THE PRESIDENT: In the copy I have the Defendant Göring appears as the Reich Minister for Aviation.
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir. I mentioned that he appears as Reich Minister and as Reich Commissar for Aviation.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I see. I was reading from the first two pages of the document. You were reading from Page 4?
COL. STOREY: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
COL. STOREY: I am informed that the Ministry was created later, but it is given as Reich Commissar for Aviation.
In addition the Defendant Funk was present as Reich Press Chief, and the Defendant Von Papen was present as Deputy of the Reich Chancellor and Reich Commissar for the State of Prussia.
Not long after that date new ministries or departments were created into which leading Nazi figures were placed. On 13 March 1933 the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda was created. The decree setting it up appears in the 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 104, our Document 2029-PS.
I assume that the Court will take judicial notice of the laws and decrees, as we have mentioned in the previous proceeding.
The late Goebbels was named as Reich Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda.
On 5 May 1933 the Ministry of Air (Reichsgesetzblatt 1933, Part I, Page 241, our Document 2089-PS). On 1 May 1934 the Ministry of Education. I refer to 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 365, our Document 2078-PS. On 16 July 1935 the Ministry for Church Affairs (1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 1029, our Document 2090-PS). The Defendant Göring was made Air Minister; Bernhard Rust, Gauleiter of South Hanover, was named Education Minister; and Hans Kerrl named Minister for Church Affairs.
Two ministries were added after the war started. On 17 March 1940 the Ministry of Armaments and Munitions was established (1940 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 513, our Document 2091-PS). The late Dr. Todt, a high Party official, was appointed to this post. The Defendant Speer succeeded him. The name of this department was changed to “Armaments and War Production” in 1943 (1943 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 529, our Document 2092-PS). On 17 July 1941, when the seizure of the Eastern Territories was in progress, the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories was created. The decree appointing the Defendant Rosenberg to the post of Minister of this department has already been received in evidence as Exhibit USA-319.
During the years 1933 to 1945 one ministry was dropped—that of Defense which was later called “War”. This took place in 1938 when, on 4 February, Hitler took over command of the whole Armed Forces. At the same time he created the “Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces” or, in other words, the Chief of the OKW. This was the Defendant Keitel. The decree accomplishing this change is published in the 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, at Page 111. It appears in our document book as 1915-PS, and I would like to quote a brief portion of that decree. It begins at the bottom of the second paragraph:
“He”—referring to the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces—“is an equal in rank to a Reich Minister.
“At the same time, the Supreme Command takes the responsibility for the affairs of the Reich Ministry of War; and by my order, the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces exercises the authority formerly belonging to the Reich Minister.”
Another change in the composition of the Cabinet during the years in question should be noted. The post of Vice-Chancellor was never refilled after the Defendant Von Papen left on 30 July 1934.
In addition to the heads of departments that I have outlined, the ordinary Cabinet also contained Reich Ministers without portfolio. Among these were the Defendants Hans Frank; Seyss-Inquart; Schacht, after he left the Economics Ministry; and Von Neurath, after he was replaced as Minister for Foreign Affairs. There were other positions that were also an integral part of the Cabinet. These were: the Deputy of the Führer, the Defendant Hess, and later his successor; the Leader of the Party Chancellery, the Defendant Bormann; the Chief of Staff of the SA, Ernst Röhm, for 7 months prior to his assassination; the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Lammers; and, as we have already mentioned, the Chief of the OKW, the Defendant Keitel. These men had either the title of, or the rank of, Reich Minister. I have already read portions of the law creating the Chief of the OKW where his importance in Cabinet affairs is delineated. The importance of the Defendants Hess and Bormann will soon be expounded, while that of the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Lammers, will also soon become self-evident.
But there were others, such as State Ministers acting as Reich Ministers. Only two persons fell within this category: the Chief of the Presidential Chancellery, Otto Meissner; and the State Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Karl Hermann Frank. In addition, the Indictment names as belonging to the ordinary Cabinet “others entitled to take part in Cabinet meetings.” Many governmental agencies were created by the Nazis between the years 1933 and 1945, but the peculiarity of such creations was that in most instances such new posts were given the right to participate in Cabinet meetings. Here the list is long but significant. Thus those entitled to take part in Cabinet meetings were: the Commanders-in-Chief of the Army and the Navy, the Reich Forest Master, the Inspector General for Water and Power, the Inspector General of German Roads, the Reich Labor Leader, the Reich Youth Leader, the Chief of the Foreign Organization in the Foreign Office, the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, the Prussian Finance Minister, and the Cabinet Press Chief.
These, then, were the posts and some of the personnel in the ordinary Cabinet. They were all positions of such common knowledge and notoriety that the Tribunal can take judicial notice. Further, they all appear on the chart entitled “Organization of the Reich Government,” which was authenticated by the Defendant Frick and is in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-3, which Mr. Albrecht introduced on the second day of the Trial. They are also provable by laws and decrees published in the Reichsgesetzblatt and by notices in the semi-official monthly publication entitled Das Archiv, which was edited by an official of the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda—all of which, I submit, are within the judicial notice purview of the Tribunal. The persons who held these posts in the ordinary Cabinet varied between the years 1933 to 1945.
Does Your Honor wish to adjourn at 12:45?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, perhaps we had better.
[A recess was taken until 1400 hours.]
Afternoon Session
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, the persons who held these posts in the ordinary Cabinet varied between the years 1933 and 1945. Although it is not incumbent upon us to prove who they were, since the group and not the individuals are under consideration, nevertheless their names are already before this Tribunal in the original governmental chart, Exhibit Number USA-3. Since it will be of interest to the Tribunal to see what persons—and 17 of them are defendants here—held what positions in the Cabinet, a table has been prepared which lists all the departments and posts I have mentioned and the incumbents thereof during the years 1933 to 1945. The German equivalents of the titles are also shown; and with the permission of the Tribunal, I will now distribute this table to the members of the Tribunal. Copies have likewise been filed in the defendants’ Information Center. The table also is annotated with citations to sources verifying the facts shown—all of which, however, were of common knowledge during the period in question.
Diverting from the text: This is simply prepared for the convenience of the Tribunal in connection with the studying of the briefs and the documents. As I said at the outset, the proof will show that there was only an artificial distinction between the ordinary Cabinet, the Secret Cabinet Council, and the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich. This is evidenced in the first instance by the unity of personnel between the three subdivisions.
Thus, on 4 February 1938 Hitler created the Secret Cabinet Council.