12 out of 491 seats in the Reichstag. In September 1930, the Nazi Party polled 18.3% of the total vote and won 107 out of 577 seats in the Reichstag. In July 1932, it received 37.3% of the total vote east and won 230 out of 608 seats. In November 1932, it polled 33.1% of the vote and won 196 out of 584 seats in the Reichstag. (_2514-PS_)

(_b_) _The Nazi conspirators asserted they sought power only by legal forms._ In November 1934, Hitler, speaking of the Munich Putsch of 1923 said:

“It gave me the opportunity to lay down the new tactics of the
Party and to pledge it to legality”. (_2741-PS_)

In September 1931, three officers of the _Reichswehr_ were tried at Leipzig for high treason. At the request of Hans Frank, Hitler was invited to testify at this trial that the NSDAP was striving to attain its goal by purely legal means. He was asked: “How do you imagine the setting up of a Third Reich?” His reply was, “This term only describes the basis of the struggle but not the objective. We will enter the legal organizations and will make our Party a decisive factor in this way. But when we do possess constitutional rights then we will form the State in the manner which we consider to be the right one.” The President then asked: “This too by constitutional means?” Hitler replied: “Yes.” (_2512-PS_)

(_c_) _The purpose of the Nazi conspirators in participating in elections and in the Reichstag was to undermine the parliamentary system of the Republic and to replace it with a dictatorship of their own._ This the Nazi conspirators themselves made clear. Frick wrote in 1927:

“There is no National Socialist and no racialist who expects any
kind of manly German deed from that gossip club on the
Koenigsplatz and who is not convinced of the necessity for
direct action by the unbroken will of the German people to bring
about their spiritual and physical liberation. But there is a
long road ahead. After the failure of November, 1923, there was
no choice but to begin all over again and to strive to bring
about a change in the spirit and determination of the most
valuable of our racial comrades, as the indispensable
prerequisite for the success of the coming fight for freedom.
Our activities in parliament must be evaluated as merely part of
this propaganda work.

“Our participation in the parliament does not indicate a
support, but rather an undermining of the parliamentarian
system. It does not indicate that we renounce our
anti-parliamentarian attitude, but that we are fighting the
enemy with his own weapons and that we are fighting for our
National Socialist goal from the parliamentary platform.”
(_2742-PS_)

On 30 April 1928, Goebbels wrote in his paper “_Der Angriff_”;

“We enter parliament in order to supply ourselves, in the
arsenal of democracy, with its own weapons. We become members of
the Reichstag in order to paralyze the Weimar sentiment with its
own assistance. If democracy is so stupid as to give us free
tickets and _per diem_ for the this “blockade” (_Barendienst_),
that is its own affair.”

Later in the same article he continued:

“We do not come as friends, nor even as neutrals. We come as
enemies: As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come.”
(_2500-PS_)

In a pamphlet published in 1935, Goebbels said:

“When democracy granted democratic methods for us in the times
of opposition, this was bound to happen in a democratic system.
However, we National Socialists never asserted that we
represented a democratic point of view, but we have declared
openly that we used democratic methods only in order to gain the
power and that, after assuming the power, we would deny to our
adversaries without any consideration the means which were
granted to us in the times of opposition. (_2412-PS_)

A leading Nazi writer on Constitutional Law, Ernst Rudolf Huber, later wrote of this period:

“The parliamentary battle of the NSDAP had the single purpose of
destroying the parliamentary system from within through its own
methods. It was necessary above all to make formal use of the
possibilities of the party-state system but to refuse real
cooperation and thereby to render the parliamentary system,
which is by nature dependent upon the responsible cooperation of
the opposition, incapable of action.” (_2633-PS_)

The Nazi members of the Reichstag conducted themselves as a storm troop unit. Whenever representatives of the government or the democratic parties spoke, the Nazi members marched out in a body in studied contempt of the speaker, or entered in a body to interrupt the speaker, thus making it physically impossible for the Reichstag President to maintain order. In the case of speakers of opposition parties, the Nazi members constantly interrupted, often resorting to lengthy and spurious parliamentary maneuvers, with the result that the schedule of the session was thrown out of order. The tactics finally culminated in physical attacks by the Nazis upon members of the house as well as upon visitors. (_L-83_)

In a letter of 24 August 1931 to Rosenberg, Hitler deplored an article in “_Voelkischer Beobachter_” the effect of which was to prevent undermining of support for the then existing form of government, and said: “I myself am travelling all over Germany to achieve exactly the opposite. (_047-PS_)

(_d_) _The Nazi conspirators supported their “legal” activities by terrorism._

_1. The Nazi conspirators created and utilized as a Party
formation the Sturmabteilungen (SA) a semi-military voluntary
organization of young men trained for and committed to the use
of violence, whose mission was to make the Party the master of
the streets._ The SA was organized in 1921. As indicated by its
name, it was a voluntary organization of young men trained for
and committed to the use of violence. To quote from a pamphlet
compiled on order of the Supreme SA Headquarters:

“The SA was not founded as one forms just any sort of
club. It was born in midst of strife and received from
the Fuehrer himself the name “Storm Troops” after that
memorable hall battle in Hofbraeuhaus at Munich on the
4th of November 1921. * * * Blood and sacrifice were the
most faithful companions of the young SA on its hard
path to power. The Storm Troops were and still are today
the fist and propaganda arm of the movement”.
(_2168-PS_)

It was organized along semi-military lines from the beginning.
To quote again from the same official pamphlet:

“It is one of the greatest historical services of the SA
that at the time when the German People’s Army had to
undergo a dissolution, it held high those virtues which
marked the German soldier: personal courage, idealism,
willingness to sacrifice, consciousness of
responsibility, power to decide, and leadership. Thus,
the SA became among the people the messenger and bearer
of German armed strength and German armed spirit.

“The 4th of November 1921 was not only the birth hour of
the SA by itself, but was the day from which the young
fighting troop of the Movement took its stand at the
focal point of political events. With the clear
recognition that now the unity (_Geschlossenheit_) of a
troop led to victory, the SA was systematically
reorganized and so-called “Centuries”
(_Hundertschaften_) were established * * *” (_2168-PS_)

In March 1928, Goering took command of the entire SA. In
November 1923, SA units were used in the Munich Putsch. When the
Party was reorganized in 1925, the SA continued to be the
fighting organization of the Party. Again to quote the official
pamphlet on the SA:

“And now a fight for Germany began of such a sort as was
never before fought. What are names, what are words or
figures which are not indeed able to express the
magnitude of belief and of idealism on one side and the
magnitude of hate on the other side. 1925: the Party
lives again, and its iron spearhead is the SA. With it
the power and meaning of the National Socialist movement
grows. Around the central events of the whole Movement,
the Reich Party Days, dates, decisions, fights and
victory roll themselves into a long list of German men
of undenying willingness to sacrifice.” (_2168-PS_)

Mastery of the streets was at all times the mission of the SA.
While discussing his ideas as to the part which this
organization should play in the political activity of his Party,
Hitler stated:

“What we needed and still need were and are not a
hundred or two hundred reckless conspirators, but a
hundred thousand and a second hundred thousand fighters
for our philosophy of life. We should not work in secret
conventicles, but in mighty mass demonstrations, and it
is not by dagger and poison or pistol that the road can
be cleared for the movement but by the conquest of the
streets. We must teach the Marxists that the future
master of the streets is National Socialism, just as it
will some day be the master of the state.” (_404-PS_)

To quote again from the official SA pamphlet:

“Possession of the streets is the key to power in the
state—for this reason the SA marched and fought. The
public would have never received knowledge from the
agitative speeches of the little Reichstag faction and
its propaganda or from the desires and aims of the
Party, if the martial tread and battle song of the SA
companies had not beat the measure for the truth of a
relentless criticism of the state of affairs in the
governmental system. * * *

“The SA conquered for itself a place in public opinion
and the leadership of the National Socialist Movement
dictated to its opponents the law for quarrels. The SA
was already a state within a state; a part of the future
in a sad present.” (_2168-PS_; for further material
concerning the SA, see Section 4 of Chapter XV.)

_2. The Nazi conspirators constantly used physical violence and
terror to break up meetings of political opponents, and to
suppress opposition in their own meetings._ The following facts
are indicative of the methods constantly used by the Nazi
conspirators during this period: On numerous occasions meetings
of the _Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft_ (Peace Society) were
broken up and terrorized by shock troops and SA units. Groups of
National Socialists invaded meetings of the society, interrupted
the speaker, attempted to attack him, and endeavored to make
sufficient disturbance so that the meetings would have to be
cancelled. (_L-83_)

To quote once again from the official SA pamphlet:

“* * * As an example of a seemingly impossible deed, the
11th of February 1927 should be firmly preserved. It is
the day on which the SA broke the Red Terror, with heavy
sacrifice, in the hall battle at the Pharoah’s Hall
(_Pharussaelen_) in Berlin, the stronghold of the
Communists, and thereby established itself decisively in
the capitol city of the Reich. In considering the badly
wounded SA men, Dr. Goebbels coined the phrase “unknown
SA Man”, who silently fights and bleeds, obeying only
his duty.” (_2168-PS_)

In Berlin, under the leadership of Goebbels, so-called
_Rollkommandos_, were organized for the purpose of disrupting
political meetings of all non-Nazi groups. These _Rollkommandos_
were charged with interrupting, making noise, and unnerving the
speaker. Finally the Nazis broke up meetings by _Rollkommando_
raids. In many cases, fights resulted, during which furniture
was destroyed and a number of persons hurt. The Nazis armed
themselves with blackjacks, brass knuckles, rubber truncheons,
walking sticks, and beer bottles. After the Reichstag election
of 1930, Nazi terrorism became more overt, and from then on
scarcely a day went by when the Chief of the Security Police in
Berlin did not receive a minimum of five to ten reports, and
often more, of riots instigated by Nazis. (_2955-PS_)

During the campaign for the Reichstag election of 14 September
1930, Nazi conspirators made it a practice to send speakers
accompanied by many Storm Troopers to meetings of other
political parties, often physically taking over the meetings. On
one such occasion a large detachment of Storm Troopers, some of
whom were armed with pistols and clubs, attended a meeting
called by the Social Democratic Party, succeeded in forcibly
excluding everybody not in sympathy with their views, and
concluded the meeting as their own. Such violent tactics,
repeated many times, were an integral part of the political
creed of the Nazi. (_L-83_)

Ultimately, in Berlin, just before the Nazis seized power, it
was necessary to devote the entire Police Force to the job of
fighting the Nazis, thus leaving little time for other Police
duties. (_2955-PS_)

_3. The Nazi conspirators constantly threatened their opponents
with organized reprisals and terror._ During the course of the
trial of three officers of the _Reichswehr_ for high treason in
Leipzig in September 1931, Hitler said:

“But I may assure you that if the Nazi movement’s
struggle is successful, then there will be a Nazi Court
of Law too, the November 1918 revolution will be atoned,
and there’ll be some heads chopped off.” (_2512-PS_)

Frick wrote in the National Socialist Yearbook for 1930:

“No wonder that as the situation of the entire German
people, as well as that of the individual racial
comrade, grows rapidly worse, increased numbers are
realizing the incompetence of the parliamentarian
system, and no wonder that even some who are responsible
for the present system desperately cry for a
dictatorship. This however, will not save them from
their fate of one day being called to account before a
German State Tribunal.” (_2743-PS_)

On 7 October 1929, the National Socialist District leader
Terboven said in a meeting in Essen:

“This weakness is especially known to Severing, who
symbolizes the present State, and he intends to render a
service to the State, which is breathing its last; but
this too will no longer save the present corrupt
parliamentarian system. * * * But I give such a
dictatorship only four weeks. Then the people will
awaken, then the National Socialists will come to power,
and then there will not be enough lamp posts in Germany.

“The National Socialists will march into the new
Reichstag with thirty members; then there will be black
eyes every day in this Reichstag; thus this corrupt
parliamentarian system will be further discredited;
disorder and chaos will set in, and then the National
Socialists will judge the moment to have arrived in
which they are to seize the political power.”
(_2513-PS_)

On 18 October 1929, Frick, while discussing the Young Plan in a
meeting in Pyritz said:

“This fateful struggle will first be taken up with the
ballot, but this cannot continue indefinitely, for
history has taught us that in a battle, blood must be
shed, and iron broken. The ballot is the beginning of
this fateful struggle. We are determined to promulgate
by force that which we preach. Just as Mussolini
exterminated the Marxists in Italy, so must we also
succeed in accomplishing the same through dictatorship
and terror.” (_2513-PS_)

In December 1932, Frick, at that time Chairman of the Foreign
Affairs Committee of the Reichstag, stated to a fellow member of
that committee:

“Don’t worry, when we are in power we shall put all of
you guys into concentration camps.” (_L-83_)

_4. The Nazi conspirators openly approved acts of terrorist
committed by their subordinates._ On 22 August 1932, five
National Socialists were condemned to death for a murder in the
town of Potempa. Hitler wired to the condemned men:

“My Comrades! Faced with this terrible blood sentence, I
feel myself bound to you in unlimited faithfulness. Your
liberty is from this moment a question of our honor. To
fight against a Government under which such a thing
could happen is our duty.” (_2532-PS_; _2511-PS_)

Goering, two days later sent the following telegram to the
condemned men:

“In nameless embitterment and rage against the terror
sentence which has struck you, I promise you, My
Comrades, that our whole fight from now on will be for
your freedom. You are no murderers. You have defended
the life and the honor of your Comrades. I send to your
families today 1,000 Marks which I have received from
your friends. Be courageous. More than 14,000,000 of the
best Germans have made your interest their own.”
(_2634-PS_)

On 2 September 1932, the death sentences were commuted to
imprisonment for life. In 1933, after the Nazis came into power,
the five were set free. (_2532-PS_)

Soon after coming to power the Nazi conspirators took steps to
grant a general amnesty for all unlawful acts, including acts of
violence, committed by their adherents in the course of their
struggle for power. On 21 March 1933 a decree was promulgated,
signed by von Hindenburg, Hitler, Frick, and von Papen granting
amnesty “For penal acts committed in the national revolution of
the German People, in its preparation or in the fight for the
German soil”. (_2059-PS_)

B. _Control Acquired_

(1) _On 30 January 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of the German Republic._

(2) _After the Reichstag fire of 28 February 1933, clauses of the Weimar Constitution guaranteeing personal liberty and freedom of speech, of the press, of association and assembly, were suspended._ The Weimar Constitution contained certain guarantees as to personal freedom (Article 114), as to inviolability of the home (Article 115), and as to the secrecy of letters and other communications (Article 117). It also had provisions safeguarding freedom of speech and of the press (Article 118), and of assembly (Article 123), and of association (Article 124). The Reich President was authorized, “if public safety and order in the German Reich are considerably disturbed or endangered,” to take steps to suspend “the Fundamental Rights” established in Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153. (Article 48 (2)). (_2050-PS_)

On 28 February 1933, the Nazi conspirators, taking as their excuse a fire which had just destroyed the Reichstag building, caused to be promulgated a Decree of the Reich President suspending the constitutional guarantees of freedom. This decree, which purported to be an exercise of the powers of the Reich President under Article 48 (2) of the Constitution, and which was signed by the Reich President, Hindenburg, the Reich Chancellor, Hitler, the Reich Minister of the Interior, Frick, and the Reich Minister of Justice, Guertner, provided in part:

“Sections 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153 of the
Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further
notice. Thus, restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of
free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press, on
the right of assembly and the right of association, and
violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic
communications, and warrants for house-searchers, orders for
confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also
permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.”
(_1390-PS_)

(3) _The Nazi conspirators secured the passage by the Reichstag of a “Law for the Protection of the People and the Reich”, giving Hitler and the members of his then Cabinet plenary powers of legislation._ At the first meeting of Hitler’s Cabinet on 30 January 1933, passage of an Enabling Law (_Ermaechtigungsgesetz_) was discussed, and suppression of the Communist Party was considered as a means for securing the majority requisite for this and other purposes. (_351-PS_) Since such a law involved a change in the Constitution it was governed by Article 76 of the Weimar Constitution which provided: “The Constitution may be amended by law. The acts of the Reichstag amending the Constitution can only take effect if two-thirds of the regular number of members are present and at least two-thirds of those present consent.” (_2050-PS_) At the first meeting of the Hitler Cabinet on 30 January 1933, both Hitler and Goering favored early dissolution of the Reichstag and new elections in an effort to achieve a majority for the new Cabinet. (_351-PS_) This course was followed and new elections for the Reichstag were held on 5 March 1933, at which 288 Nazi were elected out of 647 members (_2514-PS_).

Taking advantage of the Presidential decree of 28 February 1933 suspending constitutional guarantees of freedom, Goering and other Nazi conspirators immediately caused a large number of Communists, including party officials and Reichstag deputies, and a smaller number of Social Democratic officials and deputies to be placed in “protective custody”. (_2324-PS_; _2573-PS_; _L-83_) Thus all Communist deputies and a number of Social Democratic deputies were prevented from attending the new session of the Reichstag. On 9 March 1933, Frick announced that the Communists would be prevented from participating in the first session of the Reichstag on March 21st, because of their being more usefully occupied. (_2403-PS_) As Frick cynically stated:

“When the Reichstag meets the 21st of March, the Communists will
be prevented by urgent labor elsewhere from participating in the
session. In concentration camps they will be re-educated for
productive work. We will know how to render harmless permanently
sub-humans who do not want to be re-educated.” (_2651-PS_)

At a meeting of the Reich Cabinet on 15 March 1933, the problem of securing the necessary two-thirds majority in favor of an Enabling Act was again considered. Frick stated his belief that the Act would have to be broadly-conceived, in a manner to allow for any deviation from the clauses of the Constitution of the Reich. Goering thought the two-thirds majority would be forthcoming and that if necessary some of the Social Democrats could be excluded from the room during the voting. (_2962-PS_)

At a meeting of the Cabinet on 20 March 1933, there was further discussion of means for securing the majority and quorum necessary to secure passage of the Act (_2963-PS_). On 23 March, Hitler spoke in favor of an Enabling Law proposed by the Nazi conspirators and in the course of the debate said:

“The Government insists on the passage of this law. It expects a
clear decision in any case. It offers to all the Parties in the
Reichstag the possibility of a peaceful development and a
possible conciliation in the future. But it is also determined
to consider a disapproval of this law as a declaration of
resistance. It is up to you, gentlemen, to make the decision
now. It will be either peace or war.” (_2652-PS_)

Thus subject to the full weight of Nazi pressure and terror, the Reichstag passed the proposed law, 441 deputies voting in its favor, and 94 Social Democrats being opposed (_2579-PS_). The following day, the law was promulgated. It provided:

“The Reichstag has resolved the following law, which is, with
the approval of the Reichsrat, herewith promulgated, after it
has been established that the requirements have been satisfied
for legislation altering the Constitution.

“SECTION 1. Reich laws can be enacted by the Reich Cabinet as
well as in accordance with the Procedure established in the
Constitution. This applies also to the laws referred to in
article 85, paragraph 2, and in article 87 of the Constitution.

“SECTION 2. The national laws enacted by the Reich Cabinet may
deviate from the Constitution so far as they do not affect the
position of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat. The powers of the
President remain undisturbed.

“SECTION 3. The national laws enacted by the Reich Cabinet are
prepared by the Chancellor and published in the
Reichsgesetzblatt. They come into effect, unless otherwise
specified, upon the day following their publication. Articles 68
to 77 of the Constitution do not apply to the laws enacted by
the Reich Cabinet.

“SECTION 4. Treaties of the Reich with foreign states which
concern matters of national legislation do not require the
consent of the bodies participating in legislation. The Reich
Cabinet is empowered to issue the necessary provisions for the
execution of these treaties.

“SECTION 5. This law becomes effective on the day of its
publication. It becomes invalid on April 1, 1937; it further
becomes invalid when the present Reich Cabinet is replaced by
another.” (_2001-PS_)

The time limit stated in the law was twice extended by action of the Reichstag and once by decree of Hitler. (_2047-PS_; _2048-PS_; _2103-PS_)

On 29 June 1933, Dr. Hugenberg resigned as Reich Minister of Economy and as Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture (_351-PS_). Thereafter, other members of the Cabinet resigned from time to time, and new members were added. The Reich Cabinet continued to exercise, on numerous occasions the plenary powers conferred on it by the law of 24 March 1933. (See