.

NAZI CONSPIRACY AND AGGRESSION

Chief of Counsel

6 Prosecution

of Axis Criminality

For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents

U. S. Government Printing Office

Washington 25, D. C.

A Collection of Documentary Evidence and Guide Materials Prepared by the American and British Prosecuting Staffs for tentation before the International Military Tribunal a t Nurnberg, Germany, in the case of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE UNITED KINGDOlM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, and THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS

-against HERMAINN WILHELM GOERING, RUDOLF HESS, JOACHIM von RIBBENTROP, ROBERT LEY, WILHELM KEITEL, ERNST KALTENBRUNNER, ALFRED ROSENBERG, HANS FRANK, WILHELM FRICK, JULIUS STREICHER, WALTER FUNK, HJALMAR SCHACHT, GUSTAV KRUPP v m BOHLEN und HALBACH, KARL DOENITZ, ERICH RAEDER, BALDUR von SCHIRACH, FRITZ SAUCKEL, ALFRED JODL, MARTIN BORMANN, FRANZ von PAPEN, ARTUR SEYSS-INQUART, A L BERT SPEER, CONSTANTIN von NEURATH, and HANS FRITZSCHE, Individually and as Members of Any of the Following Groups or Organizations to which They Respectively Belonged, Namely : DIE REICHSREGIERUNG (REICH CABINET); DAS KORPS DER POLITISCHEN LEITER DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (LEADERSHIP CORPS OF THE NAZI PARTY); DIE SCHUTZSTAFFELN DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (commonly known as the "SS") and including DIE SICHERHEITSDIENST (commonly known as the "SD"); DIE GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI (SECRET STATE POLICE, commonly known as the "GESTAPO") ; DIE STURMABTEILUNGEN DER N.S.D.A.P. (commonly known as the "SA") and the GENERAL STAFF and HIGH COMMAND of the GERMAN ARMED FORCES all as defined in Appendix B of the Indictment, Defendants.

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I . Agreement by the United States. France. Great Britain. and the Soviet Union f o r the Prosecution and Punishment of the Major W a r Criminals of the European Axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 I1. Charter of the International Military Tribunal and Protocol of 6 October 1945 ............................................ 4 I11. International Military Tribunal, Indictment No . 1 and Statement 13 of Reservation Filed by U . S . Chief of Counsel ................ s; IV. Motions, ~ u l i n ~ and Explanatory Material Relating to Certain . . . . . . . 83 of r;he Defendants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Robert Ley ............................................. 83 2. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach .................. 84 3 . Martin Bormann ....................................... 94 4. Ernst Kaltenbrunner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 5. Julius Streicher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 6 . Rudolf Hess ........................................... 97 V . Opening Address f o r the United States ...................... 114 VI. Organization of the Nazi P a r t y and State .................... 175 VII . Means used by the Nazi Conspirators in Gaining Control of t h e German State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 1. Co.mmon Objectives, Methods, and Doctrines of t h e Conspiracy ................................................. 184 2 . Acquisition of Totalitarian Political Control .............. 199 3. Consolidation of Totalitarian Political Control ............. 218 4 Purge of Political Opponents and Terrorization .......... 239 5. Destruction of t h e Free Trade Unions and Acquisition of Control over the Productive Labor Capacity ............... 252 6 Suppression of the Christian Churches ................... 263 7 Adoptibn and' Publication of t h e Program f o r Persecution of Jews ...............................................296 8. Reshaping of Education and Training of Youth ........... 312 9. Propaganda, Censorship, and' Supervision of Cultural Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 10. Militarization of Nazi Organizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 VIII . Economic Aspects of t h e Conspiracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 IX . Launching of Wars of Aggression ........................... 370 ,,I . The Plotting of Aggressive W a r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 8 . Preparation f o r Aggression: 1933-1936 ................... 410 , . -3 Aggression Against Austria ............................. 450 . - 4. The Execution of t h e Plan to Invade Czechoslovalria ........ 515 ,-6 . Opening Address f o r the United Kingdom ................ 593 --6 . Aggression a s a Basic Nazi Idea: Mein Kampf . . . . . . . . . . . . 644 7. Treaty Violations ...................................... 651 8. Aggression against Poland, Daniig, England and France . . . 673 9. Aggression against Norway and Denmark ................ 733 10. Aggression against Belgium. the Netherlands, and Luxumbourg ............................................... 760 111. Aggression against Greece and Yugoslavia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775 12. Aggression against the USSR ........................... 794 13. Collaboration with Italy and Japan and Aggressive War against t h e United States: November 1936 to December 1941 840 X . The Slave Labor Program, t h e Illegal Use of Prisoners of War. and the Special Responsibility of Sauckel and Speer Therefor 875 X I . Concentration Camps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949 XI1. The Persecution of the Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978 XI11. Germanization and Spoliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023 XIV . The plunder of A r t Treasures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097

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PREFACEI . On the 2d day of May 1945, President Truman signed Executive Order 9547 appointing Justice Robert H. Jackson as Representative of the United States and as its Chief of Counsel in the preparation and prosecution of the case against the major Axis war criminals. Since that date and up-to the present, the staff of the Officeof Chief of Counsel, or OCC, has been engaged continuously in the discovery, collection, examination, translation, and marshalling of documentary evidence demonstrating the criminality of the former leaders of the German Reich. Since the 20th day of November 1945, a considerable part of this documentary arsenal has been directed against the 22 major Nazi war criminals who are on trial before the International Military Tribunal in Nurnberg. As of this writing the American and British casesin-chief, on Counts I and I1 of the Indictment charging, respectively, conspiracy and the waging of wars of aggression, have been completed. There is perhaps no need to recall in these pages that the Nurnberg trial represents the first time in history that legal proceedings have been instituted against leaders of an enemy nation. It is perhaps equal supererogation to state here that there are no exact precedents for the charges made by the American, British, French, and Russian prosecutors that to plot or wage a war of aggression is a crime for which individuals may be puqished. Yet it was because of these very facts that in its indictment the prosecution presented a challenge to itself quite as great a s to the defense. A heavy burden was laid on the accusing nations to make sure that their proof measuredip to the magnitude of their accusations, and that the daring of their grand conception was matched by the industry of their research, lest the hard-bought opportunity to make International Law a guardian of peace should fail by default. I t is not surprising, therefore, that the American collecting and processing of documentary evidence, under the general direction of Col. Robert G. Storey, gradually developed into an operation of formidable scope. Although some pieces of evidence were secured in Washington and London, by far the greater part was obtained in the land of the enemy. As the American Armies had swept into Germany, military investigating teams had filled document centers with an increasing wealth of materials which were freely

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made available by the Army to OCC field investigators. Special assistance was given by the Document Section, G-2 Division, SHAEF, and by the Document Sections of the Army Groups and Armies operating in the European Theater. OCC investigators also made valuable discoveries while prospecting on their own. They soon found themselves embarrassed with riches. Perhaps foremost among the prize acquisitions was the neatly crated collection of all the personal and official correspondence of Alfred Rosenberg, together with a great quantity of Nazi Party correspondence. This cache was discovered behind a false wall in an old castle in Eastern Bavaria, where i t had been sent for safekeeping. Another outstanding collection consisted of thirty-nine leather-bound volumes containing detailed inventories. of the a r t treasures of Europe which had been looted by the ~insatxstah Rosenberg. These catalogues, together with much of the priceless plunder itself, were found hidden deep in an Austrian salt mine. An innocent-appearing castle near Marburg was found to contain some 485 tons of crated papers, which inspection revealed to be the records of the German Foreign Office from 1837 to 1944. Among other outstanding bulk acquisitions were more than 300 crates of German High Command files, 85 notebooks containing minutes of Hitler's conferences, and the complete files of the German Navy. The task was to screen thoroughly this abundance of material so as to overlook no relevant item, and yet a t the same time to obtain the proof and to translate i t in season, so as not to deIay preparation of the Indictment or commencement of the trial. The procedures followed in this process are described in the affidavit of Maj. William H. Coogan (001-A-PS), which is listed numerically among the documents. As a result of those procedures, more than 100,000 documents were individually examined in order to segregate those of importance. Of these 100,000 documents, approximately 4,000 were found to be of clear or potential value. This group of 4,000 was further reduced through exacting standards of elimination to a total of some 2,000 documents which i t was proposed to offer in evidence, and which make up the bulk of this publication. Thus, the documents presented in these volumes are the fittest survivors of a rigorous sifting. Each of them has met requirements designed to ensure the selection of only the most significant in bearing on the American, case. Documents primarily concerned with the report of individual barbarities or perversions were excluded, in conformity with the emphasis placed upon those tending to prove elements in the Nazi Master Plan. These documents consist, in the main, of official papers found

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in archives of the German Government and Nazi Party, diaries and letters of prominent Germans, and captured reports and orders. There are included, in addition, excerpts from governmental and Party decrees, from official newspapers and from authoritative German publications. The authenticity of all these materials is established by Maj. Coogan's affidavit (001-A-PS). Considered together, they reveal a fairly comprehensive view of the inner workings and outward deeds of the German government and of the Nazy Party, which were always concealed from the world, and for which the world will always hold the Hitler regime in horror and contempt. I1 It is important that it be clearly understood what this collection of documents is not. In the first place, i t is neither an official record nor an unofficial transcript of the trial proceedings. It is not designed to reproduce what has taken place in court. I t is merely the documentary evidence prepared by the American and British prosecuting staffs, and is in no wise under the sponsorship of the Tribunal. It is presented in the belief that this collection containing the full text of the documents, classified under appropriate subjects, may be more useful to students of the Nurnberg trial than the official record, when prepared, may be. The reason for this goes back to the first few days of the trial, when the Tribunal ruled that i t would treat no written matter a s in evidence unless i t was read in full, word by word, in court. The purpose of the ruling was to enable the documentary material which the American and British staffs had translated from German into English to be further translated into Russian and French through the simultaneous interpreting system in the courtroom. The consequence, however, was to enforce upon the American and British prosecution the task of trimming their evidence drastically unless the trial was to be protracted to an unconscionable length. Counsel therefore had to content themselves in most instances with introducing, by reading verbatim, only the most vital parts of the documents relied upon. Only these evidentiary minima appear in the daily transcript, and presumably, since no more is officially in evidence under the Tribunal's ruling, no more can properly be included in the official record. I t has frequently been the case, furthermore, that different parts of certain documents were read in proof of different allegations, and hence are scattered throughout the transcript. American counsel, in several instances, read only sketchy portions of some documents, leaving other portions, a t the request of the French and Soviet delegavii

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tions, to be read later as a part of their case. Still other portions of the same document will undoubtedly be read later on by the defense. It is an unavoidable consequence that the transcript itself will be a thing of shreds and patches, and.that any comprehensive and orderly notion of the documentary evidence must be obtained elsewhere. The documentary excerpts, when accompanied by the explanation of trial counsel, are of course sufficient for the trial and for the judgment of the Tribunal. But the purposes of historians and scholars will very likely lead them to wish to examine the documents in their entirety. It is to those longrange interests that these volumes are in the main addressed. Secondly, this collection of documents is not the American case. I t is a t once more and less than that. I t is less, because i t of course cannot include the captured motion picture and still photographic evidence relied upon, and because i t contains only a few of the organizational charts and visual presentation exhibits utilized at the trial. I t is more, because although it does contain all the evidence introduced either in part or in whole by the American staff in proof of Count I, it also includes many documents not introduced into evidence a t all. There were various reasons for not offering this material to the Tribunal: the documents were cumulative in nature, better documents were available on the same point, or the contents did not justify the time required for reading. (The document index a t the end of Volume VIII is marked to indicate which documents were introduced, either in whole or in part, in evidence.) Of more than 800 American documents so far introduced in evidence, a small number were received through judicial notice or oral summarization, while some 500 were read, in part or in whole, in court. Approximately 200 more went into evidence in the first few days of the trial, under an earlier ruling of the Tribunal which admitted documents without reading, and merely on filing with the court after proof of authenticity. Of the documents not now in evidence and thus not before the Tribunal for consideration in reaching its decision, many have been turned over to the French and Soviet prosecuting staffs and, by the time these volumes are published, will have been introduced in the course of their cases. Others will have been put before the Tribunal by the American case in rebuttal or utilized in crossexamining witnesses called by the defense. This publication includes a series of affidavits prepared under the direction of Col. John Harlan Amen, chief of the OCC Interrogation Division. Those which were introduced into evidence are listed among the documents in the PS series. A number of affidavits which were not offered to the Tribunal are printed in a

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separate section a t the end of the document series. Affidavits of the latter type were prepared in an attempt to eliminate surprise by delineating clearly the testimony which the affiant might be expected to give in court, should i t be decided to call him as a witness. In the case of the affiants who testified in court, their affidavits represent a substantially accurate outline of their testimony on direct examination. Others of the affiants may, by the time of publication, have been called as rebuttal witnesses for the pmsecution. In addition, there are included selected statements of certain defendants and prisoners written to the prosecutors from prison. It should be mentioned in this connection that as a result of many months of exhaustive questioning of the defendants, prisoners of war, and other potential witnesses, the Interrogation Division has harvested approximately 15,000 typewritten pages of valuable and previously unavailable information on a variety of subjects. These extensive transcripts represent approximately 950 individual interrogations and are presently being edited and catalogued in Nurnberg so that the significant materials may be published in a useful form and within a manageable sdope, as a supplement to these present volumes. This collection also includes approximately 200 documents obtained and processed by the British prosecuting staff, known as the British War Crimes Executive, and presented in substantiation of Count I1 of the Indictment, which the British delegation assumed the responsibility of proving. It seems altogether fitting that these documents should be included in these volumes since, in proving illegal acts of aggression, they naturally supplement the American documents proving the illegal conspiracy to commit aggression. The American prosecuting staff is grateful to Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, the British Deputy Chief Prosecutor, from whom and from ,the goodly company of whose associates there has ever been the most generous cooperation, for consent to the publi- , cation of the British documents by the United States Government. Under the division of the case agreed on by the Chief Prosecutors of the four Allied nations, the French and Soviet delegates are responsible for the presentation of evidence bearing on the proof of Count I11 (War Crimes) and Count IV (Crimes against Humanity) of the Indictment. The French case will concern itself with these crimes when committed in the West, while the Russian evidince will concern the commission of these crimes in the East. None of the documents obtained by these two prosecuting nations are included in these volumes. The reason is that, a t this writing, the French case has just commenced and the Soviet case will not be reached for several weeks. Since one of'

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the objects of this undertaking is to acquaint the American public a t the earliest opportunity with the character of the evidence produced by its representatives, there seems no justification in delaying publication until the close of the French and Russian cases, when all the prosecution documents will be available. As is indicated by the title of these present volumes, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, this collection relates only to Counts I and I1 of the Indictment, or one-half of the prosecution case. It is to be hoped, however, that supplementary volumes containing the French and Soviet documents may be published a t a later time. Finally, this collection, by its nature limited to a part of the prosecution case, does not of course purport to present the whole story of the evidence adduced a t Nurnberg. The evidence and arguments of defense counsel will not be presented for some time, and the text of these matters will, if possible, be included in any additional volumes, which it may become possible to publish.

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I11 On the other hand, i t may be useful to indicate what this collection is. The publication is offered in accordance with the conviction which has constantly animated the American prosecution, that only a part of its duty would have been done if it succeeded in persuading the judges of the International Military Tribunal. Its full task will be accomplished only if the world is also convinced of the justness of the cause. There were always some people who, perhaps under the spell of the exposure of the "atrocity propaganda" used in the First World War, felt that the deceptions and the outrages laid to the Nazis were quite .possibly untrue and in any event exaggerated. The mission of convincing these skeptics is one that has not been and cannot be discharged by newspaper reports of the Nurnberg proceedings, whish by their nature are incomplete and evanescent. But an inspection of the Nazis' own official records should suffice to banish all honest doubts, and to make it undeniably clear that those things really happened because the Nazis planned i t that way. It is the hope of the American prosecution that these volumes may in some measure expose, for the warning of future generations as ,well a s a reminder to the present, the anatomy of National Socialism in all its ugIy nakedness. Many of these documents disclose the repressive governmental machinery and intricate Phrty bureaucracy by which the Nazis stifled initiative and opposition. They reveal also the image of horror which a gang of brigands created in the name of the German state, in order to seize and maintain power for themselves a t the expense of the liberties of their own

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people and the lives of their neighbors. Legal proof has perhaps seldom been so overwhelming, certainly never so self-admitted, as is this proof of the deeds with which the Nazi leadership befouled the earth. Yet, although these documents naturally are concerned primarily with the guilt of the leaders of the German Reich, they also contain a wealth of information, much of i t hitherto unavailable elsewhere, on many other matters of importance. Their pages illuminate many dark corners of recent history. Hence, this collection has an additional purpose. It is offered as a source book, of interest to historians, political scientists, students, universities, libraries, government agencies, private research groups, newspaper editors, and others, so that they may see, from the official papers of the Nazi government and from the words of its own leaders, the things that went on in Germany in the days of that blasphemous regime. These papers, although they include a few legal matters, are not addressed nor are they expected to appeal primarily to lawyers. The satisfaction of these profes.sional interests must perforce be postponed until publication of the official record of the trial. IV I t is apparent that such a vast collection of documents on a variety of subjects would be useless to any one n ~ thoroughly t conversant with the field, without some sort of guide through the maze. That i s the reason for the first two volumes, which corisist of various explanatory materials included in order to facilitate understanding. The average reader who tries to cope a? with some of the more pompous of the Nazi titles-suchBeauftragter des Fuehrers fuer die ueberwachung des Gesamten Geistigen und Weltausschaulichers Schulung und Erziehung der

NSDAP, or Delegate of the Fuehrer for the Total Supervision

of Intellectual and Ideological Training and Education of the Party (Rosenberg)-is plainly in need of assistance. A Glossary of common German and Nazi titles, designations, and terms has therefore been compiled. For those who are unfamiliar with the difference between a Hauptmann and a Hauptsturmfuehrer, a table of military ranks, with their American equivalents,. has been prepared. A brief biographical gazeteer of the more prominent Nazis, together with a listing of the major officials of the Government, Party, and Armed Forces, has also been included for reference purposes. In addition, an index of the Code-Words used by the Nazis to preserve the secrecy of the invasions they plotted has been compiled. Moreover, in order to make clear

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developments in the proceedings affecting the status of several of the defendants, certain motions of counsel and rulings of the Tribunal, together with factual accounts, are also presented. And finally the international treaties relating to land warfare and prisoners of war are printed in full (3737-PS; 3738-PS) . The principal content of Volumes I and I1 is composed of what might be called essays, summarizing and connecting up most of the documents relating to particular subjects in the order of their mention in Counts I and I1 of the Indictment. As an additional aid, a t the end of each essay there appears a descriptive list of all documents referred to in the essay, so that the reader may quickly discover which of the published documents bear upon the subject in which he is interested. In many cases these lists include documents not discussed in the essays for the reason that they are cumulative in nature or were discovered subsequent to the preparation of the essays. Some of th'ese essays are adaptations of factual "trial briefs" prepared by the staff of OCC. Some of these "trial briefs" were handed to the Tribunal for its assistance, while others were used only for the guidance of trial counsel. Others of the essays have been adapted from the oral presentation and summary of counsel in court. Their difference in origin explains their difference in form. It must be borne in mind that each of these essays, which were originally prepared for the purpose of convincing the Tribunal of the legal guilt of the defendants, has been submitted to a process of editing and revision in order to serve a quite different purpose-to give the general reader a general and coherent Conception of the subject matter. These essays bear the marks of haste and are not offered as in any sense definitive or exhaustive. The task of translation from German into English was a formidable one, and in many instances translations of documents could be made available to the brief: writers only a few days before the briefs were scheduled to be presented in court. In other instances i t was utterly impossible, with the constantly overburdened translating staff available, to translate in full all the material known to be of value if the prosecution was to be ready on the date set for trial. The diary of Hans Frank, for example (2233-PS) consisted of 42 volumes, of which only a few outstanding excerpts, chosen by German-reading analysts, were translated. Similarly, large portions of the 250 volumes of the Rosenberg correspondence remain still untranslated and unus,ed. Books, decrees, and lengthy reports were not translated in full, and only salient excerpts were utilized. Approximately 1,500 documents in the possession of OCC have not I xii 0

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yet been translated and more are being received daily. I t is expected that they will be used for purposes of cross-examination and rebuttal, and may later be published. I t must also be remembered that these documents are, in the main, translations from the original German. The magnitude of the task, coupled with a sense of the hastening on of time, naturally resulted in imperfections. However, an attempt has been made to preserve the format of the original documents in the printed translations. Italics represent underlining in the original documents and editorial additions have been enclosed in brackets. The reader may notice occasional variations between the English wording of documents quoted in the essays, and the full text of the document itself. This divergence is explained by the fact that translations of the same documents were sometimes made by two different persons. Variations in the exact means of expression were of course to be expected in such an event, yet both translations are of equal authenticity. Certain passages of some documents may strike the reader a s confused or incomplete, and occasionally this is the result of hasty work. More frequently, however the jumble of language accurately reflects the chaos of the original German, for the language of National Socialists was often merely a turgid and mystical aggregation of words signifying nothing, to which the German language easily lends itself. \ The accuracy of the translations is attested to in Maj. Coogan's affidavit (001-A-PS) . If the case had'not been set down for trial until 1948, a complete and satisfactory preparation would have been possible. A perfect case could not have been madein less time. But the'Allied governments and pubIic opinion were understandably impatient of delay f6r whatever reason, and they had to be respected. The nature of the difficulties caused by the pressure for speed were stated in Justice Jackson's address opening the American case: "In justice to the nations and the men associated in this prosecution, I must remind you of certain difficulties which may leave their mark on this case. Never before in legal history has an effort been made to bring within the scope of a single litigation the developments of a decade, covering a whole Continent, and involving a score of nations, countless individuals, and innumerable events. Despite the magnitude of the task, the world has demanded immediate action. This demand has had to be met, though perhaps a t the cost of finished craftsmanship. In my country, established courts, following familiar procedures, applying well thumbed precedents, and dealing with the legal consequences of local and

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limited events, seldom commence a trial within a year of the event in litigation. Yet less than eight months ago today the courtroom in which you sit was an enemy fortress in the hands of German SS troops. Less than eight months ago nearly all our witnesses and documents were in enemy hands. The law had not been codified, no procedures had been established, no Tribunal was in existence, no usable courthouse stood here, none of the hundreds of tons of official German documents had been examined, no prosecuting staff had been assembled, nearly all the present defendants were a t large, and the four prosecuting, powers had not yet joined in common cause to try them. I should be the last to deny that the case may well suffer from incomplete researches and quite likely will not be the example of professional work which any of the prosecuting nations would normally wish to sponsor. It is, however, a completely adequate case to the judgment we shall ask you to render, and its full development we shall be obliged to leave to historians."

No work in a specialized field would be complete without its own occult paraphernalia, and the curious reader may desire an explanation of the sfrange wizardry behind. the document classification symbols. The documents in the American series are classified under the cryptic categories of "L," "R," "PS," "EC," "ECH," "ECR," and "C." The letter "L" was used as an abbreviation for "London," and designates those documents either obtained from American and British sources in London or processed in the London Office of the OCC, under the direction ,of Col. Murray C. Bernays and Col. Leonard Wheeler, Jr. The letter "R" stands for "Rothschild," and indicates the documents obtained through the screening activities of Lt. Walter Rothschild of the London branch of OSS. The origins of the "PS" symbol are more mysterious, but the letters are an abbreviation of the amalgam, "Paris-Storey." The "PS' symbol, accordingly, denotes those documents which, \although obtained in Germany, were processed by Col. Storey's division of the OCC in Paris, as well as those documents later processed by the same division after headquarters were established in Nurnberg. The "EC" symbol stands for "Economic Case" and designates those documents which 'were obtained and processed by the Economic Section of OCC under Mr. Francis M. Shea, with field headquarters a t Frankfurt. The " E C H variant denotes those which were screened a t Heidelberg. The letter "C," which is an abbreviation for "Crimes," indicates xiv

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a collection of German Navy documents which were jointly processed by British and American teams, with Lt. Comdr. John Bracken representing the OCC. The British documents hence include some in the joint AngloAmerican "C" series. The remainder of the British documents are marked with the symbols "TC," "UK," "D," and "M." The symbol "TC" is an abbreviation of "Treaty Committee" and signifies the documents selected by a Foreign Office Committee which assisted the British prosecution. " U K is the abbreviation for "United Kingdom" and indicates documents collected from another source. No especial significance lurks in the letters "D," and "M," which were apparently the result of accident, possibly caprice, rather than design. As a matter of record, however, "M" stands for. the first name of the British assistant prosecutor. Finally, "D'" is merely an hum'ble filing reference, which may have had some obscure connection with the word "document." The reader will note that there are numerous and often lengthy gaps in the numbering of dscuments within a given series, and the documents are not numbered in any apparent order. This anomaly is accounted for by several different factors. As the documents avalanched into the OCC offices they were catalogued and numbered in the order received without examination. Upon subsequent ,analysis i t was frequently found that an earlier document was superseded in quality by a later acquisition, and the earlier one was accordingly omitted. Others were withdrawn because of lack of proof of their authenticity. Occasionally it was discovered that two copies of the same document had been received from different sources, and one of them was accordingly stricken from the list. In other cases blocks of numbers were o assigned to field collecting teams, which failed t r exhaust all the numbers allotted. In all these cases no change was made in the original numbers because of the de!ay and confusion which would accompany renumbering. Nor has renumbering been attempted in this publication, and the original gaps remain. This is because the documents introduced into evidence carried their originally assigned numbers, and students of the trial who use these volumes in conjunction with the official record will therefore be able to refer rapidly from citations in the record of the proceedings to the text of the documents cited. VI I t only remains to acknowledge the toil and devotion of the members of the OCC staff who were responsible for the original

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PREFACE

preparation of the materials contained in these volumes. Mention must first be made of Mr. Gordon Dean, who was responsible in large part for the conception of this undertaking, and of Lt. Comdr. Charles A. Horsky, USCGR(T) who set in motion the governmental machinery necessary to publication. The material in Chapter VI on the Organization of the Nazi Party and State was originally prepared by Mr. Ralph G. Albrecht. The essays in Chapter VII on the Means ~ s 8 d the Nazi by Conspirators in Gaining Control of the German State were originally prepared by Col. Leonard Wheeler, Jr., Lt. Col. Benjamin Kaplan, Maj. Frank B. Wallis, Dr. Edmund A. Walsh, Maj. Seymour M. Peyser, Maj. J. Hartley Murray, Lt. PAul Johnston, USNR, Lt. Comdr. Morton E. Rome, USNR, Capt. D. A. Sprecher, Lt. Samuel E. Sharp, Lt. (jg) A. R. Martin, USNR, Lt. Henry V. Atherton, and Lt. William E. Miller. The materials on the Economic Aspects of the Conspiracy, contained in Chapter VIII, on Slave Labor, contained in Chapter X, and on Germanization and Spoliation, contained in Chapter XIII, were prepared by Mr. Francis M. Shea, Mr. Benedict Deinard, Lt. Col. Murray I. Gurfein, Lt. Comdr. W: S. Emmet, USNR, Lt. Thomas L. Karsten, USNR, Capt. Sam Harris, Capt. James H. Mathias, Capt. Melvin Siegel, Capt. Eaward H. Kenyon, Lt. (jg) Bernard Meltzer, USNR, Lt. (jg) Brady 0.Bryson, USNR, Lt. Raymond Ickes, USMCR, Mr. Jan Charmatz, Mr. Walter Derenberg, Mr. Sidney Jacoby, Mr. Werner Peiser, Mr. Edgar Bodenheimer, and Mr. Leon Freclftel. The materials 'contained in Chapter IX on Aggressive War, (except those relating to Aggression as a Basic Nazi Idea, the Violation of ~rea\ties,and Aggression against Poland, Danzig, England and France, Norway and Denmark, the Low Countries, and the Balkans) were prepared by Mr. Sidney S. Alderman, Comdr. Sidney J. Kaplan, USCGR, Lt. Col. Herbert Krucker, Maj. Lacey Hinely, Maj. Joseph Dainow, Lt. Comdr. Harold Leventhal, USCGR, Lt. John M. Woolsey, Jr., USNR, Lt. James A. Gorrell, and Lt. Roy H. Steyer, USNR. The materials contained in Chapter XII, on Persecution of the Jews, in Chapter XI on Concentration Camps, and in Chapter XIV on Plunder of Art Treasures, were prepared by Col. Hardy Hollers, Maj. William F. Walsh, Mr. Thomas J. Dodd, Capt. Seymour Krieger, Lt. Frederick Felton, USNR, Lt. (jg) Brady 0. Bryson, USNR, Mr. Hans Nathan, Mr. Isaac Stone, Lt. Daniel F. Margolies, Capt. Edgar Boedeker, Lt. (jg) Bernard Meltzer, USNR, Lt. Nicholas Doman, and Mr. Walter W. Brudno.

,

PREFACEThe materials contained in Chapter XVI on the responsibility of the Individual Defendants were prepared by Col. Howard Brundage, Mr. Ralph G. Albrecht, Dr. Robert M. W. Kempner, ~ t Col. William H. Baldwin, Maj. Seymour M. Peyser, Maj. . Joseph D. Bryan, Capt. D. A. Sprecher, Capt. Norman Stoll, Capt. Robert Clagett, Capt. John Auchincloss, Capt. Seymour Krieger, Lt. Whitney R. Harris, USNR, Lt. Frederick Felton, USNR, Lt. Henry V. Atherton, Lt. Richard Heller, USNR, Mr. Henry Kellerman, Mr. Frank Patton, Mr. Karl Lachmann, Mr. Bert Heilpern, Mr. Walter Menke, Mr. Joseph Michel, Mr. Walter W. Brudno, Mrs. Katherine Walch, Miss Harriet Zetterberg, Lt. (jg) Brady 0.Bryson, USNR, and Capt. Sam Harris. The materials contained in the first six sections of Chapter XV on the Criminal Organizations were prepared by Lt. Col. George E. Seay, Maj. Warren F. Farr, Lt. Comdr. Wm. S. Kaplan, USNR, Lt. Whitney R. Harris, USNR, Miss Katherine Fite, Maj. Robert G. Stephens, Lt. Thomas F. Larnbert, Jr., USNR, and Mr. Charles S. Burdell. The materials contained in Section 7 of Chapter XV on the General Staff and High Command were prepared on behalf of the American delegation by Col. Telford Taylor, Maj. Loftus Becker, Maj. Paul Neuland, Capt. Walter Rapp, Capt. Seymour Krieger, and Mr. Charles Kruszeawski; with the assistance of a British staff made jointly available to both the American and British delegations, consisting of W/Cdr. Peter Calvocoressi, RAFVR, Maj. Oliver Berthoud, IC, Lt. Michael Reade, RNVR, F/Lt. George Sayers, RAFVR, S/O Barbara Pinion, WAAF, W/O Mary Carter, WAAF, and Miss Elizabeth Stewart. The charts reproduced are among those introduced by the prosecution, and were designed and executed by presentation specialists assigned to OCC by the Officeof ~ t r a t e ~ i i ~ e r v i cand, headed by es David Zablodousky under the direction of Comdr. James B. Donovan, USNR. Acknowledgment must also be made of the very effective labors of the British delegation in preparing those materials in Chapter IX on Aggressive War relating to Aggression as a Basic Nazi Idea, the Violation of Treaties, and the Aggressions against ~ o l a n d Danzig, England and France, Norway and Denmark, the , Low Countries, and the Balkans, as well as the materials in sections on Individual Defendants relating to Streicher, Raeder, Doenitz, Neurath, and Ribbentrop. This share of the common task was borne by Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, K.C., M.P., Mr. Geoffrey D. Roberts, K.C., Lt. Col. J. M. G. Griffith-Jones, M.C., Col. Harry J. Phillimore, O.B.E., and Maj. Elwyn Jones, M.P.685964-46-2

xvii

PREFACE

The British opening address was delivered by the Attorney Genera1 and chief of the British delegation, Sir Hartley Shawcross, K.C.,M.P. Recognition is also due to Maj. F. Jay Nimitz, Miss Alma Soller, and Miss Mary Burns, for their loyal and capable assistance in all the harassing details of compiling, editing and indexing these numerous papers. One final word should be said in recognition of the financial burden assumed by the State and War Departments, which have generously joined in allocating from their budgets the very considerable funds required to make this publication possible. Roger W. Barrett, Captain, JAGD William E. Jackson,. Lieutenant (jg) USNR ,

EditorsApproved : Robert H. Jackson Chief of Counsel Nurnberg, 20 January 1946.

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xviii

Chapter I

I

AGREEMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNI~ED S A E OF AMERICA; THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT TTS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS FOR THE PROSECUTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE MAJOR WAR CRIMINALS OF THE EUROPEAN AXIS.WHEREAS the United Nations have from time to time made dec1ara;tions o their intention that War Criminals shall be Y brought to justice; AND WHEREAS the Moscow Declaration of the 30th October 1943 on German atrocities i n Occupied Europe stated that those German Officers and men and members of the Nazi Party who have been responsible for or have taken a consenting part in atrocities and crimes will !be sent back to the countries in which their abominable deeds were done in order that they may be judged and punished according to the laws of these liberated countries and of the free Governments that will be created therein ; AND WHEREAS this Declaration was stated to be without prejudice to the case of major criminals whose offenses have no particular geographic location and who will be punished by the joint decision of the Governments of the Allies; NOW THEREFORE the Government of the United States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (hereinafter called "the Signatories") acting in the interests of all the United Nations and by their representatives duly authorized thereto have concluded this Agreement.

'

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Article 1 . There shall be established after consultation with the Control Council for Germany an International Military Tribunal for the trial of war criminals whose offenses have no particular geographical location whether they be accused individually or in their capacity a s members of organizations or groups or in both capacities. Article 2. The constitution, jurisdiction and functions of the International Military Tribunal shall be those set out in the Charter

CHAPTER I

annexed to this Agreement, which Charter shall form an integral part of this Agreement. Article 3. Each of the Signatories shall take the necessary steps to make available for the investigation of the charges and trial the major war criminals detained by them who are to be tried by the International Military Tribunal. The Signatories shall also use their'best endeavors to make available for investigation of the charges against and the trial before the International Military Tribunal such of the major war criminals as are not in the territories of any of the Signatories. Article 4. Nothing in this Agreement shall prejudice the provisions established by the Moscow Declaration concerning the return of war criminals to the countries where they committed their crimes. Article 5 . Any Government of the United Nations may adhere to this Agreement by notice given through the diplomatic channel to the Government of the United Kingdom, who shall inform the other signatory and adhering Governments of each such adherence. Article 6 . Nothing in this Agreement shall prejudice the jurisdiction or the powers of any national or occupation court established or to be established in any allied territory or in Germany for the trial of war criminals. Article 7. This Agreement shall come into force on the day of signature and shall remain in force for the period of one year and shall continue thereafter, subject to the right of any Signatory to give, through the diplomatic channel, one month's notice of intention to terminate it. Such termination shall not prejudice any proceedings already taken or any findings already made in pursuance of this Agreement.

IN WITNESS WHGREOF the Undersigned have signed the present Agreement.DONE in quadruplicate in London this 8th day of August 1945 each in English, French and Russian, and each text to have equal authenticity. For the Government of the United States of America [signed] ROBERT H. JACKSON For the Provisional Government of the French Republic [signed] ROBERT FALCO

CHAPTER I

For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and-Northern Ireland -.-. [signed] JOWITT C. For the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [signed] I. T. NIKITCHENKO [signed] A. N. TRAININ

Chapter IICHARTER OF THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNALI. CONSTITUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL

Article 1. In pursuance of the Agreement signed on the 8th day of August 1945 by the Government of the United States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, there shall be established an International Military Tribunal (hereinafter called "the Tribunal") for the just and prompt trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis.I

Article 2. The Tribunal shall consist of four members, each with an alternate. One member and one alternate shall be appointed by each of the Signatories. The alternates shall, so f a r as they are able, be present a t all sessions of the Tribunal. In case of illness of any member of the Tribunal or his incapacity for some other reason to fulfill his functions, his alternate shall take his place. Article 3. Neither the Tribunal, its members nor their alternates can be challenged by the prosecution, or by the Defendants or their Counsel. Each Signatory may replace i t s member of the Tribunal or his alternate for reasons of health or for other good reasons, except that no replacement may take place during a Trial, other than by an alternate. Article 4. (a) he presence of all four members of the Tribunal or the T alternate for any absent member shall be necessary to constitute the quorum. ( b ) The members of the Tribunal shall, before any trial be gins, agree among themselves upon the selection from their number of a President, and the President shall hold office during that trial, or a s may otherwise be agreed by a vote of not less than three members. The principle of rotation of presidency for successive trials is agreed. If, however, a session of the Tribunal takes place on the territory of one of the four Signatories, the representative of that Signatory on the Tribunal shall preside. (c) Save a s aforesaid the Tribunal shall take decisions by a majority vote and in case the votes are evenly divided, the

CHAPTER II

vote of the President shall be decisive: provided always that convictions and sentences shall only be imposed by affirmative votes of a t least three members of the Tribunal.

Article 5. I n case of need and depending on the number of the matters to be tried, other Tribunals may be set up; and the establishment, functions, and procedure of each Tribunal shall be identical, and shall be governed by this Charter.II. JURISDICTION AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Article 6 . The Tribunal established by the Agreement referred to in Article 1 hereof for the trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries shall have the power to try and punish persons who, acting in the interests of the European Axis countries, whether as individuals or a s members of organizations, committed any of the following crimes: The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual . responsibility: (a) CRIMES AGAINST PEACE : namely, planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing; ( b ) WAR CRIMES: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave.labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity ; ( c ) CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: namely, murder, extermination,'enslavement,deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war; or persecution on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with'any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of domestic law of the country where perpetrated. Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan.

CHAPTER II

Article 7'. The official position of defendants, whether as Heads of State or responsible offici'als in Government Departments, shall not be considered as freeing them from responsibility or mitigating punishment. Article 8. The fact that the'Defendant acted pursuant to order of his Government o r of a superior shall not free him from responsibility, but may ,be considered in mitigation of punishment if the Tribunal determine t h a t justice so requires. Article 9 . A t the trial of any individual member of any group or organization the Tribunal may declare (in connection with any act of which the individual may be convicted) t h a t the group or organization of which the individual was a member was a crimingl organization. After receipt of t h e Indictment the Tribunal shall give such notice as it thinks fit that the prosecution intends to ask the Tribunal to make such declaration and any member of t h e organization will be entitled to apply to the Tribunal for leave t o be heard by the Tribunal upon the question of the criminal character of t h e organization. The Tribunal shall have power to allow or reject t h e application. If the application is allowed, the Tribunal may direct in wh'at manner the applicants shall be represented and heard. Article 10. I n cases where a group or organization is declared criminal by t h e Tribunal, the competent national authority of any Signatory shall have the right to bring individuals t o trial for membership therein before national, military or occupation courts. I n any such case the criminal nature of the group or organization is considered proved and shall not be questioned. Article 11. Any person convicted by the Tribunal may be charged before a national, military or occupation court, referred t o in Article 10 of this Charter, with a crime other than of membership in a criminal group or organization and such court may, after convicting him, ,impose upon him punishment independent of and additional t o t h e punishment imposed by the Tribunal for participation in t h e criminal activities of such group or organization. Article 12. The Tribunal shall have the right to take proceedings against a person cliarged with crimes set out in Article 6 of this Charter in his absence, if he has not been found or if the Tribunal, for any reason, finds i t necessary, in the interests of justice, to conduct the hearing in his absence.6

CHAPTER II

Article 13. The Tribunal shall draw up rules for its procedure. These rules shall not be inconsistent with t h e provisions of this Charter.Ill. COMMITTEE FOR THE INVESTlGATlON AND PROSECUTION OF MAJOR WAR CRIMINALS

Article 14. Each Signatory shall appoint a Chief Prosecutor for the investigation of the charges against and t h e prosecution of major war criminals. The Chief Prosecutors shall act a s a committee for the following purposes : ( a ) to agree upon a plan of the individual work of each of the Chief Prosecutors and his staff, ( b ) to settle th'e final designation of major w a r criminals to be tried by the Tribunal, ( c ) to approve the Indictment and the documents to be submitted therewith, (d) to lodge the Indictment and the accompanying documents with t h e Tribunal, ( e ) to draw up and recommend to the Tribunal for its approval draft ruIes of procedure, contemplated by Article 13 of this Charter. The Tribunal shall have power to accept, with or without amendments, or to reject, the rules so recommended. The Committee shall act in all t h e above matters by a majority vote and shall appoint a Chairman a s may be convenient and in accordance with the principle of rotation: provided t h a t if there is an equal division of vote concerning the designation of a Defendant to be tried by the Tribunal, or the crimes with which he shall be charged, t h a t proposal will be adopted which was made by t h e party which proposed t h a t the particular Defendant be tried, or the particular charges be preferred against him.\

.

Article 15. The Chief Prosecutors shall individually, and acting in collaboration with one another, also undertake t h e following duties : (a) nvestigation, collection and production before o r a t the i Trial of all necessary evidence, ( b ) the preparation of the Indictment for approval by the Committee in accordance with paragraph ( c ) of Article 14 hereof, ( c ) the preliminary examination of all necessary witnesses and of the Defendants, ( d ) to act a s prosecutor a t the Trial,

CHAPTER II

(e) to appoint representatives to carry out such duties as may be assigned to them, ( f ) o undertake such other matters as may appear necessary t to them for the purposes of the preparation for and conduct of the Trial. ' It is understood that no witness or Defendant detained by any Signatory shall be taken out of the possession of that Signatory without its assent.'

IV. FAIR TRIAL FOR DEFENDANTS

Article 16. In order to ensure fair trial for the Defendants, the following procedure shall be followed : ( a ) The Indictment shall include full particulars specifying in detail the charges against the Defendants. A copy of the Indictment and of all the documents lodged with the Indictment, translated into a language which he understands, shall be furnished to the Defendant a t a reasonable time before the Trial. ( b ) During any preliminary examination or trial of a Defend ant he shall have the right to give any explanation relevant to the charges made against him. ( c ) A preliminary examination of a ~ e f e n d a n t and his Trial shall be conducted in or translated into, a language which the Defendant understands. ( d ) A defendant shall have the right to conduct his own defense before the Tribunal or to have the assistance of Counsel. ( e ) A defendant shall have the right through himself or through his counsel to present evidence a t the Trial in support of his defense, and to cross-examine any witness called by the Prosecution.V. POWERS OF THE TRIBUNAL AND CONDUCT OF THE TRIAL

L

Article 17. The Tribunal shall have the power (a) to summon witnesses to the Trial and to require their attendance and testimony and to put questions to them, ( b ) to interrogate any Defendant, ( c ) to require the production of documents and other evidenti ary material, (d) o administer oaths to witnesses, t ( e ) to appoint officers for the carrying out of any task desig nated by the Tribunal including the power to have evidence taken on commission.

CHAPTER I I

1

Article 18: The Tribunal shall (a) confine the Trial strictly to an expeditious hearing of the issues raised by the charges, ( b ) take strict measures to prevent any action which will cause unreasonable delay, and rule out irrelevant issues and statements of any kind whatsoever, ( c ) deal summarily with any contumacy, imposing appropriate punishment, including exclusion of any Defendant or his Counsel from some or all further proceedings, but without prejudice to the determination of the charges. Article 19. The Tribunal shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence. It shall adopt and apply t o the greatest possible extent expeditious and non-technical procedure, and shall admit any evidence which i t deems to have probative value. Article 20. The Tribunal may require to be informed of the nature of any evidence before i t is offered so that i t may rule upon the relevance thereof. Artide 21. The Tribunal shall not require proof of facts of common knowledge but shall take judicial notice thereof. It shall also take judicial notice of official governmental documents and reports of the United Nations, including the acts and documents of the committees set up in the various allied countries for the investigation of war crimes, and the'records and findings of military or other Tribunals of any of the United Nations. Article 22. The permanent seat of the Tribunal shall be in Berlin. The first meetings of the members of the Tribunal and of the Chief Prosecutors shall be held a t Berlin in a place to be designated by the Control Council for Germany. The first trial shall be held at Nurnberg, and any subsequent trials shall be held a t such places a s the Tribunal may decide. Article 23. One or more of the Chief Prosecutors may take part in the prosecution a t each Trial. The function of any Chief Prosecutor may be discharged by him personally, or by any person or persons authorized by him. The function of Counsel for a Defendant may be discharged a t the Defendant's request by any Counsel professionally qualified to conduct cases before the Courts of his own country, or by any other person who may be specially authorized thereto by the Tribunal.

CHAPTER I I

:

Article 24. The proceedings a t the Trial shall take the following course : ( a ) The Indictment shall be read in court. ( b ) The Tribunal shall ask each Defendant whether he pleads "guilty" or "not guilty". (c) The prosecution shall make a n opening statement. (d) The Tribunal shall ask the prosecution and the defense ) what evidence (if any) they wish t o submit to the Tribunal, and t h c Tribunal shall rule upor, t h c admissibility of any such evidence. (e) The witnesses for the Prosecution shall be examined and after t h a t the witnesses for the Defense; Thereafter such rebutting evidence as may be held by the Tribunal to be admissible shall be called by either the Prosecution or the Defense. (f)' The Tribunal may put any question to any witness and to any Defendant, a t any time. ( g ) The Prosecution and the Defense shall interrogate and may cross-examine any witnesses and any Defendant who gives testimony. ( h ) T he,Defense shall address the court. ( i ) The Prosecution shall address the court. ( j ) Each Defendant may make a statement to the Tribunal. ( k ) The Tribunal shall deliver judgment and pronounce sen tence. Article 25. All official documents shall be produced, and all court proceedings conducted, in English, French, and Russian, and in the language of the Defendant. So much of the record and of t h e proceedings may also be translated into the language of any count r y in which the Tribunal is sitting, as the Tribunal considers desirable in the interests of justice and public opinion.VI. JUDGMENT AND SENTENCE

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Article 26. The judgment of the Tribunal as to the guilt or the innocence of any Defendant shall give the reasons on which it is based, and shall be final and not subject to review. Article 27. The Tribunal shall have the right t o impose upon a Defendant on conviction, death or such other punishment as sEiall be determined by i t to be just. Article 28. I n addition to any punishment imposed by it, the Tribunal shall have the right to deprive the convicted person of

CHAPTER II

any stolen property and order i t s delivery to the Control Council for Germany. Article 29. I n case of guilt, sentences shall be carried out in accordance with the orders of the Control Council for Germany, which may a t any time r!duce or otherwise alter the sentences, but may not increase the severity thereof. If the Control Council for Germany, after any Defendant has been convicted and sentenced, discovers fresh evideiice which, in its opiaion, wol;ld found a fresh charge against him, the Council shall report accordingly to the Committee established under Article 14 hereof, for such action a s they may consider proper, having regard to the interests of justice.VII. E P N E XESS

Article $0. The expenses of the Tribunal and of the Trials, shall be charged by t h e Signatories against the funds allotted for maintenance of the Control Council for Germany.

PROTOCOL

Whereas an Agreement and Charter regarding the Prosecution of War Criminals was signed in London on the 8th August 1945, in the English, French and Russian languages. And whereas a discrepancy has been found to exist between the originals of Article 6, paragraph (c), of the Charter in the Russian language, on the one hand, and the originals in the English and French languages, on the other, t o wit, t h e semi-colon in Article 6, paragraph (c), of the Charter between the words "war" and "or", as carried in the English and French texts, is a comma in t h e Russian text. And whsreas i t is desired t o rectify this discrepancy: NOW, THEREFORE, t h e undersigned, signatories of the said Agreement on behalf of their rekpective Governments, duly authorized thereto, have agreed t h a t Article 6, paragraph ( c ) , of the Charter in the Russian text is correct, and t h a t the meaning and intention of the Agreement and Charter require t h a t the said semicolon in the English text should be changed t o a comma, and that t h e French text should be amended t o read as follows:, ( c ) L E S CRIMES CONTRE L'HUMANITE: c'est a dire I'assassinat, l'extermination, la reduction en es- ' clavage, la deportation, e t tout autre acte inhumain

CHAPTER II

commis contre toutes populations civiles, avant ou pendant la guerre, ou bien les persecutions pour des motifs politiques, raciaux, ou religieux, lorsque ces actes ou persecutions, qu'ils aient constitue ou non une violation du droit interne du pays ou ils ont ete perpetres, ont ete commis a la-suite de tout crime rentrant dans la competence du Tribunal, ou en liaison avec ce crime. IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed the present Protocol. DONE in quadruplicate in Berlin this 6th day of October, 1945, each in English, French, and Russian, and each text t&have equal authenticity. For the Government of the United States of America /s/ ROBERT H. JACKSON For the Provisional Government of the French Republic /s/ FRANCOIS de MENTHON For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland /s/ HARTLEY SHAWCROSS For the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics / R. RUDENKO

INTERNATIONAL MILITARYTRIBUNAL, INDICTMENT NUMBER I.THE UNITED STATES OF A-MERICA, THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, AND THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS

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AGAINST

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HERMANN WILHELM GOERING, RUDOLF HESS, JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP, ROBERT LEY, WILHELM KEITEL, ERNST KALTENBRUNNER, ALFRED ROSENBERG, HANS FRANK, WILHELM FRICK, JULIUS STREICHER, WALTER FUNK, HJALMAR SCHACHT, GUSTAV KRUPP VON BOHLEN UND HALBACH, KARL DOENITZ, ERICH RAEDER, BALDUR YON SCHIRACH, FRITZ SAUCKEL, ALFRED JODL, MARTIN BORMANN, FRANZ VON PAPEN, ARTUR SEYSS-INQUART, ALBERT SPEER, CONSTANTIN VON NEURATH, AND HANS AND OF FRITZSCHE, INDIVIDUALLY AS MEMBERS ANY O F THE FOLLOWING GROUPSOR ORGANISATIONS WHICH THEY RETO SPECTIVELY BELONGED, NAMELY: DIE REICHSREGIERUNG (REICH CABINET); DAS KORPS DER POLITISCHEN LEITER DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (LEADERSHIP CORPS OF THE NAZI PARTY) ; DIE SCHUTZSTAFFELN DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE "SS") AND INCLUDING DIE SICHERHEITSDIENST (COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE "SD") ; DIE GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI (SECRET STATE POLICE, COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE "GESTAPO") ; DIE STURMABTEILUNGEN KNOWN AS THE "SA") AND THE DER N.S.D.A.P. (COMMONLY GENERAL STAFF AND HIGH COMMAND OF THE GERMAN B. ARMED FORCES ALL AS DEFINED I N APPENDIX Defendants

CHAPTER I l l

1.

T

The United States of-America, the French Republic, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by the undersigned, Robert H. Jackson, Francois de Menthon, Hartley Shawcross and R. A. Rudenko, duly appointed to represent their respective Governments in the investigation of the ..ha!-ges against and the prosecution of the major w a r criminals, pursuant to the Agreement of London dated 8th August, 1945, and the Chdrter of this Trilbunal annexed thereto, hereby accuse a s guilty, in the respects hereinafter set forth, of Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity, and of a Common Plan or Conspiracy t o commit those Crimes, all a s defined in the Charter of the Tribunal, and accordingly name as defendants in this cause and as indicted on the counts hereinafter set out: HERMANN WILHELM GOERING, RUDOLF HESS, JOACHIM VQN RIBBENTROP, ROBERT LEY, WILHELM KEITEL, ERNST KALTENBRUNNER, ALFRED ROSENBERG, HANS FRANK, WILHELM FRICK, JULIUS STREICHER, WALTER FUNK, H J A L M A R SCHACHT, GUSTAV KRUPP VON BOHLEN UND HALBACH, KARL DOENITZ, ERICH RAEDER, BALDUR VON SCHIRACH, FRITZ SAUCKEL, ALFRED JODL, MARTIN BORMANN, FRANZ VON PAPEN, ARTUR SEYSS-INQUART, ALBERT SPEER, CONSTANTIN VON NEURATH AND HANS F'RITZSCHE, in'ilividually and as members of any of the Groups o r Organizations next hereinafter named.

The following a r e named as Groups or Organizations (since dissolved) which should be declared criminal by reason of their aims and the means used for the accomplishment thereof and i n connection with the conviction of such of the named defendants a s were members thereof: DIE REICHSREGIERUNG (REICH CABINET) ; DAS KORPS DER POLITrSCHEN LEITER DER NATIONAESOZIAL4STISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (LEADERSHIP CORPS O F T H E NAZI PARTY); DIE SCHUTZSTAFFELN DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (commonly known as the "SS") and including DIE SICHERHEITSDIENST (commonly known a s the "SD") ; D I E GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI (SECRET STATE POLICE, commonly known as the "GESTAPO"); DIE STURMABTEILUNGEN DER N.S.D.A.P. (com-

CHAPTER Ill

monly known as the "SA"); and the GENERAL STAFF and HIGH COMMAND of the GERMAN ARMED FORCES. The identity and membership of the Groups or Organizations referred to in the foregoing titles a r e hereinafter in Appendix B more particularly defined.COUNT ONE-THE COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY

(Charter, Article 6, especially 6 ( a ) )Ill. Statement. of the Offense

All the defendants, with divers other persons, during a period of years preceding 8th May, 1945, participated as leaders, organizers, instigators or accomplices in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit, or which involved the commission of, Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity, as defined in the Charter of this Tribunal, and, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter, are individually responsible for their own acts and for all acts committed by any persons in the execution of such plan or conspiracy. The common plan or conspiracy embraced the commission of Crimes against Peace, in that the defendants planned, prepared, initiated and waged wars of aggression, which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances. In the development and course of the common plan or conspiracy it came to embrace the commission of War Crimes, in that it contemplated, and the defendants determined upon and carried out, ruthless wars against countries and populations, in violation of the rules and customs of war, including as typical and systematic means by which the wars were prosecuted, murder, ill-treatment, deportation for slave labor and for other purposes of civilian populations of occupied territories, murder and ill-treatment of prisoners of war and of persons on the high seas, the tpking and killing of hostages, the plunder of public and private property, the wanton destruction of cities, towns, and villages, and devastation not justified by military necessity. The common plan or conspiracy contemplated and came to embrace as typical and 'systematic means, and the defendants determined upon and committed, Crimes against Humanity, both within Germany and within occupied territories, including murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against civilian populations before and during the war, and persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, in execution of the plan for preparing and prosecuting aggressive or illegal wars,685964-16-3

15

CHAPTER I l l.

, many of such acts and persecutions being violations of the domestic laws of the countries where perpetrated.IV. Particulars of the nature and development of the common plan or conspiracy

( A ) NAZIPARTY THE AS

CENTRAL CORE OF THE COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY

T 1921 Adolf Hitler became the scpreme leader or Z'uehre~oL' n the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party), also known as the Nazi Party, which had been founded in Germany in 1920. He continued as such throughout the period covered by this Indictment. The Nazi Party, together with certain of its subsidiary organizations, became the instrument of cohesion among the defendants and their co-conspirators and an instrument for the carrying out of the aims and purposes of their conspiracy. Each defendant became a member of the Nazi Party and of the conspiracy, with knowledge of their aims and purposes, or, with such knowledge, became an accessory to their aims and purposes a t some-stage of the development of the conspiracy.( B ) COMMONOBJECTIVES AND METHODS OF CONSPIRACY

The aims and purposes of the Nazi Party and of the defendants and divers other persons from time to time associated as leaders, members, supporters or adherents of the Nazi Party (hereinafter called collectively the "Nazi conspirators") were, or came to be, to accomplish the following by any means deemed opportune, including unlawful means, and contemplating ultimate resort to threat of force, force and aggressive war: (i) to abrogate and overthrow the Treaty of Versailles and its restrictions upon the military armament and activity of Germany; (ii) to acquire the territories lost by Germany as the result of the World War of 1914-1918 and other territories in Europe asserted by the Nazi conspirators to be occupied principally by so-called "racial Germans"; (iii) to acquire still furthek territories in continental Europe and elsewhere claimed by the Nazi conspirators to be required by the "racial Germans" as "Lebensraum," or living space, al1,at the expense of neighboring and other countries. The aims and purposes of the Nazi conspirators were not fixed or static but evolved and expanded as they acquired progressively greater power and became able to make more effective application of threats of force and threats of aggressive war. When their expanding aims and purposes became finally so great

CHAPTER Ill,

as to provbke such strength of resistance as could be overthrown only by armed force and aggressive war, and not simply by the opportunistic methods theretofore used, such as fraud, deceit, threats, intimidation, fifth column activities and propaganda, the Nazi conspirators deliberately planned, determined upon and launched their aggressive wars and wars in violation of international treaties, agreements and assurances by the phases and steps hereinafter more particularly described.(C) DOCTRINAL TECHNIQUES OF T H E COMMON PLAN ORCONSPIRACY

To incite others to join in the common plan or conspiracy, and as a means of securing for the Nazi c~nspiratorsthe highest degree of control over the German community, they put forth, disseminated, and exploited certain doctrines, among others, as follows : 1. That persons of so-called "German blood" (as specified by the Nazi conspirators) were a "master race" and were accordingly entitled to subjugate, dominate or exterminate other "races" and peoples; 2. That the German people should be ruled under the Fuehrerprinzip (leadership principle) according to which power was to reside in a Fuehrer from whom sub-leaders were to derive authority in a hierarchical order, each sub-leader to owe unconditional obedience to his immediate superior but to be absolute in his own sphere of jurisdiction; and the power of the leadership was to be unlimited, extending to all phases of public and private life ; 3. That war was a noble and necessary activity of Germans; 4. That the leadership of the Nazi Party, as the sole bearer of tlie foregoing and other doctrines of the Nazi Party, was entitled to shape the structure, policies and practices of the German State and all related institutions, to direct and supervise the activities of all individuals within the State, and to destroy all opponents.I

'(D) THEACQUIRINGr

OF TOTALITARIAN CONTROL OF

GERMANY:

POLITICAL1. First steps in acquisition of control of State machinery

In order to accomplish their aims and purposes, the Nazi conspirators prepared to seize totalitarian control over Germany to assure that no effective resistance against them could arise within Germany itself. After the failure of the Munich Putsch of

CHAPTER I l l

1923 aimed a t . t h e overthrow of the Weimar Republic by direct action, the Nazi conspirators set out through the Nazi Party to undermine and capture the German Government by "legal" forms supported by terrorism. They created and utilized, as a Party formation, Die Sturmabteilungen (SA), a semi-military, voluntary organization of young men trained for and committed to the use of violence, whose mission was to make the Party the master of the streets.2. Control acquired

On 30th January, 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of the German Republic. After the Reichstag fire of 28th February, 1933, clauses of the Weimar constitution guaranteeing personal liberty, freedom of speech, of the press, of association and assembly were suspended. The Nazi conspirators secured the passage by the Reichstag of a "Law for the Protection of the People and the Reich" giving Hitler and the members of his then cabinet plenary powers of legislation. The Nazi conspirators retained such powers after having changed the members of the cabinet. The conspirators caused all political parties except the Nazi Party to be prohibited. They caused the Nazi Party to be established as a para-governmental organizaiion with extensive and extraordindary privileges.3. Consolidatio?~ control of

Thus possessed of the machinery of the German State, the Nazi conspirators set about the consolidation of their position of power within Germany, the extermination of potential internal resistance and the placing of the German nation on a military footing. (a) The Nazi conspirators reduced the Reichstag to a body of their own nominees and curtailed the freedom of popular elections throughout the country. They transformed the several states, provinces and municipaBties, which had formerly exercised semi-autono- mous powers, into hardly more than administrative organs of the central government. They united the offices of the President and the Chancellor in the person of Hitler; instituted a widespread purge of civil servants ; and severely restricted the independence of the judiciary and rendered it subservient to Nazi ends. The conspirators greatly enlarged existing State and Party organizations ; established a network1

CHAPTER Ill

of new State and Party organizations; and "co-ordinated" State agencies with the Nazi Party and its branches and affiliates, with the result that German life was dominated by Nazi doctrine and practice and progressively mobilized for the accomplishment of their aims. ( b ) In order to make their rule secure from attack and to instil fear in the hearts of the German people, the Nazi conspirators established and extended a system of terror against opponents and supposed or suspected opponents of the regime. They imprisoned such persons without judicial process, holding them in "protective custody" and concentration camps, and subjected them to persecution, degradation, despoilment enslavement, torture and murder. These concentration camps were established early in 1933 under the direction of the defendant GOERING and expanded as a fured part of the terroristic policy and method of the conspirators and used by them for the commission of the Crimes against Humanity hereinafter alleged. Among the principal agencies utilized in the perpetration of these crimes were the SS and the GESTAPO, which, together with other favored branches or agencies of the State and Party, were permitted to operate without restraint of law. (c) The Nazi conspirators conceived that, in addition to the suppression of distinctively political opposition, i t was necessary to suppress or exterminate certain other movements or groups which they regarded as obstacles to their retention of total control in Germany and to the aggressive aims of the conspiracy abroad. Accordingly : (1) he Nazi conspirators destroyed the free trade T unions in Germany by confiscating their funds and properties, persecuting their leaders, prohibiting their activities, and supplanting them by an affiliated Party organization. The leadership principle was introducted into industrial relations, the entrepreneur becoming the leader and the workers becoming his followers. Thus any potential resistance of the workers was frustrated and the productive labor capacity of the German nation was brought under the effective control of the conspirators.

CHAPTER Ill

(2) The Nazi conspirators, by promoting beliefs and practices incompatible with Christian teaching, sought to subvert the influence of the Churches over the people and in particular over the youth of Germany. They avowed their aim to eliminate the Christian Churches in Germany and sought to substitute therefor Nazi institutions and Nazi beliefs and pursued a programme of persecution of priests, clergy and members of monastic orders whom they deemed opposed to their purposes and confiscated church property. (3) The persecution by the Nazi conspirators of pacifist groups, including religious movements dedicated to pacifism, was particularly relentless and cruel. (d) Implementing their "master race" policy, the conspirators joined in a program of relentless persecution of the Jews, designed to exterminate them. Annihilation of the Jews became an official State policy, carried out both by official action and by incitements to mob and individual violence. The conspirators openly avowed their purpose. For example, the defendant ROSENBERG stated : "Anti-Semitism is the unifying element of the reconstruction of' Germany." On another occasion he also stated: "Germany will regard the Jewish question as solved only after the very last Jew has left the greater German living space . . . Europe will have its Jewish question solved only after the very last Jew has left the Continent." The defendant LEY declared: "We swear we are not going to a,bandon the struggle until the last Jew in Europe has been exterminated and is actually dead. I t is not enough to isolate the Jewish enemy of mankind-the Jew has got to be exterminated." On another occasion he also declared: "The second German secret weapon is anti-Semitism because if it is consistently pursued by Germany, i t will become a universal problem which all nations will be forced to consider." The defendant STREICHER declared: "The sun will not shine on the nations of the earth until the last Jew is dead." These avowals and incitements were typical of the declarations of the Nazi conspirators throughout the course of their conspiracy. The program of ac-

CHAPTER Ill

tion against the Jews included disfranchisement, stigmatization, denial of civil rights, subjecting their persons and property to violence, deportation, enslavement, enforced labor, starvation, murder and mass extermination. The extent to which the conspirators succeeded in their purpose can only be estimated, but the annihilation was substantially complete in many localities of Europe. Of the 9,600,000 Jews who lived in the parts of Europe under Nazi domination, i t is conservatively estimated that 5,700,000 ' have disappeared, most of them deliberately put to death by the Nazi conspirators. Only remnants of the Jewish population of Europe remain. ( e ) In order to make the German people amenable to their will, and to prepare them psychologically for war, the Nazi conspirators reshaped the educational system and particularly the education and training of the German youth. The leadership principle was introduced into the schools and the Party and affiliated organizations were given wide supervisory powers over education. The Nazi conspirators ifnposed a supervision of all cultural activities, controlled the dissemination of information and the expression of opinion within Germany a s well as the movement of intelligence of all kinds from and into Germany, and created vast propaganda machines. ( f ) he Nazi conspirators placed a considerable number T of their dominated organizations on a progressively militarized footing with a view to the rapid transformation and use of such organizations whenever necessary a s instruments of war.

I

.

( E ) THE ACQUIRING O TOTALITARIAN CONTROL IN GERMANY: F AND ECONOMIC; THE ECONOMIC PLANNING AND MOBILIZATION

FOR AGGRESSIVE WAR

Having gained political power the conspirators organized Germany's economy to give effect to their political aims. 1. In order to eliminate the possibility of resistance in the economic sphere, they deprived labour of its rights of free industrial and political association as particularized in paragraph ( D ) 3 (c) (1) herein. 2. They used organizations of German business as instruments of economic mobilization for war.

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\

CHAPTER Ill

3. They directed Germany's economy towards preparation and equipment of the military machine. To this end they directed finance, capital investment, and foreign trade. 4. The Nazi conspirators, and in particular the industrialists among them, embarked upon a huge re-armament programme and set out to produce and develop huge quantities of materials of war and to create a powerful military potential. 5. With the object of carrying through the preparatior. for war the Nazi conspirators. set up a series of administrative agencies and authorities. F o r example, in 1936 they established for this purpose the office of the Four Year Plan with. the defendant GOERING a s Plenipotentiary, vesting i t with overriding control over Germany's economy. Furthermore, on 28th August, 1939, immediately before launching their aggressiori against Poland, they appointed the defendant FUNK Plenipotentiary for Economics; and Qn 30th August, 1939,' they set up the Ministerial Council for the Defence of the Reich to act as a War Cabinet.

(3') UTILIZATION NAZI CONTROL FOR OF

FOREIGN AGGRESSION

1. S t a t u s o f the conspiracy b y the middle of 1933 and projected plans.

By the middle of the year 1933 _the Nazi conspirator's, having acquired governmental control over Germany, were in a position to enter upon further and more detailed planning with particular relationship to foreign policy. Their plan was to re-arm and to re-occupy and fortify the Rhineland, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and other treaties, in order to acquire military strength and political bargaining power to be used against other nations.2. The Nazi conspirators decided t h a t for their purpose the Treaty of Versailles must definitely be abrogated and specific plans were made by them and put into operation by 7th March, 1936, all of which opened the way for t h e major aggressive steps to follow, as hereinafter set forth. In t h e execution of this phase of the conspiracy the Nazi conspirators did the following acts: ( a ) T hey led Germany to enter upon a course of secret re armament from 1933 to March, 1935, including the training of military personnel and the production of munitions of war, and the building of an air force. , ( b ) On 14th October, 1933, they led Germany to leave the International Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations. ( c ) On 10th March, 1935, the defendant GOERING an-

nounced that Germany was building a military air force. ( d ) On 16th March, 1935, the Nazi conspirators promul gated a law for universal military service, in which they stated the peace-time strength of the German Army would be fixed a t 500,000 men. ( e ) On 21st May, 1935, they falsely announced to the world, with intent t o deceive and allay fears of aggressive intentions, that they would respect the territorial limitations of the Versailles Treaty and comply with the Locarno Pacts. ( f ) On 7th'&larch, 1936, they reoccupied and fortified the Rhineland, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the Rhine Pact of Locarno of 16th October, 1925, and falsely announced t o t h e world t h a t "we have no territorial demands to make in Europe."3. Aggressive kction against Austria and Czechoslovakia,

( a ) The 1936-1938 phase o f the plan: planning for the assault on Austria and Czechoslovakia The Nazi conspirators next entered upon the specific planning for t h e acquisition of Austria and Czechoslovakia, realizing it would be necessary, for military reasons, first to seize Austria before assaulting Czechoslovakia. On 21st May, 1935, in a speech to the Reichstag, Hitler stated t h a t : "Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere in t h e internal affairs of Austria, t o annex Austria or to conclude an Anschluss." On 1st May, 1936, within two months after the re-occupation of the Rhineland, Hitler stated : "The lie goes forth again that Germany tomorrow o r the day after will fall upon Austria or Czechoslovakia." Thereafter, t h e Nazi conspirators caused a treaty to be entered into between Austria and Germany on 11th July, 1936, Article 1of which stated t h a t "The German Government recognizes t h e full sovereignty of the Federated State of Austria in the spirit of the pro. nouncements of the German Fuehrer and Chancellor of 21st May, 1935." Meanwhile, plans for aggression in violation of t h a t treaty were being made. By the autumn of 1937, all noteworthy opposition within t h e Reich had been crushed. Military preparation for t h e Austrian action was virtually concluded. An influen-

CHAPTER Ill

I

tial group of the Nazi conspirators met with Hitler on 5th November, 1937, to review the situation. It was reaffirmed that Nazi Germany must have "Lebensraum" in ceniral Europe. It was recognized that such conquest would probably meet resistance which would have to be crushed by force and that their decision might lead to a general war, but this prospect was discounted a s a risk worth taking. There emerged from this meeting three possible plans for the conquest of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Which of the three was to be used was to depend upon the developments in the political and military situation in Europe. It was contemplated that the conquest of Austria and Gzechoslovakia would, through compulsory emigration of 2,000,000 persons from Czechoslovakia and 1,000,000 persons from Austria, provide additional food to the Reich for 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 people, strengthen it militarily by providing shorter and better frontiers, and make possible the constituting of new armies up to about twelve divisions. Thus, the aim of the plan against Austria and Czechoslovakia was conceived of not as a n end to itself but as a preparatory measure toward the next aggressive steps in the Nazi conspiracy. ( b ) T h e execution o f the plan t o invade Austria: Novem ber, 1937, to March, 1938 Hitler on 8th February, 1938, called Chancellor Schuschnigg to a conference a t Berchtesgaden. At the meeting of 12th February, 1938, under