Chapter XVI: Part I: , Page 777, our Document Number 3301-PS, found at Page 107 of the (1)

document book. This is the basic law on the administrative reorganization of Austria. It was enacted in April 1939, a little more than a year before Schirach became Governor. This law shows that Schirach, as Governor, was the lieutenant of the head of the German State, Hitler; that he could issue decrees and orders within the limitations set by the supreme Reich authorities; that he was especially under the administrative supervision of the Defendant Frick, Reich Minister of the Interior; and that he was also the first mayor of the city of Vienna. For the same period that Schirach was Gau leader and Reich Governor of Vienna, he was also Reich Defense Commissioner of Vienna; and after 1940, of course, the Reich was engaged in war.

Because of his far-reaching responsibilities and authority in these positions, the Prosecution contends that Schirach must be held guilty, specifically, of all the crimes of the Nazi conspirators in the Reichsgau Vienna, on the ground that he either initiated, approved, executed, or abetted these crimes. Specific examples follow which, in fact, demonstrate that Schirach was actively and personally engaged in Nazi crimes, and that, when he became boastful—a characteristic never lacking in most of these defendants—he himself admitted his own involvement in acts which are crimes within the competence of this Tribunal.

I come first to slave-labor.

The slave-labor program naturally played its part in staffing the industries of as large and important a city as Vienna. The general nature of this program and the crimes flowing therefrom have been in part set before you by Mr. Dodd. The Soviet prosecutors will present further acts later on. Our Document Number 3352-PS, found at Page 116 of your document book, which I would like to offer as Exhibit USA-206, gives extracts from a number of orders of the Party chancellery. Each of these orders from which the extracts have been taken bear on the Gau leader’s responsibility for manpower placement and utilization. They prove quite simply and in unmistakable language that the Gau leaders under the direction of the experienced old Gau leader Sauckel, who was plenipotentiary for manpower, became the supreme integrating and co-ordinating agents of the Nazi conspirators in the entire manpower program. At Page 116 of your document book—Page 508 of the original volume of orders—the Defendant Göring is shown to have agreed, as leader of the Four Year Plan, to Sauckel’s suggestion that the Gau leaders be utilized to assure the highest efficiency in manpower. At Page 117 of your document book—Page 511 of the orders of the Party chancellery—Sauckel in July 1942 makes the Gau leaders his special plenipotentiaries for manpower within their Gaue, with the duty of establishing a harmonious co-operation of all interests concerned. In effect the Gau leader became the supreme arbitrator for all the conflicting interests that exist during wartime with respect to claims upon manpower. Under this same order the regional labor offices and their staffs were “directed to be at the disposal of the Gau leaders for information and advice and to fulfill the suggestions and demands of the Gau leader for the purpose of improvements in manpower. . . .” At Pages 118 and 119 of your document book—Page 567 of the Party chancellery orders—the Defendant Sauckel ordered that his special plenipotentiaries, the Gau leaders, familiarize themselves with the general regulations on Eastern Workers. He stated that his immediate objective was “to prevent politically inept factory heads giving too much consideration to the care of Eastern Workers and thereby cause justified annoyance among the German workers.”

We submit to the Tribunal that if Schirach as Gau leader was required to concern himself in such manpower details as concern over the alleged annoyance of German workers for the consideration given Eastern Workers, it is unnecessary to press further into the detailed workings of the manpower program to establish Schirach’s connection with, and responsibility for, the slave-labor program in the Reichsgau Vienna.

I now pass to the persecution of the churches.

The elimination of the religious youth organizations while Schirach was chief Nazi youth leader has already been noted. In March 1941 two letters, one from the Defendant Bormann, the other from the conspirator Hans Lammers. . .

THE PRESIDENT: Captain Sprecher, have you any other evidence which connects Von Schirach with the problem of manpower?

CAPT. SPRECHER: I had planned on presenting nothing further, Your Honor. I felt that in view of the fact that our Soviet colleagues are going further with the details of the manpower program, particularly in the East, the main objective under Count One should merely be to show the general responsibility of the Defendant Schirach for the slave-labor program, and the question of specific acts will have to be taken from the other proof in the Record, which will come, into the Record later.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

CAPT. SPRECHER: There is just one further point: When I come to the treatment of the Jews in a few minutes, there will be one or two specific examples.

THE PRESIDENT: You are now going to deal with the persecution of churches, is that right?

CAPT. SPRECHER: Yes, Sir.

Now, the Tribunal is referred to Document R-146, at Page 5 of the document book. This is offered as Exhibit USA-678.

I am a little in doubt, Your Honors, as to whether I should read all this document, in view of our common anxiousness to pass rapidly on; but perhaps I may paraphrase it, and if you are not satisfied I will read it.

These documents establish clearly that during a visit by Hitler to Vienna, Schirach and two other officials brought a complaint before the Führer that the confiscations of Church property in Austria, made on various pretexts, should be made in favor of the Gaue rather than of the Reich. Later the Führer decided the issue in favor of the position which had been taken by Schirach, namely, in favor of the Gau. I use this merely to connect Schirach with the persecution of the churches, concerning which there has been a great deal of evidence before this time.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): None of it is in evidence yet. You have not put anything in evidence. We cannot take judicial notice of something unless you ask us to.

CAPT. SPRECHER: Your ruling is that this would not be in evidence unless I read it?

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): I am not making any ruling; I was merely pointing out to you that we have nothing in evidence on the last document.

CAPT. SPRECHER: I think, under the circumstances, I had better read this document:

“Munich, 20 March 1941, Brown House, Personal-Secret.

“To: All Gau leaders. Subject: Sequestration of Church
properties (Monastery property, _et cetera_).

“Recently, valuable church properties have had to be sequestered
on a large scale, especially in Austria; according to reports of
the Gauleiter to the Führer, these sequestrations were often
because of violations of ordinances relating to war economy (for
example, hoarding of foodstuffs of various kinds, textiles,
leather goods, _et cetera_). In other cases they were for
violations of the law relating to subversive acts against the
State and in some cases because of illegal possession of arms.
Obviously no compensation is to be paid to the churches for
sequestrations made for the above-mentioned reasons.

“With regard to further sequestrations, several Austrian Gau
leaders, on the occasion of the Führer’s last visit to Vienna,
attempted to clarify the question of who should acquire such
sequestered properties. Please take note of the Führer’s
decision, as contained in the letter written by Reich Minister
Dr. Lammers to the Reich Minister of the Interior, dated 14
March 1941. I enclose copy of extracts of the
same.”—Signed—“M. Bormann.”

I had offered that document as Exhibit USA-678. Do you still wish me to read the enclosure that went with it?

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): I don’t wish you to read anything; I was simply pointing out that, as you had not read it, it was not in evidence.

CAPT. SPRECHER: In that event I will continue, Your Honor. The copy reads as follows:

“Berlin, 14 March 1941; The Reich Minister and Chief of the
Reich Chancellery.

“To the Reich Minister of the Interior. Subject: Draft of an
ordinance supplementing the provisions on confiscation of
property of enemies of the People and State.

“The Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter Von Schirach, Dr. Jury and
Eigruber complained recently to the Führer that the Reich
Minister of Finance still maintains the point of view that
confiscation of property of enemies of the People and State
should be made in favor of the Reich and not in favor of the
Reich Gaue. Consequently the Führer has informed me that he
desires the confiscation of such properties to be effected in
favor of the Reich Gau in whose area the confiscated property is
situated, and not in favor of the Reich. . . .”

THE PRESIDENT: You need not read any more of it.

CAPT. SPRECHER: I pass over now to the Jewish persecution.

The Prosecution submits, finally, that Schirach authorized, directed, and participated in anti-Semitic measures. Of course, the whole ideology and teaching of the Hitler Youth was predicated upon the Nazi racial myth. Before the war, Schirach addressed a meeting of the National Socialist German Students’ League, the organization he headed from 1929 to 1931. Document 2441-PS is offered as Exhibit USA-679, an affidavit by Gregor Ziemer. I wish to read merely from the bottom of Page 95 of the document book to the end of the first paragraph at the top of Page 96 of the document book. The deponent Ziemer is referring to a meeting at Heidelberg, Germany, which he personally attended some time before the war, at which Baldur von Schirach addressed the Students’ League, which he himself had at one time led. . . .

THE PRESIDENT: What is this document?

CAPT. SPRECHER: It is an affidavit of Gregor Ziemer:

“He”—meaning Schirach—“declared that the most important phase
of German university life in the Third Reich was the program of
the NSDSTB. He extolled various activities of the League. He
reminded the boys of the service they had rendered during the
Jewish purge. Dramatically he pointed across the river to the
old university town of Heidelberg where several burnt-out
synagogues were mute witnesses of the efficiency of Heidelberg
students. These skeleton buildings would remain there for
centuries as inspiration for future students, as warning to
enemies of the State.”

To attempt to visualize the true extent of the fiendish treatment of Jews under Schirach, we must look to his activities in the Reichsgau Vienna and to the activities of his assistants, the SS and the Gestapo, in Vienna.

Document Number 1948, Page 63 of your document book, is offered as Exhibit USA-680. You will note it is on the stationery of the last Governor of Vienna.

THE PRESIDENT: Captain Sprecher, I have been reading on in this Document 2441-PS, on Page 96 of the document book. It seems to me you ought to read the next three paragraphs on Page 96 from the place where you left off.

CAPT. SPRECHER: Yes, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: The second, third, and fourth paragraphs.

CAPT. SPRECHER: “Even as old Heidelberg Castle was evidence that
Old Germany had been too weak to resist the invading Frenchmen
who destroyed it, so the black remains of the synagogues would
be a perpetual monument reminding coming generations of the
strength of New Germany.

“He reminded the students that there were still countries which
squandered their time and energy with books and wasteful
discussions about abstract topics of philosophy and metaphysics.
Those days were over. New Germany was a land of action. The
other countries were sound asleep.

“But he was in favor of letting them sleep. The more soundly
they slumbered, the better opportunity for the men of the Third
Reich to prepare for more action. The day would come when German
students of Heidelberg would take their places side by side with
legions of other students to conquer the world for the ideology
of Nazism.”

I was about to refer, Your Honors, to Document Number 1948-PS, which is found at Page 63 of your document book, and which I offer as Exhibit USA-680. This, you will note, is on the stationery of the Reich Governor of Vienna, the Reichsstatthalter in Vienna.

“. . . 7 November 1940.

“Subject: Compulsory labor of able-bodied Jews.

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

“SS Standartenführer Huber will make a report personally to the
Regierungspräsident in this matter.

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

The signature is by Dr. Fischer.

I want to call the Court’s attention to the significance of the title Regierungspräsident. The SS Colonel, you will note, was to report to the Regierungspräsident. If you will refer back again to the decree which set up the Reichsgau Vienna, 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 777 (Document 3301-PS), you will find that the Regierungspräsident was Schirach’s personal representative within the governmental administration of Vienna.

Now, it seems to us that this Document Number 1948-PS, which was signed by Fischer, concerning compulsory labor of able-bodied Jews, answers the argument that persons of the rank of Gauleiter were ignorant of the atrocities of the Gestapo and the SS in their own locality. It shows further that even the assistants of the Gau leaders were informed of the details of the persecution projects which were afoot at the time.

Schirach also had concern for, and knowledge of, the housing shortage in Vienna, which was alleviated for some members of the alleged master race who succeeded to the houses of the luckless Jews who were moved into oblivion in Poland.

On December 3, 1940, the conspirator Lammers wrote a letter to Schirach. It is our Document 1950-PS, Page 64 of your document book, and it is offered in evidence as Exhibit USA-681. The letter is very short:

December 1940. . .”

the stationery of the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, and it is marked “secret”:

“To the Reich Governor in Vienna, Gauleiter Von Schirach:

“As Reichsleiter Bormann informs me, the Führer has decided,
after receipt of one of the reports made by you, that the 60,000
Jews still residing in the Reichsgau Vienna will be deported
most rapidly”—that is, still during the war—“to the Government
General, because of the housing shortage prevalent in Vienna. I
have informed the Governor General in Kraków, as well as the
Reichsführer SS, about this decision of the Führer, and I
request you also to take cognizance of it.”—Signed—“Lammers.”

As a last piece of illustrative evidence against this youngest member of the defendants in the dock, I take something from his own lips, which was published for all Vienna and, indeed, for all Germany and the world to know, even at that time. It appears in the Vienna edition of the _Völkischer Beobachter_, on the 15th of September 1942, Document 3048-PS, your document book, Page 106. It is already in evidence as Exhibit USA-274.

I would like to point out that these words were uttered before the so-called European Youth League in Vienna in 1942. The Tribunal will recall that Schirach was still Reich Leader for Youth Education in the NSDAP at that time:

“Every Jew who exerts influence in Europe is a danger to
European culture. If anyone reproaches me with having driven
from this city, which was once the European metropolis of Jewry,
tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of Jews into the ghetto
of the East, I feel myself compelled to reply, ‘I see in this an
action contributing to European culture.’”

Although Schirach’s principal assistance to the conspiracy was made in his commission of the German youth to the conspirators’ objectives, he also stands guilty of heinous Crimes against Humanity as a Party and governmental administrator of high standing, after the conspiracy had reached its inevitable involvement in wars of aggression.

This completes, Your Honors, the presentation on the individual responsibility of the Defendant Schirach.

The Prosecution will next take up the responsibility of the Defendant Martin Bormann, and the presentation will be made by Lieutenant Lambert.

DR. SAUTER: Mr. President, as to the various errors made in the case against Schirach, I shall state my position when the Defense has its turn. But I should like to take the opportunity now of pointing out an error in translation in one of the documents. It is in Document 3352-PS.

It is an order of the Reich Chancellery to the subordinate offices, and this order mentions that the labor offices had to be at the disposal of the Gauleiter under certain circumstances. In the German original of this order it reads as follows: “Anregungen und Wünsche.” Now “Anregungen und Wünsche,” that is. . .

THE PRESIDENT: Which page of the document is it?

DR. SAUTER: I think, Page 512 of Document 3352-PS, on Page 117 of the document book.

This German expression “Anregungen und Wünsche” has been translated by “suggestions” (for “Anregungen”) and “demands” (for “Wünsche”).

The first translation, the translation for “Anregungen,” we consider to be correct; but the second translation, namely, “demands” for “Wünsche,” we consider false, because, so far as we know, this word is “Befehle” or “Forderungen” in German. We should consider it correct if the English translation “demands” could be translated by another word, “wishes,” which is an exact translation of the word “Wünsche.” I do not know whether I have pronounced the word correctly in English. That is all I have to say for the time being. Thank you very much.

THE PRESIDENT (to Captain Sprecher): Do you wish to say anything about that?

CAPT. SPRECHER: I think that Dr. Sauter has made a very good point. I have checked with the translator beside me, Your Honor, and the German word “Wünsche” has been translated too strongly.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

LIEUTENANT THOMAS F. LAMBERT, JR. (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): May it please the Tribunal, the Prosecution comes now to deal with the Defendant Bormann and to present the proofs establishing his responsibility for the crimes set forth in the Indictment. And, if the Tribunal will allow, we should like to observe on the threshold that because of the absence of the Defendant Bormann from the dock we believe that we should make an extra effort to make a solid record in the case against Bormann, out of fairness to Defense Counsel and for the convenience of the Tribunal.

I offer the document book supporting this trial address as U.S. Exhibit JJ, together with the trial brief against the Defendant Bormann.

The Defendant Bormann bears a major responsibility for promoting the accession to power of the Nazi conspirators, the consolidation of their total power over Germany, and the preparation for aggressive war set forth in Count One of the Indictment.

Upon the Record of this Trial the Nazi Party and its Leadership Corps were the main vehicles of the conspiracy and the fountainhead of the conspiracy.

Now, following the flight of the Defendant Hess to Scotland in May 1941, Bormann became executive chief of the Nazi Party. His official title was Chief of the Party Chancellery. Before that date Bormann was chief of staff to the Defendant Hess, the Deputy to the Führer.

By virtue of these two powerful positions—Chief of the Party Chancellery and Chief of Staff to the Deputy to the Führer—Bormann stands revealed as a principal architect of the conspiracy. Subject only—and we stress—subject only to the supreme authority of Hitler, Bormann engineered and employed the vast powers of the Party, its agencies, and formations, in furtherance of the Nazi conspiracy; and he employed the Party to impose the will of the conspirators upon the German people; and he then directed the powers of the Party in the drive to dominate Europe.

Accordingly, the Defendant Bormann is blameworthy for the multiple crimes of the conspiracy, for the multiple crimes committed by the Party, its agencies, and the German people, in furthering the conspiracy.

It might be helpful to give a very brief sketch of the career in conspiracy of the Defendant Bormann.

Bormann began his conspiratorial activities more than 20 years ago. In 1922, only 22 years of age, he joined the Organization Rossbach, one of the illegal groups which continued the militaristic traditions of the German Army and employed terror against the small struggling pacifist minority in Germany. While he was district leader for this organization in Mecklenburg, he was arrested and tried for his part in a political assassination, which, we suggest, indicates his disposition to use illegal methods to carry out purposes satisfactory to himself. On 15 May 1924 he was found guilty by the State Tribunal for the Protection of the Republic and sentenced to 1 year in prison.

Upon his release from prison in 1925 Bormann resumed his subversive activities. He joined the militarist organization “Frontbann,” and in the same year he joined the Nazi Party and began his ascent to a prominent position in the conspiracy. In 1927 he became press chief for the Party Gau of Thuringia. In other words, relating back to the case against the Leadership Corps, he became an important staff officer of a Gauleiter. On 1 April 1928 he was made District Leader (Bezirksleiter) in Thuringia and business manager for the entire Gau.

We come now to a particularly important point involving Bormann’s tie-up with the SA.

From 15 November 1928 to August 1930 he was on the staff of the Supreme Command of the SA.

Now the Tribunal has heard the demonstration of the criminality of the SA and knows full well that this was a semi-military organization of young men whose main mission was to get control of the streets and to impose terror on oppositional elements of the conspiracy.

Our submission at this stage is that, by virtue of Bormann’s position on the staff of the Supreme Command of the SA, he shares responsibility for the illegal activities of the SA in furtherance of the conspiracy.

In August 1930 Bormann organized the Aid Fund (Hilfskasse) of the Nazi Party, of which he became head. Through this fund he collected large sums for the alleged purpose of aiding the families of Party members who had been killed or injured while fighting for the Party.

As the Tribunal knows, on 30 January 1933 the conspirators and their Party took over the Government of Germany. Shortly thereafter, in July 1933, Bormann was given the number three position in the Party, that of chief of staff to the Defendant Hess, the Deputy to the Führer. At the same time he was made a Reichsleiter; and as the Tribunal knows, that makes him a member of the top level of the alleged illegal organization, the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party.

In November 1933 he was made a member of the Reichstag.

I request the Tribunal to take judicial notice of the authoritative German publication _The Greater German Reichstag_, edition of 1943. The facts which I have recited in the foregoing sketch of Defendant Bormann’s career are set forth on Page 167 of that publication, the English translation of which appears in Document 2981-PS of the document book now before the Tribunal.

With respect to Bormann’s conviction for political murder, I offer in evidence Document 3355-PS, Exhibit USA-682, which is the affidavit of Dr. Robert M. W. Kempner, and I quote therefrom briefly as follows:

“I, Robert M. W. Kempner, an expert consultant of the War
Department, appeared before the undersigned attesting officer
and, having been duly sworn, stated as follows:

“In my capacity as Superior Government Counsellor and Chief
Legal Advisor of the pre-Hitler Prussian Police Administration,
I became officially acquainted with the criminal record of
Martin Bormann, identical with the Defendant Martin Bormann now
under indictment before the International Military Tribunal in
Nuremberg, Germany.

“The official criminal record of Martin Bormann contained the
following entry:

“Bormann, Martin, sentenced on May 15, 1924, by the State
Tribunal for the Protection of the Republic, in Leipzig,
Germany, to 1 year in prison, for having been an accomplice in
the commission of a political murder.”—Signed—“Robert M. W.
Kempner.”—End of quotation.

THE PRESIDENT: Lieutenant Lambert, I don’t think it is necessary for you, when dealing with a document of that sort, to read the formal parts. If you state the nature of the document and read the material part, you needn’t deal with the formal parts, for instance, “I, Robert Kempner, an expert consultant,” and all that. Do you understand me?

LT. LAMBERT: Thank you very much, Sir, for a very helpful suggestion.

As Defendant Hess’ chief of staff, Bormann was responsible for receiving and channelling up to the Defendant Hess the demands of the Party in all fields of State action. These demands were then secured by the Defendant Hess by virtue of his participation in the legislative process, his power with respect to the appointment and promotion of government officials, and by virtue of his position in the Reich Cabinet.

I come now, as it seems to us, to an important point, which ties up the Defendant Bormann with the SD and the Gestapo. As chief of staff of the Defendant Hess, Bormann took measures to reinforce the grip of the Gestapo and the SD over the German civil population. I request the Tribunal to notice judicially a Bormann order of 14 February 1935, set forth in the official publication _Decrees of the Deputy of the Führer_, Edition 1937, Page 257. I quote merely the pertinent portions of that decree, the English version of which is set forth in our Document 3237-PS, which reads as follows. That is our Document 3237-PS.

THE PRESIDENT: If it is a document of which we can take judicial notice, it is sufficient for you to summarize it without reading it.

LT. LAMBERT: I appreciate that, Sir. This quotation is so succinct and so brief that we perhaps could avoid summarization.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well, go on.

LT. LAMBERT: “The Deputy to the Führer expects that Party
offices will now abandon all distrust of the SD and will support
it wholeheartedly in the performance of the difficult tasks with
which it has been entrusted for the protection of the Movement
and our people.

“Because the work of the SD is primarily to the benefit of the
work of the Party, it is inadmissable that its development be
upset by uncalled-for attacks when individuals fall short of
expectations. On the contrary, it must be wholeheartedly
assisted.”—Signed—“Bormann, Chief of Staff to the Deputy to
the Führer.”

That is with respect to Bormann’s support of the SD. I deal now with Bormann’s effort to support the work of the Gestapo.

THE PRESIDENT: Lieutenant Lambert, wouldn’t it be sufficient to say that document indicates the support Bormann promised to the SD?

LT. LAMBERT: I was anxious merely on one point, Sir, that a document was not in evidence unless it had been quoted.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you began by asking us to take judicial notice of it. If we can take judicial notice of it, it need not be quoted.

LT. LAMBERT: Then, with respect to Bormann’s efforts to reinforce the grip of the Gestapo, I request the Tribunal to notice judicially a Bormann order of 3 September 1935, calling on Party agencies to report to the Gestapo all persons who criticize Nazi institutions or the Nazi Party. This decree appears in the official Party publication _Decrees of the Deputy of the Führer_, 1937, at Page 190. The English translation is set forth in our Document 3239-PS. I shall summarize the effect of this document shortly. In its first paragraph it refers to a law of 20 December 1934. As the Tribunal will recall, this law gave the same protection to Party institutions and Party uniforms as enjoyed by the State; and in the first and second paragraphs of this decree it is indicated that whenever a case came up involving malicious or slanderous attack on Party members or the Nazi Party or its institutions, the Reich Minister of Justice would consult with the Deputy of the Führer in order to take joint action against the offenders. Then, in the third paragraph, Bormann gives his orders to all Party agencies with respect to reporting to the Gestapo individuals who criticized the Nazi Party or its institutions. I quote merely the last paragraph.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I took down what you said in your first sentence, which was that the document showed that he was ordering that a report should be made to the Gestapo on anyone criticizing the Party. Well, that is sufficient, it seems to me, and all that you said after is cumulative.

LT. LAMBERT: There is, however, one brief point, if I may be permitted, which I should like to emphasize, about the last paragraph, because I think it is helpful to the Prosecution’s case against the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party.

The Tribunal will recall that it asked certain very material questions with respect to whether the Prosecution’s evidence involved the rank and file of the Leadership Corps. In the last paragraph of this decree Bormann instructs the Ortsgruppenleiter—now that is way down in the Leadership Corps hierarchy under Kreisleiter and Gauleiter—to report to the Gestapo persons who criticize Nazi Party institutions.

Now, an important point with respect to the tie-up between Bormann and the SS. The Tribunal has already received the evidence establishing the criminality of the SS. In this connection, I respectfully request the Tribunal to notice judicially the July 1940 issue of _Das Archiv_, our Document 3234-PS. On Page 399 of that publication, under date 21 July 1940, it is stated that the Führer promoted Defendant Bormann from major general to lieutenant general in the SS. Accordingly, we respectfully submit that Bormann is chargeable and jointly responsible for the criminal activities of the SS.

After the flight of the Defendant Hess to Scotland in May 1941, the Defendant Bormann succeeded him as head of the Nazi Party under Hitler, with the title Chief of the Party Chancellery. I request the Tribunal to take judicial notice of a decree of 24 January 1942, 1942 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 35. In our conception this is an extremely important decree, because by virtue of it the participation of the Party in all legislation and in government appointments and promotions had to be undertaken exclusively by Bormann. He was to take part in the preparation—and we emphasize that—as well as the enactment and promulgation of all Reich laws and enactments; and further, he had to give his assent to all enactments of the Reich Länder—that is, the states—as well as all decrees of the Reich governors. All communications between state and Party officials had to pass through his hands. And, as a result of this law, we respectfully submit, Bormann is chargeable for every enactment issued in Germany after 24 January 1942 which facilitates and furthers the conspiracy.

It will be helpful, I believe, to point out and to request the Court to take judicial notice of a decree of 29 May 1941, 1941 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 295 (Document 2099-PS); in this decree Hitler ordered that Bormann should take over all powers and all offices formerly held by the Defendant Hess. I request the Tribunal to take judicial notice of another very important decree, that of the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich, 16 November 1942 . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Are these documents set out in the document book?

LT. LAMBERT: Yes, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: You haven’t given us the reference.

LT. LAMBERT: That is true, Sir. I recall from memory, although I do not have it in my manuscript, that document, that important decree of 24 January 1942, is our Document, I believe, 2100-PS.

I now request the Tribunal to take judicial notice of the important decree of the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich, dated 16 November 1942, 1942 _Reichsgesetzblatt_, Part I, Page 649 (Document JN-5). Under this decree all Gauleiter, who were under Bormann by virtue of his position as Chief of the Party Chancellery, were appointed Reich defense commissars and charged with the co-ordination, supervision, and management of the aggressive Nazi war effort.

From then on the Party, under Bormann, became the decisive force in planning and conducting the aggressive Nazi war economy.

On 12 April 1943, as is shown in the publication _The Greater German Reichstag_, 1943 edition, Page 167, our Document 2981-PS, Bormann was appointed Secretary of the Führer, and we submit that this fact testifies to the intimacy and influence of the Defendant Bormann with the Führer and enlarges his role in, and responsibility for, the conspiracy.

We now come to the important point of Bormann’s executive responsibility for the acts of the Volkssturm. I request the Tribunal to notice judicially a Führer order of 18 October 1944, which was published in the official _Völkischer Beobachter_, 20 October 1944 edition, in which Hitler appointed Bormann political and organizational leader of the Volkssturm. This is set forth in our Document 3018-PS. In this decree Himmler is made the military leader of the Volkssturm, but the organizational and political leadership is entrusted to Bormann. The Tribunal will know that the Volkssturm was an organization consisting of all German males between 16 and 60. By virtue of his leadership of the Volkssturm Bormann was instrumental in needlessly prolonging the war, with a consequential destruction of the German and the European economy and a loss of life and destruction of property.

We come now to deal with the responsibility of the Defendant Bormann with respect to persecution of the Church. The Defendant Bormann authorized, directed, and participated in measures involving the persecution of the Christian Church. The Tribunal, of course, has heard much in this proceeding concerning the acts of the conspiracy involving the persecution of the Church. We have no desire now to rehash that evidence. We are interested in one thing alone, and that is nailing on the Defendant Bormann his responsibility, his personal, individual responsibility, for the persecution of the Church.

I shall now present the proofs showing the responsibility of Bormann with respect to such persecution of the Christian churches.

Bormann was among the most relentless enemies of the Christian Church and Christian clergy in Germany and in German-occupied Europe. I refer the Tribunal, without quoting therefrom, to Document D-75, previously introduced in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-348, which contains a copy of the secret Bormann decree of 6 June 1941 entitled “The Relationship of National Socialism to Christianity.” In this decree, as the Tribunal will well recall, Bormann bluntly declared that National Socialism and Christianity were incompatible, and he indicated that the ultimate aim of the conspirators was to assure the elimination of Christianity itself.

I next refer the Tribunal, without quotation, to Document 098-PS, previously put in as Exhibit Number USA-350. This is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 22 February 1940, in which Bormann reaffirms the incompatibility of Christianity and National Socialism.

Now, in furtherance of the conspirators’ aim to undermine the Christian churches, Bormann took measures to eliminate the influence of the Christian Church from within the Nazi Party and its formations. I now offer in evidence Document 113-PS, as Exhibit USA-683. This is an order of the Defendant Bormann, dated 27 July 1938, issued as chief of staff to the Deputy of the Führer, Hess, which prohibits clergymen from holding Party offices. I shall not take the time of the Tribunal to spread this quotation upon the Record. The point of it is, as indicated, that Bormann issued an order forbidding the appointment of clergymen to Party positions.

THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps this would be a good time to break off for 10 minutes.

[_A recess was taken._]

LT. LAMBERT: May it please the Tribunal, we are dealing with the efforts of the Defendant Bormann to expel and exorcise from the Party all church and religious influence.

I offer in evidence Document 838-PS, as Exhibit USA-684. I shall not burden the Record with extensive quotation from this exhibit, but merely point out that this is a copy of a Bormann decree dated 3 June 1939, which laid it down that followers of Christian Science should be excluded from the Party.

The attention of the Tribunal is next invited to Document 840-PS, previously introduced in evidence as Exhibit USA-355. The Tribunal will recall that this was a Bormann decree of 14 July 1939, referring with approval to an earlier Bormann decree of 9 February 1937 in which the Defendant Bormann ruled that in the future all Party members who entered the clergy or who undertook the study of theology were to be expelled from the Party.

I next offer in evidence Document 107-PS, Exhibit USA-351. This is a circular directive of the Defendant Bormann, dated 17 June 1938, addressed to all Reichsleiter and Gauleiter—top leaders of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party—transmitting a copy of directions relating to the non-participation of the Reich Labor Service in religious celebrations. The Reich Labor Service, the Tribunal will recall, compulsorily incorporated all Germans within its organization.

DR. FRIEDRICH BERGOLD (Counsel for Defendant Bormann): The member of the Prosecution has just submitted a number of documents, in which he proves that, on the suggestion of Bormann, members of the Christian religion were to be excluded from the Party or from certain organizations. I beg the High Tribunal to allow the member of the Prosecution to explain to me how and why this activity, that is, the exclusion of Christians from the Party, can be a War Crime. I cannot gather this evidence from the trial brief. The Party is described as criminal—as a conspiracy. Is it a crime to exclude certain people from membership in a criminal conspiracy? Is that considered a crime? How and why is the exclusion of certain members from the Party a crime?

THE PRESIDENT: Counsel will answer you.

LT. LAMBERT: If the Tribunal will willingly accommodate argument at this stage, we find that the question. . .

THE PRESIDENT: Only short argument.

LT. LAMBERT: Yes, Sir. . . . admits of a short, and, as it seems to us, an easy answer.

The point we are now trying to prove—and evidence is abounding on it—is that Bormann had a hatred and an enmity and took oppositional measures towards the Christian Church. The Party was the repository of political power in Germany. To have power one had to be in the Party or subject to its favor. By his efforts, concerted, continuing, and consistent, to exclude clergymen, theological students, or any persons sympathetic to the Christian religion, Bormann could not have chosen a clearer method of showing and demonstrating his hatred and his distrust of the Christian religion and those who supported it.

THE PRESIDENT: Counsel for Bormann can present his argument upon this subject at a later stage. The documents appear to the Tribunal to be relevant.

LT. LAMBERT: With the Tribunal’s permission, I had just put in Document 107-PS and pointed out that it transmitted directions relating to the non-participation of the Reich Labor Service in religious celebrations. I quote merely the fourth and fifth paragraphs of Page 1 of the English translation of Document 107-PS, which reads as follows:

“All religious discussion is forbidden in the Reich Labor
Service because it disturbs the comrade-like union of all
working men and women.

“For this reason also any participation of the Reich Labor
Service in church, that is, confessional, services and
celebrations is impossible.”

The attention of the Tribunal is next invited to Document 070-PS, previously put in as Exhibit USA-349. The Tribunal will recall that this was a letter from Bormann’s office to the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 25 April 1941, in which Bormann declared that he had achieved progressive success in reducing and abolishing religious services in schools and in replacing Christian prayers with National Socialist mottoes and rituals. In this letter Bormann also proposed a Nazified morning service in the schools in place of the existing confession and morning service.

In his concerted efforts to undermine and subvert the Christian churches, Bormann authorized, directed, and participated in measures leading to the closing, reduction, and suppression of theological schools, faculties, and institutions. The attention of the Tribunal is invited to Document 116-PS, Exhibit Number USA-685, which I offer in evidence. This is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 24 January 1939, enclosing for Rosenberg’s cognizance a copy of Bormann’s letter to the Reich Minister for Science, Education, and Popular Culture. In the enclosed letter Bormann informs the Minister as to the Party’s position in favor of restricting and suppressing theological faculties. Bormann states that, owing to war conditions, it had become necessary to reorganize the German high schools and, in view of this situation, he requested the Minister to restrict and suppress certain theological faculties.

I now quote from the first paragraph on Page 3 of the English translation of Document 116-PS, which reads as follows:

“I therefore should like to see you put the theological
faculties under substantial limitations, where, for the above
reasons, they cannot be entirely eliminated. This will apply not
only to the theological faculties at universities but also to
the various state institutions which, as seminaries having no
affiliation with any university, still exist in many places.

“I request that no express explanations be given to churches or
other institutions and that public announcement of these
measures be avoided. Complaints and the like are to be answered
if at all, with the explanation that these measures are carried
out in the course of planned economy and that the same is
happening to other faculties.

“I would be glad if the professorial chairs thus made vacant
could then be turned over especially to those fields of research
newly created in recent years, such as racial research,
archeology, _et cetera_, Martin Bormann.”

In our submission, what this document comes to is a request from Bormann to this effect: Please close down the religious faculties and substitute in their place Nazi faculties and university chairs with the mission of investigating racism, cultism, Nazi archeology. This sort of thing was done in the Hohe Schule, as was so clearly demonstrated in the Prosecution’s case against the plundering activities of the Einsatzstab Rosenberg.

The attention of the Tribunal is next invited to Document 122-PS, previously put in as Exhibit Number USA-362. The Tribunal will recall that 122-PS is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 17 April 1939, transmitting to Rosenberg a photostatic copy of the plan of the Reich Minister of Science, Education, and Popular Culture for the combining and dissolving of certain specified theological faculties. In his letter of transmittal Bormann requested Rosenberg to take “cognizance and prompt action” with respect to the proposed suppression of religious institutions.

I next offer in evidence Document 123-PS, Exhibit USA-686. This is a confidential letter from the Defendant Bormann to the Minister of Education, dated 23 June 1939, in which Bormann sets forth the Party’s decision to order the suppression of numerous theological faculties and religious institutions. The Tribunal will note that the letter lists 19 separate religious institutions with respect to which Bormann ordered dissolution or restriction.

After directing the action to be taken by the Minister in connection with the various theological faculties, Bormann stated as follows—and I quote from the next to last paragraph of Page 3 of the English translation of Document 123-PS:

“In the above I have informed you of the Party’s wishes, after
thorough investigation of the matter with all Party offices. I
should be grateful if you would initiate the necessary measures
as quickly as possible. With regard to the great political
significance which every single case of such a consolidation
will have for the Gau concerned, I ask you to take these
measures and particularly to fix dates for them always in
agreement with me.”

I next offer in evidence, without quotation, Document 131-PS as Exhibit USA-687. In summary, without quotation therefrom, this is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 12 December 1939, relating to the suppression of seven professorships in the near-by University of Munich.

Now I deal briefly with the responsibility of Bormann for the confiscation of religious property and cultural property. Bormann used his paramount power and position to cause the confiscation of religious property and to subject the Christian churches and clergy to a discriminatory legal regime.

I offer in evidence Document 099-PS, Exhibit USA-688. This is a copy of a letter from Bormann to the Reich Minister for Finance, dated 19 January 1940, in which Bormann demanded a great increase in the special war tax imposed on the churches. I quote from the first two paragraphs of Page 2 of the English translation of Document 099-PS, which read as follows:

“As it has been reported to me, the war contribution of the
churches for the 3-month period beginning 1 November 1939 has
been tentatively set at RM 1,800,000 per month, of which RM 1
million are to be paid by the Protestant Church, and RM 800,000
by the Catholic Church.

“The fixing of such a low amount has surprised me. I see from
numerous reports that political communities are obliged to raise
such a large war contribution that the performance of their
tasks—some of them very important; for example, in the field of
public welfare—is endangered. In view of this, a higher quota
also from the churches appears to me to be absolutely
justified.”

The question may arise: Of what criminal effect is it to demand larger taxes from church institutions? As to this demand of Bormann’s taken by itself, the Prosecution would not suggest that it had criminal effect, but when viewed within the larger frame of Bormann’s demonstrated hostility to the Christian Church and his efforts not merely to circumscribe but to eliminate it, we suggest that this document has probative value in showing Bormann’s hostility and his concrete measures to effectuate that hostility against the Christian churches and clergy.

I next refer the Tribunal to Document 089-PS, previously put in as Exhibit Number USA-360. The Tribunal will recall that this was a letter from Bormann to Reichsleiter Amann, dated 8 March 1940, in which Bormann instructed Amann, Reichsleiter of the Press, to make a sharper restriction in paper distribution against religious writings in favor of publications more acceptable to the Nazi ideology.

I next offer in evidence Document 066-PS, as Exhibit USA-689. This is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 24 June 1940, transmitting a draft of a proposed discriminatory church law for Danzig and West Prussia. This decree is a direct abridgment of religious freedom, for in Paragraph 1—I do not quote, but briefly and rapidly summarize—the approval of the Reich deputy for Danzig and West Prussia is required as a condition for the legal competence of all religious organizations.

Paragraph 3 of the decree suspended all claims of religious organizations and congregations to state or municipal subsidies and prohibited religious organizations from exercising their right of collecting dues without the approval of the Reich deputy.

In Paragraph 5 of the decree the acquisition of property by religious organizations was made subject to the approval of the Reich deputy. All credit rights acquired by religious organizations prior to 1 January 1940 were required to be ratified by the Reich Deputy in order to become actionable.

I now offer in evidence Document 1600-PS, Exhibit USA-690. This comprises correspondence of Bormann during 1940 and 1941 relating to the confiscation of religious art treasures. I quote the text of the second letter set forth on Page 1 of the English translation of Document 1600-PS, which is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to Dr. Posse of the State Picture Gallery in Dresden, dated 16 January 1941, which reads as follows, and I quote:

“Dear Dr. Posse:

“Enclosed herewith I am sending you the pictures of the altar
from the convent in Hohenfurth near Krumau. The convent and its
entire property will be confiscated in the immediate future
because of the subversive attitude of its inmates toward the
State.

“It would be up to you to decide whether the pictures are to
remain in the convent at Hohenfurth or are to be transferred to
the museum at Linz after its completion.

“I shall await your opinion in the matter. Bormann.”

The Tribunal may know that, in what is described as Hitler’s last will and testament, he makes a bequest of all the art treasures he had in the museum at Linz, and from a legal point of view he uses the euphemism “art treasures which I have bought.” This document, on its face, suggests how at least certain of the properties, the art treasures in the museum at Linz, were acquired.

Finally, as the war drew increasing numbers of German youth into the Armed Forces, the Defendant Bormann took measures to exclude and exorcise all religious influence from the troops. The attention of the Tribunal is invited to Document 101-PS, previously put in as Exhibit Number USA-361. The Tribunal will recall that this is a letter from the Defendant Bormann, dated 17 January 1940, in which Bormann pronounced the Party’s opposition to the circulation of religious literature to the members of the German Armed Forces. In this letter Bormann stated that if the influence of the church upon the troops was to be effectively fought, this could only be done by producing, in the shortest possible time, a large amount of Nazi pamphlets and publications.

I now offer in evidence Document 100-PS, as Exhibit Number USA-691. This is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to Rosenberg, dated 18 January 1940, in which Bormann declares that the publication of Nazi literature for army recruits as a counter measure to the circulation of religious writings was the “most essential demand of the hour.”

I forbear quoting from that document. Its substance is indicated.

I now request the Tribunal to notice judicially the authoritative Nazi publication entitled _Decrees of the Deputy of the Führer_, edition of 1937; and I quote from Page 235 of this volume the pertinent and important decree issued by the Defendant Bormann to the Commissioner of the Party Directorate, dated 7 January 1936, the English version of which is set forth in the English translation of our Document 3246-PS. In this one sentence Bormann aims and directs the terror of the Gestapo against dissident church members who crossed the conspirators, and I quote:

“If parish priests or other subordinate Roman Catholic leaders
adopt an attitude of hostility toward the State or Party, it
shall be reported to the Secret State Police”—Gestapo—“through
official channels.”—Signed—“Bormann.”

By leave of the Tribunal, I come now to deal with the responsibility of the Defendant Bormann for the persecution of the Jews.

Again, the Prosecution seeks not to rehash the copious evidence in the Record on the persecution of the Jews but rather to limit itself to evidence fastening on the Defendant Bormann his individual responsibility for the persecution of the Jews. Bormann shares the deep guilt of the Nazi conspirators for their odious program in the persecution of the Jews. It was the Defendant Bormann, we would note, who was charged by Hitler with the transmission and implementation of the Führer’s orders for the liquidation of the so-called Jewish problem.

Following the Party-planned and Party-directed program of 8 and 9 November 1938, in the course of which a large number of Jews were killed and harmed, Jewish shops pillaged and wrecked, and synagogues set ablaze all over the Reich, the Defendant Bormann, on orders from Hitler, instructed the Defendant Göring to proceed to the “final settlement of the Jewish question” in Germany.

The attention of the Tribunal is invited to Document 1816-PS, previously put in as Exhibit USA-261. The Tribunal is well acquainted with this document. It has frequently been referred to. The Tribunal knows that Document 1816-PS is the minutes of a conference on the Jewish question, held under the direction of Göring on the 12th of November 1938. 1 quote only the first sentence of Document 1816-PS, which fastens the responsibility upon Bormann and which reads as follows:

“Göring: ‘Gentlemen, today’s meeting is of a decisive nature. I
have received a letter written on the Führer’s orders by the
Chief of Staff of the Führer’s Deputy, Bormann, requesting that
the Jewish question be now, once and for all, co-ordinated and
solved in one way or another.’”

The Tribunal is well aware of the proposals, the discussions, and the actions taken in this conference that constituted the so-called “settlement of the Jewish question.”