Chapter VI

ORGANIZATION OF THE NAZI PARTY AND STATE

I. THE NAZI PARTY

In the opinion of the prosecution, some preliminary references must be made to the National Socialist German Labor Party, the NSDAP (_Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei_) which is not itself one of the defendant organizations in this proceeding, but which is represented among the defendant organizations by its most important formations, viz., the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party (_Das Korps der Politischen Leiter der NSDAP_), the SS (_Die Schutzstaffeln der NSDAP_), and the SA (_Die Sturmabteilungen der NSDAP_).

The prosecution has prepared a chart (_Chart No. 1_) showing the structure and organization of the NSDAP substantially as it existed at the peak of its development in March 1945. This chart has been prepared on the basis of information contained in important publications of the National Socialist Party, with which the defendants must be presumed to have been well acquainted. Particular reference is made to the Organization Book of the Party (_Das Organisationsbuch der NSDAP_) and to the National Socialist Year Book (_Nationalsozialistisches Jahrbuch_), of both of which Robert Ley was publisher. Both books were printed in many editions and appeared in hundreds of thousands of copies, throughout the period when the National Socialist party was in control of the German Reich and of the German people. This chart has been certified on its face as correct by a high official of the Nazi party, viz. Franz Xaver Schwarz, its Treasurer (_Reichsschatzmeister der NSDAP_), and its official in charge of party administration, whose affidavit is submitted with the chart.

Certain explanatory remarks concerning the organization of the National Socialist party may be useful.

The _Leadership Corps of the NSDAP_, named as a defendant organization, comprised the sum of the officials of the Nazi party. It was divided into seven categories:

1. The Fuehrer 2. Reichsleiter { 3. Gauleiter { 4. Kreisleiter _Hoheitstraeger_ { 5. Ortsgruppenleiter { 6. Zellenleiter { 7. Blockleiter

The _Fuehrer_ was the supreme and only leader who stood at the top of the party hierarchy. His successor designate was first, Hermann Goering, and second, Rudolf Hess.

The _Reichsleiter_, of whom 16 are shown on the chart, made up the Party Directorate (_Reichsleitung_). Through them, coordination of party and state machinery was assured. A number of these _Reichsleiter_, each of whom, at some time, was in charge of at least one office within the Party Directorate, were also the heads of party formations and of affiliated or supervised organizations of the party, or of agencies of the state, or even held ministerial positions. The _Reichsleitung_ may be said to have represented the horizontal organization of the party according to functions, within which all threads controlling the varied life of the German people met. Each office within the _Reichsleitung_ of the NSDAP executed definite tasks assigned to it by the Fuehrer, or by the leader of the Party Chancellory (_Chef der Parteikanzlei_), who in 1945 was Martin Bormann and before him, Rudolph Hess.

It was the duty of the _Reichsleitung_ to make certain these tasks were carried out so that the will of the Fuehrer was quickly communicated to the lowliest _Zelle_ or _Block_. The individual offices of the _Reichsleitung_ had the mission to remain in constant and closest contact with the life of the people through the subdivisions of the party organization, in the _Gaue_, _Kreisen_, and _Ortsgruppen_. These leaders had been taught that the right to organize human beings accrued through appreciation of the fact that a people must be educated ideologically (_weltanschaulich_), that is to say, according to the philosophy of National Socialism. Among the former _Reichsleiter_ on trial in this cause are the following defendants:

_Alfred Rosenberg_—The delegate to the Fuehrer for Ideological Training and Education of the Party. (_Der Beauftragte des Fuehrer’s fuer die Ueberwachung der gesammten geistigen und weltanschaulichen Schulung und Erziehung der NSDAP_).

_Hans Frank_—At one time head of the Legal Office of the party (_Reichsleiter des Reichsrechtsamtes_).

_Baldur von Schirach_—Leader of Youth Education (_Leiter fuer die Jugenderziehung_).

and the late

_Robert Ley_—Leader of the Party Organization (_Reichsorganisationsleiter der NSDAP_) and Leader of the German Labor Front (_Leiter der Deutschen Arbeitsfront_).

The next categories to be considered are the _Hoheitstraeger_, the “bearers of sovereignty.” To them was assigned political sovereignty over specially designated subdivisions of the state of which they were the appointed leaders. The _Hoheitstraeger_ may be said to represent the vertical organization of the party. These leaders included all:

_a. Gauleiter_, of which there were 42 within the Reich in 1945. A _Gauleiter_ was the political leader of the largest subdivision of the State. He was charged by the Fuehrer with political, cultural, and economic control over the life of the people, which he was to coordinate with the National Socialist ideology. A number of the defendants before the bar of the Tribunal were former _Gauleiter_ of the NSDAP. Among them are Julius Streicher (Franconia) whose seat was in Nurnberg, Baldur von Schirach (Vienna), and Fritz Sauckel (Thuringia).

_b. Kreisleiter_, the political leaders of the largest subdivision of a _Gau_.

_c. Ortsgruppenleiter_, the political leaders of the largest subdivision of a _Kreis_ consisting of several towns or villages, or of a part of a larger city, and including from 1500 to 3000 households.

_d. Zellenleiter_, the political leaders of a group of from 4 to 8 city blocks or of a corresponding grouping of households in the country.

_e. Blockleiter_, the political leaders of from 40 to 60 households.

Each of these _Hoheitstraeger_, or “bearers of sovereignty,” was directly responsible to the next highest leader in the Nazi hierarchy. The _Gauleiter_ was directly subordinate to the _Fuehrer_ himself, the _Kreisleiter_ was directly subordinate to the _Gauleiter_, the _Ortsgruppenleiter_ to the _Kreisleiter_, and so on. The _Fuehrer_ himself appointed all _Gauleiter_ and _Kreisleiter_, all _Reichsleiter_, and all other political leaders within the Party Directorate (_Reichsleitung_) down to the grade of _Gauamtsleiter_, the head of a subdivision of the party organization within a _Gau_.

The _Hoheitstraeger_ and _Reichsleitung_ together constituted the all-powerful group of leaders by means of which the Nazi party reached into the lives of the people, consolidated its control over them, and compelled them to conform to the National Socialist pattern. For this purpose, broad powers were given them, including the right to call upon all party machinery to effectuate their plans. They could requisition the services of the SA and of the SS, as well as of the HJ and the NSKK.

The controlled party organizations (_Gliederungen der NSDAP_) actually constituted the party itself, and substantially the entire party membership was contained within these organizations, viz.:

SA—NS Storm Troops (_Sturmabteilungen_).

SS—NS Elite Corps (_Schutzstaffeln_).

NSKK—NS Motor Corps (_Kraftfahrkorps_).

HJ—Hitler Youth (_Hitlerjugend_).

NS Women’s Organization (_Frauenschaft_).

NS German Students’ Bund (_Deutscher Studentenbund_).

NS University Teachers’ Bund (_Deutscher Dozentenbund_).

There were additional affiliated organizations (_Angeschlossene Verbaende der NSDAP_). Among these were included the following:

DAF—German Labor Front (_Deutsche Arbeitsfront_).

NS Public Welfare Organization (_Volkswohlfahrt_).

NS War Victims’ Organization (_Kriegsopferversorgung_).

NS Bund for German Technology (_Bund Deutscher Technik_).

German Civil Service (_Reichsbund der Deutschen Beamten_).

NS Physicians’ Bund (_Deutscher Aerztebund_).

NS Teachers’ Bund (_Lehrerbund_).

NS League of Legal Officials (_Rechtswahrerbund_).

A third group of organizations was officially known as supervised organizations (_Betreute Organisationen der NSDAP_). These included the following:

German Women’s Work (_Deutsches Frauenwerk_).

German Students’ Society (_Deutsche Studentenschaft_).

NS Bund of Former German Students (_Altherrenbund der Deutschen Studenten_).

Reich League “German Family” (_Reichsbund Deutsche Familie_).

German Communal Congress (_Deutscher Gemeindetag_).

NS Bund for Physical Exercise (_Reichsbund fuer Leibesuebungen_).

According to the official party designations, there was a fourth classification known as _Weitere Nationalsozialistische Organisationen_, and in this category the following organizations appeared:

RAD—Reich Labor Service (_Reichsarbeitsdienst_), at one time subordinate to the Reich Labor leader (_Reichsarbeitsfuehrer_).

NSFK—NS Flying Corps (_NS-Fliegerkorps_), which was subordinate to the Reich Minister for Aviation.

2. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE THIRD REICH

The prosecution has prepared another chart (_Chart No. 18_) delineating substantially the organizational structure of the government of the Third Reich, as it existed in March 1945, and “the chief leadership personnel of the Reich Government and the Reich Administration during said years.” This chart has been prepared on the basis of information contained in two well known official publications: The _Taschenbuch fuer Verwaltungsbeamte_, and the _Nationalsozialistischer Jahrbuch_, above-mentioned, of which Robert Ley was publisher. The chart has been examined, corrected, and certified by Wilhelm Frick, whose affidavit is submitted with it. It seems plain that Frick, a former Minister of Interior of the Reich from January 1933 to August 1943, was well qualified, by reason of his position and long service in public office during the National Socialist regime, to certify to the substantial accuracy of the facts disclosed in this chart.

It may be useful to commence with consideration of the _Reichsregierung_, a word which may not be translated literally as “government of the Reich.” The word _Reichsregierung_ was a word of art applied collectively to the ministers who composed the German cabinet. The _Reichsregierung_, which has been named as a defendant group in this proceeding, includes the following:

_a._ Members of the ordinary cabinet after 30 January 1933, i.e. Reich ministers with and without portfolio and all other officials entitled to participate in the meetings of this cabinet.

_b._ Members of the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich (_Ministerrat fuer die Reichsverteidigung_).

_c._ Members of the Secret Cabinet Council (_Geheimer Kabinettsrat_).

Unlike the cabinets and ministerial councils in countries not within the orbit of the former Axis, the _Reichsregierung_, after 30 January 1933 when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of the German Republic, did not remain merely the executive branch of the government. In short order it also came to possess, and it exercised, legislative and other functions in the governmental system developed under the domination of the National Socialist party.

It is proper to observe here that, unlike such NS party organizations as the SS and the SA, the _Reichsregierung_ before 1933 was not a body created exclusively or predominantly for the purpose of committing illegal acts. The _Reichsregierung_ was an instrument of government provided for by the Weimar Constitution. Under the Nazi regime, however, the _Reichsregierung_ gradually became a primary agent of the party with functions formulated in accordance with the objectives and methods of the party. The party was intended to be a _Fuehrerorden_, an order of _Fuehrers_, a pool of political leaders; and whole the party was—in the words of a German law—“the bearer of the concept of the German State,” it was not identical with the State. Hence, in order to realize its ideological and political objectives and to reach the German people, the party had to avail itself of official state channels. The _Reichsregierung_, and the agencies and offices established by it, were the chosen instruments by means of which party policies were converted into legislative and administrative acts binding upon the German people as a whole.

In order to accomplish this result, the _Reichsregierung_ was thoroughly remodelled so as to coordinate party and state machinery, in order to impose the will of the _Fuehrer_ on the German people. On 30 January 1933 the _Reichsregierung_ contained but few National Socialists. But as the power of the party in the Reich grew, the composition of the cabinet came to include an ever-increasing number of Nazis until, by January 1937, no non-party member remained in the _Reichsregierung_. New cabinet posts were created and Nazis appointed to fill them. Many of these cabinet members were also in the _Reichsleitung_ of the party.

To give a few examples: Rosenberg, the Delegate of the _Fuehrer_ for Ideological Training and Education of the Party, was a member of the _Reichsregierung_ as Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories (_Reichsminister f. d. b. Ostgebiete_). Frick, the leader of the National Socialist faction in the Reichstag, was also Minister of the Interior (_Reichsinnenminister_). Goebbels, the _Reichsleiter_ for Propaganda, also sat in the cabinet as Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (_Reichsminister fuer Volksaufklaerung und Propaganda_).

After 25 July 1934, party participation in the work of the cabinet was at all times attained through Rudolf Hess, the Deputy of the _Feuhrer_. By a decree of the _Fuehrer_, Hess was invested with power to take part in the editing of bills dealing with all departments of the Reich. Later this power of the Fuehrer’s Deputy was expanded to include all executive decisions and orders published in the _Reichsgesetzblatt_. After Hess’ flight to England in 1941, Martin Bormann took over, as his successor, the same function and, in addition, was given the authority of a Reich minister and made a member of the cabinet.

On 30 January 1937 Hitler accepted into the party those last few members of the cabinet who were not then party members. Only one cabinet member had the strength of character to reject membership in the party; he was the Minister of Ports and of Transportation, von Eltz-Ruebenach, who stated at the time that he was unable to reconcile membership in the NSDAP with his beliefs in Christianity. But such was not the case with Constantin von Neurath. He did not reject party membership. Nor did Erich Raeder reject party membership. And if Hjalmar Schacht was not already a party member at that time, then he too did not reject membership on 30 January 1937.

The chart shows many other instances where party members on the highest as well as on subordinate levels occupied corresponding or other positions in the organization of the state.

_a._ Hitler himself, the _Fuehrer_ of the NSDAP, was also the Chancellor of the Reich, with which office the office of President of the German Republic was united after the death of President von Hindenburg in 1934.

_b._ Goering, the successor designate of Hitler as Fuehrer of the NSDAP, was a member of the cabinet as Minister for Air (_Luftfahrtminister_), and he also held many other important positions, including that of Commander in Chief of the _Luftwaffe_, the German air force, and Delegate for the Four Year Plan (_Beauftragter f. d. Vierjahresplan_).

_c._ Heinrich Himmler, the notorious head of the SS (_Reichsfuehrer SS_), was also Chief of the German Police, reporting to Frick. He himself later became Minister of the Interior after the attempted assassination of Hitler on 20 June 1944, which event also catapulted him into the position of Commander in Chief of the German Reserve Army.

The _Reichstag_, which was the German parliament, presents an anomaly in this picture. Under the Republic it had been the supreme law-making body of the Reich, subject only to a limited check by the _Reichsrat_ (Council of the Reich), the President, and the German people themselves, by way of initiative and referendum. Putting their opposition to all forms of parliamentarism at once into effect, the Nazis proceeded to curtail these legislative powers of the _Reichstag_, the _Reichsrat_, and the _Reichspraesident_.

By the Act of 24 March 1933 the cabinet was given unlimited legislative powers, including the right to deviate from the constitution. Subsequently the _Reichsrat_ was abolished; and later, upon the death of President von Hindenburg in 1934, the posts of Chancellor and President were merged.

The development of the _Reichstag_ into an emasculated legislative body was an intermediate step on the road to rule by Fuehrer decree, the ultimate goal of the National Socialist party—and one which it achieved.

The Nazis then proceeded to delegate some of the functions of the _Reichsregierung_ to various newly-created agencies. Cabinet functions were delegated:

1. To the _Reichsverteidigungsrat_, the Reich Defense Council, possibly as early as 4 April 1933 but certainly not later than May 1935. This was a large war-planning group of which Hitler was chairman and Goering alternate. The group included many cabinet members, and a working committee, presided over by Fieldmarshal Wilhelm Keitel, was also composed of cabinet members and Reich defense officials, the majority of whom were appointed by cabinet members and subordinate to them.

2. To the Plenipotentiary for War Economy (_Generalbevollmaechtigter f. d. Kriegswirtschaft_), Hjalmar Schacht (and later Walter Funk), who by the Secret Reich Defense Law of May 1935 was authorized to “begin his work already in peacetime.”

3. To the Plenipotentiary for Administration (_Generalbevollmaechtigter f. d. Reichsverwaltung_), Wilhelm Frick, whose deputy, Himmler, later succeeded him, and who was appointed by a Secret Reich Defense Law. Subordinate to Frick as Plenipotentiary were the ministries of the Interior, Justice, Education, Church Affairs and _Raumordnung_ (Spatial Planning).

4. To the Delegate for the Four Year Plan (_Beauftragter f. d. Vierjahresplan_), Goering.

5. To the _Dreierkollegium_, the College of Three, consisting of the two Plenipotentiaries for War Economy and Administration, and Fieldmarshal Keitel as chief of the OKW. The duties of this _Dreierkollegium_ appear to have included the drafting of decrees in preparation of and for use during the war.

6. To the _Geheime Kabinettsrat_, the Secret Cabinet Council, created by Fuehrer decree in February 1938, of which von Neurath was president; and

7. To the _Ministerrat f. d. Reichsverteidigung_, the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich, established by _Fuehrer_ decree on 30 August 1939 and responsible to him alone. Its membership was taken from the Reich Defense Council. It had broad powers to issue decrees with force of law insofar as the _Reichsregierung_ itself had not legislated on the subject.

It should be stressed that this delegation of cabinet functions and authority to various secret and semi-secret groups composed largely of its own members, helped to conceal some of the most important policies of the _Reichsregierung_, particularly those relating to preparation for war.

Thus, step by step, the National Socialist party succeeded in putting its policies into effect through the machinery of the state, the _Reichsregierung_, in its revised form.