Chapter VII: Section 3 (4)

The position was that last September—on 25 September—the British Government sent a full report of this incident to the United Nations War Crimes Commission. That report included statements before a court of inquiry, statements of Allied witnesses, statements taken from German witnesses, including General Westhoff, a copy of the official lists of the dead, and a report of the protecting power. All that was sent by the British Government to the United Nations War Crimes Commission last September; and the statement of General Westhoff, which I certified as being a report of the United Nations War Crimes Commission, was part of an appendix to that report which was then in the custody of the United Nations War Crimes Commission and of which a copy was sent to me here.

I provided that to my French colleagues and that refers to an earlier report made by General Westhoff at an interrogation which took place in London as a part of the matter of that report.

The document which my learned friend was adducing today was a summary of a subsequent interrogation of General Westhoff taken in Nuremberg. My Lord, I wanted to get the position perfectly clear, if I could, to the Tribunal, because, as I say, the incident is one of some importance and the British Government report will be, I hope, tendered the Tribunal by my Soviet colleague, as the incident lies to the east of the line which we have drawn through the center of Berlin and therefore falls within the Soviet case.

But I do not want the Tribunal to be under any misapprehension as to the nature of the earlier report that was made, the one which my learned friend referred to as being able to put in later should the Tribunal desire it.

THE PRESIDENT: But you are agreed that the document which is now being offered to the Tribunal is not a government document within Article 21 of the Charter?

SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: I quite respectfully agree that that is not really the document on which I intervened. I intervened on the second one.

THE PRESIDENT: At this stage we are not concerned with that document, only with the document offered in evidence to which Dr. Nelte objected, and that document is not a government document within Article 21.

SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: That I understand is so, but I was really intervening to explain that the second document comes. . . .

THE PRESIDENT: I quite understand, yes. The Tribunal allows the objection of Dr. Nelte. It considers that the document which has been submitted is not a governmental document within Article 21 of the Charter and is therefore rejected. The Tribunal adheres to the decision which I announced just before we adjourned, namely, that if the Prosecution desires to do so, they can produce the interrogation of which the document submitted to them is understood by them to be a résumé; and if they do so, then they must produce the witness, General Westhoff, for cross-examination by the defendant’s counsel. In the alternative, they can produce and call General Westhoff himself and then, of course, he will be liable to cross-examination by the defendants’ counsel.

M. QUATRE: I take notice of the Tribunal’s decisions and I should like to state that as I am eager not to lose time, and much time has already been lost in the course of today’s session, we shall not make use of this document now, nor shall we call General Westhoff. I shall simply request the Tribunal to note that we reserve the right to call General Westhoff, if necessary, when the defendants are cross-examined. May I continue, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT: You may.

M. QUATRE: I had reached, Gentlemen, Page 36 of my brief, concerning the treatment of Allied airmen who were prisoners. This point had already been discussed at some length before you.

THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps I ought to say that the Tribunal will be willing to sit this evening until half past five, in order that the case against the Defendant Hess may be concluded; but it is very important that the case should be concluded tonight, against the Defendant Hess, because the Soviet Prosecution will require the whole day for their presentation tomorrow.

M. QUATRE: Mr. President, I shall be very brief. I shall pass straight on to my conclusion. I shall say nothing about the treatment of Allied airmen. You know the circumstances, as well as the treatment of commando troops, and I once more beg the Tribunal’s pardon for having unintentionally spoken at such length. I shall now conclude.

It is definitely the conception of criminal intention which was present in the drafting of the orders and directives which we have just examined. The reality of the acts perpetrated as a result of these decisions cannot be denied, nor should we overlook or underestimate this moral element, qualified by French penal law, to use the formula of an eminent jurist as “knowledge on the part of the agent of the illicit character of the acts performed by him.” The two defendants were fully cognizant of the illicit nature of orders which they knew would be scrupulously carried out.

With Keitel and Jodl the systematic rejection of the laws and customs that mitigate the horrors of war and the setting up, as a matter of principle, of the most barbarous practices, are the reflection of the norms and precepts of National Socialism and its leader, for whom all international rules, all conventions, any ethical code represented an intolerable restraint, an obstacle to the goal to be attained, inasmuch as they interfered with the higher interests of the German community.

It is not a matter of indifference to know whether Keitel and Jodl were urged by personal ambition or whether, true to the pan-German tradition of the German General Staff, they yielded to the National Socialist frenzy in the hope of one day seeing the arrogant pretensions of Germany fully realized.

The most important point in our opinion is the personal contribution which they consciously and voluntarily made to the enterprise of destruction carried out by the Third Reich.

For 10 years Keitel was the “king pin” of the German Army and from 1936 onward Jodl did not cease to be his collaborator. Before the war they worked to promote the war, and during the war they deliberately flouted the rules of law and justice, the sole safeguards of fighting men, held the dignity of mankind in utter contempt, and thus failed to do their duty as soldiers.

Nacht und Nebel, the Kugel Aktion, the Sonderbehandlung, the destruction of our cities—all this will be forever associated with the names of these men, and particularly with the name of Keitel who dared to proclaim that human life was less than nothing.

And at this moment we cannot prevent our thoughts from turning towards the innumerable absent ones who for that reason sacrificed their lives.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL J. M. G. GRIFFITH-JONES (Junior Counsel for the United Kingdom): May it please the Tribunal, it is my duty to present the evidence upon Counts One and Two of the Indictment against the Defendant Hess.

My Lord, the trial brief, which I believe the Tribunal have before them, has been made out in the form of a fairly full note of the evidence to which I intend to refer, and it may be of convenience to the Tribunal to have it before them during the court sitting.

May I first prove the positions which he held and which are set out in Appendix A of the Indictment, and say a word about his early life.

The defendant was born in 1894. He is now 52 years old. He served in the German Army during the last war and in 1919 he went to Munich University. There he became the leader of the Nazi organization in that university and in 1920 he became a member of the Nazi Party itself. He was among the first of the SA, and he became the leader of the students’ corps of police. In 1923 he took part in the Munich Putsch, and as a result of that he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Half of that period he served in jail with Hitler himself. I stress that, because it was during those seven and one-half months in prison with Hitler that Hitler dictated _Mein Kampf_.

THE PRESIDENT: Have you got. . . .

LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I think I know what the difficulty is. This case was originally scheduled to be presented by the American Delegation and they did have a brief of their own. It may be that that is the brief which Mr. Biddle has before him. I will hand you up a spare copy.

THE PRESIDENT: Go on, Sir.

LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: It was during that time that Hitler dictated _Mein Kampf_ to this defendant.

Now, dealing with his actual appointments: From 1925 until 1932 he was private secretary and aide-de-camp to Hitler. In 1932 he became the Chairman of the Central Political Committee of the Party, in succession to Gregor Strasser. In March 1933, after the Nazi Party became a power, he became a member of the Reichstag, and in April of that year he was appointed Deputy to the Führer, a position which he held until he flew to England in May of 1941.

That evidence so far is all contained in two documents, one a book called _Dates of the History of the Nazi Party_, by Volz, which is already in evidence as Document Number 3132-PS and was put in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-592, and the other the _Deutsches Führerlexikon_, Document Number 3191-PS, Exhibit Number USA-593.

On the first of December 1933, he became Reich Minister without Portfolio, another position which he held throughout the remainder of his time in Germany. That appears in the _Reichsgesetzblatt_. It is Document Number 3178-PS and it goes in now as GB-248. On the 4th of February 1938 he became a member of the Secret Cabinet Council. My Lord, that is Document Number 3189-PS, and becomes GB-249.

On the 30th of August 1939 he became a member of the Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich, Document Number 2018-PS, which becomes GB-250. On the 1st of September 1939 he was appointed successor designate to the Führer, after Göring. Göring, it will be remembered, was successor Number 1, and during that time Hess held the positions of Obergruppenführer in the SS and in the SA.

That completes the formal proof of the positions charged against him in the Indictment. I would say a word upon the authority he exercised under and holding these positions. The Tribunal will remember that in appointing Hess as his Deputy, the Führer decreed, in the decree by which he made the appointment, as follows: “I hereby appoint Hess as my Deputy and give him full power to make decisions in my name on all questions of Party leadership.” The extent of his office as Deputy Führer can be seen from the Party year book of 1941, to which I would briefly refer the Tribunal, as it appears on Page 104 of the Tribunal’s document book. It is Document Number 3163-PS and has already been put in as USA-255. I quote from that year book:

“By decree of the Führer of 21 April 1933 the Deputy of the
Führer received full power, to decide in the name of the Führer
on all matters concerning Party leadership. Thus, the Deputy of
the Führer is the representative of the Führer, with full power
over the entire leadership of the National Socialist German
Workers Party. The office of the Deputy of the Führer is
therefore an office of the Führer.

“In essence, it is the duty of the Deputy of the Führer to
direct the basic policies of Party work, to give directives, and
take care that all Party work be done in agreement with National
Socialist principles.

“All the threads of the Party work are gathered together by the
Deputy of the Führer. He gives the final Party word on all
intra-Party plans and all questions vital for the existence of
the German people. The Deputy of the Führer gives the directives
required for all the Party work, in order to maintain the unity,
determination, and striking power of the National Socialist
German Workers Party as the bearer of the National Socialist
philosophy.

“In addition to the duties of Party leadership, the Deputy of
the Führer has far reaching powers in the field of the State.
These are:

“1. Participation in national and state legislation, including
the preparation of Führer decrees. The Deputy of the Führer in
this way validates the conception of the Party as the guardian
of National Socialist philosophy.

“2. Approval of the Deputy of the Führer of proposed
appointments for officials and labor service leaders.

“3. Securing the influence of the Party over the self-government
of the regional administrations.”

I would refer the Tribunal to Page 119 of the document book, which is a chart which shows the organization of the Deputy of the Führer’s office. It is Document Number 3201-PS which becomes GB-251. I would particularly refer the Tribunal to the square in the center, showing the liaison officer of the Wehrmacht, and showing his close association with the Army; and in the right-hand column at the top: “Chief of the Foreign Organization,” of which I shall tell the Tribunal in a moment; “Commissioner for Foreign Policy,” showing his concern with the foreign policy of the German State; “Commissioner for All Technological Matters and Organization”; “Commissioner for All University Matters”; “Commissioner of University Policy,” showing his concern with the education of Germany; and further down “Office for Racial Policy,” showing his concern with the anti-Jew policy of the Nazi Government that followed; and at the bottom again, “Specialist on Education.”

But a glance at that chart will show that he was really involved in every aspect and every branch of Nazi life and the organization and administration of the State. As Reich Minister without Portfolio, in the Law to Secure the Unity of Party and State of 1 December 1933, it was stated that his task was to guarantee the close working co-operation of the Party and the SA with public authority. Put in as Document Number 1395-PS, it becomes GB-252.

He acquired wide legislative powers, as it has already been seen from the extract which I have read from the Nazi year book of 1941. I would particularly draw the attention of the Tribunal to a decree of Hitler’s dated 27 July. The extract which I wish to quote is set out in the trial brief. It has already been read and therefore I will do nothing now other than to draw the attention of the Tribunal to it. The document is Document Number D-138 and has been put in as USA-403. By the law for the protection of people in November 1933, it will be remembered that Hitler and his cabinet obtained for themselves full powers of legislation, independently of the Reichstag, and this defendant, being a member of the cabinet, of course, shared in these powers.

His approval of that procedure can be seen from a speech he made on the 16th of January 1937, and a short extract is again set out in the trial brief that the Tribunal has before them:

“National Socialism has seen to it that vital necessities of our
nation can today no longer be taken away by a Reichstag and made
the object of the haggling of parties. You have seen that in the
new Germany decisions of historic importance are made by the
Führer and his cabinet within a few hours, decisions which in
other countries must be preceded by parliamentary debates
lasting days and weeks.”

That last extract is taken from Document Number 2426-PS, which becomes Exhibit Number GB-253.

That these powers and offices were no sinecure is clear from Hess’ own order which he issued in October 1934. I will not read it now because it has already been read. It is Document Number D-139 and was put in as USA-404; and the Tribunal will remember that he is there issuing a decree saying he has been given the right to participate in legislation by the Führer and any office that is promoting legislation, in which he therefore ought to take part, must let him have the draft in time to take effective action on it if he disapproves of it.

I think again the extract I have read from the year book sufficiently describes the powers that he had without my referring to more than two other documents upon this matter. On Page 5 of the trial brief it will be seen that he acquired powers and took part in the organization and production under the Four Year Plan. I quote from a lecture given by the Defendant Frick on the 7th of March 1940, which is Document Number 2608-PS and has already been put in as USA-714. But the short passage that I quote now was not actually read. In that lecture Frick said:

“In order to guarantee the co-ordination of the various economic
agencies of the Four Year Plan, those agencies were formed into
a general council, under the chairmanship of Göring. Its members
are the state secretaries of the agencies working in the field
of war economy, the Chief of the Military Office of Economy, and
a representative of the Deputy of the Führer.”

And lastly, a quotation from the _National Zeitung_ of the 27th of April 1941, which is Document Number M-102 and becomes GB-254. My Lord, it appears on Page 4 of the trial brief. I quote from these passages, set out simply to save the Tribunal’s time in referring to the document book. It does appear on Page 12 of the document book if the Tribunal desires to refer to the full extract:

“A long while ago—it was still before the outbreak of the
war—Rudolf Hess was once called the ‘Conscience of the Party.’
If we ask why the Führer’s Deputy was given this undoubtedly
honorable title, the reason for this is plain to see. There is
no aspect of our public life which is not the concern of the
Führer’s Deputy. So enormously many-sided and diverse is his
work and sphere of duty that it cannot be outlined in a few
words; and it lies in the nature of the duties laid on the
Führer’s Deputy that the public at large hears little of the
work of Rudolf Hess. Few know that many government measures
taken, especially in the sphere of war economy and the Party,
which meet with such hearty approbation when they are proclaimed
because they voice true public feeling, can be traced back to
the direct initiation of the Führer’s Deputy.”

Perhaps I ought to remind the Tribunal that in the decree appointing a Secret Cabinet Council, that council was appointed by Hitler to advise him in the conduct of foreign policy. The Tribunal will find attached to that document book a few photos. They are of little importance. They were really to emphasize or remind the Tribunal of the film that was shown earlier in the course of these proceedings, when, it will be remembered, the Defendant Hess appeared in practically every scene of that film “The Rise to Power of the Nazi Party.” These photographs are not actually photographs from that film; they are somewhat similar and I produce an affidavit with them to state they were taken by Hitler’s own private photographer. That affidavit becomes Document Number GB-255.

That, then, is the evidence of his position and of his authority; and perhaps I might be allowed to make one short submission upon that. I make it in respect of this Defendant Hess, although it is perhaps a submission which can be made in respect of every one of these defendants.

The Prosecution has presented these cases against the individual defendants in the form of a collection of the documents which directly refer and which directly connect these defendants with specific instances of participation in the various crimes that were committed by the German people. My Lord, it will be my submission that it is sufficient to justify and bring home the conviction of this man and his colleagues to produce simply evidence of their positions in the Nazi State and the control of that State and also the general evidence of the crimes which were committed by the German people. It is only perhaps now, at this late stage in the trial, as day by day the extent and scope of those crimes is becoming clearer, that we realize that they cannot have happened by themselves. Crimes on that scale must be organized, co-ordinated, and directed. If the government of Nazi Germany, or the government of any country, is not the organization which directed and co-ordinated, what is? If the members of the German nation who are committing those crimes are not people responsible for them, then, in my submission, one is entitled to ask, Who is?

My Lord, there can be no question that these men had knowledge. Again, as the picture unfolds, it will be my submission that everybody in Germany must have had knowledge of what was going on; and if everybody had knowledge, then, my submission is, these men must certainly have had knowledge; and I would urge upon this Tribunal the fact that the conviction of these men does not rely upon the mere chance of how many documents happened to have been captured bearing their signatures. It might well have been that no documents at all had been captured. But, in the submission of the Prosecution, these men could equally well and equally justifiably have been proved guilty in the part they took, beyond any kind of doubt, upon the evidence of the positions that they held and the evidence of the scope and extent of the crimes that were committed by the people they controlled.

My Lord, that is my submission, and in view of that, I would perhaps deal briefly, for the convenience of the Tribunal, with the small matters, the many matters, which do directly connect him with, as I say, almost every aspect of the crimes and life of Nazi Germany.

I turn to Page 6 of the trial brief. . . .

DR. ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for the Defendant Rudolf Hess): The prosecuting attorney just mentioned a sworn statement. I cannot find this sworn statement either in the document book or in his trial brief. I can, consequently, take no position in regard to this sworn statement, nor, especially, can I go into the question as to whether there is any objection to the statement as regards the terms of the Charter. I request the prosecuting attorney to present me with this sworn statement.

THE PRESIDENT: We couldn’t hear the rest of the translation through. Well, go on!

DR. SEIDL: Mr. President, I am not sure how much of the translation you heard.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, there is some document that you are saying is not in the document book?

LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I intend to say that the photographs are in the book. The affidavit by the photographer was by mistake omitted from the book; the original is here. I will produce a copy for Dr. Seidl, and I regret it was not done before. It was not a very important document.

My Lord, it might be expected that, in the positions he held, the Defendant Hess took a leading part in the acquisition of power by the Nazi Party and in its consolidation of control over the State. By the law of the 1st of August the office of Reich President. . . .

THE PRESIDENT: 1934?

LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I beg your pardon, 1934, yes. [_Continuing_] . . . and of Reich Chancellor were joined together under Hitler. Hitler held both offices. That decree was signed by others and by Hess. Hess also signed a decree on the 20th of December 1934, a decree entitled “Laws against Treacherous Acts against the State and Party.” By Article 1 of that decree penalties were imposed upon anybody making false statements injuring the prestige of the government, the Party, or its agencies; and by Article 2 penalties were imposed for statements proving a malicious attitude against the Party or its leading personalities. The decree was signed by Hess, and it was Hess who had to issue the necessary regulations for carrying the decree into effect.

He took a leading part in the gaining of control over government appointments. I quote again in all these matters only a few examples. If one wanted to quote every decree that the defendant signed and every act he took in participation of these matters, it would really entail writing a history of the Nazi Party from 1920 until 1941, and a history of Germany from 1933 until 1941. Set out in the trial brief at Page 7, it will be seen that there are various decrees, all signed by Hess: On the 24th of September 1935, a decree providing for his consultation in the appointment of Reich civil servants; 3rd April 1936, providing for his participation in the appointment of labor service officials; and I refer again to the 10th of July 1937, another decree under which he participated by having to be consulted upon the appointment of other minor civil servants.

With respect to the control of the Nazi Party gained over the German youth, again there are various decrees signed by this defendant and I set out in the trial brief, particularly, a reference to the book which has already been put in, Volz’ dates of the Nazi Party, where it appears that he appointed a University Commission of the Party, which, was under his supervision. The Tribunal will remember that we have already seen from the chart of his staff that he had a department dealing with universities and with teachers.

And I am quoting from the same document. On the 18th of July 1934, the Nazi League of German Students was directly subordinated to the Deputy of the Führer.

The defendant, as the Tribunal has heard, was an Obergruppenführer himself in the SS and the SA. His responsibility for an association with those organizations can be seen from three documents. Amongst the papers found in the Krupp files was a circular sent by Hess, apparently to various industries, asking for funds or subscriptions for the Adolf Hitler Fund for German Industry. The document is Document Number D-151, which I put in now as Exhibit Number GB-256, and the relevant extract again is set out in the trial brief for convenience:

“The ‘Adolf Hitler Fund for German Economy’ is founded upon an
agreement between the Reich management of the NSDAP and leading
representatives of German industry.”

Then its purpose is set out:

“To put, firstly, at the disposal of the Reich leadership the
funds required for the unified execution of the tasks which fall
to the lot of the SA, SS, St., HJ and other political
organizations. . . .”

He signed a decree on the 9th of June 1934.

For the convenience of the Tribunal, perhaps I ought to mention that that last document I mentioned can be found at Page 5 of the document book.

On the 9th of June 1934 he signed a decree by which the Security Service of the Reichsführer SS was established as the sole political news and defense service of the Party.

On the 14th of December 1938, he issued a decree by which the SD, which Himmler had established, was taken off the establishment of the Party; and it was, under that decree, to be organized by the SS. Those were both Hess decrees; and they are here both the same document, Document Number 3385-PS, which becomes GB-257; and they appear at Page 172 of the Tribunal’s document book.

My Lord, there has already been given much evidence of the subversion of the churches in order to eliminate any hostile parties there may have been to the Nazi Party. Hess again took his share in that legislation, and there are set out in the trial brief, on Pages 8 and 9, a series of decrees which have already been put before the Tribunal during the presentation of the case against Bormann.

Bormann, it will be remembered, was at this time and throughout, until Hess flew to England, Hess’ deputy; and therefore, it will be my submission that decrees issued by Bormann as deputy for the Deputy of the Führer are, of course, the responsibility of this defendant as well.

For the sake of time I believe the Tribunal has a reference to the decrees and will bear in mind the evidence that was offered against the Defendant Bormann.

I come now, then, to his activity in the general persecution of the Jews. Again it will be remembered that the chart of his organization showed an office of his which described itself as the Office for Racial Policy. His own views about this matter are found in a speech which he made on the 16th of January 1937 and which is reported in a volume of his speeches which is Document Number 3124-PS. It is already in as Exhibit Number GB-253. The extract I desire to quote is set out in the trial brief. The document can be found on Page 98 of the document book.

“The organizations of the NSDAP will be used for the
enlightenment of the people on questions concerning race and
health with the aim of improving the latter and increasing the
population. . . .”

“As at home, so in foreign countries, the Germans will be
influenced in the National Socialist sense by the Landesgruppen
or local groups of the Party. They will be educated to become
again proudly conscious of their German origin, to stand
together in mutual esteem and will be taught to place the German
higher than any foreigner, irrespective of state or descent.”

It was Hess who signed the Law for Protection of Blood and Honor, one of the Nuremberg decrees of the 15th of September 1935. It is Document Number 3179-PS. It is already in evidence as Exhibit USA-200. It will be remembered that under that decree and under the other Reich Citizenship Law of the same date, it was the Deputy of the Führer who was to issue the necessary decrees and regulations for the carrying out and supplementing of those laws, the Nuremberg Decrees.

On the 14th of November 1935, it was Hess who issued an ordinance under the Reich Citizenship Law which deprived the Jews of the right to vote or to hold public office. That is Document Number 1417-PS and becomes Exhibit Number GB-258.

By a further decree of the 20th of May 1938, those Nuremberg laws were extended to Austria, that law of extension again being signed by this defendant—Document Number 2124-PS, Exhibit Number GB-259.

As I said, those are only a few examples of the decrees and activities of this man in the acquisition of power and consolidation of power in the Nazi Party. There is a document which I will hand up to the Tribunal that perhaps it might add to its document books, and there is a copy in French for the learned French Judge. There are examples in this and other exhibits which I have not mentioned now but which are already before the Tribunal, put in when the case of Bormann was put before the Tribunal, for which, as I have already said, this defendant must take responsibility.

You will see that under various headings—there are one or two German copies and the rest are in English—there are various documents set out under the headings, “Association with the SD and Gestapo”; “Subversion of the Churches”; and again, “The Persecution of the Jews.”

I turn then to the part which he played in the actual planning and preparation for aggressive war. We find that as early as in 1932 he was concerned with the rearmament and reorganization of the Air Force. The Tribunal will remember a Document Number 1143-PS, Exhibit USA-40, dated the 20th of October 1932, which showed that a report on the preparation of material and the training of air personnel to provide for the armament of the Air Force was sent to Hess by Rosenberg’s chief of staff. That document, for reference, appears on Page 43 of the Tribunal’s document book.

That was in 1932. Throughout the years we find him connected with the rearmament of the German Armed Forces. On the 16th of March 1935 it was Hess who signed the decree for the introduction of compulsory military service. On the 11th of October 1936 in a speech that he made, he took up Göring’s cry of “Guns before Butter,” when he said:

“We are prepared in the future, too, if need be, at times to eat
a little less fat, a little less pork, a few eggs less, since we
know that this little sacrifice is a sacrifice on the altar of
the freedom of our people. We know that the foreign exchange
which we thereby save will benefit our armaments. The phrase
still holds good today: ‘guns instead of butter.’”

That document is Document Number M-104. It becomes Exhibit Number GB-260, and will be found on Page 14 of the Tribunal’s document book.

In May of 1941 he was making a speech at the Messerschmidt Works, of which occasion the Tribunal has already got a photograph before it. It was one of those four photographs we were looking at a moment ago. Then he said:

“The German soldier must understand that for the uniqueness and
abundance of his weapons and his material, he has to thank Adolf
Hitler’s untiring efforts of many years.”

A report of that speech appears in the _Völkischer Beobachter_ on the 2d of May 1941. It is Document Number M-105 and becomes Exhibit Number GB-261. It is on Page 15 of the Tribunal’s document book.

One of the most important parts that this defendant took in the preparation for aggressive war was his organization of the famous German Fifth Column. He was the responsible person, as Deputy of the Führer, of the Auslands-Organisation of the Party, that is to say, the foreign organization of the Party. A history of that organization, a very brief history, will be found in an American state publication, Document Number 3258-PS. It becomes Exhibit Number GB-262. It is on Page 147 of the document book.

I would only mention now two matters. In October 1933 that organization was placed directly under Hess’s control, and a year later it was Hess himself who gave it its present name of the Foreign Organization, (Auslands-Organisation).

For the convenience again of the Tribunal, a chart is set out in the organization book for 1938, which is Document Number 2354-PS, Exhibit Number USA-430, and is on Page 69 of the Tribunal’s document book, and I think it is unnecessary to refer to it now in detail. It had the various offices—civil services offices, cultural offices, press and propaganda offices, labor front offices, and the foreign trade offices, the various offices dealing with the German merchant marine—which afforded, of course, an excellent medium for spreading Nazi propaganda to every port through the world.

The Tribunal has heard a good deal about a somewhat similar organization of Rosenberg, the APA. Very briefly and in a word, I think the distinction between the two can be said to be that the APA was concerned with the enrollment and propaganda for non-Germans, for foreigners, whereas the Auslands-Organisation was concerned with Germans living abroad, who, of course, were to form the basis of Fifth Column activities in future years.

I think the Tribunal will see that there are set out under the heading, “Scope of the Organization’s Work,” two documents. I think that perhaps it is sufficient to refer to the first of them now, Document Number 3401-PS, which becomes Exhibit Number GB-263 and which the Tribunal will find on Page 173 of that document book.

That is an article from the _Völkischer Beobachter_, which starts off by saying, “National Socialism is a philosophy which takes hold of our fellow Germans and strengthens them in holding fast to the German race and customs,” and then goes on to say that the authority for the practical application of that policy and principle is the foreign organization of the NSDAP, which is directly subordinated to the Deputy of the Führer, Hess. I quote the last three lines of that paragraph.

“The activities of the Auslands-Organisation extend literally
round the globe. With full justice there might be displayed over
its offices at the Harvestehuderweg in Hamburg the device ‘My
field is the world.’ The Auslands-Organisation under the
leadership of Gauleiter Bohle, who is aided by a large staff of
experts and qualified coworkers, today includes over 350
Landesgruppen and bases of the NSDAP in all parts of the world.
In addition to this it looks after a large number of individual
Party members in the most varied places.”

My Lord, in view of the time, I will not refer to any further documents about the activity and the scope of that organization. They will be found as set out in the following document, Document Number 3258-PS, which is at Page 150 of the document book. I beg your pardon, that is Exhibit Number GB-262, already in evidence. There is another extract from the British Basic Handbook on Germany, which is in the addendum to the document book. It is not, I think, actually put into the Tribunal’s brief. It appears under the Document Number M-122, and becomes Exhibit Number GB-264.

Two of the various other organizations which were run by the Foreign Organization were known as the League for Germans Abroad, the VDA, and the German Eastern League, the BDO.

I would refer the Tribunal to a document which they will find on Page 38 of the document book. It is Document Number 837-PS, which becomes Exhibit Number GF-265. That is a letter, which it will be seen on the next page is signed by Hess, dated 3 February 1939. It is a circular order, “Not for publication.” The subject is the League of Germans Abroad and the German Eastern League. I quote from the first paragraph:

“The director of the agency for racial Germans, SS Gruppenführer
Lorenz. . . .”

The agency for racial Germans, which was the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, was another similar organization, but one run by Himmler and the SS. All these gentlemen appear to have had their own foreign organizations. No doubt they were all engaged for the same purpose. Himmler’s was called the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle. I quote again:

“The director for that agency has instigated on my behalf the
following new ruling for questions affecting racial work and
work in the border country. The League for Germans Abroad, the
VDA, is the association responsible for national work beyond the
frontiers.”

I go down to the last two lines of that paragraph:

“The VDA is organized into state associations which correspond
in area to the Gaue of the NSDAP.”

And the first two lines of the next paragraph:

“The German Eastern League, the BDO, is the association
responsible for work in the border country.”

I turn to the next page, Paragraph 4 of that letter:

“The VDA is solely responsible for racial work beyond the
frontiers. I hereby forbid the Party, its organizations, and
affiliated associations from all racial work abroad. The only
competent body for this task is the agency for racial Germans
and the VDA as its camouflaged tool. Within the Reich, the VDA,
generally speaking, is responsible only for providing the means
for racial work beyond the frontiers. In this task VDA must be
supported in every way by the Party offices. Any outward
appearance of connection with the Party is, however, to be
avoided.”

Then it goes on to set up the activity of the BDO and in the last paragraph:

“The activity of the VDA and the BDO is to be supported in every
way by the Party offices. The National Socialist leaders of both
associations will assure energetic co-operation, on their part,
in all tasks assigned to them by the NSDAP. Their nature is
determined by considerations of foreign policy and the
associations must bear this in mind when representing

Now I come to the activity, therefore, of the Foreign Organization, which as I say, was the basis of the Fifth Column movement when war eventually broke out. I pass, then, to consideration of Hess’ part in the preliminary occupations of Austria and Czechoslovakia, which led up to the aggressive wars themselves.

Hess is seen to be participating in the preparations to occupy Austria from the very beginning. In the autumn of 1934 it was he that appointed Reinthaller as leader of the Austrian peasants in the Nazi Party in Austria, after the failure of the July 1934 rising. That has already been given in evidence as Document Number 812-PS, (Exhibit Number USA-61) and the relevant passage was read into the transcript at Page 504 (Volume II, Page 372).

Another document that has already been put in evidence, Document Number 3254-PS (Exhibit Number USA-704), is Seyss-Inquart’s statement of the 10th of December 1945, when he mentions that he held meetings with Göring and Hess in 1936.

On the morning that the German troops eventually marched into Austria, the 12th of March 1938, Hess and Himmler, together, were the first of the leaders of the German Government to appear in Vienna; and they were there by midday on that day.

It was Hess who signed the law of the 13th of March, the next day, for the reunion of Austria with the German Reich; and the Tribunal will no doubt remember the occasion, which was described fully by Mr. Alderman, of the shocking celebrations which were held in anniversary of the murder of Dollfuss, the celebrations being held the 24th of July 1938, when the high-light of the occasion was a speech by Hess.

I would refer the Tribunal to a document which appears on Page 165 of the document book, which throws some light on his own words, both on his activity as far as Austria was concerned and also with Czechoslovakia. This was a speech he made on 28 August 1938 at the annual meeting of the Foreign Organization. It is Document Number 3258-PS. It is already in as Exhibit Number GB-262. I quote from the third to last paragraph on Page 165 of the document book:

“At the close of his talk Rudolf Hess recalls the days, last
year, in Stuttgart, when German men and women, German boys and
girls in their native costumes appeared here in Stuttgart aglow
with enthusiasm for the ideal of greater Germany, passionately
moved by National Socialism, but nevertheless outwardly
‘Volksdeutsche’ Germans of foreign citizenship.

“‘Today,’ Rudolf Hess continued, ‘they also stand openly in our
ranks. Proudly and happily they will march in the formation of
the National Socialist movement past their Führer in Nuremberg,
this time with German citizens. With all our hearts we rejoice
as we see them. They have fought a long and tough battle, a
battle against a treacherous and mendacious enemy.’”—and so on.

And then on the next page, Number 166, where he turns to discuss the struggle of the Sudeten German:

“The German people look at the German racial comrades in
Czechoslovakia with the profoundest sympathy for their
suffering. No one in the world who loves his own people and is
proud of his own people will find fault with us if from this
place here we also turn our thoughts to the Sudeten German. If
we say to them that, filled with admiration, we see how they are
maintaining an iron discipline, despite the worst chicanery,
despite terror and murder. If it had, in general, required a
proof. . . .”

I don’t think, perhaps, it is necessary for me to read any more of that document; but it shows, as I say, his interest in Czechoslovakia; and by Document Number 3061-PS, which has already been put in as Exhibit Number USA-126, it has been shown that during the summer of 1938—that speech was made in August 1938—during the whole of that summer continuous conversations were being held between Henlein and Hitler, Hess, and Ribbentrop, informing the Reich Government of the general situation in Czechoslovakia. That document has been read into the Record; but, if anything condemns Hess as participating in this action, it is a letter dated the 27th of September 1938, which was a letter, it will be remembered, that the Tribunal has had before it. It was written by Keitel to Hess, asking for the Party’s participation in the secret mobilization, which was intended to take place without even issuing the code word for mobilization. It was on the 27th of September 1938 that that letter was written. It is Document Number 388-PS and has been put in as Exhibit Number USA-26, and it appears on Page 30 of the Tribunal’s document book.

I would refer the Tribunal to one short document on Page 120 of the document book, on which begins another speech by the defendant, a speech he made on the 7th of November 1938 on the occasion of the initiation of the Sudeten German Party into the NSDAP.

“If we have had to defend our rights, then they would have
really got to know us, we, the National Socialist Germans. The
Führer”—Rudolf Hess declared amidst the ringing cheers of the
masses—“learned his lessons. He armed at a speed that no one
would have believed possible. When the Führer has gained the
power and, especially since the Führer has awakened the
resolution of the German people to put their strength behind
their rights, then Germany’s right will be conceded!”

One might wonder what all those rights were at that time, November 1938, when already Hitler had said on the 26th of September that he had no more territorial demands, at any rate, to make in Europe.

I turn then to some fragment of evidence of the part he played in the waging of aggressive war against Poland. On Page 16 of the document book there is a report of a speech that he made on the 27th of August 1939, which shows at least that he was taking part in the official propaganda that was being thrown at the world in those days, two days before the war was declared. I quote from the second paragraph:

“Rudolf Hess, constantly interrupted with strong applause from
the German citizens living abroad as well as fellow countrymen
from the District of Styria, stressed the unexampled forbearance
shown by Germany towards Poland in the magnanimous offer of the
Führer that had assured peace between Germany and Poland—an
offer that Mr. Chamberlain seems to have forgotten, for he says
he has heard nothing of Germany’s having tried to solve certain
acute present-day questions by peaceful discussion. What else
was the German offer then, if it was not such an attempt?”

Then he goes on to accuse Poland of agitating for war, Poland’s lack of responsibility and so on. In view of the time, I shall quote no more of that. The Document Number M-107 is in evidence and it becomes Exhibit Number GB-266.

After the conquest of Poland, it was Hess that signed the decree incorporating Danzig into the Reich, the decree of the 1st of September 1939, a decree incorporating Polish territories into the Reich on the 8th of October 1939 and on the 12th of October 1939, a decree of Polish territory, in which it was stated that regulations were to be made for the planning of German Lebensraum and economic scope. Those are all decrees in the _Reichsgesetzblatt_. I regret that the last two that I mentioned are not actually included in the Tribunal’s document book, but the effect of them is set out in the trial brief. That, in view of the evidence that has been given as to his Fifth Column organization, is all that I propose to offer in respect to Poland. It must be clear that my submission will be that he was deeply involved both in the planning and in the preparation for aggressive war.

I turn to an example of his participation in War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity and would refer only to two documents; one appears as set out on Page 18 of the trial brief, Document Number 3245-PS, which becomes Exhibit Number GB-267. It was an order issued by Hess through the Party Chancellery demanding support from the Party for recruiting members for the Waffen-SS; and one paragraph, which is set out in the trial brief, I quote:

“The units of the Waffen-SS, consisting of National Socialists,
are more suitable than other armed units for the specific tasks
to be solved in the Occupied Eastern Territories due to their
intensive National Socialist training in regard to questions of
race and nationality.”

But, in view of what was happening and what was going to happen in the Occupied Eastern Territories because of the Waffen-SS, we haven’t, I know, forgotten the part they played in the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. I suggest that the inference that can be drawn from that letter is damning.

There is one further document. That document will be found on Page 121 of the Tribunal’s document book. The other document that I would refer to in this respect is Document Number R-96, which becomes Exhibit Number GB-268, and again that will be found on Page 175 of the document book. It is a letter written by the Reich Minister of Justice to the Chief of the Reich Chancellery on the 17th of April 1941, and it is discussing proposed penal laws for Jews and Poles in the Occupied Eastern Territories. It shows quite clearly that Hess has been involved in discussions on this subject because it refers to certain proposals that he, himself, has made. My Lord, I would venture to draw the attention of the Tribunal to one or two passages. I quote from the beginning of that letter on Page 175:

“It has been my opinion from the outset that special conditions
prevailing in the annexed eastern territories require special
measures of penal law and penal procedure against Poles and
Jews.”

And then I go on to the second paragraph, the first two lines:

“The aim to create a special law for Poles and Jews in the
eastern territories was pursued further according to plan by the
ordinance dated 6 June 1940. By this ordinance German penal law,
which had been used in the eastern territories already from the
outset was formally made applicable.”

There I skip three lines.

“The procedure for enforcing a prosecution has been abrogated
for it seems intolerable that Poles or Jews should be able to
force the German public prosecutor to launch an accusation.
Poles and Jews have also been deprived of the right to prosecute
in their own names or join the public prosecutor in an action.
In addition to this special law in the sphere of procedure, some
special conditions have been included in Article 2 of the
introductory ordinance. These provisions were established in
agreement with the Reich Minister of the Interior by reason of
requirements which had arisen. From the beginning it was
intended to augment the special conditions in case of need. This
need, which had become apparent in the meantime, should be met
by an executive and supplementary order to be added to the
original ordinance and which was referred to in the letter from
the Deputy of the Führer. . . .”

I turn to the next page, top of the page:

“After I was informed of the express wish of the Führer that, as
a matter of principle, Poles and presumably the Jews, too, are
to be treated differently from the Germans within this sphere of
penal law, after preliminary discussions,”—_et cetera_,—“I
draw up the enclosed draft concerning criminal law and procedure
against Poles and Jews. . . .”

I skip to the next paragraph:

“The draft represents altogether special law, both in the sphere
of penal law and penal procedure. The suggestions of the Deputy
of the Führer have been taken into consideration to a far
reaching extent. Number 1, Paragraph 3, contains a general crime
formula on the basis of which any Pole or Jew in the eastern
territory can in future be prosecuted and any kind of punishment
can be inflicted on him for any attitude or action which is
considered punishable and is directed against Germans.”

Then I go on to the next paragraph:

“In accordance with the opinion of the Deputy of the Führer, I
started from the point of view that the Pole is less susceptible
to the infliction of ordinary imprisonment.”

And a few lines further down:

“Under these new kinds of punishment prisoners are to be lodged
outside prisons in camps and are to be forced to do heavy and
heaviest labor.”

I go to the next page, second paragraph:

“The introduction of corporal punishment, and that is either as
penal punishment or as disciplinary measure, which the Deputy of
the Führer has brought up for discussion, has not been included
in the draft. I cannot agree to this type of punishment because
its infliction does not, in my opinion, correspond to the
cultural level of the German people.”