Chapter VII: The evidence hereinafter taken up is limited to proving the (1)

responsibility of the Leadership Corps and its members for participation in illegal activities against the Christian church and clergy.

Bormann, who was a _Reichsleiter_ and Chief of the Nazi Party Chancellery, issued a secret decree addressed to all _Gauleiter_, entitled “Relationship of National Socialism and Christianity” (_D-75_). In this decree _Reichsleiter_ Bormann flatly declared that National Socialism and Christianity are incompatible and that the influence of the churches in Germany must be eliminated:

“National Socialist and Christian concepts are irreconcilable. *
* * Our National Socialist ideology is far loftier than the
concepts of Christianity, which, in their essential points, have
been taken over from Jewry. For this reason also, we do not need
Christianity. * * * If, therefore, in the future our youth
learns nothing more of this Christianity, whose doctrines are
far below ours, Christianity will disappear by itself. * * * It
follows from the irreconcilability of National Socialist and
Christian concepts that a strengthening of existing confessions
and every demand of originating Christian confessions is to be
rejected by us. A differentiation between the various Christian
confessions is not to be made here. For this reason, also, the
thought of an erection of an Evangelical National Church by
merger of the various Evangelical churches has been definitely
given up, because the Evangelical Church is just as inimicable
to us as the Catholic Church. Any strengthening of the
Evangelical Church would merely react against us. * * *

“For the first time in German history, the Fuehrer consciously
and completely has the leadership of the people in his own hand.
With the Party, its components, and attached units, the Fuehrer
has created for himself, and thereby the German Reich
leadership, an instrument which makes him independent of the
Church. All influences which might impair or damage the
leadership of the people exercised by the Fuehrer, with the help
of the NSDAP, must be eliminated. More and more the people must
be separated from the churches and their organs, the pastors. Of
course, the churches must and will, seen from their viewpoint,
defend themselves against this loss of power. But never again
must an influence on leadership of the people be yielded to the
churches. This influence must be broken completely and finally.

“Only the Reich Government and, by its direction, the Party, its
components and attached units have a right to leadership of the
people. Just as the deleterious influences of astrologers, seers
and other fakers are eliminated and suppressed by the State, so
must the possibility of Church influence also be totally
removed. Not until this has happened, does the State leadership
have influence on the individual citizens. Not until then are
people and Reich secure in their existence for all the future.”
(_D-75_)

On 25 April 1941 a letter was issued from Bormann’s office to Rosenberg, in his capacity as the Fuehrer’s Representative for the Supervision of the Entire Mental and Ideological Training and Education of the NSDAP (_070-PS_). In this letter Bormann’s office stated that measures had been taken leading to the progressive cancellation of morning prayers and other religious services and their substitution by Nazi mottos and slogans:

“We are inducing schools more and more to reduce and abolish
religious morning services. Similarly the confessional and
general prayers in several parts of the Reich have already been
replaced by national socialist mottos. I would be grateful, to
know your opinion on a future national socialist morning service
instead of the present confessional morning services which are
usually conducted once per week * * *.” (_070-PS_)

In a letter from _Reichsleiter_ Bormann to _Reichsleiter_ Rosenberg, dated 22 February 1940, Bormann declared to Rosenberg that the Christian religion and National Socialism are incompatible (_098-PS_). Bormann cited, as examples of hostile divergence between Naziism and the churches, the attitude of the latter on the racial question, celibacy of the priests, monasteries and nunneries, etc. Bormann further declared that the churches could not be subjugated through compromise, but only through a new philosophy of life as prophesied in Rosenberg’s writings. In this letter, Bormann proposed the creation of a National Socialist Catechism, in order to give that part of the German youth which declines to practice confessional religion, a moral foundation, and to lay a moral basis for National Socialist doctrines, which were gradually to supplant the Christian religions. Bormann suggested that some of the Ten Commandments could be merged with the National Socialist Catechism and stated that a few new Commandments should be added, such as: Thou shalt be courageous; Thou shalt not be cowardly; Thou shalt believe in God’s presence in the living nature, animals, and plants; Thou shalt keep thy blood pure; etc. Deputy of the Fuehrer Bormann concluded that he considered the problem so important that it should be discussed with the members of the Reich Directorate, comprising the top leaders of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, as soon as possible. (_098-PS_)

At one point in this letter, Bormann stated:

“Christianity and National Socialism are phenomena which
originated from entirely different basic causes. Both differ
fundamentally so strongly, that it will not be possible to
construct a Christian teaching which would be completely
compatible with the point of view of the National Socialist
ideology; just as the communications of Christian faith would
never be able to stand by the ideology of National Socialism in
its entirety * * *.” (_098-PS_)

After discussing various proposals for the formulation of a Nazi religious credo for instruction in the German school system, Bormann stated:

“The Fuehrer’s deputy finds it necessary that all these
questions should be thoroughly discussed in the near future in
the presence of the Reich Leaders [_Reichsleiter_] who are
especially effected by them * * *.” (_098-PS_)

In a circular letter, dated 17 June 1938, addressed by Bormann as _Reichsleiter_ and Deputy of the Fuehrer to all _Reichsleiter_ and _Gauleiter_, there was enclosed a copy of rules prepared by _Reichsleiter_ Hierl, setting forth certain restrictive regulations with respect to participation of the Reich Labor Service in religious celebrations (_107-PS_). Pertinent portions of the directives issued by _Reichsleiter_ Hierl read as follows:

“The Reich Labor Service is a training school in which the
German youth should be educated to national unity in the spirit
of National Socialism * * *.

“What religious beliefs a person has is not a decisive factor,
but it is decisive that he first of all feels himself a German.

“Every religious practice is forbidden in the Reich Labor
Service because it disturbs the comradelike harmony of all
working men and women.

“On this basis, every participation of the Reich Labor Service
in churchly, that is religious, arrangements and celebrations is
not possible.” (_107-PS_)

The position of Bormann as Deputy of the Fuehrer and chief of the Nazi Party Chancellery, and the position of Rosenberg as the Fuehrer’s Representative for the Whole Spiritual and Philosophical Education of the Nazi Party, give to the foregoing views on religion and religious policy the highest official backing. The anti-Christian utterances and policies of these two conspirator-defendants reveal a community of mind and intention amongst the most powerful leaders of the party which was amply confirmed by the actual treatment of the churches since 1933 and throughout the course of the conspiracy. An excerpt from page 514 of “The Myth of the 20th Century,” written by Rosenberg, reads as follows:

“The idea of honor—national honor—is for us the beginning and
the end of our entire thinking and doing. It does not admit of
any equal-valued center of force along side of it, no matter of
what kind, neither Christian love, nor the Free-Masonic
humanity, nor the Roman philosophy.” (_2349-PS_)

In addition to promoting beliefs and practices fundamentally incompatible with Christianity, the Leadership Corps participated in the persecution of priests, clergy, and members of religious orders. A Gestapo telegram, dated 24 July 1938, dispatched from Berlin to Nurnberg, deals with demonstrations and acts of violence against Bishop Sproll in Rottenburg (_848-PS_). The Gestapo office in Berlin wired its Nurnberg office the following teletype account received from its Stuttgart office of disorderly conduct and vandalism carried out by Nazi Party members against Bishop Sproll:

“The Party on 23 July 1939 from 2100 on carried out the third
demonstration against Bishop Sproll. Participants, about
2500-3000, were brought in from outside by bus, etc. The
Rottenburg populace again did not participate in the
demonstration. This town took rather hostile attitude toward the
demonstrations. The action got completely out of hand of the
Party member responsible for it. The demonstrators stormed the
palace, beat in the gates and doors. About 150 to 200 people
forced their way into the palace, searched through the rooms,
threw files out of the windows and rummaged through the beds in
the rooms of the palace. One bed was ignited * * * The Bishop
was with Archbishop Groeber of Freiburg and the ladies and
gentlemen of his menage in the chapel at prayer. About 25 to 30
people pressed into this chapel and molested those present.
Bishop Groeber was taken for Bishop Sproll. He was grabbed by
the robe and dragged back and forth * * *.” (_848-PS_)

The Gestapo official in Stuttgart added that Bishop Groeber desired “to turn to the Fuehrer and Reich Minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick, anew”; and that he had found a full report of the demonstration after “suppressing counter mass meetings.” (_848-PS_)

On 23 July 1938 the Reich Minister for Church Affairs, Kerrl, sent a letter to the Minister of State and Chief of the Praesidium Chancellery, Berlin, stating that Bishop Sproll had angered the population by abstaining from the plebiscite of 10 April (_849-PS_). In this letter Kerrl stated that the _Gauleiter_ and Governor of Wuerttemberg had decided that, in the interest of preserving the State’s authority and in the interest of quiet and order, Bishop Sproll could no longer remain in office. The letter reads in part as follows:

“* * * The Reich Governor had explained to the Ecclesiastical
Board that he would no longer regard Bishop Sproll as Head of
the Diocese of Rottenburg on account of his refraining from the
election in the office and that he desired Bishop Sproll to
leave the Gau area * * * because he could assume no guarantee
for his personal safety; that in the case of the return of the
Bishop of Rottenburg he would see to it that all personal and
official intercourse with him on the part of State offices as
well as Party offices and the Armed Forces would be denied.”
(_849-PS_)

Kerrl further stated in the foregoing letter that his Deputy had moved the Foreign Office, through the German Embassy at the Vatican, to urge the Holy See to persuade Bishop Sproll to resign his Bishopric. Kerrl concluded by stating that should the effort to procure the Bishop’s resignation prove unsuccessful

“* * * the Bishop would have to be exiled from the land or there
would have to be a complete boycott of the Bishop by the
authorities * * *.” (_849-PS_)

On 14 July 1939 Bormann, in his capacity as Deputy of the Fuehrer, issued a party regulation which required party members entering the clergy or undertaking the study of theology to leave the party (_840-PS_). The last paragraph of the regulation reads as follows:

“I decree that in the future party members who enter the clergy
or who turn to the study of theology have to leave the party.”
(_840-PS_)

In this directive Bormann also referred to an earlier decree, dated 9 February 1937, in which he had ruled that the admission of members of the clergy into the party was to be avoided. In that decree also Bormann referred with approval to a regulation of the Reich Treasurer of the NSDAP, dated 10 May 1939, providing that—

“clergymen, as well as other fellow Germans, who are also
closely connected with the church, cannot be admitted into the
party.” (_840-PS_)

In the Allocution of His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, to the Sacred College on 2 June 1945, His Holiness, after declaring that he had acquired an appreciation of the great qualities of the German people in the course of 12 years of residence in their midst, expressed the hope that Germany could rise to new dignity and new life once it had laid the satanic specter raised by National Socialism, and after the guilty had expiated the crimes they have committed (_3268-PS_). After referring to repeated violations by the German government of the Concordat concluded in 1933, His Holiness declared:

“The struggle against the Church did, in fact, become ever more
bitter: there was the dissolution of Catholic organizations; the
gradual suppression of the flourishing Catholic schools, both
public and private; the enforced weaning of youth from family
and Church; the pressure brought to bear on the conscience of
citizens, and especially of civil servants; the systematic
defamation, by means of a clever, closely-organized propaganda,
of the Church, the clergy, the faithful, the Church’s
institutions, teachings and history; the closing, dissolution,
confiscation of religious houses and other ecclesiastical
institutions; the complete suppression of the Catholic press and
publishing houses * * *.

“In the meantime the Holy See itself multiplied its
representations and protests to governing authorities in
Germany, reminding them, in clear and energetic language, of
their duty to respect and fulfill the obligations of the natural
law itself that were confirmed by the Concordat. In those
critical years, joining the alert vigilance of a Pastor to the
long-suffering patience of a father, Our great Predecessor Pius
XI fulfilled his mission as Supreme Pontiff with intrepid
courage.

“But when, after he had tried all means of persuasion in vain,
he saw himself clearly faced with deliberate violations of a
solemn pact, with a religious persecution masked or open, but
always rigorously organized, he proclaimed to the world, on
Passion Sunday 1937, in his Encyclical _Mit brennender Sorge_,
what National-Socialism really was; the arrogant apostasy from
Jesus Christ, the denial of His doctrine and of His work of
redemption, the cult of violence, the idolatry of race and
blood, the overthrow of human liberty and dignity * * *.

“From the prisons, concentration camps and fortresses are now
pouring out, together with the political prisoners, also the
crowds of those, whether clergy or laymen, whose only crime was
their fidelity to Christ and to the faith of their fathers or
the dauntless fulfillment of their duties as priests * * *.

“In the forefront, the number and harshness of the treatment
meted out to them, were the Polish priests. From 1940 to 1945,
2,800 Polish ecclesiastica and religious were imprisoned in that
camp; among them was the Auxiliary bishop of Wloclawek, who died
there of typhus. In April last there were left only 816, all the
others being dead except for two or three transferred to another
camp. In the summer of 1942, 480 German-speaking ministers of
religion were known to be gathered there; of these, 45 were
Protestants, all the others Catholic priests. In spite of the
continuous inflow of new internees, especially from some
dioceses of Bavaria, Rhenania and Westphalia, their number, as a
result of the high rate of mortality, at the beginning of this
year, did not surpass 350. Nor should we pass over in silence
those belonging to occupied territories, Holland, Belgium,
France (among whom the Bishop of Clermont), Luxembourg,
Slovenia, Italy. Many of those priests and laymen endured
indescribable sufferings for their faith and for their vocation.
In one case the hatred of the impious against Christ reached the
point of parodying on the person of an interned priest, with
barbed wire, the scourging and crowning with thorns of our
Redeemer.” (_3268-PS_)

The Leadership Corps participated in the confiscation of church and religious property. A letter dated 19 April 1941 from _Reichsleiter_ Bormann to _Reichsleiter_ Rosenberg exposes the participation of the _Gauleiter_ in measures relating to the confiscation of religious property (_072-PS_). The letter reads in part as follows:

“The libraries and art objects of the monasteries confiscated in
the Reich were to remain for the time being in these
monasteries, insofar as the Gauleiter had not determined
otherwise.” (_072-PS_)

On 21 February 1940, the Chief of the Security Police and SD, Heydrich, wrote a letter to the Reichsfuehrer SS, Himmler, proposing that certain listed churches and monasteries be confiscated for the accommodation of so-called racial Germans. (Himmler was a _Reichsleiter_ in the Leadership Corps by virtue of his position as Reichsfuehrer of the SS.) After pointing out that, on political grounds, outright expropriation of religious property would not be feasible at the time, Heydrich suggested certain specious interim actions with respect to the church properties in question, to be followed progressively by outright confiscation (_R-101-A_). Heydrich’s letter makes the following statements:

“Enclosed is a list of church possessions which might be
available for the accommodation of Racial Germans. The list,
which please return, is supplemented by correspondence and
illustrated material pertinent to the subject.

“For political reasons, expropriation without indemnity of the
entire property of the churches and religious orders will hardly
be possible at this time.

“Expropriation with indemnity or in return for assignment of
other lands and grounds will be even less possible.

“It is therefore suggested that the respective authorities of
the Orders be instructed that they make available the
monasteries concerned for the accommodation of Racial Germans
and remove their own members to other less populous monasteries.
[Marginal note in pencil opposite this paragraph: “Very good!”]

“The final expropriation of these properties thus placed at our
disposal can then be carried out step by step in course of
time.” (_R-101-A_)

On 5 April 1940, the Chief of the Security Police and of the Security Service SS sent a letter to the Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of Germandom, enclosing a copy of the foregoing letter from Heydrich to Himmler proposing the confiscation of church properties (_R-101-A_). The letter of 5 April 1940 stated:

“The Reich Leader SS has agreed to the proposals made in the
enclosed letter and has ordered the matter to be dealt with by
collaboration between the Chief of the Security Police and
Security Service and your office.” (_R-101-A_)

A letter dated 30 July 1941 (_R-101-C_) written by an SS-Standartenfuehrer whose signature is illegible, to the Reich Leader of the SS, supplies further evidence of the participation of the _Gauleiter_ in the seizure of church property:

“Further to report of 30 May 1941 this office considers it its
duty to call the Reich Leader’s attention to the development
which is currently taking place in the incorporated Eastern
countries with regard to seizure and confiscation of Church
property.

“As soon as the Reich Laws on expropriation had been introduced,
the Reich Governor and _Gauleiter_ in the Wartheland adopted the
practice of expropriating real estate belonging to churches for
use as dwellings. He grants compensation to the extent of the
assessed value and pays the equivalent amount into blocked
accounts.

“Moreover the East German Estate Administration Limited reports
that in the ‘_Warthegau_’ all real estate owned by the churches
is being claimed by the local _Gau_ administration
[_Gauselbstverwaltung_].” (_R-101-C_)

Another letter, this one from the Chief of the Staff Main Office to Himmler, dated 30 March 1942, dealing with the confiscation of church property, evidences the active participation of the Party Chancellery in the confiscation of religious property (_R-101-D_). In this letter the Chief of the Staff Main Office reports to Himmler concerning the policy of the SS in suspending all payments of rent to monasteries and other church institutions whose property had been expropriated. The letter discusses a proposal made by the Reich Minister of the Interior, in which the Party Chancery prominently participated, to the effect that the church institutions should be paid amounts corresponding to current mortgage charges on the premises without realizing any profit. The writer further suggests that such payments should never be made directly to the ecclesiastical institutions but rather should be made to the creditors of such institutions:

“Such an arrangement would be in line with the basic idea of the
settlement originally worked out between the Party Chancery and
the Reich Minister of the Interior.” (_R-101-D_)

The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party participated in the suppression of religious publications and interfered with free religious education. In a letter dated 27 September 1940, _Reichsleiter_ and Deputy of the Fuehrer Bormann transmitted to Rosenberg a photostatic copy of a letter from _Gauleiter_ Florian to Hess, dated 23 September 1940, which expresses the _Gauleiter’s_ intense disapproval on Nazi ideological grounds of a religious pamphlet entitled “The Spirit and Soul of the Soldiers,” written by a Major General von Rabenau (_064-PS_). The _Gauleiter_ urges that the religious writings of General von Rabenau be suppressed. Florian also discusses a conversation he had with General von Rabenau at the close of a lecture delivered by the General to a group of younger Army officers at Aachen. This conversation illumines the hostile attitude of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party toward the Christian churches:

“After he had affirmed the necessity of the churches, Rabenau
said, with emphasized self-assurance, something like the
following: ‘Dear Gauleiter, the Party is making mistake after
mistake in the business with the churches. Obtain for me the
necessary powers from the Fuehrer and I guarantee that I shall
succeed in a few months in establishing peace with the churches
for all times.’ After this catastrophic ignorance, I gave up the
conversation. Dear Party Member Hess: the reading of von
Rabenau’s pamphlet ‘Spirit and Soul of the Soldier’ has reminded
me again of this. In this brochure, Rabenau affirms the
necessity of the Church straight-forward and clearly, even if it
is prudently careful. He writes on page 28 ‘There could be more
examples; they would suffice to show that a soldier in this
world can scarcely get along without thoughts about the next
one.’ Because von Rabenau is falsely based spiritually, I
consider his activities as an educator in spiritual affairs as
dangerous, and I am of the opinion that his educational writings
are to be dispensed with absolutely and that the publication
section of the NSDAP can and must renounce these writings * * *
The churches with their Christianity are this danger against
which the struggle must always be carried on.” (_064-PS_)

That the Party Chancellery shared the _Gauleiter’s_ hostility to the Christian churches is further revealed by Bormann’s instruction to Rosenberg to “take action” on the _Gauleiter’s_ recommendation that the General’s writings be suppressed. (_064-PS_)

Another letter from Bormann to Rosenberg, dated 8 March 1940, enclosed a copy of Bormann’s letter of the same date to _Reichsleiter_ Amann (_089-PS_). Amann was a top member of the Leadership Corps by virtue of his position as _Reichsleiter_ for the Press and Leader of the Party Publishing Company. In this letter to Amann, Bormann expressed his dismay and dissatisfaction that only 10 percent of the 3,000 Protestant periodicals in Germany had ceased publication for what are described as “paper saving” reasons. Bormann then advised Amann that “the distribution of any paper whatsoever for such periodicals” was barred (_089-PS_). Bormann also instructed Amann to make sharper restrictions in the distribution of paper against religious writings in favor of publications more acceptable to the Nazi ideology:

“I urge you [Bormann is addressing _Reichsleiter_ Amann] to see
to it in any redistribution of paper to be considered later that
the confessional writing, which according to experiences so far
gathered possesses very doubtful value for strengthening the
power of resistance of the people toward the external foe
receives still sharper restrictions in favor of literature,
politically and ideologically more valuable.” (_089-PS_)

A further letter from Bormann to Rosenberg, dated 17 January 1940, expressed the Party’s opposition to the circulation of religious literature to the members of the German Armed Forces (_101-PS_). Pertinent excerpts from Bormann’s letter read as follows:

“Nearly all the districts [_Gaue_] report to me regularly that
the churches of both confessions are administering spiritually
to members of the Armed Forces. This administering finds its
expression especially in the fact that soldiers are being sent
religious publications by the spiritual leaders of the home
congregations. These publications are, in part, very cleverly
composed. I have repeated reports that these publications are
being read by the troops and thereby exercise a certain
influence on the morale.

“I have, in the past, sought by sounding out the General Field
Marshal, the High Command of the Armed Forces, and * * * Reich
Director Amann, to restrict considerably the production and
shipment of publications of this type. The result of these
efforts remains unsatisfactory. As _Reichsleiter_ Amann has
repeatedly informed me, the restriction of these pamphlets by
means of the * * * paper rationing has not been achieved because
the paper * * * is being purchased on the open market.

“If the influencing of the soldiers by the church is to be
effectively combatted, this will only be accomplished by
producing many good publications in the shortest possible time
under the supervision of the Party * * *.

“Thus at the last meeting of the Deputy _Gauleiters_, comments
were uttered on this matter to the effect that a considerable
quantity of such publications are not available.

“I maintain that it is necessary that in the near future we
transmit to the Party Service Office down to
_Ortsgruppenleitern_ a list of additional publications of this
sort which should be sent to our soldiers by the _Ortsgruppen_.
* * *” (_101-PS_)

The Leadership Corps also participated in measures leading to the closing and dissolution of theological schools and other religious institutions. In a letter dated 17 April 1939 Bormann transmitted to Rosenberg photostatic copy of a plan suggested by the Reich Minister for Science, Education, and Training for the combining and closing of certain specifically listed theological faculties (_122-PS_). In his letter of transmittal Bormann requested Rosenberg to take “cognizance and prompt action” with respect to proposed suppression of religious institutions. The plan to suppress the religious institutions was summarized as follows:

“To recapitulate, this plan would include the complete closing
of the theological faculties at Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Munich,
the transfer of the faculty of Graz to Vienna, and the vanishing
of four Catholic faculties; closing of three Catholic
theological faculties or higher schools, and of four evangelical
faculties in the Winter semester 1939/1940; closing of one
further Catholic and of three further evangelical faculties in
the near future.” (_122-PS_)

A final letter from Bormann to Rosenberg, dated 24 January 1939, enclosed for Rosenberg’s cognizance a copy of Bormann’s letter to the Reich Minister for Knowledge and Education (_116-PS_). In the enclosed letter, Bormann informed the Minister as to the Party’s position in favor of restricting and suppressing theological faculties. Bormann stated that, owing to the effects of the introduction of military service, the consequences of the Four Year Plan, and the extraordinary lack of replacements, it would become necessary to carry out a reorganization of the German high schools. In view of these developments, he requested the Minister to restrict and suppress the theological faculties:

“* * * I would appreciate it very much if you would restrict the
theological faculties in so far as they cannot be wholly
suppressed in accordance with the above statement. I request in
this instance the omission of any expressed declaration to the
Churches or to other places, as well as the avoiding of a public
announcement of these measures. Complaints and the like must be
answered (if they are to be replied to) in the fashion that
these measures are being executed in the course of the economic
plan of reorganization and that similar things are happening to
other faculties.

“I would appreciate it very much if professional chairs thus
vacated can be then turned over to the newly created fields of
inquiry of these last years, such as Racial Research,
Archeological Studies, etc.” (_116-PS_)

From the foregoing evidence it is clear the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party shares in the responsibility for the measures taken to subvert the Christian churches and persecute the Christian clergy, both in Germany and in German-occupied territories of Europe. The Prosecution stresses the significance of the appointment of Rosenberg, whose anti-Christian views are open and notorious, as the Fuehrer’s Representative for the Whole Spiritual and Philosophical Education of the Nazi Party. It was precisely this position which gave Rosenberg his seat in the _Reichsleitung_. But emphasis is placed not merely upon the fact that anti-Christs such as Bormann and Rosenberg held directive positions within the Leadership Corps, but upon the further fact that their directives and orders were passed down the chain of command of the Leadership Corps and caused the participation of its membership in acts subversive of the Christian Church.

(_e_) _Destruction of the Free Trade Unions, Imposition of Nazi Control over the Productive Labor Capacity of Germany._ The evidence relating to the destruction of the independent trade unions is discussed in Section 5 of Chapter VII. The evidence hereinafter taken up is offered to prove the responsibility of the Leadership Corps for participation in the smashing of the unions and the imposition of Nazi Party control over the productive labor capacity of the German nation.

Soon after the seizure of power (mid-April 1933), _Reichsleiter_ Robert Ley was directed by Hitler to smash the independent unions. _Reichsleiter_ Ley, in his speech to the Nurnberg Party Congress of 1936, declared:

“* * * My Fuehrer! When you, my Fuehrer, ordered me in mid-April
1933 to take over the trade unions, I could not understand why
you gave this order to me since I could not see any connection
between my task as Organizational Leader of the Party and my new
task. Very soon, however, your decision, my Fuehrer, became
clear to me and I recognized that the organizational measures of
the Party could only come to full fruition when supplemented by
the organization of the people, that is to say, by the
mobilization of the energies of the people and by their
concentration and alignment. If the _Party_ represents the
_concentration of the Political Leaders of the people_—as you,
my Fuehrer, have told us again and again—then the _people_ is
the _retinue_ and must be organized and trained according to the
same principles. _Leader and retinue, elite and community at
large_—these were the clear directives for my work. These were
the consequences:

“(1) _My tasks as Organizational Leader of the Party and as the
leader of the German Labor Front were a completely homogeneous
task: in other words, in everything I did I acted as Reich
Organization Leader of the NSDAP._

“(2) _The German Labor Front was an institution of the Party and
was led by it._

“(3) _The German Labor Front had to be organized regionally and
professionally according to the same principles as the Party._

“That is why trade union and employer associations had to be
smashed unrelentingly, and the basis of construction was formed,
as in the Party, by the cell and the local section
[_Ortsgruppe_].

* * * * * *

“_National Socialism has conquered the factory._ Factory troops
[_Die Werkschar_] are the National Socialist shock troops within
the factory, and their motto is:

‘THE FUEHRER IS ALWAYS RIGHT’.” (_2283-PS_)

In furtherance of the Nazi policy to destroy the independent trade unions of Germany, Ley issued a Party directive on 21 April 1933 outlining what was termed a “coordination action” scheduled for 2 May 1933 against the General German Trade Union Federation and the General Independent Employee Federation (_392-PS_). This directive ordered the SA and the SS to occupy trade union premises, seize trade union funds, and take into protective custody the higher union leaders.

Pertinent portions of Ley’s order provide:

“On Tuesday, 2 May 1933, the coordination action of the free
trade unions begins.

* * * * * *

“The essential part of the action is to be directed against the
General German Trade Union Federation and the General
Independent Employees Federation.

“Anything beyond that which is dependent upon the free trade
unions is left to the discretion of the _Gauleiter’s_ judgment.

“The _Gauleiter_ are responsible for the execution of the
coordination action in the individual areas. Supporters of the
action should be members of the National Socialist Factory Cell
Organizations * * *.

“SA as well as SS are to be employed for the occupation of trade
union properties and for taking into protective custody of
personalities who come into question.

“The _Gauleiter_ is to proceed with his measures on a basis of
the closest understanding with competent gau or regional factory
cells directors.

* * * * * *

“In the Reich, the following will be occupied:

The directing offices of the unions;

The trade union houses and offices of the fur trade
unions;

The Party houses of the Socialist Democratic Party of
Germany in so far as trade unions are involved there;

The branches and paying offices of the ‘Bank for
Workers, Employees and Officials, Inc.’

The district committees of the General German Trade
Union Federation and of the General Independent
Employees Federation.

The local committees of the General German Trade Union
Federation and of the General Independent Employees
Federation.

“The following are to be taken into protective custody:

All trade union chairmen;

The district secretaries and branch directors of the
Bank for Workers, Employees and Officials, Inc.

* * * * * *

“Exceptions are granted only with the permission of the
_Gauleiter_.

* * * * * *

“It is understood that this action is to proceed in a strongly
disciplined fashion. The _Gauleiter_ are responsible in this
respect. They are to hold the direction of the action firmly in
hand.

“Heil Hitler!
“(signed) Dr. Robert Ley.” (_392-PS_)

Ley’s order for the dissolution of the independent trade unions was carried out as planned and directed. Trade union premises all over Germany were occupied by the SA and the unions dissolved. On 2 May 1933, the official NSDAP Press Service reported that the National Socialist Factory Cells Organization (NSBO) had “eliminated the old leadership” of “Free Trade Unions” and taken over their leadership (_2224-PS_):

“National Socialism, which today has assumed leadership of the
German working class, can no longer bear the responsibility for
leaving the men and women of the German working class, the
members of the largest trade organization in the world, the
German Trade Union Movement, in the hands of a people who do not
know a fatherland that is called Germany. Because of that, the
National Socialist Factory Cell Organization (NSBO) has taken
over the leadership of the trade unions. The NSBO has eliminated
the old leadership of the trade unions of the General German
Trade Unions League and of the General Independent Employees’
Federation * * *.

“On 2 May 1933, the National Socialist Factory Cell Organization
(NSBO) took over the leadership of all trade unions; all trade
union buildings were occupied and most stringent control has
been organized over financial and personnel matters of the
organization.” (_2224-PS_)

This assault on the independent unions directed by Ley in his capacity as _Reichsleiter_ in charge of Party Organization, assisted by the _Gauleiter_, and Party Formations, included the seizure of trade union funds and property. In a speech on 11 September 1937 to the 5th Annual Session of the German Labor Front (_1678-PS_), Ley admitted the confiscation of trade union funds.

“Once I said to the Fuehrer: ‘My Fuehrer, actually I am standing
with one foot in jail, for today I am still the trustee of the
comrades “Leipart” and “Imbusch,” and should they some day ask
me to return their money, then it will be found that I have
spent it, either by building things, or otherwise. But they
shall never again find their property in the condition in which
they handed it over to me. Therefore I would have to be
convicted.’

“The Fuehrer laughed then and remarked that apparently I felt
extremely well in this condition.

“It was very difficult for us all. Today we laugh about it * *
*.” (_1678-PS_)

The plan of the Nazi conspirators to eliminate the Free Trade Unions was advanced by the enactment on 19 May 1933 of a law which abolished collective bargaining between workers and employers and replaced it with a regulation of working conditions by Labor Trustees appointed by Hitler (_405-PS_). After providing in Section 1 for the appointment by Hitler of trustees of labor, this law provides, in Section 2:

“Until a new revision of the social constitution, the trustees
are to regulate the conditions for the conclusion of labor
contracts. This practice is to be legally binding for all
persons and replaces the system found on combinations of
workers, of individual employers or of combinations of employers
* * *.”(_405-PS_)

Having destroyed the independent unions and collective bargaining, the next step of the Nazi conspirators was to Nazify industrial relations. The Law of 20 January 1934, entitled “Law Regulating National Labor,” imposed the Leadership Principle upon industrial enterprisers (_1861-PS_). Section I, paragraph 1, provided that the enterpriser should be the leader of the plant and the workers would “constitute his followers.” Section 1, paragraph 2 reads as follows:

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

“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.”
(_1861-PS_)

The trade unions having been dissolved and the Leadership Principle superimposed upon the relationship of management and labor, the members of the Leadership Corps joined in and directed measures designed to replace the independent unions by the German Labor Front, the DAF, an affiliated Party organization. On the very day the Nazi conspirators seized and dissolved the Free Trade Unions, 2 May 1933, they publicly proclaimed that a “united front of German workers” would be formed with Hitler as honorary patron at a workers’ congress on 10 May 1933 (_2224-PS_). A release of the Nazi Party Press Agency stated:

“The National Socialist Party Press Agency is informed that a
great workers’ congress will take place on Wednesday, 10 May, in
the Russian House of Lords in Berlin. The United Front of German
workers will be formed there. Adolf Hitler will be asked to
assume the position of Honorary Patron.” (_2224-PS_)

The action committee, which supervised the smashing of the unions under _Reichsleiter_ Ley, met with Hitler and reported that the independent unions had been effectively dissolved. The Fuehrer then consented to be Honorary Patron at the Great Workers’ Congress. (_2224-PS_)

The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party was not only employed in measures taken to dissolve the independent unions, but certain of its members were given important and directive positions within the German Labor Front, the Nazi Organization which replaced the free trade unions. On 10 May 1933, Hitler appointed Ley Leader of the German Labor Front (DAF) (_1940-PS_). By the same edict, Hitler appointed _Gauleiter_ Forster as Leader of the Employees’ Associations, and Schumann, Leader of the Nazi Factory Cell Organization (NSBO), as Leader of the Workers’ Associations. The Hitler edict stated:

“The Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, has issued the following edict:

“I appoint the Chief of Staff of the Political Organization of
the NSDAP, Dr. Robert Ley, as leader of the German Labor Front.

“I appoint _Gauleiter_ Forster, Danzig, as leader of the
Employees’ Associations.

“I appoint the leader of the National Socialist Factory Cell
Organizations (NSBO), Schumann, as leader of the Workers’
Associations.

“Berlin, 10 May
“Adolf Hitler.” (_1940-PS_)

The Nazi conspirators employed the German Labor Front (DAF) as an instrument for propagandizing its millions of compulsory members with Nazi ideology. The control of the Leadership Corps over the German Labor Front was assured not only by the designation of _Reichsleiter_ Ley as head of the DAF, but by the employment of a large number of _Politischen Leiter_ (political leaders) charged with disseminating Nazi ideology to the large membership of the DAF. These facts are apparent from pages 185-187 of the _Organization Book of the NSDAP_ (_2271-PS_):

“The National Socialist Factory Cells Organization [NSBO], is a
union of the political leaders [_Politischen Leiter_] of the
NSDAP in the German Labor Front.

“The NSBO is the carrier of the organization of the German Labor
Front.

“The duties and responsibilities of the NSBO have passed over to
the DAF.

“The political leaders who have been transferred from the NSBO
to the German Labor Front guarantee the ideological education of
the DAF in the spirit of the National Socialistic idea.”
(_2271-PS_)

The foregoing evidence fixes upon the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party responsibility for participation in the measures leading to the destruction of the independent trade unions and to Nazi Party control over the productive capacity of the German Labor Movement. Not only were these actions directed by Ley in his capacity as _Reichsleiter_, but they were supervised on a regional basis by the _Gauleiter_ as district representatives of the Leadership Corps. Moreover, the German Labor Front (DAF) which replaced the dissolved trade unions was an affiliated organization of the NSDAP and, as such, remained under the control of the Leadership Corps and was employed by it to nazify the labor population of Germany.

(_f_) _Plunder of Art Treasures._ The Leadership Corps of the NSDAP is also responsible for the plundering of art treasures by _Reichsleiter_ Rosenberg’s _Einsatzstab Rosenberg_, the activities of which are discussed in full in Chapter XIV.

* * * * *

LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE NAZI PARTY
LEADERSHIP CORPS